Herbert W Armstrong

   Well, one of the major beliefs professed by most of God's people is faith. At least that's one of the doctrines of God's church. And most people in God's church feel that they have very little or no faith. At least that's the way I see it. Some feel they have no faith if their prayers aren't answered their way. Have you ever been anointed, not been healed? Let's be honest now. Or is just an admission of perhaps that you lack faith?

   I heard one of God's ministers some time ago, and he's not in this area, say, "If you don't have enough faith to be healed, how can you have enough faith to be saved?" And at the time I thought that was a little strange. And having thought about it quite — to quite an extent since, I've come to the conclusion that if that's true, brethren, there are going to be precious few people in God's kingdom. Matter of fact, uh, Mrs. Loma Armstrong won't be there if that's true. Paul won’t be there if that's true. He wasn't healed.

   Turn to II Corinthians 12th chapter, beginning in verse 7 (II Corinthians 12:7). Paul had just had some revelations revealed to him. I'm not going to get into that, but he says, "Unless I should be exalted above measure because of the abundance of revelations that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh." Paul had some kind of affliction that God had given him or allowed him to acquire. Well, I guess to keep him humble. That's what Paul admitted anyway. "A thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. But when I am weak, then am I made strong." Or then am I strong?

   Yes, Paul wasn't healed. And if that statement is true — that you've got to have enough faith to be healed to have enough faith to be saved — then I don't see how Paul's gonna make it into God's kingdom. I don't think that the faith required to be healed and the faith required for salvation are the same at all.

   Suppose you were living God's way to the best of your ability, and you were assaulted by some anti-religious fanatics or bigots. I mean they were, you know, turned upon you with clubs and stones and rocks and sticks, and they were going to, uh, do you in. Would you pray for deliverance? Would you expect God to deliver you your way? Well, I think I would. Yes, I would like to be delivered, you know. I don't think I can take that kind of beating and bruising. I bruise easy and I don't, uh, I don't relish that sort of thing.

   But suppose he didn't deliver you. Would you conclude that you had no faith? What about Stephen? Now Stephen had faith. The Bible says so. Turn to Acts the 6th chapter. We'll talk a little bit about faith today from a different light than perhaps you've heard in the past. Maybe you have more faith than you think you have.

   And Acts the 6th chapter and verse 8 (Acts 6:8-9): "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people." Now he was just ordained a deacon here, and he hadn't been out in the field or doing any useful work in any office in the church to speak of when all of a sudden — beginning in verse 9 — "Then there arose certain of the synagogue which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and the Cyrenians and Alexandrians and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen."

   He got into trouble over God's church and over God's work, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. And they bribed — or suborned, it means bribed — men, which said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God." And so now they tried to accuse Stephen because they didn't like what he was saying and wanted to have some justification to get rid of this guy, Stephen, who was filled with faith and God's spirit.

   And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council and set up false witnesses which said, "This man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against the holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us." And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

   And you know the story. Then Stephen in the 7th chapter gives one of the best sermons ever given, going way, way back and bringing them up to date about God's plan and how he dealt with people — on and on, people that they should have known about, these Jews, these people that were trying to accuse him. But that didn't help.

   Then said the high priest, "Are these things so?" And then starting in again in verse 37 — I don't want to read the whole seventh chapter. You can read it. Maybe you already have. It's a fantastic sermon that he gave, and there's a little bit of it here beginning in verse 37: "This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, 'A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Him shall ye hear.' This is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles to give unto us, to whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt."

   Verse 41: "And they made a calf in those days and offered sacrifice unto the idol and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven," and so on and so on it goes.

   And then in verse 51: "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, boy, Stephen getting pretty strong with them preaching God’s word, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers," and so on it goes.

   And then verse 54: "When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God."

   Now it's inconceivable to me that Stephen, being a human being, would not have cried out to God in prayer for deliverance. Now it doesn't say here in the scriptures that he did that, but I can guarantee you, brethren, that I would have. I feel that I would have asked God to deliver me from them. It doesn't say that he did that, but they killed Stephen. And assuming that he did cry out to God for deliverance, he was not delivered by God.

   Now it doesn't say that, brethren, and I'm not saying that it says that. But I can't imagine a man being stoned and who believed in God like Stephen did and who was a man of faith, not asking God to intervene for him in that kind of a situation. Well, if he did, maybe his prayer wasn't answered.

   What about those whose deeds are recorded in Hebrews? Turn to Hebrews 11th chapter. Hebrews 11th chapter. I'm not gonna talk about those at the beginning and all the miraculous things were done at their hand. That's what everybody relates faith to — miracles, a physical yardstick. And maybe that's the problem.

   But let's start in verse 32. Probably the least often read verses in Hebrews 11 (Hebrews 11:32), the faith chapter, brethren. "And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens."

   And now verse 35: "Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection." Tortured, yes. "And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment." Yes, bonds and imprisonment. Torture. "They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented."

   It doesn't sound like the usual demonstration of faith that most of us have in our minds, does it? "Of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth," fearing for their lives, hiding out, destitute. Maybe not anything to eat. "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith," it says, "received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

   Most of the time we don't look at that and equate that with faith. What kind of faith did they have? Saving faith. That's what. That's what verse 40 says. They're going to be made perfect, and we're not going to be made perfect without them.

   Well, would you like to increase your faith? Perhaps you have more faith now than you think you have. I think one of the problems with most people feeling that they don't have any faith is that they're using a physical thermometer to measure a spiritual thing, or a physical yardstick to measure a spiritual thing. That is, was I miraculously healed? Did God send thunder and lightning down and dispel my enemies? Some supernatural, miraculous thing that we can look at from the physical and measure faith against.

   And there is a great deal more to faith than a supernatural deliverance from every test and trial and sickness and adversity that comes our way. Why are we so quick to equate lack of faith with unanswered prayer? Unanswered our way. That is, the way we would like it answered.

   Well, brethren, we do that. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that we don't have much faith. At least in our own judgment of ourselves, we don't have much faith. What about those people living God's way, murdered, sawn asunder, killed by the sword, delivered? Oh yeah, the first part of chapter 11 talks about lots of miraculous, supernatural things that men in the Bible did, and I'm not denying these things, brethren, but it also talks about people who had fantastic faith who didn't get deliverance that we expect we ought to always get when we go to God.

   I think it's because we use a physical yardstick to measure a spiritual thing. We can't see that miraculous healing, or we can't see that miraculous deliverance. But Stephen didn't see it. He didn't have any supernatural, physical manifestation from his deliverance. As a matter of fact, quite the contrary. He was killed. He was martyred on the spot. And it says in the scripture that he was full of faith.

   Make no mistake about it, we have to have faith to be saved. I'm not saying that at all. Ephesians 2:8-10 says — let's turn there — by grace are ye saved through faith. Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves" — and that's an important little phrase, not of yourselves, brethren — "it is or they are the gift of God, not of works, either. Nothing you can do in working it up, working to be saved, “lest any man should boast."

   So we can't take the credit. But it's by grace that comes through faith. So we have to have some faith. I'm not saying that at all. All I'm trying to say to you today is, perhaps you have more than you think you have. Perhaps you shouldn't be so down on yourself about your little bit of faith. And maybe like me, you would like to have more faith, which I certainly would like to have.

   But I don't know that I'd want to do or to have some supernatural thing manifested. I really don't. Brethren the bottom line is making it into God's kingdom. That's what it's all about. And if I can have enough faith to do that, believe me, I'll be satisfied. And probably we think we don't have that now, and so we would like to increase it.

   Maybe I can give you a few examples today of how you can go about increasing that faith, or at least recognizing that you have more faith than you think you have, just because you might not have had some supernatural healing applied to you or manifested in your life or body. Neither did Mrs. Armstrong. Neither did Mrs. Charles Hunting, and Mr. Herbert Armstrong flew all the way to England personally to anoint Mrs. Hunting, and she wasn't healed, brethren. Did she have faith? Yeah, I think she had faith. I think we look at the wrong thing to judge or to measure our faith by.

   Now James asked the question, when he was talking about a man who claimed to have faith and didn't have any works, "Can faith save him?" In James the 2nd chapter, let's turn to — well, the answer is taken from the way he said it. There's no question about it. The answer is no. Faith can't save him. That's implied with the question that James is asking, so let's see if that's not so.

   James the 2nd chapter beginning in verse 14 (James 2:14-17): "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" Now you know the obvious answer to that question that James posed. No, it can't. "If a brother or sister, he goes on to say, be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, 'Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,' notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?"

   So he's making a comparison here. How are you going to help someone who's hungry and naked and say, "Well, I hope you find some food and clothes"? You haven't profited the guy one bit, James is saying, by saying that to him and sending him away, only if you give him some food and some clothes — a demonstration of that need or of taking care of that need.

   "Even so," he says in verse 17, "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yes, a man may say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

   And that's one of the secrets of increasing your faith, faith, brethren — works. Takes works. It took works of faith back in the 11th chapter for those people to be sawn asunder and still not deny God. To be killed by the sword and still not give up God's way. It took works of faith for Stephen to stand there and be beaten to death, knowing full well that he had faith that God was able to deliver him, but not knowing whether he would. That's works of faith.

   It's pretty tough to measure that because Stephen ended up dead, didn't he? We like to end up completely healed with a physical manifestation that everybody can see and know that the supernatural God did something. And we never accept the fact that what's best for us may be what Stephen got. And brethren, that's what it's all about. It's what's best for us is what God's going to do for us so that we can make it into His family. And so sometimes we've got to expect the answers are not going to be our way. But that doesn't demonstrate a lack of faith.

   Now let's look at an example of an attitude that demonstrates, in my judgment, fantastic faith. Let's turn to Daniel. Fantastic faith. We all have heard — know the story by heart probably — about the three Hebrew children that were thrown in the fiery furnace: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They demonstrated, in my judgment, an attitude of faith.

   And notice what it was beginning in verse 16 of chapter 3 of Daniel (Daniel 3:16). You know the story. These, uh, religious people of the time had convinced Nebuchadnezzar, because they didn't like Daniel and his Hebrew friends, that they could set up some kind of image for them to worship and that they would have certain soundings of the musical instruments, and that whenever they heard those, everybody in the kingdom had to bow down and worship, or else they would meet with death. And they did that strictly so they could do away with these Hebrew thorns in the flesh that they had in their land.

   But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego and Daniel were faithful to God and his way. That's the important key. Notice verse 16: "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king" — see, they were accused of not doing it — "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter."

   They weren't bowing down and worshiping when they heard that musical instruments played, and so they were caught and they were brought and they were going to be thrown into the burning fiery furnace. And they were asked, "How come they didn't?" And he said, "We are not careful to answer you in this matter."

   Verse 17: "If it be so" — that is, that you're going to try to kill us and throw us in that furnace and burn us to death — "if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king."

   They had absolute faith and confidence that God was able to do a certain thing, that is, to deliver them. No doubt in their mind. Now notice verse 18: "But if not" — but if God chooses not to deliver us, I want you to understand something king, we are not going to serve your god nor worship the golden image you have set up."

   They knew God was able. They didn't know whether God would. Brethren — that's an important thing. I think I remarked to some in this church that I have absolute faith and confidence that God is able to heal you, me, or anybody. But I do not know that he will at any given time. I do not know when I anoint someone whether God will. That doesn't keep me from praying in absolute faith and confidence to God to do it and know full well, without a doubt in my mind, that he is able to do it. But I do not know God's mind in that regard, and I do not know whether he will heal you or me or anyone when we're anointed. I know that he is able. I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

   Now if you can't have confidence in me anointing you with you knowing that I know that you feel that way, then maybe you ought not be anointed by me. But I know God can heal. I don't know whether he will. And that's the way these Hebrew children were. They knew God could deliver them out of that king's hand regardless, because they had obeyed God. They had served God, and they were not going to serve these foreign idols regardless. But they did not know whether God would, and they recognized that fact.

   When they were thrown in there — I don't know whether God's going to get us out of here or not, but I know he can. And it doesn't matter, they said, whether he does or doesn't, I'm not going to serve your dumb foreign gods, Nebuchadnezzar. I'm going to serve God. That, brethren, is a demonstration of faith.

   Now I want you to know well that it's not important for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, nor for Daniel, that these men were delivered. Oh, they were delivered in this case. Yeah, Stephen wasn't. Some of those in Hebrews 11 weren't. But they were delivered out of this fiery furnace, not for their sake. God already knew their mind and heart, but it was for Nebuchadnezzar's sake that they were delivered. For Nebuchadnezzar's sake — notice.

   Verse 19: "Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was ever heated before. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace."

   Verse 22: "Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took them up and through them in there."

   The guys that threw them in the furnace were killed because it was so hot. "And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, 'Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?' They answered and said unto the king, 'True, O king.' He answered and said, 'Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.'"

   And it wasn't for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego's sake that God came down there and intervened. It was for Nebuchadnezzar's sake. Notice: "Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.' Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats chard or changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them."

   Now notice what Nebuchadnezzar said: "Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.' Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, in the province of Babylon."

   Yes, to the end that Nebuchadnezzar could know that God was God, he delivered these three. It wasn't for their sake at all. Perhaps you will have a situation sometime come up when God will deliver you supernaturally because of something like that, or maybe even for your own sake. But the bottom line, brethren, is what it takes to get us in God's family. And we don't know that like God knows that. We don't know what we need or what circumstances we have to go through.

   You know what? God told Paul, he said, "You're gonna have to suffer lots of things for me." I didn't have any idea what it was either at that time. "You're gonna have to suffer lots of things to get into my family." You knew it. Well, that's faith brethren — knowing God is able to do a thing, but not knowing whether he will, and furthermore, not really mattering whether he will or won't. Regardless of the way God chooses to do it, they were ready and they were going to serve God and not serve the foreign idols. That's faith, brethren — faith in God.

   And it's kind of like Job. He said in Job 13:15, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." What — trust him for what? Trust him to keep him alive? That's what usually we think of. I'm gonna trust God to heal me. "Even if he kills me." Well, that's fine. That's the attitude we ought to have. That's faith — more faith than we generally measure with our physical yardsticks, which is the appearance of some supernatural manifestation as a result of our interceding with God, or asking God to do a thing for us, or having prayer given over us.

   Yes, God is able. I am absolutely convinced of that. But I don't know whether God will, because I don't know what I need and I don't know what you need, and I don't know what circumstances are that would cause God to do a certain thing.

   Now there are all kinds of examples of faith where things were done supernaturally and miraculously in the Bible, brethren. I am not discounting any of those things. I don't want to talk about them today. I want to talk about the other things which don't seem to be, to most of us, faith. And yet it is.

   Let's consider the mustard seed. Christ talked about a mustard seed in the New Testament. He used it in about 3 or 4 cases. Let's back up to the 13th chapter where he was given parables, talking about it just to see something about the size of this thing. In Matthew 13, beginning in verse 31 (Matthew 13:31): "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: which indeed" — and now this is the point I want to get from here — "which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof."

   A little teeny tiny mustard seed, Christ says, is one of the least of all seeds. But he says it goes up to become one of the largest of all herbs and even a big tree that birds can sit in when it's grown.

   And now let's turn to Matthew 17, where he spoke again of the mustard seed with regard to faith. You see, his disciples apparently didn't have any faith. They admitted that they didn't because they couldn't perform supernatural miracles, like most of us.

   Beginning in verse 14 of Matthew 17 (Matthew 17:14): "And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour."

   Now the disciples obviously realized that they lacked something here. They sure didn't do what Christ had done. "Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

   Now most of us, I think — at least I do, I won't accuse you — look at that little teeny tiny mustard seed as Christ compared it back over in that parable and say, "Gee, that's a little tiny thing. My faith is very small in comparison." But it wasn't the size of the mustard seed that was the lesson, brethren. We compare our faith again with this yardstick, which is a physical thing, and we say, "I have a little bit of faith because that mustard seed's a little bit, and if I only had that much I could heal a man. I could move a mountain, so I must have a whole lot smaller faith than a little tiny mustard seed," and we're looking at a physical size of a mustard seed. And that's not the story.

   The story is that that mustard seed, in spite of its size, grows up to be a giant tree. The story is that it's the faith of that mustard seed. Not the size of the mustard seed. The mustard seed can't go out and work. It can't find food for itself or water. It can't defend itself against those that would trample it underfoot or destroy it. It trusts completely, absolutely on God. That's what he's saying. You got to have absolute, complete trust in God like this little mustard seed does.

   It's not the size of the mustard seed that has anything to do with the story about faith. It's the fact that it can't do anything of itself. It has to trust in God if it's going to become a tree. That's what he was telling his disciples. You're gonna have to trust God. You're gonna have to let God do it all, and you're not trying to do anything. Then you're going to have some faith.

   Let's notice it over in Luke 17. Same story, different circumstances. And he attached something else with it. Beginning in verse 1 of Luke 17 (Luke 17:1-3): "Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he be cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."

   Now verse 3: "Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." Simple teaching of Christ. It's been that way from day one. That's Christ's teaching. If your brother repent, forgive him. "And if he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again and say, I repent; you shall forgive him."

   That's Christ's teaching — seven times. Well, over in another place, I think he said seventy times seven, you shall. And that's even worse, isn't it?

   But notice what the apostles said at that teaching of Christ: "And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith."

   "God, how in the world am I going to do such a thing? I mean, here's my brother, he comes and offends me. It's tough for me to forgive him once. Seven times you're expecting me to forgive him in a day? Now that's too much. It's gonna take some faith for me to do that."

   That's what his apostles said. "I'm going to have to have more faith than I've got," they said to Christ. "If I'm going to live by your teaching. That's all there is to it. I mean, you know, I just can't — I just can't do that. Seven times in a day, you expect me to forgive my brother because he repents after having done something bad to me or wrong to me? That's going to take faith, Christ, and I need it. Increase my faith."

   Notice what Christ said: "And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed" — same example again. Now usually we read that and we say, "Now that little old mustard seed is a tiny thing. So I just have a tiny amount of faith because I don't have enough — like that mustard seed has bigger faith as that."

   Notice what he said you could do: "Ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."

   "A little bit of faith," most people say. It's not the story of the mustard seed, brethren. The story is total, absolute, complete dependence on God. That's the faith of the mustard seed. Yeah, if you had that complete, total, absolute dependence, reliance on God, knowing that you couldn't do it with your hands and with your mind and with your mouth, then you'd have enough faith to forgive your brother seven times if he came to you in a day and asked you for forgiveness.

   But he went on further and spun a story for them or gave an example, because verse 7 just ties right into this because it says, "But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?" Well, we know we wouldn't. "And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?"

   "Who of you would do that?" he says. "Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?” I don’t think so.

   It's a normal thing to expect your servant to serve you, even if he has worked all day long in the field. He's not through until he's finished what he has to do for you in the house, it’s normal. "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

   And he gave this story in relation to the question by the apostles — or the statement "increase our faith." And you might say Christ was saying, "Rather than expecting a supernatural manifestation of a sycamore tree moving from here to there because you said, 'Be you moved' and you had faith like a mustard seed to demonstrate that you had that power, just do what I tell you to do — the commandments, you know. Do those things and you're going to have more faith. Live God's way every day with total, complete, utter dependence upon him and his way. And you're gonna have faith."

   So remember, it's not the size of the mustard seed that has anything to do with faith. It's its inability of itself to secure food, to secure water, to secure protection or anything else. It just can't. It's a little tiny seed that has no power physically. And it trusts completely in God for everything — food, water, protection, and growth if it's to become a giant tree.

   So we've got to trust in God and do what God says every day. Yes, forgiving our brother seven times if it needs to be, or seventy times seven if it needs to be. And have total, complete dependence upon God if we want to have increased faith. And not expect a supernatural manifestation for a miraculous thing, which we all would like to see so that we can put our yardstick on that and say, "I have faith, see you what happened."

   I think the test is going to be down the road, brethren, as to whether you have faith. You may never see a supernatural manifestation of God's miracles in your life. Doesn't mean you don't have faith.

   Now when it comes to saving faith, we need to understand that it's Christ's faith that saves us, and I'm thankful for that because maybe I could never get enough to save myself. Christ's faith saves. Galatians 2:16 — and Christ's faith, the very faith that he had, gives us the ability to live God's way.

   Galatians 2:16, he's talking: "Knowing this a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ”, our past sins are forgiven by that after we repent, “even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

   Yes, we were made whole and complete and just before God because of the faith of Jesus Christ — His faith.

   And then in verse 22 of Galatians 3 (Galatians 3:22), just over a little further: "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

   Yes, it's Christ's faith. Now brethren, he had a tremendous amount of faith. I don't know whether you've ever considered or tried to consider how much he had. You know he had it made up there in the throne of heaven with God the Father before he ever came to this earth. He had it made. And he gave up all of that. He was God. He gave up all of that and became a human being. All of these things are in the scriptures, so that we could have a chance.

   But in doing so, he had to have confidence in God the Father — absolute, complete confidence in God the Father. I mean, he was at his mercy. If God the Father didn't resurrect him, he was through. If God the Father didn't sustain him while he was on this earth and he sinned, he was through. If he didn't have that mustard seed faith in God the Father while he was walking on this earth, and he sinned, he was through. He would never be returned back to that glory that he had with his father before he gave all of that up and emptied himself and became a human being like we are.

   He had a full measure of God's spirit. But he had absolute, total, complete trust in God the Father. He was at his mercy — God's mercy. God the Father had all the power to restore him back to the thing that he gave up so that we would have a chance.

   Now that's faith, brethren. I kind of think about the astronauts going to the moon and that rocket that they go up there in. I tell you, I don't think I'd have the faith in that hardware and other people to be shot off up in the sky and see that little earth get smaller and smaller and smaller and there I am 250,000 miles away and at the complete mercy of someone else. It took a lot of faith for those astronauts in my judgment to go in that thing and accomplish that mission and come back. They were at someone else's mercy. Someone else had their lives in their hands — utterly and totally and completely dependent upon others.

   That's the way Christ was — completely dependent upon God the Father to restore him back to the place that he had before the world began and where he had it made, brethren, to put it in, you know, terms that we understand. And he gave all that up. You just think about it in physical terms of some real successful position that you may have in a company. But you know, you're offered a lesser position over here somewhere that may fizzle out, you know, the possibility is. You're reluctant to make a change. You're reluctant to give up what you already have and gamble that you'll ever get that back.

   Well, just think about it in terms of Christ. So he had a great deal of faith, brethren. And so our faith and his faith is what's going to save us. We've got to believe in Christ, that's right, but it's Christ's faith that saves us, and it's Christ's faith that gives us the power to live God's way.

   Let me see if I can find it. I can't think of the scripture right now where it says, "For I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." I’ll skip that scripture, brethren, I don't have it down here, but that's — it's Christ's faith again that gives us, imparts to us, the ability and the power to live God's way.

   And in Philippians 3:9, he's talking about that faith of Christ: "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

   Yes, we need to have that confidence in Christ and in his faith that will save us. It's Christ's faith.

   And II Timothy 3:15 — Paul's telling us that we have to believe, told Timothy that he had to believe in Christ, that the scriptures gave him throughout his lifetime a knowledge of Christ so that he could believe in him. II Timothy 3 and verse 15: "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus or Christ Jesus."

   So we've got to have faith in Christ. But we need to understand that it's Christ's faith that's going to ultimately and eventually save us. I think brethren...

   ...in the future, hard times are coming, you know. We know that. We've been taught that. We know that from the scriptures. And it's that demonstration that regardless of what God decides to do, you're going to serve him anyway. That really is a demonstration of faith. But it's not a supernatural manifestation that we can all look at like a supernatural healing or absolute, complete deliverance by fire and brimstone coming down on our enemies if we happen to be assaulted sometime or anything like that.

   But where do we begin? We begin in Hebrews 11 again. I mean to try to increase our faith and to get more of it. Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

   The real crux of the matter with respect to us is that we've got to prove that God exists and that God is, and really believe that he is there and that he's able to do all the things that he says that he will do. But understand that — you know, we think he says things that he may not have said. We expect things as manifestations of faith that God never said would happen really in many cases. We don't know for sure what he'll do, just like those three Hebrew children.

   Now, in the future I'm sure our faith is going to be tested. And as we've seen in the examples there in Luke, we've got to live God's way every day to increase in faith. That's what he was telling his apostles who said "increase our faith." Do what I've commanded you to do, do it perfectly, do it to the best of your ability every day. That's a demonstration of faith and it will increase your faith.

   But many ask, "How are we going to get to a place of safety? How will we know when to go? Whom shall we follow?" Those are things that cross all of our minds, brethren. We know that certain things about the end time. But I feel that a demonstration of faith with respect to those things is to not concern yourself with them. That sounds — well, maybe that's not so easy to do. Don't worry about it.

   I frankly don't. I don't know the answers. I don't think we do, none of us, when we're going to go, where we're going to go, whom we're going to follow, or any of the details about what God's going to do from now on out until Christ returns with respect to our safety, our deliverance, our serving Him and Him taking care of us. But we have an absolute promise in the word that the church will never fail. That the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, that it will never die out. And that Christ who has started a work in us, is able to finish that work that he started in us.

   And so I say I'm not worrying about those things, and I say that sincerely, brethren. I can't tell people who ask me, "Where are we going to a place of safety, when are we going to go to a place of safety, how are we going to get there, and who's going to take us or lead us?" I don't know those things and I don't concern myself with those things, brethren. I frankly don't.

   Now, Christ said at the last — or at the end time — that faith would be scarce, Luke 18. It's going to be more and more difficult to have faith. I think we can see that in the world today. Just difficult. A certain widow came to him, to this judge, and persisted with this judge and bugged him to death until he gave her a decision. And Christ likened that to — used that example for faith. And he looked — well, let's just read that.

   "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" — that is, hang in there. Don't give up. Don't despair of not having some supernatural manifestation of God's power evident in your life to prove to you that you have faith. Just obey God. "Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me."

   He got sick and tired of her bugging him. "And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless" — he looked down into the future now, brethren, he said — "when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"

   It's only a question. He didn't say there wasn't going to be any. We need to be increasing ours. And we certainly need to have faith. I'm not saying that in this sermon at all. But it's possible to have that faith even in the end, and I think all of you and myself included would like to increase that faith.

   So, to start with, I think we ought to get rid of our physical yardstick. Don't compare some supernatural manifestation to your faith or your faith to that. Don't gauge it by that. You may never have a supernatural thing happen in your life, doesn't mean you don't have faith. You live God's way, day by day, prove that God is. That he is — that is, that he exists. And then he has the power to deliver you and to save you. And even to deliver you out of any circumstance that you might get in, including serious illness. But understand that he may not. You don't know whether he will. That's just what those Hebrew children back in Daniel said in their hearts. I know God is able, but I don't know whether he will, but regardless, Nebuchadnezzar, it doesn't matter. I'm gonna trust God and I'm gonna go his way and I'm gonna serve him and do what he says regardless.

   Now that may get tough sometimes in a physical circumstance, but that ought to be our attitude. And if we start practicing that every day by living God's way and doing what he said and following his teachings, we'll have the faith when that time comes. Don't try to become a big tree, you know, like that little tiny mustard seed becomes on your own power. Because that's the story of the mustard seed faith. It's total, complete, absolute dependence upon God and what he said he'll do. Regardless of how it looks to us, that's going to make us a big tree someday from a teeny tiny seed.

   Remember, it's the faith of Christ that's going to save us. And we've got to have faith in that faith of Christ. Yes, we've got to have faith in Christ. But think about what Christ gave up to demonstrate that he had absolute and complete faith and God the Father, who — he was completely and totally dependent upon God. He lived his life on the earth that way. He said many times in John, "I can do nothing of myself. Everything that I do, I do because God does it within me. He gives me the power to do what I have to do."

   If we could come to that place, brethren, then we can move those sycamore trees and those mountains. But let me remind you, Christ never moved a mountain. He never removed the mountain. It doesn't mean that he couldn't or didn't have the power, but he didn't move any mountains.

   Demonstrate the faith by not worrying about what's going to happen between now and the end. Except whether you're serving God or not, I think you ought to concern yourself with that. Whether you're serving God or not, whether you're practicing his way, whether you're living every day forgiving your brother seven times or whatever it is that you have to do to practice and embrace the teachings and the precepts of Jesus Christ and God the Father, you'll have the faith if you do that, brethren, and you won't have to worry about how, where, when, and who is going to take care of getting us to a place of safety and eventually in God's kingdom. It's going to be Jesus Christ and he's going to do it. And you've got to have that absolute confidence.

   You know, and when it gets kind of sticky and tough. Be like Martin Luther who said, "Here I stand. I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen."