2017.07.16_Faith Given By Jesus

God is one and only. Knowing the one true God is absolutely essential to our faith. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3) Even a newborn baby recognizes his mom after just one or two months. So it doesn’t make sense that believers don’t know God. People in the world treat wooden idols or abstract concepts created by philosophical hypotheses as God, but Christians must actually know God.

God is the eternal Creator. God was not created by anyone, He Himself has been from eternity to all eternity. Men can know God because He gave mankind the ability to know Him. That ability is called faith. Everybody has the self confidence to believe in themselves. It is because of this type of conviction that men can do things such as farming, run a successful business, and overcome all kinds of challenges.

Nevertheless this kind of belief in oneself has its limitations. Men cannot find God by their own faith, nor can they be saved. We absolutely need the faith that God gives. When the disciples witnessed that the fig tree which Jesus had cursed had withered away, Jesus said, “Believe in God”, which means ’Have faith in God’.

God sent His Son to us in order to impart faith to us. God’s Son came to this world as a man. Like so many men who came before Him who stayed for a short time on the earth and then disappeared, He spent ten months in His mother’s womb, experienced birth, normal growth and eventually death. His experience was not unlike any others’. However, there is one thing that only He has experienced, and that is the Resurrection.

As science and technology have progressed, humans are doing amazing things that they never dared to imagine before. For example, various diseases that were considered incurable in the past are now being cured because of cutting edge advances in medicine. Nevertheless, even with all of the advances in science and technology, a man cannot resurrect himself or even another man with his own power.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life”. (John 11:25) Believing in Jesus means believing in the resurrection. Prior to Jesus, no one in the world had ever before been raised or raised anyone else from the dead. Resurrection is the power of God. And we also possess the power because we have been united with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die”. (John 11:26) Just as Jesus was resurrected, so too will those who have God given faith in Jesus.

Then what is the faith that God has given to us? It can be found in the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples when He appeared to them after the Resurrection.”Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” (John 20:21-22)

The first way God gave us faith is by giving us peace. The thing that people are most afraid of is death. After all, diseases, coldness, hunger, danger, etc., people worry about these things because they are afraid of death. Hebrew 2:15 says they are “those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

How must the disciples have felt – who had followed Jesus and trusted Him completely – after they had witnessed the brutal crucifixion of Jesus? What was going through their hearts and minds as they waited in the upper room? Before He ascended, the Lord appeared to them and said, “Peace to you!”In order to enjoy true peace, you must overcome the fear of death. You must be able to overcome death itself. Therefore, only those who have the hope of the resurrection can enjoy true peace.

Many people, when they think back on what they have gained by faith in Jesus Christ, only recall that they have attended decent university, earned more money, had better health, and so on. These are all material blessings that can be enjoyed on the earth. But we can have peace even if we lose everything here on the earth, because true peace doesn’t change.

God has also given us the faith to “Receive the Holy Spirit”, as Jesus said. Every religion in the world emphasizes ethical and moral behavior. But the Holy Spirit is only available to Christians. Jesus said, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you”. (John 16:7)

How helpful the presence of the Holy Spirit is to us! Jesus said, “It  is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Holy Spirit will not come to you.” The Holy Spirit is not just for particular individuals or for a special class, but for anyone who believes in Jesus. When Paul went to Ephesus and met some disciples there, he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They had never heard the Holy Spirit. After Paul explained the gospel to them he baptized them, and when Paul laid hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit.

All Christians can and must receive the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:1-7) Christians are called spiritual, because the Holy Spirit is in them. When people hear the word ‘spiritual,’ they are reminded of shamans or fortunetellers. But the true spiritual man is he who knows Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit and to whom God has given faith.

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit”.

The Holy Spirit bears witness in us that Jesus is the Son of God. Because the Holy Spirit is in us, we can experience Jesus in us. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 says, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”. 1 John 5:8 says, “And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one”. In this way, spiritual people are those who have the witness of the Holy Spirit. Spiritual people must also bear spiritual fruit.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 says, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills”.

Some people say, “I might have received the Holy Spirit, but I’m not sure. At the time I was asked to speak in a tongue, so I did it.” Others say, “I’ve spoken in tongues, but I haven’t done it for a long time.”These people cannot be called spiritual. After you receive the Holy Spirit, you must not cease to experience spiritual gifts and power, but bear spiritual fruit in abundance by much prayer.

1 Corinthians 2:11-13 says, “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can properly know the thoughts of God. And we must recognize the gifts God has given to us by the Holy Spirit.

The third way God gives us faith is manifest when He said, “Whoever’s sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; whoever’s sins you retain, they are retained”. Some people ask, “If Jesus has the authority to forgive sins, how could we forgive sins?”That is a natural reaction when they don’t understand the words of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.

They reacted in the same way in Jesus’ day. When a paralytic was brought to Jesus, and He said to him, “Your sins are forgiven, “the scribes and Pharisees said within themselves, “Who is this Man who blasphemes! Who can forgive sins except God!”

Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. (Matt 28:18-20)

What is baptism? Is it simply placing a man into some water and taking him out again? Not at all. To baptize someone is to say, “You are fundamentally a sinner because of Adam’s sin. However, Jesus Christ has atoned for your sins and redeemed you. So now, when you go into water, you are burying your old man destined for everlasting punishment. And when you come out of water, you are united with Jesus in His resurrection.”

Jesus gave His disciples the right to baptize. This right comes from heaven, so no one can baptize except those who have been anointed by laying on of hands, i.e. pastors and deacons. A longtime ago, a drunken fellow came to our church and asked to be baptized. I talked with him and realized he didn’t have any faith to receive forgiveness of sins. He insisted on being baptized but I turned him down. I have the right not to baptize that person.

Jesus said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” That is because you acknowledge it. The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word while Peter was preaching a sermon at the home of Cornelius. Then Peter said, “Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized. (Acts 10:44-48) Receiving the Holy Spirit demonstrates that someone has God given faith.

The same thing applies to baptism. When Peter saw them receive the Holy Spirit, he knew they had the faith given to them by God and he baptized them. Baptism is a public declaration that your sins have been forgiven.

Those who desire to be healed by the power of God can easily fall into the trap of neglecting the spiritual process because they want to escape the pain quickly. We must consider why it is that Jesus said, “Your sins have been forgiven” before He healed the paralytic. Why are some people not healed in spite of much praying and repeatedly casting out demons?

Healing is a gift given to those who have been forgiven. Therefore, in order for your diseases to be healed, you must repent that you haven’t known God well and have not been devoted to Him. 1Cor 15:56 says, “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law”. This means that sin comes in by taking advantage of the law, and death comes in by taking advantage of sin.

Those who want to receive help from God must first deal with the matter of sin. The greatest grace that Christians receive from God is forgiveness of sins. This cannot be obtained by the laying on of hands. The person concerned must repent to be redeemed. Therefore, whoever lays hands on the sick must ensure they repent first and that they are filled with the joy and gratitude that their sins are forgiven. It is then that mighty power will be manifest.

As we have seen, we must have faith in God. This God given faith will be manifest by peace, receiving the Holy Spirit, and the authority to forgive sins. These are the basis of our faith. To enjoy peace in the hope of resurrection, to serve God through the Holy Spirit and to show people salvation by the authority to forgive sins; these things are possible only by the faith that God gives. Let’s pray that we may no longer have the confidence in our own abilities, but that we may rely on the faith that God gives!