Lesson three of the Basic Course

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FAITH

Three things you need

Before we start this lesson, we will resume the last two.

What are the three things you need to know very well:
The Bible, God and man.

What are the three things you must believe in
Sin, Jesus Christ, Eternal Life.

Now we will discuss the three things you need to have.
Be aware of the fact that knowing and believing are theoretical, untouchable; it has to do with the inner man.
To have is the practical part, the visible.

Open your Bible in I Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Everyone who is born again, has received forgiveness of sins from God, and eternal life.

Now you need three things for your spiritual life:
Faith! Hope! Love!

1) What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1,3,6
vs. 1
Now faith is .........................................……………………….. of what we

............................................., and ......................................................….. of

what we do .............……………….......................................
vs. 3
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at ……………….

...............................……………, so that what is …………………………

was not made out of what was ....................................................................

vs. 6
And without ...................………............ it is ……………………………..

..................................….................. to please God.

For us, children of God, faith is:

¢ Knowledge of the Word of God
¢ Accept His statements as true
¢ Possess what He promised

To understand His Word we do not need logic, nor great intelligence, but faith.

2) How faith comes?
We do not have faith by wanting it, or trying to have it by force.
Faith is a gift of God for those who believe in Jesus, and received Him.
Only the faith that comes from God is real, and will keep stand.
John 3:27 - "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven."

In what do we believe?
a) We believe that the Bible is the Word of God.
b) That the whole Bible is God's Word. Complete, without errors, inspired and unique. We believe in all truth that is spoken in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness "
c) We that Jesus Christ is the living Son of God, and eternally God. "John 10:30 - "I and the Father are one."
d) We believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, to take our sins, that He resurrected from death, ascended to Heaven, and is now in the Glory to judge the World. Acts 13:26,29.
e) We believe in redemption of sin by Jesus and that this is the only way to be saved. Only by Him, through faith in Him. I Peter 1:18.
f) We believe that we will resurrect from death when Jesus returns to Earth, the same way He became alive. I Thessalonians. 4:13,18

We must live every day in this faith, based on the Word of God. God directs us in everything we think or do.

In the beginning of this chapter we have seen what is written in Hebrews 11:6 - "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

The Word Hope has the following meaning:
1) Expectation of the fulfillment of God's promises
2) Confidence in the mercy of God and His plan for our life
3) The attitude to hold on to the blessings and promises being they that belong to us, even during adversaries and difficult life circumstances.

This hope is a consequence of our faith. The world does not understand our hope; for they don't believe, and have no Faith.
Christian hope is different, for it is based on Faith.

In what is our confidence based?

1- In the will of God

God has a good purpose with each one of us; and his desire must be fulfilled, for it is perfect, absolute and good.
What is the purpose of God?
It is that what He has planned for our lives, and what He wishes for us.
All that comes from Him is good.

2 - In the Justice of God

We have seen already that God cannot agree with sin in any form, or illegal things, or mediocrity. That is why we have our expectation and hope on the righteousness and perfection of God, on His fair and impartial judgment.

3 - In Love of God

If we had our expectation only in the will and justice of God, our relationship with Him would not be that of a Father to a child. We could recognize His will as just and absolute; accept His righteousness as fair and impartial, but still without having an intimate relation with Him.
But God loves us so much that He … (John 3:16)
We have seen before that God does have love, but He is love.
His love is pure, He loves all the same, He has no favorites.
And He loves always, constantly.

By living in this expectation, the following necessary characteristics develop in our Christian Life:
¢ Endurance
¢ Humbleness and patience
¢ Being sure

1 - When we have our expectation on the will of God, He gives us the endurance to go through everything until it is manifested in our lives.

2 - When we have our expectation on the justice of God, we become humble in the deepest sense of the word. Humbleness is connected to understanding the authority of God.

3 - When we have our expectation on the love of God, we become secure, and we are confirmed. We then are sure about forgiveness of sins, have inner peace and emotional security, and spiritual joy. And that is a safety that no one can change or take away.

Faith and Hope are only complete when there is Love
The Bible Chapter of I Corinthians 13 is called the Chapter of Love. So read this Chapter very carefully, with all your attention.
The first three verses tell us clearly what our spiritual life is like, in a case where there is no love.

Even if I:

¢ speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
¢ have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
¢ have a faith that can move mountains,
¢ give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, …

Are not all these fantastic things that you wish to have in your Christian Life? It is not only good, but noble and brave, worthy for Christians.
But … what it is all about is Love, the right motive.

We will see the following:

a) It is possible to do all these things, as written in the first verses of I Corinthians 13, without being driven by true love.
b) For instance, someone may do these things by duty, by taking these responsibilities for duty, or even to receive honour.
Faith that moves mountains can be cold, without any love.

b) What happens if I am not driven by love?
¢ I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal;
¢ I am nothing;
¢ I gain nothing;

God is Love.
Jesus Christ is the strongest expression of love.
Christianity is walking in love. Our life must be controlled by love; it must be visible; we must live it.

What is love actually?
Learn about it, grow strong in it. Love never fails.

The practical side of love

a) Love tries to understand others.
Understanding is the key that overcomes all barriers and difficulties between people.
There are no two people the same. Everybody is different: different characters, another way of thinking, another attitude towards certain matters, other habits, and even physically we are not the same.
If nobody would try to understand each other, the whole world would turn into a chaos with nothing but conflicts.

You, as a child of God, have more than others the responsibility to show this understanding and practice this. To be able for this, we need patience.

b) Love creates in you an attitude of forgiveness.
The love of Christ is forgiveness.
God forgave us; now we have the responsibility to forgive others.
How can somebody say he loves, if he doesn't forgive?
How to forgive if you don't love?

More then forgiveness, you need a humble heart to know the essence of forgiveness. Not the way like for instance a police officer let go a transgression in traffic, but in a spirit of humbleness, understanding that we also make mistakes sometimes. Forgiveness without humbleness creates a proud spirit.

c) Love makes you help others.

John 13:12-17 - "When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them.
"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.

With what reason Jesus washed the feet of his disciples? To give us the example. Jesus said:
"Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them."

To talk about love is not sufficient, we must act and serve each other. We must serve, but without hidden purpose, or to receive something in exchange; to serve has to be out of pure motives. We must serve continuously, independently if we hear praises and thank or not.
We must not be after a reward; what was the reward of Jesus?

Summarized
Love must consist of:
==> Understanding of each other,
==> Immediately in humbleness forgiving all the evil that has been done against you
==> Serve the neighbor with the love of Jesus

The neighbor is not only family and friends - that would be very easy; then we would not need the love of Christ.

Who is our neighbor?
Read Luke 6: 27-28 and fill in:

"Love your ...................……......... , do good to those who ..………….…..

bless those who .....................................................…...; pray for those who

.....................................................…..........................................................."

who spoke these words? It was Jesus Christ, your Lord!

Prepare for the test. Read again the parts that touched you most.

The next study is about:

" Three things you need to do "