Ron Dunn Podcast - The Origin Of Faith

Episode Date: June 21, 2017

Ron Dunn preaches a sermon from Romans 10 on faith.

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. In Romans chapter 10, I want to begin reading with verse 14 and read through verse 17. We'll be referring to some other verses in this chapter later on, but for our immediate reading, these verses will be enough.

Romans chapter 10 verses 14 through 17. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings.

For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Now I'm reading this morning from the New American Standard version, if some of you were wondering where I was. In verse 17, soul, faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. There are some Bible words that are like drapes that have been faded by long exposure to the sunlight. We've become so familiar with them, we've been exposed to them so long, that they have been drained of their meaning. We use the words, we hear the words, we assume we know what they mean and all that they signify.

And yet many times we actually have departed a good deal from the original meaning of that word. I think probably faith suffers from this faith as much as any word in the Bible. A great deal is being said about faith today. A lot of claims are being made for faith, and a lot of people are claiming to have faith. But I'm convinced that not everything that goes by the name faith is truly faith. All that believes is not faith. I received a letter some time ago from a man who was writing in response to something I had said in an article, and he was taking issue with what I had said. And his argument, the final argument in his letter was this,

I don't know the Bible, and I don't know theology, but I have faith. And it was as though whatever other deficiency he may have and whatever lack he may have of concerning the Word of God, everything is compensated by the fact that he has faith, and therefore you can't argue with him because whatever you say one thing is sure I have faith well I don't doubt for a minute that the man had faith my only question is what kind of faith well the fact of the matter is everybody has faith it's native to our nature you live by faith I don't think you could operate one day

without faith. When you sit in a chair, you're exercising faith. You're placing your faith as well as your weight in that chair, believing that it'll support you. You fly on an airplane, you're putting your faith in a plane and a pilot, believing that you'll arrive where they say you're going to arrive. You go to the doctor. He writes out a prescription that you can't read for a medicine whose name you can't pronounce. You take it to a druggist you don't know, and he gives you something that tastes like it'll kill you,

and you take it anyway. That's faith. All of us live by faith. But I want to tell you something. The same faith with which you commit yourself to a you something, the same faith with which you commit yourself to a chair is not the same faith with which you commit yourself to Christ. Now, while they operate the same way, they are not the same. And I've heard people say, well, in order to be saved, all you do is simply take the same faith that you used to flick on a

light switch, or you used to sit in the chair, and you take that same faith that you use to flick on a light switch or you use to sit in a chair and you take that same faith and simply apply it to spiritual things. That is not so. For while these two kinds of faith operate the same way, they are not the same. For instance, let me illustrate by AM and FM radio. You have an AM radio and you have an FM radio. Now they, as far as I know, operate basically the same way.

They have tubes and bulbs and whatever else that you have in them. They have a dial and you plug them in and turn it on. And they both operate the same way, but they are not the same. And you cannot take an AM radio and pick up an FM frequency with it why because the AM radio while it operates the same as the FM does not have the capacity to move into the area that the FM operates in now every person is born with a capacity to believe and every day of our lives we are exercising an inherent, unnatural faith.

But it's like that AM radio. It does not have the capacity, the ability to move into the areas of the spiritual realm. And a man may be born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but nobody's born with a key of faith in his pocket. All that believes and all that goes by the name of faith is not faith. But what I want to talk to you about this morning is this matter of where do you get faith? Where does faith come from?

What is the origin of faith? I think this is extremely important because the Bible says without faith it is impossible to please him. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. The only alternative to living a life of faith is living a life of sin. The only life this morning that is pleasing to God is that life that is living by faith. And as I said last night, all of our failures are, in the final analysis, failures to believe. And when Jesus answered the disciples' question as to why they could not perform what he had promised, his answer was simply because of your unbelief.

So it seems to me that faith is one of the essential commodities in the Christian life. It is that. I am convinced that everything that God demands from us can be summed up in the one word faith. And I do not believe I'm oversimplifying it because everything else you and I do flows from that fountain of faith. Our Bible reading, our praying, our witnessing, our worship, everything, everything flows from that one basis of faith. Salvation is a by grace through faith operation.

And everything you receive in the Christian life, you get by grace through faith operation, and everything you receive in the Christian life, you get by grace through faith. Grace means God provides it. Faith means you receive it. Grace is God's hand offering. Faith is man's hand receiving. And we live the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life. Faith is not only the obstetrician that brings us into life,

it is the pediatrician that brings us up in that life you live the christian life the same way you receive the christian life and everything in the christian life you receive by grace through faith so the question i think is where does faith come from if if this biblical faith if this divine faith if this faith that opens the door to all that God has for me Is more than this natural faith then where does it come from? Well, I'm glad you asked because that's what I want to tell you this morning Paul says in Romans chapter 10 verse 17 so faith Comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

Now I want to say three things about the origin of faith. First of all, faith comes. Faith comes. In other words, if a man has faith, and when I'm using the word faith, I mean biblical faith, spiritual faith. If a man has faith, it came to him. He was not born with it. He did not acquire it on his own. It is not something that he himself created. It is not something that he was able to generate. If a man has faith, it came to him. It came from an outside source. Faith is a gift from God.

Biblical faith, saving faith, living faith is a gift from God. I quoted a verse of scripture a moment ago where Paul says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of god so forth now that not of yourselves it is the gift of god refers to the whole business of salvation faith included everything that has to do with salvation comes from god is initiated by god even a man's ability to believe is given to him of God. I used to read Paul's statement in Romans chapter 3 and was puzzled by it.

He said, there is none that seeketh after God. I couldn't understand that because I knew people did seek after God. I had people coming to seek after God. I myself had sought after the Lord. And yet Paul said that no man seeketh after the Lord. And then when I came to understand the Bible, I knew exactly what he meant. If a man is seeking after God, he is simply responding to God's initial seeking on his own part.

God, first of all, puts the desire in the man's heart. He arouses that man's desire to know God. And everything, you see, in salvation from start to finish is nothing more than my response to the initiation of God. And so if I even have a desire to know God, God has put that desire within me. And God always takes the first step. And it seems to me that the Christian life is nothing more than how I respond to God. Everything is a response to God.

We love him. Why? Because he first loved us. Be ye holy. Why? Because I am holy. He says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because it is God that worketh in you. You see, everything in the Christian life is a response to God. And God takes the initial step, and we simply are responding to it. And faith, on man's part, is that response to God. And God has to impart to man the ability to believe. Now, faith comes to a man man faith is a gift from God you don't work it up you don't generate it now you know sometimes we'll talk like this man I'm doing my best to believe I'm trying to believe oh I it seems to me I believe there is a struggle of faith but it's

not a struggle to have faith it's a struggle to what to do with faith once God gives you the ability to believe. It's not a matter of trying to work faith up. Now, I think, let me illustrate it this way. Several years ago, I had a terrific bout with insomnia. Just couldn't sleep. Went for about six months unable to sleep, except in the daytime. Amazing. As soon as the sun came up, I went to sleep.

But when you're a pastor and you have duties to perform, it's rather difficult. Nobody wants to get married at midnight or 3 a.m. in the morning. You can't visit the hospital's sick room at 4 a.m. in the morning. You can't visit the hospital's sick room, you know, at 4 a.m. in the morning. And so you have to do your work in the daytime. After about six months, I knew that I needed some help. And so I went to the doctor and just had a thorough examination. One thing you might be interested in, after the examination, he came out and he said, Mr. Dunn, I know one thing, you thing you're not overweight he said you're too short he said according to this chart you ought to be seven feet three inches tall but he couldn't find anything wrong with me that was causing my sleeplessness and this doctor did not like to give sleeping

pills and he said i want to teach you self-hypnosis and i have to admit to you that took me back a little bit because you know one thing i'd ever heard about hypnosis was was not good i i i had the vision of some magician some houdini in some nightclub you know hypnotizing people and making them do crazy things and he said i've used this now for several years and i've had i've had great results with it and uh i want you to come to take about six weeks just come to my office and let me teach you how to hypnotize yourself you can put yourself to sleep when you want to and you'll wake up without a hangover i thought about i said well all right you're the doc okay well he did for six weeks i went to his office and he did he taught me self-hypnosis and the most disappointing thing i've ever discovered in my life. I thought that I was going to be let in on some big deep dark secret.

Folks, do you know what self-hypnosis is? It's simply talking yourself into going to sleep. That's all it is. You just say to yourself, I'm sleepy, I'm sleepy, I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep, my eyelids are getting heavy, I can't hold my eyelids open, and you convince yourself that you're asleep. You see, it's simply a matter of mind over mattress, that's all it is. You just, you talk yourself into going to sleep. You keep telling yourself something long enough until you finally believe it. That's all there is to it. And as a matter of fact, a lot of us hypnotize ourselves without ever knowing it. You just concentrate on something, you keep telling yourself something over and over and over again, you believe it. Well, you know, a lot of people believe that's what faith is. You know, you try to convince yourself to believe God, you try to convince yourself that something is true, and you keep telling yourself, and I've done this before, and I'm sure you have too,

you just keep telling yourself, this is true, this is true, and after a while, you think you've generated enough faith, you think you're right there at the point, and you say, now quick, pray before it melts. You know, you may not be able to hold that belief very long, but at this moment, psychologically, mentally, you have convinced yourself that what God says is true, and so, boy, whatever you're going to do do it now and when somebody says well i just don't have much faith

what they really usually mean is i just can't talk myself into believing that's true i've been unable to convince myself i've been unable to generate this faith myself well i want to tell you something you do not work it up you do generate it. Faith is not you're simply convincing yourself that what God says is true. Faith is a gift from God. He imparts that faith to you. that if the conditions in your heart are right, we'll get to those conditions in a moment, God will see to it that you have all the faith you need to do what he wants you to do. Now, folks, there is a twofold responsibility in the Christian life, and one of those responsibilities is God and his responsibility is to provide everything he demands of me.

My responsibility is what I will do with what he provides. But friend, you check it out. Whatever God demands from man, he himself provides it. Everything. If God demands righteousness of me, he provides it.

If God demands a sacrifice for sin, he provides it. If God demands righteousness of me, he provides it. If God demands a sacrifice for sin, he provides it. If God demands wisdom, Christ has made unto us wisdom. If God demands faith, he provides faith. It's all of grace. And you'll never be able to boast and brag in the presence of God that you contributed anything to it. God can demand whatever he pleases because he provides everything he demands.

That's why if any believer has less than what God demands, it's his fault and not God's. See? So I think this is extremely good news. It is to my own heart. Whatever faith I need, whatever faith God requires of me, whatever task, whatever challenge the will of God throws to me, God himself will see to it that I have all the faith that I need to believe him. So the first thing for us to understand is that faith is a gift from God.

It is imparted to men's hearts by God. All right, the second thing I want you to notice is this. God imparts this faith to men through his word. God imparts this faith to men through his word. Look at our text again, verse 17. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Hearing by the word of Christ. Hearing by the word of Christ. Now, there are many definitions that you can give to faith.

Faith is so varied and it has so many dimensions to it that you can give a number of definitions and it'll all be correct. One definition of faith, I believe, is my response to the revelation of God. Faith is acting upon the revealed will of God. Faith is man responding affirmatively, positively, to what God has spoken to his heart. Now, if you read the 11th chapter of Hebrews where the writer parades before us those heroes of faith you'll find that all of their acts of faith were in response to the revelation of God they were acting upon

the revealed Word of God when God called Abraham it says in verse 8 and by faith Abraham when he was called obeyed and went out. And when God said, I want you to take Isaac and offer him up, Abraham obeyed. What was his faith? It was obedience to the revealed will of God. When Noah built the ark, what was he doing? By faith he built the ark. What did that mean?

He was obeying the revealed will of god first of all faith is based or originates with a revelation of the will of god to your heart now this man who wrote me the letter said this i do not know the bible and i do not know theology but i have faith the letter was unsigned and there was no address so I couldn't write him but I sure wanted to write him and said my dear brother you may have faith but it is not the biblical faith because you cannot have faith without a knowledge of the word of God.

I heard Manly say one time ago that faith is not a leap into the dark it's a leap into the light. Sunday school teacher asked her little class of boys to define faith, and one little boy offered this definition, faith is believing things you know ain't so. And there are a lot of folks that seem to think that faith is a substitute for knowledge. And faith is a compensation for ignorance. You know, in our day, one of the most disturbing things to my own heart is the disrepute into which doctrine has fallen.

We have what John Stott, let me recommend his little book to you, Your Mind Matters. He calls it a mindless Christianity. That we're a lot like the Jews of whom Paul speaks in Romans chapter 10. We have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. And you know, the cry today is, oh, don't bother me with doctrine. Let's just love. Let's just get together and praise the Lord, and let's just love. And let's don't bother with doctrine, because you see, doctrine has divided us.

Yes, it has, and it ought to. Truth always divides. And I regret things that have been said, like was said in one book, Like a Mighty Wind, talking about the Indonesian revival, the reason we people in America can't have revival is because we're too smart, and the way to have revival is to take your brain out and send it on the next rocket ship to the moon?

Folks, I have news for you. God did not go to the trouble of creating your mind and then saving your mind and renewing your mind to have you to put it on a rocket to a moon. And I don't find anywhere in the Bible where Christianity doesn't think. I heard one man say, when you receive revelation from God,

you can't think if you think it's not revelation. Folks, that's not scriptural. Now, I want to hurry to say this, that faith is not limited to what you think, and faith is not limited to reason. It goes beyond it. It transcends it but faith is not simply a suspension of man's faculties to know and to think faith is based on knowledge faith is based on revelation and the reason God gave us the mind in the first place was that we might

receive revelation from God and in the Bible in the first place was that we might receive revelation from God. And in the Bible, when the Bible speaks of the word heart, it refers, the word heart refers to the thinking, the processes, man's ability to receive. And when God saved me, he converted this mind, he gave me a new mind, and Paul says we have the mind of christ and this mind has been renewed and it's by that renewed mind that you and i are transformed and when people say well i don't want to hear anything about doctrine let's don't fool with doctrine that's what has divided us friend you're in on dangerous ground then when you start moving away from doctrine from truth as a matter of fact this whole book is full of doctrine That's what it is

Faith Comes from the revelation of the Word of God the revelation of the will of God Now listen it says in Romans chapter 4 speaking of Abraham and his faith That God said to Abraham, I have made of thee a father of many nations. That's in verse 16. I have made of thee a father of many nations.

And in the next verse it says that Abraham believed in order that he might become the father of many nations. Do you see the connection? First of all, God said to Abraham, I have made of thee the father of many nations. Do you see the connection? First of all, God said to Abraham, I have made of thee a father of many nations. The next verse, Abraham believed. Why? In order that he might what? Do the will of God. In order that he might accomplish the will of God. First of all, there was a revelation of his heart to the will of God, and then faith was that which enabled Abraham to obey and fulfill the will of God

and that's the purpose of faith faith isn't the means of getting our will done in heaven it's the means of getting God's will done on earth faith is not a little button that you and I push to make God jump through hoops I'm afraid sometimes we sort of picture Jesus as a dispenser of goodies. You know, he's like one of these candy machines you find in airports. And if you have the right change and know how to push and pull the right buttons and levers, well, then you can get anything out of Jesus you want if you just believe. I don't think the Bible teaches that. I think the Bible teaches that faith is the means whereby we fulfill the will and the word of God in our own lives.

And it is based upon the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Folks, there's no substitute for the Word of God. And I know in our day there is a de-emphasis upon the preaching of the Word of God. I'm hardly ever introduced anymore to preach. I'm always to share. Now, sharing is a good word. I like that word, and I use it a lot. But you see, it fell, it came into usage. You know, what we want to do today is have dialogue. And we want to share.

And we don't like this idea of one person standing up and preaching to us. So Brother Dunn's going to come and share. And we're all going to get around, you see, and just share. We're all going to get around and pull to us. So Brother Dunn's going to come and share. And we're all going to get around, you see, and just share. We're all going to get around and fool our ignorance. Well, I know that there are times when you and I need to sit around and share. But listen, friends, Paul says that he expects to present

every man perfect in Christ Jesus by preaching and teaching Jesus Christ. There is no substitute for the preaching of the Word of God. And I have people say, well, how can I get my church to praying? How can I get my church to believing God? How can I get my church to giving? The way you do it, friend, is by preaching the Word.

By preaching the Word. For God will take the Word and convert it to their hearts and into truth and God will take that word and speak it to their hearts and faith will be the result so first of all faith comes by hearing the Word of God now we'll move into a little bit deeper area here while it is true that a man cannot have faith without knowledge of the Bible, he can know the Bible without having faith. You know, it's interesting to me how a man can know the truth and still not exercise faith. Now you'll notice Paul says, faith cometh by hearing.

He did not say faith cometh by reading. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing what? And hearing the word of Christ. Now we're going to need to drill through a little theological rock here to get to the water and I want you to listen very carefully. One of the perplexing mysteries about the Christian life is that a great many people know the Word of God conservatively, fundamentally, and yet know nothing about living by faith. Now why is that? I know of a preacher who moves into Panic Palace every time something goes wrong. He worries and frets about everything. One day his educational director said to him, Pastor, why don't you just trust the

Lord with these things? He said, I've never learned to do that. Now the only thing that makes that shocking is that I've heard this preacher a number of times preach on learning to trust God and living by faith. Well, how can a man know this and yet not know it? All of us have had the experience, I'm convinced, most of us have, of having the experience of knowing a verse of Scripture for years and years and years, believing it to be true. You couldn't be any more convinced of it than you were. But then suddenly something happens, something changes, and that verse or that truth that you've known all of your life suddenly takes on a new meaning and suddenly takes on life

and your heart is quickened by it, and it becomes no longer just a fact, but a force in your life. You know what I'm talking about? All right, now I want you to watch it. He says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Now let's look at that phrase, the word of Christ.

King James says the word of God, but in the Greek text it's the word of Christ. Now says the word of God, but the Greek text It's the word of Christ. Now, let's draw a circle around the little word word There are two Greek words translated word in your New Testament One is the word logos or logos all depending on which seminary you graduated from logos or logos Now that word stands for the entire revelation of God. In the beginning was the Logos, the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,

and the Word was made manifest. Jesus Christ is the total revelation of God. It is the gospel. It is the Christian revelation. It refers to the content of the revelation of God, the Logos. Another Greek word, it is the word rhema, rhema. Now, this word refers to not the content, but the communication. In other words, what I hold in my hand, this Bible, could be described as the Logos,

but one particular verse out of this Logos could be described as the Rhema. You see, the Logos is the total word. The Rhema is simply a word about this word. What I am doing this morning is, my speaking is a rhema because I am telling you about the logos. You follow me? Now, the word rhema literally means an utterance, and it places the emphasis upon the sound.

Logos places the emphasis upon the substance of what is spoken, the content. Rhema places the emphasis upon the sound, the utterance of what is said, you see. Now, what Paul says here in verse 17 is, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the not logos of Christ, but by the rhema of Christ. Faith comes by hearing, and one translation reads like this, and I believe it's the best, faith comes by hearing, and one translation reads like this, and I believe it's the best, faith comes by hearing, and hearing what? The utterance of Christ.

Hearing the utterance of Christ. Notice he doesn't say faith comes by preaching, and he doesn't even say that faith comes by hearing the preaching. You see, I'm preaching this morning, preaching to you the truth as I know it, preaching you the Word of God, and you're hearing it, but friends, you can hear everything I say and agree with it and still not have faith, still not know how to trust God. Faith doesn't come by hearing what the preacher says. Faith comes by hearing what Christ says. You know what I'm getting at? You know what I think Paul is saying? I think he is saying that faith is born

in a person's heart when in hearing the Word of God, the Logos of God preached, they also hear something else. They hear the Rhema of Christ. They hear Christ confirming that to their own hearts. There is the external word, which is what I hold in my hand, and then there is the internal word, which is Christ himself divine enlightenment to my heart if what I hear with my ears is to be quickened and transformed into real faith. Now, this is not as unusual or extreme as it may sound because all of us realize that, friend, you can't be saved unless there is a divine revelation to your heart in the first place.

Doesn't Paul say in 2 Corinthians 4, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded? Now, before a lost man can believe the gospel, the Lord must perform a spiritual revelation of enlightenment on his heart. You say, but that's just for the lost. It's also for the saved. If you remember what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1, writing to those great Christians in Ephesus, he says, I pray that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ may give unto you a spirit of revelation so that you may know what is the hope of your calling. Well, didn't they already know it?

Well, I guess they already knew it theologically and doctrinally, but he's praying for an inner revelation. See? Now, I'll show you something. Look up at verse 14. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him? Now, if you have a King James Version,

you'll notice there's a little two-letter preposition after the word him. And it reads like this. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and the meaning would seem to be you can't believe in jesus unless you hear about him but that is not an accurate translation that little preposition isn't there and the new American Standard has translated it correctly. Here's what it says, And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? Now tell me, what is the difference in those two statements? One says, how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And the other says, how can they believe in him whom they have not heard?

Well, this statement over here means that you can't believe in somebody unless you hear about them. This statement is what the Bible says. You can't believe in somebody unless you hear them, period. See? Paul is saying, how can they believe in him if they've not heard him? You remember in the book of Ephesians, you have a similar statement. Let me read just a couple of verses. In Ephesians chapter 2, it was in my Bible a moment ago, here it is. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 17, speaking of the Lord Jesus, he writes to these Ephesians and he

says, and he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near. And then in chapter 4 and verse 20, he says, But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him, and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus. Paul says, if you have heard Christ, if you have heard him, not heard about him, if you have heard him, then you know that this kind of life is not the kind of life you're supposed to live. What I'm saying to you, and I think what Paul is saying is this, that faith comes when I hear. Not with so much physical ears. You remember Jesus said to those Pharisees that only those who are of God can hear my words. Now, did he mean that those Pharisees were physically deaf and they weren't hearing what Jesus said? Oh, no. They were hearing what Jesus

said, but they were not hearing what Jesus said it was not quickened to their hearts it was not made alive it was not a transfer forming work they simply heard it but Jesus said only those who are of God. Faith comes when Christ himself logos becomes a rhema to your own heart. Now let me just illustrate what I mean. And folks, y'all are going to have to listen faster. Let me just say, Luke 6.38. Luke 6.38 is a verse of Scripture I've known all my life. And I believed it.

You know what Luke 6, 38 says. Basically, it says that if you give, God will give back to you. Give, and it shall be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaded together, shall men be caused to pour into your business. As far as you measure after others, it shall be measured after you. Now, that verse has always been in the Bible, and I've always known it, and I've always believed it.

Back in 1972, as usual, I was going through, like most preachers do, a real financial difficulty. I mean, we were just constantly under the burden of indebtedness. And in February of 1971, I was preparing a message on that verse where Paul says, No man that warreth and tangleth himself with the affairs of this life, so that he may please himself, so he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier. And as I was preparing that message and praying over it, the Lord said to me, Son, you're so tangled up in indebtedness that if I wanted to call you out of Texas, it'd take extradition papers to get you out. And I realized that because of these financial entanglements, I was not really free to serve the Lord.

So I asked the Lord that day to enable me to get out of debt. And I'm sure you think it just immediately happened. No, in May of 1972, I was still praying one year later. But friends and I were driving back from Philadelphia, Southern Baptist Convention, and we were listening to a set of tapes that Brother Beasley had made, and he was talking about faith. And in the course of the message, he quoted verse Luke 6, 38. Now, I'd heard that verse all my life, believed it. There's no way I could believe it any stronger than I believed it then. But suddenly, when I heard Manley quote that verse on that tape,

I also heard something else. I mean to tell you something spoke to my heart and quickened my heart, and that verse became real and was made alive, and suddenly there was given to me some kind of revelation that that verse was true and that it was fact and it was a force. And the only way I know to describe it is that God made it alive.

Christ confirmed it to my heart. And I said, Brother, I believe that verse, and I believe that's God's answer to my indebtedness. And I started practicing that verse. I would have never been able to practice that verse before. Why? Didn't you believe it? Well, yes, I believed it, but I didn't really have faith. You say, I don't understand. I'm not certain I do either. But you can believe some things

without really having faith in them. And you'll just have to know what I mean by that. And I think you do. All of us believe this Bible, but it's one thing to believe something. It's another thing to place your faith in it and act upon it. And that's what I'm trying to say. And as I begin to place my faith, exercise faith in that, that verse made alive, quickened to my heart, you see. And that was the way God met my need and solved my problem. That's just an

illustration. I'm sure you've had similar experiences to your own heart. Christ himself has to confirm it, friends, to your heart. If all you hear this morning is this preacher, then you'll go away probably believing everything I've said, but no true faith born in your heart. But if you hear Christ, and you say, how does that sound? What I mean is, if to your heart there is given that witness, that assurance, that quickening, that enlightenment, and suddenly that thing becomes real to you, you will know when Christ has spoken to your heart. That's where faith comes from. All right, the last point, and I'll try to make it as briefly as I can. Faith comes as a gift of God. It comes to us through the Word, and it comes to us through the Word

when we are prepared to receive it. Now, an interesting thing about this matter of faith, while it is a gift from God and you don't have it unless God gives it to you, yet the Lord holds you accountable for it. You are responsible to have faith. Jesus says, when the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth, indicating, friend, he's looking for faith. He said of the centurion, I have not found so great faith, knowing all of Israel. When Jesus came, he was looking for faith. When he comes a second time, he'll be looking for faith. While it is a gift of God, yet God holds you accountable if you don't have it. Why? Because if your heart was prepared to receive it,

he could give it. Now, what are the conditions for hearing? You know, Paul goes on to say, but didn't Israel hear? Yes, and yet they did not believe. Why? I want you to notice verse 21, the last verse in this chapter. He says,

But as for Israel, he says, all the day long have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. Now that's the explanation. Israel did not receive the hearing because they were disobedient and obstinate. The word disobedient means unwilling to be persuaded, refusing to obey. What he means by that is that even before Israel heard it, they had already made up their minds not to believe it. They were unwilling to be persuaded. Their minds were not open. Their hearts were not open to what God said.

Even before God ever spoke, they had already made up their minds they weren't going to do anything about it. Do you ever hear the word that way? When you come into church on a Sunday morning, do you come in as a congregation or do you come in as a jury? You know, I hardly ever preach to congregations. Most of my preaching is to juries. You know what a jury is. Jury is a group of people

who come together to hear some facts and they go off and decide whether or not they'll do anything about it. And that's the way the average Baptist hears the Word of God.

Come in, say, all right, preacher, tell us what you've got to say and, you know, we'll think about it and mull it over. We'll parade it by the jury of our reason.

If it seems right and reasonable to us, we may do something about it. Folks, you'll never hear the the jury of our reason if it seems right and reasonable to us we may do something about it folks you'll never hear the utterance of christ that way see these israelites had already made up their minds they weren't going to think about it they were unwilling to be persuaded second word used to describe them is the word obstinate that word means to debate, to contradict, to argue. Everything God said, they're going to argue about it. Debate it.

Contradict it. Now, I want to turn those two words around and give to you what I believe are the two positive conditions necessary for hearing the utterance of Christ. Number one, there must be a readiness to obey. A readiness to obey. A readiness to obey. Friends, God never reveals truth to satisfy curiosity. God reveals truth that you may obey. And there must be a readiness to obey.

What do you mean by that? I mean you need to commit yourself to obey what God says even before you know what he says. A friend called me up on the phone some time ago and he said, hey Ron I want you to do me a favor. I said what is it? He said oh come on will you do me a favor? I said you tell me what it is first. He says don't you trust me? I said no Tell me what you want me to do then I'll let you know whether or not I'll do it now in a way I was just joking with him, but I had to be careful. I have some very unusual friends and The trouble is that most of the time we deal with God the same way

We say now Lord you show me what your will is, and then I'll decide whether I'll obey. God does not commit himself to us on that kind of proposition. The way to hear the word of God is with a readiness to obey. Lord, I don't know what you're going to say to me today. I don't know what changes you want to make in my life. But, Lord, I know that whatever it is, it is right and good and best. And I commit myself to obey even before I know what you're going to say.

A readiness to obey. And secondly, there must be a willingness to listen. A willingness to listen. You know, I thought about reversing those two and put a willingness to listen first, but I thought, well, Paul didn't reverse them. And then I realized why. Friend, you're not willing to listen until, first of all, you're ready to obey.

If you haven't made up your mind already to obey, then you're not going to be very willing to listen. And you cannot listen with an open mind, clear mind, if you've not already made up your mind to obey. First of all, there must be that readiness to obey, and you see when you've already made the decision you're going to obey, then you can listen willingly. James says that you and I are to receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save our souls. Now, the key is receiving it with meekness. I think a good definition of meekness is a teachable spirit.

A teachable spirit. Do you know what a teachable spirit is? Well, it's a spirit that doesn't argue with its teacher. Let's suppose that you find a piano teacher and you send your child. And you notice as the days, weeks, months go by, your child is making no improvement, doesn't seem to be learning anything. One day the teacher calls you on the phone and says, I'm going to have to let your child go. Why? Well, every time I give him an instruction, he argues with me about it. And when I tell him that this is the way he needs to move his fingers, he has a better idea. You see, you cannot teach somebody if they do not have a teachable spirit.

A child cannot learn to play the piano if every time the teacher tells him to do something, he's got a different idea, a different way to do it, and wants to argue with the teacher. A teachable spirit is that spirit which does not argue with the teacher and he says receive with meekness the engrafted word and a willingness to listen is that teachable spirit and i am convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that when a born-again believer is ready to obey and willing to listen, God will impart to that person

all the faith they need to be whatever God wants them to be and to do whatever God wants them to do. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification. them to be and to do whatever God wants them to do.