Jesus' Cross, Plus Nothing!

                              Jesus' Cross, Plus Nothing!

#Jesus  #theCross
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The grace of God is hard to believe and accept. We've been taught all our lives that to get anything, or get anywhere in this world, you have to work for it, earn it. So God's grace seems too simple, too easy, even incredible. Yet we freely walk on the Creators' ground, breath his air, enjoy the beauties of his creation without earning it, or even saying thank You. Still we wonder, how can God offer us a beautiful wonderful trouble free Heaven and we not do something--not even a little thing--to earn it? Consider answers to the two following questions. And thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

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Why Can't We Add Our Good Deeds to Christ's Cross? 
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1. Jesus said, "It is finished" ( John 19:30). The Lord's work in His death completely paid for all our sins past, present, and future. The Greek word translated finished was used when anyone finished paying off a dept and meant "paid in full". Jesus died before we were born to pay for all our sins. He further confirmed this when he said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believed Him who sent Me has eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (John. 5:24). Jesus assured every believer they have eternal life at the moment of belief (not at death), and they can't be condemned no matter what happens. This leaves no possible room for doubt that faith is the only requirement. Salvation is sole faith, sole grace.

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2. Jesus told the thief on the cross next to him, "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42-43). This thief admitted he was a sinner and looking to Jesus in faith was given assurance of Paradise. There is no way he could do anything more than believe. He could not get baptized, or do some good deed of any kind. Those who object that it was the dispensation of law and not the church age that came at Pentecost miss the point. Faith as revealed in the one true God saves in every age from righteous Able until today (Hebrews 11). 

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3. The Bible says salvation is God's gift freely received through faith. "By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast"  (Ephesians 2:8-9). We must receive salvation as a gift. It is not of our doing, not our good deeds. If we had even the slightest part in it we could brag that God couldn't do it without me doing my part. So as a gift, all credit goes to the giver. The receiver can only reach out his hand in acceptance. Again we read in Titus 3:5, "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us".  Further, Romans 4:4-5 says good works are wages not a gift. It's trusting God that justifies the wicked and is counted as righteousness. Romans 6:23 assures us "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." And Romans 11:6 declares that works would cancel grace and no longer be by faith. If righteousness comes through the law (keeping rules), then Christ died in vain (Gal.2:21). Could anything be clearer? Faith in Christ alone saves. But once saved, good works do follow and are rewarded on earth and in Heaven.
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Initial faith in the Savior is what saves us, or makes us right with God. Then we can gain God's perspective and power to perform deeds acceptable to the Lord. Don't be misled by passages that speak of our being rewarded for good deeds--they are fruits of the Christian life, but the foundation is our original faith in Christ (1 Cor. 3:9-14). Further, we must continue to submit to God in faith and patience for the Holy Spirit to direct us to do His good works and not fall away into the error of legalism. We can make up a set of rules but can't live by them--who can even keep New Years resolutions? The Galatians did this and were condemned at the Jerusalem council (Gal. 3:2-5; Acts 15:22-29). If our good deeds were the final say, Jesus could never be our Savior. And, we could never know if we did enough, or did the right things to earn Heaven.
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4. God's apostle Paul declares the gospel by which we are saved, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4). If doing something for God other than believing in Christ was necessary, he surely misled everyone not mentioning it.

5. The Bible repeatedly says everyone who believes in Jesus is justified."Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts  16:31). Faith and justification occur at the same moment neither prior to the other. Otherwise, someone could have saving faith but not be saved, or be saved without having saving faith. So many Bible passages say whoever believes will be saved (John 1:12; 3:16; 18; 36; 5:24, 40; Acts 13:39; Romans 1:17; 3:22; 36; 4:3, 5; 5:1. Faith is turning to God in Christ while repentance is acknowledging sin is what keeps us from God. If our doing good works is ultimately what saves us, then surely it would never have been omitted in so many passages.
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6.  Peter, like Paul and John, taught faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus alone was what saves sinners.  Peter said Jesus "bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness"  (1 Pet. 2:24). He said, "Christ also suffered once for sins the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18). "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). If salvation ultimately depends upon our good deeds, shouldn't it have been explained to those wanting to be saved? 
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And yes, God has elected all believers. If you have any doubts whether you are elect, just get down on your knees and say: Lord, I'm an unacceptable sinner before You a perfect God, and unfit for Your perfect Heaven. You promised me that if I believe in the Savior as a sinner that I will be saved. Lord, I now trust You to save me, count me righteous in Christ, and guide me through the rest of my life. Thank You, Lord. Woo pie!

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7. Bible gives examples of persons who were saved by faith in Christ alone. To the Ethiopian, Phillip preached Jesus, and when he asked to be baptized, he was told he could if he believed with all his heart in Jesus  (Acts 8:35-37). When the Philippine jailer asked what he must do to be saved, Paul said, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved"(Acts 16:25-34). He believed and later was baptized. The Lord opened Lydia's heart when Paul preached the gospel before she was baptized (Acts 16:14-15). Cornelius was saved receiving the Holy Spirit when he believed, then afterward was baptized (Acts 10:43-47).

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What Good Deeds Do People Want to Add to Jesus' Cross?
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You must live a moral life. Yes, we should live a perfect life, but nobody can or has but Jesus. We loose God's joy, peace, security, heavenly rewards, and are subject to our Father's discipline when we don't. Thank God we don't have to depend on our goodness, but on Christ's righteousness credited to our account. Rather than keeping rules, we need to focus on our love-trust relationship with Him. We're not robots and a God of love won't force us to do what's right. Our sinful tendency, shows us we constantly need to turn to Him who still loves us.

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You must obey God's commandments in the Bible. Yes, but again we can't, and most of us scarcely know what they are. The golden rule of love God and man with all our being will guide us in most cases. It's the love-trust relationship and humble repentance that keeps us in focus with God's will, not keeping rules we imperfect humans can't keep very long.

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You must join a Christian church. Yes, that's important too. We need encouragement from other like believers and they need our support as well. But some places and conditions we can't be with others of like faith to worship together. And some congregations don't believe and teach God's Word. We must be sure that our name is written in God's Lamb Book of Life (Revelation 20:11-15).

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You must be baptized. Yes, but as we've shown above salvation can't be what we do that saves us. Admittedly, there are some passages which have been taken to teach this. But the Bible isn't  contradictory when we understand it correctly. Paul thanked God he baptized only a few as God sent him not to baptize, but to preach the gospel (Cor. 1:17). The church's greatest missionary could hardly say this if baptism was so essential.  Peter taught a good conscience toward God comes only through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:21). Water baptism can't achieve that at any age, and can  be best explained as an outward symbol, confession, or testimony of God's inner work of grace similar to the wedding ring on a person's hand.

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Everyone and anyone who trusts Jesus to save them  a sinner will immediately be forgiven, cleansed, adopted as a child of God, and be admitted into God's kingdom, with the righteousness of Christ. The Christian life is to be a positive love-trust relationship with the Lord that results in loving obedience and God's glory. It is not keeping a set of rules in the hope we have done enough to be accepted with God. Christian growth is a process, a step at a time in faith and love. God prosper you in growth. Share this, the opportunity for life everlasting, with others.
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