Hebrews 2 Lesson

FAITH

The Hebrew writer begins chapter two by imploring us to put our faith in Jesus.

• “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.  For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” – Hebrews 2:1-3.

Faith is defined as:

“Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” (source: Google's English Dictionary)

As Christians, when we say that we have faith, we are saying that we have complete trust and confidence in Jesus and His ability to save us. 

Is that a statement we are prepared to make, or are we still searching for answers?

What would others say about our faith based on our words and actions?

Do we have complete trust and confidence in Jesus?   Would others say that about us based on our actions?  

If we truly have faith in Jesus, our faith will be reflected not only by what we say but by what we do.  

FAITH IN JESUS

The Bible teaches us that it is our faith in Jesus that saves us. If we place our trust in God and follow the teachings of His Son, God will use us to do incredible things.

Consider the following three Bible verses about faith in Jesus as they relate to your salvation:

1. “For by grace you have been saved through faith;  and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God .” - Ephesians 2:8,
2. “He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” - John 5:24,
3. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life ” - John 3:16.

OBTAINING FAITH

Choosing to follow Jesus and learn about His teachings through the inspired Word of God is a choice.

We can read about this choice in the following passage from the Book of Job:

• “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” –Job 24:15.

Faith is something we can choose to have by committing to following Jesus and reading the Bible.

The Apostle Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans:

• “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” – Romans 10:17.

Once we make the life-changing decision to follow Jesus, the next step is to act on our faith.

FAITH AND WORKS

Faith and works go hand in hand.  

James did a fantastic job of articulating the relationship that exists between faith and works in the following scripture:

• But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”  You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.  But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.  You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.  In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?  For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. – James 2:18-26.

CONCLUSION

The Bible warns us not to neglect the opportunity we have been given to follow Jesus and spend eternity with Him inHeaven. (Hebrews 2:1-3)

All of us have been given free will to decide for ourselves who we are going to follow and how we are going to live our lives. There are two paths that we can take. One leads to Heaven and the other to Hell. We need to take this decision seriously and choose wisely.

We will end today’s lesson with the following scripture:

• “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” – Mathew 7:13-14.