Daily Devotion With Pastor Dan Nickerson – November 12th, 2020
(Ephesians 2:8-9 – NKJV)…. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. It is that time of the year again, where people are beginning to think about the gifts they are going to get for one another. Where people are running to and fro looking for the gift that would bring a WOW to the eyes of the recipient. But there is a gift that tops every gift that man could give to one another, and it is absolutely, one hundred percent free for the taking.
The Bible is in every Scripture verse great, awsome, and powerful, therefore so is this verse today. This verse in the Bible is quite freeing when it comes to salvation. If salvation is based on our performance, on what we do, then it is not by grace. Oh, how we need grace, right? Our salvation is based on what Jesus Christ did. Our part is simply to receive the gift! To believe by faith the gospel of Jesus Christ. And notice, even our faith to believe on Him is a gift from Him.
(Romans 4:1-4 – NKJV)….. What then shall we say that Abraham our father[a] has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was [b]accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
Salvation cannot be a free gift and also be something we must earn. Either we earn it, or it is a gift. It cannot be a mixture of the two. If you claim to give me a gift, but you ask me for any payment, no matter how small, then it is not a gift but something I am buying for a price. Even if I was to buy it from you at a reduced price, that does not make it a gift. If there is any payment involved, by definition, it is not a gift. Aren’t you thankful that there was no charge levied against us in order to be saved. How could we possibly pay for such a priceless gift?
(Romans 11:6 -NASB)…..But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
Today, just as in Bible times, there are those who teach that being right with God can only be achieved by keeping their list of rules. But this is not the true teaching of the gospel. As a matter of fact, it is a false gospel as talked about in the first chapter of Galatians.
(Acts 15:5,10-11 – NKJV)….. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”……. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
(Romans 4:14-16 – NKJV)….. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be [a]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
(Titus 3:5 – NKJV)….. not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit…..
Those who present a plan of salvation based on your performance (works you must do to obtain the righteousness of Christ), are not rightly dividing the Word. Yes, many Scriptures give instruction on what we are to do. But they are instructions for how to live, not how to be saved and enter into a relationship with God. Are there rewards and consequences for our actions here on earth? Absolutely! But our entrance into God’s family and our home in Heaven is not based on our performance, but on our faith in what Jesus has done for us at the cross. Be very grateful that God’s plan to save you from sin’s punishment and death is not based on your performance, if that was the case, you and I would be eternally lost before we finished this day. Give God praise today for His salvation that comes to us by His gift of grace, and through His gift of faith.