Keep The Faith!

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." Isaiah 7:9

This phrase has little spiritual value unless one is talking about the Christian faith which was "once and for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3, ESV).  We are to remain in the faith that God has given us or we apostatize from it!  Ephesians 4:5 says there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" and we should realize this: "How shall we escape if we neglect such great salvation?..." (Heb. 2:3, ESV). Man's estimation of man is that he is basically good and perfectible as an evolving animal heading toward inevitable utopia. But God's estimation of man is that he is totally depraved and as bad off as he can be--note he is utterly depraved or as bad as he can be, and there's a difference.  Our condition couldn't be any worse; God's salvation couldn't be any better!

Paul's aim was to teach "until we all attain to the unity of the faith..." (Eph. 4:13, ESV).  The motto of the British monarch is to be FD or "Defender of the Faith"--however, Prince Charles wants it to be changed to "defender of faith."  This is a far cry from the truth because faith doesn't save, only Christ saves; it is the object that saves.  When someone says, "Have faith!"  it is meaningless unless it is grounded in the truth--faith for its own sake is vain.  Faith doesn't save, Christ does!  

Jude exhorts us to "contend for the faith" in Jude 3 and this means sticking up for what you believe in and not compromising with the devil. However, there are some things we are to be tolerant of and there are areas of gray and disputable matters:  Augustine's dictum says, "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."  Essential doctrines are non-negotiable and must be accepted universally to be saved.  We should always withhold judgment and only judge heresy to keep the doctrine of the church pure.

Paul was glad in his swan song (2 Tim. 4:7, ESV) that he said: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."   There is the danger of error even among believers:  "O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.  Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called 'knowledge,' for by professing it some have swerved from the faith"  (1 Tim. 6:20-21, ESV). He urges him:  "Fight the good fight of the faith...." (1 Tim. 6:12, ESV).

We are to examine ourselves regularly whether our faith is sound:  "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves, [as at the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. 11:28)].   Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!"  (2 Cor. 13:5, ESV). We must be firm in the faith as our foundation:  "Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as [we] were taught, abounding in thanksgiving"  (Col. 2:7, ESV).  There is always danger for a believer to go astray, as Paul warned in Col 1:23 (ESV):  "If indeed you continue in the faith...."  The Galatians were growing quite well until the leaven of legalism got into them and Paul wondered what happened.

The admonition that Peter gives in 2 Peter 2:1 (ESV) says, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction."  But there must be heresy to purify:  "For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized" (1 Cor. 11:19, ESV). Remember that Jesus warned that before His coming there would be a great falling away of the faith and He asked if there would be faith on the earth (cf. Luke 18:8)

What faith are we stressing?  Mainly, our great salvation Reformed formula is "by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone," and also (the Five Onlys) to God alone be the glory, and by the authority of Scripture alone! The battle cry of the Reformation was, "Justification by faith alone!   Any perversion of this pure gospel that Scripture teaches is heresy and must be denounced!  Paul was "astonished that [they] are so quickly deserting him who called [them] in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--not that there is one, but there are some who trouble [them] and want to distort the gospel of Christ." 

But even if [he] or an angel from heaven should preach to [them] a gospel contrary to the one [he] preached to [them], let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6-8, ESV).  We dare not introduce the merits of man, nor works into the equation.  We must put our faith in Christ alone, not in the church, the clergy, the saints, angels, Mary, nor the Pope--they cannot save!   Soli Deo Gloria!