None But Jesus Christ

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

There it is, it says it plainly - and I believed it all along. I understood it to be true. But to read it in scripture is a warm thing. Those who are saved are saved through Jesus Christ. Whether they be awake or asleep they obtain salvation. They wholly accept and invite Christ into their hearts. There is nothing else. Conscious development alone saves no man. Any such effort must be tied to the one God and mediator between God and men: our Prophet, Priest, Lord and King: Jesus Christ. Not that we are invited to sleep, on the contrary the preceeding verses explicitly request that we remain sober and watch. It is a part of our armour, to watch. Truly there is no place for spiritual sloth and slumber. We are ever at war, guarding against sin and the temptations that so lured the old man. Yet, we may stumble - our works can never save us. Or, as Herman Witsius puts it: None but God can restore us to true liberty.