believe it, and I am going to help it to come to pass." The king's de sires would now be his own. This illustrates obedience as an impor tant concept of faith. Benaiah un derstood the command, he agreed with it, he wanted to bring his sov ereign's word to pass, and he ac cepted his own obligation to do all he could to fulfill the program for the future. "Amen" is a word of to tal commitment. Sometimes this particular concept is translated "faithful" and demonstrates Cod's obedience to His own promises (Deuteronomy 7:9). Jehovah is in deed "the faithful Cod." Obedience is also seen in the life of Abraham who went out really not knowing for sure where he was going. Cod had told him and that was enough (Hebrews 11:8). He was confident that God would direct his future. Noah was also known as a man of faith because he obeyed God in building the ark. Obedience also characterizes the believers at Thessalonica. Paul commends them, "For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing (I Thessalonians 1:7-9). Their faith embraced obedience and made Paul's ministry much more effec tive. The third concept concerning faith is loyalty. We are reminded that "The just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (He brews 10:38). We are not to forsake our commitments to the Lord. He expects loyalty to follow conver sion. While discussing the subject Page 17
been proclaimed, just having heard it will not mean that you have faith. Faith is not some intangible mys tery. Again, it is accepting Cod's Word and acting upon it. Faith, in this sense, is far more than just hav ing a head knowledge. That is not what saves a person. There is also a need to agree with Cod concerning what we have heard. The Creek term for "con fess" is better translated "agree." We need to concur with what the Lord has to say about us and our sinful hearts which need redemp tion and cleansing. This message cannot be altered to suit our own interests. If you desire the Lord's forgiveness you will need to accept His provision and His evaluation of your life. Many years ago we had a Presi dent of the United States who went through the entire Bible and cut out all the Scriptures that he liked. He then pasted them into a scrap book and claimed that this was his Bible. He did not seem to be bothered that he had excluded all the por tions he did not like. This is quite a picture of some people today. They have simply concocted their own religion but it may well be a distortion of what Jesus Christ pur chased for us on Calvary's cross. Faith is accepting and agreeing with what God has said and receiving His free gift of salvation. Faith also involves doing what the Lord desires for us. In I Kings 1:32 to 37 we find that King David had called together some of his leaders telling them his son Solomon was to be set apart as future king over the nation. Benaiah answered his sovereign, "Amen" (vs. 36). This is a Hebrew word which meant that this faithful servant was saying, "I
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