Adrian Rogers says, “Faith makes God’s grace available and real to us. Grace is God’s ability, and faith is man’s responsibility.”

In the Kingdom of God, our faith is the measure of our victory and success. Our belief is our greatest spiritual asset and richest currency. Conversely, unbelief is our greatest stumbling block. This is why there is an immediate urgency to receive what grace provides through faith in God.

Romans 10 reveals the intricacies of faith, what it is, and how to have it.

First, we must consider the object of our faith in order for it to be real.
When we rely on the wrong things, it can be dangerous to our spiritual health. We do not rely on positive thinking, or even on faith itself. True biblical faith is placed in Jesus Christ, alone.

Adrian Rogers says, “If the object of your faith is God, then the ambition of your heart ought to be to know Him.”

Once we confirm the object of faith, we see it originates from the Word of God.
Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

In order to grow spiritually, we must hear from God; we cannot know the will of God by guessing at it. Faith cannot be generated; it is given, as Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

When God speaks to us through His Word and Jesus Christ, we will see the result of our faith, which is the Will of God.
The objective of our faith is to get God’s will done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
God is sovereign; He remains in control at all times. What He says He will do, He will accomplish. We have the beautiful opportunity to take part in His Will, through faith.

Finally, we must know the operation of faith, which is the work of God.
We do not work for our salvation, but our obedience to Him is proof that we believe in Him.

Apply it to your life
True faith does more than merely believe; it translates into action. When you pray and ask God what to do, and how to accomplish His Will for your life today, trust and obey Him.

do you want your prayers answered uh therefore whatsoever thing you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Do you want to overcome the world? This is the victory that overcomes the world even our faith. It is faith. That is the medium of exchange in the kingdom of heaven. That’s the reason the Lord jesus christ said, be it under you according to your faith For over 50 years. Pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers preached to audiences and touched lives all over the world with his unique brand of solid biblical teaching. His teaching has been described as profound truth stated so simply a five year old can understand it and yet it still touches the heart of a 50 year old. And you’ll hear that in these messages on the basics of the christian faith, have your bibles ready and join us for today’s message. Before we begin, remember you can follow along with pastor Rogers outline and notes on today’s message at L WF dot org or the my L WF app. Now let’s join Adrian Rogers, Would you take God’s word? Find Romans. 10 moment we’re going to begin our study in verse 17. Now, the book of romans is the foundation for faith. It is the constitution of Christianity. It is the solid rock upon which we stand and and the book of romans tells us, I suppose more than any other book in the bible about the Grace of God. I love the word grace. It is a beautiful word. I think the only word more beautiful to me is the name jesus. But Grace think what a beautiful word that is and what is grace? Well, let’s make an across stick out of grace. G. R. A. C. E. God’s riches at christ expense. G R A C. E. Have you got that? God’s riches at christ expense. That means jesus christ on the cross, dying in agony and blood for our sins provides for us all of the riches of God for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him God’s riches at christ expense. That’s grace. But listen folks, faith, Faith lays hole of what grace provides now without without faith, without faith, there’s no way that you can acquire the grace of God, that the Grace of God can come into your life only through faith Ephesians two verses eight and nine. For by Grace. Are you saved through faith? What is faith? F. A. I. T. H. Forsaking all I trust him. That’s faith. Forsaking all. Forsaking my good works, my good intentions forsaking my sin. Forsaking all that I am by nature and by the first birth, I turn my back on that and I take jesus grace. God’s riches at christ expense. Faith forsaking all I trust him. So when I put my hand of faith in God’s hand of grace that salvation for by grace are you saved through faith? It is faith that receives what grace provides. And so paul now, who has been talking about the grace of God now talks about faith in that grace beginning in verse 17. So look at it. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, but I say have they not heard he barely, their sound went into all the earth now he’s quoting, he’s quoting the scripture here, the psalms that say that uh that God’s uh the knowledge of the Lord is seen in nature throughout all of the earth and uh and their words unto the end of the world. But I say did not, Israel know first moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people and by a foolish nation, I will anger you, but Isaiah’s is very bold and said, I was found of them that sought me not and I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me, but to Israel, he said all day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gain saying people. Now, we’re going to think about faith today. And the very first thing I want you to see is what I want to call the object of faith. What do you place your faith in? That’s so very important because so many people call things. Faith is not faith at all. Some people say well, just believe, you know, it’s positive thinking. Well, I like positive thinking, I’m very much in favor of positive thinking, but positive thinking is not faith. Uh some people think hoping for the best is faith are giving it your best or whatever they have, they have all kinds of ideas about what faith is, but faith is no better than its object. What is the object of our faith? The object of our faith is all mighty God. Now you’re in chapter 10, go back to verse 11. If if you will for the scripture says who so ever believed, now watch this on him, underscore that on him, on him, shall not be ashamed. The object of your faith is almighty God. There’s nothing mystical or magical about believing. Faith is no better than its object. Weak faith in the right object is better than misplaced faith in any object, weak faith in God is better than than uh faith. Strong faith than anything else. Don’t get the idea that because your faith is weak, that it won’t work. You may be afraid to fly on an airplane at all. But if you get on it, you’ve exercised faith in that airplane and you’re just as safe as the pilot of the steward is a weak faith. Faith is what counts. It’s not, it’s not the size of your faith. It’s the, it’s the object of your faith that that really counts. So many people fail to understand this. If if you look in the bible, almost everybody who got a blessing from God had weak faith. There are few had strong faith, but most of them had weak faith. There was a man whose son was demon possessed. And he came to jesus and he said, Master, if you can do anything for my boy, please do it, jesus said, If you can believe all things are possible to him that believe it. Do you know what that man said? He said, Lord, I believe help my unbelief. Have you ever been there? We all have Lord, I believe I have faith, but Lord help my unbelief, you know, Spurgeon said a trembling hand, can receive a gorgeous wonderful gift. It’s not faith and faith. It’s not it’s not the it’s not the quality of your faith, it’s the object of your faith that really counts again. The bible says in Hebrews chapter 12 were to be looking unto jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Look to jesus, the object of your faith. He is the author. He is the finisher of your faith. And that word. Looking under Jesus literally means looking away from everything else. And looking under jesus. Now, the reason the reason some folks don’t have faith is they have their eyes on everything else other than the Lord, jesus christ. Don’t look at others. Look to jesus. Don’t look at yourself, look to jesus. Don’t look at circumstances. Look to jesus. Don’t look at satan look to jesus look away from everything else. That’s literally what the greek word means when it says looking unto jesus, it literally means literally translated, it means looking away from everything else and looking to jesus, that’s what I said. Faith is what forsaking all I trust him. The object of your faith must be God. Your faith is no better than its object. Looking onto jesus, you know what the devil will do to you. Let me tell you how, what a dirty devil the devil is. The devil will want to make you doubt your salvation and here’s what he’ll say to you. You say you trust jesus? Uh huh. Well, just how strong is your faith? Maybe your faith is not strong enough to save you, Maybe you don’t have good enough faith? Maybe you don’t have strong enough faith. And the first thing you know, you get to examining your faith, you open up your innards and pull out your faith and look it all over and examine it and you say, well, I wonder if I really have that saving faith. You know what the devil’s trying to get you to do? The devil is trying to get you to look at your faith. Rather than looking to jesus. Now listen, don’t put faith in faith. Put faith in jesus when the devil used to pull that trick on me, he used to say, well, Adrian, how do you know that you really believe enough, I just learned how to turn the tables on him. I say, you know devil, you’re right, my faith is weak, but jesus is wonderful. I’m not putting my faith in my faith, I’m putting my faith in jesus, jesus never said, Look at your look, he says, looking to me and be saved. All the ends of the earth. Don’t look at your look, don’t put faith in faith. Put faith in jesus. Faith and faith is positive thinking. Faith in jesus is salvation. Now, the object of faith is God. Now, here’s the second thing about biblical faith, not only the object of it, but the origin of it. The origin of it. Now, if the object of this faith is to trust him, then you’ve got to hear from him. So, the origin of your faith is the word of God. The object of your faith is God himself. You trust him. But the the the origin of that faith is to hear him. So then faith cometh by hearing And hearing, by the word of God. Go back to verse 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? That’s a That’s a very logical question. Go back up to verse eight. But what says it? The the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith. The word of faith. Now, the object of faith is God himself. So you must know him. But the origin of faith is the word of that God, you must hear him, you must learn to listen to God. If you would have faith you see, you cannot pray outside the will of God and get your prayer answered. And in order to pray in the will of God, you’ve got to hear the word of God. Now, where does this faith come from? You don’t generate faith. You don’t just clench your fist, grit your teeth and say I am going to believe faith cometh. Look in verse 17, Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That is hearing the word of God. The word that is translated word there is not the word logos which means the revelation of the bible. Like we call the bible the word of God, that’s the logos, but it’s a different word, it’s the word Raymond faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Rema of God. And that word means the communication of the word of God. Not just the word of God. I don’t mean when I say just the word of God to deprecate the word of God. But it is not the bible that you hold in your hand. That’s going to give you faith, it is God speaking to you out of that bible, not the logos that you have in your hand. That is the word of God that is. But you need to have God speak to you, you need a rama a communication of the word of God. You can hear with your ear everything that I say this morning and not have faith. But oh if God speaks to your heart, you’ve got to hear God. You’ve got to get a communication of that word from God. And my job is not to teach you some sermon outline. My job is to get you to listen to God as God speaks to you, You’ve got to hear from God. You’ve got to hear more than a sermon. You’ve got to hear more than a pastor. You’ve got to hear God, look in Romans 10 verse 14 how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Now look at that little phrase in the new american standard gives it this way. How shall they believe in him, whom they have not heard? Does say in whom but whom they have not heard. What is the difference? Well, they basically mean the same thing, but but it means that God has to be speaking to you. You’ve got to hear God today. I hope that you go away from here, not just simply hearing Adrian, but that you’ve heard God because faith comes when you hear God, God speaks to you, there is a rama. God takes the word of God and the truth of the word of God and God applies those to your heart and God is speaking to you, you must hear jesus today, you must hear jesus say to you today, coming to me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. He is speaking to your heart today. If you will listen now, here’s the third thing I want you to see. I want you to see not only the object of our faith which is God himself, the origin of our faith, which is to hear from God and get a word from God, but I want you to hear also friend the objective of our faith. Why does God use faith? What is faith all about? Is faith. Something that you can put in your pocket to spend for whatever you want. Can you just say, well, I want I have faith. So I’ll have a bigger house, I have faith. So I’ll get well I have faith so I’ll have friends, I’ll have faith so I can get married. I’ll have faith so I can have a cadillac. I’ll have faith so I can no, no, no, no, no, no. Faith is not getting man’s will done in in heaven. It is getting God’s will done on earth. Now, it’s very very important that you see this because so many of us think that faith is something that that we can use for ourselves. Look if you will in verse 12 for there’s no difference between the jew and the greek for the same Lord over all is is rich under all that call upon him. Now, that’s the will of God, That you be saved. Go back if you will are on down to verse 15 and look at verse 15 of this same chapter. And how shall they preach? Except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. Now the preacher is to be sent. The preacher doesn’t originate his own message. I don’t I don’t I don’t sit back there in my study or in my study of the house and say, now, what do I want these folks to know? What do I think will be good ideas for them? No, I am to be a messenger boy with beautiful feet running with glad tidings. I have been sent where God says, go tell them this. And and faith, faith is God’s way of getting the things done that he wants done through us. And it’s that’s the objective of faith. Now, if you make faith of some sort of a midas touch that that makes God your servant, but God is not your servant, You are God’s servant. And again, faith is not getting man’s will done in in heaven. It is getting God’s will done on earth. And and you say, well, wait a minute, Adrian, you mean to say that I’m hemmed up by the will of God, yep. Just like a mental hemmed up by the atlantic ocean. The will of God doesn’t mean fewer blessings for you. The will of God means more blessings for you. But the objective of faith is that that God’s word that he sins will have its effect. God’s God’s order form will be done and God will do it through us. So what you need to do is to find the will of God. Because the bible says this is the confidence that we have in him. If we ask him anything according to his will, he hears us. Well, how do we know his will? We we know his word. Well, how do we trust his word? We know his person. So the object of faith is God himself. The the the the origin of faith is the word of God. The objective of faith is the will of God. Now, if you’re not interested in the will of God forget faith. So. So what should you do if the object of faith is God get to know God. If the origin of faith is the word of God begin to listen to God. If the objective of faith is the will of God, then submit to God. God doesn’t give his faith to rebels friend, learn to trust the Lord and let God stay in control. Now here’s the final thing and we’ll just wrap this up. What is the operation of faith? The operation of faith is to obey God. Now pay attention. Look, the object of faith is God so know him. The origin of faith is the Word of God. So hear him. The the objective of faith is the will of God. So yield to him. And then the operation of faith is the work of God. So obey him. Now watch this. If you say that you believe God, but you don’t obey God, you don’t really believe him. Faith is belief with legs on it. Faith obeys now if if we believe obviously it is because God has enabled us to believe. But if we don’t believe we’re the ones held responsible. Look, if you will at this, look if you will in um verse verses 17 and 18 so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But I say have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went out into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world. But skip down to verse 21 but Israeli said all day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gain saying people now, they have not all obeyed the gospel. You must obey the gospel all day long. God says Did Israel have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gang saying people now, what does that mean? Disobedient? Well, you know what disobedience is. Does not obey. What about gain saying? We don’t use that word very much today, but it means obstinate. It means uh people who just refuse the word of God hears hears the word of God and it goes forth and God is stretching out his hands. That some people say, oh well God, God just calls just some. And when God just call some they’re gonna come and ain’t nothing can stop it. You better read the bible friend. He says all day long have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gain saying people, God is stretching out his hands but they wouldn’t believe they wouldn’t believe they refuse gain saying means that they are not only disobedient but they are obstinate. They say no. They take the word of God and they paraded past the judgment bar of their mind and they make a jury of themselves and they say no, I don’t think so. I’m not gonna obey that friend. The operation of faith is obedience to God. You’re not saved by faith and works. You’re saved by faith that works. And if it hadn’t changed your life, if it doesn’t get down into shoe leather, if it doesn’t get down into your heart, if it doesn’t make you a different person, if it doesn’t cause you to obey the word of God, don’t tell me you have faith. Don’t tell me you’re going to heaven. Faith without works is dead. That’s what James tells us now you’re not saved because of your works. You work because you’re saved. But God stretches forth his hand and people can say no to him. And if they say no to him, God says, I stretched out my hands all day long to a disobedient and gain saying people, they have not all obeyed the gospel. So when you believe you obey trust and obey. Well, there’s no other way to be happy in jesus, but to trust and obey. So have you followed me? The object of faith is God know him. The origin of faith is the word of God. Hear him the objective of faith is the will of God yield to it. It is heaven’s way of getting uh God’s will done on earth. And then the operation of faith is to obey God say yes, Lord. It is, it is belief with legs on it. Now, that brings me one last thing you say, Pastor is faith. The gift of God. Yes, faith is a gift of God. Does that mean if God gives it that I’m going to automatically believe no breathing is a gift of God. God gives me lungs and God gives me air. That was a gift from God. That was a gift from God. But I can smother if I want to. Foolish breathing is a gift of God. You can smother Faith is a gift of God. God gives you his word and God gives you his spirit. But then God says, whosoever will may come, Who’s ever will make all day long. Have I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gain saying people. So it’s time right now for you to do the most wonderful thing that you could possibly do and that is to trust this great God for salvation for by grace. Are you saved through faith? You put your hand of faith in God’s hand of Grace and that salvation, would you buy your heads in prayer? Heads about and eyes are closed while heads about and eyes are closed. Would you pray for those around about? You may not yet know, jesus and precious friend Right now. Right now I want to lead you in a prayer. If you don’t know, jesus pray this prayer. God, I believe that you are the Almighty. I want to put my faith in you. I believe the bible is your word and you’ve spoken to me out of your word today and I know Lord, that you want to save me and I yield myself to that today. Now I will obey you by confessing you as my Lord and savior. Right now Father. I pray that many will come to jesus in his dear name. I pray. May I say another word to those of you who have prayed and asked jesus christ to come into your heart. Thank God for your decision friend. Your destiny has been determined by what you have done with the Lord. Jesus christ. Now I want you to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, jesus christ. There’s some truths that you need to know. You need to understand your eternal security that he has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. You need to understand the power of the Holy Spirit of God in your life to give you strength and joy and understanding. You need to learn how to study God’s word, how to dig your own gold. Well, we want to help you to do that. And if you write to us, we’ll send you a new testament with notes in it to help you to understand the truth of God’s word. We want to do this as a love gift to you. No obligation, no cost. If you write to us and ask for these materials for a new christian God bless you and have a wonderful day. We hope that today’s message has been an encouragement to you as we explore these fundamentals of the christian faith with Adrian Rogers. You can stream this message again and download Pastor Rogers outlines and notes on this message all at L WF dot org or the my L WF app. While you’re there, be sure to check out our new bible studies on these same topics as well as Pastor Rogers audio series. Back to the basics also available at L WF dot org At LWF.org. You can also sign up to receive our daily heartbeat email which includes a written devotional and a 92nd inspirational audio clip, both from Adrian Rogers, as well as a link to our daily radio program, delivered directly to your computer or mobile device each morning. And if you’re looking for some inspiration or encouragement to get you through the week, check us out on social media at L WF ministries and don’t forget you can catch up with our program each week on our facebook page or Youtube channel or on the my L W. F. Thanks for joining us for our program today. We’ll see you next time at Love Worth Finding. Our mission is to draw people to christ and help christians grow deeper in their faith, through the timeless teaching of Adrian Rogers. To thank you for your gift to the ministry. Right now, we want to send you a copy of our new discovered jesus mentoring tool. This one on one mentoring version of the popular book is designed to help you and a friend growing your faith together, request this resource when you call with a gift at 1 806 47 94 100. Or you can give online at L WF dot org