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 Sermon > Measure of Faith |
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Title |
Measure of Faith(1) - Fleshly Faith and Spiritual Faith |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Hebrews11:1-3 |
Date |
2005-10-02 |
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[Passage]
[Hebrews 11:1-3]
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,we who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior have been forgiven of our sins and received salvation.
By faith we are able to understand that God, who is spirit, is living and also that there is heaven and hell in the life to come.
It is also by faith that we receive salvation and go to the kingdom of heaven and that we receive answers to our prayers. Likewise, faith is a very important thing. But while many people confess their faith in God, the magnitude of experiencing God's works is all different according to each one's faith.
Some have great faith and receive answers to anything they ask. Also when they pray for others, God's works take place. On the other hand, some say they believe in God, but when they have problems, they cannot receive the answer of God. There are others who do not even think to rely on God in the first place.
Some think they are saved, but have no true assurance of salvation in their heart, so they have fear of the life to come. Also, they think they truly believe, but have questions because they do not receive the answers as written in the Bible.
Therefore, for you to lead a life-filled Christian life, you first have to understand what faith is. Also, you should understand each one has a different measure of faith and experience a different magnitude of God's works, although everybody says he has faith. Therefore, from today, I will preach the message covering the measure of faith in Sunday morning services.
Through the messages of the "Measure of Faith", I will explain about Spiritual Faith with which we can receive salvation and answers to problems, and how we can have greater faith.
I hope you will check your faith through the upcoming messages and have spiritual faith and great faith.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be able to experience the works of the living God everyday.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the first session on the measure of faith, and I will first talk to you about 'fleshly faith' and 'spiritual faith'. Faith is the most precious treasure of treasures and the key to solve all life problems.
Almighty God the Creator can do things that cannot be done by human power or ability. The Bible tells us about impossible things becoming possible such as stopping the sun and the moon from moving, parting the Red Sea into two, winning the victories in battles, and reviving the dead.
Likewise God is omnipotent and omniscient, and thus, only if we have faith, there will be no difficulty in receiving healing to diseases and infirmities and answers to various problems.
The important thing is that we must have true faith. No matter how much we call God the Father with our lips and pray, "Lord, I believe!", if we do not have true faith, we cannot experience works of God.
Today, there are many churchgoers but many of them do not even know the meaning of faith. They say they 'believe', but don't even have the assurance of salvation. They suffer from diseases and go through tests and trials just like the worldly people. They also can't receive the answers to their prayers.
Jesus said in Mark 9:23, "And Jesus said to him, "'If You can!' All things are possible to him who believes.'" Also, Matthew 8:13 says, ". . .let it be done to you as you have believed."
The words recorded in the Bible are 100% true. If God says nothing is impossible for he who believes, it actually means nothing is impossible. Also, if we pray with faith, there must be the answer to the prayer.
If we do not receive the answer though we pray with faith, we should check whether our faith is really true faith or not. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart."
Also, Hebrews 11:6 says that we cannot please God without faith. Only if you please God with faith, God will answer whatever you desire, and the way to please God is through faith.
Here, this faith must be true faith that can be acknowledged by God.
The reason why many people do not see the work of God although they profess they believe is that they do not have faith that can be acknowledged by God.
In faith, there is the true, spiritual faith, that God can acknowledge. There is also fleshly faith that God cannot acknowledge.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, then, what is fleshly faith and what is spiritual faith? Let us first look into fleshly faith.
Fleshly faith, first of all, is the faith with which you believe what you can check with your eyes and the things that agree with your thoughts and knowledge. But even the worldly people can have this kind of faith that has nothing to do with salvation.
For example, if I say, 'This towel is white in color,' those who see that it is white will believe what I say. If I say, 'we can make chairs with wood,' you can believe that too. It is because it agrees with your knowledge that you have learned since your birth.
But let us suppose that one of you has been taught that the color of this towel is not white but black.
Then, if I say it is white, that person cannot believe it at all. It is because it does not agree with the knowledge.
Likewise, depending on what kind of knowledge you've accepted, you may think something true is false or vice versa. But it is a fact that not everything that you have been learning is true.
There are things in the world that people think they are true but there are also things that change over time. Also, the standards and ways of thinking are very different in different countries, races, and even among individuals.
Only the word of God is the absolute and ultimate truth that never changes.
For example, a long time ago, people learned that the earth was not round but flat. They learned that the sun revolved around earth, not that the earth revolves around the sun.
At that time, people thought it was true, but nobody today believes it as the truth. Similarly, many parts of the knowledge you have right now are not true.
But people just believe whatever they have been taught as the truth. In this condition, even though somebody tells them the truth, they think that truth is untruth if it does not agree with their own knowledge.
Many people do not believe in God the Creator even after hearing the gospel for this kind of a reason. Because they have been learning that the false theory called "Darwinism" is true, they do not believe in creationism, which is actually the real truth.
Darwinism is not the truth but a false theory completely formed by human thoughts.
Even after millions of billions of years, fish can never become animals on the ground, or apes. But those who have been learning it firmly believe evolutionism is the truth.
That is why if somebody says that God created heaven and earth with His word, they think it is not true. But there are also some people who say they believe in the Almighty God but do not believe the Bible completely but only the parts that agree with their theories and knowledge.
But if you want to use only worldly theories and knowledge to explain the world, there are so many unbelievable things in the Bible.
In the world, there must material existing to make a product. But the Bible says that the heaven and earth were created from nothingness by the word of God. So, they cannot believe it.
Also, they cannot understand the powerful works that are impossible by men's ability.
So, when they read about signs and wonders, they think it did not really take place but it is just a parable or symbolization. If it says Peter walked on water, they interpret that he walked on a shallow part.
If somebody says his disease was healed by taking medicine and a surgery, they believe. But when they hear somebody is healed just by prayer, they doubt that there must be something else. Or, they think such things might have happened long ago, but not any more.
But this kind of faith has nothing to do with God. It is not spiritual faith with which we can receive salvation. True faith is to believe all of the words of the Bible are God's word and absolute truth regardless of what kind of knowledge we have.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, next, faith that changes is also fleshly faith. With changing faith we cannot receive the answer from God.
Some people pray hard, worship God diligently and lead an enthusiastic Christian life to receive the answer to the desires in their heart. But if they do not receive the answer quickly enough, they begin to doubt.
"Is God really living? Does He really listen to my prayers?" If they begin to doubt like this, they lose the grace. So, they think even the answers they received before or the testimonies of other people receiving the answers were coincidence.
James 1:6-7 says, "But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,"
We cannot say this kind of faith that changes is true faith.
Mark 11:24 says, "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be [granted] you."
It doesn't say that by believing you will receive them, but you that have already received them.
It is the same with problems of diseases. The second half of 1 Peter 2:24 says, ". . .for by His wounds you were healed."
About 2,000 years ago, Jesus suffered and redeemed us from all our sins and curses, and we who believe in this are healed. Therefore, if you receive prayer with faith, you will not have pains in your life any more but be joyful and thankful being filled with hope.
Also, only when your faith does not change although you don't have the visible evidences right now, your faith can be recognized as true faith.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, next, it is dead faith to just know in our head what faith is and not have the accompanying actions. Knowing the word of God and believing it are two different things.
We should believe God's word not in our head but in our deepest heart, and only then will our deeds follow according to the word.
But if you know it only as knowledge your deeds will not follow. This kind of faith as just knowledge cannot be recognized by God as spiritual faith. With this faith, you cannot harvest the fruit of faith.
For example, God says that He will let you reap what you sow. This is the rule of the spiritual realm that applies to everything, including health and wealth.
The widow in Zarepath obeyed God's command with faith and gave her last food to Elijah during the long famine.
With human thoughts, that food was same as life to her and she couldn't have given it away. But she obeyed with action because she believed.
As a result, she received a blessing in such a way that the bin of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty.
She experienced God's works of blessing on her 30, 60, and 100 hundred times more (than given).
On the contrary, those who have fleshly faith know this fact in their head but when they are in difficulties, they cannot act. If they are short of living expenses, they sometimes cannot give proper tithes and become stingy about giving various offerings.
If they truly believe God will pay them back with blessings for whatever they sow before God, they will never be stingy. But, because they know it only as knowledge, their deeds do not follow.
Therefore, even though they pray saying, "I believe you will give me blessings," they cannot reap the fruit of their prayers.
For another example, it is the same with the problem of diseases. Let us say you have cancer, and that your father is the best cancer specialist in the world and he has the ability to heal you.
If you really trust your father's skills, you will go to your father. You will not go to other doctors.
In the same way, if you truly believe that God is truly omnipotent and omniscient, you can ask God when you have a disease. Why should you use worldly methods?
People rely on other people and use the worldly methods because, although they know the power of God in their brain, they do not believe in their heart. How much will our God be saddened looking at these faithless deeds?
2 Kings 16:12-13 talks about King Asa's disease and his death. It says, "And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians. So Asa slept with his fathers, having died in the forty-first year of his reign."
God left this record in the Bible to let us realize how much we disappoint God if we rely on the world while saying that we believe in Him.
It's the same in all other cases. The Bible tells us to rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances, pray without ceasing, love our enemies, and have peace with everybody. Even if we memorize all these verses, those who do not act upon them have only fleshly faith, and they cannot experience the works of God.
James 2:26 says, "For just as the body without [the] spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
With dead faith we cannot receive either the answers or the blessings. We might even fall away from salvation. Please, remember this fact and have faith accompanied with deeds.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Then, what is spiritual faith? Spiritual faith can be explained as the opposite of the fleshly faith I just explained.
Even though word of God does not agree with your personal thoughts and knowledge, if you can still believe every word of God, then that is spiritual faith. Once you believe in this way, your faith never changes, and you obey with deeds in action according to God's word.
If you have this spiritual faith, you can create something from nothing, and as said in Matthew 17:20, you will command this mountain to move from here to there, and it will move, and there will be nothing impossible for you. You can receive answers to any kind of problem in your family, work place, business, or health, and you can accomplish the kingdom of God with His power.
But, though you possess spiritual faith, the measure of each one's faith is all different.
Those with great spiritual faith having a full measure of faith will receive answers by simply having the desire in their heart, while those with a small measure of faith have to pray for many days for the same desire.
But if men can have all the spiritual faith they want, everybody would want to have greater faith. But we cannot possess spiritual faith just because we want to have it. It can only be given by God.
Then, how can we receive spiritual faith? If you know the way to receive spiritual love, the gate of answers and blessings will be opened wide for the desires of your heart.
I will explain to you how to receive spiritual faith.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, did you check whether your faith is fleshly faith or spiritual faith through today's message?
Of course, none of you would say, "I have 100% spiritual faith." But at the same time, your faith is not all fleshly faith.
Many of you have spiritual faith, but you have different measures of that faith. You are still on the way of accomplishing the perfection in spiritual faith.
The messages that you will hear in Sunday morning services will be about the different measures of spiritual faith, how to grow from small faith to great faith, and how to change our faith into spiritual faith.
Through the messages, you should be able to find yourself and have spiritual faith so that you can obey the words you hear with action. You will believe even though it does not agree with your thoughts, knowledge, and theories. And, your faith will never change in any circumstances.
Then, as said, "nothing is impossible for him who believes," God's promises will be realized in your life and you will experience such amazing works that are recorded in the Bible.
You will be able to overcome any kind of hardship with faith, receive answers to your prayers, and show the evidence of the living God to the worldly people who do not believe.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will quickly accomplish spiritual faith, please God, and experience the works of God everyday. |
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