Faith the Key to Heaven’s heart
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Heb 11:1
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” – Heb 11:6
For all the years I have been a Christian, I have yet to completely ‘step-over’ into the life of faith. You would think it would be easy, I mean the One who is the object of Christian faith is indeed worthy of it. He has proven Himself to me personally, and there are myriad testimonials to His faithfulness. Yet, I haven’t found that sweet spot of Christian walk that plants me firmly in that desired perception of that true reality.
Why do I lack? Why don’t I find myself in tune with that spiritual wavelength that is faith. By definition, faith is a substance, by definition there is evidence. Yet, I operate as if it were doubtful, as if there weren’t indisputable evidence. It may be that what keeps me from living by faith from operating day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute in faith is unbelief, ignorance or maybe self will. Am I alone in this disconnect between a true living faith and this physical life. Where did this disconnect begin and how can I fix it – if it indeed can be fixed?
When you take into account God’s record of my lack of faith – I was born that way, born broken. He intended that I have faith, he intended that I live by faith, He intended that we all live by faith (or live in faith). I just want to make it clear – I was born broken with with a predisposition to NOT have faith. I got it from my daddy, yep he passed it on to me. Now, you are probably thinking that I am trying to avoid the real issue by blaming my daddy for my lack of faith – I am not. My daddy passed it on to me, but it wasn’t his fault – he got it from his daddy! Now, again, I am not really blaming my great-grandfather for this disconnect, nor his father though his father did indeed pass it on to him. The blame lies firmly on our first father, the one who decided to take a step away from faith.
When Adam and Eve walked in the garden prior to the fall, they walked with God. In fact the narrative states that God returned to them one morning for one such walk, and discovered both Adam and Eve hiding from Him. When Adam and Eve chose a route outside the spoken will of God, they broke that perfect fellowship, yes, that walk of faith that they had lived all their lives up to that point. In that moment, with that act of the will contrary to God’s will, Adam broke the faith of every child and grand child and great-grand child and great-great grand child that would follow.
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Gen 2:16, 17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
In Gen 4:1-7 we see how that Cain’s broken faith got the best of him, how it channeled him down the wrong path.
Gen 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
Here we have 2 people, Cain and his younger brother Abel. Both born with broken faith. One works until his back aches, he sweats and toils with skinned knuckles, sunburn and chapped lips until he brings forth a great, and most likely God-blessed harvest. Somehow, he rejects the revealed will of God, the simple action required of God and moves forward in self will. Abel, on the other hand, takes God at his word and acts upon what he knew God wanted. I am not sure how either man felt in their heart as they offered to God. I think probably Cain convinced himself that his offering, the best of the fruit of his hands, was a worthy representation of both his value and dedication to God. I think Abel on the other hand brought what would seem a vulgar, offensive, and yes, even lazy offering. On the one hand you have presented to God the best of the best in worldly abundance — Cain’s offering, and on the other the blood and fat of a dead animal — Abel’s offering. I am sure that Abel offered the best of the best of the flock – I am confident he did not skimp. Why would God accept the lazy offering and reject the offering that represented the utmost in human effort? What makes this difference — the difference of acceptance or rejection?
See, when we started this message we read first the Bible definition of faith:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” – Heb 11:1
and then God’s requirement of faith’s actions:
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” – Heb 11:6
If you read this whole passage in Hebrews chapter 11 you will see how God accounts for the actions of Abel in his offering, of Enoch, of Noah’s ark, Abraham’s journey. Let’s look at Noah and his ark – Gen 6:13. He explained to Noah that we was going to destroy all flesh, and that he wanted Noah to build an ark. I have no proof, but I think Noah might have had to convince himself to build the ark. I don’t think he had any doubt about God’s command to build it, I think he understood God’s spoken will clearly. I think he had to have a little conversation, an inner battle of sorts, to bring his will into line with God’s will. This is where Cain’s faith failed. He knew what God wanted, but somehow, it must have seemed to simplistic, too lazy. God came to Noah revealed His will, and then the ball was in Noah’s court.
The movie Evan Almighty is a portrayal of Noah’s story set in modern times. In that movie, Steve Carell plays Evan Baxter a just elected congressman. You follow Evan as God reveals to him His will that Evan build an ark. Of note is Evan’s reluctance to move forward, to act on faith. As the movie progresses you watch Evan go from ignorance of God’s will on to completion of God’s will.
At fist Evan doesn’t even really know this is coming — he is ignorant. Then God shows up and tells Evan what he wants him to do. Evan now has the knowledge of God’s will but, Evan has not convinced himself to do God’s will. In Evan’s case God has to keep prodding Him until Evan himself takes ownership and convinces himself to move forward for God.
So it is with us, we start out in ignorance, then get knowledge. After we have knowledge we have what I like to call “ownership”. Ownership is knowledge along with belief, it is “OK, this is true, and it is true for me”. Ownership is being thoroughly convinced to the point that you know you are expected to take action. Finally, comes faith. Faith has eyes beyond the facts. Faith has desire greater than the pain. Faith cannot help but take action. I’ve heard the phrase ‘faith in action’ — I would rather it be ‘Faith IS Action’.
You see the word of God says: “By faith Abel”, “By faith Enoch”, “By faith Noah”, and more. Faith was the means by which they accomplished what they did. It was not a feeling they had, it was not the inward self motivation they had. Abel offered to God a dead thing. And actually, Abel ate the best part, he offered to God the fat and blood. You see faith is this mishmash of surrender and determination that takes God at His word and moves forward. Faith is seeing the unseen evidence of God’s leading, working, and providence and pressing forward in spite of the naysayers, in spite of the roadblocks, in spite of friends, family, foes and circumstances. Faith reads God’s word and says: “Yes, this is true; Yes, this applies to me; Yes, I will decide, I will do, I will go.”
What keeps people from living “in” faith? Why is it difficult?
Again, I said my faith is broken. Our faith is broken. We have personal histories of disappointment, failure and waste. We are reluctant to risk. This message actually started out as a simple presentation of the Gospel. As I worked on it I thought about how many times I dealt with and unsave person and the final hangup, the final reason that they would not get saved was that they would not step out on faith and transfer their trust from whatever it was in to God. I have even worked a person all the way though the gospel and had them pray the prayer, then to proceed into assurance and they are back on their works. They refuse to transfer their trust, to accept faith.
The word of God says: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”–Rom 10:9. It is indeed really that simple. It goes on to say: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”–Rom 10:10. And finally: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
…Shall be saved. If you’re here today, and not saved, you can be. Eph 2:8–For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Friend, if you are not saved today, you can be, if you are not sure of heaven, you should be, if you will come to God today, if you will come His way, you will be. Again, this is where Cain’s faith failed. He would not accept God’s way. Cain refused refused the knowledge, he refused to take ownership, ultimately he refuse that free gift. If you are here today, not knowing that all your sins are taken care of, not knowing you are at peace with God, please don’t leave this building until you do. In a few minutes we’re going to ask you to come forward, when you do, someone who cares about you will take you aside and help you get it settled once and for all.
Christians, those of you who know your sins are forgiven, who know you are saved, we read:
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”–Heb 11:6. I titled this message “Faith the key to Heaven’s Heart”. Do you want to please God, I hope you do. When you read the Bible each day, and you should, do you find something you can act on during the day. Something that is a little too much for you, do you find something that requires God for it to work out? Are you taking ownership of being a witness, ownership of the fruit of the spirit, ownership of the dream God keeps trying to give you, that thing he wants you to do for Him? Is God prodding you to move on to new uncharted territory, to plant a new vineyard, to break up the fallow ground?
