TOPIC:‌“This Dynamic Word - Faith”

                 by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap

 

TEXT:‌Hebrews 11:1-6

 

‌‌“But without faith it is impossible to please Him…” (Hebrews 11:6)

 

‌Faith is without doubt one of the most important aspects of the Christian life as it is the key that unlocks all of God's promises to us. That is why the Apostle Paul stated to the Roman believers: “For whatever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23) and why this writer of Hebrews declared: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him” (11:6).

 

‌We must never lost sight of the fact that faith plays an active part in the lives of all believers. It is used more than three hundred times in the New Testament alone. Give ear to what the Bible has to say about faith. We are SAVED by means of faith: “For by grace are you saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). We LIVE by faith: “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). We WALK by faith: “For we walk by faith not by sight” (II Corinthians 5:7). We are KEPT by faith: “Who are kept by the power of God through faith” (I Peter 1:5).

 

‌And we can go on. We STAND by faith: “For by faith you stand” (I Corinthians 1:24). We are JUSTIFIED by faith: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). We are VICTORIOUS through faith: “Above all taking the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16). Thus it is clearly seen that the Christian life is one that constantly exercises this virtue of faith. Without it we cannot live and with it we shall never eternally die. For as Christ Himself declared: “He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life” (John 3:36).

 

‌In this message for today I want us to come to grips with this great doctrine of faith. Let's behold what the Bible has to say about it.

 

I.

 

‌Consider, first of all, what I am going to call the DEFINITION of faith. The same writer of Hebrews who gives us our text also provides us with the real meaning of faith. He declares: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (11:1). Now Weymouth is excellent here: “Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of thing's which we do not see.” Or think of the beautiful way the Living Bible renders it: “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope . . .