The Plan of Salvation: Believe I. Introduction A. Let us continue our examination into God's plan of salvation 1. Hear, believe, confess, repent, be baptized, be obedient B. We have already examined the need to hear the Gospel 1. Hearing is essential so as to know the Gospel and know the need to obey it 2. On the other hand, to hear requires one to tell and preach 3. Likewise, to tell and to preach requires one sent to do so 4. All Christians ought to strive to preach and tell the Gospel so that more can hear C. Now let us examine the next facet of the plan of salvation: the need to believe II. Believing for Salvation A. The Scriptures widely attest the need to believe in order to be saved B. Acts 16:31 1. When the Philippian jailer recognized the power in the faith of Paul, he desired to be saved 2. Paul's response to him was that he needed to believe C. Romans 10:9-10 1. To believe from the heart that God raised Christ from the dead leads to salvation D. 1 John 5:13 1. John writes so that those who believe in Christ may know that they have eternal life E. These-- and many other Scriptures-- attest to the great need to believe in Christ to obtain salvation F. On the other hand, there is much confusion in the religious world regarding the nature of belief 1. it is good, then, for us to examine belief deeper 2. What does the Bible mean when it commands you to believe? 3. Let us examine what we can see about how the Bible speaks of belief III. Defining "Believe" A. "To believe" as giving mental assent to a proposition 1. What does this mean? It means to give mental affirmation to, much like what we would do with facts 2. "I believe that two plus two equals four" represents this belief-- someone gives approval to the idea, or proposition, that 2+2=4 3. Under this definition, "to believe" is when one gives mental assent to the proposition that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God 4. We certainly are to give mental assent to the proposition that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that God is one, and agree to all truths in the New Testament 5. ...on the other hand, is belief limited to mere intellectual assent to a proposition? 6. The Bible does use "to believe" as "mental assent to a proposition" a. James 2:19 b. demons, of course, give mental assent to the proposition that God is one-- that God is Lord, and all that-- and on account if it, they shudder! c. would we say that the demons will be saved because they "believe"? 7. It ought to be manifest, then, that belief in the New Testament is more than simple mental assent to a proposition B. "To believe" as "to entrust, trust in" 1. Even in English we use "to believe" in this way 2. We speak of "believing" in someone, or in the United States, or some such thing 3. What does that mean? It means that we have confidence in someone or something, and to have confidence requires some measure of trust 4. The Bible also uses "believe" explicitly in this way a. 1 Timothy 1:11, Titus 1:3: Paul as entrusted with the Gospel b. John 2:24: Jesus did not "entrust" Himself to the people 5. Therefore, it is certain that part of us "believing" in Christ is having confidence in Him, trusting in Him 6. We have trust that Jesus is Lord, that He is the authority, and have full confidence in Him 7. Yet, when Paul and others speak of belief that leads to salvation, does it only represent intellectual assent and trust? C. The Denotation of Belief 1. The use of "to believe" in the New Testament seems to denote far more than simple mental assent and trust in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God 2. "To believe" denotes that one will trust in Christ Jesus... and therefore to do the things which He has commanded! 3. We gain some indication of this from John 6:29, that the "work of God" is to "believe in the One whom He has sent" 4. Many may try to explain this verse away by saying that Jesus is simply accommodating the Jews in their language in verse 28, yet there is no reason to resort to such a thing 5. Another passage is Mark 16:16, where Jesus establishes that while the one who believes will be baptized, the one who does not believe will manifestly not do any such thing 6. While belief, explicitly, represents the mental assent to Jesus the Christ and trusting in Him, it further requires to heed the one whom you trust D. To further reinforce this denotation, let us look further into the word meaning "to believe" IV. Pisteuo and pistis A. The Greek word that is translated as the verb "to believe" is pisteuo B. Interestingly, its nominal form, pistis, is only rarely translated by the English nominal form "belief" 1. In the ESV, it is only found at 2 Thessalonians 2:13 2. Other versions may have some instances in other locations C. It is not because the word is used infrequently-- it's found around 244 times in the New Testament! 1. In the New Testament, pistis is normally translated as "faith"! 2. Faith, then, is the nominal-- noun form-- of the verb "to believe" D. "To believe", then, is "to have faith," and "belief" = "faith" 1. This is why we do not necessarily speak of "faith" in the plan of salvation, since the plan denotes action, and "faith" in a verb form is "to believe" 2. It also means that the characteristics of faith, as described in the New Testament, as a state of being also reflect the action of belief E. Let us then examine the nature of faith V. The Nature of Faith A. Faith is also misunderstood in the religious world, and let us look into the Scriptures to examine the nature of faith B. Faith, defined Biblically, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1) 1. assurance: Greek hupostasis, literally, "a setting under," or "support" 2. faith is our conviction regarding the authority and person of Jesus Christ C. Faith is the state of having belief-- the state of having the mental assent to and trust in Jesus as the Christ D. Yet is faith only a mental exercise? E. James 2:14-26 1. James here affirms that faith without works is dead 2. This passage is much maligned, and some attempt to play semantical games regarding faith coming first and then works from it in order to separate works here from faith 3. Yet when we consider the origin of such things, the argument ends up being like whether the chicken or the egg came first! 4. Can faith exist without its life-giving force? Can works be valuable without their driving force? 5. Consider James 2:26: when a human being is born, we only speak of a good birth when there is both body and active life-force within the body; likewise, when one becomes a Christian, there must be both faith and works of obedience going along with that faith, quickening that faith! F. In truth, faith and works are intertwined-- that is why even though we are not saved by works, we cannot be saved without them! G. The Scriptures themselves speak of the need to have an obedient faith-- a faith that obeys, or actively works toward the standard of, God 1. Romans 1:5, Romans 16:26 2. The examples of faith showing obedience in Hebrews 11 3. 1 Peter 1:21-22 H. It is manifest, then, that obedience is inherent in faith if such a faith will lead to salvation VI. Faith and Belief A. Since faith denotes obedience along with conviction and trust, and this is established from the Scriptures, let us return to its active form, "to believe" B. Just as faith denotes obedience, so also believing denotes acting in accordance with God's commands 1. 1 John 2:3-6: we can establish that we know Christ and walk with Him if we do His commandments 2. While such may not be explicitly part of the meaning of belief and faith in the New Testament, we have seen that by necessity saving belief and faith will involve doing His commands, being obedient to Him C. To believe in Christ, then, is to give mental assent to and trust in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God 1. Yet the New Testament indicates that such a belief will have along with it obedience and deeds corresponding to that belief and faith 2. We cannot really separate belief and faith from obedience and works and have the faith that will lead to salvation! VII. Conclusion A. We have examined the nature of belief 1. To believe in Christ is to give mental assent to Him being the Lord, the Son of God, and trusting in Him 2. That belief-- faith-- will have along with it obedience, for faith without works is dead 3. We cannot speak of separating obedience from belief/faith, for both are necessary for salvation! B. Let us then strive to be rightly called believers, not only professing Christ Jesus, but also striving to obey His will C. Invitation/songbook D. Where do you stand today? E. Have you previously not believed in Christ? 1. As we have seen in the Scriptures, there is no salvation without believing in Christ Jesus! 2. Come to obedient faith today F. Do you believe in Christ? 1. Do you strive to be obedient to match your profession? 2. If you have not, we can help pray with you and encourage you today 3. Or perhaps you have, but require encouragement to keep striving G. Whatever we can do to help, let us do so now; come to the front as we stand and sing