Our path toward salvation is now in front of us. We stand at the base of the great spiritual mountain of God that rises regally before us, reaching the throne of God in the third heaven. We have been taught that its paths are narrow and only a few will reach the top. We stand in awe, admiring its beauty and taking in the wonderful promise of eternal glory it holds at its peak. Suddenly, our admiration begins to transform into fear. Our focus now locked on its massive size detailing one by one the dangers it holds. Our mind begins to register the many different ways this narrow path can lead to our deaths, allowing terror to firmly grip our hearts. Our resolve to reach the top has now been compromised because all courage has been drained out from us, like it was drained from the people of Israel when they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:16, 20:18). We know that climbing it leads us to the divine presence of Jehovah God, but the fear is too great and the task, we say, too difficult for any man to accomplish. We want to reach the top. We want to obtain eternal glory. We want to be in the presence of the Lord forever, but the only way this is possible is by conquering this spiritual Everest. How then do we get past the fear and refocus our vision on the reward waiting for us at the top? It all begins with faith. The writer to the Hebrews confirms this by saying, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). If our goal is to reach heaven for all eternity, then it is imperative that we understand that “without faith it is impossible” for us to do so. This is why Peter, in his second letter, assigns the base of the mountain as faith (2nd Peter 1:5). According to The American Heritage Dictionary, faith is defined as “a confident belief or trust in a person, idea, or thing” or “a secure belief in God and acceptance of God’s will.” It becomes very easy to see why our God cannot be pleased without faith. The purpose of faith is to create courage and trust that stimulates a person into a bold, confident action. It removes all fear, a product of doubt, and replaces it with a persuasive conviction. Our God defines His faith by stating the following:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1, American Standard Version, 1901)
In the original Greek text, the word used for faith is pistis and translated to our language it means a persuasion or a moral conviction (Strong, 4102). To begin our journey, we must be persuaded beyond any doubt that God is truly at the peak waiting for our arrival. We must have the conviction that He is there holding our crowns ready to set them upon our brows. In the New Testament, this word pistis is mainly used to speak of “reliance” upon God, but in a few instances it is used to speak about our “creed.” When Paul told the Ephesians that there is “one faith” he used the same Greek word pistis, but referred to our creed, that is our belief (Ephesians 4:5). In either use of the word, it is still obvious why without it we cannot please God. Our God must be the center of our doctrine (or creed) and He must be the One we rely upon for everything in this world. Perhaps, as Peter wrote these words in his second letter, he had in his memory the time his faith faltered because he took his eyes off the Lord as he walked on water (Matthew 14:28-31). It was Peter’s faith (creed) in Jesus that granted him the privilege to walk on water, but it was his lack of faith (reliance) in Jesus that made him sink and almost drown. Upon examining this scripture, let us note first that Peter was already afraid (along with the other disciples) as a result of what his eyes were seeing. He looks to remove his fear when he expresses, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” Peter was the only one of the twelve bold enough to make this request with such confidence. In stating “Lord, if it is You” he openly manifested his belief that only Jesus has the power to “command” him to walk on water. While his focus was on Jesus, the fear that had been present disappears and he walks on water, but his belief alone was not enough; his faith lacked consistency. The moment the “boisterous” winds began to blow, the strength of his faith in Christ was tested. When his terror resurfaced, he proves that creed alone is not enough to please God. Christ proclaims Peter’s “little faith” to be the root cause of him sinking into the waters he once stood on. His lack of complete reliance on Christ is seen when the faith he had verbally invoked quickly dissipated at the first sign of danger (Matthew 14:30-31). Scripture, therefore, clearly proves to us that believing in Jesus alone is not enough. It must be combined with good, faithful works. The apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, states to the Romans that he was not ashamed to wave Christ’s gospel as his flag to be seen by all men seeking salvation. He not only speaks of the gospel’s power for all men, but through it he reveals where we obtain faith from and for what purpose we have obtained it (Romans 1:16-17)! Paul tells the Romans, “For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” What does this mean? The reason that God will not be pleased without faith is because it comes from Him to begin with. Observe that in the gospel is where God’s righteousness becomes manifested by faith. This manifestation takes place by those who make Jesus’ gospel their creed and preach to others about it because they trust in it’s divine power (2nd Corinthians 4:13-14). It becomes clear then that our journey to eternal paradise begins by believing without a shred of doubt that it is there. We are to see beyond the hardships of the journey and fully rely on Him, who has become the author of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Peter, having learned from his past mistakes, advises us not to rely on creed alone. Instead, he teaches us that to truly believe is also to obey. When we have received our faith from God and learn to accept and trust His will, we are then called to follow the teachings of the mustard seed (Matthew 17:19-20). In doing so, we will learn how it is that we are to add to our faith and thus begin our ascend up the mountain. To be continued…