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Walking the narrow road is not of your own merit, as it belongs to God.
Ephesians 2
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Taking on the position that we can lose our salvation means works justify us.
Yet we must contend with Matthew 25:31-46 which suggests that entrance into God's kingdom comes strictly by works alone. "Come...enter My Father's kingdom...for I was hungry and you fed Me--naked and you clothed Me..." Jesus never once mentions faith. Now we know this cannot possibly be. My take on this is that true faith in Jesus will automatically produce good works as described in Matthew 25, so by having true faith in Christ and the regenerative Power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives good works will follow just as naturally as an apple drops from a tree to the ground.
Yet we must contend with Matthew 25:31-46 which suggests that entrance into God's kingdom comes strictly by works alone. "Come...enter My Father's kingdom...for I was hungry and you fed Me--naked and you clothed Me..." Jesus never once mentions faith. Now we know this cannot possibly be. My take on this is that true faith in Jesus will automatically produce good works as described in Matthew 25, so by having true faith in Christ and the regenerative Power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives good works will follow just as naturally as an apple drops from a tree to the ground.
If you do not work out your salvation with fear and trembling while here on earth, and obey His commandments until Jesus' second coming, you will not be saved...rescued from the judgement of death...eternal destruction..seperated for all eternity from God...death. There will be no ETERNAL LIFE for you to enjoy in the Presence of God.
Verna I agree with your statement above, and also Thrillobytes.
The necessity of obedience to God's commandments to receive eternal life reflects the underlying principal that God is testing our faith and that only those who pass the test receive eternal life. See THE TESTING OF OUR FAITH
So then salvation is a gift, which is not earned by works, but you have to have earn it.
So god is love, and his love is unconditional, but if you don't believe in him, or even if you do believe in him but are a sinner, then he hates you so much that he will torture you forever in fire.
Up is down and left is right and 2+2 = 5 ...
This is traditional fundamental religion for you folks.
So then salvation is a gift, which is not earned by works, but you have to have earn it.
So god is love, and his love is unconditional, but if you don't believe in him, or even if you do believe in him but are a sinner, then he hates you so much that he will torture you forever in fire.
Up is down and left is right and 2+2 = 5 ...
This is traditional fundamental religion for you folks.
I call it a trickery of the devil, to keep people uncertain about their salvation to the point that when they do sin, they think that they aren't saved because they can't adhere to the long laundry list of sins that God forbids us from committing. God is love, and his mercy endures forever. Let's be mindful of the fact that when Jesus died on that cross, he died for you, for me, and for anyone who will just accept Him and trust on Him. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and because of our sins, past, present and future our salvation status still remains in tact.
With that said, how can we earn our ticket into heaven? It certainly can't by our own merits because if it had been, then we wouldn't need a savior. We work out our salvation as a condition of being transformed the moment we truely accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. We work out our salvation out of our obedience to God so that, if we are truely part of his family, we can strive to become more like him as we study His Word and daily pray to him for encouragement and for understanding. We work out our salvation because we realize that we didn't save ourselves, and because of that, the Holy Spirit should be indwelling in our hearts to keep us on that progressive path toward sanctification. We work out our salvation because won't don't have to work for it in order to be saved. All we have to simply do is trust on the Lord, bear the FRuit of the Spirit, and once we have totally surrendered all of our burdens and sins on the Lord, trusting in only Him, then one can truely say that he or she has worked out his Salvation before leaving this world.
I call it a trickery of the devil, to keep people uncertain about their salvation to the point that when they do sin, they think that they aren't saved because they can't adhere to the long laundry list of sins that God forbids us from committing. God is love, and his mercy endures forever. Let's be mindful of the fact that when Jesus died on that cross, he died for you, for me, and for anyone who will just accept Him and trust on Him. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and because of our sins, past, present and future our salvation status still remains in tact.
With that said, how can we earn our ticket into heaven? It certainly can't by our own merits because if it had been, then we wouldn't need a savior. We work out our salvation as a condition of being transformed the moment we truely accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour. We work out our salvation out of our obedience to God so that, if we are truely part of his family, we can strive to become more like him as we study His Word and daily pray to him for encouragement and for understanding. We work out our salvation because we realize that we didn't save ourselves, and because of that, the Holy Spirit should be indwelling in our hearts to keep us on that progressive path toward sanctification. We work out our salvation because won't don't have to work for it in order to be saved. All we have to simply do is trust on the Lord, bear the FRuit of the Spirit, and once we have totally surrendered all of our burdens and sins on the Lord, trusting in only Him, then one can truely say that he or she has worked out his Salvation before leaving this world.
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heart!
