Am I Living by Faith or Unbelief?

00:00:04.000 | How do I know if I'm living by faith or living in unbelief?

00:00:08.000 | Is there a more important question to the daily Christian life? It's a question from a listener named Daniel.

00:00:14.320 | "Hello Pastor John, Romans 14 23 says that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

00:00:19.040 | Could it be said that anything that does proceed from faith glorifies God? Is that also true?

00:00:24.860 | If so, how do I know if what I'm doing proceeds from faith or unbelief?

00:00:29.760 | I know this seems really basic, but it's also really abstract to me too.

00:00:33.480 | I really don't know how to distinguish an act done from faith and an act done from unbelief.

00:00:38.760 | Any help would be greatly appreciated to help me understand this distinction."

00:00:43.060 | This is a really basic and very important question for living the Christian life in a way that brings

00:00:52.200 | Spirit-given peace to the soul and glory to God and good to the world.

00:01:00.360 | All of that, I think, hangs on what it means to "walk by faith" or "live by faith" or "perform the obedience of faith" or "do the works of faith."

00:01:17.160 | All four of those are biblical ways of talking about what Daniel is asking about.

00:01:22.760 | How do you do a thing by faith as opposed to do a thing and it's sin when you do it?

00:01:29.240 | Same thing, same act. So that's what the Christian life is.

00:01:33.000 | Before we were born again, we did nothing from faith.

00:01:36.840 | After we are born again, faith in Jesus as our Redeemer, faith in God as our Father Provider,

00:01:44.200 | faith in the Holy Spirit as the power that enables to do something—that's how we live.

00:01:49.960 | That's how we do things. We lean on Father, Son, Holy Spirit to do their work in regard to our life.

00:01:57.880 | So Daniel points out in his question that Romans 14.23 says, "Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin."

00:02:08.840 | Now that's right, and it has huge implications.

00:02:13.400 | It shows that the deeds which externally conform to God's commands—like don't kill, don't steal, don't lie, be kind, don't return evil for evil—

00:02:26.280 | those external acts might conform to God's will but may be sinful because they may be done from a heart that is not trusting Jesus or the Father or the Holy Spirit.

00:02:40.440 | Now that is a radical, God-centered statement about the nature of real virtue.

00:02:48.280 | Virtue is not external conformity to God's law.

00:02:52.200 | Virtue is conformity to God's law that comes from reliance upon God's love and forgiveness and wisdom and power.

00:03:03.000 | You see this not only in Romans 14.23 but also in Hebrews 11.6 where it says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God."

00:03:14.920 | So nothing we do, no matter how kind it is or how good it is or how it looks on the outside,

00:03:23.320 | none of it is pleasing to God if it's not coming from trust in God's forgiveness and guidance and power.

00:03:33.240 | You can picture how this works in your own experience.

00:03:36.520 | Suppose I say to my teenage son, which they're all grown up now, so not picking on any one of them in particular.

00:03:43.480 | If I say to my teenage son, who wants to use the car to go to a basketball game tonight,

00:03:50.120 | and he says, "Dad, can I use the car tonight?" I said, "Sure, not a problem.

00:03:54.040 | Just would you be sure to wash it before you go, just for the family so we have it clean for the weekend?"

00:03:59.560 | And he's angry at me for asking him to do that, and he goes into his room and slams the door.

00:04:06.440 | I said, "Oh my goodness, what did I just touch?"

00:04:09.800 | And then suppose half an hour later I see him out in the driveway with the hose turned on washing the car.

00:04:16.920 | And all the while, while he's washing it, is angry and bitter and resentful toward his dad for making him do this.

00:04:26.760 | Is his father pleased by that obedience? And the answer is no. He's heartbroken.

00:04:33.640 | He's not pleased. He's heartbroken at this attitude of mere external conformity while he's stewing on the inside

00:04:42.840 | without any appreciation or a desire to please his dad.

00:04:48.520 | That's what it means when it says, "Even if you conform outwardly to God's law, it is sin."

00:04:55.960 | Then Daniel asks whether the reverse is true, that doing something from faith does please God and does glorify God,

00:05:05.880 | and the answer is a resounding yes, because Paul says in Romans 4:20,

00:05:10.520 | "Abraham grew strong in his faith, giving glory to God."

00:05:15.960 | My interpretation of that is it was precisely the strengthening of his faith and his acting in faith

00:05:24.200 | that drew attention to the glory of God's grace and power in his life.

00:05:29.960 | And then 1 Peter says the same thing, 1 Peter 4:11, "Whoever serves, let him do it, let him serve,

00:05:38.040 | as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified."

00:05:48.760 | Now, I take that to mean that in every kind of obedience service, we perform in reliance.

00:05:56.520 | We trust God for the strength and the wisdom and the wherewithal to do what we're called to do,

00:06:04.760 | and if we rely upon God as we obey and serve, God gets the glory.

00:06:09.960 | He says, "The giver of the strength gets the glory for the service."

00:06:14.200 | That's what 1 Peter 4:11 says.

00:06:16.760 | We used to quote that over and over again in our prayer room just before we walked into preaching.

00:06:23.080 | The more we rely upon power and wisdom from God for our obedience,

00:06:28.760 | the more he will get the glory for our obedience.

00:06:32.680 | So Daniel asks, finally, "How do you identify a deed done from faith as opposed to a good deed

00:06:43.800 | done from unbelief? What is it like to do something from faith when you might do that very same thing

00:06:53.960 | from lack of faith, unbelief? What are the marks?"

00:06:58.680 | And I'll give you what I think is probably the most important passage or text in the Bible

00:07:08.920 | to answer that question, and I think it's that important because it gives three clear marks

00:07:16.280 | of a deed done as a work of faith.

00:07:20.680 | In fact, that very phrase is used.

00:07:23.400 | 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12.

00:07:26.520 | Here it goes.

00:07:27.000 | "We always pray for you that our God may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith

00:07:39.880 | by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him

00:07:51.960 | according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus."

00:07:57.800 | Oh, my, my, my.

00:07:59.000 | I encourage everybody, everybody to meditate on every single phrase in those two verses.

00:08:07.400 | Here's the answer that they give to Daniel's question.

00:08:11.240 | A work of faith, a deed done in reliance upon God will have these three elements.

00:08:20.200 | Number one, it involves a resolve for good.

00:08:24.840 | In other words, our choices, our active mental volitional efforts to be involved in God's will,

00:08:33.480 | our choices are involved when we bring our decisions into conformity with the good that

00:08:42.680 | is in God's Word.

00:08:43.640 | So we measure the things we're about to do by what's good, and that is decided by God's Word.

00:08:50.520 | Second, a work of faith involves trusting God's power to enable us to do it, or as he says at

00:08:57.960 | the end of the verse, trusting God's grace.

00:09:00.760 | And that's true whether it is a deed like faithfulness in martyrdom or brushing your teeth.

00:09:09.320 | We cannot do either of those.

00:09:13.880 | If our eyes are open, we know we cannot do either of those apart from God's grace, God's power.

00:09:21.400 | Faith gladly knows that, rests in that.

00:09:24.360 | And number three, the third mark of a work of faith is that it aims at the glory of the name

00:09:31.880 | of the Lord Jesus.

00:09:33.720 | So to live by faith or to walk by faith or to do the works of faith means, one, the thing we aim

00:09:41.640 | at is shaped by God's Word, and it is good.

00:09:46.520 | Two, the strength to do it is the power of God, and we trust in it.

00:09:51.320 | Third, the aim of the act is make Christ look glorious.

00:09:58.200 | Or to say it one more way, acting by faith means, one, what we do is shaped by the Word of God.

00:10:06.760 | How we do it is in the power of God, and the aim in doing it is the glory of God.

00:10:15.240 | That's what changes a so-called good deed from being sinful and displeasing to God into an act

00:10:23.960 | that is truly virtuous and pleasing to God.

00:10:27.880 | A resolve for good, trusting in God to enable us, all aimed at Christ's honor.

00:10:34.840 | The Word of God, power of God, glory of God.

00:10:37.640 | That's a really helpful little triad, easy to remember.

00:10:40.920 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:10:42.040 | And thank you for listening.

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00:10:51.080 | Yes, YouTube.

00:10:52.120 | Based on our recent audience survey, 48% of APJ listeners under the age of 30, 48% under the age

00:11:00.360 | of 30 listen to this podcast through YouTube.

00:11:03.800 | That's amazing to me.

00:11:05.320 | You can find other episodes in our archive or submit a question to us of your own.

00:11:08.520 | Do that online at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.

00:11:10.520 | Well, yes, Christ stopped one storm, but does he now govern over every storm thereafter?

00:11:21.080 | Is such a conclusion a leap or is it logical?

00:11:24.760 | That's up next time when we return on Monday.

00:11:27.080 | I'm Tony Reinke.

00:11:27.880 | Have a great weekend.

00:11:28.840 | We'll see you then.

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Am I Living by Faith or Unbelief?

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