Faith - Lesson 3
Mike Doyle · Jan 18, 2015
Faith, No. 03
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492645311521

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We didn't finish up last week, actually question 8, 9 and 10. What we were after was another aspect of faith. We looked at Romans 3.21-27. I probably ought to read the whole thing.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, and even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Being justified as a gift by his grace to the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation or satisfaction in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed. Or the demonstration, I say, of this righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Now here's the kicker. Where then is boasting? It is excluded.

By what kind of, some of your Bibles say law, some say principle. What kind of law of works? No, but by the law or the principle of faith. So what's the principle of faith? In other words, if we took this definition or if we took this verse and tried to apply it to your personal faith, would it fit?

So how can you say, let's start this way, what's a principle? It's a set of beliefs. You're an engineer, you should know. Core values. Are principles changeable? No. Individually they could be. We're talking about just the issue of principle itself. A principle is a way a thing functions or operates. Best example is gravity. Has gravity ever changed? No. So a principle is an unchangeable behavior maybe is the way to say it.

So if I say by the principle of faith, is the principle of faith unchangeable? The principle of faith is not changeable. Today we'll get into the difference between the principle and your own personal faith. So we're not talking here about your personal faith, we're talking about a principle. The principle of faith, and it's a certainty, which is another aspect of faith as we study it, and there's a principle involved. And it never varies, it's the same all the time. So we'll talk about that.

Four major aspects of biblical faith then are faith in its essence, which is what we're going to tackle today. Faith, where you see the word with a definite article in front of it, the faith. The third one is your personal faith, my personal faith. And the fourth and last one is faith as a principle. Those all four, those are not the same. Okay? That finishes up that lesson. You all right with those four principles of faith? Of biblical faith? Part one is the first one that you spend. Let me go through the whole list again. Guys are kind of slow, you know.

Faith in its essence. Faith in its essence. I suppose I ought to tell you what page we're on. Four major aspects of biblical faith. One is the essence. Two is Faith with a definite article in front of it, the faith, the faith. Oh, it's already printed on there. Yes, it is. Oh, that's nice. Your personal faith and then faith as a principle. Now, there'll be some repetition, I can see, which is necessary as we go forward. Okay, lesson three, question one, fill in the blank. Here it is up on the board. Let's fill it in. How many of you took grammar in kindergarten? First grade, second grade, third grade? Elementary school? Did you take grammar in elementary school? Remember what this thing was?

No. We're diagramming a sentence. And you think, oh gee, I'm going to expose you. No I'm not. You're going to understand when we're done a really cool thing because we're talking about the essence of faith. So if you look at this you have the subject, the verb and the objects out here. So what's the subject of Hebrews 11-1? Faith. What's the verb? His. What is faith? We have two things that it says that it is. Substance. And what's the other one? Evidence. What's that? Evidence. Now, what's cool about this is this right here.

Now, if we did a sentence up there, And the sentence said, I hit the ball. Do I and the ball have a relationship? Yes. What is the relationship we have? The action you had on it. I smacked it. But can you identify me with the ball? And do I identify with the ball? Does the ball identify who I am?

Answer no, it's not. So in Greek, when you have an is like this, this is called an essence verb. An essence verb means that this and this are connected. There is a relationship between the subject and the object. So if I said Donna is a woman. I could say a woman is Donna, right? You see the connection? I hit the ball is not the same thing. An essence verb, I better read it for you.

In English, it's called a predicate nominative, a linking verb. And what it does, it links the subject to the object or it ties the subject to what we normally would call the direct object or any other sentence without a verb to be. It's a to be verb. In other words, it identifies what this is by what that is. My study Bible says this verse is not a definition of faith but a description of what faith does.

I disagree. I think it is an essence of what it is. As we go forward we are going to see why. Any questions so far? The essence verb, this is the key issue in this diagram. In Greek it's called an essence verb. You can see why it's called an essence verb, right? Is that okay? Everybody got that? Because it describes the object personally.

So what we're trying to do is we're trying to link this information with what faith is. Not what it does, but what it is. It tells, this verb is, it tells the state that something continuously exists and it ties the subject to what is known as the complement. So faith is always these two things, substance and evidence. It's always that. So we can say, based on what we've said, that faith continuously exists as substance and evidence or substance and reality. It always exists like that. We're not talking about your personal faith, are we? Are we? No. You're the only one that said no. I don't think anybody else is convinced. We're not talking about your personal faith. We're talking about what faith in its essence is. Can I read more out of my study Bible? So far it hasn't done too well. This verse is not a definition of faith, but a description of what faith does.

Substance means essence or reality. Faith treats things hoped for as reality. Evidence means proof or conviction. Faith itself proves that what is unseen is real, such as the believer's rewards at the return of Christ. OK, let's talk about that for a minute. If my faith, if I say that faith is believing on the rewards that I'm going to get when Christ returns, that's not a definition of faith. What is it a definition of? No, it would say faith is that essence treats that as reality. This is just getting wordy. No, you've brought up a really important part about faith. Is faith the belief in something that's going to happen? Or something that's already happened? Both. Already. Yeah, it's a belief in something that's already a fact.

But let's say when Christ comes again, that hasn't already happened. When Christ comes again, you're going to be in Him and you won't need faith. Yeah, I know, but right now... That's hope. What you're talking about is hope. Biblical hope is an absolute certainty, it's just that it isn't reality yet. I don't have it yet. I hope I'm going to have a glorified body. Is there any doubt that I will? No, but I don't have it yet. So I hope for it. But I have been crucified with Christ. Is that something in the future?

No, it's already done. Faith is based on something that's already a fact. And what the essence of faith is designed to do is to persuade you about the facts. What did you say? Faith is already a fact. I better say that right. The essence of faith is designed to teach you what the facts already are. Now, right here, substance. Everybody's Bible says substance? Faith continuously always exists in substance.

Mine says assurance. Ah, let's try that. Anybody else? Anybody else have a word there that may not be substance? I kind of like the word assurance a little bit better. Okay. Now, substance of what? Oops, did I do this wrong? No, I didn't. Oh, I did do it now. This goes over here. You didn't see this part.

This goes here. So faith is the substance of what? Of things hoped for. I won't just put things hoped for. And then I've got to erase this because this goes here. And it's the evidence of things. Doesn't it say somewhere that God is faithful? Sure. God is faithful? Yeah. Oh, sure. And that kind of means reliable, right? How come he's reliable? Because it's never changing. It's never changing. Okay. So I think I've done it right. Of things being hoped for.

Because God doesn't hope for anything. We're talking about faith, not God. But I'm talking about God being faithful. Well, faithful is different than the essence of faith. Okay. You okay with that? Faithful is different. Faithful is an adjective, faith is a noun. Faithful can describe what God is, but we're not talking about who God is, we're talking about what faith is. Substance, assurance, or I like the word reality. So faith is reality of the things hoped for. In other words, are they real? You're not sure. Well, if it's reality, they're real. Describe for me what the things are. What are the things?

Remember when, three or four months ago, we were studying in Colossians, and Colossians 3.1 said, Since you have been risen with Christ, set your mind on things above. What were those things? Well, we'll become like Christ. The things we're becoming like Christ? What do you mean by that? Well, I mean when we see Christ, we'll be like Christ.

If the verse says, seek those things which are above, there is no discussion about what you are becoming, it just says, seek those things which are above. What are the things? This one says, faith is the reality, assurance or substance of things. What are the things? I don't know the facts. Facts of what? That's regarding what? Or who? I would say bottom line would be that Jesus is God. Okay, that's one fact. That's one fact. Yeah, that's good. What else?

Knowing that right now we're in Him. We being in Him is not a thing. We're talking about the things, the reality of what? We're trying to get at the idea that these things are God's things. Do you understand what I mean by that? If you've listened to the class so far, we've been talking for 20 minutes, it's so difficult to get your mind out of the realm that this is about me.

This is not about me. This is not about your personal faith. It is not about what's happening to you. This is about faith itself. What is it? You see that? It's God. Well, it doesn't say that. What are the things? Who do those things belong to? Whose things are they? Us. No, they're God's things.

So let's put, not promises, facts. Now see you went right back to your personal faith again. Stick with the definition. Faith is what? How I feel about it? No, it's not. What I think about it? No, it's not. Faith is the substance The assurance of the things what? Of God. And so what are the things of God? His son. Huh? His son. Is that it? And everything that he did, and everything that the Bible says that he did. Everything that he is. Everything he is, everything he did. His glory, everything he's done, everything he's going to do, everything he's doing right now.

I guess what comes to my mind is the gift of righteousness. Is that the thing of God? God is righteous. God is absolutely righteous. One of the things of God is his righteousness. Would that be God's character? One of the things of God's character is his righteousness. Well, what does righteousness mean? It means that God is absolutely right in everything he does. Can this be his immutability, his veracity, his everything? His veracity? Perfect. His holiness? Next week we're going to go through every one of these things. But it's important to understand who the things belong to. See, it's really hard for us because we think faith is subjective.

In this case it's not. Hebrews 11.1 has nothing to do with you. Nothing. Not a single thing. If I say the car is red, what does red have to do with you? Nothing.

I guess I've never looked at it like that. Because if I read that, you automatically go back to it. You do. So you automatically think, well, how does that affect me? It depends on how you feel about it. I feel the cover is red. Yeah. I mean, that's the society we live in. I can see what you're saying. It makes a lot of sense. I don't see how you can take hope for, erase that and put God in there. Because hope is for a future.

Okay, hold on a minute, I got the answer to that somewhere. When faith talks about substance or essence, because this is an essence verb, what is the essence we're after? Well, you know what, before we do that, let me go this direction. Does faith have to have an object? Yes. I think so, yeah. Yeah, it does. But you know, just going to that things of God and thinking you put things of God hoped for, you're talking about the things of God. Okay. Does that make sense? Yeah.

And faith sometimes, faith most of the time isn't based on hope for. Do you understand what I mean? Faith is not a discussion about what's going to be ours. It's a discussion of... I shouldn't have said it that way. I just did what you did. I made it about me. Faith is not a discussion about what's going, although that's part of it.

It's really about the reality of right now. And it's a reality that's unseen. which is what probably knocks us out of our feet. This definition that you're talking about of faith, this only applies to biblical faith, right? Only. Faith that is in Christ. Say that again? Faith that is in Christ. With Him as the object. As the object, right? That's the only way that this applies.

Because if you had faith in something other than Christ, this isn't going to work, right? So like faith in sitting in a chair, faith in flying in a plane, like that, versus biblical? Yeah, or faith in Buddha, or some other object. It's hard to understand this verse, I think, without reading verse 2 and 3.

Well, no, because what two does is get it right back to application. That's right. But that's the point of it. We're talking about the essence, so we're getting things defined outside of ourselves. But verse 2 and verse 3 goes right back to how it's applied.

And in the case of Abel, his faith was not in Christ because Christ hadn't been revealed. It was in the sacrificial lamb that was provided by the Lord. So it pointed to Christ. But biblical faith doesn't always have the clarity of Christ in it. It doesn't have the clarity of God, though? It has the clarity of God, but it points to a sacrifice and God's way of doing things, so the things of God. So there's a sacrificial component that's always there, but that... I guess the term is progressive revelation. So faith... is made clear in a biblical sense as revelation is made, as it progressively is given to man.

So the essence of it is the same, but the content grows over time. Yeah, because the essence doesn't change. Right. It never changes. Right. The revelation is a growing thing. Right. So that brings in another aspect. Where do you find out about all of this? That's the only place. That's the only place it is, and it goes back to what you're saying.

The essentials of faith are in the Word of God. Word of God says that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins. Fact? You may or may not know about the fact, but it's essence, it's reality, it's real fact. Faith in and of itself deals with the facts. Just another thought, and it kind of probably struck others in the class like it did me when you said, Is faith about things that haven't happened yet? And we all were like, yeah, sure, that's what's hoped for. And you said, no, it's about what is real and already factual. So what about the return of Christ? What about, you know, the marriage supper, et cetera, et cetera?

When we think about things of God, He doesn't dwell in time, so everything is a reality already for Him. And if our faith is in a God who doesn't dwell in time, then that is why we're not looking at having faith in things that are future. They're a present reality in God. So that kind of, when we do that, like when I say, oh, I'll have faith in the future, I'm going back to me. I'm saying, oh, well, it hasn't happened to me yet.

You might or you might not, because if you're talking about essence, faith is essence, whose essence is it? Is it faith essence? Whose essence is it? When we're talking about essence, we're talking about a person who is God. And his essence includes love and mercy and he's all powerful, he's all knowing, he's got veracity.

And which goes back to what Donna said because this all applies to God and you really can't put this to anything else. I don't think so. When you're talking about the essence. JD's right that when you go to verse 2 and 3 and the rest of Chapter 11 is all about application. But the beginning of it has to be faith is the essence of the things of God. That's really what it is.

And who is God? I mean, what are his attributes? He's holy, he's righteous, he's love, he's truth. The Lord Jesus said, I am truth. I'm not the truth, I am truth. I am the thing truth. I am not the way, I am way and I am life. I am not the life, I am life. So when you look at God's righteousness and He's just and He's infinite, you can't put God in a box. We're trying to put Him in a box now, but you can't because His essence are His things.

Are you alright with that? No arguments? Okay. So, could you say faith is reality? Yes. Yes. That's what my footnote says here. It replaces the word assurance with reality. Oh, gee. Reality. So we could say faith is reality. Right? My book, I guess I've read it already. We've already discounted your book.

Faith treats things hoped for as reality. So, to say faith is reality? Faith is hoping in reality. The Greek word is supitasis, which is the word for reality. Faith is real. Yeah, it is real. The definition of faith is real? Yeah, that's good. That's really good. Another word that it uses in mine is nature. What's that? Another word that mine has is, it says it's the same word translated as nature. Nature. As long as it isn't nature like the birds and the trees. It's the nature of the thing.

So you say faith is reality. It's real. And a lot of people don't buy that. Because they read it and they think, well, if I believe it hard enough, then it might become real. But faith in and of itself, because this is an essence verb, is reality. Reality is faith.

That's what an essence verb does. I don't mean to derail by any sense, but I think this kind of brings together a lot of things that we're trying to understand. Faith apprehends as a real fact what is not revealed to the senses. It rests on that fact, acts upon it, and is upheld by it in the face of all that seems to contradict it. Faith is real seeing. Is real what? Real seeing. Real seeing? Really, real seeing. Really seeing. Okay, really seeing. Here's my question for the day.

Do these ever change? No. So if I said faith is reality and the things of God, they never change. Does my faith change? Yes. All the time. But the essence of faith never does. I could be all over the lot in terms of my own personal faith, but in and of itself, it never changes, because these things don't change. Reality doesn't change.

I can't wake up next Thursday and say, well, my reality is different this week than it was last week, because I feel different. Just comparing it like something too easy like gravity. It's like we don't walk around and like get up in the morning and say, you know, gosh, I really hope gravity is going to be there today. Takes the day off. Yeah. You know, it's like just kind of an understanding that it's always, you know, always there. Yeah. A rest, an assurance. Okay. I was going to say we have our physical senses. Yeah. And, you know, Vern's got a pretty good diagram that he uses regularly to show that we have a parallel to each of those five senses in the spiritual realm.

And this is talking about the ability to see spiritually reality in a way that the physical realm cannot understand. And so, again, this is only biblical faith, but this is real seeing. Yeah, this is the only way that you get to know what the things of God are. You are not going to get to know them by feeling, by seeing. Have you ever noticed, because you guys are such scholars, how much God in the Old Testament actually did things physically.

He would appear to people. They would have dreams. He would cause things to happen. But He doesn't do that now. Why didn't He do it now? Doesn't he have the Holy Spirit? He does to some people. Or at least they say. You're talking about Oral Roberts? I would like to go a few steps up. But I've heard people say that only on TV. Maybe I better stop watching TV. You know what? It's interesting.

J.D. brought up Hebrews 11. I think the King James says, by it the elders receive witness. Approval. If you're functioning this way, do you think the Spirit of God confirms in you that what you know is the truth? Sure he does. Because this is reality. This is really what is real. Does anybody outside of the body of Christ ever get to see any of this? What do you think?

No, they don't. Because then they would be believers. It's the spirit that reveals it. They can't have a spirit unless they believe in it. That's right. Now God is going to reveal some of his essence, as he talks about in Romans 1, that he's God and that he's powerful.

But these things of God that we just went through, no way. Do these things exist independent of this? No. Sure they do. Sure they do. Are the things of God, do they exist whether there's faith or not? From our end, yeah. Talking about the essence. Sure they do. Sure they do. Why would God, you should know the answer, why would God require this thing called faith of human beings?

Where's the value in this equation? The value is in who he is and what he's done. Right here. The value is not there, it's here. So to translate this to personal faith, when I believe the things of God, where's the credit? Here. It's not in my faith, it's here. That's why faith is a non-meritorious act. Isn't it crazy? That's the only thing that's so important. That's the only way. That's it. It's the only way I know of where God retains all the glory. I'm glad he does. Alright, moving on.

So, over here now, of the things not being seen or hoped for, what are the things hoped for? God's Word tells us that Jesus is going to come back. It tells us that there's going to be a tribulation. It tells us that there's going to be a beam of judgment. It tells us that all of these things. We're going to get glorified bodies. He's going to glorify us with himself. There's going to be a wedding feast of the Lamb. There's going to be a millennial kingdom.

Is there a doubt about those being certain? No. So you have to say that this and this are linked also because of this essence of faith is evidence. Evidence of what? Things hoped for. Wouldn't that be a better definition of hope? Well, this not being seen part, yes. Easy question, yes. Yeah.

But this not being seen, 2 Corinthians 4.18 might give some additional insight to that. It says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Okay. The word seen here... I'm sorry, what scripture was that?

2 Corinthians 4.18. Does that help? It does. Does that help you? Yes. Good. Make sure he talks loud enough. Yes, I keep... Somebody told me I need hearing aids and now I can't even read. Well, they've been telling me that too, because I keep saying, what did you say?

So, we're talking about the things of God the things that are not being seen. The word seen here is not the word for perception. It is a word blepo in the Greek which means that which we visually see or something that can't be visually seen. So the things not being seen are things you can't see with your eyes, with your human perception. Faith is evidence of the things that can't be seen.

Isn't that interesting? Again we're talking about a certainty. We're talking about a certainty. So I'm not sure the word hope for is appropriate for here. I like what my Bible says. You'll like what mine says about hope. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Okay, that's good. Mine says faith treats things hoped for as reality. You've got to like that. Oh, I like that a lot. Okay. Yeah, I do. Yeah, that's kind of what mine says, treating them as if they were already objects of sight rather than of hope.

So, we have to come to the conclusion that there's an awful lot of things about God that are non-perceptible by feeling, by visual, as an example. I'm going to go to seminary. And I'm going to spend four years there and boy am I going to learn. And when I get out of there I'm going to be so spiritual. What's the problem with that? Right here. Here's the problem with it. If I'm not in seminary, a man of faith, I don't see anything. I get a good history lesson. I get concepts and ideas that have been extrapolated so that I can understand them. I don't see the things of God that you can't perceive.

Do you see that? Do you have a question? I'm having a weird thought. Going back to that essence verb, you know, earlier you said Donna is woman. I'm thinking that really isn't like that in the sense that... What, you don't like being a woman? No, in the sense that essence is who I am. There you go. And you can't pinpoint, you can give my attributes, but my essence has to do with my soul and the life that the Lord has given me.

Could I say then that Donna is a believer? Or Donna is a son of God? A son of God is Donna? Can I say that? Sure you can. That's your essence. That's your essence. And so as you study the Word of God and you start to see these things that are talked about, especially in Paul's epistles, you know, not that you need to become a Greek scholar, but lots and lots and lots of the declarations about who you are as believers are essence verbs. So the things of God on his efforts. That's right. Would you say that? No, sure. And they're not seen. They're not visible. They're not knowable. It's like Courtney and his reef. You can see the reef, but you cannot see this without faith. Without faith, yeah.

See? And we can't have faith without God. How do you mean that? It's an attribute of God that we just can't get it on our own, like, oh, I'm going to try and have faith. Let's talk about that. Does every human being come equipped with faith? You know, it reminds me of when God says we have no excuse because He's knowable in His creation. Right. It's kind of the same thing. That knowableness is the potential for faith in Him.

So one of the interesting things about a human being is that we've got this thing called the will. You know, it's a picker. You get to choose stuff. You know, I can pick this or pick that. I can choose this or choose that. What's your will really for? Why did God give it to you?

But you said we don't have a free will. We don't. We don't. I'm getting more confused. Well, alright. If Romans 3 says I'm a slave to sin, then am I free? If I'm a slave to sin, if I'm a slave, am I free? No. Sin decides, I don't. I get to pick between what sin I'm going to commit and the next sin I commit. I don't get to pick life.

So what's your will for? What's it really there for? Why did God give it to you? So you would choose Him. How do you choose Him? by believing. Your will is there so you can use it to believe. That's what it's for. But he predestined us. Predestined us to what? God predestined everything that happens, what you believe, what you don't believe. It says he predestined us. Predestined what? The word predestined only refers to Christians. It never, in the word of God, refers to non-believers. It never does. No one has ever been predestined to hell.

Once you become a believer, now there's a lot of predestined for you. These things. Predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. Is that going to happen? Yes. Absolutely. That helps me a lot along this road where I'm tripping and stumbling. I have faith that God's going to transform me. That God's going to do what He said. When He reveals these things to you, in His Word, He means it. He absolutely means it.

Because I used to take the predestined, I think kind of like what you're saying, is that it applied to me from the day that I was born. And why pray about things or why do this and why do that? It only applies to you from the day you were reborn. And once I saw that, it was different. Romans 8, 28. Whom he foreknew, he foreordained to what? To be conformed to the image of the sons. He's not talking about my buddy across the street here.

When you look at Ephesians, and Ephesians has that, that's why I go through it, I think in Ephesians 1 and 2 there are all those things about predestined, all those truths, they're always, if you look at them, I can't remember, I had one of the questions I had was, how many times is in him put in Ephesians 1 and 2? It's like 17 times.

All those truths are related to you in him. It's not that we are predestined. to be put into him, or be a Christian, or be a believer. It's always after. If you look at all those verses, it's always related to being in him. That's the predestination. Once you're in him, all these things are true about you now. But it wasn't that you're predestined. And the Ephesians verses, a lot of people use that, that I'm predestined for this. But the latter part of the verse is in him. It's because you're in him, that's the predestination. It's not that we're predestined to be a believer.

Yeah, that's right. Now, so to get this clear, where is the only source of what God has done and is doing and will do? Bible. That's it. So that's where you get all of this. That's where all of that comes from. So here you are cruising through the Bible this afternoon instead of watching football. And you come across a pronouncement from God about who you are.

What do you do with the information? You exercise your will and you believe Him. You don't say, well, you show me and give me an experience, then I'll believe you. No. You exercise your will and you say because you said it, I trust you, I believe you. And then he will lead you into this. And it will become part of who you are.

I just have a question. The scripture where it says God desires people that worship him in spirit and in truth, does that apply? Sure does. Absolutely it does. Because we're looking at truth and we're looking at a spiritual worship, not a soulish one, not a feeling one. That's why the sons of God shall live by faith. I'm going to get through with this lesson, isn't it cool?

So the things of God are what he's done, what he's doing right now, and what he's going to do, like judge the earth, etc. What's the most important thing that God did? He sent Christ, the most important thing he did. Which would mean he gave us an opportunity to have a relationship with him because if he hadn't, we wouldn't. He gave you the opportunity to exercise your will to believe him. So that we could have a relationship with them. Yeah. Now, so here's what I want you to put in the back of your brain.

We have to see that the essence of faith, the reality has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with me in terms of the essence of faith. None of this is about me. This is about what faith is. It's essence. Okay? I'm like you. I've read that verse a thousand times in my life and I always try to make it about me. This is not about me.

This is what it is. If I exercise faith in the things of God, they'll become reality to me. But this is what it is. So this is actually heartening to me because when you apply the principle of faith to the essence of faith, look where I end up. I end up basking in the things of God. Pretty cool. But this has nothing to do with your personal faith. Nothing. This is about God and faith itself. So that happens when the Holy Spirit descends on you and then you have the faith. Well, when God comes to me with the gospel as a non-believer, He presents it to me through revelation. What does he want me to do with the information? Holy Spirit or no Holy Spirit?

He wants me to believe it. He doesn't make a move until I believe. You see that? He made a move to give me the information. He got it to me. And I think he stands there and he waits until you say, I believe you. I think spiritual growth is the same way.

He comes to you and he says, look, You want to know what I did about your sin nature? I crucified you. Do you believe me? And if you say, well, then you don't get a response from Him. But if you say, you know, I don't understand it, but because you said it, I believe you, guess what?

You're going to enter into it. And it's like the Holy Spirit gets it to you. Right? Holy Spirit is that power that is going to get it to you each time. Whether the first time or all the times after that. And then you get the will or choice of... I think you have to understand that God operates on only this principle.

There's no emotion. There's none of this warm fuzzy jar of feelings and none of that. It's a principle. It's how he works. We got close. Father, how we thank you for your word. And we really are pretty excited about the essence of faith and how it is, how it does work, and that it is offered to us in that respect. So we thank you, Father. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.