Lectures on Faith - Lecture First

1. Lectures on Faith
Lecture First

2. Lectures on Faith Quick Re-cap & Overview
We have been taught in Lecture 2 in Idaho Falls about the
importance of the Lectures on Faith:
“…I'd like you to value The Lectures on Faith. I'd like you to
study The Lectures on Faith. I'd like you to take a lot more
time with them.”

3. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
KEY TERMS & PHRASES IN LECTURE FIRST:
 Substance / Assurance
 Hope
 Belief
 Unbelief
 Temporal & Spiritual Blessings
 Principle of Action
 Principle of Power
 Models of Faith in Scripture
 “See Afar Off”
LECTURE FIRST vs. 1:
1 Faith, being the first principle in revealed
religion, and the foundation of all
righteousness, necessarily claims the first
place in a course of lectures which are
designed to unfold to the understanding the
doctrine of Jesus Christ.
2 In presenting the subject of faith, we shall
observe the following order:
3 First, faith itself — what it is,
4 Secondly, the object on which it rests, and
5 Thirdly, the effects which flow from it.
6 Agreeably to this order we have first to
show what faith is.

4. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
Lecture 1:8-9
8 Now faith is the substance (assurance) of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
9 From this we learn that faith is the assurance
which men have of the existence of things which
they have not seen and the principle of action in
all intelligent beings.
Assurance, Substance, Good Report
Hebrews 1:36
36 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen, for by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we
understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that
things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Hebrews 1:50
50 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received
the promises, God having provided some better things for them through
their sufferings; for without sufferings they could not be made perfect.

5. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
Hope
1 Corinthians 1:50
50 And God has set some in the church: first
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers;
after that, miracles, then gifts of healings, helps,
governments, diversities of tongues. Are all
apostles? All prophets? All teachers? All workers of
miracles? Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all
speak with tongues? Do all interpret? I say unto you,
nay, for I have shown unto you a more excellent
way. Therefore, covet earnestly the best gifts.
Every truth always contains a blessing or promise or gift or power
o When we learn about these promises it gives us HOPE that we also might
receive these things
o Why would Paul recommend that we “covet earnestly” the best gifts?
 Because it is the CATALYST or the SPARK that starts the fire that that
moves us from hope to belief then to faith then to knowledge
o So HOPE is when we begin to EXPECT that blessings or promises or gifts or
power could be received by us
o At the HOPE stage, we don’t exactly know how to go about getting these
promises
o As we gather information about how to get/obtain those promises, our
hope grows “brighter” and it begins to move towards BELIEF
o We need to put in the LABOR to gather this information, read the sacred
writers – known in the scriptures as: seek, knock, ask
o HOPE is the process of learning what we actually DO to receive the
promises
 The “DO” part of the pattern in scriptural terms are the LAW and
ORDINANCE
o When our HOPE has developed to the point of knowing what to DO – it
then begins to turn into BELIEF

6. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
Belief
 Belief is when we have “educated our hope” to the point where we know
what we should DO to receive the blessing or promise or gift or power
 We have gone through the LABOR of seeking – knocking – asking
 BELIEF can be likened unto the “LAW” (instructions) and “ORDINANCE”
(performance, sequence, method) of this pattern we discussed in Week 9:
 PROMISES  COVENANTS  ORDINANCES  LAWS  SIGNS 
TOKENS
 Again, as mentioned with HOPE – think of these “types” and “patterns” to
better understand BELIEF:
o SEED – think how it can turn into a TREE
 If you do nothing with a seed it will likely remain dormant
o RECIPE – think how those ingredients can turn into a PRODUCT to
feed our hunger

7. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
Unbelief
Unbelief = possessing instructions that cannot produce/fulfill the PROMISE
• …contains bad ingredients (“precepts and commandments of men”
• In The Book of Mormon - Nephi, Alma, Mormon, Jesus Christ
• …subscribing to sources of information that are not true
• …gathering and possessing bad information or instructions
• …believing a promise can be received when it in truth cannot
REMEMBER – BELIEF is based upon TRUTH
Unbelief is NOT based upon TRUTH
Every truth always contains a blessing or promise or gift or power
Mosiah 11:18
18 …And now, because of their
unbelief, they could not understand
the word of God, and their hearts
were hardened.
Mormon 1:4
4 …And there were no gifts from the
Lord, and the holy ghost did not
come upon any, because of their
wickedness and unbelief.

8. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
T&C 9:9
9 And now, behold, I say unto you, Never at any
time have I declared from mine own mouth that
they should return, for where I am they cannot
come, for they have no Power. But remember that
all my judgments are not given unto men, and as
the words have gone forth out of my mouth, even
so shall they be fulfilled, that the first shall be last
and that the last shall be first, in all things
whatever I have created by the Word of my Power,
which is the Power of my Spirit. For by the Power
of my Spirit created I them, yea, all things both
spiritual and temporal, firstly spiritual, secondly
temporal, which is the beginning of my work. And
again, firstly temporal and secondly spiritual,
which is the last of my work, speaking unto you
that you may naturally understand, but unto
myself, my work has no end neither beginning, but
it is given unto you that you may understand,
because you have asked it of me and are agreed.
Physical eyes / Spiritual eyes
Physical ears / Spiritual ears
Physical touch / Spiritual touch
Physical smell / Spiritual smell
Physical heart / Spiritual heart
Physical mind / Spiritual mind
Temporal & Spiritual Question 12: How would you define faith in its most unlimited sense?
A: It is the first great governing principle, which has power, dominion,
and authority over all things.
Lecture First verses 10, 11, 12
“And as faith is the moving cause of all action in temporal
concerns, so it is in spiritual.”
The same principles that work in the temporal world, work in the
spiritual world. You take the same principle in the temporal and
move it into the spiritual.

9. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
Principle of Action / Principle of Power
 FAITH is much more than BELIEF - It requires action consistent with BELIEF
 Acting upon BELIEF invariable requires SACRIFICE
 Most of the religious world gets stuck on BELIEF – because sacrifice is a difficult thing…
 It is not the person who merely BELIEVES in the saying of Christ who is justified, but it is
he who shows his faith by obeying them
 FAITH follows laws irrevocably decreed and can be purchased in no other way. This is
why obedience to the commandments is necessary
 Joseph Smith in Lecture Seven of the Lectures on Faith taught that “faith [is] the
principle of action and of power”
 Acting upon BELIEF “activates” the “POWER” part
 The “POWER” part is God’s responsibility – it is He who supplies the POWER in FAITH

10. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
Who & What are the MODELS?
 In the gospel we always seem
to be going from singular tense
to plural tense.
 We practice with the few
 …and move along to the many
T&C 157:42
42 And again I say to you, Abraham and Sarah sit upon a Throne, for he could not be
there if not for Sarah’s covenant with him; Isaac and Rebecca sit upon a Throne, and Isaac
likewise could not be there if not for Rebecca’s covenant with him; and Jacob and Rachel sit
upon a Throne, and Jacob could not be there if not for Rachel’s covenant with him; and all
these have ascended above Dominions and Principalities and Powers, to abide in my
Kingdom.

11. Lectures on Faith Lecture First
“See Afar Off” – Promises
2 Peter 1:2
2 And besides this, giving all diligence, add to
your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and
to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance,
patience, and to patience, godliness, and to
godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly
kindness, charity. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you neither barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ. But he that lacks these things is blind
and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that
he was purged from his old sins.
Hebrews 1:40 / Lecture 1:31
40 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which
he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed and he went out, not
knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise,
as a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the
heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked for a city which has
foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
41 Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed,
and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she
judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore there sprang even of
one — and him as good as dead — as many as the stars of the sky in
multitude, and as the sand, which by the seashore is innumerable.
42 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; for
they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And
truly, if they had been mindful of that from where they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a
better, that is, a heavenly one. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.