Back to John 11. We're going to look at one aspect of the passage we were looking at this morning that sometimes people just ask questions about. So, back in John 11, verses 40 through 42, where Jesus says to Martha, said, I'm not under thee that if thou wouldst believe thou should see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said to the Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by, I said it that they may believe that Thou hast sent me." So there's two times in these two verses where At first, Jesus says, Martha, did I not tell you that if you would believe, then you would see my glory? Then later, Jesus says at the end of his prayer, Lord, I'm not praying this because I didn't think you heard me. I know you hear me, but I'm saying this so that they might believe that you have sent me. And sometimes people wonder, how do we tie all that together with this reality that, well, we talked about it this morning, the reality that belief comes from the Holy Spirit, that regeneration has to happen before belief can take place. that faith belief is the same same thing. It's it is a it is the gift of God. So why would Jesus be saying Martha did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God or father I'm praying this way so that they might believe that you have sent me. So I want to. I want to take a few minutes this afternoon and make a couple of distinctions, really three distinctions as it relates to faith. And I think a biblical understanding of faith, but some categories where we can understand how to apply these things. So I think in Scripture, faith and belief are the same thing. It's the same word. Greek word means the same thing. And so I think there are three categories. Number one, you have the gift of faith. Number two, you have the substance of faith. And then number three, you have the power and the comfort of faith. So you have three aspects of the same thing. And so I want to look at that this afternoon. Before we do that, though, let's let's pray. Brother Nathaniel, would you pray for us? Amen. Amen so. So again, there there are times where. You can take a passage like we just got finished reading, where Jesus tells Martha, I told you if you believe you'll see my glory, where Jesus prays and says my prayers that they will see, I'm sorry, that they might believe that you sent me. And on one hand, you could use that as a proof text for some sort of a works-based Arminian type thing from the standpoint of, see, if you'll just believe, if you'll just do it, Jesus is holding his arms out, as it were, and saying, if you'll just believe, then you can enter into this, that or the other. On the other side, there are some who have tried so hard to distance themselves from sounding anything like an Arminian, that they may as well have cut out the verses in scripture like this to where Jesus clearly says, have I not said to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God. I prayed these things that they might believe that thou hast sent me. And so it becomes almost an aversion to the whole idea of faith and belief and what to do with something like this. In both of these cases, whether you're talking about the Arminian side or the opposite ditch of that, in both of these cases, what's happened is people allow their theology, their systematic theology that they've already put together ahead of time, they allow their theology to take precedent over the actual text of Scripture. if that makes sense. So sometimes we can come, I say sometimes, really this happens always, we come with preconceived notions. So we already believe this and we already believe that and we already believe that and so therefore this must mean fill in the blank. And so I think being able to think through the different categories of faith can be helpful as we're thinking through this, because it is true Jesus did tell Martha that if she would believe that she would see the glory of God. The question, I guess, really is what did he mean whenever he said that? What was he actually saying? And then the same thing for the crowd. So let's think about different categories. Trying to think biblically, and maybe I should say biblically balanced, if that's the right word, biblically accurate, as it relates to faith. So number one, the gift of faith. The gift of faith. Faith is always a gift. We said it this morning as it relates to Jesus' power over spiritual death. You no more have the power in and of yourself to relate to God in faith than you do to raise your dead body whenever life is gone from you. Spiritually speaking, you are born into this world a lifeless corpse. You have no ability to function spiritually in and of yourself. So in Ephesians 2, we're thinking about the gift of faith and we get the language really from this passage. In Ephesians 2, verse 8, Paul says, "...For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship." And he goes on there. And what Paul is saying here is that obviously begins with, it is through grace that anybody's saved. So if you've come to know and to love the Lord Jesus Christ, if you trace it all the way back, that is due to the grace of God. It's not because you found yourself at a crossroads one day and you decided to do the right thing. It's because you've been given grace through faith, which is the gift of God. And so you may say, well, which one of those which one of those grace or faith, which one of those is the gift of God? Well, both of them are the gift of God. OK, but the passage, the way that Ephesians 2 is set up, it makes it clear that it is through faith that you receive the grace that you've been given in Christ Jesus. Sometimes people will overemphasize the fact that you are saved by grace. And so since you're saved by grace, faith is just not a necessity. It's not anything that, you know, you may have it, you may not have it. That's not really indicative of anything because we're saved by grace. The way Ephesians talks about it is, yes, we are saved by grace, which is a gift. and you're able to access that grace through the gift of faith that's been given to you. And then he goes on to say, it is not of works, lest any man should boast. So again, sometimes people think about faith as a work. Of course, Armenians think it is a work. They think it's something that you exercise in and of yourself, and that as soon as you do that, then all of a sudden you have access to the Lord and your name's written in the book of life and all those kinds of things. On the other side, people who are very sensitive about not wanting to sound Armenian about faith, will actually speak of faith as if it is a work, as if it's something that is required or if it's something that somehow is in competition with the grace of God. And the Bible just doesn't talk about it that way. The reality is if you've been given faith, then that is the sovereign gift of God that you've received because of the work of Christ on your behalf. And so in one sense, whenever Christ in John calls people to belief, well, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, but I'll just go ahead and say it in case I don't say it this way later on. Really, what he's doing is he's calling people to exercise the gift that he's already given him. There's no works to be had as far as muster this up and you can enter into something. Do this in your own strength. Faith is always, in Scripture, whenever it's referred to as it relates to its nature, it's always contrasted with works. So, for instance, in Romans 4, it says in verse 4, Caleb's been here recently. It says, "...Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." You see, there's a contrast there. Paul's saying, If your righteousness comes by works, then really what you've received from God is just him paying up on his debts. You've done something and he owes you something in return. But he doesn't talk about faith that way. So God's economy is not. If you will believe, then you will be favored, or if you will believe, then you will receive something from my hand. He says. works is this way, but to him that believes it is his faith that's counted for righteousness. Romans 11 would hit the same kind of contrast. Romans 11. Verse six. Where he says, and if by grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more of grace. Otherwise, work is no more work." So we're comparing grace there, but faith is a gift of God. It's given to us so that we can receive that grace. We receive that faith by grace. So works and faith are really contrasted with each other. Faith is never seen in Scripture as the work of man. As a matter of fact, John is very clear, I say John is, Jesus is very clear, and John records it for us in John 6, verse 29, where it says, Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God that you believe on Him, whom He hath sent." Okay, so this is the gift of faith. The gift of faith that is given by the Father. It's not anything that we work for. It's not anything that we have anything to do with. Our faith in and of ourselves doesn't originate with us. It originates outside of us. When Jesus is talking to Peter in Matthew 16, you'll be familiar with this. In Matthew 15-17, whenever He says, who do you say that I am? And Peter says, you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus says, blessed are you, Simon Barjonas, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven So what he says there is, Peter, the only reason that you've been enlightened, that your perceptions have been open, that you have any spiritual discernment at all, is because you've been given the gift of faith. And you've been given the gift of faith by God. So faith or belief, It is a gift. And it is the gift that is given. So that we might receive, or maybe I should say it is the Avenue by which we receive the grace of God. I think it was last week whenever we were talking about. The glory of God is only seen through the eye of faith. This is part of what he's saying whenever he's talking to Martha, and he says, did I not tell you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? If you've seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the only way you've ever seen that is through the eye of faith. That is the gift of faith that's been given to you by God. Now, that's the gift. But secondly, we have the substance of faith. the substance of faith. So faith is just your ability to believe, to rest in something, to to grasp something or to embrace something. It's really something that. You. As we're thinking about faith biblically, it's something that you really rearrange your life around. It's a lens in which you interpret reality. But when you've been given that gift by God, then your faith will have to be informed. And as your faith grows, it grows through substance. So, for example, in John 20, as it relates to what John has written in his Gospel. In verse 30 it says, And many other signs truly did Jesus, in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book, Jesus did a lot of other things, John says, that I could not fit into these. He didn't have them written in chapters, but for us in these 21 chapters, but verse 31, these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name." He says, these signs were written, we recorded these so that as you saw these, as you read these, they were written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. The signs that Jesus did, raising Lazarus from the dead, turning the water into wine, walking on water, the other signs that Jesus does, feeding the multitude, so forth and so on, all of those signs were meant to authenticate His claim about who He was and what He came to do. Now remember Romans 1, He declared to be the Son of God with power through the resurrection from the dead." So the sign was meant to back up the declaration or the statement. And so these things were given that you might believe. Might believe what? That Jesus is the Son of God. Why in the world would you ever believe that? How would you ever come to the conclusion that those signs were meant to point you toward the fact that Jesus Christ was the Son of God? The answer to that It's because he said he was. OK. And what I mean by that is when we find these signs, just like we looked at in John 11, Lord, I'm praying and I'm thankful that you hear me and I'm not saying that for me, I'm saying that for them so that they might believe that you sent me. And then, you know, 30 seconds later, Lazarus come forth and this dead man comes up in grave clothes. And the only conclusion is he must be who he says he is, because I don't know anyone else who could do this. That's the substance of their faith. He is from God. His claims are authenticated by what he does. You know, The 21 chapters that we have divided up, the 21 chapters that make up the Gospel of John, it's interesting to note that Jesus makes reference to the fact that He was sent by the Father over 30 times. What do you suppose is part of the substance of your faith? ought to be. What do you think he's after here? Well, he wants you to believe that he was sent from the Father. Again, this is the substance. If you've been given the gift of faith, that is, if you've been given eyes to see and ears to hear, then you still need to make sense out of the information. You still need to make sense out of what is it that I'm embracing about Jesus or about God. And one of the things that you're embracing Jesus, who was with the Father from all eternity, took on flesh and came and dwelt on earth. And He was sent by the Father to declare Him once and for all. So this is the substance, part of the substance of your faith. He's from the Father. John 3.17 tells us that God sent His Son not to condemn, but to save. There's another piece of substance that we ought to have as we're thinking through building our faith or growing our faith. Not only was Jesus Christ sent by the Father, He was sent by the Father to save. John 3.34, God sent His Son to speak. He speaks the words of the Father. You want to know what the Father thinks? Listen to Jesus. You want to know what the Father would say? Well, listen to Jesus, because whatever He says is directly in line with what the Father says. How would you know that? Well, you wouldn't, except He tells us. Again, we're thinking about substance. John 4.34 God sent His Son to finish His work. To finish His work. That is, to finish the work of salvation. Finish the work of redemption. To complete the work that God had started in eternity past. And He did finish that work. And so how would we know that? Well, Scripture says it. we have the gift of faith that must be given before you can start to grow the substance of your faith. You've got to know where to put things and you've got to know what to embrace and what not to embrace. And brothers and sisters, one of the things that can be really unfortunate is that if we're not careful, the substance of our faith, that is what we are functionally believing, can be built on Nothing. I mean, sometimes we just embrace and believe lies as if they were reality. Or maybe we embrace and believe lies because they were popular sayings at some point and they've been passed down and maybe homespun wisdom or whatever it is. But as it relates to the substance of your faith, the substance of your faith is to be built on the Word of God, the Word of Christ, and that alone. Whatever you're believing about Jesus, whether that's what He thinks, what He has done, what He will do, needs to have a chapter and a verse. And the people that Jesus was interacting with in the Gospel of John, I mean, if we just use, for example, Martha, I mean, she didn't need a chapter and verse. She was living it. I mean, she had the Son of God. She had the Logos right there in front of her. She heard the very words from His mouth. And so we have the gift of faith that's given to us so that we can embrace these realities. The substance of our faith. These are the things that are said if embraced. These are the things that overcome the world. These are the things that guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. But then we also have the power and the comfort of faith. The power and the comfort of faith. Faith is, again, that which overcomes the world and so forth and so on. And sometimes we can be lacking in this area, the power and the comfort of faith. And here's the reality. While you cannot create the gift of faith. God must do that and God must give that. You do have to exercise faith. It is something that you have to exercise. The substance of faith is coming from outside you. It's something that you receive from the Word of God, but it still must be embraced. And so oftentimes, we are short on the power and the comfort of faith, because again, the gift of faith must be exercised, the substance of faith must be embraced before the power and the comfort of faith can be experienced. You see, God wants you to rest in His Son, Jesus Christ, through believing what He has said and trusting in what He will do. And the comfort that you receive is not primarily meant to be some sort of a mystical fuzzy feeling that you get in your stomach in the midst of turmoil. It is meant to be a rational comfort that is applied to your heart as you embrace concrete substance from Scripture about the person and work of Jesus Christ, and as the Spirit of God applies that to your heart, then the peace of God that passes understanding is experienced in your heart. But the point that I'm making is, this is not some sort of a thing where you receive the power and the comfort of faith through ignorance. That's not the way that works. Your faith must have a substance, and if it does have no substance, there will never be any power, there will never be any comfort. So think about this in John 20. John 20. Now, in John 20, this is where, in verse 26, Jesus comes and walks through the walls and stood in the midst of the disciples and said, Peace be with you. No, I'm sorry, let me back up. They brought the news that Jesus Christ had been resurrected. from the dead. And as they're talking about that, Thomas says, unless I can put my hands in the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. I'm not going to believe it. And you say, well, did Thomas have a reason to believe it? Well, yeah. Had Jesus ever mentioned that He was going to raise Himself from the dead? Did Jesus ever mention His resurrection? That had been mentioned and Thomas had heard it lots and lots of times. But then whenever Jesus addresses Thomas, He says this, Then said He to Thomas, verse 27, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but be believing." Be not faithless, but be believing. You see, here's the reality. Just like Thomas, You can be given the gift of faith, and you can even come into contact with the substance of faith, and through various avenues, you can still functionally live a faithless life. From the standpoint of, I just refuse to embrace it. I just refuse to exercise it. I refuse to believe what Jesus has said. Back in the Old Testament, God would call this a stiff-necked people. a refusal to believe. Here as he talks to Thomas, he says, Thomas, do not be faithless. So one of the questions is, as we think about John 20, 27, how often do we live outside of the power and comfort of faith because we refuse to exercise the gift and embrace the realities of what Christ has done, what Christ is doing, and what Christ will do in our lives. And the answer is, fairly often. Fairly often. There is comfort and power to be had for the believer, but it can only be had by faith. Just as Jesus said to Martha, did I not tell you that if you believe, you shall see the glory of God I think we could say the same thing to us. I mean, is God displaying His glory now through His providence? Through the working of His invisible hand in your life? Well, sure He is. Does God still bring comfort and strength and power through believing what He said and resting in? What he said, well sure he does. But so often we find ourselves just like Thomas, we may have the gift of faith, we may even have some of the substance of faith, but we have no peace and we have no comfort and we have no power because we stubbornly refuse the truth and won't let go of a lie. Some of that is really cultivated in our heart I'll give three reasons why some of this happens. Number one, or at least what it can look like. Number one, it can just look like cynicism. Cynicism. Just dismissive of almost anything positive or good. A refusal to really hope in anything. To rejoice in anything. a questioning, a negativity about, again, anything and everything. Sometimes people can be self-deceived and think that their cynicism is a result of their discernment, and that's not true. Cynicism primarily is the result of perpetually embracing a lie. And the lie is, God is not doing anything good in my life. God will not hear my prayer. And I can expect that really nothing is going to be good until the day that I die, and then thankfully, after I trudge through all the misery of knowing Christ while I'm here on earth, I'll get to rejoice when I'm in heaven. Well, that's just not the picture the New Testament paints, is it? I mean, the peace of God that passes understanding is not for then, it's for now. The blessings that we've received as far as the foretaste of our inheritance that we've received in Christ, that's not for then, that's for now. Now, there's no doubt it's going to be better. But, well, you just think about the command in 1 Thessalonians 5. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. This is not a cynicism. Well, cynicism is really what we see with Thomas in John 20, 24 through 25. This is right before Jesus shows up. where Thomas, one of the twelve called Didymus, just another name, was not with them when Jesus came. And the other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I see in his hands and the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. You see, Thomas could have. It's not that he couldn't have. He had walked with the Lord and he was given life by the Lord. He was used of the Lord even after this. But he had no power or comfort because he was cynical. Cynical that Christ would actually do what He said He would do. Hebrews 3.13 tells us that we ought to be trying to stir one another up daily, lest we become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." So Hebrews 3.13, "...exhort one another daily while it is cold today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Here it talks about a hardening that's the result of perpetually embracing a lie. Perpetually embracing a lie. And this hardness is something that takes place over time, and it is progressive. And so, as we're interacting with one another, we're called to stir one another up, exhort one another, lest we be hardened through what? Through lies, deceitfulness of sin. One of the reasons why we don't experience the power and the comfort of faith is because we're too busy being hardened by the embracing of lies that are contrary to Scripture. And then the last one I'll mention out of Matthew 6. Matthew 6. Reasons why we do not experience the power and the comfort of faith In Matthew 6, verse 30, after Jesus here is given some word pictures about the fowl of the air and the lilies of the field and how God cares for them, in verse 30, He says, If God so clothed the grass of the field which is today and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought." The little phrase there, take no thought, it just means, therefore, don't be anxious. Saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought..." Again, it just means don't be anxious. "...for the morrow. For the morrow shall be anxious for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." The phrase again, take no thought or anxiety, can be thought about in a lot of different ways. But there's a couple of realities about anxiety that ought to be understood. Number one, anxiety is always due to what you're thinking about might happen. It's almost never about what's actually happening. So it's in the future, it's not present. And so I think it's helpful to think about it this way. It's not original with me. So in order for us to be anxious, we're setting ourselves up as prophesying about something, foretelling an event before it actually occurs. We're prophesying without hope. That is, we're looking into the future, trying to predict what might happen, and completely ignoring the faithfulness of God, the love of God, the mercies of God, the intervention of God's hand, and we could just keep going and going and going and going. And so, just like cynicism, just like embracing a line, as we find ourselves prophesying without hope, then we do live in a state where we are refusing the comfort and the power of faith." That is, exercising the gift and embracing the substance as if it were reality. And so the power and the comfort of faith really is given to guard our hearts. According to 1 Peter 1, verse 5, we are kept by the power of God through faith. That is, we are guarded, protected, And then 1 John 5, 4, this is that which overcomes the world, even our faith. And so when the gift of faith is exercised, when the substance of faith is embraced, brothers and sisters, as I say that, even with all that being said, particularly in light of this last point, you know as well as I do, we need the Lord's help as we seek to do that. But when those things are embraced, then you experience the power and the comfort of faith. So when Jesus says, Martha, I told you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God. Did you know that there were Jews? And we're going to look at this next time. But there were Jews standing around who saw Lazarus raised from the dead and they still didn't see the glory of God. They went off and told the Pharisees, look what Jesus did this time. And they were ready to kill him. Then there were some who stood there at the grave. They saw Lazarus come out from the grave, and it says many of them believed. They were given the gift. They were given the substance, and it was embraced. So brothers and sisters, as we think about faith, it's certainly not a work that originates with us. It is a gift that's given that must be exercised. There's also a substance that must be embraced. And when those two things are happening, then the natural thing that follows is we live in the power and the comfort of faith. as we rest in the person and work of Jesus Christ. You see, faith is never about me. Faith is never about you. And faith, from start to finish, is always about Jesus Christ, what He's done for you, what He's doing in you right now, and what He will do when He brings redemption to completion and the second coming. And so, as we think about those passages in John that have to do with belief, I think it's helpful if we think about them categorically the way we have this afternoon. Let's pray. Father, we again are thankful that You have given us a word. You have sent Your Son from Your bosom and He has declared You to us. And so, Father, I pray You would bless us to embrace what He has said. And then I pray that You would bless us give all diligence to exercise the faith, the gift of faith that You've given us that we might enjoy, that we might benefit from the power and the comfort of faith that comes by clinging to You and to You alone. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.