Faith

Faith as the Basis of Salvation

Both in the OT and the NT faith is the only basis of salvation. God has made salvation so simple. Faith. Faith is the base of everything we do. Every action we do comes from some for of faith.

You came in to church today and sat down in your pew because you had faith it would hold you up. You watched that movie last night because you had faith it would be entertaining. Every action we do comes from some form of faith.

But, every action a Christian does should come from our faith in God.

We are made new and we are to lean on God for all that we need, and the Bible says that he will provide our every need, He cares for every sparrow and he feeds them how much more will he supply for us.

And are we not evidence of that? All of us here are so blessed, we have fruits in our lives. We are not chasing after the next high, we have what the world is looking for and thats contentment and hope.

The Bible says that God has chosen us (the believers) to be vessels of mercy!

Are we not evidence of that? Look how blessed we are. We have troubles but the Bible tells us they will come. But, we can have hope through them because of what God has promised. Because of our faith we have hope in death.

Faith is the most important aspect of the Human life.

Its the only thing that leads to eternal life!

Not works, those come after faith. Not love, those come after faith. Nothing matters without faith.

To put it blunt Faith either gets you to heaven or hell. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing we need for salvation.

The bible says in “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Salvation though Faith has been the case all the way though scripture.

In the old testament the bible says in “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”

We should never be proud in front of the Lord we are all fallen sinful creatures.

We are to live by Faith in God. God has made a way out of the wrath we are storing up because of our sins.

He placed them all on Christ every last one of them.

But if we are proud, thinking that we deserve heaven because of something we have done then we will not enter. Christ has done it all.

If we bring anything to God that we have done we are negating what Christ has done.

Why would you trade out Diamonds for Dirt.

That what a lot of people want to do. They think they will enter heaven because of what they have done.

It wont happen, the Bible says in “There is none righteous, no not even one; There is none who understand, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become worthless.”

Salvation through faith is the only hope we have.

If salvation is not though faith alone we are all going to parish because the bible says in “For all of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

All of our good deeds are like filthy garments. Which can be basically translated as used toilet paper in Hebrew.

Christ has done all the works we need to get into heaven. The good works we now do should come from thankfulness and love for Christ.

We also see that Abraham was considered righteous by faith in the Old Testament .

In the bible says “Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” It was his faith that caused Abraham to become righteous in Gods eyes.

Not by keeping the ten commandments. At this point the commandments were not even given.

He was perfect in Gods sight by faith. Abrahams faith later lead him to do amazing acts of faith.

But without faith he would not be counted righteous. Faith is the basis of our salvation.

Thats in the OT and the NT makes it abundantly clear that salvation comes from faith.

In the bible says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” This verse is even quoting the Old Testament verse in that we read earlier.

In the bible says “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”

We will stand out in this world because of our faith.

All public schools teach the theory of evolution.

The secular world will call us bigots, haters, oppressed, weak minded, and foolish. But they believe that they came from fish.

They believe that the world has no moral truth; if it fells right it is right, if we want to kill our babies we can.

I had a mind like this at one point, but God has chosen to shine his light in my heart, calling me his child. Now I have a new heart and a new mind, I still struggle with some of the reasoning of the world but the answers are always in Christ Jesus. I did nothing, Christ changed me by his grace, he chose to change me, not leaving me in the dark grasping after more and more darkness.

In the bible says “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,”

Real faith will hold till the end. We are not saved from hell by a prayer or baptism but by persevering faith till the end. Faith is an on going process not a one time deal. Its and everything second type of faith.

In we see the man asking for help for his unbelief. This needs to be our prayer also. We are hopeless without the help of God in every aspect of life. Faith is the key to making it though lives problems in the right way.

Faith is also a gift given to us by God himself. We need to pray everyday for more and more faith, because we all lacking in that area.

The more faith we have the better our relationship with God will be. And the better our relationship with God the better our life is. Faith once again is the most important aspect of the human life, it not only is the reason we are saved but it gets us through this fallen world.

We all will face sorrows and faith is the answer. We will all face the death of a loved one, loneliness, and run in with depression. Faith is the answer, it is the key to a life full of hope not despair. Because of my faith I can know I am loved.

Unlike Abraham and Moses and the Old Testament saints our faith must be in Jesus Christ. Abraham had no concept of Jesus, but now all of humanity is under a new covenant.

Remember what the Bible says in “He who believes in Him is not Judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Faith in what Christ has done for us is what saves us. Without that we will not enter heaven. The Bible says that He is the atonement for our sins and without faith in him we have no atonement.

Without atonement we will be judged by our deeds and we are fallen and undeserving of heaven, because of our faith we will be judged by what Christ has done.

So what happens Spiritually when we put or faith in what Christ has done.

Well number 1 we have Justification and Peace

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hey the Word is greater than our feelings and emotions. God tells us we are justified and that we have peace. We need to remind ourselves of these verses. The Bible is our authority. Since we have trusted that Christ has died for us and is our Lord we have peace with God. And we are justified. Perfectly justified.

2) Forgivness

“Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins”

Everyone. The Bible says everyone. For the lest to the greatest. From the missionary to the person riddled with sin. Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins” Salvation is not faith + something. It is faith alone. Praise God!

3) Victory Over Death

We will never taste death, I have no clue what heaven is like but I know it will be perfect and God has promised us that based on our faith. “Jesus said to her “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die...”

4) Adoption into God’s Family

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”

Now this term does not really resonate with you unless you know the Old Testament. God has chosen Israel to be his Nation to bless. Now by our faith in God we are grafted into that Nation, if you will. But we are not under the law. God does not just love us if we keep the law, but he will always love us based on our faith.

5) The gift of the Holy Spirit

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’ But this he spoke of the Spirit, who those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

At the moment of Faith we receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seals us until the day of redemption. “In Him, you also after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation - having also believed, your were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,”

This is the Idea of always being sealed, or being held by God all the way till the head. He keeps our faith for us. We are sealed by God. Nothing can seal us any better. We will receive heaven because we are sealed.

6) Sanctification

Sanctification is something God does and something we work at. It is a on going process of becoming more like Jesus. God is at work in us bring us sometimes dragging us to becoming more like Jesus. It means that we have been set apart from others and are being made new.

in “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Her

Whats funny about all these promises is that it takes faith to believe them. But it also takes faith to activate them. We need to remind ourself of these promises. Struggle to believe them.

Whats funny about all these promises is that it takes faith to believe them. But it also takes faith to activate them. We need to remind ourself of these promises. Struggle to believe them.