For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto
this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the
sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that
those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things
soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:23,24).
These are days when we need to have our faith
strengthened, when we need to know God. God has designed
that the just shall live by faith. Any man can be changed by
faith, no matter how he may be fettered. I know that God's
word is sufficient. One word from Him can change a nation.
His word is from everlasting to everlasting. It is through the
entrance of this everlasting Word, this incorruptible seed, that
we are born again, and come into this wonderful salvation.
Man cannot live by bread alone, but must live by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This is the food of
faith. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of
God."
Everywhere men are trying to discredit the Bible and take
from it all the miraculous. One preacher says, "Well, you
know, Jesus arranged beforehand to have that colt tied where
it was, and for the men to say just what they did." I tell you
God can arrange everything without going near. He can plan
for you, and when He plans for you, all is peace. All things
are possible if you will believe."For I know the plans I have for you,"
declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."(Jeremiah29:11)
Another preacher said, "It was an easy thing for Jesus to
feed the people with five loaves. The loaves were so big in
those days that it was a simple matter to cut them into a
thousand pieces each." But He forgot that one little boy
brought those five loaves all the way in his lunch basket.
There is nothing impossible with God. All the impossibility is
with us when we measure God by the limitations of our
unbelief.
him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
—Hebrews 11:6
Notice particularly the first part of that verse, "But without faith it is impossible to please him ...."
If God demands that we have faith when it is impossible for us to have faith, then we have a right to challenge His justice. But if He places within our hands the means whereby faith can be produced, then the responsibility rests with us as to whether or not we have faith.
God has told us that without faith it is impossible to please Him, but He has also told us how to obtain faith. He has told us how faith comes.
ROMANS 10:17
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
If we don't have faith, it is not God's fault. To blame God for our lack of faith is nothing but ignorance. God has provided the way whereby everyone can have faith.
Faith for Salvation
Faith for salvation "cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
The Apostle Paul said that we are saved by faith. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8).
But how do you get the faith to be saved? Let's read more from this passage in Romans.
ROMANS 10:8-10,13,14,17
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
We see here that faith for salvation comes by hearing the Word of God. Now relate that with Acts 11:13,14, "And he shewed us how he [Cornelius] had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; WHO SHALL TELL THEE WORDS, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."
Cornelius was a good man, but he was not saved. Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). As Cornelius had not as yet heard this glorious Gospel, he was not saved.
God told Cornelius to send for Peter in order to learn the plan of salvation. The angel could not preach to Cornelius. (Angels cannot preach—God sent men to preach.) But the angel could tell Cornelius where to go to get somebody ".... who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."
Men are saved by hearing words. And that is because "...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." You cannot believe without hearing the Word.
Faith for Healing
How does faith for healing come? In the same way. You can see this in the following passage:
ACTS 14:7-10
7 And there they [Paul and Barnabas] preached the gospel.
8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:
9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
A casual reader of the Word might say, "It is wonderful how Paul healed that man!" But Paul did not heal the man. The man was not healed because Paul was an apostle, nor was he healed by Paul's faith. The man himself had the faith.
Paul did three things:
1. He preached the Gospel (verse 7).
2. He perceived that the man had faith to be healed
3. He told the man to stand up and walk (verse 10).
The man did three things:
1. He heard Paul preach (verse 9).
2. He had faith to be healed (verse 9).
3. He leaped and walked (verse 10).
This man was not healed by some power which Paul had. The man himself had faith to be healed. And how did he get the faith to be healed? He got it from what he heard. He heard Paul speak.
And what did Paul speak? He preached the Gospel (verse 7).
If Paul had preached what some have called the Gospel, the man would have never been healed. Paul preached what the Bible calls the Gospel!
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