The saying “Saved by faith” has been around since Shaul made it popular way back when, and even today people keep saying, “We are saved by faith!”
But faith in what?
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The answer is really simple, but there is more than just one thing to be faithful to.
First of all, you have to understand that faith means choosing to believe in something that you can never really prove. Proof is the antithesis of faith because if something can be proven, then you have it as a fact and there is no need for faith. I can tell you that there is plenty of proof that God exists, but it is all just as easily dismissed as coincidence or science.
People who want to disprove God’s existence explain things scientifically, but what they fail to catch on to is that God created science and is not restrained by it.
So, to start with, when it comes to being saved by faith you must first faithfully believe in God. DUH! Without faith in God, you have nowhere else to go except to live your life knowing that there is no one behind you, no one caring about you, and no one you can truly, absolutely have faith in except another human being.
And given how human beings are, that is one in the loss column before you even start to play the game.
Next you have to have faith that what God says he will do will be done. Period.
The next thing is to faithfully believe that Yeshua IS the Messiah God said he would send. The reason this is essential for salvation is because there is no temple, and without the temple we cannot bring a sacrifice to be forgiven, and without forgiveness of sin there can be no salvation.
No one stained with sin will ever be allowed into God’s presence, so the way we are saved is through being forgiven. The shedding of innocent blood is the means by which we receive forgiveness, but it is forgiveness alone that saves us.
To receive forgiveness under God’s Torah, we had to shed innocent blood (Hebrews 9:22), and that had to be at the place God put his name (Deuteronomy 12:11), which was the temple in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 12:5).
No temple, no forgiveness, no salvation no matter how faithfully you try to obey Torah (and I say “try to obey” because no one can be 100% Torah obedient 100% of the time).
This is where Yeshua comes into the salvation picture- his sacrifice, as the Messiah, replaced the need to bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem, so through faith that God does what he says, faith that Yeshua is the Messiah and faithfully believing that as the Messiah, Yeshua’s sacrifice is a once-and-for-all sacrifice for everyone, you can receive the forgiveness that will save you.
And lets’ set the record straight right now: the once-and-for-all sacrifice doesn’t mean that all sins are automatically forgiven… NO! It means that every time we sin, we can find forgiveness when asking God to forgive us by means Yeshua’s shed blood. And you DO need to ask forgiveness for every single solitary sin you commit for the rest of your life.
And don’t think for a second that all you need to do is to ask. Without real t’shuvah (repentance), without feeling guilty and ashamed for having sinned, God will not forgive you.
God is not stupid or ever fooled- he knows your heart and what you are thinking, so without true repentance, you are no better off than a faithless person.
Oh, I almost forgot- faith in God is demonstrated by obedience to God, and not some religion. Don’t take my word for it: that’s what the brother of Yeshua said in James 2.
And, just in case you missed it the first time, the only place in the entire Bible where God, himself, tells us what he wants us to do is in those first five books, called the Torah. If your religion tells you, in any way, that you don’t need to follow the Torah, then you can never prove your faith by works, so your faith will be dead.
You can be the nicest person on the earth, give to the poor, go to church or synagogue every Shabbat, love everyone, and be as good a person as any human being can be BUT… if you reject anything in the Torah, such as reject celebrating the Holy Days God said to celebrate, reject God’s laws of Kashrut (Kosher) by eating whatever you want to, have intimate relations when you are not supposed to, or with someone you shouldn’t, or violate any of the other rules in the Torah, all that “good’ stuff you do will not help you.
Oh, yeah, and here’s the biggie!- according to the Messiah, as he tells us in Matthew 6:14-15, if you do not forgive those who sin against you, God will not forgive your sins against him, and (here’s another kick in the pants)… every sin you commit is against God.
So, there you have it, saved by faith means:
- Faithfully believing (that means without needing proof) that God exists and is 1,000% trustworthy to do as he says he will.
- Faithfully accepting that Yeshua is the Messiah.
- Faithfully believing his sacrifice was an acceptable sacrifice.
- Faithfully believing that because of his shed blood you can receive forgiveness of sin.
Salvation is what we are able to receive only when we are totally cleansed of sin, which is why it is so imperative that each and every day you ask God to forgive you, even if you don’t think you sinned.
Better to be covered than cursed.
Thank you for being here and please remember to share these messages with everyone you know, even non-believers. Hey, after all, you never know how fertile the soil is until you plant a seed in it.
That’s it for this week, so l’hitraot and (an early) Shabbat Shalom!