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6 3. You have to do some sort of penance in order for God to receive you. 2. There are people who believe you have to go to church. 1. There are people who believe you just have to be a nice person, and being a nice person is all that God requires for your salvation. May I ask you something, my Friend, something personal? Did you find one of your favorites in that list? Well, I have bad news for you. Any work you do, anything you do, any act, any deed, anything accomplished by you is unacceptable to God for your salvation. Salvation is not something you do. It's something Jesus Christ already has done for you at Calvary. He died for you. He paid the penalty for your sin. And now to receive God's gift of salvation, you must believe that what Jesus did is all that God required and trust Jesus to be your Savior instead of yourself. What He did, instead of what you are currently doing. That's what the Bible says, Friends, and that's what the Bible means. Tami Weissert: You are listening to Back to the Bible with Bible Teacher Woodrow Kroll. Wood, I like the way that you have just explained "not of works." Basically, it's all about what Jesus did. It has absolutely nothing to do with anything that we do. If someone is listening today, and they have been relying on one of those top ten issues that you just mentioned, and they are realizing for the first time that they have never really put their faith in Jesus alone, would you talk to them right now? Woodrow Kroll: I would be happy to, Tami. The salvation that God provides for you isn't complicated, but it does require faith—faith in God providing salvation for you through Christ, and faith that He doesn't require you to do anything except trust Him. If you have never done that before, if you have never stopped trying to get good enough for God to receive you, stop trying to be what you think He wants you to be. If you have said, "You know what? I need to trust what Jesus did at Calvary to be all that God requires," I would like to pray for you. And if you haven't come to that place yet, I would also like to pray for you. Would you take just a minute and let me pray? Father, for those who are listening today and have been trying but they haven't been trusting, help them to see, Lord, that You don't ask them to do things to be saved. You ask them to believe that what Jesus did is all that You required. And if they are still struggling with this whole issue of faith, Lord, give them insight from Your Word that draws them to Yourself and 6
7 brings them to salvation. This is our prayer for them today, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. These are really power words, aren't they? They help us to understand that salvation is a package deal. Like buying a car, when we come to Jesus Christ as Savior, we get grace. We get faith. And verse 10 says we are His workmanship. That's the next power word. Poiema is the Greek word. It means "something that is created, or something that is made." We are God's workmanship. That's a part of the package, Friends. When you trust Jesus Christ as Savior, you become a work of God, and that's really a work of art. We did not create ourselves as a child of God. He created us. We are His piece of work, not ours. Since we are His piece of work, we're a real piece of work, divine work, eternal work, God work. Isn't it interesting? In verse 10 He says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works." The word "works" there is exactly the same word (ergon) as we found in verse 9. We are not saved by works, but we are saved by grace. But once we are saved, we are created in Christ Jesus. We are His workmanship so that we can work for Him. Now we've crossed over the hump in salvation. We're on the saved side of life. We're coming to salvation, coming to the cross of Christ. Works were not at all helpful to us. In fact, for most people they are a hindrance. Works could not help you become born again; only God can do that. That's what verses 8-9 are all about. But now that you have been saved, now that your are born again, born from above, now you and I are told by the same apostle who told us that works didn't contribute anything to our salvation to work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12). Working for God is important, but it's only important once we're saved. Working for God is useless until we are saved. Now that we're saved, now that we're born again, it's the work that God does through us that gives us purpose in life. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote from his prison cell that it was there, lying on that rotting prison straw, that for the first time in his life he understood that the purpose of life is not prosperity as they were made to believe. The purpose of life is the maturing of the human soul. Life becomes tragic, Friends, for those who have plenty to live on but not plenty to live for. 7
Page 1 and 2: Back to the Bible Radio Transcript
Page 3 and 4: 3 you can do so is because of God's
Page 5: 5 The next verse goes on to say tha
Page 9: 9 Tami Weissert: So that we're clea

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