The Requirements of Faith - Learning to Walk by Faith, Pt . 4

In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, the requirements of faith. When you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you immediately entered into a life of faith. That is, you entered into a sense of confident assurance that the God of the Bible is God. And that not only is He who He says He is, but He will do everything He promised to do. Now, the only problem is that most of us did not and probably no one really understood all of that when they first trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. So, what really happens is God puts us in the school of faith. He places us there to learn the most basic principles of Scripture and to learn how to live for Him and to learn how to live in a world that is in opposition to Him. When we talk about faith, we're talking about just that. And that is a confident assurance that the God of the Bible is God and that He will do exactly what He promises to do. How do we live that kind of life in a world in which we have to live? Well, we have to learn how to do it. No one is saved knowing how to live a life of faith. And all of us will agree that many times in our life, no matter how long we've been a Christian, we still falter, we still fail, we still have our doubts, we still have our frustrations, and sometimes it's just pure unbelief. God makes it very clear and we say, well, I hope so when He's made it very clear. How do we learn to walk the walk of faith? How do we learn to live the life of faith? Well, what I want to do in this message is I want to talk about

this whole idea of faith again. I want to talk about the requirements for learning to walk by faith because it isn't something you automatically know. It's something you learn by trial and error, by study and stumbling, and by faltering and falling and getting up and moving on again. But I think there are some principles that you and I can learn that'll help us. And so I want you to turn, if you will, to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12 begins the life of Abraham, a man certainly known by his faith. But one of the things I love about the Scripture is that not only does it give us the characteristics, the good characteristics and character qualities of these godly men, but it also shows us their weaknesses, their frailties, their failures, their faults. And in the process of sifting through all that, you and I learn some awesome principles of how to live this life. One of the things that's so true in the life of Abraham is God's, listen, God's unsearchable and indescribable love. Even amidst his faults and his failures, God loved him. Even amidst his faults and failures and oftentimes his unbelief, God continued to work in his life and accomplish his purpose in his life. And I think one of the things we have to understand is we will fall, we will falter, we will have our weak moments. We will oftentimes have faith failures. That's what I call them, faith failures. But you know what? God does not intend for us to stay there but to learn and to move on. So I want us to look at this 12th chapter and just read a few verses to give us an introduction to chapters 12 through 25. Discuss this man's life, certainly a man of faith, but also a man who had his weaknesses.

Chapter 12, now the Lord said, Abram, go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you. And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abraham went forth as the Lord had spoken to him and Lot went with him. Now Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. And Abraham took Sarah his wife and Lot his nephew and all their possessions which they had accumulated and the persons which they had acquired in Haran. And they set out for the land of Canaan. And thus they came to the land of Canaan. Now with that in mind and we will continue part of his life here, what I'd like to give you is I'd like to give you five requirements for learning to walk by faith. And you recall that Paul said that we are justified by faith. And again he said we walk by faith. We are to walk by faith. The truth is we don't even know what the next minute's going to hold, the next day, the next month, the next year, the next decade, the next century. So the truth is to some degree we are forced to walk by faith. And yet most people walk by the flesh, that is they walk by their own desires and their own abilities and talents in life. And so they're just going to make things work out and oftentimes they cannot. The truth is the believer is to walk by faith, that is to walk by a confident, listen, to walk by a confident assurance. That the goddess of the Bible is who he says he is and will do exactly what he promises to do

Well, what is the first lesson in the school of faith? I must learn if I'm going to learn to walk and to live by faith The first lesson is this I must learn to listen to God That is absolutely basic in all of our walk with God if I don't know if I can't hear him if I can't identify his voice if I can't hear him if I can't know that God is speaking to me. How will I know where to go? How will I know what to do? How will I know how long when how what you see the truth is that God intends to give us direction for our life? Does he not say trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not to your own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him He shall direct our path, but even if he directs my path if I'm not listening I'm going to miss what he has to say So basic to learning to live by faith and to walk the walk of faith to live the Christian life as God would have us to Basic that that is learning to listen to God step number two is Learning to obey God if I am going to walk the walk of faith then I must learn to be obedient to God because the truth is the life of faith is a life of obedience and The truth is also that if I really and truly trust him I'm gonna obey him and if I obey listen, I will only obey the person I trust if I really trust him I'm gonna be obedient to him and my obedience is evidence of my trust. This is why oftentimes God will send us through great difficulty and hardship in life and and What happens we just move on through that and in that and on past that why because we trusted God We knew this is what he said do we chose to be obedient to him and he brought us through it And what that does is it just builds your faith every act of obedience if you will observe carefully What God was doing will simply build your faith now Listen, what happens to Abraham here because he certainly obeyed God back to this 12th chapter. Listen to what he says Now the Lord said Abram go forth from your country and tells him what to do verse 4 says so he got up went so Abraham left and So if you move on over each time what you'll follow all through these chapters when God says here's what I want you to do Here's what here's what he does even to the point of Sacrificing his son, but does he always do that? No, he does not

He doesn't always do what God tells him to do because he did not listen Because he did not obey the Lord God Because in his desire to do it his way and to arrange his circumstances, which he thought was best What does he do the Bible says? That he heads down he heads down into Egypt now going to Egypt was a tragic mistake for him He said before it's always a bad sign as I said I I say that carefully because I don't want somebody to say well Do you dislike each has nothing to do with me? It has to do with what God says and as you trace through the scripture you find that over and over and over again So he heads down to Egypt. Now. Here's what I want you to notice I want you to notice what happens to him here because as a result of not listening He got something in Egypt That he not he never got over He got something in Egypt that caused him problems all the rest of his life He got something in Egypt that not only caused him problems, but it's caused the world's problems ever since Because what he got down there was Hagar an Egyptian lady Egyptian woman and You'll recall what happens we come into that later What happens? He got more than he bargained for Listen, whenever you and I do not listen to God to God and we head toward Egypt Egypt may look good. It may look like the solution to our problems. It may look like here's what here's how we're gonna get Our needs met and you know what happens when you get in Egypt having not listened to God and disobeyed God Listen, you may it may look real good for a season But ultimately it won't be that way Now you remember going to Egypt was a tragic mistake of Abraham here's a man of faith who knew how to listen to God learning how to listen to God who is learning how to be obedient to God and in a moment in a moment of weakness instead of listening to God he disobeyed He did what he should never have done and it was a costly mistake Whenever you and I choose to have it our way

Not to listen to God and we're gonna do it our way no matter what We're headed toward Egypt and we're gonna be sorry. And so this is exactly what happens to him now So what we have to do is remember two things here First of all, if I'm going to walk the walk of faith, I must learn to listen to God I must learn to listen to God and I must learn to do what I must learn to obey God The third thing I must learn is I must learn to depend Depend upon God is that not what the life of faith is all about it's learning to trust him if I trust him I will depend upon him. I will rely upon him. I will look to him to meet my needs I will look to him to do for me and to be to me what I need if I'm not trusting him and not listening to him. I'm not gonna do that. And so what happens we find here that Abraham certainly learned how to depend upon the Lord if you'll recall He certainly depended upon the Lord for instructions and he said to him in this 12th chapter He says I want you to go to a land that I will show you. He didn't know where he was going necessarily I mean he had some idea I'm sure but he says what when he says I will show you he met I'm gonna show you the way there. I'm gonna show you how to get there I'm gonna show you the land of promise where I want you to live. He says I will show you So what did he do? He listened to him. He obeyed him and he depended upon God to get him there Now when he got to When he got to the Negev and there was famine He didn't depend upon God to meet his need now God surely who could bring him all the way from Ur the Chaldees to this land could certainly provide for him after he got there and When he headed toward Egypt instead of trusting God to protect him He want to put puts his wife and in a terrible position And wants to sacrifice her if necessary in order for him to be protected Can't he depend upon God to protect him what I want you to see is that Abraham man of great faith Man whom we can look at and observe and learn many many lessons out of these chapters That he had his moments of weakness. Listen where he did not listen. He did not obey God He did not depend upon God and every single time it was costly. The Christian life is just that simple He said doesn't sound very simple. It's simple in a way that is I obey him and not obey him if I trust him I will obey him if I don't trust him. I'm not gonna obey him and I'm not gonna depend upon him

I'm gonna do it my way and my way is ultimately going to end up into a great disappointment in my life So if I'm going to learn to walk by faith, I've got to learn to depend upon him depend upon him for what? He wants us to depend upon him for every single thing Why because we're going through difficulties and hardships in life, and you know what we desperately need him This is why you find David over and over again talking about crying out to the Lord Why was David crying out to God? Why was it? Why was he saying? Oh, my soul is so depressed My soul is so downcast. He talked about fear. He talked about clinging to the Lord he talked about searching for God he talked about God being with him and walking with him and Clinging to God as his he called him his shield and his buckler and his fortress and he called him His stronghold he had lots of names for God why because he went through such difficulty and hardship learning to listen to God Listen learning to be obedient to God learning to depend upon God for every aspect of his life So we need to learn to depend upon him and if we're gonna live the life of faith We must choose to depend upon God what? Depend upon him to speak to us and depend upon him for the strength to be obedient Why did the Holy Spirit come the Holy Spirit came into your life in my life? Because God knew that listen We couldn't live the life that he wants us to live or what without him and we couldn't accomplish or achieve the things in life He wants us to achieve and accomplish without him They sent the Holy Spirit for a very specific purpose to do what to enable us to empower us to equip us To become and to be and to do those things that please him. So therefore Not only do we have the Holy Spirit on the inside of us to enable us to hear God speak and discern what he's saying But he's also there to do what to enable us strengthen us empower us to do whatever is required of us Listen as we depend upon God and so what happens he says with three steps number one He says we're to listen to God number two. We're to be obedient to God number three. I'm to lean on him I'm to depend upon God the Spirit of God on the inside of you. Listen, he says ye shall receive power Supernatural power after the Spirit of God has come upon you and he's living in all of us to do what he will enable you to Do well, whatever you to depend upon God to enable you to do you can do many things in the flesh in your own strength But when you depend listen when you and I depend upon the supernatural power of the indwelling spirit, we're gonna do better We're gonna do well, whatever God calls us to do Step number one and learn to walk the walk of faith is what let's have it

What is step number one learning to? learning to listen to God step number two learning to Learning to obey God step number three Learning to depend upon God and step number four learning to wait upon God. Oh my goodness learning to wait upon God One of life's most difficult lessons and you know what the more capable oftentimes the more Person is the less they want to wait. I can handle it when somebody says I can handle it. I want to back off But the simple reason one of the great principles of Scripture is learning to wait upon God now listen carefully If I'm going to listen to God God isn't going to tell me every time get up man and get going Oftentimes he's gonna say stand still and See the salvation of the Lord Be Still stop striving and know that I'm God David talked about lying in the bed at night and in the darkness of night and Meditating upon God and the quietness and the stillness of it all If I am going to learn to listen to God, I must not only be still and quiet. I Must learn to wait does he not say wait upon the Lord now listen be of good courage He says be of good courage. I say wait upon the Lord in Psalm 27 Isaiah 64. Listen, there's one of my favorite verses God acts in behalf of The one who waits for him Listen, if you want to get God in on whatever you're facing in life Wait for God's instruction every time I get ahead of God I make a mess of it and the truth is I don't even have to know you Every time you get ahead of God you make a mess of it, too And every time Abraham got ahead of God, he made a mess of it. Now. Look at this time. He made a big mess of it Look at this You'll recall that God said he was going out of him would come all the nations of the earth in the 15th chapter Look at this. For example, he's given a God has given him this promise. Do not fear. I am a shield to you

I'm gonna protect you your reward shall be very great. Listen that awesome promise. He said no, wait a minute I don't even I don't even have a son Verse 4 then behold the Word of the Lord came to him saying this man will not be your heir That is one of his servants, but one who shall come forth from your own body. He shall be your heir Took him outside showed him the stars. He says can you count those? No, he says that's that's the way That's the way your inheritance is gonna be That's the way your family's gonna be won't even be able to count them all and so of course you couldn't count all the Hebrews down through these centuries that have been born and so He said now Lord, how do I know I shall I shall possess this land then? He gives him a an account of what happens here. And so then listen to what happens in the next chapter So he was 75 years of age when he left when he left Left Haran and er the Chaldees a lot of years have gone by now. And so what happens? you remember that we said that One of the biggest opposite one of the biggest problems in learning to trust the Lord and to follow him is That we want to go by sight If I can't see it, I'm not gonna do it secondly We want to go by feelings. How do I feel if I feel this is the right thing and thirdly we said by sound Have to be very careful advice of other people Listen to what got Abraham in Great trouble Now I'm going back to something. He said a few moments gonna listen carefully and read a little along with me chapter 16 verse 1 now Sarah Abraham's wife had born him no children and she had an Egyptian maid Whose neck listen whose name was Hagar? So Sarah said to Abram behold the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please go into my mate Perhaps I shall obtain children through her and Abraham. Listen to the voice of Sarah Man, he should have built the biggest altar he ever built right there He should have listened to God

not Sarah He listened the voice of Sarah and so and after Abraham had lived ten years in the land of Canaan Abraham's wife Sarah took Hagar the Egyptian her maid gave her to her husband Abraham and his wife and he went into Hagar and she Conceived and she saw that she had conceived her mistress was despised in her sight now watch this First of all, he's an Egyptian handmaid been a servant when she conceives all of a sudden Sarah whose idea it was Began to hate and despise this woman finally listen finally If you notice what happens Son is born Finally they threw out of the house And God is the one who said to her return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority So what happened? Here's Hagar who was a gift down in Egypt and now the strife in this family Not only that he stepped ahead of God had a son who would be trouble all the year years of his life and trouble down through the centuries, even unto this very day. Where did he get her? He got her in Egypt. You know what? He wasn't listening to God, wasn't obeying God, wasn't depending upon God, but listened to the wrong voices. That's why we have to be very, very careful who we listen to. He got ahead of God. When you and I choose to disobey God, no matter how good it looks, you can't make it right. You can't make it right if it's not of God. You can't make it turn out right if it's not of God. That's why it's so very important that you and I learn to listen to God, learn to obey God, learn to depend upon God, and learn to wait for His timing. Remember that if God says, wait, God in His infinite wisdom knows, listen, it's not only best for God, it's best for us. If God says, wait, it's best for us.

That is, listen, if He says, wait, if I don't wait, I'll get what I can do. If I wait, I get what God can do. And listen, He said to Abraham, He says, you're going to have a great reward, but you got to listen to me, obey me, depend upon me, and wait for my timing. Now, so if I'm going to learn to walk the walk of faith, first of all, the first thing I must learn is I must learn to do what? Now let's wake up now. Come on. First of all, I must do what? I must learn to listen to God. Secondly, I must learn to obey God. Thirdly, I must learn to depend upon God. Fourthly, I must learn to wait upon God. And fifthly, I must learn to acknowledge my faith failures to God and learn from them. Well, I think it is very evident in Abraham's life that he did, because if you look at his life for a moment, the first big test, leave your family, friends, your land, and go. I'll tell you where to go and how to get there. Big test. I'm going to give you a son. Another big test. Wait for me. I didn't wait for him, so he blew that one. And then he comes to the final big test. Now, listen carefully. Most of us have the idea, at least I'm sure I have in life, had the idea, well, listen, after you go through some real tough times, you think, whew, boy, am I glad that's over with. Man, it can't get any worse than that. Yes, it can. It can get worse than that.

You say, well, God, give me a break. Well, He has given us a break. You know what? God loves us so much, He's not about to let us stay on level seven when He's got this fantastic level eight coming. Now, fantastic to Him, painful to us oftentimes. Listen to what happened. Go to the 22nd chapter of Genesis. 22nd chapter. Look at this. Now, it came about after these things, Isaac's been born and son of his faith. This is a son of promise to whom the Messiah is coming. He says, after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, he said, here I am. You know what? Wouldn't you just love to hear God say, Jane, Charles, Jim, Jack, whatever. Here I am. Listening to God. This man had learned to listen. None of this fiddling around. Yes, here I am. Boy, if he'd have just known what he was listening to. Look at this. Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac. Go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you. I'm sure when he woke up that morning, he never expected that in his wildest dreams. Had he learned to listen to God? Yes, here I am. Had he learned to obey God?

Look at the next verse. So Abraham rose early in the morning, settled his dunket. Look at verse two again. And he said, take now your son. Not one of these days, now. Did he learn to listen? Yes. Learn to obey? Yes. Did he learn to listen? Yes. Learn to wait upon him? Yes. Now, that means now. Next morning, early gets up. Took two of his young men with him. Isaac, his son, split the wood for the burnt offering, arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. And Abraham said to his young men, stay here. Now watch this carefully. Stay here with the donkey and I and the lad will go. yonder, and we will worship and return to you." Now I know that Abraham is about to graduate in school of faith, because this is the acid test of his love and devotion to God. This son whom he looked for all these years, hundred years old when he was born, the son of promise, and now he says to Him, I want You to take him to Mount Moriah, and I want You to sacrifice him to me. But look what happens. Verse five again, Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey, and I and

the lad will go yonder, and we will return, and if you read that in the Hebrew, and we will return, and we will worship you. What was he saying? His faith had reached this stage. This is the son of promise. God says that through this child, all the nations of earth are going to be blessed. If I sacrifice my son, God's going to resurrect him from the dead right here. So they left. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, laid it on Isaac, his son, took in his hand the fire and the knife, so the two of them walked along together. Now can you imagine this conversation? Look at this. Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father, yes, well, we've got wood, and we've got fire, where's the lamb for the burnt offering? I love this answer. Look at this. Verse eight, and Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb. He graduated, man. So the burnt offering, my son, so the two of them walked on together, came to the place in which God had told him. Abraham built the altar there, arranged the wood, bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on the top of the wood. Here's what I want you to remember. There'll come those critical, crucial moments in all of our lives, critical, critical, crucial, with consequences you and I will never be able to foresee. If we're not listening to God, we'll spend a lifetime regretting it. Abraham, Abraham, here I am. And God said to him, Don't stretch your hand against your son, you lad. Do nothing to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you've not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day in the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. He said, Now, by myself I've sworn, declares the Lord, because you've done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly multiply you, bless you. Your seed is the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. Suppose he had not listened at that moment. And what that says to me is how very important it is that in the walk of faith, you and I stay out of Egypt. And that we are very, very sensitive to the voice of God. That when he speaks, we're just as, listen, we learn just as well as Abraham to say, Here I am, Lord, listening, willing to be obedient, willing to depend, willing to wait, willing to confess my failures and my faults and my faith failures and my faults and my times of disobedience, willing to repent of those in order to learn how to walk this walk of faith. Amen.