Faith It Til You Make It!

Rom 4:16-22 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Matt 16:17-18 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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Most of you have heard the not-so-good advice: “fake it till you make it!” What they mean is act like you belong or act like you have ability that you don’t, until maybe eventually you will figure it out. Some people think that if you do not have the ability to do something, then just act like you do and maybe you’ll get lucky. “Fake it till you make it,” it’s the motto of people who consistently get themselves “in over their heads.”

I learned the folly of this false motto at an early age. I was about 6 years old when my father decided that I needed a go-cart. At that time we lived on about 60 acres in north Louisiana, and probably truth be known, dad wanted the go-cart and having a son was just an excuse to buy it. As it turned out, I only drove it once and a very brief once at that.

The first thing that went wrong was that dad didn’t get a small go-cart, but got the biggest, with the baddest engine that he could find. He quickly realized that I could nowhere near reach the pedals, those important controllers of gas and brake, and only by placing two 2 x 4 blocks atop of the pedals, could I barely -- if I scooted down into the seat and twisted around so as to lengthen one leg -- press down on the brake or gas.

The second thing that added to the drama, was that the entire time, I was standing anxiously looking at this huge machine, my mother was arguing with my father on the wisdom of letting such a young kid drive such a powerful vehicle. My father was saying things like “he’s smart and strong, and he’ll figure it out. Men were made for stuff like this.” And my mother was saying things like “but what if he kills himself and why not wait until a few years and couldn’t we have gotten him something a little smaller, I’m not sure that he can control this thing.” Now, I had never even driven a lawnmower, but as I listened to this conversation, it not only increased my nervousness, but it also filled me with a desire to please daddy and prove mother wrong. I was a little nervous -- scared to death actually -- but I was determined to “fake it until I made it.”

Dad attached the blocks to the pedals, rolled it down in front of the garden where I would have a fairly straight and open acre to steer with and set me in the seat. Dad had recently installed an underground water line to his huge garden and so every 30 feet or so a 2” PVC white pipe was standing about 6 feet into the air with a sprinkler head on top. Dad glanced around, saw the water pipes, and decided that they would serve as a good guide for me to learn to drive my new go-cart. Looking back, I realize that what dad intended was for me to softly press the accelerator, and with me going slowly, walk beside the go-cart and instruct me as I went on the nuances of driving like a man. That’s why dad didn’t actually get into the go-cart with me -- he had the best of intentions!

What he failed to take in account was my eagerness and determination to make him proud. I was going to fake it until I made it. My mother had already been talking about how “fast” this go-cart was, so with all of my might, I closed my eyes, twisted in my seat, and stomped on the gas as far down as I could reach. In my defense, there were three things that immediately went wrong to cause the situation to go from bad to worse. First, the go-kart went a LOT faster than any of us had anticipated and quickly got out of reach of my parents. Second, in twisting around to press that gas so hard, I had also inadvertently twisted the steering wheel all the way to the left, causing the go-kart to make a wide sweep and head at a very high speed right back toward my parents who really began to screech and also unfortunately heading right toward my father’s new watering system which hadn’t been created to withstand high-speed collisions from wayward race carts. The third thing that went wrong is in his haste to let me ride the go-cart, dad had failed to fasten the wooden blocks on the brake pedal securely enough and when I stomped the gas, I knocked the 2x4s off of the brake thus making it impossible to press the brake and stop.

To make a long story short, I narrowly missed my parents, took out two of those water pipes and finally came to rest in the middle of dad’s corn rows where the plowed ground stopped me. When I finished my short ride, my heart was pounding, water was shooting up in two huge geysers into the air and my mother was screaming as if someone was trying to remove her toe nails with a ball-point pen. I was quickly rescued from the corn rows, the go-cart mysteriously disappeared and I was forced to go back riding my bike. I learned quickly that if you try to “fake it till you make it,” then you will only end up hurting yourself and making a mess of your situation!

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There is a principle in the Word of God, however, that perhaps we need to be reminded of today. Our learning of the folly of “fake it till you make it” sometimes hinders our ability to grasp this other concept. It sounds similar and sometimes feels similar, but is actually drastically different. The scriptural concept is “faith it until you make it.” Before you leave today, I hope you learn this principle well.

In our text, in Romans, Paul is talking to church leaders and pastors and teaching kingdom principles about our salvation. When he gets to chapter 4, he goes back to Abraham and begins to talk about how Abraham was saved because of his great faith. Even though Abraham lived way before grace, he was still saved by faith because when he offered up sacrifices and such, he didn’t understand the plan of Calvary. He just had to be obedient to the commandments of God and trust God to keep His end of the bargain. He had never heard of the Messiah that would die for him. He didn’t know about the law that was to come and the Passover Lamb and what it represented. He didn’t know that a little baby was going to be born to Mary in Bethlehem. He didn’t know that the land of the Canaanites would be the Promised Land that God would one day lead the people of God through the leadership of Moses and Joshua. He didn’t know about all of the prophets to come. He didn’t know that his descendants would become the nation (Israel) that God would choose to use to reveal His great Redemption plan to the world. He didn’t know that almost 6,000 years later, somebody would not only remember him but would be preaching about him to people who wanted to be right with God. Abraham didn’t know all that. All he knew was that God had commanded him to leave his idolatrous homeland and walk by faith to a land that God would show him once he got there! All he knew was that God had commanded him to offer up pure, blood sacrifices. When Abraham made an altar; when he took every step in his life toward the unknown, he was living and walking -- literally -- by faith.

Not only did all of that happen, but God also told Abraham, whose name at the time was “Abram,” that he was going to be the father of so many people that his descendants would be as the stars in the heaven and the sands in the sea. There was just one catch: Abram and his wife Sarai were old and childless. It sounded good, but it wasn’t obvious how it was going to happen. Sarai was far beyond the stage of bearing children. But God had made a promise that they would have a son. And not only that, but God changed his name from “Abram,” meaning “high father,” to “Abraham,” which means “father of a great multitude.” The significance of this only comes when you place yourself in Abraham’s shoes. Here he is walking around traveling intently somewhere. Let’s say someone meets him on his journey. The conversation might be something like this:

“Hey there! My name is “Camel Trader” and as you can see I have many camels for sale.” “Oh Hi! My name is Abraham, father of a multitude.” “Wow! You must have lots of kids huh?” Well, actually no, we don’t have any.” “Oh, I see, well that’s certainly strange. Say, where are you going traveling intently?” “Well, we’re not quite sure but see we offer up sacrifices to this God and then He tells us where to go next.” “Oh, I see, well that’s certainly strange… So why do you have to offer up sacrifices?” “Well, we don’t really know actually, all we know is that it’s a big deal to this God.” “Oh, I see, well sounds like you certainly are weird, I mean different, good luck on your journey -- wherever you’re going. And good luck with your sacrifices and worship -- for whatever reason that you’re doing them. And may you enjoy your kids and ’multitude’ of children -- if and when they ever show up!” “Um, thanks… I think that I’ll go pray now.”

And so in viewing his strange life and looking at how God named him years before any child was born, Abraham no doubt grew discouraged at times. And he had a decision to make it. If he kept walking by faith and obeying God, then he might look stupid and get ridiculed and every time he introduced himself as “father of a great multitude” there would be snickers and smiles from strangers. But yet he would be trusting God. Or he could say the embarrassment and the uncomfortable ness and the uncertainty and the sacrifice of serving God was too much and just return to his old life. Luckily, Abraham chose to “faith it out!” He chose to faith it till he made it! He chose to trust in the ways of God that he couldn’t see clearly all of the plan and yet knew that God knew best rather than to just settle for being normal and going back to what he always was! Abraham became the “father of the faithful” because he chose to “faith it till he made it!”

And so in discussing Abraham’s situation, Paul is discussing how that despite the fact that we are after Calvary and under Grace, that things haven’t changed all that much. We still must walk by faith. The only way that you are saved is by faith. That doesn’t mean that you mentally believe something. Most Christians today don’t have a clue as to what the Biblical definition of faith is. Biblical faith is believing in something so much that you act upon it. It’s being so convinced of something that you step out in action and deeds before you see the end result. True Biblical faith is being so convinced of God’s Word that you obey it and follow it even if you don’t see immediate results.

I laugh at preachers today who try to separate action from believing. In traveling this past week, my wife and I were scanning the radio dial and we came upon this preacher leading his congregation in the “sinner’s prayer” which is a man made thing in itself for I can’t ever find anybody in scripture leading someone in a sinner’s prayer. This preacher had expanded on the normal version of the prayer and said something like “and I accept the salvation of your Son, Jesus, God because it’s just based upon belief and not on anything else. It’s not based upon repentance, water baptism, speaking in tongues, jumping around, or changing anything in my life, but if I just confess with my mouth that you are my savior, I’m saved and I don’t need any of that other stuff.” That, of course, is a lie from the pits of hell. Confessing with your mouth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is a part of salvation because if you don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead then you are serving a dead God. But that is not ALL that you have to do to be saved. Jesus, Himself, said that if you didn’t repent, you would die in your sins (Luke 13:3). He also said “he that believeth AND is baptized shall be saved…(Mark 16:16). He also said “ye must be born of the water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). Look at this:

John 8:30-32 As he spake these words, many believed on him. 31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

So you believe in Jesus Christ, that’s great! But that in itself doesn’t save you unless you have Biblical faith. You must believe it so much that you are willing to obey the things that He has told you to do! You must take all of the scripture. You must believe everything that the men that Jesus commissioned to teach and found the church, the Apostles, taught. You’d better believe everything that Peter said including Acts 2:38 and you’d better believe what Paul taught and Paul believed the same thing as Peter as evidenced by Acts 19:1-6. There Paul asked some believers “have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” If they were really true believers then they would want the Holy Ghost that Jesus had promised and sure enough these men were because they received it with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and they were rebaptized to get it right in the “name of Jesus!” Understand that you can’t see the Holy Ghost coming into your life. You can’t literally see your sins being washed away. You can’t physically hear Jesus saying “I forgive you” at repentance, so you are saved by faith! But if you don’t believe enough to obey the scriptural commandments then you are not saved for you truly don’t believe! Abraham was the father of faith because he was willing to keep walking by faith even when it came to going places that he had never been before! He was willing to faith it till he made it! And if you are going to be saved you are going to have to overcome your fear of the unknown and drop the defenses toward the commandments of God. If you need to redo your baptism to make sure it was the Biblical way in the name of Jesus, then do it! If you need the Holy Ghost, then repent of your sins and ask God for it and learn to worship Him! If you don’t receive it right away, don’t doubt and stop, but keep worshipping by faith until you get it! It could be that God is seeing how much you really want it and if you are willing to sell completely out to Him!

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Faith it till you make it! It goes for other things in your life, too. I feel low today and don’t really feel like praising God. I don’t really even feel like going to church. Alright, you are like Abraham. Because you have a decision to make: either you will go along with what you feel like and stay at home and stay depressed or not worship God and leave the same way that you came, or you can choose to come anyway and worship God anyway in faith believing that He will come and comfort you and inhabit your praises and refresh you!

Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you (James 4:8)! You take the first step and then God will meet you there. He has promised to inhabit your praises. He has promised to exchange mourning and sorrow for joy and gladness! He has promised to be everything that you need when you get into His presence, but when you are at that spot where you feel nothing, you must take the first step to feel Him and get Him involved. You must have faith in His promises BEFORE you see them come to past!

So I’m having a bad day and feeling sick and down hearted. I’m going to praise God anyhow. I’m going to put a smile on my lips anyhow. I’m going to church and I’m going to sing the songs of zion anyhow. “You’re faking it.” No, I’m FAITHING it! I believe that God is going to respond to my praise and my worship and my faith and then everything will be alright! Don’t mind me, I’ll just faith it till I feel it. I’ll just faith it until I receive it. I’ll just continue doing what God has commanded and leave the feelings out! Because I believe that God’s Word is surer than my emotions! His Word is surer than life’s storms! Therefore I’ll praise Him even in bad times. I’ll give even when I’m struggling. I’ll sacrifice even when I feel as if I have no more else to give. I’ll put a smile on my face on the worst day of my life and truthfully say “it is well with my soul.” I’m not faking it! And I’m not in over my head because I am not standing and depending on my own ability, but on God’s ability! And He just happens to be perfect and he just happens to have never failed anybody and I’m probably not going to be the first! I’m not faking it. I’m faithing it! And I’ve made up in my mind that I’ll be like Abraham: I’m going to faith it until I make it!

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This principle goes beyond even our worship and our salvation. It goes to our very purpose of living and callings of God upon our lives. In verse 17 of our text in Romans chapter 4 Paul teaches us a tremendous principle of how God works. He said that God: calleth those things which be not as though they were. In other words, God sets up things in His kingdom so that they are only obtained through genuine faith and He states first what shall be before it actually happens. We see this in creation. God spoke the Word first and then the creation actually came forth. He said “let there be light” and then AFTER He said that command, light appeared. And so this principle which is the very first principle in the entire Bible continues throughout the entire Bible. With humans it takes upon another element, the condition of faithfulness. God cannot lie, but our free will does determine whether or not we receive His blessings or not!

We see this in Abram’s name being changed to Abraham (father of a great multitude) years before he ever had his first son. God spoke the Word before it actually happened. He called those things which be not as though they were. When He spoke to Abraham, He talked to him as if he was a father of a great multitude And yet it was up to Abraham to be faithful to God. The only thing that could keep Abraham from not becoming (a father of a great multitude) and receiving the promises of God was if he would have stopped trusting God. As long as he continued in faith, it would happen one day because God said it! But if Abraham had stopped to make preparations for his son that would one day come. If he had stopped attempting to create that son through relationship with Sara. If he had ceased his actions of faith and done nothing, he would have never seen the promised boy. AND if he had grown discouraged about the folly of being called such a name despite not yet seeing his child, he most certainly would not have received it. For example, when Abraham got a little impatient with God and created Ishmael with another woman, God refused to bless him until he got Ishmael out of the camp! Abraham had the ability to remove himself from his destiny by his actions or lack thereof.

You see, God does “predestinate” people to an extent. Everyone is “predestined” to go to heaven. Stay with me and you’ll see what I mean. The scriptures say that Jesus died to save the world. Peter wrote that it is the will of God that “none should perish but that all men would come to repentance.” The scriptures teach us that hell was originally created for the devil and his angels. God fully wants every man and woman to go to heaven and live forever with Him and so He died to save all people. Everyone is predestined to go to heaven, but that does not mean that everyone will. Because God calleth those things which be not as though they were. Because of sin, you must obey God’s Word to be saved. You’ve got to do something to be saved. Just because you were created to be a son of God, doesn’t mean that you will fulfill that destiny. In between your creation and your destiny is your choice. And you can choose to obey the Word of God and be saved or to die lost. If you do so you will die not having fulfilled your destiny in God. I’m here to tell you that God has created it so everything hinges upon you. If you want to live for God and be saved and obey His Word, then there is not a person alive or a devil in hell that can stop you! But if you are determined to live in sin and rebel, then the same applies as well! You can fulfill your destiny! You can obey the scriptures!

But let’s get beyond salvation. It also applies to roles and anointings and callings of God in your life. In our other text, Jesus looks at Simon and renames him. There’s a lot that you could go into this scripture but let’s look at it only how it relates to Simon. Jesus tells him:

Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Jesus renamed Simon to be “Peter” which means “a piece of rock” and then says upon this “rock” which means a large rock, “I will build my church.” The Catholic church tries to say that it is upon Peter that the church was to be built, but the “rock” in the Greek is feminine and cannot refer to Peter. What Jesus was saying was that Peter was going to be a part of the foundation of the church that He was going to build and the “rock” the large stone upon which it would be built would be the truth of who Jesus Christ was. That’s a good sermon for another time. But let’s look at what’s pertinent for us today.

I’ve known some preachers that believe that from this moment on Peter was eternally secure in his salvation. I don’t believe that. They say because Jesus had told Peter you are going to be a part of this thing and be a part of the rock upon which my church would be built that nothing that Peter could say or do would cause him to be lost. The scriptures don’t support that view. If that was true, then why would Jesus even warned Peter about betraying Him?
Why would Jesus pray for him that his “faith faileth not?” The truth is that Jesus was speaking of things that were not as though they were. Jesus was speaking a purpose in Peter’s life. His purpose was to be a rock of salvation and a foundation of the early church. It was a special anointing and a special calling in the life of Peter. Peter was predestined to be that, but if he had turned away and never repented. If he would have continued in his return to his past life, he would not have been saved. He would have been like “a dog returning to his own vomit” as he wrote about later (2 Peter 2:20-22). He would have been “worse off” than if he had never known Jesus Christ. And he would have lost his destiny. He would not have fulfilled the path that God had for him. I don’t know who would have preached the Day of Pentecost sermon but I’m sure that James or John would have done a fine job. But the destiny was Peter’s as long as he stayed faithful!

But pause just a moment and think how ironic is it that God would choose Simon Peter. And think how humorous that it would be this disciple that would be renamed “a rock.” Of all of the disciples Peter was the one that did NOT display the steadiness and consistency of bedrock and a foundation. He was wishy-washy and impetuous. He ran his mouth too much and was often in trouble because of it. And yet Jesus looks at this unstable man and calls him “a rock!” It is very obvious that God was speaking and calling those things which be not as though they were. And it is also obvious that when God does that, He is identifying the calling and the destiny for which He had purposed you and I to fulfill!

And so I’m preaching to some people today that you are discouraged because you look at the Bible and you look at your life and yet there is a great discrepancy, there. I’m not talking about unrepented rebellion and willful sin. I’m talking about you see Apostolic anointing and Apostolic miracles and power and you see the calling and you see great soul-winners and you see people like Paul and Peter and John and yet you feel as if your life is lacking something. You almost feel funny at times at calling yourself “apostolic” or “Pentecostal” because you see that your life is not everything that it should be yet and you are not yet operating in the realms of the Spirit like you have been called to do. I’m here to tell you that even if it seems the calling of God on your life is an oxymoron and that you are as far away from fulfilling that calling as you could be, keep living for God! Be encouraged today! You haven’t seen all that God wants you to see and all that He has pronounced in your life, but keep walking by faith! Keep living according to what the Word of God commands you! You are learning to walk as Abraham walked! You are learning to be a child of faith! You are learning to faith it until you make it! But if you will continue serving God faithfully, then you WILL see the Apostolic anointing and blessings and powers come in your life!

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Faith it till you make it. I am not preaching to you “fake it til you make it.” The worse thing that you can do is be fake. Everybody that was ever used mightily by God had to learn to faith their way through some things. God anointed David king long before King Saul passed away and yet David NEVER tried to force himself into the throne. In fact, when Saul found out about it, he tried to kill David and David wouldn’t even fight back. If the timing wasn’t right, David wasn’t going to fake his way into it, even if was the eventual will of God. He kept trusting God because his faithing it through the hard times running from Saul and training men to help him is what taught David how to rule and reign. If he had tried to fake his way into his rightful position before the time was right, he would have failed because he hadn’t faithed his way in.

David faithed his way through the giant. He faithed his way through the bear and the lion. He faithed his way through the ridicule and pain of his older brothers. He faithed his way through the persecution of Saul. But he didn’t push the issue. He just stayed faithful until God elevated him. And, oh, what a lesson in his life that we should also learn it is! God calls you to your ultimate calling years before you have the ability to fulfill it. People who try to force and coerce their way into their ministry and anointing by putting down other people and by demanding what is rightfully theirs are “faking” their way into it. And like me and my go-cart, they end up destroying good things, hurting people, and setting their progress back for years. Not only that, but they have to overcome the fear of failure when the time is finally right because of their mess up. But if they would have just stayed faithful in the small things and waited for the big anointing and callings of God to come to pass, they would have been so much better off! If Abraham would have been a little more patient, he would have avoided the pain and heartache that Ishmael caused and the world would not be at war in the Middle East today. Don’t “fake” it, but FAITH it! If God has called you to do something and it seems as if the doors are shut to fulfill that, be faithful in the small things that are open to you. Give it everything that you’ve got and eventually you will make it to the higher calling! You will fulfill your destiny if you remain faithful in what you have to do now. But if you are not faithful in the everyday things, then you will fall and not fulfill your destiny in God. You’ve got to -- it’s a must -- you must faith it till you make it!

Joseph had to do it. He was given a dream as a boy and then sold into slavery and prison by his brothers. If he had given up and not been faithful, he would have never seen his dream come true, but it was because Joseph kept trusting God and faithing it through every situation that not only did he see his dream fulfilled, but he could also look back and see that all of the seemingly unrelated adversities and all of that work for another man’s dream is what brought his dream to pass. Joseph made it because he faithed it until he made it!

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I close with this:

Paul wrote that in all that he had accomplished in his life, that he still had not accomplished all that he should have. Especially when compared with Jesus Christ:

Phil 3:12-14 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

He wrote that he “pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” In other words, Paul didn’t compare himself to others, but to the high standard of the man Christ Jesus. Let me say that when I am proud of my achievements and if I ever get to a place where I think that I have arrived, that I am nothing compared to Jesus Christ. And let me say that Jesus Christ is the only person that you should be comparing yourself to and for. Have I obeyed the words of Jesus? All of them? Have I lived up to his stature and example? Probably not. But that is what we press towards. In other words, Paul was saying that I have endured a lot and done a lot and I have failed when it comes to comparison to Christ but I am still pressing toward that high calling! I am still faithing my way through each day and doing everything to the best of my ability. If I fall, I’m getting back up. If I’m disappointed, I’m continuing on in being faithful! If it seems that the doors have not opened and I am anointed and more than an overcomer in title only, yet I’m staying true, because I know that God has called things in life that aren’t as though they are. And if something of His promises seems ironic or seems like it doesn’t fit then that is proof that I am destined -- if I stay faithful -- to be that! Hallelujah!

It may seem a high standard to be perfect like Jesus Christ was perfect, but if you stay faithful… ! John wrote:

1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

“When He shall appear, we shall be like him!” That’s a promise and a hope for every discouraged Christian today! According to the only standard that counts -- Christ’s -- I have failed, but I’m going to get back up and keep trying to live holy. I’m going to get back up and step out on faith again! I’m going to press my way through again and touch Him! I’m going to praise Him again and offer up my sacrifice of thanksgiving! I will not grow weary! I will pray again. I will witness again. I will study some more! I will keep being faithful! Why? Because I have a hope that if I keep faithing my way through this life, one day I SHALL be like HIM! One day I’ll be perfect as He is perfect! One day I’ll have a glorified body as He has a glorified body! And one day I’ll forever be with Him! I will not fake it and act super holy and as if I’ve got it made, but I will continue in faith believing! I’ll keep on trusting in the God who called things that are not as though they were! I’ll keep faithing it until I make it!