Faith # 5

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purifying their hearts by faith !

Acts 15:9

And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

If Faith in Salvation was the condition men in the flesh, unregenerate were to act to get saved, then it can be said that men in the flesh, without the Spirit, purified their own hearts by their own faith generated out of their own sinful nature, which makes them as these Prov 20:9

9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

 

[kyredneck]

9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?

Jeremiah Chapter 13

23​	Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

 

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Thou standest by Faith !

Rom 11:20

20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

Probably no other scripture in the bible gives the explicit indication that Faith is not of ourselves, save maybe for Eph 2:8

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Faith springs from Grace, which is God's Gift ! Faith is by the Gracious enablement of God [The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Grace which worketh in us who are believing Zech 12:10]

Faith is not of man, but the fruit and enablement of the Spirit Gal 5:22, and in fact, that's why in Rom 11:20 the now Gentile believers had no reason to boast or be highminded, for the only reason why they were not in unbelief as the majority of the unbelieving jews were which because of it were broken off, because God made the difference in them giving them Faith to stand. Notice the explicit declaration to them Rom 11:20

20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

You see, to stand by Faith equates to standing by the Divine Ability, not ones own ability ! This we know by Rom 14:4

4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

Standing and not falling is solely by the Power and Ability of God causing it.

The word falleth here in Rom 14:4 is the greek word piptō and is the same word the Spirit uses here in Rom 11:22

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

If God wanted to, if it was His Will and pleasure, He could have caused them that fell in Rom 11:22 to stand by Faith, He was able to MAKE them stand, so says the word of Truth, because Faith to stand was in His Power to give them !

Now this confirms Peters 1 Pet 1:5

5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

This means that their standing through Faith is by the Power of God ! The word Power here and able in Rom 14:4 are both from the root word dynamai:

I.
to be able, have power whether by virtue of one's own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favourable circumstances, or by permission of law or custom

II.
to be able to do something

III.
to be capable, strong and powerful

They are being able to stand by Faith, by God's Ability and Resources causing it, in other words, God's Power causes us to stand by or through Faith.

If the Gentiles standing by Faith in Rom 11:20 was of their own ability, they would have reason or cause to boast or be high minded, but the case is not so.

This is also a Judgment against those of us who believed that Faith was a condition man in the flesh had the ability to do to distinguish himself from others who remained in unbelief , such ones are condemned as being highminded or proud ! 7

 

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Faith receives the Message of Justification!

Rom 10:17

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Listen, all for whom Christ died shall hear about it, they shall be prepared by the Spirit, they shall be killed by the Spirit with the Law, for Paul refers to that here Rom 7:9-11

9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

The Law in the hand of the Spirit will cause and show every elect sinner the experience of being captive to sin in the flesh, and its helplessness, its imprisonment, and its at this time the spiritual prisoner, while smarting under the law by the hand of the Spirit, is made meet to receive the Message and Messenger of God, telling of its Justification and Righteousness before God, this is part of the Good News or Glad Tidings that the Gospel brings to Justified sinners, and then Faith is the evidence that these things are true, they are done and made real to our soul; And it does not matter if we believe not because his or her unbelief cannot make their Justification before God not true, not a fact, because the Truth of it does not depend on the act of the captive, for its a true fact even while the captive is in unbelief and before he believes it, though at last unbelief will be overcome by the Spirit of God, for it is written: " THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH", and all for whom Christ died has been made Just Rom 5:19b and the SHALL means God shall make sure of it, and because of the superlative preparatory work of the Spirit upon the Heart and Mind of the Elect sinner with the Law of God, giving the sinner to know and experience its captivity, it sets the foundation for these words to come to pass Isa 61:1

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

They have made that way by the Spirit!

Lk 4:18

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

That word deliverance is the greek word aphesis and means:

a sending away, a letting go, a release, pardon, complete forgiveness.

forgiveness, pardon, of sins (properly, the letting them go, as if they had not been committed (see at length Trench, § xxxiii.)), remission of their penalty:

This spells Justification from sin ! That's why its good news to them, for the Spirit makes them prepared by convicting them of their sinfulness before God and Helplessness by the Law working in their members sin and death!