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These are not required to inherit eternal life
1) Go to church. Read the Bible. Pray.
2) Stop sin. Give money to the church. Do good works.
3) Cease having all fun. Look, act, and become religious. Act legalistically. Become a religious rule keeper. Judging others by the law and ourselves by grace. Judge and condemn ourselves when we fail. Abandon our friends and family and only hang out with Christians. Add our works to what Jesus finished on the cross.
In the three points, I have listed, none are requirements to acquire or maintain salvation.
However, those listed under point one are offered for the believer’s great benefit. We live in a fallen world that does not want us to trust Jesus and believe the gospel. This world will do all it can to steal and destroy our faith. If we read the Bible, go to church, call out to God in prayer, our minds will be renewed, and we will be greatly encouraged in our faith. These are all tools God has given us to protect us from the enemy. I highly recommend all three. As believers, we are all called to build up and encourage each other’s faith in God’s promises. That is what our faith is all about, God promises, and we believe His promise.
Under point two, there is only one sin that God requires us to stop, and that is the sin of unbelief. We do that when we repent and believe the gospel. In doing so, we change our mind from unbelief to belief in Jesus as the Savior of the world. Therefore, this sin of unbelief is dealt with in our life.
Stopping sin in thought, word, and deed completely is impossible, and God has not made this a requirement. But we must understand, we inherited a very deceptive fallen sin nature that still dwells in the flesh of every born-again believer. It is our choice if we walk in that fallen nature or in the new creation God has made us. God is very clear that He is not counting the sins of the believer in the New Covenant, but when we sin, there are consequences in this world. Our sin usually hurts others and always affects us. If a believer falls deeply into sin, there is a much greater chance that they will one day deny the faith. Sin is like playing with fire and we do not want to do it for our own good.
While God has not made stopping all sin a requirement to be saved, it is not His desire for us to walk in sin. The only thing that fulfills all of God’s laws is love. God wants us to walk in love. The Spirit of all of God’s laws is love; this tells us that His law was given to us because God loves us and our life will go much better in this world if we take His advice. God's law is designed to protect us from each other and to show us our need for the Savior.
That said, I do not know of any believers that are looking for a path into sin. But I know plenty who are looking for a way to get out of sin they are caught up in. Sin entices us like a shiney fishing lure does a fish, but it always has a hook to trap us. You may want to ask yourself how well your sins have served you? My guess is that the answer is very poorly. Thankfully, once we place our faith and trust in Christ, things will change, and the luster of sin will lose its appeal as the Holy Spirit works on us from the inside out. We can help Him by renewing our mind through the points listed in number one.
When it comes to giving money to the church. If we decide to give, God wants us to do so joyfully. He does not want us to give out of shame, guilt or complusion. I encourage you to seek God on this matter. A building is not the church, each believer is the church and we gather together in a building at times. This is a place of great encouragement for our faith and renewal for our mind. Without each other, the message and our faith would die.
The Bible does not contradict itself and is very clear, Christians are saved by faith through grace and not by works, so no man can boast. We do good works because our salvation is guaranteed, not to guarantee our salvation. Good works are a fruit of a Christians salvation, not a root.
Good works display our faith to the world, apart from good works done in the name of Christ, no one can see our faith. This is the kind of faith James calls dead. Dead in the sense that it cannot lead anyone to a saving knowledge of Christ. God calls believers to be a light on a hill so all will glorify Him. The light on the hill is generated by a combination of our faith and good works as the body of Christ displays the kindness of God through good works that lead people to repent (change mind) and believe the gospel. So, you can see why good works are a great thing. As believers, we should do all the good works we can because the love of Christ compels us.
Under point three, not only are these not required; they are things we do not want to do.
The only requirement to inherit eternal life is to believe in (trust in, have faith in, rely upon) the one God has sent. This is a promise from Jesus himself.
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:29 NAS
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16 NAS
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40 NAS
Jesus did not withhold information when He made us these promises. There are no other requirements! A person is born again in Christ, in the Spirit, when they place their faith in Christ.
Have you done that?
Why do we need Jesus?
A day is coming when God will judge the world in righteousness. God is the only one who can make a person right with Himself, free from all condemnation and judgment for our sins. God wants justice for you. The justice He seeks is that you be made right with Him in Christ. His desire is that none perish but that all come to a saving knowledge of Christ. He wants to make you right with Him, and the only door is through Jesus. He calls all to repent (change mind) from unbelief to belief in Jesus and the gospel, so they will be certainly saved.
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent (change mind from unbelief to belief), because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 30-31 NAS (emphasis mine)
Don’t let the enemies lies that you need to become a religious rule keeper prevent you from the saving grace of Christ. Jesus came to save the world from the condemnation that we are under apart from Him. Place your faith and trust in Jesus today, even if you have no plans to change a thing in your life. Then the things God wants to improve in your life will happen from the inside out.
Don’t know how to place your faith in Christ? Go here, and we will help you: https://faithwritersjesuspage.weebly.com/.
Many more New Covenant Bible Studies HERE. Jesus poured out His blood for the New Covenant of grace and truth, replacing the Old Covenant law of Moses. Believers are exclusively under the New Covenant, the last will and testament of Jesus that began after the cross.
And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Luke 22:20
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