As the old song goes, “Work your fingers to the bone and what do you get?
Boney fingers.”
The cult of Romanism teaches that works are how a person is saved, Mormonism teaches that “as God was, man is now,” Muslims believe in the teachings of Allah, Buddhist in Buddha, Norsemen in Valhalla, voodoo in Haiti, some in Japan believe they will come back as a cricket. How do I know all this? By years of intensive and in-depth studying, pouring over everything I could find on these religious cults, all based in some type of a works related system to attain that which they profess as truth?
No.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matt. 5:6)
If you want to know how people think, you need to talk to people, to question them about what they believe and why, and sooner or later you will find there are only two types of people on this planet, the saved and the wicked. You may count a third group in there if you like, the lost, but the Lord said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10) and I believe that He will find every one of them, so that leaves once again only those two groups.
The wicked will die in their sins, and when they each individually give their account, every one of them will profess some work that they believe will earn them a reprieve from hell where they have been for so long, that He will forgive them. But He will not. So, I ask you this question today, as I have before, what have you prepared to say to the Lord Jesus Christ when you meet Him, and I will place this with it, where are you planning on meeting Him?
Do you have a list of deeds you have done, all prepared to show Him, about how you were an ardent church attendee, how you gave money to the poor, when you were baptized, how you prayed, fasted, followed the law as best you could? If so, a few moments reprieve from the torments of hell is the best you will obtain before that angel comes over to you and picks you up.
Another line from a very old song, “Nothing in my hands I bring, only to thy cross I cling.”
Do you know that many times you can know you are speaking to a born-again believer? They will say they are unprofitable, they were useless to the Kingdom, all their efforts availed nothing, they have failed at every task that was set before them. “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” (Matt. 23:12) They are not attempting to be humble; they are truly worms in their own eyes. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13)
Not one single work will avail you anything my friends, not following the Ten Commandments, not trying to be good enough, not denying yourself pleasures or inflicting hardships upon yourself.
“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)
That’s it, nothing more.
The works will then be done through you, not by you. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Most people will find this truth in a very hot place, with at least a thousand years to ponder them, envisioning every possible excuse imaginable.
