What does First B Jackson teach about faith vs works?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on faith and works begins in the same place every time: the order is non-negotiable. Grace comes first, faith follows from it, and works flow from faith. Reverse that sequence, and you end up either performing for God out of anxiety or looking down on others out of pride. The messages return again and again to Ephesians 2:8-9 as the simplest statement of what is true: salvation is a gift received, not a wage earned. As one message put it, forgiven people make it into heaven, not good people.
The thief on the cross became a recurring illustration across several messages because his case strips every argument for earned salvation down to nothing. He had no record of obedience, no time for good works, no church attendance. What he had was a dying request, and Jesus answered it with paradise. One preacher held that up with these words: "That's all he said. That's all he ever did. That's all that's recorded for his Christian walk is Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." The point is not that works are unimportant after salvation, but that they never cross over into the category of what saves. They belong to a different bag entirely.
Works do matter, but they matter as evidence of a life being transformed by the Spirit, not as currency to pay down a debt. The image used in one message was a swimmer in a riptide who has exhausted every effort and finally stops fighting so the lifeguard can reach him. That surrender is the shape of saving faith. The Christian life that follows is then one of daily submission rather than outward performance, with the direction of the heart, not the surface behavior, being what God is actually looking at.
Taught from Ephesians 2:8-9 · Romans 6:23 · Galatians 2:20 · Romans 3:21-25 · Galatians 3:1
“Nothing that we've done will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
From Nothing Else: The Simplicity of the Gospel
The passage taught · Acts 16:6-10
6 When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them.
8 Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
9 A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- October 11, 2026 Nothing Else: The Simplicity of the Gospel A layman at First Baptist Jackson shares what Scripture says about salvation, the Christian walk, and what happens when we fail, and why grace covers all of it.
- June 1, 2025 Grace, Faith, Works Brad Yates walks through Ephesians 2:8-10, showing why grace comes first, faith follows, and good works flow from both rather than earning what God freely gives.
- June 1, 2025 Grace Through Faith: It Is a Gift Brad Yates opens Ephesians 2:8-10 to show that salvation comes by grace through faith alone, and that good works flow from that gift, never the other way around.
- June 1, 2025 By Grace, Through Faith A Wyoming pastor walks through Ephesians 2:8-10, showing why salvation comes by grace through faith alone and how genuine good works flow from that gift.
- June 4, 2023 Pack the Essentials Michael Demetrius shows graduating seniors and their church family what belongs in the essential "backpack" for life: salvation by grace through faith, and walking daily with God.
- April 3, 2022 Knowing Christ, Not Just About Him Florin shares his journey from Romania to Wyoming, weaving personal struggle and Philippians 3 into a message about truly knowing Christ, not just knowing about Him.
- February 19, 2017 Shooting for the Center Colossians 2:1-15 sermon on Christ as the perfect center of faith, and why our only hope of hitting that mark is trusting what He has already done.
- May 1, 2016 In Hope Against Hope, He Believed Romans 4-5: Abraham believed God against all odds, and it was counted as righteousness. Faith is the only thing that accords with grace, and it brings peace with God.
- April 17, 2016 But Now Romans 3 reveals that all have sinned, yet God freely justifies, redeems and propitiates through Christ's faithfulness, not our own effort.
- April 17, 2016 But Now: Everything Changes Romans 3:21-26 unpacks three rich words, justified, redeemed, propitiated, to show how God removed guilt, enslavement, and wrath through the blood of Christ.
- October 21, 2015 WWW Be Right (15) Romans 10 shows that salvation is not about ritual or heritage but trusting Jesus as Lord, a truth as urgent for us today as it was for Israel.
- September 9, 2015 WWW Be Right (19) Romans 3-4 shows that right standing with God has never come through rule-keeping, but through faith, just as it was for Abraham and Martin Luther.
- April 26, 2015 Union With Christ Through Faith Pastor Ray walks Galatians 3 through a pop quiz on faith versus law, showing why union with Christ, not rule-keeping, is the heart of the gospel.
Mentioned along the way
- August 21, 2016 Whoever Believes Will Be Saved Romans 9-10 shows why Israel missed salvation: they pursued it by works, not faith. Whoever believes in Jesus and calls on His name will be saved.
- August 21, 2016 The Word Is Near You Romans 10 asks whether Israel's rejection of God is their own fault. Pastor explores works-righteousness, saving faith, and why Christ is the fulfillment of the law.