Timeless Works: True Faith and False - Dr. D. James Kennedy

One of the tasks of a minister is to enable people to see that we are redeemed, saved, forgiven, justified by faith and not by works. That is an ongoing and never-ending struggle because man naturally believes from his earliest days that he will get to Heaven by the good things that he does. By his own merit, his own good works, his own performance, he will ultimately save himself. This self-salvation is the religion of everybody in the world--at least at some time in their life. The Bible makes it very clear that we are saved by grace through faith, that it is a free gift from God, and it is appropriated by faith in Jesus Christ. The second task of the minister is to try to make clear to people what faith in Christ is—just how a person has faith, what it is, and what it does in the life of the one who possesses it. Scripture Reference: John 9:24-38