Throughout the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples clearly and emphatically preached and taught that salvation from our sins is only achieved through faith in the redemptive work of the Son of God on Calvary. Sinner confesses his/her mistakes and sins, accepts God’s simple and straight plan of salvation through faith and start living a guiltless life. A true believer will have the great and glorious joy, which words cannot express, and the peace which surpasses human understanding. Citizenship to the Kingdom of God and the eternal life in the presence of the living God are thus freely given to every believer in Jesus Christ. In addition to salvation, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit who will dwell within us and help every believer to lead a fruitful and abundant life in this world.

Though salvation is freely offered to believers, every Christian is expected and asked to produce the fruits of salvation through good works and deeds. In the parable of “Vine and Branches” (John 15), the Lord told us that the branches which do not produce fruits will be cut off from the main stem and will be burned in the eternal fire. Those branches that produce fruits will be pruned from time to time for more and better everlasting fruits! Being an ardent and devoted member of a particular denomination, putting faith in the traditions and various religious rituals, following man-made rules and regulations, reciting certain numbers and types of prayers or hymns etc., do not in anyway replace or substitute the good works we are bound to carry out during our lives on this earth.

A Christian’s salvation is only through simple child-like faith in God’s plan through His only begotten son’s suffering, sacrifice and death on the cross. And, good works are the expressions of salvation. In other words, we believers are not doing good works to receive salvation, but we do them because we are unconditionally freed from the power of sin, Satan and death. Man cannot boast this salvation on anything but God’s great grace and mercy. We may call upon the name of the Lord always, praise and worship Him through all possible religious practices and rituals set up by the church leaders, but if we fail to carry out the Lord’s commandments to love, to serve and to make sacrifices for our fellow human beings, the good Lord will say, “ I do not know you, go away from me.” And, Heaven’s door will be closed against us on the Day of Judgment.

Our Lord is kind and compassionate. His love is constant and continuous. He knows our weakness. He is aware that we live in the midst of temptations and trials that could come from Satan, the wicked world and the weakness of our own flesh. Our God knows that a fallen man can never attain redemption by his own efforts. That is why God himself became a man and died for the eternal forgiveness of every human being. God is calling all sinners to repent and receive his free gift of salvation and his own Holy Sprit. At the same time, the Lord is expecting every born-again Christian to grow in Christian life by fulfilling his bound duty of carrying our good deeds, words an thoughts. Faith with good works is alive and divine. Amen.