by: John Mitchell
Many people believe that if we read a few selected, out of context, scriptures, from the book of Romans, that our eternal salvation is guaranteed to us. One of the “Roman Road to Salvation” scriptures, is Romans 10:9 & 10. “that 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. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” This belief in the “Roman Road to Salvation” is also known as the “Once saved, always saved” belief. It’s an easy wide road. Just say you believe in God, and ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and your place in heaven is reserved for you, and waiting for your arrival. This is false doctrine. Just to believe in God, and that Jesus rose from the dead, is not the only requirement needed for us to be able to receive salvation. James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble.” No where in the Bible does it say, that if one time in your life, you speak a statement of faith and belief in Jesus, your salvation is guaranteed. The Bible does tell us that we need to, “…work out your salvation with fear and trembling;” (Philippians 2:12). Salvation comes from our daily loving and obeying God, by doing what the Bible scriptures tell us to do, every day, until the last day of our life here on earth. James 1:22 tells us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Also, Matthew 10:22, and Matthew 24:13, and Mark 13:13, all three say, “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” To daily follow and obey God, involves daily studying the scriptures, to learn what God wants us to do every day of our life. It gives us a good and happy feeling inside, when we pick out a few favorite scriptures that show that God loves all of us. By doing this we are creating a “Happy Gospel” for ourselves. Happy, but a false gospel. It is true that God loves all of us, and that God wants all of us to be saved, but that is only part of the truth. God is also a just and righteous God. “Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God:” (Romans 11:22) God has a plan for our salvation, that we are commanded to follow, to be able to receive the salvation that He has prepared for all of us. An important part of that plan is that we repent of our sins. Many people will not repent of their sins. In Matthew 22:14, Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus tells us, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in through it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Please don’t misunderstand me about this. Being a Christian, and being obedient and faithful to God, doesn’t mean that a dark cloud is over our head everywhere we go. Or that our facial expression always looks like we just ate a pickle. NO! NO! NO! Being a Christian is wonderful! We have happiness and joy, and peace that the world can’t give us. Philippians 4:7 says, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” And yes, there are also duties and responsibilities to being a Christian. One of these duties is to obey God’s commandments to us. In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus was asked, “What is the great commandment”? Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets.” You may think that having to obey commandments is restrictive, and limiting. Yes, it is, in a positive way. Think about what is involved in the full scope of obeying these two commandments. If we truly love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, then everything we do will be pleasing to God. Because of God’s love for us, being obedient to Him provides for us, the best life for us here on earth, and then happiness with God in heaven for eternity. Obeying God restricts us from sin, and limits us from having to endure the consequences of sin. Obeying the second commandment helps us in two ways. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” First, if we love our neighbor, we will not do anything against, or harmful to our neighbor. We will not lie to, steal from, or murder, our neighbor. That restricts and limits us from sinning, and saves us from the consequences of sin. Second, the “as yourself.” part. If we love ourself, we are not going to do anything to harm ourself. We will take good care of ourselves, in a reasonable and prudent way. This will help us to have a healthier life here on earth, and help us to be better able to obey and serve God, in all that He has for us to do. If we just pick out happy Bible verses, to tape on our refrigerator door, then we won’t know all that God’s inspired scriptures tell us to do. Think about this situation. On the phone a man asks his girlfriend to marry him. She tells him there is something bothering her about their relationship, and she needs some time to think about it. He says to her, “When you have thought about it, and made your decision, then phone me so we can talk about it.” Two days later he gets a letter from her in the mail. He is angry because she mailed a letter, and did not phone him. Page one of the letter reads, “At this time my answer to your marriage proposal is no. On the second page I have explained my reason for saying no.” In disappointment, and in anger, he does not even look at page two. He tears up the letter and throws it into the trash. Page two was, “There is a little small thing that you do, that kind of gets on my nerves sometimes. I know it is a very small matter, but because I love you so much, I don’t want there to be any problems between us. I want us to have a wonderful and happy marriage together. So, if you still want to marry me, please phone me soon, so we can solve this and get married.” Because he did not read all of her letter to him, he never phoned her anymore. WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW CAN HURT YOU!!! If you only read small parts of the Bible scriptures, and never read all of the Bible scriptures, and never study the Bible scriptures, you will never know about all the good that God has for you. And you will never know all of what you need to do, to be able to receive all that God wants you to have. WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW WILL HURT YOU!!! So much of our life is conditional. We receive a driver’s license, if we pass a driving test. Our driver’s license guarantees us the right to drive, IF, and ONLY IF, we obey all of the traffic rules, laws, and regulations. We will receive salvation, IF, and ONLY IF, we love God, and daily submit to His will for us, to the last day of our life here on earth.