Faith, though, should be more than confessing Gospel facts. You must trust in what those facts mean. You must take seriously Jesus’ claim:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
No one else – no angel, no spirit, no holy man, no exalted woman – is the way to heaven’s blessing.
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
Trusting Christ ends all efforts at being your own savior. You will be rescued, not because you are so good, but because God is so good. Your salvation is not by your kind deeds, but by God’s infinitely kinder deed. How much He values you! Giving His Son for you cost Him more than words can tell. Yet to you all this is free. Soon after Nicodemus’ visit, Jesus teaches a woman of Samaria. Her life has been sinful and immoral, and Jesus says to her,
If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water (John 4:10).
What happens when you work for a gift? It is no longer a “gift,” but something owed to you. By earning it you place the giver under a duty or obligation. This is Paul’s point in Romans 4:4:
“Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”
God rejects all such human “works” for salvation (Romans 3-4; Galatians 2-3).
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
Sadly, many religions still try to earn favor with God. Pictures and lips honor the cross; but hearts dishonor and distrust it. They treat Christ’s sacrifice as incomplete, and in need of extra work. “Yes, Jesus sets you free” – yet you fail to do enough for Him, and feel enslaved by guilt! “Yes, Jesus freely forgives” – yet some leaders want you to earn the right to receive that forgiveness.