KBM Salvation And Faith

Last week, my kids and wife came down with the flu and Saturday evening they graciously shared it with me. So, I apologize if I sound a bit stuffy or not my normal self with this lesson, but together we can power through this vitally important topic for today. We are going to continue our study through God’s Plan of Salvation having already looked at the vitally important step of studying God’s word and believing in God. Therefore, we now find ourselves looking at the word faith. As I mentioned in the last lesson, belief and faith are not the same thing. It is one thing to believe God exists, remember even the demons believe this (James 2:19), but it is an entirely different thing to take that belief and turn it into trust. That is what faith in God is, a trust in God. Let’s examine God’s word on this. Let’s begin by looking at Hebrews 11:1.

Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

As the scriptures point out here faith is based on “substance” and “evidence.” Far too many people have the wrong idea of what faith is. I heard a religious teacher one time say, “science takes you so far then we must take a leap of faith.” In other words, we must take a blind leap into the “unknown.” However, this is not what God says faith in him is.

Now I’m not saying faith is based on “seeing God to believe in him” as we know this isn’t possible anymore. Hence why Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 4:18…

2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV

18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

No, we don’t need to see God know that he exists. As Paul mentions in Romans 1:20, this universe and all that is in it is sufficient to prove God exists. Let me put it another way, I and probably many of you listening, have never been to Spain or know anyone that has been to Spain. Yet, I know it exists because of the vast amounts of evidence it exists. In fact, I can never step foot in Spain or ever meet someone from Spain to know that it exists and that I can trust it to be there if I ever decide to visit some day.

It is the same with not God. The evidence is clear that God not only exists, but that the God of the bible is the God that exists, and is therefore worthy of our trust in him. This is exactly what the Hebrew writer wrote in Hebrews 11:6.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

We have here what makes one “have faith in God.” It is not only believing that he exists but in addition to belief it is trusting him based on his word (Romans 10:17). This is why one cannot be saved without have both “belief in God” and “faith/trust in God.”

One simply cannot be saved by God and have their sins removed if they do not “fully trust God’ to so such. No one has been saved by going into it saying “I’m not sure if this is going to work, but here goes nothing.”

In our next lesson we will discuss how we must repent, to be saved and what all this means.