The Faith Once Delivered

Faith is the substance out of which God takes a promise and turns the promise into an answer. This is the kind of faith that made the New Testament Church of Acts invincible. They could not be stopped because they would not doubt. This faith has to be delivered to the saints. It cannot arise from flesh regardless of how much we extend ourselves. As in all matters of the Spirit, “the flesh profiteth nothing:” (John 6:63). We are instructed to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). The Father commands nothing and promises nothing that He is not ready to finish.

The bedrock of Christian living is faith. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). People that do not trust Him are not His. If we are not willing to take Him at His “Word,” we are Christian in name but not in reality. Someone that says I believe on Him but never comes to rest in His commands and promises are religious but unconverted. “The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11b), while the unjust live by feelings, fears, and doubts.

Your life will become abundant living when you diligently and faithfully seek the “faith once delivered.” A measure of faith has been created into the soul of every living person. That measure is the starter of the whole loaf that will rise as the leaven of the Word is mixed in the soul. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

Faith in God is the righteousness of Christ as we are sanctified by the Word. The absence of sanctification in the house of God is the sad spectacle of todayÂ’s church. Faith in GodÂ’s Word is the result of ChristÂ’s nature being poured into our souls by the Word and the Holy Spirit. The growth process is described as sanctification or the nature of Christ recreated in the hungry souls that wait at an altar.

Miracles are natural occurrences when we live in the “Faith once delivered.” The book of Acts is God’s perfect picture. It cannot get better than what was revealed in that grand book. Superstition, occultist foolishness, and psychological fantasy are flooding the church as a substitution of the genuine. Because the life in the Spirit, Biblical surrender, and humble cross-bearing has been rejected; rock music and titillation of fleshly emotions have replaced the real. It’s giddy, silly, and cheap and leaves the soul empty and hooked on more and more of the same.

More and more good saints are sick of the religion of flesh. Swinging hips can only satisfy for short periods. The spirit in man can find life everlasting in the shape of Jesus Christ and Holy Scripture. The sacred of biblical faith is the highest culture the spirit of man can obtain. Spiritual living is lofty and transcending where the world and the religions of our modern church is just as cheap as heathenism. The Bible is the greatest piece of literature ever printed. It is infallible truth.

“The Faith once delivered” is supernatural to our spirit and soul and floods us with “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8b). It is, the “peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7a). The power of this faith touches the countenance with “oil to make his face to shine” (Psalm 104:15b).The giddiness of today’s church looks like a mask when compared to the spiritual revival of the past. But the past does not have to be the past.

We have been commanded to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3b). The Spirit of God is going, “to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (II Chronicles 16:9a). An awakening of truth is coming upon those that pay the price of consecration and surrender. Do not be satisfied with the mask of flesh when the Spirit waits to flood your soul with abundant life. This faith is dynamic. The Word of God says, “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens” (Hebrews 11:33-34).