The Test Of Faith Part 5
Part 5
What Faith is not
In order to know well what a thing is, it is a good practice to learn what it is not.
Faith does not mean I know everything there is to know about God. In fact, it is impossible to know everything about God.
Faith is confidence in God’s character.
It means I know enough of Him to testify of His good character, even when I don’t have all the facts. I have learnt enough of Him to be a credible character witness for Him.
Isaiah 43:10 NLT
“But you are my witnesses, O Israel!’ says the Lord. “You are my servant. You have been chosen to know Me,believe in Me, and understand that I alone am God. There is no other God- there never has been, and there never will be.
We don’t need to know the entire plan, method or even all the principles of God. We know in part but we know enough of His character, that we are confident in who He is, even when we have unanswered questions.
1 Corinthians 13:9-12 (NLT) 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
Illustration:
Mr. Hiep did not speak English very well, but he was a competent mechanic who was also a man of integrity and fairness.
Faith does not mean I can fully explain to the satisfaction of every inquirer. Many struggle to believe because they cannot fully understand God; they cannot make sense of the teachings of the Bible.
We may not be able to explain our faith to the understanding of those who are yet to know God like we do. This does not excuse us from seeking to know, to understand and to communicate as much as we can. We are called to do our best in explaining even when we know that our best may not be good enough.
1 Peter 3:15-16 15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.
We may not be experts in theology or apologetics, but we know God so well our faith will be resolute, unshakeable. Of course, as we grow in our knowledge of God, we will get better at explaining but the most important thing, the starting point is learning about Him until we are confident in His character. As far as we are concerned, He is no longer on probation. We have tasted and now we know that the Lord is good.
Faith is not about the knowledge of principles, and doctrine.
The Bible is ultimately not about principles, or philosophies to understand and explain, but about a person who we get to know.
“The faith to which we are called is not faith in a plan, but faith in a person.” Pastor Robert Deffinbaugh Bible.org
Our faith is not based on the knowledge of principles, but rather on the knowledge of a person.
Knowledge of principles requires study, but knowledge of a person requires a relationship.
You cannot have a relationship with principles. All you can do is to learn them, apply them and enjoy the benefits of the application.
Principles are not sentient. They have no feelings.
Principles do not respond to you. They just are. They do not understand that you did your best. They do not forgive
They do not care about your history with them, how long you have faithfully adhered to them. They are cold and hard.
If we see God's word through the lenses of impersonal principles, we run the risk of becoming firm, cold and hard, uncaring and unforgiving ourselves. Sadly, far too many Christians are like this.
God’s purpose in giving us the Bible is to help us create and nourish a relationship with Him, one which gets better as we get to know Him better.
While the Bible teaches many principles, they serve to reveal the nature and character of the person of God. The principles show us who He is, and how he wants to be treated (vertical) and how He has established for things to work in the world, (horizontal.) If we learn the principles and run off to apply them, but do not engage Him, we miss the point.
The principles will work, and we will enjoy the benefits they bring on the horizontal dimension, but we will miss out from the best He has in store for us.
1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV But as it is written, “No eye has, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
This requires relating with God through the different stages and changes of life. God is unchanging, yet we will only get to know Him well through the different stages of our growth. To attain this level of knowledge, we must seek Him, when we are happy and when we are sad; when we are healthy and when we are sick; when we are successful and when we fail; when we are flush with cash and when things get tight; when people love us and when people hate us.. each of this vicissitude of life will open us to understanding God better.
Hebrews 11:6 (NLT), John 10:4 (NJKV) John 10:14 (NLT)
John 10:25-27
Contrary to pop theology, true faith is not judged by the results it shows, but by a knowledge of God and the confidence in God’s character, which that knowledge produces.
Of course, faith produces results, but not always the kind of results the world is looking for. John 4:48; John 6:30; Romans 15:19;
Results, miraculous signs, can be double-edged tools of deception… the devil can perform fake miracles.
2 Timothy 3:13
But evil people and imposters will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.
The people are deceived.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 NLT This man will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles. 10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. 11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived and they will believe these lies. 12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
The miracle-performer is also deceived.
Matthew 7:22-23 (NLT) On judgment day, many will say to Me, “Lord! Lord! We prophesied in Your Name and cast out demons in your Name and performed many miracles in Your Name.” 22 But I will reply, “I never knew you. Get away from Me, you break God’s laws.”
Jesus downplayed the excitement of His disciples over miracles.
Luke 10:17-20 (NLT) 17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” 18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
The only guarantee against deception is a knowledge of the truth.
If you are easily impressed by miracles, without knowing God through His word, you are at risk of being deceived.
John 8:31 (NLT) Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT) 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
The best evidence of faith is a changed life.
1 Peter 2:11-12 (NKJV) 11 Beloved, I beg [you] as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by [your] good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
The highest and best result of faith is the testimony we receive from God.
The heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11, were different people with different challenges and opportunities, and saw different outcomes.
Desirable Outcomes
vs. 11 Sarah received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age,
vs. 30 the walls of Jericho fell
vs. 31 the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe.
vs. 32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also [of] David and Samuel and the prophets: 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again.
Undesirable Outcomes
Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-- 38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, [in] dens and caves of the earth.
They all had one thing in common. They had a testimony from God.
The greatest testimony is not ours about God’s faithfulness. It is rather God’s testimony about us.
Hebrews 11:1-2 (NKJV) 1 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.
Hebrews 11:4-5 (NKJV) 4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
Hebrews 11:13-16 (NKJV) 13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced [them] and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that [country] from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly [country.] Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
Hebrews 11:39 (NKJV) And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
Faith in God will often produce desirable outcomes for us. Sometimes, it won’t. Regardless, God will judge us faithful and testify of us and reward us, if we remain steadfast.
Hebrews 10:32-39 Think back on those early days, when you first learnt about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful, even though it meant terrible suffering. 33 Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and you were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. 34 You suffered along with those who were thrown in jail and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. 34 So do not throw away this confident trust you have in the Lord. Remember the great rewards it brings you! 35 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised. 37 “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and will not delay.” 38 And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away. 39 But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones whose souls will be saved.
