For those of you who are visiting with us tonight, we welcome you. We should forewarn
you that beginning this evening, during this month of August, we're going to be doing
some different things in our evening service, the purpose of which will be to see if we
can find a way to make our worship together more meaningful and stimulating to our spirits.
We've come to the conviction that real worship arises out of the heart after the Word has
done a work in us. How many times have we come to church and God has said something,
perhaps He's convicted us or He has encouraged us? There are some responses that we sense
within that we would like to give. We have the invitation and we dismiss and somehow
what God has been saying during that service is diminished. And so we are going to be working
with the components of a worship service. And by doing this and rearranging it somewhat,
we are trusting that God will help us to be able to worship more meaningfully together.
And to that end, we're going to turn tonight right to the Word of God. Would you take your
Bible please and turn with me to Mark chapter 11. We're going to talk this evening on how
to live dangerously. I can hear some husbands say, well, he means being married to my wife.
Well, that's not my topic tonight. I'm not trying to find a job in this economy. How
to live dangerously? The answer to that is to live by faith. In Mark chapter 11 verse
12, and on the next day when they had departed from Bethany, Jesus became hungry and seeing
at a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find something on
it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for
figs. And he answered and said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And
his disciples were listening. Now let's skip down to verse 20. And as they were passing
by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. And being reminded, Peter
said to him, Rabbi, behold the fig tree which you cursed has withered. Jesus answered saying
to them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken
up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says
is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which
you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for the
solid rock that we have in Jesus Christ, in his blood that was shed for us, in his righteousness
that is imputed to us when we believe on him. Thank you for this foundation to life, for
other foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. We thank
you that this foundation stands through the storms of life. Our prayer is that we may
be able to build upon this foundation such a structure in our lives that when we come
to the judgment seat, it will pass your scrutiny and we may hear the words, well done, good
and faithful servant. May we be full of faith, stimulate our hearts tonight as we think about
this matter of living by faith. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
I believe that every Christian wants down in his heart to be a giant of faith. I believe
that's true of every Christian who's here tonight. Down within the spirit of each of
us, there is a desire to be a giant in this matter of believing and trusting God. Why
then, if that is the desire of all of us, why then isn't it so? The answer in part may
be that in this, that living by faith involves danger and jeopardy. Most of us would prefer
to live in safety and self-preservation. We're too often content to talk about faith, to
read books about it, to listen to sermons on the subject and even to pray for more faith,
but we are reluctant to experience the reality of learning to live by faith. What is faith
anyway? How would we define it? Well, one definition as it relates to the Christian
life might be this, it is doing what God commands, depending upon his promises, even though I
cannot see the outcome. It's doing what God commands, depending upon his promises, even
though I cannot see the outcome. That is an action definition. Vance Havner has made this
statement regarding faith. Faith is more like a verb than a noun. Faith accepts the Word
of God, affirms confidence in that Word, and acts upon it. You never really get going until
you act upon what you accept and affirm. Then you are faithing your way along. The faith
that does not act. Is it really faith? James says faith without works is a dead kind of
faith. I believe that God is challenging every one of us tonight to some new step of faith.
It may be in the area of obedience regarding our giving. It may be committing a wayward
child to the Lord instead of worrying about it. It may be trusting God with that marriage
that seems to be in difficulty. It may be looking to the Lord to supply the next meal
this week because of a lack of finances. I don't know what realm God is challenging
you in, but I believe with all of my heart that God wants each of us to take another
step of faith. Hebrews 11.1 says, a faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. A few verses later it goes on to say that without faith
it is impossible to please God. If we start to think about that, that can be alarming.
It is impossible to please God in the way that I live if I am failing to believe Him
and to trust Him. That is how important faith is. If I want to hear His well done, then
I must be able to meet the qualifications of the rest of that statement which says,
well done thou good and what? Faithful, full of faith servant. Living by faith means to
live dangerously because living by faith involves risks. I would like to suggest four of them
tonight. Did you receive an outline as you came in this evening? Some of you did and
some of you didn't. If you don't have one, maybe the ushers can grab some back there.
Do we have any left? We ran out of them. We will print more next week. There are four
risks. The outline is not difficult. If you have two to a family, you may want to share
some. I see some of you doing that and I appreciate it. The first risk that comes in living by
faith is the risk of reputation. How we prize what other people think of us. Our ears wait
eagerly to hear words of praise drop from the lips of others. How much more so should
we wait to hear words of commendation from God? We will only hear those words as we learn
to risk even our reputation. You see, faith is willing to take a public position which
risks reputation. There is an interesting illustration of that that is told from the
life of Hudson Taylor. On one occasion when Taylor, the famous missionary to China, first
went to that land, he was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of some cannibal islands,
the ship becalmed and it was slowly drifting ashore. They were unable to go about. The
savages were on the shore eagerly awaiting their feast. The captain came to Hudson Taylor
and besought him to pray for the help of God. Taylor responded, I will, provided you set
your sails to catch the breeze. The captain declined to make himself a laughing stock
by unfurling in a dead calm. Taylor said, I will not undertake to pray for the vessel
unless you prepare the sails. And shortly it was done. While engaged in prayer there
was a knock at the door of his room. Who is there? The captain's voice responded,
Are you still praying for wind? Yes, said Taylor. Well, said the captain, you better
stop praying for we have more wind than we can manage. And sure enough, just a hundred
yards from shore, the cannibals were cheated out of their human prey. If we are going to
trust God, it may involve risking our reputation, being willing to take a stand before other
people that puts our reputation in their eyes on the line. I see that somewhat in the text
that we have before us tonight when Jesus spoke to the tree and said to the tree, Be
withered. No one is going to eat of you from this day onward. Now let's suppose that nothing
ever happened to that tree. Was this not a public risk? Well, we don't think of that
too often in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet there may be an application there,
something that we can learn. For his speaking to the tree involved faith on his part that
his word would be carried out, and it was. We see this illustrated perhaps on the more
human level back in 2 Kings 2. Would you turn there with me? 2 Kings 2 recorded for us here
is the departure of Elijah the prophet for heaven. He went in a very unique way, didn't
he? He went up in a whirlwind accompanied by chariots and horses of fire. We're going
to begin reading here in chapter 2 and verse 7 where it says, Now fifty men of the sons
of the prophets went and stood opposite them, that is Elijah and Elisha who accompanied
him. And while the two of them stood by the Jordan, and Elijah took his mantle and folded
together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there so that the two of
them crossed over on dry ground. And who did that? Elijah did. He took the mantle that
he wore, folded it and struck the waters, and the waters parted. We would expect that
from Elijah. He was a great man of faith, amazing miracles accomplished at his hand.
Now came about when they had crossed over that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall
do for you before I am taken from you. Elisha said, Please let a double portion of your
spirit be upon me. And he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me
when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if not, it shall not be so. And it
came about as they were going along and talking, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire
and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind
to heaven. And Elisha saw it and cried out, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel
and its horsemen. And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore
them in two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned
and stood by the bank of the Jordan. They've got to get the picture. There are fifty sons
of the prophets. These are seminary students. Seminary students are a peculiar kind. They
stood there on the opposite shore at a distance and they had watched. The two men had come
to the river. Elijah had taken that mantle, had smote the waters, they had parted. The
two of them went across on dry ground. There's no evidence here that they failed to see what
else had taken place. Whether they did or they didn't, at least they saw Elisha coming
back by himself. And he had this mantle of Elijah and he stands beside the water. How
is Elisha going to get across now? Well, I can see these seminary students getting to
poke one another and saying, Well, let's see what's going to happen. It says in verse
14, And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said,
Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Now, let's just suppose for a moment that when
he had splattered the water, the water splashed in his face and kept rolling. What would his
reputation as a prophet have been worth to those seminary students? You see in the action
that he took here and in what he said in calling upon the Lord God of Elijah, he risked something.
What was his reputation as the successor to Elijah? No one would believe that he was the
appointed successor, which he was, if the waters failed to part. Nonetheless, by faith,
Elisha smote the waters and the record says, And when he had struck the waters, they were
divided here and there and Elisha crossed over. Now, when the sons of the prophets who
were at Jericho opposite him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.
You see, he risked his reputation. He trusted God. Perhaps another outstanding Old Testament
example and one that's a little more familiar would be Noah. Put yourself in Noah's sandals
for a moment. God says to Noah, build an ark. A what? An ark and here's how you do it.
And he gave him the orders, how it was to be done and so on. And so he started to work
out here in the middle of dry land. And the other citizens who lived around him begin
to pass by and say, Hey, Noah, you building the house? No, I'm building a boat. Oh, a
boat. What are you going to do with the boat? God's going to send a flood. Judgment is coming.
Oh, I see. Can you imagine that conversation going on day after day, becoming more exaggerated
as time goes by, as the boat gets larger. And yet every day Noah and his sons faithfully
went out and obeyed God and built the ship. What do you think their reputation was worth
as they finished, neared the finishing of the ark? Well, they were probably candidates
for the asylum back in those days, as far as the people were concerned. A flood, a boat
out here, the guy has flipped. But what do you think his reputation was worth when the
rain started to fall? You see, by faith, he obeyed God. He prepared the ark under the
saving of his house, Hebrews 11 says. And in so doing, he condemned the world. He was
willing to risk his reputation. Now folks, though faith calls upon us to risk our reputation
at times, what we gain from it is character. And character is far more important than reputation.
God is more concerned about our character than our reputation, and so ought we to be.
When we live by faith, it involves, secondly, a risk of resources. I suppose there are a
few things closer to the average 20th century Christian than his money. We cannot trust
in our money and trust in God at the same time. Sometimes faith involves risking our
resources. I believe it was so with Abraham. God's call came to Abraham while he was in
Ur of Chaldees. God said, get out of here to the land that I will show you. And so Abraham,
in obedience, by faith, gathered together his things that he had and took off through
the Fertile Crescent in obedience, heading for that land that God would show him. He
risked everything. He was leaving behind whatever vocation he had there, the establishment of
his vocation. He was leaving behind most of his family. He was leaving behind his resources,
risking them, and by faith obeying God. Isn't this the same thing that Moses did? I think
so. If you'll turn with me to Hebrews 11, we have these words testifying to Moses' attitude
of faith. In verse 24 of Hebrews 11, the Reader's Digest version of Moses' life goes like this.
By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
It is very difficult for you and me sitting here in 1982 in a democracy, being most of
us middle class people, to understand what it meant to refuse to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. It was a position of unbelievable power and wealth. By faith, Moses refused,
choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing
pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Moses obeyed God by faith. In so doing, he
risked the resources that were naturally available to him. He put them on the line, was willing
to give them up, and indeed did, in order that he might gain something far more important
than treasures on earth. He was looking for eternal reward. Dear people, even though living
by faith may call upon us to risk our resources, what we gain by living by faith is eternal
reward, and that is far more important. When we live by faith, it involves risking things,
risking our reputation, risking our resources. Number three, it involves at times the risk
of reason. Faith does not contradict reason. Faith surpasses reason. Because you see, our
ability to reason things out is a part of our soul-ish being. We are body, soul, and
spirit. That part of us that relates to God is the spirit. Our soul relates to our environment.
Our ability to rationalize, to think, to reason, to conclude, to decide—that part of us is
the soul part. Faith involves a higher dimension. It involves the spiritual part of us, that
innermost part that relates to God. Faith does not contradict reason. It simply acts
on a higher plane. There are times when God may say something to us which seems unreasonable.
But when we trust God, we find blessing. There is an example, an outstanding example in the
Word of God of that very thing. There was a day when God came to Abraham and said to
him, Abraham, go yonder on that mountain and offer up your only son, Isaac. There is nothing
that would seem more unreasonable to Abraham than that. After all, had not God said that
his promises would come to Abraham through Isaac? He was the anointed, appointed heir.
Isn't it illogical then to offer him as a sacrifice? Does that seem like God to say,
kill your son? It seems like the most unreasonable thing in the world for Abraham to do. But
by faith, he offered up Isaac in a parable or in a type, says Hebrews 11. And how did
he do that? Abraham concluded that though it had never happened before, in some means
God would resurrect his son. Abraham knew what God had said to him regarding the promises
that they had to come through Isaac. By faith, he trusted that if God told him to slay his
son, that by some means God would also raise him up from the dead so that he could then
fulfill his promises. You see what I'm saying when sometimes faith involves risking reason?
Would this not be true of Gideon? The Midianites came into the land. They were like a horde
of grasshoppers. Horde isn't the word I want. Plague of grasshoppers. There we go. Like
Locus, they came in and they stole the crops. They plundered the land and God raised up
a judge or a military leader. And Gideon, Gideon got together an army. 32,000 people
responded who were willing to fight against 135,000 Midianites. The odds were 10 to 1
against the Israelites. God said to Gideon, I'm sorry, your army is too big. Lord, would
you repeat that please? Too many people in your army, they may say that they by their
own power delivered themselves. Tell those who are afraid to go home. So Gideon did.
Two out of every three went back home. He was left with 10,000 to fight against 135,000.
So God said, too many people Gideon, you have to narrow this down some more. What an illogical
thing that was. Wasn't it unreasonable to think that even 10,000 could fight against
135,000? And now God says reduce the army. So they passed, they went through another
test. And God narrowed it down to how many? Let's write 300. Just 300 men against 135,000.
And God gave them the victory. You see faith acted on a higher level than logic and a great
victory resulted. Living by faith risks reason, but it gains results. There's another illustration
I'd like to share with you involving George Mueller. This story is told by the captain
of a ship who was traveling with Mueller. Mueller, as you may know, was a man that believed
God for, it is said, over a million pounds, English pounds, during his lifetime without
ever advertising for the need. Here's what the captain of that ship relates in a written
word. We had George Mueller of Bristol on board, said the captain. I had been on the
bridge for 24 hours and never left it. And George Mueller came to me and said, Captain,
I've come to tell you I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon. It's impossible, I
said. Then very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I've
never broken an engagement in 57 years. Let us go down to the chart room and pray. I looked
at the man of God and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum can that man have come from?
For I never heard of such a thing as this. Mr. Mueller, I said, do you know how dense
this fog is? Noy replied, my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living
God who controls every circumstance of my life. He knelt down and prayed one of the
most simple prayers. When he had finished, I was going to pray, but he put his hand on
my shoulder and told me not to pray. As you do not believe, he will answer, and as I believe
he has, there's no need whatever for you to pray about it, he said. I looked at him
and George Mueller said, Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 years. There's never been
a single day when I failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the
door for you will find the fog is gone. I got up and indeed the fog was gone, and on
that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement. Sometimes faith risks
reason. It's unreasonable to think that a fog would lift, isn't it? Finally, living
by faith involves risking rebuke. You see worldly people, even worldly Christians, disapprove
of faith. Why is that? Because faith condemns the failure of the worldly. When one dares
to live by faith, he risks the rebuke of the worldly minded. Perhaps we have an illustration
of this in Abel. When by faith and in obedience Abel offered the proper sacrifice to God,
and God accepted his sacrifice, Cain, his brother, offered his prepared sacrifice, which
was not pleasing to God, God refused his offering. Cain was furious. His fury was directed against
God and it was directed against his brother. It says in Genesis chapter 4 that he talked
to him, that is, Cain talked to Abel. That is a very general word for talk. It can mean
challenged. It can mean he told off, and I think that is the emphasis there, that Abel
told off his brother, or rather Cain told off his brother Abel. Because it goes right
on to say in the very verse that when he was in the field, Cain killed him. When one lives
by faith, he risks the rebuke of the worldly minded. Was this not the risk that Bartimaeus,
the blind man, took when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by and he cried out,
Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And people around said, Bartimaeus, please be
quiet, Jesus is too busy. Shh, you are embarrassing everybody. They rebuked him. Nonetheless,
he cried out and cried out and then Jesus heard him and said, what do you want? And
he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And he said, receive your sight. Your faith
has made you well. You see, he risked rebuke and God honored his faith. Faith risks rebuke,
but it gains God's pleasure. Indeed, living by faith requires risk. But one thing is never
risked when we trust God, and that is failure. Living by faith gains us character, eternal
reward, results, and the pleasure of God. And dear child of God, you and I can trust
God because he is faithful. God is not arbitrary. He is not capricious. He is not given to notions
and whims. He is steadfast. He is unchanging. He is dependable. And whatever circumstances
enter our lives, he is always working for your good and my good because we are his children
by faith in Christ. As someone has said, we may not always be able to trace the hand of
God, but we can always trust it. And now, Father, I pray that we will be willing to
live dangerously, to live by faith, and risk what may need to be risked in order that we
may gain what you would have us to gain. In Jesus' name, amen.