John 6:27-29, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
Thousands of people had followed Jesus for free food, having just witnessed the feeding of the 5,000 hungry people with a little boy's lunch. The blessed Savior rebuked the crowd for laboring for the meat which perishes (spoils). Instead, Jesus (always being soulwinning conscious, as we should be too) told the people that they should labor for the meat which lasts forever, which only Jesus can give someone. So the people naturally asked Jesus the $64,000 question: “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” The Lord's answer was as profound as it was simple: “believe on him...” (John 6:29b).
Dear reader, God's way of salvation is for you to BELIEVE ON JESUS! What must you believe? The Bible tells us:
1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
There you have it, THE GOSPEL (meaning, “GOOD NEWS”):
- Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
- He was buried.
- Christ resurrected from the dead the third day.
One of my favorite passage of Scripture is Galatians 3:2, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” What does that mean? Well, when a person gets saved, God immediately gives His Holy Spirit to live inside (indwell) that person's body, soul and spirit forever. Romans 8:99, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” The Apostle Paul is asking the Galatian churches how they got saved? Was it by keeping the law (works)? Or was it by the hearing of faith. That is, when you hear the Gospel preached, you simply put your faith (confidence) in it.
Paul wanted to know how they received God's indwelling Holy Spirit. 1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” I know I am saved because the Word of God says I am. I know I am saved because I have God's Holy Spirit living inside me. A person is saved the moment of belief, yet they have not lived one second of eternal life yet. Romans 8:16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”
I know I am saved because the Holy Spirit bears witness with my spirit in accordance with the written promises of God's Word. I have obeyed the Gospel by trusting in Christ alone because of who He is (the Christ, the only begotten Son of God), and what He did for me (He died on the cross, was buried and bodily raised up the third day), and why He did it (because we are all guilty sinners and the wages of sin is death in Hell forever). I am saved by grace through faith alone—apart from all self-righteous works, repentance from sin, water baptism, church membership, public confession, running the race, persevering in holiness, exchanging all that I am for all that Christ is, forsaking the world, turning away from sinful bad habits, et cetera. If you add any of those things to the Gospel, you don't get grace!!!
In Galatians 3:2, the Apostle Paul wanted to know how they got saved. Was it by trying to keep the works of the law and merit their way to Heaven? Of was it by simply believing the Good News of Jesus crucified, buried and risen, which Paul had preached unto them. Dear friend, beware of all these false prophets today who add repentance of sin to faith. All that God requires to receive eternal life is that you BELIEVE ON JESUS. What saith the Scripture? John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” The Bible is so simple! God's beautiful plan of salvation is so simple, free and easy!
The Holy Spirit wants us to believe what is WRITTEN in the Word of God, not feel saved based upon a chill or a thrill. 1st John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” All God wants you to do to have eternal life is to BELIEVE His record in the Word of God that Jesus did it all for you on the cross. Simply BELIEVE that Jesus did it for you!!! John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” Simply BELIEVE on the only begotten (biological) Son of God.
The website of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) errantly teaches that to be saved a person must turn away from sin with all their heart. Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980) used to use similar words, but he clearly explained what he meant:
“Dear sinner, do not make this a difficult matter. There is one simple step between you and Jesus. When you trust Him, everything else is settled, and you have repented, you have come to Christ, you have received Him, you have done everything necessary to be saved.” —Dr. John R. Rice, a quote from his tract titled: “What Must I Do To Be Saved?”
Please don't miss what Dr. Rice said! The person who believes has repented. Repentance and faith are not two steps to be saved, they are two parts of ONE STEP! Repentance is a change of mind, period. I am sick and tired of incompetent preachers embellishing the meaning of repentance, perverting it. For example: The official doctrine of Campus Church's Foundations Class for all new church members at Pensacola Christian College errantly teaches:
Screenshot of Heresy Displayed at 'Campus Church' on July 14, 2021
Dear friend, the Biblical meaning of repent (Greek noun: metanoia) is “a change of mind.” It does not mean, as PCC falsely teaches to its thousands of victimized students, that “repentance is a change of mind which results in a change of behavior.” Get thee behind me Satan! Sadly, when I kindly contacted Pastor Jeff Redlin about this heresy on July 15, 2021, he defended their heresy and refused to heed my Biblical warning. I came to Campus Church in a spirit of love and friendship, but was met with hatred by Jeff Redlin for my website ministry, contempt for me as a human being in need of love and guidance, and his arrogance as a snobby highly overpaid pastor of a cult. Any so-called church that perverts the meaning of repentance has corrupted God's grace and is a religious cult.
Listen, you cannot receive God's indwelling Holy Spirit through believing wrong! Anything that adds behavioral modification before, during or after the gift of salvation is another gospel (Galatians 1:6-9; 3:1-3; 5:4; 6:7). It is no light matter to pervert the grace of God. Getting saved is a legal matter of justification in God's sight. It has absolutely nothing to do with the way you choose to live thereafter. The way we choose to live as God's child is strictly a matter of sanctification, discipleship and service; and not of salvation, justification and sonship.
I love what Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan said:
“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)
Amen and amen! John Bunyan nailed what is wrong with the Lordship Salvation crowd today, who combine and confuse sanctification with justification, and in so doing corrupt the Word of God and cast stumblingblocks before the people. That is the woeful sin of the Bob Jones University cult today, and false prophets like Marty Herron, Steve Pettit, Gary Walton, Charles Phelps, John MacArthur, Paul Washer, Ray Comfort, Beth Moore, Billy Graham, Franklin Graham and countless more evildoers. These wicked false prophets damn souls to the Lake of Fire with a counterfeit plan of salvation which cannot produce the new birth. Jesus warned in John 3:3b, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus warned in Matthew 7:13-14 that there is a highway which leadeth to Hell, which many people are traveling. Jesus said that the way unto life is narrow, and the gate is strait, and only a few people will ever find it. The Savior tells us the reason why in Matthew 7:15, because of FALSE PROPHETS! Most people are going to miss Heaven and spend eternity burning in the fires of Hell, because they believed a false prophet instead of the written Word of God. Dear friend, if you want eternal life, you must get it God's way. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” Again and again in the Holy Scriptures we are told that we are saved by GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!
Folks, what does repenting and turning away from your sin have to do with God's righteousness which is BY FAITH? That's right, absolutely nothing!!! Nowhere in the inspired King James Bible does it say to repent “of your sin.” If a man is not saved by good works, then you cannot use good works as evidence that you are saved. Think about that. If good works prove that a man is saved, then why wouldn't a lost man who does good works also be saved? So we must have some evidence that is incontrovertible that we are saved, and that evidence is the written Word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit who bears witness with our spirit that we are saved, because we obeyed the Gospel. The lost person does not have God's Spirit indwelling them, nor can they understand spiritual things (1st Corinthians 2:14-16).
God made His plan of salvation very simple. You are a guilty sinner, and so am I (Romans 3:23). Jesus is the blessed Savior who paid our debt of sin with His precious blood (1st Peter 1:18-19). To go to Heaven, we must be sinless! That means we need someone else to pay our way, which is what Christ did on the cross. The moment that you put your confidence in Jesus, accepting His sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, believing that He raised up from the dead the third day, you are eternally saved. You are now a redeemed and adopted child of God by faith. John 1:12-13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
David J. Stewart, 2017
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