GRACE VS GOOD WORKS
When street evangelists go out to witness to folks and ask the question, "Do you believe you'll go to heaven?", the answer is usually, "Well, I hope so." Then the evangelist asks, "What makes you think you'll be in heaven?", to which they reply, "Well, I try my best to follow the Ten Commandments."
Nowhere in Scripture are we told that doing good works saves us. Nothing in Scripture tells us that keeping the Ten Commandments and doing good deeds are the gateway to salvation. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but through me."
Good works is not what saves us. Good works are what we do as PROOF of our salvation. In Ephesians 2:10 we're told by the Apostle Paul, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." In other words, God saves us by way of Christ's death on the cross, and He has prepared in eternity past what our good works will be to help further His kingdom.
Some say it's Jesus plus good works, but that's not true at all. This teaching raises some questions. For example:
Just how many good works are required before we earn salvation?
If good works are required, why did Jesus go to the cross in the first place?
When we sin, are our merit points wiped out?
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by GRACE are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the GIFT OF GOD; NOT OF WORKS so that no one can boast." (All caps for emphasis). So, God in His sovereign will made salvation a GIFT, not something we have to earn, so that we would have nothing to boast about.
In the book of Matthew chapter 7, Jesus tells of confronting those who go before Him and brag about all they did for Him and He will say, "Depart from me for I never knew you." God isn't looking at your good works/deeds, He's looking for the blood of Jesus. In Isaiah 64:6a we read, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." Some translations say, "filthy rags". Apart from Christ, none of our good deeds mean ANYTHING because apart from Christ they're dirty, filthy, corrupt, polluted; we could go on and on.
God's requirement for our salvation was for Christ to become the ultimate and FINAL sacrifice for our sins, because HE was the only perfect, sinless man, and not just a man, but He was GOD in the flesh. God took on human flesh and came to earth to pay our debt Himself.
So, if you think doing good works are a requirement for salvation, you have to ask yourself, "How many good works are needed to satisfy my sin debt?" The answer is ZERO. Good works are what we do AFTER we've been converted because those good works are our obedience to Christ. Those good works are the evidence that salvation has taken place, but they are not really our good works; they're what Christ does through us.
I feel sorry for those whose religion tells them their salvation is dependent upon good works. It must be very nerve wracking to wonder, "Are my good deeds good enough? Am I doing enough good deeds to wipe out my sin debt? Will my sins cancel out all the good my good deeds have done?"
Nowhere in Scripture are we told that doing good works saves us. Nothing in Scripture tells us that keeping the Ten Commandments and doing good deeds are the gateway to salvation. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but through me."
Good works is not what saves us. Good works are what we do as PROOF of our salvation. In Ephesians 2:10 we're told by the Apostle Paul, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." In other words, God saves us by way of Christ's death on the cross, and He has prepared in eternity past what our good works will be to help further His kingdom.
Some say it's Jesus plus good works, but that's not true at all. This teaching raises some questions. For example:
Just how many good works are required before we earn salvation?
If good works are required, why did Jesus go to the cross in the first place?
When we sin, are our merit points wiped out?
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by GRACE are you saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the GIFT OF GOD; NOT OF WORKS so that no one can boast." (All caps for emphasis). So, God in His sovereign will made salvation a GIFT, not something we have to earn, so that we would have nothing to boast about.
In the book of Matthew chapter 7, Jesus tells of confronting those who go before Him and brag about all they did for Him and He will say, "Depart from me for I never knew you." God isn't looking at your good works/deeds, He's looking for the blood of Jesus. In Isaiah 64:6a we read, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." Some translations say, "filthy rags". Apart from Christ, none of our good deeds mean ANYTHING because apart from Christ they're dirty, filthy, corrupt, polluted; we could go on and on.
God's requirement for our salvation was for Christ to become the ultimate and FINAL sacrifice for our sins, because HE was the only perfect, sinless man, and not just a man, but He was GOD in the flesh. God took on human flesh and came to earth to pay our debt Himself.
So, if you think doing good works are a requirement for salvation, you have to ask yourself, "How many good works are needed to satisfy my sin debt?" The answer is ZERO. Good works are what we do AFTER we've been converted because those good works are our obedience to Christ. Those good works are the evidence that salvation has taken place, but they are not really our good works; they're what Christ does through us.
I feel sorry for those whose religion tells them their salvation is dependent upon good works. It must be very nerve wracking to wonder, "Are my good deeds good enough? Am I doing enough good deeds to wipe out my sin debt? Will my sins cancel out all the good my good deeds have done?"
Thankfully, Christ's sacrifice through His death on the cross was the ONLY good work needed to bring us to salvation and reconcile us to God, and that salvation is given to us as a GIFT and not anything we have to earn.
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