The Faith that brings God's Grace is a mystery! It's whole purpose is to bring us out of the darkness and into the light. Faith begins when one HEARS the gospel (as if for the first time), continues on with UNDERSTANDING what is being said, and ends (so to speak - although it never really ends for the believer) once the person RECEIVES for themselves the free gift of the... "Awesome Immensity of just who it is that he hears and understands and has received verses the Total Depravity of who he himself is, along with realizing something of the Glorious Magnitude of what God alone has Finished to pay for his sins verses the utter worthlessness of his own saving graces. Once this kind of Hearing and Seeing with faith brings them to know all this and receive it is when Scriptures as the following apply:
"...if you confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
The question we therefore need to ask is this....
How can one confess that Jesus is Lord (i.e. confessing that Jesus is Lord over them), or believe without one doubt in their heart that God has raIsed Him from the dead without -- "FAITH"??? Without Faith (i.e. "without having the eyes of our understanding enlightened") it is impossible!
Faith is a mystery that has its beginnings here....
"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Note the importance of that last verse....
Faith comes by hearing, and the ability to even hear and understand the Gospel at all comes by way of the word of God. It is in the Hearing of the word of God (i.e. hearing "God" speak to our hearts) is the beginning of faith. (What we do with it after we hear it is up to us.)
Therefore, "Hearing" the word of God with our "Understanding" - that is, coming to Hear and See (i.e. "Receive Him") for ourselves absolutely convinces us that Jesus is the Lord and that "He is risen from the dead and lives forevermore". It is "this" that instills faith in the person. It is Hearing/Believing/Receiving God's word that does it! The word of God is alive! In it is contained all of the "Proof" that Jesus Lives and is Lord, because He is presented to our spirit by no less a revealer than the Spirit of Truth Himself!
This is not a DEAD word I speak of. Nor is it a HUMAN word that goes forth. But it is The Spirit of God Himself who speaks it, bringing it all to life. By bringing Jesus to life He causes us to... SEE through our Hearing! It is through this "Seeing kind of Faith" that the word becomes very much alive and sharper than any two-edged sword, omnipotently revealing the intents and thoughts of our hearts.
The Jews asked Jesus to give them a sign that He was indeed the Son of God. (Matthew 12:29) He told them that (apart from faith) the only sign they would see would be the sign of Jonah (who was in the belly of the whale for three days). He too would be raised after 3 days.
The point being that anyone who seeks the Lord must Hear the word of God, and upon hearing it (i.e. "God") speaking personally to their heart, they come forth and confess that Jesus is Lord, and believe in their heart of hearts that God raised Him from the dead to a position of power and authority at His right hand.
This is how Faith is intertwined....
First - one must HEAR the word of God concerning Christ! There are two ways to hear. One is through our ears of our flesh which lead only to our intellectual make-up. The other is through Hearing the word through the ears of our conscience (our spiritual make-up) which goes right to the core of our hearts, our understanding, allowing us to repent rightly of our sin. The faith needed to hear and genuinely repent is contained in the word!
Second - upon Hearing the word spoken in his heart a man needs to BELIEVE what that word he hears is saying directly to his heart. True belief will bring with it the urgent need to come to Jesus! The hope needed to believe and come is contained in the word!
Third - upon Believing the word one must RECEIVE the word into His heart. First came the Hearing of it, then came the Believing of it, now comes the Receiving of it into the heart where it is residing temporarily until properly Received or Welcomed. It is the reception of the word into our hearts that changes us! The love needed to receive and obey is contained in the word!
God and His word are one. John 1:1
Let's look at what is involved in "Faith"....
"To Hear God speak" is what brings Faith which in turn causes us to Believe. However, it is only when the word of God is received or welcomed into ones heart that it can begin to dwell and grow. Anyone can say that they've Heard and Believed what God has said concerning His Son, but only those who have Received or Welcomed The Truth into their hearts - intent on obeying Him, loving Him, serving Him, confessing Him before men, suffering persecution in this life for the word they received, selling all to follow Him, can be considered as "Christians", i.e. - as "Followers/Disciples of Christ".
On the one hand it cost the Father His only begotten Son - and it cost the Son His life to obey His Father and die for us... SINNERS! If we can be so blind, so ungrateful, so unmoved, and so unloving that we aren't going to become intent on going all the way with Him after receiving the knowledge of the Truth, then we must stop what we're doing, weigh the costs, and then decide what to do one way or the other!
If that's all that Christ means to us - If following Christ doesn't cost us everything we have as well (including our life), then let's stop kidding ourselves, let's end all of the pretending to be something that we aren't, and let's stop bothering to pretend to be following Him at all! (Matthew 10:37-39; Luke 14:26-28; Matthew 16:24-26; Philippians 3:7-10)
In the parable of the sower the reason why the Good Ground was so receptive to the word when they heard it was because the soil of their heart had already been prepared to receive it. They weren't shallow nor did they have many loves they couldn't part with. They had little left and little to lose. Their life was one of weariness and heaviness, so when the word came to them promising them rest if they came to Christ, they latched onto the word and took it in.
Later that same word showed them how wretched they really were in God's eyes and that they must be born again. Both our need to be Justified by faith and Sanctified to the truth are a necessary part of salvation. If one goes on in the Lord then the TOTALLY AWESOME LOVE contained in the word will engulf them and bring them to new life in Christ! This (our knowing and becoming sanctified to The Truth) is what's sadly lacking in today's mostly "carnal church"!
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Faith does not necessarily come by hearing some man speak the word, nor by hearing a bunch of words in some Bible being read, but comes instead from Hearing "THE SPIRIT OF GOD" speaking a word directly and personally to our hearts either indirectly through these means or directly through supernatural means.
It is only by our "Reception or Welcoming of Him and His living word into our hearts" (John 14:23; Rev.3:20); upon our HEARING GOD that enables us to know the Father and the Son, and love God like we love no other in our becoming a born again child of the Living God.
***
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Romans 10:9-10
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:14-17
(In other words, we lay bare before Him!) Everyone and anyone who have been convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment by the Spirit of Truth can verify everything I've said (John 16:8).
To say that one has Heard God speak to their hearts, believe on Him and claim they Know Him; yet don't do what He says by Receiving Him, is a liar. He has come up short of the Gospel! God isn't only interested in saving us FROM our sins but in sanctifying us TO Himself as well through a new and spiritual birth. BOTH have to do with Faith and both are necessary when it comes to being saved.
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13
"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:5-6
May God bless you in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!
Biff
