Faith
no 64
Without Faith
February 11, 2018
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
In Hebrews 11:3
the apostle Paul said, 3 Through faith we understand that the
worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear.
And then in
verse 6
he says, 6 But without faith it is
impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Now, we have all
heard what can be done by Faith, and in fact the entire 11th Chapter of the
Book of Hebrews the apostle Paul describes to us what can done through Faith.
But this morning
I want to look at these few little words that Paul tells us in verse 6 that we
read for our text where he says, But without faith,
... and so this morning I would like to look at the condition of a world where
there is no faith because we read in the book of Luke
18:7 where Jesus Himself
is speaking of the faith of the woman who cried day and night until God heard
her prayer in reference to the woman who kept pounding at the door of the
unjust judge to hear her petition. And Jesus says, And shall not God avenge (that word is poieo, and it means to make or do, perform
without delay. and the story he was telling was of a woman who was
incessant with her continual petitionaing the judge for favor.
Let's
just read it for ourselves. Luke 18:1 And he
spake a parable unto them to this end, that men
ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying,
There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither
regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying,
Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself,
Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her
continual coming she weary me. 6 And
the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall
not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear
long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. "Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh,
shall he find faith on the earth?"
Now, that is a
question that Jesus is asking the disciples, and that is one scary question,
because if we could just imagine an earth with no faith, why it could not be even
as it is today because Paul tells us, 3 Through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so
that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Therefore if God
did not have faith to begin with there would be no world. In gfact the world
would not even exist. It would still be in the thoughts of God but no action
would have taken place to bring it into existence.
We
read in Genesis
1:1 In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And
the earth was without form, (The
Hebrew word here is tohuw, and it means that the
earth at this point was without any form,
all it was, was just an empty place, it was
a nothing there.. and then Moses adds another
descriptive word concerning the condition of the earth in the beginning and he
says) and void; (and notice this other
word describes the earth as void, the Hebrew word is bohuw
emptiness
or vacuity, a large nothingness, a
vacuum)
and darkness (or obscurity)
was upon the face of the deep (abyss). So we
see the creation at this point in time was only in the mind of God, nothing was
there, just in his mind or in his thinking at this point. But then something
began to take place.
Now, remember
last week we showed you how creation begins, and how we as sons of God made in
the image of the first born son are also in the image of our Father because
that is how we come forth as children and you cannot help the nature of your
birth. But you must die to your physical birth in order to be birthed by the
Spirit of the Living God.
So here we have
the earth, and at this point it was just a thought in the mind of God. But God
shows us in the next verse that he did not allow it to stay in that condition.
And how many of you have a thought already in your mind, and in your heart that
you desire to have. It could be for a spouse or it could be for children, or
for someone to love.
Now, I want you
to listen carefully to what I am going to tell you this morning, because I am
afraid that Jesus was wondering if there would even be any faith when he
returns. And some of you have no clue what faith can do for you. You are so
caught up into the circumstances that surround your life, that you are so
afraid to take charge of those circumstance through faith to change the
scene. But thankfully we have the DNA of
God's Spirit if we are truly born again of His Spirit, and as he looked at the
nothingness that lay there in the beginning, now just set back and listen.
God is eternal.
He lived by himself with no one to share his love, and healing power, and
creative power and all the wonderful attributes of love, joy, peace,
gentleness, meekness, patience etc. He lived by himself, are you getting what I
am saying. And you are his offspring. And he stood there before all eternity of
nothingness and said, I am going to change this scene. I am going to step into
my desires. I am going to produce by Faith what I desire to experience firsthand.
And so We see in
verse 2 And the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And
God said, Let there be light: and
there was light.
From his sermon Faith is the substance
47-0412 P:17 brother Branham said, "This
is the keynote to the Scriptures. "Faith", he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and a Rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him. Without faith, it is
impossible to please God. This
world was made by faith. Things were shaped in existence by faith.
God just seen that dew drop hanging out there in the air, that whatever you
want to call it, and He just spake, and said, "Let there be light."
And there was light. And then He brought the land forth and dried it off and so
forth. That was all
done by an act of faith with God. The whole world is made by faith. You're here tonight by faith.
Many of you told your employer you'd be back tomorrow to work. How do you know
you will? You told your wife, "I'll be home after service." How do
you know you will? You told the person maybe to come, a cab, to pick you up at
eleven o'clock. How do you know you'll be here? You may be in eternity before
eleven o'clock tonight. See? But it's all by faith. Everything's by faith."
Now, let's just
take this thought here. He said, But it's all by faith. Everything's
by faith." Now, I want you to think about that...Therefore if everything is
by faith, then without faith there would be nothing. Nothing, no earth, no
light, no sun, no moon, not stars, no life, nothing.
So we need to examine
what Faith is and we need to know how by having Faith it changes us, and it makes
us little creators over our own environment that we live. And I am hoping by
the end of this sermon this morning that if you find you do not have faith,
that you will seek it, and if you find that you have faith for some things but
not for others you will begin to apply that faith that you do have for things
that you do not have.
We know the
condition of the people at the end time will be without faith and they will
just see the days ticking off one by one, and like groundhog day, every day
they wake up is just a repeat of the past day, and so life becomes with not
expectation, and no hope and just loneliness and misery and what seems to be an
endless nothingness, and life has no meaning at all.
And
therefore in 2
Peter 3:1 we read about the conditions and mechanics of the scene as
it will exist at the time of the Parousia of Christ. Let's read "This
second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both
which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 That
ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken
before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the
Lord and Saviour:
Notice
here he is saying, now Look, all the prophets have told you what will come,
Jesus told you what is to come, and I am telling you what is to come, so be
mindful or what I am telling you so you will be aware when the Parousia of
Christ is at hand because the scene will be very telling concerning the day of
His great Visitation among us just before the great destruction that will take
place.
So
he begins by saying, 3 Knowing
this first, that there shall come in the last days
scoffers, walking after their own
lusts, 4 And
saying, Where is the promise of his
Parousia Presence? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation.
Notice
he is warning us that the condition of the people, the scoffers will be lacking
Faith in what God is doing. In fact they lack such faith as they are not even
aware that God has some to will and to do. As Jesus said, "Nevertheless
when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
Then
Peter tells us all we have to do is to go back to see what God did in the very
beginning and we will have our pattern to believe in. He tells us that these
scoffers are so focused on their own desires, their own lusts, that they will
totally forget that it will take faith to believe in What God is here to do
just as it took Faith for God to bring forth the very creation itself.
5 For this
they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing
out of the water and in the water: 6 Whereby
the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But
the heavens and the earth, which are
now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
In
other words, these end time scoffers have no insight into what God is here to
do. They just see things from their own perspective, and say, "all things continue, I don't see any change, what good
does it do to believe He is here if I cannot see anything that benefits me"
Then
Peter rebukes that thinking by saying, 8 "But,
beloved, be not ignorant of this one
thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but
that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the
night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all
these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found
of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul
also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in
them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do
also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led
away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 18 But rather grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen
So we are
looking at the condition of the world, the scoffers and the believers, one who
sees everything like a ground hog day where there are no changes, and others
who see the promise and know that the one who made the promise is here to complete
the promise.
In his sermon The Presence of God Unrecognized
64-0618 P:1 brother Branham said, "working for this one purpose, for
you to recognize the Presence of Jesus Christ. See? If He is present, then, why,
everything is settled. He made the Word. He is here to confirm It.
He proves that He'll confirm It. "He
is just the same yesterday, today, and forever."
And again in his sermon From that time
62-0713 P:2 The main thing that we try to do is to let people see that
Christ is not dead, that He is alive. And if we can just see, the
One Who made us all these grand promises is here to confirm those promises...
And finally from God's provided way 64-0206E
P:2 he said, "Now, there's been all kinds of ministries. God in this last
days, I believe, has give us everything He's got in His Book. Everything
that He's promised, we've seen. And still, it seems like that
people can't grasp it. Those who are ordained to grasp it, will
grasp it: only those. It blinds one, opens the eyes of another. Remember,
we believe that Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. He is not
dead, but alive forevermore. And He's here tonight. We are
in His Presence tonight. And He's here to confirm and make good any promise that He
made for this day. And He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. So
anything that He was, He is tonight.
Therefore if God
has come down, the appearing before the coming, to make good on all his
promises, then we should understand as did Peter that if God began by Faith he
will surely end it all the same way, and so this age is to usher in a period of
creative faith just as He began it all. And we saw that in God's prophet
William Branham, we saw how that he was out squirrel hunting and so squirrels
is what was on his mind, and then God steps in on the scene on the anniversary
of his peaking the three squirrels into
existence,.
And so as we
read last week God said to brother Branham, "so what's on your mind?"
And he said "squirrels" and God said ok, then you want squirrels, "where
do you want them?"
I
have heard but now I see 65-1127E P:66 And I heard It again, say, "You are hunting,
and you need game. (Notice that it was God that placed the thought first in the mind of our prophet
to get his squirrels. And that is exactly what we have learned in this series
on Faith that the scripture teaches us, "For It is God working in you both to will
and to do his good pleasure. So God says to his
prophet) "How many do you need?"And I thought,
"Now, I don't want to overdo this; I'm just going to ask for three,
three squirrels. I want young, three red squirrels. I want them."He said, "Then
speak about it."
(Now, notice that God is with his prophet while the prophet is out for a
time of relaxation which he does in the form of hunting. But notice how things
are developing here. what we see happening here is that "It is God working in His prophet to
will and then to do", Because God tells the prophet what do
you want? What is your will? Then he says what he wants, and then God tells him
you have to speak what you will in order for the process to begin. He says,
"You must
speak it first." You
have to speak it first because that is how faith works. "Faith cometh by
hearing", and if he doesn't speak it, then it must remain
an invisible thought. But once spoken, faith is born, and begins the creative
process for "Faith cometh by hearing.")
Now, I am going to re read to you what went on with the prophet and see
if that is not exactly what we see taking place here. And even notice the
wording of his sermon title.
I
have heard but now I see 65-1127E P:66 And I heard It again, say, "You
are hunting, and you need game."
(God placed
the thought first in the mind of our prophet to get his squirrels. So God then
says to his prophet) "How many do you need?"And I
thought, "Now, I don't want to overdo this; I'm just going to ask for
three, three squirrels. I want young, three red squirrels. I want them."He said, "Then
speak about it."
Now, at this point brother Branham begins to step into this conversation
with God and he starts to act upon what God has told him to do. "And I said, "I
am going to get three young red squirrels."
Notice, not I would like to have, but "I am going to get three young red
squirrels." This is not
a hope so, it is a know so. "I am going to get three young red squirrels."
This is where he was expressing his faith, "I am going to get", not I am hoping to get. Hope is the
worst enemy of our Faith, because Faith believes so and hope only wishes it so
but is not sure.
Then God responds, "He said, "Which
a-way will they come?" "Well,"
I thought, "I've went this far, there's Something talking to me here,"
just the same as you hear me talking. And God in heaven, with this Bible over
my heart, knows that that's true. And He... And I said, "Well..." I
picked out a ridiculous place, an old dry limb hanging out there, about fifty
yards, where my rifle was shot in. I said, "The first one will be right
there," and there he was. I rubbed my eyes and looked
back. I turned my head, and I thought, "I don't want to shoot a
vision." So I looked around again, and there set the
squirrel. I throwed a shell up in my gun, aimed up, and I could see his
black eye, young red squirrel. I thought, "I... Maybe I'm sleeping, I'll
wake up in a few minutes. See? I'm dreaming about this." Well, I
leveled down, shot the squirrel and it dropped off the limb. I thought,
"Well, I don't know." I thought, "Should I go over and look for
it?" And I walked over there, and there it laid. I picked it up and
blood run out of it. A vision don't bleed, you know. So I
picked it up, and it was a squirrel. I got real numb all over.
Now, we are
looking at a world without faith. That is the condition of the scoffers at the
time of the Parousia of Christ according to Peter, and Jesus says, "when the son of man appears will he find faith?"
So faith is more
important to us in this hour than at any other time, and yet most people don't
even know if they have faith. But the apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 1:1 "Now faith is The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Now notice that
the apostle Paul tells us here that Faith is both a substance and an evidence,
and substance
and evidence are two different words and they mean two different
things.
When Paul speaks
of Faith as The Substance he is using the
word hupostasis which he also uses in Hebrews 1:3
where it is translated as the very person
of God Himself.
Hebrews
1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, (the
express image of his hupostasis, his substance) and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high;
Again we see this word hupostasis translated as the word confidence in Hebrews 3:14 For we are made partakers of
Christ, if we hold the beginning of our
confidence stedfast unto the end; Now,
it is not speaking of our confidence in ourselves, but rather since this same
word was translated as substance and as the very person of God then it is
accepted that Paul is speaking of our confidence in Him, Christ.
So after Paul
establishes that Faith is having confidence and trust in the very person of Christ
who is the very substance of God, he then goes on to tell us what Faith will
do. and never forget that Faith is a revelation, something that has been
revealed to you as brother Branham pointed out in several of his messages.
From his sermon, Works is faith expressed
65-1126 P:46 he said, "Now, "faith" is a "revelation from God." Now, "faith" is a "revelation."
There's where I want to stay there just a moment. It's a revelation. He
has revealed it to you by His grace. It's nothing you did. You
didn't work yourself up into faith. You never had faith; it's
give to you by the grace of God. And God reveals it to you;
therefore, faith is a revelation. And the whole Church of God is built
upon the revelation.
And again he said in his sermon Invisible
union of the bride 65-1125 P:68 "What is a--what is a revelation? Jesus said, "Upon this Rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell
can't prevail against it." Faith is a revelation,
because faith has been revealed to you. Abel, by faith offered by revelation (faith) offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than that
of Cain. Cain thought they eat apples. They
still got that idea, but it wasn't. It was adultery: serpent's seed.
And from his sermon Anointed ones at end time
65-0725M P:38 he said, "What is faith? Faith is something that's revealed to
you, that is not yet, but you believe it will be.
Faith is a
revelation of the will of God. So by revelation...And the
churches today don't even believe in spiritual revelation. They believe
in a dogmatic teaching of some system. "By
revelation Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain,
which God testified he was righteous."
Amen. I hope you see that. See where we're living, see the hour?
Rapture
the 65-1204 P:40 But to the
church, the Bride, the rapture is a revelation to her. It's
revealed to her, that the revelation, the true Bride of Christ
will be waiting for that revelation of the rapture. Now, it is a
revelation, for the revelation is faith. You cannot have a revelation
without it being faith. Faith is a revelation, because it's something that's
revealed to you. Faith is a revelation. Faith is something that has been revealed to you
like it was to Abraham, that could call anything contrary to what
had been revealed to him as though it wasn't so. Now, faith... That's what
faith is, is the revelation of God. The church is built upon a revelation, the
whole entire body.
Ok, so now that
we've established what Faith is, a revelation, let's read what revelation
produces. 2 "For by it (by Faith) the elders obtained
a good report. 3 Through faith (revelation) we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By
faith (Revelation) Abel offered unto God a
more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet
speaketh. 5 By
faith (revelation) Enoch was translated that
he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for
before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Then Paul tells us why He pleased God) 6 But without faith (without revelation)
it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that
he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
So that is your
revelation, that is your substance, knowing by
revelation that God is and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek
after him. Now, there's your key to receiving from God, He says those that diligently seek Him. Like the widow
woman to the unjust judge, she just kept knocking and knocking and knocking.
7 By faith
(revelation)
Noah, being
warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to
the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir
of the righteousness which is by faith (revelation). 8 By faith (revelation)
Abraham, when he
was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an
inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith (revelation) he sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country,
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise: 10 For he looked for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (why did he look for
this city? because God had revealed it to him.) 11 Through faith (revelation)
also Sara herself
received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was
past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as
good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in
multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
13 These all died in
faith (revelation), not having received the promises, but having seen them (they
were revealed to them) afar off, and were persuaded of them,
and embraced them, and confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For they that say
such things declare plainly that they
seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, (if
they had been focused on the circumstance that existed all around them) they might have had
opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God: for he hath prepared for
them a city. (and he revealed it to them).17 By faith (revelation)Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his
only begotten son, 18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy
seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was
able to raise him up, even from the dead; from
whence also he received him in a figure. 20 By faith (revelation) Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith (revelation) Jacob, when he was a
dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning
upon the top of his staff. 22 By faith (revelation)
Joseph, when he
died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave
commandment concerning his bones. 23 By faith (revelation)
Moses, when he
was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the
king's commandment. 24 By faith (revelation)
Moses, when he
was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25 Choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin
for a season; 26 Esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had
respect unto the recompence of the
reward. (he knew God is a rewarder.) 27 By faith (revelation)
he forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is
invisible. 28 Through faith (revelation)
he kept the
passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. 29 By faith (revelation)
they passed
through the Red sea as by dry land: which the
Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. 30 By faith (revelation) the walls of Jericho
fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. 31 By faith (revelation) the harlot Rahab
perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with
peace. 32 And what shall I more say? for the time would
fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of
Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith (revelation) subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the
aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned,
they were sawn asunder, were tested, were slain with the sword: they
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted,
tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report
through faith (revelation), received not the
promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they
without us should not be made perfect.
Brother
Branham said in his sermon, Second miracle 51-0729E
P:30 Some people has great big faith like this,
anything can happen. The next has faith that deep, takes a little longer.
Next has faith that deep, takes quite a little while. Some
has faith like a mustard seed. But if it's mustard seed faith, genuine faith, hold on to it;
just keep believing it; it'll become marble faith; then it'll become grapefruit
faith; and then it'll become mountain faith. It'll bring you
right out if you just stay with it. Hold on to it; it'll bring you right
straight to the light, if you'll stay with it. But don't be discouraged.
And do not believe
symptoms. Symptoms, that's the devils lie. Some
people say... Well, now look, what if a little lady here, when I told her she
was... I never told her; God told her that she was going to be well.
Why, she said, "Now, wait a minute." The next day she was,
"Well, there's that cancer still running, and I'm drawn down; I can't
move; I'm on this cot I can't go. Well, maybe he was..." Second day, third
day, fourth day, "Well, maybe he was wrong."No, if she'd have believed
symptoms; she wasn't looking at the symptoms; she was looking at what the Word of the Lord said.
So in this
quote brother Branham tells us how important it is concerning faith (revelation) that we do not look at anything except what
God's Word says about it.
Only one true living church
51-0727 P:1A Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee tonight that we
can sing that from the depths of our hearts, "Lord, I believe."
And as the father with an epileptic son, years ago, said, "Help Thou my
unbelief."... We hear this question asked one day,
"When
He returns, would He find faith?" He never questioned whether He'd find
righteousness, or whether He'd find Christians, but would He find faith when He
returned, knowing that that would be one thing people would let go on?
Hearing also the Holy Spirit speaking in the last days, that how these times
would come: "Men
would have a form of godliness, but would deny the power," lack of faith, and we thank
Thee, Lord, tonight, because that in our hearts we feel that we have just a
little faith. And help us, Lord, that that faith may be increased
tonight, until it'd be so high, so lost in complete surrendered
in Christ, until great and mighty works will be shown tonight. Forgive
us of our shortcomings now, and help us. May the Holy Spirit just now, the
great Officer of God here in the earth, searching out for a Bride for the
Lord Jesus, and may He tonight visit every heart here in a special way.
Now, we read this
morning from the book of Genesis where God had a revelation of what the world
was to be, but without speaking his revelation, and putting it to work, the
earth would still be without form and void and darkness would still cover
everything. But God had a revelation, and he spoke that revelation and creation
began to move forth by the spoken word. Because when you speak it you bring
life to it, for faith cometh by hearing, and you got to speak it before you can
hear it.
My commission 51-0505 P:36 Now, all
you with faith, and you're afraid to put it to work, it won't do
any good. Why
not just lay aside everything that's unlike faith. Believe
and act on what you believe; not what you feel, or what the senses bear
witness of, but what your faith bears witness of. Is that right? You
have faith in God, and then act like you have faith in God. Now,
if Abraham says, "I got
faith in God," but was afraid to offer his son Isaac,
then his faith was no good. Paul justified Abraham by faith. Paul
was talking about what God seen in Abraham. But James justified him
by works. James was talking about what man seen in Abraham.
See? God sees your faith; man sees your works. And if you
say you have faith and are afraid to step out and make works out of it, then it
don't do no good. It will never do you any good. You've
got to (1) believe it. You've got to (2) accept
it, and you've got to (3) act like it, haven't you?
Faith without works is
dead 50-0822 P:22 Now, the first thing... It looks like Paul was
speaking in Romans
the 4th chapter, justifying Abraham by faith;
and James is justifying him by works. But it does not
contradict. Paul was speaking of what God saw in Abraham, and
James was speaking what man saw in Abraham. Paul was speaking of what God
saw in Abraham, in Genesis
6, when He told him that he was going to have this child by Sarah. And Abraham believed God, and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness. He believed the promise. That's what God saw. And
then James speaking, was speaking of what man saw in Genesis 22 where Abraham offered up Isaac. See, what
faith is... What faith you have, that's what God sees. But what your
works is, that's what your neighbors see. See? Show me your works without your
faith, and I'll show you my works by my faith. See? Notice, I
believe that this audience here has faith. I believe that. But I believe
you're afraid to turn it loose on works. For I believe that if you
would just let your faith loose... See?
Perfect faith 63-0825E P:13 Now, we want to
speak now upon faith, and a different type of faith:
"Perfect
Faith." That's a great thing. Now, faith, we're told
in the Bible, "Faith
cometh by hearing." Now, you cannot be saved without faith. And faith is
something that you have to believe it's there, that really
nothing else will declare it's there but faith. Now, I'm trying to bring faith
to you, so that you can be ready for this prayer line in the next few minutes. Now,
faith... "He
that cometh to God must believe that He is." And it's impossible to please God without
faith; you cannot please Him. And if you say you believe
God... You have never seen Him (See?), so then you've got to believe it
by faith. And if you could see Him, it would be no more faith.
See? Anything that the senses declares is no more faith; it's a
scientific fact (See?); it's not no more faith. But you have to accept
Him by faith.
Stature of a perfect man
62-1014M P:47 Notice: you must be born again. And when you're born
again, you can't be
born again without having faith. That's right. So, you see on my
chart here, I got the very foundation. Faith is the foundation of all of
it. For
without faith it's impossible to please God: "He that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and a Rewarder of those that diligently seek Him." See? He
must be. And when you are a skeptic of the Bible, when you're skeptic of the
Word being right, you just might as well stay back until first you believe it. What
is sin? Unbelief. There's only two elements that controls the human
being. That's either doubt
or faith, one or the other. You're possessed of one that dominates your life.
Just depends on how much faith you have, how high you can rise.
But first it's got to be faith. Now, let me stay on that
foundation for a while.
Jehovah Jireh part 1 62-0705
P:9 And we must remember that nothing can be done without faith, and it
first has to be confessed. For He is the Author of faith; we know that,
and that nothing can
be done without faith. And without faith it's impossible to please God. And now, He is the High Priest of our confession. Now, the King
James here in the Book of Hebrews puts it a
"profession." To
"profess" and
"confess" is
the same thing, profess and confess. "Confess" means "to say the same thing": "By His stripes I am healed," (See?),
"Now,
by His Life I am saved."And now, then first we've got to
confess it; and He
sets as a Mediator, and the only Mediator between God and man, and He sets there to make intercessions upon
what we confess that He has done. What a sound, solid thing that
is.
As I thought on my way
59-0814 P:62 How many knows that? It's faith. Then without faith, you could
not be healed. You have to have faith. Well, faith in what? Faith in a finished work that Jesus did
for us at Calvary. How many believes that? Well, then as far as
healing is concerned, it's already finished when Jesus finished it at Calvary.
Is that right, raise up your hand? Then what has to be done? Just you to believe it.
You don't have to come to one of these meetings. You don't have to have even
anyone to pray for you. Only thing you have to have is faith to believe
it.
And now for
you people who think you don't have any faith, let me tell you this, you just
do not understand what you have. You all have a mind that can think, and that
can understand what God's will is when he places it in you to begin with.
And brother
Branham said in his sermon, Have faith in God
58-0510 P:15 Faith, why, it's the most common thing there
is. You can't even get a drink of water without faith.
You couldn't come to this meeting without faith. You cannot
move your finger without faith. It's said in the Scripture that when
they put the Blood on the lintel of the door, for the passover in Egypt, it was
put on the hyssop. Do you know what hyssop is? Hyssop is common weed.
You can just find it anywhere. And that's the way the Blood is to be
applied to the heart's door, tonight, is by something common, faith. We try to press it out, and make
it something, that no one can take a hold of. It's so simple,
that you go over the top of it, trying to find it. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen," said the writer
of Hebrews the 11th chapter, 1st verse.
So if God is working in
you both to will and to do, then just let go and let God have his way. He wants you to have his will
and he wants you to do his will so he comes into you to will and to do like the
scripture tells us.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.
Jesus Christ the same 58-0312
P:23 There's no medicine that could heal. Medicine isn't made to
heal. Doctors, good doctors tell you that medicine doesn't heal.
Medicine...Jimmy Mayo said on their great clinic... now this new round of
doctors was accepted. But they said that, "We do not profess to be
healers. We only profess to assist nature. There's one Healer; that's God."
That's true. That is right. So God is the Healer, and faith in God, it's a finished
work. Let the doctor give you ever so much medicine, if you
don't believe it's going to help you, you'll be a dead patient pretty soon.
That's right. There's... It's your faith. You've got to believe. Oh, you can't
go home tonight without faith. If you think you can't move and believe it
strong enough, you'll set right there. That's right. You've got to believe
it.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Prophet Elisha 54-0723 P:7 And now, this
Jehoram, after he had found that the king of Moab was going to declare war on
him, why, he goes over to Judah and asked Jehoshaphat if he wouldn't unite his
efforts with him to go make war with this king of Moab. And now, here is
one point that I wish to stress on for a few moments: that is, concerning
believers hooking themself up with unbelievers. Doesn't... Why, it
doesn't work. God
isn't pleased with it. God has said, "Come out from among the unbelief." See?
You can't associate night and day together. Neither can you associate
belief and unbelief together. And when you find unbelief, it's
accompanied by hatred. If you find faith, it's accompanied by
love, for
love creates faith. And without faith, why you can't have love.
Hour is come 51-0415E P:50 God said,
"I do a
work, though it be done by a man, yet, you'll not believe." See, I'm
trying to say that it is not me. Your faith is what operates that. Without faith, there's nothing...
You can't receive anything. The people who beat Him on the head with a stick and said,
"Prophesy," there was no virtue at all for them. See? It's
those who believe.
But the
problem is that most people have only an intellectual faith. Like the faith to
turn on a light switch, or to get up each morning to do you housework. All
those thing stake a faith, but to receive the promise of God for the hour in
which you live will take a revelation from God that the promise if for you
personally.
From his
sermon, Perseverant 62-0623 P:65 brother
Branham said, Notice.
She also admitted that what Jesus said was the truth. Whew. My. "I am a dog." Amen. Faith...
Listen, Jesus was the Word. And if you've got genuine faith, a faith will always
admit the Word is right. Faith will never argue against the Word.
Amen. It'll stay with the Word. The way the Word said do it, that's the
way faith will recognize it. I'm just going to let that soak a minute.
Yes. Faith admits the truth. She said, "It's truth." She
admitted He was right. Faith
will always do it. See, she had a hold of something higher than
the--the whole Jewish generation did then. She had something that she'd got a
hold of that wouldn't turn loose. There was something impulsing in her
that she knew she was going to get her request. No matter if she was to
be called dog, if she was to be called anything, kicked out, run over, whatever
it was, she had a hold of something that she knowed was going to deliver her
request. Now, that's a real
revelation he's talking about.
Expectation 55-1001 P:26 Now, your
intellectual faith will reason. You'll say, "Now, I know the Bible
teaches that, certainly. But let me think now, the days of miracles is past.
Pastor said so, somebody said so. I believe that this day we don't have
that." Now, see, you're
using intellectual faith. And that intellectual faith will reason with God's
Word, but a born again experience from the heart will not
reason; it will say, "God's Word's right. There's no more to do with it; it's right." Because something down here that says it
itself; you have nothing to do with it. It's God in the heart.
Now, an intellectual faith will reason. Now, today that's
what's the matter with our churches. We've got away from real old
time experiences of receiving the Holy Spirit. And we've got away from it,
and substituted for it a intellectual college, a college education.
Now, I have... I'm not trying to support my ignorance now. But I am trying to
say this: If it come between education and salvation, I will take
salvation. Yes, sir. If my children didn't know their abc's I'd rather they'd know Jesus
Christ. That's right, it is true. I think education's wonderful,
but it'll go so far.
And in closing
he said in his sermon Anointed ones at end time
65-0725M P:91 Now, that's the question. Here's where I want to get to. In Revelation 10, we will get to it in a few minutes to another Scripture
verse, he said, "In the days of the
message of the seventh Angel, the mystery of God ought to be finished." Here's the question is, if you follow in that line in
this hour: Will it
be finished? "Will I
find the faith?" Will Malachi 4 be fulfilled in
this time: restore the faith of the children
back to the faith of the fathers, the original, the Word? See?
let us pray