“And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.”Acts 6:8
What is it to be a man full of faith? Some would answer, “It’s someone who is a strong believer, and that never gives up, and persists through every trial and affliction, never giving up hope in God.” But is that the faith of Scripture? If so, does that mean that anyone who has tenacity and stick-to-itiveness is the LORD’S. Clearly the answer is No. The apostle James wrote, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble,” James 2:19. Many, like even the devil, know that God rules and reigns and they have ‘a faith,’ in themselves to outsmart His judgments or faith in their faith or good works that God will ultimately forgive them for their best efforts. Such a faith is a deceptive faith, and cannot justify a sinner before God. God’s word is clear, ‘I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain,Galatians 2:21. If justification were possible by ‘the law,’ [any rule, obligation, or merit in the sinner] it is as if to say that Christ didn’t need to die, because the sinner was capable of working it out himself.
Therein is the great deception that began in the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and continues to be perpetuated today through all of Adam’s natural born race (each and every one of us) without exception [Galatians 3:22]. There is none righteous, and if faith were our justification, not only would it require perfect faith but, were such faith even possible, then it would serve to rival the FAITHful work of the LORD Jesus in coming to save sinners by His righteous obedience alone. So to be full of faith, as expressive of Stephen, is NOT to have lots of faith, but rather to be given the right faith, God-given faith, which is nothing less than the person and work of the LORD Jesus. The apostle Paul declared in Galatians 2:20- “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
1. Full of faith is to be taught of the LORD Jesus Christ and His finished work of salvation accomplished on the cross for sinners that the Father purposed from eternity to save. Stephen as any of God’s children only have such faith as the Spirit is pleased to reveal the LORD Jesus in them. The Spirit, causing such sinners to know the sinfulness of their sin are drawn to the LORD Jesus as Savior, Redeemer, Justifier, Sanctifier, Advocate and representative.
2. Full of faith means full of the effectual grace of God in Christ. ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,’ [Ephesians 2:8]. Some wrongly refer to ‘saviing faith.’ However, faith is not the Savior, Christ is. Faith did not die on the cross as the sinner’s substitute. The LORD Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain. However, faith is objective (it has an object). The object is Christ alone, and the righteousness of God that He came and earned and established, and God the Father imputed once for all to the spiritual account of each of the elect, once for all, upon successful completion of His work when He cried, ‘It is finished.’ It is the grace of this God given faith that causes the sinner to rest in Christ alone.
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