Faith

Good morning, welcome. Please open Bibles to 1 Peter 1.

Consider the two ways of life.

Throughout Scripture- one way of life, one way of death.

The narrow gate versus the wide gate.

Building on rock or sand.

Separating of the sheep from the goats in the final judgement.

Not just in the NT.

Deuteronomy 28- Choose obedience or disobedience and know the consequences.

Habakkuk 2:4- “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Many differences between the two paths- judgement, popularity of the path, weathering of the storms of life, blessings and curses, etc.

The prophet Habakkuk shows the primary difference between the two.

One is a puffed up life, reliant upon self. The other is a life of faith.

This difference informs all of life- the soul is puffed up (the core that informs all things); the righteous ‘lives by faith’.

Our goals this morning- to rightly understand faith in Jesus Christ, to find how faith transforms our lives, and to see how Jesus’ incarnation increases and strengthens our faith.

Read 1 Peter 1:3-9- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Pray.

What is faith?

Generally, the persuasion that something is true or trustworthy.

It seeks to answer a question.

What will keep my basement dry?

What, then, is Christian faith?

Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith- “Christian faith is trust in God whose steadfast love and free grace are decisively revealed in Jesus Christ.”

What is the question being answered?

What is to become of me? What will give this life meaning and purpose? What will correct my current reality?

Echoing Paul in Romans 7:24- Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

In what, or whom, will we find our salvation?

In Jesus Christ alone. This is saving faith- we come to an end of ourselves (being puffed up) and live with a reliance upon God (the righteous shall live by faith).

John Newton- “This is faith: a renouncing of everything we are apt to call our own, and relying wholly upon the blood, righteousness, and intercession of Jesus.”

John 6:68-69- Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

This is what is meant when we speak of faith. A renouncing of everything but Jesus.

Much communicated of faith in our text. Greek pistis mentioned four times, translated faith three times and believe once.

Seven realities of faith found in our text:

V. 5- Our salvation is guarded by God’s power through our faith.

V. 6- The previous reality produces joy, regardless of circumstance.

V. 7- The trials and grievances of this world show faith to be pure and genuine.

Fire burning away the dross and impurity, trials do the same for our faith.

V. 7- Faith is more precious than gold, or any other created thing.

Ought to have a high priority in our lives, ought to be valued.

V. 7- Faith results in our praise, honor and glory.

We become praiseworthy, glorified and honored. Like a bride being shown off by her groom.

V. 8- Your faith, or belief, is in Jesus, even though you do not see his physical form.

V. 9- The outcome of your faith is the salvation of your soul, or rather the salvation of your entire life.

So much communicated of faith here. Let’s use the remainder of our time to focus in on just a couple of these realities.

1. The outcome of your faith is the salvation of your soul.

The final verse in our passage reminds us that faith has a final destination, namely salvation from our sinfulness, salvation from damnation, salvation from the wrath of God.

Further, we are not only saved from the negative, but we are saved to the positive. Our salvation is a salvation unto eternal forgiveness, salvation unto eternal fullness of life, salvation unto eternal righteousness.

How does this happen? How does God use faith as the vehicle for Him to give and for us to receive salvation?

Dead in sin.

Colossians 2:13- And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses...

God gives, or graces, a new heart, a new nature, that is able to see the beauty and worthiness of Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 36:26- And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

This is the birthplace of faith in Jesus alone.

In this moment, we see the brokenness of self and the all-sufficiency of God through Jesus Christ.

Our faith rests upon the finished work of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.

Jesus, in love and mercy, pays the punishment for our sin, receiving the wrath of God on the cross in order that we would not need to experience the wrath of God in hell.

Jesus also reveals, in His resurrection, that death is not final and that He has defeated death.

As Jesus is once again with the Father in perfect communion, so can we hope in eager expectation for the day when it will be our reality as well.

This is saving faith, it is how we receive salvation by grace through faith.

Faith does not end in this realization, however, and that is the point of 1 Peter 1:5- God uses our faith to guard us and our salvation until it is revealed in its fullness.

We are called to live according to this faith. Faith is meant to inform all of life.

Hebrews 10:36-39- For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Faith is not a one time event, but instead the beginning of a fullness of life, promised by Jesus, that requires a growing faith in Jesus to become more like Jesus.

What, then, is required of me? How may I live such a life of faith?

Confession of faith, baptism of faith, church of faith.

Confession- faith is meant to be proclaimed. It is not meant to be a secret, it is not meant to be private.

Baptism- When we confess our faith, we are baptized, showing our reliance upon Christ.

Our old life of puffery is buried, we are washed clean by the death and blood of Jesus Christ, and we are raised in His likeness- the righteous shall live by faith.

Church- We dive head first into the fellowship of the church.

Commit ourselves to one another, serve one another, give to one another.

Our faith is strengthened by the community of a faith-filled church.

This church becomes our people, our family, as the person and character of Jesus Christ is shown through our shared faith and our shared love.

Let’s close with what all of this has to do with Advent and Christmas.

2. The strength of faith depends on the object of faith.

Stated differently- Our faith grows as we rightly understand the sufficiency of Jesus.

The greatest enemy of a growing faith is a lacking understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.

Paul David Tripp- The unwillingness of humanity and the willingness of Jesus.

We tend to be unwilling to obey God.

How many times have we ignored the nudging of the Spirit or the sledgehammer of Scripture?

In Jesus, we find complete willingness. We find this to be shown in the incarnation.

Paul David Tripp- “So here is what the Christmas story is all about: a willing Savior is born to rescue unwilling people from themselves because there is no other way.”

Consider this willingness:

Willing to enter our world.

Willing to take on the frailty of human flesh.

Willing to endure a humble birth and beginning.

Willing to face the hardships and injustices of human life.

Willing to serve those who do not deserve it.

Willing to die on behalf of His enemies.

Here is our contemplation for Advent and Christmas- Have we considered the willingness of our Savior? Have we considered how such a willingness is put on display in the birth narrative?

Remember, faith is a giving up of self and an anchoring to Jesus. Our unwillingness is to be traded for willingness.

Ought to be the most humble time of the year.

Look for ways to serve. Find ways to humble yourself and your family.

Christmas puts the focus on self- get what you want, do the things you want, it’s all about receiving.

Remember that Christmas highlights the giving nature of God- For God so loved the world that He gave His Son.

May we be reminded that we live to give.