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 Saved
By Faith, But Not By Faith Only Author Unknown
One must believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, in order
to be saved from his sins. The Bible says: "For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Jesus
died for our sins, but unless we believe in Him, we cannot be saved.
Jesus told the Jews "...if you do not believe that I am He, you will
die in your sins" (John 8:24). When Jesus gave the Great Commission,
He commanded: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who
does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15,16).
How can one believe? Some teach that faith is a gift of God, which
is put in the sinner's heart by a miracle. But the Bible teaches:
"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans
10:17). Paul shows how faith comes when he says: "For whoever calls
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on
Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher?" (Romans 10:13,14). It is necessary for the gospel of
Christ to be preached so that sinners can believe and be saved.
Where the gospel has not gone, people have not heard, and no one has
been saved. This is the reason we must preach the gospel to every
person, in every nation, in the whole world (Matthew 28:19, 20; Mark
16:15,16; Luke 24:46, 47).
What does it mean to believe? Some teach that one is saved by faith
alone without any further acts of obedience. Is this true according
to the teaching of the Bible? Mark tells of Jesus preaching in a
house in Capernaum when so many gathered around that there was no
room for any more. Four men had a friend who was paralyzed. They
wanted Jesus to heal him, but they could not get through the crowd.
They went up on the roof of the house. They made a hole and let down
the bed on which their friend lay. The Bible says, "Jesus saw their
faith" (Mark 2:1-5). How did He see their faith? It was by their
actions. True faith can be seen by the works it produces.
James discusses the kind of faith which saves. He says, "...faith
without works is dead" (James 2:20). He also says that "a man is
justified by works, and not by faith only" (James 2:24). He
concludes his discussion by writing: "For as the body without the
spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).
Those who teach sinners are saved by faith only often use the
conversion of the Philippian jailer to prove their doctrine (Acts
16:16-40). Paul and Silas were preaching in Philippi. They cast an
evil spirit out of a slave girl. Her masters had used the demon
possessed girl to make money by telling people's fortunes. When they
saw their way of making money was gone, they falsely accused Paul
and Silas. The two preachers were beaten and thrown into prison.
That night, God sent an earthquake which freed the prisoners. The
keeper of the prison thought they had escaped. He was going to kill
himself, but Paul said: "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here."
The man fell down before Paul and Silas and said: "Sirs, what must I
do to be saved?" Paul replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you will be saved, you and your household.” Those who teach
sinners are saved by belief only stop at this point. But the
inspired Word tells more. The jailer was told to believe, but we
have already learned that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the
word of God.” Paul and Silas “spoke the word of the Lord to him and
to all who were in his house." He could not believe until he had
been taught. The preachers not only taught the jailer, but "all who
were in his house." This means all his family were old enough to
hear the gospel and understand it. There were no babies or small
children who were too young to understand. Please notice verse 33:
"And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their
stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized." What
hour of the night was it? It was at midnight when the earthquake
came (v. 25).
Let us sum up how the Philippian jailer and his family were saved:
(1) He asked, "What must I do?"
(2) He was told to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ;"
(3) Paul and Silas preached the Word to him and his family so that
they could believe,
(4) He washed the stripes he had inflicted on Paul and Silas the
previous day. This shows he had repented;
(5) He and his family were all baptized.
Did the Philippian jailer think it was important that he be
baptized? Obviously he did, for he did not even wait until the next
morning. As soon as he knew he was lost and learned about the
Saviour, he believed, repented, and was baptized. That is the way
sinners are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. It is not by belief
alone! Sinners are saved by faith which obeys. Paul described to the
Galatian Christians the kind of faith we must have in order to
please God: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love"
(Galatians 5:6).
Have you been saved from your sins? If not, you can be saved today.
Believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son who died to save
you. Repent of your sins. Confess your faith in Christ. Be buried
with Christ in baptism so that your sins will be washed away. Then
serve Christ faithfully all the days of your life. You can die with
a sure hope of going to Heaven (Acts 16:31; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:37;
Romans 6:3-5; Revelation 2:10). ~
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 The
Nature of the New Testament Church
By Ben Bailey
Two thousand years after the institution of the Lord’s church, the
ideal pattern for the New Testament church has almost become lost.
In a world where an individual can find a denomination that believes
and practices almost anything, it has become increasingly difficult
to identify the New Testament church. However, simple laws of logic
and reasoning tell us that a thing will be made according to its
kind. In Genesis chapter one the phrase “according to its kind” or a
similar statement occurs 18 times. By using this phrase, God is
trying to tell us that a creation naturally follows its pattern. For
example, birds are not created from monkeys and giraffes do not
follow the pattern of a whale. Each creation follows and represents
its maker’s pattern. This lesson is extremely important when it
comes to the nature and pattern of the New Testament church. When we
look to the Bible as the blueprint for the church, we can tell if a
church is the church of the New Testament. To identify the Lord’s
church in the midst of all this denominational chaos, we must first
identify what the church is not.
Not A Building.
The Church of Christ is not composed of walls, ceilings, and pews.
The bold martyr Stephen proclaimed, “God does not dwell in temples
made with hands…” (Acts 7:48-50). Even during the time of the
Israelites God did not want his people to trust in the temple. In
Jeremiah, the people were crying out “The temple of the Lord, The
temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord” (Jer. 7:4). Yet, their
trust in the building did not save them from the impending
Babylonian exile (Jer. 25:9-12). Buildings burn, temples fall, yet
the church of the living God will stand forever because it is
comprised of individuals. The church of Christ in the New Testament
is made up of people, not 2 X 4’s (1 Cor. 12:27). May we never let
our sanctuary become our cemetery. The Church of Christ is not a
building.
Not a Denomination.
The word denomination by its very definition is in direct
contradiction with the New Testament pattern. Denomination means to
call by or name something after another. In the New Testament, the
idea of naming the church after a person other than Christ is
strongly condemned. Paul said to the Corinthians, “Now I plead with
you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all
speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but
that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the
same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). In this context, Paul is dealing with
the root problem of denominationalism. Some were saying, “I am of
Paul, or I am Apollos, or I am of
Cephas” (1 Cor. 1:12). Paul points out that denomination is division
by asking them, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or,
were you baptized in the name of Paul” (1 Cor. 1:13)? For anyone who
desires to have a church named after them, Paul sets down two simple
criteria. First, one must be crucified as a sinless sacrifice for
his followers. No person on earth today can serve as a sinless
sacrifice (Heb. 10:12,Rom. 3:23). Second, the leader of any group
must have the God-given authority to command baptism in his name. In
the New Testament there is no authority for baptizing into any man’s
name, except Christ (Matt. 28:18-20). Therefore, denominationalism
violates the pattern of the New Testament church. The Church of
Christ is not a denomination.
Not a Social Club.
To many people, the church is nothing more than a glorified social
club. It is a place to dress exquisitely for and be seen rubbing
elbows with the elite of society. For some, going to church is
nothing more than a good public relations move. It is very
interesting to note just how faithful candidates for political
office become around election time. The Jews had the mindset that
their religion could be used for social purposes, but Jesus strongly
rebuked them. Jesus condemned the Jews because they wore elaborate
clothing, loved the best seats, and the cleric title “rabbi” (Matt.
23:1-12). This same rebuke is true to those today who want to make
the church into nothing more than a modern day civic club. To
understand that the church is not a social club, we need to realize
that we are not the center of worship. God is the center of our
worship and we must make him the focus of our worship services, not
ourselves (Jn. 4:24).
Not an Afterthought.
With the recent rise in premillenial fiction books such as “Left
Behind” and others, the church is being looked at more as an
afterthought, than an original plan. Many in the premillenial camp
believe that God planned to set up a 1000 year reign on earth, but
His plan was thwarted and the
church was created as an afterthought until the original plan could
be set up. While this may be an attractive view to many, the
Bible teaches the church has always been God’s original plan. Paul
said God was making his power known to princes and principalities
through the church, which was “according to the eternal purpose”
(Eph. 3:10-11). This passage clearly teaches that the church has
been in the mind and plan of God from all eternity. The church is
much more than an afterthought. It is the forethought and divine
plan of God that will last until Christ comes to receive it unto
Himself (1 Cor. 15:24, Matt. 16:18-19).
The church of Christ was never meant to be a club for the elite of
society and it definitely was not a quick fix in the mess-up of
God’s plans. Is the church that you are going to more of a social
club than a place of worship to God? Does the church you attend
focus its religion around the building more than the people? If so,
then it is high time to return to the pattern of the New Testament
Church. ~ |