And I just pray that as you sit there and listen,
that somehow the real meaning of this little
heart -to -heart talk will come through. I believe
that there's a difference between the faith of
the Old Testament under law and the faith of
the New Testament under grace. I know. you will
agree with me that seldom do I ever talk about
faith. Probably I talk less about faith than
anyone in my position that you've ever known.
One would think that because we believe in healing
the sick body that I would have many, many sermons
and would talk much about faith. And yet... I
seldom do. I want to give you the Word of God.
And again, I want to make that very definite
statement. There is a difference between the
faith of the Old Testament under law and the
faith of the New Testament under grace. Consider
something. Turn, if you will, please, to Hebrews.
And when I will have finished speaking today,
I want you to take the time. I want you to read
Hebrews for yourself. Now, the key to Paul's
epistle to the Hebrews is the word better. Watch
that little word better. And this is especially
interesting in the light. of the faith chapter
of this remarkable letter. He was trying to get
them to see the truth of Christianity by contrast.
Hidden away in the rich little root was the color
and the fragrance and the beauty, the flower
of grace that was to come later. Was not the
flower better than the root? Was not the end?
better than the beginning? Was not the blood
of Christ better than the blood of the Lamb?
Was not Jesus better than the angels who had
visited their fathers from time to time? Was
not the voice of God's Son better than the voice
of the prophets? Over and over again, Paul uses
that word better. Then this was the heartthrob
of the epistle. And when it comes to the faith
chapter, is there any reason for his departure
from the purpose of the letter and the motive
of the epistle? I think not. The theme is still
better. And the purpose is to show the... beauty
of the faith of Jesus in comparison to those
works and the words of the patriarchs and the
prophets that were counted unto them as faith.
It was the faith of that day. It was the faithful
that time. Remember now that Paul closes that
faith chapter with the words, God having provided
some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect. In other words, the
acts and the testimonies of the ancients were
held up like pictures in a gallery for... the
Christianized Jews to behold and admire. There
was a story of Abel and Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Sarah. There was Isaac and Jacob. They were all
framed in a picture of obedience to the divine
word. Oh, look at the obedience on the part of
each one of them. Then there came Moses and Joshua,
followed by a grand parade of all the illustrious
of the days of old before Jesus was born in the
stable of Bethlehem. But now Jesus was born.
Here we have God in the flesh. We have the very
Son of the living God with us. And nowhere in
that entire epistle does Paul tell them or us
that our faith today should be patterned after
theirs or that it should be similar in its workings,
similar in its operation to the faith of their
fathers. Instead, watch something. Instead, he
tells us something better. Oh, that little word,
better. He introduces a flower that has grown
out of the root. Their faith in the old days
was manifested by work and word in obedience
to command. But not now. That will come. Don't
you misconstrue something that I'm saying. Don't
put words in my mouth. Neither put words in the
mouth of God that are not there. Don't, whatever
you do, misinterpret what I'm saying. That will
come. Works will come. But it is only a part,
and a small one at that, of what the New Testament
teaches us that faith really is. Yes. It isn't
works. It isn't a matter of you do something
and then God will do something. Really, we've
almost gotten to the place where we proposition
God. That is more or less the spirit of the age
today. To get something, we proposition somebody
and... Many women stay awake all night figuring
out how they can proposition somebody to get
them to do what they want them to do. Sometimes
I think that without knowing it, we are more
or less trying to proposition God. You don't
do it. You do not do it. Of course. Of course
there will be work. There will be testimony.
But that is not faith. Not New Testament faith
at any rate. Now, in this connection, it is interesting
to note that if you turn back to the Old Testament
account of the lives of the men and women introduced
in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, The word faith
is never mentioned in connection with their lives
at all. The word faith occurs in the Old Testament
only twice. And in one of these instances, it's
prophetic. And in the other, it's used in a negative
way regarding the unbelief of a wicked generation.
And the two passages that I referred to are in...
Deuteronomy, the 32nd chapter, the 21st, and
in Habakkuk, the 2nd chapter, the 4th verse.
So we must come then to the unanswerable conclusion
that Paul is not holding up the lives of these
illustrious patriarchs as a pattern for them
to follow, but rather as the Excellent beginning
in God's will of something more wonderful that
they were to discover in Jesus. Remember, they
were living on the other side of Calvary. They
were living on the other side of the cross. You
and I are living in the full blaze of a risen
and resurrected... Jesus. We have one position
of great high priest seated upon the right hand
of God the Father. Never forget that. Oh, that's
so wonderful. The faith they were to possess
were all their fathers had and more. The faith
that we are to possess is all that the old testament
saints had and more because we're living the
full blaze of the cross we're living in an hour
when we have a great imitator we are living in
an hour when we have one at the right hand of
god the father who ever liveth to make intercession
for us We are living this wonderful day of Pentecost
literally. And the Holy Spirit is with us and
in us. And Paul was not belittling or underestimating
the faith of the Old Testament. and the saints
of the Old Testament, but what he was saying
was, all that they had is ours and more. Seeing
that they were surrounded by such a great cloud
of witnesses, they too were to lay aside weights
and sins and run with patience the new race that
was set before them. They were to do what? And
here is the key. They were to look to Jesus,
who was the author and the finisher of their
faith. If he was the author and the finisher
of their faith, and the faith of Paul, then he
is the author and the finisher of my faith. He
is the author and the finisher of your faith.
In other words, all true faith begins and ends
in him. It does not say that he is the author
and the finisher of his faith alone. But it states
that he is the author and the finisher of my
faith. He is the author and the finisher of your
faith. There's nothing in front of the alpha,
nothing back of the omega. He begins it, and
it begins in him. He ends it, and it ends in
him. When I want it, I must seek his face. I
cannot get it anywhere else. but from that matchless
one of whom it is said, he is the author and
the finisher of faith, not of his own alone,
but of yours and mine. Our contact is in him.
Know that. I am not your contact. No man is your
contact. No woman is your contact. He is our
contact. He is the great mediator. He is the
author and the finisher of your faith. The author
and the finisher of my faith. And when I... I
want faith, and when I need faith, I must seek
his face. I cannot get it anywhere else but from
that matchless one, the very Son of God. Had
we made the mistake of looking at the 11th chapter
of Hebrews and then seeing what they did then,
begin to roll up our sleeves and start to show
our faith and prove it? by what we do. Had you
ever done that? If you have, then you've stood
in a bewilderment of what seemed to be unanswered
prayer. And you've been left frustrated, doubting
your faith, wondering what you have done because
your prayer was not answered. because your body
was not healed. Remember that faith acts, but
the act comes from the faith rather than the
faith from the act. That's the reason it's so
very easy to step over the borderline from the
faith that God imports into the realm of presumption.
Oh, it's so easy to get into that realm of presumption.
Many a time. What we thought was faith was nothing
more or less than presumption. Somebody is wonderfully
healed by the power of God, gives his testimony,
and tells how instantly he stepped from out of
that wheelchair. So another person hears it and
tries to do the same thing and not. And then
they weep and cry. You do not pattern after another.
You do not do it because another did it. The
first was gloriously healed and stepped out of
that wheelchair because at that moment, the one
who is the author and the finisher of his faith
gave that one that faith. Turn, you are trying
to pattern after that one who had been healed
and not because you had your face turned to Jesus
Christ. You were thinking of the one who had
been healed and not on the one who is the altar
and finisher of our faith. I pray to make this
so simple today. I've tried to make it so simple.
Do you not know that no good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly? If you need, take
it to Jesus. Have you a problem? Lay it at the
master's feet. Begin to trust him. And if you
give him your confidence, if you give him your
trust, it'll not be long before he will give
you his faith. Why play with the teacup of our
struggles and endeavors when his faith is as
boundless as the ocean? And he's no respecter
of persons. He loves the weakest and the simplest
of all of us. We become so important in our own
eyes, so proud of our spiritual accomplishments.
The righteousness which so vainly flaunts itself
through so many of our testimonies is the kind
that is of self. Look to him and say, Dear Jesus,
I am through with my struggles and I am through
with trying to manufacture something that is
not there. As a little child, look up and say,
Thou who art the author and the finisher of my
faith. Give me your face and you will see the
result of that face in the healing of that body.