Salvation by Grace – Apart from Works
RO57-01

Mormonism

One of the first things the tour guide said to us was, "I want to make it clear to you (this happened to be a lady at this particular tour) that we Mormons are Christian. As a matter of fact, we make so much of Jesus Chris, we're probably more Christian than any other group that you know of.

Water Baptism

Later I spoke to this lady, and I questioned her about the impression that I had received that salvation was based on one's works, and I was told that this was indeed Mormon doctrine. I was told this more than once by other guides – that this is Mormon doctrine, and that this life is a period, in their view, of probation, where one proves himself worthy or unworthy of salvation.

Behind all this, of course, is the idea of the ancient Babylonian mystery religion idea of preexistence of souls. And there's a whole presentation on that – that you preexisted before you ever came to this life, and that God sent you here to get a body, to give you a time of probation to determine whether you were worthy to live with Him forever.

So, I call her attention, as we walked along, to Ephesians 2:8-9. I said, "What would you say about a verse like this? "For by grace you are saved through, faith and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." And I posed this to more than one guide. The response was always immediately. "Well, the book of James says that one does not say by faith alone, but by faith and by one's works." And they were referring, of course, to passage like James 2:21-24: "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar. See thou how faith, wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, 'Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And he was called a friend of God.' You see then that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone."

Well, I tried to explain to her (just very briefly, without getting into too many details) that James, of course, was speaking about justification in the eyes of men – how you demonstrate that you are indeed a born again believer. And I pointed out to the context of that passage talks about such things as seeing somebody who's hungry, and you say, "God bless you, brother," and you don't give him food. And James says, "You're not demonstrating that you've been born-again if that's the way you treat him." He's freezing to death and you say, "God, warm you brother. Read the Scriptures and warm your soul." Instead of giving him a coat that he needs, he says, "That's not demonstrating your justification before men.

However, I said, "On the other hand, Paul, who wrote Ephesians, was talking about justification by God's eyes, which is clearly without the addition of any human works involved."

The problem is that they've got this great confusion of Scripture. I can tell you that they're well acquainted with the Book of Mormon, but they're not very much acquainted with the Bible, especially the New Testament Scriptures, in spite of the fact that they give great devotion and declare great loyalty to the Scriptures themselves.

James 2:14 says, "What does it profit my brethren, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" I said, "But you see, Ephesians 2:8 very clearly says, "By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God." I said, "How are you going to relate those two?" James 2:17 says, "Even so, faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone?" But Ephesians 2:9 says, "Not of works, lest any man should boast." And I asked her, "How do you relate those two?" James 2:19 seemingly makes a very striking blow against believing: "You that believe there is one God, and you do well. The demons also believe and tremble." And I was quoted that verse because I was told, "Believing is not enough. It takes more than that."

But you compare that, because I asked this lady another question. I said, "How would you deal with Romans 4:3?" "For what do the Scriptures say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Acts 16:31: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. It seems that the emphasis of the Bible is very much on believing or trusting in something that Christ has done, rather than something that we have done.

It was interesting that they were using the very same example, that we've been seeing here in Romans, of Abraham's justification that Paul uses to prove that justification is without human works. They were using that same example through James to prove that justification is through human works, and that believing is not enough.

I quoted Isaiah 64:6 to this lady, and pointed out that it said, "Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." I asked her, "How are we going to clean up our good works so that they're not filthy rags anymore, and so that they are acceptable with God, when the Bible says, 'Every good thing we can do is rejected by God as being contaminated.'"

I pointed out to her that Paul's emphasis in Romans is that salvation is only by grace, and that it cannot come (if it's a grace gift) by any human merit – that the two are mutually exclusive. And I asked her, "What would you say about Romans 4:4-5?" "Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that does not work, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." I said, "It would seem that these verses are very clearly saying that if it's of grace, you cannot have any human works involved. But if you have human works involved, it is no longer of grace. They're mutually exclusive. It's impossible to say, "Yes, I'm going to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, but my good works must be added to that."

She said, "That's really unique interpretation. I'll have to think about that."

I said, "I think you better, because that's what it seems the words say. What would you say they meant?"

And I found that there was suddenly a very hazy area. They spotted me after a while. I tried to walk around innocuous. I think the camera gave me away, but they spotted me after a while. And pretty soon, as I was reading one plaque that told how God was a flesh and physical body creature, and that God was once a child, just as we are, and He grew up because He passed His probation, and now He's God, and when you pass your probation, you will be gods also. While I was reading that, a man came up, a very sophisticated looking fellow with gray hair. I found that he was a professor at the University of Utah, and they sent him over to talk to me. I enjoyed that because I'd been talking to these other people, and they didn't seem to know too much, but I found that the professor didn't know much more either about the subject of Scripture. So, I didn't get too many answers.

I called their attention to the Romans 4:11: "And he received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had yet, been uncircumcised; that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also." I said, "Here Paul's problem in the early church was that people were saying that you had to be circumcised to be born-again.

I noted that in Acts 15:1, that's exactly what the problem was. When the church got together, they had this council, because some people were saying, "Unless you are circumcised and keep the laws of Moses, you cannot be saved." They seemed to be unaware of what the Scripture said. They knew what the Book of Mormon said, but not the Scriptures. Nor were they aware of the fact that in Acts 15:1, the problem was very specifically spelled out: "And certain men who came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, "Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved."

I said, "Now, that is really the same situation that you have with water baptism." While you cannot go into the temple, they did have a display of what their baptismal fountain is. And there it was on the back of the images of a bunch of oxen, and this huge fount. And there was a statement that no one is exempt from water baptism for salvation, and that this has been an ordinance, and you cannot baptize a person unless you have been authorized by apostolic authority placed upon you through the transmission from Joseph Smith, who received it from John the Baptist. We'll get into that in another series.

But I said, "Now, with the early church, it was a problem of circumcision, which God indeed ordained, but which was a picture of the abandoning of the flesh. And you are turning around and taking the picture of water baptism, which is our New Testament display of salvation. And you're saying that the picture is the means to salvation. This was the very problem in the New Testament church. How do you relate that – a human work, when salvation has to be by grace minus all human works?"

I went on to point out to her that the decision of the early church was that these human works are not involved in salvation. Acts 15:24: "For as much as we have heard that certain who went out from must have troubled you with words subverting your soul, saying, 'You must be circumcised and keep the Law, to whom we gave no such commandment."

Verses 28-29: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangling, and from fornication, from which, if you do keep yourselves, you shall do well" ("fair ye well"). I said. "You notice that it is not so that you might be saved. It is said, 'These are good qualities of life which you should obey. And as gentiles, it will enhance your relationship with the Jews.'" But there is never a suggestion that if you abstain from things offered to idols (even meat which had been offered to idols), and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, that this will help you in your salvation (that this is part of salvation). There is never such a suggestion.

Marriage

Another lady walked in, and fell in step, and was listening. And finally, they said, "You know, I'd really like to know the answers to those things. Would you write those down in a letter, and let our answering service give you the answer to those. We'd like to know that, too."

So, I wrote it out, and I'll be interested to hear what they say. But it was obvious that all of this was very hazy in their minds, and even the matter of hell. One guy talked about the exaltation that Christ made possible, which is their way of saying heaven – specifically the highest elevation of heaven. I said, "What's the opposite of exultation?"

He said, "That's a good question," which is what you say when you don't have an answer. The opposite of exaltation would seem to be hell.

I said, "Well, would it be hell?"

He said, "That's just temporary. Excuse me." And he had to go do something.

Another man said, "Oh, everybody's going to be saved."

I said, "Well, the Bible says there are going to be some who are going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

"Oh," he said, "You mean sons of prediction. There will be very few of those."

I said, "I know a lot." . . .

This got really wild. So, I became more fascinated by this all the time. I don't want to get into the details, but there's a connection here with the great authority system of the Roman Catholic Church.

Anyhow, I pointed out the conclusion that these Scriptures must certainly indicate – that attempting to offer God any human good work for salvation destroys all the grace ground for salvation so that you cannot be saved. And I caution these people. I said, "You better rethink this, because this is a monumental satanic deception.

I reminded them of the passage in Matthew 7, where a group of people stand before Jesus Christ, and they say, "Lord, Lord, you said, 'Depart from Me. I never knew you.' How can you say that? We've done miracles in Your Name. We've cast out demons, and we have prophesied in Your Name.'"

A Prophet

Did you read about the recent one – that Blacks can now enter the temple? That's the great revelation. Mrs. Danish said, "I hope the Blacks spit in their eye, and tell them where they can go." I wouldn't say a thing like that, but she did. So much for his revelation.

Anyhow, they're very proud that they have new insights. And they exalt Christ just like the charismatics do. What a beautiful system to think you are honoring the truth, and very devoted to the truth (there can be no question about their devotion), and be marching straight into hell through the very things that you're devoting yourself to, and that you're championing and promoting.

So, I advised this lady to make a careful non-Mormon study of Romans 5:12-25, which I pointed out to her was Paul's final emphasis in this book on justification through non-human doing. It is Paul's final stress on the fact that salvation is a gift from God, apart from human effort. Paul's explanation that all are condemned before God through Adam's sin; and, all who trust in Jesus Christ are saved through His sacrifice. And the sinner is not involved in producing either status. The sinner is not involved in producing his condemnation through Adam. That's imputed to him. The sinner is not involved in producing his justification in Jesus Christ. That's imputed to him. And the human element is simply an element of acceptance.

In verses 13-17, we have pointed out, form a set of parentheses explaining the statement in verse 12 that all mankind have sinned, and thus death is universal. He goes on to explain how it is that all sinned because they sinned in Adam, their representative.

Verse 14 declares that Adam was a type of Jesus Christ, and that there's a parallel relationship between these two. That causes another set of parentheses, as it were, within the first set of parentheses. Verses 15-17 then become an explanation of that statement that Adam was a type of Jesus Christ. And he explains how that was true.

The Offense of Adam vs. the Gift of Grace of Jesus Christ

We begin with the second part of verse 15: "For, if through the offensive one, many are dead." The word "for" looks like this in Greek: it's the Greek word "gar," which introduces why the two acts of Adam and Jesus Christ are not exactly alike. The word "if" is this particle "ei," indicating a first class condition in the Greek, which you know means it's true.

"For, since it is true, through the offense of one, many are dead." The word "offense" is that Greek word we've had before – that word for sin: "paraptoma." "Paraptoma" means "a stepping out of line." So, we translate it as "a transgression;" that is, a transgression of a rule. That "ma" part indicates that it's an accomplished fact.

"If (since it is true) through the stepping out of line of one." And that indicates a specific person. The Greek has "the one," meaning Adam, in this case. He's the one who stepped out of line in Eden.

"Many" is the Greek word "polus." This word means "many." However, again, it has "the many" in Greek, indicating a specific group of people; that is, the entire human race – the extent of it. This word is a word of extent. The "hoi polloi" is the way the Greek puts it. It means the whole human race – the entire "many" of humanity. He uses the word "many" (this word "polus") specifically to contrast to the word "one," which looks like this in Greek: "heis," which he had previously. These two are in contrast. They stand in strong relationship in the Greek: "One man, and the consequences splattered over the whole human race." There was one foul out from one innocent man, and the whole human race was spewed with the sewage of human sin.

They are All Dead

So, Paul says, "Since it is true through the stepping out of line of the one, the many are constituted dead (the many die)." Paul says that the claim here, that many are subject to death because of one man's sin, is true. Paul specifically declares that the sin of Adam was the cause of universal death of his posterity.

This clause is the first part of a conditional sentence. We call it a protasis. It's a condition stated: "Since this is true." Then he's going to give us the consequence in the next sentence. Notice Paul's logic again. You have to hang on to the logic. This is one of the most logical passages of Scripture. If you don't follow Paul's logic, you miss the point. The logic is this: as the righteousness of Christ (and not our own works) is the ground of our justification, so the sin of Adam (previous to any sins of our own) is the ground (the infliction of punishment) upon us of physical and spiritual death. That's the logic. As the righteousness of Christ (and not our own works) is the ground of our justification, so the sin of Adam (previous to any sin of our own) is the ground of our punishment in the form of spiritual and physical death.

If you fail to grasp this point here, you will fail to understand that all human doing is excluded as the basis of one's salvation. Then you miss the whole purpose of the passage. Then Satan is going to bring you into some conviction of devotion to Christ, such as in the Mormon system, which actually leads you straight into the lake of fire. You must grasp the logic that the justification that you have is the result of something that Christ did apart from your doing; that the condemnation for which you needed this justification was the result of something that Adam did apart from your doing. So, the human element is not involved beyond believing what God has to say. That's the consequence of Adam's disobedience.

Certainty

In other words, if the one thing has happened (as in the case of Adam and what that did to us – which certainly did happen), then certainly ("polus mallon" says "certainly") the other may be relied upon to happen – that Jesus Christ can justify us before God, and reverse all this. This introduces the conclusion of this conditional sentence. The first part was: "Since it is true that the many were constituted sinners by the act of one man, now the conclusion is what the grace of God is going to do to reverse that.

"Afortiori" Argument

Adam vs. Jesus Christ

So, the main point of Paul is not simply that the blessings secured by Jesus are far greater than the loss caused by Adam. The main point here is that sinners are justified solely by what Jesus Christ has done, and we may expect a greater consequence by what He alone has done in comparison to what Adam has done.

So, if we die for the sin of Adam, Paul says, "Much more (certainly) you may expect to live through the righteousness of Jesus Christ." If God's justice and righteousness led to our punishment, much more will His love and grace lead to our salvation.

The Grace of God

So, while it is true that someone has to pay for sin before grace can be extended, it's not the sinner who pays, but it's God. That is what the works salvation people cannot grasp. While someone indeed does have to pay for sin, it is not the sinner, because he has no assets with which to pay. All of our righteousnesses are filthy rags. Every bit of assets that you have is contaminated. So, God says, "You've got nothing that I can accept." Someone has to pay though, but it has to be God himself. This grace gift of salvation comes to us because the demands of God's justice against us have forever been met by Jesus Christ. His integrity has been satisfied.

So, the phrase "the grace of God" describes God's attitude toward sinners – His disposition of gratuitous favor. And along with this, Paul adds that, from this disposition of gratuitous favor that God has toward us, comes a gift (a "dorea"). This particular Greek word denotes something apart from human merit. The core idea of "dorea" is gratuitousness. It is something I'm just giving you. This word means "no strings attached." It is a beautiful word in the Greek language that strongly connotes that. In the New Testament, this word is always used of a spiritual or a supernatural gift – something that God hands out without any strings attached. And it is called, therefore, "the gift of grace" here. It is the gift of no merit on the part of the recipient.

It is the gift of grace, which he says, "Is by one man." The Greek word "by" is actually this preposition "en" in Greek, which here indicates means. We would say, "In the sphere of." This gift of grace comes in the sphere of Jesus Christ. It eliminates any human work and any human ritual from salvation – any human performance from salvation. "Dorea" conveys, in a strong way: "I'm giving you something with no strings attached.

One of the things that you will read in the arguments by Mormons for salvation by works is that people, one writer says, try to do in salvation just like people like to do in economics. They don't believe in getting something for nothing. That is offensive to them. They consider that ungodly and unscriptural. And they take that same commendable idea, and they transferred to spiritual things. And they say, "There are people who think they can get salvation just for nothing; just by a gift; and, just by believing –, just like people think they should get money without working. They have a confusion here. They can't believe that you don't get something for nothing in life, and it is not God's basis for you to get something for nothing. But when it comes to spiritual things, that's the only way you can get it, because you've got nothing to pay for that eternal life with. And it has to come as a nothing-gift from God. So, the gift by grace is the provision of the grace of God.

So, Paul is repeatedly stressing the entire grace basis of salvation from start to finish. There is no reference to wages here. If there was ever a word put in here, it was the word "wages." Wages is attached with sin – the wages of sin. You get something for your sin. You've earned that, and you get death. But here, there is nothing but the grace of God, who is the source, and then the product from Him is the gift of grace. It spells out that this gift of grace, which incidentally is called "the gift of righteousness," is not something you can buy, but it spells out that this is by (the instrument referring to this grace – exercised namely by one man. And again, you have the Greek word for "one" ("heis"), "But with the one. Again it is specific stress upon the single sole agency of Jesus Christ – "the one." This is the specific person that he referred back to in verse 10 as "God's Son" – not just a mere human man, but the God-Man. "By the one man." And he uses the Greek word "anthropos," which you may remember means "a human being." This is stressing the fact that he was a man. The one man Adam messed it all up. God sent another man, the last Adam, to get it all straightened out.

The God-Man

So, we can translate this as: "The grace, which is of the one human being Jesus Christ, has abounded." Boy, you could just see the apostle Paul enjoy writing this. He uses the word "perisseuo." "Perisseuo" refers to something that exceeds a certain mark beyond your fondest dreams. "Perisseuo" means "exceedingly abounding" or "to be in abundance." This is referring to something which is super. And here it's, of course, referring to grace– super grace, in contrast to the widespread effect of Adam's sin. There was super destruction from what Adam did, and super grace from what Jesus Christ has provided.

So, the opening statement of verse 15, that the work of Adam and Jesus Christ are not completely parallel, is demonstrated by the fact that what Jesus Christ did was super abundantly greater than what Adam contaminated for us. This is in the aorist tense, which use super grace and salvation as a historical event as a whole. It's active. Grace itself is abounding. It's indicative – a statement of fact. Paul loves this word so much that, if you drop your eye down to verses 17 and 20, which we'll get to later, you notice that he keeps coming back to that. It's the nature of life to abound, while death is dead and unproductive. So, when God deals with life, He deals with it on a super-abounding basis.

It's sad, isn't it, that preachers who study the Word of God can look at a word like this in the Greek New Testament and then stand up before people and sound off about what they should do in order to achieve favor with God? God says, "I've given you super-abounding grace to such a degree, you couldn't do anything to add to it." And the provision is so great, you couldn't do anything to provide any addition for it.

Unto the Many

So, in other words, God, the Father has graced out the whole human race through His Son Jesus Christ. What shall we do? Only believe. This is super-abounding grace. Adam was never in Christ. But you are. That's super-abounding grace. Adam was never a joint heir with Jesus Christ. But you are. That's super-abounding grace. Adam was not a child of God by spiritual birth – only by creation. But you are. That's super-abounding grace. Adam was in a state of probation. He could fall. He could be lost. You're not in a state of probation. Mormons say that we are, but we're not. You can never fall into eternal death again. Adam could sin. The time is coming when we shall not be able to sin at all.

So, Paul is right. There is a parallel between Christ and Adam. Adam was a type of Christ, but not exactly. There are some relationships that are quite obvious between the two. We are related to Adam physically. We're all descended from Adam. All of us have his physical features as a body. We have the qualities of the old sin nature in the soul. But we're related to Jesus Christ spiritually. A spiritual birth is required. The baptism of the Holy Spirit places us into Christ – into a position of absolute righteousness.

There was a comparison of the reception from each. From Adam came death, which was the result of his deliberate choice of sin. Adam's guilt was imputed to the whole race, so death is universal. All deserve this punishment. This is called wages, which are earned. So, Adam made death certain for all of us. But when you compare that to Christ, the opposite is life. The result was His deliberate obedience to God. He abolished death. The absolute righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to all believers. Justification is the gift of God's grace. It's not something you earn. So, Jesus Christ made eternal life certain for us.

There's the extent of the time factor. The evil that Adam brought upon us is temporary. It seems interminable now, as we look upon society. But the time is going to come when the domination of Satan is going to be ended. Adam's effect on society is going to be nullified by God. But Jesus Christ gave us an eternal new nature. All of creation is going to bow in objection to Him. The temporary era of sin's domination will forever be terminated. And those who are saved by grace alone are going to remember no more what was past.

We Will Remember no More

That's the difference between Adam and Christ – the effectiveness of each. Adam produced a world under the curse of sin: the evils of society; and, the evils in nature. Jesus Christ is going to produce a world (the Bible tells us) that is released from the curse of sin. There will be social justice everywhere. Human relationships will be in perfect harmony. Nature will be in maximum blessing.

Then compare them by the end result of each. Adam failed his period of testing, and he brought the race down with him. All of us are now helpless. We cannot improve. We cannot solve the problem. Jesus Christ was victorious in His period of probation over evil, and He has brought believers into eternal justification. Believers will never sin again, once they are in his present. They will remain in perfect, uninterrupted fellowship with Him.

Why Should Christ Allow You to Enter Heaven?

Well, when you say to Him, "Because I trusted in you as my personal Savior. I believed in you. I believe that you are the one who died physically and spiritually to pay the penalty for my evil; for my sins; and, for my human good. I believe that you're the One who has satisfied the integrity of God relative to my evil. God has been propitiated. You have satisfied His justice in my behalf by your sacrifice. I believe that you are the One who has credited to me Your absolute righteousness because I have believed in you, so that on my record in heaven is absolute righteousness. I believe that you are the One who has forever removed the wall between God and man so that Satan can no longer exercise control over me. He was defeated on the cross. I believe in all that You have provided so that God's integrity has been met relative to me and my evil."

Then the Lord Jesus will say to you, "That's good. And what else did you bring? What else did you do to deserve to come into My heaven?"

You will say, "Well, nothing."

The Lord will say, "You didn't bring water baptism?"

You'll say, "Well, I did it, but not for heaven."

He will say, "You don't have a church organization's approval? Pope John Paul or Sam Jones has not approved you?"

You'll say, "No."

He will say, "You did not take the Lord's Supper to have your sins forgiven? You did not eat the body and the blood of Christ as I told you?"

You'll say, "Well, no, I didn't go to the mass."

He will say, "You did not maintain sexual morality mentally as well as physically?"

You'll say, "Not always."

He will say, "Didn't you give money to the United Fund; the community drive; and, UNICEF and the Halloween cards to help the communists?"

You will say, "No."

He will say, "You didn't feed and clothe the poor people?"

You will say, "No."

He will say, "You didn't buy things at Goodwill to help those people?"

You will say, "Sometimes."

He will say, "You didn't visit the people in prison?"

You will say, "Not if I could help it. No. I visited once. I didn't know how to get out. Finally, I said about television, where you're supposed to rub on the bars. I did, and sure enough the guards let me out."

He will say, "You never cursed, cheated, stole, or lied?"

You'll say, "Not much."

He'll say, "How about tithing?"

You'll say, "Sometimes."

He'll say "You didn't tithe always?"

You'll say, "Well, not for heaven, I didn't."

He'll say, "Did you vote in the elections and campaign for divine viewpoint candidates? Did you read your Bible daily?"

You'll say, "Not all the time."

He'll say, "Do you attend church regularly?"

You'll say, "Except during the month of August."

He'll say, "You didn't engage in Christian service ministry: painting; repairing; helping; and, getting ready for school?"

You'll say, "Not if there were other people to do it."

He'll say, "Now what else did you do to deserve heaven?"

You think real hard, and you'll say, "I can't think of anything else, Lord, that I did to deserve heaven. I just trusted You and Your sacrifice. That's all I depended on."

Is the Lord Jesus Christ going to have to say to you, "I'm sorry? If all you did was trust in My sacrifice to save you from your sins, I cannot let you enter into My heaven. Depart from Me. I never knew you."

Isn't that the logical conclusion of those who say it's not enough to believe in Christ as Savior? "It's not enough to trust in His atonement – you must also live the good life?" That's exactly what you're saying. That's exactly what you're asking us to believe what Jesus Christ is going to do up there. He's going to examine you to how much good life you added to what He did. And if you don't have a suitable amount of good life (that's what the Mormons are telling us), you're not going to get in.

Well, do you believe that? That's the decision you must make on the basis of Romans 5 here – these verses at the close of this chapter? Is that what the apostle Paul is trying to convey to us? Trust in Christ, and add what you can to it? Paul's point, obviously, in Romans 5, is repeatedly justification without human works added, resulting in a salvation in perpetuity. And that's the only kind of salvation you will ever have. If you don't have that one, I urge you to accept it now.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1977

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