Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

How is a person made right with God? How can we who are sinful men and women be assured of God's forgiveness? It is not by fear, it is not by works. It is not by ritual. It is not by religion. The righteous shall live by faith.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. The heart of the Gospel is even though everyone has sinned, God provided an escape for those who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

But that leaves us with a perplexing question. What does it mean to have faith? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress discredits several false beliefs about faith to reveal its true meaning.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Speaker 2

Dr. JEFFRESS thanks David. Our study on Pathway to Victory is called Grace Powered Living and it's squarely founded on the New Testament letter Paul wrote to the Romans, and it's arguably one of the most profound letters ever penned.

Now before we look at Romans Chapter one, let me remind you that we're taking a trip to the land where Paul fell. Address this book in just a matter of weeks, hundreds of your fellow Pathway to Victory listeners will join me on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. The dates are May 5th through 16th, and I would love for you to join with us. Along our journey, we'll get to see some of the most sought-after destinations in the world, including several stunning Greek islands. But we'll also get to stand on the same ground where Paul shared the good news in the first century, such as the city of Ephesus. So check out the exciting details and make plans to join us by going to ptv.org today.

I am also pleased to offer a Bible study resource to anyone who wants to learn more about Paul and the culture in which he delivered the Gospel. This book is called An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul. Paul's sprawling adventures covered thousands of miles on Roman roads and open seas where he proclaimed the goodness about Jesus to anyone who would listen. I would like to send a copy of the Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul when you share a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Now let's get started with today's study in Romans Chapter one from the teaching series called Grace Powered Living. I've titled today's message "The Just Live by Faith."

Speaker 3

John Bassano, the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Houston, says that faith is a part of everyday life. When you think about it, we go to a doctor when we're sick whose name we cannot pronounce. He gives us a prescription we cannot read. We take it to a pharmacist we do not see. He gives us a medicine we do not understand, and yet we take it. Faith is a part of everyday life, but it's essential to the next life. And that's what we see over and over again in the Word of God.

**The Importance of Faith**

To Habakkuk the prophet, God said, "the righteous person shall live by faith." To the woman whose sinfulness caused her to beg for Jesus' forgiveness, and she washed his feet with her tears, remember what Jesus said: "Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you." In Hebrews 11:6, the writer says, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Over and over again, the Bible talks about the importance of faith, and thus it shall be no surprise that when we get to the foundational book of all of the New Testament, the Book of Romans, the theme of this book is grounded in faith.

Remember we saw last time that the theme of the Book of Romans is the righteousness of God. That is for us to be in a right standing with God. The righteousness of God is available to everyone who comes to Christ through faith, and we're going to see that develop in today's passage. If you have your Bibles, turn to Romans Chapter one. We saw last time that Paul wrote this letter to a group of Christians he had never met before. But he wanted to write this letter to this church to help ground them in the basics of the Christian faith.

We saw last time that the theme verse of the entire book of Romans is found in that passage, verses 16 and 17 of Romans 1: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and then to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." And then he quotes Habakkuk the prophet, "for the righteous person shall live by faith."

How do we come to a right relationship with God? How can we know we're going to be approved by God and enter into heaven one day? It is not by works. It is by faith, in the grace of God, believing what God has done for us through Christ. Now think about this with me. If indeed it is by faith that I receive God's approval and escape the flames of hell, don't you think it's important that we understand what faith is? If it is the ingredient, it is essential for receiving God's approval. Hadn't we better understand whether or not we have that kind of faith?

Well, to understand what faith is, I think the best way to understand faith and define it is by identifying what faith is not. First of all, faith is not a feeling. It's not a feeling. Sometimes when I'm talking to somebody who's not a Christian or I believe they may not be a Christian, I'll ask them a question. And you've asked the question before. It comes from the Evangelism Explosion class. The question goes like this: "If you were to die tonight, do you know for certainty you will be welcomed into heaven?"

Now, a lot of people will say, "Well, no, nobody can know that for sure." But every now and then I run into somebody who says, "Oh, yes, I know I'm going to heaven." And I say, "Well, how do you know you're going to heaven?" This person will say, "Well, I just have a feeling that everything's right between God and me." That's not faith. That's fantasy. Faith is not based on a feeling, nor is faith hope. A lot of people think that faith is a synonym for hope. They'll say something like, "Well, I sure hope I'm going to heaven," kind of like, "I sure hope somebody discovers a cure to cancer." Well, that is not faith. That's just wishful thinking.

Faith is not a feeling. It's not hope. It's not even optimism. A lot of people think that faith is a synonym for thinking positively. If I just think positively long enough, whatever I want to happen will happen. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was the pastor of the Riverside Church in New York. He is the man, the pastor, who turned positive thinking into a religion. He was the mentor of Robert Schuller. Dr. Peale one time told his audience what they needed to do in order to build optimism in their life. Peale said, "What you need to do is when you awaken in the morning before you get out of bed, simply repeat these words three times: 'I believe. I believe. I believe.'"

Unfortunately, as John Stott notes, Norman Vincent Peale never told his audience what they needed to believe in. It's just believe, whatever that means. No, faith always demands an object. Well, Pastor, if faith is not feeling, if it's not hope, if it's not optimism, what is faith? The kind of faith that assures I'll be welcomed into heaven one day. Well, the writer of Hebrews gives us the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1. Remember what the writer said: "Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. It is the conviction of things not seen."

Faith, true faith, is an assurance in something you hope for. It's not wishful thinking. It is a conviction in the things not seen. That's what faith is. Here's a good definition of faith: Faith is believing that God will do what he's promised to do even when all evidence is to the contrary. Let me say that again so you can write it down. Faith is the assurance that God will do what he's promised to do, even when all evidence is to the contrary.

Let me illustrate that to you, if I can. Some time ago, I was invited to another city to speak, and the host told me, "When you get to the airport, just call the hotel where we're having you stay, and they have a courtesy van. They'll come and pick you up and take you to the hotel." That was his way of saying, "I don't want to get up myself in the middle of the night and come bring you to the hotel, so you take the courtesy van."

So I got to the airport, and I pulled out the letter, found the name of the hotel, and I called them. They said, "Well, we'll have a van there in 10 minutes." So I got my luggage and I stood outside waiting for the hotel van to come. Now, I had a feeling it was going to come. I certainly hoped it was going to come. I had optimism that it was going to come. And when it began to drizzle, I said three times, "I believe, I believe, I believe." But it didn't come.

After about 10 minutes of standing out there in the rain, I thought, "Now, wait a minute. Why in the world am I standing out here in the rain, risking pneumonia based on the word of somebody who I don't know whether they're reliable or not, whether they can be trusted to do what they promised or not?" So I finally left, went back inside, called the hotel again. You know what the person on the other end said? "Oh, we're sorry, Mr. Jeffers, we forgot all about you. We'll have a van there in 10 minutes."

So I walked back out, and after about 10 minutes, the van comes. The driver opens the door, he kind of smiles and said, "Well, I guess you lost faith that I was coming." I said, "I certainly did. I lost faith." Because see, if I had had genuine faith, you know what I would have done? I would have continued to stand outside in spite of the rain. I would have stayed there saying, "Even although all evidence is to the contrary, I have the confidence that that person's going to do what they promised to do."

Now, ladies and gentlemen, that's what saving faith in God is. Saving faith in God means believing that God is going to do what he's promised to do. That if I trust in Christ to pay my sin debt for me, if I believe it is not by my works but by his grace that I'm going to be welcomed into heaven. If I have that kind of faith, I'm going to be in a right standing before God. The righteous shall live by faith.

Well, how do you know if you have that kind of saving faith or not? Notice beginning in verse 8 that Paul gives us three characteristics of genuine faith. First of all, he says genuine faith encourages other people. Look at verse 8: "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all." Paul was from the south, if you didn't know that, just a little joke there for you all, "because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world."

Now, Paul had never met the Roman Christians before, but he knew of them. How did he know of them? Because of their faith in God. In fact, it was known throughout the whole world. See, the Roman Church was under persecution at this time. We know what the source of the persecution was. We know from secular history that in 49 AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled all of the Jews who were living in Rome. It was because of a controversy over a Jewish rabbi Claudius called Christus, who was causing an upheaval among the Jews. Sounds like Christ to me, doesn't it?

This is 49 AD, just about 13 years after the resurrection of Christ. Apparently, what was happening was the Jewish Christians and the Jewish non-Christians were not getting along. The Jewish non-Christians wanted these new Jewish believers done away with. So because of the controversy, Claudius said, "We'll get rid of all of you." And that was the persecution, the beginning that the Roman Christians were beginning to experience. And yet their faith remained steadfast.

You see, they believed that God was able to take care of them in their present circumstances. Do you believe that? Think about how ludicrous it is when we say, "Now, God, I have faith. I have faith that when I die, you're gonna take care of my soul and welcome me into heaven. I believe you can do that. But God, I'm not sure you can take care of this problem I'm facing at work right now. I'm not sure you're big enough to do that." Or, "God, I'm not sure you can take care of this broken relationship with my child or my grandchild or my mate."

I mean, how ridiculous is it that we say we trust God for the hereafter, but we certainly can't trust him for the here and now? These Roman Christians trusted him for the present as well as for the future. And that faith was not only within themselves, but it was spreading throughout the Roman Empire, and including other Christians, including the Apostle Paul, were being affected by the Romans' Christians' faith.

Look at verses 11 and 12. Paul said, "For I long to see you in order that I might impart some spiritual gift to you, that you might be established." Now, we'll talk about this more when we get to chapter 12. What did Paul mean by saying, "I want to impart some spiritual gift to you?" Was Paul saying he had the power to give them a spiritual gift? No, that comes from the Holy Spirit of God. A spiritual gift. The word impart means to exercise. Paul said, "I want to be with you, Roman Christians, so I can use my spiritual gift to encourage you."

But look at verse 12: "That is that I might be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us, by one another's faith, both yours and mine." Why did Paul so desperately want to go to Rome? Yes, he wanted to strengthen the Romans, but he wanted to be strengthened by the Romans as well. He heard of their faith, and he wanted some of their faith to rub off on him. Did you know the Apostle Paul had down days just like you do? Paul had times where he wondered if all of this stuff was really true or not. Paul said, "I want to be around some faith-filled people so that I can be encouraged as well."

By the way, that is the reason we come together every Sunday. You know, the primary reason we're here together is not just to worship God. It's to encourage one another. Rabbi Harold Kushner has written a number of books. I disagree with about 99% of everything he says, but one thing he said that is absolutely true is this: "You don't come to church to find God. You come to find a congregation." It's people coming together to find something no one brought.

People say, "Well, I can worship God out on the golf course or out on the lake, or by myself." Yes, you can worship God by yourself, but that misses the point. When you worship God by yourself, you're missing out on the encouragement that you and I desperately need week after week from being with other believers. You know, Christians are like a piece of coal burning in a fireplace. As long as that coal stays in the fireplace, it glows red and burns hot. But you take a piece of burning coal out of the fireplace and set it aside, you know what happens? Quickly, that red glow diminishes and it becomes a steely gray piece of coal.

That's what happens to Christians. As long as we're together, we ignite one another. We cause one another to burn brightly. But you take a Christian and separate him from the church out here by himself, his faith grows cold very, very quickly. That's why the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 10:24, "Let us consider how to stimulate, how to ignite one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

Listen, coming to worship is not optional. If you're going to stay on fire for Christ, it is essential to keep your spiritual temperature red hot. What Paul is saying is, if you have the kind of faith that really saves, that trusts God, that faith is not only going to trust God for the hereafter, but it's going to trust God for the here and now. And as you trust God in your present circumstances, your faith will spill over to other people as well. Genuine faith encourages other people.

Secondly, genuine faith endures unanswered prayer. True faith endures unanswered prayer. If you've been a Christian for any time at all, sooner rather than later, you're gonna have to deal with the problem of unanswered prayer. Why doesn't God answer my prayers? Now, I know technically God answers every prayer. We all know that there's no such thing as unanswered prayer. We all know there are three possibilities of how God can answer a prayer: yes, no, or wait.

So we know God is always answering prayers in one of those three ways. But the real question people ask when they say, "Why doesn't God answer my prayers?" What they're really asking is, "Why doesn't God answer my prayers affirmatively and immediately?" Isn't that what most people want to know? Why doesn't God give me what I want when I want it? That's what most people deal with when they're talking about unanswered prayers.

Did you know Paul had to deal with that as well in his life? In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul gives this testimony. He said that he had been afflicted in his life by what he called a thorn in the flesh, a problem, an affliction for which he had prayed for deliverance. Now, theologians differ about what that thorn in the flesh was. Some people believe it was a wife. I don't believe that personally. Some people actually believe that. They say Paul had a nagging wife who didn't support him in ministry, and that was his thorn in the flesh. No, I think it was some type of physical affliction, probably his eyesight.

But whatever the affliction was, he said he prayed three times that God would remove that affliction, and each time God said, "No." Finally, he said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in your weakness." Paul dealt with unanswered prayer. And we see another case of unanswered prayer for Paul here in Romans chapter one. In verse 10, he said, "I want you to know that I have been praying that I could come to visit you soon in Rome." But look at verse 13: "I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I've often planned to come to you and have been prevented thus far in order that I might obtain some fruit among you also, even among the rest of the Gentiles."

I prayed that God would allow me to come, but up to this point, he has said no. Why is it God doesn't answer our requests affirmatively and/or immediately? The late James Boice mentioned several reasons for unanswered prayer. I'd like to expand on them for a moment. One possibility for unanswered prayer is unconfessed sin in our life. Unconfessed sin. Isaiah 59:1-2 says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save, neither is his ear dull, so that it cannot hear." God's capable of answering your prayer. He's capable of hearing your prayer. God's not hard of hearing. That's not why he's not answering your prayer right now.

Isaiah is saying, "What is the reason?" Verse 2: "But your iniquities, your sin have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear." Sometimes we use this verse. I've actually seen it in a gospel booklet about talking to non-Christians about why you need to come to faith in Christ. And they quote Isaiah 59:2: "Your sin has become a barrier between you and God." And yet this is not an evangelistic verse. This verse was not written to unbelievers. It was written to God's own people.

He said to his own people, the Israelites, "The reason God is not hearing you is because of the sin that has become a barrier between you and God." It's the same way with us. Peter said in 1 Peter 3, "God's ear will not attend, will not listen to the prayer of the unrighteous, but only to the righteous." Those who act righteously is what he's talking about. There are some of you right now who are begging with God to do something specific in your life, and yet heaven is silent. Heaven is like brass. One possibility is there is some overt, obvious sin in your life, some act of rebellion against God that is keeping him from hearing your prayer.

Speaker 2

Paul's letter to the Romans is filled with wisdom on how to unleash God's grace. Grace in our lives. And there's much more I want to show you from this passage. In a moment, David will explain how you can receive the audio CDs and video DVDs for this study. It's called Grace Powered Living. This collection of recordings contains far more material than we've had time to include on this daily program. So please stand by for that information.

And then I want to send you a practical Bible study tool that belongs in your collection. It's called An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul. Inside this book, you'll find all sorts of colorful information on first-century living and how this one man ignited a revolution that continues to this day. Pastors, students, and anyone engaged in Bible study will find this an indispensable resource.

Plus, as a bonus, when you make your request today, I'll also include a multifolded Journeys of Paul map and brochure so that you can easily trace the footsteps of this hero of our Christian faith. I've given you a lot of information, so I'm asking David to repeat it and to give our contact information as well.

And please know that we deeply appreciate your financial support of Pathway. You might not consider yourself a missionary like Paul, but when you give to Pathway to Victory, you're sending the gospel via radio and television into places you may never visit. And in this sense, you have a ministry all of your own.

David, thanks, Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 1

Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of *An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul*. As a bonus, we'll send you the Journeys of Paul Map to help you trace the paths Paul took on his missionary journeys. To make your request, call 866-999-2965 or visit our website at ptv.org now.

When you give $75 or more, you'll also receive the audio and video discs for *Grace Powered Living* featuring Romans Chapters one through eight. All of the messages come in their original, unedited form. To request your copy of the *Grace Powered Living* teaching series, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org now. If you'd prefer to write, here's that address: P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, TX 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins inviting you back next time for Part Two of the message "The Just Live by Faith." That's Wednesday here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

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We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.