Example In Faith:
1. Hope
Faith = The substance (or assurance) of things hoped for, the evidence (or conviction) of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1.)
The Bible talks a lot about hope. It says that the believer is a person of continual hope. They live in constant hope, and their hope is of salvation. Hope that when the Judgement Day comes, God will see the labor of HIS soul and be satisfied, and pardon their iniquity. That He will execute full, complete justice on everyone - punishment of evildoers, and pardon for those that Jesus’ payment covers. That word ‘hope’ doesn’t mean a ‘wish,’ ‘desire’ or ‘fanciful idea,’ as we most often mean in our modern language. It means, “sure” “absolute” “steadfast,” “un-wavering” and “confident.” We aren’t wishing we will be saved, we KNOW we will be saved, without a shadow of a doubt, because God has promised, and Jesus is faithful and holy.
This sure hope is faith. It is absolute, complete trust in God, knowing that He WILL keep His promise of salvation, He WILL execute justice, and He WILL be glorified. It’s not a dream, it’s a complete expectation.
If one can believe in God and trust Him completely with their salvation, can they not trust in Him to keep His promises in their everyday life? I’ve sometimes asked myself, “Katarina, if you know without even a shadow of a doubt that God heard you when you pleaded in faith for salvation, don’t you know that He hears you right now, and He is always with you?”
One thing to keep in mind is that if God promises something in His Word, it will happen.
If we get a feeling in our heart that something should happen, that is not from God’s Word, then it is not a promise from God that it will happen. For example, the promise that God will never leave us or forsake us is a promise that God made in His Scripture. Therefore, it is true. However, He never promised that we would get the certain job we want, marry the person we like, or travel to the place we want to, etc. If we don't get it, God didn’t break His promise to us.
Our "belief" that God will do something for us can’t make Him do anything that He doesn't choose to do. Real faith is a gift that He gives to us. (1 Corinthians 12:6-9.) He delights to give good gifts to His children, but they should all be received with surprise and gratitude. It is an ungrateful and selfish heart (or a misunderstanding) that thinks that God will do anything for us if we just believe hard enough.
2. Defending That Hope:
On the opposite side of hope is the other side of the faith coin, apologetics. If we have this hope and faith in God, it will naturally radiate out of us. A man confident in his hope is a joyful man indeed, especially when his confident hope is of eternal life with God forever! We are admonished in 1 Peter 3:15 that we will be questioned about this hope inside of us.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; ~ 1 Peter 3:15
Friend, are you ready to defend the gospel and give a reason for the hope that is in you? Do you know the gospel well enough to share? If I asked you “Why are you always so cheerful?” would you be able to explain the hope inside of you?
Not only are we to be defensive, we also received an offensive command from Jesus just before He left us:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”Amen. ~ Matthew 28:19-20.
Are you able to do that? Not are you courageous enough - He will give you the courage when the time comes. But do you know the Scriptures well enough to answer questions about Christianity? Here’s something that Jesus said to the Sadducees, and it is something that I definitely would not like to be said of me:
Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. ~ Matthew 22:29
Jesus knew the Scriptures, and He was a master at answering tricky questions and defending the gospel. Here’s just one example:
“I and my Father are one.” Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
~ John 10:30-36.
Jesus knew where He was going, and He used good questions to guide the people He was talking to toward that truth as well. I think that is the key to being a good defender of the faith.
Practical Application: There are also some basic foundational questions we need to be able to answer - for example, where the world came from, what has happened since then, and why Jesus is our only hope. I recommend the Living Waters youtube channel. Listening to Mr. Ray Comfort witnessing to people daily showed me how to do it before I was put in my first situation of defending the hope. I also recommend the books, “Tactics” by Gregory Koukl, “7 Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible,” (this is a MUST read) by Erwin Lutzer, and “Keeping Faith In An Age Of Reason,” by Dr. Jason Lisle. Also, one of my favorite apologetics/theology resources is Adam4d.com. We need to be confident in what we believe and why, so that when we share it, we don’t get confused and disoriented ourselves. We need to be grounded before spreading out. And make sure you actually take steps to get grounded! Sharing the gospel is the only hope for our world!
I feel compelled to share this last thing. A couple weeks ago, I was handing out gospel tracts and got in a conversation with a typical millennial. He seemed to have been curious about Christianity at one point, read the Bible, thought about it a LOT, and had many typical thoughts and objections. So when he got the opportunity to talk a Christian, (me) it all sort of just poured out. He attacked the authority of Scripture, science and the Bible, freewill and predestination, and was angry at God for making bad things happen to good people (like 1 year olds with brain cancer.)
Anyway, I had not expected to get approached and get in a conversation that day!! I was pretty much just expecting to hand out tracts, but I was open to talking to someone if it happened. I was NOT holding a sign that said, "I'm a Christian. Ask me anything." I was just a girl handing out little glossy pieces of paper, someone got curious about it, I told him the truth about what it was, and he started asking me questions. (Or more like sharing his objections.) But because I have asked myself the same questions before, meditated on the gospel often, and took some time this year to read some good apologetics books and immerse myself in recordings of evangelistic conversations, I was ready to defend the hope within me. It was a good conversation.
You literally have no idea when someone could do this to you, too. Perhaps you're a large family at the grocery store and someone asks you if you're a Christian, you answer yes, and then they unleash all their questions (or objections) to Christianity. Are you able to answer their questions? Perhaps you're taking a walk with a controversial T-Shirt on and someone asks you about it and then the same thing happens?
Are you prepared?
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~