You Are Responsible for your own Salvation

Let's look back at a prophecy in the old testament. In the book of Ezekiel, the Israelites were in exile in Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel was told to warn the people against their evil. He speaks to some of the elders of Israel here.

Ezekiel 14

12 The word of the LORD came to me: 13 "Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, 14 even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD.

15 "Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts, 16 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.

17 "Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, 'Let the sword pass throughout the land,' and I kill its men and their animals, 18 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.

19 "Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath upon it through bloodshed, killing its men and their animals, 20 as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.

21 "For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals! 22 Yet there will be some survivors—sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem—every disaster I have brought upon it. 23 You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign LORD."

The Israelites seemed to think that God would let them do anything just because they were Israelites...just because they had the right ancestors. They seemed to think that God owed them or something. This was a dangerous assumption for them to make, but it seems to be one that they made over and over. “I'm descended from Abraham. God won't punish me”, they thought.

Ezekiel warned the people here that they could individually escape the judgment. In the church today, if we were to think of a similar example, imagine that the judgment day came today. Am I going to get an easier judgment because I'm next to the right person? “I'll stand right next to Paul here and I'll surely be saved.” No, that's not the way it works. It would still be up to each of us individually to live our lives for God. Another person can't make me live for God if I refuse in my heart to do it. Paul has a lot of good advice for us, but it doesn't do us any good if we don't act on it. The people around us in the church can be a good influence on us and encourage us, but it doesn't do us any good if we ignore them and live for ourselves.

Jesus warned the Jews who thought they could get in on a sort of group salvation just because they had the right ancestors and were in the right crowd.

Mat 3

7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11"I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Likewise, for us today, it doesn't do us any particular good just to call ourselves Christians. The fact that you hang out with or are related to the right people doesn't save you as the Pharisees and Sadducees thought. We must each take the responsibility of coming to Christ and following him. We must be Christians in spirit and word and deed.

Those who truly follow Christ will take up their crosses and work for him.

Mat 10

37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Taking up a cross doesn't just sound like sitting around and saying you're a Christian without doing anything. You are facing the difficult situations that come from being a Christian rather than trying to appeal to the world or even your own relatives as this mentions. If your relatives, themselves, were to try to draw you away from Christ, there is a difficult choice you must make as Jesus said here.

Phil 2

12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

14Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out[c] the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

Paul was reminding the Philippians here that they must continue obeying God and not assume they could forget about it just because Paul wasn't with them. (He was apparently in prison at this time.) Paul was in prison here, but was still so very concerned for the church. How important was it to him that these people remain faithful even when he wasn't with them? It seemed to be what he thought about most. What if you had to endure prison in your old age, what would you be thinking about? It really shows the importance of following Christ if that's all Paul was concerned with in this situation.

We are told not to love only with words, but with actions and truth.

1 John 3

6This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

We're reminded here that it's very easy to say, “I care about you. I hope things go well for you.” It's quite a different thing to make sure our brothers and sisters are taken care of both spiritually and physically. This is a living love he's talking about...not just some dead love with only words.

Christ saves...but you must come to him and do your part

Come to Jesus. His burden is light.

Mat 11

28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus was beckoning for people to follow him. He wants people to lay down the sins that ruin lives and bring about death. He has something important for them to do.

I've been responsible for a mortgage or a pet before...but this is much more serious.

More serious than a mortgage? One missed payment and you're out?

Yes. Only it's much worse if you aren't saved...but it is like a mortgage in that you continually have to work to keep yourself pure...to keep evil influences out of your life. If you do nothing, your life will be repossessed by the world.

Our society seems to emphasize personal responsibility less and less. People are held responsible for less and less. They're not responsible for their money. They're not responsible for their marriages. They're not responsible for their behavior. They're not responsible for what happens in their lives in general. Prisons get so full that criminals are released early or not sent to prison at all. People like to do what pleases them most and ignore the consequences.

In recent news, there have been riots going on in Paris.

The CNN website said,

"Much of the rioting has occurred in areas heavily populated by poor Muslim immigrants and their French-born children who are weary of poverty, crime, poor education and unemployment."

What sort of a plan is this? Instead of starting to pay attention in school and working hard, some of these young people are just rioting and destroying things. When people lash out and do whatever they feel like, they often make things much worse for themselves.

Christ teaches a better way, though.

The church isn't responsible for your salvation, although they can help. Jesus isn't responsible for whether you come to him or not. You are. Christ can help you once you come to him. But that first step is up to you. It's also up to you whether you'll continue to walk with him or whether you walk further and further away. Whether you draw closer to him or distance yourself. You have nobody to blame for yourself if your faith becomes weak.

James 1

13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

When we do become weak as Christians, it's because we entertain the wrong thoughts. It's because we put ourselves in the wrong situations where we'll be led astray.

It's so important for us to draw near to Christ and put ourselves in his hands rather than trying to do it without him.

Hear his voice

Heb 3

7So, as the Holy Spirit says:

"Today, if you hear his voice,

8do not harden your hearts

as you did in the rebellion,

during the time of testing in the desert,

9where your fathers tested and tried me

and for forty years saw what I did.

10That is why I was angry with that generation,

and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,

and they have not known my ways.'

11So I declared on oath in my anger,

'They shall never enter my rest.' "

12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

If I let my faith slip through my fingers and I become entangled in sin, can I blame my brother or sister in Christ? Or is it really up to me?

We can't depend on each other for salvation itself. We can't say, “Because I attend services at a church with devout people, God will surely save me.” It is up to each of us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. But we can help each other get a long way on the path of Christianity. We can really encourage each other to be Godly and sincere as Christians.

Let's work to stick to our responsibilities as Christians and really dedicate ourselves to Christ.