I have met many people, who are members of some of the well known Cults (Roman Catholics, JW’s, Seventh Day Adventists, Church of Christ members, Mormons, etc.) who will “profess” that Jesus Christ is their “savior” – but always with a “caveat” (always with some ADDITIONAL “factor” – WHICH ALWAYS ADDS UP TO “WORKS”).

Many people today “profess” that Jesus Christ is their “savior”; but - if they are laboring under the delusion that they must DO “something” (some sort of “WORKS”) in order to KEEP their salvation they are TAKING AWAY from the “FINISHED WORK” of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary and ADDING to the Gospel of the Grace of God!

When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke the words “It Is FINISHED” [John 19:30] - you can bet your soul that there is NOTHING that we can DO to ADD to that “FINISHED WORK”! The Lord Jesus Christ did NOT die and shed His blood just for the sins that I committed BEFORE I believed on Him and received Him as my Saviour!

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. {ALL OF THEM!}

PROPITIATION, n. propisia'shon.

1. The act of appeasing wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious.

2. In theology, the atonement or atoning sacrifice offered to God to assuage his wrath and render him propitious to sinners. Christ is the propitiation for the sins of men. Rom.3. 1 John 2.

PROPI'TIATE, v.t. L. propitio; pio. Eng. pity.

To conciliate; to appease one offended and render him favorable; to make propitious.

If Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary is not sufficient for all of my sins (past, present, & future), WHO or WHAT is going to be the “PROPITIATION” for those sins that I have committed since I was saved back in October 1958? It is FOLLY to think or believe that we can possibly “appease” God with our own “WORKS”! It didn’t work for Cain and it will NOT work for anyone else who thinks or believes that God will be satisfied with something other than the Lord Jesus Christ’s perfect sacrifice on Calvary!

Christ did not just die for our past sins – He died for ALL of our sins: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” [1 John 2:2] To think or believe otherwise is to ADD to the “FINISHED WORK” of Christ and to CHANGE the Gospel of the Grace of God! The Apostle Paul had NOTHING “GOOD” to say about those who CHANGE or PERVERT the Gospel OF Christ – and neither should we!

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

What’s the difference between someone “thinking” or “believing” that they can DO “something” to EARN God’s salvation, and someone “thinking” or “believing” that they must DO “something” to KEEP it?

When someone (it matters not as to who) believes that they can DO “something” (“works”) in order to EARN their salvation they are pitting their “righteousness” against the “righteousness” of God [Romans 3:21-23; 1Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9]. When someone (it matters not as to who) believes (as most Catholics do) that they must DO “something” (i.e. “works”) in order to “help” God out, in “some way”, to either EARN their salvation or KEEP it, they are casting doubt on the efficacy (i.e. effectiveness) of Christ’s “FINISHED WORK” on Calvary - whether they are aware of it or not! When someone (it matters not as to who) professes that Christ is their “savior”, but “thinks” or “believes” that they must still DO “something” (i.e. “works”) in order to KEEP their salvation they are calling into question - the capacity of God’s Grace to SAVE to the uttermost, and the power of God to KEEP His saints. They certainly are NOT TRUSTING in the “FINISHED WORK” OF CHRIST for their salvation - whether they are aware of it or not!

Please think about this: Most Roman Catholics “believe” that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin; that He performed many miracles; that He is the Son of God; that He is the Second Member of the “Trinity” (i.e. the “Godhead”); that He died, and was buried, and rose again from the dead – so what’s “the problem”? The “problem” is: Most Roman Catholics do NOT believe that that our salvation is solely a “gift” from God - without any of our WORKS attached to it [Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:15; 6:23]. They do NOT believe IN Christ’s “FINISHED WORK” on Calvary (i.e. they do NOT believe that Christ “earned” our salvation - all by Himself). They do NOT believe that God’s salvation is COMPLETE (in and of itself). They do NOT believe ON Christ’s ability to KEEP His “sheep” (In other words, they do NOT TRUST Him to KEEP His promises concerning ETERNAL LIFE – i.e. His “GIFT” to those who have believed ON Him).

[John 10:27-28; Romans 5:21; 6:23; Titus 1:1-3; Titus 3:4-7; 1John 2:25; 5:11-13]

They do NOT believe that once a person has believed in or upon the Lord Jesus Christ and has received Him as their Saviour, that they are “born again” of God [John 3:5-8]; and that they “become the sons of God” [John 1:12-13], and “saints, and of the household of God” [Ephesians 2:18-22]; and that once they are “born again” that they are in the Father’s & in the Son’s Hands [John 10:27-29] and are “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” [Ephesians 1:12-14; 4:30] – with absolutely no possibility of losing their ETERNAL LIFE (i.e. SALVATION) or their “sonship”.

WHY would a person, who “professes” to believe in Christ as their Saviour, ever cast doubt on Almighty God’s ability to KEEP His saints? WHY would they ever think or believe that we could lose our salvation? Or be cast into “outer darkness”? Or be cast “into Hell”? WHAT would lead a “Christian” to think or believe such a fantastic LIE? I can think of only one “thing” that would lead any one, who “professes” to be a Christian, to think or believe such a thing, and it is called “SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS”! Only a “self-righteous” person would dare to “think” or “believe” that they can actually DO “something” to either EARN God’s Salvation or KEEP IT!

Imagine: A genuine born again child of God “thinking” or “believing” that their righteousness can “measure up” to God’s righteousness [Isaiah 64:6]! Or that there is “something” that they can DO that can ADD to the “FINISHED WORK” of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary - i.e. some “work” that they can perform in order to KEEP their “salvation”: a “salvation” which the Lord Jesus Christ EARNED (all by Himself) and which is a “FREE GIFT” [Romans 5:15-16,18] from God (but only to those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and have received Him as their personal Saviour).

[Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.]

Imagine: A genuine born again child of God “thinking” or “believing” that there is “something” that they can DO to SECURE “their salvation” – when it is “God’s Salvation” to begin with!

Those “Christians” who “think” or “believe” that there is “something” they can ADD to the “FINISHED WORK” of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary, or who “think” or “believe” that there is “something” that they can DO to “help God out” - in order to KEEP their salvation are laboring under a Satanic delusion! It’s God’s “Salvation” – NOT ours! CHRIST EARNED IT! And there is NOTHING that any one can DO to RECEIVE God’s Salvation - other than to BELIEVE ON GOD’S SON (THE LORD JESUS CHRIST); and there is NOTHING anyone (who has received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour) can DO (as born again sons of God) to KEEP God’s Salvation! And to “think” or “believe” otherwise is the height of personal pride and self-righteousness!

I can not get into an in depth exposition (at this time) on the issues of Biblical “justification” (how we are “justified” in God’s eyes); Biblical “sanctification” (how we are “sanctified” in God’s eyes); or Biblical “righteousness” (how we become “righteous” in God’s eyes); other than to say that the issue of “God’s Salvation” includes the study (and understanding) of these Scriptural “precepts” and much more. Getting saved is EASY – Understanding God’s Salvation takes personal study, meditation, prayer, and the Holy Spirit of God revealing the truth of God in these matters to the individual believer, as He “sees fit”.

If a Christian wants to know God’s mind on these issues I recommend spending several months in reading and studying the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, along with his Epistle to the Galatians as a companion Book. The “Gospel of the Grace of God” is fully explained in these two Books - far better than I could ever hope to explain it. It is impossible for me to “give” another person “understanding” in these matters!

I am just a simple Bible believer, but this much I do know:

I am “justified” freely by God’s Grace and by Christ’s FINISHED WORK on Calvary

Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

I am “sanctified” in Christ Jesus by Christ’s FINISHED WORK on Calvary

1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 1:2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

I have been made “righteous” by (through) Christ’s FINISHED WORK on Calvary

Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

In October 1958 (after reading the Holy Bible and hearing the Gospel of the Grace of God) I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection on my behalf; and I trusted in His “FINISHED WORK” on Calvary for my salvation; and received Him as my personal Saviour. Having lived as a Christian for over 51 years now - this much I know: If our “salvation” is not all of "GRACE" - we are all doomed! {GRACE = God's Riches At Christ's Expense.} I am “JUSTIFIED” because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s “FINISHED WORK” on Calvary - NOT because of anything I have DONE or am DOING! I am “JUSTIFIED” in God’s eyes {Just As If I Never Sinned} because of what my Lord and Saviour did on Calvary. I have believed on (trusted) the Lord Jesus Christ’s ability to not only “SAVE” me from my past sins, present sins, and future sins; I am also convinced that he is able to “KEEP” me until the day of redemption. I am not so “foolish” as to “think” or “believe” that I could possibly “KEEP” myself – having lived so long as a Christian, I KNOW BETTER!

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As a Bible believing born again Christian I am TRUSTING IN the Lord Jesus Christ's "FINISHED WORK" on Calvary on my behalf, and I am:

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." [Hebrews 12:2]