Hope Church LV Sermons
Not By Sight :: The Journey of Faith
I want you to imagine something with me this morning. I want you to imagine that today I ask you to come up on the stage in front of everyone. And I invite you up here, and I hand you a microphone, and we do an interview. But the interview only consists of one question. If I brought you up here this morning and ask you to describe for us your faith where you are on this faith journey, what would you say? And we're not looking this morning for deep theological or super spiritual answers. But if you just really had to summarize in a statement, your faith, where you are on your faith journey, what would you say? For some of us in the room, we would say that we are growing in our faith. For others of us, we would say we are mature in our faith. Some may say, well, Travis, I'm young in my faith, or I'm still trying to understand what faith is, or some may even say, Travis, honestly, I'm questioning my faith. How would you answer that question? You see, the Bible teaches us that as believers, we walk by faith, not by sight. So the way that you and I articulate our faith and where we are on this faith journey is a great indicator into the condition of our relationship with God. And as a church family, we're talking right now about faith. For a month now, we've been wading through a section of Scripture in Hebrews, chapter 11, in a series called Not By Sight, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Faith. And over the past four weeks, we've talked about a lot of different things, but one of the things we've talked about is what it means to live by faith. That's something that we throw around a lot of phrase that we'll say, but what does that actually mean? What does it mean to live by faith? Well, we've been talking about a statement that I want to put up on the screen. And this morning, I want us to read it out loud together just to get everyone processing this truth. I want you to read it this morning like you have had an extra hour's sleep last night. So what does it mean to live by faith? Let's read this together on three, one, two, three, to live life, not trusting in myself, but resting moment by moment in his very life in me. Everyone benefited from an extra hours of sleep. That's awesome. That's what we've said it means to live by faith. We have said that faith is resting our whole weight on God, our hope, our trust, our future, our desires, resting our whole weight on God. And this weekend, we're going to continue the conversation. So if you take your Bible and turn with me to the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 11, in just a moment, I'm going to begin reading in verse eight. In part one of this series, we really talked about some dimensions of faith. We really laid down some foundational principles for you and I to understand what faith is. And after that, we began to look at some examples, some people from the Old Testament, people of the faith who walked with God. One week we looked at Abel, who was a man of faith. The next week we looked at Enoch, who was a man who walked with God by faith. Last weekend we looked at the example of Noah, who was a man who had faith even in a fallen world. And this weekend we come to another example, but this weekend we're going to look at the faith of a couple, Abraham and Sarah. Now even if you're not familiar with a lot of the Bible, most of us have heard of Abraham. He is one of the most prominent figures in the Old Testament and he was a man who lived by faith. And his wife Sarah was a woman who lived by faith. So look with me in Hebrews, chapter 11, starting in verse eight, if you do not have a copy of the scriptures, we're going to have this up on the screen so that you can follow along with us. Here's what the Bible says. My faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, verse 10, for he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised, verse 12, therefore there was born even of one man and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. This morning right out of this text, I want us to talk through two realities that will help us understand what walking by faith, what living by faith is all about. Here's the first one. If you're taking notes this morning, I want to encourage you to write this down. Reality number one, God has invited us on a journey of faith. God has invited you and I on a journey of faith. Now what is a journey? What does a journey consist of a journey? Has a beginning, has a middle, and it has an end. But what we find with most believers, people in Christian circles, when we talk about our faith, here's what we normally refer to. We refer to the beginning of the journey and we refer to the end of the journey. We talk about the beginning, we talk about that moment when we call out on the name of Jesus and he rescues us, we put our faith in him and transformation happens, change happens, and we are made righteous before God because of Jesus. But we also think about the end of the journey. We think about that day when we will leave this earth and we will enter into eternity and believers will spend forever enjoying and worshiping God. But if all we ever think about on this journey of faith is the beginning and the end, we have missed a major component of walking by faith. The reality is that from the moment we embrace Christ, we begin a relationship with him. A relationship that affects every moment of every day, he invites us to know him now. We say at hope all the time that the joy is in the journey. Well, what does that mean? Here's what that means. That means that eternal life is not just heaven one day in the sweet by and by. Eternal life is Christ here and now. It's a relationship that you and I get to experience on an intimate level with the God of heaven as we walk by faith. Look at this quote by Miles Stanford. Here's the way that he articulated this reality. He says, "Faith standing on the facts of the Word of God gives evidence of things not seen. All of us started on this principle when we were born again. Our beliefs stood directly on the eternal fact and redeeming death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the faith by which we began. And it is the same faith by which we are to stand, walk and live. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him." Here's the reality. When we put our faith in Jesus, he does not just give us a ticket and say, "I'll see you in heaven." When we put our faith in Jesus, he gives us a promise and he says, "I am in you and you are in me." And we have an opportunity in the middle of this journey to walk with him by faith. We've said it this way in this series. Here's the point. Faith in Christ is not a decision I make. It is a life that I live. The beginning of the journey is significant. The end of the journey is significant. But the middle of the journey, we have an invitation from God to walk in a relationship. God has invited us onto a journey of faith. And for some of us, the reason we're a little unclear about this journey is because we don't understand the major aspects that are a part of this journey. And this morning, I want to give you a couple of those. This is not an exhaustive list, but these are some examples from the life of Abraham that we see in this text, some life lessons we can learn that are major components, major aspects of the journey. Here's the first one. The first thing we see here in the life of Abraham, when God spoke Abraham listened. When God spoke, Abraham listened. Look at verse 8. By faith, Abraham, when he was called. The word called means to invite. It means to summon, it's the picture of a host inviting someone, asking someone to join them on the journey. And the call that is referred to here in the life of Abraham and Sarah is actually recorded for us in the first book of the Bible. So if you hold your finger at Hebrews 11 and flip back to Genesis chapter 12, I want us to look this morning at the actual call, the original account of this call that God gave to Abraham and Sarah. It's just the first four verses in Genesis chapter 12. Here's what the Bible says. Now the Lord said to Abraham, same person, but later on in his life, God changed his name. Abraham is the same person as Abraham. Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you, I will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoken to him and Lot went with him. Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Herod. That's a pretty heavy promise. God says to Abraham, I want you to leave. I want you to leave what's familiar and I just want you to go. And when you get to the spot that I want you to be in, I'm going to let you know that but you're not going to know it ahead of time. And as you walk with me by faith, I'm going to take care of you, I'm going to bless you, I'm going to protect you and one day, Abraham, one day, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed through you. That's heavy. Now there's a lot of ways that Abraham could have responded to what God said. He could have said, you know what God? Great suggestion. Appreciate the council. I'm sure that's a moral thing to do, that's probably the right thing to do. But I'm going to look at some other options and if those don't work out, maybe I'll follow what you said. He could have seen what God said as a suggestion. He could have said, God, that is very inspirational. God, that gives me a lot of great ideas about the future. Just so I'm aware of all the potential things that are out there, God, thank you for inspiring me with some new ideas. He could have responded that way. He would have been wrong, but he could have. But how did Abraham respond? He said, God, when you speak into my life, it's not a suggestion. It's not just a good idea, God. This is an anchor for me. The word of the Lord is to shape my life from this day forward. When God spoke to Abraham, Abraham listened. Let me ask you a question. When God speaks into your life, how do you respond? Are you the type of person who says, God, thank you for the council, thank you for the insight, great suggestion, but I'm going to explore some other options. Are you someone who looks at the word of God and says, you know what, there's a lot of great ideas in here, or do you see the word of the Lord that we hold every day and say, this is an anchor of truth for me. This is to shape me and determine the overall direction of my life. When God spoke to Abraham, Abraham was listening. We live in such a culture that if we are not intentional about carving out moments to listen to what God is saying, we will rush through life depending on ourselves. One of the greatest things that you and I can do to nurture our relationship with God and really position ourselves to listen is to slow down, amen. Honestly, I struggle with this in my life. We are so on pace. We move so quickly through life that we go to God with any type of request or decision or anything we're wrestling through, and if we don't have the answer in 2.5 seconds, we are moving forward under our own ability. That's dangerous. We need the discipline and the reverence to sit at his feet and just to listen. Look at this statement by Henry Blackaby, "If you do not have clear instructions from God in a matter, pray and wait. Learn patience. Depend on God's timing. His timing is always right and best. Don't get in a hurry. He may be withholding directions to cause you to seek him more intently. Don't try to skip over the relationship to get on with doing. God is more interested in a love relationship with you than he is in what you can do for him." The Bible says in Psalm 46-10, "Be still and know that I am God." As you think about your life, do you have those pockets of time? Are you so anxious and so ready and longing and yearning to hear from God, that you would just say, "God, I'm carving out a pocket of time just to sit at your feet. God, if you want to speak to me, Lord, I'm listening. God, if that's through your spirit, if that's through me, spending time in your word, God, I am listening to you when you speak to me." If God looks at your heart this morning, is that true? One of the greatest things we can do for our schedule is to slow down, but what we found is that most people, they don't take hearing from God that serious. Look at this statistic by George Barna. He says fewer than 10% of church-going Christians make important life decisions based on God's Word and seeking His will. You know what that statistic tells us? There's a lot of us in the room. We're not listening. And we're moving through life and we're making the decision, but we're basing it off what we can come up with in our own ability. Listen, church, that's dangerous, that's a dangerous place to be. I'll give you an example of one way I've noticed this over the past few years. We've had a lot of people who have left Las Vegas for a lot of different reasons. Some for jobs, some were transferred, some for family, some for preference, but here's what I've found is I've talked to a lot of different people. We're making those decisions about moving, but they're never getting counsel from God. And they feel like the thing that is allowing them to leave the city is their career, or a better opportunity, almost a grass is greener on the other side situation. Here's what I believe. I believe every person in this room was called to the city of Las Vegas for the sake of the mission. And, yes, you are working in a job, yes, you do have to provide for your family, but you're there as a missionary, and we must be very, very careful that we do not let our career determine where we are planted. We must let the call of God on our life determine where we're planted and all the other details he'll take care of. Listen, God has something to say about your situation, whatever you're navigating through. But there's one major component that is necessary for you and I to hear clearly from God, and here's what it is. It is an intimate love relationship with him. The closer you walk in a relationship with someone, the clearer you can hear their voice. Look at this, another statement by Henry Blackaby. He said, "The key to knowing God's voice is not a formula. It is not a method you can follow. Knowing God's voice comes from an intimate love relationship with God." This January will be three years since my wife, Shara, and I got married. And when I went into this marriage relationship, I wasn't naive. I knew there were going to be some things about marriage that are hard that we needed to work through, and I was willing to do that. But there were some things that I just didn't know. For example, I remember several times her walking downstairs, I think she's in the service, amen. I forgot about that, her walking downstairs in St. Travis, what do you think about what I have on? And at that point in my life, I felt like honesty was the best policy. And she would come to me and she would have this look on her face that I just didn't recognize. I'd never seen it before, but she would say, "Travis, what do you think?" And as a godly, humble, great husband, I would say, "Honey, I think you need to seriously reconsider what you're wearing before you go out in public." Well, at that point in my marriage, I didn't know that those were fighting words. But for a husband to say something like that, it's all out war. Fast forward three years. This past week was her birthday. So I felt like a great thing for a godly, loving, awesome husband to do would be to go and get my wife a piece of jewelry for her birthday. So I went to the place and I was looking around, I found the one I liked. So Thursday, when she walked downstairs, I had a table with her gift on it and a card with her name on it and this whole little display, just to be like, "Boom." Well she walks downstairs and she opens up the gift and she flat hated it. You're telling me. So she says, "Honey, I appreciate the effort. You're awesome. You're great." Would you care if we went back to the jewelry store and looked at some other options? So I said, "Honey, let's go to the jewelry store." So we go downtown and we go to the jewelry store and she decides she wants to try on all these different necklaces and all this stuff. So I just go over to the side of the shop and I just sit down. I'm just passing the time and every time she found a necklace that had some potential, she would walk over and she would say, "Travis, what do you think?" Well, there was one time when she walked over with a necklace on and she had this look on her face and I remembered it was the same look that she had three years ago when she asked me what I thought about what she had on. But this time I knew what the look was. The look was, "Travis, I don't care what you think. I'm asking your opinion to be courteous, but you just tell me you like it and everything will be good." So sitting in the jewelry store on Thursday, I said, "Honey, that is the most beautiful necklace I have ever seen." And I don't care that it costs more money, that's the one that we need to get. I say all that to say this. The closer you walk in a relationship with a person, the easier it is to understand what they're saying. And the same is true when you pull it over into your relationship with God. As you and I walk in intimacy with Jesus, over time, it's easier. His voice is clearer and we can understand what he's saying. But with that, there are some ways that God has chosen to speak to his people. Now God is not in a box. He's not limited to a certain way, but there are just some ways throughout history. He has chosen to speak to his people and I want to give you those this morning because it's very important that we're clear about these things. Here's one way that God chooses to speak to his people. God speaks to us through his word. God speaks to us through this love letter called the Scriptures. This love letter called the Bible is one of the ways God chooses to speak to us. Now that happens in several ways. The two primary ways I feel like God speaks to us through his word is one through just our time alone with him. As we get up in the morning or at night or during the day and we just spend time abiding and processing through the Scriptures, I believe God speaks to us. But another way I believe God speaks to us through his word is in environments like this. As we gather as a faith family every weekend and we break open the Word of life, I believe God speaks to his people. That's why at the end of every service we have what's called the time of response. Because we want to take moments after we have looked at God's word, we've had him speak to us where we process and we respond to what God is saying. It's not a time to leave, it's not a time to get to the restaurant early. It's a time to respond to what God is saying into our hearts. One of the ways God speaks to us is through his word. Another way that God speaks to us is through circumstances. Through circumstances. God speaks to us through the situations, through the things that we walk through in life. So it's a healthy principle to realize that when you're in a difficult circumstance, the first thing you should do is not complain. You shouldn't just throw your hands up and say God's lost control, what you do and what you should do is say God, what are you trying to show me through this? God what are you teaching me, where are you leading me, who are you showing me through this circumstance? I'll be honest with you. For the past month I've been dealing, I told you a couple of weeks ago with a situation on my hand, they found skin cancer and they've been cutting and stitching and cutting and stitching and every Monday I go and spend about two to three hours at the hospital. And there's a part of me that hates that. But man, God's been saying some stuff into my life. He would have never said outside of me experiencing some pain and the same is true for you. There's some circumstances you're walking through and God wants to use those circumstances to speak right into your life. Another way that God speaks to us is through a sense of rightness and peace. And many times this is in conjunction with what he's saying through his word. But when we know we're in line with what God is saying, how God is leading, there will be a peace from the spirit of God that is unexplainable inside of our heart. And as we navigate through life, he'll put a peace inside of us. And you cannot have peace from God and a check in your spirit at the same time. It's very important. But I believe when we have a word from the word, not just single, but we have that. But we also have our circumstances aligning in a certain direction. But then we also have a peace from God in our heart. I believe when those three things are moving in the same direction, they're speaking the same message. We can know that we have heard from God and that we are in line with his will. Don't trust any one of them individually, but when they begin to all three line up, I believe that is God giving us clarity about a situation. And another word of counsel I would give you, I have people who come and talk to me all the time and in 30 minutes, they'll lay out their situation and say, Travis, what should I do? One of the questions I always ask them, I say, what are the Godly people in your life saying about this situation? We say it's all about relationships. Maybe it's your small group, maybe it's a mentor or a coach for you. But the Godly people in your life, sometimes God will speak through them to you just to give you some counsel and counsel is always healthy. But those are ways that God speaks to us as we navigate on this journey of faith. And when God speaks, it will always be clear, not confusing, and it will always be consistent with His activity throughout history. That's very important to understand. And as you do that, if God speaks into your heart like we see here with Abraham, never let anyone talk you out of what God has called you into, but never let anyone talk you into what God has not called you into. Very important. Very important. There's another aspect of this journey that we see here in the life of Abraham. First of all, when God spoke, Abraham listened. But secondly, when God spoke, Abraham obeyed. You'll see the next word there in Hebrews, chapter 11, it says, "By face Abraham, when he was called, oh, bade," here's what John MacArthur says about this phrase. In other words, as soon as he understood what God was saying, he started packing. It was instant obedience. It may have taken several days or even weeks or months to make final preparation for the trip, but in his mind, he was already on his way from then on, everything he did revolved around God's call. The only time for you and I to obey God is the present. There are people in the room and God's been speaking to you and you've been pushing it off and pushing it off and pushing it off. Listen, real obedience, true obedience is instant. Because the only time for you and I to obey God is right now. Now, we need to put some stuff in motion, potentially, but we've said in our hearts, "God, if this is for you're leading me, I'm in and I'm being obedient to what you're calling me into." But Abraham's obedience, it wasn't easy street. It wasn't just something he did and God made everything okay. We see in Hebrews 11 some specifics about his obedience that were honestly pretty tough. Look at the next part of verse 8, "When God called he obeyed by going out to a place where he was to receive for and inheritance." When Abraham obeyed God, it was in response to a promise. It wasn't just Abraham's idea. They had given Abraham a promise and Abraham believed and embraced the promise and responded in obedience. Listen throughout the Scriptures, we have promise after promise after promise from God. But many of us in the room have never believed and embraced those promises. There's promises about being conformed to the image of Jesus being used in the kingdom about joy, about wisdom, and the list goes on and on. But for many of us, we've never believed and embraced those promises found in the Scriptures. And for many people, we spend our lives asking God to show us new stuff. When we've never obeyed what he's already said, Abraham's obedience was in response to a promise. But another specific about his obedience, continue on. It says, "And he went out, not knowing where he was going." Abraham obeyed without knowing all the details. Abraham obeyed God without knowing all the specifics. Can you imagine that conversation? So Abraham, where you headed? I don't know. Well, when you're going to know when you're there, I don't know. God said he'd tell me, "Well, how are you going to provide for your family?" Well, I don't know. Can you imagine? That's heavy. Now that wasn't laziness or unorganization on Abraham's part. No God had dropped an anchor in his life and he'd send him on a path and he said, "I don't know all the details, but God has spoke to me." And I don't know about you're wiring, but my wiring, that's tough. Because I like to be in control and have my hands on everything. I like to know the fine print before I step in. But as you and I walk by faith, there will be moments where we have to step in on obedience and we don't know the details. God doesn't feel on all the blanks yet, but here's what we cling to in those moments, the call of God. We know God's spoken. One more specific that we see in this text, verse 9, "By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land dwelling in tents and with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, Abraham obeyed even though it was uncomfortable." Abraham said, "You know what, there's going to be some pain. There's going to be some struggle." The Bible says he felt like an alien. He felt like he was living in a foreign land, going place to place in tents. But here's what he said, "God has called me to this." And even though it's uncomfortable, "I'm going to obey." Let me ask you a question. Is God calling you to something? And you've sensed it for a while. But because you're nervous about what it may look like or you don't know all the details or you foresee it being uncomfortable, you haven't responded in obedience. He gets a relationship for you and God said you need to make that relationship right. Or you need to go and apologize to someone. Maybe there's some stuff in your life and God's been telling you you need to confess it to your spouse. You need to confess it to an accountability partner, someone in your small group. But you've been pushing it off because you know it's going to be uncomfortable. You don't know all the details. You don't know what it's going to look like. You've been pushing off. Maybe some people, God's been putting on your heart to go into ministry, serving in a local church. But you've been pushing it off. You've been pushing it off. The only time to obey God is the present. Learn from the example of Abraham. When God speaks, we are to obey. God has invited us on a journey of faith. But here's a second reality that we learn from this text that is very important. Secondly, God has invited us on a journey of impacting the world. God has invited you and I on a journey of impacting the world. One of the last promises God made to Abraham in Genesis 12 was that he was going to bless the entire earth through his seed. Now at that point, that didn't make any sense to Abraham and Sarah. The Bible says that Abraham was as good as dead. He was so old and that Sarah was past that point in her life. But God speaks to them about the mission, about the earth being impacted through their life. And as we read through the page of Scripture, God fulfilled the promise. We see the nation of Israel. We even see the Savior Jesus Christ coming from this line. God kept his promise. And you can know as you walk by faith that everything God is leading you and calling you to. He's doing for the sake of conformity and He's doing for the sake of the mission. And there's a phrase in verse 11 about Sarah that I want us to look at and give you a few thoughts and then we're going to be finished this morning. But this phrase is so significant. When I read it this week, it was just heavy. Look at verse 11. The Bible says, "By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life." Look at this phrase, "Since she considered Him faithful who had promised." When you hold that phrase up to light against all the other things in your life, is that true for you? Is your heart embraced the fact that He who has promised us, all the things He's promised us is faithful? Out of that statement, I want to give you very quickly five foundations of God's faithfulness. And I'm just going to run through these, but these are so significant and really for me, these statements are things that as I wake up in the morning, I just process through. I want them fresh on my heart and fresh on my mind every day because I have no idea and you have no idea the stuff we're going to walk into on a daily basis. And I need these realities, these foundations of how faithful our God is, fresh on my heart and fresh in my mind every day. So I'd encourage you to write these down and maybe it's something you just pray through in the morning, but here they are. Here's the first one. God is all knowing. Here's what that means, He knows what's best for me. He knows everything. He knows what is best for us. Secondly, God is all powerful. Here's what that means. He's in control of my life. Sometimes my emotions say different, my flesh says different, but at every moment of every day, God is all powerful and He is in control of your life. Thirdly, God is always present. He is with me. Every moment of every day, His consistent abiding presence is with His children. For God is always truthful. He always speaks truth to me. He always speaks the truth. Jesus said it. I'm the way. I'm the truth. Lastly, God is unchanging. He is eternally consistent, the same God that was dealing with Abraham and Sarah and Noah and Enoch and Abel and Adam and Eve is the same God that we are walking with today. And I believe those foundations are what allowed this verse in Hebrews 11 by Sarah to say, I consider Him who promised me to be faithful because He knows everything. He's all powerful. He's with me. He speaks the truth and He is eternally consistent. Let that encourage you this morning that our God is faithful to what He calls us to. Abraham and Sarah were just ordinary people who had extraordinary faith in a God who had invited them on a journey of hearing from Him, of being obedient to Him, and of knowing with assurance that He was faithful to His promise. [BLANK_AUDIO]