When you interact with any religious or spiritual person, you will discover that there are only two kinds of faith. One is trusting what the Lord Jesus Christ has DONE to save sinners; the other is trusting what man must DO to be saved. One faith recognizes that salvation is by grace alone; the other faith nullifies the grace of God by requiring good works (Rom. 11:6). One is gloriously revealed in Scripture, while the other is based on religious traditions that nullify or oppose the Word of God. One was demonstrated by the tax collector, who was so burdened by his sin that he cried out to God for mercy, the other was demonstrated by  the proud self-righteous Pharisee, who boasted in what he was DOING (Luke 18:9-14). 

The glorious promise of the Gospel is eternal, everlasting life. This divine assurance can be offered  unconditionally  because of all that Christ has DONE to save believers completely and forever. Yet, over half of "professing" Christians deny the assurance of eternal life because they have been deceived by "another" gospel. They have embraced  a works-based salvation, which perpetuates the fatal lie that you must DO good works and perform religious rites and rituals to be accepted by God. They fail to understand that finite men, with their limited capabilities, could never cancel their own eternal sin debt. What man could never DO, the eternal Son of God has DONE. The eternal sin debt was nailed to His cross (Col. 2:13-14). Thus man's only hope is to exchange his worthless religion for an eternal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Eternal security and the assurance of salvation can only be realized when a person's faith is based on the Lord Jesus Christ alone and what He has DONE. 

How will those who have been blinded by religious deception know what Christ has DONE? The Lord Jesus must be proclaimed as the all-sufficient Savior. This is the royal privilege and awesome responsibility of every Christian. We must proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His glorious light (1 Pet. 2:9). People will never know they are deceived until they are confronted with the truth. They will not seek a substitute to die in their place until they know they are condemned to death. No one will seek a Savior until they know they are destined for the torments of hell. They will not seek to be reconciled to God until they know they are separated from Him. No one will try to get on the narrow way that leads to life until they know they are on the broad way that leads to destruction. People can ever receive the righteousness of Christ as a gift until they are first stripped of their own righteousness. 

Men and women wanted for the difficult task of laboring in the fields that are white for harvest. You will face constant attacks from an invisible enemy who will try to distract you from your objective and destroy your effectiveness. You will be mocked, persecuted and ridiculed by his ministers of unrighteousness. You will often be discouraged and misunderstood by apathetic and lazy people working with you. Whenever you are persecuted for the sake of your King, you will be asked to leap for joy. The results of your labor and your full reward will not come until after all your work is completed. You will not be able to boast or take pride in what you do and it may cost you your life. However, you will enjoy compelling advantages over all competition by tapping unlimited resources from your headquarters' support team. The fruit of your labor will last for all eternity. And most importantly, the incomparable retirement program is out of this world!

This recruiting ad is an accurate description of what many Christians experience when they devote their lives to the Savior and His great commission. Tragically, many who have been called by Him into service have not reported for active duty or have gone AWOL. Some will gather in holy huddles on Sunday morning in their church, but when the play is called, they sit on the bench and watch others run the offense. Some say they are too busy, not equipped, or fearful of what people might say. 

The call to be an ambassador for the King of kings is a royal privilege and an awesome responsibility for every Christian. Every time we proclaim His Gospel, we bring glory and honor and praise to the Name above all names! It is for this reason we created the Ambassador Training Program. We want to equip and encourage the Body of Christ to be faithful and effective witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us know if you have any questions about the program or if you have any interest in serving our Lord with us.

 

Many of us are familiar with the sober warning of Jesus, who said, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Mat. 7:13-14). In a recent message on these verses, Pastor John MacArthur points out that it's hard for sinners to come out of the lies of false religion. It's hard for those who have been deceived and blinded by Satan to come to a knowledge of the truth. This is an excellent message for professing Christians "to test yourselves to see if you are in the faith" (2 Cor. 13:5).

Catholic Teaching: Justification conforms us to the righteousness of God. It is the renewal of the inner man. Catholics are taught that they can recover the grace of justification, that is lost through mortal sin, through the sacrament of penance (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1446, 2019, 2020).

   

Biblical Response:  Justification does not conform us to the righteousness of God, it changes the legal status of the believer. It is a judicial or forensic act by God, as Judge, whose verdict is according to Law. The Judge declares the repenting sinner not guilty and pronounces him righteous because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to the believer and the believer's sin has been imputed to Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). The Law no longer condemns him (Roman 8:1).