Faith vs. Works — Stephen Kaung

...for giving us thine only begotten Son. He is most precious to us. O our Father, how we praise and thank thee that in Him thou hast blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. O how we praise and thank thee that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and we are complete in Him.

Our Father, we do thank thee for thy marvelous love towards us. We thank thee for the greatest gift that thou hast given us. We thank thee for the unsearchable riches that is in Christ, and we thank thee that thou hast given all in thy Son to us.

So we want to offer our praise and thanks to thee for thy great gift, our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to declare that He is the first and He is the last, and He is all and in all. Make it very real to every one of us.

Reading Scripture Before Studying It

We ask in thy precious name. ...study hour. Yesterday I mentioned that when you want to study something in the scripture, the first thing is trying to find, say for instance, we studied the word grace in Galatians.

Then you find the word grace in that whole book. Of course, there are many, many places where the word grace is not mentioned, and yet we know it is talking about grace. But to start with, you can try to find the word, the key word, say in that book, and try to find all the places where that word occurs, and then after that, you try to group them together, analyze them, and put them in order.

And that will, in a sense, give you some idea of what that word, say grace, is. But as a matter of fact, before you can do such a thing, there is something that you should do first. I remember once, there were three sisters.

They were at a certain place with our dear brother, Watchman Lee. And these three sisters came to our brother and said, would you study the book of Revelation with us? And our brother said, yes. If you will read the book of Revelation a hundred times, then you come and we will study.

So they did. They read the book of Revelation a hundred times. And they came and studied that book with our brother. Now of course, if I should say you have to study Galatians a hundred times before we come to study, then we would be home already.

That wouldn't be time for that. But that should show us a very important principle in studying the Bible. The one way to study the Bible is to read it. You know, often times, we try to understand the word of God without reading it.

When I first came to this country, I discovered one thing. I came to a so-called Christian country. And I thought that everything that everyone in this country was a Christian who knew the Bible. And I do discover that you know a lot about the Bible.

You know a lot of the teachings and the doctrines in the Bible. But most of that which you know came by hearing, not by reading. You heard a lot. But I discover that, oh I'm speaking to young Christians.

I discover that they didn't read the word as they should. So the first thing to study the Bible is you have to read it. Read it, read it and read it. Now if not a hundred times, I believe that if you read say a book twenty-five times, you will get to know something.

Why? Because the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not able to do something if there is not that sword there. So we need to be acquainted with the word. And I believe this is the first principle of studying the Bible.

So I think I have to mention that. The first thing is to study it, to read it. And then after you have read it, then the second thing as we have suggested, you can try to find out the key word in that book and maybe if you are lazy, with the help of a concordant.

And then the third thing is probably you can go into a Bible dictionary or an encyclopedia or a word dictionary and try to find out what that word really means. Well that is just the beginning of studying the Bible.

It doesn't mean that after you have done that, then you know it all. Well that is just the beginning. In other words, that gives you some kind of instrument, some kind of ground for future study. For the Holy Spirit to guide and lead you into His blessed word.

Galatians and the Gospel of Grace

Now we are studying the letter to the Galatians. And in the letter of Galatians we find that it tells us of the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the letter to the Galatians Paul as it were lays firmly the foundation of the gospel.

So that we may not be distracted and move away from that firm foundation. And in the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ there are three essential elements. Number one of course is grace. The gospel of Jesus Christ is called the gospel of grace.

It is not the gospel of law. It is the gospel of grace. And the opposite of grace is law. Now that is what we have covered very briefly yesterday. Now this afternoon we would like to go into the second element in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Faith in Galatians

And you will find it in this letter to the Galatians. It is now the assignment. Have you gone through this book? How many times the word faith occurs in this letter? And find out how many times the word works occur in this letter?

I hope you have done it. Those who have done that. Not copy from anybody else. But who have done it yourself. Or if you have done together that is alright. But not copy. Well please raise your hand. Thank God most of you.

How many times is the word faith used in the letter to the Galatians? Anybody? 21? 22? 23? The word faithful. Let's not count the word believe in it. Just the noun faith. How many times? My it is a short letter.

Well I would suggest it is 22 times. 1 verse 23. Chapter 2 verse 16 twice. Chapter 2 20. Chapter 3 2. I mean verse 2. Verse 5 verse 7 verse 8 verse 9 verse 11 verse 12 verse 14 verse 22 verse 23 twice.

Verse 24 verse 25 verse 26. Chapter 5 verse 5 verse 6 verse 22. And chapter 6 verse 10. Want me to go over it again? And check with your list? Alright. Chapter 1 verse 23. Chapter 2 verse 16 twice. Chapter 2 verse 20.

Chapter 3 verse 7 verse 8 verse 9 verse 11 verse 12 verse 14 verse 22 verse 23 two times. Verse 24 verse 25 verse 26 verse 27 verse 28. Chapter 5 5 6 22 and 6 10. Yeah probably. Okay. Everybody is right then.

But this is not only translation. This is according to the original Greek word. There are 22 times. Whatever translation it may be. If you go back to the original Greek you will find there are 22 times when this word is used in this letter to the Galatians.

First of all I would just like to give you a brief analysis of these verses. And I will give it according to the order of thoughts. In other words I will not give it according to the order of when these verses occur.

But according to the thoughts you will find out from these verses. And group them in a kind of order. I think that is a very important thing when you study the word of God. You first find out where this word occurs in all these places.

And then you try to gather them together and put them into some kind of an order. And when you see that that will give you a better understanding of that matter of faith. One the gospel is called the gospel of the faith.

Since it is the gospel of grace. Of course it must be the gospel of faith. Number two. We are justified by faith of Jesus Christ. Not by works of law. We are justified is by faith. By believing in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Not by doing, keeping the law. Number three. It is on the basis of the report. Now the word report. Probably in some version you may find the preaching. The report of faith. That we receive the Holy Spirit as the works of miracles are done.

In other words we are not only justified by faith. But it is through the preaching of faith. It is not by the preaching of works that you receive the Holy Spirit. It is when faith is preached. Then the Holy Spirit is given.

It is not by the preaching of works. That God began to do wonders. It is by the preaching of faith. That God works. His works of miracles. Number four. It is on the principle of faith. That we become Abraham's son.

Blessed with a believing Abraham. Now we are Abraham's son. Why? Because Abraham is the believing Abraham. He is the father of faith. And we who believe we are all children of Abraham. And it is on the basis of faith only.

Number five. We are shut up to faith by law. Law shut us up to faith. As we mentioned yesterday. There is no other way. Number six. Promise is related to faith. Inheritance comes only by faith. God promised Abraham an inheritance.

But this promise comes by faith. This inheritance comes by faith. Not by law. Number seven. To faith. For we by the Spirit on the principle of faith await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus faith working through love of faith as shown by James.

In other words you will find that as we believe in the Lord Jesus we are not only justified but on that same principle you find that the Holy Spirit is able to work within us a righteousness. What James called the works of faith.

And then finally we live by faith. Not only justified by faith but we live by faith. And it is the faith of the Son of God. In other words not your faith my faith is his faithfulness. Now this much is an analysis of these verses.

Faith as Conviction, Surrender, and Conduct

Now we will come to the second point. And the second point is this. This word faith in Greek the transliteration is pistis. P I S T I S. Now primarily this word is persuasion based upon hearing. I will not go into details but I will just suggest that this word faith in the scripture as it is used in the scripture it has within itself three fold meaning.

Number one conviction. Producing a full acknowledgement of God's revelation of truth. What is faith? Faith is a firm conviction. You are fully convicted and because you are fully convicted it produces within you an acknowledgement.

A full acknowledgement of God's revelation of grace. You are fully convicted and you acknowledge of God's revelation it as such. Now that is faith. Second personal surrender to him. After you have acknowledged the revelation the truth of it.

Then there must be a personal surrender to the truth or to Christ. Number three a conduct inspired by such surrender. After you have surrendered yourself to him then it will produce within you a conduct inspired by such surrender.

For instance it will inspire within you a trust in him. You just trust him. You trust him. That's a conduct. So you find that in the original word pistis in the original word faith all these three things are included.

Not only there is a conviction and an acknowledgement. Now sometimes some people may have an acknowledgement may give a mental consent to something. But it is not followed by a personal self surrendering.

Maybe you have heard there is a very famous doctor who is so skillful who is an expert on a certain disease. And you are fully convicted that here is a doctor who is so skillful and he is an expert on that.

An authority on that kind of disease. But suppose you have that disease. And you go do not surrender yourself to the hands of that doctor. That doesn't mean that you have faith in that doctor. Mentally you give a consent.

But you do not surrender yourself to that doctor. You do not have a consent of trusting him. For instance if he is a surgeon. Now do you dare to trust your body to that surgeon and let him cut you. The doctor at all.

Now in Christianity today you find there are many many people who give a mental consent to Jesus Christ. And yet they have never surrendered themselves to the Lord. They do not dare to trust themselves to the Lord.

And can you say that they have faith in the Lord Jesus. That's the reason why you find some people profess to have faith and yet they are not saved. Because it is only a mental consent. There is not that full surrender and trust in the Lord.

That's the reason why you find the word faith when it is a verb. It means believe in to. You have to believe and to believe in to. I think probably some of you know that when John G. Payton he went to the New Hebrides to preach the gospel.

And they did not have a language. A written language. So in order to translate to give them the bible he had to try to listen to these people the Hebrides and try to find the words and try to develop a written language for them.

And the first book he tried to translate is the gospel according to John. So after he was with them for a while he collected quite a number of their expressions of their words their sounds and he started to translate the gospel according to John.

But when he came to John 3 .16 he had a problem. Why? Because with these people they do not have the word believe. They don't have that word. And if you do not have that word believe how can you translate the bible?

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever. There is no word for it. But one day he was out hunting with the natives and they got a big deer. So he and the other his friend you know the one who helped him they pulled that deer you know they carried it and carried it home.

And it was so heavy. So when they arrived at their home when they saw their home they threw that deer down and the native just rushed to the veranda when there was a couch. And he just stretched himself on the couch and said I stretch myself on the couch.

And immediately John 3 .17 said that's the word. So his translation is God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever stretch on him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

You have faith sitting on these chairs. That's faith. You are not doubting that suppose the chair will fell off. Then what will happen to you? No you just get yourself into the chair. That's faith. So dear brothers and sisters just remember one thing and faith is.

You are fully convicted. You acknowledge it as truth. And because of that on the basis of that you surrender yourself fully to it and of course to him and there is a corresponding conduct that comes out of it.

And that is trust in the Lord. You find faith in the scripture. Always connect it. Well especially in the book of Galatians. You will find that faith in the book of Galatians is especially connected with revelation.

Revelation as the Basis of Faith

You know Paul when he wrote a letter to the Galatians these Galatian believers they were disturbed and enticed by some Judaizers. Those who were so called Jewish Christians. Now of course there is no such thing as Jewish Christian.

A Christian is a Christian. Neither Jew nor Gentile. But you find that at that time there were some so called Jewish Christians. They came to Galatia and they began to teach these Galatian believers and said now if you want to be perfect you believe in the Lord Jesus yes it's alright but if you want to be perfect you have to keep the law.

You have to be circumcised. You have to keep the days and the years and the seasons and the festivals. Then you will be perfect. And at the same time they try to undermine the apostolic authority of Paul.

They say Paul who is he? We know John. We know James. Now these people were apostles. They saw the Lord. They travelled with the Lord from the very beginning until the Lord was taken away from them. But who was that man Paul?

And in undermining the apostolic authority of Paul they undermine the gospel that he preached. So here you find in the letter to the Galatians Paul started out with that. Paul apostle of Jesus Christ not by man nor from man.

He received the gospel of Jesus Christ. He received the gospel by revelation. The revelation began on the road to Damascus. On the road to Damascus that the Lord appeared to him and the Lord commanded him to preach the gospel and that is to say to preach him the Lord.

The gospel is not a doctrine. The gospel is not a teaching. The gospel is not a system of theology. The gospel is a person. Jesus Christ. Go and preach him. And Paul received the gospel by revelation.

His faith came by revelation. After he received the revelation he went to Arabia for about three years. Why? Because he had to re-study the Bible. You know Paul was a Pharisee. He was trained from his youth in the Old Testament.

His interpretation of the Old Testament was according to the school of the Pharisees. The great rabbis interpreted the Old Testament. The law of Moses. Through the years great teachers were raised up in Judaism trying to interpret the teaching of these former great rabbis.

So you find interpretation upon interpretation upon interpretation and finally you'll find Judaism was just a great system of the traditions of the fathers. That was Judaism. And Paul when he was young he was instructed in Judaism.

He was more advanced than his contemporaries. He knew a great deal about the Old Testament according to the interpretations taught him by the fathers. His understanding of Judaism was not by revelation but by traditions.

He did not receive any revelation concerning Judaism. The teaching of Judaism was something taught by man. So taught the law of Moses that the law of Moses was literally buried under a great mountain of the traditions of the fathers.

But on the road to Damascus for the first time he got a revelation. And that's where his faith began. So after he knew the Lord Jesus he met the Lord Jesus he had to go to Arabia. He had to go to a place where he could be alone with the Lord and the Holy Spirit would teach him, re-study the Bible.

You remember at this time it was the Old Testament. He didn't have the New Testament yet. So he had to re-study the Old Testament not by the teachings of the elders but by the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

He spent about three years with the Holy Spirit. And after he came back you remember he came back to Damascus and there he proved to the people that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah. Yes he went to Jerusalem.

For the first time he went to Jerusalem after he came back from Arabia he was there only fourteen days. And he saw only Peter and James the brother of our Lord. He had fellowship with them. It was for confirmation not for instruction.

And fourteen years later by revelation again he went to Jerusalem because of the controversy concerning whether the Gentile believers must be circumcised. He went by revelation. He went there so that the truth of the Gospel might not be adulterated.

Nothing was added but everything was confirmed. And you remember the three pillars in the church in Jerusalem extended to him the right hand of fellowship. So in other words you'll find with Paul faith is a matter of revelation.

And because his faith is based upon revelation therefore you'll find his faith is living and vibrant. Dear brothers and sisters how about us? How does faith come? Well in Romans chapter ten verse seventeen we are told faith comes by the report and the report comes by the Word of God.

That's how faith comes. Faith comes by the report, by the preaching. And the preaching by the Word of God. In other words here is the Word of God. And if you preach the Word of God then it produces or it brings out faith from you.

Now if you do not preach the Word of God then there is no way to have faith. But suppose you preach the Word of God and according to Romans ten seventeen faith comes by the report and the report by the Word of God then you will say well if the Word of God is preached then surely there will be faith.

Alright you read on. Romans ten. Romans ten seventeen. So faith then is by a report but the report by God's Word eighteen. But I say have they not heard? Yea surely their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the extremities of the habitable world.

But I say has not Israel known? First Moses said I will provoke you to jealousy for them that are not a nation for a nation without understanding and so on and so forth. In other words you'll find the nation of Israel they have heard.

They have heard the Word of God and yet they haven't heard. They have no faith. So here brothers and sisters you see something. Faith comes by report. Report by the Word of God. If there is no revelation even if there is the Word of God the letter kills the spirit.

If there is the Word of God we must hear it. But if you do not receive revelation you may hear it a hundred times. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. But one day when you hear the Word of God and the spirit of God gives you a revelation immediately that word becomes living and faith springs up.

Is not that experience your experience when you are saved? You may be brought up in Christian family. You may be educated in Christian schools. You live in a so called Christian country and from your childhood you are brought up to be a Christian.

To be taught. To be educated. To be a Christian. But do you have a living experience of Jesus Christ as your Saviour? You know the Word but does it work? Does it operate? Thank God one day you may hear the same Word.

The same old gospel that you have been brought up with. That you have been educated all these years. But that day when you hear the same old Word and the spirit of God begins to unveil the Word to you.

Now that's revelation. By revelation I do not mean you receive a new revelation outside of the Bible. No. Never. All the revelations of God are completed with the Bible. But by revelation it simply means an unveiling of the Word that God has won.

God speaks again. He speaks again by His already spoken Word. It is an unveiling of the Word and when the Word unveils you see Christ the living Word. And that's where faith comes. Immediately faith jumps up to receive the Word.

Receive Christ. Now that is your experience of your Saviour. But remember this is not only true when you are first saved. It is true throughout your life. This principle is real throughout your life. We live by faith.

In other words our whole life shall be governed by revelation. His going to Jerusalem was governed by revelation. Now if you read the book of Acts you will find that in the book of Acts because there was a controversy over this matter of circumcision so the brethren decided to send Paul and Barnabas and some other brothers to Jerusalem to settle that matter.

So on the one hand you find it is the decision of the church in Acts chapter 15. But in Galatians chapter 2 you find that Paul said I go by revelation. Now is there any contradiction? No. There is no contradiction.

On the one hand the church decides that it should be done but on the other hand Paul does receive a revelation from the Lord. Every action every walk of Paul is governed by revelation. That is to say God reveals His mind to him and he walks accordingly.

Dear brothers and sisters our faith is based on revelation. Our faith is not based on tradition. Once upon a time Paul lived in tradition. He could persecute Christians and thought he was serving them.

But then when God opened his eyes by revelation then you will find he had living faith and he was able to preach Christ. Brothers and sisters never walk by experience. Always walk by revelation. Peter he had a revelation.

Why because you remember in Matthew chapter 16 you remember he confessed the Lord Jesus as the Christ the Son of the Living God and the Lord Jesus said blessed are you son of Jonah because this is not something taught to you by blood and flesh but it is the Father who is in heaven who reveals to you.

Revelation. Peter got the revelation of Jesus Christ. But in Galatians chapter 2 you remember after the council in Jerusalem Peter visited Antioch and when he visited Antioch he freely mingled with the Gentile believers.

He ate with them. You know it was not allowed by tradition. A Jew should never eat with a Gentile because a Gentile eats unclean food and the Jews eat only clean food. But here you will find Peter. He was in Antioch.

He freely mixed with the Gentiles. He ate with them. But when some brothers came from Jerusalem and these brothers were very strict and they were followers of James a leading brother in Jerusalem. So when they came you know Peter got frightened.

Peter always got frightened. He got frightened and he began to keep himself away from eating with the Gentile believers and when he did that of course the other Jewish believers followed his manner and even Barnabas was affected.

He acted by experience not by revelation. Always remember this thing. Never do anything by experience but always by revelation. And of course revelation is based on the word of God. You have to remember that.

Faith Comes from Looking to Christ

But anyway faith comes to us. They say faith comes by report and report by the word of God. And in the reporting there must be the element of revelation. Now secondly we cannot work of faith. You know sometimes some people try to work of manufacture faith and the way we try to manufacture faith is try to self-hypnotize ourselves.

Have you tried that before? I am afraid that many have done that. You try to tell yourself I do believe, I do believe, I do believe, I do believe and if you think that you tell yourself I do believe then you will believe.

The more you try to believe, the more try to feel within yourself, the more try to look within yourself, the more you find faith is not there. Now where is faith? Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2. Looking of unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.

That's where faith comes from. Faith does not originate from you. Faith originates from Christ Jesus. So when you look of everything and you look unto Jesus, he is the author, the beginner and he is the perfecter of faith.

So how can we grow in faith? The secret is always look to the Lord Jesus. The more you look to him, naturally faith will rise up within you. Why? Because he is the author of faith. Do you remember that?

Peter. Once our Lord Jesus was in midnight and the disciples were rolling the boat and there was a great storm there you know and the wind there and Peter said now if it is you, command that I can walk to you and the Lord said come.

So Peter stepped out of the boat and he was looking at the Lord. And as he stepped out of the boat, no doubt his eyes were upon the Lord. He was looking at the Lord. He was going to the Lord, of course.

So his eyes were upon the Lord, he stepped out of the boat and he walked on the waves. And then he suddenly remembered he wasn't in the boat. He looked at the waves and he started to swim. Where is faith?

So brothers and sisters always remember, faith is not in you. If you try to look within yourself you won't find it there. There is only one place where you'll find faith. It is in the Lord. Look up unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.

Oh thank God. That's the secret. You look to the Lord, faith is given. Faith is the gift of God. It is not the word. It is the gift of God. And the gift is given whenever you look up. We have to hurry on to words.

Works and Faith in Galatians

Alright, how many times is the word used in the letter to the Galatians? Now let me qualify it first. Both the noun and the pronoun. No, both the noun and the verb. Alright, how many times? Nine? Who will say ten?

How about eleven? It is eleven times. It is not justified on the principle of works of law, nor but by faith of Jesus Christ. We also have believed on Jesus Christ that we might be justified on the principle of the faith of Christ and not on the works of law.

Because on the principle of works of law, no flesh shall be justified. Three times. Chapter 3 verse 2. I wish to learn of you, have you received the spirit on the principle of works of law or of the report of faith?

Verse 5. He therefore who ministers to you the spirit and works, that's a verb, miracles among you, is it on the principle of works of law or of the report of faith? Twice. Verse 10. For as many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse.

Chapter 5 verse 6. In Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any force nor uncircumcision but faith working through love. 519. Now the works of the flesh are manifest. 6 -4. Let each prove his own work.

And there is another one in chapter 2 verse 8. In Pita. Work in Pita. So if you add them up, you will find 11 times. 6 -10 we mentioned already, do we? Or 6 -10? It's a matter of translation. I think in the original you don't have the word work there.

So we have to leave it off. 6 -10. I have to check with the Greek testament but if you check it properly you won't find it there. Now the word work in Greek is ergon. E-R-G-O-N. That's a transliteration.

Just a brief analysis of the word works in Galatians and then we want to enlarge it and see the relationship or the contrast of works and faith. So first of all in these verses you will find that works is connected with law.

It is called the works of law. Try to justify themselves by keeping the law and we know it is futile because we are justified by faith not by works of the law. Number 2. Works here is also connected with the flesh.

For it is the flesh that works. The works of the flesh are manifest. So on the one hand you will find works is related to the law and on the other hand it is related to the flesh. Works of the law will not bring in the spirit nor the mighty works of God.

Instead it brings us under curse. Number 4. Works of the flesh will never enable us to enter into the kingdom of God. Now remember this. Works of the flesh will never enable us to enter into the kingdom of God.

I hope you are underlined it. I do not have the time to explain it. Number 5. However there is the work of God in us by grace and it is very effective. Number 6. Out of God's working there shall come forth works of faith.

Finished Work and the Futility of Legalism

Now we go over this whole matter of works. It is in contrast with faith. Works of the law against faith of Jesus Christ. Faith anchors in Christ. Anchors in the law. Faith is done. Work is done. The contrast between works of the law and faith of Jesus Christ.

You will find faith always is in Jesus Christ. But works always anchors in the law. Whenever you come to faith you find it is done. It is done. There is nothing else for you to do but to believe. But whenever you come to works it is to be done.

You do it. So that is the difference. You will find in the case of the Galatian believers, foolish Galatians, of Christ crucified portrayed before you. Do you not see that Christ has died on the cross?

Do you not hear he cries it is finished? Do you not realize that it is done? Why is it that you are doing this and doing that? As if it is left to be done. Dear brothers and sisters there is nothing to be done.

Whatever needs to be done is done. On the cross the finished work of Christ on the cross. It is finished. It is done. You cannot do anything. God has done it all in Christ Jesus. What is left for us is just trust and obey.

That is all. If you try to do something you are trying to add something to that which is already done you spoil the work of God. You spoil it. The Galatians believer after they believed in the Lord Jesus in his finished work they are told they must do something far and above what is already done by Jesus Christ.