Even If He Doesn't

What is your level of faith like? Do you need to increase it? Listen in and find out how to do that.

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The word comes today from two places. First, we will go to the book of Genesis, chapter 22, and both of these are very familiar passages of scripture. So chapter 22 of the book of Genesis, and I'm going to be reading verse 2, and then I'm going to skip down to verses 9 and 10. And this is what it says. Then he said, This is God speaking, take now your son, your only son, Isaac, speaking to Abraham, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. And skipping down to verse nine. Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And now we'll go to the book of Daniel. We'll go to the book of Daniel and I'm going to be reading from chapter three verses sixteen through eighteen. And I'm reading both passages from the New King James Version of the Bible. And this is what it says from Daniel 3 verses 3 verses 16 through 18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abinico answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, some versions say, but even if he does it, let it be known to you, O king, if we that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. And so from Genesis chapter 22, verses two, nine, and ten, and Daniel chapter three, verse sixteen through eighteen, we're going to be talking today about faith and about increasing our faith. So the title of this sermon is Even if He Doesn't. Even if He Doesn't. Now I've been a Christian for a long time, as many of you have. Having accepted, I accepted Jesus at the age of nine. But over the years, I'm happy to say that I have grown. And I've had over the years many trials and challenges, many learning experiences and heartaches, many opportunities to see my God at work on my behalf. And those things have strengthened my faith to see God show up for me. But I remember a few years ago thinking, just reading both of those passages, that some of the things that God asked, that my faith just isn't there. But I'm praying and asking God to increase my faith. And so these two passages, Genesis 22, where God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and where in Daniel 3, the teenagers, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, defiantly tell the king that no matter what he does to them, they're going to trust God and not bow to worship his golden, his golden statue. And so I have to say that these are two places in the Bible that challenge me that I need to increase my faith to this level of obedience and trust in God. I don't know about you, maybe you are there. But I have to wonder if God asked me to sacrifice my child, could I do it? And if He if if I knew that I would suffer something as serious as a fiery furnace, something similar, could I do it? I hope that I would be able to. Abraham was obedient to God to the point where he was bringing the knife down on his son Isaac when God stopped him and provided a ram in the bush. And say Abraham, he said to him, Abraham, don't do it. I know now that you do trust me. So if you look over in the thicket, there's a ram. Sacrifice him instead of your son Isaac. But Abraham had the knife and he was coming down with it. He was gonna do it. And then in Daniel chapter three, the Hebrew boys, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, they knew what the punishment was for not bowing to the image of King Nebuchadnezzar and worshiping the gods, those idols. They knew they were going to be put in the fiery furnace. But because of their declaration that God was able to save them, and even if he did not save them, they were going to trust him anyhow. Because of their faith, we saw that Jesus was in the furnace with them, and when they came out they were more than conquerors. The word says they didn't even smell like smoke. Not a hair on their head or anything was singed from the fire. That's cause for praise because God knew how strong their faith was. And again, I want to remind you that these are not made-up fictional stories, propaganda to make us feel good and act a certain way. These things actually happened. These people lived in history. They existed, and their lives are testimonies to us that as we are tested, we too can make it through, pass the test, and be rewarded by God. I admonish you to go back and read those stories. Read all of those passages in Genesis 22 and Daniel 3. But let's ask ourselves today, how did they get there? How did they get to the point? How did the Hebrew boys get to the point where they said, even if he doesn't? You know how we pray for things and we ask God to heal us or heal a loved one or fix a situation? And sometimes when it doesn't happen, we get angry with God. Even stop going to church, some of us. So how do we get to a point where we say, even if he doesn't do it, I'm gonna still trust him? Like Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him? Naked I came into this world, and naked I will go back, but I'm gonna still put my trust in God. How does a person believe God so much that they risk loved ones and endure personal harm and suffering and not do it timidly, but bravely and loudly and confidently declare by their actions that God is God and they will not serve another. Three points today. When we look at the actions of Abraham and the Hebrew boys in these passages, we see three principles that we can display in our lives that will help us grow our faith. First of all, they were not willing to play tit for tat. You didn't hear them saying, Okay, God, I'll do this for you, and I want you to do that for me. They weren't in it for a transactional relationship. So many times we network our way through life. We get into relationships for what other people can offer us. I'm not saying that to make friends with nobodies, but I'm saying that we need to be in authentic and real relationships because we love people and respect them and not because of what we believe they can do for us. And the truth is there are nobodies. Everybody is somebody. But we ought to be in relationship with them because of who they are and not for what they can do for us. We know that God is able to do anything, but if we seek Him for what He can do for us and not because of who He is, the creator of all things, our Maker, our Redeemer, then we are misguided and double minded, and dare I say even demonic, because the devil is always about Himself and what He can obtain and never about others. But God is love. So again, serve God for God and not for what He can give us. Seek His face and not just His hands. That's how we get forth like we become like Abraham and the Hebrew boys. And I'm not saying that they are they were perfect people. No, they had to grow their faith just like we did. We do, but they weren't in it doing it for what they could get from God. And the second thing that we that will help us get to the point of obedience to God, regardless of ourselves, is erasing doubt. Doubt. Not really believing God. The Bible says when we pray, we have to believe. Because if we don't believe, we're not going to get anything from God. It's impossible to please God without faith. And so we have to believe that He is who He says he is and a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. So let's release doubt today, destroy doubt, disseminate doubt, decrease doubt, dump doubt. Do everything, all we need to do to get rid of doubt, and the fact that our God is God. Lately, whenever the devil has come at me to whisper a mission or a message of doubt, I've talked back to the devil. No, devil, you can't make me doubt God. Get away, devil. Get behind me, Satan. You're under my feet, and I try to replace that with some uplifting scripture. With God, nothing shall be impossible. So you speak to the devil, talk to him, bind him, and grab a scripture that speaks to whatever issue you're having trouble with that you may be doubting. And memorize that scripture and speak it to the devil the way Jesus spoke to the devil in the wilderness. Remember, he said three times, it is written. Remember when the devil wanted him to turn those stones into bread because Jesus had been fasting in the wilderness for forty days? And Jesus said to him, It is written, man shall live, not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God, speaking to the devil, the word of God. And that's how we get rid of doubt. We speak the word, we know the word, we have the word inside of us so that we can speak to the devil when he comes at us. And another thing I want to point out is that many times we're drawn to affirmations and positive mantras. And those are good. But there's nothing like the word of God because you know what? None of that works without God. You can say all day, I think I can, I think I can. But if God does not empower you to be able to do whatever it is, then you're just saying those words. We can literally do nothing without God. Without God, we cannot take the next breath or make our heart beat. Acts 17 and 28 says, For in Him we live and breathe and have our being. God is our creator. We are the created. The Bible is our owner's manual. The Holy Spirit is our guide and teacher. So use the word of God. Speak to your devil and destroy doubt. That's another way to increase our faith. And then finally, the thing that will get us to a point of quick and complete, well, I won't say quick, but complete obedience to God as much as we can get to, because we won't all be perfect until Jesus comes back. It's cultivating our relationship with God, speaking to God in prayer and listening to God, listening to others who know the Lord and who are living out the word by applying it to their lives, showing us how to apply the word to our lives. And when we mess up, as we will, we need to pick ourselves up and keep going. Never give up, never give up on God, even when we're mad at God, even when sometimes we think that things didn't go right. Remember that God knows the way. The end at the beginning, and we just have tunnel vision, we don't understand. But God knows, and so we have to trust him and realize that he has our best interest at heart. God loves us. Have you ever wondered how it is that God loved David so much that he allowed his kingship to live forever by having Jesus come through his lineage? Because David did some terrible things. And so why is it that God still honored him? I believe it was because David was himself and always honest with God. He got mad at God and he let him know. If you read the the Psalms, you'll see how he spoke to God honestly. Why is it that you let my enemies come up against me? How long, Lord, are you gonna let them prosper? And why, Lord, did you do this or didn't do it that way? Or he was when he was disappointed in God, he let him know or confused by God's actions, and he disagreed with him. But through it all, he came back to God and said, You're good, and I know you love me with an uncommon love, and so I'm gonna trust you, Lord. Because once he got it all out, then he had to admit that God was God. And also, remember when the man brought his son to the disciples, and they weren't able to call the demon out of the man of the man's son. And when Jesus did it, they asked him, Why couldn't we do that? Remember what Jesus told them? He says that that kind takes prayer and fasting. And some things that are high require a higher level of our faith. And as we get to know God and depend on Him and pray to Him and listen for Him, sometimes we have to go above and beyond just the normal things that we do. Sometimes we have to fast from food and distractions to increase our faith to get to a point where we say to God, Lord, I trust you. I trust you, Lord. And even if you don't fix it, the way I think it should be fixed. I'm still gonna trust you. Abraham wasn't a perfect man, but if we observed him in Genesis going from Abram to Abraham, the father of many nations, from following Sarah's bad advice to have a child with Hagar her handmaid, to nearly sacrificing his son Isaac. The Hebrew boys were observed going from eating vegetables and drinking water at the king's table rather than the delicacies and the rich food that were being offered to defying the king. When you know God is God, you trust him. And your level of faith increases as you know God. I heard someone say the other day, and I'm gonna say it to you. Stop letting the devil poke you. Believe God. Serve Him. He loves you and He has your back. God bless you. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you today for showing us how to increase our faith and not just go along to get along. But how to have a strong faith and be sold out to you. We thank you for the images in the Bible, the personalities of Job and Abraham and the Hebrew boys and Daniel and David and so many others that show us that if we can pass the test, we can have a testimony. We thank you, Lord. Help us increase our faith. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen, everybody. Thank you for being present on today as we talk about increasing our faith. That's what we need in today's world. We need to be sold out for God and know that no matter what comes, what happens, the ups and downs of life, God has us, and we're gonna hold on to his unchanging hand. Now unto him who's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now and forevermore. Let us all say amen.