Faith

That was a big sum of money for our church to raise. It was a crisis, a crisis that test our faith in God. A crisis that would reveal what God can do. Any encounter with God requires faith. As God revealed Himself to us, His purpose, His will, His ways, our response to Him requires faith. God is interested in how we walk with Him by faith. What does faith mean? According to Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. The Bible gives us examples after examples of men and women who have and also those who have not believed God and shows us in clear terms what happened to each. Thus it is important that we understand just what faith is. Dr. J. Oswald Sanders put it perfectly: Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. Matthew Henry, a great servant of God, makes some excellent statements on faith. He said, Faith is a firm persuasion and expectation that God will perform all that He has promised to us in Christ; and this persuasion is so strong that it gives the soul possession of those things. Believers in the exercise of faith are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Christ dwells in the soul by faith; and the soul is filled with the fullness of God. Looking closely, we see that faith is an act, an act of the mind and the heart. It is liken to one who holds the title-deed to property. The possession is more that just assurance and conviction. Faith is possessing the substance of the promises of God, the actual evidence of things not seen. Faith in Greek is pistis, it is a firm conviction producing full acknowledgment of Gods revelation of truth. Because of that conviction, what is needed would be a personal surrender to that truth. As a result, it produces a conduct that is inspired by that surrender, it is not just intellectual assent to a doctrine. As an example: How many of you believed that you have eternal life? Why do you believe so? It is because you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Why do you believe that by receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will have eternal life? Because of Gods word. Like for example, in John 3:16, 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. In other words, we have a firm conviction because we have Gods truth. we are confident and sure that we have eternal life if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That is a firm conviction of Gods truth. And because of that conviction, we need to surrender and submit to His authority as Our Lord and Savior. And the evidence of our submission would be how we conduct our walk with Him. Do we trust Him? Do we obey

His command? Do we follow His footsteps? Do we love Him with all our hearts, with all our soul and with all our might? And this results in acting out our faith. In James 2:18, You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. In 2:20, he said, Faith without works is useless. In order to further understand faith, let us observe the characteristics of faith: 1. People who have faith know and understand Gods truth. First and foremost, we need to know Gods word, the truth and His promises. In other words, we need to know what to believe. In Hebrews 1:1-2, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son God revealed His truth through the prophets and in His Sons, Jesus Christ. Moreover, in Hebrews 2:1, For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. Romans 10:17, So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. God spoke to us in Jesus, we are either to listen and have life or we may refuse to listen, hardened our hearts, and thus resulting in death. 2. People who have faith know the object of their faith. Who is the object of our faith? Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2 Timothy1:12, For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed. In Hebrews 12:2, Jesus is the author and perfecter of faith. In Hebrews 1:2-10, He is heir of all things, through whom God made the world. He is the radiance of Gods glory and the exact representation of His nature. He upholds all things by the word of His power. He is higher than the angels. His throne is forever. He is called God by God. In Colossians 1:15-19, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created He is before all things, He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead Gods fullness dwells in Him. And many more. Jesus shows us who He is. He is the object of our faith. Now that we know who Jesus is, we need also to know what Jesus did. In Colossians 1:13-20, we saw that God rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the

forgiveness of sins. Through Jesus death on the cross, He has reconciled us with Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. He presents us before God holy and blameless, beyond reproach. The fact that Jesus is God and exercise a superior Priesthood ought to encourage us to put our trust in Him. 3. People who have faith obey. Abrahams faith was an obedient, believing faith. God called Abraham to leave his home and to go to the land that He will show him. Abraham obeyed God unquestionably, and God would cause a people to be born of his seed; God would bless all nations through his seed; He would give him a promised land, the land of Canaan. We observed that Abraham never received the inheritance of the Promised Land, and he never saw a nation of people born of his seed. But despite all odds against the promises of God, he believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Gen. 15:6. How about Noah? Noahs faith was a faith that promptly obeyed with fear. There was a time when the earth had become so wicked that it was filled with corruption and violence. God was left with no choice but to destroyed the earth with flood. However, there was one man who was godly, namely Noah. He worshipped and honored God in his life. Therefore God warned him of the coming judgment upon the earth. He believed Gods warning of coming judgment, and began to build the ark, as per Gods instruction, with a godly fear and reverence, knowing that what God said would come true. He preached the righteousness and judgment of God and built an ark far from the ocean. He was laughed at, mocked and received scorn from other people. But Noah believed God and obeyed promptly by faith. 4. Faith has confidence in Gods ability. Sarah is a dynamic example of what it is to believe the impossible. Her womb was dead at 90 years old and yet God caused her to bear the child of promise, Isaac. Sarah, at first, had difficulty in believing Gods promise. However, the Book of Hebrews chose to introduce his first heroine of faith, one who has to overlook the physical limitation of her own barrenness to become a fruitful mother. She was included in the Gods Great Hall of Faith, in Heb. 11:11, By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. She believed and she saw God did the impossible. Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

5. Faith has endurance. Following Christ is not easy, not if a person is going to truly follow Him. Why? Because His call is contrary, sometimes, to what people think. His call is to love, joy and peace. However, it is not a call to a life of ease, comfort and plenty. The call of Christ is not to physical and material health and wealth, it is a call to a life of selfdenial and sacrifice. If a person is going to follow Christ, it may cost him everything he is and has. Moses is a prime example of a man who gave up all that the world had to offer in order to follow God and His promises. In Hebrews 11:25, Moses choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; We saw that Moses chose God and Gods people rather than this world and its pleasures. He courageously looked to God instead of looking to man. It was this that illustrated his faith. He believed that God would fulfill His promise to His people, even though, at that time there seemed to be of any great future for his race. Daniels three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego would rather endure the furnace of blazing fire than to bow down and worship the golden image of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They said, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. We saw so many examples in the Great Hall of Faith, and also in believers, who have trusted God, endured in their faith and really lived for Christ. But as great as these examples are, there is One supreme example of faith, that is Jesus Christ. He is the One to whom we should fix our eyes on, to focus with our minds too. Why? Because He himself ran the race of faith when He was upon the earth, and He shows us exactly how to run it. He is the author and perfecter of faith. As author, He began, originated, created and gave birth to the Christian race. As perfecter, He completed and consummated the race. He ran the race to the finish and ran it perfectly in faith. He was sinless, perfectly righteous, always obeying and trusting God in everything. He is the ultimate example of faith in God. In Hebrews 12:1, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Faith is the basis for endurance; and endurance is the fruit of faith. 6. Faith may not gain earthly victory but the result is gaining Gods approval.

Faith is continuing to do the will of God regardless of circumstances and consequences. The circumstances may be impossible and the consequences frightening and unknown. The person who has faith obeys Gods word just the same and believes in Him to do what is right. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:7, We walk by faith, not by sight. We saw that Abraham believed God, even though he did not see the fulfillment of Gods promise during his lifetime. Even Jesus Himself was beaten and crucified by His own countrymen but He gain the approval of God. In Hebrews 11:2, we saw that by faith, the men of old gained approval. So faith brings approval of God. Again in Hebrews 11:6, Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Why is it necessary that we are to please God? Because it is the reason why He created us, it is for His own pleasure. In 2 Corinthians 5:9-10, Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. In this verse, it is not just a matter of pleasing God but also to be accountable to Him one day. 7. Faith looks to the reward, the assurance of things hoped for. In Hebrews 11:6 says that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him. To seek God is to earnestly and sincerely seek to find Him, to follow and to obey Him. We must persevere and endure to the end. For at the end of the Christian race, there is a reward waiting for us. What is the reward of faith? a. In Hebrews 11:2, For by it the men of old gained approval. So the reward of faith is Gods approval. When God approves us, He accepts us into His eternal presence. This simply means that God looks after and cares for us, giving us victory over all the enemies of this world including death, and He does it for eternity. The approval of God means that God fulfills all His promises to us. The promises of God become a living reality in our experience, both daily and eternally. b. Righteousness In Hebrews 11: 4, By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous In Hebrews 11:7, Noah became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. c. A heavenly city In Hebrews 11:16b, Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them God prepared a heavenly city that will last forever.

Revelation 21:1-3, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them. d. Jesus Christ The greatest of all rewards. In Colossians 1:27, To whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So our greatest reward as a child of faith is Jesus Christ Himself. In conclusion, we saw that true faith will endure; true faith is not just intellectual assent; true faith results in obedience; true faith will be manifested in our lives.