It is written that it is appointed for us to die once and, then, face judgment for our every thought, deed and word. The bad news is that all our ‘good’ and even ‘religious’ works and motives will not save us: “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved, through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
This means that (although good in itself and recommended) it is not by attending ‘church’, being baptized or even believing in God (Satan is not an atheist himself!) that we are saved. To put it plainly, we are saved by faith and demonstrated by good works – but it isn’t the works themselves that actually save us.
“His choice is based on His grace, not on what they have done. For if God’s choice was based on what people do, then His grace would not be real grace” (Romans 11:6).
You see, religion is humanity trying to reach God by its own effort whilst Christianity is God paying the price Himself – in essence, reaching down to us. It is a relationship with our Creator.Furthermore, Isaiah 64:6 states:
“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and ‘all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.’”
Did you note that it isn’t just our sins that are filthy to God but even our righteousness? You see, God’s standard is Himself, for He is the epitome of holiness and purity.
“God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
Therefore, to a pure, holy and perfect God, any sin/darkness would naturally be alien and repugnant to Him; so, humanly speaking, it is impossible for us to be saved. That is why God demonstrated His love for us by becoming human as the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Ten Commandments and other laws are designed to show us that we are sinners and there is no way any human can keep all of them. For example:
- How many things do you have to steal (regardless of value) in order to be a thief? Just one.
- How many lies do you have to tell (no matter how ‘big’ it is) to be a liar? Just one.
- So how many sins does it take for us to be a sinner? Just one.
These were just two of the Ten Commandments and every one of us has broken them all!
“For whoever shall keep the whole law and stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
Therefore, if you are trying to live by the law (trusting in good deeds) you shall die by it; for it is humanly impossible to keep it consistently and perfectly.
Since every single person is a sinner, that is, we have all rebelled against God, so, every single person is doomed to an eternity in the Lake of Fire – separated from light and love forever.
It doesn’t have to be this way though – God loves us so much that He supplied a solution.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Jesus, being fully God and Man, was the only One who could be perfect and keep His own commandments. And since He did, He satisfied the Law and, then, on the cross He bore the punishment of our sins – all of them, past, present and future. He, then, rose again to show that He had conquered death for us and, as a promise to all those who trust in His sacrifice for our sins, they, too, will rise from the dead and into eternity with God. This is the Gospel of Grace.To be saved, you need to make a genuine confession to God Himself. No priests or any other ‘holy men’ are required. You must confess that you are a sinner and helpless to save yourself; that you believe that Jesus did, in fact, die for your sins, then came to life again; and that you want Jesus to change you into the sort of person God wants you to be.
You need to be truly repentant, that is, genuinely willing to turn completely away from the life you used to live and allow yourself to be led by Jesus instead.
If you have done this, you are what the Bible describes as being ‘born-again’ (John 3:3). You are saved.
"And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God" (I John 5: 11-13).
