“The Faith of the Gospel”

Philippians 1:25-30

25) And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;

26) That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.

27) Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

28) And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

29) For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

30) Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Introduction

M

ost people want to be victorious, but they want to do so through human means. Indeed, a human being has nothing to rely upon but human means, so therefore, is limited to the information that he can acquire through his five senses. Consequently, we are unable to know the things of God, for His information is “accessible” only “through faith.” One can prove that one has faith only by what one does, and if one does have faith, then he will “reproduce” something.

Even before the Bible was written, God had already settled His word in Heaven. Therefore, if one desires victory, he need do nothing more than believe in the “settled” Word of God.

Main Thought

There are those who do not really know what the Gospel is. The common definition given is “the good news of Jesus Christ.” This “good news” consists of His death, burial, and resurrection. It is good to those who embrace the power of the resurrection.

If one is “resurrected,” then, of necessity, one has had to have died. In the physical world, only through death is there renewal and regeneration.

As opposed to “renewal” and “rebirth,” too often, Man hopes that he will be able to join a church and get taught spiritual “things” to do. Then, if he “messes up,” he will be able to explain why.

Through baptism, we are “planted” together with Him and baptized into His death. This enables us to be raised to new life, thereby making us “new.”

One of the greatest problems of our society is the inability of Man to submit to authority. This, of course, is one of the prime factors keeping men from being saved.

As the Lord always emphasizes, the “body” has only one organ that thinks—and that is the head (that houses the brain). When another “part” usurps that authority, the “body” is out of order and a “defect” declared. Just think of the resultant chaos if Jesus were not our Leader. Only human decisions would be made, thereby limiting us to human results.

“The faith of the gospel” will lead us to the same results as are found in the gospel. This being the case, we must recognize that we do not have the victory for which Jesus died. How can we say this? Because Jesus died that Man might be free of his flesh, thereby making him free from himself—and our actions and reactions prove that this is not the case. The only way to achieve this is to do as He did and “die” along with Him.

At some point, we are going to have to “come to our spiritual senses” and accept that flesh is opposed to all that is God. If we would accept this, we would stop being afraid of death and welcome it as the only means through which we can come to “know” the One Whom we claim to adore. You see, as opposed to how human beings treat it, death is not the end of life, but rather, the means to the end; that “end” being eternal life.

Because of a lack of “faith (in) the gospel” people in the Church suffer from a lack of confidence. This is a direct result of seeing people “in the world” blessed while recognizing a personal lack of blessings. What is often not seen and what we do not like to acknowledge is that there has been a failure (on our part) to plant seed. As God works according to the Law of Harvest, if one is never willing to “plant,” he will never experience a harvest.

While certain things are required of us (by God) in order that we might show our obedience, our “participation” in bringing anything to pass is unnecessary. Why? Because God, through His sacrifice and His decree, has already worked out all that we need. The only thing that He wants from us is for us to agree with Him.

Spiritual things will not “make sense” to us for they are based upon a set of stimuli with which we are unfamiliar. As we are “earthly” (dependent upon and bound to it), that which comes from the Lord is truly “faith-based,” and unknowable by those bound to the earth. As long as we insist that all that pertains to us “make sense,” then we will operate only by what is “reasonable” to us—and the “unreasonable” blessings of faith will remain out our grasp.