Salvation Secure -Part 5: UNTO "Good Deeds" not THROUGH...

1 Timothy 6:18-19 - " Command them to do good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life."

We are commanded to do good and be generous as a foundational principle of a life lived by faith. When we are generous and willing to share we store up " treasure...for the coming age" -that's the heavenly reward part mentioned in an earlier post...

The ability to do good and be generous comes out of a heart work that has already been accomplished by the Holy Spirit dwelling in us -apart from Him we are incapable of it. 

The cornerstone of that foundation is Jesus Christ and His redemptive work- death on the cross, burial and resurrection. 

We don't work backwards to salvation...i.e. good works brings Holy Spirit sanctification which in turn brings Jesus to the cross and salvation and reconciliation to Father God...

It is the reverse:

Father God desired that fallen man be reconciled to Himself so, He sent Jesus to die on a cross for every mans' sin (Roman 6:23). Once  the new covenant was established through Jesus' blood, anyone who [repents, believes, confesses, receives] calls on the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved (Romans 10:13). At the point of salvation, the Holy Spirit is given to every new believer [in full measure] as a gift from Father God to guide them into all righteousness -HE is the one who sanctifies. Through the process of sanctification -the working out of salvation- one becomes an imitator of Christ and good deeds are the product of genuine heart change and the obedience of walking in the "newness" of life in Christ.

At first glance, the final portion of that verse - "...that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." could be misinterpreted as "that they may take hold of salvation" but, really salvation[albeit absolutely essential] is only the vehicle by which we take hold of life...salvation isn't "the Life" it is how we enter into LIFE...

So, LIFE comes through salvation and the experiential aspect of that LIFE, lived out in Christ;

is made richer, purer, and more intimately satisfying through doing the good deeds the Father sets before us to do. As we seek Him, know Him, pattern our lives after Him, and become doers of His word;  we begin to have that "Abundant LIFE" he prayed we would have.

Salvation UNTO Good Deeds!