John 9:13-41: Three Pictures of Faith

Titus 3:5–7 He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Intro

What kind of faith is your faith?

That’s a little bit of an odd question is it not.

What kind of faith? Isn’t there only one? You either have faith or you don’t?

Well that’s not exactly true.

What’s your faith in? Jesus or something else?

People have all kinds of faith in false gods and false Messiahs.

Even atheism is a form of faith.

And then what does that faith actually look like?

Is it flighty and superficial?…Take it or leave it making no actual or practical difference in your life?

Or is it a strong…persevering…committed faith no matter the cost?

What kind of faith do you have?

And that is a crucial question because there is only one kind of faith that actually saves.

And its a crucial question for the Gospel of John and one of the main reasons he wrote this book.

That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31).

The trial of the Man Born Blind, the Pharisees, and his unbelieving parents all come together to give us a picture of what saving faith…believing in His name…actually looks like…and what it doesn’t.

In John 9:13-41, John gives us three pictures of faith…

One that has the power to save and two that don’t so that we would look at ourselves and ask what kind of faith do I actually have?

So we would do as Paul says and Examine ourselves, and test ourselves, to see whether or not we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5).

So we are going to look at those 3 pictures of faith…

Two that don’t actually save…

And one that leads to eternal life.

And that’s our Big Idea.

The only faith that saves is the faith that receives Jesus Christ and rests on Him alone for eternal life.

We are going to have three points today.

Number 1: The Self-Righteous Faith of the Self-Righteous Pharisees

Number 2: The Worldly Faith of the Unbelieving Parents

And Number 3: The Saving Faith of the Man Born Blind.

Let’s start with point number 1…

I. The Self-Righteous Faith of the Self-Righteous Pharisees

John 9:13–17 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

To remind you where we are.

There was a Man Born Blind, and Jesus healed this man manifesting His glory and grace as the Messiah and the Son of God who alone can save us from our sin, open our blind eyes, and give us eternal life (John 9:1-7).

And when the Man came back seeing, all His neighbors and those who used to see him beg said, “Who is this?” (John 9:8-12).

It was such an impossible and astounding miracle they could not believe it was the same person.

But the Man said, “Its me! I am the man!”

And when they asked him how, he said, “Jesus healed me.”

Well where is He? Where did He go?

And the Man said I do not know.

Well this obviously caused all kinds of confusion and consternation.

Is this really the man? Who is this Jesus?

If He can open the eyes of a man born blind what does that mean?

And since they couldn’t find Jesus they decided to bring the Man who had been born blind to the experts…the Pharisees…the religious leaders of Jesus’ day to get their insight on the matter, and ask what are we to make of all this?

And what ensues becomes a trial of sorts surrounding Jesus and who He is because Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath.

Sabbath

This was a sticking point for the Pharisees.

Some did not believe Jesus could be sent from God because He was not keeping the Sabbath.

While others argued, How could a man who was a sinner and not from God do the miracles Christ was able to do, even opening the eyes of a Man Born Blind?

The Sabbath was a big deal for the Jews.

Going back to Creation where God rested on the 7th day and God giving the Law at Mount Sinai after He brought the people of Israel out of Egypt saying Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8), and Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you (Exodus 31:12–13)…

The Sabbath was Israel’s way of saying God is our Sovereign Lord, Creator, and Savior.

And breaking the Sabbath was tantamount to rejecting God and His covenant saying essential “You are not our God and we are not your people.”

This was why the Pharisees were so concerned about the Sabbath.

But Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath.

He was breaking the Pharisees Man-Made Rules and religion surrounding the Sabbath.

Where God had given the Sabbath as type of His grace where we rest from our works by resting in the finished work of Christ…

The Pharisees ironically took the Sabbath and turned it into a day of works.

All kinds of things you needed to do to make yourself holy.

Self-Righteousness

And this is what they did not just with the Sabbath but with the whole Law.

They looked God’s Law and instead of seeing it as a tutor meant to point and lead them to Christ…to show them their need for a Savior…all they saw was a ladder they could climb straight to heaven (Galatians 3:22-24).

They turned the Law and the worship of God into a legalistic, works-based religion where you could do enough…obey enough…keep the Law enough to earn your way to salvation.

They had put their faith…their trust, not in Jesus Christ but in their own self-righteous good works.

They put their hope for their salvation in their own self-righteousness.

A little later in John 9:28–29 they revile the Man Born Blind saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses”…disciples and keepers of the Law.

Jesus even said There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope (John 5:45).

All their hope…all their faith was in their keeping of the Law.

And irony of ironies their pride and self-righteous unbelief made them blind…more blind than the Man Born Blind ever was.

Their self-righteousness…their faith that they could earn God’s love and forgiveness through good works, kept them from seeing Christ…

Kept them from coming to Jesus and putting all their faith in Him.

Jesus said, “You refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:40).

Their self-righteousness kept them blind to the glory and grace of Jesus Christ, where the Man Born Blind said He is a Prophet.

Someone sent to proclaim the very words of God.

As the eternal Son of God sent from the Father Jesus alone is the One True Prophet who has a sure and true word of Salvation.

This is a major theme in the Gospel of John because if Jesus really is from God the Father, then His words really are the only way to eternal life.

Who else can give us a sure and true word of salvation from God Himself in heaven other than the eternal Son of God who came down from heaven sent from the Father incarnate in human flesh?

This is why there is so much controversy surrounding Jesus’ origin in this trial.

This man is not from God (John 9:16).

John 9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”

Because if Jesus really is the Son of God incarnate in human flesh then He really is the only way to Salvation, and all our righteousness…all our good works are nothing more than ashes and dust.

How Good Works Will Never Stand Up

The Pharisees rejected Christ because they believed their self-righteousness was enough to save them and make them acceptable to God.

And that raises an important question for us today…for you…How will you be accepted before God?

Where do you put your faith and where do you put your hope?

Righteousness Definition

Because the righteousness God demands is perfect righteousness.

Righteousness is more than just holiness…

It is perfect conformity to the Law of God.

He is infinitely righteous and holy and the Law is a reflection of His holy and righteous character.

Which means He will not lay aside even one command because to do so would be to lay aside Himself.

And to be truly righteous and acceptable to God would mean that we need to have perfectly obeyed God in every thought, word action and deed.

Not just in a strict outward obedience to the Law but also from a pure heart with pure motives…

A perfect love for God and love for neighbor in every thought word action and deed with an all consuming passion for His praise and glory.

Now who can say they’ve obeyed God this way?

No one.

Romans 3 None is righteous, no, not one…All have turned aside…no one does good, not even one…There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:10-18).

We’ve all sinned.

So not only did we fail to offer God a life of perfect righteousness, what we offered Him was just the opposite…

Rebellion and a poisonous hatred of God and His commands…that’s what sin is.

And that’s why the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

So no amount of good works could even pay for one sin (Micah 6:6-7).

Obedience is what we owe to God anyway.

So how would giving God what He already deserves ever make up for all the ways we broke His commands in the first place.

Our righteousness is not enough…it will never be enough.

Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16).

So let me ask you, if you are here today trusting in your good works as did the Pharisees…

Can all of your good works stand in the burning light of God’s holiness?

Even the “good things” we do are so corrupted by sin that the Bible says they are like filthy rags before the Lord…unclean and unacceptable to Him (Isaiah 64:6).

Justification

There is no hope in self-righteousness…but their is hope in the perfect righteousness of Christ.

Good works will never get you there. They cannot save you from even one sin.

Only Christ can do that.

Romans 3:21–25 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

The Jews Paul said in Romans 10, did not submit to the righteousness of God but tried to establish their own by keeping the Law when the only righteousness that will save us make us acceptable before God is the perfect righteousness of Christ (Romans 10:3).

This is the doctrine of Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

It is the pillar on which the church stands or falls.

To be Justified is to be forgiven of sin and declare legally righteous before the Law of God, clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ in His active and passive obedience.

Active Obedience

By Active Obedience we mean the full heartfelt obedience of Christ to the Law of God that Christ lived throughout His life.

Paul says He was born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5).

Christ obeyed the Law on our behalf to offer to God the life of positive righteousness we all failed to live.

But what of all our sin?

That’s where the Passive Obedience of Christ comes in.

Passive Obedience

By passive we don’t mean that Christ was not active in it.

Christ’s Passive Obedience should be understood in relation to the Latin passion meaning His obedience in His suffering, humiliation, and death.

Throughout His life in the shadow of the cross Christ suffered on behalf of the sins of His people until on the cross He paid the penalty our sins deserved.

That’s what Paul calls a Propitiation - a sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God on our behalf and turns that wrath into divine favor and blessing for the one whom the sacrifice was offered.

Or as Paul said in Galatians 3:10 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

That’s self-righteousness…that’s what we’ve been talking about.

Verse 13: but Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

This is the gospel!

By His passive obedience and death on the cross, Christ forgave all our sin.

And by His active obedience…perfectly obeying the Law of God on our behalf…we are declared positively righteous in Him and made acceptable to God with the very righteousness of God!

Full forgiveness…full acceptance…full salvation through faith in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (LSB).

We needed both.

A perfect righteousness that was acceptable to God and a propitiation…a sacrifice…to satisfy the wrath of God our sins deserved.

And God has provided both by His grace as a gift in the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24).

Costly

Its the most costly and precious gift ever given.

It cost God the Father the sacrifice of His only beloved Son.

And it cost Jesus Christ His suffering and death drinking cup of God’s wrath on our behalf.

And what God paid for with the precious blood of His own Son He gives us freely out of His abounding, rich, and everlasting grace.

Summary

The Pharisees could not see the salvation standing right in front of them because of their self-righteousness.

But everyone who trusts in works of the Law…good works…being a good person…are under a curse.

The only righteousness that saves is the perfect righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.

A righteousness God freely gives to everyone who believes in Him by grace through faith.

Whose righteousness are you putting your faith in?

Your’s or Jesus Christ? Have you put your faith in Him?

The self-righteous faith of the self-righteous Pharisee will never save.

Neither will a worldly faith that fears man and loves the world.

And that’s point number 2…

II. The Worldly Faith of the Unbelieving Parents

John 9:18–23 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”

(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

Now the parents don’t really make a whole lot of sense of why they are coming into the story unless you remember the context John was writing in.

Persecution was rampant…apostasy or abandoning the faith was common place…

And so John uses the parents of the Man Born Blind as a stand-in for the kind of worldly faith that does not take a stand for Jesus or abandon everything to follow Him.

The kind of faith that wilts under persecution or falls aways out of the love and cares of the world.

You’ll notice the parents basically don’t want any part of this.

He is of age ask Him.

What made them so scared was the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Jesus to be the Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue or excommunicated.

And while they might not have believed in Jesus in any real way, they knew Jesus was the one who healed their Son which is why they were so afraid to say His Name.

They knew what it would cost them.

They did not want to lose everything by confessing Jesus Christ and identifying or standing with Him in anyway like many of the apostates in John’s day.

To be excommunicated or put out of the synagogue would mean being cut off from the social and religious life of Israel.

You really would lose everything and for the parents Jesus was not worth the price.

In this way the parents are representatives of a worldly or unbelieving faith.

We can describe a Worldly Faith in terms of a faith that is rooted in a fear of man and a love for the world.

And sometimes its not one or the other…they can go hand in hand…

So a wordly faith can be any combination of the two.

Fear of Man

First you have the fear of man.

The whole trial is a picture of the kind of persecution Christians can expect from the world and from it we learn a very important lesson:

To be a follower of Christ is to be excommunicated from the world.

John wrote Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you (1 John 3:13).

And Jesus said John 15:18–19 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Who will we fear?

Who will we honor? Revere? Hold high? Worship?

Who will we live for?

The approval of man or the approval of God?

The Bible says the fear of man is a snare (Proverbs 29:25).

Are you willing to be hated by the world?

To follow Christ no matter the cost?

No matter what persecutions or storms may come?

Like the Apostles we must obey God rather than men (Acts 4).

And The saying is trustworthy…if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us (2 Timothy 2:11-12).

Love for the World

And when it comes to love for the world John also says Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).

The rich young ruler went away sad because he was not willing to sell everything he had to follow Jesus (Matthew 19:16-22).

As much as He wanted eternal life, his heart was still with the world and that kept him from saving faith.

Where your treasure is, your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21).

Do you live for the approval and things of the world…or Jesus Christ and His glory?

Soils

This kind of worldly faith is seen in two of the soils from Jesus’ Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23).

Rock

Some of the seed fell on rocky ground; basically bedrock with soil just a few inches deep.

The seed springs up, but soon withers away from the scorching heat of the sun, because they have no root.

These are those who live for the fear and approval of man.

They enthusiastically hear the gospel, make a profession of faith, but never count the cost.

They aren’t actually converted.

The moment any scorching heat comes…any persecution or suffering in their life…they give up and fall away.

They wither and walk away from Christ not willing to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him.

Thorns

And then you have the thorny soil.

These are those who love the world.

The seed grows up, but its soon choked out by thorns which Jesus calls the cares and riches of the world.

Their faith is choked out because they ultimately don’t want to give up their sin or the things of the world and when push comes to shove the live for themselves over Christ.

The rocky and thorny soil are both pictures of superficial faith.

Man Born Blind

And this is in contrast to the Man Born Blind.

Where the Pharisees straight up don’t believe, and the parents are not willing to take a stand or lose everything to follow Jesus…

The Man stands firm.

He loses everything and holds fast to Christ no matter the cost.

He gets mocked and ridiculed and eventually put out of the synagogue because He refused to walk away from Jesus.

That’s what saving faith actually looks like.

A committed, persevering faith that holds fast to Christ no matter the cost.

The world will try to bribe you or pressure you to conform to the world.

To give up your faith or if it can’t do that at least make you quiet about it…afraid of what it might cost.

To follow Jesus Christ is to be excommunicated from the world and dead to the world.

Does that describe your life?

Does that describe your faith?

Are you willing to suffer for Christ and give up everything to follow Him?

A worldly faith…the fear of man and love for the world…can really be answered by two questions? One simple test…

Who and what are you really living for?

Jesus and His glory?

Or the Love of the world and the things of the world?

True Saving Faith perseveres…endures…follows Christ all or nothing no matter the cost.

It takes up the cross and follows Him leaving everything behind without once looking back.

Transition

A self-righteous faith can never save.

A worldly faith is soon to fall away.

So what faith does? What does the Bible say is saving faith?

That’s what we look at in point number 3…

III. The Saving Faith of the Man Born Blind

John 9:24–29 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

Basically the idea is stop lying before God…tell the truth.

He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”

Here again this idea that because of their self-righteousness the Pharisees were blind to Jesus.

We do not know where He comes from.

They were blind that Jesus was the eternal Son of God incarnate in human flesh.

Verse 30…

John 9:30–34 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

The man’s argument is really rather simple.

If Jesus weren’t from God, He would not be able open the eyes of a Man Born Blind…something that has never even been heard of from the beginning of the world.

But Jesus did, and I’m right here.

I’m living-breathing proof that Jesus must be from God…

And if He’s from God heard and listened to…

Believed in and embraced…

Trusted in alone for salvation.

After all, if he weren’t from God, he could do nothing.

They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.

The Man held fast no matter the cost.

Then verse 35, Jesus comes back in.

John 9:35–38 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

The Son of Man is a Messianic term highlighting Jesus’ identity as the Messiah and Savior of the world.

And in the context of John it emphasizes Jesus’ incarnation.

He is the Son of Man…the Word of God incarnate in human flesh.

And so Jesus is inviting the Man to believe in Him as the Messiah and the Son of God and by believing have life in His name (John 20:31).

He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Progression of Faith

I want you to notice the progression of faith the man goes through.

After his eyes are healed he doesn’t know where Jesus is or even who He truly is saying, “The man called Jesus healed my eyes.” (John 9:11-12).

And then with the Pharisees, Jesus is a Prophet - someone who speaks the true words of God (John 9:17).

And more than a Prophet, the man questions whether or not Jesus is actually a sinful man like the Pharisees claim to believe (John 9:25).

And then he identifies himself as one of His disciples seeing Jesus as someone worthy to follow and give one’s life to.

And finally after meeting Jesus again, sees Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God worthy of all praise and worship even calling Him Lord.

Saving faith believes and worships Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God.

This is where John wants us to get to with the Man Born Blind.

To share his faith and believe and worship Jesus.

What is Faith?

So that raises a very important question: What is Faith?

Look at Jesus’ question.

The emphasis in the Greek is on the Man.

As if Jesus had said, “You…do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Jesus is calling the Man into a personal faith…a personal hope…a personal trust in Him.

You yourself must believe. Your faith must be your own..

It cannot be your parents’…this church…or even a general association with Christ somewhere out there on the periphery.

The faith that saves is the faith that comes to Christ and personally trusts in Him as Lord and Savior.

Well what does that mean?

The 1689 London Baptist confession is helpful here.

Chapter 11 Paragraph 2: Faith that receives and rests on Christ and His righteousness is the only instrument of justification.

This is a great definition of saving faith…faith that receives and rests on Christ and His righteousness alone for justification.

Receiving

Saving faith receives Christ in His person and work.

It embraces Christ as Lord and Savior…the Messiah and the Son of God and all He did in His active and passive obedience to save us from our sins.

It looks at Christ and says there’s my forgiveness…there’s my pardon…there’s my righteousness.

It receives Christ with empty hands and open arms and makes Him and all He’s done on your behalf your own.

Christ didn’t just die somewhere out there.

Its not just believing the Gospel is true

Its saying Christ is my Lord and my God…my Savior and my Righteousness…and He died in my place for my sins.

Resting On

And saving faith also rests on Christ.

Trusts and depends on Him alone with all our weight for all our salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

We look only to Him as our only hope and cling to Him as the only anchor in the storm.

Resting on Christ is not merely knowing or believing the gospel to be true but seeing how Christ in the gospel so perfectly and completely answers all our needs.

How He and He alone is the only way to be forgiven and accepted before God with such faith that we cast all our hope…all our life…and all our trust on Him.

Receiving Christ believes Christ to be true…Resting on holds fast to Him no matter the cost.

In resting on Christ we abandon all reliance on ourselves, our works, and all other human resources, and rest in Christ alone for his salvation.

Trust only in His all sufficient grace as the one and only all sufficient Savior who alone is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near in faith to Him (Hebrews 7:25).

In Christ we are forgiven…and we are accepted.

In giving His only Son God has given all the righteousness we would ever need…the very righteousness of God!…so that we could be forgiven, adopted, beloved in Him…saved from the wrath of God and due penalty for all our sins.

So do you believe in Jesus Christ?

Have you trusted in Him?

Received Him as your Lord and Savior and all of His work…His sacrifice on your behalf?

There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven…by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Because the Passage closes with this.

John 9:38-41 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

Well I though Jesus said in John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Why does Jesus say for judgment I came into this world?

That those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.

In other words to seal people one way or the other according to their faith.

Yes, Jesus came to save, but in rejecting Him you inevitably put yourself under Judgment.

That’s why if you kept reading in John 3:18 Jesus says Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Well hearing this the Pharisees say, “Are we also blind?”

The Pharisees weren’t asking a genuine question…they were incredulous.

And so Jesus said to them If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

The word guilt should literally be translated as sin.

If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains

What Jesus is telling the Pharisees is that if you would humble yourself, confess your sin…your spiritual blindness…and believed in me, the Light of the World, you would be saved.

You would have no sin.

All your guilt, all your condemnation would be taken away.

But because you say you see…

Because you don’t run to Christ…

Because you don’t receive and rest on His righteousness alone for justification, your sin remains and you are condemned already.

Conclusion

The only faith that saves is the faith that receives Jesus Christ and rests on Him alone for salvation and eternal life.

Faith is the empty hand that looks outside of oneself and trusts wholly and completely in the grace of another.

It renounces all hope in self-righteousness and says I can do nothing on my own…my only hope is Christ.

Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone exalts the glory and grace of God in Jesus Christ because He fulfilled all the requirements of the Law on our behalf.

He lived the life of perfect and sinless righteousness we failed to live and died the death we deserved to die bearing our sins on the cross.

And His righteousness is so pure and so perfect that it makes a full and complete atonement for all our sins and brings us near to God.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Because without Jesus Christ none of us would be saved.

We would all die under the curse of the Law, but Christ in His love mercy and grace became a curse for us.

[He] is the Light of the World. Whoever follows [him] will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12)