By Faith We Understand

FAITH AND BELIEVING IN THE LAST DAYS

CHAPTER 1

By Faith We Understand

2 Timothy 3:1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:

It blows me away when people who profess to be born again Christians complain about the state of the world today.

Starting with the Apostles, and through out all the recorded history of the church, Christians have believed that they were living in the last days. They all believed that Christ was coming back in their lifetime.

Were they wrong in their belief?

Was their faith in His return pointless and misplaced?

Well, has Jesus come back yet?

I guess that makes them wrong then?

I guess that made their faith in His return pointless and powerless?

Well, what if we apply Hebrews 11?

Hebrews 11:1 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.

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.

The bible says in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38 that “The just shall live by faith”.

All believers are called to believe in and live according to what they cannot see. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean that you can’t possess it. According to the bible, God created by speaking creation into existence; we believe that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

As Christians, we understand that this verse has two applications.

Number 1 being that creation was made out of the spoken (unseen) word of God.

Number 2 being that the things which are seen were made out of the unseen atom.

The idea that God spoke all things into existence still requires faith to believe, but what about believing that God created the atom?

The atom which is proven to exist still had to have a creator or at least a source of beginning. The question is not does the atom exist, but did God create the building blocks of all that exists?

Hebrews 11:3 says “By faith that we understand”.

To understand means to perceive with the mind.

To perceive means to take entirely.

There is no room for doubt when it comes to understanding faith.

You either possess and understand faith with your mind and grasp it entirely, or you do not possess and understand faith at all. To the believer, faith either exists, or it does not exist.

This may seem like an unlikely question for the believer, but let’s be honest, to what depth do we live by faith?

In John chapter 9 we are told the story of Jesus healing a man who was blind from birth. In the story, the man found himself being interrogated by the religious leaders as to who healed him. This was an impossible question for the man to answer as he was blind when the healing took place. He never actually perceived Jesus by sight. All he could tell them was that “a man called Jesus” put clay in his eyes and told him to go wash in the pool called Siloam. At this point, the once blind man did not clearly understand who this Jesus was.

Now after he and his parents endured ruthless harassment and questioning by the Pharisee’s, and still not being able to answer them, his final response was this,

John 9:32 "Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.

33 "If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."

This once blind man, in one single moment, had just taken a huge leap of faith.

Now take notice that it was Jesus who reached out to this man and took it upon Himself to heal him. The man himself had nothing to do with his own healing and we are not even told if the man even wanted to be healed. It was God who reached out and invaded this mans life, turning it upside down and changing it for all of eternity.

In a single moment the now healed blind man went from not knowing who healed him, to calling the unseen Jesus “a man who was sent from God.”

That is where faith begins.

God sends Jesus, Jesus touches a life, and then the life changing, eternity in the balance question is,

Who is Jesus?

The story continues, after the man made his life changing statement of faith, 34 They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out.

35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"

36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?"

37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you."

38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him.

39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."

Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The man first understood that it was the power of God that healed him.

Not that Jesus was God, he was not there in his faith yet, but he was convinced that it was an act of God that healed him.

He placed his faith in God based on unseen evidence. Yes, he was blind and yes he can now see, but did he see God, did he see Jesus as the Son of God?

The proof that it was an act of God was based entirely on his understanding of his faith. He being a Jew knew the Jewish scriptures. He knew that being healed from blindness was an act of God. And how did he know this? From just knowing the Jewish scriptures or did he know this because he believed in the God of the Jewish scriptures? Think of it this way.

Philippians 4:13 says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Now, do you believe what you just read, or do you believe it because you are a Christian and Christians believe that the bible is the word of God?

Sure, you read it, sure it’s in the bible, but do you believe it?

Do you possess it? Do you live by it? Do you act on it?

Do you possess the same faith that the blind man possessed?

We need to understand something about Jewish law. This man and his family had a lot to lose here. His parents would not allow themselves to be dragged into this issue because of the consequences. What was at stake? They could have been “cast out” meaning excommunicated. This is more than just not being able to come to temple services where many of us would say, “no problem there, boring.” Back then, being “cast out” meant you could no longer have any dealings with any Jew. You would lose your friends, your job, your lifestyle, your security, you could not buy from a Jew and you could not sell to a Jew and on top of that, God would no longer have anything to do with you either. You could no longer talk to God and God would no longer listen to you.

The question still remains, do you believe Philippians 4:13?

 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Do you believe that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you so much so that you are willing to attribute all things to Christ?

In other words, it’s easy for a Christian to say that Christ has the power to strengthen you, but are you willing to do all things for Christ to strengthen you?

That is what faith is all about.

1 Corinthians 12:7 through 12 says,

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

Faith is like fat.

Everyone is born with all the fat cells that they will ever have.

Taking in more calories than you burn will result in the fat cells expanding. Taking in fewer calories than you burn will result in smaller fat cells.

In the same manner, everyone is born with a measure of faith.

Exercising that faith, living that faith, will cause faith to expand and grow, ignoring and not using that faith will result in faith staying small and you, never knowing what you and God are capable of.

Either way, if we take 1 Corinthians 12:7 seriously, we understand that the faith we possess does not start with us nor does it come from us. It is a gift from God, given through the working of the Holy Spirit, for the benefit and profit of all… 17 But the manifestation of the Spirit (one of which is faith) is given to each one for the profit of all:

Faith is not about us doing,

Faith is about us receiving

And then using what we have been given,

 for the benefit of others.

The faith that we struggle with, the faith that we use to bless others, does not come from us at all.

It comes from God and it is not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of everybody.

So the struggle with faith is not to gain faith, but to use faith,

and the measure of faith that we use all depends on if we believe that God has actually given us any measure of faith at all.

So then our struggle is not with faith, our struggle is whether we believe Gods word to be true or not.

Its not that it’s in the bible so I believe it, its God said it so I am going to live by it.

Do you believe what God says?

Do you believe and understand (take in entirely) that God has given you all the faith that you will ever need?

Understand, even the faith to believe comes from God.

In other words, we understand because we believe God.