The Lasp Of Faith | SermonIndex

sermonindex Apr 21, 2016

From a letter to D....

In my vision, I stood at the edge of a cliff that overlooked a canyon. We knew we were supposed to get to the other side. There we saw people laughing, eating, sharing, and enjoying fellowship with one another. We had tried everything we knew to get across, but nothing worked. After realizing that we could not get over to the other side by any means we had tried, the Lord spoke and said to jump into the canyon. Insane? Perhaps. But it was the word of the Lord.

At the time, I did not understand the fullness of jumping into the canyon. I had 'head knowledge', but wasn't ready to see the depth of it yet. That was a vision the Lord gave me in 1998. Much suffering has past since that day which the Lord has used to prepare me to receive revelation. I have pondered many times about that vision, and today I call jumping into the canyon the 'leap of faith'. Scripture teaches that the "just shall live by faith" and I seriously believe that most Christians have NO clue what that REALLY means.

It's that leap of faith. It is total trust in Jesus to fulfill His will. HE will perform it; we simply watch Him do it through us. Many Jews asked Jesus what they should do to do the works of God. Jesus responded by telling them to 'believe'. Most folks plug that into one's initial salvation experience, but that is not the context.

The people asked about doing works for God, not about how to get saved. Believe. . . in the original language believe means to trust in, cling to, adhere to - like two pieces of velcro; it is jumping into that canyon, being totally helpless and completely dependent on God; it is absolute confidence in God to fulfill His will in this world, His Corporate Christ, and within us individually. It is THE Life.

Does the 'leap of faith' mean we sit idly by twiddling our thumbs? Perhaps. Maybe that's just what God may need of us. And perhaps not. We don't need a formula. It is the place of rest, knowing the God is in control and He will fulfill all that He has chosen to do since before the beginning. We only need to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. I don't really know at this point in my life if I really do understand all that I have written here. Have I really jumped yet, or am I just standing on the edge contemplating all of this? Or maybe I've jumped and am in process of falling down, down, down. . . Nobody can answer that for me.

sermonindex Apr 21, 2016

Our freedom from sin is because we died on the cross with Christ and received the resurrection life of Christ.

That happened at our regeneration, but the Lord had to wait until we fell on our face so often that we despaired, just as Paul himself did. We have to know who we are in Christ so that we may live that life.

Before that happens we have to realize the hopelessness of our own lives without Him.

Have you failed over and over again in experiencing HIS freedom? GOOD! God is using your failures to show you that it is IMPOSSIBLE to enjoy HIS freedom in your own efforts.

Now just jump - take that leap in faith based on the fact of Christ has done for you and in you.

InTheLight Apr 22, 2016

Thanks for sharing, this reminded me of something that Watchman Nee wrote in his classic book, The Normal Christian Life;

Our crucifixion can never be made effective by will or by effort, but only by accepting what the Lord Jesus did on the Cross. Our eyes must be opened to see the finished work of Calvary. Some of you, prior to your salvation, may have tried to save yourselves. You read the Bible, prayed, went to Church, gave alms. Then one day your eyes were opened and you saw that a full salvation had already been provided for you on the Cross. You just accepted that and thanked God, and peace and joy flowed into your heart. Now salvation and sanctification are on exactly the same basis. You receive deliverance from sin in the same way as you receive forgiveness of sins.

For God’s way of deliverance is altogether different from man’s way. Man’s way is to try to suppress sin by seeking to overcome it; God’s way is to remove the sinner. Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well. The idea that, because failure to lead a holy life is due to our impotence, something more is therefore demanded of us, leads naturally to this false conception of the way of deliverance. If we are preoccupied with the power of sin and with our inability to meet it, then we naturally conclude that to gain the victory over sin we must have more power. ‘If only I were stronger’, we say, ‘I could overcome my violent outbursts of temper’, and so we plead with the Lord to strengthen us that we may exercise more self-control.

But this is altogether wrong; this is not Christianity. God’s means of delivering us from sin is not by making us stronger and stronger, but by making us weaker and weaker. That is surely rather a peculiar way of victory, you say; but it is the Divine way. God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything but by removing him from the scene of action.

For years, maybe, you have tried fruitlessly to exercise control over yourself, and perhaps this is still your experience; but when once you see the truth you will recognize that you are indeed powerless to do anything, but that in setting you aside altogether God has done it all. Such a revelation brings human self-effort to an end.