Faith — Roy Daniel

OK, I'd just like to say good morning, and I hope after this sermon and through the whole day you have a wonderful day and draw nearer to God. And I hope you're as excited about the Word of God as I am.

You know, when you've got something exciting to preach about, my co-worker then in Africa, his name is Ivan Burisma. And when he says there's something exciting to preach about, he says these words,.

And I love Ivan. He really lifts you up sometimes. In the Old Testament, before I started the sermon, in the Old Testament many of the Israelites in the heathen nations, even up to the Levitical order, started going after idols.

Breaking Idolatry Instead of Hiding It

They used to worship tree stumps and other worthless things. You know, in the modern day we still have idols, whether it's sport or money or other things. And a funny thing happens. Many people, when they want to give their idols up to God, they come with half a heart.

And they do this. They put their idol in the cupboard, they go to the front and say, But all they've done is they put the idol in the cupboard for a few months, just to feel better. And they go back and then after a few months they take the idol out of the cupboard.

And they start worshipping it again, whether it's sport or whatever. But you know what? There's only one cure for an idol. It's not to put it in the cupboard, but it's to break it. Destroy it. Rend your hearts, not your garments.

Now I know you've got an idol. There's nothing wrong with sport, there's nothing wrong with playing a bit of soccer. I love it myself. But when you're on your knees, reading your Bible, would you rather be doing sport?

Would you rather be reading another book? Is this book everything to you? Is there something more important to you? Search yourself. You know, Zach Poonen, he brought this illustration, and I can't remember it perfectly, but he talked about a rich man.

A rich man who came to a beggar, and the beggar had this can with his pennies in it. And he said to the beggar, Can you give me those pennies and I'll give you all my riches? That's God speaking to the poor man.

And the poor man said, No, I want my pennies. I want my pennies. I'm not going to give up these pennies. And this shows every single pleasure in life, every single idol, that you do not want to give up.

It's like a penny compared to the riches which Christ offers to us. Now I wrote a little song. I'm not very good at writing songs, and I'm not very good at singing. But I'm going to try, if you're willing to listen.

It's an old tune. It goes like this. Bring your pennies to the cross. Count them all as worthless dross. God will make you more like Jesus every day. Soon we will die. Fly up high into the sky. Then those pennies will be worthless anyway.

Oh, what pennies did you choose? When you're Jesus, you did lose. What on earth makes the world seem so nice? For Jesus Christ to die. Wait now for us in the sky. Which pennies hold you back from his best?

You know, one day when you stand before God, and he shows you the wasted time, and the wasted life, and the wasted opportunities, because of idols, and what you could have been for God, because you're not willing to give up everything.

Then you'll wish that you threw your pennies in the garbage can. Could I ask Ram to pray for us before I preach? We are living in a time in which I think Christians, or many Christians, have fallen for what I call the end-time philosophy.

Childlike Faith Against End-Time Pessimism

The end-time philosophy. Which is that the world is in the grip of Satan, and there's very little that we can do about it. The world is in the grip of Satan, and there's very little that we can do about it.

This philosophy looks around at the world, and sees sin abounding, becoming more and more, and then says it's hopeless. But you know, there's two ways. There's two ways in which you can look at things.

Peter Schultz of South Africa says, when David looked at Goliath, he did not say, wow, he's so big, and then run away. He said, wow, he's so big, I can't miss. There's two ways of looking at things. When you look around you, I don't know if you've ever thought of this, at the power of the devil over this world, it should make your faith sore.

Why? Because God said, greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. There's two ways of looking at things. Don Cabal, yesterday, showed me a little card, which I stole from him, or asked, and which is written, Hudson Taylor, Volume Z, page 348, Anonymous, Edinburgh, 1910, at the bottom.

And these words, we have lost the youthfulness of Christianity, and have aged into calculating manhood. We seldom pray in earnest for the extraordinary, the limitless, the glorious. We seldom pray with real confidence for any good, to the realization of which we cannot imagine away.

And yet we suppose ourselves to believe in an infinite God. We have an enemy, the devil, who specializes in taking away our childlike faith. Like that message I sent to you, I think it's Hezekiah. So don't trust in the God which is promised us.

The devil specializes in taking away our childlike faith. One of the ways he does that is, the first time your prayer isn't answered, and he whispers in your ears, God doesn't think of your prayers, God doesn't think of your prayers, He doesn't worry about your prayers.

Perhaps those great men of faith, but He won't worry about your prayers, the first time one prayer isn't answered. I remember I was listening to this person, he'd come out of a terrifying background, and he got prayed.

And one day he was sitting in the night time, and he prayed to God, and he asked God, please, I don't know why he asked this, but please can I see a shooting star? And then the shooting star appeared and came down as he had prayed.

And I listened to this and I thought, well God has never given me a shooting star. So I didn't tell him this, I looked out the window in the night time and I said, Lord, could you please give me a shooting star?

And the more I prayed, the less that shooting star came. And then the devil started to whisper, your prayer is perhaps your answer, but not mine. And I wondered, he prayed for many things. So I believe that the devil has robbed us of the concept that there are many things in life which we will never receive because we never dare to ask.

Because of a few prayers that sometimes don't get answered. There are many prayers in life, things we will never get because we never dare to ask. You have not because you ask not, says the Bible. You know, I heard the story, I heard the story of how Spurgeon's mother, I think it was after Spurgeon's death, sent Deal Moody Spurgeon's Bible.

And Deal Moody was very grateful that he got this Bible. And I thought there at college, this was some time back, actually this year at the beginning of the year, and I thought, you know, that would never ever happen to me, something like that.

Never ever would God, I mean that happens to Deal Moody, but not to little Roy. No. And I thought, it's worth asking. I said, Lord I dare, even though it's impossible, there's no way I can see that ever you could do that.

I don't see how I could get a Bible like that. So I dare to ask you, and I'm going to leave it at that. So I asked God, and nothing happened, and I forgot about it. Until the next term, two months later, the first day of term, Rudy, ex-policeman, godly boy there at the college, came to me and said, Roy I want to show you something, I've got something to give you.

And there in his hand, he had this tattered old Bible. And he was excited about this Bible because he knew whose Bible it was. And when he told me whose Bible it was, I was amazed. At our college they had a whole hall called after this person, named after this missionary.

Claiming our mission would never have been there if it wasn't for this missionary person. We read her books, and you know, I was so lifted up. Because I knew that God doesn't only listen to the prayers of Dio Muri.

He's willing to answer the little people. The little Roy. And the little Samuel. I went into the work of the AB there, Africa Evangelistic Band in South Africa. And I remember having gone to the shops and I saw their books.

And I longed to have a Strong's. I don't know if you've heard of the Strong's Concordance, but I saw that in South Africa it was 200 Rand. And I could not afford that. I longed to have a Strong's, but I could not afford it.

And one day I just said to God, you know, I don't deserve this. And I don't have to have it. But I'm just going to dare to believe that perhaps some miracle, I don't know, without asking anybody, that you might give it to me.

And just before I came to America now, just before I came to America now, someone walked up to me and said to me, it was laid upon my heart to give you this book, Strong's. And I do praise God. When I was flying down to Cape Town, you know, I have cried and cried over one country, and that's England.

Three percent of their population goes to church. About one percent call themselves one again. I have cried more than over any other country I think is over England. And I wanted to get these checks. I knew that I was flying through, landing in London, coming through to here, and going back.

And I wanted these checks, a certain type of checks, which I knew that if I prayed for them, I just believed God could do something through them. But I didn't know how to get them, because I didn't have the money to buy them for a start, and I had to travel many hours if I had to ask someone for them.

And I had asked people, do you have these checks? And no one could help me. Eventually, it came to the last moment, when I was flying down from Brooksburg down to Cape Town, the next day I would fly to America, and I did not have these checks.

It was on that plane which I said to God, Father, it's impossible. There's no way I can see you can get me these checks. No way. But I'm daring to believe that the impossible is possible for you. And I'm just going to dare to ask.

And I asked God on that plane as we were coming down. And there, the day before I left, as I arrived in Cape Town, went to our house, and at some point in the day, I decided I'm going to sit down in my father's room.

And I lay down there on the bed, and as I was lying on the bed enjoying myself, I looked forward, and I saw a whole packet of these special checks, right there in front of me. I said, wow. And I knew it must be my dad, but I knew my dad didn't normally have these checks ever.

So I went to my dad with these special checks, and I said, Daddy, can I have these checks? And my daddy said, yes. I wasn't going to use them. Some missionary decided to give them to me. I happen to know who that missionary was.

You see, many times you have not because ye art not. Do you get excited when you've got a need? Some people go down when they have a need, but many times, not that God always answers your prayers, but many times I get excited when I have a need, because now I can get excited when God answers my prayers.

Do you have expectancy that God will answer His prayers? I love that old story of George Muller. A man came to one of the meetings and said to him, you know, I've prayed 40 years. I've prayed something like 40 years for my seven children to come to the Lord, and not one of them has turned to God.

In his 40 years, what must I do, George Muller? George Muller said about two things. One, pray more than ever before. Two, pray with expectancy, expecting God to work. For without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder than the diligence he seeketh.

And thirdly, he said, you must praise God. Be careful in nothing, but in everything with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. You know, there's more said in the Bible of praise than prayer.

How can you expect God to answer your prayers if you never praise Him for His faithfulness? There's more said in the Bible of praise than prayer. Not that you must go towards praise without praying. A church that doesn't pray is a dead church.

Faith Is Trust in God's Faithfulness

So I come to the point now, what is faith? What is faith? Number one, faith is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Christianity. That's what faith is. It is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Christianity.

What is faith and not? Faith is not working up an emotion, telling yourself, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. I've seen someone do that. Now, you might laugh, but I saw a person with real zeal.

We had gone to the prison to preach, and we were late. And when you're late, they leave you at the prison, and you have to walk back, or at least this time. We had to walk many kilometers back to Bible College.

And on the way back, this fellow student was standing there, and he wanted to hitchhike back to college. And he said, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. And he said to me afterwards, you know, your faith, your lack of faith is the reason why we're not going to go to college.

He pointed at me. He said, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. But that's not faith. Faith isn't saying, I believe. Faith isn't working up an emotion. I've many times prayed, and God in His mercy has turned cars around without me even lifting up my thumb and picked me up.

Faith isn't saying, I believe, I believe. Faith is trusting in the faithfulness of God. Faith isn't a feeling. Some people think you must have this amazing feeling coming up in your stomach, and then you say, sorry I said it like that, but in your inside, and then you suddenly feel, I can do anything, and then straight to the mountain, bang, move, and land in the sea.

That isn't faith. Faith isn't an amazing feeling that comes up. Certainly faith is not a complicated thing only certain Christians can have. Hudson Taylor said, when someone, oh I wish I had your faith, he said, this faith is there for the taking.

He said those words, and he meant it. I'd like to examine two points. How do you get faith? One. And two, how faith works. Now firstly, how do you get faith? Well you don't get faith. You have faith. When you were born again, you were saved by faith.

It's called in Ephesians 2. And then you have the first sheet of faith. What you have to do to that faith is not to receive faith on you again, it's to let that faith grow. D .L. Moody made the mistake.

He prayed for months, Lord give me faith. He expected faith to hit him like lightning, bang. And then he read in his Bible, as you've heard my dad say, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

And when he read that, he said, I used to close my Bible and pray for faith. Now I open my Bible and read and faith came. And he read through the Bible over 400 times in his life and he attributed every single revival that he ever had, every single bit of faith that he had for revival, to come from the reading of this book.

George Miller, this one considered to be the greatest man of faith in the history since the apostolic times, said, I attribute my faith to two things. One, still keep myself in the Bible. Two, having a clear conscience before God and man.

It's pretty simple. When I was first at college there, I remember thinking to myself, I cannot expect success in the ministry through the fact that my father has had success. I cannot expect success in the ministry because at school perhaps I was a good speaker.

I can only, well then I thought, how can I? There must be some way that I can expect some success. And at that point I said to myself these three things. I think the way is to stoke myself in the Bible, to give myself to prayer, and to be on fire for God, to my utmost ability.

And for that moment, that's what I tried to do, to stoke myself in the Bible. To give myself unto prayer, and to be on fire for God and souls. You know, Psalm 27 verse 14 says, shows us another method of allowing faith to grow.

Faith won't grow if you don't read your Bible, with exceptions. But it says, wait in the Lord. Be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart. May God strengthen your faith as you spend time waiting upon Him in prayer, with a balance.

Well, I can ask you a question. Would He who died for you lie to you? Never. So when God says, when you wait on Him, be of good courage, He shall strengthen thine heart, He means just what He says. What should make you more excited to go to your knees than the Word of God?

Do you have to wait for a feeling, some amazing thing from heaven, to go to your knees in prayer? Or can you just stand in the Word of God? But God will work in faith in you, if you go to your knees. God cannot lie.

I wrote a little song to a children's tune. He stands beside me and lives to guide me. He cannot lie who died for me. This precious Savior is my Redeemer. I will always trust in Him. Well, now we have examined the root to faith, or more correctly stated, how faith grows.

Faith Grows Through Obedience to God's Promises

And secondly, how does faith work? How does faith work? Phinney's definition of revival was simply this. I don't know if you've ever read it. Revival is nothing less than God's children coming back to full obedience to Him.

Revival is nothing less than God's children coming back to full obedience to Him. And through his lectures on revival, most of revivals after that, 90 of revivals across the world started through those lectures on revival including the revival in South Africa.

Through his lectures. Jonathan Goeppel, when he read of Phinney's works, he said these amazing words. And I've heard say that Jonathan Goeppel was probably the most used man of God in China in their history.

As he read Phinney's work, he said, if Phinney is right, if Phinney is right, then I will look up, search for things to obey. And that's a staggering thing for someone to do. And how God used him. You know, there's over 3 ,000 promises in the Bible.

There's over 3 ,000 promises in the Bible. And most of them have a condition. Most of them, a condition to obey. Now imagine when God, if, when God told the Israelites, if you want to take over Jericho, march around it for seven days, and then the seventh day, I think, go around it seven times, and then shout, if when God said to them this, and then I will destroy Jericho, imagine those Israelites said, yes Lord, I believe you, very much, this is a wonderful promise, but right now, I'm going to my room and I'm going to pray.

Lord, I claim your promises, I believe Jericho is going to fall to the ground, and they don't walk around. You know, many Christians do this. They claim the promises, but they never fulfill the condition.

They say they believe the promises. But if you believe in a horse, you'll be willing to ride it. If you believe in the Word of God, you will be willing to obey it. There's no use claiming what you've never done your part for.

That's stupidity. It's about as silly as the Israelites going to their knees and praying for something they've never fulfilled the condition to claim. They could have shouted the first day then. God's promises have conditions.

I can tell you over in India how a revival started when one person dared to obey Luke chapter 6, verse 30. But right now I'm going to tell you about a young man in South Africa, who I know, who decided to go on an adventure of faith through obedience.

You know, it's exciting to be a Christian. I hope none of you have lost that concept. It's exciting to be a Christian. We walk by faith and not by sight. Sure, there's going to be hard times. But it's exciting to be a son of God.

This boy decided to go on an adventure of faith through obedience. He realized that, one, if he did his work before men. Three things he realized. If he did his work before men, he had lost his reward.

Number one. Luke chapter 6, verse 38 says that. Number two, he realized that work not driven by God's love is useless. Number three, he realized that God resisted the proud but gave us grace unto the humble.

Just after one of those verses of faith, God says in Luke chapter 17, verse 10. So likewise ye, when ye have done all those things which are commanded of you, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which is our duty to do.

Don't think God ever owes you anything. He honors his word. He doesn't owe you anything. He loves you, but he does not owe you anything. And he resisted the proud but gave us grace unto the humble. Now this boy started to search the scriptures or as he was reading through, he came to Luke chapter 14 and there he found something that he felt that he'd never met anybody who truly obeyed.

Not anybody he knew really. In its simplicity. Chapter 14, verse 12 to 14. Said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee.

But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompense thee. For thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. And he began to think and he couldn't think of anybody who'd ever truly done this.

Obeyed this verse, these verses. And so he began to pray to God. Lord give me love for the poor. It's no use just giving something without loving them. Lord give me love for the poor and he got a great love.

God gave him a great love for the poor. He went down to two people of a despised nation in Africa. Very poor. And he took them to an expensive restaurant. He didn't have much money himself, by the way.

And in this expensive restaurant, which is the sort that I believe no one, they had never been there before. He sat them down and let them buy some wonderful cakes and teas. They were Christians. And so he obeyed this verse.

And his love for the poor, in the night time he would go with warm drinks. He'd seen these people sleeping under plastic somewhere. And with warm drink and some bread he would look for them. And even though at first he couldn't find them, he wouldn't give up.

He'd go on and he'd look and he'd find them. And as he gave these warm drinks to these people under plastic, the tears rolled down that man's face. That someone considered him. He started as a missionary.

Earning about, I've estimated about 120 American dollars per month. Just to meet his needs. But he lived. He lived to give most of it away. He lived to give most of it away. Not before men, but he saw the needs of other missionaries.

And into their bank accounts. Without making sure that at the bottom they did not know who it was. He would give most of his salary away. Before I carry on, I'd like to refer to Job. In case you think I'm going to preach prosperity now.

Job, Contentment, and Giving to the Poor

Job did a few things. I made a study in the Bible of the poor. And one of the, this great study that I made which took me many, many hours and much of the year as I went right through the Bible looking for what God said of the poor.

I saw in Job 50, verse 25, that Job cried over the poor. Job helped the poor. Verse 16. Job shared his food with the hungry. Verse 17. Job shared his house with them. Verse 18 to 22. He gave them clothing.

His fleece of his sheep, he gave to them. He was hospitable to strangers. And yet God didn't always take Job through wonderful times. This missionary who had decided to start obeying God, not only in this area, but in many other areas, did not go through an easy time.

He kind of misjudged. As a consequence, he often survived on shampoo, no soap, no shaving stick, cream, no toothpaste, at one time no shoe polish. But he did survive on the shampoo. He did not believe in death either.

Obeying one command and forgetting the other one. Oh no man, anything. Gone to Rome. He wouldn't go to death by his knees. He knew what Paul spoke when he said, not that I speak in respect of want, but I have learned in whatever state I am therewith to be content.

I know both how to be obeyed and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry. Both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

But God doesn't only give you the bad times. He honors those who honor His Word. And God's Word said that if you give to the poor, what are you lending to God, says Proverbs. One day, he was walking down the street.

God had given him such a love for the poor. You have not, but you ask not. If you want love for the poor, pray to God for it. He'll give it to you. If you pray in earnest. As he was walking down the street, he saw he was going to give a check to a man around the corner.

He met the man in the street there who said to him, can you help me? I need clothes for this fair. I'm a Christian, I'm born again. And he looked in his eyes and he believed. And after hesitation, he took his own jacket off his back and gave it to this man.

And went on to give that check. The next day, a woman met him in a restaurant and said, I want to talk to you. Could you come to my factory, please? Could you come to my factory of my husband? This large factory that distributes to many clothing outlets in South Africa.

And I want you to choose anything you want. This was the day after he gave his jacket. Sometimes God honors people according to his word. And he went there and he went into the factory and he didn't really want much because he wasn't a grabber.

So he took a few things and when he went out of the factory they said, no, go back. And he went back and he chose a lot more. And they kind of forced him to. At another time, as a missionary, in his short time as a missionary, in the night time, he thought, there must be children somewhere.

There's always children on the street in the night time in Africa. Poor people. In the cold. And he went to a McDonald's. They have them in South Africa as well now. And he bought, with what little money he had, or much of it, food.

So he took a little packet for himself and then took the rest and sold it on the street. So he found two poor people. He said, Jesus loves you. And I think he gave them a check. And gave them this McDonald's food in the night time.

The next day, to his surprise, now God does amazing things. The next day, to his surprise, someone suddenly, on their journey, said to them, tonight you're sleeping, someone they'd just met recently, tonight you are sleeping in this hotel.

Well he didn't know what the hotel was going to be like. That it was just a normal hotel, a nice hotel, but not too wonderful. He went up there, up the hill, and found that it was a luxurious resort. This was the next day.

A luxurious resort. Twice his salary for a month would have taken for one night at that resort. He was staggered, he didn't look for it. You know what his prayer was? He didn't want other rewards. When he said to God, Lord if you reward me in any way, it's this, give me souls.

I don't want any other reward. You know when people cry like that, God often anyway gives them the other reward. And the only reward they want for obeying God is more souls. And in all this time, I can guarantee you, and by the way God blessed them in many other ways, financially they were staggered at times.

Although he went through times where he didn't have toothpaste. God tried his fate. In all this time, souls came to God in the most miraculous way. In a way that people were staggered. And by the way, I'm one of about, I guess three people who knows about these things.

He didn't throw it to all the world. Do not draw arms before men. I stood in Rochester for a revival. I don't know if you believe in the power of simply obeying God. In India, of which 1 .5 of the population professed to be a Christian, nowadays, there was a man, I think in the 1800s, a missionary, who as he went through, he decided that he was going to translate Luke.

Obeying Luke 6 and the Revival Among the Beggars

He was going to translate Luke to the people around him. And so he started, day by day, ten to twelve verses translating, translating. The next day he translated another ten verses. The next day he'd translate another ten verses.

He was at the Living Stone inland mission. And then he had a problem when he came to Luke chapter 6. He had a problem when he came to Luke chapter 6. Because he knew that these men were notorious beggars.

In Luke chapter 6, he read this very hard verse to explain to notorious beggars. Give to every man that asketh of thee. I think his name was Henry Harvard. And he knew that he could not translate this to the beggars.

Because then they'd come to him and ask him for everything in his house. And so, to make life easy for himself, he went back to Luke chapter 1 and he started translating again. But the more that he thought about it, the more he realized that God means just what he said.

When God said, walk round Jericho, he meant just what he said. Not something else. And as he was coming back to Luke chapter 6, he decided, I'm going to translate this to them. And I'm going to buy it.

And when he translated this verse, these notorious beggars that were the Indians there, came to him immediately. They said, can I have that? And can I have that? And can I have that and that and that?

And most of the stuff in his house was taken away. But he gave it freely. Strange man. But they began to speak among each other. An amazing thing happened. Those Indians began to speak among each other.

And said, this must be God's man. Because never before has a man given so freely. Never before has a man given so freely. And a revival started there. By the way, they brought everything back. Nothing that they had taken did they not bring back.

And a revival started there that at the end, there was not one person in that area who had not turned to God. Because someone dared to obey God's word. Not one person could be found in a country, right now, which is 1 .5 percent of its population that calls itself Christian.

Patience When Faith Is Tested by Time

Estimate. Now that's a miracle. When someone dared to obey God's word. The second point on how faith works. My dad quoted last night, the word of the Lord tried him. Psalm 105. Hebrews 10 verse 36, probably speaking in its context of heaven, says, we have need of patience that after we have done the will of God, we might receive the promise.

But he's not only talking about heaven. Everything on earth, you need patience. Faith is tied to patience. And the devil loves to make Christians give up. He makes them walk by sight and not by faith.

You want me to give you an example of that? When I was in South Africa, when I was in South Africa, we had prayed much and there was much prayer support behind our college just touring a neighbouring land.

Going to schools and churches and old age homes. And one time I was asked to speak in a school. They still allow openings in schools there. A school where the President's grandson went to, of that country.

And other parliaments nephews and so on. And there I gave a very simple story. There was a couple of us that gave different stories to these junior school children. And afterwards we made an appeal. Oh, we prayed much.

We believed at that time by God's mercy we were right with God. And we preached expecting God to work. And guess what? Nothing happened. Not one hand went up. So God says, we walk by faith and not by sight.