“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)
“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Gal. 3:6)
“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:31)
These verses should make it abundantly clear on what it takes for a man to be justified by the Almighty, what is necessary for eternal salvation.
Believe.
Believe in the Sovereignty of the Living God, on the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, believe the truths of the Scriptures on what is written there concerning that word “believe.”
Why then have so many throughout the ages placed addendums to those truths, why has Acts 2:38 been added by them as a requirement, why has James 2:14 become a necessary form of obedience. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (John 16:13)
And so, Satan comes and whispers in your ears, “You must do more, you must perform these deeds, His sacrifice was not enough for the Almighty, without some work done by you, you cannot be saved.”
And they believe him instead of the truth.
I was present when a man spoke to a pastor, and I use that word ‘Pastor’ here loosely, saying “I want to be baptized again,” and the pastor agreed wholeheartedly. I have witnessed people eating wafers believing it to be the actual flesh of the Lord, counting beads, confessing their sins to men professing themselves to be the only conduit to the Most High. I have offered the truth to them, and they have refused to believe, to believe in the truths of the Scriptures, that all they must do is believe.
They will, in all probability, die in their sins, and stand before the Lord Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne of Judgment and receive the recompense of their works, works they believed were necessary because what Christ accomplished on the cross they did not see as sufficient for the salvation of their soul.
Satan does not care if someone goes to hell or not, he does not rule there, he cares only that the name of the Almighty is besmirched, that the Lord Jesus Christ is not lifted up, but denigrated, and those who believe that more must be done by them, that the blood our Savior shed was not enough for our salvation, is one of his greatest achievements.
The paltry temptations we fall, no, jump into, the flesh that assails us, the momentary loss of assurance all who have been born-again experience, these are nothing compared to the denial of this one singular truth, that all we must do is believe.
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23)
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” (Eph. 2:8)
But they add works nevertheless.
Anyone who believes they must be baptized to be saved is not saved. Anyone who believes they must perform some work, some deed to be born-again is saying that what the Lord Jesus Christ did was not enough, that when He said, “It is finished” That He was lying, and that the Father will not accept His Son’s atoning blood until it is sprinkled with some of their own.
All who believe these lies will die in their sins.
“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25)
And they are the creature they serve.
Abraham sacrificed his son, in his mind Isaac was as good as dead, his work did not save him, he had believed on the Lord long before that, it was only proof of that belief.
Christ alone.
