Faith vs. Works

I am sure that you have heard this debate a number of times.   Are we saved by faith?   Works?   A combination of the two? 

I number of us have likely heard it said that we are saved by acceptance of Jesus and placing our faith in Him alone.   However, is placing our faith in Jesus alone enough to save us? 

My belief is that having faith in Jesus is not enough.   While it is a great first step, James 2:19 tells us that even the demons believe and know who Jesus is:

James 2:19(NIV)  "You believe that there is one God.   Good!  Even then demons believe that and shudder."

However, the demons are definitely not in the express lane for heaven.   So, any gospel that speaks of needing faith alone, I would humbly submit, is a false gospel. 

I also think that we can all agree that we can't work ourselves into heaven.   No number of works, apart from repentance and acceptance of Jesus will get us into Heaven.   Think about the Pharisees and the Sadducees for moment.   Each kept the law to the letter, but neither group had any faith in God.   They were all too busy trying to earn their right standing before God by carefully following the rules.   They did so without actually honoring or loving God in their hearts.   I don't think it is a far stretch to believe that they would ready and willing to stand before God on judgement day and boast about their works.     This is evidenced in the parable Jesus gave us regarding the prayer of the Pharisee vs. the Tax Collector in Luke 18:9-14 (NASB):

"And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.   The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people; swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.   I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I get.'   But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'    I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

I don't think it is a far stretch to be able to imagine the Pharisees and Sadducees pushing themselves to the front of the line on judgement day and boasting of their works.   In fact, Jesus provides us guidance that indicates that they and, unfortunately, other Christians will likely hear, "Depart from me, I never knew you" on that day.   This is evidenced in Matthew 7:21-23 (NASB):

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.   Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'   And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me; you who practice lawlessness.'"

So far, I think that we can see that faith alone nor works alone are sufficient.   You see, Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 7:24-27 (NASB):

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.   And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against the house; and yet it still did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.   Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand.   The ran fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell - and great was its fall."  

The emphasis (bold) to hears and acts/does not act above are mine.   I added those to help highlight the point that when we "hear" God's word, we don't always listen/absorb what we are told.   Just because we use our sense of hearing, doesn't mean that we actually hear - if that makes sense ;-).    When we hear, understand and accept God's word, that results in action on our part.   When we hear God's word, but either don't understand or accept it, those words don't sink in and we continue to grope around in the darkness, leaning on our own understanding or the worlds teaching.   This leads us to place our faith in false doctrine/knowledge and ultimately builds our house on the sand - a house that will eventually fall. 

Perhaps the most clear teaching on this comes to us in the book of James.   James 2:14-26 say:

James 2:14-26 (NIV): "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?"   Can such a faith save them?  Suppose a brother, or a sister is without clothes and daily food.   If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?   In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by actions, is dead.   But someone will say, 'You have faith, I have deeds.'   Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.   You believe that there is one God.  Good!   Even the demons believe that - and shudder.   You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?   Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the alter?   You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.   And the scripture was fulfilled that says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,' and he was called God's friend.  You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not faith alone.   In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?  As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

Another illustration that I will share with you comes from Michael Chriswell (https://relentlessheart.com).   I ran into this illustration in one of Micheal's bible study's and that it was a very clear illustration regarding our need for faith and works:

"Let's say Bill Gates grafts you into his will and says you will inherit his $10 million second home when he dies, as a free gift.  You could never afford this house, but he even lets you go ahead and move in and all he asks in return is that you maintain it.   Not only could you not likely ever afford to live in that house, but you couldn't even afford to maintain it.   However, you have no worries because he even gives you a cleaning, maintenance, and improvement budget to do so.   He then promises that no one from the outside will ever be able to take the home from you, or to sell it out from under you (think Romans 8:38-39). 

Romans 8:38-39 (NASB): "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

So you move in and soon after you start having friends over to see your new amazing free house from Bill Gates, that not of them will believe until they see it.   During one visit you take a break from your friends to sit down at your beautiful office kitchen to take care of a few maintenance projects you have going with the house.   One of your friends walks by and sees you and asks what you are doing.   You explain that you are writing out a few checks for various projects on the house.   Your friend, with a frowned look on his face, says, "Wait a second, you said this house was a free gift....this isn't a free gift if you have to pay money to maintain it."   You then explain, "Oh, it was part of the agreement and actually Bill deposits money into my account each week so that I can maintain the house."   My responsibility is simply apply the payments. 

Could anyone now rightly say that if you agreed to these maintenance terms, you are now earning the free gift?  Not at all!   You are simply obeying the agreement of maintaining the gracious gift he is giving you, and you can't even take credit for that, because he gives you money to maintain it. 

Now, suppose you start taking the gift for granted and you start leaving the doors unlocked when you leave, having questionable individuals over, or spending the maintenance money and your time on other things, at the neglect of caring for the house.  When Bill comes to make his final settlement with you and transfer the deed over to you, would he not be justified in taking back your inheritance since you lost respect for it, and you didn't do his will in the agreement?   Yes, he would."

You see, while we have done nothing nor could we ever do anything that would earn us our salvation - we are saved by the grace of God alone (Ephesians 2:8 (NASB): "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;") - we do still have an obligation to maintain the gift.   We maintain our gift with the grace that He has given us - Romans 8:12-13: "So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."   Scripture tells us in Matthew 7:21 and 1 John 2:17 that only those who do God's will are going to make it to heaven:

Matthew 7:21 (NASB): "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven will enter."

1 John 2:17 (NASB):  "The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

No one can do God's will apart from God's enabling grace - so at no time can it be said that we earned anything by our doing.   If we don't do our part - empowered by His grace - the time will come when it will be said that we squandered His gift and grace, even if we didn't do it intentionally.