“But without faith it is impossible to please Him …” (Heb 11:6a, NKJ)
Gen 15:6 is a crucially important foundation stone: “And he (Abraham) believed the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” This Scripture clearly says: faith leads to righteousness (right standing with God). In Rom 1:17 (WNT) Paul spells it out like this: “For in the Good News a righteousness which comes from God is being revealed, depending on faith and tending to produce faith; as the Scripture has it, THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
We are justified by faith (Rom 3:28). In Eph 2:8 is also says that we have been saved through faith.
To come back to our unfolding sequence: The call of God comes to you; if you respond to it, you must have faith at the most elementary level that God exists; that it is He that is calling you; that you can stand in relationship with an unseen God (Heb 11:1). If you call on Him then, it is an initial conversion.
But then Paul asks this follow-up question in Rom 10:14-15 & 17: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? … So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” As the Word is preached, people hear it, and that leads to faith, and it brings you to a point of calling on Him
There are theologies that say that this faith is a gift from God, in other words that He also gives it to you. This is based on an incorrect understanding of Eph 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” The word it is read as if indicating faith, but it actually indicates salvation! Salvation is a gift from God! The translation of God’s Word translates it correctly: “Being saved is a gift from God.” It is faith that makes it possible to receive this gift; without this faith you cannot please God.
- Sela: Pray about Ps 16:11: “You will show me the path of life” along with Prov 14:12.
- Read: Gen 16: Ps 16; John 16
- Memorise: Joh 16:13.
