Focal Point

Dave Drewry: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: It's because God has granted us grace in Christ that we should have a zeal and a passion to say I'm not going to live for sin anymore. You've got to know that if you are passive in the Christian life, you're a spiritual disaster waiting to happen. You are no match if you're not ready to put up your dukes and say I'm ready to fight this thing called sin and temptation.

Dave Drewry: Maybe it's a white lie or pocketing the extra change you were given by mistake. Whether large or small, it's tempting for us to rationalize sin. But today on Focal Point, we're reminded why disobedience is such a big deal.

Pastor Mike Fabarez highlights the faith of several individuals who said no to temptation, even at great personal cost. And to go along with this study, we're offering new listeners a free copy of Pastor Mike's booklet, Do the Right Thing. Just say hello for the first time online at focalpointradio.org. Well, now here's Pastor Mike.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: I suppose if you're normal, and of course you all are, that you would prefer peace over war. I suppose that you would prefer calm over conflict, that you would prefer tranquility over clashes. I assume that would be the case. That's what we would prefer. And if we're normal, that's the preferred route for you and me.

Unfortunately, if we go into the Christian life thinking that's what we're going to have, we are a spiritual disaster waiting to happen. Now, some people immediately protest. They say, wait a minute, the Christian life, isn't that about bringing peace? There's a lot of talk about peace. Didn't Jesus bring peace and all of that? He did, but he brought a particular kind of peace.

In his first coming, he made it very clear that the reason he came was to get us connected with God, to bring us peace with God. And it is for that very reason, in a world that's not at peace with God and even in a body that's not at peace with God, that we are filled with conflict. Unfortunately, a lot of skirmishes and battles take place in our daily lives. We've just got to come to grips with that as a reality.

I suppose we could look at the concentric circles that the Bible spells out for us in terms of the conflict. There's all kinds of conflict on a variety of levels. If you're going to be a follower of Christ, you should expect and anticipate them. But I want to talk about the one that Hebrews 11 addresses next for us in our series on ambitious faith. It's a kind of conflict that is probably the closest to home. It's the one that you will deal with every day of the Christian life.

It's the conflict that you and I have because of a very simple command in scripture that the Bible calls us as Christians to do. That is that God has said multiple times in the Bible that we are to strive to be holy just like he's holy. Sounds easy enough. It just doesn't work out on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that you've got a lot of opposition as it relates to that simple task. It's simple to understand, not simple to do. It's going to be fraught with battles and clashes and conflict.

Number one, you have, according to 1 Peter 5, an enemy that's like a roaring lion and he prowls around seeking someone to devour. He wants to take you out. His method is to try and get you to compromise, pull you into some kind of sin that will ruin your path of sanctification, that will render you ineffective. That's the main thing he's looking to do in your life.

Then you've got, according to Romans chapter 12 verse 1, a world system that's constantly trying to squeeze you into its mold. Have you noticed that? They want you to be like them. Being like them is not always like what God would like you to be. So you've got this other pressure in your life to try and put you in a path that takes you away from living according to the will of God. That's a pressure we face on a daily basis.

Thirdly, as it relates to this battle to do the right thing in life, the Bible says you've got a conflict that wages inside of you. Because we're still in this unredeemed container called our flesh, the Bible says according to 1 Peter 4, that there are evil desires in you that wage war against your soul. You've experienced a little bit of that, I trust. We know what that's like. We've got desires and we know they're not right and we shouldn't do that, but here's this nagging temptation to cross a line, or to be quiet when we should speak up, or to take a shortcut when we know we ought to go the long route because that would be God's way. It's constantly there. It's a battle that we struggle with.

The second flag people throw on the play is, well, I'm all into grace, and that's what you don't understand. I understand the grace of God, and we're not under the law, and so sin is not a really big deal to me because I know it's been paid for on the cross. So it's okay, I'm alright. I don't have to fight this. You make it sound like such a big deal. I mean, it's been paid for. It's done. We're okay.

For those of you that think grace is a kind of get-out-of-jail-free card, that it's a license to say, well, it's alright because it's all been paid for, then the Bible would be very clear to respond to that by saying you don't understand grace at all. Sure enough, we don't earn our way into the family of God, and doing good things and being righteous doesn't get us right with God.

But according to scripture, Paul wrote to Titus in the early church and he said, don't you understand that grace is the thing that instructs us to deny ungodliness? It's because God has granted us grace in Christ that we should have a zeal and a passion to say I'm not going to live for sin anymore.

With the enemy of God prowling around and the world system and my own flesh rebelling against this desire to live godly, you've got to know that if you are passive in the Christian life, you're a spiritual disaster waiting to happen. You are no match if you're not ready to put up your dukes and say I'm ready to fight this thing called sin and temptation. It is the norm of the Christian life. In the words of Romans chapter 8, you are to declare war on sin in this way, that you are to put to death the misdeeds of the body. Which means that we're all saying, okay, I'm all out declaring war on this.

Even though people may say, well, I don't abuse grace and I understand I should be righteous and I want to grow in this path of sanctification, there's a lot of people that sit here this morning or will hear this message and they still don't feel the urgency to fight sin. Let me give you a quick little pre-sermon. Can I do that? I've got the microphone, so here I go. Five things real quick. Reasons that sin is a big deal.

Number one, sin is a big deal in our lives because it causes pain on the cross of Christ. Let's just get real clear. Christ had to pay for every specific sin that he would forgive in the people of God. As he hung on a cross, he had to be treated by the Father as though he were the guy that compromised, as though he were the guy embroiled in lust and sin, as though he were the person that had the terrible attitude or couldn't control his anger, and the Father, the Bible says, had poured out his wrath on the Son.

Secondly, it renders us ineffective in being useful for God. As Paul wrote Timothy, he said, listen, here's what God is looking for: clean vessels. If you'd rid yourself from sin in your life, then God can use you. The more holy we are, and the more righteous we are, and the more we walk in step with God's Spirit, the more God's going to reach for you like a tool out of a toolbox and say I can use you now. I'm going to do something great in and through you.

I'd like to be as effective as I can for God. Wouldn't you like to make a difference in your neighborhood, with your neighbors, the people that you interact with, with the people in your workday world? That would be good. A lot of it depends on how clean of a vessel you are. So I don't want to be rendered ineffective by falling into sin on a perpetual constant basis.

Thirdly, and we've talked a lot about this in the book of Hebrews, sin is a big deal because sin mitigates our eternal rewards. It takes away from our eternal rewards. I know a lot of us believe in spiritual communism and all that, but the bottom line is there will be a real diverse group of people in the kingdom of God.

Some that are rewarded richly and others, according to 1 Corinthians 3, who on judgment day will suffer loss. We're not talking about condemnation. There's no purgatory. This is not a preview to hell. You're not going to be punished there or spanked on judgment day. But the Bible says you will suffer because of the squandered opportunities to serve God faithfully. That's all about sin. So I really would like to keep as much of the future reward that God has planned in his grace for me intact.

Fourthly, it brings painful discipline into our lives. As Hebrews chapter 12 will show us, we're going to do a whole series on that section of the scripture. But man, I don't want, as the scripture says, to have that painful experience of God's discipline. As I often say, you may not believe in spanking, parents, but God does. He often will bring out the paddle and apply it to our spiritual fanny, and he'll say, listen, because of your sin, you need corrective measures. Pain is a great way to do this. It gets our attention, as C.S. Lewis liked to say. He shouts to us in our pain and he wants to get us back on the path of righteousness. So much of the future of my pain or the peaceful fruit of righteousness will depend on how I live. I'd like to avoid as much sin as possible because I don't like spankings, much like my kids. I'd like to avoid as many as possible.

Fifthly, we've got to understand that God is not a software program. He is a person. According to the scripture, our sin grieves the heart of God. Let's just think about that for a minute. Here is a God in heaven who has done everything to bring us to himself. He has offered his own Son. He's taken your sin and placed it on his Son, and when we sin, how does it feel, parents, to watch your kids rebel? This is a painful thing to the heart of God.

So I want to say, you know what? This is not just an esoteric, philosophical, abstract discussion. This is important. We've got to battle sin. We've got to declare war on sin in our lives. To get us into heaven, is that what I said? No, that's not what I said. But to walk in a path of sanctification because so much hangs on whether or not I'm going to say no to temptation this week. We've just got to feel that. If we feel that, then I think we can all throw up our hats and say, okay, this is important. Let's declare war on sin.

Question is how do we do it? Well, there's a lot of things the Bible has to say. But there are some specific tools for us in Hebrews chapter 11 beginning in verse number 23. If you have your Bibles, I want you to open there because in this series of examples of the Old Testament, we get to an example of ambitious faith and it hones in on the issue of fighting temptation.

The template for us is Moses and his parents. The great thing about this passage is, if we look at it carefully, we'll begin to understand the ingredients for fighting temptation. If there's good reason for me to do it, then man, I just want to know how. There's some great examples here for us beginning in verse 23. Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse number 23, as it says by faith. That's the issue, and it does take ambitious faith to walk a path of righteousness.

He says, well, let's think of Moses' parents for a minute. They hid him for three months after he was born. That's because Pharaoh had said all baby boys got to be killed. They saw he was no ordinary child, which was a head-scratcher for expositors because this is more than just, well, he's really cute, let's save him. There was something here. We don't know what it is. It's not clear. Both Stephen in his sermon in Acts 7 and 8, and both the Exodus passage in Exodus 2, and both this passage, thirdly, they say there's something about this kid. There was this idea that they had from God, this kid could be like the deliverer or something. He's not ordinary, there was something about him.

They said there's no way we can give in to the sin of tossing our kid into the river. We're going to do whatever we can to save him. What did it take? Bottom of verse 23: it took them dealing with fear. They weren't afraid of the king's edict. They had to say, you know what, we're putting that aside because we're going to do the right thing here, which in that case was to save their kid.

Verse 24, spotlight shifts to Moses as he's grown up. He grew up, he refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. You know the story. He's raised in Pharaoh's palace. Now he's got a choice because he's really not an Egyptian, he's a Hebrew. He sees the Hebrews being mistreated and he says, I'm going to stand with them.

He chose, verse 25, to be mistreated along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. That was a choice, which by the way, that's what this sermon is all about. It's about making choices. Am I going to compromise or am I going to do the right thing? Am I going to fudge a little bit here on what God told me to do, or am I going to live passionately and say if God said it I'm going to do it?

He said in this case, you know what, here's an option for sin: no. Even if it's pleasurable, even if there's some kind of benefit there, I know it's short term and I'm going to say no to it. I'm going to stand with the people of God. Verse 26, he regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ, which was still 1,500 years away. He had a sense of God's redeemer and for that he says, you know, it's of greater value than all the treasures of Egypt. Pay me whatever, I'm not going to compromise because, bottom of verse 26, he was looking ahead to his reward. Different perspective.

Let's start up there in verse number 23. Starts with two guys or two people, Amram and Jochebed. Jochebed kind of sounds like a guy, but it's not. I'm sure it was a really cute Hebrew girl. Amram and Jochebed, they got a young family brewing, they got an old sister, an older sister, a young pre-teen perhaps, and her name is Miriam. Very good. And there's a little three-year-old toddler running around in Jochebed's nursery, and his name is Aaron, who happened to be a Levite.

The year, by the way, 1500. It's 275 years after the close of last week's sermon, which was the end of the book of Genesis. We ended with Joseph there giving instruction about his bones. The bottom line is we've had 275 years down there in Egypt, and they were multiplying like bunny rabbits. They were growing exponentially, these Hebrew people, in God's sovereign plan, kids everywhere. Lots of kids.

275 years, it's growing like crazy, and then the Bible says in Exodus chapter 1 there was a Pharaoh that rose to power that didn't know Joseph. I don't remember Joseph. See, they were favorable to the Jews because of Joseph and what he had done to save the nation. Now they say, well we don't even know that guy. All of a sudden now, all they saw with the Hebrews was a growing threat. Why? Because they're growing like a weed. Look at all these people. Because like a lot of ancient Near Eastern monarchs, that posed a threat for a coup d'état or some kind of takeover, they said, listen, we got to do something about it.

So Pharaoh's edict was: every baby boy, as though the girls weren't a threat, but every baby boy had to be tossed into the Nile and killed. He gave instruction to the Hebrew midwives when they gave birth to these kids, and they were to kill them. If it's a boy, kill him. If it's a girl, okay. So we didn't want a standing growing army growing up to take over the Pharaoh's court.

Enter pregnant Jochebed. Got a baby, two kids. Wow, what do I do now? The Bible says, according to Hebrews chapter 11 verse number 23, they got over the understandable fear of doing what the king had told them to do. That's what most sin feels like: pressure, doesn't it? I mean, when we are tempted to sin, there's that pressure to push us down the wrong path.

In this case, it was a king's edict, Pharaoh's edict. Now ask this question: what were the consequences of defying an ancient Near Eastern monarch's command? Was there something attached to that? Was there consequence? Was there something to fear about that act of disobedience? Well, absolutely. If you disobeyed the king, this is not Congress. This is not your parents. This is the monarch. He will kill you.

So there was a lot at stake. So they had a lot of fear to overcome. Which, by the way, would be a nice thing to jot down. If you and I are going to do right, we have to just stand up and do right and not fear the consequences. Don't fear the consequences because there are consequences to doing the right thing. Not just in ancient Egypt, but also today.

Am I right about that? I mean, is there not a price to pay if today you say in your heart, this week I'm not going to compromise? When the boss says do this, and I know it's unethical, there's a price to pay. Could cost me my job. Maybe on a lesser scale, could cost me a client, could cost me my reputation. There's a lot of things that it could cost to say I'm going to do the right thing and say no to the pressure and temptation of compromise.

Well, here's the deal. How do we deal with that fear? Because a lot of us are just afraid. Here's how to deal with the fear. Turn back to Exodus chapter 1 because Jochebed and Amram were not the first people to defy the king's edict. As a matter of fact, we have a great template and a prototype that Jochebed and Amram followed in the steps of. It was two Hebrew midwives. Take a look at the great example they laid down and how they dealt with it in Exodus chapter 1.

Exodus 1, look at verse 15. Here they are. The king of Egypt, that's the Pharaoh, said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names in this case specifically were Shiphrah and Puah. Sorry, but that was their names. When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on their delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him. Now, they didn't need the forthcoming Ten Commandments to figure out that's not right. So they knew the right thing to do, which was not to kill them. If it's a girl, let her live.

The midwives, however, feared Pharaoh. Underline the word Pharaoh there. Do you see it? Is that what it says? Do you think they feared Pharaoh? Oh yeah. In the next verse, they're about to lie to Pharaoh. Their knees knocked when they defied the king's order. But the focus here isn't on how much or how little they feared Pharaoh. The focus in this text is they feared God.

Do you see? If you really want to deal with the fear of man, don't just sit in the mirror and go I shouldn't fear my boss, I shouldn't fear my boss, I shouldn't fear my boss. Here's what you should learn to do if you want to stand up to the fear of the consequences of doing right: learn to fear God. Because they feared God, they did not do what the king of Egypt told them to do. They didn't give into the pressure and they let the boys live.

Which, by the way, is exactly what Jochebed and Amram were about to do: somehow circumvent the king's edict because that's the wrong thing to do and I need to do the right thing. They said we're not going to fear you. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew midwife made it really clear we're going to fear God more. That's so important.

If you want to learn to have less of a fear of man, all you've got to focus on is saying I need to learn to fear God, and we've dealt with this in the book of Hebrews already. Let's not double talk our way through this. That is when I think about standing before the God of the universe naked at the judgment seat of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, that I'm going to say I fear the accountability of God. I'm not afraid of condemnation. I'm not going to hell. There's no purgatory.

But what I'm concerned about is standing there and giving account for the deeds done in the body, whether good or bad. I'm concerned about that. That is a big day of accountability. I should say in my heart and my mind that is going to motivate me to fear you less than I fear God.

Some people marvel at the teens that get through high school and they don't fall to drugs and they don't smoke pot and they don't have sex in the backseat of the car and they don't get drunk and they don't fall to all the temptations. Sometimes when people find out that I steered clear of all that, they go, how in the world did that happen? You must have gone to the sissified high school or you were some nerd with the pocket protector and no one ever offered you drugs. That's how you did it, right?

No. Believe it or not, I wasn't a total nerd in high school. I know that's hard to believe. And I didn't go to the sissified high school. Big city, big high school, all the temptations, all the stuff out there. How did Mike Fabarez and all the other people like me avoid that stuff? I don't think it was that we didn't fear fitting in. I feared not fitting in. I feared being ridiculed. I feared being called an oddball.

But I had a greater fear than that: the fear of my dad. That was a greater fear. And I've told you this before, Dad was a big motorcycle cop, come home, big badge, big black outfit, big shiny gun right here. And it seemed like when he was cleaning his gun, that was when he'd ask me, so taken any drugs at school, son? Talk to me about your compromise. I mean, it was like I feared with a healthy respect the fact that I don't want to give an account to Dad and say yes, or have him catch me doing something wrong. I had to fear this one greater than that.

I think we've got to get to the point where we say if you're going to tow the line with God, you've got to learn to have a healthy respect and a fear for God that says I fear disobeying God more than I fear going along with the pressure at work, more than I fear doing what my family says I ought to do because that's what we all do and I know that's not the God or Christian thing to do. You little goody two-shoes, come on, just compromise with us. You've got to say no, I'm going to stand before God one day. That to me is of greater concern than fitting in with you right now.

You know how this worked out, don't you? Exodus chapter 2. When we get specifically to the scene here in Exodus chapter 2, and we've got Moses being born. Does he work it out for good in the big scheme of things? Yeah, we've learned that in this series, haven't we? He works for good all these things. He works them together for good if you love God, called according to his purpose. But in the short run, there may be a few bumps along the way. What you need to have is a resolve that whether this works out perfectly or not, I'm not going to compromise.

Dave Drewry: You're listening to Mike Fabarez on Focal Point, and a message titled Courage to Do the Right Thing. Every lesson from this program is available to you at any time at focalpointradio.org or through the free Focal Point app, which puts the full library right in your pocket. This month, we have a featured resource that goes perfectly with what you've been hearing on this program. It speaks to the same territory today's message covered.

Songs of the Sun by Daniel Stevens is a theological and devotional walk through the Psalms written to show how that ancient book points at every turn to Jesus. It's more than poetry; it's a window into the nature of God, the work of Christ, and the voice of the Son running through scripture. Daniel Stevens gives the Psalms new traction for anyone ready to read them through a New Testament lens. Request Songs of the Sun when you send a gift to Focal Point today by calling us at 888-320-5885 or by donating online at focalpointradio.org. Well, now here's Pastor Mike with an announcement.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Thanks, Dave. I'd like to invite you to join me September 19th through the 26th, 2026, on a Christian cruise through New England and Canada. We'll sail Holland America's Zaandam, known for its elegance and exceptional hospitality, to historic cities like Boston, Halifax, and Quebec City.

We'll gather for devotional times in God's word followed by thought-provoking Bible teaching throughout our journey. Grammy-winning musicians Keith and Kristyn Getty will lead us in worship. You'll enjoy the stunning autumn landscapes as we explore charming coastal villages, all while building friendships with like-minded believers. It's a unique opportunity to deepen your faith and see some of the most beautiful scenery on the eastern seaboard. Space is limited, so don't wait to sign up. Secure your cabin today at focalpointradio.org.

Dave Drewry: Once again, that's focalpointradio.org. Well, I'm Dave Drewry. Join us tomorrow for part two of Pastor Mike's message titled Courage to Do the Right Thing, Wednesday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. It's an honor to be with you every day, helping you explore the depths of scripture. But I want to be clear, no amount of Bible knowledge is ever going to save you. Be sure where you stand with God. Get in touch with us. We'd love to pray with you and for you. Visit us today at focalpointradio.org. We look forward to hearing from you.

Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.