When He Speaks
Notes
Transcript
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Faith and Fact
Faith is not credulity. It is not believing in something you know is not true. Neither is faith a substitute for knowledge. Christian faith operates in the realm of meaning, not in the realm of fact. Faith recognizes fact but it is not out to obtain, contradict, or prove facts. Saint Augustine knew this when he said, “I believe in order that I may understand.”
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
The world does, and doesn’t, understand faith. Everyone understands that faith rests on something that is not accessible to physical scrutiny, subject to the scientist’s probing or deductive investigation. Instead, it is founded upon the trustworthiness of its object. that sounds like either circular reasoning or foolishness, for after all, which comes first, the trustworthiness or the trust? How do I know that someone is trustworthy until it is proven to me? What evidence shall inform my ability to have faith?
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Mary and Martha know that Jesus loves Lazarus. That was enough to motivate them to reach out to Him.
So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
I don’t think that this was a last ditch attempt to save their brother, not an example of “foxhole faith.” This was the result of a relationship that had developed between them and Jesus over time, and the fruits of that relationship were now about to come forth.
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
I don’t think that this was a last ditch attempt to save their brother, not an example of “foxhole faith.” This was the result of a relationship that had developed between them and Jesus over time, and the fruits of that relationship were now about to come forth.
Today, there are many who are tossed and driven by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. We look to our political leaders, our experts, and to our social influencers to help us determine how to respond to things that are beyond our control.
Today, there are many who are tossed and driven by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. We look to our political leaders, our experts, and to our social influencers to help us determine how to respond to things that are beyond our control.
It seems strange that after all these centuries, humans still don’t accept that we are not “the masters of our domain,” especially when we have been blessed to have avoided those pitfalls that would expose our frailty to the world and to ourselves. Some of you are now like the Israelites who “sat by the rivers of Babylon.” You see yourselves as being “in a strange land” where the promises of Christ’s provision and protection seem to be far away, His power seems inaccessible, and you feel that you are at the mercy of the same implacable and impersonal forces that lead those around you to say, “where is your God?”
Some of you are now like the Israelites who “sat by the rivers of Babylon.” You see yourselves as being “in a strange land” where the promises of Christ’s provision and protection seem to be far away, His power seems inaccessible, and you feel that you are at the mercy of the same implacable and impersonal forces that lead those around you to say, “where is your God?”
After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
In death, in the abyss, and in doubt we should remind ourselves, I have the word that I shall live no matter how hard death may press me.
—Martin Luther
It doesn’t take much strength to declare our faith in the Lord when the Adversary throws fiery darts that are easily blocked by the shield of faith, or bounce harmlessly off the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness. In those times, God’s protection itself covers us a preserves us. The risk in those times, however, is that we begin to lose sight of the truth that it was, in fact “because of His mercies that we are not consumed.” We begin to say, like Nebuchadnezzar, “I have built by my mighty power” the circumstances that surround us, the security that we see in our finances, our relationships, and our possessions. We forget that, in the words of Job, “the LORD giveth, and the LORD taketh away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In fact, in our pride, we forget that the Lord gives us all these things that we enjoy, until He lifts His hand of protection, and leads us into battle with the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Oh yes, leads us, not sends us. For from the moment we were baptized, we were united to Christ.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
God leads us, dressed in His righteousness, covered in the whole armor of God, and directs us in how we should walk with Him in the evil day, employing the Sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word of promise, while those around us who don’t know Him run to and fro, calling upon their gods who have been exposed as being powerless, whether it be human wisdom, or economic strength, or political influence, or their own vainglory. God’s Word brings comfort as we seek His face in prayer, as we go forth to serve in His name, under His authority, and calling upon His power.
Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
Martha understood, by faith, that Jesus had the authority and the ability to keep Lazarus alive. Beyond that, she knew that Jesus had access to the Father. She knew that the relationship between Jesus and the Father was such that Jesus would ask nothing that the Father could not grant. She was ready to receive a fresh Word:
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
When you know that Jesus is not just an icon, not just an ideal, but is truly the Chosen One whom God has sent into the world as the Savior for you, for your neighbor, for the world, you can begin to see your life as God sees it, precious, worthy of the price that He paid, not because of you, but because of His love for you! Then you can look at your circumstances, and see in them, another opportunity for God to show His lovingkindness, His mercy, His goodness, as well as His holiness. He sustains you by the Word of His power, and you are no longer watching in fear, you are waiting in Hope, a member of Christ’s Body, unashamed, because of His love which He poured out for you on the cross, and poured into you when He claimed you through baptism into His resurrection Life by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The Lord loves you enough to use His Word to chasten you, and to use His Word to build up your faith. His Word never returns to Him empty. It delivers healing and comfort. Even when we struggle with His word, God is working through our wrestling. He’s speaking in the midst of the fear, in the midst of the chaos. He’s come to remind us,
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
We do not suffer our trials alone, nor are we at the mercy of the world, the flesh, or the devil. the devil seeks to tempt you to think otherwise, and thus overwhelm you with your feelings of helplessness. That’s just one of his fiery darts that he hurls at you. God’s Word is your refuge, your light, and your strength:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Your fears cannot bind you when Jesus speaks “peace.”. Neither Hell, death, nor the devil can resist Christ’s Word to you of “Peace. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
Your fears cannot bind you when Jesus speaks “peace.”. The spirit of anxiety must give place when Jesus speaks “peace.” Neither Hell, death, nor the devil can resist when Jesus speaks His peace over you. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.