Entering God’s Rest (5)
I started around this mountain over 33 years ago and maybe, just maybe, I have finally gotten all the way around it. “What mountain is that?” The mountain of faith. That’s where I began in the spring of 1977 and that’s where I’ve come back to today. “Why back to faith?” Because,
Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 KJ2000)
It is IMPOSSIBLE to please God without faith! To enter God’s rest, to escape legalism and our own dead works, and to actually begin to obey God we have to get this into our heads! All Israel perished in the wilderness except two, Joshua (who typifies Jesus) and Caleb (who represents us dogs of sinful men who believe in Jesus). Even Moses could not go in because he lacked faith!
And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. (Numbers 20:12 KJ2000)
Yes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God without faith!
Now consider these three critical words concerning faith:
By grace you are saved through faith, and that faith is not of yourself; it is the gift of God. (Eph. 2:8)
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17 KJ2000)
And … whatever is not of faith is sin. (Romans 14:23 KJ2000)
The first verse tells us that even our faith is a gift of God and does not arise from within ourselves. The second verse tells us that we acquire this faith by “hearing” God. Faith thus is a spiritual thing, never a work of the flesh. Faith comes from God’s communication directly to our spirits which then communicates to our souls (minds) so that we begin to understand his ways and what he requires of us. When we understand what he wants, like believing in Jesus or not committing adultery, for example, then we know how to act. God gave us the written word, the Bible, to help us in this journey because none of us hear God very well to begin with. Any word we believe we receive from God through our spirit should be tested against the Bible to keep us from walking in error and blasphemy.
The next Scripture says, “Whatever is not of faith, is sin.” This precept helps us direct our path in life. In other words, if we don’t have faith that God wants or allows us to do a certain thing (because we have not heard God concerning it), then that thing for us is sin. For some it is a sin to eat pork or drink wine, for some it is not. This is between them and God and is nothing I judge. I believe that God does not consider either eating pork or drinking wine to be sins, so if someone wants to live a life that is stricter than God’s requirements, so be it. Ultimately, to be led of the Spirit has implications far bigger than “the Law,” but such a life does not place us back under the law. A life led according to the Spirit will not result in a legalism founded upon God’s Law or upon our own law.
Like many I was first nurtured as a baby Christian in type of “Word of Faith” church, a charismatic church that taught us we simply had to ask “in faith” and we would receive it. Many call these “Name it, Claim it” churches. My wife and I were deceived those many years ago by leaders of our church and others like it, although the ministers probably didn’t know that they themselves were deceived. The problem was that they did not teach us to first ascertain the will of God by learning to “hear” his word. Unless one hears God in the depths of his spirit and that “word” is communicated to his soul (mind), he simply cannot have real faith. In that case the thing, miracle, or event he “claims” for himself may not be God’s will at all and, if not, it will not happen!
Now, let’s make this practical. Think back over your last week, your last seven days. Consider the things you have done and the things you have said. Were you doing and saying those things because they arose from your faith? Or did you do and say a lot of things that came straight from your flesh, things that good ol’ you wanted and thought you deserved? This is the bottom line issue. How are you doing with respect to living by faith, that is, with respect to walking according to the Spirit? This is the difference between walking in your own dead works versus entering God’s rest and allowing his will to work through you. It is the difference between the works that will burn up in the Lake of Fire and the works that remain as gold, silver, and precious stones.
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