But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. —Hebrews 11:6
Notice particularly the first part of that verse, "But without faith it is impossible to please him ...." If God demands that we have faith when it is impossible for us to have faith, then we have a right to challenge His justice. But if He places within our hands the means whereby faith can be produced, then the responsibility rests with us as to whether or not we have faith.
God has told us that without faith it is impossible to please Him, but He has also told us how to obtain faith. He has told us how faith comes.
ROMANS 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
If we don't have faith, it is not God's fault. To blame God for our lack of faith is nothing but ignorance. God has provided the way whereby everyone can have faith.
Faith for Salvation
Faith for salvation "cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." The Apostle Paul said that we are saved by faith. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). But how do you get the faith to be saved? Let's read more from this passage in Romans.
ROMANS 10:8-10,13,14,17 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
We see here that faith for salvation comes by hearing the Word of God. Now relate that with Acts 11:13,14, "And he shewed us how he [Cornelius] had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; WHO SHALL TELL THEE WORDS, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."
Cornelius was a good man, but he was not saved. Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). As Cornelius had not as yet heard this glorious Gospel, he was not saved. God told Cornelius to send for Peter in order to learn the plan of salvation. The angel could not preach to Cornelius. (Angels cannot preach—God sent men to preach.) But the angel could tell Cornelius where to go to get somebody ".... who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved."
Men are saved by hearing words. And that is because "...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." You cannot believe without hearing the Word.
Faith for Healing
How does faith for healing come? In the same way. You can see this in the following passage:
ACTS 14:7-10 7 And there they [Paul and Barnabas] preached the gospel. 8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: 9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, 10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
A casual reader of the Word might say, "It is wonderful how Paul healed that man!" But Paul did not heal the man. The man was not healed because Paul was an apostle, nor was he healed by Paul's faith. The man himself had the faith.
Paul did three things:
- He preached the Gospel (verse 7).
- He perceived that the man had faith to be healed (verse 9).
- He told the man to stand up and walk (verse 10).
The man did three things:
- He heard Paul preach (verse 9).
- He had faith to be healed (verse 9).
- He leaped and walked (verse 10).
This man was not healed by some power which Paul had. The man himself had faith to be healed. And how did he get the faith to be healed? He got it from what he heard. He heard Paul speak.
And what did Paul speak? He preached the Gospel (verse 7).
If Paul had preached what some have called the Gospel, the man would have never been healed. Paul preached what the Bible calls the Gospel!
As a young Baptist boy on the bed of sickness reading Grandma's "Methodist" Bible, the more I read the more I realized that I had never heard the full Gospel, but only part of it. The more I read the Word, the more I noticed that I didn't have to die. The more I read, the more I realized that I could be healed!
(I had been taught that God could heal if He wanted to, which was an even bigger insult than saying He couldn't heal—both are lies.)
As I read the Word, though, the devil was right there trying to bring to my remembrance all the doubt and unbelief I had ever heard. He reminded me that I had heard that healing had been done away with.
But do you know how I was able to overcome that obstacle? I could never remember having heard anyone say that faith had been done away with!
This crippled man at Lystra had faith to be healed. In Mark 5:34 Jesus said to the woman who had just been healed from the issue of blood, "Daughter, thy FAITH hath made thee whole."
Faith has not been done away with! It comes by hearing —and hearing by the Word of God!
Jesus did not say that it was His power which made the woman whole; He said that her faith did it. When I saw this, I knew that if her faith made her whole, then my faith could make me whole. And, thank God, it did! My faith made me whole. My paralysis disappeared and my heart condition left. Since then I have been going at a hop, skip, and a jump, preaching the truth.
How did this man at Lystra get faith to be healed? From what he heard. And what he heard was the Word of God, the Gospel.
Is there something about the Gospel that would cause a life-long cripple to be healed? Decidedly yes!
Paul preached a Gospel of salvation and of healing, stating, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).
A footnote in the Scofield Bible referring to this verse says, "The Greek and Hebrew words for salvation imply the ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness."
Therefore, Paul was saying, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness." Paul preached the full Gospel, not just a part of it.
ACTS 8:5-8 5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. 6 And the people with one accord gave heed onto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city.
These great miracles came about as a result of preaching Christ (verse 5). The New Testament knows no Christ without Christ the Healer. Physical healing—divine healing—is part of the Gospel. If there is no Gospel of healing today, neither is there a Gospel of salvation.
- C. Nelson, who was for many years a noted Baptist minister, said, "Healing is part and parcel of the Gospel."
While pastoring a church in Detroit, Michigan, in 1921, Dr. Nelson was struck by an automobile. His left knee was severely injured. Blood poisoning developed, affecting his entire leg and threatening his life. His doctor warned that the leg might have to be amputated.
Even if he survived the blood poisoning and the leg didn't have to be amputated, the doctor said that leg would be stiff the rest of his life.
As Dr. Nelson lay immobile and in great pain, the Lord led him to read the entire Epistle of James. He realized he lacked faith for healing, but the story of Aeneas' healing in Acts 9:32-34 inspired faith in his heart.
The threat of a major operation prompted Dr. Nelson to renew his consecration and promise "to tell the world" if the Lord would heal him.
Then, desiring to obey James 5:14,15, he arranged for four Spirit-filled friends who had been healed themselves to come to his home, anoint him with oil, and pray. As they prayed, he seemed to hear the words of Acts 9:34, "Jesus Christ healeth thee. Arise!"
While his friends waited downstairs, Dr. Nelson dressed with the help of his son. Suddenly he realized his knee was completely free from pain. He joyously ran up and down stairs several times, rejoicing in the Lord. He was totally healed and never suffered stiffness in that knee. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Many years ago, a fine denominational minister had an outstanding evangelistic ministry. Various denominational churches would combine their efforts and sponsor him in large city-wide meetings. He became sick, however, and by his own testimony within two years all his money was gone. A $10,000 bank account, which was quite a bit at that time, was gone. In order to pay medical bills he had to sell his home, his car, and most of his books. He had been everywhere, including the Mayo Clinic, seeking medical help. However, he was none the better, but rather grew worse. Finally he was forced to stay in a county hospital in California. The doctors there said he would die. He called a brother who lived in California and asked him to borrow some money for a train ticket to send him home to Texas to die. Their 83-year-old mother lived in Collin County, Texas (where I lived), and he wanted to see her before he died.
His brother borrowed the money and sent the ailing minister, then in his 50's, back to the old home place and their aged mother. A 19-year-old boy who lived on the place and did the chores became the sick man's nurse. This required turning him, dressing him, and completely caring for him. One day the boy said to him, "Doctor, why don't you let the Lord heal you? The Bible says that if there is any sick among you, let them call for the elders of the church and let them pray for you."
This minister had studied the Bible—he had been through seminary—but he did not know that was in the Bible. He instructed the boy to get his Bible out of the trunk and find that place. But the boy told him that he had never learned to read. The minister asked him then how he knew that it was in the Bible. His preacher told him that it was, the boy declared. And so the minister looked it up and there it was!
The boy told him that they were having a meeting under a brush arbor. There was to be a healing service that night, and the boy told the older man that if he wanted to go he would get someone to take him. The minister decided to attend, so they brought an old Model T Ford and made a bed in the back of it for him. They drove the car up as close as possible, and after the service the preacher came out, anointed him with oil, and prayed over him. It was midnight before they got home. But when they arrived, the minister asked his mother to let the boy fire up the wood stove so that she could fry some ham and eggs.
(He hadn't had anything except baby food and soft foods in more than two years.) He told his mother that he was healed. He told her that the preacher had anointed him with oil and prayed for him. The mother said later that she thought he had lost his mind. He had asked for some old-fashioned country biscuits, too, and she reasoned that since he was going to die anyway, if he ate the biscuits he would at least die happy. So she did what he wanted. She fixed the ham, the eggs, and the biscuits—and he ate what she prepared and didn't get sick. He was healed!
He began to write articles for publication in various magazines and calls began to come in for revivals. A citywide meeting was arranged for Kansas City. The boy told him that before he went to that meeting he must be filled with the Holy Spirit. He said that he was ready to believe anything that boy told him, so he asked the boy what he should do. The boy told him how.
They went to an old brush arbor meeting, and when they gave the invitation, the minister went to the altar in the sawdust, and there he received the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues. This minister has long since gone on to Glory, but his writings have been a blessing to many. Now how did this man get faith for healing? He got it by hearing.
I referred earlier to the woman who had an issue of blood for 12 years. The Word of God tells us about her in the fifth chapter of Mark. We are told that she had spent all of her living and had gone to many physicians, but was none better.
The 27th and 28th verses say about her, "When she had HEARD of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." And in the 34th verse we read, "And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague."
Where did this woman get faith to receive healing? "When she had heard ...." (v. 27).
After preaching several weeks in a Full Gospel church in Dallas during the early '50s, I stayed on three months while the pastor took a leave of absence. In addition to preaching at the regular church services, we also had a daily radio program.
One weekend we had some special missionary services. On Friday night, after the service had been dismissed, one of the ushers told me that a man and a woman from Fort Worth wanted to see me. The wife was sick and wanted healing.
Her husband related that as he drove to work one morning, he had heard our radio program. He had heard me make the statement that healing was for everybody, and he had gone home that night and told his wife about it. All that week they had tuned in to the radio broadcast.
This woman had had two serious major operations and was facing the third. "We have been praying," the husband said, "that if it is God's will for her to be healed, He will give us the faith to believe that she will be healed." And they had come for me to pray for her.
I began by telling them it is unscriptural to pray, "If it be Thy will" concerning anything which God's Word has already promised us. When you put an "if in your prayer, you are praying in doubt.
Some people think they are being humble, when really they are being ignorant. You will get no answer if you put "if's" in your prayers when God's Word has already made His will plain.
It is only when you are praying a prayer of consecration that you put an "if" in the prayer. This is because in a prayer of consecration you are not certain what the Lord's will is.
"If" is the badge of doubt, and it should not be in your prayers when you are trying to change a situation.
I asked the husband, "If the New Testament said that Jesus took your wife's infirmities and bare her sicknesses, wouldn't it be His will for her to have her healing?"
He acknowledged that it would. So we turned in the Word to Matthew 8:17, which says, "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." "It is God's will for her to be healed!" he exclaimed. Then his wife said that she saw it, too.
We then turned to First Peter 2:24 and read, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: BY WHOSE STRIPES YE WERE HEALED" (1 Peter 2:24).
And in Isaiah 53:4,5 we read together, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and WITH HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED." The margin of the King James Version reads, "Surely he hath borne our sicknesses and carried our diseases."
So the couple said, "All we need now is faith. We know it is His will."
I asked them if they were saved, and they replied that they were. I asked them to describe how they had gotten saved. They stated that they had gone down to the front of the church when an invitation was given and had knelt and prayed a sinner's prayer.
"When you went down to the front," I asked, "did you ask the Lord to give you faith to be saved?" Their answer was no.
The husband said that the preacher had preached that they could be saved. He had read the Word to the people. They had heard the Word and faith came for salvation. I told them that they had faith for healing just as they had had faith for salvation. They had heard the Word.
"We're going to have to throw our first prayer away because it wasn't any good," the husband declared. I agreed with him. As soon as light comes, faith is there!
His wife agreed, saying, "I see that all I have to do now is to accept Him as my Healer."
I laid my hand on her head and prayed. Then I asked her if she were healed.
She confessed, "I surely am, and I know I am because God's Word says that I am."
During the following Sunday night service, the vestibule doors swung open and there stood her husband. After asking if he could say a word, he began to tell what had happened.
He said that when they arrived home that Friday night, his wife pulled off her brace, threw it into the closet and said, "Thank God, I am healed!" The next day, Saturday, when he came home he found his wife stooped over the sink, washing her hair—something she had been unable to do.
This Sunday night he brought his mother, who was in a wheelchair with paralysis, to be prayed for. After prayer she stood up and walked out!
When hands were laid on the young couple, they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. Years later I talked with them and she was still healed.
How did she get faith? From hearing the Word!