A gift from God

To be saved, you must repent and believe the gospel.  There is no other way on earth to be saved, but to repent of your sin against a holy God, and believe in the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord for the immeasurable gift of His Son.

But, is that the only gift in salvation?  No, NO, NO!

The giving of the Son, Jesus Christ, is the greatest gift from God, is worthy of praise, honour and glory, worship, falling on our face in thanksgiving, and the list should go on, but Jesus' death in the place of the sinner is not the only gift in salvation.  Jesus died to save believers.  I won't ever get over that, but there are many other gifts from God in salvation.

Every aspect of salvation is a gift from God. Here are some more:
Being made a child of God
Receiving the Holy Spirit
Justification
Sanctification
Forgiveness of sins

The reason for all these being given to a believer finds its source in Jesus Christ.  We can never get away from the death, burial and resurrection, because every aspect of the gift of God in salvation finds its root in the Son, and what He did for His sheep.

Every aspect of salvation is a gift from God.  Do you believe that?  Would you say it is only because of what God did?  Someone might say, well, I did do something.  I repented of my sin, confessed it before God, and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, because everyone who believes in their heart and confesses with their mouth shall be saved.  Romans 10

True, if you are a believer, you did those things.  But, did they spring out of your heart because of something in you, or were they also given to you by God?  What does the Bible say?

The Bible, God's word, says that repentance and faith are both gifts from God.  No one repents or believes unless God gives them the gifts of repentance and faith.  Don't take my word for it.  Look at what God says in the Bible:

Acts 11:18  When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."
2 Timothy 2:25  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

God grants repentance to those who repent.  Very clear teaching of these two passages.  Those who repent, do so because God gave them repentance as a gift.  It wasn't because of their ability to repent.  Anyone who repents, does so because God has given it to them.  The same is true of faith.

2 Thessalonians 3:2  and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.
What were you before the Lord saved you?  Wicked and evil.  Wicked and evil people do not have faith.  Where does faith come from then?

Philippians 1:29  For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

Faith is granted to a person who believes in Jesus, not for your sake, but for the sake of Christ.  Oh, that His name would be priased right now!

To believers, Paul writes the following:
Romans 12:3  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

God has assigned faith, and a certain portion at that, to each believer.  Paul is writing that chapter to those who are brothers by the mercies of God.  One of those mercies is faith.

So, do you believe the gospel of God?  Praise the Lord, because it is all a gift of God through Jesus Christ the Son.  Praise the Lord.  Give Him all the glory, boast in nothing that you have done, because God has done it all, to His praise, of His glorious grace.

All praise to the name of the Saviour who reigns.  Jesus.  The Son and Jehovah, who came as a man to save all His sheep.