There is something of a mystery woven throughout the Bible.
Salvation is a free gift to all that believe, Abraham’s seed is to be as many as the stars above, and in Revelation we are shown an innumerable multitude from all nations and tongues who rejoice before the Lord.
And yet Jesus warns us in the gospels that strait is the way and narrow is the gate leading unto life, and few there be that find it.
How can both be true?
To understand we have to view humanity through the eyes of God as given to us in the Bible and lay aside our own understanding, which is prone to bias and respect of persons.
If salvation required membership to a certain tribe or ethnicity, then few would be saved. If it required sinless perfection in our day-to-day lives, none would be saved.
In both the Old and New Testaments there are numerous examples of people putting faith in the wrong things. Take the rich man in Luke 16, who declares that he is a son of Abraham, but burns in hell nonetheless.
II Peter 2:1-2 warns us that there will be false teachers among New Testament churches, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. And many shall follow their pernicious ways rather than the Lord.
Therefore, we cannot trust our church attendance, our denomination, or religious leaders invoking the name of Christ to save us. We must have our own personal faith in Jesus alone.
The works and rituals of organized religion give us structure and discipline, which can have a positive effect in our lives. But this is not what saves us. The Catholic or Orthodox church cannot claim to be the gatekeepers to heaven any more than the Israelites, Mormons, or anyone else.
What does the Lord require? His will for his saints is consistent from Genesis to Revelation.
Paul writes “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions”
Galatians 3:19.
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
Hosea 6:6
I’m not advocating that we eschew going to church. I am merely reminding you with all humility and gentleness that the hour cometh, “and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” John 4:23
There is no evidence in scripture that true worshippers belong to any one denomination or sect. The true worshippers, the saints, are those that have believed in the Lord and are regenerated by the power of His blood.
But there is a preponderance of scriptures where the Lord rebukes false prophets who lead His sheep astray. Jesus tells us to beware the leaven of the Pharisees. There are so many that will come in a form of godliness but deny the power thereof, i.e. the power of the blood. These people were never born again into the kingdom of God. Alas.
The Bible says that faith without works is dead, but it also says that without faith it is impossible to please Him. Therefore, you must believe the true Gospel, that salvation is a free gift obtained by faith and not of works (lest any man should boast), before anything that you do in your life can be rewarded at the judgement seat of Christ.
“Religion” i.e. works, cannot impute righteousness. Only the blood can do that. It is God’s righteousness that we must obtain to be saved, not our own.
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