Why Faith?

Why did God choose Faith or Belief as a means of entering His kingdom?

Because there is no other way that mankind can enter His kingdom

There is another way ...

But it is an impossible way for human beings bent on sin

God’s Dilemma

God is perfect

His kingdom is pure and holy and perfect

God’s Justice is also perfect

He cannot clear the guilty and give them a pass

Mankind is just the opposite

We are hopeless, helpless sinners

We are not unrighteous, unholy, and imperfect

Romans 3:10–11 NKJV

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

There is not a single sinless person on the face of the earth

Romans 3:23 NKJV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

We all fall short of the perfection that is the God of Universe

We have all sinned

And why is that a big deal?

Romans 6:23 NKJV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here is the bad news part of Romans 6:23

The wages of sin is death

Not just physical death which faces all of us

But Eternal death

- Separation from God forever

- Eternal conscience existence in a horrendous place called hell where there will be never-ending punishment for sin

God does not want that for anyone

Hell was not made for man, but for Satan and the fallen angels

Justice vs Love

God is Just

Sin demands punishment

God cannot just overlook it and let guilty sinners into His kingdom

and yet

1 John 4:8 tells us that “God is Love”

2 Peter 3:9 tells us that the Lord is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance”

Do you see God’s Dilemma?

In His very nature, God is Just, and cannot let the guilty go free

And yet, God is love - Agape love - a selfless love, that wants the best for everyone, even His enemies

And God would choose that none would perish and go to an eternal hell

How can man escape that fate, when there are none who do not deserve to be there?

Two Paths to Justification

There are only two ways to be Just before God

Works

By works, I do not mean that your good works outweigh your bad deeds

The concept of good outweighing bad is what many people think will happen

It is not what God’s Word reveals

Here is how works, or keeping the Law, would get you to heaven

Leviticus 18:5 NKJV

You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

Five times in the Old Testament and two times in the New Testament the principle of Justification by works is stated

If you keep God’s statutes and judgments, ALL OF THEM, you shall live by them

God’s law is good, and righteous, and just

If you keep it, you will be good, and righteous, and just

The problem is as we saw in Romans 3 is that no one, with One exception, has ever done that

You are not going to be the second exception

You want to be justified by works?

Its not happening!

Good outweighing bad does not cut it in God’s court

Belief

The second path to Justification is Faith or Belief

How can simply believing, mean you can go into heaven

As we saw last week in “What is Faith,” it is NOT the power with which you believe, it is the object of your belief

No Merit

Belief introduces the concept of a “No Merit” salvation

Everyone CAN believe

Everyone DOES believe

You aren’t better than someone else because you believe

Believing is something everyone does

It is what you believe, that makes the differenct

Why Faith? - Mountain Tunnel

Consider this mountain tunnel

Thanks to my dad for painting it.

Imagine that tunnel was not there

See the drop into the Abyss on the side

See the sheer rock wall preventing you from entering the Kingdom of God

A mountain that reaches into the heavens

A mountain that no one can climb

Some climb farther than others, but none get even close to the top, before falling into the abyss

The Perfect Law of God is like a mountain we cannot pass, and cannot climb

But God made another way into His kingdom

A way which anyone can enter with ease, just as we breezed through the mountain in this tunnel

The way God made, that tunnel, was Jesus

Remember how I said no one had ever perfectly kept the Law of God except One?

That One exception is Jesus

He perfectly kept not only the letter of Law, but also the spirit of the Law

He lived the perfect life that we could never live

The way through the mountain, it is the cross of Jesus

Although He was Just, and didn’t have to die, He chose to die for us

He took our sin upon Himself, and died to pay the penalty, by offering up His own life

He rose again to prove that the price had been paid

He ascended into Heaven to show that the road into the Kingdom is clear

Enter Belief

How can you enter the Kingdom by Jesus?

By believing that He is the Son of God, and that He died for your sin, and rose from the dead

There is absolutely no merit in that

Anyone can do that if they will humble themselves and choose to do so

We enter the Kingdom of God, by Grace through Faith or Belief in Jesus

Grace is unmerited favor

We don’t deserve to enter

We never will deserve to enter

But God has chosen to justify the ungodly through faith in Jesus

But what about other religions?

Jesus makes the answer to that question very clear

John 14:6 NKJV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus Is the only way

Finally, look at the rest of Romans 6:23

Romans 6:23 NKJV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The free gift is received by believing in Jesus

Why Faith?

Because there is no other possible way, by which we might be saved from hell, and enter into the blessings of God’s Eternal Kingdom