Steven Furtick - Hey Devil, God's Got My Back
This is an excerpt from: Say Hey By Faith
Sometimes it takes faith just to pray, because you wonder, "Is anybody even really listening, and does this matter"? That's why we sometimes can't pray for 13 seconds without losing our train of thought. After 13 seconds I'm like, "Am I crazy? Do I just have an imaginary friend, a grown-up version, called God? Is he really listening? And if he is really listening, then why did my friend die last year"?
He says without faith it is impossible to please God. And not only is it impossible to please God, but it's impossible to even come to him. I have to show you this, because I love every detail of the Scripture, and you might have skimmed over this, and I don't want you to. It says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because he who comes to God…" So, when you come to God, you don't come to God because you were really good today and he wants to hear from you because you did really good today. You don't come to God because you have something to brag about, and you want him to give you a gold star for everything you did for him that day. You don't come to God bringing him a list of reasons he should use you and showing him your résumé for how valuable you would be for his kingdom. You don't come to God because, wow!
If he could really get ahold of your life, then he could really start changing the world. You come to God by the very starting point of believing that you can come to a God you cannot see, that he is real. I need to do a test. How many believe Jesus is real? I need a few testimonies to happen, just break out in every section of the church. Look at your neighbor and say, "He's real to me". Tell them, "You can't make me doubt him. I know too much about him". "As a matter of fact, God is more real to me than you are to me, because you're in a body and you're a person and you're sitting next to me. You might be here one day and not here the next, but God is real to me, because he is the one who was and is…" I feel like preaching today. High-five three people and say, "He's real".
So, I come to God with the confidence that… When I roll over and see Holly in the morning, I say, "Hey," and I say, "Hey" to her because her head is next to mine. I say, "Hey" because I see her. When I turn to God, I have to say, "Hey" to somebody I can't see. Not only can I not see him but sometimes I can't feel him. It takes faith to start praying to God. It takes faith to start declaring… It takes faith to believe that your sins are forgiven when you still feel the guilt of them. I can sing "Jesus paid it all," but it takes faith for me to say that, because I'm carrying it with me, and I still feel a debt for the things I did. But he's real. I believe that. We believe this.
The writer of Hebrews is saying to the church… They're all new to this, so they're in between a place of working their way to God and believing in the God they can't see, and he knows they need encouragement. So he says, first of all, anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists, or that he's real, and secondly, that he is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him. He is a rewarder. Now, if you believe he's real but don't believe he's a rewarder, you won't pick up the phone when he calls because you'll be suspicious about what he wants. You'll be sitting over there silently, like my mom, going… We'll be saying, "Give your life to God," and you'll be like, "But what is he going to make me do if I do"? "Give your life to God". "Well, is he going to make me…? Am I going to have to go…"?
I talked to a guy one time. This guy had so much money, and he thought God wanted his money. I thought that was funny. I thought that was hilarious, that God has a need and he's going to tell you about it. I tried to explain about the streets of gold in heaven. I was like, "They pave what we save. They pave the streets in heaven with what we save up down here". He was so concerned what God was going to make him give up, because he didn't understand yet… He was starting to believe that God is real, but he didn't see God as a rewarder; he saw the Lord as a liability. Sometimes we are afraid to take the step God is calling us to take and accept his call because of what it might cost.
Into this premise and the tension, I would like to talk to you about saying "Hey" by faith, about the fact that a relationship with God does not begin the moment you get your act together but the moment you throw yourself on the mercy of God and say: Just as I am, without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, Oh, Lamb of God, I come. That is the faith it takes to enter into the presence of God. When God prompts your heart (as he's prompting many of you today) to get right with him, it is not a righteousness that you go for; it is a righteousness that is engrafted in you and gifted to you. From time to time, I think I need to say these things, because when we say, "faith," we mean a lot of different things. For some, faith has come to mean nothing more than an optimistic outlook.
Well, if that's your take on faith, it won't take much to undo it, because when things don't turn out like they looked in your mind and your life, you will abandon your faith. On the other hand, for some, faith is a classification. They'll say it in a political sense. "These are the people of faith, the faith community," as if faith were synonymous with a voting bloc, like people of faith all vote one way, like our God isn't bigger than your petty little political, agenda-driven boxes you try to get us to check. God can't be contained that way, and neither can faith. For some, faith means nothing more than the moment when you give your life to Jesus, and then after that you're on your own to work your butt off and show him how grateful you are. So, you receive Jesus by faith. "Good luck with the rest of your life. Hope you make it to heaven".
The writer of Hebrews is encouraging these people to continue in the faith. Now watch what he does. He does something so good. He says, "I know what you're going through is new to you. I know this trusting in the righteousness of Jesus…" Now, this is the gospel in one sentence: Jesus died as if he sinned so I can live as if I didn't. I loved that when God showed it to me like that. If we're going to say we're putting our faith in something, we ought to know what we're believing. What I'm believing isn't just that the situation is going to turn out or turn around or make me happy or be everything I wanted it to be, but what I'm believing is that Jesus died as if he sinned so I could live as if I didn't. He died as if he deserved to die so I could live like I could never deserve to live in his grace. He died like a criminal so I could be called a child of God.
That's what we believe. So, it begins with this. We come to God, and we believe he exists, and we believe he is a rewarder of them who seek him. So, this week, when you don't feel worthy to come to God, just remember he died so you could live as if you never sinned, so you could pray as if you never sinned, so you could come boldly in his face and tell him what you need in the time of your trouble, so you can move forward from your past and not be stuck back in it and not drag around a chain that he broke 2,000 years ago. This is what we believe.
So, the next time the Devil tells you you can't come to God and starts putting condemnation in your face, remember Romans 8:1. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus". None! Zilch! Zero! Zip! Nada! When the Devil tries to condemn you, tell him, "Hey, Devil, I appreciate what you're saying. I probably did do something wrong. I know I did stuff wrong. I can add some stuff to the list, but I have the faith to say, 'Hey, Devil, it's paid for in full!'"
All right. Let me run a poll. How many of you has the Devil been beating up over something this week? All right. Do you have faith? Did he die for you? Was his blood enough for you? Did he satisfy the righteous requirements of the law in his body? Did the spotless Lamb of God lay down his life for you? Do you have faith? Do you believe that? Do you have the faith to say, "Hey, Devil, I hear your voice, but it is silenced in the face of a greater voice, a greater grace. A greater covenant has come". He does something so good. He goes, "I know this is new to you…" For how many of you living God's way is new to you? I just want to see a show of hands. Yeah. It's really you I want to talk to, so everybody else can go home.
Let's just stay here together for a minute. And, really, if you didn't raise your hand, you haven't spoken with God lately, because it will always feel new to you if you are going forward. The only way for you to stop feeling that feeling of… The writer describes it in a very particular way. He goes, "Abraham…" Remember, Abraham was the guy who got this all started. He was called the father of faith, the father of many nations. That's what God calls him. That's not what he was. He didn't have a single son when God called him that, and he was 75 when God called him. The Bible says about Abraham in verse 8… This is the verse I thought was so anointed it might break a yoke, it might scare a devil, and it might bring somebody's heart back to a place of beating again. It said, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went…"
The more I studied this word, the better it got, because it actually is connected… Where it says, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive…" It literally is juxtaposed in the grammar it's written in in the letter to the Hebrews as an immediate response. What it means is that as he was being called, he went as soon as he was being called. So, you can measure your spirituality in inverse proportion. The time God tells you to do something… However long it takes you to do it, that's how immature you are in your relationship with him. I have a lot of growing up to do, so I need this word.
Look at it again. He was called to go to a place he would later receive. So, he's not going to get it right away. He obeyed and went. This part will probably trip you up. "…even though he did not know where he was going". Going without knowing. That is faith. Answering and not even knowing. "Is this really God? Is this really going to happen"? At this point in the sermon, there are usually about 10 reckless people who use this as an excuse to quit their job and move to Canada. That's not the essence of the text, though. It is not about a geographical location change; it is actually about staying in faith.