Faith In The Right Person

By Arthur J Licursi

Today there's lots of talk about being "spiritual." By this most mean one
has some interest in that which is beyond the physical realm. Some may say
of another, "He's a Christian you know, he believes in God and is quite
spiritual." Well, the Devil believes in God and that does not make the Devil
a Christian. For some this leads to the occult and other deceptions, but for
some this may be the first indication of a spiritual awakening and that may
lead them to find the Lord as their Savior. But this kind and level of
"spirituality" alone will not save anyone from God's wrath to come.

Our salvation, peace and rest comes to us only by placing our faith in the
specific person of "the Lord Jesus Christ" alone.

Jesus Christ alone did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Only the
sacrifice of our sinless Lord for us was able to pay our in-debt. Salvation
then brings us the riches of a spiritual inheritance that includes our
eternal spirit-union with "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (cf., 1Cor
6:17, Rom 8:2, 9, Col 1:27) to then enjoy His peace and rest. We also then
have the hope of our eternal abode with Him in heaven (2Cor 5:1b). We're
thereby equipped to live on this earth, with all its situations and
circumstances, without fear; being sealed and secure in Him.

Consider the greatest example of faith that God puts forth in the Scriptures
and note who that man placed His faith in. The Bible says Abraham's faith in
God was strong. When God called upon Abram to forsake his extended family,
friends and country to follow the Lord, he obeyed and he "went forth, not
knowing whither he went"... that was faith in action, which was to "trust"
in the words of the Lord.

When God promised to multiply Abraham's seed as "the stars of heaven," he
believed it, though he and Sarah were childless. When, in his old age, God
promised that he would still have a son by ninety-year-old Sarah, he
believed it even though he had waited so long, seemingly in vain. When God
promised to give his seed (lineage) the land in which he had sojourned, he
believed it, though all reason argued against it. When God asked him to
offer in sacrifice the son born so late in life, the son upon whom all the
promises depended, he obeyed, concluding that it must be God's plan to raise
him from the dead!

Such was Abraham's faith in God!

Three times this is emphasized by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 4
alone: Abraham was "not weak in faith" (4:19); he "staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief," but was "strong in faith" (4:20).

Yet it was NOT the strength of Abraham's faith that saved him; it was the
fact that the Object Of Abraham's Faith Was God.

"He (Abraham) BELIEVED (trusted) IN THE LORD; and He (The Lord) Counted It
To Him For Righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)

He had placed his faith in the right Person. His faith became "strong" only
because he had heard and believed God in the first place.

"For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto
him for righteousness," and thus "to him that worketh not, but believeth on
Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness"
(Rom. 4:3, 5).

Today, the simplest humble believer, whoever so weakly believes and commits
himself to God, trusting in His Word, is "Justified Freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24). Being
"just-if-ied" one could say, "now I'm 'just as if I'd never sinned."

Today, in this age of grace, the Word says to all men; "And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." (Acts 16:31).