Tested Genuine Faith

Larry Siegle
08/11/24 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: Tested Genuine Faith - L Siegle

Tested Genuine Faith

(I Peter 1:3-12)

Thesis:  Faith that is tested is faith that is genuine

INTRODUCTION

1.    The title of this message is Tested Genuine Faith

2.    These two little boys dug into their fathers “toolbox” and pulled out a clawhammer, went into the backyard and with

        it, they began to dig a hole using the “claw” side to do so.

        a.     The dad came outside a little later and found them digging with his hammer--a nice size hold in the dirt.

               1)    The boys knew the hammer was a “tool”--but they did not understand exactly how to use it properly.

               2)    Can you dig a gigantic hole with a clawhammer?  Absolutely.

        b.    For some people, when they grab hold of a “hammer” everything becomes a “nail” to be pounded.

3.    It was the prophet Jeremiah who likens God’s Word to fire and also a hammer (Jer. 23:29-32).

4.    It is God’s Word that tests the quality of faith of those who receive it--as it chips away at the various aspects of our

        hearts and lives that needs modification and to be shaped into what He wants it to be.

5.    How many of us here are familiar with “UL”?

        a.     “Once upon a time” there was not any product or electronic device that, on the bottom of it, said, “Inspected by

               Underwriters Laboratories” --established in 1894 as an organization that tests the quality and safety of a

               particular product.

        b.    God purpose for the nation of Israel was that they would provide “light” for the nations around them (Isa. 42:6-9).

        c.     God wanted to use Israel to regather the “nations” that had been “scattered” and set aside (Deut. 4:5-8; 32:8, 9,

                47)

        d.    Israel was to become the means through which salvation would come to those very nations (Isa. 49:6; Luke 2:29-

               32).

        e.     Paul, as apostle to the “nations” saw his mission as that of bringing “light” to the nations (Eph. 3:7-11).

        f.      God wants people to be exposed to the “light” of the gospel (Eph. 5:13-17).

        g.     God has “qualified” believers as “holy ones” in the light (Col. 1:12)--genuine faith tested.

GENUINE FAITH TESTED BY PERSECUTION

1.    In 2015, there was a news story that confirms 21 men were beheaded by ISIS for their refusal to “deny Christ”--they

        refused to be moved even with the threat of death--genuine faith tested.

2.    If we were faced with this challenge, how would we respond in the quality of our own faith?

        a.     Believers in the first century was faced with this very challenge (II Tim. 2:11-13).

        b.    All who love God and desire to live a godly life will be subject to persecution (II Tim. 3:10-12).

               1)    This is contrasted with those who are called “imposters” (II Tim. 3:12-17).

               2)    God’s Word and the genuine truth of that Word provides the power to overcome whatever challenge we may

                       face in terms of persecution.

               3)    The Greek word dioko means, “to be pursued, to be harassed, troubled, chased after”

3.    The believers in the first century were being “afflicted” (tribulation) for their faith (II Thess. 1:6-12)

        a.     This “suffering” was not a reference to the later persecution that was to come through Rome but rather that

               which had come from Israel “according to the flesh” (Gal. 4:21-31).

        b.    The genuineness of their faith was being put to the test (I Pet. 3-9).

        c.     The one who endured to the “end” would be saved or delivered (Matt. 10:16-22).

UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE

1.    The boys with the “hammer” were using it as a “tool” but not exactly according to the original intent of the ones who

        had designed it.

2.    All of us here this morning, woke up, got ourselves dressed to come to this location to read and to study a book that is

        completely foreign to us on so many levels.

        a.     It was written and directed to an ancient civilization and culture--completely different from ours in the 21^st

               century.

        b.    It was written in languages different then our own (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek),

        c.     What was easily understood within the context of the ancient near eastern mindset, is a challenge to us today in

               order to grasp the beauty and significance of what God was saying at the time.

3.    Sometimes in our own studies, we are like those boys in the backyard with the clawhammer using it to dig a hole.

4.    Once we lay aside all of our preconceptions, our filters, our modern lenses, and begin to look at this sacred document

        from the perspective of an Israelite living 2,000 years in our past, we can better appreciate the message and meaning

        that it has for us today.

GENUINE FAITH TESTED

1.    Whatever form the “testing” of our faith takes today is to be understood within the context of what God promised to

        those who were firm in their desire and commitment to honor and to serve God then.

2.    God’s desire for us today is to remain as a light to the “nations” all around us--whose morals, customs, concepts, and

        ideas are vastly different from what God has called us to become and to be for Him each day.

        a.     Nothing has changed about the “message” of the “gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16, 17; I Cor. 1:18).

        b.    Believers must stand where God stands, and to have a determination not to allow anything to draw us away from

               the message and genuineness of our faith and trust in Him.

CONCLUSION

1.    Are we determined to be the “holy ones” (people of God) here in this community in the 21^st century no matter what

        the cost may be?

2.    Is our faith genuine rooted in the message and meaning of God’s Word?

3.    Is what we do here on Sundays just a “routine” or meaningless “exercise” or do we really understand the depth and

        meaning--the extent of God’s love for us and what means to us each and every day?

4.    There is a “cost” involved in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and our participation in the meaning of that

        event.