Sunday, August 10, 2014 am
BACK TO BASICS 26
God’s Plan of Salvation
Our Faith
a.
Defined – πίστις, pistis
(noun), πιστεύω pisteou (verb) - “firm persuasion, a conviction based
upon hearing.” (Vine’s) Like
the word, grace, it has many usages.
L&N, 31:85, “to believe to the extent of complete trust and
reliance.”
Other words associated with it include – trust, belief, assurance,
conviction, fidelity, etc.
The word “believe” or “belief” is from the same root word.
Typically, the difference is that when it is a noun it is
translated “faith” and when it is a verb it is translated “believe”.
In discussing this term, we note that faith is more than mere belief.
It is believing God (not merely believing IN God) and trusting
Him (that He can and will do what He says).
We need to keep that in mind when we discuss faith.
b.
The Greek word, in both
forms is found about 490+ times in the New Testament, split about even
between believe and faith.
Faith is what we have, belief is what we do. Other than that, they are
related to each other.
c.
What faith is not:
i.
Mere belief
– while faith includes belief, it goes further.
it is a belief that responds or acts.
As James 2:14-18 says, faith without works is dead; “show
me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my
works.” (18)
ii.
Blind –
while faith is based on the unseen, it is not blind.
God has given us enough evidence to prove who He is and that He
can do what He has promised.
We can see God in creation (i.e. this world without an
intelligent designer makes no sense), and we can see His work in
history, etc. Romans 1:20
tells us, “For since the creation of the world His invisible
attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without
excuse,”
iii.
Merely a feeling – there are many who base their faith upon feelings.
While there might be emotion involved in our faith, it is not
purely emotional. Yet there
are many who act simply based upon what they “believe” God has “guided”
them to do. The problem with
this is that feelings are often subjective.
Ask Paul about his former conduct – Acts 26:9, “Indeed, I
myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of
Nazareth.”
iv.
Given through the direct operation of the Holy Spirit
– Calvinism teaches that one cannot properly believe in Him unless the
Holy Spirit directly indwells us and alters our mind to follow Him.
This is known as “Irresistible grace”.
Others teach that we cannot understand God’s word without special
and direct guidance. Romans
10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the word of God.
Furthermore, this would make God a respecter of persons (Acts
10:34, Rom. 2:11).
v.
Exclusive to our salvation – it is key, and can even be descriptive of all that is our
part, (Acts 16: 31, Romans 3:26, 2 Cor. 5:7, etc.) but it is not the
only factor in our salvation.
We need the grace of God (last week - Eph. 2:8) and we need to
obey – Rom 1:5 (next week).
Philippians 2:12 tells us, “Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling;”
d.
Heb. 11:1.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen.” (NKJV)
i.
This verse describes
what faith is.
ii.
“Now faith is the
assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
(Hebrews 11:1, NASB95)
“Faith
means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is
real even if we do not see it.” (New Century Version, NCV).
iii.
The
substance of things hoped for
- means that by faith we know that what God has promised, He will do for
us. There is no doubt
in our minds that God is real and what we have is His word.
It is faith that keeps us faithful in a world filled with doubt
and rejection of God.
This is illustrated by the author throughout this chapter.
AN example of this faith is Abraham – who by faith obeyed God
(11:8), dwelt as a foreigner in the land of promise (9) and who “waited
for a city which has foundations (11:10). Vs. 13-16 further describes
this as they died in faith not having received the promise (on this
earth) but knew something better awaited them after this life.
iv.
The evidence of things
not seen –
Heb. 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed
by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of
things which are visible.” WE
have already stated that even though we have never seen God, this world
declares a creator. (Psa. 19:1-4)
There are things we KNOW are there, based upon proof though we
have never seen it. How many
have seen their own brain?
Does it exist? We know it
does? There’s evidence.
Has anyone here ever been to Australia?
How do you know it exists?
By faith based upon “evidence” which convicts you that it is a
real place.
v.
This faith causes us to
TRUST God with our lives. We
will live for Him, give up pleasures in this life and make unnatural and
unselfish sacrifices because of our faith.
e.
Faith is used in 4 ways:
i.
Personal belief
- Heb. 11:1, 6;
2 Cor. 4:18 – we do not look at the things that are seen, but at the
things which are not seen. 2
Cor. 5:7 says “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
John 20:27-29 – to Thomas Jesus told him to touch, “Do not be
unbelieving but believe.”
Then Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed.”
This is the
attitude that will cause us to follow Him.
ii.
Conduct or work based
upon complete trust
–
In the Bible we find of faith that trusted God.
That trust was demonstrated in actions.
Abraham in Hebrews 11 is an example.
Matt. 9:2 when a paralytic is lowered to Him through the roof it says,
“When Jesus saw their faith.”
James 2:14-18, we show our faith
BY our works.
This is the
obedience associated with our faith.
iii.
A trustworthiness
– “faithful” – Matt. 24:45 – a faithful and wise servant; (25:21, 23,)
etc.
1 Cor. 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found
faithful.”
This is the
result of one’s faith
iv.
A system of doctrine (or
belief) –
Sometimes the word “faith” is used to describe (or include) everything
we believe and teach. It is
descriptive of the whole process
Examples include: Jude 3, Gal. 1:23, Eph. 4:5, 13, Acts 6:7, etc.
a.
We must have faith to be saved. Ephesians 2:8.
Romans 10:9-10.
Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
When we speak of faith,
we mean you DO have to believe.
You must believe what the Bible says about salvation and you must
believe God that He WILL do what He says.
Consider 1 Peter 3:21, “There is also an antitype which now saves
us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of
a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”
THIS verse ties together our willingness to obey the gospel (baptism is
the particular step mentioned here) with our faith.
In other words, all the acts of obedience in the world will do
nothing if you do not believe!
That faith is directed toward God.
b.
Faith comes by hearing
the word of God
– Romans 10:17, Romans 1:16-17 – the gospel produces faith; Romans 10:14
– how can one call on the Lord without hearing the word?
c.
Faith is obedient – Rom. 1:5, 16:26 – obedience to the faith.
Acts 6:7 word kept
spreading, great many priests became obedient to the faith
Mt 7:21-27 not only call Him "Lord", but obey Him.
By faith, Abraham
obeyed: Heb. 11:6
NOTE: Obedience does NOT set aside our faith.
It demonstrates our faith!
d.
We need faith to stay
saved –
Rom. 1:17, Heb. 10:38 – “Now the
just shall live by faith.
But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
Rev. 2:10, be faithful until death.
a.
No!
James 2:24
b.
Even the demons believed
- James 2:19. They knew
exactly who Jesus was and trembled at His presence.
CLEARLY, the faith (belief) we must have is more than merely
acknowledging Him.
c.
Not enough to merely believe - John 7:12,13; 12:42-43; 9:22 – on more than one occasion,
believers were afraid to confess Jesus for fear of repercussions.
We see in this that simply believing is NOT enough!
d.
Faith works
– Gal. 5:6 – faith working through love
1 Thess. 1:3, 2 Thess. 1:11 – their work of faith.
And
thus we can see faith as a part of our salvation.
AT times it is reference specifically to our belief in Him, but
at other times it is an all-encompassing description of everything we do
because we believe in Him.
Just as grace is God’s part in our salvation, so faith is our
part in salvation. And that
is the point of Ephesians 2:8.
There is no contradiction.
So what about you?
How is your faith?