Ephesians 2:4-5 (NKJV) 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
God’s grace is often misunderstood, under-valued, and sometimes even strangely twisted by some.
We recently had someone comment on one of our videos that was teaching about righteousness. In his comments, the man stated that God’s grace is not enough to save us.
He went on to say that we are ultimately saved by our works, and that God’s grace is only enough to erase the sins that we committed prior to finding Christ. After we are saved, it is up to us to earn our way into heaven by our own righteousness and good works.
If that was true, we would be in a heap of trouble. All of us.
Romans 3:10 (NKJV) 10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
You see, God wants us to live our lives righteously. His word tells us this many, many times, even in the New Testament, after Jesus had come and died for our sins. But this isn’t so we can earn our way into heaven.
It is to set an example to others and to show that we are no longer slaves to the sin that so strongly held us captive before we met Jesus.
The Bible tells us that if we are free in Christ, we are free indeed. It doesn’t say that we will be free if we live the rest of our lives 100% sinless. That is a human impossibility.
But because we now have the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us, God has equipped us to be able to resist temptation and walk away from sin as He leads us to do so.
Will we always do that perfectly? No. We will still make some poor choices at times. But we are told very bluntly that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us.
James 4:7 (NKJV) 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Salvation and forgiveness are gifts of God. Plain and simple. They are not to be earned. They cannot be used like trophies that we have won in a race. We cannot boast in what we have done to secure them.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
If we are to boast in anything at all, it should only be in what Jesus has done for all of us.
Galatians 6:14 (NKJV) 14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Amen
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-315-0902
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