Faith That Believes He Is

Do you want to please God? I’m sure you do, but without faith it is impossible to please Him. What kind of faith is needed to please Him? We’re referring to Hebrews 11:6. Let’s look at it. Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him... We must believe that He is, not that He was, not that He will be, but we must believe that He is, that He is in the present and available now. …and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Christ cannot reward you with Himself if you have Him locked up in the past. Christ cannot reward you of Himself if you have Him locked up in the future.

When you read the Bible, be sure you read it in the present. Everything in here is spiritual and it is for you. The Lord wants to make Himself known to you in the present. In Deuteronomy 30:19 God spoke through Moses, This day I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live. What is God talking about when He says He is setting before you life and death? This Bible will be life to you or death to you, depending on how you relate to it. Take God out of the past, bring Him into the present, and what is written back in the Old Testament will become alive to you. “But that’s Old Testament history. That’s the history of Israel.” If that is all you are seeing then you are only getting the surface manna, not the hidden manna. Read it again with revelation.

Now let’s look at a few verses in John 14. Jesus talked a lot about seeing Him in the present and having eyes that can see in this chapter.

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me.

The day I bought a Greek-English interlinear the Lord opened my eyes to a lot of things. In this first verse I learned enough Greek that I know the importance of prepositions and verbs. The Greek text doesn’t say, Believe in God, believe also in Me. It says, Believe into God and believe into Me. You can believe in God while He is up there and you are down here. In other words, while you are separated from Him you can say, “I believe in Him. I know He’s real.” But to believe into Him requires a faith and a believing that takes you into Him so that you begin to really experience Him. We are not talking about knowing something with our intellect. We’re talking about knowing Him because we are experiencing Him. He is living in us.

John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions…

“Many mansions” is a major King James mistranslation. Some Christians believe there are mansions in the sky. The Greek word for “mansions” is mone. That same word is only used in one other place in the Bible and that is in verse 23: If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and we will come unto Him, and make our abode (mone) with him. The word “abode” is translated from the Greek word mone. If your Bible says “dwelling places” in verse 2 instead of mansions, that is more correct.

John 14:2 …if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

I wonder how long that takes. How long is it going to take the Lord to prepare that place for you? No longer than it takes Him to be resurrected. It sure won’t take 2,000 to 3,000 years.

John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

So many people read this and think, “One of these days, Jesus is going to come for us and take us to a place He has prepared for us.” Well, my King James Version in verse three does say, “I will come again.” However, the Greek verb there is in present tense. It means it is something that Christ is doing now. Take it out of the future so you can experience it. He has a place prepared for you right now. John 1:11 says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Let’s not let that happen to us. Jesus came to the Jews and they rejected Him; they wouldn’t receive Him. He is coming to many Christians today and many of them are not receiving Him. We do not want to make that mistake. He has a place prepared for us and that place is not some mansion in the sky. That place is a place in Him.

John 14:6-7 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comets unto the Father, but through Me.
7 If you had known Me, you should have known My Father also: and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him.

Do you remember the little Greek word arti that I told you about? It means “in the now.” The word “henceforth” in this verse is from that word arti – not henceforth but in the now. There is a “now realm.” You want to take God out of the past and out of the future and bring Him into the now realm, the right now. Jesus says, “If you have known Me, you have known My Father also.”

John 14:8-9 Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; and how do you say then, Show us the Father?

Can you imagine Philip walking with Jesus for over three years and not really knowing Him?

John 14:10-11 Believe not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.

Can you get to the place where you say, “I am in the Lord and the Lord is in me”? There is a chorus: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Jesus is living, is living in me.... It’s one of the old Pentecostal choruses we use to sing at the church I went to in South Carolina. Learn that little chorus and sing it – sing it because it is something you are experiencing. He is living in me! The Lord is in me. That is how we can get to know Him, by Him living in us.

There is a sign over my doorway in the office – SIMPLIFY. It is Rebecca’s KISS principal – “Keep it simple, stupid.” Keep it simple! Don’t make God so complicated. Keep it simple – love Him. “Lord, I love You. Dwell in me, Lord. I really want You dwelling in me. Change my life. Come on in and change it.” When you pray and talk to the Lord, talk to Him like you would your spouse or your friend, just talk to Him. Keep it simple. That is when He gets real.

John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments.

The word order in the Greek is a little different. The Greek reads: The commandments which are Mine…. That means there are some commandments that are not His. They are the commandments of men. Religious men will have some extra commandments. They like to make a lot of commandments of do’s and don’ts because it makes them feel holy, more spiritual. “What do you believe?” “Well, we don’t believe you can do this and this….” Jesus said, “Keep the commandments that are Mine.” When He talked about the disciples He didn’t say, “His disciples.” In the Bible it reads “His disciples,” but in the Greek it reads, “The disciples of Him.” You can be His disciple trying to do everything Jesus wants you to do and still be separated from Him. But when you are the disciple of Him, that means His life is in you – you are of Him. There is a difference.

John 14:18-21,23 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees Me no more; but you see Me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 At that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
21 He that has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me: and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.

There was another Judas besides Judas Iscariot. This Judas asked in verse 22, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Now wait a minute, over in the first chapter of Revelation it says that every eye will see Him (Revelation 1:7). Have you heard the explanation that since we have television that can show His coming all can see Him? Every eye shall see Him, every eye that has the ability to see Him. It doesn’t mean that every person on the earth is going to see the Lord. That is what Judas is talking about. “How is it that You will manifest Yourself unto us, but not to the world?

John 16:7,13 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.
13 Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come…

Now, what did we read in John 14:6? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He says, “I am the truth.” Here in this verse Jesus says, “When the Spirit of Truth is come….” When He comes to you spiritually, then He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.

He will show you things to come. Let’s look at one verse of scripture in Revelation chapter 1 about showing you things to come. If you want to know what the book of Revelation is about then read the first verse of the first chapter. It tells you all you need to know about the book of Revelation. Once you really understand it then you can read the rest of the book and it will mean something to you. People go to the book of Revelation, and they want to read about the antichrist, the beast, the twenty-four elders, Babylon and all those things. Why do people get so locked into the ugly things?

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass….

The book is about the revelation of Jesus Christ, and He is to show things which must shortly come to pass. It is amazing how people will read that and put all the things which must come to pass out in the future again. But it says, “Shortly come to pass….” Man being man and living in history looks at everything on a timeline. So, things are going to come to pass out there – in the future. Does anyone remember Colossians 1:27? Paul says, “The mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Remember that. Here’s the mystery: Christ in you, the hope of glory. The things which must shortly come to pass must come to pass in you. If you get a revelation of the Lord and all these things that He has for you, then they can start coming to pass in you.

Now let’s get back to our verse on John chapter 16.

John 16:13-15 Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.
14 He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine (take of Me), and shall show it unto you.

The things that are to come must take place in us. Everything that Christ is and has is to come forth in us. Can you believe for that? Can you take the Lord out of the past and out of the future to know Him and experience Him now? Do you remember how we began this message? Do you want to please God? Without faith it is impossible to please Him. What kind of faith pleases Him? The faith that believes He is, not that He was or He will be, but that He is. And He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. He cannot reward you of Himself if you have locked Him in the past. Neither can He reward you of Himself if you have locked Him in the future. Believe that He is!