Any serious student of the Bible knows that the only thing that can bring us salvation is the Grace of Christ, and that his saving Grace is given as a gift to all of those that meet the qualifications. However, the traditional Christian view seems to be that all that is required to qualify for His Grace is to believe in Christ or have faith in Him, or call upon His name, or confess that He is their Saviour. They say the Bible teaches that if you do this then you are converted, and therefore from that moment on you are saved by His Grace. They say that works are not necessary to qualify anyone for salvation. But if they are wrong, imagine all the millions of people that are being deceived into failing to qualify for salvation!
Let’s see what the Bible really says… While it is true that the Bible teaches that the only thing that can bring someone to salvation is the Grace of Christ, it also tells us very clearly that before anyone can be saved by grace there is much required for him/her to DO first. Conversion is only the beginning of the process of qualifying for His gift of Grace. In other words the Bible clearly says that much more is required in order for someone to meet the criteria that our Saviour demands before He will save us by His Grace!
First consider what He taught to the masses during His ‘Sermon on the Mount’. In Matthew 7:21 He told them “Not every one 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.” He clearly teaches here that to be saved it is not enough to call upon Him, or confess His name. He says that one must DO the will of His Father, which also implies that we must LEARN what that will is.
Now consider verses 22 & 23, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” It is very clear that here He is describing those that believe in Him, so much, that they are able to prophesy, cast out devils and do many wonderful works in His name. They are obviously people that have great faith in Him, in order to be able to do so much in His name. Yet He rebukes them telling them He never knew them, even saying that they ‘work iniquity’!
Such is apparently the fate of those that believe in Him, have faith in Him, and accomplish good works using His name, but obviously lack one thing… they failed to understand and DO the will of our Father in heaven. But how can someone actually learn what is the will of our Heavenly Father? Our Saviour explains that process very succinctly in the following verse: 7:24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and DOETH them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
In other words, ONLY if we study the teachings of our Saviour, and DO them, then we are learning and doing the will of our Father in Heaven. Christ and His Apostles certainly said to believe in Him and have faith in Him and call upon His name, but obviously that is only the beginning. Before we consider some of the specific things He said we must DO let us consider some other scriptures that teach us about this general principle of qualifying for salvation through our Saviour’s gift of grace.
On a certain occasion our Saviour was talking to some Jews that ALREADY BELIEVED in Him. In John 8:31-32 it explains what He told them: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Upon analysis, it will be seen that here He reinforces that which He previously had taught to the multitudes in Matthew, above. When He said ‘…continue in my word…know the truth…shall make you free’, He is merely restating the other words, ‘…whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them…[is] a wise man… founded upon a rock.’ To continue in His word means to learn what He said and to DO it! Then we will be doing ‘the will of my Father which is in heaven.’ And thus we become eligible by His grace to ‘enter into the kingdom of heaven’ as He said in His sermon quoted above.
On another occasion a man approached our Saviour and actually asked Him what he must DO to be saved. This incident, and the Lord’s answer are recorded in two different gospels, as follows:
“And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and FOLLOWme. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.”[Mark 10:17-22]
“And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come,FOLLOWme. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.” [Luke 18:18-23]
Now we know that the original Ten Commandments were only the fundamental, most basic requirements given to Old Testament Israel to act as their ‘schoolmaster’ in order to prepare them for the coming of our Savior. When He came, He would fulfill those with two all-encompassing commandments:
Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matt. 22:37-40]
Obviously, our Lord’s message to that man (and all of us) is that we are required to OBEY all of our Father’s commandments BEFORE we might qualify for His Grace unto salvation. That is why He teaches us, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” [John 14:15]
Now consider what else our Saviour has said regarding this subject of salvation. On a certain occasion He was praying to Heavenly Father and He expressed a very important concept. In John 17:3 He said, “And THIS is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” In order to merit the gift of Grace unto eternal life, why does He say it is obligatory FIRST to actually come to ‘know’ the Father and the Son. A little thinking might reveal that this is because He knows that that is the only way that someone might fully understand the will of the Father and the teachings of the Son, and then be able to do them in order to qualify for His gift of eternal life.
Next, take into account the words in the epistle to the Hebrews concerning the requirements for salvation: In Hebrews 5:9 we read, “And being made perfect He became the author of eternal salvation UNTO ALL THEM THAT OBEY him;” Can it be any clearer that, despite what the ‘traditional Christians’ teach about becoming qualified to be ‘saved by grace’, according to the words of Christ and the Bible, BEFORE we can expect to be worthy for our Saviour’s Grace to provide us with salvation, we must first OBEY Him! This means we must DO all He has said, including the following BEFORE we can qualify for His saving Grace:
1. DO The will of our Heavenly Father, which is to KNOW and DO what our Saviour says. [Matt. 7:21-25]
2. CONTINUE in His word to BECOME His disciples and KNOW the truth that makes us free. [John 8:31-32]
3. KEEP His commandments which again means we must OBEY what He has told us to do. [John 14:15]
4. Actually come to KNOW the Father and the Son to become qualified for eternal life. [John 17:3]
5. Obey ALL that Christ has said in order to qualify for His Grace unto salvation. [Hebrews 5:9]
That is what the Bible really says is required for salvation. It should be obvious by now that for someone to be ‘saved’ requires knowledge, actively doing, and obedience to all that our Saviour has said. If you do not believe this, you simply do not believe what is written in the Bible. It is now time to consider some more of these specific things that He taught that we must DO.
1. “Come, follow me.” [Luke 9:59; 18:22; John 1:43; 12:26; 21:19]
2. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” [John 14:6]
These meaning, if we want to be saved by His Grace we must OBEY Him, FOLLOW in His footstep and pattern our lives after the way He lived.
3. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” [Matthew 5:48]
4. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” [1 John 3:2]
These meaning He expects us to become like Him, and if we want to be saved by His Grace we must FIRST SPEND ALL OF OUR LIVES TRYING to BECOME like Him and our Heavenly Father, even perfect, which is the way that our Saviour has shown by His own life example. This is why our Saviour Himself teaches:
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that ENDURETH TO THE END shall be saved.” [Matt. 10:22]
“But he that shall ENDURE UNTO THE END, the same shall be saved.” [Matt. 24:13]
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall ENDURE UNTO THE END, the same shall be saved.” [Luke13:13]
It is true that people are mortal beings and perhaps cannot expect to achieve total perfection in this life, but that does not mean we should not SPEND OUR LIFE TRYING to do so to the best of our abilities, for that is the teaching of our Saviour and those that desire to be saved by His Grace are expected FIRST to obey Him, for that is the will of our Heavenly Father [Hebrews 5:9; Matt, 7:21-25]. Each individual CAN finally achieve his own degree of perfection and that is enough for Christ to intervene AFTERWARD with His Grace.
And that is why the scripture teaches:
“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, AFTER ALL WE CAN DO.” [2 Nephi 25:23]
Finally our Saviour taught “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” [ John14:1-2 ] and Paul said, “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead”. [1Cor. 15:40-42]
These are merely indicators that in accordance with the teachings of our Saviour each individual that FIRST OBEY’S HIS WORDS and ENDURES TO THE END may qualify for salvation by His Grace, and be rewarded with a dwelling place in accordance with his personal efforts.
According to the teachings of Christ quoted in this message those ‘traditional Christians’ that teach the kind of ‘salvation’ without the necessary works to qualify for His gift of Grace are not doing enough. They are teaching ‘another gospel’ than that one set forth by Our Saviour and His disciples in the Bible! That is why we are warned, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” [Matt. 7:14]
What the Bible Really Tells Us About Salvation
Any serious student of the Bible knows that the only thing that can bring us salvation is the Grace of Christ, and that his saving Grace is given as a gift to all of those that meet the qualifications. However, the traditional Christian view seems to be that all that is required to qualify for His Grace is to believe in Christ or have faith in Him, or call upon His name, or confess that He is their Saviour. They say the Bible teaches that if you do this then you are converted, and therefore from that moment on you are saved by His Grace. They say that works are not necessary to qualify anyone for salvation. But if they are wrong, imagine all the millions of people that are being deceived into failing to qualify for salvation!
Let’s see what the Bible really says… While it is true that the Bible teaches that the only thing that can bring someone to salvation is the Grace of Christ, it also tells us very clearly that before anyone can be saved by grace there is much required for him/her to DO first. Conversion is only the beginning of the process of qualifying for His gift of Grace. In other words the Bible clearly says that much more is required in order for someone to meet the criteria that our Saviour demands before He will save us by His Grace!
First consider what He taught to the masses during His ‘Sermon on the Mount’. In Matthew 7:21 He told them “Not every one 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.” He clearly teaches here that to be saved it is not enough to call upon Him, or confess His name. He says that one must DO the will of His Father, which also implies that we must LEARN what that will is.
Now consider verses 22 & 23, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” It is very clear that here He is describing those that believe in Him, so much, that they are able to prophesy, cast out devils and do many wonderful works in His name. They are obviously people that have great faith in Him, in order to be able to do so much in His name. Yet He rebukes them telling them He never knew them, even saying that they ‘work iniquity’!
Such is apparently the fate of those that believe in Him, have faith in Him, and accomplish good works using His name, but obviously lack one thing… they failed to understand and DO the will of our Father in heaven. But how can someone actually learn what is the will of our Heavenly Father? Our Saviour explains that process very succinctly in the following verse: 7:24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and DOETH them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.”
In other words, ONLY if we study the teachings of our Saviour, and DO them, then we are learning and doing the will of our Father in Heaven. Christ and His Apostles certainly said to believe in Him and have faith in Him and call upon His name, but obviously that is only the beginning. Before we consider some of the specific things He said we must DO let us consider some other scriptures that teach us about this general principle of qualifying for salvation through our Saviour’s gift of grace.
On a certain occasion our Saviour was talking to some Jews that ALREADY BELIEVED in Him. In John 8:31-32 it explains what He told them: “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Upon analysis, it will be seen that here He reinforces that which He previously had taught to the multitudes in Matthew, above. When He said ‘…continue in my word…know the truth…shall make you free’, He is merely restating the other words, ‘…whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them…[is] a wise man… founded upon a rock.’ To continue in His word means to learn what He said and to DO it! Then we will be doing ‘the will of my Father which is in heaven.’ And thus we become eligible by His grace to ‘enter into the kingdom of heaven’ as He said in His sermon quoted above.
On another occasion a man approached our Saviour and actually asked Him what he must DO to be saved. This incident, and the Lord’s answer are recorded in two different gospels, as follows:
“And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and FOLLOWme. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.”[Mark 10:17-22]
“And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come,FOLLOWme. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.” [Luke 18:18-23]
Now we know that the original Ten Commandments were only the fundamental, most basic requirements given to Old Testament Israel to act as their ‘schoolmaster’ in order to prepare them for the coming of our Savior. When He came, He would fulfill those with two all-encompassing commandments:
Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matt. 22:37-40]
Obviously, our Lord’s message to that man (and all of us) is that we are required to OBEY all of our Father’s commandments BEFORE we might qualify for His Grace unto salvation. That is why He teaches us, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” [John 14:15]
Now consider what else our Saviour has said regarding this subject of salvation. On a certain occasion He was praying to Heavenly Father and He expressed a very important concept. In John 17:3 He said, “And THIS is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” In order to merit the gift of Grace unto eternal life, why does He say it is obligatory FIRST to actually come to ‘know’ the Father and the Son. A little thinking might reveal that this is because He knows that that is the only way that someone might fully understand the will of the Father and the teachings of the Son, and then be able to do them in order to qualify for His gift of eternal life.
Next, take into account the words in the epistle to the Hebrews concerning the requirements for salvation: In Hebrews 5:9 we read, “And being made perfect He became the author of eternal salvation UNTO ALL THEM THAT OBEY him;” Can it be any clearer that, despite what the ‘traditional Christians’ teach about becoming qualified to be ‘saved by grace’, according to the words of Christ and the Bible, BEFORE we can expect to be worthy for our Saviour’s Grace to provide us with salvation, we must first OBEY Him! This means we must DO all He has said, including the following BEFORE we can qualify for His saving Grace:
1. DO The will of our Heavenly Father, which is to KNOW and DO what our Saviour says. [Matt. 7:21-25]
2. CONTINUE in His word to BECOME His disciples and KNOW the truth that makes us free. [John 8:31-32]
3. KEEP His commandments which again means we must OBEY what He has told us to do. [John 14:15]
4. Actually come to KNOW the Father and the Son to become qualified for eternal life. [John 17:3]
5. Obey ALL that Christ has said in order to qualify for His Grace unto salvation. [Hebrews 5:9]
That is what the Bible really says is required for salvation. It should be obvious by now that for someone to be ‘saved’ requires knowledge, actively doing, and obedience to all that our Saviour has said. If you do not believe this, you simply do not believe what is written in the Bible. It is now time to consider some more of these specific things that He taught that we must DO.
1. “Come, follow me.” [Luke 9:59; 18:22; John 1:43; 12:26; 21:19]
2. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” [John 14:6]
These meaning, if we want to be saved by His Grace we must OBEY Him, FOLLOW in His footstep and pattern our lives after the way He lived.
3. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” [Matthew 5:48]
4. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” [1 John 3:2]
These meaning He expects us to become like Him, and if we want to be saved by His Grace we must FIRST SPEND ALL OF OUR LIVES TRYING to BECOME like Him and our Heavenly Father, even perfect, which is the way that our Saviour has shown by His own life example. This is why our Saviour Himself teaches:
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that ENDURETH TO THE END shall be saved.” [Matt. 10:22]
“But he that shall ENDURE UNTO THE END, the same shall be saved.” [Matt. 24:13]
“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall ENDURE UNTO THE END, the same shall be saved.” [Luke13:13]
It is true that people are mortal beings and perhaps cannot expect to achieve total perfection in this life, but that does not mean we should not SPEND OUR LIFE TRYING to do so to the best of our abilities, for that is the teaching of our Saviour and those that desire to be saved by His Grace are expected FIRST to obey Him, for that is the will of our Heavenly Father [Hebrews 5:9; Matt, 7:21-25]. Each individual CAN finally achieve his own degree of perfection and that is enough for Christ to intervene AFTERWARD with His Grace.
And that is why the scripture teaches:
“For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, AFTER ALL WE CAN DO.” [2 Nephi 25:23]
Finally our Saviour taught “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” [ John14:1-2 ] and Paul said, “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead”. [1Cor. 15:40-42]
These are merely indicators that in accordance with the teachings of our Saviour each individual that FIRST OBEY’S HIS WORDS and ENDURES TO THE END may qualify for salvation by His Grace, and be rewarded with a dwelling place in accordance with his personal efforts.
According to the teachings of Christ quoted in this message those ‘traditional Christians’ that teach the kind of ‘salvation’ without the necessary works to qualify for His gift of Grace are not doing enough. They are teaching ‘another gospel’ than that one set forth by Our Saviour and His disciples in the Bible! That is why we are warned, “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” [Matt. 7:14]
