Living by Faith ... the Way to Please God

I'm Tony Kostas, and welcome to this third episode of Led Into Love! 

As I go on further now to talk to you about the fact that without faith, it's impossible to please God, I want you to understand what faith is. I want you to understand what it means to believe God. Because these words – this terminology – is so common among Christians. 

People know about it. They know the theory. They know the theology. They know the scriptures. But so few people actually live by faith! 

Yet faith is fundamental. 

If that one scripture is to be believed – that “without faith it is impossible to please God,” how can it not be fundamental? 

So, let's go back to the night before Jesus was crucified, when he was with the disciples at the Last Supper, and he was preparing them for the fact that he was going to leave them. They didn't understand that when he tried to explain it to them. They didn't understand it. They had no concept of what was coming. 

Now, it's easy for you perhaps, to think that it was okay for Jesus, because he knew his Father. He didn't have to exercise faith. 

But again, I want to emphasize to you that, if that was true, then Jesus coming as he did – and then telling us that we were going to be the ongoing expression of him in this world was a charade. Just as it was perfectly possible for him to sin – otherwise what would be the point of talking about him as being sinless …like he didn't have the ability to sin? So what does sinlessness mean? The very fact that when the devil tempted him, he had to face real temptation just like you do and just like I do. And he had to decide what he was going to do. He was totally in control of his freewill – as you and I are – and he was totally capable of deciding for God and against God. 

And you can say: “Yeah, but, like, I was born … and because of Adam, I was born into this world already flawed”. Okay, so let's go back to Adam. Adam wasn't … Adam was created perfect. That's why Jesus was then called the second Adam. 

When he came, Adam didn't have to sin, but he chose to. Jesus didn't have to sin, but he could have. 

And I want to say all this because it is so important for you to realize that Jesus came to begin something – to be “the firstborn of a New Creation” – to be “the firstborn of many brothers”. 

For us to walk in His way … for us to be “as He is in this world” … you can say: “as He was in this world, so are we” … but actually He's still present when we are His. It's Him who dwells in us. 

And that's not a spooky thing. That's a wonderful thing – because it's the same Spirit that was in Him that is in us! 

Which brings me to my point: that Jesus said to His disciples at the Last Supper, that He would send to them “the Spirit of Truth, who would lead them into all truth”.  

They would know everything they needed to know. 

Not because He'd given them a manual. 

Not because He'd given them a script. 

Not because He'd given them a whole lot of knowledge, that they'd taken careful notes of. 

Not that He'd given them lectures and a dossier of things – so that at any point they were facing things they'd have something to look up and say: “Right… in this page, at this place it says, you do this”.

 All He said was, “I will send you the Spirit of Truth and He will lead you into all truth”. 

Which is exactly what happened, as He promised, on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem … on that Day of Pentecost that you read about in Acts chapter two – when that 120 fearful bunch of 120 fearful people, locked in that room, were filled with God's Spirit – filled with the same Spirit that was in Jesus! 

And when Peter – the one among them who had so recently denied Jesus three times because he was so scared of the consequences if he admitted that he was one of his followers – Peter stepped outside that room and preached to the crowd that had gathered because they heard all the hubbub … all the tumult going on in the room and they thought there was a drunken party going on. 

But it was all these people praising God because they'd been filled with God's Spirit. And he preached. Well I'm saying ‘he preached’. He probably didn't think he was preaching. He just knew he had to say something. But he discovered that what was in his heart – because he had God's Spirit in him now – gave him an expression that was amazing … that was so powerful.  Not because of the eloquence of his words, but because it was God's Spirit in him – that by the time Peter had finished speaking amongst that crowd that numbered thousands – 3000 people said: “What must we do?” 3000 people believed in Jesus that day! 

And yet, that morning when that 120 were gathered in that room, the last thing they expected was that by that evening their numbers would have swollen to 3,120! 

The Spirit of God – the Spirit of Truth - the Spirit that dwelt in Jesus - the Spirit that Jesus gave to His disciples - the Spirit that He has promised us – is the One who leads us into all truth!  And this is so important – because faith means nothing unless you know that God has spoken … that God is speaking to you. 

God speaks to us in a voice we can hear and in a language we can understand. That's His business. I can't make that happen. Only He can make that happen. But when I am receptive to Him … when I am given over to Him … when I depend on Him alone and my heart is open to him – even when I don't necessarily know it's going to happen – and I sure don't know how it's going to happen – I will recognize God's voice. Just as Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice,” … we will hear His voice. You will hear his voice – and you will understand what it is that He is saying to you. 

It's such a tragedy that, amongst God's people, there are so few who know such intimacy with God. Not because they're not capable of it, but who comprehend the reality that God … the gift that God has given you. You know: why did Jesus emphasize the significance … the vital significance of the Spirit that he would send them after He ascended to be with his Father – except that everything depended on this Spirit? 

You know, the Acts of the Apostles … And I don't actually know who chose the title for that book. I know that it was Luke who wrote what we call the Acts of the Apostles. But it would be far better named ‘the Acts of the Holy Spirit,’ because until the Spirit of God came upon those first believers, (as we read again in the 2nd chapter of Acts) they were not only incapable of doing anything – they were afraid to do anything! 

And once the Holy Spirit came – and the Holy Spirit had the freedom to move through those people and to gather together more and more people to Jesus – we see amazing things happen.

As Christians look longingly back at the early church and say, “Oh, we need a church – or we need revival – like the early church”. 

You need the Spirit of God to be in charge of God's church again! 

And it's amazing how people would rather put their trust in anybody or anything than in the Spirit of God – who is God Himself!  

For one person … or a body of people … for anyone to do God's will – to act in faith – presupposes that you know what God wants. 

Boil it down in simple terms: a response of faith requires a word from God. 

Make it really personal – and how do you know when God has spoken to you? Is there a formula? Is there a technique? Is there a way of going about it? No! There is one thing: it's to do with what exists between you and God. 

When you read the story of Abraham – that every Christian knows …and lots more too – the story of Abraham … the well-known story of Abraham – and the high point of him as a man of faith (and you know that in the Bible he's regarded as the father of all who have faith – and rightly so) was when, after he'd taken step, after step, after step, by faith in response to God – who kept revealing Himself to him at certain points along the way. And then the climax of that was when Abraham was 112 years old, and his son Isaac – who'd been the son that God promised to him – was 12 years old. 

And God said: “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, and sacrifice him on the mountain”. And Abraham did the almost unthinkable! But he obeyed God …because God had spoken to him … the same God whose voice he knew at other times, and who was very clear in what He wanted him to do. 

The beautiful thing … the amazing thing … the lovely thing there (because you know the story) is that, when Abraham obeyed God – and God had to actually intervene and stop him doing the unthinkable and sacrificing his son – that God said to Abraham then: “Now I know…”. “Now I know…”. Like … it was almost like … “…Along the way I've known that you'd believe me. But now I know that you will do whatever I say!” 

And the joy that Abraham had … and the joy that he gave God … and the joy for Abraham of, like, receiving Isaac back (and it says in the Bible, it was like he was raised from the dead, because as far as Abraham was concerned: “God said it, I'm going to do it!” 

And then God had to send an angel to intervene. He said, “Abraham! Abraham! Don't do it! It's okay – I know you believe me!” 

Now one of the problems, again, for Christians – for believing people over the years (and I say ‘believing people’ – people who say they belong to God … belong to Jesus) is that we love to enshrine people like Abraham, and so many others, as if they're the heroes, they're the standouts. But don't you realize that even … coming back again … even Jesus was to be not a standalone! 

I know he's the ‘Eternal Son of God’. He has ‘a Name above every other name’.  But when He came as He came, He came as the New Adam – the forerunner … the beginning of a new race, that is to be you and me! 

Why, otherwise, does it say in the New Testament that He is the Head and we are the Body? And if that is so, we cannot be separated! 

When you go along, about your business, your head doesn't go in one direction and your body in another! Where your head goes, your body goes. Where your body goes, your head goes. Otherwise you'd be dead! So it is with the body of Jesus! 

The head and the body are one. The Father of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit, which is His Spirit – which indwelt Jesus …  which is given to us – are the Ones who we belong to, the Ones who we are part of, and the Ones who we … if we say that we are Christians, or if we say that we belong to God in this world … we don't have any right to represent ourselves, or our particular creed, or our particular set of beliefs, or our particular ways. 

We have only one business – the same that Jesus had. We are to represent only God. And if it is not His life that is flowing through us, then that's not a representation, because it's not something apart from God. It's got to be an expression of God. 

You and your life, if you really belong to God … if you are really abandoned to Him … will be, must be a genuine expression of God. 

Not a secondhand thing, not an emulation of God, but the real thing! 

So, if you're going to live by faith, then faith means you know what God has said – you know what God has spoken to you – you know what God requires of you. And that gives you not just something to respond to, but Someone to respond to! 

What does it say about Abraham in the Bible? Not just that he believed what God said, but he believed God – and “…it was counted to him as righteousness”. You don't believe something. You believe Someone – and that Someone is the One that you are in intimate relationship with …or you don't even know what He's saying! 

And if that's so … if you are in intimate relationship with Him because you love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength – just as Jesus loved His father –  and you know what it is to have his spirit dwelling in you. And you know what it is to do his will – because He shows you, and speaks His will to you. Then you can't help but be an expression of God. 

And because you will be an expression of God, then whatever your life consists of … however you are led … whatever fruit … whatever expressions are in your life … they will come from God. 

And that's what God always intended. That's why Jesus came. 

“The just shall live by his faith.” You stand or fall, not by the religious doctrine that you believe. Your faith is your expression of your relationship with God. The way you live, the things you do, why you do them – is an expression of what goes on between you and God. 

It's the most beautiful thing … and it's for everybody! 

You remember the time when Jesus put a little child in the midst of the crowd that were gathered about Him, and He said: “…unless you become like this little child, you can't know the kingdom of God … you can't see the kingdom of God.” And that's such an offensive thing to people who think that there's a lot more to it than that. No, there isn't! That simplicity … that utter trust and utter simplicity … that responsiveness … is what God loves! 

I have so much more to talk to you about, but I'm going to leave it for this episode and see you in the next one!