THE FAITH OF THE SAINTS
As our
title, "The Faith of the Saints" implies, we will be discussing two
main subjects....FAITH and SAINTS. The Bible has a great deal to say about both
faith and Saints. And according to at least one Scripture, it seems that faith
was at one time in the past delivered to the Saints in large measure. Jude, the
brother of the Apostle James, had this to say about faith.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of
the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you
that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints.
What do
you suppose Jude means by the faith once delivered to the saints? This would
seem to imply that the Saints of Old were given more faith than was the case in
Jude's day.
In the
next half hour we will take an in depth look at this item of faith and try to
better understand how it works. Then we will talk about the importance of it.
Maybe you like me, have really never completely understood this item of faith
and how it works. But we think faith is sufficiently important to warrant a
serious study.
Then
after we discuss faith in detail we will consider the Saints of old and how
much faith they actually had.
Then
after that we want to consider the age old question, "Will the saints of
old be in the Church or will they be on the earth?"
So let's
begin by considering faith. We all talk of faith, but do we truly EMOTIONALLY
understand what it really is?
The
dictionary defines faith as "belief not based on proof." I'd like to
say that again. "Faith is belief NOT based on proof." But faith and
belief and heart go hand in hand. These three items cannot be separated. Our
Lord Jesus said in Mark 11:22:
MARK 11:22 "Have faith in God.
Here
Jesus tells us to have faith in God. We should note that faith in God is the
only TRUE faith. We may think we can have faith in the government or the food
and drug administration or the economy or the security of our home, but this
kind of faith is temporal. All these things will pass away and the only eternal
faith is just as Jesus said: Faith in God. Then in the very next verse Jesus
tied faith in God together with belief and heart. Verse 23 says:
(NKJ)
"For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed
and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that
those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says.
Now in
those two Scriptures we see a definite tie in between faith and belief
and heart. I know of no way we can effectively emphasize the absolute
importance of either of these three by itself.
Jesus
often spoke of faith. We are all familiar with scriptures such as: "Oh ye
of little faith" and "the faith of a mustard seed." Yes, Bible
scholars and even scientists have long pondered this item of faith seeking
satisfactory ways of explaining it, for after all, it is quite an abstract
term.
And like
the others I too have agonized over learning a concrete meaning for
"faith". So please let me share with you what I finally came up with.
I would define faith as the prerequisite of BELIEF. Faith must come first. Then
after faith is established in ones mind as a truth then faith enables or sparks
an item called belief.
Let's
try to illustrate. Let's say, you are traveling a long hot desert road in
Arizona and you look at your gas gauge and it's nearly empty. There is no gas
station in sight. You are concerned and now you start to wonder how long you
can travel on fumes....and you wonder how far it is to a gas station. You say
to yourself, "I hope there is a gas station in the next 5 miles for I
believe I can go that far OK." But, that's a far cry from faith or belief
because you have doubt in your heart. You really aren't sure.
But the
hope you have in finding that gas station would become faith and belief
if you saw a sign in the next mile that read: "Gas, lodging and food -
next exit 3 miles." What would this sign be? It would be the assurance of
your hope. It would be evidence of a gas station you cannot as yet see.
How
plainly the writer to the Hebrews states this vital truth. Hebrews 11:1 says:
Now faith is the substance (or assurance) of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen.
So you
had hope that you would find a gas station. This was the thing hoped
for. Then you see the sign announcing it...that sign is like faith. In
other words, faith is the sign for it gives substance to your hope. But it is
even more than that for the sign is the evidence of the gas station you cannot
as yet see.
The
Living Bible says it in somewhat easier to understand language:
HEB 11:1 TLB Faith is the confident assurance that something
we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is
waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead.
In our
illustration, we gained that confident assurance when we saw a sign that said
Gas ahead 3 miles. But what if there had been no sign? Would that mean that the
gas station was not there? Faith then is the physical sign we don't see.
Faith is the invisible assurance, without a sign, telling us that the
gas station is there. But one might say, "How can we have faith like that
in this life?"
Certainly
we can't have faith in Gas stations being in the next three miles without a
sign can we? Our better judgment tells us that it might be but also that it
might not be. We just can't be sure.
But
Jesus didn't tell us to have faith in Gas stations, or uncle Sam or anyone or
anything else. He said to have faith in God. And yet, based on the truth of
Jesus statement in Mark 11:22 and 23 we could have faith that the Gas Station
was up ahead by only 3 miles. Again, Jesus said:
22 (NKJ) ... "Have faith in God.
23 "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this
mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his
heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have
whatever he says.
Could
faith in God coupled with absolutely no doubt in your heart that there is a gas
station up ahead suddenly create one in the next three miles even if it wasn't
already there? I think it could!
But what
about that item called HEART? Many of you have heard me talk about this before.
I have repeatedly said that I believe the Biblical heart to be the subconscious
mind...which is very powerful and can accomplish anything one believes it can.
This is possible because the heart of man has been empowered by God to
accomplish either good or evil, whichever one desires.
So back
once again to the Mark 11:23 and substituting the gas station for the mountain.
If one who has faith in God says "There is a gas station 3 miles
ahead" and shall NOT doubt in his heart, but shall believe in what he
said, then the gas station will be there."
You see
this is the way faith, and belief and heart work together. If one with faith in
God can truthfully say "I believe there is a gas station in the next three
miles" then even if a gas station did not already exist, the same power
that would move the mountain, would create the gas station.
You see
faith is the key that unlocks the power and authority Jesus Christ has given
us. Perhaps it would be easier to understand if we think of the heart as
a powerful engine. Faith would then become the gasoline or energy for
that engine, and belief would be the spark to ignite the gasoline. All
of this working together will unleash that powerhouse of creativity, the heart,
which God has given us.
To say
it a different way, the heart fueled by faith and ignited by belief is the
engine which accomplishes the works of faith.
Now a
key question. Where do we get faith? Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that
"faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Can we
obtain faith overnight? I don't think so. Paul said to have faith we have to HEAR
the word of God. And this hearing must come from the heart. To come from the
heart it must be programmed into our hearts by continual study and reading the
word. Then when we hear the word of God it will be coming from our heart. Then,
according to the Apostle Paul, we will have faith because faith comes
from hearing the word of God.
And Paul
gave us another vital truth in ROM 12:3. This Scripture is easier to understand
from the Living Bible. It reads:
ROM 12:3 TLB As God's messenger I give each of you God's
warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how
much faith God has given you.
Truly
fantastic! It seems that Paul is saying that ones VALUE can be measured by how
much faith he or she possesses. Contrary to the public opinion of mankind in
general, our value is not in our wealth or how well we can expound the
Scriptures, or how beautifully we can pray in public or anything of the kind.
Paul says our value to God is measured by how much faith we have.
So with
the thought in our VALUE to GOD being in direct proportion to our FAITH, let us
now consider the Faith of the Saints of Old.
And with
this thought in mind let us think about our own faith (or lack of faith) as we
take a brief look at Abraham and his faith and the faith of the other saints.
The writer to the Hebrews had this to say in Hebrews 11:8-10. From The Living
Bible we read:
8 Abraham trusted God, and when God told him to leave home
and go far away to another land which he promised to give him, Abraham obeyed.
Away he went, not even knowing where he was going.
9 And even when he reached God's promised land, he lived in
tents like a mere visitor, as did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same
promise.
10 Abraham did this because he was confidently waiting for
God to bring him to that strong heavenly city whose designer and builder is
God.
While it
is evident that the only ones in the heavenly city are the church, we should
note that Abraham expected to be brought to that city. More on that later.
Then
following Abraham, the writer goes on to talk about the faith of Abraham's wife
Sarah. Concerning Sarah he said and we continue with verses 11 and 12:
11 Sarah, too, had faith, and because of this she was able
to become a mother in spite of her old age, for she realized that God, who gave
her his promise, would certainly do what he said.
12 And so a whole nation came from Abraham, who was too old
to have even one child--a nation with so many millions of people that, like the
stars of the sky and the sand on the ocean shores, there is no way to count
them.
There is
no way we can even begin to understand the VALUE of the FAITH of Abraham and
Sarah. Once again lets keep in mind the words of Paul concerning faith and
value:
ROM 12:3 TLB As God's messenger I give each of you God's
warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how
much faith God has given you.
And
think of the faith and value of Abraham when this patriarch
raised his knife to slay Isaac, the son of promise and the son of his old
age...the son he had waited 100 years to have. Yet, God told him to sacrifice
Isaac on the altar. And Abraham loved God and reverenced God and had faith in
God... and in addition Abraham was a friend of God.
Certainly
we could discuss other "saints of old," one by one such as Abel,
Enoch, Noah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David and others, but the conclusion would
be the same. They all had exceptional faith and they were all chosen by God to
do certain things.
Yet,
none of them would qualify for membership in "The Church" because of
an item called "preeminence." Please let me explain.
Concerning
the Church, the Scriptures teach that there are several factors to be
considered as to who will be in the Church of the firstborn. And these elements
involve several things including a personal commitment or consecration
to follow Christ until death and THIS includes how one daily lives
out that commitment.
But
another factor is involved and that item is that one must qualify. What does it
mean to qualify for body membership in the Church? Certainly one must be called
for many are called yet few are chosen.
And if
we could pick out a key element, it would certainly be FAITH. But even so, a
second factor must be considered regardless of faith. And this factor really
supersedes FAITH. And that factor is the timing of one's death.
Let me
explain what I mean by the timing of one's death. By timing I am referring to
the Scripture that says Christ must be preeminent in all things. Colossians
1:18 says, concerning our Lord Jesus:
He is the head of the body, the church: who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the
preeminence.
Here we
have the word preeminence. In order to be preeminent one must be "first
and before all others." So the basic definition is "BEFORE
others." And to further emphasize the point, no one could qualify for
joint heirship until AFTER the church had been formed. But, when was the Church
formed...when did it begin. The answer, in my opinion, is that it was formed at
the moment of Christ's baptism when the Holy Spirit came upon Him and when God
the Father announced that Jesus was His Son in whom He was well pleased.
Then
when Jesus was crucified and resurrected He became the head of this special
body. Until then no one else had qualified or could qualify. Jesus had to be
the first. No one, regardless of faith or anything else, COULD qualify for
membership in that special body until AFTER the death and resurrection
of Jesus. That's what preeminence means. He had to be the first one. Those who
died before the way was opened by our Lord Jesus Christ were not qualified no
matter how much faith they had. And certainly Abraham, Moses, and John the
Baptist died before our Lord's ministry.
Perhaps
the one scripture that has been used more than any to prove the impossibility
of these being in the Church is our Lord's own words in Matthew 11:11:
11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that
is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
There is
NO WAY we can take this to mean that John the Baptist did not have faith? In
fact, Jesus said that John the Baptist was GREATER than any one ever born of
woman and that would include Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It would seem that Jesus
was saying that whoever makes it into the kingdom of heaven would be greater
than John.
Apparently
Jesus was differentiating between being great in this life and one's future
value and greatness in the Kingdom as a member of the Church. But even so,
we must keep in mind that John the Baptist was beheaded and died long before
the death and resurrection of our Lord. In short, because of the timing of
John's death, he could not qualify.
Now
please keep that in mind for we plan to discuss a very important Scripture that
hopefully will satisfy a lot of questions we have all had for a long time
concerning the saints of old...specifically the saints who fell asleep in death
long before our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth; long before his death and
resurrection... particularly those who had such overwhelming faith like Abraham
and Able and Noah, and others...particularly those listed in Hebrews Chapter
11.
Since
all of these died long before Jesus formed the Church and became the head of
it, how could they qualify?
But we
might logically ask, "since faith is so important to God and after having
been so demonstrated by Abraham, how could God in all fairness not include
Abraham in the Church? How could God leave him out?"
But
Colossians 1:18 is quite clear. Paul said that Jesus Christ must be preeminent
in all things. Again Paul said:
He is the head of the body, the church: who is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the
preeminence.
Again we
have to deal with the preeminence issue which not only precludes John the
Baptist, but Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Ezekiel and Daniel as well. How can any of
these be in the kingdom of heaven or have membership in the Church of the
firstborn?
It is
quite true that Jesus never really mentioned the Church in the same way the
Apostle Paul did. Paul is the one who brought Church membership to light. Yet,
in many ways our Lord often alluded to a heavenly reward of Church membership
in various parables, and the account of the discussion with the rich young
ruler.
So how
can we be certain that Abraham and Jacob and Moses and other sleeping saints of
Old will actually be body members of the Church?
If only
we could find a Scripture that would assure us that the preeminence issue for
these had been met. Oh yes, we can imagine all we want to that they really were
qualified to be in the church. But can we find such a Scripture?
In the
past titles have been given to these patriarchs of old...such as ancient
worthies and the like. But instead of being caught up in a whirlwind of hope
and doubt mixed with certain scriptures, I would like to remind you of Charlie's
Law. Simply stated, Charlie's Law is: "If one knows what he is looking for
then he will recognize it when he finds it."
Here is
a scripture found in Matthew 8:11:
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and
west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of
heaven.
In the
past this has been shown to indicate that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob will not
be in the Church, but will be on the earth as sort of governors or rulers or
mayors, etc. But is this really the case OR will they be part of the Church?
QUESTION!
Could NON-members of the church like those living on planet earth ever come
from the east and west and sit down with MEMBERS of the Church?
Some
will say, "No! This is impossible for the Church will be in heaven.
Therefore there is no way those residing on planet earth could ever sit with
them. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob would have to be earthly as they are.
But
consider this. Will the body of Christ be with Christ as He reigns on earth as
King of kings and Lord of lords?
Oh, but
you say "Brother Charles" you still have offered no proof that
Abraham and the others can successfully meet the preeminence issue. How can
they be members of the body of Christ even though their faith was matchless?
For these to qualify they would have to be alive AFTER Christ was
crucified and resurrected? As one brother has said to me very often...."Do
you have a Scripture for that Brother Charles?" I think I do!
Let me
invite you to open your Bible and turn to Matthew 27: and we will read verses
50 to 53....just four very obscure verses that Bible Students for years have
rarely ever mentioned.
50 And Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice,
yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain
from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints
which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and
went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Do these
Scriptures prove our point? If Abraham, Isaac, and other Saints of Old were the
sleeping saints referred to, then how can there be any doubt that they meet the
preeminence test?
In verse
50 we are told that Jesus died. Then in verses 51 and 52 we are told of
immediate happenings when the son of God died, such as the veil of the temple
torn in two from top to bottom and a large earth quake and torn rocks. But then
in verse 52 we learn of graves being opened and many bodies of sleeping saints
being raised from the dead. And if this wasn't enough, then in verse 53 we
learn that these sleeping saints went into the holy city AFTER THE
RESURRECTION of Jesus and there they were seen by many witnesses.
The
Scriptures do not state the names of these saints of old, but we do know that
there must have been quite a few for we know that some...not all came from
their graves. And we know that these were very much alive as they went into the
city of Jerusalem AFTER THE RESURRECTION of Jesus. And we know there were witnesses
who could easily attest to having seen these sleeping saints. Could these have
included Abraham and Moses and John the Baptist? I believe it could!
But this
really shouldn't surprise us for this is typical of the perfect love of our
loving heavenly Father. Again the writer to the Hebrews said it so beautifully
in Chapter 11 verse 6. Here he mentioned faith in God and the rewards.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him.
But is
this the end of the matter? Not quite! We must remember that Jesus did many
things which we believe were preludes to announcing the Church. To illustrate
this we could think of the miracles Jesus did...He healed the sick and restored
sight to the blind and even raised the dead. We feel He did all these things to
demonstrate how it would be when God's kingdom comes to earth.
But
concerning the church, let us give greater thought to our Lord's raising some
of the dead during His ministry. It seems He raised three individuals from
death, and there may have been others. But was there a greater meaning
in the resurrection to life of these certain individuals since it happened
before His own death and resurrection? We think there was!
The
Scriptures name three. These were (1) the daughter of Jarius, (2) the son of
the widow of Nain, and (3) Lazarus.
In the
case of the daughter of Jarius, Jarius was a synagogue ruler and this account
is found in three of the four Gospels; Matthew Chapter 9, Mark Chapter 5 and
Luke Chapter 8. And the bottom line in all three Gospel accounts is that this
12 year old daughter of Jarius was raised from the dead.
There is
no scripture to indicate that this young girl died AGAIN before our Lord's
own death and resurrection. We would assume she lived many years thereafter.
And the
second is when Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain. This is found in Luke
7:11-17. It seems that as Jesus and the others entered the city of Nain there
was a funeral going on. And the dead person was a young man, the only son of a
certain widow. The scripture says that the Lord had compassion on her telling
her to "weep not." Then Jesus touched the coffin and the funeral
procession stopped. Jesus then said, "Young man, I say unto you,
ARISE."
Again we
have no evidence that this young man was not still alive when Jesus was
crucified and resurrected.
And of
those whom Jesus raised from the dead, perhaps the raising of Lazarus is most
remembered. The account of this is found in the 11th Chapter of John. The key
points are these:
A man
named Lazarus, whom Jesus loved, was sick. Then Jesus told His disciples that
both God and Jesus would be glorified by this illness.
Jesus
was in no hurry to rush to Lazarus so He stayed where He was for two more days.
This gave time for Lazarus to die from the illness.
Then
after the two days, Jesus invited the others to go with Him. In verse 11 Jesus
said, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; I go that I may awake him out of
sleep."
The disciples
thought Jesus was talking about Lazarus resting in sleep, but in verse 14 our
Lord made it clear that "Lazarus is dead."
There is
a great deal more to this account, but for our purposes here we will deal only
with verse 43 which reads:
JOH 11:43 KJV And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
Clearly
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And since there are no scriptures to
indicate otherwise we would assume that Lazarus was STILL ALIVE after
Jesus Himself was crucified and resurrected.
It would
seem that all three, Lazarus, the young girl and the young man were all still alive
and well when our Lord finished His course.
In
closing it is our opinion that all three of these individuals, raised from the
dead by our Lord, and still alive after our Lord's own death and resurrection,
had the opportunity to be in the body?
I
believe we could safely say this. And if this is the case, then our Lord must
have carefully chosen those three. This additional life gave them opportunity
for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus just like certain saints of old
became qualified by a temporary resurrection.
To
conclude, we have tried to define this item of faith and considered Paul's
explanation as to how our VALUE to God is measured by our faith.
Finally,
we should ask ourselves, "Do we have the faith that was once delivered to
the Saints?" We should ask ourselves "Do we need a sign like the one
announcing the gas station to tell us that we are the children of God?"
And as
to the other questions such as "Will we, along with others, sit with
Abraham and the others in the Kingdom? And will Abraham and Moses and those
raised from the dead during our Lord's ministry be part of the Church which is
the body of Christ?"
My
answer would have to be "YES" to these questions for I believe the
Scriptures clearly teach these things.
May the
Lord add his blessing to our study of his word.
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