GOD’S Salvation plan did not come due to our works, but came through the finished work of Jesus Christ, who was crucified on the Cross and died for our sins, was buried in an empty tomb, and GOD raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. There is no other name by which a man can be saved — Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life.
There are not many ways, paths or gods by which sins are forgiven and souls are saved from death and hell. There is only but one way and one name by which a man or woman or child can be saved, and his name is JESUS CHRIST, the only begotten SON of GOD, the Savior of everyone who will repent (turn away from living for themselves/Sin) and turning their heart, life, mind and soul to JESUS CHRIST as LORD and SAVIOR.
So many church dominations and pastors have either misunderstood The Word of GOD or have abandoned the Truth entirely, by teaching that people can earn salvation through good works or by keeping the Law of Moses “The 10 Commandments”. The Word of GOD does not teach that there is additional ways to receive salvation apart from believing and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Our works does not have the power to save us from our sins and GOD’S judgement, and the Law was not giving to the world to save sinners from Death and Hell, but to reveal to the world that we are all sinners in need of a Savior in Jesus Christ.
Many pastors and church dominations refer to The Book of James and more specifically to James 2:18 (“But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”) and teach that faith is not important and that works are necessary to be saved. But, to believe this than a person will have to dismiss almost the entirety of The Word of GOD, because both Grace and Faith are taught to us by GOD the Father, the SON of GOD Jesus Christ and through the Power of the Holy Spirit hundreds of other times.
(Our works are the result of our Faith: Our Faith is not the result of our works.)
James 2:18 “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Reading the Scripture closely and we learn what is being truly taught. What is being taught to us, is that James is challenging people who believe that the works that they do will be counted by GOD as justification to obtaining salvation apart from trusting entirely on the Grace of GOD that leads solely to Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. James is pointing out that if these people who have put their trust in their own works for salvation then true faith does not exist in them.
James further points out to the people, that his Faith does not exist because of any works, but any works that is accomplished through him is a result of his Faith. James being a believer and a follower of Jesus Christ, recognizes that he (James) is nothing and can accomplish no good work apart from the finished work that Jesus Christ did on the Cross to save James from the death sentence of sin that abided on him until the sin debt was paid in full.
Jesus Christ paid with his own blood (life) on the Cross the sin debt of every man, woman and child who had lived, who was living at the time, and who would ever live throughout all of world history. GOD the Father will forgive every single sin no matter how bad the sins are, of every person who will simply confess to GOD with their mouth that they are a sinner and believe (truly believe) that Jesus Christ is the SON of GOD, who was crucified and died on the Cross to save them from their sins, who was buried in the tomb, and on the third day…GOD raised Jesus Christ from the dead and now Jesus Christ is seated with GOD the Father on the Throne in Heaven. If you will believe (completely Trust) in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation then GOD is faithful to forgive you for all of your sins, cleansing you with the precious blood of Jesus washing your sins away, and then clothing you in white garments (with the righteousness) of His only begotten SON Jesus Christ, and give you Eternal Life (the Holy Spirit). There is no other way to be Saved.
Let no man or woman fool you in believing that there are other ways apart from the Grace of GOD through Faith in Jesus Christ alone to be Saved from your sins, eternal death and Hell.
Hear the word of the LORD:
Ephesians 2:8-10 “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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 3:19-21 “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Acts 4:1-12 New King James Version (NKJV)
Peter and John Arrested
“Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Addressing the Sanhedrin
And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Romans 1:16-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Just Live by Faith
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Colossians 1 New King James Version (NKJV)
Greeting
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their Faith in Christ
We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth; as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
Preeminence of Christ
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Reconciled in Christ
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Sacrificial Service for Christ
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”
Ephesians 2 New King James Version (NKJV)
By Grace Through Faith
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Brought Near by His Blood
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Christ Our Peace
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
Christ Our Cornerstone
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Romans 4 New King James Version (NKJV)
Abraham Justified by Faith
“4 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?[a] 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[b] 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
David Celebrates the Same Truth
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”[c]
Abraham Justified Before Circumcision
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
The Promise Granted Through Faith
13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”[d]) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.”[e] 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”[f]
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”
Footnotes:
Romans 4:1 Or Abraham our (fore)father according to the flesh has found?
Romans 4:3 Genesis 15:6
Romans 4:8 Psalm 32:1, 2
Romans 4:17 Genesis 17:5
Romans 4:18 Genesis 15:5
Romans 4:22 Genesis 15:6
(Our works are the result of our Faith: Our Faith is not the result of our works. )
by: James Nelson, a believer , follower and child of the Living GOD through Jesus Christ
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