The Work of Faith in the Christian Life

Gratitude and Introduction to the Work of Faith

0:01 This sermon was preached at the 1987 Southeastern Reformed Baptist Family Conference held at Gardner-Webb College in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. Before we turn to the ministry of the Word of God, since this is the last opportunity that I will have to address you in this conference, I do want to express, first of all, my gratitude to the elders and to the people of the church in Mebane for the gracious invitation to come and minister the Word of God among you.

0:47 When I say that I count it a great privilege to minister Christ's Word, I mean that sincerely, and I seek periodically to reflect upon the amazing grace of God that would take a confused, pimply-faced, foul-mouthed, purposeless high school senior, change him by his grace, and then give him the unspeakable privilege of spending his life in telling others of that grace. And I'm thankful for the privilege extended to me

1:31 to minister the Word of God in this first Southeastern Reformed Baptist Conference, and it has indeed been a privilege for me to be able to speak to you today. It has indeed been a time of great delight, as I am sure we have all sensed, that the things that were articulated in the opening prayer of Pastor Hendricks on Monday night, God has been wonderfully answering petition by petition by petition throughout this week. And then I do want to express thanks for the serious attention you have all given to the ministry of the Word. I spoke especially...

2:11 I spoke especially to the teenagers the other night, personally expressing to them how much they ministered to my heart by their obvious, serious concern to hear and, I trust, to receive the Word of God. And you must never underestimate how much you minister to the heart of a servant of Christ when you bring to the preaching of the Word serious, undistracted attentiveness. And in that context, the heart of any true servant of God, unless he is grievously quenching the spirit,

2:50 is drawn out and finds great joy in preaching the Word of God. And I want especially to commend you for the pattern that I trust has been set for as often and as long as this conference will be convened in years to come, should the Lord delay His coming and spare us, namely the pattern of the serious preparation and quietness prior to the seasons of public teaching and preaching, both over there in the theater and here. And I trust that will ever mark your gathering together. As I've had opportunity to see some of you at play, you've played with gusto.

3:36 And God is pleased when you do. And the same God is pleased when, in the language of Scripture, we serve Him acceptably with reverence and godly fear, knowing that our God is a consuming fire.

3:55 Now tonight we come to the fourth and final study in the subject assigned to me, namely the work of faith in Christian experience. And in the first two messages, I attempted to demonstrate three of the major elements of that faith which is unto life and salvation. And then last night, in the exposition of James 2 and verse 19, I attempted to contrast that faith which is unto life and salvation

4:34 with the spurious faith which James calls the faith of the demons. And now tonight, we shall consider the very broad subject of the work of faith in the Christian life. And the very announcement of the subject will bring to the mind of every Christian who has any acquaintance with the general teaching of his Bible the fact that this is a very broad and many-faceted subject. Therefore, all I can hope to do tonight is perhaps to stir up the faith in the Christian life.

5:13 Perhaps to stir you up, to be made more aware of the crucial place of faith, not only in entering into life, but also in the outworking of the Christian life. In preparation for this series of messages, I took my Greek concordance and looked up every reference in the New Testament in which the verb to believe, is used, and every reference in which the noun faith is used. And I put little code letters by those references,

5:57 SF for saving faith, and then FCL, faith in the Christian life, and then I used, I think, the little code word M for some miscellaneous uses. And as I sought to bring together materials for tonight's message, and went back over all those dozens of usages of the word faith and believe in the New Testament, and simply looked at the ones next to which I had my little code letters, FCL, faith in the Christian life, I saw that indeed there were materials for a series of at least a dozen messages.

6:41 And here I am on the last night, attempting to speak to you on the subject of the work of faith in the Christian life. So obviously, all I can hope to do is to try to point in the direction of this vital subject, trusting that you will further search it out on your own in your own study of the word of God, and that perhaps some of the pastors present will be stirred and ultimately, after seeking the face of God, find liberty in their own words, hearts to bring a series of studies on this subject of the work of faith in the Christian

The Crucial Place of Faith in the Christian Life

7:20 life. We'll trace out together three categories of thought in our study tonight. First of all, I want to underscore the crucial place of the grace of faith in the Christian life. The crucial place of the grace of faith in the Christian life. Perhaps the most obvious

7:45 and arresting text in all of the New Testament is a text read in our hearing out of Hebrews chapter 11, and I refer of course to verse 6. In a book which has as its very underlying

8:07 the basis, the nature, and the necessity of persevering faith, for that is essentially what the epistle to the Hebrews is, we find in chapter 11 and verse 6 this very arresting, what Dabney would call epitomizing text, but without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto God.

8:38 Now, we have seen from our studies of the nature of saving faith that one of its inevitable accompaniments is this desire in the heart of every believing sinner to now live a life well-pleasing unto God. And this text tells us that whatever is involved in living such

9:19 a life, faith has a very central and crucial place. For without faith, it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto God. However, rather than park on this text and its very underlying attempt to unpack it in detail, what I would ask you to do is to tighten your mental seat belt as we quickly go through a number of pivotal texts limiting ourselves only to the

9:54 epistles of the New Testament, and that only selectively, texts which focus upon the centrality of the grace of faith in the living of the Christian life. life. First of all, turn to the book of Romans. Remember now, in looking at the text, my purpose is not to give any kind of exposition of them. Some of them I'll barely make a comment upon them,

10:27 but by the cumulative weight of these select texts, and I underscore it is not an exhaustive list of such texts, that we might feel something of the pressure of the overall witness of the Word of God concerning the crucial place of this grace of faith in the Christian life. Romans 1 and verse 8. First, I thank God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

11:06 As Paul considers all of the things he has heard about the church at Rome, a church which he has not yet personally visited, one which he hopes to visit and make it the next base of a new venture into missionary endeavor up in Spain, he says of all the things that he has heard of their gifts and graces, it is particular to him that he has heard of their gifts and graces. Secondly, their faith, which brings him great delight. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for

11:44 you all that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. In Paul's mind then, the vigor and subsequently the outflowing and the well-spread knowledge of their faith was a very peculiar index of their spiritual health as a church. Then Romans chapter 15 and verse 13. As he is bringing the epistle to a close, in this section, having dealt with some of the problems of Christian

12:27 liberty growing out of God's purpose to bring into the one church of Christ, Jew and Gentile, he then says in Romans 15, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit. If these believers are to be filled with joy and peace, two of the ninefold fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, he says,

13:09 they will be filled with joy and peace in a course of ongoing vigorous actings of faith. May he fill you with joy and peace in believing. And therefore these crucial graces of joy and peace, and they are crucial, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy.

13:39 They in the Holy Ghost, they themselves are central graces, but those central graces are dependent upon faith in order to come to their full and maximum measure. And now 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

14:11 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

14:42 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

15:15 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

15:46 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

16:17 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

16:47 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

17:17 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

17:47 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

18:21 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

18:21 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

18:22 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As Paul is drawing to conclusion his discussion of gifts, particularly the revelatory gifts in relationship to the grace of God.

18:23 hot in the presence of the thought that there are those who are seeking to replace a gospel of hope and grace with a so-called gospel of bondage and of works. And in the midst of dealing with that matter, he makes the well-known statement of Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live. That is, I, the proud, self-righteous Pharisee, thinking to earn life by a work's righteousness, that Paul no longer lives.

19:09 But Christ lives in me, now notice, and the Lord lives in me. And the Lord lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, whatever it means to have Christ living in me, it does not mean that he lives through me so as to make me passive and to replace the engagement of all of my faculties as a redeemed sinner. Having stated Christ lives in me, he then says, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live, I live in faith.

19:48 This new life of the new Paul, faith is so central that he says that very life is a life lived in faith. And then when we turn to the book of Ephesians, we find in that prayer that I've never been able to muster up courage to preach upon. Some have asked me why I never preached. Some have asked me why I never preached through the book of Ephesians.

20:18 One of the reasons is after chapter 2, I knew enough arithmetic to know that chapter 3 would come next. And I didn't feel I would have much problem getting through the first 13 verses, but every time I read the prayer recorded in verses 14 to 19, I just back off feeling that I would just stand dumb before my people, trying to expound that prayer. But central to that prayer is that God, the Holy Spirit would so work and move in the hearts of these believers.

21:03 Those who had heard and believed and been sealed with the spirit of promise. Ephesians 1, 13 that God would so strengthen them with power by his spirit in the inward man, that verse 17, Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith to the end, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the Saints. What is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God,

21:47 but you will notice that in his prayer, he is asking God the Father that he would strengthen the Ephesians Saints with power through the spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in dimensions. They had hitherto not known would dwell in their hearts through faith. So that is Christ first comes to dwell in the initial acting. So his deeper more pervasive indwelling is also through faith.

22:27 How central then is this grace of faith in the Christian life now in the interest of time because I see that it just goes so quickly when we do something like this. Let me just list the other text for you in Ephesians 6 16. In our conflict with the enemy, the shield by which we quench all his fiery darts is the shield of faith. And then in first Thessalonians 1 3 Paul, thanks God for their work of faith verse 80.

23:05 Thanks God that their faith is spoken of through all the world chapter 3 verses 5 to 7 of tender pastoral passage where he speaks of his Holy. Acts. He says, I wanted to know your faith whether the tempter attempted you under the pressure of temptation and my labors had been in vain. And then in first Timothy 4 12, he tells Timothy, let no man despise thy youth, but be an example of the believer in faith of all the graces of which Paul could have written.

23:44 He says, Timothy, be an example of faith. Faith as well as of love. And then when he reminds Timothy of how in this Holy patterning, which is a vital part of Christian experience, he said in second Timothy 3 10, you have fully known my faith along with my love and my doctrine. And then in first Peter 1 5, Peter speaks of this great salvation that is ours in Christ.

24:17 And he says that we who possess that salvation as believers are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. And then in first John 5 4, we are told that it is by faith that we overcome the world. Now surely brethren, this selective list of text, demonstrates the crucial place of the grace of faith in the Christian life. When someone has undergone a serious accident, and we're apprehensive about their condition,

25:02 we hear that they are in the intensive care unit. One of the first comforting words we can hear is this, all their vital signs are stable. And we have hope, that this injury or series of injuries in an accident will not be fatal. When we hear the words, all their vital signs are stable.

25:27 Heartbeat, blood pressure, and other things that constitute the crucial indications of whether or not this person may well live. Well in the thinking of the New Testament, faith is one of the vital signs, of the state of the Christian life. As it is strong or weak, active or dormant, so we stand, so we live, so we walk, so we fight, so we war, so we make progress in grace. Now having demonstrated, I trust, to the conviction of your conscience,

Faith Fastens on God's Promises

26:11 and your judgment, the crucial place of the grace of faith, in the Christian life, now consider with me, secondly, some of the major actings of faith in the Christian life. It's interesting that nowhere in the scriptures are we given a formal definition of faith. The closest thing to it is the opening verse of Hebrews 11. But what the writer to the Hebrews does is to show us how faith works.

26:47 And so in that great, chapter we find again and again, by faith so and so did this, by faith so and so refused this, by faith so and so chose this. And so rather than try to stretch your minds, and probably only ultimately confuse them, with any kind of formal definition or description of faith, I thought it would be more helpful at the pastoral level, to set out some of the major, actings of faith in the Christian life. And we're going to look simply at three of them. Number one,

27:27 faith fastens itself on the promises of God, and pleads for their appropriate fulfillment. How does faith act in the Christian life? This faith of the Roman Christians that was spread throughout the whole earth, this faith, which, when Paul knew, was vigorous and active in the Thessalonians, it caused him joy. This faith by which we stand, this faith by which we quench the fiery darts of the evil one.

28:03 Well, faith fastens itself on the promises of God, and pleads for their appropriate fulfillment. And the classic text which demonstrates this is Romans chapter 4, concerning Abraham, father of the faithful. Now there may be another text which demonstrates it more clearly, but I do not remember one that does. If any of you comes across one that you feel does more clearly underscore this element of the actings of faith in the Christian life,

28:48 please bring my attention to it. This is the one that, to my present judgment, is the most clear. Speaking of Abraham and the promise of God given to him that he would be a father of nations, we read in verse 18, who in hope believed against hope, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, so shall thy seed be. Almighty God had given Abraham a word.

29:26 He had told him that his seed would be as vast as the stars of the heaven and the sea upon the shores, the sand upon the shore of the sea. And having this word from God, how did faith operate? Verse 19, and without being weakened in faith, he considered his own body now as good as dead, he being about a hundred years old. There was as much chance that Abraham physiologically could father a child as a corpse in a graveyard,

30:10 his body as good as dead. And he looked that fact squarely in the eye. He considered his own body now as good as dead, he being about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. The scripture tells us, it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women.

30:36 A Hebrew euphemism for the fact she had passed through the change of life. There was no longer any ovulation. Her womb was as good as a dead womb. His body was as good as a dead body.

30:52 And he looked those facts squarely in the eye. He said, no way, Jose, I'm going to be a papa. No way, she's going to be a mama. But I have a promise from God.

31:07 So shall thy seed be. Now notice, yet, verse 20, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. He had a word, a promise from God,

31:46 and his faith fastened itself on that promise of God, pleaded and accepted, and expected an appropriate fulfillment. That's how faith works. So in the Christian life, we must turn the exceeding great and precious promises of God into the very basis of that which we plead from God and expect from God. And we must do it consciously, deliberately, and if to strengthen our faith,

32:30 not to help God's memory. I know God knows all that he has pronounced. I find it helpful at times even to put my very finger on the words of God in script and say, God, this is what you have said. And one verse that I have blessed God, though it's quite stained with body oil in my Bible, has not lost a moment of its freshness and validity with God.

33:01 1 John 1.9 If we sin, I'm sorry, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then chapter 2 and verse 1, My little children, these things I write unto you, that you may not sin, if any man sin. We have an advocate with the Father, and He is propitiation for our sins.

33:39 You see, it is wicked, evil, unbelief, Christian, to think that when you've sinned, you must somehow do a kind of evangelical penance, groveling for an hour or two or three or four days with the guilt of that sin, before you go and confess it to God and plead His promise that He is faithful and righteous to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. Every moment you live with the consciousness of sin that is not brought immediately to the fountain open

34:23 for sin and uncleanness, you are hardening your heart. You are putting distance between you and your Lord. Faith is being strangled at the throat by going to God again and again and again and again and again because when we go and truly confess our sins, pleading His faithfulness and even His justice now on our side because sin has been punished

35:04 in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, then our faith in God's faithfulness to do what He says He would do in 1 John 1-9 is strengthened and we come away from every act of confession with a strengthened faith to live to His glory when we feel in ourselves weakness. We feel in ourselves at times what can only be described as a frightening, bewitching attraction from the world and we wonder, oh God,

35:46 I know I must persevere to the end if I would be saved. I know that I must hold to Your ways to the end and not depart from You. But Lord, such pressures do I feel from the attractions of the world without and the stirring up of my own lust within. Oh God, will I make it?

36:11 At times like that you need to turn to such passages as Jeremiah 32-40 and plead them before God. For this is not Your word or Your idea. This is God's sworn commitment to His people under the new covenant. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from following them to do them good.

36:47 And I will put my fear in their hearts that they may not depart from me. Now think of it. God says, I'm going to track my people down to do them good and do them good and no one will turn me aside. And one of the ways I do it is I'll put my fear in their hearts that they may not depart from me.

37:16 When you feel yourself weak and vulnerable on the verge of being seduced by the world or by your own lust, bring a promise like this to God and say, God, right now all I'm conscious of is the stirring of my indwelling sin. All I'm conscious of is the bewitching, seducing power of the world. But Lord, You said You would so put Your fear in my heart that I would not depart from You. Lord, I hold You to Your sworn oath.

37:50 I hold You to Your covenant. I hold You to that covenant promise soaked in the blood of Your own dear Son. Oh God, break the bewitching attraction of the world. Subdue and kill in me this horrible stirring of indwelling sin.

38:11 Oh Lord, fulfill Your promise that I may not depart from You. That's how faith acts. It fastens itself on the promises of God and pleads for their appropriate fulfillment. What do you do when as a parent you face a dilemma in the area of appropriate discipline of your child?

38:35 You say, is this an issue that we ought to bring to a resolution, particularly as you're seeking to cultivate in your teenage children the capacity of independent judgment? Parenting little ones is relatively easy. It is wearisome physically, but mentally and psychologically and spiritually, it's relatively easy. You make the decisions.

39:00 You call the shots. You implement directives. And you see that they are carried out. But part of nurturing your children as they get up into the years where they can begin to think and reason and weigh matters is you must train them how to make wise decisions so you take them into the inner chamber of the decision-making process.

39:23 And when they come and say, Dad or Mom, may I do this or listen to this or go here or go with so-and-so to that place, you no longer just push the buttons in the computer of your own moral judgment in the light of the Word of God and give an answer, but you try to draw them out and say, now, honey, what things are involved in that? What are the issues we're dealing with? What are the principles of the Word of God? And even as you do that, you find as you are carrying out that process in their presence, the issues are not so clear and you feel yourself in need of the wisdom of ten solid words.

40:00 What do you do? That's when you turn to James chapter 1 and you say, Oh, God, you've said, if any lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and never scolds. You never come to God and find Him saying, You again asking for wisdom? You've come 1,500 times in the past month.

40:24 Now, enough is enough. We come to the God of whom it is said He will not give and He will not upbraid us. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and it shall be given. And you plead that promise before God.

40:45 Lord, You have promised wisdom. I'm not asking wisdom to gain the reputation of being a wise parent. Lord, I just want to be able to get through this mountain of a decision in front of me. And I must have more light from You, Lord.

41:01 When you young mothers feel, if I hear the word, Mama, one more time, I'm going to scream. I'm going to screech. I'm going to kick the wall. I'm going to spit on something or somebody.

41:15 I have no more emotional strength. All the demands upon me. And then he's going to come through the door at 530 and he's going to make more. Lord, I don't have any more strength.

41:27 What do you do? Then you remember the promise of Isaiah 40. Even the youths shall faint and be weary. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

41:39 They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And you say, Lord, I don't even have time to turn aside for a few minutes in the bedroom to pray.

41:52 But in my heart, I wait upon You. Make Your strength perfect in my weakness. That is faith acting on the promise of God. On the promise of God and expecting an appropriate fulfillment.

Faith Fixes on Unseen Spiritual Reality

42:06 Now that's one of the major actings of faith in the Christian life. But then there is a second acting of faith in the Christian life. And I'm describing it this way. Faith fixes the eye of the soul on the unseen world of spiritual reality and judges everything of the seen reality in its light.

42:35 Faith fixes the eye of the soul on the unseen world of spiritual reality and judges all seen reality by it. And here the pivotal text is 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. This man who tells us in chapter 5 that he walks by faith here illustrates one of the great aspects of walking by faith.

43:12 Verse 16. Wherefore, we do not faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction which is for the moment. Now remember who's writing this. The Apostle Paul.

43:39 You want to know what his light afflictions were? Just read some of the chapters in the book of Acts and particularly in 2 Corinthians. Light afflictions? That's what he says.

43:52 For our light affliction which is for the moment is working for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. Now notice. While we look. All this transpires while we look.

44:10 Our afflictions are reckoned light. They are reckoned momentary. They are reckoned as working a great reward in terms of eternity. And he says all of this transpires while we look.

44:31 While we look at what? 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.

44:53 Now notice. There's two sets of things. You don't have things and ideas. You see that in the passage?

45:01 You got two sets of things. You see it? Things which are seen. Things which are not seen.

45:09 A thing is a substantial reality. This watch is a thing. It is a thing which can be seen. I am speaking to you out of the actings of a soul interacting with my body.

45:26 My body you can see. My soul you cannot. But it is a thing. My soul is as much a thing as my body.

45:37 And Paul says there are two sets of realities. Things that can be seen. And they are all marked out as the temporal. That is the things pertaining to this life and this world and this age which will all go up in smoke when our Lord returns in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies.

46:03 And in the language of Peter this world and its works will be burned up as our Lord reconstitutes and ushers in then the new heavens and the new earth. And Paul says as a man of faith I do not lose heart and faint. I am not ready to give up though this outward man is decaying and I feel the very undeniable indications of my approaching death. But while that is going on I am conscious of my inward man being renewed day by day and all of my afflictions I count them light afflictions.

46:48 They are only momentary. I know they work in exceeding weight of glory for this reason as a man of faith the eyes of my soul are fixed on the world of spiritual reality and I judge all seen reality in the light of death. You see the things that are seen our bills friends trouble in the world trouble in our nation trouble in the economy the things that are seen boyfriends girlfriends marriage plans these are the things that are seen but the things that are not seen

47:31 are all of those great realities that surround our blessed triune God His glory His honor His being His presence His glory His salvation the work of His kingdom and the concerns of His heart. Now as we turn to the life of Moses you see a beautiful example of how powerfully this works in a man in making crucial decisions and I think particularly of you young people and this is why I am turning to this passage we have seen in 2 Corinthians 4 the great illustration of this principle

48:16 that faith fixes the eyes of the soul and the unseen world of spiritual reality and judges all seen reality in its light look at the account of Moses in Hebrews 11 verse 24 by faith Moses when he was grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the life of God for the pleasures of sin for a season he made a calculated intelligent choice he wasn't conned into it he wasn't pressured into it it wasn't as though a bunch of his peers were going in a given direction

49:00 and he was just caught up in the excitement and magnetism and glue of peer pressure no there was only one man who stood to become the next in line to Pharaoh only one man who stood to be the legally adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter but he deliberately refused that and all that went with it choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season why did he do it? verse 26 accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for

49:44 for he looked you see we're back to this looking again he did what he did because he was looking where he was looking and where was he looking? he looked onto the recompense of reward he said now here are my options son of Pharaoh's daughter everything human heart could desire all of the pleasures of sin there would be the adulation and there would be the prominence and the influence and the sensual delights and the wealth and a host of other things if I go that way if I go this way

50:28 I have nothing but ill treatment with God's people I have nothing but the reproach of Christ and yet I'm going this way why? because his eyes were fixed on the unseen world of spiritual reality and he judged everything he could see here in the light of that unseen world in fact he goes on to say the writer to Hebrews by faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king he endured how? as seeing we come back again you see to looking to seeing as seeing him who is invisible and as long as his keen eagle eye of faith

51:10 beheld the great Jehovah who is Pharaoh and what is Pharaoh's army when the living God of heaven and earth calls him out to lead the people in his name now dear young people you see how vital it is that you face the fact that God and Christ and heaven and hell and these things they're not words and ideas they are things they are realities they are the realities of the unseen world and this seen world is temporal it's passing what a foolish thing to make your critical decisions for life

51:53 in the light of that which is to perish rather than in the light of that which is eternal if we could get Moses back out of heaven he did come down once you remember God sent him down upon the mount of transfiguration and we could have him come and give us a chat do you think he'd say you know upon reflection I really wish I could go back and do it differently do you think he has the slightest thought you say of course not ah but what of all those who have sunk into hell who've been in similar positions as Moses or even Christians who have been crippled

52:38 with making wrong decisions at critical points in their life because they filled their eyeballs with this seen world of reality rather than the eye of faith being filled with the unseen world of spiritually and the heartbreak of a wretched choice for a marriage partner the heartbreak of a wretched choice in terms of priorities of money and career and sound church where the word would be ministered and children properly nurtured under that word and the availability of God centered education and a host of other things

Faith Fixes on Christ as Life and Pattern

53:22 no it was career and money and house and prestige and now that they've come to the end of their life they look back and all they have is a bucket full of regrets they didn't make decisions by faith faith you see is that grace that fixes the eye of the soul upon the unseen world of spiritual reality and judges all things all seen reality by it and then I'll touch just briefly on this third aspect faith fixes the eye of the soul supremely

54:03 upon Christ as its life and its pattern faith fixes the eye of the soul supremely upon Christ as its life and pattern and there of course the key text is Hebrews 12 let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and run with patience the race that is set before us looking off unto Jesus the author and perfecter is the very life of our faith he originally created that faith in our hearts by his own power

54:47 he sustains it as we are in union with him he is the giver and the perfecter of that faith and therefore we must fix the eye of the soul supremely upon Christ as the life of faith and as its pattern who the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising its shame and is set down at the right hand of the majesty on high Christ is not only the life of our faith he is its pattern what was it that enabled him to endure all that he endured

55:31 it was the joy set before him and what was that joy it was the joy of being able to present to his father the many sons for whom he came to die and to present them spotless and faultless before the throne of his father the fruit of his own suffering and agony the bloody sweat of Gethsemane and the horrible cry of dereliction of Golgotha the floods and billows of divine wrath inundating him until hell is poured out of heaven and finds its resting place in the soul of the son of God

Practical Directives for Growing in Faith

56:16 how did faith act then who for the joy that was set before him now as we close let me just leave what I had hoped to be the third heading some practical directives for growing in the grace of faith if this is how the grace of faith acts then how do we grow in the grace of faith we must feed often and deeply upon the word of God faith comes by hearing hearing by the word of God it's the word of God that contains the promises it's the word of God that sets forth Christ who is the life and pattern of faith

57:00 it is the word of God that sets before us the unseen world of spiritual reality and if faith is the things we've shown it to be then faith cannot grow if the word of God is neglected so we must feed often and deeply upon the word of God secondly we must maintain communion with God in a climate of ethical and moral uprightness we must maintain communion with God in a climate of ethical and moral uprightness and the key text is Hebrews 3, 13 and 14 beware lest there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief

57:45 in departing from the living God and how is that evil heart of unbelief to be avoided exhort one another daily while it is called a day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin any sin is like a cinder in the eye of faith it'll blur faith's vision so that Christ is not clearly seen the world of spiritual reality does not stand out in bold relief it begins to be hazy and dim and dull and distant and this is why there is an intimate connection

58:30 between a life of communion with God in a context of moral and ethical sensitivity and a life of growing faith thirdly we must be selective in our chosen close friends Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, 22 follow after these graces and among them was faith follow after righteousness faith love peace and Therefore try not to do it all alone with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart and in a sisional context there are different Thunder molto some to honor

59:13 and another to dismay Timothy, be careful that if you are known as a name of close friends whether in the presence of your friends on television of friends on Walkman your friends in a musical don't deceive your companions to exorbitant good morals good morals you young people want to grow in faith you won't grow in faith with lyrics that glorify free sex getting bombed out freaking out on drugs lawlessness no man or woman boy or girl ever

59:57 became strong in faith with rock music pumping itself into his ears be selective in your chosen close friends those personal friends your tv friends your music friends your friends in books and finally we must diligently and prayerfully engage ourselves in those means of grace god has deposited in his church if the church is the household of faith and if faith is such a crucial grace then in the wisdom of god should we not expect that the means he has set within his church are calculated

60:41 to strengthen faith the lord's suffer in which faith is strengthened by touching tangible bread and the fruit of the vine to remind us of the reality and the blessedness of the death of our lord the fellowship of the saints in which we remind ourselves there's no such thing as a holy person in isolation where we must live with our brethren with all of their quirks and deficiencies and all of their shortcomings and cultivate the love that covers a multitude of sins

61:20 don't expect faith to grow if you isolate yourself from the very framework in which god is ordained to strengthen and nurture faith his church and the ordained means placed within it well i trust that the lord will use some of these things to help us all as we seek to be men and women of the gospel of god women and boys and girls of faith that we will become more and more convinced of the centrality of the grace of faith learn more and more its actings according to the word and follow those

Closing Prayer

61:59 practical directives for the growth and development of this grace in our hearts and in our lives let us pray our father we're so thankful for your word which is indeed a lamp for us in the name of your unto our feet and a light to our pathway and we would pray with the disciples lord increase our faith we pray that you'd help us to deal with any specks in the eye of faith that we will be

62:36 ruthless in dealing with any ethical and moral controversies with you that we would seek with the psalmist earnestly to pray search me oh god and know my heart try me and know my thoughts see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting oh lord make us to be a people strong in faith as we look off unto jesus the author and perfecter of our faith hear our cry amen

63:15 as together we make our plea in your presence through him who loved us and gave himself for us even our lord jesus christ amen