Christianity makes some big promises: 

• All my sins forgiven
• From spiritually dead to spiritually alive
• Adopted into God’s family
• God’s Holy Spirit in me
• My heart increasingly transformed
• A life of true purpose
• Eternity with God in Heaven

But what makes someone a Christian?
What gives someone access to all these promises? 

Not good works

• Ephesians 2:8-9: “you have been saved…[but] this is not your own doing; it is…not a result of works”
• Galatians 2:16: “a person is not justified by works of the law…by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Why people think good works will work:

• Pride
• Fear/Control
• Our works-based world

Why works won’t work: 

• Sin is serious
  • Every sin is an act of cosmic treason against the One who is worthy of pure praise

• Good works don’t earn brownie points
  • Luke 17:7-10: “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’.”

Good Works Won’t Work…But Faith in Jesus Christ Will

• Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
• Galatians 2:16: “we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
• You can’t swim to shore: get in the lifeboat!

The Actual Role of Good Works in the Christian Life: 

• James 2:14-26: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostate justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

Only faith in Jesus Christ saves, but saving faith always leads to good works

• Faith is the root of Christianity; good works are the fruit.

Self-Assessment

1. Am I clinging to the cross with both hands?
2. Is what I say I believe leading to good works in my life?