Kenneth Copeland - The Law of Faith
Hello, everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. This is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. Let's have a word of prayer. We'll get right into today's bible lesson.
Father, we thank you and we give you praise in the name of Jesus. Thank you for this broadcast. Thank you of all of our partners from the top of the world to the bottom and all the way around the middle and every person in the sound of my voice. We thank you. We open our heats and minds to receive revelation from heaven, revelation about this life of faith, but most of all revelation of our savior, our Lord, Jesus, his way of thinking, his way of doing things. And, we praise you for it, and we believe we receive it today in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Welcome to class this morning at Kenneth Copeland Bible College. Praise the Lord, amen. Hallelujah, glory to God. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We're studying the very fundamentals of faith, the basics. Some people have called it the ABCs of faith. The third chapter of the book of Romans, we read that yesterday. Let's look at that, just quickly. Third chapter of Romans, the 27th verse. Where is boasting, then? It is excluded by what law of works? No, but by the law of faith. Now, the basic fundamental laws of the spirit... It's an outstanding study to go through particularly Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but all of the New Testament and notice the different laws that are talked about Romans 8, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Then, we saw there, there's the law of works. Then, there's the law of faith.
So, these things are governed by spiritual law. Now, what is a law? A law is predictable. A law is something when it is put to work, it works every time the same way. So, if something is not working right, then there is something out of line in the elements of the law governing whatever it is that you're dealing with. This is true in the world of physics. It's true in the spiritual realm. We understand that spiritual law was first. God is a spirit. And, his laws are extremely accurate and exact because he is extremely accurate and exact. He never, ever changes. That's what makes him so good. He is so predictable. People get the idea, you never know what God's going to do. Do do do do. Yes, we do. We can tell exactly what God is going to do. Amen, but trying to solve spiritual problems with carnal answers wind up in the ditch.
Now, I'll take just a second here, and of course you know this, but I like to use aviation as an example because it's so... I've never found anything in the laws, the aeronautical laws that violate the laws of faith. It's amazing. I remember when I learned to fly instruments. Well, my instructor kept telling me, "Kenneth, you can't believe your feelings. You're going to have to believe the gauges". Whatever these instruments are saying, they're right, and your feelings are wrong. You get in a place where you can't see outside, and your feelings can go really crazy, and you get vertigo. You try to follow your feelings, you're liable to crash the airplane. I've experienced that in the past. Then, when I first started learning about faith and learning to not follow my feelings, I thought, glory to God, I already know how to do this. I already learned this once, and really it was the same thing.
When I'm flying an airplane, I could care less what my feelings tell me. I absolutely care less. I had to become the same way when it comes to the word. Well, I just feel like God heard me. Well, good for you. I hope it works out for you. But, then, 30 minutes later, I don't know. Maybe I was wrong. I don't feel like he heard me. Come on. That is faithless. That's what Thomas was trying to do. So, anyway, I just kind of jumped to traces here, need to get back what the lineup here. So, basic fundamentals of faith, you could make this statement. The elements that make up spiritual law must be adhered to whether it's faith, wisdom, love, or any other spiritual force. These laws must be adhered to.
Here again, let's take the... John G Lake said something that is very enlightening. John Lake was a scientists, and he compared the power of God in the spirit realm to electricity in the natural realm. You have to realize, back in the days of John Lake, electricity was new. Once the laws, electricity had been around a long time, amen, ever since day one. Amen. The only thing it was, on day one, there was no lightning except maybe from God because there were no storms. On what day did God create thunderstorms? He didn't. That came with the fall, but the laws that governed electricity were all here. In Lake's day, they were just now learning those laws. Some people got hurt trying to figure them out. The same wonderful law that toasted your toast this morning can kill you graveyard dead if misused. What is it? It's lack of understanding of how that law functions. The exactly same thing is true in the kingdom of God, in the realm of the spirit.
So, and we'll get into these things at a later time. I just want to introduce you to them again this morning. Now, we're talking about the law of faith. Faith is a spiritual force. It is generated in the born again human spirit. It is released out the mouth and supported with corresponding action. Now, last week on the broadcast, we studied this. The number one fundamental of faith is found in Mark, chapter 11. Let's turn there. Believe it in your heart, then say it with your mouth. Jesus said, "Have faith in God, for verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, in his inner man, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass he shall have, whatsoever he saith".
Now, that is spiritual law. When the elements of that are in place, it works. Amen. So, let me give you a little clue that's come from a long time of missing it. Amen. God can't miss it, and he's not trying to be hard on you, but there are certain things. I mean if you've got a little child, you're not trying to be hard on that child when you keep him sticking a bobby pin or a fingernail file into an electrical outlet. You're not just being a hard-nosed parent here if you have to slap him three feet away from that plug. Amen. But, the thing of it is with God, there are some basic fundamentals to turn to when you're continuing to do certain things and you're not getting the results. The first thing you want to look at is your love life, because that's one of the fundamentals, the fourth fundamental of faith. Faith will not work in an unforgiving heart.
So, you check that. Of course you want to go right back to the word, and are you standing on the word, or are you standing on an idea? Amen. All right, for verily I say unto you, let's read it again, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, shall not down in his heart, but shall believe... Believe what, Jesus? Believe that those things which he says shall come to pass. He shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore, I say unto you, what things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. And, when you stand praying, forgive if you have held against any that your father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses.
Now, last week, we looked at the second fundamental of faith, which is act or corresponding action to believing it in your heart and saying it with your mouth. You have to have, you must have action that corresponds to that. Now, once you have the word of God, that covers your situation. That word and out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, I might add, that word becomes the bedrock that what you believe and what you're saying and the action that corresponds to that. You're going to have to talk like you have it. You're going to have to act like you have it. You're going to. Your actions and your speech must not betray your faith. Amen. Let's look at that scripture on that once again in James, chapter one. Being a doer of the word and not just a hearer only.
Verse 22 of chapter one, be ye doers of the word. Act on the word and not hearers only deceiving your own self for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's likened to a man beholding his natural face in a glass for he beholds himself, goes his way, straight way, forgets what manner of man he was, but who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty... That's what he's calling the word of God, and notice here again law. Law, there's another law incident. The perfect law of liberty and continue it therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man is blessed in his deed. So, you can tell right there, if you're caring a thing about walking in the blessing of Abraham, that's the way you're going to have to do it. Amen. So, now, chapter two, verse 14, what does it profit my brethren? Though a man say he have faith and have not works, can faith save him if he has not corresponding action? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, one of you say unto them, "Depart in peace. Be ye warmed a filled, not withstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body. What does it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not corresponding action is dead being alone".
All right, today, let's turn to second Kings, chapter four. Second Kings, four, and let's look for these elements of the law of faith. Let's begin with the 18th verse please, second Kings, 4:18. This is talking about, this is the incident where the Shunemite woman that has had a child supernaturally... You know the story, and in the 18th verse, when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father, to the reapers, and he said to his father, "My head. My head". He said to the lad, "Carry him to his mother". When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon and then died. She went up, laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him and went out. You remember?
She and her husband had built a room there for the prophet when he was coming through for a place for him to stay. And, they received the prophet's reward, all right? And, they had this son. She went up and laid him there. She called unto her husband and said, "Send me, I pray thee, one of the young men and one of the donkeys that I may run to the man of God and come again". He said, "Wherefore wilt though go to him today? It's neither new moon or sabbath". She said, "It shall be well". She absolutely refused to talk the problem. It will be well. Then, she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Drive and go forward. Slack not thy riding for me except I bid thee".
So, she went and came to the man of God, to Mount Carmel, and it came to pass when the man of God saw her far off, he said to Gehazi, his servant, "Behold, yonder is that Shunemite. Run now, I pray thee, to meet her and say to her, 'Is it well with thee? Is it well with thou husband? Is it well with the child?'" And, she answered, "All is well". When she came to the man of God, to the hill, she caught him by the feet. Now, he's her bible, okay? He is the word of God to her. Oh, Lord, God. Gehazi came near to thrust her away. I don't know. Gehazi, it seemed like he missed it all the time. The man of God said, "Let her alone. Her soul is vexed within her, and the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me". Then, she said, "Did I desire a son, my Lord? Did I not say, 'Do not deceive me?'" Then, he said to Gehazi, "Gird up your loins and take your staff in your hand and go your way. If you meet any man, salute him not. If he salute thee, answer him not again, and lay my staff upon the face of the child".
Boy, he knew right then, something's wrong with that boy. She didn't say there was anything wrong with him. She's talking faith code. Amen. You walk in breakfast some morning and Glory is in there fixing breakfast, and you walk in there. She looks at you. Glory to God. She says, "Father, in the name of Jesus, you don't have to sit there". I've been guilty of it. Everybody's been guilty of it, but it's not like being... It is a mistreatment of the law of faith. You listening? Every time you do it, you weaken your situation. All right, I'm talking to you. I'm talking to me. Praise God. So, the mother and child said, "As the Lord liveth, as I so liveth, I will not leave thee. I will not get off of the word. I will not leave the word of God. I'm here. I'm stuck. I'm right here. I'll not leave thee".
Let's go down to the 32nd verse. When Elijah was coming to the house, behold, the child was dead and laid upon the bed, and he went in therefore and shut the door upon the two and prayed unto the Lord. He went up and lay upon the child, put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes, with his hands upon his hands, and he stretched forth him on the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. He returned and walked in the house to and fro, and went out and stretched himself on him. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Praise God. And, he called Gehazi and said, "Call the Shunemite". So, he called her, and when she was come into him, she said, "He said, 'Take up thy son'". She went in and fell at his feet and bowed herself to the ground, took up her son, and went out. Glory to God, and we're out of time. Glory to God. Praise God.