Your Walk of Faith is Not for Nothing

Preached on March 24, 2024

There is a guaranteed reward at the end of your journey. Do you believe this? God has made an oath on two immutable things when it comes to His promise of salvation. Do you trust the Lord? While many will deny God and His promise, God shows us that He is committed to us. Join Pastor McCrary for this Palm Sunday sermon to close out the “On the Path to Glory” series. Your walk of faith is not for nothing!

Introduction

When I think of Palm Sunday, my soul grows very happy.  Why does my soul grow happy?  Because I consider God’s love – His commitment – to us.  God is committed to us and in His commitment we have hope.  Salvation unto everlasting life in the kingdom of God should be our hope.

In today’s sermon we will see that not everyone wants you to have hope in your heart.  Many will wonder about why you are so committed to going to church.  Many will wonder why you are so committed to praying to a God you can’t see.  Many will wonder why you are still so faithful.  You see, there are many people that believe faith is pointless.  Why?  Because God ‘doesn’t answer prayers’ and there is ‘no reward in the end’.

In my key verse, the writer of Hebrews stated that our hope rests on two immutable things that make it impossible for God to lie.  Do you believe in what God has promised?  Or, have you brought in to what others say that all of this is for nothing?  If you have, I want you to understand that your walk of faith is not for nothing.

God is Faithful to His Promise

Your walk of faith is not for nothing because salvation has been promised by the Lord. Something that we must understand is that God is faithful to what He promises.

For those of you that will say to yourself, “Pastor, I have heard that line before, but God isn’t faithful to me.”  I want to show you that God is faithful and then get you to consider why you think He isn’t faithful to you.  

God’s proven faithfulness

 God made a covenant with Noah to never again curse the ground nor destroy every living thing because of man’s sin.  God also promised Noah that seasons will still occur along with seedtime and harvest (Gen. 8:21-22).  I would say that God has kept His covenant with Noah because life goes on.  If anyone is trying to destroy the world, it would be mankind trying to destroy itself.

God made a covenant with Abraham and promised to make him a great nation (Gen. 12:2).  God promised to give him and his descendants land (Gen. 17:8).  Well, through Abraham was born Isaac, through which was born Jacob.  Jacob, later named Israel, had twelve sons through which came the twelve tribes of Israel.

God also promised Abraham that through him all families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3).  Well, through the seed of Abraham came David who was promised that his kingdom would be established forever (2 Sam. 7:16).  Through David came Mary, who the angel Gabriel told would give birth to the one that would sit on the throne of David forever (Luke 1:32-33).  Jesus, who came from the womb of Mary and said to Nicodemus, “whoever believes in Me will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”

This same Jesus willingly laid down His life to be our propitiation— the atonement offering for our sin.  This same Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to David and to Abraham.  This same Jesus fulfilled the promise that God made to the devil in the garden about his defeat (Gen. 3:15).  Yes, this is the same Jesus that has made traveling the path to glory possible for all families of the earth!

So, God has proven He is faithful to His promise!  In Hebrews 6:13, the writer wrote of how God can only swear to Himself since there is no one greater.  You see, God is faithful to Himself first before He is faithful to you!  God is not going to cheat Himself nor is He going to lie to Himself.  So if you say that God is not faithful to you, ask yourself, are you faithful to Him?

Do you truly believe and trust in the Lord?  James wrote that when one asks (prays), they should ask in faith, with no doubting (Jas. 1:6).  James concluded that those who doubt and are of no faith should not expect to receive anything from God (Jas. 1:7).  I want you to understand that since God is faithful to you, you ought to be faithful to Him in return.

Turn From the Denier

Anyone who denies that God is faithful, John wrote, has a certain kind of spirit.  In 1 John 4:3, John wrote that those who do not confess that Christ has come in the flesh are of the spirit of the Antichrist.  The spirit of the denier denies that the salvation of God has come!

You and I have to be conscious of those who have the spirit of denial.  As much as you may desire to stay on the path to glory, they will do their best to knock you off the path!  Again, they will wonder why you are still so committed to the Lord as they attempt to poke holes in your faith.  Those who have the spirit of denial will also preach a word to you against the promise of heaven. 

These are those that work against the Spirit and they are very active in blaspheming.  How often has anyone pointed to what you don’t have and then said, “God must not love you”?  It often makes me wonder, why do they want us off the path to glory so badly? 

As you have heard me say before, they believe they know what is better than the promise of God.  What can possibly be better than the promise of hope?  The lust of the flesh and the riches of the world?  Those that blaspheme the Spirit will have their reward, but you must not join in with them (Luke 12:10).

To those that would tell you that your walk of faith is for nothing, turn away from them immediately.  To those that would tell you that your hope is in nothing, turn away from them immediately.  To those that tell you what you can’t do, turn away from them immediately.  As Jesus said of such, they are of their father, the devil, and there is no truth in them (John 8:43-44).

The Oath of God

The truth is that Jesus promised, “if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23).”  The truth is that you should never doubt God’s faithfulness because faithfulness is His nature.

With this in mind, the writer spoke of how God was determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel (Heb. 6:17)— His faithfulness.  The “heirs of promise” are all who confess faith in their hearts.  So, to show the immutability of His counsel, the writer tells us that God confirmed it with an oath.

Let’s be clear about what the writer meant by this statement.  For all of us who are of sincere faith, we should understand that God has made a promise to us with a vow (pledge) on top of it.  When someone makes us a promise, many of us are so numb to people breaking their promise that we think little of them.  However, if someone makes a promise and a vow along with it, we take the promise a lot more seriously, right?

God doesn’t have to ever make both a promise and a vow to us!  Yet, God has made a promise and pledge about what He is going to do for us!  Not only has God made an oath to us, but in my key verse, the writer said God made an oath on two immutable things!  So, God is very serious about what He has promised to all of us!

First seal of the promise

For the first seal of God’s promise to the heirs of salvation, let’s look to Christ.  In John 6:38, Jesus said, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  Jesus then said, “this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life (John 6:40).”  This is clearly Jesus promising there is an eternal reward of salvation through faith in Him.

At the Feast of Passover, Jesus instituted the new covenant between God and mankind.  Jesus gave the disciples the bread and said to them, “this is My body which is given for you (Luke 22:19).”  After supper, Jesus took the cup and said, “this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:28).”  

By the next day, Jesus was hanging on a cross between two criminals like He was a criminal.  Jesus was shedding His blood for us as a seal of God’s promise to us.  Our salvation was sealed in that same moment when the thief said to Jesus, “remember me when You come into Your kingdom (Luke 23:42).”  At that moment Jesus looked at the thief and responded, “Assuredly, I say to you, today, you will be with Me in Paradise (Luke 23:43).”

Assuredly, Jesus assured the thief with authority over his salvation!  Assuredly, what Jesus says to you when you make your confession of faith known to Him.  Assuredly, is what Jesus responds to you when you cry out to His name in your prayers!  You see, Jesus’ assurance to me is why I don’t care for what the denier has to say to me!  I know that my hope rests on the assurance from the Lord!

Second seal of the promise

For the second seal of the promise, I want you to see what God said to Jeremiah about the new covenant.  In Jeremiah 31:33, God said to Jeremiah, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.”  The Mosaic Covenant was engraved on stone tablets but the new covenant is engraved on hearts.  The engraving of the new covenant on the heart of the believer stands as a seal of God’s promise.

Now, I don’t want you to think that God has written anything on the heart in your chest.  Let’s take a look at what Jesus said to the disciples in John 16:7 to begin answering this question.  Jesus said to the disciples, “It is to your advantage that I go away.”  Why did Jesus say that to the disciples?

Jesus said to them, “if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.”  The Helper, Jesus said, is “the Spirit of Truth” (John 16:13).  The role of the Spirit of Truth is to guide believers into all truth- the divine truth.  The Spirit of Truth declares what is of Christ to all who are of sincere faith (John 16:14).  What is it that is of Christ?  Salvation.

In John 7:38, Jesus spoke of those who can receive the Helper.  Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  John then clarified for us that Jesus said these things concerning the Holy Spirit whom only those that believe in Christ can receive (John 7:39).

The Spirit of Truth, the Helper, is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of promise to all who confess Christ in their hearts!  As Paul made clear to those in the church of Ephesus, I make clear to you, the Holy Spirit has also sealed our salvation.

Since the Spirit of Truth abides with me, why should I concern myself with the lies and conspiracies of the denying spirit?  Why should I give thought to those who don’t know nor have the truth?  I shouldn’t pay much attention to their words, should I?  So, why do so many of us believers give those with a denying spirit so much of our attention?  

There is no need of letting their doubt and denial rub off on us!  What good will that ever do for us?  Will their words help us make it down the path to glory?  So, why listen to them?

Don’t Let Go of Your Hope

The giving of Christ and the Holy Spirit, as an oath to God’s immutable counsel shows us just how committed He is to us.  The last thing any of us should ever do is give up on God, especially based on the words of those with a spirit of denial.  You should trust the Lord and be faithful to His word!  As you go down the path to glory you should be faithful and confident in the Lord!

My word to you today is to rest assured in the hope and the promise of the Lord.  My word to you today is to rest assured in what God has sealed for you.  When someone tells you that your walk of faith is for nothing, smile with confidence in your heart.   

God has promised and sealed that He will give you the desires of your heart (John 15:7-8).  God has promised and sealed that He will away all of your burdens when you cast them onto Him (Matt. 11:28).  God has promised and sealed our deliverance from sin.  Let us understand that God has promised and sealed our eternal peace and joy!  I repeat to you that God’s promise is our hope!

With these things in mind, in Hebrews 6:19, the writer said, “this hope we have as an anchor of the soul.”  Others may say that your faith is for nothing!  Others may say that your walk of faith is for nothing.  I want you to know that your faith is not for nothing!  There is a reward for your faith and that reward has been sealed!

So, don’t you ever let go of your hope!  Don’t let those that deny the Lord knock you off the path to glory.  No, your hope in the promise of God is your anchor.  Don’t ever let anyone rob and take away your hope!  You hold on to that hope and you will reach glory!