WILL JESUS FIND FAITH ON THE
 EARTH WHEN HE RETURNS?

Luke 18:7-8 “And shall not God avenge His own Elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?  I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find FAITH on the earth?”

BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF THE WORD FAITH:

Greek (noun) pistis is defined as firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing.  Akin to peitho to persuade, and is used in the New Testament as faith in Christ. The word is used for trust; trust-worthiness; what is believed; the contents of belief; the faith; a ground for faith, an assurance; a pledge of fidelity, plighted faith.   

Greek (verb) pisteuo is defined as a firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgement of God’s revelation or truth; a personal surrender to Him; a conduct inspired by such surrender, with prominence given to one or other of these elements according to the context.

All this stands in contrast to belief in its purely natural exercise, which consists of an opinion held in good faith without necessary reference to its proof, i.e. The object of Abraham’s faith was not God’s promise (That was the occasion of its exercise) ; his faith rested on God Himself!

Greek word definitions:

pistin (noun);  pistis (noun); pistois (adjective)

Defined as: to believe; to fully trust in; to have confidence; to have assurance; to have reliance; to have conviction; faith means both to believe and to be faithful to the belief.

Practical Application: The believer seeks faith: to learn to trust God more and more; to be a person of faith, a person of great faith and belief; one who wants to believe, trust, and depend upon God; to grow more and more in believing God.

The believer seeks to be faithful: be faithful to God more and more; one who desires to be loyal and obedient to God; one who wants to please God in all one does.  Faith means to be faithful and trustworthy; to be loyal and steadfast in devotion and allegiance.  It means to be constant, staunch and enduring.

A faithful person denies and sacrifices self, all that one is and has, and trusts God.  One who believes God and knows that He will work all things out for good; therefore, one casts oneself totally upon God and becomes more and more faithful to Him.

Faith does not doubt God, not His salvation, provision or strength to help; Faith does not begin with God then back off and give up; Faith does not walk with God then give in to the lusts of the flesh; Faithfulness begins with God and continues with God.  Faithfulness continues on and on; it never slackens or surrenders.

To be faithful is to be devoted and attentive to; to give constant attention to; to give unceasing care to; to wait steadfastly upon; to persevere.  The believer overcomes trials by constant attention to God and waiting upon His delivering power.  The believer stays in constant communion with the Lord, depending upon Him to supply the strength to walk through the trials of daily living.

Faith is an act or state of acknowledging the existence and power of God and the reality of a divine order; the acceptance as real or true of that which is not supported by evidence of the senses or by rational proofs; an affirmative response of the will to God as revealed in His Word.  It is thus compounded of belief, trust, and an attitude of mind, will, and spirit.

Faith so varies in its connotation throughout the Bible that any accurate interpretation of a passage where the idea or the word for faith occurs requires consideration of when it was recorded; who wrote it; and the use made of the same word elsewhere.

Research Material Defining Faith: W.E. Vine Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; New Testament from 26 Translations; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; Practical Word Studies in the New Testament; Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible.

SCRIPTURAL PASSAGES:

Acts 20:22-32 “And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Spirit witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.  And now, behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.  Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the Counsel of God. 

Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood.  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves.  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.  And know brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”

Romans 10:17 “So then FAITH cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

I Timothy 1:18-19 “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightiest war a good warfare; holding FAITH, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning FAITH have made shipwreck:”

I Timothy 4:1-3 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the Latter Times some shall depart from the FAITH, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the Truth.”

I Timothy 4:4-6 “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.  If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of FAITH and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.”

II Timothy 4:1-8 “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at HIS APPEARING and HIS KINGDOM; preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the TRUTH, and shall be turned unto fables.  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the FAITH: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall give me At That Day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His Appearing.”

I Peter 1:2-9 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through FAITH unto salvation ready to be revealed in the LAST TIME.  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, through now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your FAITH, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the APPEARING OF JESUS CHRIST: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  Receiving the end of your FAITH, even the salvation of your souls.”

I Peter 1:10-16 “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or WHAT MANNER OF TIME the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.  Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the thing, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST; as obedient children, not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. ”

I Peter 1:17-25 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was FOREORDAINED before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these LAST TIMES for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your FAITH and hope might be in God.  See ye have purified your souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.  The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.  And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

I Peter 2:1-12 “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.  To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, and holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.  Wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded.  Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallow, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.  But ye are a Chosen Generation, a Royal Priesthood, an Holy Nation, a Peculiar People; that ye should shew for the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the DAY OF VISITATION.”

II Peter 3:1-7 “This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior:  knowing this first, that there shall come in the LAST DAYS scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the PROMIS OF HIS COMING?  For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.  For this they willingly are ignorant of that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby he world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the DAY OF JUDGMENT AND PERDITION of ungodly men.”

II Peter 3:8-14 “But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but he is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the Day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  Nevertheless we, according to HIS PROMISE, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

II Peter 3:15-18 “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these thing; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as thy do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.”