Living By Faith

SERMON by Dr. M. Marshall Woodard III

Living By Faith

Romans 1:17 Text

"The just shall live by faith"

True faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and without it, it’s impossible to please God. We are save by Grace thru faith plus nothing, and it is this faith that allows us to recognizing our own inability and the Lord’s ability.

Life is a test of Faith/Supportive Text(Mark 9:14-29)

This demon-possessed boy should call our attention to these "boyz" in our neighborhoods who are addicted to drugs, thug behavior and totally out of control. Many of our churches and families have given up hope on them changing.

We have lost control of our children, while God told us as men to take dominion over everything that creeps upon the face of the earth. Without faith in God, we have a natural inability to control our circumstances. Sickness, poverty, accidents, and

countless other situations remind us of this inability.

The boy in our supportive scripture has symptoms of epilepsy, but the Bible clearly attributes this

to a demon. When was the last time you heard a sermon preached on demonic possessions? This does not mean that all disease (or epilepsy) is demonic, but this one was (and some may still be).

The disciples of Jesus were not able to do the work of casting out the demon of epilepsy from this young man. Well just because you have had a victory, don’t get comfortable in yourself. Even though the disciples had cast out demons before, (6:12) this situation shows us their failure to do the work of the Spirit in their own power. This case was apparently more difficult, and challenged them right after the mountain experience on the Mountain of

Transfiguration, which adds to the mystery of God’s interweaving of spiritual events in our lives.

The Struggle for Faith is a daily walk, thus the just shall live by faith. We must walk by faith and not

by sight. Jesus speaking to the multitude in verse 19 asked a question about their faith, and He asks

us this same question, "O faithless generation how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer

you?

He is Emanuel, God with us! There is power in His name, and His blood will never loose it’s power.

So why are we so powerless? To often our walk is a faithless walk, we worship Him with our lips, but

our hearts are far from Him.

Let’s examine Mark 9: 20-29 as I try and find a place to park. How many of us cry Lord I believe but help

Thou my unbelief? Oh yes my brothers and my sisters, our belief is often mixed with unbelief.

After telling Jesus about his son’s medical condition, of the demonic spirit trying to destroy his son, the man shows his unbelief. Now notice carefully, this man shows faith by bringing his son to Jesus, but he shows doubt in the saving, healing power of Jesus by saying "if."(20-22) How often do we pray for the sick saying if it be your will, when His has plainly stated I am come that they may have life more abundantly?

We need to remember to have faith like a mustard seed so that we can speak to the mountains in our way and see them moved out of our way.

I’m so glad that there is a balm in Gilead that can heal the sin sick soul. As we read these last four verses we find that Jesus Christ has the ability to control what we can not control.

He rebuked the foul spirit, commanded the spirit out of the boy and forbade it to enter the boy ever again. Then Jesus took the dead boy by his hand and lifted him up from the dead.

There is power for our kids who are walking the streets in spiritual death, but instead of giving up on them we must live in faith. Jesus has the power, He is the power source...

He could heal the boy no one else could heal. He could raise him from the dead if necessary, as he was telling them that he would himself be raised

from the dead in Mark 8:31, 9:9-10, 9:31.

My brothers and my sisters in Christ, our inability is linked to our failure to rely completely on God (28-29).The "backbone" of the will is developed by bending it through discipline.

Spontaneity is developed when we increase our speed of doing his will. The scope of the will is developed in area after area. The will gains

momentum and more and more of God’s will is done swiftly.

If the just will just live by faith! If the just will

just live by faith! Mountains will be turned into molehills, problems will be turned into praise, and poverty will be turned into prosperity...