Walking in Faith

¹⁸ But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have; “THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD.” ¹⁹ But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, “I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.” ²⁰ And Isaiah is very bold and says, “I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME.” ²¹ But as for Israel He says, “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE.”

Was the good news limited to only a select group of people? Were others not able to hear the good news? Paul tells us that they were able to hear the gospel of Christ. The news was spread across the entire, known world. Jews were not exclusive in this, nor were they excluded. The gospel of Christ was, and still is, available for everyone.

During the time of Moses, the Jews were not obedient to the Laws given by God. They worshiped false idols, they did not have faith in His ultimate protection and love for them. God then speaks through Moses and tells the Jews that because they have rejected His word, He will anger them and make them jealous by allowing other nations, or the Gentiles, to come to Him and to find salvation. What a kick in the backside that had to be to the Jews.

God continued to be there for the Israelites — He continued to provide for them, even though they were disobedient to His Laws. Even now, as we live our daily lives, how often are we obedient to His teachings? How often do we live every moment for Him instead of ourselves? Our priorities demonstrate our true obedience to Him in many situations.

¹⁶ However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

The KJV captures this first verse as “But they have not all obeyed the gospel.” To me, this is a slightly different message than “they did not all heed the good news”. I say that because heed means to consider or give attention to something. Obey is to follow the command of something. I certainly have “heeded” the good news but am I obedient to the gospel? Being obedient to the Lord requires a complete submission of oneself to God. In order to do things pleasing to the Lord, we must put the Lord first in our mind. There hasn’t been a single day in the history of my life that I have put the Lord first for the duration of that day. With that in mind, am I obedient to the gospel? Insomuch that I have submitted myself to the Lord Jesus Christ as my complete and total savior, yes. I know that He paid the price for my sins on that cross, but His blood was shed to wash my sins away. Yes, I am obedient to the gospel — if, in fact, God would have this mean submitting ourselves to Christ.

In the times of Isaiah, when he was prophesying and telling people about the coming of Christ, they rejected him. They rejected his words then and now. They reject the gospel of Christ. God does not force salvation on people — that would not be to His glory. For a creature that is completely evil to come to Him and desire Him — that gives Him great glory!

Very few people come to the Lord without interacting with someone else about salvation. I don’t have actual statistics on the numbers, but I would be surprised if the number was even as high as 5% of all professed Christians found Christ without any interaction with other humans about that. Salvation is heard from preaching — exhortation, prophecy, love. If a person hears the words of truth being spoken, they might feel that slight tug from the Lord. They might begin to feel compelled to learn more, to hear more, to see more. The truth is incredibly powerful when given an opportunity. God has blessed our lives, in that way, by giving us the ability to be filled with the Spirit. Then, as we share with others (through preaching, sharing our testimony, sharing the gospel, etc.), God is in control and can work His miracles.

¹⁴ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”

We are first instructed that those who do not believe in Christ cannot call on Him. This reminds me that God gave me the ability to believe in Christ so that I can call on Him. If it wasn’t for God showering me with His grace, I would have never been able to come to Christ and choose Him.

Faith is blind. There is no absolute proof of many of the things in which we believe. Christ has called us to follow Him, yet we cannot hear him. He instructs us in the ways of the Father, yet we do not listen and are not obedient. He beckons us to follow the laws yet we are fallible, sinful, creatures. Luckily, the Lord blesses us with the Spirit which enables us to call on Christ and to hear our Father talking to us. We are moved by the Spirit and are shown things that we would not otherwise see.

In the times of Paul, there were not many people walking around preaching the truth of Jesus Christ. In fact, those who did preach that truth were considered heretics and were prosecuted for their beliefs. However, Jesus trained several leaders. God raised up several leaders. These folks were all able to convey the faith to many Jews, and Gentiles, during that time. The more people who were able to share the good news, the more people would be able to hear what God was trying to tell them. Without these leaders, the Gospel of Christ would be lost. Luckily, God’s will cannot be thwarted. He has a perfect plan and it will be carried out.

⁵ For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. ⁶ But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, `WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), <sup>7</sup> or `WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS ?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” ⁸ But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” — that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, ⁹ if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; ¹³ for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

Moses was speaking to a Jew about assurance of salvation based on the old covenant laws (Lev 18:5). These laws were the only way the Jews knew to obtain salvation. However, none of them could possibly live up to all of them (human sin). That means that living by righteousness is certainly going to be a by-product of salvation (sanctification, effectively) but no one can live righteously except through Christ.

Salvation is found through Christ alone. There is no amount of works, or deeds, a person can do that will “earn” them a ticket into heaven. Faith alone is the key.

Faith will be achieved in your heart as you truly believe in the Jesus Christ as your savior. Once that occurs, you will be able to speak the words confessing your sins and your desire to have Jesus enter your life and take over. This is the point in which a person is eternally saved.

Paul makes it clear that Jews and Gentiles alike will be saved. The Lord, our God, will not exclude a group of people from His grace. What a great blessing!

As I try to take time and learn more about the Lord God, I struggle with my own theological understandings and beliefs. As a human, I am prone to ignorance and pride. With that, I must make sure that I am careful in conversations I have with others regarding my faith. I am certainly not the authority on Scripture, nor am I a theologian of any meaningful level. I state this only to say that my desire is very much to make sure that I have a sound understanding of Biblical theology. Why? There are a couple of reasons in my mind.

The first reason that I feel compelled to grow my theological understanding of the Bible is because I am told to do such by God’s Word. Hebrews 5:12-14 states:

¹²For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

¹³For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

It is important to note that solid food comes only from practice and teaching. If I simply continue to practice the same habits (right or wrong), I may be only partially following God’s will for me. If, however, I am learning and growing, as well as practicing — that seems to be a more Biblical sense of obedience in my mind.

The second reason that I feel compelled to grow my theological understanding is because: “¹⁵but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” (1 Peter 3:15 NASB). At any given time, the Lord could put me in a situation where I want to have a sound understanding of the Bible from many different perspectives. I want to be able to provide apologetics for my faith as well as convey to someone the eternal importance of my faith. I am called, by the Lord, to be Jesus’s witness in my home, in my work and to all ends of the world.

Those seem to be solid reasons in my mind. Now, of course, is the challenge of finding the right method for me to gain this wisdom and understanding from the Lord. The options I am currently pondering: formal school (Columbia Bible College as an example) or several options such as The Theology Program or Online Schools of Christian Theology and Apologetics. Time for me to pray and ask other Godly men for advice and wisdom.