Faith and Obedience

We are in our series of messages on the faith life. I used to teach a Tuesday evening discipleship class to a group of men in my home on a weekly basis and I kept stacks of Christian biographies on a table for the men to borrow and to read and to be inspired by men of faith. These books were the men of faith series published by Penguin Books years ago.

I believe they're out of print now but we had such men of faith as Borden of Yale who gave up his family's fortune to be a foreign missionary and he died in his 20s and Jim Elliott the young missionary who died as a martyr at the hands of the Akka Indians for his testimony of the gospel. Well one day I came home from work and all my books were gone. I asked my wife what happened to them and she said one of the men from my discipleship group knocked on the door and asked for all the books and he drove off with them.

That man stole all those books and never returned. I never saw those books or him again. I guess the life of faith made no impression on him but I hope this message today friends on faith makes a lasting impression upon you.

Last week I said that faith and hope go together like biscuits and gravy. This week I'll make the comment that faith and obedience go hand in hand and are inseparable like water and life. You can go a week or two without food but you cannot go more than three or five days without water.

Water is essential and necessary for life and in the same way friends you can't make it long on just faith alone because faith for to have life must be backed up by obedience. I can promise you this friend that if you're trying to live the life of faith and you're trusting God to fulfill his word in your life and you were living in disobedience to him you will get nowhere and I mean nowhere. My Bible says in 1st Samuel to obey is better than sacrifice.

When sin is dominant Christ isn't prominent. Faith must be backed up by obedience. In Amos 3 3 it declares can two walk together except they be accreed.

Can they? Can you have a close intimate walk with God and live in disobedience to him? I don't believe you can. In Hebrews it speaks of Enoch walking with God and being translated to glory and his testimony was that he pleased God and when we study men of faith we find that they are men totally surrendered to God in a walk of obedience to him. Abraham would not have been a man of faith had he not obeyed God and backed up his faith with obedience.

The title of my message today friends is faith and obedience and my text can be found in the book of Hebrews. You can turn in your Bibles there now friends. We will be in chapter 11.

I want us to look at two men of faith here in this remarkable passage of Scripture found in verses 7 and 8. Here now is the Word of God and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of his holy word. By faith Noah. I will pause here.

Notice our text declares that what motivated Noah was his faith for it was by faith Noah built the ark. His faith motivated him but what moved him to action this was obedience to God. Listen to the rest of our verse being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear.

Let me pause here again friends. We see that it was in obedience to God Almighty that Noah was a man of faith. God instructed him to build an ark because God was going to destroy mankind save Noah and his family and he believed God by faith and he obeyed God as he moved with fear.

In Genesis chapter 7 and verses 4 & 5 it reads for yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. Now listen to the next verse friends. And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.

Here we see Noah's faith going hand-in-hand with his obedience unto God. Every hammer stroke as he built that ark had a resounding echo through the woods and across the plains that faith and obedience go hand-in-hand. Let us continue with our text from Hebrews.

Prepared an ark to the saving of his house by the witch he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. It was through Noah's obedience to God that he became an heir of righteousness and a man of faith. As Noah was preparing that ark it was if his eye his eye of faith could see the storm clouds gathering on the horizon and he moved quickly with fear lest he drowned with the world as well.

His faith was backed up by obedience. Now let us peer into another man of faith as seen in Hebrews 11 and verse 8. By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should receive after foreign inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went. Notice friends that it was Abraham's faith that motivated him and that he went out trusting God not knowing where he went but his faith was backed up by obedience because the text says that he obeyed.

Abraham is known for his obedience to God and his great faith in God. His faith went hand-in-hand with his obedience unto God and this is the fork in the road friends where many stumble. They stumble because they have the faith but they lack the obedience through a life of surrender.

God will not honor a disobedient faith. You can't trust God to fulfill his promises to you if you are living in disobedience to him as faith and hope are united so faith and obedience is united as well. Let's look at how Abraham united faith with obedience as seen in Genesis 22 and verses 2 and 3. And he said take now thy son not only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

And Abraham rose up early in the morning and settled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and claimed the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went on to the place of which God had told him. And then friends we see how Abraham's faith in God was backed up by his obedience to God in Genesis 22 9 through 12. Listen to this.

And they came to the place which God had told him of and Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son and the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said here am I and he said lay not thy hand upon the lad and neither do thou anything unto him for now I know that thou fearest God and seeing thou hast not withheld thy son thine only son from me. Now listen to the comments of the Bible commentator Matthew Henry as he expounds on Abraham's faith and obedience.

With a fixed heart and a eye lifted up to heaven he takes the knife and stretches out his hand. Be astonished oh heavens at this and wonder oh earth here is an act of faith and obedience which deserves to be a spectacle to God angels and men. Here we see friends the obedience of faith as seen in the life of Abraham for faith and obedience are inseparable and as necessary as water is to life.

May God grant us the grace of sanctification of holiness in our lives as we serve him by faith backed up with obedience to the King of Kings our Lord Jesus Christ and as the ram was sacrificed instead of Isaac, Christ was sacrificed in our stead as our sin substitute. Oh great God hear my prayer and increase our faith and increase our obedience to thee and thy will for our lives. I pray this in the strong name of thy dear son the Lord Jesus Christ amen