Let me define faith for you.
Faith is a radical heart commitment
to entrust myself and my life to God
that results in a radical change
in the way that I live my life.
So, we've looked at the concept of hope.
We've looked at the concept of spiritual safety,
and then we want to finally look at the concept of faith.
This is Verse 9 of first chapter of 1 Peter.
"Obtaining the outcome of your faith,
the salvation of your souls."
I am so glad that we can spend these months together
in 1 Peter, this letter that is so current,
that speaks with such power to the experiences
we're having in this particular generation of Christianity.
And what is this thing, faith, that Peter is talking about?
"Obtaining the outcome of your faith,
the salvation of your souls."
I think there's so much confusion around faith.
I know in these studies, I've given this example before,
but I was speaking on faith to a small group.
And I said to ask the question for somebody.
I said, "Just define faith for me."
Someone says, "Well, it means to trust."
I said, "Well, what does it mean to trust?"
Someone else said, "Well, it means to believe."
I said, "What does it mean to believe?"
And somebody said, "Well, it means to have faith."
We had just come full circle.
Let me define faith for you.
Faith is a radical heart commitment
to entrust myself and my life to God
that results in a radical change
in the way that I live my life.
I love Hebrews 11:7.
It says,
"In defining faith, we must believe that he exists."
That's the heart, conceptual aspect of faith.
"And that he rewards those who seek him."
That's the living aspect of faith.
Notice the description here in Verses 8 and 9.
I just love this:
Though you have not seen him, you love him.
Though you do not see him, you believe in him
and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible
and filled with glory,
obtaining the outcome of your faith,
the salvation of your souls.
Five things about faith.
First of all, it's not based on what you can see.
We serve a God who we can't visibly see
and we can't audibly hear,
we can't physically touch.
Faith involves the love of your heart.
Your life is shaped by what you love the most.
And it says here:
Though you do not see him, you believe in him,
and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible
and filled with glory,
obtaining the outcome of your faith,
the salvation of your souls.
Though you haven't seen him, you love him.
It's expressed in joyful gratitude.
"Rejoice with joy that is inexpressible
"and filled with glory."
I would ask you this question.
Do you celebrate more than you complain?
Do you give thanks more than you grumble?
Faith is joyful because it's rooted
in the awesome, amazing gift of God's grace in his son.
"Obtaining the outcome of your faith,
the salvation of your souls."
The epicenter of faith is God's saving work
and saving promises.
I believe that I am his,
both now and forever.
I believe that I've been forgiven.
I believe that I'm indwelt by the spirit.
I believe that I'm being transformed by his grace.
That's the epicenter of my faith.
And then it's convinced of the outcome,
even though
in between the already and not yet is messy and confusing,
I know God will be faithful to his promises.
Now, if you're going to exercise that kind of faith,
you need to be in his word
and you need to embrace his work,
because his word and his work is what faith is about.
The life of faith is a life of joy
ultimately involving
my surrendering my glory to the glory of this one,
who is so loving, so giving, so merciful,
so powerful, so faithful,
and has unleashed all of that for my good.
Faith is a radical commitment of the heart
that radically changes the way that you live your life.