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There Are Only Two Kinds of Faith

There Are Only Two Kinds of Faith
By Mike Gendron

When you interact with any religious or spiritual person, you will discover that there are only two kinds of faith. One is trusting what the Lord Jesus Christ has DONE to save sinners; the other is trusting what man must DO to be saved. One faith recognizes that salvation is by grace alone; the other faith nullifies the grace of God by requiring good works (Rom. 11:6). One is gloriously revealed in Scripture, while the other is based on religious traditions that nullify or oppose the Word of God. One was demonstrated by the tax collector, who was so burdened by his sin that he cried out to God for mercy, the other was demonstrated by the proud self-righteous Pharisee, who boasted in what he was DOING (Luke 18:9-14).

The glorious promise of the Gospel is eternal, everlasting life. This divine assurance can be offered unconditionally because of all that Christ has DONE to save believers completely and forever. Yet, over half of “professing” Christians deny the assurance of eternal life because they have been deceived by “another” gospel. They have embraced a works-based salvation, which perpetuates the fatal lie that you must DO good works and perform religious rites and rituals to be accepted by God. They fail to understand that finite men, with their limited capabilities, could never cancel their own eternal sin debt. What man could never DO, the eternal Son of God has DONE. The eternal sin debt was nailed to His cross (Col. 2:13-14). Thus man’s only hope is to exchange his worthless religion for an eternal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Eternal security and the assurance of salvation can only be realized when a person’s faith is based on the Lord Jesus Christ alone and what He has DONE.

How will those who have been blinded by religious deception know what Christ has DONE? The Lord Jesus must be proclaimed as the all-sufficient Savior. This is the royal privilege and awesome responsibility of every Christian. We must proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His glorious light (1 Pet. 2:9). People will never know they are deceived until they are confronted with the truth. They will not seek a substitute to die in their place until they know they are condemned to death. No one will seek a Savior until they know they are destined for the torments of hell. They will not seek to be reconciled to God until they know they are separated from Him. No one will try to get on the narrow way that leads to life until they know they are on the broad way that leads to destruction. No one can ever receive the righteousness of Christ as a gift until they are first stripped of their own righteousness.

No one will ever appreciate what the Lord Jesus has DONE until they come to the end of themselves and realize how hopeless and helpless they are to DO anything about it. Only then will they be willing to repent of all their dead works, which are an insult to the perfect, finished and sufficient work of Christ. May our Lord Jesus Christ receive honor, praise and glory for all that He is, and all that He has DONE to redeem His people!

He is the way for those who are lost (John 14:6)
He is the truth for those who are deceived (John 14:6)
He gives life to people who are spiritually dead (John 14:6)
He testified to the truth and truth seekers listen to Him (John 18:37)
He is the only one who can save sinners (Acts 4:12)
He bore His people’s sin in His body on a tree (1 Peter 2:24)
He makes believers perfect forever (Heb. 10:14)
He cancels the eternal sin debt of believers (Col. 2:13-14)
He reconciles believers to God (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
He redeems believers from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13)
He saves His people from God’s wrath (1 Thes. 5:9)
He is able to save forever (Hebrews 7:25)
He gave His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28)
He satisfied divine justice as a sacrifice for sin (1 John 2:2)
He shed His blood to purify His people from all sin (1 John 1:7)
He died once for all sins to bring believers to God (1 Pet. 3:18)
He offered one sacrifice for all sins for all time (Heb. 10:12)
He saved us from divine condemnation (Roman 8:1)
He delivered His people from the dominion of Satan (Acts 26:18)
He rescued believers from the domain of darkness and transferred them into His kingdom (Col. 1:13)

In these days of growing uncertainty and anxiety over the global pandemic, we need to warn people that there is a much more hellish and fatal virus called sin that has infected every human being. The bad news is that there is nothing man can DO because there is no human cure. The good news is that there is a divine cure because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has DONE. Here is the greatest news anyone could ever hear from our Savior: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24).

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