Sermons by the score have been and are still daily preached about it. Multitudes around the
world have been taught to say, "I am saved BY FAITH". The clergy
has taught them this. Listen to any altar service and be convinced
for yourself. All denominations, with A few exceptions, will end up
telling their converts that "they are saved BY FAITH".
Of course each one uses scriptures to prove his point. In fact
one can prove any doctrine, true or false, by finding A scripture for it
even satan used the scriptures in the temptation of Jesus, but it was
NOT Scriptural.
Let us analyze the sermons we hear. We are told, practically without
exception, that we must have faith, that it is OUR FAITH that saves
our souls.
We are told to only believe, to trust, to hope, and then The LORD
will make A way SOMEHOW - but how? No one seems to know or
we are told it is A mystery.
Others tell us that the only thing we have to do is COMMIT our lives
to him, commit our sinful lives to Jesus and he will take us in and
eventually lead us right through the pearly gates.
Very few people have actually sat down and studied the scriptures
for themselves, and come to a conclusion for themselves, being
led and enlightened by The Holy Ghost. Most people only repeat
what they have heard from the pulpit, or what they heard as A
student in the classroom.
Most all philosophy is a "hand-me-down" from one generation to
another. It is memorized theology, memorized creeds, theories,
phycology and phraseologies -
The first kind of faith that we will discuss is
PERSONAL FAITH. This
is your own faith. Every man, woman and child has it. It is a natural
human faith. Some have illustrated it as "child like" faith. Every day
you exercise this faith. It takes faith in everyday living. You have faith
in your own abilities to hold a job, drive A car, cross the street, climb
A ladder and etc.
When Jesus was on earth there were people who had personal faith
in their Messiah, actually believing that He would heal them, and He
did! One instance is recorded in
Mark 5:34. A woman with an issue
of blood touched the hem of His garment and was made whole. Jesus
Spoke these words to her, "THY FAITH hath made thee whole". Here
is her personal faith, "THY FAITH."
Another woman came to Jesus. She believed that if she asked him,
He would deliver her daughter of a demon. Jesus did cast out the demon
and this is what he said to the woman, "O woman great is THY FAITH."
Matthew 15:28
Both of these women had PERSONAL FAITH, their own faith, in The
Messiah, for they had seen and heard of his works of healing. Jesus
often Said, "your faith, or their faith or thy faith" but this is not the kind
of faith that saves our souls.
Religion tells us that it is our own personal faith that saves us, but The
Scriptures do not say that. To the contrary, Paul teaches us in
Ephesians 2:8 - "For by grace are ye saved THROUGH FAITH: and
that NOT OF YOURSELVES....." No it is not of ourselves, our faith,
our own personal human faith. We are according to Paul, saved
THROUGH FAITH and not BY FAITH.
-The Gift Of Faith-
This kind of faith comes with The Baptism Of The Holy Ghost. In
1Corinthians 12:9 it is called
The Gift Of FAITH.
In
Verse 4 of that same chapter Paul Said, "Now there are diversities
of gifts, but the same Spirit." In the first verse it is called
Spiritual Gifts,
related to The Holy Ghost which is The Resurrection Life. Without The
Ressurection there would be NO Baptism Of The Holy Ghost and No
New Creation!
The word gift is also interpreted
ABILITIES, as we find in
2 Corinthians 3:6
"Who hath also made us ABLE Ministers of The New Testament......"
In ourselves there are
no abilities. In The Holy Spirit there are
ALL the
abilities. Paul Speaks of them as The Nine Gifts (abilities) of The Holy
Ghost.
I am sure to be correct when I say that IN THE CHRIST we can DO ALL
THINGS. When we receive The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit, we receive
His abilities and His authority. Therefore, The Gift Of Faith is The Ability
Of The Holy Ghost, The New Creation.
In
Acts 3:1-6 we have the account of the lame man being made whole.
Peter and John had this new creation faith in operation. They had received
The Holy Ghost on The Day Of Pentecost and they could speak with
authority.
Here is this New Faith personified. They Said, "Look On Us." Then in the
sixth verse Peter Said, "silver and gold have I none; but SUCH AS I HAVE..."
Peter spoke in the party of the first part. He did not have to say, Look up to
Jesus," Why? Because Peter is no longer The Peter he was before The
Resurrection. He is now Baptized with The Holy Ghost. The Christ is living
"IN HIM". He is now a possessor- not a believer. He can now say "such as
I have". What did he have? He has The Abilities of The Holy Ghost which
is IN HIM. It is not a carnal flesh faith that he has. It is the gift, or the
authoritative ability of The Christ within Peter that speaks.
The Baptism of the Holy Ghost changed Peter. Once he was afraid of A
little maid and denied Jesus at the time of the Crucifiction. Now he is A
giant. Now He is A New Creation power of the world to come. Faith
without action is dead. Peter had action. He took the man by the hand
and the man was immediately healed. This is the new creation abilities,
sometimes called "The Gift Of Faith," A gift of the spirit.
-The Doctrine-
In this writing we will present the teaching of Paul The Apostle on The
Doctrine, The Faith. This is the third kind of faith found in the new testament.
This is The Faith that Paul speaks of as the faith that saves men's souls,
"unless you have believed in vain."
We wish to make it clear, that we will follow Scriptural principles.We will
follow carefully the line of thought. We will not take one verse out of context
and apply it to a thought that does not belong to the text. In A subject that
is so important we will have to compare principles with principles, and not
just a verse with another verse, or A word with another word. we do not
want to become 'word bound' or letter bound. Paul warns us to "keep in
remembrance, charging them before The LORD that they strive not
ABOUT WORDS to no profit..."
2 Timothy 2;14
Also, we do not wish to prove things. The principles of this subject do not
need proving. We are presenting THE FAITH As THE DOCTRINE.
The Doctrine of The Lord Jesus Christ is according to the teaching of
Apostle Paul, whose ability is unquestionable and who was Divinely
Appointed as A Teacher and Apostle.
It is Paul who speaks with authority in regards to the plan of Salvation
for us in this, as we call it, the church age. It is he who explains The
Mysteries and unfolds The Secrets Of The Scriptures.
Ephesians 3: 3,4 "Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my
knowledge in The Mystery Of Christ. How that by revelation He made
known unto me the mystery.
Ephesians 3: "And to make all men see
what is the fellowship of The Mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been
HID IN GOD...."
In order that this part of the writing may carry authority, we will carefully
use the teachings of Paul, who can give us A certified statement of TRUTH.
Galatians 1:11, 12 "But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel (Doctrine)
which was preached of me is not of men.
This means that Paul DID NOT receive this teaching in A university, nor did
he receive it at the feet of Gamaliel. There was no human source involved
nor any hand me down Theology from one generation to another to influence
Paul.
Galatians 1:12 "For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but (it came to Paul) by The Revelation Of Jesus Christ.
Paul's Doctrine is The Gospel Of The LORD Jesus Christ.
Much of The New Testament that we have learned is through Paul's teaching.
It was Paul who taught about The New Creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17
It is Paul who taught us that Jesus who knew no sin became A sin
sacrifice for us.
It was Paul who taught about The New Righteousness In Christ.
Romans 3:21 and 10:3
In
2 Timothy 4:7 Paul Said, "I have fought A good fight, I have finished
my course, I have kept
THE FAITH."
He Said, I have kept
THE DOCTRINES!
The American College Dictionary defines the word faith as The doctrines
which are believed.
The synonyms of that word Faith are: Doctrine, tenet, creed, and dogma.
Paul's last words were, "I have kept
THE FAITH....THE DOCTRINE! It is clearly evident that he was not talking about his own personal I Believe
faith.
In
Luke 18:8 Jesus Said, "...Nevertheless, when the son of man cometh,
shall he find
FAITH on the earth?"
The reference in this scripture is not to personal faith, but to the belief in the
whole body of revealed truth -
THE DOCTRINE.
In
Romans 1:5 Paul Speaks, "By whom we have received grace and
apostleship, for
OBEDIENCE To THE FAITH."
1 Corinthians 16:13 - "Watch ye, stand fast IN THE FAITH, quit ye like men
be strong."
In both of The above Scriptures Paul is definitely referring to THE DOCTRINE.
In
2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul once more speaks of the doctrine. "examine
yourselves, whether ye be IN THE FAITH; (THE DOCTRINE)
Colossians 1:23 (Paul Speaking) "If ye continue in THE FAITH (THE
DOCTRINE).
Colossians 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and established in THE FAITH
(THE DOCTRINE).
Jude 1:3 "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the
Common Salvation, 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."
Acts 16:5 "and so where the churches established in THE FAITH......"
In all the scriptures above you will notice the word "THE" before the word
"FAITH". This article THE (pronounced with a long E) is especially used
to give A specific effect - to accentuate the noun following. So, when Paul,
in the scriptures, speaks about THE doctrine or THE faith, he is talking,
about A particular form of doctrine. He is saying in essence, "there are
many doctrines, but I am referring to that one, particular doctrine that
was delivered to the saints.
We have many faiths (doctrines) in the world today, both among the
heathen religions and the so-called Christian religions. Our concern
should be "to contend for THE FAITH! It alone gives salvation.
I have given you here A few words about the three kinds of faith. Even
without going into very much depth, you can see that it is A huge subject.
It is also A very CLEAR SUBJECT that most of us can understand and
we pray always that all of us shall be enlightened on A daily basis.
Study this subject in it's entirety and you will find many more Scriptures
and writings with good wheat on this subject.