What Is Faith? - [Hebrews 11:1,7]

Bethlehem Bible Church iconBethlehem Bible Church

1 view

0 comments

00:00
If you consider the noise that came in your houses or wherever you were this week when the
00:07
Red Sox did whatever they did, I'll bet you were shouting. And that's just a temporal shout.
00:14
That's just for temporal things. And a million years from now, a million, million years from now, who's going to know who won what game when?
00:21
But you will know this, that Jesus Christ is still sitting on his throne. The Lord Jesus Christ still ruling and reigning over his own, and we who name the name of Christ here this morning will still be his, eternally secure in Christ.
00:36
And that's something to praise the Lord about. That's something to be grateful for. We who name the name of Christ, we who say that we have been recipients of grace, we who say that we have confessed with our mouth the
00:52
Lord Jesus and believed in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead, we who have faith,
00:58
I wonder if I gave you a blank piece of paper and I asked you to write everything that you know about faith on it, would you be able to fill it in more?
01:06
I hope at the end of this message, when we leave here, that will be the case, that we'll know a little bit more about what is faith.
01:14
Turn with me please to Hebrews chapter 11. In your
01:23
Bibles, Hebrews chapter 11. I'll be reading from the King James, and I'd like to read just the first few verses.
01:30
Hebrews 11, one. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
01:38
For by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
01:51
By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
01:57
God testifying of his gifts, and by it, he being dead yet speaketh. By faith,
02:02
Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him.
02:08
For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. Verse six, but without faith, it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
02:23
By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen, as yet, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared
02:33
Enoch to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became the heir of righteousness, which is by faith.
02:40
And I'll stop the reading there. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we do ask that, as we come before your holy word, that we would be a people of this book that would desire to submit ourselves to it, that we would, as the
02:57
Psalmist said, that we would, oh Lord, how I love thy law, that we would be a people who would desire to hear and desire to obey.
03:10
Please, by the working of the Holy Spirit, may we be taught of our God today. In Jesus' name, amen.
03:17
This morning, we're gonna look at these three issues. First, we're gonna look at an overview of faith.
03:23
I'm just gonna do a brief overview of faith. And secondly, we're going to look in verse one at the nature of faith.
03:30
And then thirdly, we're gonna take an example to make it more practical and look in verse seven at the life of Noah for a response of faith.
03:38
First, an overview of faith. Sometimes we can see what something is by considering what it isn't.
03:47
And there's all kinds of descriptions and ideas when it comes to religion or what faith is.
03:52
And faith is one, not a general term that just deals with religion. Like when you hear people say, you have your faith and I have mine.
04:00
Or it's not a good luck charm that you pull out of your pocket so that things will go well for you. Like keep the faith and God will take care of you.
04:09
It is also not something we fall back on only in times of difficulty, like a serious health issue or a death in the family.
04:17
Their faith will get them through. You've heard these phrases. It's not the religious piece of the big pie called life.
04:24
You know, we have a bank for the financial piece of the pie. We have a health insurance and doctors and hospitals for the physical aspect of the piece of our pie.
04:34
We have computers and libraries and schools and colleges for the educational.
04:40
We have a television and radio and phones and such like for the communications piece of the pie.
04:47
And just to tag it on in life, we want faith to be the God piece of life. Church, kind of just plug it in.
04:54
It's not just that. It is also not just an intellectual ascent of Bible truth.
05:00
By that I mean that we just believe facts about God. We believe facts about Jesus Christ, but that belief goes no further.
05:10
It's just an ascent. It's just in the mind. It doesn't lead to repentance and faith, true faith, which changes the life, which brings about a change in behavior.
05:20
And also faith is not a mere, just a mere profession, which is often temporary and sporadic and only comes into play on Sunday mornings or on religious holidays.
05:30
So what is faith? Faith is trust. Faith is belief.
05:36
Faith is reliance upon God. And it leads because it being from God, it is a reliance on God and so trusting in God to the saving of the very soul, believing so much so that our lives are transformed.
05:50
Faith affects every part of the Christian's life. Once a person comes to this true faith that the
05:57
Bible speaks about, what is the object of our faith? The object of our faith, of course, is God himself.
06:03
We believe, as the Bible says, on the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't trust, as I've spoken to people in the past who are hung up on this, we don't trust in our faith.
06:13
It isn't the fact that we have faith that we're looking to the faith and the faith is what saves us. No, it is the object of that faith.
06:21
It is God himself. It is Jesus Christ. We look to him so that we might live. Faith is also so unique in that it comes from outside of ourselves.
06:30
It comes from outside the person. By that I mean, it is a gift of God. We all know Ephesians 2 .8, for by grace he is saved through faith.
06:38
It is the what? It is the gift of God. It is not of yourselves.
06:43
It is from outside. Faith is also, faith that we see there is a gracious gift to those who cannot create it or stir it up from within.
06:54
Some will teach that everybody has faith, true saving faith, the faith that is necessary to please
07:01
God, but the Bible tells us in 2 Thessalonians 3 .2, the end of that verse, for all men have not faith.
07:09
I mean, we all exercise some form of faith. I mean, think about it. I see bottles of water.
07:15
I saw coffee cups this morning. I see people going around sipping that drink and you, in a measure, a different type of faith, you drink it, believing that it is okay.
07:25
You do the drive -through. You get that little bag of food or you order out and it gets delivered to you.
07:31
By faith, you are, in a measure, you eat of that, believing that it's not going to be contaminated.
07:36
You step on an airplane. And you believe that it's going to get to its final destination. In a way, there is faith there.
07:43
When you put yourself under a surgeon's knife, there is faith there, but not saving faith. It is not the faith that brings forgiveness.
07:50
It is not the faith that reconciles a sinner who is outside of the grace of God to God himself.
07:57
It's not the faith not only to be saved by, but that is not the faith to live by in a spiritual walk with God.
08:05
When it comes to faith, this divinely given faith, those who have received it are aware of the fact that they've received it.
08:14
They've received it sometime in their life, knowing that they did not always have it, and that it came to them, they come to understand this, it came to them from God.
08:26
The Apostle Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2 .1, the Christians who have obtained like precious faith, they've obtained it.
08:33
They've received it. It's been allotted to them. It is something God gave them. On the other hand, human faith, this intellectual faith, this common faith that everyone speaks of is this ineffective faith as Pastor Mike had spoken of in his messages before leaving on a sabbatical is a useless faith that cannot save the soul.
08:56
It is not a source of help in the Christian's life. The faith that God gives, which comes through hearing the word of God as we read in Romans 10, verse 17, for faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
09:15
That genuine faith, given as a marvelous gift from heaven, when placed and set upon the only correct object of that faith and what it ought to be is the
09:26
Lord Jesus Christ. That faith will bring the blessings, promised by God in the scriptures, such as, and this is just a real flyby, in salvation,
09:35
Romans 5 .1, therefore being justified by faith. We're justified, justification. And we also have peace with God through the
09:42
Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 3 .6, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
09:49
He received the righteousness of God. In John 5 .24, in the words of our Lord Jesus, he that believes has everlasting life.
10:00
Not only ending there, but they shall not come into condemnation and they are passed from death unto life.
10:07
Jesus also said in John 6 .40, he that believes on him or believes on me, he said, will be raised up at the last day.
10:14
Speaking of our resurrection, and he also said something of that in John 11 .25, whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.
10:25
That's salvation, that's speaking of salvation and being the soul being saved and one day being in the presence of the
10:31
Lord, but also in the Christian life, faith comes into play. In 1 John 5 .4, faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
10:38
In Hebrews 11 .6, our text, it says, without faith it's impossible to please God. What that means there, it's an indispensable element of true
10:47
Christian religion. Without faith, it's impossible to please the Lord. Ephesians 6 .16,
10:53
faith is a defensive weapon in the armor of God, the shield of faith. James 1 .5
10:58
and 6 speaks of how faith is essential for a sexual prayer. Let the person ask in faith.
11:06
And we also have the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 17 .20, if you have faith as the grain of a mustard seed, you will say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
11:19
I've just scratched the surface there, but I think you get the point. Faith is all throughout scripture. Faith is so prevalent in the life of a believer, and yet sometimes when it comes to thinking about faith and having it become practical in us when we think about what we know about faith, that's what this message is all about.
11:39
So just, I did a real brief overview. Secondly, I'd like to look at the nature of faith here in our text in verse one.
11:46
In Hebrews 11 .1, the word of God says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
11:57
Faith is not a pipe dream. Faith is not an exercise in futility.
12:03
Faith is not something we do without a foundation or undergirding. There are grounds for the faith of the believer.
12:10
Christians don't believe in something on the same level as you would a fairy tale or a nursery rhyme or human opinion or wishful thinking.
12:19
The faith of the believer is grounded in the word of God. We see in verse one that the
12:25
Bible says, faith is the substance of things hoped for. Your translation might say, faith is the assurance of things hoped for.
12:32
Here we see the true nature of faith. Though this verse doesn't contain an all -conclusive definition of faith, it does point out some basic characteristics.
12:42
To illustrate this, you can go to www .bbchurch .org and you can look for the bios of the pastors, the elders in the church.
12:52
You see our pictures, you just bypass the pictures, go to what the words say. And you can see in that little paragraph that it says something about us, something about our characteristics.
13:01
Not all -conclusive, but by that, you can get some type of an idea of what we are about.
13:06
And that's what we're seeing in this verse here. Not all -conclusive, but we can get an idea of what the nature of faith is.
13:15
When it comes to faith, as I said before, God is the object of our faith, and he has made many promises in scripture for us to hope in.
13:23
Old Testament believers didn't have a full revelation of God's plan, but as incomplete as it was, you look at the lives of these people,
13:34
Enoch, Abel, Enoch, and Abraham, and Noah, and Moses, and Sarah, go through this chapter.
13:42
They didn't have the full revelation of God's plan. They didn't have the full scripture, the complete Bible, like we do. But even as incomplete as the revelation was to them, they still hoped for the
13:53
Messiah that God said would come. They could not see this Messiah, but they believed in this
13:58
Messiah who would come. Oh, they believed the special promises or warnings that God gave them, and they responded accordingly.
14:07
Verse two tells us that God approved of and recognized these people of faith, where it says, for by it, the elders obtained a good report, or they obtained an approval of God.
14:20
Faith includes a hope that is so real in a person that it gives them an absolute sure confidence, and so much confidence that when a person believes
14:32
God, not just believes in God, but believes God, as it says there in verse six.
14:39
That believing God, when a person does that, they will base their life upon that belief.
14:48
They will choose based upon that belief. They will order their life according to that confidence.
14:56
That is what we see all through this chapter. John Piper wrote, this hope gives power for all kinds of radical obedience, and radical in a sanctified way,
15:07
I'm saying here. I'm not looking for anarchy or uprising here. Radical in a sanctified biblical sense.
15:13
So faith is not a pie in the sky, I'm hoping, I wonder what's going to happen.
15:18
I'm really not sure if all these things God says is gonna come to pass, or maybe type of attitude. No, faith is the substance.
15:26
Faith is an assurance of these things hoped for. I'll touch on why, how can we get to that point as we go on.
15:35
Its nature is absolutely confident and certain in our true and living
15:41
God. Faith is not that pie in the sky hope. John Gill put it this way.
15:46
He spoke of faith as a confident persuasion, expectation, and assurance of unseen things that are not yet experienced.
15:54
Future things, difficult to obtain, though possible. Difficult to obtain, though possible, otherwise there would be no hope for them.
16:05
And these unseen things are made possible by God himself. In the face of opposition, when others consider things impossible, when the prospect before us seems out of our grasp and ability, when it goes all against human reasoning, true faith believes
16:20
God to the point where the person goes against self, Satan, and the whole world. The word here, substance.
16:28
Faith is the substance, or in your Bibles it may say assurance. Hupostasis is the
16:34
Greek word. Two words, hupo, under. The stasis is standing or a support under.
16:41
It's an undergirding what it means. It has to do with a setting under. It's a foundation.
16:48
It is firm ground. And faith is the firm ground upon which the
16:53
Christian stands when he acts, when he moves, when he decides, when he chooses, he or she. As someone once stated, it is the present essence of a sure future reality.
17:05
It's as if it is right now, these unseen things. True faith believes in a God it has never seen.
17:12
You understand that? I was talking to a brother this morning just before the service. Everything that we hope for, everything about the
17:20
Christian life that we're looking forward to, we've never seen it. But true faith believes in a
17:25
God it has never seen, yet it is 110 % sure in everything it hears because true faith rests in the character of God.
17:35
We've never seen God. We've never seen Jesus Christ face to face. We've never seen heaven, yet by faith we are so sure of him and of these things that he's told us in the word of God, the promises that he's made, that to us they are a present reality.
17:50
Why? Pastor MacArthur puts it this way, because our faith has a reality, a substance and an assurance that is absolutely unshakable and it's because it rests in God.
18:02
In chapter 11, we see the examples of this type of faith. Each one of these Old Testament saints have the choice to act upon what they could see and touch with their hands or with their eyes or to trust and act upon a
18:17
God who they cannot see, could not see, could not touch or the promises that he gave them that dealt with things that they could not see as yet.
18:25
And some of them never saw them in their lifetime. Yes, this is the hall of faith as it's called because of the faithfulness of God.
18:34
Yes, what he worked in their lives. By faith, these people chose without hesitation to obey
18:40
God. And that is the key outworking or result of believing God, it moves, it acts, it works, it steps forward in willing obedience.
18:53
We also see in this verse in the second part of verse one, not only does it say it's the substance of things hoped for, those things that can't be seen, but it goes a little bit further in the second part, the evidence of things not seen.
19:10
The writer here was using two parallel statements about faith and this second one carries the same meaning, but it goes a little bit further in that implies some type of response from the recipient of this precious gift.
19:25
And isn't it so true that inward faith will inevitably show itself in outward obedience?
19:34
Hebrews 11 shows the power of an unwavering confidence in God in these Old Testament saints lives, even when it was asked of them and today it will be asked of us in our lives, even when what is asked of us seems utterly ridiculous, too demanding, not very practical, doesn't fit the schedule and is outright impossible.
19:57
Faith flies in the face of adversity, doubt, ridicule and common sense.
20:03
It will not quit when obstacles are put in its way. It perseveres because its author and finisher is
20:09
God. True faith looks at opposition or trials as opportunities for God to show himself strong and faithful.
20:16
It will reject the explanations of man, the excuses of men and rest upon the sure foundation of the eternal truth recorded in the word of God.
20:26
By this confidence, by this assurance, the man, woman, the boy or girl will act upon those things they don't fully understand for the plain simple fact that they believe
20:38
God to be true. Like Sarah in verse 11, it says there of her that when she was past age, she conceived receiving strength from the
20:49
Lord for she judged God faithful who had promised. She considered, she esteemed, she counted
20:55
God faithful, never questioning the Lord. We need to get this true faith always rests in the character of God.
21:05
With reliance and trust in God, knowing that he will always remain true and faithful, who will never change his nature, never change his truth, never change his mind, never change his promises, never change what his word says.
21:19
God can and must be believed. And God can and must be believed in order for us to be a people who please him.
21:29
Verse six, and by this type of faith, our souls will not only be saved, this gracious gift from the
21:36
Lord. And I understand there are people here this morning that are not saved and you're here and it was great to hear the singing and that was a wonderful presentation with the music offering from that young man.
21:48
And now we have someone who's getting up there and stammering through a message, trying to pound the pulpit, so to speak.
21:56
Why? It's a different language. Yes, I understand that. It is the
22:01
Bible. It's the word of God and what you need to do. Those of you that are here that this message is not fully intended for because I'm dealing with Christians.
22:11
What you need to do is to look at your life and see, well, I have that faith that Dave was talking about where I've just trusted in things and I have an intellectual ascent, a knowledge of Jesus Christ, but I've never submitted to the
22:23
Lordship of Christ. I've never bowed my knee to him and repented of my sin and turned to Christ.
22:29
Turn to him, look to him and live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and then you will have the spirit of God within, a relationship with God and you'll be able to understand these things as are taught in the word of God.
22:45
We've had a brief overview of faith. We've had a look at the nature of faith briefly there in verse one, but I wanted to spend the majority of the time looking at an example of the life of somebody who had a response of faith.
22:59
Someone who lived out their faith and I wanna look at Noah in verse seven where it says of him, by faith, Noah being warned of God of things not seen.
23:08
These things were not seen as yet. Moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness, which is by faith.
23:22
The account of Noah in verse seven. We will all say that based upon what we know,
23:29
Noah was a man who believed in God. Noah was a man who believed
23:34
God. How did he prove he believed God? He built the ark.
23:40
Why did he build the ark? It was the proper response of faith towards God and towards God's word that had come to him.
23:52
What did Noah see? Did you notice this book is talking about and previously as carried over in chapter 10, just living by faith.
24:02
Talking about faith being the substance of things hoped for. These things we can't see. The evidence of things, the conviction of things, of things not seen.
24:14
Verse seven, Noah being warned of God of things not seen. What did
24:19
Noah see? Nothing. There was no weather storm watch warning that bleeped across the screen.
24:27
There wasn't an accumulation of dark clouds for several years. No, he was warned of God of things not yet seen.
24:34
You read that back in the book of Genesis. This was an act of faith. He walked by faith and not by sight.
24:43
Noah was being asked to do something that no one had ever done before. And as you hear the example of Noah and the great faithfulness of the
24:51
Lord and Noah finding grace in the sight of the Lord, I would trust that it would challenge every believer here this morning, all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ, so that we might, when we leave this place, we can say, yes,
25:05
I got an understanding of a definition of faith and I got the technicalities of it and the overview of it, but I might be able to go out and walk in this truth.
25:14
I might be able to do something, change my life, decide, come to a conviction in my life so that I could live out this faith.
25:24
That's my desire. Noah was asked to do something remarkable.
25:31
Sometimes our Lord asks us to walk where we have never walked before. Sometimes we will be led of the
25:38
Spirit of God to do something that doesn't make sense to us as we see it in our own minds or as we can't see how it's gonna fit into the plan of our lives, or we can't get a vision of how it will all work out in the end.
25:54
And that's just what walking by faith is all about. We can't make sense of it.
26:00
We can't see the end of it, but God can, and we can trust him. You remember the story of the
26:06
Old Testament priests when Joshua was instructed of the Lord to take the people over the river
26:13
Jordan for the first attack upon the city of Jericho. And when they were to go over, they were to go over this river, through this river.
26:23
And the description in the Bible was is that it was overflowing at its banks, Jordan. It wasn't the time to go over.
26:31
And yet Joshua, obeying God, got the people together, got the priests together. The Ark of the
26:36
Covenant is being carried. And they were to go forward and obey God. And it doesn't make sense.
26:42
God's Ark will fall in the water and it will ruin it. I mean, we might drown. Priest over here, he can't swim, never took the lessons.
26:52
He doesn't, he's not gonna make it. We'll be made a laughingstock of the enemies when the Ark is floating down the river, but they obeyed.
27:01
They didn't know what was coming. We know the rest of the story. They can't see that.
27:06
But by faith, Joshua and the priests and the people trusted God. And as soon as the feet of the priest hit the water,
27:14
God moved the waters away from them and made them heap up so that the priests and the children of Israel went over on dry land by faith, being the evidence of things hoped for.
27:29
The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. They did that. We have so many examples in this book like Abraham, leaving his homeland that he could see in his house and his family and relatives and all around in the community he lived in to go someplace that he cannot see.
27:46
And when he goes, he doesn't know where he's going. That's faith. He did it by faith. Another example, Moses to forsake all the material possessions and his high position in the
27:56
Egyptian court and identify himself with a God he cannot see. But it says that he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
28:06
What about examples in our lives? We might be led to do things that are contrary to common sense, to rational thinking, to the thinking of all the pundits around and the counselors and all the worldly wise men.
28:23
It may go against that. We might be asked to leave a job that we have, that's in the pocket that we can see and we know it provides a paycheck and we have that.
28:32
But there's something about that job. Their product is shabby. They're unethical in their practices.
28:39
And we wanna be a Christian who honors the Lord. And by faith, we're going to leave and allow
28:45
God to provide. There may be an opportunity in our lives when we're to receive a gift that's questionable maybe.
28:54
I mean, we have a present need that we have in our life and maybe some money could come our way from unquestionable sources, even though we need it.
29:03
But we won't go there by faith. We might be asked of the Lord to break off a relationship with someone that we now have.
29:12
This person is real. And I can see this person, I can touch this person. But we might be asked to leave that person for someone that we can't see and someone that we don't know and don't know how it's gonna come to pass because this person, if we're a
29:28
Christian, might be an unbeliever. And we need to cut off that relationship. By faith, God will make a way for you and take care of you and certainly will not allow you to fall away or become abandoned without any hope.
29:41
Our gracious Savior reveals his will for us in our lives. And we may be at times led to walk where there is no book written on what we're supposed to do.
29:52
The subjective will of God as far as that job or that person. It doesn't say in Hezekiah chapter 14 that you will marry
30:00
John Doe or Betty Smith. Or your job is going to be at Commerce Insurance in Webster, Mass.
30:07
It doesn't say that in there. There are many principles. There are many things that we need to learn from the scriptures as far as being coming out and being separate from the
30:14
Lord, having no fellowship with the unfruitful darkness and things like that, being pure and keeping ourselves pure before the
30:22
Lord. But sometimes there's no roadmap. Sometimes there are no classes we can take to get there.
30:28
But like Noah and Moses and Abraham and Sarah and the rest, can't you just hear them saying,
30:35
God said it, it is true. God is so faithful. We regard him faithful.
30:42
He has never led us astray. He will not lead us astray ever. He cannot lie.
30:49
And we today like them can say, I know it doesn't make any sense, but I trust in the character of God.
30:56
I believe the word of God to be true. And I will cheerfully obey, walk forward, make the decision, leave, write the check, say goodbye, turn in my notice, take on that needed church ministry, join the church, readjust my budget.
31:15
I will put my faith into obedient, radical action. I will prove that I believe by that action.
31:27
Consider Noah just with me if you would. Here's a man who was challenged like no other man before him in the area of faith and obedience.
31:38
Imagine what you would have done if the Lord had asked you to build a 20 ,000 ton ship in the middle of the wilderness in preparation for an event that had never happened on the face of the earth.
31:51
Yet Noah acted. Noah took the ax and he chopped down the first tree and his faith was stirred into action.
31:58
Each swing of the ax and blow of the hammer was a swing or a blow of faith. He maintained that faith for over a hundred years and this was no small task.
32:07
In Genesis 6, 15, it tells us a description, a blueprint of the ark, 450 feet long, that's almost one and a half football fields, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, that's almost four stories, three decks, total square footage area about 95 ,000 square feet.
32:24
That's about 20 basketball courts to build and to take care of. This was huge.
32:30
No one had ever built anything like this. Noah probably didn't even know anything about ocean vessels or building anything of this size or capacity.
32:38
By faith he began the work. Why? God said so. God said what?
32:44
The flood's coming. And so Noah moved. He would not quit even with all the jeering. No doubt that came his way.
32:51
God said the flood was coming. He believed it so wholeheartedly that he could think of nothing else than to obey.
32:57
He was assured. Faith is the substance of the things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
33:04
He had a conviction. He had a confidence that what God said would come true, will come true. And it was just as if Noah could see the water starting to flow over the earth.
33:14
He moved and he acted and he did every step piece by piece of the ark because he believed that it was gonna come to pass.
33:24
I wonder as a believer today, like in the day of Noah, there was this water judgment that was to flood the earth.
33:33
And Noah had been warned and he acted upon that. And we know that a fiery judgment is coming because of the rainbow.
33:39
God promised that he made a covenant that he would no longer flood the earth. But we know that the Bible speaks of a fiery judgment coming where all the elements of the earth will be melted.
33:49
Jesus Christ will return. Jesus Christ will judge both living and dead. Sword of his wrath is gonna fall on those who have not obeyed the gospel.
33:59
And those who have believed upon him will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged of the things done in our body, whether they be good or bad, worthwhile or worthless.
34:13
Will we remain faithful all the days God's given us to preach the gospel, to persevere in the faith, not ever having seen these things that are going to happen, the melting of the earth.
34:24
But if God said it's going to happen, certainly it's going to happen. We've never seen our blessed savior with these physical eyes, never seen heaven, never seen the transfigured
34:33
Christ and all this splendid glory yet believing in him who we have not seen. You remember the
34:39
Lord said to Thomas in John chapter 20, talked about him, you've seen
34:44
Thomas and you've believed, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. That's us. And we press on, will we press on?
34:53
Walking in the truth, staying in our marriages, being faithful in our church attendance and giving in ministries, being faithful at home and at school and a job and in the community.
35:06
This proper response is done and it will be done. And we need to understand this.
35:12
And I think we do in the face of opposition. We are going to be labeled as mad people, crazy.
35:22
It may mean that we need to walk away from things that we can see, things that make sense, things we think give us security, to obey
35:31
God who we cannot see because we are certain everything that he has promised will come to pass. The things that he's promised of eternal life and judgment, real heaven, glory, eternal bliss, rewards and the pleasure of serving
35:44
Jesus for all eternity. We are certain of these things. We are confident because they're in the word of God and confident so much so that we respond with an appropriate, immediate and continual obedience.
35:57
That's the call for us this morning. Noah had to do the same thing. I'm sure he had to fight his thinking and fight what was going on in his mind.
36:06
Can you imagine what he had to deal with? All his neighbors and the people living around him would come to see this crazy old fool who says that God told him to build this huge water going vessel because of some unseen catastrophic event that was coming.
36:23
And there he is believing God. They'd come by and gawk out of curiosity.
36:29
He became a laughing stock, no doubt, making fun of him. And they would continually tell
36:36
Noah that they didn't believe in God. What's the evidence of that? They didn't get on the ark. They didn't believe that you could, you had to actually obey
36:45
God's word. And they wouldn't believe in a God who would judge the world with a great flood that would cover the very tips of every mountain resulting in the death of every single thing that breathed upon the earth.
36:57
A flood of judgment was preposterous to them. It had never happened before. God wouldn't rise in judgment against them, would he?
37:08
They were quite happy with the way that their world was and their life was and Noah's preaching of righteousness and judgment to come wasn't going to change their minds or alter their sinful pursuits.
37:18
Does this sound familiar? Does it sound like the day in which we live? Those around who will not repent, will not believe the gospel, they too will experience the horror of God's wrath upon them if they do not believe upon the
37:31
Lord Jesus Christ through the saving of their souls. But Noah kept on keeping on because even though he hadn't seen rain, even though he hadn't seen floods,
37:40
God said it would happen. By faith it was as certain right then and there as if Noah could see the mountaintops covered by the water.
37:49
How do we measure up? How do we measure up to this type of example of obedience and willing submission?
37:57
Have we ever done it in our lives? We say we're believers. We say that we have faith. Have we ever had this type of, again, radical obedience?
38:07
Going against the grain, going against the flow of the world, the flow of the course of the world type of faith which obeys, which moves, which works?
38:15
Has the Lord ever asked you maybe to speak to someone about their soul's salvation, not knowing what will come of it, not knowing if you will be turned off or made fun of, but you'll do it by faith?
38:28
What if the Lord asked you to open your home or you are led as you read of hospitality in the scriptures and you say, my home is so small and I don't have much to give to people.
38:38
It just doesn't make sense. I don't see how I can afford to do this. By faith, you can do it.
38:46
If you desire to obey the word of God, God will provide. Or when you come to the time of maybe, here's a real practical one, and I'm just doing this in the light of preparing us for what's coming down the road in the church, something that we're praying about and thinking about.
39:01
When it comes time in your week or your month to pay the bills, will you first write the check to the
39:09
Lord's work, giving him the first fruits and then pay the rest of the bills instead of the other way around?
39:17
Because what happens many times is there's all the bills, we got to pay them all and whatever's left over, and sometimes it's very shabby, goes to the
39:26
Lord's work. I ask the question, how do you think the mortgage gets paid here at the
39:37
BBC? And I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just trying to teach the principle and a measure of giving.
39:44
How is the mortgage paid? How are the doors kept open? How is the air conditioner or the heat bill paid, the light bill?
39:55
How did the chairs that you sit in get paid for, purchased, invoiced, and taken care of? The hymnal that you're holding, how did that come about?
40:04
The construction that was needed for the church swap of the building, it's done by the cheerful giving of those who understand that it is a
40:13
New Testament biblical pattern of obedience to be a committed supporter to the work of the gospel ministry.
40:21
And sometimes we have to do that by faith. Certainly when we think of a new building, how much is it going to cost?
40:31
It could end up being, it is going to end up being well, more than what this building is worth.
40:39
Over a million, over maybe $2 million to do that. Anybody got that balance in your checkbook?
40:46
Wanna write the check today? You can just stick it over in the office. No, we don't know of it, but our
40:52
God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And I always say after that, the hills underneath the cattle also.
40:58
And when it comes to the support of gospel ministry, it is going to take the effort of all and sometimes by faith.
41:07
Sometimes it's going to be common sense for us. We're just going to need to, as our brother said, when he gave, when
41:14
Ron got up and made the announcements, sometimes, or no, it was brother John, when it came to the camp.
41:20
Sometimes we're going to have to just readjust things. We're going to have to take things that really aren't important and say,
41:25
I don't need to be paying on this. And I need to give to the Lord because I wasn't,
41:31
I was thinking I wasn't going to do this, but I think it fits in well. This is a fictitious story, but it's about a family who went to church and after church, they're sitting around eating dinner and the parents are complaining about the church, complaining about the pastor, you know, roast pastor at the meal.
41:50
They're complaining about the singing and they complaining about the building. And the little boy said, three -year -old boy says, but daddy, it came to pass what you always say.
42:02
You always say that it's the effort that you put into something or what you pay for something. You're always going to get what you paid for.
42:09
And I saw that we as a family put a dollar in the plate and I guess daddy, we got what we paid for. And some of us, without giving any thought, there was a hymnal that you've used and it costs $14 maybe,
42:22
I don't know how much they cost, but your efforts and your giving, it might take two months to pay for that.
42:29
$5 a week, a dollar here. And I am glad that I can say these things because the scriptures talk about giving.
42:37
This is not me, this is not driving home a point here. Go to 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and read what the
42:42
Bible says. What kind of a giver does God love? A cheerful giver, one who's committed and devoted to him.
42:48
And when God has the strings of your heart, he will have your purse strings also. You will be just one who will not want to miss the blessing to see the
42:57
Lord glorified in the furtherance of the gospel ministry, but it's going to take maybe for some of you and certainly for us as a church to get from here to another building faith.
43:08
But we can be confident that God will provide and God will make a way. Don't give by sight, give by faith.
43:15
And I'm not saying to be foolish or put yourself at risk of foreclosure in your house or having your lights turned out.
43:20
There is a fine line between faith and foolishness, but it could possibly be, as you examine how you spend your money, that you by faith will say,
43:29
I will honor the Lord first and give him of the first fruits. And I'm going to write that check to BBC, to the glory of God.
43:37
And I'm going to be careful and I'm going to look at my bills, but I'm going to watch things. I'm going to cut out this thing over here, that thing.
43:42
And I'm going to write the rest of my bills. And you will see as you use wisdom and as you use prudence and as you study these principles in the
43:51
Bible, God will take care of your need, provide all that you need. Well, God will lead us to do at times things that seem impossible, but faith jumps up with excitement and says, yes.
44:02
It's, and it gets going. It moves and it works. I'll give you an example just so that, that you can see that I'm not preaching or asking you to do something.
44:14
And the elders, the leaders of the church would not preach or do something, ask you to do something that we would not do ourselves. I remember it was 1990 and I was living in Grafton, Massachusetts.
44:24
I was financially set. I had one of the best jobs that I had ever had. Our house was pretty much recently renovated.
44:31
It was in pretty good shape. We were settled, but there was an issue. There was no church that we could find in the area that we felt like we could plug into and serve.
44:43
And that was an issue for us, for Deb and I. We needed to find a place to go to. We had lived in Texas before.
44:49
I was in communication with the pastor down there. They had, there was things going on that might be a need there and was led of the
44:57
Lord to go there. We were at least moving for a church, four children, one dog, many things in the house, a
45:07
U -Haul, 2 ,200 miles. And when I got there, no job and no house to live in, just a promise that someone would let us stay in their home for a little while.
45:17
Two weeks before I went, I got a call on the phone about an application for a job I had put in, a job offer for $20 ,000 more a year than what
45:26
I was getting at that time. Boy, you talk about security. You talk about something I can see right before me.
45:31
And then one week before we were to move, I got a call from somebody about a proposition of a guy maybe starting a church locally who was kind of like in the lines of what we were believing and what we would practice in a church.
45:45
But we believed that Texas was the right place for us. And again, my circumstances, different than your circumstances, and by faith, uprooted and went 2 ,200 miles.
45:55
And within two months, there was a job. And within so much period of time, there was an apartment for us to live and a place for us to stay.
46:03
And God took care of our needs because God can be trusted, folks. God can be counted on.
46:10
You can count him faithful in all that he has said. To everyone that looked at Noah, he was a fool.
46:17
And probably for people who look at you and me and the decisions that we make because we believe in a
46:22
God who we cannot see and do things based upon things that we know that are coming in the future that are obtainable by faith.
46:28
We're seeing them as if they really were a present reality. We seem so foolish. But Noah didn't need any proof to walk by faith and demonstrate that faith with his grab the tools boys type of attitude that he had.
46:42
After receiving the simple command from God, Noah did not procrastinate. He did not argue with God.
46:48
He did not complain to God. He didn't give excuses for why he couldn't do it. He did not question the
46:54
Lord. He simply obeyed. I wonder after 80 or 90 years, his mind might have begun to wonder.
47:04
Can you imagine the words going on in his head? I live in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
47:11
There's no ocean anywhere around here for miles and miles. But then he does what every believer must do.
47:16
He recalls God's word. Being warned of God of things not seen as yet, and he stays the course.
47:26
Noah remained faithful and he continues to obey. He is persistent and responded in obedience to what
47:32
God asked him to do. And he kept going forward. How long have you been asked of the
47:38
Lord to remain faithful and to stay the course? Has it been 30, 50, 80, a hundred years like Noah?
47:47
And yet we know he's a man of God, a believer, one who exercised faith in the Lord. But here's the difference.
47:54
His faith did not question God. His faith did not question the character of God.
48:00
His faith never questioned the word of God, the command of God that came his way. He simply obeyed.
48:06
This week as I was preparing this message, it reminded me of a couple of children's songs that we used to sing.
48:12
And one of them went like this. You might know this one. Faith is just believing what
48:18
God says he will do. He will never fail us. His promises are true.
48:25
Hold on to that one. Secondly, how about this one? Kind of goes along more with verse seven.
48:31
Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe. Doing exactly what the
48:37
Lord commands and doing it cheerfully. Action is the key, do it immediately and joy you will receive.
48:44
For if we believe the word we receive, we always will obey.
48:50
You say we have faith, that faith will be put into action. Noah's actions are a record of an amazing display of faith.
49:00
A man though, who lived just like us, lived in a body with its pains, just like we do, sleeping, eating, getting tired.
49:09
He had issues to deal with. He had many things that could occupy his time. And yet by faith, he put his will aside.
49:17
He put aside what he could see and set his heart upon those things which he could not see to complete the work that God gave him to do.
49:25
And brothers and sisters in Christ, you have a calling. You have a work for you to do.
49:31
MacArthur, I believe in his commentary said, he said, we all have an arc to build and judgment is coming.
49:39
There's a work for us to be busy in as far as laboring for Christ and laboring here in a local
49:44
New Testament church. And are we going to roll up our sleeves by faith and go contrary to every voice that we're hearing around us.
49:52
And even when from within, when it says it doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense to do it because we count
49:58
God faithful. We believe God's word. What he says will always come true.
50:07
Noah listened to God's word and spent his life obeying what God said. He disciplined himself and ordered his life to willingly come in line with the precepts of God.
50:16
And this ought to be true in every area of the life of every believer, no matter what the opposition or what unreasonableness comes against us or accusation of unreasonableness comes to us.
50:30
In verse seven, it says, Noah performed his life's work by faith, a work of faith.
50:36
By faith, it means this, when he did this by faith, it means because of his faith, as a result of his faith.
50:46
James 2, faith without works is dead. It must act, it must move. His faith was not without works.
50:53
Noah's wasn't and ours shouldn't be either. Therefore, his faith and our faith should be alive and real and fruitful and genuine.
51:01
Sure, it's hard work. Sure, it's sacrifice. It meant that Noah remained committed though, but what else could faith produce?
51:10
How else can faith respond? True faith must respond with this movement, this action, this radical action.
51:18
Yes, it's a gift from God, faith is. And anyone who claims to have it puts their faith to work.
51:24
And I want to encourage you as you go out of these doors this morning, brethren. There's some here
51:30
I said that need to believe first and foremost. I'm not asking you to work and do something to earn your salvation because it's not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to God's mercy, he saves us because of the cross of Christ, his death, his burial and his resurrection.
51:45
And looking to him, dying for your sins upon the cross, calling upon him, he will save you. But once saved, there's a faith that does save.
51:54
And it is that faith alone that does save. But that faith that saves is never alone in the life of a believer.
52:01
It's inevitable that it'll come out. And sometimes it will come out in these actions that go against all human reasoning.
52:09
Trusting in the Lord, looking forward to these things that we cannot see, and yet believing them as if they are a present reality right before us.
52:20
Our faith at times seems to be dwarfed by these examples, but don't be discouraged.
52:26
Let these examples like know us, and more importantly, realizing that yes,
52:32
Noah is faithful, but God is the object of our faith and it's the
52:38
Lord that we should be looking to. We can look to him like they did and count him faithful and believe
52:44
God, not just believe in God, but believe God that what he says he will do.
52:50
And let these examples spur us on as God was Noah's strength and helper, he, brethren, will be our helper too.
52:58
Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we would come before you and confess.
53:14
Sometimes as we hear things like this, these examples of people who did these remarkable things, and yet we understand that they were sinners too, saved by the grace of God.
53:27
We understand that they had their sin and iniquity that they had to deal with before you.
53:36
And you were their redeemer, you were their savior and you are ours.
53:43
And we know that we're frail creatures of dust and we have no ability to do anything in and of ourselves.
53:50
Even the faith and the repentance that you've given us has been a gift from you and we're grateful for that, but we don't wanna just stay there.
53:59
We would desire to be a people who bring glory and honor to our blessed
54:04
Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, by looking at our lives and saying that we would desire by the grace of God to prove that we have the genuine faith of scriptures by a reckless abandonment, as it were, to the will of God, yet grounded upon the character and the word and the promise of the true and living
54:26
God. Help us to make right decisions, to change our behavior, to do that which is right in your sight, to be so pleasing to you and have it all be not of works, not with an effort of we're trying to be pleasing by the very thing that we're doing, but by believing you and trusting in you and looking to you, believing our
54:51
God so that we're pleasing in your sight and you're pleased with all the things that we act out in these actions, these radical things that we will do, as controlled by the
55:05
Holy Spirit, as bound by the scripture, as framed by good counsel with other godly people, help us to be fools for Christ and not a fool for this world.