4 - Faith
Have Some Faith
“Without Faith it is Impossible to Please God”
- Mark 11:22, Mk 10:15, Lk 18:17, Mt 9:29
October 19th 2008 NPCF
Today we are... continuing in our series “Life According to Jesus” by talking about faith...
If you were to type the word “faith” into the Goggle Search engine on the internet you would generate 21,200,000 hits or references to the word faith.
You would find websites on everything from promise keepers to websites on every religious group known to man, and some that aren’t known.
You would find reference, Catholicism Confusism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses and Behia “A religion that believe that all those religions including Christianity speak of the same god.”
You would find references to belief in Satan, devil worship, scientology, Egyptology, new age beliefs, crystals, Clown Worship and yes even Elvis.
I may have told you this before but I was told a story by a friend about a man who was going through the steps in AA; who had to have a higher power so he developed a religion where gravity was his higher power. He prayed to gravity for strength to overcome his addictions. He put his hope to be free from addiction in Gravity!
As crazy as that might sound, many people today have put their faith and hope in their job, their intellect, their money, or their power. Some have put their faith and hope in their ability to be self sufficient. Many in today’s culture have put their faith and hope in mother earth, and truly believe that it is the created world that will be the savior of mankind. Some are putting their faith in John McCain or Barak Obama…
We live in a world that is searching for some eternal meaning to life, we live in a world that is looking for something to believe in; something to place their faith in; something that will give them hope and a future… and we the Church have the answer, to what they are looking for!
Unfortunately, many will never find the source of true biblical faith! Jesus said “I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me.
When it comes to spiritual truth, when it comes to eternal life, when it comes to a true hope and a true future there is only one place to put your faith, and that is in the saving power of Jesus!
That is what we the church, that is what we have to offer a lost and dying world!
This morning I would like to explore with you what biblical faith is, where we get it, and what it means for our life today:
In very simple terms faith means to have belief or trust in someone or something...
Another definition is a firm belief in something for which there is no empirical proof… something that cannot be scientifically measured…
We all live by faith... I just got back from Chicago a couple days ago... To get their I had to fly... which means I had to have some level of faith that the plane would not fall out of the sky... I like to fly and have considerable faith in airplanes but I know folks who don’t share my faith in aviation and fly is not as enjoyable for them...
We have faith every morning when we get up and flip on the light switch that the lights will come on...
How many of you have been in a power outage?
How many of you knowing that power was out walked over and flipped the light switch expecting the light to come on?
That is a picture of faith... faith means our actions follow what we believe to be true...
So in a very broad sense faith means to have a belief or trust in someone or something where there is no empirical proof...
Today we are going be talking specifically about faith in Christ...
According to the dictionary that is a belief in, a trust in and a loyalty to God
Jesus told his disciples to have faith; He corrected them when they had too little faith... He demonstrated to them the power of faith...
The word faith is used 299 times in the New Testament... faith is noun, it’s verb counterpart is believe. Believe is found 249 times in the New Testament that means 548 times in the new testament it talks about faith or belief...
We talk a lot about faith in church... We are people of faith, we are saved by faith, we pray by faith, and we say we have faith... we follow the Christian faith... Faith is a central theme of the church...
In Mark 11:22 “Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.””
So the Bible talks a lot about faith, Jesus talked a lot about faith, the Church talks a lot about faith, we know we are supposed to have and live by faith...
BUT WHAT IS BIBLICAL FAITH?
IS IT JUST AN INTELECTUAL BELIEF?
There was a little boy who was caught in a house fire. He could not get out of the burning house but he was able to climb up out onto the roof of the burning home. He was on the roof of his two story house with flames and smoke all around him... He began to cry for his dad. The father looked up at his son from the ground, and told him to jump.
The little boy said “I can’t see you daddy, how will you catch me?”
The father said, “I can see you, just jump”.
Without further hesitation the boy jumped into his father’s arms.
That is faith, believing that your heavenly father will catch you even though you can’t see him… and because you believe in your heavenly father you are willing to jump… Faith is a belief that motivates us to action… (REPEAT)
Today I want to start by looking at three passages that give us some insight into Biblical Faith
1. First is Hebrews 11:1
HEBREWS 11:1 (ESV)
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
This is not really a formal definition of faith; rather it is a description of what faith does for us.
It is faith that makes things hoped for as real as if they had already happened, and faith provides unshakable evidence that the unseen, spiritual blessings of Jesus are certain and true.
Faith is not like saying I hope I get that promotion or I hope I get a new BMW for Christmas...
It is faith that gives us certainty that the promises of God are true and will come to pass...
Biblical faith would never say I think I’m going to heaven... Biblical Faith says I know I am going to heaven...
I believe far too many Christians live their lives hoping they will go to heaven instead of knowing they are going to heaven... They live their lives saying the right words but never having true biblical faith... they are waiting for God to act before they truly believe... but God will never act until you believe He will act...
PSALM 37:5 (ESV)
5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
Biblical Faith is confidence in the trustworthiness of God.
Faith is the conviction that what God says is true and that what He promises will come to pass.
This is illustrated in the life of the missionary Hudson Taylor. “When Hudson Taylor, first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of cannibal islands the ship was caught in a calm where there was no wind and the ship was slowly drifting toward the shore…
The savages on the island were on shore with their spars eagerly anticipating a feast.
The captain came to Mr. Taylor and sought him to pray for the help of God. ‘I will,’ said Taylor, ‘provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.’ The Captain declined to make himself a laughing stock by unfurling the sails in a dead calm.
Taylor said, ‘I will not undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails.’ So the captain set the sails and Hudson began to pray expecting God to act!
While Hudson was praying, there was a knock at the door of his stateroom.
The captains voice came booming through the door ‘Are you still praying for wind?’
Hudson replied ‘Yes.’
‘Well,’ said the captain ‘you better stop praying for we have more wind than we can manage.’”
Faith is not being able to feel the wind but setting the sails anyway knowing that God is going to send it... Faith is believing God is going to act…
The Second Verse I want to look at is Hebrews 11:6
HEBREWS 11:6 (ESV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Faith is a requirement of salvation… because without true biblical faith you can’t believe in the one true God… So faith has to be something more than intellectual consent… Because if you don’t believe in God you can’t have faith in God, and you can’t have faith in God unless you believe in God… That means Biblical faith is not something we manufacture or consent to… faith is given to us…
EPHESIANS 2:8-9 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
You must believe in and trust in Christ in order to be saved... You must have faith...
JOHN 3:16 (ESV)
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
That could be translated to say who ever has faith in him should not perish but have eternal life.
So we must realize that both grace and faith are from God...
The Third section of Scripture I want to look at is James 2:14-26
JAMES 2:14-26 (ESV)
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
JOHN CALVIN, SAID, "IT IS FAITH ALONE THAT JUSTIFIES, BUT FAITH THAT JUSTIFIES CAN NEVER BE ALONE." Faith and works are inseparable… Works alone will not save you… but faith without works is not Biblical Faith.
James can at first glance seem problematic to the Idea that we are saved by grace through faith...
Marin Luther came up with the doctrine of “Sola Fide” meaning we are saved by faith alone... and he was so troubled by the Book of James that he didn’t believe it was actually part of the Bible.
But this passage in James in not problematic if you look at from the proper perspective... the message that is being spoken is that true faith should be seen in how we live our life...
Works do not save us... you cannot work your way to heaven.
Intellectual Belief cannot save us... The demons believe in Jesus... Satan knows him... but they do not have Biblical Faith... and their actions prove that...
But if you have faith... If you believe that God really is God... and that his word is true... If you believe that with certainty... Then it only makes sense that your life should line up with that belief... RIGHT...
Billy Graham had this to say about faith and works and their relationship to each other: "There really is no conflict between faith and works. In the Christian life they go together like inhaling and exhaling. Faith is taking the Gospel in; works is taking the Gospel out." Actually, what James is saying is: you can’t have one without the other.
So faith and works go together like breathing in and breathing out…
So Biblical Faith is a complete trust and belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is necessary for salvation and without it you can never please God. True faith always results in action.
So where does BIBLICAL FAITH come from…
That is a twofold answer:
first is faith is something that is given by the Holy Spirit…
GALATIANS 5:22-23 (ESV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
ROMANS 12:3 (ESV)
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
So this faith that motivates us to action is not something that we muster up on all on our own… It is the result of the Holy Spirit… So as your relationship with Christ grows your faith in Christ should grow… So we need to understand that Faith is not something we can claim as our own doing… Faith is a result of a God’s Grace…
But our Faith grows from hearing God’s Word
ROMANS 10:17 (ESV)
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
GALATIANS 3:2 (ESV)
2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
There has been a study done just recently of over 80,000 Christians and they have found that Christ Centered Christians meaning those who are serious about the Gospel have several things in common...
1. They desire challenging bible based teaching
2. They read the Bible and meditate on it daily...
3. They pray for others
4. They confess their sins to God
5. They serve the kingdom
If you want to strengthen you Faith then you need to spend time in God’s word, you need exercise your faith meaning you need to not just believe but take action... Faith is both a gift and a virtue meaning each of us is given a measure of faith by God but that faith can be strengthened by God’s word and service...
So what can we take home from this?
A dad and his three year old boy were playing one hot summer day in a shallow pool that was about 5’ deep “The three year old felt secure in his dads arms as he stood in the 3’ end of the pool.
But dad, for fun, began walking slowly toward the deep end, gently chanting, it’s getting deeper and deeper and deeper,’ as the water rose higher and higher on the child.
The boys face registered increasing degrees of panic
He held all the more tightly to his father’s neck… and it finally got to the point where the young boy became actually terrified… The dad of course, could easily touch the bottom anywhere in the pool and the young boy was never in any real danger.
Had this three year old been able to analyze his situation, he’d have realized there was no reason for increased anxiety.
The water’s depth in any part of the pool was over his head. Even in the 3’ part, had he not been held up by his dad, he would have drowned but the boy seemed to have enough faith in his father for the shallow end but he didn’t have enough faith for the deep end… That little boy did not need to hold on to his father because that father was not going to let his boy go whether he was in the 3’ section or in the 5’ section… he was safe anywhere in the pool because of his dad…
YOU KNOW
At various points in our lives, all of us feel we are getting in over our head –we lose our job, a love one dies, we get the test results back and they are positive, our friend asks us about Jesus.
Our temptation is to panic, for we feel – we’ve lost control. We have enough faith for when things are going well but when things are taking us deeper sometimes we begin to lose it.
Yet, but just like the boy in the pool, the truth is we’ve never been in control over the most valuable things of life. We’ve always been held up by the grace of God, our Father, that does not change.
God is never in over his head… and therefore we’re as safe in the deep end as we are in the shallow end… and true biblical faith says God I trust you and will serve you no matter where you take me in the pool.
Perhaps God wants to move you ‘deeper’ than ever before. Maybe God has been speaking to you about a ministry he wants you to be a part of, maybe you have just received some bad news about your job or your health, maybe your neighbor really needs to know Jesus…
It is faith that will give you confidence and conviction to worship God faithfully no matter what your circumstances might be… AS Jesus said in Mark 11:22 Have faith in God.
Let’s Pray…
Next week we will be talking about forgiveness…