FAITH
Let's begin this faith Bible study with a familiar passage...
Do you want to go to heaven? Nobody wants to perish and spend eternity in the lake of fire that was prepared for the devil and his angels
What that means is that you need to be absolutely certain that you believe. In this faith Bible study, you can determine if you truly believe.
Any faith Bible study will lead you to Hebrews 11. This is a chapter that is often called the “hall of faith”. In this chapter, we find example after example of individuals who had faith and strong belief.
If we were to turn our bibles to Hebrews 11 and read about the many individuals who examplified faith in their lives, you would find that in every scenario, faith is a belief that is demonstrated by action. Consider reading this passage in Hebrews 11.6.
According to this passage, you and I will never be able to be pleasing to God without faith. But what kind of faith are we to have? When you read through Hebrews 11, you will see example after example of individuals who had faith and strong belief.
•By faith Abel offered... (Heb. 11.4).
•By faith Noah...prepared an ark (Heb. 11.7).
•By faith Abraham obeyed... (Heb. 11.8).
•By faith Abraham...offered Isaac (Heb. 11.17).
•By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau (Heb. 11.20).
•By faith Jacob...blessed each of the sons of Jacob (Heb. 11.21).
•By faith the harlot Rahab...received the spies" (Heb. 11.31).
•By faith Moses...refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter (Heb. 11.24).
Look at the above examples of faith. Do you see anything that is common to each of these examples? We are reading about individuals who had faith, and as a result of their faith, they did something. A faith Bible study tells us that faith is accepting what God says and then acting on what God says. Faith is always followed by action.
Is that not what James explained in James 2:18 KJV: "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and i will show thee my faith by my works."
In this passage, the apostle Paul wrote by the gift of the Holy Spirit that the gospel saves those who believe. He then says that the just and holy live by faith.
please don't mistake what he said, he didn't say only faith will make us righteous. He said that “the just shall live by faith”. Those who have been saved are just. When you are right with God (just), you continually live your life by faith.
According to Romans 5.1, Romans 5:1 KJV "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" But after you are justified, you, as someone who is just, now live by faith. You do not just believe to be saved, and then forget about your relationship with God. Faith is the way you live your life or your way of life. The just live by faith. It is so important to understand that.
We have to be so careful when we talk about the plan of salvation. We study the concept of faith and we see that the Bible describes the necessity of faith, and we stop and rush into conclusion that we have already done that. However, faith is not something that you have done. Faith is something that you continue to do throughout your life as a way of living.
Let’s picture it like this. When a person is married, he or she gets married because he or she loves his/her. However, love is not something that you do one time when you first say your vows. Love is a lifestyle that guides and directs your speech,thoughts and actions. You don’t look at your marriage and say that you already loved him/her. It is something that determines how you live together and relate to each other as couples.
That’s the way faith works. Faith is something that determines how you live as a Christian, as someone who is right with God.
As we do a faith Bible study, you may say, but that’s just one verse. Okay, let’s look at another verse and see if our conclusion is correct.
In Romans 1:17 KJV "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Here he says that we walk by faith. Faith is a lifestyle.
•Why do you change the way you live by changing the way you think in repentance?
•Why do you confess the name of Jesus before others?
•Why do you submit to the command of baptism being immersed in water to have my sins washed away by the blood of Jesus?
It is because of faith! You accept what the Bible says about Jesus. You trust in God that He will do as He has promised. Because you believe and trust, you obey the commands of God doing what God says you need to do.
If you are someone who has accepted that Jesus is the Son of God, that is great. If you have changed your life and have given up certain sinful habits because you want to live for Jesus, that’s also great. If you have told others that you believe in Jesus, that’s wonderful. But if you have never been immersed in the waters of baptism in order to have your past sins washed away, after doing a faith Bible study, can it truly be said that you believe?
You cannot say that you believe and never change your ways and live a life that is not in obedience to the will of God. If you say you believe in Jesus, but you still use foul language when the Bible says to watch your tongue
Ephesians 4:29 KJV Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
can you really say you have faith?
If you say you believe in Jesus, but you do not love your fellow man as the Bible says we must do
Faith is so much more than just saying that you believe. It is a lifestyle that is governed by what the Bible says. Notice what Paul wrote in Romans 10.17.
The concept of hearing in the Bible is the idea of hearing what is said and then doing what we hear. We live a lifestyle of faith when we hear what God says in the Bible, accept what He says as true, trust in what He says, and then do what He says.