Saving Faith

[MaxKennedy]

Saving Faith

These verses from Luke 14 are about having the type of faith that saves in Jesus Christ alone.

Do you have faith in God to believe that he will take of you when your family and friends despise you? Do you have faith to believe God will make your life completely new in him?

Do you have faith to believe Christ will help you during your daily trials and tribulations while you follow him?

Do you have faith to believe that God will finish what he started? That he laid the foundation, and will finish the work he started? It is impossible to complete that tower that God started in Luke. But God says that he will complete the work he started in the bible. Do you believe him?

Do you have faith that God will fight the battles for you and will give you the victory?

Do you have faith to forsake all you have including sin and that God will provide?

This type of faith is the saving type of faith – not just mental belief, but faith that God will take care of you; and when counting costs and consulting, you can look at your belief. Is it a trust in God that He will take care of all this? – then you can do it. If it is not a trust in God, then you cannot do it on your own.

These verses aren't asking the reader if they're good disciples. Jesus is talking about considering the cost before becoming a disciple. And God takes care of all these things, if you have faith. Some might argue you can do all of these things on your own. You can not. And the bible says that God will finish the work He started, so attempting to do so would be not believing him.

Luke 14:25-34
25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Grace without Faith is like salt without savour (Col 4:6). Without faith, no man can please God. It is not grace without repentance of sins that is missing in some gospel messages, it is grace without faith. It is God’s grace that preserves us, but it isn’t anything without faith.

Heb 11:6 But 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.

Col 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Edited October 12, 2010 by MaxKennedy

[MaxKennedy]

You know, "repentance of sins" instead of "faith" is a real weed, but I'm going to try to pull it for my own benefit. Its a weed because the removing of sin has a place in the bible, but it isn't faith or believing the gospel. People who are lost repent of their sins, but they didn't repent for the one thing they needed to be saved - faith in Jesus Christ.

Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Christians are also the light of the world, and the faithful of the world. But if they have lost being full of faith, what good is it? It is cast out.

I don't know how many bible commentaries I've read that try to make that out as we are salt because we point out sin to the world. That salt is a preservative.

The only thing that perserves is God's GRACE. And God's grace without God's faith isn't anything. When we start telling the world that removing sins in their life is what preserves them instead of God's grace, we don't have any faith in Jesus Christ anymore!

I am absolute positive that we are only preserved through God's grace. And that what we are to the world is the faithful. Works based interpretations are everywhere.

If thats true, then it reads something like this: "You are the faithful of the earth.. but if you've lost your faith what good is grace? It is good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men"

Repentance doesn't make grace cheap, LACK OF FAITH makes grace cheap.

Heb 11:6 But 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.

Col 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Edited October 12, 2010 by MaxKennedy

[MaxKennedy]

FYI - My reading of sin lately means that lots of people are teaching it backwards as well.

After we are saved, we are suppose to worship God and give him the glory continually. Romans 1 says that those who don't do so and turn the truth of God into a lie, he turns over to their own lusts.

So ironically, by trying to remove sins ourselves instead of having FAITH in him and worshiping him for having already forgiven our sins, we make things worse.

Futhermore, we are sanctified by his word. Reading it, the Holy Spirit uses it to make us become more aware of sin and to remove it from our lives, and to renew our minds. This is again different than the works based ideas of santification, but reading God's word and having faith in him is OBeying Romans 1. Trying to be good ourselves and not giving him the glory is what causes God to give them over to their own lusts. Reading God's word and worshiping Him means God will naturally remove the sin from our lives - as in he will finish the work he started.

Edited October 12, 2010 by MaxKennedy