The Necessity of Faith

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1: 3-9 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.1.3-9.NIVUK I recently heard a true story that made me smile. The story is about Russian Jewish woman who was sent to a gulag - a Communist prison, from which not many people ever returned. In this gulag she was put to work on a collective farm. The guards told her she had to pull out the weeds from a field. Which was fine, only she didn't know which was the crop and which was the weed because she had never farmed before. You can guess what happened. She pulled out the crop and left the weed behind. The prisoners then harvested the weeds because this was the communist times and no-one ever said anything. The guards took the weeds and sold them in the market because they were afraid to tell anyone about what had happened. And people bought the weeds because there was no way they would refuse to buy anything the prison was selling. So the people ended up wasting their money on useless weeds. That is exactly what has happened in Western culture. For the last fifty years, our culture has tried to replace Christianity with anything - literally anything - and sell it to its people. We've had atheism, nihilism, existentialism, spiritualism, Eastern religions, Norse religions, even Jedis and followers of Klingon religion and nothing has worked. Can you imagine? We've had people even register as followers of religions invented in science fiction when asked to do so in a census! And our governments have let them do it! Every one of these ideas has been weeds sold in the place of crops. Worse: for decades our beliefs have been satirised and mocked, our leaders made fun of, our rituals subverted. It's as if the media in our countries have been determined to turn people from considering what we believe for fear of being mocked themselves. People of faith were suspected, accused, teased and derided for years. That is, until people realised that cold atheism does not satisfy, and then they replaced it with the post-modernistic idea that everyone was right, that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as it makes you happy and you don't hurt anyone else. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Except we've found ourselves on the wrong side of that one too. Why? Because the Bible teaches that there is such a thing as right and wrong, and sin. And you can tell a person anything you like, but don't you dare tell them that they're a sinner like you and need to repent. Now our society is facing massive upheaval again. The science we put our faith in for decades and entrusted with all our hopes and dreams is letting us down. And I don't mean because it didn't provide us with hover boards by the date predicted in the film 'Back to the Future 2'. No, it's letting us down because we trusted to it for certainty, yet we have none. Our scientists cannot tell us when this will end. They can butter this up by saying that we will beat it. But how and when remain a mystery to them. And the very idea that it's okay to believe whatever makes you feel good is seriously questionable right now. So it's okay to believe that Coronavirus is a coordinated biochemical attack by the Chinese, or an alien race, or that it actually doesn't exist at all? I don't think so! Or how about believing that people in power are an exception to the rules the rest of us have to abide by? That doesn't work either, does it? What you believe really matters. These verses from 1 Peter go further. They spell out the benefits from faith, and faith in God in particular. Peter is not going on a sales pitch. He is, however, reminding the Early Church of what they receive because they have faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ. I don't want you to be under any illusions. My whole reason for writing this is so that you have the same faith. I don't pretend to be writing this from an unbiased perspective. I am a Christian. I have faith in God. And because I have the benefits Peter describes here, I want them for you too. Before we go into detail on these benefits, we need to ask ourselves a pretty basic, fundamental question: "What is faith?" The Bible has a useful definition: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.11.1.NIVUK Although easy to understand, the English translations lack the detail contained in the original Greek. Where we have 'confidence in what we hope for', the Greek words used describe a contractual relationship where we are guaranteed to receive the benefits. For example, under Scots law, when you purchase a house, you go to your solicitor's office and sign the contracts, or missives, as they are called. Once your solicitor exchanges contracts with the seller's solicitor then the keys are released and the property is yours. You might not be in it. You might not be able to move into it for some weeks. None of your belongings might be there. But the property is yours. Another example is when you order goods online from a reputable company. You've paid. They've agreed to ship the goods. You'll have an email which states it. Those goods are yours. You are simply waiting on their arrival. Where it says 'assurance about what we do not see', this is about someone carrying out an investigation. There might be evidence which states something happened. There may be a lot of clues. There may be motive, means and opportunity. But it is possible, even with CCTV and camera phones, for the incident to take place without anyone seeing it. This verse is saying that it is faith which takes this evidence and infers what is real. A further verse in Hebrews 11 puts this into application: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.11.6.NIVUK Did you see it? Anyone who believes God must believe that He exists [assurance about what we do not see] and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him [confidence in what we hope for]. This is what faith is. It is not wishful thinking. It is not a shared insanity. It is not 'the opium of the people'. It is a guarantee of greater things to come and the reaction to the evidence of things we cannot see. But how does this help us? In 1 Peter 1, Peter provides three benefits of faith. The first of these is PROTECTING FAITH:

Protecting Faith Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3‭-‬5 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.1.3-5.NIVUK One of the great things about living in Europe is the huge number of castles in just about every country. There must be thousands of them. They are often fascinating, with history going back hundreds of years and thousands of stories to tell. Before Coronavirus, tourists from countries that lack such structures poured into our nations in their millions to explore these castles and hear their stories. We have visited several: Neuschwanstein, Edinburgh, Peles, Stirling, Predjama, Bothwell... They all have architectural elements in common: high walls, battlements, lookout towers, dungeons... They were all designed for one purpose: to keep things and people safe. These verses describe our faith as being like the battlements of a castle. In fact, more precisely, as an armed troop. Or a bodyguard. It keeps us safe. The same word is only used four times in Scripture: In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. 2 Corinthians 11:32 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/2co.11.32.NIVUK Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. Galatians 3:23 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/gal.3.23.NIVUK And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/php.4.7.NIVUK Have you ever been in a scary situation and wished you had an armed guard? I remember one such situation. I was continually being bullied by one lad when I was in primary school. My parents went to the school to discuss it with my teachers. It was happening outside the school gate. They could do nothing. They went to the police. He was below the age of criminal responsibility. There was nothing they could do. The boy's parents did nothing. They didn't care. One day he was giving me a hard time as usual. Suddenly his feet were no longer on the ground and he was staring into the eyes of a furiously angry man. My dad had been following me home, without me knowing, and had grabbed the boy by the collar. As he lifted him up, my dad snarled at him, "I think you owe my son an apology." "Sorry, Mister. And sorry Paul." he stammered. He never touched me again. If you're in a scary situation then I want to reassure you. God's power is your bodyguard. God's power is your troop. God's power is your armed guard. And you get to call on this guard through faith. But how can faith access this? Faith is being sure that God is there. Faith is being sure that He will answer when we call. Faith does this: When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh no, my Lord! What shall we do?’ the servant asked. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord , so that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha. 2 Kings 6:15‭-‬17 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/2ki.6.15-17.NIVUK Faith opens our eyes and mobilises God's chariots of fire. And do you know where we need them the most? In our hearts and minds: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.5.7.NIVUK Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6‭-‬7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/php.4.6-7.NIVUK Faith provides the foundation for us to achieve great things despite our fear and anxiety because we know that when we call on God, He will come through for us - not that we bend Him to do what He wants. No, we remain calm in trouble because we know that He is working it all out for our good: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.8.28.NIVUK That is our defence, our bulwark, our bodyguard against negative thinking, worry and anxiety. I actually feel sorry for those who don't have it. These are really frightening times. We have no means of really getting on top of our anxiety if we don't have faith, and the right kind of faith - faith in God. So we have seen that the right kind of faith is a protecting faith. It is also a PROVEN FAITH.

Proven Faith In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6‭-‬7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.1.6-7.NIVUK There is a simple question we should ask ourselves here that has a very uncomfortable answer. What is it that proves our faith is genuine? The answer? Suffering. We need to remember who Peter was writing to. These were First Century believers. They were suffering their first fiery trial under the vicious, merciless persecution of Emperor Nero. Many of them would be beaten, tortured and put to death in the worst ways imaginable. They were suffering in ways that it's hard for us to come close to imagining unless we ourselves are being violently persecuted. And yet Peter writes that this very suffering is doing them a favour: it is proving the genuineness of their faith! The same Greek word is mentioned here: If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved – even though only as one escaping through the flames. 1 Corinthians 3:12‭-‬15 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1co.3.12-15.NIVUK Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realise that Christ Jesus is in you – unless, of course, you fail the test? 2 Corinthians 13:5 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/2co.13.5.NIVUK Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load. Galatians 6:4‭-‬5 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/gal.6.4-5.NIVUK A similar concept also appears in Hebrew in the Old Testament, where there are some verses that are critical for our understanding: The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart. Proverbs 17:3 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/pro.17.3.NIVUK Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. Psalms 66:8‭-‬12 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.66.8-12.NIVUK But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/job.23.10.NIVUK You see, the validity and genuineness of our faith is not proved in its doctrinal soundness or its Scriptural knowledge or its orthodoxy. These things are all important, but they are not the most important. No, the genuineness of our faith is proved when it is tried by fire. Why is that? Peter alludes to this in the verse, as does Paul. Our faith is refined. The dross and the slag is burned off. Only pure faith remains. The genuine faith emerges only once the filth and the dirt have been removed. But why does this need to take place? A few miles from my home there used to be a giant steelworks. It was closed in the 1980s at the cost of tens of thousands of jobs. The land on which it was built could not be re-used for decades. Why? Because of the pollution resulting from the process of refining metal in the furnace to make steel. Even today I've heard that people living near to smelting plants are sometimes banned from swimming or fishing due to chemicals released into the sea - effluent from the refining process. What can we understand from this? That the slag and ore removed from us during the refining process can be highly dangerous and poisonous. The Lord is using the heat and the pain of suffering to refine us and to save us from ourselves. This is where we really need to change our perspective from an earthly one to a heavenly one. Suffering is painful. Of course it is. No-one will ever dispute that. Suffering wouldn't be suffering if we didn't suffer. It's also the experience of every human being. We have it in common - all of us - sooner or later. We automatically assume that everything that causes us comfort is good and everything that causes us discomfort is bad. But that is just not correct. Even we don't believe it. We sign up to join gyms and get yelled at by personal trainers who put us through painful exercises. We volunteer for pain. In fact, we actually pay for it! In my case, having felt I'd been yelled at and humiliated enough in primary school to last a lifetime, I went to a physiotherapist with a back injury. What did I get out of that? Painful stretches and exercises! You see, we don't really believe that all pain is bad and all comfort is good. We know it's not true. We know that both can be good and bad. Here in these verses we see God using pain to refine us, to bring out the best in our faith. And although it hurts, often beyond measure, we need to agree with Jeremiah that this can be a good thing. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord . It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the Lord has laid it on him. Let him bury his face in the dust – there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, and let him be filled with disgrace. For no-one is cast off by the Lord for ever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone. Lamentations 3:25‭-‬33 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/lam.3.25-33.NIVUK Often when suffering strikes, the question is asked, "Where is God in this?". The Bible has two answers to this question: one that our culture finds easy to accept and one that it finds difficult to accept. But that doesn't matter. They are both true. The first answer is that He is with us: that He passed through suffering Himself and knows precisely how it feels. That the cross is the ultimate demonstration of a God who knows precisely what it means to be human more than any other. The Bible is clear that this is the case: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to feel sympathy for our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:14‭-‬16 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.4.14-16.NIVUK That's easy to accept, right? The idea of a God who is entirely understanding because He has been through it too? Such a wonderful, comforting truth! But let me tell you another comforting truth. The Bible also teaches that God is Sovereign. He is God. He is in control. When we feel the heat of the furnace of suffering, the Bible teaches that He is not only standing beside us... He is also controlling the thermostat. Do you find this hard to believe? Read the first two chapters of Job. Not only does God permit satan to cause Job to suffer, He also sets the boundaries of that suffering. Read any book on the Exile: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Daniel. What do you see? The prophets knew that God was fully in control of what was happening to them. This is a lot harder for us to take in. Why? Because just as we are made in the image of God, we have cast Him in the image of man. We feel we need to always understand what God is doing and to have Him react to every situation the way we would from our perspective. But this is wrong! For God to be properly God, He has to be allowed to act in a divine way and sometimes work His will out in ways that we don't appreciate or understand. And some of these will be painful. There's no getting away from that. We often don't understand the situations we are in. We often don't comprehend why we are in them. We often don't know when they will end. We simply do not know what God is doing when He puts us through the furnace of suffering. But in faith we simply trust God that it will be good: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.8.28.NIVUK This is why we see some verses which, at first glance, and knowing the context of fierce persecution against the Early Church, might not make sense, but in the light of what we have seen about suffering, they do: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2‭-‬4 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/jas.1.2-4.NIVUK Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:16‭-‬17 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/2co.4.16-17.NIVUK Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:3‭-‬5 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.5.3-5.NIVUK It is faith in these verses, in what we believe God is doing in and through our suffering, that drives the possessor of refined faith through the flames to the other side. But do we know why some people suffer more than others? Some people make wild claims about this, saying that they lack faith or that God needs to refine them more. Actually, I don't think we should speculate here. The answers to this are not found in Scripture. What is there, however, is how we should respond when a brother or sister is suffering: If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1co.12.26.NIVUK These three aspects of refined faith are critical to understand: 1) that suffering destroys the dross and refines the precious faith within us; 2) that God is in control and will not allow us to be tested more than He gives us the resources to cope with; 3) that we don't always know what He is doing, but trust Him in faith that He will keep His Word and use the suffering for our good. Faith is refined when the truth of a God who is with us, knows us and is in control drives us to face the pain and be refined, no matter the cost. And that refined faith can have a dramatic effect: These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:7 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.1.7.NIVUK Of course, Peter is talking about the end times, when Jesus returns and rewards those who have been faithful. However, we sometimes have small glimpses of this here on earth too, as three young exiles from Judah could testify: Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, ‘Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, Your Majesty.’ He said, ‘Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’ Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!’ So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire, and the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisors crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.’ Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3:24‭-‬30 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/dan.3.24-30.NIVUK Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego showed incredible faith in standing up to King Nebuchadnezzar. They showed incredible bravery to tell him that they would definitely not bow down to his golden statue nor worship his gods. But then, this faith had been forged during the fires of the exile and imprisonment. It was because of their prior suffering and how God had been with them that they were able to respond to the king's threat. And what follows is a great example to us of what happens when we are willing to allow God to refine us. They were visited by a 'Son of Man' - a divine visitation. Their bindings and shackles disappeared. They were freed. And the flames did them no harm at all. In fact, when they emerged from the furnace, they didn't even smell of smoke! The way they emerged from this suffering brought them earthly glory, but also brought the Lord glory because it was plain that He had led them through it. Allowing ourselves to be refined is never easy. We are going to feel some pain as the dross in our lives is burned off. Of course it will hurt. But if we submit to it, we will not only have our lives changed, but it will result in praise, glory and honour - if not in this life then definitely in the next. You may wonder why I have spent so much time on discussing this aspect of faith. The reason why is because understanding and applying this has made a huge difference to how I approach times of trial, testing and suffering. I hope it will do the same for you. So we see here a protecting faith, which protects our heart and mind in suffering, and a proven faith, which shines during the suffering and when it ends. The last aspect of faith is that it is PURPOSEFUL - it is a means to an end.

Purposeful Faith I don't known if you have any experience with self-assembly furniture. I have some, and it isn't always good. I remember the first time I began to unpack the pieces of one piece of furniture and I found a strange shaped piece of metal with the screws, nuts and bolts. If I checked the main picture, this part would not be visible. It would seem to be useless. Yet if I checked the construction diagrams, it would be the most useful of all. What is it? It's the Allen key. The Allen key is a simple, cheap wrench, first designed in the United States. It's nothing but a piece of metal bent in an L shape. Yet this simple tool enables people with little practical expertise like me to assemble a wardrobe, a table or a chest of drawers. Faith is a bit like an Allen key. For many it seems inconsequential. There are many atheists who I imagine believe that it's quite useless and worthless. And yet for billions around the world, it has a highly important purpose. And the crazy thing is that many atheists exercise a similar, if not greater, level of faith by maintaining that the incredibly complex universe in which we live came about by blind chance, or that parallel universes or aliens exist. Like the Allen key, faith is the most important tool that allows billions to build their lives, families and communities. But for Christians in particular it has another critical function: it saves. Not just from a bad or purposeless life, although this is important. No, the faith of a Christian saves them for all eternity: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8‭-‬9 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/1pe.1.8-9.NIVUK And it's not just Peter who states this. Paul is a strong supporter of this: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8‭-‬10 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/eph.2.8-10.NIVUK if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.10.9.NIVUK But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. Hebrews 10:39 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/heb.10.39.NIVUK In fact, Christians believe that faith is the only means of receiving salvation. Doing our best doesn't cut it. Rituals aren't good enough. Religious practice is not sufficient. All of these can be hollow, empty of any meaning. But true faith? That's entirely different. A few years ago we had the privilege of exploring a place I honestly believe should be listed as a wonder of the world. El Nido in the Philippines is as close to paradise as it's possible to get on earth. The Bacuit archipelago off the coast of the town is just extraordinary, formed of karst islands and white sand beaches. I've never seen anywhere quite like it and I doubt I ever will again. There is one beach which is actually inside a karst cliff. To get inside, you have to jump out of your boat into the open sea and swim through a hole in the cliff. For safety reasons, our guide asked us all to wear life jackets. To be honest, as someone who is more skilled at drowning than swimming, I was highly inclined to listen to him. So I stepped rather carefully into the water in my bright orange life jacket, almost as if I was stepping into a pool of battery acid. The truth is, I was quite terrified. I had never worn a life jacket in the water before and I was afraid it wouldn't work. Then I wasn't used to the idea of bobbing around like an orange and sunburned log in the water. I had no control at all. If a wave had taken me and I'd washed up on the shores of Indonesia, I would not have been surprised. Our guide saw the mess I was in - probably because I was glowing even redder from embarrassment, and asked me to have faith in two more things: a life preserver and his capability to lead me through the hole. I agreed. Mainly because I wanted to see the beach and not get arrested in Indonesia as an illegal immigrant. So I grabbed hold of the life preserver and let him lead me. He took me through that hole to one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen: a white sand beach and shallow lagoon in the middle of an island in the middle of the sea. And then he took me back again. I would never have seen that beach if I hadn't had faith in my life jacket, the life preserver and him. Friends, Jesus is promising us something so much better than even that beach. He is promising us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, or be affected by economic crashes, pandemics, wars or natural disasters. He is promising us an eternity free of absolutely everything that causes us to suffer now: Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Revelation 21:1‭-‬5 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/rev.21.1-5.NIVUK This amazing promise is what keeps us going when life seems impossibly hard. This what gives us an inexpressible and glorious joy in circumstances which should make us miserable. Why? Because we have a cast iron, one hundred percent guarantee that our suffering will be short and our eternity will be long. We are receiving, right now and forever, the thing our faith is aimed towards: we are being saved. So we have seen what faith is: that it is a guarantee of greater things to come and the reaction to the evidence of things we cannot see. We have also seen that real faith protects us, is willing to be refined through the fires of suffering and is purposeful in that it saves us.

I was once on a cruise in the middle of the Mediterranean when a passenger fell dangerously ll. The crew did not delay. An airlift was arranged. A Royal Navy helicopter was dispatched to take him from the ship to hospital. As the cruise ship had no helipad, the pool deck was cleared to allow the passenger to be winched into the helicopter. The crew did their best to protect the man's privacy, but you can imagine the sight of an elderly passenger dangling from a helicopter while he was being winched into the night sky. It wasn't very dignified for him, I'm sure. And I'm also not sure if he would ordinarily have placed his faith in a long piece of rope. But these were desperate times. And desperate times require desperate measures.

I heard later that he made a full recovery, but the image has stayed with me. Faith saves. There is no doubt about it. Provided you have faith in Someone who is able to save. Friend, there is more to this crisis than just Coronavirus. There are also the serious effects to mental health that this crisis brings with it due to Lockdown and our closer proximity to our own mortality. Faith in God is the answer to that. Faith in God - who He is, what He has done for you, what He is still doing now and what He promises He will do for you - can save you from being destroyed by this crisis. I would urge you to do the right thing for you. Don't wait any longer. Don't care about what other people think. Take the lifeline. Allow God to rescue you. Have faith in Him. You will not be disappointed.

And one day, when this is all over, you will realise that it was the best decision you ever made.