What Doesn’t Save Us?

How would you answer someone who asks, "What saves us?" Don't think about what you would say, but rather about what you believe as reflected through what you do.   Looking at those around us,  it  is  painfully apparent that  there would be many wrong answers.
Let's look at the question this way.  What things won't save us?
In the first place, sincerity will not save us.   It is essential that we be sincere about what we are doing.   But, by itself, sincerity simply won't do it.
"And Paul," Acts 23:1 notes, "looking intently at the Council, said, 'Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience  before God up to this day.'"
Paul was being sincere in Acts chapter nine.
"Now Saul," we read in the first two verses, "still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men  and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem."
He was on his way to sincerely imprison and even kill Christians when Jesus confronted him in the following verses.
"And it came about that as he journeyed," we find, "he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'"
Saul was sincerely persecuting Jesus.   Until the Judgment. Day, there will be sincere people who, like Saul, are sincerely mistaken in their religious ideas.
"Not everyone who says to Me,  'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven;" Jesus states in Matthew 7:21-23, "but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and In Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them,  'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"
Sincerity will not save us.   Contrary to popular  belief, traditions will not save us, either.
"Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem," Matthew 15:1-9 recounts, "saying,  'Why do Your disciples transgress  the tradition of the elders?  For  they do not wash their  hands when they eat bread.'
"And He answered and said to them,  'And why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, "Honor your father and mother," and, "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death," But you say, "Whoever shall say to (his) father or mother,  'Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given (to God,)' he is not to honor his father or his mother."  And {thus} you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.   But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men."'"
Many man-made traditions fall in the same category as the works of law found in the Old Testament.  And works of law will not save us.
	"Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or  in  respect to a festival  or a new moon  or a Sabbath day," Paul Instructs in Colossians 2:16-23,  "things which are a (mere) shadow of what is to come;  but the substance belongs  to Christ.   Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels,  taking his stand on  (visions) he has seen,  inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,  and not holding fast to the  head,  from whom  the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments,  grows with a growth which  is from God.   If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as  if you were living  in  the world,  do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,  'Do not handle,  do not taste,  do not touch!' (which all (refer to) things destined to perish with the using)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, (but are) of no value against fleshly indulgence."
	Neither sincerity not tradition will save us.

	Sincerity will not save us.  And tradition will not save us, just as works of law will not save us.  To think that we can earn our salvation in any way is like saying we can be good enough to be saved.
	"What then?"  Paul asks  in  Romans  3:9,10.    "Are we  better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as  it is written,  'There is none righteous, not even one.'"
	"But now apart from the Law," Paul continues in verses 21-23,  "(the) righteousness of God has been manifested,  being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even  (the)  righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
	Tradition will not save us.   We cannot earn  salvation  by observing works of law or by being good enough.   Another thing which will not save us is ignorance.
	"Therefore having overlooked the times of  ignorance,"  Paul notes  in Acts  17:30-31,  "God  is  now declaring  to men  that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
	God will not accept ignorance as an excuse on the Judgment Day.   Ignorance will not save us.
	"Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for (their) salvation," Paul comments in Romans  10:1-3.   "For I bear them witness that  they  have a zeal for God,  but not  in accordance with knowledge.   For not knowing about God's  righteousness, and seeking to establish their own,  they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God."
	Ignorance won't save us.   It will just get us into trouble.
	"As obedient children,"  1  Peter  1:14 suggests,  "do not be conformed to the former lusts  (which were yours)  in your  ignorance."
	When we are ignorant we follow the ways of the world and not the way of God.
	"This I say therefore and affirm together with the Lord," Paul  instructs in Ephesians  4:17-20,  "that  you  walk  no  longer just as the Gentiles also walk,  in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God,  because of the ignorance that  is  in  them,  because of the hardness of their heart;  and they,  having become callous,  have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.   But you did not learn Christ in this way."
	Sincerity, tradition and ignorance will not save us.   And, believe it or not,  the things we so eagerly seek  in this  life will not save us.   We will not be saved by money, cars,  jobs or houses.   Jesus points this out in Luke chapter 12.
	"And someone in the crowd said to Him," we  read  in  verses 13-15, "'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the (family) inheritance with me.'
	"But He said to him, 'Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbiter over you?'   And He said  to  them,  'Beware,  and be on  your guard against every form of greed; for not (even) when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.'"
	The things which seem so important and valuable in this life will be worthless on the Judgment Day.  Jesus makes this clear in verses 22-34 of the same chapter.
	"I say to you," Jesus instructs,  "do not be anxious for (your) life,  (as to) what you shall eat; nor for your body,  (as to) what you shall put on.   For life is more than food, and the body than clothing.   Consider the  ravens,  for they neither sow nor  reap;  and they  have  no storeroom  nor  barn;  and  (yet)  God feeds them;  how much more valuable you are than  the birds.   And which of you by being anxious can add a (single) cubit to his life's span?  If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why are you anxious about other matters?   Consider the  lilies,  how they grow;  they neither toil nor spin; but I  tell you,  even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.  But  if God so arrays  the  grass  in  the field,  which  is (alive) today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more (will He clothe) you,  O men of little faith.    And do not seek what you shall eat,  and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying.   For all these things the  nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.   Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near,  nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure  is,  there will your heart be also."
	The things which preoccupy us in this life will not save us. The world scoffs at this  idea, but that's O.K.   People reacted the same way to Jesus.
	"Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things,"   Luke  16:14,15 records,  "and they were scoffing at Him.  And He said to them, 'You are those who justify yourselves  in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts;  for that which  is  highly  esteemed among men  is  detestable  in  the sight of God.'"
	"For we have brought nothing into the world," we are reminded  in  1  Timothy  6:7-10,  "so we cannot take anything out of  it either.  And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.  But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many  foolish  and harmful  desires  which  plunge men into ruin and destruction.   For the love of money  is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang."
	"Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God," Paul adds in verses 17-19, "who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.   (Instruct them) to do good,  to be rich in good works,  to be generous and  ready  to  share,  storing  up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation  for the future,  so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed."
Satan would like for us to believe that we can do just about anything and still be saved.  But God's plan is plain and simple.  There is only one way to heaven.  We must obey the truth in order to be set free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."