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00:00Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January 12th.
00:05What made the great people of the Bible so special?
00:09Today's podcast points to their bold faith in God.
00:12Let's learn how to develop that same kind of faith, faith that will make your life extraordinary.
00:18The Bible has many accounts of different kinds of people.
00:23And they're all ordinary people through whom God has done some extraordinary things.
00:30And oftentimes we think that these have to be very gifted, talented, skilled people with maybe lots of education, all
00:37the rest.
00:38But here's a whole book of people who were ordinary in their day.
00:43But when God touched their life, when God spoke to them and they responded in the proper way, God made
00:51their life extraordinary.
00:53Now the question is this, what factor in their life, what element in their life made it possible for them
01:02to step out of the ordinary into the extraordinary?
01:05What was true of them?
01:07Can the same thing be true of you?
01:09And the answer is yes, because God has not changed.
01:13He's still using ordinary people.
01:15So what I want to do in this passage of Scripture is this.
01:19I want to give you a picture of what the life of faith is about.
01:24And we're going to turn to the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews and read those first six verses,
01:28though we'll cover more.
01:29Because in the Word of God are these brief sketches of God's Old Testament saints and how he used ordinary
01:39people in that day to do the most extraordinary things.
01:43The writer of Hebrews does two very important things when he begins this chapter in talking about all of these
01:50Old Testament saints.
01:51Because what he says about them is so awesome when you and I begin to understand how it applies to
01:57your life and mine.
01:58Because you see, there's one thing about God's Word.
02:00We can sing about the old-time religion and we can talk about the ancient scrolls and so forth.
02:06The message of the Word of God, listen, is more appropriate, more powerful, more up-to-date today than any
02:16news you ever hear.
02:18Because this is the truth about circumstances, and oftentimes the news we hear is not the truth.
02:24And besides that, it's man's opinion and how he sees it.
02:27This is the way God sees life.
02:29This is the way God sees you.
02:31This is the way God sees how he wants to operate in your life and mine.
02:35So notice two things he does in the very beginning.
02:38And the first thing is this.
02:39He defines what faith is.
02:41Listen to what he says.
02:42Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
02:49The first thing he wants us to recognize is, what is faith?
02:53Faith is simply confidence in the promises of God that he will do what he's promised.
03:01That is, simple faith is confidence in God that he will do what he promises.
03:05Every time, all the time.
03:07There is no reason, no logical reason for doubting a God who is all-wise, who loves us unconditionally,
03:14and who is omnipotent.
03:15So he defines that.
03:16He says, it is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction, an absolute conviction
03:23that he will do what he promises he'll do.
03:26Then what he does, he slips down to this sixth verse, and he says this.
03:30He says, this is how important your faith is.
03:33Without faith, it's impossible to please him.
03:36Not you may be able to, some people could, no.
03:39Without faith, it is absolutely impossible to please him.
03:42And many people believe with all of their heart, oh, I'm living by faith.
03:46But if you look at their conduct, listen to their conversation, watch their character,
03:52they're not living by faith at all.
03:54They're living by feelings.
03:56They're living by the opinion of others.
03:59They're living by their reasoning.
04:02Faith, listen, faith is above all of that.
04:06And what the writer of Hebrews does, here's this.
04:09He takes these biographical sketches of different Old Testament saints to explain
04:14and to graphically describe what faith is really all about.
04:20Now, if you will accept the truth of God's Word, not what I'm saying.
04:24If you will accept the truth of God's Word and apply this message to your life,
04:30you won't be the same.
04:32Here's what happens.
04:33People say, well, yeah, I heard that message.
04:36Well, what did you do about it?
04:38Well, I heard it.
04:40Did you get it?
04:41That's the issue.
04:42Did you get it?
04:43Listen, this is the powerful, penetrating, life-changing Word of God.
04:49This is not a sermon.
04:50This is a Word of God.
04:52And I want you to watch what he does through the lives of these people.
04:55They're ordinary people, but they listen to God, and God did something awesome through them.
05:03You say, well, who am I?
05:06God knows who you are.
05:08What can he do in my life?
05:10He's sitting on ready, waiting for you to believe him, and to trust him, and to follow him.
05:18Then you will discover what he can do in and through your life.
05:23Or you can live a settle-for life, stay on the low level, just being ordinary, coming and going,
05:30and something awesome missing in your life.
05:32You don't want to live your life that way.
05:34Or maybe you do.
05:35If you're wise, you won't.
05:37Now, here's what I want to do.
05:40I'm simply going to describe what a life of faith looks like by looking at these people in this particular
05:47chapter of the Scripture.
05:48So, I'm going to answer the question, when we walk by faith, what?
05:54So, when we walk by faith, the will of God will be our guide.
06:00When we walk by faith, the will of God will be our guide.
06:03Not somebody else's opinion, not somebody else's counsel, but the will of God, which he is certainly willing to reveal
06:10to us.
06:10Now, what he does in this chapter, he mentions a couple there in the beginning.
06:15And then, after he defines what faith is and comes down to tell us how important it is, he begins
06:20with Noah.
06:21So, I want you to turn back, if you will, to Genesis.
06:24And let's look in the very beginning of the Scriptures here, in this sixth chapter of Genesis.
06:31And you will recall that God said to Noah, I'm going to wipe out the whole earth.
06:39I'm going to destroy everything on it.
06:41The wickedness is such that I can't stand it any longer.
06:44God is telling Noah, in the midst of a very pagan society, in fact, everybody who lived around him was
06:51getting ready to die.
06:53Everybody but his family.
06:54That's how wicked they were.
06:55God only found one man who had favor of God.
06:59He says, I want you to build this big thing.
07:03We're going to call it an ark.
07:04You and I would probably call it a boat.
07:07But I want you to build this thing.
07:08And he told him how long it was to be, how wide, and exactly all the dimensions, and how he
07:13was to do it.
07:15And he didn't tell him how long it was going to take him.
07:17He just said, build it.
07:19The only thing Noah had was the will of God.
07:23What was the will of God for his life?
07:25Listen to this.
07:26For 120 years, this man focused on one thing, the will of God.
07:32He preached righteousness, Peter says in his epistles.
07:35That Noah was a servant of God who, listen, he preached and built, preached and built, preached and built.
07:41He had a big congregation.
07:43Why?
07:43Because he started putting this thing together.
07:45He had all the attractions he needed.
07:48People wondering, what in the world are you building?
07:51First of all, you're building a big boat on land.
07:54Secondly, they'd never seen rain because it was the canopy of the earth that kept it the way it was.
07:59And so here he was doing something that seemed absolutely senseless, lots of criticism, because the Bible says he was
08:07a preacher of righteousness.
08:08So therefore, he was condemning their sinfulness, condemning their wickedness.
08:12And so naturally, he had lots of opposition, lots of criticism.
08:16He just kept building and kept preaching, kept building and kept preaching.
08:20Do you know why he was able to complete that ark, take his family and the animals in?
08:26When God closed the door, he rode the waters, and he and his family were the only ones who left
08:31because his focus in life was the will of God.
08:36When you and I live by faith, our focus is going to be the will of God.
08:39Here's what happens to us.
08:40Too many of God's people look around at society, and instead of focusing on the will of God, they want
08:46to be like somebody else.
08:47They want to act like them.
08:49They want to talk like them.
08:50They want to sing like them.
08:51They want to dress like them.
08:53They want to live like them.
08:54They want to have the same pleasures the unbelieving, ungodly have.
08:58And so then they wonder why God doesn't bless them, and why God doesn't work in their life in unusual
09:04ways.
09:04They think they're living by faith when they're, listen, they're living by the influence and the pressure of the society
09:10around them.
09:11Do you know why many people are living an ordinary life?
09:14Because they're not guided by the will of God.
09:17Opinion, feelings, influence of others, not the will of God.
09:21Ask yourself the question, what is the will of God for my life at this point?
09:26Are you willing to do that?
09:29If you're not willing to do that, what it says is, I don't believe him.
09:33I don't trust him.
09:35Can't do it.
09:36Then you'll end up, my friend, with a lot less, far less than the person God wants you to be.
09:42So, that's principle number one.
09:44And that is, the will of God will be our guide.
09:48The second one is this.
09:50If we're going to live by faith, the promises of God will be our assurance.
09:54And so he chooses Abraham, for example, to describe that.
09:59So look, if you will, in verse eight.
10:01By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive
10:06for an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going.
10:10By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land.
10:15Dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.
10:19For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
10:24Then it goes on to talk about his wife and so forth.
10:26So go back, if you will, to Genesis chapter 12, and let's notice here what's going on.
10:31Genesis chapter 12.
10:33Here's a man who lived by faith.
10:37When you and I are walking by faith, we're going to live by the promises of God.
10:44That is, we're going to have the assurance that if he says it, he will do it.
10:48Now listen to what God said to him, 12th chapter.
10:50He says, verse one, now the Lord said to Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives
10:55and from your father's house to the land which I will show you.
10:59He didn't give him a map.
11:00He just said, I'm going to show you.
11:01Now watch this.
11:03And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great.
11:09And so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you.
11:12One who curses you, I will curse.
11:14And in all the families of the earth will be blessed.
11:17That is, in you, through you, all the families of the earth are going to be blessed.
11:21Now let's think about it for a moment.
11:23Lots of things you could say about Abram.
11:25Well, God said, through you, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed.
11:29Well, what did he have to hold on to?
11:33With Abraham, the promise of God was his assurance.
11:37He lived by the promises of God.
11:39That was his assurance in life.
11:41There was no assurance within himself.
11:44There was no assurance from anyone else.
11:46If he'd have said to anyone, you know what?
11:49Sarah and I are going to have a son.
11:52Abraham, you're 99 years of age.
11:54What do you mean you're going to have a son?
11:55We're going to have one.
11:56What makes you think of the promise of God?
11:58You've got to be out of your mind.
12:00Now, you and I would say the same thing to a person today.
12:02And yet, what did he have to hold on to?
12:04The promises of God.
12:05You know why?
12:06Because, listen, he believed that a promise from God was as good as done.
12:12And, listen, what he could not see with his naked eye, he knew that one day that promise would be
12:17reality.
12:18So, what did God do?
12:20He kept his promise and he gave him a son, Isaac.
12:24Listen to what happened.
12:25So, the next thing God does, he says, Abraham, remember what I promised you?
12:29That through all the nations of the earth, your son's going to be blessed?
12:32Right.
12:33Yes, thank you, Father.
12:35Then I want you to take Isaac, your only son, whom you love, he said.
12:39I want you to take him to a place that I will show you, Mount Moriah.
12:43And I want you to sacrifice him unto me.
12:47What?
12:49Obey me.
12:50Do you trust me, Abraham?
12:54Yes, God.
12:55So, the scripture says, got his servants, saddle up the donkey, cut the firewood, and they headed out.
13:02So, on their way, I'm certain that Abraham thought a lot about the possibilities and what could happen.
13:09You know what caused Abraham to call his servants?
13:14You know what caused Abraham and motivated him to chop wood?
13:18You know what caused Abraham to get his son up and say, we're going for a little trip?
13:24You know what caused Abraham to commit himself to sacrifice his son?
13:29One thing.
13:30The promise of God.
13:32What made Abraham, this unknown man, in a pagan society, become such an extraordinary servant of the living God?
13:44One thing.
13:46He learned to trust God.
13:49He learned to be obedient to God.
13:51For him, listen, living by faith meant that the promises of God, that's all the assurance that he needed.
14:03And you and I live in a day when we hear a lot of preaching, for example, that we got
14:08to see proof.
14:09Got to see proof.
14:10What did God do?
14:12If God makes a promise, I don't need any proof.
14:14Because I know that when he fulfills his promise, he'll have all the proof I need.
14:19The truth is, because God doesn't lie, and God doesn't promise one thing and give something else, I can trust
14:27him.
14:28To live by faith simply means this.
14:30I'm willing to believe that God will keep his promises, and that's all the assurance I need.
14:38Faith is believing God because he says it.
14:41Now, I could give you lots of testimonies, and many of you could, how God honors your obedience when you
14:48trust him.
14:49You just trust him financially.
14:51You trust him in relationships.
14:52You trust him in your obedience to him.
14:56Our assurance is the promises of God.
15:00And the person who lives and walks by faith lives by the promises of God.
15:07And our assurance every single day is whatever he promises, he's going to perform.
15:13And the reason you're in the mess you're in is because you won't trust him.
15:17You won't believe him.
15:19You won't take the first step.
15:21And sometimes that first step looks like it's a mile wide.
15:24Take it.
15:25See what God does.
15:27All right, the third principle I want you to get is this.
15:31When we walk by faith, the presence of God will be our comfort.
15:36The presence of God will be our comfort.
15:38And then he moves down to, we come to Moses in this 23rd verse of this 11th chapter.
15:43And listen to what he says.
15:44By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that he
15:49was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
15:51By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to
15:58endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
16:05Considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
16:11By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is
16:18unseen.
16:20Now, let's go back to the third chapter of Exodus for a moment, and let's look to see what's happening
16:26here.
16:26You recall, the children of Israel have been in bondage to the Egyptians for hundreds of years, 400 years.
16:34Now, here's this shepherd.
16:36He is only a shepherd.
16:38Now, he grew up in Pharaoh's household, but you recall how he had to flee because he killed an Egyptian
16:44soldier.
16:44So, now he's on the backside of the desert, 40 years he's been living back there.
16:50Who in the world is Moses?
16:52He's a nobody, just a shepherd.
16:55One day, he's walking along, and all of a sudden, he sees something very strange.
16:59He sees this bush burning, but it's not consumed.
17:03Now, he's seen bushes burn before, and he's set some of them afire.
17:06But somehow, this one's not burning up.
17:08It's just burning.
17:09And all of a sudden, he hears this voice.
17:14And the voice says, Moses, Moses.
17:20And he said, here I am.
17:22Do not come near here.
17:24Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you're standing is holy ground.
17:31Moses hid his face, scared him to death.
17:34Then God began this conversation with him.
17:36He said, you know, my people are in bondage, and they're suffering under these taskmasters
17:43of the Egyptians.
17:46He says, I've heard their cry.
17:48And then he says in verse 10, therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so
17:54that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.
17:57But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the
18:03sons
18:03of Israel out of Egypt, and listen to what God said to him, certainly I will be with you.
18:10This was the comfort that Moses needed, and God knew that he needed it.
18:16He says, Moses, I'll be with you.
18:18When you stand face to face, and how many times did he stand face to face before Pharaoh?
18:23Many times.
18:24Plague after plague after plague after plague, and he wouldn't let them go.
18:29So, he stood there.
18:31What did he have?
18:32He had the promise of God.
18:34And listen, it was the word of God.
18:37God had given him this awesome sense of assurance.
18:41Listen, he lived with this comfort.
18:44Nothing he had in his hand could have defended him.
18:46The only thing that could defend him was the living God.
18:51And listen to me, the same God that stood with Moses on the bank of the Red Sea is the
19:00same
19:00God who stands with you and me when you and I face our Red Seas, when you and I face
19:06our
19:07Pharaohs.
19:07It is the same God with the same power to offer the same comfort if we'll trust him.
19:15Thank you for listening to A Life of Faith.
19:18If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org.
19:23This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
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