FAITH COMES Romans 10v17.
We hear people say; but I don't have faith like others do. True, the bible speaks of "little faith" and it speaks of "great faith ." Jesus said to his disciples that if they had the tiniest fraction of faith, faith as a grain of mustard seed , they would be able to move mountains. It is not a matter of how much faith we have, although great faith can lead to great things. The fact is none of us have faith within us; faith comes to us through a very definite process and this is what Paul is explaining in Romans 10 v 14-17. In another place the writer to the Hebrews says " without faith it is impossible to please God,; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11v6
Paul is asserting here, that we human beings must respond to God, if we want blessing. We respond to Him by believing in Him, as He says "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." God has done His bit, we must now do ours. Paul presents the process, if you like, the mechanics of faith in God, in these verses; and he does it in the reverse order. In order to understand this fully we will reverse the order and show how it happens from beginning to end.
- ILLUMINATION OF THE MIND
There are a number of things involved in this. Firstly, there is the existence of the spoken word of God. Secondly, there is the enabling and training of a preacher, able to explain the word of God . Thirdly, that preacher must be sent by the Lord. Fourthly, he must preach the Lord's message. All that is involved in the first process of conversion to Christ namely the illumination of our minds. The bible claims that Satan "has blinded the minds of them that believe not," just like he did in the garden of Eden, and his lie has hung over the world like a cloud of despair ever since. God has produced His spoken word in the form of the sixty six books of the bible, inspired and written by over forty different authors spanning approximately 1600 years. We now have in our hands the spoken word of God. Then we need someone to explain what it means, in order the clear away the fog created by Satan through the world mass media of lies and deception. The Ethiopian prince in Acts 8 was reading on his journey the book of the prophet Isaiah. God sent the preacher and the evangelist Phillip who drew alongside him and said "do you understand what you are reading? And the prince said "how can I except some man should guide me." God sends preachers to explain His word. Now there is a sense in which all God's people can become preachers, by gossiping the gospel, telling their friends and many have been brought this way. What is in view here is public preaching and this is God's preferred method of communicating the gospel of His grace. There are many other ways being attempted today, but none of them will work quite as well as the divinely instituted way, " it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1st Corinthians 1v21. However, those preachers must be sent by Him. There is a tendency today in avoiding a " one man preaching" situation, to go too far the other way and have an "any man preaching" situation. Neither of these scenarios are the mind of God. Today there are too many preachers and not enough who are sent by God. There is nothing better than a man sent by God who illuminates the page of Holy Scripture in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- CONVICTION OF THE HEART
Those who hear such preaching, by preachers taught in the word of God, and who present to the people the spoken word of God, are responsible to respond in a positive way. We must HEAR what God is saying to us through His sent preachers. Time and again throughout the bible, there is this idea of "he that hath ears to hear, let him hear." God has given us all ears and He expects us to use them. Is it true today that the spoken word of God is falling on deaf ears, because we are so taken up with the issues of this life we have no time to consider the more important issues of the next. Jesus said in many different ways and on many different occasions something like this "he that heareth My word and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement but is passed from death unto life." John 5v24 He preceded this statement with the emphatic. double assertion, "Verily, verily I say unto you " When God says "Verily" He means to say this is the truth. When He says "Verily, verily" He is saying, you better pay attention to it. This spoken word of God coming through preachers sent by God, needs to be heard and acted upon, on the part of all hearers. It must produce in you and me a conviction of heart, that this is indeed the only way of salvation for all mankind. It must produce something like what happened on the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached to the masses in Jerusalem; the cry came, out of sheer perplexity, and sorrow of heart; "when they heard this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men, brethren what shall we do?" Acts 2v37 Then Peter said unto them "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The work of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, who is in the world today, is to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement. Has He been speaking to you lately?
- CONTRITION OF SOUL
God's word has been produced, preachers have been initiated and sent, you have heard, and you are almost at the stage of believing what you have heard. What is now the final stage? It is calling upon God for mercy because you have heard and believe that He is willing to save you. There is no need for a protracted period of regret, just an instantaneously heart- belief in the Living God, and the deed is done. The moment you call upon Him, God graciously declares you to be right with Himself. There is no actual moral change takes place at this point, nor is it necessary, for no amount of moral change would make you right in His sight. He will change you through your remaining days on this earth, but this is how it starts. This is what is meant by "GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS" as opposed to human self righteousness, which is of no avail. Humble yourself in the sight of God, and your eternal future is secured, and your life begins to change from that moment onwards.
Paul quotes from Isaiah 57 "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!" Can you see what a beautiful thing it is that God has sent an army of preachers into the world to tell the world that they can be saved. Would you see as a thing of beauty, or will you turn away from it seeking only the things of this world, which are going to come to an end anyway. A gracious God offers you eternal pleasures, beyond anything this world can give. It is truly a thing of beauty and you should not let it go by.
"FAITH COMES BY HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD"
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