Faith (With Meeting - Being Fully Persuaded, Not by What Others Say, but by What Jesus Says)

Selected Verses:

Romans 4:20-21. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Opening:

We all feel the need of more faith, but we really need to "know Him and the power of His resurrection," because He not only was delivered for us, but was raised for us--He lives for us. He has "all power in heaven and in earth" for us. The "exceeding greatness" of the power that God gave Him was intended to be manifested "toward us," to deliver. To deliver!

"It's good for you that I go away." He says it's good. They thought it was good for Him to be there! But Jesus says, "You'll be better off when I send the Holy Ghost upon you--the power of My resurrection." The Bible says that "God raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God."

And we still hesitate. I'll tell you why: we have been vaccinated with unbelief from birth. We don't realize that, but all that we've read, and all that we've heard, and all that we've talked about has just darkened our vision. And the Bible would clear that vision and make us see Christ for us.

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Selected Quotes:

Why, "this is the work of God: that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." What did He send Him for? Well, we know: to "destroy the works of the devil"--to destroy them, not to tickle them a little bit, but to destroy them!

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Oh, that simplicity of faith--not in divine healing, but in Jesus--in "Jesus Christ whom God hath sent"! It's our privilege to possess Him. When He says, "Your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," He doesn't relegate you to a nursing home or a hospital. That's not His will. He says, "Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it." And there He lays down the principle upon which I believe God, and I expect Him who promised to do it. Oh, the Bible is full of such "exceeding great and precious promises," and we content ourselves with quoting them and singing about them. We shouldn't. We ought to live the Bible. We ought to be a "living epistle of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God."

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The Bible says [Abraham] "waxed strong in faith." That's the characteristic of true faith: it gets stronger. Why? Because you're drinking at the fountain of living water which is Christ Himself.

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He said, "Well, this [Jesus] healed me. And He told me to carry my bed." Praise the Lord! What does Jesus say? That ought to persuade me.

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God says, "The eyes of the Lord are still looking for men and women who in the hour of testing and trial will stand their ground and be fully persuaded." Now, every one of us has an opportunity to seek that persuasion, and we need to. Listen: "All things work together for good"--all things. You've got a job on your hands. Every job [that] comes your way is an opportunity for God to show "the greatness of His power toward us who believe." And that's how we "grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Son of God," and we grow in faith. And God wants us to grow.

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Illustrations:

A plumber who didn't bring his tools. "But when Jesus Christ came to that man at Bethesda... 'My Father sent Me for that purpose--to heal you. And I've got all My tools with Me.'" (from 2:42)

A retelling of the story of an early sickness. "They came around to persuade me... Well, that was so helpful that I really got sick. If I hadn't been sick, I'd have been sick by those emissaries of the devil." (from 5:58)

References:

Lead On, O King Eternal, a hymn by Ernest W. Shurtleff (1862-1917):

Lead on, O King eternal,

the day of march has come;

henceforth in fields of conquest

thy tents shall be our home.

Through days of preparation

thy grace has made us strong;

and now, O King eternal,

we lift our battle song.