Faith

[0:00] Let's go to Hebrews 11 verse 1.

[0:12] Hebrews 11 verse 1. Talking about faith. Faith. Hebrews 11 verse 1.

[0:26] It says now faith is not seen. Faith is not seen. Faith, now faith. Faith is right now.

[0:36] Right now. The faith that we can have now is faith that believes what happened then and what will happen. That we are alive because of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

[0:56] Amen. Amen. Faith is right now. Not faith was or shall be. It is right now.

[1:07] And the word faith, faith is variously defined. I'm not sure how to get the slides happening. I've got a problem again.

[1:19] Yeah, I'll give you a wave when it's time, all right? Faith is variously defined in the dictionary. See, faith is defined as belief, as certainty, as conviction of the truth of a matter.

[1:31] Now, we can have faith in all kinds of things, in all kinds of objects. And faith is only as good as the object in which it is placed.

[1:42] And the next one says, Romans 5 verse 1. It says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, just yesterday we were doing some witnessing and I came across a woman who had a kind of lapsed faith.

[1:59] Her faith was the Jehovah's Witness faith, which really we know is faith that is vain because it's faith that is in works.

[2:10] It's faith that is in religion. We can place faith in all kinds of philosophies, in people, in religion. We can place faith in ourselves, in our own self-effort.

[2:22] And all the faith in the world in someone that is false will not help you. The faith that we need, the faith of which I speak today, is the faith that is in Jesus Christ.

[2:34] The faith that is in the precious person of our great Saviour, the Lord Jesus. And I urge you, one and all this morning, place your faith in Him.

[2:45] Place your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's by Him we're justified. We're declared guilt-free. And it's by Him we're declared to have peace with God.

[2:56] It's in Christ. I urge you to place your faith in the living God. And faith means a believing upon Him, to believe upon Him. There was a missionary long ago called John Patton who was a missionary to the New Hebrides.

[3:13] And he was translating the word of God into the language of the people of the New Hebrides, which is Vanuatu now, isn't it?

[3:23] And he had worked on the gospel of John and he was working through it. And he found, of course, there's a word often repeated in the gospel of John, which is believe.

[3:35] Believe. And he couldn't find a word in the native tongue to translate this word believe. How could he translate the gospel of John if he couldn't translate this word believe?

[3:48] And it is the key word. And it is true that it occurs more than 90 times in John. How could you translate it if you didn't have any word to correspond with it?

[4:02] So he laid the manuscript aside. Then one day one of the people of the country came in. They'd been on some journey and they came and sat down with John Patton in his house, in his office.

[4:17] And this worker kind of slouched on a couple of chairs and he put his feet up on another chair. And he used a word of the country to say, I'm resting my whole weight on these two chairs.

[4:31] There was one word, one word of that country, which meant I'm resting my whole weight upon. And Dr. Patton said, I have my word.

[4:41] I have my word. So he translated the gospel of John. And every time he needed the word believe, he put this word, which means I'm putting my whole weight upon.

[4:52] So, for example, you could see that familiar verse of God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes upon him, he put it, whoever rests his whole weight upon him should not perish but have everlasting life.

[5:11] And another one was, as many as received him, so then gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe. He put, even to those that rest their whole weight upon him.

[5:23] So that was the word that he found. What must I do to be saved? Rest your whole weight upon the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe on him. Put your whole weight on him.

[5:35] It's as simple as that, isn't it? Put your whole weight on the Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And the faith that we need is founded not upon man's thinking or religion or some guru or philosophy.

[5:51] It's on Christ. It's only on Christ. Founded upon his word for us. The truth of his word. Because in the word of God, we have the final authority of what to believe.

[6:03] In Romans 10, 17, our next scripture, Romans 10, 17, it says, So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

[6:17] The word of God gives us faith. It's the word that gives us faith. Taking God at his word. Faith. It's right through the scriptures.

[6:28] It's right through the word of God. We see faith, evidence. As we see, by faith, we can make his promises come alive for us. By faith, God does a great, deep work in our soul.

[6:39] And his word, it tells us that every man is dealt a measure of faith. And we can know a certain faith. It is sure. It is authorised. It's certain. It's certified.

[6:49] We simply believe God's promise. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We simply believe his promise, as did Noah.

[7:01] Noah, as we know, he built an ark, and he spent 120 years building this ark in the middle of nowhere. There was no water there. He built this ark.

[7:11] He believed God's promise that there would be rain, and that the ark had to be built. And likewise, too, by faith, we believe God's promises. We believe what he says is true.

[7:23] And faith is simple, really. It's as simple as believing as a little child believing. You know, we would do well to have this simplicity of faith. Sometimes we make it too technical.

[7:34] In Matthew 18, it tells us, Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18, verse 3.

[7:44] And verse 4, it says, Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So faith can be very simple, very childlike, very elementary.

[7:58] You're trusting in that what he says is true. Just as a little child would trust his or her parent, we can trust our great saviour and his word that it is true.

[8:11] And our faith is in eternal realities yet to come. It is yet certain. It is of that which is as yet unseen.

[8:25] It is as yet unseen. Eternal realities. And we can see by the eye of faith. We believe having not seen.

[8:37] There was a missionary son, five years of age, who had been born and brought up in India. He had not seen other than near relatives.

[8:51] Just his parents. And one day he said to his mother, I love my grandpa. His grandpa had been writing to him regularly in India from the homeland.

[9:03] And the mother said to the son, how can that be, my son? You've never seen him. How can you love him? And the child says, doesn't he send us letters?

[9:14] Doesn't he send us presents? Aren't we going to go and visit him in the big steamship soon? The little child believed and loved the grandpa who the child had not seen.

[9:27] And likewise too for us, isn't it? We love him who we have yet to see. But we see him with the eye of faith. In 1 Peter 1, 8 through 9, it tells us, Whom having not seen, ye love.

[9:41] In whom though ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

[9:54] The end of your faith, the outcome, the result of our faith is salvation. The faith that we tell of is sure. Friends, today we've got a sure faith, a certain faith, a glad faith, and a faith in a message that is really true.

[10:09] A saviour who assures our hearts and saves our souls. And nothing can shake the certainty of faith. This faith rests not on some faulty foundation, but on the very infallible, sure foundation, the word of God.

[10:27] On his very testimony. And we believe because God has spoken. We hear the words of his mouth and we say, I believe. 1 John 5, 4 it says, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.

[10:40] And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Here's the true secret of personal victory. What does it say? Whatsoever is born of God.

[10:52] Are you born again? Are you born again? You can know the new birth. God can regenerate and bring new life within. I like to picture it as a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

[11:05] Born again. Made brand new. A new creature in Christ. How can we be born again? By faith. It's a supernatural work that happens.

[11:16] A new heart is given. A new destiny. A new life begins. And true victory is there. Born of God. I urge you today.

[11:27] Be sure that you are born of God. That you are born again. And there will be true victory there. True victory. Because we know life is often filled with battles, isn't it?

[11:38] And strife. It can be a struggle. A fight. Within. Without. Life can be as a battlefield. But faith gives the victory. Faith brings victory.

[11:49] Within. Without. Faith gives victory in the battlefield of life. And faith brings peace. Peace deep within. Everlasting.

[12:00] Life. But let's face it. In the reality of life that is, we know that we all can struggle. With belief. With unbelief. We struggle with doubt.

[12:12] We struggle at times to fully grasp that which is incomprehensible in a way.

[12:24] There was a time in Mark 9 verse 24. There was a father of a child with a deaf and dumb spirit. And he cried out to the Lord. He said, Lord, I believe.

[12:35] Help thou mine unbelief. There's this sense where we're torn at times between belief and unbelief. We face doubts and uncertainty. But we can know, nevertheless, a faith that is for sure and for certain.

[12:51] As much as within, we have times of struggle and doubt. He is sure and his salvation is certain.

[13:02] Think of Thomas when he saw the risen Christ. The Lord commanded those people still future who had yet to believe. Who will yet see his face.

[13:15] They did not see him face to face while alive on the earth. And we see this scripture here, verse 27 of John 20. And Thomas came to Christ.

[13:27] He had missed the first time where our Lord appeared, the risen Savior, after the resurrection. He missed that gathering time. Don't miss church. You might miss something important.

[13:38] So here he is. He gathered together. Thomas wasn't there to see the Lord at his first appearance. And he doubted. And it says, Our Lord said to him, Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands.

[13:54] Reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side. And be not faithless, but believing. And then verse 28, Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

[14:07] Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. That means you and me, doesn't it?

[14:18] We've not yet seen him, yet we have believed. Our risen Lord saw in the future time, the present time, where we believe, yet have not seen him, with our physical eye, yet believe.

[14:33] And the Bible says you're blessed. You're blessed. Again, Hebrews 11.1, it says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

[14:44] Unseen, yet we know him. Amen. Invisible, yet he's very real, and personal. And the Bible tells us how we can be saved, by faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.

[15:00] So I was trying to impress on this dear woman, this Jehovah's Witness woman, how we are saved. And she couldn't grasp it, that we are saved by faith, not of works, not of works, not of ourselves, not of our doing, but of everything he has done.

[15:20] Our faith is trusting in his saving. A preacher of old said, Faith is not merely your holding on to God, it is God holding on to you, and he will not let you go.

[15:32] You know, sometimes we doubt, but simply believe, as a little child, trust in his saving power. Spurton explained faith like this.

[15:44] He said, Suppose there's a fire, on the third floor of a house, and a child is trapped up there, in a room. And this huge strong man, down below, is beneath the window, and he's calling up to the child, from down below.

[15:59] Here the child is three stories up, and the child's face appears, and the man cries, Jump! Drop into my arms! Jump! Drop into my arms!

[16:09] And the child is there, watching and looking down, at this strong man. And Spurgeon said, Faith is to know, that there is a man there.

[16:21] And still another part of faith, is to believe, he is a strong man. He's mighty to save. Mighty to save, isn't he? And the essence of faith, lies in trusting him fully, and dropping into his arms.

[16:37] You know, jump off, and get out of that burning room, and jump into the arms, of that strong man, who's waiting to catch you. Amen? That's faith, isn't it? So with the sinner, and Christ.

[16:50] His arms are strong, and he is mighty, mighty to save. In Isaiah 59, 16, in part, it says, his arm brought salvation. It talks about, his hand not shortened, that it cannot save.

[17:03] His arm can reach, to those, who we would consider, unreachable. You know, some use the word, beyond redemption. When you think, of some property item, that you think, it's beyond salvaging, it's just, that's fit for the garbage dump.

[17:18] It's beyond redemption. But friends, there's no body, beyond redemption. While they've still got breath, in their lungs, there's no body, beyond his arm reaching.

[17:28] His arm brought salvation. His arm can reach, those that some would consider, unreachable. Because God is able to save. He's mighty to save. Simply trust him.

[17:39] Simply that. By faith we are justified, it says again, therefore being justified, by faith, we have peace with God. Don't you want that? Peace with God.

[17:50] To know peace with God. You can know that today, through our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 2 it goes on, by whom also we have access, by faith. By faith again.

[18:02] Into this grace, wherein you stand, and rejoice in hope, of the glory of God. Access, by faith. There's a door wide open.

[18:16] God's door is open to you. Run in. Amen. Access it, by faith. Trust him now. One day the door will close.

[18:29] Tell us of, in Noah's day, of course the ark, God shut the door. God's going to shut the door one day. For the meantime, there's access. Don't miss this. God's door is open to you.

[18:42] Amen. Yes. Good night. You don't want to do that. Don't wait too late. Amen. Now some struggle to understand the meaning of faith.

[18:54] There was a, called Chalmers, see a Scottish woman, and he was trying to encourage her to trust in the Lord. He was encouraging her to have faith, to get faith.

[19:05] And, and, and there was this woman, she, she was struggling. She just couldn't come to that place of simply believing. She was trying to get faith. You know, she was just trying really hard, but she wasn't getting there.

[19:18] There's something lacking. She just wasn't, uh, grasping hold and, and, and realizing faith. And so this preacher came one day, and, and, and, and, across this stream, uh, was a plank that he had to cross to get to her house.

[19:35] And this, uh, woman was looking out the window, peering out of this little cottage window, and she saw the preacher coming to visit her, and she saw that he was afraid to venture across this little creek, this little stream.

[19:48] It was just this thin little plank. And, uh, she called out to him, and she said, just leap into it. Just leap into it. Uh, in a Scottish accent.

[19:59] And in other words, just leap onto this plank. Just get on the plank. Just trust yourself to the plank. And, uh, when he got in and saw the woman in her home, as he did leap onto that plank, and he crossed over to her front door, and sat down with her, and he spoke to her about the way of salvation, and he used the same illustration.

[20:19] He said, just trust yourself to him. Just trust yourself to him. Just like I trusted myself to leap onto that thin plank, to cross that creek, to come to your door.

[20:31] Just trust Jesus. Just trust in him. Trust yourself to him. And that's simply that, isn't it? Faith is trusting yourself to him. And the Bible says that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.

[20:44] Ephesians 3, 17. Christ can dwell in our hearts by faith. Not only do we have, not just simply a head knowledge, but the heart experience. He transforms our heart.

[20:56] We believe in an intellectual fashion, as in we understand, in what limited scope we can, of the wonder of salvation, but it's beyond the head.

[21:06] It's in the heart. Christ may dwell in the heart by faith. You know, some people, they might have merely an ascent to, you know, a kind of, merely a mental ascent, a mental kind of knowledge.

[21:20] And yet, it doesn't travel that, is it the six inches, to the heart. You know, it's got to come to the heart. Not simply knowing and believing the facts, but that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith.

[21:34] And that's when the change happens, that heart deep change, that life transformation. The Lord Jesus comes, and he dwells in your heart, and it's by faith, by faith.

[21:45] Simply trust him. Trust yourself to him. Just as that man leaped onto the plank, we need to leap onto Christ, don't we? Trust ourselves to him. The Lord Jesus comes, and he dwells in your heart.

[21:58] And he makes an internal change, as well as an eternal change. Amen? There's an internal change, there's an eternal change. And God promises to save those who believe.

[22:10] We see 1 John 5, 1. Whosoever believeth that Christ is born of God, that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, and everyone that loveth him, that begat loveth him also, that is begotten of him.

[22:24] Believe that he is the Christ, and you will be born of God. Friends, faith. It's right through the pages of the word of God.

[22:37] Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. In your daily life, you can know faith that Christ is your saviour, that you are his and he is yours, that heaven is your home, that you've got a wonderful lifetime reality of knowing him personally, leading and living in your life, living your life for his glory.

[23:03] Faith is living that overcoming life. Of course, there'll still be challenges. There's still going to be some tests and trials, of course. But faith is the victory, the power to overcome.

[23:17] Faith is the power that destroyed the walls of Jericho. They believed God, and God brought victory. Faith is seeing the unseen, the invisible. Faith is the hand reaching out and touching the hem of his garment, believing him to avail for you.

[23:36] Faith is his authority. Faith is the mixture that makes the gospel effective. It talks about the word was mixed with faith. That's what we have to have, isn't it?

[23:47] Some will have the word, but they don't have faith. But God mixes the faith with the word, and pooh, everything happens.

[23:58] When the word is mixed with faith, the gospel is effective. Faith is giving all. It's surrendering. It's honouring him. As Moses led the children through the Red Sea, it was by faith.

[24:12] God made it possible. When Daniel entered the lion's den and was kept safe, he came out without a scratch. It was faith at work.

[24:23] When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three Hebrew children, were thrown into the fiery furnace, faith kept them and saw them through, such that there wasn't even a smell of smoke on them when they came out.

[24:38] The question is, do you believe the same God of the Bible who protected them is with you today? Do you believe? He is.

[24:49] He is with you. Are you willing to step out in faith? How is your faith? It can grow.

[25:01] A mustard seed of faith can work wonders. The smallest, the smallest, the most insignificant of faith can yield a great harvest in your life.

[25:19] And I urge you today, you might think, my faith is so small. Who am I? I'm just, I lack faith and my faith is very weak.

[25:30] God can strengthen your faith. God can grow your faith as you spend time in prayer, in fellowship, as you grow in your love for God, as you read his truth and let it live in your heart.

[25:45] As you look to the author and the finisher of your faith, he's the author of it and he's the finisher of it. So he's got it all covered. Amen? He's the author and the finisher of your faith and simply look to him.

[25:57] Look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith. And faith is our life. It's not an add-on. It's life. It's trusting him.

[26:08] It's life more abundant. And faith is vital. Just to, drawing closer to a close, almost there, Romans 1, we see Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

[26:29] For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written that just shall live by faith. There's a sense where our whole life should be lived by faith. That faith is not something we compartmentalise and we just have a kind of Sunday Christianity where it's kind of just a token, tokenistic thing.

[26:49] We live by faith. We live by faith. Every day, 24 by 7, our faith is real and alive and it's happening. And the gospel itself is the faith.

[27:00] As we read Jude 1, verse 3, it says, in part, that we should earnestly contend for the faith. It's something we should care about deeply that we want to stand for the faith.

[27:14] We want to stand up and be counted. We want to be earnest in our faith and we want to be fighting with our faith against this world that hates faith.

[27:31] And look back as we talked about Apollo 8 and the atheists didn't like them reading from and then Apollo 11. It's almost like they had to tone it down what he declared of the fruit of Christ being the vine and we the branches.

[27:48] And the world hates the gospel and it's even more so now. You wouldn't think that they wouldn't consider allowing such a thing these days that the world is so hostile to Christianity, to true Bible Christianity and we're not talking about the wacko stuff.

[28:04] We're talking about Bible Christianity. The world hates this message. The world hates the gospel but we should earnestly contend for it. We should not be afraid. We should not be ashamed of the gospel.

[28:16] And in Matthew 15 we see a woman who the Lord says, great is thy faith. Great is thy faith. It's the Syrophoenician woman, a woman who's not named in the Bible but it tells of her earnestness, of her perseverance as she would not be deterred to press in to Christ.

[28:39] As much as he had come to the Jews at that stage, she was a Gentile, she pressed in, she kept on believing, she pressed in until she laid hold of Christ and our Lord says to her, great is thy faith.

[28:53] May we have such a faith, a faith that will not be deterred, a faith that will not be shaken, a faith that will persevere and press towards him.

[29:05] The kind of faith like Abraham had. In Romans 4 it tells of Abraham that he staggered not at the promise of God. He wasn't kind of doubtful, he trusted the promise.

[29:19] He didn't get shaky, he was steadfast, he believed that God had promised to him and the context in there of Abraham is that he was promised as a very old man that he would be the father of many nations and that his wife would conceive even though she was past conceiving age and despite all the factors that were contrary despite everything that was against him believing yet he believed.

[29:50] He didn't stagger at the promise of God. He was strong in faith giving glory to God. He was trusting that God was able to perform and God counted it as righteous conduct.

[30:04] So as Abraham trusted despite all the contrary and the forces against him believing despite all the circumstances that were against him believing Abraham had such a faith that he staggered not at the promise of God.

[30:23] He believed God's promise. He rested upon the promises and friends this is a book full of promises. This is full of promises to you.

[30:35] And you know it's a good practice to take your Bible underline it highlight it mark it cross reference it read it I know someone was telling me on Thursday night they were saying they read it front to back and then back to front I thought that was interesting you can read it whichever way you want to read it but read it nevertheless and believe the promises of God and be like Abraham he staggered not the promises of God he was strong in faith giving glory to God now there was an elderly man he'd never flown a plane before and at the age of 86 he took his first plane ride imagine that he waited until he was 86 years old before he first jumped on a plane and the plane just circled around for a few minutes and then landed and one of his grandchildren came up to him and said well grandpa how did you like your first ride and rather shakily this grandpa said oh it was fine but I never really put all my weight on the thing you know of course you put your weight on the thing if you get on the plane all your weight is on the plane and some people are a bit like that with faith they never really put all their weight on the thing friends just believe just jump on the plane and believe he will carry you he will carry your weight he will carry your burden he will take care of your sin he will take your load he can carry you through life's journey and put all your weight upon him today trust yourself entirely to his keeping trust yourself entirely for his saving the question is will you trust him with all your weight will you trust him with all your weight with all your heart simply trust him and be like

[32:27] Abraham stagger not at the promises of God take his word as read and make it live in your life let's pray lord we thank you that we can lay hold of christ as you lay hold of us we can put a whole weight upon you lord we can lean our whole life upon you and we can put and entrust our whole life into your hands and we can trust your promises are true and real for us lord we pray for everyone here present lord that each one would know what it is to put their trust entirely in you that at the cross you paid our sin and we can realise your love gift of eternal life simply by receiving by faith what you have done lord we pray that you would work a wonderful miracle of new life that we can be born again and we can know our home is in heaven because of your grace lord because of everything you have done bless each soul each heart each home in jesus name we pray amen