It is good to be with you, brothers and sisters in Richmond, and to remember the Lord together and to worship Him.
That is why I was sitting there and meditating again on the Lord: how He removed our stony hearts and gave all of us a heart of flesh, that we can respond to Him.
Our unclean lips He touched, and out of this little clay come praises and songs unto Him that we know by faith are acceptable in His sight.
Only He can do it, and He has done it, because our God has faith in Himself. Therefore, we can respond. We can sing, and we can rejoice together in Him. So we call on Him.
Lord, we are so thankful that we are not alone here. You find Yourself among us. We are so thankful that it is Your longing to be with Your people.
We thank You. By faith, we know You are with us. You are all-sufficient. You are everything.
And when we know You are with us, we say, “It is enough.” To You we give all the praise and all the glory. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
When I was here the last time, two weeks ago, I shared this matter. As I told you, every time I come to visit Richmond, I always get caught up here. But thank the Lord: every time I am given an opportunity to serve the Lord, I always consider it a learning situation—to experience the Lord in a fresh way and to allow Him such an opportunity.
Last time we mentioned that faith is the foundation of our Christian life and Christian living. If we look through the whole Bible, it is full of this word: belief, trust, faith. It is just full.
The Gospel of John was written that they might believe. Even in the Book of Romans, faith and belief appear on almost every page. Throughout the whole Bible, this is a vital matter.
The Bible begins with this wonderful statement, or announcement: “In the beginning God.” It is a statement of faith—not faith in Him, but that He has faith in Himself. And that is what sparks everything, because He has faith in Himself; therefore, He did what He did.
That is what we are today, because God has faith in Himself. He will redeem us, He will transform us, and He will keep us to the end, because God has faith in Himself.
That is why this matter of faith is so real. God is forever looking for this faith in mankind.
So I shared last time that when the Lord found faith in people, He called it great faith. You remember the centurion’s faith. The Lord paused, looked around, and said:
I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
The Lord called that faith great faith because that faith released the great God to speak His word, to express His love, and to accomplish His work.
So faith is the link to heaven. Faith is the way by which you appropriate, or enter into, all that is ours in the Lord Jesus.
Without faith, there is nothing. With faith, there is everything.
Let us look at a few verses of Scripture. Please turn to Hebrews 11. We will read verses 1 through 3, and then verse 6.
Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.
For therein the elders had witness borne to them.
By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him.
Now listen to a few verses from 1 Peter 1, beginning with verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials,
that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ:
whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Let us turn to one more portion, because when we talk about this matter of faith, we can easily get away from everything else, can we not? This is the matter of faith. It is the matter of circumcision as well as uncircumcision. Let us turn to Romans 4, beginning with verse 16.
For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
(as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before Him whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.Who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be.
And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;
yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God,
and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
We will end our reading there.
We said last time that faith is really faith in the God who is faithful to Himself, or the God who is full of faith in Himself. Now, when we discover that this is true and that this is fact, we can enter into rest.
We do not need to struggle anymore. Faith brings us into a real rest in our soul.
The problem with many believers is that we do not really have that secure faith in the great God. Therefore, we have so much anxiety, agitation, and restlessness in our soul, because we fail to see Who He is.
Once we discover Who He is, then we enter into rest.
This morning, when it comes to this matter of faith, the way the Lord teaches us faith is that He often brings us into impossible situations to test our faith—to try our faith, whether the origin of faith is from ourselves or whether the origin of faith is from God.
If the origin of that faith is from ourselves, it can easily be shaken. But if the origin of that faith is based on God—if God is the foundation of faith and the One who gives that faith—then we are on the Rock. Then our life, as the Lord’s people, will not be easily shaken.
So often the Lord brings us into a situation that seems impossible. In other words, He wants us to believe the unbelievable.
Do we dare to believe Him?
You know, believing in God is an unbelievable thing. Have you ever witnessed to people and asked them to believe? I am sure you have. You discover how impossible it is for them to believe—how hard, how impossible.
When we ask people to believe in the Lord Jesus, we are asking them to believe the unbelievable. If it were so believable, I mean, they would all believe in Him.
Unless God does something, they cannot believe. That is why Paul says faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. The word generates faith in us. Faith comes through the word.
Sometimes we have gospel meetings and seek to reach out, and we find ourselves in impossible situations. Some people are almost on the verge of believing, while others seem impossible to reach.
So faith is believing the unbelievable.
God wants us to exercise that kind of faith. Let me give you an example from Scripture of how the Lord brings us into impossible situations in order to discover our faith and, at the same time, for us to know that He is faithful. What He has promised, He will do.
Consider the four hundred years of the Israelites in Egypt. We know that it was predicted long before that they would be taken into Egypt. Then the Lord sent Moses into Egypt to deliver the Israelites.
When you read those accounts, it was an impossible situation. They were slaves in Egypt, under bondage and severe oppression. Their master, the king, would not let them go.
Pharaoh said no. You know how they argued and negotiated. Pharaoh tried to negotiate with Moses: “Well, okay, the men can go.” You know the story. It took ten judgments for Moses to confront Pharaoh, and finally Pharaoh gave in.
Impossible situations. Through all this, and through Pharaoh, the Lord’s name was magnified and glorified.
Faith is not something for people to boast about. Faith is simply an opportunity for God to manifest Who He is and what He can do.
When they came out of Egypt, there were other ways for them to go, but somehow they went around and became trapped in front of the Red Sea. Before them was the Red Sea, and when they looked behind them, they saw the troops of Egypt, fully equipped. They were caught in between.
What could they do? It was an impossible situation.
In that situation, the Lord came through. The Lord was faithful to Himself. The Lord was responsible for bringing them out of Egypt, and the Lord was ultimately responsible for bringing them into the land. The Lord would accomplish it, in spite of the inability of His people.
In the New Testament, we encounter this matter with regard to the Lord Jesus. The question is always, “How can it be? How is it possible?”
Nicodemus came to the Lord by night. The Lord spoke about being born from above: unless one is born of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom. What was Nicodemus’s response? “How can these things be?”
The Lord wants you to believe the unbelievable. That is all. It is impossible. You have your reason; now forget it.
Then, in the next chapter, John 4, we have the Samaritan woman. The Lord said, “If you knew Who it is that is speaking to you, and if you asked Him, He would give you living water. Once you drink this water, you will never thirst again.”
She looked at Him and said, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. How is it possible?” Then she said, “This is the well that our father Jacob gave us. Are You greater than our father Jacob?”
The Lord wanted the Samaritan woman to believe the unbelievable—to believe the impossible. Did she believe? She did, because she heard the word.
The living Word was communicated to her, and she believed.
Nicodemus heard the word. Did he believe? Yes, he did. He became a secret follower of the Lord Jesus. Something happened to him. You remember, when the Lord was crucified and was to be buried, Nicodemus was the one who brought the ointment for the burial. He was a secret follower of the Lord.
The Lord is always asking us to believe the unbelievable. We cannot do it, but He can do it.
We cannot talk about this matter without mentioning the father of faith, Abraham.
Did Abraham have great faith throughout his life? No. In fact, on many occasions Abraham was very faithless. That gives us hope.
That is why he is the father of faith: he gives us hope. You remember a couple of times he told the people among whom he was sojourning that Sarah was not his wife but his sister.
When you say such things, it is simply unbelief—recklessness. You remember the trouble he got himself into, and not only himself, but all the people involved.
Unbelief affects a person, and not only the person, but all those involved with him. Abraham did it twice.
He went south, you know. Once he went into Egypt because there was no food in the land. The Lord called him into the land that was promised to him and to his seed as their possession, and then he went to Egypt for food.
That was unbelief. The Lord brought him to that place. Do you not think He would provide for him? If He sends you there, He will be fully responsible for you.
But Abraham was weak in faith. We can say that several times he was weak—many times weak. Before he became known for faith, he had been faithless. Well, that gives us hope, brothers and sisters.
Now, this matter of faith, hope, and love always goes together. Faith will generate hope, and hope will sustain us because of love.
I always think that faith is the foundation, hope is the superstructure, and love is the roof—the covering. We need all three things: foundational faith, hope as the superstructure, and love as the covering.
In Romans 4, it says that Abraham believed in God, “who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.” That was Abraham’s foundation for faith: God Himself.
Many of us put our foundational faith in God’s promises. There is a difference between putting our faith in God’s promises and putting it in God Himself.
God’s promise is always linked with His word. If we take God’s word out of God’s mouth and make it our own, God says, “I will not take it back.” It is no longer merely His word; it is your word now.
But if it is God’s word spoken by God, then Abraham says, “That is my foundation for faith. You said it.” Abraham’s foundation was God Himself—the word that God had spoken to him.
For us, our foundation for faith is this matter of knowing God. When you know a person, you can have faith in that person. You do not trust a person you do not know, do you? How can you?
Abraham’s faith was because he knew God. He communed with God. God revealed Himself to him. That is why Abraham was called the friend of God. They knew each other.
That was Abraham’s foundation for faith. Of course, we have to know God if we are going to have any faith at all, because our faith is none other than God Himself.
One of the things that happens to us when we put our faith and trust in Him is that He humbles us. People try to live a humble life, but it is very difficult. You try and try, but you will not succeed.
But when you come to an impossible situation, and all you have is your naked faith in an invisible God, then that will humble you. That will humble you.
The reason people are not willing to believe is because they do not have a spirit of humility. There is something in them that they think they can do. That is why they do not believe anyone else; they believe in themselves.
But when you come to an impossible situation, you are completely exhausted of all that is in you, and all you can do is cast yourself completely upon God. That humbles you, because God brings you back to zero.
To be brought to a place of zero is to discover Him, and faith becomes a living faith. Out of zero comes a true spirit of humility—to know that we cannot trust ourselves, we cannot trust anyone else, and God alone is enough.
So Abraham’s faith was based on his personal, living knowledge of the living God—a God who has faith in Himself. That was the foundation of Abraham’s faith.
The next thing we notice is that Abraham, contrary to hope—or, in some translations, against all hope—believed in hope.
When your last hope is gone, there is nothing. When life is gone, it is gone. But with Abraham, who knew God, when the last human hope was gone, it was not gone.
When all hopes were gone, he still had hope—not hope in himself, but God’s hope. That is why later, in Romans 15, God is called the God of hope.
When human hopes are all gone, God’s hope comes in. That was Abraham’s experience. When man’s hopes are all gone, God becomes the God of all, and His hope comes in.
That is why Abraham could say, “Against all hope, yet in hope.” He could hope in God because God is the God of hope.
For most people in the world, when their hope is gone, how can they smile? What is the use of living? When their life is gone, they say, “I am finished.” But for Abraham, it was not finished. It was a new beginning for him.
God is the God of hope.
Romans 8 says:
For who hopeth for that which he seeth?
But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
When Abraham looked around and saw that nothing was happening, yet he could maintain hope in God. That hope was not Abraham’s hope; it was God’s hope in Abraham. Praise God for that.
Romans 5:5 is a very interesting verse:
And hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.
Whose hope is that? If you hope for something and it does not happen, you are disappointed. Have we encountered that before? Many of us have. We hope and hope, and in the end we are disappointed because things do not turn out the way we expected.
Many things in this life disappoint us. In fact, this life is full of disappointment.
Excuse me for saying this, but of all the governments in the world, I believe our government is one of the best. There is no question about that. There is some business, some fairness, and some God-fearing people in our government. Thank God for that.
Yet, are we not often disappointed with our government? It may be the best in the world, and people flock into this country thinking it is Canaan, paradise on earth. Then some of them become disappointed.
We pay taxes, we see some of the laws that are enacted, and we are disappointed.
But Romans 5:5 says hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. That hope is within. The Spirit is the seal of God’s promise, the down payment, the guarantee.
How can you be disappointed? It is already in you. Beautiful, amazing!
Abraham could hope because he knew his hope would not be disappointed. Why? Because behind it is the Almighty God, who is faithful to Himself as God.
Let us look at Romans 15:13. God is called the God of hope.
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The power of hope is in the Spirit. The strength to endure in hope is in the Spirit. The Spirit is the down payment of what God guarantees He will accomplish. We have assurance.
Our hope is not a vain hope. Our hope is sure.
In this country, we use the word hope very carelessly. “Oh, I hope so.” “Well, I hope it will be this way; I hope it will be that way.” But that is not God’s hope. God’s hope comes with certainty.
That is why in hopelessness we still have hope, because we have inward rest and certainty. We have rest because of Who He is, and because what He has promised, He will perform. Therefore, we can rejoice in hope and have peace in hope.
People are so frustrated and sickened in their hearts when their hope is gone. When your hope is gone, you have no joy. When your hope is gone, you have no peace. How can you?
But this hope that we have from God brings not only grace, but joy and peace, because we have that assurance. What He has promised, He will also perform.
Then the next matter in Abraham’s life is that he was not weak in faith. Romans 4:19 says:
And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
My footnote says that the word not is not in some of the manuscripts. If you have another translation, it may say that Abraham, not being weak in faith, faced the fact. He faced the fact, recognizing that he was as good as dead.
When he looked at himself, he faced the fact. He knew that he was almost one hundred years old and that his wife’s womb was dead. Those facts are human facts.
They are facts, but they are human facts. They are not God’s facts.
What do we often dwell on—human facts or God’s facts? We dwell on human facts.
But Abraham did not look at himself merely from the human point of view. He looked at things from God’s point of view, from God’s facts.
Abraham did not look at God through circumstances. Rather, he looked at circumstances through God. If you look at circumstances through God, you see something different. But if you look at God through circumstances, it is altogether different. There are two sets of facts.
Abraham was not denying that he was as good as dead. He was confessing, “Yes, I am as good as dead. That is a fact.” But God’s fact is above the human fact.
On the human level, you are as good as dead. But God says, “I am the God who gives life. I am the One who calls the things that are not into being. What I promise, I will perform.” Those are God’s facts.
Abraham faced the fact and knew it, but he did not look at it as though it were the final word. On the human level, yes; but with God, no. Thank God for that.
It says that Abraham did not waver. When we encounter impossible situations, the first thing that happens is that our mind begins to turn. Is it God’s fact or a human fact? The two begin to work within us.
But Abraham did not waver, because faith based on God gives us inward stability. It brings into our being a real unity—spirit, soul, and body—in their proper order.
In other words, Abraham was not a divided person. His thinking and his convictions were one.
Many of us are convicted in our hearts, but we do not dare to say it—just in case it does not turn out the way we expect. So we say, “I believe—I think,” but we do not really say it. Then, when it happens, we say, “Okay, I believe.”
We do not really quite believe it. We do not have a deep conviction about it. Our convictions and our thinking are not synchronized. We are divided people. That is what James calls being double-minded, doubting.
But because Abraham’s faith was based on God’s fact and on God Himself—Who He is, what He says, and what He will perform—it brought such stability, tranquility, and oneness within him.
There was no doubt in his mind. He was not a divided person. His mind and his heart were one. What he said was what he believed.
Faith brings into our lives stability—not only rest, joy, and peace, but stability.
One thing lacking among God’s people is this matter of stability. In every fellowship, we need brothers and sisters who are stable in the Lord.
The Lord is the Rock and cannot be shaken, no matter what. We experience some measure of rest once we know our sins are forgiven. We know peace, rest, and joy. But sometimes we are still living an up-and-down life. We are not stable.
We need faith that rests on God’s side, not on our side.
Let me say something on the lighter side. You remember in Genesis 17 and 18 that the Lord came to Abraham.
In Genesis 17, the Lord told Abraham to circumcise all the males in his household. Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah. Ishmael had already been born.
When the Lord told Abraham that he and Sarah were going to have a son, Abraham fell down and laughed. Yet he laughed.
I do not know whether that laughter was laughter of unbelief or laughter of faith. Perhaps he said, “Lord, I laugh because I know it is impossible, but I believe it is going to be possible.”
I believe when we get to heaven, we are going to laugh. Perhaps throughout the thousand years we will have a great laugh, because all the impossibilities down here will be known as possibilities up there.
Then in Genesis 18, just before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, three men came, and Abraham received them with great warmth and Eastern hospitality.
The Lord asked, “Where is Sarah?” Abraham said, “She is in the tent.” Then the Lord said, “By this time next year, Sarah will have a son.”
What was Sarah doing? She was laughing. The Lord said, “Sarah laughed.” And Sarah said, “No, I did not laugh.” How can you say no to the Lord? He knows everything.
I do not know whether her laughter was laughter of unbelief or whether it was the laughter of faith: “It is unbelievable. I do not think it is possible. But if You say so, I believe You. Because You say it, it is possible.”
I think we should laugh in such situations—not merely rejoice because things are not possible, but because God says they are possible. How can it be? Yet it is happening.
One brother put it this way. When the Lord told Abraham, “By this time next year you are going to have a baby,” Abraham was so excited that he said, “Sarah, get the camel ready. The Lord told me that we should go for our second honeymoon.”
Do not laugh. That is what he did. The next year they had a son, and they called him Isaac. What does Isaac mean? He laughs.
The father laughed, the mother laughed, and the son was called laughter. I guess the whole house of Abraham laughed, because the impossible had become possible. Thank God.
Faith gives us rest, peace, joy, and stability. It says Abraham was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God.
So now we have rest, joy, peace, stability, and worship. Giving glory to God is worship.
Finally, faith gives us courage. From courage, we experience victory. Faith does not shrink back from impossible situations. That is courage.
You know the story. I will not read the whole passage, but let us read Joshua 14:11-13.
As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, and to go out and to come in.
Now therefore give me this hill-country, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and cities great and fortified: it may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as the Lord spake.
And Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.
There we have a mountain, and there are giants there. Caleb, because of his experience in the word and because of his knowledge of the word, said, “Give it to me.”
He took it. That place became Hebron, fellowship—God’s fellowship with His people.
Oftentimes we have obstacles like a mountain, and we go around them to avoid them. But Caleb said, “I will take it.” That is courage, and that is victory.
He said, “I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord spake.” He took it. He did not take it for himself; he took it by faith.
Faith, ultimately, is triumphant faith.
There is one quotation I want to read in connection with Joshua and Caleb: “Faith directs the vision of the soul. Faith is the vision of the soul. It does not reason. Faith does not reason. It does not ask for evidences.”
All the evidences were contrary. When they went into the land to explore it, all they saw were giants. Of course, they brought back some good fruit, but the rest were giants.
Faith does not rely on evidences. It does not seek the corroboration of spies sent forward to explore the land. Ten of them said, “It is no good. We cannot go in.” Caleb and Joshua said, “We are able.”
They did not agree with those who said no. Those who said no said no; those who said yes said yes. Faith does not seek corroboration, because faith is based on God’s facts, not on human facts.
As we are approaching this conference, we have been praying much in our fellowship. I think we have to pray in faith, believing that God is bringing so many for the first time.
We should not hesitate to believe that those who are seeking Him will meet Him. Those who come with a longing will be met. But we need to enlarge our hearts even for those who come casually, out of curiosity, not looking for anything, and yet the Lord will somehow meet them.
That should be our faith now. I do not know whether the Lord will bring over a thousand to us. Why not? There must be a purpose. We may not know what we are doing, but we have to believe that He knows what He is doing.
Do not say merely, “Those who come with a heart, the Lord will meet.” Let us believe God that everyone who comes to this conference will somehow be met by the Lord.
We have to pray that way. We have to believe that the Lord will supply abundantly and fully, and give us an open heaven.
Pray that our three brothers who minister will have an anointing unlike anything they have experienced before—something that will change all of us, making us new creatures all over again. We need that.
We need to pray for those three brothers and pray for the others. Many young people will be there, and they are no less important.
I believe that in the next two weeks we have to pray, not looking at human facts. Perhaps some of the rooms will have no air conditioning. We do not know how things will be. Those are human facts and human problems. Yes, they are facts. We have to face them.
But we are going to look at a different set of facts altogether: God’s facts.
If they come, it is because God has brought them here, and they are our responsibility—every one of them. That should be our faith.
This conference is God’s conference, not our conference. God is moving in history. God wants to say something, not merely to a small portion, but to everyone who comes.
Thank God, what is impossible is possible. God wants us to believe the unbelievable. When I heard the brothers talking over the phone—nine hundred? Oh, I said, no. Then a thousand? Unbelievable. But it is possible.
The Lord will be all our need—more, more. So let us bow our heads.
Our Father, we are so thankful that we do not need to look at all the circumstances. We do not even need to look at ourselves or our feelings. But, Lord, we thank You that we can turn our hearts to You.
Lord, You know all. You know everything about us.
So we do pray for the local brothers and sisters responsible for this conference. Give grace. Give grace. Give strength. Above all, give faith to believe that what is impossible with us is possible with You.
You always say that if we only believe, all things are possible. To You we give all the praise and all the glory. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.