Faith - Lesson 10 Week 2
JD McCulley · May 24, 2015
Faith, No. 20
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492654524262

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

Well, we left off at... where did we get to? Are we at question two? Yeah, look at Romans 3.27, what other word could be used for law here? I don't know, I just... Well, let's throw something out there. Ms. Faith Wright? What's another word for law? So the Greek word is nomos.

We said that oftentimes it is translated law. In the New American Standard, which is probably what most of you have, or maybe the NIV, it's translated as law, lowercase l. But in other verses, it's translated differently. And in some translations, like the New English translation, it's translated as principle.

And so we really kind of focused in on that concept of, So what we're trying to say here is that when we look at this idea of the principle of law, Paul's talking to believers here. And here he uses a law of faith. And so the question is, are we to walk by law? Is this throwing us back into the Mosaic law? Is this throwing us into some kind of New Testament law that we need to know what the commands are and make sure that we follow them and that we start to carry those around in our wallet, our purse, so that we know what those laws are? Is that what this verse is saying?

Is that what Paul's talking about in Romans 3.27? I don't think it is, and we looked at several other verses, and I had you do a little homework. I had you look at Romans 7, 21, 23, and 25, and also Romans 8 too. We don't need to go through those, we've got a lot to cover today. But what I did want to do is ask you guys, what did you see in the translation of that word in those verses? Did anyone notice a reoccurring theme there?

Maybe we need to look at Romans 7.21 together, and we'll just stop at that one. Let me pull that one up real quick.

So Paul's talking, he says, I find then the principle, and that word principle is the same word translated law in Romans 3.27.

So here it's principle, and Romans 3.27 when it says law of faith, it's the same word, it's nomos. So I find the principle, or you could say law, I find the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

And then in Romans 7.23, but I see a different law or principle at work in my members, in the members of my body, waging war against the law or principle of my mind. So that word can be translated either law or principle, and it's important for us as New Testament believers to know the difference between why we would translate it principle, and why we would translate it law. Remember that we defined principle as something, or defining the word what is a principle means the way something functions or the way something operates.

And we said that there's this creator who designed a system of which principles to function within. And so what system are we talking about when we're talking about this particular principle of faith? What system are we talking about? It's a tough morning. Well, we could be talking about the system or the reality, the essence of faith. So, the way God designed His creation to function and work, as both in an unbelieving state and a believing state, is a system, right? And so we're going to talk about what's the role of the unbeliever in response to hearing the Word of God, and what's the role of the believer in response to hearing the Word of God. We're going to talk about that in a little bit, but that's the system we're talking about. We're talking about reality, okay?

Remember last week we talked about how the world would have you believe that everything you can see, everything you can touch, everything that you can react with, you can test, you can hypothesize, anything that can fit in a lab or be observed is the world that we live in and nothing else beyond that exists. I was watching a little bit of TV the other day and they talked about the Hubble telescope being one of the most impressive inventions of all time because it's given us the ability to see out past ourselves and to see how we were created through the evolutionary worldview. And so there's a way of looking at what this world communicates to us by general revelation, and there's a way of interpreting it.

But God says, you know what? I'm the one that created it. I'm going to tell you how it functions. I'm going to tell you the system that I created, and I'm the one who originated it, and I designed it to function in a certain way. And when you understand the essence of faith, which is what we've been talking about, you understand the reality, the system. Now you have a principle of faith that works within that system. And that's that fourth attribute or aspect of biblical faith that we're talking about. And so principle means the way something functions, right?

And so in Romans 3.27, you have that word being used, but it's used as a principle. So what is a principle of faith? Something about how faith functions, right? This verse is telling us something about how faith functions in a larger system, right? And what is that larger system? It's the way God created the world and the way that we function within it.

So Paul is telling us in Romans 3.27, not that there's a law of faith that you've got to be measured by.

Remember, a law exists for measurement's sake. Is that what this principle of faith is about? Is it about being measured against something that can result in condemnation? That's not what's going on here. In fact, the word law, and when it's translated principle, we see that when the decrees, so of Moses, or law of etc., when you're missing that decree that would normally go alongside the word law, you can translate it principle, and we see that in Romans 7, 21, 23, and 25. But we don't see that being translated as principle when it's right next to, of Moses. Because you have a set of decrees, and so now the law is talking about a set number of measurement-based laws.

Yeah? Could you take that to, like, Abraham, you know, his faith was credited to him as righteousness, that type of... I mean, all of that in Hebrews or... You absolutely can. Yeah. Did he have the Ten Commandments? Did he have the Law of Moses? No, he did not. That's okay, though.

So, there's a principle of faith working throughout Revelation. We talk about the Word of God being progressively revealed. Abraham didn't have the 613 commandments that Moses came down the mountain with, did he? But he believed in what he understood of Yahweh at the time. And he looked forward to someone that would redeem. And that's a Genesis promise.

So we have this principle of faith and Mike wanted us to focus on this and hone in on this question so that when you read that verse, you don't all of a sudden see the word law and all of a sudden get thrown off and think, oh my goodness, I've got to go back and start observing some of the law. And as Vern talks about, you want some of it, you've already broken the whole thing. You've got to take the whole kit and caboodle, right? I really wanted to work that term into the lesson today. You can't just take 10. You've got to take 613. It's meant to work as a system and it functioned for the Israelites in a certain way. And what was the function of the Law of Moses? What was its main purpose?

To reveal sin? Increase sin? I think you're right. To reveal sin. It's like a mirror and when you look at it as a sinful person, you see who you are not. You see the perfection that you do not have. And as a result of that, you start to wonder, how do I satisfy this kind of law? There's only one who can do that, and that's the coming Messiah. And so I've got to put my faith in the one who's going to come and fulfill this thing because I can't.

And remember that there were Israelites that could have been stoned for breaking the law and still been believers. Do you remember that? There were Israelites who broke the law and were stoned to death as a result of breaking that law, but they were believers. God just took them out of this world earlier than He would have had someone maintained the measurement of the Mosaic Law in their life. And so, faith still provided salvation for the Israelites, but the law was meant to set them apart and show them their sin. It was like God was setting apart this group of people to show the rest of the world what it meant to be convicted and know of sin, and how that sin would be satisfied in a future way. And in the meantime, they had a picture. What was the picture of that satisfaction? the sacrifice. Every year they would bring their sacrifice to the Passover and they would remember that God's salvation plan was designed through death.

Right? So there was a death. There was an innocent death. A male lamb without stain or blemish who would die in the place of the sinful Israelite. And there was bloodshed. of the innocent. And that blood did what? It provided a covering, right? And they would have an understanding of God looking over or passing over their sin and placing the deserved result of sin, which is death, on that innocent sacrifice. But they had to do it every single year. It was not a permanent covering. It was a temporary covering and they kept doing it and doing it. So that's not what we're talking about here. That's not the law that we're talking about here. We're talking about the principle of faith now. How does it function?

So, let's look at Colossians 2.6 and read that together. Now this is a series of verses that our family has kind of called our family verses. We've kind of centered around these verses. We talk about them. We had a newsletter that we sent out to supporters years ago when we were in Canada, and this was the verse that we would often try to encourage our supporters with. So it has a special place in our family, but it should have a special place in every believer's life.

Colossians 2.6 says, Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

We'll talk about the rest of the verse here in a little bit, but let me ask you a question. What's the word that's not said here, but implied? Now, I'm kind of using biblical teaching skills and study skills in the wrong way, and what I'm not doing is reading the context above and below. But I'm going to ask you, just kind of pulling this thing out as a bit of a trick question, without looking at the rest of the verses surrounding it, what's the word that's implied here? Right after, as you received him, you could insert that implied word, so walk in him.

Yeah, it is. Look at Galatians 2, I'm sorry, Galatians 3.6.

So keep your place in Colossians and flip over to Galatians 3.6. I'm sorry, it's 3.26. Was it?

Read 3.6 for me. Even so Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Well, that was a safe mistake. That was accidental. Let's read 25, 26, and 27. Galatians. It says, But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. What was that tutor? Yeah, it sure was. for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." So there the word's not implied. It's right there. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.

So now flipping back to Colossians 2.6, we see, therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him.

What's that verse saying? We now know that the word implied here, to answer the question in your notes there, the word is, by faith, or faith. But what's the verse saying? If I'm a newbie believer, what does this verse mean? Walk in faith? I mean, would that be? I guess when I look at this stuff, it's hard to explain, but walk, walk in faith. Not depending on yourself and on your works. Not depending on a righteousness of your own. Okay. So I just came to faith. You just presented the gospel to me.

And I said, you know what? I've been convicted that I need I need a solution to my sin problem, and I cannot continue to rely on my own works. And you know what? I believe that the person in the work of Jesus Christ is the answer to my sin problem. And I place my faith in what Christ did for me through His death, burial, and resurrection, and I become a believer. And then I read this verse. What does this verse do for me? says you're in Christ. Okay. Positionally. I think it does. Absolutely.

Have you ever seen a believer that came to know the Lord and they're like, okay, now what? What do I do now? And they say, well, Do you do a quiet time? So you're going to need to make sure that you set aside at least 10 minutes a day with a quiet time. Do you pray? Well, I don't really know how to pray. Well, you need to learn how to pray.

Let me give you a track for that. So you give them the track to come to know the Lord, and then it's like, here's how you do your quiet time. Here's how you go to church. Here's how to get involved. Here's how to find your gift so that you can make sure that you're a part of the body in the way that God designed you to be. So what's your gift? Do you like to talk?

No, not really. Okay, well then maybe you're going to serve. You're going to do the spring clean thing. We'll get you involved in that, no problem. Are you free on Thursday nights? Because you've got to be involved in a Bible study outside of church, because that's really important. So you've got your quiet times, you've got your serving in the church in a certain way. You've got to get to that Bible study. Sounds like law to me. Sounds like law to you? Yeah.

Well, what does Colossians 2.6 tell us?

In the same way you came to the Lord by faith, you walk in the same way. A believer that just came to know the Lord says, I just believed that Christ has rescued me from the consequences of sin. Now what do I do? Well, you trust him at the next bit of revelation that he's going to reveal to you by faith. Guess what? It's all by faith, buddy. It's the same stuff. It's not like you forget where you started in the gospel. You continue on by faith in the next bit of understanding of the Word of God that you receive.

So today, you're going to walk away having heard something, whether it's new or whether it's something that you've pondered for years. You're going to have to respond to it, either by faith, Or you can try to figure out how you're going to do something.

Right? And a lot of times, new believers and old believers, and I don't mean by age, but seasoned believers in time, They want to know, okay, I'm saved, but now how do I walk in the Lord? I've got to do stuff. I've got to perform certain things. I've got to look like a certain way. And this verse is saying, no, guess what? It's all by faith. Yeah?

You know, as a kid, we had a fast every Thursday, breakfast and lunch. And I hated Thursdays, because I loved to eat. I was a kid, you know? Didn't look forward to eating. And I found it difficult, I mean, I did it, but it wasn't in my heart. Let me ask you a question. If the Lord laid on your heart, I want you to set aside food on a Thursday, and let's say he laid on your heart, I want you to set aside food every Thursday, to fast and by fast I want you to not depend upon the sustenance that food gives you and I want you to depend on me in prayer and I want you to come to me and talk to me about the things that you're you know you're dealing with and maybe the things that others are dealing with. Could you walk by faith and still fast on Thursdays? But if I told you, you better get over there sit in your corner and read your Bible and don't you dare touch any of that food.

That's a different kind of... And you know what? It doesn't mean that someone tells you not to fast. We all have our little fast stories. And it's not so much somebody sitting up here with a long finger telling you what to do in the church, it's you telling you what to do.

It's you setting up a law for your own life that says, this is going to make me more acceptable on the side of the Lord. If what Nick is saying, if this verse is telling us about our position in Christ, are you already acceptable? Is there anything you can do to not be acceptable? No. Because it's not about you in the first place, right?

It's about Christ. And so, just as you receive Christ Jesus by faith, so walk in Him. It's the same story. It's not new. It doesn't get more complicated. It stays the same. It just grows in understanding. And so what does a walk of faith look like? From your point of view, not from mine. What does your walk of faith look like? Is it tumultuous and difficult and hard and you're striving and you're sweating? Maybe so. Maybe the outward physical look of a walk of faith is one that is near death. This is difficult. I think the dependency, you know, walking in faith, you need a dependency.

Every time I struggle with something that I can't seem to beat, can't seem to get over, can't seem to lick it, you know, because if I did I'd be a better Christian, I have to go back and say, There's nothing that's going to make me a better Christian outside of Christ himself. He is my life. Me improving myself isn't going to have any bearing on that. My dependence has to be completely on Him. I think a lot of times we get into a certain circumstance where faith is required. We know that we're supposed to walk by faith, and we say, alright, Lord, help me out here. Give me the strength to believe, right? We've all prayed that prayer.

Is that resting? Is that resting in the Lord Jesus to do the living, or is that you asking for some divine help to just go pull your bootstraps up and get through it? Oh dear, I spent a lot of my years and I still spent this week confusing myself about what I needed to try to get through by faith versus resting in the person of Christ and letting Him do whatever it is that I'm dealing with. Now that means that when you rest in Him and your mind is set on Christ and who you are in Christ, there's things that happen. But now he's motivating your actions and he's doing the living as opposed to, hey, I'll just kind of help you up, you know, oh, you fell, let me pick you back up now, you know, get going.

That's not rest. So faith is a restful activity. And the results may be that you're chained in a Roman prison and starving. But in your soul, you're at rest. I think about Al right now. He does not look like he is resting. But in his heart, he is walking by faith. We would hope, I believe that he is. His body is failing him, and by all human perception, he is not at rest.

And he can't walk by faith because he can't get to the Bible study, and he can't get to the prison ministry. He can walk by faith right there in his heart by focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ and resting in Him and knowing who He is in Christ. And that's faith. Just as you received Him, so you walk in Him. Isn't it a wonderful thing not to fear death? There's no fear in his heart. I know. Isn't that a marvelous thing though? So many people fear death and it's a beautiful thing. It's a really restful thing.

I have to tell this story. My dad, when he was 90 and his health was failing, the nurses in the convalescent home asked him, they told him, well, Alfred, we should probably call your boys. They probably need to come. And he just looked at her and he said, well, I'm not waiting for them. He was great. He was looking forward. But he just said, no, I'm not waiting for them.

I have been reading in Proverbs lately and there's a lot of verses in there, you know, seek wisdom and you'll get knowledge or knowledge and wisdom and whatever. The other day it kind of hit me like a brick. I can't do any of that. That's got to be done by Christ through me. I can't find true wisdom. Christ has to give that to me. in his time and by me resting in that he will provide and guard my tongue it talks about that a lot in the Proverbs and you know being kind to others and all of that that's all Christ doing it through me because the real me wants to fight somebody's head off right and it doesn't matter how hard I try to be kind The ugly me still comes out.

Colossians 2, 1. It says, well, yeah. For I want you to know, in Paul's writing, for I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf. For those who are at Leo, is he struggling? Oh my gosh, is he performing the law? No, listen to what he says.

And for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding. This has a lot of Proverbs words in it. Full assurance of understanding resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. See, David didn't understand that fully in the book of Proverbs. We do. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

That's just the context of what we're reading about here. It's just verses before. verse 6, it says, therefore as you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in Him. And we're going to spend next week talking about that next verse, but let's let's look at, let's just kind of check off some of these questions and make sure that we're thinking these things through. Define the principle of faith. Okay, I'm going to read this to you. I think that, and then we can talk about it.

It says that God has set up a system as to how we function in respect to Him. What's that system? That's the essence of faith. That's how it all works. God designed this thing to be understood and lived by faith. That's the functioning principle of reality. How important is faith? I wrote this up here a few weeks ago. Faith is a subject that is a part of every moment of our earthly and eternal life. It's the central component to operating in God's reality.

You wonder what you're supposed to be doing? You just got to ask the question of how faith fits into it. Right? Well, you do have to make plans. Make them. And when they come time, when it comes time to actually follow through with them, how do you do it? By faith. That's right. Make your plans. Make all the plans you want. Realize they may get thrown right out the window. Yeah, God laughs when we make plans.

So God set up a system as to how we function in respect to Him, and it is by the principle of faith that we operate in that system. So faith is a principle. It's talking about all the three things above. It's talking about the essence of faith. You've got to know the system that the principle functions within. You've also got to know the content, right? And that's THE faith. You've also got to apply it personally, right? That's your principle. So, one way of doing this... What's the principle of faith? It's those three things. It's the totality of it. It's the summation of it. It's faith in its essence, it's the faith, and it's faith in terms of personal faith. Now, number seven was a little tricky to me. I had to think about this one.

Who is the source of faith? Who's the source of faith? I'm afraid to say. That would be Christ, right? Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit? Christ? Are you the source of faith? No. Where's the verse that says he's the author and perfecter of our faith? Is that Hebrews 1?

2. Is that He, God, or Jesus? Jesus Christ is the answer to the question. Now what's the role of the Holy Spirit? To convict us of the source of faith, which is? The Holy Spirit's job is to point you to Christ.

Now when you choose to rest in Christ by faith, is that your choice? Yes. Can you repeat that? When you choose to rest by faith in the person of Christ, is that your faith? Because if Christ is your choice, is that your choice or your faith? Or is that God's faith through you? It's a personal faith through Jesus Christ.

It's personal. Now God designed the system so that you have a part in it. It's called volition. It was something that Adam and Eve had in the very, very beginning. He gave them freedom to operate within a system. We're not talking about complete and total freedom. We're not talking about, hey, creature, you have the freedom to operate at a creator level. That's not what we're talking about. He gave the creature a choice based on the limitations of the system that he created.

It's your faith. Is that a... Us choosing to believe that's our choice and that's our only... Is that our only act? Is that our only... It's the only involvement that you have in any part of God's reality. That's it. And then everything else is His doing? His doing. And guess what? Repeat that. Okay. The only part you have in God's entire reality is faith. It's how you came to know Him, and it's how you walk by Him. And guess what? Unlike any other work, it has no merit. Otherwise, Paul said he could have boasted in it. He said, but I can't. It's not something I can boast about because the object of my faith does all the work.

He did the dying on my behalf. He did the living prior to that to be the perfect sacrifice. And now, he's placed you in the heavenlies with all of the amenities of the Christian faith, and by that I mean treasures, wisdom, knowledge, who you are in Christ, everything that that means is obtained only by faith. And it's yours the moment you came to know Him, but it can be presently yours in your experience as you trust Him with it.

Which, when you're talking, it fits perfectly with the operating system we're in now, grace. Right. Unmerited. If faith is a non-meritorious act, no work, no nothing, we can't boast in it, which fits perfectly with the system of grace. Can you have some other kind of response in an operating system of grace other than, I trust you with this? You can't. It doesn't fit. That's why Paul says these things.

And that's why we avoid understanding Romans 3.27 as talking about some kind of law of Christ or law of faith that requires and measures you. We operate in an operating system of grace, and grace contains the reality of all that faith is. Who God designed us to be within that is only understood by faith. That is totally complete opposite of any other worldview out there.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? You know, the three basic philosophical questions that we go to philosophers to answer for us. It's already defined in scripture. Who are you? Well, as a believer, you're a creature, first of all. Not only are you a creature, but you are a Christian. You are one who belongs to Christ now. And everything that is in Christ is yours. So, the principle of faith is summed up in these three areas, okay? Now, when we talk about question number 8, it says, can the object of faith include bad news as well as good news?

I read the scriptures and I didn't really understand how that question... I looked at that and I was like... Okay, let's talk about it. A person has to understand that they are a sinner in order to meet a savior. So, I mean, otherwise why would you meet a savior? Anybody have anything to add to that or thoughts about what we've said? I have to acknowledge, yeah, I'm a sinner. And the only way to take care of that problem is through Jesus Christ.

So we read in Colossians 2.6 that just as you came to Christ, and we said that that's when we all came to know Him by faith, when you came to know Him, was there a component of bad news? Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah.

And so we've got two verses here, Romans 5.12. Someone read that one for me.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men because of sin. Anybody like death? Anybody like that? What does death mean? What does it mean? Separation. It doesn't mean annihilation. What's annihilation mean? So long, all identity, every component of you is gone forever. It's just the end. When you say that we're sin entered in the world, I don't think personal sins are meant here. Each individual's personal sins.

I mean a baby is born still under the curse, but it's never sinned. What is the bad news though? I'm sure you're getting home. I'm going to answer that, but I'm not going to take it down the long rabbit trail. We're talking about the principle of sin right now. Sin, not sins, right? So, what is the consequence of sin? Separation. So, regardless of personal sins, if you're born with a sin nature, you stand under the consequences of what?

That's right. And that consequence is separation. It's three parts. It's separation from God, spiritually. How do we see that in the garden? He sent him out. You're separated from me. You now do not have one-to-one access to me like you did. There's separation spiritually that happens. There's also a separation from our body that happens, right? Were you meant to be separated from your body?

Not until sin entered the world and separated you from the body, because now this body is not fit for what God had to do in reality in order to sustain His creation for eternity. This body doesn't function. it now has the consequences of sin, and you carry it around on your flesh.

That's why we call it that. So you're separated from God spiritually. You're separated from your body at some point in time. That'll happen for all of us. But you're also separated from God eternally. In other words, after you're separated from your body, you continue that separation in a place that was not even designed for you, but is now made so as to handle and contain sin for eternity.

That's bad news! Okay? So, Romans 5.12 talks about separation. You want to talk about the heart-wrenching, horrible stories of all that You know, the men and women who sacrificed their life to give us this freedom, they're separated. And their families feel that. And when you add those things up and you think about the world today, it's because of sin that it is the way it is. That's bad, bad news.

But someone read John 3.16 and let's talk about the other side of faith. Because God didn't leave us there. with separation as being the eternal reality. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Is that good news? It is. Now, does faith require resting in both of those truths? The bad and the good? Well, the one makes you realize you need the other. That's right. Without the bad, you don't have the good. If we didn't have bad news, Jesus wouldn't have had to come. Right? He wouldn't have had to do what he had to do.

This might be just opinion on my part, but I've found in my life that as I go on, God reveals things. Some are the bad news, and I think it's to show me how desperately I need His grace. I think that's the walk. In other words, the walk, our sanctification process, that is, our being set apart to who we are in Christ requires that you become acquainted with more bad news about yourself. I was at a point one time in my walk where I looked at other Christians and I just said to myself, how in the world can you even smile? And it was after getting very condemning messages. There was a church that was condemning and didn't teach grace. Then when grace came along, and I learned about that, it was like, Yeah, good Let's look at question number nine.

Let's fill in these blanks So we're talking about the salvation story, okay, so imagining us going back and And this isn't how it happened for you. It didn't sound like this. This wasn't the transcription from your conversation with somebody, but this is the summation of how people think through the process of salvation. So, a person comes at us, and that's a believer, came to us with a portion of what? The blank of faith. They came to us with a portion of the Essence of Faith.

That's right. They came to us with some news about the reality of the world we live in. Guess what? That reality is you have sin. And that sin nature produces sins in your life. And that has separated you from your Creator. So they came to us with some portion of the Essence of Faith, which is The Faith. Okay? So now we're talking about a specific component of the Essence of Faith.

You've got that definite article, so the faith, and the faith could mean the gospel or it could mean other portions of the faith, but in this case it means the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ on your behalf. And then the Spirit of God comes alongside us as unbelievers and does what? Convicts? Convicts. So you go through this situation where you hear a portion of the essence of faith, which is THE faith, the gospel message, and then the Spirit of God comes alongside you and starts to lay that on your heart as being true. Okay? And all of a sudden you get convicted. You understand now your relationship to your Creator, and it's bad news because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. He convicts us. And he does that as what is presented to us. Okay, and where does the Gospel come from? The Word of God. That's right. It's not our words. It's not my fancy way of telling you the Gospel. It's you coming to terms with the Word of God. Okay?

And then the Holy Spirit does what? Same thing, he convicts us of sin because we do not believe in the blank and blank of the Lord Jesus Christ. The person and the work. So he convicts us of sin because we do not believe on the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

So that's what's going on. Okay? That's how faith gets started in a believer's life. And that's where these aspects fit into that salvation message. So, what do you do in order to be justified? What does justified mean? Just believe. Made right with God. Made right with God. Okay. Okay. To be justified means that The Lord now has no problem with you. Right? So what do I need to do to be justified?

Romans 10, 17. Someone read that. So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Word of God. So what must you do to be justified? Believe. Believe in what? A portion of the essence of faith, the faith, which is the gospel. You personally are convicted by the Holy Spirit, and you personally place your faith in the source of faith, which is Christ. So, number 11, how am I to walk as a justified person? In faith. Are you kidding me? It's that simple? Next week, Mike's going to break this verse down quite a bit, okay? So, question number 11, I'm going to go over like one minute here. Question 11 is going to get answered much deeper next week, okay? But the last question is, is the response to the Holy Spirit the same for an unbeliever and a believer?

No. I don't know. I would say it is, but it's up to us to accept it. Is the Holy Spirit convicting you of the same things that he's convicting the unbeliever of? I would say so. Well, we were a non-believer at one time. I think we continually go through having to make that choice to believe.

So the response of faith is the same for the unbeliever as it is for the believer. It's just a matter of what you're believing in. So as an unbeliever, you were operating by faith, in the gospel message. As a believer, you're operating by faith in who you are in Christ. So the response is the same, the content that you're having to choose to believe may be different. Does that make sense? Yeah, but tell me again. Okay. Let's see.

Is the response to the Holy Spirit the same? To the Holy Spirit? Yes, because he's doing the convicting. Right? And so what's the response of any kind of conviction by the Holy Spirit? What's the only response that anyone can ever have? That is a non-believer? Or believer. Well, he's telling us what Christ did. He may be telling you about Christ as He died on the cross for your sins, was buried and rose again, or He may be telling you who you are in Christ. But your response is what? faith. It's the same. I'll have Mike spend a little bit more time on that one next week. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your reality. We thank you for the faith. And we thank you for our personal faith. And Lord, we thank you for the principle of faith. And we know that just as we came to know you, we're called to walk by faith in that same way. Everything is centered around us trusting who you are and resting in who you are. And Lord, we know that we can do that because we have your word and we believe it.

We just pray that we would each grow in our understanding of this concept of faith and how it applies to us so that we can continue to be sanctified, set apart, that you can be greater and we can be smaller so that you be glorified, Lord. We just pray these things in your name. Amen.