An Overcoming Faith

This message is one of the Times Square Pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. First John, First John, chapter 4, or chapter 5. I want to talk to you tonight about a faith that overcomes, a faith that overcomes. And, uh, read here in First John, then we'll go to Exodus.

Read a verse. First John 5, 4 and 5. I'm reading in the New American Standard. It says, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. And in Exodus, chapter 3. Yes, chapter 3 and verse 8. The Lord is speaking to his people through Moses.

He says, So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land to a land flowing with milk and honey. As we pray tonight, I want to lift up a young brother from our church. He is in the hospital, has throat cancer, and 28 years old.

And not expected to live out this week. And let's pray for Ed. As we also ask the Lord to bless his word tonight.

Hallelujah. Lord, we thank you tonight for your presence. We thank you for the sense, Lord, of praise that is among your people tonight.

But Lord, in the midst of it all, we are aware of many, many needs. We've already lifted many to you in faith. And Lord, we thank you that you have heard us.

And Lord, I now especially lift up Ed to you. Lord, we miss him. I miss him.

I miss looking out, seeing him sit in the service with his Bible open, his heart open to you. And Lord, we don't understand these things, many things that happen. And Lord, we say tonight that if you want Ed, we release him unto you.

But we also say, Lord, that we want him. And Lord, we pray that you would overshadow his life. You are able, Lord, you are able to intervene divinely, miraculously, as we've heard tonight.

Lord, we don't understand your ways many times, but we do know, Lord, that you have told us that you are the healer, and so we stand upon that. We thank you, Lord, that there is a faith that enables us to overcome in the midst of the darkest hour. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for that faith that overcomes the world and all that the world can thrust at us. Bless your people tonight. Speak, Lord, to this message, and speak around this altar, minister around the altar, and around the Lord's table as well, in Jesus' name.

Amen. Amen. Now, as you know, the Bible speaks of various kinds of faith.

That is, what faith is or produces. The most important kind of faith is what we would call saving faith, the faith that will save you. This is also called the righteousness of faith.

In Philippians 3, 9, Paul prayed. He said that ye may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, or law keeping, meaning works, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the keeping of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Abraham believed God, and it was counted or considered unto him as righteousness, or a right standing before God.

You know, there's a teaching today that relegates this whole matter of faith to a principle, a life principle, that if you just plug into it, even a sinner can apply the principles, and he'll be successful. Well, there is absolutely no scriptural basis for that whatsoever. Faith must not be a gimmick to just get things from God.

Faith is, first of all, the doorway to salvation from our sins. And saving faith is placing our total reliance, trust, and dependency on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Therefore, the first kind of faith that we need to experience is the faith that brings salvation.

You know, if a person goes to a psychiatrist, what does he become? You know, if he's a sinner, and he goes to a psychiatrist, what does he become? He becomes an adjusted sinner. Let him go to a doctor, and he may simply become a healthy sinner. Let him achieve wealth, and what does he become? A wealthy sinner.

If he joins the church, or signs a card, or turns over a new leaf, he'll become a religious sinner. But, if in sincere faith, in sincere repentance and faith, you go to the foot of the cross, what will you become? A new creature in Christ Jesus. Saving faith is trusting in the blood of Jesus Christ.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Our faith rests upon that.

But then there is the work of faith. This is faith put into action. Not a faith that works to be saved, but a work resulting from our faith, or our right standing before God.

John Calvin said, we are saved not by works, yet not without works. You see, I don't work to be saved, I work because I am saved. There's a great distinction.

Someone has said, serving Christ is not over work, but overflow. Not over work, just overflow. Paul writes the church, Thessalonians, and he gives thanks, and he says, that he is constantly bearing in mind your work of faith, and labor of love, and steadfastness of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and Father.

And then most of you are familiar with James 2, 17, which says, even so faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. I will show you my faith by my works. And so that's the work of faith.

There is also the obedience of faith. Charles Spurgeon says, faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God, and he that trusts God, obeys God.

Paul in Romans 1, 5, said he had received his apostleship for this purpose, to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for his name's sake. The obedience of faith. He also said in Romans 16, 26, Christ is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has made known to all nations, leading to obedience of faith.

Now listen, if your faith does not produce the fruit of obedience to God and to God's commandment, then you do not have true biblical New Testament faith. There is a work of faith and one of those works is obedience. And then there is the, what I would call, the achieving faith.

Luke 17, 19, Jesus says to a leper, rise and go your way, your faith, your faith has made you well. This is what I call an achieving faith. This is a faith that releases the power of God and that opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings upon his people.

In this case, a leper was made whole. Mark 5, 54, it says, and he, Jesus, said to her daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed of your affliction. Talking about a woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years.

Luke 5, 20, it says, and seeing their faith, this was five of them, four of them who dropped this man down through the rooftop. And Jesus, seeing their faith, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven you. And so there is a faith that touches God, that touches Jesus for physical needs, for family problems, for the healing of marriages, for the salvation of loved ones, or when we're in need of anything in the physical, financial, material realm.

Now, of the various kinds of faith mentioned, the one probably that we like to hear most about, the one that we talk about, the one that's preached about most of all, is the one I've just referred to and that is achieving faith. Faith that brings miracles, faith that brings blessings. Now, of these various kinds of faith, saving faith, the work of faith, the obedience of faith, and achieving faith, all types of faith are centered, or have as its object, Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1, 2, and 3, Paul says, We give thanks to God since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. Now, it would seem redundant or elementary, even unnecessary, to have to interject this word of caution regarding faith because there is a perversion of faith in the body of Christ today. But I feel that I need to say something lest I be misunderstood.

You see, achieving faith, biblical faith, must always have Christ as its object and the will of God as its regulator or its guiding principle, its guideline. Because there is an erroneous, false kind of faith that's being taught today. Pastor Phillips, some months ago, covered this in two Sunday morning messages.

But I want to allude to it because any time you speak about faith, there can be a misunderstanding. True biblical faith, the faith that taps into the storehouse of divine riches, is a faith that has God's will and God's glory at the very heart and center of it. You see, much of what is pawned off today as faith is really what I call witchcraft.

It's a manipulation of God which uses faith as a cart blunt, an American Express card, a gold card, to charge whatever you want and get whatever you want and send the bill to heaven. And this other kind of faith is known by its proponents as faith in one's faith. Now, I don't know about you, but I have very little confidence in my faith.

Let me quote you from a well-known Bible teacher. He said, Did you ever stop to think about having faith in your own faith? Evidently, God had faith in his own faith because he spoke of faith and it came to pass. In other words, having faith in your words is having faith in your faith.

That's what you've got to have to get things from God. Have faith in your faith. Well, I don't know what Bible he reads, but my Bible says have faith in God.

You know, faith is like your eyeball. The eye cannot see itself. Did you ever see your own eye? Now, in a mirror you can, but then it's only a reflection of your eye.

In the same way, we can see the evidence of faith, but you cannot look at faith itself and say, I have faith in my faith. That's like taking your eyeball out and looking at it. You see, faith always looks away from itself to the object of faith, which is Christ.

You see, today's popular faith teachers teach a theology of faith that ultimately advocates faith in a God with a little G in front of it. A God other than the God with a capital G of the Bible. And a man whose faith is in his faith is a man whose faith is in himself.

It is a faith in, it's a man-centered faith, not a God-centered faith. And it's what one writer calls charismatic humanism. And there is about as much true biblical faith in that kind of faith teaching as is found in the Hollywood movie Star Wars that talks about the force be with you.

Now there is a true faith, a God-centered, Christ-centered faith that operates as a gift of God and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now, there is another kind of faith that is rarely talked about today, especially among popular faith teachers and in the prosperity movement, and that is what I call an overcoming faith. You see, there is an achieving and triumphant faith, yes, but there is also an enduring, persevering, suffering or overcoming faith.

I'm talking about the faith that carries God's people through the valley of the shadow of death. I'm talking about the faith that provides a strength and a steadfastness in the day of battle or the night of suffering or in the momentous hours or monotonous hours of sorrow or the times when the funds are low and the winds blow and the lion roars and the arrows fly by day and the pestilence that stalks at night. There is a kind of faith, there is a keeping faith, there is a faith that enables you to overcome in the midst of all of that.

Somebody has said that faith makes things possible, but it always doesn't make them easy. And what I'm talking about tonight is what is called the tested by fire faith. 1 Peter 1, 6 and 7 says, In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials.

And here's the reason that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Listen to me, if the proof of faith is only in what blessings come your way, or if faith is only measured by outward prosperity, some of us are in trouble. Peter says that there is a kind of faith that you do not measure by the U.S. gold standard, or that produces always material, physical things.

He says there are those who are distressed by various trials, they endure these trials, and they have a proof of faith that is more precious than gold, which is perishable. Hallelujah. It would be wonderful, for example, if you have a terminal disease, or if you have AIDS, it would be wonderful that the Lord would heal you.

And as far as AIDS is concerned, yes, we're believing God for those who have it, that they will be mightily healed. But as the three gentlemen in the fiery furnace said, our God is able to deliver us. But if not, but if not, you see, there is a victory.

They had this victory that overcomes the fiery furnace. There is a victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Turn to Hebrews the 11th chapter.

Hebrews 11th chapter, as I have studied this on a number of occasions, there's something, there's something that leaps out of the pages at this account in Hebrews 11. And it tells us what these heroes of the faith accomplished through their faith. Verse 33, verse 32 mentions some of them, Gideon and Samson, David and Samuel, and the prophets.

Verse 33, who by faith, they conquered kingdoms, they performed acts of righteousness, they obtained promises, they shut the mouths of lions, they quenched the power of fire, they escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women received back their dead by resurrection. And then without any interruption, without any other distinction, Paul suddenly says, and others, and others. And listen what he says when he refers to others.

He said, and others were tortured, not accepting their release in order that they might obtain a better resurrection. Verse 36 in here, if you have, if you, if you underline, then here underline and others, and others. In verse 35 and 36, verse 36, and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with a sword, they went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and ill-treated.

You see, by the method or standard some teach today on faith, they do not recognize the faith of these others. The only kind of faith some recognize is the achieving, or claiming, or blessing kind of faith. They'll preach about faith that attains promises, yes, thank God it does.

We must preach about the faith that escapes the edge of the sword, or enables you to be mighty in battle. Ah, but friend, there is also another kind of faith that overcomes the world, and there are others that experience something far different, far different. I heard one of the faith men preaching on television about somebody who came up to him and said, you know, why was my son killed? My son was killed in the war.

And this man said, listen, if you had faith, if he had faith, he would never have been killed in the war. Paul says, and others by faith, not accepting their release in order that they might attain a better resurrection. Don't you let anybody tell you that there is not a suffering, endearing, or costly faith.

It's wonderful to talk about faith that conquers and quenches and escapes, but listen, what about the others? You see, there is an enduring faith as well as an unconquering faith. And in fact, an enduring faith is a conquering faith. Hallelujah.

I visited a lady one time in a hospital. Serious situation. And I'm there to minister to her, and she begins to, God's presence is with her, and she's in great victory in spite of her condition.

And I listened to her for a while, and I thought to myself, I didn't say it to her, but I thought to myself, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm the pastor, you're the patient. I felt like I was the patient, and she was the pastor. Her faith, you see, was so strong.

If we're going to measure faith by degrees, the greatest heroes of the faith were men. Look at verse 38. It says, men of whom the world was not worthy.

They were the men who prospered in faith. Hallelujah. Because they were about to walk the streets of God.

Hallelujah. The highest thing down here for us is the lowest thing up there. They walk on it up there.

Now, with this as a background, I want to talk to you tonight about milk and honey faith. You see, Israel, living in the promised land, provides us with a contrast and requirements of faith, which is the subject of my message. When Israel took possession of Canaan, they were told to take all the land and to walk by faith into every portion of it.

And I read to you Exodus 3, 8. It says, So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey. Now, we are to have a milk and honey faith. And let me explain the meaning of this.

Approximately 14 times, God told the children of Israel that He was giving them this land and always He would insert this phrase that flows with milk and honey. When the 12 spies went into the land, remember the report they brought back, Numbers 13, 27? It says, We went into the land where you sent us and it is just as it was told us. It certainly does flow with milk and honey and here is the fruit of it.

Now, milk and honey is both a literal as well as a symbolic and spiritual meaning. It really meant that the land was plenteous. It had all that the children of Israel needed to take care of their needs.

But this expression was also used to describe the fact that God was going to give them the whole of this milk and honey land. No part of it was to be left unconquered. No part of it was not to be lived in.

Exodus 13, 5 says, And it shall be when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing, there is an expression again with milk and honey. Now, not only does milk and honey symbolize the giving of the land in terms of the totality of it, this term also describes the contrast that exists in Canaan, which is the same contrast in our walk of faith. You see, some of the land was more honey than milk.

It was more prosperous. It was sweeter and a better and easier place to live. And there was a temptation for Israel to only want to go into the land and go and live in those sweet, nice, fruity, honey places.

But you see, Canaan also had dry places. It had dry places and wet places. It had desert places and blooming places.

There were honey places and there was not so honey or sweet places. In fact, there was bitter, arid parts of the land, desert-type parts of the land. And you see, when God was saying, I'm going to give you this land flowing of milk and honey, He was also giving us a picture of what the walk of faith is all about.

We must take the bitter with the sweet. We must take the dry places with the wet places. We must take the drought as well as the rain.

We must take the low as well as the high. The good as well as the bad. Now there are some people today who only want to live in one part of the land or in one kind of faith.

They only want the life of faith that brings blessing, not the other that Paul talks about, that requires a wandering in the deserts and mountains and caves and holes of the ground. Deuteronomy 11, 11 says, But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, it's a land of hills and valleys. That's the same meaning.

And what does Psalms 23, 4 mean? Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. God is not only the God of the hills, there's not only a faith that enables us to be on God's hills, but there is a faith that also takes us through valleys. You see the promised land had two sides to it.

One was the honey side, the other was the milk side. And the honey side was the more prosperous yet seductive side. The other side was the more unpredictable, silent, lonely, and exhausting side.

And if we choose to live, if we choose only the good side of faith living, we're going to experience exactly what Israel did when they refused to enter into all of the land. And we'll come under all kinds of attacks and temptations and seductions just as Israel did. Now remember that Israel was to possess the land from the Jordan.

That's on, if you look on the map, it's on the right side. Am I correct about that? It's on the right side, right? Which is east. And from the Jordan to the sea, the sea was the west.

And so from my right hand to my left hand, that's where they were to possess it. But they did not fully obey the Lord. They took parts of the land, but not all of it.

And what I am saying is that Israel wanted only what was pleasing to the eye and the flesh. If the land looked like it had the pleasant taste of honey, and honey actually meant jam or fruit, if it looked good, they said, well, let's settle down here. Here's a church or here's a life that I like.

Here's a place we'll settle down and we'll sweeten our lips and we'll fill our stomachs with this. But if the land or the terrain looked dry or difficult, they didn't cultivate it or possess it. Now, the key, let me take this one step further.

The key to understanding milk and honey faith is found in understanding something about the topography of Canaan. Now, as I said, the word honey is better translated jam or fruit. It was that kind of thick and sweet jam traditionally made from the fruit trees grown mainly and easily in the more prosperous western part of Canaan.

And when the Lord said that he would give his people a land of milk and honey, this was another way of pointing out the fullness of the land. And that had abundance and yet a land that also did not at times or in places have abundance. The honey part of Israel was the fruit bearing section full of trees.

It had abundant fruit harvest and thus it was good farm land. It is an area that gets 20 to 40 inches of rain a year. That region is so fertile that even in a dry year there is a minimum of 11 inches of rain enough to grow a wheat harvest.

But the farmers on the barren side of Israel never knew if they were going to have enough rain and therefore never knew if they were going to have a harvest or what kind of harvest. And so geographically the honey side of the land of Palestine was located on the western side of Canaan and the other more arid part of the land was located on the east side. Now what a picture that is of where we want to live.

Now I don't know about you but I like to live on the west coast of Canaan. I like to live where the honey is. Not on the less prosperous milk side.

But you see there are people there are believers who want a faith that produces blessings that makes life so sweet so nice so prosperous and so easy. But let me tell you something there is a danger and temptation of living and only wanting to live on that side of the faith line. For example there were three characteristics of living only on or for the land of honey.

First of all in that part of the land it was a life that was predictable. A life that was predictable. The rainy Jezreel Valley for example had a reliable predictable crop.

In fact the name Jezreel means God who sows or God shall sow. The second characteristic of life on the honey side of Canaan is that it was noisy and busy instead of silent and lonely. And throughout the history of this fertile part of the land large cities were built.

Fertile land you see supports a large population. And today in fact in Israel one half of the nation's population lives in the tiny Sharon Valley just 20 miles long and 10 miles wide located near the Mediterranean Sea. And a third characteristic of living on the honey side of Canaan is that life is easier there.

A farmer in this prosperous fertile part of the land had bumper crops of wheat even fig trees bearing fruit five times a year. He had more income he had more leisure time he had people to work for him thus life was easier. And you see this honey part this west coast side of Canaan is a type of the Christian life or the faith life that many people are attracted to and that's the only thing that they're attracted to.

They will serve God as long as there's honey. They will serve God as long as there's jam in their mouth. They will serve Him as long as He provides blessings and fruit and predictable rain and an easy way of life.

And most Christians or many Christians only want to live on the west coast not the east side of faith. This is a type of living in which we want a faith that guarantees us that we'll always have success that trusting Christ means that we live happily ever after and nothing that happens to us or everything that happens to us is predictably for our benefit and for our good. But you see on the other side of the land on the east coast life was more difficult and unpredictable.

In such a dry climate one never knew when or even if it was going to rain. A farmer never knew if his crops would reap a harvest or if he had to plow his seed back into the ground. And because the land supported fewer people per square mile fewer people lived there.

Life was quiet. It was often lonely. It was often hard.

Water was scarce. They had to work very very hard. Life was exhausting.

Now you tell me if that is not the contrast of faith that we have to experience in our lives. Thank God. I thank God there's honey.

There's honey praise God. Thank God he pours out his windows of heaven. But sometimes the windows are shut.

And we have to live on the other side of the promised land. Let me take it one step further. You see there is a major problem that arises when living only on the honey side of the west coast of faith.

In the most prosperous fruitful area of Canaan where all the fruit grew the world the world was attracted to that area. Going right through the center of that honey part of Canaan was an historical super highway called the way of the sea. This was a route that connected Canaan with Europe Asia and down through Canaan on all the way down to Africa.

Starting in Damascus the highway ran along the sea of Galilee across the Jezreel Valley through the Magado Pass along the coastal plain and by Jaffa and Tel Aviv and all the way to Egypt. And people who lived on or near the trade route had many advantages and conveniences they had goods and supplies and other things they had many many things that the people over on the other more arid side of the land never saw. They never had it.

But you see with all of that positive with all of those blessings flowing into that land there also came the testing and the negative. Not only did the tradesmen bring a lot of nice things to sell they also brought great temptation and they brought armies along who used the way of the sea to conquer that land. And let me tell you something whenever you only seek out for blessings and prosperity in your life you're going to have enemies that invade because they want to take possession of that land as well.

This is a problem of the faith and prosperity movement. Whenever you teach a faith that is supposed to claim the world to lust after the world to possess the world rather than to overcome the world that kind of land is going to attract the carnal and the worldly and the sinner. And the result is that you can't tell you cannot distinguish the true Israelite from the foreigner because both of them are going after the same thing.

Both of them are going after the same blessings. Both of them are going after the blessings rather than the blesser. Both of them have the standard of success achievement rather than devotion to God at any cost.

And what happened is that eventually the children of Israel wanted the same thing that they saw coming into the land. They were living over on that face side and they saw all of this coming in and it seduced them and they wanted it. And they began to worship other gods so that their blessings could flow.

The gods that were worshipped by the people in the further west coast where for example was the god of Baal. Baal was normally pictured sitting on a throne with a big spear shaped like a lightning bolt in his right hand. In his left hand was a large mallet with which he would beat a drum.

Ancient tablets that have been found by archaeologists tell the story of how Baal operated. If someone wanted rain on their fields they had to call on their weather god which was Baal. And of course they believed it was difficult to get his attention.

They believed that Baal was rather busy and so the prayers or supplications or the people who prayed and those who were devoted to Baal they would cut themselves in order to get his attention. They would yell, they would scream all day long. And once they got his attention they felt that he would throw out the lightning bolt.

He would beat the drum and the thunder would roar and the rains would come. That's where they believed the prosperity was coming from. And you see the Israelites who lived on the edge of the desert and who experienced daily life that was much harder than those on the west coast they would pray to their lord and their god and they would reap very little harvest.

And then they'd look over at the Philistines who paid no attention to their god and yet they would see them reaping and sowing and being blessed and harvesting and prospering. And what a tremendous temptation it was then for the Israelites to listen to the mighty beat of the drums to Baal. And then the next day the next day the showers would come.

Of course they would come because that was the nature of the land. That was the nature of it. But you see the Philistines, the foreigners thought that it came from their god Baal.

And so Israel in their predicament looked over and said well if we then adopt their methods then maybe we'll get some of those blessings. And eventually Israel forsook the lord god and decided to live on the honey side of the promised land. And I want to tell you my friend that is exactly what is happening in the body of Christ today.

But I want you to note the result of Israel looking only for the blessing and refusing to walk in the more difficult east bank or east coast. Deuteronomy 28, 47 and 48 says this listen to it. It says because you did not serve the lord your god with joy and a glad heart and for the abundance of all things therefore you will serve your enemies whom the lord shall send against you.

You will serve them in hunger and in thirst in nakedness and in the lack of all things and he will put a yoke, an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. You see when Israel followed after the gods and ways of the people and the seductive lifestyle of the west coast God's judgment fell on them and there came a parade of enemies the Philistines, the Canaanites, the Phoenicians the Greeks and the Romans and put their necks in iron and very sadly these people who were told that the land was theirs only possessed it actually about 150 years in the 1900 years from Abraham to the destruction of the second temple the Israelites controlled the land for only 150 years in total 1750 of those years the drama of Israel and God's people was played out in the mountains and in the edge of the desert on the east side where they were forced to go by their enemies to live in famine and hardship all because they lusted for the world over on this side and because they would not act in faith over on this side and so God says ok your judgment is you're going to have to live on the other side but not with me I won't be there and you see over and over Jesus warned what happens if we do not separate ourselves from wanting to live in or close to the honey of this world how easy it is to get caught up unwittingly in this consumer orientated society typical of the shallowness of life along the way of the sea highway and life on the west coast and then it's even worse when there is a theology that has arisen in the land that says that it's a sign of faith and blessing if you live on the more prosperous side of the promised land and then if on the other hand if you're sick or if you have financial difficulties or your harvest is not plenteous then there must be something wrong with you spiritually or something wrong with your faith when Mother Teresa of Calcutta first visited the United States she spoke to a reporter here in New York City who asked her in typical American fashion so what do you think of the most developed country in the world? she replied I have never seen a more starving people oh but she could not only have said that about this American society it could be said about the church of Jesus Christ today and look at all of our buildings look at all of our prosperity and there's starvation in the midst of it you see we must use our faith to walk in the land of milk as well as honey we must go on the mountainous regions of trials and tests as well as on the west coast of bliss and blessing Jesus in teaching the Beatitudes was saying you may think that to follow me is always to live in green pastures but he said blessed are the poor the hungry, the thirsty, the meek and yes the tortured out of every three words Jesus spoke one had to do with living a life of faith on the more difficult side of the kingdom land and promised land in fact he did not say it was impossible did he not say it was impossible? nearly impossible? he said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for you and I to experience a true walk of faith if we insist that the Lord have us live only on the west coast of prosperity and gain you see God has given us a faith a faith that overcomes the world a faith yes that takes us into the more prosperous land but also a faith that says yes you must also go through the valleys of the shadow of death our victory is not only in moving and removing mountains our victory is in climbing them the apostle John asked the question I read to you from 1 John he said who is the one who overcomes the world? the answer is he who believes that Jesus is the son of God to tell you the truth I'd rather live in a spiritual Hawaii a place where honey flows like water out of a water tap I like things that make life more predictable and easy and happy and busy but there are times when I need a faith that overcomes the world that brings me sorrow that brings me difficulty that tests me by fire that causes suffering and anguish and trials that's the kind of faith that God has for his people hallelujah go to one more verse and I'm finished Mark chapter 6 Mark the 6th chapter this is the occasion after they had witnessed a mighty mighty miracle the disciples and then he immediately put them through a mighty storm and apparently they had gained nothing they had gained no knowledge their faith had not been strengthened by what they saw in the feeding of the 5,000 which incidentally took place on the more prosperous area of the land verses 51 and 52 Mark chapter 6 I'll not read the story this is the disciples they're in a storm they're in a boat he came to them walking on the sea and he intended to pass by them verse 48 but when they saw him walking on the sea they supposed it was a ghost and cried out for they all saw him and were frightened but immediately he spoke with them and said to them take courage it is I do not be afraid and he got into the boat with them and the wind stopped and they were greatly astonished for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves but their heart was hardened their heart was hardened do you know what it means to have a lack of faith a lack of faith Jesus says is the hardening of the heart he says if you rebel against the trial testings of faith and trials of faith he said that is a hardening of your heart and oh I don't know about you I don't want my heart to harden I remember I was about 11 or 12 years of age and I found out that I had something wrong with me physically that there was no way to cure it something that either God would have to heal or I would live with it the rest of my life not life threatening but nevertheless very serious and I remember when my father I was discussing this with my father who was pastor my pastor a pastor and my father says well son I'm glad this has happened to you and I look at him and say well thanks dad I didn't learn for many many years later that he took that from Jesus when the report came to him about Lazarus and he said I'm glad for your sakes I wasn't there he said I'm glad and I'm wondering why is my father glad and he went on to explain it he said son he said it's time in your life that you see that life is not all a bowl of cherries life is not always peaches and cream it's not always you're a young man now and life has been good to you and life has been pretty easy to you but now you're going to go through the testing of faith you're going to have to go through the valley this valley in your life he said I'm glad for you because you're going to learn something very precious through this and I received that and I thank God that he gave me that and I said yes Lord I believe my but through faith you'll carry me through but you know I've seen people come to similar experiences in their life when something difficult happened to them something hard took place and like me as a young boy I wanted to know why I said God why why is this happening and so I said I asked my father and so he answered me he said I'll tell you why this is God this is God this is God trying to teach you something this is God training you through something and I used to think boy isn't there a better way to learn but I've seen people be at the very same point and thank God that he did my heart didn't get hard or bitter but I've seen some people come to the very same point in their life and they got hard they refused to accept the testing of faith and they got hard and they got bitter and they drifted away from the Lord and the disciples in this incident Jesus said their hearts were hardened well thank God they didn't stay hard because they eventually learned but tonight I hope that you don't have a hard heart Hebrews 11 39 said in all these and all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised they did not receive what was promised and yet they gained approval by their faith oh I want to be so approved before God in the midst of living life on the more difficult side when the honey doesn't flow oh I want that faith and God can give you that kind of overcoming faith tonight let's stand together thank you Jesus thank you Lord oh Lord tonight we pray we pray for some hearts that may be here going through a great crisis in their life going through a long standing trial a long long standing trial how easy to get hard how easy to get bitter how easy to resist how easy to turn the backs upon you but oh God give us a faith tonight let us see that there is a faith in you that enables us to overcome the world hallelujah hallelujah there is nothing too hard for you Lord so there is nothing too hard for us hallelujah Lord for those that are always only wanting to run on the happy side on the west coast Lord open their eyes to see the full life of faith but you are the God of the hills the God of the valleys as well as the hills Lord minister tonight touch hearts at this altar as you call some whose hearts have become hardened Lord loosen them tonight loosen them change them tonight minister to their wound minister to their hardness Lord this night in Jesus name Amen Amen Sister Gwen as you lead us in a course tonight if you are here and I want to give a call to three classes of people tonight number one if you are here and you say Brother Wilkerson, Brother Don my faith at this very point in my life as I stand here tonight my faith is very very weak very very weak and I need God to touch me I need him to strengthen me here tonight and so if you've got very weak faith and secondly there are some of you that are on the very verge maybe of casting away your faith maybe because of circumstances in your life or whatever I don't know but you say you come here tonight you're just on the verge of just throwing it giving it all up throwing in the towel as it were and casting away your faith and then thirdly some of you as you've heard the message tonight have spoken to something in your heart in your life and you'd say Brother Don I believe that I do not have the full concept of what a life of faith is in fact maybe you've had a wrong concept maybe you've been taught just the one side of faith the honey side and because of false teaching or erroneous teaching in your heart it's caused you to go through certain things in your life and God wants to open your eyes tonight and God wants you to see the full life of faith and if this message has addressed something in your heart tonight and you'd say yes God's spoken to me I want you to come out of your seat tonight come to this altar and let God let God do a work let Him open your eyes tonight let Him open your eyes fully tonight to what He wants to accomplish in your heart will you come in the balcony or down below as we sing together