The Life of Faith

The podcast discusses the concept of living a life of faith, using examples from Hebrews 11. It emphasizes that faith is necessary to please God and that living by faith requires sacrifice and communion with God. The examples of Abel and Enoch are highlighted to demonstrate these principles. Abel's faith was shown through his sacrificial offering, while Enoch's faith was displayed through his daily communion with God. The podcast encourages listeners to surrender all aspects of their lives to God and to seek Him diligently, knowing that He rewards those who do so. Welcome to CCI Fellowships podcast. Thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. All right, open your Bibles to Hebrews 10. Last week we started in verse 19 and the first part of verse 20 that Christ has opened up to us the new and living way. That we said that this new and living way was a life of sacrifice, it was a life of obedience, and it was a life of service. And by the end of the sermon we related that this new and living way is a life of faith. And that's where I want to pick it up. Just as Christ was the model of sacrifice, he was the model of obedience, he was the model of service, and continues to be. We also, as we move into Hebrews 11, see that there are examples in the natural as well that we can point to so that the excuse of, well, he was Jesus, of course he did those things, it won't fly. It's not valid because there were many even before Christ whose faith was in such a place that they were able to live a life of sacrifice, they were able to live a life of obedience, and they were able to live a life of service. In fact, I believe that under this understanding, under this perspective, I've been reading Hebrews 11 in such a different way of being able to see not just that by faith these people did these things, but what is it in the aspect of faith that these people did these things under. And so we're going to look at three examples, the first three examples in chapter 11 as we go through this, but each one that is mentioned, we can see that there is some aspect that we can point to. And of course there are things that overlap in all of them because faith in the end is faith. It is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not seen. That's the definition that Scripture gives us. We don't have to ask what is faith. That is what it is. It is right there. But in Hebrews 10 verse 38 before getting into 11, it says, Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. The just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul won't have any pleasure in him. Now as you get to verse 6 in chapter 11, you'll find that it says, But without faith it is impossible to please God. So the writer of Hebrews doesn't just drop this verse that actually appears in the Old Testament, that if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him, but he follows it up with verse 6 of chapter 11 in showing us that the only way that we can please God is through faith. Now we know that Scripture says that God is love, that he loves us all. In fact, John 3.16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. The other verse that says that God demonstrated his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So his love is for all, but his pleasure is reserved only for those who live by faith. So it is impossible to experience and receive the love of God, but still live a life that is not pleasing to him. Because it is only by faith that you please God. The just shall live by faith. This is repeated in Scripture four times. I think God wants us to get the picture. The just shall live by faith. No other way to live. In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 2 it says that by faith the elders obtained a good testimony. In chapter 6 verse 12 it says that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promise. I think all of us can say that we want to be approved by God. That we want to be received by God. We want to obtain a good testimony. And not only did they obtain a good testimony in the natural, but they obtained a good testimony in heaven from God himself that they were just, that they were righteous, that they were those who lived by faith. In verse 4, in the first of these three examples today, we find this example that faith is a life of sacrifice. By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts, and through it he being dead, still speaks. By faith Abel offered. He did it by faith. Why did Abel offer a sacrifice in the first place? The very first sacrifice we see in Scripture is when God came to Adam and Eve and said, hey, looking for you. Where are you? And Adam said, well, we hid ourselves because we were naked. And God said to them, who told you you were naked? And he killed an animal to give them clothes to wear. That wasn't just to take the fur skin from the animal so that Adam and Eve would have clothing. That sacrifice was for their forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 9 tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. So where did Abel get this idea that bringing a sacrifice to God was necessary? Where did he come up with this notion of I must bring this offering to God? And what was the difference between him and Cain that he brought a sacrifice of blood, Cain brought an offering of vegetables, he was a farmer, but it says that Abel brought other stuff as well. It really isn't what I want to focus on in why God received Abel's offering and why he didn't receive Cain's offering other than the fact that Abel did so by faith. Because as he came to God and presented this sacrifice, he was presenting himself to God. And it was as if Abel was saying to God, I want to come and fellowship with you, but I understand, and only it had to be by revelation of the Holy Spirit, but I understand that I can't fellowship with you if there's not a blood sacrifice first. So he came to offer his sacrifice, but he came to offer himself. And he would not offer the sacrifice without offering himself, but he could not offer himself without offering the sacrifice. The great thing for us is the sacrifice has already been offered. It has already been made so that we would be in fellowship with God. So what sacrifice remains? What sacrifice is there left to give to God if our justification has already been obtained through Christ? Well, obviously by giving of ourselves. Romans 12.1, I believe I referenced this last week. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Interestingly, Cain had a conversation with God, kind of a pity party in conversation with God, and God said to him, what difference does it make? If you do right, will you not be approved? It's very interesting, isn't it? We've talked about the verses in James 2, the faith without works is dead, that our faith is proven by our works. What we believe comes out in what we do. And God said to Cain, if you just show what you believe and do the right thing, will you not be approved? Don't we all want to be approved by God, to be accepted by God? Isn't that not the constant struggle? Is that not the constant question of, oh, you know, I know it is because I have people come in and ask me or tell me, pastor, I've failed. God can't accept me. God can't approve me. No, he can, because it's based on Christ. But walk out that approval. Walk out that justification. Walk out that reception. Adriana quoted a verse a while ago that it says that we have been received in the beloved. We have been accepted in the beloved. So this life of faith that we live is a life of consecrating our desires to God, of consecrating our wants, of consecrating every aspect of our life. There is nothing about your life that God is not interested in leading you in. There is nothing about your life that he doesn't have an opinion or a desire to lead you in. And if you would just surrender those things to him, you will find his blessing upon every decision that you make. Because it's the decision that is led by him. The second thing that this life of faith is, and it's a little different than the second thing from last week, it's a life of communion. This life of faith is a life of sacrifice and it is a life of communion. Verse 5, by faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God. There's that word again. He pleased God. He pleased God. Why did he please God? So the writer takes us into verse 6 to give us an explanation of how it was that Enoch pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So what we find out about Enoch is one, he believed that God was. He believed who God said he was. And he communed with God. He walked with God. In Genesis it tells us that Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the evening. Somehow, by some way, certainly by faith, Enoch found a way to walk with God in the same manner. He communed with him on a daily basis. He interacted with God regularly. And we find in Hebrews that it teaches us that we can go boldly into the throne room of God to find grace and help in our time of need, that we don't have to leave the holiest of all, that we can live perpetually in his presence even here and now. And we find the example even before Christ that Enoch walked with God. But you see the difference on this side of the cross is we all can walk with God. We all can have this communion with God. We all can have this testimony that we've walked with God. The other thing that Enoch had, the other thing that was in his character, is that he believed that God was a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. What does the word rewarder mean? In Spanish it would be recompensador. A recompense is a payment. A reward is a payment. If you think of, like, you see a sign in your neighborhood, lost dog, and underneath it, it says, so much of a reward if you find this dog. Well, a reward is not something that you get for nothing. That is a gift. A reward is something that you earn. A reward, even if we go back to the Greek word, this word regarding reward means payment for services rendered, basically. A paycheck. God pays those who diligently seek him. So Enoch had this understanding of not only does God exist, but I am entitled, not the bad version of entitled, but I am entitled to his presence because I believe that he exists and he is a rewarder, he is a payer of those that diligently seek him. So he came to God with this boldness and this understanding of, I belong here. This life of faith is a life that understands we belong in God's presence. It has been given to us. Now, we earn that by seeking God. You can't seek the things of the world and expect to be in uninterrupted fellowship with God. That's why the first part is the life of sacrifice. The life of sacrifice leads to the life of communion with God. And the third one and the third one is a life of service. Verse seven. By faith, Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. Heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. Now, of Abel, it is said that he was declared righteous because of his actions. We really only see this in one other person, right? In Abraham. Abraham believed God and he was declared righteous. But it is said of Abel, and it is also referenced in Noah, that he received righteousness, but he only received it by faith. Remember what we said about the verses in James and the use of the word justification, that the way that James is using that word is, again, that your faith is justified by your works, or a person is justified by their works. And that's different than being declared righteous. It means being shown righteous. And there is a difference, though it seems minute. God, speaking of Noah here as well, that he became the heir of righteousness because of faith. But he served his family as a result of his faith. Being divinely warned of things not yet seen. In other words, Noah employed the very definition of faith that is given. He had the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. Nobody had seen a boat. Nobody had seen rain. The earth was watered from underneath, not from above. God says to Noah, I'm going to flood the earth. You're going to do what? What is that? I want you to build a boat. Never heard of it. Never seen it. Don't know what you're talking about. But I'm going to do it. Because you said, because he was moved with godly fear. And so his faith in God, his belief that God does not lie, his belief that he had to have some relationship with God, he had to have some communion or interaction with God to lead him to a place where he believed that what God said was true. If you have received Christ in your heart, you have had this encounter with God to believe that what he said was true. If not, you would not have received Christ in the first place. And so in this interaction with God, Noah said, I will obey. And he began to build the boat and in doing so picked up a life of service. Because it didn't build a boat in a short amount of time. It didn't just throw it together. He not only served his family, he actually served all of creation. A life of sacrifice to God and a life spent in communion with him naturally produces a life of service. It's a natural product of the first two. Andrew Murray puts it this way, if we say that sacrifice is a life of service, Andrew Murray puts it this way, if we say that sacrifice is the root, and communion with God is the tree, the trunk, the branches, the leaves that grows from that root, then the fruit that develops on this tree is service. The natural production of the life of a believer, of a life that is lived in faith, is that we will serve one another. We are made to serve one another just as a fruit tree is made to produce fruit. Galatians 5.13 says, for you brethren have been called to liberty, only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Through love serve one another. As I've been praying about what is to come in this next series, in this next season, what we want to focus on really is this life of faith. But not just the things that it says in Hebrews 11, the examples that it gives, but what are the things that we can believe for? What are the things that scripture talks about that we have been afforded? What are the rewards or the payments given for seeking God's face? What are the things that we are entitled to or almost, I dare say, deserving of when we pursue God and when we leave living according to the things that we see and embrace living according to the things that we don't? In Corinthians, Paul says, for we fix our eyes not on the things that are visible, but the things that are invisible. It says of Moses that he did these things by faith because he looked upon the one who was invisible. Sarah fixed her eyes on the one who could not be seen. You see, there is more certainty. This is fun. There is more certainty in the unseen things of God than any natural thing that you can put your hand on. And that is the life of faith. Let's stand together. It's a life of sacrifice, a life of communion, and a life of service. There is no other way to live. You can try. And of course, throughout our lives, we learn in varying degrees and in varying measures what it is to live by faith and how to do it more effectively than other times. And that's part of the process. That's part of maturing. That's part of growing. But we are called to a life of faith. Plain and simple. Everything else stems from there. It really does. For without faith, it's impossible to please Him. It's impossible to receive His approval. It's impossible to interact with Him. It's impossible to commune with Him. It's impossible to serve others out of a pure motive if it's not done so in faith. Let's pray. Father, we worship You. We desire, Lord God, as we embark on this study, that You would teach us ever so much more about a life of faith. And that, Father, we would learn to be established in You and learn, Lord God, that no matter what happens in life, that we are on a firm foundation, though what we see is a world around us that crumbles. What we see are situations that are around us in the natural that we can't explain and don't have reasons for. And we can't answer the question why when things happen that go good. And when things happen that go bad, Lord God, it's hard to say exactly the why except that we are established on faith. And that gives us that stability. That gives us, Lord God, that hope in what is to come. That gives us, Lord God, the ability to say, though the flower wither, though this pass away and that pass away, though this doesn't produce and that doesn't produce, though I lose my job, though I have a job, those rise against me and these come against me, yet I will praise the Lord, the God of my salvation. Father, may we fix our eyes on You and fix our lives on You. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.