Faith
Faith = established, trust, conviction, believe, assurance, trustworthy,
confidence in Christ
Faith – a belief in or confident attitude toward God, involving commitment to His
will for one’s life. In the Bible, true faith is confidence in God or Christ, not in
oneself.
Faith is belief in something that can’t be touched, seen, or otherwise proved.
The Bible tells us in Hebrew 11:3 “through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the words of God, so that things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear. In the Bible, faith describes belief in God. Faith
carries several meanings. It may mean simple trust in God or in the Word of
God, but it can also mean active obedience to God.
Abraham is called the father of faith, Hebrews 11:17-19 shows he was willing to
sacrifice Isaac to God, even when God had told him that in Isaac shall your seed
be called.
In the Gospels, Jesus is sometimes asked to work a miracle in order to prove
that He is the Messiah, and He refuses many of these requests (Matthew 12:38-
39, 16:1-4). He desires people to have faith in His word alone, without props or
displays of power. We can only see the power of God if we have faith – not the
other way around. Faith can move mountains, heal the sick, and is the means
of entrance into the kingdom. God is seen through the eyes of faith.
Let’s look at what Jesus said as He described no faith, little faith and great faith:
No faith – their failure to even try to rebuke the storm. (Mark 4:35-41) Jesus
calls not trying no faith.
Little faith – Peter’s walk on water (Matthew 14:22-31) Jesus calls faith that
begins to look at the circumstances, little faith.
Great faith - the centurion (Luke 7:1-10) Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-
28) Jesus calls great faith believe in the word and acting upon what you belief,
great faith.
Jesus declared to people, your faith has made you whole. Let us look at the
woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). She acted on Malachi 4:2 which
says “but to you that fear (reverence) My name shall the Sun of Righteousness
arise with healing in His wings (the hem of His garment)”.
Genuine saving faith is a personal attachment to Christ, best thought of as a
combination of two ideas:
Reliance on Christ
Commitment to Him.
Saving faith involves personally depending on the finished work of Christ’s
sacrifice as the only basis for forgiveness of sin and entrance into heaven. But
saving faith is also a personal commitment of one’s life to following Christ in
obedience to His commands. Jesus said many times “if you love Me, you will
keep My commandments.
The greatest show of faith, is Jesus. He said “I only do what I have seen My
Father do”. He proved the power of this, when He was tempted in the
wilderness (Luke 4:1-13). Jesus quoted “it is written” in answer to satan’s
questions. We as followers of Jesus should do the same.
Faith is the basis of salvation. It is by faith that believers are justified,
reconciled, redeemed, made alive, adopted into the family of God, re-created,
transported into a new kingdom and set free. Faith is also bound up with love,
faith and love are so closely related that Paul, in writing about faith, must also
write a great deal about Christian love. “If I have all faith, so as to remove
mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (I Corinthians 13:2). Love is the
beginning of faith, and at the same time, the ultimate express of faith. The love
Paul speaks of is a fruit of the Spirit, who allows us to live the life of faith. Only
by virtue of the indwelling Spirit does faith find expression in love.
Habakkuk points out that “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).
Besides Hebrew 11:6 tells us “but without faith, it is impossible to please Him
(God) for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a
rewarder to them that diligently seek Him”.
Sermon by: Harriet Bond
Date: February 3, 2006