The Word Study of Faith

Faith (4102) (pistis) in this context describes the Christian's personal confidence in God, Christ, His Word and His promises. Christians will be enabled to stand fearlessly firm against the roaring lion only if they lean wholly (which is what faith does) on Jesus' name, standing on the promises of God.

The noun "Faith" is in the locative case, the idea being that the stability to stand against the adversary is found in the sphere of one's personal faith.
 

Wuest adds that "The words "in the faith" refer to the believer’s own faith, the definite article here pointing to ownership. That is, the Christian is to stand firm against the onset of the devil, not in himself, but in the exercise of a faith that depends upon the strengthening and protecting power of God."
 

Remember that faith is not a feeling but "is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (_{Heb 11:1 and that believers are called to "walk by faith, not by sight." (2Cor 5:7-
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The basic nature of faith is confidence that things yet future and unseen will happen as God has revealed they will. Peter is saying that if this is our attitude, we will be enabled to stand firm.

Your faith will be firm if your trust is in the Solid Rock. Victory is not assured by the personal tenacity or intensity with which we cling to our personal beliefs. Victory is found in adhering to the finished work of Christ on the Cross, where Christ forever defeated our adversary the devil. Prior to His crucifixion Jesus declared
 

"Now judgment is upon this world (sentence is now being passed on this world); now the ruler of this world shall be cast out." (Jn 12:31).
 

Although the Cross might have appeared to signal Satan’s victory over God, in reality it marked Satan’s defeat. The sentence has not yet been carried out on the devil, but his doom has been sealed. He is still going through the world carrying on his evil business, but at the end of Messiah's 1000 year reign John records that the devil who deceived (the unbelievers in the 1000 year reign) was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
(Rev 20

 

The purpose of trials is not to weaken our faith but to strengthen it. Trials are not allowed by God to make us "bitter" but "better". The outcome depends on our attitude - receptive versus resentful.

Thomas Watson…Faith is the grace which does Satan most harm; it makes the most resistance against him. "Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour! Resist him, standing firm in the faith." 1Peter 5:8, 9. No grace more bruises the serpent's head—than faith. It is both a shield and a sword, defensive and offensive. It is a shield to guard the head and defend the vitals. The shield of faith prevents the fiery darts of temptation from piercing us through. Faith is a sword which wounds the red dragon.

 

Charles Simeon warns that…Unbelief is a powerful instrument in the hands of Satan. He excites it in us that he may turn us from the faith: we must therefore hold fast the doctrines of faith. We should not suffer ourselves to be moved from the hope of the Gospel: this is our anchor whereby we must outride the storm (He 6:19-We must also steadfastly exercise the grace of faith. This is the weapon whereby we overcome the world (1Jn 5:4, cp Gal 6:14; and by this shall we triumph over Satan himself (Ep 6:16-

 

Let not the ungodly despise this adversary; but let them seek deliverance from him through the Gospel (Acts 26:18); and let the godly be continually on their guard against him (2Co 11:3), so shall they experience that promised blessing (_{1 Peter 5:8, 9 The Means of Defeating Satan's Malice)http://archive.org/stream/horaehomileticae20sime#page/n7/mode/2up}

Spurgeon in his sermon The Roaring Lion (click for full text) comments on Steadfast in the faith writing that we should

Seek to obtain a clear knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel, and then get a good grip of them. Be ready to die, sooner than give up a particle of God’s revealed truth. This will make you strong. Then take hold of the promises of God, which are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. Know that to every doctrine there is serve opposite promise. Have ready for every attack some strong word commencing with "Is it written?" Answer Satan with "Thus saith the Lord." — "Steadfast in the faith." Remember, all the water outside of a ship cannot sink it. It is the water inside that perils its safety. So, if your faith can keep its hold, and you can still say, "Though he slay me yet will I trust in him," (Job 13:!5) Satan may batter your shield; but he has not wounded your flesh."

In Acts we read that the churches were being (passive voice = church acted upon by outside force, the Spirit of the Living God) strengthened (stereoo - verb form of stereos
 over and over the church was being made firm and solidified like muscles) in the faith, and were increasing in number daily. (Acts 16:5)

YOUR FAITH VIRAL OR PEDAGOGICAL PT 3

WHAT GUIDES YOUR FAITH? PT 3 (BACK January 17th)_

What most affects my opinion on my spiritual behavior?

Is it God’s Word, Preaching/Teaching, Dr. Phil, Oprah, or my own personal self-wisdom? You might say I don't listen to talk TV or radio, I do my on self wisdom thing? That is what I mean.

ELEMENTS OF TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST

The kind of perspective on “faith” that says "I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I go to church, and faith is important." and this is certainly the prevailing opinion of our day not just among politicians, but really among Americans in general. Statistics reveal that the a hugh majority of Americans acknowledge having some kind of “faith”a belief in a Supreme Being. Many will even go as far as saying that they believe in the God of the Bible, or in the Jesus of New Testament. I’m sure you know individuals either family members or co-workers or neighbors across the street who have that kind of simplified, watered-down, simplistic approach to faith. Our world at large says that as long as you believe in God, in Jesus, and “have faith” that is enough for God, and that is enough to get you to heaven when you die.

With out question the Bible does make “faith” an important pre-requisite for salvation, and coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ. But sadly, far too many people today are subtracting from faith, reducing it, watering it down and making it less than what the Bible says it is and must be in order for a person to be genuinely right with God. I have spent a number of weeks in I Thessalonians chapter one on this subject. What does a Christ Christian look like?

HOW MANY OF THESE PEOPLE CAN YOU NAME.........

WHEN someone has sat under the powerful, Holy Spirit anointed, convicting preaching/teaching of the true Gospel, and they really understood it and come to them in the energy of the Spirit of God, that is a good indication that they were dealing with the reality of salvation. I Thessalonian l give us how election of the elect come to be.

When the testimony of people about their "faith" is heard, you must understand from what point of view they are coming from.

The purpose of the above people are not to bring judgment upon their faith, I like the photos.

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In 1 Cor. 15:3-4, the Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians of the truth about this "faith" we need to have in Christ.

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We need to remind ourselves, and exhort others around us that genuine saving faith must include a knowledge of truth, a legitimate understanding of the real, biblical gospel, the content of the Scriptures which explain the sinless life, substitutionary death, and bodily burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us.

WHY I BELIEVE GOD SAVES

THE JOHN 3 16 CONFERENCES In 1954 in my father's church in Roanoke Virginia, I heard the message on John 3:16 "Whosoever believe in Him shall be saved." And I do believe that day the Lord saved my sinful seven year old soul.

I have heard, read, preached, taught on John 3 :16 a number of times. "WHOSOEVER" has been the point of many sermons I have heard many times. And the point that is pointed out is that any person who desires to be saved can be saved. Just call on Jesus to save him and Jesus will respond and save that person who by his faith desires to turn to Jesus. As a matter of fact I have even said that in those early years of ministry.

I remember the first time I heard "Whosoever" was not for everyone. That would be Dr. George L. Norris in Seminary in 1966. That was a shocker. Not every one will be saved. I almost quit Seminary over that idea. Theology was the topic of Seminary. Dr. Norris taught from the theological perspective. He taught from the God perspective. How does God see salvation, how did God plan for the salvation of mankind. Now that was an idea that I had not heard.

Most preaching is always from man perspective. Most fundamental, Norris fundamentalist, taught from man side of salvation. "Whosoever". Preachers taught that all man should be saved, and that any man can come to Christ, if by their faith they trust in Christ. Salvation, being born again, being saved was started by man, by his faith, and God responded to that faith.

I have heard most of my life, "Jesus died on the cross for all men, and all men can if they will be saved." "The blood of Jesus Christ, can save all man of all times."

I heard that man is not really so dead spiritually as Ephesians 2:1 says, "dead in trespasses and sins" that he by his own faith can say he wants to be saved. "Even when we were dead in sins," as verse 5 tells us, we were alive enough to have enough faith to be saved.

Now I could not really figure out, why so many people would come to the altar in our churches and say they wanted to be saved, and then they would never come back to church.

I can remember Ephesians 2:8, preachers would say, "For by grace are ye saved, through faith." but I didn't hear a lot about the next phrase, "And that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." What did that mean. Did it mean that been saved, is a gift of God. I did hear that. Its a gift! Salvation is a Gift. Not of works, but a gift from God. Our salvation is a gift from God. Usually you do not ask for a gift. So do you ask for a gift from God? Do you have to ask God for His gift?

In Dr. Norris Seminary Class, he said, "Salvation is a gift of God, given to those whom He will." WHAT! I remember every time Dr Norris would walk or speak in chapel, they would sing, "Whosoever will". Because they believe he didn't believe whosoever will could believe.

After Seminary, I went to another Norris fundamentalist church, and heard the same whosoever will, Jesus died on the cross for everyone, and whoso ever wants to be saved, and call upon Christ, by their faith can be saved. And a number of people did just that, and they were short lived in their will to follow Christ.

Then another few churches and then to Hyles Anderson College, and FBC of Hammond and I got a real good taste of the whoso ever will preaching. The whosoever folks were coming in by thousands. By 1980 FBC had over 80,000 members, those who had been baptized. But for some reason FBC was only having around 17,000 of those people coming to the church. (The numbers are correct) The whosoever was never in church.

I don't know if I had really taking a biblical study of that word "whosoever." The John 3:16 conferences will have seven different seminary professors who will look, respectively, into the Hebrew meaning of whosoever, the Greek meaning of whosoever, the Latin meaning of whosoever, the King James meaning of whosoever, the historical meaning of whosoever, the contemporary meaning of whosoever, and, most importantly, what John Wesley taught about the meaning of whosoever. (I would like to get their notes in November 2008)

These John 3 :16 conferences will be sponsored by the following:

• Jerry Vines Ministries, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, Luther Rice Seminary and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

All those Theological Seminaries are very good. WHOSOEVER WILL CAN BE SAVED.

So what does it mean "WHOSOEVER WILL?" That is the question isn't it.


Let's look at this word "whosoever." Next time.

TIME, JOHN STOTT, GOD: WHAT IS HE DOING? FAITH

John Stott








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READ THIS BLOG ON FEED READER, NOT BAD I WOULD SAY

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Everything by Faith

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Faith is never meant to be a one-time experience. In our circles, it is tempting to fall into that trap because we put so much emphasis on being saved by faith. We talk about accepting Christ, receiving Christ, trusting Christ, and giving your heart to Christ. We challenge people to respond in faith to the gospel invitation. This is well and good, but sometimes we leave the impression that having been saved by faith, the rest of life is up to us. Not so! The same faith that saves us is the faith that carries us from day to day as we make the journey from earth to heaven. That’s why the Bible says, “The righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4) and we are told that the gospel reveals a righteousness that is “by faith from first to last” (Romans 1:17). The whole Christian life is a life of faith. We are saved by faith, kept by faith, and we walk by faith, endure by faith, rejoice by faith, serve by faith, love by faith, sacrifice by faith, pray by faith, worship by faith, and we obey by faith. We get married by faith, and we have children by faith. All that we do, we do by faith.

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Why is faith so important? I jotted down this short list as a way to focus my own thinking. Faith is the . . .
1) Condition of justification (Romans 5:1).2) Way we receive everlasting life (John 6:47).3) Means of access to God (Ephesians 3:12).4) Only way to please God (Hebrews 11:6).5) Victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).6) Key to answered prayer (Matthew 21:22).7) Title deed to all that God has promised (Hebrews 11:1).
Because God himself is entirely faithful (Deuteronomy 7:9), he honors those who love him enough to trust him completely. The question before us in this sermon is both simple and profound: What is faith and how does it work? This is a crucial topic because I think we often don’t appreciate how precious and how precarious is the life of faith.