Thanks again for your post Mr. Seed.
Hello know1
i will do what i can to describe faith.:... there is the faith that all human beings have....even those who are in the world.
this faith is based on your senses(you have 5)(things you can see,taste,hear,smell,and feel)this kind of faith you have to perceive it first before you believe it.
there is the GOD kind of faith.it is not based on things you can (see,taste,hear,smell or feel)this kind of faith,you have to believe it before can receive it.
For example, if I saw some fruit I would like to eat, then pick it up to examine it by looking at it, then smelling it, feeling, and even tasting the thing to see if it is rotten or good to eat. After it passes the examination, then I eat it in confidence. That is something like the kind of faith I gather you are describing to me.
Then there is the kind of faith that derives from, what I believe to be, legalism. Every country has laws that govern their state. If you obey those law, you get a cookie, or rather, you are viewed as a model citizen, likened to a righteous person. If you disobey or break any of the laws set forth in that country and get caught doing so, you will be deemed a law breaker, likened to a sinner, and an appropriate punishment will be set forth by the judge. Jail time if necessary. I believe, the same holds true with the laws of God. If you look carefully at the old testament blessings, for obeying the law, and punishments or curses for breaking the laws of God, it was always something done to the person in the physical realm up to death by stoning, but not in the spiritual. Obedience was considered right living but not righteous or justified before God. Again, the same holds true with those who try to justify their righteousness before God and man via or through their obedience to the laws of Moses.
Deu 30:15 See, I have set before thee this day
life and good, and death and evil;
Deu 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest
live and multiply: and the LORD thy
God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 30:18 I denounce unto you this day, that
ye shall surely perish [die physically], and
that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Deu 28:2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deu 28:3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Deu 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Deu 28:16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Deu 28:17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
Deu 28:18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Deu 28:19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
Notice in the verse below how the alter would be polluted if they tried to fashion the stones with a tool. I believe this is symbolic of how God views those who go about trying to establish their own righteousness through obedience to the law. What it will do, from the way I see it, is that they will have length of days and be blessedon earth due to living right. It is not works unto righteousness or justification before God, but living right.
Exo_20:25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
The works done in faith are done by the Spirit of God through the person. Such as,
Act 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
Act 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
Act 3:3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
Act 3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Act 3:5 And he gave heed unto them,
expecting to receive something of them. [a type of faith]
Act 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee:
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. Mar 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto...; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Act 3:7
And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up:
Jas_2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not [corresponding] works, is dead, being alone.
and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Act 3:8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us,
as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
This is faith in the name of Jesus, in the word or promises of God, and in God. This is the God kind of works done in faith to justification.
