You’re all set yet.
Well, Hal has to teach you how to work. New sound—first new soundboard since we had a soundboard, to my knowledge.
Anyway, may the Lord have mercy on us today, that He would have something that would just encourage us in these trying days, and that we could stay in the race. In Jesus’ name.
Well, I handed out a little outline. Did you get one, Kenny? Where were you when they were handed out? Probably arrested. Okay, here.
So this little outline says—this is my burden—that these are days in which we might live by faith and not by sight. We might live by seeing things with the eyes of our heart and not our eyeballs.
What we see with our eyeballs is right discouraging. What we see in spirit, and not according to the natural, is different. This morning gives us a little example, doesn’t it? What do we see with our eyeballs this morning? Snow. Icy roads, cold, wet. Naturally speaking, it’s not pleasant, is it?
But what’s above all the snow? Above the snow is blue sky. The spirit—strong in spirit. So we don’t want to look and live our lives looking at our environment.
What got me thinking about this is just what trying times we’re living in. Trying times. And if we just look at these times with our natural eyes, we’d be discouraged. But the Lord has called us to look by faith.
What is the thing going on in the scene that’s most distressful to you? What’s most distressful to me is the moral decline in our country. It’s just horrendous, you know?
We could also think of the persecution of the church. Whoever thought we’d see the day when it was socially unacceptable to be a Christian, and even to the point of being attacked and assaulted? That’s pretty bad.
Of course, the third thing we have is a pandemic. Pandemic. I was thinking we never thought we would see something like this, but all these things are an opportunity to endure.
And in spite of all the negative perspective we could get, I tell you, I’ve been personally encouraged that it’s all signs that the Lord is coming soon.
You know, we talk about it, we think about it, but it’s really struck me now these last months that He’s coming soon. And just let’s look at a few verses.
In Luke 21:10-28 is one of the sections that talks about His soon return. Just look at a few of the verses.
Verse 10:
Then He continued by saying to them,
“Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom,
and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines;
and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”
And then, skipping on to Luke 21:12:
“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you,
delivering you to the synagogues and prisons,
bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.
It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony.
So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves;
for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”
“But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends,
and they will put some of you to death;
and you will be hated by all because of My name.
Yet not a hair of your head will perish.
By your endurance you will gain your lives.”
You know, that’s a theme that we think about: the trial of faith that we’re living through—perseverance and endurance.
The Amplified says that last little verse, Luke 21:19:
“By your steadfastness and patient endurance, you shall win the true life of your souls.”
And this salvation of the soul—I always go back to Psalm 131. I’ll just read it.
O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
nor do I involve myself in great matters,
or in things too difficult for me.
Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child rests against his mother,
my soul is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forever.
The Lord is about weaning our souls and bringing us into rest.
So these are honestly great days of opportunity. What seem like negative things are really days of opportunity.
Continuing with Luke 21:25:
“There will be signs in sun and moon and stars,
and on the earth dismay among nations,
in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,
men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world;
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
“But when these things begin to take place,
straighten up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near.”
Some versions say, “Look up.” I just like this thing: straighten up. You know, when we’re looking down and weary, and the things we face are wearing us out, look up. Really helpful.
You know, we don’t always have control over our environment, but we do have control over our reaction to our environment. We can get bitter, or we can get better. But I believe the Lord allows these circumstances for His purpose and His end.
Kenny said, after he shared with those folks on the West Coast, “God is always right.” God is always right, right?
Second Peter 3:17-18:
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand,
be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men
and fall from your own steadfastness,
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
So these are days to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I believe these are days of possible, real opportunity for us. This word I mentioned is really something that the Lord spoke to me a while back: to live by faith and not sight.
Faith—faith with the eyes of our heart. Faith in God, trust in God. He is our Helper. He is our life. He holds the future.
The unseen. We need to live with the eyes of our heart and not our eyeballs. Sight looks at the world, looks at our environment, at ourselves and our circumstances—the natural. It looks at things with our eyeballs.
So we’ve been called to live by faith and not sight. Great opportunity.
So I had four points I thought we could look at.
Okay, I’ve got to stop—an interruption. Is that thing still on 64? Feels pretty hot in here when you’re standing up here. Who’s hot? Who’s cold? You don’t count. Stella is too hot. Okay, good. Thanks, Phil. I didn’t want to pass out up here.
So, the little outline:
So number one: what’s the parallel between the letter to the Hebrews and our situation today?
First off, they were Christians who had been saved in the middle of Judaism. And the author of this book, who I think is Paul—some important guys did, you know; Sparks did—but anyway, he had encouragement for them.
They were caught in Judaism, they were stuck in it, and they were persecuted by Judaism, by the formal religious system of their day. And they were persecuted by the world.
Christianity was illegal in Rome. Remember what ended up happening to the Christians? They were martyred in Rome.
Anyway, they were preparing to destroy the temple, and all the religious form would be gone. So I feel like the author of Hebrews was calling them to begin to live by faith and not sight. They were getting rid of the temple.
And the argument in the book of Hebrews starts out in Hebrews 1:1-10:18, all about the person and work of Christ, drawing their attention to Jesus Christ, the Apostle and High Priest of their confession.
Then, at Hebrews 10:19, they start on the practical application, the practice and walk of faith they were called to. So I just want to try and talk a little bit about the practical way of walking by faith, maybe from Hebrews and maybe from some other places.
So number two: the call to live by faith and not sight. I thought we’d consider a little bit what it means—by faith and not sight. If we have to talk about what faith is, then I guess it’s one of those things you don’t talk about, right? You can’t explain it, but what it is.
Hebrews 11 begins to talk about faith right after that transition. Hebrews 11:1:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
So faith is seeing things in spirit and not with our eyeballs.
And then Hebrews 11:6:
“And 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 seek Him.”
Hebrews 10:22 in the Amplified says:
“Let us all come forward and draw near with true, honest, and sincere hearts,
in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith—
by that leaning of the entire human personality on God
in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness—
having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty, evil conscience.”
Oh, you said amen? Okay. No, that’s okay. That’s okay.
Another point about what faith is: I thought Vine had a good little definition. He said the main elements in faith in its relation to the invisible God, as distinct from faith in man, are:
And this stands in contrast to belief in its purely natural exercise, which exists in an opinion held in good faith without necessary reference to its proof.
The object of Abraham’s faith was not God’s promise, but his faith rested on God Himself. So our faith is in God Himself.
And, you know, my faith verse my whole life is Proverbs 3:5-8:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body
and refreshment to your bones.
Trusting the Lord, leaning on Him, resting on Him, is even healing to our bodies and refreshment to our bones. Trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding.
Faith is a gift of God, not something natural that we prop up and pump up in our human strength. It’s a gift of God. We were given the gift of God to believe in Him, to get saved, to be born again, and we are continuing on in that same faith, growing with Him.
Hebrews 12 says, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”
You know, I think there’s a misunderstanding. Who remembers Lance, when he said there’s a common misunderstanding that faith is something we do naturally? Remember him getting the air pump? Pump up our faith, our natural faith. That’s not what we’re talking about.
We’re talking about faith in God and the faith of God—trusting in the Lord with all our hearts, to grow by grace through faith in that which began by grace through faith.
Faith’s not a thing. Faith is a Person: Jesus Christ. Trusting in Him, abiding in Him.
Okay, number three. Look, it’s snowing again. Something. Big flakes. Yeah.
Number three: the example of those living by faith and not sight from Hebrews 11. We’re all familiar with that. It’s often called the Hall of Faith.
But it’s not just an award assembly here. It’s an encouragement to us today to know it is possible to live by faith in God and not sight. These who went before us were for encouragement.
You know, in these days, we can be tempted to give up. Things are too difficult.
Let’s read Hebrews 10:35 again, part of this transition section here:
“Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a 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.”
In Hebrews 11, the Lord points out numerous saints from the Old Testament, those who lived by faith and walked in faith. And I think those are definitely there to encourage us. They had the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.
The first one was Noah. You know, there’s a bunch of them here; I just picked a few of them. Noah walked with God. He listened to God. Things were terrible.
You know, it says we’re living as in the days of Noah—everyone doing what’s right in his own eyes. But Noah listened to the Lord and trusted Him. He built an ark for the salvation of his family.
What do you think all the neighbors must have said? “Look at that screwball, Noah, building an ark.”
Who remembers the guy over on Homeview Avenue? Did you remember that when you grew up, Philip? There was a guy who built a huge, huge boat in his backyard. I think he made it out of concrete or something. I don’t know what happened to it. It’s not there anymore, but he stood out.
From when you were a kid, did you ever see it over there? No? No, nobody saw it. Maybe I made that up.
But Noah had hope. He had hope for the future—hope in God, right? Faith in God. And he lived with the trust that God was with him. He persevered in difficult days by trusting the Lord. He didn’t go under.
Abraham lived in Ur of the Chaldees. Talk about an evil place—the home of idol worship, evil idol worship. Both of these fellows lived in environments that were terrible, terrible, terrible. But they didn’t give in to it.
What did Abraham do?
“By 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.”
He left the world behind. He didn’t go under it; he went out. And he received the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. He persevered. Noah persevered and went out.
And finally, think of Sarah. Abraham and Sarah—I read maybe this morning—they’re ninety, maybe they were ninety years old. Even in the old days, that was old.
Sarah was in the tent. Some of the translations said she was at the door of the tent. And I know what a tent door looks like. But she heard the Lord say to Abraham that he would have a son by Sarah, and she laughed.
It was so incredulous to think. I think her laughter was not a disrespectful laugh, but it was incredulity: “Me, Lord? Me?” And you know what? They had a son.
And because of their trust and faith in God, the whole world was saved. You know, all these guys that walked by faith—this is really our history. They persevered.
Not only that, they contributed to the salvation of the world: that race, that child that was born to Abraham and Sarah; Noah saving the whole world by that ark; Abraham leaving the world behind. Anyway, they lived by faith.
Hebrews 11:39 says:
“And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
because God had provided something better for us,
so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”
They were faithful to their calling, lived by faith, and because of that, we’ve been saved. We’ve been born again, and the Lord has established His church. The whole history of our lives was based on these ones walking by faith. They lived by faith and not sight, and they persevered in tribulation.
So the number four point: application to us today. You know, we said that all these could be discouraging days. They can actually be very encouraging days because the Lord is coming soon. We have been called to live by faith and not sight—not to come under things, to straighten up and lift up our heads because our redemption is drawing near.
We have this chance to prepare for His return by giving ourselves completely to Him.
So what we’ve been saying is, this burden of the book of Hebrews was a call to live by faith. Now the just shall live by faith, not shrink back.
This call to faith is not for special Christians. We were encouraged to hear Enoch say, a few weeks ago, that one-talent saints, second-fiddle Christians—we’re all to live by faith.
Second-fiddle people lead the way.
Okay, so in Hebrews 10:22, it also told us:
“Let us come forward and draw near with true and honest hearts,
in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith—
that leaning of the entire human personality on God
in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness.”
And we have this cloud of witnesses to call us to stay in the race and to persevere. That leads us over to Hebrews 12:1-3:
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,
let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself,
so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Run with endurance. Run with endurance.
As Christians, we’ve been born into a race. And that race is a long race, an endurance race—a marathon, a lifelong race.
Endurance runners really have a special situation they deal in. They have to really train long, hard, lonely days to build up their endurance.
The author of Hebrews describes this training as discipline. We are under discipline.
For the moment, it seems not joyful but sorrowful; yet, to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Rest and trust in the Lord.
I think the trials around us today can be used as training exercises. Our natural tendency, when we’re in a trying situation, is to avoid it, to go around it, to escape it. And the Lord’s will for us is to go through it.
You know, we’re often told that Christians today, we’re not supposed to suffer. We’re not supposed to have uncomfortable dealings. But I think the Lord allows those dealings so that we can learn endurance and have faith.
The only way we get faith and increase our faith and trust in God is to go through it. He gives us trials of faith—tests of faith.
If everything was so smooth, we would not have to trust the Lord, would we? If we didn’t have trying circumstances. So we do have these trying circumstances, and they’re to bring us to trust the Lord.
The whole idea of discipline is one of those things that’s just a cancelled word. That’s cancel culture. Parents have children today and say, “Discipline? Discipline my children? That’s mean. That’s mean-spirited. I’m not going to discipline my children.”
But the Lord has discipline for us with a purpose. I just want to read a little bit that I found from C. A. Coates. He’s talking about the chastening referred to in Hebrews—this education, this endurance training.
“The chastening referred to here has in view the making good in our souls the precious things spoken of in this epistle. Think of the great things that were presented: God speaking in His Son—that is unlimited. There are these great things: the divine speaking, the priesthood of Christ, the privilege of drawing nigh to God, and the walking by faith. These are things which require education to be understood. We now come to the educational side.”
I just thought that was great—Coates using the word education instead of trial, and so forth.
“This aspect is important in considering the truth of sonship. We think of it on the side of privilege, but the educational side is most important. We would not take up the privileged side without the educational side. God is bringing many sons to glory. That is the purpose side. In privilege, we say, ‘Abba, Father,’ but then there is the educational side, which is most important.”
You know, our society puts great, great value on education. I just went to the dentist a couple weeks ago. Think how long a dentist was in school—kindergarten to high school, twelve years; college, four, right? Dental school for a long, long time before he can start.
Our society values education, and the church, as the church, we ought to value spiritual education. So the days we live in provide us great opportunity for eternal education. We don’t have much time left. Might we use it wisely?
So, you know, an endurance runner—I don’t know much about it—but long runs can be very lonely. Endurance runners will often talk about how lonely it is, and their struggle is not so much physically, but mentally and in loneliness.
But you know what? We aren’t alone. Hebrews 12 says, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus,” looking steadfastly on Jesus, looking away from all that will distract, who is the Leader and Source of our faith.
So we look to Jesus. We are not alone. Praise God.
So we want to get our eyes off the world. When we’re looking at Jesus, we can’t be looking at the world and being undone by the days we live in. Lay aside every encumbrance.
You know, encumbrances aren’t necessarily negative things. They can be good things, things we’re involved in. And maybe it’s not so obvious that there are encumbrances that hold us back from going on with the Lord.
So let’s talk about what things might be holding us and keeping us, and use the running analogy.
A runner warms up. You know, after all this training, he warms up, and usually warms up with a sweatsuit, warm-up shoes, even warm-up socks.
I don’t know if there are any runners here. When we were young, we had heavy cotton sweatsuits, and they were really heavy. We had pretty clunky shoes. So the thought of running a race and really being engaged with that stuff on is impossible.
So we need to lay aside the encumbrances, whatever it is. Just ask the Lord to show us what might be holding us back, even good things and natural things.
We need to take our sweats off and change to our racing shoes. The days are drawing near, and the championship meet is at hand. Let’s be prepared.
You know, there’s another thing that I often think of when I think about these running analogies, and that’s in Galatians 5:7.
It says, in the New American Standard:
“You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?”
But I really like the NIV:
“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?”
Who cut in on you? So I don’t know if you’ve ever been a runner. As you’re going along in the race, it becomes a point where you’re expended. You just keep moving because you’re supposed to keep moving, full stride.
If someone cuts in on you, you have to break stride. If you break stride, you’re in real trouble. How are you going to get going again?
So I think that’s a word to us today, because this subject here that got cut in on was in the race when someone cut in on him. We’re all in the race, and we need to be careful that we don’t—we’re tired, we’re exhausted—and so it’s an easy time for the enemy to come in and cut us off, cause us to stumble.
We need to have persevering, enduring faith.
Just want to give a little example. Who remembers Mary Decker Tabb? Nobody. She was an Olympic runner, and Zola Budd stepped on her heel and caused her to stumble.
And Mary Decker Tabb—did she fall? I think she might have stumbled and fell, and she quit. She didn’t get back up.
And that same generation, there was a runner named Jim Ryun. This is how things change. Who knows who Jim Ryun was? All the old guys.
So Jim Ryun was, I think, exactly my age, and he was a miler, half-miler. He ran five sub-four-minute miles in high school.
ESPN named him the best high school athlete of all time, beating out Tiger Woods and LeBron James for the best high school athlete of all time. This is ancient history.
He was the world-record holder in the outdoor mile for eight straight years. Who holds world records in track events? He was the youngest athlete to qualify for the Olympics during his day. He was really good.
So anyway, in 1968 or '69, I can’t remember what the date was, I was at the Drake Relays, which is a big college meet in the spring, a big invitational at Drake University.
Jim Ryun was running, and I can’t remember if it was the 800 or the 1500, half-mile or the mile. This track was built—it’s a track stadium—and so all the fans are right on the track. It’s wild. Everybody’s cheering.
Here he comes, the last lap, the home stretch. You know, a horse always comes around that last turn. And Jim Ryun ran off the track and quit.
The greatest athlete of his day quit. It was too much. The pressure was too much. He was putting that pressure on himself because everybody expected him to be the world-record holder again.
But Jim Ryun—Jim Ryun—ran off the track. I mean, everybody gasped.
I tried to look up the Drake Relays—not too much of it. Kind of lost interest. But I found a site that had the results from '68 and '69, whatever year I was there. His name wasn’t in there. Didn’t even have him listed as having run the race.
So anyway, let’s not. Let’s run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.
Brothers and sisters, we need to rise above all the things we see with our eyeballs. I firmly believe that the enemy stirs those things up to take us out. I think he exaggerates things, makes it distasteful.
Anyway, I don’t want to start talking about things because people have different opinions. But we need to use this as an opportunity to get our eyeballs off all that garbage and get them on the Lord.
So just to conclude: we live in unprecedented days. So many problems when seen with our eyeballs. But when we see with our spiritual eyes, with the eyes of our heart, they are wonderful days. The Lord is right at the door. We need to believe that.
During these days, we have an opportunity to be disciplined and trained to prepare for the Lord’s return. As Coates said, these are great days for our education, our spiritual education.
To benefit, we need to keep our eyes and our attention focused on heavenly things, always looking off to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Looking away from all that would distract, and most importantly, looking away from ourselves. Throw off our warm-ups and put on our racing shoes. Train our spiritual eyes. Use our spiritual eyes and not our eyeballs.
The last verse I had here was 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. We’ve just been reading 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians.
“Therefore we do not lose heart,
but though our outer man is decaying,
yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us
an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
while we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen;
for the things which are seen are temporal,
but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Well, Lord, we thank You for calling us to look away—just to look away from all this world and these things that want to kill us, take our lives, consume our souls.
Lord, we just say no to them this morning, and we say yes to heaven. We say yes to the eyes of our heart, spiritual eyes.
Might we behold Christ, the author and perfecter of faith, and live with our eyes on heavenly things and not earthly things.
Lord, we need You, and we just trust in You to do it. In Jesus’ name.
Oh, thank You for this encouraging word.