By Grace Alone We are Saved
The Grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ is indeed the theme of all of God’s infallible Word. We are saved by grace and there is no secondary method of salvation. We are either saved by grace or eternally lost and condemned to the Lake of Fire. But Grace has taken on an evolution in today’s church. The truth is that grace is not a covering for our sins, it is a cleansing from our sins. Christ did not come to patch up the filthy sinners but to convert them into sons and daughters in his holy family. Much of the church world has been reduced from “Saints saved by grace” to “Sinners saved by grace.” This very thought is anti-Biblical and contrary to every truth about our salvation. It defies every word of God’s Holy Book.
This idea of “Sinners saved by Grace” is nothing but the accommodation of sin. Our sinner-friendly church world has changed the “strait gate that leads to eternal life” to a “broad gate that leads to a religious life.” It may populate our churches, but it will also populate the Lake of Fire. The Book of Romans is heralded as the great Book of “Salvation by Grace” and so it is. The Romans Road to Salvation is the message we all should proclaim. This book teaches that sinners are transformed by the Grace of God. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:1-3).
The “Born Again” believer has no appetite for sin. If you still have an appetite for adultery, fornication, lying, jealousy, bitterness, or any sin identified in Scripture, be honest with yourself and cry out to God for His transforming power in your life. The supernatural power of Christ’s blood will be manifest by the Spirit at your full surrender to Him. He will make you an absolutely transformed individual. Sin will be repulsive to you and, if you fall into error, your heart will rush to the cross for cleansing. Apostle John said it plainly, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:1-2)
A young believer is not evident by their perfection but by their hatred of the old life and their tender heart to repent immediately. Such a young saint will grow and glow in this sincere grace of Jesus Christ and will soon be a towering pillar in the House of God. They will learn quickly that to whom you yield yourself servant to obey His/his servant you are. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Romans 6:16-18)
This Biblical standard of “New Life” in Christ is the desperate need of today’s society. Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit, wants to raise you up unto holiness and power and to show you as His example in the world. He will make an epistle out of you known and read of all men. (II Corinthians 3:2). He will light up your countenance and beautify you with His salvation (Psalms 149:4). Again, Romans says it powerfully, “But if the Spirit (Holy Spirit) of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11)The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Holiness. He takes all of Jesus and make application of Him in your life.
Holy Ghost activity in a supernatural dimension will follow a life totally transformed by the “Grace” of Jesus Christ. I’m sure there will always be weak, floundering believers that hold on by grace but never mature to the example of sainthood. Apostle Paul spoke of these immature believers that will lose all rewards before the Lord. “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (I Corinthians 3:14-15) This certainly is not His plan. You can be more than an overcomer; you can go on unto the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:13) and be His light in the world. Grace is the mighty outworking of His sacrifice that will transform your life. He wants to make you His light in your world for His glory. Grace is truly supernatural.
Tiffany
A Good Word in season. Thank you! May the LORD continue to cause His face to shine upon you.
jaimie
Hi Pastor,
Very well said and i’ll pray for the things i ought to.
God Bless
jaimie
DebraJMSmith
Amen!
Ed Wood
Hi Pastor Joseph.
Maybe it is just a question of semantics, but since “No one is righteous, no not one,” (Psalm 14:1-3; Romans 3:10; 1 John 1:8) even saints are sinners. Paul himself described his own struggle in Romans 7. The difference is that saints hate to sin and ask to be forgiven whereas others don’t. That Jesus would do this for us is assured (1 John 1:7, 9)
One day we will be given new, glorified and sinless bodies in which the promise of us being a new creation will finally be completely fulfilled.
For example, my “flesh” still wants a drink sometimes even though Jesus has kept me sober for over 32 years. So, my experience has been that it’s going to be a constant slug-fest between the mind which wants to do things God’s way and the flesh which does not (Romans 7:14-25) whle I’m in this life.
John
Dear Bro Chambers,
WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE ALONE OR WE ARE NOT SAVED AT ALL.
I believe it is the duty of every person in the world, (whether saved or sinner, Jew or Gentile) to live by the WORD OF GOD. It is our duty to search out all the truth we can from the WORD OF GOD and live by it. But most people care little to nothing about their duty to a Holy God who loves them and provides for them every day. Most people reject the WORD OF GOD and the grace of GOD and look for another way to be saved. It is our Creator God who gives us the very air that we breathe. If a person believe they can live without God, they should try holding their breath, because if God holds back that next breath they will be gone from this old world. We are always one breath and one heart beat away from dieing. It is God who maintains our life every minute we live.
It is every persons duty to live by the WORD OF GOD. We are not and cannot be saved by anything we do but we have a responsibility to God. We must come to a place where we trust that CHRIST did a complete work of salvation on the cross and by what Jesus did for us we are saved. But it is still every persons duty to live whole heartily by the WORD OF GOD.
If we claim we are saved and don’t care to live by the WORD OF GOD then we probably are not really saved. No man can be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. We have all already falling short of that. But it is still our duty to God to live by his commandments. If we are truly saved we will turn to the LORD every time we realized we have sinned and repent completely before the LORD. We simply cannot live in sin and think we are going to heaven when this life is over.
The problem is people want to live in sin and not care it is their duty to live by the WORD OF GOD and just name and claim salvation when they never have really prayed through to old time salvation.
There is no once saved always saved doctrine in the Bible. I have tried all I know to find and it is not there. There is no getting saved by being good either. We live by the WORD OF GOD and keep his commandments because it is our God given duty to our CREATOR. We belong to HIM. We live in obedience to HIM or our life style testify we are not HIS that we are really like the devil who refuses to live by the WORD OF GOD.
We must be born again to even began to understand the WORD OF GOD. We must be born again to even have a part in the kingdom of GOD. It is all the Grace of GOD through JESUS CHRIST that we are saved or else it is all us and we are still lost.
JESUS put it this way in Luke 13:3 “except you repent ye shall all likewise perish”. How can we think we can live in sin and still make it to Heaven?
Jim
One thought in this regard from one of our spiritual fathers, John Wesley is that one is saved by faith (justification) in order to become holy (sanctification). Justification is not an end in itself but a means to an end (holiness). But, we cannot be pure without experiencing pardon.
In my experience, justifion by grace should always ACCOMPANY our pursuit of holiness. We are only as holy as we are humble. Purity and pride cannot co-exist.