FAITH TO FAITH by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction: Just as last weekend, I want to read a comment that someone left on my blog under the message “Wrath Revealed” – Thank you for this much needed and well delivered message today. Very insightful, thought provoking and convicting. Reminded me of how Theodore Epp (founder of Back to the Bible; later Warren Wiersbe followed him) describes God’s wrath: “God’s wrath is not a sudden fit of temper, neither is it a desire for revenge. Those things are sin, and we cannot attribute sin to God. God’s wrath is a fixed attitude of opposition toward all unrighteousness. This attitude never changes…God will not shelter sin and He will not excuse it.” I truly appreciate such comments, because they are a confirmation that God is using this series to lead listeners and viewers to interact and apply the Word of God. Ultimately, they are laying the foundation for our end-time series. Today’s message is going to lay down another key building block – Faith.

Romans 1 (page #1732) 16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”

Context: As Paul was instructing both the Gentile background and Jewish background believers on the core tenets of Christianity, he chose, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to spend some time on the subject of faith. Some people mistakenly think that prior to the coming of Jesus, in the Old Testament, people were saved by keeping the Law. Then, after Jesus rose from the grave and the church was born on the Day of Pentecost, faith became the means of salvation. This is not true. Paul wanted the church in Rome in the first century, and all of us to understand, that faith has always been the means of salvation. The Greek word for faith is “pistis.” In fact, the noun “pistis” = faith is found 142 times in the letters of Paul. The verb “pisteuo” = believe is found 54 times in the letters of Paul. And the adjective “pistos” = faithful is found about 33 times in the letters of Paul. Just in Romans, Paul uses the noun “pistis” 40 times and the verb “pisteuo” 21 times. Romans 1:17 “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…” It’s an emphatic construction that means the righteousness of God is by faith from first to last.

Application: How important is “faith in Christ” to you as a believer? Who or what are you trusting in to be saved?

Again, someone might ask, “What does faith have to do with end-times prophecy?” This is the wedding ring that unites us to our groom. Let me explain from the history of the church. People have struggled with the true meaning of faith. Imagine a pendulum: 

• Among the fathers, Faith in a doctrine (rule of faith) vs Faith in a person. To their credit, they were fighting against Gnosticism, Stoicism, and Neoplatonism.
• Among medieval scholastics, Assensus (acceptance of truths/doctrines) vs Fiducia (personal trust in God)
• The emphasis was more on Fides quae creditur (faith to be believed) vs Fides qua creditur (faith which believes)
• The Reformation placed emphasis on the Fides qua creditur (faith which believes)
• Martin Luther saw the problem with focusing on our “faithfulness to God rather than “faith in Christ”
• In commenting on Psalm 130:3 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You…”, Luther said “articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesia” = “the article by which the Church stands or falls.” He called it the “wedding ring” that unites us to Christ.
• This was not the end of the debate. People still struggled between assensus and fiducia. Some thought that this was now the new assensus. So, the Pietist movement and evangelical movement in Britain and America emphasized the living personal faith.
• The Enlightenment movement tried to separate faith and knowledge. Kierkegard suggested the “leap of faith” into biblical paradoxes, a personal commitment
• Existential philosophers took this further to a “leap to live authentically,” even what we believe about God!
• Evangelicals responded with “it has to be rational faith.”

The source of the meaning is the Old Testament. In the Greco-Roman world, the word “faith” was not associated with religion. As you can guess by now, the meaning of faith is coming from the Old Testament. It comes from the Hebrew word group – aman. Unlike the previous messages, we don’t have to do a separate study of the word “faith” in the Old Testament, Paul does it for us in Romans 4. There are 4 things that he explains to us about faith (See Kevin McFadden):

1. Faith excludes boasting:

Romans 4 (page #1736) 1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 

False claim of Abraham’s exemplary obedience as credit for righteousness.

Romans 3 (page #1736) 27 “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”

Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Maybe an allusion to Genesis 15:1 “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Romans 4:4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”

Faith gives all credit to God.

2. Faith has always been the pattern:

Romans 4         9 (page #1736-37) Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 

False claim that only the circumcised could receive credit for righteousness.

But faith is available to anyone who is willing to exercise it. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

Just as the wedding ring is a seal of the love between the husband and the wife, so also the circumcision is the seal of the righteousness by faith.

Abraham is the father/pattern of faith alone for righteousness to both Israel and the Gentiles.

Faith has always been the pattern.

3. Faith guarantees the promise to all and any who will believe:

Romans 4 (page#1737) 13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

False claim that keeping the Law merits righteousness.

But faith is available to the law-abiding and the lawless.

14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

Faith guarantees the promise to all and any who will believe.

4. Faith is possible even if there is no evidence.

Romans 4 (Page #1737) 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 

False claim that there is enough evidence to believe.

But faith is possible even if there is no evidence.

19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Abraham’s Faith and our Faith:

Romans 4 (page #1737) 23 “Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”

Did Abraham understand the death and resurrection of Jesus?

John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

Invitation: Are you trusting in Christ alone for your salvation? Do you know someone who is not?