FAITH TOWARD GOD
“Therefore leaving the principles of
the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the
doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the
dead, and of eternal judgment. And this
will we do, if God permit”
(Hebrews 6:1-3).
In the above verses, we find six concepts that St. Paul refers to as “the principles of the doctrine of Christ,” and, in chapter 5 of Hebrews, “the first principles of the oracles of God.” We have explored the first principle, Repentance from Dead Works, in an earlier message; now, let’s consider the second principle, Faith Toward God.
Once we have understood the need to repent from our dead works, it is necessary for us to learn to exercise faith toward God. There must be something to fill the void that remains when we leave our dead works behind. After all, we have come to understand that we mustn’t function in exactly the same way that we have been accustomed to functioning prior to accepting Christ. We cannot rely on the same natural inclinations that have motivated us in the past, nor can we trust in the wisdom of the world that has previously been our guide. We need something to replace the old methods of operation – something that is pleasing to God and effective in transforming us into the people that He wants us to be. That something is faith in the promises of God. When God asks us to leave one place, He always provides a much better place for us to move toward. When He delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He ultimately led them to a land of promise that was flowing with milk and honey. God wants to do the same for you and me.
As human beings it is very natural for us, even after conversion, to fall back into trying to change ourselves by our own sheer will power. We try to fill the void that we feel after leaving our old life behind by trying to change ourselves for the better; not realizing that this very action is a product of the old life and not the new life that we have received in Christ Jesus. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Adam and Eve’s experience teaches us that just knowing the difference between good and evil is not the secret to actually choosing the good and refusing the evil. For that we need a Savior!
There have been times in my life when I have made bad choices that I bitterly regretted. I would determine to do better the next time I was tempted or tried, but would fail miserably and then berate myself for being the worst Christian ever only to repeat this cycle over again. It took me some time to realize that Christ is my salvation and my victory does not rely on what I can do, but on what He has already done. I was a sinner because of Adam’s sin, but now I can be righteous because of Jesus’ righteousness.
St. Paul tells us about his experience with this in Romans 7:18-23. He writes, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Paul came to understand (as we all must) that try as he may he could not save himself, or make himself any more spiritual: for that he needed the power that comes from Christ alone. It is not by fleshly might or power that we can move the obstacles that stand before us: it is by the Spirit of the Living God. I came to understand the same thing as Paul did when he said, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24, 25). You see, the Law only taught me that I was a sinner; it couldn’t set me free from sin. It could teach me what righteousness was, but it couldn’t make me righteous. This is the point to which we all must come, and, hopefully, realize our need for One to deliver us from ourselves. This is the point at which we see we need a Savior, and we are constantly being reminded of this during our Christian walk.
Paul, in describing his fellow Jews, said, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,” (Romans 10:3, 4). Paul’s countrymen had missed one of the key lessons of the Scripture: “The just shall live by faith.” Paul very plainly laid down the doctrine of faith in his letter to the Roman church, saying that by the deeds of the Law no one could be justified in God’s sight, but that now the way to achieve the righteousness of God without the Law was revealed. “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe,” (Romans 3:19-22).
St. Peter also, in his second general epistle, addressed those who had received faith in God, and said, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust,” (2 Peter 1:1-4). It is this precious faith that gives me access into the grace of God. Through faith, I can take hold of the promises of God, and by them partake of the divine nature. Does that sound fantastic? We are told, “as many as received Him (Christ), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on His name,” (John 1:12). From the beginning, God created man in His own image, or after His own nature; but man fell to sin, and that image became tarnished so that man no longer resembled God in spirit and in innocence. Now in Christ Jesus, that image can be restored because Jesus is the express image of the person of God and we are being changed into that same image from one glory to the next by the Spirit of the Lord. (Hebrews 1:3; 2 Corinthians 3:18). Isn’t it the desire of every good son to become like his father? That should be the desire of every child of God.
We learn in Romans 10 that faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. I can believe that a hundred good things are going to happen to me if I just have enough faith; but if God has not first revealed those things to be His will for me right now, my believing is in vain. It is my ability to listen to and hear what God speaks to me through His Word and by His Spirit that sparks my faith. He first speaks to me; I then believe in my heart and confess with my mouth. When I openly confess the things which I believe in my heart, I become a witness of the truth, and others become impacted by my faith. They, in turn, may ultimately believe as a result of my testimony. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” (Romans 10:10). If I truly believe, then I am also going to speak about what God has spoken to me. It tends to bubble out of me.
Another effect of faith is action. When God speaks to me through His Word, there is usually an action required. The 11th chapter of Hebrews, the great faith chapter of the Bible, is full of action verbs. The heroes of faith all chose to do something in response to what they understood God was speaking to them. God spoke to Moses, and he returned to Egypt and demanded that Pharaoh set the Israelites free. God spoke to Abraham, and he left his country and journeyed to the land of promise. God spoke to Noah, and he built an ark to save his family along with each kind of animal. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone,” (James 2:17). Just as our body would be dead if we had no breath, so also our faith is dead without works. Please understand that there is a vast difference between busy-work and work that God initiates. I knew a very good Christian brother who believed God would turn water into wine for a communion service that he was leading. He also convinced the congregation to believe it as well. When they drank from the communion cup, the water was, well, still water! What the brother learned that night was to first hear from God, and then believe. We sometimes look for God to bless our notions, and even our lusts; but the “name it and claim it” theology that many embrace today is full of error. We are to seek God’s will to be done on earth even as it is in heaven, not try to get God to support our will! This is why Paul is careful in calling this principle “faith toward God,” and not merely “faith in God.” Our faith must always be focused toward God and toward His will, and never toward self or toward man in general. Even Jesus dared not move outside the Father’s will, but always did what pleased the Father. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise,” (John 5:19).
Scripture says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” (Hebrews 11:1). We often think of faith as an invisible force that cannot be measured; but we learn from this verse that it is “substance” and it is “evidence.” The actions that accompany our faith make it substantial and evident. Every day when Noah got up and spent the day working on the ark, people could witness his faith. This very action provided the opportunities for Noah to preach the message of salvation from the impending flood to the ungodly who stopped by to ask him what he was doing. Likewise our obedience to what God speaks to us, and the resulting choices that we make, become the evidence of our faith, and create the opportunities for us to speak of our faith to others.
“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,” (Hebrews 11:6). It is not enough to merely believe in God. Only a fool would argue that He does not exist. Even the devil believes in God. No, I must also believe that He rewards them that seek to know Him and to understand His will for their lives. Faith is not passive, it must be active. In speaking of the Israelites to whom the Word first came, Paul reminds us, “The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it,” (Hebrews 4:2). So, even knowing the Bible is nothing if we do not exercise faith in what God has revealed to us.
One final thought on faith is this: it is a powerful defensive weapon against the enemy of our soul. In describing all of the spiritual armor that we have at our disposal, faith is depicted as a shield that can quench every fiery dart that the enemy would fire in our direction (Ephesians 6:13-18). All of the other defensive armor only protects a specific area of the body, but the shield can be moved to protect any area. Likewise, our faith protects us from all manner of attacks. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4a, 5).
“For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” (Galatians 5:5, 6).
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