I want to say Merry Christmas to you today, but
I also want to get right to a Bible verse, Galatians
5 .2. In Galatians 5 .2, Paul writes, Behold,
I, Paul, say unto you, that if you receive circumcision,
Christ will profit you nothing. Will these be
people who are already professing Christians,
and then they're going out of their way to be
circumcised, which is kind of a painful process,
by the way. to be circumcised in order to prove
that they are saved or even prove to themselves
they are saved. That's what was going on in Galatia
in Paul's day. And Paul says if you will do that,
if you will engage in certain activities to prove
to yourself that you are saved or to be safe
and be sure that you are saved or to prove to
others that you are saved, then no, no. Then
your salvation is of no value. Your salvation
has not actually happened in Jesus Christ. The
only way to be saved is through Jesus, not through
certain activities. You can't prove it to yourself
by certain activities or prove it to anyone else
by certain activities. On the other hand, there
are marks of what it means to be God's people
and being involved in a Bible preaching, Bible
teaching, Christian church, however you can,
locally to you. That is a mark of being a Christian.
You can't do it to be a Christian. You can't
gain your salvation that way. Prove to yourself
that you're saved that way, and no one can tell
you that you have to do that in order to be saved.
But if you are saved, then you are God's people,
and you must be the body of Christ, and you must
be in a local church that is preaching and teaching
and saving the best they can the lost and dying
world. You will give, you will love, you will
be kind, you will exhibit the fruits of the Spirit,
and you will grow, not be perfect, but grow daily
into the image of Jesus Christ, our Lord and
Savior. You can't take on certain activities
to prove that you're saved, or even to make you
saved. but you can live for Jesus.