Answers for Our Days — Manley Beasley

Entering God’s Rest Through Faith

I just want us to pray that God will mightily use this tape in your life, in your home, in your church, and in our world. As we are facing these days ahead of us, it looks rather shaky. Things look very, very, very bleak.

And I'll tell you, if your eyes are not fixed upon Jesus, if you're really not settled in his faithfulness in the Word of God, I know that you're in real, real trouble. I know that I'd like to just share something of a promise with you as I just start out in this particular message out of the Amplified Bible, the fourth chapter.

Let me just read the first two or three verses. Therefore, while the promises of entering in his rest still holds and is offered today, let us be afraid to distrust it, lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of reaching it.

For indeed, we have had the glad tithing of God proclaimed to us just as truly as they, the Israelites of old, did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith, that is, with the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in his power, wisdom, and goodness.

And those who heard it, neither were they united in faith with Joshua and Caleb, the ones who heard did believe. For we who have believed, who have adhered to and trusted and relied on God, do enter into that rest in accordance with his declaration that those who did not believe should not enter when he said, As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.

And this he said, although his works had been completed and prepared and waiting for all who would believe from the foundation of the world. A scripture reference for that last scripture I gave you there is Psalms 95 -11.

Now, here's what I want to say. The children of God did not get into the full blessings of God, because they did not mix the promises with faith. That's a very significant thing to remember. And the life of victory for those who believe and have faith in God, are those who have faith are still available for us today.

So let us labor to enter into that rest. And the works of God have been completed and prepared and waiting for all who would believe from the foundation of the world. Isn't that something? That's three things.

One is they did not mix the promises with faith. And that's something. And the rest that was offered to the children of Israel is offered unto us today, and we need to believe. We just need to believe and labor that we enter into that rest.

And the things that we are to believe God for have been completely prepared, waiting for all who would believe from the foundation of the world. Isn't that something? Now I'm reminded of another verse of scripture that I have been dealing with a great deal in these days, and that is Ephesians 2 .10.

God’s Prepared Path for Believers

Now I want to read that to you out of the Amplified Bible. For we are God's own handiwork, his workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand for us, taking paths which he prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live.

Isn't that amazing? God prearranged this life for us that we may just walk in that path. So this is so beautiful. And I trust that God is making himself real to you. Well, thank the Lord. It's good to just be with you.

I just thought I'd share those few things that were just laying right here on top of the desk and I had no intentions of doing any more than just giving you those few thoughts to think about and pray about and be blessed about over against what we are facing in our day because we are facing a lot of tragedy.

Seeking God’s Mind in Troubled Times

Boy, I mean things are up in the air and we're going to be able to discuss some of those things that are up in the air in this tape. And I know if you're like I am, I am really having a great deal of disturbance.

And so I need to know something of the mind of God about myself, my family, my church and my world. And we're facing drastic changes right and left. And I feel like we're facing these drastic changes.

We need to discuss them. Now, the Lord is blessing in a beautiful way. One of the things that he's doing right now that I want to share with you and I want you to pray with me about is that God is setting up some unique Bible conferences and we have the blessed privilege of having Roy Hessen over here in the month of October and the month of November.

And Roy Hessen is the man who wrote Calvary Road. And if you've never read Calvary Road, you need to read Calvary Road. It's a very inexpensive little book, but it's definitely a book that God will use to minister mightily to your life.

And so I trust that you will get a hold of that book and if you are not near a bookstore or something like that, you write us and we'll get it to you as near wholesale cost as possible. And I think we can do that.

I think that we will have extra copies on hand because we're having Hessen in our area. So it may be that you might be interested in the rest of his books. He's written a number of books recently. One of his latest books is My Calvary Road.

You may be interested in that. But I want you to pray. I really depend on this Tape Club group to be a group of prayer warriors for me. And so you pray about these conferences. Roy Hessen and I will be in two conferences together and we'll be having a great time together and I believe that the Lord is going to bless mightily.

I want you to pray for my wife, Marthie, as she's taking on more and more speaking engagements and the Lord is blessing her beautifully. And her health is just doing wonderful. We're just real excited about how God has really moved in and blessed in her health situation.

And I'm real thrilled that he's still blessing mightily in my health situation. I'm just in the atmosphere of praising God because how good God has been to me. I don't know when I've ever felt any better and I don't know when I've ever worked any harder.

The Need for Revival and God-Centered Confidence

And I really feel the urge to say and go and do as much as possible because we're at the end of the rope in this country and things have got to change. Something has got to take place. And if we do not see God do a great and mighty work, I feel in these next few years, I know that we're done for.

So I'm interested in getting the books and tapes out and my own life out and share with the people of the world what I believe is my conviction as to what the need of the hour is. And I know that you might just ask that question, Brother Manley, what do you think the need of this hour is?

Well, I know that we need help in so many areas, but the need of the hour is for a mighty revival. And I will explain what I mean on this level. We are in need for men to see that the answer is not within themselves, it's within God.

This afternoon I went to a ball game. To me it was as important as any great game that's ever been played. And the reason for it is that our son that's 14 was on the team and he's one of the key players and he enjoys it and he is a good boy.

And God is blessing him and he has a wonderful testimony. And so they came up against the number one school in the area and our team won. And our team is made up of just a whole group of Christian fellas, good boys, just fantastic little fellas.

And they've been so friendly and so fine, you know, through these last couple of years that they've been together. And I was walking back to my vehicle as these kids came off the field after winning. And I noticed our Christian boys just screaming to the top of their voices, we are number one, we are number one.

And you know, the thought just went through me, they're not even aware of the fact that God has enabled them to do all this. You know, and I couldn't hear God in any voice anywhere. And you know, you might say, well, God doesn't have a lot to do with a football game.

Well, he possibly doesn't, you know, calculate this one will win, that one will win. He just knows what's going on. And he knows who's going to win and who should win and who should not win because of their temperament and their relationship to God.

And I know that everything happens in a boy's life, whether it's football or whatever, has been designed of God to bring that boy to God, whether it's a win or a loss and so on and so forth. So we could talk about that.

But I didn't hear God, I didn't see God, I didn't hear those boys recognizing God. And it just really shook me as we walked off of that field, because, you see, we're number one and God is shaking this nation right now about being number one.

I mean, just really shaking this nation about being number one. And I mean God is shaking this nation in such a way that, friend, we're no longer number one. And I mean God is breaking down the power structure of this nation and God is breaking down the strength of this nation and God is just tearing it apart.

And it's obvious right now that there's no telling how much of a recession that we may even go in. And it could just fall apart overnight. And the need is for men and women to recognize that God is number one, that it's first God and then us.

And I think the need of this nation tonight is for a minor revival that will restore God to number one. That men in high places will recognize that it's God that's made the way, that's made everything possible, that's made everything available, that's enabled us to carry on.

That it's God. It's our eternal, ever-living God. It's our Father. It's our Savior. It's our Lord that's made all this possible. And so I just, I'm praying for that kind of revival. Praise God, I didn't intend to get in and start preaching at this point, but I just really feel that this is a great need of this hour.

New Approaches for Sharing the Gospel

And I'm trusting that God will awaken our people. I had a man call today that feels like his ministry can touch 20 million people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I believe it will touch 20 million people.

And he says that already the stage is set for people to listen. Listen to the gospel. Listen to the gospel. But they're not going to listen to the gospel out of the traditional setting. The traditional setting.

The old church setting. Wow, that really shook me. That really shook me because still, most of my ministry is in what you'd consider the old church setting. And here he is saying the world is not going to receive the gospel out of an old church setting.

And more, I tell you, that really helped me to see that some way, somehow, God is going to have to raise up ideas that are initiated by him that are so different that it's going to get the gospel out.

Now, God did strange things back in the New Testament days. He used the New Testament church. And I don't think he's going to change from the New Testament church. I think the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church.

And I believe the church is going to be right on line, right on through. And I think it will be through the church that God will mightily move. But, I do believe that the church will come up with God-initiated approaches to reaching the masses with the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation and deepening of their spiritual life.

It will be shocking to us as they do this. But, may God help us to see the need for this, this very hour, this very day, that we need God to move in on the scene. And I believe that the need of this hour is for a mighty revival.

My heart is earnestly yearning for a mighty revival. And I can see God moving in and across the country on the basis of a mighty revival. Now, I had not intended to get into what I've just been into. I've been just talking to you.

Doubts About Salvation and Falling from Grace

And I have not, I really had not intended for this to really come into action. But, one of the things I did intend to do with you this month is just ask questions. Just ask questions and answer them. And the questions that I am asking are questions that have been written to me and I just want to discuss for a little bit.

And so, would you listen with me as we discuss these different questions? The first question that I want to discuss with you is this question. Why do I have doubts about my salvation? And is it possible for me to fall from grace?

Well, this particular question has two questions to it, doesn't it? And so, we are going to just possibly deal with both, but not thoroughly. Now, you will remember this about this particular message.

I haven't studied these questions and gone in and prepared a sermon for these questions. And, thereby, I'm just going to answer these questions right off of the cuff, right out of my heart. And much of the scripture that I'll give will be scripture that I'll be recalling from memory.

And many times I cannot give you the book, chapter, and verse of these scriptures, but I will give you a partial quotation of them. And I trust that if you really are looking for them, that you will be able to work that out with your own Bible study.

Why do I have doubts about my salvation? Well, we're assuming that you are saved. Some people have doubts about their salvation because they are not saved by the grace of God. Of course, that's not answering the question there.

We're assuming here that the person has salvation, I guess. But, let me just say this in introducing this thought. Many, many people that I've talked to about Jesus, and they've had doubts about whether or not they were saved, and it was because they were not saved.

They were not saved. They had actually come to God on some humanistic approach. They made a decision for God. This is a thing that's really popular among us Baptists. We make decisions for God, and there's no evidence that God committed himself to that person when they made that decision.

So they doubt their salvation because the decision was on a very emotional level, or an intellectual level, rather than a spiritual level. Rather than a spiritual level. And so, people doubt their salvation because they've never had salvation.

But now, if a person is genuinely born of the Spirit, and you must be born of the Spirit, the Bible says, you're genuinely born of the Spirit. You can doubt your salvation, and you would doubt your salvation if there's known sin in your heart, known sin in your life, or, let me say, known disobedience in your life.

You would doubt salvation. We used to put it this way, that if you were living in sin, you would doubt your salvation. And if God had given you something like, called you into some particular type of ministry, and you had not obeyed, that's being disobedient to life.

That you would doubt your salvation. So I believe a person doubts whether or not they are saved when there is some kind of sin in their life, rebellion in their life of some sort. Then the devil has a way.

Now, what do you think about Satan suggesting thoughts to us that we're not saved? Now, I believe Satan can suggest thoughts to a person that they're not saved. But suggesting thoughts into your mind that you're not saved is a great deal different than making you doubt your salvation.

In my way of understanding, the difference between suggesting the thoughts in your mind and doubting your salvation. Now, is it possible for me to fall from grace? I believe that there's no scriptural basis, really, that thoroughly makes it firm that a person can ever fall from grace.

There are some scriptures in the Bible that indicate that people get away from grace. But I believe that once a person is in grace, they are always in grace. And that they cannot fall from grace. Now, the reason I'm moving on here is not because I'm through.

The Spirit-Filled Life

I am not through. I just, I know my time is limited. If I'm going through these nine questions that have been asked me. And so I am going through most of these questions. Now, here's another question that is really good.

What is the spirit-filled life? What is the spirit-filled life? I believe the spirit-filled life is a saved person that's saved by the grace of God, keeping their sins confessed up to date, and being obedient to the light that God has given them.

Now, I believe this spirit-filled life starts when a person is saved. And if they were actually obedient to all the light, and also keeping their sins confessed up to date, that they could, by faith, stay filled with the Holy Spirit right on from the time they're born again.

Most people I have talked to, which have been thousands, did not do it that way. They got saved and lived a wishy-washy life, a very immature life. And then later on up the road, they got filled with the Holy Spirit.

So that when they got filled, they realized that the filling of the Holy Spirit was for them, be not drunken with wine, wherein the excess, but be you filled with the Holy Spirit. And they were filled with the Holy Spirit by confessing their sins, getting their lives cleaned up, and then a simple work of grace through faith.

They believed, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And as they were filled with the Holy Spirit, then they maintained that filling of the Holy Spirit by the fact that they grieved not, they quenched not, and they walked by the Holy Spirit.

All of this is so beautifully put in the Bible. Now, let me just say this. When we talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit, we're talking about a continuous work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

And we're talking about every believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit. The next question is, what is the difference in the baptism of the Holy Spirit that D. L. Moody and Charles G. Finney makes reference to, opposed to the charismatic baptism they refer to with the evidence of speaking in tongues?

Baptism, Filling, and Empowerment by the Holy Spirit

Now, I would really enjoy speaking to this a great deal, and I will just tell you what's on my heart. I believe that, well, let me just give my testimony a little bit, and you'll pick up the truth as we go along.

Back when I first became a Christian and got hungry for a work of God in my life, I was hungry for the work of the Holy Spirit. I was hungry for the work of the Holy Spirit in my heart to endue me with power to be a mighty, mighty witness for winning people to the lost.

And this was a longing of my heart. And I studied dozens of books that related to this matter of the baptism of fire, of power, or the endowment of power, or the endowment of the Holy Spirit. And out of all of these books, nothing about tongues was mentioned, but what was pictured was the fact that if a person got properly related to the Lord in a given situation, that he would be mightily endued with power for service.

And then he would have to continue to seek the face of God for mighty endowments of power for other occasions of service. And so I just looked into the book of Acts, and Acts 2. And when the Holy Spirit came, you know, he baptized people into the body of Christ.

And this is certainly what happened. He baptized them. But there's just only one baptism like this, and that is he baptized us all into the body of Christ. And when we get saved by the grace of God, we're baptized into that body of Christ.

It's one baptism. But another thing happened there in Acts 2 was that they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And I've already talked about how a person could be filled and so on. And so I feel that the filling of the Holy Spirit is definitely a work.

But I believe that they were also endued with power for service here in this chapter. And I think you can see that very easily. They were endued with power. And they were not only endued in Acts 2. In Acts 4, they were endued with power again.

And I do have a little more material on this in some of the tapes that were preached about two years or two and a half years ago. And if you're interested in some of those tapes, you know, you can get them out of our office.

But nevertheless, you know, this enduement or mighty baptism is definitely to me a work of the Holy Spirit apart from the baptism into the body of Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit in the day-by-day walk.

And I prefer to call it an enduement rather than a baptism. Now, I think it's unfortunate that the Pentecostal people, or should I say Charismatic people, not Pentecostal people, have chosen to say that this is a baptism.

And you know, if they want to call it a baptism, I won't fuss about that. But the fact that they add to it, or they fuse it with the filling, and they not only fuse this baptism with the filling, or this enduement with the filling, they fuse it with the evidence of tongues.

And I think what they've done is they have so categorized God at this point that He cannot cease, He cannot continue to be God in a given situation. In other words, they say you must have this experience.

Now, I've looked at the life of Finney and I've looked at the life of Moody, and I'm not interested in throwing stones at them, but I do, you know, feel that they use the word baptism rather loosely. Because one time they would refer to the baptism, the word enduement as baptism, and another time they would refer to the enduement as a filling.

And I can't be too critical of them, because look how they left us a mighty, mighty heritage. My God mightily used them and poured His Spirit out upon them, and thousands and hundreds of thousands of people were saved by the grace of God, and I'm certainly not interested in criticizing them.

And I wouldn't criticize them over their misuse of a word. In my own ministry I've gone through different stages, and I have referred to the filling as a baptism or enduement of power. I've even referred to it as a baptism two or three different times.

And then I have referred to the baptism of the Holy Spirit that's a legitimate baptism into the body of Christ as a filling, and I haven't distinguished it as I should. And so I find that we all make mistakes with a matter of words, but let's be sure that we reach right into the heart of man and we really understand what he's saying.

I heard Bob Gray say this one time years ago when I saw him mighty moved. He said, I don't know what to call this, a baptism or a filling or anointing. He just said, I know there's a mighty work of the Holy Spirit on the life of a believer that enables him to accomplish God's end.

Now I believe that is to be called an enduement rather than a baptism. Now it's unfortunate that we're using words to identify ourselves and to cause division among us that's really creating a great havoc in our day because, boy, the day now has come to the point where we're in such drastic days that, boy, we need to see the work of God and we need to drop our sword, so to speak.

And I'm not talking about compromising the word of God, but we need to meet around the throne room of glory on the basis of the cross, the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and my dear friends, proclaim the truth that will help people and bring people to the living Lord.

Prayer and Trust in God’s Provision

Now another question, and I'm sure that I did not cover that question as much as I should have, but another question, and how do I get my prayers answered? How and when about the prayer? Well, I think you ought to pray when you want to pray.

I think you ought to pray when you don't want to pray. And I think you ought to pray with a heart that's in union with the Lord, that means oneness with the Lord, to where your desires are His desires so you can have your desires.

And I believe you ought to believe when you pray that you ought to believe that God is answering them right now. I believe that. I believe you ought to expect it. I believe that to be expected right this very moment.

Economic Crisis and Preparing for the Last Days

Now let me just ask you another question, and it's obvious that I'm not going to get through all of these questions. What about the economic problem that we see today, and how does this relate to the things of the Bible?

Well, boy, I could spend the rest of my time right here, and so you just hang on. Let me just go as hurriedly as I can. It's very obvious that the Lord teaches us that Jesus is going to come again, and most of the people I've studied after, including myself, have believed that before the Lord comes again that He's going to put America to the test.

Now I'm not saying that He's going to put us in the tribulation, but He's going to put us to the test. And I believe He's doing that right now. I believe He's putting to the test. I believe we have sinned against God.

Materialism has been the major sin, and the independence of God, and I believe God's going to touch us. At this point, and I believe that's where we're headed right now. Now I believe that you can call it a depression, or a time of inflation, or a recession, or whatever you want to call it, but God is going to speak to this nation before Jesus comes.

And I believe that it's going to help us. I believe it's really going to help us. And I would urge you as a child of God to prepare your heart as much as possible to live in these latter days. I mean prepare your heart to be able to look unto God, and find Him, and believe Him, and see Him manifest Himself in leading your life daily.

Now I wish I could spend a lot of time answering these questions. Now I've got so interested in answering them, I'd like to go back and answer all of them over again and get in more detail. But we're going now to have our next month, our next program, the rest of this program, I'll get it straight in a moment, is going to be the first radio program that we're going to put on.

It's going on there just in a few weeks, so we wanted to share it with you. And my purpose, let me say this in closing, my purpose in going on radio is to prepare the people, help the people to know how to live in these last days.

That's what it's for. And so I'm going to be talking about faith, the one message that I love to share. So you pray with us, and may God richly bless you. Hello, I'm Matt Kearney, Media Director for FIRE, which is Faith International Revival Enterprises, a division of Gospel Harvesters.

And before we play this audition tape for you of The Living Faith, which is our 15-minute daily Monday through Friday program, I thought I'd just enlighten you on a few things about the broadcast that you might want to know.

As it begins, you'll hear our opening theme, which was written and produced by Ron and Patricia Owens, and many of you are familiar with them and their work. And Ron wrote this, and the theme itself has a great message in itself, and I want you to just listen to that.

And I want to thank Lynn Farr, the announcer on this radio broadcast, who will follow with the announcing part. And this sample intro that's on this tape can be changed to fit the many needs that are there, depending on who the sponsor is.

The Broadcast’s Ministry and Support

I'd just like to say that we're really excited about the way people are responding to the broadcast. We've had many people write in and respond and call, and we're excited that Christian businessmen and laymen are responding all over the United States.

What has really surprised Brother Manley is that a lot of the pastors of various churches are responding. And we're finding, and they're telling us, that they want, first of all, a broadcast that will honor the Lord.

And second of all, these men want a broadcast whose ministry and teachings identifies with theirs, and a lot of these people are real close friends of Brother Manley. And third of all, they want a program that will minister to the total Christian community.

And as a result of sponsoring it, it will draw other people and families to their church. And finally, this broadcast can provide a time during the opening and close to share their ministries within their own church with the community and what's going on there.

Now I want to say that we're in 13 different markets right now. And as of this recording, we're just starting the Little Rock market. Olivet Baptist Church there sponsored it. Their pastor is Lamar Leifer.

And we anticipate being on Dallas station here within about two weeks. And should you be interested in getting details on how to get the broadcast in your area or how to sponsor it, call us at Gospel Harvesters.

That's area code 817 -267 -5992. Or write us at Gospel Harvesters, post office box 872, Euless, Texas, 76039. I ask that you pray for Brother Manley in this endeavor and pray for us. I'd just really like to be specific that you pray for his physical strength to make the tapes and for the time that's needed to do them.

This has presented a problem, and we just pray that the Lord will give us a victory over it. And then I'd like to thank the people who have already supported the radio ministry in the initial startup period by their prayers and by those who have responded with financial gifts.

And we just praise the Lord for you, and you know who you are, in standing with us. We've had a lot of experience, and we just praise the Lord for meeting it. He's so faithful. Now, I just wanted to say this as an introduction to the broadcast, and we hope you enjoy it.

And as you listen and have time, let us hear from you, and let us hear your comments. We want this to really honor the Lord, and I want you to know one other thing, that there'll never be a mention of money on any of these broadcasts.

And we just feel like that we're going to have a broadcast that's really going to spark an interest within the community, within our own denomination, and within our churches. Now, listen prayerfully as Brother Manley comes to you with the living faith.

The Meaning of Living Faith

A faith that's alive to get in on what God has promised his children depends on some action from you. A faith that is living means more than just trusting. It's acting on that which is true. Living faith, trusting in the Lord.

Welcome to today's broadcast of The Living Faith, brought to you by Friends of Manley Beasley. We're encouraged by your listening to us, and it's our prayer that God will use these messages to do a great work in each of your lives.

Brother Manley's ministry has been greatly used over the last 30 years in pastoring and evangelism, and we hope that these broadcasts will spark a desire for a closer walk with the Lord in every listener's heart.

And now, Manley Beasley.

Greetings, friends. It's a joy and a privilege to be with you today. I'm looking forward to this opportunity of sharing with you what the Lord has shared with me these 30 years in the ministry. These months ahead, we're going to be covering a subject that I believe to be very vital in our day.

When there's so much economic unrest, when there is so much disturbance in the physical world, when there's so many people getting sick on every hand, I believe that the subject that we're going to cover is going to be very vital.

The subject that we're going to cover is that of how to put your trust in the Lord. Another way of saying it is that we're going to be trusting that God will communicate the message of faith to the hearts of the believers.

In these days, when man is so confused and he's looking for reality, I believe that the reality that's to be had in the Lord Jesus, I believe that reality is found when man comes into a proper relationship with Jesus Christ by faith.

I believe in this day and time when people are wanting to work on every hand and they're very active about the things of God and God is very popular, I believe the key to knowing God and the reality of God in the realm of the physical, in the realm of the economic, I believe is in properly trusting Jesus Christ.

And so today, we're going to talk about that matter of how to trust the Lord. But for the next few months, for about three months, we're going to be trusting that God will reveal this message to us. Now, if you have your Bibles and you want to study with me out of your Bibles each day, you may turn with me.

Jesus’ Teaching on the Work of God

It may be that you're in a place where you cannot turn with me, so you can listen as I read the Word of God. The disciples came to Jesus and they asked the Lord Jesus a question. And that question was, Lord, what is it that we might do that we might work the works of God?