Psalm 130:3 (NIV)
If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O LORD, who could stand?
There is NO WAY any of us can be good enough, do enough, to earn our way to heaven. As you can see, if you try to follow ALL of God's commands, you will inevitably fail. It's not just attending church and tithing and other things that show outwardly. It's also (and especially!) about the heart, our attitudes and motives.
Think you have finally conquered sin in your life? Then you are lying to yourself...
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
If you are relying on what you do--following ALL of God's commands--so that He will save you. Well...you are not going to make it. You can NEVER be good enough that way. What hope is there then? God gives us salvation not because of what WE do, but because of what HE has done. He will give us that salvation freely by His grace and mercy when we believe in Him and accept Jesus' payment on our behalf for our sins--by FAITH, not by works.
Romans 3:23-24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
John 3:16-18
16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe
is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God.
Romans 5:1-2
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Galatians 2:21
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.
Galatians 5:4
You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
2 Timothy 1:9
[God] who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace...
John 6:28-29
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."
Romans 4:2-5
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness
Romans 9:30-32 (NIV)
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.
Are those enough examples for you? It's clear through Scripture that it's not our actions that save us, but God's grace through our faith.
Click here to go on to Part 2.
If faith alone is required and no action or works as some people like to call it, then why did Jesus say this?
ReplyDeleteJohn 6:47-59New International Version (NIV)
47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
Wait Jesus didn't stop there, he had more to say.
48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
God doesn't lie right?
54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
If mainstream Christianity believes that the Passover can't give us eternal life, then why did Jesus who was God, and who cannot lie say that it can?
Titus 1:2Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Thanks for the comment. Do you believe this means that we eat actual flesh and drink actual blood? My guess is that you would say that this is symbolic. The bread is symbolic for Jesus's flesh, and the wine is symbolic for Jesus's blood.
Delete"Eating" and "drinking" is also symbolic. Look at verse 35 of the same chapter:
John 6:35 "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."
"Not going hungry" is related to coming to Jesus. And "not being thirsty" is related to believing in Jesus.
It is not the physical act of eating and drinking the body (bread) and blood (wine) that gives you eternal life.
It is coming to Jesus and believing in Him, accepting the sacrifice of His broken body and spilled blood on the cross.