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Faith # 5

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Brightfame52

Well-Known Member
Faith is the Gift of God ! 2

So Faith is the Gift of God in that Christ, the Gift of God Jn 4:10

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Because Christ, who is the Gift of God, is its Author causer , the effectual producer of it, and thats why, all who Live by Faith, do so because they live by the Faith of the Son of God, who Loved them and gave Himself for them Gal 2:20

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.

Christ as the Head does communicate His Faith to each of His Members of His Body Rom 12:3

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

He does this by giving them His Spirit Rom 5:5;Titus 3:5-6 and of course Faith is the fruit of His Spirit Gal 5:22

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

So its the work of Christ's Spirit in us that effects Faith in Christ and our beginning to Live by Faith, hence we Live by the Faith of the Son of God, So are believing is not of us, but of Christ that by His Spirit now lives in us ! And its all the Gift of God ! 10
 
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Brightfame52

Well-Known Member
Faith to believe on Christ is not our own, but the work of God!

Faith to believe on Christ is not our own, but the work of God! Its the Work of God the Holy Spirit in us to Truly Believe on the Son, who died for us, if indeed He did die for us Jn 6:29

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Christ was sent to save some Jn 3:17

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

This World is not all without exception, but all of God's Elect without distinction, the World of Spiritual Israel, the Church ! The Body of Christ, for God has only Promised to save one world of people, Israel Isa 45:17

17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

Here again Jn 6:40

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The End result of God the Father sending His Son was for the purpose of them believing on Him who were seeing Him spiritually, with a God given spiritual sight ! Now their seeing and believing on Him was not their own natural ability, credit is given to it being the Work of God Jn 6:29, God the Holy Spirit, He produces that Faith which is of the operation of God Col 2:12

12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

That word operation is the greek word energeia and means:

working, action, productive work, activity; in the NT, confined to superhuman activity.

This describes that its of the power of the Spirit that produces our act of believing or Faith in Christ, its His operation or working in us both to will and to do of God's pleasure which in this case is to Believe on the Son whom He has sent to seek and to save !

Again believers believe by the working of His Power Eph 1:19

19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working or operation of his mighty power,

Believe it or not the Mighty Power is the Spirit of God, See Believers are but building materials for Gods Spiritual Temple being Built by Christ, and a Type was that Temple to be built that was prophesied in the OT Zech 4:6

6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

I quote John Gills comments on this verse Zech 4:6:


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then he answered, and spake unto me, saying,.... In great condescension, in order to instruct him into the true meaning of the vision:

This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel; this signifies what was said by the Lord to Zerubbabel, by some one of the prophets sent unto him:

saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts: that is, that as the candlestick was supplied with oil, from the two olive trees by the side of it, without the help of any man, to pour in the oil, and trim the lamps; so the temple should be built by Zerubbabel, not through the multitude and strength of men, but through the Spirit of God, animating, exciting, encouraging, and strengthening them to go through the work. The temple was a type of the church, and Zerubbabel a type of Christ; he was so in the high esteem he was had in by the Lord; he was chosen by him; made as a signet, and was precious to him, Haggai 2:23 in his titles and characters, a servant of the Lord, and governor of Judah, Haggai 1:1 and in his work, in bringing the Jews out of captivity, and in rebuilding the temple: so Christ is the chosen of God, and exceeding dear and precious to him; is his righteous servant, and Governor of the church, or King of saints; and who has redeemed and delivered his people from the captivity of sin, and Satan, and the law; and is the builder of his church; who has laid the foundation of it, and will bring in the headstone; and which church is built up in all generations through the conversion of sinners; and that is done, not by external force, by carnal weapons, or moral persuasion; but by the sword of the Spirit, the word of God; and not by the power of man's free will, but by the efficacious grace of the divine Spirit: it is indeed done by power and might, but not of the creature: man, whatever power he has to do things natural, civil, outwardly religions, and materially moral, or however in appearance, has no power to do anything spiritually good; not to think a good thought, nor do a good action, in a spiritual manner; much less to work such a work as the work of regeneration, conversion, and sanctification; since he is dead in sin, and can not quicken himself; his understanding is darkened, yea, darkness itself, and he can not command light into it; his will is stubborn and obstinate, and he can not bend it, and subdue it; his heart is hard as a nether millstone, and he cannot soften it, and repent of his sins, in a truly spiritual, gracious, anti-evangelic manner; his affections are inordinate; and he is a lover of sinful pleasures, and not of God, nor of anything divine, to which his carnal mind is enmity; he cannot believe in Christ of himself; faith is not of himself, it is the gift of God, and so is repentance, and every other grace. The work of grace on the soul is expressed by a regeneration, a resurrection from the dead, a creation, and the new man, or a transformation of a man into another man; all which require almighty power to effect: regeneration is not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God, of Jehovah the Spirit: sanctification is called the sanctification of the Spirit, and every grace of it is a fruit of his; it is he who is the Spirit of life from Christ, that quickens men when dead in trespasses and sins, and enlightens their dark minds with spiritual light, in divine things; it is he that produces evangelical repentance in them, and faith in Christ is of his operation; it is he that begins the work of grace on the heart, and carries it on, and causes to abound in the exercise of every grace, and performs the work of faith with power. The Targum, instead of "by my Spirit", renders it "by my Word".
Click to expand...

When we believe, its just the manifestation of us being of those chosen building materials God has Chosen in Christ to construct the Building of His Spiritual Temple 1 Pet 2:5

5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

A Spiritual House is another way of saying a Temple or habitation of God Eph 2:20-22

20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

So by understanding this, Faith is not of our own by nature, but its a work or production of the Spirit of God in us, to manifest our lively stone status in the building of the Spiritual Temple of the Lord !
 
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Brightfame52

Well-Known Member
Faith to believe on Christ is not our own, but the work of God2

Basically, when Jesus says that believing on Him is a work of God, God the Holy Spirit, in essence He is indicating, that believing on Him is the Fruit of the Spirit Gal 5:22

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

The word fruit karpos :

I.fruit

A.the fruit of the trees, vines, of the fields


B.the fruit of one's loins, i.e. his progeny, his posterity


II.that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result

A.work, act, deed

So the effect or result of the Spirit is Faith ! Or the Work, Act/Action, deed of the Spirit is Faith !

If we recall earlier we showed how Faith is of the operation of God Col 2:12 and that the word operation energeia means also :

I.working, efficiency working, action, productive work, activity. It means the same exact thing as fruit in this, act deed, work !

Heres why. The word energeia is actually Two words combine #1en #2.ergon from which we get the word work :

III.an act, deed, thing done: the idea of working is emphasised in opp. to that which is less than work

So that energia is the Activity of the Spirit that effects, produces Faith and or Believing on Christ or on His Name !

Thats the only way we can put Faith in Christ, if its the effect of the Spirit in us producing that result, so where is Boasting ? Why do religionist erroneously think that Faith to believe on Christ is something man can do naturally when the scripture teaches the exact opposite ? Its because of pride in mans heart, any man or women who believes Faith in Christ is a natural ability, they are proud and deceived, and in unbelief to this day ! Its the Work of God Jn 6:29, the Fruit of the Spirit Gal 5:22 ! 10
 
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Brightfame52

Well-Known Member
Not from the natural mind !

The scripture that many religionist like to refer to as they attempt to make their act of Faith/Belief the cause why they are Justified before God is Rom 5:1

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Now myself, I believe the Faith here belongs to Christ, His Faithfulness / Obedience, and by it, all for whom He died have Peace with God !

However if it does refer to the individuals Faith, whereby their Justification is made known to them through God given Faith, a fruit of the Spirit, and they receive the peace of God in their souls, even at that, Faith is not a product of the natural mind ! All men by nature, are carnal and the scripture is plain with this indictment against the carnal mind and God Rom 8:7

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Folks the carnal mind and the natural mind are one and the same, and it is void of any experimental peace with God ! Faith also has along with it understanding as in Heb 11:3

3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Yet the natural mind cannot understand the things of God 1 Cor 2:14

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know G1097/understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But [fn]a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually [fn]appraised.NASB

So these things considered it makes it impossible for natural human faith to any part to do in Justification before God. It would have to be Faith from the New Born Spiritual Man, which means they were already a New Creature before they exercised Faith as their own act ! 10
 
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Brightfame52

Well-Known Member
Whosoever liveth and believeth in me !

Jn 11:26

And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Man by nature are sinners and dead to God, and not Living in the Spiritual sense.

By nature, though we live physically, yet we be dead spiritually, as to say, dead while we live 1 Tim 5:6

But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.

The word dead here means simply to be spiritually dead !

Also remember the comment Jesus made here Mark 8:22

But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. See Lk 9:60 !

Well the dead here that is to bury the dead, again means the spiritually dead, those destitute of the Life of God,

and thats how we are by nature, dead to God, alienated from the life of God Eph 4:18

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Thats being dead, not physically, but spiritually !

Now, because of this lack or destitution of life by nature, sinners by nature cannot believe on Christ, not as the scripture requires to experience salvation/conversion, because by nature we are dead in sin Eph 2:1,5

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)

Col 2:13

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

The word IN as dead in your sins, its a predisposition en and means:

A primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), i.e. a relation of rest (intermediate between

By nature we are in a permanent fixed state of spiritual death and alienation, destitute of spiritual life !

So to have Faith in Christ requires life, to be made free from death, we must be living, and the Spirit quickens or gives Life Jn 6:63 and the Fruit of the Spirit is Faith or Believing Gal 5:22 !

Without the Spiritual Life from the Spirit, there can be no Faith, not even no Seeking God. True Faith Seeks after Christ/ God Heb 11:6, and pleases God, yet without the Spirit and in the flesh man cannot please God Rom 8:8, nor does he seek after God Rom 3:11

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

And the word seek here in Rom 3:11 is the same seek that describes the activity of Faith in Heb 11:6 !

So this is proof positive that in order to believe on Christ in a salvation sense of conversion, man must first be made to Live, and that Spiritually, then comes to past the Words of the Blessed Saviour Rom 11:26

26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 10
 
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