Join us as we explore a thought-provoking exploration of faith and grace. This episode hits home with many, speaking directly to those battling personal struggles and addictions, offering a fresh perspective on how God’s unconditional acceptance works. Understand how faith is not about removing obstacles but embracing God’s grace amidst our weaknesses.
So we have started a new chapter in which Paul says, receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to dispute over doubtful things. This week in the faith. Years ago, I gave a presentation at a church, and I was using this verse in regard to harmony and what have you, and we were talking about week in faith. Some days later, the pastor of that church called me and said, you offended a lot of people. I said, oh, I’m sorry about that. Why is that? And apparently a group of people, a group of men struggling with alcohol assumed that I was saying they were weak in their faith because they couldn’t overcome alcohol. Oh dear, I had to go back to the church and explain myself, because that was the very opposite of what I was teaching. What I was teaching is what Paul is teaching here, as we will see very clearly from the context, that being weak in faith is not that you can’t overcome alcoholism, but rather being weak in faith is the belief that God will not receive you because you have not yet overcome alcoholism. The issue is not about whether you are strong enough to overcome this and that, but rather whether you believe that God is gracious enough to receive you in your struggles. That’s what we’re talking about here. You see, Paul is teaching us about faith. He’s teaching us how we are received. Remember Romans 4, verse 5. God justifies the ungodly. The word justifies means declares innocent. God declares innocent the ungodly. Now let me tell you, that is a strong faith statement. That is enormously powerful. For us to believe that God declares us innocent when we are ungodly is an amazing thing. It is a faith that cannot come from human nature. It must come from God himself. God justifies the ungodly who believe. We believe that Christ counts us as righteous even when we have all our problems and struggles and sins. Now, there are some preachers who talk about repentance in such a way that they turn repentance in a work that must be accomplished before they can come to Jesus. Repent of your sins, turn away from this and that, and then Jesus receives you. Well, that’s not good news, is it? Because you may have been struggling all your life to overcome certain things, and if overcoming those things becomes an obstacle or becomes a condition by which you are received by Jesus, then that overcoming becomes an obstacle to your salvation. The beauty and the wonder of grace is that God receives us just as we are, and we accept him by faith because of that. We accept that he has become our atoning sacrifice for our sins. We accept that we are no longer accounted as sinners. We accept that we are reconciled to the heart of God. even though we are enemies. Now listen, if you’re not sure of what I just said in regard to being justified while we are ungodly, then look at that verse that I just quoted in Romans 5 verse 10. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, Much more, he goes on to say, we shall be saved by his life. But think of it, being reconciled to God while we are enemies. You and I go forth with the good news to people who are unbelievers, and we tell them God has reconciled you to himself, even while you are an unbeliever, and therefore he calls you to trust him, to believe that. That is an astonishing message, and it is lost on the Christian church in most cases today. I won’t say give all the reasons why, but one that stands out is that preachers wonder how in the world can they evangelize if they don’t make accepting God a condition. Accepting God is not a condition. The condition has been met by Jesus our Saviour. He has reconciled the world to Himself while the world is enemies, are enemies. And therefore He calls us to receive Him by faith. That’s the news. And when you receive it, Let me tell you, that is strong in faith. Some people have a pastor years ago accused me of having a soft gospel. Oh, yeah, I didn’t hear it. Somebody told me about it. He said, oh, yeah, that’s that guy that preaches a soft gospel. You think that’s a soft gospel? Well, you take it on, that kind of faith, and live with it, and you will see what a struggle it is to believe that we are reconciled even when we are enemies, even when we have problems in our lives. when you have problems in your life and they make you feel guilty and ashamed and afraid, yet you still believe that God has saved you and received you, that’s not casualness, that’s not indifference, that’s not arrogance, that is not presumption, that is taking the Lord on seriously and struggling and wrestling with him. when you feel that there is nothing that is in you that can commend you to God. Oh God, you say, how can I believe that you receive me? How can I believe that you accept me? Look at all the struggles I have in my life. And the Father points to Jesus, his Son, and shows you that his sacrifice is complete and absolute for all your sins. This gives you courage. It doesn’t give you indifference. It gives you courage to go forward, to fight on, to believe, to trust, to believe that he helps you. You see, if you don’t believe this, then what will happen is this. You will be tempted with your struggles, with your temptations to whatever it may be, alcohol or drugs or food issues or sex issues. You will struggle with those temptations, and the moment the temptation comes in, you will have a choice. And the choice is to call upon God and thank Him that He is helping you, or to feel guilty that you feel the temptation and block Him and shut Him out. Now, that temptation to shut Him out is very, very strong when you feel guilty and ashamed and afraid. You feel guilty that you’re tempted. And when you shut him out, what do you do? Or I should say, what do you feel? What do you sense? You feel darkness. When you shut God out, you are in the dark. God is light and in him is life. In his presence, you feel bathed in light and safety. But when you feel that his grace cannot reach you because you’re too much of a sinner and you have too many problems and you haven’t overcome yet, then you will shut him out. You will simply block him. Unconsciously, you will do this. You will try not to think about him. And you will try to go about as if he didn’t notice that you’re being tempted. What is the result of that? Well, you’re in darkness. And in the darkness, you feel alone and isolated. And when you feel alone and isolated, what do you do? You look for comfort. And since you don’t have God to comfort you because you’ve shut him out, then what’s left? Your sin. That becomes your comfort. That is why so many Christians are struggling with addiction, because they shut God out at the very moment they should open up to him and say, Father, thank you that you do not condemn me. Thank you that this temptation is not counted against me. Thank you that this is not the true me that feels this, for the true me is who I am in Jesus Christ. You see then that weakness in faith is the very opposite of what most people think. To say, oh, he’s weak in faith, somebody says, and you feel so embarrassed when you hear it about yourself because you think that the person is accusing you of not having the willpower to overcome. And what the real issue is, that being weak in the faith is not believing that God receives you in your struggle, in your struggle with sin. So, learn the way of faith. The way of faith has been explained so deeply and clearly by Paul in Romans 3 onwards. Remember what it says in verse 25, 3 verse 25, God set forth Jesus as a propitiation by his blood. You know what that word propitiation means? It means to take away wrath, to appease wrath. God took away his judgment against sin by taking it upon himself in Jesus Christ. Christ is one with God. Therefore, God took his own judgment of sin upon himself instead of placing it upon you. That is God’s love. Now, believing that is mind-blowing. Believing that is astonishing. It is faith that moves mountains because you realize that God is for you, not against us. You remember Romans 8, where it says in verse 31, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Sin cannot be against us. Failure cannot be against you. Defeat cannot be against you. You don’t sink into indifference by this truth. You win battles with it. You go victoriously into the battle. You say, Father, I thank you that you are for me. even though I am struggling with all kinds of things. I have not overcome in decades. I have been an addict all my life. I thank you, dear God, that you have revealed that you are for me. This is the courage of faith that says we have died to sin. You say, well, I can’t say I’ve died to sin, Colin. I’m struggling. I am tempted every day. I fail every day in regard to my struggle. Listen, that is not the meaning of Romans 6 verse 2, we who died to sin. It means Jesus Christ’s death is a judgment against sin, and he died on the cross in that judgment against sin on your behalf, so that you are counted as having been judged by for your sinful nature. You are counted as your human nature, your sinful nature, being dead, being executed already. That is strong faith. The people who are weak in faith are are the ones who think that, oh, I have to overcome everything and I have to be victorious in everything and then I will tell myself that I’m dead to sin. That is weakness in faith. You’ve got it back to front, upside down, inside out. And so when you learn the gospel, you get a thrill in your heart because you realize how great is God’s mercy and help towards you. Thanks so much for listening today. Colin Cook here and How It Happens. You’ve heard my broadcast on KLT, perhaps, on the radio at 10 o’clock in the evening, maybe, or 4 in the morning on AM670. Thank you. Let me tell you how much it would be appreciated. Thank you so much. You can make it online at faithquestradio.com or send your donation to FaithQuest P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado 80160. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
Join us as we explore a thought-provoking exploration of faith and grace. This episode hits home with many, speaking directly to those battling personal struggles and addictions, offering a fresh perspective on how God’s unconditional acceptance works. Understand how faith is not about removing obstacles but embracing God’s grace amidst our weaknesses.
