For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Isn’t it funny how there are basically two kinds of religions in the world? There are those religions of works, which are false religions. And then there is religion by faith, which is true religion. Those are the only two categories: works-based religion and faith-based religion.
Now, a religion of works says do. It tells you that if you accomplish XYZ in your life, you’ve done well. If you haven’t, then you’ve done badly. That’s how works-based religion determines the success of the follower.
But the faith-based religion, the religion of Christ (which is not a religion but a relationship) has already been done. It takes into account the fact that God is so holy and man is so sinful that there’s no amount of good works we can do to even come close to success. That’s why Jesus came – to live the life we couldn’t and give us His righteousness as He took away our sin.
When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” He said, “Done!” The work of salvation has been accomplished. And because of His faithful obedience which took Him to the cross, you can now have life in His name by placing your faith in Him!
that is awesome, Pastor! Thank you for sharing the Truth!
Tim: While your words are true, they don’t make sense, when you consider that “religion” is a term, suited to man-made beliefs and not the God-given Savior, Christ the Lord.
I’ve argued this point with many unsaved members of society and they all but DEMAND Christianity is the same as Islam, when you and i know that Islam is a cult.
One woman, who continually demands that she has no interest in heaven, hell, death, etc. will, in the same breath, demand that Christ is no different from Buddha. The argument begins when I demand that THE DIFFERENCE is the fact that Buddha’s remains are in his tomb and the tomb of Christ is empty…FOR HE HAS RISEN…JUST LIKE HE SAID!
A few years ago, I visited a chat room and, as often happened, back then, someone came in, demanding that the Holy Bible is nothing more than “hearsay,’ handed down from generation to generation.
Realizing that his intention was to pull baby Christians away, I took him on. I asked what he thinks of the empty tomb and he, quickly, demanded that he believes the disciples stole the body of Christ, so they could deceive people into believing He had risen from His tomb.
My next statement drove the poor sap out of the room: “Congratulations. You have just quoted from the very Book, you’ve said is nothing more than hearsay, handed down from generation to generation.”
I will tell you, though, it exasperates me, when people demand that what they think is true, regardless of how easily their “belief” is proven wrong. Their unteachable spirit is a turn off!