Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction:

One of our problems is that we often try to generate faith from within using human methods.

But Paul lists faith as one of the gifts of the Spirit.

/1)    //(Luke 17:3-6)/ Jesus was talking one day concerning the importance of forgiveness, when they finally grasped how important it is that we forgive those who have wronged us they said, /“Lord, increase our faith.”/

A.

Different Kinds of Faith.

1.

Saving Faith

/a)        //Faith is Nothing That We Do in Our Own Power or by Our Own Resources.

/

/1)        //Ephesians 2:8-9/ – we do not have adequate power or resources, & if we did God would not want us to rely on them, otherwise salvation would be in part by our own works and we would have some ground to boast.

/2)        //Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God’s giving it./

(a)      Grace is defined as and unearned act of God; if salvation is from God, it has to be an underserved gift of God. 

/(1)      /Faith is presented as a gift from God in (2 Peter 1:1; Philippians 1:29; Acts 3:16)

/(2)      /Every person lives by faith—/food, drink, crossing a bridge, putting money in bank/

/(3)      /Human effort has nothing to do with it (Rom.3:20;

Gal.2:16)

/(4)      /All boasting is eliminated in salvation (Rom.3:27;

4:5; 1Cor.1:31;

Gideon Judges 7:2-23)

(b)      The Story of Lydia (Acts 16:11-15)

/(1)      /The /“Lord opened her heart”v.14/

/(2)      /Jesus told the crowd that followed Him, /“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him”/ (John 6:44 /cf.

Rom.3:11/).

/(3)      /Lydia’s conversion demonstrates that God reveals the Gospel to those whom He causes to sincerely seek Him, /“All that the Father gives me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out”/ (John 6:37)

/(4)      /If God did not open hearts and draw people to Himself, no one would be saved.

/ /

/b)        //Having Faith in What Jesus has Done for Us is the Only Way to Obtain Salvation./

/1)        /When a person chokes or drowns and stops breathing there is nothing he can do.

If he ever breathes again it is because someone else starts him breathing.

/2)        /A spiritually dead person cannot even make a decision of faith unless God first breathes in him the breath of spiritual life.

Faith is simply breathing the breath that God’s grace supplies, but the paradox is, we must exercise it & bear the responsibility if we don’t (John.5:40).

/c)        //Receiving Saving Faith (Romans 10:17 cf.

v.6-17)/

/1)        //Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ as our Savior/, believing that He paid the price for our sins.

It is believing that the blood of Christ was shed as a sacrifice and accepted by God.

As our substitute, Jesus took our sins upon Himself and died in our place, that by our believing in Him we would not perish but have eternal life.

2.       Faith That Trusts in the Promises of God

/a)        //What is Faith?

Look at the Biblical Definition (Hebrews 11:1)/

/1)        //This is the Only Time the Bible Ever Defines Faith./

Time and time again, the Bible discusses faith and the great importance of faith.

The Bible tells us that we must have faith—we must believe God (Heb.11:6)—and it tells us the great things that happen to those who do believe God.

/2)        /The Bible also gives example after example of men and women who have and have not believed God and shows in clear terms what happened to each.

But nowhere does the Bible define faith except here.

/“Faith and hope go together; and the same things that are the object of our hope are the object of our faith./

/    “It [faith] is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that He has promised to us in Christ; and this persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul...possession...of those things./

/    “Believers in the exercise of faith are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Christ dwells in the soul by faith; and the soul is filled with the fullness of God.”/

 

/b)        //“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1)./

/1)        //The word “substance” (hupostasis) means/ the foundation, assurance, title-deed, and guarantee of things hoped for.

The word “evidence” (elegchos) means conviction.

/2)        //Faith is being described as an act, an act of the mind and heart./

That is, our heart and mind believe something and we have assurance and conviction that it is true.

/3)        //Scripture seems to be saying that faith is more than an act.

/

(a)      Scripture seems to be saying that faith is the /actual possession/ of reality.

Is this not what the definition “title-deed” is saying?

The person who holds the title-deed to property actually /possesses/ the property.

It is his already.

/(1)      /Certainly from God’s perspective, we already possess His promises; He has already seated us in the heavenlies (Eph.1:3;

2:6), and we already possess eternal life (John 17:3).

It is not that we are going to possess it; we already possess it.

2)        /The point is this:/ holding the title-deed to property and possessing something is more than assurance and conviction.

(a)      It is possessing reality, actually holding something that is substantial and real.

(b)      It is possessing the land, the promises of God.

(c)      Faith is the substance, the actual possession, of things hoped for, the evidence and reality of things not seen.

It is /both an act and a possession/ of the thing believed.

It is believing and trusting in that which actually exists—in that which we can possess.

We may not be able to see it, but it is real and existing, and we can possess it by believing and having faith in it.

/c)        //This Kind of Faith Was Often Lacking in the Followers of Jesus.

/

/1)        /Mark 6:9-14 – they refused the believe He had done what He had promised He would do (Luke 24:10-11; John 20:16, 17).

/2)        /Luke 24:13-27 – Here is God’s Word, Jesus was saying, & yet you haven’t believed or trusted it.

How could you have doubted His promises?

/3)        /This is the kind of childlike faith that grows & Helps us do the impossible (Heb.11:32-40)

(a)      Build ourselves up in the most holy faith (Jude 20)

(b)      We are to increase in our faith (2 Thess.1:3)

(c)      This kind of faith grows as we see & experience the faithfulness of God (Abraham Rom.4:19).

3.       Healing Faith

/a)        //A Woman with Issue Is Healed (Mark 5:25-34)/

/1)        //Healing Faith is Related To & Associated with the Gift of Faith (1Cor.12)/

(a)      Matthew 9:29; 15:21-28

(b)      Mark 10:46-52

 

/b)        //The Gift of Faith Must Be Used in Love (1Corinthians 13:2)/

/c)        //All the gifts of the Spirit are received and exercised by faith.(Romans

12:6)/

/1)        //Sometimes several gifts of the Spirit are in operation at the same time/ but the Spirit makes everything harmonious and never interrupts Himself (Acts 14:8-11; Acts 20:9-12; Acts 3:1-8).

/2)        //Peter said that faith in Jesus and the faith by Jesus healed a man (Acts 3:16)/

/3)        //Our faith is tested when we don't see immediate results after we have stepped out in faith /

(a)      Sometimes there is a time interval before God makes His move and we must wait for Him with faith and patience (Hebrews 11:1; 10:36; 6:12; James 1:3).

/4)        //Satan waits at the foot of every spiritual mountain to destroy our faith.(Matthew

17:1-2)/

 

B.

Who Needs Faith?

 

1.

A Fig Tree Is Cursed.

/a)        //Jesus Spoke of the Tremendous Potential of Faith (Mark 11:12-14, 20-24)/

/1)        //This Promise does not Advocate Believers can have Anything they want./

(a)      The promise was made to His disciples, & what constitutes discipleship (Luke 9:23)?

(b)      Faith is not a blank check to give us all that our flesh might desire—that would destroy us.

Faith has always been the key that opens the door for the work of God in the world.

No one ever had greater faith than Jesus, or accomplished more than He did, yet He ended His life on a cross not in a Mercedes.

2.

Special Faith for Unique Circumstances

       This is when we become aware of the certainty that God will undertake for us, and we speak with assurance because we know it will be done.

God gives us such faith so that we’re not worried, we’re not concerned, and we know there’s no problem.

We know God will take care of everything.

/a)        //Like other spiritual gifts, faith is no a reservoir that I can tap at will/; it is given by the sovereign will of God.