Why do you say that salvation is by faith through grace and then emphasize the necessity to do good works? Can you lose your salvation?
Question: “Why do you say that salvation is by faith through grace and then emphasize the necessity to do good works? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?” 5/21/9
Throughout the epistles of Paul great emphasis is placed on the fact that faith, alone, in the Name of Jesus Christ, because of His giving of Himself as our one and only sin sacrifice will suffice to bring forgiveness and salvation to anyone. That is the major reason why we are encouraged by Jesus in Matthew 9:37,38, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest (God) that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” KJV
The penalties of sin are so heinous that the Lord has told us through the writer of Hebrews 9:18-28, “Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood, for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.’
“Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry, and according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission (of sin).
“Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these, for Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another.
“He then would have not to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and as it is appointed for men to die once , but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” NKJV
From this we see that the price for committing sin is the shedding of blood, or death. Mankind was in a quandary because until Moses received the law from God there was no clear means through with mankind could be assured of forgiveness of his sins which would condemn him eternally to hell. When God gave the law to Moses for the children of Israel they were provided with an acceptable animal sacrifice to which they, by faith, could transfer their sins.
For example, they laid their hands on the head of the lamb before it was sacrificed according to Mosaic protocol and when the lamb died it carried with it their sins. This gave the believer forgiveness for the sins he had committed. Blood had been shed in place of the individual's own blood and death, the price for sin. This sacrifice was done periodically as the individual realized that he had transgressed the laws of God. Once a year, at Yom Kippur, the beginning of the Jewish religious new year, a sin sacrifice was made for the whole nation of Israel.
It has been said that salvation in the Mosaic law system was by works, obeying the commandments and offering up sacrifices when one failed to keep the law. Nevertheless, even the Mosaic system, in the final analysis, provided salvation through faith. They had to accept, by faith, that the animal sacrifice sufficed for the removal of the guilt of sin. The sacrificial animal was the antitype of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Their animal sacrifice looked, in faith, to the coming sacrifice of the Lamb of God (Jesus) Who truly would be the sacrifice that would take away even their sins, as well as our sins today in the church age.
Hebrews 10:4 states, “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”
If Jesus had not been willing to be the sin sacrifice for all human kind then even those who had obediently practiced Jewish law would not have been saved either. We are told that Jesus, during His three days and three nights in the grave, preached to the souls of those who were “in the bosum of Abraham”, or sheol (the grave). After He preached to those souls Jesus took those souls made righteous by faith in the Abrahamic law, which pointed to salvation by faith in Jesus, with Him to Heaven. Those souls accepted Jesus as Messiah and Lord.
Heaven now is the current abode of both Old Testament and New Testament righteous dead. The Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The Old Testament believers' final salvation occurred when Jesus was resurrected and ascended to the Father the first time on His resurrection day. He took with Him those redeemed (bought back from the devil) souls with Him to paradise after they accepted His preaching during the prior three days in sheol. Jesus tells us in Revelation 1:18, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.NKJV
Therefore, only through faith in Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, the sole sacrifice for mankind’s sins, can anyone be saved, then, now and forever. Believing Jews from the Mosaic period were saved through Jesus, just as we are, through faith in His Name. He emptied the abode of the righteous dead from the period of the law. He did this for them, even as He also promised salvation to the thief on the cross next to Him when he professed faith in Jesus as the Son of God.
To summarize for emphasis: There is no salvation by works whatsoever, not even at any time in the past. Salvation, first, last and always is solely through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. It cannot be achieved through works. Those who lived before the time of Christ but who had done their best to follow Mosaic law received final salvation when they believed on Jesus as their Messiah when Jesus preached to them during His three days in the grave, Sheol. The Old Testament abode of Old Testament followers of the Mosaic law is now empty, removed to paradise with Jesus at His resurrection.
In a sense, the early Jewish believers were looking FORWARD in time to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus, on the cross for their final redemption. This was true although at the time they were unaware that their Messiah must first come as servant and sacrifice for sin. All of the Jewish worship protocol had significant fulfillment through the life and sacrifice of Jesus. Final fulfillment of the law will occur at His return for His church, the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the head. We now are saved by looking BACKWARD in time to His sacrifice on the cross for our salvation and forgiveness of sins. Nevertheless, with salvation by grace through faith, Jesus said, Matthew 16:27, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”
Jesus reiterated in John 14:12: “Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”
Paul warned, I Corinthians 3:11-17, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear, for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
“If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in your? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” NKJV
James emphasized these concepts in James 2:14-20, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
“If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
“But someone will 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.’ You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!
“But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” NKJV
These scriptures are clear. There is no good thing that we can do to achieve forgiveness from our sins and the salvation of our souls. Paul tells us this emphatically in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.”
He continues, Romans 6:23, “ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
All that we must do to receive this perfectly free gift of salvation is simply to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He was resurrected from the dead. He will come again to receive us who believe in His Name and in His sacrifice to live with Him forever. (From Romans 10:8-10). This is so simple that a child can understand the method of salvation. A child freely accepts this truth and in the process, eternal salvation, when he believes this promise and “receives Jesus into his heart.” It is that simple, grace through faith in the promises of Jesus Christ.
Salvation is free. To receive rewards in Heaven we must reveal a life that reflects the righteousness and the works of Jesus. He is our example. As we know, everything that He did was to help mankind, even to His own death by the most cruel and painful method possible. He did that for us.
Therefore in emulation of His example, we should live our lives in a manner that will help others to receive the same salvation which we enjoy. We do this from hearts of gratitude to Him and with love for Him, for His holy cause and with love for others. Just as He demonstrated His love for us, so should we show the same love for other humankind. By this we shall be rewarded at judgment day when every person’s works will be judged with Jesus' life as the baseline standard. If we have submitted our wills to Jesus and have committed our efforts to enhancing His Kingdom and to helping others we shall be rewarded throughout eternity because of our works after salvation.
R.E.. Neighbors summarized the difference between salvation by grace, and rewards for works:
" All Christians have the blessed hope of eternal life with God. We all have faith in the righteousness of our Lord to atone for our sins unto salvation. However, attaining a seat in the Kingdom of Heaven is a prize to be won:
"Grace is unmerited favor; Rewards are always merited. Grace is a free gift; Rewards are wages. Grace is without money and without price; Rewards cost labor and sacrifice. Grace looks to God's faithfulness; Rewards look to the believer's faithfulness Grace places us on the race course; Rewards lure us to "so run." Grace introduces us into the games; Rewards urge us to "so fight." Grace says, "Not by deeds of righteousness which we have done." Rewards say, ‘Well done thou good and faithful servant...’" ###
Your comments or question
Question: “Some people say that they are certain that it really is possible to lose one’s salvation after we have believed on Jesus Christ for salvation by grace through faith in His Name. Is this true?” 6/1/9
1. One example is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: Luke 12:10 and Matthew 12:31,32 "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."
Jesus said this when the religious leaders falsely accused Him of performing miracles through the power of Beelzebub (Satan) instead of truthfully attributing the miracles to the working of the Holy Spirit through Jesus as they were.
2. A second example is by returning to animal sacrifice after having believed in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ: Since Jesus' resurrection from the dead the Mosaic law regarding salvation through the shedding of blood has been fulfilled once and for all time. Since then there can be salvation only through faith in the Name and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 6:4-6 states, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame...."
It has been claimed that this admonition was directed at the Jewish people who had received the Lord's salvation but then returned to their former belief in the necessity to sacrifice animals again for the forgiveness of sins. Since Jesus' death and resurrection, as the Lamb of God, salvation only is possible by believing in Him for forgiveness of sin.
3. Revelation 13:16-19 states of the Antichrist during the tribulation, "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six. (666).
These are three cases in the Bible which indicate that people who are guilty of these actions could be lost forever. As to the first, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, we need to be very careful, when people attribute miracles to the working of the Holy Spirit, that we do not declare that the miracles are false or done through the power of the devil unless the Holy Spirit has revealed this to be true.
In these last days there currently is an upsurge of miracles and healings done by the Holy Spirit as a means of drawing people to the Lord Jesus Christ. During the reign of the Antichrist, the tribulation period, lying miracles will be done by the Antichrist to cause people to turn to worship of the Antichrist, and therefore of Satan. Many people will fall for these miracles and follow the Antichrist as the Messiah. At the same time true miracles will be done by Christians here on earth through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will be faithful to enable Christians to discern the true source of the miraculous, whether of God or of the Devil. The tribulation will be a dangerous time for everyone, and the Holy Spirit will be needed desperately to guide our lives. Nevertheless, the same is true today, even before the tribulation begins. The difference then will be the widespread, open worship of the Antichrist as Lord during the tribulation. We can see the beginnings of such apostasy in some of the modern -day cults. Those who become entrapped by false doctrines are difficult to "de-program" because they become so committed to those teachings, blinded to the truth that salvation is solely through simple belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
It takes spiritual maturity and the anointing of the Holy Spirit through the gift of discernment of spirits to identify counterfeit workings of Satan. Condemnation of the apparently miraculous should be done only with absolute confirmation through the Holy Spirit anointing as to the source of the power manifestation.
Jesus said, John 16:7-15, of the Holy Spirit: "...if I do not go away the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
"He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." NKJV.
It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to us when we have done wrong, convincing of sin. It is assumed that once one had committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit would have left that individual and the individual therefore would no longer have a sense of sin and of a need to receive Jesus again.
Therefore for those who agonize over the possibility of having committed the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, it is most likely that they have not committed this sin. All sense of committing sin would have left such an individual forever if he had blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. The fact, alone, that the individual is concerned about having committed this sin should be evidence that he has not been guilty of having committed this sin.
As for taking the mark of the beast whose number is 666, the Holy Spirit would be faithful to warn the individual of the danger of taking this mark. Hopefully the Christian in such circumstances would have the presence of mind to forbear, no matter what the cost might be, even to being killed for resisting the mandates of the antichrist. This period is called the tribulation because this is exactly what will occur during this period.
Many Christians will be martyred for their faith. As has been said before, however, "The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the church." Many people will come to accept the Lord during the tribulation because, although not committed to Jesus Christ beforehand, they had read about the danger of taking the mark of the beast. They then will refuse to take the mark, believe on Jesus Christ for salvation and thus be saved during the tribulation.
It is interesting that essentially the whole world has been exposed to the concept of the mark of the beast whose number is 666, if for no other reason than that many acid rock musicians have included this concept in their songs and performances. These demonized performers are advocating devil worship, but in the process knowledge of the source of this mark is being promoted. The Holy Spirit will bring this understanding to many during the tribulation, thereby causing many to refuse to accept the mark so that they may believe in Jesus Christ and then be saved.
Many people will object to having included the scriptures about the possibility of losing one’s salvation. They firmly maintain that it is IMPOSSIBLE to lose our salvation since it is by grace through faith. Nevertheless, the Lord caused these scriptures to be included in the Bible for sound reasons and we should take head of the warnings. Before making judgmental statements for or against spiritual matters we should be certain that the Holy Spirit has revealed the truth so that we neither are lead into apostasy by believing in false teaching nor cause ourselves to blaspheme the Holy Spirit by attributing works done through His power as being done through the devil’s authority.
II Timothy 3:16,17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” NKJV
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