According To Faith Not Reason

Lord, grateful for today. Thank you that we can be here together. This is a day that you've made. We rejoice and we're glad in it. We trust you in Jesus' name. Amen. Dan shared a good word. Some of the very things that the Lord put on my heart from this morning. A lot of times we go to the things that we can see because that makes the most sense. You know, my uncle, he was a logical man. I have this one uncle. He would say things like, if it makes good sense, then don't seek any other sense. That's totally contrary to faith. Totally opposite to faith. Because faith doesn't make sense. It never makes sense. And if we go by what makes sense, then we'll be governed by our own reason and we'll be no different than the Jehovah Witnesses. Because it says, they have this little book. I have it upstairs. If you want to reason with the Jehovah Witnesses, they also have a book by which they reason with us. It's called Reasoning from the Scriptures. And so they take scriptures and they reason through them. We're not to reason through the scriptures. We're to believe on them. Simple, childlike faith to believe on the scriptures, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To he who believes, it says he is precious. But to those who are unbelieving, what happens is the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. But to those who reject that word, a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. They stumble, they're offended at the word of God because they don't believe. So you're never going to win someone over through reasoning. You might try to grind it out with them. You might try to convince them. You might think that you're winning an argument or you can really get to the bottom of it. But unless God opens the understanding through faith, unless faith is birthed in them, you're just creating proselytes. You're just making clones after human reason. But we are not born of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed through faith in the living word of God. Not the Rhema word, not the Logos word, but the Rhema word of God, the living word of God, the written word. It's a good word. It's a true word. We can go all the way from Genesis to the end of Malachi. We can say the Israel that now is, which is in bondage with their children, they would hold zealously to that portion of the written word of God. But it has not produced in them the righteousness of faith. Because when Christ was presented to them, many of them became angry. They became exceedingly angry about Jesus as the Christ. Because it could never manifest that way because according to reason, it didn't make sense. But faith doesn't make sense when a child just has a cry because it's hungry. It does that in a response to get food. Once it learns that if it makes certain responses, it will get what it wants, it begins to manipulate and to do whatever it needs to do to get what it wants. And we many times as Christians, we do the same things. We manipulate and we say certain things, we do certain things to get what we want. But is that what we should have? Is that what we need? And we can become comfortable in having things easy. Like Dan shared about the promised land, they loathed the bread and the manna that was there in the wilderness. Because they said, did God bring us out of Egypt to bring us to this place? Where is these houses that we're not going to build? Where are these lands? And where's all this blessing? But when it came right down to it, when it came time for them to possess that land, they thought they were going to just waltz right in and it was just going to be all there sitting for them. They didn't have an understanding that it was going to take faith to possess it. I want to read a little passage from there in Numbers in chapter 13. This is the word that the Lord gave to me this morning, that there were spies from Israel that went out. Elders, so to speak. Leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel. People, men of renown, people who were respected among the people, who were sent, who had wisdom, who had understanding, who could discern, who could give an accurate report of what they saw and what was coming and what they would inherit. Chose 12 men, one from each tribe. I'm sure it happened in a systematic and an orderly way that they chose men that they could trust. 12 spies who would go into the land for 40 days to see what was there and bring back a report to the million plus people, plus women and children there. And they named all the 12 leaders who went and among them was Joshua from Judah. I mean Caleb from Judah and Joshua from Ephraim. And it said of these two men they had a different spirit. So what does it tell you about these men that they chose, who were wise men, who were elders, so to speak, who were leaders among the people? What spirit did they have? Well they must have had that spirit that says if it makes good sense seek no other sense. They must have had the eyes of natural men. They must have gone according to their own wisdom and their own reason. They must not have been men of faith. But Joshua and Caleb, it says they had a different spirit in them. They had an excellent spirit. These were men of faith. And you don't go by the numbers. There were 10 men who were natural men, men of reason. And you had two men who were chosen by their tribes who were men of faith. And 10 came back bringing a bad report. And two came back saying the report that they said it's accurate but God is with us. And immediately if we obey God and we go through with God, God will bless us if we found favor in his sight. And many times people follow the masses. They go by what people say. If you want to find out is it a good decision or a bad decision you ask a lot of people. And many times if you have a desire for something that is ungodly, something that is according to the flesh, something that is not part of the will of God, then you will seek counsel from those type of people. People who will think about your natural interests but what makes good sense to you from a natural position. And you will not seek wisdom from a man of God who has the eyes of faith, who sees things from a different perspective. Because you're not going to get the answer you want to hear. And many people don't want to hear from the Lord. They want people to confirm what's already lusting in their hearts. They have a way worked out. They want God to come in agreement with it and they want to do it their way. And they want to put God's amen on it. But God is not with natural man. The natural man does not bring about the righteousness of God which is a righteousness which comes by faith. Now it says of faith in Hebrews 11 that without faith it's impossible to please God. If you don't come through faith it's impossible to please him. What does faith look like? Well everything tells me I should make this decision but something in my spirit is telling me that's not the way. Don't go that way. But it makes good sense but I'm not going to seek no other sense because the Holy Spirit is telling me hey don't go that way. There's a different way I want you to go. Because there's a way that seems right to a man but the end of it is destruction. And so you take a different route. You take a different decision and it doesn't make good sense and people will say you're stupid, you're foolish, you've made a bad choice. But what matters is is that you have peace with God and that in your heart of hearts you know that you know that you know that even though you're perplexed in your mind but you're not in despair. And even though you go through things and you might get struck down but you're not going to stay down because God is with us. And so the Lord is going to help us so that we fulfill the purpose and call of God through faith. Now faith is the substance of things that we hope for. It's something that you look in your hand and you see there's nothing there but you know that there's something there because God said it in his word. And if God said it even though you don't see it you must believe. All things are possible to him who believes. It's the evidence of things hoped for that are not yet seen. By it all the creation has been created from atoms and molecules and electrons and neutrons and protons. And when you understand science you say well of course. But then you go into a decision and you say well I can't see any hope out of this. I think I'm going to do things the way I've always done it. And then what do you end up with? Disaster. Because we're doing things according to the flesh. The flesh profits nothing. It's the spirit that gives life. So we need to walk according to the way of the spirit which takes faith. It says of faith that by faith by hoping in what we don't see the elders obtain a good testimony. Joshua and Caleb were elders who obtained a good testimony because they believed what God had said. And the ten spies the elders of the other tribes who came back and they said they saw some things they seen some things they said some things they did not obtain a good testimony. In fact they died. Now if we look at the passage in numbers in chapter 13 we read in verse 17 then Moses sent them the spies out of the land of Canaan and he said to them go up this way into the south and go up into the mountains and see what the land is like whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak and whether there are many or whether there are few and whether the land is good or whether the land is bad go and check it out and bring us back a report and whether the cities that they inhabit are like camps with no protection around them or whether they are strongholds with walls and whether the land is rich or poor and whether there are forests or not be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land now the time was the season of the the first ripe grapes and so they went up and they spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob near the entrance of Hamath and they went up through the south and they came to Hebron verse 23 then they came to the valley of Ashkol and there they cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes that they had to carry between two of them on a pole that's how big a cluster of grapes was from that land the fruit was exceedingly awesome they brought some pomegranates and figs also the place of the valley was Ashkol because the cluster from which the men cut down there and they returned from spying in the land 40 days they were in that land checking it all out bringing back a report for the people of God now they departed and they came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Haran there they were in verse 27 and they told them and they said we went to the land where you sent us it truly flows with milk and honey and this is its fruit these were men who went by what they saw they said you want to know what it's a fantastic land guys it's absolutely awesome God has given us an amazing inheritance look at the fruit that we have you can touch it you can taste it you can smell it you can see it it took two men of us to carry it look at it and see what you cannot have because along with what they saw they also said this nevertheless the people dwell in the land are strong the cities are fortified they are very large moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there there's giants there we saw them we're afraid of them we should not go and neither should you it's a good land but you can't have it because it's impossible for us to overcome them with our natural power with our natural strength with our natural might with all the people that we have because they're going to take us out but the natural man cannot inherit the promises of God we have to be born again we have to have another spirit in us we need to have a living spirit that comes from faith through the incorruptible seed of the word of God they didn't believe the word of God what God had said they didn't believe it it wasn't mingled with faith and so they did not please God with their report and they spread unbelief to the people of God that's the worst thing as an elder you can do is spread unbelief to the people of God you'll not have a good testimony the Amalekites dwell in the land the Hibbites are there the Jebusites the Amorites they're by the mountains the Canaanites they're by the banks of Jordan then Caleb verse 30 numbers 13 verse 30 then Caleb quieted the people before Moses one man of faith quieted the people and said let us go up at once this man believed God let us go up at once he didn't go by what he saw he saw the same things they saw but his faith was greater than his eyes because his eyes were yielded to the altar of God he'd laid them on the altar of God he wasn't governed by what he saw he wasn't governed by what he heard he wasn't governed by all the things that the natural man is governed by because he had a different spirit in him a spirit of faith full of faith and now he's strengthening the faith of the people one man seeking to strengthen the nation through faith one preacher let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it let me tell you now you've been defeated by sins you've been defeated by addictions by alcohol your family's destroyed all kinds of lost your wealth you made a total mess of things but yet now if you will believe don't look at what you see look to the lord and be saved that is where our help comes from our help comes from the heavens Jesus himself and heavens can come down and make his abode with us he said he will come and make his home with us because heaven is his home his throne and the earth his footstool where is the house that he will build for us where is the place of his rest will you allow faith to fill your heart today so that the king of glory may come in lift up your heads all you gates lift up your heads you everlasting doors that the king of glory may come in who is this king of glory the lord strong and mighty the lord mighty in battle strengthen yourself in the lord i think of david when he was discouraged the amalekites had come through they had wiped out he was in the land of the philistines because he had said to himself in samuel first samuel maybe 30 he said now i know that one day saul's gonna take me out i will perish at the hand of saul this man who had a heart after god had allowed unbelief into his heart discouragement and despair he was tired of running he was tired of saul seeking his life and he said you know what i'm gonna find rest among the philistines i'm gonna make covenant with the flesh i'm gonna make covenant with this king because i know this is what one thing i know i'm gonna perish at the hand of saul one day i'm gonna die that guy's gonna kill me and he made a decision to get out of the will of god and to go in and align himself ally himself with the philistines the enemies of god now god does not allow him to stay there and to prosper there and so what happens that he sends a band of amalekites down while they're out raiding and doing their thing and they burn that ziglag which he had made a nice place for himself a nice city there he had himself a comfortable spot no more saw hunting him he was at peace with that king that king was trusting him everything was going smooth everything was going awesome then they were lord seemed to be blessing him he was getting bounty and they were winning victories and they're getting bounty and booty and everything was going great and they had wives and they had children and seemed a fantastic land to stay there and the amalekites come and they light the place on fire they burn it to the ground they take their wives they take their children and they take off with all their possessions and when the men come there after their raiding thinking they're going to put their feet up and have a nice meal that their wives are cooked for them there was nothing but smoke and ashes and all the men began to weep everything they'd worked for all their life was burnt to the ground you want to know why because david gave in to a thought of unbelief maybe while he was hiding in a cave someplace and he thought you know what i'm done with this running away doing things god's way i'm going to find a place where soul will not find me and i'm going to find a place of ease and a place of rest and i'm not so i don't have to think about things and i'm just going to put my feet up over here god's going to bless me in that place in the according to the flesh god will never bless you there you might find yourself there but you won't be blessed there and he'll flush you out of there so that you bring about the purpose and call of god on your life and all his brothers the ones who were worthless rogues who society had no use for who ran and saw couldn't find david but all these worthless men who were in debt and disgruntled and couldn't get along with anybody they found david in the stronghold 400 men now it had become 600 men they found david saul couldn't find him but these 600 men found him and he took them under his wing and they became his mighty men of valor his mighty men of war he trained them he taught them like he would teach his own sons now they all turn against him we followed you we trusted you you led us here to this place and out in the philistine country to this city of ziglag and look what's happened and it said they sought to kill david and david in that low place in that place of utter discouragement with absolutely nothing left even his own brothers even his own sons turned against him he looked to the lord he called for what the priest would call for the epod and he called on the name of the lord the urn and the thumb and he said shall i pursue my enemies or shall i not are you with me if i go after them or you're not and the lord said surely he answered him in that place he said surely you shall pursue your enemies and you will overtake them and you'll gain everything back and so he began that process through faith to turn the hearts of those men who were weeping until they had no strength to begin to strengthen themselves in the lord through faith and they began to come online behind david and said listen we're going to go after these guys god has said something he said we're going to get it all back he said our wives are going to come back our children are going to come back to the lord everyone's going to come back to the lord we're going to continue to go through with god and we're going to get back in the will of god we've been out of the will of god we're repenting now we've wept now because we've made a mess of things but now god is with us because we are in faith again and david pursued and they overtook the enemy the amalekites and they received all this back short time later they took david and they made him king of judah and eventually king of israel the lord had fulfilled the purpose and call of god on his life even though he had given in for a moment for a season to unbelief these spies they didn't just give in for a moment to unbelief these were unbelieving men who had evil hearts and it says beware brethren lest there be in any of you from hebrews 3 an evil heart of unbelief in turning away from the living god when you get an evil unbelieving heart you're turning away from god you're rejecting christ it says it even over here the people they all wept because of the bad report when we look at verse 11 of numbers 14 it says then the lord said to moses how long will these people reject me how long will they not believe me the two are together when you don't believe what the word of god says you say yeah good for you but that's doesn't work for me i tried it doesn't work you're rejecting god you're rejecting christ it's an evil heart of unbelief let's look at some of the other fruit i will strike them with pestilence and i will disinherit them these are the people of god god says i will disinherit them and i will make you a nation greater and mightier why does he say these things this is what joshua had told them before this he said in verse 8 if the lord delights in us if you're in faith the lord will delight in you if the lord delights in us then he will bring us into this land and he will give it to us a land that flows with milk and honey only do not rebel against the lord nor fear the people rebellion and fear will bring about unbelief and will bring about all this kind of sin rebellion and fear will bring about rejecting god and will bring about unbelief an evil heart people say well you know sin's the issue well these people are sinning repent and get right you know what the problem is faith is the issue it's a faith issue people are sinning because they don't have faith in god without faith you can't please god and when genuine faith comes then the fruit falls off make the tree good and the fruit will become good the problem is with the root it's an evil heart of unbelief and the result of it is sin and when you get caught up in sin it's because you got discouraged in you got discouraged you didn't see things happening according to your timeline you thought it would happen this way it's not happening you got discouraged and then what'd you do went and bought a bottle you got discouraged what did you do you went and bought it took a joint from a guy at work you you you got discouraged what'd you do started texting women started doing stupid stuff the sin manifested because you became unbelieving according to the will of god and the purpose of god you doubted that god is for you if god before you who can be against you what can man do to you and so what happens is like a kid kicking and stomping because he wants something that he can't have we do it until we get what we want it doesn't matter what the consequence and so we end up hurting ourselves over and over and over again because we are not in the will of god we need to trust in the lord with all your heart not lean on your own reason your understanding and all your ways acknowledge faith in the lord jesus christ him and he will direct your steps you say well you know i've been waiting for a while in this uh wendy's drive-through and you know there's like four people in front of me and eventually i ordered all i can get and then two minutes i'm gonna have it all now because you know what i just need it now i mean the lord knows what i need and i'm just gonna claim it i'm gonna claim it right now i'm gonna claim that wife i'm just gonna claim that which i want her right now i'm gonna have her in jesus name come on brothers let's wait on god we have because we don't ask him when we ask him we don't receive because our motives are wrong we don't even know our own hearts but the lord tests the hearts i mean he searches the mind we don't even know ourselves but if you just lean on the lord if you wait on the lord you shall renew your strength you shall mount up with wings as eagles your strength will return i remember when i was young in the lord i thought that god was going to turn everything around my prayers were like get me out of my line of credit and help me this and help me that and i had no idea how long it was going to take to turn that big tanker around because i had made such a mess of things starting to make amends well lord do this i want to preach the gospel i want to share jesus with someone all of a sudden what does he do he brings some guy that that i ripped off from my last life and they're like oh man go over there i want you to go over there and things make amends make amends i don't want to see that guy i was justified he made a big mess of my concrete i he didn't deserve to get paid well i saw the holy spirit saying right now holy spirit saying you go over there you never paid him you're a christian now you make your amends i'd humble myself i'd go stagger across the street i didn't know i was gonna get a punch in the face or what i'd say you remember me oh i remember you his name was george filipov he was a concrete finisher i said yeah i you know i didn't pay you for that one job and he said yeah i remember i said well i want to tell you something like i prayed this morning that i'd get a chance to share my faith with somebody and here it is so i became a born-again christian and i love jesus now and so here i am to make amends so how much do i owe you i want to share jesus with you how much do i owe you oh you're a christian now what's in your pocket pulled out my wallet gave me everything that was in my wallet he shook my hand looked me in the eye and he said you and i are good that's how you're going to share jesus with people when you're obedient to the way of the spirit that's how you're going to share jesus with people when people begin to see that you're not the same scoundrel that you once were and it's going to cost you something it's going to cost you reputations and it costs you money his ways are not our ways they're higher you know we have a way that seems right to us and god has to get a hold of us and he has to not just bring us down as brother uh george hornock once shared a notch or two he's in the process of bringing us to zero because that's what jesus became he became a zero he who did not consider it robbery to be equal with god he humbled himself found in the likeness as a man and he didn't come and live in a king's palace like this one but he came in the form of a bond servant he had nowhere to lay his head nowhere to lay his head he didn't come into a good family he accused him of of his his mom of uh sleeping outside of marriage of course they didn't believe in him didn't make sense that jesus would come into a situation like that but as many as received him through faith to them he gives the right to become the children of god let's walk in faith my friends a mustard seed is all you need and it can grow into a beautiful steadfast tree where birds can nest in the branches i think of the end result of many of these people with most of them dan shared at one corinthians 10 god was not well pleased their bodies were scattered in the wilderness they had abundant opportunity to see the power and glory of god and to believe that god who began a good work in them was able to bring them in and possess the land but they began to doubt the finished work of christ began to doubt it and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness because of unbelief beware brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living god as god has said i will dwell in them i will walk among them i will be their god and they shall be my people so he's called us to come out from among the world you've got to cut off the old life the old friends the old lifestyle the the family members that are telling you to keep going in the way of the flesh and keep telling you about the natural things that you're missing out on you've got to tune that out and you got to learn to tune your ear to his wisdom the word of god the rhema word which comes from faith and you know what you'll be able to do you'll be able to see a week of blessing that follows you when you start walking in covenant with the lord when you walk in covenant with the lord you cannot help but to have a wake of blessing behind you your children around your table will be blessed your inheritance will be blessed abram says how are you going to bless me seeing as i have no son he had all the camels and the goats and the sheep and the herds and the oxen but he didn't feel blessed because he didn't have a son he didn't have anyone to pass it to the lord can give you an inheritance in christ paul never married yet he had many sons he had a church he had many churches that he established because he had the eyes of faith and he prayed continually and he interceded for them just because you see things going sideways that's not the end of the matter ask the lord to intervene prayer changes things call on the name of the lord but you know the problem is we don't call in the name of the lord we react we respond because how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how is faith supposed to come without a preacher like kaylin like joshua like me this morning so then faith comes by hearing doesn't come by seeing it comes by hearing the ramah word of god the living word whom having not seen we love him just because you can't see him we love him and the fruit of the fact is we love him as we were obedient to that word and this is what pleases the father an obedient son not a servant who has no idea what his master is doing he wants to call us sons no greater calling than to be called a son of the most high god ambassadors of christ joint heirs with jesus partakers of the heavenly calling all the promises of god in christ yes and amen or will we sell our inheritance for a bag of gold for a slice of bread what will you give in exchange for your soul brothers let's not be foolish let's look to the lord and be saved don't let your faith become so weak that you sink if you find yourself sinking in despair and depression and discouragement look to the lord and let him lift you out of that situation he's called you out of the boat you may be sinking in despair but look to him and be saved peter had to do it he was a man who had full faith he was very zealous and he was sinking when he got his eyes off the lord and he saw the waves and he saw the circumstances were hopeless but when he looked to jesus he found his footing with christ and he found himself in the boat with jesus again may the lord give you understanding and what i say strengthen yourself in the lord as david strengthened himself he went for the epod he called for the urn in the thumb and he said lord i need to hear from you now hear from the lord he is able to speak to us if we'll wait diligently for the right answer in jesus name amen