Leading The Way

Dr. Michael Youssef: The faith that believes in and obeys God is a courageous faith. The faith that is full of confidence that God cannot and will not lie is a courageous faith. The faith that is confident that God cannot and will not make a mistake, that is a courageous faith. The faith that is confident that God cannot and will not be defeated is a courageous faith.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Leading the Way with Bible teacher Dr. Michael Youssef. Military and law enforcement spend countless hours training, preparing to face every possible scenario. Christians too have to be ready to battle, to defend the faith.

And today, Dr. Michael Youssef continues his series called They Were Just Like Us, examining traits that believers must develop to live out a life of courageous faith. Remember, all of Dr. Youssef's teaching is available to listen to at ltw.org, as well as through the Leading the Way app and on your favorite podcast platforms. You can learn more at ltw.org. Here now is Dr. Michael Youssef to begin this Leading the Way audio message called The Warring Faith.

Dr. Michael Youssef: There is a legend that goes something like this. One day, Satan was auctioning his tools in his toolbox. And as they were all gone for sale in an auction, he held his most prized tool for the highest price. His most valuable tool. Guess what it was? Discouragement.

I know it's a legend, but there's a lot of truth in that because Satan knows that discouragement is the opposite of courage, that discouragement is the enemy of courage, that discouragement is the tool of his choice to keep us from being courageous, for keeping us from doing courageous things and from doing and changing and impacting our world for Jesus Christ.

So here's the question: where does this courage come from? And the answer comes screaming to us from the scripture. That courage comes from faith. Faith in the power of God, faith in the character of God, faith in the promises of God, faith in the word of God.

In fact, J.P. Phillips has written a little book many years ago entitled Your God is Too Small. And the bottom line of this book is this: that if the God you worship is a tiny God, then you should not trust him. For only the true God of the Bible is the God who is sovereign, is the God who is holy, is the God who is loving, is the God who is faithful, is the God who is omniscient, is the God who is omnipotent, is the God who is omnipresent. Only that God is worthy of all of our trust.

And only when we fully trust in him will we have true courage. In fact, courage is the hallmark of faith. Courage is the clearest indication of faith. Courage is the manifestation of faith. Courage is the flag that flies high that says faith is in the house.

Courage says, here I am Lord, send me. Not here I am Lord, send my sister. We got plenty of that courage around these days. We got plenty of that. It reminds me of a true story of a couple who went to the dentist, Mr. and Mrs. Appleton.

And they went to the dentist and Mr. Appleton said to the dentist, he said, doc, we're in a hurry, and we need you to extract this bad tooth very quickly. Don't worry about using novocaine, don't use drugs, don't use painkillers, just yank that bad tooth out.

And the dentist said, man, I admire your courage. Show me which tooth it is. Upon which Mr. Appleton turned to Mrs. Appleton and said, honey, show him the tooth that is hurting and need to be extracted. That kind of courage is plentiful. We got plenty of that.

I want you to hear me right on this because the faith that believes in and obeys God is a courageous faith. The faith that is full of confidence that God cannot and will not lie is a courageous faith. The faith that is confident that God cannot and will not make a mistake, that is a courageous faith.

The faith that knows that God cannot be wrong is a courageous faith. The faith that is confident that God cannot and will not be defeated is a courageous faith. But what does that mean? What does that mean to us? Well, it means that your courage that comes from faith in the word of God and in the character of God and the promises of God depends on your attitude toward God.

That's the bottom line. How you view God determines your life, whether you are walking by faith or you are walking by sight. So now I want you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11, verses 30 to 40.

The writer to the Hebrews bunches a whole lot of names together. He was going through the others one by one, but then he comes at the end and he gives us a whole gamut of people who have one thing in common, and that is courageous faith. They all had courageous faith.

This courageous faith can be seen in three different ways in this particular passage. Their courageous faith was a vanquishing in their struggle, verses 30 to 34. Secondly, it was victorious in the suffering, verses 35 to 38. And finally, it was valiant in their salvation, verses 39 to 40.

This courageous faith was vanquishing in their struggle. Look with me at Hebrews 11 beginning at verse 30. The first example he gives us is the fortified walls of Jericho. Archaeologists said that these walls of Jericho were so wide that two chariots could ride on top of it side by side.

And yet obedience of faith produced the courage that unarmed Israelites were to cause this magnificent fortified wall to crumble by a shout. God delights in courageous faith, but listen to me, by the same token, God delights in slaying man's pride.

God allowed the pride of Jericho to be vanquished by a shout because God delights in demolishing pride, which can only be considered foolishness when you think about it. Whoever heard of a shout that can bring fortified wall crumbling down? But that's how God works. That's how God operates.

It was said of William Wilberforce, who single-handedly ended the slave trading in the British Empire. It was said of William Wilberforce that he was frail, that he was weak voiced. But his faith in Jesus Christ, his commitment to his savior and Lord gave him unprecedented courage to literally change his world.

Boswell said of him, I saw what seems to me a shrimp became a whale. Vanquishing in the struggle. Verse 31, Rahab, a prostitute, the most unlikely person being singled out as a candidate for courageous faith. And yet she made it to faith Hall of Fame.

And you think that you are an unlikely person to be used of God. Listen again, God wants to use you regardless of where you are right now. You could never be worse than Rahab. She was surrounded by paganism. She was surrounded by unbelief. And yet she staked everything on the truth that the God of Israel is what he said he is.

Gideon was a weak and a frightened man. And yet courage that came from faith in the word of God and in the promise of God caused him to reduce his army from 32,000 strong to 300 men. But that's not all. He vanquished the Midianites and the Amalekites whose army was described in the book of Judges as vast as the locusts.

And Gideon had only 300 men. They did not have weapons, they did not have swords. They only had trumpets and they had pitchers with torches inside of them. And yet they vanquished a mighty army. Only a fool would have attempted such adventure. Ah, but such is the vanquishing and conquering power of our God.

Barak is the fourth one that's given to us as an example, who was challenged by a woman. And listen to me, that was big time in the Old Testament, for a man, a general, to be challenged by a woman. That was big time. And yet Barak believed God's promise of victory through Deborah and he vanquished the enemies of God.

Samson, whom we remember only for his bad haircut. But he became known for accepting the call of God and the equipping of God and delivered Israel from the Philistines. Jephthah, who is known for his foolish vow, trusted in the power of God and vanquished the enemies.

David stands out tall in the entire Old Testament as a great man, yet he fell and stumbled all over the place. And so much so that he could say when he was repenting that he was literally covering his bed with his tears. And yet he stood up to Goliath confronting the giant, trusting only in the one true God of Israel. He too vanquished the enemy.

Samuel was the last of the judges and the first of the prophets. He did not fight an external enemies of Israel, but he fought the apathy in the people of God. He fought the unfaithfulness of the Israelites. He called the nation to repentance and he too vanquished in the battle.

Prophets like Daniel who zipped the mouths of lions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who turned a fiery furnace into paradise. They were all vanquishing in the struggle. And God is calling you to be vanquishing over the world, the flesh, and the devil.

God wants to give you victory over the enemies who have been enslaving people for too long, and he wants you to help set them free. Amen belongs here. Secondly, they were victorious in suffering. You see, courageous faith cannot be manifested when we are lying on a bed of feather.

Courageous faith cannot be manifested when we spend our lives tiptoeing around the tulips. Courageous faith is not going to be manifested sitting in a hot tub. Listen, courageous faith is never without a cost.

And that is why verses 35 to 38 is said that these men and women of courageous faith, they stood firm in the midst of their suffering. When the widow of Zarephath ministered to the prophet Elijah, her son died. But through the power of God and faith in the living God, she received her son back from death.

When the Shunammite woman, her son died, Elisha brought him back to life. Listen to me, it takes courageous faith to be in a situation in life, and let me tell you something, I have been there and I know what I'm talking about.

It takes courageous faith to be in a situation in your life when you don't know why bad things are happening to you. It takes courageous faith when you are puzzled with your circumstances because it does not make sense and they do not make sense.

When you are confused at the suffering that you are experiencing. It takes courageous faith when you are temporarily going through the valley and you don't understand why. There is no rhyme or reason for it. And yet you remain victorious in your suffering.

How? By continuously taking hold of God. By continuously trusting in the good and holy God who will not make a mistake. By continuously and persistently believing in the sovereign hand of God that is working on your behalf, by taking hold of him in prayer, by taking hold of him in your life, by taking hold of him with your substance.

Look at verse 37, they were beaten and tortured. That's a reference to Jeremiah. They were sawn in two, reference to the prophet Isaiah, for that's what tradition have said how he died. They were put to death by the sword, reference to many of the saints who have died as a result of their faithfulness to God.

But even in death, they were victorious in suffering. How? Because this world was not worthy of them. Their courageous faith qualified them to be too good for this earth. And God's throne became their dwelling place.

I was thinking about this and I was thinking about an incident in history, back in 1896, the University of Glasgow was conferring an honorary doctorate of law on David Livingstone. And when Dr. Livingstone rose to speak, he was received by a respectable silence.

He looked haggard, he looked gaunt because of the harsh environment in which he lived in Africa. His left arm hung beside him helpless because it was crushed by a lion. And he stood there as he announced his resolve to returning to Africa without misgivings.

And then he continued. He said, would you like me to tell you what sustained me through all the years in exile, living among people whose language I did not understand, whose attitude toward me was often hostile? It was this. Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age.

And those words, I staked everything, he said, and they have never failed. They have never failed. Courageous real faith is a vanquishing in the struggle. Courageous faith is victorious in suffering. And thirdly, courageous faith is valiant in salvation.

You remember after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave, the Bible said the disciples were terrified. I mean, to say they were shaking in their boots is an understatement. They were literally living in terror. And when they went into the upper room, the Bible said they had all the doors locked.

And I can only imagine probably putting furniture behind the doors. Want to make sure that those people who came and took their Lord and crucified him, they would not come after them. And they were living in terror and fear, and right in the midst of them, Jesus appears, the resurrected Christ comes in and said, peace to you.

Well, there was one disciple was missing at the time, by the name of Thomas. Thomas' temperament and personality probably was the kind of person he went home, didn't want to stay with the disciples, pulled the cover over his face and he said, God, I'm ready to die. Jesus died and I want to die too.

So he missed out on the opportunity of seeing the risen Christ. And so when he comes in, the disciples said to him, he said, Thomas, where were you? You missed a chance of a lifetime. The Lord is risen. He was here. He talked to us, he ministered to us.

And Thomas said, no way. I don't believe you. There's no way. I don't believe a thing you're saying. So the resurrected Christ comes again a week later. He just shows up and this time he made sure Thomas was there. And he said to him, Thomas, he singles him out.

He said, come over here. Feel my hands and feel the marks of the nails. Thomas, come and feel the scar of the javelin in my side, Thomas. And at that moment, Thomas kneels. My God and my Lord.

And John chapter 20, verse 29 tells us. Here's what Jesus said to Thomas. He said, you believe because you saw. Blessed are those who did not see and yet believed. And beloved, let me tell you something, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you have placed your faith in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that blessing is yours.

You are named in this blessing. This blessing are to those who have never seen the resurrected Lord with their own physical eyes and yet they believed it. Those of us who have put their faith in Jesus' death and resurrection without being an eyewitness, are blessed of God in a very special way. Jesus has your name right here.

But then if you look at verse 39 of Hebrews 11, he includes another group of people who have lived before Christ. They too are blessed. Not after Christ like we do, 2000 years later. But these people have not seen the risen Christ because they lived way before Christ came.

Way before Christ died and rose again. But they are commended for their faith according to verse 39 of Hebrews 11. How? Ah, by looking forward to the coming of Christ. By looking forward to the fulfillment of the promise of God to Abraham that the Messiah will come and he will bring full and complete salvation.

Having gained approval, listen to what the text said, having gained approval through faith. Not through works. You see, people were not saved by works in the Old Testament. They were saved by faith. They did not receive what was promised because they were hundreds of years before Christ. They didn't see it, but they believed it.

From Enoch all the way to the prophets, they were valiant in their salvation. They knew that God is too faithful not to keep his promise. They didn't see it and they told the next generation you look for the coming Messiah. And they didn't see it and they said to the next generation until the time came in the fullness of time and Christ was born in Bethlehem.

They knew that God is going to send the savior. They knew that God is going to complete his final salvation and victory. Listen to what Jesus said. He said Abraham looked forward to my day and he rejoiced. 2000 years before Christ, Abraham looked forward to it by faith.

How did Abraham do that? By faith. How are all the people who are saved by Christ in the Old Testament? By faith. How are people saved in the New Testament? By faith. There are two groups of people who are in heaven right now.

And Jesus tells us that when he tells the story of Lazarus and the rich man, that Lazarus died and he went to the bosom of Abraham. The two groups of people who are in heaven right now. The Old Testament believers are in heaven because they looked forward to the coming of Christ.

The New Testament believers, that's you and me and everybody else that has gone before us in the last 2000 years, when we look back at the cross as our only salvation, the only two groups of people in heaven. Those who looked forward to the cross and those who look back to the cross. The question is this: have you put your faith and complete trust for salvation in the cross of Jesus Christ? If you haven't, you can do that today.

Guest (Male): A glimpse into courageous faith with Dr. Michael Youssef. And we thank you for listening to this episode of Leading the Way audio. So as you listened today, maybe there were some spiritual questions that came to mind. We would like to invite you to speak with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor, explore those questions. You can begin your conversation today by filling out a short contact form at ltw.org/jesus.

Empowered by Prayer. Dr. Michael Youssef will guide you into a richer understanding of God that will forever change your relationship with him. Filled with practical scriptural guidance and stories from his own personal life, Dr. Youssef's book explores the blessings, challenges, and power of prayer.

You can dive deep with the comprehensive workbook, which features practical reflection questions and small group activities. You can experience the deep abiding joy of entering God's presence, seeing his power on display in your life, and glorifying him with all that you are. Discover how praise can lift you above difficult circumstances and transport you into God's presence and power like never before.

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