Blind Faith

Blind Faith 2021 11 21

Hebrews 11:1 –12:2

I was recently chatting with someone who identifies as an evangelical Christian about faith.  I made the comment that faith without evidence is a blind faith and dangerous.  His answer was, “Said no Christian ever.”  Therein lies the heart of a very big problem in the Christian world.  How many Christians have blind faith, a faith based on feelings and desires, rather than on evidence, of which there is so much?

Hebews 11:1 – 12:2

None of these great heroes of the Bible of whom we just read had blind faith.  They had faith, but it was faith based solidly on the evidence of God.  “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”  Romans 1:19 – 21

  1. Faith Defined
  2. Easton’s Bible Dictionary is very helpful in defining faith.
    1. “Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true. Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests.”
  3. Faith is the result of teaching. “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.” Romans 10:13 – 17.
    1. Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith. “But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.”  John 10:38
      1. The difference between the two is that faith includes in it agreement, which is an act of the will in addition to the act of the understanding. Agreement with or approval of the truth is of the essence of faith. Ultimately, our agreement with any revealed truth rests on the truthfulness and trustworthiness of God.
    2. Historical faith is the acceptance and belief of information that is simply regarded as facts of history.
    3. Temporary faith is that state of mind which is awakened in men such as Felix when confronted with the truth and by the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.
    4. Saving faith is faith that brings eternal life. In the words of the Puritans – “Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.”
    5. The Object of Saving Faith
    6. The object of saving faith, that which we believe and trust, is the complete revealed Word of God.
      1. Faith accepts and believes it as the absolute and certain truth.
      2. At the same time, the special act of faith which unites us to Christ has as its object the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:31.
      3. This is the specific act of faith by which a sinner is justified before God: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36. In this act of faith the believer receives and rests on Christ alone.
      4. Faith is not a work which God graciously accepts instead of perfect obedience but is only the hand by which we take hold of the person and work of our Redeemer as the only ground of our salvation.

III. Saving Faith

  1. Saving faith proceeds from a renewed will, and a renewed will is necessary for accepting the truth of God. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
    1. It is only by the marvelous mercy of God that we are able to put our faith in Jesus Christ. It is only because God draws us by the Holy Spirit to that place where we are able to choose. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 2 Corinthians 4:4.
      1. Jesus said, “No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44.
      2. The mind must first be enlightened by divine teaching before it can discern the things of the Spirit: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6.
    2. Faith is essential for our salvation, not because there is any merit in it. Faith is not a work, but again, it is the hand by which we accept God’s great gift of salvation.  “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Romans 6:23.
    3. Reasonable Faith
    4. Reasonable faith does not first rest on physical evidence that we can see and handle and show, but on, “Thus saith the Lord.”
      1. We must believe God. God’s word encourages and emboldens the sinner personally to transact with Christ as God’s gift, to close with him, embrace him, give himself to Christ, and take Christ as his. That word comes with power, for it is the word of God who has revealed himself in his works, and especially in the cross. God is to be believed for his word’s sake, but also for his name’s sake.
    5. But it is also reasonable to believe God and therefore to believe in God and His Saviour because of all the evidence.
      1. We see His work all around us. It takes a lot more faith to believe that it all happened by chance!
      2. We live in a moral society (although it is rapidly decaying as man, willfully blinded by the devil, the god of this word, continues to deny God).
        1. A moral society could not exist in the absence of an absolute authority who has declared what is right.
      3. We have the historical record of fulfilled prophecy – the Bible
      4. We have the particular historical record of all the fulfilled prophesies of Jesus Christ, how he came in the flesh, lived and died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. We have the record of hundreds of eye-witnesses of the death and resurrection of our Saviour.
      5. We have the record of believers whose faith in Christ has brought them peace, free from condemnation and justified before God, regardless of their past.

Conclusion.

Ours is not a blind faith.  We do not believe in something told to us like a bedtime fairy tale.  Ours is a reasonable faith based first of all on the power of God who draws us to Himself but also on the unimpeachable Biblical record, the record of prophecy fulfilled, the otherwise unexplainable morality of our world, in spite of our flaws, and the creation, itself, that is clearly seen.

Blind faith is foolish and even very dangerous.  But ours is not a blind faith, at all, but a faith absolutely grounded in a vast pool of evidence.  It takes willful blindness NOT to have faith in God!