Good afternoon, brothers and sisters.
Could you please turn with me to Habakkuk Chapter 2? We will begin in Verse 2.
Then the Lord answered me and said,
Record the vision,
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
Behold, as for the proud one,
His soul is not right within him;
But the righteous will live by his faith.—Habakkuk 2:2-4
Then, in Habakkuk Chapter 3, Verses 1-2:
Lord, I have heard the report about Thee, and I fear.
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years.
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.—Habakkuk 3:1-2
And Verse 17:
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail,
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold,
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exalt in the Lord;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.—Habakkuk 3:17-18
Please turn also to Hebrews Chapter 10, Verse 32.
But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings; partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated.
For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance so that, when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
But My righteous one shall live by faith;
And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
—Hebrews 10:32-39
In Hebrews Chapter 11, Verse 13:
All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
—Hebrews 11:13-16
Let us bow for a word of prayer.
Lord, we are so thankful to You for these songs that we could sing. We thank You, Lord, that You are the coming King.
We gather together in Your presence, Lord, asking that You might have an open way into our hearts—the speaker and the listener. Lord, may Your Holy Spirit have headship over us, that what is in Your heart may be revealed, planted, and have a chance to grow.
Lord, we pray that You would guard us from our flesh in the speaking and in the listening, and that there would be nothing that might interfere with Your ability to reach us this afternoon.
Lord, we worship You, and we thank You for revealing Yourself to us through the ages, that we might continue on this journey with You. We worship You, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
We have been, at this time, on the topic of Christ, our vision. My time has been focused on the topic of following after that vision.
Through history, for greater than two thousand years, no one’s physical eyes have seen the Lord. We have not been able to see Him in a physical way. Yet, over these two thousand-plus years, many kingdoms have come and gone, and many empires have fallen. Still, the Church of God is here.
There is one reason why this is true: through the years, the Lord has continued to reveal Himself to us. Even though we have not seen Him with our physical eyes, in our hearts the Lord has shown us something of Himself that we could understand.
He did not reveal Himself in such a way that we could not grasp it. When we were children, we understood Him as children. When we became young men, He made it a little deeper to us. Through time, He raised up servants who loved Him and gave up their own journeys through life for His journey through life. They have brought to all of us something of great value.
Now, brothers and sisters, we have survived until this point not because of any great gifting or great knowledge. We have survived because the Lord’s heart was that He wanted us to see Him. He did not want to mask who He was. He wanted us to see Him so that we could go on.
We know that through the years the enemy has not stopped trying to hinder this work. Yesterday, we read through parts of Habakkuk Chapter 1, in which the prophet described how the Chaldeans had come to power.
This wicked nation had taken land from people through violence and bloodshed, taken their women, and committed lewd acts of perversion. Habakkuk could not stand it anymore. He went to the Lord and said, “How could You allow a kingdom like the Chaldeans to have victory over Your people?”
Habakkuk knew that the people of God had fallen, but he still could not see how these wicked people could triumph over God’s people. The Lord told Habakkuk, “I am doing something that you could not possibly imagine, something that you could not see with your eyes.”
The Lord was introducing to Habakkuk a concept that would come more alive when the Lord Jesus came and was crucified: the notion of the cross upon the church. Some difficulty, some weight of the world, or something from outside that cuts into our hearts might cause us to be drawn closer to the Lord.
At that time, this was unheard of. Good should always be over evil. But the Lord told him, “I am doing something for good and for My purposes.”
Habakkuk was still not okay with it. He was an interesting fellow. When he finished, he said, “I am going to sit on this rampart, and I am going to wait for You to rebuke me.”
Then the Lord told him, “I want you to write down the vision.” He said that it would be for an appointed time. It might tarry, but wait for it. It will certainly come.
What the Lord was describing was that, in the end, good would triumph over evil. Habakkuk had suggested that perhaps the Lord did not know all the evil and wickedness that the Chaldeans had perpetrated. But the Lord proceeded to describe all those things: woe to them for this, and woe to them for that. He knew all of it.
But He said to Habakkuk, “Write down the vision. Wait for it. Good will triumph over evil.” It may not be immediately before our eyes, and we may have to wait for it, but have hope.
From this day until that day, He instructed Habakkuk, “The righteous shall live by faith.” When He had finished, He said, “All before the Lord shall be silent.”
Then Habakkuk prayed to the Lord. He had seen all the things the Lord had shown him, and he wrote them down so that those who saw them could run. He said, “Lord, in wrath, show mercy.” Then he said that even if all these difficulties continued, he would exalt in the Lord.
What it was, brothers and sisters, was this: How shall we live in these days? The righteous shall live by faith.
In the Book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit repeated this same encouragement. A vision was given, and the Holy Spirit clarified that vision further for us:
For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
But My righteous one shall live by faith.—Hebrews 10:37-38
If we take this vision and remember the words spoken to Habakkuk, it may tarry, but wait for it. Hope for it.
There was more in the context of Hebrews. In Verse 32, we are told that the vision had already been coming. “Remember,” it says, “the former days.” After we were enlightened and saw this vision, we endured great conflicts and suffering—which will always happen when we wait for this vision.
The Holy Spirit reminded us that we endured hardship because sometimes we were made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations. We know this is true. When we hope for this in our hearts, the enemy will not sit back and allow that hope to go without opposition.
But the second part of what He reminded us of was equally precious: we became sharers with those who were so treated. The vision was not just for one person or one group of us. The Lord was revealing Himself to many.
As our brothers and sisters were persecuted and endured tribulations, we could have stood to the side and allowed them to go through it. But because of the shared vision and the shared hope, we chose to become sharers in those tribulations.
What will happen, brothers and sisters, because of the greatness of the vision, is that it will bind us together and allow us to move forward together. The Lord says that we will not shrink back. We will go forward, because going forward is pleasing to His heart.
The writer of Hebrews confirmed it at the end: “We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”
So, brothers and sisters, we have been considering this vision in these times. We long for the Lord to show us the vision. Once He has shown us the vision, how shall we live between this day and that day? The righteous shall live by faith.
Yesterday, we shared that the Lord told us in the last two chapters of Revelation, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” We asked, what does it mean that the Lord said, “I am the Omega”?
When He said, “I am the Omega,” He was not just saying that He would lead us to the last day of our lives and then bring us into heaven, into His presence. Omega speaks to us of purpose.
He is the Omega of His purpose. What He has begun—what is the desire of His heart—He will not stop until all things have been completed, summed up, and fulfilled in Christ. At that time, we will see the greatness of what Omega really is.
Brothers and sisters, this vision—our hope for Omega—can drive us forward, no matter what comes.
This matter of following after that vision is so important. But we must remember the warning: if we focus too much on the practical matters of following—what should we do, and how should we do it?—but undervalue what our brothers are sharing at this conference, which is to see and know that vision, we are in danger.
It is easy for us to focus on, “What should I do? Just tell me what I should do.” But, brothers and sisters, when we focus simply on what we shall do, danger and harm will ultimately result—not only to us, but to those around us.
Following requires that the Lord has revealed something of Himself to us. We are not simply looking for how to do something.
Yesterday, we began by sharing that, as we follow and live by faith, we need to know what it means that we are, as Hebrews says, “My righteous ones.”
We shared about the fact—the done deal—that the Lord Jesus was crucified for our sins. On that day, a wonderful transaction happened for you and me. The sin and punishment that we had earned were transferred to Him, and He became our sin.
When our Father saw sin in Him, our Father was pleased to crush Him so that the punishment, the wrath that had accumulated for what we had done, might fall upon Him as our offering.
In turn, we were given robes of righteousness, that we might be clothed in Christ and understand what it is to be made clean again. Then the veil was torn in two, from top to bottom, never to be shut again. We now have the opportunity to go forward.
This, brothers and sisters, was the beginning of our journey, not the end. The instruction to us was, “My righteous one shall live by faith.”
We talked about the Lord’s provision for us and how He knows the struggles we go through. We used the example of when the people of God first entered the Promised Land and met their Captain, who would lead them forward.
Before He led them forward, He provided them with three supports.
The first support was a memorial, set up to remind them of what God had already done and what could not be undone. For us, brothers and sisters, we must have a footing as we move forward: what the Lord has done in our lives cannot be undone.
The children would ask, “What do these stones mean to you?” That question is so personal. What does it mean to me, what the Lord has done?
We have had much teaching about what the Lord has done. There has been depth and revelation, deep things. But there is a very simple question that children will ask us: “What do all these things mean to you?”
This is a foundation stone, a place from which we cannot fall back further. No one can take away what He has done.
The second matter was that the flesh had to be circumcised. The people had not been circumcised; the flesh needed to be dealt with. The flesh could not play a role in following forward unto His vision and purpose.
It was a promise to us that, in the removing of our flesh, we would be reminded that His promise would always be with us.
Then we shared about the story of the Gibeonites. They disguised themselves as being from a faraway land. But what happened was that the world entered in, and the world can be an anchor to our hearts.
We marry with the world. We develop its customs and traditions. Then our feet become cemented into the world. Even though we are saved in the Promised Land, we cannot go anywhere anymore.
The third matter was a heart attitude: an attitude in my heart that I am willing to grow. We talked about the grace that was manna. Manna was always there, but at some point the Lord wanted us to move forward.
Still in faith, we must have legs to walk forward and claim the land. These are principles by which we can stand before we follow our Captain into all the things He has planned for us according to His vision.
When Joshua met our Captain, he came out to the land and looked at Jericho. Jericho was like the greatest of mankind. It was an old city. It was hard to imagine any army being able to conquer it.
It had great walls and armed, trained soldiers. To take that city through human eyes would have been far more than a band of wandering people could undertake.
But when Joshua came to survey that land, our Captain came before him. We remember that our Captain told him, “Remove your shoes.” That is to say, “You are on holy ground.”
Our Captain is not a surrogate or a secretary of state for our King. He is that One Himself. Our Lord, as we go forward, will be the One who leads us.
When we speak of following after Him, we speak of following after Him with a capital H and no substitutes.
He wanted Joshua to look on that city with different eyes. That city, to our eyes, is like a killer of our faith. We have all seen these giants in our lives before, and we do not know how to face them.
There was a poem written by Walt Whitman called “O Captain! My Captain!” Most of us know this poem from a movie about a preparatory school in New England.
The school was filled with young men and women, just as we might have grown up. For them, their future had already been determined. From elementary school, the ways of the world had been ingrained into them: this is what success looks like.
“You are going to do this, and then that, and then go to this school and get that degree. This is what success looks like for you, and there is no other way.”
A collection of young men came together, and the vision of the world was doubled down. The teachers all bought into the vision and reinforced it, until it was ingrained into their minds.
Then another teacher came. He began to ask them to see life a different way. He illustrated to them the pursuit of the arts, the matters of the heart, the things that bring us joy, and the pursuit of dreams.
He kept trying to chisel away at hardened eyes that only allowed them to see the vision as it had been told to them.
One day, he stood up on a table. Many of you know what I am going to do, so I hope I do not fall. But he stood on the table and said, “The vision is totally different now.”
He began to tell them that they needed to look at life in a different way. The children watching him suddenly realized that there was another way to live life.
Forgive me for that illustration, brothers and sisters, but I hope that people might see that when he stood on the table, his point was that there is a different way of looking at life. What has been ingrained in us is not necessarily the only way.
The world was not willing to accept that, and eventually he was fired. As he was leaving, these young men stood on their tables, one after another, and said, “O Captain! My Captain!”
The point was that they stood on the table to say, “I am willing to live life in a different way.”
This illustration is important to us because the world has told us, since we were in elementary school, that this is how life is supposed to be and what it means to live a fulfilling life.
Brothers and sisters, we have bought into it. We have gone to school, worked in the great cities of America, and gone to all the places we have been. The message from our teachers and bosses has always been that the way of the world should be our vision for life.
It has torn us apart from the vision of God. We sometimes ask, “Lord, I want to follow after You, but the vision of the world has so strangled us. It is so hard to let go of this.”
Let me tell you this, brothers and sisters: when the Lord prepared this message, He was speaking to me. I know it in my heart.
We want to be in both worlds. We want to say, “Lord, I will not let go of this dream of mine in the world, but I also want to see Your vision.”
But, brothers and sisters, when I am fixated looking over here, I cannot see what is back there. I am not like an owl—I do not know if it is an owl—but I cannot flip my head around. I cannot do that, right?
The way we are wired, we can only see one thing. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can look there, look back, look there, look back, and not become dizzy and fall.
The way of the world has been ingrained in us. To remove it, it is like we must dig in there and rip it out. Unless we have this heart attitude to move forward, it is so difficult.
The reason it is so difficult is that we can see the world’s vision. We can see it with our eyes. We can see what success looks like. It is on television and on the internet.
The Lord has never given us that kind of physical vision because He wants it to be substantiated in our hearts through faith.
This is challenging. For those of us who have grown up in the United States with what we have been taught, and what we continue to teach, it is an impossibility in our flesh.
But, brothers and sisters, it starts with a desire in our hearts and a belief that there is another way—another way to look at this world and this life.
Sometimes we think this is for someone else. When we are young, we think it is for old people, for our parents. When we become old, we think it is a young man’s game. Before we know it, so much time has passed, and we think, “What good is it now?”
Brothers and sisters, the truth is that it is always the perfect time to go on our next adventure with the Lord. There is no time that is wrong.
The Lord is longing for us—longing for us to be willing to go with Him where He wants to go.
Think of the man who was hung on the cross next to Him. Think of him for a moment. How much time did he have left to live? Two hours when he was saved? There was not much time left.
What good is two hours? What good is it to start my adventure with the Lord with two hours left to live? But, brothers and sisters, in the Lord’s most difficult time, He was not alone. One of His own was with Him.
Think of it for a moment. It is the right time now. It is our right time to start our walk with Him, to follow after Him where He wants us to go.
We have to hold in our hearts that this is precious to Him. This is not simply that He wants us to graduate, and in order to graduate we must learn how to follow Him. It is not like that.
What He is longing for, He has been waiting for so long. He has been waiting for us through all these things in our lives. He is waiting for us to come and suddenly notice, “Lord, You have been here the whole time,” and then draw near to Him.
This is the longing of His heart.
The writer to the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit through him, continued in Chapter 11, Verse 13. He spoke of some who stepped forward to live and follow in faith.
It is very interesting that so many people are sharing about faith at many conferences in these times. We need to be looking at a different way, a different vision.
The Holy Spirit tells us that these died in faith. They did not receive the promises, but they saw them and lived their lives according to this vision.
They made it clear that they were seeking a country of their own. Yesterday, we shared that we have a home base while we are on this earth, but these people were looking for home.
If they had been thinking about their old country, they could have turned back. But they could not turn back to the way of the world. They faced their home, walked, and followed according to that vision.
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.
—Hebrews 11:16
Who were these five, and what can we learn from them? None of these five were perfect, but they had a heart for the things of His heart.
The first was Abel. Abel has a very short story told about him. In Hebrews 11:4, it says, “By faith Abel offered.” By faith Abel offered.
Abel was one generation away from the fall of man. In that one generation, it was as though a gulf had widened between God’s heart and His purposes and man.
A new concept was introduced into the world: mine and yours. Before the fall, everything was God’s. But when man decided to go his own way, there became what was mine and what was yours.
Somehow, it came into Abel’s heart that he wanted to bridge this gulf. He wanted, in some degree, for God’s heart to be drawn closer to him again. So he gave an offering.
What is an offering, brothers and sisters? An offering is to say, “Something that belongs to me, something precious that I have, I am going to give to You.”
This was what Abel saw as a way to bridge the gulf that had formed.
This story is the story of free will. When we fell, there was introduced into our hearts a knowledge of what my right is compared with what your right is, and who is to say whose is better.
My right tells me how I should live and what I should do. In that life of mine, I am going to collect for myself.
The enemy introduced a poison into our lives: man now has a choice about what to do with what is, quote, his or hers.
The enemy knew how much the Lord loved us and how important freedom in choosing whom we love was to the Lord. The Lord was not going to force us to love Him.
But the greatness of what the Lord did was that He created a way and introduced into our hearts a way for man again to say, “Lord, I love You. I love You from my own choice.”
That is the foundation of love. When I asked my wife to marry me—and I am thankful she said yes—I could not do a Jedi mind trick on her and say, “You shall love me.” That is inconsistent with the freedom of love.
Abel, for a moment in time, of his own free will, said, “I will choose You, and I will give up something of value to me.” We do not know many details about the offering, but we know that it was something of value to him, and he gave it to the Lord.
For you and me, we grip the things that are of value to us very tightly. I remember getting a blood draw recently. The phlebotomist brought out five tubes, and I was asked to squeeze a little ball. I squeezed it so hard that my fingers turned white.
Brothers and sisters, the things that are mine, I grip them so hard. Maybe we do not think so, but in our hearts we grip them so hard.
The Lord has a longing: that we would be able to release things to Him and offer things to Him.
In Romans Chapter 12, we are reminded of a very important part of following after God, after the vision:
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
—Romans 12:1
The Holy Spirit reminds us that the Lord has a desire: that we might offer ourselves to Him.
What does this mean? In our days, we have a normal life. I wake up every day and have a certain number of hours. Immediately, I think about all the things I have to do for my job, and sometimes the burden of the day already falls on me.
I think through the day and the things that will happen, and it is hard for me to offer myself to Him for that day. But rather than being run ragged by the schedule that pops up on my phone, I might listen to Him and live that day for Him, that He might lead me through it.
There are certain necessities. I wake up, brush my teeth, take a shower, get in the car, arrive at work, and go through the day. If I offer my day to Him, what could the Lord possibly want with my shower?
Brothers and sisters, I think we would be surprised to know how much He wants that time. It is just five minutes.
What could He possibly want? If I cannot let go of the whole day, can I give Him five minutes? What could He possibly want with my five minutes?
It is hard for us to understand because we do not love Him as He loves us. When someone loves us so much, we have no ability to fathom it.
If someone loves us so much, we do not understand what five minutes might mean to Him. We cannot grasp it. It is a mark of how much He loves us.
He is asking us to offer Him our days. We think that to offer our days means we must offer the whole thing, every single thing we do. But, brothers and sisters, the Lord is real life. He is longing for us to offer Him something of that day.
This is the first step in knowing how we can go. When we offer Him some time in our day, the Lord can lead us forward toward that time. When we offer Him that day, He gives us the chance to see something of Him. It is so great.
The second person mentioned, again so briefly, was Enoch. His story is in Genesis Chapter 5, Verse 22, and we must combine it with Hebrews Chapter 11 because his story is told in two different places.
Genesis tells us how old he was, who his father was, who his son was, that he walked with God, and then he was no more, meaning that the Lord took him. That is all we know about him: he walked with God.
Hebrews Chapter 11, Verse 5 tells us:
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up. For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.
—Hebrews 11:5
Here is a very short story about someone who was found to be pleasing to God. What do we know about him? He walked. What is so great about walking?
At the time, men on the earth began to call upon the Lord. That is a wonderful thing, brothers and sisters. Many of us call upon the Lord. But a distinction is made from Seth all the way to Enoch: everyone called upon the Lord, but Enoch walked with God.
After the fall of man, the Lord came into the garden. He was walking in the garden, looking for Adam and Eve. Why was He doing that? Because He used to enjoy walking with them.
This walk is really special to the Lord, and it was taken from Him. For so long, generations of men could call on Him when they needed Him. To call means that we are at a distance.
Then there was this one man. We do not know how or why he did it, but he began to walk with God. Through the day, moving through distance, he was with God. He did not have to yell to where God was. God was right with him.
Sometimes he did not have to say anything. If you have ever taken a walk with your wife, it is really nice. You can walk, not say anything, and simply enjoy being with someone.
From a worldly point of view, most often we start from home, take a walk, and end up back at home. We do not really go anywhere. But in spiritual eyes, on the walk toward the vision, to spend time with the Lord is of great value.
We remember what our brother encouraged us with last night: this is when true knowledge can be fostered. It is not simply reading about something; it is walking with Him.
Often, the walk is most precious when we are going through difficulty.
Maybe ten or twelve years ago, I had a patient who came to see me with a fairly rare disease. It took a couple of visits, but we diagnosed it. She subsequently filed a suit against all the doctors she had seen before me, and after that she included me in the suit.
I can tell you that I went through such difficulty for a period of months. I remember the showers, the drives, and my meals. I remember where I was when I would hear a song and the Lord would comfort my heart.
I was beating myself up, thinking, “Could I have done something differently?” There was also the worry of having to meet with lawyers. No offense if you are a lawyer, brothers and sisters, but I had to meet with these people.
What I remember about that time was that the Lord had access to me. He could tell me something, and I could hear Him.
It does not seem like such a big deal now as I look back, but I am thankful for it. It was a time in which the Lord could reach me. During those months, I walked with Him. I could hear what He wanted me to do.
It was difficult. But what we see, brothers and sisters, is that we learn Him and know Him in these walks through challenging times.
We need to learn to walk with Him. If it happens by the Chaldean method—if the Lord might bring the Chaldeans upon us—we need to have faith. Even though all these things might change, I will still exalt in the Lord.
We must go forward knowing that He is trying to reach us in a real way.
The third person is Noah. Noah really encapsulates what we have been sharing about. He also walked with the Lord, and the Bible tells us that he found favor in His sight.
He was not a young man. He was five hundred years old or so, plus or minus twenty. He was given a vision, and the vision was that there was going to be a flood.
For the next hundred or so years, he began to build an ark. This ark was one and a half football fields long. It was supposed to carry two of every animal, and he built it in a place nowhere near water. I wonder what the neighbors thought of him.
Noah’s act of faith was not so much that he built the ark. His faith was that he believed the vision.
If you and I believe there will be a massive flood of historic proportions that will destroy the face of the earth, it would be illogical not to start building an ark. The vision was true to him. He had faith that it was true.
In these days, the world has a logic: go in the direction that you have been taught since second grade. To teach our children anything different would be illogical.
But, brothers and sisters, if we have seen a vision, it is illogical to go back to where we came from and what we were doing.
That is why what my brothers have been sharing is so important: that we might see the vision and know the vision. When we have seen and known the vision, building an ark becomes the logical thing for us to do in our lives.
We need to move forward with a different view of what is profitable and what is loss. We need to move forward with a different notion of what is logical and what is not logical.
What happened to Noah was that, over time, he began to revere the Lord. The Bible tells us that in reverence he built the ark.
This vision of faith is coupled directly to an increasing reverence for the Lord.
At wedding ceremonies, the Lord’s instruction to the wife is often quoted: “You shall respect your husband.” I have often wondered, why respect? Why is respect so important for us as the church?
Sometimes, if we are honest with ourselves, we may not love Him. We may not have a tenderness in our hearts toward Him. But if we revere Him, if we revere what He wants, we can still go forward toward that vision. Then He has a chance to kindle in us a love for Him.
It is important for us to have a heart that says, “I would long to respect Him more than I do right now.” That is how we can step forward by faith to do whatever He has us do—whether it is build an ark, take care of our children, or go to work in the morning.
The last two I will combine, because they were two made one: Abraham and Sarah. Their story is found in Hebrews Chapter 11, Verses 8 and 11, before the passage we read in Verses 13 through 16.
In Genesis Chapter 23, we are told the story of when Sarah passed away. It is a very touching story about a man who loved his wife. The Bible tells us that Abraham mourned for her and wept for her.
The nobles and landowners nearby saw him and respected him. They said, “We will give you this plot of land so that you can bury your wife.” Abraham said, “I cannot bury my wife in land that was given to me. I have to pay for it,” because he loved her.
They had gone on many rich adventures together. Their story could be described this way: a young lady met a rich young man, and then they walked on. They walked on as one, even after that rich young man said, “I am going to give up my inheritance in this world.”
She was a great help to him. She protected him from himself. Many of us brothers can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that we married up.
My wife knows that I sometimes get nervous when I serve. Afterwards, she always tells me, “I have some suggestions.” She pulls no punches.
Especially if I say something irreverent about the Lord, she pulls no punches. She knows that a man’s heart is weak. If she just said, “Good job,” she knows what that might do to me. I do not think she has ever said that to me.
She knows. She is a helper to me according to what the Lord wants. Brothers, come on, we know. We have seen the ones the Lord gave to our brothers, and you married up, right? This is just true. I think Abraham did too.
Abraham and Sarah went on together. She really helped him. She loved him, and she loved God. They went through many ups and downs. They made many mistakes.
When she passed away, he mourned for her and wept for her.
Many years before she passed away, a prophecy had been given to her that, when she was beyond the age of bearing children, there would be a child of promise born to her.
Sarah laughed out loud—LOL, right? She laughed because the biology was impossible. She knew the biology was impossible. But the Bible tells us that she believed the One who made the promise.
Abraham also had faith. Together, they had a very interesting faith in the vision.
Abraham believed in a land, and he obeyed according to that faith in a land. He gave up his inheritance and walked toward a land he had never seen before. He had no idea what it would look like, except that God would be with him there and that was where the Lord wanted him to go.
He brought his children—Isaac and Jacob—with him into this land, leaving behind the vision of what the world would tell him was success.
It is one thing for us to have a vision of God’s plan, desire, and purpose. The proof comes when we are willing to take our children there too.
It is one thing to say, “I am willing to go.” Brothers and sisters, are we willing to let our children go?
For my generation, when we grew up, there were two visions. Sometimes there was difficulty for our generation and for our children.
Can we believe enough that we want Isaac and Jacob to come with us, to see the fullness of Christ in the land He has promised for us?
They went together. They saw a city in their hearts, a city with foundations whose Architect and Builder was God. It was the home that God prepared for them.
Abraham saw this. In John Chapter 8, the Lord told us many years later that Abraham saw His day and was glad.
This land was the fullness of Christ: all the things Christ desired, His purpose, and His longing for us. Abraham had faith that this land was worth his life and worth his children’s lives.
Sarah saw the vision from the Lord’s point of view, to make it complete. Sarah saw people.
When she was told that she would have a child, the biology was no longer possible. They were, as the Holy Spirit told us, as good as dead.
But out of death would come something alive. Isaac would bear Jacob, who would bear the tribes, who would one day bear Mary. One day, our Lord would come to this earth, and He would die.
He would be crucified for us. When He was crucified for us, His life would come into our hearts. There would be a people for God’s own possession.
All of us who were dead—we are just dead. If we look at ourselves, we know that we are just dead. But out of death would come life.
This life would be planted into our hearts. There would be a sparkle of His life in so many of us, and He would build us together into a bride.
The land would have a people, and the people might have a land. By faith, they saw this together, and they moved forward.
Brothers and sisters, the Bridegroom shall have His bride, and the bride shall have her Bridegroom. We need to have faith that this will happen.
We can choose in our lives: How will this imprint in our hearts? Where shall we go together?
The Lord will have His people, and the people will have our Lord. We believe:
He who is coming will come, and He will not delay.
The righteous shall live by faith.
Let us pray.
Lord, we worship You and we thank You. Be glorified.
Lord, our prayer is that the desire of Your heart and Your purpose might be fulfilled. Lord, forgive us and help us.
Give us in our hearts a longing for Your heart and for the things that You are desiring to do. Lord, make a nearness to us that can be our good, so that we may hold on to You.
Thank You, Lord. We worship You. We glorify You in Jesus’ name.