Except For Grace
 

The problem with the Wesleyan Holiness movement, from which much of Oneness Pentecostal doctrine originates, is that it assumes men can somehow save themselves by living perfectly, or that they can help God along in the process of sanctifying and justifying themselves.

Paul clearly states that all of the efforts of men end in failure because...

“No one is righteous—
not even one.
No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.”

Romans 3:10-12

With this in mind, every person on earth is headed to Hell. If no one is righteous, and Paul clearly states no one is, we are without hope.

And yet we realize that Heaven is prepared for somebody. How then do we connect the dots between none being righteous, and yet millions, and perhaps billions making it to the Heaven of God?

The truth is, at every person's death, no matter how well they've lived, their works are still unworthy of Heaven. At the moment of every person's death, they've fallen short of the glory of God. At the moment of every person's death, they do not deserve Heaven.

On what basis do you hope in God? What evidence leads you to believe you have a whisper of a chance of making it to Heaven?

Re: Except For Grace
 

The only hope I have is in the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It is His work that makes heaven available. I am His work until I reach that shore.

Re: Except For Grace
 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

Grace = unmerited favor.

Re: Except For Grace
 

We have a role to play! How can people ignore that. So many commands to "be holy" and at the end we are hopefully told "well done my good and faithful servant." We have help by the Spirit, but it's ultimately up to us to obey God.

Re: Except For Grace
 

"Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?" But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."

Acts 15:10-11

Re: Except For Grace
 

The Spirit helps us earn our salvation?

Re: Except For Grace
 

That's not what I said. But it is power.

Re: Except For Grace
 

For me, what it really comes down to is, The Foundation.

We obviously have lives to live, battles to fight and obstacles to overcome. That's "us." However, if we lay a foundation of "us" and "our works" as being the basis for our salvation, the structure that we build with our lives will be unstable.

We are not saved because we were better than anyone else. We are not saved because we are smarter than anyone else. We are not saved because we discovered "The Secret" formula (as if the waters of baptism were a Coca-Cola). We are not saved because we worked harder or "better" than anyone else.

We are saved only because Jesus Christ Himself saved us. This is The Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:9-11). There is no other foundation for our salvation than Jesus Christ and His work. This is the Gospel.

If we don't get the beginning right, we'll never get the rest of it right either.

Re: Except For Grace
 

Galatians 2:20-21 says:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

In The Message this reads:
I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.


Jesus died for our sin.
How dare we try to minimize that by helping Him out?

Re: Except For Grace
 

Salvation is all of grace or none of grace.