If serving others is an inevitable side effect of being “Saved”, why do some non-believers have this same “side effect” but are still labeled as “unsaved” and therefore “can be sure” they will not go to heaven?
Let us continue with the discussion we started on Saturday in
https://jelillie.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/you-can-be-sure-pt-4/ . I want to answer the second half of this question by explaining what makes a person “saved”. It is not works of righteousness or service. Paul the Apostle makes that clear in writing to the Ephesians: “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. ” Eph. 2:8,9 NLT
Paul indicates that what makes a man saved is God’s grace applied to our lives when we believe. Salvation is a cooperation between man and God. God’s part is to save and man’s part is to trust God to save. In that God can do all God’s part (grace) but if a man does not cooperate and do the man’s part (trust) then he cannot be saved. So what keeps an unbeliever from being saved is his unbelief.
Let me qualify this one step further by saying just having faith in faith is no more effective than being faithless. Faith is only as strong as the object it is placed in. So faith placed in Buddha cannot get a person to Heaven because Buddha cannot grant grace to forgive sin. Only Jesus has that power!
For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:11,12 NLT
If you have never believed Jesus to save you pray with me now: Dear Lord Jesus I recognize I have sinned and so I cannot save myself. But you can save me. Jesus please forgive my sin and show me your grace. I trust you with my life and my future. A-men!
Reinventing the We'll 