Alright, Hebrews chapter 10. We'll just read one verse tonight. It's been the theme the last few weeks. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 38, Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. You'll find this same principle in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4. The just will live by faith. Romans 1 17 the Bible says the just shall live by faith And then we find in Galatians chapter 3 verse 11 the just shall live by faith And I'm thankful tonight that we have the key to the Christian life and that's living by faith. We've talked about faith. Faith is real. Faith is not wishing, wanting, trying. Faith is real. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, evidence of things not seen. Real faith makes things real. Real faith makes things real. Then we talked about faith as a gift. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12 verse 3 that God has measured out to every man a measure of faith. He's given to every man, every man a measure of faith. So we've been given faith. Someone says, I don't have faith like you do. Well, everybody's been given faith. That's a gift of God. The Bible even says that we're saved, what, by grace through faith. And that's a what? And that is not of ourselves, but it is a gift of God. So we know that faith has been given to every man. So we all have faith. So it's not the thought is, well, I don't have faith. No, you've got faith. The question is, who are we putting it in? Who are we placing it in? So faith is a gift. Faith is real. Faith overcome fire. Faith overcome the walls of Jericho. Faith overcome the mouths of the lion. What a powerful force faith is. And then we talked on Sunday night. We talked about faith is pleasing God. I try to make the analogy, you know, if you have a relationship, you want to please your spouse, at least that should be our desire. You know, growing up, you know, you know what I'm talking about. You start dating someone, you start courting somebody and man, your whole life, you can't wait to get around them. But what happens once you get married, you know, then you just kind of come like, you know, well, we're just married. But you know, the truth is, if we're going to have the right kind of relationship, to be honest with you, we ought to want to please one another. We ought to have a desire to please our spouse. But even more importantly, God says, look, if you want to please me as a Christian, it's impossible without trusting him. And I even brought down the human analogy that, you know, we have a son, we have a daughter, you know, I'm even a pastor, I'm a husband. You know what encourages me and brings me happiness? And joy is when I know people that I love just trust me. Think about that. Could you imagine? Now look, I just said that a moment ago though. I don't trust myself. Our flesh, the Bible says that our flesh dwells in no good thing. The Bible says that our heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? That's what the Apostle Paul said. I am the chiefest of all sinners. So look, the Apostle Paul, listen, he was a wonderful Christian, but he also understood that his flesh would fail him. I have no confidence in my flesh. But I want you to know something. I'm flawed. You're flawed, but I'm thankful our heavenly father is not flawed. We can trust him. We please him when each, when we trust him. So we talked about that on Sunday night, but then I want to just quickly, I want to talk to you quickly in Romans chapter 10. I'm going to turn there. If you want to mark it down a bit, just trying to give some principles. on faith Romans chapter 10 verse 8 you know this we usually start with verse 9 Romans 10 9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead but you know verse 8 is never quoted when we talk about Romans chapter 10 you take them to the Romans road hey very rarely do we ever go to verse 8 but I want you to notice verse 8 the Bible says but what sayeth it The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, notice this, and in thy heart. That is the word of faith. Which we preach. Hey, can I say, faith is Bible living. I wish I could say to you tonight. I wish I could say to you tonight. will live by Bible principles, that you will see a result from that Bible principle the very next day. But it's not always true. Do you know a lot of times families that are just trying to live by the Bible, you know, after a while, I've seen many just quit. So you know what, we've tried that. It don't work. Well, they quit too soon. Bible living is faith. There's mornings I wake up, I don't even feel saved. See, some people, that's all they live by is feeling. Well, I think that, doesn't matter what I think, doesn't matter. Bible says, what saith you? What saith it? It's even nigh unto you, it's in thy mouth. What that word of the gospel, the word of truth. He said, it's even in your heart, but he said, look, this is the word by faith. It says, this is the word of faith that what? We preach. Hey, I want you to know, faith is Bible living. There's no other way to live. There are some promises in this Bible that I've trusted for years, but I've never seen come to fruition for me. But that doesn't mean that it's not true. See, the Bible is faith, is Bible living. When we live the Bible, it takes faith. It's not always knowledge. So look, here's what people say. Well, I know that. I know what the Bible says. Well, wait a minute. That's not Bible living. Knowing it is not living the Bible. Living the Bible is by faith. Placing that promise, whether you understand it or not, and just claiming it. Saying, you know what? I don't see the light. I don't see the break but I'm going to trust that promise anyway by faith and I'll promise you somewhere down the road the light will break. The light will come at the end of the tunnel. Because I'm going to tell you something right now. God will keep his promise. The Bible, faith is Bible living. But quickly, let me say something else about faith. Faith is the Christian's keeping power. Quickly, I'll turn there. 1 Peter. And then I'm going to talk about one more thing and we're going to get to the house tonight so everybody can get home safe. 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5. I want you to notice how powerful faith is here. The Bible says, who are kept by the power of God, notice this, through faith. Through faith and salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Now think about that now. We're being kept, present tense, by faith. I want you to know that word there means guarded by God's power through faith. We're guarded, we're kept by, but how are we, how do we have peace? How do I know I don't lose my salvation tonight? Well, God's word teaches it, but still this is the word of faith. So for me to appropriate that to my life and for it to help me to lay down tonight, to have peace in my heart, to go to sleep, I have to have faith in it. I've got to trust it. I've got to trust that God says, hey, I'm greater than all and no man can pluck you out of my hand. Hey, I trust that tonight by faith. Through faith, he keeps us. Think about that. Hey, quickly, this is where I'm gonna close. Faith is man's extremity and God's opportunity. I'm gonna say it like this. Faith works better when the last straw of human help has been exhausted. Listen, I can't give names. I'm not gonna give names, but we I'm burdened for some dear friends They don't live here. They live in West Virginia dear friends. I Love them Laura love them. We've spent a lot of time talking to them and I'm gonna be honest with you Some people have the idea that the Christian life, that people that really excel in the Christian life has had everything go their way. It's the contrary. Jeremiah chapter 18 is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful picture of the Lord tells Jeremiah, come on down here to the potter's house, and you know what he sees. He sees that piece of clay, that clay, that mud being marred in the hands of the potter, and he's breaking it and milling it back up. It's a very painful thing, but you know before that clay can be useful, first of all it has to be pliable. Second of all, I've learned this. What God breaks, He remakes. And I've noticed this. Most people that are used of God have been broken. You don't have to convince them that God's all they need. They know that He's all they need. I'm gonna tell you why, because they've realized when all of human effort has been exhausted, then God has got them where he wanted them the first day. Here's what's amazing. We do everything we possibly can to make it our way, and then we get really discouraged and sometimes depressed when we get to a place, well, I just don't know what to do. You're in the best place you've been yet. Because that's when you're going to realize faith becomes more real to you then. What can you do? Think about it. What can you do? You ever been in a situation you have absolutely no power over something? How helpless is that? That's helpless because we know we've been taught, especially your children today, they've been taught humanism. They can do anything. See, they're being taught. You can do anything you put your mind to. Well, that's not true. They can't do anything. That's humanistic teaching. That's humanistic philosophy. When does young people really believe faith is real? When every drop of human effort has failed. Can I explain it to you like this? I know a man, not long ago, it's been actually long ago, probably 20, I don't know, it's been a lot of years ago. He was having a rough time in his life. He went to a chaplain to talk to him, to give some help. Someone had made an appointment for him and so he went to this chaplain and he was going through some things and this chaplain, this particular man, started quoting verses and he got to 1 Peter and he started saying, you know, I've been claiming this verse, cast all your care on him for he careth for you. And that chaplain looked at this man and said, that's a great verse. But he said, by talking to you, he told this man, but by talking to you these last 20 minutes or so, you know that verse, but you're not living that verse. And this man said, how so? He said, take out a piece of paper. On that piece of paper, he said, I want you to draw a line. He said, I want you to draw a line right down the middle of that piece of paper. He said, on the left side of that paper, he said, I want you to put God's side. He said, on the right side of that line, he said, I want you to put your side. He said, now I want you to tell me, and he said, get a pen out there And he told this man, he said, get a pen out there And he said, alright, here's what I want you to do He said, on the left side, on God's side He said, I want you to start talking to me before you write anything He said, you tell me some things that you're struggling with That you're trying to fix That you're worrying about So this man told him the first thing He said, okay, do you have any control over that? And this man looked at that chaplain and said, no He said, okay, put it on God's side He said, all right, tell me another thing that you're struggling with and you're trying to fix and you're in... He said, all right, and so this man gave him another principle. He said, okay, do you have any control of that? And that man was sitting there going, you know, not really. He said, okay, put that on God's side. So he wrote it on God's side. Come to find out, you get the picture, he did that for about 20 minutes. Very few things this man was carrying and dealing with and broken over that he could change or control anyway. But the things that was being affected in his life that he could control, he wasn't dealing with. You know who that man was? You're looking at him. Now I want to say something to you. That was a good place for me. Because I had tried everything I knew. I'd exhausted all of my effort. I'd exhausted all of my resolve. I'd exhausted all those things. You know what I finally just had to do? This is deep. Are y'all ready? I had to actually just trust that verse. And I actually say, you know what? That's not just good verse to tell people I'm claiming. That's a verse that I need to start living. And all those things that I've said, oh, I'm casting that on the Lord. I really wasn't. I was trying to do it myself. But when all those things finally got exhausted, I said, Lord, here's what I came to, Miss Kelsey. I said, I can't do it no more. I was exhausted of trying. And you know what? I've given you that same testimony when I was laying on my bed and I finally said, Lord, you can have me from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. And you know what? I found out something. I've learned that I know more what faith is when I've tried all the things I've tried and I've exhausted all this human effort and I found out when that's come to an end, I should have been there the first moment. But isn't that just like us? I got it. I got it. I got it, God. I got this. You know, we walk in church and we might, oh, I got it. You know what I think we need to realize is, look at me, we don't have it. Why do we have to be so full of pride and just say, you know, Lord, I don't have it, I need you. I'm going to tell you right now, we need to trust him more every day. So a good place is when we get broke. There was a young man standing out in the foyer one day, never forget it. He said, well, I know why you're a preacher and everything. Like, why is that? He said, because everything's went your way in life. Well, that's not true, but I can promise you this. If everything went my way, if everything went my way, every way in my life that should have went, I certainly wouldn't need God. So sometimes we think we've got a bad day. Listen to me. Faith works better when the last straw of human help has been exhausted. Why don't we get there first? You know what we do? Churches rely on what they know. Churches rely on what we can cover. Churches rely upon, we can still do that, God. We can do that. No, wait a minute. Real faith works better when we get to a place where we say, you know what? We don't have it, God. We're out on a limb, God. See, it works better. Let's see, we're afraid of that. We're all afraid of that. But see, God puts us in positions sometimes where we can only trust when all human effort has been tried and it's been exhausted. Faith works better. Why don't we trust him tonight? There's some situations going on right now in people's lives. Some I know, some I don't know. And I don't have to know any of them. But I just know everyday life how The grind is, how tough it is, heartbreaks come. Bad situations are here because of the society in which we live in. There's dysfunction all across the board. That brings what, heartache, heartbreak? You know, if you're not careful, we'll get discouraged. Like, is there any use? Listen to me. God uses all of those things to make us realize something. We need him more today. We need him more this minute than we've ever needed him in our lives. Faith works better when all human help has been exhausted. Y'all pray with me about these dear precious people. They're still trying. They're still trying. They're just still trying. They're still doing it their way. But I'm telling you right now, faith works better when we come to a place and say, God, I ain't got it. I can't do it. I need you, Lord. Works a whole lot better when we come to the end of ourselves and we absolutely get to a place and say, Lord, can't do it. Could we live there? Faith works a lot better. He shows up and he will help us. So faith is real. Faith is a gift. Hey, faith is over. Faith is more forceful than fire. Hey, faith is pleasing God. Faith is our keeping power. We're kept by faith. Faith is Bible living. But I want you to know something. Faith works much better when we're at the end of our rope. When everything we've tried, has been exhausted, how about we try him? But before we exhaust all those things, how about we try him first? That's like that lady that had the issue of blood. Bible said she did what? She spent all of her money on the doctors, but grew worse, the Bible said. Finally, she didn't have any other thing. Boy, she had no other argument, no other plea. She, you know what? She said, I got to get to Jesus. Well, here's the question I have for her, but I can't preach to her too long because we do the same thing. She tried all she knew, then she went to him. You know what? It works better like that. But boy, I wish we would learn. How about we go ahead and try him first? But at the same time, when you get to that place of despair, don't lose hope because faith works much better. when all you can do is trust him. And I promise you this, you can trust him. He'll bring us through. Let's stand on our feet tonight. Thank you for being here. Let's be faithful people. Let's be people of faith. That little verse, cast all your care on him for he cared for you. How many of you know that verse? You've heard that verse quoted before? You know how you live it? Why don't you go home tonight and do exactly what that man told me many, many, many, many, many years ago. Write down a piece of paper, and you throw down all those things that you're worried about, you're struggling with, and you write down on those sides, which ones is God you have no control over. Put them on God's side, and here's what you do. Cast them on him. Say, Lord, I can't do these anyway. I'm leaving them. And leave them there. Some people bring a burden to the altar and before they get back to their seat they done carried it and picked it back with them. Leave it. The Bible says cast all your care on him for he cared for you. Cast them on him. Trust him with them. By the way, he can handle them better than you can. And I'm often reminded and I need to do that. I try to carry and pick up so much stuff and burden it and walk around with it. I say, Lord, I got to give that to you. So let's trust Him with our cares. Then write it down. Write that line down there. Put all those things. Well, I'm worried about this. I'm concerned about this. And you write them down, the ones you don't have any control of. You'll be amazed what you're carrying around. If you'll live that principle, I'm telling you what, freedom. Liberty and freedom. Boy, you just cast them on Him. Trust Him with them. I'm going to tell you right now, you're talking about a burden rolling off your back. We can trust Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You. for the precious word of God. Thank you for this command, this principle, that just you'll live by faith. That's the key to living. I pray you'll help us. Lord, sometimes we come to church day in, day out, week in, week out, hear messages, we hear things, but Lord, we can know them and not trust them. So I pray you'll make that little verse tonight real to us, casting all our care on you. For you care for us. We can trust you with them. And so Lord, I pray you'll help each person here, even to go home later. Put the line down the paper, God's side, my side. Lord, all those that they write down that they don't have control over, Lord, I pray we'll trust you with them so we can pillar our head tonight in peace. Thank you for your promises. Help us to live by faith and trust in you. We ask it in Christ's name and all God's people say it. Amen.