The Object Of True Faith

But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up 

Christ again from the dead.) but what saith it? 

The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, 

and in thy the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe 

to thine heart that God hath raised Hm from 

the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the 

mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

For the Scripture saith, Whosover believeth on 

Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no 

difference between the Jew and the Greek:

 for the same Lord over all is rich unto all 

that call upon Him. For whomsover shall call

 upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:6-13  

     It is interesting that a person that come to salvation can more often than not tell of the exact moment they converted, but they cannot do not know at the exact moment that they were saved. Some convert to Christianity but yet have not experienced or know for a fact that they are truly saved. Some teach that a person must pass through some fiery trial, or circumstance before being saved, yet fir others faith comes peacefully and easily through the nurture of Christian homes. God deals with us individually and salvation does have a place in our consciousness. It is God Who uses in our salvation a conscious act of the human soul as it is the work of the Holy Spirit and at the same time it is an act of a person. This does not mean that God implants the Holy Spirit and faith in a person without the person having a part in this salvation. Now man cannot do any work that will bring them to salvation, no, any Christian work is an outgrowth of salvation. To accept is an act but not a work! God is handing out a gift but a person must receive that gift, this free gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Now, we must never forget that at our believe, our repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior we are then justified by God, even sanctified in the eyes of God, yet our sanctification is a thing in this life that must be done by our obedience. Authentic Christians are "justified by faith." 

      Faith, this thing called faith, is being exalted very high by men today, but what kind of faith is this faith? I have given this example before: Two men are at the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge when another man comes to them and asks if they have faith that this bridge would hold them and not crash if they walked across the bridge. Both men said to him: "I have faith." One of the men began walking across the bridge and the other stood and stared at the man crossing the bridge. Which of the two men had true faith?

     It is true that faith in Jesus, even if it only verbal faith can bring good results. Faith in absurd things will at times bring forth beneficial and far-reaching results. The question is: "What is the object of a person' faith?" The object of a person' faith reveals what type of faith a person has, or may must be a psychological phenomenom, that may be important, some logical phenomenom that even other types of faith could produce. People are convinced that their faith is helping them. Well...what happens to that faith when their faith is not met according to what they believe their faith should have accomplished? It disappears! This is a type of counterfeit faith, the object of their faith was temporal and their conviction is lost and they lose whatever faith they have, any trustworthiness in this object of their faith. 

     True, Authentic Christian Faith has an object of their faith that is not temporal. Authentic Christians have come to receive this free gift of faith, not by some hope, some personal satisfaction that maybe someday this object of their faith will give them the promises that they have come knowledge of: yet they have not come to the source where they can find true Authentic Christian Faith. Where is this faith to be found, and how can we have an object of our faith that will never make a cause for us to lose faith? Paul gives is the metric to find faith: "So the faith is by or of a report, a sense or receiving a message, an interaction of the word heard, and this report, this hearing is by or of the word of God" (Romans 10:17; literal translation). Not the works of Luther, Calvin, Owens, Wesley, Edwards, Charles Taze Russell, Joseph Smith, Jr., Mary Baker Edwards, Ellen G. White, or even your pastor or teacher: it is only to be found in the word of God. It is not that some of the things written or said by those men or women are not good, even to be at times Biblical, but we have a command to "test all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (1Thessalonians 5:21). We are to study to show ourselves approved (2Timothy 2:15); "and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you" (1Thessalonians 4:11). 

     We are about to celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ, a time that wee should not allow the commercialism that has come to be associated with this festival for it is a festival of the arrival of the promised Messiah. Jesus came, Jesus showed us the way, and the inspired writers of the Bible recorded all this for us so that we could come to true Authentic Christian Faith. We have much to celebrate, but more we have the true of object of true faith: Jesus Christ!

I will worship toward Thy holy temple,

     and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness

and for Thy truth: for Thou hast magnified 

    Thy word above all Thy name.

                  Psalm 138:2

Have you set time aside to tell the story?

Richard L. Crumb