Untitled Sermon

By Faith Alone

The phrase sola fide is latin for “by faith alone.” The idea “by faith alone” is an important concept in the Bible and consequently it is important for our Christian faith. Come along with me as we look at the Bible passages that present the concept of “by faith alone” and what that means for us.

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Faith justifies us and gives us peace with God. To be justified means to be declared righteous, clean, blameless, without fault. It means we are no longer guilty of the sin we committed because of Jesus’ action defeating evil on the cross and resurrecting from the dead. Justification is what faith in Jesus brings. And faith is trusting that Jesus is the savior and believing that he rose from the dead.

Through faith we have been saved by Jesus. Faith is a gift from God. We are gifted the ability to have faith in Jesus, that faith saves us.

If it is only faith that saves us, then that means there is nothing that we can do to improve our odds or seal the deal of our faith. No amount of good works can save us. It is not by us accepting Christ that saves. It is not baptism that brings us into heaven. It is by faith alone that we are saved, and that’s a good thing.

If we had any shared responsibility in our own salvation, then we would never be saved. It is by no work of our own doing, Ephesians states. Before being gifted faith in Jesus, we were totally lost in our sin and unable to accomplish anything of spiritual good (Ephesians 2:1).

Are you saved by faith? Or do you still believe there are things you must do to accomplish that faith?