...The Story
During the Second World War, radio personality Paul Harvey began ending his
daily newscast with a feature he called, “The Rest of the Story.” These factual
narratives always concluded with an interesting twist that made for a surprise
ending. Listeners were often fascinated to learn that even when it came to
stories with which they were familiar, there was always more to the story than
what they had previously heard.
This is sometimes true of the greatest story ever told, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There may be more to the story than what you have heard in the past, and the
part you may not have heard just might be the very thing that is keeping you
from believing what the Bible says about how to be saved from your sins.
Let’s begin by reviewing the part you may have already heard, the part that
maybe left you feeling skeptical about the Bible’s plan of salvation. The Bible
clearly teaches that you cannot work your way to heaven by doing good works:
does not want us to do good works?” Since this didn’t seem to make any sense
to you, maybe you chose not to believe what you considered to be such an
unbelievable gospel.
If that’s the case, it might comfort you to know that God knew in advance that
people would wonder about this. That’s why right after that verse we quoted
that says salvation is “not of works,” the next verse goes on to say that believers
are
If you are wondering what it means to be “created in Christ,” remember that God
created a creature named Adam in the beginning. Today, when someone believes
the gospel, God makes him “a new creature” (II Corinthians 5:17).
And just as God’s first creature was created to do the good work of dressing
and keeping the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15), believers in Christ are likewise
“created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” That is, while you cannot be saved
from your sins by doing good works, once you are saved by grace, you’ll want
to do good works because you are saved (not in order to get saved) to express
your gratitude to God for saving you.
We see the same thing in that other gospel verse we quoted, where right after
saying that salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done”
(Titus 3:5), Paul adds “that they which have believed in God might be careful
to maintain good works” (v. 8).
Here again we see that after we are saved by grace through faith, God then
reminds us to do the good works that we were created to do. So you see, just
because God does not ask you to do good works in order to be saved doesn’t
mean He doesn’t want you to do good works!
He just wants you to understand that good works come after salvation, not
before. Most people get the cart before the horse, and you just can’t get to
heaven in a cart like that! Does the gospel story seem a little more believable
to you now? If so, you should know that while you can only be saved by
believing, it is important to believe in the right thing!
It is not enough just to believe in God, for “the devils also believe, and tremble”
(James 2:19). It is not even enough to have faith in Christ; you must have “faith in
His blood” (Romans 3:25). That is, you must believe that the blood He shed on the
cross paid for all of your sins, and that you don’t have to add a single good work to
what He has already done on your behalf. Romans 4:5 says:
ask yourself this question. If you died today, and God asked, “Why should I let
a sinner like you into My Heaven?” what would your answer be? If your answer
is anything other than, “Christ died for my sins,” or if you try to add your own
good works to what Christ did for you on Calvary, then you are not fully trusting
in His blood.
Why not rather follow the advice of the Apostle Paul? When a man asked him,
“What must I do to be saved?,” Paul replied quite simply,
And now you know the rest of the story!
" 'link'
Precious friends:
Grace, Peace, And JOY In Christ, And In His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided (+ I and II)!
During the Second World War, radio personality Paul Harvey began ending his
daily newscast with a feature he called, “The Rest of the Story.” These factual
narratives always concluded with an interesting twist that made for a surprise
ending. Listeners were often fascinated to learn that even when it came to
stories with which they were familiar, there was always more to the story than
what they had previously heard.
This is sometimes true of the greatest story ever told, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There may be more to the story than what you have heard in the past, and the
part you may not have heard just might be the very thing that is keeping you
from believing what the Bible says about how to be saved from your sins.
Let’s begin by reviewing the part you may have already heard, the part that
maybe left you feeling skeptical about the Bible’s plan of salvation. The Bible
clearly teaches that you cannot work your way to heaven by doing good works:
“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”
(Ephesians 2:8,9).
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
But According to His Mercy He Saved us...” (Titus 3:5).
Perhaps you’ve heard these verses before, and wondered, “Does that mean God does not want us to do good works?” Since this didn’t seem to make any sense
to you, maybe you chose not to believe what you considered to be such an
unbelievable gospel.
If that’s the case, it might comfort you to know that God knew in advance that
people would wonder about this. That’s why right after that verse we quoted
that says salvation is “not of works,” the next verse goes on to say that believers
are
“created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:9,10).
If you are wondering what it means to be “created in Christ,” remember that God
created a creature named Adam in the beginning. Today, when someone believes
the gospel, God makes him “a new creature” (II Corinthians 5:17).
And just as God’s first creature was created to do the good work of dressing
and keeping the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15), believers in Christ are likewise
“created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” That is, while you cannot be saved
from your sins by doing good works, once you are saved by grace, you’ll want
to do good works because you are saved (not in order to get saved) to express
your gratitude to God for saving you.
We see the same thing in that other gospel verse we quoted, where right after
saying that salvation is “not by works of righteousness which we have done”
(Titus 3:5), Paul adds “that they which have believed in God might be careful
to maintain good works” (v. 8).
Here again we see that after we are saved by grace through faith, God then
reminds us to do the good works that we were created to do. So you see, just
because God does not ask you to do good works in order to be saved doesn’t
mean He doesn’t want you to do good works!
He just wants you to understand that good works come after salvation, not
before. Most people get the cart before the horse, and you just can’t get to
heaven in a cart like that! Does the gospel story seem a little more believable
to you now? If so, you should know that while you can only be saved by
believing, it is important to believe in the right thing!
It is not enough just to believe in God, for “the devils also believe, and tremble”
(James 2:19). It is not even enough to have faith in Christ; you must have “faith in
His blood” (Romans 3:25). That is, you must believe that the blood He shed on the
cross paid for all of your sins, and that you don’t have to add a single good work to
what He has already done on your behalf. Romans 4:5 says:
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that
Justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
If you are still not sure how to be saved from the judgment of God on your sins, ask yourself this question. If you died today, and God asked, “Why should I let
a sinner like you into My Heaven?” what would your answer be? If your answer
is anything other than, “Christ died for my sins,” or if you try to add your own
good works to what Christ did for you on Calvary, then you are not fully trusting
in His blood.
Why not rather follow the advice of the Apostle Paul? When a man asked him,
“What must I do to be saved?,” Paul replied quite simply,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”
(Acts 16:30,31).
And now you know the rest of the story!
" 'link'
Precious friends:
Grace, Peace, And JOY In Christ, And In His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided (+ I and II)!
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