This post aims at describing what real faith is and providing a glimpse at what it means to use it to fight the battle of faith.
The first video, 7 minutes, is an excerpt of a John Piper sermon (mp3 at end of post) which dealt with the battle of faith. He addressed his talk towards fighting sexual sin and envy, but his talk has a broad application – covetousness, any type of lust; addiction….
Dr. Piper’s video also makes clear that the fight of faith is a fight against unbelief. And that unbelief is not only a sin, but it prohibits one from striving for obedience and walking with God – that is, it keeps a Christian stuck, prohibits growth in grace, blocks the way to heaven, etc.
I have learned, by examining my sin for motives, that whenever I sin, it is because I did not believe God, but I believed the promises of Satan’s world order – that I would benefit from having _____ more than I would benefit from obeying God.
That covetous mentality always fills one with emptiness rather than anything good. God hates covetousness because it is idolatry, so said the apostle Paul. I think that is so because when one is coveting, he / she keeps the image of the coveted object in the mind’s eye, that keeps one from contemplating God….
I learned such things during 53 years of worldly conditioning – TV and media bombard us all day, every day with commercials that intend to make us lust, covet, desire ‘things’ to be happy, etc. We are raised in a way that teaches us that self-denial (Christ’s call to us) is dreadful, and the last thing we would ever do. The great problem with that mentality is that all sin falls under the category of selfishness; and if we continue to seek self-gratification all day long, then we are raging down the road to hell.
By the way, I just learned the definition of walking with God: to be mindful of what God is doing in your life and to concur with Him, receive His providence, submit to Him, seek obedience. Faith is certainly required, so is knowledge of Him and His word. (I got that from Jeremiah Burroughs’ book, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment – posts on it are in the category of Spiritual Disciplines).
The second video is only 2 minutes long, but provides the best definition of faith I have heard. It is an excerpt of a Ligonier Bible class; the teacher is Dr. Sinclair Ferguson.
These two videos should help Christians better understand faith and the fight of faith.
The full mp3 Piper sermon is at the end of this post.
Pastor Sinclair Ferguson on faith:
The sermon title is Battling the Unbelief of Lust [of addiction, of covetousness…]:
For other similar posts, see Categories: John Owen; Jonathan Edwards; Lust; Faith; Study Helps; Justification; Thomas Brooks and Calvin’s Institutes.
There are three posts in the category of Jonathan Edwards that give a glimpse into his spiritual life. They aim at teaching Christians to journal; to identify, admit, own, trace the motives…of their sins. Edwards was one of God’s greatest blessings to the church, he has much to teach us about dealing with our sins in a way that will enable us to walk the walk of faith and obedience.