Apostolics of Southwest Missouri
We have now spent two Wednesday evenings laying the foundation of our study on the Fundamentals of Faith. In our first study we discovered that faith is substance and evidence, cultivated through the continual hearing of God's Word and always producing the fruit of obedience. In our second study we traced that obedient faith into the new birth itself — repentance, baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost.
Tonight we bring our series to its conclusion by asking a question every believer eventually must face: what happens to faith after the new birth? Does faith's work end at the altar, or does it continue? Scripture answers unmistakably — faith is not merely the door through which we enter the Christian life; it is the very means by which we live the whole of that life, overcome every enemy set against us, endure every trial, and finish our course victorious.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4, KJV
Our forefathers did not view the Christian life as an easy road free from opposition; they understood that the moment a soul is born again, that soul becomes a target of the enemy, and that the only weapon capable of standing against the fiery darts of the wicked one is faith. Tonight we examine four dimensions of this overcoming faith: faith that overcomes the world, faith that endures trial, faith that lays aside every weight to run the race, and faith that stands daily as our shield against the enemy.
Point One
Faith Overcomes the World
The believer who has been born again is not thereby removed from the world and its pressures. Rather, that believer is now equipped, through the very faith that brought about the new birth, to overcome the world’s pull toward sin, compromise, and unbelief.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:4–5, KJV
John identifies faith as the singular “victory” — not one strategy among several, but the decisive weapon by which the world system, with all its philosophies, pressures, and temptations, is defeated in the believer’s life. Notice that this victory belongs, by right, to every child of God; it is not reserved for spiritual elites, but the inheritance of every son and daughter of God.
The “world” here refers not merely to the physical planet but to the entire system of values, pressures, and enticements opposed to God — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Faith is the means by which the believer resists these pressures, not by human willpower alone, but by a settled confidence that what God has said about sin, holiness, and the world is more true and more weighty than what the world says about itself.
Holiness Living Is an Act of Overcoming Faith
Our Apostolic Pentecostal heritage has always emphasized a distinct, separated, holy walk before God — modesty, separation from worldly entertainment, and a lifestyle set apart unto the Lord. Rightly understood, these are not legalistic burdens but the fruit of overcoming faith. The believer who dresses modestly, guards the eyes and heart, and separates from sinful practices is not earning salvation through these choices; that believer is expressing, day by day, the very faith that overcomes the world.
Point Two
Faith Endures Trials
No believer is exempt from trial. Scripture teaches that trials are the very proving ground in which the genuineness of our faith is demonstrated and strengthened. James, writing to believers facing real persecution and hardship, does not tell them to avoid trials but to count them a source of joy.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2–4, KJV
James is not suggesting trials themselves are pleasant; he is teaching that the purpose behind the trial — the strengthening and proving of faith — is cause for genuine joy. Faith that is never tested remains untested and unproven; faith that passes through the fire of trial emerges purified, matured, and firmly established. Peter uses a similar metaphor, describing “the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire” (1 Peter 1:7) — tested faith produces “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8–9), rooted not in favorable circumstances but in an unseen, utterly trustworthy Savior.
James continues by instructing believers who lack wisdom to “ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:5–6). Enduring trials with faith requires a settled, undivided confidence in God, refusing to be tossed back and forth by the winds of circumstance, fear, or discouragement.
Point Three
Faith Runs the Race
Looking unto Jesus
Immediately following the great roll call of Old Testament heroes of faith in Hebrews 11 — who “through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises” (Hebrews 11:33) — the writer turns to a direct exhortation for how we, surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, ought now to run our own race of faith.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:1–2, KJV
Notice the active verbs: lay aside, run, look. Faith, in the ongoing Christian life, is never passive. It requires the deliberate, continual laying aside of every weight — not merely outright sin, but every hindrance and encumbrance that slows our progress. It requires patient, persistent running, sustained across the whole distance of the race, and above all, a fixed gaze upon Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
Paul’s Testimony at the Finish Line
Near the end of his life and ministry, Paul could testify with confidence born of a lifetime of enduring faith: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7–8). Notice he does not merely say he believed the faith; he says he kept the faith — an active, ongoing, guarded possession maintained through decades of shipwreck, imprisonment, beatings, and persecution. This is the picture of faith that overcomes: not a single decision made once at an altar and then forgotten, but a lifelong, faithful keeping of that same confidence in Jesus Christ from the day of conversion to the finish line — the same daily, dependent faith Paul describes elsewhere: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Point Four
Faith as a Daily Shield and Confident Expectation
As we close our series, we turn to the daily, practical exercise of faith as our protection against the enemy and our confident expectation for the promises of God yet to be fulfilled in our lives. Paul, describing the whole armor of God, places faith in a position of particular importance.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Ephesians 6:16, KJV
“Above all” — Paul signals that the shield of faith holds a place of special prominence among the pieces of spiritual armor he has just described. The shield of faith is sufficient to quench all — not merely some — of the fiery darts of the wicked one. Every accusation, every temptation, every lie whispered against the believer’s identity, calling, or standing with God can be extinguished by the raised shield of confident faith in God’s Word and character.
Faith does not merely defend; it actively lays hold of the promises of God for the future. Jesus taught, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). And we close where the great principle of this entire series has been anchored from the beginning: “the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4) — the prophet spoke these words on his watchtower, waiting for God’s answer concerning a genuinely fearful and uncertain circumstance, and God’s answer was a simple assurance: the righteous will live, sustained and carried through every uncertainty, by faith.