Salvation By Faith

Your father moves across the river to the next State and begins to build a mansion. When it is finally completed, he calls to ask you to come to live in his mansion with him.
You get out your trusty map and see that all you have to do is get on Highway 1 and it's a straight journey to the next State. A little over halfway there, you see a sign "DETOUR AHEAD". A little further you see another sign, "WARNING - DETOUR AHEAD". Shortly after that, you encounter a sign with flashing lights and an arrow pointing to the left. Below it says "DETOUR".

You stop the car and get out your map. You don't see a detour on it, so you keep going straight ahead. Eventually you come to a dead end where the road is blocked and a sign "DEAD END - BRIDGE OUT."

Your brother was also called by your father and invited to the mansion. However he took the detour down a back road and came to a ferry. He gets on and the ferryman takes him across the river and goes to your father's mansion.

You won't get to your father's mansion because you didn't heed the signs.

The Apostle Paul gave us the "detour" to Our Father's Mansion, Heaven.

Salvation by faith is a completely different Gospel than the Gospel under The Law of Moses. The Gospel of Grace was revealed only to the Apostle Paul after the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel of Grace

Scripture teaches us the Gospel of Grace that Jesus gave to the Apostle Paul to save ALL MANKIND. This is only shown in Scriptures from The Book of Romans to The Book of Philemon. It is taught nowhere else in the Bible. It is shown in ACTS to be a different Gospel.

Revealed in these books are the "mysteries" given to Paul by Jesus. Paul wrote these books in Greek. The Greek word for "mystery" can also be translated as "secret."

These were kept secret from man since before the creation of Adam and only revealed to Paul. They are now to be shared with everyone...Gentiles, Kings and Jews.

DEUTERONOMY 29:
29. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."

The Gospel of Grace is written all through Paul's Epistles but is never clearer than in

I CORINTHIANS 15

1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4. And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

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EPHESIONS 2:
8. For by GRACE are ye SAVED through FAITH; and that NOT OF YOURSELVES: it is the GIFT of God:

9. NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast.

If you work for something, it is a reward, not a gift. Gifts don't have strings (religion)

GALATIANS 5:
1. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and BE NOT ENTANGLED AGAIN WITH THE YOKE OF BONDAGE."
2. "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, CHRIST SHALL PROFIT YOU NOTHING."

"If ye be circumcised" or work for Salvation, you are denying the Gift of Grace!

ROMANS 4:
3. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
4. Now to him that WORKETH IS THE REWARD not reckoned of grace, but of DEBT.
5. But to him that WORKETH NOT, but BELIEVETH ON HIM that justifieth the ungodly, his FAITH IS COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

And if you do truly believe this, you provide YOUR FAITH to JESUS’S WORK…granting you SALVATION. And if you do truly believe this GIFT, you obviously WOULD NOT ASK GOD THE FATHER TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS! One of the dirtiest tricks Satan has pulled on mankind is something commonly known as “The Lord’s Prayer” which is a Jewish prayer for God, THE FATHER to FORGIVE THEIR SINS.

JOHN 14:
6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. NEVER ASK FORGIVENESS!

This also means you WILL NOT BE JUDGED FOR SINS for SALVATION! It is a GIFT OF GRACE.
The Apostle Paul ONLY writes to people who are ALREADY SAVED…the 7 Churches, Timothy, Titus and Philemon…all already saved through Faith, righteous before God.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:
10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Paul writes his Epistles in Greek. He uses the term “Bema Seat” which is translated as judgement seat. The Bema Seat is the seat used in the Olympics to hand out additional awards for performance, gold for 1st, silver for 2nd, bronze for 3rd.
There are 5 “crowns” that will be given out in Heaven to Christians who perform Jesus’s work here. For example, one of those is a crown given to Christians who teach the TRUE GOSPEL.

Understanding Scripture

The key to understanding scripture has been given to everyone...common sense.

If you take a few lines from any story, how will you know what the story is without knowing who is speaking, who they are speaking to, when they are speaking, etc.? For instance, in JAMES 2:

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

This is taught in every religion...Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, etc. The part that is not pointed out is the 1st verse of the Book of James:

1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the TWELVE TRIBES which are scattered abroad, greeting.

The Book of James was written FOR JEWS after the crucifixion before the fall of The Temple, Jerusalem, and Israel in 70 AD. Jews seeing Gentiles saved but not doing works (religion) were "slacking" and being reminded they are still under the Law.

Though not all Scripture is written to us, all Scripture is written for us, for our edification.
II TIMOTHY 3:
16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
II TIMOTHY 2:
15. STUDY to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly DIVIDING THE WORD of truth.

God shows us a "partially divided" Scripture already...the OLD and NEW Testaments. The Old Testament is The Law. The New Testament is Grace. Further divide The Word:

OLD:
GENESIS 1 - 11:

written to the Jews as an historical account of the first 2000 years of man before The Law.
GENESIS 12 - END of Old Testament:

written ONLY to the Jews AWAITING their Messiah.

NOTE: The first 5 Books in Scripture were actually "dictated" to Moses by God.

NEW:
MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, and JOHN:

written ONLY to Jews who recognize Jesus as their Messiah.
ACTS:

an historical account of the Apostles, mostly James, John, Peter and Paul and of the TRANSITION from one Gospel, THE LAW, to a new one, the gift of GRACE.

ROMANS – THESSALONIANS:

letters written in response by the Apostle Paul to the 7 Churches.

TIMOTHY, TITUS, and PHILOMEN:

letters written to his 3 Disciples.

HEBREWS:

written to Jews who have recognized Jesus as the Messiah. It is believed to be written by Paul, but contains no mention of the Gift of Grace nor redemption through faith alone
This makes sense as ROMANS is the last writing of Paul and HEBREWS would have been his first. Yet in EVERY bible, ROMANS is first and HEBREWS is last further showing the “transition” of Gospels.
“The first will be the last and the last will be the first.” This is a pattern throughout Scripture!

JAMES, PETER, JOHN and JUDE:

written to Jews who recognize that Jesus was the Messiah AND that there is also a new Salvation for the Gentiles taught by Paul and his disciples, Barnabas, Timothy and Titus.

THE REVELATION of JOHN:
This is a book of history and prophecy.

The ONLY Scripture actually written TO YOU is Paul's letters!

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

II CORINTHIANS 4:
3. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Satan (the god of this world) doesn't want us to see the truth in scripture. He wants us condemned. The first place Satan would look to stop people from being saved is the churches.

If Satan wanted to get rid of someone in your town without them knowing it, he could sneak in to their house one night and poison their water so that the very thing they are taking for sustaining their life is actually killing them, but they wouldn't know it's happening until it's too late.
If he wanted to get rid of the whole town, he couldn't sneak into every house...or he could poison the well where they all get their water without anyone being the wiser.
If he wanted to get rid of all of the towns in the valley, he could just as easily poison the spring that feeds all of the wells that supplies all of the houses thereby killing everyone.

Every church has a Priest, a Reverend, a Preacher, Elder, etc. Almost all of these people get their training from Seminaries and books that have been "approved" for them to teach. By corrupting these "teachings", the true message in Scripture can be "poisoned."
If you change a teaching at the source, or the "spring", the damage is carried to the churches and then to you. You will believe you are getting something to save your life, when actually you are not.

It's said the greatest trick the devil ever played on the world is to make us think he doesn't exist when he does.

The second greatest trick is making us think we're saved when we're not...through religion.

A NEW PLAN

God commanded Peter go to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile and a Roman soldier. He told him and the others of Jesus the Messiah. When he got to His death, burial and resurrection, he witnessed The Holy Spirit in them when they began speaking in tongues without repentance or baptism.

ACTS 10:

39. "And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:
40. Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
41. Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
42. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
43. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
44. While Peter yet SPAKE THESE WORDS, the Holy Ghost FELL ON ALL them which heard the word.
45. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter,

because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
46. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.

These Gentiles were saved by just believing Jesus died for the remission of their sins, was buried and on the 3rd day rose again. Nothing else was performed...just faith. This showed Peter that God was starting a new plan which would bring Salvation to the Gentiles. This also fulfilled prophecy:

MATTHEW 16:

18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

THE APOSTLE PETER'S LAST WRITING

Even the Apostle Peter in his last writing wrote that Paul was given "wisdom" and wrote what God revealed to him in his Epistles.

II PETER 3:

15. "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

16. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction."

Peter tells the Jews there is also Salvation in the "longsuffering" (crucifixion) and

also wrote a warning against listening to those that are "unlearned."

Jesus also warned of the same thing when teaching His Disciples about the "End Times." Even though He was speaking of wars, earthquakes, famines and pestilence in LUKE 21, when the Disciples asked what to look for, He told them to "not be deceived."

LUKE 21:

7. And they asked him, saying, "Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?"

8. And he said, "Take heed that ye be not deceived: for MANY shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them."

SAVED BY FAITH ALONE

I CORINTHIANS 3:

13. Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

14. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a REWARD.

15. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer LOSS: but he himself SHALL BE SAVED; yet so as by fire.

Believing you will be judged for your sins after death means you don't believe Jesus already washed away your sins.

ADD NOTHING

When Paul travelled around to teach The Gospel of Grace, there were Jewish Priests who would come behind him telling Christians that they had to be baptized, circumcised, etc. in order to be saved. This is "works" and goes against The Gospel of Grace. Since salvation depends on simply faith in the completed work of the cross, burial and resurrection, the only sin would be "unbelief" in any of those 3 requirements.

Any group which teaches anything "added" to this is promoting unbelief in the completed work of the cross. Many churches teach some kind of "work" to be saved, be it baptism, church membership, etc.
This is known as "RELIGION."

This issue was addressed when Paul was brought before The Council in Jerusalem around 51 AD. The Council, led by James, Cephas (Peter), and John, decided the issue in favor of Paul when Peter arose and recounted his experience at the house of Cornelius (ACTS 10). This convinced James and the rest of God's plan for Gentiles.

ACTS 15:
5. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, "That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses."
6. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
7. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, "Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9. And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."

10. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

11. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

12. Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

GALATIANS 2:
7. But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
8. (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
9. And when James, Cephas (Peter), and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the GRACE THAT WAS GIVEN UNTO ME, THEY GAVE TO ME AND BARNABAS THE RIGHT HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

This is The Apostles recognizing the NEW GOSPEL!