The subject on faith begins with John 3:16:
““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 NLT
“For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.”
2 Timothy 1:9 NLT
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT
“Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”
Romans 3:24 NLT
“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.””
Romans 1:16-17 NLT
“Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”
Romans 5:1-2 NLT
Glory and Life Everlasting! Fully and freely available if we simply trust – believing words which God had said. This is perfectly true, because that’s how things are. When we believe – what we believe turns into substance. When we believe, it is as certain as the deed already done. It becomes real like every single miracle Jesus did. It becomes real because God said it would.
It is also true that if we have accepted by faith the Salvation God so graciously offers, we find ourselves In Christ, and are progressively transformed into His Image.
“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
“Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
Ephesians 4:24 NLT
“Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”
Colossians 3:10 NLT
This renewal also becomes real when we believe. Yes. Transformation is needed. Our lives and characters need to be a living testimony to all – that God is just when He justifies the ungodly. God knows the path this act of justifying will lead them.
“But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.”
Romans 4:5 NLT
“God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith.”
Acts of the Apostles 15:8-9 NLT
Notice that faith turns what we hope for into substance.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11:1 NLT
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God has abundantly demonstrated to be our friend. He desires our friendship in return.
So, are we ready to please Him by believing? By trusting His love in action? By responding in kind? Love for love?
I ask this question because this is not a game. This is not a child’s play. Some very big changes take place in our lives when we do believe. This is a newly created reality. Changes which are God given, Christ Blood purchased, Holy Spirit implemented. These changes are heavenly. They change a sinner into a saint. They prepare us for the companionship of Holy Beings in Heaven. They turn our hearts into a Most Holy Temple in which God and Christ dwell. They are tangible beginnings of Eternal Life here and now. Given us as a free gift when we believe. When we trust the Bible words which announce them. Because they were written by the will of God for us. When we believe, God’s words are as certain as the deed already done. And that is God’s way.
This is oh so divinely wonderful!
All this is given us by God as a free gift In Christ. It is the Grace of God in action and the vehicle which brings it to us is FAITH.
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”
Ephesians 2:8 NLT
Yes. Out-of-this-world. A newly created reality. A spiritual reality. A reality which is just as real as the everyday things we see and feel around us.
A gift.
“Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God.”
Mark 11:22 NLT
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“… But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?””
Luke 18:8 NLT
Jesus looked prophetically into the future – all the way to the time of The End, and saw that faith will be a major casualty. And yes. We see it. There is a wholesale abandonment of Bible as THE WORD OF GOD WHICH TELLS THE TRUTH. People don’t see the truth in it any more. The Bible does not work for them any more, because they have lost their faith. To see the divine realities, one needs to have faith.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
Hebrews 11:1 NLT
“And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6 NLT
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for. Divine realities are beyond the vision of a natural man. Man who is untouched by God. Or one who does not cooperate with God. Such man has no faith and cannot see beyond.
“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:18 NLT
“But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”
1 Corinthians 2:14 NLT
Faith is a spiritual virtue. It is a gift of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22. Only a man of faith can see the evidences in Christian way of life. Such man knows that the evidence he sees is the truth. For him these evidences are as tangible as the rest of facts we see around us with natural eyes. What he sees with his eyes of faith, he knows that it is infinitely more valuable than the things he sees with his natural eyes. That explains why so many Christian martyrs gave their lives for their faith. (Some estimates say that about 52 million Christian martyrs gave their lives willingly – during the persecution of the Dark Ages – rather than give up what they believed was the Bible truth about Salvation through Jesus Christ).
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“So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”
Romans 10:17 NLT
God’s Word is the major source of faith. Faith comes by hearing (or reading) the Bible. Yes. Faith can also come from personal experiences, or from observing the nature created by our loving God. But the greatest generator of faith is the story of Jesus.
But there is a problem. It is like a chain reaction. Our loss of faith has diminished our trust in the Bible – the major source of faith – so we don’t read our Bibles any more. As a result – our faith is further diminished, not being fed by the Word of God.
““The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.”
Amos 8:11-12 NLT
I was puzzled by this prediction for a long time. There was never a time like this in which we live, where Bibles are so widespread and so easily accessible. Both, printed and electronic. But even so, just look around you. Those who desire the Salvation truth of the Bible – can’t get it. Why? Because preachers no longer preach Salvation. No Sacrifice. No miracles. No heaven. No Judgment Day. No accountability for wrong things we have done. No information on how to live godly lives. How to be Saved. And no preaching on faith. When was the last time you heard a sermon on any of these Salvation topics? Bible is reduced to purely human. As the result, our humanity’s D-day is hurtling towards us at a blistering pace. And most don’t really care. They dismiss it as a Christian fantasy.
““When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.”
Luke 17:26-27 NLT
Please read Hebrews chapter 11. It is a chapter which illustrates how faith was experienced in the lives of many believers. It shows how this powerful faith turns into substance and produces desired works. In those works – God is glorified.
“By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.”
Hebrews 11:33-40 NLT