Faith is presented as a continuous journey of obedience and trust in God's promises, not explanations, as exemplified by Abraham's life. The sermon outlines five key aspects of walking by faith: faith brings us out of our old lives, brings us into God's provision, brings us back after failure, brings us through challenges, and leads us onward to new horizons. Abraham's willingness to yield to Lot, his focus on God's "I will" rather than "they will," and his respect for divine boundaries illustrate how faith enables believers to live victoriously and contentedly, trusting God's ultimate provision and purpose.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.30 → restored 4.55
Certainly good to see each one out tonight for the ministry of the Word of God. Let us look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, you have commanded that we walk by faith and not by sight. In thine infinite grace you have made every provision for it. And we pray that by thy grace this may be our portion. in order that Christ Jesus the Lord will be glorified in and through our bodies which are thine. We thank you for this privilege of asking you to come in and give ability in teaching and to give the ability to listen, to hear, and to obey.
We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. When you trusted Christ as your Savior automatically, instantly, and without your suggestion or even your application, you were enrolled in school. God automatically enrolled you in the school of faith. Now the school of faith is a difficult school and you will never graduate from it until you get the glory. Life is a classroom where you live, where you work, wherever you happen to be. And the Bible is a textbook. The faculty is listed in Hebrews chapter eleven.
And the dean of the faculty is that great man of faith, Abraham, who walked by faith for one hundred years. Now we're working out of Genesis chapters twelve and thirteen. Two weeks ago we looked at Genesis chapter twelve and the beginning of chapter thirteen on the walk of faith. How to walk by faith. And I want to finish that message tonight. The three things that we learned from Genesis chapter twelve and thirteen is first of all that faith brings us out. God said to Abraham, Get thee out of thy country from thy kindred and from thy father's house into a land that I will show thee.
Faith brings us out. And I pointed out that you can always tell a man of faith by his ears. He hears the voice of God. For faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. His ears. Abraham listened to God. God gave Abraham promises. He did not give Abraham explanations. God doesn't owe me an explanation. He doesn't owe me any promises. But he gives us promises, not explanations. The world today is looking for explanations. but God has given his people promises. Faith brings me out.
Faith and man of faith is known by his ears. He hears the voice of God. But second, the man of faith is known by his eyes. The scripture tells us in Acts chapter seven concerning Abraham that the God of glory appeared to him when he dwelt in Heron in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Heron. In other words, he saw the glory of God, and from that time forth Abraham looked for a city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God. But you can always tell a man of faith not only by his ears and by his eyes, you can tell a man of faith by his feet. Abraham came into the land.
He walked. He put one foot in front of another till he came to the land of Canaan. Faith brings me out. But then we also learned that faith brings me in. Faith brings me in. And there in the land of Canaan, we learned two more things. When faith brought him in, of the man of faith. Number one, he dwelt in a tent. He was a pilgrim. While God gave to Abraham all of the land of Canaan, he never settled there. He continuously looked for a city that had foundations whose builder and maker is God. He dwelt in a tent. And then... You can tell the man of faith not only by his tent, but you can tell the man of faith by his altar.
His altar. He worshipped the Lord. The man of faith. He walked by faith. Faith not only brings me out, faith brings me in, but then third, we notice that faith brings me back. During a time of trial, Abraham went down to Egypt, and there, under trial, he failed. before the man of faith had listened to the I will of God. And when he listened to the I will of God, he never got in trouble. But when he said they will, oh, he got in trouble. He said, they will. And he forgot all about God. And my friend, when you look at the they will instead of the I will of God, you're going to be in trouble.
I don't care who you are. I don't care where you are. You're going to be in trouble. We need to hear the I will of God. God said to Abraham, I will bless you. I will make your name great. I will do these things for you. When he went down to Egypt, he said to his wife, you tell a lie, they will. And he really got in trouble. In fact, he was escorted to the border of Egypt by the Egyptian army when he left. The man of faith can fail. But all beloved, we ended last week. God brought him back. For faith brings you back. And it's possible for us to fail in our Christian experience. We're not always living on the mountaintop.
Because on the other side of the mountain there has to be a valley. Otherwise there wouldn't be a mountain. And you see God brought him back. And he brought him back to the place of the tent and the altar. Where it was at the beginning. Having Bethel, the house of God on the one side. And a heap of ruins on the other. Between Bethel and Ai. between the house of God and a heap of ruins. And that's where we are in our pilgrimage with God. We have come from a heap of ruins. And we're moving on to the city of God. We're really moving on to the house of God, aren't we? The Father's house in which our Lord says there are many abiding places.
Faith brings me out. Faith brings me in. Faith brings me back. And now we come to number four tonight. Faith brings me through. Faith brings me through. Genesis chapter thirteen. And we begin our reading at verse five. Genesis thirteen and verse five. Faith brings me through. We read in verse five, And Lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents. And the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together for their substance was great. so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land.
And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be brethren. I've often said, if only Dr. Bob and Dr. Billy could have said that to each other, let there be no strife between us, for we be brethren. All that would have avoided a lot of ugly problems. But none of them would. Neither of them would. Abraham is a great man. For a man to be able to say that. This shows how great he is. And the reason why faith brings us through. We'll notice in a moment. Verse nine.
Abraham says, There's not the whole land before thee separate thyself. I pray thee from me. If I will take the left hand and I will go to the right, and if I depart to the right hand and I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as Arkhamist unto Zohar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves, the one from the other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.
Faith brings us through. Abraham now has a new problem to face. This time it's a family problem. A lot had herds and flocks and tents, but we never read. that he had an altar. We never read that Lot had his ear tuned to the voice of God or the word of God. You never read that Lot had his eyes fixed on the glory of God. You never read that Lot had his feet walking in the path of God. All you know about Lot is that he had tents and he soon gave up his tents for a house inside.
You see, the land was not able to bear them. That's what the scripture says. The things that they picked up in Egypt got them in trouble. And the things that we collect in our Egypt, beloved, when we go out into the world, they'll get us in trouble and they will drag us down eventually. If I can learn this in the walk of faith, it's going to help me. Everything Abraham got in Egypt got him in trouble. He was given wealth by Pharaoh as atonement money for bothering Sarah, his wife. That got him in trouble. Anyone who thinks that money solves problems hasn't thought.
Now money can help, but it doesn't solve the problem. You see, Abraham picked up Hagar down there. I'm convinced that's where Hagar came from. He got her in Egypt. By the way, what do you compare things to? What do you compare things to? Isn't it amazing when Lot looked for a place, he looked for something like Egypt? I'm amazed, beloved, in this humanistic age in which we live, how many people who profess to know the Lord compare everything to Egypt?
The world system in which we live that he's under the judgment of God. To what do you compare things can be a good barometer as to your relationship with the Lord? You see, these two men couldn't dwell together. How sad. The Bible says in the hundred thirty-third Psalm in the first verse, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together. Abraham said the lot. Let there be no strife between us, for we be brethren. They were brethren, but they couldn't dwell together. It was neither good nor was it pleasant. How sad.
How sad. You see, there was a strife between the herdsmen. Where the fight come from? Where does strife come from? James chapter four tells us, From whence come wars and fighting among you, come they not from your lusts, which war in your members? And every kind of war, no matter whether it's an industrial war, a religious war, an economic war, a domestic war, an international war, I don't care what kind it is, they all come from lusts of war in the members. And this strife here between brothers, men who claim the Lord as their own, came from lust which warred in their members.
Why can't God's people get along? You know, sooner or later you're going to have to face this question. Why can't God's people get along? We're either going to face it now, or we're going to face it in the presence of God at the judgment seat of Christ. It's going to be faced. You can't avoid it. Abraham couldn't. You see, here is a worldly man named Lot. And here was a man of faith by the name of Abraham who was walking with the Lord, who had his tent and his altar. He was a godly man. And Amos chapter three, verse three asks the question, how can two walk together except they be agreed?
And there's bound to be problems between them. But Abraham was a great man, he said, Let there be no strife between us. You see, the man of faith, I want you to get this. The man of faith doesn't have to worry about what he gets. And when we talk about what a man would get, we're talking about the corruption that he's in the world through lust. He doesn't have to worry. The man who believes God's, I will. He can say, I will. You see, that's what he said to Lot. He said, if you go to the one way, I will go the other. He had heard God's I will.
God had said to him, Abram, I'm with you. I've given you this land. I will bless you. I will make your name great. And he heard it and he believed it. And the man who has really heard God's I will, he can say, I will. and he isn't worried about it. See, a lot lifted up his eyes. What did he see? Well, let me tell you what he didn't see. He didn't see the glory of God. You see, he saw the well-watered plain of Jordan. And you know what? He saw that it was like the land of Egypt. Oh, he said, that's for me. A woman told my wife something this week.
I wish I wouldn't have heard. She told about a relative of hers, a girl. She had to have a sixty-five dollar pair of sunglasses. Sixty-five dollars. My wife said, oh, they must have been prescription sunglasses. Oh, no. She just wants to keep up with the crowd. Said, don't they know anything? of the need of mission. I tell you, some of our ways, beloved, make me weep. The prophet Jeremiah said, My soul shall weep in secret places because of your pride.
We're living in the nades we think of because we have it, it's ours, and I'll do with it what I like. Well, you do with it what you like. It may look good to you. But you're going to give an account at the judgment seat of Christ. Just as sure as we're here together tonight, we're going to give an account. Lot looked. He lifted up his eyes. He didn't see the glory of God. He saw that which looked like the land of Egypt. Egypt was his ideal, friends. He chose the plains of Jordan and he traveled east. Abram brought Lot out of Egypt. but he never got Egypt out of Lot.
You know the Halls who used to fellowship with us from Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Hall, we had a lot of fun together. I used to say to his wife, you can take Bob out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of Bob. He was a Texan all the way. From his boots to his belt to his rachal. He was a Texan all the way. But a lovely man. Lot was out of Egypt. But Egypt. wasn't out of lot. You see, beloved, faith brings us through. Now, you may disagree with what I'm going to say. And the reason I say that is because I want you to listen to what I'm going to say.
You see, you may disagree with this. I would rather face a famine in the land of Canaan than a family feud. I'd rather face a famine in the land of Canaan than a family feud. There's a great burden today. Why aren't the saints of God getting along with each other? Ever think it over? It's not right. It's not right. You see, faith brings us through. You see, Abraham didn't grasp. This is mine.
He didn't have to. Abraham lived by faith. And faith brings us through. Who cares where you live? God is going to give me the whole land anyway. He had heard God's I will. Who cares where you live? You see, when you own everything, nobody is a threat to you. Ever think that through? When you own everything, nobody is a threat to you. How much do you own? Well, we're studying First Corinthians most Sunday mornings. This morning we digress. But in chapter three, the last three verses say, Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours.
How much? How much? All things are yours. And then he goes on to enumerate whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death. or things present or things to come, all are yours and you are Christ and Christ is God. Do you believe it? See, no one's threat to the man who owns everything. And God has made us by divine grace heirs and joint heirs to Jesus Christ. Faith brings us through. Whenever God wants Whatever God wants you to have, you're going to get.
And no one is a threat to you. And you don't need to bite your fingernails. You don't need to worry about it. God will provide. And don't need to worry about competition. There isn't any in the body of Christ. There shouldn't be any. Because God has gifted every member of the body And if we're going to serve God with what we have, not with what the other brother has. We're always worried about how the other man's going to serve God. Let's use what we have for God. Anybody who knows me knows I can't sing.
There's so many things I can't do. I can only use what I have for God. And if you have something for God, use it for God. There's no competition in the body of Christ. There shouldn't be. But let's get on with the business. You see, Abraham was a peacemaker. He wasn't a troublemaker. Why? He lived for the eternal. That's why. He wasn't living for this world. He was living for the next. He wasn't living for the immediate. In fact, Abraham was living for that which was going to last forever. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
He was walking by faith. And I tell you, beloved, when you walk by faith, You can hang loose on this world and it's good. Lot, take whatever you want. And Lot made his choice. You see, beloved, faith brings us out. Faith brings us in. Faith brings us back. And faith brings us through. Now we have one more lesson that faith wants to teach us. Faith leads us on. Faith leads us on. Verse fourteen, Exodus, or Genesis thirteen. And the Lord said unto Abram, After that lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward and southward and eastward and westward.
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered arise. Walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed these tents and came and dwelt in the plain of memory, which is in Hebron and built there an altar unto the Lord. Faith brings us on. It always encourages me to realize that and to know that on the other side of the problem is a blessing.
Now it's easier to say that when you're not facing a problem. It's easy to face that when you're in the midst of terrible pain. You see. But on the other side of it there's a blessing. When you're in the middle of a problem it may not seem that way. But faith brings us on. You see. The Lord said unto Abram. And we're back now, you see, to the eyes of faith. Lot lifted up his eyes and he saw Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen, the first time that Abraham got into the land, God said, Here's your land. For faith brought him in. Now he says, Look at the whole horizon.
Look as far as you can to the east, to the north, to the south, to the west. Look every way, Abram. And as far as you can see, friend, is the horizon. You can't see beyond it. And I'm always amazed when I'm at the ocean. It always seems that you're going uphill on the ocean. It seems that the ocean goes up to meet the sky, you see. And you see out to the horizon. I remember watching in Bermuda one day. Phyllis was with me. A championship tennis match between Jimmy Connors and Ili Natasi. We were down at the Great... South Shore Princess, and we had to stand way up on the road looking down on the tennis court.
And Phyllis got away from me. She got tired of tennis, you see. And she was down the road sitting on a pole, on a post, you know, and there she was watching a ship on the horizon. She said it was so peaceful just watching that ship. come across the horizon on as far as she can see. God says, lift up your eyes. Lift up your eyes to the horizon. When he brought Abram into the land, he said, this is your land. Walk through it. What did he tell him? He said, Abram, when you learn how to respect boundaries, I will give you horizons.
Many say today, I want to be free. Give me my freedom. And I want it now. You see, so God will give you horizons when you learn to respect boundaries. And most people haven't learned to respect boundaries. You see, Abram violated God's boundaries. He left the land to get down to Egypt. And he got him in trouble. But thank God, faith brought him back. Faith brought him back. And you see, and when he brought it back, he pitched his tent there with his altar between AI and Bethel. And he said, Okay, Lord, now you draw the line and I'm going to respect it.
You see, he said, Lord, you make the boundaries. I'll respect it. In other words, what is God's word saying? Oh, it was just yesterday afternoon I had a discussion with a man on the sin of incomplete obedience. It was Mr. McNeil, by the way. We were discussing First Samuel chapter fifteen. Saul's incomplete obedience. He just did part of what God said. And he said, I've done it all. And Saul fell. And then poor King Saul, he said to Samuel, honor me now before the people. But Saul, you're losing your character. Yes, but I won't honor. It doesn't work that way.
You can't lose your character and have honor. Incomplete obedience. God had us say this all through the prophet Samuel, you have not respected boundaries. You see, when Abram got into trouble by not respecting boundaries, faith brought him back and then he said, you draw the line to the Lord and I'll do it. God said, okay, I can trust you now. Now look each way. You see, the eyes of faith, he saw the vision. The ears of faith, he heard God's voice. the feet of faith, he walks through the land. Now claim by faith what God has given you.
That's what God is saying to Abraham. Take a good look. Look at all I've given you. Claim it. Claim it. Claim it by faith. You see, the ears of faith heard God's promise. You can tell a man of faith by his ears. The eyes of faith, he saw God's provision. You can tell a man of faith by his eyes. The feet of faith, he stepped up by faith and he claimed what God had promised to him. Claim the promises that God made. Now, in verse eighteen we read that he removed his tent and he built his altar.
So right here, faith brings me on. You have the five characteristics of a man of faith. His eyes, his ears, His feet, his tent, and his altar. No wonder he was living at a place called memory at Hebrews. These two names are wonderful, you see. Memory means fatness. And Hebrew means fellowship. That's where he was. The names in the Bible are not just put there casually, their meaning. This is where Abram was. Faith brings us on.
You see, Abram was satisfied because he was walking with a Lord. This is what faith does. Here are five lessons in the walk of faith. How to walk by faith. Now here are five ministries that faith wants to perform in our lives. First of all, faith brings us out. I have a question. Are you anywhere you shouldn't be? Are you anywhere you shouldn't be? Faith brings us out. It's the only thing that will really bring you out.
You see. But then second, faith brings us in. When God brings us out, He brings us in because He has something far better. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Oh, do we claim this by faith? Claim it, beloved? It's true. Faith brings me up. They might bring me in. God took Israel out of Egypt in order that he might bring them into Canaan. And when he got into Canaan, they ate the old corn of the land. And they rejoiced at Gilgal for the burden of Egypt was rolled away from them. Faith brings us out.
Faith brings us in. But then faith brings us back. You're going to be tested. You're going to be tested. There isn't, the Christian life is not a life without tests. It is not a life without problems. It is not a life without difficulties, but faith brings us back even when we fail. He restores my soul, is what the psalmist said in Psalm twenty-three. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I'll tell you, the other Sunday afternoon, as I sat at the funeral in Mevan for Mr. Braxton's brother, and Brother Lemley from the First Baptist Church there, he read the twenty-third psalm.
I don't know what you do at a funeral, but I always enjoy listening to someone read scripture. I always get something. I don't care who it is. This is one of the reasons I wish more men at the Lord's Supper would simply read the scriptures. All beloved to read the scriptures. Well, as he was, I'll get off the track if I'm not careful here. As our brother Lemley read those words, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I thought I wonder when David wrote that. Did he write that before his son Absalom usurped the kingdom?
Would have he said that when Absalom, his son, that he really liked above the others? Would he usurp the kingdom and would have killed his father? And David had to run away from Jerusalem? And he wept as he crossed the brook Kidron. And then with Shemi I coming out and throwing stones at him and cursing him. And all the way until he got to a place called Mahanaim. But then my mind, as I was listening to Brother Manway, I thought, Oh, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. At Mahanaim, who was there? A man by the name of Barzilia. And Barzilia brought basins and beds.
and towels and water and cheese and milk and all kinds of good things. And he took care of David. David a fugitive became David the protector. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. You see, faith is tested. And we can easily fail. But faith brings me back. It brings me back. But then faith brings me through. I got through one problem, but there's another.
There's another problem. Faith brings me through. And then I learned something. Faith will keep on bringing me through. And walking by faith. And worshiping by faith. And living for God. because God can be trusted. How to walk by faith. I don't want to be redundant, but faith brings me out. It brings me in, it brings me back, it brings me through, and it brings me on. Are you going to permit faith to minister to you these five lessons?
Well, if you're going to walk by faith, you're going to have to. You can't avoid them. How wonderful to learn them. And then when you're going through the problem, you say, Lord, I've read about this in the life of Abram. I'm no different. Oh, bring me through and bring me on. I want to live by faith. For the scripture says we walk by faith, not by sight. God gives us promises. He doesn't give us. explanation. Oh, the life of faith, the most exciting thing there is, and it's the most blessed. Oh, may God enable us to walk by faith.
Next Lord's day evening, we want to look at how to war by faith. Now let's pray. Our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we bow before thee. And we thank you for the ministries of faith We thank you where it began. It began with hearing the word of God, and you saved our souls. Faith cometh by hearing. But we thank you that as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, we are to walk in him. And we have the blessed privilege, O God, of going on with thee, claiming our promises and rejoicing in the horizons when we respect boundaries.
Grant our God. that this may be our portion day by day for Jesus' sake. Amen.