FAITH IN GOD

ĐỨC TIN TRONG CHÚA

Kinh thánh: Giăng 10: 31-38

Câu gốc: 1CÔ-RINH-TÔ 13: 12 phần B – Ngày nay tôi biết chưa hết: đến bấy giờ tôi sẽ biết như Chúa đã biết tôi vậy.

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FAITH IN GOD

Bible: John 10: 31-38

Main verse: 1CORINTHIANS 13: 12 – For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

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– It is very hard nowadays for a person to believe in God. At the same time, there are also many Christians who has lost their faith in Him. That is the sad reality that the church (in general) has to consider and pray for help from God to rebuild the faith among us.

– Having faith in God has become too complicated for many people on each passing year and now they are quick to believe almost everything else except God.

– One of the many reasons that make people refuse to believe in God is sins in Christian life. We don’t mean the sins that Christians has committed before we became believers, but we’re talking about the sins that we Christians committed after we had confessed our faith in Jesus Christ.

– There are also other reasons as well, like historical, social and political ones, but we are not going to talk about them just yet.

– When people in the outside world witness church-goers doing something that contradicts the standards in the Bible, those outsiders will criticize not just that particular person, but the whole church and Christianity.

– We never have the intention to defend wrong-doers among Christians and today, we also don’t want to talk specifically what went wrong with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we want to only focus on the faith in God.

– We can explain and identify what make Christians committed grave sins in the past centuries, but the past is the past, we cannot change anything about it, but we can change our future if we really want to, both for Christians and unbelievers, and that is what we want to talk about.

– Many people avoid Christians and the church or even hate us because of the sins (not merely mistakes as a pope said) that other Christians had committed in the past, even centuries ago. That’s why today Christianity is persecuted the most among religions around the world.

– Persecution is what certainly happens to Christians, according to Jesus’ warning:

MATTHEW 10: 22 – You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

MA-THI-Ơ 10: 22 – Các ngươi lại sẽ bị thiên hạ ghen ghét vì danh ta; song ai bền lòng cho đến cuối cùng, thì sẽ được rỗi.

– But we have to understand that when we are hated by the world because of believing in God and trying to live a holy life, we will be blessed abundantly by Him, for He loves those who are truly His sons and daughters.

– But if we were hated because of our unholy life, or of wrongdoings, or of committing sins that were against the Bible’ standards, that would be a big problem, not with man only, but with God, too.

– By committing sins or just merely doing something wrong against the Bible’ standards, we would put us Christians at risk of losing the salvation in Christ, as the Bible has emphasized in Galatians 5: 19-21.

– And at the same time, it will prevent others to have faith in God, as was written in Romans 2: 23-24.

GALATIANS 5: 19-21 – The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

GA-LA-TI 5: 19-21 – Vả, các việc làm của xác thịt là rõ ràng lắm: ấy là gian dâm, ô uế, luông tuồng, thờ hình tượng, phù phép, thù oán, tranh đấu, ghen ghét, buồn giận, cãi lẫy, bất bình, bè đảng, ganh gổ, say sưa, mê ăn uống, cùng các sự khác giống như vậy. Tôi nói trước cho anh em, như tôi đã nói rồi: hễ ai phạm những việc thể ấy thì không được hưởng nước Đức Chúa Trời.

ROMANS 2: 23-24 – You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

RÔ-MA 2: 23-24 – Ngươi khoe mình về luật pháp mà bởi phạm luật pháp làm nhục đến Đức Chúa Trời! Vì bởi cớ các ngươi nên danh Đức Chúa Trời bị nói phạm trong vòng người ngoại, như lời đã chép.

– Also according to the Bible, we Christians broke God’s law because we did not actually have real faith in Him. That’s why we could not receive God’s power to live a holy life, even if we asked for it:

JAMES 1: 6-7 – But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

GIA-CƠ 1: 6-7 – Nhưng phải lấy đức tin mà cầu xin, chớ nghi ngờ; vì kẻ hay nghi ngờ giống như sóng biển, bị gió động và đưa đi đây đi đó. Người như thế chớ nên tưởng mình lãnh được vật chi từ nơi Chúa.

– Real faith has no doubt in God, but it’s so rare in Christians today. That’s why we continue to fail in our spiritual fight with Satan’s temptations.

– On the other hand, when we Christians could not live up to the standards in the Bible, or when we broke the laws, both human’s and God’s, we prevented unbelievers from coming to God and having faith in Him. That has been happening more often as we can see during our evangelical effort.

– It’s a bit silly of not having faith in God because of the wrong things that others did. We will explain it later on.

– Even some of our brothers and sisters lost their faith when they saw or knew other Christians committed sins. Their instant reaction was leaving the church and abandoned their faith. That means, like those wrong-doers, they also had no real faith in God. They had been following people the whole time, they did not actually followed God, because in cases like that, people were wrong when they sinned, not God. He never does anything wrong, to humans or to the whole universe. Why our brothers and sisters abandoned their faith because of men?

– So, because lacking understanding, people don’t want to come to God and some Christians has lost their faith in Him. Thus, understanding real faith in God is very important for a person to start a new life journey with God on Earth and to eternity.

– But first, let make an example like this: A person, when in need of a mean for his personal transportation, went to a car dealer to buy a vehicle for himself. He saw a good car that he liked in the dealer’s parking lot and wanted to have it. But he first informed the salesman that he wanted to meet the engineer who made that car. Even so, he wanted to know him fully before buying that car. Does this actually happen in real life? We are sure that it does not. Why? Because we never heard of anyone that makes that kind of request.

– But people make that same kind of request about God all the time when Christians tell them about Him. The saying is like this: I must know God fully before I have faith in Him.

– According to the Bible, no human can see God while they’re still living on Earth:

EXODUS 33: 20 – But, He said: You cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.

XUẤT Ê-DÍP-TÔ KÝ 33: 20 – Ngài lại phán rằng: Ngươi sẽ chẳng thấy được mặt ta, vì không ai thấy mặt ta mà còn sống.

– While living in this flesh and blood, we will never know Him well enough until we see Him face to face after this life:

1CORINTHIANS 13: 12 – For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

1CÔ-RINH-TÔ 13: 12 – Ngày nay chúng ta xem như trong một cái gương, cách mập mờ: đến bấy giờ chúng ta sẽ thấy hai mặt đối nhau; ngày nay tôi biết chưa hết: đến bấy giờ tôi sẽ biết như Chúa đã biết tôi vậy.

– Also, with the example of buying a car, that person would miss an opportunity to have a good car if he kept on insisting to see the engineer who made it. That request would never be fulfilled. In the same way, a person would miss an opportunity to experience a meaningful life if he kept on insisting to know God completely before having faith in Him.

– In this life, people have faith in many things before knowing them completely. For instance, people have felt confident enough to eat meals in restaurants before knowing how the chefs cooked them. People has voted for politicians onto seats of power before even knowing their complete lives from birth. People have felt confident enough to get on airplanes before knowing the pilots personally and how they were trained.

– But for God, many people have always asked to know Him completely before having faith in Him although they have known some good Christians, even known some who had lived a holy, perfect life unto their death.

– Again, with the example of buying a car, people don’t often like to blame engineers for accidents happened on the street. They know there should be some human errors in controlling cars that caused accidents. But on the other hand, many, more than often, blamed God for wrong things that Christians did.

– Christians can be wrong and we often do, but God is never wrong in anything. He is the Holy and Perfect One in every sense, and in every aspect.

– The proof is in the Bible. It is the word of God, the only book in the whole world that can make people know Him and understand Him.

– There is no mistake or contradiction in the Bible. By saying that, we do not mean the mistakes of spelling, or of words because of translating or adding in by monks, or by biblical scholars or by publishers.

– There is no mistake or contradiction in the theme of the Bible and in God’s plan for mankind’s salvation although its books were written by more than 40 authors who lived far apart from each other and in different times of history.

– If you are patient long enough with us, we will explain the Bible in more details, particular in some parts that people have used to criticize God Himself, like His commands to kill everyone in some land of Canaan, or the record of infidelity in David’s life.

– A lot of Christians study the Bible, even unbelievers do, but they usually study it for knowledge, for academic credentials, not for real faith and salvation. That’s why many people miss the important truths in it.

– If we would buy cars without knowing the engineers who made them, so we should have faith in God in this life and we will surely have a chance to know Him completely for eternity.

– As for Christians, we cannot live a good life according to the Bible’ standards if we don’t know much about it. Saying this, we do not mean that we have to understand everything in the Bible in order to have strong, real faith in God. We mean Christians should understand some basic truths about our faith, memorize them and practice them everyday in our lives. The truths in the Bible will make us free and we will not carry this Christian life as a burden anymore, but like wings to make us soar into the vast sky of heavenly blessings from God.

– We cannot understand everything in the Bible in this life time. Studying it is a process for eternity. Forever existence of the Bible does not mean it would be there to collect dust, but it will be there for God’s children to continue studying it:

1PETER 1: 25 – But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.

1PHI-E-RƠ 1: 25 – Nhưng lời Chúa còn lại đời đời. Và lời đó là đạo Tin lành đã giảng ra cho anh em.

– We are followers of Jesus, God of the Bible, not followers of a religion or some good men in this lives. Even good men made mistakes, or sinned during their life times, but God never does. So the Bible will help us to open our eyes and walk with Jesus in this life with confidence, to win over temptations and to be good examples for others.

HEBREWS 12: 2 – Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

HÊ-BƠ-RƠ 12: 2 – Nhìn xem Đức Chúa Jêsus, là cội rễ và cuối cùng của đức tin.

– Disregarding of what others did, committed or sinned, both by Christians and unbelievers, we should base our faith on the Bible’s truth, stand firm with constant prayers and we will experience the growth of our faith in God eventually.

– That’s why we often encourage you, our brothers and sisters in Christ, to study the Bible much more to achieve real faith in Him.

– May God see our enthusiasm in learning and studying the Bible and bless us with light, knowledge and understanding from Him. Amen.