We have seen in recent visits that though man has great resources he is impotent when it comes to saving himself. Without Christ it is impossible for man to achieve anything of eternal significance.
There are some, however, who feel that with Christ’s help they can do what is necessary to achieve salvation – Christ does some things for us that we can’t do for ourselves, but there are some things we can and must do. Usually they refer to James 2:26 as a basis for this view: “Faith without works is dead.”
Paul, however, points out that if I must add to what Christ has done, then Christ’s work was not complete and grace would be no more grace. In fact, Paul says works and grace are mutually exclusive. You cannot mix them.
A Christian was trying to win a cabinetmaker friend to faith in Christ. The cabinetmaker, however, thought he had to do something too. One day the Christian was visiting him in his shop. He picked up a plane, went over to a finished cabinet, and acted as though he was going to use the plane on the top surface.
“Stop! You’ll spoil it!” the cabinetmaker shouted. “That surface is finished!”
The Christian then graciously pointed out, “That’s the way it is with salvation. It is a finished work of Christ. If you try to do anything more than what He has done you will only spoil it.”
To be saved we must accept the perfect, finished work of Christ on the cross by faith. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote in Romans 11:6, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
