The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 2:14,
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?"
How can faith save a person? In verses 2:14-26 James speaks of a certain kind of faith. Using the examples of the patriarch, Abraham, and the prostitute, Rahab, he demonstrates that the kind of faith that can save someone is the kind that leads to action. James concludes by saying, "faith without deeds is dead." He is not saying that doing deeds saves someone. It is his point that the kind of faith that brings salvation is the kind that leads someone to act upon that faith. This is home base for those who are tied in knots over the multitudes who fill Churches each and every Sunday and who also seem to fail to live out the lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives during the remainder of the week.
Again, I ask, how can faith save a person? If good deeds won't provide an acceptable atonement with God or an acceptable payment for sins, how is it that faith will bring salvation? The answer is in Jesus Christ. He is the atonement for sins. He paid the penalty for all sin. Of him Paul says, "God presented him [Jesus Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement", Romans 3:25. This is how John put it, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10.
So, as our atoning sacrifice, how many sins did Jesus Christ pay for? One wonderful day, as John the Baptist saw Jesus approach him for the first time, he exclaimed, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Clearly, John recognized that Jesus Christ had come into the world to pay the penalty for the entire cosmos. All sins for all time committed by all human beings were to be atoned for by Jesus Christ. As the apostle John puts it, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2. A hefty payment, a payment under assault by many today who seek to minimize our understanding of its far-reaching scope. Clearly it is God's will that all people be saved and so God has made provision for the sins of every man, woman and child for all time. Paul expresses God's will in the matter, "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:3-4.
Jesus Christ felt the weight of the sins of the entire human race as he hung on that cross, enduring God's own wrath for it all, securing an atonement to be made available for all who will embrace him. Here is how it is said that faith brings salvation: God has decided that all who will embrace him in faith will have Jesus Christ's payment for sins credited to their account with him. In spite of contemporary theology, this is what the Scriptures refer to as God's election. In the Romans passage above, Paul goes on to say, "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." Romans 3:25. It is "through faith in his blood" that appropriates Jesus' sacrifice of atonement to our account with God. As Paul looks back to the patriarch Abraham, he points out that what was credited to his account with God will be credited to ours as well. First he asks, "What does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.'" Romans 4:3. About faith and Abraham, Paul later says, "Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all." Romans 4:16. Then he concludes later by saying, "The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." Romans 4:23-24. "For us who believe"!
How wonderful the payment Jesus Christ made for all our sins! How wonderful we appropriate that payment through faith!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment