The Necessity Of Faith - Lesson #2
1 Pet. 1:9
A. You will recall a similar statement by Paul in 2 Cor 5:7,
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Faith is the foundation of all Christian endeavor. Keystone for
all success in Christian living.
a. The purpose of everything written from Matthew to Acts is to
produce faith in your heart by
giving you many examples of faith. Many reason to have faith.
(A) The gospel of John was written to give you faith, Jno. 20:30-31,
At the conclusion of the 1st sermon to the Gentiles Peter says
in Acts 10:43,
(a) Then Peter tells his Jewish brethren how God saved the Gentiles,
God made
no distinction between them & us cleansing their hearts by
faith, Acts 15:9.
Rom. 1:16-17, Then in Rom. 5:1-2, he drives this point home by
saying, Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have access by faith
into grace.
In Eph. 2:8, he proclaims, For by grace have you been saved
through faith,
(2) Song, Faith is the Victory. Teaches a vital Bible
truth about how you stay saved.
(1) 1 Jno. 5:4, This is the victory that overcomes the world,
even our faith.
(2) Strong, continuous faith will keep you from falling victim
to the world.
(1) 1 Pet. 1:9, You are receiving the end of your faith??the
salvation of your souls.
What does that mean? What faith does Peter have in mind? Faith
that causes
you to believe and obey God and His Word will bring you salvation.
Its important we define the type of faith. The Bible speaks
of two kinds of faith.
(3) The end results of those two kinds of faith are totally different.
(4) Jas. 2:14-26, is a dissertation on the kind of faith that
God accepts,
(5) Active and inactive faith, living and dead faith, faith that
saves and condemns
Acts 15:9, says, God purified their hearts by faith. What does
that mean?
(6) 1 Peter 1:21?22, That says, We believed in God who raised
Jesus from the dead...so that our faith and hope are in God to
the extent that we do every thing we can to purified our souls
in obeying the truth.
(7) How is faith defined? Believing that God will purify our souls
and raise us from the dead because we are obedient to His word.
(8) We become children by being obedient to His word.
b. Rom. 10;13-15, 17.
(3) To many people today think that Calling On The Name
Of The Lord simply means that all they have to do is believe
and say a sinners prayer and, bingo! Theyre saved.
(1) Thats not what it means to call on the name of the Lord.
(1) To call on the name of the Lord requires faith and faith requires,
demands obedience to Gods will.
(2) We have an example of the kind of obedience that illustrates
what calling on the name of the Lord requires.
(2) Acts 22:1-16, Now what are you waiting for? Get up,
be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.
(1) Paul saw Jesus, believed, had faith in Jesus, prayed and fasted
3 days and nights but he was not yet saved.
(2) How do I know that? He was still in his sin. Thats why
Ananias commanded that he to hurry up and be baptized in order
to wash away his sins. You can have faith that causes you to repent,
fast and pray all day and night but it will not save you.
(3) How do I know? It didnt save Paul. He was still in his
sin and you cannot be saved in your sin. It has to be removed.
(4) Thats why Paul was told, Get up and be baptized
to wash away your sins.
(B) When God says, Be baptized to wash away your sins,
and you refuse to do it, you are
in total rebellion to God and no amount of supposed faith is going
to save you.
(3) Heb. 11:6,
(1) The faith spoken of here is obedient faith.
(2) Jas. 2:22-24, is an example that illustrates faith, Was
not Abraham our father justified by works (what kind of works?
Of faith) when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see
that faith was working together with his works (of obedience)
, and by works (of obedience) faith was made perfect? And the
Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (What proved
he believed GodHis obedience) And he was called the friend
of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works (What
kinds of works? Of faiththe works of faith God gave him
to do), and not by faith only. Vs. 26, concludes by saying, For
as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works
is dead also.
(4) When God commands you to do something, you do it because you
believe in Him and His commands. Thats calling doing the
Works of God.
(1) John 6:28?29, Faith is a work of God just like , repentance
is a work of God, Confession and Baptism.
(2) You cannot call on the name of God, you cannot be saved by
God without working the works of God in your life.
(3) Have you called on the name of God?
(4) Acts 20:32.
Spur - 09/16/2001 pm
|