• False Gospels
• Jesus Christ's Return
• Life after Death
• Repentance
• Resurrection
• The Gospel
• The Kingdom of God

sermon: Our Faith Is the Victory

Martin G. Collins
Given 04-Sep-21; Sermon #1614; 62 minutes

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There is a worldly mindset with which we are all afflicted by nature. And if we allow ourselves to be governed by this hostility, we will be opposed to the holiness of God, and the judgment of God would eventually reciprocate back against us if we remained in that condition. But we have been called by the Father and have responded positively, therefore we are Christians, and this transforms the whole situation because now we have become those who overcome the world.

It is no surprise that there is a conflict, and the moment we become alive spiritually, we are aware of the forces and powers in the spiritual realm that permeate the world. Those who do not realize that they are living in a world that is hostile to everything related to God's Word, just are not understanding the conflict. Ephesians 6, verse 12 says, "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Please turn with me to I John 5. How do we fight and conquer such a world? There is something special in us that makes us able to conquer the world and resist its influences.

I John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The apostle John defines this conquering faith as the belief, the conviction, that Jesus is the Son of God and he mentions two main things here. The first is that we do so because of what has happened to us, because of what is true of us as the elect of God. The second is that we do so because of what our faith in Christ enables us to do so.

The first principle is that, as believers, we are those who are overcome and there is a sense in which we have already overcome and we are still overcoming. It is a continuous process. We overcome the world because we are begotten of God, and we have faith and we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and we defeat the influence of the evil world because we have a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ, our Advocate and Mediator.

If we have been given a new birth from above by God, it means we have a new disposition and a new outlook, a new worldview. In light of this, it is not the world that accounts for our failure. It is us, we are responsible for our own failures.

Picture two people walking down the street, one of them is a member of God's church, begotten of God, and the other is worldly. Physically there is little or no difference. They are living in the same world, in the same environment, the same sins, and the same temptations. But there is such a substantial difference between the two, mentally and spiritually, and the difference is in people and not in the physical world around us. Therefore, when a person moves away to start a new life, he takes the same miserable problems with him and so he eventually becomes as unhappy with his new situation as what he left behind.

What we must do is to look at the world as Christ looks at it. This is part of being born from above and we have become, as Peter puts it, partakers of the divine nature.

II Peter 1:4 By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

But we have received the character of God Himself, so now we look look at things more often from God's perspective than we do from the human viewpoint. We still have some human nature, so we still view things from that viewpoint at times, but we should be making progress to be changing over to God's viewpoint. Our conversion absolutely requires it.

Faithfulness describes the character of a person who is willing to die for his commitment to Christ. And it goes without saying that it is also descriptive of the character of Christ, the faithful witness, and of God the Father who always acts faithfully toward His people.

Let me give you three scriptures that show us that.

I Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. [It is a guarantee and absolute.]

II Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

Those are all guarantees, and they are wonderful guarantees which are necessary. God shows His faithfulness by keeping His covenant with those who submit to His will and in forgiving the sins of those who genuinely repent. And His Word is eternally reliable and true.

The second principle John states in I John 5:4 is that because of what has happened to us as believers, we are able to exercise faith and live by faith. First remember, "for whatever is born of God overcomes the world." And then the second principle, "this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith." In a sense, this new relationship with God, as His begotten child, gives us this power of faith that enables us to diligently live by that faith.

The world we are fighting is very powerful, much more powerful than any of us, and it conquers and enslaves everyone who was born into it. All we must do is read about the lives of the faithful in the Old Testament—the patriarchs, the few righteous kings, and the prophets—to recognize that something special had been done to them for them to resist and overcome the pressures of society.

Initially, they were all controlled by the world. Paul said, "There is none righteous, no not one," because the whole world is guilty before God. Therefore, if we are to conquer and defeat the evil world, we need something that will enable us to do it. And we must have something that raises us to a higher level, a higher realm than that of the world. We need a power and a strength far greater than what we are born with or develop ourselves. We are given a faith and outlook, and an understanding, vision, to be able to do that. Christ Himself questioned whether there would be faith in the last generation.

Luke 18:8 "When the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

This is a very sobering question. God clearly states that His people must live by faith and that without faith, it is impossible to please Him. But dynamic, living faith is a rare commodity in this world. So how can we have a living faith? The kind of faith God desires us to have cannot just be worked up on our own. Paul told the Ephesians, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God." God must give us the kind of faith that really works and the kind of faith required for salvation. But we must want to have this faith. It is required to receive God's wonderful blessings that include encouragement, protection, peace of mind, and healing.

How does God give us this faith? Paul told the Roman brethren how we receive truly godly faith.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith comes by applying the way of God's way of life described in the Word of God.

First, we must believe what God says. That seems like a simple statement, maybe even too simple for advanced minds and Scripture. We must trust Him. Remember, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted for him for righteousness." This is a major problem for all of us in this materialistic world. We can be so easily distracted, it makes it difficult to really believe God.

All true Christians have an earnest desire to live by faith, but there has been such an explosion of materialistic knowledge on every imaginable subject, and the Internet is the best example of how knowledge shall increase. A downside to this easy access to knowledge regarding faith is that we find ourselves impulsively asking why and how to almost every statement and promise God makes in the Bible. I do not mean we do that on a regular basis. I mean occasionally that is what we do. Skeptical questions can be faith-killing questions and they may go something like this:

Why does God let good people suffer and die while evil people often live well and prosper? How could God have flooded the whole earth? It must have been a regional flood. And so the questions go. Mostly by the world, but even in the church at times question God's methods.

Should we just blindly accept and believe? Absolutely not! Faith cannot be expressed that way,

James 2:20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?

Faith must be demonstrated by action, and faith must be active, dynamic, and living. Faith comes through the preaching of the Word. It is spiritual and has nothing to do with the physical or material. Faith is the evidence of things not seen.

Now, there is an eroding effect that human reasoning can have on faith. God knows that we at this time simply cannot understand why some things are allowed by Him to happen because He does not always tell us why. But we still must learn to believe and trust Him, no matter what, to have joy in knowing that God's will is being done. He is in charge, He is the ultimate power.

He also knows we cannot understand how some things are accomplished by His Spirit. Those are spiritual matters and we are still thinking about things from a physical perspective because of that nagging human nature that we all have within us.

So wondering to excess about why God allowed something or exactly how God did something can become a huge distraction. Sometimes we simply do not know why or how, because God has not revealed it to us. This dangerous pit can be prophecy if it is not controlled, if it is not done in a balanced way. John the Baptist's imprisonment and his reaction to it is a good example of having to trust and believe without fully understanding why. John, of course, knew who Jesus was, but while in prison, John sent two of his disciples to Jesus with the question: "Are you the coming one or do we look for another?" And Jesus pointed out to John's disciples the works He had been doing and he pointed to the works which He knew John was aware of, and then he concluded with this statement to John's disciples,

Luke 7:23 "Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."

Or we might say "not resistant to My teaching and to the miracles I perform."

So John not only remained in prison but he was beheaded. Why did Christ allow John to die so brutally when He could have prevented it? Was not John the greatest prophet? The answer is beyond human reasoning. We may have ideas, but we do not have a full explanation from God.

A related problem that can undermine faith is the suffering of trials. Job was sorely afflicted and tried and he wondered why. It was young Elihu who gave Job some answers, and these answers are available to us today. The problem is they are not the answers many of us want. Who but God can teach through affliction? And sometimes the lessons are of necessity severe, even though humans sometimes do not learn from them. Who but God can teach through affliction?

Job 33:13-18 "Why do you contend with Him? [Elihu to Job] For He does not give an accounting of any of His words. For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, or a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man, He keeps back his soul from the Pit, and his life from perishing by the sword."

So God uses all these methods as He works with humanity, to bring us to His own state of perfection, to sonship in His family.

Job 33:29-30 "Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life."

Jesus fulfills the Old Testament promises of the coming of the light of salvation and the light of life.

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

The light of life is Jesus Christ, who enlightens our minds to understanding the wisdom from above by way of His Spirit. God allows, and at times causes trials so that our minds may be opened with God's Spirit.

Too often we lose sight of the tremendous goal and gift of eternal life, but God never does. Losing sight of the goal can cause us to lose faith. Is that not part of what we see in the future and trust and are assured of? Also, overemphasizing the severity of trials and losing sight of God's will for us can erode our faith. We live in an evil world and often must suffer because of this world's sins as it sins willfully and constantly. In John 17, we find one of Jesus' requests to His Father.

John 17:15 "I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one."

Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

We can rely on God for our healing and for everything else that happens in our life, whether tragedy or blessings.

We do not have to know how or why, or even when, but when tragedy strikes, do not blame God, which we do indirectly quite often. Whenever we get frustrated or take it out on someone else or do not like the decision that has been made in our lives, we often indirectly take it out on God or blame Him. It often seems that people, when they think of God at all, blame Him for every disaster and tragedy of life. Seldom do they thank Him or praise Him for all the good things that He does.

Reasoning humanly, those who write insurance policies often refer to natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tornadoes, as acts of God. Well, this expresses humanity's view of God, but James expresses how we should think of our Creator.

James 1:16-17 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

He is absolutely reliable every time.

Our improper wondering can undermine faith. God, why did you allow this to happen to me? Multitudes followed Jesus out into the desert and it was there that Jesus displayed God's power by turning five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food for 5,000 men, plus women and children. After everyone was fed, twelve baskets of leftovers were collected, and Jesus' disciples were astounded with Christ's miracle-working power. But they too had even more to learn regarding true faith.

A major pitfall in exercising faith is demanding to know how faith works. Faith is spiritual, but the results of faith in our lives are often quite physical and material. For example, the miracle of healing, the preservation of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and the feeding of the 5,000 are physical consequences of faith. But how such miracles are accomplished is spiritual and inexplicable in physical terms. How God accomplishes His purposes has become so important to some people, that when they find they cannot understand, they simply stop believing God or the biblical account. For example, the theory of evolution is humanity's attempt to explain how physical things are the way they are, in purely physical terms humans can understand. And since people think they have found out how life and the physical world evolved, they no longer believe they must deal with the question of God or that they are even responsible to Him.

Conditioning your faith on knowing how God's purposes are accomplished can destroy your faith if you are not careful. This was a major lesson Christ's apostles learned when Peter found himself in a situation where the "how" of a great miracle so plagued him and his physical senses that his faith vanished. The incident of Peter walking on water is a case in point.

Matthew 14:22-24 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. [This was just after the miracle of feeding the multitude and it was still early in the evening.] And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, he was alone there. [A storm came up and so tossed the boat about that the disciples could make little headway. They were just almost standing still, trying to move forward.] But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, so the wind was contrary.

As fierce as the storm was the disciples gave no indication of panic as long as they were in the relative safety of the boat. And when they had spent most of the night fighting the heavy seas, Jesus appeared to them that night.

Matthew 14:25-27 Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. [So naturally they were a little troubled at the sight of Jesus Christ walking on the water and that is until Jesus talked to them.] And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." [And when Jesus spoke to them they were reassured and comforted.]

But why? Why were they reassured and comforted at that point? The unnatural situation of Jesus walking on the surface of the water was still there before their eyes, but they were given a physical reassurance that fit in with their experience and the familiar voice of Jesus, and although they could not understand how He managed to walk on the water, they were comforted by His familiar voice. They were also quite aware that Jesus did perform great miracles and the disciples were growing in faith and they were beginning to believe the things Jesus said. Peter was so confident that he thought he could walk on the water too, and if Christ were to invite him to do so, he was ready and willing to do it.

Matthew 14:28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."

Peter knew that the feat was possible only if Christ commanded him to do so. So at that point he did have a tremendous amount of faith. That is an important point regarding growing in faith. At the end of his life the apostle John wrote in I John 5,

I John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know [or believe] that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know [we have faith] that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Peter was on the right track at that point. Peter asked if it were Christ's will, and on that assurance he had the confidence to step out on the water.

Matthew 14:29 So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

So Peter walked on the water and now something Peter had not experienced before happened and Peter's faith faded and then was gone. What was it?

Matthew 14:30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"

The disciples had been in the security of the boat all night. And Peter had certainly been aware of the wind and churning sea before when he stepped out onto the water. So what had happened to Peter that had terrified him so much? Peter was totally unprepared how he was held up by faith. Where was the feeling of faith that was supposed to happen to Peter, to give his body that feeling of support?

We think we need to feel. He needed to have the reassuring sensation of physical support. He needed to feel the physical pressure under the soles of his feet like he felt when he walked on solid surfaces. There was no feeling of support at all, not even under his arms. He could not feel the support that a baby feels when his mother picks him up. He did not feel the pulling of his scalp that Absalom felt when his hair got caught in the tree and he hung there. Peter could nowhere feel the sensation of physical support, so he was not reassured humanly by human reasoning that his faith would hold him up.

Faith was supporting him. Faith is spiritual, feeling is physical. That is where he went wrong. Peter's mind, from long experience in the physical environment, knew of no reason why he could be there on the surface of the water. Peter was totally unprepared for how faith would hold him up on the water. He reacted to his physical senses and began to sink.

The lesson here is, we must grow in and exercise faith without expecting any feeling or physical sensation. Sometimes we may. Often, if not most of the time, we do not. When a person says they have been healed of some disease, sometimes they felt it happen when Jesus did it and it immediately happened. Sometimes Jesus heals the disease quietly and subtly. So Peter's faith in the person of Christ was still firm though.

Matthew 14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

And he was fine feeling the touch of Jesus. In the firm grip of Christ's hand, Peter made it back into the boat and there was simply no way Jesus could explain to Peter in terms Peter could have understood how faith would support him. Peter just had to experience it and grow in faith. But we also must have faith because without faith it is impossible to please God. And neither can we qualify for God's Kingdom without faith. So like Peter, we must learn to believe God without question to the dynamic faith God will give us as His elect.

To develop this faith in God, we must know God, and we can know God through Bible study, fasting, and prayer. And of course living His way of life. If we are not keeping the commandments, the statutes, the precepts—not practicing them on a daily basis by living them—we will never understand faith. The thing that makes us overcome the world and enables us to do so is our intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished and already finished.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Your faith is a way of life for the righteous who live by faith. Abraham is the model person of faith, because he trusted in God's word, which entailed the covenant and the gospel and it was credited to him as righteousness.

What really makes it possible to overcome the world is the fact that because we have been given new birth from above we are vitally and intimately connected to Jesus Christ. It is our relationship to Him that enables us to overcome and we can deduce from this that it is our faith in Christ and Christ's faith in us that makes victory over the world possible.

But how does this relationship of ours to Christ work out in practice? How is it that this faith of ours in Jesus Christ, this belief that He is the Son of God, and all the consequences that follow from that belief, enable us in practice to overcome the world? The answer to this question is so important. That is, it is the secret of successful living. It is the secret of joy. This faith of ours enables us to overcome the world both directly and indirectly, or, in other words, in a passive manner and in an active manner.

The first part of faith enables us to have a victory over the world and to overcome it directly, that is, passively, and it is the possibility of directly and immediately and passively relying on the power and the ability of Jesus Christ. This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. The result of this is that we go to Him and rely on Him. It is our faith in Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

That is the image we should have in our mind. We can always run to Jesus Christ—be safe. Picture it as an actual going to Him. We need only read how the faithful of old were struggling against the world and its temptations and insinuations to see that that was the only thing they could do. We see in another part of the principle with respect to the vine and its branches in John 15.

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

Our faith is entirely based on Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul put it in a very positive memorable way to the members of Philippi.

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

This is an expression of this first way of obtaining the victory that overcomes the world through faith in Christ. In other words, it means utterly relying on Christ for deliverance and protection. This is the simplicity of faith, but one of the hardest lessons to learn. I am not saying that we do not have to attempt to fight sin. Of course we must. The emphasis here is that before we successfully attempt to fight sin, we must live by faith in the Son of God. It is the living in it that builds it in us, makes it possible for us. That is the victory that overcomes the world in that passive sense.

It is just so simple. All we must do initially is totally rely on God the Father and Jesus Christ. And when God reveals Himself to us and we come to admit our own weakness and realize His power, we can begin to live by faith in the Son of God.

Now the second part of faith is indirect, or what we might call active. Another way of describing it is, as working out this faith. Faith without works is a dead faith. I am going to read James 2, and we are going to we are going to read verses 14 through 26.

James 2:14-26 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? Or if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you not know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. [Every last one of us would love to be called the friend of God. What an honor!] You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

So as we walk with God every day, as we live by every Word of God, in other words, as we live our lives as Jesus lives His, we should be working out this indirect part of faith. This is the activity of faith, the thinking through, the meditating on, and then rightly acting on the knowledge God has given us.

People were usually optimistic about this world, but they have become more pessimistic by the day, and they are this way because they never understood the nature of sin. Up until recently, most people thought that life was wonderful and that the world was a wonderful place, and in a limited sense, they still do enjoy its glittering prizes.

Have you noticed how this society is partying and celebrating more events and for longer periods of time? The entertainment industry is a vivid illustration of this partying and celebrating spirit. For decades they have had their celebrations and continue to add to it. They glorify themselves by throwing themselves award parties, reward celebrations like the Emmy's and the Grammy awards come to mind, which in some cases they vote for one another, patting themselves on the back for being such wonderful people, when they are some of the most ignorant, immoral, arrogant, perverted, self-indulgent people on earth, but their fans worship them.

II Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves.

So if there is some national figure or some entertainer or somebody that is well known, we should not fashion our lives after them, try to look like them, and act like them.

II Corinthians 10:12 But they, measuring them themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

But Paul put that extra gently there. He can be very straightforward and direct but there he was very gentle.

So they have never seen the nature of the world for what it truly is. Not surprisingly, they are the epitome of foolishness, the people of the world.

Jeremiah 5:21 Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not:

Jeremiah 5:23 But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed [that is, departed from God].

They never see the true nature of the world because they have willingly been absorbed into it. The power of human nature and sin and Satan can be so overwhelming that people consistently fail without knowing why.

Only a truly converted person can see the true nature of the world, and through faith in Christ overcome it. The faith enables us to defeat the world because it makes it possible for us to see the nature of the problem. The moment we have faith in Jesus Christ, we begin to understand the essence of the problem and only a converted person can see through the spiritual cloud that is over this world. Everyone else is dominated by it.

This is very significant and is of great practical importance for us. For example, we should never become too excited about politics, for this reason: that we know perfectly well that there is no solution to the ultimate problem of human politics. So people who believe that, in a political election, it makes no difference which political party wins, and that everything is going to be fundamentally different depending on which party wins, those people are either not Christians or else they are uninformed and oblivious ones if they think anything good can come of a physical election. No human government can solve the problem of humanity and we must detach ourselves from the world and look at it objectively. We must not put our faith in it, because we see the fate of all those who are dominated by the world.

As we attempt to face the problems and overcome it, we are aware of our own weaknesses and all those forces that are against us, but our outlook is instantly changed when we look to Jesus Christ and see that He has overcome it. It is a battle and it is a war that we are in. It is a spiritual one and we cannot chum up to it. Christ's indwelling us, by way of His Spirit, makes it possible for us to overcome the world, not only possible, but probable, and even guarantees it.

By faith, we see ourselves belonging to Christ. As the branch is in the vine, so we are in Christ. We belong there and we are a part of Him as a new creation if we walk according to the Spirit as He walks.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Things for Christ's return have already been set in motion. That is why we have faith in what is not seen yet. Because we know we have the assurance, we have the guarantee of Jesus Christ and God the Father that it will come about and we will be there and we will receive eternal life.

Faith in Christ and being in Christ enables us to see that we can literally draw strength and power from Him and His fullness. This is a resource that can never fail. Jesus said,

John 6:35 "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."

Sometimes I think we forget about those words "never." Those are absolutes and those are absolute promises. These are absolutes and there is literally no limit to the power of Christ.

In contrast, the philosophies of the world are not absolute. The term philosophy was used much more broadly in the ancient Greek world than it is today. Josephus, for instance, could call the teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees philosophies. Even a magician could be called a philosopher in Paul's time or Paul's age.

Colossians 2:8-10 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the [divine nature] bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

He is the head of all principality and power. That leaves nothing out. In facing such philosophies, we can be fearless when we remember this power that is within us to discern truth from error.

Now, we are still working out this faith. And there are times when we fail because, in our foolishness, we do not run to this strong tower because we try to fight with our own strength against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. At those times we fail, and it seems that at that point the enemy will come and say something like this to us. "You louse! You failed. You have sinned against God. You have failed at being a Christian. You are faithless." Not in those words necessarily, but that is sometimes the thought that we receive yet about a failure that we have, and then we are overwhelmed with a sense of failure and frustration and we feel we have let God and Christ down. Sometimes we even feel hopeless, with a sense of despair and futility.

There is nothing more important to us than to know at that point that Jesus is the Son of God and that He tells us that though we have sinned, though we have failed, if we confess and repent of our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I John 2:1-2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation [or the atonement] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

That will begin the day that the Day of Atonement represents. Our Advocate delivers us from sins and failures (I am talking about for the world, that is), from a sense of hopelessness that tends to overwhelm us when we feel down. He encourages us to overcome sin because His blood cleanses us. We are unable to rise up and go forward.

Please turn to Romans 8, and verse 31. These are all familiar scriptures, many of them we have memorized, but they are a powerful when grouped together. They are powerful individually enough. Group them together and we get an assurance that has no end. By faith, we know that our victory against the world, Satan, and sin is sure, and we have a strong tower of safety and security to run to for peace. But we also have battles to fight, sin to overcome, as well as righteous fruit to produce with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:31-34 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [the same way when we have a disease and we are asking for God's healing] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Christ dwelled in all by way of Christ's Spirit. This indwelling of His Spirit enables us to be faithful. Christ's faithful mind is imparted to us and becomes part of our mind, becomes a guiding light for our mind—if we use it. In order to do that, we have to live God's way of life, we have to be humble and have a repentant attitude, be overcoming. If we try to provide the faith to obey God ourselves, we often become self-righteous, but our righteousness must come by way of the faith of Jesus Christ. His faith enables us to see the ultimate glory and profession that awaits us.

Fight in this world often seems long and endless, and we tend to become tired and weary. As we near the end of this age and more is thrown at us by Satan and his demons, the way of his wiles, we become very weary and worn out. But we have God's empowerment. If we look to God, and if we put our all into God's work, living God's way of life, we are assured, He will give us the strength to bear up under whatever comes. We are admonished by Paul not to grow weary while doing good.

There is nothing that so encourages us as to realize that the day is certainly coming when we will be ultimately glorified and perfect, without spot or wrinkle or blemish, when Christ who died for us and sustained us will present us faultless before the presence of the glory of God, with great joy. Signs of great joy—great joy in God's and Jesus Christ's mind, and all the angels and certainly in ours. This is a vision by faith of the ultimate glory that awaits us at the return of the Son of God.

Philippians 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able to even subdue all things to Himself.

This is how faith overcomes. We run to Christ in helplessness, so to speak, but we also work faith out with Christ. The true Christian is one who overcomes the world, Satan, human nature, and sin. And if we cannot say that we are overcoming, we better examine the very foundation of our position again. Are any of the heroes or heroines of the Bible without faith, any of them? No. Because faith in God is a defining virtue of the saint. The crowd that had witnessed the miracle of Jesus feeding fish and loaves to the 5,000 had crossed the Sea of Galilee to find Jesus in Capernaum, and had asked Him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" It was a question that many people were, and are, asking even to this day. It was even a great question, though the answer was greater. Jesus replied in words that every human being on earth should hear, read, and memorize.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe [that is, have faith] in Him whom He sent."

The work of God is this to believe in the one He has sent. The work of God is having genuine faith in Jesus Christ and doing what He says and does, imitating Him in every way.

Hebrews 11 offers a record of heroes and heroines of faith with sterling character, as you well know. But even the author runs out of time to list them all. The lives of these men and women show that faith is an unshakable belief that God will do everything He has promised to do, even before there is visible evidence to that effect. The faith includes belief in God's sovereign, eternal power, but it goes further than that. It is active trust in God's trustworthiness to keep His promise to reward us.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, because he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

So basically, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. It accepts the truth revealed on the testimony of God, not merely on their intrinsic reasonableness.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped, for the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 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 ESV is a little clearer on verse 1. It says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." And it is important to notice that Hebrews 11:1 is no exception to the rule that faith normally means reliance and trust. In other words, there in verse 1, faith is the substance or the guarantee of things hoped, for the evidence or the convincing proof of things not seen.

Hebrews 11 abundantly shows that the faith illustrated by Abraham, Moses, and Rahab was reliance upon a God known to be trustworthy. Such reliance enables the believer to treat the future as present, and the invisible as seen. This absolute guarantee means that although it is a future event, it is as if it has already happened in the present. And although we cannot see it with our eyes, we can picture it with our mind's eye. We think of it as reality. It does not allow any room for any doubt whatsoever.

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth [because their citizenship is in heaven].

Spurgeon's Daily Devotional has an interesting way of summarizing chapter 11 that is well worth reading and hearing. It really add some things to think about here.

Behold the epitaph of all those blessed saints who fell asleep before the coming of our Lord. It matters nothing how else they died, whether of old age or by violent means. This one point in which they all agree is the most worthy of record. They all died in faith. In faith they lived, it was their comfort, their guide, their motive, their support. They did not die resting or upon their own attainments. They made no advance from their first way of acceptance with God, but held to the way of faith to the end. And faith is as precious to die by as to live by. Dying in faith has distinct reference to the past. They believed the promises which had gone before, and were assured that their sins were blotted out through the mercy of God. Dying in faith has to do with the present. These saints were confident of their acceptance with God. They enjoy the beams of his love and rested in his faithfulness. Dying in faith looks into the future. They fell asleep affirming that the Messiah would surely come, and that when He would in the last days appear upon the earth, they would rise from their graves to behold Him. To them, the pains of death were but the birth pangs of a better state.

He really said that eloquently, I think.

Even in small doses genuine faith is powerful. This is not due to the power of the faith itself, but to the power of God in whom faith is placed. Jesus tells His disciples that if they have faith the size of a mustard seed, they will be able to move mountains. Nothing will be impossible for a disciple with mustard-seed faith, though the mustard seed is one of the smallest of all seeds. Faith must be in accordance with God's will. It cannot just be our own desire. We can have a desire and it not be according to God's will. So when we ask for something, whether it be healing or help with some impossible thing at work, we have to realize that the answer may be no. That is God's will. So we have to ask Him in a way that shows Him that we are not only asking, but asking that His will be done.

Faith is like an open door into a relationship with God. It is like a shield that protects us when we are under spiritual attack. Especially in this end time, our spiritual growth is directly proportional to how much our hearts are in the work of God. And the principle of doing more than is required applies to all of God's laws. Everything that is God's way of life, we must give our all to, including His work in the way of the church itself in a general way.

Luke 17:9-10 "Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'"

Jesus is not encouraging anyone to be inconsiderate or rude by not thanking the servant. Rather, it is a vivid example to illustrate we are unworthy servants if we only do the minimum of what God tells us to do. Like the tax collector, and unlike the Pharisee, we should acknowledge that God owes us nothing, but that we owe Him everything, even our lives.

So, if we are striving to go above and beyond the call of duty to please God in all areas of our lives, then when a trial strikes, we need not fear a lack of faith. God will give us the faith of Jesus Christ to cope with temptations and trials. That is God's promise.

I Corinthians 10:13 [You are very familiar with it.] No temptation [or trial] has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted [or tested] beyond what you were able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

God demands loyalty from His covenant people, His church. Loyalty even when death is the price to be paid. But at the same time, He promises He will provide a way of escape. Whatever God allows or causes to happen to us is God's will. And we must be prepared to accept it with joy and the most joy we can possibly have, because we are under God's wing. That is a joyful state. It is a permanent state.

We show by our good works that we have a living faith, and when God tells us by His Word to do something, we show that we believe Him by our actions. We are given salvation as a gift from God, but we are rewarded or given our responsibility in God's Kingdom according to our works. Jesus inspired John to write,

Revelation 22:12 "And behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

Everyone has either good or bad works. We need to be sure that our works are good. Faith along with good works is a living faith, and that is the kind of faith we must have. We do not have a choice. Do not think that we do. Living faith is far more than a mere profession of belief. It requires righteous action and it requires good effort. Our faith is the victory that has overcome the world!

MGC/aws/drm

The Bereans "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:10-11). This daily newsletter provides a starting point for personal study, and gives valuable insight into the verses that make up the Word of God.