Will Your Faith Last?

WILL YOUR FAITH LAST?

 

I read a story about a preacher who was recalling his youth. He talked about how one Sunday worship service stood out in his mind because that Sunday the elders were naming off several people from whom they were withdrawing fellowship. He said it wasn’t the disfellowshipping that made this memorable; it was what his friend whispered into his ear. He said, "One day they will be reading my name up there.” He could not believe his friend had said this, and it started making him wonder how many people that he was worshipping with would lose their faith over the next 10 years.

 

You and I have no way of predicting the future, but we all know based on history that in the next 10 years, possibly, there will be some in this room whose faith will not last. We cannot know who that will be or how many, but we know that it will possibly happen.

 

It is depressing to think about all those who have left their first love and have returned back the world. It also sad to think about future Christians that are going to follow this same pattern, but we can make sure we are not going to be one of those Christians that loses their faith and walks away from God. I am going to offer you a few suggestions on how to make sure that your faith will last.

 

First, we need to realize that our actions today will determine tomorrow’s destiny. A great example of this comes from what Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27: "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.  And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”

 

We can understand this simple principle. If you build a house on the foundation of love, trust, faith, and obedience to God, it will last and stand up to all kinds of storms, but if you build a house on a weak foundation, without God, it will not take long until that house will be destroyed.

 

You need to understand every day of your life becomes a building block for your foundation. Every decision and mistake we make will affect our faith. So, we must view every day of our life as being important to our faith lasting until the day we die. All of us are going to have bad days or even a bad week, so all of us are going to have weak spots in our foundation, but if we continue to make every day count, and we surround those weak spots in our foundation with strong faith in God, our faith will last.

 

So, when you see that you are messing up one day and entering into sin, don’t allow it do drag you down further. Be honest with yourself, and admit your mistake and learn from it and promise yourself you will not do it again. Each of us have our weaknesses when it comes to sin, and we know what they are better than anyone else. We may struggle with that sin from time to time and it should make us sick to our stomach when find ourselves repeating that sin again, but we cannot allow it to defeat us.

 

Every day that you can keep sin out of your life, is another building block that will increase the strength of your foundation of faith.

 

The second thing that will help your faith last is for you to realize that you cannot be a second-rate Christian and hope that you will be able to remain faithful to God. Far too many Christians want to be Christians by doing the least that they can. Let me give you a Biblical example of this:  John 6:51-64: " I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.  This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.  These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.  Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?   When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?  What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?   It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.”

 

Many people were following Jesus around because of the miracles that He did and because He provided food for them, but as soon as Jesus started teaching things that were too hard from them to understand, they left because they were second-rate disciples. They were not committed to severing God, because their main motivation was the food and the miracles.

 

Unfortunately, there are Christians today that are no different from these disciples who turned from Jesus and followed Him no more. If you are not committed to serving God, then when something comes up in Scripture that you do not agree with, even though it is written inblack and white, you will leave the church because it is no longer convenient for you to be a Christian.

It takes dedication, and humility to submit ourselves to God, and to allow His Word to be our guide even when we find it to be difficult to follow.

 

2 Corinthians 13:5  "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”  (disqualified)

 

Paul tells us that we must test ourselves to see if we have right attitude and to see if our faith is in check. If we do not love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, then we are a second-rate Christian, whose faith will not last. There are several signs that you need to look for in your life to see how committed you are to God.

 

For example, how often do you attend the worship service and Bible class? Sometimes Christians make light of being here when the doors are open. They seem to think that their faith will endure if they attend once a month or come on most Sunday mornings. Some think that Bible class in not important. If you think this way, then you just might be a second-rate Christian whose faith will not last.

 

If you love God and are dedicated to serving Him, you will take advantage of every opportunity you have to learn more about Him, and to be around your brothers and sisters and Christ. You will never view Bible class or worship as an obligation, but as joyful event because you know that you are part of the body of Christ that Jesus bought and paid for with His blood.

 

Another area you need to look at is how much time to do spend studying God’s Word? I realize that we live in a fast paced society, and many times we have very little time to ourselves, but studying God’s Word should be a high priority on our list because it contains the Words of life.

 

If we fail to make God’s Word part of our life, then how can we ever hope to make our faith last? After all, Paul said in Romans 10:17: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

 

Studying God’s Word is the source of our faith. Without it, we would be lost. Every day that you choose not study God’s Word can weaken your foundation. Let me give you another illustration. Let say that you are in boat, which represents your Christianity and lets say that you are next to a dock, which represents God. Lets say you have some oars, which represent God’s Word. If you want to stay close to the dock, you have to use your oars to keep your boat from drifting away. Using my metaphors, if you want to stay close to God, then you must use God’s Word. The less you use it, the more you will drift away from God.

 

If you find yourself only studying God’s Word when you come to church, then you are not as close to God as you need to be because you must make God’s Word part of your life on a daily basis so that you can continue to grow stronger in your faith.

 

Every church member (YOU and ME) needs to realize that what we do today will determine our destiny for tomorrow. Let’s remember our actions today determine where we spend eternity.  Let’s love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Let’s study God’s Word daily and not turn into a second-rate Christian.  Let’s make sure that our house (yours and mine) is built on Christ the solid rock so that we will remain faithful to God all the days of our lives to receive the crown of life.  Revelation 2:10
 
Jimmy
2/14/10  AM