Featured The Wideness of God’s Mercy

" Now when they heard [this], they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men [and] brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall call. "

It says that when they heard, they were cut to the heart ( convicted by the Holy Spirit, which He does not do for everyone ), they asked him...
they weren't coached into it by a man in a pulpit who promised them the benefits of something, and then had to decide whether or not to accept the offer.

Peter also told them, after they asked ( which followed their being convicted by the Spirit and the truth of God's words being spoken through His apostle, Peter ), to:

1) Repent.
2) Be baptized for the remission of their sins...In other words, they were baptized for ( in observance of )their remission of sins that Christ had already paid for at the cross, which had occurred just weeks before, from their perspective.

3) The promise of that remission was to them, to their children and...
As many as the Lord shall call.

Which brings up a question, at least in my mind:
According to Scripture, who hears God's words?
" He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear [them] not, because ye are not of God." ( John 8:47 ).

Therefore, those who heard, repented and were baptized in the crowd the day of Pentecost, were "of" God, were they not?
While those that did not, were not "of" God".
To me, it's based again, on who God calls in verse 39 ( which it seems that you're ignoring or not taking fully into account )... while it seems that your focus is on what we should do for God.

Salvation and eternal life are not about us doing something for God...
It's about Him doing something for us, even when we were dead towards Him and His ways.

May God bless you, SBG, and please...
Look at it again, carefully.
It seems that you keep advocating doing something for God, when all we as believers rest in, is what He has done for us.

 

I cannot speak for any of the others here who hold to what is commonly called "Calvinism" (I don't call it that, but rather see that this is what Paul taught to the churches),
but I would never tear anyone to shreds over the fact that repentance and belief are necessarily associated with God saving someone...
They are.
I would also never tear anyone to shreds, period.

But I would disagree with ( and try to correct, with the Scriptures ) someone who promotes what I see to be the error of placing those things ahead of God granting someone the gift of eternal life.
I do not see God's word putting those very necessary evidences first in line, with Him demanding that we as sinners do those things before He will save us...

Quite the contrary:

Because of God's choosing the believer in Christ before the foundation of the world ( Ephesians 1:4-5 ),
Him predestinating them conformed to the image of Christ, calling ( which is described as performed by the Holy Spirit and only towards those who end up believing ), justifying and glorifying only the foreknown ( Romans 8:28-30 ),
and the Lord afore ( before ) preparing, as the vessels of mercy that they are, those who are called out of both the Jews and the Gentiles ( Romans 9:22-24 ),

those things become necessary evidences of His grace that has been given to someone, and not conditions that men and women have to meet before God will grant them salvation.

In other words, election comes first, and the rest follow as consequences of His work in a person of His choosing.

Per 2 Timothy 2:24-26, there is no ground for the servant of the Lord to tear anyone to shreds over anything.

If God has made someone a preacher or a teacher of His words ( or has made them a pastor of Christ's sheep ),
then they should be correcting those who err from the faith patiently and with care.

 

God's mercy is much wider than you think. You think it merely enables people to save themselves. But the Bible teaches that He saves those who cannot believe, giving them new hearts that produce saving faith.
“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” Deuteronomy 30:6 (KJV 1900)