The resurrection to life must be attained by the most diligent application to the pursuit of Christ of which we, with the Lord's assistance, are capable. Nothing less will gain the prize of eternal life in the body.

Some may object that we are saying we are saved by works. Of course we are, if by works one means following Christ diligently every day. When Paul was contrasting faith and works he was not contrasting faith in Christ with godly behavior, he was contrasting faith in Christ with the Law of Moses. True faith always is expressed in the right kind of works, which is the diligent pursuit of Christ every day of our discipleship. Apart from such a pursuit of eternal life, there is no genuine faith, only mental assent to the facts surrounding Christ.

We receive Christ at a certain point and our sins are forgiven. Then we are born again of the Spirit of God.

Each day from that point we are to turn away from the world, from the lusts of our flesh, and from self-will. We are to pursue eternal life. If we do not, if we do not bear the fruit of Christ's moral image that God is looking for, we will be removed from the Vine, from Christ. In this case we will not gain the immortality we are hoping for. We have sown to our fleshly nature and most assuredly shall reap destruction in the day of resurrection.

But the Bible says, "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved." Precisely so. We are to believe in Christ, be baptized in water, and then keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. If we do not we will reap destruction in the Day of the Lord. If we do not keep His commandments we do not truly believe in Christ.

A doctor may be able to heal us, to save us from an early death. But if we do not do what he says we will not be healed. It is as simple as this. Faith that the doctor can heal us is not sufficient. We have to do what he says. So it is with faith in Jesus Christ. He can save us from spiritual death, but only if we do what He says. Merely believing He can save us is not enough; we must keep His commandments. If we do not we neither really believe in Him nor do we love Him.

The salvation that is coming in the future is the redeeming of our body with the eternal Life of the Spirit of God. But in order to gain the prize we must do what Christ and His Apostles have told us. Eternal life is our goal and we must lay hold of it. We must fight the good fight of faith if we expect to arrive at our destination.

Who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:5—NIV)

We are at the last time now, and this is why the Lord is making the Scriptures clear to us. He is preparing us for the mighty acts of redemption that will enable us to be more than conquerors throughout the age of moral horrors we are entering.

To be continued.