A couple weeks ago, Pastor Kyle preached on Sunday that we have a dominate hand and an opposite hand, but we are designed to use both hand in unison in life and both hands work best when they are working together. Likewise, the ire of our faith in God combined with an informed, godly decision-making process using wisdom is what makes a Christian and a healthy Christian church. It is never faith or wisdom; it is always faith and wisdom together.
Hebrews 11:1-3,6 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
The Apostle John tells us in John 4:24 that “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The Apostle confirms in 1 John 4:12 that “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 1:19-20 that “what can be known about God is plain to us, because God has shown it to us all. For his invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So, we all are without excuse. Assured faith is knowing that God exists in the spiritual realm (a dimension that we cannot physically see) and within our spirit and soul, but the definite and indisputable evidence in creation is obvious in unexplainable order and irreducible complexity in it. We cannot see God visually, but see His fingerprints everywhere. This is biblical faith unto belief.
Romans 10:8-9 says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. What is Saving Faith? It’s not just a head knowledge or a temporary faith, it’s trusting in Christ Alone for your salvation! All have sinned against God and the wages of sin is death. Our sin against our Almighty Creator God earned us the loss of Heaven and eternal life in Hell. But God, by His essential attributes of love and mercy, gives us grace. The Apostle Peter brings this to light in 2 Peter 3:9, where he proclaims to us that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” So, God made a “Plan of Salvation” [the Gospel] for us to be freely redeemed and reconciled. How?
John 3:14-17 confirms that “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Our sin separates us from God and disqualifies us from Heaven. The blessed Savior, Jesus Christ clarifies in John 3:3, 7-8 saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again they cannot see the kingdom of God. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” How do you become born again of the Spirit, converted and transformed? Believe that Creator God exists and is in control of His creation completely, confess that you are a guilty sinner, hate and repent of your sin against your loving, just and holy God, confess with your mouth that Jesus (the Savior of the world sent by God the Father) is Lord of your life forevermore and believe by faith in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, conquering sin and death and you shall be converted in your soul, regenerated in your spirit, transformed in your heart, consecrated unto God and saved. That is saving faith.
The Apostle Paul sums in up in Ephesians 2:1-8 explaining that “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
In Christ, Brian
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