Mustard Seed Faith

Sermon preached on the eve of the 2002 Revival Camp of Gospel Light Christian Church
by Evangelist John R Van Gelderen
on 02 June 2002 morning service

Heb 11:1-2,6 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good report. 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.

Matt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If 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 nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Lk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Greetings in the name of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ!  It is a delight to me to be here and it never ceases to amaze me in whatever country or culture the Lord sends me to, that when I am with the people of God, there is a definite sense of that unity that we have in the name of Jesus Christ – what a glorious reality that is.  And my wife would like to be here but as Pastor mentions, she is great with child and so forth.  So we are praying that the Lord would allow me to get back in time but if not, I’ve told her that many of the evangelists are not there when their children are born.  That’s just the way it is in the life of being an evangelist and, in fact, Friday - 2 days ago - it was our anniversary and it is actually 17 years that we have been married. And we’ve prayed for a child for many of those years and then came the thought that perhaps the Lord was not giving us children - that was fine.  And then we were surprised.  We are very excited.  We thank the Lord for it.

Well, as you know, we are headed into a week that we are going to deal with a theme of, as you know, the heart cry of revival again.  We could perhaps use the terminology of a spiritual awakening.  What we mean by that is an awakening to the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.  That’s what we are talking about.  So we will be dealing with the blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit and I appreciate what Pastor Choo said with regard to the Holy Spirit.  It is amazing to me how sometimes people in their over-reaction to the excesses of some will just say, “You know, there is too much emphasis on the Holy Spirit”.  And I am convinced that the Spirit of God is simply saying, “Have I been so long time with you and you have not known Me?  If you have known Me, you’ve known the Son.”  Just like Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been so long time with you, Philip, and you’ve not known Me?  If you’ve known Me, you’ve known the Father.” And the fact is, if you know the Spirit, you know the Son. And so we are going to deal with the truths revolving around the blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit. 

So this morning, I want us to look at Hebrews 11.  This is a foundational truth.  It is a connected truth and it is a truth that really will affect everything else that we will look at in these days together.  And so, I will probably refer back to this message, probably in almost every message that I will preach this week, and so it is a very, very important truth.  So let us ask the Spirit of God to open our eyes and be our teacher this morning.

Our Father, we do rejoice in the glorious privilege of meeting together as Your people around Your Word.  Lord Jesus, we do thank You for the glorious provision that we have in You.  Lord, we thank You that You are on the throne of power this moment, and that we are at oneness with You as the people of God.  And now, Oh blessed Spirit of the Loving God, Oh would you open our eyes.  Be our teacher this morning, illumine the truth, give us understanding spiritually, take the truth deep into our hearts.  Lord I pray that You will accomplish Your purpose for this service this morning.  We are looking to You to do what man cannot do.  O Lord we thank You in Jesus’ name, that glorious name.  Amen.

It was a mighty genuine revival - an outpouring of the Spirit of God - that took place in December 1949 that lasted till 1953. It was on an island called Lewis off the north west coast of Scotland.  Perhaps later this week, I’ll give you some more details about that particular move of the Spirit of God.  The preacher that was used as a declarer of truth during those years was a man by the name of Duncan Campbell.  That was not the first time he had been in a genuine revival nor was it to be the last. The Lord took him home in 1972.  I heard a message that he preached on audiotape where he tells the following story.  It refers back to the Lewis Revival, so obviously this was after 1953 and clearly before 1972, but I don’t know what year in those years this took place. 

But he said there was a young preacher, who pastored a church - a little village church - on the island of Skye, another island on the northwestern coast of Scotland. And this young pastor had had a good background.  He had a good upbringing.  He had good Bible training, went to Bible college and all that, and he had taken this village church but he just could not seem to get the church off the ground.  It seem that no matter what he did the church was not moving ahead.  It just wasn’t going anywhere.  He was very grieved and disturbed about the whole situation.  So he contacted Duncan Campbell and invited Duncan Campbell to preach. 

Well, Duncan Campbell had invitations from around the world.  He was a very busy preacher but he was a man who followed the leading of the Holy Spirit.  He sensed that he ought to go, and he went.  He went for what they would call a 10-day mission (“meeting” perhaps should be the word that we would use).   Sunday morning service, they had 7 people in attendance.  In the Sunday evening service, they had 5 people in attendance.  By Friday night, they were averaging 7 people - not too bad, they averaged the Sunday crowd - but anyway, that was what was happening.  Well, on Saturday, the young pastor came to Duncan Campbell, and he was grieved, and he said, “I believe we need to call a day for prayer and fasting. Would you mind joining me on Monday, and let’s fast and pray and ask God to supernaturally intervene.” 

Well, Duncan Campbell was well acquainted with the spiritual exercise of prayer and fasting, and he said, “I’ll be glad to join you.”  Not only that, he called back to one of the intercessors from the island of Lewis, from the Lewis Revival, a man by the name of John Smith. And he told him what was happening and the difficulty of the situation, and he said, “Would you get the men together who know how to pray?  I don’t want anyone else, just those who know how to pray. And would you just fast and pray on Monday there on Lewis Island, and we will do the same on the island of Skye, and let’s ask God to supernaturally intervene”. 

Well, that’s what they did.  John Smith and the praying men of Barvas from the village of Barvas on the island of Lewis met together on that Monday and fasted and prayed while Duncan Campbell and this young pastor met together and fasted and prayed asking God to supernaturally intervene.  Well, before they went to the Monday evening service, they decided to break their fast and get a little sustenance to get their strength for the service.  They did it in typical Scottish style with a cup of tea.  Well while they were drinking that cup of tea, there was a knock at the door and a well-known merchant was standing at the door, offering his car to drive the preachers over to the church house for the service.

Well, this was a bit unusual.  The pastor knew who the man was.  He was a well-known merchant in that area.  He was an unsaved man.  He was not a god-fearing man.  He had never come to their church ever before, and yet here he was at the door offering his car to drive the preachers over to the church.  Well they went with him.  And on the way, they found out what was on his heart.  As they got in the car, he said “Would you please tell me what is going on at the church tonight?”  He said that, “Already there is a busload of people from another village.  Already there are so many cars in the parking lot that I seriously doubt whether we will find a parking spot.  Would you please tell me what is happening at the church tonight?” 

Oh, my friend, I’ll tell you what was happening. God had poured out His Spirit.  God had come down, i.e., God had manifested in that powerful spiritual way His presence so that people in that community were suddenly aware of the presence of God, and people who were up to that point, who were indifferent and who could care less about God and care less about church, came.  And Duncan Campbell got up that night and preached in an atmosphere that was charged with the presence of the Almighty God.  And soon, people began to cry out to God for mercy.  During that night, twice the pastor was called to a believer’s house and go deal with the soul who was fearing they were slipping to hell. Oh, there was a great move of the Spirit of God over the next number of days that built that church overnight. 

Oh Hallelujah! Stories like that stir me but they puzzle me and there’s many question we could ask with regard to that particular story but I want to just focus on one aspect to open up our subject this morning.  On that Saturday, when Duncan Campbell called back to John Smith on the island of Lewis and said, “Would you get those together who know how to pray?” and even went so far as to say that “I don’t want anyone else” - now, that’s not usually the invitation to a prayer meeting.  But he said, “I don’t want anybody else, get just those who know how to pray together”.  Let me ask you, what does it mean?  What in the world was he talking about?  “Just those who know how to pray!”  Obviously it was significant, obviously it was important.  What was he asking for? 

I’m convinced he was asking for those who understood how to pray in faith.  You see, the very fact that James 5:15 speaks of the prayer of faith indicates there is a prayer of unbelief.  The very fact that James 1:6 says let them ask in faith, nothing wavering means it is possible to ask in unbelief, everything wavering.  And so Duncan Campbell understood what we need is not a bunch of rituals.  We don’t need people going through the form and motions of prayer.  He knew he needed the people who knew to get onto the position of faith and grab hold of promises and see how God work.  So this morning, I want to look on the subject of Mustard Seed Faith.

Heb 11:1-2, 6 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. 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 notice the opening words of verse 6 that without faith it is impossible to please Him. Impossible – that’s a dogmatic statement.  Without faith it is impossible to please Him.  My friends, we need to ask ourselves, how much of our lives are really pleasing to God?  How much of those last 168 hours – i.e. last week - has truly been pleasing to God?  In other word, how much of it has been walked in faith?  How much has been going through motions?  How much has really been real faith and thus pleasing to God Almighty?  Well, let me ask you this.  What if we don’t even understand what faith is?  What if we don’t even have the right concept?  What if misunderstandings have woven their way into the fabric of our very mindsets, our way of thinking?  Are we going to be able to walk by faith and live in faith if that’s the case? Obviously not!  So here’s what I want us to see from the word of God this morning, very simple, but very important: Understanding faith lays the foundation for living by faith.  Very simple!  Understanding faith - having the right concept - lays the foundation.  It is foundational for living by faith. 

Now let’s ask this question to guide our study this morning.  What misconceptions do we have perhaps in our thinking today that have derailed us from truly living by faith?  I want to point out 3 factors regarding faith from the word of God this morning.  As we look at each factor, I want to point out a common misconception and then a biblical clarification.  Let me warn you upfront that we will spend most of our time on the first factor, so when you see that point running long, you need not fear, the other two points are not nearly as long. 

Factor # 1 – The meaning of faith

But let us begin with the first factor.  We’ll call it the meaning of faith.  What does it mean, what is the defining essence, the sense, the meaning of faith?  Just by way of overview, the common misconception on this point is that faith is merely acknowledgement.  In other word, typically, especially in modern English, the way we use the word we say, “I believe that”.  And all we mean is, “I understand it intellectually and I agree that that’s true.  I acknowledge that”.  But I want us to see that that is not true biblical faith; biblical faith goes beyond that, to dependence on.  Now looking at verse 1, the Scripture says that Now faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen.  Quite frankly, on surface reading, that verse is somewhat puzzling.  What kind of substance are you talking about?  Is it tangible?  Is it intangible?  What are we dealing with?  Substance! And how can you have evidence of what you cannot see?  Does not that defy our very understanding of the word “evidence”?  What is this verse talking about?  Let’s take it apart for a moment so that we can put it all together. 

The topic is found in the first two words, Now faith.  We can stop right there and just open up the word, faith.  You can do this with any simple word study book and you will discover that it means, “trust”.  The verb form you will see this definition, “to believe in”.  Now that preposition is very significant.  It is not to believe about – that’s acknowledgement, but to believe in – now that’s dependence.  It’s to trust in, to depend on, to rely on.  So when we come to the very defining sense, the essence of faith, we are dealing with dependence.  I personally believe that in modern English, the word “dependence” or “to depend on,” conveys the essence of the meaning as well as any terminology as we could use.  So we’re dealing with dependence. 

Now notice, the verse goes on further to describe this in the biblical sense. It says, Now faith is, and it gives us two phrases.  First, it says, the substance of things hoped for.  Now again, what kind of substance are we talking about? Is it tangible or intangible?  Is it perhaps that substantive? When you open up the word, you will find the concept of reality, letting us know that we are dealing with that which is substantive, that which is real.   Right, so remember the concept of reality with the word “substance”.  Reality of what?  It says, of things hoped for.  The verb phrase that is used here is in the present tense, which you may know means continuous activities of action.  So it is the reality of things which we are in the process of hoping for.  

Now take that thought, just set it aside for a moment, let’s go to the last phrase.   It then says, the evidence of the things not seen.  The word “evidence’ not surprisingly means “proof” or “proven”, it’s a word that deals with being convinced.  In fact, the verb form of this word is used in Jn 16:8 when Jesus says of the Holy Spirit that He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: In other word, He will convict, He will convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment so that you are dealing with the idea of convincement or conviction - that strong belief that you have about something because you are absolutely convinced.  Now, what are we to be so convinced about?  It says, of things not seen.  Now that’s what is hard for us to take.  We are talking about being absolutely convinced, I mean it’s proven, and yet it is invisible.  And we’re physical, visible type creatures. 

The topic is faith dependence.  The first point of discussion deals with the reality of things that we are hoping for; the second aspect here is the convincement of those invisible or unseen things.  So let’s say it this way - we’ll shorten this later, but just to get every concept in there - Faith is depending on the reality of things being hoped for, being convinced of those very unseen things.  Now, we will talk about what the things are when we get to the second factor. But faith is depending on the reality of things being hope for, being convinced of those very unseen things.  This is immensely helpful because it shows us what faith is not.  This means that faith is not a feeling.  I am convinced that many people are looking for a feeling that they equate with faith and they are derailed even before they get started.  Now faith is not emotion, it can bring on an emotional overtone.  But faith is not an emotion, it is not a feeling and many times we are derailed because we confuse that. 

Let me illustrate the difference if I may.  I was born on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in the west of the United States, in a little cowboy town called Durango, Colorado.  You have heard of the cowboys of the west of the US, this was truly a cowboy town with the horses and all that kind of stuff.  Well, when I was 4 years of age, we moved from there straight into the city limits of Chicago.  And so I lived several years in the city of Chicago, a city of 8 million people. And then later we moved out to the suburb, and so we were in the metropolitan area.  And I lived the rest of my childhood and my teenage years in the urban setting.  So I am not a cowboy, I am a city sleeker. 

Well, a few years back, my wife and I had the opportunity of going back to Durango for a meeting, and there were some friends there, they are now with the Lord.  At the time when they were living, they had a 3,000 acres ranch.  And they invited me to go horseback riding.  Well, I’ve heard of a horse before and I thought this is a great opportunity, and I have always wanted to do this.  I had been on the back of a horse before, but never really out on a ranch, if you know what I mean.  So I thought this is a great opportunity, and I said, “Yes” but in the back of my mind I am thinking, “John, you are a city kid.  You don’t know what you are doing, this may not be what you think.”  Well, I went. 

It was a beautiful day, the weather was cool.  You could look off the distance and see the beautiful snow cover the top of the mountain range and we were riding along just enjoying this, and all of a sudden, there were three of us riding and the cowboy who worked on the ranch, took his horse to a place that basically was a ledge that went around a curvature of a mountain.  Well, he takes his horse out on the ledge, the next one goes and I was supposed to follow, and I followed along, and I immediately became very aware of my environment.  And I remember looking to the left and seeing the mountain walls that continue to ascend upwards - I could basically reach out and touch it, it was somewhat comforting.  But I remember looking to the right, and I can see nothing, unless you look down - and it was a long way down!  I do remember seeing big boulders in a river at the bottom of the mountainside, and then I stopped looking. 

Well, we made it past that point and we came to another spot where not only could you look to the right and see nothing unless you looked down, you could look to the left and see nothing.  Now I was in trouble.  And then we came to a spot where it was still very steep to the right, and that cowboy on the lead horse took the reins of his horse to the right, and literally started taking his horse straight down that steep slope. I am not making this up but it was so steep, that the hind legs of the horse just kind of tucked up under and it skidded down.  And I literally remember thinking that guy is crazy.  Well, the next cowboy thought nothing of it, took his rein of the horse to the right and same thing, hind legs of the horse tucked up under, he skids his way down.  Well I obviously was supposed to follow.  Well, there was one cowboy word that I remembered, and I said it for all it was worth, “Whoa!”  Thankfully, it was a good horse and it stopped immediately.  When I yelled out like that, the cowboy who was in front of me looked back up at me, and he said, “John, what’s wrong?”  You know I don’t remember what I said.  But I obviously revealed that I was petrified.  He was kind to me.  He said, “Now look, just loosen up on the rein and the horse will take you down.”  Now that was what exactly I was afraid of. 

Well, I finally loosen up on those reins and I depended - are you with me? - on that horse to take me down that slope, which it safely did.  But may I say that while I was in the very process of depending, my feelings were not in line with my dependence.  Now, we could call that at best clinging dependence or clinging faith.  I was hanging on for dear life.  I mean, it was dependence, but it was a clinging dependence.  Now for the other two cowboys, it was not clinging dependence, it was resting dependence or resting faith.  In other word, when they went over the top, they just kind of lean their bodies backward to get in line with gravity and they rested on their horse to do what they knew it would do. 

Now by the way, it is in the position of resting faith that you can help someone else - like that cowboy helped me.  You say, how do you get from clinging faith to resting faith?  Well, according to the progression of truth in Romans 5 as well as other passages, you will see between the two, the word “experience”.  In fact, by the time I got to the bottom, I remembered thinking to myself, “You know, that wasn’t so bad, I could do it again.”  I didn’t, but nonetheless it did cross my mind. 

So faith, we can see then, is not a feeling.  You see, clinging faith is when you depend against your feelings but when you do that long enough, you realize that, OK, the object of faith is secured and your feelings eventually get in line.  So you can see then that faith is not a feeling, it is not an emotion.  Faith is not wishful thinking, and there are many prayer meetings that are nothing more than expressions of wishful thinking.  But that is not praying in faith.  It is not wishful thinking, it is not positive thinking where people think, well you know, if you just want something, you think it into being.  You just think positive enough about it, and it will happen.  Now wait a second.  If you do that, who are you depending on?  Yourself! OK.  We are saying that’s the opposite of true biblical faith.  So that’s not positive thinking.  It is not an unsteady hoping, none of that is faith.  Faith is depending on the reality of things being hoped for, being convinced of those very unseen things. 

Now, before we move ahead, let us apply it further.  In the area of salvation, many of you perhaps already know the Lord, so I trust it clicks very clearly.  In the area of salvation, you may be witnessing to somebody and you may ask them in the beginning, you know, “What are you depending on for forgiveness of sins? eternal life?” and they will give you the wrong answers like “I’ll be a good person, work your way, whatever, whatever.”  And later, when you talk about believing, they might say, “Oh, don’t worry about me, I believe.”  Now wait a second.  They already told you that they are depending on their own good works, which means they don’t believe.  Why do they say, “I believe.”  Well, it is because we need to understand that there are three angles to the concept of believing.  Those of you who are in Netcasters are well familiar with this. 

There is an angle of understanding

But there is an angle of understanding in the matter of salvation that a person does need to understand the right fact.  You have to understand that you are a sinner that therefore you fall short of God’s standard of perfection.  You must understand that secondly, there is a penalty for sin and we deserve that penalty, which is hell.  We need to understand thirdly, that there is a payment.  Jesus Christ came and paid the penalty for our sins.  Our sins were laid on Him, He died for us and He rose again.  Alright, you must understand all of that.  But if you just stop with  understanding, that is not salvation. 

There is an angle of agreement

The second angle on this matter of faith is the aspect of agreement where you go beyond intellectual understanding to the affection of where you now say, “I am a sinner, I deserve hell.  Christ is my only hope”.  But if you stop there, that is still not salvation.  Sometimes people say, “Well, how can that be? Surely that seems like believing”.  Well, it is interesting the Bible says in Luke 4:41, the demons one day said of Jesus, Thou art Christ, the Son of God.  Fascinating.   They had a level of understanding.  They even agreed, but they obviously are not on their way to heaven. 

There is an angle of the will

So we must move beyond the intellectual understanding, beyond the heartfelt, “I agree” to that part of us, call the will, the volition - the ability to choose - where you make a choice to stop depending on yourself and what you have been trusting in, and you transfer your dependence to Christ to actually save you from sin and hell; that is true salvation. 

Now if you’re saved, you understand that.  If you witness then undoubtedly you’ve tried to clarify that to others.  Now here’s what I want us to see.  Isn’t it amazing that the very same kind of error that unsaved people make in reference to salvation – for they acknowledge but don’t depend on - that saved people make also in areas of their Christian life where we acknowledge that the Bible is true - I mean, we say we are Bible believers, don’t we thump that?  We sure do, and we ought to be, but the fact is that we say it  - but many times we aren’t.  Because while we acknowledge that the Bible is true, we live as if it is not true.  That is, we are not depending on its reality.  Same kind of error.  Let me illustrate it. 

How about the Bible phrase that is repeated?  It says, The Lord is good.  Do you believe that?  Surely we acknowledge it, but do we depend on that reality all the time?  In America, I ask the audiences, “Was the Lord still good on 9/11?”  I am sure He was.  And how about when your life began to fall apart?  How about when circumstances just seem to just to go awry?  Let me ask, “Is the Lord still good?”  Now we know enough to say, “Yes, that He is” but are we depending on that reality when we can’t see it.  You see, why is it that so many of the people of God are so afraid to surrender to the will of God?  Now honestly many people are.  In fact, I have been in services - this had happened more than once - where after I have preached on the truth of absolute surrender to the will of God for your life, I have literally had people come up to me after service saying, “Ah preacher, I don’t know about this absolute surrender, you know honestly if I surrender to do whatever God want me to do, who knows, you know I might get called to Africa”.  I don’t know why Africa seems to get the bump right up.  Actually, I’ve been there but at any rate, people are afraid.  They are thinking, “Ah, if I get called to Africa, life would be miserable.  I mean, big bugs and all sorts.”  I don’t know what they’re thinking. 

Now wait a second, why are we acting like when we surrender to the will of God, life will be miserable?  Isn’t the Lord good?  You see, the Lord is good.  We must depend on that reality - even in the times when we can’t see it.  Oh there are times when life seems to fall apart, and if you will simply choose to keep depending on the reality that the Lord is good you will find out some glorious good thing that God is doing in what seem to be an obstacle.  The Lord is good.  How about the Bible phrase, and be not conformed to this world?  Oh.  We struggle with that one.  Now let me ask you, “Are there any big words in the Bible that we cannot understand?”  And be not conformed to this world, do not follow the form - the mould - of this world.  Now we say we are Bible believers, but the fact is there are many of God’s people who won’t believe Romans 12:2.  They do not depend on that reality, they live as if Romans 12:2 is not true - because I have been in church after church after church where people who sat under the word of God for years - I mean, they have been saved for years – are very conformed to the world.  They have the same goals, same ambitions, they are materialistic just like their unsaved counterparts living for the visible, living for that which is temporal. There are many of God’s people, who are very conformed to the world’s lifestyle, they watch the same thing on television, they dress the same way, they listen to the same music.  They don’t believe that verse.  They are not living as if Romans 12:2 is true.  They are not depending on that reality.  My friend, that is unbelief.  We may not disbelieve the word of God, in other word, we may not deny it but often we are unbelieving because we don’t depend on it.  Now let’s move on.  I told you the first point would be long. Okay.  Alright.  Let us remind ourselves what we have learnt thus far - faith is depending on the reality of things being hope for, being convinced of those very unseen things.  Now question is, “How can you be so convinced on what you cannot see?”

Factor # 2 – The focus of faith

If you are thinking, “I want more faith”, what should your focus be?  Here’s the common misconception.  Oh if you want more faith, focus on your faith.    That will derail you for sure.  Why?  It is a human focus.  No, no, not only human focus.  The biblical clarification is that it is not human focus we need, it is divine.  You see, if you want more faith, do not focus on your faith, focus on the object of faith.  Romans 10:17 spells it out pretty clearly what it says, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  The word of God! You may know the word “word” there in our English Bible, has a couple of Greek words that are translated “word”.  One of those terms is the term “logos”.  It is a larger term - it refers often to the entire word of God.  For example, when Jesus said, Thy word is truth (Jn 17:17), He uses from logos.  The whole thing is truth.  Now the other Greek term is the rhema.  A rhema is a very specific part of the larger part, as specific as a word, but sometimes a phrase, or a verse, or a paragraph or even a portion.  That’s a rhema.  It’s a specific part of the larger part. 

When the Bible says that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, which one of those two words do you think it is?  In audiences where they had never heard it before, generally the answer comes back that, “Well, it got to be logos”.  But it actually is not - it is a rhema.  And if this has never sunk in to you before, and if you let it sink in, it literally can be life changing.  This teaches us that the foundation for faith is not general, but rather it is specific.  It’s because God specifically said so.  In other word, it is specific truth that we stand on.  So that when we say faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, we are dealing with the rhema of God - that specific truth of God within the logos - so we could add that to our definition and said it this way: Faith is depending on the reality of things being hoped for, being convinced of those very unseen things, because they are based on specific truth.  In other word, because God specifically said so.  That’s a long definition.  Let’s make it short by saying it this way: Faith is the simple choice to depend on the reality of the words of God, though yet unseen. 

You see, that’s what we are talking about.   It is that choice to depend on the reality of the words of God even before you see it.  That is faith.  You see, there is that guarantee, that rhema of God that we stand on.  That’s what it took for you to get saved.  Somebody showed you some rhemas.  Somebody showed you some specific statements of truth and the Spirit of God convinced you.  My friend, that’s how we walk in the Christian life.  It is when the Spirit of God convinces us of the specific truth and we choose to depend on the reality of the words of God - even though we cannot see it.  That is faith. 

I remember talking with a young man, probably in his early twenties, very disturbed about the assurance of his salvation.  According to the pastor, he would come forward regularly and say that, “I just don’t know if I am really, really saved.”  And so they talked, and he would just become distraught about it.  There are people like that. Perhaps you are here today and that’s a picture of you.  Well, I remember talking to this young man, and I had already preached this truth in that meeting, and I reminded him of the rhema, that specific foundation.  I said let me show you a rhema.  I took him to John 6:47 where Jesus said, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.  I said, “Now look, it doesn’t say will have, but it says “has”, that means immediately you have everlasting life.  How long is everlasting?  Well, it is forever.   Can you have everlasting life for a little while?  Well, no.  If you have something that is forever, it is forever.  You stuck with it”.  OK, it is a wonderful truth.  I said, “Now look, has there been a time in your life when you understood that you were a sinner, that you deserved hell, that Christ was your only hope and the best you know how, you believe.  That you transferred your dependence to Christ to save you from sin and hell, have you done that?”  Boy, he looked at me and emphatically said, “Yes.”  I said, “Alright, then what does the Bible said you have?”  Blank stare.   I pointed out to the word and said, “Everlasting life!” I said, “Now look, you can count on it, you can know it, why?”  Blank stare.  I pointed back to the word and said, “Because it said so”.  I never forget the smile broke out across the troubled face just like a rainbow after a storm.  And he said, “Ah because it said so.”  He got it.  See, that ‘s the foundation.  My friend, as long as you are focusing on yourself, you can doubt your salvation.  My friend, if you focus on the words of God, that is the sure word.  See, that’s the guarantee, the rhema of God. 

But notice there is a guarantor, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  God gives this guarantee.  It’s not like a man-made guarantee that sometimes is not a guarantee.  God himself backs up His word.  Now here’s the point. If we do not depend on God and His words, who are we depending on?  Ourselves - man and his words, his thoughts, his reasoning, his way of thinking.  And my friend, that’s an insult to God.  You see, no wonder, verse 6 is so dogmatic when it says that without faith, it is impossible to please Him, why?  Because when we are not depending on God and His words, it is because we are elevating man and his words on a higher plane than God and His words and that is wicked sin.  Let me just say I can preach this morning on something like “Thou shalt not commit adultery” - and by the way, it probably need to be preached - but the fact is that there are people in this audience in their heart who will say, “Yes, sir, that’s right preacher man, go after him.” You preach on something like unbelief - an intangible - and people say,” Oh, that was nice”, not realizing that unbelief is at the root of every tangible sin.  My friend, it is a wicked sin.  It is a wicked sin.  And I believe that it is time that we as the people of God, recognize and agree with God, how wicked it is to not depend on his words, to place our own thinking on a higher level than the words of God, to alleviate the way of thinking of man to a higher plane to the thinking of God - that’s an insult to the Almighty God.  May God help us to be broken over the sin of unbelief. 

Hudson Taylor one time gave his final coin away to a poor man who desperately needed it.  And Hudson Taylor had a fight in his own heart about giving it away, because his boss had forgotten to pay him and it’s the last coin he had to his name, he only had enough food for his supper that night, breakfast in the morning; and after a long struggle he finally reached into his pocket and gave it away to the man.  Well, he went home that night, he ate the final supper, now all he had was enough food for breakfast that morning - that was it, no more food, no more money. And here is the rhema of God that he used when he prayed that night – Proverbs 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord; and that which he hath giveth will He repay him again.   So he said, “Now Lord your word says that who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord. Now Lord please don’t let this loan be a long one”.  And he went to sleep.  But next morning when he was eating that final breakfast, there was a knock at the door, the postman had come, there was a letter, no returned address.  He had no idea who sent it, opens it up, nothing was written on the inside but a coin falls out with 4 times the amount of the one that he’d given away.  Now what was that the night before, what was that when he reached into his pocket and gave that coin away?  He was depending on the reality on the words of God - even though he could not see.  You see, that’s faith. 

Factor # 3 – The increase of f