Heart-Faith and Not Mind-Faith - Part 6

Now when you say, you take a book and say so-and-so is the author of that book, what does it mean? You may have the book in your hand, but you're not the author. The author is so-and-so. He wrote this book.

I've got it in my hand, but so-and-so wrote it. So when it says Jesus is the author of faith, where is faith first of all? In the heart. Who wrote it there? The author, Jesus.

It's not me trying to have faith. You know the two expressions which have come to me, author of faith, in Galatians 2. You know that well-known verse, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live.

The righteous shall live by faith. Remember that. Galatians 2 20, and the life which I now live, Galatians 2 20, it's no longer I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, and in some of the margins of your Bible you will read that, I live by the faith of the Son of God.

That is, I believe that's a real translation. The faith of the Son of God, that means the faith with Jesus has written in me. Same thing in Mark and Chapter 11.

When he, Mark 11 verse 20, we read that when Jesus had cursed the fig tree the previous day, and they saw the fig tree withered up, they were surprised, verse 21, and said, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered, and Jesus said, again in the margin, have the faith of God. The faith that God writes in your heart, not which you somehow read and try to work up. You know sometimes we hear somebody's testimony, I say, I've got faith.

It's in your mind. No, it's not the faith of God. It's, boy, that fellow got it.

You heard four or five testimonies, that fellow got it, that fellow got it, that fellow got it. Okay, I'm also going to get it. That's not it.

Have the faith which God writes in your heart. I will write my laws on their heart and mind. God, Jesus is the author of faith.

Have the faith of God, and if you have that faith, you know what will happen? You will say to this mountain, get out of my way and be cautious of the sea, and you go on. You'll see an obstacle in your way, and that obstacle is not something, oh, this is the will of God, I better turn back. No, I've got to get this obstacle out of the way.

I've got to go on with God. Do you know that every mountain in the way is not an indication that you should retreat and go the other way? Oh, you missed the way. There's a mountain here.

No, you've got to command that mountain to get out of the way. I remember when the Lord called me to leave my naval service, and I applied for resignation, I got a reply back saying, no, naval headquarters just lost. What do you mean, serve the Lord Jesus Christ? We spent so much money on training you to serve India, not the Lord Jesus Christ.

No. So I said, Lord, what shall I do? The Lord said to me, do what Moses did when Pharaoh said no. Go back again.

So I went back again with another application. No, can't go. But I got it already told, you've got to do what Moses did.

Let my people go that they may serve me. Pharaoh says no. Okay.

I go back again. That's how I got out. It took me two years.

I don't know how long it took Moses, but it took me two years. I finally got out. That's the point.

If I had given up at that point, oh, there's a mountain in the way, and naval headquarters, that's such a powerful mountain, a wee little officer standing in front of this mountain. No. If God has called you to go, if I had retreated at that time, I wouldn't be standing here today.

Oh, no. Is it possible that at some point you retreated when God wanted you to go forward, and you missed something? Make sure you don't miss it in the future. Have the faith of God.

Ask the Lord to write his faith in your heart. And one closing thing. Very important.

You will get it. It'll be granted you, verse 24. But, verse 25, make sure you have forgiven everyone in the world whatever they have done against you.

If you don't forgive, verse 26, sorry, no mountain will move out of the way. You may say, well, I have forgiven everybody. Just hang on.

How did God forgive you? He forgave you. He justified you, which means he looks at you as if you never did anything wrong against him in your whole life. Am I right or wrong? Right or wrong? Right.

Now think of someone who did some harm to you. Can you all think of someone right now? Yes, I can see that you're all thinking of someone right now. If you're more than three years old, somebody in the world has done wrong to you, that I can assure you.

Now think of that person who did the most harm to you. If you meet him suddenly somewhere, him or her, can you honestly say that you look at that person as if he never did anything wrong to you, from your heart? I don't mean nicely on the smile and all that. I'm not talking about that.

I'm not talking about hypocrisy. I'm talking about in the heart, that you really look at that person as if he's never done anything wrong to you. That's the reason we don't have faith.

That's the reason mountains stay there. We will rebuild the mountain in Jesus' name. Because there's somebody you have not forgiven, like God forgave you.

The choice is yours. It's not memory. We cannot forget.

The Lord never said forget what people did to you. You cannot forget, but you can forgive. And forgiveness is an act of your will.

Remember that. Lord, I can't help my memory. But I choose to forgive that person like Jesus forgave me.

And if I see him or her, I want to look at that person just as if he's never done me anything wrong. I'm not saying go and have fellowship with him. Because that may not be possible.

I'm not even saying go and visit his house. You may have more problems and have more to forgive if you visit some people's houses. So don't create more problems for yourself.

No, I'm not saying that. Don't add to what the Lord said. The Lord didn't say go and visit his house.

Go and do this. No, no, no. Forgive in your heart.

You sit at home. You may never see that person for the rest of your life. Okay.

Forgive completely. Then speak to the mountain. Say, Lord, give me faith in my heart.

This mountain is going to go. I believe we have missed many things in our life. Don't miss any more.

Let's pray. He is not a disappointment. He didn't fool us or tease us by the things he said in his word.

Perhaps the fault is with us. Let's seek him. Trust him.

Father, make these things real in our heart. Write faith in our heart, Lord. More faith than we have ever had.

You said faith like a mustard seed is enough to move a mountain. We think we have a lot of faith. We have actually got it all in our head.

Give us mustard seed faith in our heart. Pray in Jesus name. Amen.