First Steps on the Way

The Foundation of Faith toward God

 

The Second 

of Six Elementary Teachings about Christ

Hebrews 6:1,2

Topic Headings:

1. Introduction
2. “Faith toward God”
3. Three New Testament Examples of Faith
4. A Definition of Christian Faith
5. The Greatest Application of Christian Faith
6. Other Applications of Faith
7. The Importance of Faith
8. The New Testament Commands Us to Believe.
9. Faith Is a Gift.
10. We Are Justified before God Only by Faith.
11. Genuine Faith Always Produces Good Deeds.
12. Faith without Deeds is Dead.
13. We Are Justified before Other People by the Deeds that Come from Our Faith.
14. On the Last Day Jesus Will Point to our Deeds as the Evidence of our Faith.
15. What should you do?
16. A Prayer of Faith

1. Introduction

The Bible teaches us about faith in two ways:

1)    Faith can refer to an important aspect of someone’s personal relationship with someone else.

[Jesus said:] “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”  (John 14:1)

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

2)    Faith can also refer to the objective substance upon which that aspect of one’s personal relationship with someone else is based.

“If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.” (1 Timothy 4:6)

Does that sound complicated?  It’s not really as difficult to understand as you may be thinking.

2. “Faith toward God”

     Faith is directed toward someone or something.  People can direct faith toward other people, toward their possessions, or even toward themselves.  Christian faith is directed toward God (Hebrews 6:1).

3. Three New Testament Examples of Faith

     One way to understand faith is to look at examples of faith in the New Testament.  These allow us to see this important aspect of someone’s personal relationship with Jesus and what the specific, objective substance of this was.

The Faith of a Leper

 ⁴⁰ A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”  ⁴¹ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ⁴² Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. (Mark 1:40-42)

Please note the following:

This man’s faith was directed toward Jesus, for he came to “Him” and begged “Him.”

This man fell “on his knees” before Jesus.  This behavior shows an aspect of his relationship to Jesus; that is, this man considered that Jesus was in authority over him and his situation.  This is part of the objective substance of his faith.

This man said, “You can make me clean.”  These words reveal another part of the objective substance of his faith; this is what he believed.  He believed in Jesus’ ability to help him.

He began by saying, “If you are willing, . . .”  The words “If you are willing” suggest that there was initially some doubt in his mind as to whether Jesus was willing to heal him.  As we will see, believing that Jesus is also willing to help us is another very important part of the objective substance of faith.  Jesus encouraged him to believe this by saying, “I am willing.”

The Faith of a Woman with a Flow of Blood

              ²⁵ And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak, ²⁸ because she thought, “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.”  ²⁹ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. . . .

       ³⁴ He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark 5:25-29,34)

Please note the following:

This woman’s faith was also directed toward Jesus; for she “came up behind Him” – that is, behind Jesus, and not behind someone else.

This woman came to Jesus after she “heard about Jesus.”  She heard some objective substance about Jesus.  No doubt, she heard of previous miracles that Jesus had performed, so she knew Jesus COULD help her, too.  Also, these accounts convinced her that Jesus was a kind person and therefore WOULD help her.  Based on what she heard, her opinion of Jesus is great indeed, for she thought that only touching this great person’s clothes would be enough to bring healing!  Elsewhere the New Testament teaches that “faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17).

She thought, “If I just touch His clothes, I will be healed.”  Please notice how this woman personalized the general objective substance that she had heard about Jesus.

The Faith of a Father whose Son Had a Deaf and Dumb Spirit

        ¹⁷ A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. . . .²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.  But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

    ²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

    ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

    ²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶ The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. . . .” (Mark 9:7,22b-26a)

Please note the following:

This father came to Jesus.  He had, at least, some idea that Jesus might be able to help his son.

This father was not sure that Jesus COULD help his son.  He says, “if you can do anything.” 

Jesus is surprised that he questioned His ability, quoting the father’s words back to him, asking him to reconsider his doubt, “‘If you can’?”  Then He encourages his faith with these words: “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

Then the father prayed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” He realized that his faith was corrupted with doubt.

4. A Definition of Christian Faith

Christian faith is an aspect of a person’s relationship with God, which comes from hearing about God’s kind and powerful character which makes Him both willing and able to help people.  Christian faith is that aspect of our relationship with God which takes this objective substance about Him and applies it personally to oneself.

5. The Greatest Application of Christian Faith

The greatest application of Christian faith is in regard to eternal salvation.

Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

    The objective substance of this faith includes the following:

• people will simply perish without God’s help,
• there is a God,
• this God extremely loves the world,
• this God gave His one and only Son,
• the death of His Son in the place of disobedient people makes Him both willing and able to forgive their disobedience, and
• this God will give eternal life to those who believe in His Son.

     In order for a person to have Christian faith himself, he takes this objective substance and applies it to himself.  He says, “If I just believe that God gave His one and only Son for me, I shall have eternal life!”

6. Other Applications of Faith

     In the Bible God gives us plenty of objective substance about Himself to encourage us to believe that He is willing and able to help us with all aspects of our lives, for example –

• what we shall eat, drink, and wear;
• how to endure the difficulties of life;
• how to bear persecution for being Jesus’ disciples.

 

7. The Importance of Faith

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

8. The New Testament Commands Us to Believe

 Believe!  This was the command of John the Baptist:

“John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to people that they should believe on Him Who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” (Acts 19:4)

 Believe!  This was the command of Jesus Himself:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

Believe!  This was the command of the apostles:

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)

9. Faith Is a Gift

When a person believes, it looks as though he himself has done something great; but consider these passages of the New Testament:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, . . .” (Ephesians 2:8)

“God…opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” (Acts 14:27; see also Matthew 16:17 and John 1:11,12.)

 

10. We Are Justified before God Only by Faith

We are justified before God only by faith and not by the things that we do:

“We conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

11. Genuine Faith Always Produces Good Deeds.   

8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10) 

 

12. Faith without Deeds is Dead.

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such a faith save him?  . . . As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:14, 26)

13. We Are Justified before Other People by the Deeds that Come from Our Faith. 

“For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.” (Romans 4:2)

14. On the Last Day Jesus Will Point to our Deeds as the Evidence of our Faith

    ³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

   ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

   ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

   ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

   ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

   ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

   ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

   ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)

15. What should you do?

•  Believe these fundamental teachings of the  Bible about God and the salvation that He has obtained for us through His Son.
•  Believe especially that God loves you personally so much that He sent His own Son to die in your place for your sins.
•  Believe God to help you with all the other matters of life.
•  Live the kind of life which shows that you believe the Bible’s teaching.

 

16. A Prayer of Faith

My Father in heaven, I believe that You are really there and that You reward those who seek You.

I believe that You love me so much that You planned to send Your Son long ago into this world to suffer for my sins.  I believe that Jesus Christ is that promised Savior and that He came to save me.

I believe, but there is much that I still do not understand; help me to believe everything about You.

Also, please help me to live the kind of life that pleases You and that shows that I really do believe in You. 

Thank you for hearing me for Jesus’ sake!  Amen!

© copyright 2011 

Lyra Publications

Preston, Minnesota