Faith
Notes
Transcript
Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God.
Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
not from works, so that no one can boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?
If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?
In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.
You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?
You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,
and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?
For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit.
So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.
But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her
but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.
Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless?
Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar?
You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,
and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son,
the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac.
He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
“Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.
Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.” And he replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.
When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He replied, “Here I am.”
Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”
Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,
I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies.
And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”
Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.