In our on-going study of the principles of faith I would like to expand a point made in this morning’s message. Believe me, I am not mad at anyone, even though I might get a little heated about this. This is just one of the basic principles about faith, and therefore I must teach it.
Whatever else played a part in Thomas’ shameful refusal to believe in Jesus’ resurrection, one significant ingredient was his absenteeism, his non-attendance, his truancy from the house of God. He was AWOL – “absent without leave.” He said, “Except I shall see in his hands 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.” Clearly, the reason he made that statement because he missed seeing the Lord Jesus on the day after Christ’s resurrection. If Thomas had been with the other weak and despondent believers when Jesus first appeared, he would have immediately become as strong in the faith as they had become – there would not have been that delay in his spiritual growth.
It is safe to say that to miss a single church service is a foolish and even perhaps a dangerous thing to do. The Lord always has things to accomplish in every gathering of His people. Therefore, “let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works (and faith); Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” None of us can say that the Lord will not meet with us during our next church service, opening to us the windows of heaven, and pouring out such blessings that there shall not be room enough to receive them. I cannot be sure that Christ Jesus will not physically return during our special service this coming Thursday night, and that is one reason why I plan to be here, even though I will not be preaching. I would be mortified to be caught committing some sin at the moment of the Lord’s return, and I believe that not taking the opportunity to worship with my Christian brethren is a sin. Since this coming Friday, or next Sunday, may be the day of the Lord’s coming for me, you can count on me being here in God’s House, unless He forcibly prevents me. Thomas was the clear loser for not being in church on that first Sunday after the resurrection. It was only by God’s grace that Christ condescended to meet that man a week later. He didn’t have to do it. I, for one, intend never to be like Thomas on his first Sunday after the resurrection.
Thomas admitted that he had no trust in what the others said about Jesus’ resurrection. His faith was shot. Despite his love for the Saviour, with a broken heart he could no longer believe what Jesus had told him. I would have to guess that even though Thomas had earlier heard Jesus foretell His resurrection, he hadn’t considered it – he hadn’t really “heard” it. He never trusted its truth. A part of true faith is an anticipation of the thing for which we trust the Lord. Thomas had no anticipation of Jesus’ resurrection. He didn’t believe it was going to happen. And because he didn’t believe it would happen, he didn’t believe when he was told that it had happened. His ear heard Jesus say: “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and the priests and scribes, and be slain and be raised the third day,” but apparently his heart didn’t listen. He was there when Jesus said in Luke 18, “Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he hall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on; And they shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again.” Thomas heard the Lord Jesus say, “For as Jonas (Jonah) was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,” but his heart was deaf to the message.
This brings us to my theme: “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” This is one of the basic principles of faith: only God can enable us to hear His words. And when it comes to the source of faith, it is always to be found in God’s own words. There is nothing that I can do or say to make your faith in God to grow. There are no number of examples and illustrations from history which will create faith in you. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
To study this subject, I’d like to take two scriptures, but I’ll back away from their primary purpose.
Please turn to John 8:42 where we have one of Christ’s discussions with His enemies.
“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”
Clearly, Christ was talking to a group of unbelievers, describing the reasons for their rejection of Him. They were not people of God, or they would have accepted and loved Him – verse 42. They couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying to them, because they were incapable of hearing Him. They had no ears to hear, because they were dead in trespasses and sins – verse 43. This was declared and prophesied several times in the Old Testament. They were still children of their deceitful, Satanic father – verse 44. And as such they couldn’t recognize the truth when it was staring them in the face – verse 45. Even though not one person could honestly testify that Jesus was a liar, they still refused to believe him. God’s people hear the Son of God, but Satan’s people don’t – verse 47.
Even though Christ was speaking about a group of lost men, there are some principles here which extend beyond those spiritually dead souls. They refused to believe the words of Christ, because they could not hear what He was saying. And why didn’t Thomas believe Jesus had been resurrected? Because he refused to hear what He said. For whatever reason, he chose to behave like a lost man; he chose not to engage his heart with the Bible lessons that Jesus had earlier shared with him. Like everyone else, Thomas had grown up as a child of the devil, and so he was infused with lies and deception. And when the truth was presented one more time, because he was temporarily away from the Lord and residing in the flesh rather than in the Spirit, he believed the lies and refused the truth. Was he ready to declare that Christ was a sinner and not to be trusted? Of course not. Nevertheless that is effectively what he was doing. The Christian who is close to the Lord in love, in worship and in service will hear what the Saviour has to say. “He that is of God heareth God’s words” – verse 47. But Thomas was not in that position that first Sunday after the resurrection.
Now in application, what are some of the things that God has said to you and me? How about Luke 11:9 – “I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” – John 15:7. When you pray do you REALLY expect God to give to you those things which you ask of Him? When your heart is filled with a desire for the Lord’s glory and in faith you ask Him for things, surrendering to His will, do you expect to receive those things? Or is it only a matter of hoping? If you don’t anticipate their reception, have you really prayed in FAITH? You may have prayed, but was faith really involved? Do you really believe what the Lord said in those two verses? You have heard me read them and you may have memorized them, but have you really “heard” them? Thomas heard many things with his ears, but not necessarily with his heart.
He heard the Lord say, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” – Matthew 6:33. What things, Lord? Jesus specifically refers to ordinary things like food, drink and clothing. But what if we ask Him for more spiritual things like Pentecostal power, the salvation of souls, and open doors for evangelism and church planting? Will He give us these things? If we say, “probably not,” then we have not prayed in faith. Even if we say, “He probably will give them to us,” have we really prayed in faith? Does the word “probably” ever belong in a sentence along with the word “faith?” Jesus says “all these things shall be added unto you.” Do you really believe that? Are you listening? “There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” – I Corinthians 10:13. Can you hear what the scripture is telling you? You can live victoriously over your weaknesses. Don’t be like Thomas and doubt what the Saviour says. Are you a worry-wort? “Great peace have they which love (God’s) law, and NOTHING shall offend them” – Psalm 119:165. God will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Him; because we trust Him. Do we really trust our omnipotent and loving heavenly Father? We could look at every promise God has given to the Christian, and ask the same sort of questions. Over and over again, we have not because we ask not, and we ask not because we lack the faith to ask properly. Are we truly hearing what God is telling us?
Thomas’ problem was that he permitted his mind to wander, and therefore his trust in the Lord failed him.
Consider another scripture which points to this principle – Romans 10:9-17.
Once again, this scripture is talking about unbelieving Israel and what it would take for them to be saved. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
It is necessary for the salvation of the lost Jew to believe that Jesus is the Lord, and that He died on the cross. It is also necessary to believe that the Father raised him from the dead – verse 9. It is by faith that the heart is brought unto righteousness; not through any human effort or logic. And that sinner who puts his trust in Christ will never be ashamed because the Lord has failed to save him – verse 11. The Lord will never fail. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL be saved” – verse 13. It doesn’t say that he might be saved. It’s guaranteed. The believer shall be saved. But how will anyone believe on Christ or call on his name if they haven’t heard the message? – verse 14. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
What was Thomas’ problem before Christ personally confronted him? Verse 17 tells us exactly what it was. His lack of faith came out of not listening to the voice of God. Earlier, he didn’t hear the voice of God the Son, but after that it was God’s voice through His ministers. Thomas had no ears to hear, and as a result he was the unbelieving loser.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” What is the context of “hearing” in this verse? In the preceding verse there is a reference to “obeying the gospel.” And the verse before that speaks of “them that preach the gospel of peace.” “And how shall they hear without a preacher?” I won’t for a moment demean your daily reading of God’s Word, your memorization of God’s Word and the remembering and quoting of God’s Word throughout the day. But here and in other scriptures like I Corinthians 1, Paul teaches that faith in Christ comes by way of the preaching of God’s Word. But someone might say, “But that was only in regard to saving faith.” Are you sure about that?
Can’t I extrapolate that into a general principle? May I not say that faith only flows out of the voice of God? Faith to believe the gospel is without a doubt a gift from God, because that unsaved soul is spiritually dead. But now that he has been born again, isn’t faith something he can muster and which he must master? Didn’t the Lord plant a little seed of faith in us at the time of our salvation, and now that we are Christians all we must do is water that little seedling and weed the garden around it? Absolutely not. Faith is still the gift of God. I believe that faith to trust the Lord for salvation is a gift from God. And the faith necessary to truth God for our daily necessities still comes through His grace. In both cases – salvation and daily sustenance, the tool which the Lord uses is His Word or His voice. I think this is illustrated in Thomas’ truancy. His negligence was a contributing factor in his unbelief.
But I need to express a word of caution at this point. The word “word” in verse 17 shouldn’t be confined to the sixty-six books of our Bible. This is not the word “logos” as in John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God,” speaking of the Lord Jesus. And this isn’t “graphe” the written word. This word is “rhema.” It is speaking of the “voice” of God.
What I am trying to say is that there is no magic formula for faith hidden among the words printed on the pages of your Bible. Just as there was no automatic faith in Jesus’ resurrection through what Thomas heard Jesus say, there is no automatic faith by casually perusing the written Word, or even in hearing the Word preached. What we need for faith is what God speaks to our hearts out from His written word. Or to put it another way, in order to strengthen our faith, we need constant fellowship with the Lord who is speaking. Yes, we need to hear the exposition of His written word, but we need to hear it with our hearts not our ears. This again, takes us back to Thomas’ absence from God’s worship service. He was out of fellowship – he was living in spiritual truancy – and that was proven by his physical truancy.
From whence does faith come? You and I will have no more faith than the degree and strength of our fellowship with the Lord. If like me, you want to grow in your faith, and through your faith to see God’s miraculous blessings, then we need to move beyond an educational knowledge of God’s Word. We need to hear the very voice of the Lord, deep down in our hearts; not up in our heads. Our faith will grow as we spend more and more time in fellowship with Christ, with our affections set on things above and our hearts filled with thanksgiving for His constant blessings. We need to be in the house of God; we need the fellowship and example of the saints. But these things should be little more than incentives to a greater fellowship with the Lord Himself.
It was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians that they might “be strengthened with might by (God’s) Spirit in the inner man,” and that they “might be filled with all the fulness of God.” “Strengthened in the inner man” refers to growth in faith, among other things. It mustn’t be confined to knowledge of the Bible, but to Christ Himself and to trust in Him. And “filled with all the fulness of God,” speaks of the joy, peace, and power of God, among other things.
From where do these things come? Paul, several verses earlier (Ephesians 3:8) refers to his ministry of sharing the “unsearchable riches of Christ” with those saints. From whence cometh this faith? “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”