How to Have Miracle-Working Faith - William Blackburn — From the Pulpit & Classic Sermons

Welcome to From the Pulpit in Classic Sermons. Each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith, and powerful sermons from modern preachers too.

This week we have William Blackburn with his message, How to Have a Miracle-Working Faith.

Faith as the Foundation of Knowing God

The Bible says the just shall live by faith. You cannot know God without faith. Now you can know about God without faith, but you can't know God without faith. You may be here tonight, you may have walked an aisle sometime in your life and prayed a prayer and been baptized.

You may have spent a long time in Sunday school. You may have been sprinkled or confirmed. You may have taken catechism. You may have your name on a church roll somewhere. But that does not mean you know God in your heart.

You've got to know God by faith. You cannot know God simply by religion. You cannot know God by simply being a good person and living a good life. In fact, the Bible says a lot of good people are going to hell.

You can be the best person in town and go straight to hell. It's not goodness, because the Bible says in you dwells no good thing. No matter how good you look on the outside, you see God looks at your heart tonight.

And you may have cleaned up your act for the folks around you, but God looks deep inside your heart. He sees in you dwells no good thing. If you were the best man, the best woman, the best teenager in all of Mississippi, without Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will go straight to hell.

You can be a member of every church. Your daddy can be a preacher or a deacon. Your mom can be a Sunday school teacher. You may have made a profession of faith. You may live your life in a church. You may even believe in God.

But if you have not done what the Bible says to do, and that is to repent of your sin and surrender your life to the Lord Jesus through faith, the Bible says God classifies you lost. Now, this is not a Baptist thing.

It's not a Methodist thing. It's not a Catholic thing. It's a God thing. God said, except a man be born again, he'll never see the kingdom of God. The Bible says the just, that is those who have been justified, those who have been really born again, the just shall live by faith.

My friend, you are born again by faith, and once you are born again by faith, you live by faith. It is faith in God that causes us to be able to know God and to want with God and to live like God and to one day go to heaven to be with God.

It is faith, friends. Faith is the most important thing you have in your life. And the sad fact is that most folks don't have much faith. Even folks who have been born again don't have much faith. But my friends, the key to being a born again believer is not trusting in yourself, not trusting in your good life, not trusting in your good works, but having faith in He who died on the cross to pay your sin debt.

Living by Faith in Spiritual Warfare

And to live a holy and godly life, once you are born again, you still must live by faith. You cannot trust your opinion or your circumstances or your talent or your ability. The just shall live by faith, by faith to be born again, and then by faith to live like Jesus wants you to live.

Friends, faith is the most important thing in your life. You can't be saved without faith. In fact, the Bible says in Ephesians 6, 16, it says, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked.

The Bible says the shield of faith. Hey, friend, you're never going to know God without faith. And even after you're born again, you'll never be a dynamic Christian. You'll never be a warrior for Christ unless you take that shield of faith.

You see, there's a real battle going out there. You see, there's a God in heaven, but there's a real devil. And my friends, God, the forces of God and the forces of Satan are battling for your soul right now.

And man, I want to tell you, there are some of you here tonight that Satan's winning the battle in your life. You're out there living in sin, drinking and running around, living like the devil. And I want to tell you, Satan's got his hooks in you.

He's dragging you straight to hell. And you're so blinded by the things of the world, you don't even see what's going on. My friend, you need faith. You need to trust the one and living, true God, because there is a God in heaven.

One God, the living God, the true God, and the enemies of God, the forces of hell, the demons of hell are fighting for the souls of men. And you need faith to be saved. And my friend, we who have been born again, we need to have that shield of faith so we can serve God with a hot heart.

You cannot be born again without faith. You cannot love God without faith. You cannot pray without faith. You cannot win your lost loved ones without faith. Friends, faith is the most important thing in your life.

In fact, sir, you know what the Bible says? The Bible says, whatever's not faith is sin. You see, my friends, there's no middle ground with God. This old silly stuff that's taught in church about situation ethics.

Oh, man, if it feels good, do it. I mean, if it depends on what the circumstances are, whether it's right or wrong, you won't find that from God, sir. God says, whatever's not faith is sin. Whatever's not for God is against God.

If you are not living by faith and serving God, you are living in rebellion against God. And the Bible says that's a sin to not have faith. Listen to what the Bible says about how faith honors God and God always honors faith.

Faith Demonstrated Through Action

In Matthew 9 to it says, and behold, they brought a man sick of palsy lying on a bed and Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of palsy, son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. There was a man who had had palsy.

He couldn't even walk, but he had four good men who really were friends. And they took him to Jesus. They lured him down through the roof. There was a crowd there. They couldn't even get through the crowd.

Hey, but these old boys wouldn't be stopped. They went around the crowd. They climbed on the building. They tore the shingles off, son, and they lured him down through the building. And you know what Jesus said?

He said, I see your faith. You see, sir, faith is not some silly namby-pamby thing you put in your mind and you think I've got faith. No, man, faith has feet to it. Faith has muscle to it. Faith is action.

You know what you believe? You know what you believe tonight? You show me how you live your life and I'll show you what you believe. Faith is what you do with your life. You say, I believe in God. You say, I believe this.

I believe that. Well, sir, how do you live your life? If you are not living for God, you're not of God. You see, what you really believe is how you live. If you live like a lost man, sir, you're a lost man.

I don't care how many church members you've gone. How you live shows how much faith you have. It shows what your faith is in. And God says, listen, you say you have faith. Hey, show me your faith. You say you believe, show me how you live.

Show me the fruits of your life. Show me what you've done with your life for God. And I'll show you whether you've got little faith or big faith. A few years ago, I was preaching at a Baptist church in Bruton, Alabama, and gave the invitation.

Many folks were saved. And at the end of the invitation, a woman about 55 years of age came to me. She said, William, I've been diagnosed with terminal cancer and a Baptist broke your seatbelt. I'm going to tell you something that'll shock you.

She said, William, I believe God wants to heal me. He wants to supernaturally heal me. If God doesn't heal me, I've only got six months to live. We had her kneel here. The men of the church came. We anointed her with oil.

We prayed for her to be healed by the power of the living God. She went home that day from church. She took all the medicine she'd been given. She flushed it down the toilet. She said, I'm healed by the power of God, sir.

That was eight years ago. God reached down. You say, William, you believe in healing? I sure do, son. I believe God heals today. God is the great physician. But there was a woman with great faith. There was a woman who was not trusting in a man or trusting in a preacher or even trusting in a little bottle of oil.

She was trusting in the God of heaven who has given his word. If you will come to me, if you will trust me and give me your life, I will touch your life and I will heal you. About two years after meeting that woman being healed, we were in Atmore, Alabama, visiting my parents.

She called me on the phone. She said, William, there's an 18 year old girl in Bruton, Alabama. She's heard about me being healed from cancer. She's got terminal cancer, three pieces of cancer in her chest, three tumors in her chest.

She was 18 years old. My wife and I went to her. What an attractive young lady, beautiful young lady with no hair on her head, taking all those treatments for cancer. She sat there and I told her about Jesus because, hey, what?

The only reason Jesus heals folks is so they can be born again by the spirit of God. And we prayed with her and led her to Christ. She was born again by the Holy Spirit. And then we laid hands on her and we prayed for her.

She was healed of that terminal cancer. Today she's married. Her and her husband travel around the world, giving glory to God, to the power of God as a testimony of what God has done in their life. I'm telling you friends, I believe in the power of the living God.

I believe in the Holy Spirit of God to touch men's lives. How can you explain what we've seen here these six weeks? How can we explain the men who have come down here? Men who came down, who were hard and cold and religious, and yet the power of God touched their lives and has supernaturally changed them, saved them, saved their families, saved their friends, turned their life around.

It is the power of the living God to do that. And that is done only by faith. Faith. I want to tell you about Peter, a man who had a little faith. I read these verses to you and I want to tell you, Peter was a man who had a little faith.

Peter Walking on the Water: Faith That Attempts the Impossible

I've always thought, you know, I'd like to be a great warrior for the Lord. I wish I was a disciple. You know, I'd like to be the apostle Paul, but the truth is I'm more like Peter than the apostle Paul.

I mean, Peter was, Paul was smart, intelligent. He always stood, never called Peter. He was one of those guys. He was always jumping up with a sword, cutting somebody's ear off, you know? And I mean, Peter was always biting off more than he could chew.

And you know, I kind of identify with old Peter. You know, I kind of get excited about things, but you know, Peter was a man who had a little faith. And I want to tell you what happened here in verse 29, it says, and when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.

Now, man, here's the story. Remember, Jesus Christ had said, y 'all go without me. I'm going to pray. And so all the disciples got into the ship and they were out there on the water and Christ was praying.

And then at that, that hour, between 3am and 6am, there was a terrible storm going on. The waves were high. It was very dangerous. And the Bible says the disciples, they were terrified. And then the Bible says they saw Jesus walking on the water.

And Peter said, Hey Lord, Lord, if that's really you, tell me to come out there and I'll walk on the water to you. And Jesus said, Peter, come on out here on the water. Just explain how this water walking is going to work first.

And once I understand it, I mean, once I understand the diagrams and the principle and I mean, once I understand the philosophy and how it's all going to work, I mean, once I understand it, then I'll believe you.

No, Peter said, Hey Lord, if that's really you, you say to come out on the water and I'll step out like a man, I'll walk on the water. So the first thing Peter did was he did the impossible. It's impossible to walk on water unless you're walking with Jesus.

Peter did the impossible thing. What is faith, sir? Well, faith, it says in Hebrews 11, 1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Hey buddy, you can't see faith.

Faith comes from the heart. Faith is when you can't explain what's happening. You just believe God. He's going to work a miracle in your life. I've had so many men say we need to run our church like a business.

Hey buddy, you run it like a business. You'll run it straight in the ground. The church is not a business. Now you need to be a good steward of God's money. I'm not saying that, but my friends, there are some things you just got to step out on the water on.

Hey, you just got to step out and believe God. Sometimes we don't understand how it's going to work. We don't see how we're going to finance it. We're going to not see how, how we can do it, but we think God has called us to do it.

We're just going to step out on the water and trust God. Hey friend, that's what faith is. The substance of things that are hoped for, things you can't even see, but you're just going to believe God. You see, faith is trusting God.

Faith is trusting God. I had a man tell me one time, he said, William, I believe God's leading me to do something, but I really questioned whether it's God or not because what I'm, what he wants me to do, I mean, I can't do it.

I don't have the talent. I don't have the ability. I mean, it's going to be impossible for me to do this. Surely God wouldn't call me to do something that I'm not capable of doing. I'd say that's exactly what he'd call you to do.

My friend, as long as you can do it, God will let you do it. As long as you can do it with your talent and your ability and your energy, why in the world would God get in on it? Man, God gets in on the impossible stuff.

When you've done all you can do, worked as hard as you can do, done everything with your talent and your ability, when you step out there in that no man's land, in that impossible situation, buddy, that's when God shows up.

You must step out on the water if you want God to intervene in your life. Old Peter did the impossible. He walked on the water and we know it's impossible to walk on the water except by faith. And then old Peter did something else.

Keeping One’s Eyes on Jesus Amid Fear and Circumstances

After he walked on the water and did the impossible, he did the conceivable. In verse 30 it says, but he saw the wind boisterous. He saw the storm. Oh, here's old Peter, man. He, I've got to give him credit.

Had a boy stepped out on the water at least. Amen. I mean, he's out there on the water. The other old boys are, they're hanging over the side of the ship, probably sick as dogs, you know, and old Peter's out there walking on the water.

He's walking to the Lord, but he took, what he did is he saw the storms. Now, how did he see the storms? He took his eyes off Jesus. Hey, he was watching Jesus and walking on the water, but when the circumstances began to overwhelm him, he took his eyes off God and he looked at the problem.

He looked at the circumstances. That's what a lot of you do. Hey, you're out there serving God, man, love God, living for God. Everything's good, but hey, all of a sudden you lose your job or something, some problem comes up.

Oh, and you know what happens to you? You began to doubt God. And when you doubt God, you know what happens? You do the next thing, what old Peter did, he did the natural thing. And verse 30 says, but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid.

He feared destruction. There are some of you men here tonight, you're afraid about losing your business, afraid about losing your job, afraid about losing your health. You're afraid that you don't have enough money put back for retirement right now.

You're afraid of what your kid's going to do, marry the wrong person. Fear dominates your life. And the Bible says you cannot have faith and fear at the same time. One of those two will dominate your life.

And if you are controlled by fear, you cannot have faith. And the reason you have fear in your heart is because you have taken your eyes off Jesus. You're looking at the circumstances, but the Bible says greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

You see friends, as long as you're watching Jesus, as long as you're sold out to Jesus, as long as you're committed to the things of God, you can walk on the water. Friend, you can have that supernatural miracle working faith.

But when you take your eyes off of the Lord and you start looking at your problems, the old devil will come into your life. He'll cause doubt. He'll cause fear. And when doubt and fear come into your heart, there is no faith because whatever is not faith is sin.

And when you have fear and doubt, because you are controlled by the circumstances, the Bible says that sin and that caused old Peter to sink. The Bible says he did the expected thing. Verse 30, it says, but when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink.

He began to fail. I guarantee you, you're going to fail without Jesus. Listen, I've been there, done that. I bought the T-shirt, friend. I'm telling you, you're going to fail without Jesus. You go out there, you work hard, you do all you want to do.

You live without God. You're going to fail. You're going to sink. You're going to die and go to hell. Or if you're born again, you're going to live a defeated and discouraged life. Peter walked on the water.

I see it all the time, friends. I see folks who really get born again. They really trust God. They live for God. But you know what they do? They quit witnessing to other people. They quit reading their Bible, memorizing scripture.

They quit praying for any length of time. They quit being filled with the Holy Spirit. They quit doing the things of God. And that flesh begins to dominate that spirit. And when the flesh dominates the spirit, it causes your eyes to be drawn off Jesus, to look at the worldly circumstances.

It causes you to doubt. It causes you to fear. It causes you to fail. Friend, I want to tell you, you want to get your life under control? You got to get that flesh under control. Some of you right now, and I'll tell you how you need to do it.

Prayer, Fasting, and Repentance for Spiritual Victory

You need to, number one, you need to get honest with God. About your life. What you need to do is you need to put that flesh under subjection to the spirit. You need to go on a, you need to go on number one.

What the Bible says by prayer and fasting, you need to go on a fast. I suggest you start a fast at 6 p .m. Go to the next night at 6 p .m. That's a Jewish 24 hour day. Fast with water and juices. And you during that 24 hour, you know why you fast?

You fast to put that flesh under subjection to the spirit. You let the flesh be the dominant force in your life. Then you need to get alone by yourself. And like David say, God, search me, try me, show if there's any evil in my heart.

Get along with God. Take a pen and a piece of paper and let God speak to your heart. And list all those things in your life that are unconfessed. Then one by one, go back and repent. And I will tell you, when you clean up your heart, clean up your life, put your flesh under subjection to the spirit.

It will give you power. It will give you faith to keep your eyes on the Lord. To let you have victory and joy. Hallelujah. You've got to have faith, but you've got to do it God's way, sir. Faith. Oh, Peter began to sink, but then he did the right thing.

Calling on the Lord for Salvation

Verse 30, he said, when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried saying, Lord, save me. Oh, Peter finally came to his senses. Peter finally realized that without Jesus, he was doomed and damned.

Some of you are doomed and damned tonight. Some of you tonight, if you were to die tonight, you'd go straight to hell. Right now, you're up to your neck in the water and you're sinking fast. And what you need to do tonight is you need to call on the Lord like Peter did.

He said, Lord, save me. You see, you don't understand your situation, sir. You're a sinner against God. You're a rebel against God. You've lived a selfish and self-centered life. You've ignored God with your life.

Oh, you may have your name on a church robe, but you've not given your heart to God. And because you are a sinner, a rebel against God at this very moment, in the eyes of God, you are doomed and you are down to a place called hell.

There's no hope for you. There's absolutely nothing you can do to save yourself. You cannot be good enough, give enough, do enough. Read your Bible from cover to cover. You are doomed and damned. You're sinking in the water right now and the water's up to your nose.

But the Bible says God loves you and he wants to save you. But you are a sinner against the most high God. Your sin debt must be punished. So what God did was God sent his son Jesus and Jesus has come.

He's taken our sin. He's gone to a cross. He's taken our place. He paid our sin debt. He died so that we could live. He suffered hell so that we could enjoy heaven. And the Bible says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Peter, walking on the water, took his eyes off Jesus. He began to see the circumstances. He began to doubt. He began to fear. He began to fail. But hallelujah, at the moment of crisis, he said, Lord, save me.

And some of you tonight need to do the very same thing, because when Peter called on the Lord, you know what the Bible said? It said in verse 31, and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, why did you doubt?

Friend, I tell you what, tonight God stands ready to save you. Your circumstances are about to overwhelm you. Your heart's empty. You've tried it all. You've done it all, but you're failing. You're sinking in the water.

And right now, tonight, God's going to give you the greatest opportunity you'll ever have to be saved, because my friend, you'll never be in another service like this again the rest of your life. You're never going to feel like you feel tonight ever again.

God's never going to call you again like he's going to call you tonight. It's the opportunity of a lifetime. You're sinking. You're overcome with the circumstances. You're doomed and damned. But if you'll call upon the name of the Lord, immediately he'll save you.

You know what he'll do? He'll forgive you of every sin you've ever committed. He'll cleanse your heart. He'll purify your life. He'll change the way you think, the way you talk. He'll put his Holy Spirit in your heart to guide you and direct you.

He'll write your name down in the book of life, the record book of everybody who's going to heaven. You know why he'll do it, sir? Because he loves you. He loves you. And I want to tell you, you've done absolutely nothing to cause God to love you.

In fact, you've done everything to cause him not to love you, but he does love you and he'll save you if you'll come to him. Then Peter did, you know what he did after Jesus grabbed him? He did the impossible thing again.

The Victorious Life of Keeping Faith

Have you ever thought about this in verse 32? It said, and when they were come to the ship, the wind ceased. How did they get back to the ship? They walked in the water back to the ship. You see, that's where the victory is.

The victory is, yes, there's a God in heaven. And if you'll go to him and keep your eyes on him, you can do impossible things. You can live an abundant life. You can live a victorious life. You can live that overcoming life.

You can walk on the water, but you've got to keep your eyes on the Lord. You've got to keep fear out of your heart. You can't be dominated by the circumstances. You've got to put your hand in the hand of Jesus.

And your life will be super naturally changed. Tonight, there are many of you here that need to come to Jesus. You see, I didn't always believe in God. I wasn't one of those boys that was raised up always believing in God.

Personal Testimony of Conversion

Oh, when I was 12 years old, I walked an aisle like most boys do. And I prayed a prayer and was baptized like most boys do when you're from the south. But I didn't have God. I didn't have God. I was selfish and self-centered.

I lived only for myself. When I was 16 years old, I got a car. I didn't go back to church once I was 16. I went off to college on a football scholarship, lived in the dorm. I drank, I partied, I ran around, lived like the devil.

Never once did I go to church. But if you were to ask me, was I a Christian? I said, well, sure, I'm a Christian. Because when I was 12, I walked that aisle. But I didn't have God. I didn't have God. There are some of you tonight just like that.

You've walked an aisle and joined the church, but you haven't joined Jesus. You've been baptized in some water, but hey, you've not been born again. You have your name on a church roll somewhere. But God has not written it down in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life.

You know how I knew I was not saved? My life didn't change. But the Bible says the proof that you are really born again, it changes your life. And men, when it changes your life, it changes it this way.

When a man really gets saved, it produces righteousness in his life. It produces godliness in his life. It produces holiness in his life. It produces a passion for the things of God. And men, tonight, I love you, but listen to me.

If tonight you don't have godliness in your life, if you don't have righteousness in your life, if you don't have Christ's likeness in your life, you are not saved. If tonight you do not have a passion for the things of God, you don't know God.

You need to come tonight and repent and be born again before it's everlastingly too late. The whole story of the Bible is, yes, God loves you, but you sinned against him and you've got to come back and repent.

When I was 36 years old, man, I'd lived a life without God. My wife was praying for me. She prayed for me for eight years to be saved. And I was a sorry case. I'm telling you, on Sunday morning, she had to get up to go to church.

And I sat in the living room and read my paper and drink coffee. I didn't have time for church. That was for sissies, little children. I didn't want to go and be around that church was boring and dull.

I thought, man, I didn't have time for that. I was a man. I wanted to make money. I want to do manly things. I didn't have time for that sissy religion stuff. I was a businessman for about 15 years on my own business, became very successful.

But there came a day when I tried it all and done it all. And I had that empty spot in my heart. And a man sat me down, a man who had a lot of courage. And he said, William, what you've got is religion.

He said, son, religion will kill you. He said, you don't need any more religion in your life. What you need is Jesus to come in your life. And I didn't know much about this Bible. But you know what, man, I knew I was empty on the inside.

And I knew I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was weary of being weary. And I wanted God to change my life and save my soul. I had a little faith, man. And the preacher told me the story about how I had sinned against God.

And I knew that, hey, he didn't have to convince me I was a sinner. I knew I was a sinner. I knew I was a rebel. I knew I was prideful. I knew I was self-centered. I knew I had lived for myself and lived without God.

He said, William, you've rebelled against God. I said, that's the truth. I've rebelled against God. He said, William, God loves you. But that rebellion is sin. And God says the wages of sin is death. He said, at this very moment, you're doomed to hell.

There's no hope. He said, but the good news, the gospel is, even though you're a rebel, even though you're a sinner, God loves you. And he has sent his son to save you. And Jesus took your sins, William.

He went to a cross. He died on that cross. He's paid for your sins. You don't have to pay your sin debt. You can be forgiven. And I said, well, preacher, I believe that. I mean, I've heard about Jesus all my life.

I'm a good Baptist. Listen, man. Here's what he told me. He said, William, you can believe in Jesus and go straight to hell. You see, you're here tonight. You believe in Jesus? Well, you're no better than the demons of hell.

The Bible says you believe in God. Well, congratulations, the demons in hell believe in God. Hell is going to be filled up with people who believe in Jesus. You can believe in Jesus. You can believe in your church membership.

You believe in your baptism. You believe it all. That's not how you get to be born again by the Spirit of God. Number one, you must repent. And that word repent means you must get honest with God tonight.

See, God knows what you are. It's like when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden and God came looking for him and God said, Adam, where are you? Hey, buddy, he knew where Adam was. He wanted Adam to know where he was.

He was lost from God. You've got to know you're a sinner. You've got to admit you're a sinner. See, God knows you're a sinner. God knows you're lost. He's waiting for you to get a hold of that. Then you must repent.

That means you've got to turn from that sin. Sir, you can't come to Jesus with sin. That old alcohol's got to go down. That fornication's got to go down. That lying's got to go down. That rebellion against God's got to go down.

That drug, it's got to go down, buddy. You can't come to Jesus living like the devil. You've got to say, God, I've come and I lay my sins down. I live, leave the world. I want to come and give my life to you.

Buddy, I want to tell you, if you haven't committed your life to Christ, you've not been born again. It's not walking an aisle and praying a little prayer. It is giving your will up to let God's will come into your heart and forgive you and save you.

Conversion Through Repentance and Faith in Christ

On Thursday night, October 24th, 1983, I was 36 years old. I got on my knees and I prayed, God, I know I'm a sinner and I know I'm lost. And I know there's absolutely nothing I can do to save myself. But God, I believe you love me.

I believe Jesus died on that cross just for me to pay my sin debt. I believe he was buried. I believe he was raised from the dead. And God, I don't understand everything about it. But with my heart, I believe.

I stepped out on the water and that night, man, God did something in my heart that I can't even explain tonight. But that night, God came into my heart and he filled that empty spot up. And God washed away my sin, took that guilt of sin.

He put my feet on the solid rock that night. He pointed my eyes toward heaven. He supernaturally changed me. I have never been the same. And from that Thursday night until this Friday night, friends, it has been 15 years.

And I'm telling you, I love Jesus more tonight than I loved him then. I have more of a passion tonight than I had then. And I'm telling you, God came into my heart. He turned my life around. He put my eyes on him.