The Inward Shout of Faith — Carter Conlon

Yes, he did. Thank God. Thank God. How many here tonight can honestly say, maybe with an upraised hand or a year in men of your voice, that there has been a miracle in your life? Something has transpired in you that without God would be impossible.

Would you thank him for it now? Would you just thank him? Take a moment. Just tell him you love him. Hallelujah. Almighty God, Lord, we believe that you're a God of miracles. You're the God of the impossible and things that are impossible to man are possible with you.

Seeking the Holy Spirit’s Work Within

Tonight, Father, I ask you for an anointing of the Holy Spirit. God, that you would be honored. Jesus, that you would be honored and understood and loved and laid hold of in this sanctuary tonight. Mighty God, do that which you have spoken to our hearts about, which we have sung about, Lord, which we've prayed about.

Now do it within us. Lord, let your miracle power be released in us and take us from image to image and glory to glory by your word and by your spirit. God, we acknowledge our dependence upon you. We acknowledge our need of you.

We acknowledge that only in you do we change and have life and power. Jesus, we invite you to be glorified in us individually and as a church, be glorified in us. Jesus, do strong, be strong and do mighty exploits to this church.

Father, we thank you for it. God, we praise you for it, especially in this hour that we're living in. We thank you in Jesus mighty name. Amen. Hebrews chapter 11, please, if you'll go there. Hebrews chapter 11.

Faith as the Key to God’s Power

I'm going to read verse one and then verse 30. And the title of my message tonight is the inward shout of faith. The inward shout of faith. Now, if you've been following with us in the book of Hebrews.

You are aware tonight that the author has been making a proof, a profound argument for Jesus Christ. Better priesthood, better sacrifice, better promises. A more enduring legacy through Jesus Christ. Something you can set your life upon that by faith you can access the throne of God.

And the writer has been writing to systematically tear down all opposing arguments to the fact that Jesus Christ is the all sufficiency of God. When he died on Calvary and rose again from the dead to sit at the right hand of all glory, that everything that was in heaven now became ours who are in Jesus Christ.

And we received an invitation to come to a throne of glory that we may find mercy first for our failings and which are many and all of us. We may find mercy for those failings and then grace to help in our time of need.

When we will come and acknowledge our fault and acknowledge our wrong, God says, I will cleanse you of that. And then I will purge you of what it is that causes you perhaps to fall short of what is yours in Jesus Christ.

Profound arguments. If you haven't gotten the tapes, you really do need to get the series of tapes from chapter one to ten. Now in chapter 11, the author comes to a point where he's identifying the key, the access key really to the power of God.

And he says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, before we discuss that, go to verse 30. And I'll tell you why in a moment. And he also says, by faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days.

Jericho and the Promised Land of Faith

Now, I decided to speak on verse one and verse 30 for a particular reason. Firstly, because Jericho was the first of many battles that the people of God were about to face. They had come through the wilderness experience and those who because of unbelief could not enter into the place of God's promise.

As tragic as that was, it all died in the wilderness. And now another generation had arisen. They had crossed over as it is miraculously through the Jordan. They had come into the land that they were to inherit.

They had been circumcised again. For those who had been born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. That means they were prepared, separated as is. The Bible says the reproach of Egypt was rolled away from them.

And they were prepared now to go in to inherit the promised land, which is an absolute type, an inarguable type, of where you and I live today as New Testament Christians. We are called of God to cross over the river of powerlessness in the wilderness of sin where we once dwelt without God.

We are now in a land of promise. And folks, this is the land of promise that we're in now. Everything in this book is mine and it's yours. If we will access it by faith, if we can believe that Christ purchased this for us, it is all ours.

We're not just to camp on the shore and have a good time. We are called of God to go in and conquer. We are called of God by the power of the Holy Ghost to see God in His sovereign power overthrow every contrary spirit, every weakness, every powerlessness in our lives and to raise us up as a living testimony of the fact that Christ is alive from the dead, sitting at the right hand of all power and authority.

We are called to be a testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. Beloved, not just with our lips, but with our lives. The essence of God, the very nature of God, the very power of God within us is to be a living testimony to our generation that Jesus Christ sits in the place of all victory.

The Battle Plan of Silence and Obedience

The first of many battles was Jericho. It was a strange battle. It was an unusual set of battle plans. You will never find this set of battle plans again at any time. I've often mused about it and I may have a theory or two tonight and I'm sure there are many more about Jericho.

But God gave such an unusual battle plan. He said, you're going to go into this place and the first thing you're going to find is a city that is enclosed. The people were afraid. They were terrified because the people of God were coming.

I want you to know something. You may have a struggle in your life tonight. You may have what you even think is a stronghold. But I want you to know the devil is terrified. And whatever is the source of that stronghold is also terrified when a man or woman of God begins to rise up.

And if you can lay hold of the truth, you're going to hear tonight. And you begin to walk in that victory. There is a terror that comes into hell itself. When a single vessel, all it took were four lepers to get out in the Old Testament to rise up from the city gate and head into the Syrian camp.

And God turned up heaven's amplifier and made them sound like a coming army of thousands. And all the enemies of Israel just ran in the desert and fled and threw all of their possessions away as they were running.

They were so terrified. Four lepers coming into the camp. Absolute types of what God wants to do through your life and through my life. God said to Joshua, this victory is to be preceded by six days of silence.

You're to be quiet when you go to Jericho. And you're just to walk around the city. Six days, that's all you're to do. On the seventh day, you're to walk around seven times and then wait. When I give you the instruction, when I tell you it's time, then you are to let out a shout of victory.

Now, you're going to hear in a moment what this is all about. Now, we wonder why six days of silence. Now, some suggest that what they were given to do was a reenactment of God's pattern of creation. Bible tells us that for six days God worked in creation.

He rested on the seventh day. Thus, God was setting the pattern for his people to occupy the promised land in victory. You know, if I can put it simply, let's say it this way. God was saying to the people of Israel, I've not called you to work with me.

Rather, I've called you to enter into that which I have already finished. I have done the work. I don't want your labor. I don't need your labor. I don't need your help. For six days I want you just to march around that city, and you just let me do the work.

And all I'm asking of you is to obey me. All I'm asking of you is to hear what I tell you and to do what I tell you. Walk in obedience and humility and obedience. You won't understand everything I ask you to do, but just do it.

And God says, I don't need your effort. There's nothing you can do anyway to bring down the stronghold that you're about to face. You go back to Hebrews chapter 3, verse 17. The scripture says, That original generation were locked out of the rest of God because unbelief had gripped their hearts.

Now chapter 4, verse 9. Scripture says,. So the Bible says that there's a rest for those of us. There's a rest for those who are able to hear His voice. Hebrews 4, 7. Again, He said, There are many, many voices, and too many of them lead to confusion.

Beloved, there's only one voice that leads to victory. One voice that you need to hear that will take you into victory. Only one spirit. God only has one mind. He only has one thought that He's planting when He leads you into that area, that stronghold, perhaps, that the enemy has established in your life.

It can be a stronghold of fear trying to convince you you'll never amount to anything in God. It can be a stronghold of confusion. It can be different types of stronghold. But the psalmist David said in Psalm 46, he talks about a day of calamity.

He talks about a day of earth shaking. A day of water roaring. But in the middle of that psalm, verse 10, he says,. In the Hebrew, the word for be still is repha. And really, here's what it means. Relax your hands.

In other words, let go of your works. And enter into the finished work of God. It is in this place you'll find rest for your souls. Relax your hands, he said, in the middle of the battle. Relax your hands.

Isn't that a wonderful thing? Stop trying to figure out how you're going to win the battle. Stop trying to figure out how you're going to go into tomorrow and survive as it is. Don't worry about it. Relax your hands.

Let go of those things that you're holding to and raise them up as it is to God. Relax your hands. And let go of your works. Six days, he said, I want you just to be quiet. Be still, he said, and know that I am God.

This is the key to victory, beloved. In the time of silence as they walked around Jericho, each man would become increasingly aware of his own personal insufficiency to accomplish the task which was at hand.

And folks, we've had some wonderful quiet times here. And we will continue to do so in the days to come. When the Holy Ghost comes in quietness and just begins to speak into our hearts. And I feel in my own heart over the last 90 days or more, one thing that God has spoken more and more is about my insufficiency to complete the task which is at hand for my life.

The purpose that he has for my life. I don't have the power to accomplish it. And neither do you. That's why God says, in that silence, become aware. Become aware. Look within. And look hard. And look long.

And look up. And look down. Look from side to side. And you'll see, as the Apostle Paul said, there is no good thing within us. There is nothing in us that can accomplish the purposes of God and the task of God.

So God says, let go. Just let go of everything you even think is good in your own life. Let it all go. Relax your hands. And just begin to trust me. In the time of silence, the people would become aware of the insufficiency of their existing weaponry.

Recognizing Human Insufficiency and God’s Strength

Looking in their hands, looking at the thickness of the walls of Jericho for seven days. I don't know if it's true or not, but I had read a commentator one time that said it was wide enough for more than one horse and chariot to ride across the top of that wall.

It was a high and a thick wall. And what did they come out of the desert with? Some farm implements perhaps? Some mediocre weaponry? Looking at that wall? How would they ever get through that wall? How would they ever get over that wall?

It would only be by the power of God. There would be a knowledge. There would be something in their hearts. I don't know about you, but if I would have been there, I'd be looking at the wall. I'd be looking at what is in my hands and say, now I can either trust in this or I can trust in the word that God has spoken to our hearts.

Oh folks, it's a wonderful thing when we have times of silence because in those times of silence, we have an opportunity to look within as it is and find out there's nothing in us that's of sufficient power to finish the battle.

David went through a terrible time, King David, when he said, my enemies came against me. The sores of death, he said, compassed me and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. He said, the sores of hell compassed me about and the snares of death prevented me.

He said, in my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried to my God and he heard my voice out of his temple and my cry came before him even into his ears. And David now gives the key to why he was a mighty king.

Why he was able to accomplish perhaps what few or if any other before him had ever been able to accomplish. In Psalm 18, verse 16, he now begins to tell us the key. He says, he sent from above. That's God.

He took me. That's God. He drew me out of many waters. That's God. He delivered me. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay.

Verse 19, he says, he brought me also into a large place. Again, he says, he delivered me because he delighted in me. Verse 33, David said, he makes my feet like hinds feet and sets me upon my high places.

He does it. God does it. David acknowledged I didn't have the strength. I was being swallowed. I was being overwhelmed, but I cried out to God. I cried out to him and he heard me and my voice came into his ears and he came down and he began to do these things.

He makes my fiends like hinds feet. Verse 34, he says, he teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. And what David is essentially saying there is he gave me such strength that even a bow of steel, there was no limitation to the strength I had when it was given to me of God.

It was God that gave me the strength that enabled me to win the victory. Thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand is holding me up and thy gentleness, he said, has made me great.

He said, God, you touched me, but you touched me with a tender hand. And it was the tenderness of your touch that took me out of my infirmity and brought me into the strength that was able to carry me through to the last days.

He said, thou hast enlarged my steps under me that my feet did not slip. You see, there's the there's the key of David. Everything was given to God. Everything was attributed to God. Nothing of himself, all of God and nothing of himself.

He goes on and he says, I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them. And neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise and they're falling under my feet.

But in verse thirty nine, that's the only times really in this passage that he refers to himself. But then he qualifies it in verse thirty nine. He says, for thou has girded me with strength to the battle.

Thou has subdued under me those that rose up against me. Thou has given me the next of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me. They cried, but there was none to save them, even to the Lord.

But he answered them not. Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind and I cast them out as dirt in the streets. You see, this is what God wants to do for you. All of your enemies, everything that comes to torment your mind and torment your home and ruin your testimony and keep you in captivity and bondage.

God says, if you will obey me, if you will turn to me. I want to put such strength in your heart. I want to put such strength in your hands that not one of your enemies can rise against you and overpower you.

You're going to take them and you're going to cast them down and tread them underfoot because that's what I said I was going to do in the Garden of Eden. I'm going to give you the power to tread on the serpents head and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

David said, thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people and thou hast made me the head of the heathen. A people whom I'm not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me and strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

Strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their close places. The Lord liveth, he said in verse 46, and blessed be my rock and let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God that avenges me and subdues the people under me.

He delivers me from mine enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me and thou hast delivered me from the violent man. David said, therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen and sing praises to thy name.

Great deliverance giveth he to his king and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David and to his seed forevermore. Great deliverance God gives to those that are his. Also the children of Israel would be aware that their only hope of victory as they went around Jericho was to believe in that which had been spoken to them by God.

The Word of God and the Finished Work of Christ

You see, God sends his word and he divides, the Bible says, between soul and spirit and joint and marrow. It goes right to the heart. And sometimes when he sends his word it can seem like we're becoming absolutely undone.

We wonder how does this fit into the plan of God? But God sends his word so that we might become undone. So that we might finally lose confidence and hope in anything that's of ourselves. This is not a physical battle.

It cannot be won in physical strength. This is a spiritual battle. It can only be won by the spirit of God working within us. It can only be received by faith in the finished work of Christ on Calvary.

God had spoken to Joshua in Joshua chapter 6. Jericho was straightly shut up. In other words, there was no way in or out because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See I have given into thine hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor.

And you shall encompass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. And the seventh day you will encompass the city seven times.

And the priests shall blow at the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn. And when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout.

And the wall of the city shall fall down flat and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him. Now, he said at the end of the seventh day, when you hear a sound, you are to shout. Now folks, I want to explain to you what that shout is.

That shout is not necessarily for you and I something that is audible. It's not something of the flesh. It's not something that we work up. The shout can be shouted without a word coming out of your lips.

It's not an issue of the flesh. It's an issue of the heart. The shout comes when after we have circled our struggle. We circle our call or whatever it is. And we finally arrived at the conclusion. The only way I'm ever going to win this battle is by that which God has spoken to my heart.

It's by the promises God has given to me. There is no other way I'm ever going to win this battle. I've looked at myself. I've looked at my weaponry. I've looked at my circumstance and station in life.

And there is no way I'm ever going to go in and capture this place. There's no way I'm ever going to become what God has called me to be. There's no way I'm ever going to get rid of this habit, this bondage, this mindset, whatever it might be.

These voices that try to keep speaking into my life and destroying me. There's no way I'm ever going to be free. We finally throw it all away. And by faith, we begin to receive the fact, the understanding that Jesus Christ died on the cross on Calvary.

Rose from the dead on the third day. Sits at the right hand of all authority, all power. And through Him, all that heaven possesses is now mine. Hallelujah. The shout is something that happens inside, not outside.

The Inward Shout of Faith

You can work a church into shouting and it can have nothing to do with the Spirit of God. The shout is something I experience in my prayer closet in the morning. Nobody can hear me, but it's inside. Because I'm about to face a day and God's given me a promise.

And again, once again, the shout comes into my heart that says, Yes, this is true. This is right. This is the Word of God. This is the God who created the universe by a spoken word. This is the God who makes something out of nothing.

This is the God who has brought me this far by faith and is going to take me through to the end by faith. This is the shout of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The writer of Hebrews says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the substance. The word substance in the Greek text means a foundation upon which something may be placed. We are the church of Jesus Christ. And God says, if you will have faith in what I have promised you, if you will believe that through my Son all things are possible, if you will believe that when you pray according to my heart and you believe, I will do it for you, if you will believe that it's my chiefest delight to answer prayer, if you will believe that my delight is to raise you up and make you strong, turn you into something you are not, make you into something you cannot be of yourself, if you will understand that I made your mouth and I can speak through you, I made your feet and I can direct your path, I gave you life and breath and I can breathe into you and I can make all things new, if you will believe it.

This is a foundation upon which I can build something into your life. Hallelujah. We limit God to unbelief. We stop the work of God. We cut it short to unbelief. God says faith is the substance. It's a foundation.

If we don't have faith, we don't enter into the rest. If we don't have faith, we strive and work and sweat and labor all of our Christian life and amount to that much in the kingdom of God. But if we have faith, all things are possible, Jesus said to those who believe.

If we have faith, He can take you if you're a beggar and He can set you among princes. He can give you a testimony before kings of the world. There's nothing God can't do. If you will trust Him for the plan that He has for your life, whatever that plan is, whatever that word is, if you will trust Him.

I believe with all my heart. Daniel, the prophet, talked about a time of distress coming upon the ends of the earth. But he said those who know their God will be strong and they will do exploits. That means marvelous works that cannot be done by the flesh they will do.

Those who know their God will be strong. There's got to be a shout come into your gut, folks. It has to happen if you're ever going to grow in Christ. Hallelujah! A shout of faith, an inward agreement with God that says, God who created the universe, there's nothing that you can't do in my life.

There's nothing that you promised me in this book that is not mine. I've inherited it and I believe it with all my heart. It is the evidence of things not seen. In the Greek, the word evidence implies not only the charge that's laid against an individual, but it's the basis of fact upon which he may be convicted.

In other words, I put that in simple terms. Folks, faith is the substance. It's the foundation. But it's the evidence that God is really in your life. It's the evidence that you really are born again of the Spirit of God.

Living as Children of the King

God puts faith. Oh, folks, why do we sit in rags when we are invited to be children of the King? Why do we eat boldly bread when we've been invited to a banquet table? And so many people settle for nothing when God has purchased everything through His Son.

A covenant that God said, I'll make with you. I will send my Spirit upon you. The Spirit of God that created this world as it is, that moved upon the face of the water now lives in us. We are to be pitied above every generation if we choose to live in mediocrity with this knowledge.

If this knowledge doesn't bring you and I to rise to our feet with a shout in our heart that says, God, it's true! Take me where I can't go. Make me what I can't be. Give me what I can't possess on my own.

Lead me where I can't follow. Take me, mighty God. Use me for your glory. And I will testify of you every step of the way. I'll talk about you. I'll sing about you. I'll pray about you. I'll brag about you.

I'll boast about you. I will give you glory. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God says, this is the basis of your trust. You believe and I will do. You believe, I will do. You don't have the power I have. You be quiet and walk around your problem.

And trust me and wait for that Word to germinate in your heart. Hallelujah! And when you finally feel the Word taking hold of you, rise up and say, by God's grace, I have it! I have the victory by the grace of God!

God says, this will be indisputable evidence throughout eternity that you are my child and I am your God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Faith in the Finished Work and Future Transformation

Our faith is not in an ongoing work. Our faith is in a finished work that is ongoing. Hallelujah! We have the victory. We live on heaven's side in Christ Jesus. We have the Spirit of God within us. We have the Word of God, which is the very basis of our life and our faith and our experience as a Christian.

We have marvelous promises. The Bible says that by these we become partakers of the very nature of Christ. We have set before us a future that should cause us to get up every morning and say, God, what have you got for me today?

Where are you taking me today? What are you going to form in me today? What part of this old rotten body are you going to cause to die today and come to life in Christ? Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! That's what Jericho to me was about. It's finally coming to the knowledge that though I possess nothing, I have everything because I have Christ. Hallelujah! In the coming days, we may face walls of powerful enemies.

Facing Fear and the Walls of Opposition

Fear is going to try to grip your heart. We see many of the things spoken about in Matthew chapter 24, for example, starting to happen. The Bible does say that men's hearts will fail them for fear. But that's not to be the portion of the church.

We are not to look at these walls of these powerful enemies and cower before them. In the church, there has to be a shout. And it's not about our services. It's not about our worship times. The shout is about something much deeper than that.

It's an agreement with God. I'm not going to run before any enemies of God. I'm not going to run before my own failures. I'm going to believe God. And God says He's going to take down the walls. And I'm going to run in and experience firsthand the victory of trusting in Him.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We're going to be studying Hebrews for the next two months. We're going to be talking about men and women of faith. How God took them from their weakness and made them strong.

I pray, God, with all my heart, you can lay hold of this. Not just theologically for the sake of knowledge, but experientially, personally. That you can lay hold of it and say, God, that's me. I'm a Samson or Jephthah or David or any one of these characters in Hebrews 11.

That's me. God, if you could do it for him, and you're saying you'll do it for me. And all of a sudden, something just gets in your heart. And you just say, enough. Enough being trampled by fear. Enough being trampled by my enemies.

I believe God. And, beloved, the moment you say that, and it's real in your heart. You have to have the eyes to see walls start to fall. Barriers start to break. Devils start to run. Because one more child of God has laid hold of something.

And that shout of faith has gotten into their heart. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I hope for many here tonight, it is finally time to shout. It's finally time to agree with God. Father, I thank you. Lord, you are leading us as a church.

The Altar Call: Responding to the Word by Faith

You have been leading this church into marvelous things. We don't understand it all. But, Lord, we do say tonight we delight in you. We love you. We want you with all of our hearts. And, oh, God, I'm asking tonight, on behalf of so many, Lord, who have been trampled down for so long.

Lord, that you will allow that triumph of faith to arise in their heart. That place where they say, I agree with God. I'm putting away my weakness. I'm putting away my own frail thinking. And I'm going to agree with God's word.

And, Lord, that they would just get up and begin to head towards you and to believe you for the victory. And, Father, I thank you tonight that you're going to do that, even in this house. This night, Lord, you never send your word without a divine purpose.

God, you're going to do it right now. And, Father, I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Now, I have a specific thing on my heart tonight that the Holy Spirit has put there. And it's for everyone in this sanctuary tonight, balcony, main sanctuary, that you are the person who's just been circling your enemies, but you've not had the faith to believe.

And I want to ask you to do something very special tonight. I'm going to ask you, as we all stand, to come to this altar and acknowledge your need. And the rest of us are going to pray for you. We're going to pray for you.

And we're going to just storm heaven for you. That that seed of faith, the word that God has planted, would be so deeply stirred in your heart that you would rise up. When you leave this church tonight, it would not be just another service, not just another altar call.

But you would go out of these doors changed by the power of God, emboldened with the faith that God alone can plant in your life. Whatever your struggle might be, if you find that you're facing an enemy that's overwhelming you, would you come to this altar?

And we're going to pray for you tonight. Let's all stand together. Please lead us in the worship chorus. Brother Greg, make your way to the altar. And we're going to pray when you get here. I must be 20 years ago now or so.

Carter Conlon’s Testimony of Receiving Faith

I was fearful. Angry. Selfish. There seemed to be so many things that looked like it was going to take an eternity for God to begin to deal with it. And I guess the thought of even being used by God seemed so far out in left field that the enemy was always there to say, well, you best leave that one alone.