Biblical Faith - Biblical Vs Non-Biblical
Hal Molloy · Jul 22, 2001
Biblical Faith, No. 07
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262235573780

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Last week, we looked at the principle of faith, and we defined it as the way something functions or operates, and God has set up a system as to how we function with Him, as to how we operate with Him, by the principle of faith. The principle of faith includes that we walk by personal faith, personal trust, rest. in what is revealed to us in terms of the essence of faith, the reality which God reveals to us.

And that reality is in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we also saw that the things of God are the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. We walk by faith in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and who he is. He is the object of our personal faith.

And so the principle of faith is walking that way. personally, by faith, and the essence of faith, which God reveals to us. We look at an example of walking by the principle of faith in Colossians chapter 2, where it says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk the same way. We received Christ Jesus the Lord by faith, the principle of faith. it involved personal faith, it involved essence of faith, and we received Christ that way.

Key thing we tried to point out last week, active voice. You participated in that. And then it goes on to say, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. You walk the same way, the same way you received him We walk by faith. Again, active voice. You participate in this walk and you do it. Do it by faith.

We look then in verse 7 of Colossians chapter 2 where it makes these four statements and talks about these four aspects and the first one says that by having been rooted or firmly planted in him. Talking about our position in our walk. We looked at how we got firmly planted or rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ by our identification with Christ. And as you look at Romans chapter 6, it says that we're rooted, that we have been firmly planted in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there was a purpose to that so that we can grow in his resurrection. That gets to the purpose of our walk in terms of being edified and being built up in the Lord Jesus Christ.

How do we do that? By beholding Him. Beholding the Lord Jesus Christ through the Word of God is the only way that we can behold the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we behold Him through the Word, we are built up, we are edified, and that whole process, God is then forming Christ in us, conforming us to the very image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The walk is a process, and there is a result of this walk, and we saw last week that we're firmly established. We're fixed in the faith. We get fixed in the essence of faith, the total revelation from the Word of God. And so when some false doctrine comes along, we're not tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine that comes at us, that we know what the Word of God says. So that's the process.

What God desires of us is simply to walk by faith. That's His desire of us. And then He does all of the rest in terms of rooting us, planting us so that we can grow together with the Lord Jesus Christ, being built up and edified in Him, being established, fixed in the faith. It's all passive voice. We are acted upon. As we walk by the principle of faith, God does the rest. So he desires that we just do that. Walk by faith. He does the rest.

And then there's only one thing that we can possibly do as we see what God is doing in our life through the Lord Jesus Christ. Our only response can be that we abound with thanksgiving. That we are just joyful in terms of what he's doing in our life. And there is nothing in the world so precious to our Father as a heart that appreciates His Son. And that's where this Thanksgiving comes in, a heart that is filled with gratitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay, the question for you today, do we, can we walk by a principle faith which is non-biblical? Interesting thing is this, we live our entire life on a principle of faith. You went to bed last night, and by faith, you knew you would get up this morning. And by faith, you knew that your heart would keep on beating and your lungs functioning. That was a principle of faith that you operate on. You operate on a principle of faith in that the food that you eat is not poison. and the water that you drink, you drink it by faith. But you do that all by faith. What I'd like to do is just make the contrast.

Personal biblical faith versus personal non-biblical faith. And I'm defining a term here, personal non-biblical faith. Scripture calls it unbelief. It's unbelief in the essence of faith, which is revealed through the Word, but nevertheless, You still believe something.

You operate by faith. So, personal biblical faith. It is the subjective trust and rest in the objective truth from the Word of God. We saw that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the reality of the things of God or the things of Christ. which are an absolute certainty revealed from the Word of God. The object of this faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as we look at non-biblical faith. Non-biblical faith is a subjective trust or faith in the ways and wisdom of man, which is assumed reality.

Man assumes that it's reality, but in truth it's uncertainty. It is uncertainty. It is not absolute certainty like biblical faith. And it results in one thing, man's unrest. Man never rests. If we walk in non-biblical faith, we are not at rest. We haven't entered into his rest.

And the object of this faith is self. Alright, what does it look like? Faith, which is non-biblical, by definition is unreality. Faith, non-biblical, is unreality. It defines the things of man, which are uncertainty, total uncertainty. And the source of this non-biblical faith is self. Self is the author, if you will, and the finisher. Self is the originator and completer of non-biblical faith. So then, coming at us, and coming at everyone are the ways and wisdom of man.

We were at a party and I spent about an hour talking to this psychologist. I was asking him the kinds of problems that he runs into with people. And he started explaining to me what the problems were. And so I asked him, what is your approach in solving people's problems? And he says, my approach for the last 32 years has been to change their behavior. How do you do that? And he works primarily with kids.

He said, well, I've got all these little formulas, all these little things, tricks that I use. That's the ways and wisdom of man. And when man hears that, he responds by personal faith. This psychologist believed what he was taught. He's got his bachelor's degree, he's got his master's, he's got his PhD. And he was taught the ways and wisdom of men.

And he has put his personal faith in that, which is unbiblical. And for the last 32 years, he's been operating that way. But there is no rest in his life. The only response is unrest. So we are going to walk moment by moment either in faith, which is unreality, non-biblical, or else we're going to walk in faith, which is biblical, which is a reality.

The object of that biblical faith is the person of Jesus Christ. The object of non-biblical faith is self. But we're going to walk by faith in one of these two. How do we transition from walking by the principle of biblical faith to walking by non-biblical faith. And do we walk here in non-biblical faith?

Can I tell you, you walk here. You know how I know you walk there? Not because I've been observing you, because I walk there. And remember we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that the Spirit of man knows the Spirit of man. And I know the spirit of man because I have the same spirit that you do, and I know how you walk because I walk the same way.

We do walk here in non-biblical faith. How do we get there? What's that transition? I thank the Lord for revealing to us what this is all about. You know, when you think of the Apostle Paul, you think, here's a man who walked strictly by biblical faith. the principle of biblical faith. His entire life was characterized by that walk. Was it? I just thank the Lord for revealing to us that Paul walked here in non-biblical faith and he revealed that to us to tell us what it's all about. And where it leads. Turn to Romans chapter 7. I'm going to start with verse 7. And Paul asks the question, what shall we say then?

Is the law sin? Answer, God forbid. May it never be so. It's impossible that the law is sin. And he goes on to say, no, I had not known sin. And by the way, there's a definite article there. So when there's a definite article there, I'm going to translate it.

The sin, the sin's nature. So, no, I had not known the sin nature, but by the law, for I had not known coveting or desiring, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet, or Thou shalt not desire. But, verse 8, but the sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting or desiring, for apart from the law, sin is dead. For I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, the sin nature revived, and I died." Now, he's saying that the law is not sin, because Paul tells us that the law is holy, it's righteous, and it's just, and the commandment are the same way, holy, righteous, and just. But he had not known about the sin nature except that the commandment was given. And then, in verse 8, he says, but the sin nature taking occasion by the commandment, or the sin nature using the commandment as a springboard or as a starting point, wrought in me all manner of covenant.

So here comes the commandment, thou shalt not covet. Well, until the commandment came, the sin nature didn't react. But when the commandment came, when a commandment says, thou shalt not covet or thou shalt not desire, sin nature says, what do you mean?

I want to desire. I've got the right to desire. I want to desire. You have the right to desire. So it was that commandment that caused the sin nature to spring into action. In verse 9, Paul says, for I was alive apart from the law once. Now, the word alive is an imperfect tense. He says, I was alive, imperfect tense, which says continuous action in the past, but then it terminated. So, I was alive.

Oftentimes, you'll read some Bible expositor And they'll tell you that Romans chapter 7 occurred when Paul was an unbeliever. That he wasn't a believer. Romans chapter 7 is when Paul didn't know Christ. Not so. Paul says, I was alive. Imperfect tense. Time before the present time. Continuous action. And then he says he died. Back to verse 9. I was alive apart from the law once in the past. But when the commandment came, look what happened. The sin nature revived. It sprang back into activity and Paul died. So the sin nature came to Paul and said, here's the law. You can do it. You can fulfill the commandment. And so Paul took the bait and Paul died.

Death means what? Separation. And so, what was Paul separated from? Well, he was separated from the fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Paul thought that he could live the Christian life in his own sufficiency by keeping the law. Result? Death. Separation, loss of fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, how do we fall into the same pit that Paul fell into? We do. How do we do that? And how do we get seduced like Paul got seduced?

If you would think about what you hear and about what you read in terms of how to live the Christian life. And here's the problem. Today, the totality of the essence of biblical faith is often not taught nor clearly presented. And how is that evidenced? It's evidenced by exhortations to Christian living.

And there are challenges that are given to pray more, to study more, to give more, to witness more, to surrender more, to minister more, to consecrate more, to commit more, to feel sorry about your sin. And you hear that over and over. In summary, these exhortations come at you that you have to be more Christ-like. and how do you get more Christ-like? You start thinking about the situation that you're in and asking the question, what would Jesus do in this situation? And you should do the same thing.

Really? Is that what the Christian life is all about? Is that we should be thinking of what Jesus would do in this situation and try to imitate him? That's not the Christian life. Where should our focus be? When you think of all these things, Where is the focus? Isn't the focus here on self versus the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ? The focus is on self. Now, there's nothing wrong with praying. There's nothing wrong with giving. There's nothing wrong with studying. There's nothing wrong with some of these things I mentioned.

But they will be a fallout in our walking by faith, in the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. and they don't precede the walk, they're a result of the walk. But we always put them backwards. We always interchange them. And that's our problem.

So with these expectations, sin nature says, well, I can do that. I can pray more, and give more, and minister more, and surrender more, and commit more, and consecrate more. And the sin nature loves that. Because the sin nature is always there saying, you just tell me what to do and I'll do it. It's the nature of love that says, yes, I can live the Christian life.

Well, we take that faith. We take the faith, hook, line, and sinker. It is so subtle, but we take that faith and we go from walking by the principle of faith, the object of our Lord Jesus Christ, to walking with the object of self, that we can live the Christian life. The Christian life is Christ, and He's the one that lives the life through us. We come to that point when we take that bathe that we think that we have the sufficiency in and of ourselves to walk the walk. That somehow there's some sufficiency, something in us that we can walk the walk. And if we do that, boy, God is going to be pleased with me. I'm going to be more acceptable in His sight if I do these wonderful things. And we never stop to think, what does the essence of faith tell us? That God is pleased, how? In His Son. And if we're in His Son, identified with His Son, is He pleased with us?

We betcha. Can we be more acceptable to God than we already are? I mean, we're accepted In the Beloved One, Scripture tells us that we're accepted in Him. That's all the acceptance we need. We have His acceptance. There's nothing more that we can do to make ourselves more acceptable to Him. Look at verse 10, Romans 7.

And the commandment, or in our case, the exhortations that come at us, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. And in verse 11, because the sin nature, taking occasion, using the exhortations that come at us as a springboard, deceives us and it plays us. We take that bait, we try to fulfill all these exhortations, and thinking that our Christian life is going to be enhanced, we're going to be more acceptable, more pleasing to God, but we find out that it becomes a struggle, and we start struggling. And what we thought would be enhancement to life in Christ, we find to be death. This separation from fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So these exhortations are used to deceive us and slay us.

And we're living in a state of chronality. We are living here with self as our focus. And Paul then in verse 14, look what he says. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal." Essence verb, the state in which he is existing after he took the bath. He's existing in the state of carnality. And either we're carnal or we're spiritual. We're in either one of the two states.

It goes on to say that he sold under the sin nature. we're sold out to our sin nature and we become slaves. We become slaves to the very nature that the Lord freed us from. As we attempt to live the Christian life out from the flesh, we find it to be a constant struggle. And Paul describes this struggle as we go on into Romans chapter 7.

To summarize it, he says this, that I should be doing, those are the very things that I'm not doing. The things that I know that I shouldn't be doing, those are the very things that I'm doing. And you've got this struggle going on and it's a constant struggle and you get worn down and you get depressed because you can't act it, you can't live this life. We see failure in our life. When that sin nature sees failure, the old man says, here's the correction. The correction is, you've got to redouble your efforts. And we try harder. And guess what? The most wonderful thing happens is that we fail again.

We come to the point where we see that we don't have sufficiency in and of ourselves. And that's the most wonderful thing that has ever happened in my life, to know that I don't have Can't get any better than that. That's the best. Know that we don't have sufficiency because then we have to look to the one who does have sufficiency. That's not us. Look at Romans 7 verse 24.

And here's the point we get to. And this is a wonderful place to be. Wonderful place to be. Oh wretched man that I am. Wonderful insight. Wonderful place to be. Wretched man that I am. What other thing shall deliver me from this body of death? Oh, I'm sorry. I misread that. What does it say? Who shall deliver me from this body of this death? Answer, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. The answer is the who, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.