Study 14
WALK AND LIVE BY FAITH
Before we begin this study, let us pray,
Dear Heavenly Father,
Almighty God, we come before You through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord please grant us spiritual wisdom and understanding so we can know You better and the great hope to which You have called us. Lord, please help us to see and understand the things of Your Kingdom and grow in faith, trust and belief in You. Holy Father in Jesus Christ’s name we ask.
Amen
INTRODUCTION
There are many aspects to the born again believer's walk or life of faith. However, for this particular study we will see that in order to live a life pleasing to God we must place our faith in Him to do it for us. In other words, as it was through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins that we received the Holy Spirit and became born again, it is also through faith that God will enable us to live our Christian life in a manor pleasing to Him.
To see this we will,
1. Cover some background material to find what faith is and see that true faith is a gift from God.
2. Explore some of the spiritual power that, through faith, God has graciously made available to the born again believer.
3. We will find that through faith we are to fight off the temptations and power of sin and the attacks of the evil one.
4. We will see that through faith in God, God the Holy Spirit will bring forth His fruit of love from within us.
Since faith is critical to our Christian life, we begin by reading the
DEFINITION AND SOURCE OF OUR FAITH
God the Holy Spirit defines faith in,
Hebrews 11:1
"[1] Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
To help us better understand this definition of faith let us read about the time when the prophet Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the hostile Syrian army. This incident occurred after the king of the Syrians realized that, through the prophet Elisha, God was revealing to the king of Israel his strategies for attacking the people of Israel. To read what happened we go to,
2 Kings 6:14-17
"[14] Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. [15] When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. [16] "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." [17] And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."
Let us notice the following verses,
14 … Intending to capture Elisha, the King of Syria's army surrounded the city where Elisha and his servant were staying.
15 … Seeing the enemy forces, Elisha's servant became extremely frightened and asked Elisha; “How were they going to escape?”
16 … Elisha professed his faith in God by telling his servant that there was more of an army on their side than on the side of the Syrians. We must remember that even though Elisha was certain of God's protection, God's army was not in physical view. In other words, Elisha was sure of what he hoped for and certain of what could not be physically seen.
17 … Even though Elisha had faith that God was protecting them, to comfort his servant, Elisha prayed and asked God to show him the army that was there to protect them.
This leaves us with the question of, “How does one receive this faith? As we read the Bible we find that God can and may speak to us in various ways, such as visions, dreams, thoughts, etc. However, because of its importance we will briefly review what we previously covered in Study 13. Specifically,
FAITH COMES BY HEARING GOD’S WORD
To see this we begin by reading following Scripture,
Romans 10:17
"[10] … faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."
Notice this is a two part verse. The first part tells us that faith comes by hearing the message, which is the Word of God.
Romans 10:17(a)
“… faith comes from hearing the message, ..."
Let us return to Romans 10:17 and read the second half of this verse,
Romans 10:17(b)
“… and the message is heard through the word of Christ."
In other words, the ability to hear, which is to understand, God’s Word comes from our Lord Jesus Christ. To see this, let us read what Jesus did while He was talking to His disciples after His resurrection but just prior to His return to Heaven.
Luke 24:44-45
[44] He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." [45] Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures."
Let us pay particular attention to verse 45 and consider all the time Jesus spent with the disciples teaching them about the Kingdom of God. Yet, it was not until Jesus opened their minds that they could understand the Scriptures. So it is with us! In other words, before we read or listen to the Bible we are to come before Jesus and ask Him to open our minds to understand.
As we consider the above, we come to realize that Godly faith is a gift. It is not something we work up. In fact, this is exactly what the Bible teaches in,
Ephesians 2:8
"[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--"
Just as it is written, Jesus Christ is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. This beautifully expressed in the following exhortation from,
Hebrews 12:2(a)
"[12] Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, ..."
Through out the Bible we find many God given benefits for those who have true faith in Him. However, for this study we will focus our attention to how, through faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we, the born again Christian, can receive,
SPIRITUAL POWER TO OVERCOME SIN AND LIVE A LIFE OF LOVE
To see this we begin by reading a prayer Paul used to ask God to enlighten us with respect to the spiritual power that is available to the born again believer. This prayer is recorded in,
Ephesians 1:15-21
"[15] … ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, [16] I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. [17] I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. [18] I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, [19] and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, [20] which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, [21] far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."
For this study, let us pay particular attention to verse 19. To do this, let us reread this verse as it is translated in the Amplified Bible.
“And so that you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength …”
In reflecting upon the above one might ask: “What is Paul praying for?” “What is He asking God to show us?” The answer to these questions is that he is asking our Lord to grant us the ability to understand and comprehend the great spiritual power that is available to the born again believer. In the last half of Ephesians 1:19 and then in verse 20 this power is described as the same tremendous power and authority that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated Him above all things!
To illustrate this point, let us read about an incident with respect to the healing of the boy with epilepsy.
Matthew 17:14-20
"[14] When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. [15] "Lord, have mercy on my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. [16] I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him." [17] "O unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." [18] Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. [19] Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" [20] He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.""
Before we go astray the question to be asked is; “Does this mean that whatever we ask for will be given or done for us?” No! We must never forget the admonition in,
James 4:3
"[3] When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
In other words, we are not to pray for our own desires and pleasures. Instead, we are to pray in harmony with God’s will. To see this let us consider the following Scriptures,
1 John 5:14-15
"[14] This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. [15] And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him."
With the above glimpse of the spiritual power that is available to us in Jesus Christ, the question arises as to; “What by faith can we ask for, knowing that it is in God’s will?” Even though in Study 13 we briefly addressed this question, in this study we will continue to focus on how, through prayer and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we will be given the spiritual power to resist sin and live a life of love.
We begin by noting that,
WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED FROM THE POWER OF SIN
Thus the first step in exercising our faith to resist sin and the attacks of the evil one is for us to realize and truly believe that Jesus Christ redeemed us from the power of sin. In addition, we must also bring to mind that we were crucified with Christ and in baptism we buried our old self and was raised to a new life in Christ Jesus. Consequently, as the Bible states, sin shall not be our master. This truth is recorded in,
Romans 6:14
"[14] For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
In reflecting upon this promise from God we are greatly encouraged. However, when the temptation comes; “What do we do?” “How do we not succumb to Satan’s wiles, trickery and power?” To find out we go to,
GOD’S DEFENSIVE PLAN
The defensive plan our Lord has given us to use at the time of temptation and/or the spiritual attack of the evil one is provided in,
James 4:7
"[7] Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Notice the above verse contains three parts. The first two parts teaches us what we must do when facing temptation. Specifically, we are to (1) submit to God and (2) resist the devil or the temptation to sin. In the third part of the above Scripture God promises that if we do our two parts then the devil or the temptation will flee from us. In other words, He will restore us.
To help us better understand God's defensive plan, let us now explore each element or part in a bit more depth.
As we read in the above Scripture (James 4:7) at the time of temptation the first thing we are to do is to,
Submit To God
The reason for this is that we must remember that in our old natural self we cannot effectively fight off sin and the evil one. Thus, we must come to our Savior for help. Let us recall that Jesus came to this earth as a man to set you and I free from the law of sin and death. To refresh our memory, let us read,
Romans 8:1-4
"[1] … there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [2] because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. [3] For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, [4] in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."
Let us notice the following verses,
1-2 … We are no longer under condemnation because Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death. In other words, in Jesus Christ the born again believer no longer lives under the law of sin and death but lives under a new life, the law of the Spirit of life.
3-4 … In other words, we could not and cannot comply with God's ways in our natural self, that is our old sinful nature. Thus, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God condemned the sin that is in sinful man. He did this so that through faith in Jesus Christ we can now live with the power of the Holy Spirit, Who, through His love, will fulfill the law for us.
Thus, during the time of temptation, knowing it is God's will to fulfill all these promises for us, we submit to Him and confidently pray for help. To see this, let us read from,
Hebrews 4:14-16
"[14] … since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. [16] Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."
After we have submitted ourselves to God and are waiting for His deliverance and grace to come, God the Holy Spirit in James 4:7 tells us to,
Resist the Temptation to Sin and the Strategies of the Evil One
We do this by standing firm in the strength of our Lord, knowing that we are His and that He will deliver us. To see this, let us read,
Ephesians 6:10-17
"[10] Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [11] Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. [12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. [13] Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. [14] Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, [15] and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. [16] In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. [17] Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [18] And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests….
Let us notice the following verses,
12-13 … Our struggle is not among ourselves, which is not between flesh and blood or fellow human beings. Our struggle is with all the spiritual forces of evil. This is why it is so necessary for us to wear the full armor of God and stand firm. Notice the Scripture does not tell us to attack, but tells us to stand firm.
14-17 … This is the armor of the born again believer: (1) we have God’s Word, the Truth, fastened around our waist, (2) we carry Jesus’ righteousness around our heart, (3) we step into shoes of readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace, (4) we place our faith in God, not in the weapons of this world, (5) we put on the helmet of knowing that we are saved and belong to God Almighty and finally (6) as we discovered in Study 13, we are pick up the sword which is God’s Word and use it to extinguish the lies and half truths of the evil one.
18 … Once we have shored up our defenses, we are to humble ourselves and again pray.
After we have submitted to God, put on our armor and resisted for a period of time, God promises that,
He Will Restore Us
To see this, let us read the following excerpt from,
1 Peter 5:6-11
"[6] Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. [7] Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. [8] Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. [9] Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. [10] And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. [11] To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen."
A Word of Encouragement
Suppose I fail? Suppose my faith wanes and I fall into sin? Does this mean I am no longer His? Does it mean that I do not belong to Him? No! We must not forget we are not perfect and we are sinners, saved by God’s Grace and Mercy. Thus, at the time when we recognize our sin, we are to be sorry, humble ourselves and confess it to God. To see this, let us read from,
1 John 1:9-2:2
"[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."
"[2:1] My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. [2] He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.’
Let us now move on to the second benefit of our faith that enables us to,
WALK OR LIVE A LIFE OF LOVE
Now that we saw how, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we can be delivered from the power of sin and the strategies of the evil one, the next question to be addressed is, "What must I do so that the Holy Spirit will bring forth His fruit of love in my life?" The answer is the same. Through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit living within us, we are to believe and trust the promise that God will bring forth the fruit of love in our lives.
To see this we will,
1. Refresh our memories that without God's love as the motivator for our good deeds, we gain nothing.
2. Find that it is through our day by day faith in God that the Holy Spirit will bring forth His love from within us.
THE NECESSITY OF GOD’S MOTIVATING LOVE
To strengthen our belief in the truth, that even though we may perform great works of Christian service, without love we gain nothing. This is clearly revealed to us in,
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
"[1] If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. [3] If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
Let us recall that the love God is talking about is not a human or natural love; it is the love that can only come from Him. To understand this, let us read how God defines this love by reading from,
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"[4] Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
In reflecting upon the above, the question comes to mind of; "How does the love of God come forth from our lives?" The answer to this question is,
THROUGH FAITH GOD WILL BRING FORTH HIS LOVE FROM WITHIN US
To exercise this faith, we must first remember and believe that as a born again believer in Jesus Christ, we are a temple of God the Holy Spirit. This truth is clearly revealed to us in,
1 Corinthians 6:19
"[19] Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;"
Secondly, we are to recall that one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is love,
Galatians 5:22-23
"[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control ..."
Thus, just as I am to walk in the Spirit to combat sin and evil, I must also do the same so that His fruit of love will become manifest in my life.
One might ask; “How do I walk in the Spirit?” The answer to this question is just as I placed my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to save me from my sins and the snares of the evil one, I must also place my faith and trust in Him, that through the Holy Spirit living within me, His fruits will be manifested in my life. In other words, before we begin our day or even a task, we should submit to God and in prayer ask Him to bring forth His fruit of love in our life. We then proceed with our day to perform the tasks or deeds that He set before us. Since it is His will for us to walk in love, we know He heard our prayer. Thus, we are now to trust Him to bring it forth from within us.
A good example to see how the Holy Spirit can and will bring forth His fruit of love occurred during the time His disciple Stephen was being stoned to death for his faith. This stoning took place after Stephen presented the Gospel to the Jewish ruling body of elders. To read what occurred we go to,
Acts 7:54-60
"[54] When they heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. [55] But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. [56] "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." [57] At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, [58] dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. [59] While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." [60] Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep."
Let us notice the following verses,
54 … After presenting the Gospel to the high priest and Jewish ruling council, they became infuriated with what Stephen had to say.
55 … Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit.
57-59 … Because of his witness and testimony to Jesus Christ, they stoned Stephen.
60 … Even though Stephen was being stoned to death, the love of the Holy Spirit came from within him and he prayed that God would forgive his attackers. Can you just imagine the physical pain and suffering Stephen must have gone through? Yet, in all his anguish the love of the Holy Spirit was so strong that he (Stephen) was still concerned for their eternal well being.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IT ALL
The importance of this issue to live the remainder of our lives by faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, can not be overstated. When we do not live our life by faith in Jesus and slip into the trap of attempting to please God through our own efforts and resources, we find ourselves attempting to fulfill spiritual laws and principles with earthy or physical means. The result of this action not only leaves the born again Christian frustrated, burdened and defeated, but more significantly, it also strains our relationship with Jesus Christ. To see this, let us prayerfully consider the words of correction and exhortation given to the church in Galatia,
Galatians 3:1-3
"[1] You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. [2] I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? [3] Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
Let us notice the following verses,
2 … Let us remember that each and every one of us was not and never will be good enough to earn our citizenship in Heaven. It was out of God’s love for us that He extended His Mercy to deliver us from our helpless situation.
3 … In other words, we began our walk or new life with God the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ; how could we possibly think we can complete the journey or perfect ourselves by our own effort?
To expand upon this a bit, let us now read the consequence of when we attempt, in our natural self, to justify ourselves to God through works of law,
Galatians 5:4
"[4] You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."
In other words, if I think, in my natural strength and will power I can now live in obedience to the law, then I am basically saying I no longer need God’s Grace and my Lord Jesus Christ. Pretty sobering, isn’t it?
SUMMARY
So what is the point of this study? What have we learned? Perhaps it is best summarized as follows:
1. As a born again believer, God has given us all we need to live a life pleasing to Him.
2 Peter 1:3-4
"[3] His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. [4] Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."
However, to experience this tremendous grace from God in our lives, we must not forget that,
2. As a born again believer, our old self has been crucified with Christ and we are now to live our new life by faith in Him.
Galatians 2:20-21
"[20] I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [21] I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!""
Now with all this in mind, let us close this chapter by reading what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said in,
Matthew 11:28-30
""[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.""
Blessed be the Lord forever!
AMEN and AMEN
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