Why I Believe the Simple Faith
A prerequisite for today's study is being a Christian.... if you are not, plse see God's Simple Plan of Salvation
The other week I noticed a
sermon on "Why there is no Simple Faith" - I had enough time to
quickly read the message but to me the bottom line was presented: that Christ said He had
to suffer and be killed, and we too will suffer for His name, and we need to
take up our cross as He had done, and present our bodies as a living
sacrifice... these were the reasons why there is no simple faith - I guess the sermon was saying faith has its hard times and therefore is not
simple - Not so, while it is true life does have hard times, we should not
confuse
our point of view on faith to life's ups and downs - Faith is sure and certain
of God... the creator of heaven and earth, the almighty, He who has always been
and will always be - Our faith is in Him is absolute supreme over all things -
Therefore,
through Jesus' propitiation of sin, we have received all of God's love and
provision - Thus, our faith can be
simple, if we but place it simply on Him alone - We should be fully persuaded
and know that we know we are His children and He is our Lord... His promises are
absolute
and we can be assured they will come to pass - We have resolved this matter in
our heart that
God is who He says He is and we now can rest is this assurance... our heart is
at peace even if life is having some ups and downs
So first you must believe God is...
Hebrew
11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because
anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those
who earnestly seek him.
1
Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen him, you
love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are
filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9
for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Then here are a few foundational promises that help build my "Why I Believe the Simple Faith"...
1
John 4:16
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives
in love lives in God, and God in him.
1
John 5:3
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
4
for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has
overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the
world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Mark
10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is
impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Romans
9:33
As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put
to shame."
Matthew
11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light."
Here
is the conclusion for me...
Romans
8:31
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be
against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but
gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us
all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those
whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34
Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised
to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36
As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are
considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I
know there may be other scriptures to support this matter of
Simple Faith - I have shared a few that strengthen my faith - I too have faced
troubled times and quite frankly am in the middle of one now... however, it is
my simple faith in Jesus that takes me through peacefully to the other side - I,
once upon a time, did not understand when trials came my way - It wasn't a
pleasant time for me - But then I began to learn from the Lord, how He was
purifying, perfecting, hardening, grooming, and growing my faith in Him through these trials -
And so I began to rejoice when they came cause I knew He was loving me all the
more - It is just as
Paul said...
Philippians
3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already
been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus
took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself
yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, 14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus.
I
hope and pray this has encouraged your... will let me simply say... Faith
I
thought it appropriate for you to also know what else the Bible says about some
others and their faith - Be blessed and read these Holy Words even though it is
about a page or so more
HEB
10:35
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will
receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while,
"He who is coming will come and will not delay. 10:38
But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be
pleased with him." 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back
and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2
This is what the ancients were commended for. 11:3
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that
what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 11:4
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was
commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith
he still speaks, even though he is dead. 11:5
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he
could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he
was commended as one who pleased God. 6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to
him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek
him. 11:7
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark
to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the
righteousness that comes by faith. 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his
inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign
country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of
the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the
city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11:11
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was
enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the
promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good
as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless
as the sand on the seashore. 11:13
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive
the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And
they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their
own. 15
If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had
opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better
country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God,
for he has prepared a city for them. 11:17
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had
received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18
even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring
will be reckoned." 19 Abraham reasoned that God could
raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in
regard to their future. 11:21
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped
as he leaned on the top of his staff. 11:22
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites
from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones. 11:23
By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they
saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 11:24
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the
people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the
treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he
saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and
the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch
the firstborn of Israel. 11:29
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the
Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 11:30
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for
seven days. 11:31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because
she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 11:32
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak,
Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33
who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was
promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34
quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose
weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed
foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to
life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might
gain a better resurrection. 36
Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in
prison. 37
They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.
They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and
mistreated-- 38
the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in
caves and holes in the ground. 11:39
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had
been promised. 40 God had planned something better for us
so that only together with us would they be made perfect. 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us
throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let
us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such
opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 12:4
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding
your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of
encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the
Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 12:6
because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts
as a son." 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is
treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8
If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are
illegitimate children and not true sons. 9
Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them
for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little
while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may
share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at
the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness
and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Wow, God's Word is so powerful... it moves me to tears of extreme joy - I pray the Word has penetrated your spirit and left an indelible mark upon your heart - May the blessing of a Simple Faith... that is fully trusting God at His Word, become yours today and forever - Amen