True Faith in Uncertain Times

Beautiful lyrics, fitting, no doubt, for times of trouble, and to praise God for His faithfulness and security. A man was on a high ropes course. Have you seen these high ropes courses before? He's probably up 40, 50 feet up in the air. He's going between two sections of this obstacle course and all of a sudden he starts to feel a little nervous.

All of a sudden the ropes beneath his feet start to shake and almost like he feels like there's an earthquake and the ground is shaking beneath him. All of a sudden, voices are shouting at this man. Maybe his children, Papa, just grab that! Grab over here! Maybe a stranger, hey man, chill out! Whatever the case may be, this man is now terrified. Maybe he should have just heard the special music.

And for a moment he starts to blacken. He can't really see what's happening, almost like he's going through a dark valley. And he just can't get a hold of where he's at. And things just seem so unsteady. When the ground feels unsteady and there are competing voices trying to pull you into different directions, where do you place your trust? Uncertainty and division and chaos is all around us. I like those lyrics in that special music, the imagery of the still water.

Because often you see chaos as depicted as rushing or chaotic waters, tumultuous. Chaos after chaos. How many people work in the corporate world were affected this past Thursday, Friday? Okay, I got an ice reprieve from emails. Then came Friday and I had 40 unread messages. So if you have an email out to me, my apologies, I'll get to it. Whole global system impacted from the uncertainties, rollouts, and server issues.

How many people saw the news last night? They grounded a bunch of flights all over the US because of a telecommunications issue. Boy, would that be uncertain. You're in your airport, hopefully for all of our guests that are coming in this weekend. You made it! Hopefully nobody stranded somewhere out there. That would be very uncertain.

How am I going to get there? Am I going to get there? Will I make it on time? Story after story. And then theory after theory. Then pound on the conspiracy theories. Well, it wasn't actually what Microsoft's telling you, right? And then you have all this information bombarding you. Where do you turn? What do you put your true trust in? And how do you prepare?

With everything that is so unclear around us, one thing that always engages in my mind is this proverb in Proverbs 29, where it talks about when the unrighteous are in rulership, the people groan and they mumble and they complain and they stir strife.

But when the righteous rule, the people are joyful. Now that's Andy Duran paraphrase. Brings across the idea, of course, that no matter what is unclear out there, one thing's clear in my mind, there's a lot of chaos and uncertainty. As society continually looks to solve spiritual problems with physical solutions, you and I have to stand back and say, okay, where does my trust reside?

What do I put my faith in? For today's sermon, let's consider for a moment where our focus should be. Understanding that our faith should not be placed in any man or system of man, but placed in God and understanding His great will for our life. To begin, let's consider the danger of self-reliance. Now, we see this through the example of Israel's story in the Bible. Perhaps a pattern, if you will. Hearing from Mr. Porter just moments ago, we see Israel as a type of our walk today.

Let's go back to Exodus chapter 14. There's a danger in a focus on the self and what I can do and the strength that I have, the self-reliance. There's a danger in that. Exodus chapter 14. If you remember, God is bringing Israel out of Egypt. They get to a pretty serious, uncertain situation. Their backs are to the wall, they're up against the river, and they don't know what's going to happen. So, they're no doubt to say that they were probably scared. Probably much more than that gentleman on the high ropes course.

But they're against the waves, they're against the shoreline, and then we find, in verse 13, a little bit of God's desire for his people. Exodus 14 in verse 13.

And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of your Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians, whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

We get just a little glimpse into God's desire. I will do something for you. I will fight for you. I will lead you. And you hold your peace. Hold your peace. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 1.

Okay, let's fast forward. We're fast forwarding a few years. And this is a recount, remembering back to the spies that were sent out. The spies that were sent out to go look at the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy chapter 1, in verse 19. You know, it's not verse 19. I made an error this morning, and I did not change it on my notes. It's verse 29. Verse 29. Now, verse 19 is where it starts, a bit of the recounting of the history. But in verse 29, we see, so after all this is being said, all the spies have brought the false report, or the scared report, I should say. We'll come back to that in a moment. Verse 29, it says, Then I said to you, do not be terrified or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. And in the wilderness, where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that he went until you came to this place. So we have some encouragement that God would fight for them, that God would bring them into this land, just as he did prior to their parents and their great grandparents. That he delivered them, and he loves them, and he takes care of them.

Now all throughout the Bible, we have clear examples of God's leading charge, God's intervention in Israel, for Israel. He had, we see, against Egypt, bringing the plagues, opening the sea, against Jericho, bringing the walls down. Israel's history is full of these miraculous interventions. I've never ever heard of The Longest Day. Okay, those that may be, it's an old John Wayne movie. My father was big into military movies. It's about D-Day, I think. Well, there's The Longest Day, which is in the Bible, where God miraculously makes the day a little longer, so that there's victory over the armies. You have Gideon, the accounts of Gideon, and the small amount of army facing the thousands, or the larger amount. All sorts of examples of God leading his people.

But it was not just the fact that God said, I will fight for you. Yes, that was his desire.

But as Israel started to rebel a little bit, there was actually some more instruction. So it wasn't just, I will fight for you, you will do nothing. There was an expectation of cooperation.

Let's go to Exodus chapter 23. You see, God is very much a fan of his people following his ways and his instructions. No different for Israel. Exodus 23.

Exodus 23 in verse 27. Now, speaking of the promise to send them into the land that he's giving them. Exodus 23 in verse 27. I will send my fear before you. I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite and the Canaanite and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. So not only is he promising to send these things to drive these people out, he's also building in a timeline. But I'm not going to do this too quickly because the land will be not productive for you and it'll be overwhelming to you. Then he says, little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and you inherit the land. And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the river, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. So the Lord was saying, I'll send the hornets, I'll send the confusion, I'll make it so that the enemies will turn their backs. And we see this accounted throughout Israel's history where God intervenes and provides a successful battle.

And yet the expectation was is that Israel would be obedient, trusting in God, and they would do their part. They would drive them out. Verse 32, you shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. Well, I think I skipped something.

We'll stop there. And you shall drive them out. You shall drive them out.

And even if we think about in Israel's history, I mentioned a few events, but Jericho. Now, I kind of mentioned the falling of the walls. Are you familiar with this account of Jericho? One of the probably one of the top stories that are told for children, and even on the History Channel.

Jericho's walls came down, and that was fully God's doing. God took care of that. But if you remember the events, what else did God instruct them? Okay, when the towers, when the walls fall down, you go forth into the city and kill by the edge of the sword. You drive them out. There was an understanding, an instruction that Israel would submit. They would do what God said because it was good, and it's what he was instructing. Time and time again, God intervened and showed his desire to fight for Israel and for them to be on his team. And God's intervention throughout Israel's history, sometimes it's the least. Sometimes God takes care of it all. And sometimes it's not or the least. God doesn't take a lot care of a lot of it. Sometimes it's the most where he takes care of all of it. So there's a whole spectrum here when how God did different things. But Israel's response to all this miraculous events, these promises, these times where God provided for him, what was their response? Well, it was rebellion. It was rebellion and self-reliance. Rebellion and self-reliance. You see, as God provided for his people in very large, miraculous events, his people failed in a couple ways. One, they received those events. They saw the truth. They recognized the understanding. They even saw the fulfillment of prophecy. And yet they received it, not in faith. A little bit with doubt, with fear, not fully trusting in God. And then another overarching problem is they failed to teach their children of these events. They failed to impress upon their children God's standards, God's instructions, and how God watches over us. And so over time, generations rise up that did not know the Lord their God and did wickedness and abominations before his eyes. That's how they responded. Their failure was rebellion and self-reliance. Well, we can do this. We can do what we think is right. We can actually see this right in that first generation, right? In Numbers chapter 14. Let's go to Numbers 14.

Numbers 14. So we're speaking of the spies earlier that are sent to spy out the land.

And if you remember, a majority of the spies came back and they reported negatively, right? They reported saying, oh, the land's pretty good, but there's giants in this land. And they'll squash us like bugs. And it was very terrifying the report they brought back. Now we know two gave faithful reports, but in Numbers chapter 14, in verse one, we see the response. When the people heard this, they said, or it's written, so all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. Instead of listening to the two faithful servants of God, they listened to the majority. They followed the crowd, and they were overwhelmed by fear, and cried all night about these potential giants overwhelming them, when instead they should have remembered God's deliverance and faithfully trusted in Him. But instead, they were focusing on their own self-reliance. We're like bugs to them. They're gonna get us. Instead, they should have been focused on their faith in God. Continuing, it says, and all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, well, if only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in the wilderness, why has the Lord brought us out to this land to fall by the sword, and that our wives and children should become victims? They're not even giving a small amount of room for God to show His power. They're already writing it off as a failure. If only we had died in slavery. If only we had died in the wilderness. Now you bring us here to just lose? But God had assured them they would not lose.

Verse 4, or verse 3, why has the Lord brought us up? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? So they said to one another, let us select a new leader and return to Egypt.

So, rejecting God, rejecting God's appointed leader, rejecting the authority that was given, Israel's response is rejection, and focusing too much on the way the problem looked in the flesh. They focused on their sight. These are mighty men of valor. We're but small people in comparison. Instead of walking by faith. Now we know there was a few faithful.

Their desire then eventually led them to self-rule and government. They wanted to select their own leader. Eventually they reject God's judges and prophets and they rise up a king. God even says in about that time, He says that, don't worry Samuel, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me. They're rebelling against me. And then after that, Israel kind of has a normal history.

They have successes. They have failures. They have heroes. They have villains. Sometimes they rely on God. Sometimes they don't. Instead of God's original desire, which was, let me fight for you, let me lead you into all success. They said, you know what? Let me take care of this. And then they go like other nations. Physical Israel repeatedly chose self-reliance over trust in God. We, as the Israel of God, in the New Covenant sense, those who are seed of Abraham, we have these lessons recorded for us. As we learn in the sermonette, which I'm pointing to the screen.

I do think this reporter is more valuable than the screen, but in the sermonette, we have these lessons reported for us. We have these prophecies so that we can learn and be obedient to what God is looking for. You and I can truly understand what true faith is and how God shows in the Bible that is indeed something to keep us strong and grounded in God's way. So let's realize the strength of true faith, which is a dependency on God over everything else. So what's a good starting point? If I say, do you have faith? Maybe your question would be, what is faith?

And that's a great question because that's in my notes. Let's go to Hebrews chapter 11.

There's a beautiful succinct verse that gives the definition.

Hebrews 11 verse 1.

The writer here, of course, continuing from where he left off, but a good chapter break for us, he says or writes, Now you are all here at the home office right in that other room. We just have a ton of booklets.

In some of those booklets, we write about faith and often will capture faith into an idea of a convicted assurance. Yes, it's tied to belief or understanding, but that's not all it is, is it?

Here, the writer says that faith is the substance. That is, I like to think about it, is it is the realization, the confident assurance, or the imagery of solid ground. The solid ground. Remember that gentleman that was on the high ropes course? He did not feel like he had solid ground.

It's the substance or the confident foundation of things not yet seen. It is the evidence. That is, the reality or the proof. How many people like reading about biblical archaeology?

Or how about archaeology? Maybe Indiana Jones, the unrealistic archaeologist, come on.

We like to find things in the ground that prove we're right, don't we? And it's true, I like it. It's good, good to read these things and say, oh, that's neat. Those are cool. But faith, true faith, is really the proof that we already have of the things not yet seen. How do I know that God has called me and he has a plan and he's working out his plan? Faith. I'm convicted. I'm assured of it. How do we know these things? True faith is the proof of the things we cannot yet see. A good starting point, of course, is that we recognize that God is.

Right over in verse 6, Hebrews 11, but without faith, it is impossible to please him. Now, there's a lot that this is really saying. It's not really the topic of today's sermon.

Faith of Christ, the faith that is imparted. But he says, now without faith, it's impossible to please God because he who comes to him must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder to those who diligently seek him. Again, another reason for prophecy that we recognize that God is and he brings things about. That's a great starting point. I can't believe God if we don't know who he is. James writes about this too, doesn't he? James chapter 2, he says, you believe God.

Good job. Then he says, the demons do that as well, and they fear and they tremble.

And we know they're not doing what God says is right. So we have to understand that God is, but it goes much deeper than that, doesn't it? Because that's where an element that James also writes about comes into play. Faith without works is dead. But we have belief when we have understanding, but it doesn't move into obedience. It's of no profit. It's just knowledge. Now Paul writes about that too. Knowledge without love puffs up. Faith and obedience go hand in hand. Faith requires a submission to what God shows is good.

It requires a submission to what God shows is good. You know, we can think about that even with the Israelites when they refused to go into the land. You know, after God had provided them a punishment for their rebellion, he says, okay, you don't want to go in? Fine. 40 years wandering, you won't live. Your generation will die out. What was their response to that? Well, actually, more rebellion. They said, wait a second, we get it. We did this wrong. We'll go take the mountain. We'll go fight. Moses pleaded with him, if you do this, it will not succeed. Why wouldn't it succeed? Just moments ago, God said, go take the land because that's not what God told them to do now. God now said, you're being punished. It's a submission to the fact that we recognize that what God says is good, even if I don't understand it, even if I'm relying upon my sight, my physical sight. What God says is good, and true faith requires a submission to that process.

It requires obedience. Here in Hebrews 11, have you read it recently? If not, it's great. It's great encouragement. Go read it. Every time it records the events of a faithful individual before us, what does it say? It always talks about the person. You have a noun, maybe a subject, and a verb. Now, I'm not trying to get into grammar. We recognize a sentence has to have a verb, but the point is that it wasn't just thinking. It says, by faith, Noah built an ark.

By faith, Moses' parents, they hid him. They put him in a basket. They didn't hit him. That sounded weird. By faith, Abel offered. And over and over, these individuals, they believed God, and so they were submitted to what he said to do, and they did it. Now, not always perfect. We recognize this. It's recorded. These men, these women, they're not perfect, but they're men and women of faith, and they walked by faith. Faith, believing, and obedience, they go hand in hand.

What are three signs that we're walking by faith? This is true faith in our life.

This is an exhaustive, but one sign about true faith is that we will have a firm conviction of God's truth. A firm conviction, assurance of God's truth. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians 2.

2 Thessalonians 2 Those who have true faith are those who have a love of the truth of God, that don't kick against it. Sometimes we do, and we move on from that. But it's a firm conviction of God's truth, the process that God reveals his truth to us, and we strive to understand it. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 11. Here we have, again, prophecy. So if anyone's analyzing my sermon later, let's call this a prophecy sermon. Kidding, kidding, kidding. Now, in the general sense, inspired speaking, it does qualify. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 11.

We have end time prophecy, the coming of the lawless one.

Let's start in verse 10. Or verse 9 talks about the coming of the lawless one, according to the workings of Satan. Verse 10, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth. You know, sometimes, I talked about in the introduction that with all these things going on in the world, sometimes there's a lot of conspiracy theories, right? Well, that's not really what happened. Sometimes it can get hard refuting all these theories. But in reality, we don't need to know all the details of why a theory is wrong. We have to have a love of the truth. To those who don't receive a love of the truth, those who are not firmly convicted on what God has set as his truth, they will be swept away.

That they might be saved, it says. After for this reason, God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie. So there's going to come a time, if not even now, a little, where God, where people will no longer have that opportunity to be called.

There'll be a moment, God will, of course, he calls, and there will be many who make their robes white through the tribulation. But there's coming a time where a great majority of people will turn their eyes, their ears, everything off to what God is saying.

The majority of the world is deceived. He says, so strong a delusion that he should believe the lie, that they may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

That's defining a lot of the world we live in. Many sincere people, but taking a lie, taking a false notion of what love is, and taking all unrighteousness and turning it into love. That's not how God works. God shows what is good. God shows what is love.

Those who have true faith have a conviction of God's truth.

It's to have an understanding and to believe and to love the truth of God. But again, it can't just be knowledge. It can't just be theoretical understanding.

You have to. It has to then produce change. It has to produce a personal surrendering to God. Let's go to John chapter 1. John chapter 1.

The Bible is full of examples where God will bring down the the proud full, especially if He's calling them for a certain purpose. Brings a man low or a woman lower to be more in humility. Recognizes His ways. It's all throughout the Bible that we surrender ourselves to God. We submit to God's authority. I know it's pretty anti- to-the-American culture, right? I come... I don't come from New Hampshire, but I lived there last. And there's Logan. I've said it before. I forgot it now. I'm in Ohio and now. Scratch that. Live free or die. That's what it is. It's on my license plate. Right? It's contrary this idea of submitting. Wait. Submit? Submit to no man.

But that's very anti-biblical. God... True faith requires submission to His way. John chapter 1 in verse 12. But as many as have received Him, to them He has given the right to become children of God. To those who believe in His name... So recognize God. Recognize His Son.

...who were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. Who is He who will be in the family of God? The man? Go... non-gender man? Woman? Who is born of God? Born of the will of God? No matter what my strength is, my desire, if God is not opening my eyes, if God is not calling me to His way, I cannot be born of God. God has to bring that us into His fold. He has to transfer us from the world of darkness into the authority of His kingdom. And then at the resurrection, when we are literally born into the family of God, it will all be done because of God's will that we have submitted to His shaping of us, His molding of us and His working with us, showing us where there are places that we need to change. And so He'll be bringing us. It is by His will that we are changed. And of course, this should produce, then, this submission, submitting to God's way, recognizing that His ways are good regardless of how we may see them.

Because, yeah, there are some confusing things. But God's way is good. When He says it, it's good. That should then produce conduct that comes from that surrendering. This surrendering to God's way should produce a new person walking along the path. Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And this conduct that's inspired by surrendering, it really is a real assurance, a strength in this world, that when we walk according to God's way, no matter what happens, no matter what happens, no matter what happens, no matter what uncertain situation is around us, everything's gonna be good.

Whether we live, whether we die, whether we suffer, which often suffering is for good.

It's not always the best thing to hear, but it is for good. If we go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, it is a strong assurance, a real assurance, an understanding of where our home, where our home really is. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul writes about this in some interesting ways.

Verse 6, so, 2 Corinthians 5, 6, so we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in this body, we're absent from the Lord. So we recognize that in this temporary life, we're not fully glorified. We're not fully in the family. Yes, we are children, growing, but not yet born. So we're absent. For we walk by faith, not by sight. So there's a recognition that this life, the way that we conduct ourselves, is often contrary to the way that it kind of looks like we should. We don't follow into the crowd. We kind of stick out. Sometimes the joy that God produces in our life is so different to the troubles that are all around us.

Sometimes the hope. That's why Peter says when you're brought in, when you're under trial, when people recognize the hope that lies within you, some may ask you, why are you like this? And you say, well, I walk by faith, not by sight. Verse 8, we are confident, yes, well pleased rather, to be absent from our body is to be present with the Lord. We recognize that whether we live or we die, the next waking moment, we're in the family.

We have a confidence assurance that if we die, our next waking moment, when that trumpet sounds, will raise from the dead and will be in the family of God. We have that confidence, that assurance, because Christ has died for us and we have that true faith. And that's the conduct, then that conduct can be seen by the way that we walk in our life. And true faith grows, shouldn't it? If you go pick up our booklet, I feel like a Beyond Today show for a moment.

I don't know if we still do this, but you know, we have a call that, well, we have a, no, I'll just let it be. It's not my role, not my job, and I'm okay with that. We have a booklet, though. You, too, can have living faith. I think is what it's titled. Maybe that's an old title.

And it talks about that faith is not static. It grows. And we see this in the Bible, Romans 1, by from faith to faith. When we have actions of faith, when our walk is conduct according to true faith, faith grows. And we recognize God's power in our lives. It will grow. And if it's not growing in our life, that's where we need to ask those serious questions. Has my faith diminished?

You know, there's a prophecy. There's a suggestion, an idea that Christ lays down. He says that when he returns, will he find faith? So, has my faith diminished? If so, there are a couple ways that we can grow that faith. Yes, actions do. That will grow faith. But prayer. Make sure that we're praying to God. Ask God for faith to help us in our doubt. By faith comes faith. We must always connect to the Father in prayer through Jesus Christ. And at times we have excuses to why we don't do this. We're busy. The noise out there is too loud. We have too much stuff on our plates. Sometimes we use too many electronic calendars, where we cram things into every minute of our day. Well, if we recognize that we're too jam-packed with the things that don't matter, make the action to get rid of things. Wake up earlier. Start your day with prayer. It's not a commandment, per se, but it is a recognition that our first action should probably be to talk to God. Maybe I should qualify. Andy's opinion. But I'm in good company when I say that. King David, morning, noon, and evening. Paul, I will let men pray always, lifting up hands.

We have to be people of prayer. Prayer is an incredibly important tool to keep us linked with the Father through Christ and to have that faith of Christ in us. And, of course, through Bible study, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10 verse 17.

Have you ever read the Word of God to yourself?

I like to do that from time to time. Audibly. Not just in your mind. Speak it out loud.

The special music again, I'll pull back to the special music. There was lines in there talking about, I'll say it to myself over and over because it's helpful sometimes to say things out loud to yourself, to read the Word of God. For many years, people didn't, couldn't even read. And so they got the Word of God through the reading of the Word of God. Out loud.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. Reading and meditating on God's Word is incredibly crucial to understanding his ways, to understanding his character, and then putting that into practice. When we consider the dangers of self-reliance, I can do this, I can do that, and the strength there is in truly trusting in God through storms or right through a basement or through when we're at the highs of our life, we'll recognize that the answer is pretty clear.

True faith, trusting God. But then maybe there's a lingering question.

Well, what if sometimes I feel the uncertainty and I feel a little anxious? Well, there's prescriptions for that, specifically for anxiousness. But that leads me with the final point, which is, when we are walking this true or this path of true faith in God, what is our response to times of uncertainty? I like to think of these few responses. One, we find it in John 1836. Let's go to John 1836. I like to think about this often when it comes to the uncertain world around us. John 1836. Response number one, know your place in God's work.

Know your place in God's work. John 18 and verse 36.

Here we have Jesus recorded saying, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here. Sometimes when I read passages like this and I think about it in a 21st century mindset in America, because we have a very blessed nation, I can sometimes not fully connect with this verse. I can think about back when Jesus was on this earth and the Romans, yeah, they were mean, but my government's pretty nice. I haven't been tormented. I haven't been, well, I had that one altercation with a police officer. This was many years ago. Never mind. Sometimes I don't connect well. Until you recognize that we truly are called out of the system that we are in. We appreciate the blessings, we appreciate the things that God has done, and the wonderful time that we live in that has given us the ability to preach the gospel in a way that has just not been possible for the majority of human history. A time of relative peace and safety and protection. We appreciate those things, but we recognize that this is not our kingdom, and it's not what we should be fighting for. Imagine for a moment, maybe a common scenario. Have you ever been in a heated conversation, maybe at work? If you work for the church, don't raise your hand. Maybe at work, maybe at school about the next election, or maybe a bill that's coming, a local bill, maybe a tax. I love taxes, right? Maybe you have a heated conversation going on around you. Had those often where I worked in a cubicle. And every now and then, I wanted to get in there, because I have some information that will win this argument. That's how I thought. Often, it was never well done. I barely articulate sermons. So I have this whole logical argument in my mind. It's like, yeah, A to B to B to C, and then I say something, and people are like, you're an idiot. But right, you're in there, and you try to just win your side.

Sometimes I think about these scriptures when I come to those scenarios and say, okay, is there an avenue where maybe they're asking a question I could bring in a biblical point and point them to God's kingdom to come? Okay, that's a different story. But maybe me coming in and trying to argue about this system that is so flawed is not my place. I have to recognize, what is my place in God's work? Sometimes it is. Like I said, somebody has questions. Somebody can grow from understanding a biblical principle. Sure, those are different scenarios. But we have to be careful and remember why God has called us. It's not to fight for the systems of this world.

It's to prepare ourselves for the kingdom to come and to serve the same people that are out there that will be called later to serve with our elder brother. When is the last time you've thought, he felt this urge to really win at an argument about maybe a cultural change-up in the world around us. I like to remember this passage. This isn't my system. If they have questions and there's an opportunity, sure, we'll talk about God's ways. But what will be what will be with that system that's coming to destruction? Response number two. As we recognize we're called out of this system, we should remember that we are admonished to forsake that old way of life, to forsake the system of which we're called out of. Let's go back to Hebrews chapter 11.

You see, true faith in acts of obedience, and when our faith is diminished, when it's lowered down, often it helps just to remind ourselves of the basics. What is God doing?

When is He bringing this this plan into a finished state? And part of that is recognizing that we are to forsake the system that we are called out of. Hebrews chapter 11 in verse 24.

Now, speaking of Moses again, it says, by faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward. He did not even desire that former life, at least recorded of this. Can you imagine how much wealth that would have been? Now, maybe he wasn't the top dog in Egypt, but there would have been massive wealth, massive fortune. No doubt he would have power and authority, and he could command armies. No doubt he would have all sorts of power, and yet he looked to God rather than those fleeting or passing pleasures of sin. We know we must fully come out of this system.

Look at verse 27. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured seeing him who is invisible. I like to think about forsaking with a certain sense of finality to it. I know in application it doesn't always happen, but the goal is to forsake that former life. Baptism, when that guy goes under the water, and that old person goes under the water, it's a recognition that they are dying, that that way of life is done. Forsake it. Turn away from it. And this requires, again, the different connection. It requires a submission, a dropping, a desire to control things and surrender into God and his will for my life. Requires a full dependency on God and believe him when he says he will do this or that, that he'll bring it to pass. So we can consider for ourselves, what's one area I feel tempted to return to that former life? You ever had that temptation?

Maybe there was something in your former life, something that you think is left unsettled.

Something keeps drawing you back. Or maybe one area where I'm putting a lot of trust in a man, in a woman, in a system of man, rather than in God. That when something happens in that man, that woman, that system, I'm suddenly shaken. I'm suddenly not strong anymore.

Well, that could be a realization that our faith is in something wrong.

What does it look like to forsake that former life and trust in God? Those are good questions to ask ourselves. And then a third response, and I'd love to hear if you have any other thoughts. Like I said, all my lists are always exhaustive, so they're full. A third one, rest in God's faithfulness. You see, God doesn't really require a lot from you that he isn't willing to do. God is faithful. And so when he says, be faithful, follow through on your word, it's because you're following in his example. Rest in God's faithfulness. Turn to a final scripture in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

In verse 23. Rest in God's faithfulness.

Verse 23. Now, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God is the God who sanctifies us, sets us apart, cleans us. And he is a God of peace, not headache, not chaos, not conflict, but of peace. Verse 24. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. We recognize who God is, and that he is indeed a God who does what he says. And he's faithful to his word. He cannot lie.

What do we think about these two choices? I mean, the choice is clear, isn't it? What? Rebellion, self-reliance, or submission, and full reliance upon God.

Where does your faith rest?

All right, we remember that man on the high ropes course.

Now, that high ropes course man, he was on shaky ground. I mean, he wasn't on ground, literally.

He was on a shaky rope. And as he's losing all ability to think and reason, what should he have done in that moment? He should have recognized his place within the work of the high ropes course. He should have recognized that there was a guy facilitating the ropes course, and he's wearing a harness, and he can lean over the edge and be carried. He should have recognized and forsook the idea that he even needed solid ground.

He should have had true faith. Now, that's a physical thing. You and I, we are to put our faith in God through Jesus Christ, not in any man or any system of men. You see, true and unwavering faith stands when everything else shakes.