HopeLives365

Guest (Male): You know God at times powerfully answers your prayers to let you know that he could do it every time, but every time it's not necessary. Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, is interested in your life.

This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, What is Faith? Enjoy, and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: One of the most important subjects of the Christian life is the subject of faith. What is faith? Is faith telling God what I want and believing he will give it to me because I want it? Suppose here is a boy who really wants to go fishing and he prays, "Dear Lord, keep the rain back, or else daddy won't take me fishing." Then he goes to his daddy and says, "Daddy, I'm a Christian. I believe that God is going to keep the rain back. I have faith."

What about the farmer on the other side of the lake whose crops are dry and need the rain, and he prays, "Lord, I believe it's going to rain because I prayed. I have faith." What about the person, something more serious than that, that is dying of cancer, and the father prays, "Lord, I have faith you're going to heal her." But what if she's not healed? Does it mean that this father, this husband, did not have adequate faith?

What is faith? Is faith believing God is going to deliver you from debt and indebtedness because you've prayed and that God will supply the money for you? What is faith? Well, faith is incredibly important. You remember Jesus in the book of Luke said, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" So, faith must be incredibly important.

In Hebrews chapter 11, we have a whole chapter on faith in the Bible. In Hebrews 11:1 it says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the substance. The word "sub" means under. "Stance" has to do with that which stands under. So, a submarine is a boat that goes under the water. Subterranean is something that is under the earth. Substantial is something that is important and it stands under everything else.

Now faith is the substance. Faith is what supports you. Faith is what gives you courage. It's what gives you hope to face life, of the things hoped for, evidence of the things not seen. So, faith is believing that which we do not yet see, that we do not yet experience. But faith, according to the Bible, is not simply imposing my will on God's will. Hebrews chapter 11 gives us illustrations of faith.

You're going to be surprised. When I first began to study Hebrews 11, it was really shocking to me. Let's look at these illustrations of faith from Hebrews chapter 11. It says in verse 4, "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaks."

Did Abel have faith? The Bible says he does, by faith Abel. Did Abel's faith keep him alive? Not at all. Abel had such faith that he died. Did Cain have faith? He didn't. But did Cain live? He did. So, here's an illustration, the first illustration you have in the Bible of faith in Hebrews chapter 11. Abel dies, the righteous man. Cain, the unrighteous man, lives. So, faith must not be living or dying.

Notice in verse 5, it says, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death." Now this is interesting. Abel has faith and he dies. Enoch has faith and he lives. So, faith must not be living or dying. It says in verse 5 in Hebrews 11, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God translated him."

Enoch's commitment to God, Enoch's faith in God, Enoch's confidence in God, his close relationship with God, enabled him to be translated without seeing death. But Abel had a close experience with God. The Bible says in verse 4 that Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. So Abel, but Abel died. So, faith must not be living or dying.

We go on. Verse 6 says, "Without faith it's impossible to please him. For he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." So, whatever faith is, faith is something that without it, it is impossible to please God. Then the Bible gives us two more examples. Verse 7 of Hebrews 11, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark to save his house."

Noah stayed for 120 years working on the same task, building the ark. He did not move. Verse 8, "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing where he went." Noah had faith and he stayed. Abraham had faith and he went. So, faith is neither living nor dying. Faith is not staying on the assignment or leaving the assignment.

This is becoming interesting, isn't it? These are contrast pictures. When you come, for example, to Abraham, the Bible says that Abraham had a son. The Bible says verse 9, "By faith he sojourned in a land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of him from the promise. He looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. Through faith also Sarah received strength to conceive seed."

Did Abraham and Sarah have faith? Well, eventually they did. I mean, who's going to conceive at 100 years old? Who's going to have a child there? So, Abraham and Sarah have faith and they bear a child. But as you go down in the story, Abraham takes Isaac up onto the mountain, raises the knife, and he has to give up the child.

So faith is neither living nor dying. It's not dying like Abel, nor living like Enoch. There are some times we believe and God works a miracle and enables us to live. But there are some times we believe and we die. There are some times God tells us you stay where you are like Noah. You don't move. You're facing trials and difficulties, but you stay. And there are other times that God says like Abraham, it's time to go.

There are times that God says miraculously I'm going to give you a child. But there are times you have to give that child back to God and surrender that child to God in his or her life. You see what we have in Hebrews 11 is contrast pictures. Remember verse 17, "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, that he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son."

Remember, God caused Abraham and Sarah by faith to conceive the child, but then God told Abraham by faith to give up the child. When you look to Moses' experience, Moses it says in verse 24, "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."

Moses could have had the riches of Egypt, but he left it. But what about Joseph? In verse 22, "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of Israel." And you remember in verse 21 it tells us how God blessed Joseph. So Joseph stayed in Egypt with Potiphar and Joseph was blessed as a very wealthy administrator in Egypt. But God called Moses out of Egypt.

So when you look at it, God tells Abel offer a sacrifice, and Abel does and Abel dies. God speaks to Enoch and Enoch is translated without seeing death. Faith is neither living nor dying. God says to Noah, you stay here and work for me. God says to Abraham, you come out of the country. God says to Abraham, you and Sarah are going to conceive a son. Then God says to Abraham, offer up your son Isaac. God says to Joseph you stay here and wealth, but God says to Moses you come out of here.

What is faith? Faith is neither living nor dying. Faith is neither staying nor going. Faith is neither having the child or giving up the child. Faith is neither poverty or wealth. Here's what faith is. Faith is trusting God in every circumstance of your life. Whatever happens to you, faith is trusting God.

And we come down to the end of this passage and it talks about, for example, those who have faith. And it says in Hebrews 11, "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong."

So what happens here? It says they were protected from the sword. They escaped the edge of the sword. So, the wicked came after them to slay them, to martyr them, and an angel held their hand of the wicked and they couldn't slay them. And as the result of that, they quenched the edge of the sword.

But then you go down a little further in verse 37 and it says, "they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword." What takes more faith? To have the edge of the sword held back so you live, or to experience martyrdom by the sword? When Hebrews chapter 11 is summed up, it says in verse 39, "And these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect."

What is faith? Faith is a relationship with God of trust. That I trust God no matter what has happened in my life. No matter where I am in this life. In joy or in sorrow. In health or in sickness. In poverty or in plenty. In distress or in delight. What is faith? Faith is absolute trust in God as a friend well-known, knowing that he'll never forsake me, knowing that he will not let me down.

Guest (Female): We'll be right back with Pastor Mark Finley. We thank you for listening and hope you're enjoying today's message. Our mission is to attractively present the Christ-centered biblical truths of scripture in a practical, relevant way to people around the world, so that they may experience the abundant life that Christ offers and effectively share with confidence his life-changing truths with others. You can support this ministry and help us reach even more by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, back to Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: A little further in the book of Hebrews, the apostle Paul, who I believe wrote the book of Hebrews, says in Hebrews 13:5, "Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such as you have, for he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you." Verse 6, "For that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man can do to me."

What is faith? It is believing that God will never leave us. It's believing that God will never forsake us. It's believing that he is always with us, whatever happens in life. I remember on one occasion I was teaching a class in the book of Daniel. We had come to Daniel chapter 3 when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace.

And I pointed out that God did not deliver Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace, but that they by faith trusted God and went into the furnace. And there, as King Nebuchadnezzar looked in, he says in verse 24 as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are in the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar says he's astonished. He rises up, verse 24, Daniel 3. He speaks, he says to his counselors, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said, "Yes, king. True, O king." He answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Nebuchadnezzar says I looked in there and the form of the fourth was like the Son of God. How did he know what the Son of God looked like? Daniel had been telling him about it. Where was Daniel during this time? Daniel was on some diplomatic mission because the king knew that Daniel would never compromise and he thought he could get the three Hebrew worthies, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, to compromise.

But the king looks in there. "I see the fourth." Jesus did not deliver them from the flames, but he was with them in the flames. I love that old song. Just when I need Him, Jesus is near. Just when I falter, just when I fear, just when I need Him most. Faith led the three Hebrews into the flames. But faith trusted that God would be with them in the flames.

God doesn't always deliver us from trial. God doesn't always remove difficulty. There are times mountains are in the way. There are times of dark valleys that we go through. I remember I was teaching this in a class in the book of Daniel. And after the class, a lady came up to me and she said, "Pastor Mark, can we talk?" I said, "Absolutely. What would you like to share with me?"

She said, "Pastor Mark, a number of months ago I was diagnosed with cancer. And I was so troubled about it that I went to my friends and I said please help me to be able to bear this. And they said to me," let's call her name Leah, they said, "Leah, we're going to pray, and if you have enough faith, God will miraculously deliver you."

So she said, "I prayed, they prayed. And I went back to the doctor. And the doctor said, 'I'm so sorry to tell you, Leah, the cancer has spread and it spread so badly that it does not look good. I'm not sure what treatment we can give you.'" She said, "I went back to my friends. I said I believed I had faith. They said you didn't have enough faith. There must be some sin in your life."

She said, "Now I had three problems. I had cancer, I didn't have enough faith, and I had some sin in my life. I searched my heart. And they said if you just pray hard enough, you just believe hard enough, you just pray long enough, you will be miraculously delivered from the cancer." She said, "I prayed, I prayed, and I prayed. I believed and I believed. I searched my heart. But," she said, "Pastor Mark, I went back to the doctor and he said, 'I'm sorry to tell you there's not much we can do for you because that cancer has spread so broadly.'"

She said, "Pastor Mark, I came to your meeting tonight and I had such renewed hope. I knew that whatever I go through now, that God's going to be with me. I'm in the fiery flames of my life like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But I believe, I trust God that if it is according to his will and for his glory, he will heal me. But Pastor Mark, if for some reason he doesn't heal me, I still will trust him. If for some reason he doesn't heal me, I will still believe. Because I know what faith is. Faith is not telling God what I want. Faith is not demanding from God what I would like. Faith is trusting God in every circumstance of life. Faith is trusting that God has my best interest in view."

And so, Pastor Mark, I can now claim the promises. Take for example Isaiah chapter 41. Isaiah chapter 41, and we look there at verse 10. "Fear thou not." What are you going through this very day? God is speaking to you. Faith is trusting God. It's that simple. Faith is trusting God as a friend well-known. One that would never do you any harm. One that will never leave you. One that will never forsake you. "Fear thou not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am thy God. I will strengthen you. Yea, I will help you. Yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness."

See, faith trusts God that indeed he is going to strengthen us in the trials of life. He is going to enable us to face those trials in life. I remember many years ago, I was a young man and God taught me faith in trial. I was a student missionary working on the Amazon River at Belem, Brazil. And we had to take an ambulance that was shipped in by the Red Cross through the jungles.

We got about 500 miles in the jungle. We were going down a steep kind of a cliff with a rocky road and the driver went to shift it, there were three of us, and he shifted backward and the ambulance bounced, shifted backward, cracked the transmission casing. We went careening down the steep mountain pass and finally came to a stop. We were okay. We didn't go over the edge. We stayed in this dirt road. And we were there in the middle of the jungles now, it was actually plains lands, middle of no man's land.

And we just were struggling, what should we do? What should we do? And there at that time, I was just a young Christian and we began to pray. "Lord help us. Lord help us." And we ate our food and finally we decided we would send one of our crew back and the other two of us would stay with the ambulance. So it was Doctor Murilo, Doctor Rocco, and myself.

And we decided, Doctor Murilo, you go back. I didn't know the language of Portuguese that much and I couldn't go, and Doctor Rocco wanted to stay with the ambulance. So we sent Doctor Murilo back. How did he get back? Well, usually once a day a jungle truck would come by delivering rice or taking rice from the villages to sell it. And so, we decided let's send Doctor Murilo back. A jungle truck comes by. Doctor Murilo took the truck.

We went a day and we had a little food. We ate it. And then the next day we didn't have much food at all. Next day, no food. And after a couple days with no food, you know, people tell you, well you go 24 hours without any food and then 48 hours with no food, then approaching 72 hours with no food. When that happens you adjust. Well I was young at 20, I celebrated my 21st birthday in those jungles. I'll tell you something. I didn't adjust. I got hungrier and hungrier and hungrier.

And I remember one night I was kneeling to pray. And I was praying, "Lord, Lord, please come into my life. Please strengthen me for this trial. And Lord, I just pray that you would deliver me. I pray that you'd provide some food. But I am going to trust you no matter what. Whether you provide food or not doesn't indicate to me, Lord, that you love me because I know that you love me. But Lord, I'm trusting you."

And I remember kneeling in the back of that ambulance out in the middle of the jungle. And can you believe it? I heard a horn begin to beep. Beep, beep, beep. I opened the back of the ambulance. And there was this, lights were shining right in my face. And it was a jungle truck. I get out of the ambulance. Called Doctor Rocco. We went over to the truck.

And the truck driver said, "I have something for you. Your friend is in a town 60 miles away, Cachoeira do Arari, and he has told me to tell you that he's radioed your mission headquarters, they're sending a helicopter for you." And then he said he knew that you'd be hungry and he sent this box of food.

I said, "Praise God." You know God at times powerfully answers your prayers to let you know that he could do it every time, but every time it's not necessary. Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, is interested in your life. He will never leave you. He will never, ever, ever forsake you. He is your Lord, he is your Savior. Matthew 28:20, Jesus says, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."

Grasp that promise. What is faith? Faith is trusting God like Abel even if you die. Faith is believing like Enoch even if you live. What is faith? It is staying on the task when it's difficult like Noah did, pounding those boards into that ark. Faith is moving out like Abraham did, trusting God. Faith is listening to the voice of God.

What is faith? Faith is believing like Abraham in the child of promise, but faith is giving up that child. There are some of you listening that your children have drifted away. You have to give them up into the hands of the Lord and say, "Lord, bless them." Faith is trusting God when you have riches, but when you don't and you're forsaken like Moses to go out with the children of Israel wandering the wilderness. Moses had to have faith and he did, and manna came down from heaven to feed them.

See, what is faith? It is trusting God in poverty and in wealth. What is faith? It is either being slain by the sword as a martyr or being protected from the sword. These all received good report by faith. Trust God, my friend.

Guest (Female): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final prayer from Pastor Mark Finley.

Mark Finley: Trust God, my friend, and you will find his mighty hand moving in your life. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you Jesus that we can trust you in everything that we do. Thank you Jesus that you love us, that you care for us. Thank you Jesus that you said you'd never leave us, you'd never forsake us. Help us, Lord, trust you. You've said, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" And we respond back, "Yes, Lord, we will trust you through all of our days and all of our life. Fill our hearts with that faith." Faith is a gift that you give us, we know. Give us that gift of faith and help us nurture it by trusting you in little things so we can trust you in greater things. In Jesus' name, Amen.