Are you Keeping your Garage Clean?

Here is my very humble attempt to explain Salvation by Grace Alone and Obedience.

"Lord, let your words go forth with power, deep conviction, and the Holy Spirit. Amen"

 

"Jesus said in Mark 1:15

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel"

 

Repentance is surrendering my will to God's will, turning from my way to His way, this comes through brokeness and confession of sin against a Holy God. When someone truly believes in Christ they are saying, "I entrust Jesus with my eternal life, my very soul, to rescue it, protect it, and preserve it and I am willing to prove it by obeying His commands as He is King of my life, He is the overseer of my soul. (So then, those who suffer according to God's will should entrust themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.- 1 Peter 4:19) The Word tells us in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" Thus the substance (Something real, not imaginary, something tangible) of the thing we hope for, being salvation, is obedience. Faith is the substance of the thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Christ said in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will obey what I command" Salvation is a gift of grace and grace alone (and if by grace, then it is no longer by works - Romans 11:6)

God, after granting salvation will not remove salvation as it is a gift, but we however having free will can choose to stop believing, or walk away from faith. (Jesus told his disciples, "Situations that cause people to lose their faith are certain to arise. But how horrible it will be for the person who causes someone to lose his faith!- Luke 17:1) To remain in grace, is to remain in faith! And the substance or evidence of that thing we hope for, again being salvation, is obedience. It is the one that continues till the end that receives salvation, ("He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels - Revelation 3:5)

 

Lord willing, here is my humble attempt to explain this, ..I live in a house and a neighborhood where to own a vehicle, I must park it in a garage as there is no other parking. I currently do not own a vehicle but someone calls me up and tells me they are giving me a brand new vehicle as a gift, I believe them so I immediately go and start cleaning out my old junk that is currently filling all the space in my garage, and I make room for the new vehicle. (You with me so far?) Now, some time goes by and I start to doubt whether I will really ever receive this gift so instead of keeping the garage clean in faith, I slowly start to fill the garage back up with stuff. Eventually the garage is once again full. Then, suddenly the vehicle is delivered but now there is no room for it, so although the giver of the gift kept his promise in delivering it, because of my doubt, or lack of faith, I have no ability to receive it. Not because of the giver, but because of me, the giver kept his promise, but I did not have faith till the end. The substance of my un-belief was that I started filling the garage back up and eventually left no room for the gift. I did not truly believe the vehicle would be delivered or I would have kept my garage clean.

God, through Jesus, has promised salvation as a gift of grace, to anyone who will believe in Jesus. Our hearts is where it is to be parked! (The word is near you; it is... in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming-Romans 10:8) The substance of my faith that salvation will be delivered is that I clean out my heart (Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the LORD... Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary - 2 Chronicles 29:5) (Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you - James 1:21) Now of course sanctification is of the Holy Spirit but it is of our consent and desire to be transformed through confession and repentance that the Holy Spirit is abe to work in us,  So I make room in my heart by removing all the filth, (For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also- Matt 6:21) Then, the substance of my faith is I keep it clean until the end, otherwise I never truly believed. (Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word - Psalms 119:33-37) (we desire that every one of you will show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end - Hebrews 6:11 & John 8:31 Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed)

The evidence that we are in Christ is that we are continually making progress, not that we have attained it yet, but that we are moving from darkness to light, that we keep pressing on, we continue running the race, we continue living up to that which we have been given thus far, we continue in obedience (1 John, Philippians 3:12, Hebrews 12:1, Philippians 3:16, 1 John 3:24)

 

Disobedience is lack of faith. (You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain - Exodus 20:7) This is not just cursing. Taking something in vain is to take it without merit or weight, without substance, without importance, or to disregard it. To act in disobedience to God's Word is to say, "I do not believe God's Word", you are taking His Word, which is His name, in vain. (If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness...if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins...1 John 1:8-9, 2:1) (No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him-1 John 3:6.) If you continue in disobedience or continue to start putting stuf back in the garage, eventually you will have no room for the gift of grace. (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 - 2 Peter 2:20 - after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.- James 1:15) (We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did- 1 John 2:3-6)

 

Obedience is the substance of your faith that Christ is your salvation, your mediator, your assurance, your strength, the length of your days. Obedience will not bring salvation as salvation is a gift of grace, it is however the evidence of your entrusting Christ with your eternal life. (As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received - Ephesians 4:1) 

 

"Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek out your decrees. Your compassion is great, O Lord; preserve my life according to your laws...Gret peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble... I wait for your salvation, O Lord, and I follow your commands"

(Psalms 119:155-156, 165-166)

 

Faith is Keeping the Garage Clean!

 

Faith is Obedience!