{"id":10464,"date":"2020-12-10T17:19:40","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T17:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10464"},"modified":"2021-09-09T16:11:44","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T16:11:44","slug":"salvation-impossibles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10464","title":{"rendered":"Salvation \u201cImpossibles\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0<\/p><p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">[<strong>Note: \u00a0<\/strong>This MS is available in<strong> \u00a0<\/strong>larger font on our <strong>New Uploads<\/strong>\u00a0page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\">By <em>salvation<\/em> we refer to the forgiveness of sins whereby the sinner enjoys the grace of God and the hope of eternal life. Does God allow men their choice of saviors or other factors in their pursuit of salvation? The New Testament answers with a definitive \u201cNo.\u201d Let us consider some elements without which salvation is <strong>impossible<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Jesus, the Chris<\/strong>t\u2014He alone is \u201cthe way, the truth, and the life\u201d and the avenue to God\u2019s grace (John 14:6). This statement excludes all other systems of religion and the claims of their \u201csaviors.\u201d \u201cIn none other is there salvation\u201d (Acts 4:12). Christ Jesus is the \u201cone mediator\u2026between God and men\u201d (1 Tim. 2:5).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>The Blood of Christ<\/strong>\u2014God\u2019s plan for our salvation is rooted in sacrificial blood: \u201cApart from shedding of blood there is no remission\u201d (Heb. 9:22). Jesus came as the only perfect sacrificial \u201cLamb of God\u201d Who could \u201ctake away the sin of the world\u201d (John 1:29). His blood alone could suffice because He was \u201cwithout spot\u201d of any sin (1 Pet. 1:18\u201319). Thus we \u201chave our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses\u201d (Eph. 1:7). Salvation is impossible except through His atoning blood.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>The church of Christ<\/strong>\u2014Beginning on Pentecost, the Lord has added only those who were saved to His church (Acts 2:41, 47). The church of Christ (Rom. 16:16) is the \u201cbody\u201d of Christ (Eph. 1:22\u201323), and He is the \u201cSavior of the body\u201d (5:23). Jesus \u201cpurchased\u201d the church\u2014and nothing else\u2014with His blood (Acts 20:28), complementing the foregoing point. \u201cJesus yes, the church, no\u201d is an anti-Scriptural concept if one has in mind Jesus\u2019 church. Salvation is <strong>in <\/strong>His church; it is impossible to be saved apart from it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>The Gospel<\/strong>\u2014It is \u201cthe power of God unto salvation\u201d (Rom. 1:16). In this fact we see the basis of Jesus\u2019 order to \u201cpreach the gospel to the whole creation\u201d (Mark. 16:15). He has invested the Gospel with the means of attaining the salvation He provides. Neither the Holy Spirit nor angels have ever directly told anyone how to be saved. It is impossible to be saved apart from the Gospel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;\"><strong>Our obedience<\/strong>\u2014The blood of Christ purifies one who <strong>obeys<\/strong> the Gospel (1 Pet. 1:22). The Lord saves and adds to His church those who <strong>obey<\/strong> the Gospel (Acts 2:37\u201341, 47). He saves those who <strong>obey<\/strong> Him (Heb. 5:9). At the Judgment, those who have not <strong>obeyed<\/strong> the Gospel will be lost (2 The. 1:8). It is impossible to be saved without obeying Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Rom. 6:17\u201318).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">[<strong>Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it appeared in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, September 6, 2013.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Attribution:<\/strong> From <em>thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 0[Note: \u00a0This MS is available in \u00a0larger font on our New Uploads\u00a0page.] By salvation we refer to the forgiveness of sins whereby the sinner enjoys the grace of God and the hope of eternal life. Does God allow men their choice of saviors or&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=10464\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Salvation \u201cImpossibles\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[600,42,72,112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-testament-christianity","category-obedience","category-salvation","category-truth","wpcat-600-id","wpcat-42-id","wpcat-72-id","wpcat-112-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10464"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15639,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10464\/revisions\/15639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}