A RATIONAL RELIGION ROLE OF FAITH
THE ROLE OF FAITH
Theme verse
“But without faith it is impossible to please him…”
Hebrews 11:06 (KJV)
The world of Christianity in the twenty-first century is full of lawlessness, just by the fact that people think that as long as you believe in Christ there is no longer a need for you to obey and follow Gods commandments of love, so everybody does whatever they want to do just because they think they believe in Christ. But is this really faith? On the other hand, there those legalists who keep focusing on keeping the law as if it was their gate pass to heaven they focus on their own ability to conquer sin now is this right? On top of that the book of Hebrews 11 comes with a verse that openly says it’s impossible to please God without faith, now what is this faith, and what is its role in our religious life? Well focus onto and into that in this lesson.
Faith: The bible in the book of Hebrews 11, openly states that, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
Not once or twice do we find Jesus healing the diseased and there after telling them that it was their faith that healed them, these absolutely believed in Jesus and his power to heal, some of them had not seen his miracles before but they believed that they would be healed, it sometimes sounds crazy for a leper whom the doctors and physicians of his/her time declared their disease to be uncured to follow Jesus and believe that the so called uncured disease would be cured, it requires an extra force and this force is called faith, a force that pushes you to believe that a stone is a bread, that amidst an ocean there is a way, in this logical first world this is complete insanity. But you know God says it’s impossible to please him without faith.
Now if faith is just hoping and believing, can we believe on everything and can we hope for everything, is there right and wrong faith, or faith is just faith?
Origin of faith: The bible in the book of Romans, openly states that, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” Romans 10:17 (KJV)
So anything called faith should be passed in the filter of the word of God, because there is no faith without the word of God, faith in the right direction is faith that is directed by the right “Way” who is the incarnated word and the written word himself. Anything that is called faith and is not based and rooted in the word is a wrong faith leading to a wrong direction. We cannot just believe in anything or hope for anything unless it is written in the word.
Relationship between faith, grace and law: The bible says this “…We have access by faith into his grace wherein we stand…” Romans 5:2, “For by grace are ye saved through faith…” Ephesians 2:8, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone … thou believes that there is one God thou does well: the devils also believe, and tremble… but will thou know, o vain man that faith without works is dead?” James 2:17-20
Now some say that it is just okay to live a lawless life just because we have faith in Jesus Christ! This is an absolute lie from the devil, a life of faith is a life that reveals the fruits of what we believe so leaving a lawless life effectively show us to whom our faith is. Ellen white says, “The so-called faith in Christ which professes to release men from the obligation of obedience to God is not faith, but presumption. “By grace are ye saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). But “faith, if it hath not works, is dead” (James 2:17). Jesus said of Himself before He came to earth, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). And just before He ascended again to heaven, He declared, “I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love” (John 15:10). The Scriptures says, “Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments” (1 John 2:3) ...” Steps to Christ 64-65
We were absolutely lost, but then God decided to save us though we did not deserve, he came on earth and died a death that was ours to die and through this sacrifice everyone was supposed to be saved, but now not everyone will be save not because God doesn’t want us to be saved but because it takes faith to receive this grace, so then what is the role of faith in the life of a Christian? “Faith is hand to receive grace” it is only when we practice faith in our daily schedules that we receive grace and through this grace we become saved.
It is impossible to pleases God without faith because as we learnt in the previous lesson “THE ROLE OF OBEDIENCE” sometimes we need to obey God even before we understand what he fully wants/means, now at times like these we really cannot obey God if we don’t have faith in him, only when we have faith in him can we obey without questions because we have “the evidence of things not seen” and that is faith and this way we can please God.
God want us to live and practice our faith day to day in our daily schedules. Be blessed.
