What Is Faith?

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TRANSCRIPT – LIVING FAITH (0609) “…when the Son of man cometh,” that Second Coming, “shall he find faith on the earth?” And of course, He was implying that He would not, and it says as much there. Would He really find faith? Now, you can find that scripture in Luke 18:8, where He said He would be avenging His very elect who cry day and night to Him, but He ended on a sad note. But when the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?

VOICEOVER: The Key of David with Gerald Flurry. GERALD FLURRY: Greetings, everyone. I’d like to tell you about the most dynamic, successful man that I have ever known, and that man was Herbert W. Armstrong, and he died in 1986. In the early years of his ministry he went through some serious poverty, some 28 years before he built within himself—or God built within him—a living faith, and then with that living faith he built one of the greatest works this world has ever known, in terms of people that were reached. He was on over 400 television stations, had a magazine that had some 8 million subscribers, he had an annual income of over $200 million a year, and when he died there was a property value of somewhat beyond a third of a billion dollars. He raised up three liberal arts colleges, and just sent the most powerful message around the world that I have ever heard, but he had living faith, and that certainly impressed me.

Now, this is the Head of the Church, and those were His own words, and that ought to alarm anybody—certainly anybody who says they’re a Christian— to have the Head of their Church make a statement like that, or ask a question like that about the conditions in this world just before His Second Coming. Does that alarm you? Does it alarm me? I want to talk to you today about living faith. Living faith, and let’s start over in Isaiah 55:1-2. (1) Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (2) Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?

But did you know that most people on this earth have a dead faith; people who think they have real faith have a dead faith? Now, you don’t have to take my word for that; Jesus Christ prophesied words to that effect. He, Himself—that’s again, this is our Head, or supposed to be the Head of the Church—and He said,

Now, this is a personal question for all of us. Does what you labor for—you need to be very open and honest about 1

But does your labor satisfy you? Do you feel complete? Does that power work within your life?

this, now—but does what you labor for really satisfy you? Now, this prophecy, again another one for the end time, says no, that’s not the way it is in this world. Even most religions labor for that which does not satisfy. Most Christians, frankly.

Now, this is not some phony stuff that I’m talking to you about, at all, and if you want to know exactly how to get that power, write for our little booklet on ‘Repentance Toward God,’ and it will show you how to get that power into your life, and believe me, it will be filled with what satisfies.

Revelation 12:9. The whole world is deceived; they’re deceived about what living faith is, and you know—I think if we’re honest, you know people who are out there laboring for that which doesn’t satisfy, and probably many of you would have serious questions about that, yourself.

Let me read to you what Herbert Armstrong wrote in his little booklet on ‘What is Faith?’ which we’ll offer you at the end of this program. He said: ‘You see, God does not promise healing, or anything else, unless we believe. “According to your faith be it unto you.” That’s Matthew 9:29. He goes on to say: ‘And remember the faith must precede, and therefore is a condition to, the possession. One man expressed it very well: “Faith is the assurance that the things which God said in His Word are true: and that God will act according to what He has said in His Word. This assurance, this reliance on God's Word, this confidence, is faith!” Now, he quoted that person, then he said: ‘And it is a true Bible definition. This Work of God has been built by putting it into actual practice!’ See, he built those three liberal arts colleges, educated thousands, sent a powerful message around the world for years, and excelled in any other religious program, I think, when you look at the entire worldwide work that he was a part of.

Now, Christ said of Himself that, “I, of Myself, can do nothing.” He couldn’t do anything, but the Spirit, the Father, which dwell within Him, that is the power which does the Works. Now, He also told us that we could have that same power, the same power that Jesus Christ had, and you know what an impact He had on the world, so what kind of an impact ought we to have—you and I—if we really have a living faith? The same faith that Jesus Christ had. You know you’re going to have a real impact on this world, but that living faith is a gift, and God has to give it to us. But why do we lack the power of Christ today? Why do we lack that? Well, it’s not because God denies us that power, but this is a materialistic world, and we’re so close to it and have materialistic desires, and it takes us away from God and away from the kind of study we ought to have—real, intense Bible study—and submissive, surrendering prayer to God, and then God says He will fill us with His Holy Spirit, because we do have to have that Spirit, that real power to be able to do anything. We’re incomplete without it.

But don’t you think today most people would say—well, they’re negative about it, I think, in far too many cases—they’d say, “Well, what is God? Well, how can I know God's will?” Well, you can know God's will because it’s in the Bible. The Bible is filled with God's will, and with 2

many wonderful promises to His people. Many of them, that He said, “I will do this if you believe Me, have a living faith!”

failed to keep His promise once. I’ve seen the answers come so often and so frequently that I expect the answer when I ask!’

Notice James 2:17. Verse (17) Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. (18) Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. See, I will show you my faith by my works.

He just believed God. Now, he didn’t just believe in God—big difference here! Make sure you get the difference! He didn’t just believe in God or in God's existence, he believed God! He believed what God said! Now notice a marvelous example here in verse 19, and you need to think about this. Verse 19 of James 2: (19) Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the [demons] also believe, and tremble. The demons also believe and tremble. Now, here is just a marvelous example of dead faith. Dead faith. Look, the demons believe in the existence of God; they believe in His sacrifice, they believe in His saving Work, but they only have dead faith, that’s all it is. That won’t get you where you want to go, that won’t save you. It didn’t save the demons, but they believed in Christ. They believed in His existence, of course, but it didn’t save them, did it? It did not save them.

Now, you have some people saying today that, well, we don’t need works. Don’t you believe it! Don’t you believe it! Here James, the brother of Christ, said, “I will show you my faith by my works.” And incidentally, he was killed for what he believed. I’d say he was a good example of living faith. He wasn’t just saying that; he meant it. But we show God, and people, that we have faith by our works. Now, Mr. Armstrong had those mighty works, and there were many obstacles, many problems and difficulties where he just simply had to trust God, and there was no other way to solve them, and he learned some valuable lessons that way.

Look, they were put here to rule this earth. To rule the earth, and they just didn’t have the living faith to do it. They stopped believing God, and it’s really— so far it’s the biggest failure we’ve seen, and has been demonstrated by the Bible and by history, and by what you see out in the universe, and how they wrecked it when they rebelled against God, and just tore the universe apart, in many ways. That’s why it looks the way it does today. God didn’t create it with all those dead planets out there like you see today.

Here, again, is what he said in ‘What is Faith?’ ‘…if you’ll just as boldly tell God He has promised and then claim that promise as applied to your case and trust God to keep it and quit worrying about it—quit trying to work up faith— just relax, and let God take over from there—leave it with Him—let Him do it—He’ll do it, every time!’ He’ll do it every time! ‘I know whereof I speak…’ Now, he did this for 57 years. He says: ‘I know whereof I speak, because I’ve put what I’m now telling you to the test not once, but literally hundreds and thousands of times, and God has never

The really monstrous irony here is this: that God was preparing those angels—at that time—to rule the earth, and then on 3

faith. Now, I’ll tell you this—you’ll do a mighty Work. Or you’ll help do a mighty Work, and you can’t do otherwise if you have the faith of Christ.

to the universe and rule the whole universe, but they failed and God had to decide at that time, “Well, I can’t use angels; I have to re-create Myself in man,” and He’s given that transcendental potential now to man, that is to go out in the universe and rule it after they learn to rule this earth. You see, but first— first we have to learn to rule the earth, and you can look around and you know man has certainly not learned that yet. The angels just simply weren’t up to doing what God wanted to do, and God just said, “Only God can rule the universe.”

Now, we really have to be concerned about what Christ says. That’s why I emphasized that scripture in the beginning about ‘shall He find faith when He returns to this earth?’ Notice verse (20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? (21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Whoa! That’s getting to be serious! Abraham’s called the father of the faithful, and he became incredibly wealthy by just exercising living faith. But God gave him a son, and He promised him that son, and he had to wait 25 years for that son, and he was an old man when the son came. And you know how old men can worship their son, and yet God said, “Abraham, I want you to take that son and sacrifice him,” and that’s exactly what Abraham did. Now, those are works. That probably is the greatest act of living faith in the Bible. I don’t know what would be greater, and that’s the kind of faith, you see, he became the father of the faithful. We need to look to Abraham to see how to have living faith. The father of the faithful.

Now, that takes a living faith. When you get into thinking like that it really takes a living faith, and when you build a Work like Herbert W. Armstrong did, it takes living faith, but he had come to see that the Bible is just full of promises from God. I mean, all kinds of marvelous, exciting promises, and he said God fulfilled every single one of them! Every one of them! Now, that’s living faith. How much of that do you see on this earth today? Look, I can tell you. I mean, we raise up a college, and we have a Work and a message reaching around this world as he did, and God has given us wonderful land and buildings, beautiful buildings to do this Work. And all we’ve ever done, really, is just follow his example of living faith. We’ve followed one man’s example of living faith. Faith is a gift, though (Ephesians 2:8). It’s a gift.

That kind of living faith will save people. Dead faith won’t save one soul. It won’t save one soul; it didn’t save the demons. They believe in God's existence and His sacrifice and His saving Work, but that didn’t get them any place, certainly not into God's family. But Abraham was a type of God, the Father, who did sacrifice His Son, His only begotten Son. For you! I mean He did it

You can look at Revelation 14:12, and it says that the very elect have the faith of Jesus Christ, not faith in Him, but the faith of Christ, the same faith. Now, you know, you know if you have that kind of faith you’re going to have an impact in this world. You’re going to have an impact on people if you have that kind of 4

repented of her sins, and she stepped out and did something. And I mean she really did something, and God used her here as a noble example for all time.

for you, for me, for each one of us, and that ought to impact us tremendously. Notice verse (22) Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? See, the works make it perfect, not just faith alone that you hear so much about today, but it’s faith with those works. The works make their faith perfect! You have to do something! We have to step out and do what God says.

Now, most people would say, “Well, surely God wouldn’t expect me to step out and risk my life and maybe get killed? I mean I can’t fight against the state,” they might say. But Rahab didn’t say that because she had living faith. Christ didn’t say that. He stood up to the whole world. He stood up to the great Roman Empire, the powers of the whole world, the great powers of the whole world. He didn’t say, “Well, I can’t stand up against them.” He stood up against them, and set an example for each one of us that is going to resound throughout the universe for all eternity, because He had living faith. He had living faith.

Verse (23) And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God….Abraham believed God…and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: You see, there’s the saving power of that faith…and he was called the Friend of God. He became God's Friend. But notice this carefully. He didn’t just have faith in God. He didn’t just believe in God. It says Abraham believed God! Three of the most important words in the Bible. Abraham believed God! Living faith! He believed what God said! He believed the Word of God in this Bible, and look what happened in his life! And look what an example he is for us today, and will be throughout all eternity, sitting right there, at the right hand of Jesus Christ. The father of the faithful; he set an example for all of us. He believed in the promises of the Bible.

Now, of course, Rahab had to first repent of her harlotry, that very great evil, but when she did and when she had works, God said, “I counted it as righteousness just like I did with Abraham.” And He puts her right up there with Abraham! I mean, this what some people might call a pretty shady lady, put her right up there with Abraham! Because she believed God, and did something to show it! Showed her faith by her works, and she saved the lives of God's messengers who were doing the Work of God. She did something. She stepped out and helped Israel.

Verse (24) Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. (25) Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? Well, how about that? This lady risked her life, risked her life to help these messengers of God that were doing the Work of God anciently, and she stepped out and risked her life because she knew it was the Work of God, and she had

Today God is using spiritual Israel, and so we step out and we do the Work of God. We do something! And I think most of you share that belief. Notice, again, what Mr. Armstrong wrote in ‘The Seven Laws of Success.’ ‘The Eternal Creator, who made us in 5

they told the king, “Well, you just go right ahead and you throw us in. We’re not going to bow down to your god; we obey the living God,” because they had living faith. So here comes Nebuchadnezzar, has his men take those three young fellows—young men—and throw them into the fiery furnace, and the furnace was so hot it burned the guys alive that took them up there to throw them in. Threw all three of them into a fiery furnace, and Nebuchadnezzar looked down into that furnace and saw that there were four in that furnace. Four figures down in there, and he said, and it says there in Daniel that “One was like unto the Son of man,” that Jesus Christ just went right in there with them because they had living faith, and there was NO EVIDENCE they were going to be saved. I’m SURE they thought they were going to die, but they kept God's promise. They lived by their faith, and that’s the kind of miracles you’ll see if people do that. You’re going to see all kinds of miracles in your life and do wonderful works, wonderful works just like Herbert Armstrong did all of his life, if you’ll just step out and have living faith and trust God's promises.

His own likeness, is Creator of all that is. Everything man needs to make life continuously and abundantly satisfying, must come from Him. He is the source of supply. He is the giver of everything good. Why must men ignore the true source, and try to obtain where there is nothing to be obtained? If I wish to draw clear, sparkling drinking water from a well, I will go to a well filled with such water, not to one that is empty.’ Now he quotes Jeremiah 2: (13) For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. That’s a prophecy of what happens to God's Church in this end time. In fact, James is addressing—he addresses his book to God's own Church. Now, this is a pathetic situation of His own people turning to dead faith. Dead faith. The most earth-shaking power you can imagine is available to them, and they’re out there—in a figurative sense—building cisterns to hold water, and those cisterns never hold water, and it’s just a frustrating, ongoing, endless life of dead faith that produces nothing but misery and unhappiness and a lack of real success, and they’re never satisfied, and they still haven’t learned the lesson about living faith.

Until next week, this is Gerald Flurry. Goodbye, friends. VOICEOVER:

Now, you ought to read in Daniel 3 about Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. They went up before Nebuchadnezzar, and they were told to bow down before an image. They knew that was disobeying God. They would not do it; they said No. He called them before them, said, “OK, if you don’t do that I’m going to throw you into this burning fiery furnace, and that’s going to be the end of you.” And I mean there was absolutely no evidence that God had heard their prayers or anything else. And

Request our two free booklets, The Seven Laws of Success and What is Faith? Both of these booklets were written by the late Herbert W. Armstrong. Writing from biblical understanding and personal experience, Herbert Armstrong wrote in a manner that is easy to follow. Also, the truth in these booklets is easy to prove from your bible. The Seven Laws of Success and What is Faith will show you how to have the utmost physical and spiritual success 6

in your life. A key ingredient to success is having living faith in God. Just what does it mean to have a real, living faith in God? Our free booklet, What Is Faith? will give you God's answer to that question from your Bible. Likewise, our free booklet on the Seven Laws of Success will give you God's formula for success in every area of your life. Many men claim to have the keys to success and happiness, but our two free booklets will show you God's directions for how to achieve success and happiness in your life! Request The Seven Laws of Success and What Is Faith? All our literature is free and will be sent to you with no cost or obligation. You will also be sent a free subscription to our news magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet. The Trumpet will keep you up to date on current events and show you how they fit into Bible prophecy. You need to understand what news stories are important and where these current events are leading our world. Much of God's prophecy from the Bible is being fulfilled today! Yet hardly anyone understands or talks about these prophecies. What do today's headlines mean for you and your future? The Trumpet Magazine has the answers! Order our two free booklets, The Seven Laws of Success and What is Faith? along with the Trumpet Magazine. Order your free literature now! Operators are standing by to take your call.

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