FAITH - THE GIFT OF GOD

Series: FaithLesson #1

Heb. 11:6aBut without faith it is impossible to please him (God)…

Eph. 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Rom. 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I. Faith Is A Most Important Attribute.

1. In Hebrews 11:6 we see that, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”

2. That can be frustrating to those who can never seem to make the promises of God work.

3. The question must be settled that the Bible is the Word of God. The appropriating of the promises is a matter of faith.

4. On no other ground, other than the ground of faith will God work for you.

II. Notice In Ephesians 2:8 That, “…Faith Is The Gift Of God.” And Again Romans 10:17, It Said That Faith Which Is A Gift, “Cometh.”

1. These statements move faith out of the realm of the ordinary.

2. The faith that saves us is not the same faith that gets you out of bed in the morning.

3. “By grace are ye saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). That means if you are born again, you have faith.

4. The faith that saved you, the faith that filled you, is the same faith that was in the heart of every man and woman in the Bible.

5. There is no difference in the faith you have as a child of God, and the faith of Abraham, Moses, Paul, Peter, John, and Elijah.

6. The faith that is in me, and in you, as a born again believer is the faith that is a gift of God, and it is the exact same faith that was in every man and woman of the Bible.

a. What a comfort that is to know. James said that Elijah, the great prophet of faith in the Old Testament, was a man of like passion just like me.

III. Faith Is Not Some Mystical Something Tied Up In Man’s Feelings. It Is Not Something That You See.

1. Faith is what a man believes. It is believing that God is. Find a people who believe that God is, and that He will reward their diligent seeking, and you have found real faith.

2. That faith has to be recovered in this terrible, apostate and erroneous thinking of the faith movement, so-called, where they make it possible to manipulate God by just quoting scripture text.

3. It has to be brought in line with what faith really is. It has to be redefined.

4. We have been led to believe that the men of God in the Bible were a different breed of people than we are today.

5. But the Apostle James dispels this lie. He said that Elijah was a man of like passions as we are.

6. Elijah had the same fears, same doubts, and same frustrations that I have. The same thing that haunts me haunted him.

7. He was born of a woman: he was flesh and blood, had an old nature, and had the same tendency to doubt.

8. Elijah had all the possibilities of being a failure; yet through faith he was a victor. His faith was the same faith that is in the heart of us who have been born of God.

I had a young man in the church. He was called to preach, but the fear of failure haunted him. He recalled all those he knew who had started out to preach and had failed. All who have felt the call have had the same fears, all had the same possibilities for success and failure. It’s just a matter that some made wrong choices.

IV. The Second Call Of Moses At That Burning Bush Is A Very Interesting Time.

1. Moses felt that call in Egypt. Here he is a man mighty in word and deed. He felt the call and he went out in his own effort to deliver the people.

2. He killed a couple of Egyptians, buried them in the sand, then was forced to flee to the desert where God allowed him to stay for 40 years.

3. Then God meets him at the burning bush. Moses turned aside to see the sight of a bush that is aflame, but wouldn’t burn up. When he came to the bush, God spoke to him, and told him to take off his shoes, it is holy ground, and then God told him, “I’ve heard the cry of my people in Egypt, and I am sending you to deliver them” (Ex. 3:7).

4. Moses’ responded was, “Who am I to deliver these people?” (Ex. 3:11). That is exactly what you and I would have said. It was fear that evoked Moses’ response.

5. Three million slaves locked into the mightiest empire on earth, and here is God telling a lonely sheepherder to go get them out.

6. The very thought of such a challenge struck fear into the heart of Moses. Moses said, “I cannot do such a thing.”

7. Standing barefoot in the heart of that desert, Moses heard the Word of God. God displayed His power.

a. Throw the stick down. He threw it down, and it became a snake. Pick it up. It became a rod. God is displaying His power before this man.

8. In the promise of the great “I Am” the faith in Moses’ heart rose up to challenge his unbelief and fear.

V. Moses Decides To Go To Egypt.

1. In the presence of God, Moses’ faith became bigger than his fear. Once more, he came to believe that “God is.”

2. Real faith demands that the believer “pray through” regularly. You can’t just pray through to that place where you know that God is, and then forever live there. You must return again and again to that altar to be reassured that God is.

3. In Acts 2, they prayed through and were filled with the Holy Ghost. In the 4 th

Chapter of Acts, they were filled again.

4. Faith is there in the heart of the believer, but many times we become so dominated by that old faithless dead nature that our faith becomes dormant.

5. When that happens, fear begins to override faith, and the only way to break out is to “pray through” to the knowledge that “God is.” His presence always conquers fear.

6. Moses went to Egypt, every step that little donkey took toward Egypt was filled with doubt and fear. The devil reminded him that he was a wanted man in Egypt.

7. Moses felt what every preacher or layman will feel if he moves beyond what he can see.

8. Moses saw the miracle of the rod turn to a snake. He saw the bush that burned, yet it never did away with that uneasy feeling that comes against a man when he moves toward the impossible.

VI. Once God Has Spoken, It Is Time To Leave The Prayer Meeting And Begin To Do. Moses Went To Egypt.

1. Every step that donkey took the “old man” in Moses said, “You are a wanted man, you are a murderer, and your picture is in every post office in Egypt. You can’t do this. You must be insane.”

2. But the difference between Moses and 95% of Christendom is that Moses never turned that mule around.

3. The “old man” with the help of Satan said to Moses, “You had better go back and fast a few days about this.”

4. We do need to fast, we do need to pray, but once God has spoken, we need to turn that mule toward Egypt.

VII. Moses Went On In Spite Of His Fears.

1. The difference between Moses and the great majority of Christendom, preachers included, is that he went on in spite of his fears.

In my spirit I have been with Moses as he faced Pharaoh. I have felt what he felt.

2. Moses would face that “lion in his den.” He would speak the Word of God. The lice would come; the lice would go. The flies would come; the flies would go.

3. But when Moses was alone, the devil would whisper, “You had nothing to do with the lice, frogs, flies, or hail. They would have come anyway.”

4. Every morning when he got out of bed, he would think, “I can’t face that Pharaoh again.” He had the same fears and doubts as you and I do.

5. Moses experienced the same fear that you face, the same doubts that you face when you face that impossible situation. But the difference in Moses and most of us, he never allowed his fears to dictate; he got up and went.

6. The difference between faith and unbelief is not a matter of coming to a place where you are not apprehensive. You will never get there. No matter what the smart boys say, there will never come a time in your life that there’s not a fear when you face the unknown; when you are called upon by God to move into an area that you really don’t know where you are going.

7. Yet, faith goes on in spite of fears and doubts. That fear will be there, but you must stand up on the side of faith.

8. The man who attempts to portray himself differently is a liar

When I was going overseas as a young Marine, just out of bootcamp, my greatest fear was that when I looked down the wrong end of that gun barrel that I might run. I might be a coward. I didn’t know. I had never faced that. There was great fear in me. There was a young man on that boat who was in the same company as myself. He had tattooed on his arm, a skull and crossbones that said, “Death Before Dishonor.” I used to look at him, and wish I were like him, that I did not have this awful nagging fear of maybe deserting in the time of real war. But the last time I saw that young man, he stood before the company, and the commanding officer sentenced him to 20 years in prison for deserting under fire.

9. You see the same fear was there in him that was in me, and his boasting wasn’t anything. Fear was in me but in the time of battle I just stood up on the side of courage.

VIII.Faith Stands Up On The Side Of God.

1. For a long time I labored under the notion that God had given the heroes of the Bible some special revelation, so that it was impossible for them to doubt. But God has given us a more sure word of prophecy.

2. You are facing a mountain you cannot see over. You know God is able, but you are afraid. You are in good company. Everyone who has ever been before you was afraid when they got there. Every one of them.

IX. Look At Elijah The Great Prophet During The 3 1/2 Years Of Drought.

1. Elijah was to tell Ahab the king, that according to Elijah’s word, there would be no rain for 3 1/2 years.

I’ve walked with Elijah to deliver that message. In my spirit I have been there. I know what he felt. Every step he took toward the palace the devil said, “You are going to tell him it is not going to rain for 3 1/2 years, and a flood will come before you leave the palace.” How do I know that the man of God, Elijah, felt that? Because James said, “He was a man of like passions, just like me.” I also know that’s what the devil tells me every time I move out on such a mission.

2. Satan whispered, “you had better go back to the cave and pray about this again. You are making the mistake of your life.”

3. Ninety-nine percent of the preachers would have gone back.

4. Elijah refused to listen to his fears. They were there, but he refused to listen. He moved on what he believed, and by his word he closed Heaven.

X. There Are Two Forces Working - God And The Devil.

1. God has not given us the spirit of fear. But that doesn’t say that the spirit of fear is not there working in that old creation.

2. God speaks, you believe. Then comes the fear, the opposition - what are you going to believe?

3. A man came to Jesus with a withered hand, a hand that was withered from birth. Jesus said to the man, “Stretch forth your hand.”

4. Now immediately upon hearing that, this other voice, this other self, this old man, the devil working through that which is his body says, “You can’t do that. You have never in your life been able to use that hand.” In his other ear is the voice of God saying, “Stretch it forth.”

5. What he believes now will determine the outcome. If he believes his fear, and refuses to move, he is going to be a cripple the rest of his life. But if he rises up in spite of his fear he will see a miracle.

I was preaching a revival in Bay City, Texas population of 5,000. It had been a struggle. The church had gone through a lot of things, and only a handful of people was left. One of the women of the church had been tongue-tied since birth. In the middle of the preaching one night, she came running and interrupted my message, insisting that I pray for her. Like the cripple in Lystra who had faith to be healed, this woman also had faith to be healed. She desperately asked me to pray for her. I couldn’t understand her, but the pastor knowing her affliction, said she wanted me to pray that God would loose her tongue. She had her tongue clipped 4 times, but never was healed. When I understood her problem, a thought came to me to tell her to stick out her tongue. I felt the Lord was telling me to touch her tongue. Fear came on me because this seemed so foolish. In spite of my fear, I said, “Stick out your tongue.” And she mumbled, “I can’t.” The pastor understood and told me that she couldn’t stick it out. I told her to open her mouth, which she did, and I took hold of her tongue and prayed. Miraculously this 54-year-old handicap was broken instantly and she spoke fluently.

6. It takes no faith to baptize a man or to give communion. It takes faith to change a man’s life. It takes the obedience of faith for victory.

7. You can expect the devil’s fear to come against that faith. The victory depends on which you follow, your fear or your faith.

8. There is a spirit of fear, a demon that will have to be cast out. That is not the fear I speak of here. I speak of a fear that will always be there when you face the impossible. Preachers tell you that they can deliver you from all fear. I have listened to that foolishness, but that spirit of fear that is in the old man is going to rise up to oppose your believing in God.

I’ve watched meetings where preachers have special services to lay hands on people and deliver them from fear. What a terrible thing that does to people. They are led to believe that some demon has possessed them, yet there are Christians, and cannot be possessed with demons.

The fear I speak of is the opposite of faith. You will never be delivered from that fear, you have to resist that fear; reckon yourself dead to the flesh. The preachers who preach this, when they themselves are faced with life threatening situations, are fearful. They go to the doctors just like the people they are telling not to have any fear.

9. The most important action of faith is obedience; that is, rising up in spite of that fear, and obeying God anyway.

XI. Look At Paul And Silas At Philippi.

1. Now remember, we have the same faith the Apostle had; the same faith the Apostle obeyed in the Philippian jail, is in us. Paul had the same fears, and the same doubts that are in you.

2. No deliverance preacher had delivered the Apostle from this. There is still the old nature there. Satan gives the spirit of fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear, so the opposite of that is true. The fear comes from Satan, who can only work through the old man.

3. No doubt the devil told Paul he missed God, else he would not be in jail. Paul refused the lie. So what happens?

a. That night, in the inner sanctum of that prison, where not a pencil of light ever comes, their backs laid open by a whip, infection setting in, fever rising, headache, fear gripping, Satan telling them that they are going to rot in that jail, Paul whispers, “Silas.” The answer comes back, “Yes, Brother Paul?” “Let us sing, let us praise the Lord.”

4. We have the same faith. The only difference, we would have probably been crying instead of praising God.

I can imagine a preacher of our day saying to Paul, “Why should we praise God? Look what a predicament we are in.” Not so with Paul and

Silas. They began to praise God, and the result was, God sent an earthquake, opened the jail and revival began.

In 1958, I came down with what was called then the Asiatic Flu. The church was struggling - I did not have an assistant. I was both janitor and pastor. Fear came against me. It was a cold rainy Sunday and I knew I needed to be in that pulpit. There was nobody else to take my place. I knew, in spite of the rain, the cold, that the victory was in that pulpit, but fear gripped me. Satan whispered, “You go out there, and you’ll compound the problem with pneumonia, and you will die.” In spite of the fear there was this thought, “If you believe God heals, get up and act like it.” If a man is saved, he doesn’t act like a sinner.

5. Moses went to Egypt with the same faith that is in your heart. Joshua stopped the sun, Daniel faced the lions, and Paul sang in the Philippian jail. They faced the same fear that you now face.

God said to me, “Get up and go, don’t be governed by fear.” When I got up that morning I don’t know when I have ever been sicker. I went to church and sat on that platform so sick that it felt like I would just fall out of that chair. But when it had come time to preach and I stepped into that pulpit, the anointing came upon me. With the anointing every symptom of that sickness left. I preached and delivered the message. I prayed for those that came to be saved, laid hands on the sick, but when I was through, I thought I would die.

I went back to the parsonage that afternoon. I laid in that bed so sick. I felt I could die. The devil said, “If you go back to the church, you’ll die.” Fear gripped me. I knew that I had to go back, that it would be total unbelief for me to stay in that bed. But there was a great fear on me. When it came time to go back to church, my wife said, “What are you going to do?” I got out of that bed, dressed, and I went back to that church.

People in the church looked at me and said, “Pastor, you probably ought not to have come.” But that night when I began to preach, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and not only the symptoms left, but every trace of that flu and fever left my body. I was completely healed. I refused to listen to fear. I got up on the side of faith.

6. You listen in this class. You’ll face it. Every time you move beyond the seen, you will have to face up to this fear. Nobody is going to deliver you from that, it has to be crucified.

7. When you face the impossible, there will be fear and doubt, but in spite of it, if you will get up, you will find this faith that God has given you. Not something you worked up, not something of your own, but this faith, the gift of God will work.

8. Faith is a gift of God.