Things Tradition Has Added to the Gospel

Hello Ray Berrian:
You wrote:

I ask, in answer to your first question:
Where is the scripture ?

As to the mandate to "receive Christ", again:
Where is the scripture for this mandate ?

If you receive something because you believed, then, you have a reward, not a gift, right ?

 

just-want-peace:

You wrote:

Show me a newborn babe who does not suckle when
offered a breastful of milk, and I'll show you a
dead baby.
Even a very sick baby would grab that breast, the point being that it is a live baby.
Let me use your illustration to show my point here.
Here is a scripture first:

Now, what is the state of the natural man ?

Another scripture:

According to these scriptures, the natural state of the natural man, before God, is that of a dead
creature, not dead physically, but dead spiritually, therefore he has no interest in the things of the Spirit of God, of which hellfire or heaven, sin and forgiveness, are part.

The man who shows interest in the things of the Spirit of God can only be the saved, regenerated, quickened, man. Quickened not because God saw any goodness in him, but because of God's rich mercy. Titus 3:5 says - "Not by works of righteousnesses which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us", which is why Paul said, if we think of it in today's language, oh, by the way, by grace are ye saved.

The gospel, or the good news, does not save.
Christ, the subject of the good news, does.
The unregenerate feels no excitement about the good news of God's finished work of redemption of His people in Christ.
The regenerated soul, whose ears have been unstopped by God, does.
So, if a man or woman walks down the aisle during the altar call, let him or her not think she did it because he or she had a natural thirst for the things of God. He or she walked down that aisle because God gave him or her, first a heart of flesh in place of a heart of stone.
The gospel, to the regenerated child of God, brought life and immortality to light.
To the unregenerate, the preachig of the cross is
foolishness.

 

Whoever used the illustration of the newborn baby taking nourishment from the mother expresses the truth of believing and receiving. God freely offered the gift. Receiving a gift is not a work. Receiving a gift suggests thankfulness not a labor of working for salvation.

Ray