So you admit you must "do something"?
Cassan has been asking for pages now what the Gift is, and you or nobody else has answered him (or at least not correctly), the free Gift was promised from the beginning, it was not a new concept started with the NT, it was/is the Messiah (The Christ) and by and through Him and ONLY THROUGH HIM can we "obtain" <--- see that word? ill repeat it "obtain" which means it is available conditionally, and the conditions are set by the Messiah, it is by the Grace of God we have a Messiah, it is by faith in this Messiah we have been "offered" salvation, and like the Patriarchs lived by "faith/obedience in/to the Lord" so too "must" we.
Jabberjaw,
HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO TELL YOU, genuine Salvation via the Holy Spirit,
WILL PRODUCE GOOD WORKS, via the ability the Holy Spirit Gives us. We don't care if you don't believe it, that is your CHOICE. It is NOT our place to MAKE you Believe, that is one of the functions of the Holy Spirit HIMSELF, who is part of the Holy Trinity. We are called by GOD to present our Beliefs and support them with HIS HOLY WORD. So you do not interpret the verses the same way we do, that we actually expect from one with your background.
John 10:26-29 (HCSB)
[SUP]
26 [/SUP]
But you don’t believe because you are not My sheep.
[SUP]27 [/SUP] My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.
[SUP]28 [/SUP] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.
[SUP]29 [/SUP] My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
Oh how man in his pride wants to take credit for some part of his Salvation.
Romans 7:18 (HCSB)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.
For the desire to do what is good is with me, but
there is no ability to do it.
Galatians 2:19-21 (ESV)
[SUP]19 [/SUP]For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
1 Corinthians 2:12-16 (HCSB)
[SUP]12[/SUP]Now
we have not
received the spirit of the world, but
the Spirit who ⌊comes⌋ from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.
[SUP]14[/SUP]But
the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone.
[SUP]16 [/SUP]For who has known the Lord’s mind, that he may instruct Him?
But we have the mind of Christ.
John 14:26 (HCSB)
[SUP]26[/SUP]But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit—the Father will send Him in My name—will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.
NO, if we HEAR with understanding, that is PURELY a work of the HOLY SPIRIT. We do not get to pat ourselves on the back for ANY part of our Salvation. If we have received Jesus Christ as LORD and Master, it is the HOLY SPIRIT that gave us that ability through Faith, which is part of GOD's free gift of HIS GRACE. The fact that we have genuine Faith that produces a desire in us to continually strive to OBEY HIM, validates that the HOLY SPIRIT continually is at work in our hearts. ALL THE GLORY GOES TO GOD.
That is more of the pearls we believe in than I said I would give you. I hope you are thankful to GOD, because I was ready to just shake the dust from my feet and walk away. With you it seems to be a GAME that you must win. With us, we are not even playing the Game, but in reality we are just presenting the TRUTH of GOD exactly as HE has put it on our hearts to share them. You want to choose to believe something else, that is between you and GOD. But know that we have made you accountable for the TRUTH.