If Part 5 Series

IF Part 5

Scripture: Proverbs 2:1-5; 9-11; Hebrews 11:13-15; Matthew 17:14-21

This message concludes my five part series on “IF”. In the first four messages I gave you the definition of “IF” and how it relates to our fellowship with God. I talked about “IF” as it pertains to our pride; our hearts; what we believe; and how we choose to obey or not obey what the Bible says. Well, let’s be real clear here – how we choose to obey or not obey what God says. Each message built on the message preceding it and this was on purpose. You see, our pride will keep us from accepting Christ as our personal Savior because we truly don’t understand why we need what He is offering and we don’t believe what will happen to us if we choose not to accept Him. If you recall, pride was what rose up with Satan and caused him to rebel against God. Once we move past our pride and come to the understanding that we need a Savior, things shift to our hearts. Just as pride originates within our hearts, believing, obedience and faith also originate within our hearts. In parts three and four we dealt with believing and obedience and we will conclude this series with “IF” situations as it relates to our faith. How many of you know that it is impossible to grow in faith in God if we do not understand, accept, believe and obey His Word? This morning we will set the stage by going back to the reference we read in part three from the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 2:1-5; 9-11 says, “My son, IF you will receive My words and treasure My commandments within you; make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for IF you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; IF you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God….. Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will guard you, understanding will watch over you.”

I want to spend a few minutes on this passage so that you will truly grasp what it is saying. In this passage we see “if you will receive,” “if you cry” and “if you seek.” New Light, what these “ifs” indicate are a longing of a person’s heart for God. When I read them, I saw how God was lovingly giving us instructions for coming to Him and experiencing a deeper level of fellowship with Him. Our Father wants our fellowship so much that He’s giving us step by step instructions on how to make it happen! And what we also see here is this: if we don’t take the initiative, if we don’t act first, God will not be able to help us understand what it means to fear Him – in other words, what it means to love and esteem Him above everything else – or to understand the depths of who He truly is, and by extension, who we truly are. New Light, if we as a church do not fully buy in to what we read in the first five verses of this chapter, it will be impossible for us to live in verses 9, 10 and 11.

As I shared in part three, in Proverbs 2:1-5 and 9-11, we see that for a child of God, there is no other way for us to live. Now hold your thoughts here for a moment because I want you to see how this relates to faith. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Bible tells us that our faith comes through the Word of God – reading it, audibly hearing it and, most important, believing and acting on what we read and hear. This is where faith comes from. So if faith originates with the Bible, then what we read in Proverbs is even more important. When we start to read the Word of God and accept it, faith follows. That’s a promise from God. You can take it to the bank. When faith follows, then our “IF” situations are addressed with faith rather than doubt or outright unbelief. Look at what was written in Hebrews chapter 11.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is often referred to as the hall of faith. It lists Old Testament believers from Abel to Noah to Abraham who believed God and acted on His word strictly by faith. The fellowship with God existed through faith and they were not the only ones. The chapter also mentions Sara, Moses, Gideon, Samson and others. What I want you to see though is captured in verses thirteen through fifteen. It reads, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, IF they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.” (Hebrews 11:13-15) This chapter records that all of these believers “died in faith, not having received the promises.” I want you capture what this is saying. They died IN faith. In their sufferings and persecutions, they did not turn their backs on God. They remained steadfast in what He had said to them and were convinced that what God had said He would do. And they did this, New Light, even though not one of them lived to see the promise that God said was theirs. Think about that. Remember when we talked about the three Hebrew boys in Daniel and they told the king that even if God didn’t deliver them they would not bow? The believers in Hebrews 11 were just like them. They believed that what God had promised He would bring to pass – even if He didn’t do it in their life time! New Light, that is faith! Verse 13 says that all of them died in faith, not having received the promises, but saw them afar off and chose by faith to believe that they were strangers in a strange land. Then comes the “IF”. It says that “IF” they had been thinking of where they had come from they might have thought about going back. You see, even when walking in faith we will be faced with “IF” situations that will offer us the opportunity to turn around and go back. This morning I want you to see that in these “IF” situations, when we face them in faith, we are saying that we are willing to walk with God even though we do not know the how, when or where it will take us. This is what the storyline was in Hebrews chapter eleven and why it gives us the opportunity to understand where we are today. So let’s examine some “IF and Faith” situations. Turn with me to Matthew chapter seventeen and we will begin reading at verse fourteen.