Drawn by Grace, Saved through Faith - Empowered by the Promise

The cross of Christ, His death for the sin of the world, burial and resurrection from the dead – is the work of God. It is how God reconciled himself to man, bridging the gulf that separated sinful man from God. It is the Gospel, the Good News. It is the goodness of this news that draws man to He who is at the heart of the Gospel, to He who performed the work – Jesus Christ. Believing the Gospel, in and of itself, is not saving faith. This would put the object of saving faith on the work, not on God. However, man cannot identify or delimit the one true God without believing in Him who did the work. It is the Cross that forever delimits who the one true God is – Jesus Christ – and the saving Grace that His work embodies. No one will ever again suffer on a Cross, be buried for three days and rise again from the dead.

John 12:32-33
32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

The object of saving faith is the one true God, Jesus Christ. Belief in Him as THE Christ, THE Son of God is saving faith. He is not A God, or A Christ but THE God, THE Christ – He is the one and only, begotten of the Father – the one true God.

John 20:31-31
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

This is the express purpose that John records these signs that Jesus performed – so that YOU may believe that Jesus is THE Christ, THE Son of God and believing you may have life in His name. This is not necessarily the intent of the whole book of John but the intent of the signs recorded in this book. The express purpose of these signs was to demonstrate that Jesus is no ordinary man but in fact that He is God – the signs authenticate the person of Jesus Christ, the one true God in whom people must believe to have eternal life. This is much like the signs we see in Acts, authenticating the message of the Apostles and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Signs demonstrate that which is “of God”.

The promise of God is eternal life through belief in Jesus Christ. It is not the gospel but is something that accompanies salvation. The object of saving faith is not the promise but He who promises. Believing in the promise empowers the saved to live peaceably, knowing that nothing shall ever separate them from the love of God.

1 John 2:21-23
23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

Romans 8:39
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Drawn by the work of the one true God, the Cross (Grace) – Saved through belief in the one true God, Jesus Christ (Faith) – Empowered by the promise of the one true God, eternal life.