FAITH IS A TWO-WAY STREET

Many Christians took for granted that if they have faith in Jesus, He will grant them salvation (grace). Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong again!

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Matthew 7:21-23. They are not doing what God wants them to do. When we are not doing what God wants us to do, that is a sin. These men/women have great, but Jesus rejected them and and sent them straight to hell. Jesus gave them no appeal right. Jesus gave them no second chance. Jesus has no faith in them. Jesus doesn't trust them! Do you why? Because these are the same people who abolished God's law. "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Matthew 7:21-23. That's why Jesus called them lawlessness practitioners. They are defiant and insurbodinate people who would not follow Jesus' orders. They have no fear of Jesus. Jesus knew that Christians have no fear of Him. That's why Jesus said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28. Even after hearing such statements from Jesus, Christians still don't fear Jesus. They abolished all of God's commandments except paying tithes and offerings. How can Jesus trust these kind of Christians? They have faith in money only, and nothing else.




Does He have faith in you? Does He have faith in me? That is the question that we must ask first before assuming that He will give us anything, even sunshine. Why? Because faith is a two-way street. Your Paul was wrong. He led you to believe that salvation is easy to get as long as you have faith. No, he is wrong! And here is my proof.
Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus rejected these men and women of great faith because Jesus had no faith in them. Jesus doesn’t trust them! This is my proof that faith is a two-way street. Paul does not define the word faith. Jesus defines the word faith. 
Paul was wrong when He said that we are saved by grace through faith. Jesus implied in Matthew 7:21-23 that faith only will not save us. The apostle James was right when he said that we are saved by faith and works. What [does it] profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what [does it] profit? Thus faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:14-17, 20, 24, 26. And so, if faith only cannot save us, how do we get grace? Because grace is a gift from God that can save us, according to Paul. Do you want to know how we can get grace from God? Here is the secret. "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every intent of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." Genesis 6:5-8. Do you want to know how Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord? It's not because he kept his beard clean. No! It's because he kept his heart clean. He kept his mind clean. He kept his conscience clean. And that's work, Bro!
We receive grace from God not because we have faith. We receive grace from God because we keep our hearts clean. And keeping our hearts clean is work that we have to do every day to earn God's grace. For study aid please read my articles Pastor-Attorney and The Triad of Salvation. May God help us to understand His words.

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