Is My Faith Legit? | Theocast

Is your faith genuine? We all struggle. We all wrestle. We all doubt. That's part of what it means to be fallen, but this produces real questions: Is the message regarding faith in Christ legitimate? If so, what is saving faith? How should we define it? And what about that bit about the demons believing? Jon and Justin seek to answer these questions from the Scripture and from the confessions.

Semper Reformanda: The guys give pastoral counsel to the person who is wrestling with the legitimacy of his/her faith. (Hint: Our counsel involves the local church.) We also talk a little more about the state of the church in our day.

Resources:

[dbrianc]

"Moral performance doesn't mean you have strong faith" 🙏🔥

[scottsinger]

Besides the good news of Jesus Christ, this episode is good news for me to go back to again and again!
Praise God!!

[abemontes]

I ask if my faith is real everyday and throughout the day. It never ends, the anxiety never goes away. It gets so bad at times that I get a headache from thinking so much. It's hard to pray, but I manage, and reading the Bible is the hardest because I read things that instead of encouraging me I feel condemned or at least have a good relationship with God.

[jordanhutchinsonifbb]

Thank you guys for this video. I just happened to run across it - it’s something I’ve always struggled with because I’m hard on myself and tend to always feel I’m not doing enough or believing “enough”. And this helped me to really remember to be grounded in knowing that I don’t perfect my own faith, but Jesus does. I put my faith in Him that He finished and is finishing His work.

Seriously helped me a lot hearing this today. Also, I live in Asheville NC as well which is a funny coincidence that I stumbled across this.

God bless you guys!

[Anteater]

This helped me a bit, thank you.
I don’t love people in the way everyone else does. I don’t have affectionate feelings towards anyone (not even my family. My grandparents died and it didn’t bother me or make me sad or cry) and not even to God either. This troubles me as it makes me feel like I have a stony heart and mustn’t be born again. I see people at church and they truly love God - you can see the love of Jesus in their hearts. I don’t have that and I also don’t seem to appreciate Jesus as I should.
When I get downcast like this, I pray to God to change my heart and when He is silent it makes me struggle with faith. It makes me think things like ‘why won’t God answer me or help me to know I am really born again so that I can stop worrying about my problem with love’.

[minorsingingairhead]

A doubting Christian does not need to check on _his_ legitimacy, he needs to check on the legitimacy of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The legitimacy of one's faith has to be determined by the object of one's faith.

[medicchrist]

This whole mention of “easy believeism” always makes me laugh. What do you believe in, hard believeism? Look, the Bible says you are saved by believing. The Bible says the moment you believe you are sealed until the day of redemption. The Bible says that when you believe you have passed from death to life. The Bible says when you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth you are justified and saved. There isn’t anything complicated about that. It IS easy. It’s by BELIEF. MEN complicate it with religion. You are saved by trusting in Christ. Period.

[graftme]

I love the "ghost busters" comment. 😂

[sdw]

I'm an ex Catholic, and it sounds close enough to make me uncomfortable.

[kirkdennis]

The head and heart dichotomy is a false dichotomy. James 2 talks about the demons believing that God is one but they dont believe the gospel.

The difference between a false convert and a true convert is the object they believe.

[davidkeel]

Acts 17:30
King James Version
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent. My question is would God call people to repent if they
weren't capable of repenting? Thanks

[mikefanofmovies]

"Thus says The Lord: It is the penitent man who shall know God, and penitent you must be; die to yourselves daily. Cast off the skin of this world and walk with Me as I am, and not as you would have Me be.
Beloved ones, do you long to obey? Then obey. Do you wish to stay clean? Then stay clean. Doubt is your enemy, doubt is a stone of stumbling at your feet. For I tell you the truth, one whose faith has come to completion, having received the full revelation of who I am, will not sin. For only the face of The Holy One is before their eyes.
Beloved ones, only One is without sin, The Son of Man. Yet the desire to sin is still within you, and now also The Truth, and so the battle rages. Therefore, beware. For doubt leads to disobedience, and to disobey God is sin, and the penalty of sin is death. Yet I have overcome death, having written your name in the Book of Life from the very foundation of the world. What is left then? Only the death of sin itself, and the passing away of death.
Beloved, cast off your sins, depart quickly from temptation, and to the accuser turn a deaf ear. For I tell you the truth, evil has lost its grip on the redeemed... Therefore hear My words, and also do them; give heed to My speech, and embrace all I have given you; drink deeply from this cup, and be created anew, says The Lord your Redeemer."

~

"Thus says The Holy One of Israel: What is the knowledge of man? Is it not a stone of stumbling? And the pride of man, a rock of offense? How then shall the blind see or the deaf hear, unless I heal them? Or how shall one grab hold of the line, unless it is first placed within their reach?
Yet all those who call of themselves Christian seek out knowledge, only to proclaim their own glory before men. Indeed, they proclaim falsely that they know the Way, though they remain lost in their own deceptions. For as it is written: My people are foolish and have no understanding; they are skilled at doing evil, but of doing good they have no knowledge;[1] they refuse to obey the voice of The Living God, nor will they receive correction. Behold, truth has perished among them; it has altogether been cut off from their mouths![2]
Yet My servants are wise. They fear The Lord, and wait upon Me with all patience and faith, doubting nothing, humble servants who study My Word, [3] knowing I am The Author and The Finisher thereof. When they wake and when they lie down, I am there; I am their life, and they are My joy, says The Lord.
Therefore when My servants come to an impasse in My Word, according to their own understanding, what is their reaction? They continue on, without hindrance or doubt. For their relationship with The Author is intimate, their trust without reservation. Thus they remain at peace, and wait upon The Lord for the light of understanding, knowing in their heart every word is true, ready to receive the spirit of the Word, stumbling not over its letter. And until My people are established firmly upon this premise, they will remain daunted, striving to see but never fully understanding, straining to hear but remaining dull of hearing.

Thus for My wise and faithful servants,
All barriers are removed...
For their peace is in the knowing,
I AM WHO I AM, though they yet
Stand at the beginning, unable to see the end...
An heir of all I will reveal to them
When the fullness of time has come in...

Says The Lord.

[1]Jeremiah 4:22
[2]Jeremiah 7:28
[3]2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)"

[CorgiGirl]

I think you need to explain James 2 more thoroughly than just picking out the one verse 2:19. James 2 is abundantly clear that works are evidence or saving Faith. Without works there is no evidence of saving faith. Not that works saves anyone, but evidence of saving faith needs to be distinguished from just a verbal faith, a sinners prayer. We know non Christians produce good works, but that isn’t going to save them. Faith and works are bound together.