IF YOU CAN BELIEVE

Mark 9:22b-24 “But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”  Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

This weekend Pastor JJ was at our College/Career Age Retreat, so Mike (from our small Group Bible study delivered the Sunday Sermon message on the above passage and the topic of “Believing”. He gave us five questions on the subject of believing to think about.

1. What does believing mean? The word in Greek is “πιστεύω pisteuō”, which means “to have faith – i.e. credit to God; entrust” (Strong’s Dictionary of Bible Words & Webster’s). Conviction of the truth that God tells the truth and that Jesus Christ is Truth. If God said it, then that settles it. Do I believe it? Do I obey His holy Word and do what He says? To believe is to obey His Word. Galatians 3:5-6 “He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham  “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

2. What does one believe? Believe in our personal relationship to God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the sovereign authority of the Trinity. Isaiah 45:12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. We believe Creator God’s perfect Word, not man’s flawed word. There is no prophesy of the Holy Scriptures that is a private interpretation. What truly matters is not people think, but what God thinks. 1 Peter 1:15-16 As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

3. On Whom do we believe? Romans 10:8-10 What does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. The word “confess” in Greek is "ὁμολογέω homologeō", (homo means “same” / Logeo means “word”), literally "same word", to acknowledge, to agree with God. Profess is the same word in Greek, with the meaning to acknowledge and declare. We get our word “professional” from this. They put their knowledge into practice and practice what we preach. We don’t just confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we don’t just agree with the message, we are the message in profession by living out our belief in obedience. Does that make sense?

4. What difference does believing make?  Galatians 3:21-22 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Believing faith is the vehicle to righteousness, but the profession of and obedience to God’s Word, Will and Way in a transformed life is the fulfilling evidence of redeemed soul and regenerated heart. The flip side of King is Subject, the flip side of Master is Servant, and the flip side of Lord is Slave. In America, the connotation to slavery is negative, but only because the term “bond slave” is foreign to us today. The bond slave of Christ is a loving term, where we willfully choose to know, live for and serve the Lord, where our delight and will is the delight and will of our Redeemer King, who loves us, reconciled us, saved us and made us whole. This is not oppressive bondage; Jesus died for our sins so that we may be restored, live and have life eternal.  

  

5. Why can we put our trust in God? 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” The word of man is always changing and unreliable. God is never-changing and totally reliable, always and forever faithful to His Word. God is not a respecter of men and conditions; God is a respecter of His Word. God created (1) physical life, (2) biological life, then (3) spiritual life. There is nothing too big for God. You put full trust in a chair to hold you, so believing, you sit without a doubt or though of otherwise. Put your full trust in our amazing, Almighty, Lord God. Rejoice and have true joy in the Lord. To believe means to obey. Allow God to bless you today. Believe.

In Christ, Brian