FAITH
Faith
1. Introduction:
Faith has always been the mark of a disciple of Jesus. Faith or believe are used interchangeably for same meaning. The early disciples were known as BELIEVERS. Faith is fundamental to Christian life and conduct, for we are saved by grace through faith. God is a Spirit and we can only relate to Him by faith. Therefore unless we understand what faith is and actually live by faith we shall be building on crumbling foundations.
Faith means total dependence on God. Faith advances you beyond your five senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching. Faith releases you from your limited capacities. By faith you move from in-ability to His-ability. This is the walk of faith to which all of us are called.
Faith launches the Christian beyond the realm of what is humanly “possible” into the realm where “nothing is impossible with God”.
Mark 9:23“…Everything is possible for him who believes.”
2. Faith is obedience:
Faith is obedient action in response to what God has said. True faith is expressed in
1) Obedience
2) Action, in response to
3) Hearing God’s Word (voice).
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Faith means having trust, assurance or confidence in another person or that person’s words. Having faith in God involves an exchange of self-trust for God-trust. We stop trusting in ourselves and trust Him. We abandon reliance on our limited source of knowledge and start receiving from His unlimited source.
3. The Reason for Faith
Why is it so important to God? Why has He based His plan of salvation on faith? Why does he say that “everything that does not come from faith is sin”? (Romans 14:23).
To understand the reason why faith is so important, we must look again the origin of mankind’s problem – the original temptation (Genesis 3). When Adam sinned, a number of things happened: When Adam sinned, he stepped out of God-dependence into in-dependence (which is unbelief). This is the reason God has placed such a high priority on faith. Faith is the way we come back into relationship with God (God-dependence).
- He stepped out of a God-focus into a self-focus
- He stepped out of a God-consciousness into a self-consciousness
- He stepped out of a God-centeredness into a self-centeredness
- He stepped out of a God-dependence into a self-dependence
Only faith in God reverses this condition. Faith presupposes total dependence on God.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith means having trust, assurance or confidence in God as a person and on His words.
4. Two Sources of Knowledge:
There are two sources of knowledge upon which we can base the decisions of our life.
- Sense Knowledge – All knowledge that comes to a natural man comes via five senses.” The senses are seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching. We evaluate the information and then decide how we should act.
- Revelation Knowledge – This knowledge is not based on the five senses, nor on natural reasoning, but on an alternative source: the truth of God’s Word.
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Sense-based decision making is described in the Bible as “the wisdom of men” (1 Corinthians 2:4-6) and is an integral part of what it means to walk in the flesh.
Walking in the Spirit involves an act of faith – believing the truth of God’s Word, not just the appearance of the Circumstances that confront you. This is described as “the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 2:7,11-14).
Example: Twelve spies (Numbers 13:26-33) The ten spies based their decision to rebel against God on what their five senses told them about the inhabitants of Canaan (verse 33), while the two spies viewed Canaan through the eyes of faith in the promises of God(verse 30).
5. What faith is not?
a. Mere believing about God:
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! They will end up in hell despite their belief.
b. Not Fatalism:
“Whatever will be will be” sounds like respectful trust towards God but that is not faith. Sovereign God who works all things according to the good counsels of His will. But it is in fact a dangerous imitation of faith. The people of Nineveh (Jonah 3) believed God and took action by putting on sackcloth and ashes and calling a fast. The King too issued a decree to change their behavior based on their faith. Finally God honored their faith and forgave them.
c. Not Optimism (or Positive thinking):
There have been many books written on positive thinking. But belief on God is not positive thinking. Positive thinking is man centered but faith is God centered.
d. Not Presumption:
On seeing the children of Israel pass through the Red Sea by faith as on dry land …….Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. (Hebrew 11:29) They just copied the idea of Israelite and failed.
e. Not Self-effort:
Striving in our own strength is the very opposite of faith. Self-effort is yet another instance of dead works.
f. Not Hope:
Hope is directed towards the future, but faith is established in the present.
g. Not Feelings (Or Sense Knowledge):
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. It is not based upon the evidence of our physical senses.
h. Faith is not Mental Assent:
Faith in mind is called head faith. If faith is not with action it is useless. Hebrew 4: For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
6. Basis of Faith:
The basis of having faith in God is in three important realities-
a. The Nature of God (who God is?)
“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself.” Hebrews 6:13
i. He cannot change. “I the Lord do not change… ” Malachi 3:6 (also James 1:17).
ii. He cannot fail. “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” Job 42:2 (also 1Chronicles 28:20).
iii. He cannot lie. “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?” (Numbers 23:19,Titus 1:2).
b. His Redemptive Work:
Christ has become the source of our faith in God (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). His death and resurrection provides the foundation for our faith, the basis for our believing. Christ has become the source of our faith in God. The fact of His death and resurrection provides ground for our believing.
c. The Word Of God
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” Matthew 24:35
“The Lord said to me, ‘… I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled’” Jeremiah 1:12
His Word stands true forever. Faith comes when God brings a specific word – out of all He has ever said – directly to us in our circumstances. Spoken in this way, the Word of God comes alive to us, releasing our faith.
7. How faith works
It works in the following way:
a. God Gives Us Faith
“For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from the first to the last, just as it is written: ‘”The righteous will live by faith’” Romans 1:17 ( also Habakkuk 2:4 ). The righteous live by HIS faith that is, the faith HE gives us as a gift. “For by grace are you saved through faith, it is the gift of God … ” Ephesians 2:8-9 “ … according as God has dealt to every man … faith” Romans 12:3
b. Faith Comes By A Word From God
Firstly, God encourages us by speaking a “word” relevant to our circumstances. This comes by the Holy Spirit speaking inside your spirit as you read the Bible or listen to preaching or teaching of the Word of God. “… faith comes from hearing the word, and is heard through the word of Christ” Romans 10:17 (also Genesis15:3-5; 17:15-21; Joshua 1:8). (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Romans 1:29-31, 1 Timothy 1:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21)
c. Obedience to the Word
For faith to operate in our situation, we must obey that word. James 2:17 “… faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (See James 1:22-25; Genesis15:6; Matthew 7:24-27).
d. The Crisis Or “Trial Of Our Faith”
This is a period of testing. Everything happening around us appears contrary to what God has said, and there seems to be no natural evidence for our believing. At this point, out faith rests completely on God’s Word (what He has spoken to us). “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” 1Peter 1:6-7 (See also Romans 4:16-21; Psalms 105:17-19). In faith we cast ourselves on HIS FAITHFULNESS. In our times of doubt and struggle, God is faithful and does not abandon us.
8. How to apply faith:
I – For born again experience
You need faith Repentance, water baptism, Holy Spirit baptism and obeying God.
II – We need faith for day to day life (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17)
III- We need faith as gift (1 Corinthians 11:9)
IV- We need faith as fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)
9. The Enemies of Faith:
Unbelief, Ignorance, Wrong confessions, Worry Feelings, Disobedience, Pride, Mental assent, Self-sufficiency, Fear.
10. The Lord ship of Jesus?
Jesus is Lord of all (Lord means supreme authority or Boss) Read Philippians 2:5-11, Col. 1:15-17. We were slaves of Satan and slaves to sin, but are now freed and placed under the new loving authority of Jesus. We should submit our thoughts, words and actions to Him. This obedience is not out of compulsion but out of love and gratitude (Jn.14:15).
We should check some specific areas of our life- are they ruled by self or Jesus? Like -Work, Money, Possessions, Friends, Family, Future, Relationships, Habits, Career, Leisure, Natural appetites etc.