DEWITT TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES

FAITH

“What is it?” (NO. 2)

 

By C. W. Wood          June 2005

 

 

          It would be very hard to teach all that needs to be taught about Perfect Faith, and if it were possible to do so, then it would still need to be preached over and over, so that we might feed on the facts of it daily. A steak eaten today has had its good effects on the body, but before the week is out, there is need of another meal. So is it with God’s Word, a good, spiritual meal has a tendency to fade as we go about in Satan’s Eden. There is constant need to be restored by the Word. Therefore, we continue our teaching on perfect Faith. The soon coming Rapture will call for Perfect Faith!

          Perhaps there are those who wonder if it is even possible for us to attain to the place of Perfect Faith. We will show in this sermon that the Scriptures and the Prophet declare that WE MUST REACH THAT PLACE. In II Cor. 13:5, Paul said, “Examine yourselves whether you be in THE FAITH.” The emphasis here is on the word “the.” There is lots of faith in lots of different things. There is faith in ministers, faith in church programs, faith in lawyers, doctors, medicine, and faith in ourselves, but Paul said check to see if you are in THE FAITH. He clearly spoke of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is anything that we trust in ahead of Him, then we are not in THE FAITH, as we should be!

          To be in “The Faith” is to believe the Word of God in spite of all who come trying to prove it wrong. If the Word declares we must come into Perfect Faith, then we must believe it and strive toward that goal. We will first look at the Scriptures, then the Prophet’s teaching to see if it is actually required! James 1: 6-7, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” Notice the Scripture; it says our faith MUST NOT WAVER! A faith that does not waver is Perfect Faith.

          Luke 22:32, (Jesus speaking), “I prayed for thee (Peter) that thy faith fail not.” A faith that does not fail is Perfect Faith. Do we understand that not only was the Lord Jesus praying for Peter’s faith to be perfect, but also for all the Elect to reach that place? Did our Lord pray in vain? Was He asking the Father for something that was impossible for us to have? We do most certainly understand that power to believe in the promises is the Gift of the Holy Ghost, but do we not also understand that the Holy Ghost has given that power to ALL MEN who know the Perfect Truthfulness of Jesus Christ! How simple a thing Perfect Faith is! Look closer to home, you who were born-again, and you will surely find it. It is the knowledge of His faithfulness! Back to the Scriptures that teach how God is leading His own into perfection. (Not perfection of the flesh, but perfection of Faith toward the Perfect One) I Cor. 2:4-6, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. That your Faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. HOWBEIT WE SPEAK WISDOM AMONG THEM THAT ARE PERFECT, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught.” Here again we see the Holy Ghost referring to a Perfect People, a People whose faith had made them perfect.

          We should know by now that this perfection does not refer to flesh being able to keep all the Law. I John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” When the Lord Jesus said in Matt. 5:48, “Be ye therefore PERFECT, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect,” He was referring to a perfect attitude of heart, and to Perfect Faith in the Perfect Father.

          If by association with a person I learn by experience that he is honest and trustworthy, always keeping his word, and never fails to confirm my trust in him, then I lie to that man if I say to him, “I cannot believe you.” It just follows as a matter of common sense that I can believe him if I am convinced that he is worthy of my trust. And so it is between us and the Lord Jesus Christ, once we have the revelation of His Perfect Character, we have no right to say to Him, “I am trying to believe you.” What! Will we insult our creator with such a statement as that? Is it in His nature to lie to us about something? We do not try to trust Him; we simply know He can be trusted.

          We admit that there are some people who do not have a revelation of our Lord’s Perfection and for those we sincerely pray, but we speak to a people who are Born-Again. When Jesus Christ comes to live in a person’s soul, His first order of teaching is concerning God’s perfection. His next order of teaching concerns our own imperfection, and by a combination of these two revelations, we are made to cast ourselves down at the foot of His Cross. In that spiritual position, we learn the great difference between trusting God and trusting ourselves. Our imperfect faith in self is changed to Perfect Faith in Him! It is our unscriptural trusting in what self can do that makes the teaching of Perfect Faith in Christ seem so impossible. But once it enters our heart that trusting Him has not one thing to do with our own ability to live a perfect life, and that knowing that in advance, He came and lived it for us so that we could put all our trust in what He has already done, then our self-confidence is laid to rest, and Perfect Faith in Him flows in.

          What blessed peace to know that all He did was not for Himself, but for His Children. On the other hand, how terribly sad to hear His own say, “I cannot believe!” What is it that you cannot believe, dear friend? If you are saying you cannot trust yourself, then you are exactly right. We do some wrong things over and over, we fail daily. But, if you mean that you cannot trust the Perfect One, then you are guilty of rank unbelief. But surely you do not mean that you don’t trust Him, surely you have only had trusting yourself confused with trusting Him. Do not stand therefore and say, “I cannot believe what God says.” The Holy Spirit, giving you enough revelation to know that God is perfect in all His ways, that revelation is itself your power to believe.

          Again, we go to the Word of God that teaches we must come into Perfect Faith. I Thess. 3:10, “Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and MIGHT PERFECT THAT WHICH IS LACKING IN YOUR FAITH.” Paul saying to those people that they were supposed to have Perfect Faith. He said, “If I could see you face to face, and stand and teach you, I could bring you to this Perfect Faith! And yet again in Col. 1:28, “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS.”

          Now we know that the Holy Ghost is not teaching perfection in the flesh. We only need to quote one Scripture in order to know this. Gal. 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now believing you can be made perfect by the Flesh?” Here then is the great revelation, the Bible teaches that we must be perfect, then states in no uncertain terms that we can never be perfect in our flesh. Therefore, it is a simple matter of Holy Ghost deduction to see that God is referring to the perfection of our Faith.

          The Bible and our Prophet taught Perfect Faith in a Perfect God to be ready for a Perfect Rapture.

          QUOTE: PERFECT FAITH, PAGE 14, “No matter how much you come in emotion, how much you do, it won’t work until that Perfect Faith has manifested and identified itself in you, as a substance. And when it does, then nothing’s going to shake you from it.

          If ….if you had cancer, and the doctor told you yesterday that you’d be dead before Monday morning, (all of your heart, your respiration’s gone, the cancer’s eat you up, your bloodstream’s become completely cancer, whatever it is); and Something come with this substance of this genuine faith, Perfect Faith was made a substance in you, you’d laugh in that doctor’s face.

          You’d be like O Elijah, when he walked up and down before the idol, and said, “Why don’t you call a little louder.” (End quote)

          QUOTE: PERFECT FATIH, PAGE 20, “And so when a man lives by faith and walks by faith, I mean substance faith, he is isolated from the entire world and becomes a new creature in Christ. There, now you’re getting into Bride material. See? You’re getting into rapturing condition, now. That means for each one of us (not just the pastor, now), deacons, trustees, that means for the laity, every individual walks in a world with God alone. You’re baptized into this Kingdom and there’s nobody in there but you and God. See? He gives the orders, and you pack them out. Whatever He says, there’s not a shadow of doubt nowhere, you walk right on. If the Lord says this, there’s nobody in the world can talk you out of it, you go right on just the same. Now you’re coming into Perfect Faith, perfect Perfection that cannot fail. That faith never fails. Yes, He was a mystic to them with His Perfect Faith; and so is it now with those who have Perfect Faith, are a mystic to others. (End quote)

          Did you notice that the Prophet said, “Those who now have Perfect Faith are a mystic to others?” In speaking to people in different churches, I have discovered that some have a very wrong conception of what Perfect Faith is! To try and explain what it is, we will state some things that it is not. Perfect Faith is not the ability to dictate to God. The enemy might say to one who has Perfect Faith, prove that you have it, go to the hospital and empty it of the sick.

          To the carnal mind, this challenge might seem the right way for Perfect Faith to prove itself. But the spiritual mind knows that Perfect Faith is only perfect when it waits on orders from the Father. The Lord Jesus, who was both God and man, ministered as a man, and not as God. He ministered by the gifts of the Holy Ghost, just as you and I can, and His Perfect Faith came from His Perfect Knowledge of His Father’s will. His testimony was that He came to do the will of His Father. Perfect Faith then is following the plan of the Father, which was made before the Earth was. Jesus, Himself, with Perfect Faith, could only do what the Father showed Him.

          To claim that we can have Perfect Faith and force our will on God is to be sinfully presumptuous. Perfect Faith has no will of its own, but is always dependant on being shown the Father’s will. There is no such thing as Perfect Faith beyond our knowledge of God’s will. Perfect Faith does not give orders until it has first received those orders from above. Perfect Faith is the servant to Him who delivers that faith. The man part of Jesus took orders from His Father!

          We should never desire Faith to do anything other than God’s will. This is to follow in the steps of the Lord Jesus. Perfect Faith has no connection with the will of man being carried out. Prov. 20:24, “Man’s goings are of the Lord; How can a man then understand his own way?” Ps. 37:5, “Commit thy way unto the Lord; Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” This is not to say that we cannot pray and ask the Lord for certain needful things. It is not wrong to ask the Lord to spare a loved one, or to have mercy on a sick one. It is wrong to doubt His motives when His plan is different than ours.

          As with the Prophet William Branham, and others in the Bible, we bow before Him in trusting worship when His answer to our prayer is “No.” Perfect Faith knows that His “No” is just as perfect as His “Yes.” Our Example, the Lord Jesus Christ, asked that the terrible ordeal of the Cross might pass from Him, but quickly added, “Not my will but Thine be done.” His Perfect Faith submitted to the plan of His Father! Can we do less?

          Now, may we look at another side of Perfect Faith, and this side desperately needs to be taught. Please let this statement I am about to make “Sink in deep” as the Prophet use to say. Here it is, we do not believe a thing by sitting down and TRYING TO BELIEVE IT, but we believe when we have been presented EVIDENCE that the thing to be believed is, in fact, true! I may have preached this before in a message, but it is well worth repeating.

          An example will help to make the point clear. We live 15 miles from a little town called Gillett. This time of the year we have frequent storms passing through this part of the country. Suppose that a neighbor’s five year old son knocked on my door and told me that the little town of Gillett had been completely destroyed by a tornado a few minutes ago, and all of its two hundred or so residents had been killed.

          The report would be terrible indeed, and I would hope against hope that the five year old was mistaken. If I went back into my bedroom and knelt down and TRIED TO BELIEVE this report, I could stay there all night, but I would still have some doubts concerning the five year old boy’s report. The truth is I would need some collaborating evidence to support his report. No matter how hard I might TRY TO BELIEVE that the two hundred people were dead, I would still have doubts flooding my mind.

          Now, suppose with me that the boy’s father, a friend of mine, known to be an honest and sincere man, and not one to prank about so serious a matter, called me on the phone and said that his family had indeed heard that report from a crop duster, who had just flown over the scene. Upon hanging up the phone, a knock came at the door, and the Chief of Police was there asking for volunteers to help collect the two hundred bodies that had been strewn across the prairie.

          Now I no longer have a problem with doubts concerning the terrible report. I have enough EVIDENCE that the thing is true and I prepare to assist in the rescue work. I now believe it with out any effort! Though it is terrible news, I cannot help but believe it. My belief comes from my confidence in those who supported the little boy’s story.

Now the Spirit of the Lord, when He sets out to produce Faith in our hearts, first gives us a revelation of the Perfect Character of our Creator God, who SPOKE THE WORD then caused it to be written down for us in a book called the Bible. The revelation I speak of takes away any and all doubt concerning the Authority of this Book. When the Spirit of God has REVEALED its authenticity to us we then have the EVIDENCE we need to believe everything it says, and God never fails to give this revelation to His Born-Again People.

          Will we believe the reports of reliable men of Earth, and then reject the reports of the One who is the Fountain of their truthfulness? He who made men to be true and honest will surely be as true and honest as those He made to be so! We repeat the statement made above, “We do not believe a thing by sitting down and trying to believe it, but we believe when we have been presented the evidence that the thing to be believed is, in fact, true.” Do you know of anything that is quite as true as the Holy Bible? Have you had the revelation from the Holy Ghost that in the Bible are the pure Words of God? Do you know that there is not an error of any sort in the whole of it? The words in it have come from Him who can make no mistake, and who can have no desire to deceive His creatures. Who is the man that can judge the Book, and sift through it to sort out the truth from error? Has not God, Himself, watched over it? It is not that we are to set out to judge the Book, but rather to understand that the Book will judge us. Without the Bible, we have no guidance at all, unless we are conceited enough to trust our own heart, or the heart of some other mortal.

          The Bible in these evil days has come under much criticism, but this is nothing new. From the beginning Satan and his followers have attempted its destruction. In the Dark Ages it was taken from the people by force and burned by the thousands in the streets. Is this not sound proof of Satan’s fear of the Book? And why such great fear? The Book itself gives us the answer, “The devils also believe and tremble.” (James 2:19) Satan fears the Bible because he knows it is Truth, but we love it for the same reason!

          As for the Bride of Christ, we will receive the Bible as having no mixture of failure in its pages, its sayings are the EVIDENCE that we hold to above all other sayings. No prediction of Scripture has failed, though a few wait a future time. Some of us are now called “old” and have we ever seen a believed promise fail? Some of us have believed the promises, and tested them in the time of great trial, even when life itself was at stake. And what is our decision? Not once have we ever seen His Word fail. He has sorely tested our patience, and put our faith through the fire, but the result was always greater faith! We can safely use any Word of God as our EVIDENCE that a thing is true.

          In this hour just before the Rapture of the Bride, it is God’s intent to cause each Member of this said Bride to accept His Word as the final answer to every question. Let “Thus Saith the Lord” still every other voice that is contrary to His. Can God lie? We know it is not in Him to do so! Can He be unfaithful to any degree? His Perfect Character makes such a thing impossible! Does He have the power to fulfill all He has promised? The Power that keeps this great world we call Earth hanging in space will be sufficient! Has He enough LOVE so that His concern can reach out to each of us? The LOVE that kept Him from calling the Angels to deliver Him from the Cross will suffice. The knowledge that caused Him to know the end from the beginning will bring His plan to its promised conclusion!

          Believing these things is Perfect Faith in the Perfect One, and Perfect Faith amounts to Rapturing Faith. No other person or any devil can stop the purpose of God in the life of His Chosen. I was about to write that only our OWN  UNBELIEF can stop His Plan, but as my fingers moved to the keys of this computer, I heard a Voice within say, “Do not write that sentence, write this instead. “BEING CONFIDENT OF THIS VERY THING, THAT HE WHICH HATH BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN YOU WILL PERFORM IT UNTIL THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST.” (Phil. 1:6)

          Friends, I have just had another most powerful revelation, I must try and get it down on paper! Are we not all guilty of a certain amount of unbelief from time to time? To retain my honesty, I must admit that it is so! There are days when circumstances distract us from “Thus Saith the Lord”, at least temporarily. But although we may be momentarily guilty of this distraction, He has made a promise to cover even this. It is found in the above Scripture. There will come a day when no circumstance will be able to distract us. It will come to pass when He has FINISHED THE WORK HE STARTED IN US!

          Do we know that we have BEEN CALLED? If so, this is the starting of His work in us. Surely, we know that we are not as we once were! We have experienced a change in our likes and dislikes, and this is our CERTAIN PROOF that He has started a work in us. Knowing this, we hold with a vise-like grip to His Promise that He will finish that work. A few minutes ago I was about to write that our own unbelief would stop God’s plan in our lives. But before I could put that on paper the Great Holy Spirit (Jesus Christ) testified and said, “I am in control of even the unbelief that exists on Earth, I am the God who works all things after the counsel of MY OWN WILL. (Eph. 1:11) I am the God who placed your names on the Book of Life, and I will see to it that NOTHING IN YOUR LIFE CHANGES MY PLAN FOR YOU.

          How much more completely could we be in the Hands of Him who has total power? If He is in control of our unbelief, then can we not also believe that He is in control of our Faith? He will not fail to give this Perfect Rapturing Faith to those He has ordained to receive it! Rom. 8:35-39 testifies that our imperfect life in these flesh bodies cannot separate us from His Rapturing Grace! Is not this “Election” in its pure form? Amen!

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