Sermon

083 The Fundamentals: Faith

Maranatha Ministries

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  1. Do you know the Bible is God's Holy Word? Do you know it is

  2. inspired, in errant, and infallible? If so, like, share,

  3. subscribe and support this podcast. So we are Maranatha Ministries and now Reduction Draweth

  4. Nigh. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the program. We are

  5. your host, Mariah and Matthew. Tonight we are going to do the fundamentals

  6. this time faith by getting back to you know, this infamous verse that that

  7. faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.

  8. And Mariah came up with this train's concept that well, these are obviously the

  9. pillars of the faith. How can they not be in the fundamentals and that

  10. kind of No, it wasn't was your idea, you're talking them all about

  11. it. How was it mom's idea? It was an idea. You came

  12. up with the idea to do love. Yeah, yeah, all right,

  13. so let's agree, Yes, yes, you did did what I didn't come

  14. up with the verse the faith, open love, God came up with the

  15. first of Okay, all right, anyway, so this is pretty important that

  16. we do it because I mean this, these really are the three pillars of

  17. Christianity. I mean there's there's no doubt that these three, these three are

  18. the big ones. Now, this document that we're going to go over,

  19. I didn't do it. These are all verses that you came up with,

  20. and they're pretty impactful. They're they're impactful. They they put things in such

  21. a way that, well, it calls into question many people who say things

  22. about their beliefs claiming to be a Christian. That obviously cannot be the case.

  23. I mean, there's a certain number of things that if you don't have

  24. the faith to believe that really happened, you're not a Christian. You're something

  25. else. So let's let's get through these. What's the first one you want

  26. to talk about? And there's so many verses in the Bible we could talk

  27. about concerning faith. There's there's no no shortage of verses. Mm hmm.

  28. Y. Wonder if we knew Jude. Okay, let's do Jude, all

  29. right. Jude, the whole entire book of Jude took me by surprise.

  30. I love that book. Just one chapter that said a whole lot of good

  31. stuff. But and I was going through my Bible and I saw it.

  32. I already had this one highlighted, so so you cheated. No, Like

  33. I'd read it before and had it highlighted already, and I was like looking

  34. for verses that I might find about faith, and I saw that one that

  35. I highlighted, and it was cool. Give it to this, okay,

  36. Jude one, seventeen through twenty three. But you, beloved, ought to

  37. remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

  38. that they were saying to you, And the last time there will be

  39. mockers following after their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause divisions,

  40. worldly minded, devoid of the spirit. But you, beloved, building

  41. yourselves up in the most holy faith, praying in the holy Spirit, keep

  42. yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously from the mercy of our Lord

  43. Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are doubting,

  44. save others, snatching them out of the fire, and on some have mercy

  45. with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now, the

  46. interesting thing I mean, at first you may just think, oh, that's

  47. just you know, you might just go over the worst faith that's used in

  48. here. But what does he use to separate the ungodly worldly minded devoid of

  49. the spirit, from those who are kept in the love of God waiting anxiously

  50. for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. But to separate

  51. those two is but you, beloved, building yourselves up in the most Holy

  52. faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Those who are building themselves up in

  53. the most Holy Spirit, in the most holy faith are those who are keeping

  54. themselves in the love of God. And you know the the verse before it,

  55. It gives you the start start contrast that these are devoid of the spirit,

  56. and through our faith worst were to pray in the Holy Spirit. So

  57. these two groups are diametrically opposed. I mean, we can tell we can

  58. bring something right in that is very current to this discussion right now is first

  59. they take in the last time there will be mockers following their own ungodly list.

  60. These are the ones who clause divisions, worldly minded, devoid of spirit,

  61. causing divisions. Let's let's talk about eschatology a minute, right, I

  62. mean, that's our game, right is aschatology. It is really bothersome when

  63. you find out that the first three hundred years of church history all Christians were

  64. historic premillennialist. Everybody believed there was a literal millennial reign of Christ and that

  65. the rapture slash resurrection because it happens at the same time, occurred at his

  66. return, at the return of Christ. The dispensationalists are the ones that come

  67. and destroyed at They come in in seventeen hundreds. I take that back eighteen

  68. hundreds and completely destroyed that. They the age of Oh, I have an

  69. idea, right, and how much money can I make from this idea?

  70. Yes? Literally being I mean this is literally perfectly describing that. They're the

  71. ones that have shattered the paradigm and divided it into being. Is it a

  72. pre trip rapture, mid trip rapture or post trip rapture. They're the ones

  73. that did that. They created that divide that that was then that did it.

  74. And so this really puts this into context and the good verse to use.

  75. Like I said that that dichotomy there that without faith, if you don't

  76. maintain your faith and continue your relationship with the Holy Spirit, you're going to

  77. go way left or way right of center mhm. And you can't be devoid

  78. of spirit if you have faith, can you Yeah, that's that's an anathemal.

  79. That's that's no, that's obviously you can't no real reason to mention that

  80. are discuss it, do you? I mean you you'd have to say that

  81. faith is the the well spring and the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Faith,

  82. faith in a way divides us from the ungodly. I have a note here,

  83. and this is written by me, So these are these are my notes

  84. on this verse. And I wrote, so we are separated from the ungodly

  85. because we are godly. We are separated from the ungodly because we have a

  86. godly faith, a faith that is essential in keeping, in the keeping and

  87. the prospering of the Holy Spirit. It is that with this faith we are

  88. able to pray in the Holy Spirit and keep ourselves in the love of God,

  89. waving anxiously for the mercy of Him who gives us eternal life. People

  90. who do not want people who do not have faith, and therefore are in

  91. the church and among the church, but without it. This chapter says,

  92. specifically, it is speaking of those who are creeping in unnoticed. So how

  93. much does it matter to have faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit and in

  94. God. The person does not have faith, they are nothing but a facade.

  95. Faith is what makes us believers. There, Faith is what makes us

  96. believers. So then why would someone claim to believe and not have faith in

  97. God? You have found the wolf in sheeps clothing. So actually, that

  98. is what the Book of Jude is about. The Book of Jude is about

  99. the wolf in sheep's clothing. I read the whole book is only one chapter,

  100. right, and that's a good way to describe it. It is describing

  101. the dead among the living, really is what it's doing. So and it's

  102. actually a warning too for those of us in the last time. Yes,

  103. and so here here's my question. How important is it to have faith?

  104. How does faith separate us from lone believers? I mean, isn't it faith

  105. that separates us from none believers? Does that not make it? Does that

  106. not make it one of the most important things? I mean, literally,

  107. we another way of saying our belief is our faith. That's literally another way

  108. of saying you're a Christian is saying that you have faith, all right,

  109. And that's why these verses brought out praying in the Holy Spirit. If you

  110. don't have faith, you're not going to pray. If you don't have the

  111. faith to believe in whom you are praying. You're not going to pray yep.

  112. And I mean, doesn't it go back to the faith, hope and

  113. love? Can you pray if you don't have faith, hope anyone? No?

  114. I mean, because we've gone back to that each time we've done this

  115. all three times. I mean this was the third time we're doing faith.

  116. Now we've come back to that all three times. Can you pray without love?

  117. Can you pray without hope? Can you pray without faith? And?

  118. Like I said a few minutes ago, we had this conversation going back and

  119. forth to work a few times. Excuse me, really, you're talking about

  120. the difference between the living and the dead. You really are. If you

  121. don't have faith, hope and love, you find yourself amone the dead.

  122. There are just so many, so many things, you know, It's not

  123. just one thing. Love doesn't just give you one thing. Faith doesn't just

  124. give you one thing. Hope doesn't just give you one thing. It's all

  125. the things. There's so many things that you can't do without it. There's

  126. so many things that you can't be without it. You can't be a Christian

  127. if you don't have faith. I'm going to read another verse. It's an

  128. Ephesians three. Ephesians three sixteen through nineteen. It says that He would grant

  129. you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power

  130. through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your

  131. hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

  132. may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and

  133. the length, and the height and the depth, and to know the love

  134. of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the

  135. fullness of God seventeen. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

  136. Exactly. And this is part and partial with praying in the Holy Spirit.

  137. Without faith, Christ is not going to dwell in your heart. He

  138. can't. He can't. He can't dwell in your heart if you don't have

  139. the faith. That's right, first of all, that He will be in

  140. your heart in the first place. But second of all, if you don't

  141. have faith to take him from this point on to the end of the world,

  142. if you can't have faith in Him in everything you do, if you

  143. can't have faith in Him in every part of your life. What the heck

  144. makes you think he wants to live in your heart? How can you live

  145. in a heart that doesn't welcome you if you're living your life without faith?

  146. How can Christ live in your heart if you don't have faith in him?

  147. Period? Just like praying in the Holy Spirit, you can't. You can.

  148. And that's what these verses were saying that without faith you do not have

  149. the power through His Holy Spirit in the inner man. Nope, sorry,

  150. this is not sorry face right? I mean without faith you have a good

  151. one. Okay Theesians too four through ten. But God, being rich in

  152. mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when

  153. we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By

  154. grace, you have been saved and raised up with Him and seated us with

  155. Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, so that in the age

  156. is to come, He might show the surpasser riches of his grace and kindness

  157. towards us. In Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through

  158. faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God,

  159. not as a result of works. So that no one may boast, for

  160. we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God

  161. prepared beforehand so that we could walk in him. Are you a Christian?

  162. If you don't do good works? How do you do good works without faith?

  163. Have we not been saved by grace through faith? So you understand where

  164. the grace is coming from? Right? Where's the grace coming from? Who's

  165. giving the grace? God, Jesus. Okay, we agree on that point,

  166. right, the origin of that grace by grace? So God gives you

  167. grace when you have been saved through faith. So you understand that you can't

  168. have the grace without the faith. You do understand, That's what it's saying.

  169. You can't have what's dropped at your feet if you don't pick it up.

  170. Well, it's saying that it's a reciprocation. You have the grace because

  171. of faith, because of grace. You have the faith. Because of faith,

  172. you have grace vice versa and interaction. For by grace, you have

  173. been saved through faith. I mean God wants us to believe. That's what

  174. this is saying. You must believe, You must have faith in order to

  175. receive the grace. It is only received into a recprocle of grace. You

  176. understand that. So it is outright coming and telling you that the grace only

  177. saves you through faith. Okay, take note, Christ died for all sinners,

  178. right fact, are all sinners saved? Nope? No, absolutely not.

  179. I'm gonna ask you this again. Did the Lord Jesus Christ die for

  180. everybody? Yes? Is everybody saved? No? No, this is saying

  181. you must in order to receive the grace, you must have the faith.

  182. Do you understand? So Christ died for everybody, but if they do not

  183. take a hold of that through faith, they're dead. They remain dead in

  184. their sins. There is no life in them. So I'm glad that you

  185. brought it up in that. Like many people don't realize this, this is

  186. where they get the free gracers. This is where they get the Antinomian heretics.

  187. Once saved, always saved. I understand. This is this is being

  188. very quite clear that, yeah, the Muslims are not saved because Jesus died

  189. for them. No, if they don't have the faith, they will receive

  190. no grace. It's that simple, so very very difficult passage here that that

  191. before we had faith in him he died for she realized that's what this is

  192. saying. But we receive the grace only through faith in it, so most

  193. people usually don't talk about that. That's a pretty important thing to cover.

  194. I have faith that Jesus died for my sins. I have faith that he

  195. loves me and he cares about me. I have faith that he's up there

  196. in the sky watching me right now. I have faith that he's in the

  197. room too. I have faith that he's everywhere. I have faith that he's

  198. all powerful. I have faith that he protects me every day. I have

  199. faith that I have breath and my lungs because of him. I have faith

  200. that when I die that's going to be because of him too. And I

  201. have faith that when I do die and I go up in heaven, that

  202. he's going to be there. I have faith that he is with me every

  203. single day, holding my hand, even when I don't see him. And

  204. then that probably regulates what you did today, right. It's that faith,

  205. that awareness that that he is lord over you, that he's obviously watching you,

  206. and that a lot of your activities right, probably you more so than

  207. most, But it's important that that you say that yes, it's because of

  208. that faith. That faith is giving you a connection to His grace. I

  209. mean, how can how can God speak to you if you don't have the

  210. faith to allow him to speak to you, if you don't believe. I

  211. mean, like, imagine this. You love me very much, I'm your

  212. daughter. Imagine if one day I just stop believing that you were talking to

  213. me, if I just didn't listen to you every time you talk to me,

  214. if I just walked away, you just ignored meal, would you start?

  215. Would you? Would you be able to communicate with me? I mean,

  216. I'm not going to say that God's going to stop talking to you,

  217. because he's God. He doesn't have to. But would you be able to

  218. communicate with me if I just ignored you, if I stopped believing you were

  219. there for me? Right now? There's no way because because communication is not

  220. one way. I have to have the faith that God's going to speak to

  221. me. I have to have the faith that God is there with me already

  222. before he speaks to me. I have to have the faith that he wants

  223. to save me. I have to have the faith that he's going to that

  224. he's there. It's not going to happen after. But you realize the language

  225. that you're using is very foreign to these people that have infected the church.

  226. Unfortunately you've met them, right. I think we don't spread the word for

  227. the people that have already heard it. We don't preach for the people that

  228. haven't affected the church. We preach for the people who don't know better.

  229. I mean, there are some in the church that don't know. But I,

  230. for one, I'm not. I'm not gonna be a dead horse.

  231. You're not going to be a dead horse. So you know, you and

  232. I've talked a pretty good length about some of the things that you have to

  233. have faith in is required for salvation. I mean, first off, we

  234. agree you got to have faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and

  235. God the son right, So that means you must believe in the virgin birth

  236. right, you must believe in his resurrection right. And if you don't,

  237. you're obviously you're obviously not a Christian if you don't believe that he can do

  238. everything he said he do, Like he said that he parted the Red sea,

  239. right he said even in the text three times it says that the water

  240. was like walls on both sides of them, says it three times. If

  241. you don't believe that they walked through the Red Sea just like that, you're

  242. not. If you don't have the faith to believe that, you you're not

  243. a Christian. You can't just know what was that we were just reading I

  244. don't know, something like not as a result of work, so that no

  245. one made both. Wait, that's not the right one. And to know

  246. the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up

  247. to the fullness of God. We can't be saved with knowledge. I had

  248. to break it to you right because you cannot know how the water stood up

  249. like a wall on both sides of them, creating a corridor through the sea.

  250. You can't know, Mariah, you can't know how he did that,

  251. because it's impossible. That requires faith, not knowledge. I don't care if

  252. someone didn't know, if someone saw it with their own two eyes and knew.

  253. If you don't have the faith in Jesus Christ, your knowledge doesn't mean

  254. anything. I mean, how many times have we talked about this. We

  255. are a creature of three. We are mind, body, and soul.

  256. Your heart can tell your head whatever it wants to. This is true.

  257. Your head can tell your heart whatever it wants to. Your body can tell

  258. your heart. I mean, you can't just know. Okay, it's not

  259. a science. You have to feel it. You have to believe it,

  260. and then you will know it. And that's a hard thing to explain,

  261. you know. I've had lots of people ask me. For example, the

  262. other day, I was talking about planet migration and the simple fact that you

  263. know, whether you like it or not, the Book of Isaiah says that

  264. the Earth is going to come out of its orbit. That's that's what it

  265. says. So people get confused whenever I said no, no, I believe

  266. these things because the Bible taught me. Yeah, but you know all this

  267. stuff about about astrophysics, you know all this stuff about science. So so

  268. how did that work? I said, no. I believed the Bible when

  269. I read it, and I went elsewhere looking for the answers to the riddles

  270. it presented, not the other way around. I believe what the Bible said

  271. first before I ever knew knew how to understand what it was saying. Science.

  272. No, science works by God. Yes, yes, this is how

  273. he governs things. This is how well we just mentioned our orbit orbit planet

  274. Earth is in the Goldilocks zone. That is a habitable zone around every star.

  275. Every star is different. Every star has different temperature, different size,

  276. So there is a window a distance from that star that water can exist in

  277. all three states. Understand, if it stays frozen, you're too far away

  278. from star. If it never rains and it stays in the gas of state,

  279. it's too close, it's too hot. The habitable zone is that place

  280. distance from a star, all depending on like I said, every star is

  281. different, that you can maintain liquid water. That's the habitable zone. God

  282. regulates that with the laws of science. The problem is they're not set in

  283. stone because he can do whatever he wants. He's the one that makes the

  284. rule. So we need water. Who made us? He does what he

  285. wants. Yes, he does what he wants, and I know that because

  286. I have faith, And that's that's pretty obvious, right, It's pretty obvious

  287. that it If it was not for him, we would not be alive.

  288. Because you know, scientists have proven this that at the moment of death,

  289. there's no reason for you to be dead. All the chemicals are there,

  290. right, right, your body is still warm, right, it's not cold

  291. yet, right, it's still producing electricity right, as exemplified by the heat.

  292. There's no reason why this body should not be alive. If it was

  293. alive one second before, it should be alive right now now. They poured

  294. all kinds of research into this trying to figure out what it was that creates

  295. Is it the electricity? No, you can run electricity if you're a dead

  296. body. Won't do nothing. It's quite simply dead. Because God took back

  297. his breath from his nostrils that he gave you. That's the only reason why

  298. why you die. This is exemplified with his power to resurrect the dead.

  299. Right. So it's these things that are fairly important that you have to really

  300. be taught this from a young age, right. I mean, most of

  301. these things are pretty difficult for people that's already an adults. It's possible,

  302. though, of course, because with God all things are possible. I think

  303. everyone has the ability to help they it's just our own sinful stubbornness. I

  304. mean, we've talked about this before. I mean you and I know this.

  305. The dogs know that. The dogs know God, the fish know God,

  306. the birds know God. Yes, it is in our it is our

  307. natural instinct right to know God. Yes, that's why some people who are

  308. atheists, they'll say, I know there's a man upstairs, but I just

  309. don't believe in him. Right, it's very it's hard to deny right because

  310. it is undeniable. Go outside and look around. It is way too complex

  311. of a design for them to be any other explanation, because remember, one

  312. thing could not evolve at one time. You have true things had to evolve

  313. at the same time, simultaneously, more than two things in the same location.

  314. And they had to evolve at the same time, not two days apart,

  315. not two years apart. They had to evolve at the same time in

  316. the same place, one being male, one being female. It's hard,

  317. that's not reasonable, that's not possible. It's hard to not believe in God.

  318. You have to go out of your way, Yeah you do. You

  319. have to go out of your life. I mean, think about evolution.

  320. I am not going to say the word, but how much BS do you

  321. have to think up to deny God? Yes, you have to. I

  322. don't care which fairy tale you believe. I don't care if it's evolution,

  323. I don't care if it's zeus. It is a fairy tale created so that

  324. you don't have to believe in God so that you can get out of judgment.

  325. That's the real thing we're talking about. This is why they don't want

  326. to believe in God, because once you do, you accept the simple fact

  327. that He is going to judge you, that it's his way, not yours.

  328. So that's what all this orchestration is for. That's what all this entertainment

  329. is for. But if you have faith, what happens when you what happens

  330. when you're judged, what happens when you die? You have faith, you

  331. have faith and just believe. Isn't that averse? I don't have that written

  332. down. Isn't that averse? Yeah? That's that's pretty much Genesister revelation.

  333. But yes, I mean, if you have faith, you avoid all these

  334. things. I want to read a different verse, which one we haven't read

  335. Second Corinthians yet, have we? Yeah? Second Corinthians, by verses five

  336. through seven. Now, he who prepared us for this very purpose is God,

  337. who gave us the spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of

  338. good courage, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we

  339. are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.

  340. We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be

  341. absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. For we

  342. walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage and prefer

  343. to be absent from the body and to be at home the Lord. Ay

  344. Man, I've said that publicly. First of all, the first point in

  345. that passage are we not of good courage? Because we know the Lord?

  346. I mean basically what he's saying, I mean, God prepared us for this

  347. very purpose. So what he's saying is, we are not afraid to die

  348. for God. Right, we want to be home anyways, We're not home,

  349. right, we don't write exactly. We have a faith, and that

  350. faith is taking us home a sense, for weal, for we walk by

  351. faith and not by sight. If I walk by faith and not by sight,

  352. do you think I care by being thrown in the lions den, I

  353. walk by faith. I was probably supposed to be there an hour ago.

  354. Right. You know you're exhibiting a very simple faith. But yes, that

  355. faith has to be childlike. I mean, is not the best faith simple?

  356. Indeed it is. Indeed it did And I would say, do you

  357. know as much as me when it comes to I don't know, electricity or

  358. maybe structural design. No, then that means you have more faith in me,

  359. and that's a good thing. And so you're saying I have more faith

  360. because I have less knowledge. That's right. That's exactly what I'm saying.

  361. That's that's exactly what I'm saying. And I've got different responses from when I

  362. said that in the classroom over the years. So I've had a lot of

  363. different responses, Like people were shocked when I said that, when they realized

  364. that that's true. Yeah, look at this. This This is the schematic

  365. that I made of the Book of Daniel. You'll take note it is not

  366. kind of Nope, it's not gonna You'll take note that it's Hebrew and Aramic,

  367. right, and the first six chapters are an exact inversion of the last

  368. six chapters. Right. You can see this in the schematic. See the

  369. first six chapters or the court proceedings, the last six chapters of the Apocalypse

  370. Visions. In the first set, the very first chapters in Hebrew. The

  371. other five are Aramaic. In the second set, the exact opposite is the

  372. truth the first chapters Aramic, the other five is Hebrew. Do you know

  373. how much it took to come up with that? Yet you didn't know that,

  374. did you? You had no idea that Daniel was that complicated, Yet

  375. you read it and believed it. Right, You believed it not knowing the

  376. schematic. I just showed you. Right. Therefore, your faith is greater

  377. than mine. The more you know, the more your faith is diminished.

  378. That is right than the blessed or you. Because you believe Daniel even though

  379. you didn't know all those things, and obviously that was written by God,

  380. right, no human could do this, and yet you believed it anyway.

  381. You believed it before you knew all those complex things. And the amount of

  382. kiasms that is a Greek literary device, the amount of kiasms in Daniel will

  383. just it is God's fingerprint. But you believed it way before you knew any

  384. of that. Right, and it is better for you to have believed it

  385. than to know all the mechanical reasons for believing it. I mean, I

  386. know it's difficult for me to say, like, you know, I'm the

  387. one to talk right, because I was raised believing this. I read Genesis

  388. and I was like, oh yeah, but I understand that other people who

  389. were not saved at a young age. They read Genesis and they have to

  390. calculating their brains, they have to make a mathematical equation, and said themselves,

  391. Okay, this is true because I believe it. They can't just they

  392. can't just trust it. I mean, I trust this. I always have.

  393. It's a part of my history. I was raised on it. I

  394. was shown it when I was too little to read, and I was told

  395. Mariah when you're older, just so you know this is true. So I

  396. know that it's true. I never had to make the decision in my mind

  397. to decide whether or not it was true enough for me. This is my

  398. ABC's so I know it's It's kind of hard because who am I to say.

  399. You know, for other people it would be a lot harder to believe

  400. it. But I promise you, if you have faith, you just look

  401. for that faith, then you will be able to read any number of Genesis,

  402. any number of Revelation, any number in between. If you just have

  403. faith, you will believe it and you'll understand it. As difficult as it

  404. may be. You know, it's amazing how I can open it anywhere I

  405. can open it. You just have no idea. You just have no idea.

  406. And you know I'm the same as you. That's how I was raised

  407. too, So there was there is no point in time that that I have

  408. been separated from God's work, just like you. I mean, it was

  409. literally my ABC's. So how do you think this is? This has affected

  410. you? I don't know. I guess I just I've always known that God

  411. was there. So remember when I would talk about it as a little kid,

  412. as a little baby, God's with me. So let me ask you

  413. something. What makes you believe it so fervently? I guess that a lot

  414. of things. I just know it. I mean, there's no other way

  415. to live. What's the point if I don't have this? What's the point

  416. of living? What's the point if I don't have God, I don't have

  417. my best friend, if I my savior, my God, if I don't

  418. have him, if I don't have this book, what is the point?

  419. I'm here to tell you there is no point. That's all that there is.

  420. That's the most important thing to me is this book. So if you

  421. were someone else, I would I would be forced to ask you this question.

  422. So, so your parents tried to convince you what it meant. What

  423. do you mean did your parents try to convince you of what it meant?

  424. Or did they just give it to you? Taught it to me like math.

  425. You know that's a startling thing for people to hear. But yes,

  426. it was given to you like it was a textbook, right, I was

  427. taught out Jesus like it was math. Like if you didn't teach a first

  428. grader kindergartener that two plus two is four, you're probably not a good teacher,

  429. because that for your or that that five year old better know what two

  430. plus two is be pretty odd if they didn't better know that yellow thus blue

  431. equals green. So, so, what did your parents say whenever you caught

  432. them contradicting what it said? What would they say if they caught me and

  433. contradicting it? Now, if you caught them contradicting it, what would they

  434. say? If you were to counter your parents and say, hey, the

  435. Bible says you shouldn't be doing that, what would your parents say? Would

  436. they say they are right and it is wrong. No, they'd either apologize

  437. and go, oh, you're right, or they would say something like let's

  438. go look together, you know, like how you would do with a math

  439. book. Yes, as a matter of fact, I'd do. So.

  440. Let me ask you this, So, how does your parents treat dictionaries and

  441. encyclopedia as compared to the Bible. When I was a little girl, I

  442. was not allowed to put something on top of the Bible. I was not

  443. allowed to put an encyclopia on top of the Bible. You better see the

  444. Bible first. You better not cover up the Bible. And did they ever

  445. say that what an encyclopedia said if it contradicted the Bible, the encyclopedia was

  446. true. No, you better not contradict the Bible. How about a dictionary.

  447. Dictionary contradicts the Bible. Someone stupid probably wrote it a man to that

  448. someone stupid definitely didn't write the Bible because it wasn't a person. That's right.

  449. I mean, the Bible is basically the dictionary of dictionaries. Like comparing

  450. the Bible to the dictionary would be like comparing me to the person of the

  451. United States of America, who's the most important American citizen. What you're saying

  452. is that it is the wellspring of knowledge. It's where knowledge comes from.

  453. I'm saying no knowledge can contradict it. If any knowledge contradicts the Bible.

  454. It's not knowledge. And this has borne in you great faith, right,

  455. I mean, no one can take this from you, can they? Nope.

  456. If anyone were to ever tell me, hey, Mariah, the Bible

  457. is just like wrong, I'd be like, oh that's cute. They walk

  458. away, tell them that was cute. Uh like, oh, it's funny,

  459. funny joke. I don't believe that way. So let me ask you

  460. this. So you're saying you had faith before you become a Christian, that's

  461. a hard question. It is a hard question for you. And I,

  462. like I said, people have drilled me about this before. I have no

  463. memory before God's word. I mean, I really don't. I mean,

  464. if I scroll back as far as my memory can go, even then,

  465. my mother was reading the Bible to me. Okay, let's put it this

  466. way, is we've gotten out of the way that faith is not March right.

  467. So from the time I was a very little girl, I knew that

  468. God was real. I knew that Jesus was there. I knew that he

  469. was my best friend because Mom told me. I knew that God always protected

  470. me from equal things because Mom told me. But could I have had faith

  471. in him before I accepted him in my heart and spoke to him. That's

  472. what I'm asking you, Yes or no, I don't think so. So

  473. this is quite the conundrum, right because it I think faith comes when you

  474. speak to him. Well, that's what we said that verse was talking about

  475. that we read earlier. Thesians sue, for by grace you have been saved

  476. through faith, you have to have faith that He's going to save you.

  477. I think so. So this is a crucible. The crucible is where is

  478. a finite point in time and space where these two things touch. So,

  479. I mean what you're saying is, I think is that grace is created for

  480. you once you have the faith, and like they they meet, they intersect

  481. in a moment in time. No, I think my faith caused me to

  482. be sucked. I think I had to have first. I finally had the

  483. faith to be saved. Now, for all these years of knowing, I

  484. finally got the faith. So let's read this list. Invert this Okay,

  485. can we do that for a second. We'll invert the Bible this verse Bible.

  486. Yes, okay, so it says by grace you've been saved through faith.

  487. Listenverted by faith, you have been saved through grace? Can this be

  488. written either way? Where these two intersect? What is it saying that this

  489. is where they meet? Where they meet it is the gift of God?

  490. What once they meet? I think it's saying. I think I know what

  491. it's saying. It says, for by grace, by grace, you have

  492. been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift

  493. of God. I think it's saying that God gives you the grace. God

  494. God's gift is giving you the grace and the faith. Well, it just

  495. it's bothering me because I know that phraseology is used elsewhere. Let me take

  496. a second and do a quick scan here. Let's do a regular expression search

  497. in the Old Bible. Take take for example, one Timothy, Chapter one,

  498. verse four. By faith. That's how the verse ends. By faith.

  499. Nor to pay attention to miss and endless genealogies, which gives rise to

  500. mere speculation, rather than furthering administration of God, which is by faith.

  501. As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus,

  502. so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to

  503. pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which gave rise to mere speculation,

  504. rather than furthering the administration of God which by faith. But the goal of

  505. our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.

  506. For some men straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion,

  507. wanting to be teachers of the law other than scientists, even though they do

  508. not understand either what they are saying or the matters which they make confident assertations,

  509. assertions. Don't laugh at me. Who is this talking about them?

  510. All of them? Them? There is them, and there's us. There

  511. are those of us that have faith, hope, and love, and there

  512. are those who do not. It was discussion, wanting to be chasers on

  513. the law, even they do not understand either what they are saying or the

  514. matters about which they may CONFIDENTI what were we just talking about? We're not

  515. we just talking about the excuses. Yes, it is difficult. You have

  516. to talk for a long time to come up with an excuse to say God

  517. is not real. Now it's time for us to go over this, so

  518. Hebrews, chapter eleven, Verse one. Now faith is the assurance of things

  519. hoped for, the conviction of things not seen for by it. Men of

  520. old gained approval by faith. We understand that the worlds were prepared by the

  521. word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things

  522. which are visible. What else do we need conviction for? Explain? I

  523. don't know. You have me at a loss? Do not? We need

  524. conviction to confess our sins and be saved? Yes, and you know everything

  525. that it's getting ready to list. You know. The first one off the

  526. bat is is able by faith able, So whatever it is able did,

  527. he was not able to do so without faith. The next one by faith

  528. Enoch. We don't have to read what was what was said. Whatever Enoch

  529. did, he did it, he was not able to do it without faith

  530. Verse six. Read verse six. And without faith it is impossible to please

  531. him or he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he

  532. is a rewarder of those who seek him. So here we go again back

  533. to this crucible. This is saying that in order to be saved, you

  534. have to have faith in him, right that when you reach out to him,

  535. when you cry out to him, he is a rewarder of those who

  536. seek him, So if you seek forgiveness from him, he will forgive you.

  537. This requires faith. So again we're here to this. It's this event

  538. horizon that he reward you with grace once you have the faith. But which

  539. one comes first. It's a point in space and time where these two come

  540. together. Faith and grace. That's what it's saying. That's what it means,

  541. doesn't mean anything else. You're not going anywhere without faith, because without

  542. faith, you are not going to get the grace. Without faith, you're

  543. not going to go to heaven. Without faith, You're not going to be

  544. saved. Without faith, you're not going to save other people, as is

  545. in the very next because you know what's the very next one. You know

  546. the next one is Noah, right? Read it? Read verse seven.

  547. By faith, Noah, being worn by God about things not yet seen in

  548. reverence, prepared an arc for the salvation of his household, by which he

  549. condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness, which is according to faith.

  550. He's his faith saved everybody. Eight people survived the flood, and it

  551. was because of Noah's faith. Oh boy, this is really or by grace

  552. you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is

  553. a gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no

  554. one may boast, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,

  555. for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them.

  556. We can't work ourselves. I can't just up and decide to go to Bible

  557. camp because I feel like that, you know, maybe since I'm a Christian,

  558. I could probably I probably should do that, and then you know,

  559. I'll probably be saved because of it. That's not how that works, you

  560. know better than that. I mean, I could up and decide that I

  561. want to go to Africa or you know, a third world country and you

  562. know, become a missionary and do all these good things, because I feel

  563. like all these good things would get me saved. Does God want me in

  564. Africa right now? Doesn't matter if he did or not. Going to Africa

  565. wouldn't save you. Going to it doesn't matter. Whatever you think you're doing

  566. that's going to save you, It won't save you. Yes, many people

  567. think that that if they give you know, if I just give this much

  568. money, I'll be saved. If I just do this if I help out

  569. this charity, all go to heaven or we are His workmanship created in Christ

  570. Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand. I'm going where God wants me

  571. to go in faith. I hear you all right. Time for you to

  572. take us out of here in prayer. Last time, you're going to pray

  573. this time, Okay to Jesus, thank you for everything that you've given to

  574. us. I agree that you would be with each and every one of us,

  575. and that you would teach us about your word and teach us to have

  576. faith in you and love and hope. And I pray that you would take

  577. each and every one of us and protect us, and that you would give

  578. us your word and teach us what we need to be taught. And I

  579. pray that you would be with us for the rest of the week, and

  580. that we would all have a good week we could learn more about you.

  581. And Amen, Amen and Amen. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen,

  582. God bless God speed. Thank you for listening to Marinath the Ministries with Matthew

  583. Miller. I appreciate you tuning in For more information. Stop by and visit

  584. us at patreon dot com. Backslash Matthew Miller, or you can correspond to

  585. us via snail mail by writing to PO Box zero two four reader, North

  586. Dakota five eight six four nine. Now, if you are a God fearing,

  587. Bible believing, Gospel preaching Christian, please repeat after me, I pledge

  588. allegiance to the Bible, God's holy Word. I will make it a lamp

  589. unto my feet and a light into my path. It's you words while I

  590. hid in my heart that I might not sin against God.