Although different people may have different ideas on the definition of faith, the Bible’s definition is about as concise a definition as you can get; And not only that, it is a divinely inspired definition, making it about as accurate as you can get! What is the Bible’s definition of faith?

“substance” -- “assurance” or “confidence.” The idea behind this word is that a person is able to express confidence or a certain degree or trust in something, because he has a basis or a foundation upon which to build that confidence. And certainly there is substance to the Christian’s faith. Another way of stating it might be: “Now faith is the confidence upon which the things we hope for, are based.”

“evidence” -- “conviction” or “being convinced.” An individual is convicted for a crime based on the convincing evidence presented in a court of law. And so, a Christian’s faith is as powerfully convincing to him as even the strongest evidence offered in a courtroom...even though he hasn’t seen it all! To put it another way: “Now faith is the accepting as fact, that which has not even been seen.”

1. Faith & the Three Directions of Movement
When we stop to consider our own personal faith in God, whether it is strong or weak, great or small, we will discover there are actually only three overall directions in which our faith in moving:

A. moving toward God
B. moving away from God
C. moving against God

The faith of many people, however, is thrown in a turmoil when they feel they are being pulled in more than one of these directions, for example...

• ...when their heart is generally moving them toward God, but, due to certain circumstances, are tempted to yield to sin and move away from God.

• ...when their heart is generally moving them away from God, but occasionally have an urge, due to guilt or fear, to move toward God;

• ...when their heart is generally moving them against God, but due to inner fears and insecurities, feel an urge to move toward God.

2. Discovering the Direction that Your Faith is Moving

A. But how does one know for sure whether his faith is moving toward, away from, or against God?

B. First of all, we need to realize that “faith” in itself, like “love,” is an intangible meaning that it cannot be touched, tasted, heard, smelled, or seen.

C. But what can be manifested are the objects of our faith. Therefore, we may know which way our faith is moving, whether toward, away from, or against God, by examining the objects upon which we are basing all our hopes and expectations.

D. We should ask ourselves,. “Are the things I’m trusting in, biblically based?” “Or does the Bible warn against the very things I’m basing my hopes upon?”
“Yea, a man may say, Thou has faith, and I have Works: show me thy faith without thy works. and I will show thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18)

E. Since the Bible tells us that our faith may only be evidenced through our outward lives, let us then examine these three general directions of movement to see if perhaps we can determine the direction our own energies are leading our faith.

F. How do I know which direction my own faith is moving? Consider the following:

A FAITH THAT IS MOVING AGAINST THE LORD: (THE KEY FEELING IS HOSTILITY)
There is an intense anger or hatred toward God or against His cause; sometimes manifested in outward aggression through words and/or deeds.

• Psalm 14:1 — “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” Denying the supreme power or very existence of Jehovah, Israel’s God, is certainly moving against Him. But what does God’s word have to say about that?
“Woe unto him that striveth against his Maker!” (Isaiah 45:9)

• Psalm 75:19 — While unsaved people clearly move their faith against Jehovah through denying His supreme power or existence, even the people of God move against Him by resisting His power and influence in their lives!
“Jerusalem is ruined because their tongue & doings are against God.” (Isaiah 3:8)

• John 15:10,25 — they hated Jesus...It was a hostile crowd that yelled, “Crucify him’”

• Jude 1:15-16 — some have made “hard speeches” against God.

• Revelation 19:19 — armies will gather against Christ when He returns.
A FAITH THAT IS MOVING AWAY FROM THE LORD: (THE KEY FEELING IS ISOLATION)
a) The individual has the urge to get away from, or to void spiritual things which arouse inner conflict, guilt, shame, or fear;

b) Hebrews 4:1-2 — How do I know if I am moving away from God? When I am unwilling to assimilate what I know to be a commandment of God, into my spiritual life. The Scriptures weren’t given to only hear, but to do; therefore, we need to not only hear or know whet the Bible teaches, we need to also be willing to mix that knowledge with the doing of those things as well. Israel heard the Lord’s commandments, and knew what the Lord expected from them, but failed to assimilate that knowledge into their everyday living! What were the consequences? They failed to enter into God’s “rest” (a life full of God’s blessings, peacefulness, and enjoyment in return for their obedience to His laws). If I intentionally choose not to mix God’s principles with my practices, then I’m heading in the opposite direction of the Lord!

c) Luke 12:13-16,17-19,20-21 - How can I tell if I am not moving toward the Lord? It is when my energies are turned inwardly, and all my objectives are self-serving, leaving God out of the picture! One becomes more and more distant from the Lord when they begin to provide unto themselves various substitutes to satisfy their inner cravings for comfort and security in this life. Here, in this parable, the rich fool is doing just that, much to his own hurt and final destruction. And such is exactly why Jesus warned even His own people about “saving their lives unto themselves”— — to do so is to ultimately end up losing eternal life at its fullest.

d) Luke 12:42-45,46-48 –How can l tell if l am not moving toward the Lord? It is when l as a steward of the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, am not managing my spiritual life according to His dictates, but am rather living recklessly and foolishly with regard to handling my Lord’s affairs. A steward in those days was one who managed his master’s household, sort of like a supervisor or general manager of a company. And he usually had others servants working underneath his authority, similar to employees. He was expected to manage his master’s affairs faithfully, even while the master was away. As stewards of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the responsibility of managing our daily faith, for it too, requires good, sound, faithful management. How do I know if I am moving away from God? When I, although in the face of knowledge, am not concerned with managing my faith, or seeing to it that it is growing and pleasing Christ. Notice what the results will be for those who knew better but went ahead and refused to obey the Lord anyway (v47)!

e) Hebrews 3:12-14 - How do I know if I am moving away from God? When I no longer care about sin in my life; when it doesn’t bother me that I am slowly becoming “hardened” to spiritual things; when I am allowing sin to deceive me into rationalizing in my mind that my sinful practices are alright.
A FAITH THAT IS MOVING TOWARD THE LORD: (THE KEY FEELING IS DEPENDENCY)

a) One possesses an awareness that without Christ working in his life, he can do nothing; such is manifested in a spirit of humility and submissiveness toward God, and His divine purpose in our life.

b) Psalms 119:140-142 Psalm 119:97-100,101-104 — How do I know when my faith is moving in the direction of God? When I can accept the Word of God as truth, as fact, without reservation, and when I enjoy pleasing God through keeping His commandments.

c) Proverbs 3:5-8 — We can know that our faith is moving toward the Lord when we find ourselves leaning upon the Lord to direct our path, and not upon our own understanding; when we take the Lord into our personal decisions, and ask for His will to be done.

d) Proverbs 3:9-10 — We can know our faith is moving toward the Lord when we have a desire to give back to God in return for God’s blessings upon us; when we realize that all we have is God’s anyway.

e) Proverbs 3:11-13 — We can know that our faith is moving toward the Lord when we experience personal growth through trials in our life; when we mature through suffering, realizing that it may be God’s chastening, or it may be a testing of our faith; but through it all, we acknowledge that God Is dealing with us for our own good so that we’ll mature In our spiritual life.
“Happy is the men that findeth wisdom, and the men that getteth understanding: for the merchandise of It is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She (wisdom) is more precious than rubies and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.”

f) Psalms 55:1-4,5-8,9-12,13-15,16-17 — We can know that our faith Is moving toward the Lord when even in the midst of deep emotional pain, our faith drives us to our knees in prayer (Psalm 55:16-17), rather than succumbing to the temptation of running away and hiding from our problems (Psalm 55:6-8). Prayer, not panic, demonstrates that our faith is, in fact, moving toward God!

g) Luke 17:5 — We can know that our faith is moving toward the Lord when we find ourselves asking for more faith when more faith is needed to rise above a difficult task. Here, in this passage, Jesus was asking His disciples to do something that they felt was quite difficult for them. They felt their faith was too limited to handle the load at that time, so they did the only sensible thing— —they asked for en Increase In faith! If we find it difficult at times to go to Him In prayer, then perhaps we too need to have our faith increased.

h) Jude 1:19-20 — How can we know if our faith is moving toward the Lord? If we are involving ourselves in the continuous task of “building up” our faith. Without continuous maintenance, our faith would begin to waver and eventually weaken to the point of collapsing. Thus, we are commended to maintain our faith through the process of building it up. How? Through consistent church attendance, through fellowship, through Bible study, through effectual prayer, through sharing our testimony with others, through enduring stress and inner conflict. The person who neglects to build his faith, will soon discover it too weak to carry him through severe trials and difficulties that befall him. This is why God’s word continually warns us to be increasing, adding to, and building up our faith!

i) James 1:17 — We can know If our faith is moving us toward God If we are exercising our faith as a daily routine part of our life, not just whenever we feel like it. The just (justified ones) will be those who took their faith serious, and who realized that their faith was equally important to God; thus, they guarded their faith carefully, considering it something worth holding onto.

Conclusion
My friend, you say you have faith in God? Fine, but remember that faith is not mere words...it is action...it is energy...it is movement. Let us remember the words of James,
“Yea, a man may say, Thou heel faith, end I have works: show me thy faith without thy works. and I will show thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18)

Sermons

Sermons