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A
Free Gift
"For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9
NKJV).
Salvation
is the gift of God’s grace.
Because of sin, man is separated from God
(Isaiah 59:1-2). "But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life" (John
3:16). On
the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sin (1 Peter
1:18-19). Through
Christ, the gift of God’s grace, we may be saved
from our sin. That’s
God’s gift to us.
We
cannot earn our salvation.
It is “not of works, lest anyone should
boast” (Ephesians 2:9).
No man can ever do enough to earn his way to
heaven. It
is only by God’s grace that we are saved.
We
must accept God’s gift of salvation on His terms.
Note again the passage above:
“For by grace you have been saved through
faith” (Ephesians 2:8).
As we search the Scriptures we find that the kind of
faith that God is seeking from us is an "active"
faith. A
splendid example of the kind of faith that God desires
is found in Acts 2.
To those hearers who believed in Jesus and were
convicted of their sin of crucifying the Son of God,
Peter instructed them to put their faith into action:
“Repent and let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;
and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
(Acts 2:38).
What was their response?
“Then those who gladly received his
word [faith] were baptized
[faith in action]; and that day about three thousand
souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41).
God saved by His grace those who responded to
the saving message of Jesus Christ with an obedient
faith.
God
saves us by His grace when, in faith, we obey the
conditions of acceptance.
Meeting
the conditions of God’s salvation by grace does not
make His gift any less a gift.
Faith, repentance and baptism are the necessary
responses to what God has done for us in Christ.
"Thanks
be to God for His indescribable gift!" (2
Corinthians 9:15).
Thanks
be to God also for the opportunity to accept God’s
gift of salvation on His terms.
Will
YOU accept?
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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