Faith — Peter Brandon

Faith and Everlasting Life

There's just one little phrase I want to share with you and I want to speak on the subject of faith. It's a word given to us by John the Baptist and he says he that believes on the sun has everlasting life and he that believes not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him.

Just that first clause he that believes on the sun has everlasting life. Someone threw the question at me the other day in London and said this can you expect modern people living in a scientific world to have faith?

Faith in Everyday Human Life

Man is now exploring space, the whole world is being computerized. Can you expect people who live in this scientific age to have faith? Well my dear friends I want to say this as clearly as I can. A baby would not walk without the principle of faith.

It would be impossible for parents to release their children to go to school if they did not believe that they were going to return. Children could not sit an examination, neither could students, if they did not have some kind of self-confidence.

It would be totally impossible for two people to marry if they did not have confidence in each other. And even in the realm of business a businessman could not possibly sell his wares if he did not have faith in the product that he was selling.

And even in the realm of science an astronaut would never go into the region of the unknown if he did not believe that his capsule was going to return to earth. And so you can see by those citations that faith is one of the main ingredients of living.

Natural Faith and Biblical Faith

Now I must say this in order to be honest with biblical facts, there is a difference between natural faith and the faith of the bible. The word belief comes from a brilliant greek word pisteo and it means three things.

One, to know what you believe. Two, to trust implicitly what you believe. And three, to be abandoned to the thing that you believe. That is why when we understand the new testament principle of faith we can say with certainty it's impossible for a person to be an uncommitted christian.

Because the word faith means you're abandoned completely to Christ. Now what I want to do just for a few moments is to go over these facts of faith because the word said without faith it's impossible to please God.

Faith as a Personal Relationship with God

So we can see if we're going to bring pleasure to God we must have faith. Now first of all faith is personal. Now someone might begin to argue as a man said to me quite recently. He says do you believe that there's one God?

Yes. He says do you know the number of people on this earth? I said no. He says there's now nearly five billion. Now this was his problem. How can one God be personally interested in five billion of us?

He says that's utterly impossible. Do you know where he went wrong? In the back of his mind he was saying how many people can I be interested in? No more than a hundred. How can God be interested in five billion of us?

The answer is quite simple. Because God is greater and bigger than man. In fact five billion times bigger than what we are. You see there are more than five billion stars swinging in space and he's interested in every orbit.

Ah but you say brother Peter a star is bigger than a human being. Do you think so? Maybe bigger in size but a star never creates. A star never thinks. You see there's something about man that's small.

There's something about man that's vast. And this is how the Lord measured him and valued him. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world? And lose his own soul, his own personality. But then you will say to me and rightly so because quite frankly people are asking serious questions.

Now in my own country there seems to be a turn in the tide when they're beginning to think all over again. And this is what we're hearing. How can you prove to us in a down-to-earth way that God is interested in us personally?

Now my dear friends if you can leave this building tonight knowing that God is interested in you personally you will never never be the same again. Think of it. The almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth, interested in you.

If that grips you, you will never be the same again. God was so concerned that we should know this that he became involved. You say involved? Yes. He came into this world with a body. And that is what the scripture means when it says great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifest in the flesh. And therefore when Jesus Christ was with us they gave him a brilliant name. His name shall be called Emmanuel which means God with us. Now when he came we must ask now some questions.

Was he interested in the milling crowds? Yes, we often find him with the five thousands. Was he interested in group society and family society? Yes, we find him with the apostles and in families. Now the question.

Christ's Personal Concern for Individuals

Was he interested in individuals? He walked 40 miles on foot through a burning wilderness to speak to a prostitute, a Samaritan woman. He went 19 miles on foot to a despised place called Jericho to speak to a tax gatherer that was hated by the community.

When he was actually doing his dying he took the trouble to say to a penitent thief today you shall be with me in paradise. When he went back to heaven he saw a son of Africa, an Ethiopian who was searching for God with every fiber that God had given him.

And do you know what he did? He took one man all the way from Samaria where he was seeing a mighty revival. He put him down in a desert called Gaza in order to speak to that one man. Now ladies and gentlemen I want to say something that's perfectly true.

I know you may feel it's an exaggeration but this is perfectly true. God may have sent me all the way to Australia for one soul. And that could be you, could be you, could be you. And for one soul it would be worth it.

Can I go further? God would send one of his servants seven times around the world just for one man. And you can be that one man tonight. Let me say this to you from my heart God loves you. And God will dog your footsteps until he finds you.

That's why he says he that believes. This is a personal matter and when you become a Christian you can't have proxy for your children. It's an individual faith and they too must have an individual faith in the law.

Intellectual Belief Versus Heart Faith

Now what about the meaning of this word faith? Now I've been looking at you and I think now my assessment is right. If we had a cup of tea together and we were sitting in your dining room or your lounge whatever you call it and I said to you do you believe in God?

You would all say yes. Good. Then if I said to you do you believe in Jesus Christ who was the son of God? I think you would say yes. Then if I went further and said do you believe the Easter message that he died upon the cross for our sins?

I think you would say yes. Then if I went a little further and said do you believe that he was raised again from the dead? I find it hard to understand but I believe it. Then if I said to you do you believe there's only one person in the world or the universe that can put our world right and that is Jesus Christ?

I think you would say yes. So that makes you a believer. I'm afraid not. You know James said something that rather upset me when I first read it years ago. He said this you believe in God you do well the devils believe and tremble.

That's hard isn't it? That means if we could see a demon sitting on this chair and I said to the demon do you believe Jesus is the son of God? He would say yes. Do you believe that he died on the cross for the sins of the world?

He would say yes. And if I said to him now come on do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead? He would say we all believe that and tremble. You see they just believe academically. Now this word belief is a belief that comes from the heart.

Let me quote you the scripture. Romans 10 and 9 says if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. Now what does it mean to believe in the heart?

Faith Demonstrated by Trusting Christ

A little woman came to the Lord Jesus who had been to all the doctors with her blood disease. She was no better but rather worse and she took one look at him and she said that man can heal me. And do you know what she did?

She put her hand right the way through the crowd and clutched his garments and Jesus said who touched me? The disciples nearly went mad with the murderment. Why they said they're all touching you. He says someone has touched me with heart faith.

Peter was in a boat and it was almost about to sink and the Lord Jesus came near to them in the storm and he bludgeoned out Lord if it's you bid me come and he said come. When he looked down at those dangerous waters they said listen Peter the law of gravity says if you put your feet on this water you will sink like a stone.

The law of faith said all things are possible only believe and he stepped out and trusted Christ and did the impossible. That said there comes a moment when you really trust Christ to save you. I shall never forget the first time we took our boys to the sea and may I say this your sea is lovely.

In fact the first time I went in up there in the coast of Queensland it was too warm for me. It was like a bath never been in water like it. Our waters you go blue you go in red and you come out blue.

Well our little boys were very young and they used to put their tummies on the chair and they would show their mother all the strokes they were going to do in the sea and they were going to do the breaststroke and they were going to do the crawl and then they were going to do the backstroke all on dry land with their tummies on a chair and sometimes with their backs.

Well Monday morning came and we took them to the sea of Frinton-on-Sea it was a lovely day and the moment we got the water on their feet or the water came on their feet their teeth chattered they had the belts all round them they had the knowledge in their heads and so we steered them out mind you it was cold and when it was thigh deep I said now boys take your feet off the bottom and trust the life belt and all they said nervously was no no no no no no and do you know for 14 days I worked on them but I couldn't get them to take their feet off the bottom they had the knowledge in their heads they had the life belt all around them but they wouldn't trust it.

Now there's a streak of Jewishness in our family and you will see it how I move my hands like that and I took from my pocket a half a crown. I've never done this. I said boys would you do it for that and they wouldn't.

Now that shows there was something seriously wrong. Well the next year we went to Frinton and we had the same experience and I saw my two boys sitting on the circumference of the sea watching all the children splashing in the water and they wouldn't go in and take their feet off the bottom.

The third year we went there again and I didn't bother with them and I was reading a book in one of those old-fashioned deck chairs I'll tell you what I was reading CHM on Genesis and it was tremendous.

And then I saw my elder boy bounding up the beach. And you know when a boy's excited the hair speaks the eyebrows speak everything speaks. And he came around me like a dancing charismatic and he said this I've done it I've done it.

I said what have you done dear. I've taken my feet off the bottom and it worked. The last holiday we had together was at Largs there at the pencil and Gwen and I we went out a quarter of a mile that was our limit and my two boys nearly went to the other side of Millport nearly three miles.

And it all started when one boy took his feet off the bottom. Dear friends I want to pray this in you right from my heart there comes a moment when you say Lord Jesus. I've heard that you died for me.

I've heard how that God raised you from the dead. I've heard how that you can forgive sins and save souls. And now I'm going to take my feet off the bottom and I'm going to trust you. Wouldn't it be lovely if someone did that right now don't wait till the end of the meeting switch off from the preacher get to the Lord and trust him.

Receiving Faith by Looking to Christ

But then someone will say something like this. But how do we get that faith to take our feet off the bottom. One lady speaking for all the others that were in her home whom she invited in for a coffee morning there in London said this Mr. Brandon you're lucky you were born with a religious spoon in your mouth.

We're down to earth people we're in the midst of smoke. That's London. How can people like us do it? Well I said my dear I can assure you I wasn't born with a religious spoon in my mouth. And I said people who are right down to earth who know the nitty gritty of life.

These are the people that he wants. But she says how can we get the faith? She says if I could get that faith it would be everything to me. I says well my dear I'm going to help you. You'll never get faith looking inside you.

The moment you look inside your inner life all you'll see is failure, failure, failure, disappointment. You've got to look away from yourself. You've got to look to the Lord. And this is what the scripture says.

He that believes on the sun. You see lots of people believe it's faith in faith. In other words you're believing in your faith. That's not it at all. It's believing in the sun. Now who is the sun? There was only one man who ever lived that never sinned.

And that was Jesus Christ. There was only one man who ever lived that could claim to be co-equal with God. That was Jesus Christ. There was only one man who ever lived that could die for the sins of the whole world and bear them.

And hallelujah oh this thrills my heart. He not only came and said he could deal with the sins of the world he actually bore them in his own body on the tree. And when Jesus Christ suffered on the cross there on the cross he was bearing the sin of the world because he loved us.

And when he said with a mighty voice finished the scripture says this behold the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. But more. There was only one man who ever lived who died. And here it comes who was raised again from the dead.

Never to die again. Never. You see there's a man in the glory and I want to say this with holy excitement who is genuinely infallible. He cannot blunder. And I want to say this right from my heart. There's only one man that's never lost the case and that's the Lord Jesus.

The best surgeon that ever lived has blundered in surgery. There's only one man that is completely infallible. That's Jesus Christ. And this is what the scripture says. I want to worship as I say it. He that believes on the son.

Forgive me using common parlance. But it's getting the claws of your faith in the son. Have you done that? And the more you hear about the Lord Jesus the more it will stimulate and provoke faith. Let me give you a case in point to help you being bred and born in the east end of London I got to know them and the old cockneys were dead scared of hospitals.

Trusting the Surgeon Who Can Save

In fact they used to call the operating table the slapper. And I even heard my own mother say they'll never get me on the slapper. There was a lady and she was in great pain. She should have seen the doctor years ago but it was only the pain that drove her to see old Dr Mitchell.

After a very superficial examination he sent her to Bath to be examined to see a brilliant surgeon. And all the time she was in the bus she was saying to her George a very quiet man they'll never get me on the slapper.

If she said it once she said it 20 times there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. Because they usually say in London a nagging wife will strip the flesh of your body. Well she got into this particular surgery and she he started to count the patients 14 and he thought I've got almost an hour and a half listening to my girl and she was saying as everyone came out they'll never get me on the slapper.

The 14th bell went in went and she went in. And then she was sent for x-rays and there were blood tests and she came out radio. And this is what she said. Don't worry George I'm going to have the operation on Thursday.

I'm going in on Wednesday. It's going to be all right. Don't worry. You say what caused the transformation? Note. She met the surgeon friend. When you meet that lovely son when you meet the Lord Jesus by faith he'll stimulate that.

Testing the Reality of Saving Faith

Now with this I close I can almost hear someone saying well how do I know if I've got this real heart faith. If faith is absolutely essential for salvation it's right that I should have the right faith.

Now may I say this carefully to you in love. Yes it is. Now I want to close this in love. I'm absolutely sure when the Lord comes lots of evangelical Christians will be left behind. They just had this awful thing of a mechanical faith.

That's why you never see any joy in their life. They haven't got the real faith. So can you see it's absolutely sure that we should have if I may use the Greek word this pisteo faith this heart faith.

Now how can we tell? The moment you believe that Christ died for your sins you will have a shot. You will say oh dear how serious sin is that Christ should die for my sins. Now this needs an illustration.

There was a young man that was given a sports car before he reached the age of responsibility. May I say this. The parents if you have money be careful. What you do with it. This young man was warned over and over again that there would be a fatality.

He was driving along a feed road to the M1 and felt a bang on his right wing and still careered on. When he came home about half past nine at night he was met by a London policeman and asked him if this was his number.

He said yes he said. Were you moving along this road at such a time? Yes. Didn't you feel a bang on your wing? Yes. I hit a bird he said not a bird. A little child. And he fatally injured a little girl.

Foolishly. He went to the funeral and when he saw 200 people sobbing and a mum and dad that were broken to smithereens around that sacred hole. And when he knew indirectly that he was the murderer he will never drive again.

His mind went. When you stand at the cross and you see Jesus Christ dying there for your sins. You will say something like this Lord Jesus did you die for my bad temper? Yes. Did you die for my private lust?

Yes. Did you die for my irritation? Yes. Did you die for my worldliness and materialism? Forget the drama. It will hit you like that you'll say this oh my God I never knew sin was so serious. I want to turn from it supposing now this didn't happen.

God's Love Revealed at the Cross

That mother bought a gold watch and went to the boy that had indirectly caused the death of their child and said look I want to give you this to show that there's no acrimony in my life and I still love you.

That would even break him more wouldn't it? When you look at the cross you see God's love for you. For you. For you. Not with mechanical words but in the glorious reality of Calvary's love. And that's how much he loves you.

And so there's shock. There's surprise. And then there's surrender. You see he doesn't ask us to surrender to force. He asks us to surrender to love during the war. And I was in the navy. There were a group of our boys in France when they were evacuating from France and a German officer came up for they were in a circular trance and held over their heads a grenade and said I'll give you 10 seconds to surrender.

Unfortunately they surrendered. But it was the grenade that did it. The Lord never does that. He opens his hands and shows you that they're pierced. He pulls aside as it were his garment and shows that his side is pierced.

And in the presence of divine love he says surrender. And there comes a moment in the quietness of your heart where you kneel before him. And you say that lovely prayer just as I have without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee O Lamb of God.

I come. Would you mind if I asked a question? Is there someone there that would like to take their feet off the bottom and trust him now? Is there someone there? And there come right now and quietly trust him.

And you'll find that God will give you immediately the gift of eternal life.