Faith’s Essential Content Series

Intro

We have been examining Abrham’s faith as a model for the kind of faith God is looking for in you and me. Abraham’s faith was a saving faith. After describing his faith, Paul says in Romans 4:22: “And therefore ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’” Paul has grounded his teaching on the revelation in Genesis 15:6. The teaching is logical, but it is not just rational; it is an explanation of divine revelation in Scripture. Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word.” i (2 Tim. 4:2 KJV). Paul practiced his own counsel. In Romans 4, he is preaching and teaching the word of God.

Paul has used Abraham’s experience to teach us (1) the way of salvation (vv. 1-15), (2) the kind of faith that leads to salvation (vv. 16-22), and (3) and the object of that faith (vv. 23-25). Romans 4:1-15 focuses on the way of salvation. It is not by works; it is by faith.ii It is not by religious rituals. In those verses, Paul is teaching justification by faith alone.

NATURE OF OUR FAITH

But what kind of faith did Abraham have? What kind of faith is acceptable before God? What kind of faith does Paul have in mind as he gives this teaching? That is explained in verses 16-22. It is a faith that engages the will. Intellect and emotion are involved in coming to our decisions. But it is possible to intellectually agree with truth yet not believe in the heart. God raised Jesus from the dead. We must believe that in the depth of our being. Romans 10:9 says we must confess Christ with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and we must believe in our heart “that God has raised Him from the dead.” The next verse says, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness.”iii

We must believe in the heart and not just in the head. When the belief is in the heart, the will is affected. The person makes a commitment to the Lord, and that commitment drives the direction of the person’s life from that moment forward. Saving faith is a committed faith. It is manifested in the lifestyle. As the Apostle James put it: “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Mental assent to doctrines and truth is not enough. Authentic faith responds to God in the heart. As a decision of the will, the person turns from the sinful pursuit of pleasure to the pursuit of God.

There is a growth process in our pursuit of God and his will. That process is usually referred to as sanctification. But from the start, saving faith includes repentance from dead works to sincere faith in God—a faith that produces the fruit of obedience.iv Abraham’s faith was such that when God told him to leave Ur, he obeyed. Hebrews 11:8 says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (emphasis mine).v When God told him to offer up Isaac, he obeyed (Gen. 22). Authentic faith behaves in that way.

Biblical faith is not just a superficial, emotional response. John 6 opens with a very exciting event: the feeding of the five thousand. Not only was there the excitement of a large crowd, but there was the miracle of the multiplying of loaves and fish. The crowd was responding to Jesus a very positive way. John 6:14 reports, “Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, ‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’” In our modern times, we would have had them fill out a decision card and would have reported thousands of salvations. But was their faith saving faith? Further down in the chapter (vv. 35-66) when Jesus went deeper in his teaching, many those excited people turned away from the Lord. John 6:66 says, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” The defection was so widespread that Jesus turned to the twelve and asked them if they were going away as well (John 6:67). Very few of those who initially responded so enthusiastically turned out to be true followers of Christ.vi

I am reiterating this issue of saving faith because in today’s church culture, many “decisions for Christ” are very superficial and may not result in eternal salvation. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus warned: “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day [Judgment Day], 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Biblical faith produces obedience, not lawlessness.vii