We are continuing our study on the Great Bible Doctrines. Last time we looked at the doctrine of the Bible concerning the matter of God’s Grace and Atonement. We saw that according to Scripture, God has made complete and thorough provision for man’s salvation, that being through something that we call grace. A short definition is “God’s unmerited favor.” This is something that God gives freely to mankind, and mankind does not in any way merit God’s grace. This grace is implemented, or extended, as a part of God’s plan of salvation, which is accomplished with atonement. Atonement is the “covering over of sin,” the “reconciliation” between God and man, accomplished through the blood of Jesus Christ. In short, the price for sin was paid at Calvary and grace is God’s free gift.
But man has a part to play in salvation. Man’s salvation is conditional and it is made so by God Himself. It is not conditional because the “preacher said so,” nor is it conditional because the “church of Christ’s manual” says so. It is conditional because God Himself made it so. Therefore, because salvation is conditional, not everyone will be saved. Jesus Himself said, “Not everyone who says to me ’Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven” [Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ’Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the Will of My Father in heaven.”]. Rather, only those who do the commands and who meet the conditions will be saved. This goes back to man’s very nature.
What we’re going to be talking about tonight is something that every one of us here understands and accepts. But we are exceptions, rather than the rule, in this regard. First of all, we want to look at what the Bible has to say about this subject, and also consider the logic behind it, which is also a part of God’s Word.
I’ve heard the comment made from some people saying, “We can’t fully understand baptism.” “We can’t understand salvation.” I beg to differ with you! We can understand it! We can explain it because God has made that possible through His Word.
So this goes back to the very nature of man. Man is a creation of God, made in His image. The Bible tells us this in Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 and 27 [“Then God said, ’Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His Own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”]; Job 33, verse, 4 [“The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”]; Hebrews 2, verse 7 [“You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands.”], and in a number of other Scriptures.
So man is created by God, in the image of God. He was created in God’s image as an intelligent, as a moral, as an emotional man, and as a free personality. Man was given the freedom of choice. Man was created in such a way by God that the Eternal Son of God could become man, and within the human life, He could reveal the Glory of God. Think about that! We are going to talk a little bit more about the problem of sin and the imperfections of man, but God’s creation of man was perfect. It was complete, such that His Own Son could come. He didn’t come as an “alien being.” He didn’t come as a member of the animal kingdom. He didn’t come as an angel. He came as a man. Just as we are human, Christ in every way was human.
And so God’s creation—what we are—is not imperfect, but, rather, we make bad choices because of our PHYSICAL NATURE.
God made us in His image, but we are not God. Man is not God—God is not man. Man is different from God. That’s stating the obvious, isn’t it? Man does not possess the divine attributes of God. When we talked about the Bible Doctrine concerning God, we talked about those divine attributes: His omnipotence and His omnipresence. Man does not have those attributes. God is a Spirit with divine attributes. Man has a dual nature—being both flesh, or physical, as well as having a spirit. Man has a physical, fleshly body which houses, or tabernacles, his spiritual being.
Paul says that, “The first man was of the earth, made of dust,” 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 47. Now here he was referring specifically to Adam, but also referring to mankind, in general, because the rest of verse 47 speaks about the divine nature, or spiritual nature of Christ [“The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.”]. Man was formed from “the dust of the ground,” Genesis, chapter 2, verse 7 [“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”]. And when the spirit that animates our body—that gives us life, that breath of life, if you will, that comes from God—when that is gone, then this physical body, this earthly tabernacle will return to the dust. It will go back to the ground from which it came, Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 20 [“All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.”]
The Bible teaches that man’s body itself is not evil. We’ve already alluded to this. The physical body is not evil, because God made it. God didn’t make something that was evil. He didn’t make something that was imperfect. As a matter of fact, not only was the Son of God able to come in this physical form because of the way it was created, but we are also directed in the Bible to use our bodies to God’s glory, 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 19 and 20 [“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”] and Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 4 [“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”].
Man, in his body, was in a perfect, or a sinless, state before sin entered the world, Genesis, chapter 2, verse 25 [“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”]. We see there, in the beginning, that very close and intimate relationship that God had with man. But that was before sin came into the world. The “natural man” has a tendency to sin, Matthew 6, verses 23 and 23 [“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”].
Now, understand that there is a tendency—a propensity—to sin, but we have a choice in that matter. There are some that teach “original sin”—that we are all imbued [permeated] with the sin of Adam and Eve. They would say that even when a baby is born into the world, that baby has the “original sin.” That idea is foreign to the Scriptures. That is not at all what the Scriptures teach. Likewise, the Calvinistic doctrine says that because of man’s “physical nature,” man possesses a nature that automatically sins; that man has an involuntary reaction to sin, similar to blinking your eyes, or breathing; that sin comes as natural to man as those natural reflexes do. Once again, that is foreign to the Scriptures. We have a choice.
Now what Paul said is true, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23, but that is a choice which is made. If everyone we see around us, if everyone we’ve ever known or ever will know is subject to sin, if no one is without sin, as John writes in 1 John, chapter 1 [verse 8: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”], then how do we know we don’t inherit the original sin? How do we know that we aren’t subject to sin, just as automatically as breathing or blinking eyes?
The answer is “JESUS!” Jesus came in this fleshly tabernacle. He lived a perfect, sinless life. So if there was no other evidence or proof of what I’m speaking, Jesus stands as proof that it can be done: John 1, verse 14 [“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and Truth.”]; Hebrews 4, verse 15 [“For we do not have a High Priest Who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but [but we have a High Priest Who] was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”]. It was a possibility for Jesus to sin. He was tempted. The Hebrew writer says that He was tempted in all ways, just as we are tempted, “yet was without sin.”
Some would say, “Well, it was impossible for Him to Sin! He was divine, after all! He was God having come in the flesh.” But if it were true that it was impossible for Jesus to sin, then God is a liar. You see, Jesus had to be able to be tempted—He had to be able to commit sin. He had to be able to make that choice, just like you and me. Otherwise, He would not have been the perfect sacrifice. If God would not have allowed Him to sin, or because of His divine nature He was unable to sin, then He would not have been the perfect sacrifice. You see, God demanded a sacrifice—He demanded something that was equal to the sin of man.
So, we have a propensity—we have the ability to sin. But, we do not inherit original sin and we have a choice about whether we sin or do not sin. And this is man’s physical nature.
Now we’ll look at MAN’S SPIRITUAL NATURE.
Man was created with a spirit like that of God, Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27 [“Then God said, ’Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His Own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”].
We also have an eternal soul, Ecclesiastes 12, verse 7 [“Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God Who gave it.”].
Man was formed, or created, with an intelligent, or rational, spirit capable of using the freewill that God has given us, for good or for bad purposes. We sometimes hear it put in this fashion: We are free moral agents. We have the ability to choose what we will do, whether it is good or bad. Thus, man can make his own choices, but man remains accountable to God for those choices. Man remains answerable to God, Romans 14, verse 12 [“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”].
So man has a physical nature, with the possibility of sin, and a spiritual nature, that eternal soul which is accountable to God for the choices that we make.
Now what is the Bible’s TEACHING ON SIN?
In our study, we have previously identified sin as the need, or the reason that God provided His grace, and the reason He made the plan of salvation and implemented it with the blood of Christ.
What does the Bible say about sin? Well, it is sin, of course, that makes salvation necessary. Man was created in a state of innocence, Genesis 1, verse 31 [“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”]. At the conclusion of the creation, the record tells us that God looked at it all and declared it to be good. And so we know that what God made was perfect. It was right.
But sin entered into this perfect and innocent world when Adam and Eve choose to disobey God’s command not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Genesis 3, verses 1 through 24, and also Romans 5, and verse 12 [“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”].
Since that time, sin has been the constant nemesis, if you will, and has caused a chasm to exist between God and man. The words that we see in the Scriptures that refer to sin or have to do with sin are: sin itself, transgression, wickedness, and those sorts of things that we’ll talk about just for a moment. The Greek word that is translated into the English word for “sin” means “missing the mark,” or “a coming short of our true destiny.” Man’s goal is to be like God and to be in harmony with God. Sin is a failure to measure up to that expectation. It is the same idea of a marksman or archer who takes aim with his bow and arrow and has a goal—a target—that he is aiming for or shooting toward. But the arrow falls short—it doesn’t make it to that goal. So it is with sin. Our goal or target is to be like God—to live for God—to have a close and intimate fellowship with God. But because of sin, we fall short of that.
The Bible also tells us that sin is a transgression of God’s law. It’s an act of rebellion. It is a declaration of independence from God and His Will. We have laws in our land and if you break the law, you become a lawbreaker. In God’s economy of things, we have commands. We have God’s law. So when we break God’s law, we transgress the law of God. John refers to sin in that way in 1 John 3, verses 4 through 10. He speaks about sin being “lawlessness” [verse 4: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”].
Once again, sin is “a willful disobedience to God’s commands proceeding from distrust and leading to confusion and trouble.” That’s one man’s definition. Here’s another: “Sin is a corruption of the nature of man, so that, although by creation he was intended for fellowship with God and to reflect His nature, man is now not only unfit for fellowship apart from salvation, but without desire of it.”
Where does sin come from? Well, Jesus taught that sin originates in the heart of man, that is, in the mind of man, in man’s thinking, Matthew 5, 21 through 24 [“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ’You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ’Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ’You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”] and Mark 7, 20 through 23 [“And He said, ’What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.’”].
James tells us that sin comes when we are tempted. No, being tempted is not sin, but when we are tempted and then drawn away, James says, by our own lust, then that lust bears sin, James, chapter 1, 12 through 15 [“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ’I am tempted by God;’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”].
So sin is falling short of the mark; it is transgression; and it is lawlessness. It originates in the heart and mind of man. As Jesus said, it’s not what goes into a man, but what comes out of a man [Mark 7:20-23] And sin is brought on when one gives in to temptation.
So then, what are THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN?
Well, sin is repugnant to God and it grieves Him. I looked for a stronger word and there may be one, but “repugnant” is a very strong and descriptive word about the way God considers sin.
The Old Testament tells us that God cannot look upon evil, and cannot be in the presence of wickedness. [Genesis 6:6-7: “And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, ’I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’”; Deuteronomy 25:16: “For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.”; Also, Luke 16:15: “And He said to them, ’You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.’”]
So sin is totally and completely repugnant to God. God cannot—He will not—have anything to do with it, even to look upon it. And moreover, He is grieved by it.
Sin separates us from God, Isaiah 59, 1 and 2 [“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”]; as well as several other Scriptures: [Deuteronomy 31:17-18: “Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ’Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.”; Luke 13:27: “But He will say, ’I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’”; Romans 8:7: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”; Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”]. We spoke a moment ago about that chasm that sin has created between us and God. It is a chasm that we cannot breach or get across on our own.
So sin is repugnant to God, it grieves God, it separates us from God, and God punishes sin. We see this starting with Adam and Eve and going all the way through to the end of time. We won’t take the time to go back now, but in Genesis, chapter 2 and verse 17 [“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”], when God gave the instruction to Adam and Eve about what they were not to do, He included in that instruction that if they disobeyed, they would be punished.
And in Genesis, chapter 3, when they did become disobedient and committed the first sin, we see that God punished them [verse 17: “Then to Adam He said, ’Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it”: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.’”]. There was immediate punishment for the man and for the woman, and they were banished from that paradise that God had made.
Moreover, because of that disobedience, that first sit, physical death came into being, as well as the possibility of spiritual death. All of that emanated from that single transgression of God’s law. And the promise for eternal punishment, for everlasting death and separation from God is still a reality, Revelation 20, verse 10 [“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”].
Let’s look at MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD’S GRACE.
We’ve set up the scenario about the nature of man and how, that through that nature—the fact that we have a physical nature, we are subject to sin. We’ve looked at the repugnant nature of sin and how God will deal with sin. So what is our response—what is it that we should do? Man is helpless to help himself out of this situation. No amount of crying or pleading; no amount of good deeds or magnanimous gifts will suffice. Man needs God’s grace and he needs the atonement of Christ’s blood.
And although God’s grace has made full provision for the merit of salvation, man must respond to God’s grace in faithful obedience in order to avail himself of that salvation. God has given man conditions that must be met if the blood of Christ is to be applied. Throughout His dealings with man, God has made covenants. A covenant or agreement has two sides: God has his part; man has his part. God’s part of the covenant regarding salvation is grace. Man’s part of the covenant is obedience. So we are saved, according to James, by faith. Yes, by faith in God, but, not by faith alone. We are saved when the faith that we develop in God, and in what God requires of us, motivates us then to action—to be obedient. [Romans 1:5 [NIV] “Through Him and for His Name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith”; James 2:14-18: “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ’Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ’You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’”]
There are several things that must happen before God forgives sin and reconciles us to Himself. We commonly refer to this as the “Plan of Salvation.” We extended the invitation this evening [before our devotional period before this lesson began] and each of the five steps that must be accomplished was pointed out. There are some today who would discount those steps. There are some who even make fun of these steps. No doubt some of you can remember—I know I can—preachers holding up their hand, talking about the “five steps” of salvation as they pointed to each finger of a hand. There are some who make fun of that today. I recently read a publication that talked about how we are converted “to a person,” not to “a plan.” Well, that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But, you know, there IS “a plan!” There is a pattern! It cannot be overlooked or ignored. Yes, we’re converted to Christ, but what did Christ say we must do?
Well, here it is:
“Hear” the Word of God, Romans 10, verse 17 [“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”].
“Believe,” or the word “faith” could be substituted there, as well. Have faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and place full trust and confidence in Him, Mark 16, verses 15 and 16 [“And He said to them, ’Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’”].
“Repent” of all past sins in godly sorrow, and be determined to live the very best life that one can. Do everything we can to avoid sin—to not sin, Acts 2:38 [“Then Peter said to them, ’Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”]; Luke 13, verse 3 [“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”]; Romans 2, verse 4 [“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”]; 2 Corinthians 7:10 [“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”].
“Confess” with the mouth that Jesus is the Son of God. Confess our faith in Him, Romans 10, verses 9 and 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.”]; Acts 8:37 [“Then Philip said, ’If you believe with all your heart, you may.’
And he answered and said, ’I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’”]; Acts 22, verse 16 [“And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the Name of the Lord.”].
And then “be baptized.” Be immersed in water, thus baptized into Christ, inthe Name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, for the remission of sins, Matthew 28, 19 and 20 [“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”]; Mark 16, 15 and 16 [“And He said to them, ’Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’”]; Acts 2:38 [“Then Peter said to them, ’Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”]; Romans 6, 1 through 11 [verses 3 and 4: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”]; and Galatians 3, verse 27 [“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”].
Baptism is a physical burial in water and a spiritual burial into the death of Christ, Romans 6, verse 4 [“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”]; and Colossians 2, verse 12 [“Buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, Who raised Him from the dead.”].
We share the death of Jesus where He shed his blood, Galatians 2, verse 20 [“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”].
It is in baptism that God applies the blood of Jesus to our sins, and, thus, forgives us of those sins. The new birth that Jesus spoke about in John, chapter 3, verse 5 takes place in the waters of baptism [“Jesus answered, ’Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’”]. And, we are “raised” to “walk in newness of life,” Romans 6, verses 4 through 7 [“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.”].
One obeys the Gospel when one does these five things. YES, there are five steps. I’m not ashamed or embarrassed about that; I don’t feel antiquated or unsophisticated, and I know that the elders believe this and everyone in this congregation believes this. This is what the Bible teaches! This is what we will teach! This is what we will insist upon, not because it’s what we want, but because it’s what God wants.
So when one obeys the Gospel, sins are forgiven and the gift of the Holy Spirit is given, Acts 2:38 [“Then Peter said to them, ’Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”].
When one obeys the Gospel, one is added to the church, Acts 2, verse 47 [“Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”].
And when one obeys the Gospel, one receives the hope of eternal life [Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”].
But that’s not the end. It’s the beginning! Having been raised to walk in newness of life, one must engage in faithful Christian living, and must be involved in devotion and in worship in accordance with the New Testament pattern, Revelation 2, verse 10 [“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”]; 2 Timothy 1, verse 13 [“Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”].
Perhaps seeing the plan of salvation in this fashion and making the association with the nature of man, with sin and what it has done, and then looking at God’s plan to implement His grace, we can see how that works and fits together. It makes perfect sense to me! I can see it! I think I can explain it! So it’s not some deep, dark mystery. It’s God’s Plan. It’s God’s plan for the implementation of His grace and for the atonement of mankind. There is no merit of our own in what we do to be saved, because God has given salvation. He’s given His grace as a free gift. Jesus paid the full price for salvation. It’s not as if by doing what we do [God’s plan of salvation], that there is some balance due for salvation. No!! Jesus paid it all! All we are doing is meeting the conditions that God has set forth. Yes, we must comply with those conditions that God has given in order to be saved. When wecomply, we are saved by God’s grace.