NUGGETS…from the WORD of GOD
FAITH
“Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God, Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.”
—Deut. 1:32-33
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Faith is foundational to Christian experience. And, it is as critical to saving the life as it is to saving the soul. In other words, faith is fundamental not just to becoming a Christian, but to being one. The Spirit of God exhorts through the apostle Paul, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving [Col. 2:6-7].”
The old testament book of Deuteronomy (“The Second Law”) includes a rehearsal in broad strokes of Israel’s history, under the leadership of Moses, from deliverance from bondage in Egypt to the threshold of the promised land and the transfer of authority from Moses to Joshua. A journey which could have been accomplished in less than two weeks was extended to thirty eight years of “wilderness wandering” because of unbelief. It is a graphic illustration of the cost of defective faith, or “unbelief.”
“Faith” and “belief” are often confused in the minds of many professing Christians, at great cost. Faith includes belief, but belief does not always incorporate faith. To believe in God is one thing; to believe God is another. An able preacher of my acquaintance used to speak of “unbelieving believers;” those who believed in God, but who did not believe Him in specific areas of life or experience. The most telling example of this is, of course, the case of Adam and Eve. Created by the hand of God and enjoying fellowship with God in the garden of Eden, they certainly believed in the existence of God. They could not have denied it. But when it came to the issue of the “tree of life,” they simply did not believe the God whom they knew. “In this thing [they] did not believe the Lord [their] God.” The result was catastrophic then, and it still is.
The principle is illustrated again in this history of Israel. There is no doubt the Israelites believed in Jehovah, the “God of the bible.” But when His word directed them to go up and “possess the land” of promise, they did not have a functioning faith that would prompt obedience to His directive. Many have been their descendants throughout history, including church history.
When God declares “the just shall live by faith,” He is embracing not just obtaining life, but living it. It is the divine intention that sinners should not merely be justified by faith as an act, but sanctified by faith as an attitude governing all life in terms of His word. This comprehensive nature of faith is indicated in the fundamental statement, “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 [Heb. 11:6].” The implication is that faith involves not merely a decision, but devotion, and it is in the latter that many professing Christians come up short. They profess that they “trust Him” for eternal life, but fail to “diligently seek Him” for living that life. In the specifics that follow justification they do not believe the Lord. As a result if, in fact, they are “saved,” they are wandering in a wilderness that yields nothing in their lives like God intended, nor the testimony He desires. They are in a spiritual ‘no man’s land’ somewhere between where they were in sins’ bondage and where they really Abelong now that they have been redeemed.
Many seldom open their bibles and give attention to His purpose to “show…by what way [they] should go.” And if they hear it from the pulpit, or stumble across it by chance, they simply thrust it aside in favor of their own agenda, as did Israel at Horeb. The result is an anemic “church” that has neither peace nor power. “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” (Titus 1:16a)
When on the road to Damascus the apostle Paul was converted through faith in Christ, he “trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do [Acts. 9:6]?” That should be the constant inquiry of every believer, with the intention to “trust and obey.”
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen [Heb. 11:1].” Saving faith not only determines destiny, but it defines deportment. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts [Gal. 5:24].”
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” —II Cor. 13:5
—"Pastor" Frasier
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These "Nuggets," including past issues, are now available online at
http://wmf14227.blogspot.com/ - or - http://pastorfrasier.blogspot.com/ prior to 4/1/12
7/14/12
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