Living by Faith, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Today is the first message in a sub-series called Living by Faith. The word faith is thrown around in both religious and secular circles.

You might hear it on a Disney movie, at a football game, or at a healing service. The word faith can be ambiguous and confusing today. What does the Bible mean when it calls us to live by faith? In today's message, Pastor Rich teaches from Hebrews 11, 1-6, explaining the difference between biblical faith and hoping blindly on a whim. He also explains that the objective of faith is not to feel better and shares the real reason for walking by faith.

Let's listen in. This is the third part of a study from Hebrews 11, 1-6. It was first preached on October 28, 2012. You see, there's a warning here for those of us who have grown up Christian. Or there is a warning here for somebody who went through some kind of an experience and they're counting on the fact that they made a decision and they're counting on that to be okay with God. What Ravi Zacharias says here, and this is the whole point, this gets into it as an introduction to chapter 11, and those who lived by faith.

Ravi Zacharias' faith is confidence in the person of Jesus Christ and in His power, so that even when His power does not serve my end, right? Because I'm only an extra in two-fifths of a second in the movie. So when His power does not serve my end, my confidence in Him remains because of who He is. Why? Because the movie is about Him.

He's the star. It's His story, not yours. And therefore I trust Him.

What is the behavior then? The writer of Hebrews gives us a glimpse at the behavior of faith, the behavior of trust. First of all, trusting God looks like, it's verse 32 to 34 in the text, what he says. First of all, you endured a great struggle with sufferings, a spectacle by reproaches. That word spectacle, it means it's like you were up on stage, they paraded you in front of all other people and mocked you and made fun of you up there because of your faith in Christ.

So again, he is writing generally to an audience of Christian people, but he recognizes that within that group of Christian people, there are those who are still just associated with Christianity and they're thinking about going back to trusting their good works. You became companions of those who are so treated. You identified with them, you invested yourself with those who were derided by the haters. For example, some Germans during World War II who invested themselves, who risked themselves to rescue some of the Jews who were being severely persecuted by the Nazis. There's verse 34, it says, you joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods.

Now that's where it starts to stepping on our toes, doesn't it? Because we as Russianers were so about all the things that we have. You joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods. What does faith look like? When I am truly trusting, when I have truly entrusted myself to my rescuer, my sovereign, my creator, my rescuer, when I have entrusted myself to him, I will joyfully accept the plundering of my goods. Why? Because all I have is two-fifths of a second.

The story isn't about me. My perspective is, my understanding is, trusting the one who made me and rescued me, that it's all perishable and temporary. And the best things will last.

They can't be taken away from me. Now let's take that to the opposite side then. If that's what trusting God looks like in verses 32, 33, and 34, then what would it look like if I were a person who was wanting to step back on the dock and I'm just going to trust myself? I'm going to be trusting my own goodness. And maybe if I engage in this personal assessment, I'm looking at, okay, do I have both feet in the boat? If you don't have both feet in the boat, in the boat, that wasn't a Freudian slip by the way, just because November 6th is coming up. If you don't have both feet in the boat, maybe something like this is happening in your life. When persecution comes, when faith, the life of faith gets hard, trusting God is a hard thing.

You're doing it in the flesh. You're just simply trying harder to be better instead of your fruit being an outflow of your faith and your trust in God and your walk with God. And when things get hard, you start to question God.

And when things get hard, you start getting frustrated. Does God really know what He's doing? God, are you really good?

God, are you really there? And if you've been trusting your own goodness instead of God being the object of your faith, you will end up doing what the writer of Hebrews says. You're going to draw back. You're going to draw back. You had one foot in the boat and now you're going like this.

I'm not sure if that's a good idea. You're drawing back because you're not sure you trust God. You see, either you trust or you don't. And the word trust, faith, pistis means to entrust yourself.

That is how it's often translated in the scriptures. Or instead of becoming a companion of those who are ill treated, you become preoccupied. If you're trusting yourself, you become preoccupied with perception. How other people view your goodness instead of being preoccupied with real actual sacrifice and commitment.

Bruce Little touched on that several weeks ago when he was here. This is one way that we love the world. We love to be perceived as good and doing good instead of actually engaging in commitment and sacrifice. Sacrifice and commitment are so diametrically opposed to everything that our culture is teaching us today. I will commit myself to something as long as something more desirable doesn't come along. And if I'm just trusting my goodness, my own goodness, then I will commit to that as long as following God doesn't become hard. But when it becomes hard, I'm going to draw back and I'm going to question God if He really knows what He's doing or if He's even really there. You know, in verse 34, it says, you joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods. If I am trusting myself and my whole faith system has been built on trusting the good things that I do, that I've been living the Christian life and doing everything that a Christian is supposed to do.

What's that going to look like when it comes to the plundering of my goods? It's going to reveal to me that I care more about my own pampering than I do about God's purpose. We see that story in the prodigal son. Remember the story of the prodigal son in Luke, in Luke's gospel? The son came back. He realized that being away from the father was the worst decision he could have ever made.

And here he was destitute. He says, I just need to get back to the father. And so he goes back to the father with a humble heart. And the older brother comes.

And what is his attitude? Why are you accepting? Why are you throwing a party for him? Listen, dad, I've been serving you faithfully all these years. And you never threw a party for me.

What is that? He was trusting his own goodness, wasn't he? Christians, listen. If you call yourself Christian, does that attitude reflect yours? If things get hard in your life, do you start challenging God and saying, God, you owe me because I've been good?

Is that where you are? Then you have the wrong object of faith. And I'm pleading with you this morning, put both feet in the boat and get off the dock. Because your goodness will not reconcile you to God. Jesus said it very, very plainly in Matthew chapter 7. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name? And the Lord says, then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Isn't that a sobering verse? Doing good things for God is not the same thing as trusting Him. Are you trusting the good things you have done? Or are you trusting God? Because to trust Him is to know Him. Does God know you?

Or does He see you as somebody walking the dock? The warning is very bold and very clear this morning. It leads us finally in this text to the bond in verses 35 to 39. He says in this, the just shall live by faith.

And he's quoting Habakkuk chapter 2. The just shall live by faith. It simply means this, your life is anchored in the greatest and most important reality and that is the person of God. My life is anchored in Him.

The greatest and most important reality. He is the sovereign God. He is the trustworthy one. And if the person who draws back, the person who has one foot in the boat, well, wait a minute, I'm going to try this Jesus thing, but if it gets hard and stormy, I'm going to get back on the dock.

I'm just going to trust all the good things I do. That's the person who draws back. The person who draws back, the Lord says, my soul has no pleasure in Him. That word pleasure in Him, it's the same word that is used, the same root word that is used when the Lord looked at His son.

He says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen, if you trust Jesus Christ and He is the object of your faith, God says that about you. So if you are one who draws back and you are just simply trusting all the good things you've done, let it be known to you this morning that God says, my soul has no pleasure in Him. God is not well pleased with you if you are simply trusting all the good things you've done as a Christian.

It doesn't work. To draw back to perdition, as the text says, means you're not in the boat. You are still on the island of doom that is headed for a fiery destruction. The volcano is about to erupt and that volcano represents the necessary and just wrath of God. And if you're trusting your goodness, you will be destroyed on the island of doom. To draw back means that God has no pleasure in you.

And that simply means there is no relationship with God in existence. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our Web site, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.