Simple Faith
Scripture: Hebrews 11:1, 6; Romans 5:1-2
The title of my message this morning is “Simple Faith.” As some of you are aware, I retired last Monday after thirty-two years in the pharmaceutical industry. This was preceded by eight years in the U. S. Air Force and five years working as a stockman in a department store. I had worked for forty-five years looking forward to the day when I could stop work and enjoy a time when I could do what I wanted when I wanted. That day arrived last Monday, May 10, 2021. I am approaching my one-week anniversary and the thing that I have come to realize is that living in retirement still requires faith. It took faith to get me to retirement and it will take faith to live in it – but not necessarily in the manner that you might be thinking.
In May of 1989 I had been out of the Air Force for a few weeks searching for a job in the pharmaceutical industry. Every company I applied for turned me down because I either did not have sale experience or I did not have pharmaceutical sales experience specifically. After being rejected so many times, I went through a phase of doubt, worrying, and extreme stress thinking that I would not be able to find a job in the industry that I wanted and thus be able to provide for my family. Those were some dark days for me. But one thing that helped me continue walking each day was my simple faith that I had in God that He would provide for me and my family – and when I say simple faith, I mean simple. I am not talking about the mountain moving faith that I should have had; I am talking about that simple faith that when you have been beaten down so low it’s all that’s left. The pride is gone. The self-worth is bottoming out. The stress is high. I am talking about the faith we have in God when all else is gone.
During those very dark days I listened to a song by Lionel Harris titled “His Grace is Greater.” This song spoke to me because Satan was telling me that I had messed up by getting out of the Air Force when I didn’t have to and now my family would suffer. This song encouraged me to the point that there were times when I would be driving down the road listening to it crying as it was my testimony at that particular moment in my life. Listen to the words of the song:
“His grace is greater than our failures, His peace runs deeper than our fears. If we go to Him for mercy, our hearts can rest assured, His love will keep us through our tears. He'll give us strength to simply trust Him, through times we may not understand. We will gain a sweet assurance,
no passing doubt can dim. Our lives are safely in His hands. Though countless souls, have come to Him so desperate and lost, with faith no greater than a tiny seed, each one has found a wondrous truth beneath His simple cross. His grace is greater than our need. No height or depth in all creation, can reach beyond His love for me and His power has raised my spirit, the work forever done. With grace, His power has raised my spirits, the work forever done. His grace is greater than my need.”
And I listened to the words of this song the Spirit of God would remind me of the grace of God. As I said, Satan was telling me that I should have stayed in the military. He told me that I was trying to enter a field where there were very few minorities at the time. He told me there was a reason that that I was being rejected and that I should give up and look for something else to provide for my family. And you know what I did? I started looking for something else even though in my heart I believed that I was supposed to be in the pharmaceutical sales industry. At that point my faith shifted from focusing on obtaining a pharmaceutical sales job to obtaining any job. Do you understand what I am telling you? The enemy of the soul can beat us down until we believe we are walking in faith when in reality what we have done is given up. At least that was the case with me. Following that decision, one week I interviewed for a position working for the state of Arkansas doing child mortality studies. The following week I had an interview with a pharmaceutical company. The state made me a job offer before the pharmaceutical company made its decision. When the person at the state office offered me the job, she apologized that the offer was so low and she couldn’t offer me more. With their offer in hand, I was forced to make a decision. Do I accept a confirmed job making less than I needed or wait and see how the interview with the pharmaceutical company turned out? Although my faith in getting a job in the pharmaceutical industry was shaken, I chose to finish that interview process and you know the rest of the story. What I want you to understand from this testimony is that no one is immune from reaching a point of giving up on something they believe God for. When we have been beaten down so low that we have to reach up to touch the bottom, it’s our simple faith in God that He will fulfill His promises which gives us the strength to take one more step.
This morning I will talk about the simple faith that pleases God. Hebrews 11:1, 6 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen….. 6But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” While faith is something that we all have and use in the natural, it takes on extreme importance spiritually as it relates to our relationship with God. Faith, according to Webster’s dictionary, is defined as “An unquestioning belief specifically in God, religion, etc. Complete trust and confidence.” In Webster’s definition, I want you to examine two words that are used, unquestioning and complete. The word “unquestioning” means that we do not question, dispute or doubt. As it pertains to what we believe about God and what we know about Him, we come to the point where we accept it, believe it and receive it without doubting or disputing what we do not understand with our own intellect. The second word I want you to focus on from Webster’s definition is complete. This word carries the meaning that something is finished, nothing more can be added to it. As it pertains to faith, our trust and confidence in our faith in God should be complete – meaning there is no more room for anything else to be added – we have complete confidence in our faith in God.
The International Bible Encyclopedia explains that, in the New Testament, the word faith means to trust or rely upon. When used in this sense, the verbal form, believe, of the word is used. The Greek word used in the New Testament expresses the movement of the confidence committed to the object of faith. In many cases it is a person on whom, or towards whom, there is faith, namely God or Jesus Christ. Now here is where it gets interesting. This usage in the New Testament brings out strongly the “trust” aspect of faith, for this kind of reliance or committal signifies much more than intellectual belief. It is directed primarily not to facts but to God Himself in Jesus Christ. The intellectual element is included however. To have faith in a person is to believe certain things about this person, his nature, words and work. One does not need to know everything, but it is essential to know and believe something about them.
Many Christians have some level of faith based on their intellectually processing “something” which led to them believe something about God. But let me show you where God wants us. When we lived in Little Rock, AR, I was told the story about the mother of one of our church members who lifted a car off her child when the car jack had slipped and the car fell on her child. In that moment, without processing or thinking about it, she reached down and lifted the back end of the car up to free her child. Intellectually she could not have done so, but she acted without processing or asking whether or not it was possible. She simply acted in faith because her child needed saving. New Light, based on what I know from scripture, an angel helped that mother lift that car. I’m going to read Hebrews 1:14 from the Amplified Bible. “Are not the angels all ministering spirits (servants) sent out in the service [of God for the assistance] of those who are to inherit salvation?” God wants us to have this type of faith – that in our time of need He is right there with us – sometime supernaturally in the form of angels being sent to help us. When it comes to faith in Jesus, one cannot really trust in Jesus Christ without believing that He is the Messiah; the Incarnate Son; the crucified and risen Savior. The words and works, the essential being of Jesus, are all part of His person. We cannot know just a little about Jesus and imagine the rest and call that true faith.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The writer of Hebrews starts this verse out with the word “Now”. This word gives identification to a point in time – now, the present. In the 10th chapter of Hebrews, the writer talked about Christ’s sacrifice and what that meant for us. He explained the history and how the Law of Moses and the sacrifices were incomplete – were not enough – when it came to receiving eternal life. Then he comes to his main point: of how Christ solved the problem with His death and resurrection and now we should persevere in unquestioning and complete faith in the finished work of Jesus. The writer of Hebrews says we draw near to God with a sincere heart in the full (complete) assurance of faith. The writer also gives us a stern warning. Jesus was the last sacrifice for sins, but if we deliberately continue to sin after we have received the knowledge of truth, there is no other sacrifice that can be made for us and hell is our goal. The writer was pushing the readers to be aware of their history, what Christ did for them, and the new expectation that was upon them since they now have the knowledge of Christ. Finally, the writer of Hebrews reminds them of what they have been through and encourages them to continue because an eternity with Jesus is worth the price. He tells them that they are not like those who fall back and are destroyed, but those who believe and are saved. Having said all of this, he starts his next sentence with “Now Faith Is”. Using the word “now” the writer was saying, “today, right here, in this present moment faith is….” He wanted the readers to know that for all intent and purpose, the faith they were to walk in was no different than the historical figures that he would shortly tell them about. He wanted to make sure they understood that he was no longer talking about the past or the future; he was talking about what their faith, which they needed immediately in the present.
So, what did the writer of Hebrews say faith was? He said in verse one that “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I really like how the Amplified Bible reads for this verse. It says “Now faith is the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed, of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.” As you know, the Greeks had several words for each one of our English words and the meaning of the word was different depending on how it was used in the passage and context. The Amplified Bible takes this into consideration in its translation so it reveals any clarifying shades of meaning that may be concealed by traditional word-for-word method translation. When you read this verse in the Amplified Bible, you begin to see just what real faith is and its importance in our Christian walk. The writer was telling us that faith is our assurance, or title deed, that guarantees that we will receive what we hope for.
How many of you own a car or house that you owe no payments on? When you pay off a car or house, you receive the title or deed for it. That title/deed tells everyone that the car or house belongs to you and you can do with it whatever you please. Your faith functions like the “title or deed” to your car or house. Whatever you are believing God for (believing within God’s promises) your faith gives you the “title of assurance” that you will receive it. The last part of the verse says that our faith gives us the proof that the things we do not see really do exists. Our faith gives us the conviction and peace of knowing that, even though we may not see what we are believing for right now, it is real. Have you ever believed something so strongly that although others did not understand your beliefs, they could not talk you out of it? That is conviction. Our faith gives us the conviction we need to stand firm in our belief when everyone around us tells us that it does not make sense. The last part of that verse says that our faith perceives as real what has not yet been revealed to our senses. In other words, our faith sees what is real and then our senses come into the knowledge of it. Many times, we operate opposite of this – our senses tell us what is real and then and only then will we have faith. Our faith sees the reality of things that our senses do not yet see or comprehend. For this reason, our senses are not necessarily the most trusted resource for what is going on in our reality.
Faith means abandoning all trust in our own resources, abilities and reasoning – the things we see and the things we can do. It means relying instead on things we cannot see – God’s promises, provisions and His concern for us. An inner attitude alone does not define faith, though. For faith to be present, action is required. Faith proves itself by its obedience to the Lord. The writer of Hebrews expressed faith in two directions: faith toward future things (what we hope for) and faith toward invisible things (what we do not see). When we are certain God is in control of these areas (and we live like He is in control) that’s faith. There are two types of faith I want to share with you, Historical faith and Saving faith.
Historical faith is a belief in the truthfulness and accuracy of the scriptural narrative and teaching. Jesus spent a lot of time teaching His disciples, both history, and more important, application of Scripture. The writer of Hebrews did the same thing with his readers – teaching the history as a means of building and establishing their faith. In the eleventh chapter, he takes his time in walking his readers through the history of those who previously walked in faith. He gave them a history lesson starting with Abel and finishing by saying that there were many others who had walked in faith. The whole purpose of his message was to build their faith by showing examples of others who had walked in faith. History is important. The writer used the truth of historical figures to demonstrate the faith that is needed now to walk as Christians. Whenever we open and read our bibles, we are reading history. This history is the foundation for our faith. When we read of the exploits of others through faith, knowing that we serve a God who is unchanging, we begin to understand what God was willing to do in the past for those who walked in faith He is willing to do now for His children. The beginning of our faith walk is when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior by faith. This brings me to the second faith – saving faith.
Saving faith is the acceptance by the intellect, the affection and will of God’s favor extended to man through Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” We are justified by faith. We have been declared innocent, acquitted of our sins, made righteous before God because of our faith. Our faith in God’s promise saved us. Although faith and intellect can sometimes be polar opposites, they can also work hand in hand, complementing each other. With my intellect I can do historical searches and find evidence of the truth in the Bible. With my intellect I can witness the move of God in my life, things taking place that I could not do alone. With my intellect I can reflect back on the proof of Christ’s existence in the world and my need for dependence upon Him. All of this I can do with my intellect. However, saving faith is accepting God without being able to intellectually explain everything about Him and His grace. We accept the historical facts and the truth about His grace extended to us. The proof is in the history which we accept leading to us being saved by faith accepting the history as true.
But why is faith so important for Christians? Well, the writer of Hebrews answers that question too. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The word “without” is the Greek word choris, a word that means to be outside of something, like outside of the city limits or outside the house. So, this part of the verse should be translated “But outside of faith…” This word describes faith as a location – a place where you can live “in” or live “out” of. The Greek literally means, “But outside of the place of faith, it is impossible to please Him….” When I was growing up as a child, my grandmother lived in the country, “outside” of the city limits. They did not have indoor plumbing or bathrooms. Where I lived “in town”, we had indoor plumbing which was very convenient. This was one of the “benefits” of living “in town” verses living in the country. Well, our faith works the same way. It is possible to be saved and go to heaven and not ever walk in the faith that God desires us to walk in – we see it every day. A person can accept Christ by faith and be saved without ever really allowing faith to fully operate in their life. The word “impossible” is the Greek word anendektos and it means something that is impossible, inadmissible, unallowable, or unthinkable. It could be translated “Without faith it is unthinkable to believe that you can please Him…” By definition this word means “it cannot be done”. To please God we must have faith, for without it, it cannot be done. Furthermore, the word “please” is the Greek word euarestesai, a compound of the words eu and aresto. The word eu means well, as in something that is well. The word aresto means enjoyable or pleasing. Together they describe the pleasure one feels from seeing something that is especially excellent or delightful. When we take all of these different meanings into account, Hebrews 11:6 can be translated, “Outside of the realm of faith, it is impossible to bring delight and pleasure to God…..” The flip side of this statement is that when we are living “in” a place of faith, where God has called us and we are doing what He has asked us to do, we bring pleasure to the Lord. But we also must understand that if we are living more by what we can see than by faith, we are not pleasing God. And I will leave you with this question: Can we expect God to bless us to the extent that He desires to if He is not pleased with us?
Finally, the writer ends the verse with, “….He is a rewarded of them that diligently seek Him.” If we want to “qualify” for God’s reward and you know He has called us to do something, we have to be completely committed to pressing forward all the way until we have fully accomplished the assignment. For this, we need diligence to stick with it. The phrase “diligently seek” is a translation of a compound Greek word that means to seek out. As it is used in Hebrews 11:6, it means “to zealously seek for something with all of one’s heart, strength, and might.” It conveys the idea of being hard-working, attentive, busy, constant, and persistent in one’s devotion to what he or she is doing. If we want to see our dreams fulfilled, it starts with our giving our full attention to what God has called us to do and getting it done! When we are seriously pursuing what God has told us to do, we won’t have time for wrong attitudes and wrong thinking – we will be operating in faith! Being constant and consistent is an essential quality needed to diligently pursue our God-given dreams and purposes. It takes consistency and determination to push aside the powers of hell and obtain the victory we desire.
In these two verses the writer of Hebrews lets us know that we can live in faith or out of faith. This means that faith must be a real place that has borders and boundaries. Just as you can live in town or in the country, you can live in faith or out of faith. Every Christian finds it easier to walk in faith in some things while not in others based on their own experiences and intellect. Once we have accepted Christ and we begin to start our faith walk, our faith will be tried. It will be tried when it comes to our personal situations; our jobs; and our finances. When things change our faith is challenged. God wants us to develop our faith so that we can by faith believe and walk through every situation knowing that we are not alone and that it will work out. It does not matter how the situation started; how it develops over time; or where we think it might end up. Whatever we are facing God just wants us to walk blindly with Him. This is the faith that pleases Him – when we do not have the answers and trust Him with them.
Thirty-two years ago, God opened the door for me to enter into the pharmaceutical sales industry. I know God did it because of how it happened. Throughout those thirty-two years, I faced trial after trial with people telling me what I could or could not do. My life was threatened in some parts of the state I worked in and I had supervisors who told me I would not succeed in the industry. I cannot tell you the number of times I thought about quitting, even interviewing for jobs that were outside of the industry. But in each and every case God told me to be patient and allow Him to work. That was very hard to do – walk blindly with God while it seemed that everyone around you was working against you. But we serve a mighty God. My faith for tested for thirty-two years and there were some tests that I passed and others I failed miserably. This is the reason this song continues to minister to me thirty plus years later. Truly God’s grace is greater than our need, but we must have faith in Him. God wants us to walk in faith and receive all of the benefits of that faith walk. Just as living in the city offers different benefits than living out in the country, walking in faith offers different benefits that walking without faith – in every area of our lives. It is impossible to please God without faith. Faith is simple – it simply believes when everything around you tell you that proof is needed and you disagree.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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