Fearless Faith

FEARLESS

For seven years, Shirley, my Filipina wife, and I had a tradition. Each day even if we both worked 10 or 12 hours, we would end that day by sitting down together and watching Ang Probinsyano with Cardo Dalisay and Task Force Agila on TFC, the Filipino Channel.

This was a drama about a small band of heroes who went against all odds to take on the very powerful and evil people who wanted to control the Philippines. The show captured the hearts of many Filipinos and non-Filipinos.

I think part of it is because deep inside we all wish we had the courage and strength to stand up to the bullies of this world. Deep inside we too want to stand up for what is good and right no matter what the cost is, but at times fear and doubt gets in the way.

One thing you may not know about me is I love history. I read a lot of books about people and events of the past. Because of this love for history, some of my favorite books of the Bible are Old Testament books like 1st and 2nd Samuel.

What you find in the historical books of the Old Testament are heroes that really lived and make the fictional characters of Cardo and Task Force Agila seem less heroic.

The key to the courage and fearlessness of the Old Testament heroes was not their strength or abilities, but it was the Lord who worked through them to do the impossible.

In, Joshua 23:10, God gave this promise if Israel was obedient to Him “One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you.”

There are many examples of people who were able to do the impossible. One of my favorite stories is found in 1 Samuel and the hero is King Saul’s son Jonathan.

At that time, Israel had been attacked by a much stronger army of Philistines. Saul had recently become the first king of Israel but they were still mostly a bunch of farmers with no real army. The Philistines wanted to take advantage of that fact and many of the Israelites became scared and went into hiding.

Jonathan was with a young man who was assigned to him as his servant. That is where the story picks up in -

1Samuel 14:6-14

6 Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will work for us. For nothing restrains the LORD from saving by many or by few."

7 So his armorbearer said to him, "Do all that is in your heart. Go then; here I am with you, according to your heart."

8 Then Jonathan said, "Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them.

9 "If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them.

10 "But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and this will be a sign to us."

11 So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, "Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden."

12 Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, "Come up to us, and we will show you something." Jonathan said to his armorbearer, "Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel."

13 And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they fell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them.

14 That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about half an acre of land.

Jonathan had no fear. He climbed up into the Philistine stronghold where an army of men were and took them out like one of Cardo’s fight scenes.

The fight was heard from where Saul had his camp in Gibeah, and soon they joined in the fight. Also those hiding in the mountains of Ephriam joined the fight too and by the end of the day the Philistines were in full retreat.

Jonathan, with the Lord’s help saved the day and protected Israel from their enemies.

The Old Testament has a lot of example of those with a fearless faith in their Lord that allowed them to do courageous things.

About 15 years after Jonathan’s battle another young man stepped forward with a fearless faith. That young man was David. The Philistines once again threatened Israel using a Giant named Goliath. It wasn’t his skill or ability that gave David the courage to face Goliath. It was his faith in the Lord Almighty!

This is what he had to say to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45 and 47

45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

47 "Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’S, and He will give you into our hands."

David won that battle and many others throughout his life. The courage he had to stand up to Goliath and others was found not in his own skill, but by knowing that God was with him as he stepped forward in action.

David also had his failures and at times his courage was tested. He wrote Psalm 27 during one of those times. The Psalm is believed to have been written around the time Absalom, his son, tried to overthrow him and take his kingdom away from him.

I would like us to look at this Psalm today to see how King David viewed what it meant to have a Fearless Faith.

In the first three verses of the Psalm we see that a -

I. Fearless Faith comes through Confidence in the Lord

Psalm 27:1-3 says

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.

3 Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident.

David doesn’t talk about himself at all when it comes to his courage and fearlessness. He focuses entirely on the Lord.

He says three thing about the Lord. First that the Lord is his light. Second that the Lord is his salvation and thirdly that the Lord is his strength. Let’s look at each one of these.

First, “The Lord is my light”. In contrast to the darkness David felt because of the surrounding enemies who wanted to take his life, the Lord provided a ray of hope that allowed him to keep going.

When you are in the light, no darkness can touch you. Light shows you where to go and how to move forward.

Have you ever noticed when you become fearful of something you freeze and cannot move? But when you have God guiding you, you have no fear of where to go because He lights your way and shows you where to go.

Not only is the Lord our light, but he is also our salvation. Yes the Lord is our Savior. Even before Jesus was crucified for us sinners, salvation was still the same as it is today. The difference is only one of perspective.

We now look back at the cross to see that Jesus did die for our sins. Salvation is through faith in that fact.

Before Christ came, salvation was also by faith. The Old Testament saints looked forward to the provision they knew the Lord would one day provide. That is why David could say in –

Psalm 32:1

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Another passage related to this, which is one of my favorite verses in the Bible is

Job 19:25-27

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;

26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

That is just an amazing faith. Job lived before Abraham over 4000 years ago and he knew and believed that one day a redeemer would come and save him and raise him up from the dead so he could one day see God.

Getting back to the passage in Psalms where David said, ‘the Lord is my salvation’, I believe that David not only was talking about eternal salvation, but also salvation from his present situation.

In verse 2 David said, When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.

David saw that his enemies did not fall because of him, but because the Lord caused them to fall. The Lord was the ones that saved him from his enemies and that is why he could say ‘whom shall I fear?’

Thirdly, David said, ‘The Lord is the strength of my life’. It is the Lord that gave him the strength to do the impossible. Strength indicate the action done by David. David did not sit back and let God do it all.

Yes, the Lord gave light to David’s path and saved him through circumstances and gave him strength, but David also had to act, to step forward in fearless faith with the courage to do the right thing.

But he could do it because He knew the Lord was right there with him guiding his every move. That is why David could say in verse 3, Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident.

That confidence is what creates a fearless faith.

In verses 4-6 of Psalm 27 we have our next point which is -

II. Fearless Faith Desires God’s Presence

Psalm 27:4-6 says,

4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

Some Bible scholars have suggested that when David wrote this Psalm he was running from Absalom. Part of the reason for believing this is because of his reference to the temple here. Since he was running from Absalom, David was also running away from Jerusalem where the temple was.

The temple was the place that God set aside to be where true worship would take place. This was a thousand years before the indwelling of the Holy Spirit started at Pentecost. The closest you could get to God was to come and worship at the temple.

David said he had only one desire, it wasn’t security, and it wasn’t the defeat of his enemies. The one thing he wanted to seek for was the ability to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. He wanted to be as close to the presence of God every moment.

Not only did he want to dwell in the house of the Lord, it says he also wanted to inquire in the temple. The word inquire is the same Hebrew word that is translated as seek earlier in this verse. The Hebrew can be translated as inquire, seek or search. In other words, he wanted to learn more about God and become more intimate with Him.

One question here - how do you think you and I compare to David and his desire to be in the presence of the Lord? That is something we should think about once in a while. Why do we come to church? Because we have to? It’s a nice way to socialize with our friends? To worship God?

For David it was his desire to worship the Lord for all He has done and will do for Him.

In verse 5 David expresses his confidence that God would protect him from his enemies. He said, “For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.”

David knew the Lord would protect him, that he would hide him in places where his enemies couldn’t reach him. Because of that confidence in God’s care for him the result in verse 6 is that David couldn’t not help but to sing songs of praise to his Lord.

Now some of you might hear what I’m saying and be thinking, I’m not as strong and courageous as David. My faith is just not that strong. Let me read you something written by Lloyd Ogilvie. He said the problem is not one of needing more faith –

“Most of us have been raised with the idea that faith is something we must produce before God will act.

Therefore, if He does not act immediately we diagnose the difficulty as our lack of faith. Such a belief exposes a profound misunderstanding of God as well as the nature of faith. If God is all knowing, all powerful, and all loving, would He wait for us to conjure up the right qualifications?

More than that, the Bible is undeniably clear that faith is a gift, not something we produce. Faith is a gift from God to us. The quality of our faith is not what prompts God to act. Faith does not produce an intimate relationship with God; an intimate relationship with God issues in faith.

Faith is the outer manifestation of an inner heart in communion with God. The more of Him that dwells in our hearts, the more faith we will have for our problems. Faith is our response to the loving presence of a God who comes to us in our problems.”

In other words what Ogilvie is saying is if you want more faith seek a closer walk with God. Learn more about this all knowing, all powerful, and all loving being. Pour out your heart in prayer. Read His love letter He sent to you called the Bible.

The closer you walk with God, the more faith you will have and the more faith you have the more fearless you will become.

We have seen how a fearless faith comes through confidence in the Lord, and how a fearless faith desires God’s presence. Now let’s look at the third point which is –

III. Fearless Faith Requires Focus on The Lord

Psalm 27:7-10

7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8 When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek."

9 Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me.

In these verses David pours out a prayer to the Lord to protect him. Even the person with the strongest faith still has thoughts of fear from time to time. The key is not to act upon that fear, but to give that fear to the Lord.

Look at verse 9. David pleads, “Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.” It’s almost as though the moment David says these words he remembers God’s promise, because then he says, “When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me.”

He knew God would take care of him. He just needed that reminder. Prayer focuses our thoughts on the Lord and his promises rather than our problems.

In verse 8, God told David to seek His face. When you go to talk to someone, the best way to talk is face to face. In this modern age of texts and emails a lot of people don’t talk to others face to face.

But you know what I have found? That a lot of times written words can be misunderstood. I have experienced and I’m sure some of you have experienced times where you wrote something to someone and the next thing you know they are mad at you.

You try to find out what happened and what it was that they took the wrong way. It truly is best to talk to someone face to face so there are no misunderstandings.

Prayer is our face to face time with God. When we pour out our thoughts to Him and listen to Him remembering the promises He has given us in the Bible.

One of the greatest prayer warriors I have ever heard of was George Muller. Muller lived for 92 years between 1805 and 1898. He is most well-known for the orphanages he started in England that provided homes for thousands of children. He was also well known for the fact that he never sought out wealthy donors or held fund-raising drives, but depended through prayer that God would move others to give.

When asked how much time he spent in prayer, George Muller's reply was, "Hours every day. But I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk and when I lie down and when I arise. And the answers are always coming," he said.

George Mueller understood the power of prayer. By living in the spirit of prayer, he was prepared to see the answers from God that would glorify God.

One day, things looked bleak for the children of George Muller's orphanage at Ashley Downs in England. It was time for breakfast, and there was no food. A small girl whose father was a close friend of Muller was visiting the home. Muller took her hand and said, "Come and see what our Father will do."

In the dining room, long tables were set with empty plates and empty mugs. Not only was there no food in the kitchen, but there was no money in the home's account. Muller prayed, "Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat."

Immediately, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, there stood the local baker. "Mr. Muller," he said, "I couldn't sleep last night. Somehow I felt you had no bread for breakfast, so I got up at 2 o'clock and baked fresh bread. Here it is." Muller thanked him and gave praise to God.

Soon, a second knock was heard. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. He said he would like to give the children the milk so he could empty the cart and repair it.

So in the end, the children had no lack of food that day and Muller’s thanks and blessing for the food that he knew God would provide came true.

I am convinced, that it is because Muller was in a constant spirit of prayer that he understood the power of prayer and saw the results of prayer.

That should encourage us too, to be like George Muller, praying, thanking God for the provisions and blessings that he will give us before we even receive them.

Lastly, if we are living the life of fearless faith, then it is our responsibility to share that faith. That is because a –

IV. Fearless Faith Encourages Others

Psalm 27:11-14 says,

11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.

12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.

13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.

14 Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

Even though David had plenty of experience of the Lord’s deliverance, he still wanted more of the Lord in his life. When he said “teach me your ways”, he was expressing his desire to know God more.

The one thing David had already learned was that it is not a vain thing to hope in the Lord. Take a close look at verse 13. He said, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.”

Lloyd Ogilvie, who I mentioned earlier also had this to say. “The key word in this Psalm is heart. The Hebrew understanding of heart included intellect, emotion, and will. (what we also call the soul) The psalmist’s heart was troubled by the dangers around him because of his enemies. In this magnificent psalm we witness a human heart as it experiences first panic, then perspective, then power, and ultimately, the gift of peace through faith in the goodness of God.”

The expression ‘to lose heart’ in verse 13 means to lose hope. David was saying that his mind and emotions and will would have lost hope in life itself had he not completely been convinced and persuaded that he would see the goodness, the blessing, of God, not only in the future in heaven but in the land of the living, in other words here and now. David knew that tough times don’t last and the Lord will bless his own, even here in this life.

At this point David turns and speaks to those reading this Psalm in verse 14. What David went through in his life would have destroyed lesser men, but because of his experience with the Lord’s goodness he wanted to encourage others.

He tells the reader to wait upon the Lord. The Hebrew word for ‘wait’ can also be translated as hope, that hope David says, gives us the courage to wait for the strength He will provide us.

Do you hold on to the hope that you will see the goodness of the Lord in your life?

Have you courageously stepped forward and done things that you felt were beyond your capability only to see God step in and provide for you?

It is true that we probably won’t face enemies trying to kill us like David did, but our lives still can be scary sometimes. There are a lot of things that can overwhelm us, that seem bigger than we can handle. But when we put our trust in God, they are overcome and you get to see the hand of God working everything out.

Shirley and I will have been married 9 years this coming November. Looking back on it a lot has happened in those 9 years. First, Shirley learned to drive. I don’t know which of us was more scared during that time, Shirley or I, since I was teaching her.

Then I had to learn what to do and did all the paperwork for Shirley’s Green Card. When we started I didn’t know if I was capable to do all the paperwork. We then had the interviews which always makes one nervous. Everything went smoothly and the Lord calmed our fears concerning the process.

Then we turned around and did the same thing for her citizenship.

On top of that was two trips to the Philippines. The first time was the first airline flight I took in over 30 years. I wasn’t sure what to expect with that.

We also moved 4 times in 9 years and we had one of our biggest challenges last year when we closed on a home and became home owners.

When you trust in God you can step forward with fearless faith in God and have the courage to do what you did not think you could do because your hope is in the Lord and not yourself.

Conclusion

In my conclusion I would just like to ask a few questions.

How has the Lord been like a light or a stronghold in your life?

Is seeking the Lord’s face your first priority or is it second or third?

In your relationship with God, is He closer than your parents or more like a distant relative you have only heard about?

What will it take for you to become better acquainted with the Lord?

Also have you lost heart in this life or are you believing that you will see the goodness of the Lord in your future?

Hope in the Lord, and be courageous! Have a fearless faith that others will notice!