HOW STRONG IS YOUR FAITH?
As the title of our sermon suggests we are going to be examining how strong our faith is in God. But, before we can determine this, there are some things that we must learn about faith. The first thing we need to learn about faith is where it comes from? Paul gives us the answer starting in,
Romans 10:13 For
"whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." 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? 15 And how shall they preach
unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of
those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good
things!" 16 But they
have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed
our report?" 17 So then faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Based on what Paul has said, having faith means that you believe in something and the only way that you can believe in God and be able to know what is involved in being saved is by hearing the Word of God. The Word of God is the foundation of our faith as Paul said in,
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew
first and also for the Greek.
We are very fortunate today because we have the privilege of having access to everything we need to know about having faith in God as Paul tells Timothy in,
2 Timothy 3:16 All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be
complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
This teaches that faith
in God is not simply based upon a feeling or our imagination because our faith
can and must be grounded in the Word of God. Unfortunately, there are many in
the religious world today who do not understand this basic principle about
faith and that is why you will find them talking about how they know they are
close to God and how they know the things they are doing in their life and
their worship must be ok because they feel that God is pleased with them. They
use this way of thinking to justify any and every thing they practice in their
life or in the worship to God, but friends this is not the kind of faith that
God will be pleased with because it is not based upon his Word. I believe Jesus
makes this clear in,
Matthew 7:21"
Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in
that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
As Paul says in Eph. 4:5
there is only 1 faith that is pleasing to God and that is an obedient faith to
his Word and this the same kind of faith that the writer of Hebrews is talking
about in,
Hebrews 11:6 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.
Notice, he only rewards
those who diligently seek him, and as you read that entire chapter it gives
example after example of those who had an obedient faith and followed God’s
Word, and that is exactly what we must do today. One of the ways we can
determine how strong our faith in God is can be based upon how well our poorly
we follow his Word and how much trust we put in the Lord.
Another thing we learn
about faith is some people have a weak faith while others have a strong faith
and the Bible is full of examples of each. For instance, during Jesus ministry,
His apostles had a weak faith sometimes, and Jesus pointed this out to them on
several occasions. Lets look at one of those examples.
Matthew 8:23 Now when
He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him.
24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the
boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. 25 Then His disciples came to Him
and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" 26 But He said to them, "Why
are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the
winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Now these men had been with Jesus and saw him work miracles, but it didn’t stop them from having a weak faith. In this instance, they were afraid of the storm and Jesus rebukes them for having such a weak faith. The problem with having a weak faith is that person has not learned to trust in God all the way, and when your faith is weak you become vulnerable to worldly influences. But we all know that the his apostles didn’t keep their weak faith because from the day of Pentecost to the end of their lives they became very strong in their faith, which led them to do great things for the cause of Christ.
We also have an example in the book of Hebrews of some Christians who were not growing in their faith. Notice as we read about them in,
Hebrews 5:12 For
though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach
you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need
milk and not solid food. 13
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word
of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who
by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion
of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not
laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward
God, 2 of the doctrine of
baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal
judgment.
These Christians were not growing in their faith as they should. As the writer said, they should be teachers by now but instead they have not went beyond their basic understanding of God. This is great way for us to determine how strong our faith is. As you examine your life, do you find yourself satisfied with what you know about the Bible? Are you making any effort to learn more so that you may teach others? Friends I don’t care how much you know about God’s Word, if you ever get to the point where you become satisfied with what you know and you are not trying to grow it is a sign of a weak faith and the longer you have this type of attitude the more danger you put your soul in, which leads us to our next point.
Why is it important to have a strong faith?
I believe everyone knows the answer to this question, even those of the world know that if you are going to be committed to what you believe in, you must have a strong faith. If you only kind of believe and only make a half hearted attempt at what you have put your faith in, then it not going to take much to break your faith in whatever it is you believe in. This same principle applies to our faith in God. If we do not commit ourselves to God all the way, then it is not going to take a great deal to move us from God. Peter tells us,
2 Peter 3:18 grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
Again,
we come right back to the source of our faith, the Word of God. If we do not
spend time studying God’s Word and live by it, then it is going to make us easy
prey for false teachers and worldly influence. We cannot expect to be strong in
the faith if we don’t have a clue what the Bible says about it. Now in Eph. 4,
Paul teaches us about the importance of unity and how we must use our knowledge
of God to remain strong in the faith. Notice what he says as we begin in,
Ephesians 4:11 And He
Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and
some pastors and teachers, 12
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ, 13 till
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be
children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
I want to stop here for
just a second because Paul is letting these people know that when they have the
unity of the faith, which I believe is referring to the fully revealed Word of
God, these Christians should no longer be able to be deceived by every crazy
man made doctrine that comes along because their faith will be grounded in the
perfect Word of God. Notice what else he says,
15
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who
is the head -- Christ -- 16
from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint
supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its
share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 17 This I say, therefore, and
testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the
Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the
blindness of their heart; 19
who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness. 20
But you have not so learned Christ, 21
if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in
Jesus: 22 that you put off,
concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts, 23 and
be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24
and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true
righteousness and holiness.
This
is why it so important that we learn to be strong in the faith. The Word of God
tells us to grow so that we can move beyond where we were in the past, so that
we can keep our commitment to God and not be easily swayed to go back to our
former life. The writer of Hebrew warns us what will happen if neglect our
source of faith in,
Hebrews 2:1 Therefore
we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we
drift away. 2 For if the
word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and
disobedience received a just reward, 3
how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the
first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who
heard Him, described in,
If
we continue to be satisfied with half hearted faith we could find ourselves
drifting from God as the passage said, how will escape if we neglect our God
through a weak faith. On the flip side of this, when we work at having a
stronger faith, our confidence level in our salvation will be higher because we
will know that we have a living a faithful life unto God. Paul had this confidence
in his life as he shared with the Philippian brethren,
Philippians 1:23 For I am
hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which
is far better.
As
far I can tell from the scriptures, Paul never doubted his salvation because he
was striving to be strong in the faith and not only did he have this confidence
in himself he also had for all those who we faithful to the Lord. We can see
this expressed in,
2 Timothy 4:7 I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me
the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give
to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His
appearing.
Now that we have seen the
importance of having a strong faith, I want talk about some reason why some
Christians have problems in developing a strong a faith.
I
would say the number 1 reason is because they didn’t count the cost of
discipleship. They hear this wonderful message about a God who loves them and
wants them to be saved and that is about far as they want to go. They don’t
want be bothered with the details of what it means to be a faithful Christian.
Since they don’t invest their time in growing, it’s not important to them and
they could care less how things should be done.
Jesus
talks about people like this who have not counted the cost of discipleship in,
Luke 14:26 "If
anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My
disciple. 27 "And
whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 "For which of you,
intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether
he has enough to finish it -- 29
"lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all
who see it begin to mock him, 30
"saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31 "Or what king, going to
make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he
is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty
thousand? 32 "Or else,
while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks
conditions of peace. 33
"So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My
disciple.
First
of all, I want to point out that Jesus is not saying that we must hate our
mother and father and so on to be his disciple in the way we think of this
being used today, all he is saying all these verses is that you must put him
first in your life above mother and above your farther. Your first
responsibility should be to God. This shows us there can be a great cost
involved in following Christ especially when it goes against a love one or means
that we have to give up some worldly hobby or entertainment that we used to be
involved in. It takes a great sacrifice in our personal life to be a follower
of Christ and some are not willing to do this, so they never try to become
strong in the faith.
Another
reason some never grow is because of doubt. In their mind they want to believe
the Word of God, but because of their own personal doubts they simply refuse to
learn anymore. I wish people like this would take the time to investigate their
doubt because I feel confident if they did, they would soon discover that their
doubts are unwarranted and they could begin to grow.
Another
reason some never grow is because of lack of trust in God. Some Christians want
to be in full control of their lives and they don’t want help from anyone
including God. They only rely on God in desperate times when they can’t figure out away to take care of
their problem themselves. Usually this type of Christian is very prideful and
has not learned to turn their life over to God and because of their lack of
trust in God their faith will be weak. Oh how wonderful it would be if they
would learn to trust in the Lord as David declares in,
Psalm 143:8 Cause me
to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to
know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.
Of
course there are many other factors the keep Christians from becoming strong in
the faith, but until they are willing to make a commitment to serving God and
studying his word they will remain weak in their faith.
For
our last point this evening I want to ask you series of questions that will
help you determine how strong you are in the faith.
1.
Do you base your faith on gut feeling or do you base it upon the word of God?
If you base your faith upon feelings instead of God’s Word then will make it
possible for everything from A to Z to be acceptable to God as long as it feels
right to. A strong faith that will be pleasing to God can only come from the
Word of God.
2.
How much time do you spend studying God’s Word during any given week? We need
to remember the source of our faith is found in God’s Word. Everything we need
to know about living a Christians life and being pleasing is found their and so
it very important that we take time out of our busy lives to sit down and feed ourselves
spiritually from the Word of God so that we can grow. If we neglect the Word of
God our faith cannot be strong.
3.
How often do you pray? If we only pray once a week or when we feel desperate can
possible say that we are strong in the faith? Of course not. When we fail to
pray to our God on regular basis we are showing a lack of trust and lack of
love toward God. Even we don’t think we
have something to pray for in our lives there is always someone to pray
for and there always something that we can give thanks for on daily basis. So,
if you have inactive prayer life again you cannot possible be strong in the
faith.
4.
Do you have the confidence that if you died right now that you would be saved?
If you are strong in the faith then there should be no doubt of your salvation
but if you hesitated or if said to yourself, “I hope so” this is indication
that your faith isn’t as strong as it should be. You shouldn’t have any doubts
in your salvation just as Paul had no doubts in his salvation.
5.
Do you have the courage to say no when your friend or your loved ones try to
get you do something that is not Christian like? A person who have weak faith
will go with the flow but a Christian with a strong faith will speak up and
will not allow those around them to entice them to sin.
6.
When Paul went around the country he taught them
Acts 26:20 that they should repent, turn to God, and do
works befitting repentance.
The
question is, are you willing to work for the Lord? Are you willing to
participate in events that may win people to Christ? Are you willing to learn
to teach? Are you willing to talk to others to about Christ? If we love God and
we want to grow in our faith, then we need to trust in God and allow him to
direct our path.
7.
One finally question is do you attend the church services faithfully? A person
who is strong in the faith will make it to every Bible study and worship service that is
possible for them because they love God and they love to learn as much as they
can from his Word. They also love being around their brethren so they can
encourage them and be encouraged by them. But a person who is weak in their
faith won’t see the importance of faithful attendance even though we are
commanded to forsake the assembling of the saints in Heb. 10:25.
There
are more questions I could ask, but these are enough to give you a general idea
of how strong your faith in God really is. If you have found that you are weak
in your faith, I hope my lesson this evening has shown you the importance of
having a strong faith, and how that faith is found within the Word of God and
hope that you will make the necessary changes in your life so that you can be committed
to following God. I think its important that we test ourselves from time to
time to see if we are on the right track. Let us never forget to continue to
grow in our faith in God on a daily basis.