Enduring Faith - Part 3
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[00:00:00] If you would, to Hebrews chapter 11
Hebrews chapter 11, we are gonna begin reading in verse 30, and we're gonna read down to chapter 12, verse 2. So Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse 30. If you're able, please stand for the reading of God's Word
And don't take it for granted. Hear it for what it truly is, the words of the living God. Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by [00:01:00] faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
Women received back their dead by resurrection. And others were tortured, not accepting their release, so they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experienced mockings, scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword.
They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated. Those of whom the world is not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountain caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not [00:02:00] receive what was promised Because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run the race with endurance, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the sa- shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
May God add a blessing to the reading, the hearing, and most importantly, obedience to His Word. Please be seated.[00:03:00]
It is my goal to wrap up Hebrews chapter 11 today. And I've shared a little bit about chapter 11. It's a fun chapter. It's a chapter that we can easily get boggled down, but it is also a humbling chapter. I don't know if you've experienced that yet. But I just wanna share two reasons why I believe Hebrews chapter 11 is humbling.
Number one, the lives of the saints. We read about these saints and we think, "I'd never make it into chapter 11." More on that in a minute. But here's the second one. Now, I just want you to think about this for a little bit. The author is saturated in the Old Testament, and most modern-day evangelicals are not.
Most modern-day evangelicals are completely lost in this book because we don't understand the Old Testament references. We don't understand what I've called the [00:04:00] hyperlinks. In fact, I would, and I pray this is done humbly, I would say the biggest problem in the evangelical church today is we don't know our Old Testaments.
We don't know our Old Testaments, and we have convinced ourselves that we can interpret the new apart from that knowledge. You cannot. The New Testament is saturated with the old. The New Testament's foundation is the old, and if we don't understand the Old Testament, we will never get the new right
But I've been doing something for the last couple of weeks, and I don't want it to sound like I'm contradicting the message of Hebrews 11. For you see, and I've got a chart for you to look at later, but don't, don't look for it now, but mentioned in chapter 11, we have no less than 21 specific names, couple of references, but no less than 21 specific names of heroes of the [00:05:00] faith.
And then when he's done citing names, we have another 21 actions that would apply to multiple people found not just in the Old Testament, but of the Jewish believers of old. And it's meant to encourage us. But so often I've met people after reading Hebrews 11 that walk away discouraged. And if I'm honest, I would put myself in that group.
"I don't have that kind of faith," is what I hear. I could never stack up to the saints of Hebrews 11. I fall short all the time. I've even he- heard, heard more foolish things. I've heard people actually say, "Well, they're not experiencing what I'm experiencing. They're not surrounded by technology. They're not tempted on a regular basis."
And so I've been trying to illustrate as we've looked at some of the saints, we haven't looked at them all in detail, but I've been trying to illustrate a little bit of both sides. [00:06:00] You see, if we're honest, every person mentioned in this chapter was a very imperfect person. Every person mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 is a sinner.
And, and you could break them up into two categories. They started well and ended poorly. They started poorly and ended well. Or they started poorly and ended poorly, and yet they made it to the hall of faith because God saw saving faith in their lives. Consider Gideon. I want you just to think about Gideon for a minute.
Gideon is found in Judges chapter 6 through 11. Gideon is mentioned in verse 32 of our text, and Gideon was the youngest son of a Baal worshiper. Gideon's father had built an altar for Baal, and right next to the altar, he built a Asherah pole. So basically, in Canaanite mythology, you have father god and mother god, and the community of Ophrah, where Gideon lived, [00:07:00] frequented it often.
So often that when God called Gideon to tear it down, he was afraid, so he did it at night, and the next day they wanted to kill him
Not only that, but every time God asked Gideon to do something, Gideon tested God. The first time when God called him, Gideon said, "All right, you need to perform a miracle here, so I'm gonna go get a sacrifice." And he brings the sacrifice, and he puts it on the stone, and God lights up the sacrifice, and then Gideon obeys.
The second time God comes to Gideon and says, "I want you to go out against the Midianites," again, he challenges God. "You need to do something first. I'm gonna put a piece of fleece out here and I want the ground, or I want the fleece to be wet and the ground dry." And that happened. "I want you to do it again, God, only this time I want the fleece dry and the ground w- wet."
And he does it again And this was sinful. [00:08:00] And I will never forget, as a young man, I, I approached a couple of different pastors about this, and their explanation was, "Well, this is the Old Testament, and it was okay to ask God for a sign. But you're not supposed to ask God for a sign in the new." No, Gideon was sinful.
Gideon was challenging God. Gideon committed the sin. He lacked faith. God tells him to... If God tells you to do something, He's going to equip you. But Gideon challenged God. And then it looks like Gideon's gonna end well. It looks-- He's done a good job. He's gone out, he's defeated the Midianites. Maybe you'll remember the story.
He reduces an army of over 10,000 down to 300, and he, he defeats the Midianites. And when it's all said and done, the people wanna make him king. And Gideon makes it very clear, "I will not rule over you, and neither will my sons." And in Judges 8:23, he says this: "Yahweh shall rule over you." And that was the [00:09:00] primary problem in the book of Judges and, and early in 1 Samuel.
They wanted a king. They didn't want Yahweh
So you think, "Hey, that's pretty good, Gideon." But then Gideon does make a request. He says, "I want something from each of you from the spoils. I just want..." And it sounds like just a little thing, "I want one gold earring from every man from the spoils." And so every man, and I think others, give him a gold earring, and just when you read the text and you look at the numbers, he received 43 pounds of gold in just earrings.
He received 43 pounds of gold, and by today's standard, that would've been about $2.7 million. And what does Gideon do? He goes out and he makes a solid gold ephod. And just so you know, an ephod is a religious item. An ephod is something that a priest would wear, kinda like a [00:10:00] vest-type garment. It would cover the chest.
And he makes a solid gold ephod, and he puts it in his city of Ophrah, and it becomes another shrine. So Gideon repeats the sin of his father. And I don't think I'm reading too far into the text to say he purposely makes a religious item out of gold, sets it up in a prominent place, and then the people come and they start worshiping it, and it becomes a, an adulterous, idolatrous shrine Now, just so you know, I firmly believe that we're gonna meet Gideon in heaven.
But he was far from a perfect man, and he makes it in Hebrews 11. Consider Rahab. Rahab's a good example. Uh, it's a refreshing example because Rahab starts very poorly and ends very well. Number one on your outline, and just so you know, in your bulletin you've got a fill-in-the-blank sermon outline and some room to take notes, and then you've got a [00:11:00] full-page table that we'll get to later.
But number one on your outline is preserving faith. Preserving faith. And along the way, we've been taking an up-close look at some of the characters, not all of them, but some of them, and I wanna look at Rahab. And kids, this is on your handout. This is, uh, one of those fill-in-the-blanks. So look at verse 31, "By faith," and remember what I, what I shared with you.
This, this phrase, by faith, literally means out of faith or because of faith, on the basis of faith. Faith changes a person. Faith makes us do things we wouldn't otherwise do. Faith makes us live in ways we wouldn't otherwise live, true saving faith. "By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace."
And I just wanna point out three things about Rahab, and the first thing is obvious. It should jump off [00:12:00] the page at you. Every time Rahab is introduced in scripture, with one exception, every time Rahab is introduced in scripture, with one exception, she is introduced as Rahab the harlot. And it's not because God is trying to keep Rahab down.
It's not that God is trying to remind Rahab she's a sinner. He's trying to remind us that He's in the business of changing lives. Amen. And if a woman like Rahab can come to faith and risk her life and end up saving her family at the same time, that's amazing, and that should encourage us. If you remember the story, the king goes immediately to Rahab.
She must have been making a good living, and I say it the way I say it because of the sake of the kids. She started poorly. She was a sinful woman. But when you read her words and her interaction with the spies, she put her faith [00:13:00] in Yahweh, and she put her family's lives into Yahweh's hand. James 2:25, "In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?"
We have inspired words that Rahab was saved. She exercised saving faith. You wanna know the one exception where Rahab is not introduced and we're not reminded of her sin? Rahab is a relative of Jesus. And in Matthew 1:5, "Solomon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse."
And then we learn later that Jesse is the father of King David, and Jesus is the seed of David. Rahab makes it into the Messiah's genealogy. That's how much God honored [00:14:00] her, and we'll talk more about how God honors us. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, and this is the second thing I want to point out.
It's interesting that the text describes them as disobedient, and if we pay careful attention to the story, it's talking about the people of Jericho. It was the people of Jericho that's described as disobedient. And we've seen this word used in the Book of Hebrews, and we've seen it used throughout scripture, and here's my point, and here's what's important, but it's so subtle we could miss it.
God judges everyone by the same standard, by His law, by the Decalogue, and by that standard, the people of Jericho were disobedient. They were guilty before God, and so He judged them. And what was the difference between obedience and disobedience? Again, if you follow the text and you follow the Book of Hebrews, it was belief.[00:15:00]
Rahab believed. That's what made her obedient. That's what changed her life. It was that faith that God granted
Kids, on your outline I ask a question, what did Rahab do? And moms and dads, this is as much for you as it is for the kids. But what did Rahab do? And I gave you two answers, kids, and I'm gonna give you a third. She, she protected the spies. Rahab protected the two Israelite spies. The second thing she did is she put her faith in God.
She put her faith in God and said, "I'm gonna protect you, but I want you to protect my family." And this is a fascinating story that I can only, uh, give you a cursory, uh, description or explanation of, but what did the spies tell her? "When we come to tear down these walls," I'm paraphrasing a little bit, "you're to hang a scarlet thread outside your window."
And that scarlet thread is packed with symbolism. First of all, scarlet is the picture of [00:16:00] blood. We are saved by the blood of Christ Jesus. Secondly, this particular scarlet color in the Old Testament was also a color of luxury and royalty. We are saved by the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. And thirdly, this scarlet color pictured cleansing, pictured purification, and we are purified by our great High Priest, King Jesus.
Picture of the Gospel in the Old Testament. She ended well. Will we? Will we end well? Will we start bad and end good? Will we start good and end saved? Will we start poor and end poorly?
Rahab ended well. Look at verse 32. "What more shall I say?" What more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. So [00:17:00] now he just starts listing off names without necessarily telling us what they did, and hopefully you're familiar with it, but there's a few things that I want to point out, and I find them interesting, subtle, some of them, but interesting and worth, worth knowing.
Number one, we learn in this verse, and maybe you'll remember, the author of Hebrews is unknown. I've shared with you, I can't prove this, it's not a hill to die on, but I think there's good evidence, I think it was some combination of Luke and Paul. I think that's who authored the book. But we simply don't know who authored the book.
And there's been all kinds of, uh, names put forward, but what's interesting is in this, uh, verse, "And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell," and that Hebrew con- or that Greek construction there lets us know that it was a man writing The verbs and the participles, doesn't matter what they're called, it's in the masculine.
And so we learn from this verse that the me is a male figure. So whoever wrote this book [00:18:00] was a man called by God. We don't know who that man was, but it was a man. I think that's important to know. The other thing is when he lists Gideon and Barak, Samson, Jephthah, he lists, lists them out of order. The actual order is Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Samuel, David.
But if you look in your bulletins, you'll find a table that looks something like this, and if you grab that, I just want to say a few things. Um, we're not gonna go over it in detail, but you can certainly go over it later when you get home. But this table worked out perfectly because on page one, and it is numbered, on page one, you'll see a list of no, no less than 20 names, and all the names fit on the first side.
And you'll see that I, I put on the, the table where they're found in Hebrews, where they're found in the Old Testament, what's the hyperlink to understand what they did, and then I give the testimony, uh, that mostly the book of Hebrews gives. I add a few things based on the Old Testament text. But turn to the backside.
I think the backside is interesting, and [00:19:00] hopefully you'll notice on the left-hand column under characters, you'll note that all the characters are in italics, and the reason they're in italics is because I added them. Okay? I added them for you. If you look at the right-hand column, you'll see the testimony or the acts performed.
The writer of Hebrews gives us these acts, and based on these acts, I simply put together a small list, 'cause I could add more, but a small list of possible candidates. So if you look at verse 33, "Who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions."
Well, who might fit that description in the Old Testament? Well, those who conquered kingdoms, certainly Joshua conquered kingdoms. Uh, most of the judges conquered foreign kingdoms. David conquered kingdoms, and we could add a whole list of other names. Performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, Samuel, David, [00:20:00] Solomon.
We could add a list of other names. Shut the mouths of lions. Who do you think of there? Probably Daniel. You think of Daniel because Daniel literally, their mouths closed, the, the lions didn't eat them. But there were others in the Old Testament that also killed lions, that God empowered to kill lions.
Samson. David, as a shepherd boy, killed a lion. And then somebody you probably don't know much about, Benaiah. And Ben-- I mention Benaiah, he's found in 2 Samuel 23. He's also found in 1 Chronicles, 1 Kings, but this guy is interesting. And the Bible doesn't tell you a whole lot about him, but young men, little boys, listen to this 'cause you're gonna wanna go home and read about this guy, 'cause this guy was bad.
All right? This guy, somehow he finds himself in a pit with a lion. And the text doesn't tell us how this happens, but he's in a pit, he's in a hole, and he's got a lion down there with him, and it's [00:21:00] snowing. And it doesn't tell us if he uses any weapons, if he has a spear, if he has a sword. It just says that while he was in the pit with Leo the lion, he kills the lion.
What do you think, little boys, what do you think he did with the lion after he killed it? He might have eaten it. I think he snuggled up next to it and got warm. It was snowing, okay? But there were those that God empowered to shut the mouths of lions. In verse 34, "Quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword."
And we ought to think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They went into that fiery furnace, and they weren't burnt. And when King Nebuchadnezzar looks inside, he sees a fourth figure, Jesus, the Angel of Yahweh, and He protects His faithful people. But jump down to the bottom of the list and jump down to verse 38.
And verse 38 begins, and in the New American Standard, it actually translates, "Men of whom the world was not worthy." Two things about that verse. First of [00:22:00] all, men is not in the text. It just says, "They whom the world," so it would refer to everyone in the immediate context and everyone listed in chapter 11.
The world was not worthy of these people. And this word for worthy, it means that the world was not fit, the world did not deserve people such as these. And I find that fascinating, and I don't want you to miss it. God saves us. God is Savior. God makes very clear in Isaiah, "I am Savior. There is no other.
I'm the one that does all the work." God saves us. He gives us a new heart. He gives us life. He grants us, according to Peter, the gift of faith and repentance. He gives, He fills us with His Holy Spirit, and then He honors us He honors us for the imperfect good that we do. And I just want you to stop and think about that.
What a gracious [00:23:00] God. He does everything. He completely transforms you. You are an unworthy slave. You have been called to obedience. You owe Him obedience. And then He blesses you, and He honors you, and He gives you a testimony, and He says, "Well done." And most of us, we, we want, when we go to heaven, we want to approach the throne, and we want to hear those words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
And yet I only did what you called me to do. I only did what you empowered me to do. I only did what your Spirit prompted me to do. God is gracious, and we should not lose sight of that. Our mind should be pr- God honors these people that simply did what He told them to do. Number two on your outline, the promise received.
The promise received. Look at verse 39. All of these, [00:24:00] all of these people mentioned, having gained approval, and literally in the text, and, and I mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but literally in the text, they gained a testimony. Okay? They gained approval by God, and God speaks on their behalf. God writes an entire chapter, and He includes them.
And you all know what a testimony is, and the Greek word is martyr. And a martyr is not always somebody who dies. We call somebody who dies for the faith a martyr, but a martyr is one who gives a testimony, and we speak of that all the time. We speak about giving our Christian testimony when we share our faith.
These men and women gained approval by God, gained approval through their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. They did not receive what was promised. And we need to be careful. What was promised? What was it? We saw last week they were looking for a heavenly city. But what was it that was promised that they didn't receive?
And you see, if we think the [00:25:00] promise was the land, we're, we're missing the point. They got the land. In the book of Judges, in David's reign, in Solomon's reign, they got all of the land promised, and then they lost it because of sin. But what did they not receive? And I think the answer is hopefully crystal clear by now.
Messiah. They didn't live to see Messiah. You see, the promise that they were counting on is found in Genesis 3:15. "I will put hatred between you," Satan, "and the woman, and between your offspring and her seed. He," now it's a singular male speaking of Jesus, "He will bruise your head, you shall bruise Him on the heel."
You see, they didn't live to see the day of Jesus. They didn't live to experience that final sacrifice that He offered on the cross that made all men perfect who put their faith in Him But they put their faith in the seed of the woman. They put their faith in what Noah's [00:26:00] name represented, that promised rest.
They put their faith in the seed of Abraham, in the prophet and priest found in Moses in the, the books of the law. They put their faith in the seed of King David. They put their faith in the child of Isaiah, the priest king of the prophets, the suffering servant again found in Isaiah, the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ.
But they didn't live to see his day, and they didn't live to experience that final and ultimate sacrifice. And all of these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us. And these next words are important, so that apart from us, without us, literally in the Greek, without us, apart from us, they would not be made perfect You see, even after they died, they were waiting.
They were waiting on Jesus. [00:27:00] And that shouldn't blow our minds for two reasons. Number one, the word better, because God had provided something better for us. And I just want to real quickly, uh, give you a reminder of how the writer of Hebrews uses this word. It begins in chapter one. He talks about Jesus as better than the angels, same word.
In chapter six, after he warns them about apostasy and don't turn away from the faith because there are better things concerning you. In Hebrews chapter seven, we read that without any dispute, the lesser is blessed by the better. Abraham is blessed by Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a picture of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is superior to the Old Testament priesthood. Continuing in chapter seven, "For the law makes nothing perfect. On the other hand, there's a bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God." There's a better covenant. There's a better promises. There's a better [00:28:00] sacrifice. There's a better possession.
There's a better homeland. There's a better resurrection. Jesus provides that which is better, and even after their death, the Old Testament saints waited. And sometimes that freaks us out. Sometimes that surprises us. Sometimes we're like, "Well, why?" We're still waiting. It shouldn't surprise us. We're still waiting.
We w- We await the final consummation. We await the return of Christ. Why do we die? Jesus went to the cross, and yet He allows His people to die, because He's not ready to return, because He's accomplishing something. We await, we await the renewal of creation, the redemption of our bodies, Romans chapter eight.
We await when the mortal will be swallowed up by the immortal, Second Corinthians, First Corinthians. And be careful here, hear me out, but we await the new heavens and the new earth in which [00:29:00] righteousness is unchallenged. Now, I've taught you and I believe it, and I would sit down with anyone and attempt to prove this scripturally, we are in the new heavens and the new earth.
We are in a new age. We are in a new world, but it's not consummate yet. There is more to come, and we await those things. We are pilgrims, and the world is still groaning, Romans chapter eight, so even we wait for more because God's timing is perfect. Look at chapter 12, verse one Therefore, since we, and the most important thing to catch there is the, again, the author includes himself with his readers.
With all the warnings he's given, with all the calls to repentance, with all the calls to faith, with all the calls to obedience, he includes himself. We, therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, literally so great a [00:30:00] throng of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, literally every weight, every burden, anything that would hold you back, anything that would impede you.
Since we have such a great throng of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight, every burden, and the sin which so easily entangles us, the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And I want to spend some time here, how do we lay aside sin?
Because that's what the author is asking us to do. Lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. And I want to get really serious here for a minute, and I am going to talk about things that even... Well, I don't [00:31:00] want to say it like that. When we get to it, I'll say it. But I want to give you at least five things, and kids, this is on your outline as well.
How do we stop sinning? And let me preface it with we will never stop sinning in this life. We will never be sinless in this life, but we ought to be able to sin less. And the Bible talks a lot about that. So here's the first thing that I would suggest to you. Know what sin is. Do you know what sin is?
Because there's only one way for you to know that. Read the scriptures. Do you read the scriptures on a regular basis? Do you study the law of God on a regular basis? I'll just give you some simple examples. If you go to somebody's house today after church and your child breaks something, what are you supposed to do according to the Bible?
Offer to pay for it. Now, the owner's probably gonna tell you no, but you [00:32:00] offer to pay for it. On the other hand, if somebody comes to you and says, "Hey, can I borrow this tool?" And you take the tool to their house, and you're working with this person, and the tool gets broken, they owe you nothing Do you know the law?
Do you know what sin is? Do you know how to make sin right? Do you know the difference between, "Hey, I'm sorry," and, "Hey, I confess I sinned against you, and I'm asking you for forgiveness"? There's only one way to do that: study the scriptures. Do you read the Bible? Do you study the scriptures? How well do you know the Old Testament?
Number two, confession and prayer, and I'm talking regular confession. It surprises me the number of Christians I meet, they don't regularly confess their sins. They... Maybe on Sunday if the church does it, but do you regularly confess your sins? Do you regularly claim the promises of God? If we confess our sins, He is righteous and [00:33:00] just and will forgive us.
And the idea there is restoration of fellowship because we know after reading the Book of Hebrews that our sin has been taken out of the way, and yet we still battle it. You confess it. The Psalm that I read during the confession of, of sin and the assurance of pardon, David talked about his body pining away, and we read elsewhere, it's when we don't confess our sins that it can even affect us physically.
And it doesn't mean you're gonna automatically stop, but it's a start. Do you confess your sins on a regular basis? Do you confess it multiple times throughout the day? Not just when you say your prayers, not just when you read the Bible, but you're driving and you sin, and maybe you say something you shouldn't say.
Do you confess it right then? Do you keep short accounts? And do you pray? How often do you pray? How often do you beg God, maybe even in tears, "God, [00:34:00] please help me stop this. Please. I am so tired of this sin." Why do you let it beset me? And that leads me to number three, and this, this is one where I feel very unqualified.
And yet, in the last several weeks, for whatever reason, I've been challenged no less than two times. And that is, and I couldn't think of a better word, deprivation. Do you deprive yourself of certain things? Are you willing to give up certain things that maybe make you sin? Are you willing to give up TV?
Are you willing to give up Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV? Are you willing to give up your computer? Do you sin on a regular basis because of your computer, because of the internet? Are you willing to give those things up? Are you willing to put something in place that will block certain sites? What are you willing to give up?
What are you willing to deprive [00:35:00] yourself of? Are you willing to give up certain friends, friends that are not good for you, friends that lead you into sin, friends that don't encourage you not to sin? And I'm not saying we shouldn't have non-Christian friends. We should. But who is influencing who? And if you're being influenced by your non-Christian friends, are you willing to give them up for King Jesus?
And here's what I've been challenged by, and this is something that I'm gonna begin a study on, and I will probably, uh, in the future, do a sermon. Have you considered fasting? Now just to break the ice a little bit When the Spirit of God put on my heart that I should include fasting, I was eating cheesecake
So when you look at me, you can tell that's not a man that fasts on a regular basis, which is why I, I feel a bit unqualified, but it is biblical. Listen to the words of Joel, "Yet even I declare... Yet even now [00:36:00] declares Yahweh, 'Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.'" And Daniel, in chapter nine says this, "So I gave my attention to Yahweh Elohim, to seek him by prayer and supplication with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes."
Have you ever considered fasting? And I'm talking about you're struggling with a sin and you want to get rid of it. Are you on your knees confessing? Are you on your knees praying? Are you considering fasting? Are you willing to give something up for King Jesus?
Number four, accountability. Are you willing to be in an accountability relationship? James says we are to confess our sin to one another, and I believe that what James is talking about is an accountability relationship. I have never seen it work well when it's been a public confession. The few times that I have witnessed public [00:37:00] confessions, quite frankly, the man was trying to get out of trouble and figured if he confessed in front of a lot of people, his wife wouldn't be that mad.
Are you willing to do it in private? Women, are you willing to find an older women, woman and have her hold you accountable? Men, are you willing to find an older man or a peer maybe, but somebody that's not gonna let you off the hook and be held accountable? Those of you that are willing to hold people accountable, are you willing to take a phone call at 3:00 AM?
Are you really willing to hold a brother or a sister in Christ accountable and pray for them and spend as much time on your knees for them as you would for yourself, as you would want somebody else to do for you? Are you in an accountability relationship? Are you willing to get into that kind of relationship?
And number five, and this is the last one, but I'm gonna spend the most time on this one. Do you walk by the Spirit? [00:38:00] Do you walk by the Spirit? How do you walk by the Spirit? What does that even mean? Turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5. Turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 5, we'll begin at verse 16
And I don't need to remind you of this, but I do I don't have this all down. And yeah, it's scary to get into an accountability relationship, and it's frightening to think what we maybe ought to give up, what we maybe ought to confess to somebody. But Galatians chapter 5 beginning in verse 16, and this is an imperative, this is a command, this is not an option.
Paul says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. [00:39:00] And please understand how Paul is using these words. The, the flesh here is most likely, because Paul's pretty consistent here, we need to be careful, but it likely refers to the remnant of remaining sin.
That's what Paul refers to as the flesh. In fact, the older NIV back in 1984, which I think was the last good version, but the NIV translates this sinful nature. The only problem with the NIV is that they translated it too often as sinful nature, and I don't think it always meant sinful nature, but it certainly means it here.
Your sin nature, just like Romans chapter 7, is at war with the Spirit, and we wanna walk by the Spirit. And I just wanna comment on the word walk because most often Paul and the other apostles will tell us to walk by the Spirit. Rarely, if... I don't even know if you'll ever find it, run by the Spirit. The only time the Apostle Paul uses the word run is when he's using an athletic analogy.
But he says, "Walk by the Spirit." Why? Well, the [00:40:00] idea is the long haul. The idea is the slow and steady life. The idea here is independence, depending on the power, the leading, the guiding of the Holy Spirit. Do you walk by the Spirit? And how do we do that? And we're gonna come full circle. You don't need to turn there, just write these verses down.
But if you compare Ephesians 5:18-19 and Colossians 3:16, if you compare them, Paul tells you how to walk by the Spirit So I'm gonna read Ephesians 5:18-19. Paul commands, "Do not get drunk with wine." And the idea here in context, don't let wine control you, "For that is disobedient," or dissipation, which is also disobedient.
"But be filled," be controlled instead, "by the Spirit." Verse 19, "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." And then he addresses [00:41:00] married people, and then he addresses parents, and then he addresses slaves and masters, because being filled with the Holy Spirit's going to change you.
But listen to how Paul puts it in Colossians chapter 3. In Colossians 3:16 he says this, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you." Let the scriptures richly dwell within you, "With all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another," here it comes, "with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
And then he addresses married people, and then he addresses parents, and then he addresses slaves and masters. You see, being filled with the Spirit is equivalent to being filled with the scriptures. That's how we walk in the Spirit. Back to Galatians verse 17, "For the flesh," that remnant of our sinful nature, "sets its desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
For these are in [00:42:00] opposition to one another." Literally, they are enemies, they are at war. Your sinful desires are at war with what God wants, "So that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Quick explanation here. To be led by the Spirit i- is the same as to walk in the Spirit, but it's to be guided by the Spirit.
But then Paul adds something. If you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. And if you're familiar with Romans chapter 6, it's gotta have the same meaning. And the idea here is if you're led by the Spirit, you're saved. You've been born again, because only Christians possess the Spirit, and if you're saved and if you're born again, you're no longer under the power of the law.
You're no longer under the curse of the law. The law has been transformed for you. Now it's a guide to holiness. It is no longer that which condemns. It is no longer that which says you're [00:43:00] guilty
Verse 19. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things, those who are characterized by such things will not inherit the kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit, and you all probably have this memorized.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ [00:44:00] Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desire. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Again, to live by the Spirit, I think captures walking and being led by the Spirit.
It is an utter and total dependence on the Holy Spirit. The best physical analogy I can make is you are utterly and totally dependent on the air you breathe. But you have to take the breath. You have work to do. Sanctification is a cooperative effort. We cooperate with the Spirit of God Go to scripture.
Confess your sins often and regularly. Pray. Be willing to deprive yourself of that which leads you into sin. Look for accountability[00:45:00]
That's what we do. But all the while, we depend on the Spirit of God. All the while when we're praying, we ask the Spirit of God to transform us. All the while when we're reading the scriptures, we ask the Spirit of God to teach us There's only one way to stop sinning, and you'll never do it perfectly in this life, and nobody in Hebrews chapter 11 did it perfectly.
But we have something they don't have. We are filled with the Spirit in a way that they weren't. I'm not saying the Spirit wasn't active back then, 'cause He was, or there'd be nobody who believed. But He was poured out on Pentecost in a way that they didn't get. Will you walk by His power? Will you live by His guidance?
Will you be filled by the Spirit? It's not gonna make things easy. This is a battle, and this is a lifetime. Let's pray. [00:46:00] Father in heaven, thank you for the gift of your Spirit. Thank you, Lord, that even our imperfect acts of righteousness, even our imperfect good works, are celebrated by you. We are but unworthy servants, and yet you honor us Father, help us walk in a way that we shed the encumbrances of sin.
Help us to walk in a way that we figure out how to get rid of that which trips us up. Spirit of God, fill us. Spirit of God, teach us. Spirit of God, help us walk in a way that honors the King of Kings. Help us walk in a way, as we'll see next week, in a way that we set our eyes laser-focused on Jesus
Father, make true today what was true in the early church. These people were willing to die for their faith. These people were radically transformed. [00:47:00] So often, Father, we treat it like a game. We treat it like a sect Change our lives, and in doing so, change this church, and in doing so, change this city, and in doing so, change this state, and on it goes, Father.
And may we believe that You're in the business of changing things. For we ask this in Christ's holy name. And all of God's people said Amen. Amen.
