The Marvellous Mystery of Faith

SPEAKER A You once to every time in the sight of the good or evil sky don't break on you that I choice of life forever with that darkness. And. SPEAKER B The Bible assures us in Ephesians two, verses eight to ten, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Welcome to faith to faith Here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Braedan Entermann. SPEAKER C Dear listener, greetings and a warm welcome. Thank you for joining us on the program again today. It is a pleasure to have your company and we have a wonderful study that we want to look at today and the topic is the marvelous mystery of Faith. So here on Faith to Faith, we want to unpack some marvelous mysteries today and we just need the Holy Spirit and God to lead us in understanding this as much as we're able. So let's just bow heads for a word of prayer. Gracious Father in heaven, we're so grateful that we can come before you to learn. We're grateful Father, that we can have this textbooks, the Bible that can be a lamp to our feet and a light to your path that can illuminate our darkness in regards to our understanding regarding the mysteries of the gospel. And as we unpack this today, Father, we just know that we need your Holy Spirit to teach us, instruct us and to lead us, to give us a deeper understanding and appreciation than we've ever had in the past. Father in heaven, we know you're able to do this and this is our request. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C Right? So there's some mysteries in this world that we cannot explain. Science always tries to explain know as they look at things and they come to a deeper understanding. Quite often you have these epiphany moments, you go, wow, I didn't see that. But the more we understand, the more we realize we don't actually understand because there's such depths to knowledge, whether it be in the physical world, but then we also see those depths of knowledge in the spiritual world. And that is far deeper because we live in a physical realm. But we know there's also a realm outside of this. It is the spiritual realm. And we are told that God is spirit. And when it comes to us worshipping God, we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. Now that is a mystery in itself, just that statement. SPEAKER D I love what you've just been pointing out about this desire. We have to know and to have all of the answers to all of the questions. And it's a good desire to wanting to know what is truth and what is real, but we kind of apply that to the Bible. And a lot of people struggle with studying the Bible and trying to understand it because they want to have the answers and they struggle to realize that this is not just an ordinary book, this is the mind of God. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And when we're wanting to understand the mind of God, we should expect that things are going to just be so big and so wonderful for our minds that we can hardly grasp it. And this is the mystery that we're looking at today, is learning about God and yet still being it's kind of like a few drops in the ocean. That's all we're able to get. But we're still going deeper. And for all of eternity, we will be learning about God. SPEAKER C Yeah. And the thing is, we have the mind of God diffused through human instruments known as prophets, which wrote the Bible and have given us these words. But the words have limitations. And we are told in the word of God that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, his ways are not our ways, and that they're actually higher than as our thoughts are. His thoughts are so much higher as the heavens are above the Earth. SPEAKER D Yeah. Wow. SPEAKER C So for us to understand this, I mean, as much as the words have contained the mysteries and we can understand some of these words, some of these words even, we struggle to understand that's right. And the mystery is so much greater. So the good news for us is that God is able, through his spirit, to do some incredible things. Some things that we've never understood in the past, god is able to reveal to us and we can understand them now. It reminds me of that text there in the Old Testament, and Moses says this in Deuteronomy 29 29. It says that the mysteries belong unto God, but the things which he has revealed is for us and for our children that we may do all the things contained in His Word. SPEAKER D That's interesting. Right. He makes two classes of information. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D There's the hidden secret things, the mysteries, and there's the revealed things. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D God hasn't told us how he made that particular galaxy spiral into existence. He hasn't showed us the science of how he did it. All we know is that he's spoken, it happened. But the thing is, we don't need to know how that galaxy keeps spiraling in space. That's not the most important piece of knowledge for us right now. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D The most important thing for us is a knowledge of who God is. And that's the burden of Scripture. It's not a science manual, though it does talk about scientific things. It's not a science manual explaining how galaxies revolve in space. Its primary purpose is to reveal who God is and to prepare us for salvation with Him. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D So that's the purpose of it. And I've just been thinking about a verse here in one Corinthians, chapter two, it says, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. And so this is another layer of challenge when studying Scripture, is that you can't come with your normal human mind and expect to understand it. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D We need the Holy Spirit to help us to understand. Otherwise it's impossible for us to discern the glorious, mysterious message that God is giving to his people. SPEAKER C That's dead right. And you know the text that I just quoted before in Deuteronomy 29 29 that says that mysteries belong to God, but what God has revealed is for us to be able to understand. Now, the Apostle Paul actually talks about that he understood these mysteries of God through revelation. And I actually want to read this just from Galatians, chapter one, verse eleven, and he says, I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. It says, For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came. So if he couldn't be taught by another man regarding this mystery, how did he come to this knowledge, this understanding? He says, Nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. So if we want to understand spiritual things, it also has to come through a revelation that God gives us. And ultimately it's got to come through Jesus Christ, who is the only mediator between God and man. So the Holy Spirit, which is to be Christ's successor on Earth, but is to reveal Christ to us. He is to reveal these mysteries to us. Now, I remember Jesus having a conversation with somebody that was very prominent. He was one of the Sanhedrin, one of the 70. And Jesus was having this conversation with Him at night because the man came to see him secretly. He didn't want to be seen publicly with Jesus because obviously Jesus at that time there was being frowned on if you were a follower of Jesus. But he was drawn to Jesus, and then Jesus started talking to Him about the mysteries of the working of the Spirit. SPEAKER D So here we have in John, chapter three. And it is interesting because he was wealthy, he was very, very intelligent, he had large portions of Scripture memorized. So he was not a novice when it comes to the Bible, but he actually was. It's interesting. Any person with eyes can pick up the Bible and read it. Yes, but we need more than physical eyes to understand what God is. God is communicating in the Bible. And here we have this amazing famous ruler teacher in the land of Israel. He's actually quite ignorant about the things of God. He thinks he understands everything. He thinks he understands all the little tiny things about God. And he stands in front of one who gently, kindly helps him to realize that he doesn't really know much at all. SPEAKER C That's true. SPEAKER D He doesn't realize that he in himself, is incapable of meeting God's standard, and that he needs God to do a work inside of him. So he prided himself that he ticked all the boxes and he didn't realize that he wasn't even one step in the right way, in the right direction. So Jesus says to him, do not marvel or don't be surprised. Don't think it mysterious. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. He said, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. SPEAKER C So Jesus is explaining a mystery here through an object lesson, so to speak. He's using that symbolism of the wind. Now, we cannot see the wind at all. We can see the effects of the wind. When the wind's blowing, you might be able to hear it if it's passing through something that creates a noise, like it'll be a tree or around the corner of a building or something. So you can see the effects of it. You might be able to hear the effects of it. But to know where the wind's come from or where it's going, it's invisible. Wind is invisible, isn't it? SPEAKER D So Jesus takes on this imagery that's just a very practical mystery. None of us can see wind, but we can feel its effects. Yes. And certainly there are effects. If you've ever been in a storm, you can think of those times when you've been in a windstorm or something like that, the effects of wind. Wind can blow trees down, wind can blow houses down, wind can make massive turbulence and all these different things. It's very powerful. We can't see it, but its effects are very, very clear. And we don't deny or doubt the existence of wind because we can't see it. We know it exists because of the influence and impact that it has on us. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D I can't walk outside without feeling it. And so Jesus says here, so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. And it's interesting, the word spirit is actually the word numa, and it's also the word for wind. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And so it's almost like the work of the Holy Spirit is like a divine wind that is blowing on our lives that we feel and are influenced by. So when we are convicted or our conscience as God is speaking to us, we're being blown by the wind, influenced by God. God is shaping us and molding us and influencing us if we let Him. Just like the wind blows the trees. That's right. But the thing is, we can't explain how the Holy Spirit changes our lives. We can't explain how the wind makes a tree sway back and forward. But the fact that the tree sways back and forward at its influence is enough for us to recognize the power of the wind and when our lives are being changed look, to be honest, I cannot explain to you how God changed my life. I can explain to you some basic things. But how does he take someone like me, the Bible says, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? SPEAKER C That's right. Yes. SPEAKER D Who can bring purity out of impurity? How could God take my polluted life and bring purity and honesty and integrity out of it? It's just a miracle. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D All I know is that God did it. And I'm still a work in progress and God is working with me. All I know is that he did it. I know that the Holy Spirit did it, but I don't know how does God work in I remember a quotation by one of my favorite authors. It says, the blessing comes this blessing is the transformed life. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D The blessing comes when, by faith, the soul surrenders itself to God, then that power which no human eye can see creates a new being in the image of God. SPEAKER C That is fascinating. Dear listener, you are listening to Faith to Faith with Braedan Entman. And I'm Ethan McClintock. And our topic today is the marvelous mystery of faith. And Braedan was just unpacking the working of the Holy Spirit, how it is a mystery. And Jesus was explaining this to Nicodemus, part of the sanhedrin, a very wealthy, very intelligent man who knew the word of God. But this marvel that we're talking about, this marvelous mystery of faith, he marveled when Jesus said to him, you must be born again. And Jesus said to him, Why do you marvel? And then he explains through this object of the wind that it is a mystery. Yet you shouldn't marvel too much because you as a teacher should really know these things. So we're talking about here about being born again. And he's saying, how can a man enter into his mother's womb a second time? So he thinks he's talking about procreation, the process of procreation. But what we're saying is Jesus is not talking about that. He's talking about spiritual procreation. He's talking about a rebirth in a spiritual sense. And this is the mystery we are discussing with you today. There are a number of mysteries in the Bible and we want to unpack that a little bit. And sometimes there seems to be, on the surface, an apparent contradiction. And we want to look at this at the moment, which is the mystery of faith and how faith works. And then there's also the other concept that we are not saved by our works. If we can unpack that a little bit today and make that a little bit less mysterious, Braedan, I think we have done a good job. SPEAKER D Sounds good. So should we start on ephesians? SPEAKER C Okay. Let's go to Ephesians, chapter two. That is a fantastic text, ephesians, chapter two, verse eight and nine. And that is we've been here before, haven't we? We have been here before, but we're going to bring a little bit of a different aspect out of these texts, a little bit today. SPEAKER D And so just covering again what we've looked at in my little testimony, I cannot explain to you how it happened, but it happened. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D How does God achieve and do his works inside of my life? It's a miracle that I cannot really explain or understand, but it's happened. And so what we're looking at here is this radical mystery of this amazing mystery that God can actually transform our lives and take us from being selfish. SPEAKER C People to make us selfless people like Jesus and become more and more like Jesus. Jesus says in the Gospel of John john, chapter 13, verse 35, he says, by this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. That word love, there is agape. We're told in the Bible that Jesus sacrifice on the cross demonstrates that agape, it's a self sacrificing love that will put others first rather than ourselves. So how can someone that's selfish like me be a person that can actually exemplify the love of God in my life? I mean, that is a mystery. But we are told that through the Holy Spirit, that love of God, that agape love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which was being given to us. How to explain that, how it works? How it works on the mind and on the body, we can't explain. But we're going to try and unpack this a little bit more now about how we are saved. Now, do we start there with verse eight of Ephesians, chapter two? SPEAKER D Let's do it. SPEAKER C Okay. It says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. So grace saves us, but it is through faith and thus other words, by believing, and it is not of yourselves. So if we look at that, it's not anything that we can do or are able to do or with maybe just trying a little bit harder and working our spiritual muscle a little bit more able to accomplish. SPEAKER D Gritting the teeth. SPEAKER C Gritting the teeth, yes. And trying harder. It is not of yourselves. So we're going to put that aside. It's not anything we can do to save ourselves. It is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. A gift is not something you need to earn. It is free and it is a gift of God. And then it says in verse nine, it is not of works lest anyone should boast. So works don't come into this free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Now, that is quite a mystery because some people think, well, we have to be good. There's many texts in the Bible that suggest that we will be judged by our works. Not only that, we'll even be judged by our words. Now, that seems to be a very high standard. And if I just look at that standard and I look at myself and think, how am I ever going to get there? I might get a little bit anxious. SPEAKER D It's very interesting here. It says that we are saved by grace. So God's faithful kindness toward us, that's the reason we're not saved, because we impressed God somehow. We're saved because God actually cares about us. And that's the source of our salvation. And we receive it through faith. And just emphasizing again, it's not of ourselves. This is not anything we came up with. It's not a ladder that we climbed. And then it makes it so clear not of works, lest anyone should boast. Basically, there's nothing that I can do to deserve salvation, absolutely nothing I can do to deserve salvation. But then the temptation to then, as we've just pointed out, the temptation is then to go, well, does it matter what I do? Does it matter what I do? And so hence the conflict between faith and works. When I receive salvation, does it really matter what I do now? Or that's the challenge. SPEAKER C Yeah, that's right. And I've got a little parallel verse there that Paul writes to Titus, and that's Titus chapter three and verse five, where it says not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saves us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. So here the Holy Spirit, that mystery of God working in our lives is demonstrated again. But it's very clear it's not the works of righteousness that we have done, but it's according to his mercy that he has saved us. And then explains the process. It's through a washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. So we have these aspects here where it clearly says that we are not saved by our works. And then it goes on in verse ten to say something very interesting because it mentions works there and the value of the works, but it's not our works, is it? SPEAKER D That's right. It's interesting. It starts with the word for. Okay, explain like a reason it says for we are his workmanship. So the reason why it says that we're saved by grace through faith and it's not ourselves, it's not our works. It's because for this is the reason we are his workmanship. SPEAKER C So we believe that God created the heavens and the earth. So it's clear from that if we believe in the creation account, as we read in Genesis chapter one and chapter two, we clearly can say, yes, we are his workmanship. But it's not talking about our original creation, is it? No, it's not, because it goes a little bit further and then says, created in Christ Jesus for good works. So this is talking about recreation. SPEAKER D It's marvelous. It says created in Jesus for that's again, purpose, for good works. And just to unpack. What does that mean, good works? That means right thinking and right doing and right being. That's what good works are. It's living the life that Jesus lived here on this planet. It's living a life that is defined by righteousness. It is right thinking, right doing, right being. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And it says which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God's plan all along is that we should live the way Jesus lived on this planet. If we look at his life, he was selfless, he was kind, he was generous. He was completely and utterly love personified walking around this planet. And there's a true joy that comes from living the life of love and selflessness. God's always intended that for us. He intended it for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He intended it for the nation of Israel. He showed them what love looks like. But over and over again, human beings are pushing God away and trying to reach impress God, somehow know all these different things. The ancient pagans would do certain sacrifices and try to impress God, trying to. SPEAKER C Get God's favor impress, sometimes appease, depending if it was a vengeful God they were worshipping or some other type of God. SPEAKER D Yeah, that's right. And God is trying to get through to them that they cannot meet that standard. But all God wants for them is that they can become the people that he always intended them to become. Yes, and it's interesting. It says, like, we can't solve this problem ourselves. We can't climb out of the pit that we're fallen into. But it says, God's grace, his kindness has saved us. And it says that he is the workman. So a workmanship is like let's just say it's a table. The workman is the carpenter, the workmanship is the table. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And what does the workman do? He works on that table, carving it, chiseling it, and doing different things to make that table valuable, make that table shine. He polishes it, he shapes it, he molds it. He's the workman. He's working. And the table is being worked upon. So it turns out that these good works are actually God working in us, and it's actually a gift as well. So we are saved and transformed and are enabled to live the life of Jesus as a. SPEAKER C You know, I've liked the way you've unpacked that. That is very beautiful. So we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. So we have to see where this ecosystem of creativity takes place. It is in Christ Jesus, and it says, four good works which God prepared beforehand. So this is not an afterthought praise God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So if we had to walk in these works, do we have to now generate that work, that pathway? Or has it already been generated? Has it already been created? SPEAKER D It's already done. He is fully capable in his strength to take even the most wretched sinner and turn them into a glorious saint. That is what God is able to do. And it's interesting. We just have to get it through our minds. It's not now I need to do these different things in order to impress God. No, we can't impress God in that sense. We can't climb the ladder high enough to reach his favor. He loves us in spite of our condition and is willing to live his life inside of us and help us to live his life. And so it turns out that when there's that beautiful Christian person, you're like, wow, they're so selfless and kind. It's not them, it's Jesus who lives in Know. SPEAKER C That reminds me of what Jesus said, that Sermon on the Mount where he talks about the fact that we are to let our light shine, and we think, okay, well, it's my light. I've got to kindle that light. I've got to get those sparks going. But it's not that, because if you look at it, jesus says there, let your light so shine before men that they may see what says your good works, but who gets the glory? SPEAKER D That's a good point. SPEAKER C Yeah. That they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Matthew, chapter five and verse 16. So if the glory goes to God, can we boast? Because it says there in verse nine, this is not of works, lest any man should boast. So is boasting excluded in this mystery of the Gospel, this mystery of faith? SPEAKER D Absolutely. We don't get any credit for it. And we find this in Romans, chapter three. In verse 27 and 28, it says, Where is boasting then? SPEAKER C That's a good question we're asking as well. That's right. SPEAKER D We kind of like to boast, and that's basically priding ourselves in our accomplishment and our achievement. Where is boasting then? Paul says it is excluded. SPEAKER C Okay, so there's no boast in faith, and there's no boast in the Gospel. And even in the mystery of the Gospel, we can't boast because it's not our works. SPEAKER D That's right. If it was our works, if we were the source, if our own hearts were the source of all of this goodness, sure, we could have some maybe some reason to Boast. But it says it is excluded. And if Boasting ever comes into our Christian experience, we might need to take a quick reality check and maybe realize that we're not walking in the walk of faith. SPEAKER C Well, we know of people in the New Testament that Jesus confronted Jesus quite often that were quite boastful, even the way they prayed. They said, Lord, I'm grateful I'm not such a sinner as that person there. So they were boastful in public. They like to be called Rabbi, Rabbi and so forth. But what we are saying is the true gospel. The purity of the Gospel excludes boasting because it is not our works as God working through us. SPEAKER D That's correct. Then it goes on of works. No, but by the law of faith, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified or made righteous by faith apart from the deeds of the law. SPEAKER C Okay? So it says that boasting is excluded and how. And then it talks about by what law of works or by faith. So there's two laws there at work. There's the law of works and then there's the law of faith. Now, the law of works does not exclude boasting because the law of works is us trying to make ourselves right with God. And if we have a false sense of understanding these mysteries and all of a sudden we think, oh, we understand it. I'm not going to lie, so I'm not going to tell you a lie. I'm going to behave well. However, my thoughts are still impure. I'm looking at a woman to lust for her. Although I may not outwardly commit adultery, inwardly I have, but I stop the standard. It's just what I do. When people see me, I'll start boasting. But what the Bible says is that the law is spiritual. So the law of faith actually excludes any boasting. Why? Because we know that it is God's righteousness that's demonstrated I mean, if we just go back a couple of verses there, it says that God demonstrates at the present time his righteousness. So it's God's righteousness that is demonstrated in his people. And then the point that we want to make here as well is that verse 31 tells us, do we make void the law through faith? That's the question. And then says God forbid, or certainly not. We do not make void the law. On the contrary, we establish the law by faith. Why? Because it's the law of faith we're speaking about, not the law of works. The law of works is man trying to make himself righteous. The law of faith is accepting what Christ has done and what God has done to me as the workman, and us being the workmanship of God in Christ Jesus, that God actually prepared those works for us beforehand in Christ Jesus that we should walk in them. But it is the walk of faith, not the walk of works. SPEAKER D It's all about who's doing the work. On one side, it's us doing the work, trying to reach that standard of righteousness. The other side is God doing the work in us to achieve that. SPEAKER C Amen. And we know that faith works because we told in Galatians chapter five and verse six that it's not circumcision or uncircumcision that avails anything but faith working. Faith working by Agape Love dear listener, thank you for joining us today on Faith to Faith. We pray that God will bless you as you also continue your walk of faith and walk in those works which. God has prepared beforehand in Christ Jesus for you, so that we can be faithful to God, not by anything that we can do, because we cannot generate that kind of righteousness. We cannot generate the requirements that the law puts in front of us. But through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we can walk in the light and the love of his countenance. We look forward to catching up with you next time. Until then, God bless. SPEAKER B Thank you for joining us on Faith. To Faith. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning. 02 4973 3456. 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