WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.379 And I just pray that as you sit there and listen, 00:00:03.580 --> 00:00:11.039 that somehow the real meaning of this little 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:14.539 heart -to -heart talk will come through. I believe 00:00:14.539 --> 00:00:18.579 that there's a difference between the faith of 00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:24.079 the Old Testament under law and the faith of 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:28.980 the New Testament under grace. I know. you will 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:32.579 agree with me that seldom do I ever talk about 00:00:32.579 --> 00:00:39.380 faith. Probably I talk less about faith than 00:00:39.380 --> 00:00:41.920 anyone in my position that you've ever known. 00:00:42.420 --> 00:00:46.340 One would think that because we believe in healing 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:53.039 the sick body that I would have many, many sermons 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:58.200 and would talk much about faith. And yet... I 00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:03.399 seldom do. I want to give you the Word of God. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.659 And again, I want to make that very definite 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:12.700 statement. There is a difference between the 00:01:12.700 --> 00:01:15.900 faith of the Old Testament under law and the 00:01:15.900 --> 00:01:20.799 faith of the New Testament under grace. Consider 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:25.040 something. Turn, if you will, please, to Hebrews. 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:28.540 And when I will have finished speaking today, 00:01:28.659 --> 00:01:35.140 I want you to take the time. I want you to read 00:01:35.140 --> 00:01:40.879 Hebrews for yourself. Now, the key to Paul's 00:01:40.879 --> 00:01:47.560 epistle to the Hebrews is the word better. Watch 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:52.780 that little word better. And this is especially 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:55.840 interesting in the light. of the faith chapter 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:59.260 of this remarkable letter. He was trying to get 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:03.319 them to see the truth of Christianity by contrast. 00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:08.400 Hidden away in the rich little root was the color 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:10.219 and the fragrance and the beauty, the flower 00:02:10.219 --> 00:02:16.960 of grace that was to come later. Was not the 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:22.520 flower better than the root? Was not the end? 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:28.280 better than the beginning? Was not the blood 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:30.580 of Christ better than the blood of the Lamb? 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:38.099 Was not Jesus better than the angels who had 00:02:38.099 --> 00:02:43.259 visited their fathers from time to time? Was 00:02:43.259 --> 00:02:49.439 not the voice of God's Son better than the voice 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:56.520 of the prophets? Over and over again, Paul uses 00:02:56.520 --> 00:03:03.180 that word better. Then this was the heartthrob 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:07.000 of the epistle. And when it comes to the faith 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.300 chapter, is there any reason for his departure 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:12.759 from the purpose of the letter and the motive 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:18.000 of the epistle? I think not. The theme is still 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.560 better. And the purpose is to show the... beauty 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:27.300 of the faith of Jesus in comparison to those 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:34.900 works and the words of the patriarchs and the 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:39.280 prophets that were counted unto them as faith. 00:03:40.199 --> 00:03:44.699 It was the faith of that day. It was the faithful 00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:49.979 that time. Remember now that Paul closes that 00:03:49.979 --> 00:03:55.439 faith chapter with the words, God having provided 00:03:55.439 --> 00:04:02.939 some better thing for us, that they without us 00:04:02.939 --> 00:04:09.620 should not be made perfect. In other words, the 00:04:09.620 --> 00:04:13.060 acts and the testimonies of the ancients were 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:17.209 held up like pictures in a gallery for... the 00:04:17.209 --> 00:04:21.870 Christianized Jews to behold and admire. There 00:04:21.870 --> 00:04:26.209 was a story of Abel and Enoch, Noah, Abraham, 00:04:26.470 --> 00:04:33.350 Sarah. There was Isaac and Jacob. They were all 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:36.250 framed in a picture of obedience to the divine 00:04:36.250 --> 00:04:42.269 word. Oh, look at the obedience on the part of 00:04:42.269 --> 00:04:45.819 each one of them. Then there came Moses and Joshua, 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:50.519 followed by a grand parade of all the illustrious 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:56.939 of the days of old before Jesus was born in the 00:04:56.939 --> 00:05:02.720 stable of Bethlehem. But now Jesus was born. 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:09.379 Here we have God in the flesh. We have the very 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:15.019 Son of the living God with us. And nowhere in 00:05:15.019 --> 00:05:19.560 that entire epistle does Paul tell them or us 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:25.879 that our faith today should be patterned after 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:29.899 theirs or that it should be similar in its workings, 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:34.379 similar in its operation to the faith of their 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:40.519 fathers. Instead, watch something. Instead, he 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:45.060 tells us something better. Oh, that little word, 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:50.220 better. He introduces a flower that has grown 00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:53.540 out of the root. Their faith in the old days 00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:58.579 was manifested by work and word in obedience 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:06.420 to command. But not now. That will come. Don't 00:06:06.420 --> 00:06:09.920 you misconstrue something that I'm saying. Don't 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:14.379 put words in my mouth. Neither put words in the 00:06:14.379 --> 00:06:18.839 mouth of God that are not there. Don't, whatever 00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:24.680 you do, misinterpret what I'm saying. That will 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:33.339 come. Works will come. But it is only a part, 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:38.019 and a small one at that, of what the New Testament 00:06:38.019 --> 00:06:44.569 teaches us that faith really is. Yes. It isn't 00:06:44.569 --> 00:06:49.870 works. It isn't a matter of you do something 00:06:49.870 --> 00:06:56.670 and then God will do something. Really, we've 00:06:56.670 --> 00:06:58.930 almost gotten to the place where we proposition 00:06:58.930 --> 00:07:03.829 God. That is more or less the spirit of the age 00:07:03.829 --> 00:07:08.110 today. To get something, we proposition somebody 00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:13.009 and... Many women stay awake all night figuring 00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:17.149 out how they can proposition somebody to get 00:07:17.149 --> 00:07:21.069 them to do what they want them to do. Sometimes 00:07:21.069 --> 00:07:27.889 I think that without knowing it, we are more 00:07:27.889 --> 00:07:32.009 or less trying to proposition God. You don't 00:07:32.009 --> 00:07:39.029 do it. You do not do it. Of course. Of course 00:07:39.029 --> 00:07:42.970 there will be work. There will be testimony. 00:07:43.889 --> 00:07:49.670 But that is not faith. Not New Testament faith 00:07:49.670 --> 00:07:55.329 at any rate. Now, in this connection, it is interesting 00:07:55.329 --> 00:07:57.810 to note that if you turn back to the Old Testament 00:07:57.810 --> 00:07:59.970 account of the lives of the men and women introduced 00:07:59.970 --> 00:08:04.509 in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, The word faith 00:08:04.509 --> 00:08:09.370 is never mentioned in connection with their lives 00:08:09.370 --> 00:08:14.009 at all. The word faith occurs in the Old Testament 00:08:14.009 --> 00:08:18.529 only twice. And in one of these instances, it's 00:08:18.529 --> 00:08:22.529 prophetic. And in the other, it's used in a negative 00:08:22.529 --> 00:08:25.649 way regarding the unbelief of a wicked generation. 00:08:26.790 --> 00:08:29.769 And the two passages that I referred to are in... 00:08:30.009 --> 00:08:34.250 Deuteronomy, the 32nd chapter, the 21st, and 00:08:34.250 --> 00:08:37.950 in Habakkuk, the 2nd chapter, the 4th verse. 00:08:38.950 --> 00:08:42.710 So we must come then to the unanswerable conclusion 00:08:42.710 --> 00:08:48.250 that Paul is not holding up the lives of these 00:08:48.250 --> 00:08:53.629 illustrious patriarchs as a pattern for them 00:08:53.629 --> 00:08:59.139 to follow, but rather as the Excellent beginning 00:08:59.139 --> 00:09:03.879 in God's will of something more wonderful that 00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:10.600 they were to discover in Jesus. Remember, they 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:14.799 were living on the other side of Calvary. They 00:09:14.799 --> 00:09:18.659 were living on the other side of the cross. You 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:22.519 and I are living in the full blaze of a risen 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:26.360 and resurrected... Jesus. We have one position 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:29.600 of great high priest seated upon the right hand 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:36.980 of God the Father. Never forget that. Oh, that's 00:09:36.980 --> 00:09:42.200 so wonderful. The faith they were to possess 00:09:42.200 --> 00:09:50.679 were all their fathers had and more. The faith 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:55.350 that we are to possess is all that the old testament 00:09:55.350 --> 00:10:02.049 saints had and more because we're living the 00:10:02.049 --> 00:10:07.470 full blaze of the cross we're living in an hour 00:10:07.470 --> 00:10:12.929 when we have a great imitator we are living in 00:10:12.929 --> 00:10:16.049 an hour when we have one at the right hand of 00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:18.490 god the father who ever liveth to make intercession 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:24.700 for us We are living this wonderful day of Pentecost 00:10:24.700 --> 00:10:33.960 literally. And the Holy Spirit is with us and 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:45.159 in us. And Paul was not belittling or underestimating 00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:50.960 the faith of the Old Testament. and the saints 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.860 of the Old Testament, but what he was saying 00:10:53.860 --> 00:11:04.200 was, all that they had is ours and more. Seeing 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:06.799 that they were surrounded by such a great cloud 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:10.279 of witnesses, they too were to lay aside weights 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:15.320 and sins and run with patience the new race that 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:19.340 was set before them. They were to do what? And 00:11:19.340 --> 00:11:25.399 here is the key. They were to look to Jesus, 00:11:25.720 --> 00:11:32.600 who was the author and the finisher of their 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:36.980 faith. If he was the author and the finisher 00:11:36.980 --> 00:11:40.220 of their faith, and the faith of Paul, then he 00:11:40.220 --> 00:11:44.419 is the author and the finisher of my faith. He 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:48.200 is the author and the finisher of your faith. 00:11:48.860 --> 00:11:55.379 In other words, all true faith begins and ends 00:11:55.379 --> 00:12:00.299 in him. It does not say that he is the author 00:12:00.299 --> 00:12:05.320 and the finisher of his faith alone. But it states 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:09.379 that he is the author and the finisher of my 00:12:09.379 --> 00:12:16.009 faith. He is the author and the finisher of your 00:12:16.009 --> 00:12:20.990 faith. There's nothing in front of the alpha, 00:12:21.210 --> 00:12:26.570 nothing back of the omega. He begins it, and 00:12:26.570 --> 00:12:31.789 it begins in him. He ends it, and it ends in 00:12:31.789 --> 00:12:38.149 him. When I want it, I must seek his face. I 00:12:38.149 --> 00:12:42.159 cannot get it anywhere else. but from that matchless 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:47.460 one of whom it is said, he is the author and 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:51.779 the finisher of faith, not of his own alone, 00:12:52.100 --> 00:13:00.820 but of yours and mine. Our contact is in him. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:09.450 Know that. I am not your contact. No man is your 00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:15.950 contact. No woman is your contact. He is our 00:13:15.950 --> 00:13:22.590 contact. He is the great mediator. He is the 00:13:22.590 --> 00:13:27.789 author and the finisher of your faith. The author 00:13:27.789 --> 00:13:34.019 and the finisher of my faith. And when I... I 00:13:34.019 --> 00:13:39.039 want faith, and when I need faith, I must seek 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.799 his face. I cannot get it anywhere else but from 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:49.980 that matchless one, the very Son of God. Had 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:52.620 we made the mistake of looking at the 11th chapter 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:57.580 of Hebrews and then seeing what they did then, 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:00.019 begin to roll up our sleeves and start to show 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:04.419 our faith and prove it? by what we do. Had you 00:14:04.419 --> 00:14:08.740 ever done that? If you have, then you've stood 00:14:08.740 --> 00:14:13.460 in a bewilderment of what seemed to be unanswered 00:14:13.460 --> 00:14:19.980 prayer. And you've been left frustrated, doubting 00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:28.279 your faith, wondering what you have done because 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:31.299 your prayer was not answered. because your body 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:36.600 was not healed. Remember that faith acts, but 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.779 the act comes from the faith rather than the 00:14:39.779 --> 00:14:43.720 faith from the act. That's the reason it's so 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:46.240 very easy to step over the borderline from the 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:51.860 faith that God imports into the realm of presumption. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:56.559 Oh, it's so easy to get into that realm of presumption. 00:14:57.379 --> 00:15:02.840 Many a time. What we thought was faith was nothing 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:09.720 more or less than presumption. Somebody is wonderfully 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:11.779 healed by the power of God, gives his testimony, 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:20.879 and tells how instantly he stepped from out of 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:26.679 that wheelchair. So another person hears it and 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:31.179 tries to do the same thing and not. And then 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:37.059 they weep and cry. You do not pattern after another. 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:43.539 You do not do it because another did it. The 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:47.059 first was gloriously healed and stepped out of 00:15:47.059 --> 00:15:52.039 that wheelchair because at that moment, the one 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:54.080 who is the author and the finisher of his faith 00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:00.289 gave that one that faith. Turn, you are trying 00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:04.789 to pattern after that one who had been healed 00:16:04.789 --> 00:16:12.970 and not because you had your face turned to Jesus 00:16:12.970 --> 00:16:18.049 Christ. You were thinking of the one who had 00:16:18.049 --> 00:16:22.830 been healed and not on the one who is the altar 00:16:22.830 --> 00:16:26.309 and finisher of our faith. I pray to make this 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:31.379 so simple today. I've tried to make it so simple. 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:36.279 Do you not know that no good thing will he withhold 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:40.080 from them that walk uprightly? If you need, take 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:43.120 it to Jesus. Have you a problem? Lay it at the 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:46.639 master's feet. Begin to trust him. And if you 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:50.000 give him your confidence, if you give him your 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.379 trust, it'll not be long before he will give 00:16:54.379 --> 00:17:01.240 you his faith. Why play with the teacup of our 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:06.839 struggles and endeavors when his faith is as 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:11.319 boundless as the ocean? And he's no respecter 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:15.220 of persons. He loves the weakest and the simplest 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:20.380 of all of us. We become so important in our own 00:17:20.380 --> 00:17:22.960 eyes, so proud of our spiritual accomplishments. 00:17:24.109 --> 00:17:27.750 The righteousness which so vainly flaunts itself 00:17:27.750 --> 00:17:31.170 through so many of our testimonies is the kind 00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:38.210 that is of self. Look to him and say, Dear Jesus, 00:17:38.349 --> 00:17:40.769 I am through with my struggles and I am through 00:17:40.769 --> 00:17:43.450 with trying to manufacture something that is 00:17:43.450 --> 00:17:47.730 not there. As a little child, look up and say, 00:17:47.869 --> 00:17:51.769 Thou who art the author and the finisher of my 00:17:51.769 --> 00:17:58.329 faith. Give me your face and you will see the 00:17:58.329 --> 00:18:03.430 result of that face in the healing of that body.