Faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ

Hebrews 11:1&6 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Nobody was ever “saved” from the penalty of sin by a profession of faith. Justification (the action by God whereby men & women are forgiven and freed from the penalty of their sin) is not by their “profession of faith”; you must possess faith (enter into it, to have it, own it, keep it, and control it – Webster’s). Faith is not an emotion or a feeling: it is the belief of one saved by grace & mercy, in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Not just saying “I don’t want to Sin – what would Jesus do?”, but living out faith, saying from the heart “Why would I Sin?” James 2:24 You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

Mistakenly, by not understanding the gospel, many believe that it is by “good’ works that they are “saved”, but God doesn’t “grade on the curve” to see who gets into Heaven or not. Others believe that they can make amends for Sins committed by performing “good deeds” to earn their forgiveness and salvation. God’s standard is not a scale that measures whether we “do more good things than sins”. “Good Works” add nothing to any merit of our own outside of faith. We contribute nothing to the grounds of our justification. My old pastor defined justification as “being found - just as if I had never sinned” by Christ taking our guilt upon Himself (paying our penalty on the Cross, while giving us His innocence. I’ve heard it put this way: Jesus paid a debt that He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt that we couldn’t pay. The only ground of our justification before a just & holy God is the merit of Christ and His righteousness alone. We need to understand this truth of authentic “saving” faith because many are being deceived about “earning your way” into Heaven, which is not the Gospel. In John5:39-40 Jesus says: “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

The Bible explains in James 2;10-11 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery (lusting in your mind)," also said, "Do not murder (hate your brother in your heart)." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker”. Nobody’s perfect! Romans 3:22-24 explains that “ Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” There’s the key and if we truly possess “justifying faith”, then we will manifest that ‘true” faith immediately and naturally in the bearing of “good” fruit, loving your neighbor, and “good’ works. Ephesians 2;8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. I’ve heard it stated this way: “We don’t do “good’ works to get saved, but because we are saved”. And they are not empty, naked or worthless works, because a “Believer” is a changed person (from death to life by the Holy Spirit). It is out of the heart that we believe and out of regeneration that we embrace Christ and become increasingly Christ-like. If you are “Reborn” (Born again from above) of the Spirit of God, you are different; not a “cleaned and dressed up” version of yourself, but a “new” you in Christ (a new heart, a new vision and a new purpose) and “good” works shall naturally follow. From that point … 2Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight.

Turn this lost & dying world, that doesn’t know the Gospel of Jesus, up-side-down. No matter what has been written in our book of life in the past, we can write “faith” on the rest of the pages. Look at life through God; not God through life! Live the abundant life in Christ!

Brian