God’s Gift
Salvation Comes With Conditions
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love
Salvation is a gift from God that none of us can every merit or earn on our own. But this immutable truth about God does not supersede the rest of His instructions to us where we are taught the many things we must do or avoid doing to enter the kingdom of heaven. We receive this gift by following the instructions given to us by the giver of the gift.
I wrote a post a while back titled Real Faith Means We “DO” Things to highlight the requirements given to us. The purpose of this post is to bring light to the truth that our entrance into heaven and eternal life is indeed conditional. Salvation is not a one time event of saying a prayer. Jesus told us the road was difficult and the gate very narrow and that few shall find their way in. Jesus meant what He said.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. NKJV
While verses like Ephesians 2:8-9 are absolutely true, but they must be properly divided. The words of Paul about being saved by grace and it being a gift and not of ourselves lest anyone can boast is absolutely correct. All one has to do is properly divide the preceeding verses in Ephesians 2 and the false teaching on Eph 2:8-9 would be exposed for what it is. People saved by grace do not continue to practice sin. Look at how Paul framed the build up to the famous verse about “grace”. Paul said, you used to do these things, you formerly walked that way, you were (past tense) dead in sin, at one time you sinned. The whole letter to the church was reminding them of where they had come from and that they were not to be deceived by the enemy into entering back into sin and rebellion. Grace is not a license to sin.
Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you WERE dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Satan), the (evil) spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. If you are continuing to disobey God, that is practice sin, a spirit other than the Holy Spirit is at work IN you. How come we never hear about that from our teachers? It is like the passage does not even exist. We can sugar coat the gospel all we want but it is only the truth that sets us free from the power of sin in our lives.
None of us can every claim we deserve God’s mercy, as we all have sinned and fallen short of His glory. Yet grace has been twisted from what Paul meant (see my link to Grace at top of this page) and is now portrayed as a license to keep on sinning. In no way shape or form is Paul telling us that Jesus lied to us in the verses I am about to show you. False teachers and apostasy has overrun the modern day church system. It is indeed hard to find a true gospel message these days in a church.
The Scriptures are full of direct passages telling us what we must do and what we must not do to be His follower, His disciple, His Sheep, His Witnesses, His Children …. and ultimately enter His kingdom. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is He who established His rules and conditions for His Kingdom. We must attain to those rules otherwise we will be shut out. Let’s look only at verses where the conditional statements were made. The key word in all these verses is IF.
John 8:51 “I tell you the truth, IF anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The corollary to this is that IF we do not keep His word, we will indeed see death and not enter His kingdom. Why is this so hard for Christians to understand?
Matthew 5:29 IF your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell. Jesus tells us that IF we sin, we must get rid of it, otherwise we are hell bound. He said this in a number of different ways, chopping off your hand, cutting off your foot and in this passage by plucking out your eye. He did not mean this literally as He came to destroy the works of the devil; but as out there as these statements appear, Jesus wanted to get our attention and make sure there was no misunderstanding about sin and its consequences. The gift of life comes with terms and conditions from the creator. Repent or we too shall perish sayeth the Lord.
John 15:1-4 Parable of the Vine “remain in me, and I will remain in you. IF a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. IF anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers (dies); such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned” … IF you obey my commands, you will remain in my love.” This ties remaining in Jesus love to obeying his commands. Does Jesus save people that do not remain in his love? I think the branches being picked up and thrown into the fire settles that matter. It is not enough to simply be in the vine for a time, we must remain in the vine; we must endure to the end to be saved. Where did man come up with the ridiculous doctrine of Once Saved Always Saved and the heresy of Eternal Security? (click for drill down into this topic).
1 Cor. 15:1-2 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. By this gospel you are saved IF you hold fast to the word I preached to you—otherwise you have believed in vain.” Paul did not teach another gospel. His teaching aligned perfectly with Jesus and the whole of Scripture. One of the most important parables taught by Jesus is the Parable of the Four Soils. The word of God falls on all types, but it is only one kind of soil where the Word takes root and endures the trials of life and the temptations of Satan. We must endure all the way to the end. Sadly, it has become the desire of many teachers to tickle the ears of their congregants which leads them to cherry-pick selective passages and present them in ways that contradict the very words of the Lord as recorded in the gospels. These pastors feel they need to do this, they run their churches like a business and instead of trusting God and seeking to please Him, they trust in their flesh and seek to please men. Do not be deceived my friends.
Jesus spoke about vain worship in Mark 7:7-8. He said the same thing Paul did here in 1 Cor. If we worship Him with our lips and not with our true heart, we are worshipping Him in vain, following the teachings of men and not God. Vain worship means nothing to Christ and is useless.
Mat 6:14-15 IF you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But IF you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. People recite this truth every time they say the Lord’s prayer but do not realize their own actions contradict the belief that they are forgiven when they are harboring unforgiveness and bitterness towards others. Oh how great the deception and delusion in our modern church!
John 14:15 IF you love me, you WILL obey what I command. He didn’t say you should, he said you Will. This means many people have not made Jesus Lord and Do Not Know Him despite praying a sinner’s prayer, going to church or calling themselves Christians. If anyone thinks they can get to heaven without loving God they are sadly mistaken.
Matthew 3:9-10 And do not think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Okay, I added in a verse without an IF statement but this one to me is very powerful and a direct teaching from God about resting on our laurels and believing we have no striving to do on the difficult road to enter the small gate into heaven. Here John the Baptist is warning the Pharisees and Sadducees of their deception, their reliance on being descendants of Abraham for their salvation. Like numerous other places Jesus told them they would surely die if they do not produce good fruit. Satan is continuing to lie to us saying we truly shall NOT die if we keep on sinning. Who are we to believe, the father of all lies or Jesus?
Ezekiel 18:24 But IF a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die. We are frequently taught the opposite of this verse that was the direct word of the Lord spoken via the Prophet Ezekiel. IF we do not walk in purity after we are cleansed and made pure by the imputed righteousness of Christ, our righteousness we once had will not be remembered on judgment day. We must endure to the end to be saved. This is the opposite of repentance, this is turning away from God and back to sin and the ways of the world. Those that preach we cannot lose our salvation do not speak the truth no matter how well meaning they may be.
Rom 11:17 IF some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. IF you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For IF God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.” Here Paul warns us the Gentiles not to be cocky or boastful and to fear God. Implicitly he is saying we must continue to obey Him or else we can be cut off just like the unbelieving Jews were that allowed us to be grafted into the kingdom in the first place.
James 5:19-20 “My brothers, IF anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. I cite this verse to ask the question of the Eternal Security proponents of why James would say this? If salvation cannot be lost, than this verse is in error and as we all know, the Bible is infallible. This verse speaks the truth that needs to begin to be screamed out from the pulpits as time is short. This is our duty, to save souls and living the lie about sin and going along with the apostate church is not going to do that. Nobody can snatch us out of His hand and nobody can cast us out, but we can surely walk or wander away from the truth (Jesus) by following temptations back into sin and the ways of the world.
Hebrews 3:14 For we share in Christ, IF indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Pretty clear that our inheritance with Christ is conditional by holding firm, enduring to the end. Do not be deceived, we are in a race as Paul told us and we must not disqualify ourselves from the race, we must finish the race.
Hebrews 10:26-29 For IF we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of truth there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? This is one of the most fearful verses in the new Testament but I hope it gets all of our attention. There is no other way to the Father except thru Christ. If we don’t take the way He told us to take (following Him, obeying Him…) we are doomed to destruction. It is time for the church to wake up as time is getting very short.
2 Peter 20-22 IF they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them” The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Fearing God and obeying His commandments is our whole duty according to Solomon. Peter warns us here that if we fall back into sin and worldly living after escaping we are worse off than if we had never known the truth. Jesus spoke about the the Steward that did not endure and disobeyed when his master tarried in returning. That Steward was beaten with many stripes because he knew the truth and choose to disobey anyway. The parable of the Steward in Luke 12 is a powerful teaching on staying the course yet sadly never taught by the apostate church.
1 John 2:3-4 By this we know that we have come to know Him, IF we keep his commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him”, and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Are you a liar who just plays church and acts religious at times or are you a true son or daughter of God? Those who are lead by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The Spirit of God does not lead you into sin my friend as God tempts nobody. Knowing Christ (see link at top of page) is an absolute requirement to enter heaven, there is zero wiggle room on that point and the last thing you will want to hear on the last day is ”depart from Me, I never knew you”.
Matthew 19:16 And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but IF you wish to enter life, keep the commandments.” Again a very clear statement from Jesus on what we MUST DO to enter life. He said it right here, if we wish to to have eternal life, we must obey the commandments. I cannot fathom how the spirit of anti-christ has overtaken the churches, it is the enemy within and many professing Christians are now under the God Sent Delusion I just wrote about.
John 15:13-15 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends IF you DO whatever I command you. Jesus laid down His life for us and tells us that to gain eternal life we must lose our life for Him. What he meant was we must surrender to Him, deny ourselves and pick up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Enemies of God do not attain to salvation my brothers, they are destroyed in the judgment. Jesus tells us right here who His friends are. I wrote a post just on this topic Who Is God’s Friend?.
There are many more IF/THEN verses that come at the truth from a negative connotation. What I mean is verses that say ‘if you do this” you will die. Here is prime example from Revelation that speaks to the reality of Hell.
Revelation 14:9-11 “IF anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
So we can clearly see the IF/THENconditions spelled out in the Scriptures. As my blog has made clear, the consistent perpetual themes of the Good News are very clear. Satan has killed, stolen or destroyed the lives and true faith of many that never came to true repentance and have been deceived by the spirit of anti-christ and the multitudes of false teachers in the world today. Paul warned this would happen in many Epistles but sadly over the years the warnings about deception, the clear teachings of Jesus, the requirements we must meet have been watered down. The grace of God has indeed been turned into a license to sin.
2 Cor 11:3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For IF someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or IF you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the on you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Nothing I have said in here takes away from the fact that we are saved by faith. We are indeed saved by a true faith that is then followed by a demonstrated believing on the Lord Jesus. If you believe someone, you follow them, you look to them to guide you and you fully trust them. A true faith initiates our walk with God but to prove that faith is genuine, other acts must follow including our obedience to the One we say we believe in.
Romans 10:9 IF you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus AND believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. In this oft twisted passage of Paul, he tells us two things we must do to be saved. Most do part one but kid themselves about part 2. Most Christians just believe in their head, they are carnal Christians which are not real Christians but just look alike tares. Believing in your heart ratchets up the belief such that your very being and purpose is transformed to serve the very God that created the universe and everything in it, including you. Once that gets into your heart, you cannot help but be transformed. That was Paul’s message, this verse in Romans does not tell us we are saved by saying a prayer one time or even several times. It has a much deeper meaning as the rest of Scripture shows us.
I pray that my blogging will help me step out further in my faith and put it all on the line for Christ. We are not here to win popularity contests. In fact we are told to expect to be persecuted for preaching the truth. God is calling on His watchmen and His true disciples to speak the truth, to demonstrate His love and to save the souls of the lost.
To speak truth, we must speak accurately on the terms and conditions that God has revealed to us about his gift of eternal life.
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