R324 Stepping Out In Faith

Stepping out in faith, that's today's topic as we open God's Word together with Dr. Don Turn with me and with each one of us to the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament, Nehemiah chapter 2.

Nehemiah chapter 2. The Bible tells us that we walk by faith and not by sight. Now I'm going to make a confession to you this morning that from time to time I'm willing to do. Probably one of my weaknesses, in fact I know it's one of my weaknesses, is that I always feel as though I have to know what is on down the road before I get there. It just makes me feel a whole lot better and yet the Bible says that I am to walk by faith and not by sight. And that word walk in the New Testament literally means that as you are walking, as you go as a Christian person, you are to continually exercise the faith into which you have entered into a relationship with. The Bible puts it like this elsewhere, without faith it is impossible to please God.

Now what does that mean? What it means is that without faith you cannot please God. The whole essence of our salvation and the expression of our salvation is tied up theologically and spiritually into faith.

In fact the Bible says that you cannot begin the Christian life without the exercise of faith. The just shall live by what? By faith. Now what, who are the just? Those who have been declared just. None of us can be declared to be just in the presence of a holy God.

How could that be possible? Because all of us are sinners. But the Bible says because of the exercise of our faith, we can come into a just relationship with God, thereby we can be reconciled to God who is holy. Now the Bible puts it like this elsewhere, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9, the Bible says that you cannot step out in faith until you have stepped into faith.

Now what does Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 teach us? For by grace are you saved, there's the beginning point of our Christian lives, for by grace are you saved through faith. It is not of yourself, it is the gift of God, faith is a gift from God, not of works lest anyone should boast about it. We walk by faith and not by sight. Well one of the most difficult things to do as a Christian is to walk by faith. Because we have so many human things that hold us back and impede our faith walk, things that get in our way, that block our vision, that impede our progress. Nehemiah was a man who had to exercise faith in a very remarkable way and I want us to consider in Nehemiah chapter 2 this morning, stepping out in faith.

That's our subject. You see my friends, Nehemiah had to step out in faith, there was no doubt about it. Just consider the facts for a few moments. Here he was, the Bible says in chapter 1 in the last verse, he was cup bearer to King Artaxerxes. His people he discovered, having returned from the exile, were now living in Jerusalem and the walls were broken down. The place was in disarray. The people were in disgrace. There was a shambles around Nehemiah's people and the Bible says that God came to Nehemiah and gave to him a specific assignment.

That if you and I were to weigh up all the odds and the options it was absolutely impossible. How could Nehemiah do anything about it? After all he was just the servant to the king and he was servant to a king who himself was responsible for the condition of the Jews in Jerusalem. He was actually working for the very person who was responsible for keeping the Jews and the people of Judah suppressed in the manner in which they found themselves. He was responsible in part for the broken walls of Jerusalem and yet he began to step out in faith. I want us to read together chapter 2 and the first 8 verses. Here it is, in the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king.

Now let me just pause here for a moment. Let's not forget this man was cupbearer to the king and what was his function? His function was to bring food and drink to the king and he would always eat or drink first. So that if someone had tried to assassinate the king, if the king saw the cupbearer keel over and die, he said well tough on him let's get another cupbearer but I'm not going to drink whatever it is he drank. He played interference as it were.

He put the block tackles on all the others. He tried to prevent people from scoring touchdowns in the life of King Artaxerxes but something significant happened here. Look at it in verse 1, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before. So the king asked me, why does your face look so sad when you are not ill?

This can be nothing but sadness of heart. I was very much afraid but I said to the king, may the king live forever. Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? The king said to me, what is it you want Nehemiah? Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king, if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favour in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.

Then the king with the queen sitting beside him asked me, how long will your journey take and when will you get back? It pleased the king to send me so I set a time. I also said to him, if it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans Euphrates so that they will provide me safe conduct until I arrive in Judah. And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy. And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.

May the Lord write his word upon our hearts this morning. It seems to me significant that Nehemiah was about to embark on an extraordinary step of faith. Everything about him was impossible and yet he began a journey, my friends, that resulted, if we could get to the final page of the book, it resulted in the most unbelievable outpouring of the presence of God that anybody could have ever observed. I want us to contemplate for just a moment some of the steps that Nehemiah took as he began to step out in faith. Number one, number one, step number one, he understood the big picture. He understood the big picture.

You see, my friends, right here at the beginning of Nehemiah's journey, even though he hadn't even been to Jerusalem, even though he hadn't seen the broken walls, all he had done, according to verse chapter one and verse three, was that he had been told by his brother and by some others about the condition and the disgrace of the Israelites, this man began an extraordinary step out into faith based upon the fact that he understood the big picture. He understood who God was. He understood, my friends, that God never operates in isolation. He understood that God is the God of ages. He understood that God is so mighty that he can rule this mighty universe and yet he is so small that he can live within our hearts. He understood that God is creator. He understood that God is covenant maker. He understood that God is character builder. He understood that God is caretaker of everything that you and I possess. And this man understood the big picture before he even began his journey.

What a mark of a spiritual man. You see, friends, so many of us in our human limitations are limited by our human understanding. We are not prepared to understand the big picture as far as God is concerned. We are not willing to accept the fact that all things work together for the good of those that love God and to those who are the called according to his purpose. We are so impacted by the here and now.

We are so impacted by what went on in the past that we are not willing to even contemplate the future. And yet it was this God who said, it doesn't matter if you've been to the farthest ends of the earth. If you are willing to repent, I will call you back and I will take you to the place that I have chosen as a dwelling place for my name. Nehemiah understood the big picture. He understood the big picture, but I want you to note in the second place, he realised that he had no choice. Nehemiah realised that he had no choice. If you go back to chapter 1 and verse 11 at the conclusion of his prayer, Nehemiah says, O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favour in the presence of this man. Nehemiah, my friends, as he began to step out in faith, realised that he actually had no choice. Let me ask you a question. Is God positive or is God negative?

He's positive. Does God at any time wish ill and the worst upon his people? Does God at any time say, you know what I think I'm going to do? I'm just going to zap them. I'm going to make life miserable for them all the time.

I'm just going to make it rotten. I'm going to do everything I possibly can to trip them up. Does the God of the Bible say, listen, I'm going to give you an assignment to do and I'm just going to keep tripping you up and I'm going to keep making you miserable.

And I'm going to just pour out all kinds of stuff all over you. Friends, listen, not the Bible. The Bible says that as far as God is concerned, he wants to give us the very desires of our hearts. God wants to give us the very best.

And Nehemiah, as he stepped out in faith, realised that he had no choice. God had spoken. People ask me from time to time, pastor, would you like to do anything else other than preach and be a pastor of a congregation?

Folks, listen, I've got to be honest with you. I've thought about a couple of other things. I mean, one of the things that I would love to do, I'd love to be a professional golfer. I really would because it would suit my personality. I can just see myself. I tell you, I could impress, I'd put Larry Myers and the boys in the shade.

I'm telling you, I've seen myself just going to all these fabulous golf resorts and playing and I can even see my children running on to the 18th green to congratulate me as I sink that puddle. But you know something? I've got no choice, folks. And that no choice that I've got is not a negative thing, it's a positive thing.

I want you to know that if you came to me this morning, now some of you are going to be coming to me this morning, now some of you might want to take me up on this. If you came to me this morning and said to me, pastor, I'm going to give you a million dollars, I'm going to give each of your children a million dollars, I'm just going to give you everything that you ever want, as much as I would want to accept your kind offer, my friends, I would have to turn you down if you told me the condition was that I had to stop preaching and teaching the Word of God. You see, I've got no choice.

It's not a matter of sitting down there and deciding whether I'm going to get my ducks in a row. It's not a matter with God that you and I sit down and say, well, I can do this or I can do that. I'm going to say to you again, my friend, as I've said to many people in the ministry, if you're not willing to accept God's assignment, why don't you go back and become president of the United States of America if that's all you can do?

You see, Nehemiah realized he had no choice. God had spoken. He understood the big picture and he realized he had no choice, but note in the third place, his third step was that he operated in a spirit of prayer. I wonder if we've mentioned prayer in our congregation before, but it seems to me, my friends, that as obvious as that is, every page that we turn in God's book, we're going to find ourselves in prayer. We turn in God's book, we're going to find ourselves going back to the seat and to the root of prayer.

It seems to me rather significant that in verse four, when the king said to Nehemiah, what is it you want? That the first thing he did was that I prayed to the God of heaven. This man believed in the power of prayer. We can take all the kinds of ramifications. We can put all kinds of discipline on our children.

We can make all kinds of decisions. We can give them the best education in the world, but rearing children in today's world is an enormous step of faith. Nehemiah was a man who not only understood the big picture and realized that he had no choice, but he operated in a spirit of prayer. But I want you to note in the fourth place that as he stepped out in faith, he knew that he had to trust God. Look at verse eight, because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my request. This man knew that he had to trust God. Now that word, the gracious hand of God has extraordinary significance. It reminds me of children.

You know, if you want to see trust at its very best, take your little boy or your little girl to a swimming pool somewhere. You know, I just love that. I used to love playing the people in the bus, go up and down, up and down.

That's my favorite, all time favorite. People in the bus go up and down all around the town, town, town. Listen to what you do with your children. Get them to stand on a diving board and then get down there into that swimming pool and stand down at the bottom. And there's your little child, your son or daughter and say, okay, jump. Jump, you know what they do? They jump. They just jump.

I mean, they get on the edge, they go. I mean, down there, can you just imagine a mom or a dad as that little two year old or one year old or three year old jumps? Can you see a dad just saying, all right, buddy, let's see what you made of, man.

Swim, what dad or mom would do that? Do you know what we do as dads and moms? We stand down there and when that little thing comes through the air, we just grab them and embrace them with the confidence and the certainty with which we love them. And the word trust, my friends, related to faith means that God invites us to stand on the precipice of life and launch ourselves into His gracious arms. And He says, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.

Nehemiah understood and he knew that he had to trust God. Please forgive the interruption. This powerful message stepping out in faith will bring to you in its entirety in just a moment.

But Dr. Wilton wants me to remind you two things. One, we're available to pray with you right now at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. We're also available to be a part of your life through the Daily Encouraging Word.

Here's Liz with all the details. The Daily Encouraging Word is a daily devotional made available in a quarterly booklet or delivered each morning in your email inbox. If you would like to request this free devotional, please call 866-899-WORD or visit our website at theencouragingword.org. We are confident that it will be a blessing to you. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener supported ministry.

Thank you for listening today. Now let's dive back into stepping out in faith. Today's message from Nehemiah chapter two with Dr. Don Wilton. The word trust is giving yourself complete. God says, I am God. I am Jehovah God. I will never leave you nor forsake you. And when you step out in faith, there must be a complete trust in who I am. And I'll always be there. I'll always be there. You see, if it's without faith that we cannot please God, it means, my friends, that until as born again believers, we are willing to jump off the cliffs of life in obedience to God's commandments.

We're never going to please Him. When last have you jumped into God's arms, not knowing where you're going or what you're doing or how you're doing it or when you're going to do it, you just simply are saying, Lord Jesus, I know that you've spoken and I'm going to surrender my life to you. What were the steps in Nehemiah stepping out in faith? He understood the big picture. He realized that he had no choice. He operated in a spirit of prayer. He knew that he had to trust God.

But I want you to note step number five. He agreed to let his God down, G-U-A-R-D. He agreed to let his God down.

Just look back there at verse one again. Bible says in the month of Nissen, the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, I took the wine and I gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before. Do you know why he had never been sad in the presence of the king? Because he wasn't allowed to be sad.

Do you know what historians tell us? If ever the cup bearer looked sad, I mean even looked sad, if the cup bearer had a fat bottom lip when he came in to serve the king off with his head, the king wouldn't tolerate it. The cup bearer always had to be up. And you know, in order for Nehemiah to step out in faith, what did he have to do? He had to paint outside the lines of his expectations. He had to paint outside the lines of societal perception.

He had to paint outside the lines of his accepted responsibility and he had to take a step of faith by letting his God down. What an incredible thought. You see friends, all of us have got inhibitions. We are bound by our own human limitations. We are surrounded by our fear.

All of us have problems being able to cope with doing anything that would in any way seek to violate the boundaries of our existence. We never want to operate unless we're absolutely certain that we've got everything in line and yet this man agreed to let his God down. You see, he became the scoff and the scorn of those around him. We're going to read about it.

We're going to read about it, Sanballat and Tobiah and on and on the list went. Oh, they came after him because he let his God down. He even had to stand in line with King Artaxerxes 20 years upon the throne with his queen sitting beside him who could have ordered him executed just at the click of a finger and yet God had spoken to this man and he was willing to take a stand no matter what the cost and no matter what the consequences. I know God said we must go. He said it to Abraham in Genesis 12. He said, get up and go. Leave your father and your mother and your country and those familiar surroundings.

Just leave them, drop them and go. And in verse four, the Bible says, so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. What he said to Abram was simply this, Abram, I want you to let your God down. I want you to understand the big picture. I want you to trust in me. I want you to be willing to paint outside the lines. I want you to launch yourself off the precipice of life and I want you to find my outstretched gracious hands waiting to embrace you because without faith, it is impossible to please God.

It is impossible. This man was stepping out in faith. I want you to note in the sixth place, the sixth step that he took, he willingly buried the hatchet.

He willingly buried the hatchet. Now there's something interesting about Artaxerxes. He ruled, this was in the 20th year of his reign. Do you know that Artaxerxes was the man who had the power to set the people free? We know that because once Nehemiah got through to him by God's grace, he was the man who gave permission to Nehemiah to go and do what he did. Artaxerxes was the man who had the keys to the freedom of Jerusalem in his hands. Don't you think it's rather ironic that Nehemiah the cupbearer to the king was serving the very man who was oppressing his own people?

What a strange kind of relationship. Wasn't it ironic that Artaxerxes, a servant in the court, that Nehemiah's servant in the court of Artaxerxes had to go before the king who could not only have executed him but could have wreaked havoc among the Jewish people because of the audacity of this Jew who would seek to go and do the very thing that would destroy so-called the kingdom of Artaxerxes and yet he did it. Do you know what he was willing to do as he stepped out in faith? He was willing to bury the hatchet.

Beloved friends, watch me. You and I will never step out in faith if we're not willing to bury the hatchet. You will never step into the future of God's grace, dragging past resentments behind you. You will never see God pour out his spirit upon a church if your major preoccupation is with the past. You will never see God do anything in your own life if your concern is all the comfort zones of your past life.

You've got to be prepared to lay them aside. You've got to be prepared to bury the hatchet and turn and face God and his grace and launch yourself off, stepping out in faith, trusting in God, implicitly and explicitly through his word. He understood the big picture. He realized he had no choice. He operated in a spirit of prayer. He knew that he had to trust God. He agreed to let his God down. He willingly buried the hatchet, but note in the seventh place, he demonstrated tact and wisdom.

This is a tough one here for us humans to understand, isn't it? If you go right throughout here through this passage in chapter two, you're going to notice that the manner with which Nehemiah spoke to the king was a manner that was ordained with the grace, the tact, and the wisdom of God. But I want you to note in the eighth place that he accepted responsibility for his actions. But there's a final step that I want to close with this morning.

He expected a positive response. God says, step out on faith and see what I'll do for you. If God has spoken to you today, and it's time to take that step of faith know this, God promised never to leave you or forsake you. You are not making this step of faith alone. He is with you and we'd love to be alongside you as well. Connecting at TEWonline.org or 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. And before we get away, closing thoughts from Dr. Don Wilton. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today, I repent of my sin and by faith, I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name. My friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. Welcome to the family of God. I know some of you have prayed along with the pastor to rededicate your life or give your life to Jesus. And we want you to have the free resources that Dr. Don wants you to have by calling 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or meet us online at TEWonline.org. That's T-E-W online dot O-R-G.