Notes on Faith

Read Hebrews, Chapter 11.

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

John Piper (Desiring God):
Faith - the confidence that Christ has made a way for me, a sinner, to live in His glorious fellowship forever, the confidence that if I come to God through Christ, He will give me the desire of my heart to share His holiness and behold His glory.

This morning I was working on John Piper's book, Desiring God, and even though the entire book is full of insightful thoughts and Scripture, I wanted to share one small section of my notes just to think over.

(Chapter 2: Conversion)
We Are "Called" The Way Jesus Called Lazarus: Death to Life
1. 1 John 5:1 - Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.
2. Faith is the evidence of new birth, not the cause of it.
3. Ephesians 2:5,8 - Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.... By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

This makes sense; the part that really stood out to me was that faith is the evidence of new birth, not the cause of it. John Piper explains it better than I could:

In the New Testament, God is clearly active, creating a people for Himself by calling them out of the darkness and enabling them to believe the gospel and walk in the light. Regeneration (God's work to overcome our hard and rebellious hearts) precedes and enables faith.