Salvation By Self Effort Or Salvation By The Saviour?

Don't assume you're religion will make you right with God.

 

**Look at what the world's religions teach and then compare that to the truth.

 

**REMEMBER TRUTH is NOT "relative". Therefore all religions do not lead to God:

 

The Major Monotheistic Religions Teach Salvation By Works As Proven By Their OWN Writings

Catechism [Official Teachings] of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC)

Para 977: "Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that we too might walk in newness of life."

Para 1821: "In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end" and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ" [Notice the emphasis is on YOU and how YOU must "perservere to the end" through endless cycle of rituals].

The above teachings go against Jesus and His Word in Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Romans 3:28, 4:3-5 among other verses

Para 845: "The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is "the world reconciled... Outside the Church there is no salvation". This teaching contradicts Romans 5:10, 2nd Corinthians 5:18-19, Colossians 1:20 as according to the Bible salvation is in the Person of Jesus Christ, nowhere else.

Islam: Quotes from the "Holy" Quran (Koran)

"To those who believe and do deeds of righteousness hath Allah promised forgiveness and a great reward" (Surah 5:9).

"Then those whose balance (of good deeds ) is heavy, they will be successful. But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls; in hell will they abide," (Surah 23:102-103). [Again, notice how it emphasises what YOU have to do in order to earn your own salvation].

The above teachings contradict Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Romans 3:28, 4:3-5 among other verses

Sura 5:54 ""O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors."

Surah 4:80 says, "Allah welcomes two men with a smile. One of whom kills the other and both of them enter Paradise. One fights in Allah's cause and gets killed."

Sura 9:111 says "God hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods. For theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise). They fight in His cause, and slay and are slain." [Notice in Surah 4:80 and 9:111 emphasizes that Islam's god explains the jihad works YOU must wage in order to obtain heaven].

Mormonism: Quotes from the Book of Mormon

"For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do," (2 Nephi 25:23). Again The above teachings contradict Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Romans 3:28, 4:3-5 among other verses

**Also in the back of one of the pamphlets Mormon missionaries pass out under the "list of terms" section it defines baptism as "an essential step in receiving forgiveness of sins".

Jehovah's Witness (JW's): Quotes from their Watchtower Magazine (Feb 15 1983 pgs 12-13/Feb 15, 1997 pgs 18-22)

There are 4 requirements to salvation according to them. 1) Taking in knowledge of God by studying the Bible, 2) Obeying God's laws 3) have respect for life and blood and 4) loyalty in serving Jehovah with the JW's.

**Some of these requirements are admirable things like having respect for life, obeying the commandments and doing good deeds.

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** But notice the pattern here: all these religions and all religions put the focus on what man does rather than what God the Son DID! Mixing God's grace and works ulitmately still comes down to what man has to do! These religious teachings appear to be seem right and appear to be harmless but they are SUBTELY teaching salvation by "self" rather than a total reliance on the Saviour Jesus Christ.

If you read Matthew 7:22-23 the MAIN REASON why Jesus turns away those that call Him "Lord, Lord" was because they were telling Jesus all the works that they had done and never once gave Jesus the credit for what He alone had done for them on the cross. They said proudly "Lord, Lord look at what I HAVE DONE" and never said "Lord, Lord thank you for what YOU ALONE have done for me on the cross to save me from the penalty of my sins".

It is clear that if God were to ask these kind of people: "why should I let you into my heaven?" They would probably say "because Lord I'm a good person, I did this and I did that". So it was clear that these religious people (though they called Jesus their "Lord") were trusting in their own "goodness" their "own self" and their "own works" to save them, rather than trusting Christ and the work He accomplished on the cross.

People are in bondage to these false religions because of two main reasons. 1) They use the name of Jesus and 2) fear - they smother people with rituals and dogmas making people believe the lie that unless they're associated with or unless they depend on that particular religion or organization and keep working for their salvation they'll never go to heaven.

If people cared enough to study the Bible and knew it's Truth to be sure all false religions would be out of business!

The question for you to seriously ponder: Are you depending on your "self" to take you to heaven when you die, or are you trusting totally in the Saviour Jesus Christ and His finished work?

It's one or the other, it can not be both. Choose carefully. But remember when a person decides to depend on their own "goodness" to get them to heaven then they are indeed rejecting Jesus and what He's done for them to secure their salvation.

** Illustration: If you wanted someone over for dinner who's never been to your house would you make the directions easy or difficult? Easy of course. So if God wants you to spend eternity with Him in heaven when you die (and He does) do you think He'll make the directions easy or difficult? Easy of course!

Let's face it, religions make it difficult, Christ makes it simple.

Religions say "do", salvation says "done" and Christ did it. Salvation is what Christ did FOR YOU, not what you do for yourself.

**YOU CAN BE 100% sure TODAY that when you die you WILL go to heaven:

If you repent (turn from) your life of sin, and trust that Jesus (as fully God and fully man) died on the cross and rose again for you, God will save you RIGHT HERE and NOW.

If you say something like this to God in prayer with a sincere heart He will hear you:

"Dear God I have sinned against you. I'm sorry for my sin. I believe you sent Jesus Christ your Son to die on the cross and rise again from the grave for my sins. I accept your forgiveness and receive Jesus as my personal Saviour. Take me to heaven when I die but until then help me to make you Lord over every area of my life. Thank you God for saving me today in Jesus name Amen"

If you just asked the Lord to save you, that's great news! Please contact me I'd like to be a blessing to you any way I can.

Just some food for thought. Think about it.

- Jay

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