========================================================================
  NOTHING WITHOUT FAITH
  by David Legge
========================================================================

Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of faith in God and His
promises, highlighting the need to focus on God's character, trust in
His promises, and express faith through praising prayer. It delves into
the concept of faith as the proof of things hoped for, urging believers
to see the invisible and believe before seeing. The message encourages a
deep trust in God's faithfulness and the power of faith to move
mountains, even with a mustard seed's worth of faith.

Duration: 54:02

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This sermon emphasizes the importance of faith in God and His promises,
highlighting the need to focus on God's character, trust in His
promises, and express faith through praising prayer. It delves into the
concept of faith as the proof of things hoped for, urging believers to
see the invisible and believe before seeing. The message encourages a
deep trust in God's faithfulness and the power of faith to move
mountains, even with a mustard seed's worth of faith.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well good morning to you all. It's good in one sense to be here and
where I'm standing it's not so good but we're looking for the goodness
of God and the mercy of God to meet us in our need. I want to bring to
you a message from Hebrews chapter 10 and 11 so if you would turn there
just now please and we will read it and we will pray and I want to speak
to you under the heading nothing but by faith or nothing without faith.

So let us turn please to Hebrews chapter 10 and we begin to read at
verse 38. Hebrews 10 verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith.

Let me just say before we read any further that this verse is a
quotation from Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4 and your reference Bible
if you have one will tell you that in the column and it probably will
also tell you that it is found three times in the New Testament. Once
here in Romans chapter 1 and verse 17 and in Galatians chapter 3 and
verse 11. But what your margin will not tell you is the emphasis in each
of those verses is slightly different according to the context of the
book.

For instance in the book of the Romans the emphasis is upon the first
two words of that statement the just and of course the book of Romans is
setting forth for us how a man or woman can be right with God how they
can be just before the eyes of the Holy God of heaven. Galatians the
emphasis is on the middle two words the just shall live by his faith.
The Galatian controversy was that the Galatians had believed the gospel
by grace through faith they've been born of the Spirit of God but
because of the infiltration and false heresy of the Judaizers they were
trying to perfect their faith and ultimately live in sanctification
according to the works of the flesh.

But the just shall live by his faith. Now here in Hebrews chapter 10
verse 38 the emphasis is on the last two words the just shall live by
faith. That's my emphasis today and it's the emphasis of course of great
chapter 11 which we're going to look at.

Now the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back my soul has no
pleasure in him but we are not of those who draw back to perdition but
of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen for by it
the elders obtained a good testimony by faith we understand that the
worlds were framed by the Word of God so that the things which are seen
were not made of the things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain to which he obtained witness
that he was righteous.

God testifying of his gifts and through it he being dead still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not
found because God had taken him for before he was taken he had this
testimony that he pleased God. But without fear but without faith it is
impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is
and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Let us pray. Abba Father Holy Father we are so humbled before your
mighty presence and we have been cut to the quick through the ministry
of God's Word and Lord when our brother just has been speaking about the
arrogance of heart the pride the bitterness I thought father he was
speaking about me. Lord I am undone a man of unclean lips dwelling in
the midst of a people of unclean lips but oh that our eyes would see the
Lord.

Oh that our mouths would be touched with a coal from off the altar a
blood-stained coal of sacrifice. Lord how we need you. Lord give us help
from trouble for vain is the help of man but through God we will do
valiantly and we ask for the help of God now father we ask for divine
need we ask for the unction to function in the power and demonstration
of the Holy Spirit.

Lord come our impotence with your divine omnipotence. Lord come for
Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

I want to first of all read to you an account which effectively is an
allegory that I read from the author Ronald Dunn on the subject of faith
and it's very instructive but like a modern day Pilgrim's Progress but
quite a lot shorter. Let me just read it to you it's entitled The House
that Grace Built. Ronald Dunn says salvation is like a house built
beside a broad and busy highway.

Like everyone else I was born on that highway and was spending my life
following it to its destination. At first the trip had been exciting and
almost effortless the constant flow of the crowd carrying me along but
the farther down the road I got the more difficult things became. My
original joy had dissipated and I noticed that my fellow travelers
rarely laughed anymore and their occasional smiles seemed forced.

The backpack I had now been issued at the beginning of my journey had
grown heavier every day and I was now permanently stooped from its
weight. Worst of all I had been overtaken lately by an unexplainable
fear of reaching the end of the highway. One day my attention was drawn
suddenly to the side of the highway to a magnificently constructed
house.

Over its narrow front doors was a sign and it silently announced in bold
red letters whosoever will may enter and find rest. I don't know how I
knew it but I realized that if I could reach the inside of this
beautiful house I would be saved from the highway and its destination.
Pushing my way through the mass of indifferent travelers I broke clear
of the crowd and ran up the steps to the front door but it was locked.

Perhaps it's only stuck I thought and tried again it refused to open I
was confused. Why would someone put up a sign inviting people in and
then lock the door to keep them out? Not knowing what else to do I
refused to return to the highway I pounded on the door and shouted for
someone inside to open it and tried to pick the lock but it was useless.
Suddenly a voice spoke my name and I spun around and it was the builder
of the house and he placed in my hand a key which had carved on it one
word F.A.I.T.H. Faith.

Turning back to the door I inserted the key in the lock twisted it and
heard a reassuring click. The door swung open and I stepped across the
threshold immediately the backpack fell from my shoulders my back began
to straighten like a wilting flower reaching to the sunlight and from
deep within me my soul breathed the sigh of relief as an extraordinary
sense of peace and well-being wrapped itself around me. The builder of
the house welcomed me to my new home explaining that everything in the
house was now mine to enjoy this was the house that grace built and
faith was the key.

Surveying my new surroundings I saw that the house of salvation was a
house with many rooms and I was only in the foyer. Across the way was a
door marked answered prayer next to it was another daily victory and
then another every need supplied. The row of doors each promising some
spiritual blessing stretched endlessly throughout the house.

The discovery of these other rooms puzzled me for I failed to mention
that in the foyer in which I stood was a crowd of jammed people. It
seemed that everyone who entered the house stopped in the foyer never
advancing beyond it as though the foyer were the entire building. This
was little better than the highway as far as I was concerned couldn't
they see that there was more to the house of salvation than the foyer.

Surely the builder intended every room to be occupied hadn't he said
that everything in the house was ours to enjoy and I for one had no
desire to spend my life standing in a foyer. This was my father's house
and I was his child and all that he possessed was mine. I went to the
door marked answered prayer grabbed the knob and twisted it was locked.

I went to the next door daily victory and the next and the next and all
were locked but this time I didn't try to pick the lock or knock the
door down I remembered my encounter at the front door I knew you had to
have a key. Although I had been in the house only a short time I had
somehow managed to accumulate a large number of keys. Rubbing through my
collection I selected one tag doing your best and tried it didn't fit
nor did the key religious activity or the key of sincerity it proved
useless.

Next I tried the key of tithing I was getting desperate now but it was
as powerless as the others and I was starting to begin to understand why
the foyer was so crowded. Then I heard a familiar voice it was the
builder of the house. Child he said do you remember the key that I gave
you when you entered the house? Yes I remember.

What was it? Why it was the key of faith I answered. The builder said
the key of faith is the master key that unlocks every door in the house
that grace built. Now Ronald Dunn says that was the greatest discovery
of my life.

Faith is the master key of the life. From start to finish salvation is
by grace through faith operation. Everything we get in the Christian
life we get by grace through faith.

Grace makes it available from God, faith accepts it by man. Grace is
God's giving, faith is man's hand receiving, faith possesses what God
provides. God's part is grace, faith is man's part.

It is our positive response to God's gracious offer and he finishes with
these words. Everything God demands of a man can be summed up in one
word, faith. Do you believe that? Do you believe it? Well if you do your
most obvious question will be what is faith? True faith.

For without faith it is impossible to please God. Nothing without faith.
Now this is a very simple message, I'm a very simple man and I'll just
make it as plain as I feel God has made it to me and hopefully it will
help you.

First of all let me say that faith is faith in God. You might say well
do we come here to hear something so obvious, so unprofound, faith is
faith in God. Well it's perhaps not so obvious because so much of the
time when we begin to realize that faith is the master key that opens
every door of the house that grace built we begin to focus on faith.

We are not to focus on faith we are to focus on God. Someone has said
that when we focus on faith it is like the little primary school child
that plants a seed one day in class and he's so excited about what the
seeds going to do when it sprites up and bears some fruit that the next
day after planting the seed he gets a little trial and he digs it up and
the following day he digs it up and he keeps digging it up every day to
look at the seed and lo and behold it never grows. And when we focus on
our faith or indeed many spiritual attributes that we are to have as
developing, maturing, growing children of God in faith if we focus on
those it is very likely that the faith and they will not grow and we
will become frustrated Christians.

But our focus is to on God and if the little child would just leave the
seed alone the life would bring forth fruit and if we would leave our
faith alone and focus on our God we would find that our faith would
increase. Faith will look after itself when our focus is upon God and
chiefly God's character. I think to study God's character is a faith
inducing exercise.

When you consider the attributes of God that he is incomparable, he is
invisible, he is inscrutable, he is unchangeable, he is unequal, he is
unsearchable, he is infinite, he is eternal, he is omnipotent, all-
powerful, he is omnipresent, ever-present, he is omniscient, all-seeing,
he is foreknowledge, he is all wisdom. When you consider his hatred of
ungodliness and sin, when you consider his perfect holiness, his
impartiality, his justice, his long-suffering, his love, his mercy, his
truth, his vengeance, his wrath. We could go on.

But to focus and meditate upon those is a faith-inducing exercise. Now I
have had similar experiences to our brother who last spoke. There was a
very dark period in my life where I began to focus on myself and how I
let down myself and how I was so inadequate of myself.

And you know what happens when you focus on yourself? You despair. You
will always despair. And let me say that there is a great danger in a
revival conference like this and with any revival movements of excessive
introspection.

And we need to get our eyes on God lest we despair. But I also got my
eye on others. Not only did I let myself down, I felt others let me
down.

And when you focus on others you will get disappointed. Looking to
yourself you will despair, looking at others you will be disappointed.
But if you look and focus on God and his perfect son you will be
delighted.

And I had this experience in my own walk with God, deciding every day to
get a little book by William Macdonald, studying the attributes of God,
31 chapters, 31 days for a whole month, just taking two page chapters a
day. Very simply I felt myself lifted out of my darkness and my morass
and being delighted in the presence of such a glorious majestic God. If
we want to increase our faith we must realize that there is no virtue in
faith per se.

You do know that don't you? It's who our faith is in. And we must beware
of having faith in faith. Now this is not hair-splitting.

And we must be careful of having faith in prayer. Our faith is not in
prayer. We believe God answers prayer.

But God answers prayer. And our faith is not in personal holiness whilst
we need personal holiness. I've known quite a few people in my life, I
don't know whether you've met them before, I'm sure they have them on
wheels, and they're in love with being in love.

You know them? They flip from one relationship to another relationship,
and it's not because they're in some way promiscuous or immoral, they
just like the feeling of being in love. They love being in love. And
sometimes our focus can be askew in the Christian life where we put our
faith in faith, or we put our faith in prayer, or we put our faith in
holiness.

And ultimately our faith is not concentrated and focused upon God, and
we become frustrated. You don't measure your faith, you measure your
God. Now look at verse 6 of chapter 11 please.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek him. Now, no one would come to God if they were an
atheist. That figures, doesn't it? You must believe in God Almighty to
approach him, but I think there's perhaps more inferred in this little
word is.

You must believe that God is. I think it also has a sense in the context
of meaning, you must believe that God is active. That God not only
exists, I hit that song from a distance, God is watching us as if he is
unconcerned, as if he is not involved.

We must believe that not only does God exist and he set creation in
motion, but we believe that he is active here and now in the midst of
his creation, even when it appears that he is not active. That's more
difficult, isn't it? Now let me ask you, do you perceive God as active?
And of course, and I believe in miracles by the way, but often we
conserve our belief in God's activity to the realm of miracles. And if
we do, there is a great danger that we will be constantly frustrated and
disappointed.

That will actually sap our faith because God is active in much more than
mere miracles. See, the problem is in our Westernized society, we've
divided, in the church, we have divided our understanding into two,
natural and spiritual. And we understand the natural to be what we can
explain with our rational minds.

And we understand the supernatural as that which we can't explain. And
we have been educated this way, not only in the church, but in our
culture. To give you an example, we look at a tree and we've been taught
since we were at primary school to think that there are natural laws
that bring life and fruit to that tree.

But we feel to have learned that it is God who brings forth life and God
who is moving in nature and creation, that God is pulling the leaves.
God is shaping each leaf, each blade of grass every day in every part of
God's world in creation. God is not sort of at the beginning of time
setting creation in motion and standing back and saying, well, let it
go, let it rip, and I'll stand back and observe.

No, God is in it all as active. And it is a great spiritual exercise.
Maybe not so much today when the heavens are opening in the literal
sense, but some beautiful spring or even autumn day when the sun is
coming through the skies and bringing the spectrum of God's creation to
bear, to walk through nature and see in the wonder of the color, in the
ear, the melody of the birds and the wonder of God's universe, see God's
activity.

No! An author put it like this, the God of the Bible runs everything. He
created nature and supernature, which are actually all of a piece with
no division between them. Nothing in nature works by itself.

God works it. He intervenes unceasingly. Every musical note we hear,
every sunrise and sunset we see, every birth we rejoice in, every
exploding supernova we marvel at, all are expressions of his power.

And so beware that when we are looking for God to do something and
praise God, we are, and we are expecting, but beware that we do not miss
what God is doing every day. Beware that we do not miss how God is
active in all our lives and even in the lives of the ungodly. He is
there.

Now, I have two children, a seven-year-old daughter and a three year old
son. And I don't know whether you have this experience. When you're in
the car, you want to listen to your music.

You want to listen to the news and they want to listen to their little
CDs of little melodies and Sunday school songs, which after a while
start to grape on the mind. And there's one little CD that my daughter
loves and there's a song in it entitled, I Believe in Miracles. I don't
know whether you know it or not, but there's one line, one statement
that goes like this and it's wonderful.

Heaven and earth are not so far apart. Heaven and earth are not so far
apart. That's what happens in revival.

Joy of heaven to earth comes down. But not only does it happen in
revival, it happens every day. It's happening now.

And I'll tell you, Brother Lawrence made popular the concept of
practicing the presence of God. But this would be a good perception to
practice also. They that come to God must believe that he is, that he is
active.

Faith is faith in God. Let your faith be in God. Don't focus on your
faith.

Don't focus on your prayer. Don't focus on your personal holiness. Don't
even focus too much on revival at the expense of focusing on God.

And if you focus on God, your faith will look after itself. What is
faith? It is faith in God. But secondly, the faith is faith in God's
promises.

God's promises. I think we have developed this false understanding that
faith is something that we have to work up in ourselves. And I have this
image in my mind of the Christian standing before the bathroom mirror
saying, I will believe, I will believe, I will believe, I will believe,
I do believe, I do believe, I do believe.

And they think that that's how faith grows in some kind of a mental,
psychological exercise. But no, faith in its strength comes from God. It
is a gift of his grace.

And as far as Romans 10 and verse 17 says, and it was quoted at our time
of prayer, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So
faith in a very simple way could be defined as taking God at his word
and acting upon his word and believing that God's character is as good
as his word. So faith is faith in God's promises.

There is nothing meritorious in faith. The reason being all the glory
goes to God because he has given the word of faith. He has given the
revelation of himself in his word.

And what we are simply doing when we bring the promises of God back to
him is giving back to him what he has gifted to us in his grace. So we
can't pat ourselves on the back for having faith. But let me give a
warning in this age of false prophets and mammon motivated ministers.

If God has not promised a thing, all the believing in the world won't
matter. And there is this abracadabra concept of asking of God. And it
has got more to do with the New Age movement than it has got to do with
the Bible.

And that is that if I believe a thing, I will achieve a thing. And it
can be anything. If I believe it, I will realize it.

But that is not the faith of the Bible. According to the Bible, a thing
is not true because I believe it is true, but I believe it because God
says it is true. And there is a difference.

And we have to be so careful because if we do not have a word from God
on a matter, we are not in a position to exercise confident faith. Now
please don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying you can't ask
for God for something that he doesn't give you a promise for.

I'm not saying that. But I am saying that you cannot ask confidently in
faith as you would if you had a promise from God on the matter. And we
must be so careful because faith is not a blank checkbook from God to
ask God for anything under the sun.

Faith only stretches as far as the boundaries of God's revealed word.
But and that is an important but, I believe there are promises in this
book, the Bible, that cover almost every area and every eventuality of
this mortal life. There's very little left out.

I remember reading George Miller's biography and was impressed by many
things as I'm sure you would be if you read it. But one of the things
that I took from him, one of the many things was a very practical
exercise of taking, well he didn't have highlighters in his day, but I
contemporized it and took an orange highlighter and every time I read
through my Bible year after year, I would highlight all the promises of
God in orange. So that I can open God's word and see this sea of orange
promises of God.

And then I started to delineate them and categorize them so that just
like Miller, whenever a particular occurrence or crisis in my life came,
that I was able to go down my little directory in my Bible and look up a
promise that corresponded to my situation that had been brought by God's
providence and claim God's promises. Do you do that Christian? Spurgeon
called the Bible God's checkbook of faith and he urged us to take the
promises of God like checks and cash them in at the bank of heaven. And
you know something, the bank of heaven will never go bust.

My dear friend, I think we have a church today and Christians today who
have lost the art of the simple child saying, God you said it, I believe
it and I claim it for myself. I learned it as a child, every promise in
the book is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line, all our
blessings of his love divine, every promise in the book is mine. I think
it was an old Puritan who said, tarry at the promise and God will meet
you there.

God always returns by the way of his promises. What is faith? Faith is
faith in God. Faith is faith in God's promises and whilst we may pray
about a few things and not have much confidence in our praying, there is
a great deal we could have confidence in if we prayed according to the
covenant keeping God in his promises that he has given us.

But thirdly, faith is expressed in praising prayer. Faith is expressed
in praising prayer. Now turn with me to perplexing for some verse of the
Bible in Mark chapter 11.

Mark chapter 11 and verse 24. Jesus says, therefore I say to you
whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and
you will have them. Read it again, therefore I say to you whatever
things you ask when you pray believe you receive them and you will have
them.

Now that is not the new age concept we mentioned before because this is
obviously based on the promises of God. When we ask in that context,
whatever we ask according to the promises of God, we believe that we
receive them and we will have them. Now that often troubled me as a
child of God because that described a confidence in prayer and in the
realm of faith that I did not know.

You see there's one type of faith that says God can. There is another
type of faith that says God will and then there is another and it's in
this verse that says God has. Faith doesn't say I'm going to get it but
I have got it.

You think about it, it's rational even though it seems initially quite
ridiculous. Anyone can believe that he has something after he receives
it. Does that not make sense? It's not commendable to believe that you
have a thing once you're holding it in your hand.

But what's this speaking about? This is surely the opposite of walking
by sight. This is walking by faith and biblical faith is believing you
have something before you have it. Not because of wishful thinking, not
because of imagining it into existence but because you know you're God
and you know his covenant promises and you know he is to be trusted and
so you as good as have it even if you can't see it or feel it.

Now I know that God answers desperate prayer. Believe me I know but so
often our prayer is simply disguised unbelief. Sometimes dare I say it
and I'm a man who needs more tears and more brokenness but dare I say it
sometimes our tears and sometimes our whining and weeping can be signs
of unbelief.

We're so desperate and our backs against the wall not because of
conviction of sin not because of a love for the people but but we are
despairing to the extent that we're even despairing and doubting that
God will come through for us and we must never get to that place. Never.
We must certainly get to the place of pleading and soul anguish and
brokenness and weeping and mourning we need to do that.

Yes we do but we must allow intermittently our pleading to give way to
praising and praising will feed faith. It was George Muller who said
there are two parts to sure to be answered prayer. One prayer for a
promise and two praise from a promise.

So you have a situation and boy do we have a situation in our land and
you ask God for a promise and God gives you a promise now you've got to
be looking for it and there are plenty there as I've said but God leads
you to a promise and you have prayed for the promise will yes with
broken heart plead but do more than that praise God for honoring his
promise and for having as good as given you the fulfillment to his
promise that is faith. We must not ask God for things that he's already
given us in assurance so how many times on a Sunday morning do you hear
in your church or chapel people pray Lord we pray that you will come
into our midst because we're two or three are gathered you have said you
will be there and it's almost as if they don't believe the Lord and they
have to remind him that he said that to be there he said he would be
there why ask him to be there he said he would be there do you not
believe him what we need is a sense of his presence and it is our sin
that blocks that let's not ask for for things that he's already promised
what we do is claim the experiential reality of what he has promised by
faith and here's the secret to how we ought to do it yes in brokenness
but praise him God inhabits the praises of his people we are to claim
and appropriate God's promises by faith and faith is expressed by
praising prayer and we need to be very careful in the midst of teaching
on revival that we don't get this idea that a lot of the things that we
are going to do well it's breaking up the fallow ground whether it's
exercising this way or that way through negatives in other words
stopping doing things and positives starting doing things we've got to
understand that this is an act of grace and it must be received by faith
and it is God's battle and there's a rest appointed unto the people of
God and it is the rest of faith the rest and the knowledge that it's
God's work now I'm almost finished but some will say and perhaps are
even saying in the gathering now well that's all well and good but what
if nothing appears to happen what if nothing changes and we focus on God
and we claim God's promises and we even claim God's promises by praising
prayer having prayed and pleaded for those promises but what if the
situation does not change and that is the question isn't it well I think
here we come to the essence of faith faith is not only faith in God and
faith in God's promises and faith expressed in praising prayer but faith
is proof and if you're writing anything down write that down faith is
proof and write it down beside verse 1 of chapter 11 look at it now
faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not
seen for by the elders obtained a good testimony now the amplified
version of the bible says in verse 1 listen very carefully now faith is
the assurance or in brackets the confirmation and this is a brilliant
statement the title deed of things we hope for being the proof of things
we do not see and the conviction of their reality faith perceiving as
real fact what is not revealed to the senses I don't like the term but
it could be described faith is the sixth sense for the child of God that
enables us to move into the realm of the unseen a paraphrase of this
verse says faith is our handle on the things that we cannot see but that
is describing faith as something tangible yet intangible I know it
sounds contradictory but maybe this this description in the amplified
brings us more understanding faith is the title deed of things we hope
for now a title deed says that I own a piece of land or property so it
is mine but before I can take possession of that land or property I must
prove my ownership that means I must demonstrate the title deed I must
produce it and the writer of the hebrews is saying that faith is the
title deed of things hoped for or faith is the proof that I need before
God to possess my possessions God you see has deposited the riches of
heaven in our account he has already done now let's not get away from
that he has already done it's done past tense eras tense it's done it's
done the great great transaction done everything that we need we have
potentially in Christ we are blessed with all spiritual blessings and
heavenly places in Christ Jesus and in those times when I feel my
inadequacy I remember I remind myself that David Lake is dead and died
with Christ on the cross and I am now alive to God and though the old
man would raise his head and though the accuser roars of those that I
have done I am dead and my life is hid with Christ in God and I am
blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ and I dwell with him and
therefore if I produce my title deed faith all the riches that God has
poured to my account and I write the checks over again and again and
again and I can spend them all the days of my life and will never be in
poverty and his bank will never exhaust itself now you're getting what
I'm saying you must get what I'm saying faith is the proof and I'm not
talking about this idea of faith that we just wish something would
happen and faith is not simply your desires even if they're godly
desires I'm talking about faith in God's character which is is is is
nailed to his promise and a pleading of his promise in praise my dear
friend that is the proof that God is going to come through that's the
proof we say seeing is believing God's word says believing is seeing
believing is seeing look at verse 7 beg your pardon verse 27 in relation
to Moses chapter 11 by faith Moses forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath
of the king but he endured us seeing him who is invisible what a
contradiction but it's not in the spiritual realm for he did it by faith
and you know what you could do it'd be a good exercise if you get time
over the next couple of days or when you get home to replace the word
faith in chapter 11 with the phrase seeing the invisible you see when
what you cannot see is more real than what you can see you're living by
fear but you say again what is the proof that God is going to do
anything fear is the proof this is the victory that overcometh the world
even our fear now I want to read two faith-inducing passages to you as I
close Acts chapter 20 or first of all let's go to the Old Testament 2nd
Kings chapter 6 to illustrate this the context is that the man of God
has invoked the opposition of the Syrian king he has been told that
Elisha is telling the king of Israel what the Syrian king is whispering
about in his plans in his own bedroom the man of God had such insight
and so the enemy goes after the man of God that's an interesting thought
in itself and what we see is that the enemy surrounds the man of God in
verse 15 we take up the reading when the servant of the man of God his
assistant arose early and went out there was an army surrounding the
city with horses and chariots and the servant said to him alas my master
what shall we do so he answered do not fear for those who are with us
are more than those who are with them now if that was you or I we might
say huh do you not see come come come to the window come to the door
come outside do you not see look at the army of the Assyrians
surrounding us but this man had proof that that was not the reality what
was his proof it was his faith Elisha's faith and Elisha prayed verse 17
oh to God that this would be our experience and he said Lord I pray open
his eyes Lord open our eyes that we may see things are bad in this world
but there is more with us than be with them then the Lord opened the
eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of
horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha now that is the difference
that faith makes and it's New Testament as well come with me to Acts
chapter 27 please to Rome I love this story so much to be taught in it
related to faith verse 22 and now I urge you Paul says to take heart for
there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship for there
stood by me this night an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I serve
saying do not be afraid Paul you must be brought before Caesar and
indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you therefore take
heart men for I believe God everything around him is to the contrary but
here's a man and he was only one who said I believe God that it will be
just as he told me oh my dear friend let us engage with God by faith for
revival in his covenant promises give me a faith which can remove and
sink the mountain to a plane give me a Christ-like child-like praying
love which longs to build thy house again Hebrews 11 verse 6 says
without faith it is impossible to please God but Jesus said if thou
canst believe all things are possible to him who believed nothing
without fear but with faith everything you know I firmly believe that
even a little faith even a mustard seed faith even the faith of a woman
with an issue of blood for 12 years that is so ashamed to come out in
the crowd but touch the hem of the master's garment God honors little
faith and little faith can take you to heaven but great faith will bring
heaven to you let us pray faith mighty faith the promise sees and looks
to God alone laughs at impossibilities and cries it shall be done or it
has been done father I am so weak in faith and Lord your promises are so
strong and there is a great gulf fixed but oh help us to rise with
boldness that you have infused in the gospel for us and may the spirit
of God be stirred up within our hearts just now oh Lord to lay hold by
faith upon your promises and not let go praising you for what you have
given already until the realization be poured out in our lives Lord we
read of men who didn't in their lifetime see their faith realized but
yet they held on to the grave believing that even after the grave they
didn't care they believe God that's all that mattered Lord pour out your
grace upon this needy people to believe their God again we have been
brainwashed not just by false doctrine but by this world by the media by
the spirit of the age we have we have been riddled with doubts from from
our education oh God Lord I cry for mercy father you petty your children
you remember your dust and we don't deserve it but oh for a token to
remind us that God's hand is not short that it cannot save though your
ear dull that it cannot hear Lord show us give us a token that you're
active and that you are let sense be done that flesh retire speak
through the earthquake wind and fire oh sweet still voice of God

========================================================================
Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/htR_iTRHei8.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/david-legge/nothing-without-faith/
========================================================================