“The Power of Faith”

Scripture: Hebrews 11:29-40

Over and over, Jesus told us that faith is all important if we truly want to walk with him. Not just faith that something might happen, but that it will happen, and not that we will have the power, but because he does. I think a lot of folks miss this point – that faith is, first and foremost, based in Christ Jesus.
And in Christ, we are told that all things are possible! (Philippians 4:13) There were many times that Jesus healed simply because people had great faith and it was for Jews and Gentiles alike! And on the flip side, when faith was lacking, he was unable to do much of anything. Unable to heal, unable to restore, unable to cleanse, unable to reach.
And all because of weak or absent faith.

The author Zeb Long writes:
Here, too, is the reason for the terrible dryness of many Western churches. We have our theologies in order. Our rituals flow smoothly. Many of us are sincerely trying to do what pleases God. The reality, presence and power of God are unheard of, and we are grateful for that. We have the form of religion, but lack the power thereof. This is just as we prefer it.
--Zeb Bradford Long and Douglas McMurry, “The Collapse of the Brass Heaven”, (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Chosen Books, 1994), 58.

Are you kidding? Are people really that calloused? That shallow? That narrow minded? Do some actually prefer to have liturgy and worship that is hollow and vacant of all power? Unfortunately, the answer is “Yes”! The power of the Holy Spirit is a frightening thing, and for many, they prefer to rely on their own inadequate abilities and solutions instead of the infinite and glorious power that can come from faith in Jesus Christ.

Read Hebrews 11:29-31

What can the power of faith do? The story of the crossing through the Red Sea is a prime example. I have heard some say that this event can easily be explained as a natural phenomenon. They say that winds that blow though the area are known to move the water around to the extent that shallow areas can be created and you can easily walk across the sea. But they are unable to explain the other aspects of the miracle.
In Exodus 14, we read first that the water was piled up like great walls on both sides of the passage that was created. Wind would have pushed the water in only one direction.
Next, we see that the people of Israel crossed over on dry land. Not shallow water, not firm mud, not even damp ground, but dry ground. Wind would never have dried the sea bed so quickly all on its own.
Third, as the Egyptian army pursued Israel into the sea bed, they lost the use of the wheels on their chariots, they were thrown into confusion, and never could catch up to the fleeing people, who were, by the way, on foot!.
And at just the right time, Moses was told to raise his staff once again, and the waters cascaded back down, drowning the entire Egyptian army, including the horses.
How could this possibly be attributed to nature? This is, without question, the working of the power of faith. But whose faith was it? We read throughout Exodus that the people had little faith – they were constantly nagging Moses to take them back to Egypt, and away from the trials that they were facing. But men like Moses, and Joshua, and Caleb, and most likely a few unnamed individuals, had complete faith in their Almighty God, and in faith, they never allowed the others to turn them back to the oppression and humiliation and slavery that had been theirs for so many years. It was the faith of a few that brought about salvation for the faithless many.

And stories of this power continue throughout scripture – Jericho and Rahab, the early Judges, Job, Esther, Ruth, the prophets, and on and on through the centuries, this power has been at work in the lives of ordinary people.
How can anyone who has read, or even heard, these stories of faith have any doubt as to the power that comes to those who believe?

Read Hebrews 11:32-35a

Stories of victory in battle, perfect justice, salvation in perilous situations, the power of Spirit over the hunger of hatred – even the power of life over the destructiveness of death. In faith, nothing in this world can stand up against the power of God. Nothing!

The list that the writer offers contains one miracle heaped upon the next.
- Nations were beaten back many times during the 40 year trek through the wilderness – every time that Moses, in faith, lifted his staff to the heavens, the power went to work. Jephthah, Deborah, and the other judges lead Israel, not by their own strength and wisdom, but by the perfect power of God. When the elite of Israel were lead into exile, the Spirit of God went with them, and when
those 3 young men were thrown into the fiery furnace, and Daniel spent the night with the pride of hungry lions, and
when the Lord raised Esther up to be Queen of the Medo-Persian empire, for the sole purpose of saving her people from the despicable Haman, who could possibly doubt that God’s hand was in it all?

And the writer of Hebrews had no way of knowing what the people of faith would be subjected to for the next 2 millennia, and even though they would have to go through the worse trials imaginable, the power of faith continued to work.

Read Hebrews 11:35b-40

Torture, fear, separation, divisiveness, and any number of other attacks designed to destroy the faith that sustains God’s people. And through it all, faith has survived; power has continued to strengthen the faithful; and through all, Jesus has been glorified.
Our Hebrews passage lists a number of terrors that we have never experienced and I hope we never do – torture, flogging, ridicule, chained in prison, stoning, being sawed in half, being attacked and torn apart in the Roman arenas, burning, drowning and you name it – if it could damage the human body, if it could muddle the human mind, if it could weaken the human heart, it was used against the faithful.

But the attacks have never ended – they continue to this day, and will continue until the day of Christ’s return. We in America don’t see much opposition other than some limited ridicule and attempts by others to limit the abilities of the church to minister, but people in other areas of the world still get the full measure of hatred. And where is faith the strongest? In those places where the terror is the greatest.
Doesn’t make much sense, does it. The writer of Hebrews tells us that the people had no creature comforts, they were destitute and persecuted and hated, and that the world was not worthy of them! And we know that when the world isn’t worthy of us, it is then that we are, most assuredly worthy of God.

You would think that people who experience very little oppression would be the strongest, but it’s actually the other way around. Those who need the greatest measure of God’s power will also receive the greatest measure of faith – they go hand in hand. Without faith, power will be lacking, and without the need for power, people must be far more intentional in the exercising of their faith.

R.A.Torrey writes:
We must know the power of the blood if we are to know the power of God. Our knowing experimentally the power of the Word, the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of prayer is dependent upon knowing the power of the blood of Christ.
--R.A. Torrey

Where does the power of faith come from? It is in the power that comes to us through the Blood of Christ. And that is another problem for people who have never known the shedding of blood - we don’t understand just what Jesus has done for us! We hear all of the “warm-fuzzies” about the Lord, we hear “turn the other cheek”, we are told to love others however they want us to love them instead of the way that Jesus loved – we get everything except his blood!

As Hebrews tells us, as Torrey tells us, as Jesus showed us – faith in the blood of Jesus is crucial in our faith. Earlier today, we sang the hymn “Power in the Blood”. The hymn reminds us that power is freeing, it is cleansing, its victorious, its enabling.

The power of faith? It’s right there in front of us, and all we need to do it claim it! And that is when faith begins to work for the benefit of all. Have you received it? Have you claimed it? Have you even tried it?