Living by Faith – Part 2

Audio Transcript

Okay, well, I’m going to jump in so we can make sure and get through everything. The last, well, it’s been about six weeks now, we started, I had a message that ended up breaking in the two parts, so that message we’re going to continue this morning, and it’s on living by faith. And if you remember, last week we covered a couple of points over aspects of faith, and this week we’ve got a couple more to look at.

Scriptures make it clear concerning faith that the gift of salvation, which we all know is a gift, it’s not something we work for, not something we earn, it is given to us, but given to us through faith. We receive it through faith. So because of this, it’s important, as I mentioned—this is just a recap of last week, if you missed it, it’s online, by the way, if you wanted to catch it later—it’s important that we understand faith, that we understand what it is, that we know how to test ourselves to make sure the faith that we say we have is genuine and that it’s thriving and alive, because not only are we to have faith, but we are to live by it. And it’s not just a one-off thing. It’s not just this past season where I had faith.

It’s actually something we live by, and it’s how we are to live in relationship to God. We are to have relationship with God through faith, and it’s something that’s very important to Him and precious to Him. So we’re going to dig in a little further today. But I wanted to, just as a reminder, read a passage of Scripture. This is out of Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 35.

Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says to believers. Just to remind you, he’s writing to believers. It says this: “So do not throw away the confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you. Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that He has promised. For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And My righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away. But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones whose souls will be saved.”

And as you remember, last week we talked about faith. Having faith is to be faithful to God. I thought this was a great passage of Scripture to remind us that we are to live by faith. And another passage we read last week is Hebrews 11:6. It says this: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

And we looked at that, what it might look like to seek the Lord. And some translations don’t have the “earnestly” part. “Diligent” might be another word there, but it is a seeking out until He is found, to understand who He is, to know Him, and to know His ways.

So, last week we looked at two important aspects of faith. We looked at believing, faith in God is believing in Him, and we also looked at faith in God is trusting Him. And if you weren’t here the last time we had part one, I do recommend you go back and, and watch that.

So we’re going to continue on today. We’re going to look at two other aspects of faith that I think are very important to understand. So let’s jump right in. Next one I want to look at is obedience. Faith in God is obeying Him.

I think the simplest way really to start off with this is to just read a parable that Jesus shared. It’s very simple, but it communicates and explains what we’re talking about today. It’s in Matthew chapter 21, starting with verse 28. This is Jesus speaking, He says, to some Pharisees: “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go.’ But later, he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go.’ And he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. Which of the two obeyed his father?” They replied, “The first.”

Then Jesus explained His meaning: “I tell you the truth. Corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of heaven before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him. While tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.”

Now, this is pretty straightforward. Jesus saying that the hearing of God’s word and even agreeing to it verbally is not the same thing as obeying His word and doing the Father’s will.

Now, we must be doers of the word. We’ve talked about that a lot. And this means to actually obey it. And remember that Jesus is the one who said this in Matthew 7:21. He said, “Not everyone who calls out to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.”

Do the will. This is what obedience is, is doing the will of the Father. And Jesus has lots of words to say about that. So if you’ve spent any time in Scripture, you, you see clearly this distinction between hearing and doing, and it’s the doing part that matters most. Scripture makes it clear that to believe in God, as in having faith in Him, and to obey God are actually one in the same.

Here are some examples. We’ll just quickly look at John 3:36. John’s writing some familiar words here. He says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Now, you read that and you see he’s doing a contrast, an opposite is what you would expect. So you, you think he’s going to say, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not believe…” In some translations, King James Version, for example, have “believe not.” But you can just as well translate this as “do not obey.” In many translations, that’s how they translate this Greek word, “do not obey.” So “believes,” and the opposite would be “do not obey.” You could say “one who obeys,” and the opposite could be “does not believe.” So there’s a connection there that Scripture makes clear.

Here’s another example. This is in Titus 1, verse 16. Paul writes, “They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

Now, I’ve been highlighting some of these words just to bring them out a bit, since our focus right now is looking at disobedience in contrast to believing and how faith and obedience are inherently the same.

Here’s another passage of Scripture. This one’s a little bit longer, but I want you to listen to this. This is also from Hebrews, and I’ve highlighted quite a few words here just to bring out this idea, this not idea, but this truth about obedience and disobedience. So in this, you’ll see quite a few words highlighted that may be “disobey” or “disobedience,” but also could be “rebelled.” It could be “harden your hearts.” It could be “tested God.”

There’s quite a few words that basically in this passage, which this passage is talking back, referring back to the Exodus and referring back to the people of Israel leaving, you know, God delivering them out of Egypt and the amazing miracles that He did and all of the journey along the way and how they either obeyed or disobeyed. Either they believed Him or they did not believe Him. And the writer of Hebrews, now this is in our New Testament, he’s writing to believers, he’s using this passage of Scripture to remind believers, “Don’t forget what happened. Don’t ignore what God has given to us to read and remember about who He is and what He expects.”

And so the writer of Hebrews is going through this story again. I’m just highlighting some of these things, and you’ll see how they kind of correlate. Hebrews chapter 3, starting with verse 7. “That is why the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts. As Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested Me in the wilderness, their ancestors tested and tried My patience.'” Remember, this is God speaking. “‘Even though they saw My miracles for 40 years, so I was angry with them, and I said, “Their hearts always turn away from Me. They refuse to do what I tell them.” So in My anger, I took an oath. “They will never enter My place of rest.”‘”

“Be careful then.” He breaks out of this quote of the passage from the Old Testament. And the writer of Hebrews now says, “Be careful then,” talking to believers, “dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day while it is still today so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”

Remember what it says. He’s quoting another Scripture here: “Today, when you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts. As Israel did when they rebelled. And who was it who rebelled against God? Even though they heard His voice. Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for 40 years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when He took an oath that they would never enter His rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed Him? So we see that because of their unbelief, they were not able to enter His rest.”

I think that passage is powerful in communicating and helping us to understand God’s ways and God’s expectations of how we are to relate with Him. He had His old covenant with very specific rules and ways of conduct that they were to follow. And He has His new covenant, the one in which we are a part now, that there are very specific ways that we are to follow and relate to Him, and it is through faith. And faith is not separate from obedience.

Now, some think that faith can be separate from obedience. They say that you can believe that Jesus is Lord without submitting to His lordship. They’ve even given it a label to try to make it sound bad: “Lordship salvation,” or whatever you want to call it.

Listen, all it takes is for you to spend a little bit of time in the word to realize that’s crazy. To think that you can believe He exists and not have to obey Him, you’re not reading and paying attention. Scripture tells us even the demons believe that, that God is real, that He is one, but they’re not obeying Him. That’s the difference. The covenant with us is not only to believe that God exists, but to seek Him out, to know Him, understand His ways, and then to follow them, to obey them.

Paul makes this clear in the opening of Romans and in the closing of Romans. He says this in Romans chapter 1. I’m just going to jump right into that. This is the salutation. This is his greeting. And this, he says, “and was declared to be the Son of God.” It was long, so I kind of shortened it to just this part. “And was declared to be the Son of God,” talking about Jesus, “in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations.”

Paul uses this term, this phrase, “obedience of faith,” because obedience is an inherent part of faith. And so when they are beginning to teach, not only the Jewish believers of what this gospel message is all about and that Jesus is their Messiah, but also the Gentile believers, they’re teaching them to not only believe, but then to follow, to obey this way of salvation, this faith in which obedience is inherently there. And to believe that He exists, but not obey Him, makes no sense and does not line up with Scripture.

And we can easily go back, as the Hebrew writers tells us, go back and remember the story of the Israelites being delivered out of Egypt. Listen, we should always be referring back to that because it is a parallel to our gospel. Starting with the deliverance through the lamb whose blood was shed, who had to be applied to the doorpost so that the death angel would pass over, to then being delivered out of bondage and being free from sin. But the story doesn’t end there.

There’s so much more where they had to be faithful to God, believe what He was saying. God was providing everything that they needed to reach the promised land. Everything that they needed, He would provide. But we see this story, we see them grumbling, complaining, not believing, disobeying, rebelling, turning away. This happens again and again, and we see God patiently correcting them, bringing discipline to them, even showing His presence and speaking to them through Moses or audibly.

And we see this story all the way to the end. God is patient. And finally, we see there are some who never make it to the promised land. And we have to pay attention to why did they not. And the Hebrew writer makes it clear. They did not obey, nor did they believe. It’s one and the same. And the end result is devastating.

And the writer of Hebrews and other writers in the New Testament tells us, “Remember this. Pay attention.”

Now here at the end of Romans, Paul, with his closing remarks, says this in Romans 16: “Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.”

To try and separate faith and obedience is futile. It cannot be done. It is one and the same.

Now keep in mind, however, and this is something we often forget, and we can forget this concerning ourselves and we can often forget it concerning others, that the obedience of faith is not perfected in a moment. It’s not perfected in a moment.

This is why we are to seek Him out. This is why we are to know Him and to understand His ways. Because as we understand His ways, then we are able to follow them. If we understand His commands, His character, His requirements, then we are able to begin to obey them. And I think sometimes for ourselves, we think that that should be done and dusted in a moment, in an altar call, after a simple prayer. But that’s not how it works. But there is to be a change in our hearts from resistance, from turning away, from doing things my own way, to turning to His way, to wanting to hear, wanting to know more, wanting to obey.

So this is not something that’s perfected in a moment. And we have to remember that about ourselves, and we have to remember that about others, our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all on this journey of learning about Him and learning to obey Him. And when you get it wrong, please have some grace and some mercy for yourself. And when someone else gets it wrong, please have some grace and some mercy for them. Don’t start judging them. We are all on this path. None of us has been perfected yet. But we should be progressing. We should be knowing Him more. We should be obeying Him more. This is what it means to be following Him.

He’s a God of great patience. He had great patience with the people of Israel. Just read the story. Great patience. And He has great patience with us, especially if you are someone who desires to be a doer of the word. Not just a hearer only, but a doer of the word. He has great patience for someone who wants to be doing God’s will, who wants to obey God.

He knows that we’re going to stumble. We’re going to fall. We’re not going to get it right all the time. He knows that. Why do you think He had to allow His precious Son to die for us? Because He knew we were not able to do this. We were not able to walk and fulfill all the requirements of the law. His Son was able to do that. Jesus was able to do that. And He did that for us. Now we’re to walk as He walked. Now we’re to begin following Him, learning to be like Him. And that takes some time.

Now, who is the best teacher of God’s ways? I think this is very important. The best teacher of God’s ways is the Holy Spirit. Yes, Jesus was the best teacher of His ways when He was here, but He’s not here with us. And He’s waiting to come again, and He’s in heaven praying for us, interceding for us. He’s our Great High Priest. But He has sent another. He made this very, very clear to us.

He’s going away, but it’s better that He go away. He was only limited to the one body, and He could only be in one place at one time. But He has sent another who is like Him, but another who would come and begin to resume His ministry. And the great thing about it is He can be everywhere at all times with everyone. And Jesus sent this other one, this other who we know to be the Advocate, the Counselor, the Helper.

But listen to what Peter says concerning Him in Acts 5:32. He says this, “And we are witnesses to these things.” This is at Pentecost here. The Spirit had been poured out already. They had seen the ascended Lord. And he says, “We are witnesses to these things. And so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Now listen, when this says “who God has given to those who obey Him,” it does not mean we must obey perfectly. We’ve covered that, right? Before the Holy Spirit will be given to us. That is not what it means. However, there is something that often we see in Scripture to begin this work of salvation, and that is repentance. That is our first act of obedience, is to actually turn from our way and turn to God. To forsake our path and choose to follow His path. That is what, that’s the essence of repentance, is to change your mind, which then causes you to change your direction.

And we see this throughout the New Testament. This is what, this was what was preached: repentance. And so we often see that it doesn’t take much of obedience before God gives His Holy Spirit, the promised gift. And He pours His Spirit onto people because they need this Helper, this Advocate, this Counselor. And Jesus was like, “Don’t go anywhere until you have been clothed with Him so that you have the power that you need not only to walk as Jesus walked, but to do what Jesus had been doing.”

So we see many examples in Scripture where there’s not this long track record of obedience before the Holy Spirit is poured out. Take Cornelius, for example, in his household. He’s a centurion. He’s a Greek Roman soldier. And God appears to him in a dream. He says, “You need to get this man Peter to come to your house and tell you the message he has,” basically, is what He’s saying. And he obeys. He feared the Lord, it said. He was a good man. Then he obeyed.

And Peter came. You know what happened? He basically, I mean, Peter didn’t even know why he was there, but he was obeying what the Lord was telling him to do as well. And he preached the message of Jesus Christ, the gospel message. And that’s all that this centurion needed to hear. And they believed as they were even hearing the message. They believed it and received it. There was obedience there. And that’s all it took. And boom, the Holy Spirit was given. The Holy Spirit was poured on it. They hadn’t even been baptized in water yet.

But God said, “That’s all. That’s all I need. Let Me give you My gift.” And then they continued to do what needed to be done. They baptized him and his household in water. And I have no doubt that this centurion, his faith and his life of reverence to God and all that just got amplified. As what happens when the Holy Spirit is poured out on people. So God is eager to help those who have repented from their own way and are trying to obey God’s way.

Can I just do a run-through concerning obedience of Jesus’ words when He was still here? Because He talked about this a lot. This was a part of His teaching that you can’t just sweep this under the rug. It’s all throughout His teaching. Let me just give you a quick one through. We’re just going to look at some of His quotes.

Jesus said, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?” “If you love Me, obey My commandments.” “Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. All who love Me will do what I say.” Jesus said, “Anyone who doesn’t love Me will not obey Me.” “When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love. You are My friends if you do what I command you.”

Again and again, Jesus makes this clear. Faith means we are obedient to the one in whom we have faith, the one in whom we believe. We obey. If we call Him Lord, we submit to His lordship. That is what it means.

And the writer of Hebrews, again, this is in Hebrews 5:9, reminds us why Jesus’ words about this matter. He says this, “And being made perfect,” not us, Jesus, “He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

It couldn’t be better said. And that’s actually good news, not bad news. The source of our salvation is not how well we get this right, not how well we do this life living by faith perfectly. No, our source of salvation is Jesus, who has already fulfilled it. That’s the great news. We just need to try to obey our Lord. And this is a good thing because He knew the way.

People get this wrong all the time. There’s so much deception out in this world, so much twisted perversion and twisted truth. Jesus paved the way for us. He has shown us the path. If we will follow Him with the Helper, the Advocate helping us, that is the way. We will arrive at the right destination. We will not find ourselves at the wrong destination. There are some, many, Scripture tells us, who choose an easier path that is broad, and it actually leads to a different destination, and they will be surprised when they arrive there and say things like, “Lord, Lord, did we not, did we not heal the sick in Your name? Did we not cast out demons in Your name? Did we not do these many miracles in Your name?” And Jesus would be like, “Depart from Me. I never knew you.”

But we have to read the rest of it. He says, “You who break My laws, you who disobey, you workers of iniquity.” However your translation phrases, it means the same thing. They rebelled. They did not obey His commands. So you’re going to have people who think they’re on the right path, but it actually is going to a completely different destination.

And what is key is this little word here, “obey.” If we are obeying Him and obeying His commands and obeying what He has given to us in His word, we can be sure that we will arrive at the right place. He will make sure of it. So that was faith in God is obeying Him.

And the last one I want to look at is faith in God is devotion to Him.

Now, before we talk about devotion, let’s take a look at what the word actually means. If you look at the word in a dictionary, you might see something like this. “Devotion: profound dedication, unwavering loyalty, and strong affection toward a person, cause, or belief. It involves deep commitment and an act of self-dedication, often expressed through continuous love, service, or religious practice.”

Now, if you’re anything like me, I grew up, devotions just didn’t, it just had a negative connotation in my mind. It just, it did. I won’t go into those details, but it did. Devotions did not, I did not like even hearing the word. But, and maybe that’s you too. But this is a good word. And this is something that should be inherent to our faith as well. But there’s something about devotion that I’ll say. I believe this is an aspect of faith that grows as we mature. As we walk with the Lord, this increases.

So it’s not going to be, you know, this boom right out of the gate. Now, however, let me say this. The Holy Spirit can jumpstart this with any of us. And we see this happen quite a few times. In Scripture, we see it happen. Perhaps in your life, you have seen this happen. He takes the positive and negative on there and He jumps starts our hearts to want to be devoted to God. That’s what He’s all about. Is taking a stony hard heart and turning it into flesh. And us experiencing the love of God being poured into our hearts. This is the surgery that the Holy Spirit is an expert at doing.

So that can happen, but for the most part, even when that does happen, there’s a continued growing in your faith that brings about more and more devotion. And you can see from this definition that that devotion has a lot to do with our hearts.

And it can be said that obedience is following rules or orders from a sense of duty. And listen, that is okay if your heart is not there yet. Keep following. Keep obeying, because it is the right thing to do. So there can be a season where you’re doing this out of a sense of duty, and that’s okay. Part of what the fear of the Lord is is a healthy understanding that following His ways is the wise path, whether your heart is there or not. I believe He can help your heart get there, but the difference, I think, with devotion is it engages your heart. So where obedience is doing this, following His rules and orders out of a sense of duty, devotion is committing to someone or something out of a deep love and loyalty, as the definition alludes to this.

Now, ultimately, this is the kind of faith that brings the most joy to God. And frankly, it brings the most joy to you and me. Because our hearts are fully on board.

Now, you can see this maybe in yourself, in yourselves. Maybe you can see this in another person when they’re doing what needs to be done. They’re trying to obey. They’re trying to follow the Lord, but their heart is just not there. And can I encourage you, first, if you see this in other people, have some grace and patience and pray for them and encourage them. They need someone to walk alongside them through this. But for yourselves, have some grace for yourself and know that there’s better to be had.

God wants us to have a fully committed heart, a heart that is on board with obeying Him and following His ways. And He will help us. And the Holy Spirit, oh my goodness, is so good at changing our hearts. If you will ask Him and invite Him and thirst for Him to come and do that, not just a one-off, this should be a regular part of our lives of seeking God and thirsting for Him, is that the Holy Spirit maintains our hearts as soft, our soil as able to receive God’s word and His truth. And His love flowing through us, out of us, all that is a part of a heart that’s been changed and is maintained soft, not hardened.

And the Holy Spirit is so good and kind in helping that happen. But He will never override our free will. If we stiff arm Him, He will back off. But if we desire and thirst for Him and invite Him and long for Him and wait for Him, He will not leave you hanging.

So ultimately, this is the kind of faith that we want. This is when obedience becomes a joy rather than a duty. What used to be a challenge or a chore to do for Christ now becomes a way to show your love to Him and therefore a pleasure to carry out. Listen, walking this life of living by faith and following Christ becomes so much more enjoyable, so much better when your heart gets on board like this.

I’ve seen this in my own life. Like, I used to have just so little patience for other people. Because everyone else is just thick in the skull, you know? I was never like that. If you knew me, I was just, you know, I was one of those people. But I had little patience for other people. You know, I was passionate for the Lord, but I wasn’t very good at doing the thing that He commanded us to do that was so important to Him, which is to love one another. And now I find joy in it. The reason I do is because I know His heart. I know what it means to my Lord.

I know what it means to Father God, who is a father, who wants a big family. And those who are in His family, they’re not perfected yet. And nor am I. And so it brings me pleasure now that I could be an encouragement one of His children, one of my brothers and sisters, that I could be a strength to them, that I could help them, that I could love them, that Jesus could love them through me.

That becomes a joy. So I was so thankful when my heart began to get on board with that. I began to understand that what I do, I’m doing for my Lord. And that’s not just with our brothers and sisters here, although that’s a huge part of what we’re to be doing, but is for the lost, is for those who are sick, who need a doctor, who need the message that we have, who need deliverance. They need freedom. And we have the authority to free them. And that becomes a joy to be able to do that for our Lord, for our Father.

That’s what our faith needs to be, ultimately, is devotion to Him. Extreme loyalty to Him. Commitment to Him. With love. Because we want to do that. And it’s okay if your heart is not there. But don’t be satisfied with that. Don’t settle there. Pursue Him. Seek Him out. Thirst for the Holy Spirit, who is the one who can actually shortcut a lot of this and change your heart.

So this is where we want our faith to be. The longer we believe and trust and obey, the more our hearts experience His goodness and grace, and then in turn, the more we endear Him.

If you want to see an example of this, the woman, when Jesus went to the Pharisees’ home, Simon, and there’s different accounts of this story, but the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet. Listen, that is an incredible story. I won’t tell it, but read it. It’s in Luke chapter 7. And you see what God has done, what the Lord Jesus has done for this woman, who’s a woman, your translation may say “sinful,” may say “immoral,” may say “a woman of the city,” but it’s all alluding to the same thing. She has a past.

And obviously she has been not only set free, she’s been forgiven of her past. And she knows the debt she owed. She knows how dark it was. And you see her heart in this scene when she comes to Jesus and falls to the floor at His feet and breaks the alabaster jar and the ointment onto His feet to clean His feet. And her tears is helping wash His feet and she uses her hair. And the Pharisees had not done any of that that was customary of that day to come. They were to have their feet clean because they wore sandals and there was dusty roads and all of that and to anoint them. And none of that had happened.

And she’s doing this out of the love that she has for Him in her heart, out of the amazing gratitude and thankfulness that she has for Him, for what He has done for her. And it’s a great example of what our faith should look like. Now, it is true and it’s okay that some are going to have a bigger debt that’s been forgiven than others. And in this story of this woman, Jesus tells this. And He teaches this.

He explains, He tells a parable about two people owing someone a debt, one 500 and the only 50 pieces of silver. And the man who they owed, he forgave both of them. And Jesus asked, “Who do you think was the more grateful? Who do you think loved him most?” And the Pharisees even got this right. They said, “The one who owed the most.” And He said, “Yes.” And He said that those who have been forgiven much will love much. But if you have been forgiven little, that’s okay too. You may not love as much.

But when we see someone who has been forgiven much and therefore loving much, it should move us and bring tears to our eyes because that’s who our God is. He came for these people. He came for the sick. He came for the lowly. He came for the prostitutes and the sinners and the tax collectors who, as you know from our teaching with Phil, were hated. I mean, the other story you could read is the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector, who was a sinful man, it says.

But he wanted to see Jesus. He had already this belief in Him. He’s short, so he climbs up a sycamore tree to see Him. And Jesus calls him out. “Zacchaeus, I’m going to come to your house today.” And he brings Him into his home. And everyone is, you know, the gossip is started. “Oh, did you see what Jesus did? Went into that sinful man’s home. He’s dining with sinners.”

And next thing you know, Zacchaeus, a tax collector, probably a very ruthless, cunning, merciless man who collected taxes. The next thing you see is him saying, “Lord, I will give 50% of all that I owe to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone on my taxes, I will pay them back fourfold.” Four times what I took from them.

Listen, that’s a clear example of someone whose heart has been changed when they encountered the living Savior, Jesus Christ. And it shows. And God can shortcut this in people. And when we see this happening to someone who comes to the Lord, broken because of their life of sin, and He restores them and forgives them, we should celebrate.

We should not be like the Pharisees would be. “And who is this man who thinks He can forgive?” Jealous of the mercy that’s been extended to this person. This should be something that really excites us because it’s who our God is. It’s what He’s about. And it’s what this gospel message is about. It’s why we need to get this out to people.

So our devotion to God, listen, our devotion to God will ultimately set us apart from the rest of the world, especially as the world gets darker and darker. If we maintain our devotion, our light will shine more and more brightly. It will become a beacon of light to some, but to many, and hear me, to many it will expose the darkness they have within them and they will hate us for it. Jesus warns us in Mark 13:13, He says this, “Everyone will hate you because of Me. But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

And not only that, but look at 2 Chronicles 16:9. This is who God is. It says this, “The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” God is looking for those people whose hearts are devoted to Him, fully committed to Him. And He wants to strengthen you. He is on your side. And He’s looking for those people in order to strengthen them.

And finally, I want to end this by reading this passage over you from 1 Peter 1, starting with verse 3. “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, we live with great expectation and we have a priceless inheritance, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through,” listen, here it is, “and through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead. Even though you must endure many trials for a little while, these trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him. And you rejoice with a glorious and expressible joy. The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls.”

This is what the Christian life is all about. This is what it means to live by faith. It will not be easy. Jesus never said it will be easy. But He did say, “Take heart.” He did say, “I will bring peace to you.” He did say, “I will strengthen you.” God the Father says, “I am looking for those who are committed to Me. I will strengthen you.” The Holy Spirit is walking with you. He is showing you the way. He is helping you stay on that path.

Listen, we who are born again have started this walk, but the end is yet to come. Scripture makes it clear. Salvation is a beginning, but there’s an end that’s still yet to come. The work is to be completed at the end for those who stand firm and remain on this path and they hold on to Him through their faith. And we have an incredible ending to this, even in the midst of what’s coming, as we see in Revelations, the things, the trials that are coming. We are going to be the ones who do not shrink back but stand firm because of our devotion to Him, our faith in Him, our knowing Him and His faithfulness to us. We’re not going to shrink from death. And if you’re not at that place yet, I urge you, I urge you to get to that place of devotion to Him because there’s going to be a shaking that comes.

And we’re not all going to fare, not all here, but those who proclaim to be followers of Christ, there’s going to be a shaking. And if you are not prepared, if you are not resolved and devoted in your heart to Him, it’s going to be a difficult time for those people. Many, many will turn. But God will never leave you.

If you are desiring to obey Him and trying and listening, not just being a listener, but a doer, and you are trying to be on His path, He is with you. He will help you. And we will help each other. Lord willing.

Let me pray for us.

Father, You, You are so good. You are so good to have made a way for us to be reconciled back to You, for us to be redeemed. There was a ransom paid, and You paid the price by Your Son, Jesus Christ, that we could be made right. And You have shown us the way through Your Son, Jesus. You have disclosed the terms of this covenant that we may enter with You.

God, now help us who desire to stand firm and endure to the end. Help us. Lord, just as Your early disciples would pray for boldness and You responded by filling them with Your Spirit, God, fill us with Your Spirit. The One who is the Helper, the Counselor. The One who will show us the way and help us stay on the path.

Father, those who are thirsting for Him. Would You grant them? Would You quench their thirst? May we become rivers of living water that flow out of us for other people.

God, we love You. We thank You for what You’ve done for us. Thank You for this truth. Thank You for the many, many blessings on each of our lives. May we now lift our voices in response to Your goodness. May our hearts express gratitude and thanksgiving to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.