Faith (2)

Introduction (Natural Faith)

In a common way, faith or trust underlies how everyone lives. Every time we take a drink of water we trust that it is safe for us to drink because it had been processed the right way. Whenever we go out to eat we trust that the food we select has been stored accurately and prepared rightly. Sometimes we find a surprise that our faith has betrayed us when we end up with food poisoning the next day. (I don’t know about you, but I have not been back to that establishment since). We regularly deposit or cash checks even though the paper they are printed on, in and of itself has no value. We even put our trust in the reliability of the company or person who issues the check. Everytime we get in our cars and turn the key there is a combustion concealed within the engine which consists of spark and gas. Whenever you ignite gas in a concealed area there is an explosion. Well we trust in the designers and builders of our cars that we will not blow up. Everyday we exercise an innate faith in someone or something.

Spiritual Faith

In a similar way, when you have spiritual faith, you willingly accept basic ideas and act on many things you don’t understand. However, your spiritual faith doesn’t operate the same as naturally trusting in objects and people. Natural trust accompanies natural birth, and spiritual trust is a direct result of spiritual birth. The apostle Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”

Spiritual faith is that result brought about by the Holy Spirit, in a persons life, which comes through the hearing of the gospel, Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

Spiritual faith is not a blind faith as some would call it, but rather a faith that is clearly seen in the actions of others based on the truth of God’s Word. Faith can be summed up as simply as believing but it does not stop there. True faith is a faith that does, James 1:22 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

The Pillars of Christian Character What Is Spiritual Faith?

A modern–language version of one of the older church confessions (closely patterned after the Westminster Confession) provides this clear, doctrinal description of practical faith for the believer:

It is of the utmost importance that God’s people have spiritual faith and wholehearted trust in God (Proverbs 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight”). This is a very crucial pillar of Christian character. This is an attitude that we must daily, weekly, monthly, yearly be assured we are cultivating in our lives.

We pray, God help us to grow and be a people of strong faith and then we go about our day as if this will just happen apart from the necessary requirements being met. And those requirements are that we be constantly cultivating the ground of our spiritual life by coming to know God better and better.

There are some great examples throughout Scripture about men of strong faith.

The Pillars of Christian Character What Is Spiritual Faith?

• Moses—“The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will extol Him” (

Now let’s turn together to Hebrews 11:1–3 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”

This is written in a Hebrew poetry style used often in the Psalms, which two parallel and nearly identical statements are made to portray the same thought.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

Faith is the conviction of things not seen.

These two statements are really stating the same thing.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Assurance is an interesting Greek Word. It is the same word used in Hebrews 1:3 “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature. And used in Hebrews 3:14 “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,”

This Greek word describes faith as involving the most solid possible conviction, the God-given present assurance of a future reality.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen, because true faith is not based on empirical evidence, you can not grasp it with physical limitations of the senses like sight, smell, taste, touch, but is based on divine assurance which comes through the Word of God.

Faith is a gift of God Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;” Faith is a gift of God.

Now the author of Hebrews refers to the creation account.

Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”

This is called ex-nihilo that is that everything was made out of nothing, but God spoke into existence that which was not in existence prior to His speaking it into existence.

The opposite of this is found in Romans 1:18–23 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

This is called the common grace of God. God has made Himself known through what has been made and yet it is not enough to know about God, you must know God in a personal intimate saving way. The only thing common grace can do is condemn you. You must believe the God of the Bible and take His word to heart and be saved. Repent of your sins and believe the gospel.

Let us continue to look at these examples of faith.

Hebrews 11:4 “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

Hebrews 11:5 “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

He who comes to God must believe that “He is.” Interesting wording here, the emphasis is on the pronoun “He,” the true God. Genuine faith does not simply believe that a divine being exists, but that the God of Scripture is the only real and true God who exists. Not believing that God exists is equivalent to calling God a liar. 1 John 5:10 “The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.”

Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Hebrews 11:8–10 “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Hebrews 11:11–12 “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”

Hebrews 11:13–16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

This is what Jesus meant when He said, John 17:16 ““They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

We are looking for a heavenly country a city of God. This is what Paul meant in (2 Timothy 4:18 “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” ).

Because we know that we are looking forward because we are looking for our glorification where we will be absent from this sinful body and from the presence of sin as (1 Corinthians 15:50 “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”). this is what true faith is. We are not looking to build an empire here but to live in a city whose builder is God.

This is Hebrews 12:22–24 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.”

Revelation tells us what we are looking for. This is faith, we are not deeply rooted into this wicked world system with its evil ways but into the truth of God’s Word where we long for the presence of God and of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 21:1-9

Revelation 22:6–7 “And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.””

We have faith and our faith is in the revealed Word of the living God the Bible. We have faith because it is a gift of God by grace, that we have received. We have faith to believe in His Son Jesus Christ who is God the Son our Lord and Savior. We have faith in a future glory which has a very present effect on how we live our lives.

I pray that God will truly increase our faith this coming year and that 2026 will be the year that we all sky rocket in faith, live daily to the glory of God, leave a lasting impact for the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people within our spheres of influence.

The Gospel