1.     One of the most important words in the Bible is the word “faith.”

2.     The word “faith” is found 247 times in the Bible.

3.     The first reference is in Deuteronomy 32:20.  In this passage of Scripture, God states that they were “a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.”

4.     I wonder what the Lord thinks about our generation?

5.     “Faith” is one of the great themes of the Bible.  

6.     Four times in the Bible it says, “The just shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38).

7.     Romans 14:23 says, “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

8.     Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith.”

9.     Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

10. We see the word “faith” in Ephesians 6:16.  The shield referred to here is not the small, round buckler, but the big, oblong, door-like shield, measuring 4 feet by 2 1/2 feet.

11. These military shields were carried by Greek and Roman soldiers and were made of wood.  They were covered on the outside with thick leather.   This thick leather deadened the shock of the missile, as well as protected the wooden frame of the shield from the fiery darts of the opposing artillery (cf. Eph. 6:16).

12. In Paul’s day, darts were often dipped in pitch and then set on fire.  Sometimes small arrows were tinged with poison. These arrows were called fiery darts, because they no sooner touched the flesh or even grazed the sin, than they left a fiery poison in the veins.

13. The devil and his followers shoot their fiery darts of impurity, selfishness, doubt, and fear. For protection, we need our shield of faith.   The Bible says that faith is our shield (6:16). 

14. We should go to church to have our faith strengthened.  Some Christians go to church, and their faith is weakened.  The preacher makes disparaging remarks about the Word of God.  How tragic!

15. We should walk out of church feeling stronger than when we walked in.   And an unregenerate man or woman should be able to hear a clear message of faith in Christ and be gloriously saved.

I. WHAT IS FAITH?

1.     Faith is “belief” and “trust.”  We simply believe God.  We believe the Bible, God’s Holy Word. We put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2.     I had a long-running email correspondence with one of my RC brothers.  He kept sending me articles written by RC priests, defending the RC sacramental system of faith plus works.

3.     I kept responding to his emails by quoting Scripture (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; etc.).  In each email, I would write to my brother: “I believe God.”

4.     One of the big controversies of our day is Creationism vs. Evolution.  Evolution has deceived multitudes of people because they do not have faith in God (cf. Hebrews 11:3).

5.     Our Lord said in Mark 11:22, “Have faith in God.”  Now, many people say they “believe in God” but they are not saved.  Why is that?

6.     We have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.   Jesus said in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

7.     James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

8.     By the way, it takes more faith to believe in the ridiculous theory of evolution than it does to believe the Bible – but it is the wrong faith.

9.     I heard about a preacher who preached a good message against evolution.  After the meeting, a woman walked over to him and started defending evolution.  He said, “I’m not going to argue with you, lady.  If you believe you have descended from monkeys, that’s your business.  After all, you know your kinfolk, I don’t.”

10. But what is faith?  (I am talking about saving faith – the faith that will take you to heaven.)  See Hebrews 11:1.

11. Faith goes hand-in-hand with repentance.  In repentance, the sinner turns away from sin, while in faith he turns to Christ.  These two are inseparable – genuine repentance cannot exist apart from true saving faith.

12. Acts 20:21 says, "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

II. THREE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN SAVING FAITH.

1.     First, there is the intellectual element.  The sinner comes to recognize that God’s Word is true.  He starts to understand that the only way to be saved is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2.     This is why we must proclaim the Gospel clearly and fervently, because the Bible says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

3.     Religious and irreligious, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, black and white, men and women, boys and girls --- all must hear the Gospel and believe the Gospel in order to be saved.

4.     “God has put salvation in such a place that it can be reached by all men” (Lee Roberson).   The thief on the cross could not do much, but he believed.

5.     A blind man, a lame man, a deaf man – they cannot do much, but they can believe.

6.     This intellectual element includes an historical belief in the facts of the Scriptures – the fall of man, the flood, the exodus from Egypt, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, etc.

7.     But more importantly, it includes an intellectual belief in the great doctrines of the Bible – the sinfulness of man, the absolute necessity of the new birth, the reality of heaven and hell, the Second Coming of Christ, etc.

8.     Secondly, there is an emotional element.   Charles Ryrie, in his Basic Theology book, says, “The truth and the person of Christ are now seen in an interested and absorbing way.”  The sinners sensibilities are now awakened. 

9.     We must be careful at this point.  We rejoice when sinners reach this stage but we must be careful.  They may be very close to salvation, but they are not there yet.

10. Remember what Jesus said to the scribe in Mark 12:34, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”  “Not far” is not there yet.

11. The third element is the volitional element.  It is at this point that the individual passes from death to life, and from darkness to light.  It is at this point that the lost sinner is transformed into a child of God.

12. It is at this point that the individual appropriates personally the truth of the Gospel and places his trust in Christ.

13. Emery Bancroft wrote this, “The three constituents (elements or facets) of faith may be illustrated from the thought, feeling, and action of a person who stands by a boat, upon a little island which the rising stream threatens to submerge.  He first regards the boat from a purely intellectual point of view – it is merely an actually existing boat.

14. “As the stream rises, he looks at it, secondly, with some accession of emotion – his prospective danger awakens in him the conviction that it is a good boat for a time of need, though he is not yet ready to make use of it. 

15. “But thirdly, when he feels that the rushing tide must otherwise sweep him away, a volitional element is added – he gets in the boat, trusts himself to it, accepts it at his present and only means of safety.  Only this last faith in the boat is faith that saves” (Christian Theology).

III. WHAT FAITH DOES.

1.     Faith justifies (Romans 5:1).  Those of us that have trusted Christ, have been declared righteous (cf. Rom. 3:26).

2.     We have access to God, and all the blessings of God by faith (Rom. 5:2).

3.     Faith stabilizes the believer.  Going back to Ephesians 6, notice the emphasis on “standing” (cf. 6:11, 13, 14).

4.     It is faith that makes us steadfast in our spiritual battles.  It is faith that gives us courage to stand when the flesh wants to run.

5.     First Corinthians 16:13 says, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”

6.     The whole world can be falling apart, but the man of faith is standing on the promises of God.  “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

7.     “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28:20).

CONCLUSION:

Many years ago, the great Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached a message on the shield of faith, and he concluded his sermon with these words:

Oh, that thou wouldst believe on Jesus now! Leave thy feelings, leave thy doings, and trust Christ...So say thou to God, “I have heard that Thou art merciful, if there is a wretch out of hell that deserves to be in it, I am that sinner – if there is one that now feels that earth is provoked against him, and the ground says, swallow him up, and heaven is provoked against him, and cries, let the lightning flash destroy him; and the sea says, drown him; and the stars say, smite him with pestilence; and the sun says, scorch him; and the moon says, let him be blasted; and the mildew says, let me devour his crops; and fever says, let me cut off the thread of his life, –if there be such a wretch out of hell, I am he.”  Yet, say to God,  “I believe in Thy mercy, I believe in Thy promise, I believe in Thy Son Jesus, I believe in His precious blood, and here I am. Do with me as seemeth good in Thy sight” – say this, and thou shalt have mercy, and pardon, and peace.