What Are Evidences of Salvation and Faith? – Faith In God, part 1
Does your life reveal the evidence of your faith in Christ? This message teaches us the three basic evidences of faith, and the seven things to look for—and demonstrate—as further evidence.
We need to have a heart for God and, as we do, we will live a life of faith, display a labor of love, and live steadfast in the blessed hope we have in Christ the Lord. We are to continue to grow spiritually in every way if we are to escape the corruption in the world that is caused by sin and evil desires. As we demonstrate faith, love and hope in Christ and the gospel message, the world will see Jesus in us and we will be displaying evidences of our steadfast faith in our times of trials.
Faith In God: Evidence of The Believer’s Election
Jesus came to deliver the people from a much greater and spiritually deadly bondage from sin and disobedience towards God Almighty. The message of the Gospel is powerful. It is the light of the Gospel that shines in the darkness. A message of grace, hope, love, and forgiveness is available to all and to whoever will believe and be saved.
Lives were being touched, changed, healed, and delivered from sin, hopelessness, and spiritual death. The message of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit opens spiritually blind eyes to the truth and sets people spiritually free.
As we demonstrate faith, love and hope in Christ and the gospel message, the world will see Jesus in us and we will be displaying evidences of our steadfast faith in our times of trials.
“Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, NIV).
We need to return to the basics. We need to focus once again on:
Prayer and the word of God.
Study of the scriptures.
Willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts.
Waiting upon the Lord.
Our spiritual walk and our faith in Christ.
Knowing what the bible says is one thing but living it is quite another. We need to have a heart for God and, as we do, we will live the life of faith, display a labor of love, and live steadfast in the blessed hope we have in Christ the Lord, that the world needs so desperately to see. When people see you, they should see Christ in you.
Paul reminds the believers that because they are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, they have the grace and peace of God. Do you have the peace of God in your life? Do you understand the grace of God that is yours because of Jesus? Grace is God’s unmerited favor.
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:2-4).
God has given us all we need to be saved and experience the peace of God in our hearts. I do not believe you can have the peace of God without first having the grace of God. The grace of God comes through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Only after receiving the grace of God will a person experience the peace of God.
Grace is a gift freely given. You can do nothing to earn the grace and mercy of God. Peter goes on to say:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).
We are to continue to grow spiritually in every way if we are to escape the corruption in the world that is caused by sin and evil desires.
3 Evidences: A Basis for Further Evidence
Three evidences that believers display in their lives because of their faith in Christ:
Work produced by faith.
Labor prompted by love.
Endurance inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You are loved by God and chosen by God. The evidence of your salvation and faith is witnessed by the faith, love and hope in Christ the Lord that you display in your lives. The faith that you now embrace in Christ is a faith that produces righteous deeds in your lives for all to see. It is an active faith, and one that continues to grow and produce good works.
Ephesians 2:8-10 says: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Philippians 2:12-13 tells us: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
James 2:20-24 says: You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
The Thessalonian believers displayed their faith in how they lived, a set apart life unto Christ. The believer’s life is a lifetime of actions every day that display one’s faith in Christ. It is living in obedience to the call of God on your life. A person’s faith is seen in their deeds. The body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead (James 2:26).
The second evidence is labor prompted by love. The labor of love is powerful. It is selflessly loving other believers. It is the giving of yourself without asking anything in return. Love comes from the heart of God. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. Love is part of the fruit of the Spirit. A labor of love is more than a deed, it is an attitude and the giving of oneself to serve others. Works focus on deeds; a labor of love comes from the heart. Proclaiming the truth of the Gospel to believers and unbelievers demonstrates the love of God in you and your love for others to come to the saving knowledge of Christ. Christianity is known for and defined by loving Christ and loving others. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).
The believers of Thessalonica expressed their love to fellow believers in Macedonia and Paul commends the believers on their examples of love (see 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10).
As with the work of faith, the labor of love is a continual expression of a believer’s salvation.
The third evidence of a believer’s election and salvation is their steadfast hope, their endurance inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Steadfast hope in Christ is seen in believing the gospel and holding on to the truth of eternal life with Christ in glory. Salvation inspires hope and instructs the believer to live a life of faith and love.
The work of faith and labor of love can be viewed as being both past and present. We placed our faith in Jesus. We demonstrate our love for Jesus along with loving our brothers and sisters everyday as we give of ourselves and serve others and to see all who will come to the saving knowledge of Christ be saved. Hope is looking and trusting in the future.
1 Timothy 4:9-10 says: This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.
Titus 1:1-3 tells us: Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time.
1 Peter 1:21-23 says: Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
Hope is not an empty wish but rather a confident expectation of Jesus’ return and the reason the people of God could stand firm even in times of tribulation, pain and suffering.
“God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 6:18-20).
The three evidences of faith, love and hope, (I believe) are the basis for the other evidence:
Faith in Christ.
Imitators of both Paul and the Lord Jesus.
Joy even in the suffering.
Examples to all believers.
Faithful in proclaiming the gospel.
Turned their backs to the old ungodly worship.
Looked forward to the blessed hope of Jesus return.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:3-11).
7 Evidences of Your Faith
What about you? Does your life reveal the evidence of your faith in Christ beyond words? The evidence of your salvation and election:
Glorifies God Almighty.
Displays God’s grace.
Encourages other believers.
Draws others to Christ.
Confirms the truth of the gospel message.
Instills hope to the hopeless.
Reveals the power of God over sin and has the power to change lives for all eternity.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Suggested Praise and Worship
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