Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
For by GRACE are you saved, because Christ paid for your sins. It didn't cost you anything! You see, some people want to say: “You're saved by grace, but here is your payment book!” No Sir, that is wrong! Calvinism is like owing money on a car you bought. If you don't make your payments, you lose the car. The bank will send a repo man to come GET IT!!!
The Devil's lie of Calvinism (aka, Lordship salvation) says if you don't live a certain manner of life, God will repo your eternal life! My eternal security doesn't rest in how I live, but in what God promised in the Holy Bible. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Christ came into the world to die in my place on the cross as my substitute, so that I don't have to pay for my own sins in Hell forever.
For by grace are ye saved because Christ paid for your sins! There are no monthly payment to make dear friend on your salvation. You don't have to live a certain way to keep your eternal life, nor do you have to live a certain way to proof that you've got it. JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!
The phrase “and that not of yourselves” in the Greek in Ephesians 2:8 means “and that not of yourselves”! Ain't that simple? Sure it is. There is no good deed that you have ever done, that will help secure your eternal destination. Because Jesus paid for all my sins, I don't have to make monthly payments by living a certain way to get to Heaven. I am saved by grace. I don't earn it. I don't work for it. I don't try to live an upright life to prove that I have it. Eternal life and the complete forgiveness of my sins is a gift. Have you accepted that free gift dear friend? Faith is all that is required and you too can be forever secure in God's promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life. John 10:28, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
The cross upon which Jesus died
Is a shelter in which we can hide
And its grace so free is sufficient for me
And deep is its fountain as wide as the sea
There's room at the cross for you
There's room at the cross for you
Though millions have come there's still room for one . . .
When you die it is settled. There is no place such as Purgatory. You either die in the Lord and go to Heaven (Revelation 14:13); or you die in your sins and go to Hell forever (John 8:24; Revelation 20:15). I became a born-again child of God at age 13 in 1980. The blessed indwelling Holy Spirit has been with me since that glorious day! I love the Holy Spirit, which is God living inside me. God loves us so much that He wanted to be that close to us, choosing to live within our very body, soul and spirit. I am thankful that God has allowed me (and every believer) to be so close to Him. No matter what happens to us as children of God, no matter where we go or are taken against our will as believers, God's presence cannot be separated from us!!!
Romans 8:35 and 38, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Once saved always saved (OSAS). Once you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you become immediately and forever indwelt by God's Holy Spirit (1st Corinthians 3:16-17; Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). God seals us with His Holy Spirit (as promised in John 14:16-18) at the very moment of salvation:
Ephesians 1:13-14, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
There's no payments to make on God's gift of salvation. JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!
(Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold)
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