Faith and part 2

This is part two of my survey of faith and. The first part considered faith and and and faith. Part two will cover believe and and and believe. This was an interesting study to say the least and at the end I will offer my conclusions. I considered presenting my findings in some kind of fancy, organized way but then I thought, “Nah, I’ll just list them in order and offer a few comments.” So here goes…

Believe and
Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
This is a scary verse for many, but surely our doctrine has to fit the Bible. This is similar to repentance in that both repentance and baptism are ineffectual alone; faith is the key.

Luke 8:12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
And just as surely, faith is of utmost importance.

John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 
We believe and are sure or, have believed and have known. The certainty of faith.

John 9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
This is cool. Believing in Jesus leads to worshiping him.

Acts 11:21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
Believed and turned. Yes. This is what it is to believe in Christ - we turn to him.

Acts 18:8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
Believed and were baptized. Baptism is not the next step, it is the first step.

2 Corinthians 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
We speak what we believe.

1 Timothy 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Oh the certainty that accompanies faith.

And believe
Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Believe is the key, but you cannot believe without repenting.

Mark 15:32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
This is what the unspiritual man wants, “When I see it I will believe it.” That’s not faith.

John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Faith comes by hearing the Word. We also see this in Acts 15:7

John 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
 36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The world demands to see before they believe (30), yet they don’t believe even when they see (36). But what about see and believe of v 40? Is this a contradiction No. There was a generation that saw Jesus. They actually saw him, heard his words with their ears, saw his mighty works with their eyes, and yet we read something incredible, ye also have seen me, and believe not. Then Jesus declares, this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Know and believe. Interesting order, usually it is believe and know. But when you encounter the power of God, you know this is supernatural and then you believe in Jesus.

John 20:8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
He saw the empty tomb. We don’t have this opportunity, so of us Jesus said, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. We are not that generation mentioned above who had the privilege of seeing Jesus with our eyes. We believe without seeing him in the flesh. Faith!

1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
We have known by experience the love of God and believed it. Amen. Isn’t this wonderful? This is not simply a cold, mental acknowledgment, this is experiential! God is good.


This is what I learned - there are a lot of ands with faith! This is important because to hear some folks it's just faith, all by itself, almost a mere acceptance of some facts with no corresponding change in me. As in, “You can do whatever you want to do or be whatever you want to be as long as you believe.”  But this survey has proven that untrue. Faith has many attendants, and they are important - it's not faith without 'em.
And what are these attendants, these family members of faith? Repentance, baptism, turning to the Lord, love, hope, patience, works. Yes, they are empty without faith, yet without these the professed faith is suspect. So, what do the family members of faith look like?

Repentance – change your mind, the way you think; we have all these unbiblical ideas about sin, salvation, Jesus, and before we can believe our thinking has to change. Repentance is a vital element of the entire Christian life.

Baptism – however you explain it, this is obviously faith expressed

Turning to the Lord – this is that old idea of conversion. We are to turn to the Lord, be converted. At one time we were sinners, disobedient, unconcerned about the will of God, but now we believe Jesus is Lord and we want to know and do his will. How can it be faith if we have no desire to follow?

Love – this is not the mushy ‘whatever you want to do and be’ attitude that is passed off as love today. This is love for God that moves me to seek to please him; this is love for fellow believers that transforms the way I relate to them and produces practical care for them; this is love for unbelievers that moves me to treat them as I would be treated. This love even warns folks of their need to repent and believe, because not everything I do is right.

Hope – because I believe the promises of the gospel, I hope for the day I see Him

Patience – because I believe and hope, I will wait and not quit. Hope and patience are reminders that our life is in Christ, not in anything earthly.

Works – works?? Yes! Faith is active. But what works? Doing what Jesus said. Simply put, faith without works is dead.

Certainty – I have never seen Jesus, but I believe in Him, and I know. What assurance! Not only assurance, but through faith in Christ I experience his grace and power. we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

Faith is not alone. Faith is never alone.