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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Heb 11:1 |
Date |
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Comparing three-dimensional physical world and four-dimensional spiritual world, I am going to preach what faith really is and how we can have true faith and get blessing.
1. The three-dimensional physical world with limit and boundary
Hebrews 11:1 tells us the definition of faith, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." The spiritual faith according to the Bible is when what we hope for becomes a reality and what we can’t see gets accomplished and shows as evidence. Namely, faith makes it possible what we can’t do and what we can’t complete.
Due to the development of science and medicine, humans today can do a lot of things that we couldn’t even imagine before, but still there are many impossible things. There are some diseases that we have the method to cure, but new diseases have prevailed and incurable or hard-to-cure diseases have still not been conquered. There are numerous people who die of diseases everyday. Moreover, blindness or muteness, deafness or infantile paralysis can’t get healed with modern medicine.
Likewise, it is in the three-dimensional world where we can’t do anything beyond our ability and beyond the limit of human beings.
2. The four-dimensional spiritual world
On the other hand, four-dimensional world is the spiritual world which we hope for what we can’t hope for, and makes it become reality, and where invisible things show as evidence. It is the world where the reality does not matter, there is no limit or impossibility, and it goes beyond the physical limits so that impossible things in reality become possible. Everything is possible in this world because it is not we but God the Almighty who work.
There are many evidences in the Bible that enable people to believe there is world of faith where there is no impossibility and experience that world themselves. It tells who could experience this world, and what aspects of them God considered as faith and led them to the way of blessings.
3. General Naaman who got healed of his disease with faith.
General Naaman of the country called ’Aram’ in 2 Kings chapter 5 is a very good example. He was the second highest man in Aram, next to the king, and had so much wealth, fame, and authority, but he got leprosy that couldn’t be cured by human efforts. He took many medicines, but they could not cure his disease. However, God gave His grace to him and healed his disease.
Now we are going to look at the reasons why Naaman, a gentile who did not believe in God, received answer from God.
1) He was a good man.
As you know, he was second highest man, next to king, in Aram. Most of the highest men are too proud to give an ear on others, but he was a good man who did not ignore even his maidservant and listened to her. The maidservant said to him, "If you go to Elisha in Samaria you can get healed of your leprosy." He heard her and came to Elisha, a man of God.
Today, many people hardly listen to preachers, and people in high positions and those who have much wealth tend to depend on the world, and not listen to preachers even more. But Naaman listened to his maidservant and obeyed although he was in a very high position. God leads those who have good heart and saves them.
2) He went before God with prepared mind.
2 Kings 5:5 says, "Naaman left taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing." We cannot exactly calculate the value of the money at that time, but it is some tens of thousands of dollars today. Matthew 6:21 says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." In order to get healed, he put his sincere heart to be healed in his treasure. Naaman didn’t try to harvest from what he did not sow, or just want a luck hoping for things beyond what he sowed. For God the Creator receives the heart in the offering and answers according to the faith.
3) He obeyed God’s Word as it is.
When he came to Elisha with sincere offerings listening to his maidservant, he encountered an unexpected situation. Although he came a long way with uncomfortable body, Elisha didn’t even come out to see him and just sent his messenger to tell him, ’Wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and you will be cleansed.’
So Naaman got angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy." For Elisha didn’t come out to see him and sent his messenger to say to him, ’Go and wash in the Jordan’, it hurt his pride and he got angry. Also he thought Jordan River was dirtier than any river in his own country. He couldn’t accept Elisha’s word and thought Elisha was looking down upon him, so he decided to go back to his country. He got angry for a while, but since he had good heart, he changed his mind and obeyed Elisha’s word. We can see how good and humble he was in 2 Kings 5:13. His servants said to him, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ’Wash and be cleansed!’"His servants called him, who was the second highest man next to the king, ’My father’ and could give him advice when he was very angry. Here, we can see what kind of person he usually was. For he had good heart like this, he could listen to his servants and obeyed Elisha’s word even though it was different from his own thoughts.
4) He did not change his mind.
Elisha said to Naaman, "Wash in the Jordan seven times." Why did Elisha tell him to wash seven times? Spiritually speaking, number seven means perfection. To wash seven times means obeying God’s word completely. He didn’t give up, and when he obeyed completely and washed seven times, his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
It is the key to success to believe and obey God’s word to the end. The word Elisha, a man of God, spoke was not a word of a man with physical limits, but one that was spoken to represent God the Almighty. Therefore, when he obeyed Elisha’s word, he was obeying God. The action of obedience like this is faith, and since he believed, he could obey to the end. Eventually, what Naaman believed and hoped for became reality. Impossibility made possible, and a work beyond human limit happened.
5) He returned God’s favor.
When Jesus healed ten men of their leprosy in Luke 17:17, just one man of ten came back to Jesus and gave thanks. Jesus asked him, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" Even today, when people want to get healed, they promise loyalty and dedication before God, but when they get healed, most of them just leave without any acknowledgement. After Naaman got healed, he didn’t just go back to his country, but came to Elisha again and showed his gratitude. He also accepted God and decided to serve him immediately.(2Kings 5:15-17) For he had good heart to give thanks for God’s grace, and not to turn away from Him, God selected a gentile Naaman and received glory through him although there were many Israelites with leprosy.
4. Faith is a way to bring down God’s power.
This kind of work is not confined to the Bible only. As Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever," even today we can see the same work. Therefore we should know that if we have a good heart and show the action of our faith before God as Naaman did, we can not only get healed of our disease or illness but also get problems in our life solved. There are many impossible things around us if we look at the reality or have human thoughts. But when we really believe God, we can experience works of faith in the Bible, too.
Faith is like a string to connect God and ourselves and like a way to bring down God’s power. When we humans try to do things we must face limits and impossibilities, but faith is getting God to work for us. And if we have true faith, we must accompany wonders as Mark 16:17-18 say. Also when we pray to God with faith, we get answers as Matthew 21:22 says, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
5. We can get blessing if we have spiritual faith.
There are two kinds of faith: physical faith and spiritual faith. First, physical faith is dead one and the one of knowledge. It is just to have something as knowledge. Those who have physical faith only believe what fits with their thoughts, and creating things from "something". But they don’t believe what is beyond their theories and thoughts, and making things from "nothing".
So, those who have faith of knowledge can’t solve problems beyond human limit. They just know there is no impossibility in God because they have heard and seen many things, but they cannot apply this faith to themselves. The reason why many believers can’t get answers to what they pray for, even though they confess "I believe" and pray, is that they have this faith of knowledge.
On the other hand, those who have spiritual faith believe in heart, and this is the faith God wants. If we have this faith, we can get answers to anything that we pray for as Mark 11:24 says. Therefore, with this faith, nothing can be a problem, and the spiritual world that has no impossibility is applied to us. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that what you hope for becomes reality and things that you prayed in invisibility show as evideneces. |
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