Faith#1
Let me read it to you from the NJB, “For I see no reason to be ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who has faith—Jews first, but Greeks as well—17for in it is revealed the saving justice of God: a justice based on faith and addressed to faith. As it says in scripture: Anyone who is upright through faith will live.”[1]
In this V that we just read it says from the New King James Version that the just shall live by faith. We find that exact phrase 4 different times in the Word. God is trying to tell us something. Our life should be a continuous walk of faith. Walking in faith every day of our lives. And true faith only comes from the Word of God.
I) Many times what people know on a subject is limited to what they heard someone else say.
A) Well, with the things of the Bible that’s not good enough.
1) Let’s find out what the Bible says for ourselves, and then apply that to our lives.
B) We’ve talked about walking in the fullness of God. You have to take the whole package.
1) You can't just keep part of it and expect to walk in the fullness of God.
2) Isaiah 1:19 says, “If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land;”[2]
a) I don't usually quote verse 20, but today I think it will build some contrast.
3) Isaiah 1:20 says, “But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” [3]
a) And we can't expect to be blessed to the fullness God has for us unless we are OBEDIENT TO ALL THAT HE SAYS.
(i) If we try to walk a moral, upright life, but we don't of tithe, we can't expect the fullness of God's blessings.
(ii) When we TITHE but don’t live a holy life, we’re not going to walk in the fullness.
b) When we only keep part of God’s Word and commandments, we’ll walk in limited success.
(i) BEFORE this GREAT OUTPOURING of God, we are going to see GOD'S JUDGMENT and his judgment takes place first in the house of the Lord.
c) It's not time for us to play around and do our own thing.
(i) We need to act like mature Christians and do what God says.
(ii) I would rather give my tithe to God and go a little hungry, then to walk in judgment and limited success.
(a) Limited success is like you still being saved, but not your family. It is nothing to mess around with.
4) Once we walk in all that God gives us to do, we are walking in the Truth and the Truth will set you free.
a) It will bring you into a liberty, and it will bring you into the promises of God.
C) PRO 29:18.
1) The NKJV uses “revelation” but the KJV used the word “Vision” it means “Divine communication.”
a) God may have given you a Vision, a Dream, a Goal, or a specific Plan for your life.
(i) If it was from God, never let go of that. Hold on to it.
(ii) There will be times that the enemy will try to steal it from you.
b) You need to hold on to it and stand on the Word God has spoken to your heart. (Even when it looks like there is no way for it to come to pass.)
(i) In (Ephesians 6:13) Paul said, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.”
(ii) The “Evil day” is when the enemy is trying to steal from you. (Your vision, you dream, your goal.)
(iii) Paul goes on to say, “Having done all, to stand, Stand therefore. (Eph 6:13-14)” Hold on to what God has given you.
D) Look at PRO 29:18 again.
1) The KJV says, “Where there in no vision the people perish.” The NKJV says, “Where there is no 4REVELATION, the people cast off restraint.”/[4]/
2) The word “perish” or “restraint” is the Hebrew word “PAWRAH.” It literally means “‘undisciplined/get out of hand’”
a) It also carries the meaning of “disorderly behavior of people in violent opposition to authority.”/[5]/
b) Who are they in opposition to? What authority?
c) God.
3) The word “Vision or Revelation” literally means “To See it.”
a) In the Hebrew “Any word meaning to see with the eyes, the most vivid form of sensation, seems bound to be employed for almost any sensation (by eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin) as well as any mental or spiritual perception.”/[6]/
E) In other words, we have to ENVISION THE WORD OF GOD.
1) If you want it to manifest in your life, you have to see it, hear it, taste it, & feel it.
F) If there is no Divine Communication the people perish.
(i) Now you might be thinking, God hasn’t given me any Divine Communication.
(ii) You have His Word and that's a Divine Communication.
2) The last ½ of (Proverbs 29:18) says, “But he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he.”
a) The “LAW” is the Word of God.
b) How would you keep the “LAW” or “The Word of God” without knowing it 1st?
3) (HOS 4:6) “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
a) As you get God’s Word into your heart, it will give you a goal, a plan, and even a vision. (Without a vision my people perish or are naked (or stripped).
b) A lack of knowledge of God’s Word will cause destruction in whatever area that you lack knowledge.
G) Look at what Jesus said in JOHN 8:31-32.
1) Notice that it’s not just the truth that sets you free.
a) Everyone who has a Bible has the Truth.
b) In order for you to be set free you have to have the KNOWLEDGE of the Truth.
2) Now turn with me over to HEB 11:6.
a) The Word says, “you don’t please God without faith,” it’s an impossibility.
b) That’s because God is a faith God, and all that God has given to us, He has given through the avenue of faith.
c) Jer 29:11-14a (1124)
(i) Every promise of God’s Word is tapped into through faith.
(ii) You may already have some sort of God given dream, or vision. The only way to tap into those God given visions and desires and dreams is by faith.
d) Look at ROM 5:2. (1605)
e) In (Eph 2:8-9) it says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: {it is} the gift of God.”
(i) You could even say this, “For by grace do you have PROSPERITY through faith.”
(ii) You could put any of the promises of God in there. [Health] [deliverance]
3) The only way for you to receive the promises of God is (by) GRACE.
a) And the only way to receive the Grace of God is through faith.
b) There is no other way to get into the Grace of God but through the avenue of FAITH.
(i) What is Grace?
(ii) Very simply, It’s God’s riches at Christ expense.
(iii) It’s God’s blessings given to us.
4) Again (ROM 5:2) says, “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.”
a) God’s Grace, His promises and His blessings have been made available to us by faith.
H) According to (Hebrews 11:6) which says, “But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
1) To please God, 1st we must come to Him. Then we must believe that He is and THAT HE IS A REWARDER.
2) God is not the one that takes away. He is not the one that causes problems in our life. God is not the troublemaker.
a) When the children of Israel were in the wilderness; it wasn’t God’s will for them to be in the wilderness for 40 yr.
b) Their disobedience caused that.
c) We need to understand that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
3) The children of Israel spent 40 yr. in the wilderness because of their disobedience.
a) The Bible tells us they wouldn’t mix any faith with the Word of God. (Hebrews 4:2)
b) (Numbers 13:1-2) Says, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel...”
c) The Lord said that He gave it to them.
(i) But when they went in to spy out the land, they came back with an evil report. Saying we are not able to take the land. (NUM. 13 25-33)
4) Their problem was that they wouldn’t mix any faith with the Word of God.
a) Look at HEB 4:2.
(i) 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.
(a) Prosperity-tithe
(b) Healing-faith and come up for prayer.
(ii) Again (HEB 11:6) says, we must believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
(iii) You could say it this way; “We must have faith that God will bring His promises to pass in our lives.”
II) Turn to Heb 12:1-2.
A) This tells you that Jesus is the author of your faith. It also says that He is the finisher of your faith.
1) Notice that it doesn’t say that TESTS AND TRIALS are the author of your faith.
2) (James 1:3) Says, “The testing of our faith produces patience.” (footnote, endurance or perseverance).
a) Jesus is definitely the author of our faith.
3) According to the Word of God, Jesus is the Word.
a) (REV 19:13) “And his name is called The Word of God.”
b) (HEB 12:2) Can also say that the WORD is the AUTHOR* OF OUR FAITH. (looking unto Jesus, the 1author and 2finisher of our faith,)[7]
c)
4) That just confirms what (ROM 10:17) says, “So then faith {cometh} by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
a) That’s where faith begins.
b) Go over to ROM 12:3.
(i) The Word says that God dealt to every man the measure of faith.
(ii) When did you get that measure of faith? When you heard the Word about Jesus, and when you received Him.
(iii) That was your 1st step in the area of faith.
B) God’s Word is faith filled, it is filled with faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
1) The only way you can measure the amount of faith you have is to measure the amount of Word that is in you. I’m not talking about head knowledge, but what you have in your heart.
a) The only way that it gets into your heart is by meditating on it.
2) If someone says that they don’t have enough faith to believe God for finances, that means there is a lack of the Word in them concerning the promises of financial blessing.
a) But that problem is easy to fix. Get into the Word of God.
III) If God has given you a vision, a goal, a dream, or a promise from His Word, hold on to it.
A) Maybe that Word came to you years ago.
1) Get those God given dreams and goals off the shelf of unbelief, dust them off and start standing in faith for those thing again.
2) God does not give up on those dreams, visions or His promises, and neither should you.
B) God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Faith#1
TFC March 11, 1990 and WOLCC 11/29/92 SUN AM and WOLCC 7/23/95 SUN AM When I preached this on 7/23/95 I changed it. It is about 40% different from when I preached it on 11/29/95. No copies of the original were made. And Word of Life Christian Church Sunday, January 09, 2000. &WOL on Sunday AM September 26, 2004
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[1]The New Jerusalem Bible. Includes Indexes., Ro 1:16. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985.
[2]The New King James Version, Is 1:19. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996, c1982.
[3]The New King James Version, Is 1:20. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996, c1982.
4 prophetic vision
[4]The New King James Version, Pr 29:18. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996, c1982.
[5]Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains. electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, Page 497. New York: United Bible societies, 1996, c1989.
[6]Harris, R. Laird, Robert Laird Harris, Gleason Leonard Archer, and Bruce K. Waltke. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. electronic ed., Page 274. Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, c1980.
1 originator
2 perfecter
[7]The New King James Version, Heb 12:2. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996, c1982.