The Apostle Paul assures us that we are indeed saved by nothing else but a sweet, simple grace. –

“For by grace are you saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God...”

     It is just as Jesus said. –

“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.

      Salvation is an unmerited gift, and cannot be earned by self-effort. Paul reiterates. –

….not of works lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:9, 10).
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

      For through Jesus we become – “…a habitation of God through His Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).

      When the prophet Jeremiah prophesied of the New Covenant, God declared through him –

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people (Jeremiah 31:33).
And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me (Jeremiah 32:40).

      We are saved by grace, birthed into the family of God by faith and then we are gradually transformed into the people God wants us to be by yielding to the workings of His Holy Spirit in the inner man. A clay pot can’t form itself, for without the potter’s hands around it the clay remains a useless lump. Like a master potter, the God of the universe reforms our souls until we become new creations. –

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new – (II Corinthians 5:17).

      The evidence of a genuine faith is a transformed life because faith without works is a dead faith (James 2:17). A dead faith is that which is cut off from the only Source of life that can reform it.
      Jesus tells to abide in Him, because it is through faith in Him that God works to reform us. (John 15:1-6).

      We are saved by nothing else but grace and that living grace works within us to change us into the people God has called us to be.
      We meditate on the beautiful gift of grace we have received; we rest in it for it is the Sabbath of our souls. We dwell in it, as grace resides in us, and we find ourselves encompassed by the delightful by-product of our Lord’s grace; which is a deep, abiding peace.

      Rest in His grace, read HIs word, and let Him work.

The Gospel

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. - I Corinthians 15:1-8
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:8-10

Copyright 2014 by H. D. Shively

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