Increase
Our Faith
Luke 17:5
I. Do you ever feel like you need more faith? This is what the apostles felt. It is good to realize we have a need of more faith.
A. It is likely the apostles talked among themselves and realized together they all needed more faith.
1. It is very needful for those lacking in faith to go to Christ, who is able to increase faith.
2. It may be that the apostles considered the difficulty of forgiveness, and realized their lack of faith in that regard, led them to ask Christ to increase their faith.
3. Often, the difficulties of life force us to Christ, desiring him to give us the ability to overcome those difficulties.
B. Notice the answer of Christ.
1. Jesus doesn’t reprimand them, but encourages them to realize the real truth of faith. He explains that having control of our circumstances is not necessarily faith.
2. Verse 6 - Jesus speaks about the size of their faith in relation to its power.
3. The question: could I move the tree? No. The thought is not what I can do, it is what Christ can do.
4. Verse 7-10 - Jesus explains the difference between faith and fact.
C. Faith can be increased, but there is a difference between what we perceive as faith and what faith really is.
II. The apostles wanted to feel faith, rather than realizing that faith is a fact.
A. This is our major difficulty with faith and feeling.
1. In faith, you will never get to the place where you are the master.
a. The servant plows all day, then prepares the masters meal, and serves it to him. Then he feeds himself and takes rest.
b. We often believe that when we get more faith, we are no longer a servant.
c. Having faith is realizing who has the power.
d. We are not “on our own”, but more and more we are a servant to the master, Jesus Christ.
e. Having faith is being more and more under subjection to the master.
f. We can never turn lose our subjection to Christ, and retain faith.
g. When people point to our faith, we are not pointing them to Christ.
B. Heb. 11:1 - Faith is believing what God said.
1. If you want more faith, then know more of what God said, and believe more of what God said.
a. Notice that faith is a substance, there is evidence it will come to pass, even though we can’t “see it”!
1) Faith is not a thing floating around in the air, or something we can’t see or understand.
2) Faith is something you can reach out and touch, knowing it will happen.
b. An example of true faith: how true faith comes by knowing and believing what the Bible says.
1) Verse 3 - Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed with the Word of God.
2) Knowledge and faith fit together like putting your hand into a glove.
3) We weren’t alive when God created this world, but we know He took six days because the Bible says. That is faith
4) Faith is believing what the Bible says about those things we haven’t seen!
5) If you aren’t sure the Lord created the worlds in six literal 24-hour days, then you don’t have faith about that.
c. John 10:28,29 - We believe in security of the believer because God said it.
1) When we know God says we are saved eternally, and believe what God says about eternal security of the believer we have faith in Him concerning our salvation.
2) Faith in Christ concerning our salvation gives us peace about our salvation, because we are trusting in Christ to keep us saved, we are not trusting in any of our good works to keep us saved.
3) This is a fact we believe, even though at times, we may feel unsaved.
d. If we don’t have knowledge, given to us from the Bible, we don’t have faith about that subject.
2. Faith is simply believing what the Bible says.
III. How can I increase my faith?
A. Romans 10:17 - Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
1. Again, faith is not “mustered up” from within us.
2. Faith is taking God’s Word at face value, believing it, and living like it says.
B. Our faith increases the more we know about the ways of God (compared to the acts of God).
1. Studying the Bible, and allowing the word of God to change the way we think will lead to trusting God more, which is increasing faith.
2. Digging into Bible doctrines we do not understand leads to increasing faith.
C. The apostles ask for their faith to increase.
1. These men hold a special office in the first church, yet they do not understand how to increase their faith.
2. If the apostles did not understand how to increase their faith, it is very understandable that we do not understand how to increase our faith.
3. It is interesting that the apostles did not immediately get their faith increased, as if a switch was turned on for them, but their faith increased gradually, as they continued with Christ, and struggled to understand the ways of God.
4. Their faith was increasing even when they doubted the events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ, and continued to grow through the Day of Pentecost, growth ending only when they died.
D. How do we have faith and serve God correctly?
1. Romans 7:14-25 - Verse 25 - We serve God through the mind, not feelings.
2. This is how to have victory in Jesus.
3. John 4:24 - We worship God in spirit and truth.
a. If we don’t have truth (knowledge), we won’t be able to serve God in the spirit.
b. Satan fools a lot of people into believing they don’t need their minds to serve God.
c. Many people come into church services and try to serve God with their feelings, emotions, or some sort of “spirit something”, but they haven’t worshipped God, even though they “feel” they have.
d. What are you thinking about?
1) If you are thinking about lunch you are not worshipping God.
2) If you are thinking about your crazy boss, you aren’t worshipping God.
3) If you are thinking about your new car, or something else new you have, you re not worshipping God.
e. Romans 12:1,2 - We transform our lives by renewing our minds, not our feelings, emotions, or body.
f. I am not talking about the power of positive thinking, but believing what God said, and acting on what He said.
IV. II Chronicles 7:14 - God gave this promise to His people, not to the world. God’s children can turn this world around if we will only believe what God said.
A. God gave this promise to Israel, but the principle applies to us.
1. It is God’s problem that is causing the problems in this world!, not our president, or the wicked of this world.
2. Many of those people who claim to be God’s children agree with all kinds of wickedness, thus not praying that God would stop that wickedness.
3. Did you vote for or against gambling in this last election?
4. Do you pray that God would stop abortion?
5. Do you pray that God would control the leaders of our nation instead of Satan controlling them?
6. The nation of Rome fell because of corruption from within, just like is happening in the U. S. today.
7. This nation is on the brink of total destruction.
B. Do we believe God holds the heart of the king in His hand?
1. Then we will pray that God will bless him with knowledge of right.
V. Verse 10 – Always considers yourself an unprofitable servant.
A. We have conferred no favour. We have merited nothing. We have not benefited God, or laid him under obligation. If he rewards us, it will be matter of unmerited favour. This is true in relation to Christians in the following respects:
1. Our services are not profitable to God; {#Job 22:2} he needs not our aid, and his essential happiness will not be increased by our efforts.
2. The grace to do his will comes from him only, and all the praise of that will be due to him.
3. All that we do is what is our duty; we cannot lay claim to having rendered any service that will bind him to show us favour; and
B. Our best services are mingled with imperfections.
1. Romans 3:23 – We come short of his glory.
2. We do not serve him as sincerely, and cheerfully, and faithfully as we ought; we are far, very far from the example set us by the Saviour; and if we are saved and rewarded, it will be because God will be merciful to our unrighteousness, and will remember our iniquities no more.
3. Hebrews 8:12 states, For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.