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your personal Savior- accepted his
DEATH as PAYMENT IN FULL for
YOUR si ns- accepted him as person–
al Savior not only from t he PENALTY
of past sins, but as
living
Savior to
save you from StNNING (now and in
the future) then you are NOW forgiv–
en past gu il t- you are now JUSTI–
FIED of your gui lty past.
But "justified" refers to the guil–
ty past, not tO the FUTURE!
So, CONTINUE this script ure:
" ... Much more then, being
now
justified
by his blood, we SHALL
BE saved ... through him." No–
tice, being "SAVED" is yet in the
future . We are now "j us tified," by
God's grace- by Jesus' DEATH–
and SHALL BE (future) "saved. "
But, continue, verse
1O
of Romans
5: "For if, when we wcre enemies,
we were RECONCILED to God by
the death of his Son...." Here,
yo u see, be i ng
J
USTI FI ED by
C hrist's death is ALSO being REC–
ONCILED to Goo by his death. In
o the r words,
we have at /ast,
through Christ's death
established
CONTACT
with God.
Now continue, same sentence:
" ... much more, being reconciled,
we
sha/1 be saved
BY HIS LIFE."
Not already "saved." But
"sha/1
be saved."
And HOW? Saved by the
"blood of C hr ist"?- by his DEATH?
NO!
By his
LJFE!
We are j ustified
of past guilt , which had cut us off
from access to God, by Christ's
DEATH- but SHALL BE, in the fut ure,
SAVED by his
LIFE.
He ROSE from
the dead . He is a
living
C hrist!
HOW Et e rna! Llfe Comes
So, with the sentence of eterna)
DEATH paid for us-our past s ins
that put a barrier betwecn us and
God JUSTIFIEo-we are now REC–
ONCILED to God- givcn access.
And he has ETERNAL LIFE inher–
ent- self-containing life- to GIVE.
How, then, do we receive it
from him?
Notice a couple of pivotal scrip–
tures: " For as the Father hath life
in himself; so hath he given to the
Son to have life in himsel f" (John
5:26). God has imparted INHERENT
eterna) lifc t o the living J esus
Christ. Now, further: "And this is
the record, that Goo hath given to
us eterna! life, and this life is in his
Son. He tha t hath the Son hath life
[eterna!]; and he tha t hath not the
12
Son of God hath not life" ( I John
5:1 1-12) .
Yes, we are to be SAvED by the
living
Christ- saved BY HIS
LIFE!
That is, GIVEN eterna) li fe as a
GIFT, t hrough his li fe-not through
his death!
But, specifically, HOw? Let the
apostle Peter explain : " REPENT,
and be baptized every one of you in
t he name of J esus Christ for the
remiss ion of s ins, and ye shall
RECEIVE the GIFT of the HoJy
[Spirit] " (Act s 2:38). On rea l
REPENTANCE of sinning- a turning
around to go the other way- to
QUIT sinning-and on faith in J esus
expressed by water baptism ( see
Acts 8:35-38) God has promised
WE SHALL RECEIVE HIS HOLY SPIR–
IT AS AGIFT. Not by our "works"–
but by GRACE!
But how does THIS give us eter–
nal life-salva tion?
" But if the Spirit of him that
raised up J esus from the dead dwell
in you , he that raised up C hrist
from the dead shall ALSO [by a res–
urrec t ion] quicken your mortal
bodies
by his Spirit that dwelleth
in you"
(Rom.
8:11 ).
Well is, then, the receiving of
the Holy Spirit SALVATION? l s one
already "saved" when he receives
this Spirit?
Go o 's WoRo SAYS
NO!
lt
is the
presence of eterna! life
conditiona/–
ly-provisionally.
The scripture
above quoted spoke of God's Spirit
DWELLING in you. IF this Spirit is
dwell ing in you unti l dcath (the
first) , or AT THE TIME Of the RESUR·
RECTION-a t Christ's coming–
THEN you shall be either resur–
rected tMMORTAL, or, if still alive
CHANGED from mortal to immortal
instantaneously
(1
Cor. 15:5 1-52
and 1 Thess. 4: 13- 17).
The receiving of t he Holy Spirit
NOW is the TOKEN PAYMENT-or
t he EARNEST payment from God on
the g ift of eterna! life. Notice:
" ... Christ ... in whom also after
that ye bel ieved, ye were sealed
with that holy Spirit of promise,
which is the
earnest of
our INHERI–
TANCE
until
the redempt ion of the
purchased possession ..." (Eph .
1:12-1 4) . The Motfatt trans lation
renders it in more understandable
English, " ... the long- promised
holy Spirit, which is the pledge and
installment of our common herí -
tage, that we
may
[in future]
obtain
our d ivine possession.. . ."
Those who have received God's
Ho ly Spirit are NOW
not yet
inher–
itors or possessors of this eternal
life-of this salvation. They are
NOW
HEIRS
of God-co-heirs
wi t h Christ (Gal. 3:29). They are
now still mor tal, n ot immortal.
They are now BEGOTTEN sons of
God- not yet BORN of God. They
are now in t he CHURCH of God–
not yet in the KINGDOM of God.
May We Go o n Slnning?
But now what of that scripture that
says: " ... ye are not under the law,
but under grace" ( Rom. 6: 14).
Now that you are UN DER
GRACE-does t his mean you are
given license to
disobey
God' s
law?
Listen to Goo's answer: " Wha t
shall we say then? Shall we contin–
ue in sin, that grace may abound?
Goo FORBID. How shall we, that
are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?" (Rom. 6 :1-2). Later ,
verse 12: " Let not sin [transgress–
ing God's law] therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should
obey it in the lusts thereof."
Once again, verse 14: "For sin
[transgressing the law] shall not
have dominion over you: for ye are
not under t he law, but unde r
grace." The very next words show
PLAINLY this does not mean you are
free to BREAK God's law-to DISO–
BEY God. " What then ? shall we SIN
[break the law] , because we are not
under the law, but under grace?
Goo FORBID. Know ye not, that to
whom ye yield yourselves servants
to obey, his servants ye are to
whom ye obey; whether of sin unto
death , or of obedience unto righ–
teousness?"
GRACE does not mean license to
SIN. And the BIBLE definit ion of SIN
is "Sin is the transgression of the
LAW"
(1
J ohn 3:4).
You
were
UNDER THE LAW,
when the law s tood over you, claim–
ing its penalty. When Christ paid
the penalty, and satisfied the claims
of the law, you were no longer
under the law, but under GRACE.
lt
is the FALSE PROPHETS of our
day who try to deceive you into
believing "GRACE" means permis–
s ion to BREAK Goo's LAw! We are
being saved FROM SINNING (now and
The
PLAIN TRUTH