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THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH by Hubert Bunney FAITH
IS FIRST:
(By emphasis in the Bible) The way you find out the
importance of things in scripture is by the Hermeneutical principal that says the quantity
of times that something is found in the bible puts the emphasis on it. Some people say
that's just a man-made rule, but it's a man-made rule that is found in God’s word. It
says, "…comparing spiritual things with spiritual things." I can't
think of anything more spiritual than love and faith and so we compare them. We compare
them by comparative study, and you come up with seeing the value. Now, “love” in
the New Testament comes from the word "phileo" and "agape." There are other words, but these are the major
ones. Then there are words in the Old Testament. Phileo is used 18 times in the New
Testament (that's brotherly love, i.e., to befriend someone) and agape is the love
of God that needs no return (it is very unselfish). Then, I have the word
“affection.” Agape is used 81 times, affection 9 times, and all the other
words that are part of these words, 409 times. So that would be 517 times that the word
“love” appears in the bible. Now, if I said to you some kind of phrase like
"Be good…" and I said it 100 times, you would say, "You know what? He
wants us to be good!" You would know it
because of the emphasis. So God said love 517 times. Does He want us to love? He sure
does. Love is of God. Then I looked up this word
"faith" and I was a little shocked because I thought love would be more times in
the bible than faith. And I find that faith is more than love by a long shot. The word in
the New Testament, the way you would say it in the English, is "Pistis",
and that's translated 245 times. And then there are two words for faith in the Old
Testament. You will only find the actual word "faith" in the Old Testament 2
times, but 245 times you have the word "pistis" translated as
“faith” in the New Testament. "Belief," in both old and new testaments
is 301 times, "trust" 183 times, and "hope" 137 times for a total of
868 times. Now, there are 1,169 chapters in
the bible. You have the word "faith" 868 times. So, you run into the word
“faith” on an average of about every one and a quarter chapters. It is kind of
hard to preach the bible without preaching faith because it is all over it. If you
subtract 517 from 868 you come up with 351. That is 351 more times you have faith in the
bible than love. So we have two important subjects. The bible tells us, "Now
abideth faith, hope and charity (which is agape love there), the greatest of these is
charity (or love)." So, love is greatest but faith is first. You can't have love
without faith. You can't have anything from God without faith. Everything you receive is
by faith, "…not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to
his mercy he saved us" and faith is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. I want to share three scriptures
that showed me the importance of faith. FAITH
FOR FREEDOM: Rom 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or offended, or is made weak.
If I would invite an orthodox Jewish family to our home and my wife would cook pork
chops, I would be insulting the family that we invited. So, we sure wouldn't serve them
pork chops because we don't want to offend, we want to win. We want to be winsome, not
offensive. You see, there are things you can do and someone else esteems you. They see you
doing it, they try to do it, and it weakens them. And the bible says, "if you
don't eat meat you’re weak in the faith" (if you don't eat meat for
religious purposes, that is). Now, if meat or milk doesn't agree with you, than don't eat
or drink it. I knew a bible teacher we had in bible school, named Bill Bailey, who
couldn't eat onions. I love to eat them like apples but Bill Bailey, he would writhe in
pain because his body rejected onions. So, whatever your body rejects, don't eat it. But
for religious purposes, if you have faith and God has cleansed all meat, you can eat them
all. Eat it in faith. Rom 14:22 Hast
thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy
is he that condemneth not himself in that thing
which he alloweth. Notice what it says here about
faith. Happy is the person that doesn't condemn himself. See, we can get to the place
where you can condemn yourself about anything. Some people condemn themselves just for
eating. When I was a youngster, I went to a
very strict church and my parents were very strict. If I was walking through the woods and
it was real hot, and I took my shoes off and put my feet in the water on Sunday, I felt I
sinned. They used to talk about keeping the Sabbath holy and Sabbath was Saturday, but
keep Sunday holy. And that was sin because a lot of things were sin. You were condemned in
a lot of things but it is wonderful to be able to walk through the woods when you’re
hot, put your feet in the water, and enjoy it without condemning yourself. But take a look
at this next verse. Rom 14:23 And he
that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. If you eat and can't eat
in faith, it is damning. Anything you do, eating, drinking or whatever it is, if it is not
done in faith it is sin. You can pray not in faith and sin. You can plow your field as a
farmer and if it is not unto God and not in faith, it is sin. "The plowing of the
wicked is sin," the bible says. Whatsoever you do, its got to be
in faith. When you’re in doubt about something you should do or shouldn't do,
“When in doubt, leave it out.” If
you can't do it with perfect confidence toward God, leave it out until you educate
yourself that it's okay (if it's okay). Now, sin is sin, no matter what you call it. You
can't murder someone in faith. You can't steal in faith, but there are some things that
are not in that category that we condemn ourselves with. Peter was brought up that you never eat certain types of animals, so the Lord sent a sheet down from heaven with all manner of animals on it and even creepy things and he said, "Rise and eat." Peter said, "Not so Lord. Nothing unclean has come into my mouth." He meant nothing unclean, as far as the dietary law. The Lord did this 3 times to convince him that "what God hath cleansed call not common." See, even today, there are people that don't know that and so when they eat, they eat not in faith. And to them it is sin. So anything you do, must be done in faith. Don't do things that you are condemned in
doing, because that will sear your conscience. The conscience is very important, in that
it makes a decision right or wrong on things. If you just run roughshod over it, you will
sear it and it won't be able to register. You will not know when you’re doing wrong
or doing right. Some people have seared their conscience and do anything because they have
nothing restraining them. We need divine restraint. So, whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
This shows the importance of faith. We really need faith, don't we? FAITH
AS AN OFFERING: In the honor roll of faith,
chapter 11 of Hebrews, the word "faith” appears 24 times. Heb 11:6 Without
faith it is impossible to please him (God): for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. We need to please God and if we
approach Him not in faith, we can't please Him. The importance of faith is that without
faith, you can't please God. The word "rewarder" here means “payer or giver
of wages.” And "diligent" is not in the original but is contained in the
word "seek." It means to seek out, or thoroughly seek. So, if we diligently seek
God in faith, He will pay us. The idea of this word “rewarder” is tangible
things. Sometimes when we're having a struggle financially, could it be we are not seeking
the Lord diligently? Because to those who seek the Lord, He will add tangible things, He
will pay. Did you ever think about getting paid to seek the Lord? The Lord is good to
those who seek. How is He good? He gives tangible things.
"Seek
ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you."
He is a giver of wages to those who seek and of course, we need to seek the Lord
diligently because we love Him. FAITH
FOR FORGIVENESS: Another word on the importance
of faith is forgiveness. Now, one of the most important things we can do is learn to
forgive. When people wrong us, we must learn to forgive them because if we don't forgive
the people who sin against us, God will not forgive our sin. Remember the Lord's Prayer
(which is really the disciples prayer), "…forgive us our debts as we forgive
our debtors" to the degree that as we forgive our debtors Lord, You forgive our
debts against You. So, if you want to be forgiven, then you have to forgive. You can't
hold a grudge and say, "I'll never forgive that person." If you do, God won't
forgive you. Boy, if anything, we need forgiveness because "all we have sinned and
come short of the glory of God.” Luke 17:5 And the
apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith. Now, you would think because the
context is forgiveness in verses 3 & 4, it would have nothing to do with faith.
Suppose someone did you wrong 7 times in one day? You might say, "That phony. I don't
think he is sincere at all. He's asked forgiveness 6 times and he sinned against me
again." You have to have faith to believe that he is sincere at all. You’ve got
to have faith to believe that he really means it when he says, "I repent." I know people. They sin like
breathing. Let's take in the realm of cursing. A guy has cursed in front of me and then
remembered I was a preacher. He said, "Preacher, forgive me" and while he was
saying “Forgive me,” he cursed again. It just came out and he didn't even know
he did it. Like it says, "Paul breathed out slaughters against the church."
His anger was in every breath against the church before he got saved. He tried to put them
all to death because he thought we were all heretics.
If you check another gospel on this
idea of forgiveness, it says not only 7 times, but 70 times 7. Four hundred and ninety
times in one day, you must forgive the person who sins against you. That is a lot of
times. Some think we should say, "Increase our love, Lord" but the apostles who
became the sent ones said, "Increase our faith." And I think they were right. To
have the love that would forgive someone that much, you have to have faith to receive
love. Have you ever been overwhelmed with something the Lord has asked you to do?
You’ve said, "Oh Lord, increase my faith." It's true. GENUINE
FAITH IS QUALITY FAITH: When you really get into faith,
it is not a matter of bulk - it's a matter of quality. Quality faith can say to this
mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and it will happen. Our faith is not enough.
In the bible, it makes a difference between belief and faith. There is a belief that is
just of the mental. A fellow had a wire across Niagara Falls and went to get a
wheelbarrow. He came back and asked, "How many believe I can go across the
wire?" Everybody raised their hand, and then he said "Who wants to come and sit
in the wheel barrow?" Nobody raised their hand. Nobody wanted to go. See, there is a
difference between “I think you can do it, but I am not going to commit myself to go
sit in that wheelbarrow.” In the bible, faith has these
three ideas: 1)Mental ascent 2)Commitment
thereto & 3)Perseverance therein. It has a stick-to-it quality.
Continuation is an important thing. People who really believe, do it to the saving of the
their soul. John said, "They went out from us, for they were not of us." They
didn't have the type that was biblical faith. What biblical faith is, and what people call
faith, is different. I want to show you in the book of John, that we can have a mental
belief only, and it doesn't do anything for us. John
2:23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name,
when they saw the miracles which he did. They believed on Him mentally,
but they didn't make any commitment to Him and He didn't make any commitment to them. They
believed on Him without any commitment. They mentally agreed, this was the Son of God. The
miracles proved it, but they didn't commit their life to it. They didn't live in the light
of the miracle and Jesus wouldn't commit himself either. In Romans, it shows a slight
difference between belief and faith. What we want is to have God put to our account His
righteousness, because our righteousness at its best, compared with God's, is like filthy
rags. So, don't try and be justified by your righteousness, accept His. Rom 3:22 Even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all them that believe. Notice it is the faith of Jesus
Christ. And whom does this come to? "…Unto all and upon all them that
believe." What's our part in this? To believe. His part is to impart the faith of
Jesus Christ that puts righteousness of God to our account. We are not saved by our own
faith. We are saved by the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph 2:8 For by
grace are you saved by faith. The grace of God is an unmerited
thing. You don't merit being saved. It is not your faith. It is the gift of God. True
Christianity removes all boasting. What do you have, that you have not received from God
under special graces? Do you have a good voice? That was under special grace that God gave
it to you. Do you have faith? Who gave it to you? God did, it is a gift of God. I want God
to impart unto me more faith, his faith (quality faith), because my faith won't make it,
but His faith will. A
HEARING FAITH:
A fellow in my neighborhood when
I was 12 years old was a religious man and he must have read in the scripture about Peter
walking on the water. So he thought he could do it and it would be a fantastic way to
share Gods glory with the city of New Castle. So, he put it in the paper and put it on
radio, 2:00 pm on Sunday on this particular date I am going to walk on water. He really
believed he was going to do it. Well, he took one step and sank right to the bottom.
Everyone laughed and roared. Well, just because you read in the scriptures that Peter
walked on water doesn't mean I'm going to do the same. See that's what people do with
claim it and confess it theology. Peter walked on water, I'm gonna do it. That is
presumption, not faith. Faith comes by some kind of communication from God. The word "hearing" in
Rom 10:17 is “rhema,” which means specializing, and speaking to your heart. He
can speak a scripture to your heart personally. It must be given to you and you must know
it is for you. It is not true that every promise in the book is yours. Some promises were
given to Abraham and some of us may not want children when we are 100 years old. So, God
has to personalize things to your heart because faith comes that way. GODS
IMPARTATION OF FAITH: Gal 2:20 I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the
life which I now live in the body, I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me. Whose faith helps you to live
the co-crucified, the co-risen life? The faith of the Son of God. You can't live it by
your faith. So you're dependent upon His faith for salvation. "By grace are you
saved through faith that not of yourself." And the victorious christian living is
the same way. We need to ask God for His faith. We need to pray, “Lord, impart Your
faith.”
Gal 3:5 He
therefore that ministereth to you the spirit, and worketh
miracles among you, doeth he it by the works
of the law, or by the hearing of faith? What is the answer to that
question? The hearing of faith. It (the working of miracles) is not by works of
righteousness we have done and it's not by obeying the word from the law. It is by hearing
of faith that communication of God is to your heart and to your spirit. THE
MEASURE OF FAITH: People say everybody has faith.
But how come Paul said, "All men have not faith" (2 Thes. 3:2b)? And
Jesus said, "Oh faithless generation" (Mark 9:19)? What would you say,
faithless means no faith, a generation without faith? So according to the bible, it is
possible to be without faith. Now, the scripture that most people use that "everyone
has faith" is in the book of Romans. Rom 12:3 For I say,
through the grace given unto me, that every man that is among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt every
man the measure of faith. Who is Paul speaking to? He is
talking to the church at Rome, to everyone among them. Now look at the context of verses 4
& 5: Rom 12:4 For as
we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:"
There are apostles, prophets or
teachers which show that we don't all have the same office. We are many members in one. Rom 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members of one another. It is talking about the body of
Christ. So the context of "God has dealt every man the measure of faith,"
is every member of the body of Christ: you that are among us – Christians! Now, if you think that everyone has received
a measure of faith, then you have a problem with the scripture, "All men have not
Faith." Either they received it and did not have the type of soil for it to
remain, or they never got it. One or the other. Now
let's look at the type of soil that you have to have to keep it. THE
MYSTERY OF FAITH: 1 Tim 3:9…
Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Why does the Holy Spirit,
speaking through Paul, writing to Timothy, talk about faith as a mystery, if faith is
2+2=4? Is faith just to mentally say "The pew will hold me up because it is
strong?” That is not the faith of the
bible because it is a gift from God. It's a mystery. If it were 2+2=4, it wouldn't be
anything mysterious. This mystery here is a revealed secret. So we are to hold the
revealed secret of faith in a pure conscience. Faith will continue, if the conscience is
pure. It will grow. It will live there and if it's not pure, it won't. Now, if your heart condemns you, there
can be no confidence toward God, and one of the meanings of faith is confidence. You see,
it can't if the heart is condemned. This is why I say to you: don't do anything your
conscience does not allow you. Because if you override it and sear it, faith will be
unable to live there, where it is not pure. FAITH
IS A FRUIT
Galatians 5:22, speaks about faith as
a fruit. We talk a lot about faith as a gift, but it is also spoken about as a fruit.
After it is given you, it is to grow. This word, “faith,” here is one of those
245 times in the New Testament that comes from the word "pistis.” So it is the
correct translation for faith.
Now, it does not say, "The
fruit(s) of the spirit are love." It says, "The fruit of the
spirit is love" because we're not talking about nine different things or
you would have to say, "The fruit(s) of the spirit are love." But since
love is a singular collective noun, it's "The fruit of the spirit is love."
It's the joy of love. It's the peace of love or the longsuffering of love. These are all
eight aspects of the love of God. PROGRESSION
OF FAITH: 2 Thes 1:3 We are
bound to give thanks always for you, brethern, as it is meet, because that your faith
groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth. There is a progression of love
like there is a progression of faith. So, faith is a gift of God and if it is in good soil
(pure heart, good conscience), it will grow. The more you feed it, the more it will grow.
Have you ever used the product Miracle Grow? It does your plants good. You’re feeding
it with something that will help it grow more. The bible says, "…nourished up
in the word of faith." Get into this book if you want faith. Meditate upon it
until it gets into your spirit. This is the book that feeds faith. You can't get faith out
of the newspaper. God loves His word and He loves to re-speak it. The Holy Spirit that
inspired it many years ago likes to reveal and inspire it to you today. And so faith
groweth. I have heard bible scholars say, "Faith never grows. You have to receive it
every time by a rhema of God.” Not so!
It can grow, if you have the right soil. 1 Cor 13:8 Charity
never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they
shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall
cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Now, a text without the context
is a pretext. If you take that verse out from its context, you would make it that there is
no continuation in prophecy, and there is no continuation in knowledge. Wouldn't that be
terrible, if when we go to heaven, we have no knowledge?
We would all just be a bunch of dumbbells. But that is not what Paul is
saying, if you check the context. What is done away with and is ceased, is the partial for
the complete. God is going to do away with the partial for the complete and that takes
place in your life, physically. For instance, you grow in stature, you grow in wisdom and
in spirit. The swallowing up, the ceasing, and the doing away is to be caught up in
something better. And that is what this chapter is saying. 1 Cor 13:9 For we
know in part, and we prophesy in Our problem is to know in part,
and try and prophesy in whole. We know in
part, we prophesy in part. There is a limitation on our prophecy. 1 Cor 13:10 But
when that which is perfect is come, then that which is
in part shall be done away. Now, "that which is
perfect" has not yet come. It's not referring to the scriptures. Like many people
say, "We got the bible. We don't need prophecy, we don't need tongues." It is in
the subjunctive mood and it is uncertain as to when it will take place. But somewhere in
eternity, we know it will come to pass. 1 Cor 13:11 When I
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child I thought as a child: but when I became a
man, I put away childish things.
Let me ask you a question. Is
there anything wrong with a child speaking like a child or a child thinking or
understanding like a child? Nothing wrong! But if a child continues to speak when it is a
man (or a lady) like a child, then something is wrong. There hasn't been that growth or
maturity. So becoming the man and putting away childish things, does that mean Paul no
longer speaks, thinks, or understands? No, he has progressed. God wants progression
whether it be in love or whether it be in faith. 1
Cor 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; Right now, spiritually speaking,
we don't see it all, we don't see clearly. We have many things we don't understand. We see
part. We see partial. 1 Cor 13:12 ..but
then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. There will be a progression in
knowledge. What is done away is the partial knowledge. What is done away in prophecy is
the partial prophesying incomplete. Tongues, is both speaking unto man and unto God.
Communication with man will be complete. Have you ever wanted to explain something to
someone and you did not have the vocabulary or knowledge to express it? In eternity we
will have perfect communication with God. There will be a conveying to people with
unlimited communication. So,
when you know in whole, you will prophesy in whole. That which is in part will be done
away, not the prophesying. But the limitation of partial prophesying, partial knowledge,
and the partial communication will all give way to complete communication. We are going to be great communicators. We are
going to be able to tell people how much we love and appreciate them. NOW
FAITH In closing, we want to go to the
honor roll of faith. Heb 11:1 Now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Some people take this word "now"
and they make it out that if you have faith, everything takes place now. This is not true.
He says, "now concerning spiritual gifts;” He says, "now
concerning the collection of the saints;" He said, "Now Enoch walked with God." In the year 2000 when you're reading
the bible, Enoch is not walking with God like he is talking about on Earth. That was
thousands of years ago. So, the "now" is, "Now I want to talk to
you about spiritual gifts;" "Now I want to talk to you about the
collection of the saints;” "Now I want to talk to you about faith." And
I will show you right in this chapter how the context denies this "now faith"
type thing. Heb
11:13a these all died in faith, not having received the promises, People say to you, if you have
faith it will take place now. But
"these all died in faith,” not receiving the promise! Heb 11:13b but having seen them a far off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. FAITH
HAS MANY DIFFERENT FACES: Now go to verse 32 because this
is the very thing that happens to me, when I get on a subject like this. Heb 11:32 and what
shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Ged-e-on, and of Barak, and of Samson, and
of Jeph-thae; of David also, and Samuel, and
of the prophets: In other words, I don't have
time to tell you about all this faith. I don't have the time to go into all these men and
of the prophets (and you could put 100 there). The writer gets toward the last eight
verses of the chapter and says, "I don't have time to tell you about all this; so
many things were done and endured by faith.” So he begins to sum it up real fast. Heb 11:33 Who
through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions, Now, here are the others. All
these seem to be positive: escaped the edge of the sword, received promises; “others
were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection.”
If God wants you to die as a martyr, don't try to exercise faith to get out of it. Yield
to the dying as a martyr. Heb
11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds
and imprisonment : (Paul
went to jail for the gospel). Isn't escaping the edge of the
sword the opposite of being slain with the sword? Some people by faith escaped, and some
people endured and were killed by the sword. Faith has many different faces. Faith has a
negative and a positive. It is an enduring faith and deliverance faith. So it all depends
on what the will of God is for your life. Heb 11:37b .. they
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins:
They were hiding so they
wouldn't be killed. They didn't believe they should die as a martyr. They were not
cowards. They put on sheepskins and crawled among the sheep to hide, and if it was a flock
of goats, they put on a goatskin to crawl among the goats. They were not cowards. They
felt that they should remain alive and faith will do anything to stay alive. If it is the
will of God for you not to die as a martyr, then don't die as a martyr. Heb
11:37c .. being destitute, afflicted, tormented; Now, some would get the idea,
“I think the guys that subdued kingdoms and wrought righteousness and escaped the
sword had more faith than the guys that died.” Notice the parenthesis here is
for clarity: Heb
11:38a (Of whom the world was not worthy:) ... These people were too good for
the world, and they died. In other words, the world did not deserve to have them here. Heb 11:38b ..they
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: The ones who died by the sword
had a good report through faith and the ones that escaped the sword had a good report
through faith. Faith has many faces! And so, don't get on this kick that if you
have faith everything will just go presto change-o and be taken care of. In closing, I had a
teacher in western Pennsylvania by the name of William Bailey, a godly man, a faithful and
enduring man. He got cancer and people prayed. He prayed and God healed him completely;
did not have a cancer cell in his body. He would go back for tests every three months and
they would give him a full bill of health. This took place for four years - four years
remission from cancer until he got cancer again. Everyone thought it was great while he
was healed. Now he got cancer again. The same people prayed and he died of cancer. While he was in the hospital, he
would go to chew something and his jawbone would break (He had bone cancer). He would go
to reach for something and his rib would crack. He was just laying in bed in traction, so
his bone wouldn't fall apart and he was seeking God that He would heal him. And a guy came
in with this "now faith." He said, "William Bailey, if you had faith, you
would be healed now. You got sin in your life. That's why you're not healed." And
Bill Bailey, instead of rebelling and being angry, said "Please tell me what my sin
is that I might repent." The guy didn't know, see, he was just talking. He says,
"You'll have to ask God and He'll tell you," and he left. Is that the love of God,
to kick someone when they’re down? To tell them they don't have faith and they have
sin? See, if God tells you that someone has sin, He'll tell you what the sin is. God
doesn't say, "You are bad." If God convicts you, He says, “You have done
thus and so. This is what you have to do to get out of it.” He tells you the way out.
This guy presented the problem and left him in the problem. Bill Bailey said, "Please
tell me what my sin is that I might repent." Boy, that is humility, that is meekness.
And so, I don't agree with this idea that if you have faith, you’re gonna be healed
and if you don't have faith, you won't, because sometimes God has other plans for our
life. Paul
was a chosen vessel to suffer many things for his namesake. He was chosen to be stoned for
the glory of God.
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