Growing in Faith: Grace Wins
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Faith is Linked to Hope with Grace in the Middle
YouTube: Matthew West, Grace Wins Every Time
You can’t really grow in either faith or hope without grace.
Faith comes when you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth.
It’s about getting your mouth and heart coordinated. What you hold in your heart (and hold onto in your heart) will come out of your mouth.
We have been given the faith of Jesus Christ.
When we talk about growing or increasing in faith, we are really talking about walking by what we already have within us. It’s what you put in your mind with certainty.
A placebo test was conducted in Japan in which test subjects were told they would receive a Poison Ivy leaf on their left arm and a harmless leaf on their right arm. But the testers did the opposite: they put the harmless leaf on the left arm and the Poison Ivy on the right. More than half of the test subjects developed spots on their left arm (which did not have Poison Ivy). Similarly, more than half of the people who received Poison Ivy on their right arm had no reaction. This is called the Placebo Effect.
What we put in our minds is important, as is how we hold onto it.
The core meaning for faith is “to lean on for support.”
Exodus 17:12 ESV:
But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Romans 10:17 ESV:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through [by way of] the word of [regarding] Christ.
In the Eastern way of thinking, “hearing” meant “to obey or act in some way.” At the end of parables, Jesus often said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” What he meant was that they should take what he taught them, and do it.
There’s an action in the term “faith.”
Faith is careful hearing as well as responding appropriately in obedience or action.
1 Samuel 1:1–8 ESV:
There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 2 He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas [both were corrupt], were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
Lot’s of well-meaning people say, “you must have done something wrong because you don’t have the answer yet.” She finally decides to go see Eli. Eli was corrupt, but he was the high priest.
1 Samuel 1:9–11 ESV:
9 After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
She was saying that she would dedicate him to be in the temple his whole life and that he would be a Nazarite. He would have no alcohol and would never cut his hair. His whole life would be dedicated to God.
1 Samuel 1:12–18 ESV:
12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. 14 And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” 15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
The boy that was born to her was Samuel, one of the greatest Old Testament prophets and the last judge of Israel.
1 Samuel 2:21 ESV:
Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord.
Hebrews 11:1 NIrV:
Faith is being sure of what we hope for. It is being sure of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1 APNT:
Now faith is the persuasion concerning those [things] that are in hope, as if they had in fact happened, and the evidence of those [things] that are not seen.
You can’t have faith without hope. And you can’t have hope without faith.
Romans 5:1–2 ESV:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
The Greek prepositions provide a clearer understanding.
By way of Christ, we have gained an entrance or access as the result of faith.
The point of having access is to go in the door—all the way in. We are to go all the way into this grace in which we stand.
By faith, you go all the way into grace, and then you stand in it. Resting on God’s glorious hope.
That’s what Abraham did when he believed the promise.
Romans 4:17 ESV:
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.
If your boss told you that you were going to receive a bonus this year, and your boss had a track record of doing what he said he would do, you’d expect to receive a bonus. That’s exactly how we believe anything. The authority of what we put in our minds must be from God and His Word.
Let’s look at a record in Second Kings. Later, you should read the whole record in chapters 18 and 19. The Assyrians though they couldn’t be stopped. They’d already conquered about five of the fenced cities in Israel. Hezekiah had stripped gold and silver from the temple in an attempt to buy off the king of Assyria; the king just laughed at him.
2 Kings 18:17–19 ESV:
17 And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 18 And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
19 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?
On what does your confidence rest? They had tried confidence in gold and silver. They’d also petitioned Egypt for chariots.
2 Kings 18:25 ESV:
Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.” ’ ”
Rabshakeh (falsely) told them that God sent him to destroy Israel, and they believed it.
2 Kings 18:36–37 ESV:
36 But the people were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
2 Kings 19:1 ESV:
As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
Hezekiah humbled himself, then sent for the prophet Isaiah.
2 Kings 19:3–4 ESV:
3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”
2 Kings 19:6–7 ESV:
6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ”
Rabshakeh sent a letter to Hezekiah with more of the same threats. Hezekiah took that letter into the temple and brought it to God.
2 Kings 19:27–28 ESV:
27 “But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me. 28 Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.
2 Kings 19:35-37 ESV:
35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Hezekiah had to stop trying to figure it out himself and trust God.
Grace wins because God is the one who gives the grace. You can’t get it on your own.
We have so much more than they had in the Old Testament; we have Christ [Messiah] in us.
We can become persuaded too, and then let grace win every time.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (APNT) taken from the Aramaic Peshitta New Testament Translation: With explanatory footnotes marking variant readings, customs and figures of speech, Copyright © 2006 by Janet M. Magiera, Light of the Word Ministry, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.lightofword.org)
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked (NIrV) The Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®. Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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