The Adventure of Faith
Hebrews 11:1-10
Eph 2:8 …For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Rom 1:17b …The just shall live by faith.
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Matt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Gal 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
II Cor 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Rom 14:23b …for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
These scriptures all have one thing in common – FAITH.
Introduction
A woman recently came to me very distressed and said, “My son says he doesn’t believe in God anymore. He said, ‘Prove to me there is a God.’” She wanted to know what she could say to him.
What would I do? What would I say to him?
Well, I wouldn’t try to prove to him there was a God.
You know, God never tries to prove that He exists. He just declares His existence.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
What would I do? I would just unleash the Word of God and let it work.
Ill. Our “Share Jesus Without Fear” witnessing program works in this way. You don’t try to preach to people, you just let them read the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit does the convicting.
FAITH is one of the great themes of all of Scripture.
It begins with Abel soon after the fall of his parents in the 4th chapter of Genesis and continues through the Bible.
• Faith is the Basis of the O T heroes of the faith.
• Faith is the Basis of N T Christianity.
Too many Christians live like Faith stops at salvation – but it doesn’t. Faith is important for the maturing and growth of the Christian.
• We Begin the Christian life by Faith.
• We Progress in the Christian life by Faith.
• We Obtain God’s promises in the Christian life by Faith.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
We Baptists often shy away from talking about Faith because of all the abuse by the “Extreme, name it and claim it, faith movement.” Yet we may be guilty of also abusing Faith by going to the other extreme and not talking about it and learning to exercise it.
It has been my observation and experience that whenever there is an important Biblical truth or doctrine, that Satan tries to either deny it, counterfeit it, or obscure (hide) it.
Corrie Ten Boom, the elderly Dutch saint of God who was captured and imprisoned in a concentration camp during the Second World War for hiding and smuggling Jews out of Holland, had an Acrostic she used about Faith.
a Fantastic Adventure In Trusting Him
FAITH is: Believing before I see it.
Obeying before I have all the details.
Giving before I have a return.
Enduring before satisfaction is felt.
Thanking before receiving.
Trusting even when disappointed.
HEBREWS 11
I. The Definition of Faith – Vs1,2
The Dictionary defines “Faith” as:
1. Reliance or trust in a person or thing
2. Belief in religious doctrine
3. A system of religious belief
4. Sincerity or loyalty
God’s definition of “Faith” is found in Hebrews 11:1
This scriptural definition of faith is true in salvation. God promises eternal life to the
person who opens their heart and receives Jesus as their Savior. Unfortunately too many
Christians stop here in regard to their faith.
This verse in Hebrews 11 continues where most Christians stop. When the Holy Spirit lays
Something on the heart of one of his children, they can pray with firm assurance that God
will answer their prayer. The key is that the Holy Spirit must lay that burden upon our
heart and therefore it will be within the will of God. God is always God – We are not God.
II. The Source of Faith Vs. 3
Heb 6:17-19
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, …
Our Faith is based upon two immutable (unchanging) things.
GOD and HIS WORD
1. God is the source of our Faith
Knowing that God exists gives birth to our faith. We cannot see Him but He is there.
2. The Second source of our Faith is the Word of God.
Doubt is Satan’s greatest weapon against the Christian.
a) The Bible says God is love – Satan says God doesn’t love you.
b) The Bible says God is good – Satan says God is not good.
c) The Bible says God will supply our needs – Satan says God will abandon you.
d) The Bible says God forgives sins – Satan says your sins are too great to be forgiven.
III. The Test of Faith
1. Abel - Faith caused Abel to Worship God in the right way. – Vs. 4
Being religious and worshipping God are not synonymous. Sincerity is not enough.
• Religion is like a light bulb without electricity
• Religion is like an automobile without gas
2. Enoch – Faith caused Enoch to Fellowship with God. – Vs. 5,6
Gen. 5:24 – says “and Enoch walked with God.”
3. Noah – Faith caused Noah to Work and Prepare and ark – Vs. 7
120 Years he worked - In his back yard - Never rained before (not even a word for rain)
Who would build a boat the size of a battleship – with no water nearby.
People mocked him and laughed at him while he was working for 120 years – but I don’t think they mocked when the rain started falling.
4. Abraham – Faith caused Abraham to Wander and Wait – Vs. 8-10
“When he was called” – He obeyed.
God leads his Children one step at a time.
100 yard dash Christians - Marathon Christians.
IV. The Simplicity of Faith – John 3:14,15
John 3:14-15
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Num 21:5-9
5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
They didn’t have to “work up their faith.”
They didn’t have to “pray thru” to be saved.
There wasn’t any “special” kind of faith here.
They just had to “Look and Live.”
James 2:17 says – “Faith without works is dead”.
What does that mean? We can believe everything God says but if we do not act upon it, our faith is dead. It will do us no good.
