Your Faith Groweth Exceedingly II Thess. 1:3 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
Your faith, from the time you are saved until the time you die, should grow. In this text, the faith of the Thessalonians grew exceedingly. How does faith grow exceedingly?
It starts with faith in Christ – 2 Tim 3:15; Rom 3:22-28 – Jesus said to those whom he healed “thy faith hath made thee whole,” or “thy faith hath saved thee.” And then he said things like, “Go and sin no more.” The idea was that their lives were supposed to change as a result of their faith. And your life should begin to change once you are saved. [Note: Bro. Welder preached the gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, here]. Tolstoi said of his salvation, “I tasted joy and happiness that death could not take away.”
It grows with believing his words – 1 Thes 2:13 – Stephen was full of faith [Acts 6:5, 8]. Notice those who disputed with him were not able to resist his wisdom and spirit [Acts 6:9-10]. His wisdom and spirit came from his knowledge of the words of God [Acts 7; Rom 10:17].
A boy returned from Sunday school class and told his mother about the lesson. He said that Moses and the Israelites were trapped by Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea. So, Moses called in the army corps of engineers who built a bridge across the Red Sea for the Jews to go over. When they were across, Pharaoh sent his tanks to follow them. When they were on the bridge, Moses called in air strikes against them and the air force blew them all up on the bridge. His mother asked if that’s how the teacher really told the story. He said, “No, but if I told you what he said, you really wouldn’t believe it.”
Adrian Rogers said, “The Lord never said, ‘I’ll show you, then you’ll believe.’ He said, ‘Believe and then I’ll show you.’” Spurgeon said, “A little faith will being your soul to heaven; a great faith will being heaven to your soul.”
It continues growing with living by faith – Rom 1:17 – the just shall live by faith. In Heb 11, they all did something with the faith they had. 1 Thes 1:3 shows you what happens when what you believe begins to affect what you do [the work of faith]. You not only believe what the Bible says, but you obey what the Bible says. Faith is not believing that God can, but that he will. Emerson said, “All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
It strengthens with trials of faith – 2 Thes 1:4; Jas 1:2-4; 1 Pet 5:8-10 – the Lord allows your faith to be tried so that it will grow exceedingly strong. He brings the trials, at times. At other times, he allows the devil to bring the trials. When you pass, you will be perfect, established, strengthened and settled. Adrain Rogers said, “The lest amount of faith is greater than the greatest amount of difficulty.”
Conclusion: your faith grows exceedingly when you survive the trials and keep believing God’s words and working in faith. That kind of faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible.