While personal faith is absolutely necessary, it is not perfect. No man was ever able to accomplish reconciliation to God because sin had separated him from the Father. Sinless blood was the only remedy. The Savior came to this earth and did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He is the only person who ever had perfect faith and obedience, and He is the only one who can cleanse us from our sins. My friends, no matter how good you are or how perfectly you obey or how many wonderful things you have done for others, you are still a sinner in need of grace. That grace is only available in the person of Christ. To be in Christ you must do what He said to do to enter His kingdom-you must be born again. Friends, you must obey the instructions that God has given. Then and only then are you saved by grace. It begins with your faith and obedience but ends with the perfect faith and obedience of Jesus Christ. Some try to settle the controversy of faith vs. works by saying that faith produces works. While this is true in a sense, obedience is still very much an act of the will. Either way, neither personal faith nor obedience can save alone. It is only by being in Christ and being identified with the righteousness of Christ that we are saved. It is His faith and obedience, not ours. To say that man saves Himself by personal faith or by obedience makes man his own savior. If you want His grace, you must be in Him. When you are in Christ, His righteousness, perfection, inheritance, strength, and rest become yours. To be in Christ is to be part of His body (kingdom, church). He is the promised seed of Abraham through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed. We receive the inheritance as God’s children when we are born again into His family. When we are in Christ, the Father does not see our imperfection and sin. Instead, He sees His Son in us. The first step is to understand what our faith is in. Our personal faith is in the blood of Jesus Christ as having the power to save us from our sins. Our faith serves the role of convincing us how hopelessly lost we are without the grace of God. Furthermore, it causes us to believe the promises that God has made concerning redemption in His Son. We respond to the invitation to come to the source of living water, Jesus Christ, and drink from the wells of salvation. Personal faith is a free-will response; it is a work; it does not save by itself. Faith brings us to the One who can save, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Hebrews 12:2 Hebrews 12:2, Hebrews 5:5-9 Galatians 3:16, 29 Romans 3:25 Isaiah 12:3
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 22:47:28 +0000