Pastor Rick Lentz's sermon, titled 'Live By Faith,' emphasizes the importance of living by faith as commanded in God's Word. The sermon explores the story of a nobleman who approaches Jesus to heal his dying son, highlighting the nobleman's faith as he believes Jesus' word without needing physical presence or signs. Pastor Lentz contrasts this biblical faith with everyday trust, urging listeners to rightly respond to God's revelation through scripture and to live a life of obedience. He emphasizes that faith is active and always requires a response, pointing out that without faith, it is impossible to please God. The sermon also discusses the significance of trusting in God's timing and His ways, rather than relying on human understanding. Through examples and personal anecdotes, Pastor Lentz encourages the congregation to seek the giver, not just the gifts, and to cast their cares upon God, trusting in His promises and grace.

The whole theme of This morning's topic message for us today is that you and I are to live by faith. And as we look at God's Word, I pray that our hearts are open to just the reality of this principle, this command in God's Word for each and every one of us. Father, as we read Your Word this morning, as we just look at how this applies to our lives. We pray, Lord, that we would recognize Your grace. We would recognize even the verse of the hymn we just sang, that There's nothing within us that empowers or enables us to live this life, but it's only You.

And Lord, we surrender. We surrender to You this day in Jesus' name. Amen. As we pick up this chapter and finish the end, we start in verse 43 and it reads this way. If you have your Bible, you can read it.

There's Bibles available at the edge of each pew. If you don't have one of these translations, the translation that Brother Jerry and I usually use in the King James, there's plenty. And feel free to take one home because Brother Jim has provided boxes of these for you and I to use freely. So they're available for us. Verse 43, Now after two days he departed from there and went to Galilee, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had also gone to the feast. So we are just in a transition period. It's kind of like a travel dialogue. We have him going to Samaria, we're having reaching the Samarian woman, the Samaritan woman at the well, etc. We read about that, we preached about that, we studied about that, and now we have him moving from Samaria into Galilee.

And the important part of this portion of scripture just seemingly is that he skipped Nazareth. If you look at a map, Nazareth is right on the way to the Canaan where he ends up. But he bypasses Nazareth because that's his hometown. And he gets no respect in his hometown. We kind of know the saying, you know, that what's an expert, an expert is somebody who lives 50 miles from here?

Well, that's kind of, must be how Jesus felt, you know. His own people knew him, his own, isn't this a carpenter's son? I mean, we know, we've seen him in a carpenter shop. And now all of a sudden he is the proclaimed son of God. He is the proclaimed Messiah, the Holy One, the promised one.

And the people of Nazareth reject him. So he walks around Nazareth and he ends up in Canaan. And as we pick it up in verse 46, it says this, so Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where he had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. And when he had heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him and implored him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Then Jesus said, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." The nobleman said to him, "'Sir, come down before my child dies.'" Jesus said to him, "'Go your way, your son lives.'" So the man believed that word, that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him saying, your son lives. And then he inquired of them the hour in which he got better. And they said to him, yesterday At the seventh hour, the fever left him. So the father knew that this was the same hour in which Jesus said to him, your son lives.

And he himself believed in his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when he had come out of Judea into Galilee. So what we have here is the nobleman traveling some 15 miles from Capernaum to Canaan to beseech Jesus to come to Capernaum and heal his son who's dying. And as you and I read this, I want you to understand this is an account of faith. It's not an account of faith healing.

It's an account of faith. Now I think it's important we make that distinction as we look at this because I believe Jesus is our healer and our health. And to make no apologies, self-individual is a congregation. We call upon Him in our time of need. We can read about that in the Psalm.

He said, call upon me in your day of trouble. I'll deliver you. You shall glorify me. And so it's all about God's glory. It's all about bringing Him honor and glory.

But make no hesitation, people, to call upon Him. He's there for us. He implores us to call upon Him. And we have called upon Him. As a congregation, as a family, we've called upon Him for our daughter Sharla, who was diagnosed a year ago with terminal brain cancer.

And God has continued to uphold her and strengthen her and intervene in her life. And we will continue to call upon Him. We've called upon Him for needs in our congregation, in our families. All of us have. And it's important that we have at the admonition of God the Father, call upon me in the day of trouble, but also to understand it's God that gets the honor and glory.

It's God that gets the honor and glory. It won't be the doctors that heal Sharla. It'll be Jesus. You know that, we know that. Sometimes the doctors don't know that, but that's all right.

We give honor and glory to the Lord. And as we look at this faith walk that the nobleman exhibits, and as we look at our lives, what we truly need is a working definition that covers faith. You know, I have faith that my car would start and bring me here this morning. Okay? It did.

But that's not biblical faith. I'm trusting in something. And if you look at the dictionary, the world's term is pretty vague about place your trust in or believe that. I believe The sun is shining someplace. It's not here.

You see, we need a different, we need a better, we need a functional definition of what faith really is. Because you can't rely on just the world's definition for you and I to understand how it's supposed to work in my life and in your life. It's described this way. When Scripture tells us we're to walk by faith, not by sight, we need somehow to put our arms and our head around what this really means. There's a man named Jameson who is a Bible commentator of old, but he writes his definition of faith this way.

He said, faith is rightly responding to the revelation of God. Listen to that. Faith is rightly responding to the revelation of God. And by revelation of God, it's not just strange, something strange. It's God's revealed Word and will to us in His Word and applied to my life and in your life by the Holy Spirit.

It's important that we understand that definition correctly because God wants to speak to me and to you through His Word every day. And he does. And then it's up to us to rightly respond to that Word. And it's important as we read this morning and as we'll look at again, but it tells us in Luke chapter 18, something very dramatic. It says, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?

Now that should stop each and every one of us in our tracks to say, Lord, what is this really saying? Obviously, it implies there's going to be false faiths. But it also implies that there will be people who do not rightly respond to His Word, who don't live by faith, who don't walk by faith. As you walk out of the chapel building this morning, I encourage you to look at the sign over the steps. You probably have looked at that a hundred times.

I don't know how many of you could tell me what it says, and I won't ask you this morning. But it's important because that's an admonition from the Lord. And so as we read through this portion of Scripture, we look at how God is commanding us. Josh read some commands for us today that you and I are required to respond to. Husbands, love your wives.

Always difficult for me to read because God brings to mind times and areas and opportunities in my life where I haven't. Wives, honor and revere your husbands. I'm sure God reveals that to you as well. Children, obey your parents. Not responding to the Word of God.

In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. Yeah. Responding by faith, people. Rightly responding by faith. Giving thanks in everything.

You see, this is what God wants us to do. This is how His Word speaks to my life and your life. It's quite practical. We make it so theological some days that we can't stand ourselves, but it's so practical for God to intervene in my life and in your life and prick our consciousness to do the things He's asked us to do. So here we have this nobleman, and he's heard about the works, he's heard about the miracles, he's traveled some 15 miles.

He approaches Jesus with a mindset. And the mindset is this, Jesus, you have to come down and be in the presence of my son who's dying and heal him, please come." When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee he went to him and implored him to come down and heal his son for his son was at the point of death. Now you have to kind of couple this with the centurion that you can read about in Matthew chapter 8. It's kind of the same scenario where The son is dying, but the centurion doesn't say, Jesus, you have to come to see my son. The centurion says this.

The centurion said, Lord, I'm not worthy of you which should come into my room, but speak your word only and my servant will be healed. So we have these two kind of contrasting thoughts about what is required from Jesus. His word spoken or his very presence. And you and I sometimes have expectations the same way of how this is going to work out. And then in the middle of this, in the middle of this we have this gentle review.

Jesus says to them, unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe." Now there's a few translations that put a question mark at the end of that, and it reads a little differently. But it's just quite saying, do you really need the signs and the wonders, Or is my word enough? Do I really need signs and wonders or is his word enough? His word says that he's come with healing on his wings. Do I need to see our daughter healed or just can I believe that he's going to do it?

There's a story and I don't know that it's true but it was before the internet so I'm believing it could be true because not everything on the internet is true. But there was a pastor whose wife was dying of cancer. And it was a Sunday morning and he was called to preach. And so he came and he was given the message. But right before the message, somebody came to him and he said, Pastor, you need to know, your wife has been healed.

It was great rejoicing. His wife had died. Completely healed. Different expectation perhaps, but the truth of God's Word. And Jesus said, do you need to see these signs and wonders or would you just believe?

And you and I are just challenged to ask, are we seeking the gifts Or are we seeking the giver? And what are we going to base our trust in? What are we going to base our expectations on? What are we going to live out before this world and with our brothers and sisters in the Lord? He's called us to be totally dependent on Him.

We're called to live that way. But many of us, myself included, are like that, doubting Thomas, you know, unless I see, no, we will trust you Lord. And it's kind of a sense of, I'm just going to call it desperation on the nobleman's part because he hears that from Jesus. Do you really need to see a sign? And he just goes, The nobleman said to him, Sir, come down before my child dies.

Once again, just, I need you to come down. I need you to hear my cry. And Jesus responds to him. Jesus said to him this, Jesus said, go your way, your son lives. Go your way, your son lives.

Now, that's the Word of the Lord for this man. And the nobleman responds. This is why I'm talking about faith this morning. Because he heard the word of the Lord, go your way, your son heals, and he's rightly responding to this word. Here's his response.

So the man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him and he He went His way. I'm just skeptical enough to understand that there are times in God's Word where we don't have the whole conversation. But I think we do today. I think there wasn't a... Are you sure?

Don't you need to come with me? No, I think we have the whole conversation here. Your son, go your way. So the man believed the word that Jesus spake to Him and went His way. You see, that's rightly responding to the Word of God, to the revelation of God.

Without question, without doubt, without anxiety, I would even say, He went. And it should speak to you and to I what faith really is, because faith is always active, never passive. Faith always responds. God's Word always requires a response. No response is a response.

You have to understand that. No response is a response. The nobleman responded. And in his response, he gave to us an example of what faith is. How one walks by faith, not by sight.

He didn't know if his son was healed. He didn't see any signs and wonders. He went believing the Word tells us. Hebrews 11, the faith chapter obviously in your Bible, reads this way, now faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen.

It's by faith he believed and walked. He didn't see it, but he believed. And he was walking by faith. And it's important for us, even as Lorenzo read the verse 6 of that chapter, because it says this, without faith it's impossible to please Him. The only way you and I please God is by faith, by responding to His Word, by accomplishing those things in my life and in your life that He's called for you and I to accomplish, those good works preordained from Ephesians 2.10.

The opportunities you and I have to see who I really am before God and ask Him to change my life. We talked about this last Wednesday night. Being conformed to His image, transformed. Because without faith it's impossible to please Him. Oops.

I really got ahead of myself, didn't I? Without faith it's impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is. The nobleman comes believing that Jesus is who He's proclaimed to be, the Messiah, the Son of God, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Scripture tells us in Ephesians 2, 8, it's by grace through faith.

You see, it's only by grace. We can respond only by the grace of God given to us. That empowering ability to respond to God's word, It's by grace alone. And it's for His honor and glory. And as the nobleman left, and he's on his way back to Capernaum where his son that he left is dying and he goes back, we have this account.

It says as he picks it up in verse 51, as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him saying, your son lives. And then he inquired of them the hour when he got better and they said to him, yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him. So the father knew this was the same hour in which Jesus said to him, your son lives. And he himself believed in his whole household. Praise God.

Praise God. His faith became sight, if you will. There'll be a day when our faith becomes sight, when we stand before the living Lord Jesus Christ when it comes for us. There'll be a day when you and I will see the answer to every one of our prayers. Some of them won't be answered the way we want them to be answered, I have to tell you that.

But we will see because our eyes will be open to the reality. And they have this confirming account given to him. And So this morning as we look at this example of a faith walk, if you will, not by sight, he heard the Word of God and he walked. You and I need to hear the Word of God given to us by this Holy Spirit and obey, active. And we have to ask ourselves this morning, is this how I'm living my life?

Is this the testimony I have? Is this the inheritance that we leave? It's an interesting note, because in Scripture in John it says this, you search the Scriptures, For in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me. You will not come to Me that you might have life." This says, will he find faith on the earth? You will not respond to My command.

You must be born again. We know the Scripture all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We know the Scripture that says the wages of that sin is death, and you and I deserve death. And John 3.17 tells us that Jesus didn't send it, or God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn the world. We deserve it.

But that through Him we might be saved because God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son. If you've never seen yourself as a sinner, if you've never recognized that because of your life you are separated from God and an enemy of God. Respond to God's word this morning. Repent. Repent and believe that it's only by His shed blood on Calvary's cross you and I can be forgiven.

And by asking him to cleanse my heart of all my sin and iniquity and my self-serving, that he can come into my heart and to rule and to reign as my Savior and my Lord, that I would surrender my life to Him. Respond to God's Word that says you must be born again, not by the will of the flesh, but by the Spirit. But it's more than just being born again that he wants us to walk. Listen to what he says in Matthew chapter 11. He says, come to me all you labor and our heavy laden.

I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and lonely and hard, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Will we come to Him when we're laboring and heavy laden. We all have those moments.

I mean, we're lying if we say we don't. And He's invited us to come, hear His Word, respond to the revelation of God. Come. He's promised us rest. He's promised us a way of life that will bring Him honor and glory and give you and I a peace which bests understanding, learning of His ways, putting on His yoke.

1 Peter asks it this way, he said, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. You believe that? You believe that He cares for you and for me enough that I can cast all my cares upon Him? People, that's the invitation. That's His word.

How will we respond? How will we respond to His Word that says make no provision for your flesh? How do you and I respond to that? How do you and I respond to His Word that says avoid all appearance of evil? How do I respond to that?

How do I respond to the word that says love your neighbor as yourself? We're all a little conceited people. I mean, I know that. I can look at the mirror and go, wow, you're a mess. But there's something deep down inside of me that says, yeah, but you're not bad.

Love your neighbor as yourself. After we love the Lord with all of our hearts, with all our soul, with all our mind. Is he really our burden bearer? Or have we tried to figure this out? Lord, this is, it's really pretty petty and I don't want to bother you with this, but I can handle this by myself.

How many of you have ever thought that? How many of you have been successful? Yeah, yeah. Why? Because God's word says this, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding.

You and I can't figure it out. There's no logical conclusion to this man coming to Jesus and saying, come and heal my son, except he's heard that Jesus has healed others. But there's no guarantee that he's gonna do anything for his son, but the man, the nobleman comes and asks Jesus as you and I are invited to come and ask Jesus. I'm not trying to figure this out. In all of our ways acknowledge him.

He'll direct our paths and respond. People, sometimes our obedience is not only difficult for us, but you and I come to the conclusion that it will cause other people to stumble. I want you to hear this clearly. Your obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ will never cause anybody else to sin, ever. It may reveal sin in their lives, but it won't cause them to sin.

Sometimes people have come to me during some marriage counseling, and they would declare that their marriage has caused them to sin. And I said, no, your marriage revealed your heart. It didn't cause you to sin. Circumstances will reveal sin in my life, and my obedience may reveal something in another's life. Beverly and I were told that by training up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, by disciplining them, we were too strict and we would cause them to sin.

In fact, have caused them to sin. But here's the truth. Our obedience to the Lord only revealed their sinful, rebellious heart. Didn't cause it. Be assured, your obedience, your responding to the Word of God will not cause somebody else to sin.

It may reveal sin in their lives, But you're not the cause. You're only obeying God. And we should have learned by now the truth of Isaiah chapter 55. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

And we can know this without knowing his timing. A year ago when I spoke to our son Nathan about the diagnosis for his wife, he said, Dad, I want you to know this. I know God can and will heal Sharla. I just don't know when. That's responding to the will of God, people.

And you and I have to understand God is not constrained to our thoughts or our ways that He has to do something. This nobleman wasn't constrained by the thought that Jesus had to come to Capernaum to heal his son. Jesus spoke the words, your son lives, he responded and he left. It's God's ways and it's God's timing and it's God's solutions and it's all him because then he gets all the credit. So how do we respond to God's Word this morning?

By faith, rightly responding, by obedience? Or do we have to figure out how it's going to end? Do we have to figure out the conclusion? People, I want to encourage you, as I am encouraged by the Lord even this morning, Walk by faith, not by sight. Let that be our testimony, responding to the Word of God.

Being born again, if that's the need in your life. Being faithful to your covenants, if that's the word of God spoken to you today, by being obedient to his word. Father, I pray this morning that our hearts would be pricked by your Holy Spirit, and that we would see, Lord, your call in our lives to rightly respond to your revelation, the word of God that you speak to each and every one of our hearts, day by day, that our lives of obedience to you and your word would bring you honor and glory. We would be your people. You would be our God.

And the world would see, Lord a testimony of the reality our God reigns. He lives and reigns. We pray this this morning in your name. Amen.