The Free Gift Of Eternal Life

By David J. Stewart | March 2015

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

       There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways that people say a person can get to Heaven, or have eternal life. Recently, beloved actor Leonard Nimoy died at age 83. Tragically, Mr. Nimoy placed his faith in the female goddess Shekhina. Biblically, we read in Acts 4:10-12 that there is no other name given among men to be saved, than the precious name of Jesus Christ . . .

Acts 4:10-12, “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

I recently stopped by a Korean store to look around. I noticed that they were selling many statues of the potbellied false prophet, Buddha. Hundreds-of-millions of people around the world are trusting in the name of Buddha to obtain eternal life, following the satanic teachings of Buddha that living a good life leads to eternal happiness and peace. It doesn't! As you just read from the Holy Bible, their is no salvation in any other name than the precious name of JESUS! This is the truth!

Specifically, to be saved, you must BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, Who died on the cross for your sins, and was buried, and was bodily resurrected after three days. 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 . . .

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

The Word of God plainly teaches, as evidenced by our text verse from Romans 6:23, that eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you don't trust Christ as your personal Savior, you will never see Heaven, and the Lake of Fire is the only other place you can spend eternity. People often ask why God lets people go to Hell, but where else can the wicked go? God's holiness demands justice

The Devil is very sneaky, continually trying to corrupt the churches with a false plan of salvation. May I say, kindly, any plan of salvation that requires something from you other than simply believing the Gospel is a fraud!

The following information is just wonderful, doing an excellent job of differentiating between salvation and discipleship. So many people are confused today in the churches, even the pastors, not rightly dividing the Word of truth in the Holy Scriptures. The following quotes and information will help clear your mind on the matter and set you straight . . .

The following excellent information by Dr. Hank Lindstrom is from the helpful Christian website, GetGodsGift.Org...

THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE LORDSHIP GOSPEL WITH THE GOSPEL OF GRACE

"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
Galatians 1:8,9

The importance of this question can't be overestimated in relation to both salvation and sanctification. The message of faith only and the message of commitment of life can't both be the gospel; therefore, one of them is a false gospel and come under the curse of perverting the gospel or preaching another gospel.

"It is an inexcusable error to confront sinners with problems that concern the Christian life and call upon them to make promises regarding them. An unsaved person is never called upon to surrender himself to God. The saving act is in no instance represented as our 'giving ourselves to God'; it is, on the contrary, taking His Son as our Savior." Ryrie, Charles. Balancing the Christian Life. Moody Press, Inc., 1969 (p. 170).

"The second approach finds faith in the gospel alone an 'easy Believism' and seeks to add something to faith in order to accomplish salvation. To repent is to 'change one's mind,' and to believe is to remove one's trust from that in which it has rested and place it in Christ." Howard, William. "Is Faith Enough to Save?" Bibliotheca Sacra. January-March, 1942 (p.99).

"This kind of faith is not 'easy believism'. It is not easy to say, 'I can't save myself, I must recognize that there is something wrong with me, and I must seek help from someone else.'" Hook, H. Phillip. "A Biblical Definition of Saving Faith." Bibliotheca Sacra. April-June, 1964 (p. 133, 138).

"Eternal life is free. Discipleship is immeasurably hard. The former is attained by faith alone, the latter by a faith that works... the former brings with it the righteousness of God so that a man is 'justified freely by his grace' (Romans 3:24). The latter develops a personal righteousness, based on good deeds, so that a man was also 'justified by works' (James 2:24). The former constituted the believer God's workmanship, the latter fulfilled the wonderful purpose for which he had been created. The former cost man nothing, the latter could cost him everything, including life itself." Hodges, Zane C. The Hungry Inherit. Moody Press, Inc., 1972 (p. 114, 115).

"There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer, while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel, to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our faithfulness." DeHaan, M. R. Hebrews. Zondervan Publishing House, 1959 (p. 117).

"For the unregenerate man, repentance is the change of mind whereby he turns from unbelief to faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ." Post, Roger. "The Meanings of the Words Translated 'Repent' and 'Repentance' in the New Testament." Master's Thesis, Wheaton College, June 1972 (p. 80).

"There are those who, in their zeal to get people to turn from their sinful ways and receive the Lord, almost put repentance on a par with believing... Repentance, as it relates to Christ, means to change our minds about Him, who He is and what He's done to provide forgiveness and deliverance from our sins. When we place faith in Jesus as having taken our place personally on the cross and borne the penalty due our sins, then we're automatically repenting, because we couldn't accept Him in this way without having had to change our minds in some way concerning Him." Lindsey, Hal. The Liberation of Planet Earth. Zondervan Publishing House, 1974 (p. 136, 137).

"Discipleship is frequently equated with salvation and often erroneously made a condition for becoming a Christian". Pentecost, J. Dwight. Design for Discipleship. Zondervan Publishing House, 1971 (p. 11).

"Certainly discipleship is a most important aspect of our relation to Christ, but it belongs to the sphere of Christian life rather than entrance upon that life... One does not become a disciple in order to become a Christian, but because he has become a Christian by faith in the Savior, it is fitting that he embark upon a life of discipleship". Harrison, Everett F. "Must Christ be Lord to Be Savior?-No." Eternity, September 1959 (p. 14).

"There is no more piously subtle abrogation of the Gospel than to tell a Sinner that he must not only believe in the Savior, but dedicate himself to do God's will, crown the Savior Lord of his life, etc., etc. Obviously, dedication and service are highly desirable, but they are the privilege and the duty of the saved, never a condition of salvation for the unsaved (cf. Romans 12:1, 2)." Unger, Merrill F. God is Waiting to Meet You. Moody Press, 1975 (p. 117, 118).

"People are sometimes led to believe that there is saving value in some public confession of Christ, or profession of a decision. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." This is salvation. "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." This is the voice of the newborn child speaking to and of its father. The only condition on which one may be saved is to believe." Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Salvation. Dunham Publishing Company, 1917 (p. 46).

SUMMARY
Lordship salvation is where someone teaches that there must be a commitment to Christ as Lord of one's life in order to be saved. Recently there has been a modification of this position to say that willingness to be controlled by the Lord at the time of salvation is all that is required in addition to faith in order to be saved. The message of faith only and the message of faith plus commitment of life can't both be the gospel; therefore, one of them is a FALSE GOSPEL and comes under the curse of perverting the gospel or preaching another gospel. Galatians 1:8, 9 says, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed." If only committed people are saved people, then where is there room for carnal Christians? What kind of dedication must be preached to people, if in order to be saved, they have already dedicated their lives to the Lord? Where do you stop if you start adding something else to this which is the gospel revealed in the Bible? Look at what God says about adding to the revelation of Jesus Christ (gospel), "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book (Revelation 22:18)." The Bible plainly declares that we are saved by faith, and not by works. Where does it say this? 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." What are you trusting in to get you to heaven?

* Written by Dr. Hank Lindstrom

The moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ, God who can read your mind knows, saves YOU and gives you the Gift of God, eternal Life.

You do not need anyone to pray over you, or pray for you, because this is between you and God in heaven. Because of your new trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ you are now a child of God. Before you trusted in Jesus, God was your creator but now and forevermore he will be your father.

You are saved in a moment of time, because you are trusting in the true Savior now, not working your way to heaven day by day which is not even possible.

Once saved you can never be lost, for any reason. This is because you were born spiritually the moment you put your trust in Him. Just like your physical birth which brought you into this human world, your spiritual birth gave you a new spiritual life that is permanent. You were born-again, made righteous and holy in Gods eyes. In fact you have the righteousness of God himself, your are sinless and perfect in God's eyes now and that's why you can enter into a perfect heaven.

My favorite saying is:

God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.

You MUST put ALL your trust in Jesus to be saved, trust in the blood that He shed on the cross, trust that He is God in the flesh, trust that He made the complete payment for your sins, not just part; He paid for ALL of your sins (past, present, and future)! Trust that He rose again from the dead after 3 days and 3 nights, and in return for this trust, He gives YOU Eternal Life. All false Christians put part of their trust in Jesus and part of their trust the Church and part of their trust in themselves. If you put 99.99% trust in Jesus and 00.01% in something else, you will go to hell. It must be 100% trust in Jesus and what He did and 0% in you or your church! This information in critical... (grace always cancels works!) You are going to hell if it's by your works or you are going to heaven by Gods grace. It's as simple as that.

So I guess the question comes down to who are you trusting. Are you trusting yourself to get to heaven by being a good person and giving lots of money to your church or are you trusting Jesus, the lamb of God, that was slain for the sins of the world to get you to heaven? You receive the Gift of God (Eternal Life) as soon as you stop trusting in yourself, your church, your synagogue, your mosque, your money, or any other works and put your trust in Him and Him ALONE, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, The King of Kings, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and Omega, the Mighty God.

False religions are everywhere and they will find you, the one true God and His plan of salvation must be found.

If all this makes sense to you and you would like to trust Jesus as your personal Savior right now then tell the Mighty God in Heaven of your decision to trust Jesus Christ as your only hope of heaven. Tell Him that you are no longer putting your trust in your actions, or your church, or your church membership, or in your money, or in your Rabbi, or in your synagogue or your Mosque but that you are putting all of your trust in Him and the shed blood of the cross to pay your sin debt. Thank Him for doing it for you! Thank Him for giving you the Gift of Eternal Life that He paid for with His life. There is no greater deed than that of laying down your life for another.

Will you trust Jesus as your Savior right now, the one who shed His precious blood on the cross of Calvary to pay for all your sins?

Sinners Prayer
Lord, I admit that I'm a sinner & I don't understand a whole lot about the bible, but I do believe that Jesus Christ died & paid for my sins in full, by His death & shed blood on the cross. I trust right now the He died for me, was buried & rose again from the dead and will live forever more. I trust Jesus Christ right now to save me, to be my savior, to forgive my sins & to give me the GIFT OF GOD Eternal Life. Amen

By reading this sinners prayer aloud, you are putting your trust in God and His plan of salvation. You are not saved by saying this prayer, you are saved the moment your mind made the switch from trusting in yourself to putting your COMPLETE TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST. That moment may have been five paragraphs up on this page or that moment may have been on another one of our pages. You will not feel any different, but you will be changed and changed for the better forever. Once you have trusted Jesus as your savior and received his gift of eternal life, this gift can NEVER be lost. You can NEVER go to hell for ANY reason. Your past, present and future sins were paid in full the moment you put your trust in Him. You are blameless and Holy in God's eyes now and FOREVER. If you have eternal life today what kind of life will you have in five years? ETERNAL! What kind of life will you have in ten years? ETERNAL!! What kind of life will you have in 50 years? ETERNAL!!! God does not give probationary life or temporary life, His gift is ETERNAL LIFE! Thanks be to GOD!

Why be good, now that I am assured of going to heaven? Because God's law of sowing and reaping still applies to you and me. You will reap what you sow. You will reap more than you sow and you will reap later than you sow. If you drink alcohol like a fish, you will reap a diseased liver. If you smoke like a chimney everyday, you will reap lung cancer. If you rob, murder, and steal you will reap a life in prison. You will reap what you sow. I guarantee it! Now that you are saved, when you do good things you WILL be rewarded here on earth and in Heaven. And when you do bad things you WILL lose rewards that God had planned on giving you here on earth and in Heaven. But you will NEVER lose your guarantee of going to heaven. That can never be lost for any reason!! You have God's word that your salvation can never be lost for any reason. You did not earn salvation and you do not work to keep salvation! Eternal Life, salvation, being born again, becoming a child of God, was, is, and always will be the GIFT OF GOD.

Remember: If you're not saved forever... you are not saved!

Why is this true you might ask? Because if a person is not sure that they are saved TODAY / RIGHT NOW it means that they are still trying to be the savior! They can't be sure they are going to heaven because they don't know what sin's they may commit next week, next month or next year. We who have trusted in Jesus alone, can have comfort knowing that all our sins have been paid in full on the Cross of Calvary (past, present, and future sins). Jesus has already died for my sins so I don't need to pay for any sin I have or will commit in the future because Jesus already paid the price in full with His blood. So called Christians who say that you can lose your salvation because of suicide or murder or falling away from the church don't have a clue what the Bible says and clearly have not trusted Jesus ALONE!

Biblical Salvation is forsaking any other means of salvation but Christ and casting ourselves fully upon Him for eternal life.

The Gift of God, Eternal Life can never be lost once possessed for any reason. John 6:39 " And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should LOSE NOTHING, but should raise it up again at the last day." You have God's promise that once you put your trust in Jesus you can never be lost for ANY reason whatsoever.

"For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” Romans 11:29 Again, God is telling you that this Gift of God that you have just received is without repentance. He can never take His gift back for any reason, no matter how bad you get, or how bad your sins are it is not possible. God would have to cease to exist for that to happen because He cannot lie.

SOURCE: Lordship Salvation » How to get into Heaven

Is Your Church Really a Church?

Many churches today, including some independent Baptists, are teaching a false plan of Lordship Salvation. These have ceased to be Biblical churches and are mere religious organizations, teaching religious dogma instead of the truth of God's Word. How can they be true churches when they require people to forsake sinful behavior to be saved? That is a works-based plan of salvation, not the free-grace view of the Gospel as taught in the Holy Scriptures. If a church is wrong on the plan of salvation, they have ceased to be a Biblical church and are now a false religion. It's the occult-influenced modern counterfeit Bible versions from Westcott and Hort that are influencing the churches to embrace the heresy of Lordship Salvation.

Luciferian-worshipping occult groups like Freemasons and Theosophists have deliberately infiltrated and corrupted the churches. The Holy Bible calls the Church the pillar and ground of THE TRUTH. 1st Timothy 3:15, “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” So if the truth has been corrupted, then the pillar and ground of truth is gone, and there is no church. A religious organization is not a church. Roman Catholicism is not a church! Why? It is because Catholics believe they can merit Heaven by doing good works, confessing their sins to a priest, keeping Seven Sacraments and being a member of the Catholic church. In sharp contrast, the Word of God teaches in John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

Another example of a religion that is not a church is the Church of Christ (COC). May I say, the term “Church of Christ” is a misnomer. The COC a very popular religious denomination. Unfortunately, they teach a false plan of salvation. This means that they are not a local New Testament “church” in a Biblical sense. Here is one such Church of Christ false prophet, Don Blackwell. This heresy is typical of the Church of Christ. Literally, they take the phrase “churches of Christ” from Romans 16:16 and claim their denomination is the only one that is found in the Bible. That is foolish gibberish and unscholarly rhetoric!

Just because John the Baptist is in the Bible doesn't make Baptist churches of God. The truth is that the Bible doesn't teach nor promote any religious denomination. The Church is the Church! Although it is not wrong to use a denominational label to identify one's self and beliefs with historical positions and religious groups. I'm proud to be identified with Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches (IFBC). Albeit, when asked, I tell people foremost that I am a born-again Christian. Being Baptist doesn't get anyone to Heaven. Jesus said that a man must be born-again (John 3:3).

I mentioned the Church of Christ because they are about as close as you can get to a Baptist church, yet they are unsaved heathens. They sing the same hymns. They have alter calls. They have hard preaching. Yet, they errantly teach that you must be water baptized, openly confess Christ in public, and forsake sinful behavior to be saved. They are not a church.

Is your so-called “church” truly a church? If you teach the heresy of Lordship Salvation, you are NOT A CHURCH! You may be a 501c3 state-licensed non-profit organization, but you are not a church. You may have a big building to meet each Sunday, and several hundred people attending, but you are still not a church. You may have a big religious school with a thousand students, but that doesn't make you a church. If the simple Gospel is not being preached correctly, then your so-called “church” is no better than the satanic cults of Seventh Day Adventism, Mormonism, Church of Christ or Roman Catholicism.

The elderly Evangelist Billy Graham (now 95 years old) gets paid over $600,000 a year, and has much land, employees, influence, money and buildings for their worldwide ministry, but THEY ARE NOT A CHURCH!!! They are wrong on the plan of salvation! They're good people, decent and hard-working people, but they have been deceived by the Devil, because of a half-century of hobnobbing with the satanic religious cult of Roman Catholicism. If your church teaches that you must stop living a lifestyle of sin and make Jesus Lord of your life to be saved, please run for the nearest exit and get out now, because you're not in a church!

It reminds me of actor Harrison Ford who starred in the movie Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Han and Chewy land the Millennial Falcon (that's their spaceship) inside an asteroid (so they think). It turns out to be inside of the mouth of a giant monster. Perhaps you've felt secure in your church all these years, but now wake up to realize that you're inside the mouth of a giant monster!!! Will you escape before the big mouth closes? Or will you be eaten by those giant monster's teeth? I'm dead serious! If your false church teaches that you cannot be saved without forsaking sinful living, you are inside the belly of a monster and need to escape as fast as you can... Go to light-speed! We live right as Christians because WE ARE saved, not to BE saved. I am TRUSTING to be saved, not TRYING to be saved. Salvation is RECEIVING, not ACHIEVING!

These religious groups all have big fancy buildings, big schools for their children, all 501c3 incorporated with the government, all singing and going through the motions of a devout religious group, helping the needy and doing many wonderful works in Jesus' name. Yet, horrifyingly, they will one day hear the Lord Jesus say to them on Judgment Day, “DEPART FROM ME, YE THAT WORK INIQUITY, FOR I NEVER KNEW YOU!!!” (Matthew 7:21-23). My friend, you'd better make sure that you have not believed a lie! I have shared with you the simple truth of the Gospel on this webpage, please read it again and make sure that you understand it. We are saved by God's imputed Righteousness through faith in Christ Jesus, and not by any righteousness of our own. I have no goodness or self-righteousness with which to impress God (Isaiah 64:6). Our best is filth to God, because there are so many sins in our lives that cannot be offset by any amount of good. We need God's righteousness!

My only heart's desire is to help others in the Lord, and I believe by God's grace He has done so through His Holy Spirit in me over the years. As the Apostle Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 11:6, “But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.” Don't ever let anyone deceive you by saying that eternal life is a free gift, but you must surrender to Christ, turn away from sinful living, make a commitment to Jesus, or give your life to God to get it. That is a forked-tongue false plan of salvation. If it's truly a gift, then it's completely free.

“Nobody can love God who doesn't love sinners!”
(a quote by Dr. Jack Hyles classic MP3 sermon, “The Happiest Man” (happiest is the man who will not impute sin to others!)

Soulwinning.info

If you believe what the Bible teaches, attend a church that teaches the Bible!

Another Gospel Which Is Not Another (a red-hot MP3 by Dr. Curtis Hutson exposing Lordship Salvation)

† † †   Praise God For The Blood Of Jesus!   † † †

Eternal life is a free gift, paid for by Jesus' previous blood. 1st Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” It's Not The Shedding Of Jesus' Blood That Saves, But The 'SPRINKLING' Of That Shed Blood. Jesus was the sacrifice, the perfect and sinless Lamb of God, slain upon the cross for our sins. Jesus bled and died on the cross for our sins. He arose from the dead bodily and visibly ascended into Heaven as our High Priest, to appear before God the Father on our behalf with His liquid blood. This is why Jesus told Mary not to touch Him, lest she corrupt the blood sacrifice (John 20:17 - King James Bible). Jesus entered into the heavenly Holy Place with His own precious blood (Hebrews 9:12), and sprinkled that blood (Hebrews 12:24) upon the Mercy Seat in the presence of the Holy Father (Hebrews 9:24). The price for the Church is Christ's blood.

Ye Must Be Born Again! | You Need HIS Righteousness! | Believe The Gospel