Last week during Sunday
School Steve played the video and spoke about grace and faith. As he was
speaking I was reminded of the first message that I ever spoke at Diamond Ridge
back 5 or six years ago in which I spoke on faith and what our
responsibilities, as Christians, were regarding faith. So I began to really
meditate on the subject of faith and realized that it can be difficult to wrap
your head around. We see a lot of texts that seem to support that we have to do
something to gain or strengthen our faith and we also see a lot of texts that
seem to support that any faith we have is given to us by God. This may seem
simple to some of you or all of you but this study really helped me to understand
an area that we seem to take for granted. We talk about faith all the time,
sometimes very flippantly. We sing songs about it, we hear it on TV, But do we
really know what it is and what God says about it? I want to take some time today to look at
some of these passages and perhaps you will learn something new today or be
reminded of something you already knew or even just to gain a deeper
understanding.
Let’s start with some
basics.
Dictionary
definition…Faith is the persuasion of the mind that a statement is true.
We have been told that there is a
tropical storm out in the Gulf. None of us have seen it other than on TV and
yet we all believe that it is true. We have faith in the weatherman’s
statements. That is a very generic form of faith but is still an accurate
definition.
A biblical definition of faith, although I don’t think
that this is exhaustive definition is found in Hebrews chapter 11verse 1.
Heb 11:1 Now faith
is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
This,
of course, goes into a lot more detail of the faith we are talking about today.
If we look at Robertson’s word pictures, which really helps me to understand
some of the confusing Greek translations, we will see part of this verse broke
down and it will give us a better understanding to the intentions of the
writer. I have summarized it a bit. The original gives the Greek phrases that I
can’t pronounce. If you would like it all in the original I can give you the
web site.
“The
assurance of things hoped for”…This phrase is related to standing or being held
firm under something, such as a contract or a promise. This was common in
business documents as the guarantee of transactions. In essence “Biblical Faith
is the title-deed of things hoped for” It is the contract, the guarantee that
what He has said is true. It is God persuading us that His statements are true.
We now have the ability to believe.
That is what the video and Steve spoke
about last week. That the faith we have to believe has to come from God. We do
not have the ability on our own to believe. By grace we are given the faith to
believe, and because we believe we are now saved.
Eph 2:8 For by
grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God,
Eph 2:9 not a result of works, so that no one may
boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them.
The text is very
clear here that grace and faith are not our own doing. Some commentaries vary
on this text and say that grace is God’s part and the faith is our part but I
disagree. Verse 9 would not be accurate if that were the case. One could boast
and say that because he mustered up enough faith that that is how he was saved.
Then our salvation would be based on our works of faith. That is still works. I
found this statement but am not sure who made it.
“God
justifies the believing man, not for the worthiness of his belief, but for the
worthiness of Him in whom he believes”
Let’s look at some more passages that
seem to support that our faith comes from God and not from us.
Rom 12:3 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.
1Co 12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the
Spirit for the common good.
1Co 12:8 For to one is given through the Spirit the
utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the
same Spirit,
1Co 12:9 to
another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one
Spirit,
1Co 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to
another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to
another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
1Co 12:11 All
these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one
individually as he wills.
Heb 12:2 looking
to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
There
are other references but these seemed to be the most obvious that our faith
does not come from us but from God.
But
remember at the beginning I said there seemed to be a lot of text that say that
I have to work for my faith. That faith would seem to be my responsibility not
Gods. That that quote that I said earlier may be true and Grace is God’s part
and faith is our part. Is there any validity to that scripturally?
We
are going to look at some other scriptures that may seem to be contradictory to
everything we just read. Let’s start with…
1Th 5:6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but
let us keep awake and be sober.
1Th 5:7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and
those who get drunk, are drunk at night.
1Th 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be
sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the
hope of salvation.
It would appear as though we have
to “put on the breastplate of faith” as part of our being alert and sober.
Luk 22:31 "Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
Luk 22:32 but I have
prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again,
strengthen your brothers."
If our faith is given to us by
God and not “under our control” than how could Peter’s faith fail? Why would
Jesus need to pray for Peter’s faith?
1Pe 1:3 Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy,
he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 to an
inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for
you,
1Pe 1:5 who by
God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6 In this
you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved
by various trials,
1Pe 1:7 so that
the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes
though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and
honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 1:8 Though
you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe
in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
Why
would we have a test of our faith if we have no control of our faith? Is God
being tested when our faith is being tested? I think not.
1Co 16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act
like men, be strong.
1Co 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.
Again,
we are called to stand firm in the faith.
We have seen scripture that seems to prove that God is
in control of our faith and we have seen scripture that seems to prove that we
faith is works based.
I want us to look at another scripture and this is the
scripture that I based my Diamond Ridge message on back 5 or 6 years ago.
Mat 17:14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came
up to him and, kneeling before him,
Mat 17:15 said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for
he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire,
and often into the water.
Mat 17:16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they
could not heal him."
Mat 17:17 And Jesus answered, "O
faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I
to bear with you? Bring him here to me."
Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out
of him, and the boy was healed instantly.
Mat 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately
and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"
Mat 17:20 He said to them, "Because
of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain
of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and
it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Mat 17:21 [But this kind
never comes out except by prayer and fasting.]
Luk 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase
our faith!"
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, "If
you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry
tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
I have heard these
texts preached on in the past and it is almost always explained as faith the
size of a mustard seed. But the text doesn’t say it that way, nor does any
translation that I could find. All translations that I researched were faith
like or as a mustard seed. There is a huge difference in the size of a mustard
seed and like a mustard seed. Let me try to give you the picture of what God
has given me to help me understand faith and what is God’s responsibility and
what is my responsibility.
The mustard seed is one of the tiniest
seeds that there are and yet it becomes one of the largest plants in the garden
rivaling that of a small tree. The mustard seed does not choose where it will
be planted.
Much like we don’t choose to have
faith. God decides where He will plant the seeds and where He will not. I don’t
understand how He makes those decisions and question them sometimes. But He
does plant the seed in those that He calls chosen.
Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places,
Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In
love
Eph 1:5 he predestined us for adoption as sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Eph 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with
which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
Eph 1:8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and
insight
Eph 1:9 making known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ
Eph 1:10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite
all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Eph 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance,
having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things
according to the counsel of his will,
Eph 1:12 so that we who were the first to hope in
Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of
truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit,
Eph 1:14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until
we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
I would like you to consider how
much faith does a seed have? When a seed is planted it knows nothing else of
what to do than to grow. It does not have its own agenda. We planted tomato
seeds in our back yard and not one of them decided it didn’t want to be a
tomato and grew up as a watermelon. It just began to grow into what it was
intended to be. If we allowed the seed of faith that has been placed in us to
grow as God intended it to do then it would become one of the largest plants in
our garden. If we had faith LIKE a mustard seed we would not question and
complain about the circumstances that God has placed us in but we would glorify
Him in those circumstances.
But
if God chose to place a seed of faith in us then there is nothing that we can
do to dig that seed up. If it has been planted by God than it is immovable,
therefore verifying the first part of this message which was that God gives us
the faith that we have and it is not from us. Question answered we can all go
now. Not quite.
1Ti 1:18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my
child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by
them you may wage the good warfare,
1Ti 1:19 holding faith and a good conscience. By
rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,
Apparently we
are able to make a shipwreck of our faith. I at times in my life have.
Let’s go back to our mustard seed…
That seed of faith that God
has placed in us we have deemed immovable but we can see here that we can make
a shipwreck out of it. As our tomatoes started to grow they were attacked by
some leaf eating bug that all but destroyed our tomatoes. So we got some bug
killer dust and put that on it and they were okay for a while but then they
started to wilt and die and we found out from Ed that we needed to fertilize
them and we did and they started to look real good and even got a little
terrible looking mutated tomato out of it. But then it just seemed to stop
growing and I realized that the bushes were way too big for the pot that I had
them in so we transplanted them into a bigger pot and they started growing and
producing again.
Well there is our faith. No matter
what I did it was still a tomato plant, dead or alive it was still a tomato and
nothing would change that. But it took grooming and care before it became
anything of any use.
This is where the other part of our
faith coming from us comes from. God gives us the faith but we are responsible
to nurture and grow that faith to become useful to Him. We are to water our
seed with the Word of God. We are to protect our faith with fellowship. We are
to exercise our faith with prayer.
Rom 10:17 So faith
comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Eph 6:16 In all circumstances take up the shield of
faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
Rom 4:20 No distrust
made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith
as he gave glory to God,
Heb 11:6 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.
1Jn 5:4 For everyone who has been
born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the
world—our faith.
It is our faith given to us by God (
our salvation ) Our hope of Glory
2Pe 1:3 His divine
power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through
the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
2Pe 1:4 by which he
has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them
you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the
corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
1Pe 1:9 obtaining
the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
JFB…
By faith alone we are sure
of eternal things that they ARE: but by hope we are confident that WE
SHALL HAVE them. All hope presupposes faith
