Putting off Doubt,
Putting on Faith
God is looking to expose us through His Word, and to change
us.
Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Doubt – A lack of
confidence that God will keep His promises.
Some promises God has made:
1.
He’ll never flood the whole earth again – Gen.
9:11
2.
He’ll never leave us or forsake us – Heb. 13:5
3.
He will return – Jn. 14:3
4.
He will wipe away every tear – Rev. 21:4
5.
He’ll supply all of our needs – Ph. 4:19
6.
He’ll withhold no good thing from those who walk
uprightly – Ps. 84:11
7.
His steadfast love never ceases; His mercies
never come to an end; His mercies are new every morning – Lam. 3:21-23
·
We get the mercy and grace when the problem
comes, not in pre-doses, but as needed for the day
8.
In sowing good things, we will reap good things
– Gal. 6:7 (The opposite is
also true with this sowing/reaping promise –
choose to sin, choose to suffer.)
Why do we doubt and have a lack of confidence that God will
keep His promises?
We fail to understand that –
Fact 1 - God places regular
tests of faith before His children
·
Circumstances come where we are brought to a
crisis – are we going to doubt or have faith in God’s promises?
Matthew 7:24-25 – “Everyone
then who hears these words of mine and
does them will be like a wise man who built his house in the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and
the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been
founded on the rock.”
The contrast: Matthew
7:26-27 – “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do
them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and
the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was the fall
of it.”
Both hear, only one does…
The circumstances of life expose what our foundation is – a
person that believes God or a person that doubts God will keep His promises.
The problem with doubt - doubt compounds. Once we start to doubt, it becomes our
default condition . It can go from a
decision we’ve made to an attitude we develop.
Faith works the same way.
The more that we have faith, the more that we see that God is true to
His promises. Our confidence builds because
we’ve seen God be true to His promises.
Both are choices, both become attitudes.
The tests are perfectly suited for each of God’s
children. What God gives me won’t be
what He gives you.
Fact 2 – Tests will shrink
or grow your faith
·
When we choose doubt, our confidence in God will
shrivel
·
When we choose faith, we will add another story
to our lives where God proved faithful to His promises because He is faithful
to His promises
Fact 3 – The drive is short from doubt to despair
·
If doubt becomes your attitude/lifestyle, be
prepared to live in the wilderness
The consequences for choosing doubt –
·
We miss the opportunity for God to prove Himself
faithful
·
We miss the opportunity to be a witness to those
around us
·
The most devastating is that unchecked doubt
will lead to despair
Desperate plans come from despairing hearts. When we choose to doubt, we miss the
blessings of walking in obedience and seeing God prove Himself faithful to His
Word.
Faith
Hebrews 11:1 – “Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” ESV
NKJV – “Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Powerful words – assurance,
conviction, substance, evidence
Faith Definition –
Faith is believing the Word of God, and acting on it, no matter how I feel,
because God promises a good result.
Independent of what any of us think, that God’s Word is true
or not, or that the Bible is God’s Word nor not, it is true, and it is His
Word. Faith is believing the Word of
God, and nothing else…
When we step out in faith, it opens us up to experiencing
God’s blessings in a way never understood before.
Walking by faith will change a community of believers.
Hebrews 11:4 – “By faith Abel offered to God a more
acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous,
God commending him by accepting his gifts.
And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.”
Genesis 4:3-8 – “In the course of time Cain brought to the
LORD an offering of fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn
of his flock and of their fat portions.
And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his
offering he had no regard. So Cain was
very angry, and his face fell. The LORD
said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be
accepted? If you do not do well, sin is
crouching at the door. Its desire is for
you, but you must rule over it.”
In Cain’s offering not being accepted, he became depressed
(face fell) and angry. God instructs
Cain to do well. If he does, his
depression will be lifted. He will be accepted. God doesn’t
tell Cain to feel better first, God tells him to do well. “It spite of how you
feel, do the right thing, Cain.”
Commit to no more
decisions made out of emotion, based off of feelings.
Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked, who can know it?”
When we make decisions based on how we feel, we are putting
our hearts in the driver’s seat. We
don’t want the heart captaining our boat.
Make decisions off of God’s Word and the confidence that He will be true
to what He has said. (Because God
promises a good result…)
Hebrews 11:6-7 – “And without faith it is impossible to
please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and
that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God
concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household…”
v. 8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that
he was to receive…”
Abraham did fail at choosing faith. He chose doubt at times. He had a child through Hagar. Had Sarah leave out part of the truth out of fear for his life. We do see Abraham’s confidence
in God grow so that at the testing with Isaac, Abraham knew Isaac was the child
of promise. He was so confident in God, He
believed God would raise Isaac from the dead.
v. 19 He displayed great
faith evidenced by his obedience.
Abraham through the years, found God to be faithful.
v. 22 – Joseph was so confident in God that God’s people would
make it to the promised land, as God promised, he gave directions concerning
his bones so he would be buried there.
We have the record of God’s faithfulness to His Word, in His
Word. Choose to have faith and our
confidence in God will grow to the point that even if we are called to
martyrdom, our faith will not fail.
v. 35-40 – “Some were
tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better
life. Others suffered mocking and
flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the
sword. They went about in skins of sheep
and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy -
wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the
earth. And all these, though commended
through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided
something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
The faithfulness of God does not mean that He is going to
make our lives easy.
“…did not receive what
was promised…” These faithful looked
ahead to Jesus and the cross. They never
saw the incarnate Jesus. Their faith was
in the promise that He would come as God had promised. We are on the other side of the cross. We can look back and see the provision that
God made for us. We can see the life of
Jesus Christ. We know definitively that
Jesus came and took our place, paying a debt we could not pay, rising from the
grave and He is now seated at the right hand of the Father.
Where is our faith?
Four ways to grow our faith, from Hebrews 12:1-2.
1.
Faith is grown in community.
·
since we are surrounded
·
let us also lay aside
·
let us run with endurance
·
the race that is set before us
·
our faith
The witnesses in verse one are the faithful in chapter
11. They have witnessed the faithfulness
of God and are confident in God.
Come together as a community to help each other grow in
faith. It is also the purpose of small
groups. Get involved.
Faith is grown when we –
2.
Run without encumbrances
·
The sin in our lives must be dealt with (lay aside every weight, and sin which
clings so closely)
·
1 Jn. 1:9 - a powerful promise that if we
confess our sins, God will forgive us (He
is faithful and just)
·
Rahab is an example that there is nothing in our
past that God holds against our account when we hide in what Jesus did on the
cross
Faith is grown when we –
3.
Run with endurance
Faith is grown when we –
4.
Look
to Jesus
When God’s Word cuts, make the changes we know we should
make. Live by faith, believe the
promises of God. Surrender all to
Jesus. Repent of sin, and follow
Him. It’s not about us, it’s about
Jesus.
