NOT BY WORKS

NOT BY WORKS

We thank God for this wonderful gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:1-10). The spirit of this age was inside us but God took it out and replaced it with the Holy Spirit. Greater is the Holy Spirit in us than the spirit of this age that is on the children of disobedience. By grace, we are saved through faith. But not grace alone, we need to have the faith – to believe. We can’t boast on anything because all is and was done by grace. At the same time, we need to walk in the good works of this grace and faith. This is the sound doctrine contained in the big book called the Bible.

Read Romans 1:16-17. The Gospel is the power unto salvation. But not to all, but to those who believe. The just shall live by faith.

We thank God that He sent His son. He died for us so that He is our salvation! We thank God that this free gift was given that we have salvation through faith in Jesus and not in our own power, our own works, or our own strength. It’s only by the blood that was shed on Calvary!

Where did Jesus say eternal life is? It is in HIM. Salvation is in Christ. We can’t be of the World and be saved. We can’t be in the spirit of this age and be saved. He must be in you and in me. This is a fact.

We can’t just pay attention to Paul’s word and ignore everything else that Jesus said concerning salvation. When we get in relationship with Jesus, we must be born again and a miracle must happen. So, so many are not teaching and preaching the entire Gospel. They made the Gospel only a belief, not a living reality. In this message, I will go very deep in sound Truth. Open up your eyes! Who is eternal life? What is eternal life?

Read 1 John 5:10-12. Eternal life is not in the works but in the Son. Being a Christian does not guarantee that you have Christ in you. Religion will tell you something different. Religion is usually a belief system but being born again is a transformation, and it’s always changing.

But it’s also His grace that changes us! According to the Bible, grace is a need every minute, hour, and day. So power is Grace!

Read Romans 1:16-17. Power keeps us and sanctifies us. The Bible is very big, and Jesus said very strong words! So we must adhere to Jesus, and the New Testament is written to us who believe.

Washing of the word! We are not just justified because Jesus died on the cross. But we can’t be clean without the true Word of God. It is not a work of the flesh, but a work of faith and grace. According to the Bible, we are justified by faith, not by works. Faith looks like something. That is where hyper-grace loses its legs.

Renewing your mind! My mind is being renewed every day we walk with Him. When I got saved, my mind was not renewed yet but I was saved. I had to choose to listen to Him, to follow Him, to be in Him, and to allow Him to work in me. Grace is not just a prayer or pick the right one. Jesus finished everything on the cross, now we need to enter into His finished work by faith. We are being changed from glory to glory and faith to faith.

Who is He the word made flesh? JESUS CHRIST. So how in the world could we ever trample over or against His word by His word? If all scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit then we must take it into account. We need His Spirit! All are important – but some people are trying to avoid the red letters (Jesus’ words). Many don’t stop sinning because the Gospel they believe is the wrong Gospel. Paul suffered not because of the old man’s bondage – He suffered because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He said, “It is finished,” but why are you still in bondage? Because you did not really believe and don’t submit to His word. The real Gospel is the real power. I don’t care what a “Pastor Pamper Me” says. If your faith stops at the belief only that Jesus died for us then you are not going to be able to overcome in the end.

Some people hide the power source. They don’t plug it in. Some people don’t even have the knowledge that this power is available. They start doing works without power. They are just trying to avoid the need to do great things for God – but they use the wrong power – the power of the flesh – manmade power. They start building houses for the poor, doing awesome works of justice. They do all they can in the flesh to please God. This is good because sacrifice looks like something but the World does that as well. So how can we be set apart? What makes what you do any different? That is what they say in the world.

Jesus spoke one way to His disciples and another way to those that were trying to hold onto the law and their works of the flesh!

Let’s say this again: It’s not by the works of the flesh that we are saved but by our faith in Jesus Christ.

But we also have the entire ministry of Jesus telling us what it means to be a disciple! We must grasp everything He is saying.

Do not be deceived. He would say: “Many will come in My name and deceive many!” The only way many can be deceived is if they really don’t know Him. Then we must grasp who He is. He would say, “I am the Word of God.”

I tell you: one of the most deceptive things would be ignoring the words and the teaching of Jesus! This is the foolish thing people are doing: talking, preaching, doing, doing and doing but never coming in communion with Truth. Very few preachers preach the Words of Jesus. They are thanking God for something they never obtained fully. If you have heard God clearly speaking to you as He is speaking now, and you still ignore Him, then this is a choice. It is not God’s fault. There is something wrong. There is a rebellion. There is a wall. There is a stronghold.

I tell you, many deceivers will come and try to say that salvation is about only knowing what He did. This is true but it’s not all because Jesus said so, He said so many things. Hyper-grace is distorting the Word and, in that, distorting the Gospel.

So salvation is covenant with Him and becoming one by being born again through the door called Christ who is the only way man is saved! Salvation is not just knowing what He did, but partaking in what He did. Clearly, if we are crucified with Him, it is the only way we can be risen with Him.

Then we have to rely on Jesus’ power to keep us. That is His Grace!

Read John 1:1-14. As many received Him, only to those who receive HIM, He gave the power to become sons of God. Only to those who believe HIM. It takes power. It takes faith. It takes grace to manifest the sonship of God. Grace is something He gives to us, but it’s not who He is. He is full of grace and of truth. What a balance? Run away from preachers who tell you Jesus is grace. They are deceived. Jesus is Christ and God gives grace but it comes from a relationship. It comes from faith and it comes from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Word. People better read the book of Revelation with the Spirit of Truth and not with a religious theologian who is not one with God.

One good sign of salvation being manifested? We are forever changing. The Word becomes flesh in you. What manifestation of the sons of God! Christ in you the hope of glory!

Read Romans 8:18-20. This is where He says that many, many will meet at the cross, but not everyone will actually pick up their cross! Let’s put it clearly what He is saying: “Not everyone will obey Me.”
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but not everybody wants to obey Him. People like what He says but hate what He tells them to do.

“Not everyone will follow me, not everyone will want to endure until the end!”

Endure what? The Word of God. The persecution. The hate. The separation. The false brethren. They will say things like, “We’ll stick to the good news, Brother.” So interesting. They hated Jesus. They will hate you. If all His news was so good, then why did they kill Him, why did they hate Him?

Then Paul speaks about that in the last days, men will heap! Look at the Word! Teachers teaching perverse things to those with itching ears! Words that have no power. Words that won’t give us the power to do it! Words that are taken out of context.

Read 2 Timothy 4:1-5 - Preach! Preach what? The Word.

Jesus said: “If you want to follow Me, you need to deny yourself. But the only way to do that is with Grace!” We are all about grace but not a perverted gospel of it.

Then He said that we will need to live a fasting lifestyle! That will take a lot of grace! Try to fast in your own strength and see what happens.

Then He said: You will need to pray always - stay consistent in communication with Him. That will take so much grace with all the distractions of the last days with social media, internet, phones, and our own lives.

Then He said, “You will need to love your neighbor as yourself!” That will take a lot of grace!

Then He said, “You need to love your enemies!” Now that’s going take so, so, so much grace!

Then He said, “We must constantly be hungry, thirsty and poor in Spirit!” That’s going to take a lot of grace!

None of these things save you but all of them keep you and that is what grace will do.

Then He said, “We have to bear fruit and not just once but constant multiplication - your fruit must remain and the only way to do that is to abide in Him, stay in Him, and walk in Him!” That for sure will take a lot of grace! See? Salvation is not a belief only. It is being in Him. It is a miracle. It is constant grace.

Then He said, “Love looks like something!” Love does. It does not just talk but love does what? It lays down: Its will, its ways, its desire. It gives, gives, and keeps on giving! Jesus said, Paul said, so many other in the word of God said...without all of these, the total package - without fruit, you are not in Him. Why would we as Christians let someone keep lying to people about salvation?

Yes! Grace is the only way we can even think about being able to do these things! These are commandments - these are words of life!

False Grace says: “Thank you, Jesus! I am so blessed that I found you! Nice to meet you. I will see you again when I die - I can’t wait to be with you then - thank you! Goodbye for now. I will dream of that day as I live religious! Thank you for saving my wretched self and now I go on with my happy life but im still wretched. I found you and I will live like I always have.”

Yes! It is all about Grace, Grace, Grace! Not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit!!! But we are 100 percent a part of this true communion. True devotion. True submission to Him – just like in a marriage.

Then Paul talks about going to the throne of grace in time of need. Again this is repenting - Is repenting a work? It depends how you look at it but really it is a giving up of self-will and turning there now - boasting in that!!! Imagine a man saying, “I’m saved because I repented more times every day than any one else.” – He would never want to be boasting on that. Another one says: “God has helped more than most!” That actually magnifies your weakness, not your strength but His goodness and mercy! Boast on that. His Grace is sufficient! No way is it a work of the flesh. It is a work of grace. It is all about the blood that makes it all about grace but it never was a one-night stand.

God called it (for believers) the throne of grace, not the throne of wrath, for a reason. There will be a day we will all stand before the judgment throne, but for now, grace is so available. The veil is torn access is granted but it will take our vessel, our will, and our hearts to do it.

Read Hebrews 4:9-16. We must enter into His rest. If we had to do something in the flesh to obtain salvation, we would have denied the works of the cross. The Word is a discerner of thoughts and the actions of the heart. We only obtain mercy and find help in time of need when we come boldly to His throne of grace, boldly knowing that He died for our sins, that He paid the price. That is grace, but He also paid for us to be in Him.

His grace is sufficient!

Read 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. If we stop acknowledging Christ, Christ will stop acknowledging you. Are you becoming one with Him? This is Truth abiding, obeying, and following. All work together.

Paul knew that the gifts are not earned with any type of work. So he knew he could not boast on it. But he encouraged the brethren to sharpen them. He never wanted to be exalted above measure. God’s grace was so sufficient for Paul. And the power of Christ was always resting upon Him, nothing to do with his works!

But grace. Paul knew if he abided, staying in Christ’s fruits would be an automatic reality. It is not forced or produced by the flesh. It is an increase from heaven and from HIM.

It's all about the heart, not about the works. So we have been focusing on belief. Now let’s look more into faith. It’s all about faith and not about the works!

But what is the proof of your faith: it’s your works, not works of salvation, but works of obedience, works of relationship, and works of love! Your works are the proof of what you believe. Your works are a proof of His word in you, His spirit in you, and His grace in and upon you!

Dreaming and imagination have nothing to do with belief. Belief moves in something. You can believe that big rocks are falling out of the sky. So if you really believed, you will automatically take cover. So the same is with believing in Christ: You will obey. That is the real sign of believing – it is doing!

If salvation was only a one-night stand then we only need the evangelist! Usually the evangelist becomes a stumbling block for other gifts that are trying to unify and strengthen the bride! If it was just a one-time encounter, then we only need a tract to get us and to help us to make it until the end! We are doing a lot better now as God is performing His Word from just a tract generation to a voice generation.

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations!” He did not say just converts!!! Making someone pray is easy. I can get an atheist to pray with me. Just give me a few minutes. I can just convince him. I have done it in the past when I was young in the Lord.

Why did Jesus say that they will hate you if it’s just Good News? That is the work of an evangelist but Jesus is all the five gifts/offices in the Body! Because it is not just the Gospel that comes from the evangelist, but from the apostle, from the prophets – it is the fullness of the Gospel. It was never the Gospel of grace – but also Truth and love, and this you should bind around your neck. If you try to sell the Gospel and put a cheap price on it, everyone will buy it. But the Cross is offensive. You must either go around this cornerstone or let it crush your thinking and dreams.

So if you just tell them about the free gift and leave out the cost of keeping and following, you are really ripping people off. It is like giving someone a free vacuum – an amazing vacuum. But then you don’t tell them that they need to buy these expensive batteries every week for it to work. They will possibly say, “No. Give that to someone else. I don’t want to spend my money on that even though it was free and good and it was beautiful.”

It is like buying oil. So true. Everyone will take a free vacuum if they just had to plug it in but the cost to keep it and use it will change their thinking. This is what marketing is like. A printer is almost free. The cheaper the printer is the more expensive the ink is. So count the cost. It takes a lot of grace to keep what He gives us, even if it is free!

So God’s kingdom is the opposite of the World. We give to get. We die to live. We go low to be exalted.

The kingdom of God cannot even make sense to a carnally minded person! People think that you are crazy. Actually, having your mind renewed is a must in the kingdom of God. The more you think and act like Him, the more people will reject you!

It’s called Grace unto sanctification and holiness that actually sets us apart! The cheap gospel leaves you in the same condition. This is strong delusion.

So beware of anyone who tries to preach any other Gospel! We know without His Grace we can do nothing! That’s where faith kicks in! We know without His Grace the enemy would have his way!! That’s when faith and surrender kick in!

His Grace is His goodness and mercy but He desires a willing vessel!

Without faith, we cannot please Him. Like any marriage, it’s not easy. It takes a lot of effort. It takes focus. It takes communication! It takes a lot of sacrifice! It takes God’s Grace! Not religious rituals! Relationship without love is just a ritual.

I’m seeing that when Paul said that salvation was not by works, he was correctly speaking about the law! Paul was talking about so many Jews. Salvation comes by believing in Jesus and what He did to become the lamb of God! But we know that faith looks like something.

Apostles, prophets, and teachers are not trying to tell you that you need work to receive Jesus. No way. It’s a free gift that no man can say or boast in their achievements! But it is the ones who want to fight about that. That is it!

Believing is a stand - a position - a way - a thought. It’s not a work in itself but when you believe, you need to adhere to that command or system that you are actually receiving, and walk in the benefits of what you are believing, or you are just a hypocrite! If you are a radical, you believe. Let’s use a world belief of something for an example: the green machine! New Age! These people really make sure that we will know what they believe. They look like something. Their cars are different, their solar-minded, they are environment-minded, they love the creation more than the creator. Make sure you look like something or you are nobody in the Christian world. You are not Christian at all. This is where Paul was speaking about: working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Read Philippians 2:11-19. Work out your own salvation! Whatever you believe, you better have it on display. So if we could not come out of grace or Christ, how could He be saying that He is standing at the door and knocking? He was speaking to the church that was the church and not to the world.

Why does God keep knocking at the door? Because the door is not always open! God’s true ministers are telling you how to work it out, telling you to practice it and be a disciplined follower, how to keep Him and the door open always, to be steadfast, unmovable, and unshakable! Edifying and building up, leading you to the cross daily!

Read James 2 - What must you have to receive salvation? Faith. If you have faith, you have works. Faith has to be alive to receive salvation. Daily faith, daily manifestation of our faith. More than just believe, prove it with your faith! Without faith, works are dead. Without works, faith is dead.

We are not talking about WORKS UNTO SALVATION but WORKS OF FAITH. Faith looks like something. Salvation looks like something and believing looks like something. That means we need to look like something. The name of this something is CHRIST.

The “Hyper-Grace unto salvation” preachers are only perverting the words of Jesus! The passion of the covenant is expected partnership! We are called to be image bearers.

If we are the Bride of Christ and the Bible says to make one’s self ready, then all things are our dressing room of salvation! This Word is that place. Buying oil is something you need to do but not a work of the flesh again, it’s a total surrender! It is a work of believing, and the fear of the Lord.

This is why Satan has perverted the sanctification in a beautiful wedding and the meaning of covenant, doing it to the church and he has done it in the World.

Jesus was speaking all the time but He was very determined in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 saying, “If you have ears to hear ...” Some have lost their spiritual ear because they never killed the itch and became deceived!

If salvation was a one night stand and then “I will see you in heaven,” then how is it possible to lose your first love? According to this false teaching or religion, it’s a belief without a relationship! What is that? It’s called religion! Why would God ask a church to repent and turn to their first love if Jesus is salvation and eternal life? See? These are where all perverted gospels fall. They can never hold up when all the full counsel of the word is given.

See? Itching ears want to hear doctrines of devils– they became reprobate. These so called Christians have become your enemy – God’s enemy and an enemy of the cross!

That is why, in the world, Satan has cheapened covenant and marriage and divorce is always an option. What did Jesus say about following Him? He said, “If you don’t count the cost, you will not realize what you get yourself into.” You will say, “I’m getting a divorce. This is not what I expected! This is too hard! This is not what I was thinking! This is not what the evangelist told me. He said all I had to do is believe and that was it.”

Read Luke 14:26-30. The lack of denying ourselves is the very thing that will stop us from being His disciples. Following Christ means to follow His steps all the way to the cross, not to pervert what the King says – not to pervert the kingdom. God will not have it.

Everybody grabs the cross but when they get back home they drop it down. It takes lots of Grace for commitment. It takes lots of Grace to serve someone and obey! There is always a way out, but if we deny Him, He will deny us!

Don’t let anyone preach any other Gospel than the one Jesus preached! I stand sound and with a trumpet in my hand. Come out from these doctrines of deception. Look at what He said in Luke 8:18-21.

Then we have Jesus standing and preaching and his mother and brother came. They wanted to stop the meeting! Jesus says, “Who is my mother, my brother…”What did He say! He said, “Who is my real family? Who are my loyal ones, who are my friends, who is who?” Then Jesus Christ answered: “Those that hear My words and obey them. Not Paul’s letters only but My words.”

The mother of all mothers was “humiliated” by Jesus. “Who are you, Woman?” Jesus had to deny His own mother in order to pick up the cross. Hearers of the Word only can be deceived at any time. But a doer won't.

We cannot just ignore what the King has said about His kingdom. We cannot keep coming against the King’s apostles and prophets! And against Him! TRUTH!

Love looks like something. Faith looks like something
Disciples look like something. Believers believe and on and on and on!! It is time to rise and shine.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

A lot of things in the Christian world don’t look like something because they don’t look like they should be. That is not God’s fault. We have the Word.

We must be dunked into Him and be made one with Him. My salvation is in Jesus and Jesus alone but see… we must be in Him and stay in Him, live in Him, die in Him, move in Him! 2 Corinthians 5:17: We must look like something: a new creation! All things must be becoming new and old things must be passing away – that looks like something.

Let our faith increase. Let our works of faith be seen by all men and nations. We must look like Christ. We must produce works with Christ’s essence. Eat and drink of Him. We will be looking just like you. The Gospel is expanding in us. Faith is alive and strong every single day. We could never die for ourselves, but He did. By His blood only we can enter in, trillions of times a day going to the throne of grace! Complete. Finish the good work. But it takes partnership with Him!

It took submission to be saved. It takes submission to continue abiding in Him. He is our salvation. We must be with Him, until He comes. Grace will allow us to run this race until we cross the line. False conversion doesn’t look like anything but the environment that they abide in or live in! His grace is sufficient to finish all the works, not works of man, of the flesh, or of the law, but the works of faith!

No. It is not by works, but by relationship. Amen.

Shane W Roessiger

Watch the full message:https://youtu.be/WiOqEZOH_Hk