Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Hebrews chapter 3 as we look at being faithful. Webster defines the word “faith” and “faithful” like this: “allegiance to duty or a person, belief and trust in God, complete trust.” Thus, unfaithful is the opposite, not trusting in God. Why is this important to us as Christians? Because there are times in our walk that we are not faithful, we don’t trust in the promises of God. My prayer as we go through this study is that we would learn to take our eyes off of self and the surrounding circumstances and learn to look heavenward, to put our trust in the Lord and His promise to us.
Now before we get to our text this morning, listen to this story. We are told:
There was this woman who had lost her husband several months earlier and was becoming very lonely for lack of a companion. She was lonely and needed someone to talk to. Some of her friends told her she needed a pet. So she went down to the local pet shop and told him about her need. The pet owner said, “I have a great parrot. He will talk your arm off.” He sold her this beautiful and expensive toucan.
She took this parrot home in a big cage. But after she got him home he didn’t say one word. Not a thing. So she decided he needed some time to get use to her.
A week passed by and she went back to the pet shop. She told the owner, “This parrot doesn’t say one word.” The owner responded, “That is unusual. He talked up a storm here in the store to everyone who came in. Did you get him a mirror?” “No,” she said. “Well you got to have a mirror. The parrot will see himself in the mirror and this will prompt him. He will just start talking.” So the lady bought an expensive mirror and hung it in the cage.
The woman patiently waited as another week passed by. She returned to the store down in the mouth. “This parrot I bought still doesn’t talk. I want a talking parrot.” The storeowner asked, “Well did you buy a ladder?” “No,” she said. “The parrot has to have a ladder so he will walk up and down and feel comfortable like he is in a tree in the jungle and its only natural he will start talking.” Well, the lady bought this ladder and put it in the cage and waited.
She came back again a week later and said, “That parrot still doesn’t talk.” The storeowner said, “Well, did you buy it a swing? You know, he has to have a swing so he will walk up and down, jump on the swing, feel casual and he will start to sing and start talking.” The woman buys a swing and puts it in the cage and waits.
Another week passed and the woman came storming into the store. The owner watching her behavior asked, “What’s wrong?” The woman replied, “Well he died!”
The storeowner replied, “He died! Well, did he say anything before he died!”
The lady replied, “Yah, he said one sentence. He said, ‘Don’t they have any food down at that store?’”
- Source Unknown
I know, what does that have to do with faith and faithfulness? Let me explain. She was so busy with peripheral things, peripheral issues that she forgot what was needed most – nourishment! For us, we can become so busy, so distracted by so many things in our life that we forget to consider Jesus, our source of spiritual strength. “How simplistic that is Joe!” You’re right, it is simplistic but if it is true, if it is right, does it have to be complicated? Of course not and I am so thankful that it is not complicated or difficult, it is a matter of trust, of considering Jesus as we go through various things in our life.
As Paul opens up here in Hebrews chapter 3 he says “Therefore” which causes us to look back at what He said to see what it is there for, of course! Paul, so far has shown us that Jesus is superior to the prophets, He is superior to the angels, in fact He is God! Now I do realize that some refuse to accept this but God the Father calls Jesus God and folks, that is good enough for me!
Because of who Jesus is and what He has done and will do we need to consider Jesus, the Apostle who represents God to us and our High Priest who represents us before the Father! Yes, Moses was a faithful servant of God, part of the house of Israel that he served in. But Jesus created the house of Israel and He is not a servant but a Son. In knowing that, Paul now says beginning in verse 7 of Hebrews chapter 3 . . .
Paul is admonishing them to be faithful to the Lord, to trust in Him and not be unfaithful like the children of Israel were in the wilderness. You see, from Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea was an 11-day journey and as they got to the boarder of the Promise Land they sent out 12 spies into the land, to check out the people and its cities for 40 days.
As they reported back to Moses and the people, 10 of the spies said that the land was great but the cities were strong, the people were strong, that they were nothing compared to them, the children of Israel were like ants to these giants! The other 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb said that the land was great and let’s go and take what God has promised us. But the people listened to the 10 faithless spies who discouraged them and they did not enter in. In fact, God was angry with them and that generation, from 20 years old and up, died in the wilderness, they did not enter the Promise Land, maybe some 600,000 people, except for Joshua and Caleb who entered into the Promised Land by faith.
As I said on Thursday, they came out of Egypt, which is a type of the world, as they sprinkled the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their homes. We also came out of the world as we applied the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ upon our lives, as we received Him by faith.
The wilderness is a place of walking by sight and not by faith and it is not where God wanted the children of Israel to be, He wanted them in the Promise Land. Please understand that the Promise Land is not Heaven because there are battles in the land and there are not any battles we will be fighting in Heaven. The Promise Land is truly a life of the Spirit, walking as God leads, as He guides. Folks, that is where God desires us to be walking, in the Spirit, not looking at your resources, but His because where God guides He will also provide. All we must do is walk by faith!
In Hebrews 11:6 we are told, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Here’s the thing, when you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, when you first were saved, it was totally based upon faith. You couldn’t see God but you believed Him and His Word. If you had that kind of faith for your salvation, then why can’t you trust Him in your daily life to provide those things He has promised?
Think of it like this. You have this headache that is just pounding, it is just overwhelming. So you go to the medicine cabinet and you grab a bottle of pills to help take away this pain. As you read the instructions on the bottle you say to yourself, “I am sure these instructions on the bottle are correct. I have total confidence in the source of the medicine. I know who wrote these instructions. I totally believe everything it says. I know that this medicine will take away my headache if I take it.”
As you are done reading the bottle you place the medicine back on the shelf and walk away without taking it. Did you believe in the medicine? Yes you did! Then what was the problem? Your faith, it is dead because you did not apply to your life what you needed, you did not walk as you should have walked. Thus, as God told the children of Israel because they did not believe, they did not trust God and His promises, “They shall not enter My rest.” Hebrews 3:11.
Many Christians live in the wilderness because they refuse to walk by faith, and they choose to walk by sight. They know what the Bible says, they believe what the Bible says, but they refuse to apply it to their lives. That is tragic and again, my prayer is we would learn these lessons so that we would place our whole weight upon God and trust in Him, walking accordingly, taking those steps of faith.
Let me give you a few examples of faith in the Scriptures. In II Chronicles chapter 20 we see three nations rise up against King Jehoshaphat and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. These nations were as follows: The Moabites, the Ammonites and the Edomites. Obviously Jehoshaphat and his nation were outnumbered, they did not have the resources to win this battle. In fact, from a purely earthly perspective, they would be better off surrendering to them, even becoming slaves than being wiped out in battle. A “Better red than dead” mentality!
But that is not what they did, the King knowing how bad this situation was proclaims a fast and he set himself to seek the Lord for direction in this situation. In fact, all of Judah came together to seek the Lord!
And starting in verse 5 of II Chronicles chapter 20, listen to what is said. We are told, “Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said: ‘O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, “If disaster comes upon us — sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine — we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.” And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir — whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them — here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.’” II Chronicles 20:5-12.
You see, he recognized how hopeless things were for them but he took his eyes off the battle and placed them on the Lord for direction, for guidance in this situation. And as they did the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel and He gave them direction, all they needed to do is step forward and obey the Lord, to walk by faith, not to harden their hearts in unbelief!
Now here is the battle plan. Take your praise team, your worship team and put them in front and then place your soldiers behind them. What a foolish plan from a military perspective. How can a praise team stand before the armies of 3 nations and survive? How in the world can this be a good plan? Because God said to walk that way and because they obeyed by faith they saw the victory as the enemy started killing each other and after it was over, it took the Southern Kingdom of Judah three whole days to gather the spoils of the victory that God gave them.
You see, it is as George Muller said, “Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends.” That is the proper perspective to have and as we will see in a few minutes, it is something that George Muller not only believed, but he lived!
In our nation today we have so many resources that we truly don’t need to trust in the Lord. And when things get tough and we don’t know what to do, we give up many times because the situation looks hopeless. Over the past 10 years I have been through a lot in ministry with leaders leaving, leadership not supporting the work, health issues, family issues, working some 70 to 80 hours a week between ministry and the hospital and-so-on. In fact someone told my wife that if he was in ministry and the church could not support him full time, he would be out! How sad to think like that!
Many think I’m foolish for what I do, the hours I put in and granted it is usually those who aren’t doing anything in the first place. But why am I still here, why am I still doing all that I am doing? It truly is simple, my eyes are on the Lord and my trust is in Him and I believe the work He has begun here in Manitowoc He will complete and all He asks me to do is trust in Him, to walk as He leads, to believe that where He is guiding us He will also provide for us!
Let’s look at another illustration of faith in the Scriptures. In Genesis chapter 6 God saw the wickedness of man and was going to send a flood to destroy man, all except for Noah and his family. And God instructed Noah to build an ark, a boat to carry him and his family and the animals as He instructed him. And they would remain on this ark until the floodwaters receded and they could walk on dry ground again.
This ark was 459 feet long, 75 feet wide and 44 feet tall, its volume capacity was 1.54 million cubic feet. To put that into perspective, it is equivalent to the volume of 522 standard American railroad stock cards, each of which could hold 240 sheep. It was huge and it took 120 years to complete! Again, so far so good, even though it may be difficult, even though it would take a long time to complete, it was still possible.
Now here is the kicker. God tells Noah that He is going to destroy the earth with a flood, that the floodwaters were going to cover the earth. “Lord, how are you going to do that?” “I am going to send rain upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights!” “Lord, what’s rain?” You see, there was no rain on the earth prior to the flood, the earth was watered with a mist each night. Thus, Noah, by faith built this ark on dry land for 120 years, no rain, waiting for the floodwaters to come.
That is faith, trusting that what God has said He will bring to pass! Notice what Paul said of Noah in Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.” That is faith, obeying and yet not understanding the how’s and why’s of God but walking by faith as God was leading him.
We are told that “The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall. The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall. Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see, and with faith we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of life that only fear allows to entrap us.” (John Emmons).
I think we need to break free of not trusting God and His promises, that we don’t harden our hearts to what God is trying to do in our lives. As I said before, George Muller is an awesome example of someone who just trusted God. His life is a classic example of a life of faith. You see, things looked bleak for the children of George Muller’s orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a close friend of Muller was visiting in the home. Muller took her hand and said, “Come and see what our Father will do.” In the dinning room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home’s account.
Muller prayed, “Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat.” Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, there stood the local baker. “Mr. Muller,” he said, “I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o’clock and baked fresh bread. Here it is.” Muller thanked him and gave praise to God.
Soon, a second knock was heard. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. He needed to empty his cart so he could repair it and he could not deliver the milk because the cart was broken down. So he asked Mr. Muller if they could use some milk, if so he would like to give it to them. Again he thanked the milkman and gave praise to God.
Folks, looking at the situation through purely human eyes, they should have closed the orphanage down, they had no food, they had no resources to keep it going. But George Muller trusted God and what God had promised him He was more than able to supply and just in time for breakfast! Hudson Taylor observed it this way, “God’s work, done in God’s way, will receive God’s supply.” Folks, our God hasn’t changed!
Here at Calvary Chapel I truly believe that where God guides He will provide and He has and He will! If I did things looking solely at our resources, we would be doing nothing at all. Let me show you what I mean. On January 24, 2000, at 7:10 PM, Calvary Satellite Network or CSN went on the air. The tithes and offerings that year were just under $46,000 and we were in the red $168.79!
Now, from a human perspective, adding another $400 per month for the station is not logical, it makes no sense, we didn’t have the resources! But our eyes were upon God and we believed that He was leading us in this venture of faith, that we were to trust in Him to provide the resources we needed and He did. Now He didn’t drop a check for $4,800 to cover the cost, but each month He provided for us what we needed.
In January of 2003 God opened a door for us to be on CSN in the Madison area and once again, looking at our resources, it was not a logical thing to do but I felt the Lord leading us, to take a step of faith and we did, and God has provided for it. And as I talk to people from that area they are blessed by the teaching.
Back in January of 2001, I felt the Lord leading us to apply for our own Low Power FM station. Again, the resources were not there, it has cost us some several thousand dollars just to get approval from the FCC for this station with the lawyer costs and all. It has been some 4½ years since we first applied and we had groups trying to get us to stop, trying to get the FCC to deny us the station. They even attacked other Calvary Chapel’s to try and stop them and some did drop out, they gave up. But I felt the Lord pressing us to go on, not to give up and we didn’t. On August 4, 2005 we received approval from the FCC to build the station and we now have about 15 months to get it up and running or we will lose our license. It is going to cost between $15,000 to $20,000 to build the station and once again we don’t have it.
Why would God have us go this far and then not be able to build the station? I don’t believe that is what He is doing, He will provide for us, He has brought into the church someone who has the ability to build the station, in His time. Maybe that is why it took 4½ years to get approval? You see, our eyes have to be on the Lord because once again, where God guides He will provide and where He is not guiding, I don’t want to go down that road. Folks, we don’t have to manipulate situations to help God out, we need to trust in Him!
And there has been many other things that we have done over the years that we felt God was leading as we try to get His Word out to people, from summer outreaches, to youth outreaches, to sending studies to people in prison, to supporting a variety of ministries and-so-on, and we don’t charge because we feel that God has freely given to us and we desire to help others in their relationship with God or to bring them into a relationship with God.
Now there is one more thing we should discuss here and that is a church building, not only for the church to meet in but to build our radio station also, keeping in mind we only have some 15 months to do it. What are we going to do???? What options do we have here????? Listen to what King Jehoshaphat was told, “ . . . ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. . . You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.’” II Chronicles 20:15b, 17.
Position yourself in the will of God, but don’t come to the conclusion that you do nothing. I like the way that William Booth put it as he was speaking to his soldiers, “Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again – until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.” (William Booth in The Founder’s Messages to Soldiers, Christianity Today, October 5, 1992, p. 48). You see, they do go hand in hand because as you believe what God is calling you to do, you step forward.
A good example of this is when Joshua was leading the children of Israel into the Promise Land and he was a little nervous and the Lord was encouraging him in the work that He had called him to do. And in Joshua 1:3-9 we are told, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. . .
. . . For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Notice, back in verse 3 the call to Joshua was to step forward, to walk. Yes, it was a walk by faith, there were giants in the land, the cities were fortified, the people were strong and yet God said the land was theirs and they need to go in by faith and take it! God had given it to them, but they also needed to walk!
Folks, what are you going to put your trust in? In Psalm 33:16-22 we are told, “No king is saved by the multitude of an army; A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You.”
Are you going to be saved in the situation you are in right now by your strength, your riches, your resources, or are you going to trust in the Lord? Don’t harden your heart as they did in the rebellion, not trusting in the Lord to provide for them as He guided them. Don’t harden your heart in unbelief because as you wander in the wilderness you will not find the rest that God has for you, the rest of walking by faith and not by sight, of walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh!
I do realize this is hard for most of us if not all of us because we are not in control of the situation. But think about the faith you do have in things other than the Lord. When you go to a restaurant and you eat the food that they have prepared for you, you eat without even questioning them, right? Of course that is right. You don’t say, “Did the cooks wash their hands before they cooked my meal?” “The food wasn’t spoiled before they cooked it was it?” “Where did your cooks go to school or did they go to school?” And that list can go on but you get the idea. You eat the food by faith in the people who prepared it for you!
When you get on a plane do you ask the pilot for his flying credentials, his record, his health history? Did you ask to see the work record on this plane, the safety record? Did you ask to see how the food was prepared? Not at all, you just got on the plane and flew by faith in the pilot, the plane, the mechanics and-so-on.
Now no one is going to go out to eat after service today, let alone get on a plane, right? No, but think about what you do put your faith in! Now God is asking you to trust in Him, to walk by faith and see the awesome things He can and will do in your life and all you must do is step forward and trust in Him, you must walk! If you can put your faith in the people who prepare your food, who fly the planes, then why can’t you put your trust in the creator of the Heavens and Earth, the God of the universe? Don’t harden your heart to God. You see, faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible!
Let me close this morning with this poem by Ruth A. Morgan, By Faith Not Sight. It goes like this:
- Ruth A. Morgan
May we learn the lesson and look upward to our Lord, not distracted by peripheral things, but to trust that as He guides He will provide no matter how impossible it may seem or how foolish it may look to go down that path. Trust in Him and let’s see the salvation that He will bring to our lives, the victories He will give to us as we go forward in these battles with praise unto Him because as we do, it shows we trust in Him for the victory and not ourselves!
It is as Paul said, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” Hebrews 3:7-15. Walk by faith in Him!