“Faith Works
Through Obedience”
Genesis
11:29-12:3; Hebrews 11:8
29)
And Abram and Nahor
took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's
wife, Milcah, the daughter of
30)
But Sarai was
barren; she had no child.
31)
And Terah took
Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's
son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's
wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees,
to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran,
and dwelt there.
32)
And the days of Terah
were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in
1)
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee
out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a
land that I will show thee:
2)
And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt
be a blessing:
3)
And I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.
8)
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go
out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and
he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Introduction
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must understand that the people of God are never defeated, for we are not
subject to the things of the World. We are citizens of “another country,”
meaning then, that we are bound by a different set of “rules.”
In that we are spiritual beings
rather than fleshly, we suffer from no limitations in the Spirit. Indeed,
spiritual beings are the only ones who are not limited. Only salvation is able
to liberate us from the state in which we are born.
The essential ingredient in being
able to live in victory is that one must believe that he has it. “Dis-believing” anything is an indication that one is
operating in fear, and this is never a state that a saint of God should find
himself in. Why? Because fear is “faith-in-reverse,” and just
as powerful as believing God.
Jesus died for our justification,
but we must realize that justification is realized by us only as we believe
what God says.
Main Thought
It is important that we realize that
the benefit that we get from what God has done is going to be entirely based
upon what we are willing to believe of Him. And when it comes to the Lord, we will
be able to show that we believe Him only as we obey Him.
Far too many still attempt to “make
sense” of what they hear. Therefore, when instruction comes, the excuse of “I
don’t understand” can be offered. The problem is that a lack of human
understanding does not absolve us of responsibility.
The Lord is all about “victory.” He
has always been victorious and all that He has touched has been
successful. However, the success of His
people is guaranteed only as they are willing to 1) hear what He says, and 2)
move in faith.
You see, all too often, we hear Him,
but then say that “I don’t know how (to do what He has instructed to do), or “I
don’t have the means (to do as He has instructed). All that either of these
excuses means is that ultimately, “it” goes undone. The question is, how do we
simply “ignore” what He has said? Do we not know that He knew what we did, and
did not have? So, then, the issue becomes one of whether or not we believe that
God can bring to pass what He has proclaimed. If our actions speak that we do
not, then we are denying His very nature—and there is no help for us.
In Hebrews, we are presented with
the outstanding example of Abraham, who, though having no idea of what was
being asked of him, did not “stumble” at the prospect of “blind faith.” Because
of his willingness to be obedient (which he showed by his actions), Abraham was
able to enjoy the “full benefit” of God.
This is the problem everybody’s
favorite “genie,” Who (Man believes), exists solely to grant his every wish, with
no expectations put upon him. Now, if there were to be “no expectations,” there
would have been no need for Him to go to the Cross suffer, and die that
subsequently, we might be empowered.
Contrary to what the World believes
about “empowerment,” true empowerment is defined by one’s ability to resist his
flesh, which is turn, is defined not by the one inhabiting the flesh, but by
the One Whom subdues it. Flesh is subdued only through death, and is possible
only if after salvation, that death is accepted and the resulting “dead body”
submitted to the Lord.
God never meant for the devil to
become a “catchall” enemy upon whom to blame all of our faults, failures, and
shortcomings. Truly, this gives him too much credit. Even from the beginning,
Man has been responsible for his own behavior, with the devil simply at the
ready to “capitalize” on our inherent weaknesses. In that our “weakness” is
ourselves (our flesh), as long as that remains our focus, we remain his.
However, the moment we turn ourselves over to the Lord, we become His—and
nothing can defeat us!