A tenet is a principle or belief, especially one of the main principles of a religion or philosophy. So in this context we are thinking about faith as one of the main principles of Christianity.
Dictionary meaning of assurance is ‘confidence or certainty’
Assurance is not based on human resources, abilities, or ingenuity, but on confidence in the caring power of God for believers.
Dictionary meaning for conviction is “convincing” as in the presentation of evidence.
So, realistically, faith is believing that God is, that He does what He says He will do, that we are saved by grace through our confession of our faith in Jesus Christ.
So we have two aspects to salvation:
God’s grace gift
Our response to that grace gift – our faith (belief)
So, faith is an essential criteria for salvation.
Today we will look at two aspects of faith:
Faith for salvation
Faith for miracles
So we have two actions here:
Believe God exists and that He will reward us
Pursue God (earnestly seek Him)
I guess if you think of God and us as a relationship, it would make sense that for that relationship to work there would need to be a level of trust and belief. The emphasis then is away from earning our way into God’s affections through extraordinary acts of faith but rather being in faith with God,
A little faith goes a long way.
Draw Circle
What is inside the circle is us and God
The seen here is what we can touch and feel, the incidents and circumstances of the present life.
The unseen here is the eternal things, the objects of faith, immortality, eternal life, the crown of righteousness, the beatific vision. The things that are not subject to time-limits and endure through all the ages of God’s purposes.
The interesting thing is that we should not view these as present and future, but as both being present, but some are seen and some are not seen. I have called these three-dimensional and fourth-dimensional. Three-dimensional we know. We can see it, touch it etc. Fourth-dimensional is the realm of the spirit and it is not bound by the rules that we know. It is the realm where Jesus walked through walls etc.
It is interesting to note Jesus’ interaction with the blind man.
The blind man couldn’t see Jesus.
But he could hear him.
And he believed enough in Jesus to be granted his sight back.
Had he not stood in agreement with Jesus, had ne not had the faith to believe that Jesus could heal him, then he would still be blind.
We appear to have this Innate belief that we have to work to earn our salvation, but in reality it is a gift of faith and God wants us simply to believe in Him.
Does this mean then that we don’t have to do anything? No. There is action taking. We must be obedient to what we hear God telling us to do.
Each of us has faith that God has given us. This is our salvation faith.
But to some he gave the gift of faith and this is what I call radical faith. Faith that is for a purpose, that is beyond salvation faith. This is the faith that produces miracles.
Jesus healed people and told them, “Your faith has made you well.” He healed 10 lepers (Luke 17:11-19), the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9:20-22) and a blind man (Mark 10:46-52).
The word ‘well’ in some versions is translated as ‘whole’, meaning ‘saved’.
In all of these cases this miraculous healing power led to salvation.
So, when we are talking about faith it is not some disconnected concept where we one day are empowered to believe for miracles and they happen. It is connected and purposeful.
It is always about salvation – restoring people to God through belief in Jesus. It is NEVER about self-glorification.
We can’t heal anyone. We can’t make miracles of provision happen. We can’t change people. Only God can.
And finally, “Faith comes by hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” And how shall they know, unless we go and tell them?
This does not mean, as I had previously assumed, that if we listen to the word of God we will increase our faith. We may, but that is not what this scripture is saying. It is speaking about salvation. That faith (belief in God) comes by hearing the Good News about Christ.
However, I do believe that there is a role that we have in sharing the Good News, in reminding ourselves about Christ and what He has done for us.
When the children of Israel crossed over the Jordan river, God instructed Joshua to take stones from the bed of the river and build a memorial, so that they would always remember that God had delivered them and that they had crossed over on dry land.
We can enhance our faith (belief in God) by sharing testimonies with one another, by writing down the things that God does for us and reminding yourself.