II

What does a person have to do to take the most important step in the Christian life, to make God their salvation. What is the formula, the 12 steps, what do we have to do so that God knows that we are worthy to be saved. The answer is, nothing. There is nothing that you can do to be saved. It is hopeless. Anything you are doing is not enough. You are not worthy, so you might as well not even try. Give up. Why then did I write this book, if there is no hope for salvation, and none of the other principals in this book work without salvation. Here in the book of Isaiah we see that Israel was depending on God to save them, but salvation is not complete without the spiritual forgiveness of sins. The verse does not say they had do anything but to trust, i.e. believe, i.e. have faith in the Lord and He would become their salvation.

John 8: 24 "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is God, that there is no other way to the Father but through him and you shall be saved. It seems so simple, but often it is the hardest thing for a Christian to do. We all want try to live Holy enough, or attend church enough, or take communion, or get baptized. The problem is, all of these things are done by our own power. After all, God doesn't show up at your house on Sunday morning, dress you and drive you to church. All of these things are good and helpful in life, but none of them can save us, and none of them are required for us to be saved. A man who is in a complete physically vegetative state, weak and near death, lying in the bottom of a dry well on a deserted island, if he is able to accept in his heart the free gift God is extending to him, he will be saved. This man can not change the lifestyle he has been living, and even if he could, none can live Holy enough, even after receiving salvation. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that means even you, and that means even sometime today. There is some point in God's perfect laws that you have violated today, because I guarantee there is someone somewhere that you could have loved more than you do. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. But doesn't the Bible say a man has to be baptized to be saved. Yes it does, but as John said, Matthew 3:11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Jesus‘ baptism is in the spirit realm, not in the physical realm, and no baptism besides the one given by Jesus can save and none other is required for salvation. It is by faith and faith alone that man is justified unto God.

Even Abraham, who did a great work by leaving his country and following God, was not justified by his actions. According to the scriptures, Abraham followed God, not to gain righteousness, but because of righteousness. And why did God say Abraham was righteous? Because he believed God. John 11:40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" Believing God's word, will allow us to see that God is for us and enables us to take an action. God is not interested in our obedience for the sake of obedience. We sometimes, when dealing with our children tell them to do something, and they do it because they know there is a punishment for not doing what they are told. While it can be beneficial when they do what they are told, I prefer it when I ask my child to do something, and they do it because they love, respect, and trust me. If I had the most obedient child on the planet, but they hated, feared and did not trust me, I would not be blessed by their obedience. This is the same with God. He always gives us instructions which are good for us. While it is still beneficial for us to respond out of obedience, and God can rejoice when we receive some benefit from listening to Him, much more is He blessed when he asks us to do something and He knows we did it because we love and trust Him. Romans 3:3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4 Certainly not! Indeed let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: "That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged." God is not interested in our obedience for the sake of obedience, God is interested in a close relationship where we know Him, because by knowing God, we will trust Him. Psalm 36:5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 6 Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve man and beast. 7 How precious is Your loving kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. Having a lack of understanding in in the area of how much God loves us and that every word given by God is true, will cloud our ability to hear and understand what he is saying to us because of our unbelief. John 8:43 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for his is a liar and the father of it. 45 "But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 "Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

I have been feeding myself since I was a small child. The process of taking a fork with mashed potatoes from my plate, placing it into my mouth, chewing and swallowing, is so basic and easy, I usually don't even have to think about it anymore. Still even with this simple task, sometimes I screw it up. There have been times that, after leaving the table, I look down and find I have mashed potatoes on my shirt. I don't even remember dropping them, but I must have because there they are. Other times, I swallow wrong and choke on the very substance, food, which is necessary for life. I have even heard reports of people who have died because they choked on a food and did not cough it up before suffocating. But maybe the act of eating is too difficult a task to compare to the works necessary for salvation. How about breathing then. Breathing is an automatic function of the body and no thought has to go into performing it. Yet there have been times while I am just walking around breathing, when a fly or other insect flew into my mouth, down my throat and choked me. There have been other times I have been sitting, breathing, and I inadvertently inhaled saliva from my own mouth, and choked. The point is, there is no task, regardless of how small and insignificant which man can not screw up. I am not trying to pick on the right of baptism, but it is a favorite I have often heard in the body of Christ as a necessity for salvation. If at the point of baptism, even though the person believed in Jesus with his whole heart, believed he was doing everything just as God wanted it to be done, but he had any impure thought in his heart, (and remember, if faith alone doesn't save, then the spirit is not reborn until the person comes out of the water, so there is no chance there is not an impure thought somewhere), then the act of baptism is invalidated because it could not be performed perfectly, and God, as illustrated by the law, can not accept less than perfect. So just as Abraham, we too receive the gift of righteousness through faith. Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into the grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. There is no more beautiful gift than knowing I don't have to do anything to receive Jesus into my life, because I guarantee if there were any other condition , I would still be dead to God. John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

As humans, we often put restrictions on the people we believe God should offer salvation too. We forget God is not a respecter of persons and that everyone, young, old, black, white, Hispanic, Islamic, male, female, and homosexual, can receive the grace and salvation of God. Unfortunately we often put rules and regulations on people, they have to attain a certain goal or cleanliness before "we" believe they are worthy of receiving forgiveness. That is like trying to clean fish before you catch them. I know everyone has heard this old cliché, but it is true. Our only job is to tell people about the free gift God is offering, the loving nature of the God we serve, and as much as possible, be an earthly representation of love and forgiveness. Acts 16:30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Afterward, it is up to the person to hear and believe, or reject the message to their own damnation. Whether they accept or deny will determine whether God has the opportunity to cleanse them, but it is God's job to do the cleansing, and he does not need our help. It would certainly be beneficial if we were a light to the world, but no matter how brightly we think our light shines, we still can not do God's portion of the work. Acts 26:17 ‘I will deliver you from the Jewish peoples, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,' 18 ‘to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.' I am not suggesting it is never a good idea to admonish someone to leave behind sin, but it is not our jobs to drive someone away from God or pronounce their damnation because we do not believe they are making the proper corrections to their life. Rather we should tell them the truth in love, emphasizing that God has something better for them (never in a manner of a holier than thou or condemning attitude, for we all still have plenty of sin in our own lives) and backing everything up with pertinent scriptures. Then step back and let God work the miracle of regeneration in peoples lives.

Romans 6: 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the death by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

All this talk of justification by faith often leads to the question, does that mean sin is irrelevant. And that is a question which was posed to Paul often enough during his ministry. Absolutely not, or as Paul said it, "God forbid." Sin is always relevant, not as a point of salvation, else we would have all been disqualified. For salvation is of the works of Christ, not us. But sin does hamper our ability to believe God and to walk with Him. I do not believe God separates Himself from us when we sin, but sin will cause us to move away from God. How many of us would have been able to sit in front of our mother, grandmother, or minister, and casually look at a "porno" magazine. How many of us would walk up to a police officer while we were smoking marijuana. I would think the person who could do such a thing would be rare indeed. So it is with God. When a person is doing what they consider to be sin or wrong, the natural tendency is to move away from fellowship with God, so that our own conscience will not convict us of our wrong doing. Sin then is a very real barrier all of us must overcome so we are not embarrassed to be in the presence of the Father. Sin is also a barrier which has to be overcome so that we are not ashamed to be a light unto the world. Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Romans 10: 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them." 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, "Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, "Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

So for any who are trying to approach God in their own righteousness, regardless of how small the "duty" imposed, are ignorant of the righteousness which is of faith. God does not want us to be ignorant, because a lack of knowledge of who he is hinders our ability to trust in Him completely. Any works doctrine, or law keeping for the purpose of having right standing with God will take away from the true "duty" of our existence, and that duty is fellowship with God. This does not mean works then are evil, or to be avoided. The works are only profitable when they come from the heart as a result of the faith which is manifest in us. A person who truly believes God and His word, without having to place himself under the law, will walk more uprightly, and do better works than any Pharisee who has ever lived. Works can not replace or compel faith, but faith can replace, and compel works.

Matthew 9: 2 Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you."

Mark 2: 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son your sins are forgiven you."

Lastly, I include these scriptures here to conclude and demonstrate the point of this chapter. Most people read this story and believe Jesus was rewarding the paralytic's friends because of the works they performed by going to extremes to get their sick friend to Jesus. I believe Jesus, who looks on the heart, saw that it was the faith of the paralytic and his friends which caused these men to go to great extremes. This story would have had a different ending if the men had shown up in desperation or wishing. Desperation or a wish could also cause a person to go to such extremes, but they are not faith and will not have the same result as faith. I know a lot of you may be feeling like I am condemning you, because you have a sickness in your body which you have asked for healing, and did not receive it. Condemnation is not my goal, and I can only encourage you that hopefully as you continue through this book, you will gain a greater understanding of the principles here. Some of you can also take solace that while I am writing this book to you, I am sitting here battling sinus problems which are making it difficult to breath properly, and I take daily medication for high blood pressure and acid reflux. I tell you these things so you understand there is a growth process in all things. While I have seen some success in my own life, I am not claiming perfection. My hope is that as I continue through this book, if you will take the journey with me, then we may both grow in this area together.

Romans 9: 30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

Romans 4: 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. 13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed-God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoke, "So shall your descendants be." 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness." 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us, it shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.