The gift of course being the sacrifice of His only Son Jesus Christ upon Calvary's cross. Thus we arrive at the general understanding of our salvation as being by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. God gets very specific here though to make sure we do not get confused. It is a gift - period. There are no works that can be translated into salvation, so this way none can boast in themselves. That is the futile thinking of the world. Recently, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg made headlines by declaring that if there was a heaven - that he has "earned his spot." These are the lies the enemy sells to a world that is going to hell. That if they do enough good deeds, it will make up for their sin before a holy God. That we should compare ourselves to other sinful human beings to feel better about our sin. None of it though is true. While it is sad enough to see it in the world, it exists in the church as well. While this type of legalism was much more prevalent in our past, it still exists. It is still a lie. There is no good work that can earn salvation. It is only because God extended His grace to count the spilled blood of His only Son for the forgiveness of our sins.
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. - Matthew 26: 26-28 (ESV)
This is our new covenant beloved. When we place our penitent faith in the grace God extended us through His Son Jesus Christ we are saved. We are born again. Penitent simply means that we recognize our sinful state and desire to turn from it and towards God again. Some like to gloss over the penitent portion but in doing so they leave out the condition that we are in upon which God acted upon. Why were we separated us from God to begin with? Because of sin. Why is the new covenant established? For the forgiveness of sins. Our faith in the grace of God requires and acknowledgement of our sin and a desire to repent thereof.
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. - Luke 24: 45-47 (ESV)
There is no forgiveness of sins without personal repentance. Having established the foundation of our salvation, exactly where does works fit in? To hear the hyper-grace preacher and antinomian teach it - nowhere. Their gospel is false in that it ignores works all together. It is all greasy grace and puppies and unicorns. The problem is that is not Biblical. It ignores completely the key verses for today. James explains for us the true relationship between our salvation and the works of our lives. The Bible says we are work out our salvation with fear and trembling, not with a latte and a false sense of security. Let's break down the key verses and see what God is saying through James:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Based upon the phrasing and the context we know right off the start that faith and works are supposed to be related. They are not some polar opposite dynamic. Too many today take the position of no works because they keep tying it to causality. No one is arguing that our works cause salvation. Even the most hardened legalist does not believe that. The world might believe that because they are blind to the things of God. I have never met anyone who believes as Michael Bloomberg, that works alone results in salvation. There are denominations that mix works into some kind of salvation cocktail and they are wrong for doing so. Remember - no one can boast.
Can that faith save him?
