XXV.) THE FRUIT OF THE HOLY GHOST: (Gal. 5:22-23)
(V.22) But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
(V.23) meekness, temperance, against such there is no law.
(A) The fruit of the Spirit is love, only as we love can we fulfill the will of God in our lives, the believer must become love-inspired, love-mastered and love-driven (II Cor. 5:14) without the fruit of the Spirit (LOVE) we are just a religious noise (I Cor. 13:1) the fruit of the Spirit is love and it is manifest in joy, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:
(1) Joy is love's - STRENGTH,
(2) Peace is love's - SECURITY,
(3) Long-suffering is love's - PATIENCE,
(4) Gentleness is love's - CONDUCT,
(5) Goodness is love's - CHARACTER,
(6) Faith is love's - CONFIDENCE,
(7) Meekness is love's - HUMANITY,
(8) Temperance is love's - VICTORY.
The Holy Ghost controlled man needs no law to cause him to live a righteous life, the secret of a Spirit controlled life is found in (Rom. 12:1, 2) PUT YOUR ALL ON THE ALTAR and the Holy Ghost will fill your heart with the love of God (Rom. 5:5).
XXVI.) THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST: (I Cor. 12:4-12)
(V.4) Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
(V.5) And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
(V.6) And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
(V.7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
(V.8) For to one is given by the Spirit the Word of Wisdom; to another the Word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
(V.9) To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healings by the same Spirit;
(V.10) To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of Spirits; to another divers kinds of Tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
(V.11) But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.
(V.12) For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
(A) The gifts of the Spirit are not to be taken as the fruit of the Spirit, but we can say that they are both the work of the same Spirit as we will be learning in this chapter of, "The Gifts of the Holy Ghost."
(B) And not like the fruit of the Spirit where as the Bible tells us that we must become, or work at the fruit until the fruit becomes a very important part of our life as we grow closer to Jesus Christ.
(C) But the gifts is given to every man free upon receiving the Holy Ghost and he does not have to do anything to receive this gift but to ask. As we go through this chapter, I will give you some scriptures as to WHY, HOW, WHEN, WHERE, you can receive these gifts.
In order to show just how free these gifts of the Spirit are, lets see what Jesus said about them and how free are they in (Matthew 10:8-10), "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: FREELY YE HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE.
(V.9) Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
(V.10) Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
(A) What Jesus is saying here is that if you are worthy of the gifts you will receive and you will receive them freely so don't look for anything when you give because you were freely given, freely give because there is nothing that can pay for the gift of the Holy Ghost, take a look at:
(Acts 8:18-19), (V.18) "And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, (V.19) Saying, give me also this power, that on whosoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost."
(B) Simon the sorcerer offered Peter and John money and said, "Give me also this power, that on whosoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost" (Acts 8:19). Some have thought that Simon tried to buy the Holy Ghost. He didn't. He tried to buy the ability to lay hands on people and have them receive. Peter said to him, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the (GIFT) of God may be purchased with money" (V.20).
(C)There are four different Greek words translated "GIFT" in the New Testament. This particular Greek word means "an endowment." Peter said that he and John were endowed by the Holy Ghost, or gifted by the Spirit, to lay hands on folks to receive the Holy Ghost.
(D) Paul takes a whole chapter to show what the gifts are, and how important they are, than he goes into the next chapter and says that if you don't have the fruit, which is "Love" to go with the gifts then your gifts aren't any good to you or anyone for that matter.
Now lets find out about these gifts and can anyone have them and what they are as they are manifested.
The simplest way to describe these nine gifts is that three of them -
Say Something, three of them
Do something, and three of them
Reveal something.
The gifts that say something are the "GIFTS OF UTTERANCE," they are:
PROPHECY,
DIVERS KINDS OF TONGUES, and
INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES.
The three gifts that do something are the "GIFTS OF POWER," they are:
THE GIFT OF FAITH,
THE WORKING OF MIRACLES, and
THE GIFTS OF HEALINGS.
(In Greek it isn't always the case in the king James translation) every time this third power gift is mentioned both "gifts" and "Healings" are in the plural. There is no such thing as the gift of healing.
The three gifts that reveal something are the "GIFTS OF REVELATION," they are:
THE WORD OF WISDOM,
THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE, and
DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS.
These gifts are listed in the order of their importance. Of the three gifts of revelation, the word of wisdom is the best gift, of the three gifts of power, the gift of faith is the best gift, of the three gifts of utterance, the gift of prophecy is the best gift, the Bible tells us to seek earnestly the best gifts.
When we discuss each gift in detail, I will explain why they are the best gifts, the word of wisdom is the best gift of all, and when we discuss that gift we will explain why, although the word of wisdom is mentioned first, we will study the word of knowledge first. After discussing this one, I think we can better understand the other one.
According to Jesus anyone who ask to have these gifts can have them as we look at (Matt. 21:22), Jesus said, "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." So according to Jesus no matter what it is, He said, "All things" and when Jesus said this, I would think that this means "everything within God's will" also Jesus said, that only by "Believing" that you shall have it, can you get it, and if you are believing what you are asking then whatever you ask for is obtainable or as Jesus said it, "Ye shall have it."
First let me point out that Jesus said in Matt. 9:17, "Neither do man put new wine
into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out. . .they put new
wine into new bottles. . ."
In those days wine was stored in skin bottles. These could be used only once because they would crack after a year or so, spilling out the contents.
In the scripture wine is a type of the Holy Ghost. Jesus was therefore saying that the Holy Ghost could not be given in His fullness unless one had been made a new creature. Otherwise, as Jesus pointed out, if you were to put new wine in old bottles they would burst. If He put the Holy Ghost in folks who had not been born again, they would burst. You have become a new creature first. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. . ." (II Cor. 5:17). When you have been made a new creature, you are ready to be filled with the new wine.
Also referring to the Holy Ghost, Jesus said in Luke 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that ask Him?" God isn't the Father of everyone, we hear so often these days about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man that God is the Father of all of us and we are all brothers. That isn't true. Jesus told the Pharisees, the strictest sect of the Jewish religion, "ye are of your father the devil. . ." God is only the Father of those who have been born again. And for those who have been born again the Father has promised the gift of the infilling of the Holy Ghost.
So this should tell you that not everyone can have the gifts of the Holy Ghost but just those who have been born again, now lets see just how easy is it to receive the Holy Ghost: Jesus said,
ASK,
BELIEVE,
RECEIVE,
this is all that one needs to do, but lets look at some other scriptures where you can just receive by asking. . .John 4:13-14, Jesus answered and said unto her, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: (14) But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John 7:37-39.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (39) (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
The water referred to in both passages of scripture above is a type of the Holy Ghost. Notice that two different experience are spoken of. First, to the woman at the well of Samaria Jesus said, "But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Here Jesus referring to the Holy Spirit in the act of regeneration. Most people don't see the application this has, (as a well of water, the water in a well is still, but away has water in it and will springing up into everlasting life, this means from the inner most part of a person new life comes from witnessing to others and they are saved by the same water you drank from.)
The Holy Spirit is represented as a "well of water springing up into everlasting life." The other reference is to "rivers of living water," and speaks of the promise of the infilling of the Holy Ghost. "Out of his belly (inner most being) shall flow rivers of living water." (Rivers are known to be ever moving water, this means that the person who drinks and out of his belly shall flow, (ever moving) shall flow, there will be no end to his witness, he shall ever be bringing forth souls for the kingdom.
NOTICE:
SPRINGING UP WATER
RIVERS FLOWING
Jesus beckons us to come and drink and get full. "But how can you know when you get full?" Someone may ask. For the answer let us look at Acts 2:4, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." If you are a believer, it is just as simple as Jesus said it is. Come and drink, and keep drinking until you get full. When you get full, you will start speaking with other tongues. For this is the initial sign or evidence that you are filled.
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT ARE GIVEN TO PROFIT THE
WHOLE CHURCH:
Paul, inspired by the Spirit to write to the church at Corinth, said, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant" (I Cor. 12:1). If the Spirit of God, through Paul, said that He didn't want the church at Corinth to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts, then I certainly do not believe He wants the church today to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. Yet a gross ignorance does exist concerning these things. In some places people know nothing at all about them, not even that such gifts exist. They think these gifts have been done away with. In other places they know something about some of them, but their knowledge is very limited.
The epistle of I Corinthians is not a letter written to an individual; it is a letter to the whole church. Some have thought these verses applied to an individual, but Paul was telling the whole church as a group to covet these gifts. Then as the whole body covets them, the Spirit will divide to every man severally as He wills.
XXVII.) DIVERSITIES OF GIFTS: (I Cor. 12:4)
Paul went on to say, "Now there are diversities of gifts. . ." The word "diversities" simply means "different." In other words, Paul was saying, "There are different gifts but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are differences of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." There are two theories on this particular scripture, and I can see merit in both of them. One line of thought says that these gifts are administrations to different ways. They say that diversities of operation means that they operate in different ways and not just always the same way in different individuals. On the other hand there are those who believe that there are diversities of gift, so there are different gifts, there are differences of administration and there are diversities of operations. They say that Paul is talking here about three different things, not just gifts. He is talking about gifts, administrations, and operations.
"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." Notice that he is calling these gifts "manifestations" - the manifestation of them is given to profit withal. It isn't just given to the individual, but it is given to profit the whole church.
Then Paul went on to say, "For to one is given by the same Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge. . ." and he goes on to list the nine manifestations which are:
(1) THE GIFT OF THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE: (Acts (:10-12;10:9-20)
First of all, let us note the fact that this gift is called the "WORD OF KNOWLEDGE," not the "gift of knowledge." There is no such thing as a spiritual "gift of knowledge." The word of knowledge is the supernatural revelation by the Holy Ghost of certain facts in the mind of God. God is all knowledge - He knows everything. But He don't reveal to man everything. He gives him just a word or a part of what He knows. A word is a fragmentary part of knowledge. God is all knowing, He has all knowledge. He doesn't impart knowledge to us; He imparts a word of knowledge to us, just what He wants us to know.
(A) The gift is supernatural (I Cor. 12:8)
(B) The gift manifested through visions (Acts 9:10-12) (Acts 10:9-20)
(C) The gift manifested through an inward revelation (I Sam. 3:4-10)
(D) Word of knowledge used to enlighten a discourage servant (I King 1`9:4, 14, 18)
(E) Word of knowledge used to expose a hypocrite (II Kings 5:25-26)
(F) Word of Knowledge given to warn a king of the enemy's plan (II Kings 6:9-12)
(G) Word of knowledge used to help recover lost property (I Samuel 9:3-4, 6, 19-20)
(2) THE GIFT OF THE WORD OF WISDOM: (Acts 9:10-16; 8:26-29)
In studying the nine gifts of the Spirit, the scripture plainly states that all these work "that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." As a church we are to desire these things to be made manifest among us and to leave it up to the Spirit to use those whom He will. He will not use everybody in the same way. He plainly stated that He divided to every man severally as He wills, we must stay open to Him and let His will be done, even in spiritual gifts.
We get into trouble many times through wanting to do something ourselves. Regarding scriptures "...to one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. . ." people sometimes call these the gift of wisdom or the gift of knowledge. That is not correct, however. We must call them what the Bible calls them or we will become confused while at the same time confusing others. If you called a dog a cat, you would confuse some people. This scripture is not talking about wisdom or knowledge in the general sense. It is talking about just what it says - the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge.
The word of knowledge is a supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning facts in the mind of God, concerning people, places, or things. The word of wisdom is a supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God concerning the divine purpose in the mind and will of God. The difference between the two gifts - the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom - is that the revelation which the word of knowledge brings is always present tense or something which happened in the past. The word of wisdom always speaks of the future.
(A) THE WORD OF WISDOM AND WORD OF KNOWLEDGE OFTEN OPERATE TOGETHER (Acts 9:10-16)
(B) WORD OF WISDOM MAY COME IN MANY FORMS (Acts 11:28-30)
(C) THE WORD OF WISDOM CAN BE CONDITIONAL (II Kings 20:1)
(D) WORD OF WISDOM USED TO SET APART THOSE FOR SPECIAL MINISTRY (Acts 9:15)
(E) WORD OF WISDOM USED TO ASSURE OF GOD'S PROTECTION (Acts 27:10)
(F) THE WORD OF WISDOM IS GIVEN TO ASSURE OF COMING DELIVERANCE (Acts 27:10)
(3) THE GIFT OF DISCERNING OF SPIRITS: (Acts 16:16-18)
Very often these gifts work together, as tongues and interpretation of Tongues work together. But we divide them as they are divided here to distinguish them and to study them. We have seen that often they operate together, and sometimes what we call prophecy is not the simple gift of prophecy at all, because the gift of prophecy has no revelation with it. It is actually a word of wisdom which is being given forth. The gift of Prophecy is only speaking to Christians to edification, exhortation, and comfort (I Cor. 14:3). Our previous chapter have dealt with two of the three gifts which reveal something: the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge.
In this part we will cover the third "revelation" gift: discernment of spirits. The most important of the three, of course, is the word of wisdom. Listed in order of their importance they are:
(1) THE WORD OF WISDOM,
(2) THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE,
(3) DISCERNING OF SPIRITS.
Everything within the realm of knowledge - facts, events, purpose, motive, origin, destiny, human, divine or Satanic, natural or supernatural, past, present, or future - comes within the focal range of one or the other of these three gifts. They include in their comprehensive survey all that God knows and there is nothing God knows that may not be made known to man as the Spirit wills through the agency of one or more of these three gifts.
The discerning of spirits gives insight into the spirit world. It actually has a more limited range than the other two revelation gifts because its revelation is limited to a single class of objects - spirits. The revelation that the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge brings is broader and applies to people, places, and things, whereas the discernment of spirits gives us supernatural insight is included, but too many people have thought that is all this refers to and have been misled.
(A) DISCERNING THE SIMILITUDE OF GOD: (Isa. 6:1)
Discerning the similitude of God, simply means to discover the likeness of God, knowing Godlike people, or nature of people that are Godlike, to make it plain, when discerning the similitude of God we know when a person is a Christian or not, we know also as we are known, Paul said, ". . .walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?" discerning is then knowing who walks before or with you, knowing how to discern the true nature of another by knowing the spirit in which they walk. According to our spirit we know as we are known.
(B) DISCERNING THE RISEN CHRIST: (Heb. 7:25)
This is not just discerning the fact that Christ rose from the dead, but it is discerning the fact that because Christ rose from the dead he is also able to deliver, Dan. 3:17; therefore this would be discerning the ability of Christ because He has risen and now He is able to raise up children from stones, Lu. 3:8; to fulfill promises, Rom. 4:21; to make grace abound, II Cor. 9:8; to do exceeding abundantly, Eph. 3:20; to subdue all things, Ph. 3:21; to guard the soul's treasure, II Tim. 1:12; to save to the uttermost, Heb. 7:25; to keep from falling, Jude 24. Discerning the ability of Christ keeps you in a place of being able to stand when all else seems lost.
(C) DISCERNING OF SPIRITS REVEALS SOURCE OF SUPERNATURAL MANIFESTATIONS (Acts 16:16-18)
In this case we see that discerning of spirits is discerning good and bad spirits, in this chapter Paul discerns a spirit and also calls it by name, it was the spirit of divination meaning: The pretense of the gift of prophecy by supernatural means, soothsaying is witchcraft such as palm reading, card reading, tea leaves, talking to the dead and the such. Knowing these spirits is a great help to those who walk in areas that little religion is practiced.
(4) THE GIFT OF FAITH: (Eph. 2:8; Gal. 5:22-23; Mark 11:24; Dan. 6:16-17, 19:23; I Kings 17:2-6; Gal. 3:5)
We will go now to the three power gifts. The power gifts, or those that "Do Something," are:
(1) THE GIFT OF FAITH,
(2) THE WORKING OF MIRACLES,
(3) THE GIFTS OF HEALINGS.
In this part we will discuss the first of these: the gift of faith. (Read I Corinthians 12:4-12). Let me stress again that this gift, like all the other eight, is supernatural; it is not natural. There are those who say that some of the gifts of the Spirit are natural and parts of them are supernatural. But if one is supernatural, then all are supernatural. I believe that every single one of them is a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
Faith is the greatest of the three gifts of power. It is a gift of the Spirit to the believer that he might receive miracles. The working of miracles is a gift of the Spirit given to the believer that he might work miracles. One receives, the other does something. One of them is active and the other passive. Notice that the scripture says, "To the working of miracles. . ." When you receive a miracle you don't work, but when you perform it, that is working a miracle. These power gifts are very closely associated, just as the revelation gifts are closely associated and the utterance gifts are closely associated. Prophecy, divers kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues are all closely related. In fact, the Bible plainly tells us that tongues with interpretation of tongues is equal to prophecy. "Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues except he interpret" (I Cor. 14:5).
Although they are all closely associated, we differentiate between them and list them separately so that we can better define them.
Concerning the gift of faith the Amplified New Testament says, ". . .unto another, special faith. . ." (I Cor. 12:9). Every believer already has faith. There is a saving faith, which is also a gift. The faith by which we are saved is a gift of God, but it is given to us through the word. "So then faith (saving faith) cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17). The faith which we are talking about in this lesson - special faith - is something besides saving faith.
But let us define faith before we go into special faith, it is important that a person know as much about faith as they can to better understand that there is a difference between saving faith and special faith.
(A) SAVING FAITH (Eph. 2:8)
SAVING FAITH: "The just shall live by faith," the declaration of the Christian's principle of life is found four times in the Bible (Hab. 2:1-5) also (Rom. 1:17) and (Gal. 3:10-11) and (Heb. 10:38) also in Habakuk we see the difference between the lives of the unjust and just, the unjust are puffed up and live by their own self-sufficiency but the just live by faith - their confidence is in God to them. Faith is more than a Philosophy of life: It is the very principle of life (Hab. 2:4), the righteous shall live his whole life by faith, he is saved by faith (I Peter 1:5) and he live by faith (Gal. 2:20). His faith shall be tried many times and in many ways (I Peter 1:7). But faith will always be vindicated, because it is more than equal to any occasion, faith knows how to wait on the Lord (Isa. 40:31). And it is always victorious (I John 5:4) faith defies reason, IT MOVES MOUNTAINS (Matt. 17:14-21) Faith does not always face facts: It never gives up (Heb. 11:32-39) faith says, "God is working out his perfect will in my life, and I can wait, endure and suffer." Faith does not make anything easy, but it does make all things possible.
XXIIX.) WHAT IS FAITH: (Heb. 11:1-3)
(A) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Now faith (saving faith) is the substance (title deed) of things hoped for. . .your faith is your title deed to eternal life. Just as title deed is evidence of real estate, so your faith is evidence of your eternal estate in God. Take a look at II Corinthians 4:18.
The word substance comes from a word meaning "Essence," Webster says that this word means the real part of a thing or material of which a thing is made, so when we read Hebrews we can read it as:
(A) Faith is the essence of things hoped for.
(B) Faith is the inner part of your hope.
(C) Faith is the material of your hope.
This means that if Faith makes hope solid then we want to know what "Solid hope" is once it becomes solid.
(1) SOLID HOPE, is having its interior filled with matter; not hollow in this we know that we have no hope in nothing as long as we are unsaved so our hope is empty then one day we hear God's word and we are filled up with faith by the promises made by God for us in His word, therefore we now have something to look forward to "SO THEN FAITH COMETH BY HEARING AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD." (Romans 10:17).
(2) SOLID HOPE, is strong, firm, reliable; we see here that solid hope is strong, firm, and reliable, for once we hear the word of God without knowing or seeing the outcome, we receive faith by just believing it: we read that Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was 'strong' in faith, giving glory to God (Rom. 4:20) Abraham shews how strong hope stands even when it doesn't make since, and by looking at the way Abraham takes on faith we see that he was strong in belief, (HE STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE) we also see that God could depend on him because he was 'reliable' (WHAT GOD HAD PROMISED, ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD WAS ABLE TO PERFORM) (Rom. 4:21). He was 'firm' (BUT WAS STRONG IN FAITH, GIVING GLORY TO GOD).
1. Faith is taking God at His word and asking no questions (Hebrews 11:6).
2. Faith is knowing that "ALL things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). Faith does believe that all things are good or that all things work well. It does believe that all things (good or bad) work together for good to them that love God.
3. Faith has two sides. One side has to do with intellectual conviction that Jesus Christ is God. The other side has to do with the will. It is a voluntary surrender of the will to Jesus Christ as master. This is seen when Thomas believed and confessed "My Lord and My God" this was intellectual conviction. Together you have saving faith (John 20:31). Saving faith is an intellectual conviction that Jesus is God and a voluntary surrender to Him as Lord (Master) of your life. By faith the mind trust in God, the heart responds to the Love of God, the will submits to the commands of God and the life obeys in the service of God.
4. Faith is Paradoxical. It goes beyond reason, it believes without glories in tribulation (Romans 5:3), It choose to suffer (Hebrew 11:25), it accepts all things as a part of God's will (Phil. 1:12). You are not born with this faith. It comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) that is why we are commanded to preach the gospel to every creature, that they may hear and believe (Romans 10:13-14).
XXIX.) THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH: (Eph. 6:16)
"Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench the firey darts of the wicked."
The shield of faith is a vital part of the Christian's armour. You are to put on the "WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD" (Phil. 6:10-18), because the Christian life is a warfare, a spiritual conflict. As Paul name the different parts of the Christian's armour, he comes to the shield and emphasize its importance by saying "ABOVE ALL, taking the shield of faith. . . ." For with the shield of faith nothing can hurt you. You are more than conquerors through Him (Romans 8:37).
Quenching the fiery darts of the wicked, this statement is the most important statement that one could make about the believer, because there are attacks from every side once a person has decided to follow Jesus and walk by faith, the records in Acts shows that the first Christians called themselves "the believers" (Acts 2:44) and that they went everywhere persuading men and bringing them into the obedience to the faith that is in Jesus and when one began to do this the devil will send fiery darts of all kinds to stop this person.
Being able to withstand the fiery darts of the wicked is the first thing the new Christian must prepare himself for at the moment of conversion there will be darts for the new born to endure and if they don't take to themselves the shield of faith they will fall, believing Jesus and trusting him at His word means that one must begin to stand on what he cannot see and believe in what doesn't always seem logical.
PAUL'S LETTERS SET FORTH THE MEANING OF FAITH
(A) Faith is trust in the person of Jesus, the truth of His teaching, and the redemptive work He accomplished at Calvary, and, as a result, a total submission to Him and His message.
(B) Faith in His person is faith in Him as the eternal Son of God, the God-man, the second man - Adam, who died in man's stead, making these three things possible with God: -
(1) JUSTIFICATION,
(2) SANCTIFICATION,
(3) GLORIFICATION.
His death brings redemption from sin in all its aspects.
(C) Unbelief, or lack of faith in the Christian gospel, appears everywhere in the New Testament as the supreme evil.
(D) He is unchangable in his ethical nature. God's faithfulness is usually connected with his gracious promises of salvation.
(E) Faith does not make anything easy, but it does make all things possible.
The importance of Faith is seen in that:
1. You cannot be saved without faith (John 3:36).
2. You cannot live victorious over the world without faith (I John 5:4).
3. You cannot please God without faith (Hebrew 11:6).
4. You cannot Pray without faith (James 1:6).
5. You cannot have peace with God without faith (Romans 5:1).
6. You cannot have joy without faith (I Peter 1:8).
7. You are Justified by faith and not by works (Galations 2:16).
8. You are to live by faith (Galations 2:20).
9. You are made righteous by faith (Romans 10:1-4).
10. Christ dwells in your heart by faith (Ephesians 3:17).
11. The Holy Spirit is recieved by faith (Galations 3:2).
12. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
Faith is important because it honors God and God always Honors FAITH.
"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."
XXX.) LITTLE FAITH: (Matthew 14:28-32)
1. At this stage in the spiritual growth of Peter, he was a man of "LITTLE FAITH." However, after Pentecost, he became a spiritual giant. Let us take a good look at his "Little faith" and profit from it. Jesus came to His distressed disciples, walking on the water in the midst of a storm. Peter asked to come to Jesus on the water. He must have been thrilled at the thought of doing the impossible. Jesus said, "Come" and Peter actually walked on the water until he got his eyes off Jesus and on the storm. Looking at the circumstances was the cause of failure.
2. (A) Peter did the impossible thing: he walked on the water, by faith
(B) Next, Peter did the conceivable thing: he saw the storm and had a second
thought - he doubted for a moment, he lost sight of Jesus. He may have
turned back to the boat;
(C) Now Peter did the natural thing: he feared destruction. Doubt always breeds
fear;
(D) Then Peter did the expected thing: he began to sink - he failed;
(E) Now, Peter did the right thing: he prayed "Lord, save me" immediately Jesus
stretched forth His hand and caught him. Once more Peter made contact with
Jesus by faith;
(F) Again, Peter did the impossible thing: he walked on water with Jesus, back to
the boat.
3. In this part we see the success and failure of little faith. OK, Let us re-cap the steps that led to failure. Peter started by faith, and walked on the water. Then he saw the storm, and had a second thought which led to doubt that produced fear which caused him to turn back. That brought about failure.
You need a faith that is bigger than the elements, that would not drag you down to defeat.
You can have big faith by "Prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:20-21) and by feeding your faith on the word of God (Rom. 10:17) so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
4. You can have mountain-moving faith, (Matt. 17:20) and Jesus said ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and mothing shall be impossible unto you.
5. (Matt. 6:30) And He saith unto them, "Why are ye fearful, O Ye of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
(James 1:1-7) But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
(James 1:7) For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
XXXI.) THREE KINDS OF FAITH: (John 11:21-44)
(V.21) Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died.
(V.23) Jesus saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again.
(V.24) Martha said unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
We see the faith of Martha in connection with the resurrection of her brother Lazarus. Now Lazarus was very ill, Martha and her sister, Mary, sent for Jesus to come and heal him. Jesus, delaying His coming until Lazarus was dead and in the grave for four days. Then He came to raise him from the dead and found the limited, fundamental faith of Martha His only obstacle.
1. Martha's faith was limited, she said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (V. 21). The death of Lazarus meant the end of Martha's faith.
She believed that Jesus had power to raise her brother up from the sick bed but not from the dead. Her limited faith restricted the power of Christ (Matt. 13:58). Limited faith is controlled by circumstances and motivated by fear of failure.
3. At last, unlimited faith came to Martha when she consented to have the stone removed from the grave (V.41). When Jesus ordered the stone taken from the grave Martha objected in unbelief (V.39) Then Jesus, challenging her to believe, said, "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" and she was not disappointed. We often say that "seeing is believing" but this is not so, you believe and then see. Faith comes before sight, Now, Martha's faith no longer limited the power of Christ. She consented to have the stone removed from the grave and Jesus cried with a loud voice, "LAZARUS, COME FORTH" (V.43) and Lazarus was raised up. Don't be satisfied with limited fundamental faith only when you can have unlimited faith that pleases God and reveals His glory.
(Roman 10:13-17) "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (V.14) How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (V.15) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! (V.16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For E-sa'ias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?(V.17) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
1.) Faith has a twofold sense in the Bible, one is trust, and reliance and the other is fidelity, and trustworthiness.
2.) The faith of God - his fidelity to promise, the New Testament draws all its examples of faith from the lives of Old Testament believers.
XXXIII.) OLD TESTAMENT DEMANDS FAITH:
(A) "The just shall live by faith," this is the declaration of the Christian's principle found four times in the Bible (Hab. 2:1-5; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:10-11 and Heb. 10:38).
(B) It would thus be true to say that the Old Testament demands faith more than it develops an explicit doctrine of faith.
(C) A true commitment of self to God, an unwavering trust in His promise, and a persistent fidelity and obedience.
XXXIV.) THE OBSERVANCE OF LAW:
(A) The life of faith were in no way incompatible because the law rested on the promise of God.
(B) Obedience was motivated by a believing conviction that he would stand by what he had said.
(C) They acted in simple faith in the promise of God, "Because God said so."
(D) Obedience to the Lord's law was the way of life for those who trusted in God.
The righteous shall live his whole life by faith, he is saved by faith (I Peter 1:5) and he lives by faith (Gal. 2:20) HIS faith shall be tried many times and in many ways (I Peter 1:7). But faith will always be vindicated, because it is more than equal to any occasion, faith knows how to wait on the Lord (Isa. 40:31).
XXXV.) OLD TESTAMENT IS NEVER THE OUTWARD ACCEPTANCE OF A LEGAL CODE:
(A) It is utter confidence in the faithfulness of God and a consequent loving obedience to His will.
(B) Faith knows how to wait on the Lord (Isa. 40:31), and it is always victorious (I John 5:4) faith defies reason, (Matt. 17:14-21) faith does not always face facts: It never gives up (Heb. 11:32-39) faith says, "God is working out his perfect will in my life, and I can endure and suffer."
XXXVI.) CONTRAST OF OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS' FAITH AND NEW TESTAMENT SAINTS:
(A) Old Testament saints looked "FORWARD" to the coming of the Messiah.
(B) It required a real act of faith to look "forward" and absolutely trust God, and have faith therefore, it becomes the supreme human act and experience.
(C) It obviously required a real act of faith to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah.
(D) It was not long that "to believe" meant to become a Christian. Everywhere he offered himself as the object of faith and made it plain that faith in him is necessary for eternal life. His primary concern with his own disciples was to build up their faith in him.
The record in Acts shows that the first Christians called themselves "the believers" (Acts 2:44) and that they went everywhere persuading men and bringing them into obedience to the faith that is in Jesus (Acts 6:7; 17:4; 28:24).
MEMORY TEXT:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1-3).
