************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 21 ************
Doctrine: What is True Faith
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on April 16, 2000
Q & A 21
Hebrews 11
"True Faith"
Introduction
Remember what we said last time? All men are not saved; only those are saved who by true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all His blessings. To be saved one needs, by grace, a saving faith.
I have a couple of things up here with me. First, I have a plate, fork, knife, spoon (HOLD UP). If I am hungry does this plate, fork, knife, and spoon fill me? Of course not; they are only tools or instruments to get the food into my mouth and then my stomach. Second, I have pen and paper (HOLD UP). Do the pen and paper write notes for me? Of course not; they are only tools or instruments for me to use when I write notes. In the same way, saving faith is a tool or an instrument – the only tool or instrument – by which we are saved. Faith is the tool or instrument by which we receive God's goodness into our lives.
The tool or instrument of saving or true faith includes two parts: one of them is belief; the other is trust.
I Belief
A First of all, true faith is belief. Christian belief is the acceptance of the truth of the gospel. Or, as the Catechism puts it, "True faith is ... a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in his Word is true."
It is important that God's people realize that true faith is not a matter of agreeing with whatever the minister teaches or the Synod concludes. In this sin-filled world no minister and no Synod is always absolutely right. Rather, true faith is a matter of believing God's Word.
B Assumed here, but not stated, is that those with true faith, as far as they are able, have a personal knowledge of God's Word. It makes little sense to claim belief in Scripture if one does not know what Scripture teaches. Faith is meaningless if it has no content. True faith, in other words, requires head knowledge.
The August 9, 1999 issue of Christianity Today has an article entitled, "The Greatest Story Never Read." The article informs us that we can no longer assume general knowledge about the Bible in our culture. And offers us the following illustrations as proof:
Jay Leno knew he had the perfect comedy routine. Roving through the audience of his late-night talk show, Leno asked people how much they knew about the Bible. "Name one of the Ten Commandments," he asked. A hand went up: "God helps those who help themselves?" [I don't find this commandment in my Bible.] Leno went on: "Name one of the apostles." No answer. But when he asked his audience to name the four Beatles, the names "George, Paul, John, and Ringo" flew from the crowd.
Last year a candidate for governor in Nevada wanted to propose a new tax on the gambling industry but did not want to give the impression that he was against Nevada's most powerful and lucrative industry. Appealing to biblical authority, he announced, "I want to be like King David in the Bible. He didn't kill Goliath, he just hurt him a little."
Students can neither recognize nor understand the biblical metaphors from great novels written before 1950. A professor from the University of Wisconsin spoke to a seminar of highly motivated, intellectually keen students who did not recognize literary references to "Jonah" or "the prodigal son." She was forced to "decode" these images so that the students could see the underlying themes of the books they analyzed.
We can lament the neglect of the Bible in popular culture and secular education but we can understand it. But what about the church? For the last four years, the Bible and theology department at Wheaton College in Illinois has studied the biblical and theological literacy of incoming freshmen. These are students who use the Bible regularly. The Christianity Today article I mentioned earlier has this to say:
The Bible has become a springboard for personal piety and meditation, not a book to be read. These students very likely know that David killed Goliath, but they don't know why he did it or that Goliath was a Philistine or who the Philistines were.
When asked to complete a test in which a series of biblical events must be placed in order, our students returned surprising results. One-third of the freshmen could not put the following in order starting with the oldest: Old Testament prophets, Pentecost, Abraham, Christ. Half could not sequence: Judah's exile, Isaac's birth, Moses in Egypt, and Saul's death. One-third could not identify Matthew as an apostle from a list of New Testament names. When asked to locate the biblical book supplying a given story, one-third could not find Paul's travels in Acts, half did not know that the Christmas story was in Matthew or that the Passover was in Exodus.
People today try to argue that a knowledge of the Bible and doctrine does not matter. What matters, says these people, is relationship, knowing Jesus rather than about Jesus. These people are wrong. Yes, we need to know Jesus; but we also need to know about Jesus.
The Catechism, in line with the Reformers, emphasizes personal knowledge of Scripture. Those with true faith, in other words, come to Church as often as they can in order to hear the Word; they faithfully read the Word everyday; they attend Bible study or Society meetings in order to grow in their knowledge and understanding of the Word. None of us – not me, not you – can ever say that we are finished with learning the Word.
I am reminded of the story of a grandma who proudly told her grand-daughter that she had been in Sunday School for over 60 years. Her granddaughter patted her on the hand and said, "Don't worry grandma. I am sure you will graduate next year."
I want to tell you, my brothers and sisters, that there never comes a time in this life when we graduate from studying the Word of God. In fact, we aren't finished with our learning from the Word until the day we die.
Those mature believers with true faith have Bibles that don't collect dust on some shelf somewhere. Those mature believers with true faith have to replace their copy of the Bible because continual use makes them so tattered and torn.
This past week I read about someone who found an old book in the attic. They went to a collector of antiquities to find out its value. One of the first things the collector looked at was the book's condition: were the pages tattered and torn, was the cover frayed, was the print still legible? Among antiquity dealers the rule is that the less use an old book has had the more valuable it becomes.
I think we all realize that this is not at all the case with Scripture. The Bible is of value only when it is read, studied and used on a daily basis. How thankful I am that many of our Christian homes have an old, worn out Bible with missing, torn and falling out pages – for this means that in those homes Scripture is often read and studied.
C True faith accepts the truth of Scripture. Today, there is what has been called a "crisis of faith." You see, people are no longer arguing over minor points of doctrine. Rather, they are arguing about such vital teachings of Scripture as the virgin birth, the resurrection, the second coming, whether Genesis 1-12 is history or myth, and the very existence of God.
Today is the age of skepticism and questions. Very few people are convinced anymore that everything God reveals in His Word is true. But that, my brothers and sisters, is what true faith is all about – you must believe that everything in the Bible is truth.
Topic: Faith
Subtopic:
Index: 1201-1218
Date: 1/1986.18
Title: A Six Inch Miracle
A teacher was doing her best to discredit the miracles of the Bible. She said, "Take, for instance, the crossing of the Red Sea. We know this body of water was only 6 inches deep." Immediately from the back of the room came the remark, "Praise God for the miracle!" Annoyed, the teacher asked, "What miracle?" "Well," explained the boy, "the Lord must have drowned the whole Egyptian army in just 6 inches of water!"
The teacher was not willing to take God at His Word. Her student, however, was willing to believe what the Bible said.
For many people this is a very difficult thing to accept. The method of science, it seems, has been accepted even for matters of faith. The scientific method accepts nothing unless it has been seen, checked, measured and weighed; and then it must be verified by a completely independent party. This method is good and necessary in physics, engineering, chemistry, genetic research, biology, and so forth. But in the realm of faith the scientific method is completely inappropriate. We can not measure or weigh the virgin birth, the resurrection, or the historical character of Genesis 1-12.
D Faith means that we take God at His Word. Faith, according to Hebrews 11:1, is being "certain of what we do not see."
There are so many things we cannot see, so many things we have to accept by faith. Take the articles of faith as we find them in the Apostles' Creed. Each one of the twelve articles can be believed only by faith. For instance, by faith we have to believe that ours is a loving, almighty, creating Father in heaven because none of us have ever seen Him. By faith we believe the virgin birth, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension and the session of Christ. By faith we believe in the Holy Spirit. By faith we believe that all true believers of all times and places are members of one universal church. By faith we believe in the return of the Lord and the resurrection of the body. These are all articles of faith because we don't see them but still have to believe them.
What a contrast there is between the believer and unbeliever here. You know what the unbeliever says: "Show me, then I may believe." But God says, "Believe me, then you will see." God does not want to be checked; He wants to be believed. God does not want to be put under a microscope; He wants to be believed. God does not want to be cross-examined; He wants to be believed.
II Trust
A Now, I need to tell you that belief is not enough. For all faith, whether Christian or not, includes belief. Consider the demons and evil spirits: according to James 2:19 they believe – and shudder! Or consider Josef Stalin: one of the most murderous of all Russian leaders. Before he entered politics he studied for the priesthood. He memorized and could recite by heart all of the New Testament and vast sections of the Old Testament. He knew all about God yet few leaders have been as evil as he has. Belief and knowledge, then, are not enough. Something more is needed. That something more is trust.
This second part of faith is sometimes called heart-knowledge or person-knowledge. It arises only within the context of an intimate, loving relationship with God. Those with heart-knowledge experience and display God's love within their lives. Demons and evil-spirits obviously lack a personal relationship with the Lord as did Josef Stalin.
B Our trust, of course, is in God and His promises. We trust or hope in the eventual triumph of right over wrong, of good over evil, of God over His enemies.
Our central hope lies in the full coming of the kingdom of God. All the promises of God, all the truth of the Gospel, can be summed up in the coming of the kingdom. To speak more specifically, our hope and our trust is that we have a place in that kingdom.
True faith, then, not only acknowledges the truth of the Bible; it also is assured that the Bible's good news is for us.
The Catechism says that true faith is a "deep-rooted assurance ... that ... I ... have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation."
Notice, faith is an assurance not about others but about me. God doesn't give me an assurance that He saves others. In true faith God gives me an assurance that He saves me. True faith concerns me and my salvation.
C At precisely this point many Christians have problems. They "hope" they are saved; they "think" they are saved; but they aren't sure about it. But true faith doesn't say, "I think ...," "I hope ..." True faith says, "I know I am saved."
This is not to say that true believers are not filled with occasional pangs of doubt and uncertainty. We all have times like that. Usually, if not always, this is brought on because we are looking in the wrong direction: at ourselves and our own failings. You know what happens then: "I'm not good enough," you say. "Look at the bad things I do. My faith is not strong enough." The good news of the gospel is that it isn't how good we are or how strong our faith is that gets us into heaven. Rather, it is all up to Jesus, His crucifixion, His resurrection.
The solution to doubt and uncertainty in the Christian's life is actually quite simple: we have to stop looking to ourselves and start looking to Jesus and His unfailing grace. It is because of His unfailing grace that I can say, "I know I have had my sins forgiven, I know I am forever right with God, I know I have been granted salvation."
D According to Hebrews 11:1, "faith is being sure of what we hope for." This deep rooted assurance was so evident in the lives of the great saints of the Old Testament. These saints were tortured and refused to be released; faced jeers and flogging; were chained and put in prison; were stoned; were sawed in two; went about in sheepskins and goatskins; and were destitute, persecuted, and mistreated (Heb 11:35-38). They could endure all of this and more because of the hope that was within them; they knew there awaited them a new and better life in a new and better body on a new and better earth; they knew theirs was a place in the coming kingdom of God. These Old Testament saints were sure, they were confident, they were certain of their future life. They trusted in God and His promises!
Conclusion
Belief and trust. These, says the Catechism based upon Scripture, are the two elements of true faith. These are the two parts of the only tool or instrument by which we receive God's goodness into our lives.
Belief and trust, of course, are inter-connected. Disbelief often comes from mistrust, just as belief often comes from trust. If we trust someone, then we tend to believe what they say. Likewise, if we trust God, then we believe what the Scriptures say for they, after all, are God's Word. But the reverse is true too: if you believe someone, then you tend to trust them. Thus, if you believe what the Scriptures say, you tend to trust God. Belief and trust, in other words, usually reinforce each other.
Still, they are different from each other. Of the two, trust is usually harder than belief. Let me try to illustrate this.
One of my favorite stories concerns Blondin, a famous high-wire performer of years ago. Blondin once proposed a remarkable feat. He announced that he would walk a tightrope stretched across Niagara Falls.
On the fateful day huge crowds gathered on both sides of the falls. Sporting men bet large sums on Blondin's chances. High above the deadly torrent the great performer started slowly along the thin wire. Foot by agonizing foot, leaning against the wind, Blondin made his way across the whole length of tightwire. In fact, he later made a crossing with bushel baskets tied to his feet and another time he pushed a wheel barrow across.
Then Blondin came up with an even more outrageous stunt. He announced that he would attempt a crossing with a man riding on his back. Bigger crowds gathered; larger sums were bet. Blondin set out with his precious cargo. As he inched along, several of the men who had bet strongly against him began to fear that he might succeed. So they reached for the guy ropes that braced the main wire and cut one of them. Halfway across the span Blondin at once felt the wire beginning to sway dangerously beneath him. So Blondin began to run to the far side, his human freight bouncing along on his back! Once more he succeeded. He actually made it!
Congregation, let me ask you two questions. Do you believe that Blondin could do this? Suppose you do. Then you are like the spectators. Even the big bettors believed it and trembled. But now the harder question: would you have trusted Blondin enough to get on his back? Yes, we may believe God but we also must trust Him. We may believe God, but we also have to climb onto His back and cling to Him for dear life.
Believe and trust. Believe God's Word. Trust that His promises are for you. For there is no other way that you can be grafted into Christ and accept all His blessings. There is no other tool, no other instrument, through which God saves us and brings us to Himself.