Is What Jesus Did and Said Enough?

By Jonathan Helmuth

May 1, 2011

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. -2nd Pet.1:3-4

I have often asked the question, "What is my faith based on?"

1. Is it based on the word of God?
2. Is it based on some creed or belief system?
3. Is it based on some man, or just because grandpa said so?
4. Is it based on tradition or even in a church or particular denomination?

What is the foundation on which I am building on?

• With all the political shaking going on in the world and all the economic instability, will my faith be able to stand?
• What if persecution comes to America, will my faith stand the test?

Only God truly knows some of those answers but I can take a close look at what I put my faith in.

• Is it truly in the person of Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross?

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, he said, "It is finished." Then he hung his head and died. -John 19:30

• Was what he accomplished for you and I enough, or do we have to add something to it, in order to be saved?

Let's take a look at the words that he used. The word "It is finished", is the Greek word teleo. It means: to complete, to perform, to fulfill, to pay in full.

Jesus paid the full price for our salvation. He paid the ransom for our captivity, our bondage. We were held captive by Satan but Jesus paid the ultimate ransom by giving his own life. A lot of times when people are kidnapped, the kidnappers will demand a ransom. Well Jesus paid ours. We are free from the power of Satan. He has no more dominion over us. Isn't that good news!

The Father had to watch his son go through the cruel beatings, the mocking and that cruel death on the cross so that we could be born again through faith in the sacrifice of the Lamb who was slain from the foundations of the world. Wouldn't it be an insult to God to say, "What Jesus did was not enough"?

In Hebrews 12:2 it says that we are to look to Jesus because he is the author and finisher of our faith. It is through faith in him that we can be born again. Not by our own works or all the good things we have done, but by all the good things he has done.

We must put our trust in what he has done and in the promises that he gave us. For it is in putting our faith in the promises of God that we can be partakers of the divine nature of God.

One of those promises is found in Romans 10:9.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Not might be, or if you try hard enough, or maybe once you get to heaven. It is an absolute promise. We can put our faith in these words.

Also Jesus said in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".

• Do we truly believe this?

Because if we do, we have everlasting life.

A promise is only as good as the ability of the one who spoke it.

In Hebrews 7:25 it says, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them."

Another promise Jesus left us, was that he would send the Holy Spirit after he ascended to the Father, which was fulfilled in Acts chapter 2.

The Holy Spirit was given to us for the very reason that Peter was referring to in the verse of our text.
According to the way I understand this verse, it is saying that the power of the Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to be able to live Godly lives.

According to Paul, this is the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 8:11), and he now lives inside of us. This is something that is truly amazing. It says in Zechariah that it is not by our own might or power, but by my Spirit that we are able to do anything.

It is as we fully rely on the Holy Spirit for understanding, as we read the Word of God and lean on the promises in the Word, that we can truly be free and get to know him who has called us to glory and virtue.

Jude 1:24-25 says, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

In conclusion, since the fall of humanity people have been trying to come to God through the works of their own hands (for example, Cain), which is rejected by God. Only those who come to Him by putting their faith in the blood of the Lamb (Jesus) are accepted by God, which is what Able did.

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