Many people ask the question, are we saved by grace or by works?.

 Salvation is a gift from God to us through Jesus Christ his Son.

 A gift is free therefore you don’t work for a gift. It is freely given therefore you freely receive it.

• Romans 10:9
  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
• Acts 2:38

          Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

If you had to work for it then it would not be a gift. In order to be saved you must have faith in Jesus Christ as your savior and that he died, was buried and resurrected on the third day. To be Saved is to have faith in Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior and recieve the gift of salvation that He freely suffered all the pain and agony on the cross just to give to you.

•  James 2:20
   But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Before I go any further, I would like to say that this is one of the many doctrines that Satan uses to keep division in the body of Christ.

Now after saying all that, let me say this to you,  Jesus says if you love me you will keep my commandments.

• 1 John 2:3
  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
• 1 John 2:4
  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
  
  

1 John 2:4 says that someone that does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Now if he is a liar and the truth is not in him, is he really saved ?

A true born believer will be compelled to work for God because they love HIm. Salvation and works complement one another. You work for God because you are saved and your spirit has now become one with Jesus Christ. If you have no desire to work for God then I question your relationship. For sometimes we can be drawn away by our own lust and desires, that lead us away from the path of Christ.

• Matthew 15:8
  This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

 True Relationship keeps us on the right track and working for God will keep your perspective in check.

See my friend, there are two controlling spirits in this world. The spirit of God and the spirit of the devil. According to the bible, because of the fall of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan is prince of this world and will be until Jesus returns again for his bride, which is the born again believers.

• John 14:30
  Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
• Ephesians 2:2
  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
  
  

Because of the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden Jesus came that we might have another chance of Salvation. It is only through Jesus, and there is no other way, that we have this opportunity.

Satan is doing everything he can to try and stop  people from going to heaven .  You see, my friends, we are the hands,  the feet, and the mouth of Jesus.

If you are saved it is because someone took the time to tell you about Jesus and the salvation that is yours through Him.

Now if no one worked for Jesus, then you wouldn’t have known about Jesus and you would be lost.

Why would you not want to work for Jesus after the price He paid out of His great love for you and me, it is a love relationship, when you truly love someone you want to fellowship with them, you want to talk about them to others, you want to be apart of all that they are.

 People who want to argue this issue are allowing themselves to be a tool of Satan.

 The true fact is that everyone is called to be a disciple of Christ.

When you except Jesus as your personal savior, you have enlisted in the army of God to work and fight for what is right and true.

To defend the honor of His Holy Word, and all He gave His life for...In true dedication of the heart that knows no boundaries in sharing this pearl of great price. 

If Someone wants to argue the issue about whether you are saved by Grace or Works, Don’t cast your pearls before the swine.

True salvation brings change, baptism is a type and shadow of that change, it represents the death, burial and resurrection not only of Jesus Christ but it represents us dying to our old man ( first man Adam ) and coming up a new creation in Christ Jesus  ( Second man Adam ) as we take on his attributes, becoming one in spirit and in truth with him.

This is why it is important for us to be baptized, for it is symbolic of what is taking place in us as we die to our sinful nature and take on the nature of Jesus Christ.

When we take on the nature of Christ we will resemble Him as we model the fruits of the spirit.

1. Isaiah 32:15
   Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.
   
   
2. Galatians 5:22
   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
    
3. Ephesians 5:9
   (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)

Remember the fig tree. It did not produce fruit so Jesus cursed it and it withered away.

1. Matthew 21:19
   And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered  away.

People who confess Salvation and do not show forth the works of God in their life will be like the Fig Tree. They eventually will wither away because they are producing no fruits.

 John 15

The True Vine

 ¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;^[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can donothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will^[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

   
⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

My dear friends, we say today salvation is free, but our salvation came with a great price…that price was paid by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…every pain that He felt, every drop of His precious blood paid for my sins and for yours,  It was pure love that took Him to the cross that day, He saw you in the corridors of time, He saw all of our selfishness and pride, all of our heartaches and pain,  our sickness and disease, all that we would ever feel or face in this world He carried upon that cross. He went to that cross so that you would have a hope for  a brighter tomorrow, and place in eternity with Him.

 Can we love Jesus enough to give Him our all…lay aside all we are to become all He wants us to be, Bearing His name and His message to a world that truly needs this precious gift

     Jesus Christ