Faith and Works - Part One

FAITH AND WORKS - Part One

 

Everyday faith.

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We use our faith every day of our lives. Even people who say they have no faith use it, for it is something we could not get along without. When you drink your milk you have faith that the milk is good and will not make you sick. When you cross a bridge you have faith that it will hold you up. When you ask a policeman the way, you have faith that he knows. When you get into your bed, you have faith that it will hold you up.

 

Faith is simply believing. Everyone has faith, though not everyone uses it rightly. Abraham was a man of great faith. God gave him certain promises, and Abraham believed them. He had faith. There was nothing to make him believe these promises except that God had done the promising, which is really the greatest reason; but nevertheless Abraham believed. God promised Abraham that he should have a son. Abraham thought that this was impossible, but he did believe God, and God was pleased.

 

Paul was another man of great faith. One time he was on a ship, going from Jerusalem to Rome. He was a prisoner. On their way a great storm came upon them and they were all afraid - all except Paul. They looked at the great towering waves, and listened to the whistling wind and felt the rocking of the ship and thought they would all be killed. But God spoke to Paul and told him that not one of them would be hurt. Paul believed what God said. The storm was just as bad as it had been before. The waves were still angry and black and high. The wind blew just as hard as it had before, but Paul knew they were safe. He believed God. This was faith (Acts 27:21-25).

 

Faith is not something that we can make ourselves. It comes from God. God has given faith to everyone, and everyone uses it day by day. To those who will be saved, God has given the faith of the Lord Jesus. That is the kind of faith that saves. The ordinary kind of faith helps people to get along in life; saving faith is the kind that takes us to Heaven. Men cannot believe just by themselves. The Holy Spirit must give them this saving faith. We read in a very wonderful verse, For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). The grace and the faith and the Lord Jesus in whom we believe are all gifts of God. Everything is from Him.

 

No one can ever be saved by any other way except by faith. We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Thinking about Him will not do. Praying to Him will not do. Listening to sermons about Him will not do. Reading His Word will not do. All these things are good after we have received eternal life, but they will not do a bit of good before. Only believing can save us. Without faith no one can please God. In Hebrews 11:6 we read, "For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him,” No amount of good deeds can please God if they come from a heart that does not believe Him.

 

God will give saving faith to anyone who will receive it. He wants more than anything else that people shall be saved. Jesus died for your sins on the cross. Do you believe that? Then you have faith, the gift of God, which saves you, and starts you on your way to Heaven.

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