"And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." " Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground." " And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so." Exodus 3:5; Acts 7:33; Joshua 5:15. What made the ground holy? Was it not the presence of God? Yes, the presence of God makes holy. The same with you. Only the presence of God can make you holy. Can your faith make you holy? Of course not. What about your goodness, can it make you holy? No way. Matthew 19:17. How then can we be made holy? It is the presence of God that makes, not just the ground, but you holy.

Thus far, we have looked at scripture upon scripture of promises that God has made to us. What does faith and works have to do with receiving these promises? Let us compare some scriptures and become more confused than we already are. Then we should look at the solution.

Jeremiah said, "They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish." But he also said, "And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart." Jeremiah 10:15. Jeremiah 24:7. First Jeremiah says we are vanity and we will perish, then he says that we will return to God and will be His people.

Ezekiel who said, "Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land," also said, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers: and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleanness." Ezekiel 33:26. Ezekiel 36:25-29. First we are told we will not possess the land. Then we are told God will save us. The same Jesus that said, "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity," also said, "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Matthew 7:23. Matthew 24:13. First Jesus says He never knew us, but then he says we shall be saved.

Paul said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," but he also said, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:12. Philippians 2:13. God tells us to work out our own salvation and then He tells us that it is God that works in us.

God said through the writer of Timothy, "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work." But he also said through the writer of John, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." 2 Timothy 2:21. John 15:2. Here we are told to purge ourselves by Timothy, but then John tells us that God purgeth us.

The psalmist said, "Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert." God also said through the psalmist, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." Psalm 28:4. Psalm 40:1,2. Also, "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him ... The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord ... Wait on the Lord, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land." Psalm 37:5-7,23,34. First we are told we will receive our just deserts, but then we are told God will bring us out of that horrible pit and establish us.

God said through Solomon, "And shall not he render to every man according to his works?" But He also said through Solomon, "Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee." Proverbs 24:12. Proverbs 20:22. Here we are told we will receive our just reward, but then we are told that God will save us.

God also said through Paul, "But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." Then He says through Paul, "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Acts 26:20. Acts 5:31. We are told to repent and to do works of repentance, then we are told God is the one that gives repentance.

God said through Titus, "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate," but also, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 1:16. Titus 3:5,7. First we are told we deny God by our works, then we are told that our works are nothing. There is more but you get my point. To make things worse it says in James 2:14,17,20, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" Then it says, "For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God." Romans 4:2.

Confused yet? There is good news. John 12:47 says, "And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." Yes, it is clear in scripture that we all should die. No doubt about it. We deserve nothing better, but God does not want us to die. He wants to save us. That is the whole point. When we come before the throne of God we do not have a leg to stand on but we have Jesus and that is all we need.

If you believe, if you believe, if you believe. If you believe this you will be saved. If you believe that you will be saved. Believe what? The word believe in the original Hebrew and Greek agree. We are not simply to believe that a fact is true. To believe is to put absolute trust in a God of love that He will do as He has promised. God says He will do this and He will do that. It is not we that must do this and do that, but God. We are to believe that God will keep His promises to us. According to Galatians 5:22 God has given us faith as a free gift, a conviction that truth is truth. What will we do with that conviction? Will we trust God with our very lives or not? That is what it means to believe. Do you trust Him? That is the question. Do you trust Him with your very life to get you into heaven? Do you think you have to earn His love when you have had it all along? Do you think you have to make yourself worthy when you have seen all through scripture that we cannot make ourselves good?

All this faith, works, and belief boil down to one simple question. Will you trust Jesus with your life to do all that He said He will do or not? Everything else will come as a result of your answer. All this works that everyone is worried about is described by God as follows, "Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." I would like to repeat that so that it is clear in your mind. "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." One more time, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Are you getting this? "... the work of God ... believe on Him!" This is doing the work of God, that you believe on Jesus whom the Father sent. Will you trust Him?

True faith is not believing there is a God. Satan not only believes there is a God, he knows there is a God and he trembles. Faith is not something we can build up inside ourselves. Faith is a gift that comes by hearing the Word of God, knowing there is power in His speaking, expecting God will do what He says, and depending on what He says to happen. When God comes, will He find faith on the earth? Righteousness by faith is believing God has declared you righteous, not just in His eyes, but you become righteous because God says so. Is your faith "by the word only" or "by sight?" Romans 4:5 says, "To Him that worketh not, but believeth on him who justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Our faith is to be in a God that justifies the ungodly. Do you have true faith or the counterfeit? Believe that God justifies, counts as righteous, the ungodly. If God counts righteous the godly only, who would be saved? No one. Can you think of one godly person in the eyes of God? Do you know that they have not one evil or selfish desire? There is no such person that has been perfect since birth. Then God must count the ungodly righteous if any are going to heaven. God does not eventually make us godly and take us to heaven for our godliness, for we will always, no matter what we do from this day forward, be ungodly and saved by grace for the scriptures say, "All have sinned." Romans 3:23.

We are already saved. You have seen it plainly from scripture. However, we can reject it. We can refuse to believe it. Suppose an earthly prince was to inherit the throne of his father. Is it his throne upon his father's death? Yes. Can he refuse it? Yes. If he refuses it will he lose it? Yes. Our Heavenly Father has given us an inheritance to a throne and He Himself has died in Christ. It is ours but we can refuse it. We can lose it.

If you simply receive what you already have, like the prince who was heir to the throne, it is yours. Your work is to receive. Receive the robe of righteousness that God has prepared for you woven in the loom of heaven without a thread of human devising. Accept from the Father the throne that is awaiting you. It is yours if you do not reject it. What we need is God. Nothing more. Nothing less. But like the Jews of old, we stumble at the mercy of God. We think it is too good to be true, that it cannot be that easy.

To quote an inspired writer, Ellen White, "The mystery increases as we try to comprehend it. It is incomprehensible ... I shall, if saved in the kingdom of God, be constantly discerning new depths in the plan of salvation. All the redeemed saints will see and appreciate as never before the love of the Father and the Son, and songs of praise will burst forth from immortal tongues ... There will be ... no skeptics whom we must labor to convince of the reality of eternal things, no prejudices to uproot, but all will be susceptible to that love which passeth knowledge. Rest, thank God, there is rest for the people of God." -That I May Know Him, pg. 371. And to quote Raymond H. Woolsey from his book Joy In The Morning, pg. 373, "What some people call a stumbling block, others make into a steppingstone." (Used by permission) Will you step or stumble?

I beg of you, be as a little child. Stop and study your Bible. Look to the Saviour for guidance. Listen to that still, small voice that is trying to change your heart.

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by Debra A. Snipes
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