Salvation is a free gift --- it cannot be earned by good works or deeds. Here's why.
"For It Is by grace that 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
Were it not for God's free gift of grace (UN-earned favor from God), NONE could be saved. If you still insist that we have to earn or work our way to heaven think about the following people:
A bed-bound person could not earn nor work their way to heaven. Even old people could not work their way to heaven. That person, who on their deathbed is lingering between Heaven and Hell, could not earn their way to heaven. That mentally ill person could not earn their way to heaven. That person challenged with polio, where they cannot walk, or someone perhaps paralyzed or dying on a battlefield, could not earn their salvation. Even the thief on the cross was not required to earn his way to heaven. Salvation has absolutely nothing to do with our performance and these examples prove it. But Jesus said, "Just come to Me, all who are weary and broken, and I will give you rest... I will save your soul." and that is His promise to us, if we will but allow him to. He turns no one away.
God's Plan of Salvation has been presented to the world through Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. There's no excuse the Bible says, that one does not know it. Jesus came from heaven and told us exactly how to be saved, so that we wouldn't have to guess. We also have God's Word that tells us our sins keep us separated from God the Father until we repent and ask Jesus to forgive us. That only takes a simple prayer of genuine repentance, turning away from our old sinful ways of life, to a new life in Christ. Jesus turns no one away. He promises to save any who wish to be saved. He prays for us, that we will not harden our hearts and turn away from our only hope and redemption, in Him.
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