The Grace of God in Salvation

What did Abraham discover? Salvation respects the glory of God. The Bible speaks in Romans 4:2 LITV, For if Abraham was justified by works, he has a boast, but not with God.

If Abraham was saved by his works and not by the grace of God alone, Abraham could boast and glory in his own salvation. Abraham could say, I contributed to my salvation, or I did this or I did that, but Abraham did not receive righteousness by works, but the Bible says, And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness- God receives the glory. Abraham glorified God because he believed God. To believe God brings glory to God. The best thing we can do to glorify God is to believe God. Always remember, we only believe God because of the grace of God.

The Bible says in 1John 5:10 LITV, The one believing in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son.

In simple terms, If a person believes not in the Lord Jesus Christ, that person is calling God a liar. No matter what the person does, if he or she does not believe in the true and living God, they cannot glorify God. The greatest thing a person can do to glorify God is to believe God. The Bible teaches that Biblical faith pleases God, because it glorifies God. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 LITV, But without faith it is impossible to please God. For it is right that the one drawing near to God should believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder to the ones seeking Him out. Again, to believe God, delights God, it glorifies God.

Understand that faith is not God authenticating it to me then I will believe, absolutely not, that is not faith. Faith reacts to the nature and the character of God. True faith believes in God because He is God. True faith believes God according to His Word (the Bible) and calls Him not a liar. 

If a person was saved by contributing by his own works, he would receive glory for that and take away glory from God, but when God saves by His grace in the Lord Jesus, that person receives no glory, and God receives all the glory as He should. We are not saved by our works, but by His work in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:8-9 LITV, For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that not anyone should boast. When a person preaches a gospel of faith and works, they are preaching another gospel, they are doing the work of Satan. The apostle Paul said in Galatians 1:8 LITV, But even if we, or an angel out of Heaven, should announce a gospel to you beside what we preached to you, let him be accursed. Strong language used by Paul. To believe in any other gospel, is a wicked sin against Almighty God.

Why do so many people want to work their salvation? The answer is pride. They would rather work their way to heaven, than humbly come before the Lord and recognize that they are helpless without Him, and need the grace of God.

Imagine, if a person wanted to buy a new house for someone that was worth a lot of money, say, one million pound; Imagine before He gave the keys to him, the man said to him, I cannot allow you to pay for all this house, let me put something towards it. So, the man reached into his pocket and gave him 50 pence. The other man paid almost one million pound, and he paid 50 pence. Then one day, his friends came around the house and they said to him, You have a nice house, and he said to them, Yes, me and the another man bought it. Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? To add to the grace of God is to destroy the glory that God deserves.

A person goes to heaven with an empty hand, for Christ did it all; We pay nothing, He has paid it all. In my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. When a person gets saved, God receives all the glory. There is nothing we can add to salvation. God will not share His glory with anyone else, and to bring our works into salvation, is an attempt to take away from God, which is a wicked sin.

Anyone who is depending on their works to play a part in their salvation, will not end up in heaven because they have not believed in Christ, the righteousness of God, where righteousness can only be found, and the forgiveness of sins. Christ said, It is finished. Christ has paid the sin debt in full for those who put their faith in Him, to save them by His perfect work. God said in Isaiah 64:6 LITV, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as a menstruous cloth. God will not accept our filthy rags. The justice of God is only satisfied in the Lord Jesus, and what He has done. There is no middle ground. The Lord Jesus said in John 8:24 LITV, Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.

There are many in this generation who are walking pompously to hell. There are people who think they are to good to be damned. There is no one too good to be damned, because there is no one good, but God. The Bible says in Romans 3:12 LITV, All turned away, they become worthless together, not one is doing goodness, not so much as one. The Lord Jesus said that No one is good except One, God! (Matthew 19:17b LITV). There is no one in heaven boasting about their part in salvation, they will not be there, they will be in hell, but only those boasting in the Lord Jesus Christ will be there, the One who paid for their sin for their salvation, when He laid down His Life on the Cross, and was buried, and raised for their justification. All glory goes to Him.

Abraham believed in God, and it was counted for righteousness, and the same for every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ- we have received the perfect righteousness of Christ. Praise the Lord! A believer in Christ does good works because they are saved, not to get saved.  A believer in Christ is saved unto (which means for) good works. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10 LITV, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:38 LITV, But the just shall live by faith.

A Weekly Sermon

This week's sermon is called "The Bondage of the Will" by Brian Borgman, preaching at Grace Community Church (Minden, Nevada) on SermonAudio. Click here to listen to the sermon. Click here to go to the Grace Community Church (Minden, Nevada) SermonAudio page on sermonaudio.com.

True Saving Faith in Christ

The Bible is very clear that a person is saved by the Grace of God alone through faith alone in Christ alone- The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-10 LITV For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that not anyone should boast; for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before prepared that we should walk in them,  nothing we do, not by our works of righteousness, for the Bible says our works of righteousness are like a menstruous cloth in the sight of the Holy God, for the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 LITV But we are all as the unclean thing , and all our righteousnesses are as a menstruous cloth. And we all fade as a leaf, and like the wind our iniquities take us away.  A believer is saved by the perfect Work of Christ, by His death, burial and resurrection - The Bible says in 1Corinthians 15:1-4 LITV But, brothers, I reveal to you the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, by which you also are being kept safe, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you in the first place what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures, - When a person come to Christ, he/she receives Christ's perfect righteousness, which is imputed to their account, which is shown in Romans 3:22 LITV even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ toward all and upon all those believing; for there is no difference, - A believer is declared righteous by God in the righteousness of Christ. The Bible says in Romans 4:8 LITV Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed the man to whom the Lord will in no way charge sin."  Christ has paid the sin debt fully for every believer in Him.

The Bible also teaches that nobody would ever come to the Lord Jesus Christ unless born from above (which means a spiritual birth). The Bible says in John 3:3 LITV Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.  The Bible tells us in the same chapter, this is a work of the Holy Spirit- John 3:5-7 LITV Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth out of water and Spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. That receiving birth from the flesh is flesh, and that receiving birth from the Spirit is spirit. Do not wonder because I told you, You must receive birth from above. If the Holy Spirit does not work in this way in an individual, a person will continue to hate God- continue to reject Christ- for the Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9 LITV The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is incurable; who can know it?  The Bible says in Romans 3:11 LITV There is none that understands, there is "not one that seeks after God. 

So, the Bible teaches a sinner is saved by Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and not by any works we do, but the Bible also says that a person who has true saving faith, will produce good fruit- good fruit will come forth. The Bible says in Philippians 1:6 LITV being persuaded of this very thing, that the One having begun a good work in you will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. 

The Bible says in 1John 3:9-10 LITV Everyone who has been begotten of God does not sin, because His seed abides in him, and he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God. When the Bible says, 'does not sin' and 'not able to sin', it means one who is born again does not habitually practice sin, and he/she is not able to habitually practice sin like they did before salvation- it does not mean sinless perfection, for the Bible says in 1John 1:8 LITV If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, but speaks of practice, which is seen in verse 10, By this the children of God and the children of the Devil are revealed: Everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God; also the one not loving his brother.  A person who is habitually practicing sin is not saved- they have never known the Lord Jesus Christ- never been saved. The Bible says that Christians are a new creation- 2Corinthians 5:17 LITV So that if anyone is in Christ, that one is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new! 

Obviously, when a person comes to Christ, they are a babe in Christ, and they need to mature in the faith- even matured Christians will continue to be sanctified through their Christian life, which will be completed at glorification- the Bible says in 1John 3:2 LITV Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it was not yet revealed what we shall be. But we know that if He is revealed, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is, but God continues to work in the lives of His people in Christ, like we have already seen in Philippians 1:6, through His Word 2Timothy 3:16-17 LITV Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be perfected, fully furnished for every good work, by the power of the Holy Spirit John 14:26 LITV but the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and shall remind you of all things that I said to you. 

To conclude, a saved person does not look to their works for salvation, but to whom they have their faith in for salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, but when a person comes to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in Him alone to save them by His death, burial and resurrection, the good fruit will naturally come, not to get saved, but because they are saved, and be evident of a regenerate person in Christ, who has a true saving faith in God, who is now a spiritual man (having the Spirit), and not a natural man (without the Spirit of God). 

What about Baptism?

When it comes to baptism, there are two main positions amongst evangelicals, infant (baby) baptism and believers baptism. Infant baptism is and I quote from the Westminster Larger Catechism Question 166, titled, Unto whom is baptism to be administered A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, and so strangers from the covenant of promise, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him, but infants descending from parents, either both, or but one of them, professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, are in that respect within the covenant, and to be baptized.

Believers baptism is and I quote from the Baptist Confession 1689 Chapter 29 Of Baptism, Paragraph 2, Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.

When we look at the two above, they are not in agreement when it comes to infant baptism. Those who believe in infant baptism believe that an infant without professing faith in Christ can be baptised, but those who believe in believers baptism believe that only those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can be baptised. 

Notice what it says in regard to the infant and the New Covenant from the WLC above- I quote, but infants descending from parents, either both, or but one of them, professing faith in Christ, and obedience to him, are in that respect within the covenant- they believe an infant with at least one parent professing faith in Christ, and obedient to Him, automatically places the infant within the New covenant, so they are to be baptised. 

Notice also that in the BCF above that, and I quote, Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance. An infant (a baby) is not able to profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ (which those who believe in infant baptism would agree) should then not be baptised- for baptism is for believers only. 

I am a reformed Baptist, so my position on baptism is believers baptism, which is clearly taught in the Bible. Nowhere in the New Testament will you ever find an infant being baptised, only those who came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

First, I want to look at the Great Commision found in Matthew 28:19-20. The Bible says, Going, then, disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age. Amen. (LITV)

Notice that the Lord Jesus Christ commanded- Going, then, disciple all nations- What this means is to make disciples of all nations, and then Jesus commands, baptizing them (the disciples) into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit- which refers to water baptism. Notice the order, first a disciple, which means a saved person (a believer), and then as a disciple (a saved person), be baptised. Christ is commanding disciples to be baptised- be saved and be baptised. That is believers baptism. 

But there are other verses I would like to bring to your attention, which again clearly shows that the only people within the New Covenant are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The verses are found in Jeremiah 31:33-34. The Bible says, But this shall be the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel: After those days, declares Jehovah, I will put My law in their inward parts, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall no longer each man teach his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah. For they shall all know Me, from the least of them even to the greatest of them, declares Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. (LITV)

In Jeremiah 31:33-34, it speaks about the New Covenant that will replace the Old Covenant. And in v.34, look at what God says about those who are within the New Covenant, God says, And they shall no longer each man teach his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah (Yahweh), Then God tells us why- For they shall all know me, from the least of them even to the greatest of them, declares Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more

Notice God says- For they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest. Those who are within the New Covenant know God, and as God says, And they shall no longer each man teach his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah. (Yahweh) For they shall all know me, from the least of them even to the greatest of them, declares Jehovah. (Yahweh) All who are within the covenant will know God, they have a personal relationship with God, which means that the only ones who are within the covenant are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, for they are the only ones who know God. An infant (a baby) is not able to come to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ- they are not able to understand the gospel message, thus they do not know God, and need to know God to be within the New Covenant, for God says, they shall all know me. 

Infants are to be raised according to the Bible, and teaching them about the true God and His saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Bible, and praying to God that He would save them by His grace through and in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

So, when we come back to baptism, baptism is for them who are within the New Covenant, and not for infants (baby). The only way for them to be within the New Covenant will be for them by the grace of God, come to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and only then, should they be baptized in obedience to the command of Christ. 

A Bondslave of The Lord Jesus Christ

The Bible says in Romans 1:1 LITV, Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated to the gospel of God. 

Here we see Paul wrote as a humble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul here does not exalt his apostleship to the Christians in Rome, but Paul humbled himself. Noticed Paul is first a slave (bond slave) of the Lord Jesus, and second a called apostle. For Paul to be a called apostle, he first needed to be called as a bond-slave. When we (Christians) look at ourselves as a bond-slave, it will humble ourselves before the living God, because we are bond-slaves, and the Lord Jesus is our Master. 

I want to focus on the word, “slave”. The word “slave” is the Greek word, “doulos”, and the basic implication of this word-described one who is bound to another. Paul the apostle was connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “doulos” can be translated, as some translations do, a bond-slave. Paul the apostle was humbled when he said, “a slave of Jesus Christ.”

In the Old Testament, there was a law about being a bond-slave. This is found in the Book of Exodus 21:1-6. The Bible teaches in Exodus 21:5-6 that a bond-slave is a slave who has been set free, but loves his master, refuses to go free, and remains with his master to serve him forever.  The servant, without force, and with joy, serves his master because He loves him. Paul understood this wonderful truth that sets you free. The bond-slave of Jesus Christ is free indeed. Paul understood that true liberty is being a bond-slave of the Lord Jesus, His Master, and our Master. The Lord Jesus had set him free, and that freedom was in the Lord Jesus. Paul loved his Master and he would never want to be separated from his Master, the Lord Jesus, but to remain with His Master, and serve Him forever. 

This is true for every true believer. Anybody who professed to believe in Christ, but walked away from Him, was never saved- for a true bond-slave has been saved by Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and will serve Him forever.  A true bond-slave of the Lord Jesus is saved by grace and kept by grace. All true believers are bond-slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible in 1Corthians 7:22-23 LITV says, For the one called a slave in the Lord is a freed man of the Lord. And likewise, the one called a free man is a slave of Christ. 23, You were redeemed with a price; do not become slaves of men.

Notice what Paul wrote, "For the one called a slave in the Lord is a freed man of the Lord. And likewise, the one called a free man is a slave of Christ", and then he wrote, "You were redeemed with a price."  Paul is referring to a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us with a price, which was Christ laying down His Life for us, and because He did, believers have been set free, and no longer slaves to sin and the devil, but a slave to Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, who treats us and loves us perfectly. Christians have been set free to love Him because He first loved us, and to serve Him, and to rejoice in Him forever more. To be a bond-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ means to be completely and entirely for the service of our Lord, which means in all that we do. 

There will be times when a true bond-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ will let their Master down, but when they do, they are displeased, and have no pleasure in what they have done because their desire is to please Him, their Master Jesus, in all things. The Bible says in 1Corinthians 10:31 LITV, Then whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things to the glory of God. 

Never forget brothers and sisters in Christ, we are a bond-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same as Paul was. We are to be humble as Paul was, like we see here in Romans 1:1, when he began to write this letter. A bond-slave of the Lord Jesus Christ is to delight in his Master's Word, which is the Bible, to serve Him and obey Him in the way they are to live as Christians according to the Word of God, and to please the One they serve, just like with Paul the apostle. 

What a wonderful thing to know the Lord Jesus, and to be His bond-slave, and to want to serve Him and obey Him and glorify Him, because we love Him, the One who made us His own because He first loved us by His grace. May the Lord help by His grace as we serve Him, our Good Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rejecting the Witness of God

Many people go around saying they believe in God, but they reject and do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ found in the Bible. The Apostle John in his first epistle makes it very clear concerning this matter. In 1John 5:10 LITV, he wrote, 'The one believing in the Son of God has the witness in himself. The one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son.'

Notice the apostle wrote, 'The one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son.'

The Bible says, 'The one not believing God has made Him a liar.' When a person does not believe the witness that God has given about His Son, that person is calling God a liar. Think about this: If someone calls somebody else a liar, he or she obviously does not believe what that person is telling them. It would be a contradiction in terms to say, 'I believe in God, but I do not believe the witness that God has given about His Son.' If a person does not believe in the Son, then that person is literally saying, 'I do not believe (trust) in God but reject Him.' To reject and not put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible and not trust in Him alone to save you by His death, burial and resurrection, means to reject God, and call Him a liar!

More Apologetics! The Jehovah's (false)👎 Witnesses

One of the false doctrines of the Jehovah's Witnesses is that Jesus is the first created being of Jehovah. They teach that Jesus is Michael the archangel, who was on this earth just as a man, not as the God-man. 

First of all, the Bible teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God (His eternal nature) and fully man (the nature He took on when He came to this earth), but One person, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the God-man. The Bible says in John 1:14a LITV, And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

I would like to look at 3 verses in the Bible that clearly teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is God- one verse is in the Old Testament, and two verses in the New Testament. The first verse we can find in Isaiah 45:23 LITV~ The Bible says, 'I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.'  The Lord God says, 'That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear'.

When we go to our next 2 verses in the New Testament found in Philippians 2:10-11 KJV- The Bible says, that at the name of Jesus "every knee should bow," of heavenly ones, and earthly ones, and ones under the earth, and "every tongue should confess" that Jesus Christ is "Lord," to the glory of God the Father'.

We clearly see the Deity of the Lord Jesus. God says in Isaiah 45:23, That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear, and in Philippians 2:10-11, we see that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

What applies to Yahweh God in Isaiah 45:23, applies exactly the same to Jesus Christ in Philippians 2:10-11, for Christ Jesus is Yahweh God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and because He is God, every knee will bow before Him and confess Him as Lord, to the glory of God the Father, even them who reject Christ and will spend eternity in hell.