This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Ignite the Light Ministries radio and podcast. It is our mission to help listeners develop a deeper relationship with Jesus by sharing what the Bible says and what it means. We aim to encourage and equip you to serve others, share the gospel, and reflect Christ in every aspect of your life. I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd.
Thank you for tuning in.
So yes, topic today. What is faith? What does it mean to have faith? What is faith not?
Now I've heard one of my favorite pastors tell this story. There was once a woman. She went to her pastor and she said, Pastor, I got this problem. My husband told me: if I keep coming to this church, he's going to kill me. But what should I do?
And the pastor thinks about it for a moment, gets this deep look of wisdom in his eye, and he says, You pay no mind to that. You just keep coming to church and have faith that God is going to take care of you. The next Sunday rolls around. Woman comes back. She goes up to the pastor and she says, Pastor, my husband told me this again.
If I keep coming to this church, he's going to kill me. What am I supposed to do? And the pastor said the same thing. Don't you worry about that. Just keep putting your faith.
in God and He's going to take care of you. Then the next Sunday rolls around. She comes to the church, she goes up to the pastor, and she says, Pastor, my husband told me if I keep coming to this church, he's going to kill you. And the pastor said, Look, I know this nice Baptist church down the road that you might be interested in. You know, it's really easy to talk about faith.
When it's not our problem, isn't it? Really easy when it's not our problem. But when that rubber meets the road, and it's my faith on the line, it's my risk that I'm taking. But we see just how strong our faith really is, or how weak it is. When stuff hits the fans, sometimes we're looking to money, sometimes we're looking to our leaders, we're looking to the government to take care of us.
some we can look any other place other than God. And we know have faith is the right Bible answer. But when it really comes down to what's my faith, it's my risk. It can be hard.
So what is faith?
Well, I looked up a couple definitions. Grace Theological Seminary says that faith means relying completely on who Jesus is and what he has done to be made right with God. That's pretty good. I think it's a pretty good definition. Oxford Dictionary says it is strong belief in God or the doctrines of religion based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
It's like, okay, well, that's not bad. There's some, you know, there's some connotations in there. That's, yeah. There's another one that says faith is trusting in something you cannot prove. And I think that one's good.
Well, asking the question, what is faith? Bible gives us a pretty good definition. Hebrews 11, 1 It says, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen. Faith is trusting in something that we cannot But I think it's more than this, because that word faith in the Greek is pistis. And it frequently translates to faithfulness.
We can see some translations it says faith, others it says faithfulness, but In the Greek. There's not a separation between faith and action. That's interesting, isn't it? In the Greek, faith and faithfulness are the same word. I think sometimes we can get this in America, we can get this wrong.
We separate the faith from action. Uh so we take this chair for example.
Now, if I could just say, I have faith that if I sit in this chair, that it's going to hold my body up. And then I don't sit in it. But the Greek here, faith, faithfulness are not separated.
So if I say, if I have faith in this chair, it's going to hold my body weight up. I act on it. In the Greek Faith and faithfulness are not separated. They're the same thing. Biblical faith, so this is this is my definition.
Biblical faith is belief. in things unseen and living in accordance to it. This is the difference between, we see the belief that demons have of Jesus. And our faith. See, the demons know who Jesus is.
They know exactly who he is. They know he's the Son of God. But what's the difference? They have belief. But they don't act.
In accordance to that truth, they rebel in their action.
So there's faith and there's faithfulness. They have the belief, but there is not faithfulness. That's the difference. That's the difference. So I would say knowing Jesus is the Son of God that died for your sins, to simply know that is not.
Enough. You must let it change your life. Biblical faith Necessitates action. Faith and faithfulness, they are not separated. And we're always just one decision away.
for changing our lives.
So you got a sin that you're struggling with. And you're ready to be done with it. We're all, man, we're always just one decision away. from changing everything. We decide to give it to God.
This day, whatever that thing is that you know that God's putting on your heart, whatever that thing is, give it to God this morning. We're always one decision away. That's really cool.
So Faith And reason. I want to talk about the dynamic of these two things for a second. I remember as a kid when I was in school, I had this friend that, you know, we got along pretty well, but he was a staunch atheist. And I remember every time we talked about God, he always pitted this issue of faith and reason as if they're against each other, or religion versus science. And he described faith as just blind, wishful thinking.
That it's unreasonable, that religion preys on people's willingness to believe something. Shame on the church for doing such things. And you know, I think up until this point, before I had met him, I don't know if I've really had a conversation with somebody who was vocally against God. It crushed me. It disturbed me.
It upset me. And I'm sitting here thinking: are these things? real? Is my faith unreasonable? Have I just been lied to and I believed it because it's comfortable?
I don't want to believe something just because it feels good. I want to believe it because it's true. I want to speak to that. Faith and reason are not separable. But faith Faith and reason, they cannot be divorced.
But giving my friend credit where credit's due, blind faith when we separate the two of them, is not good. Faith should not be unreasonable. But we cannot do reason without. Faith. See, faith and reason, they're in this perpetual dance when they're done right.
Faith without reason.
Well, that's foolish. Which believing something without any justification for it, that's foolishness. But reason without faith.
Well, I don't have a base. I don't even have a base to start my reasoning. And what I mean by this is that reason can't be done. Without first making assumptions about the world. No scientist conducts an experiment without assuming the laws of nature.
Uh we the same way we assume gravity is going to be true in the future as it has been in the past, but I can't prove that. That's an assumption I'm making on good faith. And from that point I am able to do reason. And we talk about faith in God. Both Christians and unbelievers alike have to make an assumption.
They have to make a leap of faith. Is he true? Is it real? Is God real? Is God not real?
It's not provable. Ultimately, one way or another, there is a leap of faith that has to happen in either direction. And I say all this because we need to understand Uh as Christians, it's impossible for us to prove God like a mathematical equation. Like 2 plus 2 equals 4 is a proof. I can't prove God in that way, but I can see the evidence and I can look at the evidence.
But because I can't prove God Faith is always necessary. Jesus is up front with us about that. Jesus tells us from the beginning. that we must have faith. Thanks.
Just because I can't prove God doesn't mean there's not overwhelming. Evidence. The evidence for the existence of God is astronomically overwhelming. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. But we have to start with faith to even begin looking at that stuff, to reason from our faith.
But make no mistake, it is by faith that we do reason. I don't know.
Now, if we try to just reason our way to God without faith, we'll find there is a chasm, an abyss between us and God that reason cannot bridge. We cannot build our way to God. They tried that with the Tower of Babel. It did not work. We cannot build our way to God.
I cannot come to have authentic knowledge of God on my own. And we see in all these other religions in the world that humanity can see the fingerprint of God all over the world, but they don't know who made the fingerprint. They don't know who that person is.
So we've got Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism. They all see the divine in creation, but they don't know who the Almighty Creator is.
So they assume He's impersonable, He's unknowable. We cannot build our way to God. God has to come to us. And he does. God has to come to us.
That's why 2,000 years ago Christ stepped into creation, into human history, and he made himself known. God made himself known because he loved us. God shows up. And steps into our lives in ways that we cannot deny. But it's up to us to have faith.
and that which we cannot see. It's up to us to be faithful to God in our actions.
Now we put our faith in things that we cannot see and it's in our faithfulness that They will be seen.
Now Faith that gravity is going to stay consistent. Can't prove it, but it's not unreasonable.
So when we're talking about faith and reason, the question is: on what reasonable basis do I have faith? On what reasonable basis do I put my faith? in God. A believer says it's on the basis that God steps into creation. It's on the basis that God makes himself known.
Known. God is the reason for the order that we see in nature. I'm not going to wake up one day and discover I'm in the matrix because God made Himself known. And he makes himself perceivable to us. God makes himself known, so my faith is reasonable.
God shows himself, so my faith is not blind. How does God show himself in the historical account of Jesus and his resurrection? in the miracles he has put in your life. And in his loving whisper in the dead of night, God makes himself No. God descends from heaven to make himself known.
to the world. On the other hand, if we assume there is no God, there is no basis. There is no basis for why we see order in nature. It doesn't make sense. I don't know how to make sense of this.
There's also no reason to assume that order is not just going to collapse at any moment. We don't have the foundation to make sense of those things. That'd be unreasonable. Thanks. So is the faith reasonable?
Faith and reason, they're in this dance. Faith leads to faithfulness. And our faith can be reasonable.
So Next thing I want to cover on this topic of Faith. Our faith will be tested. our faith will be tested. And there's no exception to that. Our faith will be tested.
Why? Because again, the biblical definition of faith down to the Greek is that faith and faithfulness are not separated. And without opportunity to demonstrate faithfulness, our faith cannot be shown. And a faith that isn't tested. is a faith that cannot be trusted.
We see Genesis 15, God makes a promise. To Abraham. Do not be afraid. Look up at the sky and count the number of stars. If you can count them, that's how numerous your offspring is going to be, Abraham.
Genesis 12, he promises Abraham, I will make you a great nation.
Now Abraham and his wife They are old. They are well past the age of being able to have kids. And God is saying, I will give you a child. I will make you a great nation. And Paul says in Romans 4 that Abraham's faith in God was counted to him.
as righteousness. But again, faith and faithfulness are not separated. We see that Abraham. God calls him. And Abraham gets up from his cozy life.
He could easily stay where he's at, but he gets up, he leaves his comfort, and he goes to follow God's calling on his life.
Now, Abraham was wealthy. He was living the rich and retired life. He was checked out if he wanted to be. He could be done, set up for the rest of his life. But he leaves it.
He leaves it all to pursue God. His faith can be seen by his action, by his faithfulness. But faith will be tested. God gives Abraham A son through Sarah named Isaac. Boom!
Promise fulfilled, right? This is miracle, promise fulfilled, I have my son. Genesis 22, God calls Abraham. To sacrifice his son. Take your son up to Mount Moriah.
and sacrifice him. Your only son, the one you love. I want you to sacrifice him, Abraham. And won't that test your faith? Not only is it a problem of this is my one and only son, I'm going to sacrifice him.
It's not only a problem of that, but Abraham's also looking at.
Well, God is supposed to make me a great nation through this Son. Can't do that when He's dead, can we? How is this going to make sense? Like, how can I sacrifice my son and then also a great nation be made through him? It doesn't make sense.
We're talking about faith and reason. Where's the reason in that? When reason fails Faith. prevails. When reason fails Faith.
prevails. If you follow God long enough, You will find yourself in situations where it's like, I don't know how things are going to end. I can't reason this one out. I can't make sense of this one. I can't see, God, how you're going to pull this one off.
And in those situations, like Abraham, Have faith. Have faith, brothers and sisters, and what you will see is a miracle. You will see God. Do a miracle. God will provide.
The lamp. That's what Abraham tells his son as they're going up the mountain. God will provide. The lamp. And he does.
Abraham shows up. Abraham shows God Uh The faith that he has. God, I don't see how this is going to work out. But I'm following your lead. And God provides the lamb.
And I'm not just talking about the ram stuck in the bush. No. Talking about the perfect lamp. Because not a hundred meters away from Mount Moriah is Golgotho. The mountain Jesus was sacrificed on over a thousand years later.
Now, on Mount Moriah, Abraham carries the wood up to sacrifice his son. But on Golgotha, the son carries the wood up to sacrifice himself. Mount Moriah, the Jews, Mount Moriah to the Jews represents religious purity, kingship, and priesthood, and that's where Abraham is. Golgotha represented death, shame, and rejection. Our king is on that mountain.
Abraham, a sinful man, he's where the king, on the mountain of purity, kingship, priesthood. Isn't that interesting? Doesn't that sound backwards? Shouldn't Jesus be on that mountain? Is not the sinful man the one deserving of death and rejection?
And God should be on Mount Moriah? But it's not Jesus in all his perfect perfection. Shouldn't he be the one? On Mount Moriah, not Golgotha. But what we have here is we see from the very beginning God's plan.
For Jesus to be the perpetuation of our sins. God's plan for the very beginning for Jesus' righteousness to be counted as ours all the way back. To Abraham. God asks Abraham, Would you sacrifice your son to me? And when we see this Uh from Knowing what we know about Jesus.
It's not cruel. It's the faith of course demands faithfulness. But this is a God who will lay down everything for you. Faith will be tested, but faithfulness will be rewarded. The third thing I want to say about faith.
Faith steps out of the boat. Faith steps out of the boat. So there the disciples were. on the boat. It's almost dawn.
The water's rough. The wind is strong. It's hard to focus on much else. Uh Often the distance. One of them spots a figure.
walking towards them Online. The water. It's a ghost, one of them shouts. It has to be like, that's a ghost. Look at that.
It's something walking on the water. But as he gets closer they recognize. That's Jesus. That's our Savior. That's Jesus out there.
And Jesus says, take courage. It is I, do not be afraid. And Peter says, Lord, if it's you. Tell me to come out on the water. And Jesus says come.
And so Peter Boldly Steps out of the boat. The water's rough. It's scary. He steps out of the quote and he's like, I'm going to my Savior. And he is walking on water towards Jesus.
But when he sees the wind, he's afraid. He begins to sink, and he says, Lord, save me as he's sinking. And it says, immediately Jesus reached out. Caught his hand. It says, You have little faith.
Why do you doubt?
Now Jesus says this Uh like Peter. You were doing so good. You were walking on water. You were doing so good. What happened?
What happened? There will be times in our life God calls us. to step out of the boat. In faith. Maybe God is calling you to do something.
Maybe God is calling you to talk to someone. Maybe God is calling you to take a risk. Maybe God is calling you to step out of the boat. When God is calling me to do something bold and scary, let me just tell you, when He's done that, And I have not done it. And I've not taken the risk, I've not stepped out, I have always regretted it every single time.
But when God has called me to take a risk and I say, don't know how that's going to work out. I'll do it. Yes, God. I've always seen God move in amazing ways. I've never regretted those times.
I have a feeling. Uh there's someone in the room. Who's going to be called to step out of the boat this week? I don't know what it is. I have a feeling somebody in here is going to be called to step out of the pole.
So, when that happens, I want you to know you can have faith in God that everything is going to be okay. When you step out of the bowl, you're gonna see yourself walk on water. I have faith than that, and you can too. And we see, even though Peter has faith and he steps out of the poke. When he it gets shaky and he starts sinking He's not there on his own.
Jesus is right there. It says immediately, Jesus reaches down, grabs his hand. Jesus is right there. Even if something goes south, Jesus is right there.
So we can step out of the boat. Faith steps out of the boat. And you can't too.
So in conclusion, We've been talking about faith. What is it? Faith, according to Hebrews 11:1, is putting our trust in something unseen. The Greek word for faith Does not separate faith from faithfulness. The word pistis in the Greek, faith, faithfulness, the action of faith is not separated from faith.
And faith, so faith necessitates faithfulness. We must let our faith. be something we act on, something that changes our life.
Now faith is not blind.
However, faith can be reasonable on the reason that God has come into the world and made himself known to us. In our life, our faith will be tested again and again and again because a faith untested is a faith that we cannot trust. Lastly, faith steps out of the boat. God can call us to do radical things. God can call us to take a risk.
And when he does... And we step out of the boat in faith, I promise. You're gonna be walking on water. Not because of anything we do. but because of the God we serve.
Hey there. I hope this sermon has enriched your day. If you like this message, I want to personally invite you to join us for Sunday worship. We have two locations in Virginia, Trinity Methodist Church in Concord and Mount Comfort Methodist Church in Appomattox. Come join us Sunday morning at 9.45 and we will help you get connected.
As always, I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd. Thank you for tuning in.
