What is Faith?

Dr. Michael Youssef: I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the word of God, when those words were written, that he did not take these people into the laundromat and wash them with Clorox and then iron them and starch them and cover them up with cellophane and then placed them on a pedestal so that we can look at them and say, "Oh, I wish I could do that." No, no, no. And I believe there's a reason for that, because he wants you and me to look at their failure, to look at their fears, and identify with them, so that we can say, "If they did it, I can do it."
Guest (Male): Thank you for making Leading The Way audio part of your day. You know throughout the entire Bible we watch God use people that have a variety of backgrounds. People with a wide array of skill sets or lack of skill sets, and they do great and mighty things, impacting lives and directions of individuals and of nations and ultimately generations of believers. Today, Dr. Youssef begins a series of messages called "They Were Just Like Us." He'll help you get to know people mentioned in the Bible's Faith Hall of Fame. That's found in the pages of Hebrews. And also how they were and are just like you and me. So be encouraged as Dr. Youssef begins this episode of Leading The Way.
Dr. Michael Youssef: One of my favorite verses in the New Testament is James chapter 5, verses 17 and 18. James, the brother of Jesus, looks back into the Old Testament and he sees what had happened by such men. And then he says, verse 17, "Elijah was a man like us. He prayed fervently and for three and a half years there was no rain, and then he prayed again and the heavens gave the rain and the earth gave forth its fruit." He was just like us. He ran away from Jezebel. He was afraid. He was terrified. He was just like us. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the word of God, when those words were written, that he did not take these people into the laundromat and wash them with Clorox and then iron them and starch them and cover them up with cellophane and then placed them on a pedestal so that we can look at them and say, "Oh, I wish I could do that." I am thankful to the Holy Spirit of God that this was not the case. I am thankful and I believe there's a reason for that. There's a reason for that because he wants you and me to look at their failure, to look at their faults, to look at their fears, to look at their frailties and identify with them. And so that we can say if they survived, so can I. If they succeeded, so can I. If they did it, I can do it. The Holy Spirit of God wanted us to learn how these men and women, from the depth of their despair, from the depth of their weaknesses, from the depth of their struggles, they offered themselves to God in obedience and said, "We do whatever you asked us to do." God wants us to know that you can exercise their faith, that you can live by their faith, that you can accomplish things that you never thought possible, just like they did. Now, I don't have to tell you that the word faith is misused today. It's used for all kinds of things, of believing anybody and anything. And even the word faith-based is sort of used as an excuse for any belief and anybody and anything. It's used in order to not use the word Christian or Christianity. The words faith-based just become catch-all. And I believe the Holy Spirit knew that, and that is why the Holy Spirit, who knew that people are going to make a mess out of that magnificent, beautiful word, in Hebrews chapter 11, he makes sure that we understand what kind of faith he's talking about. He wanted to make sure that we understand God's definition of faith. He wanted to make sure that we understand the biblical definition of faith. Because faith in Hebrews chapter 11 is very different from this catch-all faith-based stuff. So, the Holy Spirit, before he even goes to give us the examples of these men and women, by faith, by faith, by faith, the first thing he does, which is the first thing I'm going to do today and the only thing I'm going to do today, he gives us a definition of what faith is all about. He made sure that we understand biblical faith. What is that nature of faith that these men practiced? What is the nature of faith that you and I are supposed to practice and exercise? Verse 1, "It is the assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things not seen." You see, the first time he said assurance of things hoped for, somebody might say, "Well, I hope so." You know how we use the word, "Well, I hope it works, I'm not sure but I hope you're right." No, that's not what he's talking about here. But just to emphasize it, just to make sure this hope is a certainty, is assurance, there's no doubt about it. He said, "It is the conviction of things not seen." Hear me right on this one. It is a fact, there's no human being born of a woman has seen God with their own physical eyes. It is a fact that there are very few people in the scripture, like Moses, who have heard the voice of God with their physical ear. There are no human beings on the face of the earth have been able to touch with their physical hand God the Father or God the Holy Spirit, only God the Son. So, what distinguishes between those who believe and put their faith in him and those who don't? Very simply, faith. You say faith is a gift of God. Absolutely, you're absolutely right. You see, faith, listen to me, it is not giving an assent to certain creeds and doctrine. Faith is not saying, "Well, I believe certain things about God," or "I believe that God exists." No, faith is the absolute confidence that the one who promised will keep his promise. Not may, but will. Faith is the absolute confidence that is willing to put everything on the line, including the most precious thing we have, and that is life itself. Faith is the absolute confidence that says, "No matter how dark it may look, no matter how bleak it may appear, no matter how long it may take, no matter how contrary to the visible reality it may seem, I have confidence in the one who promised because he is able to keep his promise." So, here's the important question now. Let me ask you this. Where does this confidence come from? Where does it come from? It comes from the person who promised. Let me illustrate this. Suppose there's a person known to me who doesn't have much of a financial ability. Not only that, that person is always in a financial mess. Not only that, that person is not known to be a man or woman of wisdom or prudence. Not only that, this person really never keeps his or her word. If that person picks up the phone and calls me and says, "Michael, I want you for this year to go out and buy all the airtime that you need to proclaim the gospel around the world." How am I going to react to that? I'm telling you exactly how I would react. I wouldn't move a muscle. I wouldn't move from my chair. I would never pick up the phone. I would do nothing. But suppose a person that is known to me to be a man or woman of financial means and this person is known to me to be a person who's trustworthy, a person who keeps their word, a person who had never go back on their promises, a person who is absolutely trustworthy. And if that person picks up the phone and he says the same thing to me, guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to get out on that phone working 24/7, buying all the airtime around the globe that I can get my hands on. I'll be ready to saturate the airway with the gospel of Jesus Christ. What's the difference? It is the person. It is the character of the person. What's the difference? It is the individual who made the promise. You see, there's got to be a trust in the person who makes the promise. Anybody can make any promise. That's the difference. It is my confidence in that person's word. Knowing before seeing a single dime, before seeing a red cent, I would move by faith because of the trustworthiness of that person. And that's what Hebrews 11:1 says. Faith is the confidence in God. Faith is the trusting in God. Faith is the assurance that he will deliver on all his promises. Faith is always able to praise God for the things that you have not seen with your own eyes. Faith is able to thank God for things before they take place. Faith gives you the confidence to act before it becomes a reality. Faith means that you go about and do things as if it already happened, though nobody else is able to see it. You see, many people profess they believe, but I want to ask some questions. How does your belief change your lifestyle? How does your belief impact your business dealings? How does your belief transform your relationships? How does your belief turn your home into a haven? How does your belief impact your coworkers, impact your fellow students, impact your neighbors? How does it work? Faith first and foremost is the ability to take hold of God's promises before they happen. Faith is the eye that sees what nobody else can see. It is the ear that can hear the unheard. Faith is the mind that can conceive the inconceivable. Faith is the heart that longs for the unexpected. Faith is like two people looking at the same object. One can see it all with clarity and the other one can't see a thing. You say, "What's the difference?" Oh, one has a mighty, powerful pair of binoculars and the other one doesn't. And that's what faith is all about. That's what the difference that faith makes in your life and my life. Let me tell you something. I stake my life on what I'm going to tell you. I stake my life on it. The reason why God's people do not give to the work of God sacrificially is because of fear. And fear is the antithesis of faith. Fear is the opposite of faith. And so what God's children have been doing is that they've been living in fear instead of faith. But the day is coming when you've got to get serious about faith. Verse 2, "For by faith the men of old gained approval." Not by work, but by faith. When I say they were just like us, I mean it and you will see it as we get going in this series of messages. They shared all of our weaknesses and even worse. They were like us in every way, but I want to tell you something else. While they were all like us, they knew one thing that most Christians in this 21st century refuse to accept, and that is they knew what honors God and what does not. That is what they did. They knew that, they understood that, they accepted that, and they practiced that. The difference between any two believers is not how many more sermons one can preach than the other, it is not how one can sing better than the other, it is not how many meetings a person can go to, it is not how many boards one can serve on, it is not how many activities one is involved in, Christian or otherwise. No, the difference is this. It is how much more one takes God at his word and the other one doesn't. How one says, "I see it because I believe it," and the other one says, "I will believe it when I see it." That's the difference. Beloved, listen to me. If there is a distinguishing mark between believers and unbelievers, it is not activities. It is not what they claim. If there is an overriding distinction, it would be daily living out by faith. I know we are sent out to a world that is so totally focused on the visible, I know that. I know that we are sent into a world that is totally focused on what is seen. I know that we are sent into a world that is so totally focused on the importance of only what could be accomplished in this life. We are sent into a world that is totally focused on pleasing self. We are sent into a world that is totally focused on one's comfort and one's convenience. But we must stand as men and women of faith, on biblical faith. Not the catch-all phrase of faith, of faith-based. Beloved, whether you know it or not, this is the kind of faith that people are desperately wanting to see lived out. They want to know what it looks like and how it's lived out. But here's the problem for all of us, including your pastor. We are not able to show them how because we are more impacted by their thinking than we are able to impact their thinking. We are more impacted by their lifestyle than we are able to impact their lifestyles. We are more impacted by their worldview than we are able to impact theirs. But beloved, if the essence, the substance, the heart and soul of faith is obedience, then obedience or lack of it is the only thing that will stand between pleasing God and pleasing self. Obedience is the only thing that will come between living an impactful life or not. Obedience is the only thing that will come between being able to make a difference in the world or not. You see, God said even in the Old Testament that obedience is better than sacrifice. Do you know why? Because a person can make a sacrifice without obedience. Oh, but you cannot be obedient without making a sacrifice. The reason these men and women made the list was because their obedience led them to sacrifice. If there is a book written right now, if that list is being made, there were other names throughout 2,000 years of Christian history. Men and women who were literally dipped in tar and lit out as candles for Rome for the sake of Christ. Men and women of faith who gave it all and sacrificed their lives by faith. Countless others could go on that list. As I conclude, I'm going to tell you this. I can never preach on faith without thinking of one of my great heroes. I thank God as a young Christian somebody introduced me to the biographies of great men and women of God and I would devour these books and I would read them. And one of my great heroes is George Müller, a man who had an orphanage in Bristol, England. And there all of his needs for those boys were supplied through faith alone. He never sent out an appeal letter, never asked anybody for money. He went to the Lord and the Lord answered his prayers. Time and time and time again, not once so there can be just incidental. One morning there was no food in the house. When I mean that, there is no food in the storage room, there is no food in the kitchen, and there is no food on the table. There was no food anywhere to be seen. But he gathered the boys as he always did every morning for breakfast and he began to pray. "Lord, thank you for this food that we're about to receive." Now, I hate to tell you about this but it is the truth. I remember when I read that many years ago, I said, "Man, if I was one of those boys, I would open one eye and look at the empty plate and I said, 'Now what food are you talking about?'" But do you know that he had not finished his prayer and a knock came on the door. A local baker comes in and says, "Mr. Müller, God woke me up at three o'clock this morning and he told me to bake an extra batch for your boys. Can you use some fresh bread?" He said, "Yes, we can." And so the bread just coming in, hot, fresh bread for those boys to eat. And they haven't even started biting into the bread and a knock came on the door. A milkman. And he said, "My cart broke down right in front of your orphanage and I've got to take it to get it fixed, but the milk is going to go sour. Can you use some milk?" He said, "Yeah, I think we can." And those boys had breakfast that morning because of faith, of confidence in the one who promised to keep his promise. Beloved, listen to me. The day is coming when only those who have learned to live by faith and walk by faith are going to make it. And so it is my plea with you today that you say, "Lord God, I want to walk by faith and not fear. By faith and not fear." How many of you think that God is honored by this type of faith? I think most of you. But I want to tell you something else, that God honors this kind of faith. It honors God, but it is a faith that God honors. Now, beloved, I know from my own personal life what it is like to trust the promise of God and to believe that it is here before it came. I know what it's like in the last 40 years to see the God of glory always, always keep his word. Always. So the question that I hope will haunt you and haunt me is, are we willing to be like them? They were just like us, but are we willing to be just like them? Father, in the name of Jesus, the mighty, powerful God, the one of whom the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1, that the very power of his resurrection is working in his children today. The very power of ascension is working in us today. Father, remind us afresh that it is faith that honors you and that you are the God who honors faith. In Jesus' name, amen.
Guest (Male): Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading The Way audio. And if you have faith questions or life questions, how about a conversation with a Leading The Way pastor or counselor? You can connect at LTW.org/Jesus. Did you know that the ministry of Dr. Michael Youssef and Leading The Way reaches far beyond this community, right into homes and lives across six continents all around the world?
Guest (Female): I was attracted to Christianity on my own for a long time. When it came to my Islamic faith, I felt that I was walking in the wrong direction. When I was in middle school, I had a friend who brought me a Bible. I lent it from her so I could keep reading it. Even though I didn't understand the whole gospel, I pressed on, reading it over and over again. This went on for years until I discovered the Kingdom Sat channel. They have a wonderful field team who kept calling me to check on my spiritual life. They introduced me to a church and I decided to leave Islam behind. Upon learning this, my husband took to the street. He shouted and said, "She has become a Christian, it is lawful to spill her blood. Whoever wants to kill her, let them do so." I went to the street and shouted, "Yes, I have become a Christian. Whoever wants to kill me, let them come. I am ready." I am now part of many Christian groups online. I visit the Kingdom Sat website daily and download songs and anything else they share. The Kingdom Sat helps many people on the ground who have no idea how to find Christ. Their support helps those people tremendously. Dr. Michael Youssef, I want to thank you so much for all the effort that you have made to help us. God bless you and may the Kingdom Sat become the best channel in the whole world.
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