A Believer's Fight | Our Blog | Church of God Barbados

“…when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭18‬:‭8‬ ‭KJV

Faith is the bedrock of Christianity and the first step to following Jesus. In the Garden, when the serpent opposed God’s instruction and manipulated God’s image in the eyes of Eve, his primary intention was to destroy her faith.

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
– Genesis 3:1-7 NKJV

After the fall of man, the enemy continued his quest: trying to blind the world to the truth of God and trying to manipulate the nature of God in the eyes of believers. A world then developed that did not believe in the purity of God’s character and His good intentions for mankind. In their disbelief, they rejected the instructions from their Creator and chose to stumble around in darkness.

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

– Genesis 6:5-7 NKJV

But God found faith in Noah (Genesis 6:8-9). A believer who not only walked with God but also obeyed his commands and followed him. As a result, Noah’s life and the lives of his entire household were spared from the flood.

Since Jesus’ ascension, we have been living in the last days (Acts 2:5-21), and one day, the King will return. When He does, will He find faith on the earth?

Will Jesus find anyone who still believes that He is good?

Will He find anyone willing to obey His commands at the expense of their comfort?

Will Jesus find anyone who is still willing to know Him intimately?

Will He find anyone who is still willing to follow, so that others, too, might be saved?

In John 10:24-30 NKJV, Jesus walked into the temple in Solomon’s porch and the Jews began to question Him:

““How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

In this passage, Jesus identified four (4) critical elements of His sheep: they believe in Him, they hear His voice, He knows them, and they follow Him. Let’s explore each one.

1. Believe
John 3:16 KJV says, “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But if belief was sufficient, why isn’t it the only characteristic listed for Jesus’ sheep? We find the answer in the life of Noah: faith without works is dead.

Noah believed in God, so he built the boat. If Noah simply believed, but didn’t obey God’s command to build the boat, then Noah and his family still would have perished in the flood.

James 2:18-22 NKJV says:
“But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?”

We can say that we believe in God. We can even claim that we’re Christians. But do our lives show it? The things we say, the places we go, how we spend our time, how we spend our money, how we treat others. That is the real test of whether our belief or our faith in Jesus is truly genuine.

2. Hear

The next thing that Jesus said in John‬ ‭10‬:‭27 NKJV is “My sheep hear My voice”.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

When doing some research, I discovered that “hear” in the Greek means to hearken, to heed or to obey. In Barbados, when an adult tells a child not to do something and the child still goes ahead, the adult might say, “Hello… You hear me?” Or “You hear what I tell you?” Because if the child has heard the instruction, it is expected that he/she should obey. It is the same way with God. If God has given an instruction in His Word, He expects that His sheep obey.

3. Know
This word “know” in the Greek means to know by experience or to know intimately. It corresponds with the word in Hebrew that is used in Genesis 4:1 which says, “and Adam knew his wife and she bore Cain”.

In the same way, Jesus is saying that He knows His sheep intimately. He knows all of our flaws, He knows every thought, He knows everything that makes us scared and brings us joy. He has seen every sin that we’ve committed, and He loves us the same.

In the same way that Adam knew Eve and she conceived, if we allow Jesus to truly know us, then we, too, should produce the fruit of His spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

John‬ ‭15‬:‭5-8 NKJV‬:‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

4. Follow
We serve a kind God. We serve a loving God. We serve an awesome God who desires to know all His creation intimately both individually and collectively, at the same time. For this reason, Jesus said in Matthew 28:18-20:
“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

But we have an adversary who does not want to see any of us believing in Jesus, furthermore, following Him. An adversary who has blinded the world, continues to keep them in bondage and equally seeks to destroy the faith of the children of God.

In Luke 22:31-32 KJV, Jesus said to Peter:
“Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”

Satan sifted Simon Peter to the point that he distanced himself from Jesus. Luke 22:54 tells us that leading up to the crucifixion, when they brought Jesus into the high priest’s house, Peter (who cut a soldier’s ear off moments before for his Lord) now followed Jesus at a distance. Under immense pressure, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times (Matthew 26:69-74) and upon the third denial, Matthew 26:74 tells us that he began to curse and swear. But Jesus prayed for him that with all of Satan’s sifting, Peter would remain as one of his sheep and his faith would not fail.

In the same way, brothers and sisters, Satan desires to sift all of us from following Jesus, knowing Him intimately and following His commands. And he intends to destroy our faith in God.

Hebrews 11:6 KJV tells us:
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

The enemy has used the same tactics as in the Garden of Eden to make God’s children believe that He is not a rewarder of His faithful followers. He has manipulated the Word of God and spoken deceitful thoughts into our minds to make us believe that there is no reward in putting God first. He has pitied the divine timing of God to make us believe that God has forgotten our prayers. And has tried to make us frustrated with God’s plans for our lives. But today I pray for you that your faith will not fail and that one day, coming soon, you will return to your first love and strengthen your brothers and sisters in Christ.