Living Life As a Journey - a podcast by Lewis Marsh

Living By Faith In a Faithless World, Pt. 3

Living Life As A Journey, Hebrews 11:9

By Louie Marsh, 11-28-2021

 

Thoughts About Life:

 

• Good Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
• Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.
• Some people are like Slinkies......not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.
• Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
• Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
• All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
• Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?
• In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

 

LIVING BY FAITH IS …VIEWING LIFE AS A JOURNEY

All of our life is a journey – in facts is many journeys, career, marriage, relationships with others, God, etc. Dealing with hurts, hang ups and habits. A very different journey that the one you hear about all the time now days when people say life is a journey.

 

By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. Hebrews 11:9 (NIV)

 

We ARE strangers in this world, living in a foreign land and we ought to view our lives that way – that’s why Abraham lived in tents, so he could move at a moments notice and would never forget his status as a pilgrim.

 

“9I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:9–10, ESV)

 

THE TWO PHASES OF THE JOURNEY

 

1) I am MADE RIGHT with God through faith in Christ.

 

“23But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:23–25, ESV)

 

• This is called JUSTIFICATION.

 

Justification refers to God's act of restoring our relationship with Him. It is being made right with God. It is the point in time when a sinner--someone guilty, someone condemned, someone who is a enemy of God--it is that point in time when a sinner is made right with God completely and solely because of faith in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

2) I spend my entire life BEING TRANSFORMED into Christ’s image.

 

“13But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13, ESV)

 

• This is called SANCTIFICATION.

 

Sanctification points to restoring the image of God within us. It results in being transformed to be like Jesus. It is a process. From the day you become a forgiven child of God until your last second on earth, God is working on you. It’s not a cookie-cutter process. It is customized for you.

Justification takes place in an instant. You are made right with God. Just like there was an instant....a physical day on the calendar....an actual time on the clock when you were born into this world. So there was a pinpoint in time when you were made right with God.

Sanctification is ongoing. As long as you live on this earth, God intends to be transforming you.

Both justification (the in-an-instant restoring of our relationship with God) AND sanctification (the all-of-our Christian-life process of restoring the image of God)--both of these are wholly and completely the work of God through Jesus Christ.

 

Martin Luther – Commentary on Galatians, Pg. 123:  “Grace does not so change the faithful that by-and-by they become perfect in all things; but certain dregs of their old and natural corruption remain. If a man who is naturally prone to anger is converted to Christ, although he is mollified by grace (the Holy Spirit so framing his heart, that he is now more meek and gentle), yet his natural vice is not utterly quenched in his flesh…Thus the Spirit of God, being poured into diverse vessels, does not quench at once the vices of nature; but little by little during this life, He purges that sin which is rooted, not only in the Galatians, but also in all men of all nations.”

 

3) MY JOURNEY IS…

 

• Becoming what I ALREADY AM!

 

• Life long because every ending in Christ is also a new BEGINNING.

 

4) Things I Need To Avoid:

 

• Putting people on a PEDESTAL

 

 

What this really is – IDOLATRY!

 

“3“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.” (Ezekiel 14:3–5, ESV)

 

If THEY are there, then I can do it too!

Examples of great Christians with flaws –  CS Lewis, Dr. Walter Martin

 

They used to teach Ministers in Bible College not to make friends in church – why? Because they were caught up in this “having arrived” mentality!

I found out early in my ministry some of the truth behind this – people say they want to get to know you – what they really want is to get to know you and see that you do indeed live up to their unrealistic standards!!

          When you don’t – anger, resentment, etc.

 

• Believing that KNOWLEDGE is the goal

 

 

5) THINGS I NEED TO MAKE THE JOURNEY

 

 

• Food – WORD OF GOD

 

Jesus answered, “Scripture says, ‘A person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that God speaks.'” Matthew 4:4 (GW)

 

• Drink  – THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

“37On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” 39Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37–39, ESV)

 

• Community – CHURCH, SMALL GROUPS

 

“9Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil…“12And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9,12, ESV)

 

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