God's Promise Of Eternal Life By Faith Alone

1st John 3:8-9, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”

Dear reader, the reason WHY we cannot sin as God's redeemed children is simply because there is no law to sin against anymore!

Romans 3:19-26, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

We are not saved by fulfilling the righteous of the law (which no one has has achieved); but rather, we are saved by the imputed righteousness of God, which is by faith alone in Jesus Christ. God's righteousness is given to ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE!!! Romans 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:” Amen and amen. Whether Jew or Gentile, God saves (by His own righteousness) ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE!!!

So when we choose to sin as believers, no sin is counted (imputed) against us by God. Romans 4:6-7, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” When a child of God sins, even the most heinous and offensive crimes against another human being, God's grace abounds, so that no sin is ever imputed to that person.

I am aware of a handful of Christians who are either serving life sentences in prison for committing unthinking crimes, or they are serving decades behind bars in a correction center for their crimes, or have already served much time incarcerated for their crimes. They all have a felony criminal record here on earth. But I tell you upon the authority of the inspired Word of God, that if they are truly saved they have NO RECORD in Heaven!!! Despite being despised by humans upon the earth for the rest of their natural lives, in God's sight they are as sinless, perfect and pure as wool, having no sins counted (imputed) to them in Heaven. Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

No convicted criminal here on earth has a rap sheet up in Heaven. Psalms 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Do you know why the Bible says “east is from the west” and not “north is from the south”? It is wonderfully because east and west never meet! You can travel the direction east for eternity, but you will never find west. Likewise, you can walk, bike, swim and fly west forever, but you will never find east. But you can only travel as far as the north pole until you will be going south. And you can only make it down to the continent of Antarctica before at some point you'll be heading up north again. I LOVE THAT TRUTH!!! What our great forgiving God is saying is that once He pardons our sins by faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, they are gone, gone, gone forever!!! Micah 7:18, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?  he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Now ransomed from sin and a new work begun

Sing praise to the Father and praise to the Son

Saved by the blood of the Crucified One!

Glory, I’m saved! Glory, I’m saved!

My sins are all pardoned, my guilt is all gone!

Glory, I’m saved! . . .

So let's look at our text passage of Scripture again:

1st John 3:8-9, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

No child of God can sin, because there is no law to sin against anymore. The moment that we accepted Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior (which I did at age 13 in 1980, in Chicago at an old-fashioned Baptist church, on a beautiful sunny summer morning), God forever removed us from under the power and curse of the Old Testament law. We were then, now and forever under GOD'S SAVING GRACE!!! So it is true that when we sin as saints (and we do each day), we FALL IN GRACE, but never FALL FROM GRACE.

The only way to fall “from grace” is to trust in the Devil's heresies of Lordship Salvation (which is Calvinism), or think that you must forsake sinful behavior to be saved (which is trying to be justified by keeping the Old Testament law), or trusting in some other forms of partial faith in Christ plus works. Galatians 5:4, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”

I read some helpful words recently, in one of my favorite books authored by Evangelist Michael P. Bowen, “I NEVER KNEW YOU,” on pages 51-52:

A surefire way to success in the Christian business is to present a false plan of salvation that sounds like the real thing. Satan will then bless the ministry financially so that masses of people will buy into the lie that he, the father of lies himself, has been propagating ever since he brainwashed Cain with murderous jealousy toward Abel over God’s denial of his harvested offering and His acceptance of his brother’s animal offering. It does not matter how successful a false ministry may become over time because that success is not a measure of God’s blessings upon that ministry. For instance, let us examine Jesus’ temptation while fasting at the beginning of His ministry. Satan tempted Christ to show off His power by throwing Himself from a high place knowing all along that He would not sustain injuries from that fall. Satan also tried to make Christ turn stones into bread. And Satan also offered to give Christ ruling power over earthly kingdoms. You see, Satan had the power to give Christ all the kingdoms and wealth of the world if He would just bow down and worship him. In a similar manner, Satan has the power to bless financially all the ministries that promote false plans of salvation for the sole purpose of making people think they are saved by living the Christian Lifestyle without ever actually being born again in the first place. It is a most cruel form of deception from which few are ever rescued, no matter how many times they hear the true plan of salvation after they have been indoctrinated by this satanic deception; likewise, those who trust in CBN’s plan of salvation, rather than in Christ’s plan of salvation, are at a tremendous disadvantage and are apt never to pay attention to what the Lord Himself says about being born again because they have been convinced by satanic deception, i.e., the “genuine warmth and compassion of the voices and the faces to which they are drawn” that, in reality, only draws them away from Christ’s simple, solitary requirement of “belief in Him alone,” and toward the false path of instructing them to commit their lives to Christ in discipleship “in addition to” partial faith in what Jesus did for them at the cross, despite the fact that Robertson contradicts himself with his own words initially when he says outright that our own efforts do not count toward this gift of salvation; yet, because he employs a bait-and-switch technique that first says “no works” and then subtly “adds works” later in his fourstep process, thereby canceling Christ’s grace with the corruption of human works, Robertson’s gospel is not the true gospel of the bible. It is a counterfeit gospel; it will never save those who place their trust in it. 

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).

That is the sad reality of adding human works to God’s grace, yet, of course, you are free to choose this day whom you will believe.

SOURCE: Evangelist Michael P. Bowen, “I NEVER KNEW YOU,” pp. 51-52 

I couldn't have said it any better myself. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again. There is a fine line between faith and foolishness. The woeful danger of embellishing THE GOSPEL with extra add-ons (e.g., turn from your sin, invite Christ into your life, make Jesus the supreme “Lord” of your life, surrender control of your life to Christ, follow Jesus, invite Jesus into your heart, repent of your sins, count the cost and pay the price, live a lifestyle of repentance, forsake the old sinful ways, persevere in holiness, run the Christian race faithfully to the end of life, publicly confess Christ, get water baptized, et cetera) is that the Devil knows you CANNOT GET BORN-AGAIN by doing any or all of those things!!!

What is THE GOSPEL taught in the Holy Bible? I'm glad that you asked by dear friend...

1st Corinthians 15:1-6, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”

There you have it, right from the inspired King James Bible:

1. Jesus DIED on the cross for our sins.
2. He was BURIED.
3. Christ physically RESURRECTED three days later.

Anyone who comes to God as a confessed guilty sinner (i.e., seeing his need for redemption), and places childlike faith (trust, confidence) in Jesus (the only begotten Son of God, the Christ) is saved. It is that simple. John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” If you are born-again, then you CAN sin with impunity (i.e., live like the Devil without jeopardizing your position in Christ as God's adopted child) as far as eternal life is concerned, because you've been born of God. Romans 5:20-21, “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”