Newsletter
Jul - Aug - Sep 2026
Faith Plus Nothing
Dear Friends,
There are verses and phrases written on the walls of our office here at Les Feldick Ministries and Les was a big fan of God's words being the focus of our decor. When we painted a few years ago, he wanted to make certain they were included again. One of the most prominent scriptures is, of course, I Corinthians 15:1 - 4. We also have the phrase "Faith + Nothing = Salvation". Another favorite is Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God." Anyone who is familiar with Les knows this to be foundational to his teaching. However, it's important to note that Les never intended for the "nothing" in "Faith + Nothing = Salvation" to be the focus of the thought. While he whole heartedly expressed throughout his teaching that nothing we do (or don't do) pays our sin debt, he also believed that once we become members of the body of Christ, we are to act accordingly. Our witness is important. We are ambassadors.
Here is an excerpt from Book #44 Lesson 3 part 4
Ephesians 2:8a "For by grace are ye saved through faith;..." That is God's unmerited favor toward us-which means we didn't have anything going for us and couldn't make it without God's help. So, by His unmerited favor you are saved through faith. Plus, some works? No. Come on. Your Bible is just as plain as mine. You're saved by God's grace through what? Faith-which is taking God at His Word.
Well, what do I take at His Word? That He died for my sin and yours. His Blood was shed. He arose from the dead. And we believe it for salvation. And the moment we believe it, God moves in.
In fact, I had an interesting letter the other day. I haven't answered it, yet. And I don't know as I will, especially since I'm doing it here on the program. Because I know the gentleman listens.
He was wondering what came first - justification or forgiveness or redemption? And of course, he had all the Scripture verses. He'd put a lot of work into it; I could tell that. Well, if I were to write him in one sentence, you know what I'd tell him? Hey, it all happened instantly! It didn't come in a sequence of events. God didn't first forgive you, and then come back and say I'll justify you, and then come back and say, well, you're redeemed. That was a one-second transaction! The moment we believed with heart-faith, God did all of that. Instantly! It's all done. All right, so we've been saved through faith, verse 8 reading on.
Ephesians 2:8b "...and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" Well, goodness sakes, I don't have to tell you. How much work do you do for a gift? Nothing. Somebody doesn't say, well, I'll give you a diamond ring IF you do this. Someone doesn't say, well, I'll give you something or other IF you do this. Then it's not a gift. A gift is that which comes totally without merit.
All right, so salvation is by God's Grace through faith in what He has said. It's not of anything that we can do, because it's the gift of God. Now look at the next verse.
Ephesians 2:9 "Not of works, lest any man should boast." What's works? Anything that you can do by making up your mind to do something. I don't care what it is.
I've made reference to this once before years and years ago. When Iris and I were young, we used to check out books from the library. She'd read one, and I'd read the other, and then we'd switch, and so forth. Before the kids came along, you know, and we weren't just covered up with all the activity. We read a lot more than we have time for today. But one of the little books we read was about a little fellow up in the Ozarks. He was getting to be about 14 or 15, and one day it came into his mind that he'd been kind of an ornery little rascal, but he thought he was going to please his mom and his dad. So he told his little buddy, he said, "I think next Sunday I'm going to (You remember it, Honey?) next Sunday I'm going to go up and join the church."
Sound familiar? Sure it does. But you see, what was the little fellow doing? Works! He made up his own mind and told his friend what he was going to do. That's works. And that's not faith. Now, his intensions were good. I'll bet his Mama was thrilled to death in the story. But that's what I'm talking about. That's works-when you can make up your mind and say, well, I'm going to do this, or I'm going to do that. I don't care what it is-then it's a works. And it does not count for eternity.
All right, now verse 10, here's where we move on AFTER the Lord has saved us. After we've gained peace with God. AFTER we're forgiven and we're redeemed and we're justified. Now what do we do? Hey, we get to work! We get to work.
Ephesians 2:10a "For we are his workmanship,..." Now the Greek word here is poema-from which we get the word poem-from which we also get the word a little further down the way - symphony.
In other words, something that has been beautifully and artistically put together-that's what we are as believers. God has formed us and has given us particular gifts and abilities and talents for a particular use. And that's what we're to do. We're to use it. Everybody has a different ability, but they all work together to be just like a symphony. So we are His workmanship. We are something that He has now put together. We have been created as a new creature in Christ - for what purpose? Good works! Of course, good works.