Title: Faith Is The Unseeing Eye
Text: Hebrews 11:1, 6, 11-12
How do we get God’s approval on our life? How do we please the Lord? It is not by being religious; it is not by going to church, it is not by being more good than bad. The Bible says that there is one way to get God’s approval on your life. Hebrews 11:6: “it is impossible to please God without faith.” The only way to get God’s approval is through faith.
What is faith? Another translation of the Bible explains Hebrews 11:1 this way, “faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.” About three years ago, I believe the Lord gave me a definition for faith that I have quoted every time I preach on this subject. Faith is the confident assurance that God is in control of the future and that he will keep his promises to me because He has a purpose for me. Faith is building your life on the fact that God is in control and that God will fulfill His promises to me even when I don’t see those promises coming to pass. Faith is believing the promises of God even when there is nothing to show for it.
There is a man named Abraham that stands out as a man of tremendous faith. He is our example when we want to know anything about this subject. Genesis 15:6 says that the Lord declared Abraham righteous because of his faith. This morning I want to talk about the subject of faith. There are enough things to talk about, when it comes to faith, to last us years of preaching. But this morning I want to talk about faith being the unseeing eye. Faith is believing in the promises of God even when I can’t see those promises come to pass.
I want you to turn to your neighbor and tell them one thing that you think is
impossible for you to do. It could be running a marathon, or flying like a bird, just tell them one thing that you think is impossible for you.
If you had stopped Abraham and Sarah thousands of years ago and asked them that one question, you would have received one answer. “It is impossible for us to have children.” It wasn’t for lack of trying. They had tried and tried to have children, in fact, they had given up so much hope that Sarah, Abraham’s wife, gave him her servant so that Abraham could have a child with her at the age of 86. I think that Abraham and Sarah would have said, “There is no way on Earth that we will ever have a child.”
This wouldn’t have been any big deal, but the main problem with not having a son is that God had made Abraham a special promise – a covenant – with Abraham that involved Abraham having a son. This is a serious promise that assured that Abraham would become the father of many nations. His descendants would be countless and they would have a Promised Land. He was given all these promises and this honor and blessing would come through his son. These are all wonderful promises, but the only problem is there is no son. I am sure that Abraham was thinking all this time, “God I appreciate all the promises, but I don’t have a son.” Abraham could not SEE a way that all this could ever come true.
We have to realize that Abraham and Sarah both struggled with this dilemma. They felt that God had put them on hold. Actually their feeling went beyond that, they felt that God had hung up on them. They thought that he had forgotten about them.
There are some people here that are feeling the same way that Abraham and Sarah felt. It seems like God has given up on you. When you need Him, it seems as though He is nowhere to be found. No one understands what you are going through, no one understands your feelings, but God knows all about it. Through everything that we face, we must remember that God is in control of the future and He will keep His promises to me because He has a specific purpose for me. God has it all under control. Abraham and Sarah got to the point that when God told them they would have a child, Sarah laughed. I would have too when you think about it. They were at the age to be buying Depends, not pampers. It was ludicrous to ever believe that Abraham and Sarah would have a baby, but faith is believing even when I can’t see it.
Hebrews 11:11-12 makes mention of the fact that Sarah, through faith, received strength to conceive seed. In other words, Sarah, at her age needed a supernatural strength just to make it through the labor and the child’s birth, and she knew that she was going to receive it because the last part of that Scripture says she judged him faithful who had promised. She knew that God was going to give her what she needed because He had promised her. She believed even though she could not see. That is what true faith is all about. I know all you ladies that have children know what it is like to give birth to a child. It takes strength. Sarah believed that the Lord would help her through it all because he had promised her. Verse 12 goes on to say that there came a baby from one that was as good as dead. Think about that. The Bible is telling us here that Abraham could make a child about as good as a dead guy could. It was an impossibility. The Word tells us that he was so old that he might as well been dead. That’s what it says. But still Abraham had the faith along with Sarah to know that if God promised him a child, then there was going to be a child. Abraham might have been in a rush, but God had everything in His perfect timing.
I have already said today that there are some that feel God has put you on hold, that God has forgotten all about you. There are two principles that you need to understand to help you believe when it seems like God has put you on permanent hold. The first principle is this:
WAITING TIME IS NEVER WASTED TIME
There is something that I have learned over the past few years and that is
God is never in a rush. When God tells me what He wants to do, I can’t wait to do it. I never think to ask God’s timing, I just know what He wants and I want to do it right away. Let me at it, I will fix it now. But God is never in a rush.
Abraham had to wait until he was 100 years old to see God’s promises fulfilled. I know what the Lord promised me when we first came to this church. I know without a doubt that God is going to fill this place one more time. I want to see it happen now and I want to do the appropriate steps to see that it does take place. I have no doubt that He is going to do it. I have no doubt that this place will one day be filled, is it important to have numbers, no it is not, but it is important that we have souls. I want souls. I don’t care if people come here from another church, if they want to, that is wonderful, but I am not interested in Christians that have been saved for thousands of years, I am interested in souls. God wants to win souls in this place. He wants to fill this church with people that have never heard before. God has great things in store for each of us as well as this church as a whole. But some of us need to be patient.
We have to realize that, yes, the Lord is going to do an amazing work, and we haven’t even seen a small portion of what He is going to do. But at the same time we have to realize that God is never in a rush. WAITING TIME IS NEVER WASTED TIME. He is going to do the work, I don’t know when, but He is because He promised me that He would, and we have to realize that we need to believe that it will happen even when we don’t see it taking place. We may not see anything right now, but God is working. Faith is believing even when you can’t see it.
Sometimes we don’t understand why we have to wait. It doesn’t make sense. God is maturing us in preparation for receiving the promise that He has given us for this place. I may not see it right now, but that doesn’t mean that He is not doing it. God is testing us so that we can see how committed we are to Him. God is working behind the scenes preparing the way. God is using circumstances to position and prepare us for what He has in store for us. We may have to wait, but God’s timing always has a purpose. God will fulfill His promises to us. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” God wants to renew our strength and give us the courage and strength to wait even when we don’t feel like waiting. God, give us the courage to believe even when we can’t see what is happening behind the scenes. Faith is believing even when I can’t see it. Faith is the confident assurance that God is in control of the future and will keep His promises to me because He has a purpose for me.
Not only do we have to realize that waiting time is never wasted time. The second principle is:
GOD IS NOT JUST THE GOD OF THE WHAT. HE IS THE GOD OF THE HOW.
What I mean by that is God specializes in the impossible. Somebody said,
“what God originates, He orchestrates.” I have found in my life that God always gives the what before He gives the how. He says, “Abraham, you’re going to have a baby.” I am sure that Abraham’s question was how in the world is this ever going to happen? God didn’t tell Abraham the how, just the fact that him and Sarah were going to have a baby. That is all that he needed to know.
The problem with Abraham was he couldn’t see how it was all going to take place, so he began working on his own plans just to help God out a little. I think Abraham figured, God has given me the what, now it is up to me to figure out how to do it. Every time that Abraham took on the how part of the job, he messed up. There is a reason why he messed up and it is because every time that God gives the what to do, he also gives the how. God specializes in doing the impossible. He wants to do something in your life that is only explained by divine intervention.
I feel a little like Abraham this morning because the Lord has told me exactly what He wants to do in this church, but He hasn’t told me how to do it yet. I know what God has in store for each of us. I know that God wants to move mightily in our midst. I know that God wants this building to be a soul saving station. I know that God wants to fill this place with young people that have no relationship with Him and He wants to set their souls on fire. I know God wants to renew, refresh, rebuild & restore. There is not a doubt in my mind.
You may ask me how is the Lord going to do all those things. I will have one answer for you and that is I don’t know. I don’t know how He will deliver those that are high on drugs, I don’t know how He will deliver ladies from prostitution, I don’t know how He is going take the one that is addicted to smoking and drinking and set them free. I don’t know how He’s going to do it, but God is going to do it. No matter how hard the case may be He will solve it this morning. We have to learn as a church that even though we may not agree with everything that is happening around us, we need to have the same prayer and that is God fulfill your purpose in this church. Faith is believing even when we can’t see it. I may not see much happening right now, but I have got the faith to believe that it is going to because God has promised that it will. Faith doesn’t need to see it, faith just stands on the promise.
You may feel that your life is on hold or the church is on hold, but God has a purpose. You may be tempted not to believe because you are tired of waiting, but God has a purpose. God give us the confident assurance that you are in control of the future of this church and you will fulfill your promises to us because you have a purpose for this church.
