"Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.
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Discipleship Training Course Come… Follow Me!
Lesson 17: Building the Temple of God Part 2: Faith Towards
God: Part 2
Review
1. Without using our faith, it is impossible to please God for live works that are productive for the kingdom issue out of faith.
2. Faith comes to the believer through the constant hearing of God's Word.
3. Believing the written Word, living in the expectancy of a revelation from the Father, seeking to operate in the realms of faith, allowing oneself to be persuaded by the Father, being constantly humble, receiving faith as a gift from God, knowing that He never fails to keep His promises - are all attitudes of mind that facilitate faith's operation.
4. Faith grows out of a deepening relationship with the Father and our live works are those that are a response to His faithfulness to us.
In this lesson we will...
1. Understand the basic elements of the Gospel that saves people;
2. Understand how the disciple's faith relates to the Law;
3. Understand the righteous requirement of the Law.
Our objective is...
to see how the disciple's faith is the essential element enabling the powerful works of Jesus to be performed by His disciples today.
Introduction
Hebrews 6:1-3 "Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement. And this we will do if God permits."
A. What is the Gospel?
1 Corinthians 15:1-3 "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you; unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve."
We are counted as righteous by believing these facts.
1. Jesus Christ died for my sins according to the Scriptures.
2. He was buried.
3. He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
B. How God makes us righteous
Romans 4:5 "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,"
Believing that God has saved us, rather than working for salvation secures salvation for us.
Ephesians 2:8-10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
It is God's grace that is received through faith that saves us.
C. Understanding salvation by faith
Romans 3:20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
Considering that one's righteous acts will count before God as a basis for being saved is fruitless.
Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."
Sin no longer has the power to destroy the believer.
Romans 10:4 "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."
Jesus Christ has fulfilled all that the Law demands of the believer.
D. A serious error!
Galatians 3:1-3 "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
To revert back to thinking that righteous acts can make us more acceptable to the Father is a form of being "bewitched" i.e. deceived by Satan.
Jeremiah 17:5 "Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD."
To trust in one's own works is to be under a curse.
E. God desires holy works
Leviticus 11:44 "'For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy."
Good works that come from being born again through faith reflect the very holy nature of the Lord.
1 Peter 1:16 "Be holy, for I am holy."
Hebrews 12:10 "For they (our fathers) indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness."
F. The righteous requirement of the law.
Romans 8:3-4 "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
There is a requirement that is the obligation of every believer.
Matthew 22:35-40 "Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' "This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
The requirement is twofold - Love the Father with all of one's being, and, love our neighbour as ourselves.
Romans 13:8-10 "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law."
The righteous requirement of the law is to LOVE.
Malcolm Vine, Cornerstone Ministries. September 2004.
To contact the Bible School email: bibleschool@cornerstoneministries.org.uk
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