Sunday Service Sermon 10.26

The Beginning of Faith – Genesis 4:1-16; Hebrews 11:4

 DEFINE FAITH – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

• Faith = assurance, conviction, trust
• Assurance = support, concrete confidence
• Hoped for = expectation, promise
• Evidence = proof
• Things not seen = things not seen
• Faith is trust based on concrete confidence in an unfailing God who has made specific promises that cannot be broken, and that confidence produces tangible proof of what we have not yet seen.

Notes from the text:

• Both men came ______________ God.
• Both men brought _________________
• One sacrifice was _________________

º it was _________________ – Hebrews 9:22

º It was the ______________ of the ________ of his own hands

º It was brought forth from the ______________ that had already         been  ______________

º It was a ____________________ of the fig leaf attempt to ___________ sin.

• One sacrifice was ___________________

º It was a sacrifice that included _________________ and ___________

º It was not the fruit of his own ____________

º It was a sacrifice that even though under the curse carried in it the _____________ of life

º It was a representation of the _________________ provided by God to ____________ sin.

Here we see the real beginning of faith and its true meaning –  faith which is able to save goes beyond mere intellectual assent and includes the following principles:

• the act of considering the Lord Jesus worthy of _________ as to His character and motives,
• the act of placing confidence in His ____________ to do just what He says He will do,
• the act of entrusting the _________________ of his soul into the hands of the Lord Jesus,
• the act of committing the _________ of salvation to Jesus alone
• The act of taking oneself out of one’s own _____________ and entrusting oneself into the keeping of the Lord Jesus.
• the act of connecting _________ with __________________ to the demands of the one in whom faith has been placed

Are we like Cain and trying to approach God on our own terms?

In what have we truly placed our faith? Our worth? Our works? OR in the worth and work of Jesus Christ?

Is there a disconnect in our life and lifestyle choices between our professed faith in Christ and our actual obedience of His commands?

Man has invented many ways of justifying intellectual knowledge and calling it faith. God’s intention is for faith to produce true worship and obedience in every part of our lives.