0:00 [Music] I'm hesitant to say much more lest we lose the impact of what we have heard. But if you'll turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11. 0:30 Verse four, it says that it was by faith that Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. It was by faith. Abel didn't know what was going to happen. He didn't know the future. He 0:49 wasn't trying to impress anybody, but he simply trusted God. And as we've heard about sacrifice today, I believe, dear brothers and dear sisters, even as we heard about the cross, that unless God speaks a word of 1:08 faith to our hearts that says this is what you must do, it will never become a reality. I've heard many sermons on sacrifice and tried to convince myself, tried to tell myself I need to do this more. But one day it be it just became 1:28 faith. One day I received faith that Lord I'm going to give you really give you everything and you're going to help me. And everything changed after that. By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he 1:44 obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts. And through faith, though he is dead, he shall he still speaks. What a wonderful testimony. And I've been thinking about faith recently as a result of uh physical 2:03 circumstances and spiritual circumstances. For example, a few months ago, the Lord laid a burden on our hearts in this church, as you know, to pray for all of our children that not one of them would be lost. And we've been praying diligently for that and 2:18 speaking to them especially with that focus. We've had physical needs in our church, healing and other physical needs. And uh it's also I thought about this phrase, you know, in Galatians 6, we are called the household of faith. What a 2:35 wonderful phrase that is to be called the household of faith. What a good goal to set for our own homes. Um that people come in and they know this is the household of faith. That's Galatians 6:10. This home is a home of faith. This 2:52 church when people come in they see is a home of faith. There's faith here. And faith is quite different from what I think we hear in most of Christendom or even what we may think. I've been trying to examine my heart to see that I have 3:08 this true faith because as we heard when we have true faith, we'll offer that sacrifice that's pleasing to the Lord. And a few characteristics of faith. I thought that the Lord's been speaking to my own heart to test myself that it's really faith 3:24 because we're told to do that. test yourself to see if you really have faith. One of the marks of faith I found recently I've been meditating on is that the longer the answer to my prayer is delayed, the more it's delayed, the more confident I am that 3:44 God's going to actually answer. This is counterintuitive to how we are in the world. If you ask for something, the longer it takes to be fulfilled, the more discouraged you get and the more disheartened and you think, "Oh, it's never going to happen." If you 4:02 know, for some people who come to this country, for example, they apply for a green card and it takes longer and longer and longer, you think, "God, it's taken so long. It's probably never going to happen." Faith is the opposite. It's 4:14 exactly the opposite because everything about heaven is the opposite of this earth. In Romans 4, we read in verse 20 about a man who actually had faith, real faith. And like I was saying, the mark of faith is that if God takes longer to 4:33 answer my request, to fulfill the answer to my request, that I know that I have true faith because I'll be more confident that he's actually going to do it. And the delay just in increases my confidence. And that's how it was for 4:49 Abraham. In Romans 4, we read in verse 20, with respect to the promise of God. Romans 4:20, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief. So the mark of unbelief is it's taking a long time. Oh, God's not 5:09 going to do it. But he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith because it was taking so long. So God gave the promise to Abraham that he would have a son when he was in his 70s I think. And it took 25 years for God to 5:26 fulfill that. 25 to 30 years. And with each year Abraham if you went to him you would find out he was even more confident that he was going to have a son not less. If you met him when he was 75, God said he's going to fulfill this promise. 5:45 He sounded confident. One year later, he's 76. And you think, "How long has it been, Abraham?" "It's been a year." He's more confident. You meet him when he's 85. How long's it been, Abraham? 10 years. He says, "I'm even more 5:59 confident, even though I'm still waiting." You meet him when he's 95, 99, and it's been 24 years, no sign of the answer. Every pregnancy test, Sarah has still come back negative. And he says, "I'm even more confident." This is faith. And I've 6:18 been testing my own heart and seeing that I probably haven't really had real faith because I found that when God delayed the answer, I became more discouraged and said, "Lord, you're not going to do it." For what? Things like 6:33 the promise of the Holy Spirit, the victorious life of control over my tongue, control over my eyes, and um patience and all of these things. the promise that God gave Abraham, which is the promise of the spirit. So, I'm 6:50 asking God for real faith. Faith comes from hearing the voice of Christ, we read. And I'm asking him for real faith that as long as it takes, even if God delays the answer, I'll know that I have real faith because I'm even more 7:04 confident. If God has promised it, it doesn't mean it doesn't matter how long it takes. James chapter 1 says that that testing of our faith produces endurance. Another mark of faith is that faith waits without ftting, without anxiety. If you turn 7:23 with me to Psalm 37, there is a a rest. There is a silence about faith that I found has been lacking in my life. I thought I had faith, but I found that the longer it took, the more frantic my 7:41 prayers were. I prayed more fervently or more anxiously I will, if you will. Nothing wrong with fervent prayer. But the mark of faith is that if I really believe God, the next day when I ask him for the same thing, I'm not asking him with a 7:58 ftting like, Lord, it's been a day, you haven't done anything. It's been a week, it's been a month, it's been a year. I'm not ftting. I don't know if you can relate to that. Perhaps you can. I know that's been characteristic of my life where 8:13 I've asked for something and the Lord's had to have me wait for the fulfillment of it and a year or months later my prayers are more frantic. Like, Lord, I'm running out of time. I'm ftting. Look at this verse. Psalm 37:7. Rest in the Lord and wait 8:31 patiently for him. Do not fret in your waiting. Wait patiently for him. The mark that you're waiting patiently for him is that there's no ftting. Fretting means, you know, ftting may not even be something you can see outwardly, but it's a turmoil in the 8:48 mind is ftting. It's an disturbance in there. Another verse like that is Psalm 62. We read in verse one, one mark of a lack of ftting is we become silent. Sometimes I believe that the 9:06 mark that I've asked God and I really believe in him is I can now be silent about it. It may not be always now. It doesn't mean that we stop praying. I'm not making this a rule, but the Lord's been convicting me that sometimes the 9:19 mark of my faith is I'm just not going to be silent. I've left it at the Lord's hand. He's heard my prayer. I really believe he's heard it. And now I'm just going to be silent. Psalm 62:1, "My soul waits in silence for God only. From his 9:35 and him is my salvation." I've seen this to be a mark of faith that there's an a silence to it because sometimes my continual prayer, I say, "I need to pray again. I need to pray again." Could be ftting and the Lord could be saying, 9:49 "It's time for you to be silent and as a mark of my faith." And one more is that faith is never proud of itself. I can never really have faith. And if God answers my prayer in faith, I can never brag about it. You know, I see often 10:06 that Jesus when he did miracles, more often than not, when he did a miracle, he almost always told them, "Don't tell anyone about it." You would think that Jesus after 30 years of walking in humility I don't think there was any 10:24 well we know there was no proud pride in Jesus at all ever and here he was after having 30 years of walked in humility never once even having an ounce of pride would he have been tempted to be proud if word spread about the miracle that he 10:41 did yeah sure he would have been tempted but I don't think he would have given into that pride he had seen the father sustain him through grace and through the power of the holy spirit through so many trials that we don't know much 10:53 about and and yet he said don't tell anyone there was a sense in which the faith that Jesus had I hope you know that even Jesus every miracle that he did was not because he was God but because he was man exercising faith he 11:12 did it by the power of God in him as a And it was by faith that Jesus did miracles even when he was here on this earth. Even though he was God, fully God. And I think about that as an example for the faith now for the circumstances God wants me to have. How 11:28 am I to have the same faith that Jesus had? One of the characteristics of that is that I will say, "Lord, if you do it, let it be in a quiet way, in a hidden way." And yet you see the so the opposite of that. You read books. People 11:43 write books over one little miracle that God does. One small little thing and it's entire book that they can money make money off of it. They want to tell as many people. If they think God might do a miracle, they want the cameras 11:54 focused on them. This is not faith. It's the exact opposite of it. There is a sense in which faith wants to hide itself and wants God to move in a subtle way that you might almost think it wasn't a miracle. The God who hides 12:08 himself. And faith can never brag about itself. I thought about it like this as a little picture. The the fastest man recorded who's ever run the fastest is a man named Usain Bolt from Jamaica. And the fastest time ever recorded when he 12:25 ran the 100 meters a few years ago, I think like five six years ago, maybe longer than that, was some portion of the 100 meter race he ran where he was going some something like 28 m an hour extremely fast running. And if Usain 12:38 Bolt came in here and bragged about the fact that I've run 25 m an hour and I say I traveled 65 miles an hour in a car, I could never brag about that because I was doing nothing. I was just sitting in the car and maybe I was in a 12:53 cab and the car was going 65 miles an hour, but I went almost three times as or two and a half times as fast as Usain Bolt was running. And I got that picture of faith that we really have faith. I'll realize that I had nothing 13:07 to do with it. When God gives me victory over sin by faith, let's say I come to the place where I'm actually now have control over my eyes and control over my tongue and it really came by faith. I say, Lord, I had nothing to do with it. 13:22 I finally gave you that sacrifice. I laid it all on the altar. You filled me with the power of the Holy Spirit. And it was like, you put me in this car that's going 65 mph. And that's a mark of faith. I can never brag about it. I 13:34 can never feel proud over the fact that God has done something in me that he hasn't done in somebody else. And I thank God that for he allowed me to be defeated for many years of years of trying to run as fast as Usain Bolt 13:48 spiritually. And now he put me in a car that I can never brag about. I can never say I take any credit for it. I see that God is carrying me. And I pray dear family that we will be a household of faith that God will take us up to higher 14:02 things faster running after him because we're trusting in him. Amen. As brother Zach was sharing, I was sitting there thinking, man, I really want to be part of that inner circle that that the Lord has here in this church. Um, it could be 14:22 all of us. It could be some of us, but I had this desire. Lord, I really want to be part of it. But as we heard, that road is a road of sacrifice. That road is a road of um laying your all on the altar. And I was reminded of 14:36 the inner circle that Jesus had with Peter, James, and John. And I was reminded of Luke chapter 5 when Jesus first called them um when he performed the miracle of the fish. I'll read from verse 8 onwards. Uh this was 14:53 after um they found the fish and the nets began to tear. But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man." For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish. 15:08 And so also were James and John, son, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. So that was the inner circle. They all three were there when that miracle happened. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. from now on 15:20 you'll be catching men. And then verse 11, and when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. And I was thinking that verse struck me when I was reading it recently. The miracle that Jesus did was 15:35 for them. They were clearly in need. They had been out all night trying to catch fish. And here it was, Jesus gave them the fish. In fact, a miraculous amount of fish. But when they recognized Jesus and when they came to the shore, verse 11, um 15:50 they left everything, even the fish, even what Jesus had just given them. And they followed him. And not only were Peter, James, and John leaving their past lives behind and saying, "Lord, now that was my sinful past. I was," Peter said, "I was a 16:03 sinful man." Not only were they leaving everything else beside, but they were also willing to let go of what Jesus just gave them for the sole reason of gaining Jesus. They had found him. They had found the pearl of great price 16:18 and probably other people came and looted that fish and and cleared their debts or whatever. But Peter, James, and John wanted none of that. They just said, "Lord, we have you. We don't even need the fish." And it struck me that 16:33 they they didn't even stick around to enjoy the fruit of what Jesus gave them. And I was challenged by that. If I want to be in the inner circle, there are a lot of things in life Jesus gives me. family, a home, a job, and he 16:45 blesses me with all of these things. But at some point, he asked me to to to lay that on the altar and say, "This is not for you. I'm taking it away now." And I want to be willing to to let go of that and say, "Lord, even the fish that you gave me, 17:00 the catch, the miraculous catch of fish that you gave me, I want to leave even that behind, everything behind and follow you. Show me where you're going." Um, and that's the cost to to be in that inner circle. I was also thinking of the 17:14 cross. Um, as brother Zach was sharing in Matthew 26 when Jesus was before the Sanhedrin um just a couple verses in um from verses 67 and 17:33 68. Um this was after he had been before the council and they couldn't find anything wrong with him and then they somehow got him to say that he's the son of God and then um verse 67 Matthew 26:67 and then they spit on his face and 17:50 they struck him and then some slapped him and they said prophesy to us you Christ who is that who struck you and a few chapters earlier Matthew 17 um the mount of transfiguration. I'll read verses 1 and two. And Jesus took 18:09 with him Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And I was thinking about that this past week as we 18:24 heard this morning, Jesus knew about the cross from all eternity. And I was asking the Lord literally. They said, "Lord, how did you allow that face that shone like the sun for all eternity? How did you allow that face to be disgraced in that way 18:39 for it to be spit upon and struck and slapped?" And from Isaiah 50, we know that his beard was pulled out. I said, "Lord, how did you allow that?" Uh, in fact, turn to Isaiah 50. In verse 19:06 five, and this is about about Jesus, the Lord has opened my ear and I was I was not rebellious. I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I hid not my face from disgrace and 19:22 spitting. And I was also thinking of the garden of Gethsemane that when Jesus languished when he dropped when sweat drops of blood dropped from his head. It was not things like this that he was languishing about about you know being 19:35 disgraced or as we heard the nails going through his hand. None of that bothered him. And if we think about how every piece had to be laid on the altar. Jesus had laid every single piece on the altar. And the one thing that he did not 19:49 want to give up, the last piece was fellowship with the father. And I was so challenged by that that none of it mattered to him. Um Jesus didn't transfigure before the crowds. He only transfigured before three people. But 20:04 when he was disgraced, he was disgraced publicly in front of everybody. His reputation, the fact that nobody had ever spit on his face in all eternity, his face was like the sun, didn't matter to him. He laid every single piece down 20:18 on the altar. And I was challenged by that to do the same. I've been um humiliated before professionally or even personally. Not to that level obviously, but I found it so hard. It's taken me weeks sometimes to come back 20:33 and say it's okay. I can forgive him. But I want to be like like my savior. And none of that mattered to him. every single piece was laid on the altar and said, "Lord, I'll I'll suffer all of these things, even public shame 20:45 and disgrace." If that means that Allan can can go to heaven and follow in my footsteps, I want to be in that inner circle. As I said, it's it's something that's that's gripped me this morning. Um, but that is a road of sacrifice, and 20:59 I'm asking the Lord for his grace to to be there and to walk that road. Amen. [Music]
