THEY BELIEVED GOD

1) There was once a very summer which resulted in a severe drought.

2) So little rain had fallen a congregation decided to have a prayer meeting for rain.

3) On the appointed day and time every member of the church came.

4) The preacher surveyed the situation and then made an announcement.

HE SAID THE FLOCK LACKED FAITH. IF THEY REALLY BELIEVED GOD WOULD ANSWER THEIR PRAYERS, THEY WOULD HAVE BROUGHT UMBRELLAS. BECAUSE THEY LACKED FAITH THEY WERE ASKED TO GO HOME.

a) It could be argued that the worshippers were praying for rain soon, but not that exact night.

b) In any case this little tale brings to mind the subject of believing God.

2) In Jonah 3:5 we have a verse that says unrighteous people “believed God.”

3) These Ninevites, as noted last week, were not good Bible students.

4) They were outside the covenant of Israel.

5) Thus, their belief was really an acceptance of God and His message.

6) When we look at this verse for our day and time, we find a highly practical passage.

7) We are surrounded by men and women who tell us they have “believed God” or “accepted Jesus.”

8) Similar statements are trusting Christ or receiving the Lord.

9) The scriptures tell us some things about believing in and accepting God.

10) Our first point about believing God is found in Jonah 3:5.

11) The men and women of Ninevah could not believe in/accept deliverance without hearing God’s word.

12) Without a knowledge of God’s message salvation was and is impossible.

13) This was why Jonah had to go to Ninevah.

a) Today it is not uncommon to hear someone say God saved them with a special experience.

b) There was a feeling, dream, or a dramatic event in the life and this resulted in salvation.

c) Statements such as these create a conflict with the scriptures.

d) Certainly God did not save people in the past using these or similar means.

e) Concerning the Ninevites, God could have given this nation all kinds of signs and messages.

f) He could have offered a message in the heavens or upon the earth.

g) The Ninevites were approached by a human messenger who had a message from God.

h) Their salvation came through human teaching, not a supernatural sign or feeling.

14) Today God uses this same tactic, perhaps because it is safe and reliable.

15) We can have all sorts of feelings. Some of them may be right.

16) When we talk about salvation, we are talking about a matter related to eternity.

17) Salvation is something we must access in this life or it is forever gone.

18) We therefore need to be able to know beyond any doubt that God has saved us.

19) God knows this and has therefore devised a special system which is reliable.

20) Consider these verses from the New Testament.

21) Rom. 1:16 says God has a “power” to save people.

22) What is this power? Is it a dream, a vision, a dramatic sign, or a special feeling?

23) Paul said it is the “gospel”—God’s word—the same tool used in Jonah 3.

24) Rom. 10:14 goes even further.

25) Paul asked how someone can “believe” if they have not “heard.”

26) Then he says, “how will someone will hear unless a preacher (teacher) offers instruction?”

27) Verse 15 speaks of presenting “glad tidings” (a good message—the message of salvation).

28) Perhaps to nail the point down even more verse 17 of Rom. 10 offers this plain statement:

29) Faith is created (generated) by hearing God’s word.

30) 2 Thess. 2:14 adds that God “calls” the unsaved through His gospel.

31) This is precisely what we find in the book of Jonah.

32) Faith comes from reading the scriptures or by hearing someone teach from them.

33) We know we are saved by understanding and obeying the New Testament.

34) THIS IS POINT NUMBER ONE. POINT NUMBER TWO BUILDS UPON WHAT WAS JUST SAID.

a) We now know where faith comes from, but what is it like? What is Bible faith?

b) Many in the religious world describe faith as mental belief.

c) Bible faith might be likened to our telling someone our state capital is Indianapolis.

d) Those who hear such a statement accept it as a fact but do nothing with it.

e) Is the faith of the Bible similar to this? Is Bible a dead faith of mere acceptance?

35) Faith includes acceptance about God and His word, but it goes a lot further.

36) Let’s again take a close look at the third chapter of Jonah.

37) Verses 5-6 are what will be read – READ.

38) The Ninevites believed God, but their faith went much further than the mind.

39) A prophet’s preaching led them to understand that faith includes activities.

40) Faith is alive, obedient, and dynamic.

a) After the Ninevites gained faith through the prophet’s preaching, they “proclaimed a fast.”

b) They clothed themselves in sackcloth (a sign of their repentance and sorrow for sin).

c) Nineveh’s king got off his throne and did what everyone else was doing.

41) He put aside his robe and sat in ashes.

42) As noted a moment ago, the modern concept of faith says we believe God and do nothing else.

43) Anyone who says that faith includes activity is often treated as radical.

44) Our example from Jonah 3 conclusively shows that true Bible faith is not faith alone.

45) Faith means doing whatever God required.

a) Many try to discount this information by saying anything we do would cause us to earn salvation.

b) If there is any act other than mental faith and acceptance, we are trying to pay our way to heaven.

46) This is a serious charge because the Bible clearly says we cannot earn eternal life.

47) When we look at the Ninevites, would we say they earned their preservation?

48) Were they working their way out of death?

49) These people earned nothing. They could not personally pay for their debt of sin.

50) It was only by God’s grace that they and even Jonah could be saved (Jonah 4:2).

A FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE IS THAT TRUE BIBLE FAITH IS ACTIVE. IT IS ACTIVE FOR THE CHRISTIAN, AND IT MUST BE ACTIVE IF SOMEOEN WANTS TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN.

a) The Ninevites demonstrate this but they are only the tip of the iceberg concerning Bible faith.

b) Moving from Jonah 3, I want to take us to the 11^th chapter of Hebrews.

c) Heb. 11:7 says Noah “prepared an ark by faith.”

d) Notice how the writer closely joined together two words: faith and prepared.

e) Why join these two terms together?

f) Jas. 2:26 says that faith without works is dead.

g) Man is not justified by faith alone (Jas. 2:24, KJV).

h) No one believes Noah built an ark by mere mental belief.

i) He could not prepare the ark by staying inside his house and praying several times a day.

j) Neither could he hope real hard year after year that an ark would one day appear.

k) This ancient man had to get his hands dirty.

2) For some of the labor he may have hired helpers.

3) However this craft was created by “preparations” on his part.

4) Ancient Biblical characters understood that faith is active; Bible faith has never been faith alone.

5) Heb. 11:8 turns to another Old Testament character—Abraham.

6) Abraham had “faith” and the writer says this faith led him to “obey.”

7) Listen to how naturally these words go together when written by the Biblical author.

8) READ Heb. 11:8.

9) Abraham’s obedient faith gave him no basis (reason) to boast or gloat.

10) He was a sinful man who recognized that his faith required him to be obedient to God’s commands.

11) Abraham man has a wife. Hebrews 11 says that she too had faith, but it was not faith alone.

12) Here is how verse 11 in this same chapter reads – READ Heb. 11:11.

13) Sarah had “faith” to “conceive seed.”

a) I have known wives who wanted to have a baby.

b) A woman can believe and hope day after day, but belief and hope alone are not enough.

c) Mere hope—no matter how strong—will never be enough to result in pregnancy.

d) Faith must be accompanied by action.

14) Again and again the Hebrew writer drove this point home in the 11^th chapter of this book.

15) He believed it was important to show that true faith is not faith alone.

16) He even used baby Moses to illustrate this point.

17) Heb. 11:23 says Moses needed to be protected.

18) During this period of Hebrew history male children were being killed.

19) If Moses had not been protected he would have died.

20) Moses’ parents had “faith” but faith alone was not going to save the future leader of Israel.

21) According to the Hebrew writer, Moses’ parents had to “hide” him for three months.

22) Faith + works saved Moses from a king’s wrath.

23) Faith + works saved the Ninevites, gave Sarah a baby, and rescued Noah and his family.

24) Faith saved the Israel as the Egyptians were pursing them (Heb. 11:29), but it was not faith alone.

25) Those Hebrews had to march through a sea bottom that God miraculously opened & dried for them.

26) Jericho’s walls fell down by faith (verse 30), but the Old Testament says it was not faith alone.

IN SPITE OF ALL THESE REFERENCE IT IS STILL COMMON TO HEAR SOMEONE SAY, “WELL, YOU TEACH SALVATION BY WORKS.” WHEN PEOPLE HEAR ANY REFERENCE TO AN ACTIVE FAITH OR A WORKING FAITH THEY ALMOST INSTANTLY CONCLUDE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT EARNING SALVATION.

a) All these charges are false.

b) Consider again some of the people described in Heb. 11.

c) There was Noah who built an ark.

d) Was it the building of the ark that saved Noah?

27) Did Noah save himself by craftsmanship so good the ark stayed afloat for the entire voyage?

28) He was saved by the grace of God.

29) In order to access this grace, he had to be obedient and this is exactly what he did by “preparing” an ark.

30) He had an active faith that did what God told him to do.

31) Such can also be said for the parents of Moses.

32) It was not their shrewdness and cleverness that saved their child.

33) Moses was not saved because mom put him in the best basket ever made.

34) God’s grace saved that baby. However, that grace was accessed by an obedient faith.

35) One of the hardest lessons to communicate to people today is that faith is obedient.

36) James specifically says that faith alone will not work, and Heb. 11 repeatedly illustrates this point.

37) An obedient faith is needed by Christians and non-Christians.

38) If we have faith, is it a living, active, and a compliant faith?

39) Has our faith led us to repentance, confession of Christ, and baptism for the forgiveness of sins?