"Keeping the Faith!"

 "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:38 KJV)

  "What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, "All nations will be blessed through you." So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God's Book of the Law." So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."" (Galatians 3:8-11 NLT)

 If you are familiar with the Book of Galatians, then you should know that Paul was writing it because many of those he was writing to were being misled and told that they must observe and keep the Law of Moses, if they wanted to have salvation. There is that same thing happening today, as it has been, from the very beginning of the birth of the Church. It really does require faith in the work of what Christ has done, not on us, and any work that we can do: as the Scripture says, "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy deeds. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind." (Isaiah 64:6 NLT)

 The paradox that keeps us from remaining pure, is the lack of faith in the finished work of Christ! This might seem strange to some, but the similarity to what this looks like, is like us tasting all the separate ingredients for making a cake; hardly anything will taste good by itself; but once it is all mixed into one, there is something made that has great taste!    

 How that is similar to have faith in Christ, is because we must believe the whole work, from the very beginning to the very end! There is only one way that we are saved, not several different ways, only one! What that basically means, is that there is nothing added to or taken away from what Christ has done; the work that He did was sufficient; there is nothing else to be done; and it can never be undone!  

 This is not something that is taught in many churches, mostly because there aren't many churches that really believe the Bible is absolutely correct and the words of God. If you can't believe it all, then the cake you are making will not taste perfectly good...

"For we are not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, "This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy." We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Because of the experience, we have greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shinning in a dark place - until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God." (2 Peter 1:16-21 NLT)