Faith ABC (part 6)
We’re going to continue on the subject of faith. As we have looked at the Word, God says that it is impossible to please Him without faith. The Bible tells us that we are to walk and live by faith. Every thing that we do should be done by faith.
I. Jesus taught 1 of the most valuable lessons on the subject of faith.
A. Let’s turn there MARK 11:22-23
1. Notice that Jesus Says, “Shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe.”
a. But the 1st thing that Jesus says is in (V 22) “Have faith in God.” Or “Have the faith of God.”
i. We are to have the God kind of Faith. An unwavering faith.
2. All right, let’s go back and read V 23, but this time we’ll put it together with V 24.
a. Notice that in (V24) Jesus said. “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
i. When you pray, at that very moment you are to believe that you receive the things that you are praying for.
b. You believe that you receive them now, you believe that it is yours NOW. And because you believe that it’s yours now you will receive them.
i. In order for faith to work you have to get the understanding that the moment you pray and believe God (or stand in faith) that it is yours in the spirit. (You already have it in the spirit.)
ii. Now as you continue to stand in faith, you will see those things appear in this natural realm.
c. According to the Wylciffe Bible Commentary the VERB “Believe” here means “Persistent, continuing faith.”
i. And the VERB “Receive” favors the Greek Aorist tense meaning “You did receive.”
ii. In other words, we are to keep on believing that God has already given us our request.
3. This is the faith that God wants us to have, You believe that God’s promises are already yours, then you will receive it. The KJV words it “And ye shall have them.”
a. That’s Future tense, you believe that’s it’s yours now and you will see it in the future.
b. That’s why the Word says, “Through faith and patience we’ll inherit the promises.”
c. You need that CONTINUING FAITH in order to see it. You just have to keep standing in faith.
i. Faith only sees the answer, it sees what God has promised.
B. Too often we’re ruled by our physical senses (what we see or feel) and that causes doubt.
1. JOHN 20:24-28 In this story, we have Thomas who was not with the other 10 disciples when Jesus appeared to them.
a. Thomas’ faith was only based on what he could see or what he could feel.
i. Jesus called this type of faith “Faithless.”
ii. Look at V 27 again.
b. What is the kind of faith that Jesus is looking for? JOHN 20:29
i. The greatest kind of faith is the kind that will just simply take God’s Word and believe it without have to see it 1st. TRUSTING GOD with all of your heart.
C. ROM 4:17-21
1. Can you see the differences between Abraham’s faith and Thomas’ faith.
2. Abraham was fully persuaded that, what God had promised, He was able to perform.
3. We need to have faith like Abraham’s faith.
a. 1st Abraham had God’s Word for it.
b. 2nd Abraham believed God’s Word. (V 20 Strong in Faith.)
c. 3rd Abraham didn’t consider his physical senses. (What he saw or felt, his own age or the Sarah was past the years of bearing children.)
d. 4th Abraham gave praise and worshipped God.
i. In (V 20) it says that Abraham “gave glory to God.”
ii. The word “Glory” means “praise and worship.”
a. (Romans 4:20) From the Living Bible says, “But Abraham never doubted. He believed God, for his faith and trust grew ever stronger, and he praised God for this blessing even before it happened.” TLB
iii. Never forget about praise and worship, Abraham did it before he ever saw the manifestation.
4. The God kind of faith says, “If God said it, than it’s true.”
a. Too often our faith is based on what we see, feel, think, circumstances, or what we hear others say.
b. Let your faith be based on God’s Word ALONE.
c. The world says, “Seeing is believing, but the Bible teaches that “Believing is seeing.”
II. Turn with me to ROM 5:2
A. What is Grace?
1. Very simply, It’s God’s riches at Christ expense.
a. It’s God’s blessings and promises given to us.
2. Again (ROM 5:2) says, “We have access by faith into this grace.”
a. God’s Grace, His promises and His blessings have been made available to us by faith.
B. HEB 4:2
1. This is in reference to why the children of Israel didn’t enter into the promise land. They had the Word of God on the subject, but they didn’t mix their faith with it.
ii. But as Paul is saying here, the same thing applies to us.
b. There must be a mixing of our faith with God’s Word to receive the promises.
III. PRO 13:12
A. When it says “Hope deferred” the word “DEFERRED” means “postponed” in other words “it’s lost.” But it doesn’t mean lost for good.
1. There is really 2 different kinds of hope.
a. You’ve heard people say, “There is nothing else to do, but hope.” Most of the time they mean everything looks so bad that they don’t think the right thing, (the thing they need), can happen, but all they can do is HOPE. Hope that by some small chance the right thing will happen.
b. But the 2nd type of hope is more of an expectancy, you expect it to happen but you don’t know when.
i. Some have lost there hope in the sense that they don’t think that God will come through. Let’s read (PRO 13:12) again.
c. Then the word “SICK” means “to be/become weak, be/become sick, be/become diseased, be/become grieved, be/become sorry, feel weak, become ill, to make oneself sick, to be made sick, to be tired, to be made weak, to make sore, to show signs of sickness, to grieve, to be wounded.”
2. According to this V, if you lost your hope you’re in trouble.
a. If you lost your Hope you need to get it back.
B. The 2nd ½ of this V says, “But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”
1. In other words, “When the thing that you’ve been hoping for comes to pass it is a tree of life.
a. It will bring gratification, encouragement and joy.
i. It will bring a marry heart.
ii. (Proverbs 17:22) Says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” KJV
iii. In other words it’s going to bring healing.
2. But how are we going to get our hope back?
a. HEB 12:2
i. 1st of all you have to get you eyes back on Jesus.
C. But as we found out from (PRO 13:12) When our hope is gone we’re in bad shape.
1. How do we keep from losing our hope?
a. Again from (PRO 13:12) we wont lose our hope if we see the answer to our prayers.
b. (Hebrews 11:1) Says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. KJV
i. Faith brings the things that we have hoped for into this natural realm.
WOLCC 11/17/91 SUN AM and WOLCC 9/15/96 Sun AM