What you do matters
Let me show you something.
Scripture says:
You must be one of the victorious to not be harmed by the second death.
You will discover who they are as you take a look at the other promises unique to the victorious (one who conquers, one who overcomes):
"To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God." Revelation 2:7b
"All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine." Revelation 3:5
"All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name." Revelation 3:12
"Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne." Revelation 3:21
So who are the victorious?
"To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,
To them I will give authority over all the nations." Revelation 2:26
"They will have the same authority I received from my Father..." Revelation 2:28a
So who are the victorious?
Those who obey him to the very end.
That's how much what you do matters.
Once we believe, we're given instruction how to never fall away so we can be given grand entrance into the Kingdom
In 2 Peter 1, written to those who already believe, "who share the same precious faith we have" (verse 1), we are instructed (verse 10-11):
"So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Or as the NET translation states (vs 11) "For thus an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be richly provided for you." "Do those things" refers back to verse 5 and you will read it in the next section. For now, I just wanted you to see for yourself that falling away is possible and we are told to "prove" that we really are among those God has called and chosen.
We are also warned about false teaching that distorts God’s grace and still leads to condemnation in the book of Jude. I've heard this same teaching from some pulpits today--that it doesn't matter what you do because God's grace allows for immoral living. It reads:
“Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jude 3-4
The truth has been made known to us that we're not allowed to live immoral lives. Sin is our enemy and works to bring about our destruction. You can see how important it is to inform our decisions with the truth. This is true even of our inner thoughts.
"But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:28
"we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ."" 2 Corinthians 10:5b
Our deeds and decisions demonstrate our obedience to Christ. You can see here that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven: “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’" Matthew 7:21-23
These that were denied entrance were still practicing sin. We see this warning again in 1 John:
"Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness. And you know that Jesus was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: Everyone who does not practice righteousness—the one who does not love his fellow Christian—is not of God."
1 John 3:4-10 NET
We are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone:
"Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone." James 2:21-24 (For those unfamiliar with this story from Genesis 22, Abraham's faith was tested and God ensured that Isaac was unharmed).
So can we qualify for heaven by our good deeds?
As you will see, we are not forgiven because we've earned it through righteous deeds.
Romans 3:10-12 exposes our condition:
"As the Scriptures say,
“No one is righteous—
not even one.
No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.”"
What we consider good deeds is still tainted by our sin. Isaiah 64:6 says,
"We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
and our sins sweep us away like the wind."
We are saved by grace, free and undeserved and not good works. Romans 11:5-6 says, "...for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved."
We are saved unto good works, not by them:
"He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."
Ephesians 2:8-10
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." 1 Peter 2:24a-b
Galations 2:21 states "For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die." Also "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it." Ephesians 2:7-9
God's gift of righteousness is free. We did not earn it. Christ made a way to free us from the power of sin for all who would receive him and his shed blood as a sacrifice for our sins. For Jesus to lay down his divine rights and put on flesh in order to shed his blood and suffer excruciating death by crucifixion on our behalf is a good indicator that it was absolutely necessary for us to be saved and reconciled to God.
He also did not abolish the law rather he accomplished their purpose, or as the ESV translation states it, he fulfilled them. Jesus explains this, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven." Matthew 5:17-19
Luke 16:16 explains, “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned."
God's law is still righteous and we uphold it
"Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law." Romans 3:31 NLT
The ESV translation may help to have fuller understanding:
"Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law." Romans 3:31 ESV
But as you will see, we are released from it. Keeping it is not how we are made right with God.
So, to be clear, how are we made right with God? We are justified (rendered righteous) by His grace through faith:
"being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Romans 3:24-26
His appeasing sacrifice put an end to the guilt we incurred and we receive this justification by faith.
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Romans 10:4 (Notice this is not for everyone, but everyone who believes). And, "But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit." Romans 7:6 In fact, we are cautioned against trying to make ourselves right by the law in Galations 5:4, "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."
You may be asking, huh? The law taught people what was sinful, but love IS the summation of the law. When we love, we are not doing wrong to others and so fulfill the requirements of God's law:
"For the commandments say, 'You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.' These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law." Romans 13:9-10
The apostle Paul describes, "But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ" 1 Corinthians 9:21c
Remember this verse? Look closely. What it's saying is central:
"The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit." Romans 8:3-4
Observe again the freedom Christ grants us through his sacrifice:
Please also observe that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for those who no longer follow their sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. It does not say it applies to those who still follow their sinful nature. From this position of freedom, we must choose to follow the Spirit.
"Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living." Romans 6:15-18
This is not just us being do-gooders.
This is us being set free;
from the requirement of the law
from the curse
from the power of sin.
"Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies." Hebrews 10:26-27
"Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."
Romans 6:16
We are either slaves to sin which leads to death, or obedient to God and slaves to righteous living. We could not have escaped the power of sin in our lives apart from Christ, but now we are free to choose righteousness.
"Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy." Romans 6:19
So you can see that our choice to be slaves to righteous living will make us become holy. This is what Christ set us free to do! We are being "conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29). In Christ, we "have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it." Colossians 3:10
"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom." Romans 6:20-21
Did you notice that doing what is not right ends in eternal doom? Sin causes eternal doom, so it's truly our enemy. The passage continues:
"But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life." Romans 6:22
Through Christ, God sets you free from sin, enables you to obey him and do what is right which leads to holiness and results in eternal life.
Do you see what I see? That salvation is not merely saying a sinner's prayer, acknowledging God's existence or attending church, but becoming holy through obedience to God that results in eternal life?
"Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life."
Romans 6:22b
Jesus underscores this in John 12:50, "And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.”
It's easy to mistakenly identify our greatest need as happiness because life hurts without it. But you've now
seen for yourself that in order to take hold of eternal happiness our greatest need is holiness.
What Christ did for us so we could be free from sin to follow his commands and have eternal life was done freely, "For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23. Jesus provided the means for us to live in obedience just as he did. Sin is our enemy and scripture warns that it is still a threat if we return to it.
In a shocking discussion with his own disciples in a house in Capernaum, Jesus warns that sin is such a threat that drastic measures should be taken to avoid it. These are believers being warned that hell is a risk:
"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’" Mark 9:43-48
You read the warning. Returning to the bondage of sin will still result in being thrown into hell.
That is where sin takes us. You are seeing for yourself that the scriptures plainly teach this. "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die." The passage this comes from will be examined more closely on the next page, but I will introduce it now, phrased in a more idiomatic/literal translation versus a paraphrase. The message is the same, but sometimes it helps to read it stated more than one way. "So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live." Romans 8:12-13 NET
As Romans 6:19 said, "Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy."
In Matthew 10, Jesus had called together his twelve disciples and one of the instructions he gave them was
“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.
Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
Scripture warns us about the devil.
But God, we are told to fear
and to "fear only God"
If we grasp this truth
It's purifying
and helps us flee from sin
"Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain;
it offers escape from the snares of death." Proverbs 14:27
The gospel message makes us aware of our sinful condition, made known through God's law, so that we can be aware that sin is what Jesus is saving us from. 1 Peter 1:13-19 explains:
"So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”"
"And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God."
So how do you "instead follow the Spirit"(Romans 8:4), and "do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life" (Romans 6:22)? And what happens if you sin?