The Wednesday Word
The
Gospel Truth About Faith (Part 2)
D.
G. Miles McKee
Faith
is dynamic and continues to grow as it is bathed in the gospel.
Romans
10:16 says, “But
they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith,
Lord, who hath
believed our report? So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Notice
how the “WORD of GOD” and the “GOSPEL” are equated in
this passage. They are one and the same! Faith will grow,
therefore, as the gospel is expounded! The preaching of the
good news of the person, work and offices of Christ always brings and
generates faith. Therefore, we must get away from the notion that the
message of Christ is exclusively for evangelistic meetings! The
gospel is every bit as much for the believer as it is for the
lost!
What a wonderful gift of God faith really is!
It enables us to take hold of the ‘so great salvation’ that has
already been accomplished in Christ Jesus. When faith comes to
our lives, it agrees with God’s verdict that our human
righteousness is no cleaner than a filthy rag. In the light of
the gospel, faith causes us to abandon all hope of ever being saved
by our own goodness.
The more we are bathed and
washed in the gospel the more we will realize it is not because we
have been filled with the Spirit or have had some new blessing that
we are fully accepted and welcome in heaven. Faith’s vision
is not foggy! Faith sees clearly that we are not made more
welcome in heaven because of our experiences. Faith does not
rest on experiences … no matter how intense they have been.
Faith sees that our full acceptance and welcome before God rests
entirely upon Christ's experience for us and not on our experience of
God.
Faith also sees that we are not saved because we are
being good and are trying to be obedient to God: Faith sees, however,
that the obedience of Jesus Christ is entirely superior to our faulty
attempts at obedience and totally sufficient to satisfy all the
demands of God’s holy and righteous character.
But
surely this is a dangerous teaching! Are there not those who
will twist this kind of thing and live like the Devil? Of
course, there are! But does that mean we should hold back from
proclaiming the applications of the gospel because some people may
pervert them? God forbid!
When the person of Christ
and His doing and dying are preached, faith is created, and the
believer is reduced to nothing. It is the preaching and
application of the gospel which produces true humility in that it
brings us to an end of ourselves. Faith will cause us to
continually hold truth like this,
“Nothing
in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy
cross I cling,
Naked come to Thee for dress
Helpless look
to Thee for Grace,
Foul I to the fountain fly,
Wash me
Saviour or I die”.
Because
gospel faith will cause us to see our bankruptcy and destitution, the
gospel and its applications, when properly expounded to the church,
will cause us to take up our cross and follow Christ. A truly
destitute man has nowhere else to go but to Christ and nowhere else
to look but up. He sees his spiritual poverty and it
humbles him. He must now turn in reliance and trust to Christ
Jesus who alone can do for him that which he cannot do for
himself.
And that’s the Gospel Truth!
Comments