Bible Study: What will get you into heaven, Faith or Works?

Hey everyone! So today, I’m going to talk about faith vs. works. 

Before we get into it, let’s have our moment of silence. 

At this time, I would like all of us to take a moment of silence and pray to God to help us to become the faithful servant who works to make God’s plan come true. Take a minimum of 5 minutes and pray for this. 

Now back to the show

Faith vs. Works? Which one will get me into heaven?

I know what you’re thinking, “German, I have heard from so many places that without working to be a good person and doing charitable things, I will never get into heaven.”

Or how about, “German, I believe in Jesus and that’s all I need to do. I don’t need to do anymore because I’m already in heaven.”

And my response is YES AND NO. 

Here is why

The reason for Faith

Yes you will get into heaven by just your faith and not by works, 

Galatians 2:16 states, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

So Paul was the one who wrote Galations. And of course we know that God himself showed up to Paul and ordered Paul to go into Damascus so that he could receive instructions from God’s servant, Anonias. 

And the instructions were that he was to preach the gospels to the nations.

We can rest assured in God that this verse is one-hundred percent accurate. 

Romans is said to be the backbone of our faith.

Romans 3:28 states, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

Again that was Paul who was writing it. 

Romans 5:1 again states, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”

So these verses all say that we are JUSTIFIED by faith.

That word Justified is a legal word meaning “Acquittal for Christs sake.”

What happens is that we as a human race have a debt to pay to God for being sinful. 

And we will all stand before the Lord to be judged for our sins.

However, the Lord offers a JUSTIFICATION for us (an acquittal) where we won’t have to go to hell if we just believe in Jesus. 

So we have acquittal for Jesus’ sake.

And even the verse that is said from Jesus himself in John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that whosoever BELIEVES in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

But here is why works is important

Matthew 5:16 actually has Jesus speaking and it states, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

So in that verse, Jesus was saying that good works glorify your father. 

And of course, we as Christians need to glorify our father.

Now let’s take a look at Matthew 16: 27 it states, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.”

Right here Jesus is saying something about heaven, he is saying that there will be REWARDS in heaven. He is saying that God is going to REWARD people based off of their works. 

You still get into heaven by faith, but your works are going to reward you in heaven. 

And when God says rewards, he means PERFECT rewards.

So, think of Faith as your entry into heaven, and works as your rewards in heaven. 

But the bible also states to be careful of how you do your works, Jesus speaks about it. 

Don’t do works in order to be seen by people, do it to please God. 

Jesus speaks about it in Matthew 23:5. Jesus states in this verse, “But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,”

Jesus was actually speaking against the Pharisees in this verse and he thought it was very bad that these people were looking for attention from man rather than God.

Now here is one last Verse about good works, Titus 2:14, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

In here Paul is speaking again and in it, he was talking about Jesus and how he wanted his people to be ZEALOUS of good works.

That word ZEALOUS means, to desire, or have a warm feeling for, or be jealous over something. 

If you were to be jealous over good works, that means that you want to do good works, and actually do it in this sense. 

In conclusion

We are supposed to do both. 

But we’re supposed to do these things out of happiness and joy that the Lord has given us. 

Good works is a bi-product of our faith. 

If we have faith, we will do good works. 

It’s kind of like saying I’m a mathematician and I only do calculus, I can’t do algebra or even arithmetic. 

You need to do everything to call yourself a mathematician.

Likewise, you will go to heaven with faith, but your rewards are going to be through your works. 

Remember that God loves a happy giver, so be happy! The Lord has blessed you with plenty.

Broadcast

I sure hope that I have been an inspiration and a hope to you all. Please remember to pray, read your bible, go to church, and love God above all else. Like, comment, share, subscribe, and I will see you all next time.

If you want to go to heaven, then believe in Jesus and you will go to heaven. (John 3:16)

Thank you all for listening in on this blog post. 

German Gonzalez, signing out!