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#11
08-07-2008, 03:02 AM
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[B]faith[/B], its the evidence that we have the Holy Spirit.
faith, its the evidence that we have the Holy Spirit.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2 Is faith an evidence that one has the Holy Ghost? |
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#12
08-07-2008, 12:11 PM
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I am going to talk about justification by the faith of Jesus Christ , I mean his faith not ours. Turn to Acts 13:39 It says , By him [ And the him there is Jesus Christ ]
all that believe are justified from all things , from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses . Now lets begin by defining our terms , this word justified is a very interesting word , When you look it up in the oxfords english dictionary the first definition of justify simply means to administer justice to , And then it goes on , to execute justice upon a malefactor . So if you take a criminal out here and you execute him , you have justified him by definition . You've settled the account , you've balanced the scales , justice has been done and the crime has been paid for , everything has been made right . Then you go on and the third definition says , To show a person or action to be just or in the right , to prove or maintain the righteousness or innocence of . So if you get accused of something and an investigation is done and it is found that your not guilty and you are found to be innocent then you are justified by definition , now in this particular case the act of justification didn't make you right , the act of justification simply proves that you were , its just a declaration of your innocence . Then there is a fourth definition , and that is to absolve , aquit , exculpate , ex meaning not to culpate , culpable means he's guilty , when you exculpate you take away the guilt , so you no longer have a guilt , you no longer have a fault , you owed the debt , the debt was paid , you no longer have a debt , you were a sinner you were guilty of sin your sin is taken away , you are no longer considered guilty , no longer considered a sinner . It means in theology specificly , which is what we are going to be dealing with , It means to declare free from the penalty of sin on the ground of Christ's righteousness . It is that act on the part of God Whereby all of your guilt and sin was taken off of you and charged to Jesus and his perfect obedience of the law was then taken and given to you , so that God veiws you as having fulfilled the law and to be completely innocent and guilt free of any transgression , It also means to make inherently righteous by the infusion of grace . And we are going to see that all four of those definitions tie into the Biblical doctrine of justification as you will see . But if you wanted me to take that definition which is admittedly a bit complex and just distill it right down , Justification is that process whereby the poor sinner is made right with God . Now turn to Rom.3 because Romans 3 sets forth a process whereby poor sinners are made right with God , in the preceeding verses Paul has been concluding that all are under sin , jew and gentile , we're all filth , were all guilty of the most deplorable crimes , and Paul makes this statement here in Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight : [ Which is simply telling you that you cannot be made right with God by keeping commandments given by a law , law is a rule of conduct imposed by authority , and you don't make yourself right with God by trying to live right , which is what most people think , they think because they try to keep the rules that this is what makes them right with God and it does not . ] By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight : for by the law is the knowledge of sin . All the law does is just show you that your rotten , that's the purpose of it , you know it just reveals the nature of sin in men . But now , I love these buts in the Bible , these contrasting words and thoughts .But now the righteousness of God without the law , here is a righteousness that has been provided that does not require your keeping commandments or rules in order to have it , It is righteousness without the law , righteousness without keeping rules on your part . The righteousness of God without the law is manifested , being witnessed by the law and the prophets ; You and I this morning could go back in the old testament , we could find numerous pictures and types and prophecies in which God was setting forth before us that there was a righteousness coming that would be provided for sinners that they would not of themselves have to produce it . I could stop right there and we could spend week after week investigating all the many types and prophecies of God letting us know of a righteousness without the law that would be provided , but thats not my subject , I want to stay right with what Paul is telling us here , he's going to further describe the righteousness that's been made available . Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ . Of course as many of you are aware in the modern versions those words have been altered , they say righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ and the general teaching is Christ has made righteousness available , but you and I have to personally accept it , we have to personally believe he has done that in order to have it , It's that somehow our faith is involved in the process of our being made right with God . But I hold to exactly what the verses say here , Its the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ , and that is talking about the personal faith of the Son of God himself . I have at home a very valuable book , its an english hexapla , and its six old english versions culminating in the King James , the versions are the Wyclife , the Tyndale , the Cranmer , the Geneva , the Rhemes which is a catholic version put out in 1582 , and then the King James in 1611. The interesting thing is that every single one of them render this passage the faith of Jesus Christ . I've seen the old spanish versions that predate the King James and right there in Spanish its faith of Jesus Christ not faith in . Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe : for there is no difference : For all have sinned , and come short of the glory of God ; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus : Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation --- now thats a nice big theological word that simply means that Gods not mad with us anymore , When you propitiate you appease , you take away the anger of , you render a person favorable , you make him your friend . to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past , through the forbearance of God : To declare , I say , at this time his righteousness : that he might be just , and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus . Where is boasting then ? It is excluded . By what law ? of works ? Nay : but by the law of faith . Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law . Now im going to comment on several things in that passage , but lets just establish a few things up front . First of all notice that God's elect are justified , verse 24 is where i want to zero in now , then im going to come back to the faith of Christ and the faith of God in a minute , But I just want to now talk about verse 24 that describes the process of justification , being justified , being made right , having our guilt taken away , being justified freely by his grace , through , which is by means of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus , The first thing I want to establish is that redemption is provided by God only for his elect people that he chose in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world . This is made very clear in the opening of the new testament , as the angel comes to Joseph and announces the conception of the Christ child in the womb of the virgin Mary . He says in Matt.1:21 and thou shalt call his name JESUS : for he shall save his people from their sins . There's absolutely no doubt about the fact he's going to save people , its not going to be a take it or leave it or maybe so proposition , its something he shall do , he shall save , and it tells you who he's going to save , his people -- there's election , from their sins , then of course there's the words of Eph. 1:4 are crystal clear on this point , here we have the doctrine of election clearly defined . According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world , that we should be holy and without blame before him in love . So see this election before you were even consulted or around to have any say in it whatsoever . Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children [ Now I want you to follow the pronouns , chosen us , that we , having predestinated us ] by Jesus Christ to himself , according to the good pleasure of his will , To the praise of the glory of his grace , wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved . In whom we [ we who ? We whom he hath chosen before the foundation of the world , you see not one person has been interjected in those pronouns nor one person excluded from them the same group that is in verse 4 are the ones that have the redemption that is through his blood . ] In whom we have redemption through his blood , the forgiveness of sins , according to the riches of his grace . Jesus made it plain in John 10 :11 That he laid down his life for the sheep , and if you think that means everybody all you have to do is go down to verse 26 Where he said to some Jews right there in the context , ye believe not , because ye are not of my sheep . Now if they are not his sheep , he didn't lay his life down for them , that's crystal clear . Then we come to Rom. 8:32-33 He that spared not his own Son , but delivered him up for us all , how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth . Observe the process of justification which is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus extends only to God's elect . Then we come over to Rev. 5:9 and here we have the redeemed multitude represented before the throne of God singing a new song and we see this in verse 9 And they sung a new song , saying , Thou art worthy to take the book , and to open the seals thereof : for thou wast slain , and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood [ I love this prepositional phrase , out of ] out of every kindred , and tongue , and people , and nation ; Observe , he didn't redeem every kindred , tongue and people and nation , He redeemed a people out of , Jesus said I have chosen you out of this world , I remember a methodist sunday school teacher I had years ago and I approached her about the doctrine of election , She said , well people don't realize God chose everybody , Wrong dear, He's redeemed us out of , chosen us out of the world , out of every nation , kindred , tongue and people . So we simply want to establish that when we are talking about justification , which is through the redemption , that describes the process . Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus it is limited only to God's elect , And here's how it happens , Let me first of all define the term , To redeem something , is to buy it back . If maybe for example you fall on hard times and you take a valuable watch down to the pawn shop and you give it to the man at the pawn shop and he gives you some money for it , he buys it from you , and you tell him will you hold that for a while and when I get the money i'll come back and i'll get that watch back because my dear departed grandmother gave that to me , and I prize it , but I need the money right now more than I need the watch , and so you go out and dig ditches for a few weeks and then you earn enough money and you go to the pawn shop and for a little premium im sure you buy the watch back . Now by definition you have redeemed the watch . And here is the problem , you and I have sinned against God , and his law demanded our punishment , it demanded our death and destruction from God , now thats the penalty of the law , that's the debt that must be satisfyed , and the Lord has turned us over to the slavery of sin and satan and locked us away in that under condemnation and Christ comes and he pays the debt for us and therefore we can go free , we can be free now from sin and free from death , because the price has been paid , that's what redemption is all about . Now the redemption price is not paid to the devil , the devil is just a jail keeper. God's the judge , God's the one you got the problem with , God is the one you owe the debt to , he just turns you over to that ruthless jail keeper as a judgement . You know serving sin maybe fun , but let me tell you something , it's God's judgement . It's just fun for awhile and then it starts to hurt , thats the penalty . So anyway Jesus goes and pays the debt to the judge , and the the judge orders the jail keeper , you gotta let that man go , you have no right to keep him in bondage now , he's a free man . So thats whats involved in redemption , and here's how it happens , Christ came into this world to represent the elect , he is the second Adam the federal head and representative of all who were chosen in him before the foundation of the world , and he stands before the law which demands their death , and he stands there as their representative and he takes full responseability for all of their sins . The words of 2 Cor. 5:21 sum up the gospel beautifully . For he [ That is God ] hath made him to be sin for us , who knew no sin ; that we might be [ given a chance to be the righteousness of God in him if we accept what he did for us , that's not what he says , it says that we might be made ] That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. We are not talking about something we are given a chance to become , we are talking about something we are made . That we might be made the righteousness of God in him . There is the great exchange of Calvary , my sin unto Jesus , his righteousness unto me , and on the ground of that righteousness im declared free from the penalty of my sin , which is justification by definition . So Christ stands before the law of God and he takes our sin upon himself , the prophecy of Isaiah 53:5-6 speak clearly to the point . But he was wounded for our transgressions , he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are healed . All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord [ The Lord , notice, you don't lay your sin's on Jesus , God did that ] The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . And then you go on down there and this is interesting , it says there in the last part of verse 8 For the transgression of my people was he stricken. See again , This was a transaction on the behalf of God's people , He shall save his people , on the behalf of God's elect he takes our sin , You think of the dirtyest , filthyest , perverted crime of your whole life , the thing that makes you feel so ashamed and dirty , and just imagine God taking that thing and just taking it right off of you , and taking it , that mud , that filth , and just taking it and putting it upon Jesus , thats what happened . He bore our sins , it was for our transgressions , the Lord took all that stuff off of me and laid it unto him , the iniquity of us all. And standing there with all my sin upon him , therefore , God outraged about my sin , his anger is now turned from me and the penalty is poured out upon Christ , as we read in Gal. 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us [ bought us back ] from the curse of the law , being made a curse for us : for it is written , Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree . He of whom God said , this is my beloved Son now becomes our accursed substitute . We are made right through that process , through his taking our sin and being made a curse for us , that's what makes me right with God . Justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus , and because he was doing that for his people , because he was doing that for his elect . In Gal.2:19-20 Paul puts it this way , For I through the law am dead to the law , that I might live unto God . I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live . The law executed its penalty of death upon me , when it punished Christ for me . Then we read in Rom.7:4 Wherefore , my brethren , ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another , even to him who is raised from the dead , that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Justification means to execute justice upon , you see , Im justified because the justice has been executed upon me , the law satisfied , the books are closed , its a done deal . Because the penalty has been executed upon Christ in my place , and thus we are aquitted from the guilt and penalty of our sins . Notice now that this redemption in the scriptures is spoken of as an accomplished thing , were not waiting to be redeemed , this is not something hanging in the balance waiting to be decided , its been done , We have redemption , not we are being offered redemption , we have it through his blood . Notice these words in Rom.5:9 and notice how these words are structured in such a way as to present it as a fact accomplished , not something that yet needs to be decided . Much more then , being now justified by his blood , when that blood gushed forth from those veins , you were right then and there made right with God , that's why he could say at the end of the transaction , it is finished , its a done deal . He said being now justified by his blood , we shall be saved [ there's no doubt about the salvation for any one of God's elect , because now they've been made right with God , and being made right with God they are going to be saved , he didn't say being justified by his blood we can be saved if we would like to be saved , which is the way most people preach it , that's not the way its written . Being now justified by his blood we shall be saved . I don't have to be afraid when I stand before God in the day of judgement , because i've been made right , there's nothing in the book to bring to my charge , it's all been blotted out . I suffered the judgement at Calvary , saved from wrath through him . For if , when we were enemies , we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son , not by the personal act of our faith , but by the death of his Son we were made right , we were reconciled , we were propitiated . Much more , being reconciled , we shall be saved by his life . I love the words of Heb.1:3 it says that when he had by himself , this is something he did all alone by himself , nobody helped him do it , by himself , did you know that phrase is deleted in the modern versions , when he had by himself purged our sins , sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high . When he sat down on God's right hand all my sins were washed away , he had purged them and he had done it all by himself on the cross . And then in Heb. 9:12 shows that redemption is an accomplished fact . Don't you see how we were made right through the redemption process ? Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus . Neither by the blood of goats and calves , but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place , so what I ask everyone is , Has Jesus entered into the holy place ? Has he done it ? Is he there ? you know he is . Notice what he did when he entered , He entered , having obtained eternal redemption for us . Redemption is not something yet to be obtained , it's not something yet to be gotten , it's something that he has obtained for us , Now if it's obtained for us , what do you have to do to get it ? Think about it , If it's obtained for you , then what did you have to do to get it ? You've got it . It's been obtained for you ever since he entered once into that holy place . So it's a done deal . Now let's go back to Rom.3 describing the process of justification , and I want to zero in on one word , notice the word there in verse 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus , and the word I want to zero in on is the word freely , This process of justification is one that is done freely , Fist of all who's doing the Justifying ? Well verse 26 tells you , To declare , I say , at this time his righteousness : [ That's God's righteousness ] that he might be just , and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus . God's the justifier , he' the one that makes you right , he's the one that pronounces you not guilty . Being justified freely , The word freely means , of ones own accord , spontainiously , without constraint or reluctance , unreservedly , without stipulation , readily , willingly . Do you know what without stipulation means ? If I tell you that i'll fix you car if you'll give me $100.00 I made a stipulation didn't I ? That isn't freely , But if I say im going to fix your car and im not going to charge you a thing , I don't care whether you thank me or not , that's without stipulation , that's freely . Now this idea that Jesus provided redemption for all sinners upon condition of their accepting it , that's a stipulation by definition , and we are justified without stipulation , Freely by his grace , and when you look at the definition of the word grace , grace means something that God does without any condition attatched to it , it's a free favor bestowed without putting any conditions on it . Freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus . Now I want to show you the process of justification is through that redemptive act . redeemed from the curse of the law , Christ being made a curse for us , which he did all by himself . Now notice , we are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ and this is mentioned in Rom.3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ . Then come over to Gal. 2 now let's let Gal. 2 tell us very plainly saying essentially the same thing as Romans 3 is telling us . In verse 16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law , but by the faith of Jesus Christ . I want you to notice there are two things involved in the justification process , There's first of all the removal of all my guilt and sin , but there's more than that , the removal of my guilt and sin , well that takes away all my sin and crimes , but that now leaves me with a blank slate , but God demands more than a blank slate , God demands obedience to his law , God demands me to do what he said , and that's where the second half of the transaction comes in and that is , where Jesus Christ perfectly obeyed all the law of God and produced in his life as a man a perfect righteousness , by a perfect and flawless obedience , a righteousness that is so perfect , and so flawless that it is said to be the very righteousness of God himself . And this he did by his faith , he by his faith produced the righteousness of God which according to our passage in 2 Cor.5:21 we are made . He hath made him to be sin for us , who knew no sin , so you see , I did all the law breaking , He did all the law keeping , and all my law breaking was charged to him , and his law keeping was charged to me . I did all the sinning for him , and he did all the obeying for me . Let's go back to that redemptive process , and notice something Paul tells us there , in Rom. 3:25 It says here , and notice that righteousness is by the faith of Christ , im going to come back to that in a moment , just hold that point , its his faith that produced that righteousness , but lets also note that in the process of justification there was not only operative of the faith of Jesus Christ , but also operative of the faith of God , and this is something people balk at , and that is that God has faith , but if you think about it , it is very logical , i'll show you in a minute , lets first go to verse 25 it says , Whom God hath set forth , now I want to ask , who's the performing noun in this verse ? It's God . Who's setting forth Jesus to be the propitiation ? Is it the preacher setting Christ forth ? No. It's God setting Christ forth to be a propitiation through faith , Now ,Who's doing the performing here ? God , Whats the action ? setting forth , Now we have through faith in his blood which is an adverbial prepositional clause modifying the action of setting forth , and the one performing the action is God , So the faith and the blood of Christ here is not talking about my faith in the blood , It's God's faith in the blood . Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , Let me tell you something , If God almighty had no confidence in the blood of Christ to satisfy him , your confidence in it wouldn't have gotten , listen , people put confidence in all kinds of things to appease God , right now , this very day there are people all over this globe that are trusting prayers that they pray , money that they give , pilgrimages they make , church services that they attend in order to make God happy , so he won't be mad at them because of the dirty things they have done in their lives . People are doing that right now , there are multitudes of people walking around a draped box in mecca chanting prayers , thinking by walking around that box they are going to reconcile themselves to God and cause God not to be angry with them anymore , they're called muslims , one of the five things they have to do in order to go to heaven when they die is walk around that box , imagine thinking that ring around the rosie is going to make you right with God , they are putting there confidence in that. God doesn't put any confidence in that , but i'll tell you what , God has confidence in himself and his Son , in fact so much so that he entrusted his Son to redeem all the multiplied millions he gave to him to save before the foundation of the world, He has faith in that blood to satisfy his demands . Now lets look at that word faith , through faith in his blood , by faith of Jesus Christ , the word faith means belief , trust , confidence . Faithful means full or charactorized by faith , God is the one being in the whole of the universe to be fully self confident , because any thing he says , he can pull it off . In fact he's so self confident that he can swear by himself because he can't find anybody greater to swear by . He certainly is full of faith in himself , he certainly believes in himself . Now that God has faith is abundantly evident from three passages , First of all right there in Rom.3:3 For what if some did not believe ? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect ? See anything God has promised , pledged or covenented to do , my unbelieving is not going to stop him from doing it , my unbelief does not make his faith of none effect . But you know what , people , they read these faith passages like the faith of God and they think that thats somehow our faith , they do , think , how stupid that would be , Shall my unbelief make my faith of none effect? God forbid . Think , Does your unbelief make your faith of none effect ? What good is it for you to have faith if you don't believe ? Because faith is belief . Think , this is to obvious . Don't you think that my unbelief is making my faith of none effect ? What good is faith if you don't use it ? Its ineffectual . If that's our faith then that verse is silly , But if its the faith of God it makes perfect sense , and that is , shall our unbelief make the faith of God without effect ? God forbid . My unbelief doesn't keep God from doing anything that God has pledged himself to do . Now turn to 2 Thess. 3:3 where we will see the faith of God again , Remember the word faithful simply means what it sounds like , full of faith . We have so many passages that tell us God is faithful , full of faith . verse 2 , And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men : for all men have not faith . But the Lord is faithful . All men have not faith , but God is faithful . See God has what all men don't have , see , The Lord is faithful , who shall stablish you , and keep you from evil . Then turn to 2 Tim. 2:13 If we believe not , yet he abideth faithful: I want you to observe in every single one of these three passages that teach us about God's faith , that it's put in contrast to our unbelief . What we are lacking , God is full of . What is furthermore , Jesus Christ the Son of God has faith . Turn to Matt. 27:43 He trusted in God [ What is faith ? It is trust , even his own enemies knew that he was a man of faith , ] let him deliver him now , if he will have him : for he said , I am the Son of God . Then in Heb.2:13 we have a quotation of a prophecy , I remember one time arguing against the doctrine of the faith of Christ and of God and I didn't believe it , I believed all those faith passages were talking about our faith , And i'll never forget a young man taking me to Heb. 2:13 and proving that Christ did have faith by quoting this prophecy that clearly refered to the Lord Jesus and there was nothing left for me , but to conceed the point. In Heb. 2:13 And again , I will put my trust in him . And again , Behold I and the children which God hath given me . This is clearly a prophecy of the Lord Jesus himself , remember faith means trust . Now turn to Rev. 1:5 One of the names of Jesus is this , And from Jesus Christ , who is the faithful witness , The witness full of faith, The one God could count on to tell the truth . You see Jesus Christ made this statement in John 8:29 And jesus said , For I do always those things that please him . Jesus Christ never did anything that displeased God the Father . But , Notice , I do always those things that please him , now couple that verse with a statement made in Heb.11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is , and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him . Well if Jesus Christ always pleased God , and without faith its impossible to please God , What does that tell you ? That tells you the Son of God has faith , and that laith the foundation of his pleasing God in everything that he does . Let me tell you something , If faith in God does not underlie your act of obedience they do not honor God , If you are in this church this morning for some reason other than the fact that you believe God and you believe his word and you believe the word of God is being taught here and you believe whats being preached here and you believe this is what God wants you to do and thats why your here , If that doesn't underline your being here, your not here for the right reasons and it doesn't please God , because without faith it is impossible to please him . So when you put all that together , The testimony of Christ's own enemies , the prophecy uttered with respect to him , his very name , the faithful witness together with the fact that he always pleased God , you got him having faith . And so when you go back to Rom. 3 you can begin to appreciate the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ , By his own personal life of faith and obedience to God , he produced the righteousness that I failed to produce , now do you see the process ? Your justified by the faith of Jesus Christ , not by the works of the law . Here is a righteousness without the law , something we don't work to produce , a righteousness by faith of Jesus Christ that is upon us , imputed to us , and we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus , God putting his complete confidence in Christ to execute that transgression perfectly and according to all his demands on our behalf . Now that you understand that Christ has faith , and that God has faith , and its the mutual faith of the Godhead that brings about your justification , that makes you right with God , you can then begin to appreciate the words of Eph.2:8 where we are told , For by grace are ye saved though faith ; [ most people say God saves you by grace through your personal trusting Jesus as your savior , That's not what that verse is teaching . ] For by grace are ye saved through faith ; [ Well you may ask the question , Who's faith is that ? well read the verse and it will tell you . ] For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves , Thats not talking about your faith ! Somebody will say , well what's that that referring to ? Its referring to everything in front of it , it's referring to the grace , it's referring to the salvation and it's referring to the faith , the whole process , none of it is of yourselves , it is the gift of God , not of works lest any man should boast . I never forget when I was doing a seminar in Wisconsin and I pointed that out and this woman was looking at the verse and I brought that out , and that not of yourselves , and I pointed out that the verse told you that it's not your faith and I remember her eyes bugging out , she had been hereing that verse for years and never saw what it was saying plainly . Its not of yourselves , it is a gift of God , Because notice the next verse , Not of works , and you see that right there excludes your faith as being what's under consideration . Because , Did you know that your personal act of faith is a work ? Do you know what a work is ? Look at the definition of the term , It means that which is done , something you do , Is faith something you do ? You better bet it is . Remember the philippian jailer , What must I do ? Paul answered , believe . belief is something you do . But you look at John 6:28-29 and it very clearly let's us know that faith is something we do and therefore is a work by definition . They said unto him what shall we do , that we might work the works of God? That was a question asked of Jesus , Jesus answered and said unto them , This is the work of God , that ye believe on him whom he hath sent . What is furthermore , and this is airtight , Im going to show you why it can't be our faith in Eph.2:8 because look at the structure of the verse . For by grace are ye saved through [ thats the means , through faith ] Notice the saving grace of God is coming to you through faith . You got that ? Here's the faith of Jesus Christ and through that you got grace coming to you , here's grace coming through faith . So here I am saved by grace , well by what means ? Through faith . It came to me through faith . Through the faith of Jesus Christ im saved by grace . Now if you will , turn to Acts 18 and notice when it comes to my faith its exactly opposite , think of in the middle , here you have saved by grace , over here to the right , you got the faith of Jesus Christ , through that im saved by grace . Got that ? Now look at Acts 18:27 And when he [ that is Apollos ] was disposed to pass into Achaia , the brethren wrote , exhorting the disciples to recieve him : who , when he was come , helped them much which had believed through grace . Now here are people that believe , We are talking about their faith aren't we ? So here you got faith through grace , well , Eph. 2:8 is grace through faith , this is faith through grace , You see the difference ? Eph.2:8 is grace through faith , Acts 18:27 is the opposite , its faith through grace . Eph.2:8 is grace by means of faith , But Acts 18:27 is faith by means of grace , they're exactly opposite . You see through his faith I get the grace , through the grace of God saving me I get my faith .You see ? You got grace in the middle , his faith on this side giving us the saving grace , Then our faith on the opposite side resulting from the saving grace . You got it? So therefore the faith in Eph. 2:8 can't be our faith , because our faith comes after we are saved by grace . We believe through grace and that grace comes to us through the faith of Jesus Christ . I hope that's clear . Do you remember the righteousness of God , by faith of JesusChrist ? Turn to 2 Pet. 1 and let me give you another verse that just proves that's talking about his faith not ours . The righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ , a man is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ . I love this verse , these are the little verses you never here anybody preach about , they read them and they read over them and never pay attention to what they are saying , like Acts 18:27 , How many preachers are out there saying , would you sinner like to be saved by the grace of God ? Then just trust Christ as your savior and believe that he is your Lord and you will be wonderfully saved by grace . Well you know , That's believing to get grace , the text says we believe through grace . You got to be saved by grace before you are even able to believe , because it's by means of the grace of God that you can believe . But look here in 2 Pet.1:1 Remember the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ , his faith is the means of this righteousness it's producing this righteousness , then look at this , Simon Peter , a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ , to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ . Most people believe that you obtain the righteousness of God through faith and this says you obtain the faith through the righteousness of God . God has to justify you and make you right , then you obtain your faith to believe it . His faith to produce it , your faith comes after it's been produced and given to you . His faith gives you the righteousness of God then when you obtain the righteousness , then you believe as an effect or as a result . Let's just further nail this down , that were not justified , were not made right , were not made righteous and freed from sin and condemnation by our own personal faith , first of all the text we began with , just look at the grammer , By him , that is Jesus Christ all that believe are justified , it didn't say all that believe will be , It says all that believe are . If you believe you are justified , you are saved by grace , you have obtained the righteousness of God . Let's go back to our passage in Rom.3:22 Just pay attention to the grammer . Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe , and I told you before , The righteousness of God onto all and upon all them that believe . Here's a sinner and he's believing right now , them that believe , thats a present tense verb , You got that ? Now notice , It says the righteousness of God is upon him that believeth , upon all them that believe , You show me a man thats believing now , right now , I preach the gospel to him and he believes it , so he's right now believing , God's word says the righteousness of God is upon him , Now if the righteousness of God is upon him , What does he have to do to get it ? Sounds like it's already there . Every one of you this morning have your clothes upon you , Do you still need to get dressed? What would you think if I said you need to put your clothes on ? You would think im a crazy man , they're upon me . Everybody here has his clothes upon him , all that believe, the righteousness of God is upon them . So you don't believe to get it , to produce it , you believe because you have got it , because you have obtained it , that's why you believe , it's an effect of your having obtained the righteousness of God . Then of course the words of Rom.10: 4 For Christ is the end of the law [ the fulfilment of the law , he's done everything the law requires , Christ is the end of the law ] for righteousness to everyone that believeth . Christ is the end of the law to the believer , he is the fulfilment of the law to the believer , I don't have to believe for him to become that , If I believe he is that . Then we have the case of Cornelius in Acts 15 :7 The Gentile Roman centurion soldier Cornelius , Peter said , Men and brethren , ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel , and believe . Cornelius had not believed till Peter preached to him . It was when Cornelius and his friends heard the gospel from Peter's mouth that they believed , But notice what the Lord told Peter before Peter ever preached a sermon to Cornelius . Turn to Acts 10: 15 And the voice spake unto him the second time , What God hath cleansed , that call not thou common. This was a vision given to Peter and it's letting Peter know that before he ever preaches the first sermon to those Gentiles and before they believe it that God had already cleansed them , what God hath cleansed . They were already cleansed , They were already justified , They were already right with God and Peter hadn't even preached to them yet . Then we have the fact that believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is an obedience to a commandment , Some thing you are commanded in the gospel to do , Look at Rom. 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel . Here's some people that weren't obeying and he's going to give you a verse , For Isaiah saith , Lord , Who hath believed our report ? Notice people that don't believe haven't obeyed . So what does that tell you that believing the gospel is ? It tells you it's an act of obedience . I remember doing a evangelistic seminar many years ago , we did this evangelistic seminar to try to stir up some interest and this young preacher student that was coming , he was showing some interest , I think I was even beginning to get through and I asked this young preacher , Do you believe a sinner is eternally saved by keeping a commandment ? Well no , no he said . Now understand he came from this fundamentalist arminian background that your eternal salvation hinges on your personal act of faith , you must believe in Jesus in order to go to heaven when you die , that's the condition . He was schooled thoroughly on that and was being trained to preach that , and I asked the young man , Do you believe a man is eternally saved by keeping a commandmment ? No he said , I said lets go to 1John 3:23 And this is his commandment , That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ , The very thing your out there telling folks they got to do to go to heaven , that's a condition , is said specificly here to be a commandment . So you see our act of faith is a work , our act of faith is an obedience to a commandment of the gospel , and that's the reason we are not justified by our faith , but by the faith of Jesus Christ . And why the righteousness of God without the law , without commandment keeping , but by the faith of Jesus Christ . Turn to Rom.5:19 this deals specificly with justification , how sinners are made right with God , and it says , For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners , so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous . [ right or just ] Let me tell you , If you have to personally believe the gospel to be made right with God , do you realise that first of all there's the obedience of Jesus in keeping the law , thats one person , Then there's the obedience of the sinner obeying the commandment to believe in Jesus , That's two people , But the Bible says , How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? And , How can they here without a preacher ? So before the sinner can obey the commandment to believe , The preacher must obey the commandment to preach . Thats three people . You got Jesus obeying the law to provide the righteousness , The preacher obeying the commandment to preach and the sinner obeying the commandment to believe . That's the obedience of three ! And the Bible says it's by the obedience of one , By the obedience of one , many are made righteous . So take your pick which one out of the three , because you can only have one .Take your pick , do you want it to be the preacher ? Do you want it to be yourself ? I wouldn't advise it . Or do you want it to be Jesus ? By the obedience of one , so that just cuts your faith clean out of it . But , you say that doesn't leave the sinner anything to do , precisely right . There's nothing we can take credit for , there's nothing we can say well this happened because I did thus and so , and that's exactly right you see by this law of faith , the faith of Jesus Christ , being justified by the faith of Jesus Christ , where's the boasting ? It's excluded . God set it up this way just so nobody could brag , God set it up that way so that everybody when they get up there , they will have to say they are there because they are redeemed by the blood of the lamb , they will not be able to go up there and say Im here because so and so wittnessed to me on a street corner on such and such a day and at such and such a time like you here them preaching . I went to one of these fund raisers at the school , this preacher got up there and his sermon was about how his mother drove a school bus and his daddy drove a potato chip truck so that they could save up their money so they could send him to Bible college and that ever since then he's won all these souls to Christ and so all the investment they made to send him to Bible college was still paying off . Can you imagine , praise God for lays potato chips I would have been in hell if it hadn't been for lays potato chips . But this idea that Jesus did it all start to finish by his faith and it was all between the Godhead on our behalf , that it wasn't anything we did , that just cuts all the boasting out , and thats exactly why he said he did it that way . And so it is that we are made right by the faith of Jesus Christ . Well where does our faith enter into it ? I'll show you where ours comes in , Turn to Rom.4 our faith doesn't have anything to do with exculpating , our faith has nothing to do with discharging the debt , satisfying the demands of the law , producing the righteousness , our faith enters into it as that means whereby we are proven to be right , it doesn't make us right , but it proves we are right . In other words faith isn't a condition of eternal salvation , it's an evidence , proof , a witness . Faith is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen . He said , By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain , by which he obtained witness that he was righteous . He obtained witness , it didn't make him right , It just proved he was and this is what Rom.4 teaches us very clearly , What shall we say then that Abraham our father , as pertaining to the flesh , hath found ? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory , Thats what all these work systems do , they end up getting somebody to glory in it besides God , To misionaries , to evangelists , to soul winners , to Bible colleges , to saints and on and on it goes , and people just glory in all of that , and they think God is impressed and he's not , he is no more impressed by the boasts of the fundamentalists soul winner then he is the endless chanting of the deluded soul wanderring around the box in mecca . Works are works and none of it is grounds for glory to God , There are two religions in the world my friends and never forget it , there's a do religion and a done religion , and you can take every religion in the world from hindu to muslim , new age , catholics , prodistants , baptists , methodists and it's all do, do, do , its up to something you do . And over against that stands the religion of Jesus Christ that says it's done , it's finished . Rom. 4 says , If Abraham were justified by works , he hath whereof to glory ; but not before God . For what sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God , and it was counted unto him for righteousness . Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace , but of debt . But to him that worketh not , but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly , his faith is counted for righteousness . Now most people when they read those words they think this is what it says , faith counted for righteousness , is that I believe God and in exchange for my faith , God gives me righteousness , he takes my faith to settle the account , and he counts me righteous based on seeing that act of faith on my part . Notice Rom.4:3 For what saith the scripture ? [ so he's quoting the old testament here . ] Abraham believed God , and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That is a quotation from Gen.15:6 That's when Abraham was wandering , God told him that in his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed , and here's Abraham he's in the land and he's waiting to have a baby , he hasn't had one yet and he's asking God about it , and God says come on out here and look up in the sky and see the stars and tell me how many there are , He says I can't count them , and God says so shall thy seed be . And Abraham believed that , he hadn't yet had a baby , And God is telling him that his seed would be like the stars of heaven , Abraham looks and says i'll believe that and it was counted to him for righteousness . But here's the interesting thing , that wasn't the first time Abraham believed God , Because when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees in the beginning we are told plainly in Heb.11 :8 By faith Abraham , when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance , obeyed ; and he went out , not knowing whither he went . When God told Abraham get out of Ur of the Chaldees Abraham believed God and acted on it , It was an act of faith and the Bible says the just , the righteous shall live by faith . Abraham was already a righteous man , he was already right with God , he was already just and his act of faith when he left Ur of the Chaldees evidenced that , so Gen. 15:6 is a little late to make him right with God , so that act of faith is not what made Abraham right , it again is what proves or is evidence that he was right with God . Our faith is like a plane ticket , when you get on board a plane you give the person at the desk that ticket , that ticket is counted for the money that was paid for that fare , in itself that ticket is worthless , but the ticket taker takes it and accepts it on behalf of the money that was paid , because it's proof the money was paid , The ticket is counted for the money that's already been paid for that airfare . Every act of faith glorifies God and pleases God , not because there's any worth in the faith itself , but because of what the faith represents , and that is the imputed righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ . God is glorified by our faith , because that faith procedes from what Jesus did for us , and that is ultimately what pleases God , you see that ? Thats what it means when it says faith counted for righteousness . But observe the one whose faith is counted for righteousness , its the person who doesn't work , thats not trying to do anything for it , but is believing on God that justifies the ungodly , the faith that proves that you are right with God is the faith that says , I don't think anything I do makes me right with God , and im not trusting any thing im doing , I believe its all God and im trusting him and him only . Im not trusting my freewill , im not trusting my personal decision , im not trusting in the fact that I walked an isle one day , you know what people are trusting when you listen to them talk , are you saved ? well yes , Are you going to heaven ? yes, Why ? well , On march 30th 1978 I answered the call of God and I walked the isle when the preacher gave the invitation . Now , What's that guy trusting to to make him right with God ? Now thats not counted for righteousness , faith in what you do doesn't count for squat , but when you say im not trusting anything I ever did , I ever said , ever prayed or ever thought . Im trusting only what Jesus Christ did on that cross to make me right with God , that's the faith counted for righteousness , see Abraham believed God who justify's , he had his trust in God to make him right and nobody else , and when you do that , that's the faith that is counted for righteousness , that's the faith that proves that Jesus died for you and you are right with God , and that's exactly what Paul means when he says in Gal.2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law , but by the faith of Jesus Christ , even we have believed in Jesus Christ , that we might be justified by the faith of Christ , and not by the works of the law : for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified . Would you like to know that you have been justified by the faith of Christ ? Would you like to have assurance in your soul that if you died tonight you would see the face of God in peace ? I'll tell you what you do , you believe there's nothing you can do . and you give up ever thinking anything you've ever done or going to do is ever going to make you right with God , and you just come to the conviction that it's only by Jesus Christ , that's believing in Jesus , that's what believing in Jesus is , is a conviction that not even my believing is going to make it right , only what he did makes it right , you do that , and that faith is counted for righteousness , that faith proves you are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ , your not believing to get it , but your believing so you can know you have it . By faith we know . |
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#13
08-07-2008, 06:31 PM
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Aloha brother,
I appreciate most of your "post" - EXCEPT - you left out the "basis" of "election". Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. I'm not going to try to persuade you to my point of view, but I will state (for the record) that you conveniently "left out" all of the "whosoevers". {John 3:14-16; John 4:14; John 11:26; John 12:46; Acts 10:43; Romans 9:33; Romans 10:13; 1John 4:15; 1 John 5:1) Matthew 12:50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. 1 John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.{& Acts 19:4} Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; {& Philippians 1:29} 1 Timothy 1:16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. 1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, AFTER that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also AFTER that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, You see - A Christian can believe in "election", "predestination", "calling" "justification", and "eternal salvation" ("preservation" - NOT "perseverance") without being a Calvinist. We also can believe in "whosoever will" without being an Armenian! It's NOT an "either/or" proposition, no matter how hard some (in either "camp") try to force us into one or the other. The one thing that is common in every single Dispensation (under every Covenant of God) is BELIEF! #1. In the Garden of Eden (Under the "Edenic" Covenant) - Adam was required to "believe" God (there was no "Faith" involved) and to obey Him. #2. After the "Fall" (under the "Adamic" Covenant) - all that was required of people before the flood was for them to "believe" God and obey Him. #3. The same holds true for all those after the Flood under the "Noahic" Covenent. They were to "believe" God and obey Him. #4. Under the "Abrahamic" Covenant - Abraham and all of his descendants were to "believe" God and obey Him. #5. Under the "Mosaic" Covenant - Moses and all of the Israelites were to "believe" God and obey Him. #6. Under the "Davidic" Covenant - David and all of his descendants were to "believe" God and obey Him. #7. Under the "New Testament" ("New Covenant") - Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ {all His "seed"} are to "believe" God and His holy Apostles (and their writings) and obey Him. #8. In the Great Tribulation - Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are to "believe" God and obey Him. #9. In the Millennial Reign of Christ - People better "believe" God and obey Him. (There will be no "faith" involved) From the very beginning up to the present and out into eternity, God wants people to "believe" Him and obey Him. There have been different Dispensations; God has required different things of people under the different "Covenants"; but the one constant thread running throughout all of the ages (Dispensations), and under all of the "Covenants" is God's requirement that we "Believe" Him (and of course His Holy words). He does not FORCE us to "believe" Him, but He "requires" it! In this age it is simply: Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Last edited by George; 08-07-2008 at 07:00 PM. |
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#14
08-07-2008, 09:53 PM
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#15
08-08-2008, 07:22 AM
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#16
08-08-2008, 07:57 AM
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Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,Calvinism has people being saved so they can believe. The Bible has people believing so they can be saved. For what it's worth, I agree that we are given the faith of Christ. It wasn't until recently that I understood the difference between faith and belief. But being given the faith of Christ is conditioned on our first believing (trusting) God. |
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#17
08-12-2008, 03:20 AM
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The difference between faith and belief? That is what the doctrinal differences is between King James Translators and the versions perversions. I find the definitions of grace and faith varies and the lack of unity of those understanding throws us off into different agendas rather than the simple truth of the gospel. 1. I find that faith is simply the action the illustrates what one believes. 2. That grace of salvation is simply is what is given so as you have the ability to believe. |
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#18
08-14-2008, 10:44 PM
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An order of events is definitely found in Ephesians’ 1:13 and what needs to be contained in the order is the events forerunning before trust and believing and being sealed with the holy Spirit of promise. Which when one looks to the logic of the prelude; it defines the precepts that is misconstrued and are prevalent in perversion versions and even infects adheres of the King James, the Word of God, understanding of terms and definitions of key words as “grace” and “faith”. What I mean simply is as Diligent points out it was just recently that he understood the difference between belief and faith. I do not know how recently Brandon differentiate faith from belief, but I am sure many we’re entangled in the same misconception and other have thought about it, but the divinations of the sorceries of bewitching of the perversions versions has and is making it difficult to see the truth evident by just reading God’s word. Now for you who do not know who Brandon Staggs is; he is the forerunner of the most major web site on the King James Bible and the bible program Swordsearcher and has been a major help to believers against attack on the word of God (King James Bible). If Brandon is just coming around with the understanding that there is a difference between faith and belief you can see just how deep the roots of deception are. Now I do not know for sure what the total impact of our misunderstanding has been. The dynamic of how words such as “faith” and “grace” are misconstrued are not as important as what the impact of consequence of our misunderstanding. However the dynamics are probably wrapped in the infection of the perversion versions previously inflected on us through the main stream christian media, filtered down through the local fellowships. All this was inflected on the majority of Christians before their consciousness of the issues involving the King James Bible was brought to light and I believe this is common and not the exception. So what is the impact of the manipulation of the definition of words as faith and grace? Well, certainly it ties into the ecumenical movement. This is the direction that Lucifer has twisted and has used to have men worship him from the beginning. Large amounts of christian that you talk with will say they are saved by their faith in Christ. Now I remember when I was first born again, asking “isn’t my faith a work”. I never did receive an answer that defines “my faith” satisfactory as something other than “my work” from the main stream christian forum. It is glossed over with doctrines of men. To the crunch of the operation of God, that by grace are you saved though faith and that not of yourself. In Ephesians’ 1:13 we see that trusted, then believed and then the sealing of the holy Spirit of promise. So what is the prelude? The only logically conclusion is Grace. However there is another item before that. A stipulation, a requirement, a work, which the word of God says must happen before this grace is given. It is broken heart and a contrite spirit wrapped in humility, God give grace to the humble. God is doing a work in men, he sets a series of event that will humble us so as we may receive and he would give his grace so as we might trust him and then believe on his Son and be born again. Simplify grace is the ability to believe on Jesus Christ. So you would have too claim falling backward is a work you did to earn your salvation, unlike salvation by your faith in Christ found in perversion versions. Now where does faith come in, faith is the action that illustrates what you believe. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When you believe by the grace of God, you obey his word (faith), and fruit follows, which glorifies God through Jesus Christ. This is the salvation of God by grace through faith. Repent and be baptized. |
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