Ron Dunn Podcast - Faith's Highest Act

Episode Date: October 25, 2017

Ron Dunn preaches from Hebrews 10:11 on Faith.

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. 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.

Now there are several amazing things about that verse, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Now there are several amazing things about that verse, but you know the one that just amazes me most of all? As I was reading this again last night, it just jumped out at me. To me it is the most startling fact of the universe, and it is this, that God can be pleased. That God can be pleased. And that God can be pleased by me. That a holy God, a righteous God, whose eyes are too pure to look upon sin,

can so reveal himself to me and can so bring about a work in my life that I, a sinful, unholy, fallen human being, can please God. Now the startling thing about that is that I can't even please man, but I can please God. The most frustrating thing in life is if you feel like you have to please everybody all the time, you just cannot do it. And I learned some time ago that as a pastor the best way to develop an ulcer and to end up threatening to leave the ministry if your ministry doesn't leave you first is to try

to please everybody in that church. And I discovered one day that there's no possible way that I could please everybody, but I could please God. And I was trying to do something even God couldn't do because God himself can't please everybody. And yet I can please God, and so I decided that the one criteria of my life was this, I should please God.

And I'd like to submit to you this morning, if you want to make just one goal that encompasses and envelops all the goals of life, that this could be the goal. If you simply determine in your heart that you will please God, then I think everything else will fall into place. Now, I say it's a startling thing that I can please God, that God can be pleased. Now, I used to read that verse and read it like this, that faith pleases God, but it is not faith that pleases God. It is man that pleases God, but he does it by faith. I made a statement the other day, and I have been reading again to check up on my statement.

I want to make certain it was accurate, and I believe it is, that faith doesn't do anything, but it is men that do things through faith. Faith is that quality of relationship to God that enables us to do and to be everything that God wants us to do and to be. Now, I can please God, but apart from faith, it is impossible to please him. It is impossible to please God. That makes faith indispensable in the Christian life. It's not optional equipment. It's not a luxury item. I had a dream last night about buying a new car. It wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare. When I found out the price and the smallness of the car, you know, it's an amazing thing. Only Americans could do this. They lightened the car by 700 pounds, shortened it by 10 inches, and had $1,000 for the price. That'll give anybody a nightmare.

And I was going over all the luxury items and the optional equipment that you can add, too. Well, there's some things in the Christian life that are not luxury items, that are not optional equipment, and faith is one of them. It is standard equipment. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And the word please is in a tense that indicates it is impossible to please him at all. You could translate it like this. There is no possibility that you can please God a single time, not a single time, without please. And the word please was used many times in the New Testament in the idea of rendering acceptable service. And the idea of that statement is that there is not anything that you and I do, any service that we render, any worship that we give, that is acceptable to God,

that God is pleased with, unless it is done by faith, through faith. Now, he goes on to say, it is without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is. Now, I want to show you something this morning, as best I can. What does it mean to please God? What is the life that pleases God? Now, he makes two statements. He says it is without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must

believe. Now, what the writer is saying is he's really saying the same thing two different ways. Those two statements are in juxtaposition to each other. You know what it means to please God? It means to come to God. Pleasing God is coming to God. Do you see that in that statement? Without faith it is impossible to please God.

That's one way of saying it. The other way of saying it is this, for he that cometh to God must believe. So what that verse is saying to me is this, that the life that is pleasing to God is the life that is always coming to God. What does it mean to please God? The life that is pleasing to God is this, he that cometh to God. That's what pleases him, he that cometh to God. Now, I want to tell you that the Christian life has a God focus to it. It has a God focus to it. While God is pleased with our going to man, yet that is not the basis of all pleasure. And that is not the basis, the fundamental basis of the Christian life.

It is this, he that cometh to God. That is what pleases him, is that man that comes to God. Now, the word come is used several times in the book of Hebrews, and it's always used as that means of approaching God by the sacrifices, either of the Old Testament or of the New Testament. And basically, it is the word for worship. He that comes to God in worship. he that comes to God in communion, this is the life that pleases God. The word come, and I don't want to sound like a dictionary this morning, but somebody once said that the holster

in which the sword of the Spirit rests are words. And so words are very important. And while I may risk sounding like a dictionary, yet I think for me to lay the foundation I want to lay, it's necessary for us to understand these words. The word come means to come continually, come habitually. It indicates a characteristic of life. And what he's saying is this. That life that pleases God, that man that pleases God,

is one who is characterized by habitual worship. His whole life is a constant life of communion. He is in continual fellowship with God. He is in continual communion with God. This is the primary exercise of faith. Now, the startling thing that I began to realize as I read this, and of course I love to read Hebrews 11, I love to read what all these folks did by faith, how that they conquered kingdoms, and how that they overcame death, how that they escaped the sword, and how that they had their dead raised back to life, and how they quenched the violence of fire, and how they shut the mouths of lions. And you know i'd like to get in on some of that there have been a few mouths that i'd like to shut at times and uh

there have been a few times when i would like to escape several swords but i want you to understand hebrews 11 6 is basic that's an introduction to everything else now the greatest listen to me the greatest exercise of faith and we may say the greatest exercise of faith, and we may say the greatest evidence of faith, is not your working miracles, it's not escaping the sword, it is not overcoming the lions in the den. The greatest exercise of faith, and at the same time the evidence of faith, is living in constant communion with God. The greatest thing that God does, the greatest thing that faith enables me to do,

is to come to God, to live constantly with a God awareness. Now, that is the life of faith. It is living in fellowship with God. Now, out of that fellowship with God grows all of these mighty feats of faith. It is living in fellowship with God. Now, out of that fellowship with God grows all of these mighty feats of faith. But before Abraham could ever do anything tremendously miraculous, first of all, he had to live in fellowship with God. Before Daniel could ever close the mouths of the lions, he had to first of all live in constant communion with God. And so desperate was he to live in communion with God that when the king said, anybody

that's caught praying to Jehovah will be put to death, Daniel not only continued to pray, but he continued to pray by a window, not only by a window, but by an open window, so that everybody that passed by could see. Now, that's that confidence we were talking about the first day, the courageous confidence in God. I heard Dr. J.P. Macbeth, God rest his soul, I miss that man. And I just, I never could conceive of that man dying. But the Lord took him. But I remember one day in 1961 or two, he was in our church and we were fellowshipping one night after the service and in his own unique way he said you know everybody talks about brave Daniel you know brave Daniel dare to be a Daniel he said

Daniel wasn't brave he said Daniel was afraid Daniel was afraid and I said well what in the world was he afraid of he said Daniel was afraid of prayerlessness he said Daniel was afraid of prayerlessness. He said, Daniel was afraid of prayerlessness. He said, Daniel was more afraid of prayerlessness than he was of lions. And you know, that made quite an impact on me, brother. And Daniel was able to close the mouths of lions by faith. Why? Well, because first of all, he was a man who lived in constant communion with God, and he feared prayerlessness more than he feared the king's warnings and the king's threats. So

everything else that you and I do in our Christian lives, whatever feats we may perform, whatever miracles we may see come to pass, first of all are based and founded upon this, he that cometh to God, he that lives in constant communion with God. Now, he that cometh to God must believe. Without faith it is impossible to believe. What kind of faith? What's the direction of this faith? He that cometh to God must believe.

All right. If I want to live a life of constant fellowship with God, if I want to live in continual communion with God, the lines of communication open where I speak to God and where God speaks to me, where I walk in the conscious awareness of his presence, what must I believe? I must believe something in order to do that. What must I believe? Well, there are two things that he said we must believe.

First of all, he said we must believe that God is real. And secondly, we must believe that he is a rewarder. Now, I want us to look at those two statements this morning. First of all, he says he that cometh to God must believe. Believe what? Believe that he is. Now, I must confess to you, I have struggled and struggled and struggled over that statement. Because if a man's going to come to God in the first place, he believes that he is. Right?

I mean, what is the use of saying if a man is going to come to God, he must believe there is a God? I mean, that would be ridiculous for me. You say, well, you don't say, well, I'm going to God, but of course I know there isn't a God, and that he doesn't exist, and I don't believe in God, but I'm coming to God anyway. Well, that is absolutely ridiculous. And for a long time, I had a time figuring out what sense was made out of that statement. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. Well, doesn't a man already believe that he is if he comes to God? Not necessarily. I'd like to share with you what I believe this means. I think there are three statements that I want to make, if I can remember them. I can remember two of them right now, and I'm trusting the Lord to remember the third one for me. All right, number one,

what he's saying is that he that cometh to the God, the God, must believe that he is, and he is contrasting, now listen carefully, he is contrasting the false God with the true God. And what he's saying is this, if a man is going to worship God, if a man is going to approach God, he must believe that the same God that revealed himself to the fathers that he's been talking about in the first four and five verses, the same God that spoke and revealed himself to the fathers, that same Jehovah,

that same covenant God that he still exists today. And what he's saying is this, friends, if you're going to live in fellowship with God, you've got to have the right concept of God. You've got to have the right concept of God. That's what he's saying. And the technical language that the writer is using indicates that he is referring to

the Jehovah, the God, not just a God. He must believe that the God exists. It is not merely believing in the existence of a God, but it is believing that that same God who spoke out of the fire, that same God who quenched the fire, that same God who shut the lion's mouth, that same God who gave a good testimony and report to those fathers, that same God with whom Enoch walked, that same God that Abel worshiped, that same God exists for us today, and we still live in fellowship with that same God, that he is a contemporary God, that he is not a God of the past, but that he is our contemporary, and that same

God is the one that you and I are fellowshipping with. Now, as I said, he is saying to us that we must have a right conception of God. Now, there are two gods today, and in every Christian service, every Sunday morning, there are two gods that are being worshipped. There is God as he is, and there is God as we conceive him to be. Now, I want to tell you, you do not worship God as he is this morning, and this is why we're having trouble living in fellowship with him. You worship God as you conceive him to be.

See, your worship is limited by your conception of the God you worship. If you have a false idea about God, then your worship is going to be false, and you're going to be worshiping a false God. And I am convinced this morning that a great many Christians, when they walk into the service on Sunday morning and start worshiping God, they're worshiping a false God, because their worship is dictated to by their conception of God. You worship the God as you conceive him to be. That means, then, that your conception must be right. Your conception must be accurate.

Your conception must be right on target, or else you're not going to be worshiping God at all. And is this not the reason that most of us walk away Sunday morning after worship without ever being changed at all? I remember hearing Manley say several years ago that worship is meeting God, a confrontation with God in which he never remained the same. Now, that's basically what you said, and I believe it. That's absolutely true. You find those men in the Old Testament, every time they had a divine encounter with God, something happened. There was a permanent change in their life. There was a permanent moral change in their life. All right, why is it then, why is it then that we come to church on Sunday morning and we

go through all the rituals of worship and yet we walk away unmoved, unchanged, untransformed? It is because we have not met God, and the reason we have not met God is because we are worshiping not the true God, we are worshiping a false God, even though we call him by the true name. The reason is our conception of God is not right. It is not on target. That's why the Bible has so much to say about what kind of being God is. Now, the first and most essential study for the believer today is the study of God, to know what kind of person God is, to know who God is. And that's what Jesus came to do, you see. Jesus came to explain

God. He is the Word of God. He is God expressing himself. And Jesus said, he that has seen me has seen the Father. For instance, let me illustrate this. You remember the woman at the well. Jesus and this woman began talking about worship. Now listen carefully, watch this. This woman talked about coming to this mountain to worship. Now, that was her conception of worship, that you had to worship God at a certain time in a certain locale. Now, I want you to listen carefully. I'm not going to say what I'm really wanting you to get

because I want you to figure it out yourself, but I'm going to help you a little bit in case I'm not being clear enough and you understand what I'm saying. We have a false concept of God if we're saying that God has to be worshipped in a certain way. And if we're saying that there are certain ways, there are certain things that you have to do, and there are certain things that you have to feel, and there are certain expressions that you have to make in order to really be tuned into God, you're worshiping a false god. That is a false god.

This woman said, you have to come to this mountain to worship, and listen to what Jesus said. Jesus said, God is spirit. First of all, lady, understand what kind of being God is. Then he talks about how to worship, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. You see what he's saying? He didn't say, first of all, you've got to worship in spirit. He said, first of all, understand what kind of being God is.

God is spirit. Your conception of God is wrong, lady. You have a material, physical, national, racial conception of God. You think that God is the kind of God that is limited to one place, is limited to one manifestation, is limited to one expression, therefore you can only worship him in one place, at one locale? He said, you're wrong, you're wrong. That's why your life is like it is.

He said, God is spirit. God is not confined. God cannot be limited. He's bigger than your system of theology. He's bigger than your system of theology. He's bigger than your doctrine. God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in, not truth, but in reality. It must be real, genuine worship, and it is not real worship unless it is worship in spirit. First of all, you get your conception of God right, then your worship will be right.

All right? Come on over to 1 John 1. And John says, These things have we written unto you, that you may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. The whole purpose of the letter, he says, is that we might all join in this great fellowship with God, living in communion with God. These things I am going to say to you,

I'm saying so that you may have fellowship. All right, what does he say? The very first thing he says is a statement about the nature of God. You cannot have fellowship without knowing what kind of God he is. He says, God is light. And if we walk in the light as he is in the light, you see,

your walk is determined by your concept of God. Your concept of God determines your worship, it also determines your walk. Listen to what he says, Be ye holy, because I am holy. First of all, get the nature of God right, and then your walk and your worship will be right also. Have I made that clear? Do you understand what I'm saying?

You've got to have the right concept of God. All right, where do you get that right concept of God? Back in the 1800s, Bishop Hanley Mule, who was one of the great Bible scholars that has ever lived, made this statement. He gave a warning. He warned against the danger of an untheological devotion, of an untheological devotion, a devotion that is careless of and indifferent to its foundation. There's a tremendous little book I'd like to recommend to you. It is by John R. Stott.

And the name of the little book is Your Mind Matters. And in that book Dr. Stott says that one of the great dangers of modern-day Christianity is that we have a mindless Christianity, that we are like the unbelieving Jews of Paul's day who have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. We have a lot of enthusiasm but not much enlightenment. And you check me out and see if I'm not saying the truth today, that today doctrine and theology has fallen into disrepute and we are suspicious of it. And today the thing is experience.

Doctrine is what separated all of us believers, so let's quit worrying about doctrine and theology. Let's just love each other. Let's just love Jesus, you see. Let's just praise Jesus. And the problem is most of us are not praising Jesus at all. We're praising a false god. Now, friend, you cannot worship God, you cannot praise God,

unless you first of all know who God is, and your faith must have a theological a doctrinal Foundation or else it is simply subjective and has no anchor to it whatsoever at all And you hear it in phrases like this. Well, just believe well what I heard somebody say It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe that's mindless Christianity Have faith in faith. That's Norman Vincent Peale. Have faith in faith. Now, that is nowhere stated in the Bible. That's about the worst theology.

You see, it doesn't matter what you believe. Just have faith. That's the thing. I heard a man say the other day, you've got to believe in believing. You have to believe in believing. And you've heard it like this. Love is the answer.

Love is the answer. So just love. Well, what is love? Oh, don't bother me with all those doctrines. Just love. You see? Now, you check it out. You know I'm telling the truth, that we have gotten so subjective in our Christianity today.

We're living so much in the realm of our experience that we have lost our moorings and our foundations, and we don't want anybody bothering us with old musty doctrine and old traditional theology. Let's just love and rejoice and praise God. But, friend, you cannot do that if it is an untheological devotion. And the writer of Hebrews says, He that cometh to God must believe that this is the God. He must have the right concept of God. He must have the right concept of God. He must have a right concept of God.

And the right concept of God is revealed in the book. And it's this. I want to tell you, one of these concepts of God is that a God meets you in his own way and in your own way. And any time you try to limit God to working any one particular way and manifesting himself in any one particular way, you have then begun to worship a false God. And one of the interesting things about Hebrews 11 is the way God differently manifested himself to people. You know, I was reading through this the other day, and I guess I've seen it before. You know how it is. There's some things that have always been there, but you haven't seen them. And I love, I say,

I love that latter part of Hebrews chapter 11, where the author really gets to move it. You know, you can see this preacher up here looking at his watch, and he's saying, time fails me to talk about so-and-so. And that's what he says. But then he goes through that tremendous litany of the heroes of faith. He says, "'Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of sword, and of weakness were made strong, waxed, valued, and spiked, turned to fight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured.

They must not have had faith. If you believe in God, you are going to escape that torture. Not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Oh, well, they could have accepted it, but they chose not to. Well, okay, for a minute I thought that, you know, let's go ahead and read. And others had foul, uh-oh, wait, cruel mockings and scourging, yet moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were sawn. They were sawn asunder. Doesn't say anything here about choosing it. They were sawn asunder. They were tempted, were slain with the sword. Now, some over here escaped the sword, and others were slain by it. Isn't that interesting? Now, I want to tell you

something. Isn't it true that most of the time we look upon faith as that tremendous power that gets us out of all of the suffering and the trials and the hard things? Folks, that's all we ever hear about. I want to tell you something, and I hope you understand the spirit in which I'm saying it. Most of the time we'll hear somebody say, Praise God, I believe him, and I was cured of cancer. How many times have you heard anybody stand up and give this testimony, Bless God by faith,

I am dying of cancer? You see what I'm saying? Now if we are not careful, we are going to be worshiping a false god who always, always, always acts the same way. And that action is to bring about the deliverance that we want. But he says some of them were destitute. I thought if I believed God I would be healthy and wealthy. It says they were destitute, afflicted, tormented.

All right, the first thing is this. To believe that he is is to have the right conception of God. All right, the second thing is this. To believe that he is when there's no evidence that he is. Now, I want you to look at verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 is the text of the whole chapter. That's the introduction. And everything else that follows is simply an amplification and an exposition of the statement of verse 1.

Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, I want to tell you something. Things hoped for, that means things that are future but are certain, but we don't have them. Things that are not seen, things that there is no evidence, no concrete proof that we have them. Now, folks, I want to tell you something. If you want to live by faith, you're going to have to live in the realm of hope for and not seeing.

And most of us don't want to live in that realm. I want to see it. And when God puts me out in a sea of invisible facts, and when God puts me in a situation where I can't see, I can't feel, brother, I don't like it there. I want to get back up here on good old Terrell Furmer. I want to be able to touch it. I want to be able to feel it. I want to be able to prove it. And yet, if I want to exercise faith, God has to move me into the realms of things hoped for and things not seen. And the reason most of us are not able to live

by faith is because we're not wanting to move over into that realm. Now, evidence of things not seen, and the reason most of us are not able to live by faith is because we are not wanting to move over into that realm. Now, evidence of things not seen, that includes God. I want you to go back to Exodus 20 for a moment. I want to show you something. This first statement, by the way, and I wrote this down in one of my notes I was making yesterday, this first statement is to keep our worship from becoming mere ceremony or idolatry. Believing that he is, that is a statement against idolatry. I want to show you something. In Exodus 20 you have the Ten Commandments. Verse 1,

God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord by God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage. Thou shall have, it's 1030. Are we supposed to be through? Well, I thought the man was going to... Oh, okay. All right. Now, verse 3.

Well, I'd hate to stop right here. I would. And I really had no intention of doing so. Just being polite. I'm serious. All right, listen. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. First commandment is the object of our worship. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Second commandment does not deal with the object of our worship. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Second commandment does not deal with the object of worship. It deals with the manner of worship. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down

thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. Now, statement number one, commandment number one, is the object of worship. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. We're to worship God and God alone. All right, I know that. I know that. Now, how am I to worship him? Oh, it's so hard to worship a God I can't see. It would help me to worship God. I believe I could concentrate on God, and I believe my worship would be a little more real, and I believe my prayer life would be a little bit more, if I could just somehow, you know, it's so hard to worship God you can't see. And so what I'll do is I'll just make me a little draven image over here, and I know that doesn't look like God, but for me that's going to represent God, you see, and that's going to aid me in my worship. That's going to aid me in my worship, and so I'll be able to worship

a little bit better and easier, you see. Now, folks, that's idolatry, right? I mean, we wouldn't have any trouble at all with that. But where did we ever get the idea that it had to be a little statue or graven image for it to be idolatry? Now, I guarantee you, friend, there are some things this morning that some of you need if you're going to worship God. And you don't feel like you've really worshipped God unless there are certain things that you have. Now, I want to make this statement cautiously. I am suspicious of the term age to worship. Now, I think that we worship God through some things. Let's take music, for instance.

Boy, I'm really wanting to walk softly here and carry a big Bible. Well, I tell you what, before I say that, let me flip over to Deuteronomy chapter 4, and I'll show you what I mean. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Now, Moses is rehearsing all God's dealings with his people and how they worship. Now, listen to him. Verse 10, especially in the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And you came near, and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire, under the

midst of heaven, with dark clouds and thick darkness. Now listen to this, verse 12, And the Lord saith unto you out of the midst of the fire, You heard the voice of the words, but saw no form, only you heard a voice." Verse 14, "...and the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might learn to do them, that ye could possess the land." Verse 15, "...take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. Now, what's he saying?

He's saying worship, worship does not demand a form to see in order to help you to worship. Worship is when you hear simply the words of the Lord, and that's enough to set you on fire. Now, I want to explain, if I can, what's in my heart. Now, there's not a person here in this service that loves music any more than I do. But there is a difference, my friend, in worshiping God through music and depending upon music to help you get into a frame of mind to worship God.

Now, do you see the difference? Now, I want to tell you, I believe worship is a means whereby we worship God. I really believe that. I believe worship is a means whereby we worship God. I really believe that. I believe worship is a means whereby we worship God. And the Bible has ordained it to be so, that we worship God through music. We praise God through music. We sing unto the Lord. That's why the Bible has so much about singing unto the Lord. We worship God through music. But I want to tell you something. When I get to the place where I come into a service of worship, and unless, brother, we have some good music,

I just don't feel like I've worshipped. And the service is dead, you know, unless, man, I mean, unless we really have something going. I mean, unless somebody's jumping up and down and praising the Lord, unless I really have some sort of emotional high, I just haven't worshipped God. Friend, you are in danger of becoming an idolatry. What I'm saying is this. You and I usually are set on fire by things. You know you hear about something, boy he was really set on fire. Man that boy's on fire. What was it that set him on fire? Well he had an experience.

That set him on fire. The reason he goes out is because the experience doesn't last. Now I think what the Bible is saying is this, dear friend, that you and I need to come to the place where it's simply the truth that sets us on fire. Just simply the word of God, the truth of God that sets us on fire and sends us out. And that's what Moses is saying to the book people of Deuteronomy. He's saying, on that day you saw no figure. God did not manifest himself in a visible form to help you to listen to him. You heard only his voice. You heard only his voice.

You say, well, God doesn't speak to us like he did to those people in those days. Friend, that's not the question. It's not whether or not God speaks to us like he spoke to them. The question is we're not listening like they listened, you see. If we listened as they listened,

he would speak as he spoke. And God doesn't speak to people who aren't listening. He speaks to us when we listen. To believe, to approach God, to live in fellowship with God, to live in communion with God means that I believe that God, I'm conscious of God's presence, I believe he's there, even when there's no evidence that he's there. That's faith. That's faith. And I'm very conscious that there are times when as I pray, I conjure up in my mind

a picture of Jesus. And I know I'm getting, we're almost splitting a hair here, but I'll just trust you to understand the difference. Sometimes I find myself praying to my image of Jesus rather than praying to Jesus himself. And so all I'm saying is this. Well, let me, for instance, in this service, in my own church,

there were times in our services when Brother God would move, and let's say something would happen, you know, and God would move and somebody would preach or the choir would sing or somebody would sing a solo. And Brother, I tell you, when he got through, everybody just shouted, Amen, praise the Lord. There were other times. There were other times,

there were other times when something happened, God's presence so moved, somebody sank, but when they finished, nobody said a word. It was quiet. Now, for a person to say that the second time was not God manifesting himself is a person who is building graven images to worship by. You see?

Who is building graven images to worship by. You see, you cannot confine God to expressing himself and manifesting himself in one way. You believe that God is real. You believe that God is present, even when there's no evidence of it. All right. Now, have I thoroughly confused you on that?

I don't think so. I hope not. And I don't explain them, folks. I just preach them. All right. So, he that cometh to God must, first of all, believe that he is. And I think this means basically two things. I've forgotten the third one.

It must not have been right are important the first one is he must have a right conception of God because he is not talking about simply believing in the mere existence of God but he's talking about believing in the Jehovah the God the definite article is there the God the same God that spoke to the fathers you've got to have the right concept of God secondly it is believing that God is just simply believing that he's there when there's no evidence to believe. Look at Enoch. What did Enoch have to base his faith on? Not a thing, not a thing, except faith. It was by faith that he walked with God. All right? Second statement is this, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. That he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

First of all, you believe that God is real. Secondly, you must believe that God is a rewarder. Now, the first statement is to prevent our worship from becoming idolatry. The second statement is to prevent our worship from becoming ceremony. You say, well, certainly a person wouldn't try to approach God in worship if he didn't believe that it was going to be worthwhile and God was going to reward him. Oh, a lot of folks don't expect anything to happen when they worship. Right?

A lot of folks don't expect anything to happen. Say, there's a difference, a tense in verbs, difference in verbs here. When he says he believes that God is, he simply says he believes that God is. But when he says rewarder, he reads it like this, and must believe that God becomes, that God becomes a rewarder. And the idea is that God will prove himself to be a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And what it means is this,

that God will reward the person who diligently seeks him, that there is a use in worshiping. It is worthwhile. Something will happen. Something will happen. Now, I want to tell you something. If I set out to seek God and he doesn't reward me in that seeking, then it means that I have not, either, number one, have not had the right concept of God,

or number two, I have not sought him and sought him diligently. Now, the key to the whole thing there is seeking diligently. Seeking diligently, that's a translation of one Greek word that means to seek out, to seek God out. And it indicates two things. Number one, it indicates an intense desire. And number two, it indicates strenuous labor. I mean, you work at it. I mean, you want to find God so desperately, so determinedly, that your desire is so strong, so intense, that whatever it takes to find

God, you're going to stick with it. Now, I want you to notice that it's him you seek. It's him that you seek. The reward comes not from seeking the reward. You say, well, I thought so that Abraham went out seeking a city. Well, that's what it says. But you know why he was seeking the city? Because God was there.

I want to tell you something. God always calls us to himself. God always calls us to himself. God doesn't call us to service. He calls us to himself and our service grows out of that. And every call of God is a call us to service. He calls us to himself, and our service grows out of that. And every call of God is a call to himself. And the reward comes not when we seek the reward, but when we seek him. Listen, what you need is not deliverance, you need the Lord.

What you need is not healing, you need the Lord. What you need is not finances. You need the Lord. For when you find him, you've found everything that you need anyway, you see. And I'm not going to take time to amplify that, but I just want to close with this,

wrap it up this way. The reward comes to those who diligently seek him. Now, I think he says diligently because you don't always find him the first time you seek him. You see, this is why you have to have faith. You have to believe that God will prove himself.

You see, it doesn't say God is a rewarder. It says God becomes a rewarder. The first time you seek him, he may not be a rewarder. God becomes a rewarder. And this is so important. And the writer of the Hebrews puts it explicitly this way, that while God is, he always is, he's not always a rewarder. God becomes the rewarder. As you and I diligently seek him, then he becomes the rewarder. And there

have been many a time, folks, when I've sought him and he didn't reward me. But when I had faith enough and my faith was such that I believed that God would become the rewarder, he will become the rewarder, I hung in there. You see? It's the back of this endurance that we talked about the first day as an integral part of faith. You're in a crisis. I'm still seeking him. Well, he hasn't done anything for you. I don't care.

I'm still seeking him. He will become my rewarder. You're in the midst of sorrow. What do you do? Are you turned aside? Are you swerved? No, you just keep your eyes on that one goal. You seek him.

You seek him. Why? Well, he will become my rewarder. Well, boy, it doesn't look like God's rewarding you yet. I mean, as a matter of fact, it looks as though God's just flat out forgotten you. No, he will become a rewarder for those that diligently seek. I believe God's real. I believe God exists.

I know God's here. I'm conscious of his presence. I don't feel it. I have no tangible evidence. I can't show you anything he's done to prove that he's here, but I know he's here, and I'm going to seek him and seek him and seek him because he will become my rewarder. He will become my rewarder. He will become my rewarder. That's faith. That's faith. Now notice, to those who diligently seek him, those who diligently seek

him, those who have such a determined, dogged attitude that you're going to seek God and nothing else, he will, he will become your rewarder. Well, that leads me to ask this question. What is the reward? What is the reward? Well, if you're seeking something, what's the reward? The reward is you find what you're seeking. Now, some of you are going to be disappointed this morning.

I'm serious. I'm serious. I'm serious. You know what the reward is? Let me read you verse Psalm 43, 4, I believe it is. Psalm 43, 4. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. You know what the reward is? It's God.

It's God. Well, listen, if you're seeking him, what else would you think the reward would be? Now, I want to speak very honestly. I have been guilty. I'm sure some of you have. I thought that if I would seek the Lord, he'd reward me in a different currency. You see? I thought if I took my S&H Green stamps in, he'd give me something else in exchange, you see. No. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Well, what is the reward?

Well, Abraham said it. God is my reward. God is my reward. I was in Memphis, Tennessee some time ago. No, I'm not going to tell that now because we've got some folks from Memphis here. No, no, no, sir, no, no. It's a personal illustration about someone. And if I were to tell the incident, some of you might know,

and that wouldn't be right, wouldn't be wise. So we'll just let that go. But anyway, a lot of us are disappointed when we discover that God is the reward. And I think that, let me finish it up this way. You remember when the people entered the promised land and Joshua began dividing up the lots? Do you remember some people didn't get a lot? Do you remember who it was? The Levites. Who were the Levites? Well, they were the priests, right? Why didn't they get any lots? They didn't get anything. No, sir, they got everything.

You read over there in Ezekiel. Boy, it's beautiful in ezekiel talking about the levites they don't have an inheritance they don't they didn't get anything no sir they got everything you know what their inheritance was god he said i will be their inheritance i will be there and friends they got nothing so they could get everything see i will be their inheritance now levites they were the priests what are we we're a kingdom of priests that's what I am I'm a kingdom of priests what's my inheritance God God

listen to what he says in 1st Peter chapter 1 you know here's now one of those passages that we read and read and read and just miss listen to what he says 1st Peter chapter 1 Listen to what he says. 1 Peter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I'm reading from verse 3, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a living hope

by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. Now, I used to preach that and used to preach other things, and I always thought that my inheritance was heaven. But notice, the inheritance is reserved in heaven.

Now, friends, if it's reserved in heaven, it can't be heaven. Heaven is the safety deposit box where your inheritance is kept for you. We have been born again to an inheritance, and it is reserved for us in heaven. Well, friends, it can't be heaven, but it's in heaven. What is that inheritance? God. It's God.

That inheritance that Peter is speaking of that is undefiled and fadeth not away is my eternal, never fading, never paling fellowship with God. That's my inheritance. And he is a rewarder. He becomes the rewarder. Now, boy, I want to say that. He becomes the rewarder of those that diligently seek him.

And he himself is a reward. Several years ago when God did a work in my own life and brought me to a new time of fellowship with him, a new time of walking with him. One of my deacons, one day in deacons' meeting, asked me a question. He said, Preacher, he said, it's obvious that God has done something in your life

and said all of us would like to have the same experience. He said, Tell us, Preacher, what can we do? How can we do we do now this was in the initial days of my learning some things about the lord and i didn't have all these neat little formulas that i have now but today if he were to ask me i could give him if he wanted three steps or five or seven i could accommodate him but you know what i said to him? And I tell you what, I'm convinced today it's the best advice I ever gave anybody in my life. He said, Preacher, what can we do?

What can I do? I need a new touch of God on my life. What can I do? I said, I don't know. I said, Brother, all I know to say to you is just seek the Lord. Just seek the Lord. That's all I know. Just seek the Lord and Just seek the Lord. That's all I know. Just seek the Lord, and you'll find him.

And you'll find him. J. Oswald Chambers said that we're all trying to emulate somebody else's experience. He says you preach the truth of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit will lead them into the same experience you've had with Jesus. But if you try, by relating of how you came to this experience, if you find other people imitating your experience, then he says you are decoying them away from Jesus Christ. You simply present Jesus,

he said, and the Holy Spirit will see to it that they arrive at the right place. He guides them into all truth, and who is the truth? Jesus, you see. And so this is what, this is the exercise of faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. What does it mean to please God? Well, it means to live in constant, continual communion and fellowship with God. And how do you do that? Well, you have to believe, first of all, that he is real. And you have to believe that he becomes the rewarder. He is both the rewarder and the reward. He is both the fountain and the water that comes out of the fountain. He is both the fountain and the water that comes out of the fountain. He is both the door and what you find on the other side of the door. He is both the way and what you find at the end of the way. He is both the light and what you see when the light shines. You see, he's everything. He is the rewarder and the reward he gives is simply himself.

Now let's pray together. Ron Dunn's podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.