Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/22/15

Brother Gary Sunday Morning 2/22/15

Hab 2:4  Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

We have come to this portion of scripture this morning having dealt with the thoughts from Jeremiah, to ‘ask for the old paths’.  One of the oldest paths is the path of faith.  We thank God for that.

Jer 8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

We know this morning that not only in America, but it is pronounced condition in America, there are millions that are sick in sin, because of sin and its effects.  There is the emotional, the physical, and the social sicknesses.  This is not my message but it is a reality.  We live among those that are very seriously sick.

Is there no balm in Gilead?  Yes there is.  There is today and there was in that day.  There is a physician there.

The just shall live by his faith.  Paul emphasized in several scriptures that the Just shall live by faith.

The words justice and just mean the same in the Hebrew and Greek, to be just and righteous before God looking for the Messiah is the Old Testament thought.  We know that those that were saved under the old covenant were so because their faith that the Messiah would come was counted for righteousness.

In the New Testament those that are righteous are a result of the fact that Jesus has come and they have chosen to be obedient and so are just before God. 

We are taught how to be free from our sin:

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

There is a pronounced truth that there is an old path that brings rest to the soul.  It is to have faith in God. 

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Prior to salvation there was something in every one of us that knew that there was a God in heaven.  When we reached the age of accountability we knew that we had sinned, displeased God, and were out of favor with God.

Faith in God brings unto us when we obey His Word, forgiveness and the approval of God.  It is a natural characteristic of a child to want the approval of their parents.  It is good, especially if their parents are responsible before God and want to please Him.

My barber told me that his children have been targeted in the school in Missoula to not be judgmental about anything.  “Daddy, don’t say anything against anything.”  The dad had some things he wanted me to know about:  “My son said, “Don’t be judgmental,” and yet did he ever give it to me.”

There is an approval, a wonderful approval when you and I live by faith.  Faith is under attack.  Even children in this audience know that God is under attack.  Many teachers don’t want you to have a standard on anything. 

We have a standard in the Word of God, “The Just shall live by faith.”  This standard brings the approval of God.

The road and path of faith, trusting and obeying God, is a path that goes back to very early in the Old Testament.  Noah chose to believe God.  He chose to hear and obey God.  The path of faith that brings rest to our souls is to believe God, hear God, and then to obey God.

Paul said,

Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

You and I are so blessed when we are put into a situation where we feel our faith is being tried.  The other side to that is you look up and say, “God I don’t know how this is going to go.”  There are many in this audience that have even made requests in the last week or two that say, “I don’t know how this will affect my life and it will have an effect on other’s lives too.” 

We are blessed when you and I are in the midst of a decision, “God it could go this way or it could go that way.” 

Way back in time when I was severely tempted… It was brought in Sunday school that when the time of temptation comes if people don’t have root in themselves, they fall away.  I remember that occasion as if it were yesterday.  There was something in me that wanted to please God. 

We come to these crossroads over and over again.  We make the choice, “I am going to choose to live by faith.”  We make the curve or choose the highroad.  It gives God pleasure and brings His approval in our life.

Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

When you are making a decision in your life… Whatever age you are, you will continue to come to crossroads in your life.  We all have reached those places where we choose to make the choice, “I am going to do what God wants me to do and exercise faith in God.”  Or we choose, “I am going to choose what my flesh wants to do.”

Perdition means destruction.  When an individual chooses to draw back, they don’t draw back to good things.  I pray, “God keep the mirror of the Word before me.”  When we think, “I don’t want to climb anymore”, keep climbing.  Keep walking, if you ever quit, you will become immobile.

I had a fall a year ago in February.  The pain to keep walking was intense.  I knew that if I ever quit, it would only be a matter of time until I became immobile.  In the spiritual realm, we cannot quit walking, climbing, or living by faith.  If we do, we will draw back to perdition.

Unbelief brings to shipwreck and destruction.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is good to have good desires.  It is of utmost importance that we have good spiritual desires.  This lesson is on having faith in God, overcoming those things that would hinder us in our daily lives. 

My thoughts for my heart: out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  I thought, “What is in my heart?”  Among the things that every one of us has been given is a measure of faith.  By now, having lived to the age that I am, that faith should have grown. 

The kingdom of God is not some mystic kingdom somewhere some place, it is within us.  It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.  Out of the abundance of my heart, instead of my mind wandering, my desire is that thoughts would come that would be beneficial in my walk of serving God, beneficial as a brother in Christ, as a parent, and as a grandparent.

Faith is the substance:  one of my mother’s favorite scriptures was Mark 11:23 have faith in God and you can say to this mountain, “Be removed.” And it shall be removed if you doubt not in your heart.

If you are praying about something, then have faith in God.  You may think that what you are praying about looks impossible.  Yes, and that was the way it was in the day of Cyrus when he went out to make some conquests and victories that God ordained from before the day he was born.

God has ordained that you be a victor.  How many have had miracles in their lives in this audience?  The greatest miracle is bible Salvation.  It is greater than five barley loaves and two fish feeding 5,000. 

The reality that you can be delivered from a life of sin and that you can be sanctified wholly.  You may say, “My nature is so complex, I don’t even understand it.”  That could be, but The God of heaven can sanctify you wholly.

You may say, “I am struggling with this person.  They are doing their best to hinder me.”  We serve a God that can change even sinner people. 

This is the rest of faith, “I don’t know how this will work out, but I am resting with you that it will work out.”

The only way to get through difficult things is by faith in God.  You could lose everything.  Before we get home, our lives could be changed, our homes could be gone, or some family member that you depend on could be gone.  We have a God that has not and will not fail.

There may be great opportunities that are offered to some, others may suffer great disappointment.  The only way to get through them is by faith in God, “God I know that you know what you are doing.”

Evidence of things not seen:  I am believing God.  When Paul was on the ship headed to Rome he told them to not take off.  They didn’t listen to him.  They ended up in terrible storms.  They fasted for days and it looked like everything would be a total loss.  Paul knew what to do, he sought God.  “There stood by me this night the angel of the Lord that told me there would be no loss of lives.”

Paul said, “Sirs, I believe God.”  You can trust God and believe God.

Heb 11:6  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.

With faith in God it is possible to please Him.  When you are put to the test, in a humble way but definite, we can tell God, “I am believing you and trusting you to take care of things.”

Where does faith come from?

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

I don’t believe that God just put a pinhead measure in my mind, but a measure in my heart and my soul.  If it were just in my mind, when I didn’t get the answer, I would have just let it pass.  It is there because God gave a measure of faith. 

God knew Jeremiah before He was ever in the womb.  That is the God that I know.  There is something within me and is within every soul. 

The enemy wants people to make choices so that their faith is destroyed.  But we serve a God that can help us to look up and say, “There has to be more than this cemetery when we die.”

2Th 1:3  We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

If we started out with a miracle when we got saved is there any reason that we shouldn’t expect good things from God?  He will take excellent care of us.

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

If you read Hebrews 11, you don’t have to get through all the verses until you feel faith growing.

Faith justifies:

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Rom 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Faith brings peace.  We live in a world without any peace.  Men and women cannot sleep day or night.  They have no peace.  Faith brings peace and hope. 

Is there no balm in Gilead?  Isaiah 53 says that we are healed by His stripes.  Someday when you and I are in eternity perhaps there is a room of miracles.  Perhaps you will be admitted in to begin looking at all the miracles, all the healings, all the lives that God has done miracles for.

Don’t ever underestimate that there is a balm, there is a healing, and it is Christ.  There is nothing too hard for God.  It can be literal or mental sickness.  God has come to my rescue many times when the oppression of the enemy was strong to destroy my vision of the Church of God because of people.  I knew when I got saved and knew what the Word of God said. 

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to walk into that room and see that flood of discouragement that would have carried you away but God never failed?  To see that flood of difficulty that God carried you through?

Over and over again Abraham, Moses, and others in the Old Testament had victories by faith.  You can trust God.  He will not fail.  At the end of Hebrews 11 it says, “I am running out of room.  I cannot write it all.”  You and I could write chapter after chapter.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Lay aside worry, fear, the weight of tomorrow, the fear of less income; they are a part of our lives.  Lay aside the weights, the sin; look to Jesus, the author.

Look unto Jesus the author, the one that way back in eternity was designed to pay the price that you could be saved.  He is the author of salvation and He is the finisher.  He didn’t just start out to start a life worthwhile for you, He plans to bring it to the best ultimate in life. 

That you can say with Paul,

2Ti 4:7  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

2Ti 4:8  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

God wants us to not only begin, but to finish.  He is not just a rough-in carpenter.  He is a finishing carpenter.  We have been in places where there is not all the molding up.  He says, “I want to bring this to a beautiful end.”

Where ever we are on this road of faith, we want to be right where He wants us, but we want to be looking forwards.  He will keep working.

Look to Jesus:

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He did this so you and I can enjoy the road of faith and the rest.