BY FAITH

 No one is born with faith. Faith comes through the hearing of the Word about Christ. Faith isn't believing. Faith is the substance of hope. It is pure matter, a uniform material with a fixed chemical composition, such as an element for a chemical compound. Pure matter (faith) produces energy when it meets its antimatter pair, it completely disappears and turns into pure energy. An example is pure hydrogen and pure oxygen produce pure water. A change in temperature will shift the form without changing the substance. Example: ice into water or gas. So faith is the pure substance of hope. 

As Christians, we learned at an early age that we sin. Sin was taught widely as wrong behavior. In Sunday school as a kid I remember being taught Bible stories. Instead of looking for how the story pointed to Christ, a lesson was implemented on how we should behave. This started a whole generation of kids looking at their behavior as a means to make it into heaven. It was taught more like a Christmas story of how Santa Claus operates. If you're good, use your manners, say you're sorry and forgive everyone you will get a gift. Or in the case of church, you will make heaven. As if heaven is a reward for living right. This is often taught in the early children classes at church, shaping these young minds who are ready to absorb the gospel to believe that we are saved by works. We ARE NOT SAVED BY WHAT WE DO. We are saved by grace through faith ALONE. 

As I was reading my Bible yesterday, I came across Isaiah 26:10. "When judgements come upon the earth the people learn righteousness. But when grace is shown to the wicked they do not learn righteousness." And then again, my focus was on the word grace. When grace is shown to the wicked they do not learn righteousness. Now go to Romans 1:17. "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed- a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." If you know the story of Abraham, you know that Abraham believed God and God credited to him as righteousness. When you are given a credit of something it means you did nothing to earn it. Believing God is not a means to earn something. Believing God is the access you have to live by faith in the Son of God, in whom the righteousness of God is revealed. This is the grace of God. When this grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He told the people they could believe and get in the boat (which is grace to the righteous) or they could come under the judgement of the flood and perish (they would learn righteousness). We have two options. Believe God and step into the boat (by grace through faith) or we can come under judgement for unbelief and learn righteousness that way. Which, by the way, is still by grace through faith! It just takes you the long way. Which is what all but 8 people did in the days of Noah.  

Let's take a look at Psalm 1:6. "For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." The path of the righteous is only that which is by faith. The other path leads to death. By faith Noah, when he warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Matthew 24:37, As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. Now, back to how we were talking about children church Bible story time. When we are taught the story of Noah, one thing that was left out was the revelation of Jesus in the story. The ark had to be built by the one who lived by faith. The ark is a depiction of the ark of the covenant, which is Jesus. Feel free to go read 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 and also Ephesians 4:15-16. Meditate on that for a moment and ask the Holy Spirit for understanding. When this grace is shown to the wicked they do not learn righteousness. The wicked will still try to obtain a righteousness of their own. Righteousness means right standing with God. We are in right standing of God through Jesus. Jesus is the One who reconciled us back to God. This is through grace that comes by faith in the finished works of Jesus when He took away the power of sin and nailed it to the cross and died to it. He resurrected from the grave and we are also raised with Him. People believe in the return of Jesus and in judgment more than they believe in the finished works of Christ. How do I know this? Because man carries the image of sinner and not the image of God. 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are to no longer view ourselves from a worldly point of view, we who are in Christ are a new creation. The old has gone! the new is here! God reconciled us to Himself and is not counting our sin against us. This is not for the wicked. This applies to those who are in Christ. The wicked are those who live apart from faith in the finished work of Christ and do not believe they are saved through the gospel. Ephesians 1:5, He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will- to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has FREELY given us in the One He LOVES! Who is the One He loves? His Son- JESUS! This does not come through merely being born as a human being. This comes from being born again, born from above. First we are born of the flesh. Then we are born of the Spirit by grace through faith. Faith comes when we believe through the hearing of the Word the message is about Christ. Christ saves us. What we could never do, the behavior we could never accomplish, the life we were working so hard to obtain, the promises of God we were trying to receive by our good works and good deeds, our mere embarrassing attempts in the flesh to stop sinning and please God is all put to rest and it all is accomplished through Christ alone. It is not Christ by Himself, it is Christ IN YOU. He is the image of God, He is the power of the gospel working in you. When you believed and were credited righteousness that is by faith, you became Gods possession, possessed by God. Meaning God lives in you and you have become a dwelling place for Him on the earth. If you are His and He lives in you, if you are still fixing your eyes on your own sin and trying to fix it, take your eyes off of yourself and your sin, fix them on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith. He is working on your behalf and wait for Him to take away your sin, wait for Him to set you free. stop trying to do it in your own strength. He will finish what HE started in you. Don't walk away from the faith. Your faith is in Christ alone. Not in your own ability. Keep your eyes on Him. People who try and turn you from the faith back to works are children of the devil and an enemy of everything right (Acts 13:10). Keep your eyes on Jesus and keep living by faith!