As a church, our aim is the salvation of the people of Burgas. We are an evangelical church that preaches Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and our charter and program is the Bible. Through our messages we want to give people the truth about God, the spiritual world, and man. We love Bulgaria. We love you too, and we do not want a single person in our country to go on living in ignorance. Many of us are, to put it mildly, illiterate when it comes to the Bible and the spiritual laws. As a church, we want to change that, because we are certain that knowing these things will make our lives qualitatively better. Jesus Christ said:
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)
We want this liberating truth to reach you. Take a break from your hurried daily routine, pause for a moment, and focus on this message, which will change your life and the way you think.
The Truth About Faith
In the previous two teachings we looked at the main characters of the Bible — God, the devil, and man — and we concluded that only fools think there is no God (atheism is folly); we confirmed that the devil is an arch-swindler and a murderer; and we concluded that man is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body. Many people, however, do not see into the spiritual world and deny the truths about God, the spiritual world, and the life beyond. This is because of the atheism and materialism that have been drilled into us for years. But unbelief simply places a person like a little fish in an aquarium, cutting off any possibility of living not only in the material world but also in the spiritual world, where the causes of things actually lie. We, however, will break down the walls of that aquarium through the truth about faith. For faith is the perceptiveness of the spirit, and it is by faith that you can receive information from the spiritual world and act upon it. The apostle Paul speaks in his letters of “the eyes of our heart” (Ephesians 1:17,18), and it is with them that we see the essence of things. Faith is the eyes of your heart. If the eyes of your heart are closed for one reason or another, you walk like a blind man, or at the very least like a sleepwalker, and the likelihood that you will fall is very great. Elsewhere the apostle Paul says that we walk by faith, not by sight. We live according to what we see in the spiritual world, not according to what we see in the material one. The things that are visible in the material world are temporary, but the things unseen by the natural man, which can be seen only by faith, are eternal. Though invisible, spiritual things are more real than the material things of this world, because material things are subject to change, while spiritual things are unchangeable.
What Is Faith?
And now, let us look at the definition of faith in Hebrews chapter 11:
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is to be sure of the things that are unseen, and this does not mean to be almost sure — 99 percent. Faith is not probability. In probability there is a certain percentage of doubt — the possibility that things may not be exactly as the greater likelihood suggests. That is this world’s definition of faith; in other words, we have twisted the idea of faith and we call doubt faith. But in reality doubt is unbelief. The word “faith” has simply lost its true meaning for us. And this is because for a long time we have believed in the wrong things. That has led to widespread unbelief. It has come to the point that now, when we say we believe, we are actually doubting — something that is the opposite of believing; that is to say, we are lying. But the biblical definition of faith is different. According to it, to believe means to be sure — one hundred percent certainty about things, without a single percent of doubt. This is the challenge today, even to us who believe: that we would have a true, pure faith, which is a one-hundred-percent conviction about things that are not seen. If you can see the invisible, you will also be able to do the impossible.
Why Should I Believe?
And perhaps right now you will say: “All right, it has become perfectly clear to me what the Bible says about faith, but what is all this for me, why should I even know anything about faith?” The answer is very simple: because without faith you cannot receive anything from God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Then perhaps you will say: “And why should I even receive anything at all?” If you are too proud and self-satisfied and want to stay where you are, and you have no need of true love, joy, peace, health, and prosperity, that is another matter — but even then you need to be saved from eternal death. Eternal death exists, even though you may not be aware of it. And I want to tell you the good news that your salvation has already been provided. Jesus Christ redeemed us from every sin by shedding His blood for us on the cross of Golgotha. He died out of love for you, but the only way to receive the salvation He accomplished for you is to believe it — to accept that it is exactly as God says it is. This means to believe, first, that there is a God; second, that man is a sinner; to believe that Satan is our adversary; to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He revealed God the Father to us through everything He said and did. To believe that He performed the miracles spoken of in the Gospels, that He was afterward unjustly condemned, was crucified on a cross, died, and that the blood He shed was the sacrifice that God made for us, and that Jesus Christ did not remain in the grave, but rose from the dead. If you believe that it is exactly as God says it is — because this is the gospel — then you will be saved. The Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 18, says:
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18)
Do you understand why you need faith? Because if you do not believe, you are already condemned. This is precisely why we want the people of this world to learn the truth about faith — so that they may be freed from this condemnation and have eternal life.
You see that your faith determines your condition — if you believe, you are justified, you have passed from death to life, you have restored your relationship with God, and you will never die. If you do not believe, you condemn yourself to eternal death, you will not see life, and God’s righteous wrath remains upon you (John 3:36).
Faith in Action
Right here you may perhaps say: “Oh, I believe, I believe, how could I not believe, there is something, there is a power, it may even be God — of course I believe!” Then you will have to learn one more thing about faith, and it is that faith without works is dead; that is, faith is active, and if it does not act, it is dead. If someone only says he has faith but has no works, that faith cannot save him. What are the works of faith? Pure and holy godliness. This means that a person who believes will not remain in sin; he will flee from sin, fight against sin, and not stay in it. He will want to be pleasing to God. To that end he will practice the spiritual disciplines — he will go to church, pray, give, help the poor, testify about Jesus, and fight against Satan. His faith will show itself in works. So if you say, “I believe, I believe there is some power…”, that is not enough. If you truly believe, you will invite Jesus into your heart, and every day, for every single decision, you will ask yourself: “Is what I am saying for the glory of God? Is what I am doing for the glory of God? Would Jesus do what I am doing?”
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:19)
This is said in James 2:14–26. The demons know about God, but their faith is passive, and passive faith is dead. Living faith is always active — it lives and acts according to the things that God says.
How Can We Have More Faith?
Finally, I would like to address one last question — where does faith come from, and how can we have more faith? The Bible tells us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing not just anything, but the word of Christ!
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. (Romans 10:17)
When you hear the word of Christ, when you hear the gospel, it will produce faith in you. Faith and the Word are like moisture and water. You can never have water without also having moisture. Where there is water, there is also vapor, there is also moisture. In the same way, if you have God’s Word, you will also have faith. You have now heard part of God’s word, so you have also received faith. If you want to receive more, you are welcome at our church gatherings.