Amen. Thank you, young people. We'll dismiss the children to go to class with Mrs. Schor. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. And the rest of us, please open up our Bibles again to Hebrews chapter 11 and verses 1 through 6. Or page 1251 if you've got a church Bible. About two years ago, I got to go on a trip to Israel and really enjoyed the time that God gave me over there on a very intense trip. About two weeks that we were there. One of the neatest places, and there were maybe a few places that stand out to me in my mind from the trip as being particular times where something struck you about what you were doing. And one of those things was driving on the bus, kind of underneath Nazareth, and coming into Nazareth. It's bigger than it would have been at the time of Christ, but the village is still there and where the old city would have been. And you've got the cliff where they tried to throw Jesus and cast him down from that. But on the bus, I just started thinking, you know, I'm kind of passing through a space that Jesus physically would have crossed. I mean, his body, he would have walked across what is the road now. But that was interesting to me. I'm kind of almost into the same human space that Jesus was passing through in his day. You know, it was his hometown. And so he grew up there. And as a child, he would have run all over those hills. And you'd think that Nazareth would be a place that everybody would have faith in the Messiah. Because they knew Jesus, and surely they saw there's something different about this kid. He's always obeying, he's always doing those things that please his parents. It would have been a very small community, like Auckland-Denny, except for the fact that you can't order on Amazon, you don't have mobile phones. You know everybody. You know your neighbors. You have relationships. And so, there would have been this close familiarity with the Lord. But the Bible says in Mark 6, verse 1, He went out from thence and came into His own country, and His disciples followed Him. And when the Sabbath day was come, He began to teach in the synagogue. So there He is in Nazareth. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this, which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter?" See, his dad was a carpenter. I believe Joseph died. I don't know what your view is on that. I've never really studied out what do people say about Joseph. He's not at the crucifixion. Jesus had the ability to work. He's the oldest son in the family. He's a carpenter. The son of Mary, Joseph isn't mentioned. The brother of James and Joseph and of Judah and Simon are not his sisters here with us, and they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and he healed them. And he marveled at their unbelief. And he went round about the villages teaching. And so Jesus comes. Does Jesus have the power to heal? Yes. Does he have a desire to heal? Yes. And a desire beyond that. A desire to teach the truth about the kingdom of God. The fact that he is the Messiah. Of all places maybe that the Lord would have had a burden humanly for, he would have had a burden for this home community, but in other scripture it says he could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief. In this text it says he marveled at their unbelief. So what happened? the unbelief had locked up faith's potential. What could have been accomplished was not accomplished because they didn't unlock faith and thereby the potential of what faith in Jesus could have accomplished. Another area that we went to in northern Israel, there's a mountainous area, and there's Mount Hermon. And it's there below that, Caesarea Philippi, where Peter made the great declaration, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then they went up into the hill on Mount Hermon, and the Transfiguration took place. And Jesus comes down from the glory of the Father honoring him and the presence of his disciples and the radiance of his glory shining forth to the unbelief of a multitude that are below. In Mark 9.17, the multitude answered and said, Master, I brought unto thee my son. One of the multitude answered and said, Master, I brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit. And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnashes with his teeth, and pineth away. And I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him. And when he saw him, straightway the Spirit tore him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. He's saying the potential of faith is great. What could be accomplished is very significant. And the father receives that message from Jesus and he cries out and he said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. He wants to have faith. He wants to trust. He feels very inadequate to trust. Because the potential of faith is so great, what could be done for his son is so significant, and yet the battle is not, the battle is, is he going to trust Jesus to do what Jesus can do? Unbelief was keeping him from obtaining faith's potential. We understand Jesus did heal him by his power and that small faith that the father did have. How often did our Lord rebuke the disciples for their unbelief? On the Sea of Galilee, Matthew 8.26, He said unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the little faith they had was really doubting faith. It wasn't even really faith. I mean, they're panicking and saying, What's going to happen? We're going to be destroyed. And Jesus has to get up and just calm the storm and say, Basically, why did you doubt? As he says to Peter, when Peter walked on water, in Matthew 14, verse 31, immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? I mean, Peter walked on water, didn't he? I mean, he's doing well, but notice this, the little faith he had walked on water, but then the doubt came, And then he sank. And Jesus had to reach out his hand, pull him back up, as his faith failed. It's no wonder the disciples said to the Lord, the apostles said in Luke 17, verse 5, Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, if ye had faith, as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea. and it should obey you. They're saying, Lord, increase our faith. And Jesus just said, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, if you just had a little bit of faith, you'd stand in the sycamine tree, root it up and plant it in the sea, and it shall be done. What was the problem? The problem was not that they needed greater faith, they needed faith. And that's really the key And it's even what I put on our flyer that we're putting out right now and had some feedback. I'm going to talk about some of the feedback I've gotten from the flyer in the morning message. The flyer says the answer to unbelief is faith. That really is the answer to unbelief. The answer to unbelief is faith. Am I going to trust God or not? It's not I need more faith, it's just I need faith. I just need to trust God. And so to unlock faith's potential, the key is not more faith, the key is faith. And so that's what we want to look at this morning. My message is titled, Unlocking Faith's Potential. Because there are so many things that we can see God do, but it takes faith to see it accomplished. And so let's pray and ask God to open His Word to our hearts this morning. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would guide in this time, Father, it's our desire that we would unlock the potential of the faith. The reality is, God, you are the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the covenant promise, the covenant blessing, the gospel to the world. We're involved in the great thing that you started as you sent the child of promise, Isaac. And Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would give us grace to accept by faith what you desire done today. Lord, no doubt there's some in here that aren't going to have some of the things that we're speaking about from the Word of God this morning. They don't have it because they're not in faith. They're in doubt or unbelief about it. And so I pray the Spirit of God to give grace. I pray to give liberty. I confess I can't speak without your help. I need your help. I pray the Spirit of God to guide me as I speak. Lord, I pray to give us ears to hear this morning. And I pray, Jesus, that you be lifted up and glorified. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Alright, so the keys are what we're going to look at to unlocking faith and what faith potentially unlocks. What is the potential of faith? What does it unlock? You must believe God to receive proof of salvation. You must believe God to receive proof of salvation. That's the potential of faith. People say, well, if you just give me proof. Listen, faith unlocks proof. That's the point. Faith gives that proof. Verse 1 says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Alright? Substance is something you possess. It's something substantial. It's something that you can actually hold and look at. About 20 years ago, it's hard to believe that I'm saying this. I remember my father saying stuff like this when he was preaching. About 20 years ago, I was dating the most wonderful woman in the world. She was gorgeous. Beautiful. Her name was Katie Lynn Hanson. And I wanted to show her that I loved her. So I'm praying and asking God, God, I need a ring. And we need to get engaged. I prayed about asking her to marry me before her senior year. And God had given me clarity on that. And that's another story. But I'm praying for a ring. And the youth pastor at the church that we were at there, he had gotten a ring through the paper. And so I thought, well, that's a good way to find a nice ring. I can't afford to go to a jeweler. I was getting about $100 a week and most of that was going to fuel and burritos. So fuel for the car, fuel for me. I was living on my own. And so I didn't have a lot of money. I'm just praying, asking God to provide. And I found this ring in the paper. It was on the base, at the Air Force base in Tucson. And so I went to see it with the youth pastor. We got in the guy's car and he drove us to his place there on the base and he got this ring out and it was beautiful. And I said to him, I said, I really like it and you're asking a good price. I said, but they're taking a love offering for me this Sunday at the church where I'm doing my internship and I don't know if I can afford it. I'll tell you on Monday. And I'd explain what a love offering was and that. And so I called him on Monday and I said, and I told him too, I promised the Lord so much money for books, a percentage of that, because I was asking God to provide a library for me. And so I called him on Monday and I said, this is, what I can do is 200 less than you're asking. I know you're asking a good price. And I said, if you want to do that, just call me back and I'll meet you at Helzberg's, which is a jeweler. Have it appraised. If it appraises for what you say, I'll buy it. And so he called me back, I met him, got the ring. without telling too many more romantic stories, I gave her that ring, above a waterfall, at sunset, in a music box, and put that on her finger. When I put that on her finger, my wife now, had substance in her hand that if she doubted my affection, if she wondered, is he really serious or not, she didn't have to doubt anymore because when she looked at her hand, she had something on her hand that said to her, he loves me, he has promised to marry me, he's asked me to marry him, that wedding plan is coming, that future event is coming. So that was substance of things hoped for. put my faith in God, did God give me substance? And the answer is yes. Anybody that's here that's gotten saved knows the reality of something wonderful that takes place at salvation that makes you absolutely certain as to the reality of what you've received. That's what the word I got speaking about. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. That substance, by the way, is found in a person who is the Holy Spirit of God, that when I got saved, He indwells me. He's the earnest of my inheritance. The earnest money is the down payment. And so the Bible says in Ephesians 1.12, that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ faith, in whom ye also trusted. After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation." So there came a point in time, you heard the gospel, Jesus Christ died, He paid the price for your sin. He didn't stay dead, He rose from the dead. He offers you forgiveness. He offers you God's gift of everlasting life, and you responded to that in your heart, and you said, I believe that. When that took place, After that you believed, you were sealed, there's the earnest, that's the substance, sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory. Am I in eternity with Jesus just now, physically? No. Physically I'm standing right here and I'm preaching this morning. But someday, I'm going to be taken up into glory, and physically, I'm going to be in the presence of God for all eternity. Spiritually, I am seated in the heavens. There's scripture about that in Ephesians. There's a reality that transcends time, that when I got saved, I'm there. But I'm physically here. But when I got saved, the Holy Spirit of God came in. as the earnest of my inheritance. You might be here today and you think, well, to be honest, I don't really know if I have the Holy Spirit of God. How would I know that? Well, there's different ways. One way is the Spirit of God communicates. He's a convictor of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. That means He communicates. He can't convict without saying something. That make sense? I mean, it communicates. It would be the witness of the spirit in my heart saying, I am born again. I know I'm born again. How do I have that convincement because I have that person inside saying, this is so. If I don't have that, I need to be aware I may not be saved. I need that witness. What else do I see? I've got a different appetite because He does. I've got different desires because He does. I've got conviction about sin because He's not going to let me just live in sin without saying, hey, wait a second, that is wrong. He's going to bring things to my mind when I'm witnessing or speaking. And by the way, I'm going to want to witness because God's done something wonderful in my life so I want to tell somebody about it. The Spirit of God is the one that's going to bring things to my mind. I think, where did that come from? Or that scripture pops into my mind. That's what He does. He'll bring you into all truth. Alright? And so, he does that. If I don't have that, what does the Bible say? Romans 8 and 9 says, somebody that gets saved, they're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, here it is, he is none of his. That person is not saved. What, know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God? And so, when I got saved, my faith, that's how I got saved, faith is what I exercised in the grace of God, the gift that He offered, and when I got saved, I received the substance. You get it? See, the potential of faith is receiving something substantial from God. It is proof that I am a child of God. Do you have that? That's what God wants us to have because that is the reality of salvation. When I exercise faith, it is substantial. There is something that I can grab hold of. Second thing, you must believe God, that's faith, to prove things invisible. Again, this proof of something that is unseen. And so it says in our text, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When I say evidence, what do you think of? Courtroom, right? So we think of evidence in terms of a criminal court. So you have someone accused of a crime. Was the jury there when the crime took place? No. And so what does the prosecuting attorney have to do? He has to take evidence to the jury and lay it out before them and make them convicted as if they were there that this has taken place. Make sense? So based on evidence, they have proof, positive proof that this actually took place. So God desires us, by faith, to come to such a convincement that it's as if we were there when it took place. Make sense? And so the hymn says it this way, Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble. Why would a person that has never stood at the foot of the cross and seen the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Why would they tremble as if they were there? Because by faith there is evidence almost to the point of as if we were there. Does that make sense? That has happened at different times where people have come under such conviction. They did something they never thought they'd do. First of all, they came to church. They sat in church. They heard the gospel. They got on their knees before God and said, God, I'm sorry. I'm a sinner just like the Word of God says. But your son Jesus died for me. God, forgive me of my sin and save me. And this person before was a drunkard. This person before was a God-hater. This person before that defied God, right? I said to the farmer in Skirling, that's who I said I was going to speak about, because that's the feedback I got this week about the flyers we're putting out. The flyer speaks clearly about hell. It says there's a fate worse than being a miner in a pit that's been sealed, like the Chilean miners. That's what it's about. It starts with that illustration. It says there's something worse than that fate, and that is the fate of being burned alive in hell for all eternity. And then it speaks about you need to come to faith in Jesus Christ and what Jesus did. And then this man called me and said, one of my kids had received that and they would have been terrified and all these things. And I said to him, I said, well look, do you put fear in the hearts of your kids about the street and the road and playing out on the road? I said, as a pilot, he goes up in hot air balloons, I said, as a pilot, don't you have a fear of stepping out? Isn't that a good thing? That wasn't the context of our conversation. I spoke with him for 45 minutes and we had a good conversation. I was actually very pleased that he listened and allowed me to speak. I said to him towards the end, I said, look, don't think this, because he kept saying that's not for me, and I said, don't think this, that you could never get saved. Why? Because when you have a man like the Apostle Paul, and I told him about Paul, and how he persecuted Christians, the Bible says in Acts chapter 9, he breathed out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, and went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven, and he fell to the earth. And he heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into that city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. I mean, this big, proud, arrogant, conceited, self-righteous man that hated Jesus, that was a tough man that would take husbands and wives and separate them and separate them from their children. He didn't care. He was a tough guy. He's on his face before God saying, Lord, Lord. Why? Because also in Paul's heart, faith took place. And when that faith took place, he had concrete evidence that he had defied a living God. It's like Jacob. We studied on Thursday night where Jacob wakes up to the fact that God is there in that place where he's sleeping and he says this, this is a dreadful place. This is none other but the house of God and the gate of heaven. There was in his heart an awareness that God is here and that's what faith does. By the way, I want to go back to hell real quick and point this out because I got off the phone and I thought, Lord, we got hell in that flyer and we talk to people about hell, but you know Jesus said, where the worm dieth not, the fire is not quenched. Jesus said the rich man and in hell lifted up his eyes being in torment. Jesus spoke freely about hell, lovingly but freely. If you read that flyer, I don't know if we got a copy here just now, but that flyer in a very loving way speaks about the reality of Hell, it's the right thing. Don't let that put you off from talking to people about the Lord. But how could this man get saved? He could get saved by the grace of God bringing him to faith. And when he comes to faith, all of a sudden, all that evidence that he defied, that evidence that he said it doesn't exist, it couldn't exist, it never existed. By faith. All of a sudden that evidence is absolutely convincing because that's the power of God through faith. Do you want evidence? It's through faith. It doesn't happen except as we respond in obedience to God in faith. And then third, you must believe God to receive the masters well done. Verse 2, It says, for by it the elders obtained a good report. The elders obtained a good report. These are the men that we're reading about, Hebrews chapter 11, that accomplished great things for God. By faith they achieved that level of honor and glory for God in the things that they did. We have, even on an earthly level, we have something called the Hall of Fame. I think today is Super Bowl Sunday. in the United States. It's kind of sad. I hope churches have normal services because it's a big thing, big football. This is the football game of the year in American football. But there's a Hall of Fame for footballers. There's a Hall of Fame for footballers here. There's a Hall of Fame for musicians and those that accomplish things in literature and those that accomplish things in other fields, science. Hall of Fame, great achievers. This is Hebrews chapter 11, it's called the Hall of Fame. I'm sorry, Hall of Faith. It's guys and women that accomplish great things for God by faith. Daniel, we know from scripture, slept in a lion's den. See, in our day, I don't know, if they said you can't pray anymore, I doubt we'd open up a window and bow our knees and pray. Daniel did. The king said you can't ask a petition of anybody because that's the law for this next month. Daniel got in the window and he prayed. He's put into a lion's den. He goes down there by faith. God brings him out by faith. He closes the mouths of the lions. The three Hebrew children and King Nebuchadnezzar saying, bow down to this idol and they say, hey, King, our God can deliver us, but whether he does or not, know this, we will never bow down to your idol. And by faith they're cast into that fiery furnace which was heated seven times hotter than normal and the mightiest men in the army cast them in and those men died, but these men walked in the fire, by faith. They came out, they didn't even smell like smoke, by faith. In the Bible, in Hebrews chapter 11, if you skip down to verse 32, it's told all these stories about what men and women did by faith. It says, And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets. who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead, raised to life again, Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. Verse 39. And these all having obtained a good report through faith. Well done, by faith. Put yourself there. standing before God, and the roll is being called, and what we just read, and the accolades are coming forth, and it's testifying and saying, oh God, these, your servants, have quenched the violence of fire in the sword and overcome enemies and accomplished great exploits for God. And then our generation stands up. God, these got saved by faith. What else would be said? What else of, by grace through faith, they saw this? You see what I'm saying? See, faith is more than just, hey, I got saved, I'm not going to hell. Faith is, by the grace of God, let's do something for God. Let's accomplish something for God. That well done, good and faithful servant is not going to go to somebody that did not live a life of faith. Faith is where it's at. If you want a well done and if you want to get a good report, it's through this method of obtaining the full potential of faith. By faith. I mean, it might take courage for you to trust God, and that's faith, to knock on somebody's door and invite them to church and give them a gospel tract. It might take faith for you to hand a tract to a person at the till and say, look, I care about you, I'd like to invite you to visit my church. And on the back, there's just a one-question thing here about eternity. I'd like to give that to you. or anything, it might be a young person saying, God wants me to be a missionary, God wants me to be a preacher, God wants me to be whatever it is for God, but it's going to take faith in God, I'm going to trust you and accomplish something with my life. By faith. They obtained a good report. And the Apostle Paul, he strove for this by faith. 2 Timothy 4.6 said, For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. See, is it possible today, when we've got the God of the Bible that has done incredible things, is it possible today that God has no assignments? That God has no desire to do anything great in our day? That he's hung it up and thought, well, that's enough of this for the church age. Let's just kind of draw back. Or is it that our generation has never succeeded in really doing something for God because of our unbelief? See, I wonder. Because if you're saying this, but our generation is too hard, but the internet is too powerful, but the people are so atheistic, but the people are so evolutional, that's like Israel looking at the giants and saying, the giants are too big, the walled cities are too big, we can't. But Caleb and Joshua said, hey, let's go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. See, I wonder. Faith that isn't unlocking the potential of what God desires to do, because it unlocks the potential of hearing the master say, well done, good report. You must believe God to understand origins. Verse 3 says, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." By faith we understand that God said, let there be and there was. We understand that, we know that, we're convinced of that beyond a shadow of a doubt that God spoke this world into existence. And I was talking to that unbelieving friend on the phone and he said, do you believe in a literal creation? How old is this world? And a lot of times there's a little bit of angst in his voice, so he asks those questions about where is your God, when, stuff and that. And he said, should I believe Vuke when I told him 6,500 years old and God created? He said, and I did ask him this, but I said, how old was Adam when God created him? And how old was Adam? I don't know. I said, well, he was a man. God created with age. Evolution says, but the Earth is so, well, listen, God created the Earth with age. A rock created with age, how do you date it? God created with age. By the way, a lot of those aging methods are false, but that's an aside. He said, should I believe you or science? I said, let me ask you something. You mentioned some scientists, Richard Hawkins, David Attenborough. I said, do they have a bias against God? Yes, they hate God. Yes, listen to evolution. Listen to what they say. When you hear them speak against God, it is with passion. It is with fire right in their heart. You can read it in anything they write. It is in your face anti-God. Does that affect their science? Yeah. You know what? I like Christian science. I'm thankful for Christian science. But you know, Christian science does not help me understand that God Created. Not in this sense. Because the Bible says right here, by faith we understand. See, I wasn't there. I didn't see it. Evolutionists weren't there. They didn't see it. But I would say this, I understand, that's more than I think, that's more than I feel. I understand that God created it. Why? Because the Bible says in Genesis 1.3, And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Genesis 1.6, And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. Genesis 1.9, And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Genesis 1.11 and God said. Genesis 1.14 and God said. Genesis 1.20 and God said. Genesis 1.24 and God said. See, I understand that. And see, I look at these men and I prayed for David Attenborough because what I'd love to see, I'd love to see him get saved and be like the Apostle Paul was to the Jews. I'd love it. But David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins and this man that I've prayed for since speaking to him on the phone, they're not going to get the understanding of origins until they put their faith in Jesus Christ. And as they do, there will be an assurance in their heart that it's exactly as God said. How do I understand that? By faith. That's the potential of faith. The potential of faith is understanding origins. And then verse 4, you must believe God to obtain righteousness. You must believe God to obtain righteousness. So the potential, we've been studying this in detail in our Sunday School lesson, the potential of faith is actually everything that I need to go to heaven. Do you know to go to heaven you have to be absolutely perfect? that there cannot be sin that is undealt with by God or that would eliminate you from going to heaven. If you think about it like this, in the Garden of Eden it was a perfect environment. Adam and Eve broke one law. They took fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they did, they were ashamed, they were naked, they hid themselves. Death was a result of their sin. If God let one sin into heaven, what would it do? It would corrupt heaven and God would be unjust and God cannot violate his holiness because that is what holds everything together. So man has a problem. The problem is, I'm unrighteous and somehow I've got to become righteous for me to go to heaven. So what does the Bible teach? The Bible teaches that faith is what receives God's righteousness. We've studied it in detail in our Sunday school, those of you that are in that study. But verse 4 says, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By which he obtained witness that he was righteous. That's justification. That's God saying you're righteous because you're exercising faith in the blood sacrifice as I said. That's what Cain was doing. God testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Let's read the story if you want. You can turn back in your Bibles. It's easy to find. Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter 4. It says, And Adam knew Eva's wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the firstling of his flock, and of the fat thereof. Two offerings, two brothers. Cain is a farmer. He brings fruit of the ground. The other boy is a shepherd. He brings a lamb and offers a blood sacrifice. Whether God had revealed this ahead of time or not, God reveals it here as far as what is acceptable. He accepts Abel's sacrifice. He does not accept Cain's sacrifice. And so the Bible says, In verse 4, the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, he was angry, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou angry? Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." God accepts blood sacrifice. We understand that. That's a picture of who? Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. Somebody has to receive the punishment. It has to fall upon something living. Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, when he died, he is what John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Jesus died for everybody. Faith is going to God through that sacrifice. That's what Abel did. God said, you're righteous, not because of what you've done, but because of coming to me the way that I said to come, through the blood. See, when I got saved, we've studied this again in depth in Sunday school, it's not that I did a bunch of good things and that I went to God and said, God, I'm good, let me into heaven. If that was the case, I would be proud and I would be saying to God, God, you owe me. But I went to God in humility and I received from Him what I could not achieve any other way. Faith achieved it. I accepted it by faith, God imputed righteousness to me. That means when God sees me, he no longer sees my sin, he sees his Son, the righteous Son of God. And so today, if you've never exercised faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for righteousness, you don't possess it. But the potential of faith is that anybody outside these walls, anybody in the world could come to God through Jesus Christ and His shed blood and receive imputed righteousness. Listen, that is the pinnacle of faith. That is the greatest thing that God has ever done for mankind is to gift us righteousness through Christ. You must believe God to obtain righteousness. The potential is there. That's the sad thing, right? You knock on a door, and you talk to somebody, and you ask them, if you were to die today, and you stood before God, what would you say is the reason He should let you into Heaven? And it's so sad to hear them say, I'm a good person, or I've always been a Christian. Or they'd say, well, I don't even really believe in God. It's so sad, because God stands ready to give them everlasting life. And it's like Nazareth, whatever the problems were there, Jesus Christ could have fixed it. But He could do more mighty works there because of their unbelief. The potential was great, but it was wrecked because of the unbelief. And it's all around us, isn't it? God is able, but our neighbors and our family and our friends, they've got to take God at His word and receive by faith what God is able to do in their life. And then you must believe God to be taken by God to glory. Verse 5 says, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. Enoch is one of two people in the Old Testament that went up into glory without dying. Enoch was the first that God just took him. And then you have Elijah and the fiery chariot that God sent. Those two men didn't die. And really it's a picture of the rapture of the church. It's a picture of the fact that Jesus Christ, you may not know this, in the Word of God, it says Jesus Christ is coming again. And if he came today, there's people that have died in Christ, and those people are buried, and their bodies have decomposed. But those bodies are going to recompose, and that spirit is going to indwell that body again. And that body, when Jesus Christ comes back, is going to meet Jesus Christ in the air. And there's going to be some people that are still alive. But they've accepted Christ by faith. And because of that faith that they have in God, and because of imputed righteousness, the fact that they're a child of God, just like that body in the grave, they're going to go to meet God in the air without ever dying, just like Enoch. That's what the Word of God says. It says in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, about the rapture, But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep. That's when a believer dies, it's just sleep, it's temporary. That you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." It's a wonderful thing at a Christian funeral to be able to read that text and say, look, We sorrow today because this person is taken from us. But look, if we're saved, we're going to see this person again. It's going to be glorious. God is coming again. Jesus is coming again. That body isn't going to stay in that grave. That body is going to rise again. Right? It's a glorious text. But if you don't believe it, you've never received it. And you'll never benefit from it. Does that make sense? That power is real. It's not this, that after I get saved I have to believe in this. That's what God's going to do. The faith part came at salvation. When I'm a child of God, that glorious rapture of my body is going to take place. And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, one of them is faith. And so, like that farmer I'm speaking to on the phone, and he goes, I don't believe that. I don't believe in organized religion. I said, can I say something? He was very kind. He'd always say yes. I said, well, if you stood at the crags in Edinburgh, at the front of Arthur's seat, the cliffs, and you said, I don't believe in gravity, and you stepped off, I said, what's going to happen? Because what you believe doesn't matter. What matters is what's true. And what's true is this. Jesus Christ is coming back. He's going to take those that have received Him as Savior as His own on the day the rapture will take place. You will have no part in it if you do not believe. But if you'll take God at His word, take Jesus Christ as your Savior, you'll have the opportunity to participate in what verse 5 is talking about. was walking with God, and he was not, because God took him, because it was by faith that he had that relationship with God. Are you letting your unbelief keep you from everlasting life, that eternity with God? The Jews came round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." What a sad statement, isn't it? Oh, what a statement. How long do you make us to doubt? Listen, if you're struggling with unbelief, it's not God's fault. It's not that you're predisposed to unbelief. It is your fault. It is your heart against God. Just trust God. How long dost thou make us to doubt? Jesus answers them, I told you, And ye believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, they are eternal. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father were one." Listen, when you trust Christ your Savior, God gave you everlasting life. You have it. But if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, Jesus just looks at you and goes, you believe not, you believe not. You're not my sheep. If you were my sheep, you'd obey my voice. And my voice said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Believe God. I mean, it's so simple, isn't it? The problem is this. Today, if you're sitting here and you're thinking, you know what, I really struggle with faith. Trust God. Trust God. I mean, that sounds so simple, but that's where it's at. Trust God. Then you get it. It's kind of like this. With the illustration, taste and you'll see that the Lord is good. If I'm eating an apple, I can tell you, look, my apple tastes really good. But it takes faith for you to stop, pick up the apple, and take a bite. But faith exercise gives you the experience. It's the same. When you trust God, it's like, oh man, now I see it, I don't get it. And so many people say this when they get saved. They say, I don't understand why I didn't see this before. Know why? Because faith entered into that experience. They didn't have the experience because they didn't have faith. But once they had faith, they got the proof that they desired, even as we've already considered. But part of that is the reality that they know for sure when they die, they're going to heaven, that they have everlasting life. That's received by faith. Then lastly, you must believe God to be rewarded by God. You must believe God to be rewarded by God. But without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." You've got to believe that God is real, that God is ready to answer, that God is willing. If we know that, listen, if I know that God stands in heaven waiting for me to come to him and say, Father, I've got a need and I'm going to ask you to meet my need, and God's going to say yes, I understand He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Then what am I going to do? I'm going to go again, and I'm going to go again, and I'm going to go again, and I'm going to get from God, because God is who I believe He is, a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. I'm going to apply this to Christians at the end here. If I am exercising faith in God, how often do I pray? See, if I'm a prayerless Christian, I am not a Christian that is believing God. And so what? So I'm not going to be receiving from God either. He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Jesus told a parable in Luke 18 verse 1. He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God, nor neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard men, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continually coming she weary me. So there's a woman with a great adversary in the unjust judge. And she could go before the judge and say, Judge, I've got a problem. I've got a problem. I've got a problem. She could go day after day. That's all she can do. She has no other way to get the ear of the judge. And so she takes advantage of that. And she just continually goes and continually goes. And Jesus says, hear what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night? So the judge said, fine, you got it. Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Now get what Jesus says. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? He's saying, yes, God stands willing to answer more than that unjust judge. These are his children, this is his elect, and they come unto him, and they bring that need again before him. He's going to answer them speedily. Now, it may not feel speedily, but he's got it. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Would God have found faith in Free Baptist Church this past week, based upon the time that our church spent in prayer? See, we're asking God, God do great things. It's done by faith. What part of faith is getting underneath saying, God do great things? God, we need it. I'm going to ask you. You know, I'm not really walking by faith and I'm not spending time in prayer. I mean, that's a fact. Faith is not a feeling. Faith is dependent. And so I've got to go to God and say, God, I know you can do this and I'm just going to keep asking. Because God is a real need. And I'm going to get some things through this process of faith. And so we read actually in our devotions this past week that verse where the disciples said, Lord, increase our faith. I thought, what an interesting statement. Increase our faith. But Jesus' answer kind of confused me because you want him to say, here are some principles about increasing your faith. All right, you need to go work on some muscles, you know, faith muscles and you've got to build them up. But he just says, if you have faith, it's a grain of mustard seed. You might say unto the sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you. Because the problem is not that you need great faith, the problem is that you need faith. And so what? Trust God. You ask yourself this question this week. You get stressed out, life's tough. Just ask yourself, am I trusting God? Because that's when faith is tested. Am I going to say, well God, you've got this, I'm going to trust you, but my experience right now is of faith and, if necessary, I'm going to get on my knees right now and I'm going to pray about it and I'm going to commit it to you in faith. Because that's what faith is. It might be today that you need to trust God as your savior. You don't have that experience of the Holy Spirit that we spoke about and you look in your heart and say, I don't have that assurance of origins. I don't have that assurance of experience and substance and evidence. And so I need to put my faith in Jesus Christ so that I can receive that. Because that's what faith achieves. And certainly as a church, we need to look at it and say, you know what, church? God's greater than what we've done. Is it because of our unbelief? Are we seeking to do great things for God? Do we really have a desire to say, God, you can do this, we're going to trust you to do it? Is it our unbelief that is not allowing Him to do the mighty works that He desires to do? Because it could be, because faith unlocks that potential. So let's pray. Father, may the Spirit of God speak to hearts just now. Lord, in the quietness of our hearts, we bow before You. This text covers so much ground that no doubt each one of us can bow before you and say, Lord, I need to get saved. I need to be baptized. I need to be a godly leader. I need to exercise faith. I need to walk by faith. I need to pray in faith. And so I just pray that the Spirit of God, in the quietness of our hearts, as we bow before you, if there's a decision the Spirit of God is saying is a decision that we need to make, then I pray that we'd make that decision. And Father, don't let us get to the end of this next week in unbelief. Father, faith is the victory that overcomes the world. We walk by faith, not by sight. But Father, help us to have seeing faith. Help us to have the eyesight of our Lord. which call things that be not as though they were. Because, Father, you know the greatness of the things that you desire to accomplish. And so, would you work in our hearts, even as we stand to sing, I pray. God, speak to our hearts. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. I will follow thee, my Savior, where'er the pathway may go. 387. 387. And then standing with me, please, as we sing. 387.