 Okay, the recording is on. This is BC 111, faith. Second lecture for today. I'm going to go ahead and share the course notes. So let's go to chapter 2. So we're done with chapter 1. Any questions? Chapter 1? What's your name again? Jayadeva. Welcome. If you get the course notes, they'll give it to you. Diana will give you the course notes. So let's go to chapter 2. In chapter 2, what we want to do is talk about God's sovereignty, grace, and faith. So God is a sovereign God. That means he's all powerful. He can do whatever he wants. Nobody can stop him, hinder him, prevent him. God is sovereign. God is also a God of grace. What is grace? That means he gives us freely what we don't deserve. That's grace. It's a God is sovereign. God is a God of grace. So if God is sovereign, God is a God of grace. Why does he still want us to have faith? That is the question. And we need to clearly understand this because many believers, many Christians, don't understand how these three interact. That means the sovereignty of God, the grace of God, and our faith. They don't understand how these three interact. Because if you think like this, God is sovereign. He will do whatever he wants and he can do whatever he wants. Who's stopping him? So we say, if God wants to heal me, he will heal me. If God wants to bless me, he will bless me. So leave it because God is sovereign. He will do whatever he wants to do. Whatever he wants to do, he will do. Or we say, it's the grace of God. God will freely give to us. Why must we have faith? Why must we believe God? Why must we read the scriptures and believe the promises and stand upon the promises? And why must we have faith in God if he is giving to us by grace? And how do these three interact? That's what we want to answer in this chapter. So let's talk about the sovereignty of God, which the Bible presents to us very clearly. So Jay, we'll get you a copy of the notes. Maybe in the break time, we'll organize that. So the Bible is very clear about the sovereignty of God. Examples, scriptures we can see in Job 42 and verse 2. Job says, I know that you can do everything. I know you can do everything. And no purpose of yours can be held from you. I mean, God, you are sovereign. Who can stop you? You can do everything. So if God wants to heal somebody, he can heal. If God wants to bless somebody, he can bless. Whatever God wants, he can do. Nobody can. God is sovereign. Our Psalm 115 verse 3, the Psalmist said, our God is in heaven. He does whatever he... God can do whatever he pleases. Or in Daniel, chapter 4, verses 34 and 35, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king at that time. He says, all the inhabitants of the earth, and he's talking about God, his dominion is an everlasting dominion. His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are like nothing and who can restrain his hand? Who can stop the hand of God? Who can restrain his hand and tell him, what are you doing? Nobody can stop God. So the Bible is very clear that God is a sovereign God. He can do anything. Then we also know that God is a gracious God. That means God is a God of grace. Now what do we mean by grace? Grace means God gives what we don't deserve. That is grace. He's a God of grace. We don't deserve it. We have sinned. We do wrong things but still God loves us. Tilly blesses us. Tilly gives God as a God of grace. And grace is available for everyone. Some scriptures on grace, it says in Psalm 86 verse 15, you were Lord God, full of compassion, gracious, long suffering, abundant in mercy and truth. So God is full of compassion, full of this. Merciful, gracious, patient. And not only that, Psalm 145 verses 89 says the Lord is gracious, full of compassion, slow to anger, great in mercy. The Lord is good to how many people? All of them. He's good to all. He's not partial. So in his grace his grace is available for everybody. He's good to all. So I can't say only that person, only that person. No, no, no. The Lord is good to all. Good to everyone. Equal. So God is sovereign, all powerful. God is gracious, He's loving, He's compassionate and He's gracious to everybody. He's not partial God. His tender mercies are over all His works. And yet there is the coming together of grace and sovereignty. That means God is gracious, but He's also sovereign. And what He says is, because I'm sovereign if I want to do some good to somebody, I'll do it. If He wants to single out somebody, He will still single out because He's sovereign. His grace is available to everyone. But if He wants to give one extra apple to Nikhil, He'll give one extra apple. Nobody can question why you gave one extra apple. I'm giving apple to everybody, but I want to give one extra apple to Nikhil. I'll give one extra. Or Vimal. I want to give two oranges to Vimal. He'll give two oranges to Vimal. Why? Because He's sovereign, then He will do what He wants. He's God. He's gracious. He'll give orange to everyone. But while He's gracious, if He wants to give two more to Vimal, He'll give who can question. So in Exodus 3319, God says, you know, he's telling Moses, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Meaning, I am a gracious God. I am a compassionate God. And in my sovereignty, if I want to extend mercy, grace, compassion to somebody in a special way, I'll do it. So even in the expressions of His grace and compassion, He's sovereign. So He's impartial, and yet if He chooses to, do something as a sovereign God. So understanding God is sovereign, God is gracious. And in His sovereignty, He can extend grace and compassion as He chooses. His grace and compassion is available to everyone. But yet in His sovereignty, He can do something special. I understand. So example. Example. Why did God choose Abraham? He could have chosen somebody in China. He could have chosen somebody in Japan. He could have chosen somebody in South America. He could have chosen somebody somewhere else, Africa. Why did He choose Abraham? And said, come, I will make of you a great nation. It's not like there was lottery in heaven and Abraham picked the right. It's not like that. So God is good to everyone. But He wanted to fulfill a certain purpose. And so He chose a man, and this man was Abraham. Nobody could question that because God is sovereign. He will do what He wants. So He is good to all. He's not impartial. But He chose Abraham as a sovereign God to carry out a particular purpose that does not make Him impartial. It only is an expression of His sovereignty because He's still impartial to everybody. I love everybody. But I want to do something. I'm choosing right now for this one. I'm choosing Abraham. Or you think about in John chapter 5, Jesus comes to the pool of Bethesda. The Bible says there were many sick people lying around the pool. We don't know many, maybe 50, maybe 100. So many sick people are lying around the pool. Jesus comes to one man and asks him, do you want to be well? Do you want to get well? Excuse me, there are 50 people. Everybody wants to get well. Or I don't know whether now maybe 100 people. Of course everybody wants to get well. That's why they are there. But He comes to one man. He says, do you want to be well? This man doesn't know who Jesus is. He's thinking somebody has come to help him push him in the water. So He says, sir, I'm sitting here for a long time. Nobody's able to push me first in the water. You think you'll push me first? He's thinking like that. Because when an angel went to the water, the first person a cotton got healed. I'm sure all these years He must have tried going first. He always missed, came second, third, last. He never made it first. So He's thinking, oh, who is this man who could put me first? But Jesus tells him, rise, take up your bed. And immediately He's healed by the power of God. And then Jesus says, I only do what I see my Father do. This is John chapter 5. What I see my Father do, that's what I do. That means the Father God wanted to heal this one man. But what about all the others? Isn't God good to everybody? Well, we just read in the scripture, God is good to all. But yet in that, He is also sovereign. That means He can sovereignly move and do something special for somebody. If He wants to, He is a sovereign God. Nobody can question. So grace, sovereignty and grace. Then in that connection, the God is sovereign, God is gracious, where does faith come? Where does faith come? So the wrong posture is God is sovereign, God is gracious. If He wants, He'll do something good for me. I have to sit and wait. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't happen, I have to go through life in Heaven. I'll ask why He didn't help me. Well, the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible teaches us about faith. So, while God is sovereign and God is gracious, what He says is this, what I offer by grace anybody can receive through faith. So what God gives by grace anybody can receive by so that is very important. So why is faith important? What God gives by grace anybody can receive by faith. So you don't have to wait for God to sovereignly give you an expression of grace. You don't have to wait. You can receive by faith what He gives to everybody through grace. So that's where faith comes. And for example salvation is a free gift. It is a gift of grace. It is available for every human being. It is available for every person. Today, if there are 8 billion actually there may be less than 8 billion. But example, if there are 8 billion people living on the planet Earth right now, all 8 billion people can be saved right now if they all have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because God is giving salvation as a free gift by grace through faith in Jesus. Anyone can receive anyone right? And yet at the same time God will sovereignly appear to somebody so sometimes you hear these stories somebody you know the Lord may speak to that person in a dream or he or she may have a vision. The Lord may come to that person. Now why doesn't God come to everybody? Suppose the Lord Jesus came to all 8 billion people today right now everybody will say yes Jesus is Lord saved finished. Why doesn't He disappear to all 8 billion people? Because He's made it available by grace and He wants us all to come by faith. But because He's sovereign He will still appear to one or two, whoever He chooses in a very personal way, in a very powerful way in a dream or a vision or something those people will get saved. So that's God being sovereign. But the same thing He does for them it's also available for everybody by grace through faith. Are you understanding? The person who may have had a vision and to God saved, His salvation is no different from the salvation of the person who received it by grace through faith. Same same salvation, same no different. So what are we saying? We're saying that by faith we receive everything that God gives by grace. Anyone can receive. Anyone can come to God and receive from God what He freely gives by grace we can receive by. Now if God chooses to move sovereignly in your life to do something okay that's up to Him we can't dictate. What we can determine is whether or not we receive what He freely gives by grace through faith, whether we receive or not we determine that. We don't determine His sovereign move, we determine what He freely gives by grace through faith. Is it clear? So God throughout His Word, let me just look at this here that whenever God speaks, or whenever God wants to do something, He declares His Word we believe it and then that Word is fulfilled. So even in your personal life, so like the example in Hebrews 11 verse 8 to 12 about 8 perhaps, you see God may give you a personal Word and say I want to do this in your life but you by faith you have to walk with God to see that Word fulfilled in your life. So even Abraham he was called by God but he still had to walk by faith to see God's work fulfilled in his life. So he mentioned about Abraham he had to walk by faith. So there is what God gives to everybody by grace through faith. There is a specific working of God in your life. So you're learning in a different course on fulfilling God's purpose. You're learning about how God has a specific plan and a purpose for your life. So for each one of us God has a plan, has a purpose and by faith we have to do that purpose. That's how Abraham walked. Same thing with Joshua and so on. So do we understand this that God so this is where faith comes and do we understand the importance of faith now. So God is sovereign God is a God of grace and this is where faith comes in. Now what I want to also present to us here is and we see this in the ministry of Jesus that when there is no faith, when there is unbelief God will not force America. I mean he can if he wants to as a sovereign God but normally normally he will not force because he wants us all to receive by faith. So you see in the ministry of Jesus in Matthew 13th chapter verses 57 and 58 that when Jesus came to his own town hometown of Nazareth. So Nazareth was a town where Jesus grew up and Jesus came to his own hometown it says here in verse 58 of Matthew 13 he could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. In his own hometown he couldn't do many mighty works because of their they didn't believe. I say hey this is carpenter he made the desk I am sitting on my chair I am sitting on he only made how he can do America see that's their thinking. He is a carpenter he made the desks and chairs and he said how is he going to do any mighty work. So he didn't believe same thing in Mark 6 you know Mark records this it says he could in verse 5 Mark 6 verse 5 he could do no mighty work there he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them so just few sick people were healed and he marveled because of their unbelief. He couldn't do many mighty works. He was wondering oh these people full of unbelief they couldn't believe so they struggled. So now let's think about this was Jesus as anointed by the Holy Spirit in Nazareth as he was in other cities he had the same Holy Spirit did Jesus have the same authority so the problem was not with Jesus he is still the same Jesus but yet he could not do many mighty works in Nazareth. Why? Because the problem was not with Jesus it is because of their unbelief people didn't believe so nothing mighty happens no mighty miracles. So we see here even in the ministry of Jesus that he required people to come by faith so while God will do things sovereignly by grace the norm is he requires us to receive by faith what he freely offers us through so try to understand the dynamic of God's sovereignty of grace and faith. God can work sovereignly but he wants us to come and receive by faith that's the norm. Now some things to consider here that God in his wisdom has deemed it fit for both these to coexist that means he is sovereign and he is gracious, he exists and he wants us to operate by faith he's kept all this together and he decided it's going to be like this it's not you and I made it up but God decided that this is how he wants to work and there are certain things that depend solely on the sovereignty of God for example the Lord Jesus Christ will return that is the work of God whether you and I have faith for it or not doesn't matter Jesus will come you said Jesus is not coming, Jesus is not coming, he'll come, hello how are you he will come, he said he's coming back he will set up his kingdom whether you and I believe it or not he's going to set up his kingdom on earth he's going to rule and reign for a thousand years so that is God will do his work because he's sovereign nobody can stop it as part of his eternal purpose so whether we exercise faith for that or not he will do it and in extending all his gifts freely to us out of grace God is being equal and fair to all of us see he's actually being impartial when he says look I'm giving salvation healing provision deliverance I'm giving it to everybody freely by grace I just want you to come and receive by faith everybody has to receive by faith so what's what's God doing he's saying I'm making it equal level ground no partiality everybody comes and receives by faith it doesn't matter if you're a rich man poor man educated or uneducated it doesn't matter which country you live in whatever everybody has to come and receive by faith so equal it's equal for everybody no difference so when God is telling us to come by faith he's actually being very fair he's actually being equal to every person so so in Romans 4 in verse 16 Paul says you know he says it is of faith so that it might be by grace so that the promise will be sure to all of the seeds that means there is faith there is grace so that the promise is equally available to every person Romans 4 16 so the promise was based on faith from the Good News Bible Romans 4 16 so the promise was based on faith in order that the promise should be guaranteed as God's free gift to all because he wants to make it available to everybody I'm giving it by grace all I want is everybody must come by faith so he's made it equal to every person then just God's here the realm of faith has its perimeter set by the will and purpose of God we cannot by faith change God's sovereign will okay so the boundaries of faith is set by the will of God I can't change the will of God by faith in normal things you know I can't do that but like we said God has willed that Jesus Christ will return he's already said that in the Bible now I can't use my faith and say Jesus stay in heaven don't come I can't do that I can't use my faith to say Jesus will not return no no no no he will return whether you use your faith or not he is going to return so I can't override God's sovereign plan faith has its boundaries and lastly there is a realm of mystery by because God will sovereignly exodus grace and mercy independent of a person having faith you know sometimes this happens even in some settings example a Sunday service somebody comes to church they don't know abc of who Jesus is they don't know they come they sit on the service and they are praying and God heals that person the person says I came with this problem I got healed do you know who Jesus is no I don't know who Jesus is then we are wondering how did this person get healed does it know anything about Jesus there is no abc of the Bible nothing but this person got healed how but because God is sovereign he will do it if he wants to do it he will just move so while we understand the importance of faith and grace and faith we also understand there is realm of mystery where God will sovereignly exodus grace and mercy even when a person doesn't have faith that is God moving as a sovereign God are you understanding this okay so the reason I put this as chapter 2 is because this is the area where many people get confused they don't understand but if we are very clear in our minds that God is sovereign he is God of grace and in his grace he gives us everything freely but he wants all of us to come and receive by faith everything God gives freely by grace I must receive by faith and if God in his sovereign he decides to do something special that's up to him it's okay but I still must come and receive by faith everything he gives by grace okay let me just quickly see if there are any questions on the online students any questions here a lot of questions okay alright so let's look at the questions here from the online students Nina the virtues that we need to make every effort to add to our faith do these get added on as we mature in him or do we make a conscious effort okay so Nina is asking the question in relation to our previous chapter second Peter chapter 1 verse 7 through 7 onwards where Paul said you know add to your faith those seven ingredients so the question Nina is asking is does it happen automatically as we grow or do we consciously add to it so based on the rest of scripture we can say that we have to consciously grow in those things we have to be conscious about growing in knowledge about growing in kindness about growing in love and endurance so these are things that we work with the help of the Holy Spirit through the word of God and through our fellowship with other believers we grow in these things so that would be the answer you know with the help of God and his word along with other people we grow in all of these another question here from Nina when we pray for those who are sick of other faith can we depend on his promises on or off healing or will the sovereignty of God be in operation now there is no one set answer it really depends on the individual if the individual is open to hearing the gospel what we would do is we would share the gospel because the gospel is the word of faith it will build faith in their hearts we tell them about Jesus who is healer who is deliverer who is a miracle worker and then in that context it is their faith in the message preached through which they will receive healing or miracle and that's based I'm basing what I'm saying on Romans chapter 10 verses 8 through 10 because Paul says the word of faith which we preach it produces faith so that's the norm that's why we have to go and preach the gospel to people even the unsaved we preach the gospel they hear about Jesus they believe in Jesus Christ and in response to their faith they experience salvation and healing and miracles and deliverance that's the normal but there will also be this we also have to accommodate or be open to the fact that there will be times when God will move sovereignly so suppose somebody comes who's never heard about Jesus and you have only one minute to pray maybe you're on your way and you don't have time to explain the gospel what do you do still pray because God can move sovereignly independent of faith so we have room for that as well but if you have the opportunity of course our responsibility is to preach the gospel is to explain the gospel to them and encourage their faith and then pray you don't have time you don't have the opportunity we still pray because God can move sovereignly independent of faith and bring a healing or a miracle in their lives so we are open to both ways but the norm is you have to preach the gospel and then for them to believe and then the miracle work happens Krisha has a question if you have a dream for a specific direction and we have a feeling it's from God should we have faith it's from God how to discern yeah Krisha so one is of course we need to test and see if it is from God so the Bible tells us second Corinthians the 13th chapter second verse it says in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established so if you have a dream you pray and say God I want you to confirm it so sometimes it may come as the dream itself and be a confirmation of something God has been speaking or sometimes there will be other confirmations that come so we need to receive confirmation that this is what God is speaking to you a very important is you listen to the inner witness of the Holy Spirit Romans chapter 8 verse 14 and 16 the spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God so the Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit so there is an inner witness of the Holy Spirit okay so you have a dream Holy Spirit is bearing witness this is from God there is a piece of God in your heart Colossians 3 verse 16 let the peace of God be the empire in your heart right so God's in your heart so you've got the confirmation then what we need to do is then we need to step out and work it out by faith just like Abraham which we read in Hebrews chapter 11 8 onwards you know Abraham was called by God to go out and it says here by faith Abraham obeyed God and he went out not knowing where he was going so he had a word from God but he still had to obey by faith and that's the same with us also we God speaks to us maybe in a dream a prophecy through scriptures however but we need to obey by faith okay I hope that helps Krisha okay any other questions questions from here yes go ahead you can sit down and ask sit down just speak loudly so I can hear you go ahead okay I understand your question please sit down so the question is we said that faith cannot override it cannot change God's sovereign will so if a person we pray for doesn't does not get healed does it mean that it was God's will for him not to get healed so that's the question so to answer that question we must first ask another question which is what is God's will concerning healing and we know from the Bible that it is God's will to heal every person of every sickness how do we know that many scriptures Psalm 103 verse 3 lest the Lord or my soul forget not all his benefits he forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases it's very clear God heals all our diseases and Psalm 103 is for everybody it's not just for few people anybody can read Psalm 103 it's for them so God heals us of all our diseases so another way we can say it is whatever Jesus did on the cross he did it for everybody what Jesus did on the cross he did it for everybody he bore all our sins on the cross that's why we can tell any sinner it is God's will for you to be God's will for you to be saved why because Jesus bore the sins of the whole you are with me so when a person comes and says I want Jesus to forgive my sin we never say I will pray and I will ask God whether it is will to forgive your sin or to come to heaven or go to hell no we know instantly because Jesus died for the sins of the whole what Jesus did on the cross he did it for everybody so what else did Jesus do on the cross on the cross he bore our sicknesses and our diseases so that we could be here so even that work of carrying our sickness and our disease so that by his tribes we could be here is for everybody because he did it on the cross whatever he did on the cross he did it for everybody so when a sick person comes we say hey just look to the cross the same cross on which he bore your sins he also bore your sicknesses and diseases that's why we can say so the answer to that question is it is God's will to heal anyone of any condition any disease another reason we can say is look at the ministry of Jesus in the ministry of Jesus Jesus is the perfect expression of the Father if you want to know the will of God look at Jesus he is the Word who became so this is the Word of God in action this is the will of God in action in the ministry of Jesus not even once did he tell a sick person oh for you it is the Father's will for you to remain sick God wants to make you very spiritual God wants to teach you a spiritual lesson one person he spoke like that in fact the Bible says all who came he healed so that's the will of God right so like this we can look at scripture we can prove that it is God's will for any sick person to be healed from any disease so having knowing the will of God we can pray with faith expecting that person to be healed so when you pray for a sick person you never pray if it be that will please heal this person never pray like that why because God said I already told you my will why are you saying if it be my will so we never pray like that oh lord if it be your will heal him else take him to heaven we never pray like that that is the wrong way to pray why because we already know the will of God Jesus never prayed for a sick person that way there was only one person the leper he came to Jesus he said lord if it be your will healed me Jesus responses I will be healed so it is not good to take the children's bread and throw the dogs yeah so when Jesus came in his earthly ministry his first priority was to minister to the Jewish people the nation of Israel so that's why even in Matthew 10 when he sent his disciples he said go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that means right now God's plan was minister to Israel after the death and resurrection of Jesus then the gospel was to be preached to all the nations you understand that so that's why at that time Jesus told this woman I can't take what I'm supposed to give to the children meaning Israel and give it outside I can't do that but what happened her faith jumped the fence right she said but God just give me crumb from the table enough so even at that time even though God's plan was only for the nation of Israel at that time she was still able to receive by faith you know so faith overroads at that in that particular case right because by faith she received although that at that time God's plan was for okay so it's like an exception you know God did that let me just answer one question in the chat Surya will faith alone can say from anything and from everything so Surya let me just answer that question like this you know the word salvation in the Bible in the New Testament is the word sozo and I think you will be studying about it in lifestyle evangelism class as well salvation the word salvation in the Greek is sozo and it's a comprehensive word that means when the Bible says saved or salvation it includes darkness of sins healing from sickness deliverance from demonic power victory over evil or sickness is whatever the works of darkness so salvation is comprehensive it simply means that God is taking us out of everything Adam put us under so by grace you are saved sozo by grace we have sozo through faith so the answer is yes everything God is keeping as that package of salvation we receive by faith that's why we can say you know forgiveness of sins healing for your body victory over sin victory over demonic powers deliverance safety preservation wholeness emotional and physical healing it's all included in that word sozo so everything that God is giving as salvation we receive by grace through faith I hope that answers your question if it's not clear please let me know Surya any questions here yes Charisma please sit down yeah go ahead okay say that again if a person has faith oh is that predestined by God no I'll give you a word please sit down Matthew chapter 15 all the same passage he referred to verse 28 this woman comes to Jesus and Jesus says oh woman greatest your faith be it unto you as you will we'll study it in the coming chapter so how will was involved her will was involved not the predestination of God or the predestination of it no it was her will she decided to go to Jesus she decided to have faith oh woman greatest your faith be it unto you even as you will another reference on 15 verse 7 if you abide in me my words abide in you you ask what you will and it will be done for you so faith involves our will we'll study about that okay so time is up time is up already so thank you we'll pause here we'll continue this next week okay please take your break I would like to pray but time is already gone so I don't want to delay the next class thank you guys thanks for joining online see you again next week God bless