“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.
2 Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
2 Peter 1:21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Illustration of flying an airplane.
You perform your pre-flight check, checking your fuel, tires, oil, looking for any problems. Pull the prop through a few times. You even get out the logbooks and check out things a little deeper, looking for any discrepancies. Finally you have really started to believe that this plane is airworthy. My investigation in checking out all the evidence caused me to believe it’ll fly, a very rational decision. When we hear God’s Word we come to the point in our life that yes, I believe the Bible.
Notice the importance of God’s Word when it comes to our faith.
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
God the Holy Spirit energizes His Word that speaks to our innermost being.
Our belief is based on an examination of the evidence. The evidence of the Word of God.
After you investigate all the evidence you are led to a rational decision to agree with the facts.
Do you believe the Bible? Remembering our drama, do you really know what God’s Word says?
This is belief, acceptance of facts supported by evidence.
Caution - Head knowledge!
Tragically many people will someday be damned to the eternal lake of fire because they say,
“I believe, I know enough about the Bible to get me to heaven”.
Head knowledge or simply believing will not forgive your sins or gain your entrance into heaven.
2 Timothy 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Satan is the great deceiver – he’ll blind us to truth and reality – pride is his great weapon of choice.
2 Cor. 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
2 Cor. 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Do you think the demons believe in Jesus? Calvary? His resurrection? You bet they do!
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder (tremble).
Our faith must be rooted in belief and it also encompasses – Trust.
Genuine Faith involves…
2. TRUST in Jesus Christ
Our personal confidence in the object of our belief (Jesus)
* Trust is an act of the will; you believe what God says in the Bible about sin and about Jesus.
* You believe what God says, and are willing to place your absolute and full trust in Him.
* Read carefully this next verse: “received” – to take possession of, to claim, procure, for one’s self.
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Our faith does not rest with a concept or an idea but with a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Continuing our illustration of flying an airplane.
Trust is the next step. If I really believe this is an airplane, at least it looks like one anyway. Checking everything out I truly believe it’ll fly. My next step is trust so I climb in, put my headsets on, go through the startup checklist. Seat belts on, doors locked down, master on, fuel full rich, fuel pumps on to prime to a certain indicated fuel pressure. WOW, my faith is getting stronger – I bet this engine will fire up if I tried! Committing my life by sitting in this airplane with full confidence and trust it’ll fly. All the while remaining on the ground looking pretty good. Maybe thinking I’m cool, I’m a pilot – pride a scary place to be.
Many people may remain in this stage for the rest of their lives. Smug and content sitting in the plane / sitting in church yet never truly taking off! Oh, you believe, maybe even uttered a prayer inviting Jesus to come into your heart as you expressed your confidence in Jesus. But if you are brutally honest with yourself, deep inside there’s a sense of disconnect between you and God. Experiencing a deep inner uneasiness concerning your personal life-changing faith. You may be constantly struggling with your prayer life, finding it difficult to read and study your Bible on your own, maybe lacking a faithfulness to church attendance and activities, or just a general lack of commitment in following Jesus Christ. We can become spiritually indifferent and lazy. The excitement and passion for Christ is almost non existent or gone. You may be finding yourself dozing off during the message. Understand carefully, there may be no spark in the engine.
You commit your life to Jesus Christ because you believe He is trustworthy. An attitude change.
Placing our full trust and confidence in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Gospel of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. (1Co. 15:1-4)
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Acts 4:10-12 “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead…Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
We receive genuine saving faith by trusting the saving work of Jesus Christ.
Making Jesus Lord (Master) of our lives, His absolute authority over us. He’s the potter we’re the clay.
This brings us to the next step toward genuine faith – Action.
Genuine Faith involves…
3. ACTION in Obedience to God’s Word
Our personal commitment and involvement
* This part of faith takes personal commitment and sacrifice in obedience to God’s Word.
* Action is where the rubber meets the road; Action is actualizing your faith.
* This personal action of decision allows the Holy Spirit to regenerate us into new creatures in Christ.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
This is the new birth experience, being born from above; becoming a new creation in Christ.
James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Action is acting upon your belief and trust all produced by the Spirit of God using His Word.
Continuing our illustration of flying an airplane.
I believe this play will fly, I climbed in and placed my trust in it – now the decision time. Do I now make a conscious decision to act upon my faith? I turn the key and start the engine! With the engine purring like a kitten, you taxi into position, ease into the throttle, prop full RPM, feeling the rush and excitement of being pushed to the back of the seat. A little scary trying to keep it going straight down the run way with some cross wind. Watching the airspeed hit around 80 and you begin to pull back on the yoke. Your ride becomes as smooth as silk as you leave the earth. Yet there are many necessary things to do in order to fly or live right. You pull the gear up, retract the flaps, adjust the prop and throttle, lean for altitude. Hey I’m flying - this plane really does fly! I believe it’ll fly, I’ll trust it to fly, but you never know until you actually take off. Following the flight maps and aviation rulebook this airplane is able to take you to “worlds” unknown. If I don’t follow the rules, especially while I’m IFR in bad weather, I’ll get way off course get into major trouble or even crash… A Christian who has experienced a genuine faith in Jesus Christ will be either be a doer of the Word (obedient) or you will live a defeated, powerless life.
Action is our crisis of belief, this is our decision time. This is our turning point.
Action is the point often neglected or overlooked in our lives. Have I truly believed, trusted and acted?
Crisis of belief – when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and need of salvation or a closer walk.
How can I receive a genuine faith?
Repentance:
1. True sense of one’s own guilt and sinfulness. (2Co. 7:10)
2Co. 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
2. Understanding of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2:4-5)
Ephes. 2:4-5 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
3. Hatred of sin and turning from it to God. (Acts 3:19)
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
4. Persistence in an obedient Biblical lifestyle. (Rom 2:7)
Romans 2:7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Acts 26:20b “…I (Paul) preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.
Continuing our illustration of flying an airplane.
My family and I have enjoyed many hours flying over this beautiful land God created. I can speak for hours of different weather situations, various experiences we encountered. But the absolutely wonderful experience would never have happened if I never made a commitment to take off.
Have you ever taken off or are you still sitting in your plane?
You will never experience God’s rich blessings until you fully commit your life to Him.
Genuine faith is stepping out in uncharted waters, it’s getting out of our comfort zones.
James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
2 Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?
Do I have genuine faith? Have I truly repented of my sins? Am I a true Christian?
You’re tired of “trying” to be a Christian. You cannot try to be a Christian – it’s impossible.
New life begins by calling out to God with a broken, repentant heart toward sin.
Fly over the obstacles, traffic jams, and the problems of life, soaring to new heights with Christ.
Isaiah 40:31 “…Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Do you believe God’s Word? Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?
Have you acted upon your belief in true repentance before God?
I’m asking you now to start your engine, and takeoff into a life with Christ that is awesome.
When you’ll in Christ you’ll begin to soar on wings like eagles. Never wanting to return to earth!
Let’s Pray
