Is it positive thinking? A certain feeling? One's church affiliation? Is it confidence?

Or hope? Or the simple belief that Jesus died for your sins? Or is it something far more?

Through the years, people have often told me, "Mr. Pack, I lack faith. I do not feel

the presence of God or His power in my life. How can I have more faith?"

Millions misunderstand this subject. Consider yourself. Do you have real faith? Is it sufficient

for salvation? Can you know? This series will explain how to have real,

true faith. God's Word holds plain answers!

The World to Come. The Restored Church of God presents David C. Pack. Author of 80 books

and booklets. Editor-in-chief of The Real Truth magazine. Read by countless and growing

numbers in every nation and territory of the world. In a violent age full of bad news.

Answering life's greatest questions straight from the Bible, and announcing the wonderful

good news of the World to Come. And now, David C. Pack.

The Bible states that "without faith it is impossible to please [God]." This is an incredible

statement—yet, it is in the Bible! Take it for exactly what it says. Just think! Anything

a person does, in attempting to be Christian, means absolutely nothing, if he lacks faith.

For without faith, he has no hope—no possibility—of pleasing God. Any who are not pleasing God

are Christians in vain. So having real faith is serious!

What about you? Do you lack faith to know that God is with you? To overcome sin and

guilt? To be healed of disease? To believe all things in His Word? To know that "all

things [will] work together for good" if you are serving God? To believe God will work

out injustices you suffer? To believe God will provide for you? To believe that you

can endure severe trials and persecution? Or that God will deliver you from them? Do

you lack faith to see the soon-coming kingdom of God more clearly and that you can be in

it? The Bible says that you need not lack faith

in any of these! You can develop real faith. However, God's Word says that most people,

in the age preceding Christ's Return, will not have sufficient faith to confidently claim

any of these or other promises in God's Word! This world is in trouble. Problems are escalating

everywhere for a world cut off from God. The Return of Christ is imminent. This event will

only occur after certain catastrophic events have taken place. Wars, famines, disease epidemics,

religious confusion, economic upheaval and catastrophic weather will have first rocked

civilization to its foundation. When speaking of our time—the last generation

before His Return—Jesus asked, "When the Son of Man comes, shall He find faith on the

Earth?" Think of the incredible implications of this question! Is it possible that true

faith could be completely gone from Earth at Christ's Second Coming? Jesus was able

to look forward, into our time, and know that conditions would exist allowing this to be

true—almost! A revealing article discusses the issue of

people's ignorance of the Bible. Notice: "It is clear that many Americans do not know

their Bible, and a recent George Barna study backs up that notion.

"Barna's research showed that 60 percent of Americans cannot name half of the 10 Commandments

and 63 percent can't name the four gospels of the New Testament. 81 percent believe that

'God helps those who help themselves' is a direct quote from the Bible…"

What a shame! What a terrible indictment of the nation with more Bibles than any other

on Earth. And it is the single greatest reason so little genuine faith exists.

But Jesus said He would build His Church and He promised it would never be destroyed. His

Church—God's Church—is where people do have faith according to the Bible definition.

Therefore, the presence of God's people on Earth will ensure that at least a few people

will be found to have faith when Christ returns. Notice this: "But the fruit of the Spirit

is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against

such there is no law." We must establish another important point

relating to the life of all true Christians. Real faith comes from the Spirit of God—it

is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. No one can have it—or even be a true Christian—without

God's Spirit. Read Romans chapter 8 verse 9.

But what is faith? Surely God would not state that those lacking faith cannot please Him—and

then withhold the correct definition of faith from all who seek to know it. Before examining

what the Bible says about real faith, it is helpful to examine what people think it is.

There are many common ideas about faith. If you doubt this, merely ask a half-dozen people

to explain it—to define it for you. Be prepared for a half-dozen ideas—probably all wrong—all

of them different from what the Bible reveals. I have known many people who believed that

faith is an intangible "feeling" that cannot be defined. It is often thought to be personal,

mysterious and unique to each person—off limits for anyone to question. This feeling

usually has no definition, structure, or clear purpose and, inevitably, is whatever people

want or need it to be. In other words, for almost every person, there is a different

description and definition of faith. It is strange how many people view faith this way,

yet the Bible does not say anything of the sort.

Others believe that faith is some kind of "positive thinking." It is as though as long

as people take an optimistic view and remain upbeat about events and circumstances, they

are demonstrating faith. The Bible nowhere describes faith with the words positive or

optimistic—though these are certainly good qualities of mind.

Other views of faith are that it is hope or confidence. Neither is true! Hebrews 10:35

does say that confidence is important. Notice: "Cast not away therefore your confidence,

which has great recompense of reward." While this passage reveals that confidence is vital

for Christians, confidence is not faith. Regarding faith being hope, I Corinthians 13 and verse

13 states, "And now abides faith, hope, charity [or love], these three; but the greatest of

these is [love]." If faith and hope are the same, why are they listed separately? Why

does God refer to them as "these three"? Counting love, shouldn't He have said, "these two"?

Obviously, faith is different from hope. Still others believe that one's faith is the

equivalent of the church denomination or affiliation they attend. This description of faith is

seriously flawed and unscriptural. Notice: "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as

you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism [and the

verse continues]…" If faith is a church—and there are well over 2,000 denominations in

the United States alone—there cannot be just "one faith." This idea makes the apostle

Paul wrong. He should have said "thousands of faiths."

Related to this, many also talk of either "people" or "a person of faith"—you've

heard the term—merely because one is religious. This term has even come to encompass non-Christian

religions. Bear in mind you have just seen the Bible

state there is only one kind of faith! We will soon explore whether the Bible precisely

defines that one kind of faith or leaves individuals to guess its meaning.

The last and perhaps most common idea is that faith is any general belief that Jesus died

for your sins. As with the idea that faith is a feeling, the extent of people's personal

belief in Jesus' sacrifice becomes the deciding factor. Certainly we will see that the true

definition of faith does include this important belief. There is no doubt that if someone

does not believe the most basic understanding that Jesus Christ died for his or her sins,

this person does not have saving faith. Remember, without faith it is impossible to please God,

and if someone doubts Jesus died for him, he certainly is not pleasing God and will

not be saved! Believing in Jesus' sacrifice is a direction—an avenue—of faith, it

is not what faith is! It is now time for the most fundamental question

in this broadcast. Does the Bible give an exact definition of faith? Since it says there

is one faith, does it, in fact, give one definition of that faith? Is there a place where the

Bible says, "Faith is…" and a precise definition follows? If so, where is it, and what does

it say? Hebrews 11 has often been called the "faith

chapter." It describes many of God's greatest servants and how their faith enabled them

to perform great acts and miracles, or to endure severe trials. This long chapter is

very inspiring, and all who want to have real faith should periodically read it. It contains

the word faith two dozen times. Verse 2 says, "For by it [faith] the elders [these Bible

figures] obtained a good report." How could they have obtained a "good report"

unless they understood faith? Now for God's definition in verse 1: "Now faith is the substance

of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Did you notice that faith involves

"evidence" of things "not seen"? The marginal rendering of "substance" is "assurance." Faith

involves an assurance "of things hoped for." But, if something is hoped for, that something

has not yet been received. Therefore, where faith is involved, there is an assurance that

it will be received! But how can evidence be related to something

that is not seen? Do we not rather think of evidence as involving things that are seen?

In a courtroom, evidence is what can be proven. It involves facts that are recognizable—and

usually visible—to a jury. In other words, legal evidence only involves things that can

be seen or demonstrated. How then can faith involve evidence that is invisible—not seen?

Faith involves evidence in the following way. Real faith, in any promise made by God, is

the evidence. It is the belief that is the evidence. If God promises to do something,

it is impossible for Him to lie. Your evidence that He will perform it is the very unwavering

faith that you hold. Understand this! Hebrews 11:1 said, "faith is…the evidence." If you

have true Christian faith, you do not need to search for the evidence—you already possess

it!

The World to Come will continue after this brief message. Discover more from David C.

Pack! Visit our website worldtocome.org. See The World to Come broadcasts, read and order

books, booklets and articles, all free of charge. To continue learning about the topics

covered in this broadcast, visit worldtocome.org today! Now back to David C. Pack.

We have read the biblical definition of faith, but faith is also a doctrine. Notice: "Therefore

leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not

laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God…

[and it adds four more]" Faith is always exercised toward God, but it is Christ who makes this

possible. Faith is something Christ taught—this is

why the Bible calls it "the doctrine of Christ." By now, you realize faith is crucial for every

Christian to understand. You need not be confused about it, though people around you may be.

Eliminate all misunderstanding about faith. Perhaps when Jesus returns, He will find real

faith in you! For every doctrine of God, there are endless

ideas that people conjure up about it. The Bible explains what God says and thinks about

His doctrines. If a doctrine comes from and belongs to God, we ought to examine what He

says about it. You should never be concerned with the opinions of people.

The balance of this broadcast and the next one will explain the Bible's true teaching

about the doctrine of faith toward God. Prepare to be surprised!

Almost everyone believes that faith involves feelings. But physical feelings merely come

from the human senses and have nothing whatsoever to do with what God promises—or faith!

Human beings accept knowledge they have received through the five senses—seeing, hearing,

smelling, touching and tasting. These senses all involve physical information—physical

knowledge. The mind receives and processes this information in order to draw conclusions

about circumstances, things and events taking place around it. Faith is spiritual, not physical.

It is confident assurance, which comes from the Spirit of God in the mind of a converted

person. So many today lack the strength—the power—to

believe God will perform the promises contained in His Word. He seems far away, vague and

ethereal to billions of human beings caught up in a materialistic world. The vast majority

do not have time for God. There seems to be no room for prayer, Bible study, fasting and

meditation. All these things draw us closer to God. The articles shown are most helpful

in developing these all-important Christian tools of growth.

Most ignore them, and then wonder why they have no faith! This leaves them forced to

rely solely on their five senses for guidance. Most people feel that anything derived from

a source other than these is not to be trusted. No one would ever wish to lose his physical

sight. Certainly no one would consider driving a car if he were blind. Now, consider this

verse: "For we [Christians] walk by faith, not by sight." Practicing true faith means

learning to disregard what you see. Literally, sight does not count in relation to what God

has promised to do or when He will do it. This verse reveals that Christians do not

walk by what they see! Think of this example in the following way.

Just as you would never consider driving a car without sight, a Christian is not permitted

to walk through life by sight! This is not a principle one learns overnight. The very

concept of this kind of spiritual understanding is foreign—completely alien—to human thinking.

Unlearning the wrong idea of faith requires a lifetime of practice.

Prayer, study, fasting and meditation are spiritual activities. God is Spirit and Christ

explained, regarding Christians, "They that worship Him [the Father] must worship Him

in spirit and in truth." Of course, people who do not know the truth of the other doctrines

of God, though they may know the truth about faith, cannot possibly worship Him in truth.

They may try to worship God in spirit but it is impossible to worship Him in truth if

they are doing it in ignorance of crucial Bible truths. However, for our purposes here,

at least all who listen to this program will no longer be unaware of the truth about the

doctrine of faith—and how it relates to worshipping God.