THE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH

The Object of Faith Rom. 5                                                                  6-15-12

                    “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; 
                      the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the
                                 elders received a good report.”
                                             Hebrews 11: 1

     Believing something, does not make it true.  We as "religious" indi-
viduals are  prone to get some things backward;  this is common when 
we speak of faith.  The most important thing is not how much faith we 
have.  Do we  have faith,  and  how  faithful is  the  faith  object?  The 
first thing to consider is the object of our faith.  If our faith's in others, 
they let us down.  If we have faith in ourselves, we will surely be disap-
pointed.  If we have faith in faith it will come to nothing.  There is one, 
however; who is worthy of our faith.  It's impossible to place too much 
faith in Him, the omnipotent one.  In Romans 5 we see our standing in
the eyes of our creator and eventual  judge to be based on our faith in 
Jesus Christ.  This  faith,  be it  great or small,  is the basis  for a  right 
relationship to God  the Father.  Faith  gives us access to  His grace or 
 unmerited favor  A truth I find  helpful;  “Jesus Christ is God’s grace,
 personified.”  This faith is the basis for hope, leading to perseverance 
in trials,  proven character and  access to the Holy Spirit who gives us
our abilities to  live pleasing to  our Lord.  Not only are our  abilities a 
gift of God the Spirit, the Spirit Himself is a gift of God the Son.  Faith 
comes from God‘s Word.  “...Faith  cometh by hearing and  hearing by 
 the Word of God.”  Romans 10: 17  

  In Romans 5: 6-9 we see a remarkable  passage.  “For when we were 
still without  strength,  in due  time  Christ died for  the  ungodly.  For 
scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man 
someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love 
toward  us,  in  that while we  were  still sinners,   Christ  died  for  us.  
Much  more then,  having now been  justified  by His blood,  we shall  
be saved  from wrath through Him.”  It is as though God is letting us 
know we do not have to qualify for a relationship with Him if we base 
the relationship on our faith in His son.  Although we  are  unworthy, 
Christ  died for us and  prepared the way for  us to know  the Father, 
whom to know aright is eternal life.  Just how do we  know the object 
of our faith to be worthy,  or faithful? The first consideration;  who is 
this Jesus Christ and what  do we know about Him? 

In Genesis we see one who was with God at the beginning and accor-
ding to  later revelation in the New Testament we find  Him to be one 
of three persons who existed prior to any act of creation. He is, there-
fore,  not an angel, since angels are  created beings.  He is  not  just a 
man, but became a man and He is equal with  the Lord God,  God the 
Son.  It is said;  He did not consider  this equality with  God  as some-
thing to be grasped,  held to Himself, but took upon Himself the form 
of a “servant” becoming the one called “Son of Man.” Why did He do 
this,  giving up His claim to equality with the Father?  Because of  His  
great love for His creation.  Some  say this “Son of  God/Son of Man,”  
was a created being and was never equal  with the Father  Jesus said,  
“I  and my  Father are one,” making  Himself  equal  with  His Father.   
When he became man, he no longer had the glory of Deity. This Glory 
of God that He shed to become as we are, is not compatible with man.
He died at the hands of evil men, was in the tomb three days and then 
did something no one else has done in history.  

  He rose from the grave, alive again after being dead. Those who came 
back to life in both the Old and New Testaments, were brought back to 
life by miracles outside themselves.  Later, they died again.  Christ had 
life in Himself. His identification with us; his incarnation, made it pos-
sible for us to come to Spiritual  life in  Christ and  have a relationship 
with God the Father restored.  We now  have Jesus Christ, Son of God,
as the object of  our faith.  We are not only born again, having eternal  
life,  we become the ever living Sons of God, brother and sisters of  the
the Lord Jesus Christ.. 

We are worthy, in Him, of the glory He has given us along side him in 
Heavenly places.  (Ephesians 2:4-10)  We are sanctified  to be vessels
for use by the Master in His work among  men on  earth.  This worthi-
ness is of Him, not ln us.                     donporter,sr   4.06.14, ed. 4.11.17