What must I Do to be Saved?
By E. B. Saunders
This question is often asked by the honest in heart, who love life and shudder at the thoughts of death. Their disease is death, but they feel that there must be a cure in something. Ancient alchemists searched all the precious metals for a life-giving property and failed to find it. Religion seems to be the only thing that offers eternal life to its votaries, consequently we search in her temples for the boon. Christian nations seem to be nearer the prize than others. They are more enlightened in many respects than those who worship stocks and stones, consequently they are selected by the poor pilgrim as the ones among whom to search. They profess to believe the teachings of the Bible, saying, if we obey the divine teachings of this book we shall get eternal life. Come, say they, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The sufferings and death of our Saviour are held up before him; he is told that Christ died to reconcile God to man, and that if we have faith in Jesus we shall be saved. He goes away happy, for he believes he has the faith that is necessary. Again, another mysterious temple is entered that he may hear more of that precious doctrine; for he has been told that this book is to be explained by a learned man set apart for this purpose. He listens, eager to catch every word that promises him life, and hears that we are justified by grace; again, he goes to another Babylonish school, and learns that we are saved by faith and baptism; to another, and hears salvation by works preached; another says we are saved by the blood of Christ. Sometimes the ingredients of salvation are a little mixed, so that he soon finds over six hundred different mixtures. He turns away in disgust from this tangled mass of confusion, and as a last resort he concludes to study the Bible himself and see what God does teach him to do. Let us go with him and search the sacred pages that we may learn the way also. We wish to learn our whole duty to God and man, knowing that he promises to save us if we obey his directions. We soon learn that to "fear God and keep his commandments" is the whole duty of man. We now rejoice; but let us be certain that these commandments will give us eternal life, so that there can be no mistake in so important a matter. "My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments; for length of days, and long life, and peace shall they add to thee." Prov. iii, 1, 2. See also Eze. xx, 11, 21, 25; Lev. xviii, 5; Deut. iv, 1; vi, 24; xi, 21; Luke x, 25-28; Rev. xxii, 14; Matt. xxv, 46; Isa. lvi, 4-6; Rom. vi, 22; Matt. xix, 17. "My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee; keep my commandments and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye." Prov. vii, 1, 2. These precious commandments were written on the door-posts and gates of the houses of God's chosen people. Deut. vi. "Blessed are they that keep my ways. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily (where? in the place they were commanded to write them) at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors; for whoso findeth me findeth life." Prov. viii, 33-35. Obedience to these commands is called righteousness. Matt. v, 19, 20; Deut. v, 25. Righteousness is the opposite of unrighteousness. All unrighteousness is sin; [1 John v, 17;] but sin is the transgression of the law, [1 John iii, 4; Rom. vii, 7.] therefore righteousness must be obedience to that law. "In the way of righteousness is life; in the pathway thereof there is no death." Prov. xii, 28. The wages of sin is death, an eternal death; for it is the second, or last death; and as there is no promise of a resurrection from this death, it is everlasting. Rev. xxi, 8. But sin and obedience are opposites, therefore the wages of obedience is eternal life. Thus we find that we get eternal life by obedience to God's holy law. But by Gal. iii, 21 we learn that no law can give life; i. e., to the dead; therefore we understand that the law gives us length of days, or perpetuates the life of the living, but cannot give life to the dead. But the righteous and the wicked are alike laid in the grave; why is this? We learn that by one man came death, so by one man came the resurrection of the dead. How? By Adam eating poisonous fruit, and his posterity inheriting the seeds of death. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv, 22; Rom. v, 18; John v, 28, 29; Acts xxiv, 15. Christ is the great Lifegiver. John vi, 33. He having conquered him who had the power of death, which is the devil. Heb. ii, 14. He has obtained the keys of the grave; (the devil's prison house;) he will set the prisoners free. See Rev. i, 18; Isa. xiii, 7; xlix, 9; Ps. cvii, 10-14. Thus Christ is the one that gives life to the dead, while obedience to the law gives length of days, or eternal life. But we have all broken the law; [Rom. iii, 23;] we have all failed in some point; [Jas. ii, 8-10;] we have all sinned; [1 John i, 8;] consequently we must all die the second death unless we can produce a substitute. If a man should kill another, the law says he shall die. It demands his life. If he produces a substitute to die in his place, and the judge agrees to accept of that substitute, the guilty man is free from the claims of the law, while his friend suffers the penalty, death. The judge is not bound to accept of any but the guilty man; but if he should be gracious enough to accept of an innocent man in place of the guilty; it is an act of grace in the judge. Our substitute is Jesus Christ. We must have faith in his life (or blood, which is the life) offered in our place. God has agreed to accept of him. This was an act of grace in him, for he was not compelled to accept the offering. But faith is necessary before Christ will plead his own life (or blood) in our behalf. If we say we have faith, what does it profit us? Our saying so does not make it so; for our hearts may deceive us. Prov. xxviii, 26; Jer. xvii, 9. But faith without works is dead. Jas. ii, 17. Why? Because by our works we manifest a living faith; actions speak louder than words; by our actions we manifest our faith. When our faith is thus manifested, Christ our High Priest remits our sins; i. e., offers to suffer the penalty of a violated law in our place. But how has he told us to manifest our faith in order to get remission of sins? "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Acts ii, 38. Christ acknowledges baptism as the sign of faith, and our past sins are remitted. We are then esteemed as a chaste virgin espoused to Christ, washed and cleansed from our old sins, being dead to sin, (or having crucified our old man,) we are then buried in a typical grave, and rising in a typical resurrection, we then put on the new man, Christ Jesus, or are married to another, [Rom. vi; vii, 4.] our first husband, the old man of sin, being dead, or we being dead to him. Now if we let sin work and reign in us after having been married to Christ, we thereby show that we have been married to another before the death of the old man; consequently we are adulterers and adulteresses in the sight of God. But the law is what convicts of sin, or slays the old man of sin; therefore if we, professing to be married to Christ, are found transgressing the law, we are guilty of adultery. No wonder then that James saw a people in the last days whom he called adulterers. James iv, 4. Thus we see that we are saved, 1. By faith in the blood of Christ. 2. By the grace of God. 3. By the blood of Christ. 4. By works to manifest our faith. All of them are essential to salvation. By these means we can obtain remission of past sins, substitute Christ in our place to satisfy the demands of a violated law. Thus we accept of God's righteousness for past offences, instead of trying to establish our own righteousness. By this means we get eternal life through Christ indirectly; but all get life through him directly. The wicked not having kept the law, have no means of perpetuating that life eternally, consequently must die the second death. But the righteous will get everlasting life because Christ is the means by which they are made righteous, consequently their righteousness is imputed, not real. Thus we see a cure has been provided for the disease, death. Christ is the Physician; let us go to him and be healed. Let us follow his prescription to the letter, or we may not recover. Do not42fear the bath of baptism, and try to evade it in the Physician's absence by wetting the crown of our heads; nor must we in the absence of our spouse commit adultery with our old man of sin, but follow the prescription of Jesus, and we will be healed of this dreadful malady. E. B. Saunders.