Standing Firm in Faith Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Standing Firm in Faith Part 2. He will be reading out of Isaiah 7:1-9.

Some of us have had some setbacks, we’ve done things we shouldn’t have, and we need to come and renew our commitment to Jesus Christ. We need to gather in the house of the Lord, and we need to renew our hearts towards Jesus Christ and get a fresh start for this week, amen? Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and I want to thank you for joining us today on Hope Worth Having radio program. You’ve tuned in, and we welcome you to it, and we’re looking forward to being able to share the word of God with you.

We’re back in Isaiah chapter 7, we’re still talking about standing firm in our faith, and how do we handle a crisis? So grab your Bible, and let’s study together. Usually two enemies against each other, but now they’re coming together in an alliance, a confederacy, to get rid of Ahaz, because they need the nation’s resources, and they need the supplies so they can fight against Assyria. But these powers, these humanistic powers, political powers that devised this evil plan to conquer Jerusalem and to replace the legitimate Davidic king with their puppet would not come to fruition, because God and His promises and His word were at stake.

So the Bible says that Ahaz, he’s a proud king, and he was unable to keep his people calm and focused. They looked at Ahaz, they saw him shaking. They looked at Ahaz, they saw him in fear.

They saw his faithlessness. They saw the fact that he was relying on other things rather than the Lord. And so the people in turn were responding the same way.

And I want to say to you, whether you’re a leader of the home, you’re a leader in the church, or you’re a leader in the community, or you’re a leader in any capacity, that you’ve got to remember that people are watching you, and that you can’t be easily shaken. You can’t be overwhelmed, and you can’t walk and operate in fear, and you can’t be the person that is so easily moved by the problems of this world. That you and I are called to be firm in our faith.

We’re to be strong in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what I told you, that a crisis always reveals true faith. When God allows a crisis in your life, the question is, how will you respond? And who will you be trusting? Who will you be standing on? Who will you look to for the answers? Unfortunately, Ahaz, he never seemed to think of turning to the Lord for protection.

He never seemed to think that it was important for him to call his people to repentance and humility and surrender to the Lord God Almighty, that he never thought about, maybe I should just call for a national time of prayer and reliance upon God. But Ahaz, he relied on his strategy, and he relied on his schemes, and he relied on his military might, and his proudness, and his ability to be clever, and friends, none of that will make you a firm and faithful Christian for the Lord. I want you to take your Bible, and I want you to go to James chapter 1, if you will.

Go to James chapter 1. Don’t lose Isaiah. We’re coming back. But I want you to see a parallel here in understanding how we are called to react when there’s a crisis in our life.

And so often, too many Christians, when they have a crisis, they’re melting down, they’re breaking down, they’re falling apart, and they’re acting like it’s the end of the world, when what they really need to do is they need to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now again, we come to James chapter 1, verse 2. For many of you, you’re very familiar with this passage, but I want you to see something here. He says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

First, I want you to know there’s all kinds of trials out there. They come in different shapes and sizes and forms, but the question is not if, but when. When will I face a trial? I want you to know that James reminds us that when you fall into a various trial.

You see, Job said this, that man’s days are full of trouble. If you’re under the notion that your life is going to be easy street, that you’re never going to have a problem, that you’re going to just walk through life with no issues in your life, then my friends, that’s your problem. Because your problem’s not your problem, it’s how you respond to your problems.

That’s the key to your faith, is how do I respond to my problems in life? I’m still in verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy. Now I don’t see a lot of people slapping high five and saying, I can’t wait to have a problem. I don’t see us having celebrations and saying, hey man, we got a trial coming, let’s get all excited.

That’s not what he’s talking about. He says count it all joy. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

Look at verse 3, knowing, now stop. God never asks you to check out your brain when you come to church. And the key to your faith is not your feelings, but it’s what you know.

And when you’re walking through the Christian life, there’s many times that your own flesh, your own mind is going to try to convince you to believe things that are just not true. Everything you think, everything you feel is not true. Are you with me? That’s why the psalmist was always talking to himself.

That’s why the psalmist said in Psalm 42, why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within yourself? Hope in God. You know what the psalmist was saying to himself? Pull it together. Put your hope in God.

Not in your emotions, not in your circumstances, not in your trial, but put your hope in the Lord. And what I’m saying to you this morning is that some of you have been walking through the fire, some of you are walking in the fire, or you’re going to walk in the fire, and don’t believe everything that you feel and everything that’s running through your brain. But I want you to rely upon the Lord knowing, look at verse 3, that the testing of your faith produces what? Some translations put it like this, your endurance.

God uses trials to shape your heart. God uses trials to shape your character. So you’re not a quitter and you don’t give up, but that you keep on keeping on for Jesus Christ.

You see, the joy that I have is not that I’m going through the trial. The joy is what I know is the outcome of the trial. How God is going to use the trial in my life to produce spiritual and godly fruit in my heart, how he’s going to build my character.

And so I don’t like the trial, I don’t like the fire, I don’t like the test, I don’t like the difficulties, but I know that God is using it to build endurance and patience into my life. I want you to look at verse 3, that testing. We don’t like tests.

The biggest fear I had when I went to school was the teacher walking in and saying, clear your desk, we got a test today. You ever thought about why a teacher or a professor might ask you to take a test? It would be for two reasons. First of all, he wants to or she wants to know where you’re at and what they’ve taught you.

But they also want you to know where you’re at and what they’ve taught you. And I really feel like that’s what God is doing in our life. He’s putting us through tests in our lives so that A, he can see where our faith is at.

Do we quit? Do we give up? Do we throw in the towel? Where’s our faith at? But he also wants you to know, because some of you are riding the high waves of prosperity and enjoying all the wonderful circumstances, and then all of a sudden the wave crashes and you find yourself in a mess and then you realize, I’m not as strong as I thought I was. I’m not as dedicated to the cause of Jesus Christ as I thought I was. And so there’s the testing of your faith.

And look at verse four as we continue on this outcome, but let patience have its perfect or complete work, that you may be perfect, or meaning mature and complete, lacking nothing. So God’s doing a great work in you. We don’t have time to digest all that, but here’s what I want to get to you.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you see, stay in context. If you’re lacking wisdom in the midst of the test or the trial, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. A lot of you are saying, why, Lord? Why is this happening to me? What are you trying to teach me, Lord? What’s going on here, God? I was enjoying life and then I got smacked upside the head with all these problems and all these testings and all these trials.

You got a lot of questions. Here’s the thing, God will give you wisdom and he’ll give it liberally, generously. He doesn’t play favorites.

He will give you answers. Now, listen to me, may not always be the answer you want. I once took a class called the Theology of Suffering.

Wow. Just the name of that attracted me to the class. But part of the Theology of Suffering is understanding that God does not always reveal the wise and the secret things belong to the Lord.

And the question is, do I have the faith to trust God with what he has revealed and what he has not revealed? Am I willing to walk by faith and trust the Lord, even though I may not have all the answers? But look, verse six, I come to him, I ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven, tossed by the wind. There’s Ahaz being tossed by the wind. He’s in a crisis.

It’s a political crisis. It’s a military crisis. Does Ahaz fall on his knees and seek God for wisdom? Does Ahaz bring his doubts and his questions and his misunderstandings to the cross? Does he come to God for the answers and the guidance for what he needs for his next steps? No! Ahaz melts down.

And like the wind blowing the trees, he is shaken to the core. And the people look at Ahaz, they said, he’s our leader, and if he’s over there melting down, how much more should we be melting down? And now they’re freaking out. And they’re in the midst of panic.

And that’s what a crisis does. It reveals. You see, there are times that God brings trials and testings that jar us from our comfort zones.

It’s easy for you and I to just kind of get in that comfort zone, and all of a sudden we’re getting apathetic. All of a sudden we’re just kind of enjoying the rut that we’re in. And we’re just kind of there, existing, going through the motions, and then bam, God brings something about in our life that shakes us to the core, and the question is, who are you trusting in? Who are you trusting in? Warren Rearsby, many of you have read his books, his commentaries, a great man of God.

I’ve had the privilege of hearing him teach the Word of God. I got all his books, I read everything that he has written. And he said this, and I love this statement, when God’s people go through personal trials, they discover what kind of faith they really possess.

So it’s something for us to think about. We found out that Ahaz wasn’t that strong, and he was relying on the wrong things. You’re going through a trial.

Who are you trusting? Tomorrow a trial might come your way. Who are you trusting in? Second point that I want to share with you this morning is that a crisis requires us to trust God’s promises. That’s why God sent the prophet Isaiah.

He said in verse 3, go now. Go out now. Meet Ahaz.

Go out there. And he didn’t have the opportunity to delay. He just had to be ready.

Some of you work in the emergency areas of life, maybe EMT, fire, police, whatever, hospital. You understand you might be in the middle of something, but as soon as you get the signal, there’s an emergency, bam, you got to go. That’s the way Isaiah was.

He was ready. Whatever the Lord told him to go, go now. Go now.

Go now. And that’s exactly what he did. And he said to him, take heed or be calm and do not fear or be faint hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands for the fierce anger of Razan and Syria and the son of Ramaliah.

What he’s saying is this, don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be afraid of them. Only believe.

And I really feel like when we find ourselves overwhelmed with fear and anxiety in our life about our circumstances and our problems, that the key is to get back to the promises of God. And that’s what Isaiah is doing to Ahaz. He’s saying, remember the promises of God? Look at verse seven.

It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. Why would God make such a bold statement through the prophet? Because Ahaz was part of the Davidic kingdom. Because a promise was given.

A promise was given and it was given in 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 12. It was given that the house of David, he says, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you and who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. God’s got this Ahaz.

Doesn’t look good. A lot of problems around us. Some of you might remember when God called Moses to go to Pharaoh and to get the people set free and all that they went through.

But finally they left. And as they were on this journey that God had them on, there was a lot of detours. There was a lot of different directions.

Instead of a direct pass to the land of Canaan and the land of victory, God took them in different directions. But you might remember that they stood there at the Egyptian armies. They stood there at the Red Sea and the Egyptian armies were coming from the backside.

And there they had the Red Sea. And all of a sudden the people started complaining to Moses. And they said, Moses, did you bring us out here so we could die? Is that why you did it? Did you do this so you could kill us? I mean here the guy put his everything on the line, followed the Lord, and he went out there and let these people, this mass amount of people out of slavery.

And when they get out there, the kindness he gets and the thankfulness he gets is he must have done it on purpose. He must have done it so that we would all be buried out here. But what does Moses do? He turns to the Lord.

Exodus 14, verse 13 and 14. After having heard from the Lord, the Bible says, Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.

For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord, oh here’s a good one, the Lord will fight for you. And you shall hold your peace.

This just thought of brain, just thought it busted in my head right now. Here I’ve been studying and this thought never even came across, but here I just thought about this. I think I’m going to use this verse for these kids beating each other up on the playground.

I’m going to say the Lord will fight for you. Hold your peace. One little boy, he got in trouble and he was sent to my office.

And he looked at me square in the eye and he just said, Pastor Mike, I just want you to know I’m out there defending myself. Oh, I tell you, it’s hard to take it all serious. Honestly, it’s so funny.

But anyways, I want you to know that the Lord will fight for you. That you shall hold your peace. That even through the trial, God is working.

He is not only working for your good, but he is working for his glory. That he’s bringing about his great purpose in your life. And so he is reminding, Isaiah is reminding Ahaz that the plans of humanity, of humans will fail.

And these political kings, it’s all going to fall apart. Go back to verse 1. And I want you to see this. He says they want to come up to Jerusalem to make war against it.

But could not prevail against it. I love this chapter because it’s like we get a summation in verse 1. We get the theme in verse 1. And then the details and the rest. But God’s saying, I’m not going to allow it.

They’re not going to be able to prevail. They’re not going to be able to accomplish it. Why? Because God gave a promise that there would always be a Davidic king.

God gave a promise. And so others may try to replace the dynasty of God and the heritage of God. But they will not succeed because God’s promises are at stake.

That’s why my friends, you and I need to be in this Bible. And we need to be marking up the promises of God. And we need to memorize the promises of God.

And we need to claim the promises of God. And we need to pray the promises of God. And then we need to go out there and stand on the promises of God.

I mean, I’m telling you, sometimes all you’ve got is a promise. Everything else is such a mess. You’re just hanging on to the promise of God.

Every day you get up, I want you to claim a promise from God. I want you to get one of those promise Bibles. Or I want you to be such a student of the word that you’re just in the Bible.

When you look into the Bible, there are questions that I ask. And I’m trying to read this passage. But one of those questions I’m always asking, is there a promise for me to claim? I’m looking for it.

I’m looking for God’s promises to claim. Because I know that His promises are going to encourage me. We go and we look at verse 7. He says, Thus says the Lord God.

It’s the Hebrew word Adonai. It means that the Lord is sovereign. He is sovereign.

He is the master. When you think of the word sovereignty, I’ve told you this before. But church, think of it in this terms.

God is in charge. God is in control. Your world may be a mess.

You may get the bad news. You may receive the information that you did not want to hear. Or that you were hoping would not come.

And you get this news. But I want you to know that the Lord says. That the sovereign God says, I’m in charge.

And though the world is out of control, I’m in control. I want you to be encouraged in that church. I want you to remember what the words of Proverbs chapter 19 verse 21.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man. But it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. So God concludes these few verses with a warning for us.

And as he goes through chapter 7 here. The prophet says it shall not stand. And then he kind of breaks some details down.

He helps Ahaz to understand. How the head of Syria. And the head of Ephraim.

That it will all come to an end. God will take care of it. He will not let them prosper.

But look at this at the end of verse 9. If you will not believe. Surely you shall not be established. It’s a little bit of a play on words in the Hebrew.

It means the idea if you do not cause faith. You will not be considered to be faithful. If you do not cause faith in your heart.

Towards God. Then you will not be established. You will not be seen as a faithful servant of God.

We will learn later that King Ahaz rejects this challenge. And this warning of faith. But I hope today that you and I would do just the opposite.

And that in the midst of our crisis. That we would have faith in the promises of God. What is it that fuels our faith? It is the promises of God.

We are reminded in Hebrews 11.6. That without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of them.

That diligently seek him. God has not called you to walk by sight. Or with all the answers.

But he has called you and I to walk by faith. So being a faithful servant of God. It is not just a one time decision.

It is a continuous journey. In my walk of faith. And as I am in this journey.

There are a few things that are required of me. And I want you to remember this. You might write it down.

But you must constantly renew your commitment to the Lord. Every day church. You say I gave my life to Jesus when I was in vacation Bible school.

Thank you. But every day commit your heart to Christ. Please.

Understand that this is a continuous responsibility. Upon each of us. Is that we continually renew our commitments.

The reason we gather together church. Is to renew our commitments to Christ. As we walk the dusty roads of this world.

And the challenges and the problems of life. Some of us have had some setbacks. We have said things we shouldn’t.

We have done things we shouldn’t have. And we need to come and renew our commitment to Jesus Christ. This morning.

We need to gather in the house of the Lord. And we need to renew our hearts towards Jesus Christ. And get a fresh start for this week.

Amen. I know some of you are perfect. And you have never had a flaw in your life.

But for the rest of us. Let’s renew our commitments. Because life throws us challenges.

And temptations. So we must always reaffirm our choice to follow God. Number two.

Let go of your idols this morning. In this world that we live in. And idols take many forms.

Sometimes materialism, pride. Or even busyness. Careers.

We need to identify what is distracting us. From worshiping. And glorifying.

And serving God. And let it go. Make sure that Christ is preeminent.

Or that he is number one in your heart. This morning dethrone the idols. Before you leave this place.

And enthrone Jesus Christ. As the king of your heart. Once again.

And finally live your life. In a way that reflects. Firm faith.

Our actions speak louder than our words church. Your family is watching. Your children are watching.

Your grandchildren are watching. The church is watching. The community is watching.

Your neighbor is watching you. And how do you handle problems? How do you handle them? Are you filled with panic attacks spiritually? Or spiritual anxiety? And is it breaking you down to where you’re at a loss? It is no wonder that unbelievers would say. Why would we want their faith? It can’t even hold them up in the problem.

Our actions speak louder than words. We should strive to live our life. In a way that reflects the character of God.

He is Adonai. He is the sovereign Lord. He’s got this.

No matter what happens in our lives. We’re trusting Jesus. When you get the bad news.

How are you going to respond? How are you going to handle it? The lesson of Isaiah 7 is simply this. Stop trusting yourself. And trust Jesus alone.

Let’s pray. When we see in Isaiah chapter 7. That Isaiah and the nation of Israel. They’re in a moment of crisis in their life.

And the question is. How will they respond? Ahaz, he backed down. He gave in.

Isaiah stood strong. And this is what God is doing in our life. And we see in them.

Two different responses to a crisis. And God brings trials and circumstances. That will sometimes jar us from our comfort zones.

But we need to be faithful to God. And stand firm in our faith. Knowing that God is with us.

And God is for us. And he is going to be with us. Every step of the way.

So we encourage you to be strengthened in your faith. And to stand firm for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now a reminder to you.

We have a great website. Hopeworthhaving.com And on this website. There are a lot of resources.

There are certainly opportunities for you. To look into their archives. And you can learn so much.

In your study of the word of God. So take advantage of that opportunity. And share with us how God is working in your life.

This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you. That in Christ, There is hope worth having.