I love the time between the beginning of November and the New Year. As a one-time school teacher, this time of year affords many half days and quite a few no school days. It’s time to rejoice! Our society often refers to this time of year as the holiday season, because we celebrate two special times of year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We also tend to spend these two holidays with family, and so it is special.

In the church at Thanksgiving we get to be thankful for the biblical God has done and is doing for us and in celebrating Christmas we meditate on the reason for the season: Jesus. It is during this time of year we start to remind ourselves that without Jesus there is no hope for mankind…… IF you’re rightly understand what it means to be saved.

There is a huge disconnect in the church with the term salvation. The term in and of itself speaks of being rescued from ensuing disaster. That’s right! Disaster awaits everyone who rejects Gods offer of the baby in the manger. Jesus spoke of heaven and hell more than anyone else in the bible. Those who trust alone in him and not anything else will be saved. Salvation involves trust in Jesus alone, not Jesus plus (+)…..not baptism, not good works (51 percent good verses 49 percent bad), not philanthropic actions, not avoidance of evil. This is why Jesus had to be born. We cannot save ourselves.

Someone must come from beyond to rescue us. Jesus had to be born so that he could rescue us. That’s why biblical Christians rejoice in Christmas. God has sent a deliverer to rescue fallen man from his bondage to sin. Man needs forgiveness because he has violated Gods laws. God is just and will punish the law breaker or the law breaker must allow someone to pay his crimes, otherwise God is no longer just. Man needs righteousness and Jesus provides all the righteousness for man

I’d like to challenge you this Christmas season to consider where you are at with God. In other words do you truly trust alone in Jesus OR do you have some form of faith that is not adhering alone to Jesus?

I spoke about Thanksgiving and Christmas because somehow we tend to think of salvation like one thinks of the holiday season. We tend to blend everything together to make up the holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and in regards to salvation we tend to blend both belief in Jesus and good works together, rather than seeing them as exclusively distinct. While both make up the holiday season, they are distinct in nature.

When thinking about salvation we tend to lump both justification and sanctification together rather than seeing them as distinct.

Many of my Roman Catholic friends tend to see Sanctification (the process of becoming holy) as the means of Justification (the declaration that someone is righteous. Many (not all) Roman Catholics see good works as the means of salvation. Yes they believe that Jesus must believed upon, BUT they also believe that one must be infused with righteousness via their good deeds ( living within the sacramental system) then hopefully at the end of life or after a period of time in purgatory, they are allowed entrance into heaven.

Many Roman Catholics say they have faith but their faith is NOT exclusively in Jesus but in the system described above. Their real faith is in following the rules of the church.

In theory this sounds good, but it is far from biblical. The bible clearly articulates over and over that one is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16). I could do an extended treatise on the doctrine of justification but for all intents and purposes I want you to really ask yourself “what is my real faith in”? If you knew your death was near and you had to answer the question why should God let you into heaven, would your answer declare it was Jesus….and JUST Jesus, or would you add something to your faith in Jesus, or trust in something other than Jesus?

At the same time I’m not here to denounce a certain faith perspective. There are many “Protestant Christians” who say they have faith in Jesus BUT it is only in lip service. There has been no change in their lives. They live as antinomians, walking around saying no one can judge me or living externally in the rituals of faith (going to church, attempting to live morally) without a genuine heart change having taken place.

The Reformation helped us to diagnose whether our faith is genuine. Martin Luther mentioned there are three layers of faith. The first has to do with knowledge (the Latin term notitia). Many have knowledge of God, its intellectual information and masquerades as genuine faith, but we know that knowledge can often lead to pride or despondency. One lifts a man higher than he actually is and the other brings him low to the depths of deep grief knowing but unable to follow.

The second layer is assent (assensus). There are many Protestants affirming the truths of salvation and yet no genuine change has taken place in the individual. Intellectual assent “professes” something as true that the mind rejects. The demons were the first to truly know the identity of Jesus, but they did not have saving faith and lacked what we call “fiducia” saving faith.

The third layer of knowledge leads to genuine belief (fiducia). Genuine faith extends beyond knowledge and assent, goes beyond brain thinking (knowledge and mere profession) and reaches into the depths of our heart and convicts us of our desperate need of Jesus. This faith will not crumble in the storm and will never deny Jesus as Lord and master. It stands on the rock alone and this faith will lead to a changed life.

The genuine Christian embraces Jesus alone. Do You? Don’t blend, BELIEVE!!!

Tom Cabral is Pastor of Redemption Fellowship Church  of Fall River.