“Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” (James 2:22)

Man does not live by bread alone but by every word of God. It is imperative that every scripture in the Bible be placed together to understand its proper context. The Bible is not a smorgasbord to fill our plates with things that suit personal tastes. It is essential to life that we eat every word of God served, even when it is bitter to the belly.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever—He changes not. The coming of the New Covenant spoken of by Jeremiah did not change the person of God; it brought better hope by perfecting the means of salvation at the time appointed. Although the laws of redemption, sacrifices, and worldly ordinances are fulfilled in Christ, the righteous judgment of God remains intact: the soul that sins shall surely die.

The blood of Jesus Christ was shed as the perfect sacrifice for sin. However, beforehand, works were required by the law to show faith in the Atonement that was yet to come. Faith still requires works to perfect the free gift received by faith. By works, faith is made perfect (James 2:22).

The difference between the former and the latter is that the works ordained under the Mosaic law were performed to obtain a temporary covering of sins until the perfect sacrifice was offered. Christ, being the perfect sacrifice, abolished the need for a covering by purging away past sins with his own blood.

To be spared from suffering judgment, animal sacrifices were necessary for those who lived under the first covenant handed down by Moses—Christ was not yet glorified, and God, in his mercy, determined they were not to be penalized for living before the time appointed for the perfect sacrifice to be made.

The sacrifice for cleansing from sin comes only by the shedding of blood—”for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11). And without blood there is no remission of sins.

Before Christ appeared, animal sacrifices were given as a substitution. God forbid that the blood of animals could suffice for an acceptable sin offering, but the faith by which they were offered was sufficient to suspend God’s judgment until the perfect sacrifice was made—foreshadowed by the words of Abraham to Isaac, saying, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” (Genesis 22:8).

Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, having made the sacrifice, we are now cleansed from sin by faith, released from justification by the works of the law, and sanctified through obedience to the Spirit.

We can only do the works of the Spirit after the Spirit dwells in us. Once we accept Jesus into our heart, we are both able and required to cease from the works of the flesh to do the works of Christ.

All those before and after Christ received salvation through faith. The works required under the Levitical law pointed to the cross. The former laws, having been fulfilled by Christ, are superseded by obedience to Christ, who kept the law to perfection. By faith, those who follow Jesus point back to the cross.

It is the same faith that saves before and after the offering of Christ; however, those before, “having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise [the coming of the Messiah]: God having provided some better thing for us [the Messiah], that they without us should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40)

By faith in Christ we receive eternal life. Those who trust falsehoods are subject to death in the like manner of Adam. We are saved by faith, but entrance into heaven occurs with the end of faith. Jesus said, “He that endures unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Persevering to the end is an essential part of salvation.

Israel was saved when they were brought out of Egypt and passed through the Red Sea; the rest promised was yet to be obtained. Only after their pilgrimage through the wilderness, when they crossed over Jordan and dispossessed the inhabitants of Canaan, did they receive the inheritance.

Likewise, after we are saved from Egypt (sin) and Pharaoh (Satan), we too must complete the trek through the wilderness and destroy the inhabitants of seven nations, sanctifying the land holy to the Lord. Only then is the work of sanctification completed and the rest of the Lord is absolute—the true Sabbath, the fullness of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4).

Let us not fall short as many among the children of Israel did who died in the wilderness. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Hebrews 3:14).

The gift of salvation is given the moment we accept Christ; all sins become part of a forgotten past. It is the beginning of a journey. Yet just as Israel was fed each day with manna in a barren wilderness, so our souls must be nourished by the daily bread that comes down from heaven. If we stop eating, we die—whether we’re talking about the body or the soul.

With salvation we are sealed with a promise that if we finish the race set before us, we will forever be with the Lord. Therefore, let us not turn back to Egypt in our hearts like those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. God will not forgive your sins if you embrace your sins above him, even if you were once forgiven. It is written,

“When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he has trespassed and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.” (Ezekiel 18:24).

We are saved by faith, not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. However, any doctrine that holds that faith alone without the works of faith that follow is a fallacy. The Lord did not grant the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit with the intent of allowing transgressors to continue in sin freely, but rather, to “Go sin no more.” Salvation through faith, perfected by the exercise of good works, is a journey; it culminates in perfection and eternal life.