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weekly sermon 1-11-09 What Is True Faith? I want us to look at something that I have touched on in the past, faith. We have spoke a few times concerning this matter, but I wanted us to look a little deeper into what true faith really entails. There are many levels of faith. You can have faith in someone or something, a child can have faith in many things, or you can have true faith. How does true faith start? Faith first starts with the ears; not the mind. I know that sounds strange in some ways but if you go with me for a minute I think you will understand where I am going with this. The Bible says, in Romans 10:17, "So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." So as you can see its the ears. Faith comes by hearing.
Now that we know how faith starts, I want us to look at a message from Paul on true faith. Paul, if you do not know him, was a martyr of Christians prior to him becoming one of the greatest apostles in the Bible. The Bible says he consented to the deaths of Christians, made havoc of the church, had men and women of Christ imprisoned, and even put threats of slaughter against the disciples. Paul came into the faith in a most unusual way. Let us imagine that we were walking down a dirt road after having mauled some Christians, just for fun, and a bright light blinded us and then started talking to us. How would we react? I think most folks would freak out wondering who was shining this bright light in their face, especially if they had never met God, either personally or spiritually. If you look in Acts, chapter 9, it says that as soon as this happened to Paul, he said who are you, Lord? He had no doubt in his mind that it was Jesus and he hated Jesus and all He stood for at that time. You would have to agree that is a most unusual and amazing, in my opinion, way of finding the faith. I only told this story, about Paul, to show that he was a man that came to faith in such a way that would make him have to know the real meaning of true faith.
Paul had ministered the Gospel to many different areas and to many different civilizations of people for a long time. On one particular occasion Paul went back to Galatia to talk to the Galatians about their actions. The Galatians were not acting as Christians should act and Paul was aware of this and wanted them to understand that once they came to Christ, as they had, then they should act accordingly. As their minister Paul had to bring a message that would relate to the way they were living to make them understand how they had gone astray and started living in ways they should not be living. What I found funny and exciting is that the message Paul gave to the Galatians then is exactly what this world is needing to hear today.
We are going to look at a good amount of scripture in order to get the full message Paul was trying to relate to the Galatians, so turn with me if you will to Galatians Chapter 3. I want to start with the first verse and read through the entire chapter. I know that this may seem like quite a bit of scripture, but it is very important to understand what true faith really means.
Galatians 3:1-29, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? (2)This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (3)Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (4)Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if [it be] yet in vain. (5)He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, [doeth he it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (6)Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. (7)Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. (8)And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be blessed. (9)So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. (10)For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (11)But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, [it is] evident: for, The just shall live by faith. (12)And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. (13)Christ hath redeemed us 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: (14)That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (15)Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though [it be] but a man's covenant, yet [if it be] confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. (16)Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (17)And this I say, [that] the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. (18)For if the inheritance [be] of the law, [it is] no more of promise: but God gave [it] to Abraham by promise. (19)Wherefore then [serveth] the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (20)Now a mediator is not [a mediator] of one, but God is one. (21)[Is] the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. (22)But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. (23)But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. (24)Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (25)But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (26)For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (27)For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (28)There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (29)And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
If we look at the first verse we see that Paul called the Galatians foolish. I know that this seems very harsh, but if we look at the literal translation we can see that Paul was not calling them foolish in the sense of the word that we know it as. The Greek word here is "anoetos" which translates to senseless or unwise. The Galatians were being unwise by not acting like the Christians they had proclaimed to be. Paul wanted to know what or who had bewitched them. The Amplified actually says, what has fascinated you so much to make you not obey the truth. Something or someone had fascinated them in such a way that they had turned from the truth of Christ. The Galatians were not there when Christ was crucified, but Paul had told them the story in such detail that their minds could actually see what Christ had went through as He was crucified. If we could actually believe in our minds what Christ went through for us then why would we ever turn away from that?
Now let us look at what Paul had to say, which will bring us to the heart of this message. Paul had one question for the Galatians. He asked, received you the spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. If you look in the Amplified Paul said it this way. "Did you receive the Holy Spirit as the result of obeying the law and doing it's works, or was it by hearing the message of the Gospel and believing it?" Look at what he was trying to say here; God laid down the law back in the days of Moses and that law was to be obeyed. Did the Galatians have faith because they obeyed the law of God, or because they heard the Gospel of Christ? That was Paul's real question to them. Paul was showing them in verse 3 that they were in the spirit and perfect to God and never perfect in the flesh and in verse 4 that if that was the case then all that Jesus died for was in vain. Paul then said that he, being the one ministering to them in the spirit, and working miracles in front of them, was not doing it because of the law, but because of the faith.
Now Paul refers to Abraham because the Bible refers to us as the children of Abraham. In the time of Abraham there was God's law that was passed down through Moses. Paul is showing the Galatians that Abraham obeyed these laws and was made righteous unto God, but that was because back then the law was all there was to live by. Then he tells us that all that live by true faith are the true children of Abraham, who, as we said, was made righteous with God. We can see that since the law was the only thing then and Abraham was faithful to that law, he was indeed in the faith.
Abraham was in the true faith because he was faithful in the law. I know you must be thinking that contradicts what I said earlier about faith being with ears and not flesh but we must read on. It says that those that do the works of the law are cursed under that law and that we are not justified by the law but by faith. Why do we want to be justified by faith? Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: It tells us here that the law is not of faith and the man that lives in the law is cursed by the law, but the man that lives by faith is blessed in the faith.
I know that some of this has been confusing but the next part should really pull the meaning of this message together. The next thing we see is that Christ redeemed us from this curse by being made a curse for us. What does this verse mean to us? Abraham was in the faith by being faithful to the law, which was the only thing Abraham had to fall back on. When Jesus came to this world He came as the faith so that we would not have to be bound by law; but redeemed by faith. Now follow me on this one. The law was the way, before Christ, to keep mankind in good standings with God. God saw that when we have laws we are bound by those laws so He wanted to do something so that we were no longer bound by law and instead be bound to Him. In order for us to be truly bound to God then God had to send Himself, in the flesh, as a sacrifice for us. When He did this it broke our curse to the law and allowed us to have a relationship with Him through faith; that faith being Jesus Christ.
I can see now that there will be many that say, 'well if this is the case then all we have to do is have faith in Christ and we no longer have to abide by the law'. This is definitely not the case. Let us look at verse 21, [Is] the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. I want us to also look at the Amplified version here. "Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Can you see what it is saying? If there had been a law given that could have assured us life then we would never have needed Christ come and die for us. Since there was never a law that could give us life or give us the relationship with God, that we spoke of earlier, then God had to come, in the flesh, to die so we might live. Had there been a law, there never would have been a Christ. Now that there is a Christ, then we must live by the faith that was given us through Christ, while abiding by the law given to us by God. Just as the Bible says in James 2:20-22, "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (21)Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? (22)Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?" It says that our faith without works is dead and that Abraham proved his faith when he offered Isaac on the alter. It goes on to say that Abrahams faith was by works and by works his faith was made perfect. As we can see here that our faith is nothing unless we apply the works of the law, and the law is nothing without faith. As you can see it is a combo pack. Like you can not have turkey and dressing without cranberry sauce. The same here, you can not have faith without works and you can not do works without faith.
It is not enough to be a good person, or do good things for people, because we can not get to Heaven simply on how we act or what we do, We must live by faith. Just like we saw earlier in Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The word of God is law and the law is what we are to obey along with the faith we get from hearing that same word.
Do you still live in the law, whether it be the law of God, or the law of the land, or do you live by faith? If you live by the law, you still live under the curse of that law. If you live by faith then you are in a true relationship with the loving God. If you do not live by faith but you would like to then all you have to do is say a simple prayer.
Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life, forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ, Pastor Stone
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