Unfeigned Faith — Hans R. Waldvogel

Faith Grounded in Christ Rather Than Human Opinion

Is it the gossip of men? Is it the interpretation men put on scripture? Is it what your uncles and your aunts and your cousins and your nearby neighbors tell you? Or is your faith based on glory to God?

Israel’s Unbelief at the Borders of the Promised Land

Not what the prophets and Moses said should come, but on what Jesus Christ is to you today. Oh, how different my life will be when it's a life of faith. They entered not in because of unbelief. God had taken them by the hand and taken them out of the house of bondage, brought them through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, fed them with the bread of angels for forty years, led them by the pillar of clouds by day and the pillar of fire by night, performed these great signs and wonders, and yet when they came up to the promised land, there they got stuck.

They wouldn't go in. Why was it? Why did they listen to the gossip of the ten spies? What did they say? Well, they came right back from their universities and from their schools of learning with their thermometers and their hot water bottles and with their learning, you know.

Now they had gone to school and now they were able to talk Latin and Greek and they were able to make the hearts of the people very heavy. Isn't that what the devil's able to do? Isn't that what he is after?

Why is it that these giants, we measured them. We measured them by their shadows. You know, you have to study mathematics and mathematical equation and then you can measure the height of the entire state building just by the shadow.

And so they were able to measure the heights of these giants and they said, why they're going to eat us up? Why, of course they are. It is natural. And then they had these snapshots and moving pictures to prove it.

Fear, Trials, and the Question of What God Has Done

And oh, how these Israelites began to shake. That's what we do. We shake at the leaves. The falling of a leaf makes the shake. And here God Almighty had proposed to bring them into that promised land and they entered not in because of unbelief, because at the time of their test, at the time of their trial, they said, God cares.

Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Why did you bring us here? You didn't bring us into a promised land. Now we're going to be afraid and our children, the darling babe. Mother wept over her little Jackie and her little Prisley.

And oh, they're going to be eaten up now. Those giants, these ogres are going to swallow them alive. It's just one gulp and down goes Jackie. And one more gulp and down goes little Marie. And they're going to be afraid.

Why, of course they are. Sure they are. What did God say? Oh, beloved, that's the question. What did God say? But infinitely more than what did he say, what did he do? And infinitely more than that, what is he to me today?

Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Jesus said, I am the way. Thank God. I am the truth. I am the life. And I will not leave you comfortless. I like the German version. Ich werde euch nicht weisen lassen. We had that motto in our church in Switzerland and I couldn't understand what it meant, weisen.

I couldn't understand that word. I hadn't gone to school yet. But after a while it became very precious. I'm not going to leave you like an orphan, like a fatherless child. How much more shall your heavenly Father, how much more it is our unbelief, beloved, that keeps us out of the promised land and keeps us from enjoying the presence of Jesus and the fullness of God.

After all, they didn't care much for the glory of God. That's why their faith suffered shipwreck. But how is it with us tonight? Oh, fools. Fools and slow of heart. We've come into this wonderful meeting and Jesus is here.

And we felt his presence. Well, if we hadn't felt it, we'd still know that he was here because he said, Lo, I am with you always. Lo, that's what opened the doors into Pentecostal experience. When people were not satisfied just to sing about it.

We used to sing, Lo, I'm with you always. But nobody believed it. We came to church to chew gum like Pentecostal bachelors and saints do today. Boy, I had a real trial the other, last week, when a woman sat next to me and she smelled like a, like a toothpaste factory.

And she kept munching it and then in between saying, Hallelujah. Like a cow in a church in the house of God. Beloved, if you know Jesus, you'll come and your mouth will be filled with his praise and your heart will be on fire and you will bow before him and you will expect him to reveal himself and praise God before you speak to anybody.

You'll talk to God upon your knees or in your heart anyway. You'll open your soul and God will manifest himself every time. He says, At that day ye shall know that I am in my father and ye in me and I in you.

Entering God’s Rest by Faith

What a promised land. What a place of rest. What a place of victory. And almighty God has provided it for me and asked me to enter it by faith. And without faith it is impossible to please him. Impossible.

Beloved, we ought to make a study of faith. It's a good thing when God allows us to get into a storm once in a while. A fierce storm. They would never have found out who Jesus was if he hadn't pushed them into the boat and he said, Get going boys.

They hung on to him. He said, Get going. And he gave them a push. And off they went. And Jesus knew what would happen. And when they were in the midst of the sea their oars didn't seem to function anymore.

They were going around in circles and they were going to kick one another. What in the world are you doing? You're a fine oarsman. They were getting no place. But he saw them. He saw that they were suffering.

And so he came walking upon the sea. O Beloved, my Savior is my Savior. He is my bright room. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. And only faith unites me to this Son of God. Only faith fills me with the Holy Ghost.

Faith Comes Through Hearing the Word of God

What will faith do for me in this meeting tonight? Faith. And where does faith come from? It doesn't come from emotion. Oh, I tell you, God's people are full of superstition. When a man comes along with an oil bottle then they measure the bottle and they wonder how much oil there's in it.

And they want to know if there's any perfume there or not. All kinds of crazy ideas. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. Thus saith the Lord. And when you take that into your heart it will grow. The kingdom of God will be yours.

And all hell will be defeated. Oh, fools in slow of heart. I like that. I didn't use to like God call me a fool. But I like it now. It's good. Oh, hallelujah. Fools in slow of heart. I was telling my fish story in Berlin one day.

The Aquarium Story and God’s Care for His People

It's good. You know, the Lord, the Lord had me in his school. I didn't have time to go to school so the Lord had me in his school. And one day, when I was going to give my fish a new aquarium I liked my fish.

And I had to be awake. And I had little ones. They were just two eyes and a tail, a wriggly tail. Twenty of them. And every day I thought of those little fish. And I wanted to feed them. I had two aquariums, a large and a small.

When I came home I made a beeline for that small aquarium. I figured how long they'd be. Now they've grown. And when I came there there wasn't a fish in that thing. Not a trace of one. I said, Walter, what did you do with my fish?

Did you feed them? Huh. Did you have fish in that thing too? That's all he cared. But God isn't like that. When he has fish, or he has sheep, he goes before them. He gives them life, life more abundant.

Well, the bigger fish were there, but the aquarium was so dirty that I made up my mind to clean it up. So I took these fish out and put them in a little basin, wash basin. And I cleaned that aquarium.

I remember how I scrubbed that glass wall and put fresh sand, went to the store, got white sand and fresh plants. And they had to be planted systematically and scientifically. And then the light and the heater, so they wouldn't freeze their toes.

Everything had to be just right for my fish because they were my fish. They were my fish and they were going to know it. They were going to know who they belonged to. Beloved Jesus Christ wants you to know who your shepherd is.

And he wants you to know who died for you and who rose again and who lives within you. And he cannot do that except by faith. O fool and slow of heart, we ought to do like the sisters say, come out of the old aquarium and come into the new.

Come into him, that's where we belong. And so I came back with my aquarium and I thought, oh, my fish will last. And you know what had happened? They'd all committed suicide, every one of them. Now, some people question that, but it's a fact.

They were lying around that wash basin, curled up, stiff. I tried to bring them back to life. I blew into their gills. Nothing, nothing helped. My, what good was my aquarium now? What good is heaven? What good is the church?

Christ’s Life-Giving Presence in the Church

What good is the body of Christ? Oh, beloved, that wonderful head sends his life-giving spirit into every member of his body and he asks us, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

And this morning we said, it isn't so much what he does for us, but what he is. Praise God, that's the thing that ought to make me praise the Lord. And you see, when these fish couldn't look through because it was opaque, then they got razzly and they got scared and they began to kick and then they began to jump.

You've seen them jump, pronounce the jump, out of the water, out of the life-giving elements. And there was one fish that was especially bad. He was a sore-tailed fish. He'd always chase the others.

Now, that thing really got me. If I had been that fish, I'd have taken the others together and said, let's have a Bible class. Now, I'd have said, now listen, fish, you remember how Brother Walsall has been kind to us ever since we came into this house, has taken care of us, given us food, and now for 15 minutes you can't look through the wall?

Why, I bet he's got something up his sleeve, something better, praise God. I did. But you see, they didn't enter in because of unbelief. Well, now, you know, that was a wonderful illustration to me when we were put out at Seneca Avenue all at once.

Trusting God’s Provision in Unexpected Trials

We were told to get out. That building was sold and I said to my brother, I think the Lord's through with me. There was no chance of getting another church. We had no money. And what were we going to do?

And my brother said, listen, God's got something better for us. And he did. We moved in here without a hitch. God did it all. Praise God. Didn't he say he would? Didn't he say, I'll never leave you nor forsake you?

Don't we read in Romans 8 at the beginning of the chapter, there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Don't you take any condemnation. They that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, here's a highway of holiness, but faith alone communicates to me that life that we heard of.

Jesus, let me walk with thee. And the baptism of the Holy Ghost opens all that treasury of this heavenly life to me. Thank God. Read that eighth chapter of Romans. It's exceedingly wonderful. He talks about divine healing.

He says if Christ is in you, you've got the fountain of life there. It isn't thiamins or rival flavors or vitamins or calories or any of that stuff. The spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.

What did he come to do? The centurion knew what he came to do. He said speak the word only and my servant shall live. Beloved, let's not get shaken as soon as we have a little trial. Trials will come.

The world has trials. We will have trials. But thank God he says I'm a very present help in trouble. And further down in that chapter he tells us we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.

Christ Fulfills the Law and Opens Understanding

Here Jesus says full and slow of heart to believe ought not Christ to have suffered. And then he opened their understanding. And then he came back to Jerusalem and revealed himself to the 12th and he opened their understanding and he told them that all things that were written in Moses in the prophets and in the psalms I like that.

Let people tear the Bible to pieces. My Jesus comes right out of it. Lives in it. Lives by the Old Testament. That's the testament that was made for him. And he, thank God, came to fulfill that law and he honored every word written in the Old Testament by fulfilling every word.

And now he has come to fulfill the New Testament in you and in me. Oh wonder of wonder. Let's get acquainted with it. Let's treasure it. Here's the will. Here's the testament of my God. My God. How long ere they will believe me God said.

Believing God Instead of Murmuring

Now they murmur again. And they were murmuring until their tears fell into the sand and brought fiery serpents down. That's what our murmuring will do. We need to close our ears to the voices of men. Let every man be a liar.

That includes some women too. Let God be true and every man a liar. God doesn't mean to insult people of course. But listen, God is true. God is true. Thank God the word that proceedeth out of my mouth and here God speaks to us by his son.

Oh Father I thank you for the son. I thank you for this unspeakable gift. Thank you. And tonight you can be partaker of the power of God. Tonight if your heart will say yes to God today. He has already said yes.

Now you say yes. Oh come let us not be against Satan and unbelieving people. Let us honor our God. Praise God. Let us honor him by believing Jesus. By having a resurrection feast every day.