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Subject 23 : The Epistle to the HEBREWS
[Chapter 11-4] Do Everything by Faith (Hebrews 11:6-7)
(Hebrews 11:6-7)
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”
We Can Live by Believing in God
I want to speak about how people who receive salvation from the sins of the world should live their lives. This is the Word God has spoken through the predecessors of faith to teach us how to live by faith. To answer the questions on how we must live after receiving salvation from the sins of the world by the gospel of the water and the Spirit, and for what we must live for, God tells us that we must live by the faith in Him and in His Word.
Because we believe in the righteousness of God, we pray to Him by faith and receive blessings; we receive protection by faith; we become the workers of God by faith; we defeat all the trials and all our enemies by faith; we prepare the true Word of salvation in these end times by faith; and also we have all our problems resolved by faith. Every life is a life of faith for us; we who have received salvation from all our sins by faith. We must do all things by believing in God and living in the Word of God.
How must the people who have received salvation from all sins live? The Bible says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Whether the people who have received salvation from sins live with the blessings God gives, or not, depends on whether they have faith in God and His Word. It depends on whether we come to God by faith in His righteousness, and whether we are living by such a faith now, as well. Although we have received salvation from the sins of the world, it means nothing if we do not have the faith in God. We can live by the faith in God and His righteousness.
Although we have been saved from all our sins, we can receive answers to our prayers only if we pray by having faith in the Word of God. We must believe in God while preparing ourselves for the end times, and overcome those who have taken power over the world. We can receive all the blessings God gives by having faith in God and in His Word. Therefore, having faith in God and in His Word is of utmost importance. It is possible for us, the saints, to live in this world only by having faith in God and in His Word.
What can we really do if we do not live by faith in God and in His Word, even after we are saved from our sins? How can we live in this world if we cannot receive things from God by having faith in Him? Even after receiving salvation from our sins, we can receive blessings from God, only by having faith in Him, and in His Word. We can never receive the blessings from God without believing in the Word of God. For the person who truly believes in God and in His Word, there is nothing he cannot do, and the person who lives by having faith in His Word can receive all the blessings He gives. Therefore, the phrase “by faith” has a very important meaning.
Before we do something before the presence of God, it is important to have faith in the Word of God, before starting this work. If we do not do this then it will be all wrong, and things will go wrong. The Scriptures tell us that whatever is not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23). I want you to think carefully, whether you can receive the blessings from God, by having anything other than faith in God, after receiving salvation from your sins. You may think, ‘Can I really receive the blessing from God by just believing in Him? Can I receive the blessings from God like this without faith?’ You cannot receive the things from God without having faith in Him. All the words, in the Book of Hebrews chapter 11, are about the people who pleased God by living by having faith.
No matter how much God promises us things and bestows many blessings on us through His Word of promise; we cannot receive the blessing God gives if we do not believe in Him and His Word. If we do not believe in God, we cannot receive the things of God no matter how talented we may be. Such is the “world of faith.” We can receive the things God gives by just believing in Him. This is very important. People in Korea have a saying, “You believe for your own good.” It means that one can believe in God for oneself. However, there are many times we do not receive Gods blessings, because we do not believe in Him. To believe in God can also mean “to utterly depend on Him.” We receive the things God gives by depending on Him.
Therefore, It Is Very Important in Our Spiritual Life to Have Faith in God and in His Word
It means we can receive the blessings God gives only when we live by faith. No matter how many blessings God prepares for each one of us and wants to give them to us at appropriate times, we cannot receive these blessings if we do not actually believe in God on our part. Whose fault then is this? It is our fault when we do not believe. Therefore, it is absolutely important to believe. Do you understand?
Let’s look at an example. Rain is necessary during a drought, but no matter how much rain falls, not a drop of rain would fall on the earth if huge green houses covered the whole ground. As such, we cannot receive the things of God no matter how much rain of blessing pours down from above if we do not open our hearts. It would be fortunate if we at least had faith the size of the mustard seed, but we will not be able to receive the things of God if we do not have even such little faith.
To me, it sometimes seems to be abstract to tell the saints, who have been saved from their sins, to believe in God. However, one thing is clear, and that is, we must believe in God who actually exists, although He is not visible to our flesh eyes. I am admonishing you to believe in God because He is really alive. And I am admonishing you to depend on God with your whole heart. And I am admonishing you to request the things you need through prayer by having faith. Then, there would not even be one person who would not receive the things he prays for. Many people do not reap good results because they have not done the work of God by having faith.
Therefore, James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” How would we ever be able to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit if we lived a wretched poor life in this world? Thus, when we pray by faith, “God, please give me food to eat and clothes to wear. Give me all the things I need,” then God gives and supplies our needs. But the important thing is that the Scriptures say that God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good. He is such a God and it would be a great loss to us if we did not seek Him because we did not believe from our standpoint. Do you believe that God will make us happy throughout our life?
We receive happiness from God by believing in the righteousness of God. It means that we can never receive such happiness if we do not have the right faith. No matter how spiritual a pastor may be, or how powerful he may be, that pastor can never give the blessings of God to the saints if they do not have faith in God. No matter how spiritual the pastor may be, he cannot do this. Each one of us can receive the things God gives only when each one of us truly believes. At first, there was a time when I also thought “It would be better for me to do something rather than believing in God. I can surely make, and do more, clearly, by running around on my own two feet, rather than praying.” However, that will never be right. We just need to pray like this. “God, this situation is difficult, please help me.”
However, we still do not believe even when that situation is resolved. We tend to think, “It probably just happened coincidentally.” But I started to depend on God a little more, as I came to know that negative things result when I do not depend on Him, and do not pray to Him, and just depend on my plans, and in my own limited intelligence. I then prayed, “God, please help me. Please help me.” It is a little easier to depend on God when I do not have anything. I depended on God and prayed, “Lord, please help me.” I depended on God and believed in Him. Then slowly faith started to grow. God did this for me. And I learned about faith little by little like that. The thing I want to tell you today is that we must live by faith.
I am telling you that you can receive all the things that God gives by believing in Him. That is the reason I am admonishing you to believe. Abraham did not know where to go, but he obeyed the Word of God by faith and left his homeland behind with all its memories. He then later entered the land of Canaan. God promised him, “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). Abraham believed these Words. God told Abraham, “Get out of your country, From your family, And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you (Genesis 12:1),” but at first, Abraham had no clue where this land was.
At first Abraham did not know where to go. He left because God told him to leave, and received guidance from God progressively. And when he faced a difficult situation, He asked the Lord, “Lord, what happens now? Jehovah God, where should we sleep tonight? Should we sleep here? This place is very dangerous. Please protect me,” and he built the altar of sacrifice to God when he did not know what to do. He built the altar and offered up a sacrifice to God and asked, “Jehovah God, give me Your Words of instruction.” And each time, Abraham received an instruction from God, and so, eventually, entered the land of Canaan with all his descendants, and they were able to live in that land of milk and honey. This land is now the land of Israel.
I have told you that it is very important to believe in God. Abraham was like that, and Noah also built the ark by faith. Noah believed the words of God that He would judge the world with water. Therefore, he built the ark for 100 years. He built the ark for 100 long years along with all his family. With whom and how did he build the ark? Of course, he built the ark with available hands, and with much strength and effort, but really he, in essence, built the ark with the strength of his faith. Noah’s faith made him build the ark. This has the meaning that Noah and all his family received salvation by believing in God and His righteousness. Likewise, because we believe in God and His righteousness we have escaped the condemnation. In other words, we and all our family who believe have been able to avoid the judgment by water. Therefore, everything is by faith.
If we have achieved the passing grade of 60 out of 100, before the presence of God, it is because we believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and received our salvation. If this be so, then how can we make up the other 40 points? We achieve it by truly believing in God, and believe in all His spoken Words by faith. When looking at this, would Abraham’s faith be any different from our faith? Let’s see. At that time the Bible was not yet completed, so God appeared clearly and spoke to Abraham personally, saying, “Abraham, get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” If God did this to Abraham then how should we believe in Him and follow Him in these times?
God has given this completed Bible for us to use today. And therefore, we believe in this Word; we ask God by faith, we build an ark by faith, and we live by faith, and we pray by faith. We receive the Word of blessing God has promised by faith. How do we receive the blessing of God even in the midst of difficulties? We receive it by truly believing in God.
We have become the people of God the moment we believed in His righteousness. We have been able to receive all the blessings in the righteousness of God by the faith. We can also by faith receive the blessings of the fatness of the earth. Everything is by faith. Even between one person to another, it is faith. Nothing can really be established properly without faith.
If we had a long relationship with a certain person, it will be based on faith. Therefore, it was faith that made them have such a long relationship and a close fellowship together. Even in our relationship with God, we need faith. The first thing is faith, the second thing is faith, and the third thing is faith. It is ultimately having faith in God and His righteousness. It is having faith of believing the Word of God explicitly. It is the faith of believing in the promises of God. Our belief in God and having faith is everything. It will be to your own loss if you do not believe in God. What happens when you do not believe in God and His Word when you have achieved the passing grade of 60 points by receiving salvation from your sins? It will be to your own loss if you do not believe like this. God does not give anything to His people if they do not believe. What is the condition of receiving the blessings from God? The Lord said, “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). It is the principle of God to give to His people who believe, and not to give anything to those who do not believe.
Therefore, one just has to not believe in God and His Word if he does not want to receive anything from God. However, one has to believe in God and His Word if he wants to receive the blessings from God. We depend on God and pray to Him because we believe in Him. We follow God by faith because we believe in the Word of God. We follow Him by faith no matter what the circumstances might be. We must have such faith. Faith is important because faith is needed to live after receiving salvation from our sins.
We have received salvation from all sins by believing the water and the Spirit. We must therefore live by faith in God. We must receive all the blessings from God by faith. If there is anything you need, you must receive it by faith. Pray, seek, and believe. God will definitely give. God gives to those who truly believe. However, God does not give to those who do not believe, even if He has it all ready to give. We become the workers of God by faith, serve the Lord by faith, receive all the blessings God gives by faith, and also have difficult problems resolved by faith.
Let’s look at the Scriptures. “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24-26). This means, Moses did all these things by faith.
Moses did these things because he was born from the people of God, the children of Israel. He gave up the power he attained in all of Egypt because he was not an Egyptian. He truly believed, “I am of the Hebrews. How can a person of Hebrew people become a king of Egypt? This is not right.” It was possible for him to do this only by faith.” Concerning this situation, the Scriptures say that Moses did this work by faith. But from your situation, you might say, “I would become a king if people made me a king.” However, faith is saying, “I am of the Hebrew people, the people of Israel. How can I become the king of Egypt?” Faith says, “I am not a king.” Faith says “I am not an Egyptian.” Faith is like this fundamentally. Faith has a crystal clear cut kind of life.
We really receive many things when we have faith in God. I, at times, faced difficult situations while I was ministering, but God answered my prayers during those difficult times. I have learned much about faith while I was facing difficult times. I did not depend on God when I had much fleshly strength. After I first received salvation, I did not know how to depend on God. But God allowed me many difficulties and I had to, through this, learn to depend on Him fully, even though I found it hard to depend on Him, because these situations were so difficult for me. I prayed, “God, please give me this and give me that,” and God gave me all those things.
All things work together for a person who lives by the faith of believing in the righteousness of God. It will not be a loss for you to believe in God. You will instead gain much more if you believe in God and His Word. Even now, I preach the gospel by having faith in the righteousness of God. Otherwise, I would not be able to do this work if it was not for this faith. I would not be able to preach this gospel because I would be so exhausted.
Even in Sokcho, Korea, I was not in a situation to plant a church there, but I achieved it by faith. Actually, the people who have gathered here can be my witnesses, but ultimately, God is my witness. At that time, my situation was not right for planting a church. My situation was so bad that I did not even have a small hole to crawl into. By faith I said I would plant God’s Church, saying, “I will plant a church in Sokcho.” However, people wondered how I could plant a church. I said, “I will plant a church. I will plant God’s Church in the city of Sokcho and preach and do ministry there.” At that time, people told me, “Sokcho is a place where many come here with much money and leave with nothing.” Despite this, I said, “I do not have any money, but I will do ministry here. Why? I believe God is my God, and because I am a person who has received salvation from sins by faith. I am a servant of God.” You and I have done missions throughout the world even under difficult circumstances.
Even during those times, I waited and said by faith, “I will, for sure, gather sinners together and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to them, and do ministry in God’s Church. I will do ministry in God’s Church even here because God has sent me to this place.” And when the fullness of time came, the Lord heard my prayers and answered them and worked mightily in our ministry. That was a motive for meeting you, and to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to you. Therefore, I could not have met you without faith. And so, I met people by believing in the righteousness of God and did ministry by faith. Beloved saints, try living by the faith in the righteousness of God. Live by faith. Live by having faith in God and live by believing in the Word of God. God will work in your lives exactly according to your faith in God. God will definitely answer all your prayers.
The key point is whether you believe in God or not. How do you believe in God? Do you believe that God absolutely hears and answers our prayers? Do you believe that God fulfills the wishes of our hearts? Then, live by faith. Have a wish in your heart. It will absolutely be fulfilled at the proper time. God will definitely fulfill that wish if you wait for Him patiently. The problem is that you do not have a wish that God can’t fulfill. Beloved, saints, live by faith. We must live by faith even in these end times.
Can we persevere faithfully by having faith even during these end times? We can persevere by praying to God and believing in Him. We also defeat the enemy by believing in God; are lifted out from the hands of enemies by faith; and also receive rewards from God before our enemies by faith. We must share all our problems and pray for them. We must pray to God about all the things God is pleased with. We must have faith in the righteousness of God. We must do all things by believing the Word of God.
In the midst of all your problems, I want you to live by faith. Believe in God. We will hold a conference from Monday through Thursday evening. I know that even our families will receive salvation if we have faith. We receive blessings by having faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Even living in these end times, we live by believing in God. We are delivered from our many troubles by believing in the righteousness of God; receive blessing by faith; and also have these problems resolved by faith.
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