WHAT SAVES US?

  One of the foundational beliefs of the Restoration Movement is – if you want to know about what pleases God, you need to know what the Bible says. For example, if you were to do a study in the New Testament and looked up everywhere the Bible speaks of what “saves” us… you would find a multitude of verses saying things like this:

·       The Gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-2)

·       Through Hearing (Romans 10:17)

·       Believing in Jesus (John 3:16; I Corinthians 1:21)

·       Baptism (I Peter 3:21; Mark 16:16)

·       Repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38)

·       Confession that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9)

·       Calling on His name (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13)

·       Through the Word (James 1:21)

·       Hope (Romans 8:24)

·       Enduring to the end (Matthew 10:22)

   The Bible says that all those things are involved in our salvation.  

  But there is ONE item (one item that I deliberately left out of the list above) that is even more important than anything else. That one item is the foundation of our salvation. That one item is the one thing without which we cannot be saved. In fact, that one item is so critical to our salvation, that it is mentioned more often than anything else in the New Testament. Do you know what that one item is?

   Most people would answer that that one item is: believing in Jesus. “FAITH.” And faith is critical to our salvation. It’s so critical that it is mentioned more often than any of the things I listed above. But, as important as faith is to our being forgiven of our sins… there is something else that is mentioned more often than even faith. 

   What’s that “one item that is the most important for us to be saved?”

   That one item is “the grace of God” (Acts 15:11; Ephesians 2:8). God’s grace is more important than anything we can say or do. Without God’s grace, faith would mean nothing – and neither would anything else. Without God’s Grace, we could believe whatever we wanted as long as we wanted - all day long - and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. Because without God’s gift of salvation (by His Grace) we would be lost.

   Once we realize that central truth, the rest of the Gospel message begins to make sense.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW SHOULD YOU BE BAPTIZED?

   Long before “the prayer of salvation” and “asking Jesus into your heart” were introduced to the religious world in the 1800s, the big issue was:    Should a person be baptized by sprinkling or by immersion?   It was such a divisive issue that several denominations in Europe would drown those who preferred adult immersion over sprinkling of children. “You like water… we’ll give lots of water.”   But the question for honest students of Scripture isn’t whether religious leaders believe in immersion or sprinkling. The question is… what does the word “baptism” really mean?   WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?   In John 3:23 we read, " And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, BECAUSE THERE WAS MUCH WATER THERE: and they came, and were baptized ."   In Mark 1:9-10 , we read, "Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway COMING UP OUT OF THE WATER, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like...
Read more

UNDERSTANDING THE FAILURE OF CREEDS

  Years ago, I supply preached for a small country church that had about 35 in attendance. They weren’t part of our brotherhood, but they liked me and asked me to consider becoming their preacher. Since they weren’t part our brotherhood I asked to look at their by-laws to make sure there wasn’t anything I had to consider before saying "yes" to them.   They handed me a document roughly 10 pages in length and I took it home to read it over. Their by-laws seemed fairly normal (essentially what ours might look like) until I got to the back pages. And I swear to you, the last 2/3rds of their constitution consisted of their church’s “Creed.” Most of it was fairly common Bible doctrine, but there were parts of it that I felt were questionable and hard to justify. So when I met with their leadership the next week I told I’d want to change their constitution’s doctrinal statements if I became their preacher.   “Oh no” one of the sighed, “the last 3 preachers have wanted to change ...
Read more

CHRISTIANS ONLY

    If you were to ask some people if they were “Christians” they might reply “I’m a Methodist,” or “I’m a Baptist,” or “I’m a whatever.” Odd. You asked if they were Christians and they told what “flavor” they thought they were.   That’s one of the dangers of denominational names – the loyalty to a denominational brand that often outweighs a person’s loyalty to Christ. NO ONE should do this. And that’s why the Restoration Movement has pushed so hard on the concept that “ We’re not the only Christians, but we’re Christians only.” If we insist on being only Christians, it becomes harder to use a man-made name that divides us off from others. (See footnote)     Recently a friend said to me “you’re an Arminian.” In other words, he was stating that I believed in the teachings of a man named Jacobus Arminius (who maintained that men and women have a free will).   Now, while that’s probably true, I responded “No, I’m not an Arminian. I’m a Christian. Arminius...
Read more