I’ve preached on faith all my life. I’ve written books and articles on faith. But at my age, 89, I’m beginning to see things in a completely different light, even faith.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1, NKJV)
‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ I’ve preached on Hebrews 11:1 so many times, but now I’m seeing it in a completely new way. I’ve usually preached on faith much more in the sense of the evidence, the substance, the result of your faith. And I’ve always said, faith is not a theory, it’s not a ‘theology’. It troubles me that it’s the ‘in thing’ to talk about ‘people of faith’. Even some Christian leaders use this expression. By ‘people of faith’ they are including people of any kind of religion, Moslem, Hindu, whatever. I don’t agree with that. If you see faith only as people who have a strong religious belief, you miss the whole point that I am going to try to make now.
Faith is something practical, it’s substance, evidence – of ‘something’. But remember, right from the very beginning, we’re ‘saved by faith’. But by faith in what? We’re not saved by ‘having faith’… We’re not saved from sin ‘simply by faith’ – we’re saved by faith in Christ! It’s faith in Him, it’s specific. It’s very strong!
Hebrews Chapter 11 is fully given to the subject of faith. Hebrews 1:2 says that by faith ‘the elders obtained a good report’. By elders, Paul is meaning the Jewish leaders and patriarchs. They obtained a good report because of the level of faith that they had, that they displayed.
In Hebrews11:3 we read, ‘Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things that are seen were not made of things which do appear.’ In other words, part of our faith is believing in a God who created – out of nothing. I don’t see that any Christian can believe in evolution, because here it says, the worlds were framed by the Word of God – not by evolution! By the Word of God!
Now we come to v4, where Abel offers a better sacrifice than Cain, ‘by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.’ So, even in the very sacrifice that Abel made, that sacrifice of a lamb from his flock (Genesis 4:4) was ‘made in faith’. Not faith in anything in the past, but faith in something that ultimately would be fulfilled in Christ. And Hebrews adds, he, Abel, ‘being dead still speaks’! Read the whole chapter, you will find that many people, even in death, are still speaking so strongly to us today! It’s like Job, who in all his sufferings and questionings, says, ‘I know that my Redeemer lives,’ and even though Job die, ‘in my flesh I shall see God’! So even Job, all those years ago, was believing in an eternity and a resurrection – in the future – and was prepared to die in that faith.
Faith is demonstrated by what we do!
I’m looking at the practicality of faith, at the evidence – not just because we nominally believe in something – but faith that is demonstrated by what we do! Not just by what we say, but by our ACTIONS. Looking back on my life, I’m suddenly realising that this is what has happened with me.
In Hebrews 11:5 we read, ‘Enoch by faith was translated (caught up) that he should not see death, and was not found because God had translated him, for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God.’ So here is one remarkable man who actually didn’t die! It says in Genesis 5:22-24, Enoch walked with God – so close with God – that one day, God just took him! I like to think God said to Enoch, “Look, we’ve walked together, and we’ve come so far, it’s nearer for you to come into Heaven than to go back down to earth!”
Oh, if we could walk with God like that! Enoch ‘pleased God’! But how do we please God? So many think we please God by what we do, and in a sense that’s true. But it’s more. Verse 6 says, ‘without faith it’s impossible to please God’! Wow. So, we’ve got to have a level of faith that’s beyond the simple, nominal faith of salvation. It’s got to be a faith that somehow gets translated into ACTION and becomes a driving motive.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6, NKJV)
Faith has been the motivation behind my life! Right from the beginning I’ve wanted to please God. When I received the Holy Spirit aged 13, I knew 1 Corinthians 12 says there are nine gifts, and Paul says choose, covet the best gifts… I can pray in tongues ‘more than anybody’, I can prophesy. But the one gift I wanted more than any other was the gift of faith. I saw faith as a GIFT, not just as a way of ‘thinking’, but as a GIFT that would change my life and enable me to do all the impossible things that, at that time, I didn’t yet know God was going to ask me to do!
In verse 7 it says, ‘By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, prepared an ark to save his house’, his family. In verse 8, ‘By faith Abraham, when he was called to go to a place which he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed’ – and he went out, ‘not knowing where he went’! Faith made Noah foresee that what God was saying would happen, and he built the ark. Abraham, by faith, when God called him to leave where he was and go out, went out believing that what God had said, would happen, and that he would come into the inheritance.
Hebrews 11:11 continues, ‘Through faith Sarah’ – when she was far too old – ‘received strength to conceive and was delivered of a child’ – because she judged God faithful who promised!
And v17, ‘By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac’! Isaac, his long-awaited son, who was born when he and Sarah were so old! God had given Abraham the promise that the whole of his future, and all families of the earth, would be blessed – through Isaac! And so Abraham was able to go up the mountain, and only when Isaac looks around and says, “Where’s the sacrifice?” – then Abraham ties him up and puts him on the altar! Why did he do it? He did it, not to kill his son, but because his faith was that God would resurrect Isaac and he would still become the fulfilment of the promise! God took that moment when Isaac is tied up on the altar and the knife is raised in Abraham’s hand as enough. God saw that Abraham would go to the ultimate limit in faith that God would fulfil His promise.
In so much of my life, that’s how it’s been. I remember 1961 when I went to that Conference in Jerusalem. Israel at the time was just 13 years old. The Pentecostal people around the world had decided that on the Day of Pentecost they would hold a conference in Jerusalem for the first time in nearly 2000 years, believing that the Holy Spirit would come down again! It was impossible for me to go. I was a young evangelist, married with two young children, I’d spent all my money on evangelism, I wasn’t getting a salary at that time. How could I pay for the air ticket and the hotel? I couldn’t! But by faith – and when I look back now, I realise that what I was doing was by faith that God would fulfil His promise – I went! I didn’t go to Jerusalem for sight-seeing, not even to be part of a conference. I went to Jerusalem to receive a new anointing and Fire from the Holy Spirit. And although I saw no actual change in my life afterwards, everything changed, my life took a different turn. Looking back, I can see that what I did was by faith. Because of that one action of going overland, behind the Iron Curtain, not thinking of the danger, the trouble, the difficulty – but by faith that I would receive a promise – I see that all of my ministry from 1961 till now – all of it, all of my work in the Soviet Union and so on – came as the fulfilment of the faith that I had.
Looking back, I can see that my life has been the fulfilment of all that we’re reading in Hebrews 11. I went by faith! Faith that I have positively changed into ACTION!
I’m trying to show that faith is not just a religion, a ‘belief system’, faith is the ACTION that you DO when you’ve got faith! It was faith that carried me through in 1961. When I had the throat cancer in 1964, and I said, “Lord if You want me to stay in my church, don’t heal me, but if You want me to leave my church and go to Russia and to Israel, I need a miracle,” – God healed me – and it was by faith that I went! Looking back, I can see that my life has been the fulfilment of all that we’re reading in Hebrews 11. I went by faith! Faith that I have positively changed into ACTION!
When I was in the communist prison for Bible smuggling, the reason I wasn’t overcome and despairing was because I had a faith and a hope that what was happening, God would use in the future to fulfil His Plan and Purpose. I HAD to be in that prison, I had to experience it, to become a part… It was because of that prison experience that God led me into the ministry that I have now. But what took me there? Faith! You will never understand all the problems and difficulties we had with the Bible smuggling. I can laugh about it now, but it was a fight! The number of times we were almost caught! I was also evangelising at that time. Under communism!
Recently I was sent the records of a police report from when I was evangelising in Bulgaria in 1990 when it was still under communism, when the Holy Spirit came down and Revival came into the nation. I sensed in my spirit, God wanted to move, and of course the local people there were afraid. I went to the pastors, in Yambol, and said, “Come on, let’s take the stadium!” They said, “You can’t, they won’t let you!” I insisted. I remember taking those reluctant men with me to the stadium. The officials said, “No, you can’t rent the stadium, it belongs to the communist party, we can’t rent it to you.” I’m praying and saying, “Lord, You brought me here to get this stadium…” And suddenly the Holy Spirit came down, and those two communist directors looked at me and said, “We can’t rent this stadium to you, but there’s nothing in the rule book to stop us giving it to you for nothing.” So it was interesting recently to see the record of the surveillance operation mounted by the secret police to monitor and control the conference, especially the interaction of the Bulgarians with foreign citizens, what we Westerners said etc. From this record we now know the name of the man in charge of the operations, the agents’ code numbers – and the suggestion is, that one of the agents not assigned a number, who was designated to monitor the sermons, was a pastor who had sold his soul to the communists. The final report concludes that the 1990 Conference in Yambol was a ‘peaceful religious gathering that did not need any further investigation beyond the information collected’.
We go by faith, believing that God is faithful
But you see, we do it by faith. It’s an ACTION. It was the same when I came out of the prison in 1973. My church denomination said, “You’ve gone through a terrible experience. Calm down. We’ll find a nice church for you, you can be a normal pastor...” I said, “No! I’ve got to go back!” Why? Because the Holy Spirit was leading me, and God was saying to me, “How can you forget those people behind the Iron Curtain and leave them? You’ve got to go back! You’ve not finished, you’ve only just started! Prison was only the beginning!” So by faith, I rejected salary and position, and I went back! You see, my life has been an echo of Hebrews 11.
If you continue to v22, ‘By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones.’ He told them where he was to be buried! Not in Egypt where they were. In the Promised Land! He told them by faith, believing it would happen.
And it’s the same with Moses, v24, ‘By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time.’ He was a prince in Egypt! Egypt wasn’t a collection of mud huts, this was the Egypt where the Israelites had built all those pyramids, where the Egyptians lived in palaces, and Pharaoh had a mighty army, the most powerful army in the world! Moses was prepared to give up and surrender all this life of luxury, why? Because he saw something else, he saw the Kingdom of God! He knew that God would give him a part in a Kingdom greater than Pharaoh’s in Egypt, greater than Rome, greater than anything in the world! He saw the future, and he gave up all that he had, because he esteemed ‘the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures in Egypt’, for he had respect to the reward that he would finally receive, because he saw Him who is invisible!
it’s that belief in the Kingdom of God that drives us
We are called to make sacrifices, not because we want to – we don’t self-flagellate, we don’t cut ourselves, we don’t bash ourselves with whips, we don’t shut ourselves up in monasteries – no, but we make sacrifices knowing that what we deny here, we shall receive a thousand, a million times more in the Kingdom! And it’s that belief in the Kingdom of God that drives us. It drives me now! The older I get and the nearer I get to the Kingdom, the more my faith is driving me on… I’m not looking at the past, I’m looking at the future… Because I know that coming out of lockdown is like coming out of the prison. When I came out of the prison in 1973, I saw miracles I’d never experienced before! Watch out when I come out of this lockdown and when I get loose, we’re going to see bigger miracles, more power than anything we’ve ever seen!
I’m not one of these ‘faith people’, but I’m a practical born-again believer in Jesus Christ the Messiah who is coming to reign on this earth. And we will reign with Him, and what we will have with Him is a thousand times better than anything anyone can offer! I don’t want the wealth, the position that the world offers, I only want that which I see in Christ!
And I want to show you how this faith makes miracles happen! God bless you!