March 22, 2007
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Faith - by guest blogger FKI Professor
I want to talk about faith. Hebrews defines faith in Heb 11:1. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen... For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible."(Heb 11:2-3)
Either God created everything from nothing or He did not. Either He sent his Son Jesus to live among us as a man born of a virgin , die as a sacrifice, and resurrect as our victorious Lord or He did not. Either He performed healings and calmed the waves or He did not. And most important of all, on that Sunday morning was he gone from the grave by his own authority and power, or were all his followers in collusion with the greatest lie ever told?
Jesus told Nicodemus (Jn 3:12b-15): "We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except him who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
The Pharisees were essentially lawyers. Nicodemus was faced with testimony of Jesus and the whole of what we would call the Old Testament which also testified of Jesus. Jesus confronted Nicodemus with the need to accept Truth, to believe it.
Do you remember the story of Moses and the serpent of which Jesus spoke is recorded in Numbers 21:4-9. "From Mount Hor they set out by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is not food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.' Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us.'So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
The people were whining. God was doing something and they didn't get it. God was meeting their immediate needs, but they didn't understand why they didn't have more. They didn't have faith.
Most of the spies who came back from scouting Canaan didn't have faith enough to lead to the people into the promised land. The people didn't have faith in the good report of the two faithful witnesses who scouted the land, Joshua and Caleb. If faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, the people certainly didn't act like they were assured and convicted. They were scared and anxious.
When the snakes came they killed people. What do those snakes represent? What really kills people? What is the cause of death of man? Sin in the garden and sin in the wilderness and sin right here right now.
So what is sin? Sin is lack of faith. Sin is the manifestation of disbelief. God told Adam and Eve not to eat that fruit, but they acted on disbelief. Death came to humanity as a result. Snakes came to the people in the wilderness when they sinned against God. The snakes had the power to kill because sin has the power to kill. And there is one particular old serpent, the accuser, the one who sows doubt and disbelief. The power he has in this world is doubt and disbelief. We live in a world that doubts the Lord God.
Satan came to Jesus himself and tried to sow doubt in Matthew 4. Every time anyone tried to convince Jesus to surrender they were the acting like Satan, acting on their own disbelief. From Peter's denial to the guards who taunted Jesus at the cross, people do the bidding of Satan when they disbelieve and deny God and his Christ and refuse to obey Him.
The people in the wilderness admitted their sin. They had to admit God could and was meeting their needs and more, that God had control of the situation. They submitted to the authority of God. Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus? (Jn 3:15) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."
Moses represented the Law. One who had the appearance of sin - one who took on the sins of the world - one who would die for our sins, is represented by the bronze snake. The bronze snake was put on a pole and held up for all to see. Jesus Christ was put on a wooden cross and hung up for the world to see. The people were commanded to look at the figure and they would be saved from the bite of the snake. Jesus said look at me, crucified for your sin, and believe in me and you will be saved.
The law doesn't save, but it does point the way to salvation. It shows us what sin looks like, but better still it shows us what perfection looks like. It gives us the image of God, revealing His character and the image of himself we are meant to share. Gen 1:27 "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them."
Jesus Christ was the perfect image of God because Jesus Christ was the Son of God and the Son of Man. As the Son of God he kept every one of the 10 Commandments, which is the Law of God written by the very hand of God on the Tablets of Testimony. More than this, as Son of Man he kept all the requirements of book of witness, which is whole of the Torah - the laws of Moses, what we know today as the first five books of the Bible.
And so, the people obeyed the commandment. Not much was required of them, really. Only faith. They had to admit their condition, submit to the authority of God, and act in faith. Ultimately redemption only became a reality when the people acted in faith.
So, was Jesus testimony good enough? Were his acts, his miracles, sufficient proof of the Father's testimony on Jesus's behalf? There were more than 500 eye witnesses of Jesus's resurrection. Many of you in this room have seen miracles performed by God - these miracles testify to God's agreement with the witness of men and women among us who speak with the authority of the Holy Spirit of God.
What do you believe? If you are dying today, if sin has poisoned you, there's a cure. Sin will take your life and put you in an eternal grave, a hell of separation from God for all eternity. But there is one who you can trust, one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He defeated death, he forgives sin, he takes care of immediate needs and gives eternal life - all for no cost at all except your faith. Look to the one on the cross, the one who was raised to die by men and raised to life by God. Admit he is Lord, put your faith in him, submit to his authority as Lord of your life and commit your life to him, and he will wash you clean of every sin.
Jesus said there is no greater love but that a man lays his life down for a friend. Jesus Christ did this for us out of love. He wants us to be restored, regenerated, in the pure and right and holy image of God. We are made righteous only when the sin is removed, and sin is only removed by forgiveness, and forgiveness comes by faith.
Heb 10:15-17 "And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us saying: This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds. Then he adds: I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."
This isn't the end of the story. It is only the beginning. If you believe, if you already have faith, there's so much more. There's the love, there's obedience, there's the power of the Holy Spirit, there are gifts to give and gifts to receive, there's great and awesome power ・and there are trials and grave humility. But if you aren't there, if you are just trying to decide today what to believe, don't wait to choose. Joshua said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Jo 24:15). As the Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness (Heb 3:7-8). Behold, now is the favorable time, behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor 6:2b).
Faith is obedience to truth. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."(Jn 14:6) Jesus also said: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."(Jn 3:16)
Faith and love are both verbs. Jesus acted out his love, the Love of God, by laying down his life for us, all of us who believe, all who are adopted as sons, heirs of the Kingdom. If we love Jesus, we must have faith in him. If we truly have faith, then he sends his Spirit and we are filled with his love, obeying him because this is how we love him. We obey him by bearing his good fruit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). Love and faith are inseparable.
And now I will offer this one last quote from scripture, a statement and a question, also by Jesus (Jn 11:25-26): "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" Lord or liar - what do you believe?
If you don't know Jesus and want to, if you know you're dying and want eternal life, come. If you are a believer, but you need to submit to Jesus as Lord, come. There's no greater burden than the burden of sin. Jesus said "all who are burdened and heavy laden come to me and I will give you rest. If you need relief, come."
