If we are not careful, we can take either faith or grace to the extreme. Paying too much attention to one without relating it to the other is harmful to us. Faith without corresponding actions is dead, but actions without faith can kill us. Faith, not our actions, is the victory that overcomes the world. Therefore, Christians must be careful not to belittle the importance of believing. If we believe strongly enough, eventually that belief will give birth to action. Without a solid understanding of the need to live in the balance between faith and grace, we can confuse the works of faith with works of the law.

  1. Faith takes what grace has made. They are both interdependent.
      1. This verse links grace and truth together, because grace is the truth that makes people free.
      2. People who do not understand grace will always have a problem with sin. They will not believe Jesus has already forgiven them.
      3. God’s grace is His way of gifting us with something we do not deserve, simply because He wants to. It is an expression of His love for us, and the finished works of Jesus are an example of this expression.
      4. Everything we need for a life of godliness has been made available to us (2 Peter 1:3), but we must not become lazy Christians who sit back and do nothing.
      5. We do not need to work to do what Jesus already did. Works of faith are actions based on believing and receiving what is done.
    2. Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants—not only to the devotees andadherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all (Romans 4:16, AMPC).
      1. Faith’s involvement with grace is significant. When Jesus was on the cross and He said, “It is finished,” all the promises made previously then became available to us.
      2. Belief is required to lay hold of what grace made available, yet believing is no small thing. We must labor to enter into that rest (Hebrews 4:11).
      3. Believing that we can use our faith to move God results in legalism. God has already moved, and the next move is up to us. Our faith should move us into a position to receive from Him.
      4. Grace taken to the extreme results in a passive Christian who ends up in lasciviousness (a lack of restraint). Grace actually teaches us to live righteously and godly (Titus 2:12).
    3. Our faith is reflected in how we pray.
      1. After the cross, our prayer life differs from before the cross because it is grace-based. We pray with the mindset that everything has already been done, so we no longer need to beg God.
      2. We can pray in tongues, in praise and thanksgiving. In this way, we build ourselves up when we pray in the Holy Spirit (Jude 1:20).
      3. Praying in agreement with God’s will empowers our prayers. When we encounter something that is not His will, we must speak against it.
  1. Works of faith are a result of strong belief. Our faith connects us to grace.
      1. We rejoice in earnest expectation of the manifestation of God’s grace, to which we have access by faith.
      2. We must not throw away our faith just because we are under grace.
      1. The day we were saved was the day we believed.
      3. Faith is a product of grace. Grace gives us the capacity to believe what we hear.
    3. Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:9).
      1. Under the law, we would have to work for a gift. Our faith is a gift given by grace.
      2. If we want to see the manifestations of something, we must open our mouths and declare it. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so… (Psalm 107:2).
      3. To see God’s glory in all areas of our lives, we must hear the Word in faith.
      4. The word preached did not profit some, because they did not receive it in faith (Hebrews 4:2).
      1. We must work our faith to get what grace has already made available.
      2. The just shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38).
      3. As believers, our faith moves us into a position to claim authority over the devil.
      5. A good fight is one that has already been won.



0 483


Leave a Reply