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Intro: Luke 17:5-6 – 5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” 6 So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Have you ever concluded that you did not have what you needed to get the job done? Have you ever concluded that God was asking you to do more than you can do? The apostles may have been overwhelmed by Jesus’ previous warning against causing others to stumble, and forgiving those sin against us – 7 times in one day? – (v. 1-4) They asked Jesus for what they thought was needed – “increase our faith”
Our study of the basics (being established in the present truth) brings us to the topics this month of faith and Again, just like love and grace, these two distinct characteristics are connected. We will consider them individually, and view how they are biblically connected.
I. What is Faith? It seems logical to begin by defining faith. The Hebrew writer describes faith as “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1)
A. The basic NT word for faith is the noun pistis (pis’-tis). According to Vine’s pistis means, “firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing”. He goes on to say that it is used to denote: a. trust; b. trustworthiness, c. what is believed, the contents of belief; d. assurance, a ground for belief; e. a pledge of fidelity. When used to represent a condition for salvation, have two main connotations, each of which is a necessary aspect of the total concept of saving faith.
B. The first aspect of faith might be called assent or belief. It is an act of the mind, a judgment of the intellect that a particular idea or statement is true.
1. Accepting a statement by faith does not mean I accept it blindly. It is not all that is left when there is no rational evidence as viewed in the following assertions: “Faith takes over where reason leaves off.” “Faith is an illogical belief in the improbable.” One must make a “leap of faith” or have “blind faith.” My faith is based upon both the sufficiency of the evidence and my confidence in the trustworthiness of the witness (God Himself). Jesus said in John 10:37-38: If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.
2. We may know something by experience (see it) and therefore it is not accepted by faith. But technically speaking, the ideas that we accept by faith (assent) are those that enter our consciousness via the testimony of other people. It is a frequent element of everyday life, from newspapers to casual conversation (“How was your day?” “It was fine.”)
3. Saving faith involves this assent or acceptance of what God has revealed in the testimony of the apostles and prophets who bear witness in the Bible. “Faith is the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1) We believe the testimony is true even in the absence of firsthand experience.
4. In biblical terminology the assent aspect of faith is represented by the phrase “believe that” (pisteuohoti), i.e., believing with the mind that statements and claims are true.
• Hebrews 11:6 – 6 …for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
• John 8:24 – 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
• John 14:10-11 – Jesus exhorts Philip to believe that he is in the Father, and the Father is in him.
• John wrote his Gospel so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31) Faith included the acceptance of certain facts substantiated through testimony given is scripture – “hearing the word of God” (Rom. 10:17)
5. Since faith includes the element of assent or belief in God’s testimony, the N.T. also uses the same word, (faith, pistos) to refer to the body of doctrine that is to be accepted as true. So there is “one faith” (Eph. 4:4) one can be “obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7), be “sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13), “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3), have “unity of the faith” (Eph 4:13), and go “astray from the faith” (1 Tim 6:21).
C. The second aspect of saving faith is usually called trust. Whereas assent is a judgment of the mind regarding the truth of a statement, trust is a decision of the will to act upon the truth that is accepted as true.
1. This element of faith is a personal surrender to the implications and consequences of the truth. It is described accurately as trusting (or believing) IN a person. If I ask you if you have faith in your doctor, what does that mean? I am asking more than if you believe he exists. I am asking if you trust him with your health, or even your life.
2. Saving faith includes such trust. Jack Cottrell says the faith that is a condition of salvation involves “specifically, a decision of the will to surrender everything about ourselves—our time, our possessions, our abilities, our life itself, and our eternal destiny—into the hands of Jesus Christ. Trust is the decision to rest our hope of eternal life upon the saving power of Christ’s cross and resurrection.
a. Can you imagine a tightrope stretched over a quarter of a mile and spanning the breadth of Niagara Falls? The thundering sound of the pounding water drowning out all other sounds as you watch a man step onto the rope and walk across!
1) This stunning feat made Charles Blondin famous in the summer of 1859. He walked 160 feet above the falls several times back and forth between Canada and the United States. Once he crossed in a sack, once on stilts, another time on a bicycle, and once he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet!
2) On July 15, Blondin walked backward across the tightrope to Canada and returned pushing a wheelbarrow. The story is told that it was after pushing a wheelbarrow across while blindfolded that Blondin asked for some audience participation. It is said that he asked his audience, “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?” The crowd shouted that yes, they believed! He asked for a volunteer to get into the wheelbarrow and take a ride across the Falls with him! No one volunteered. Said they believed, but they were unwilling to trust themselves to the faith they proclaimed. (Later in August of 1859, his manager, Harry Colcord, did ride on Blondin’s back across the Falls.)
b. 2 Tim 1:12 – “I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day”
3. This aspect of faith is represented by the biblical phrase of believing “in” (eis) or believing “on” (epi) the person and work of Jesus Christ himself.
• “Whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “
• “Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43).
• “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
• “believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Tim 1:16).
II. Faith as a Condition of Salvation: (we will be exploring this question more in our study). Faith is not the only condition of salvation – repentance, confession and baptism are also conditions, as well as continued obedience to the words of God. But without faith it is impossible to please God.
A. Assent alone does not meet the condition of faith for salvation. Even demons believe that the God of the Bible is the true God (James 2:19). Saving faith cannot be defined as simply agreeing on what God has said. It must also include the willingness to trust in Him and surrender my will to His will. Thus faith without the obedience is dead (useless) in itself.
1. Faith and obedience are so intertwined that the writer of Hebrews was even willing to imply that unbelief was the same as disobedience. Hebrews 3:18-19 – 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. The faith that saves is a faith that obeys.
B. The source of our salvation is not our work or activity, but a work that has been done by someone else—Jesus. In order to be saved we must accept and rely upon what has been done for us. This act of relying on Jesus and his work is the very essence of faith.
C. Salvation comes to us not through God’s law but through his promises (Romans 4:13-21 – 13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath…
• Turn to Galatians 3:18;21-22; 26-29 – 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise… 21 For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe… 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the prom
1. God offers salvation through his promise; the only way to respond to a promise is by believing it and trusting in it (and the one who gave it).
• Ephesians 2:8 – 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God – The gift here is not my faith, but my salvation.
• Faith is my proper response to grace offered. Romans 4:16“For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace”.
2. But the power of salvation is not in my faith itself. It is rather in the object of my faith- Jesus Christ. It is all Him. The power of my salvation is not the intensity of my faith, but the power of the blood of Jesus to remit sins. I must put my trust (faith) in that power.
• Paul wrote in Romans 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3. Trusting in Jesus to save me does not exclude the necessity of obeying Him. As we mentioned earlier, faith is connected to obedience, in that obedience is the fruit of my faith. Saving faith includes it.
Conclusion: In Luke 17:5, the apostles ask for more faith. Jesus’ answer does not speak to some mystical or charismatic concept of faith, as though it was magic or glorified self-confidence. He does not tell them to just believe more in themselves.
He presents faith to them as a seed that can produce enormous results if it is utilized… If you had it… you could say… it would obey… The power is in the seed, but the seed must be planted. Faith must be acted upon. Coffman says… The teaching here is that the faith they had was more than enough to enable it, provided only that they got on with the DOING of it.
In Paul’s discussion of salvation by faith in Romans, twice he characterizes what God is looking as the “obedience that comes from faith.” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26) He also tells us at what point of a person’s obedient faith he receives forgiveness. The time when his new life begins.
- Rom 6:3-4 – Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Have you expressed your faith in obedience to command to be baptized into Christ?
Have you obeyed the words of Jesus…?
- Mark 16:16 – 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.