◄ Faith Is.. - Once Upon Eternity (4) ►

STUDY - Once Upon Eternity

So  do not cast away your confidence, (your trust is God) which has great reward, for you have need of patient endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.. For yet a little while, He who is coming will come and will not tarry…..the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews10:35-11:1

One Faith

Do you ever look at mighty men of faith and wish you could reach their heights?  Do you ever despair that your faith is so weak that God could never notice you?  Do you ever wonder if you truly understand what real faith really is?  Faith is simply believing God. Faith is simply trusting God to do what God has said.  Faith is acting, walking, or praying on the basis of what God has said about a matter.  There may be many so-called “faiths” that unregenerate man follows, but there is only one God in Whom faith can placed, and this is non-negotiable: one Lord, one faith, one baptism into the Lord Jesus, by believing in Him.

One Christ

There is only one realm in which faith can be exercised – through trusting Jesus.  Only the born-again believer can function in the sphere of faith. Only a regenerate man has had the breath of life breathed into him by the Spirit of life.  Only a believer in Jesus is able to function on the spiritual plane – by faith.  Only a new man in Christ, who has passed from darkness to light can act by faith.  Faith is simply believing God.  Faith is simply trusting God to do what God has said, and faith comes by hearing which comes through the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the living, powerful, God-breathed Scriptures.  Faith is exercised by acting on the living, powerful God-breathed Scriptures.

God-Breathed

God in His wisdom has spoken to redeemed man, in the God-breathed Bible. Man, within his spiritual capacity, is able to avail himself of what God has said, and then man (redeemed man), is to live and to act and to pray accordingly.  The ‘just’ shall live by faith… the ‘righteous’, ‘redeemed’, ‘spiritually-alive’, ‘new man in-Christ’ shall live by faith.  Why, you ask – why should we live by faith?  What, you ask – what is the point of simply trusting God to do what God has said?  Let us eat, drink, and be merry, and party in this life, for tomorrow we die!!   Why you ask… because God has ordered His amazing creative plans and purposes to include you.  Before the foundation of the world, He set these plans in motion, to involve you.  He has designed that those with patient endurance will receive the great promise: "for you have need of patient endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Heb.10:36

Threefold Salvation

This patient endurance is designed for sanctification – “the salvation of the soul”.  We are to be those who believe to the saving of the soul. Heb.10:39.. Praise God, our spirit was redeemed, when the Spirit of God breathed in new life, Regeneration – salvation of the spirit.  Praise God, our soul, through “patient endurance” in this life, is being saved. Sanctification – salvation of the soul. Praise God, our body at the resurrection and rapture, will be saved. Glorification – salvation of the body

Spirit, Soul, Body

God has designed the whole man to be thus redeemed, to fulfil His purpose in us, and Hebrews is a book from start to finish whose focus is on sanctification.. the salvation of the soul – spiritual maturity: "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Thes.5:23

Biblical Faith

Now Faith.,. (faith which brings you to saving of the soul – sanctification – spiritual maturity) faith is the substance of things hoped for.  Faith is the evidence of things not seen.  If God has said it in His God-breathed Word.. trust Him and believe it to be true - by faith.