The Faith we Possess

The writer of Hebrews tells us that we are to hold firmly to the faith we possess. Today I find that when you mention faith you get a number of different responses. Some think of faith as a creed that you follow while others see faith as a force that you can build within you. They take Jesus' words when He said that if you have faith you could move mountains. While that is true it is not something that we produce within ourselves. So we say when the mountain is not moved that we didn't have enough faith,
All the faith you can muster within yourself will not accomplish anything but the faith that comes from without can and will accomplish much. I heard James MacDonald say that we had to have more faith and he quoted the song "Faith is the victory." Is faith the victory? I don't think so unless that faith is a person and that person is Jesus Christ.
So let's go back to the title of this article, the faith we possess. What is the faith we possess? Is it a creed? Is it a force? or is it a person?
Paul tells us in Romans that faith comes by hearing (not by striving) and hearing comes by the Word of God. The faith we possess is much more than a creed because it is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Faith is the victory if faith is Jesus Himself as He is the victor.

Our Great High Priest

As I read Hebrews 4:14 - 16 I could not help but notice the symbolism that is there and I am sure that if I saw it the original readers knew exactly what the author meant. He said, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
The High Priest once a year went through the veil into the Holy of Holies to make an atonement for the people. Jesus has gone through the veil (the heavens) into the Holy of Holies (the presence of God). The High Priest did this once a year as it was always temporary but Jesus, our Great High Priest, has done it once for all.
Even after the High Priest made the atonement for the sins of the people they could not come into the presence of God themselves but our Great High Priest has opened the way so that we can go into the very presence of God with confidence that our prayers will be heard.

Randy Alcorn

Randy Alcorn once asked a group of students if they believed that a person could lose their salvation or not. He then proceeded to divide them into two groups, those that did and those that didn't. He then gave each group a list of Scriptures to study but what he didn't let them know was that the two groups had different scripture references. The group that said that did believe that a person could lose salvation he gave verses on eternal security while to the group that didn't believe you could lose your salvation he gave verses that warned against coming short. Much of scripture has that tension and we must not use our doctrinal bias to filter scripture but that we would check our doctrinal biases by Scripture. One thing that is important for us to remember is that we must always view human choice through the lens of the sovereignty of God.

Let the Beauty of Jesus

We used to sing a little chorus that went:

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me
All His wonderful passion and purity
Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me

Maybe we should have sang it this way:

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen by me
All His wonderful passion and purity
Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen by me

I think one of the reasons why we are danger of drifting is that we lose sight of the beauty of Jesus. When I go to church I want to see the beauty of Jesus. When I read the word I want to see the beauty of Jesus. It is important that the world see the beauty of Jesus in us but they won't until we see the beauty of Jesus.

The right to be saved

Do I (or you or anyone) have the right to be saved? THe simple answer is "no". We have the right to be condemned. When we see that we have the right to be saved we minimize sin but even worse than that we become idolators in that we are involved in the worst "ism" of all, humanism. When we see that our only rightful destiny is damnation then we will take a much different look at salvation and guard that great salvation that was given to us.

Possess your Possessions

"Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess." Deuteronomy 11:8
How do we possess our possessions? The possessions are gifts from God and the strength to possess them is also a gift from God. Is it works-righteousness to possess what is ours in Christ Jesus? Absolutely not! He gives us both the gift and the strength to obtain that gift. It is all about Him.

Gospel in the Old Testament

"For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith." Hebrews 4:2
So how was the Gospel preached to the people in the Old Testament? Certainly the sacrifices spoke of their need of a Saviour. The tabernacle showed the Gospel. The Law also showed the Gospel. How quickly the people turned the Law into something that it was not intended to be. The Law was not an end in itself but pointed to a Saviour, the Gospel.