Faith

"God said it - I believe it - and that settle it!"

So says a popular bumper sticker appearing on cars these days. Perhaps you have seen this sticker yourself.

If so, you have seen a perfect example of a profession of Christian faith.  But whether you have really seen true Christian faith is another matter indeed, for true Christian faith is a much misunderstood subject and goes far beyond a mere outward expression of belief on a sticker pasted on a car.

Many profess faith but in reality faith is a rare commodity.  For proof, just look at the startling epidemic of anxiety, fear, worry and even religious disbelief that plagues almost everyone at some time in his or her life.

No wonder Jesus Christ asked, "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).

Faith is the belief that God exists and that He will do exactly as He says He will in His Word, the Bible.  It is by this faith that we must live if we want to please God and to know the peace of mind that comes only through trust in Him.  It is through this faith that we are justified and by which we can gain the strength of godly love to obey God's commandments.  This is the kind of faith required for salvation.

Probably most religious people would profess agreement with at least part of the definition given above.  Yet upon closer examination, we find that almost no one truly grasps the real meaning of the word faith.  Almost no one understands where it comes from or how it works in our lives.

Indeed, most would - quite wrongly - think faith is something one must "work up" from within the self.  Further, many would also confuse faith with emotion, such as affection for God.  Many would say that having faith precludes the necessity to obey God's commandments, saying that Christians live "by faith without the works of the law."  All of these ideas are false.

Probably the best place to begin a discussion about faith is with a simple Bible definition.  Read what Hebrews 11:1 says.

In other words, faith is belief that God will uphold His promises, in spite of the fact that no physical evidence may exist to demonstrate it.  A person's faith - true belief - is all the evidence he or she needs.  Faith is the evidence.

Read Hebrews 11:6, here is expands upon this definition.  Faith, then, is again declared to be a belief that God exists and the He will reward those who obey Him according to His promises.

Some think faith is an emotion - a sort of "good feeling" about God and His existence.  They have some kind of warm feeling for God in their heart, for example, and they think this is faith.  It is not.  Faith is a in inward belief in God and that what He says is true.  It is a state of mind and not an emotion (although it can, of course, be accompanied by emotion).

Faith is not mere hope, nor is it simply fear, as when a Christian may seek God because he or she is afraid of a trail in life.  It is not self-righteousness or peer pressure, as when someone may obey God since others around do.

Some do not understand what faith is - although they may think they do - because they wrongly suppose that faith must come from within themselves.  They believe it is something that can be "worked up" from within.  It cannot.

True faith is not a natural quality found buried or disguised within the human psyche and capable of being conjured up if one just knows how.  It must come wholly from without as a gift from God to the human mind.

Read Ephesians 2:8.  Galatians 5:22 lists faith as one of the primary fruits of God's Spirit working within a person, rather than as a natural quality of man that can somehow be coaxed to the surface through emotional meetings or otherwise "worked up."

Many misunderstand what faith is because they fail to see it involves not merely believing that God exists but that what God say is true.  That is, they believe in God but they don't believe Him.

Adam and Eve made that mistake.  Surely they believed that God existed, for they walked and talked with Him in the Garden of Eden.  But they didn't believe that they would die if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, even though He said they would die.  That is, they didn't believe what He said.  Most today who claim to have faith make this same mistake.

Some other dangerous misunderstandings about faith persist.

One of those misunderstandings is that faith negates the need to keep God's law.  This false concept is often supported by citing - in part - a statement in the book of  Romans that "a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28), and some other similar verses.  Essentially, however, those who subscribe to the faith-instead-of works theory profess that the law has been "done away."

In actual practice, however, those who hold to such a doctrine do so rather contradictorily. Do they mean we can use God's name in vain, or kill, or steal, or commit adultery or fall down and worship an idol?  No, they mean none of these things, even though to literally apply the "we don't have to keep the law any more" philosophy would indeed mean believing these things.  Rather, on only one of the Ten Commandments they will admit to having been done away is the Sabbath.  Plus they lump in God's Holy Days and tithing and any other points of God's law they don't wan to obey.

Such a theological position is unsound.  Humans are in no position to decide which of God's laws are in force and which aren't.  Those over whom God rules - and professing Christians claim this status - have no right to God which of His laws they want to obey and which they to dispense with.  God has made it clear in His Word what His laws are.

Additionally, those who say we are saved by faith alone, with no need to obey God's law, err by mixing together two separate concepts - justification and obedience.  Yes, Christians are justified (that is, forgiven and made right with God) by faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9),  yet that does not give the forgiven sinner the right to repeat the sin any more than a murderer who has been pardoned by the authorities has the right to kill again.

And Romans 3:28 says the same thing when viewed in context.  Verse 31 further clarifies the truth: "Do we then make void the law through faith?  Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law."  Clearly, faith does not abrogate God's law.

James 2:14-24 states that "faith without works is dead" (verse 20) and that a "man is justified by works and not by faith only" (verse 24).  These verses show that a person who has faith - who believes God and want to please Him - will demonstrate that faith with obedience.

It is hard to believe that someone who has faith in God would even want to disobey Him.  Rather, faith is the very power we must exercise to obey God.

Now understand this:  God's law is a law of love.  The first four of the Ten Commandments define love toward God, the last six love toward man.  To fulfill that law requires the power of love, for "love is the fulfillment of the law" (Romans 13:10).

But it must be God's love in us and merely our own love.  His love is "poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit," which God give us after repentance and baptism (Romans 5:5, Acts 2:38).  We receive that love and the strength to obey God from Him through the Holy Spirit He gives us.

To receive the strength to obey God requires us to pray to Him for it.  Yet to receive answers to our prayers - including an answer when we pray that God will help us obey - requires faith, for without such faith on once can receive anything from God (James 1:6-7).

Therefore obedience stems directly from faith an is in no way abrogated by it.  Instead as stated in Romans 3:31, faith establishes the law, for faith enables us to keep the law.  The Holy Spirit actually gives us the very faith of Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:16).

Yes, true faith is far more than a mere profession of belief proclaimed by a sticker on the bumper of a car.  It is the gift of God for forgiveness of the past and the key to obedience for the future.

Have You Really Repented?

The basketball coach was astounded!  A player from his team had stolen the ball but in his excitement he was head toward their own basket!

"You're going the wrong direction!" the coach shouted.  "Stop!  Turn around!  Go the other way!" he screamed.

But to no avail.  The player didn't listen.  He scored a goal - for the wrong team!

Just as his player was told to stop and turn around, God has told humans to stop and turn around spiritually, in the Bible doctrine of repentance.

But few understand what real repentance is.  What a pity.  Those who do not understand are doomed to continue in the wrong direction spiritually and to ignore God's plain commands that we should repent (Mark 1:14-15, Acts 2:38, 3:19).

Such ignorance need not plague those willing to learn, however.

To repent means to change from living our way to living God's way.  Repentance comes when we see our sins, are deeply remorseful of them, stop sinning, resolve to obey God and with His help, actually do obey Him.

Most people hold impressions about this subject that are far afield from the simple Bible truth.  Some see no need for repentance because they feel they have not sinned.  Others do not repent because they think all one must do is believe or accept the truth academically.  Others confuse real repentance with temporary sorrow, remorse or simple emotion unaccompanied by permanent change.

Clearly, such false beliefs cannot fulfill God's command.

The English word repent is, of course, merely a translation from the original biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek.  The words from which "repent" is translated mean to turn - to change direction.  Such a change in direction requires one to first see that he is going the wrong direction, stop going the wrong direction, stop going the wrong way and finally to resolve to God's way and obey God, with God's help.

But a person cannot even see that he or she is going the wrong direction until God opens the person's mind to see it.

This truth - that one cannot truly repent until God grants repentance - so strongly flies in the face of the teachings of this world that many simply cannot accept it.  Nonetheless, the Bible clearly states that it is not our own will but the "goodness of God" that "leads" us to repentance (Romans 2:4).  The Bible further states that repentance is something God grants, as He did when He "granted to the Gentiles repentance to [eternal] life" (Acts 11:18).  See also II Timothy 2:25.

God offers to grant one repentance when He calls a person to His truth and we cannot be called to the truth unless God - by His and not our own initiative - decides to call us (John 6:44).

If you are reading this, understanding it and being convicted by it, then God is calling you and leading you to repentance, if you will follow His lead.

When God calls a person and begins to lead that person to repentance, He does so by showing the person that he or she has been living wrong - that is, by showing the person his or her sins.  And since "sin is the transgression of the law" (I John 3:4), God shows the sins by opening one's mind to understand God's law, which defines His way of truth.

One who really understands God's law sees that he has not been living in accord with it, that he has been sinning and needs to repent - change.

Of course, all need to repent, read what Paul says in Romans 5:12.  And read what the apostle John declares plainly in I John 1:8.

This presence of sin in us demands repentance, for God does not promise to forgive our sins unless we repent and are baptized and the wages (result) of unforgiven sin is death (Romans 6:23).  See also Luke 3:9.  Clearly, repentance is not a matter to be taken lightly.

Nonetheless, many do not see the need to repent because, like the self-righteous Pharisees, they do not see their sins (Mark 2:16-17).  When one truly sees his sins in sharp focus, he will be deeply broken up about them.  Therefore, repentance is accompanied by serious emotion and sorrow.

Certainly King David was deeply remorseful at his state of mind is reflected in his psalm and prayer of repentance (Psalm 51).  Other examples like that of Job (Job 42:5-6) could be cited.

Yet it must be stressed that although emotion usually accompanies repentance, bare emotion or sorrow unaccompanied by true change is not repentance.

Indeed, Paul addresses this issue squarely in II Corinthians 7:8-11, where he shows the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. He explains that worldly sorrow "produces death" because it is only the temporary sorrow of being caught, a type of self-pity, a fear of punishment or embarrassment.  But the sorrow of God "produces repentance to salvation" because it causes a permanent change in behavior and leads to a person's becoming totally "clear" from the reoccurrence of sin.

In fact, the change of behavior that accompanies repentance is the best proof of one's repentance.  John the Baptist refused ot baptize those who had not shown by their changed behavior that they had brought forth the true "fruits" of repentance (Matthew 3:7-8).

As Christ dogmatically stated, mere lip service - misnamed "belief" by some - is not sufficient for salvation (read Matthew 7:21).

Repentance is not merely emotional sorrow and neither is it penance.  Penance is an act or acts designed to try to pay the penalty of sin for oneself, such as by doing some good work of charity.  Although good works are necessary in a Christian's life, they do not forgive past sins or pay their penalty, for our sins are forgiven by grace and not works.  The Bible simply does not teach the doctrin of penance and penance is in no way even similar to repentance, which God's Word teaches and indeed commands.

Salvation requires obedience and it therefore requires one to stop his old ways and begin obeying God - it requires repentance.  And such repentance is toward God the Father, who is the author of His law and against whom our sins are directed (Acts 20:21).

Such repentance goes far beyond a mere outward verbal expression of belief and even far byond a few mechanical changes in behavior.  It pierces deep into the heart and mind of the person and embodies an unconditional surrender from living one's own way to truly living God's way of life.  It requires putting Christ above all else in one's life (Luke 14:26-33) and hence in a symbolic sense sacrificing your own life (Romans 12:1-2).

Further, true repentance is not a once-and-for-all event, nor is it synonymous with perfection.  To be sure, the repentance required before baptism is indeed a focused turn-around from our way to God's way - a massive spiritual reversal.  Yet, even at baptism God does not reveal all of our sins to us at once, nor do we immediately overcome all our sins.  We continue to see and battle them over time while we "grow" in God's and knowledge of His ways (II Peter 3:18).  As He reveals His law to us and hence our sins (as we see how we fall short of that law), we must daily repent.  We must see our sins, stop them, resolve to do right and follow through with God's help - continually.  Indeed, we must grow spiritually for the rest our lives.

But our obedience to God's law comes with help from Him.  No one can obey God's law in its fullest spiritual sense, in heart and mind, without His help (Jeremiah 10:23).  This is because the minds of humans are susceptible tot he pulls and deceptions of Satan.  Yet, the Spirit of God, which is given to those who have been properly baptized after true repentance, is more powerful than Satan and can and will give us the strength to obey.

The importance of repentance cannot be overemphasized.  It is a first step toward salvation.  Have you repented?  If not, then the words shouted by our earlier basketball coach to the confused player are for you: "You're going the wrong direction!  Stop!  Turn around!  Go the other way!"

John 14:15-18

"If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with your forever - the Spirit of truth, whom the wold cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I not leave you orphans, I will come to you." (John 14:15-18 NKJV).

This is a prophecy.  When this was spoken, He had not yet died, so He had not yet been resurrected and glorified.  Thus, the Spirit was not yet given either.  he shows another condition (in addition to the ones in john 7:37-39) for the giving of the Holy Spirit:  "Keep My commandments."

Notice that the Spirit is described as being with and in.  This clarifies the matter of coming to Christ.  We have to be called and to respond.  If we fail to do the latter, even though God's Spirit is "with" us - leading to Christ - it will never be in us unless we respond and meet the conditions.

For the disciples at the time, the Spirit was with them - in Christ, teaching and guiding.  However, a time was coming when it would be in them, literally.  This did not occur until Pentecost, in Acts 2.  So it is with us: The spirit is with us before conversion and it is by this means that God brings us to Christ.

If God did not do this miraculous work, the enmity against Him (Romans 8:7) - coupled with our spiritual confusion - would never permit the process of conversion even to start.  Our calling is a tremendous act of mercy on God's part; it is a miracle that we even respond.  If it were not for that - for God's mercy in choosing us to be called - we would never make it off the starting block.  God has to work a tremendous miracle even to get us to be willing to come to Christ and begin to learn.

Hebrews 4:1-2

"Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.  For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it."  Hebrews 4:1-2.

The subject under discussion is the "promise remains" of entering His rest.  At the time of the writing of Hebrews, the rest not been attained.  Nor has it been attained since.  The rest is still in the future.  It remains for Christians today.  Paul warns, "lest any of your seem to have come short of it," indicating that though one has received forgiveness, God's Spirit, and gifts of the Spirit, there is still a possibility of falling away.  The chance may not be great, but nonetheless,  some may fall short of it.

"For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it" (verse 2).  During the time of the Exodus, the people of Israel heard a message of good news from Moses.  It consisted of redemption from slavery, the Passover, baptism in the Red Sea and a journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land.  The good news, then, included the occurrences of the knowledge about all steps along the way, all the benchmarks.  The purpose for which all those events occurred was the most important part.  What was it to have the death angel pass over their house, for them receive the forgiveness of sin and redemption from slavery, if they never made it to the Promised Land?  That is Paul warning.  The steps, though vital in themselves, are not as important as the the goal. 

This warning applies especially to us today.  What Jesus Christ did in His life, in His death and in His resurrection, is awesome, a wonderful and great gift.  It is good news that these things have occurred but they are not the good news.  The good news is the goal and that has not yet occurred.  What Jesus Christ did is exceedingly important to the fulfillment of God's purpose but it is still possible for us to reject the Son of God even after we have accepted His blood for the forgiveness of our sins, as Hebrews 6, 10 and 12 also show clearly.  So in this analogy, life in, possession of and governance of the Promised Land was culmination, the good news, the fulfillment - at least physically - of the promises to Abraham.

The message that Jesus Christ brought, the gospel, is about the Kingdom of God, the culmination, the goal, the fulfillment.  Certainly it includes the knowledge of and information about those benchmarks along the way but the Kingdom of God is the goal toward which every Christin is aiming. 

Count the Cost

If you were to build your own house, how would you begin?  Would you ask qualified people for advice?  Would you seek a reputable building contractor?  Would you carefully consider the substantial financial responsibility?

In other words, would you count the cost?

Jesus Christ, before divesting Himself of His divinity, had to carefully consider the awesome cost.

His mission was to take upon Himself the inherent weakness of a human body, highly susceptible to transgressing God's holy law (Philippians 2:6-7).  He had to live a perfect life, against all temptation and then die a horrible death so that forgiveness of sin would be possible for human beings.  He had to found the Church of God and instruct faithful followers in God's way of life.

Jesus succeeded perfectly.  He built His own spiritual house, His called-out one, His New Testament Church (Hebrews 3:1-6).  He became the chief cornerstone in the structure God is using to prepare the way for the wonderful world tomorrow.

Jesus knew He could fail.  Yet for the sake of billions of humans who do not yet appreciate His efforts, He was willing to risk all.

Today God is working with His servants to complete the building atop the foundation Jesus Christ laid (Ephesian 2:19-22).

Christ knows what it means to count the cost.  You and I must do the same.  Read what Jesus says about this (Luke 14:28-30).

Christ counsels us to put God first in our lives, everywhere and always (verses 26-27).  We must strive to live perfectly God's way of outgoing love and concern for others, based on God's Ten Commandments.

This requires putting all other possible pursuits second.  It requires forsaking all the false ways of this world (Revelation 18:4) and being willing to take whatever consequences come.

We are responsible for exemplifying God's perfect way of peace and joy to all of mankind.

Christ will never leave you while you serve Him in fulfilling this special calling (Hebrews 13:5-6).
Christ will finish the building job He has begun in and through us (Philippians 1:6).  He is not a quitter.  He risked His own eternal life and position in God's family for us and won.  Therefore, we can win, too.