The Story of Isla • A Short Story

Isla had done it.  She had seen the beautiful necklace in the house that she was helping to paint, and she took it when nobody was looking.
The next day when she was asked about it, her palms sweated and her heart beat fast, but she lied and she got away with it.
She was 13 years old.

This was only the beginning.
She was a beautiful girl, but she became proficient at deceit as time went by.

A few months later she was out with friends at a park (in disobedience to her parents), and she ran across a kind stranger in the park.
When she got home, she blamed the stranger for detaining her and scaring her and hurting her.
The story of a predator in the park was broadcast on the news that night.
The man was found and prosecuted.  She lied on the stand.

At age 17, Isla ran away from home.  She stole and she hung out with other thieves.

One day the gang beat up a local pastor while stealing from a church and still she wasn't caught. 

She didn't stay pure either. She met up with many abusive men, and her face and attitude hardened.

She finally started working when she was 18 and no longer afraid of her parents being able to try to make her go home.
She actually did pretty well, and she was able to work her way up to styling the hair of well-known people...and then...

Isla saw him.  He was a politician running for governor.  She didn't like him or his politics. 

She played up to him, and then she began to make accusations online.
She had an abortion around that time, and she accused him of being the father.
His was the house that she had once stolen a necklace from, and she still had the necklace.
She then used the necklace as evidence that the candidate had been grooming her as a child.
The man was annihilated by the media. He lost the election.

One day Isla heard a street preacher as she was walking down the street. 

He made her angry. 

She spit at him and gave him a hard time. He was the pastor her gang had once beat up.
He was back the next day.   He pointed out how lying and stealing and murder were sins against God. She continued to spew out venom.

The next day she went back to hear him again. She heard a little more. 

 She heard about the Triune God.  

God the Father in love sent His sinless righteous Son fully God and fully man to be born of a virgin, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and to live a perfect life that she couldn't live.  

His Son Christ Jesus took the punishment for sinners so that they could be forgiven.  She heard that He rose from the dead on the 3rd day. 

She was told that she must repent and trust in Christ alone to save her from her sins. 

She was still angry, but she thought about it.

Then one day she was caught. The necklace and church items she had stolen were confiscated. 

She was hauled off to jail, and she awaited her trial.
The jury found her guilty. The judge was going to sentence her. 

Then suddenly the bailiff spoke to the judge quietly.

Then the judge spoke up.  The pastor has paid for the church items and the necklace you stole. The charges are dropped. He has interceded for you.  He is my son.
Tears streamed down Isla's face. 

She felt the weight of all of her sins against God, and silently she cried out to God for mercy.

By Faith Alone Or Faith Plus Works?

Can anybody help someone else get into Heaven?

No man can by any means redeem his brother
Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
And he should cease trying forever—
Psalm 47:7-8 NASB

There would be no reason for the Gospel, if a mere man (like a pope) could get people into Heaven before or after death.

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
Hebrews 9:27 NASB

So, it is the Gospel that people need to hear while on earth which is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).  


Only Jesus, fully God and fully man, was able to redeem sinful people. 

Pardon for sin can only be purchased by God, yet Jesus had to also be fully a man (Hebrews 2:17) as well as God  the Son (John 5:21) to take the sins of mankind upon Himself.

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Revelation 5:9 NASB

All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; 
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
Isaiah 53:6 NASB

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;                                                    
1 Peter 3:18 NASB

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:10 NASB

Not one person can be saved without God regenerating them (Titus 3:5-6).  Faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christians are born  from above of the Spirit.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:3-8 NASB

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,  whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Titus 3:5-6 NASB

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
John 6:63

Christ's death was sufficient.

Hebrews 9 and so many other passages makes it clear that Christ died once for all.

He isn't continually being sacrificed for sin in communion.

The death for all doesn't mean everyone who ever lived on the planet, but it means that He died for all the sins of anyone who would ever believe.   

He died for all the sheep that God gave Him, as He is like a Shepherd with a flock that He tenderly cares for.  He will never lose those who are truly of His flock.

If you repent of sin that enslaves you and that will send you to the just eternal judgment in the fires of Hell, and if you turn to trust in Christ's death for your sin - then you will be a part of God's sheep saved by grace.  Genuine Christians will desire to obey Christ, but good deeds can never earn a bit of your salvation.  A true believer has died to sin, so we are now able to follow Christ.  If someone claims to have Christ, but they don't act any differently....they don't truly belong to Him.

Some may say, "I'm justified by faith and works."  

If that is you, it is a confusion of what James meant about Abraham being justified by works.  Works are the fruit of salvation.  They are not the root.  
The Spirit empowers a true Christian to be able to do good works, because He indwells the true believer.  
It was Abraham's faith (believing God) that was reckoned to him as righteousness.  
It wasn't any set of good deeds he did that helped earn him Heaven.

Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” 
John 6:28-29

God passed over sins from the past of those who were looking forward to a salvation that was not yet completed on earth (Romans 3:25).
Abraham's actions only proved that his faith was genuine and alive (James 2:26). 
Please don't confuse the cart of good works with the horse of faith.

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
Romans 11:6 NASB

Works are an outworking of the salvation the Christian already has, not a cause of it (Philippians 2:13). 
The only work that saves is the work God did.  The dead cannot respond without God giving life. 

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