SALVATION EQUATION

A (Your Part)  +  B (God’s Part)  =  C (Eternal Life)


PART 7 / 12
The Free Gift of Eternal Life


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The Free Gift

“The free gift of eternal life” is another phrase the Apostle Paul used that has preachers confused today.  The argument goes like this … if eternal life is a gift, then we don’t have to do anything, right?  I mean, if we have to do something to obtain eternal life, then how’s it a gift?  See the confusion?  So let me clear this issue up today, very easily, by going back to our Salvation Equation (SE).

It’s this simple … the free gift is term “B” in the SE!  The Messiah, Jesus Christ’s death, was the gift!  This is why John 3:16 starts with … “For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten son.”  See the “giving” part?  God gave us a gift.  Listen, we didn’t do ANYTHING to cause God to send the Messiah to die for us.  We were all sinners.  We didn’t deserve it.  God did it ONLY because He loved us, and He promised He would.  That’s it.  This is why Paul wrote: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5).  See, it wasn’t anything we did that made God send Jesus to die for us.  It was simply God’s gift to all of us.  And this gift was God fulfilling his duty, or part B, in the SE.

And please understand … the REAL GIFT was Christ’s death.  It’s his sinless death, that now sits there available to ALL of us to pay OUR death sentence for the sins we committed.  In other words, we can obtain “forgiveness for sins” through Christ’s death, and ultimately eternal life.  This is why Paul wrote the following verses:

“For the wages of sin is death; but the GIFT of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23)

“There is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s free gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift to many through this other man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:15)

See, it’s so clear … Jesus Christ is the gift, and the gift is the evidence of God’s grace.  This goes right back to part 5 of our series, where I taught you Paul’s phrase, “We are saved by God’s grace, through Our faith”.  Remember, the Greek word for grace meant by extension … a gift!  Well, there you go.  Paul is saying ALL OF THAT in this one verse … God’s grace, or kindness, gave us the free gift of the Messiah, Christ Jesus, the one through whose death we can obtain eternal life.

What About Term A

Alright, so what about Term A in the SE?  If it’s a gift, then why do we still have to do something to obtain eternal life?  How does that work?  Well, it’s like this parable … A certain man has decided to give you a free gift of one million dollars.  You did absolutely NOTHING to earn it!  He’s just giving it to you.  But here’s the deal … the money is in a safety deposit box in a bank in Portland, Oregon, so if you want it, you’ll have to go and get it.

So let’s say for example you live in Florida, it might take you two weeks to drive out there and back to get the money.  It’s going to take your time, money, and energy to go and get the gift.  You’ll have to spend for gas and lodging along the way, and you’ll work hard driving your car thousands of miles.  So let me ask you a question … does this mean the one million dollars is NOT a gift now, because you had to go and get it.  You had to do some work to obtain it?  Of course it’s still a gift!  You did NOTHING to earn the one million dollars.  You did NOTHING to make the man give you the money.  He just gave it to you freely!

Well, likewise, you did NOTHING to make God send Jesus to die for you.  His sinless death was a FREE gift from God.  But if you want it, you’re going to have to go and get the gift.  You’re going have to DO something!  And you know what you gotta do?  The works of love!  The 10LC!  Those works of love are the evidence of your faith.  Those works of love are the proof of your repentance.  Remember, it’s your repentance FOR God’s forgiveness of sins.  So if you’ll DO THAT, live by the 10LC, you will obtain the free gift of eternal life.

And here’s the deal … your ENTIRE LIFE is the journey of going to get that gift.  It won’t stop until the day you take your last breath.  And if on that day you are found faithfully fighting the GOOD fight of faith, living by the 10LC, then you will most assuredly receive the free gift of eternal life through Christ’s death.  This is why Jesus said, “Narrow is the WAY that leads to eternal life” (Matthew 7:14).  See, it’s a WAY.  It’s a JOURNEY that leads to eternal life, and that journey is the way of love, keep God’s 10LC.

Well, Paul’s phrase “the free gift” makes sense now, doesn’t it?  It’s so simple.  The SE clears it up immediately!  Isn’t it amazing how the SE is making sense of ALL Bible verses about salvation, grace, faith, repentance, love, etc?  I mean seriously, if each verse in the Bible about “how to obtain eternal life” were a puzzle piece, we’d know where they all fit.  We don’t have to shy away from any Bible verse.  We can snap them all together perfectly, and you know what the final picture would be?  The beautiful SE!!!  Praise the Lord!

Warning!

So listen, I want you to keep an eye out for preachers today using this “free gift” phrase, in an effort to get you to believe you don’t have do ANYTHING to make heaven.  And specifically, they REALLY want you to believe “living by the 10LC” is not necessary!  They are demons!  They are lying to you!  They don’t know how all scriptures on salvation fit together, because they don’t know the SE.  So they love to use the “free gift” phrase, and make up lines about it, for what you need to do to go to heaven, like “All you need to do is receive the free gift of pardon”, or “Just accept the free gift of salvation.”  These sneaky sentences are NOT in the Bible!  And therefore, they leave people confused and bewildered about what they REALLY need to do to go to heaven.

And as I said before, in part 6 of this series, these same preachers will NEVER speak the simple words of Jesus Christ in their salvation pitch, “If you want to obtain eternal life, KEEP the 10LC”.  In other words, make the journey of faith that leads to you obtaining the free gift of eternal life.  It’s really sad these preachers can’t say Christ’s words.  It’s tragic!  So watch out for them.  Don’t let them deceive you about what you need to be doing to obtain eternal life!  You go and get that gift of eternal life, just as the SE reveals.

 

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