If you just have a look at Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse number 4,
Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse number 4, it says,
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, then it says these words,
but the just shall live by his faith.
Now, that's a term that is repeated multiple times in the New Testament.
It's a very famous quote there from Habakkuk.
I'm sure if you read the New Testament, you've seen that many, many times,
it has its roots all the way back there in Habakkuk.
But what I am preaching on tonight, brethren, is continuing the series on the fruits of the Spirit,
which I'll just read quickly to you in Galatians 5, 22.
It says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness.
We're up to faith. We're up to faith, which is why I wanted to read Habakkuk 2.4.
But the just shall live by his faith.
You know, you as a just person, as a saved person,
commanded to God to walk and to live by faith.
That is sometimes not necessarily knowing where you're headed,
not necessarily knowing what God is going to open up for you.
And you've just got to take that step forward and trust that God has a plan for you.
And so this is definitely a challenging aspect of the Christian life, but it is essential.
And as we get toward the end of this sermon, I'm going to show you that walking by faith or living by faith
is not this unsettled feeling. Where do I go? You know?
No, no, no. When you walk by faith, it establishes you. It settles you.
It makes you grounded. It makes you strong, okay?
Because you are walking the paths that God wants you to walk.
Now, can you please take your Bibles?
We are going to come back to Habakkuk later on.
But for now, can you please go to Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians chapter 3 for me in the New Testament.
And while you're turning there, I'm going to read to you from Hebrews chapter 11.
So we want to take a biblical definition of what faith is.
And Hebrews 11, verse number 1, puts faith in a very simple way to understand.
In Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 1, it says,
Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Evidence. What is faith? It's substance. It's evidence.
Do you notice that the Bible never says it's just this empty faith?
That there's faith that's not based on anything? No.
The faith that we get as Christians on the Word of God is something that contains substance,
and it is evidence. But it's evidence of things not seen.
You know, we're gathered today, and we're going to enjoy the Lord's Supper together, Fellowship together.
Why are we doing that? Because we're remembering the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay, sacrifice. But you didn't see it. I didn't see it. Did you see it?
You know, did I have cameras back in the days of Christ that had video cameras?
Did you see Christ crucified? I didn't.
But you know what? I have no doubt.
No doubt in my mind that the Lord Jesus Christ came from heaven, was born in Bethlehem,
and He lived a life and in some 33 years was crucified on a cross for me and for you,
and then He rose again from the dead three days later. That is without a shadow of a doubt.
I know that it's true. You know, I know that it's true just as much as the birth of my children.
You know, just as much as what I can see with my physical eyes, you know, seeing this world,
seeing you seated here tonight, I have the same confidence that Christ did that some 2,000 years ago.
How can I have the confidence? Because I have faith.
Faith gives you confidence in God's Word.
You know, I've not seen Christ in my eyes, but I know He's there,
because I fellowship with Him every single day. I talk to Him every single day.
You know, we're in church. Think about how crazy this world thinks we are.
We're gathered in church right here for someone who died some 2,000 years ago
and rose again from the dead. And we cannot prove it, but we're here, aren't we?
You know why we do that? Because we're acting upon faith, okay?
It is the evidence of things not seen.
Now you're in Galatians chapter 3 and verse number 10.
Now we started by looking at Habakkuk. We saw that it said that the just shall live by his faith,
and actually there's a double meaning with this passage. There's a double meaning.
There are two truths that you can pull out of this understanding of what it means to live by faith, okay?
And the first one I want us to look at here is in Galatians chapter 3 verse number 10.
It says,
So what does verse number 10 teach us?
Verse number 10 is teaching us that if we're trying to be saved,
we're trying to be justified and righteous and make our way to heaven based on the works of the law,
then we're under the curse.
If you're trying to go to heaven, if you're trying to be saved by your good works or your good merits,
the Bible tells us you're still under the curse of the Lord.
You're still going to be judged in accordance to your sins and be thrown in hell, in hell fire, okay?
Why is that? Because it told us in verse number 10,
If you failed once, that's it. You're cursed.
And brethren, we failed more than once. More than once.
I mean, I don't have any lies you've told. I'm sure you've told more than one lie, okay?
So, you know, you say, well, from this day forward, I'm going to keep them all. You already failed, okay?
It was to keep all things. That is, you know, hypothetically, there is one way to heaven,
that is to keep all the commandments to be perfect, but there is none righteous, no, not one, okay?
Otherwise, you have to be at the level of God to meet that, and that is not you, okay?
And then, so we understand this is our comparison, comparing the works of the law, which cannot get you saved,
and then it says in verse number 11, Galatians 3, 11,
The just shall live by faith. So there's the opposite, right?
The Bible is telling us here, it is evident, you know, it is so obvious, it is so clear,
it is so easy to understand that nobody can be saved by their works. It is evident.
And yet, you know what? Every other religion, okay, is trying to get saved by their works.
The Bible says it's just impossible. It's so obvious, it is so clear, it is so evident that that is not a way of salvation.
And unfortunately, there are many churches that name the name of Christ,
and they still believe you've got to keep the works of the law to be saved, okay?
So listen, if you have, and if you think, well, Christ did 99%, but I've got to do my 1%
of keeping the laws of God to be saved, then you're not saved. You're still under the curse, okay?
Because you have to keep them all. It's not just 1%. You have to keep them all.
You know, it's either 100% Jesus, salvation, or you better do 100% perfect, righteous acts to get to heaven.
And you already failed in that regard, okay?
Now, why am I covering this? Because we saw that the phrase,
the just shall live by faith, in verse 11, is a repetition of what we saw in Habakkuk chapter 2.
Now, when we consider the context of this passage, what is it about?
Well, we saw that in verse number 10, it was comparing the works of the law with salvation by grace through faith.
This is about salvation. In order for us, you know, the fruit of the Spirit here was faith, right?
In order for us to even be saved, to be a child of God, we first had to put our faith on the work of Christ,
on Christ, on who He is, and what He's done for us, His crucifixion, His resurrection from the dead.
And so when you look at that phrase, right, the just shall live by His faith,
it certainly does have an application on salvation, because that is how we got saved, okay?
The just shall live by faith. Once you put your faith on Christ, you are made alive, you are born again.
Your dead spirit is revived once again, you have that new man, you've been made alive, you've been given eternal life.
So certainly, yeah, eternal life is simply by faith on the finished work of Christ.
Now, can you please turn to Matthew chapter 18? We are going to bounce around a little bit in the Bible tonight.
Matthew chapter 18, please, and verse number 1.
Matthew chapter 18 and verse number 1.
We need to understand the kind of faith that God wants us to have, alright?
Now, I think faith is a lot easier for children.
You know, normally when we go door to a soul winning, isn't it mainly younger people that get saved?
Like the older someone gets, the less likely, you know from your experience,
it's less likely that this person is going to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
There's a reason behind that. And if you look at Matthew chapter 18 and verse number 1,
Matthew chapter 18 verse number 1, it says,
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying,
Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
I find that a funny question. But anyway, you know, they're talking amongst themselves,
who's going to be the greatest in heaven, okay?
Now, that's a good thing to aim for. I want to be great.
I don't want to be the least in heaven.
I don't want to just get to heaven and it's like, well, you believed on Jesus, well done.
But you did nothing for the Lord. I don't really want that to be me, okay?
So, you know, I can see where their heart's in the right place.
They want to be great in the kingdom of heaven.
But notice how Christ responds to this question in verse number 2.
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, look at this,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
So the disciples are asking, who's going to be the greatest?
Jesus says it's more important that you first enter into heaven,
and the way you enter into heaven is first by becoming a humble little child, okay?
Because little children have the greater faith, all right?
I mean, I can tell my kids something and they will believe me, okay?
Sometimes I tell them, yeah, we're going to do this or that, you know, and I forget.
Because, you know, we're busy, we've got busy lives, I forget.
And then when my kids comes up and say, Dad, remember you said that you were going to do this?
And for them it's so confident that, you know, you said it and it's going to happen.
You know, when is it going to happen? That's the faith of a child.
They have a dependency on their parents.
You know, they trust what their parents say as that child gets older,
then they start to lose a little bit of that faith in their parents, right?
But when that happens, then you should put your faith on the Lord, okay?
Because your parents aren't perfect, but the Lord is always perfect, okay?
Your parents are going to make mistakes, but the Lord's never going to make a mistake, all right?
Now, the point being that it's much easier for a child to have faith.
You know, in order for you to be saved, you have to be converted.
You need to be changed and become like a little child.
Just like a little child depends on their parents.
You know, they don't worry about, you know, is the mortgage going to get paid?
Is the rent going to be paid? Is there going to be food on the table today?
You know, do I have clothes? Children don't think about these things.
They have complete faith, they've got complete trust that Mum and Dad have that taken care of, okay?
And when it comes to salvation, you've got to have complete trust that it's been completely taken care of by Jesus Christ.
Okay, so that's the conversion to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, look at, sorry, so that's about salvation there in verse number 3.
But notice how Lord also refers to faith not just as salvation, not just as entering into the Kingdom,
but in verse number 4, Matthew 18, verse number 4, he then says,
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, look at this,
the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Notice that.
So the faith, the little child faith to get into the Kingdom, to be saved,
is the same faith that you need in order to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Meaning that, you know, salvation is not just, okay, I'm going to convert myself to be a little child
and trust God completely for salvation. That's good, but once you have done that,
that's how you need to continue living your life of faith.
Just a little child who's trusting their parents, you need to continue living your life that you're saved,
completely trusting and relying on God's promises.
That God's going to see you through your trials and difficulties,
that the Lord's going to keep the promises that He's said that He's going to keep,
that the Lord's going to help you overcome the sinful, the wicked life that you do have
and to help you walk and be established on the paths that He wants you to walk.
So the same faith to live out the Christian life is the same faith that you first had to believe in the Lord.
That is to humble yourself, be converted like a little child, trust in the Lord completely, okay?
Now, you're in the book of Matthew, so please go to Matthew chapter 6.
Matthew chapter 6. So faith is important. We need to be like little children.
We need to humble ourselves as little children, okay?
Now, when it comes to the topic of faith, as Jesus Christ walked the earth 2,000 years ago,
He came across different people and sometimes He would refer to these people as those that had little faith.
And sometimes I feel like that's me. Sometimes I feel like, ah, man, in this scenario, in this situation, I have little faith.
And then there are other times when the Lord is walking and He says, well, this person has great faith, okay?
And so our faith can change over time. You know, what is the quantity of your faith?
Do you want to be known as someone of little faith? Or would you rather be known as someone of great faith?
I'm sure we all would want, you know, to be known as someone that has great faith.
And at the same time, I'm sure if we're humble enough, we would admit that sometimes we are the one of the little faith, okay?
So we need to increase the faith. And I just want to show you how the Lord refers to certain people in Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 30.
Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 30. The Bible reads,
Therefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you?
Look at this. Oh ye of little faith. You know, if you're worried about food, clothing, am I going to survive tomorrow?
The Lord Jesus Christ refers to you as someone of little faith. You know, it is God's job to provide for you.
It is God's job to take care of your food and your arraignments. Say, woo, I don't have to go to work.
That's how God provides for it, by the way. Okay? Because He's commanded men to go out and work and work hard and provide for your home.
That's how He's going to provide those things. Okay? And if you go through some hardship and you can't work and provide for a period of time,
hey, but you've been faithful to God and so He's going to provide for you. He's going to open the door and make sure you have the food and arraignment you need.
And when you start to worry about these little aspects of your life, that's you with little faith. Okay?
So we want to increase in faith. We don't want to be that person that is worried, what am I going to eat tomorrow?
Are we going to be clothed tomorrow? If you go to Matthew chapter 8, please. Matthew chapter 8 and verse number 26.
Matthew chapter 8 and verse number 26.
You know, when we're afraid, Jesus would say about us that we have little faith.
You know, not long ago, this is of course talking about the storms, the storms on the sea and the disciples were concerned that they were going to be capsized over.
And, you know, just recently we had the storms here in Sydney, didn't we? We had a lot of rain, a lot of flooding, some people had property damage.
You know, if you went for that period and you had fear, Christ would say about you, oh, you have little faith.
So you need to say, well, I need to increase my faith. This is something I need to work on.
You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is someone that can calm the storms. And here's my God.
You know, I should have faith that the Lord will provide and protect me.
Can you please go to Matthew 14 now?
Matthew 14. Matthew 14 and verse number 31.
Matthew 14, verse number 31. Very similar to Matthew chapter 8 but a little different.
Matthew 14, verse 31.
Now, let me know what that statement is from. Who is Christ speaking to here? Anyone? Peter. Yeah.
So it's amazing that Christ says to Peter, oh, ye of little faith. Peter was walking on the ocean.
I mean, if I saw someone doing that, I'd be like, whoa, this guy has great faith.
But why was it that he had little faith? Because Christ said to him, oh, thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
When you start doubting God, when you start doubting, you know, is the Lord able to protect me?
Is he able to provide for me? Is he able to, you know, see through what he has said that he's going to do for me?
When you start to doubt the Lord, then you've got little faith, okay?
Matthew chapter 16 and verse number 8.
Matthew 16 and verse number 8.
And so I just wanted to show you there just several times that as Christ is walking the earth and as he's dealing with people, individuals,
he refers many times, especially to his disciples a few times there, that they have little faith, okay?
Now, please go to Matthew chapter 8 for me. Matthew chapter 8 and verse number 10.
Let's have a look at the opposite now. Matthew chapter 8 and verse number 10.
Let's look at a couple of people here that Christ says has great faith.
Matthew chapter 8 verse number 10 reads,
So this is about a Gentile, okay?
He says, look, there are no Israelites, there are no Jews that have this level of faith as this Gentile.
You say, wow, look at the great faith of this person.
That's how I want Jesus Christ to look at this church and say, wow, this church has great faith.
I would love that. I would love that. So we need to fix the little faith.
Can you please go to Matthew chapter 15? Matthew chapter 15 please and verse number 28.
Matthew chapter 15 and verse number 28.
Jesus answered and said unto her,
Look at this.
Have you ever prayed for the Lord to heal you?
To heal you from some sickness or someone else that you love?
And then they healed, all right?
And you know it's an answer to prayer.
You know, sometimes, you know, we know that there are some sicknesses that you're likely to get over within 24, 48 hours.
And you should pray for those as well.
But there are other things that are a lot more serious.
And you pray over that person and they're healed?
I've seen it happen. I've seen it happen, right?
The Lord will refer to that person that's prayed with that confidence as someone that has great faith.
Great is thy faith.
Do you believe that God can heal you if you're sick?
I'm not some Pentecostal charismatic and I'm going to wave my jacket around and you're all going to be healed from your sicknesses.
Hey, but do we believe that God can heal?
Do we believe that Jesus Christ is our great physician?
And if you truly believe he can heal you, you know, Christ can refer to you as someone of great faith.
And so we've seen some examples here of people with little faith.
We've seen an example of someone with, a couple of people with great faith.
So how is it then?
We want to be the great. We don't want to be the little.
So what is it that we need to do to get to greatness, okay?
Now I'm going to read to you from 2 Thessalonians. You don't need to turn there.
2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse number 3, I want you to see how Paul speaks of the Thessalonian church.
2 Thessalonians 1 through 3 reads,
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly,
and the charity of every one of you all toward each other are bound of charities like your love.
So Paul looks at this church, the Thessalonian church, and I can see that your faith is growing exceedingly.
So that means we can grow in faith.
We can be people of little faith and grow to the point that we can have great faith.
Now notice what he also said about the greatness of the faith.
He also said afterwards, and the charity, that's the love of everyone, all toward each other are bound of.
So as your faith grows, guess what else is going to happen naturally?
Your love for the brethren is going to grow.
Do you love the brethren in this church?
Do you love your brothers and sisters here?
Do you love the children here?
Do you love your pastor? I love you guys.
As we grow in faith, you're going to have a greater love, a greater appreciation for one another,
even when we annoy each other sometimes,
even when I see your bad habits and you see my bad habits and we get in each other's nerves.
Even when that happens, we can still have an abundant love toward another,
but you know what we need to work on?
We need to work on being people that grow in faith,
that increase our faith.
So we're going to try to work out how is it that we can develop or grow this faith.
And there's a few passages.
I'll get you to turn to, let's have a look at this.
Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 for me.
2 Corinthians chapter 10.
I am being mindful all the time.
We are expecting delivery at 8 o'clock, so I'll try to wrap it up by then.
But you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 for me,
and I'm going to read to you a very familiar passage.
And this passage is about salvation.
It's in the Romans, Romans chapter 10.
It's about salvation, but as we saw, the faith that we need to live a life of faith
is the same faith that you needed to get saved.
And so we can apply even this aspect to our daily life.
And in Romans chapter 10 verse number 17, it says,
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So if we want to grow in faith, if we want to increase our faith,
what is it that we need to do?
We need to hear the word of God.
That is why when we go door to door soul-winning,
we take our Bibles, we take the scriptures,
or we quote scriptures that we have memorized,
because it's the word of God.
It's not your, I don't know, your wisdom
that gets people saved.
No, it's the word of God that brings forth faith.
But here's the thing.
We know that's salvation, but it's the same thing as a Christian.
The more you hear God's word, the more you know God's word,
the more you memorize God's word, you're going to increase in faith.
When I read the book of Revelation or the book of Daniel
and we see all the end times events, I believe it all.
I have no doubt that God's judgment is coming.
Why is that? Because I've read it in God's word.
Reading God's word increases my faith,
increases my confidence in what God has to say.
You can't show me, you know, if you show me footage,
I'm still going to believe the Bible over that footage,
if it's contradictive.
I'm going to believe the Bible first,
because footage can be tampered with and changed and whatever.
The wisdom of man changes, sciences in this world changes,
but God's word never changes.
So we can have our confidence in God's word,
but it comes by hearing God's word.
If you want to grow in faith and you don't hear God's word,
you're not going to grow in faith.
So this is important.
Now, I'm also going to read to you...
Where did I get you to turn?
2 Corinthians 10.
2 Corinthians 10. Why did I get you to turn there?
I'm off to this page. Sorry.
Okay. All right.
Before we read 2 Corinthians 10, I'm going to read another passage to you.
In Luke chapter 17, verse number 5,
this is another way that we can grow in faith and develop our faith.
In Luke 17, verse 5, it says,
And the apostles said unto the Lord, increase our faith.
Okay?
So the Lord's teaching something difficult.
The disciples are like, oh, man, I don't think we can do this, Lord.
This is so hard.
And then they go to the Lord and they ask him, Lord, increase our faith.
So what's another way that we can increase or grow in faith?
We need to go and petition that to the Lord.
Okay?
Go to the Lord.
Lord, increase my faith.
Lord, I have little faith right now.
I'm fearful right now.
I'm concerned right now.
I don't feel strong in you right now, Lord.
Can you increase my faith?
That's a righteous prayer to pray.
It's a great prayer to pray.
Okay?
And so you can see just the basic things that we do as Christians,
which should be reading our Bibles, praying to the Lord, asking him to increase our faith.
These are methods by which we can grow in faith.
Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 15.
2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse number 15.
This is another way that you can increase in faith.
It says in verse number 15,
Look at this.
When your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly.
All right.
So you can see that Paul is desiring for the Corinthian church that their faith would be increased.
Now, when Paul is writing to the Thessalonian church, we know he's already saying,
Man, you guys are growing in faith.
Because that's a good church.
They've got good, sound doctrine.
Paul's not having to rebuke them and correct them.
But when we come to the Corinthian church, he says,
Man, you need a bit of work, but you need to have your faith increased.
So you can see here that one method by doing this, why is Paul writing this to the Corinthian church?
He's rebuking them.
He's correcting them for their sinful, carnal ways.
In order for you to increase in faith, you need to overcome your sinful, harmful, wicked, carnal ways.
Remember, this is the fruit of the Spirit.
I've been saying this for the whole series.
We have the battle between the flesh that wants to rebel against God.
Yes, there's a part of you that wants to rebel against God.
And you've got the Spirit, the new man, which has been born again.
That part of you wants to obey the Lord.
And you're constantly in this battle.
You wake up tomorrow morning, the old man's going to wake up next to you saying,
You know, walk in my ways, rebel against God, don't pick up the Bible, don't go to church.
Well, you know, if you listen to the old man, you walk in accordance to the old man,
your faith will not increase.
It will be diminished.
You'll be like the Corinthian church that were called carnal babes in Christ.
No, you know, our desire should be to grow.
My desire for this church is to grow.
And so when you wake up in the morning, you know, and you say,
Well, you know, I don't feel like reading the Bible.
Hey, when you feel that way, I don't feel like reading the Bible this morning.
Remind yourself that's the old man.
That's the flesh.
Okay, so I've got to get rid of this thing.
So I'm going to pick up my Bible and read it anyway.
All right, I'm not going to give my flesh what it wants.
I'm going to give the new man what it wants.
Okay, and when you start living in accordance that way, your faith will increase.
All right, can you please go to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Another passage that I have that goes hand in hand with living in the Spirit,
walking in the Spirit is Galatians chapter 2 verse 19,
but you're turning to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
And let me just quickly read to you from Galatians chapter 2 and verse number 19.
Paul says,
That should be our desire, to live unto God.
Then he says,
So he says, look, there's a part of me that's been crucified with Christ.
There's a part of me that has died, but I'm still alive.
Okay, so he's talking about this dual nature that we have.
Then he says,
So again, I just want to read that passage to you
to show you that you're not the only one that goes through these struggles.
Paul has these struggles, and he's got to remind himself,
that old man has been crucified.
Now, that old man is dead, and I'm going to live a life that is in Christ Jesus.
I'm going to live in accordance to his faith.
Remember, it's the fruit of the Spirit.
It's not faith of man.
It's the faith of the Holy Spirit.
It's the faith of God that we're trying to develop in our lives.
Alright?
Now, I'm going to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
Now, when we read the books of Timothy and the book of Titus,
these are epistles that are written to pastors.
It's written to people that are in the office of a bishop.
Pastoral epistles, they're called.
Now, so as we read this, yeah, the first application is to a pastor.
But you soon see that this applies to every man.
In fact, of course these books apply to every man, to every person.
But it says in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 12,
it says,
Now, let me stop there for a moment.
So, the deacon in this passage is an actual official office in the local church.
You know, if one day we need a deacon,
then I'm looking forward to having that deacon.
The whole point of a deacon is to help the pastor, you know,
take care of things in the church.
You know, the administrative duties and things like that,
so the man of God can be focused on the Word of God and in prayer.
But anyway, notice what it says about the deacons.
It says,
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife,
ruling their children and their own house as well.
Now, notice verse number 13.
For they that have used the office of a deacon
well purchased to themselves a good degree.
Now, notice the next words.
And great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Now, thank God, I had an opportunity to be a deacon for two years in my old church.
You know, at Victory Baptist Church.
You know, and I didn't think about this aspect.
But the Bible's telling me here that if I had this office,
that it would develop in me a great boldness in the faith.
Maybe that's why I became a pastor.
Maybe if I didn't take the step of being a deacon first,
I would not have developed a faith necessary to become a pastor.
Now, why am I talking about this, you know?
Well, because the word deacon,
yes, what we're looking at here is an actual office of a man.
Okay, he's got to be the husband of a one wife,
ruling children well.
You can see the qualifications there.
But the word deacon just means servant.
And many times in your Bible, in the New Testament,
the word deacon, I think it's diakonos or something along those lines in the Greek,
is just translated as servants in your English Bibles.
Deacon just means servant.
Now, there is an official office of this deacon,
but then we're all called to be servants.
And so if we're all called to be servants,
this is going to help you develop the great boldness in the faith.
What are you talking about, Pastor Kevin?
I'm talking about how you serve this local church.
How you serve this body.
You know, we have people that come up here and preach.
Praise God, that's service.
We have people that song lead, that's service.
We have people that read the Bible, that's service.
Okay, we have people that have been working on the building
and the mother's room is going to be constructed tomorrow.
Is it tomorrow?
I think tomorrow.
Hey, that's service.
Hey, those that go door to door song winning, that's service.
You know, those that prepare maybe a coffee or the drinks
or maybe the ladies that bring sometimes they bring some food or whatever.
Hey, that's service.
You know what?
If you want to increase in faith, serve the local body of Jesus Christ.
Serve your brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Say, well, I don't like my brothers and sisters.
Well, here's the good thing.
Okay, even if you don't like them.
Okay, when you serve them, you are serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay?
I mean, this is a great way.
And the Bible is telling us in service that we will develop great boldness in our faith.
What a great way to increase our faith, just serving in the local body.
Now, I hope you like one another.
If there are people in the church that you don't like, well, get used to it because that's life.
You know, there's going to be people in your family that you don't like.
There are people in your workplace that you're not going to like.
You probably don't even like me.
I don't know.
This is life.
Okay, we need to just put aside the little inconvenience and say,
well, this is my brother in the Lord.
This is my sister in the Lord.
These are children of my brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And they're trying hard.
They're trying hard to raise a godly seed.
I'm going to support them.
I'm going to pray for them.
I'm going to bless them.
Hey, I'm going to serve them because that's going to help increase my faith as well.
Can you please turn to, you're in 1 Timothy already, aren't you?
So, 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 10.
1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 10.
You know, there is one sure way to decrease your faith,
to damage your faith,
to go from someone that has great faith to basically having no faith
or a lack of faith, a very decreased amount of faith.
1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 10.
Look at this.
It says, for the love of money is the root of all evil.
Now, money is not the root of all evil.
Okay, we all need money.
It's a tool to live, to purchase, to provide.
It's the love of money that is the root of all evil.
You know, if you have a love for money, brethren,
if you just want to amass wealth and you're just concerned about
what is it I can buy and I can enjoy and entertain myself with,
how large can I have my bank account and my possessions,
brethren, you're going to lose a love for God.
You can't serve two masters.
Okay, it's either the Lord God or it's mammon.
Okay, it's money.
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Now, notice this.
Which, while some covet it after, they have erred from the faith,
which pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
This is not about the unbelieving world.
And yes, the unbelieving world does have a love of money.
I understand that.
This is about, again, writing to Timothy.
This is writing to a pastor about his local church, okay.
And this is, look, there are some that have covet it after money.
There are some people in our churches
brothers and sisters in the Lord who love money so much
it says they have erred from the faith.
Okay.
So, what happens to these people?
They stop caring about the faith.
You know, when you talk about the faith, quite often,
you know, just in the realm of Christianity,
they'll often say, oh, you know, you're of the faith, right.
You're talking about, you know, the aspects of living out your Christian life.
Well, some people will turn aside from living a life
that is holy and pleasing to the Lord.
There are some people that are going to stop picking up their Bibles.
And I hope it's no one here, but it may very well happen, right.
Or people that say, well, you know, I don't want to be in church anymore
and you get out of church and I'm going to stop praying
because the Lord's not answering my prayers
or whatever you think might be happening behind the scenes.
And that will cause you to go on a downward spiral, a bad spiral.
And you know where it begins?
It begins by loving money, by making money, you know,
basically your God on this earth.
And you know what, it's not that money itself is evil.
As long as you're just, you know, you're attaining that to provide,
to get the needs that you need, you know,
to be able to help in the work of the house of the Lord.
You know, money itself is not evil, but if you have a love for money, brethren,
and, you know, check your heart, check your heart,
but it's going to cause you to err from your faith.
Now, can you please turn to Romans chapter 1 and verse number 16.
Romans chapter 1, verse number 16.
So we looked at ways that we can increase our faith,
reading our Bibles, asking the Lord to increase our faith,
serving the local body that Christ has given us, the church,
serving the brethren, and one sure way to decrease your faith
is to have a love for money, okay.
But I want to show you here in Romans chapter 1, verse number 16,
these two aspects. Remember I told you that that phrase,
the just shall live by faith, has two aspects.
And the first one that we saw dealt with salvation, okay.
Now I want to just quickly touch upon the dealing in our daily walk, okay,
and our daily walk as a Christian.
In Romans chapter 1, verse number 16, it says,
By the way, when it says to everyone that believeth,
believeth and faith, they're two words, they're the same word, okay.
Faith is a noun, believe is the verb. It's the same word, alright.
So you can see in verse number 16 that the faith or the belief
that's associated with verse number 16 is about our salvation, okay.
Believe in the gospel, not being ashamed of the gospel.
Look at verse number 17.
Then it says,
Now look at the next words.
From faith to faith.
So we needed faith to be saved,
but now you need to go from faith to faith,
meaning that as you live your Christian life,
now you need to live a life of faith as it keeps going there,
as it is written, the just shall live by faith, okay.
So you can see now the other meaning from Habakkuk.
Firstly, we saw that it was about salvation,
but now this is from going from faith to faith.
Now the living by faith is not the everlasting life that we get
because that's already taken care of,
but it's as we live our daily life,
as we go about living our walk for the Lord,
our fellowship with the Lord,
the Bible says we need to have faith in the same way.
We need to live by faith.
So you can see that double meaning there, right,
about salvation but also living a life of faith.
Now, can you please go back to Habakkuk,
Habakkuk chapter 2, okay, Habakkuk chapter 2.
Remember it's the fifth last book in your Old Testament.
Habakkuk chapter 2 where we got this phrase from.
Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse number 1.
So let's go back to what Habakkuk,
and by the way, Habakkuk was a prophet similar to Jeremiah.
He was preaching to the same nation, Judah,
just before the Babylonian captivity.
So he's basically doing the same task that Jeremiah,
as we've been studying for Jeremiah on Sundays,
Habakkuk was basically another prophet doing the same thing, okay.
And so when we read about what he's writing,
it's about the same topic, okay.
Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse number 1,
Habakkuk says,
I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower
and will watch to see what He will say unto me
and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
So Habakkuk is waiting for the Lord to speak to him, okay.
That sounds good.
You know, I think we should wait on the Lord
and see what He has to say to us sometimes, right.
But notice what he says,
and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Habakkuk is saying, man, when God speaks to me,
like he's a humble guy, he knows he's a sinner.
He knows he's not perfect and he goes,
oh, when I stand before God, He's going to rebuke me, right.
He's going to reprove me.
And then he's saying, what am I going to answer?
You know, I guess he has some sin that he's done, right.
And, you know, God's going to speak to me.
How am I going to answer to God?
What am I going to say to God?
I think it's a good question.
Verse number 2,
And the Lord answered me and said,
Write the vision and make it plain upon tables
that He may run that reed of it.
By the way, preachers, that's our job.
To make it plain.
You know, we get our vision from the Word of God,
and when we get up to preach, we need to make it plain,
not complicate God's word.
Make it plain.
Make it easy to understand.
Anyway, verse number 3,
So God is telling Habakkuk, look, it's coming.
The judgment on Judah is coming.
It may seem like it's tarring.
It may seem like it's taking a long time,
but, look, there's an appointed time,
and my judgment's going to fall upon Judah.
We're looking at this in Jeremiah, okay.
So Habakkuk's having this hard time.
He's preaching God's word, right.
And the Lord's saying, look, just don't doubt,
don't worry, have faith.
My judgment's coming on the land of Judah.
And then he says in verse number 4,
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him,
but the just shall live by his faith.
You know what God is telling Habakkuk?
You need to live by your faith.
I told you, judgment's coming to Judah.
I'm using you as a prophet to preach my coming judgment.
And he's telling Habakkuk, look, don't doubt, okay.
Live by your faith.
Now we see in verse number 4,
one way to prevent you from living in faith.
Let me look at verse number 4 again.
You know, what does that mean?
To be lifted up.
That means being lifted up in pride.
You know, being lifted up in pride
will prevent you from living a life of faith, okay.
He says, his soul which is lifted up,
then he says, is not upright in him.
He thinks he's upright.
He thinks he's righteous.
But God says he's not upright, okay, in the eyes of God.
So pride, brethren, if you struggle with pride,
it's going to cause you to not live a life of faith.
You know, the Lord is challenging Habakkuk,
listen, humble yourself, believe what I'm telling you,
my judgment is coming and live in accordance to that faith.
So now you can understand what the context of that passage was about.
Now, I'm going to quickly read to you one more passage
and I'll just read it to you.
So if you, actually you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16 for me, please.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 16 for me
and I'm going to read to you from Hebrews chapter 10.
So you go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16
and I'm going to read to you from Hebrews chapter 10
because this is another time that phrase,
the just shall live by faith, is quoted, okay.
It says in Hebrews chapter 10 verse number 38,
now the just shall live by faith, then it says this,
but if any man draw back, what's this about?
The backslidden Christian.
You know, we're commanded to live by faith,
but if you draw back, what is God going to say about you?
If you get backslidden, if you lose your faith and your trust on the Lord,
it says, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
And so there's an encouragement here
that if we've begun this journey of going from faith to faith,
continue, continue persevering in faith,
following the Lord, don't become a backslider
because your life will end in perdition.
What's perdition? Destruction, judgment, okay.
As Christians we are called to live a life of faith.
Why is it so important though?
Why is faith so important?
Pastor Kevin, it seems like just trusting the Lord and trusting his word,
it's a difficult thing to do.
You know, how is it that I can have confidence?
Well, I told you at the beginning of the sermon,
this is one sure way to have confidence in your life,
to be a man or to be a woman, to be a child of faith.
You're in 1 Corinthians 16, right? Verse number 13.
1 Corinthians 16, verse number 13, notice this.
It says,
So if we want to be strong people, right,
we want to stand fast, be unmovable.
What is it that we need to be unmovable about?
What is it that we need to be steadfast about?
Our faith.
You see, faith is not just this empty faith,
who knows what the future holds, I don't know.
Being a faithful person makes you stable,
makes you strong, makes you grounded.
I don't know what the future holds,
but I know the one that holds the future.
That's why you can have confidence,
because it's the Lord that is above all things,
and I'm his child and his eyes are upon me.
He's watching where I go.
He's watching the steps that I take.
Can you please go to 2 Corinthians now?
Go to 2 Corinthians, just your next book over,
2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 24.
2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 24.
As I said, brethren, faith gives us stability.
2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 24.
It says,
So when you fall as a Christian,
when you've seen Christians fall,
why is it that they fell?
They were not faithful.
They did not live a life of faith.
But if you live a life of faith,
the Bible promises us that you will stand in that faith.
You will stand upright.
You will continue walking in the ways that God has for you.
And lastly, brethren, I'll just read to you.
Actually, no, that's a double up.
But the conclusion, brethren, here,
is that in order for us to be stable,
in order for us to be strong,
in order for us to be steadfast as Christians,
it's not about looking with our physical eyes,
something that we can be sure about.
No, it's looking with our spiritual eyes.
It's having faith in God.
It's faith that pleases the Lord.
When we become unsettled,
when we come to doubt God's promises,
when we come to backslide and not trust in the Lord,
this does not please the Lord.
I want us to be people that please the Lord.
And in order to do that,
you must have your faith upon Him.
Have faith on His Word.
He's given us His Word so we can know who God is,
what He wants from us,
what He's providing for us,
and that we can be strong, steadfast, and secure.
Let's pray.