John Henry Jowett: Energizing Faith

[00:00:00] Revived Thoughts is a production of Revive Studios.

[00:00:08] This is Troy and Joel, and you are listening to Revive Thoughts.

[00:00:18] Every valley will be lifted, and every mountain and hill will be made low.

[00:00:23] What then cannot we do if we march together in the power and conditions of a confident faith?

[00:00:31] Every episode we bring you a different voice from history and a sermon that they delivered.

[00:00:35] Today we're going to Halifax, England to hear a sermon by John Henry Jowett, Troy.

[00:00:42] How's it going? How's it going?

[00:00:44] It's going well. You know, you asked me, if you asked me what my favorite preacher is,

[00:00:49] I mean, John Henry Jowett. I've never heard of this guy before in this episode.

[00:00:53] I did not. We, in fact, we had to Google his name. I was about to say.

[00:00:56] We may or may not had to just double check how to pronounce Jowett.

[00:01:01] We're very sure it's Jowett now. We're strong confidence.

[00:01:04] I mean, so Joel and I did not come from a church history background.

[00:01:07] We weren't like theologians who one day put a podcast together with our big following.

[00:01:12] And very early on in Revive Thoughts history, we mispronounced, I won't say who it was,

[00:01:17] we mispronounced the name of a very famous pastor.

[00:01:21] And we've actually mispronounced some others.

[00:01:23] I heard from people in Sweden, I think it was, that we mispronounced Lars Levi Lestadius.

[00:01:29] And they were like, it's Lestadius. And I was like, okay, I can't speak Swedish.

[00:01:32] So like, I got as close as I know how to get to.

[00:01:36] But the guy we mispronounced, we should have, we should have done our homework.

[00:01:39] We heard so many people were like, I love the sermon.

[00:01:42] I love the episode.

[00:01:43] But every time you said his name wrong, I died inside a little bit.

[00:01:46] So anyway, we try to check when we don't know their names.

[00:01:49] And I had never heard of John Henry Jowett before.

[00:01:51] And I see for me, that one is more like, I mean, I do a lot of episodes.

[00:01:55] I've been doing this now for five years.

[00:01:57] And this guy feels like he's super famous.

[00:02:00] And reading about him, he's definitely was a huge name at his time.

[00:02:04] But he did not like, he doesn't come down to us like a Spurgeon or Jonathan Edwards or Martin Luther.

[00:02:10] And I don't know why that happens sometimes.

[00:02:12] We've covered other guys like that before where they were huge in their day.

[00:02:16] And no one's ever heard of them today.

[00:02:17] And I don't know necessarily what the difference is and why some of them come down to us as like giants in church history.

[00:02:26] And then some of them just get completely forgotten.

[00:02:28] It's just interesting to me that it does seem to happen.

[00:02:32] And it's not, it's not an infrequent thing.

[00:02:34] Because when I tell you this story, when you hear just how many people were up or were listening to this guy,

[00:02:38] you're going to go, wow, he seems like a really big name for a guy that nobody remembers.

[00:02:43] That is interesting.

[00:02:44] I do think that'd be maybe a fun research project because there's got to be something there in the way that maybe that local town documents things like,

[00:02:53] like what was, what was the press like or like, there's, there's got to be ways that people are,

[00:03:01] why some people are remembered more than others when they both had the same, you know, impact and prominence in their day.

[00:03:08] I only thought if I had to, if I had to shoot off the cuff or just like, this is my, my initial thought.

[00:03:14] And I think it could be disproven is I wonder if it's because of the,

[00:03:19] a lot of these guys who are very famous pastors that reach a lot of people, you know,

[00:03:23] thousands and thousands of people attend their church and stuff like that.

[00:03:25] They were loved.

[00:03:26] But if they didn't like go to bat on a specific theological issue,

[00:03:31] like if they didn't like go to war on some big heresy or issue at their time,

[00:03:37] then it's like, yay, that was great.

[00:03:39] But we don't really need to keep studying you because you didn't,

[00:03:42] you didn't fight this battle that we're looking into today.

[00:03:45] And so, as I think about the guys that we tend to remember today, you know,

[00:03:50] Jay Gresham Machen, he fought against, you know, liberalism infecting the church at the time.

[00:03:55] B.B. Warfield fought against people going after the inerrancy of scripture.

[00:03:59] Spurgeon went against the downgrade controversy.

[00:04:01] And, you know, on and on it goes.

[00:04:02] I can almost always nail something these guys were thinking of.

[00:04:06] Jonathan Edwards may be one of the few exceptions, but, you know,

[00:04:08] him and those boys were a part of the great awakening.

[00:04:10] So they're special.

[00:04:11] Do you think Edwards would be remembered if it wasn't for Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God?

[00:04:18] Yes, because David Brainerd's journal was the most popular book in America for like 100 years.

[00:04:22] But if you took away those two things, then I don't know.

[00:04:25] So Edwards is really special.

[00:04:27] Like Edwards is special because he did so much that it's,

[00:04:30] it took me years to realize just how much stuff he did that we only remember

[00:04:35] Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

[00:04:37] But like, if you were alive in the 17-1800s, you would have been reading and studying Edwards

[00:04:42] in so many more ways than just Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

[00:04:46] Although not less than that.

[00:04:47] You would have also read that one too.

[00:04:49] I do think today he's become like a one note story.

[00:04:52] But I think he's a special case.

[00:04:55] But that, that, so my running off the cuff theory is why people become famous.

[00:04:59] Some become remembered and some don't as they were standing against something.

[00:05:01] And of course, all the early church fathers, Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom,

[00:05:06] those guys, we remember that we, one of the first things we say is in their day,

[00:05:10] there was this heresy and this is how they went after it.

[00:05:13] You know? So there does seem to be a connection there.

[00:05:15] I might be honest.

[00:05:16] I think that's maybe a factor to it.

[00:05:19] Do you have anything, any pre-show stuff you want to talk about before we jump in?

[00:05:22] Or should we just jump into talking about John?

[00:05:23] Let's just do it. Let's get people, the people want it.

[00:05:25] They want to hear about John.

[00:05:27] We've, we've set Jowett up.

[00:05:28] We've told them how famous the guy they've never heard of was.

[00:05:31] Let's tell them and show them that fame right now.

[00:05:34] Another John.

[00:05:34] We should, we should get a running tally.

[00:05:37] We can make it a bit in the show where we just tally up how many Johns or John variations.

[00:05:41] Yeah.

[00:05:42] So we used to do a live stream, a church history trivia show with other Christian podcasts.

[00:05:47] I honestly miss it.

[00:05:48] It was super fun.

[00:05:50] And we would have this joke, it was in the things that we did.

[00:05:55] It was named that John.

[00:05:56] And it was basically, we'd say some, this John and church history did this.

[00:06:01] And then it would be like multiple choices or something.

[00:06:03] And there'd be like 10 different Johns you had to choose between.

[00:06:06] The number of people named John in church history is ridiculous.

[00:06:10] Like if you name your, if you are a John listening right now and you are not behind a pulpit,

[00:06:14] like you're at least a 50% chance you're, you're missing your calling.

[00:06:19] And if you named your child, John, you just about 50% chance that kid's a missionary or a pastor in the future.

[00:06:24] Based on my church history study, almost everybody is named John.

[00:06:29] And I mean, even today, think of famous pastors, MacArthur, Piper, like Johns are everywhere.

[00:06:34] There's always a John something doing something for the church.

[00:06:38] So it's a safe name.

[00:06:40] Look, I don't want to name my kid John.

[00:06:42] There's a lot of Johns out there, but it's a safe name if you want them to grow up.

[00:06:44] To be a church history person.

[00:06:46] Yeah.

[00:06:47] Yeah.

[00:06:47] The more you think about it, the more you realize how true it is.

[00:06:50] Like there's literally, I'm probably not exaggerating when I say there's probably 20 to 30 Johns that we've had on this show.

[00:06:57] No.

[00:06:57] Okay.

[00:06:58] You know what?

[00:06:58] I told everyone not that long ago that we updated the website.

[00:07:02] Well, there's a fancy new search bar.

[00:07:04] I put John into the search bar right now.

[00:07:08] And it came up with 42 episodes and 13 videos on our website.

[00:07:13] So, I mean, when we, and just Bunyan, Wesley, Flavelle, Hunt, Calvin, and then it says load more.

[00:07:20] And that doesn't count the Juans either.

[00:07:22] Or the, yeah.

[00:07:24] Yeah.

[00:07:24] The John Breach.

[00:07:25] John and other, we had Johan Towler on.

[00:07:28] We've had Gene Gerson on.

[00:07:31] Newsflash, those are also Johns.

[00:07:32] Also Johns.

[00:07:32] So, I mean, like it's, it's a, and then there's the J's.

[00:07:36] Like Jay Gresham-Machin is John Gresham-Machin.

[00:07:39] It's actually John Chris Austin.

[00:07:40] Like, it's just amazing how many Johns there are.

[00:07:43] So, anyway, consider that when you're naming your child.

[00:07:47] And another one we're adding to the roster today.

[00:07:49] John Henry Jowett.

[00:07:51] This sermon is titled Energizing Faith.

[00:07:55] How it, Jowett rather, sorry.

[00:07:58] Jay Jowett.

[00:07:59] Jowett was born in the year 1863 in Halifax, England.

[00:08:04] And he's one of the types that had that calling to ministry early on.

[00:08:08] And praise the Lord.

[00:08:09] He had a wonderful, supportive, Christ-like family that supported him in that endeavor.

[00:08:14] And a beautiful, wonderful, encouraging church that came alongside him.

[00:08:19] So his small local church and his family came alongside and said,

[00:08:23] Hey, you're called to ministry.

[00:08:24] We believe it.

[00:08:25] We're going to help send you to theological training to learn how to minister.

[00:08:32] As he grew up and went through life, you know,

[00:08:34] he went through different phases of life.

[00:08:35] Maybe you can relate with this.

[00:08:37] There was a phase where maybe he was reconsidering.

[00:08:39] You know, maybe I'll go to law school instead.

[00:08:42] That's where the money's at.

[00:08:43] You know, I can go to law school.

[00:08:44] I can still do good and I can make a lot of money.

[00:08:47] But one of his Sunday school teachers encouraged him against that.

[00:08:52] And this Sunday school teacher said that it would be, quote,

[00:08:55] wasting God's call on your life.

[00:08:57] And later in life, he looks back and reflects on that moment of kind of a point of surrender or that decision.

[00:09:09] You have to surrender to what God wants with something that he called divine initiative,

[00:09:14] that he is surrendering to what God has in store for him.

[00:09:20] So he's back on the ministry train there.

[00:09:24] Now, Joel, Jowett had the unique experience.

[00:09:27] And I can only think of maybe one or two other people this ever happened with where he jumped straight into a really large church.

[00:09:34] And usually, you know, in today's day, you become like a, you know, associate pastor, youth pastor.

[00:09:39] And then eventually, maybe you get to be a pastor as a small church.

[00:09:42] And it's a whole process, right?

[00:09:45] And even back then, it was pretty normal.

[00:09:47] You get a few small churches with people like you.

[00:09:49] Then maybe a bigger church will call you.

[00:09:50] Nope.

[00:09:51] He got the big church right away where his first church was over a thousand people.

[00:09:55] And I always, it's easy to hear that number and go, okay, is that a super big church?

[00:10:00] When there's no microphones and sound system and there's no parking lot and everyone has to walk or take a horse there.

[00:10:06] Yeah, that's a pretty big church.

[00:10:09] It's not a very normal thing.

[00:10:11] And Jowett took and took to it like a fish to water.

[00:10:14] He did just fine.

[00:10:15] He immediately had the 1,000 person church and everyone loved them there.

[00:10:19] And after a few years there, a famous pastor, Robert W. Dale, died at his church.

[00:10:24] And the church said, hey, we want you to take over.

[00:10:26] And that kind of put him in a weird situation.

[00:10:28] I'm taking over for a pretty famous, well-liked pastor.

[00:10:31] Am I going to be able to do a good job?

[00:10:33] A daunting task.

[00:10:34] Anytime you take over for a former pastor, it's going to be a daunting task.

[00:10:38] But imagine if that guy was a big name that's, you know, got schools and stuff named after him.

[00:10:43] But he did it.

[00:10:44] And the church not only survived him taking over, it actually grew while it was under Jowett.

[00:10:50] People really, really liked him.

[00:10:51] And it kind of revived the church a little bit and got it going again.

[00:10:54] He was considered a very practical, a very modest preacher.

[00:10:57] He'd even make little jokes about himself, little self-deprecating jokes here and there.

[00:11:02] Just a very chill guy, but a good preacher and able to get you to just see the text as how I should live it out in my day-to-day life.

[00:11:11] In 1907, a weekly magazine in Britain asked, who is the most appealing church in England?

[00:11:17] Vote your answer.

[00:11:17] Now, I got to say, I don't think that's something a magazine should do.

[00:11:22] You know, I just don't think that like we should do popularity contests with that, you know?

[00:11:26] I feel a little uncomfortable with that, you know?

[00:11:28] Vote for your favorite pastor.

[00:11:30] But the church in 1907, but this magazine in 1907 did it.

[00:11:34] And famous men that were alive at the time that we've covered before, G. Campbell Morgan, F.B. Meyer, Alexander McLaren, they all made the list.

[00:11:42] But the one who won was Jowett.

[00:11:45] And I just think that's kind of amazing because again, I really hadn't heard of this guy.

[00:11:49] I'd heard of these other guys and I just hadn't heard of him.

[00:11:51] All of which we have covered and all of them were amazing men, but Jowett won with the most write-in votes.

[00:11:57] And I don't think it was just because he was at home writing in all the votes.

[00:12:00] Despite what would seem to be a pretty huge and popular ministry,

[00:12:04] in 1911, after, you know, 10 years at this church and doing really well,

[00:12:09] a church in New York City reached out to him, reached across the pond as it were,

[00:12:14] and said, hey, we'd love for you to come be the pastor at our Presbyterian church in New York City.

[00:12:19] And Jowett, maybe to the surprise that people accepted it.

[00:12:22] I'm going to go over in 1911, he moved to New York City to be the pastor there.

[00:12:28] And this, I mean, if he was well-known before, I feel like this is where certainly the most,

[00:12:36] he becomes the most recognized, the most famous.

[00:12:39] I don't know, it feels wrong to use the word famous in relation to a pastor,

[00:12:43] but he definitely gets the biggest following here.

[00:12:47] Very successful in New York.

[00:12:49] There was one writer who said of him, he said, quote,

[00:12:53] No preacher since the days of Henry Ward Beecher ever had greater crowds come to hear him preach Sunday after Sunday

[00:12:59] and hang on his words, end quote.

[00:13:03] So people would come early in the morning, you know, they're trying to beat the crowd,

[00:13:07] beat the rush hour to go hear Jowett preach.

[00:13:10] And they'd come hours before the Sunday morning service.

[00:13:14] And still thousands would have to be sent home just due to there not being any rooms, are you?

[00:13:20] Yeah. You know, that's the auditorium is full.

[00:13:22] You guys got to go back home.

[00:13:23] But if you know your history, so, I mean, this is early 1900s and not too long after he arrived in New York,

[00:13:32] World War One would start off, 1914 would pop off.

[00:13:36] And this really war on Jowett's heart.

[00:13:39] He's English.

[00:13:42] The British are actively engaged in this war while he's in America now at this point.

[00:13:47] And this made me sad. He wanted to be with his people, wanted to support his people instead of being across the Great Atlantic there.

[00:13:57] In 1918, Westminster in London asked him to come and preach back there.

[00:14:02] And he decided, hey, you know, I've had a good stint here.

[00:14:05] I'm going to go back to London and be with my people.

[00:14:09] And so he had been with that church in New York for seven years.

[00:14:13] And so it was it was a good stretch.

[00:14:15] He got up to the pulpit on his last Sunday and he delivers this this encouragement.

[00:14:20] He says, I lead you to where I sought to lead you for the last seven years.

[00:14:24] I lead you to Jesus, the Christ and the risen Savior, the reigning King of glory.

[00:14:30] All my hope in him is stayed.

[00:14:32] I believe in the morrow because I believe in him.

[00:14:45] Despite his age, his popularity did not show any signs of declining.

[00:14:49] In fact, in some ways back in London, he was even more popular than he was before.

[00:14:53] Every Sunday, long lines of people were sent away.

[00:14:56] I just imagine people standing in line for church like it's an amusement park or it's a football game or something.

[00:15:01] You know, it's hard to picture it today.

[00:15:03] But it was 100 years ago, even this 1923.

[00:15:06] So literally 100 years ago, this was something people were doing.

[00:15:10] And it wasn't just for Jowett.

[00:15:11] There are other people this was experienced as well.

[00:15:14] But Jowett was certainly, if not that one of the biggest names that this seemed to happen for, it was right up there with the biggest.

[00:15:22] All of these pastoral ships were, it was interesting to me too, is Jowett, Spurgeon, Morgan, Meyer.

[00:15:31] These guys were running big church operations.

[00:15:34] They were running churches with thousands of people.

[00:15:36] And yet, when we look back at their history, we don't see these giant celebrity scandals we see today.

[00:15:42] I sometimes will hear people say something like, oh, celebrity pastors are, you know, big churches are automatically bad.

[00:15:48] That's why they always have these corrupt scandals.

[00:15:50] Well, 100 years ago, there were a lot of churches with great pastors.

[00:15:53] And I don't think they all got covered up.

[00:15:56] They just don't seem to have the same scandals we have today.

[00:15:59] I think it's not because the church size is the problem.

[00:16:02] I think that's kind of an easy excuse to make.

[00:16:04] I think the real problem is the people we are giving that pulpit to and the people we are making popular are not the kinds of people they were making popular 100 years ago.

[00:16:14] We're making the wrong kind of men, these big pastors.

[00:16:17] And that may be why we're seeing so many more scandals in our day than they were seeing 100 years ago.

[00:16:22] There were big churches 100 years ago, but we weren't seeing the same level of problems.

[00:16:28] It's just my thought on it from a church history perspective.

[00:16:31] And we are going to listen now to a sermon by Jowett.

[00:16:34] But one key for him in sermons, he said, was always prayer.

[00:16:38] And he opened, he said of his sermons once, if men are not being moved by our prayers, then they are not likely to be profoundly stirred by our preaching.

[00:16:49] I think that's a really cool thought.

[00:16:50] We often have the sermons of the past, but sadly we don't have the prayers that came before these sermons.

[00:16:57] And I do think that he's right that it is those prayers often are the opening lines that we sadly don't get to hear.

[00:17:04] But what we can hear and enjoy and listen to is that sermon of the past.

[00:17:09] So let's listen to it now.

[00:19:55] Fulst! Until at last the presumptuous knights have to confess their failure,

[00:20:00] and to the accompaniment of laughter, they retire angrily or silently from the field,

[00:20:06] leaving the devil in possession.

[00:20:08] I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.

[00:20:13] The victim was possessed by a devil.

[00:20:15] I will only pause to say I accept the explanation of his bondage.

[00:20:18] Some malign presence was making the man's life chaotic,

[00:20:21] and was driving him according to its own malicious whim.

[00:20:25] There are phenomena in human life which cannot be otherwise explained.

[00:20:30] I cannot explain mysterious emergencies in my own mind and soul,

[00:20:33] except on the theory of subtle and active presences,

[00:20:37] who seek by illicit snare and fascination to entice me into degrading bondage.

[00:20:41] The temptation of the world does not account for them.

[00:20:44] The gravitation of the flesh is an insufficient explanation.

[00:20:48] They are only interpreted in the scriptural suggestion that

[00:20:51] our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,

[00:20:55] against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in this heavenly places.

[00:21:01] But it is not necessary for my present purpose to win you over to my views,

[00:21:07] or to any particular theory.

[00:21:09] It is sufficient to insist that there was an evil in possession,

[00:21:14] exercising horrible control, paralyzing its pitiful victim,

[00:21:18] and the knights of the Lord's kingdom were incompetent to its expulsion.

[00:21:21] The evil was left on the field.

[00:21:25] Now, our modern experience very readily leads us to places ourselves

[00:21:29] in the depressed ranks of the defeated knight.

[00:21:32] Who is there who has not set out to evict an established evil,

[00:21:36] and who has not encountered bitter and ultimate defeat?

[00:21:40] It may even be the evil possession was in your own body,

[00:21:43] or your mind, or soul, or maybe it was housed in the life of your child,

[00:21:48] or in the life of your friend,

[00:21:50] or perhaps you see it lodged in the corporate body,

[00:21:53] in the shape of some social tyranny,

[00:21:55] some industrial disease, some national vice,

[00:21:59] by whatever it is, and wherever it's home.

[00:22:02] You have faced the intruder with the purpose of expulsion,

[00:22:04] and you have utterly failed.

[00:22:08] And now it is high time we hear our master's explanation for the failure.

[00:22:12] Then they came to the disciples to Jesus apart and said,

[00:22:15] why could we not cast it out?

[00:22:18] And he said to them, because of your unbelief.

[00:22:21] There is no uncertainty in the diagnosis.

[00:22:24] The cause is not complicated.

[00:22:26] It is single and simple.

[00:22:30] Unbelief.

[00:22:30] There had been a lack of confidence.

[00:22:33] There was a doubt at the very heart of the disciples' effort.

[00:22:35] There was a cold fear at the very core of his enterprise.

[00:22:39] He went out with a banner waving,

[00:22:41] but the flag in his heart was drooping.

[00:22:44] Because of your unbelief.

[00:22:47] Our Lord is not referring to unbelief in any particular doctrine,

[00:22:51] but rather to the general attitude and outlook of the soul.

[00:22:54] There was no strong, definite confidence in the disciple,

[00:22:57] and such unbelief always ensures paralysis and defeat.

[00:23:00] Energy is not born of denials, but of affirmations.

[00:23:04] Denials are only empty shells without any explosive strength.

[00:23:08] What do we believe?

[00:23:10] What is the range and quality of our confidence?

[00:23:12] What amount of faith is there at the heart of our crusade?

[00:23:16] The answer to these questions will give the measure of our strength

[00:23:19] and will reveal to us our possibilities in the ministry.

[00:23:22] Faith is energy.

[00:23:25] Always and everywhere, faith is a force.

[00:23:28] Take the lawyer in the courtroom.

[00:23:30] His duty to his client will endow him with a certain force and persuasiveness of speech,

[00:23:35] even if he has no confidence in the inherent justice of the cause he advocates.

[00:23:39] But let it be further assumed that he believes his own belief,

[00:23:43] that he has a deep, unshaken confidence in the justice of his cause,

[00:23:47] that he has entire and absolute assurance in his client,

[00:23:51] and see what tremendous power attaches itself to his attack or defense.

[00:23:56] It is faith that gives such confidence.

[00:24:00] It is not different in the Senate.

[00:24:02] Let a politician support a measure for the removal of some injustice.

[00:24:05] Let him do it, not because of his convictions to an inherent right,

[00:24:09] but with his eyes fixed upon votes and popular distinction.

[00:24:13] And his support is altogether unimpressive and weak.

[00:24:16] But let a man speak with faith, with a solid core of definite confidence burning in his soul,

[00:24:23] and the glowing energies of his soul will get into his words,

[00:24:26] and his speeches will be a flaming fire.

[00:24:29] It is faith that speaks.

[00:24:31] I need not elaborate on the matter more.

[00:24:33] On familiar things, the principle is evident.

[00:24:36] Faith gives energy.

[00:24:38] Lord, what will we do that we may work the works of God?

[00:24:42] This is the work of God, that you believe.

[00:24:46] Energy for all your work is there in your belief.

[00:24:50] But there are different degrees and qualities of faith.

[00:24:53] There is a faith in oneself, and such faith is by no means unaccompanied with power.

[00:24:58] No one can read the life of a man like Napoleon Bonaparte,

[00:25:01] from his obscure early days in the Corsica,

[00:25:03] to the brilliant days when he strode across Europe like the Colossus,

[00:25:07] without being impressed with the amazing energy,

[00:25:10] which is attached to an audacious self-confidence.

[00:25:13] He fought for no principle.

[00:25:15] He had no ideals.

[00:25:16] He was allured by no constant and noble ambition.

[00:25:20] His confidence was not in a cause, but in himself.

[00:25:23] And his confidence generated a marvelous strength.

[00:25:27] But there is a faith and confidence higher than this,

[00:25:30] and endowed with a corresponding larger dynamic and resource.

[00:25:33] There is a faith in principles and causes,

[00:25:36] in the tenacity of truth,

[00:25:37] in the indestructibility of virtue,

[00:25:39] in the invincibility of the righteous order of the world.

[00:25:42] Such faith is uninfluenced by bribes,

[00:25:45] undisputed by majorities,

[00:25:48] untroubled by threats and frowns.

[00:25:50] It tightly holds onto the truth,

[00:25:52] and confidently waits for its day.

[00:25:55] But even higher is the level which we can rise

[00:25:59] in the ascending gradient of faith.

[00:26:00] There is a faith in the living God,

[00:26:03] a faith in his love and goodwill,

[00:26:06] a confidence in his blessed presence and companionship,

[00:26:09] an assurance that we are one with him

[00:26:12] in the sacred inheritance,

[00:26:13] and that in him we are partakers

[00:26:15] of all the mighty ministries of grace.

[00:26:18] That is the sublimest of all faiths,

[00:26:21] and it carries with it the most tremendous of all energies,

[00:26:24] for it has behind it the omnipotence of God.

[00:26:29] Faith as a grain uproots a mountain.

[00:26:32] Such is its mighty energy.

[00:26:35] I do not shrink from the startling idea.

[00:26:37] Our scientists are now telling us

[00:26:39] there is enough energy stored in one grain of radium

[00:26:42] that is sufficient to raise 500 tons a mile high.

[00:26:46] And I am not daunted when our master,

[00:26:48] speaking of a finer power than radium,

[00:26:51] a subtler energy, a spiritual force,

[00:26:53] tells us of enormous energy,

[00:26:55] the miracle-working energy

[00:26:57] that is housed in faith of supreme quality,

[00:27:00] even though it is only as a grain of a mustard seed.

[00:27:04] You will say to this mountain,

[00:27:06] go!

[00:27:07] Is that to be taken literally or figuratively?

[00:27:10] Well, probably figuratively,

[00:27:12] for the words appear to be quoted

[00:27:13] from a familiar proverb,

[00:27:15] which was used to express

[00:27:16] any vast and difficult achievement.

[00:27:18] To start a gigantic enterprise

[00:27:20] was spoken of as an attempt to uproot a mountain.

[00:27:23] But why did I say probably figuratively,

[00:27:26] as though there was any lingering doubt

[00:27:28] about the matter?

[00:27:29] Why not be finally rid of the question

[00:27:31] by declaring that the energy of the faith

[00:27:33] has no dominion outside the spirit,

[00:27:35] and that it decrees,

[00:27:37] do not run in the material world?

[00:27:39] Because that is precisely what I cannot say.

[00:27:42] We are dimly gleaming the spiritual energies

[00:27:45] that may have more currency

[00:27:47] than we have ever dreamed.

[00:27:48] We are discovering more and more clearly

[00:27:50] that spiritual faith and temper

[00:27:52] have a lot to do with physical health,

[00:27:55] that our doctors are comparatively impotent

[00:27:57] when the soul itself is sick,

[00:27:59] or when there is present a grief that saps the mind.

[00:28:02] I believe that many an ailment would vanish

[00:28:05] if the unbelief went out of the soul,

[00:28:07] and if in its place there came a sweet, sound,

[00:28:11] strong confidence in the Lord.

[00:28:14] You will say to this mountain,

[00:28:15] go, and it will go.

[00:28:18] I am equally convinced that there is an exercise

[00:28:21] of a vigorous faith in God

[00:28:23] has more dominion than we have yet realized

[00:28:26] in securing the entire expulsion

[00:28:28] of impure bodily habits and lusts.

[00:28:30] Here is a man or woman possessed

[00:28:32] by an unclean devil of drunkness.

[00:28:34] How can the devil be expelled?

[00:28:36] Well, we commonly say that it is a disease,

[00:28:39] and it must be treated as a disease.

[00:28:42] Yes, but how will we treat it?

[00:28:45] A physical mountain can only be removed

[00:28:47] by physical means.

[00:28:48] Are you absolutely sure of that?

[00:28:50] The doctor will always prescribe medicine.

[00:28:52] Very well.

[00:28:53] The food will be carefully selected,

[00:28:56] and all stimulating diets will be tabooed.

[00:28:58] Very good.

[00:28:59] His environment will be changed.

[00:29:01] Ah, are you sure that you are now altogether

[00:29:05] dealing with only the material world?

[00:29:07] Are you not coming to another domain?

[00:29:09] Are you not bringing spiritual ideas into this?

[00:29:13] He must have a new hobby, some say.

[00:29:15] What is your goal?

[00:29:17] His society must be refined,

[00:29:19] and his reading must be of a more restful

[00:29:21] and tranquil type.

[00:29:23] Hasn't the treatment of the physical mountain,

[00:29:25] the physical man,

[00:29:26] now left the purely physical methods?

[00:29:28] I do not disparage these minor things,

[00:29:30] for I regard them all as the beneficent gifts of God.

[00:29:34] But above and beyond all this,

[00:29:36] sometimes entirely apart and independent of them,

[00:29:39] I would exalt the marvelous power of the grace of God

[00:29:42] and the way it acts through the methods

[00:29:45] of alert and confidence faith.

[00:29:47] I say that in these regions,

[00:29:49] and even the regions of fleshly habit and passion,

[00:29:53] faith has removed mountains.

[00:29:55] I have known cravings for drink,

[00:29:57] annihilated in an hour

[00:29:58] by the tremendous spiritual resources

[00:30:01] commanded by one who believes in faith.

[00:30:03] And even if that instance stood alone,

[00:30:06] which by no means is the case,

[00:30:08] it affords a glimpse of the world of spiritual dynamics,

[00:30:11] which we often ignore.

[00:30:14] And so it is that the entire mountain range

[00:30:16] of human difficulty and enterprise,

[00:30:18] faith is energy,

[00:30:21] energy by which the mountain is to be removed.

[00:30:23] Enterprises born in doubt are smothered at birth.

[00:30:27] Can we sweeten and purify our streets?

[00:30:29] Everything depends on our faith.

[00:30:31] Can we expel the devils of drunkenness and lust?

[00:30:34] Can we cheer and enlighten and redeem the slums?

[00:30:38] Can the desert be made to rejoice the blossom of a rose?

[00:30:41] Can we ourselves be ministers of a great salvation?

[00:30:45] According to your faith,

[00:30:47] be it to you.

[00:30:49] If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed,

[00:30:53] you will say to this mountain,

[00:30:55] go into that plain,

[00:30:56] and it will go,

[00:30:58] and nothing will be impossible to you.

[00:31:02] Every valley will be lifted,

[00:31:04] and every mountain and hill will be made low.

[00:31:07] What then cannot we do

[00:31:09] if we march together

[00:31:11] in the power and conditions of a confident faith?

[00:31:14] We can still work in the power

[00:31:16] in the name of the Lord of hosts.

[00:31:30] There's part in the sermon where they say,

[00:31:32] you know, why God couldn't we cast out the demon?

[00:31:34] He says, because of your unbelief.

[00:31:36] And I like that Jowat specifies,

[00:31:38] not in unbelief,

[00:31:39] as in a lack of belief in doctrine.

[00:31:42] I think so often when I hear that line,

[00:31:44] I see that,

[00:31:44] I think of unbelief.

[00:31:45] I think, oh, they didn't believe the doctrine.

[00:31:47] They had something wrong,

[00:31:49] you know, with their theology.

[00:31:51] And that's not what Jesus is saying.

[00:31:52] He's saying,

[00:31:53] you say all the right answers,

[00:31:55] you know the right things,

[00:31:56] but you don't believe.

[00:31:58] You don't confidently believe

[00:32:00] in the promises of God

[00:32:01] so that it's seen in your attitudes,

[00:32:02] it's seen in your words,

[00:32:04] and it's seen in your actions.

[00:32:06] It's another thing to,

[00:32:07] you know,

[00:32:07] it's one thing to say,

[00:32:07] I believe people are going to hell

[00:32:08] and that Jesus is the only way to heaven.

[00:32:11] But you can say that

[00:32:12] and it can be a mental,

[00:32:14] a theological belief,

[00:32:15] but not in any way be lived out

[00:32:17] in a way where people would say

[00:32:18] he believes that.

[00:32:19] And that's something I think

[00:32:20] that we need to remember today.

[00:32:23] I think it's honestly

[00:32:24] probably one of the most important things

[00:32:27] I feel like I have to remind myself.

[00:32:28] And I think we all need to remind ourselves

[00:32:29] as Christians

[00:32:30] that like belief is more than just,

[00:32:32] I know Jesus Christ lived and died for me

[00:32:35] checking off a box.

[00:32:37] It's a life that we give over to God,

[00:32:40] trusting his word,

[00:32:41] his promises,

[00:32:42] and what he says in scripture is true.

[00:32:43] And then it being seen

[00:32:45] in how we live our life.

[00:32:58] Thank you for listening

[00:32:59] to today's episode of Revived Thoughts.

[00:33:03] Today's sermon was narrated

[00:33:04] by Patrick Studebaker.

[00:33:06] Patrick is a longtime friend of the show.

[00:33:08] We got connected to him

[00:33:09] through Revived Thoughts.

[00:33:11] He's narrated several shows

[00:33:12] and he runs the Cave to the Cross podcast,

[00:33:15] which we encourage you to go

[00:33:16] and check out,

[00:33:17] link to it in our description below.

[00:33:19] Thank you, Patrick,

[00:33:20] for narrating today's episode.

[00:33:22] Yeah, Patrick is a wonderful human

[00:33:24] and I always say,

[00:33:26] go listen to his show.

[00:33:27] It's super good.

[00:33:28] And also he's done several episodes for us

[00:33:30] at this point.

[00:33:31] He actually has a website link

[00:33:32] on his website

[00:33:33] where he's got the list

[00:33:35] of all the sermons he's done for us.

[00:33:36] You should go check it out

[00:33:37] and you should definitely check out his show.

[00:33:39] If you like philosophy,

[00:33:40] if you like apologetics,

[00:33:41] if you like just interviews

[00:33:43] on those kind of things

[00:33:44] or you just enjoy that kind of stuff,

[00:33:45] go check out what Patrick's doing.

[00:33:48] He's a great guy.

[00:33:49] He's been doing it faithfully

[00:33:50] for years now.

[00:33:52] So you should definitely go listen

[00:33:53] to his content.

[00:33:55] And that will be what I ask you to do.

[00:33:57] I'm not even going to ask you

[00:33:58] to share our episodes

[00:33:59] or rate us on Apple

[00:34:00] or anything like that.

[00:34:01] But we love it.

[00:34:02] You could do it.

[00:34:02] But my request for you today

[00:34:05] is actually give us a pause

[00:34:07] and run over and support Patrick

[00:34:09] because he's a wonderful guy.

[00:34:11] This is Troy and Joel

[00:34:12] and this is Revive Thoughts.