Why must everything connected with salvation be by faith?
Everything connected with salvation must be by faith because none of it can be accomplished in the flesh. These are acts God performed instantaneously when a person believes, and believers appropriate them by faith. Scripture states that without faith it is impossible to please Him, so salvation realities must be reckoned by faith.
Les explains that all the things belonging to salvation were done instantly by God the moment we believed, and none of them could be done in the flesh. Because they are God's acts, we do not produce them; we receive them by faith. He cites Hebrews 11, which says without faith it is impossible to please Him, so these realities have to be reckoned by faith. As an example, he points to Colossians 1:12-13, where God the Father has delivered believers from the power of darkness and translated them into the kingdom of His dear Son, a past-tense work received by faith.