Let’s suppose that two people both get brand new cars. Each car is identical. Each car is immaculate. Each car is “top of the line”. Yet…there is one MAJOR difference in the two cars: one was bought and purchased by the owner, while the other car was a FREE GIFT. The cars are IDENTICAL…yet the method of reception is COMPLETELY different.
Salvation is by GRACE ALONE. That grace is received by FAITH…and not by WORKS.
Yet, the reception of a FREE GIFT does not exclude that gift from being restricted…having boundaries, parameters, rules and regulations by which that FREE GIFT is to be used and experienced.
Regarding the gift of the car mentioned above, the car that was received as a FREE GIFT is still subject to the same laws and regulations as the car that was purchased by its owner. Although the method in which the car was RECEIVED differs from the other car, in reality each car still comes with REQUIREMENTS.
For instance:
1. Each car needs FUEL to actually work! Regardless of the type of fuel, the car must be FILLED with fuel to be of any effect. So…fuel is REQUIRED for the cars to perform!
2. Each car requires a driver! Without a driver, the car is USELESS!
3. Each car requires a LICENSE to be operated! Operating the car without a LICENSE can cause the owner to end up in jail!
4. Each car must have OIL! Without oil present, the engine will SHUT DOWN! A car without a working engine is simply a SHELL!
5. Each car must have a REGISTRATION/TAG! Not only is a tag required, but that tag/registration must be renewed YEARLY.
6. Each car may be subject to INSPECTION! In many states, cities and localities it is REQUIRED that an inspection be done YEARLY! This INSPECTION covers many aspects of SAFETY and PROPER OPERATION of the vehicle…usually focusing on the EMISSIONS of the vehicle, and also ANY aspects of the vehicle that could cause DANGER to the operator of the vehicle (such as properly operating lights, signals, steering, linkages, braking, acceleration, etc.)!
7. Each car needs a BATTERY! This BATTERY must be the PROPER battery: two DOUBLE A’s will not do! The BATTERY allows the car to be started…also allowing the electrical system to OPERATE! If the car cannot be started…then the car cannot be USED!
8. Each car needs an ALTERNATOR! The ALTERNATOR is the source by which the BATTERY receives POWER…it keeps the battery CHARGED!
9. Each car needs A STEERING WHEEL! Without a GUIDANCE system…we cannot DIRECT the car in the proper DIRECTION! We could not CONTROL our DIRECTION without a proper steering mechanism!
10. Each car needs a THERMOSTAT! The thermostat controls the TEMPERATURE at which the car is OPERATING! A car needs to operate at a TEMPERATURE that is not COLD…nor does the car need to operate at a TEMPERATURE that is TOO HOT (ready to “boil over”)! The THERMOSTAT keeps the car COOL in the HEAT!
(THIS LIST CAN GO ON AND ON…each having powerful applications to the Christian Life!)
Our Salvation and subsequent Christian WALK are much the same as the cars above. The truth of Salvation by GRACE ALONE is a real and essential doctrine of Scripture. This truth CANNOT be changed, modified, nor overlooked! Grace is THE essential doctrine of Salvation! Yet, once received, there is MUCH MORE involved in the “living out” of that Salvation…the “WALK” of a Christian life!
Matthew 5 (NKJV)
Themes: Readiness, faithfulness, good works, wasted opportunity, responsibility
(Notice that the one with 5 talents and the one with 2 talents received the SAME reward, thus the focus and truth that FAITHFULNESS is the issue, not RESULTS! This is a POWERFUL and MUCH NEEDED revelation of Scripture! Larger ministries and prominent ministers do NOT receive a greater reward! Be FAITHFUL with what God has given you…use the resources God has provided…be FAITHFUL, and do not measure your SUCCESS nor your RELEVANCE based on SIZE AND SCOPE of ministry! Just a “side note” to this post…so be encouraged in your ministry! Follow God…be faithful…and God will bestow on you eternal blessings fit for a king! Amen!)
1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. 14 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' 21 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' 23 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' 24 Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' 26 But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' 31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' 41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' 44 Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Matthew 21:18-19
The Cursing of the Fig Tree - Jesus curses the fig tree due to its lack of fruit: there were no figs, which was the purpose of its existence. The Christian life MUST produce fruit. There MUST be good works. We MUST be PRODUCTIVE.
Matthew 21:43 (Regarding the Parable of the Landowner) We MUST “bear fruit”!
"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”
James 2
Themes: The sin of PARTIALITY, transgressing God’s laws, mercy, OBEDIENCE, “faith without works is dead”, justification
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 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. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
We CANNOT make our FREE GIFT (Salvation by GRACE ALONE) useless. We are COMMANDED by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to OBEY His commandments!
John 14:15
"If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
John 15:10
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.”
The key to Salvation is GRACE ALONE…which is a FREE GIFT given by FAITH.
The key to the Christian Life is OBEDIENCE and FAITHFULNESS to God and His Word.
Salvation is accepting Jesus as SAVIOR: Living the Christian Life is accepting Jesus as LORD!
God bless!
Ron
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