Study 4 - Walking As He Walked, By Faith Not By Sight
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SUMMARY: Discover what it means to walk as Jesus walked in this faith-filled study on living by faith, not by sight. Explore biblical insights on obedience, humility, and dependence on God, learning how a Christ-centered life reflects His love, guides others, and produces lasting spiritual growth.
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPTION: Okay. We thank the Lord for his blessings so far. Um, let's resume with our fourth session. Walking as the Lord Jesus walked. And walking by faith, not by sight. Um, three portions of Scripture reading. The first one is from First John chapter two and starting from verse six. First John chapter two, starting from verse six. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write to you which thing is true In him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling or stumbling in him. The second is from the book of Habakkuk, Old Testament. In chapter two. Verse one through verse four. Habakkuk two, verse one through verse four. I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I am corrected. Then the Lord answered me and said, write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it? For the vision is yet for an appointed time. But at the end it will speak. And it will not lie, though it tarries. Wait for it. Because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. And then lastly, from the book of Hebrews chapter eleven, verses one through three. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, By faith the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. May the Lord give blessings. I would, uh, thinking of this expression in verse six of our text. He who says he abides in him ought himself to walk just as he walked. As we consider, uh, that expression to walk as he walked, I was thinking of my mind went to, um, dust. The Gospel of John, chapter one. And we find in the Gospel of John chapter one. Uh, that very well known verse in verse twenty nine that says, um, the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, saying, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then John begins to describe the Lord Jesus and. And he said he was him who. I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and, and, and remain upon him. And that connects us to what we had last time in the last session. Uh, and then we find in verse thirty five, uh, again the next day, John stands there with his two disciples and looking at Jesus as he walked, looking at Jesus as he walked, seeing him, him, uh, as he's walking, and John beholds him, and you know it. You get the impression as you read this, that the day before John says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But now he's not looking at the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But he's looking at the Lord Jesus in all of his beauty and all of his glory as the Lamb. And he sees him not so much as the one who takes away the sin of the world, but as the one who captivates the heart. And when he looks at him and sees him, he and it really sees. Seems like he's saying this to himself behold the Lamb of the. Behold the Lamb. Just take a look. Just look intently. Gaze upon him as he walks. And this would speak to perhaps his moral features. It would speak to him as, uh, what he was here for the glory of God. And John is seeing this, and John is occupied with this as he walked. And I would suggest that what I can learn from this is that to behold the features of the Lord Jesus in all of his moral beauties. The Lord Jesus said in John chapter ten. Uh. Yeah. No clothes. Uh, I have power to lay down my life and I have power to take it up again. This I receive from my father and. And then it the. And it says, for this reason the father that love me. For this reason the father doth love me. Uh. About seven times in the Gospel of John we read. The father loves the son. The father loves the son. And in that expression, uh, for this reason, the father that loved me. It's because of his moral features, his moral obedience, his what he was as a man. Here, the son of man here in this scene. Well, here in this text we see as a man walking. And I would suggest to us that, uh, if we want these other things to be true in our life, to walk in the light, to walk in love, to, to walk in wisdom, uh, which we didn't really cover too much, but, but, and, and then to walk in the spirit, uh, it's by beholding the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb. It's by beholding him and who he is. Not only what he's done, But who he is because he's worthy of our worship, not because of only what he did, but he's worthy of our worship because of who he is. We we should understand that whatever it is that we know and believe that we know when it comes to the Lord Jesus, there is infinitely more. There is infinitely more. And when we hear John's expression, it says, the two that were listening to him, they went to follow Jesus. So I can practically ask myself, is my appreciation of the Lord helping to point others to him? We mentioned. you mentioned twice already. Between last night and today. Enoch Noah was also mentioned earlier today as well. But in respect to Enoch, it says that he had lived sixty five years and then he begat Methuselah. And after the sixty five years, it says that he walked with God. He walked with God three hundred years. And that's always made me stop and think. What was it about the birth of Methuselah that caused this to probably change his experience? And I thought to myself, Methuselah, for as long as Enoch was in his life, saw his father walking with God. He saw his father walking with God. And it is a challenge for us who have children as parents to make sure that our children see us walking with God. Our children have an example of what it means to walk with God. You know, when you get a group of young people by themselves and you just kind of stand back as a bystander, you'll begin to hear all kinds of things about everything that's happening at home, all kinds of things. Let's be certain to make sure that it's the good things that we say that will point them to the Lord Jesus Christ. This verse that we have before us, it says, as he walked, we are also to walk. How did how did the Lord Jesus walk when he was here? I think the one. The primary characteristic of his walk was that of dependence. He said, I do always those things that please the father dependent upon him. Pleasing God. Not trusting him. I won't say, trusting himself, that that would be going too far, I would say. But for us it means not trusting ourselves, not not thinking, oh, I got this. I can do this. But being dependent upon the Lord, having confidence in him, in his strength, walking in him, not by myself, not trying to do things on my own. We need to be dependent upon the Lord, just as we would say the Lord was dependent upon His Father. You know, just to go back for a moment to Enoch, it that's a beautiful example of what Paul set before us at this point, not Paul. Um, what our brother set before us with Enoch, because Enoch is only mentioned in seven verses in Scripture. Seven and yet in those seven, we have a lifetime. In those. Seven we have. Uh, in the book of Genesis, Enoch walked with God. That walk, we're told in the book of Hebrews chapter eleven pleased God because it was a walk by faith. We'll talk about that in a moment. About by faith. But it pleased God. We talked about the life of the Lord Jesus, how he always came to do the will of him who sent him. He pleased God. Then in the book of Jude we find that Enoch was a preacher of righteousness, and his life was a preaching sermon, but he also verbally preached righteousness. In the day in which he lived. And so it's interesting to me to see the order. The order is not that he preached righteousness. And then he walked with God, and then he pleased God. Nor is it that his preaching pleased God, and so he walked with God. No. It begins, he walked with God. That walk pleased God, and consequently God could use him. And God did indeed use him. And so I think that that is so important. And, uh, when I think of Enoch and I think of the life of the Lord Jesus, there's a verse in Micah and we all know this verse. I'm sure we've sung it, at least if we haven't memorized it. And Micah six eight, it says, he has shown you. Oh man, what is good and what the Lord does? And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? That's the key. And that's the key we see in Enoch, no doubt. And that's the key we see, of course, in the life of the Lord Jesus. He humbled himself. He considered it not robbery to be equal with God. He made himself of no reputation. And you know, when we think about this, if we want a walk with the Lord, it's not by putting ourselves forward. It's about realizing that God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And this is what he desires. This is what a walk with God looks like. And one last little thought from Amos chapter three. We have a verse there in verse three that says, how can two walk together unless they be agreed? Enoch could walk with God because he agreed with the not with the world that he lived in, but he agreed with God Himself. And he said, I'm going to be going swimming up against the current in the world that I live in, and I'm going to be a preacher of righteousness because I've walked with God. I know God's mind. I know God's heart because I've walked with God. And how beautiful is that? That Enoch is such a picture for us of the church as we're walking with God now, and we desire to walk with God. There's coming a day when we will be, not because God will take us home. And that's what happened to Enoch. And that's what Enoch is a picture of. But how beautiful to see in the life of the Lord Jesus, this one who was ever so dependent upon the father, walk as he walked. He. It says morning by morning he opens my ear in Isaiah fifty. Morning by morning the servant. He opens my ear that I might hear what he has to say to me, that I might be instructed as a learner, as a disciple. That word learner there means disciple. And so even the Lord Jesus, the perfect servant, was a learner at the at at, in the presence of his father. And how beautiful he set the example to walk even as he's walked. When we heard about Enoch that he pleased the Lord for few hundred years in his life, but we never read about him that he every time he do what he's got, every time the Lord Jesus Christ, from eternity to eternity had aimed to please God. And we can go to the works of the Lord with his disciple after he gathered with them at Jerusalem after resurrection from Luke twenty four, verse forty four, then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. I what few verses from Psalm one and Psalm sixteen, and someone will read these verses which the Holy Spirit chose this psalm for my own thinking. That too. But for us, the best example, the best example, the man of God. What? What is his concern? What is his thing is that he is God. Someone. He is the one who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. What is the result of this good example? He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruits and its season in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper. No one, no man, whatever his what ever his life as written in the Holy Bible can see this. Like this man. This is the man of God, the best example for every one of us. We all are called to look at his glory and to meditate in him and to be imitators to him. And also, I grow rapidly for the same thing at Psalm sixteen. Preserve me, O God, in you I put my trust in you. I put my trust in every situation and every difficulty in every season, in every day, in every moment of the day. Oh my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you. This is the best example for us, how the Lord Jesus Christ worked, why he. In this world we must follow his example, his best and lovely example. Brother Nabeel mentioned the two disciples on the way to Emmaus as they were walking with the Lord himself. One of the resources resources they have was. The Lord himself was walking with them, but also they have the Word of God opened before them. And here in this chapter, first John chapter two, just one verse before verse two, verses before verse four, we can see two things here. Two main resources for the believer that helps him to walk with the Lord. He who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments. So here we have his commandments. And then verse five, whoever keeps his word. So we have his commandments and his word and those different his commandments. We find that in the in the Word of God, but His word do we find it in our fellowship with him. Let me give you an example to explain this. When we go back to the book of Genesis chapter twenty four, a very well known account for all of us. When the servant asked Rebekah, he told her, give me to drink. And then she said, I will give you to drink that. That all what? He asked her water to drink. He didn't ask anything else. He had in his mind that his camels to be watered, but he didn't mention it to her. But when he said, give me water from your pitch. Genesis twenty four seventeen so she, Rebecca said, drink, my Lord. This is his commandments. Then she quickly led her pitcher down to her hand and gave him water, and when she had finished giving him water, she said, I will draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking. Where did. Rebecca knew that the servant want also to water his camels from. If I can say this picture here from the fellowship with this servant, as we fellowship with the Lord in his word, we can know not only his commandments, but also his words. Another example from life, I think Ironside mentioned it a mother in her house, inviting as many of the dear sisters here opened their houses, invited some people for dinner and the mother is is tired and she will tell her daughter, can you please prepare the table, put the plates on the table and the daughter will do that. Not only this, but she will clean something else or she will help the mother with something else. She didn't only do her commandments, but also her words, her desires. And as we walk in fellowship with the Lord and as we want to walk in his steps, we have his commandments. And not only that, but that will develop, develop in us also his desires, his words, what he what thinks that really, um, satisfy his heart? I have another idea to confirm what we said from Brother Haney. The difference between commandments and words we read in the book of Second Samuel, verse twenty three And David said with longing, oh, that someone would give me drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. He doesn't ask his hero, go! You are mighty men of me. Go and bring water for me. This is a commandment. But he just saying to himself, oh, he is longing for a water from the Bethlehem. But his hero here, him he is longing for. Without any commandments they went and. Crossed the. The Palestinian soldiers and bring water to David. This is the same thing. We can know his. What he wants from talking with him. Giving him our ears. Listen to him when we have a fellowship with his feeling, with his purposes. We can know his words. But when we leave the book which contained his words, we never can understand. What is his words? His words is written in his book, and also his commandment is written in his book. That's why we must attach to it. Were attached with the commandments to be obeyed for him and to be a source of blessing for all people. And with him we live. In Psalm thirty two. It says, I will guide you by my eye. And I think that comes from spending time with the Lord. We learn to respond to his desires without him expressing the words. And I think that's the point we're getting to here. It's knowing his heart and obeying his desires rather than his expressions. And this this distinction is made by the Lord Jesus in the upper room in John fourteen. Uh, just I'll just point it without too much comment in John fourteen where we read, uh, in verse twenty one, he who has my commandments and keeps them my commandments and keeps them. It is he who loves me. So if we want to walk as he walked here in this scene, it's obedience to the Word of God, to the commandments that we find. He goes on to say, who loves me will love will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. But then look at verse twenty three, And Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. And that's what Brother Han was making the distinction of. He will keep my word, not my commandments, but my word, and my father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him. It'll be a dwelling place for divine fellowship. That's what he said. It'll be a dwelling place for divine fellowship. When there's obedience to the, uh, to the direct commandments. And when there's the desire to please God. And I, I just want to bring pleasure to him. And I keep his word. That's the distinction that Brother Henning was making. As the story always struck me. What makes a person be drawn to see the walk of the Lord Jesus? And if we look from afar and. And we look at him and said, what kind of walk does this. And it always take me to the story of Zacchaeus in the book of Luke, chapter nineteen. It's on. And I was I was looking at it in the. See that what will draw you and me as in a practical way. When we look at the person of the Lord Jesus from afar. And I say, you know, looking at him, when I look at his story and see Zacchaeus ran, and to see Jesus, he climbed because he could not make it. But what can we look at the story and see? The Lord Jesus said to Zacchaeus, make haste and come down today. So when we look at it and see the way that the Lord have brought this man, man that does not know the Lord Jesus, if he have not give the attention to this person that draw his heart to the Lord and welcome him in his house. There's one verse that always struck me, that change that happened to this man and to this household, and the way that he have acted, the way that he have accepted not many things, but the Lord have shown compassion in love. And this is the same way that I should be walking that show the compassion and love. I was talking to a brother. The Christianity. It is not to be a separation or isolation were to be separated from sin, but in a way the Lord Jesus knew that texts collected and the judgment that was coming through through them, looking at him, coming into a house of a sinner, of a house, of a man, but this man that had been drawn to the Lord Jesus, he said to the Lord, and it says in the verse, Then Zacchaeus stood in verse eight, chapter nineteen, verse eight. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor. And if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. But the. Look at the beautiful word. Not many words that the Lord have said. And Jesus said to him today, Salvation has come to this house because he also is a son of Abraham. What I wanted to say, it is the practical aspect of my life that I have been drawn. Yes, walk as the Lord walk. This is actually is a commandment to a person that have been in being drawn to the Lord. Being accepted by faith. But it is to go further, to welcome others and to my life. To share Christ's life. Today, the salvation of you and me did not happen just because I learned the word, but because of what he have done in my life, in your life to welcome me, to draw me close to him by love, by compassion, by the way that he have done in my life. The change that happened in my life. Just happened. A couple verses from And John. I start with John four. Four. And in John chapter four, he left Judea and departed again until Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. And verse six, Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, said thus on the wind. And it was a six hour. Then cometh a woman of Samaria. What a wonderful walk! He walked all the way Until he gets tired, and he said on the. Well. But he was walking in purpose. He knew where he going. Who he is going to meet. What he is going to do. And the rest of the chapter is just the fruit, the marvelous fruit of this work of one walk. What? We do it. Would I do it when I know that there is someone who is in such a need? And I think if every one of us had that mind and that heart, we will find many. And going to Luke twenty four, another walk. Just to turn. Your Bible to three pages. And this and this magnificent chapter. We read those lovely verses here. In verse thirteen, and behold, two of them were on that same day to a village called Emmaus. They left the whole thing and they walked. They were walking. But as they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they communed together And the reason I noticed this here, Jesus himself. Jesus himself drew near and went with them. Another walk. Would we walk like him? What do we do? This work. We can actually observe him. How he walked. But here, it's not just to observe him. It's to realize. Understand what? The purpose. What was the purpose of the work that he walked. And may the Lord encourage us. There are many like these people who are troubled, who are in deep, uh, desire of someone to speak to them and someone to walk with them and someone to guide them, to help them. And the story as we know, and the wonderful and both of them, both of them started with two men and a woman who were in trouble. And both of them ended in marvelous joy for both of them. You know, Brother Zachariah, as you were speaking, I thought of Luke ten. I thought of, you know, the so-called Good Samaritan that is there. And the Levite passed by the sorry, the Pharisee passed by. Then the Levite passed by and they both walked to the other side. And sometimes when we see those in need, uh, it's we, we do that. We, we go to the other side. Um, there's sometimes I remember one time very distinctly, I was walking with one of my boys when he was very, very little and coming approaching us was somebody that, um, let's just say he caused me to go to the other side and, and I did, we walked across the street, I saw him coming from afar and I walked across the street and my little son said, daddy, do you think that man needs Jesus? He talk about out of the mouth of babes. And we walked back over and we talked to that man and he became. He was a very nice man and he was already a believer, but I didn't know that. But this here we have the the Pharisee, the religious man walks to the other side. The Levite, the man of service, walks to the other side. And here's the Samaritan, a man of mixed race. And he comes and he administers to the need of the man who was beaten. He ministers to that need and then takes him to the end and provides all the resources that he's going to need. And isn't that what we're to do? We're to walk as he walked. Isn't that what we're to do? We're to bring. We're to go out into all the world and then bring them in. And then as we bring them in. Into where? Well into salvation for sure. Into the kingdom. Absolutely. But where do we bring them? We bring them to the assembly. So here's the question. Is our n a place where we can bring maybe those that maybe not be. Exactly. You know, can I say it this way, brethren? Material. Are assemblies places that can nurture and help and strengthen and get them back on their feet? Or are we not that kind of an in. And what we find is and it's very challenging. It's challenging to my own heart. Uh, and when we do outreach work, we better be ready to change spiritual diapers. And it gets messy. It gets dirty. And so, but the Lord Jesus found people the way they were. And when they were, when he was, when he left them, they were different. And that's a challenge for us today as we think about walking as he walked in this scene. And for us, what does it take for us to be able to walk this way? We could look at all the things in the world, and we can find nine hundred reasons why we shouldn't do this or shouldn't do that. And what is the key ingredient that we're told? And one of the verses that we're to look at is in Habakkuk and in Habakkuk, uh, we read that verse in chapter two and the first four verses. Now Habakkuk, God was going to work or work, and Habakkuk couldn't understand the work that God was doing. And, and Habakkuk in chapter one, he's wondering what is going on, and he's worried and he's wondering, uh, wondering. And then in chapter two, we find that Habakkuk goes from this wondering and worrying to just telling himself, I'm going to watch and I'm going to wait. And by the time you get to chapter three, Habakkuk sees and understands the plan of God and he worships. But it's in this section where he's watching and waiting that the verses that we read, uh, appear. And I would say he says in verse one, um, I will set myself on the rampart and watch and see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I am corrected. And then we find, uh, just to drop down to verse four, behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him. But. But the just shall live by faith. And this expression we understand. We know that this expression, the just shall live by faith. It comes from this portion of Scripture, but it appears in the book of Romans. It appears in the book of Galatians, and it appears in the book of Hebrews and in the book of Romans. The emphasis is on the just, the righteous, how it is that one becomes righteous. And then we find that's in Romans chapter one, verse seventeen. Then we find in the book of Galatians, in chapter three we find the just shall live how it is that we live by faith. But the emphasis is on this life that we're to live. We already talked about the spirit of life and. And so this life that we're to live. And then in the book of Hebrews, the just shall live by faith. And the brethren have it on their minds to look at that verse. And I'll let other brethren get us there. But but just to mention it, that the just Romans, the righteous shall live. Galatians by faith. Three seventeen yes, and and by faith. And that's in Hebrews chapter eleven in verse two or three. And so when we look at these three places, it tells us how are we going to walk like him? How can we do that? It's by faith. It's first. You can't walk by faith if you're not a believer. Let's be clear. That's why it says the just how it is that you can be made righteous. It's through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power unto salvation, first to the Jew, then to the Gentile, and then next he says, the just shall live by faith. And then in Galatians, it's not by law, but it's by living out what we've been talking about today. And then it's by faith. And that's the key that unlocks this life to live as he walked. So beautiful really to get that data for our walk with Christ Himself. So looking, looking to the Lord Jesus as he walked, he walked by faith. And it's so beautiful to contemplate in his life as. As we look into John six and we see him walking. Walking on the sea. While it's. While winds blowing, walking. And. In this circumstances he walked on the sea. Though all the world around him or around us. Blowing the wind here and there. The news around us. It's really disturbing and confusing. But during his walk he is in control, looking to him, in control in this circumstances. While the boat is up and down On. Everything is like not steady at all. Looking to the Lord doing this. And this is our data. This is our privilege that we can live the life that. Looking into the Lord Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Just want to mention another aspect of walking by faith, not by sight. In second Corinthians five seven. Second Corinthians five, verse seven. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We. We spoke about walking by faith, not by sight, in the negative aspect of by sight. But here the context is very important. When we read the verse, we have to read it in its context. So the context here is not as much as I understand focusing on on the sight in a negative aspect, but he is contrasting that as we. For now we are walking by faith, but soon we will see. We will be with him. We will see him as in first John three two says that we will see him as He is. We are walking by faith now, yes, but soon will be by sight. He mentioned here in the context here that we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. The context here that we will be with him for eternity. We will see this wonderful Savior. We will see this wonderful Shepherd that we walked with him and he walked with us. And, you know, one of the things that we if I can say this will not happen. There is no regression in heaven. But one of the things we will regret it that. How many days. Let me talk about myself. How many days of my life? How many hours of my day that I did not walk with Christ? Let us put this before our eyes as we walk by faith that one day we will see this wonderful Savior and we will throw our crowns at his feet. But it was the time of serving him. The time of walking with him by faith will be over. Let us take the opportunity as we see the day, at the night at hand, and we walk with him more in our daily life, in our family life, in our assembly, life in our plans day by day to have it before us, to walk with him. You know, when you just that verse, the very next verse, uh, you, you jump from verse seven to verse ten and the verse right above verse ten, I think is the key, Uh. Verse nine therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him. That's the that's the walk we want. You know, if you here's a study for for anyone that wants to take it up. Go through the New Testament and see how many times this idea of pleasing him appears. It's a it's a challenge. I just give this one in Second Timothy chapter two. I think it's verse three where he says, uh, no one who's been enlisted as a soldier entangles himself in the warfare of this world. But what he does is he wants to please his commander in chief. That's the Tim Hatley paraphrase. But but the idea there is we want to please the one who enlisted us. And here he says, uh, the one who I by faith following. I want to please him. I want my life. It's not about. Ease. And it's not about, uh, the least amount of persecution. And it's not about always saying the easy things or doing the easy things. But it's living a life that pleases him. And that's really the challenge for us. We have that. Another illustration. On this idea that the just shall live by faith. When we think of Thomas, who is not there, when the Lord first appeared unto the disciples in that upper room, and Thomas, as we know his name is Didymus, there was obviously some sort of twin that went along with Thomas, and when we look at him, who do we see in our lives? If we were there at that point, and Thomas openly declared, unless I touch his hands and feel his side, would we say, yes, I agree with you. I need to see by the eyes, my eyes. For me to believe. But thank God for Thomas, who declared this weakness that we all have in our lives, that that blessed words could come forth. You know, blessed are those who believe and yet have not seen that we can know that we come together two or three together. He is here in the midst, and we know that we can see him by the eyes of faith. When we when we meet on the Lord's day, we know the Lord is there and we. When we're in our time at home with the Lord, we know we can. We can see him. What a blessed privilege that is and how important for us to be reminded that you know the. Just live by faith, not Not by sight. How deceived we can be by our our own eyes and our own ears. But to just be really abiding in in the Lord and the things of the Lord, and then let him reveal himself where perhaps we. Right could be like John the Baptist and say, behold, behold the Lamb of God. And we could say here in the midst of this assembly today, behold the Lord Jesus Christ. See how he speaks to us. See how he's moving us and where he would have us to be. Let us. Let us have eyes to see the Lord and him alone. I think that we can get more profit from. Return back to the book of Habakkuk and his prophecy and the. The application which used by the Holy Spirit through the writer of the Hebrew. And he changed the main idea. The main idea in Habakkuk is judgment. Soon will be judgement over the world of ungodly. But the Holy Spirit, when he quoted this prophecy in the book of Hebrews chapter ten, the last verse is we can go right away. He quotes this prophecy to encourage for Habakkuk. He threatened. He exhorted the people to turn back by repentance to the Lord, because the judgment will come. Sure. But in the book of Hebrews, uh, the. The apostle wrote this from verse thirty two, but recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with suffering. They are suffering people because of the name of the Lord. Partly while you were made a spectacle, spectacle, spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partially while you became companion of those who were so treated. Some of them suffer tribulation, and the other who were saved by the Lord from this tribulation. They have a fellowship in feeling, in sharing with them their difficulties. And this is a good thing for the Christians. For you had compassion on me in my chains and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have bitter and enduring possession for yourself as in heaven. Therefore, don't cast away your confidence which has great reward. It speaks about the reward which will receive. For you have need of endurance. They had before endurance when they faced troubles and persecution. But we need more endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise for yet a little while. And he who is coming will come and will not tarry. He does not speak about the judgment which you speak, uh, spoke about Habakkuk, but he speak about the lovely one, the Savior, which will come soon. He will not tarry, but until he come, the just shall live by faith. And we all of us are called to live by faith until his soon coming. So he goes on in the text in in chapter eleven. Keep in mind, the chapters weren't there in the original. So he's just moving right along. And he says, now. And now is a connecting word that connects us back to the where he came from. And so he says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. And just to stop there and, and maybe explain these three words that are mentioned here. I think it's important for us to consider it. Uh, the idea is not this does not give us a definition of what faith is. This gives us a definition of what faith does. And it's important to see that. And so he says, what does faith do? Number one, faith is the substance. This word substance means to to hold up underneath. And literally it's, it's like a foundation of a building that holds the building up. And what he's talking about is the Christian faith is, is on this foundation. Another translation says that that faith is the realization. It's the realization. It it's the reality of what's really going on in another translation says Faith is the assurance. And so all of these put all these words together that it's not that any of them are wrong. They're all good. But put them together and you see what what faith does faith, when we're trusting the Lord, lean not unto our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledging him? Faith gives us the realization, the assurance, it holds us up and we can build our life on that faith. Someone has said an acronym for Faith F a I t h. Forsaking all, I trust him. It's a beautiful definition of what faith does. I, I forsake everything else and I'm going to trust him. I have the assurance to depend upon him. No matter what happens in my life. I can depend upon him like Brother Nabilx said. These people were going through difficulties four or five times. It says that they're enduring. They're under the pressure of. Is what that word enduring means. And so it says. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the the realization, the assurance of what's ahead. Faith depends upon that. Then secondly, he says, for us, hope for the evidence. Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen. This word evidence could be translated confidence. And that's the idea of of having confidence. Or another translation says conviction. So I have this conviction that God is able. Like those Hebrew boys, God is able. And even if he isn't, we're not bowing down to you. Even if he doesn't deliver us. He's always able, even if he doesn't deliver us. We're not going to bow down. Conviction that I will not defile myself with the King's table. Conviction. And this is what this idea of evidence is, is that when I weigh all the evidence, God is greater than my circumstances. Right? Uh, I remember Grant Steidle once. He was talking to his sister and he asked her, he says, well, how are you doing? And she says, well, I'm okay under the circumstances. He says, what in the world are you doing under there? You see, faith doesn't allow ourselves to get under the circumstances. Faith is a conviction that no matter what my circumstances are, they're still they might be over my head, but they're still under his feet. And so I'm going to trust him no matter what. And so then he says the last word substance can evidence. And then the last word, the. It's the evidence of things not seen for by it. Explanatory word. Now this word for means that he's going to explain verse one and verse one. He told us about substance and evidence. Now he's going to explain it and say, for by it the elders obtain a good testimony. This word, a good testimony, has the idea of a good witness. It means to obtain a good report. It occurs several times in this chapter alone, and it has this idea of a good report and who it is that has given this good report. It's God through the spirit giving this good report. And isn't that what we want to hear? We want to live our life in such a way that our master says to us, well done, good and faithful servant. That there's a good report. And so these three words come directly out of what Brother Nabeel brought before us about what these saints were facing. And he says, then he goes in and I think it's nineteen or twenty times. He says, by faith, by faith, by faith, over and over again he's given us examples. Uh, you know, verse one and two are the statement, that's the statement, verse one and two. And then the rest of the chapter is the illustration by faith, by faith, by faith. And I've often challenged myself, I wonder if he was writing chapter eleven, part two? Would my name be here? That's a challenge. Just following up on that thought of faith. Um. Walking as Jesus walks. The idea of following. Um, haven't talked much about that, but, um, the Lord Jesus said so many times in the gospel to individuals specifically follow me. And so when we follow him, he is in front of us. We could see him. We could see how he walked. We can walk as he walked. And, um, faith needs an object in front. All right. And so we've been talking about faith here. And if we turn to the very beginning of chapter twelve, Hebrews, we have that now looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And to have that, um, that picture in front of us, the Lord Jesus himself ahead in front and follow that we can walk as he walked. This also reminds us with the Lord Jesus. With the Lord Jesus Himself. The, uh, John thirteen wrote about him. Uh, I would like to read it now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. So the Lord Jesus himself was living this faithful life, that though he knew the hard circumstances that coming, and he knew that there is a cross waiting him with all what he will suffer there on the cross. But he looked by faith to the departure of him to the father. And this gives him the power to express his love to his own disciple. What a life, the life that looking to the end, looking to the reward. Looking to the. Going to his father that he can, uh, go there and stand after we after this we we see. And the supper being ended. Let's read from verse three. Jesus, knowing that the father has given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to. God rose from the supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel, and guarded himself. After that he poured the water into a basin, and he began to wash the disciples feet. See how the life of the faith can change everything can humble. The heart Can help us to express the love. Beautiful life. What a datum of life. We need to live. We thank the Lord for all the precious thoughts he has given us. I think it was touched on a little bit, but I'll probably echo it again. What happened to the heavens on the Lord Jesus when. They opened up. We talked about how our walk could be a light to others. We talked about how our walk could reflect the love one to another. But specifically in this session walk as he walked. There's only one thing. There's only one thing that brings pleasure to the father's heart. Behold my servant. And when he looks, he says, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Is our walk bringing pleasure to the father?
