The Gift of God

"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). Believers are saved by receiving God's gift in Christ. That means we can never earn nor deserve it. Salvation is the gift of God, and not by our works.

You may hear some people saying, "We are all working to go to the same place." They imply that somehow, if we work enough for God, then we may be assured of heaven. Notice that the Bible clearly teaches the opposite. Salvation is God's gift to you, and not by your works. "It is the gift of God, not of works."

The gift of God is salvation received by faith alone in Christ. Faith can never be the meritorious cause of salvation. Faith is the means of receiving the gift of God in Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the fulness of God's grace incarnate (John 1:14). You are saved by grace, through faith in Christ.

The gift of God is salvation received by trusting and relying upon Christ alone. He died for your sins and was raised for your justification (1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 3:24). Understand that faith itself is a gift of God's saving grace. Faith is one of the three abiding gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13).

The gift of God is salvation by grace alone and "not of works." God does something in you, that you could never do for yourself. Salvation is God's gift of grace that changes our hearts, enabling us to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ."It is the gift of God, not of works." 

If Your Faith Abides

If your faith abides, God working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:20-21). God who began the good work in you will complete it (Philippians 1:6). Give the glory to God that He is working in you according to His good pleasure.

If your faith abides, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three (1 Corinthians 13:13). We receive abiding faith from God the Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. It is faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. The Spirit of grace enables you to believe the gospel of Christ with faith that abides.

If your faith abides, it is not just mental assent nor human effort. The Holy Spirit must bring you to a point of confidence, assurance, and trust in the living Christ. It's abiding faith that the world didn't give you, and the world can't take it away. Faith pleases God, because it is the very gift of faith that He works in you. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).  

If your faith abides, it is one of the three abiding gifts of the Holy Spirit. The grace of God enables you to have faith that abides. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). The Spirit of God, through the word of God, gives you faith that abides (Romans 10:17).

When We Are Saved

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "The work of regeneration and the act of faith which brings justification to the penitent sinner are simultaneous and must, in the nature of the case, always be so." Spurgeon made it clear that regeneration and saving faith cannot be separated. 

Spurgeon maintained that regeneration and saving faith occur simultaneously. That is to say, we cannot be born again without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, we cannot truly have saving faith in Christ and not be born again (1 John 5:1). Spurgeon used an illustration to show the connection between new birth and believing in Christ. They are like two spokes on a wagon wheel. Both of them move together as the wheel turns.

We are saved, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). We are saved when our hearts are changed by the grace of God to believe on Christ (Romans 10:10). Conversion is our response to the Gospel, through repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).

Therefore, regeneration is new birth for all who believe on Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 10:9). Likewise, regeneration means we are born again believers in Christ (John 1:12-13). We are saved, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31). New birth and believing the gospel are inseparable.

Bondage of the Will

It may come as a surprise to some that John Wesley recognized the bondage of man's will in sin. He had no doubt about it. He wrote about anyone in the bondage of sin. "Though he strive with all his might, he cannot conquer, sin is mightier than he. He would fain escape; but he is so fast in prison, that he cannot get forth."

Wesley wrote further about the bondage of man's will in sin. "Such is the freedom of his will; free only to evil; free to drink iniquity like water; to wander farther and farther from the living God, and do more despite the Spirit of grace."

Statements like we have read from Wesley shows the influence of Reformation theology. Even more so, he followed the teaching of Scripture on the bondage of man's will in sin (Romans 3:10-18). He realized that man as a sinner is in a hopeless situation without the grace of God in Christ. He knew that the answer was found only through faith in Christ. "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). That is free will in Christ alone.

Wesley wrote from the background of Reformation theology, when he wrote of man's bondage in sin. He proved to be sound according to Scripture on this issue. No wonder that Charles Spurgeon said of Wesley, "if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley."

How Christ Is for You

Charles Spurgeon wrote: "Jesus will never betray the confidence we place in Him. As you place your faith and trust in Him, remember that He is made unto us 'wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption' (1 Corinthians 1:30)." 

Christ is your redemption. The price paid to set you free from the curse of sin and condemnation is nothing but the blood of Jesus. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are blood bought. "Jesus paid it all." Every believer's redemption from sin and condemnation is Christ crucified and risen from the dead. 

Christ is your righteousness. Our self-righteousness will never please God. By faith in Christ, every believer receives the only righteousness that can possibly please God. We become righteous by faith in Christ alone. His righteousness is accounted to us. Believers receive the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Christ is your sanctification. Trying to sanctify ourselves is nothing more than self-righteousness. Only the blood of Christ and the Spirit of Christ can surely sanctify you before God. Christ alone is every believer's sanctification.

Christ is your wisdom. He is every believer's Counselor, sharing with us the wisdom of God. His words in Scripture speak wisdom and counsel for your life situations. Read his words in the New Testament and apply them to your life.

Faith that Pleases God

"But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is" (Hebrews 11:6). The only way that you can please God is by faith, because it is the evidence that God is working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:20-21). 

Faith that pleases God is in the promises of God. Faith stands upon the word of God (Romans 10:17). God's word promises we are saved by grace through faith. "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

Faith that pleases God is an abiding gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13). Faith is focused on the Son of God, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. That's good news known as the gospel of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

Faith that pleases God is more than mental assent or human effort. It is a result of the Holy Spirit bringing you to a point of confidence, assurance, and trust in the living God. It's faith that the world didn't give you, and the world can't take it away. The gift of faith comes from the Holy Spirit working in you. "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

Who We Are In Christ

Christ not only died for us, but according to Scripture, all believers died in him and rose again from the dead in him. God sees all true believers as one body in Christ. Our corporate identity is who we are in Christ. The apostle Paul testified, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). 

John Murray wrote, "This also Paul states explicitly, 'But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more, death has no more dominion over him" (Romans 6:8-9). Just as Christ died and rose again, so all who died in him rose again  with him."

Adam was the representative of mankind in sin and death. Therefore, we are all born with a sin nature and appointed unto death. Christ is every believer's representative in his death and resurrection. We died in Christ. We are risen in Christ. Because he lives forever in a glorified body, we shall be glorified together in him with life eternal.

Baptism displays our corporate identity as believers in Christ. "Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). The apostle Paul concludes, "For you died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).