Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word. This week's question:

At the right time Jesus came into the world "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;" and became the justifier of the ones who have faith in Christ, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law." (Romans 3:23-28). "…And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; an He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." (1 John:1-2). The "propitiation" is a place that no man can stand save the author and perfecter of faith, our Savior Christ Jesus as He endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). It is a "free gift", "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23). And His grace gives us the inheritance to life, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." (Acts 20:32).

Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us,

no the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing

of regeneration and the renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Christ

Jesus our savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of

eternal life.

And finally, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). So one would almost say that one we are saved by His grace coupled with our belief in Him and nothing on this earth shall separate us from that free gift of life eternal. Since God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) we begin our search to understand how God has determined to work His grace upon this earth. What man may consider as the way to life we can lay aside as God has used His wisdom to nullify ours,

1 Corinthians 1 26-29 For consider your calling , brethren, that there were not many wise according to

the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame

the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the

base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify

the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

Since, as we have seen, that all men have sinned, then we can conclude at this point that none are worthy of salvation. Then God sent His Son to die on the cross to save some and we are to "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14). So we can deduct from this that God has used a method to limit His grace from the majority of men who have lived and will still live upon this earth. Jesus continues to say that "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter." (verse 21)

Therefore, we can understand that God's part of the equation is making a way ready for heaven by His grace, but man must do something to please Him, and there is the answer to our question, God has not used His grace alone for salvation as He asks for obedience to His will. Again in Hebrews 5:8-9, "Although He was a Son, He learned obedience to the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all that obey Him the source of eternal salvation,", so we again conclude that we must obey Him to be allowed through that "narrow way". Jesus tells Nicodemus "…unless one is born of the water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5), which makes perfect sense when He tells Saul to go to Damascus there is things he must do there and when he arrives before Ananias, he is told to "Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling upon His name." (Acts 22:16) which is a "burial" in the like manner of Christ's death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-5).

Naaman was told by the prophet to cleanse him of his leprosy to dip seven times in the river Jordan. I think we all recognize that he would not have been cleansed if he only dipped three times, and that he only would be cleansed if he dipped seven times in full obedience to His word. Was dipping seven times worthy of the work to be cleansed. I don't think Naaman would agree that it was. It was the glory and grace of God that cleansed him. The act of dipping was difficult for such a great captain of the army and at first Naaman's pride overcame him as he went off in a huff when he was told to do so, but then later his servant talked him into doing the act for his cleansing (2 Kings 5:9-14).

God has chosen His way for us to follow for life. May we not only study to test ourselves to see if we are walking in the His way by mirroring ourselves to the word of God, and proving ourselves "…doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." (1 Corinthians 13:5 & James 1:22-27).