In Acts the third chapter, we read of a man being miraculously healed. A man unable to walk from the time he was born was laid daily at the gate of the temple called Beautiful. The man was laid there because there were many people who entered the temple from that location, and since his purpose for being there was to ask alms, that location would prove beneficial (Acts 3:2). This, however, was to be an extraordinary day for this man. Two of the people who went up to the temple on this day were the apostles, Peter and John. The lame man asked alms of them, but they had nothing to give him, that is, no silver or gold. Having been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles had something more valuable than money to give this poor man. Peter said to him, “…In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Thus, the man was healed. The purpose of the miracle was to afford the apostles the opportunity to preach through Jesus the resurrection of the dead, and this they did (Acts 4:2). This grieved the Jewish leaders and they imprisoned Peter and John until the next day. After spending the night in jail, the apostles were brought before these Jewish leaders and questioned about the miracle they performed (Acts 4:7). In their response, the apostles gave full credit to Jesus Christ (Acts 4:9-12). The Jewish leaders did not like what they heard, but there was no denying the miracle that was performed (Acts 4:14, 16).

As the apostles stood before the high priest, and other Jewish leaders, they spoke a truth that will stand as long as this earth does. In Acts 4:12, they declared, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Truly this is a significant statement. If there is one truth that we all can agree on, it is that Jesus saves. I am afraid that sometimes we lose sight of this basic truth. We begin, without even noticing it, putting our confidence in sources other than Jesus. Let’s look at a few things that do not save.

Not saved by self

It is easy, if we are not careful, to begin putting confidence in ourselves in regard to salvation. While there is certainly actions that we must take in order to be saved, such as obeying the gospel, it is still Jesus that saves us. We are saved by works (James 2:14-26), but not perfect works (Ephesians 2:9). In other words, we must obey God in order to maintain fellowship with Him after we respond to the invitation of the gospel, but we are not saved by a perfect, sinless observance of God’s will. If we lived without sin, we would be saving ourselves. We are told, however, that we have all sinned (Romans 3:23). It is too late to rely on ourselves for salvation. We must rely on Jesus and the cleansing power of His blood (1 John 1:7). When we forget this simple fact, we begin to question our salvation. We look at our many short-comings and conclude that we are not good enough to be saved. We have not done enough, said enough, or even thought enough good thoughts. This kind of thinking leads some Christians into wondering about their salvation. Now, don’t misunderstand
me, there is nothing wrong with wondering about our salvation at times. However, we should be wondering about things such as “have we properly obeyed the gospel?” or “are we doing our best to serve God by seeking His kingdom first in our lives?” But to wonder about things such as “have I flawlessly kept the commandments of God?” or “have I lived perfectly?” is to remove the emphasis from Christ and place it on self. Apart from grace, and the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, all the good works in the world will not get us to heaven. On the other hand, in Christ we will be saved, in spite of our many faults and flaws.

Not saved by the church

The church does not save, the church is the saved (Acts 2:47; Ephesians 5:23). At times some Christians think that because they are members of the church that Christ built, as opposed to being in a man-made denomination, they are saved. There might be some truth to that as long as the reasoning is sound. There is salvation in the church only because there is union with Jesus there. If a child of God begins to think that he is saved because of his connection with the church instead of his connection with Christ, he is putting his confidence in the wrong source. It is to think that salvation is secured because of the superior organization of which he is a part. Furthermore, that kind of reasoning leads one into thinking that as long as he is a part of the church, he is saved. That is clearly an unscriptural conclusion. As sad as it may be, there are some in the church who have lost fellowship with God. The fornicator of First Corinthians five was in the church, but he was not right with God. Ananias and Sapphira were in the church, but they were lost. Simon of Acts 8 obeyed the gospel and was added to the church, but then he fell away. He lost favor with God while in the church. Clearly, our confidence in salvation should be in Jesus, not in the church that Jesus built. Remember, the universal church is not an organization; it is a group of called out people. While our association with those people is important, it does not save us. Our association with Jesus saves us, and fellowship with others who have been called out by the gospel, is a blessing that comes as a result of our union with Him.

Not Saved by Being Better than Others

Sometimes people conclude that they are saved simply because they are better than other people. Religious people are especially susceptible to this kind of thinking. You see, we live in a world that is so bad morally, that it is easy to see what others are doing and think to ourselves, “boy, I’m a lot better than that.” Sometimes we can begin to think in that way even when we are comparing our-selves to other members of the church. The saints at Corinth were guilty of such.

2 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV)
12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Do some of us do that once in a while? Someone says, “I pray more than this or that person so I must be saved.” Or, “I attend services better than this or that person so I must be pleasing to Je-sus.” However, whether or not those things are true, we must realize that other people are not the standard by which we are going to be judged. Instead, we will be judged by the Word of God

John 12:48 (ESV)
48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

Jesus saves! Our parents can’t save us. Our education can’t save us. Our financial status can’t save us. Jeus is the only answer to a right relationship with God and a heavenly home after while.