Adrian Rogers: Faith - What It Is and How to Have It [#2069]

[Music] welcome to love worth fun with pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers reaching out with God's love bringing people to Christ touching lives around the world and helping you find the answers you need today join us as we prepare to open God's Word and discover how your life can be changed forever by his great love worth finding would you take God's Word find Romans 10 a moment we're going to begin our study in verse 17 now the book of Romans is the foundation for our faith it is the constitution of Christianity it is the solid rock upon which we stand and and the book of Romans tells us I suppose more than any other book in the Bible about the grace of God I love the word grace it is a beautiful word I think the only word more beautiful to me is the name Jesus but grace think what a beautiful word that is and what is Grace well let's make an acrostic out of grace grac II God's riches at Christ's expense grac II have you got that God's riches at Christ's expense that means Jesus Christ on the cross dying in agony in blood for our sins provides for us all of the riches of God for the same lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him God's riches at Christ's expense that's grace but listen folks faith faith lays hold of what grace provides now without without faith without faith there's no way that you can acquire the grace of God that the grace of God can come into your life only through faith Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9 for by grace are you saved through faith now what is faith yeah a ith forsaking all I trust him that's faith forsaking all forsaking my good works my good intentions forsaking my sin forsaking all that I am by nature and by the first birth I turned my back on that and I take Jesus grace God's riches at Christ's expense faith forsaking all I trust him so when I put my hand of faith in God's hand of grace that salvation for by grace are you saved through faith it is faith that receives what grace provides and so when Paul tells us about grace then he goes on to talk to us about faith and tell us what faith is and how we can understand faith you see faith makes God's grace available and real to us grace is God's ability faith is man's responsibility now listen grace is God's ability faith is man's responsibility Jesus died but we must believe and receive or the death of Jesus does us no good whatsoever so it is our responsibility to respond to God's grace all that we receive we receive by faith you want to be saved well Romans 5 says therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ do you want to be sanctified sanctifying their hearts through faith the Bible says do you want your prayers answered therefore whatsoever things you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them do you want to overcome the world this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith it is faith that is the medium of exchange in the kingdom of heaven that's the reason the Lord Jesus Christ said be it unto you according to your faith according to your faith that is the measure your faith is the measure of your victory your success all of the things that grace provides they come to us by faith so it is so very very very I'll say it one more time very important that you learn what faith is and so Paul now who has been talking about the grace of God now talks about faith in that grace beginning in verse 17 so look at it so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God but I say have they not heard yay verily their sound went into all the earth and now he's quoting he's quoting the scripture here the psalms that say that that gods the knowledge of the lord is seen in nature throughout all of the earth and and their words unto the end of the world but i say did not Israel know first Moses says I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people and by a foolish nation I will anger you but Isaiah says very bold and saith I was found of them that sought me not and I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me but to Israel he said all day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people now we're going to think about faith today now don't think that this is just a nicety this is a necessity and I want to say that lack of faith is not weakness it is wickedness and no one who can who does not believe has the excuse to say they cannot believe because the Lord has dealt to every man a measure of faith unbelief is a terrible horrible sin as a matter of fact first John chapter 5 verse 10 says he that believeth not God hath made him a liar that unbelief is a slander against the character of God it was unbelief that led Eve to that sin of the in the carton of Eden it was unbelief that locked the doors of the promised land to the children Israel and caused them to wander in the wilderness its unbelief that sends men to hell listen to the scripture John after three verse 18 here's the words of Jesus now listen carefully he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name the only begotten Son of God there's some people tell you that Jesus only died for the elect but that's not what that's not what the Gospel of John says he says the only reason men are not saved is not because Jesus didn't die for them but because they didn't believe in it he that believeth in him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed Jesus died salvation is there but they refused to believe and therefore therefore they're not saying there's the same thing when Jesus was in his hometown of Nazareth and the Bible says that Jesus could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief he the Almighty the sovereign limited himself limited himself by their unbelief he allowed their unbelief to keep him from doing mighty works there he could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief do you mean to say that he was not sovereign he's not all-powerful he's not all glorious course he is he's all of those things but he has said be it unto you according to your faith he limited himself he allowed himself to be limited by their unbelief he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed unbelief is not mere weakness unbelief is wickedness unbelief never comes out of the head people don't have intellectual problems it may show up as an intellectual problem but unbelief comes out of the heart the Bible says beware lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and over there in Romans chapter 1 and verse 17 the Bible says the just shall live by faith the way that we live the Christian life is not by striving is not by trying it is by trusting the just shall live by faith and I'm saying all of that all of that's just the front porch to get us into the house all of what I'm saying is the importance of faith that lays hold and receives what grace provides I want us to see what true biblical faith is and the very first thing I want you to see is what I want to call the object of faith what do you place your faith in that's so very important because so many people call things faith is not faith at all some people say well just believe you know it's positive thinking well I like positive thinking I'm very much in favor of positive thinking but positive thinking is not faith some people think hoping for the best is faith are giving it your best or whatever they have they have all kinds of ideas about what faith is but faith is no better than its object I was in the Atlanta Airport coming to Memphis they call the flight I got up gave my ticket along with Joyce to the lady we went through the thing went to seat 15 D and E and and sat down after a while somebody else came and said you and you're in our seat yes or no here we are there we are that's us then after a while I heard somebody say on the intercom would mr. mrs. Rogers please identify themselves I said how'd they know I'm on this plane in she said Mr MS Rogers you're supposed to be going to Atlanta but this airplane is going to Shreveport a friend I didn't want to go to Surrey for now I had a lot of faith in that airplane I had a lot of faith in the ticket system and the person who took my tickets and so forth but folks all that faith knew me one with a good if I'm on the wrong airplane in that right now misplaced faith is a terrible thing you put faith in the wrong place you've got to put your faith in the right place and and you see the Bible never tells us to put faith in faith that's just positive thinking what is the object of our faith the object of our faith is all-mighty God now you're in chapter 10 go back to verse 11 if if you will for the scripture saith whosoever believeth now watch this on him underscore that on him on him shall not be ashamed the object of your faith is Almighty God there's nothing mystical or magical about believing faith is no better than its object now listen to me very carefully some people say faith moves mountains that is not true it is God that moves mountains pay attention it is not faith that moves mountains it is God that moves mountains the Bible in Mark 11 verse 22 jesus in that context jesus answered them and said have faith in God in God your faith is no better than its object so many people just misplace this it's faith in faith there's nothing but positive thinking little boy came home from school and he said his dad said how'd you doing the test today he said well I I think I flunked my math test my father said it and then you need to be more positive than that he said okay I'm positive I flunked my math test positive thinking is not faith faith and faith is not faith you've got to have faith in God if you put faith in Payton's faith and positive thinking you're going to get discouraged they're people who tell you that that if you believe that you can achieve it and all of this and and they tell salesmen this and they tell athletes this and they tell all these people this but that's just simply not true that is not true just because you believe it you can't achieve it and and just because you think you can do it you cannot do it and after a while you're going to find yourself so discouraged and Satan is going to say to you you really don't have what it takes now listen to me your faith is no better than the object of that faith weak faith weak faith in the right object is better than misplaced faith in any object weak faith in God is better than than faith strong faith in anything else don't get the idea that because your faith is weak that it won't work you may be afraid to fly on an airplane at all but if you get on it you've exercised faith in that airplane and you're just as safe as the pilot of the Stewart it's a weak faith it faith is what counts it's not it's not the size of your faith it's the it's the object of your faith that that really counts so many people fail to understand this if you look in the Bible almost everybody who got a blessing from God had weak faith there few had strong faith but most of them had weak faith there was a man whose son was demon-possessed and he came to Jesus and he said master if you can do anything for my boy please do it jesus said if you can believe all things are possible to him that believeth do you know what that man said he said lord I believe help my unbelief have you ever been there we all have Lord I believe I have faith but lord help my unbelief you know Spurgeon said a trembling hand can receive a gorgeous wonderful gift it's not faith in faith it's not it's not the it's not the quality of your faith it's the object of your faith that really counts again the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 12 we're to be looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith look to Jesus the object of your faith here's the author he is the finisher of your faith it is faith in Him that's the object of your faith if you don't have your faith in the right place what good is your faith and your going to Shreveport friend when you ought to be going to Memphis you've got to put your faith in the right place that's just all there is to it looking unto Jesus Hebrews 12 verses 1 and 2 and that word looking unto Jesus literally means looking away from everything else and looking unto Jesus now if you reason the reason some folks don't have faith is they have their eyes on everything else other than the Lord Jesus Christ don't look at others look to Jesus don't look at yourself look to Jesus don't look at circumstances look to Jesus don't look at Satan look to Jesus look away from everything else that's literally what the Greek word means when it says looking unto Jesus it literally means literally translated it means looking away from everything else and looking to Jesus that's when I said faith is what forsaking all I trust him the object of your faith must be God your faith is no better than its object looking on to Jesus you know what the devil will do to you let me tell you how what a dirty devil the devil is the devil will want to make you doubt your salvation and here's what he'll say to you you say you trust Jesus uh-huh well just how strong is your faith huh maybe your faith is not strong enough to save you maybe you don't have good enough faith maybe you don't have strong enough faith and the first thing you know you'll get to examining your faith you open up your innards and pull out your faith and look it all over and examine it and you say well I wonder if I really have that saving faith you know what the devil is trying to get you to do the devil is trying to get you to look at your faith rather than looking to Jesus now listen don't put faith in faith put faith in Jesus when the devil used to pull that trick on me he used to say well Adrian how do you know that you really believe enough I just learned how to turn tables on him I say you know devil you're right my faith is weak but Jesus is wonderful I'm not putting my faith in my faith I'm putting my faith in Jesus Jesus never said look at your look he says look unto me and be you saved all the ends of the earth don't look at you look don't put faith in faith put faith in Jesus faith and faith is positive thinking faith in Jesus is salvation now the object of faith is God so what should be your ambition then to know God to know God that's the reason the Bible says we're to be looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith you see if you look to yourself you're going to be discouraged and weak put your eyes upon him the scripture saith whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed I hope this is getting through to you your your great need today is to learn of him to come to know him if the object of your faith is God then the ambition of your heart ought to be to know him the more you know about him the more you go to find faith is the byproduct of your heart when you look to Jesus when you discover the God of the Bible when you come to see him you're going to find out that faith is axiomatic in your heart and in your life let me give you a verse Psalm 9 verse 10 and they that know thy name that is the character of God will put their trust in thee Daniel 11 and verse 32 and they that know their God shall be strong and shall do exploits and so the object of faith is God himself not positive thinking not your own ambitions not your own will not your own intention just know God they that know thy name will put their trust in thee Romans 10 verse 11 who's ever believeth in him shall not be ashamed now here's the second thing about biblical faith not only the the object of it but the origin of it the origin of it now if the object of his faith is is to trust him then you've got to hear from him so the origin of your faith is the word of God the object of your faith is God himself you trust him but the the origin of that faith is to hear him so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God go back to verse 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 that says it's a very logical question go back up to verse 8 but what saith it the the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the Word of Faith the word of faith now the object of faith is God himself so you must know him but the origin of faith is the word of that God you must hear him you must learn to listen to God if you would have faith you see you cannot pray outside the will of God and get your prayer answered and in order to pray in the will of God you've got to hear the word of God now where does this faith come from you don't generate faith you don't just clench your fist grit your teeth and say I am going to believe faith cometh look in verse 17 faith cometh by hearing that is it comes from outside of you you don't generate that faith now you can have natural faith in the natural realm we all live by a natural faith you're putting faith in the chair that you're sitting in right now you're putting faith in the engineer that put this roof over us when you go to the restaurant you're putting faith in the in the cook that's that's natural faith we all live by faith everyday in chairs planes food Ron Dunn said this he says the doctor tells us that we have a disease that we've never heard of writes a prescription that we cannot read for medicine whose name we cannot pronounce which we take to a druggist that we do not know who gives us a bottle of liquid which tastes like poison which we take and go back for more that's faith but that that's faith in the natural realm but we're not talking about that we're talking about biblical faith that's in the supernatural realm you don't generate that God gives you don't work it up it comes down Peter said in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 1 he talks about those who have obtained like precious faith and then in Philippians chapter 1 verse 29 for unto you it is given in behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake that is the believing on him is given to you nobody can believe in God unless God enables him to believe now listen to me the only way that you can believe in God is to hear from God and God must enable you to believe and the instrument that God uses to enable you to believe is his word faith is not a leap in the dark it's a step in the light you hear from God but without a word from God listen to me very carefully without a word from God you have no basis for faith there's some people today who say you name it and claim it that is absurd you can't claim it unless God names it faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God now putting your margin Hebrews after 11 and and verse 1 here is a here's a description of faith now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen faith is the substance of things hoped for think of that word hope what does that word hope mean it doesn't mean maybe not in the Bible it may mean it in modern English but in the Bible the word hope means bed Rock assurance and that assurance is based on the Word of God the second coming of Jesus is called what the Blessed hope that doesn't mean too blessed maybe it means the blessed certainty and faith is the substance of things hoped for that is bedrock assurance based on the Word of God again the Bible calls Hope the anchor of the soul well you a friend you don't you don't put your anchor and a chunk of clown a cloudbank you put your anchor in something that is strong and solid so so now pay attention now because we're gonna learn something about hope hope is bedrock assurance now look at the word substance the Bible says faith is the substance of things hoped for I look this up in in some different translations or studied some different translations one gives the word assurance another gives the word confidence another gives the word guarantee another it gives it and I love this the title deed what what happens is this that we have bedrock assurance we have substance we have the title deed according to the Word of God point I'm making is this that the object of faith is God the origin of faith is the Word of God if you don't hear from God you'll never have faith well let me just put it this way if you don't hear God not just hear from God if you don't hear God you'll never have faith that's the reason I ask you to pray at the beginning of this service help me not to hear Adrian help me Oh God Adrienne god help him to be the Western Union boy as he brings the word but it is the Word of God that's going to bring faith in your heart now look in verse 17 faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God that is hearing the Word of God the word that is translated word there is not the word logos which means the revelation of the Bible like we call the Bible the Word of God that's the logos but it's a different word it's the word Rhema faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Rhema of God and that word means the communication of the Word of God not just the Word of God I don't mean when I say just the Word of God to deprecate the Word of God but it is not the Bible that you hold in your hand that's going to give you faith it is God speaking to you out of that Bible not the logos that you have in your hand that is the Word of God that is but you need to have God speak to you you need a Rhema a communication of the Word of God you can hear with your ear everything that I say this morning and not have faith but oh if God speaks to your heart you've got to hear God you've got to get a communication of that word from God and my job is not to teach you some sermon outline my job is to get you to listen to God as God speaks to you you've got to hear from God you've got to hear more than a sermon you've got to hear more than a pastor you've got to hear God look in Romans 10 verse 14 how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed now look at that little phrase in the new American Standard gives it this way how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard does they in whom but whom they have not heard what is the difference well they basically mean the same thing but but it means that God has to be speaking to you you've got to hear God today I hope that you go away from here not just simply hearing Adrienne but that you've heard God because faith comes when you hear God God speaks to you there is a Rhema God takes the Word of God and the truths of the word of God and God applies those to your heart and God is speaking to you you must hear Jesus today you must hear Jesus say to you today come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest he is speaking to your heart today if you will listen now here's the third thing I want you to see I want you to see not only the object of our faith which is God Himself the origin of our faith which is to hear from God and get a word from God but I want you to hear also friend the objective of our faith why does God use faith what is faith all about is faith something that you can put in your pocket to spend for whatever you want right can you just say well I want I have faith so I'll have a bigger house I have faith so I'll get well I have faith so I'll have friends I'll have faith so I can get married I'll have faith so I can have a Cadillac I'll have faith like no no no no faith is not getting man's well done in heaven it is getting God's will done on earth now it's very very important that you see this because so many of us think that faith is something that that we can use for ourselves look if you will in verse 12 for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same lord over all is is rich unto all that call upon him now that's the will of God that you be saved go back if you will our on down to verse 15 and look at in verse 15 of this same chapter 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 now the preacher is to be sent the preacher doesn't originate his own message I don't I don't I don't sit back there in my study or in my study of the house and say now what do I want these folks to know what do I think will be good ideas for them no I am to be a messenger boy with beautiful feet running with glad tidings I have been sent where God says go tell them this now we have workers here at our church who who buy things for the church cleaning fluids and and paper goods and so forth well we don't just say go buy whatever you think you want or whatever you think that we need there is a requisition a purchase order something that is given so that they come back with the right stuff you see they don't they don't originate all of that the object of somebody who goes to the supply store with a purchase order is to get what the leader says we need what the administrator says we must have and faith faith is God's Way of getting the things done that he wants done through us and it's that's the objective of faith now if you make faith as some sort of a Midas touch that that makes God your servant but God is not your servant you are God's servant and again faith is not getting man's will done in in heaven it is getting God's will done on earth and and you say well wait a minute Adrian you mean to say that I'm hemmed up by the will of God yep it's just like a mental hemmed up by the Atlantic Ocean the will of God doesn't mean fewer blessings for you the will of God means more blessings for you but the objective of faith is that that God's word that he sins will have its effect God's God's order form will be done and we'll do it through us so what you need to do is to find the will of God because the Bible says this is the confidence that we have in him if we ask him anything according to his will he hears us well how do we know as will we we know his word well how do we trust his word we know his person so the object of faith is God himself the the the origin of faith is the word of God the objective of faith is the will of God now if you're not interested in the will of god forget faith so so what should you do if the object of faith is God get to know God if the origin of faith is the word of God begin to listen to God if the objective of faith is the will of God then submit to God God doesn't give his faith to rebels friend learn to trust the Lord and let God stay in control now here's the final thing and we just wrap this up what is the operation of faith the operation of faith is to obey God now pay attention look the object of faith is God so know him the origin of faith is the word of God so hear him the the objective of faith is the will of God so yield to him and then the operation of faith is the work of God so obey Him now watch this if you say that you believe God but you don't obey God you don't really believe him faith is belief with legs on it faith obeys now if if we believe obviously it is because God has enabled us to believe but if we don't believe we're the ones held responsible look if you will at this look if you will in verses 17 and 18 so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God but I say had they not heard yes verily their sound went out unto all the earth and their words unto the end of the world but skip down to verse 21 but it's really says all day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people now they have not all obeyed the gospel you must obey the gospel all day long God says this really have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people now what does that mean disobedient well you know what disobedience is just not obeying what about gainsaying we don't use that word very much today but it means obstinate it means people who just refuse the Word of God here's here's the Word of God and it goes forth and God is stretching out his hands there some people say oh well God God just caused just some and and when God just calls some are they're gonna come and ain't nothing can stop it you better read the Bible randy says all day long have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people God is stretching out his hands but they wouldn't believe they wouldn't believe they refused gainsaying means that they are not only disobedient but they are obstinate they say no they take the Word of God and they paraded past the judgment bar of their mind and they make a jury of themselves and they say well no I don't think so I'm not gonna obey that friend the operation of faith is obedience to God you're not saved by faith and works you're saved by faith that works and if it hasn't changed your life if it doesn't get down into shoe leather if it doesn't get down into your heart if it doesn't make you a different person if it doesn't cause you to obey the Word of God don't tell me you have faith don't tell me you're going to having faith without works is dead that's what James tells us now you're not saved because of your works your work because you're saved but God stretches forth his hand and people can say no to him and if they say no to him God says I stretched out my hands all day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people they've not all obeyed the gospel so when you believe you obey trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey so I have you followed me the object of faith is God know him the origin of faith is the word of God hear him the objective of faith is the will of God yield to it it is heavens way of getting God's will done on earth and then the operation of faith is to obey God say yes Lord it is it is belief with legs on it now that brings me one last thing you say pastor is faith the gift of God yes faith is a gift of God does that mean if God gives it that I'm going to automatically believe No breathing is a gift of God God gives me lungs and God gives me air that was a gift from God that was a gift from God but I can smother if I want to push breathing is a gift of God you can smother faith is a gift of God God gives you his word and God gives you his spirit but then God says whosoever will may come those ever whelming all day long have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people so it's time right now for you to do the most wonderful thing that you could possibly do and that is to trust this great God for salvation for by grace or you say through things you put your hand of faith in God's hand of grace and that salvation would you bow your heads in prayer heads are bowed and eyes are closed while heads are bowed and eyes are closed would you pray for those roundabouts you may not yet know Jesus and precious friend right now right now I want to lead you in a prayer if you don't know Jesus pray this prayer God I believe that you are the Almighty I want to put my faith in you I believe the Bible is your word and you've spoken to me out of your word today and I know Lord that you want to save me and I yield myself to that today and now I will obey you by confessing you as my Lord and Savior right now father I pray that many will come to Jesus in his dear name I pray amen [Music] we pray God has blessed you as you've watched this message if you'd like additional copies or information on other resources write us at love worth finding Bo box 38 800 memphis tennessee 38134 at lwf dot o-r-g in the US you can place Visa or MasterCard orders by calling 1-800 two seven four five six eight three Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time thank you and may God richly bless you [Music]

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Keywords: Adrian, Rogers, Dr, Pastor, Teacher, Teaching, Preacher, Preaching, Evangelist, Prophet, Prophecy, Truth, Praise, Faith, Worship, Gospel, Grace, Word, Minister, Ministry, Ministries, Love, Worth, Finding, God, Jehovah, Jesus, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Yahweh, Messiah, Saviour, Savior, Lord, Holy, Spirit, King, Lamb, Ghost, Bible, Bellevue, Baptist, Church, Saved, Salvation, Sermon, Fellowship, Trinity, Priest, Missionary, Revival, Lost, Sin, Satan, Backslide, Help, Forgiveness, faith, what, it, is, and, how, to, have, romans, foundations, for, our

Id: GX-qxKq--D0

Length: 40min 48sec (2448 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 11 2018