Study of Faith Continued.

Luke 17: 5-6

5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Here we see that faith is powerful even if it is very little. A little is still something and better than nothing. There is no such thing as not having enough faith. There is either no faith or some faith. If it only takes a small amount of faith then that is all we need a any given moment.

How Do We Get This Faith

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17

This is how we receive faith. It works the same as normal conversation. If someone tells us that there is a free gift when we open a new bank account, and it happens to be something we desire, if we believe that the fact is true, we would try to open an account and receive the free gift. If we do not believe the message, we would not go to the bank but remain at home.

True faith produces an action. If we really believe something we will act upon it.

Saving faith comes when we hear someone preach the word of salvation. We act upon it when we receive the word into our souls and inherit eternal life by faith in that word, which says, "Whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life."

Romans 14:23

22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

This is a strong statement. We must not do anything that goes against what we believe the word of God teaches us to do or not do.

When we go against the word and allow ourselves to disobey that word, we sin. If we believe the word teaches against adultery and we go ahead and do it anyway, it is sin. Our lives would be much happier if everything we do is done with full assurance that it lines up with the teaching of the word. If we doubt something is right or wrong, it is better to refrain from the action.

2 Corinthians 5:8

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

This is one of the most comforting scriptures for those who have lost loved ones in death. If those loved ones knew Jesus Christ at the time of physical death then we know that they go to be with the Lord when they leave their temporary body here on earth and await their eternal body given to them from the at the 1st resurrection. They are still a living soul and spirit awaiting the resurrection of the body that died but they are with Jesus in a place prepared until the day He returns to earth to gather all believers together.

This is something we do not see with the visible eye so we take it by faith. We believe these things by faith. A young man of 29 whom has been my son's best friend since kindergarten passed away just last week. The family's main comfort was that they would see him again. His separation from them was only temporary.

Faith in Jesus Christ is now the ingredient that saves the soul and not whether a person is circumcised or not. Notice the words "faith which works by love."

Galatians 5:6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Faith works by love. This goes along with the verse that says, "Perfect love casts out all fear, he that fears is not perfect in love."

We know that fear is the very opposite of faith. If we fear we are not exercising faith. Faith and love go hand in hand together.  If you find a person that is full of faith but lacks love, it will not be long before you will see a flaw somewhere in his or her faith.  Most often when you find a person with true faith, you will also find that the same person is a person of much love.

1 Timothy 1:5

Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Love and also unpretentiousness accompany faith. True faith is unfeigned. It is a sincere, honest and open faith. True faith is with a good conscience. True faith cannot be pretence, it is something real and active. True faith does not go against the conscience.  

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Here is the definition of faith. A substance of things we hope for and an evidence of things we can not see. A substance and evidence. That means that faith is real. Substance is real and evidence is real. Faith is a real ingredient that exists and is not imaginary.

James 2:14

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Suppose you have plenty of food, clothing and provisions necessary for life. You discover a neighbor, stranger or family member that have such a need. Instead of giving them of your own possessions and relieving them you choose to lay hands on them and pray for their need to be supplied. If you do not give them anything of your own provisions, your faith is without any substance and is worthless.

Have you ever met someone who goes around collecting money for a worthy cause yet never opens their own purse to give themselves? They appear to be doing a great work but the real workers are those that reach down and give from their own pockets. It works the same as the principle that if you teach, "Thou shalt not," you should be living your own teaching. If you preach to others to give, you should be giving yourself.

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

The devil is aware of the existence of God, the reality of heaven and hell and the word of God. He knows the bible, he is aware that Jesus is our savior and is the very Son of God. Just knowing those facts to be true is not enough to save the soul. We have to believe them in truth and action. If we believe the word of God, which says, "Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," then we need to act like we believe. The same word also says, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." If we run a business and cheat, lie and deceive in order to get rich and then turn around and say we have faith and love God then we are deceiving ourselves also. True faith produces action. We can't believe just part of the word and not all of it. We can't say we believe that faith in Christ saves us and then go out and ignore all of Christ's teachings.

If we claim to love God and do not even try to please God, how is that true faith? How much sense does it make to say that we believe in Jesus Christ and that He saved us from sin? Yet we never talk to him, we never read his word, we never worship him, and we never seek him unless we get into some kind of trouble and are desperate. Everything we do involves all kind of activity and pleasure but we have no time to seek the Lord. What kind of faith is that?

I am not saying that works saves us. We could do just the opposite of the above things. We could give to the poor, we could do all kinds of good deeds and even go to church regularly and neglect to repent of sin and receive Christ as savior and still be lost forever. Works without faith in Jesus to save from sin will not save the soul. Trusting Jesus for salvation is the only way of salvation. The word of God teaches us though that true faith will produce good works. It will produce the works of faith. If we really believe something, we will live what we believe.

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Some use the example to prove that Abraham just believed and was saved without doing anything. Yet James uses this same scripture to prove otherwise.

24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

What kind of faith would Rahab have had if she did nothing to help the spies that entered the city? If she thought to herself, "I believe in the power of Israel's God. I believe God is going to destroy the city in which I live but I'm not going to do anything to help them or to save my family and myself." Then Rahab's faith would have been worthless to save her and her relatives.

We can compare it to someone who says, "I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe that we must receive Christ to be saved, but I am not going to live for him or give my own life to him." This person's faith is without any merit. It will not save. It is dead.

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

The book of James shows us another side of faith. Faith is dead without works. This does not mean that works saves us apart from faith in Christ. True faith though produces the fruits or good works. He uses Abraham as an example of faith along with works. If Abraham had not acted on his faith he would not have had true faith.

If a person says they believe but they do not act as if they believe, then they really do not believe.

If Noah said that he believed a flood was coming and did not work to build the Ark, he would not have had true faith. Faith produces action.  He really believed the word of God which told him to build the Ark because a flood was coming and thereby saving the whole human race from distinction.

1 John 5:5

4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

If a person says that they believe in the Lord Jesus and have faith yet they have not gotten victory over the love of the world, then they really are not exercising true faith according to the scripture here in John.

True saving faith will eventually give us victory over sin, the love of the world and power to overcome temptation and evil. We can't love God and love sin too. We can't live for God and commit all kinds of sin and the same time. We will either hold to one master or the other. True faith will produce a life that a spirit-filled life.

That is the real secret; walking in the Spirit "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." True faith recognizes that we cannot save ourselves. We cannot work our way into heaven. Jesus made a way of salvation so that we can be saved. We confess our sins and receive Jesus into our own lives, we began to seek him daily remembering that he saved us from sin so we no longer want to go back into the sin we were saved from. True faith will trust His power to enter into our lives to give us strength to overcome the flesh and walk in the new life of the Spirit. Daily remembrance that we are saved by grace, delivered from sin and have are a new creature in Christ will give us power to overcome the world.

Faith in Practice