Part 9
of 22
The
Apostates Have Fallen Away from "The Faith"
“Faith”
can be a verb, an action word. “Credo,” the Latin word for
faith, is also a form of the verb usually translated as “I
believe…” We see this in “The Apostle’s Creed,” The Nicene
Creed,” and other religious creeds that begin with the words “I
believe...” According to Padraic O'Hare, a Professor of Religious
and Theological Studies, the verb can also be interpreted as “to give
one's heart to.” Here then faith is not an estate to be attained or
a stage to be realized; rather, faith is a way of being and moving.
Often
though, “faith” is a noun, the object. Paul thus uses the term… “the
faith,” to describe the set of core beliefs and doctrines
that grace believers are to hold today while we live under “the
dispensation of the grace of God.” Believers can say we place our “faith”
(our belief) in the core set of beliefs that we call “the faith.”
We as
members of “the body of Christ” are those who have received
Paul’s “gospel of grace of God” (Acts 20:24); thus we stand
in and stand for “the faith.” Paul, the Apostle who
the ascended Christ saved and sent specifically to the predominantly
Gentile “body of Christ,” was given the unique doctrine of “the
dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph 3:2) as the elements of “THE
FAITH.”
Paul
gives us these verses that describe some of the core beliefs of “the
faith.” “Be on the alert, stand firm in THE FAITH, act
like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13 (NASB)
1
Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you THE GOSPEL which I preached unto you, which also
ye have received, and WHEREIN YE STAND; 2
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what
I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3
For I (Paul) delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how that CHRIST (THE SAVIOR) DIED FOR OUR SINS
according to the scriptures; 4 AND
THAT HE WAS BURIED, AND THAT HE ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD
DAY according to the scriptures:
Romans
6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for YE ARE
NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE.
Eph
2:8-9 For BY
GRACE ARE YE SAVED
…THROUGH FAITH; … AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: …IT
IS THE GIFT OF GOD: …9 NOT
OF WORKS, lest any man should boast. (emphasis
added)
2
Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in THE
FAITH; prove your own selves. KNOW YE NOT YOUR OWN SELVES, HOW THAT JESUS
CHRIST IS IN YOU, except ye be reprobates?
Colossians
1:27 To whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is CHRIST
IN YOU, the hope of glory:
Galatians
2:20 I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I,
BUT CHRIST LIVETH IN ME: and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me.
Paul’s
epistles warn us of a “falling away” (apostacism) from the
faith that would appear “in the latter times” (1Timothy 4:1). Now
note these sobering words as our Apostle describes “the latter
times.”
1
Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that IN
THE LATTER TIMES some shall DEPART FROM THE FAITH, giving
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1
Timothy 1:19-20 … Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some
having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
Col
2:6-8 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so
walk ye in him: 7Rooted
and built up in him, and stablished in THE FAITH,
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8
BEWARE lest any MAN SPOIL YOU THROUGH PHILOSOPHY
and VAIN DECEIT, after the TRADITION OF MEN, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
2
Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by
any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a FALLING
AWAY first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2
Timothy 4:1-3 I charge thee
therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the
quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will
come when THEY WILL NOT ENDURE SOUND DOCTRINE; but after
their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears;
Titus
1:13-14 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply,
that they may be sound in THE FAITH; 14
NOT GIVING HEED TO JEWISH FABLES, and COMMANDMENTS
OF MEN, that turn from the truth.
Our
faith is built upon hearing the truths of “the word of God,” uncompromised.
Rom 10:17 …FAITH COMETH BY
HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD. Paul
says we have the written “word of God” and warns us that
we should not honor “the tradition of men”
in its place. “Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men…
(Colossians 2:8a) Jesus Himself here
warned the religious Pharisees of their traditions that negate “the
word of God.” “Making the word of
God of none effect through your TRADITION...” (Mark
7:13)
The
apostate’s are the so-called Christians and religious organizations that
have fallen away, from “the faith. We might ask; how shall we
preserve “the faith” among believers? Paul calls for the
separation of the true believers of “the faith” from the
perpetuators and perpetuators of the corrupted false gospel of the
apostates. Being in union with Christ, believers are to be those who live
in the word but are not of the world – our real source is outside “this
world” (John 8:23). Paul warns the believers of those who
will depart from the “sound doctrine” of “the faith” in
“the latter times”; saying, “from such (people) turn
away” (2Tim 3:5). I personally believe we today live in
those “latter times.”
Actually,
Paul says God has given all men a measure of faith (Rom 12:3), so the
issue is who or what we place our faith in. We all live by faith every
day; i.e., we live by faith in ourselves for so many practical things. We
live by faith in others, believing they will not drive their car across
the highway median and hit our car. When we place our faith in our own
“good works” to earn our salvation we have then misplaced our faith…
placing our faith in ourselves, not in Christ. Thus, not all faith is the
“saving faith” that is required for eternal union with God.
Thus, we
can understand that those who “depart from the faith” are not
entirely without faith; they may even be “religious.” They have a
faith, but it’s a faith that does
not save them. They may believe in God and the existence
of Jesus of Nazareth, but then also the Devil believes in God and Jesus.
Many deceived Christians and religious people have faith in their own good
works, seeking to justify their own self; this self-reliance is the root
of manmade religion. My definition of religion and religious activity is
that which men do out of self-effort, thinking they can thereby merit
salvation and/or God’s favor. Such wasted effort will not save one from
their sins, nor will our “self-works” please God after salvation.
Many
people go to a so-called Christian churches and claim salvation, but they
really do not believe with a “saving faith.” Their belief or credo may
be that Jesus of Nazareth was a good man and we should try to be like Him
- we all just need to be good, try hard, and our good works will save us;
but of course this is not the truth. An atheist can be “good.”
“Saving faith” is only a faith that is placed in Christ and in
His substitutionary work on
Calvary
’s cross for us as the sole basis of our salvation; this alone will save
us from our sins and from perdition (judgment).
Then
also, with our salvation, genuine “saving faith” brings the invisible
but very real deposit of Christ’s eternal “Spirit of life”
into the believer’s spirit to be their new life; this occurs is
immediately upon believing, while living here on earth. Christ’s “Spirit
of life” has overcome “sin and death” (Rom 8:2) and now
indwells the believer’s spirit as their power for living the Christian
life. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but CHRIST LIVETH IN ME… (Galatians 2:20a)
Since believer’s now possess the actual resurrected “Spirit of life
in Christ” (Rom 8:2a, 8-10) there is no need for them to try to
imitate Jesus of Nazareth. The question of “WWJD” goes out the window.
In
Paul’s second letter to Timothy he describes the people of the latter
times, the apostates, who will only hold to an outward “form of
godliness,” while “denying the power”
godliness in Christ.
“…they
hold A FORM of piety (religion), they deny and
reject and
are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness
of their profession]. AVOID [ALL] SUCH PEOPLE [TURN AWAY
FROM THEM]” (2 Timothy 3:5 (AMP)
Their
so-called faith, a misplaced faith in their own selves, denies and
prevents the power of God to save and change lives. So much
of man’s religion is just “an outward form,” full of liturgy,
ritual, rote or memorized prayers, ceremony, and tradition. The false
faith of religion is empty of reality and inner satisfaction; it is void
of the power that comes from true salvation that is able to change our
living. Deep down many of their thirsty adherents know that these
organizations are as “wells without water” and “clouds
without rain” and seek reality in Christ. Christ’s indwelling
Spirit is the only “living water” and the power for living,
which comes to believers with rest and peace for their hearts. Ephesians
3:16 That he would grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to BE STRENGTHENED WITH MIGHT BY HIS
SPIRIT IN THE INNER MAN;
The false faith of religion
depends upon an outward display of seemingly “good works” as a
supposed basis for righteous standing before God. These good works are not
the fruit of a saving faith in Christ’s cross-work, but rather of
self-effort. God rejects such self-effort as “dead works” (Heb
6:1, 9:14). These references are not to wicked works but to
dead works. These “dead works” are the so-called
“good works” (whether moral or ceremonial) which men did, and still
do, to make their self acceptable to God. They are “dead”
because they are not the product of a believer’s regenerated spiritual
life, but the mere attempt on the part of unregenerate sinners to justify
themselves before God.
Paul himself, once
zealously religious, but wholly unsaved, had to repudiate his “dead
works” and count them “loss” to find salvation in Christ,
through whom alone he could produce the genuine good works that God could
accept. (See Philippians 3:4-9).
This is why Paul declares
by divine inspiration: “For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God: NOT OF WORKS, lest any
man should boast, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO
GOOD WORKS...” (Eph.2:8-10). Paul
emphasizes that we are not saved by works that we have done.
“NOT BY WORKS of righteousness which WE HAVE DONE,
but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” (Titus 3:5)
The
fallen away apostate church, by its so-called “good works” and
apparent social caring, gives “religious cover” to the false
Christians and now to the government politicians who pretend but really
are not true believers. Have you ever wondered about those so-called
Christians of whom you can’t help but note there seems to be no evidence
of their saving faith in Christ? A mere social or political Christian may
play church, but he usually will have no genuine interest in Bible study
or the things of God. They usually are void of any emphatic claim or
testimony to their own personal salvation. They may go to a church by
habit or make payment on what they consider their “get-out-of-hell
free” insurance. They exhibit no rejoicing at having received the love
and grace of God, or the forgiveness of their sins that emanates only from
Christ’s blood-soaked cross. Such a one is not just a carnal Christian;
rather, they likely are not a Christian at all. Of course, only God knows
for sure.
Believers
are not to be each others “fruit” inspectors, however we should have a
sense or perception by the Spirit that something may be wrong with such
people (1Cor 2:10-11). John says “by the anointing (Spirit)” we
can “know all things” (1John 2:20, 27). We all make
judgments about things all day long, and Paul says believers can “judge
all things” (1Cor 2:15), that is we have perceptions about
things, situations, and people. Such questionable “believers”
typically profess belief in Jesus Christ only in a “general way.”
Those who claim such a “general faith” will exhibit no evidence of
spiritual “life,” and no change in their living or in their attitudes
toward God, toward others, or their objectives in life. They remain
unchanged by the power of Christ’s life because they’ve not yet
personally trusted in the substitutionary cross-work of Jesus Christ
“alone,” as the only basis for the forgiveness of their sins, their
reconciliation to God, their justification, their redemption, their
salvation, and their power for living.
By
contrast, genuine believers go on to walk in union with the Lord because
they have become constrained by the bands of His love and grace toward
them (2Cor 5:14). They have gratitude for Him, love Him, and appreciate
Him. They walk with Him because they know He first loved them (Rom 5:8).
In summary, the
liberal apostate protestant church has forsaken and compromised the
fundamentals of “the faith.” So much of the so-called Christian
church has failed to preach the simple truth of the pure “gospel of
the grace of God” by which men may be saved and changed. I trust
that you can now see how it is that people who are ignorant of God’s
grace gospel may go on thinking they are saved by their works when in fact
they really are not saved. They preach a social gospel, being nice, good
works, self-improvement, tradition and philosophy. The apostates do not
teach Paul’s “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24)
concerning salvation and forgiveness of sins that comes to men only by
receiving God’s love and grace, through faith alone in Christ’s
cross-work – without any requirement for good works. “But
to him that WORKETH NOT, but BELIEVETH on him (Christ) that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans
4:5 (KJV)
