TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

I did my best to boil this down to “just the facts,” and this is not intended to be anything more than getting quickly to the point: Faith is a gift. When a person dies, their time on earth ends and they face what comes next. The apostle Paul taught that death happens once to each person, and after that comes judgment. This means every human being will eventually stand before God who created them.

At this judgment, theologians explain that people will be in one of two positions. The first position is being found in Adam, which means standing in your own sin and facing the full weight of that sin yourself. The second position is being found in Christ, the second Adam, where a person is covered by Jesus who has already borne the full weight of sin on their behalf.

Humans exist in a state of spiritual death because of their wrongdoing. People are naturally inclined toward anger and follow the impulses of their sinful nature. This is the condition everyone is born into. God requires complete holiness, and no amount of human effort can reach that standard. People cannot earn their way to salvation because their best attempts will always fall short of what God demands.

God offers salvation as a gift. This gift comes through faith and grace rather than through anything a person does on their own. Nobody can claim credit for their salvation or take pride in earning it themselves. While salvation does come through works, these are not human works. Instead, salvation comes through the perfect works of Jesus Christ. His actions, not ours, make salvation possible.

This does not mean that what believers do has no importance. People are not saved by their good deeds, but they are saved for good deeds. Those who believe are God’s creation, made new in Christ Jesus for the specific purpose of doing good works. God prepared these works in advance for believers to do. What people do in their lives matters as a demonstration and expression of their faith. Faith is not just a pass to enter heaven but something that shows itself through actions.

God gave the law to serve a particular function. The law works like a mirror that reflects God’s holiness and shows people their sinfulness. When someone looks into this mirror, they see how unclean they are. A common mistake is trying to clean yourself with the mirror itself. The law reveals the problem but cannot fix it. Just as a mirror shows dirt on your face but cannot wash it away, the law shows sin but cannot remove it. To become clean, a person needs something external to the law, something that can actually cleanse them, much like a shower washes away dirt that a mirror only reveals.

The foundation of salvation rests on three essential truths. Salvation happens through faith alone, not through any human achievement. It comes through Christ alone, not through any other means. And it exists for the glory of God alone, not for human pride or accomplishment. These pillars support the entire understanding of how God saves people.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9