Saved by works?

Question

The men in the following verses had works and yet were not saved. They obviously believed in Jesus as they say they did these works in His name. Yet He told them to depart from Him. Is it possible that Jesus sent them away because they trusted in their works and not in Him? If works can save you why weren't they saved?

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Pastor Billy - If Roman Catholicism is the only Christianity the whole world is damned. I believe Catholics can be saved but only if the get away from the teachings of the Pope and read the Bible and follow it.

Pastor Billy - I will agree to become Catholic when the Catholics agree to get rid of all their un-Biblical beliefs and not one second before.

Answer 1

One of the big differences I have seen since leaving the Catholic church and truly being saved by the Lords grace and faith is that I had been taught that being a good person got me into Heaven in the past, when really, according to God's own Word, this was not the case.

I remember many a times my Mother, bless her heart, would say to us kids that if we continued to behave badly we would not go to heaven, or that we cannot eat meat, or we will go to hell, and so on. I remember the stories of her youth, and how so much of her "faith" was based purely on the rituals set up by man, not by God.

Unfortuntely, my mom passed away about 3 weeks before my being born again in Jesus, and I had no chance to share the gospel with her. My mom was basically a "good" person, and lead a "good" life. However, I realize now, that unless her faith was other than what I knew, she is not in heaven. It pains me to admit that, and I pray that she had faith other than what showed.

As for Biblical truth on the matter, our Father's Word is clear. Ephesians 2:8-10 states For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of workds, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

James also speaks of works, in James 2:14-26. He states that works do not provide salvation but that salvation creates works.

I pray the Catholics of the world will be awakened to God's Truth.

God bless.

Answer 2

How many people have have you come across that profess Jesus with their mouths yet their hearts are from Him???

God is not looking for the right answers, or works, He is looking for the right Hearts. The people that Jesus refers to had the right answers, they knew He was Lord, evidenced by how they refer to Him. They knew the power in the Name of Jesus as evidenced by their professing to have prophesised and cast out demons in His name, yet their hearts were not set on loving God, because if they were the lives would not be filled with the iniquity Jesus condemned them for.

Answer 3

Jesus said in John 3:3, Except a man be born again he will not see the kingdom of Heaven. Born again Spiritually, believing in Jesus on faith, it is a gift, not of works, check out Ephesians chapter 2:8&9

Answer 4

From a Calvinistic perspective, you are saved soley by God's grace, not by your deeds. However, if you are saved, you will want to do good deeds, to share the love God has for you with the world around you. That is why we are saved by faith onto good works.

The problem often becomes the idea that I, the fallible sinnful, fallen human being, can do anything that would make God love me more than He already does. It is a trap even I have fallen into at times. The people Jesus mentions in the above passage were expecting to "earn" their salvation instead of relying on God's grace. By having that mindset, they became idolators, worshipping their deeds, good as they may have been, instead of God.

Answer 5

Neither. we are saved by technique of one and one element in basic terms: our Oneness with God. because we were made contained in the image and likeness of God, all of us be able to Be the Christ or Be the Buddha. regrettably, after the fall of guy, maximum were walking in darkness of the interest of separation from God even at the same time as believing in God in an outer sense. idea in Christ on my own received't keep us. We should be the Christ, no longer in basic terms be a Christian. Jesus instructed us that the dominion of God is interior us and that is the position we ought to discover it. take under consideration Jesus' parable of the marriage banquet the position between the travelers tried to enter the banquet with out first putting contained in the marriage garment. the marriage garment symbolizes the Christ expertise (of Oneness with God). with out this, no remember what our outer believes are, we are no longer saved. we are able to not attain that which we at the moment aren't any more. although, all of us have the skill to comprehend the Christ expertise and hence all of us might want to be saved. Salvation itself skill completely ascending to the better nation-states of spirit. that is everlasting when we've a million) balanced our costs to existence and 2) conquer the interest of separation (everyday because the duality expertise) and placed on the concepts of Christ.

Answer 6

Works are irrelevant when it comes to being saved. Lots of unsaved people do good works. They may even do good works for a church but if they haven't accepted Christ into their hearts they won't go to heaven. All one has to do to get into heaven is to accept Christ and believe. All good works are like filthy rags compared to God's righteousness. That's not to say you shouldn't do good works, but you should do them for the right reasons....not just so you can get into heaven.
You should do good works and help people because it's the right thing to do and what Jesus would want you to do.
As far as earning a spot in heaven through good works it can NEVER be done because nothing you do can ever be good enough.
The wages of sin is death, which is why Jesus came to pay that debt for us, we have all sinned and all fallen short at one time or another.
Eric G above is right.

Answer 7

The attack on the false prophets is continued, but is broadened to include those disciples who perform works of healing and exorcism in the name of Jesus (Lord) but live evil lives. Entrance into the kingdom is only for those who do the will of the Father. On the day of judgment (on that day) the morally corrupt prophets and miracle workers will be rejected by Jesus.


Saved by faith FOR good works, for His glory. THAT is Catholic teaching, for Suzi, who continues to lie about what we believe.

Answer 8

There always seems to be confusion over what kind of works in the various examples.

These works may well be works of social service. For instance, Jesse Jackson claims to do "good works" when it comes to addressing the social ills that beset those of his cultural heritage, yet he does it by instilling class envy; hardly what we would call a work of love in that regard. The result of what he teaches is the exact opposite -- hatred and distrust is fostered.

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Answer 9

The last part of verse 23 says why they were not saved. They worked in iniquity (ie sin). And just to play devils advocate, if our works DON'T matter, what does verse 20 of the same chapter refer to?

Answer 10

Pastor Billy says: as I only answer questions on Christianity (Catholic) tell me when you get to that part as you haven't yet.

BTW you might want to advise BrotherM_soandso to include Eph2:10 everytime he quotes 2:8-9

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

addendum: phil, grace alone is Catholic belief, it is by Grace alone that we even have the opportunity of salvation. You have adopted Grace alone from Catholicism not the other way round.

Catholicism teaches for any good work to have value it must be done in love. Everytime a non-Catholic raises the point of "works" they do so arguing against the OT works of the law and use NT chapter and verse out-of-context in attacking the Catholic theology of works of love.
Not once have I seen any of our Catholic critics attack or use the words of James in explaining "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." James2:18
James rightly suggests faith is not of value unless it is active and bathed in good works.

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

addendum#2 Edge keep reading our Catholic book the Christian bible perhaps one day you'll discover the authentic Church of Christ and join us in full unity "let them be one as you and I are one, so the world will believe"