Doubt

By faith Christians are "saved"!

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God..."

Faith must be powerful! That's how a person is saved. Some believe that salvation is that moment in time when a person is "enlightened"; when a person understands what Jesus' death was all about; that he died in our place although we are the sinful ones! Although the moment that we're illuminated with this epiphany is important, "faith" is more than a moment. It's a lifestyle! It's enduring faith until the end of our lives!

Colossians 2:5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.

Therein lies the difference between mere belief (as even the demons have) and faith! Belief leads to faith, but faith is so much more! "Faith" is complete confidence in Jesus, confidence in him and trusting him to do what he says, accepting those precepts without tangible proof! What does he promise to the one who trusts? Salvation!

Therefore, it's belief which leads to faith which is the requirement for salvation. (i.e., if we have no faith; we are not saved. However, even with a "little faith" we are born-again, although vulnerable to attack).

Matthew 14:31 "And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him (Peter), and said unto him, O thou (Peter and the other apostles)  of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

Jesus defined "doubt" as "those of little faith". Hence, faith is variable. It wavers from time to time. The goal of the Christian, to please Christ, is to remain steadfast in trusting him. Peter's walking on water is an example of salvation. He knew that Jesus had the power to save him and he would not be swallowed in the bowels of the storm, he had faith to test the waters so to speak, but not enough faith to continue walking on the water even as he was doing it! His "faith failed him"! (Because he doubted!)

Peter had faith enough to turn his life over to Jesus, but not enough faith to sustain his walk. When he fell, Jesus caught him. Peter should have had faith enough, but he doubted! This brings us to today's point:

If we look at Figure #1 below I have "belief" on the vertical axis. On the horizontal axis is merely different people with different degrees of faith. Those who do not believe would fall into the red zone. There a person is damned (their choice). Above the line for those who even have a "little faith" are those who are saved. Note that I labeled the line as "confidence", of course, in Jesus. Extreme doubters have some degree of "confidence", but it's more empty than full!

The "safe" are for those "born-again" and  is a gradient,, not that there is anything as more "saved" or less "saved", because you either are born-again or your not! However, those with greater faith are more "safe" than those with less, because they have more confidence in Jesus and less doubt, Doubters have less confidence and endanger their security.

When a person first believes with truth and sincerity, that person is a "babe in Christ" and has minimal faith. The person though is "safe", but that's when Satan attacks hardest! It's before the fruit matures that the Christian is more apt to lose confidence. Satan is self-employed, but his job assignment is two-fold: 1) prevent the lost from hearing and believing, and 2) attacking those with faith to destroy their confidence. The green gradient indicates that mature Christians are more "safe" than babes in Christ, although both are redeemed for the "hope of salvation" as Jesus redemption for us is described.

With faith and doubt compared, let's look at the authorities who came to bully:

Acts 5:24 "Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow."

The authorities saw the same events as all the others. They saw the number of Christians multiply through the work of the Holy Ghost. It would appear that they had a dilemma. They saw and believed, but they had doubt as to whether this movement would "catch on"! The English Standard Version uses the word "perplexed" in lieu of "doubt".   They didn't believe enough to have any trust in Jesus, but merely enough to worry about "what if I'm wrong"? Many Christians, even today, take out "fire insurance" so to speak. They get "saved" in spite of the their dilemma, not to live for Christ, but to be "safe" just in case their doubt is not right.

"Christians" who believe in Jesus are much like the demons. They are acutely aware of the likelihood of his existence, but aren't convinced enough to trust in him!

The authorities were perplexed I'm sure, because they knew prophecy. It was being fulfilled before their eyes. They probably knew it, but just weren't convinced. They were skeptical. Skepticism is a trait of doubters. Although they had seen the proof of Jesus' power, they did not accept it, because miracles don't fit into the realm of rational thought. Because faith is intangible, those who need hard evidence always remain in doubt! Their doubt was to the extreme that they were lost! We don't know at what point God is gracious enough to ignore our doubt and accept what faith we have, but Paul indicated that it's by grace that we even have faith. Faith is a gift, but it's one we must put to use!

"Doubt" is being uncertain or having a lack of confidence. In effect it's the variable measurement which is inversely proportional to faith (Figure #1). The authorities were confused. They saw what the others saw, they were afraid it might spread, but they had little faith that it would spread because they had no confidence in Jesus: "Oh, what are we to do? How must we handle this?"

Figure #1: Faith and Doubt

When we sin and neglect the "meat", then Satan places doubts in our minds: "Am I truly saved?" That doubt makes one less "safe" because part of God's hedge around those who are his is trimmed a bit, a little at a time.  That hedge is "trust". Satan makes us doubt by tempting us. When we sin, Satan says "Remember the things you did although God told you not too?" Satan uses memories of sin, to make us doubt our own safety, and even whether Christ's blood was sufficient.

It's when we have no confidence in Jesus' sacrifice that we have doubted to the extreme that we no longer believe ("we" being those who've left their first love). God knows when that is and the "Christian" does too, but even the most sinful Christian still has hope that God's grace is sufficient, but their confidence in that is clouded in doubt!

Satan whittles away at our faith by putting doubts in our minds. If we don't flee from Satan and the pleasures of the flesh, Satan will gradually whittle away at our faith until even doubt would look good! Finally, the Christian who continually ignores God's will will not even take the time to doubt. Hus faith has dried up and turned to unbelief!

Luke 22:32 "But I have prayed for thee (Simon Peter), that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

Peter was on a slippery slope. His faith was becoming clouded by doubt. He missed the point of Jesus' purpose: It was not to magnify them, but to make them servants to him and mankind! Peter had not realized the true kingdom of God, although from scripture, he knew about it, but hoped for something in it for him, other than being saved!

Faith can fail a person! Jesus said so! Faith can turn to doubt. Peter never doubted Jesus' existence, but his purpose. It's not only the man and God in whom we must believe, but it's his purpose of redeeming sinners! Peter lost track of the "purpose" although he was standing in front of the Man!

The devil lies to even the elect. He wants us to believe that the degree of faith we have is of no consequence; that the two-minutes when we first believed is enough! Faith is for a lifetime; it's not a mere cross-section in time. Sure we are "saved by faith", but faith is being there for the long haul. It's living steadfast and having confidence that our hope for salvation is concrete! It's maintaining confidence that Jesus will do what he says he will do and can do!

Even if we have doubt, we're still are saved! "Beyond a shadow of a doubt..." is improbable and wrong! Even firm steadfast Christians often have some degree of doubt, but the more one communes with God, the more in unity they are and are more "safe" with fewer doubts!

"Keep the faith, brother!" is more than a cliche'; it's a necessity!