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For those of you who are visiting with us tonight, we welcome you. We should forewarn

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you that beginning this evening, during this month of August, we're going to be doing

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some different things in our evening service, the purpose of which will be to see if we

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can find a way to make our worship together more meaningful and stimulating to our spirits.

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We've come to the conviction that real worship arises out of the heart after the Word has

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done a work in us. How many times have we come to church and God has said something,

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perhaps He's convicted us or He has encouraged us? There are some responses that we sense

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within that we would like to give. We have the invitation and we dismiss and somehow

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what God has been saying during that service is diminished. And so we are going to be working

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with the components of a worship service. And by doing this and rearranging it somewhat,

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we are trusting that God will help us to be able to worship more meaningfully together.

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And to that end, we're going to turn tonight right to the Word of God. Would you take your

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Bible please and turn with me to Mark chapter 11. We're going to talk this evening on how

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to live dangerously. I can hear some husbands say, well, he means being married to my wife.

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Well, that's not my topic tonight. I'm not trying to find a job in this economy. How

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to live dangerously? The answer to that is to live by faith. In Mark chapter 11 verse

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12, and on the next day when they had departed from Bethany, Jesus became hungry and seeing

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at a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find something on

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it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for

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figs. And he answered and said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And

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his disciples were listening. Now let's skip down to verse 20. And as they were passing

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by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. And being reminded, Peter

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said to him, Rabbi, behold the fig tree which you cursed has withered. Jesus answered saying

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to them, have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken

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up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says

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is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which

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you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you. Let's

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bow together in prayer. Our heavenly Father, we thank you for the

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solid rock that we have in Jesus Christ, in his blood that was shed for us, in his righteousness

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that is imputed to us when we believe on him. Thank you for this foundation to life, for

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other foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. We thank

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you that this foundation stands through the storms of life. Our prayer is that we may

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be able to build upon this foundation such a structure in our lives that when we come

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to the judgment seat, it will pass your scrutiny and we may hear the words, well done, good

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and faithful servant. May we be full of faith, stimulate our hearts tonight as we think about

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this matter of living by faith. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

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I believe that every Christian wants down in his heart to be a giant of faith. I believe

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that's true of every Christian who's here tonight. Down within the spirit of each of

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us, there is a desire to be a giant in this matter of believing and trusting God. Why

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then, if that is the desire of all of us, why then isn't it so? The answer in part may

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be that in this, that living by faith involves danger and jeopardy. Most of us would prefer

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to live in safety and self-preservation. We're too often content to talk about faith, to

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read books about it, to listen to sermons on the subject and even to pray for more faith,

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but we are reluctant to experience the reality of learning to live by faith. What is faith

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anyway? How would we define it? Well, one definition as it relates to the Christian

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life might be this, it is doing what God commands, depending upon his promises, even though I

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cannot see the outcome. It's doing what God commands, depending upon his promises, even

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though I cannot see the outcome. That is an action definition. Vance Havner has made this

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statement regarding faith. Faith is more like a verb than a noun. Faith accepts the Word

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of God, affirms confidence in that Word, and acts upon it. You never really get going until

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you act upon what you accept and affirm. Then you are faithing your way along. The faith

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that does not act. Is it really faith? James says faith without works is a dead kind of

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faith. I believe that God is challenging every one of us tonight to some new step of faith.

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It may be in the area of obedience regarding our giving. It may be committing a wayward

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child to the Lord instead of worrying about it. It may be trusting God with that marriage

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that seems to be in difficulty. It may be looking to the Lord to supply the next meal

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this week because of a lack of finances. I don't know what realm God is challenging

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you in, but I believe with all of my heart that God wants each of us to take another

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step of faith. Hebrews 11.1 says, a faith is the substance of things hoped for, the

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evidence of things not seen. A few verses later it goes on to say that without faith

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it is impossible to please God. If we start to think about that, that can be alarming.

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It is impossible to please God in the way that I live if I am failing to believe Him

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and to trust Him. That is how important faith is. If I want to hear His well done, then

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I must be able to meet the qualifications of the rest of that statement which says,

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well done thou good and what? Faithful, full of faith servant. Living by faith means to

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live dangerously because living by faith involves risks. I would like to suggest four of them

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tonight. Did you receive an outline as you came in this evening? Some of you did and

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some of you didn't. If you don't have one, maybe the ushers can grab some back there.

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Do we have any left? We ran out of them. We will print more next week. There are four

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risks. The outline is not difficult. If you have two to a family, you may want to share

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some. I see some of you doing that and I appreciate it. The first risk that comes in living by

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faith is the risk of reputation. How we prize what other people think of us. Our ears wait

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eagerly to hear words of praise drop from the lips of others. How much more so should

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we wait to hear words of commendation from God? We will only hear those words as we learn

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to risk even our reputation. You see, faith is willing to take a public position which

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risks reputation. There is an interesting illustration of that that is told from the

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life of Hudson Taylor. On one occasion when Taylor, the famous missionary to China, first

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went to that land, he was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of some cannibal islands,

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the ship becalmed and it was slowly drifting ashore. They were unable to go about. The

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savages were on the shore eagerly awaiting their feast. The captain came to Hudson Taylor

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and besought him to pray for the help of God. Taylor responded, I will, provided you set

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your sails to catch the breeze. The captain declined to make himself a laughing stock

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by unfurling in a dead calm. Taylor said, I will not undertake to pray for the vessel

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unless you prepare the sails. And shortly it was done. While engaged in prayer there

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was a knock at the door of his room. Who is there? The captain's voice responded,

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Are you still praying for wind? Yes, said Taylor. Well, said the captain, you better

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stop praying for we have more wind than we can manage. And sure enough, just a hundred

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yards from shore, the cannibals were cheated out of their human prey. If we are going to

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trust God, it may involve risking our reputation, being willing to take a stand before other

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people that puts our reputation in their eyes on the line. I see that somewhat in the text

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that we have before us tonight when Jesus spoke to the tree and said to the tree, Be

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withered. No one is going to eat of you from this day onward. Now let's suppose that nothing

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ever happened to that tree. Was this not a public risk? Well, we don't think of that

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too often in terms of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet there may be an application there,

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something that we can learn. For his speaking to the tree involved faith on his part that

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his word would be carried out, and it was. We see this illustrated perhaps on the more

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human level back in 2 Kings 2. Would you turn there with me? 2 Kings 2 recorded for us here

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is the departure of Elijah the prophet for heaven. He went in a very unique way, didn't

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he? He went up in a whirlwind accompanied by chariots and horses of fire. We're going

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to begin reading here in chapter 2 and verse 7 where it says, Now fifty men of the sons

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of the prophets went and stood opposite them, that is Elijah and Elisha who accompanied

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him. And while the two of them stood by the Jordan, and Elijah took his mantle and folded

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together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there so that the two of

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them crossed over on dry ground. And who did that? Elijah did. He took the mantle that

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he wore, folded it and struck the waters, and the waters parted. We would expect that

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from Elijah. He was a great man of faith, amazing miracles accomplished at his hand.

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Now came about when they had crossed over that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall

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do for you before I am taken from you. Elisha said, Please let a double portion of your

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spirit be upon me. And he said, You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me

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when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you. But if not, it shall not be so. And it

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came about as they were going along and talking, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire

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and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind

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to heaven. And Elisha saw it and cried out, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel

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and its horsemen. And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore

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them in two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned

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and stood by the bank of the Jordan. They've got to get the picture. There are fifty sons

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of the prophets. These are seminary students. Seminary students are a peculiar kind. They

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stood there on the opposite shore at a distance and they had watched. The two men had come

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to the river. Elijah had taken that mantle, had smote the waters, they had parted. The

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two of them went across on dry ground. There's no evidence here that they failed to see what

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else had taken place. Whether they did or they didn't, at least they saw Elisha coming

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back by himself. And he had this mantle of Elijah and he stands beside the water. How

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is Elisha going to get across now? Well, I can see these seminary students getting to

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poke one another and saying, Well, let's see what's going to happen. It says in verse

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14, And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said,

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Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Now, let's just suppose for a moment that when

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he had splattered the water, the water splashed in his face and kept rolling. What would his

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reputation as a prophet have been worth to those seminary students? You see in the action

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that he took here and in what he said in calling upon the Lord God of Elijah, he risked something.

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What was his reputation as the successor to Elijah? No one would believe that he was the

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appointed successor, which he was, if the waters failed to part. Nonetheless, by faith,

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Elisha smote the waters and the record says, And when he had struck the waters, they were

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divided here and there and Elisha crossed over. Now, when the sons of the prophets who

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were at Jericho opposite him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.

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You see, he risked his reputation. He trusted God. Perhaps another outstanding Old Testament

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example and one that's a little more familiar would be Noah. Put yourself in Noah's sandals

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for a moment. God says to Noah, build an ark. A what? An ark and here's how you do it.

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And he gave him the orders, how it was to be done and so on. And so he started to work

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out here in the middle of dry land. And the other citizens who lived around him begin

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to pass by and say, Hey, Noah, you building the house? No, I'm building a boat. Oh, a

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boat. What are you going to do with the boat? God's going to send a flood. Judgment is coming.

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Oh, I see. Can you imagine that conversation going on day after day, becoming more exaggerated

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as time goes by, as the boat gets larger. And yet every day Noah and his sons faithfully

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went out and obeyed God and built the ship. What do you think their reputation was worth

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as they finished, neared the finishing of the ark? Well, they were probably candidates

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for the asylum back in those days, as far as the people were concerned. A flood, a boat

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out here, the guy has flipped. But what do you think his reputation was worth when the

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rain started to fall? You see, by faith, he obeyed God. He prepared the ark under the

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saving of his house, Hebrews 11 says. And in so doing, he condemned the world. He was

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willing to risk his reputation. Now folks, though faith calls upon us to risk our reputation

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at times, what we gain from it is character. And character is far more important than reputation.

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God is more concerned about our character than our reputation, and so ought we to be.

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When we live by faith, it involves, secondly, a risk of resources. I suppose there are a

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few things closer to the average 20th century Christian than his money. We cannot trust

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in our money and trust in God at the same time. Sometimes faith involves risking our

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resources. I believe it was so with Abraham. God's call came to Abraham while he was in

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Ur of Chaldees. God said, get out of here to the land that I will show you. And so Abraham,

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in obedience, by faith, gathered together his things that he had and took off through

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the Fertile Crescent in obedience, heading for that land that God would show him. He

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risked everything. He was leaving behind whatever vocation he had there, the establishment of

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his vocation. He was leaving behind most of his family. He was leaving behind his resources,

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risking them, and by faith obeying God. Isn't this the same thing that Moses did? I think

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so. If you'll turn with me to Hebrews 11, we have these words testifying to Moses' attitude

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of faith. In verse 24 of Hebrews 11, the Reader's Digest version of Moses' life goes like this.

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By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

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It is very difficult for you and me sitting here in 1982 in a democracy, being most of

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us middle class people, to understand what it meant to refuse to be called the son of

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Pharaoh's daughter. It was a position of unbelievable power and wealth. By faith, Moses refused,

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choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing

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pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures

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of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. Moses obeyed God by faith. In so doing, he

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risked the resources that were naturally available to him. He put them on the line, was willing

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to give them up, and indeed did, in order that he might gain something far more important

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than treasures on earth. He was looking for eternal reward. Dear people, even though living

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by faith may call upon us to risk our resources, what we gain by living by faith is eternal

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reward, and that is far more important. When we live by faith, it involves risking things,

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risking our reputation, risking our resources. Number three, it involves at times the risk

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of reason. Faith does not contradict reason. Faith surpasses reason. Because you see, our

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ability to reason things out is a part of our soul-ish being. We are body, soul, and

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spirit. That part of us that relates to God is the spirit. Our soul relates to our environment.

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Our ability to rationalize, to think, to reason, to conclude, to decide—that part of us is

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the soul part. Faith involves a higher dimension. It involves the spiritual part of us, that

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innermost part that relates to God. Faith does not contradict reason. It simply acts

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on a higher plane. There are times when God may say something to us which seems unreasonable.

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But when we trust God, we find blessing. There is an example, an outstanding example in the

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Word of God of that very thing. There was a day when God came to Abraham and said to

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him, Abraham, go yonder on that mountain and offer up your only son, Isaac. There is nothing

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that would seem more unreasonable to Abraham than that. After all, had not God said that

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his promises would come to Abraham through Isaac? He was the anointed, appointed heir.

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Isn't it illogical then to offer him as a sacrifice? Does that seem like God to say,

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kill your son? It seems like the most unreasonable thing in the world for Abraham to do. But

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by faith, he offered up Isaac in a parable or in a type, says Hebrews 11. And how did

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he do that? Abraham concluded that though it had never happened before, in some means

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God would resurrect his son. Abraham knew what God had said to him regarding the promises

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that they had to come through Isaac. By faith, he trusted that if God told him to slay his

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son, that by some means God would also raise him up from the dead so that he could then

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fulfill his promises. You see what I'm saying when sometimes faith involves risking reason?

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Would this not be true of Gideon? The Midianites came into the land. They were like a horde

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of grasshoppers. Horde isn't the word I want. Plague of grasshoppers. There we go. Like

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Locus, they came in and they stole the crops. They plundered the land and God raised up

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a judge or a military leader. And Gideon, Gideon got together an army. 32,000 people

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responded who were willing to fight against 135,000 Midianites. The odds were 10 to 1

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against the Israelites. God said to Gideon, I'm sorry, your army is too big. Lord, would

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you repeat that please? Too many people in your army, they may say that they by their

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own power delivered themselves. Tell those who are afraid to go home. So Gideon did.

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Two out of every three went back home. He was left with 10,000 to fight against 135,000.

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So God said, too many people Gideon, you have to narrow this down some more. What an illogical

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thing that was. Wasn't it unreasonable to think that even 10,000 could fight against

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135,000? And now God says reduce the army. So they passed, they went through another

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test. And God narrowed it down to how many? Let's write 300. Just 300 men against 135,000.

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And God gave them the victory. You see faith acted on a higher level than logic and a great

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victory resulted. Living by faith risks reason, but it gains results. There's another illustration

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I'd like to share with you involving George Mueller. This story is told by the captain

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of a ship who was traveling with Mueller. Mueller, as you may know, was a man that believed

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God for, it is said, over a million pounds, English pounds, during his lifetime without

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ever advertising for the need. Here's what the captain of that ship relates in a written

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word. We had George Mueller of Bristol on board, said the captain. I had been on the

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bridge for 24 hours and never left it. And George Mueller came to me and said, Captain,

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I've come to tell you I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon. It's impossible, I

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said. Then very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I've

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never broken an engagement in 57 years. Let us go down to the chart room and pray. I looked

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at the man of God and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum can that man have come from?

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For I never heard of such a thing as this. Mr. Mueller, I said, do you know how dense

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this fog is? Noy replied, my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living

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God who controls every circumstance of my life. He knelt down and prayed one of the

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most simple prayers. When he had finished, I was going to pray, but he put his hand on

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my shoulder and told me not to pray. As you do not believe, he will answer, and as I believe

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he has, there's no need whatever for you to pray about it, he said. I looked at him

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and George Mueller said, Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 years. There's never been

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a single day when I failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the

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door for you will find the fog is gone. I got up and indeed the fog was gone, and on

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that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement. Sometimes faith risks

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reason. It's unreasonable to think that a fog would lift, isn't it? Finally, living

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by faith involves risking rebuke. You see worldly people, even worldly Christians, disapprove

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of faith. Why is that? Because faith condemns the failure of the worldly. When one dares

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to live by faith, he risks the rebuke of the worldly minded. Perhaps we have an illustration

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of this in Abel. When by faith and in obedience Abel offered the proper sacrifice to God,

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and God accepted his sacrifice, Cain, his brother, offered his prepared sacrifice, which

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was not pleasing to God, God refused his offering. Cain was furious. His fury was directed against

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God and it was directed against his brother. It says in Genesis chapter 4 that he talked

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to him, that is, Cain talked to Abel. That is a very general word for talk. It can mean

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challenged. It can mean he told off, and I think that is the emphasis there, that Abel

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told off his brother, or rather Cain told off his brother Abel. Because it goes right

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on to say in the very verse that when he was in the field, Cain killed him. When one lives

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by faith, he risks the rebuke of the worldly minded. Was this not the risk that Bartimaeus,

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the blind man, took when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by and he cried out,

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Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me. And people around said, Bartimaeus, please be

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quiet, Jesus is too busy. Shh, you are embarrassing everybody. They rebuked him. Nonetheless,

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he cried out and cried out and then Jesus heard him and said, what do you want? And

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he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And he said, receive your sight. Your faith

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has made you well. You see, he risked rebuke and God honored his faith. Faith risks rebuke,

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but it gains God's pleasure. Indeed, living by faith requires risk. But one thing is never

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risked when we trust God, and that is failure. Living by faith gains us character, eternal

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reward, results, and the pleasure of God. And dear child of God, you and I can trust

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God because he is faithful. God is not arbitrary. He is not capricious. He is not given to notions

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and whims. He is steadfast. He is unchanging. He is dependable. And whatever circumstances

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enter our lives, he is always working for your good and my good because we are his children

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by faith in Christ. As someone has said, we may not always be able to trace the hand of

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God, but we can always trust it. And now, Father, I pray that we will be willing to

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live dangerously, to live by faith, and risk what may need to be risked in order that we

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may gain what you would have us to gain. In Jesus' name, amen.