Steve Ray | By Faith Alone | Franciscan University

let me say a word and offensive reason in dialogue with it because faith is that proof faith unites us to that substance a reason in order to realize its full potential meets the horizons revealed by and truths contained in the faith and not just any sense but the Catholic one time I went into a bookstore and it was in Livonia in fact father Brad LePage who is a tio are here used to buy books in that bookstore and I used to work there and I wonder if we ever met but I remember going there one time after becoming a Catholic I was already in the Catholic Church and I went there to buy an anti-catholic book that's because I still have the best anti-catholic library of anybody it's a good way to keep up on what's going on to go see what's really being said so I went to the bookstore that day and I said I want this book I don't remember the name of it and they brought out the book and I said thank you very much and it was very much rabidly anti-catholic he says oh and by the way if you like this book I have these two also for you and he pulled two more books off the out from under the counter and I said oh no thank you I already have those he said what did you think about them I said they're trash now the bookstore was full of people shopping and he said what do you mean they're trash I said it's exactly what it is they're trash I said they misrepresent what the Catholic Church actually teaches and they twist the scripture like a rubber hose to get it to fit your tradition well he says who are you I said I'm a bet I'm a Catholic convert I used to be a Baptist now I'm a Catholic well all the people in the store started to come up by the counter because they heard something was interesting going on and this guy's voice was getting a lot he's getting animated who are you my Catholic convert I said he said why would you leave real Christianity to be follow the traditions of men I said follow that oh I know what you mean I said but the foul problem is is I follow the scriptures you are the one that follows the tradition of men and if you live in a glass house you shouldn't throw stones what do you mean I follow the traditions of men he said well let me ask you a question do you believe that you're saved by faith alone of course the Bible teaches were saved by faith alone we've known that ever Martin Luther were saved by faith alone that's the biblical true teaching I said really show me where it says that in the Bible since you have also believe in Sola Scripture I am assuming yes I do with show me in the Bible alone where it says faith alone he quickly flips to Romans 3 chapters 2023 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and he reads on and he says and we are saved by faith and not by works of the law and he closed his Bible I said you it says we're saved by faith but I didn't hear the word alone you said alone faith alone Catholics believer saved by faith just not faith alone and you said the Bible taught it I want to see it he starts flipping back and forth two more places I recommended a few verses he tried him it didn't work and everybody is really angry because they're all on his side they want me to lose this argument so then he's all flustered I said wait a minute I'm sorry I forgot there is a place in the Bible where faith and alone those two words are together I'm sorry I forgot about that one I said my apologies would you please open to James 2:24 and read that he opens it up and it says so you see brothers we are saved by works and not by faith alone he said I didn't know that verse was in the Bible I said I didn't either when I used to work here faith alone what does Paul mean by the moment just will digress the problem with Protestants using these verses in Romans and Galatians is they're twisting them out of their context both biblically and historically when you read a book like Romans you have to say what was the current situation what was Paul addressing what did the people believe what was Paul trying to straighten them out about the Baptist who comes to your door does not have a clue what Paul's original argument was unless they've gone to university and then they no better but the average one thinks that it means that Catholics get saved by doing good deeds like picketing abortion clinics and helping the poor and taking care of the lonely and Baptist gets saved by faith in Christ the problem is is that faith alone is never taught there anywhere and what does it mean what does Paul mean when he says we're saved not by works but by faith works of the law had a specific technical definition the protestant thinks it means just good works and faith but in Paul's day if you were a Jew you had to do the works of the law and the works of the law was what made you recognizable as a Jew in other words as a Jew you had to be circumcised you had to obey the Sabbath you had all the different ceremonial laws that you had to follow and these were things God gave them to separate them from the nation's they were called the works of the law they had to be circumcised that's how you knew that they were not a Gentile but a Jew I've always wondered how they knew they were circumcised though I never have figured that out so a guy walks in how do you know that he's circumcised or not certain I they have a special little room that they have to go in or something I show that I don't know the police I don't but you had to these were called the works of the law and what Paul is saying is you don't get saved by doing all of these Jewish things you don't get saved by following all the rules there are that you say that there are 613 laws in Moses we know of Ten Commandments the Jews know 613 that Moses commanded and you have to obey these laws and you have to circumcise and do all of these things and that's how you're separate and those are the works of the law and in acts 15 Paul had been up preaching to the Gentiles and some of them were believing in Jesus and the Jewish Christians from Jerusalem went to Antioch and said you cannot become Christians Christ meaning those who follow the Messiah he said you have to first become Jews the Messiah's Jewish he's ours he's a Jewish Messiah you want the Jewish Messiah become a Jew and you can have him but you can't have him uncircumcised and Peter stood up and said no I was just the other day and says a real merit I'm by the sea and the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and he was baptized he received the Holy Spirit without being circumcised and the church declared a decree and in the Greek the word decree here's actually Dogma and he said from now on the Gentiles do not have to be circumcised and obey all the laws of Moses they can be saved by faith in Christ by believing how was your father Abraham saved that's why Abraham keeps coming up in Galatians and Romans how was your father Abraham saved he was saved by faith not by works of the law they didn't even have the Mosaic law in the time of Abraham he was way before that so how did Abraham get saved by faith now this leads me to another interesting story a guy came to my house after I'd converted to the faith he was a Baptist he didn't want to admit it I figured it out later he came there as an objective Inquisitor to ask me why would I leave a Baptist Church to become a Catholic and he wanted to ask me this oh he was so sincere and so honest I said come on over we'll make dinner for you and we'll talk so I did and I started talking to him and he started to asking me all these questions he said you know you probably learned this when you were boy John 3:16 for God so loved the world he gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life I said of course I memorized that for fifty cents when I was seven years old of course I know that verse he says well don't you see there that it says you're saved at one point in time when you believe you are saved he said this corresponds to Abraham and he says in Genesis chapter 15 6 it says abraham believed god and it was counted to him as righteousness in other words when abraham believed god at one point in space and time God made him righteous at that moment Abraham was saved for all time and I said I don't think so first of all in John chapter 3 verse 16 where it says that he is saved is in the present tense when a Greek person would read it they would read it as he who is believing he who is believing will be having eternal life not a once in time but it's a habitual action we are believing but I asked this man when was Abraham saved he said when he believed God once and for all Abraham was saved I said we have a problem here if Abraham is the example of the father of faith we have a problem so let's go back and do another Bible study I love taking these good Protestants on Bible studies I liked it when Bishop archbishop said today at the mass how he invited the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons in and read the Bible with them I thought that was brilliant I thought that was brilliant so I said to him let's take a look at Genesis chapter 12 it says that abraham believed god and followed him God says go where I'll lead you and it said Abraham did this he went and followed God in the book of Hebrews said it was by faith that he did this by faith Abraham left his homeland and went where God called him now why is Abraham the father of faith and not us because when God says go pick up everything you own and go to a land I will show you I would have said well what about my mortgage will I have health insurance and is there going to be security for my wife when and where is this by the way I want to put the coordinates in my GPS I want to know and God says no I'm not telling you any of this just go to the place where I tell you and Abraham went 1,600 miles on camels not in a bus and he went not even knowing when God was going to say stop this is it he just kept moving but it was by faith so I asked my friend Jerry was this some other kind of faith saving faith or some other kind of faith that Abraham had well I don't know then it says when Abraham came to the land it says he built an all and by the way he was 75 years old when he did this he comes to the land and it says that Abraham built an altar to the Lord in the Sumeria in Canaan which is today Israel in Samaria he built an altar to the Lord and he called upon the name of the Lord I said the Jerry do you know and revel in Romans one of the verses we used to use to get Catholics saved in Romans chapter 10 verses 9 10 it says anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved it just said Abraham built an altar and called upon the name of the Lord so maybe he got saved here instead well no Jerry didn't quite know Genesis 15:6 says abraham believed God and he said I'll count it to use righteousness maybe this is it and there's 13 years of silence Genesis chapter 17 rolls around and got oh and by the way during this period of time Abraham had to go down into the land of Egypt for a while because it was a famine that's over 250 miles by the way to go down to Egypt and 250 miles back with your flocks and your herds I would have said to God you're crazy I'm going back home at least an ear of the Cal DS I know what's going on it's a rich city I had my way but Abraham continues to follow God now he's ninety nine years old and God appears to him in a vision and said Abraham Abraham I know that you believe me now I'm going to give you a sign of the Covenant and Abraham thinks well it's about time I get something good from this God promised me a son and he promised me the land when I was 75 I'm now 99 it's 25 years later I don't own one inch of the land and I don't even have a son and my name is Abram which means father God says I'm going to give you a covenant I'm going to change your name I'm going to change your name to Abraham that's even a crueler name because it means father of Nations and he doesn't even have a son hello who are you my name is Abraham oh yeah where's your sons in your nation I don't have a son it's a cruel name to give Abraham and then he says and the sign of the Covenant Abraham sing and finally I'm going to get something good out of this deal God hands him a flint knife and says cut it off circumcise yourself I was talking to a group a teenager and a boy in the back was just shocked he said the whole thing and God said circumcise yourself and all the men who are with you at that point I would have said forget it I'm on my way home you're crazy I must be hearing things when I hear your voice but Abraham at 100 years old took a flint knife and circumcised himself and all the men with him and then he has a son a year later and the son is 15 years old and God says take your son your only son whom you love by the way that's the first time the word love is used in the Bible do you recognize anything there when I say take your son your only son whom you love another father who had an only son whom he loved do you think it's by chance that's the first time the Holy Spirit used the word love in the Bible at that point take your son your only son whom you love taking three days to Mount Moriah and then I want you to offer him as a living sacrifice that does it I'm going home you have just gone too far but Abraham doesn't say that he doesn't even argue in fact you want to know what even makes it more poignant than anything is that in the Hebrew text it is not a command it is a request in the Hebrew structure of the words it does not say I command you to go offer your sons in the Hebrew it says I request that you do this Abraham could have said no without disobeying God but his love and trust of God he said not only will I do what you man to me I will do also what you desire of me and he took his son three days walk to Mount Moriah where's Mount Moriah the top of Jerusalem and 2,000 years later another father who had an only begotten Son took him to the same place Mariah and offered him as a sacrifice and I would love to go through all the typology but I don't have time you come in a pilgrimage we do it all overlooking Jerusalem but he says take your son and offer him up a sacrifice and Abraham did it he took his son three days walk if you had a son and only son and you were 100 years old and you had to walk three days knowing that you're going to kill him and burn him on an altar what would you be thinking those three days while you were walking there's never even an indication that Abraham doubted or refused to obey God and they got there and he took Isaac up and was ready to slay him and God says stop now I know you fear me come on God I haven't proved it already I had to go through this now I know that you fear me take your son back home and he took him back home and that's why it says Abraham is a father of faith Abraham did not just believe God but Abraham obeyed God revelation and Galatians are full of Paul arguing against the Jews you do not have to be but you're not saved by being baptized by doing all the Jewish things you are saved by faith and obedience to Christ and in the book of James he tells us that were saved by works it says when Abraham offered up his son Isaac he was justified when he did that work abraham paul says abraham was justified by faith james says abraham was justified when he offered up his son isaac that's why he's the father of faith so when you hear someone say you're saved by faith alone you say no what does the word believe mean people say to me Steve you're Catholic gospel is so complicated if I was hit by a car and laying on the side the road and I only had one minute left to live how would you explain to be your complicated Catholic gospel in one minute I said I would be very simple I would say one sentence and it's the Catholic gospel in a nutshell Acts chapter 3x chapter 16 verse 31 believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved didn't even take a minute I did it in 10 seconds that is the Catholic gospel in a nutshell believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you and your household but now I find out that this guy on the side of the road is not going to die in one minute I actually have one hour so what am I going to do I'm going to sit down and we're going to discuss what does the word believe mean when Paul says believe on the Lord Jesus what does the word believe mean the word believe do you know what the opposite of it is you think that the word believe the opposite would be to disbelieve what's the opposite of the word believe John chapter 3 verse 36 believe on the Son of God and you will have life disobey the Son of God and you will not have life scriptural terms the opposite of the word believe is disobey so wrapped up in the word believe as the concept I mean as a concept of obedience that you also have to obey so I think that the word believe is like a hot dog if you go into a restaurant and you tell the waiter you would like a hot dog and the next thing you know she or he comes out and he's got a frozen hot dog and he drops it on your table what are you going to say you idiot what is this it's a hot dog I know it's a hot dog but what is this why isn't it cooked you didn't say you wanted it cooked you just said you wanted a hot dog and I gave you a hot dog so shut up say wait we got a communication problem here I thought you would understand that I wanted a plate and a bun and a hot dog cooked with mustard and relish and a napkin and fries you didn't ask for all of that stuff you asked for a hotdog and I gave you a hotdog the word believe' is like a hot dog when Paul says you must believe it is a pregnant word it's pregnant word it's like a zip file for those of you who know computers if you want to send a whole bunch of pictures to your family you can't just send them all over the internet it's too big it bounces back you have to compress them all down squee and I have no idea how it does it I just know it works you put it all down into a zip file which is small you send it to them they have to unzip it unpack it and then all the pictures are there the word believe' is a zip file in that word believe' is packed a lot of things it's like a code word everybody in Jesus's time knew what it meant we don't because we've come to believe that the word believe means something like two plus two is four I believe that it's something that you can see and touch and believe I believe that but the word believe in the Bible means to obey to believe to the point of committal and obedience and so wrapped up in that word believe is obedience like the hot dog now what does believe mean in jesus's mind when he says believe on me that we are saved by believing on Christ well let me tell you a story there was a man who one time was going across the Niagara Falls on a tightrope and they announced it in the news long beforehand so that everyone would come and they got the guy on the tightrope and he got up and he met on the microphone I'm going to go on the tightrope now across the Niagara Falls from the United States to Canada I just want to have a show of hands here how many think I can really do it and everybody raises their hands and says we believe you could do it okay here I go he starts across the tightrope it's windy he struggles they're catching their breath over finally after an hour he arrives at the other side everybody else we all catch our breath hook cases now I'm going to go back across the tightrope but this time I'm going across with blindfolds over my eyes so I can't see a thing how many of you believe I can still do it louder than ever we believe we believe you can do it he goes across the tightrope barely balancing can't see the winds blowing can't see where his foots going to go down finally gets to the other side again everybody now is really exhausted catch their breath he made it ok show's over guys no no one more he says I I still want to try one more thing I'm going to go back across the tightrope again and this time I'm going to have the blindfolds on my eyes but I'm going to in addition I'm going to go across with a man on my back how many believe I can do it we believe you can do it more than ever they cheer we believe we believe they chant it and then the man asked for a volunteer and nobody volunteered did they really believe he could do it this is biblical belief biblical faith is the kind where you put your life on the line where you believe in Jesus Christ not just in a mental capacity but where you believe him enough to obey Him where you believe him enough to die for him to get on his back and let him carry you across eternity even if it means you have to deny your own life and lose it in my book crossing the Tiber I wanted to put this point to rest about faith alone and on page 100 I thought I listed things that the Bible says we need to be saved by believing and I list the verses I'm not going to go through them all it says even by Peter on the day of Pentecost were saved by repentance which is something that you do repentance is something you do and by the way when they say that you're not saved by works only by faith or by believing the last time I looked up the word believe in the dictionary it was a verb it's something you do believe is a verb so now we've established I do have to do something even though the point I have to believe I have to do a work I have to do excerpt myself oh no no I don't mean that I mean it's like a free gift all you have to do is accept the free gift of God yes but accept is also a verb what if I don't accept it what if I don't do anything I'm just going to do it by faith alone I'm not going to not going to do anything then you're not going to be saved so now that we've established with the fundamentalist that there's something you have to do it's only a matter of degrees the Bible says that we're saved by believing we're saved by repentance we're saved by water baptism we're saved by the work of the Spirit Romans chapter 10 9 and 2 says if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord you will be saved also now we have to confess with our mouth to be saved Paul says twice that salvation comes by coming to a knowledge of the truth oh so now we have to learn the knowledge of the truth and believe it that's how we're saved Romans 2 and James 2 both say that we're saved by our works Matthew Colossians were saved by our perseverance grace blood righteous subscribe to a whole list of things that are part of what it means to be saved things that are components of what salvation is so when you say that you have to believe it's a pregnant word all of these things are included in the word believe I'm going to believe you Lord I believe in you now what do you want me to do I want you to repent I want you to be baptized I want you to do good works for me I want you to have the spirit I want you to confess with your mouth and all of these things will bring you to the gates of heaven not faith alone which is why the faith alone was never used in the Bible you you

Channel: Franciscan University of Steubenville

Views: 509,830

Keywords: Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, Catholic, college

Id: rY0MIEsvOes

Length: 27min 15sec (1635 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 20 2013