I have quite a number of messages
on the subject faith, and I have a number of Bible studies that
I have presented in the past on the subject of faith, and
I've profited greatly from the writings of other men on this
subject. And today I took out a sermon
notebook that I've used over the past 15 or 17 years, and
I combined several of these messages on faith. And I want to dwell
on this subject just a little bit tonight, doing a lot of reading,
turning to a lot of Scripture, and see if I can help all of
us on faith. Now I'll have four headings for
the message. First of all, a definition of
faith. And then we're going to look
into the foundation of faith. And then we're going to look
at the importance of faith, and then in closing, the trial of
faith. Now these are the four most important,
I think, divisions of the subject, faith. What is faith? a definition. What is the foundation
of faith? Why is faith so important? And
then fourthly, and I think we'll benefit from this one particularly,
the trial of faith. Now first of all, a definition
of faith. Will you turn to Jeremiah chapter
17? Now faith includes, faith includes, it's certainly
an intellectual conviction and persuasion concerning what is
written in the Word of God. That is true and that's established,
and I don't think any of you have any doubt about that. A
man cannot have faith who does not have an intelligent persuasion
and conviction that what is written in this Bible is true. So I'm
not going to dwell on that a great deal, I'm just going to simply
say that that is understood as being a part of faith. But faith
is more than that. Faith is more than, as Spurgeon
used to say, mental agreement with some facts. Faith is more
than just giving your intellectual assent to some facts that are
written in the And Paul agreed with that. He said, Knowing,
brethren, beloved, your election of God, for our gospel came not
to you in word only, but it came to you in power, in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance. So faith is not only to believe
God, but faith is to trust God. Now here in Jeremiah 17, I want
you to listen carefully, and I want us all to examine our
own faith, what we call faith, examine our heart. Now listen
to this. In Jeremiah 17, verse 5, thus saith the Lord, Cursed
be the man that trusted in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and
whose heart departed from the Lord. Verse 7, Blessed is the
man who trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord. Now two other scriptures, Psalm
78. In the 78th Psalm, beginning with verse 19, Psalm 78, 19. Faith is not only an intellectual
conviction and persuasion that the Bible is God's Word, and
that the Bible is a good book, and that the Bible is truth,
and what God has said in His Word is true. That's part of
faith. You can't go a step further until you've stepped there first.
But also, faith is to trust God, not only to believe Him, but
to trust Him. Now in Psalm 78, beginning with verse 19, Yea,
they speak against God. This is Israel in the wilderness.
They said, can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he
smoked the rock that the waters gushed out and the streams overflowed. Can he not, can he give bread
also? Can he provide meat for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this
and was angry. And a fire was kindled against
Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they
believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation. Now Abraham trusted God when
he left home. He left home not knowing where
he was going. But he left home trusting God. Not only believing God, but trusting
God. trusting his life, the lives
of his family, trusting his future, trusting everything in the hands
of the Lord. He trusted him. And he proved
his trust by stepping out and going where God told him to go. Now, Abraham trusted God when
he went up on top of Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac. God had given
him that son. and told him in that son all
nations would be blessed. And then God came and said, Offer
this son as a sacrifice. And Abraham went to the mountain
and bound the boy and put him on the altar and raised the knife
to slay him, trusting God. He didn't know how God would
work it out. He didn't know when God would work it out, but he
knew God would work it out. He not only believed God, but
he trusted God. Christ our Lord taught that a
lack of trust was a lack of faith. Now let me show you that scripture.
In Matthew 6, in Matthew 6, beginning with verse, Matthew 6, beginning
with verse 29. Matthew 6, 28. Now watch this. Christ, what I'm saying is that
faith is not only to believe the Word, but it's to act in
faith. It's to act like you believe
it. It's to trust God. Barney used to always say, you
cannot separate faith and conduct. You cannot separate belief and
obedience. As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he when the chips are down. Trust God. Now Christ says that
a lack of trust is a lack of faith. Watch this, in verse 28
of Matthew 6. Why take you thought for raiment? Why are you worried about where
you're going to get your clothes, and where you're going to get
your food, and where you're going to get your shelter? Consider
the lilies of the field. How they grow, they toil not,
neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which
today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" Lack of trust is lack
of faith. And the less a man trusts God,
the less he believes God. That's what Christ is saying
then. A man who believes God will trust God, and he'll trust
God in proportion as he believes God. And Christ said to his disciples,
the fact that you don't trust God to supply your needs reveals
that you don't believe God. That's what he's saying right
there. He says that, and go on, take no thought saying what shall
we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we be clothed.
He calls that little faith. Lack of trust. Let me show you
another scripture, Matthew 8. Matthew 8, verse 26. Now let's
put this to practical use. Let's apply it to our practical
life, not to our head knowledge and not to our doctrine, to our
practical life. Do you trust God? If you believe
God, you trust Him. If you don't trust God, you don't
believe Him. In direct proportion, as you believe God, you trust
Him. And if you do not trust Him, don't claim to believe Him.
Now look at this, in Matthew 8, verse 26. You know, the disciples
woke him up in verse 25, and his disciples came to him and
shook him and said, Lord, save us! We perished! That little
old boat was just doing this, you know, out there on the sea,
the wind was blowing, probably raining, dark, and the waves
were dashing against him. Christ was sound asleep. He trusted
the Father. He slept through the storm. And
the disciples were out pacing up and down the deck, shivering,
shaking, scared to death, woke him up, shook him, said, Don't
you care if we drown? And he said unto them, Why are
you fearful, O ye of little faith? You don't trust. Then he arose
and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm,
and he probably went back to sleep. You know, when Peter was
walking on the water, and Peter began to sink. And Christ said, where did you
doubt? You failed when you doubted. Your faith let go when you doubted.
You began to sink when you doubted. When did you doubt? If you'll
find out when you doubted, that's when your faith went with it.
When you stopped trusting and started doubting. When you put
a question mark on God's wisdom. or question mark on God's power,
or question mark on God's love, or question mark on God's purpose,
that's when you begin to sink. Faith involves, now watch this,
this isn't mine, this is somebody else's, I don't know who, I've
got that on one of my sermons. Faith involves a feeling, real
faith, involves a feeling of security and safety in God, not
only physically, but spiritually. That's trust. Turn to Psalms
27, verse 1 through 3. This is where we live now, where
I'm preaching tonight, in Psalms 27, verse 1 through 3. Now, what's this? The Lord is
my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? And in direct proportion,
as He's my light and salvation. It will be my, will be my courage. The Lord is my light and salvation,
whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life, of whom shall I be afraid? Why should I be afraid? The bigger
my God, the little, the smaller my fears. When the wicked, even
mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they
stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear." Why? Because the Lord
is my life and my salvation. The war shall rise against me.
In this will I be confident. The Lord is my life and my salvation. I trust Him. Look at verse 13. Well, I would have fainted, David
said, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living. That's faith. Trust. Trust. Faith involves a feeling of security,
a feeling of safety, spiritually and physically. Now, the second thing. Of course,
there are several definitions. I'm not going to try to give
all of them to you tonight. Faith is looking to Christ, realizing
my sinful condition, knowing that God has given a Savior in
the person of His Son, who came down here and bore our guilt
and our shame on the cross, a consciousness of the failure of everything
else to satisfy God's law and honor His justice, looking to
Christ for mercy. Look unto me, He said, and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth. But that takes trust to
look. That's trust. When I look to Him, look out
of myself to Christ, realizing my own helplessness and hopelessness,
and look to Him. That's trusting Him. Faith is
a willingness to be saved. Not only looking to Christ, but
a willingness to be saved. Let me show you a scripture in
John 7. Turn over here a moment. Now here's where we run into
a lot of problems, right here. Christ said, you will not come
to me that you might have life. O Jerusalem, how oft would I
have gathered thee unto myself as a hen doth gather her brood,
but you would not." Now here he said in John 7, 17, if any
man will do his will, if that's what you want to do. A friend and I were talking last
night about the subject of love. He was telling me that he had
grown in the grace of love because he wanted to. Now if you want
to grow in that grace, you can. but not if you don't want to.
If you want to grow in the grace of faith, you can. If you want
to grow in the grace of humility, you can. If you want to grow
in the grace of generosity and mercy, you can, but not if you
don't want to. Forget it. It's not going to
come to you a bolt out of the blue. It's not going to come
to you all wrapped up and tied in pretty ribbons and stuck in
your pocket. There's got to be a willingness.
There's got to be a willingness. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life. Christ said, if any man will
do his will, he'll know of the doctrine whether I speak of God
or whether I speak of myself. But it takes a willingness. A
rebellious heart and a rebellious mind is not going to be taught
anything. God resisteth the proud. God
gives grace to the humble. And there's got to be a willingness,
so faith is a willingness to be saved. You say, I just don't
understand why I don't grow in some of the graces of the Spirit.
You don't want to. You're comfortable in your condition.
You're satisfied in your rebellion, and when you get dissatisfied
and unhappy with your state and want something else, Christ said,
whatsoever things you desire when you pray, believe, and you
shall have them. But if there's no desire, there's not going
to be any gift. There's got to be a desire. And
faith is waiting on God. Turn to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. Now this is something, oh, I
wish we could learn this. We want shortcuts. We want shortcuts. We want humility, but we don't
want what brings humility. We want patience, but we don't
want tribulation that worketh patience. We want to get knowledge,
but we don't want to go through experience and all these other
things that give us that knowledge. And there's no shortcut. It takes
years, it takes years, it takes years, it takes tears, it takes
heartaches, it takes trial, it takes mistakes, it takes failure,
it takes all of these things to ever learn anything. And there
are no shortcuts, and that's the reason faith is waiting on
God. Waiting on God, not getting in a hurry. Matthew 15, verse
22, listen to it. And behold a woman of keen, and
Charlie preached on this, Sunday down at Louisville, a woman of
Canaan came out of the same coast and cried, Have mercy, O Lord,
thou son of David, my daughter is grievously vexed with the
devil, but he answered her not a word. So that's when some of
us would have left, but she hung around. And his disciples came to him,
evidently some time had passed, and said, Send this woman away,
she's crying after us. And he answered and said, I'm
not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she
still stayed. She came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. And
he answered and said to her, it's not meet, it's not right
to take the children's bread and give it to dogs. Well, she
still didn't leave. And she said, that's true, Lord. But the dogs
eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. Then Jesus
answered and said, Woman, great is thy faith. Faith waiting on
God. And God will move for our benefit
and blessing in his glory when the fullness of time came. It was 4,000 years from the fall
to the coming of Christ. And I know that during that time
these prophets just cried for the Messiah, just wept for the
Messiah, just desired the Messiah, but he didn't come till the fullness
of time. And here was a woman with desires,
desires so great that she was willing to wait on the Lord.
I have people who come here to this church and listen to me
preach. They'll come listen to one sermon, and because that
one sermon doesn't fix them up, they don't come back. Or maybe
they'll come hear two sermons, and that two sermons don't teach
them all about the Bible, you know, then they don't come back.
You don't learn all about the Bible in two sermons, or two
dozen sermons, or two dozen years. It's desire, it's hunger and
thirst after righteousness and weight on the Lord. And God will
teach you something if you want Him too bad enough. You walk
in the light He gives you. He can't give you much light.
We're going to see that in a few minutes. You wouldn't know what
to do with it. Barnabas said you'd go crazy if He taught you
too much, you know. And you'd upset God's purpose.
So he just has to wait on the Lord. And He teaches you gradually. And as He teaches you, He opens
the way for something else. Now secondly, here's the foundation
of faith. Now that's faith. Trust. Trust. looking out of myself to Christ
with great willingness. Oh Lord, I'm willing. I'm willing. But I'll tell you this. Somebody
said, don't ask God to use you. You'll be sorry. Somebody said,
I want God to use me. I want God to use me. Don't you
dare ask God to use you. You'll be sorry. Because God
deals sometimes in a very stern way with people whom he uses.
You see, it's just like if a fellow has two apple trees in his backyard,
and one of them he doesn't care a whole lot about, well, he'll
just let it alone. It'll bear some fruit. It'll
bear a few nubs, you know. They'll have worms in them. But
he has a tree out there he wants to use. He has a tree that he
wants to bear the best fruit. He'll go out there and cut it,
and prune it, and he'll cut it back, and he'll dig around it,
and he'll dung it, and he'll do all these things, and he'll
just work that tree over good. But when the season comes for
the fruit, boy, it'll bear the fruit. But it's borne a lot of
cutting and a lot of trial. Now here's the foundation of
faith. This is from Spurgeon. I'm going to read this now. I
want you to listen to it now, and listen to it carefully. This
was a great blessing to me personally. Spurgeon says, they tell me there
are three kinds of preachers. Doctrinal preachers, experimental
preachers, and practical preachers. I think there are three things
that make up a believer. True doctrine, real experience,
and good practice. I want us to think about our
doctrine, now what we believe. You can tell whether you're God's
child partly by what you believe. Now some folks think it doesn't
matter what a man believes, but I say unto you, truth is always
precious, and truth is always searching out. People do not
read their Bibles as they ought to. The average person thinks
all religions are all right. Well, we can't all be right when
we contradict one another. And it becomes every man who
values his soul to search the Scriptures and see who is right. Well, I say unto you, I'm not
afraid to submit my gospel of grace or believer's baptism to
the Word of God. He said, my friends, the doctrine
of original sin, of election, effectual calling, particular
redemption, final perseverance, are essential doctrines of the
gospel, the gospel that is in Christ Jesus. Now, I do not ask
whether you believe these doctrines or not. It's possible you don't. But you will before you enter
heaven. For he said, I am persuaded that
as God may have washed your hearts, he'll also wash your brains.
He'll make you right in your doctrine. Now he said, I'm not
finding fault with you for differing with me. I may be wrong. But
let me ask you a question, he says. I've searched the scriptures. Have you? I've searched the scriptures. Have you? Have you searched the
Scriptures to find out what truth is? Or have you accepted what
somebody told you the truth is? Well, you may say, Preacher,
I don't like what you preach. Well, what does it matter whether
you like it or not, provided it's in the Word of God? It may
not suit you, but let me remind you, my friend, the truth that
is in Jesus Christ has never suited a natural man. The Bible is the only foundation
of faith. Isn't that right? Somebody said,
I feel faith. You wait till tomorrow, you may
not feel faith. When you're face-to-face with God, and He's about to take
you out of this world, and you grab your heart, and you can't
stand the pain, you know you may die any minute, let me ask
you, what are you going to reach back and grab a hold of? Your
experience? Your feeling? Do you feel safe
right now? Your baptism? Your church membership? Your good works? You taught Sunday
school back there years ago. Are you going to start running
back there and trying to find some hope and some help? Here's the foundation of faith
right here, the Word of God. Saving faith has its confidence,
has its hope, has its assurance, not on feeling, not on expense,
on the naked Word of God. Listen to this example, Acts
chapter 27. Turn over there a minute, Acts
the 27th chapter. Now Paul's out on a ship, and
the ships, all the All of the experienced seaman had said,
it can't, it can't light through this storm, it's impossible.
They'd already thrown everything overboard they could throw overboard
that wasn't essential to the sailing of the ship, and they
just gave up. And Paul came to them, and he
says in verse 22, Now I exhort you to be of good cheer. There
shall be no loss of any man's life among you. We'll lose There
stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I
serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar,
and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee, wherefore
say of good cheer, I believe, God, that it shall be exactly
for even as he told me." Now that's foundation He didn't look
to the wind and say, it's going to let up. I feel like it will.
I hope it will. He said, God said, everything's
going to be all right. And I believe it's going to be
exactly as God said. And that's the foundation of
faith. I believe God will save a sinner because he says so.
I believe Christ died for sinners because he says so. I believe
God will give mercy and grace to all who call on him because
he says so. I believe there's a heaven for
the redeemed and a hell for the unbeliever, because God says
so, and you can't prove it any other way. Now I want you to
listen to this testimony. I've dug these testimonies right
out of these men's personal lives. Charles Spurgeon said, when I
came to Christ, I had no knowledge of any personal interest in the
death of Christ. I just knew this. It was written
in the word of God. He hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. So I came to Christ and I trusted
myself on the strength of his promise. I believe what he said. sink or swim, I cast myself on
him, O great Son of God. Thou hast lived and died, thou
hast suffered for sin, thou hast made atonement for all who trust
thee." I trust thee. That's it. Listen to John Newton. I want you to listen. This is
the greatest thing I've read in several months. Listen to
this right here. John Newton wrote amazing grace and how tedious
and tasteless that is. He's one of the greatest preachers
I think who ever lived. John Newton said this, all believers
do not have the same assurance because there is strong faith
and there's weak faith. I'm convinced that most of our
assurance, and he didn't say lack of assurance, he said most
of our assurance is a mixture of faith and ignorance. And boy,
when I read that, I stopped and looked, and I said, you reckon
that's a misprint? So I read on, I found out it
wasn't a misprint. The reason you have assurance
is because you believe and because you're ignorant. That's what
he said. Our assurance. I know I'm saved. Well, it's
faith enables you to say that, but ignorance enables you to
say it too. I believe that what we call assurance,
even when it's right, is not entirely owing to our strong
faith, which, if we had a greater knowledge of some truths in the
Word of God, it would make the strongest assurance tremble. If I had a stronger understanding
of the evil of If I had a stronger understanding of the deceitfulness
of my own heart, if I had a stronger view of my spiritual enemies,
if I had a better look at the straightness of God's law, if
I had a clearer vision of God's holiness, I wouldn't be so sure. I would tremble before this truth. But the Lord knows our weakness.
And he reveals these things little by little as he reveals his grace
to us in Christ. Whereas if he gave us a whole
view of his law and his holiness and our own evil, we wouldn't
have any assurance at all. So our assurance, let's don't
brag about it too much. I think he's hitting a note there
that needs to be founded. Let's don't brag about how sure
we are too much because that assurance is based not only upon
faith, and it's got to be upon faith, but it's based a whole
lot on the fact that we haven't got a clear view of what we've
been saved from. What we've been saved from. When
Solomon finished the temple, I want you to look at this, 1
Kings 8. in 1 Kings chapter 8 when he finished the temple, you know
the thing that instead of stepping back and admiring the magnificence
of the building, the glory of the building, you know what struck
him? You know what awed Solomon? Listen to it in 1 Kings 8 verse
27. 1 Kings Verse 27, Will God indeed dwell on the
earth? Behold, the heavens, and the
heavens cannot contain him. How much less this house that
I built, instead of standing back and admiring in Solomon's
temple something else to behold. And yet instead of when it was
finished standing back and admiring the magnificence of the building,
the thing that struck him He said, you mean God will condemn
sin to dwell down here on this earth? And that's what faith is. That
faith, if it ever gets a glimpse of who God is and what this building
is, that's the thing that's going, can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood? Instead of these folks sitting
around talking about they can get saved anytime they want to,
anytime they walk down an aisle, they'll begin to question if
they can ever be saved. Now brother, that's the truth.
If we ever... Solomon said, Heaven won't contain
God. You mean he's going to condescend
to dwell in this building? Heaven of heavens won't contain
God. You mean he's going to live in
you? You mean he's going to live in me? That's the reason John Newton
said assurance is a great mixture of faith and ignorance. You mean
God would come down here to this old dung hill and take up his
abode? Now that's something to think
about. But we have the word for it.
Christ said, My Father and I will make our abode in you and with
And brother, that's the only assurance I have and the only
foundation of my faith is God said it because I can't believe
it other way. Barney said nobody but a fool or a Christian believe
that. Nobody but a fool and a Christian. Now the third thing, the importance
of faith, and I've preached too long, but let me give you several
things. First of all, there can be no approach to God apart from
faith. He that cometh to God must believe. Yes, sir, he that
cometh to God must believe. He can't come any other way.
If any man lack faith, let him ask of God, but let him ask in
faith. Nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
tossed, and let not that man think he'll receive anything
of God. Apart from faith, you can't get
to God, and you can't get anything from God. Now, that's all issues. Somebody says, well, God hears
lost men pray. That'll answer your question about that. If
a man does not have faith in Christ, let not that man think
he receives anything from God. He can't even get to God. There's
no approach to God without faith. It's impossible. Paul said to
please God. There can be no prayer apart
from faith. I got to let you read this one.
Mark chapter 11. Now watch this. Mark 11. Listen to this. Mark 11, verse 24. Therefore I say unto you, what
things soever you desire when you pray, believe, believe, believe
that you shall receive, that you receive them and you shall
have them. The gospel profits you nothing
without faith. Listen to this scripture. Let
me read to you. Don't turn. It says in Hebrews 4.2, Unto us
was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached
did not profit them, because it was not mixed with faith,
them that heard it. Sometimes it's not good for a
man to hear the gospel. Sometimes it won't profit him
anything. It depends on whether or not he believes it. If he
doesn't believe it, it will add to his condemnation. It would
be better to go to hell from Africa than it would from a church
pew. And then the atonement of Christ avails nothing without
faith. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Now let me give you this in closing. Turn to James chapter
1. Now this is the trial of faith. And we need to preach this over
and over to ourselves. I want you to hear this. James
chapter 1. Knowing this, verse 3, that the
trying of your deeds worketh patience. And then verse 12,
blessed is the man that endureth temptation or trial, for when
he's tried he shall receive the crown of life. Now 1 Peter 1,
listen to this, 1 Peter 1, wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
many trials, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto the praise and honor and glory of the appearing
of Jesus Christ." Now my friends, you may have faith right now
at this present time without trial. But nobody ever lived
and had faith and was all his life without trial. No, sir,
you may be right now in the present time without trial, but you get
ready for trial if you've got faith. Now, if you don't belong
to the Lord, you may have a very easy time of it, but if you belong
to God, I promise you on the authority of God's Word that
He's going to try you. Now, let's go on. Let's see some
more. The very nature of faith implies a degree of trial. What
is faith? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Waiting for the fulfillment of
the promise is a trial. Things that are not seen are
of faith, and therefore the very nature of faith implies a degree
of trial. The very fact that God doesn't
let us see with these eyes what he's prepared for us is a trial. Will you go on believing it even
though you can't see it? Will you go on hoping for it
even though you don't have it yet in reality? That's a trial. That's just the beginning though,
listen. The very existence of faith demands trial. Because
untried faith may not be faith at all. We ought to pray for
trial to see just how we will react. A boat's got to go to
sea sooner or later. Gold's got to be put in the fire
sooner or later. It's no good to be put in the
fire. A diamond's got to be cut. And so that, you know, somebody
said one time the very thing we pray against It may be the
best thing for us. Asking God to remove the thorn,
Paul did that, but the thorn was sent by God. Let's not ask
God to move the things he sent. But where is the man with enough
grace to pray for heartache? Where is the man with enough
grace to pray for tears? Where is the man with enough
grace to pray for trial? Where is the man with enough
grace to ask God for a thorn? But it's got to come. because
the very existence of faith demands it. And then thirdly, trial and
testing reveals the glory of faith. Now listen to this. John
Newton said, Little boats are made for water close to the shore,
and little faiths dare not venture there far out, but big ships
are made for deep water. Shall a man say, I have great
faith in God, but I've never really used it except in the
ordinary affairs of life. I've never been deceived. I just
don't know how my boat would act out yonder in a real storm. I just don't know how my boat
would act out yonder where the water is deep. Well, better stay
close to the shore, then, if your little boat be little faith,
because little boats are made for shallow water. water close
to the shore. But big ships are made for deep
water. And trial reveals the glory of
faith, the depth of faith, the size of faith. And then trial
proves the sincerity of faith. If faith won't stand the test,
what good is it? It's better to find out the condition
of our hearts now than at the judgment. Maybe we better pray
for God to strip us so that we're clothed in the righteousness
of his son. Maybe we better pray for God to remove all of our
foundation so we'll see if we're hanging on Christ, so we'll see
if we'll fall. God, sweep everything out from
under me, let's see if I can still stand. Gold doesn't lose
any value when it's trimmed down by the fire. It appears smaller,
but it's a whole valuable And brother, our egos may undergo
some shrinkage by trial, but what's left is wrong. If every
prop of flesh were taken away, could you stand by the lone strength
and presence of Jesus Christ? Now that's something to think
about. If every prop of flesh were suddenly taken away, as
Job who said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Could you stand? Would you like
to stand? That's the reason Ross said,
don't ask God to use you, you'll wish you hadn't. He may do just
that thing. He may say, God, God, give me
great faith. Great faith is made for deep
water.