Faith and hope, although closely related, must not be mistakenly thought of as perfect matches. In Hebrews, it gives us a good definition of what faith is:
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
If faith is the assurance of things hoped for, then faith cannot exist without hope, but hope can exist without faith. In other words, hope would, in a sense, be a lesser version of faith. For example, if you have faith that something is going to happen, you believe in your heart that that thing is going to happen. If you hope for something to happen, you wish or long for that thing to happen, but there is not assurance in your heart. Faith is the assurance or confirmation of hope. We also must realize that there are two parts to faith, there is the confirmation of hope in your heart, and then there is the works, or deeds that comes along with it. In the book of James, it quite clearly tells us that faith without works is useless and dead:
James 2:17 "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
James 2:20 "Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?"
The bible also tells us that faith is what gives us our salvation:
Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace you have been saved through faith..."
Therefore, if there are two parts to faith, the believing and the works, and we are not completing one of those two parts, than how is it possible that we have salvation? Quite frankly, you are not saved if you are only completing one of these parts to faith. It is not that you are not saved because you are sinning often, but it is because if you truly have faith in God, it would result in an attempt to follow God's commandments and not just throw them aside. I am wrighting to those of you that claim to be christians, but in your heart you feel no guilt for your sins and make no attempt to turn away from the flesh. For those people are only decieving and tricking themselves. I do not mean to comdemn anyone by what I am saying, but rather, I want to speak only the truth and help those who are only completing one part of faith to realize the mistake they are making and possibly give them the knowledge to correct it.
The bible also talks about faith as being a christians shield:
Ephesians 6:16 "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one."
The bible refers to faith as a shield for many reasons. First of all, there is the fact of being able to overcome anything with faith in God. And second of all, there is the concept of when we are being spiritually attacked, we will be able to remind ourselves of the truth because of the faith within us. Faith is a strong tool and dependable attribute if it is set in the correct spot. Do not set your faith in the wisdom of men, but instead, set it in the power of God (1 corinthians 2:5).
I think it is essential that I explain what I mean by "works." I did not mean that if a person does not do good things then he is going to hell. What I meant, and this could be easily mistaken, was that if you are making no attempt to turn away from sins and feel no guilt or conviction of your sins, then indeed, you have no right to call yourself a christian. "works" is the attempt to turn away from the flesh and live in the spirit.
5 comments:
I think these are getting really good, Mike. Well done!
Mike, what about the thief who died on the cross next to Jesus? What works did (or could he) have performed? Yet Jesus said he would go to heaven...
So how *many* works do I have to do to get into heaven? If I do these works, aren't *I* saving myself?
At first glance, it would seem that the thief did nothing in terms of "works" but actually, he did. He defended Jesus Christ when the other man next too Jesus was using blasphomy against Jesus. In this post I was speeking more of those people who call themselves christians but are making no attempt to turn away from sin or profess their faith.
Mike I really like your writings, I think you have a real talent. Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved throught faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." If you are going state that a runner only runs half a race then you need to put the whole verse down too. There is nothing that we can add to the work that Jesus did on the cross. We cannot do any works to have Him love us any more or any less. Works comes from obeying Him and doing what He askes of you. Its not about what we do, all He wants is for you to live Him, and loving Him will bring about the change to do what is right.
That is precisely what I am saying Bryan. Whether we are doing good "works" or not does not matter. As I explained in the end of my post, what I meant by "works," was the attempt to live a righteous life and how we should be feeling conviction of our sins. If we are not having these things, than the holy spirit is not within us.
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