Matthew 20:29-34 – Faith Is Essential – Bible study

Matt 20:29-34 Faith Is Essential Sometimes I concern myself that I do not preach often enough on the very basics. While everything in the New Testament is important (and there are a lot of things there), some are critical for us to get than others. There are a lot of such topics. 1. We need to get sin and repentance. 2. We need to understand Jesus and His death. 3. We need to know of prayer and confession. 4. We need to know about forgiveness, both getting it and giving it. And the list goes on. Tonight, I preach on one of those simple but very important topics – FAITH. I. Consider the importance of faith. A. I have described it before as essential, and so it is. 1. No sinner ever got saved without faith. 2. No Christian ever got a prayer answered without faith. 3. No human being ever pleased God without faith. Hebrews 11:6 But 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. B. When it comes to God, everything depends upon your ability to believe. 1. I make much about using our mind (logic, facts, truth) to effectively argue for our faith. a. I believe a thinking person will accept a Creator. b. I believe a reasonable person can be convinced that the Creator is a caring god. c. And I believe that an intelligent person can be convinced that our God is that caring god. 2. However, we are still arguing FAITH. a. It is called faith because even using logic and reasoning, we must believe in what we cannot see, touch, or experiment with. b. So when it is all said and done, the first and last step of a walk with God is one of faith. c. There simply is no getting around it. C. It is obvious that you have some faith or you would not be here tonight. 1. Thankfully, a little faith is all that God requires. Matthew 17:20 If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 2. However, as Christians, we should exercise our faith; that is, we should use our faith often and with each passing day, we should be able to believe God for bigger and more difficult things. a. I am not advocating quitting your job and believing God for the lottery. b. But the Bible does teach us to "walk by faith." 2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) c. The Bible tells us that Gods righteous is revealed to this world by the faith of His followers. Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (1) That would indicate that God wants more people to have faith in Him and more individuals to walk in faith more of the time so that He can demonstrate His righteousness. (2) When was the last time we caught a vision of what God could do? (3) When was the last time we determined to be the vessel through which God worked? (4) We should be stirring our faith that God might be made manifest to the world around us. II. How do we stir our faith? A. Faith is born of a vision. Pro 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: 1. These blind men had a visiona spiritual dreamto see. a. This is a difficult topic to discuss in todays world. b. So many have used the word VISION and FAITH to describe their own private revelation of God to them. (1) More times than not, they end up telling their listeners that in their private revelation, God told them that everyone else is to send them money. (2) That is not what we are speaking of here. c. However, here, I am speaking of catching a vision of what God can do. (1) We don’t have enough people catching such a vision. (2) We are told we don’t live in the day of miracles. (a) I don’t believe anybody ever did. (b) They just believed in God, caught a vision of what God could do, then believed God into the lives of a frail human race. d. These men believed that God could give them back their sight. (1) They must have believed in a big God. (2) They must have believed in a caring God. (3) They must have believed in a personal God. e. We dont have enough people visualizing what God can do with us and for these days; but it is my belief that God is still big, that God still cares, and that God is still personal. 2. The kind of vision that I am speaking of can not be of our own making. a. It must come from God. b. God not only gives us the ability to believe, but God also must tell us what He is wanting to do. c. This is very complicated, because sometimes God wants to give us something we already want and sometimes God wants to give us something we have never imagined. (1) God wanted to give these men something they wanted. a. They were blind and what blind person would not want to be healed? b. The problem with this kind of miracle is some carnal Christian reads into it that God always wants to give us the things we want. c. Then we end up with a false impression of faith being a tool for our own selfish pleasure. (2) God wanted to give Moses something he never imagined. a. God wanted Moses to stand before Pharaoh and lead Israel to the Promised Land. b. It is obvious in this situation, that God gave to Moses not just the ability to believe but the object to be believed in! d. Whether it is obvious to us or not, the object we are seeking from God by faith (the vision) must always have come from God. e. These blind men caught a vision of what God wanted to do for them. (1) God wanted them to see. (2) If this had not been a vision sent from God, all of their desire and faith that it would happen would not have made any difference. f. You and I need to catch a vision of what God wants to do with us. 3. What can we do to catch kind of this vision? a. Visions come when we catch a glimpse of the power of God and the need of man. (1) Gods power has not been limited. (1) Mans need has not been met. b. Somebody ought to be able to catch a dream of what God can do? c. The greatest works of God in this world came when ordinary men had a vision: (1) Abraham got a vision of being a great nation. (2) Moses got a vision of Israel going free. (3) Joshua got a vision of Israel taking the Promised Land. (4) David got a vision of the giant being defeated. (5) Daniel got a vision of Israel going home. (6) Nehemiah got a vision of the rebuilt temple. (7) Paul got a vision of the world knowing Jesus. 4. I note that the vision these men had lead them to a deeper understanding of Jesus. a. They no doubt heard rumors about Jesus power and the miracles that were associated with His name. b. But they had probably heard rumors like this before. (1) No doubt, if you were blind in that day, hanging out with others who are blind, you would probably hear rumors like that from time to time. (2) But somehow, what they heard about Jesus was different. (3) So they began to ponder what they were hearing. (4) They begin to wonder, "If the miracles are true, how can this be?" (5) Then, these blind men, by faith, saw something that a lot of others werent seeing! c. They saw who Jesus really was. Matthew 20:30 Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. (1) By faith, they saw that Jesus was God and the promised Messiah that should rule and reign over the earth. (2) Their vision of healing lead them to a vision of who Jesus was. d. So it will be in your life IF you walk by faith. (1) Walking by faith will take you into a deeper relationship with Christ than you have ever been. (2) You will see things and fellowship with Him in ways that you never dreamed possible. (3) But first, you have to catch a vision of what God can do. 5. When was the last time we dared to dream for God? B. Our faith must be molded by knowledge. 1. In attempting to see what God can do, we must always temper our vision to Biblical knowledge. 2. Real faith can be impulsive at times but it will never contradict the knowledge that God has revealed. 3. Where do we get knowledge? a. The main place from the Word of God. b. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will give us some truth and sometimes we pick some up from others, but the most reliable is always the Scripture. 4. Anytime God leads, He will lead in according to what He has written in His Word. a. Sometimes God may lead you into a place that the Word does not speak about. b. So let me make the same statement in another way. c. God will never lead a child of God to do anything that is against the Word of God. C. Faith will be manifested in our actions. 1. These men had a vision that they were going to get their sight back. I believe they understood that this would happen through Jesus Christ. a. But how do they get to Jesus? (1) Jesus was always on the move. (2) It would be hard to locate Jesus with sight, but to hit a moving target without sight would be impossible. b. Then, one day, they heard Jesus was pass by. (1) I wonder if they were even surprised. (2) If they expected God to heal through Jesus, I imagine they also expected God to bring Jesus to them. (3) And God did. As they waited, Jesus walked down their street–but He didn’t stop! Jesus walked by them. (4) Now they’re surprised. c. Are they going to let Jesus walk by? (1) NO! They began to call out to Jesus. (2) Others rebuked them but they would not be silenced. (3) They believed that God was walking right in front of them! (4) They believed that He could heal them. (5) They were going to shout until they were heard. d. Because their faith lead to an action, Jesus stopped and gave them what they believed they could have. 2. I notice that, more times than not, faith is accompanied by actions. a. The action doesnt have to be hard, but there is usually an action. (1) All these men had to do was to call out. (2) Jesus told a paralyzed man was told to stand. (3) he told a blind man to wash in the Pool of Bethsaida. (4) Ten lepers were told to go show themselves to the priest. b. I suspect that our action will probably be some how tied to the desire that God has given to us. (1) These men only wanted to receive from God. (2) If you want to give to God by faith, I imagine the actions that God will require of you may be more difficult. c. If you are not willing to do anything with your faith, you probably are not going to receive anything from God. D. Faith is matured in adversity. 1. No sooner than these men began to move, someone tried to stop them. 2. When you make a decision to walk by faith, to fulfill Gods desire, if there is not any adversity in your life, it will come. a. After Israel left Egypt, they ran into the Red Sea. b. After Israel crossed Jordan, they found Ai. c. When David saw Goliath, his brothers mocked. 3. That may scare you a little bit, but it is really all right. a. Seeing God work in that adversity will make your faith stronger. b. In our through the Bible reading, I am reading about Moses. (1) Moses started over pretty timid. (2) God gave him a vision of what he was to do and Moses, reluctantly obeyed. (3) You would think God would have taken it easy on Moses, but He didnt. (4) God threw Him in the fire. (a) His wife got upset about circumcision. (b) The magicians reproduced all of Moses miracles. (c) Pharaoh took away the peoples straw. (d) The leaders of Israel were beaten. (e) All the people hated Moses. (5) When it looked like things couldnt get much worse, Moses went and talked with God. Then God rolled up His sleeves and started working. (6) Before long, Moses stands before millions of people who are angry and filled with doubt, but he has a calm assurance in God. c. If you will walk in faith on through your adversity, youll get it too. (1) A lot of Christians get knocked out at this point. (2) They catch a glimpse of what can do; they run their vision through the sieve of God’s Word; they start out doing what they are supposed to do; but then, in the adversity, they get discouraged and quit. (3) Don’t! 4. Adversity can take many forms: a. Adversity of uncertainty. Just dont know. b. Adversity of blocked roads. Its just not possible! c. Adversity of failure. I tried but nothing happened. d. Adversity of persecution. Everyone is making fun. e. Adversity of suffering. If this is Gods will, why is this happening to me? It is my belief that God wants to do things today. He wants to do those things with us, but He cannot unless we use our faith. With it, we can get a vision of what He wants to do. With it, we can move this world toward Jesus Christ. Will you commit tonight to being a soldier of faith?