Gtcotr/ss062225
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Faith without works is dead … so is the so-called faith that doesn’t work.
2 Thessalonians 3:2 reveals that not all people have faith..
This morning we are going to take a close look at what the Bible says about faith. When faith doesn’t work, it may not be faith.
Did you know that the word faith is only found two times in the Old Testament? Once in Deuteronomy 32:20 where God talks about a generation in whom there is no faith, and the other is in Habakkuk 2:4 where the prophet declares that the just shall live by their faith.
Even though the word faith is only found two times in all of the Old Testament, people demonstrating their faith are found on almost every page. The Old Testament is a written account detailing how people proved their faith by what they did during that O.T. period of about 4000 years.
The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews gives us a few details concerning some of those Old Testament heroes who lived their faith.
Hebrews 11 (Truncated)
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain …
5 By faith Enoch was taken away because he pleased God.
7 By faith Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his household …
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called …
11 By faith Sarah received strength and bore a child…
17 By faith Abraham offered up Isaac …
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau …
21 By faith Jacob blessed each of his sons and worshipped …
22 By faith Joseph gave instructions concerning his bones …
23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents …
24 By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down.
31 By faith Rahab the harlot received the spies …
32ff Through faith Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, women and others subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, received their dead raised to life again and went through terrible torture and hardships and obtained a good testimony … all through faith …
So you see – faith is the story of the Old Testament. What is faith? We see it active in the lives of our heroes in the Old Testament. However, the New Testament explains exactly what faith really is and what it is not.
- · Faith is not a feeling that we work up in efforts to push the God button and get what we want.
- · Rather
- · Faith is – “Trust in the Truth.”
- o Without truth, a person cannot have faith.
- o For example:
- § You cannot have faith that there is no God.
- § A person cannot have faith in evolution.
- § Personal beliefs, public opinion, heartfelt desire, collective experiences, or a show of hands will not make something true.
- o God is truth and faith is only found in Him.
- · You see …
Truth is tangible.
Hebrews 11:1 ¶ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
- · Substance and evidence.
- · We can know truth.
Truth is pre-existent.
- · Jesus is pre-existent
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- · Jesus was pre-existent
- · Man was not pre-existent
- · Truth was pre-existent
- · Therefore Man is subject to truth. Truth is not subject to man.
Truth is absolute.
Psalms 119:142 ¶ Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth.
- · Truth is absolute, not relative.
- · Truth doesn’t change with the times.
- · Faith depends on truth; truth does not depend on faith to be true.
- · Believing something won’t make it true if it was not true beforehand.
Truth is eternal.
Psalms 117:2 For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
- · Even death cannot escape the truth.
- · Heaven and earth will pass away, but the truth will remain forever.
John 17:17 Sanctify them by Thy Truth; Thy Word is Truth.
Faith that works must be based on three essential elements. These three are the foundation stones of truth. The 3 bedrocks of truth are:
- 1. The Word of God
- 2. The Will of God
- o Our belief does not supersede the will of God.
- 3. The Way of God
John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Placing your bet on the wrong horse will make you a loser every time. Trust God!
For further study:
John 15:26 ¶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
John 18:37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
John 18:38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.
Galatians 4:16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
Hebrews 11
2 For by faith the elders of Israel obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
John 8
31 ¶ Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.
32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Truth is powerful
Truth is potential
