We started a new series titled the faith life last Sunday, and I tried as much as possible to explain to us looking at the scripture that faith has a mode of operation, the way and pattern by which it operates , I am not saying kinds of faith but showing us from the scripture how faith works, how it operates, where you see faith, how you can recognize faith. The operation of faith starts at salvation and I describe that as the saving faith. It is not faith that saves, it is grace that saves but you can not receive what grace has to offer without faith.
We are saved by grace through faith, that is what the bible says and there are several scriptures that establish that we are saved by grace through faith.
As powerful as faith is and what it has to offer, people have not enjoyed grace and that is because men have not come to the point where they have faith to receive that which grace has to offer. The way faith is received is that it comes via the preaching of the gospel, it is when the heart of men is open to receive the gospel preached and understands, that is when faith is deposited. It takes faith for a lost sinner to say Jesus, save me. That is why a hardened criminal despising the gospel in one second can cry out and say Jesus save me in another second.
Peter referred to it as common faith, in other words there is no category of faith when it comes to salvation, if faith is in categories then salvation should also be in categories.
We looked at Romans 12, and we saw the measure of faith and in the context of that scripture, we saw that faith is common and it comes out from trusting in the righteousness of God. When it comes to the place of service, a believer that is saved understands that he must use his grace and gift to serve the body of christ. In that context, Paul talked about the measure of faith given to everyone to function with their gift. Faith is required in different areas and it determines how far you will be able to go for God. It determines the extent of your impact. You have grace, you have gift but to exercise that grace there is a dimension of faith that is required.
Hebrews 11, the third part that I call the living faith which simply talks about faith in our day to day life. The journey of our life starts by faith and it will end by faith. Our salvation was gotten through faith and till we see Jesus it will be by faith, every aspect of our life will be by faith.
In Hebrews 11: 4, we see the words “obtained” and “taken,” these are action words that pertain to our daily lives. In the same scripture, we see that Enoch was taken away by faith, and Noah divinely warned of the things not yet seen, things without a reference, no one has seen or touched it. There was nothing the people could trace the information Noah had shared, that was why the people went about marrying, partying etc. But Noah was consistent because he believed what God had told him. Noah built the ark for about 50 years and more years by faith.
Genesis 6:13-22
In the same scripture, we see the story of Abraham who obeyed God by embarking on a journey with no clear destination in mind. By faith he opened, he dwelled, always moving with his tent. He was doing that while waiting for a city that God had promised him.
Every day of our lives we should obey and live by faith. The men of old obeyed and had strong convictions. In the same Hebrews 11, we also see that Sarah received strength for conception by faith. Strength came because according to her age, she was too old to conceive and carry a child, the miracle could even be a threat to her life, yet she judged God faithful.
There are certain circumstances one will go through that are contrary to the principles of life and the only way to walk through those seasons is to judge God faithful and hold on to him through it all. You must learn how to trust and depend on his word.
All these men of old died in faith but did not receive the promise, so what did they receive?
Hebrews 11
Faith is not an abstract thing.
Abraham understood that nobody’s worship goes to waste;he was a prophetic father who prayed with an understanding of what God was set to do, he was ready to do his part and for God to fulfil His plans, therefore, faith is not abstract. It is that we reason with God through the scriptures.
Joseph, while dying, blessed his children and asked them not to bury him in Egypt because he knew God was set to take them out of the land.
In the book of Exodus you’ll see that when they left Egypt; they left with his bones and because he didn’t say his bones.
Exodus 13:19
Now Joseph never said his bones will be buried in the red sea, do the sea parted before the children of Israel and that’s where faith comes in. It calls the things never seen into reality. Moses did that by faith because God told him to do it so he obeyed. He carried out that instruction by faith. The scripture captured passing through the Red Sea as faith.
There are things we do daily if you understand, it is a life of faith.
Hebrews 11: 40; Whatever they had, we had it better. They had faith and the bible says have a better. Joseph spoke in faith concerning his bones.
These men mentioned died without receiving the substance, they only had the shadow.
These men operated in their faith but in this day and time, we don’t operate in our faith or by our faith, we operate by the faith of the son of God. When men walk around the wall of Jericho seven times, we will not walk around, we will speak.
Joshua 6:1-20
What a hard life for those people under the old testament. If our faith is dependent on the economic situation of the country, we will be stranded. If we wait to journey in this life by our own faith, we will be stranded. Our faith fluctuates, and it is dependent on the money in our pocket.
If we are going to walk by our faith we are going to be down today and up tomorrow.
Abraham did not stagger. How did he not stagger? The Bible said, by faith. Even in the old testament they were not even counting their trespasses. If he had not staggered Ishmael would not have come. That’s the typology of the God we serve, inputting righteousness. That is why the Bible recorded his righteousness and not him staggering.
It was Paul writing with the understanding of the righteousness of God. Just the way he did not steal. He did not rob any man. He brought out the dimension of the New testament. This testament is by grace.
He said the Lord will not impute iniquity.
Psalms 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
They said that a day will come when the Lord will impute the righteousness of these ones. And it cannot be gotten without us.
This is why we are taken through the hall of faith. These men journeyed, waited, tested, they reached the sermons that were unpopular for years. They were mocked. These men are inspiring.
David, for example, fought lions and bears in delivering the sheep from their mouths. The Lord saw the integrity of David’s heart that he could run after the lion or bear and deliver a sheep from its mouth. He moved him from following the anals to lead His previous people.
Faith was imparted to us. Faith in what Christ has done has made Him become the captain of our salvation.
We queue behind Him. Where I cannot go He goes through me. He is the captain. That makes it the faith of the Son of God.
It was the faith of the Son of God, Hebrews 11 was now in contrast. When Paul was writing He was saying that the just shall live by faith.
He also said in Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The Bible says this life is empowered. The new testament believer should not rely on his faith. What came out from this new life is now ours.
We can’t sustain salvation. It is eternal . It is everlasting. It is not kept by us. It is by faith. We are kept by the power of God through faith. It is beyond the man that has received it. It is by the workability of the power that we are saved once and for all.
We cannot receive salvation by His faith and still choose to work life by our own faith. If we have chosen to walk in faith by the reason by where we are coming from, it shows it is beyond us.
The Bible says our iniquities have been cleaned and we are washed. This is why we cannot sustain such salvation by our own power.
We have received by faith what God has done through Jesus Christ, there should not be any way we should believe we can sustain such salvation by our own power.
This is why it is not about us, it is about what He has done. He still remains our intercessor and advocate.
1 John 2:1-3
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He didn’t want to do a wasted job, that is why he went ahead to make provisions for our sin as our Saviour, advocate and justifier. We live by faith, we don’t get perturbed by little obstacles. We step out by faith on projects.
Going by our own faith we can’t do much but by the faith of the son of God we do much more.
We don’t live by the system of this country. We operate by the faith of the son of God.
If all we want to enjoy from the faith of the son of God is salvation then we are limited. If it’s for our salvation the faith required for that is done. But for other matters that demand so much from you they are those that challenge our faith. They come to uproot us from our assurance. God delivers, sets free and meets us at the point of our needs. We should not allow Greek and Hebrew to reduce our lives.
Faith is an elementary teaching of salvation. We believe him for all he has done for us in Christ. We are assured of tomorrow. We don’t walk by sight, we walk by faith.