Eternal Life - The Greatest Gift from God to Mankind
“For the wages of
sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.” —Romans 6:23
Eternal life is a
FREE GIFT, paid for by Jesus’ literal, physical, precious blood (1st
Peter 1:18,19; Hebrews 9:12). The Bible warns all believers that Satan
is a liar of liars, who relentlessly attempts to deceive people
concerning THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST…
“But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not
preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received,
or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with
him.
—2nd Corinthians 11:3,4
Satan has
succeeded in corrupting the simplicity of the Gospel in many of today’s
religious circles. There is a popular teaching nowadays (aka
Lordship Salvation) that requires lost sinners to be willing to stop
living in sins as a prerequisite to salvation. Nothing could be
further from the truth of God’s Word. How can anything be a “gift” if
one must be willing to do anything to get it?
If a person
must cease (or be willing to cease, as Jack Chick teaches in his
infamous
CHICK
TRACTS)
from a lifetime of sinful bad habits to be saved, then salvation's
BURDEN is shouldered by the sinner (and what a heavy burden that is to
bear). Jack Chick plainly teaches in
every Chick Track that faith in Jesus Christ is insufficient to save unless
you are willing to cease from your sins. That is works salvation!!!
Mr. Chick puts the cart before the horse, demanding a willingness to
change as a qualifying prerequisite to faith in Christ. That is a back door
approach to Lordship Salvation.
“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.” —Ephesians 2:8,9
There is no
plainer truth taught in the Word of God than that salvation is a “free
gift” (Romans 5:15,18; 6:23). If I were to offer you a Christmas present, but
with the stipulation that you must be willing to take a bath, it would
not be a gift. Why? Because I have clearly implied that I expect you
to take a bath to get the present. A gift is defined as something given
voluntarily without any payment in return. John 3:16 proclaims…
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” —John 3:16
God in His
wondrous unconditional love (Romans 5:8) sent Jesus Christ into the
world to die and bleed for our sins. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe;
because we owed a debt we could not pay (2nd Corinthians
5:21). That's why eternal life is a gift—because Jesus paid for
it. What a precious Savior!
Jesus
invites all men in Matthew 11:29-30 to take His yoke upon us, saying,
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” All God asks is that
we believe on the name of Jesus, that He is the Christ, the Son of God
Who came into the world to save men from their sins (John 20:31).
John, 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name.” Oh that men would believe!!!
I challenge
you my friend, whoever you may be, to be still and know that He is God.
Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted
among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Most people
never sit still. They're always watching TV, listening to the radio,
going places, driving, walking, climbing, sailing, eating, talking on
the phone, conversating, working, and staying busy with all sorts of
activates; but they never just get along with God in a quiet secluded
place in nature and reach out to God with their mind and heart to know
Him. The Bible says to us all, BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!!!
Beware of False
Prophets!
There are
multitudes of false prophets today, who have bought into the lie of
Satan concerning Lordship Salvation. A few such imposters are:
John MacArthur, Ray Comfort, Jack Chick, Don Piper, Paul Washer, and
countless others. These men are all Calvinists, that is, followers
of the heretical teachings of
John
Calvin (1509-1564). Calvinism is commonly summed up in
5 points,
which Dr. Curtis Hutson does an excellent job REFUTING. It is tragic
that so many religious people today are following the heretical
doctrines of a false prophet who's been dead for 452-years (as of 2011).
Jesus told us to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES in John 5:39.
The Bible says in Hebrews 1:1-2 that God speaks to us in these LAST DAYS
through His Son, i.e., through the Word of God (John 1:1-3,14;
Revelation 19:13). We have the completed Bible by which the Holy Spirit
guides us (John 16:13).
On the back
cover of every one of Jack Chick’s cartoon tracts are the words “Be
willing to turn from sin (repent).” This is step number two in his plan
of salvation. It is a false plan, not taught in the Scriptures. If a
sinner is required to “be willing to turn from sin” to be saved, then it
is no longer a free gift. Only God knows how many people have been
steered AWAY from Jesus Christ by Jack Chick, because they
sincerely weren’t “willing” to forsake certain sins in their life.
In sharp
contrast, the Bible declares in Romans 4:5…
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” —Romans 4:5
The only
type of person who has ever been justified by Jesus Christ is an
UNGODLY person…
“…for I am not come
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” —Matthew 9:13
No
self-righteous person can (or ever will) be justified in God’s eyes
(Romans 3:20; Isaiah 64:6). This is the lethal danger of Lordship
Salvation. Satan has beguiled millions of people around the world
today, who think that placing one’s faith in Jesus Christ is
insufficient to save them.
Instead, they believe that some amount of
personal effort is required—i.e., a willingness to clean up one’s life
of sin, a surrendering of one’s will to Christ as Lord, et cetera. Such
people are going to Hell. Why? Because they have been DECEIVED by the
Devil to follow after “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-9) which is based
upon self-righteousness. Lordship Salvation is diametrically
opposed to the Gift of God. A genuine gift is free, with no strings
attached.
Proponents
of Lordship Salvation claim to believe that eternal life is a
gift; yet they completely contradict themselves when they teach that a
sinner must be willing to surrender to Christ’s will and forsake sin to
be saved. It is clear from 1st Corinthians 3:1 that the
“carnal” believers at the church of Corinth weren’t surrendered to
Christ at all. They were suing each other, allowing fornication in the
church, eating meats offered to idols and showing up drunk at the Lord’s
Supper. I’d say they had some serious issues. Yet, the Apostle Paul
called them “babes in Christ” (1st Corinthians 3:1). This
irrefutably proves that Lordship Salvation is utterly unbiblical.
What About
James 2:19?
Proponents
of Lordship Salvation often quote James 2:19, which states: “Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also
believe, and tremble.” Carefully notice that James 2:19 doesn’t
say they believed on Christ. No, rather, the Bible says they believed
in God. Most people believe in God; but few receive Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior. This is all James 2:19 means. Anyone who
refuses to come to the Father by way of the Son is not going to Heaven…
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). The Bible is
intolerant of any other gospel.
Most people
today have religion without truth; they have churchianity without
Christianity. Nearly everyone professes some sort of faith in a Divine
God. Albert Pike, a known worshipper of Lucifer and irrefutable father
of Freemasonry, believed in the God of the Bible; yet he chose to
worship Lucifer instead. Mere belief in God is not enough to get to
Heaven; one must personally trust upon the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of sins… “To him give all the prophets witness, that
through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of
sins” (Acts 10:43). It’s very simply.
Conclusion
Please
don’t become a victim. If you’ve already bought into the lie, then I
plead with you to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES as Jesus commanded in
John 5:39. I realize that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of
different gospels floating around on the internet. However, there is
only ONE genuine gospel message presented in the Scriptures, and it is a
message of God’s unconditional love for us undeserving sinners, Who sent
His only begotten Son into the world to pay for our sins, so He could
freely offer us THE GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus (Revelation
22:17). We simply receive it by faith.
You
don’t have to be willing to do anything to be saved. All that is
required for salvation is that you come as a guilty sinner (Romans 3:19)
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive your sins (Acts
16:30,31). You don’t have to surrender your life to Christ, nor
forsake your worldly ways, nor make a commitment to Christ. The changes
that need to be made in one's life is God's department and He will
attend to that (Hebrews 12:6-8), you can be assured; but the gift of God
is free with no strings attached. In Romans
12:1-3 we find the Apostle Paul begging the believers at Rome to
surrender their lives to Christ…
“I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service.” —Romans 12:1
Obviously,
surrendering to Christ’s will wasn’t something that was required
as a prerequisite for salvation. The believers at Rome hadn’t yet
surrendered their lives to God (just as most believers today haven’t);
but they were still saved.
Lordship
Salvation is a
Satanic doctrine, a demonic weapon in our churches today leading
multitudes into Hellfire. Satan is a master deceiver, a skillful
trickster, and the father of all liars (John 8:44).
The best
illustration in the world of salvation is just a simple gift. When you
give someone a gift, what do you do? Do you attach any stipulations,
requirements, or tell the person that they need to surrender to your
will to get it? Of course not, that would be absurd! A gift is a gift,
period. The Bible proclaims that eternal life is a gift from God (John
4:10). There are no strings attached, no requirements, no works to do,
nothing to surrender to—only BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. If
you come as a SINNER and trust upon the SAVIOR, you are saved eternally
(Romans 10:13).
Jesus bore
the weight of our sins at Calvary on the cross, so we wouldn't have to.
Any so-called evangelist, religious teacher, theologian, pastor,
missionary, or preacher that places the BURDEN upon the sinner to be
saved is corrupting the simplicity of the gospel that is in Christ Jesus
(2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). Jesus paid it all, and a good thing because we
have nothing to offer God in our sinful self-righteousness (Isaiah
64:6). Even our best efforts cannot undo the sin on our record in
Heaven; thus, God
IMPUTES
Christ's righteousness to our record the very moment we are
born-anew into the kingdom of God by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9) in
response to our faith in the Seed of God's Word (1st Peter 1:23). .
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