We Walk By Faith Part 3
Scripture: Mark 9:16-24; Romans 10:8-17; 2 Timothy 2:15
Introduction:
In my message two weeks ago I shared with you that the foundation of faith lie within what we believe. Faith can only exist where there is belief. Last time I focused on how we come to believe some of the things we do and how that process, if understood completely, can lend itself to our increasing what we believe about Christ and thus increasing our faith in Him. This morning I will focused on how we develop an unquestioning belief in Christ (true faith). Paul states in the book of Romans that faith in Christ comes through our hearing and understanding the word of God. Before we examine what he said, I want to share with you a quick story from Mark the 9th chapter.
Mark the 9th chapter captures a story of a man who had a son who was possessed by a demonic spirit. The man brought his son to the disciples so that they could cast the demon out. A large crowd had gathered around the disciples with some of the scribes in the crowd arguing with the disciples. When the crowd saw Jesus, they ran up to Him. Jesus asked them what was going on and the father of the boy told Jesus that he had a son who was possessed with a demon. He then related to Jesus what the demonic spirit would do to his son. He told Jesus that he brought his son to the disciples and told them to cast the demonic spirit out of his son but the disciples could not do it. Jesus became a little frustrated with the people and with His disciples and demanded that the boy be brought to Him. When the boy was brought to Jesus the spirit threw him to the ground and he began foaming at the mouth. Let’s pick the story up at verse twenty-two.
“It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us! And Jesus said to him, ‘If You can? All things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief.” (Vss. 23-24)
The man appeared to believe that Jesus’ disciples could help him. Secondly, when he brought his son to the disciples, a crowd gathered to see if they could in fact do it. When they could not apparently an argument broke out with some of the crowd members, the scribes and the disciples. When Jesus finally walked up, the crowd turned their attention to Him. Jesus asked what was going on and the father told Him what was up. When the father brought his son to Jesus, the man said “If You can do anything….” Jesus responded to the man and told him that anything was possible for the one who believed. Now listen closely to the man’s answer: “I do believe; help my unbelief!” The man possibly understood that his belief might have been compromised when the disciples could not cast the demon out of his son so he told Jesus that he did believe but also asked Jesus to help his unbelief. The man wanted to save his son and he did not want his son to continue to suffer because of his lack of believing that Jesus could cast the demon out. So when he realized that his current belief might not be enough, he asked Jesus to help his unbelief. Have you ever asked Jesus to help your unbelief or do we spend our time justifying why we do not believe something?
This morning we will focus on where our faith comes from – the word of God. But what I ask each of you to do is think about what you believe as it relates to Christ and what you are struggling to believe. When you recognize what you are struggling to believe you will understand what is hindering the growth of your faith. Remember, faith can only exist where there is unquestioning belief. If your belief is not unquestioning there is room for doubt and therefore room for your faith to fail. In the areas where you are struggling to believe, ask Jesus to help your unbelief. Just whisper this prayer: “Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief!” and He will do it, but it starts with you asking.
I. Faith Comes By Hearing The Word Of God
In the tenth chapter of the book of Romans, Paul discusses the fact that the word of faith brings salvation. Remember, it is not enough to read or hear the Word, you must also believe it. Belief will come as you truly study God’s word and implant it within your hearts so that you are always reflecting on it and its teachings. Let’s begin reading at verse eight of Romans chapter ten. Romans 10:8-10 says “But what does it say? ‘The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’, that is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation.”
When we examine these verses the first thing that jumps out at us is just what the word of faith really is. We have called a lot of things the word of faith, but here it is in context. The word of faith is simple. Paul states that the word of faith is our confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing with our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, then we will be saved.” This is the word of faith. Why is it faith? Because we must believe without ever having been present at Jesus death or resurrection that He in fact did die for our sins and He did rise from the dead resulting in our salvation. We believe this by faith because we’re having to accept it as truth as we cannot ask any of the witnesses who were there as they are all dead. Does this make sense? When you read the process, it starts with what you believe in your heart followed by what you confess with your mouth. The heart believes and the mouth confesses what is in the heart. Based on this whenever we speak something that we truly do not believe we are actually lying. When we believe in our hearts that Christ died for us it results in righteousness and when we confess it with our mouth it results in salvation. Let’s pick this up at verse thirteen.
“For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” (Vss. 13-15)
This is something that Christians really need to understand. Those who call on the name of Jesus will be saved however they cannot call on someone that they have not heard about. People are not going to find out about Christ through meditation – they need someone to tell them. They need someone to be willing to stand up and share Him with them. People are not going to believe in Christ if they do not hear about Him and in order for them to hear, it requires those that know Him to tell them. Let’s finish with verse seventeen.
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Faith in Christ comes through hearing about Him. Once a person has heard they must choose to believe and once they believe faith comes. But it is not a one-time event. Our salvation is the initial step however as we learn more and more about Christ, we have the opportunity to increase our faith as we choose to believe what we are learning. Remember, faith comes through hearing the word of God but only if you believe what you hear. You cannot grow in your faith if you study God’s word and then reject it. Faith in Christ comes when you study and believe. When you hear and believe. Let me use this example.
Let’s say I gave you one thousand dollars and told you it was yours to spend on whatever you wish. I take the money from my pocket and place it in your hands. Some of you would question me as to why I am giving you the money and I would need to have a reason. When I tell you the reason then you would believe and receive the money. At that point you know the money is yours to do with as you please. Your mind makes the assumption that the money was mine to do with as I please and since I chose to give it to you, you would honor me by spending it. So you take the money and go on a shopping trip. When you hear God’s word and you accept and believe it, you then act on it. Just like I offered you the money, you would only spend it if you believed that it was mine to give you. Now consider if you had questions as to whether or not the money was mine? If you thought I had stolen it, would you still accept it? Would you be afraid of what would happen if you did spend it? Those questions signify that you have some doubts. Your doubt causes you to not have faith in me and therefore you struggle accepting the money because you do not have assurance that it is legitimate.
Let’s consider one more example. I know that most of you have had to take a test or two in your life time. If you studied for the test, you walked into the room with confidence that you would pass it easily. I was very good in math when I was in school and it would take me 15 minutes to take a test that it would take most of the class 45 minutes. I often got in trouble in math class because I would finish a test and then start doing things I should not have been doing. I did not struggle at all with math once I decided that I would learn it. Now English and History was another story. I really had to study and I was always concerned that something would be on the test that I had not reviewed. When it came to math I walked in complete confidence and faith because I knew what I knew and I believed that I would easily recall it. But with the other subjects, sometimes I missed questions that I knew the answer to because I was so caught up and concerned about what I might not know that I forgot what I really did know.
The same happens with our faith. In order for us to have that unquestioning faith, we must get into the word of God so that we know what we know. We must study so that we will have the confidence we need to develop our faith. Remember, our faith in Christ is all about what we believe without question and if you are not studying for yourself you will always have questions, especially as it relates to what someone else tells you to believe. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God – but you got to believe what you are hearing and sometimes that only happens when you take what you heard and go back and study it for yourself. Consider what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15. I will read this from the Amplified version of the Bible.
He said “Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God, approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing (rightly handling and skillfully teaching) the Word of Truth.” Timothy did not know Christ personally, but came to believe through Paul. Paul was instructing Timothy to study something that he was not previously exposed to – the word of truth. He was not referring to the Old Testament, but a knowledge of Christ and the truth about the resurrection – especially that of believers. All of this was taught to Timothy by Paul who had command knowledge of the Old Testament and a new knowledge based on what Christ planted within him when he was converted. So Paul’s knowledge is viewed as one who had a direct line to Christ and for this reason it is his writings that make up almost two-thirds of the New Testament.
Paul told Timothy to study and to present himself to God as a worker who was not ashamed – someone who is able to rightly teach the word based on their time spent studying it. Through the knowledge comes the confidence that will not allow him to be ashamed. We are often ashamed when we are in situations where we should know something and we do not. This causes us to shrink back in defeat until such time as we can acquire the knowledge necessary to move forward. Paul was instructing Timothy to ensure that he had command knowledge to God’s word so that he never had to be ashamed and he could teach it with confidence. It was Timothy’s understanding of God’s word that allowed him to handle the issues he faced as a young pastor when some of his congregation thought he might have been too young for his position.
As I close this week’s message out, I want to leave you with a very clear picture of your faith walk. I want you to imagine something you do without thinking about it. Think about walking. If you have not had an illness where you had to learn to walk again, you walk on auto-pilot. You do not think about the process you go through to walk. You do not think about moving one foot in front of the other – you just do it. By walking this way you have an unquestioning belief in your ability to walk. There is no doubt within you about this ability. This is where our faith in Christ should get to – where we have no doubts about what He says and what He will do. We do not let man’s interpretation of Christ hinder us from truly seeing Him for ourselves. We take the time to get t know Him through His word.
In contrast to this picture, I want you to think about a small baby who is learning to walk. Those first few steps are hard and difficult. The baby get around well crawling on the floor, but something within them makes them want to walk on their feet. What is it? I believe it is based on what they are seeing. Everyone around them is walking to two feet so they want to do it also. The difference is they must learn just like everyone else did. So they begin to stand up and hold on to something to balance themselves until they get it right. Soon they learn how to balance and to take a few steps and shortly thereafter they are walking without thinking about it.
In the first picture there is the person who has learned and is now doing it without thinking about the process. In the second picture with the baby we witness the beginning steps – what we all know as “baby steps”. Those are the small, tentative steps that babies take as they begin to learn to walk. Some of us are taking the baby steps as it relates to our faith while others are walking confidently in our faith while some are somewhere in between the two. Only you know where you are at this moment, but there is room for growth in all of us. To begin to grow we must understand what we believe and what we do not believe. Those things that we are struggling to believe we must go and get the answers. You see it is not enough to say you do not believe, you must confirm it with evidence. What are you basing your non-belief in? What do you not understand or agree with? These are the beginning points of your research if you truly want to move from where you are now into a deeper faith walk with Christ.
Next week I will shift gears a little and talk about how our faith must be prejudice. We often think of anything that is prejudicial as being negative, but as it relates to our faith, it is totally positive. So until next Sunday, have a very blessed week.
