Faith, continued...

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I have written twice before, in Sermons 2010, concerning "faith." I wrote that "faith" and "obedience" to the revealed will of God virtually are synonymous. Because of the prevailing misunderstanding of what it means to "live by faith," and because of the chaotic era we are entering in America due to Divine judgment, during which we shall survive only by living by faith, I once more am going to emphasize what saving faith actually is.

(8/29/2010) Perhaps the first problem that should be addressed is that of saying "faith" when we actually mean "belief." It is my understanding that a religion was active in the first century termed "Gnosticism." If I am correct, the most important aspect of Gnosticism is that the believer adhere carefully to the doctrines of Gnosticism, and that doing so will insure one's entrance into Heaven.

"Holding and professing the correct knowledge is vital to salvation," if I understand this complex religion correctly. The religion of Gnosticism predates Christianity.

The Apostle Paul, as he sought to turn Jews and Gentiles to Christ, placed heavy emphasis on "faith." We do not obtain righteousness by obeying the Law of Moses but by believing in Christ.

We readily can understand what took place. Many of the believers would fall into the trap of confusing the Gnostic teaching of the importance of correct knowledge, with Paul's teaching of salvation through faith in Christ. The important thing is what one believes, not a change into righteous behaviour.

Whether or not my analysis of what has taken place is correct, it is obvious today that Evangelical teaching actually is a form of Gnosticism. Confess your faith in orthodox theology and you will go to Heaven when you die.

In many instances, this doctrine leads to the idea that we are to place little or no emphasis on righteous behavior, because this is an affront to God's offer of salvation by grace. Sometimes the idea of God's sovereignty in salvation by grace is brought to the place that once the believer takes his stand on the "four steps of salvation," he never can lose his place in Heaven. This concept is so utterly opposed to the tenor of the New Testament writings that one wonders how intelligent people could not recognize the inconsistency here.

The idea of going to Heaven by "faith alone" is widespread among devout, sincere Christian people. Yet eternal residence in Heaven is not the scriptural goal of salvation; and we are not saved by believing the facts about our Lord Jesus Christ. Such emphasis on belief in a statement of faith, rather than on coming to know and obey Christ, is carrying the day at this time. But it is not at all God's plan of redemption.

The expression "the righteous shall live by faith" is set forth four times in the Bible, once in Habakkuk 2:4, and three times in the New Testament.

In Habakkuk, the contrast is not between works of righteousness and faith in God, it is between wicked people and those who have faith in God

See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4).

We of today are interpreting this passage to mean that the unrighteous are trying to save themselves by righteous works, whereas the truly righteous do nothing but believe. This is a farfetched interpretation.

The New Testament definition of "the righteous shall live by faith" is contained in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. This chapter is introduced by the following verse:

But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. (Hebrews 10:38) Can you see in this expression from the writer of the Book of Hebrews the idea of conflict, of overcoming, rather than that of a belief system?

Let us return for a moment to an earlier chapter of Hebrews:

And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:18,19)

"Who disobeyed—their unbelief."

My position is that belief always must lead to obedience. If it does not, it is only a mental assent to facts. It is clear to me that the present-day proponents of "faith alone" are maintaining that if we hold certain facts in mind we will go to Heaven when we die, whether or not we obey Christ each day by keeping His commandments in the New Testament and by obeying His Word to us personally.

Religion has a way, doesn't it, of making conformity to its doctrines more important than gaining a personal knowledge of Christ and obeying Him throughout the day. We can see this error by the fact that the Catholic and Protestant believers in Ireland maim and kill each other because of their belief systems. Is either group serving the living Lord Jesus? I think not!

"Faith without works is dead," the Apostle James declares. This makes me think James was battling against the influence of Gnosticism.

Any person who is really following the living Jesus knows well that the correct head knowledge of the living Jesus is not of great importance. What is of great importance is walking each day with our hand in the hand of Christ. This, and only this, is what it means when the Scripture refers to "living by faith."

Now, as I said, the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews is one long definition of the expression "the righteous shall live by faith." Let's think for a moment how God's people demonstrated their faith. Was it by theological correctness? Or was it by a personal knowledge of God and obedience?

Enoch believed that God exists, and sought Him earnestly.

Noah built an ark to save his family.

Abraham obeyed God and journeyed to a land new to him.

By faith Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice.

Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning their future.

By faith, Jacob blessed each of Joseph's sons.

By faith Joseph gave instructions concerning his bones.

By faith Moses' parents hid their baby.

By faith Moses chose to be mistreated along with God's people.

By faith Moses kept the first Passover.

By faith the tribes of Israel passed through the Red Sea.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell.

By faith Rahab welcomed the spies.

There are many more examples in this chapter of Hebrews, but these may be enough to reveal to us that "faith" is not what we are calling faith in our day.

We see from the above that faith is not belief in doctrine. We understand that faith is not magic. It is not an attempt to change God's mind. Would you agree with me, drawing from the above examples, that true faith is an involvement with God such that we understand what He wants and are obedient, no matter what the cost?

How does true Bible faith differ from mental assent to doctrinal beliefs? True Bible faith differs from mental assent in that faith was revealed in the things that the saints did. It is behavior, action, obedience to the living Christ, rather than a doctrinal position.

All of the above may seem like a trivial discussion. It hardly is that. I estimate that the majority of Christian believers in America are more Gnostic in their thinking than they are faithfully following Jesus.

The result of our misunderstanding is churches who make little or no demands on the behavior of their congregations. Once they get an individual to accept their doctrines they urge him or her to go out and convert others to their doctrinal stance.The end result is believers who are spiritual babies instead of moral giants.

The political leaders of our country, although many may not realize this, are dependent on the Christian churches to strengthen them in their moral decisions. Instead what they find are thousands upon thousands of believers who are not growing spiritually while they are waiting to be "raptured" into Heaven.

In fact, if you can believe this, some churches practice getting ready for the "any-moment rapture" by having their members jump up and down next to their seats.

This practice portrays a total ignorance of the first resurrection and the receiving of spiritual bodies. The members are picturing themselves being caught up through the roof of the church building and ascending above the clouds while they still are in flesh and blood bodies. They are fleeing from Antichrist, you see. What a mess we are in, we fundamentalists!

There was an old man who had waited twenty-five years for a son. Can you imagine what that boy meant to him when he was born!

The boy, now twelve years of age, walked three days with his father, carrying the wood on which he was to be cremated, according to the command of God. The father had three days to imagine the death of his son, and how Sarah would feel when he returned home alone.

Abraham was a dead-living man. So are all God's true saints. They have been crucified with Christ. Now they are eternally alive. But the man ascending Mount Moriah is their father, because of his faith.

There is that word "faith." What does it mean? Is it belief in doctrine? Is it a way of getting God to do what we want? Is it presumption, daring God to act? Is it membership in a group? What is it?

Well, I think faith is a rugged determination to obey the living God, based on the fear of God plus the years of experience in which we became increasingly aware that God's way is always best; always leading us to righteousness, love, joy, and peace.

The Apostle Paul's determination was to know Christ more than he did. Compare the attitude of Abraham and Paul with those of today who throw ten-dollar bills on the platform, hoping to get back a thousand dollars. There are "believers" who (according to them) can never suffer or be sick because they believe Christ loves them too much to permit them any kind of pain or inconvenience.

If such are "raptured" it will be downward, I think.

We are in a huge doctrinal mess in America. Divine judgment is on the horizon because of abortion, and because we are permitting alien gods to enter our country under the guise of tolerance. Tolerance is stupidity when it causes us to act against our better judgement.

As for me, I have chosen to seek Christ every day with all the strength I have, with the intention of obeying Him whether I understand Him or not.

Will you please join with me in this? We may not save our country, but we might save ourselves and our family. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:26)

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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