What does it mean to have faith?

• Evolutionary biologist and avowed atheist Richard Dawkins describes religious faith as believing something “for which there is no evidence.” He speaks of all religions this way, but specifically targets Christianity as fitting this description.
• Even though the concept of living by faith is a universally human trait, faith in the God of the Bible is not acceptable to many and we don’t need to be surprised by this.
• 1 Peter 3:14-15 | But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…
• Are you ready to defend your faith?

Our faith is in God’s

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to fulfill His promises.

• We all live by faith in that we exercise

in common things all the time that have worked.
• We stand in the lineage of a historically justifiable faith >> Romans 4:16-17 | That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
• You are not saved by the

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of your faith, but by the

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of your faith.
• Kent Hughes >> [Faith is] being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”
• Let’s consider that a little bit more: the object or foundation of our faith. A common argument against Christianity is that we use

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reasoning, which is a logical fallacy.

Example

Question: How do you know Christianity is true?
Answer: The Bible declares that it is true.
Question: How do you know the Bible is true?
Answer: Because the Bible declares itself to be true.

Just because the Bible declares itself to be true does not invalidate the argument that the Bible is true. All

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ultimately use circular reasoning because of the human beings believing them. We all are choosing the authority under which we live. They are the foundation on which we build our lives.

Faith

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in the face of

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.

• To many, it seems

to “hope against hope” like Paul says Abraham did. But once again, the object of our faith is the source of our authority to hope.
• If we are believing in God to fulfill His promises, then it is not irrational to hope in the face of hopelessness >> Romans 4:18-21 | In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
• Abraham’s faith is exalted because he “hoped [in God] against hope [because his body was unable to fulfill the promise].”A person who plays the lottery hopes against hope. The odds are fully stacked in against them. The object of their faith is dumb luck. This is not a commendable faith. Abraham’s faith is commendable because the object of his faith was God Himself, so he was able to have a bold hope in the face of seeming impossibility.
• “Hope, like an anchor, is fixed on the unseen…what matters is where you are casting your anchor.”
• There are many things that God has promised you in which you can have hope:

Never leave you or forsake you
Sanctify you in the midst of your most difficult circumstances
Use you for His glory as you surrender to Him
Give you more insight in His timing
Deepen your understanding of Him over time as you worship
To meet with you when you pray according to the truth
To make you look more like Jesus
To finish the work that He began in you

Conclusion

• Abraham’s faith and our faith are connected >> Romans 4:22-25 | 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
• Martin Luther >> Faith is the “yes” of the heart, a conviction on which one stakes one’s life.
• As you believe in what God has actually promised you, you can be as

as a lion in the face of hopeless situations >> 2 Timothy 1:8-12
• Faith embraces the truth. What are you believing to be true? The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. That is the verifiable truth that you can believe today.