Salvation Series: Epilogue

This is the end of the Salvation series, but I cannot end this series without giving overwhelming exaltation and adoration to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for saving us. He is the ultimate object of our worship and He deserves every bit of our praise and glory. This video that I am going to attach to this post is a song. A song created by Sovereign Grace that exemplifies everything of what Christ has done for us and what He is too us. It is called, "All I Have is Christ" and He is all we have. The world behind us, the cross before us, no turning back.... no turning back. Please enjoy with giving Him the ultimate glory. Worship Him alone!!!

Salvation Series: Faith in Christ Alone vs. Works Pt. 5

Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

This verse has always interested me. Why? It relays how we can be assured that we are in right standing with God. The previous nine verses argued in favor of how we can be saved. Now, verse 10 definitively shows us how we can be assured of our salvation based off of the previous nine verses. So, how does Ephesians 2:10 show us that we can be assured of our salvation? We will be looking at James 2:14-17, because it ties in with Ephesians 2:10 like a cohesive glue between them. Without further ado, James 2:14-17 says, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

Now, I may start receiving hate mail after penning this verse. Why, Josh, you said that works takes no part in the salvation of our souls? Yes, I did say that, but hold on. This is a very difficult passage to try and wrap your mind around when you read it the first time. It seems to say that works helps us in regards to our salvation. Works is a part of our salvation. When in reality, it is asking a rather different question that is answered in Ephesians 2:10. What is the motivation behind our works? Are we motivated by our own selfish way of living, trying to prove to God that works is enough to save us? Or, are we motivated by what God is doing and wanting to do all we can to further His kingdom and glory?

If we are truly living our lives for the magnificent, majestic glory of God, we are working, striving to make His glory known throughout the world. We are doing everything we possibly can to fully please God in everything we say and do. This does not mean we are striving towards perfection, because we will never be perfect. We will still continue to sin on a day by day basis. However, our ultimate goal is to continue to conform into the image of Christ, so that other unbelievers may see a drastic difference in our lives in comparison with themselves. Folks, this is our ultimate calling. Ephesians 5:1 says to be imitators of Christ as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us. 1 Corinthians 11:1 basically says the same exact thing, but it carries vast implications in regards to actually living the life God has called for us. I will back up to 10:32 for context purposes. It says this, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, nor seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ."

We all know that Paul is speaking in this verse, but he says to imitate him as he imitates Christ. Now, I am going to ask a valid question. Would you be comfortable at this moment in going up to a young, immature Christian, who needs to be mentored, and flat out telling them to imitate you as you imitate Christ? Would you? Really, I am not trying to step on anybody's toes here. I am speaking the truth and sometimes the truth hurts. This happens to obviously be one of those times, but try to stamp these truths in your brain. Take heed of these truths and don't squander them. Paul is desperately trying to convey to us here that we need to imitate Christ, that we need to be so completely lost in his love, so passionately pursuing Him, in order that others would see the greatness of God in our lives, and want to imitate us. Our work contains the magnificent glory of what I just portrayed. That is our work. We do not need to set our full affection on working for some other cause, because our work is to imitate Him so others might see the glorious display of Christ in us, and come to a knowledge of the Hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

Now, we can fully grasp the concept of faith without works is dead, which is in the James passage. Faith without the works described above is useless. Our faith is in vain, if we are not working to make Him known as the King of kings and Lord of lords. However, if we are passionately pursuing Him as our most valuable treasure and faithfully living the life that God has given us to be solely used for His glory, then our faith is full of life. Our faith is overflowing with rivers of living water. What it all comes down to is this: what is our motivation behind our works?

In closing, Ephesians 2:10 says that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are created to work for Him, we are created to serve Him, we are created to do everything we can for Him. We have been created in Him, before the foundation of the world, to work for His glory. The final part of the verse goes on to explain that He has prepared works beforehand that we should walk in them. If you are truly saved, you can rest assured that God has prepared works for you. God has set up your life like an open book waiting for the pages to be filled. You need to go out into all the world, imitate Christ, and fill those pages. The appointments are already set. He has already prepared your works. You go and fulfill those appointments and work for His glory.

Sola Deo Gloria!!!!

Salvation Series: Faith in Christ Alone vs. Works Pt. 4

Where does our hope come from? I was listening to this song the other day. It is called, "Saving One" by: Starfield. This song portrays the overwhelming grace of God that is found strictly in Jesus alone. If you have never heard of the song before, the beginning stanza of this song's lyrics say this:

What mercy was revealed
What selflessness and peace
My fate was surely sealed
Until He rescued me

His pardon for my sin
His bounty for my need
From slavery and shame
I am redeemed.

Just ponder the words, the lyrics to this song. Last time, we made our way through the first three verses of Ephesians 2. These verses captured the intense moment of my (our) fate was surely sealed. We were dead in our transgressions and sins; without God, without hope in this world. Our fate was surely sealed. Edmund's fate was surely sealed in the Chronicles of Narnia movie. But, where does our hope come from? In whom does our hope and peace rest in? Let's dig into verses 4-10 of the Ephesians 2 passage (click here to read it).

When I read these verses beginning in Ephesians 2:4, I am completely overwhelmed. The first two words of Ephesians 2:4 read as "But God". These two words magnificently turn the tables on the description of our hopelessness in verses 1-3. Like a baseball team beginning a ninth inning rally down ten runs in an elimination playoff game, these words are uttered to inspire hope. My ESV Study Bible footnote says this on these two words, "No hopeless fate looks grimmer than that which awaits the forlorn company of mankind marching behind the 'prince of the power of the air' (v. 2) to their destruction under divine wrath. Just when things look the most desolate, Paul utters the greatest short phrase in the history of human speech: 'But God!'" 1 This is no doubt the greatest short phrase uttered in the history of human speech. We were completely enslaved to sin. We were behind overwhelming odds. We were desolately in replete condemnation, because of our sin. Then, out of nowhere, Paul utters the sweetest phrase ever, "But God". Amazing.

We have the words, "But God", however, what do the next words say? Ephesians 2:4-5 says, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ---- by grace you have been saved----". Because He was merciful, He saved us; because He was loving, He saved us; because He was gracious, He saved us. It is nothing we have done to earn His mercy or grace. It is exclusively, because He is merciful towards guilty sinners. We deserve His wrath and judgment, but He sacrificially offered Himself to die upon a cruel cross that we have no right spurning. He absorbed the wrath of God that was pounded on top of Him, and He drank every last drop of the cup that ultimately destroyed Him. He is worthy of our praise and worship alone. Works is not worthy of anything. Good works is nothing to worship about. KING JESUS IS AND HIM ALONE. We have been saved from so much audience. Why not just give Him your everything, because He is worthy of worship?

As Aslan was talking with the White Witch about what was to become of Edmund, Edmund was only praying and hoping that Aslan would come through for him in some way. Aslan was Edmund's only hope. You know the rest of the story. Similarly, Jesus is our ONLY HOPE. Good works will leave us with nothing in the end, if we hold fast to that as our sole hope. Ephesians 2:5b says that we have been saved by grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 repeats what 2:5b said earlier, but with added emphasis, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." As I said earlier, works will accomplish nothing for you in the overall scheme of being saved from an eternal hell. Only Jesus can, not works plus Christ. Please trust in Christ as your Lord and Personal Savior if you have not done so already. He will save you and you can be fully assured you will see Him one day, reigning, as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Trust in Him.

We are not finished with this series yet. I will conclude with Ephesians 2:10 on the evidence that you have been saved.


Sola Deo Gloria!!!

1- ESV footnote from my English Standard Version Study Bible, pg. 2264 on behalf of Ephesians 2:4.

Salvation Series: Faith in Christ Alone vs. Works Pt. 3

It is about time that I posted something. As a matter of fact, I recently finished an eight week course, while I was taking three other classes at the same time. I was bombarded with schoolwork, and now the recent shift in less schoolwork has given me more time to post. Anyways, enough of that and let's delve into the more important facets of life. The place where we left off last time in the Salvation series was when I was going to bring in Ephesians 2:1-10 into the picture. For review, I posed a definite question that is rather important in response to the battle between Faith through Grace in Christ Alone Salvation vs. Works based salvation. That question is: Is Christ's death enough to save you from every sin you have ever committed? We argued that works based salvation supports a Christ plus works view of salvation. If that is the case, then Christ's death is not sufficiently, exclusively enough to save you. He died in vain, for no purpose, as it says in Galatians 2:21. You need to add works into the mantra of that particular type of salvation.

Then, we asked the question of why Jesus came to earth at all? If he died in vain, then there is no point into why he came to earth, since his sole purpose, in living on earth, was to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). He came that we may have life and have it abundantly as it says in John 10. Now, I will pick up where we left off. We will be diving into Ephesians 2:1-3 today in relation to the controversy of a works based salvation. If you have a Bible near by, you can open up to the passage or you can read it here.

What Ephesians 2:1-3 primarily says is that we are dead in our transgressions and sins. We have no hope. We are lifeless. It is completely impossible on our own strength to mount up enough righteousness to save ourselves. Isaiah 64:6 says, "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." The Hebrew term for "polluted garment" refers to menstrual rags. When a woman has had her period back in the Old Testament days, the complete ugliness and smelliness of the menstrual action was accomplished on old rags, which were specifically used for that purpose. These menstrual rags represent our righteous deeds, our good works in relation to God's penetrating holiness. Good works, the primary source of salvation for most people, is in total, direct opposition to God. He does not want your so called "good works". The Christ plus works view of Catholicism does not bode well when interpreting the actual truth of Isaiah 64:6 itself. Isaiah 64:6 wholeheartedly speaks for itself. Then, the verse continues on to say that our iniquities blow us away like the wind. The rest of the verse signifies the heart of the human condition.

I was watching the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the other day. If you have seen that movie before, you probably know where I am headed with this point. Well, if you don't know, Edmund is seduced by his own pride when he meets the White Witch for the first time. The White Witch, in a subtle manner, tells Edmund that he could be the rightful King only if he brought his brother and sisters to her castle between the two mountains in her icy dominion. While the White Witch is telling Edmund this, Edmund is comforted by the Witch through warmth, Turkish delight, and hot chocolate. Edmund is pleased and decides to follow through with the plan, so he can be the only King. When Edmund reaches her icy dominion the next time, he comes alone and is wondrously surprised. He is thrown into a cell without a small taste of Turkish delight and is held captive by the Witch's power. All along the White Witch was planning to kill him along with his brother and sisters, but she only had Edmund within her grasp, the ultimate traitor. She needed the others: Peter, Susan, and Lucy. Somehow, the other three siblings made it safely to Aslan's camp. Aslan ordered some of his army to save Edmund from being held captive to the Witch's power. The task was eventually accomplished, but the Witch demanded from Aslan Edmund's blood, because Edmund was a traitor. His sentence was death.

In the Chronicles of Narnia books and movies, Edmund is known as the "bad boy". The character, who strayed away from good wisdom and followed the evil wisdom of the witch. He is not a good character by any stretch of the imagination. However, Edmund is a lot like us. His sin completely rammed him down into a deep gorge. His iniquity blew him away like a mighty wind. His sentence was death. Our iniquity completely rams us into a deep gorge. Our sin blew us away like a mighty wind. Our sentence is no doubt death as well, and with this picture, many look to good works, good deeds, good tidings as their only hope of salvation. How sad is that? We need to reach these people with the Gospel and knock their brains with these truths. If we don't, hell is waiting in the near distance, waiting to suck these people to their eventual deaths. These people have no hope. Edmund had no hope. Complete, total, definite hopelessness, dead in transgressions and sins. Do we place our hope fully in good works? Gratefully not. Where does our hope come from? Stay tuned... End Part 3

Salvation Series: Faith in Christ Alone vs. Works Pt. 2

The question that I am about to pose in this post is like a lion cornering its prey in the background of the works based salvation controversy against faith based salvation in Christ alone. This question goes in for the kill at this false philosophical mindset. So you ask, what is the question? First, we will logically go through the evidence to reach the question. You have Catholicism. Catholicism is a works based salvation that depends on Christ plus your works to enter into heaven, kind of like Gnosticism. The evidence that I brought forth in the last post based on the book of Colossians was that Christ is supremely preeminent over all things. Let's look at Colossians 1:15-20 to begin to grasp a taste of Christ's supremacy.

Colossians 1:15-20 says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities---- all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. And He is head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross."

This whole passage pounds into our brain the ruling sovereignty, the ruling supremacy, the ruling preeminence of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ the Son of God. However, the last verse is rather interesting. In light of a works based salvation, Christ was able to reconcile to himself all things by making peace by the blood of His cross. Wow, this is in complete contrast to a works based salvation. Now, let's read into 2 Corinthians 8:9 which says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for YOUR SAKE HE BECAME POOR, so that YOU by His poverty MIGHT BECOME RICH." The ESV footnote for my Study Bible says this in relation to that verse, "While He had every right to stay comfortably where He was, in a position of power, His love drove Him to a position of weakness for the sake of sinful mankind." 1

So, here we have a Jesus, who is preeminent over all things; and we have a Jesus, who became poor on behalf of sinful mankind, so we might become rich. After all this background, we can now ask the question. The logic behind this is this: If Christ is supremely preeminent, God in human flesh like the Scriptures say He is, than from conclusive reasoning we can say that CHRIST IS SUFFICIENTLY ENOUGH TO SAVE THE ELECT FROM ALL THEIR SINS. Based on this conclusive reasoning, the question is: Is Christ's death enough to sufficiently, completely, absolutely, yet exclusively save you from every sin you have ever committed? IF HIS DEATH IS NOT ENOUGH, you can hold fast to a works based salvation because Christ died in vain, for no purpose (Galatians 2:21) as Dakota so eloquently placed in a comment on my last post. What is the purpose of Christ's death? If you do not hold fast to Him as your ONLY HOPE of salvation, what is the influential purpose of His death?

You can even take it a step further and say why did Christ even come to this earth at all? Think about it. If you need Christ plus works to enter into Heaven, why did Christ even come to earth at all when his main mission, main goal, main purpose was to COMPLETELY SAVE mankind of all their sins by dying a death reserved for guilty sinners---- to bear the wrath of God, the ultimate justice of God on behalf of vile sinners, who completely do not even care a rip about God in the first place. It does not make any sense at all. Mark 10:45 says, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many", and John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." Why did Jesus come? To give life, so that we may have it abundantly. In my next post, we will end this works based salvation vs. Faith alone in Jesus Christ salvation by bringing Ephesians 2:1-10 into the mixture. Stay tuned....

Sola Deo Gloria!!!!!

1 - ESV footnote from my English Standard Version Study Bible, pg. 2283 on behalf of Philippians 2:7.

Salvation Series: Faith in Christ Alone vs. Works Pt. 1

As I iterated in my last post, I will begin to resolve the final two points of the man's false argument. Faith and grace in Christ alone does not save you, but works and Christ does---- in accordance with his argument. Now, I will use a reference passage as a means to refer to the grace alone through faith in Christ in Ephesians 2:1-10 (click on the Scriptural reference to read the passage), but I will use the book of Colossians as the primary source of my argument. Colossians is a fascinating book. If you have never studied it, I advise you to at least catch a glimpse of this Pauline epistle by reading it many times through. The primary theme of Colossians is the supremacy (preeminence) of Christ over all things (Col. 1:15-20, Col. 2:2-3, Col. 2:9-10, Col. 2:13-15, Col. 2:17-19, Col. 3:11). He is the eternal God and no one is like Him. All false philosophies will completely fall by the wayside when we gain a correct view of Christ. As a matter of fact, false philosophies was the exact problem that the Colossian church was facing. Gnosticism was invading the church, asceticism was inching its way through the church doors, and a form of Jewish tradition was seeping into the walls of this church. How was Paul going to help accomplish the task of saving the church at Colossae? The answer, based on what I have said thus far, is to help them discern truth from error, to help them selectively ascertain the truth about Christ from anything (any false doctrine) other than the truth about Christ. This is a brief synopsis of the book of Colossians.

So, what does this have to do with works based salvation? It has everything to do with works based salvation. If Christ is not everything to you and you need something else to complete your salvation, something other than the truth begins to invade your thinking. The false doctrine of Gnosticism, which was invading the Colossian church at the time of the apostolic age, contained a salvation based forum that said you needed Christ plus something else to obtain salvation. This could not be more further from the truth. Catholicism is the exact same way, which was the exact religion that the guy was advocating for. You need works plus Christ in order to gain entrance into heaven. When you begin advocating a salvation type mantra posed in the last sentence, a pivotal question develops in the underlying webbing of a works based salvation. What is that question? .......... End Pt. 1

Salvation Series: How Can You Be Saved?

I recently received a comment concerning the basis of works salvation vs. salvation in Christ alone through faith. I want to respond to that comment in a miniature series on what I believe about salvation. Salvation is a key topic. It determines our destiny and fate. Our eternity is all wrapped up in the significance of salvation. So, I ask the question. How can you be saved? The comment that I received was rather troubling. If you want to read it, open the comments section on the last post that I did. The guy gave out three points based on what is required in order to abide in Christ. The first point was that we can abide in Him by accepting Him as our Lord and Savior. Point 2 went like this: by God's grace alone, and three was by faith in God alone. After each point, he wrote no. He was basically saying that it is impossible to receive the gift of salvation based on those three points. I agree with the first point, but the last two points should ring a huge bell. So, how can we be saved?

Let's discern through the man's first point. We can abide in Him by accepting Him solely as our Lord and Savior. How many times did the prophets, Christ, and apostles command people to repent and turn away from their sins? Countless times. A couple examples are in Matthew 3:2, which says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand", and in Acts 3:19, "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out." Repentance is the key to salvation. If you only accept Christ as your Lord and personal Savior, you are not going to heaven. The Bible is completely clear about that. Instead, we need to recognize our sin in light of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and repent. We need to recognize the cost. The cost of our sin being placed upon the Lamb of God, who was slain, should drive us to our knees in complete repentance, humility, and submission to His Lordship. He gave His life for us. He is the object of our salvation. He is the man, whom we derive our salvation from --- Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So, how can we be saved?

1) Recognize your a sinner. (Rom. 3:23, Mt. 9:13, Rom. 5:8)
2) Repent (Verses above)
3) Believe/Trust in His Grace through Faith (Heb 11, Rom 10:9-13, Eph. 2:8)

That is how you can come to a complete and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Tomorrow, I will discern the other two points of the man's argument and hopefully resolve the issue between works based salvation v. faith based salvation in Christ alone.

Sola Deo Gloria!!!!!!!!!