This morning I should like us to think together concerning that which is basic and primary in the Christian life. That is the principle of faith. And as we turn to God's word, let us just lift our hearts to him for his help. Shall we pray? O God, our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for thy word that we've already received this morning. grant that we shall not be here as only deceiving ourselves make us each to become doers of thy word and now in these moments we have together speak to us once more and bless us according to the need that we have that thou dost see for Jesus sake amen just two verses I'd like to refer to two the first is found in Habakkuk, but also repeated in Romans and Hebrews, Romans one, seventeen, the just shall live by faith or by means of their faith. And then that very well known verse six of Hebrews chapter eleven. Now without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now, when we speak of faith, we are not thinking of faith in terms of a religion, such as the Buddhist faith or the Christian faith. Rather, we are thinking of faith as a life principle that should govern and characterize our lives. It's a great deal of loose, sentimental and silly talk about faith. We are told that all we need to get on in life is to have faith, as though faith by itself in isolation were a valuable commodity. Faith is a meaningless thing apart from its object. It's like the coupling that links the locomotive to the train behind. It's the object of faith that lends significance to faith. If I have faith in something that's unworthy, if I have faith in something that is useless, all the faith in the world won't do me any good. It's faith's object that counts. but all sorts of people are saying all sorts of things today we are told that we've got to believe in ourselves if only we believe in ourselves then everything will be all right that of course is not Christian faith we are told by some people that we've just got to keep on believing that everything's going to be all right and then it will be all right years ago there was a philosopher in France by the name of Cooey and he used to get his Our followers to repeat over and over again the words every day and every way we're getting better and better. As though as if you said it often enough and believed in it hard enough, it would really happen. And then there are other people who say we've got to have faith in the American way of life, faith in democracy, faith in the American dollar, faith in the luck, and all that kind of thing. When we speak of Christian faith, of course we are thinking of faith in the living God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in the authority and inerrancy of that word that he has given to us, the Bible. In this verse six of chapter eleven, two things are stated. Of course the introduction is that apart from faith we can never please God. But then two things. We must believe that God is, that God exists. Secondly, that He will meet our need if we turn to Him with all our hearts, that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. In our words, if we are to live the kind of life that God wants us to live, if we are to exercise that quality of faith, with a proper object that the Bible speaks of, we must have faith in the living God. Faith in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Now we've got to understand that there are all sorts of people, and they say they believe in God. They say they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they do not believe in the God of the Scriptures. They believe in the God of their own imagination, the God of their own wishful thinking, the God of their own dreamland. They have their own image or picture of God. is a kind of a benevolent Santa Claus that floats around in a pink cloud that is rather senile but very, very sentimental and amiable, who when we do wrong he pats us on the head and says, never mind, don't do it again. The kind of God who will overlook all our mistakes, who will ignore all our sins and will accept us as we are. This is not the God of the Bible. This is not the God of the Christian faith. It's the God of our own imagination. We've got to understand that all of us naturally are idolaters because we're sinners. If we lived in primitive countries, we'd probably worship a rock or a stream or a waterfall or we'd make an idol some obscene object such as we saw last night. We'd make something out of clay or wood or stone, and we'd worship that, we'd say, this is what God is like. This is God. Now we don't do that. We're much too sophisticated and educated and cultivated for that. But rather we use our own imagination. We don't actually cut something or carve something physically. But we imagine the kind of person or being we'd like God to be. And actually we tend to clothe God with all our own weaknesses and all our own sins so far as tolerance is concerned, and we say this is what God is like. And so you hear people say, my idea of God is this. Or I believe God is like that. Or I wouldn't believe in a God who would send anyone to eternal punishment. Or I don't believe in a God who would allow suffering. And so people say, my idea, I think, and so and so and so. They're just idolaters. They're creating out of their own imagination and wishful thinking their own idea of God. And they say, this is the God I want. This is the God I'm going to believe in. it is really a projection of their own personality out here somewhere. They are a false image of God. Listen to me. If you think that way, you're not thinking as a Christian. If you believe that way, you're not believing as a Christian. In the Christian faith there is only one God. The God who has revealed himself in the Scripture the God who came to us in flesh and blood in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son. Christian faith is faith in this being, this particular person, with these particular attributes or characteristics or nature. If we could sit in a circle informally this morning and tell one another what God is like, I wonder how exactly our statements would agree with what the Bible declares. It is of the utmost importance that we have a clear picture, a clear image of what God is really like, and God has shown Himself, revealed Himself, declared Himself in His Word, the Bible, and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, God is a particular person with a particular and specific nature and character and attributes. This is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And unless you believe in that person, you are not believing. You are not exercising faith in a biblical Christian sense. You know the kind of a person a mother often is. Suddenly she finds out her boy has become a delinquent, he's been arrested, he's in jail. But in her thinking she just thinks that that curly head little fellow she used to hold in her arms. She cannot imagine she will not believe her son has become like that. She will not believe her son has committed that crime because she's retained a child image of her little one. But the tragedy is for that poor mother that that image no longer exists. Her boy has become a delinquent. He's now a juvenile criminal. And we are very, very much like that. And therefore, if we speak about the matter of faith, it's going to be faith in God who has revealed himself in Scripture. The second proposition is this. We must believe that if we turn to this living God, who has come to us in saving grace, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, He really will meet our need. He really will save us. He will really undertake for us. That God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Now, another question we need to consider is this. Is faith, this Christian faith, just blind credulity? Imagining that God exists, is it something like this? No, it isn't. I don't know if you heard of the story of the old lady who once went to a zoo in London and saw a giraffe for the first time, and when she saw this long-necked creature, she said, I simply won't believe it. Now, we often have that same way in reverse. and we insist that God must be the being we want him to be, we'd like him to be, according to our imagination and wishful thinking. But Christian faith is not just believing or hoping something is true without any evidence. Christian faith is founded upon fact. I often use the illustration of posting a letter. That is an act of faith. But when I post a letter, I just don't mail it in any particular hole in the wall I may happen to see. But rather, I believe that the United States Post Office exists, that if I write the letter, address it correctly, put the proper postage on it, and put that letter in a particular place, it will be delivered. It's an act of faith. You say to me, how do you know that that letter will be delivered? Well, in one sense I don't know, but I've got the evidence of the post office, I know the claim of the post office, and I have the testimony of millions of other people who post letters or mail letters, and they are delivered. So, the mailing of a letter in one sense is an act of faith, in reality. But it's faith. in something that is really there, the American post office system and a particular mailing box for letters. We've got to understand that when we speak about the Bible, the Bible is not a book that deals with imagination and myth and mystery. The Bible is a book of facts and reality. It deals with actual places. It talks about people that really lived. It speaks about events of history that actually occurred. These are facts. And so you can read, for instance, about the children of Israel when they were slaves, and they have to go and build those cities. And now they have to make mud bricks with straw. And then later on the straw was not given to them, and they have to go and collect the rubble of the field. But if you were an archaeologist or an explorer, you could go to the ruins of those actual cities and find the lower foundations with bricks, mud bricks baked with straw, and further up, mud bricks only with the rubble of the field, just as the Bible says. We read in the book and the Old Testament about the Assyrian coming down upon the children of Israel, and that's corroborated in ancient classical history. But the Bible is more than that. It not only talks about actual happenings, but it explains what they mean. And so when we read about the Assyrians coming down upon God's people, the Bible tells us this wasn't a happening in history, it was more than that. That God was back of it and God was judging his people for their sin. So the Bible is made up of two elements, things that actually happened in history. And then the God's explanation of what they mean. So, and the Lord Jesus Christ. As a fact of history, the Lord Jesus really lived. As a fact of history, the Lord Jesus really died and rose again from the grave. But that isn't all the gospel. There's meaning to those facts. Christ died, that's history. Christ died for our sins. That's the message and meaning of the historical event. Now then, when we are exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ there is the fact of the Lord Jesus he really lived on earth he really died for us and rose again those are the facts but what's the meaning that when the Lord Jesus died it was not that he was just being crucified he died for you he died for me he bore our sins in his own body on the tree and that is the interpretation and when we commit ourselves to Christ We not only believe the facts, but we believe the meaning of those facts that God has given us, and we commit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. For faith is not merely believing information or historic events. It's acting upon them. It's an act of the will by whereby we commit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, what does it mean to live by faith? For the Christian it means this, that all of his life is lived out, worked out, all the decisions are made on the basis of the fact of the living God and that I have committed myself to him, to his will, to him as a person, through the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there are two principles of existence. We can either live on the principle of sight, what we can see, materialism, or the principle of faith in God, believing in eternity, in the realm of the Spirit, in the unseen being, the living God. You take the ordinary man in the street. He lives his life, he makes his decisions, his sense of values is just based upon material things. what he can see, what he can hear, what he can smell, what he can taste, what he can feel. Those are the things that are important. That's the most sensible thing for him to do. That's all he knows. He only knows this material world and therefore he says, what's important to me in life? money, food, clothing, sex, and all the rest of it. These are the things I can experience, and therefore I'm going to live for money in that I call it that I can buy things. I can buy automobiles and houses and vacations and clothing and all the rest of it. The things that are important to me, the beautiful world around us, the food I can eat. sex and all the rest of it. These are the things that I live for. There's nothing else to live for. But a Christian is a person who has become aware of another world, the eternal world, of another reality, the reality of the Spirit, that there's something beyond the lifespan of birth and death. There is eternity and that you and I are doomed and destined to live on forever and ever, somewhere and somehow. and a Christian is a man who is living by faith and is gearing his life to God, to eternity, to the will of God, to the things of the Spirit. It isn't that we say these physical things don't exist. It isn't that we say that this magnificent valley isn't a wonderful experience for us, but we say it isn't really the important thing in life. It isn't that Christians don't enjoy their food. I do. It isn't that Christians don't take some interest in clothing. We don't want to go around looking like the wreck of the Hesperus. Not at all. But we realize these things are not the important things. They're not the significant things. They're not the valuable things. They're not the enduring things. God's word says that one day this glorious world is going to pass away. Even Yosemite Valley. and all the things that are in this world and even the desire for physical material things are all going to cease. They don't last. Therefore they're not eternally important and significant. That's the reason the Lord Jesus says, seek first my kingdom and my righteousness. That's the reason why God says, he that doeth the will of God, why that he shall abide forever. The Christian is a man who is living on the principle of faith in the living God, faith in eternal values, faith in the realm of the Spirit. But all what a sad thing it is. When a Christian takes his eyes from God, loses the vision of eternity, ceases to have a pilgrim heart, and he begins to live for the things of time and sense. There were two just men in the Old Testament. They sort of began with a vision of eternity. One was Abraham, the other was nephew Lot. But as they began to get rich, Abraham continued to thank God and say, well, all my cattle and all my servants aren't very important. God is the important thing in my life. God is the person for whom I want to live. The cattle aren't important. The markets aren't that important. Lust green meadows are not important. God's will is important. But Lot always enjoyed the affluent society. He enjoyed the good things of life. And when there came that moment of decision, what did Lot do? He oriented his life, he made his decisions on the basis of markets, money, water, grass, culture, society, fashion. He said, this is more important to me than God and God's will. And he pitched his tent towards Sodom. and finally went to live in Sodom, and finally he became one of the town councils and sat in the gate of Sodom. And he lost everything. And what about Abraham? He said, well, after all, what's it matter whether I make an extra hundred thousand dollars or not? I've got enough. It isn't very important. What's it matter whether I've got the latest fashioned hat or something or other? It doesn't really matter. What's it matter whether I've got the latest model automobile or got to keep the car next to two or three years? It doesn't really matter. If I've got four wheels on a board and get along, that's about all I need, transportation. There is something more important than all of this. It's God. It's God's will, God's purpose for my life. Those are the things I want to live for. And therefore, I'm going to order and govern my life on the basis of the most valuable thing, the most important thing, the most significant thing, the enduring thing is God's will and the things of the Spirit. And I'm going to believe God will be said, if I put Him first in my life, Then he's going to take care of my food and clothing and housing and all the rest of it. He knows what I need. And I'm going to live my life on that basis. Young people, may I talk to you very personally? This is a decision you have to make. What do you want out of life? What's the thing that's most important to you? If you could choose, supposing God were to come to you this morning and say, I'll give you anything you want in life, what would you ask him? Do you ever think of that? Supposing God came along and said, all right, anything you want for your life, I'll give you. If you want a handsome husband and a million dollars, you can have it. If you want to become famous and popular, I'll make you famous and popular. If you want to become a glamorous movie star, all right, I'll make you one of those. If you want to become president of the United States, all right, I can arrange that. What would you ask of him? Are you the kind of Christian that would say, well, Lord, I'm just content to trust you. for you to give me what you think is best and I want you to bless me spiritually and I want to put you first in my life and I want you to keep me from evil and from yielding to temptation I want to be one of those fruitful trees planted by that river what would you say the essential and primary principle of the Christian life is that our life is lived on the basis of commitment to God faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, seeking his will day by day. But some Christians lose out. And you know, the awful thing is this, that when Christians start to turn their eyes away from the Lord Jesus and look towards Sodom and that lush valley of the Jordan, they not only lose themselves and lose their testimony, they lose their children. And the awful tragedy of Lot, the awful tragedy of Lot is not that he lost his fortune, perhaps not even that he lost his testimony, but he lost his boys and girls. And the tragedy of a number of our assembly families that I meet as I travel around is this. They begin to prosper financially. And somehow their children begin to feel that prosperity and money and material things is the most important thing, and they lose their families. Listen to me, it's very seldom that the children of Christian families who are wealthy go on with the Lord. It's very, very seldom. All girls and fellows, what a tragedy it would be. if you gained all that you wanted to in this life you are saved so is by fire but the boys and girls that God gives you you're responsible to send to a lost eternity because you didn't live on the principle of faith in God you ordered your life on the basis of things seen things in this life the just shall live by means of their faith, on the principle of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. When you and I put our trust in the Lord Jesus, that was the moment we began to exercise faith in Him. But that was only the beginning. It isn't in the past tense. It's always got to be in the continuous presence. It's not that I did believe in Christ, but I am believing in Him now as I'm sitting in these seats. It is not that once I committed myself to Christ, but I am still in a state of commitment to Him. It is not once that I exercised faith in Christ, I am trusting Him now, simply trusting every day. You ask yourself, is my life pleasing to God? God says, without faith, It is impossible to please Him. Unless you and I are living our lives on the principle and basis of day by day faith and trust and commitment to the God in the Lord Jesus Christ, our lives are not pleasing to Him. It's not in the past, it's in the present. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. We believe and keep right on believing. We trust and keep right on trusting. We begin to exercise faith in God. We believed in the reality of eternity, of heaven, of the things of the Spirit, and we honor our entire life, day by day, month by month, year after year, on the basis of God, His will, His holy and eternal purpose, and our commitment to Him. God grant that this will be the governing principle of the lives of each one of us.