By Grace Alone

"...one of the most fallacious doctrines originated by Satan and propounded by man is that man is saved alone by the grace of God; that belief in Jesus Christ alone is all that is needed for salvation."  - Spencer W. Kimball

This quote makes me mad.  Actually, that's an understatement.  It infuriates me.  What Mr. Kimball is saying is that Jesus Christ died for nothing.  that He came to our sinful, wretched earth and died, just because that's what He did.

I have a question for Mr. Kimball, and everyone else who finds themselves siding with him:  Who is God to you?  Is He a fantasy; someone who lives in the sky and sends rain once in a while?  Is He someone who judges with lightning and anger?  Is He nonexistent?

I also have an answer for Mr. Kimball, and everyone else who finds themselves siding with him.  God is LORD.  He was and is and is to come (Revelation 1:8).  He created the heavens and the earth, and all of humanity (Genesis 1:1, 27).  He is love; He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us.  "This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9).

Did you read that last sentence?  "...that we might live through Him."  Jesus Christ "made Himself nothing... He humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:7-9).  Why?  So that we would have eternal life.  Jesus Christ died, because we humans are too sinful and faulty on our own.  That is absolutely clear in Scripture; just read Leviticus and see all of the requirements and sacrifices because of our sin.  When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He took all of those sacrifices away.  Instead of pursuing works as a means of salvation, He provided the Way to heaven.  He IS the Way (John 14:6).  "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our LORD Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Mr. Kimball claims that Satan is the author of this truth.  Do you see how perverted and downright twisted that is?  Satan has used the hard-to-grasp concept of the truth to say that because we can't wrap our minds around it, it must be false.  But there is ultimate beauty in the cross!  Of course Satan would try to strip that away.  Of course he would prey upon weak men to manipulate and turn humans against God.  Of course he would try to take any and every ounce of glory away from the Father.

But that is not Truth.  That is not what God intended, and it is not how man can truly live.  "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11).  Salvation is in fact available to all men, but not by works.  It is ONLY by grace.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8-10).