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What Do !bu Mean
"REWARDED
ACCORDING TOWORKS"?
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
Few-even professing "Christians"-understand the difference
between being "saved by GRACE," and
"rewarded according to WORKS." Here is a surprising, eye-opening article.
S
OME RELIGIONISTS,
who
talk much about "salva–
t ion" and "grace" ac–
cuse me of proclaiming
a sa lvation by works. The
accusation is
FALSE!
The
ANSWER
to these false
accusations is something
FEW
people
comprehend-including
the wor/d's religious leaders!
So LET'S UNDERSTANO! For this
is VITAL to YOUR LIFE!
There's a Vast Difference!
T here is a great difference between
being "saved by GRACE," and "re–
warded according to WORKS." To
UNDERSTAND, you need tO know
what
"salvation" is, and what "re–
ward" means.
The Bible tells us what are the
spiritual consequences of sin. lt
also explains what "salvation"
means. One meaning is "preserva–
tion"- in this case "preservation "
of LIFE. One verse in the Bible
explains BOTH: "For the wages of
sin is DEATH; but the gift of God is
ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ
our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
The "wages" you EARN by the
"works" of SIN is eterna! OEATH.
lt
ÍS ETERNAL PUNISHMENT- and
since the punishment js DEATH,
and
not lije,
it is eternal DEATH.
You
now
have only a chemical,
temporary, physical existence, sus–
tained by breathing, eating, drink–
ing, and your physical heart con–
January
1983
tinuing to beat and circulate your
blood. Stop breathing, stop your
heart beating, you die-you cease
to live-almost instantly. Stop eat–
ing and drinking and you' ll die in
45 or 50 days.
So, to PRESERVE LIFE means the
GIFT of ETERNAL LIFE- spirit Jife–
self-sustaining, INHERENT life.
Salvation, then, means to PRE–
SERVE you FROM eterna! death, the
"wages" or consequences of sin,
and tO GIVE you inherent ETERNAL
LIFE.
So, then, ETERNAL LIFE is some–
thing YOU DO NOT NOW HAVE.
Jt
ÍS
something you have no power to
supply, or give to yourself. You
can't earn it by "WORKS." It comes
as God's free GIFT. Neither can you
erase the PENALTY of sin-that is,
PREVENT eterna! DEATH. For "ALL
have sinned" (Rom. 3:23). That
includes YOu! You have brought on
yourself the eterna! OEATH SEN–
TENCE, as a penalty!
The Bible teaches NOTHING
about an "immortal soul." On the
contrary, it teaches, twice, that
"the soul that sinneth, it shall DIE"
(Ezek. 18:4, 20). Jesus said the
"soul" can be DESTROYED in gehen–
na fire (Matt. 10:28).
What your own "works" have
earned for you is the "wages" of
ETERNAL DEATH. You see, everyone
has "WORKS"-either good, or bad!
And your bad works have earned
the wages of eterna! DEATH. Good
works can earn something, too–
which
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will explain later-but it is
NOT "salvation" or eterna! life!
Goo ONLY has immortality. He
has it INHERENT. He has it TO
GIVE. You do NOT have it! You
must go to Goo to get it!
But, your sins have CUT YOU OFF
from God (lsa. 59:1-2). You are so
CUT OFF that you cannot reach him!
Tbere is an impassable BARRIER
between you and him, brought on
by your SINS!
How, then, can you gain ACCESS
to Almighty God (the Father), to
receive from him eternal life and
salvation- AS HJS GJFT? Well ,
l saiah says, "Let the wicked for–
sake his way" (lsa. 55:6-8)- the
way of SIN. And, further, "God
so
LOVED THE WORLD (of sinners],
that he GAV E his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should NOT perish , but have
everlasting LIFE" (John 3: 16).
Yes, but J-IOw?
The answer is in Romans 5:8-10:
" But God commendeth his !ove
toward us, in tbat, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being NOW justi–
fied by his blood...." ÜET TH IS!
" Being NOW justified .... "
How ?-by "works"? No, by
Christ's DEATH- BY HIS BLOOD.
HE SHEO HIS BLOOD ANO OlEO.
So-IF you repent of sinning–
that is, turn around to go the OTHER
wAv- forsake YOUR way- the way
contrary to God's law, and turn to
Goo's wAY- the way of his law- if
you have thus REPENTED of sinning
and have accepted Jesus Christ as
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