Grace:
A FREE GIFT
The word "grace" means something which is given freely
. . . without cost or obligation. For example, if your
best friend offered you a gift and you tried to pay him for
it, could you still call it a gift? Of course not!
It becomes a debt which he owes you the moment he accepts your
money! Your friend would probably even be insulted,
withdraw the gift and say: "I'm not giving this to you because
I have to. It is a gift. Do you accept my gift or
not?"
A Gift: The Moment You Offer Something In Exchange For
It, It Is No Longer A Gift.
It Becomes A Debt!
Now to him who works, the wages are not
counted as grace, but as a debt.
Romans
4:4 Only
when you put your money back in your pocket and stretched
forth your empty hand would he renew his offer and extend the
gift to you.
The same is true with God's offer of eternal
life. People try to purchase eternal life by obeying the
Ten Commandments, living a good life, going to church, or some
other religious work. But God will not make Himself a
debtor to any man! He does not "owe" eternal life to
anyone. He will offer it only as a
gift!
Grace: IT MUST BE FREE
When man attempts to gain eternal life through his
works, he is no longer accepting God's offer to eternal life
as a free gift, that is, by "grace."
But if it is on the basis of
works, then it is no longer grace. Romans 11:
6b Yet it
is only by His "grace" that God will save
us!
For by grace are you saved
through Faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, not of works that anyone should
boast. Ephesians
2:8-9 Therefore, scripture teaches that God withdraws the
offer of eternal life from anyone who tries to earn it through
his works, thus degrading God by seeking to make Him a debtor
to sinful man.
For you have become estranged from Christ, you
who attempt to be justified by the law; you have fallen from
grace. Galatians
5:4
Therefore, to attempt to gain eternal life through the
works of the law is to reject the only way in which God offers
eternal life, that is, by His grace! And when a man
rejects God's gracious offer of eternal life he is freely
choosing to face eternal condemnation.
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