Receiving Grace: Faith
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God… Ephesian 2:8
Paul tells us in Ephesians that grace is the free gift of God by which we are saved. We are saved by grace which is an offer made for free without any obligation. However, the gift of salvation by grace isn’t just applied to every person automatically. It has to be received and God tells us that we receive the gift of God’s grace through faith.
Faith is simply a matter of trust. Trusting something or someone. So when we talk about faith it’s really important to talk about who or what our faith is in.
If you watch a modern Disney movie, you might be told how important it is to just believe. But believe in what? Faith without an object is meaningless.
The object of saving faith
The faith through which we receive grace is a faith in a very specific thing.
It’s not just faith that God exists.
It’s not just faith that God is good.
It’s not just faith that Jesus is the Messiah.
It’s not even just believing the gospel story that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified and rose from the dead.
All of that is important, but believing all those things is not how you receive salvation by grace.
Faith is not in yourself
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God… Ephesian 2:8
Paul says in Ephesians clearly what the object of faith is not. It’s not in ourselves. When men stand before God on the Day of Judgment, they will be required to give an account for their lives. God might ask the question, “Why should I grant you eternal life with Me in Heaven?” Many would point to their own good works in life, their great feats of honorable deeds, their donations to charity or religious institutions. They would be trusting in themselves, in their own works to save them from the wrath to come. Others might appeal to the indifference of God, asking Him to overlook their sin with the excuse that they are “only human.” They would be trusting in the apathy of God (which, by the way, doesn’t exist).
Faith in the sufficiency of Christ’s blood
Saving faith is discarding any trust in your own goodness and putting all your faith in the sacrifice of Christ that purchased a foreign righteousness for you. Saving faith is trusting that Christ’s blood is completely sufficient to save you from the wrath to come.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, Romans 4:5
Do you believe that Christ’s blood is sufficient to make you righteous and save you from the wrath to come even if you don’t have a single good deed to your name?