Yesterday evening, we met an African American lady in Walmart. She was
shopping and we began to converse on various topics. In the process, she
told us that she was raised in the Church of God in Christ denomination.
She proceeded to tell us so many things that she went through in her life.
We could see that our meeting her was NOT by accident. God had
orchestrated that meeting with her. She was a recovering alcoholic and
drug addict, divorced and partially disabled. She had abusive relationships
with men, dabbled in Budism and homosexuality. Yet she still knew many
of the verses in the Bible that she was taught when she was a child. She
said to us, "I have tried to live good but gave up. I became bitter towards
God because I was living right and doing good things and nothing was going
right for me."
We listened for several minutes as she poured her heart out to us about her
drug addictions and failed relationships. We knew, just from the
conversation with her, that she thought one had to be saved through good
works. (Imagine a woman raised in her Pentecostal church and she did NOT
know that one must be saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. )
Finally I told her, "Well, we cannot be saved by our works. It is by grace
alone through faith in Jesus Christ." Upon hearing that, she had the most
puzzled and lost look on her face, as if what I said was the first time that she
had ever heard it. She told us that she had never heard that before.
She had never heard the gospel of Grace before. She began to weep as I told
her that, "You can never be righteous enough to get into Heaven. Jesus was
the only righteous One and He paid the price on the cross for your sins. He
died for you. All you need to do is receive Him as your Savior and put your
trust in Him. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. You don't
need a bath to come to Jesus. He will save you just as you are and change
you." She had tears rolling down her cheeks as we witnessed to her.
We quoted Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man
should boast" and she had never heard it before. She knew and quoted a lot
of Scripture to us but this one was foreign to her. Why?
I can relate very well to her because I also grew up in a Pentecostal
denomination AOG, in a certain church which emphasized works and signs
and wonders. I never understood the grace message. What I knew and what I
was taught in the youth groups was a bunch of rules but not Scripture, not
doctrine but RULES.
I am not picking on the Assemblies of God. The AOG denomination believes
that one can only be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ but sadly,
that message is many times lost, depending on which church you attend.
Most christian denominations today hardly preach who Jesus is; so it is not
surprising that many Christians are confused. The emphasis is on gifts of the
Holy Spirit, tithing, promise keeping, marriage building, get out of debt,
your destiny in 5 easy steps, etc. but the preaching of what Jesus did for us
on the cross is not their MAIN message. And yet it is most important. He is
the Lamb, who died in our place-- for our sins and who gives eternal life to
all who will believe. This life in Him is eternal and is not based upon our
performance...our salvation is not conditional but rather unconditional. He
saved us and keeps us saved. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Growing up in church services and youth group, it was all about our works,
our self-rigtheouness ["living for Jesus" and "trying to live for Him"]
but we never learned that once you get saved, Jesus clothes you with
His righteousness and that God enables you to live for
Him.
Growing up, my youth group consisted of about 45 kids. Only a handful of
them, including myself, were actually saved and trusting in Jesus as Savior
and Lord. The rest were there because their parents forced them go and they
did not want to be there. They needed to hear the Gospel but the Gospel was
not preached very often and when it was, there were always conditions
attached to it.
What my pastors taught was that: Jesus saves you but then after you are
saved, you have to "maintain your salvation by your good works" and
"not sinning." This erroneous doctrine is still being taught within many
Pentecostal denominations. It denies the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We cannot add one thing to our salvation. God is Savior and Him
alone. Our works cannot save us and our works cannot maintain our
salvation. It is Christ who saves us and keeps us-- this is what the bible says.
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that holy Spirit of promise,
In my youth, I never understood that it is the Lord who keeps me. I thought
I had to maintain my own salvation by good works and that if I sinned, I
would go to hell. There is no "blessed assurance" in such a teaching. No, it is
the Lord who saved me and kept me and keeps me saved by His own power.
Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
I was also reading a corrupted version of the Bible which did not help
matters because those perverted bible versions take out key verses on the
atonement, blood, doctrine of grace, etc. and cause the reader to receive a
different gospel, ("works" gospel) when they finish reading. (click here for
more information on why the King James is superior.)
I often thought, years back, that if I sinned and did not confess it before I
died that I would not go to Heaven. And there are MANY out there in the
Pentecostal movements and other denominations who think this way. They
need to be taught the basics and fundamentals of our faith. Pastors need to
get back to Jesus and preaching the message of the Cross-- what Jesus did
for us when He died and rose again! Preach it to the saved and unsaved. Our
faith must be in Christ Jesus alone and not in our good deeds and efforts.
The emphasis should also be on what happens after one gets saved, according
to the Bible. God should get all the glory-- from the day we get saved and for
all eternity. We cannot glory in ourselves. We cannot give ourself a pat on
the back and say, "I did really good today...I am living for Jesus. I am so
proud of myself." This kind of talk should be banned, never to be said and
never to be thought of. The Lord Jesus saves us and keeps us. God is the
ONLY ONE who gets ALL glory from our lives. We cannot glory in
ourselves. Jesus is the Only Savior.
Spiritual pride is rooted in "Look at me...I am living for Jesus. I do so much
for Him..." You could not breathe another second if God did not give you
life. You would not do one thing if the Lord did not enable you to do it. He
gets all the glory for without Him, you can do nothing.
Heb 13:20-21 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ;
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
1Peter 5:10-11 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect,
stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
I received Jesus, as my personal Lord and Savior, at the age of 8 and it took
me over 20 years to finally understand what Grace though faith in Christ
Jesus meant. This is one of the reasons that we stress teaching the Word of
God-- The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Grace and the
inheritance that a believer has in Christ Jesus. The fundamentals of the Faith
must be taught. Refuting false doctrine must be done by using the Word of
God.
People need to hear the Gospel message. Many Christians need to be
reminded of the Gospel message of God's grace. Too many people have
religious pride in their own self righteousness and good deeds and how that
they "live for the Lord". We are bought with a price and Christ Jesus paid
the price on the cross for our sins. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot
glory in our good deeds. We cannot "maintain our salvation." It is Jesus
who saves us and keeps us. He is our Shepherd. He leads us through life. We
have to glory in Christ Jesus ALONE!
Let's get back to the basics of the faith. Let's get back to the Lord Jesus: His
life, death, burial and resurrection and the Grace of God. Let's stick to the
simplistic Gospel message that Christ Jesus saves us and keeps us.
If you stick to the Gospel and to the Bible, you will see souls saved. People
are sick of powerless religion. They want the Lord but just don't know where
to find Him because the preaching of the Bible is absent today in many
churches. So they go to church looking for the answers and receive religion.
This should not be so. Religion does not save. Joining a church does not
save. Only Jesus saves! How will people get saved unless they hear the
message of God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ? Let's get back to
the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ:
Eph 2:5-9 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)And hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he
might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
2Thess 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father,
which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good
hope through grace,
1John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Copyright © 2001 Cobblestone Road Ministries
All Rights Reserved
Other Articles of Interest
Wrapped In God's Love - The Assurance of Salvation
The Greatest Sin
Generational Curses For the Believer?
Jimmy Swaggart and The Cross- An Incomplete Presentation?
What About The Prosperity Gospel?
The Law vs. Grace
A Religion of Four Letters
Did Jesus Suffer In Hell? The Biblical Answer is "No!"
The Lord Jesus said "I Am The Vine"
shopping and we began to converse on various topics. In the process, she
told us that she was raised in the Church of God in Christ denomination.
She proceeded to tell us so many things that she went through in her life.
We could see that our meeting her was NOT by accident. God had
orchestrated that meeting with her. She was a recovering alcoholic and
drug addict, divorced and partially disabled. She had abusive relationships
with men, dabbled in Budism and homosexuality. Yet she still knew many
of the verses in the Bible that she was taught when she was a child. She
said to us, "I have tried to live good but gave up. I became bitter towards
God because I was living right and doing good things and nothing was going
right for me."
We listened for several minutes as she poured her heart out to us about her
drug addictions and failed relationships. We knew, just from the
conversation with her, that she thought one had to be saved through good
works. (Imagine a woman raised in her Pentecostal church and she did NOT
know that one must be saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. )
Finally I told her, "Well, we cannot be saved by our works. It is by grace
alone through faith in Jesus Christ." Upon hearing that, she had the most
puzzled and lost look on her face, as if what I said was the first time that she
had ever heard it. She told us that she had never heard that before.
She had never heard the gospel of Grace before. She began to weep as I told
her that, "You can never be righteous enough to get into Heaven. Jesus was
the only righteous One and He paid the price on the cross for your sins. He
died for you. All you need to do is receive Him as your Savior and put your
trust in Him. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. You don't
need a bath to come to Jesus. He will save you just as you are and change
you." She had tears rolling down her cheeks as we witnessed to her.
We quoted Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man
should boast" and she had never heard it before. She knew and quoted a lot
of Scripture to us but this one was foreign to her. Why?
I can relate very well to her because I also grew up in a Pentecostal
denomination AOG, in a certain church which emphasized works and signs
and wonders. I never understood the grace message. What I knew and what I
was taught in the youth groups was a bunch of rules but not Scripture, not
doctrine but RULES.
I am not picking on the Assemblies of God. The AOG denomination believes
that one can only be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ but sadly,
that message is many times lost, depending on which church you attend.
Most christian denominations today hardly preach who Jesus is; so it is not
surprising that many Christians are confused. The emphasis is on gifts of the
Holy Spirit, tithing, promise keeping, marriage building, get out of debt,
your destiny in 5 easy steps, etc. but the preaching of what Jesus did for us
on the cross is not their MAIN message. And yet it is most important. He is
the Lamb, who died in our place-- for our sins and who gives eternal life to
all who will believe. This life in Him is eternal and is not based upon our
performance...our salvation is not conditional but rather unconditional. He
saved us and keeps us saved. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Growing up in church services and youth group, it was all about our works,
our self-rigtheouness ["living for Jesus" and "trying to live for Him"]
but we never learned that once you get saved, Jesus clothes you with
His righteousness and that God enables you to live for
Him.
Growing up, my youth group consisted of about 45 kids. Only a handful of
them, including myself, were actually saved and trusting in Jesus as Savior
and Lord. The rest were there because their parents forced them go and they
did not want to be there. They needed to hear the Gospel but the Gospel was
not preached very often and when it was, there were always conditions
attached to it.
What my pastors taught was that: Jesus saves you but then after you are
saved, you have to "maintain your salvation by your good works" and
"not sinning." This erroneous doctrine is still being taught within many
Pentecostal denominations. It denies the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We cannot add one thing to our salvation. God is Savior and Him
alone. Our works cannot save us and our works cannot maintain our
salvation. It is Christ who saves us and keeps us-- this is what the bible says.
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that holy Spirit of promise,
In my youth, I never understood that it is the Lord who keeps me. I thought
I had to maintain my own salvation by good works and that if I sinned, I
would go to hell. There is no "blessed assurance" in such a teaching. No, it is
the Lord who saved me and kept me and keeps me saved by His own power.
Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
I was also reading a corrupted version of the Bible which did not help
matters because those perverted bible versions take out key verses on the
atonement, blood, doctrine of grace, etc. and cause the reader to receive a
different gospel, ("works" gospel) when they finish reading. (click here for
more information on why the King James is superior.)
I often thought, years back, that if I sinned and did not confess it before I
died that I would not go to Heaven. And there are MANY out there in the
Pentecostal movements and other denominations who think this way. They
need to be taught the basics and fundamentals of our faith. Pastors need to
get back to Jesus and preaching the message of the Cross-- what Jesus did
for us when He died and rose again! Preach it to the saved and unsaved. Our
faith must be in Christ Jesus alone and not in our good deeds and efforts.
The emphasis should also be on what happens after one gets saved, according
to the Bible. God should get all the glory-- from the day we get saved and for
all eternity. We cannot glory in ourselves. We cannot give ourself a pat on
the back and say, "I did really good today...I am living for Jesus. I am so
proud of myself." This kind of talk should be banned, never to be said and
never to be thought of. The Lord Jesus saves us and keeps us. God is the
ONLY ONE who gets ALL glory from our lives. We cannot glory in
ourselves. Jesus is the Only Savior.
Spiritual pride is rooted in "Look at me...I am living for Jesus. I do so much
for Him..." You could not breathe another second if God did not give you
life. You would not do one thing if the Lord did not enable you to do it. He
gets all the glory for without Him, you can do nothing.
Heb 13:20-21 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the
everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ;
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
1Peter 5:10-11 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect,
stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
I received Jesus, as my personal Lord and Savior, at the age of 8 and it took
me over 20 years to finally understand what Grace though faith in Christ
Jesus meant. This is one of the reasons that we stress teaching the Word of
God-- The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Grace and the
inheritance that a believer has in Christ Jesus. The fundamentals of the Faith
must be taught. Refuting false doctrine must be done by using the Word of
God.
People need to hear the Gospel message. Many Christians need to be
reminded of the Gospel message of God's grace. Too many people have
religious pride in their own self righteousness and good deeds and how that
they "live for the Lord". We are bought with a price and Christ Jesus paid
the price on the cross for our sins. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot
glory in our good deeds. We cannot "maintain our salvation." It is Jesus
who saves us and keeps us. He is our Shepherd. He leads us through life. We
have to glory in Christ Jesus ALONE!
Let's get back to the basics of the faith. Let's get back to the Lord Jesus: His
life, death, burial and resurrection and the Grace of God. Let's stick to the
simplistic Gospel message that Christ Jesus saves us and keeps us.
If you stick to the Gospel and to the Bible, you will see souls saved. People
are sick of powerless religion. They want the Lord but just don't know where
to find Him because the preaching of the Bible is absent today in many
churches. So they go to church looking for the answers and receive religion.
This should not be so. Religion does not save. Joining a church does not
save. Only Jesus saves! How will people get saved unless they hear the
message of God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ? Let's get back to
the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ:
Eph 2:5-9 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)And hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he
might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us
through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
2Thess 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father,
which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good
hope through grace,
1John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
2Peter 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Copyright © 2001 Cobblestone Road Ministries
All Rights Reserved
Other Articles of Interest
Wrapped In God's Love - The Assurance of Salvation
The Greatest Sin
Generational Curses For the Believer?
Jimmy Swaggart and The Cross- An Incomplete Presentation?
What About The Prosperity Gospel?
The Law vs. Grace
A Religion of Four Letters
Did Jesus Suffer In Hell? The Biblical Answer is "No!"
The Lord Jesus said "I Am The Vine"
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