Why so much confusion about salvation?

Your own quote said grace through faith.

Because people don't understand what salvation is.... Some how they feel they have to work for it, get rid of their sins, get clean before they can come to God. It's hard to believe that something as precious as salvation is a FREE GIFT that has been given to us by God himself....

It's free - you don't have to do anything to earn it because there is NOTHING you can do to earn it. You will never be good enough, clean enough or work hard enough to earn your salvation.

There is only one who could fit the bill and that is JESUS. He died and paid the price for all of our sins and there is nothing you can do except to accept this free gift. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and give you the ability to repent and ask for forgiveness then give your heart to Jesus/God and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you and then you will have a new life and a new heart the former things pass away and you can reach out and take hold of the GIFT of salvation....

This statement here is an oxymoron and it is a typical church quote. They all start on the right path by saying you cant do nothing and Christ paid it all. But then here comes the work part YOU have to accept him or better said his free gift, YOU have to ask Christ to come in your heart....etc it's all about what YOU have to do. Read Ezk 34:11-31 and ask yourself where is the I/YOU part.

This statement here is an oxymoron and it is a typical church quote. They all start on the right path by saying you cant do nothing and Christ paid it all. But then here comes the work part YOU have to accept him or better said his free gift, YOU have to ask Christ to come in your heart....etc it's all about what YOU have to do. Read Ezk 34:11-31 and ask yourself where is the I/YOU part.

Are you saying I'm working to accept the free gift?

Obey.


That's our part.

Those who don't obey the Gospel, with suffer the vengeance of the Lord in the everlasting fires of hell.

• in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10



JPT

Who is going to obey the Gospel when not a single person will obey.

When we do obey it was due to the fact that Christ saved us and then we will obey and do good works, not before albeit many will try on their own.

Makes no sense.

Only those who obey the Gospel are saved.

Obeying the Gospel has nothing to do with good works.

Do you know what the command of the Gospel is, that we are to obey if we are to be saved?

Do you know what the Gospel is?

JPT

If thou shalt believe in thy heart and confess with thy mouth, thou shalt be saved. I don’t believe God expects us to do anything or forsake any sins before salvation. After salvation the Spirit is alive and brings conviction. I was saved at 12 in the seventh grade. Prior to being saved, my friends and I had a “dirty book club” and we shared erotic romance books. Before I was saved, I knew it was kind of sneaky, but I didn’t care. The stories were exciting to me. I didn’t repent of reading things I ought not to read until months after I was saved and told my friends I didn’t want to be in the dirty book club anymore.

I think it is a tertiary thing, and not really something to argue about, but that is my opinion.

I am probably going to get all kinds of flak- but I am a dispensationalist. In my opinion, Jesus and John’s ministries were for the Jews- not the Church Age. The Apostle Paul’s message is for the Age of Grace.

You can call it what you like, but the fact of the matter is this that the statement you made has everything to do with a works grace gospel. This is a typical teaching from the churches that hold fast to this type of a gospel.

You are looking for something that isn't there. I feel you have an argumentative spirit. Jesus is our only salvation....

You are right in saying that Jesus is our only salvation. The idea that I’m trying to convey is that when one says nothing you can do that would be a true statement. But then they contradict themselves and say you have to accept Christ, you have to be water baptized, you have to make a profession of faith....etc and yet each one of these phrases can be found in the Bible to make it Biblically sound. They cling on to these ideas without checking themselves out with what the whole Bible has to say. Read Ezk. 34 and see whose will is involved and also look at Jn. 1:13 and tell me whose will is involved.

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

What a person has to do is confess Jesus Christ as Lord and believe in his heart that God raised him from the dead (Rom 10:9).

What a person has to do, once they hear the gospel, is choose to believe it. When they choose to do so, they are sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14). People hear the gospel when others speak/preach it. After that, it's up to each person to believe it, or not.

God does not determine who will choose to believe. He want's ALL men to do so (1 Tim 2:4).

So why don't they?

God gave us free will. The ability to CHOOSE.

You are right in saying that Jesus is our only salvation. The idea that I’m trying to convey is that when one says nothing you can do that would be a true statement. But then they contradict themselves and say you have to accept Christ, you have to be water baptized, you have to make a profession of faith....etc and yet each one of these phrases can be found in the Bible to make it Biblically sound. They cling on to these ideas without checking themselves out with what the whole Bible has to say. Read Ezk. 34 and see whose will is involved and also look at Jn. 1:13 and tell me whose will is involved.

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Sure what you have quoted is all biblical but how does that line up with Ezk. 34 and with that of Jn. 1:13 ??

I believe most of us would agree that there is a great deal of confusion about salvation, even though God has made it very simple.

The primary reason for all this confusion is the enmity of Satan and his evil angels against God and against humanity. The Devil desires all human being to go to Hell, since he knows it was created for him and his angels.

There is really no need to be confused when we take the total Gospel message and simply believe it. When someone comes along with another gospel, we should ask them a few questions, to which all the answers are "Yes" (according to Scripture):

1. Did Christ die for the sins of the whole world?

2. Does God desire the salvation of all humanity?

3. Are repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ sufficient to be saved?

4. Is water baptism only for believers and is it a command to every Christian?

5. Does baptism signify that the sinner has died to self and sin, and is totally submitted to God?

6. Is eternal life God's gift to the one who believes?

7. Is the Holy Spirit God's gift to the one who believes?

8. Does salvation include the New Birth, which means that the individual is a new creature in Christ?

10. Are believers predestined and elected to be perfected and glorified?

11. Does that mean that Christians must forsake the ways of the world, and walk in the Spirit by faith?

12. Does salvation include justification, sanctification, and glorification, and are Christians kept by the power of God unto the completion of this salvation?

Salvation is Jesus on the cross. When we look at him on the cross we have obtained salvation.

Pretty simple to me

Define "look at him on the cross". What does that mean?

The Bible says that we must confess Jesus Christ as Lord (and that's more than just mouthing the words..) and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead (Rom 10:9).