Faith Walks

They were convinced, they acted, and the Lord rewarded them.

Back a long time ago, people weren’t as afraid of getting hurt as they are now.

We could talk all day about why we think that is, but it wouldn’t change anything.

We’ve become a society that is afraid of getting hurt.

Our playgrounds were better.

We had this thing we called a merry go round - the official name it appears is a roundabout.

You know how this thing worked, right?

A couple of guys would get on it and one or two guys would stand on the side and spin it

And not just spin it, but spin it so fast that the guys on the roundabout couldn’t hold on anymore and it would throw them off.

Mostly it was a whole lot of fun

Every now and then someone would break an arm, but not that often.

Ah, those were the days.

Did you ever jump off of a high dive at a swimming pool?

You don’t see those much anymore either - guess someone fell and broke an arm there too.

You know, those things just don’t look that high when you are standing on the ground.

But when you climb up there and you are standing on the end of the diving board

It’s like you are standing on the moon.

I did that once.

And I jumped once.

And as you can see, it didn’t kill me.

But while I was standing on the end of the diving board, I was pretty convinced I was going to die.

Have you ever had a moment like that?

Where there was something you needed to do

Or maybe, like the Hebrews, you were somewhere where you knew you had to do something

But every option looked very painful.

In the book of Hebrews where we are studying

Turn with me to Hebrews 11:29-31 - every person the Pastor has held up as an example of faith was right there.

They had to do something, but the best option was the scariest option.

While you are looking up Hebrews, let me speak to the kids for just a moment.

Kids, it’s funny, you spend your days looking forward to being an adult so you can do what you want to do.

But when you get to be an adult, you wish you were a kid again because making choices is so very hard.

Your parents bring you to church to help you learn what makes a choice right.

If your choice leads you towards Jesus, then you are on the right track.

If your choice leads you away from Jesus, you are definitely making the wrong choice.

The choosing part is pretty simple.

The doing part is where it gets hard

But I promise, Jesus helps you do what He needs you to do.

As you listen to the message this morning, listen for how many times I say the name of Jesus.

He’s the reason we are here.

If you have your Bibles open, hear now the word of the Lord from Hebrews 11:29-31

Hebrews 11:29–31 ESV

By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Pray with me.

Dear Lord,

Help us to be convinced of your goodness so that we always choose you.

We are but dust and the wind blows us this way and that.

With Your word, cause us to see that you reward those that seek you.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

The people the book of Hebrews was written to saw themselves in an untenable situation.

On the one hand, they had heard about Jesus, believed that He died and was resurrected to save them from their sins.

They committed their lives to following Him and living in the freedom that His grace brings.

On the other hand, they didn’t bargain for the animosity they would feel from those who didn’t care for Jesus.

They weren’t ready for the meanness and ugliness people, who had been their friends and acquaintances, showed them now.

They weren’t ready for the threats

And in some cases for the government to swoop in and take their stuff.

All because they believed in Jesus.

They were struggling.

They didn’t know how they could go on like they were

But they also didn’t know how they could go back to the way there lived before.

But with every passing day, going back was looking better.

So the Pastor said something to them that really isn’t satisfactory - really.

He told them, essentially, to have faith.

But then he did something no one really had ever done before.

He showed them what faith looked like.

In these last three verses, he defines something he says back in verse 1 by showing it’s negative.

Remember this: Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

To have the conviction of things not seen, that means you are convinced of it, right?

Although you can’t see it, you know whatever it is, it will happen.

Now, look at verse 31 Hebrews 11:31 “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.”

What does it mean to be disobedient?

This is so cool.

It is so clear and so easy to understand.

The word used for disobedient here is the word for convinced, but made into a negative.

In Greek, to make a word a negative, you simply put an “a” at the front of the word like we put “un”

Convinced is the positive.

Unconvinced is the negative.

People who are disobedient are unconvinced.

What are they unconvinced of?

We could probably argue a lot of things, but net it out.

They are unconvinced God is God.

That what He says goes

That He will punish sin

That He will deliver the good things he promises.

They are unconvinced He won’t do anything so they do whatever they please.

They are unconvinced.

Now stay with me - the words convinced and unconvinced aren’t words we do in our heads.

If we are convinced of something, then it will cause our actions to be one way.

But if we are unconvinced, then we will act another way.

If I’m standing on the end of the diving board and I’m convinced I won’t die when I hit the water, I’ll jump.

If I’m standing on the end of the diving board and I’m convinced I will die when I hit the water, well, I’ll take the climb of shame.

If you are convinced of things not seen, you will act one way.

If you are unconvinced, you will act another way.

Every decision we make proves whether we are convinced or unconvinced about things unseen.

Making no decision proves we are unconvinced.

The proof that we are convinced about God is that we do something that leads us towards God.

The pastor gives us three examples of what being convinced - of having faith - looks like in a really hard place.

Situation number 1 - We are all going to die

Look at Hebrews 11:29 “By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”

Notice here, he didn’t name Moses this time.

He says, “The people” and “they.”

Groups of people, churches, prove they have faith

They prove they are convinced that the Lord is real and that He rewards those who seek Him by the actions the churches take.

The Pastor is referring back to Exodus again, specifically Exodus 14.

The Passover has happened.

Every first born child or animal in Pharaoh’s household and all across Egypt is dead.

All except for the Hebrews who had the blood of the lamb painted on their doors.

Pharaoh tells Moses to get those people out of there.

And off they go.

They head out towards the wilderness

They turn south and all of a sudden God tells Moses to backtrack just a little and go to a specific place.

And the place God took them to is a dead end.

They are surrounded by the Red Sea in front and the Egyptian army in the rear.

Now, the Israelites don’t respond to this very well.

Exodus 14:11–12 ESV

They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

This doesn’t sound like a convinced group of people, does it?

They realize that their situation can’t be sustained - something’s got to happen but they don’t see a way out.

That’s when Moses says, Exodus 14:13-14

Exodus 14:13–14 ESV

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

The Lord tells Moses to lift up his staff and the waters would part, and we all know that’s what happened.

And that would be pretty amazing stuff, right?

So here is the question, how is this an example of their faith?

Well, standing there isn’t.

It’s not an example of their faith until they take the first step into the Red Sea.

They could say until the cows come home, “God will deliver me.”

But until they took that first step, those were only pious sounding words that made them sound holy but meant absolutely nothing.

Those words didn’t prove that anyone was convinced God would deliver them.

Walking between those giant walls of water did.

Walked proved they were convinced of the unseen - that the Lord would keep the Egyptians away and deliver the Israelites to freedom.

Situation number 2 - This is the craziest battle plan I’ve ever seen

A little over 40 years after the crossing of the Red Sea, Israel is finally ready to enter the promised land.

The Lord leads Joshua to cross the Jordan river and less than 5 miles away is the city of Jericho.

The Lord did not simply give them this great, lush land as a present with a bow tied on it.

The Lord used Israel to pour the Lord’s judgement out on the ungodly inhabitants of the land.

Israel would have to fight - but then the Lord gave them the battle plan.

The city of Jericho was shut up tight.

The gates were closed - warriors were manning the walls.

The Lord told Joshua to have all of his warriors march in a line around the city one time a day for six days.

7 priests blew shofars.

The ark of the covenant was carried.

And no one could say a word.

Walk around the city once a day for six days - then go home.

On day 7, they marched around the city 7 times.

On the 7th lap, Joshua said, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction.”

So they did - and the walls fell flat and Israel completely decimated the city of Jericho.

So how is this great faith?

Well, what was the situation

They were up against a superior army.

They had to get through the walls of the city somehow.

They were in a situation where going forward seemed foolish and going backwards was impossible.

And their game plan included playing shofars, walking, not making a sound until it was time to holler.

This is the craziest battle plan ever conceived.

So where was the faith?

In the first step they took to walk around the wall.

Talking about it did nothing.

Praying about it did nothing - God had already given instructions.

The only thing that would prove they were convinced of things unseen was if they started walking expecting God to do something.

That was it.

I suspect many of you are there right now.

Where do I go?

What do I do?

You start walking.

Which way?

Which was appears to draw you closer to Jesus?

Start in that direction and trust Him to lead you where you need to be.

See, you don’t have to know the ultimate destination - you can’t know it.

All we need to know is the One who knows the things unseen

And we keep on following Him convinced He will take us where we need to be.

Situation number 3 - I’m the enemy

Part of the story of the conquest of Jericho is the story of a woman named Rahab who had a bit of a sordid past.

The story is, Joshua sent some spies to Jericho to check it all out before the battle

And they almost got discovered.

They went to Rahab’s house and she hid them

And then lied to the authorities about where they were.

Now think about what this makes Rahab.

She lives in Jericho which makes her an enemy of Israel.

But now she’s betrayed her people for the people of Israel which makes her an enemy in her own town.

Everyone is against Rahab.

Everyone - you see that right?

Everyone is against her except God.

Listen to Rahab, Joshua 2:8-13

Joshua 2:8–13 ESV

Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”

Rahab made a profession of faith, didn’t she?

“For the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.”

Lots of politicians in Washington and Atlanta say that, don’t they.

What separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls?

It’s that first step.

Rahab took a step because of her faith that the Lord is God.

For her family to live, she had to be convinced of something unseen

She had to be convinced that the Lord would save her.

And there was no reason for her to believe that except the fact that He was God.

So she took the step.

And, AND, you heard John read the Genealogy of Jesus

Did you notice that one of the ancestors of Jesus - was Rahab?

Faith isn’t words

A lot of folks talk God talk.

It’s much more difficult to walk the God walk.

God puts you in situations you can’t get out of by yourself.

God takes you down paths that make no sense.

God allows you to be an enemy of everyone.

If you are living by faith, none of those situations will stop you from walking.

This is the last section before the Pastor changes gears again.

19 times he says, “by faith,” right?

And we’ve done exactly what the Holy Spirit wanted us to do when He inspired these words.

We’ve looked at each person and their story to see what it looks like to truly, really, honest to goodnessly have faith.

Hebrews 11:1 set the stage - “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:6 gives us our motivation - “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

And then we dug in.

We found that faith acts even when it’s uncertain.

We found faith achieves unexpected results.

We found that exercising faith inspires us to exercise more faith.

We found that faith empowers us to do way more than we thought we could ever do.

We found that faith requires us to do what God instructs us to do even when it doesn’t make sense.

We found that faith must be passed down to our children.

We found that faith gives us courage we never knew we possessed.

We found that, by faith, we will see God, on earth and in heaven.

Practical faith

Real faith

Active faith

A faith more than words

A faith based in one simple action

By faith, we take the next step towards Jesus.

And I know there are folks in here who have not taken your first step towards Jesus.

We’ve done something you may never get again - we’ve laid Jesus on the line to you.

We promise nothing - we don’t promise you health, and wealth and happiness

We don’t promise big houses, cars and great vacations.

All we promise is this and this is a promise.

If you follow Jesus, every sin and regret you have will be washed away by Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.

If you follow Jesus, every step you take for the rest of your life will be guided by the Holy Spirit Jesus sent when He ascended into heaven.

If you follow Jesus, your life will never be the same and it will never end.

Your body will die, but you will live on in the presence of God for eternity

Where you will experience contentment like you have never, ever known nor can you even imagine.

The best part of Jesus to me?

He makes all things new - including me.

I like that.

Dear Friend,

Jesus will save you and change you.

I beg you, please come to Jesus.

We will pray and then sing.

I’ll be down front if you want to come talk to be about Jesus.

Or you can grab someone at the welcome table - they’ll make sure you get to where you need to go.

Please, live by faith

Follow Jesus.

Let’s pray.