“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”
No one is ever saved by good works because no amount of works that we do can earn us salvation. The consequences of sin is death, works cannot pay that debt or satisfy the penalty. Good works can neither settle the sin issue nor purchase righteousness.
Anyone doing good works to merit salvation is living in debt which he cannot pay for the whole of eternity. Because of the love that God has for us, he took upon himself the penalty for our sins. He paid the penalty fully on the cross so man can receive salvation without having to pay the price himself. Salvation is not cheap, it is free. Even the saving faith is not of our own effort, it is the gift of God not of works.
Some people have a wrong notion that to be saved, one has to do a level of good works so that God can offer him salvation seeing he has tried. If we try to attain salvation through personal effort, the cross or Christ will profit us nothing.
God knowing that there is nothing we can do of our own to attain salvation gave it to us by his grace. It is unmerited, unearned, undeserved.
However, we are expected to do good works after we are saved. The new nature we received at new birth, God’s divine nature enables us to do good works. Grace is a product of God’s love. While mercy takes away the anger, the wrath and the penalty we deserve, grace brings to us the acceptance, the forgiveness, the sonship, the righteousness, the divine nature and the blessings we do not deserve.
We are saved from sin, from sickness, from curses, from poverty, from death and from eternal wrath by grace. Salvation is received freely because Jesus paid the price. It is not a function of how much we pray, fast, give, serve or even how hard we work. Grace is a product of God’s love by which we are forgiven, justified, sanctified, accepted and transformed.
PRAYER: Help me Lord to appreciate your grace in my life.
Rev. Vincent Diolu