1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:05,700 Today we’re beginning a new series that we’re calling The Anatomy of Faith. 2 00:00:05,700 –> 00:00:12,320 I wanted to pose the question, what is faith? 3 00:00:12,320 –> 00:00:18,020 If you have faith, how can you grow in faith? 4 00:00:18,020 –> 00:00:27,139 What change does faith actually bring in a person’s life, and why is that the case? 5 00:00:27,139 –> 00:00:35,540 You don’t need me to tell you that evangelicals have always stressed the great truth of justification 6 00:00:35,540 –> 00:00:40,820 by faith, that is, that we are brought into a right relationship with God through the 7 00:00:40,820 –> 00:00:46,619 death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ when we are bonded to him by a union that 8 00:00:46,619 –> 00:00:49,020 comes through faith. 9 00:00:49,020 –> 00:00:55,660 This truth was at the very center of the Reformation and it remains today as central in any true 10 00:00:55,900 –> 00:00:59,459 understanding of the gospel. 11 00:00:59,459 –> 00:01:04,040 But here’s the issue as I see it. 12 00:01:04,040 –> 00:01:16,080 We have emphasized well that justification is by faith and not by works, but we have 13 00:01:16,080 –> 00:01:24,400 not always grasped well what is the faith by which we are justified. 14 00:01:24,639 –> 00:01:28,519 In other words, because we’ve defined faith as not works. 15 00:01:28,519 –> 00:01:32,599 You know, to many folks I think you know we’re justified by faith, what does that mean? 16 00:01:32,599 –> 00:01:39,739 Well, we’re justified by not works, but what is faith? 17 00:01:39,739 –> 00:01:43,839 What is saving faith, what’s its content? 18 00:01:43,839 –> 00:01:48,120 How does it change a person? 19 00:01:48,120 –> 00:01:54,160 I think I’ve told you before the story that just struck me as captivating. 20 00:01:54,919 –> 00:02:02,279 A few months ago, I was with a colleague who’s a pastor, and he was sharing with great sorrow 21 00:02:02,279 –> 00:02:06,459 a story of how he had had to confront a high school student. 22 00:02:06,459 –> 00:02:13,520 The lad was influential in the youth group, and professed faith, and it had come to the 23 00:02:13,520 –> 00:02:19,779 pastor’s attention that this lad was sleeping with several girls in the youth group, and 24 00:02:19,779 –> 00:02:21,619 he had to be confronted. 25 00:02:22,479 –> 00:02:30,320 So the pastor confronts him, and this teenager with a real spirit of defiance, the pastor 26 00:02:30,320 –> 00:02:38,000 said he folded his arms, and he said, I was saved when I was 14, and I’ll live like hell 27 00:02:38,000 –> 00:02:40,440 if I want to. 28 00:02:40,440 –> 00:02:49,919 Now, this lad believes that Jesus died, and rose again. 29 00:02:50,860 –> 00:02:54,199 Is he saved? 30 00:02:54,199 –> 00:03:01,000 Is his faith saving faith is the question that we’re confronting here? 31 00:03:01,000 –> 00:03:02,199 And it’s all around us. 32 00:03:02,199 –> 00:03:07,960 Folks, you know here we hear on the television again, it’s been just recently, priests who 33 00:03:07,960 –> 00:03:17,479 have abused children, evangelists who have abused money, and these people talk about 34 00:03:17,580 –> 00:03:21,600 faith all the time, believing. 35 00:03:21,600 –> 00:03:32,360 And you open the Bible and the Apostle James warns us against a faith that is nothing more 36 00:03:32,360 –> 00:03:35,520 than bare belief. 37 00:03:35,520 –> 00:03:40,759 He says and we’ll look at this more closely later in the series in James 2, a faith like 38 00:03:40,759 –> 00:03:45,740 that, a faith that is bare belief will never save you. 39 00:03:46,179 –> 00:03:52,440 He reminds us that the devil knows that Jesus is the son of God, the devil knows that Jesus 40 00:03:52,440 –> 00:03:59,419 died on the cross, and the devil certainly knows that Jesus rose from the dead. 41 00:03:59,419 –> 00:04:03,479 So if you have the same faith as the devil, don’t be surprised if your future is with 42 00:04:03,479 –> 00:04:06,419 him. 43 00:04:06,419 –> 00:04:07,820 So what is faith? 44 00:04:08,419 –> 00:04:15,779 I wanted simply to introduce the theme this morning and to make three observations. 45 00:04:15,779 –> 00:04:21,720 The first is that faith is more than bare belief. 46 00:04:21,720 –> 00:04:26,459 Faith is more than bare belief. 47 00:04:26,459 –> 00:04:31,760 Hebrews 11, if you open your bible there, gives us a long list of heroes of faith, men 48 00:04:31,799 –> 00:04:32,940 and women who are models. 49 00:04:32,940 –> 00:04:38,179 They are examples to us of what real authentic faith looks like. 50 00:04:38,179 –> 00:04:46,040 Study this chapter and you will see that true faith is always more than bare belief. 51 00:04:46,040 –> 00:04:47,959 Faith is an active thing. 52 00:04:47,959 –> 00:04:49,899 It does things. 53 00:04:49,899 –> 00:04:52,040 It’s always on the move. 54 00:04:52,040 –> 00:04:54,600 It’s always venturing in some new way. 55 00:04:54,600 –> 00:04:58,839 I picked out just seven verbs from Hebrews and chapter 11. 56 00:04:59,440 –> 00:05:00,540 There are many more. 57 00:05:00,540 –> 00:05:04,399 But I simply want you to get the point that faith is active. 58 00:05:04,399 –> 00:05:08,640 Look at verse 3 for example where we see that faith understands. 59 00:05:08,640 –> 00:05:13,260 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. 60 00:05:13,260 –> 00:05:14,500 So what does faith do? 61 00:05:14,500 –> 00:05:16,799 Faith will open your understanding. 62 00:05:16,799 –> 00:05:21,600 That’s why the psalmist says I have more insight than all my teachers because I meditate 63 00:05:21,600 –> 00:05:22,820 on your word. 64 00:05:22,820 –> 00:05:28,320 There is a wisdom that comes that is opened up by faith in God’s promises. 65 00:05:29,320 –> 00:05:32,559 That is beyond the level of mere human intellect. 66 00:05:32,559 –> 00:05:37,480 That is why it is possible to have a brilliant mind and yet to live like a fool. 67 00:05:37,480 –> 00:05:39,320 But faith understands. 68 00:05:39,320 –> 00:05:46,160 Second, faith offers, verse 4, by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. 69 00:05:46,160 –> 00:05:51,880 In other words faith will lead you to make great sacrifices. 70 00:05:51,880 –> 00:05:55,279 It will lead you to deny yourself. 71 00:05:55,279 –> 00:06:03,220 It will lead you to costly commitment, sacrificial work, and service. 72 00:06:03,220 –> 00:06:08,739 Third, faith builds, verse 7, by faith Noah, when he was warned about the things not yet 73 00:06:08,739 –> 00:06:14,019 seen in holy fear, built an ark to save his family. 74 00:06:14,019 –> 00:06:21,779 So, here, Noah’s faith initiates this great project that will be a means of advancing 75 00:06:21,779 –> 00:06:24,000 God’s redeeming purpose in the world. 76 00:06:24,000 –> 00:06:25,160 That’s what faith does. 77 00:06:25,399 –> 00:06:38,880 It launches great projects in places like Congo, in Southeast Asia, Barrington, Itasca. 78 00:06:38,880 –> 00:06:40,940 Number four, faith obeys, verse 8. 79 00:06:40,940 –> 00:06:46,359 By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, 80 00:06:46,359 –> 00:06:51,220 he obeyed, and he went even though he did not know where he was going. 81 00:06:51,239 –> 00:06:59,140 In other words, faith will lead you into ventures into the unknown, that’s what it was for Abraham. 82 00:06:59,140 –> 00:07:00,640 God called him to move. 83 00:07:00,640 –> 00:07:04,480 You’ve been here long enough, now you must move into something you aren’t going to stretch 84 00:07:04,480 –> 00:07:08,940 you in a new way, and faith obeyed that calling from God. 85 00:07:08,940 –> 00:07:13,640 Number five, faith longs, verse 16. 86 00:07:13,640 –> 00:07:19,899 Speaking of the heroes of faith, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. 87 00:07:20,019 –> 00:07:24,820 Faith is always a forward-looking grace. 88 00:07:24,820 –> 00:07:31,899 It keeps our eyes fixed on our eternal future and calibrates our life now in the light of 89 00:07:31,899 –> 00:07:34,220 that. 90 00:07:34,220 –> 00:07:36,179 Number six, faith blesses, verse 20. 91 00:07:36,179 –> 00:07:42,040 By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. 92 00:07:42,040 –> 00:07:48,480 We take faith to bless Jacob and Esau, don’t you think, to see God’s blessing on these 93 00:07:48,859 –> 00:07:49,859 rascals? 94 00:07:49,859 –> 00:07:51,940 But by faith, that’s what Isaac did. 95 00:07:51,940 –> 00:07:58,019 What a blessing to have a father, a mother who is a man or a woman of faith. 96 00:07:58,019 –> 00:08:00,820 And faith leaves a legacy. 97 00:08:00,820 –> 00:08:06,859 And faith brings a blessing to your children and to all who God places around you. 98 00:08:06,859 –> 00:08:09,700 And number seven, faith worships, verse 21. 99 00:08:09,700 –> 00:08:16,140 By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, he blessed each of Joseph’s sons and were worshiped as 100 00:08:16,200 –> 00:08:18,459 he leaned on the top of his staff. 101 00:08:18,459 –> 00:08:25,100 So faith worships, and it worships even as this man’s coming towards the end of his life 102 00:08:25,100 –> 00:08:27,799 here on earth. 103 00:08:27,799 –> 00:08:34,979 So I want you simply to see the pattern, that faith, in Hebrews 11, is much more than bare 104 00:08:34,979 –> 00:08:36,299 belief. 105 00:08:36,299 –> 00:08:40,979 Faith is like a living tree bursting with fruit. 106 00:08:40,979 –> 00:08:43,200 It’s not a dead tree. 107 00:08:43,219 –> 00:08:48,200 It’s a living tree, and it’s bursting with fruit, and it’s always producing new fruit. 108 00:08:48,200 –> 00:08:50,619 That’s its very nature. 109 00:08:50,619 –> 00:08:54,719 Now, let’s take a step further. 110 00:08:54,719 –> 00:08:58,739 Why then does faith do all these things? 111 00:08:58,739 –> 00:09:09,380 Why is it that faith understands and offers and builds and obeys and longs and blesses 112 00:09:09,380 –> 00:09:12,099 and worships? 113 00:09:12,099 –> 00:09:18,059 Where does all this life and energy come from that produces all this marvelous fruit that 114 00:09:18,059 –> 00:09:24,299 is listed right throughout Hebrews in chapter 11? 115 00:09:24,299 –> 00:09:27,820 And here we come to the central truth. 116 00:09:27,820 –> 00:09:32,380 There’s one thing for you to grasp in this two month series. 117 00:09:32,380 –> 00:09:41,359 This would be it right here, that faith unites us to Jesus Christ. 118 00:09:41,359 –> 00:09:45,000 That is why it is so fruitful. 119 00:09:45,000 –> 00:09:48,960 That is why faith understands and it offers and it builds and it obeys and it longs and 120 00:09:48,960 –> 00:09:56,380 it blesses and it worships, because faith unites us with Jesus Christ. 121 00:09:56,380 –> 00:10:02,539 Faith, here’s the biggest thing for you to grasp about faith, it is the way in which 122 00:10:02,539 –> 00:10:04,119 Christ becomes ours. 123 00:10:04,119 –> 00:10:08,820 It is the bond by which we become his. 124 00:10:09,820 –> 00:10:17,940 Sidebar here just for a moment—the reason that we are justified by faith is that faith 125 00:10:17,940 –> 00:10:22,140 unites us to Christ, who justifies. 126 00:10:22,140 –> 00:10:23,140 Always remember that. 127 00:10:23,140 –> 00:10:27,200 It’s not as if faith has some magical power within it. 128 00:10:27,200 –> 00:10:32,640 We are justified by Christ who is ours—how?—by faith. 129 00:10:32,640 –> 00:10:38,500 Faith unites us to Christ so that we become his, and he becomes ours. 130 00:10:38,539 –> 00:10:46,340 We are justified by faith because faith unites us to Christ, who justifies. 131 00:10:46,340 –> 00:10:52,419 This is why faith is so fruitful because it unites us to Jesus Christ. 132 00:10:52,419 –> 00:10:53,780 Bishop Riley says it well. 133 00:10:53,780 –> 00:10:58,780 You know how much I enjoy reading him and again, he’s just so clear in the way he says 134 00:10:58,780 –> 00:10:59,780 this. 135 00:11:00,419 –> 00:11:08,739 A believer’s religion does not consist in mere intellectual assent to a certain set 136 00:11:08,739 –> 00:11:12,059 of propositions and doctrines. 137 00:11:12,059 –> 00:11:20,280 It consists in a union, a communion and a fellowship with an actual living person, even 138 00:11:20,280 –> 00:11:22,500 the son of God. 139 00:11:22,500 –> 00:11:29,140 And then he says it is a life of faith in Jesus, a life of confidence in Jesus, leaning 140 00:11:29,140 –> 00:11:36,539 on Jesus, drawing out of the fullness of Jesus, speaking to Jesus, working for Jesus, loving 141 00:11:36,539 –> 00:11:40,219 Jesus, looking for Jesus to come again. 142 00:11:40,219 –> 00:11:41,940 That’s the anatomy of faith. 143 00:11:41,940 –> 00:11:44,200 That’s its spectrum. 144 00:11:44,200 –> 00:11:51,380 Now the Bible uses two wonderful pictures to help us understand this union with Christ, 145 00:11:51,380 –> 00:11:55,780 the big thing that we’re trying to get a hold of today that faith unites you to Jesus 146 00:11:55,780 –> 00:11:56,820 Christ. 147 00:11:57,299 –> 00:12:00,260 Two pictures that help to explain that. 148 00:12:00,260 –> 00:12:07,840 The first is in Romans chapter 11, where Paul uses the picture of a branch being grafted 149 00:12:07,840 –> 00:12:10,739 into a tree. 150 00:12:10,739 –> 00:12:15,640 And what he’s saying there, if you check it out in Romans chapter 11, is simply this. 151 00:12:15,640 –> 00:12:22,700 That in the Old Testament, God’s redeeming work flowed through the descendants of Abraham. 152 00:12:22,700 –> 00:12:27,900 They were like the branches of God’s tree. 153 00:12:27,900 –> 00:12:31,859 Then in Romans 11 and verse 17, here’s what Paul says. 154 00:12:31,859 –> 00:12:35,239 Some of the branches have been broken off. 155 00:12:35,239 –> 00:12:39,700 And you, that he’s speaking to Gentile believers. 156 00:12:39,700 –> 00:12:47,000 He says you, you have been grafted into this tree and now you share in the nourishing sap 157 00:12:47,000 –> 00:12:49,979 of the olive root. 158 00:12:50,099 –> 00:12:53,799 And then he explains, Romans 11 and verse 20, how this happened. 159 00:12:53,799 –> 00:12:59,380 The branches that were cut off, they were cut off because of unbelief. 160 00:12:59,380 –> 00:13:04,940 And then he says but you stand by faith. 161 00:13:04,940 –> 00:13:09,159 So what he’s saying is that the way in which you have come to be engrafted into Christ 162 00:13:09,159 –> 00:13:11,320 is by faith. 163 00:13:11,320 –> 00:13:14,000 It’s a wonderful picture. 164 00:13:14,059 –> 00:13:21,820 Faith is the way in which you are grafted into God’s tree, so that the life of Jesus 165 00:13:21,820 –> 00:13:23,440 Christ flows through you. 166 00:13:23,440 –> 00:13:24,919 Remember, Jesus spoke about this. 167 00:13:24,919 –> 00:13:28,340 He said, I am the vine, and you are the branches. 168 00:13:28,340 –> 00:13:34,219 But you become a branch in Christ by this bond of faith. 169 00:13:34,219 –> 00:13:39,400 That’s how you’re in him and that’s how his life is in you. 170 00:13:39,500 –> 00:13:41,020 You see, here’s the wonderful thing. 171 00:13:41,020 –> 00:13:49,280 When a branch is grafted onto a tree, the fruit that it bears is not the fruit of its 172 00:13:49,280 –> 00:13:53,440 own nature, but the fruit of the tree into which it has been grafted. 173 00:13:53,440 –> 00:13:57,760 That’s why it’s such a wonderful thing to be grafted into Christ, because it means that 174 00:13:57,760 –> 00:14:05,520 Christ’s life flows in you, which is why faith is so wonderfully fruitful and why it understands 175 00:14:06,520 –> 00:14:14,400 why it builds and why it obeys and why it longs and why it blesses and why it worships. 176 00:14:14,400 –> 00:14:19,219 See, we’re way beyond already a bare belief. 177 00:14:19,219 –> 00:14:25,119 We’re talking about the life of Christ in you and faith being the bond that makes Christ 178 00:14:25,119 –> 00:14:27,719 yours, and you his. 179 00:14:27,719 –> 00:14:33,280 Then there’s a second picture that’s perhaps even closer to home for most of us surely 180 00:14:33,400 –> 00:14:37,559 and that is of a bride joined in marriage to her bridegroom. 181 00:14:37,559 –> 00:14:41,760 Of course, there’s a wonderful New Testament picture in Ephesians chapter 5. 182 00:14:41,760 –> 00:14:51,179 Paul says that believers are the bride or Jesus Christ and that our relationship with 183 00:14:51,179 –> 00:14:56,919 him is not simply that we have a bare belief in him but that we are made one with him in 184 00:14:56,919 –> 00:15:04,580 a way that’s analogous to the way in which a husband and a wife are made one. 185 00:15:04,580 –> 00:15:07,059 Martin Luther describes this very beautifully. 186 00:15:07,059 –> 00:15:16,299 He says, Faith unites the soul to Christ as a bride is united to her bridegroom. 187 00:15:16,299 –> 00:15:17,859 Isn’t that beautiful? 188 00:15:17,859 –> 00:15:23,419 By this mystery is the apostle teaches Christ and the soul become one flesh and if they 189 00:15:23,820 –> 00:15:28,659 one flesh and there is between them a true marriage, it follows that everything they 190 00:15:28,659 –> 00:15:32,760 have they hold in common the good as well as the evil. 191 00:15:32,760 –> 00:15:37,840 Accordingly the believing soul can boast often glory in whatever Christ has as though it 192 00:15:37,840 –> 00:15:44,919 were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as His own. 193 00:15:44,919 –> 00:15:51,900 Now I told you folks who are married, would you agree with me that marriage changes your 194 00:15:51,900 –> 00:15:52,900 life? 195 00:15:53,359 –> 00:15:54,619 Okay. 196 00:15:54,619 –> 00:16:01,539 And would you agree with me that how marriage changes your life depends on who you’re married 197 00:16:01,539 –> 00:16:04,619 to, right? 198 00:16:04,619 –> 00:16:08,679 How it changes your life depends on who you marry. 199 00:16:08,679 –> 00:16:20,179 So think about this, faith joins you in this holy union with Christ and the way that faith 200 00:16:20,840 –> 00:16:29,359 changes your life is shaped by the Christ faith joins you to. 201 00:16:29,359 –> 00:16:33,059 Now, who is this Christ? 202 00:16:33,059 –> 00:16:41,140 Well, he’s the prophecy, the priest, and the King, isn’t he? 203 00:16:41,140 –> 00:16:45,900 He’s our teacher and he’s our savior and he’s our Lord. 204 00:16:45,900 –> 00:16:50,020 He’s the one who gives us precious promises. 205 00:16:50,039 –> 00:16:52,859 He’s the one who redeems. 206 00:16:52,859 –> 00:16:57,099 He’s the one who calls us to follow him. 207 00:16:57,099 –> 00:17:06,239 What that means is that faith that joins us to him involves the whole person, the mind, 208 00:17:06,239 –> 00:17:12,660 the heart, and the will because it’s being joined to the Christ who promises, the Christ 209 00:17:12,660 –> 00:17:16,579 who redeems, and the Christ who calls. 210 00:17:16,640 –> 00:17:22,040 And so the one who’s being joined to him could never be a bare belief. 211 00:17:22,040 –> 00:17:27,479 So as we think of the Christ to whom we are joined by faith, let’s remember this, I find 212 00:17:27,479 –> 00:17:29,520 it helpful just to think of this. 213 00:17:29,520 –> 00:17:32,800 Faith trusts, faith loves, and faith follows. 214 00:17:32,800 –> 00:17:37,839 That’s just a simple way of shaping the anatomy of faith that we’re going to try and spell 215 00:17:37,839 –> 00:17:39,900 out over these coming weeks. 216 00:17:39,900 –> 00:17:45,199 Faith trusts a Christ who promises. 217 00:17:45,239 –> 00:17:48,239 And of course, that’s the whole point of Hebrews in Chapter 11. 218 00:17:48,239 –> 00:17:54,479 The believers who first read this letter, they trusted Christ, but then, like some of 219 00:17:54,479 –> 00:17:59,079 us, they’d run into a whole lot of difficulties in their lives. 220 00:17:59,079 –> 00:18:02,079 And they become discouraged, they say, no, wait a minute, we put our faith in the Son 221 00:18:02,079 –> 00:18:06,000 of God, now we’re facing all these difficulties, and we have these prayers that have not yet 222 00:18:06,000 –> 00:18:08,119 been answered, and so forth and so on. 223 00:18:08,119 –> 00:18:11,339 And some of them are becoming very discouraged. 224 00:18:11,380 –> 00:18:16,380 And some of them are beginning to think about giving up and so this writer writes the letter, 225 00:18:16,380 –> 00:18:21,199 including the verses that we’ve read, and what he’s saying is this, look at the heroes 226 00:18:21,199 –> 00:18:23,699 of the Old Testament. 227 00:18:23,699 –> 00:18:27,680 Verse 13, they did not receive the things that were promised, they only saw them and 228 00:18:27,680 –> 00:18:29,739 welcomed them from a distance. 229 00:18:29,739 –> 00:18:34,339 And what the writer is saying is, folks, we are in the same position. 230 00:18:34,339 –> 00:18:40,160 We live by faith and not by sight. 231 00:18:40,160 –> 00:18:48,239 Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 232 00:18:48,239 –> 00:18:50,479 So that’s your position. 233 00:18:50,479 –> 00:18:52,579 That’s my position. 234 00:18:52,579 –> 00:19:01,359 Faith trusts—faith trusts a Christ who promises. 235 00:19:01,359 –> 00:19:06,119 Faith hopes for what we do not yet see. 236 00:19:06,199 –> 00:19:09,859 Faith trusts Christ in relation to what we do not yet have. 237 00:19:09,859 –> 00:19:20,199 That’s how it always has been, and that is what real faith looks like. 238 00:19:20,199 –> 00:19:24,339 So someone has harmed you. 239 00:19:24,339 –> 00:19:35,119 Someone has dragged your reputation down, lied about you, and Christ says your righteousness 240 00:19:35,119 –> 00:19:39,719 will shine like the noonday sun. 241 00:19:39,719 –> 00:19:43,560 And you say that hasn’t happened yet. 242 00:19:43,560 –> 00:19:48,819 You trust him, you trust him. 243 00:19:48,819 –> 00:19:50,079 You are anxious about the future. 244 00:19:50,079 –> 00:19:56,400 You don’t know what’s going to happen next, and Christ says the man who fears the Lord 245 00:19:56,599 –> 00:20:06,939 will have no fear of bad news, because his heart is steadfast. 246 00:20:06,939 –> 00:20:08,319 You trust him. 247 00:20:08,319 –> 00:20:14,839 Whatever news comes tomorrow, trust him. 248 00:20:14,839 –> 00:20:18,979 Faith trusts. 249 00:20:18,979 –> 00:20:20,680 Faith loves. 250 00:20:20,680 –> 00:20:27,699 Faith trusts because Christ promises, it loves because Christ redeems. 251 00:20:27,699 –> 00:20:33,780 The Son of God to whom you are joined by faith is the Son of God who loved you and 252 00:20:33,780 –> 00:20:38,199 gave himself for you. 253 00:20:38,199 –> 00:20:42,500 If you’re joined to him, that can not be a bare belief. 254 00:20:42,780 –> 00:20:53,380 To be joined to him evokes a reflection of his great love for you in your heart. 255 00:20:53,380 –> 00:21:01,020 A.W. Pink makes a very insightful observation here that I’ll read to you in just a moment. 256 00:21:01,060 –> 00:21:12,739 He notices that in the New Testament, there is varying of language so that sometimes when 257 00:21:12,739 –> 00:21:20,420 you would expect the Holy Spirit to have said, faith or belief, what you actually find in 258 00:21:20,420 –> 00:21:24,339 the Bible is the word, love. 259 00:21:25,099 –> 00:21:32,020 And Pink makes the point, very effectively, that the reason for this is so that we may 260 00:21:32,020 –> 00:21:36,540 grasp that it’s not that faith is one thing and that love is another thing, but that the 261 00:21:36,540 –> 00:21:42,760 faith that unites you to Christ fires love for Christ within your heart. 262 00:21:42,760 –> 00:21:47,579 There’s no such thing as being united to Christ and not loving him. 263 00:21:47,579 –> 00:21:51,319 Your love for Christ may go dim at times. 264 00:21:51,319 –> 00:21:54,180 It may be tested at times. 265 00:21:54,199 –> 00:22:01,420 But if you are united with Christ in the bond of the Holy Spirit, you love him and you know 266 00:22:01,420 –> 00:22:02,420 that you love him. 267 00:22:02,420 –> 00:22:05,640 Let me read to you what Pink says. 268 00:22:05,640 –> 00:22:14,560 If we are to properly preserve the balance of truth, we must note carefully the manner 269 00:22:14,560 –> 00:22:22,219 in which the Holy Spirit has rung the changes on the word believe and the word love in the 270 00:22:22,579 –> 00:22:25,060 New Testament. 271 00:22:25,060 –> 00:22:26,760 And then he gives some examples. 272 00:22:26,760 –> 00:22:27,760 Here’s one. 273 00:22:27,760 –> 00:22:29,219 You’ll get his points straight away. 274 00:22:29,219 –> 00:22:31,359 Romans Chapter 8 and verse 28. 275 00:22:31,359 –> 00:22:33,660 You know this one so well. 276 00:22:33,660 –> 00:22:39,859 All things worked together for good for them that… 277 00:22:39,859 –> 00:22:45,060 Now, you would expect it to say for those who trust God, wouldn’t you? 278 00:22:45,060 –> 00:22:49,219 We know the verse so well we’ve never, perhaps, picked up on the fact that it says for those 279 00:22:49,619 –> 00:22:51,739 who love God. 280 00:22:51,739 –> 00:22:54,500 You see what Pink’s saying? 281 00:22:54,500 –> 00:22:59,140 Watch the way the Holy Spirit rings the changes so that you don’t get the idea that faith 282 00:22:59,140 –> 00:23:02,619 is one thing and that love is another. 283 00:23:02,619 –> 00:23:09,579 2 Timothy, Chapter 4, verse 8 speaks about a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the 284 00:23:09,579 –> 00:23:11,739 righteous Judge, shall give me in that day. 285 00:23:11,739 –> 00:23:18,239 And not only to me, but to all who not believe in his appearing, but those who love his appearing 286 00:23:18,339 –> 00:23:19,979 or long for his appearing. 287 00:23:19,979 –> 00:23:25,699 James Chapter 1 and verse 12, the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that 288 00:23:25,699 –> 00:23:27,819 love him. 289 00:23:27,819 –> 00:23:33,699 And then, of course, John’s famous statement, ”He that loveth not knoweth not God, for 290 00:23:33,699 –> 00:23:36,140 God is love”. 291 00:23:36,140 –> 00:23:42,060 Quoting all of that, of course, from Pink and from the authorized version. 292 00:23:42,060 –> 00:23:44,939 Do you love Christ? 293 00:23:45,040 –> 00:23:48,119 And this is the question, do you love Christ? 294 00:23:48,119 –> 00:23:53,839 See, the devil believes that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus died and that Jesus 295 00:23:53,839 –> 00:24:01,540 rose but the devil does not trust Christ and the devil does not love Christ. 296 00:24:01,540 –> 00:24:06,280 So don’t rest on a faith that is like the devil’s. 297 00:24:06,280 –> 00:24:11,199 One more thing that the devil doesn’t do and that faith does do, faith follows. 298 00:24:11,479 –> 00:24:16,020 Faith follows because Christ calls and if we’re united to the Christ who calls, then 299 00:24:16,020 –> 00:24:17,260 faith will follow. 300 00:24:17,260 –> 00:24:21,420 Faith embraces the Christ, you see, who is prophet and priest and king and teacher and 301 00:24:21,420 –> 00:24:27,079 savior and Lord, the one who promises and redeems and who calls and so embracing him 302 00:24:27,079 –> 00:24:32,300 involves my mind, it involves my heart, it involves my will, it involves the whole of 303 00:24:32,300 –> 00:24:33,199 my person. 304 00:24:33,199 –> 00:24:38,780 That’s why we’ll be talking later in the series about the obedience of faith, the phrase 305 00:24:38,859 –> 00:24:42,099 Paul uses in Romans a number of times. 306 00:24:43,819 –> 00:24:48,619 In the last few minutes, let me wrap this up by saying just a couple of things. 307 00:24:48,619 –> 00:25:00,540 I’ve called the series, The Anatomy of Faith because I want us to discover together a faith 308 00:25:00,760 –> 00:25:05,040 that possesses Jesus Christ. 309 00:25:05,040 –> 00:25:12,199 Not just a belief regarding certain things about Him out there, but a faith that truly 310 00:25:12,199 –> 00:25:18,839 grafts you into Christ that is like the bond of marriage making you one with Christ. 311 00:25:18,839 –> 00:25:25,400 Faith that lays hold of Christ and receives from Christ all that is ours in Him. 312 00:25:25,400 –> 00:25:29,859 We spent the first half of this year talking about Christ’s great promises, this series 313 00:25:30,339 –> 00:25:34,979 how we receive them. 314 00:25:34,979 –> 00:25:43,439 And let me tell you candidly, the burden of my heart for this series. 315 00:25:43,439 –> 00:25:54,439 It’s on my heart increasingly that some of us may have settled for the kind of faith 316 00:25:54,439 –> 00:25:58,239 that James says will not save you. 317 00:25:59,079 –> 00:26:06,400 One of the great dangers that lurks for us who have been brought up with 318 00:26:06,400 –> 00:26:09,199 Christian faith, and it’s a great blessing to be brought up with 319 00:26:09,199 –> 00:26:15,459 Christian faith, but there’s a danger in every blessing, and one of the dangers 320 00:26:15,459 –> 00:26:23,920 for us, and that’s many of us, is that you get enough Christianity to inoculate 321 00:26:24,180 –> 00:26:32,339 against the real thing. You know how an inoculation works, you get a very, very 322 00:26:32,339 –> 00:26:36,300 small amount of the disease and the virus or whatever, you know, the flu virus 323 00:26:36,300 –> 00:26:39,339 or whatever it is, it gets injected into your arm and then it goes into your 324 00:26:39,339 –> 00:26:43,939 bloodstream and because it is there in your blood stream it makes you 325 00:26:43,939 –> 00:26:52,780 highly resistant to the potency of the real thing. Now that’s marvelous when it 326 00:26:52,780 –> 00:27:01,000 comes to an inoculation against the flu or whatever, but I think that inoculation 327 00:27:01,000 –> 00:27:07,219 is one of Satan’s most powerful strategies in keeping people who are 328 00:27:07,219 –> 00:27:13,300 familiar with church from a living union with Jesus Christ as Savior, teacher and 329 00:27:13,300 –> 00:27:24,699 Lord. You were baptized as an infant. You have been brought up to believe. You have 330 00:27:24,699 –> 00:27:32,699 been around church, perhaps for 40 years. You hear the pastor talk about faith and 331 00:27:32,699 –> 00:27:37,880 you say, oh yes yes I have that. You hear him talk about Christ and you say oh yes 332 00:27:37,880 –> 00:27:45,800 I believe that. He tells you about the cross and you say oh yes I know that. And so what 333 00:27:45,800 –> 00:27:50,699 happens is that over time you settle into a pattern of assuming that you have everything 334 00:27:50,699 –> 00:27:57,939 that is being described and that you have therefore nothing more to receive, and the 335 00:27:57,939 –> 00:28:07,520 power of truth is lost on you by inoculation, by the little bit that you have, your bare 336 00:28:07,579 –> 00:28:14,719 life. So here is my burden. I’ve prayed about this 337 00:28:14,719 –> 00:28:24,079 series, it’s been my prayer that God will use these weekends to help you discover what 338 00:28:24,119 –> 00:28:35,560 it is to live a life of faith. To feed on Christ, to grow in Christ, to live for Jesus 339 00:28:35,560 –> 00:28:43,839 Christ. This series is designed to help you cultivate a faith that trusts Christ, and 340 00:28:43,839 –> 00:28:50,660 loves Christ, and follows Christ. 341 00:28:50,660 –> 00:29:01,839 The very last thing is this, this series is not only for individuals, but it is for us 342 00:29:01,839 –> 00:29:13,260 as a church. This is a moment, at least in my years of ministry, unlike any other moment 343 00:29:13,260 –> 00:29:26,219 that I have ever experienced, being stretched in the calling of God, venturing in new and 344 00:29:26,219 –> 00:29:33,140 indifferent ways. Folks, I want to tell you from the heart, 345 00:29:33,319 –> 00:29:43,099 I feel right now my need, with everything that the Lord seems to be opening up for us 346 00:29:43,099 –> 00:29:52,739 in these days and calling us to and stretching us over, I feel my need to grow in a faith 347 00:29:52,739 –> 00:30:00,560 that trusts Christ and loves Christ and follows Christ. I think that is widely felt among 348 00:30:00,560 –> 00:30:09,060 our pastoral staff and in our church board. This is a moment where we need to grow in 349 00:30:09,060 –> 00:30:17,160 faith, and I hope you feel that. I hope your eyes are open enough and that you yourself 350 00:30:17,160 –> 00:30:21,680 are engaged enough with all that the Lord is doing among us, all that is going on in 351 00:30:21,760 –> 00:30:30,640 this place to see this is a place where we need to grow in faith. It’s a moment, and 352 00:30:30,640 –> 00:30:36,800 friends, just as it is possible for an individual to go through life with a faith that is nothing 353 00:30:36,800 –> 00:30:47,900 more than a bare belief, it is possible for a church to believe the right things but to 354 00:30:47,900 –> 00:30:58,800 have very little faith. Friends, the world desperately needs to see demonstrations of 355 00:30:58,800 –> 00:31:05,520 what living faith looks like. And the only place that the world is ever going to see 356 00:31:05,520 –> 00:31:12,719 a demonstration of what living faith looks like is in the church. Communities of believers 357 00:31:12,760 –> 00:31:22,060 in places like Arlington Heights, Barrington, Itasca, Gemini, Congo, and Southeast Asia. 358 00:31:22,060 –> 00:31:31,000 You add to the list communities of people who trust Christ who they cannot see and love 359 00:31:31,000 –> 00:31:37,239 Christ even when they are facing great trials and follow Christ with joy even when it is 360 00:31:37,239 –> 00:31:45,359 incredibly costly, so that they will say, who is this Christ who inspires such trust 361 00:31:45,359 –> 00:31:53,699 and confidence and love and affection and obedience and sacrifice? 362 00:31:53,699 –> 00:31:54,540 I want to know him.