Today, on Truth Time, He's already Isaiah 46:9 and 10 declared the end from the beginning.
His understanding is infinite, Psalm 147:5, and there are no secret places hidden from him, Jeremiah 23:23-24.
He knows the names of the stars, and how many there are, Psalm 147:4.
He, Psalm 139:4, knows the words before anyone can even speak them.
John said, He knows all things, 1 John 3:20, All things are naked and open unto his eyes, Hebrews 4:13, and there is no searching of his understanding, Isaiah 40:28.
His foreknowledge is the foundation of the world, Acts 2:23 and 1 Peter 1:2.
And, if your God needs faith, he must be the little "g," and you're going to want to go find the real one.
The one who is the object of faith, and not the one who needs an object, an object to put his faith in.
This is Truth Time Radio.
The faith of Christ, the misunderstood term among some, they, they'll use it to say Christ had to have faith during his earthly ministry.
When in fact, this little three word term simply stands for Paul's doctrine.
It's what he taught, he taught the faith of Christ.
You know, when you, you think of the term, faith of Christ, think of it as a, a title.
What if we had Paul's epistles, all by themselves in book form.
You walk into the bookstore, you look up there on the shelf, and there it is.
On the cover it says, "The Faith of Christ."
Underneath that in parentheses, "(Romans through Philemon)"
Inside the book is all the information needed for your salvation, for your blessed hope, you're catching away, for your worthy walk, everything describing your position in Christ, your, your eternal destiny.
Inside Paul's faith of Christ book is where we find the, the faith that we're stablished in, Colossians 2:7, Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith.
That's why Paul said, From faith to faith, in Romans 1:17.
Think about it.
You walked into the bookstore, and over there in Paul's, "Faith of Christ" book, Romans is positioned first.
And just 17 verses into the very first chapter, he wrote the four words, "From faith to faith."
That should tell us something.
Right off the bat, he begins to take us from time past faith to but now faith.
From the faith required under the law of Moses to the faith required under the dispensation of grace.
That's the faith of Christ, and it has nothing to do with this imaginary faith some say Christ had to have.
In Galatians chapter 1, Paul certified the brethren that the gospel which he preached was not after man.
He said he didn't receive it of man and no man taught it to him.
Christ revealed it.
Who?
Christ.
The doctrine Christ gave Paul, it has a name, and it's called, The faith of Christ.
Christ revealed it to Paul.
What?
The faith of Christ.
So, if you're here today and you want to understand the faith of Christ, you'll find it.
You can learn all about it in Paul's 13 faith of Christ epistles, Romans through Philemon.
The faith of Christ is what we believe, not what Christ had to have.
Now, first up here, let's, let's address the claim that Christ needed faith to raise from the dead.
That's what they say.
Let's start with this one.
God's definition of faith, which the faith of Christ extremists they avoid, it's found in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1.
Here it is.
It says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Now, as a Bible student, if I thought the term, faith of Christ, if I thought that meant Jesus had to have faith in order to resurrect, but then I come upon this verse here where God gives me the, the definition of what faith is, and the definition of faith is hoping for something I have never seen, you know what I would do?
Change my mind.
I would simply admit that I was wrong, something I've had to do plenty of times.
I would do it again right here.
God's definition plainly tells me that Christ isn't a candidate for faith.
He has divine knowledge and he knows the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46:10.
So, he already knew, he already knew that he was going to raise from the dead.
No faith needed, no faith needed, case closed, put a period on it.
I would understand that real easy when I was shown God's definition of faith.
If he needed faith to raise from the dead, Mark 8:31 makes no sense.
Listen real close, And he began to teach them, the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and the chief priest and scribes and be killed, and after three days, rise again.
The, "Christ needed faith to raise from the dead," fairy tale just took a hard faceplant.
This is why we shouldn't put what someone we admire and what they taught us ahead of God's word.
You only get two educations, the one you're given, and the one you give yourself.
And education should be based on objective facts, not subjective opinions.
There comes a time in the believer's life where he has to choose between mansplain or Godsplain.
Okay, is the faith of Christ what keeps you saved?
Yet another false claim out there.
The faith of Christ extremists, they say, quote, "The faith of Christ gets imputed to you after you believe, and then it is his faith that keeps you saved," end quote.
Something else I, I guess they heard and decided to parrot without investigating.
They act as if he has to have faith for us in case we're having a bad faith day.
That's a straight up contradiction is what it is.
It contradicts the fact that, at the split second moment you believed the gospel, the Holy Spirit baptized you into Christ and sealed you.
Now, why would a sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise Saint of the Most High God also need Christ in his earthly ministry to have faith for them while he was under Israel's prophetic program?
Hmm, talk about a muddy mess.
That mixed up doctrine mixes prophecy with mystery, which is what we as right dividers say not to do.
And here's something else.
If it's his faith that keeps you saved, if that were the case, then, then what happens to the ones who depart the faith?
In 1 Timothy 4, Paul warns of those.
He warns of those who heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, causing them to depart from the faith.
So, if the faith of Christ gang, if they're right, and it's his faith that keeps you saved, but you can depart from it, that means his faith can fail.
His faith might not keep you saved.
That logical fallacy, my friend, has you losing your salvation.
So, just chalk it up to another one of their many contradictions.
Anyone saying it's not your faith, but his faith that saves you, sure don't sound Acts 9 dispensational to me.
But what should we expect from those who are now using AI to write their podcast and Facebook posts?
And studying from one of the fathers of universalism, A.E. Knox Bible.
They need AI and a man's Bible, because God's word apparently isn't good enough by itself.
And so, this misguided faith of Christ's belief, hey, it belongs in universalism, but not in mid-acts.
So, let's further test this quote-unquote, "It's not your faith that saves, but the faith of Christ."
Let's test it against scripture.
Some say that Paul taught this, so, so let's go see if he did.
Acts chapter 16, hmm, let's start here at verse 29, Then he called for a light, and sprang in...
now this is the jailer,
...he called for a light and sprang in, and come trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas.
Verse 30, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Verse 31, and they said, this is Paul and Silas, they said, It's not your faith that saves, it's the faith of Christ.
Is that what they said?
Well, according to some it is, but listen, how about we just stick with the Word of God, okay?
That's not what they said.
They answered the jailer and said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Let's move on.
I mean, hey, we're simply taking all their claims, layin' them out on the table, and with an open King James Bible, testing each one.
No gymnastics needed.
No hoops to jump through.
Okay, next, let's address their, "obedient unto death," claim.
Take a look with me here in Philippians chapter 2, chapter 2 verse 8, And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Now somehow, somehow in their minds, obedient doesn't really mean obedient, it means, faith.
But hey, a slave can be obedient.
A slave can be obedient without having an ounce of faith in his master.
If a slave obeys his master, does that mean he's on board with his master's plan?
No, it means he obeyed, just what it said.
He obeyed what he was told.
So, where do they get this?
Not from the King James Bible, that I can tell you.
What does obedient unto death have to do with Hebrews 11:1?
Somebody tell me, that's God's definition of faith, remember?
Properly defining words, it's of the utmost importance, is it not?
God with a pen of the Hebrew writer said, Faith is having hope in things you've not seen.
So, explain how Christ, being obedient, translates to not knowing what he's being obedient to.
How does it translate to there being things Jesus hasn't seen?
Listen, I can have faith, you can have faith, but Jesus Christ can't.
Because faith is needed for things you're hoping for, but haven't seen.
Jesus has seen it all.
He knows all things, John 18:4, quote unquote, "Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him."
Is that hard to understand?
No, it's not.
Was his death not one of the, "all things," that should come upon him?
Was his resurrection not one of the, "all things," that should come upon him?
Then he wouldn't have needed faith, would he?
See how simple this is?
It's almost as if those teaching this don't really understand what faith is.
Or just decided to not believe how God defines it.
Because you can't believe the Hebrews 11:1 definition of faith, and also believe Jesus had to have it.
That's absurd.
Okay, let's dispel one more they use concerning obedience.
Hebrews chapter 5, Hebrews chapter 5, let's go there, Hebrews 5 verse 8, Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now, they'll misuse this to claim that the, "learned," here means that he didn't know all things, even though we just read he does.
In the verse we read, not the only one, there's plenty of other ones.
Here's another one, John chapter 16 verse 30.
His disciples said, quote unquote, "Now are we sure that thou knowest all things..."
And in John 21:17, Peter said, Lord, thou knowest all things.
This is repetitive.
So, a Bible believer, one that's done the research, when they see the phrase, "Learned he obedience," they're going to understand that it's speaking of his experiential knowledge.
Had he ever before come to earth in the flesh and dwelt among men?
Of course not.
This is about how for the first time he suffered in the flesh.
Let's keep reading, verse 9, And being made perfect.
This is where they'll say, the suffering made him perfect.
But, nothing could make Jesus perfect.
He can't be made something he already is.
He's eternally perfect.
So, the, "being made," here is referring to when he was born.
When the word became flesh, he was made perfect, which had nothing to do with his suffering.
It's the John 1:14, Word that was made flesh and dwelt among us.
It's the Galatians 4:4, When God sent forth his son, made, there it is, made of a woman.
It's simply speaking about his birth.
This is what happens when you compare scripture with scripture instead of preacher to preacher.
The truth reveals itself right before our eyes.
Okay, next.
The faith of Christ is synonymous with the faithfulness of Christ, so they say.
Is it?
Let's test this claim.
Having faith and demonstrating one's faithfulness is not the same.
I suspect I could walk into an elementary school and find some students that know this, but sadly, we have full grown adults who don't.
If a believer somewhere along the way, if, if they stop believing, lose their faith, they do not lose their salvation.
Why not?
Is it because Christ had faith and, and when their faith got weak he stepped in and took over, as they say?
Or, is it because he is faithful?
Sadly, some haven't put in the work it takes to figure out that having faith and being faithful are different.
They haven't connected the dots yet.
Being faithful is not having faith.
Two different words spelled two different ways, two different meanings.
Christ being faithful is about his loyalty.
It concerns his faithfulness.
The word faithful can be used when speaking of a, a faithful friend, or, or someone loyal to, to follow through and do what they said they would do, as in Philippians 1:6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Now, that's a beautiful picture of being faithful, but has nothing to do with Christ having hope in things he's not yet seen.
See how they mix this up?
Let's face it and call it as it is, these made up philosophies of man aren't cohesive with the Hebrews 11:1, definition of faith.
Get out your scales and you decide, weigh the evidence, man's definition or God's definition?
As it stands, God's definition of faith doesn't square with the, the one that extremists made up.
Faith is hoping for things you haven't seen, faithful is being trustworthy to do something.
Both the Father and the Son are loyal to do what they say.
Those teaching this are the same ones spreading the false teaching that Jesus is his own father, poisoning grace with their apostolic oneness doctrine.
Next, they'll be speaking in tongues and claiming Geno Jennings rightly divides.
Welcome to Walmart, clean up on aisle 5, all right.
Romans 4:5.
Now, how they mess this one up is quite the mystery.
Let's take a look, Romans 4:5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Their outrageous claim here is that, where it says, "his faith," that's talking about the faith of Christ.
But truth seekers, hey, we know that context is our friend.
One thing all the false teachers have in common, they're allergic to context.
They avoid it like the plague.
Here's what context tells us.
When Paul penned these words here, "his faith," he was referring to the faith of Abraham.
I thought everyone knew this.
The faith of Abraham, not the faith of Christ.
So, instead of ripping verse 5 out and, and misusing it, trying to get a cult following, let's start at verse 1, and let's see if we can get some context.
Verse 1, What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
Verse 2, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.
(Verse 3), For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So, we've read three verses leading up to verse 5, the verse in question.
And whose faith are we talking about?
Verse 1, Abraham.
Verse 2, Abraham.
Verse 3, Abraham.
And by the time we get here to verse 5, guess whose faith we're still talking about, yep.
So, in verse 5, when it says, "his faith is counted for righteousness," that's the faith of Abraham.
No mention of the faith of Christ.
The extremists have taken just about every place where Paul uses the word faith, and turned it into the faith of Christ.
One problem is, they think faith is a gift from God.
And who does that remind you of?
Who does that sound like?
That's right, the Calvinists.
They say the same thing.
This is a fallacy that comes from the twisted understanding of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8.
Both the faith of Christ extremists we're dealing with, and the Calvinists, mess up Ephesians 2:8.
How do they mess this up?
Who knows?
They deserve a first place trophy for this one, I can tell you that, because we've never heard of anyone in Mid-Acts having a problem with Ephesians 2:8, until now.
Watch how they twist it.
Here, where Paul says, For by grace are ye saved through faith..., they say, the faith here is a gift.
Can someone say heresy?
This is Calvinism.
But they call themselves right dividers.
Not exactly our best and brightest.
Listen, if faith is a gift and not everyone has it, that means God has favorites.
Yep, it means he's only selected certain ones to give the gift to.
Which means he, he went against his very word, where that he says he would have all men to be saved, 1 Timothy 2:4.
Man, they're creating a lot of problems.
And to be clear, this interpretation makes a mockery of the gospel.
Because there is no, "Christ having to have faith during his earthly ministry," anywhere in Paul's gospel.
And they might figure this out if they didn't blatantly refuse to follow his 2 Corinthians 5:16 instruction to not know Christ after the flesh.
They say, they'll quote that, they'll say, "Know we no man after the flesh," but a couple minutes later they'll say, "Christ had to have faith during his earthly ministry."
That's mixing prophecy with mystery.
They rightly divide till they don't.
There's not one single verse in scripture that says Christ having faith during his earthly ministry is a gift to the uncircumcision.
Not one.
The Holy Spirit has perfect grammar, and according to Ephesians 2:8, the gift here is salvation by grace, not faith.
Salvation is the gift of God for all who have faith, not to all who are given faith.
The, "not of yourselves," doesn't mean you don't need to exercise faith.
It means that you're exercising it is not a work.
Because a work is something that's done in the flesh.
What Paul is saying is, no one can boast in themselves regarding their salvation, just as he said in Philippians 3:9, Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, the flesh.
See, this is indisputable, and only those wise in their own conceits would say that faith is the gift in Ephesians 2.
Christ being required to have faith during his earthly ministry is not the gift of God, salvation by grace through faith is.
Now then, let's get Colossians chapter 2.
And that thing that, that thing that sits up there between your shoulders, let's use it.
Let's use our thinker.
Verse 3 here, Paul speaking of Christ says, In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Whoa, that's powerful is it not?
Now ask yourself, if Christ had all wisdom and knowledge, I mean, that's what it says here, right?
If he had all wisdom and knowledge, what would he need with faith?
We're using our thinker, remember, by God's own definition, faith is hoping for things not seen.
So some, they're teaching a Christ that has all wisdom and knowledge, but still has to hope for things he hasn't seen.
Rubbish.
Paul said, In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
And John agrees.
John agrees with Paul, even if you don't.
John 16:30, here John records what the disciples said to Christ, I mentioned it earlier, it's worthy of repeating, Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee..., John 16:30.
So, if the definition of faith is hoping for things not seen, and John and Paul both say Christ knew all things, no Bible believer would say Christ needed faith.
There's nothing Christ hasn't seen, argument over.
He's already Isaiah 46:9 and 10, declared the end from the beginning.
His understanding is infinite, Psalm 147:5.
And there are no secret places hidden from him, Jeremiah 23:23 and 24.
He knows the names of the stars and, and how many they are, Psalm 147:4.
He Psalm 139:4 knows the words before anyone can even speak them.
John said he knows all things, 1 John 3:20.
All things are naked and open unto his eyes, Hebrews 4:13, and there is no searching of his understanding, Isaiah 40:28.
His foreknowledge is the foundation of the world, Acts 2:23 and 1 Peter 1:2.
And if your God needs faith, he must be the little, "g."
And you're going to want to go find the real one.
The one who is the object of faith, and not the one who needs an object, an object to put his faith in.
That's silly.
Okay, we've got more to come.
We'll eventually get over there to the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
There's some statements over there that some get confused by.
We'll address those.
But keep in mind, keep in mind saints that the faith of Christ, the faith of Christ is what allows us to follow Paul as he followed Christ.
It's the information he penned.
That's what enables us to evaluate a, a praise and 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Judge all things.
It gives us the ability to make righteous judgments.
When you see the term, "faith of Christ," it's speaking of a faith where you and I, we say, "the faith of Christ," some in the world, hey, they claim their faith to be in Islam.
There's even a song called the faith of Islam, where you and I, we have the faith of Christ written in 13 books, some have the faith of Buddhism written in a collection of what they call, sacred text.
Several, several years ago, while on vacation, I was, I was in a store shopping around, and when we were checking out, I noticed on the table near the cash register, a stack of pamphlets titled, "The faith of Buddhism."
It described the faith of those who call themselves Buddhist.
Christian believers, we have the faith of Christ, but Muslims have a different faith.
Buddhists have a different faith.
This pamphlet described the Buddhist, believing in karma, in reincarnation, and so forth.
Buddhism is a faith that millions of people follow by the way.
Hinduism, now that's another faith, and they have about a billion followers.
Sometime back while researching them, I found where Britannica.com calls the faith of Hinduism, quote, unquote, "One of the principal faiths."
The faith of Hinduism is their belief system just as the faith of Christ is ours.
Anyone willing to leave their predilections and, and grow their knowledge will quickly see that the faith of Christ is a collection of writings, and not something Christ had to have.
Grace and Peace.
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