The Gift
The Gift is what, that is missed in Scripture and you find it in Ephesians 2:8–9
Ephesians 2:8–9 (KJV): 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.
My old Pastor Bill Monroe spoke on it 12/8/2021, you have to listen to the message to understand what I am speaking of, which by the way was a good sermon. He spoke on Luke, just missed the opportunity to address the Gift we need To go to Paradise “Heaven”. One can have all the grace and faith and still not go, to be with Jesus, this is the passage of Scripture.
Luke 23:38–43 (KJV): 38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost, not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
You will find in Matthew 27, that both thieves railed on Jesus, then one had a change of heart and ended up going to Paradise “Heaven”/“Garden of Eden”, then my pastor said the oddest thing, that he has been a Preacher for 52 years and never understood, Why Jesus takes one sinner to Heaven and not the other. Here’s the message by Bill Monroe.
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Yet the Bible is full of why God allowed one sinner into Heaven and the other was sent to the place of Torment
First, let’s brake down Ephesians 2:8-9
“By grace”, the definition of Grace – (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings
One can say “God’s Righteousness At Christ Expense”
And he skips over “saved” that is the “Gift”, which brings us to the next part “through faith” . We are saved because of grace, through faith and that would seem simple enough, yet there are a lot of Faiths that do not lead or get a person to Heaven “Paradise” and that is the object of our faith, which brings us to several programs that involve something on our part, that God calls “Works”, programs like AA Alcoholics Anonymous and RU Reformers Unanimous, programs that have made it into the Church, by preachers that do not understand “How it works”.
Now Grace was given to all of humanity at the Cross, it is offered to all, yet not all receive it, that is “God’s Grace”.
Which brings us to the definition of Faith.
The definition of Faith-
1.The complete trust or conference in someone or something
2. Strong belief in God in the doctrines of religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
· A system of religious belief
· A strongly held belief or theory
For a Christian, it is the belief in a Person, who is much more than a person, a person who is also God and that is Jesus Christ.
Look closely now at Ephesians 2:8-9, God repeats it Twice “and that not of yourselves” v.9 “Not of works”, there are several faiths like Buddhism, Hinduism, and several ism’s that depends on the man, that only lead to Eternal Torment.
However, when Grace and Faith merge into one, it produces the “Gift” the gift of Life, to be “Born Again”, to be “Saved”, in what we call “Salvation”, that moment in time when we know that we know we are adopted into His Family and brought into His Kingdom, it’s what Christians have died for, from the Cross too Today. One can have all the Grace, God can give and all the Faith you want, because without the “Gift” a person will never get to Heaven and be with Jesus.
Until Grace and Faith come together
The Scripture speaks of the malefactor that goes to the place of Torment, it’s a “Choice” here are a few examples off the top of my head.
1. The rich young ruler, because of all that he owned turned away from Jesus and getting the answer to his Question “What must I do to be Save”, he just couldn’t give up his earthly wealth.
Matthew 19:16-26 (KJV): 16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Verse 16, he already starts wrong, with “Works”, which is in bold print.
2. Everyone can probably quote John 3:16, yet fail to read the following verses that say men love darkness and stay in it, rather than come to the light “Jesus”
John 3:18–21 (KJV ): 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
3. Agrippa told Paul “ thou almost persuaded me to be a Christian”, Agrippa knows the Scriptures, like so many
Read Acts 26
Acts 26:27–28 (KJV): 27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. 28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
4. The god of this World, blinds the minds of men
2 Corinthians 4:3–4 (KJV): 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5. The story of the 10 lepers, that we’re healed, yet only one came back to glorify God and he was made whole and got saved
Luke 17:12–19 (KJV): 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Nine lepers didn’t go to Jesus after they were healed, nor did the Scriptures say they glorified God, the one thing that all Born Again Believers do, when they get “Truly Saved”.
These are just a few of many stories in our Bible.
God tells us, we have the “Law and the Prophets” in the story of the death of the rich man and Lazarus, and Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, we have a Bible, John 1:1 tells us the Word is God “Jesus”. The Thief on the Cross, had Jesus in front of him, he knew the works of Jesus and still wanted to see a miracle and missed the miracle that was right in front of him.
The other thief had a change of heart, where Grace and Faith came together and got Saved
In Ephesians, it speaks of works, and I will address in the next post covering “Works”, for there are two types of works, man's works and the work of God.
Once again
One can have all the Grace, God can give and all the Faith you want, because without the “Gift” a person will never get to Heaven and be with Jesus.
Until Grace and Faith come together
This is just a post an explanation of how grace and faith, that has to come together and when that occurs, the result is Salvation, a person gets Saved, to be Born Again, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, and Life Himself “Jesus” – The GIFT 💝
The Cross Invite, “Never to late, to come to the Cross”
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