Featured Saving Faith: God’s Gift to Sinners or Sinners’ Gift to God?

As a pastor you have seen people resist the outward call you provided. The ones who receive the inward call receive a new nature and will come forward.

 

So you acknowledge he had faith in God. You don't know he didn't have faith in God before Christ's death. He certainly had to to have faith him. Faith in the future Messiah. He certainly had to be regenerated to have such faith. To say he could not have a saving faith before the death of Christ is to say no one could have saving faith before Christ. Which is to contradict scripture.

 

We have all these blessings "in Christ." There is a point in time when a person becomes "in Christ." It is a point that is generally called "conversion," at which point a person is regenerated, saved, sanctified, justified, adopted, made a child of God, and so much more. It is an event, not a process.
Those who believe it is a process believe salvation is by works and not of grace.
There was four days between the the angelic vision that Cornelius had and the time that Peter came and preached the gospel. Four days. When Peter preached the gospel, then Cornelius believed, at which time he was both regenerated and saved, sanctified and justified.
We don't have regenerated but unsaved people wandering around in this world. That concept is unheard of. Yet that is precisely what is being taught here by some Calvinists.

 

Faith is not innate sir. If it was everyone would have faith in God. Faith is belief and belief is formed by what we see, hear and feel. If faith is innate... If it is natural, we don't need preachers.

 

And you have not gave a clear answer. You are hiding your faith by works belief. You now say your faith is innate. So, nothing caused your faith, it was just natural? Naturally formed in you, by you???

 

You can have faith in your mother, but it won't save you!!
He had faith in the wrong God. The wrong God won't save you.
Only Jesus saves. This is post-cross, not pre-cross. The Jews had rejected the Messiah.
This is the first time the gospel went to the Gentiles.
Jesus went to the Jews. Far and few between did a few Gentiles come to him. One woman he addressed as a "dog."
The early church preached only to the Jews. There were only Jews present at Pentecost. Acts 10 marks the first time that the gospel went to the Gentiles.

 

Here's an illustration I once used with my class:

To get into [a theme park <—> heaven] you need [a ticket <—> justification]. You're [broke <—> spiritually dead] so you can't [afford <—> obtain] it. Your [older brother <—> Jesus] purchases the [ticket <—> justification] for you. He plans on [sending <—> giving] you the [ticket <—> justification] by way of [the postal service <—> grace]. There is just one problem...you don't have [a mailbox <—> faith] since you're [broke <—> spiritually dead]. Your [older brother <—> Jesus] than gets you [a P.O. box <—> faith]. Now, you have a way of receiving this [ticket <—> justification].

 

I know faith is not work sir, apparently you do not. That is the only option you have left for yourself. Now you say faith is innate to cover the faith by works that you have been preaching on here. Faith is not natural. It is always formed.

 

Wow! You finally got it right! Kudos...

You're slow....errr slowly coming around...

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbs::thumbsup:

 

Unheard of? That's ignoring the teachings of the many theologians since the Reformation.

 

So you know for a fact, that Cornelius did not have faith in God before the death of Jesus? You know that he could and if he did he was already regenerate. Any person who had saving faith before the death of Christ, was already regenerate. To say that saving faith before the death of Christ does not count, is to say Abraham's does not count. God will not revoke someone's saving faith.

 

There are many passages demonstrating that faith is a faculty that must be exercised. People are rebuked for not exercising it, and others rewarded for exercising it. The idea of rewards/penalties for exercising/not exercising faith is foreign to most of the passages that deal with it if it is simply God decreeing this one to exercise faith and that one not to exercise it, in which case it is simply God rewarding himself for the faith he decreed one to exercise, and God punishing himself for the faith he decreed one not to exercise, which is self-contradictory.

Matt. 8:10 “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!"

Does Jesus commend the centurion because God gave him more faith than other men, or because the centurion exercised his faculty of faith to a greater proportion than others?


Matt. 9:2 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

Does Jesus forgive the paralytic's sins because of God's faith, or because the friends and the paralytic exercised their faith in Jesus?


Matt. 9:22 “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.”

The woman's faith . . .


Matt. 9:29 **Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

Again, Jesus responds to the exercise of faith.


Matt. 15:28 **Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.”

Ditto.


Mark 4:40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

Is their lack of faith because God didn't grant them the ability or faculty to have faith at that moment? If so, then Jesus is deluding them by asking them the question.


Mark 10:52 **Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

The blind man's faith . . .

 

jb

Sure if you have been given that Spiritual faculty in New Birth, for Faith is a Fruit of the Spirit Gal 5:22 ! Men by nature have no faculty to please God in the flesh Rom 8:8 and Faith is a Faculty that pleases God Heb 11:6, hence by nature men cannot please God by exercising Faith !

 

Perhaps you could correct me if I'm not paraphrasing you accurately: God condemns people for not exercising a faculty that he doesn't give them, and even implores people to use the faculty that he never gave them, before damning them.

 

Read what I posted. Lets review it. Go ahead begin !

 

LOL, I guess there's not a 10-page limit in this forum?

 

You have hit on my biggest falling out with Calvinism, Jonathan. I don't understand how people can see God commanding men to do something (repent, or in your case here, exercise faith), but saying God must give man the ability to do it, then saying God withholds that ability from some, but still condemns them nonetheless because they didn't do what He never gave them the ability to do.



As for the page limit issue, there is a lot of leniency given in this forum compared to others concerning the page limit.

 

What Post 194 ? Is that too much for you to read ?

 

Tony, God does not owe anybody anything, neither does anybody deserve the love of God.

The natural man serves self and is his own god, and he does not want anything to do with God, because he hates him.

Watch this short video called "does God love everybody"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxZKJSNVgqM