Leon Fontaine - Revelation Faith
I want to talk to you about moving from sense knowledge faith to revelation faith, or what we often call heart faith. One is a head faith that is looking at the five senses. And if you can't see it, taste it, feel it, touch it, you know, hear it. Then you don't believe in it. And now, that's got its place. And so I want to dive in and I want to talk about this because the Old Testament was predominantly sense knowledge faith. Another words, they would believe in God. Psalm 103:7, says the children of Israel knew God's acts. All right. They didn't know God had shown up until they could see Him doing something. They didn't know what He was going to do until they saw Him doing something.
Now, Moses it said, he knew God's ways and there are many, I mean, the stories of the Old Testament also give us glimpses of what God was going to do in the years way in the future from that time ahead. And so people today, they get stuck in sense knowledge faith, or if they don't see it, they don't believe it. And so in fact, when you look at the disciples, as I began to study the book of Acts I noticed that there's not much mention if any of many of the revelations that we see later on in the epistles. We don't see much of anything about the substitution work of Jesus, the great exchange, faith righteousness, even redemption. And you began to think, "Well, what was it that the disciples believed"?
And so there is a process that you can follow in the disciples. And what they believe when they first saw Jesus, when Jesus came along and He fed them. They saw Him heal, walk on water, do incredible things. Their senses were overwhelmed by this Jesus. And that's great. In fact, as a church and as leaders, that is how we reach this world. We don't talk to them about some kind of wild thing that there's just no way to believe it. Jesus met the felt needs of people. Another words, He met the needs in this realm. This physical realm. He fed them. He protected them. He walked on the water. They saw it. He did things that dominated. Like, you know, He said, "Cast your net on the other side". And those fish had to obey Him as the nets were filled to breaking. This Jesus, when He walked the planet, He dominated this world like the original mandate in the book of Genesis. There's two things we must look at as believers. The great commission and the original mandate.
Now, the original mandate in Genesis was to go into the world to multiply, to have dominion overall of God's creation. But you couldn't have dominion over other people because people are made in the likeness and the image of God. And so as we look at the disciples now and when Jesus came on the scene. It was their five senses. They began to see and they began to believe and they began to say, "He does all these miracles. You know, He is the son of God". But yet what they believed in about Jesus wasn't mature yet. I'm going to show you some Scriptures. Let's just, I have some excitement here. In John 20:9, as they run to the tomb and they realized it was empty. There's a really unique verse here that everybody seems to miss and it says, "For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that Jesus must rise again from the dead".
They didn't understand what was going on with Jesus. We know that we can see Him talking about things, you know, like the temple being destroyed and rising in three days and I'm going to die. But here it says that the tomb is empty in John 20:9 but they knew not the Scriptures that he must rise again from the dead. There was not a well-developed faith as to what did Jesus do. What was He here for? The disciples really thought He was here to defeat Rome and raise up the Jewish nation to its ascendancy as the greatest nation on the planet again, like it had had many times in the past like under king David's rule, under king Solomon's rule. There was times as they followed God, there's this nation was the model. It was the phenomenon. And they thought this is what was going to happen.
Now let's look at a few Scriptures that look at the people around Jesus and what they believed. In John 11:27, Martha a friend of Jesus. "She says unto Him, 'Yea, Lord. I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, even He that cometh into the world.'" Cool! That's amazing. But what's missing here from what we believe is she says nothing about Him dying, taking her sins, um, taking her curse, taking her life, and giving in exchange His life. None of that. Martha's belief in Jesus is that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and that He's coming into the world. So that's exciting but that's not yet what you and I believe in, the finished work of Jesus. Look at Matthew 16:16, Simon Peter here. And we, and we, and by the way, it's amazing what they're believing. We're not knocking it out.
I wanted to show you the progression of this faith. Matthew 16:16, "Simon Peter answered and said, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" He knew who Jesus was but he didn't understand yet the plan of what Jesus would do. And so no wonder the disciples and all the way through the book of Acts, we just don't have, like I said teaching on faith righteousness, His substitution, and the great exchange, and redemption. And so you can just see now. They were doing signs and wonders and miracles and teaching Jesus as the Messiah to a race of people who understood what the Messiah was supposed to do and through the Old Testament Scripture for example.
Now John 6:28, so the people are talking to Jesus here and He's, and He's teaching something. And they said to Jesus, "What are the things God wants us to do? How do we do the works of God"? And that's what we're talking about today. How do you and I walk by faith? How do you and I get up and minister to hurting people, sick people? How do we raise finances in this world? So that we can give to every good thing rather than just believe in poverty and let the world finance every crazy thing they want to. Well, here's what it says, "How do we do the works of God? And Jesus answered, 'The work God wants you to do is this. This is the work of God, believe the one He sent". Now, who's that? That's Jesus.
So the people, they asked, "What miracle will you do? If we see a miracle, we will believe you". In brackets it says, "Believe you a sign. What sign will you do that we might see and believe you? What will you do? What work will you perform"? Reading here from the Expanded Bible. So they're looking at Jesus and they don't believe, okay, the Word of God as a heart faith or as revelation faith. It is a sense knowledge faith. I called it sense knowledge. Another words, the five senses. One of those five senses must be engaged and convinced them. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. He fed them food that He multiply. He healed their sick and they felt the healing power of God. They saw Him walk on the water. I mean, they heard the demoniac screaming and running at Him. I mean, their five senses where they looked to Jesus and they were convinced in their five senses that He was the Christ, the Son of God. But they had sense knowledge faith. Their faith is going to progress through the book of Acts.
And then when the apostle Paul comes along, and he does something as God, Jesus begins to reveal to Him what took place. The disciples saw everything Jesus did in his physical body. But after He died, there is a number of weeks where Jesus disappears and then comes back. Where was He? What was He doing? And we call that from the cross to the throne that we've got to believe. And Paul was shown that and then he teaches it from the Old Testament. The New Testament is a rewrite of the Old Testament prophecies as they're brought together. A verse here, a phrase there, as Holy Spirit guided the apostle Paul. And he puts it into this incredible new covenant that you and I must believe in. Let me show you again in John 20:25 this sense knowledge faith. Thomas said, "Except I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my fingers into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side. Where that sword or spear opened them wide open". He wants to put his hand in there. He says, "I will not believe".
You know, I'm not going to talk a lot about this one thought but you've got to understand something. Believing is often a choice, is a powerful part of that, choice. And so there's a choice. He's making a choice. I will not believe. Hhmn, interesting. I know people today that I've shared Christ with, and at a certain point they don't want to know anymore. Because they feel like to believe or to know more of the plan of salvation. They feel a sense of responsibility that they should do something and they want to stay in the sin they enjoy. I know people who understand what they have to give up. That they love to stay in control of their own life. And it's interesting how that, you know, everybody doesn't just accept the gospel as woohoo! I know they don't understand it but there's a very self-centered choosing involved here.
So in John 20 and 27, and now Jesus is talking to Thomas and He says, "Put your finger here". So He gets, He gets Thomas to put his fingers in that huge hole in His hand where that big spike went in. Then He says, "Now, put your hand here in my side". He is doing this. He is, He is separating His robe and making him put his hand into this hole in His side. So he realizes there was death. Roman crucifixion took place. Yet He's alive. So Thomas then says and answers Him, "My Lord and my God". So Jesus allowed him with his five senses. He saw Jesus, heard Jesus, touched Jesus, and then he felt with his hands and his fingers what his eyes had seen to confirm and he goes, "My Lord and my God".
Now, then Jesus says to him, and this is really, really, important. He says, "You believe because you see Me. You've used your five senses to discern me. Those who believe without seeing Me or without being able to use their five senses to know Me. They will be truly blessed". Wow. What does He mean by that? In the King James is, "Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed". What it's, there's something here that's really important. It's saying that in your life the things that God has for you. That unless you get around something that you can see, touch, or feel, or someone shows it to you. That you're always going to have to be around somebody who's leading you. But God wants to lead you into a life that if you haven't used your five senses to walk in health. If you haven't used your five senses to walk in prosperity and blessing. If you haven't used your five senses, you know, then you don't believe it. But you can believe because it's God's Word and it said so.
When you begin to look at the Old Testament, one of the guys that Paul teaches from was Abraham. And how that Abraham who in hope believed against hope to the end that he might become the father of many nations. Now, he's starting with Abraham because Abraham didn't have anything to put his faith on. He just believed the words that were spoken to him by this angel. And so it says that he knew that their bodies were dead, his wife's and his, when it comes to having children. But it says there that instead he looked to what God said. You know, you don't need to deny your five senses. If your five senses see a growth, there's a growth there. You don't have to go, "There's no growth. There's no growth. There's no growth". If you look at your bank account statement and you get a phone call, "You broke". Okay? You don't have to deny the physical realities, instead you look to the Word of God and you believe that faith and the power and the presence and the promises of God will override it. That the price is paid.
And so Abraham here because hope is always future tense. Most people will tell me, I'll say, "Hey, what do you believe in God for"? Well, I'm hoping and praying for this. Well, hope is always in the future. I'm hoping for something. And it's not faith. And there's an incredible use of words here. That is bringing us into a more mature faith. That hope is important, without hope, because hope's the goal setter. If you don't even have hope, you won't even get to faith. But there comes a time as you look into God's Word and you hope for something better and you see what Jesus has promised. That faith, or hope continues to rise on the inside of you, and then you no longer hope. You just, it's done. It's mine. In the name of Jesus. And it's teaching us this here in the book of Romans. And I love what it says here. It says that he waxed strong in faith or he grew strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured that what he's been promised, God's going to perform.
Now, you are made in the likeness and the image of God. Another words, you, the human race was designed to use faith. And this faith was going to be how it looked to the future. How it controlled animals and this world because it's how God created this world, and it's what Jesus used. When Jesus walked the planet as the first born, and then we are the rest of the born again family of God. He's showing us the authority, the power that we have. People want to take Jesus and kind of, and I'm not against making Him, He's the son of God. I mean, etcetera, etcetera. But He was here to show us, giving up all of His rights and privileges and power what a human being under the anointing of Holy Spirit coming inside of them, being upon them, what we could do. And so we are to be like Christ. And everyone just thinks that that would mean walking around looking pious and holy. No. He walked around and laid hands on people. And He fed, and He healed, and He walked in protection, and He walked in health, and He walked in victory, and He walked in prosperity. And all that He did. He never had any lack. In Ephesians 2:89, it says, "For by grace have you been saved through faith".
Now this word "saved" means saved from hell, sickness, disease, poverty, the entire curse of the law. So you could read it, "For by grace have you been healed. For by grace have you been protected. For by grace have you been saved from poverty. For by grace have you been saved from early death. For by grace have you been saved from your enemies. For by grace have you been saved from depression. For by grace have you been saved". And then it says, "Through faith". So this incredible ability and free favour of God. You must believe on it. You must believe in it. This process of faith is so crucial. And it's so easy that religion has to cloud our minds. It says it's not about yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can glory or boast. When you look at the Word of God, oh, man. Let me put it to you this way. I wrote it down this way. Salvation, redemption, the new creation, the indwelling presence of Holy Spirit, the legal right to use the name of Jesus, and all of our privileges as sons and daughters of God, are all based on grace but through faith. We must believe.
Now, how do we do that? That is where you look at what Jesus did. That that substitution. That great exchange. He took our sin and He took the curse of the law on our lives and He went to hell in our place. He arose again with new life. The verses I've given you today shows you that, "How do we do the works of God"? The crowd said to Jesus. And Jesus said, "Well, believe on Me". And He is literally letting them know that later on as He goes to the cross, and He dies for them, and rises again. I mean, this revelation Paul begins to see as Holy Spirit guides him in this. And he begins to write his letters to the churches, as to what took place from the cross to the throne. This is stunning. The disciples had to look into this when they got Paul into the ranks and they listened to what he had to say. And they saw him tie together all this Old Testament Scripture and what Jesus had said to him.
And they went, "This is so wonderful. So amazing". And they agreed that this was God. The foundation of your faith must be in the finished work of Jesus. Yes, Jesus came to the planet. Good. Believe that. But what does that do for you? Today 2000 years later? No. But what He did on the cross, He died for the entire human race into the future and the past. You know, that means something to you and I. And I want to challenge you. There is a place of living in faith. That the Bible says, Jesus begins to say, "You speak to the mountain". He says, "You declare". He showed us to speak to the wind, to the waves, to a physical body. He begins to show us to declare the work of God and recognize it's done. In the Old Testament, faith was in what God was going to do and they believed God was going to do things. In the new covenant, as a new covenant believer, our faith is different.
Listen to this. We must believe that it's done. Not that He's going to do. We must believe He has done it. It is finished. It is mine. That's what new covenant faith looks like. And so you've got to be careful. You've got to understand how to take the Old Testament through the cross in your understanding. Because of course the Old Testament is profound and beautiful and can teach you things. But you've got to take it through the cross. Because you, if you are born again believer, you are a new covenant believer. Because when Jesus died for me and for you, and He arose again and He took my defeated, simple, sick, cursed, plague life and He gave me His life. That Zoe life of God. Then every healing I will need in my life has been given to me. Every revelation to overcome. Everything that has been given to me. It is a done. It is finished. It's mine.
And so once you see that, then you realize, no, God already healed you. He did. Yes, He placed that healing within your very spirit man. You and I must learn to believe. This faith is a revelation faith. And it's not a five senses. Well, I'll believe it if I can see it, taste it, touch it, feel... No. This revelation is Holy Spirit inside of you and the Word of God that you study. Something incredible is going to happen in your life. Someone's listening to me right now. If I can get just one person to recognize that the Holy Spirit within you and the incredible Word of God, something will change in you as you begin to grow up in your faith. From, "Oh, I didn't see. I didn't feel anything. I didn't hear anything".
You know, it's tempting for me to continually go back into sense. If I don't sense. If I don't feel with my feelings God here, then I don't think He is here. No! I can sense Him with my spirit and I believe the Word of God. And from that flows incredible miracles and growth and the future and all God has for me. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Saviour and say, "Leon, I need this Jesus". Then just say right now, Jesus, come into my heart. I give You my life. I'm following You from today and on. Teach me, show me how. In Jesus' name, amen. Welcome to the family of God. That's how powerful it is to make a decision for Christ. And for everyone else, I want to encourage you. Don't ever get out of God's Word. The lights growing brighter and brighter within me and within you if you are focused on His Word and asked Holy Spirit to be your teacher. It just never stops.
You just go from revelation. It's more exciting and it has an impact on your relationships, on you, on the things around you. And you and I can now go do great things for God. So listen to this message over and over until something happens within you. And you begin to realize, okay, I'm going to learn to speak words of faith. I'm going to grow in faith. And this is the victory that overcomes anything in the world, 1 John 5:4. It's our faith. Remember that we don't get what we want. We don't even get what God wants for us. We get what we believe. And that's why so much of the Word is teaching us the finished work of Jesus and then what to believe on. And Holy Spirit will help you in this incredible effort.