Does Living The Life Of Faith Matter? Series

Introduction: Where have we been so far?

April 13, Hebrews 10:19-22 – We found that our ability and the drive to live faithfully was provided by the cross of Jesus. Through the sacrifice of Jesus and his place as our High Priest we have been called to be children of God and therefore are called to live like him – a life of faithfulness. Living a life of faith is all about obedience. It is not ritual or perfunctory actions. It is being willing to daily take up your cross and follow Jesus. Every day, we are called to obey what God tells us to do. We get our marching orders from the Scriptures, daily prayer and meditation on God’s word. It is our privilege and duty to spend time with God and Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection made it possible for us to do that!

ILLUSTRATION: Several years ago, Patrick Morley wrote a book called, “Walking with Christ in the Details of Life.” It is a book of meditations that includes one called “Revival: The Gospel of Addition.” In it, he said the following, “The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior… A changed life is one that has added Christ and subtracted sin - that attracts a world weary of worn-out words. Obedience is the proof.” Jim Kane

April 20, Hebrews 10:22-25 – The writer gave us 3 simple statements to describe the life of faith. We are to draw near, hold on, and be concerned about others.

We draw near to God again through prayer and daily Bible reading and meditation. We hold fast

We hold on to the hope we have in Jesus without wavering. We are to trust God even when things don’t go our way. We cannot forget that God works all things out for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

We are to be concerned for one another. We promote love and good works by how we treat each other. The question is – does your conduct, the way you speak, act, feel toward others promote good works and love or do they tend to repel people? This is a tough question and one we must ask ourselves periodically if we want to live a life of faith. We cannot depend on what we did for God 20 years ago, 10 years ago or even last week! We must daily show our love for the Lord Jesus by how we treat and encourage each other.

We also looked at Hebrews 10:26-39 on April 20 evening. We found in the middle of this exhortation to live faithfully a stern warning. The writer tells us that we need to be very careful that we do not engage in deliberate sin. We need to recognize that when we do that we are disregarding Jesus work on the cross and that is serious business.

The writer tells us to have staying power – persevere to the end. Live life with diligence not haphazardly. Finally he tells us to live out who we are – we are children of the King – we need to act like it.

That brings us to last week. We were in Hebrews 11:1-12. I gave you 3 key principles found in the lives of each of the heroes of the faith mentioned in this chapter. These 3 key principles are very important if we are going to live a life of faith in this difficult world.

1. When God speaks I need to listen.

2. I need to believe what He says.

3. I need to act in obedience to what I believe He is saying.

I began telling you that - Living a life of faith really does matter. It matters to our family. We looked at the life of Enoch and Abraham and how they showed that their life of faith affected their family tremendously.

Tonight we continue that line of thought as we answer the question – does living a life of faith really matter? I believe how we live has eternal significance! God would not have written down so many instructions for us to live a life of faith if it really didn’t matter!

Let’s read the passage again to refresh our memories. Hebrews 11:1-12

I. A Life of Faith matters in our witness.

Hebrews 11:7 – Noah and his experience with faith

In vs 7 do you see the three key principles lived out by Noah? He listened to God – believed what God said was truth and acted in obedience on that belief!

It then says – “by this he condemned the world”