Sermon Central
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According To Your Faith
Contributed by Jerry Flury on Feb 12, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: As our stewardship is a proportionate response to God’s blessings likewise God’s opportunities and blessings are a proportionate response to our faith.
ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH
And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
Introduction: Many have misunderstandings about faith. Faith does not save anyone. Christ’s righteousness provided by God’s grace saves us. Ephesians 2:8-9 declares, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” Faith does not keep anyone; the omnipotence of God does that. The Holy Spirit not our faith is the Great Agent in keeping us. Our faith is the instrument through which God acts and works. In Romans 12:6, we read that God gives a measure of faith to every believer to walk by faith and carry out the will of God. As our stewardship is a proportionate response to God’s blessings likewise God’s opportunities and blessings are a proportionate response to our faith. A cardinal tenet of faith is "According to your faith be it unto you” This was evidenced in the healing of the two blind men. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” What is Faith? Can we limit faith? In addition, what is the reward of faith?
I. What is Faith?
A. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
B. “According to your faith be it done to you.”
C. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
D. Faith is the hand outstretched to receive the gift of God
Faith is the eye that looks into the unseen beyond man’s reason
Faith is the heart’s response to the call of the Lord
Faith is soul’s reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ – Oliver B Greene, The Gospel According to Matthew – Volume II, © The Gospel Hour, Greenville
E. Hebrews 11:6 “... without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him.”
F. Charles Kettering said that when he was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, he’d place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: Leave slide rules here. If he didn’t do that, he’d find someone reaching for his slide rule; who would then be on his feet saying, “Boss, you can’t do it.” – Charles F. Kettering in Bits and Pieces, Dec, 1991, p. 24
G. Hebrews 11:8-12 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
H. Concerning Abraham’s faith Romans 4:18-22 declares. “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, So shall your offspring be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.”
I. Erich Fromm one of the world’s great psychologists declared, “Whoever insists on safety and security as primary conditions of life, CANNOT HAVE FAITH." To have true faith in God is to take risks, to embrace uncertainty. – "The Preacher’s Illustration Service," Jan/Feb 1997.
