Your Good Works Cannot Save You

You attend the church mass,
You pray everyday,
You help those who are in need,
You serve in your community,
You religiously follow the church doctrines,
You obey God's laws, and
You did all the good deeds you can think of.

You feel pretty great about yourself. Certainly, you believe that on the day of judgment, God will weigh up all your good works, forgive your sins because you've done good, save you from hell and open the gates to heaven. Are you sure you can be saved by doing good works? How certain are you?

If you believe this then THINK again! You are being deceived by evil and have been an unsuspecting victim of his lies because the Bible tells us that good works cannot save you.

Why Is It That Good Works Cannot Save You?

Suppose you prepare an egg omelet. The eggs you cracked were rotten but you don't want to throw them away. To save the rotten eggs, you added fresh eggs to eliminate the rottenness. By doing so, did it really eliminate the eggs' rottenness?
No, the rotten eggs were not made good - they remain rotten. They even ruined the goodness of the fresh eggs.

You can compare yourself and your good works to these eggs. We are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and because of our sins, we became rotten eggs. You don't want to be thrown away in hell so you do good works. Your good works are the good eggs. No matter how much good works you do, they do not eliminate your sins and make you righteous. You still remain a sinner and thus cannot enter the kingdom of God because of your sins. Your good works cannot save you because these good works are like filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6) for they are done by you to make you self-righteous.

Our good works have absolutely no effect on our salvation. Our good works cannot save us. If we could be saved by good works, then Christ died for nothing!

Salvation Is A Gift, Not A Reward

The Bible repeatedly says that we are saved by God's grace through faith and NEVER by good works. Here are some bible verses to guide you through:

Ephesians 2:8-9
⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

Romans 3:28
For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Galatians 2:16
know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Titus 3:5-8
⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

What Shall I Do To Be Saved?

The only way to be saved is to put your faith in the finished sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. You should declare with your mouth that “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:10)

Simple, isn't it? God is ever gentle and humble in heart and He will never heavily burden us. God's yoke is easy and His burden is light. (Matthew 11:30) God loves us so much that He gave His only son Jesus Christ that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. (John 3:16) Jesus died in our place at the Cross, bearing our sins and its penalties, and paid a mighty and dear price for us to be saved and have eternal life. Jesus carried all the burdens which are supposed to be ours so that the way to salvation would be simple and easy for us.

If Faith Is The Only Way to Salvation and Not Good Works, Shall I Stop Doing Good Works?

Not at all! Good works are fruits of our salvation. Once saved, we are changed and we will have a change of heart. We become a new creation and the old has gone (2 Corinthians 5:17). This means that our old sinful ways are gone or on their way out as we grow in Christ and struggle against sin. We do good works to honor God and not to be saved or stay saved. We naturally obey God's law and do good works because we are saved.

The Bible clearly states that "faith without works is dead." (James 2:17) If there is no action, it is not really faith but merely a statement, desire, or want. The only way we can show that we have faith is by our works. To be able to demonstrate our faith, and to earn rewards, we must have works.

Please note that James is saying this to all his brothers and sisters (Greek word: adelphoi) referring to all who believed in Jesus Christ, to all who are already saved, both men and women, as part of God's family. James teaches us how to truly live a Christian life to be able to receive rewards or blessings from heaven as a true Christian.

Faith and Deeds 

(James 2:14-26)

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that —and shudder.

²⁰ You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? ²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? ²⁶ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Salvation is "not of works". Works have no part in our salvation. Jesus Christ finished the work of salvation on the cross. We can be saved only by trusting His finished work on the Cross.

Why not trust Jesus Christ as your only hope of heaven? Why not believe God's Words and accept the free gift of salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ? As truth has been shown to you, will you still believe and follow the traditions that salvation must be earned through continual good works? This is a choice between God’s Words and traditions set by men. God has given you the freedom to choose. You cannot choose both because they disagree with each other. I pray that you make the right decision. Choose to serve Him and receive blessings, rewards, treasures in heaven, and profit for eternity.

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" (Deuteronomy 30:19)

	I want to receive the free gift of salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ
	I will continue to do good works so I can boast to God that I've been good so I must be saved

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