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Those Who Are of Faith We know very little about the rules and restrictions that God set out for the behavior of His people in the patriarchal era. The record of His expectations in the Mosaic dispensation is quite clear, and the directives of the law of Christ are clearer still. In these different times, God has asked for strikingly different things. David would probably be just as bewildered by our worship services without bloodshed as we are by his polygamy.However, through all of these different er as, one thing has stayed the same. God's people have always been justified by faith.The righteous have never had this faith in themselves. They have never trusted in their ability to completely please God and achieve their objectives without His aid. Instead,their faith has been in Him., in His ability to make complete what is lacking in their righteousness., in His power to bring them to blessing beyond what they could ever possibly have imagined. This humble.,obedient faith was just as evident in the life of Paul as it was in the life of Abraham., as clear in Peter as it was in David.If we are the children of God at all it is because we are the heirs of this faith. Works are important; indeed, as James points out.,works are essential. They demonstrate to God our desire to walk according to the spirit rather than the flesh. However, those works by themselves can never save us. No matter how much effort we invest in pleasing God,we will never reach the standard set by His word. Perfect law-keeping is beyond us.However, despite our failures., we can still becounted righteous., not through ourselves.,but through Him who justifies the ungodly.Like Abraham., we must trust in God to fill us and bless us. Then., it is our faith that will be counted as righteousness.