An Overview
Jesus'
Jesus' mission statement is prophesied in Isaiah 61, and Luke 4 records the "pre-Cross" portion of His mission statement that He preached. His mission is change! Not just change for the sake of change, but good and positive change, the abundant life that He promised. He promised good news to the poor, healing to the brokenhearted, liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
From prisoner to priest.
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified." And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, And the sons of the foreigner Shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, And in their glory you shall boast" (Isaiah 61:1-6). There is much more change promised in the verses following, and the above passage. Study the entire chapter.
How does Jesus effect this change in and for us?
First we need to know that it is an inheritance, something that we inherit from the death of an elder relative. We need to understand that the change for the better in our lives, promised by God through Jesus, is not something that we earn, deserve or even work for. It is a free gift, and inheritance.
"…[To] an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Peter 1:4).
However, even in an inheritance there are conditions. In our modern culture you have to hear the reading of the will. You have to have faith to believe that this relative left this treasure to you.
God puts His own conditions on His inheritance in order to keep it for certain people.
Turning from darkness and receiving forgiveness.
"to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:18).
Overcoming.
"He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son" (Revelation 21:7).
Faith and patience.
"that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:12).
Living a life of repentance and obedience.
"envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:21).
Having open spiritual eyes.
"the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18).
He transfers our benefits by hope and faith, coupled with obedience to His conditions.
Reading the above Scripture in Isaiah 61 brings hope. Hope is like a blueprint, the goal and the picture of the finished product. Hope is the confident expectation that things will change and be better. However, hope alone will not bring the results. Faith and love have to be added to the promise.
Faith is a major issue with God.
"…for whatever is not from faith is sin." Romans 14:23b.
Wow! That is a stinging verse. Everything!
"But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live [shall sustain his very life, to live and breath] by faith" (Galatians 3:11).
Unbelief is sin.
Hebrews 3:7-12 says, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.' So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'' Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God."
God speaks to us things that He has finished before the foundation of the world was put into place, and we often still do not believe, even though they are a done deal!
Hebrews 4:3, says, "For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: 'So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'' although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."
What is faith? How does it work? How do we obtain it?
Lets look at the Biblical definition of what faith is, how it works, and how we receive it.
We hear many people say, "What is your faith?" They are asking about their religious beliefs. While there may be some connection, that is not really the accurate view of faith. Others may say, "I have faith that God will do this or that." Often what they really mean is that they hope that God will do something for them, but they are not really sure and they have no basis for that expectation. That is not faith. That is the time to seek God's face so that He may speak faith to you!
Sense knowledge compared to revelation knowledge.
God has given us five main senses with which to obtain evidence from the natural world in which we live. They are sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste. We use them to obtain evidence that we are on the safe road as we drive, to listen to another as they talk about things, and so on. We need those senses to navigate this natural world.
However this natural world is simply the product of the invisible and supernatural or spiritual world. What we see in the natural world is produced by and has it origin in the spiritual world. God warned Adam and Eve that they should live by the Word of God and only use their five senses for certain things. They turned it around and most after them have followed.
Hebrews 11:3 says, "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."
2 Corinthians 4:18 says, "while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Faith is like a sixth sense.
It is another way of obtaining evidence of truth, a much more accurate way. Hebrews 11:1 in the Amplified Bible 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]."
In the NKJ version Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Faith is a substance, a reality, and something that can be touched or felt, something real or practical, a possession.
Now lets compare the two kinds of senses.
When I touch a table, I know it is real. I have the evidence that it can hold my plate of food. When I touch the revelation knowledge given to me by God through His Word and the Holy Spirit, I have also touched reality. I know that what God revealed to me in His Word by the Holy Spirit is real, and it can perform the task for which it was sent to me. However, how does this qualify as a "substance" as is mentioned in Hebrews 11:1?
The Word of God when given to you through the Holy Spirit is a seed.
Jesus taught His disciples about this principle. As a matter of fact, He told them in Mark 4:11 the parable of the sower contained the mystery of the
"Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it" (Mark 4:3, 4)
"The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts" (Mark 4:14, 15).
In this parable the Word of God is described as a seed, which is planted into the heart of a person. That is substance! When a farmer plants a corn seed, he may not be able to eat the corn the next day, but he has substance in the ground and he is assured that if he cares for that seed, his corn will be in his hand where he can use it and eat it. When Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, plants a seed into your heart, you will know it. In later chapters we will discuss this more.
How does this substance of faith come?
It comes by "touching God."
Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Notice the Greek meaning of "word." "That which is or has been uttered by the living voice, spoken, word." The word is rhema, which means, the living voice of God spoken directly to your heart and planted as a seed.
The Amplified version for Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the Messiah Himself)."
One can listen to preachers for years and read the Bible day and night, and they may not receive faith, the seed. Why? They did not receive a rhema because the Holy Spirit did not enlighten the Word from logos to rhema. We have to be cooperating with God for the Holy Spirit to do this. I understand that we are not perfect, and that when an unsaved person hears God speak unto his being born again, that is God's grace. However, usually when that happens that person has opened their heart in some form of honesty and/or desperation and cry for help.
God is the object of our faith.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." I have seen people who have faith more in what God is going to do for them than in God Himself. While the seed planted in our hearts often indicates what God will do for us, we need to continue to focus on God Himself, His love, the sacrifice of Jesus, and His faithfulness and genius to do what is best for us.
What does the word faith mean?
The Greek word for faith is pistis (pie-stis). The Strong's Concordance defines it as, "The means the conviction of the truth of divine things, the evidence, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it. It is the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things. It is the assurance of the salvation wrought through Christ." [Paraphrased by author.]
Second, it means The faithfulness and fidelity of the person who has been exposed to the truth described above. God tests our faith. He can only trust faithful people; those who will with fidelity and faithfulness obey Him so that He may rely upon them.
1 Peter 1:6-9 says, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith--the salvation [total healing of your mind, will and emotions] of your souls."
Abraham's life is an example of faith.
Abraham lived in a time when his entire family and culture worshipped idols, idols that one could touch and handle. There was an idol for every issue in life. One day God spoke to Abram (before his name was changed), something that people in his day had not heard of before.
Genesis 12:1-4 says, "Now the LORD had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.' So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and
God said many things here that probably really baffled Abram.
1. In that day only an idol could bless.
2. Sarai was barren.
3. He was asked to leave his family, which was like a large corporation. It was not only his culture, but also his livelihood and inheritance.
4. Abram was not told where to go, but that he would need to continue to hear God's voice to arrive at the appointed destination.
In Genesis chapters 13 and 14, Abram went through some trials in
Then in chapter 15:1, God comforted Abram. "Do not be afraid Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." Here was his reward for faithfulness and obedience, even in times that Abram had not heard God speak. Abram persevered with patience and with his obedience, which is what God wants from us.
Later in chapter 15, God promised Abram a natural child to carry on his descendents who were promised to be as the stars of heaven. Abram asked how he could be sure of this promise, and God gave him the blood covenant ceremony we often talk about. He was telling Abram that He, God, would exchange natures with him through a blood covenant and that would be enough to make the promise occur. Genesis 15:6 says, "And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." Wow!
Then about 24 years went by during which time Abram conceived a child with Hagar, and finally the promised Isaac came through Sarah and Abraham after more dealings in Genesis chapters 16-21. Finally, years after Isaac was born Abraham was told to sacrifice him. We know how that story ended, the lamb showed up at the top of Mt Moriah. Abraham's faith was finally rewarded to its fullness, yet, as the Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:39, 40, "And all these,[including Abraham] having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us."
Finally God gave us the testimony of Abraham's faith as an example for us.
Romans 4:1-25
1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?
2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
In other words, was it the legalistic adherence to law of Moses that brought this blessing? Paul said no! It was faith brought about by grace.
10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
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; for where there is no law there is no transgression.
16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
17 (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be."
19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness."
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,
24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.
What if you feel that your faith level is low?
The good news is that faith is a fruit of the Spirit, it is a free gift from God. Get in touch with Him, touch Him, and you will just see your faith come without much effort. The effort may be in getting in touch, and in enduring to the end, but faith is not worked up, it just comes.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).
Future chapters will include these subjects on the ingredients we need to add to faith.
Faith works by love: Endurance and patience: Running the race: Faith Works by Love: The Works of Faith: Speaking The Word: Peter's Ingredients to Faith: The Parable of the Sower: Hearing God's Voice – The Flowing River
Click here to Return to Table of Content