"A Genuine Faith" Part 1

“A Genuine Faith”

Part 1of 2

2Peter 1:1-2 Selected

Cross Creek Community Church

Pastor Dave Martin

May 19, 2002

Was that skit good or what? How well do we know the Bible? The older girls were Christians for 10 years yet ignorant when it comes to knowing the Word of God. Often we have misconceptions in what the Bible says concerning various topics. We will sometimes plug our own ideas, thoughts or solution to our everyday situations and really mess things up. We have to align our lives with the Word of God. Obeying what God tells us to do. This morning we’re going to address I believe the most important truth found in the Bible. What does God say about genuine faith? What is faith? Do I have a genuine soul saving faith when it comes to my salvation? Do I know for sure where I will spend eternity? Do I have any misunderstandings concerning this tremendous doctrine of salvation through faith?

What things do we depend on everyday that are invisible?

Electricity (voltage, current), light, wind, sound, microwaves (cook the cat illustration), television, radio, satellites (12Ghz, 23,000 miles, geosync, MP3 compression), bacteria etc.

Speak about some of these “unseen” things.

2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Faith: (Webster’s dictionary) - A confident belief or trust in a person, idea, or thing.

What does faith look like? Is faith visible or invisible? Tangible or intangible?

We exercise faith everyday, it’s very important in our lives, yet we cannot see faith.

Faith is found over 230 times in the New Testament.

As a believer, God’s Word tells us:

* We are “saved by grace” through faith. Eph 2:8-9

* We’re given a “measure” of faith. Rom 12:3

* Yet our faith also can be “increased”. Luke 17:5

* We need to use our “shield” of faith for protection. Eph 6:16

* Or we may “wander” from our faith. 1Tim 6:10

* Until we crash and our faith becomes “shipwrecked”. 1Tim 1:19

* Continue to fight the “good fight” of faith. 1Tim 6:12

* Living righteous “lives” by faith. Rom 1:17

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. NLT

This morning we’re going to look at genuine soul saving faith – from God’s Word. Our text:

Our Text: (to be continued next week)

2 Peter 1:1-2 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Our soul saving, genuine faith is a gift received from God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephes. 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast.

Righteousness is of God. He calls us, He saves us, He keeps us through His grace.

Romans 4:5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

* Justify - To declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be

* Credited - Pass to one’s account, to impute

* Righteousness - The only condition acceptable to God. (Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting)

The only way to become “righteous”, acceptable to God is through faith.

Genuine Faith involves…

1. BELIEF in God’s Word.

Our acceptance of facts supported by evidence.

* The Bible is God’s love letter to man. An instruction book for life, a road map to eternal life.

* The Bible speaks of creation and of man’s disobedience and fall into sin.

* The Bible tells us about the Son of God who came to earth to redeem fallen man. (Luke 19:10)

* The Bible was written to tell us of God and explain the issues of life itself.

Faith involves knowledge of the Gospel (Rom 10:14-17)

John 20:31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Genuine faith involves belief – accepting the facts of what God has told us in His Word.

You cannot be saved or have genuine faith if you do not believe the Bible. Faith is built upon belief.