Salvation & Works: How They Go Together

I have a Facebook group that I run as part of this same outreach, L.A.C.E.

In some of the components to this ministry, the L stands for "living," like this blog. But in other cases, like the Facebook group, it stands for Ladies.

Anyways, in the group we are becoming more active with the members by having a weekly schedule that we will follow and one of the days, Wednesday, is the Bible Study day! So sometime before Wednesday there will be a poll posted with a few different topics that can be voted on for the study. This week, 'Salvation & Works: How They Go Together' was the winner!

I stayed up all night working on this study, and it ended up being 3 pages long. So bare with me, I promise it will be worth it, as this blog post is just going to be that same study that I put together for the group on this topic.

Since this was originally created as a study, there are questioned throughout the post that are designed to help you reflect on the word and look to the bible to understand what is being explained in this study!

So let’s get started!

Salvation and works is something that is commonly misconstrued within the church, people have so many misconceptions about “what can ‘save’ you” and the majority of the time, that’s how false religions start. They teach that doing this plus this can lead you into heaven, when the gospel says something different. So it’s important to start off with the simple statement; works cannot save you.

Question 1: How does the Bible say that we receive salvation?

My favorite verse to use when explaining how we are saved and why works don’t save us is Ephesians 2:8-9; which says, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And it is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.’

I love this verse because of the ending, “so that no one may boast.” How many people do you know that will give you the line, “but I am a good person?” I know for me personally, so many people, on so many occasions have rejected the gospel because they think their morals are enough, their own ‘good’ deeds are enough. So they refuse to submit to God because they believe they can do it themselves.

Which brings us to my next favorite verse Isaiah 64:6 – We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

Even the most righteous of deeds is filthy to God without faith in Jesus Christ!

Question 2: Before you became saved were you that person who thought they were ‘good enough?’

I know I was! At least I thought I was good enough of a person that if I died I would go to heaven, but when I actually took a real, hard look at my life, I was nowhere near good enough and once the gospel was shared with me, it was clear that Jesus is the only one who could ever be enough.

Question 3: So if even our most righteous deeds aren’t good enough to save us and we know that we are all sinful by nature then what can we do?

The answer is simply believe, have faith and trust in the sacrifice of Christ. That is what is so good about our God! He loves us enough that even though we are sinful, He still sent His one and only Son to be the perfect sacrifice to save us. Jesus came and lived the perfect life, that we are incapable of living. Died the perfect death, bearing all of our sins. So that we, sinful humans who don’t even deserve it, can spend eternity with the Father in Heaven! Praise God!

If you still want to argue that there is some sort of work that can be done on your part to satisfy your salvation, then you are quite literally taking the stance that Jesus died in vain and His death on the cross was not enough for you.

Question 4: Even after you were forgiven, when you first put your faith in Christ, did you have a hard time forgiving yourself for your past sins?

This is something that I did personally struggle with for a few months after giving my life to Christ. There were things in my past that I just could not understand how I could ever deserve forgiveness for them. The key to moving past that was realizing that I didn’t actually deserve it, but He forgave me anyways. This is called grace.

Grace is the key to all of this. We live in the age of grace. Jesus shows us grace and mercy every day, every time we sin, every time we fall short of glory; we get another chance, and another, and another. So long as your lungs have air, you have the chance to accept Jesus as your Savior and be granted salvation. NO MATTER what kind of life you were living before, NO MATTER what sins you carry with you.

Now that we have that covered and have an understanding of salvation, knowing that our works cannot grant salvation, because we are in the age of grace and Jesus did the ultimate work on the cross; the question that usually follows is related to the verse James 2:26. Which says, ‘As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.’

5. So if the bible says that faith without works is dead then why does it also say our works can’t save us?

As someone who has heard the gospel and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, you know that when you did this and you put your faith in Jesus, you became a new creation in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 – ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!”

So if you really truly accepted Jesus and you are now born again then you are a new creation in Christ. You are now living like Christ because Christ lives in you.
This absolutely does not mean that you are now perfect and sinless. Your soul is still connected to your sinful flesh until you are united with Jesus is heaven, but it does mean that now you have a third part. There was your flesh and your soul. Now there is your flesh, your soul, and the Holy Spirit now also dwells in you.

This is why your faith without the works is dead! You cannot stop the Holy Spirit from doing work in you. Can you suppress it by being tempted by your flesh and falling into that temptation, therefore not listening to the Holy Spirit but rather doing what you selfishly desire? Yes! But you cannot rid yourself of the Holy Spirit altogether if you truly possess it.

So as you learn and grow in Christ, fellowship with other believers, read the word, attend church, etc. you will start to feel that conviction from the Holy Spirit. Your deeds or your works will start to emulate Christ because the Holy Spirit will draw you closer to Him!

True, real, raw faith in Christ = the desire to be holy as the Holy Spirit leads you. Holy means to be set apart, which is exactly what we are called to do. Be set apart from the world.

Question 6: Do you agree with the following statement? If you are striving to be holy, then you will find true happiness in Christ. If you are striving to be happy, then you will be more easily tempted to follow your flesh to find happiness.

Question 7: What did you take away from this study?