What Does "Saved by Faith" Really Mean? Romans 1:16-17

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, once again, we're going to go right back to Romans chapter 1, and pick up where we left off in verse 16. Now, again, for those of you in television, we're just an informal Bible study. We're not associated with anyone. I always have to keep repeating that. And no one underwrites us. We strictly depend on God's people, and they are always so faithful. It's just amazing how we're able to just pay our bills, and that's all we ask. I always like to stress that we take nothing out of this ministry for ourselves. Nothing. And not even travel expense. I had someone ask again the other day. And that's one thing we refuse to do. Maybe someday we'll have to, but I hope not. But so far, my wife is still working, and I've still got the cattle ranch, and we get by. Another thing we always like to remind folk, especially out in television, if you want to copy the tapes or copy the books, any of our material, you'll feel free to do so. Again, we're not hoping to make any money off them. We just want to get it out. And we've had so much good response from the children of people who have sent their tapes, and to kids who normally would say, we don't want any of that stuff. They've been readily accepted, and so we appreciate all that. And anything that will help you to get it out, get it out to your friends, your relatives, your neighbors, or whatever. I think that's all the announcements, isn't it, honey? The books and tapes, if you're interested, give us a call on the 800 number, or write to us, and we'll get the table of contents out to you. Oh, the other thing I want to stress that, you know, when you start teaching a book like Romans, it's not as exciting, I guess, I shouldn't use that word, but nevertheless, it's not the attention-holding that Genesis, or some of the things in the Old Testament, or prophecy, see, I don't have any trouble keeping people awake when you teach prophecy, or when you teach Genesis, but see, when you get into the nitty-gritty of today, see, and that's what we're talking about, when we teach Paul's epistles, we are teaching where we are right now, today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and so forth. And it is, it's hard to keep people's attention, because they'd rather be talking about something exciting out there in the future, and I can see that. But bear with me, because, see, this is what the church today, when I talk about the church, I'm talking about that whole realm of people who claim to believe the Bible. I don't care what denominational handle we're talking about, but when the church gets back into the fundamentals of Paul, then I think we're going to see some things happen. And if it doesn't, we're not going to see anything happen, things are going to get worse. All right, Romans chapter 1, a tremendous verse, verse 16. Most kids learn it in Bible school, or Sunday school, where Paul writes, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now, first thing we have to do, we did this way back in, oh, three, four months ago, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I haven't got time on the program to rehearse a unique situation involving just one little family, a husband and his little wife and her mother, and how a program happened to come out with just exactly what they needed, simply because one day in the middle of our taping, Jerry Poole came and said, now, Les, it's been a long time since you've mentioned 1 Corinthians 15. Isn't there any way you can work it in? And so I digressed that next half hour, and many of you will remember the program, where I spent the whole 30 minutes on the gospel, starting with 1 Corinthians 15. Weeks later, several weeks later, this young man called and said that, unique of all unique, they had watched the program on a Sunday, and said if only the other person of the family could have seen it. And by a quirk of fate, that station out in Indianapolis happened to play the same program the next Sunday, and the individual who needed it was there. And, oh, they were so thrilled that all of this had just clicked right together. Well, that's what makes all this so exciting. But anyway, the gospel now then, in 1 Corinthians 15, beginning with verse 1. I never tire of repeating it, and I hope you won't tire of hearing it. Where Paul writes, "...Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you not a gospel, but the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand." Now that's a positional term. See, that's why he writes in another place, that we're not to be blown about with every wind of doctrine. See, some people, they're so shallow in their understanding of Scripture, somebody comes to their door, and they've got a good line, and they've got a nice, pious approach, and, boy, they fall for it. Well, we're supposed to be so versed in the Scriptures, you see, that that won't happen. We are to be like an anchor, and steadfast, unmovable. All right, verse 2. It's by this gospel that you are saved. Not by something else, but by this gospel. "...If you keep in memory what I preached unto you, lest you've believed in vain." And then here it comes, verse 3. Here's the gospel. "...For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received." Now you see, he's talking about what we read in Galatians in our last program. How that by revelation, He made known unto me, Paul wrote. All right, here's what he's talking about. This is what the Lord revealed to him, that the gospel now is not based on Judaistic law, it's not based just on the fact that Christ was the Messiah of Israel, but it's that the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God, died on that Roman cross, shed His blood, was buried, and rose again. Now here it is. "...For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received." See how plain this comes out? How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. In other words, this wasn't just a sudden act of God as a stopgap. Christ wasn't an accidental martyr's death. This was all in the pre-eternal mind of God, that all of this would fall into place. How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried. He was really dead. And then here comes the third part, and how that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures. "...was seen of Peter, was seen of over 500," and then as we saw a few programs ago, Paul says, "...and even myself, I saw Him." He knew that He was alive. Now then, come back to Romans 1, 16. That's the Gospel. And that's all Paul can get across to people, is that Christ died for the sins of the world. And you know, this is so hard for people to comprehend. This is all I have to do, is just believe that Christ died for me, if you really believe, yes. Now I'm not an easy believer, you know that. I'm not just talking about, well, just make a mental assent, and yeah, you're all right. No, what we're talking about is a genuine, Holy Spirit-driven belief, that my eternal destiny is based on what He did for me, on that cross. And we'll be seeing more and more of that, especially when we get into Romans chapter 6, where Paul just begins to draw that analogy of a simple, simple analogy, of a little seed that's planted in the ground. But before that plant can come forth and bring grain or heads or whatever, what does it have to do? It has to die. And so the whole analogy is that when Christ died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried. When He arose from the dead, we arose out of deadness in the old Adamic sins and to a new life. All right, so he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, Romans 1 16 again, for it, the gospel, see, not our works, not our denomination, not anything that we can do, but the gospel is the power of God unto, what's the word? Salvation. Now, one of the newer translations, I feel, just totally waters this verse down by simply calling this word salvation a better way to heaven. Hey, salvation is more than a better way to heaven. Salvation is that all-inclusive work of God on our behalf, whereby, and here's where I could start just putting them on the board, but I don't want to take the time. What does He do? He forgives us. He justifies us. He sanctifies us. He glorifies us. He baptizes it into the body. He seals us with the Holy Spirit. He fills us with the Holy Spirit. And on and on you can go that that is all accomplished on our behalf by an act of God instantly, the moment we believe. And you're not going to feel necessarily any of those things. You're not going to feel glorified. You're not going to look in the mirror and see a halo around your head. You're not going to sprout wings. You're not suddenly going to see the sky green instead of blue. But how do I know that these things have happened? The book says so. See, that's where faith comes in. And that's what the book means when it says that we are to live and we are to walk and we are saved by faith, taking God at His word. And so in all these areas, you just simply have to know what the book says and then you come to it and you say, now, I don't understand this. I don't really feel any different. But the book says it has happened. And that's what God is pleased by. That's faith. When I can say, yes, I know I'm forgiven, not because I'm so perfect, not because I'm any better than anybody, but simply because I can believe what this book says. And I can't make it any plainer than that. And so when an individual realizes that he's in the cesspool of sin, he's in that old slave market, and there's no hope of getting out unless the power of God takes him out, pulls him out of that deadness in sin, and gives him new life, sets his feet, as the Scripture says, on a rock, and forgives him and sanctifies him, glorifies him, does all these things for him. See, that's what believing does. And then you become a totally different person in your outlook, in your desires, and you don't work for that. It comes. It's not going to... In other words, I always tell people, you're not going to be a mature Christian overnight. It's going to take time. The Christian life is just like coming into the physical life. We come into the Christian life as a babe in Christ, just an infant that needs tender, loving care, an infant that needs nourishment, an infant that needs protection. That's what a new believer is. But you see, God doesn't expect a new believer to stay that way. He expects them to begin to grow in grace and in knowledge and in wisdom, see? It's a perfect analogy between the physical and the spiritual. All right, so in reading back to verse 16, it's the power of God unto salvation, that all-inclusive Word, that yes, it is going to be our way into glory. It is a salvation that's going to save us from an eternal doom. But it's more than that. It's a lifestyle. I guess over the years, I've told my classes the basic fundamental aspect of a Christian life, the part that is immediately going to become visible to our friends and our relatives, and yes, our whole community, is that a true born-again child of God is going to be a good citizen. You ever thought of that? When we are a practicing believer, we're going to be a good citizen. In other words, you won't find a true child of God giving the police department fits. All right? For the most part. Now, there may be isolated images. He's a good citizen. He's going to be a good parent. He's going to be a good grandparent. He's going to be a good child. He's going to be a good teenager. Now, that doesn't mean we're perfect. Anything but. But nevertheless, we're still going to be the kind of a person that will enhance society. And if you could have a community of 100% born-again believers, you'd have a pretty decent place to live. I'm not saying it's perfect. See, that's just like the local church. No church is perfect. And like I said on this program one time, if it was perfect, I'd like to find it, but I wouldn't dare join it because then I'd be no longer perfect. But see, for the most part, God's power unto salvation has imparted all these things on our behalf. That's going to make us different. And that doesn't give us the right to walk around like we're perfect and that we're better than everybody. But what we have is an imputed thing, again, that God has done on our behalf. And we'll be looking at that more in depth when we get to chapter 3. All right. So it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Now I said at the close of the last program, and so Monty and I were talking about it at break time, I said there are a lot of things in there that normally people would think should be. You know, I've told you over the years now as I've been teaching, be aware of what is not in Scripture that we think should be. Well, here's a good one. And should I read this verse the way a lot of people think it should have been written? Now I'm not adding to, I'm just making an example. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that repents, and is baptized, joins the Church, gives 10% of his income, does good works, and believes. It doesn't say that, does it? Yeah. Yeah. You name it. There are a lot of these things that people just automatically think are a requirement for salvation. And they're not. Now they're all right in their rightful place after salvation, but so far as our salvation is concerned, it's based totally upon our faith in the Gospel, in what God has said concerning the finished work of the cross. All right, let's go on to verse 17. For therein, that is in the power of God, in the Gospel, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. There's that word again, as Paul called revelation. So this righteousness of God now is being unveiled. Now you remember when Christ was hanging on the cross, and when He finally gave up the ghost, as it says, in other words, He of His own volition died. What happened in the Temple? Well, the veil was rent from the top to the bottom. Well, what did that indicate? That now the way into the very holiest of holies, the very presence of God, had been opened up and made available, not just to the high priest on the Day of Atonement, but to everybody, see. And this is what we have to understand, that when Christ died, He so completely fulfilled everything that a holy God could possibly demand. And that's why as soon as man tries to say, but I've got to do this, or I've got to do that, it's an embarrassment to God Himself, because He says, it's done. Everything that we need has already been accomplished. And so, the righteousness of God has been unveiled. Oh, and the veil was rent from top to bottom, and man could look right into the very holy of holies. And then it goes on to say, from faith to faith it is written, the just. Now, who are the just? Well, the justified ones. Now, going long ways back, what was my definition of justification? Oh, it's that, that's right, that judicial act of God, whereby He declares the sinner just as if he had never sinned. Now, that's the way God sees us. Now we get to Romans 6, I'll get more in detail. But see, our whole sin dilemma, you don't hear that word much anymore, do we? Nothing is sin anymore. But it is. God hasn't changed, sin hasn't changed, it's still all that it ever was. But you see, the whole sin problem began in Adam. And every one of us, so far as God is concerned, were in Adam. That's the beginning of all of our trouble. We were in Adam. But you see, when Christ died on the cross, and you bring it over here, and we believe what He says about the cross, now every believer is out of Adam, and he's in Christ. You see that difference? And now instead of God seeing us in that cesspool that we'll come to in Romans, probably in the next program or two, instead of God seeing us in that cesspool of sin which we were in Adam, He now sees only the righteousness and the holiness of Christ, because we're in Him. And if you're in Him, He doesn't see me at all. He doesn't see you at all. Chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Chapter 3. We might as well start with verse 1. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1, where Paul again is writing to Gentile believers. He could just as well be writing to you and I in Oklahoma or wherever you are watching television. And he says, "...if you then be risen with Christ." Now do you see what that says? If you've been risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, because we now have a whole new mental attitude about things. "...where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Now He's not on the throne tonight. That's why I maintain He's not the King of the Church. I've said that over and over. He's not on a throne tonight. He's not a king. Oh, in His title, yes, He's King of kings and Lord of lords. But experientially, He is not on the throne. He's seated at the right hand of it. Now when He returns and sets up His kingdom, yes, He's going to sit on His throne. But here He isn't. He's at the right hand of the Father. All right, read on. Verse 2, "...set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Now you see, that's what's happened to the Christian movement or the Christian community today. They're not setting their affection on things above. They're setting their affection on material things. I read a book by an Indian missionary, and I'm sure many of you have heard of him, especially out in television, where he was decrying the wealth of the Christian community in America compared to the abject poverty of Christians in India. And I could see his point. He said he came back here and visited a huge church in one of our great cities, and he was appalled at the sumptuousness of the whole setup. And I am too. Whenever I go into some of these places, I am just appalled at the money that is being poured into these beautiful buildings that someone can come in and sit for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, maybe an hour, and just enjoy, be entertained, and then go home and forget about it for a week. I don't think God is pleased. And this is the point he was making, that there over in India, those poor little old pastors would just exist on almost nothing just for the sake of getting the Gospel to those towns and villages. But whatever. We are to set our affection not on things on the earth, but on things above. Now here is the verse I want to show you, verse 3. For you are dead, that is to the old Adam. That which we were born in, that old Adamic nature, that nature that is rebellious against God, it's sinful in all of its appetites, all we clean it up, we kind of keep it in check with inhibitions and what we call a good home upbringing. See this is why so many of our younger generation are adrift tonight. This is why so many have no principles. This is why so many are in trouble with the law. They aren't even been given any inhibitions to that Adamic nature. It's being let free. But Paul says, we are dead to that as a believer. We're dead to those things and your life, see your new life, that new life in Christ, that eternal life that has been imputed to us, that life is, what's the next word? Hid. Hid. Now listen. If the God that created this universe hides something, I'll guarantee you, no one but Him will ever find it. Isn't that right? And that's where we are. We have been hidden by an act of the Almighty God, but look where He hides us. With Christ, and then where? In God. Now I call that just about like an old walnut. That old walnut falls off the tree and here's that big outer shell, you know, and the only way you can even get down to the next shell is to break off the outer one, and then you get down to the real tough part, and then you break that shell, and then way down in the crevices are the meats, you know, the walnut. Every time I break one, I have to say, thank you Lord, that's me. You know, that's me. I'm inside that shell, hidden in the crevices, where no one but God can find it. And that's you. That's me. Satan can't get at us there. The world can't get at us there. No one can touch us. We're hid with Christ in God. Now can't you go to sleep knowing that? I should think so. Now that's assurance. That's a promise. See, now I don't feel some outer covering around me. I'm just as vulnerable, and so are you. But faith tells me this is the way it really is, because this is what God has said, and that's exactly what God is looking for. He's looking for your faith. You're believing it. You're telling Him, yes God, you've said it, and I believe it. Alright, now then back to Romans for just a second. Now half hour is gone once again. So back to Romans chapter 1, verse 17, closing, the verse says, "...the just shall live by faith." Now, what great Reformer came to that sudden realization? Oh, Martin Luther. Remember when Martin Luther began the Reformation? What was his great eye-opening statement? Just that. "...the just shall live by faith." Not all the rituals that he had been inundated with. Not all the do's and don'ts of religion. But it was to be by faith, and faith alone. And you see, when we come into Romans chapter 4, time is gone. This is what Paul is going to say by Abraham. He lived by faith. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.