To Him Be The Glory For Ever!

For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counsellor?’
‘Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?’
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

~ Romans 11:33-36

Grace Alone. Faith Alone.

A list I am compiling as I read The Bible.

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the door-frame. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the door-frame and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

~ Exodus 12:21-23

Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.’ So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.

~ Numbers 16:46-48

The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

~ Numbers 21:8-9

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.

~ Ephesians 2:8-9

Come Whoever Thirsts!

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

~ Revelation 22:17

Salvation and Assurance on the Death Bed

By Alfy Austin

The room was typical: two beds, some chairs, a privacy curtain between the beds, a TV, and some IV stands. The patient I had come to visit had been a devout Roman Catholic all of his seventy-seven years. He was dying and he knew it. Death could come at any moment. Fear and doubt led him to do something he’d never done before: talk with a Protestant minister.

When I saw him I doubted that he was capable of conversing or even listening. However, after some gentle prodding from his son, a member of my church, the dying man awoke and looked at me.

I spoke to him about God’s grace and Jesus’ finished work on the cross. At first, I could not tell if I was getting through to him. Gradually, however, this man with so little time left became more alert. I began to ask him questions to be sure that he was understanding. His answers indicated that for the first time in his life he understood that salvation is by faith in Christ alone and is completely apart from any works we might do. I probed further and discovered to the great joy of his son and me that he had come not only to understand, but also to believe the gospel. He indicated that he was now placing his trust solely in Jesus Christ to save him and give him eternal life.

We shared a prayer of thanks together, thanking God for saving him. As I left he shook my hand firmly and thanked me for sharing the way to heaven with him.

His son told me later that after I left his dad had said, “That was easy.”

My friend’s dad slipped into a coma a few hours after he placed his faith in Christ alone. Three days later, without ever regaining consciousness, he died.

Can salvation be received so easily? Can a man with no opportunity to bear fruit, persevere, or make a public confession of his faith have eternal life and be sure of it? Can his family take comfort in knowing that he is in heaven now? To all of these questions I would answer a confident yes.

The thief on the cross placed his faith in Christ only hours before his death. Jesus did not tell him that it was too late for him. Jesus did not keep his eternal destiny in doubt. He gave him immediate assurance of salvation saying, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Jesus offered the woman at the well living water as a free gift (John 4:10). He did not demand proof of her faith or a promise of moral purity in the future. While this does not mean that Jesus was unconcerned about faithfulness and purity, it does mean that eternal salvation is free and is apart from personal reformation, promises, or works of any kind.

In Revelation 22:17 we read words very reminiscent of Jesus’ words to the woman at the well: “Let the one who wishes take of the water of life [which is] without cost.” If God offers eternal life as a gift, how can we but do likewise? What a joy it is to me to give away the greatest gifts there are: salvation and assurance.

https://faithalone.org/grace-in-focus-articles/salvation-and-assurance-on-the-death-bed/