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The Savior

Do we really need a Savior? Aren't our good works the reason we go to heaven?

Salvation (entrance into heaven) comes by faith alone. The words faith or belief are used almost 200 times in the New Testament as the single condition required for salvation. We must put our faith in Jesus Christ. It is His shed blood, death and resurection that paid our sin debt in full. As hard as it might be to really grasp this simple idea, it is the truth of the Gospel. But this free gift that God has offered to us, will only be credited to our account if we truly believe. I'm going to try to break this all down, so we can see why God had to do it this way. I'd like to start by taking a look at what the Bible says about our good works. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ... " Isaiah 64:6

In the Hebrew (the original language of the Old Testament), the phase filthy rags has a more dramatic meaning. From the root, "to set a period", the menstrual flux (as perioical); by implication, soiling - filthy. What the phrase is really saying "... all our righteousnesses [good works] are as filthy, used feminine menstrual pads"

You see, when it comes to salvation, God is not impressed with our good works. That's because all our good works can never undo the bad things we have also done, which the Bible calls sin. We are all sinners, and we have all fallen short of what God expects from us. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

Let's take another look at that verse, this time in the context it was written. We'll start at Romans 3 verse 20 "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forebearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Romans 3:20 - 26

The first verse says "For by works of the law no human being will be justified ... " That's about as plain as it gets. No one will ever be justified (made right before God) by keeping the law. The verse explains that the law only makes us aware of our sin. The passage goes on to say that there is a righteousness from God that is apart, or sperate from the law. This is the righteousness we need for salvation. It's God's own righteousness, wich can only be obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus didn't do away with the law. He fullfilled it! Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life that we never could. By living this sinless life, He became the only One who could redeem us. What does it mean to redeem someone? From the Greek; apolutrosis - to pay a ransom (in full), to buy back, to purchase "out of the marketplace". Christ's shed blood, death and resurrection literally purchased us back, and out of the sin market of Satan's domain.

People like to think of God as a "loving God", and this is true. But, He is also a just God as well. His Holiness requires perfect justice. He could never overlook sin. It simply had to be delt with. So in order to satisfy His just nature, someone had to pay the price for our sins. God knew we could never pay that price ourselves. So he sent Jesus to pay it for us! There is so much more I could say on this topic. The story of Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer in the Old Testament book of Ruth, is a perfect illustration of what Christ did for us, in his role as Redeemer. I only wish that people could truly understand this, ... that our salvation is 100% Jesus, and 0% us. When we rely on ourselves and our own goodness to pay the sin debt God requires, we will always fail.

Please hang in there with me for one more page. I'd like to show you something that you may not have noticed before. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has some very harsh words for those that think they know Him "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" Matthew 7:21 - 23

Let's go to the next section, Salvation. We'll take a closer look at this verse, and what it really means.