Number Seven is Faithfulness
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen.” Faith requires giving up control, putting our trust in
God, whom we can’t see.
2Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith and not by sight.” We hold
onto faith, sometimes ignoring what we see, what we hear, and especially what we
feel, choosing instead to depend on God’s goodness to work all things together
for our good.
Faith
is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and also a gift of the Spirit (2 Corinthians 12:9). The Bible tells us that Jesus is the author and finisher of our
faith in Hebrews 12:2. God gives us faith. Yet we have the choice as to
whether or not we will live in faith.
Definitions of Faith
- Confident belief of the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, an idea or a thing.
- Loyalty to a person or thing, allegiance.
- Secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God’s will.
Love is The Thing
The fruit of the Spirit is love.
Because the first condition of “faith” is to believe that there is a God, it’s
curious that although “faith” is a fruit of the Spirit, it’s not the fruit of the Spirit. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:2 “…though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Our
faith then, is grounded in the assurance of God’s love for us and is made evident
by our love for each other. Paul ends “The Love Chapter:” 1 Corinthians 13:13 with, “And now abide faith, hope, love,
these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Paul said that if he didn’t have love, he was nothing.
All the faith in the world without love is nothing. All those people throughout
history who have used their “faith” to justify killing, to justify looking down
on others, and to justify treating people with cruelty didn’t have true faith
at all. We have to love. We have to see every human being as created by God in
His likeness and image
(Genesis 1:26). We even have to love people who have a
different “faith” than ours!
Romans 13:10 “Love does no harm to
a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Faith in Believing God
Exists and He is For Us
The first requirement of faith is that we believe in God. Hebrews 11:6 “…For he who comes to God
must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek
Him.”
Yes, the first requirement is to
believe that there is a God. At first glance, it appears that this is all there
is. However, it’s established that the second part of the verse treats what we
think about God is just as important as believing in Him. “He is a rewarder to
those who diligently seek Him.” It’s not enough to believe He exists; we must
also realize that He loves us and created us to be in a relationship with Him.
One of my good friends said to me once, “I believe in God and that’s it.” In my
naïveté, I thought that this was a courageous statement. My friend expressed
“faith” while dodging any responsibility of knowing God or claiming to have a
relationship with Him. I’m sure that the intent was to say, “I believe in God
but I don’t want to be a hypocrite by claiming I know anything about him.” I
see now that it wasn’t courage at all; He actually felt disqualified to make
any assertions about God. It was not
realizing that God wants us to know Him. God not only wants us to seek a
relationship with Him, He also wants us to know that He is for us. This
is a fairly new concept for me. It amazes me that the Creator of the universe;
the One who parted the red sea, the One who fed His people manna from heaven
for forty years, and the One who produced water from a rock…is on my side? How
can this be? He has all those planets in all those galaxies to keep in place.
He keeps the earth revolving around the sun, changing day into night, changing
the seasons…yet He is for me! He cares that I’m well. He cares that I have what
I need. He even wants me to be happy! We can have faith in God’s good plans for
us because we know that He is good!
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says
the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts
in Him!”
Hebrews 11: The Faith Chapter
If we can
call 1 Corinthians 13 “The Love Chapter,” it’s only fitting that we should call
Hebrews 11 “The Faith Chapter.” It begins:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders
obtained a good testimony.
3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by
the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things
which are visible.
Verses 4-39 cite all the
specific acts of faith throughout Biblical history, including:
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain
6 But 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 diligently seek Him.
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not
yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his
household,
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to
the place which he would receive as an inheritance.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up
Isaac,
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three
months by his parents,
30 By faith the walls of Jericho
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony
through faith, did not receive the promise, 40 God
having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect
apart from us.
Because of all the men
and women listed with their acts of faith in Hebrews 11, this chapter is often referred to as the “wall of faith.”
Yet God had something even better for us: His Son.
Faith to Believe in the
Son: Atonement for Sin and Peace with
God
The second requirement of faith is that we
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that we are cleansed from sin by His work
at the Cross. The whole point of the gospel (which is
“good news”) is “justification by faith.” We are not only freed from the penalty for
sin, we are also freed from the bondage of sin. This means that God has
declared us as righteous. We have right-standing with Him, because we believe
in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that
Jesus is the Son of God, a specific position in the Trinity. We
believe that the punishment for sin was served in the body of Jesus on the
cross, and that by believing this, we are declared righteous. We now have no
need to fear the wrath of God, and in fact we are adopted into His family.
Isaiah 53:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His
stripes we are healed.”
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Corinthians; 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
1 John 1:4-5 “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this
is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is he who overcomes
the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Faith or Works?
It’s established that we are
justified by Christ’ finished work at the cross and that the fruit of the
Spirit is supplied by God Himself. This leads to the question: what are we
supposed to do? Here is the double–sided coin of works and faith. Paul said that if our salvation is by our
works, then we wouldn’t need faith. It is completely possible that Paul is
referring to “works” that are the old requirements of Jewish Law, which
included the rites of animal sacrifices and even circumcision. His language,
however, is adamant that by just “believing” we are justified before God.
Romans 4:4-5 “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace
but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the
ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you been saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Even Jesus used the word “believe”
when explaining His reason for coming to earth:
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life.
On the other hand, James tells us that faith
without works is dead. James begins his discussion in reference to good works:
helping the needy, which of course, we see that this goodness is indeed a fruit
of the Spirit. He makes obvious the correlation between faith and goodness, but
he goes much further than this, also adamant, that faith requires action. James
states that even demons “believe.”
James 2:14-26 “What does it profit, my
brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save
him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of
you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give
them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus 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 without your works, and I will show you my faith by
my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even
the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know,
O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was
not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the
altar? 22 Do
you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was
made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and
it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You
see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by
works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead also.
On the other hand, when the
people asked Jesus in John 6:28-29,
“What shall we do that we may work the work of God? Jesus
answered…’This is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He sent.” This sentence seems to contradict what James
said. In fact, Jesus used the phrase “Your faith has made you well” or “Your
faith has saved you” many times during his three year ministry on the earth. However,
on closer inspection, we see that the recipient of the blessing had actually
done something; they had exercised their faith in some way.
To the woman with the twelve year hemorrhage in Mark 5:34, Jesus said, “Your faith has made you well.” Perhaps the “work” in this case was her reaching
out to touch His clothes. 25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve
years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians.
She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When
she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His
garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I
shall be made well.”
29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up,
and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And
Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned
around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
31 But His disciples said to Him, “You see the
multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
32 And He looked around to see her who had done this
thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what
had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole
truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go
in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
In Mark 2:5, after Jesus saw that a man was lowered down into a house
from the middle of the roof, Jesus’ response to the paralyzed man was to praise
the faith of his four friends by forgiving the
paralyzed man’s sins. When Jesus saw their
faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” The
paralytic was rewarded based on the faith of his friends. Perhaps the “work” in
this case was to get their friend to Jesus in
whichever way they
could.
In Luke Chapter 7, we read about the woman
who broke the alabaster flask of oil and anointed Jesus. The anointing and the
washing of His feet was the “work”. His response: “Your faith has saved you.”
37 And behold, a woman in
the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in
the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and
stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet
with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed
His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.
50 Then He said to the
woman, “Your
faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
In Luke 17 verses 11-19, we read again where Jesus said to the one
leper who returned to say “thank-you” after receiving his healing, “Your faith has made you well.”
11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem
that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee . 12 Then as He entered a
certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And
they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the
priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed,
returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and
fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a
Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed?
But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who
returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And
He said to him, “Arise,
go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
Faith is to be Spoken
and is built by Hearing
In Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” in
John 17, he prayed to the Father for His disciples and also for us. In this
prayer, Jesus essentially said that we would declare our belief in him through
“our word,” in essence, by saying we believed in Him.
John 17:20-21 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who
will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You,
Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the
world may believe that You sent Me.”
Consider this passage in Romans
Chapter 10:
Romans 10:6 “But the righteousness of faith speaks…8. But what does it
say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word
of faith which we preach): 9. that if you confess with your mouth the Lord
Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will
be saved. 10. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. 14 How then shall they call on Him in
whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they
have not heard:? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 17. So then faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Paul wrote to the believers who
lived in Rome
The woman with the issue of blood
in Mark 5: 25-34 heard about Jesus, and then she said
to herself, “If only I may touch His clothes…”
Jesus taught about the importance
of what we say, as a sign of our faith in
Mark 11:22-24 “So Jesus
answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I
say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the
sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says
will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to
you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them,
and you will have them.
God Will Give Us Everything We Need
It’s truly a “leap of faith” to believe that
the Creator of the universe exists as the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. It’s a further “leap of faith” to believe that the “Son” in this
Trinity was born into a human body and lived on earth teaching, healing, and
finally sacrificing His life so that we could be forgiven for sin and restored
to right-standing
with the Father. Even though these
beliefs require a “leap of faith,” I’m willing to say that most of us have
taken that “leap” and we do believe. So
why is it so hard to believe that God will provide for us, protect us, heal us,
and improve our lives? Jesus asked in Luke
18:8, “…when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” I
hope that He will. Here are a few Bible promises to help us build our faith:
God will protect us:
The Entire Chapter of Psalm 91
The Entire Chapter of Psalm 121
God will provide for us:
2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is
able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to
His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God will heal us:
Psalm 103: 2 - 3 “Bless the
LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your
iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.”
Isaiah 53:5 “…and by His stripes we are healed.”
God will improve our lives:
Proverbs 4:18 “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That
shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.”
Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this very thing, that He who has
begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
And here is the crux of the matter.
If we can believe in Jesus and His finished work at the cross so that we are
free from sin and made right with God, we can be sure that God will honor His
word and freely give us all things.
Romans 8: 31-32 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for
us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
