The nature of saving faith…

Human faith is knowing the lights will turn on when the switch is flipped because we have tried it and proven to our minds that it is true. Human faith is also deciding to believe the salesman because we have done our homework and found that the product he pitches has been tested and approved by 99% of other customers. Human faith is based on evidence.

What about spiritual faith, the faith that gives us a relationship with Jesus Christ and the sure promised of eternity with Him? The Bible says this is different:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8)
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. (Hebrews 11:17–19)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

Human faith requires proof and a decision. However, faith in Christ is a gift from God through hearing Him speak.

However, God also says of those who heard: “But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for ‘Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.’ But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, ‘I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.’ Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, ‘I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.’ But of Israel he says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’ ” (Romans 10:18–21)

Israel rejected what they heard. Their faith was in themselves rather than in the Lord, and their response to Him was clouded by their DIY determination, as the NT explains:

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:2–4)

Human faith trusts all sorts of things, but the faith that saves sinners from God’s wrath is about not trusting myself or anything I do or think. It is trusting Jesus Christ and what God says about Him. He took my penalty for sin and died in my place. This faith is about the object, about who or what we trust.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

He rose from the dead. He promises that all who trust Him are set free from the law that says ‘sin and die.’ He grants His righteousness to all who believe and in Him. We are no longer condemned.

The only thing that can keep anyone from the punishment sin deserves is that “do it yourself” attitude. God says no one can be saved that way because that way is actually sinful — it is a declaration of “I don’t need God” and a denial of His gift, even if the person who thinks that way has never heard about Jesus.

Today’s reading says, “A large proportion of God’s children never get beyond these hopes and longings. “I hope my sins will be forgiven some day”; “I hope I may be favored to reach heaven at last”; “I hope God loves me”; “I hope Christ died for me.” How can these be called “God’s children” for without faith, they are only His by creation and not part of His forever family because they lack genuine saving faith.

PRAY: Jesus, Your Word says it plainly to me, yet it seems many are filled with doubts rather than assurance of eternal life. You know who belongs to You and who makes the claim without genuine faith. You also know what to do about it. So again I pray for those who are unsure and leave them in Your capable hands. Turn them from ‘hope so’ to ‘know so’ as You see fit and as only You can do.

When God seems far away…

 
There are times when it seems God is off somewhere and with His back turned. In reading about His great wisdom, it is obvious that He knows how I feel, why this is allowed, and what He wants from me in this time of feeling awry, even though I know that nothing has changed. I am His child, made righteous by faith in Christ, and able to live for Him because of Him.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction… (Romans 3:21–22)

He also knows that this righteousness is mine in that I don’t need to strive for it. It is the same as forgiveness. Confess sin and forgiveness is not only available on a sin-to-sin basis, but all taken care of more than two thousand years ago at Calvary. When He chose me, saved me, and gave me His Spirit, He also granted me His mind, gentleness, meekness, peace, love, joy, and all that I need to live for Him. His virtue is not a commodity in a cupboard that I have to go fetch; it is already mine. The only thing that prevents me from living like Christ is trying to do it without Him. Just as many try to be “Christian” in behavior, so also many of the OT people tried to do it, as Paul described:

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:2–4)

Jesus teaches me that He is my righteousness and trying to establish it on my own is folly. The OT tells me that:

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. (Isaiah 64:6–7)

This is not the only time that His face seems hidden, yet I’m getting a vague understanding that in His wisdom, there are times when it seems that He does it that I might remember how weak and blind I am without Him. I’m not aware of any particular sin that demands confession, only vague shadows flitting about. This is usually Satan who is up to one of his specialties. This is described:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:10–11)

The enemy accuses even as Jesus defends. I’m okay in Christ. His blood secured my victory. My testimony reinforces it. Having little concern for my life compared to dying is also part of that victory. It is easy to criticize others who seem more concerned for comfort than God’s will, yet I also need to pay attention to this myself. Do the discomforts and burdens of life pull me away from God and how He might want to use it to change me in some way? Is the sense of His absence part of an important test or lesson?

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! (Psalm 27:8–9)

PRAY: I’m glad that You know all things. I’m in the dark about my life all this week, a downer after weeks of a new blessing every day. Did I fall into loving the blessings more than I love you, or is that one of the devil’s accusations that is simply not true? May You make this plain, not so I am happier but that You are glorified and blessed. Thank You.

Later: God is amazing. Big prayers answered. He turns me around and then smiles at me!

Proud? Or Crucified?

Another characteristic of pride is striving to be righteous. The Gospel says that I have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ and in the heart of God, I have been justified. Why then those years of trying to be ‘a perfect’ Christian?

I know the teaching of the Gospel, yet kept skipping that part that said I was already righteous, sort of like reading a book and skipping the paragraphs that describe the scenery. Pride skips over what God has done and seeks it by performance.

The Jews made the same error. They tried to become what God wanted them to be by rule-keeping, but it did not work. Paul described their efforts like this . . .  

“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:2–4)

However, the Christians were doing something like it. The Galatians who believed tried to become what God said they already were. Instead of resting in the righteousness they had been given, they struggled to be justified by their works. Paul rebuked them . . .

“Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:2–3)

We who know Christ can make the same error as unsaved people by pridefully striving to earn favor with God. It is a weary-producing, frustrating task because that is not the way it works. In a nutshell, God put my sin on His sinless Son, and put the perfect righteousness of His Son on me. I am righteous and because I am in Christ, God is already pleased. Duh!

The challenge is to live according to who I am. My problem is not only believing who I am, but remembering it in every situation. I am a child of God who needs the Spirit of God to live out that which God put in. The world, the flesh, and the devil don’t want me to live that way, and neither does pride.

This morning’s devotional was about assurance of salvation and included the following familiar passage. Jesus gives the invitation, and I always thought it was about being exhausted from serving Him, but now I realize it is about being tired from prideful effort to please Him, forgetting that He is already pleased . . .

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)

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Jesus, thank You that all my self-effort is already forgiven. I know that I must obey You and live a righteous life, but also know that this will never happen by laborious striving and trying harder in self-effort. God the Father imputed Your righteousness unto me. The Holy Spirit moves that perfect righteousness from my heart out through into my life. It is an easy yoke, not a burden because it is not something I do; You do it for me. For that, I can rest in You, thankful that “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)