Arnie and Fred continue their discussion of various kinds of faith by talking about a strong faith in this episode. Abraham is the basis of this subject, being a great example of a strong faith. We look at several instances in his life that shows us this quality. We move on to a weak faith and why one may display this kind of faith and how one might avoid this. We next note what a confessed faith is and how important it is to one's salvation. We close out this episode with a look at denied faith and how this is displayed by some disciples. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript provided for your convenience.
Arnie and Fred continue their discussion of various kinds of faith by talking about a strong faith in this episode. Abraham is the basis of this subject, being a great example of a strong faith. We look at several instances in his life that shows us this quality. We move on to a weak faith and why one may display this kind of faith and how one might avoid this. We next note what a confessed faith is and how important it is to one's salvation. We close out this episode with a look at denied faith and how this is displayed by some disciples. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript provided for your convenience.
This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday, and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net Or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com.
Arnie:Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke, and Fred Gosnell with the church of Christ at Woodland, in Sumter, South Carolina. And this is what does the Bible say, which is brought to you by the Woodland church of, of Christ. Fred and I have been talking about various kinds of faith. Sometimes people just think that faith is faith and but there are various sorts of faith and we wanted to talk about that a little bit because that, that has a lot to do with, with our our salvation. Of course, in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse one, the Hebrew writer said Now faith is the competence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And so what he's basically done is given us an inspired definition of what faith is. And essentially faith is a positive response of the mind to important facts that God has, has revealed to to mankind. One who does not know these facts, cannot have faith. And if he has any view of God at all, it's in that situation, he's probably mere opinion or supposition, maybe his imagination of what he thinks God would be, like, a little bit of guesswork thrown in there. In other words, if he if he doesn't really have faith, it's based on God's word, he's probably pretty badly misinformed. God's not not pleased with unbelievers who ignore and disobey disobey the or disobey, disbelieve the evidence that God has has provided. If one does not believe the gospel, that's the evidence that we have of God, he can't be saved, he has to believe. But some people think that salvation is by faith only. And that's, that's to miss the point as as well. Salvation is only promised to obedient believers not not to all believers. You're not a believer if you're not obedient to God's word. And so we wanted to clarify some things along that that line. I think, we've talked about having great faith, and we've talked about having very little faith. What's, what's another one that we can look at Fred.
Fred Gosnell:But why don't we start out with strong faith tonight?
Arnie:Strong faith, okay. Sounds good.
Fred Gosnell:And, of course, and I think we'll read what Paul has to say about that. And Romans 14, or 4, 16, through 25, and he's talking about, he's talking about Abraham. And we begin in verse 16. He says, The faith of Abraham who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have appointed thee a father of many nations;before him whom he believed God who quickeneth the dead and called those things which are not as though they were Who against hope, believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And not being weak in faith he did not consider his own body now dead when he was about 100 years old. Neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone, that it was accounted to him but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus oor Lord from the dead, who has delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification. Of course, he Paul says that Abraham had a strong faith and of course, the promise that was given him was he first received that when he was 75 years old. And of course, the promise was that in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed. And he didn't have any any heir yet. He didn't have any children by him and Sarah. So that promise was renewed again, I think when he was when he was 99, wasn't it?
Arnie:That's right. He was he was 99. And then, of course, Isaac was born when he was, when he was 100 years, years old. Sarah was up in her in her 90s, as well, there. So you know, it looked like it was well beyond both of them were well beyond childbearing age. And so it would be a matter of faith. And that certainly would be something that God would, could point to, as as evidence that this is not a normal situation. This is an extraordinary situation. When when Isaac was born, when, when Abraham was 100 years old, Genesis chapter, chapter 17. Is is a passage that applies to this. In verse one, When Abram was 90 years old, and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly, and Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him saying, As for me, Behold, my covenant is with thee, thou shall be a father of many nations. So it certainly would be a matter of faith when you're 100 years old, and you haven't had the child of promise yet, it might be certainly an issue where people would wonder about that. Faith, Abraham had the faith, and it was, and it was strong, and he didn't give up on that. And of course, Isaac was born, when Abraham was s hundred.
Fred Gosnell:Yes, and just exactly when the Lord had told him that, that that would occur one year afterwards that he was told that Isaac would be born. Of course, that wasn't the end of Abraham's strong faith, he was he was tested again. And Paul talks about that, in Hebrews chapter 11, 17, through through 19. Of course, all this time, he was originally given the promise of his, he would have a child and it did 25 years later. He trusted God in that. But then in Hebrews 11, 17, through 19, Paul writes, or the writer writes, he says, By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, considering that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him, figuratively speaking. So God had told Abraham in the records in the Old Testament, to go to a certain mountain, I think it was mountain, Mount Moriah. And he went there. He told him to go and offer a sacrifice. He didn't tell him what the sacrifice was going to be. And when he got there, he prepared the altar and everything. And then he was told to place Isaac his son on the altar, to offer him as the sacrifice. And of course, Abraham did all of that. And he was, he had the knife, he was going to kill his son before he was sacrificed. And of course, God stopped him. And the passage that Paul wrote there, he said that he in verse 19, Considering that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence he also, he received him figuratively speaking. So as far as Abraham was concerned, in his mind, Isaac was dead and he was,
Arnie:He was dead.
Fred Gosnell:He was going to sacrifice him. But the Lord provided a ram, for that for the sacrifice. But But again, that's that's the kind of faith the kind of strong faith that Abraham had, he demonstrated that he trusted God and he, he understood well, if a if Isaac's the one that's going to the promised one, then if I sacrifice him, the Lord will just raise him up and bring him back to life. And he was prepared to obey what God said. And that's what a strong faith will do.
Arnie:It might be easy enough to say, Oh, well, I could I could do that, you know. No, I don't think so. That was an ultimate, an ultimate test here because that was something that was that was just tough to do. That that would have been, would have been tough. I don't know how I would have turned out on that, that kind of a kind of a test. You know, we can't just say, Well, God might do this, he might do that, you know, and try to figure out what's going to happen. But we, you know, the question would be, do we really confidently say, God can and God will. And I think that that's what Abraham's position was on that that there was no question God was going to come through and, and he was going to produce the results that he had, had promised. I think the the opposite side of of that is you have a lot of people who are, who claim to have faith, and yet their faith is pretty weak. And Romans chapter 14 has is a good passage that that discusses that beginning in verse one, Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disposition, depth, disposition, disputations. There we go, couldn't get it out. And I think that that's a that's a pretty common problem even even today. Verse two said, One that believeth that he may eat all things another who is weak, eateth herbs, let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not. Let us not him that eateth not judge him. Let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth for God has received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant. To his own servant he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be upheld, for God's able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another. Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it untohe Lord. He that regardeth not the day to Lord, he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not to the Lord he eateth not and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. You know what, what results are produced by you know, what results can can, what things can result, having difficulty getting it out, Fred. What kinds of things can result in, in a weak faith? And I think that the things that occur to people every day are possible problems in in that regard. If you have personal tragedy, for example, someone in your family dies, perhaps there's an accident or or a robbery or something like that, that the result of that is that that there's a death of a family member. How does that affect our our faith? For a lot of people that could be a problem. They hear some false teaching. And they're they're persuaded by that and then they realize that it was false teaching and and instead of blaming the teacher they they think that maybe maybe faith isn't all that it's that it's cracked up to be. Sometimes there are issues within the church and there might be some some brethern that that are abusive toward you. We've always known that people like that in in certain congregations that think that they've that they've got to be in charge and they've got to order other people around and and that certainly can be a problem. Unfaithfulness if, if we become involved in sin in some way. Our unfaithfulness can, can certainly weaken or even take away our our faith. We've got to study God's Word. We hear a passage or read a passage and then never go back to it again. If we haven't, haven't read faithfully and haven't studied God's word faithfully, that doesn't strengthen our faith. That's something that that stands in our way. So those kinds of things can cause discouragement they can they can result in in spiritual destruction. So weak faith certainly is a, an issue that we need to try to avoid. And the way to avoid that is by being faithful.
Fred Gosnell:Yes. And of course, being faithful to what what God's Word says and spend more time studying it and applying what it says. And then that will go far to strengthen our faith. Not to do so ends up weakening us. So we also have what we might call a confessed faith. Paul talks about that in Romans or Matthew chapter 10, 32, and 33. And this is, Jesus is saying this again in verse 32, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven, but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. So that it's it's necessary to confess our belief, our faith in, in Jesus before men, and if we're not willing to do that, then of course, the Lord will not confess us before the Father. Matter of fact, He'll deny us just as we deny him. And then in Romans 10, nine and 10, there's where Paul writes in verse nine, he says, That if thou shalt confess with my mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in that heart that hath God raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved, For with the heart, man believeth of righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So we see that a confessed faith is one that is necessary in order to, toward salvation. And Paul specifically says that, and of course, we need to remember that. Arnie,, there's a, since for talking about this. Are there examples of someone who confessed their faith?
Arnie:Well, as as a matter of fact, there there is. And the perfect place to look at that is in is in Acts chapter, chapter eight. The Ethiopian eunuch is, is the one who had been reading, he'd been riding in his chariot, he was a government official in, in Ethiopia, he was returning back home and he had evidently picked up a copy of the book of Isaiah, while he was in in Jerusalem, and he's returning back home, and he is reading it, and, and the Lord positions Philip, there nearby, and he's running along, I guess, behind the chariot, and, and the, the eunuch asks him, Do you understand this passage of Scripture? And of course, Phillip, Phillip did and and explained it to him what it was, what it was about that was in in Acts chapter, chapter eight and and in verse. Let's see here want to go to verse 26. And I don't seem to be there right. Now, give me a second to get there. Acts chapter eight, and beginning in verse 26, that tells us that the angel of the Lord spake to Philip saying, Arise and go towards the south, unto the way that leadeth from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. We now know where Gaza is, we certainly have some, some reliable information about that now, and that was the place that that he was headed. And he arose when, when and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians who had charge of her treasure, all of her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah the prophet. And the spirit said unto Philip, G`o near, join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest what thou readest? And he said, How can I except some man should guide me? He desired Philip, that he would come up and sit with you. And the place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep sheep to the slaughter, as a lamb dumb before is here so opened He, not His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. Who shall declare His generation for his life is taken from the earth? And the eunuh answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the Prophet? Of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, preached unto him, Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water. And the eunuch said, See here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? This is where this kind of brings us to where you were, you know, your question from from a moment ago. And a lot of people would say, You don't need that as long as you believe. He understood that he that he needed to be baptized, but he didn't know everything that he needed to know, because Philip said to him, If thou believest with all thy heart thou mayest. How's Philip going to know that? Only if the eunuch tells him about that. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still, they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch,, and he baptized him. And so, yes, one, one must confess his his faith in order to be baptized and and he has to have the, has to have the faith. you're not just baptized when you when you're a little infant, you don't know, don't even have any idea of who Jesus is, or, or anything about the Bible at at all. We have to obey the gospel.
Fred Gosnell:Yes, and and of course, you as you said, you must confess or profess your belief that Jesus is the Son of God. Well, Peter made that made that profession of faith in and it's in Matthew 16, 13, through 17. And there, we are told, beginning in verse 13, When Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked his disciples saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elijah, others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God? And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon BarJonah, for flesh and blood hathnot revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Of course, Peter made the profession. He said, Well, after everybody else had said, Well, you know, some say this, some say that, but Peter confessed the truth to it, he got that from the Lord. He says, Thou art the Son of the living God, the Christ. So, again, a confessed faith is one that's necessary. We've got to confess the Lord and make sure people understand that we understand who he is. And we're willing to tell people about that. And, of course, if we're not willing to do that, you know, Lord said, If you deny me, I'll deny you. We have to confess that that belief and confess that faith that we have in our Lord.
Arnie:Well, we we've talked a little bit about the Ethiopian eunuch and the fact that he confessed his faith and certainly Peter's confession of faith in Christ. Even before that is is important. We need to confess our faith if we're going to be able to obey the gospel and part of the problem is that sometimes even disciples can get into the situation where they're, they're actually denying their faith. First Timothy chapter five and and verse 18. Verse eight is a is a place where Paul addresses that. And he said, beginning of verse eight, If any provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. Once saved always saved is not true and, and it is possible for us to lose our faith even if we've had a pretty strong faith at some point in in the past. Peter writes, and he says in Second Peter chapter, chapter two, There were false prophets even among the people, also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly or stealthily, shall bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. Many shall, shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of. So these are a couple of passages of Scripture that that talk about the problem of, of faith being denied. And certainly that's something that we want to be very cautious about not let ourselves fall into that trap.
Fred Gosnell:Yes. And Jude talks about that in Jude chapter one. Only one chapter there, verses three and four. Jude begins in verse three says, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once for all delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unnoticed, who were before of old marked out for this, this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lewdness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So the situation was that they had, there in the congregation that that Jude is writing to, they had men who had crept in, Now now how they had done that, we're not told but they got there. And then Jude's fix to them was they needed to earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered. So perhaps they were not doing that, perhaps they were not specifically teaching on on what the what God had to say, what the faith said, and that that was allowed to happen. So we, we need to be able to express the faith. And we express it in such a way that we teach others and earnestly contend for it. It it takes some some serious action on on our part,
Arnie:In Luke chapter six and verse 46, Jesus asks the question, it's really kind of a rhetorical question. Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say? Sometimes people that that think that they have a powerful faith, one of the tests of that can be whether they really do the things that the Jesus commands, we have to obey Him. There's no faith, really, if if we don't. And Paul writes, as he's writing to Titus in Titus chapter one, and verse 14, he said, he cautions, Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Unto the pure, all things are pure, and unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. Even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and, and disobedient, and unto every good word. reprobate. The word reprobate has to do with with evil or unprincipled, unprincipled, shameless. Certainly, we need to be careful not to fall away from that faith, not to think that we have a strong faith when in fact, we're guilty of having a denied faith. Let's be careful about that. This is probably a good place for us to stop Fred. Let's let's take another look at this next next week. And meanwhile, we hope that each of you have a strong faith. Remember the things that we suggested as suggestions for developing it, put those into practice, reading and studying and discussing God's Word with with others as well. And let's strengthen all of our faiths. And hopefully we'll get to be with you again next Lord's day. We wish you a good week.