Dependency (Times of Refreshing Radio) — Peter Brandon

Hello friends, it's good to greet you again in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It certainly is a joy and a privilege to be able to bring these programs to you each week under the good auspices of the voice of Melody Victoria.

Today is the third program in the series of studies on the beautiful verse found in John chapter 5 and verse 24. And Peter Brandon will again lead us in these studies later in our program. Did you know that the word faith is used in the Bible 239 times?

Faith Takes God at His Word

This certainly shows us the importance that God places on faith. But you may ask, what is faith? Faith is taking God at His word and then acting on it. God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. The Bible makes it quite clear that all the blessings of God come to us by faith.

Without faith we cannot please God, the Bible tells us. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6. But as important as faith is, it cannot stand alone. It must rest on something, and that something must be true. This is why our faith must always rest on God's word. Jesus said, Thy word is true.

After our next recording, Peter Brandon is going to lead us in a closer look at God's word where we will learn more about faith and belief. We read in Romans chapter 15 and verse 13, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Belief Means Knowing, Trusting, and Relying on Christ

We're going to look again at that scripture, John 5.

Truly, truly, I say unto you, we saw their authority. He that heareth my word, it demands honesty. And believeth, or believes on him that sent me. Dependency. And I want to speak on that subject of belief.

Since I've been here in Australia, some young men have put this problem to me. How do we get faith? Now that's what I want to speak on just for a few moments. Believes on him that sent me. The word belief here comes from a brilliant Greek word, pisteo.

And it has three meanings. First of all, it means to know what you believe. Secondly, it means to trust what you believe. And thirdly, it means to totally rely. Imagine for one moment, a person who is very ill, who goes to a surgeon.

And the surgeon carries out a number of x-rays. And after a very penetrating examination says, Now that person must do two things. Number one, she must accept or he must accept what the surgeon says.

Number two, depend upon that surgeon to perform an operation that could save his life. Now my dear friends, if you can get that in your mind, you've got perhaps the sum and substance of Billy. Putting yourself completely in the hands of something that you basically cannot do yourself.

Intellectual Belief Versus Heart Faith

There are two kinds of people that believe. Some people believe with their heads. Now that is right. When you become a Christian, you're not expected to commit intellectual suicide. You have to believe and you have to know what you believe.

For instance, when I went to school, they taught me 55 B .C. The Romans came, 410 A .D. they left Britain. And lots of people have learned their Christianity like that. They say, I believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

I believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. I believe that he was the Son of God. I believe that he suffered at the hands of Pontius Pilate. I believe that he died on the cross in atoning death.

I believe that he was raised from the dead on the third day. I believe that he ascended up on high leading captivity captive. Now all that is good. But just believing that... For instance, James says perhaps a very hard thing.

He says, you believe in God, you do well the devils believe and tremble. And that means if we could address a devil and say, do you believe that Jesus was the Son of God? He would say yes. Do you believe that he died on the cross?

He would say yes. Do you believe that he rose again from the dead? The devil would say, yes we believe that and we all tremble. But he just believes in the head and with his head. He doesn't trust... You see, it's important to believe about, to know the facts.

But it's more than just believing about. It's believing in. You see, there's a head belief and there's a heart belief. Let me give you the scripture so that you'll see that it is absolutely biblical. The Bible says, if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you shall be saved.

It's that belief in the heart. For instance, in the New Testament there was a woman that had this blood hemorrhage and she went to all kinds of specialists and they couldn't help her and then she came to Jesus.

Now she heard of Jesus and she believed about him. But she believed about him so much that she went in the crowd and touched the hem of his garment. And Jesus said, who touched me? And the disciple says, well look, they're all touching you.

We're trying to keep them away from you. But there was one woman that really touched him in heart faith and that is the real meaning of the word perspistere. Now some of you will say, well how do we get that heart faith?

Looking Away from Sin to the Son

Well the scripture makes it quite clear that we get that faith he that believes on the Son hath everlasting life. Here it says, believeth on him. You never get faith by looking within. When you look within you will see nothing but sin and defeat.

The more I look in my life and the more I examine the seat of sin that's called flesh in the Bible, there dwells no good thing. Therefore we've got to look away from ourselves. And the scripture says, he that believes on the Son.

You see, because of your faith. Now who was Jesus Christ? There was only one person who ever lived, dear friends, that never, never sinned. Not only did he not sin, he never even had the ability. God looked upon him and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I find all my delight.

There was only one person that had the ability to die for the sins of the world and he, in his own body on the tree, completed that work. He said, right at the end of all his sufferings, finished. And this is what the scripture says, once in the end of the age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

God raised him from the dead as a proof that the work he accomplished on the cross was accepted by God. Therefore with mighty power he raised him from the dead. The chair of authority and made him the universal saviour.

Therefore when a person is going to believe, he doesn't believe in himself, but he believes in the Son. And therefore it's putting your faith in him. And the more you hear about the Son, the greater your faith will become.

Deliberately Trusting Christ

You see, if you look within, you'll see failure. If you look at Christ, he will strengthen and encourage your faith. Now what is the action of belief? There comes a time in your experience when God expects you to really trust him.

There comes a time when there's a real action of faith. Just like in marriage, a person accepts the husband and the wife with a deliberate and intelligent, I will. There comes a moment when you have to deliberately trust Christ and say with the hymn writer, Jesus I will trust thee, trust thee with my soul.

Taking Faith Off the Bottom

With our boys, we took them to the sea when they were young. As you know our sea is not like yours, you can really freeze in it dear friends. And it was a beautiful summer's day and the boys had already done some practice on a chair with a life belt all around them.

You know what they do, they show their mother all the strokes that they're going to do in the sea. Anyhow, it was Monday morning and we took them to the sea. They had their life belts all around them and the moment we got into the sea, the fear gripped them, really gripped them.

And I said to the boys when they were thigh deep in water, now lads, take your feet off the bottom. Now they had the life belt all around them, they knew the strokes, but when it came to implicitly trust those life belts, I couldn't get them to take their feet off the bottom.

And we had an awful experience of seeing our boys sitting on the circumference of the sea and all the other children were in the sea because they wouldn't take their feet off the bottom. We had two holidays where we tried to get our boys to remove their feet from the bottom and just give themselves to the life belt, but they wouldn't.

The third time we took them to Frinton-on-Sea, that's a seaside place in the east of England, I was sitting reading a book in one of those old-fashioned deck chairs when suddenly one of my boys came bounding up the beach and you know when children are excited, everything speaks, their hands, their feet, their hair, their eyes, and all he could say was this, Daddy, I've done it, done it.

I said, what have you done, Andrew? He said, I've taken my feet off the bottom and it works. Well, the last holiday we had together was in Largs. Andrew was 19, Philip was 17, and we went out a half a mile there in the Clyde and those two boys went all the way to an island just off of Largs and that was three and a half miles and it all started when one boy took his feet off the bottom.

Wouldn't it be lovely if someone took their feet off the bottom and trusted Christ? Now, shall we pray? Lord, help someone just now at this moment to take their feet off the bottom. Lord Jesus.

Trusting God's Promise of Salvation

A father can welcome a wayward son who returns from his wandering afar. Surely I, my God, for He loves us as we are. If a mother can welcome the trident year as she gives up her life for her foe, surely I, God's great love, for He made her heart of gold.

If we, being evil, have love like this, how much more has the Father who made us we were yet in our sin when He gave us a ransom of love. Say, but if a rosebud can live through the winter as it waits for the promise of spring.

There's a true story that many years ago a man was condemned to be put to death. And when he came to that time, the prince who had charge of the execution asked him if there was any one petition he could grant him.

All that the condemned man could ask for was a glass of water and so they proceeded to get him a tumbler of water. But the man's hand was trembling so much that he had difficulty in drinking the water.

So the prince said to him, take your time, your life is safe until you drink that water. On hearing that, the man took the prince at his word and threw the water to the ground. It was impossible to gather it up and so the man's life was spared.

He took the prince at his word and was saved. My friend, you too can be saved right now by taking God at His word. The water of life is offered to you, take it now and live. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.

Yes, there is life, eternal life, within the reach of every man and every woman and every child listening today. And it can be had simply by believing. Take God at His word. Say in your heart, I do believe, I will believe.

I now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. And then life everlasting is yours. My friend, God loves you. The Lord Jesus died for you. Won't you accept Him today as your Saviour? The Bible says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.

My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed. I trust the everliving One, His room for me shall feed. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.

My heart is lead, the written word of God. Salvation by my Saviour's name, salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.

My great physician healed the sick, the lost He came to save. For me His precious blood He shed, for me His life He gave. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.

We receive each week letters from many areas requesting copies of our programs on cassette. And by this response, it's plain that our cassette ministry has been a great blessing to many people. Perhaps you would like a copy of today's program on cassette, free to you and post free on request.

If that is the case, drop us a line stating the number of today's program, number 856, cassette number 856. And we will be pleased to send you a copy. Our mailing address is Times of Refreshing, Post Office Box 66, Lillydale, 3140.

Times of Refreshing, Post Office Box 66, Lillydale, 3140. This ministry is a radio missionary outreach of the Christian Brethren Assemblies of Victoria and is made possible by God's provision through His people.

It's been good to be with you today, friends. Be with us next week, won't you, when Peter Brandon will look at the fourth aspect of that beautiful verse 24 of John chapter 5. Until then, on behalf of our guest Peter Brandon and all the team here at the Voice of Melody Victoria, this is Ralph Taylor wishing you all God's richest blessing.

Goodbye, and remember, keep looking up.