Law Or Grace - You Cannot Have Both!
Galatians 5:4
Most religious people attempt to mix man's
works of obedience to the law with God's works of grace for sinners, making
salvation a mixture of works and grace. It has been this way since the days of
Cain and Abel. No one says, "Salvation is by works." But almost
everyone believes it. When salvation by God's free grace alone is declared
plainly,lost religionists cling to and defend their
works, denouncing the one who dares to affirm that salvation is by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone as a promoter of licentiousness and a vile
antinomian. Yet, the truth must be declared in plain, unmistakable terms.
GRACE AND WORKS ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE.
They annihilate one another. If we are saved by our own works in any way, to
any degree, in whole or in part, then we are not saved by the grace of God. If
we are saved by the grace of God alone, then we are not saved by our own works
of obedience to the law of God (
ALL CHURCHES, RELIGIONS, AND SYSTEMS OF
DOCTRINE WHICH TEACH SALVATION BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW ARE HERETICAL. I mean to
be understood. I am saying that any teaching that says sinners are justified,
given favor with God,sanctified,preserved, or shall inherit the reward of
heavenly glory upon the basis of their own personal obedience to the law of God
is legalism, antichrist, and damning to all who receive it (Gal. 5:1-4).
THIS GOSPEL DOCTRINE OF SALVATION BY GRACE
ALONE DOES, MOST CERTAINLY, EXTEND EVEN TO THE BELIEVER'S SANCTIFICATION IN
CHRIST. To be sanctified is to be set apart by God for holy service, declared
to be holy, and actually made holy. If, as all agree, sanctification is that
without which no man shall see the Lord,then
sanctification can no more be a matter of works than justification. And this is
exactly what the Word of God declares. The Bible nowhere presents
sanctification as a conditional thing, depending upon the believer's works. It
is an unconditional work of grace, performed for us and in us by the triune God
(Jude 1, Heb.
Don Fortner