Rocky was swimming in a lake one afternoon. He became fatigued and began to drown. Bobbing in the water and crying out for help Joshua hears his cries as he is rowing near Rocky. Joshua rows over to Rocky and struggles to pull him into his boat. By now a crowd has gathered on the shore intently watching this situation unfold. As Joshua is rowing to the dock Rocky passes out. Another man, on the dock, pulls Rocky out of the little boat and administers CPR and Rocky appears to be fine. Rocky is shaken up but he will be OK. Shortly after it is all over Rocky walks over to the little boat, and holds the oar in the air and yells, "I love this oar. It saved me, and he kisses it several times."
This sounds absurd doesn't it? I mean, the oar played apart in his salvation that is clear. Without an oar Joshua could never have rowed Rocky to safety. The same could be said about the boat, Joshua, The dock, and the man on the dock. To say the alone saved Rocky is just ridiculous. All these things played a part in Rocky's salvation.
The Bible says several things save us as well. Belief or faith saves us. Jn 3:16,17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Repentance saves us. Acts 2:38-40 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.”
Confession saves us. Rom 10:9 if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved
Baptism saves us. Mk 16:16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Faithfulness saves us. Mt 24:13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. To "endure" means to hold fast to one's faith in Christ. See definition 2a.
To stand up and say, "Faith alone saves you." is as equally absurd to say as it was for Rocky to say the same thing. We must be living a lifestyle that fits in the Bible. If the way we life our lives cannot be found in the Bible; do we change our lives or the Bible?
The Bible lays out a plan of salvation for us to "be saved." It is not a buffet where we can pick and choose what to obey. To say, "I'll take faith and confession, but I'm not paying attention baptism and repentance" is living like Rocky swims. It leaves you sinking in life!
Have a red letter day,
Chad
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