As we wind down our series of messages on practical faith, it might have occurred to you that perhaps the most practical and the most important aspect of the subject is our salvation from sin. Certainly nothing is more practical than life and death. Nothing is more important than eternal life or eternal separation from God. And there are more scriptures than we can look at this morning which tell us that it is through faith that sinners grasp God’s free gift of salvation and eternal life. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “Whosoever believeth (on Christ shall) not perish, but have eternal life.” “Jesus said unto (Martha, Lazarus’ sister), I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
Having said that nothing is more practical than salvation, I must add that the word “practical” doesn’t necessary refer to something physical. Despite its physical aspects, salvation is not accomplished in a physical way. Water does not wash away sin, even if someone says that it is holy, or it is found in a baptistry somewhere. And eating a piece of unleavened bread or drinking the fruit of a grape do not create spiritual life. None of the gates of Heaven will open by waving a piece of paper declaring church membership. And to be a child or grandchild of one of God’s saints does not automatically make that child a saint. The Bible declares, ““For by grace are ye saved through faith…” And faith is not something we do with our hands, our mouths or even with our minds or emotions.
Stepping back just a bit, I’d like to remind you that there are different ways to experience different things.
For example, generally speaking, how does a person recognize or appreciate heat? I know that you can sometimes see waves of heat when the circumstances are just right. And quite often when metal or glass gets really hot it turns red, and our sight warns us not to touch it. But usually, the best way to know that something is warm is to feel it. You might smell that something is hot, but it’s not the heat you smell, it’s the effect of the heat. God has given us the sense of touch which we can use to detect whether a light bulb is warm. And how can we experience the sensation of cold? Again, you can’t smell cold, but you can touch it. You can put ice into water, and use your lips to feel that the water isn’t as warm as it had been. By what means can we best enjoy a Bach cello concerto? Not with our eyes or fingers. And we appreciate that beautiful sunset through our sight, not our nose. When my wife makes her delicious blueberry cheese cake, I don’t enjoy it by sticking my finger into it.
And then what about something intangible, like “joy?” Through what means do we feel joy or sorrow? The scientist might talk about various hormones or other compounds in our blood or our brain. But most of us experience fear or anger, joy or sorrow emotionally, not in something specifically tactile. What I am trying to say is that God has created us with various abilities through which we experience other parts of His creation.
But by what means can we experience God Himself? The Lord Jesus told us that God is a spirit, and therefore we can only properly worship in spirit and truth. John the Baptist said, “No man hath SEEN God (the Father) at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” – John 1:18. Jehovah God is unseeable unless He chooses to be seen. And for that purpose the Son of God took on a human body – He became incarnate. Again, the Baptist said, “And the Word (speaking of the Second Person of the Trinity) was made FLESH and dwelt among us, (and we BEHELD his glory…)” – John 1:14. And the Apostle Paul added, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the FLESH…” – I Timothy 3:16. Other than in the person of the Lord Jesus, or in some extra-special revelation, people cannot touch God, hear God, or see God. But still, if there any one thing which you and I absolutely need, it is a positive relationship with that untouchable God.
Thankfully He has ordained something beyond our five senses by which we may enjoy God. Jehovah, praise the Lord, gives to sinful men and women the gift of faith. And through that means, and that means alone, we can experience the untouchable God.
But we need far more than just the opportunity to look into God’s face. It’s not enough to satisfy our curiosity about His hair color or skin tone. God is a spirit and as such these things are not a part of Him. More important considerations are things like His infinite holiness and His absolute justice. These are things we can not see with our eyes or feel with our hands.
Numbers 23:19 reminds us that “God is not a man.” Because He knows and sees all things, we say that He has eyes, but really, He doesn’t have eyes, and He doesn’t need them. To say that the “Lord has hands” is an “anthropomorphism” – it is the use of a human term to describe the otherwise indescribable God. To say that “God walks with His saints,” means that He fellowships with them, but it doesn’t say that God has feet – either two, or four, or whatever.
Taking Numbers 23:19 a step farther, we are told “God is not a man, that he should lie…” So where does that put us who have lied more times than we can count? How can we who are liars walk with the holy God who cannot lie and who in fact hates lies? The Bible says that “the LORD (our) God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God,” so again what is going to happen to us who have provoked God’s jealousy every day of our lives. “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day,” but honesty forces us to admit that we are not righteous – rather just the opposite – so what are we going to do with the Lord’s anger? Psalm 89:7 – “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” How can we pierce through the fear we ought to have of God in order to approach this One we have not properly reverenced throughout our lives?
Let me take you back to our opening scripture – “Being JUSTIFIED by FAITH, we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Because of who He is, God, who is a spirit, will not permit us into His holy presence based on anything found in our physical lives. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags before Him. All our very best is garbage to Jehovah. Your 20/20 eyesight is not capable to see the Lord in His super-brilliant glory, nor can you taste Him with your kisses.
But He HAS given us another means of approach – FAITH.
The things which are truly important… things which are eternal and spiritual… The things which connect sinners like us to the holy God are available to us only through faith. I’d like to share some of those things with you this morning.
Romans 5:1 says – “Being JUSTIFIED by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Justification” is one of those words which some people refuse to hear because it is so “religious.” They say, “It’s not a real word; it doesn’t have anything to do with real life.” Ah, my friend, that is not the case. It is true that “justification” speaks of the blessing of God in which He declares a sinner righteous in His sight. But it’s also a word used in the legal system and even in the printing industry. People often “justify” what they are doing, by making an excuse to suggest they are right in doing it. And the lines of print in my Bible are all justified in that they are all even at both end.
But as I say, in the Bible it means that God accepts a sinner as righteous in His eyes. And the only way that we can be justified is by faith. The only way that we may be considered righteous is by faith in Christ the Saviour. Romans 3:27 – “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds (or works) of the law. Galatians 3:24 – God’s “law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith… for ye are all the children of God by FAITH in Christ Jesus.” These and other scriptures teach us that the only way for us to approach God as godly or righteous people is when we put our faith in Christ Jesus our Saviour. Have you been, and are you now, justified by faith? Then you are not a child of God or a friend of God.
In Acts 15 Christ’s church in Jerusalem was looking at the question of how sinners could be cleansed from their sins. After considerable discussion and probably lots of Bible study, the Apostle Peter arose to speak. He referred to an opportunity God gave to him to share the gospel with some people who were not Jews. He said, “And God, which knoweth the hearts. Bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, PURIFYING their hearts by FAITH.” How can the filthy hearts of sinners be purified? By faith in the Saviour, Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:21 says, “Now the righteousness of God without the law (obedience to the law) is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by FAITH of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe.” This is another way to point to justification. The righteousness of God is given only to those who put their faith on Christ Jesus. They are found in Christ not having their own righteousness, “but that which is through the faith of Christ; the righteousness which of God by faith” – Philippians 3:9. And by Him, “we have access BY FAITH into the grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” – Romans 5:2. God, and His glory, are available only to people whose faith is in Christ. Faith in the mother of Christ is impotent. Faith in a person’s church is not saving, justifying faith.
You may be thinking: “All that is fine. I hear you reading and quoting the Bible about faith in Christ, but I don’t get it. I don’t understand any of this talk about connecting with God through faith.
Let me take you to my object lesson.
Let’s say that this light bulb represents you. I like this light bulb. I like its shape. It has a more pleasing appearance than many other bulbs. And it is clear, so I know it’s not hiding anything from me. I like the fact that some of the elements inside are a pleasant yellow color. It is light weight; not cumbersome. And it is delicate, forcing me to treat it with a little kindness. Similarly, I like you. There are many things about you that appeal to me. I would enjoy being your friend.
But there are some problems with this light bulb. For example, it doesn’t have any value, except for what the manufacture says that it has. It doesn’t make a good table ornament, unless it had some sort of pedestal on which to stand. As it is right now, what could it do? What is its purpose? It doesn’t move by itself. It doesn’t dance. It doesn’t make any soothing sound or good music. For several weeks this bulb has been sitting in a cupboard, because it wasn’t fulfilling its purpose; it wasn’t doing anything. But it was manufactured for a specific purpose, just as you were created for a reason. This bulb was made to bring a little light into a world of darkness. And whether or not you want to believe it, you were created by God to do the same by having a positive relationship with Him. The Lord Jesus and others repeated God’s command: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” – Deuteronomy 6:5. I might say that even though this bulb is a real object; it occupies space; we can see it and feel it… Yet, for all intents and purposes it is dead. It has no life. It is not fulfilling its primary purpose. And similarly, despite the reality of your physical life and all that you do day after day, you are probably not fulfilling the primary purpose for your creation. You are dead in the sight of God. You cannot be who you were meant to be until you are connected with your Creator.
Now I am going to put this light bulb into an instrument for which it was designed. You might say that this bulb is in its church, proudly sitting up straight in its pew. Everyone is looking at it. But it is still just a dead useless bulb without light. While other bulbs are praising their Creator and serving God by shining, this bulb is not. It is not fulfilling its purpose until it connects with the power of its creator. But then, one day, the hand of the Holy Spirit takes that lifeless bulb and begins to turn it whither so ever He chooses, and by the grace of God, it is driven down into contact with power. Now this little useless light bulb is fulfilling the reason for its creation. Only when it touches the electrical current does it shine.
That contact is an illustration of how faith touches the holy God. Faith accesses the righteousness of God. Through faith the bulb is purified of its useless existence. By faith it pleases God and becomes a child of the Lord’s purpose. By faith the dead are brought to life. By faith they are given the gift of God’s righteousness. By faith they are sanctified, and made saints.
Conclusion
Despite being created to enjoy the Lord in the pleasant coolness of God’s garden, our first parents chose to go down their own sinful path. They sinned, and in that sin they died spiritually, and their children have been spiritually still born ever since. You and I are among those still born children. But God, in grace, time and time again, has come to of us, with the blessings and promises of eternal life. Often He has made us feel absolutely miserable in our uselessness and ugliness. Maybe the Lord has turned up the pressure in your soul, twisting and turning you, forcing you down and down. My friend, that conviction and spiritual misery was for a glorious purpose. It has been to drive you into Himself. It has been a good thing. “Despisest thou the riches of (God’s) goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of god leadeth thee to repentance?” – Romans 2:4.
The question is: has the Lord’s work gone far enough for you to actually meet the Lord? Has the Holy Spirit brought you sufficient spiritual sorrow and repentance to actually drive you to faith in Him? Until we touch the Lord through faith, God will never be anything more than our Judge. But when we see ourselves to be as wicked as God knows us to be, and we cast ourselves down in repentance before Him, faith enables us to make that connection.
I can honestly say, based upon the promise of God, the Spirit of Christ lives in me by faith – Ephesians 3:17. And I have joined thousands of others as children of God by faith in Christ Jesus – Galatians 3:26. Nearly sixty years ago, the Lord humbled me under the preaching of the Word of God, and spun me around and around until I had no place to turn but to the Saviour. I put my faith in Christ and His work on the cross, and the Lord gave me life. What about you? Are you one of God’s children by faith in Christ Jesus? If you are, you need to share that news with others, like a burning light bulb – “I, too, am connected to the Lord by faith.”