Nick's Testimony 4

Okay, that sounds a little confusing, but the root of it is that the man, Jesus, was God. God stepped out of heaven to be born as a man (our Christmas story), live a perfect life (not a solitary sin at all, setting the standard against which we are compared), died a grueling death and rose again three days later (our Easter story) in order to pay the penalty for our sins and purchase for us a place in Heaven. It's as if he took the sins "out of our accounts" and transferred them to his own, and then closed the account with the sacrifice of His life on the cross. In fact, the last words Jesus uttered on the cross before His death were, "It is finished." Actually, the Greek word used in the original text was, "Tetelesti," which means, "The debt is paid in full!"

That's it -- that's the gift God offers: the death of Jesus to pay the price for all of your sin, past, present, and future. Like any gift, you have to accept it before it becomes yours, and since gift can't be wrapped in a box, we accept it by faith. Now, there are various kinds of faith, and from time to time, we tend to use them all. First off, there intellectual faith, meaning that we believe in God and the Bible's teaching, but that does nothing for you except fill your head with facts! That's where I was, I knew a lot about God, but I didn't KNOW God -- I had no relationship with Him. The Bible says that even the demons believe in God, and we can safely assume this won't win them a place in Heaven.

Also, there's temporary faith, like what we have when we believe that God can deliver us from a temporary problem (e.g., sickness, jobless, trouble, etc.). Unfortunately, this kind of faith usually gets shelved once the problem has subsided. In fact, when things don't go the way we wanted in the situation, it can turn into a real lack of faith in God altogether.

The faith God requires is what's called a saving faith. That word "saving" (or "saved") is not a Baptist word, or a Pentecostal, or Catholic, or Presbyterian, or Methodist word, either. It's a BIBLE word -- a "God word." "Saving faith" is trusting in God alone for salvation. It's an all or nothing deal -- you transfer all of your trust regarding your eternal life to Jesus and what He did for you on the cross.