Faith to Faith

I wanted to tell you about a country man.

Anyway, brethren, as we heard in the sermonette, Satan just wants us to file. Whatever way we file really doesn't matter as much as we file. And so, it is very significant that right at the beginning, God gave us the story, very important analogy, but a true story about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And that's exactly what Satan does.

He mixes good with evil, truth with untruth. And when you mix good with evil, truth with untruth, and look at it for example. If somebody is sometimes telling you the truth and sometimes is telling you a lie, you really don't know when it's true and it's a lie. And therefore, you can easily be led astray because you don't know. And that's what Satan does. And a lot of the doctrines we have today in the world out there are some truth, but there's some lying statement. And therefore people get confused. And as we heard in the sermonette, whether you fall to the left or you fall to the right, doesn't matter.

You fall and that's what he wants. Or if you just stay and you don't move forwards. Yeah, you're in the church, but you're not moving forwards. Then that's a problem too. You've got to move forwards. And one of the areas where Satan deceives mankind, particularly in moderns Christianity, is in the way of what is faith all about. Now, we did a series of Bible studies on living faith. But the problem with faith, the way people look at it in the world, is there is a lot of truth in what they say, but there's also some why.

And really it could be 99% truth. I'm not saying it is 99% truth, but I said you could have something which is 99% good or 99.99%, but you got 0.01% of us. And that is it. So I mean, you can have a lot of truth, but all you need is a little bit of arsenic. And he gives you a menu of a lot of varieties that you choose with different quantities of poison.

And so in the area of faith, the teaching out in the world today is all about faith. The teaching out in the world today is all you need is faith. Now, yes, faith is important, and I want to go through it how important faith is. But where they go wrong is they say faith alone is required for salvation. There is more than just faith. And fully, they take another step that says any form of obedience is an attempt to earn salvation. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Nobody is attempting to earn salvation by obedience, but your obedience is required.

That's two different things. You see, so it's this mixing of truth with untruth. Now, faith is one of the basic doctrines. I mean, you can read in Hebrew 6, verse 1, and it talks about it's one of the basic doctrines. So is repentance from dead works. It says repentance from dead works and faith towards God.

And indeed, in God's Church, we always say that repentance and faith are prerequisites for baptism, which is the next doctrine that is taught in Hebrew 6. So repentance and faith are like two components hand in hand. And then the next two is baptism and laying on of hands. So, faith is an important topic, and it's a very large topic. And so today I want to talk a little bit about faith, because faith is both a gift of God's Holy Spirit and faith is also a fruit of God's Holy Spirit, one of the attributes of the fruit of God's Holy Spirit.

And then we read also elsewhere that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. What is that? Do we understand that? And so today I want to talk about the origin of faith, the development of faith, and the outcome of faith. So what is faith? Is there a simple word that I could use that kind of explains it, albeit not fully?

Yeah, maybe one of those words you could say is believe. Another word you could say is trust. And I just saw yesterday one of our grandchildren got an award from school called Trustworthiness. You're being awarded being trustworthy. And I said, well, that is really nice. So trust is a good word to use for faith, but it is incomplete because faith is more than trust. Now look at the example of Noah. Noah was told by God that the flood was coming.

And so what did he do? Yes, he believed God. He believed God. He trusted God that the flood was coming. And so what did he do? Did he do nothing because faith alone was sufficient? No, he built the ark. And if not built the ark, faith alone would have not been sufficient. And indeed, it rained, and boy, did it rain 40 days and 40 nights. Literally, it was a flood. It was a flood. 40 days and 40 nights. So because God says something, because God is trustworthy, we trust Him. Because it's true. It will happen.

And so let's look at a good definition of faith, which is in Hebrews, chapter 11. And we're going to read verse 1, Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 1.

Yeah, Paul, very aptly under the inspiration of God, puts a very simple but very effective definition of what is faith. He says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Well, it does warrant as giving it a little bit of thought. What is the word substance? The word substance in Greek is actually apostasies. You probably heard a lot about that word some 20 years ago. But anyway, it actually means the substructure, the foundation, the steadfastness of mind. Now those of you that were at a Bible study I'm doing last week, you heard about steadfastness. And that's what it is. That substance is that steadfastness, that firmness of mind, that courage, that resolution, that firm trust, that assurance. So when he says, now faith is the substance, it means is that steadfastness, it's that firmness, it's that resolution, that firm trust of things hoped for.

What are the things that you and I hope for?

What is our hope? What is our hope as Christians? Well, you could say, quite rightly, it's the kingdom of God. But when you look at it in more detail, it's actually to be a son and daughter of God in the kingdom of God. And that means, in the family of God, being like God with the glory of God, with the glory of Jesus Christ, albeit of course a lot smaller and inferior. But of that family, of that... as children of that family. So our hope is the glory of God in us, as children of God, in the family of God, which is the kingdom of God. That is the hope in us. So faith is the substance, is the firm, steady, the firm, trustworthiness, trust of the things that we hope for.

And this was first promised to whom?

To Abraham. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are the fathers of the faithful. Now, Paul describes some interesting things about Abraham. But before we look at that, I just want to quickly look at the record in Genesis, which Paul is referring to. So let's very quickly go to Genesis 15. You know, in Genesis 12, Abraham was asked to leave the land and then left in fright, and he was given a promise. But in Genesis 15, God, in a discussion of Abraham, adds a little bit more meat to that promise. If you look at it in Genesis 15, verse 3, then Abraham said to God, Look, God, you've given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is a head. So God is promising him, Your inheritors will have all these things. And he says, but listen, God, I don't have any children, so my servant will be the head. Now, this was about 85 years old. And then, look at verse 4, In Behold, the word of the Eternal came to him, saying, This one shall not be your head. It was this servant, and the children of your servant will not be your head. But one will come from your own body shall be your head.

Now, and then, look at verse 5, Then he, God, brought Abram outside and said, Look now towards heaven, and count the stars. Now, when you go out at night and count the stars, you'll only probably see a few. But in those days, there was not so much electricity, and you can see a lot of stars. A lot of stars. So, and he said, count the stars if you're able. And obviously, nobody's going, Oh, and I've counted that one. Let me start again. I mean, imagine trying to count them. There's so many. There's millions, millions, and many that we can't even see. That's why he can't even number them, because you can't even see them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be.

And look at verse 6, And he, Abraham, believed what God said. And God accounted it to him, attributed it to him, that belief for righteousness.

At that moment, God attributed to him that belief as righteousness. And if you just turn the page, or maybe the same page, a little bit further down, in my Bible is the next page, but could be the same page for you, in verse 18, it says, On that same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. That's when the covenant was made. In Genesis 12 was a promise, but now he made a covenant. Later on, in Genesis 17, the covenant is confirmed with circumcision. But the covenant was made, yeah, in chapter 15, which is 14 years before he was circumcised. So Paul picks this up as a very important point, because it was attributed to him, was accounted to him, as we read in verse 6 of Genesis 15, for righteousness, because he believed. And so let's now pick up on what Paul says in Romans chapter 4. In Romans chapter 4.

What then shall we say, Romans chapter 4 verse 1, what then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? In other words, he was found to be now the father of the faithful. Was this because of his flesh, because of his physical capability to raise our children? They were dead! Now he says, your flesh is dead. Now, understand. Understand. The Bible says, you will leave your parents, and the two will become one flesh. So when it's talking about according to the flesh, meaning his spouse, the two become one flesh, husband and wife. You and I know that Abraham was understood that, and he went out a little bit in the wrong way, and went with the servant and whatever, and then got out to bring him back and says, No, I meant you're... the two become one flesh. That means you and Sarah will have a child. Oh, big girl! I mean, it's like sometimes we don't understand. A man and a woman together are one flesh for life! Full stop!

That's the way God made it. That's the way God intended it. So... but continue in reading in verse 2. For if Abraham was justified by works... You see, it was imputed to him as righteous. In other words, he was justified when he believed, as we read in Genesis 15, because he believed it was imputed to him as righteous. In other words, he became righteous with God. In other words, he became just before God. Was imputed to him... If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. No! He has what I came to boast about because it was not by works. But not before God. So, verse 3. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That's what you and I read just now, Genesis 15, verse 6.

That's what the Scripture says. That's what Paul, yeah, is referring to. And it was not because of the flesh, because the flesh...

The husband and wife, that one flesh, was dead. He could not raise up any more children with her because she was past of age. And what's more, all the years that she was... could, humanly speaking, bear children, she was, let's call it, in her path. And if she was past the age, now, come on! And he believed and was imputed to him as righteousness.

He believed. He had steadfast, courageous, resolute, firm trust in what God said. He believed that it will happen. Continue reading a little bit further. Let's go on in verse 5. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. So even work, he couldn't do any physical work. It was not a physical thing. It was by faith. And was imputed, was accounted to him, was accredited to him, quote-unquote, into his bank account. You know, if it was... In other words, he was justified. He was made right with God, was accounted for righteousness. Just like David, verse 6, said, The blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. Look at verse 9. Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only? Or upon the uncircumcised also? That's this blessing. That's this forgiveness. That's this Christ. That's this divine favor from God of imputing as righteousness. Come only to those that are circumcised. No, because remember, I just showed you in Genesis that it was 14 years before he was circumcised.

And we'll continue reading in verse 9. For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. Verse 10. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? You see, so it was accounted to him when he was uncircumcised. So this righteousness says he was accounted to Abraham by faith, and that was righteous. It was accounted for righteousness. For righteousness.

So it was not the righteousness of Abraham. It was the righteousness of God that was accounted to him.

So this righteousness came by faith, not by works.

And then, let's jump a little bit further ahead in verse 17. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations. So God made Abraham a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed God, who gives life to the dead.

What do you mean, gives life to the dead? They, husband and wife, were quote-unquote dead as far as the capability of begetting children. Sure, God resurrects, but there's a dual meaning, yeah, that their capability of begetting children was dead. He gives life to the dead and calls those things which the naughty sisters know they did. Which means, even though things don't exist yet, God can say, it's happened already, because when he says it's going to do, it's as good as done, even though it hasn't happened yet. That's what he's talking about. So we can see our dual meaning. Sure, God resurrects, gives life to the dead, but Yah is also talking about the dual meaning. Who? And it's talking about Abraham, of course, because it says, Yah made you a father of many nations. It's talking about Abraham. Verse 18, who? Contrary to hope in hope. Wait, wait, wait, wait, what does it mean? Contrary to hope in hope? That doesn't make sense, does it? Contrary to hope in hope? What is that? With human hope, with human physical hope, it was impossible for those two to beget children, physically speaking, because she was past the age of bearing, and, quote-un-quote, when she was in the age of bearing, she was infertile. So according to human hope, it was impossible. But it hoped in God, trusting God, even though humanly speaking, that hope was impossible. So he hoped, contrary to hope, in hope. So contrary to physical hope, he still hoped. So physically speaking, it was impossible, but he still hoped. He hoped, believed. In that hope, he had to believe. So that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be. You see, so it's clearly talking about you, Abraham having children. Through Sarah, the flesh, the tomb shall become one.

And physically speaking, it was impossible. And verse 19, And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, although already dead. What do you mean, his own body already dead? Because the tomb become one flesh. So his own body is referring to the couple. The tomb become one flesh. We do know that he had other children afterwards, even through after Sarah died from Keturah. So it's talking about the combined body of husband and wife that was dead. The tomb become one flesh. He did not consider his own body already dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb because she was nine years old. So he did not consider that, the tomb, but verse 20, He did not waver. He did not have the slightest inkling of doubt. He believed God, he did not doubt. Through unbelief. He did not waver the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully convinced that what he, God, had promised, he was also able to perform. And I think quite often, we sometimes are lackiness, because sometimes it appears that we don't really believe that God works miracles. We've got to have that same faith. And therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness.

It was accounted to him for righteousness.

He was not weak in faith. He had the faith that he would have a son, which became Isaac, and that faith was that he believed in God, he trusted in God that God would make that happen. And he had absolutely trust that God does and would do what he says.

And therefore, he acted according to it. He acted according to it. And that's what living faith is all about. But that's not only for him. It's a lesson for us. That's what Paul is saying in verse 23. Now, it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him as righteousness. But also for us, verse 24, this is a lesson for you and I today. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. We that believe in God, that raised Jesus from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. So it's for us. How? How is it for us? Because faith, as we saw in Hebrews 11, is the substance of things outfall and remember the rest of the sentence? The evidence, the evidence of things not seen. The evidence of things not seen. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. How? Through what? Through God's Holy Spirit. It's an evidence to us.

Well, let's continue reading then in the next chapter in verse 1. Therefore, as in being justified by faith, the word is justified. And now some of us read it because of our previous background. Some of us may have read it, you are saved or have been saved by faith. It's not what it says. It says, having been justified, made right. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom? Also, we have access by faith into this grace. What is this grace? Is this loving, caring, genuine, kind, gift, imputing as righteousness? It's His just love, His just care. We are His blue-eyed little boys and little girls. That's what we are. That's His grace towards us. It's His divine favor towards us. So we have been, we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice. We stand in faith and we rejoice. Rejoice in what? In the hope of what? Of the glory of God. Remember, our hope is to be in the kingdom of sons and daughters of God, having the glory of God. That's our hope. So we have this divine favor, we have this kindness, we have this beautiful gentleness love towards us, that we are God's favorite little children. That's His grace. Through faith, we are part of that, and we stand in that, and we rejoice in that. And not only that, but we are also glory, not only that, but we glory in tribulations. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, now look at this sequence of events. We glory in trials. We rejoice in trials. This doesn't remind you of James. We have trials rejoicing your trials. We glory, we rejoice in our difficulties and our challenges. Sometimes it could be our sicknesses, it could be our difficulties we have, our pains. We rejoice in that. Is that easy to rejoice? No, but we do. Rejoice in tribulations, with glory tribulations, in trials, in difficulties.

Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. Perseverance. What is perseverance? Perseverance is endurance. Perseverance is patience.

You know, when you are at trial, and you're in pain, and you endure, you persevere with patience. For instance, sometimes we get frustrated when we see people are not moving along that line. They're just mocking time as if they're just slipping. And we say, come on! But we have to have the patience to keep praying for them, and ask God in His mercy to help them. And even for ourselves, we have patience to persevere. We are long-suffering. That's another way of saying it. We persevere with long-suffering. With patience. And that perseverance produces what? Character. What is character? It's proven experience. It's proven experience. Because you have the experience of this trial, of this difficulty, of this challenge. And you are patiently holding on, patiently, you now get experience. And that experience is character. It's a proven character. And that proven character, hope. What is our hope? Is we're going to have that vision in mind, and we have that hope, and that's what keeps us going in this sequence. The glory of Christ, that hope, the glory of God, to be sons and daughters in the kingdom of God. And so we endure, we have patience, and we have proven experience in that hope. And our hope does not disappoint, because... You see, I'm asking you the question, why is it, or how is it, that faith is the evidence of things not seen? How is that possible? You see, Cynthia, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

God's love in our heart, through God's Holy Spirit, is the part of that evidence. The evidence, so faith is the evidence of things not seen, and we have that evidence through God's Holy Spirit in us, which is God's love, which is the very love that God has for us. And so we learn to reciprocate, and we start understanding, and that becomes an evidence, a guarantee. You see, the Holy Spirit is a guarantee. It's a down payment of that eternal life. Which has been given to us. So faith is this absolute, steadfast, courageous resolution in firm trust and evidence through God's Holy Spirit in us, which is the love of God in our hearts, regardless of the temporary outcome. Because temporarily, in this life, maybe we still have the pain. Maybe we're still not healed. But we know that ultimately we will be healed, according to His will in His time. And we have that faith.

And that's exactly what Abraham did. God showed to Abraham His plan. In other words, showed that through Him and through His descendants, out of His own body, there will be these nations and there will be this kingdom of God. We don't know how much of that plan was shown to Abraham, but He showed enough that He believed and He trusted God whole-hortedly because God is trustworthy.

So Abraham believed and it was imputed to him as righteousness. That's what we read. And that will also be imputed to us. It's an example to us. We also read that a short while ago in a few verses before.

You see, Abraham obeyed and then what God told you to do. And we also have to obey God. He believed God and because He believed God, He obeyed.

Just look again at Romans chapter 4 verse 24. We read that before, but let's read it again. But also for us it shall be imputed. What was imputed? What was imputed to Abraham?

Look at verse 22, And therefore it was accounted to him to Abraham for righteousness. Was imputed to Abraham for, as if it was, God's righteousness. Now how is therefore imputed to us God's righteousness? How? Still in a book of Romans, but let's go back a few pages to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1.

Verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I am not ashamed of the good news of what Christ did for us. Because He's the King that through Him and for His doing, You'll be able to establish the Kingdom of God, which is part of our hope and will be going to be part of that family. So it's part of the big gospel of the Kingdom of God. But the gospel of Christ is, let's call it the specific detail how God actually did it through His power. Not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God to salvation. It was the gospel of Christ through Christ, through what Christ has done. It's the power, it's the how-to, it's how God is miraculously giving us the way to salvation. For everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. In other words, circumcised or un-circumcised. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed. In it, in the gospel of Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith. From faith to faith. What's meant by that?

From faith into faith. It's faith from beginning to the end, as it puts it in the new international version.

What God has done is provided for us a plan of salvation. He has been faithful to do his big part of the plan. His big part of the plan is because he, the Father, had faith in Christ, that Christ would not sin when he become a human being. And Christ had faith in God that God would resurrect him. A mutual faith. You see, God is the originator of faith. It's from faith, the faith of God. He is faithful. He is trustworthy. And the faith of Jesus Christ justifies us, makes us just. The faith of Jesus Christ justifies us.

Keep your finger dead on Romans because we'll come back to it, but we're going to look at two other scriptures. One is in Galatians 2, verse 16. Galatians 2, verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by works of law.

Knowing that a man is not justified by works of law. Now, I deliberately read it that way because that's how it is in the Greek. A man is not justified by works of law. In other words, he's talking about a principle that is applicable to any law. Let me give you an example. A simple example. There's a traffic law. And a traffic law says you will not cross an intersection with a red light. I've used that analogy many times. Now you cross it with the red light. Dini, ni, ni, flashy lights come behind you. Pull to the side. He has a ticket. Whatever number of dollars or go to jail or whatever it is, depending on what the infraction is. Fade. And from now onwards, you always go through the green light. Never go through the red light. You always go through the green light. So the time comes in and says, you go to court. You haven't paid. Oh, no, no, no, but now I'm going through green lights. I'm going through green lights. You haven't paid! No, but I'm just with the law because I'm going through green lights. You are not justified by the law by doing works of the law, any law. You can't just be going through green lights. That does not pay the fine.

Doing the works of the law, which says, go through green light, does not make you just. You have to cough up and pay the fine. So it's a principle. Any law. You are not justified by works of that law. When you break that law, there's a penalty. A different law comes into place, and now you're going to pay that other law, the price. Now, if you apply that to spiritual sin, you kill somebody. Or maybe not. Maybe you think evil of somebody, which is kind of killing. Right? That's what Christ said. Or maybe you steal. Or maybe you don't steal. But it was only five steps. Well, oh well, it was only a gentle wordy act that I should have said. Well, whatever it was, the spiritual law says, the wages of sin is death. The fine is you're going to die. Now, just because you're now not lying anymore, does that pay the fine? No. It's a sacrist. So that fine has to be paid. And it says, life for life. So it's going to be paid by another life, which is Christ's, which never sinned, which is bigger than all our lives. That's why his life can't pay for all our lives. He's paid for us. See, we're not made just with the law by simply just going through green lights. We made just the law by paying the fine, the applicable fine. The applicable fine for spiritual law is death, and you've got to therefore die. When you're dead, you're dead. It's thickens. But thanks to Christ, he's paid for you, and he redeems you, buys you back, and you now have life again.

So, it says here in verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but by, now talking about spiritually, by the faith of Jesus Christ, as it should have been translated. And if you have the old King James Version, that's how it is there, by the faith of Jesus Christ. What do you mean, the faith of Jesus Christ?

He and the Father talked about it. He submitted, and he decided to empty himself of the divinity of being in a family of God. He emptied himself of that glory, and he became a human being, and he never sinned, and he died. He died. Wouldn't he have done it if he did not trust the Father? Wouldn't he have done that if he did not have faith or trust or confidence that the Father would resurrect him?

It's the faith of Christ that allowed him to do it, because he believed the Father would resurrect him. He absolutely had that confidence, and not only had that confidence, but he had the confidence that his glory would be restored to what he had before. That's what he prayed for. Turn to the other scripture here that I want you to turn to, which is John 17, verse 5. John 17, verse 5. He was praying just before he died with his disciples, and then he says, Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory I had with you before the world was. I had with you. I was next to you with you, and I had that glory, so put me back where I was. And that's the faith that Christ had. He emptied himself, as we read in Philippians 2, verse 6 or 7. He emptied himself. He had the faith that the Father would resurrect him. And that's why it says, in Galatians 2, verse 16, we are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ did not have the faith that the Father would resurrect him and restore him to the glory that he had before, he would have not done it. But he did it because he had absolute confidence in the Father. So the origin of faith is from God. He's originator of faith. His trustworthiness encourages us and how the Father and the Son have trust for one another and how they're showing us that trust. That is the faith that we're going to grow from. And so as you see, you read in Romans chapter 1, verse 17, we were reading at a moment, for in it, it was in the Gospel of Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith. From the faith of God to us developing the same type of faith.

And that's why it says, as it's written, the just shall live by faith. In other words, we learn from God's example. We become imitators of Christ and we put on that same faith, that same trust, and we become faithful and trustworthy like a head.

So the outcome is that we live by faith. That is the fruit that we're going to exhibit as one of the fruit characteristics of God's Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. And have them all in the right sequence, but you know what I'm talking about. It's one of those. It's the fruit. We've got to develop that fruit. That is the outcome. So the originator of faith is God from faith to us having that same fruit through God's Holy Spirit also having faith. From faith to faith. So the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And where is that revealed? Through the Gospel of Christ. Because it shows how He, Jesus, and the Father had faith and the faith of Jesus Christ that's revealed to us, and we have to have the same thing. Now, we understand what is the origin of faith, which is from God. The outcome is the fruit that we have to exhibit. How do we develop it? How do we grow through this process? How do we get to the righteousness of God? Because it says, for you need the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. So we're going to have that righteousness of God. Remember? How was the righteousness of God given to Abraham? And now it's going to be given to us. Remember? It was imputed by faith. You see, that's the problem with the Israelites Nation. But what I mean? Think about it. What was the problem with the Israelites Nation? Still in the Book of Romans, Chapter 10. Paul is saying, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. He's praying for the Israelites Nation, to the Jews that are circumcised, but also to the greater Israel, to the whole Israelite. For I bear their witness that they have a zeal for God. Yes, they try to be godless, some of them. Some of them. Not all. But, you know, some of them have a zeal for God. But not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness. The Jews at Christ's time and at Paul's time and through history have been ignorant of God's righteousness. But what do you mean? Did they have the Mosaic law with the rituals and the sacrifices? Come on! They were not ignorant of that. But Paul says they were ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness. In other words, they were establishing self-righteousness through works of the ritualistic Mosaic law, which in the end pointed to Christ. Look at verse 4. For Christ is the end of the law. You see, the Mosaic ritual law pointed to the ultimate, which was Christ. To Christ, only way for righteousness is through Christ.

Christ is the fulfillment, is the goal, is the end result, is the one that fully accomplished the law. It's our example, whom we must imitate. He is the purpose, the end of the law. Point to Him.

For righteousness, to everyone who believes.

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law. Yes, Moses, through the Mosaic law, writes about the righteousness which is of the law, which the Jews were trying to follow that. Not saying they shouldn't have followed that, but they should have used that as a lesson to point to Christ. So when Christ came, they would accept Him as a Messiah, and what do they do? They rejected Him. They denied Christ, and they still do today.

And he says, for Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, and the man who does these things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith, the righteousness of God, which is imputed by faith, that's why it calls the righteousness of faith, speaks this way. And then he says, don't go down, don't go up, you know. But it's the righteousness of faith. The righteousness of God is of faith. It was imputed to Abraham because he believed. And faith is believed God, is trust God, and do what he says. So does faith exclude obedience? No. No. But it was not through the ritual works of the Mosaic law that Abraham was justified. Because there was some 400-plus years before that he was imputed. The law only came, that Mosaic ritual law was only added afterwards, Galatians 3.19, because of transgressions.

And so, continuing in verse 8 and 9, so, you know, don't look at paganism ways of looking down and looking up and things like that. But it says, the word of faith, but that, you know, was verse 8. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your heart, in your mouth, and in your heart. In other words, the word of faith is near us. The instruction, the gospel of Christ, is near us. There is the word of faith which we preach. That if you confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ will believe in your heart that God is rising from the dead, you shall. You will be sighted. You have not been sighted yet. You will, because that belief means action, means doing, and the end result in the end will be, you will be sighted. Continuing. Let's just jump a little bit to verse 13. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Shall be saved. Now that's a quote from Joel. Joel chapter 2. And when you read Joel chapter 2 you'll see that that calling was a calling based on obedience. A responding based on obedience. Verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

God's word has to be preached. That's why elsewhere it says there will be a famine of the word, of hearing the word, not of the Bible. So, Bibles may very well be available, but it will be a famine of hearing the word, of being preached. God's word and God's word has to be preached. And how shall they preach? Verse 15. Unless they are sent. You don't make yourself a minister, you are sent by God as a minister. You don't appoint yourself as a minister, God appoints you as a minister of Jesus Christ. As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. Verse 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. Oh, aren't we talking about faith? Yes! But faith means obedience. You see, when you believe in God, you do what he says. Verse 16. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? Can you see, believing means obeying? The iron of word believing is always obedience.

Verse 17. So then faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And that's why we need to come to church. It's not a stay-at-home church. It's an assembly, a holy assembly. And faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

The origin of faith is God, and we understand that through the gospel of Christ. And that is revealed to us, or reveals to us, the righteousness of God, the faithfulness of God. Then we have God's Word with God's Holy Spirit, which then God's Holy Spirit is the convicting agent. It's what convicts. In John 16, you can read in verse 7 and 8, that says, Christ was saying, I'll send you the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will then convict you of sin. The Holy Spirit is the convicting agent.

And so God's Holy Spirit convicts us. In other words, gives us that evidence of things not seen. It's God's love poured in our hearts. And so faith is a gift. You can read amongst the gifts that faith is a gift. 1 Corinthians 12, it's a gift. How does it get through the Holy Spirit? It's a gift, but it's also a fruit of us doing it according to God's way. When we convicted, when it freaks our mind and says, George, do this, we have to respond. Because if we don't respond, we're quenching the Holy Spirit. So we've got to respond by obeying, by doing. And as you know, we have God's Holy Spirit because God gives the Holy Spirit to those that obey you. Acts 5, 32. So as we respond more and more, we get more of God's Holy Spirit. And so we're growing. But if there's no response, we quenching the Holy Spirit, we quenching faith, we killing faith, it's dead faith. We've got to respond for the faith to be living. And like every living thing, it grows. Like every plant, it's living, it grows. And that's how faith grows because you're responding to that preaching, that convicting of the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the Word. The two are the two convicting agents, God's Word and the Holy Spirit. Remember when the apostles asked Christ to give or to increase their faith. Do you remember when the apostles said to Christ, increase our faith? Let's look at that in Luke chapter 17. Look chapter 17.

Look chapter 17.

Now we have Christ talking and says, take it yourselves. If your brother stands against you, rebuke him and he repents for giving.

And if he stands against you seven times in a day, wait. You see, oh well, if he repents, forgive me. So forgive him. So I only need to forgive him if he repents. Oh, but wait. If he stands against you seven times in a day, in a day. Now how much of a repentance is that? If he stands against you and five minutes later he says, I repent. And ten minutes later he says, he does exactly the same thing. And then, in an hour later he does the same thing. And then he says, oh I repent and he does it again. And then he does it again in the afternoon. There's a game at night. And he does it seven times in a day. And he says, I repent. Is that really true repentance?

He says, saying, I repent. That's not true repentance. But anyway, he says, oh I'm sorry. You shall forgive him. So we ought to forgive even though people don't repent. Now that takes some faith. That takes some faith. Now I've got to forgive him or her. And he keeps doing it against me. And Christ says, forgive. And he says, oh I'm sorry. But he keeps doing it. Oh, I'm sorry. And so the apostles say in verse 5, Lord, increase our faith. We don't have that faith to do that. I don't trust that guy. He keeps doing it. How can I trust him? He's now faith. And look at Christ's answer. So the Lord said, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to the small berry tree, will pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it will obey you. If that's God's will, obviously, you have faith, and if it's God's will, it will do. It will happen. If it's God's will, it will. Because we pray according to God's will, right? And we have faith according to God's will, right? So, and which of you, having a servant, plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and sit down to eat? But will he not rather say unto him to the servant, prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself, and serve me till I have eaten and drank? Afterwards, you will eat and drink. Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise, when you have done all these things, you are commanded, say, you are unprofitable servants, you have done what was your duty, or our duty to do. You see how Christ answered how to increase your faith?

How does that increase my faith? You see, what Christ is saying is, what Christ is saying is, go over and beyond your duty. Go further in faith and bear the fruit of God's Holy Spirit in faith. And because you are doing over and beyond your duty in faith, God will give you more of his spirit of love, and that becomes not a vicious circle, but a virtuous circle.

And that is how you grow in faith. That's then how God gives us his love poured into our hearts, and faith grows. So faith, brethren, is very unique. It's a big subject. It's a gift, and it's a fruit. Faith originates from God's righteousness. His goodness, his faith through his word, and the work of the Holy Spirit with us. As God works with us through his Holy Spirit, he convicts us of sin. Now faith develops. As you and I are convicted of sin, and we believe in faith, we respond, and we repent, and we change, and we are baptized. Then, through the laying on our vans, God's Holy Spirit is no more just with us, but in us. Christ's mind and power in us. As we all, by further and beyond our call of duty, we receive more of God's Holy Spirit. We are now being washed and sanctified and made holy, and made in the image of God, by the washing of the water, and which is the word, and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the outcome of faith, is that you and I are made in the image of God. We partake of the divine nature. And therefore, brethren, this way, we can see where it originates, how it grows, and what is the outcome. The righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel of Christ from faith to faith.

The Holy Spirit is revealed in the Gospel of Christ from faith to faith.