Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

I played baseball my freshman and sophomore years of high school, but during one game I made such a huge mistake that I knew it would be pointless to try out for varsity. I was out in left field, and the ball was in hit in my direction, but then I lost it in the sky. I did some quick calculations in my head, and started running to where I thought the ball was going. But I was way off. I should have been running the complete opposite direction. By the time I realized my mistake, the ball had hit the grown, the center fielder had gotten to the ball way before I could. My mistake was that I because I didn’t see the ball, I charged in the wrong direction.

People make this same mistake in life all the time. We go off charging in whatever direction we want to go. But unless we first see our lives the way God sees them, we’ll be charging the wrong direction. But having faith in Jesus Christ, God gives us a vision for His plan for us, so that we might walk in a way that pleases Him.

Read Hebrews 11:22-23, 29-31

The verses we’re looking at today talk about the faith of several people before, during, and after the exodus, as the Israelites left slavery and entered the Promised Land. Joseph and Moses’s parents exercised faith before the exodus. The Israelites themselves exercised faith during and after the exodus. And Rahab exercised her faith as the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land. But the faith that they had was all fundamentally the same faith. They had a faith that believed God. They saw what God was going to do, and was doing. As a result, they did certain things by that faith. They charged toward God’s vision.

Faith sees what God sees. Joseph saw what God had prepared for his descendants. How did Joseph know about the exodus? God had shown Joseph that the exodus was going to take place. Moses’s parents saw that the child was beautiful in the eyes of God. The Israelites saw a sea dry up and a wall crumble down. And even before the wall crumbled, Rahab saw what God was about to do to Jericho.

If we want to practice a genuine faith in God, we have to first see things the way God sees them. What we think about God’s plan for us makes a huge difference in our determination to follow that plan. At the end of every episode of the Biggest Loser, a contestant is sent home to finish their weight loss journey there. Before going home, the contestant says a few words about their experience on the show. Recently, one contestant named Kate said this after she was eliminated. “The hardest part about leaving is that I just got started figuring things out…It’s time for me to get healthy. No more feeling sorry for myself. Now is not the time to waste. Being here for these three weeks has taught me that being healthy isn’t a chore, it’s a gift. And, I don’t think I can do this at home. I know that I can.” Are you as determined to follow God’s plan for your life?

We’ve got to start seeing ourselves the way God sees us. We’re forgiven. There’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We have the Holy Spirit inside us. We’re sealed in the Spirit. We’ve become children of God, co-heirs with Christ. We have peace with God, victory over sin. We’re more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. So we ought to say with confidence, “I don’t just think I can live in a way that pleases God, I know I can by the power of the Holy Spirit inside me!”

Denis Waitley, an American speaker and author, wrote, “It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.”

“But we’re just one small church, what can we do?” We have the power of the gospel, we have the truth of God, and we have God Himself on our side! And all this is true when we’re in Christ. But before we get to that point, we first need recognize that we’re sinful before God. We don’t even deserve to be in His presence. But God’s vision for us was that we trust in Christ.

The exodus is an awesome illustration of trusting Christ. Just as the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, we were all in slavery to sin. And when the Israelites trusted God and crossed the Red Sea on dry land with a wall of water on each side of them, we need to trust in God and come to Him through the one path that He’s given us: Jesus Christ. And just as the water surrounded them on both sides, we’re to follow Christ in baptism, not so that we might be forgiven, but to show the world that we truly trust Christ, and desire to obey Him in everything.

God doesn’t desire that we have some vague faith in whatever we want. There are a lot of things out there that we might have faith in. God doesn’t just want us to pick one. God desires that we see ourselves as He sees us, and that we see the solution that He’s given us. That we’re sinful people. And that Jesus Christ is our Savior from sin. Faith sees what God sees.

Faith charges toward God’s vision. Joseph not only saw God’s vision regarding the exodus, but he believed it and made plans because of it (v. 22). He believed God’s vision. So he wanted his bones to be in the Promised Land as well.

Moses’s parents hid Moses away. Even though the law was that they should turn him over to be killed. We’re to follow God even at personal risk, even if it means disobeying the law of the land. The Israelites crossed the Jordan, and they marched around Jericho. We’re to follow God even when we might look like fools. We gladly become fools for the sake of Christ.

Rahab welcomed the Israelite spies when they were checking out the land of Canaan. Once again, she did so at personal risk. But she knew that God was on their side, and she knew that once God’s plan came about, she would be at even more risk if she were not on God’s side. Not only should we see what God wants to do, but we should embrace the vision and walk in it.

I enjoy reading this magazine every month called “Popular Photography.” One article interviews a photographer who specializes in photographing skydiving. One question asked him, “How do you deal with the fear?” He responded, “You learn to embrace it. You accept the fact that you might die but don’t want to, and you make sure to have both your survival and camera gear prepared for the moment. Once I’m at the ready state, waiting for a jump with people lined up behind me, my mind clears out and I go into automatic.” This guy’s willing to risk his life for his job! Are you willing to risk your life for Christ?

It’s not enough to say we believe God. If we truly believe Him, we’ll live according to what He says. The joy will overflow from our lives, because we can’t keep it in. Those who don’t walk by faith don’t have a future to look forward to. The Egyptians didn’t believe God’s promise to the Israelites, so they were drowned when they tried to stop the Israelites. All of the rest of those who lived in Jericho besides Rahab and her family perished because they didn’t believe God. It calls them disobedient. They heard about the Israelites going through the Red Sea. They heard about how God had fought for them to bring them to where they were. And know they knew what was coming next. God was giving them their land because of their disobedience to God. But they didn’t believe God, so they didn’t surrender to the Israelites.

The first thing we must do by faith is surrender to God. Surrender to God’s vision for your life.

God also has a vision for each one of you. God desires that you see yourself as He sees you. God desires that you trust in Christ. God desires that you surrender to His will.