Often the question is asked, “what must I do to be saved, or how to get to Heaven and live forever?” So one is really asking how to become a Christian and obtain salvation in Jesus. Becoming a Christian is easy; being a Christian requires more work and understanding. So here are the steps to salvation in Christ and eternal life based on scripture alone, and something that is not considered enough, which is how to stay saved.
The first step is to be like the Borean Christians. Acts 17:11 says, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” One very essential step to keeping eternal life is to not fall into the group described in this verse. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” The last place you will find truth is from teachers that are just telling you what you want hear.
You will quite often find these are some of the large television ministries like the faith healing movements or the so-called name it and claim never be sick ministries. This is a very quick way to be led from truth and lose your salvation. We must be like the Borean Christians at all times, even if it is something we do not want to hear because it might upset our lifestyle or be contrary to what we would rather believe.
John 14:6 says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Jesus is the truth and the life and to reject areas of truth in God’s Word is to reject elements of Christ. We must always look for truth at any cost for salvation.
How do we know if we are interpreting scripture properly? I once heard a wise theologian give a simple but good method of determining if you are viewing scripture correctly or if you are taking verses out of context. It was explained in terms of the perspective that you view the scripture. You can look at a scripture say via a fence post from all different angles and make it say something different depending on the placement of the fence post. So what we will do is take all scriptures relating to the passage or scripture concerned and make all the fence posts line up with all of the scriptures. If one fence post is out of line, then we have misinterpreted one or more of the scriptures. If all posts line up in a straight line that relate to the topic then we most likely have got the right interpretation.
So while we look at this topic, we will be looking at other scriptures that relate to these scriptures to ensure that we have the full picture and come to the right conclusions.
If we were to base everything on this well known verse, we would conclude that this is all we have to do. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Obviously there is more to the picture such as Mark 16:16 which says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” This however does not mean that if you are too ill to get baptized that you cannot be saved. The thief on the cross was unable to be baptized but was still promised his salvation. (See Luke 23:43)
So is faith and baptism enough? No, yet reading Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” would also lead you to conclude that we can be saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus alone. So what else is there?
It is now clear the Bible shows there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation but once we have it what are we expected to do to keep it?
The second chapter of James shows that as a result of faith in Jesus, good works are a natural result of that faith. James 2:24 says, “You see, then, that it is by our actions that we are put right with God, and not by our faith alone.” If we have faith in God, then we will be obedient to God, and if we are obedient to God’s word, then the fruit of our faith will be that of good works.
As James shows in James 2:18-19 the demons believe in God, but they are not saved. It reads, “Yes, a man may say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believest that there is one God; you doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” And James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Paul corrected the Galatians when they tried to achieve salvation through good works alone instead of by faith with good works being the fruit of their faith and James showed that others had wrongly concluded that faith alone was adequate for salvation.
Since we now are under God’s grace does this mean we no longer have to obey God’s Commandments that so many misunderstand? Paul tells us in Romans 6:14-15 “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”
Paul makes it quite clear this is not the case much to the disgust of some people. God created us for the sole purpose of a loving relationship with Him and so He personally thundered His voice from the Mountaintop to give the guidelines on how to love Him and our fellow man. How much more important can it be when it revolves around the very reason for our existence?
These guidelines on how to love God and our neighbor are so important that God did give them personally and has not done anything else like this ever before that the Bible tells us about and probably never will again. We can be assured that on something so essential that if there was to be any change on the most significant thing God ever told us about in such a dramatic event, that there would be clear scriptures given and we will not have to make any assumptions.
We are blessed to know that God’s law has not changed according to the words of Jesus. Matthew 5:18-19 says, “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus not only tells us that the law is not going to change but in the following verses Jesus goes on to say that he is going to raise the bar even higher. That is, Jesus tells us that if we even contemplate committing adultery, then we have done so in our heart. Jesus then continues to give many more such examples showing that the Commandments will indeed stand forever. And why shouldn’t they since they are the guidelines on love. To put an end to the Commandments would mean an end to loving God and our neighbor.
Clearly no one would ever want that to happen. 1 John 3:4 says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” Since sin is breaking of the Commandments, we also know that it is our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross and caused Him all that pain and suffering. What Christian would want to go on leading a life of willful sin knowing what it did to our loving savior? But perhaps the real motivation will come from the fact that the Bible in so many places warns us that deliberate sin only leads to hell fire.
What does the Bible say in regards to those that do not keep the Commandments? There are many verses and we will cover a few here now. One of the strongest texts in the Bible on this subject is found in 1 John 2:3-4. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” John could write that with such assurance because it is one of the most deeply established truths in the Bible.
Jesus spoke of those who said, “Lord, Lord,” but did not do the will of the Father. Then He described many who would seek entrance to the kingdom claiming to be workers of miracles in the name of Christ. But He would sorrowfully have to say, “I never knew you: depart from me.” Matthew 7:21-23. This is obviously very serious because Jesus is saying, “Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven”. God’s grace does not cover deliberate disobedience that cannot have genuine repentance. To know Christ is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. The valid assumption of the Bible writers is clear and simple. If one is not obeying Christ, he does not love Christ. And if he doesn’t love the Master, then he doesn’t know Him. Thus we can see how knowing, loving and obeying are all tied closely together and are absolutely inseparable in the life of God’s faithful people. The beloved John summed it up in these words: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. It should be our hearts desire to love God and man and should not grieve us to do so. It also does not matter if it is just one Commandment or all Ten Commandments we intentionally break as James 2:10-11 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you are become a transgressor of the law.”
Here is all of Matthew 7:21-23 clearly telling us that to practice deliberate sin will definitely not get us into the kingdom of Heaven. We have to take these words very seriously. “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”
The New King James Bible translates the last phrase of verse 23 as “depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
Does this include the fourth Commandment? Yes, the Sabbath is one of the Ten that I am not going to discuss in much detail here. I will however point out a few facts. Besides the two assumptions that are used to try and justify Sunday keeping, the Bible and history show them not to be correct. It has been established by many historians and theologians holding PhD’s in their field that Matthew and Luke were written between 60 and 80 AD and there was never a better time for Luke to tell us of a day change but instead he states in Luke 23:56, “…And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.” Jesus also showed that the Sabbath would still be kept after the cross and speaks of no day change when He is talking to the Apostles about the destruction of the temple in about 70 AD. Jesus says in Matthew 24:20, “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.” World leading historians also confirm this and that the Sabbath was kept by Jews and Gentiles till about 120 AD where the persecution of the Jews for Sabbath keeping became so great that some Christians decided to start keeping Sunday using the rationalization that it was in honor of the resurrection in order to avoid persecution and death. The Sabbath was changed to Sunday when it was made law in 321 AD by the most powerful Church on Earth and the Bible tells us that this Church would do this in Daniel 7:25. It reads “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” This time period equates to 1260 years where this Church murdered 50 to 100 million Christians, primarily over Sabbath keeping.
Satan just about murdered the true Sabbath out of existence and people today won’t even contemplate what the truth is here because they don’t want to know as this would mean giving God one day of their week that most don’t want to do. As a result of the persecution, it was well after 400 AD when Sunday eventually took on the name the Lord’s Day. If we deliberately try to avoid truth here or we know the truth and still continue to disobey God, then we now know the consequences.
There is no shortage of people who will give you a multitude of excuses, so if you do desire to find the truth here from the Bible and we need to, you can read the document called “Sabbath and Antichrist Truth Revealed.”
The following passage tells us there is no sacrifice that will cover deliberate sin and that to continue in sin is to trample Jesus under foot and count the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing even though we are under grace. It also shows that the punishment will be worse than physical death given in Old Testament times, which means not being saved. Hebrews 10:26-29 says, “26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Love to hear your thoughts….
(Mike Hamilton’s thoughts and ramblings…)
