How Do We Live By Faith? Series

We read in the New Testament in a letter to the Christians in Galatia, (Gal 3:11) Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." To be justified before God means to be just or right before God. Turn to 2 Peter Chapter 2 for a moment. Read along with me v4-9………..

Anyone who is not right with God will be punished for eternity!

It is important to be justified isn’t it?

How does one become justified or be right with God?

Romans 10:9-10, That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

If you have never believed with your heart that Jesus Christ is your only Savior and confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, would you take a quiet moment right now and think about this and pray to Jesus a prayer like this one: Dear God, I believe in you. I confess that I have sinned against you in many ways and I deserve judgment because You are Righteous, Holy, and Perfect. But now I understand, believe, and accept that Jesus Christ is God who became human to die for my sins. I believe that by Your mighty power, Jesus rose from the dead for me! I confess now with my heart and mouth that Jesus Christ is my only God. Lord Jesus, take control of my life. Amen.

Please quietly pray for a moment………..

If you had just prayed with sincerity in your heart that Jesus is your Savior and Lord, the Word of God tells us you are now justified and now have the title “righteous before God”! Hallelujah! Praise The Lord!

“He is Lord, He is Lord. He has risen from the dead and He is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord!”

We are justified through Jesus Christ and made righteous and the righteous will live by faith. How do we live by faith? The story in Genesis 24 actually teaches us about living in faith. Genesis 24 is a long chapter to read but we must read the entire chapter to hear the full story. Let us be patient to listen to God’s full word today……

How did Abraham live by faith?

We can note 4 things in v1-9 how Abraham lived by faith:

1. He was concerned about his son Isaac.

Abraham was sensing that he didn’t have much more time to live and he knew that Isaac was sad about losing his mother. It was proper during that time for the father to find a wife for their sons. But isn’t it interesting that Abraham decided for Isaac not to have a Canaanite wife but made sure Isaac stayed in Canaan. You see,

2. Abraham thought about doing the godly thing.

He knew that the Canaanites were ungodly and Abraham did not want to go against God’s promise for his descendants to live in Canaan. Now, did Abraham just meditated and prayed about Isaac and the Promised Land? Absolutely not! Part of living by faith is taking action! Real faith is ACTIVE not passive! And so,

3. Abraham took action by having his chief servant go find a wife for Isaac. What’s the 4th thing we can note of how Abraham lived by faith? It is in the middle of v8! How can Abraham say to his servant, “God will send an angel!”? You see,

4. Abraham was aware and confident about the reality of the spiritual world!

We could end the message here couldn’t we? But God gives us the faith example of the Chief Servant (likely this was Eliezer, based on Genesis 15).

We can note 5 things in v5-54 how “Eliezer” lived by faith:

1. He asked practical questions. We can note this in all his questioning.

2. Eliezer obeyed his master didn’t he?

3. Eliezer prayed to God for guidance!

Look again at v12-14. Was his prayer too hard of a request?

Was Eliezer testing God with his prayer?

Did you hear about the guy who prayed “God what should I do?”; then he opened his Bible and randomly pointed his finger on a verse………….. After reading it he said, God that can’t be it, so he tried it again, this time he read, "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself." Oh Lord, it can’t be about hanging; so he said, "God I will give you one more chance, this is it, I will do what ever you tell me next, it just can’t be about Judas hanging himself; and so he again opened his Bible randomly and pointed to the verse which said, "Go and do likewise!"