Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm so glad you could join us for today's message. And today
I'm going to begin in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 13,
if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles. That's where
I'm going to start, 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5. But I'm going
to be going through several scriptures if you want to write these down
or if you want to see if you can follow along fast with me
as I go through. But we'll begin at 2 Corinthians
13 and verse 5. And the title of the message,
and this may sound strange, but this is the title, Faith, Faith,
and Faith. Now, you may say, well, why would
you say faith three times? Well, in this message, I'm going
to show you how the word faith, or sometimes faithful, in the
scripture, within different contexts, means specifically different
things. which all combine really to take
us to the same place where we need to go, which obviously is
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation. Faith that
brings repentance. But I think a lot of people are
so confused about faith today. A lot of people have the idea
that faith is just believing But believing is some elusive
idea that has more to do with just wishful thinking or hoping
that something will come about when you have no real basis or
real knowledge to think that. And so all you have to do is
believe, believe, believe. We have today what we call faith
healers, which are false preachers. who basically tell people something
like this, that if you have a sickness or an illness or some kind of
a handicap, that I can heal you if you will believe enough that
it can come true. It's kind of like when you wish
upon a star, that kind of thing. And that's not faith in the Bible.
And of course, they leave themselves an out. If you don't get healed,
it's not because they didn't have the powers, it's because
you didn't believe enough. And that's not what the Bible teaches
at all. And then you have today's modern, what we call word of
faith movement, which is another false gospel. And they claim,
you know, all you have to do is speak it and then it'll come
true. Believe it enough, speak it enough,
that kind of thing. But that's not faith in the Bible.
The word faith, is basically, in the New Testament, has to
do with knowledge. And that's what it is. It's the
word pistis, and we have a branch of philosophy called epistemology,
which has that basic word in it, which is the study or the
pursuit of knowledge. But it's knowledge that is based
upon God's Word. Now that's the key. The Bible
says in Romans chapter 10 and verse 17, faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. And then Paul wrote in 2 Timothy
1, in verse 12, he said, I know whom I have believed. See, his
believing was based upon knowledge. Well, let me give you several
scriptural examples of the three ways that the word faith is used
in the Bible. Faith, faith, and faith. And
the first example I wanna give you is in 2 Corinthians 13, five.
And what we're gonna be talking about here is what I call the
faith. The faith. And it says in 2 Corinthians
13, five, it says, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves, know you
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be reprobates or disqualified. Now, you notice the term there,
the faith. What is that talking about? Well,
anytime in that kind of context that you see the word faith,
what it means is the doctrine of God, the body of doctrine,
the faith. What faith are you? In other
words, what do you believe? Not that you believe, but what
do you believe? And the exhortation from the
Apostle Paul here, as he was led by the Holy Spirit to write
this, was to examine yourselves whether you are in the faith. Do I believe the body of doctrine,
the true doctrine, the gospel doctrine? The gospel, see, would
be the faith. What is my doctrine? You see,
true believing, must be based upon right doctrine as taught
in the Bible, as revealed in God's Word. And that's what he's
saying here, examine yourselves. And how do I examine myself?
I examine myself by looking into the Word of God. What does the
Word of God teach? What does the Bible say about
God? Do I, is my faith based upon
what the Bible says about God or is it based upon some human
idea or some human opinion? Because if my faith, if my belief
system is not based upon what God's word says about God and
about me and about salvation through Christ, then it's a false
faith. Do you understand that? Over
in 2 John in verse nine, it says, if there come any, like talking
about preachers and people seeking fellowship, he said, if any transgress
and bring not the doctrine of Christ. Well, what is the faith,
the doctrine? Well, it tells us that God is
holy and just and righteous and that he must punish sin. He's
a just God. It does tell us that God is merciful
and loving and gracious, but not at the expense of His justice
and His truth and His righteousness. God is love, but He still must
be just. He cannot love me or you or any
sinner apart from justice being satisfied. And what does the
Bible say about me? It says I'm a sinner who deserves
nothing but condemnation and eternal death. It says that I
cannot earn my salvation by my works. That's what the faith
says. It tells me that I have no hope
of salvation by anything I do or even decide to do. Salvation
is conditioned on Christ and that's what the faith says about
salvation. It's by grace through the righteousness of God in Christ.
The gospel, the doctrine, the faith is the revelation of the
righteousness of God. The Bible tells me that among
men fallen men and women, we fell in Adam, ruined by the fall,
and that we're born spiritually dead in trespasses and sins,
and cannot achieve what we must have in order to be saved and
to be accepted with God, and that by nature we don't even
want salvation God's way. That if left to ourselves, our
own wills, we would not choose God. That's what the faith says. The Bible says that salvation
comes totally by the grace of God, unearned and undeserved
by us. And it's based upon the righteousness
of God, which is the merits of the obedience unto death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the faith says. The
faith, the doctrine of grace, the doctrine of Christ. That's
the doctrine of His person. Who is Jesus Christ? The Bible
says that He is God, manifest in the flesh. Every bit God,
every bit human, without sin. Now that's what the faith says.
Now if you don't believe that Christ is God, or if you don't
believe that He is human, or if you believe that He was made
a sinner, then you don't believe the faith. Examine yourself whether
you be in the faith. You're not in the faith. The
Bible talks about not only the glorious person of Christ, but
the finished, accomplished work of Christ on Calvary. The faith
says, the doctrine says that Christ redeemed his people from
their sins, that he satisfied the justice of God on their behalf,
that he brought in an everlasting righteousness of infinite value,
which God has imputed, charged, accounted to them, and that ensures
their eternal salvation and final glory. If you believe that any
for whom Christ died perish eternally, then you're not in the faith.
You have faith in something else, but it's not the faith. And that's
what we're talking about over in the book of Jude. Listen to
this, Jude in verse 3 of the book of Jude. It says, Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, there's only one way of salvation, common to all who
are saved, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort
you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints. That's the doctrine. So if your
doctrine is not of the Bible, you're not in the faith. Now
let me go to the second term, faith. Faith, faith, and faith,
all right? The next way that faith is used, and this is a
big controversy among some translators, is when the Bible speaks of the
faith of Jesus Christ. Or we might say it better this
way, the faithfulness, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And what are
you talking about there? Well, what that means is sometimes
you'll see the word faith and you can turn to Romans chapter
three for this one. Romans 3.21, I'll show you what
I'm talking about. Christ, before the foundation
of the world, entered into a covenant with the Father and the Spirit.
It's called the eternal covenant, the everlasting covenant of grace. The Father chose Christ to be
the Savior of his people. He chose his people and gave
them to Christ. And Christ agreed to be their
surety. which means the demerit, the
debt of their sins was charged, laid upon, charged to Him. The Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. And Christ agreed to be their
surety. He agreed to do what was necessary
to save them from their sins and make them righteous in God's
sight. Christ agreed, that's the covenant. The gospel is the
preaching of the terms of that covenant, showing how salvation
was all conditioned on Christ and Christ fulfilled those conditions.
How did he do it? He came to this world and took
into union with himself a perfect sinless humanity, God-man. He kept the law perfectly. without
any sin at all, without any breaking of the law. He was the perfect
God man. And he obeyed unto death as the
substitute of his people, taking their place on the cross, going
under the wrath of God, being made a curse for them, being
made sin for them. And he died for their sins to
pay that debt to God's law and justice. He was buried and arose
again the third day and He ascended unto the Father, and He is now
seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living, to make
intercession for His people." Now, He did all that, which means
this. He was faithful to do what He
agreed to do. Now, that's in contrast to us. You see, by nature, we're unfaithful. But Christ was perfectly faithful. Now let me show you that in Romans
chapter three, beginning at verse 21. He'd already said that by
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. But he says in
verse 21 of Romans three, but now the righteousness of God,
and what is the righteousness of God? It's the merits of Christ's
obedience unto death as the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer
of his people. The righteousness of God without
the law is manifested It's publicly displayed, made known, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, do you see
that term in verse 22 that says by faith of Jesus Christ? Now,
some translations, will translate that by faith in Jesus Christ. And my friend, it's true that
everyone who is saved by the grace of God will have faith
in Jesus Christ. We're gonna talk about that in
the third word, faith. And that's necessary. But that's
not what's being said here in Romans 3. The context tells you. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the righteousness of God without the law. Now,
who did that? That's Christ. The Bible says
in Romans 10 and verse 4, Christ is the end, the finishing, the
completion, the perfection of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believe it. And what he's talking about here
is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to fulfill all righteousness
on behalf of God's people and secure their salvation based
upon His righteousness imputed to them. This is the work of
Christ. This is not a work that God does within us. The righteousness
of God is not a work that God does within us. God does a work
within his people by the power of the Holy Spirit in the new
birth. But that's not the righteousness of God. The righteousness of
God is totally, exclusively, uniquely the work of Christ as
the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer of his people. And
he himself, by himself, was faithful to do all that he agreed to do
before the foundation of the world. The Bible says, great
is thy faithfulness in Lamentations chapter three. And that's why
we have hope if we're believers, because Christ was faithful in
all that he agreed to do. Over in the book of Philippians
chapter three, listen to this, this is verse seven of Philippians
three. It says, but what things were gained to me Paul writing,
those I counted lost for Christ, yea doubtless and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. Now what do we know of Christ
Jesus? That's the doctrine, that's the
faith. for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ, verse nine, and be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. You see,
the righteousness that I have before God that's imputed, charged,
accounted to me, is a righteousness that Christ was faithful to work
out. for me." And he says, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. We receive it by faith. But he's
the one who was faithful to do it. So in those contexts, the
word faith is referring to the faithfulness of Christ. Somebody
asked me one time, are you saying we're saved by his believing
That's not what that means. We're saved by what He did, what
He was faithful to do. He said, this is what I will
do, and He was faithful to do it. Have you ever made a promise
that you couldn't keep? Maybe you intended to keep it.
Maybe you didn't foresee all obstacles. Maybe you didn't have
all the means to bring it about. Either way, if you couldn't bring
it about, you were unfaithful to do it. But not God. God is
faithful. Christ was faithful in all that
he agreed to do. And that's the hope of salvation.
Now this brings us to the third faith. And this is the most common
way that faith is used. It's in the word believing. And
sometimes that word faith, to have faith, is translated to
believe or believing. And what that refers to is God-given
faith that brings a sinner in the power of God by His grace
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to lay hold of Him, to
grab hold of Christ in a spiritual way. and to trust Him. Put all of your eggs in one basket,
one fellow said. That is, my whole salvation is
in Christ. And to give you an example, that
is Ephesians 2. I quote this verse all the time
on this program. Ephesians 2, 8, listen to this.
For by grace are you saved through faith. It's all of grace, it's
all unearned, it's all undeserved, it's all by the power and the
goodness of God in Christ, but it's through faith, by means
of faith. In other words, the way that
sinners lay hold of what Christ has accomplished is by God-given
faith, because he says, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And then
he lays it out here in verse 10. Listen to this. For we are
his workmanship. If you're a believer, if you're
born again by the Spirit, Christ said you must be born again or
you cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. You see, you're not going
to believe unless you're born again. And it's not believing
that brings the new birth, it's the new birth that brings believing.
And that's under the preaching of the gospel. So he says in
Ephesians 2.10, for we are his workmanship. If you're a believer,
you're the workmanship of God, not yourself, not of your own
free will, but of God. He changed your will. Not of
works, lest any, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. All of
salvation is a gift of God, but that includes faith. The faith
to believe, to lay hold of Christ that brings us to repentance
of dead works and idolatry is a gift of God. And he says, it's
not of works, verse nine, lest any man should boast, for we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. There's the
new creation. If you're a believer, you're
not a self-made person. You're a new creation, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, not because of good works, but
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. That's the God-given grace of
faith that comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. That's
where sinners begin to call upon the Lord. The Bible says, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is
faith. We quote John 3.16 all the time,
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. The word world there is not everybody
without exception. That's referring to God's chosen
people in Christ. There's no love from God outside
of Christ. And if we're in Christ before the foundation of the
world, and if he was faithful to work out our salvation by
his cross, by his death, establishing righteousness, He'll bring us
to faith. So for whom did Christ die? Those who believe in him, who've
been given faith. Now over in Romans chapter one,
We can see how all these three faiths, the faith, the faithfulness
of Christ, and believing in Him, faith in Him, come together. In Romans 1.16, look, for I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. There's the faith, the
gospel. What is the gospel? It's the
good news of salvation for sinners. by God's free sovereign grace
based upon the faithfulness of Christ to do what he said he
would do. So there's the faith, for I'm
not ashamed of the gospel. It, for it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believe it. There's the grace
of faith that brings sinners to Christ. We believe in him.
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Verse 17, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. That's the faithfulness of Christ.
The righteousness of God is the merit of the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ to redeem his people from their sins. It's his righteousness
imputed to his people. And he says, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith, that is from the
gospel, the doctrine, to faith, to the gift of faith, whereupon
hearing that message, God brings us to believe it and receive
Christ as it is written, the just or the justified shall live
by faith. And what does that mean? That's
live, we live if we're justified. What does it mean to be justified?
It means we're not guilty. It means we're forgiven of all
our sins, but on a just ground. What is that ground? The faithfulness
of Christ to put away our sins, to redeem us from our sins. So the justified, and it means
to be declared righteous in God's sight, based upon the righteousness
of God, the merits of Christ, obedience unto death. His righteousness
imputed. That's what it is. For He was
made sin, Christ who knew no sin for us, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. That's 2 Corinthians
5.21. Well, the justified. How do I know if I'm justified
before God? Because I live that spiritual
life given in the new birth that comes from God, it's the gift
of God, living by faith, by looking to Christ. by believing in Christ,
by resting in Christ, by committing my whole salvation to Him. Remember,
I quoted this early in 2 Timothy 1, 12, where Paul said, I know
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to
keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. Now,
what have I committed unto Him? I've committed unto Him my whole
salvation. from its inception to final glory,
to the ultimate of final glory, all given to Christ. It's all
in His hands. It's all conditioned on Him.
And that's why when you look in the Scriptures and you read
these words, it's the context that shows us the meaning. When
you see that word faith, what's it talking about? Is it talking
about the faith? Is it talking about the faithfulness
of Christ? Or is it talking about the faith
of the elect of God, whereby they believe? Sometimes it's
talking about all three, like here in Romans 1, 16, and 17.
The gospel. is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and the Greek also,
for therein is the righteousness of God, the work of Christ, the
marriage of Christ revealed from faith, from the preaching of
the gospel. to faith, to those who believe
by God-given faith. For as it is written, the justified
shall live by faith. I could give you a lot of different
examples going through the Bible of this great truth. Faith, faith,
and faith. That there is the faith. What
do you believe? What is your doctrine? People
today don't like to talk about it, but that's important. If
your doctrine is wrong, your believing is wrong. You believe
a lie. Believe the truth. Love the truth,
and it's in God's word. Read the Bible. Study the Bible
in its context. Use the proper rules of interpretation,
and examine yourself whether you be in the faith. Hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-3. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterrofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.