Faith That Will Work Part 1 by Ed Pruitt

Hebrews 11:1-1

Faith that will work
Part 1
Sunday November 25, 2001
Pastor Ed Pruitt
Amarillo Church of God
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

There are some basic things about faith that we need to continually go over.

Just because we have heard it once doesn’t necessarily mean that we know it.

Some of the basics are found in Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Notice this verse: Now faith is. Faith that is the substance of things hoped for is always now.

The substance of things hoped for is always now.

We are living in the present tense not the future of the past so now is what we are talking about.

We need to believe when we pray Jesus taught, let’s look at Mark 11:24
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Jesus taught us that when we pray, believe that you receive, Now.

Not some other time!

If you pray at 11:00 this morning it is Now!

Let’s say it this way Now faith is or Faith is now.

We can back that up with Hebrews 11:6
6 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.

Note the words, that He is.

It’s present tense, God is NOW not some other time!

Your faith has to be in the now, in the present tense.

It can’t be put off into the future or back into the past.

It must be Now faith, this minute faith!

Faith that is now is the substance of things.

You hear so many people say this day and age that, I believe that God’s going to do it sometime.

That’s out in the future, what I am talking about this morning is Now kind of faith.

If you have the faith, then you have the substance of things desired.
You have the substance of it, but you don’t physically have the thing desired.

It has not been manifested.

You can’t fly it, drive it, or wear it, but you have the substance of it right now!

The faith substance is the raw material which will cause the manifestation of the thing desired!

Let’s read Hebrews 11:6 again
6 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.

Yes, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

But what things is faith the substance of?

All the things that God has promised to us in the scripture!

Let’s go to 2 Peter 1:1, for some insight into these promises:
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

Who is peter writing to in this scripture?

To them that have obtained like precious faith.

In other words, if you have obtained the same faith in Jesus Christ that these men had, then Peter is writing to us, you and I that are believers!

It doesn’t matter what time table that we are living in, it still applies to those of like faith!

And the scripture goes on to say in the next verse, 2 Peter 1:2 that God’s willingness is multiplied
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.

Grace is God’s willingness to use His power and His ability on your behalf, even though you don’t deserve it.

Grace is God’s willingness!

Now that is one powerful statement!

Most people don’t have any trouble believing that God is able to do anything, but they are not quite sure that He is willing to do it for them!

They are strong in believing in God’s ability, but weak in believing in His willingness.

Gods willingness is multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord!

We are taught by God’s word in Romans 10:17
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith in God and His word comes by hearing what God said!
When you gain the knowledge of God, you gain faith in God.

Then you know how God will respond to your faith in Him!

If God’s word is in you, then faith is in you because His word is filled with faith!

God didn’t give anyone more than He gave to you and I!

Now some may look like they have more faith than others but that is only because they have done something with the faith that God gave them!

God has well let’s just read it, Romans 12:3
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

God didn’t give one person more than He gave another!

I do want to bring to your attention that in this verse Paul is not writing to sinners or to the world, but to believers, to the child of God.

If you will read it again he said, “ I say to every man that is among you,” not every man that is in this world.

Here is where a lot of people make a mistake.

I hear people say, “ My trouble is, I don’t have any faith.”

Well we all know that if a person makes that kind of a statement then it is because they are not saved.

You can’t be saved without having faith. Let’s read it in,
Ephesians 2:8
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

if you really don’t have faith then you are not saved.

What you need to do is to get saved and that will solve your problem of not having faith.

The truth of the matter is, all believers have faith.

The bible says so, but many believers don’t recognize it or realize it, and they are not using their faith!

The only way to measure faith is to measure the Word that is in you, because God’s word is filled with faith.

If His word is in you then you have faith!

We all have the ability to read the bible.

It’s God’s living Word!

It contains all of the faith that is available in promise form.
Some of us receive it, some don’t!

True, God gave everyone the same measure of faith, but that doesn’t mean that everyone accepts it!

God’s willingness to use His power and ability on your behalf is multiplied to you when you gain the knowledge of God.

That’s the very reason some people get more from God than others do!

You hear people say all of the time, ”Well, I don’t understand why God did that for so and so. He never does anything like that for me.”

Listen to their words!

God never does anything like that for me.

Isn’t that amazing?

For years they have been saying, God never does anything like that for me.

Well what does that statement sound like?

Sounds to me like someone hasn’t been reading God’s word like they should!

Jesus said in, Mark 11:22-23
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23 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.

People say those things because they don’t have faith in their faith.

They have not become personally acquainted with God and His ways through His word!

They have the form of Godlyness, that we talked about last week, but they don’t have the Power of God in their lives.

Faith is in you if the Word of God is in you!

And I am not talking about people that have memorized the bible cover to cover and have still not given their hearts to God and asked Him to forgive them of their sins and come into their heart!

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Just because you memorize the something doesn’t mean that you have heard it!

There are a lot of people out there that quote the bible word for word but they haven’t received Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour because if they had you would be able to see Him in their lives!

Now don’t get me wrong, there is not a thing wrong with memorizing scriptures, but just you have it in your head doesn’t mean that you have it in your heart!

When it becomes a part of you, then there will be a revelation of it in your spirit!

That is what I have been talking about all along, living on a higher plane for God!

God has given us all things, we read in, 2 Peter 1:3
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Notice, this verse says God has already given to us, not going to one of these days!
He has already done it!
He is not going to do any more about it.
He has done all He’s ever going to do about your finances, or about your health!
He has already done what He said He would do!
You may be thinking, do you mean that I am going to be this way all the rest of my life?
No, I didn’t say that!
I said that God has already done all He is going to do about it!
Jesus has already provided all these things.
They are already in store for you, they belong to you!
It’s just a matter of you tapping into what God has already given!
He doesn’t have to do one more thing for you!
He has given you His faith in His word, and that faith is the evidence of things not seen, not the evidence of the things that you can see!
When you are truly a possessor and not just a professor of God’s word, you will know it, and then you will start to plant little seeds of faith!
It will be seen by others in your spirit.
You will know it!
You know that you know that you know.
You don’t know how you know, but you know!
Once you reach that level of knowing, and it has gotten down on the inside of you, it has become a part of you, you have become one with God’s word!
That oneness is caused by faith, and it is the substance of things that God has already provided you!
You have become a true child of God!
Now that we have become a true child of God we must now become a partaker of His divine nature.

Let’s read it in 2 Peter 1:3-4
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

There are some people who say, “ you must think that you are God, saying things like that. Don’t you know that God is sovereign?”

Yes I know God is sovereign!

He is sovereign according to His sovereign Word.

He said, “I’ll not alter the things that come out of my mouth.”

I don’t care what unbelief or negative thoughts or words come out of your mouth.

God wont alter what He has said.

He said what He meant, and He meant what He said.

He will not break His word.

God has given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.

Notice it says you might be ( not would be ) partakers of the divine nature.

You have to make a decision to be a partaker of His nature.

Why should people get concerned when we act like God acts and talk like God talks?

They should get concerned when we don’t act like God would act.

If we are Sons of God, we should act like our Father God.

God wants us to talk like Him, He wants us to act like Him.

Not to be God, but to be like God, because we are created in His image and in His likeness.

You will find that many of the people of the world will get offended at you and some will even say, ”who do you think you are, God?”

When they do just answer, I am a partaker of the divine nature.

Make up your mind that you are not going to hang around with the old crowd and wallow in the unbelief any more just because someone else does!

Tell yourself, no, I am not God, but I am a son of God and I am a joint-heir with Jesus and a partaker of the divine nature.

Just because others are not partakers of the divine nature of God is no reason we shouldn’t be.

If faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, that means it’s the proof of things not seen.

If you go into a court of law and say, “I have proof of this thing.”

If you have proof, then it has to exist or you couldn’t have proof of it.

Existence is proven by faith, all of the things that God has promised already exist in the realm of the spirit, or else faith couldn’t be the evidence (or proof) of it.

If you believe it, you have the evidence needed.

It’s in existence the instant you believe it, although you may not physically have it!

But if you keep putting it off, saying, “I believe somewhere, somehow, sometime God is going to do it,” it will never come to pass.

That is to vague, there is no place established, no time and no way.

Let’s look at it this way, suppose that I call you on the phone and tell you that we need to get together and talk.

You say ok that would be good, when?

And I say back to you, oh, sometime!

You ask where?

I say, Oh, somewhere, and then I hang up the phone.

How long do you think that it would take for us to get together?

We never would get together under those circumstances!

We haven’t established a place or a time, so we may never meet.

So it is with the things that God has provided.

You may never be a partaker unless you establish a time and a place when you believe you receive the promise.

Remember, it’s already provided, God’s not going to alter what He has promised.

The Apostle Paul said it like this:
2 Corinthians 1:18-20
18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Paul didn’t preach a negative gospel, for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen!

What does that mean?
God has already said yes to His promises before you ask Him.

You already have His Will concerning the matter before you ask!

If God promised it, He will stand behind His Word.

He won’t alter His promise.

It doesn’t matter if it’s in this century or the next.

God’s Word is eternal, it’s never outdated!

Remember God has already done what He said He would do!

 

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