We have emphasised well, that justification is by faith and not by works, but we have not always grasped well, what is the faith by which we are justified. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and Colin, it’s good that we’re talking about this today because some folks might wonder exactly what is this faith by which we’re justified? Yeah, faith, a very heart of what it means to be a Christian. I think for a lot of people, it boils down to belief. You know, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, He died and He rose and so forth. And yet, James is very clear in saying, hey, the Devil knows all of that, he knows it’s true. So faith has to be something more than simply assenting to certain truths or signing off on certain beliefs. What we’re going to discover in this series, Steve, is that faith actually is the bond that unites us to Jesus Christ. The glue of a relationship, if you like. And that’s huge. It’s much more than merely believing something. So we’ll get straight into the message. We’re in Hebrews chapter 11 looking at the first few verses today. As we begin the message, faith possesses Christ. Here’s Colin. Today we’re beginning a new series that we’re calling the Anatomy of Faith. I want to pose the question, what is faith? And if you have faith, how can you grow in faith? What change does faith actually bring in a person’s life and why is that the case? You don’t need me to tell you that evangelicals have always stressed the great truth of justification by faith. That is that we are brought into a right relationship with God through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we are bonded to Him by a union that comes through faith. This truth was at the very center of the reformation, and it remains today central in any true understanding of the gospel. But here’s the issue as I see it. We have emphasized well that justification is by faith and not by works, but we have not always grasped well what is the faith by which we are justified. In other words, because we’ve defined faith as not works… You know, to many folks I think, you know, we’re justified by faith, what does that mean? We’re justified by not works, but what is faith? What is saving faith? What’s its content? How does it change a person? I think I’ve told you before, the story that just struck me as captivating the issue a few months ago, I was with a colleague who’s a pastor, and he were sharing with great sorrow a story of how he had had to confront a high school student. The lad was influential in the youth group and professed faith, and it had come to the pastor’s attention that this lad was sleeping with several girls in the youth group, and he had to be confronted. So the pastor confronts him, and this teenager with a real spirit of defiance, the pastor said, he folded his arms and he said, I was saved when I was 14, and I’ll live like hell if I want to. Now this lad believes that Jesus died and rose again. Is he saved? Is his faith saving faith? It’s the question that we’re confronting here. And it’s all around us. Folks, you know we hear on the television again, it’s been just recently, priests who have abused children, evangelists who have abused money. And these people talk about faith all the time, believing. And you open the Bible and the apostle James warns us against a faith that is nothing more than bare belief. He says, and we’ll look at this more closely later in the series in James 2. A faith like that, a faith that is bare belief will never save you. He reminds us that the devil knows that Jesus is the Son of God. The devil knows that Jesus died on the cross. And the devil certainly knows that Jesus rose from the dead. So if you have the same faith as the devil, don’t be surprised if your future is with him. So what is faith? Simply to introduce the theme this morning and to make three observations. The first is that faith is more than bare belief. Faith is more than bare belief. Hebrews 11, if you open your Bible there, gives us a long list of heroes of faith. Men and women who are models. They are examples to us of what real authentic faith looks like. Study this chapter and you will see that true faith is always more than bare belief. Faith is an active thing. It does things. It’s always on the move. It’s always venturing in some new way. I’ve picked out just seven verbs from Hebrews in chapter 11. There are many more, but I simply want you to get the point that faith is active. Look at verse three, for example, where we see that faith understands. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command. So what does faith do? Faith will open your understanding. That’s why the psalmist says, I have more insight than all my teachers because I meditate on your word. There is a wisdom that comes, that is opened up by faith in God’s promises that is beyond the level of mere human intellect. That is why it is possible to have a brilliant mind, and yet to live like a fool. But faith understands. Second, faith offers, verse four, by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. In other words, faith will lead you to make great sacrifices. It will lead you to deny yourself. It will lead you to costly commitment, sacrificial work, and service. Third, faith builds, verse seven, by faith Noah, when he was warned about the things not yet seen in holy fear, built an ark to save his family. So, here Noah’s faith initiates this great project that will be a means of advancing God’s redeeming purpose in the world. That is what faith does. It launches great projects in places like Congo, Southeast Asia, Barrington, Atoska. Number four, faith obeys, verse eight, by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, he obeyed and he went even though he did not know where he was going. In other words, faith will lead you into ventures into the unknown, that’s what it was for Abraham. God called him to move. You’ve been here long enough, now you must move into something new, I’m going to stretch you in a new way.’ And faith obeyed that calling from God. Number five, faith longs, verse 16, speaking of the heroes of faith, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Faith is always a forward-looking grace, it keeps our eyes fixed on our eternal future and calibrates our life now in the light of that. Number six, faith blesses, verse 20, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. Would take faith to bless Isaac, Jacob and Esau, don’t you think? To see God’s blessing on these rascals, but by faith, that’s what Isaac did. What a blessing to have a father, a mother, who is a man or a woman of faith. And faith leaves a legacy, and faith brings a blessing to your children and to all who God places around you. And number seven, faith worships, verse 21, by faith, Jacob, when he was dying, he blessed of Joseph’s sons and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff. So faith worships, and it worships even as this man is coming towards the end of his life here on earth. So I want you simply to see the pattern that faith in Hebrews 11 is much more than bare belief. Faith is like a living tree bursting with fruit. It’s not a dead tree. It’s a living tree and it’s bursting with fruit and it’s always producing new fruit. That’s its very nature. That’s a really helpful picture. You’re listening to Open the Bible, with Pastor Colin Smith, and today’s message, Faith Possesses Christ. It’s part of a series called The Anatomy of Faith. And if you ever miss one of the messages, or if you want to go back and listen again, you can easily do that by coming online to our website openthebible.org.uk and there you can hear any of the messages which have already been broadcast. You’ll also find our messages as podcasts, and you’ll find those on your regular podcasting site. Search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. There’s also a link to our podcasts on our website. Open the Bible is supported very much by our listeners, and later on in the programme, I’ll be talking to Colin about an offer that we have for you this month, if you are able to set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month, or more. To say thank you for setting up a new gift in that way, we’d love to send you a copy of Pastor Colin Smith’s new book Green Pastures, Still Waters. It’s a daily devotional book based on Psalm 23. Back to the message now, we’re in Hebrews Chapter 11. Here’s Colin. Now let’s take a step further. Why then does faith do all these things? Why is it that faith understands and offers and builds and obeys and longs and blesses and worships? Where does all this life and energy come from that produces all this marvelous fruit that is listed right throughout Hebrews in chapter 11? And here we come to the central truth. There’s one thing for you to grasp in this two month series. This would be it right here. That faith unites us to Jesus Christ. That is why it is so fruitful. That is why faith understands and it offers, and it builds and it obeys and it longs and it blesses and it worships because faith unites us with Jesus Christ. Faith, here is the biggest thing for you to grasp about faith. It is the way in which Christ becomes ours. It is the bond by which we become his. A sidebar here just for a moment. The reason that we are justified by faith is that faith unites us to Christ who justifies. Always remember that. It’s not as if faith has some magical power within it, we are justified by Christ, who is ours, how? By faith. Faith unites us to Christ, so that we become his, and he becomes ours. We are justified by faith because faith unites us to Christ who justifies. And this is why faith is so fruitful, because it unites us to Jesus Christ. Bishop Riles says it well. You know how much I enjoy reading him, and again he’s just so clear in the way he says this. A believer’s religion does not consist in mere intellectual assent to a certain set of propositions and doctrines. It consists in a union, a communion, and a fellowship with an actual living Person, even the Son of God. And then he says it is a life of faith in Jesus, a life of confidence in Jesus, leaning on Jesus, drawing out of the fullness of Jesus, speaking to Jesus, working for Jesus, loving Jesus, looking for Jesus to come again. That’s the anatomy of faith. That’s its spectrum. Now the Bible uses two wonderful pictures to help us understand this union with Christ. The big thing that we’re trying to get hold of today that faith unites you to Jesus Christ. Two pictures that help to explain that, the first is in Romans and chapter 11, where Paul uses the picture of a brand being grafted into a tree. What he’s saying that if you check it out in Romans chapter 11 is simply this, that in the Old Testament, God’s redeeming works flowed through the descendants of Abraham. They were like the branches of God’s tree. Then in Romans 11 verse 17 here’s what Paul says. Some of the branches have been broken off and you that he’s speaking to gentile believers, he says you, you have been grafted into this tree and now you share in the nourishing sap of the olive root. Then he explains, Romans 11 verse 20, how this happened. The branches that were cut off, they were cut off because of unbelief and then he says, but you stand by faith. So what he’s saying is that the way in which you have come to be and grafted into Christ is by faith. That’s a wonderful picture. Faith is the way in which you are grafted into God’s tree, so that the life of Jesus Christ flows through you. Remember Jesus spoke about this, he said, I am the vine and you are the branches. But you become a branch in Christ by this bond of faith. That’s how you’re in Him and that’s how His life is in you. Here’s the wonderful thing. When a branch is grafted onto a tree, the fruit that it bears is not the fruit of its own nature but the fruit of the tree into which it has been grafted. That’s why it’s such a wonderful thing to be grafted into Christ because it means that Christ’s life flows in you. Which is why faith is so wonderfully fruitful. Why it understands and why it offers and why it builds and why it obeys and why it longs and why it blesses and why it worships. We’re way beyond already a bare belief. We’re talking about the life of Christ in you and faith being the bond that makes Christ yours and you his. Then there’s a second picture, that’s perhaps even closer to home for most of us surely is, and that is of a bride joined in marriage to her bridegroom. This is a wonderful New Testament picture in Ephesians Chapter 5. Paul says that believers are the bride of Jesus Christ, and that our relationship with him is not simply that we have a bare belief in him, but that we are made one with him in a way that’s analogous to the way in which a husband and a wife are made one. Martin Luther describes this very beautifully. He says faith unites the soul to Christ as a bride is united to her bridegroom. Isn’t that beautiful? By this mystery as the apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh. If they are one flesh and there is between them a true marriage, it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. Accordingly, the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as his own. Now, to all you folks who are married, would you agree with me that marriage changes your life? And would you agree with me that how marriage changes your life depends on who you’re married to? How it changes your life depends on who you marry. So think about this, faith joins you in this holy union with Christ. And the way that faith changes your life is shaped by the Christ faith joins you to. Now, who is this Christ? Well, He’s the prophet, the priest, and the king, isn’t He? He’s our teacher, and He’s our savior, and He’s our Lord. He’s the one who gives us precious promises. He’s the one who redeems. He’s the one who calls us to follow Him. And what that means is that faith that joins us to Him involves the whole person—the mind, the heart, and the will— because it’s being joined to the Christ who promises, the Christ who redeems, and the Christ who calls. Being joined to Him could never be a bare belief. So, as we think of the Christ to whom we are joined by faith, let’s remember this. I find it helpful just to think of this. Faith trusts, faith loves, and faith follows. That’s just a simple way of of shaping the the anatomy of faith that we’re going to try and spell out over these coming weeks. Faith trusts a Christ who promises, and of course that’s the whole point in chapter 11. The believers who first read this letter, they trusted Christ. But then, like some of us, they’d run into a whole load of difficulties in their lives. They’d become discouraged. They’d say now wait a minute we’d put our faith in the Son of God, now we are facing all these difficulties and we have these prayers that have not yet been answered, and so forth, and so on. Some of them are becoming very discouraged. And some of them are beginning to think about giving up, and so this writer writes the letter, including the verses that we’ve read, and what he’s saying is this. Now look at the heroes of the Old Testament. Verse 13, they did not receive the things that were promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And what the writer is saying is, folks we are in the same position, we live by faith and not by sight. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. So that’s your position. That’s my position. Faith trusts. Faith trusts a Christ who promises. Faith hopes for what we do not yet see. It trusts Christ in relation to what we do not yet have. That’s how it always has been. That is what real faith looks like. That’s a helpful reminder that faith trusts because Christ promises. You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith and our message today, Faith Possesses Christ. It is the first part of our new series the anatomy of faith and if you miss any of the series you can always catch up or go back and listen again online. Come to our website openthebible.org.uk. You can also find our messages as podcasts. Go to your favorite podcast site search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates. There is also a link on the website to our podcasts. Also on our website you’ll find Open The Bible Daily and that’s a series of short two-to-three-minute reflections based on pastor Colin Smith’s teaching and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish. There’s a new one every day and that is also available as a podcast. At Open the Bible, we welcome contact with our listeners. If you’ve been blessed by pastor Colin Smith’s teaching and you’d like to reach out to us there are several ways you can do that. You can write to us at or you can phone us on If we’re not available when you call leave a message for us and we’ll return your call. All of these contact details are available on our website openthebible.org.uk Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners that’s people just like you and this month if you’ve been thinking about setting up a new donation in respect of Open the Bible in the amount of five pounds per month or more we’d love to thank you by sending you a copy of Pastor Colin Smith’s devotional Green Pastures, Still Waters 31 days in Psalm 23 it’s very much a devotional that goes with this series of messages. Colin, what do you hope that people using this devotional will take away from it? Well it will fix your eyes and mind on the Lord Jesus Christ I mean, He is the Good Shepherd He is what Psalm 23 is all about and to know that you have a Shepherd in Christ and that He’s going to lead you in right paths He’s going to give you rest He’s going to restore you when you’re spent and your energy is exhausted and gone He’s going to guard you He’s going to sustain you He’s going to love you all the days of your life and eventually bring you into his nearer presence I mean, a month fixing your mind and heart on Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd is going to renew your strength it’s going to encourage you greatly and that’s what Psalm 23 does and I think that’s why it’s one of the best known and best loved chapters in all of the Bible So that’s Pastor Colin Smith’s devotional Green Pastures, Steel Waters, 31 Days in Psalm 23 And it’s our gift to you if you’re able to set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount of £5 per month during the course of this month full details on our website For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able to join us again next time Are you convinced that there’s nothing more that you can receive from Jesus? Find out how to cultivate a faith which loves, trusts and follows Him That’s next time on Open the Bible