The Savior
There are many views on how to be saved and how to be certain of our eternal destiny before God. Most of them have a ring of truth.
Yet when we think a little more deeply, we find that many are in conflict with what God Himself has revealed to us in His Word.
The Bible gives us the only certain knowledge of how salvation is possible. It corrects many of our wrong ideas about being saved.
1. "God will save me... After all I am not so bad."
Perhaps you have heard or even thought, "God wouldn't send him to hell... He is basically a good person." Or, "I may not be perfect, but I am a lot better than she is even if she goes to church all the time."
In both cases, our standard for determining whether someone should be saved is how good they are compared to other people we know. We think that someone who is relatively good by human standards is a better candidate for heaven than someone who is not so good. But this is not what the Bible teaches.
What do these verses tell us about human goodness?
No one would disagree that some people
are better than others.
Yet, when God judges us,
He does so by a completely different standard.
These verses make it clear that being good
compared to other people
is insufficient to qualify one for salvation.
To be qualified for salvation through one's own effort,
one would have to be as holy as God Himself.
Read Luke 18:9-14
Many Jews in the time of Christ had this perspective.
Paul, before his conversion to Christ, was one of them.
Yet, after coming to faith in Christ,
his outlook changed dramatically.
Many people think God will judge us with a set of scales
that compare our good deeds with our bad deeds.
But that is not the picture of the basis
of our standing before God as it is found in the Bible.
Based on the verses you have read, which of the following is God's formula for salvation?
Based on the verses you have read, which of the following is God's formula for salvation?
SALVATION results in GOOD WORKS
How do these verses compare to the perspective that God will save us because we have done sufficient good works?
It is clear from the Bible that salvation is not the result of our good deeds. We can never be good enough to please God because He is righteous and holy, and we are not.
This realization often leads us to the next perspective concerning salvation.
Perhaps this is how you feel today.
This perspective is based on the very same assumption
as the perspective that
"God can only save those who are somehow good enough
to gain His favor".
But as we have seen from what we have read, is this true?
Read Luke 23:39-43
If you have not placed your faith in Jesus
and would like to do so right now,
simply pray in faith asking Him to come into your life
as your Savior and Lord.
If you have already done so,
thank God that He has saved you
and given you a new life.
The Bible says that if anyone is in Christ,
that person is a new creation.
The old has gone, the new has come.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:17
What do you expect to change in your life n
ow that you have Jesus?