Saved From Sinning: More Than a Ticket to Heaven

If a Christian is saved by faith and not by works, why should anyone who has been saved bother to do the things Jesus tells us to do? I want to be honest with you: this is one of the conundrums I genuinely struggled with as a believer, and I believe any serious thinker of evangelical faith will struggle with it too.

The Scriptures are not ambiguous about how we are saved. Paul says a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16), and again, “a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28). Then there is the verse many of us memorized first:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NKJV)

So if my ticket into heaven is confirmed by faith in what Jesus has done, why obey? Some say obedience is the evidence that you have saving faith. But who needs that evidence — me, other people, or God? If I don’t have saving faith, I know it and God knows it. So are my good works simply to please people, to be seen of men?

Others say if you don’t do what Jesus says, you may lose your salvation. But notice how we only apply that to adultery, fornication, and murder — and even then we add, “if you repent, you get your ticket back.” Will you lose your salvation for failing to pray for your enemies? For not doing good to those who hate you? For not going to reconcile with a brother who has something against you? We don’t really believe that either.

And the conundrum is not helped by Jesus himself. He commissioned his disciples to teach the nations “to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). He asked a question that should stop every one of us:

But why do you call Me “Lord, Lord,” and not do the things which I say?

Luke 6:46 (NKJV)

He said whoever hears his sayings and does them is a wise man building on rock, and whoever hears and does not do them is a fool building on sand — and great is the fall of that house (Matthew 7:24–27). Paul agrees: God “will repay each person according to what they have done” (Romans 2:6). Clearly, doing what Jesus tells us to do is a really big deal. My goal here is to leave you with authentic, genuine motivation — to find everything Jesus tells us to do, and to commit to making the effort, by his power, to do it.

Salvation is more than a ticket to heaven

We have preached salvation like it is an airline boarding pass. “Do you have your ticket?” “Yes.” “Then just hold it until the trumpet sounds.” But Jesus did not come to hand out tickets. Jesus came to produce sons and daughters of God.

Listen carefully: Jesus did not come to get sinners into heaven; he came to get heaven into sinners — so that sinners become sons. John puts it this way:

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

John 1:12 (KJV)

Power to become. For someone to be saved means that a person whom sin had damaged and destroyed has been transformed — and is being transformed — into a child of God, a God-like person over whom, like God, sin has no more power.

This is why I say Jesus did not just come to save us from our sins. He came to save us from sinning — where sinning is not merely breaking certain laws and commandments, but acting in a way contrary to your God-like nature.

The salvation Jesus wants to accomplish in you

So yes, I agree that my good works do not earn me salvation. In fact, my good works earn me nothing with God; only faith in Jesus my Savior matters. Yet faith in Jesus as Savior only exists where I am doing what Jesus tells me to do. Because what Jesus came to do is not just punch you a ticket to heaven — he came to make you the kind of person who cannot miss heaven.

Of course such a person cannot miss heaven; heaven is their natural home. But notice what else becomes natural:

• Not sinning becomes their natural way of living.
• Loving their enemies becomes their natural attitude toward their enemies.
• Returning good for evil becomes their natural response to evil.
• Receiving everyone in purity of heart becomes how they relate to every person — so that fornication, adultery, and sexual immorality do not even cross their path.

They live like God every day because Jesus has made them become like God in every way. So I define salvation this way: salvation is the process of becoming like Jesus in every way, so that you can live like Jesus every day.

This is why Jesus talks about what kind of person you are, not just what things you are doing:

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

Matthew 12:33 (NKJV)

Jesus saves us by making the tree good so the fruit is good. Salvation is God making you become who you were always meant to be — a good tree — so that you will always produce good fruit. No matter how hard you squeeze a tube of toothpaste, it will always produce toothpaste. It will never produce salad cream. And Jesus on the cross would always say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” — because there was nothing else in him that could come out. No hate, no bitterness, no anger.

How obedience fits in

So how does all this answer our question — why should I make the effort, with the help of Jesus, to do what Jesus commands? Here it is: while doing what Jesus commands does not get you into heaven, making the effort to do it through his help is how Jesus saves you. It is how he changes you inwardly, making you become the son or daughter of God that you are.

And you need his power, because what Jesus asks is impossible without God. Jesus says, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” — which, by implication, means that if you are doing nothing, you are apart from Jesus. A person making no effort to do what Jesus says does not actually, truly have faith in Jesus as Savior. This is why I no longer only ask people, “Do you believe in Jesus?” — his finished work on the cross. I ask, “Do you believe Jesus?” — everything he did and said, including his finished work.

Obedience to Jesus is not the price you pay to earn salvation. It is the place you come to for Jesus to save you — to change your nature, to make you more like God in every way so you can naturally live like God every day. Every time we do what Jesus taught, simply because he taught it, we are stepping into his grace. We are cooperating with his Spirit. We are allowing him to make the tree good so the fruit can be good.

Three places to start practicing

Let me give you some practical examples of how to go after this salvation of Jesus.

Anger. Jesus does not just want you to stop exploding in anger; he wants you to be the kind of person who will never explode in anger. Period. So what does he tell you to start practicing, through his power and presence and grace? Refuse to get angry. Refuse to call someone a fool or an idiot. Go to the person who is angry with you, or whom you upset, and make peace. These things by themselves will not get you into heaven. But each time you ask Jesus to help you do them, Jesus is changing you — making you become the kind of person who responds with peace, patience, and healing love. He is saving you.

Purity. Jesus does not just want you to avoid fornication and adultery; he wants to make you the kind of person who will never struggle there — whose thoughts and actions are always pure, whose inner desires are clean, whole, and aligned with God. So he asks you not to look on a man or woman with sexual desire. “God, how is that even possible?” With man it is not possible. But with God it is. So you come and say, “Jesus, deal with this in me.” And then Jesus says, “Delete the account. Block that number.” God, this is so hard! But as you do it through his help, he is cleaning you up. He is saving you.

Offense. Jesus does not just want us to avoid being evil or violent toward people; he wants us to become unoffendable — people God can give so much power because they will never use it for evil, people who are self-controlled and not controlled by what others do. So when someone does evil against you, do not look for ways to hurt them back. Look for ways to bless them, love them, and pay them good for the evil they have done. He is training you to be strong under pressure — like God, who is always good no matter how bad people are.

He came to transform your tree

He doesn’t want you to act holy — he wants you to be holy. He doesn’t want you to avoid sin — he wants you to outgrow sin. He doesn’t want you merely to stop doing evil — he wants you to become the kind of person who naturally does good. This is why he talks about trees and fruit. A good tree will always produce good fruit; a bad tree can never produce good fruit.

Hear this revelation: Jesus didn’t come to police your fruit; he came to transform your tree. And the place where you will meet him for that is the place of obedience — of doing whatever he tells you to do. He says, “Come to me. Come be with me. Come follow me with the intention to do what I say, and I will help you. I will make you become like me in every way, and watch as you live like me every day. I will save you.”

The world does not need more Christians who believe the right doctrines. The world needs Christians who have become the right kind of people. The gospel is not about getting you into heaven; it is about getting heaven into you — until earth looks like heaven because you walked through it. When believers obey Jesus, our homes become havens of peace, our marriages become sanctuaries of grace, our workplaces are flooded with integrity, and our communities feel the weight of the Kingdom.

So here is your response: find something Jesus said — this week — and set out to do it, simply because he said it. Ask him for the power as you go. Pray it plainly: “Jesus, I will open my heart. I won’t be holding back. Make me like you in every way, so I can live like you every day.”