Please turn with me in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11. Enter into Hebrews chapter 11 this morning, that infamous faith chapter. And we'll be looking at the first three verses of Hebrews chapter 11. If you're using your pew Bibles, that's on page 947. Hebrews 11, verses 1-3. Let's hear the Word of our God. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Let's pray. Father as we look into your word this morning and continue into the book of Hebrews and this very important chapter where the author now gets into the very substance of what faith is. Something that he has been calling the people to throughout the whole of this epistle, he will now define for us and then exemplify it throughout the Old Covenant fathers and their examples. And Lord, we do pray that you would give us an understanding of faith. Such a small word seems to be a simple word and yet rich in its meaning. And especially, Lord, today in our generation when there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding and a distortion of what this actually means. So please, Father, meet with us now, grant us your Holy Spirit, and direct our hearts to you through your word. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. As the author has been seeking to compel his readers to persevere in their complete confidence in Christ, both warning them of the dangers of apostasy and reminding them of the blessings of finishing well, we have found the whole concept of faith being brought to the foreground throughout the course of his argumentation. Indeed, last time he quoted, in fact, Habakkuk chapter 2, where we are explicitly told that the righteous one will live by his faith. And, of course, this was in contrast to those who shrink back, to those who apostatize or who turn away from the faith and who are not pleasing to God because of that. And so there is this ever-increasing emphasis throughout the book of Hebrews, both indirect and direct, exhorting the people of God to keep or to continue in or to persevere in their faith. Well, now we come to chapter 11, which has often been labeled the faith chapter, because the author deals with the critical matter of defining exactly what faith is, what is the substance of faith. And he does this first by providing a literal definition of faith, and I'm not saying that it is exhaustive, but it is a good and helpful definition of the word faith, or the term faith. He also then shows us, as we'll see in the upcoming times, what this faith looks like, how it has been exhibited by the old covenant saints. And so by this means we're given an express and visible means of understanding what exactly a true faith, that is a faith that pleases God, ought to look like. And so this morning we will begin by considering the author's definition of faith. And next time, Lord willing, we will start to work through the illustrative Old Testament examples that the author uses to illustrate his definition. And so what is faith? Well, he begins then in verse one with this statement, a very rich and packed statement. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. So the author here uses two statements to help provide or define the meaning of faith. And right from the outset, we can see clearly that faith relates to things that are not within the reach of the physical senses. Or we can say it this way. Faith has no life where the object or whatever you are having faith in is within reach of the physical senses. So even when Christ was present, and although he was calling people to have faith in him, in him, it was based upon promises that had not yet been fulfilled and that he would fulfill as the proclaimed Savior. As we see from the definition, faith relates to things that are hoped for and things that are not seen. Now before we break this text down, I just want to add that the opposite of faith is unbelief. And like faith, unbelief is evidenced by our actions. And this is an important connection we're gonna make throughout the course of this chapter and in our definition. Faith is something that is evidenced by our actions. It is not the actions, but it is evidenced by our actions as is unbelief is evidenced by the actions. And somewhere in between faith and unbelief is what we would call doubt. Doubt is something that even genuine Christians can and do struggle with, especially during times of trial and waiting. And while it's not a good thing to doubt, thankfully, it can swing back toward faith. People who have doubted aren't necessarily unsaved. There's a great book written by Brother R.C. Sproul called doubt and faith and he actually shows the differences as an encouragement to those who have struggled with doubt. one can struggle with doubt and still remain actively faithful, seeking to honor God while patiently working in the direction of renewing his faith. So he can still be faithful even though he's struggling with doubt. That said, when doubt swings into unbelief, that is apostasy. That is the very definition of apostasy. The Hebrews were struggling with doubt. that he's writing to. They were struggling with doubt, but the author had confidence that through his admonishment, they would swing back toward an enduring faith. Well, all of that said, brethren, let us then work through the author's two-part definition of faith. First, he begins by saying faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Now, what does the author mean by this statement? He means that faith involves the inner certainty, confidence, and anticipation of reaching something that is presently not directly accessible. So again, it is the inner certainty, confidence, and anticipation of reaching something that is presently not directly accessible. In the case of our Christian faith, it directly relates to the promises of God which have not yet been fulfilled. Those promises that have not yet been fulfilled require faith. a sense of certainty that they will be fulfilled. God has made promises, and those who have faith in God, those who believe that God will most certainly do what he has promised, they live in anticipation of reaching those promises. Those promises are not here yet, the fulfillment of them. The senses cannot touch them. Indeed, there are even opposing forces that are challenging and calling into question those promises. But faith takes God at His word. Faith is certain that God will bring about whatever He has promised. faith hopes for it, as we're told in this text. Not in some wishy-washy way that allows for the possibility that God's promises may not come to pass. This is not a worldly understanding of hope, like I hope it happens, but I'm not really sure. But rather, biblical hope is a hope that is certain, so certain that you could reach out toward it with eager expectation and anticipation. You are assured of it. It must happen. It will happen. The only reason we call it hope is because it has not yet happened, but it absolutely is certain to happen. The money is in the bank, as it were, and we know that it's there. And such an inward assurance of hope, and this is so important, such an inward assurance of hope, that's the faith, right? That's on the inside. That's not tangible in that sense. But such an inward assurance of faith must and will take on an outward form. You can't separate it from its outward expression. And this is absolutely critical to understand because many throughout all of the history of the church, and nowadays we see this clearly, try to divorce the inward reality of faith from the outward reality of the working out of that faith. They try to divorce those two. Again, there's a distinction, but they are inextricably woven together. You cannot separate one from the other. You can't have one apart from the other. To be sure, faith begins in the heart. It takes God's word from the inner man. That's what God sees, right, in the inner man. However, the reality of that inward faith, which is assured of God's promises, will most assuredly then direct the outward actions of one's life. If you really believe this, you will act in this way. But it begins with the belief, right, that you can't see. but it's affirmed by the outward action to show that it's real. And that is why the list of Old Testament examples that we see here, and we'll look at in chapter 11 here, who exemplify the genuine faith, are provided us in the form of actions that they have taken. which attest to their inward faith, right? It doesn't just go through this text and say, these people had faith. There are ways of showing how that faith that you can't see visibly is expressed outwardly, and that's what we see that confirms their faith. The inward faith and trust and assurance are not visible to the naked eye. God sees it. He knows whether it's genuine or not. But we can't see inside of people this thing called faith. But it takes on a visible manifestation. by the acts of obedience and the risks that are produced by such a genuine inward faith. And that's what we see, right? We see the evidence of it. We see the evidence of a car, knowing that it runs because we hear the sound of the engine, even though the key is what turned it. If somebody says, my car runs, and they turn the key, and we don't hear the engine, and they put it in gear, and it doesn't move, we say, the car doesn't run, it doesn't work. Well, the key is turned, well, It's not running, right? There's evidence that the car has been started because of the engine running. Now we'll get into this also when we work through James's epistle, Lord willing, next, after we get through Hebrews. You know that James has that famous quote, and again, a much, a text that is, many people have confused, even Martin Luther himself was so confused by this text, and I don't want to criticize him, because he understood a lot from his time and dealt with a lot, but it's that text that includes these terms. Show me your faith, apart from your works, and I'll show you my faith. by my works, right? The famous line of James. And so first then, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. It is the inner certainty of the coming fulfillment of God's promises, all secured in Christ alone, which compels us to then strive to live obedient to all of God's commands as we believe his promise. And that's why we're justified by faith and not the actions, but the actions justify the faith. Secondly, building on this or perhaps restating the same thing in another way, the author adds this This statement, the conviction of things not seen. That word conviction means evidence or proof. The conviction of things not seen. Faith is the actual proof of things that aren't seen. The case has been made to your soul, and you're convinced by the evidence. The verdict is in for you, and you know it to be true, even though it's not within the reach of your physical senses. Again, the fulfillment of God's promises in Christ, right, of his promises, most of them are yet future to us. the promises of the fulfillment of future to us. We read about eternal life and being raised from the dead and the glorious resting place and unending elation to come in heaven. We're given promises to have no more sin, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more suffering, no more death. But those are not our present experiences, are they? Does anyone here not have any tears or sorrow or pain or death or sin? No, we still experience those things in the present. We still suffer. in this life. They remain unseen in the present and out of the reach of the senses. But faith is absolutely convinced of these realities. Faith is absolutely certain that Christ is a risen Savior who has actually accomplished a complete salvation on behalf of all who believe into Him. We're convinced that he has accomplished a complete salvation, not part, not most, but a complete salvation. We are convinced as if all that is promised is right here in front of us, as if it were right in front of us. Faith carries us beyond the veil and into the reality that awaits there. Faith is like a sixth sense, if I can say that, in some spiritual sense. It's convinced. What we cannot presently reach with our senses, faith lays hold of with both hands. Faith sees what our eyes cannot see. Faith touches what our hands cannot touch. It hears what our ears cannot hear. It tastes what our tongues cannot taste. And so again, we live out of the genuine conviction of our faith, responding then in obedience to God's commands given in his word. Because although we can't reach them with the senses, we are convinced of them. We reach them with our faith, and that in turn affects how we live, because we believe. these things to be true, as if they were right here in front of us. And so again, we live out of the genuine conviction of our faith, responding in obedience to God's commands given in His Word. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction, the evidence to proof of things not seen. Notice the author says, now, he begins with the word now. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And he does this because he is providing a definition of the very faith that he's been calling for from the beginning of the epistle. He's been calling for a perseverance in their confidence in Christ all along. And now he says, now faith is this. This is what I've been calling you to. Let me get down to the substance of what I'm calling you to, to explain to you what faith really is. Well, moving on then into verse two. He says, for by it, that is by faith, such has been defined by this kind of faith, the people of old receive their commendation. By it, the people of old, the old covenant fathers, the people we read about in the Old Testament, have received by their faith, they have received their commendation. This is now an extremely important statement, is it not? Especially for a Jewish person in the first century who makes up the audience or the receiver of this original epistle. What did they seek to do, the Jews in particular? They sought to align themselves with their forefathers. And if you took them away from being connected to their forefathers, you have no hope of reaching them. And so here he's making the connection. The author is preparing to draw his illustrations of faith from the very fathers that the Jews looked to. And in doing so, he will also reveal the essential continuity that exists between the covenants concerning the only means by which man can relate to God. In every covenant, there is that common connection. Whether it's a covenant of works or a covenant of grace, there always is the connection of the people of God having been justified or relating to God by means of faith within those covenants. By it, notice, by it, that is by faith, the people of old, the old covenant fathers, received their commendation. Now this word condemnation is an interesting term in the Greek because the term means literally their martyrdom. It's the word that we use for martyr. Now, when we see the word martyr, we always think of somebody who's been killed for their faith. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But really, the word martyr was not originally intended to mean you had to die for your faith. It just means you were faithful. You had a witness. You were a martyr if you faithfully provided a witness. And in that sense, every single Christian throughout the history of the world who had genuine faith in God, is a martyr in that sense, right? Is a martyr. They affirmed, in other words, their witness, their martyrdom by their faith. The means by which the old covenant believers affirmed that they were true children of God was not because they were born through Abraham's physical seed. It was by their faith, their faith-attested assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Again, he's going to show this in several that he lists in the remainder of this chapter. And so the author wants his readers to understand that the whole concept of living and walking by faith is not a foreign or a new concept. He's not introducing some new concept to the new covenant people of God in that sense, right? He's not. And he wants to show that to them. Indeed, walking by faith, brethren, is at the very foundation and heart of how man has been called to relate to God from the time of Adam and Eve in the garden until God closes out history as we know it. that is the means of relating to God from the purpose of creation to the end of history as we know it. It has always been mankind's means of relating to God. That has never changed. To be sure, the religious leaders of the Jews had sought to present a purely legal means of relating to God. putting the cart before the horse, as it were, and creating a false system of merit for defiled sinners. But obedience to God was never meant to be meritorious, but rather the fruit of a heart that, believing God, lovingly responds in obedience to the kind and free grace of God. Obedience was always something that was to come from genuine faith, from believing God from the beginning. That has always been the case. God the Creator is never indebted to man, nor does he or could he put himself in man's debt ever. Man is always called to believe God, and in doing so, that belief is then manifested in obedience. See the connection? It's manifested in obedience, but always begins with faith. In every covenant, in that sense, it begins with faith. Now, so much more can be said here, brethren, and I don't want to lose our focus, but I want you to consider this for a moment. When we talk about a covenant of works and God relating to Adam at the beginning before Adam had sinned, concerning God's covenant with innocent Adam, and then a covenant of grace concerning God's covenant with sinful men, men who are now in sin, God has a covenant of grace with them, right? In a very real sense, while both of these covenants are very different in their scope, one deals with man before the fall, and the other after, we can say that both covenants, and virtually every covenant that God makes with man, are covenants of faith, or covenants requiring faith at the foundation. Right? Both covenants require faith, whether it's of works or grace. There is this necessity of faith involved. Consider this. What was it that ultimately led to the fall of our first parents? What was it that ultimately led to the fall of our first parents? Well, Adam ate of the fruit. That's not what led to the fall. Now, that was the evidence. That is what produced it. That's what we look to from a material sense. But it was unbelief. It was unbelief. God gave Adam a command. Satan questioned the truthfulness of God from the beginning. Hath God indeed said? What is Satan calling into question? The faithfulness and the truthfulness of God. And now it goes to Eve and to Adam. Do you believe? And man's act of disobedience proceeded out of his unbelief. Adam and Eve sinned in their hearts before they sinned in their actions. He didn't believe God. Every act of obedience or disobedience ultimately proceeds out of a heart of belief or unbelief. You know that? Every act of obedience or disobedience. Man's ultimate crime is not the breaking of the law. Now, it is certainly the outward manifestation of his crime, that's what you point to, but rather his lack of genuine faith and trust in God. Why does somebody steal? They don't trust God to provide. Why does somebody commit adultery? They don't trust God to provide the blessings from the singular wife that he has given that individual or husband. It's a lack of trust in God. We point to the breaking of the law, however, and rightly so, because that is what visibly represents A man's lack of inward genuine faith. You can't point to the inward faith because you can't see that. God does, but we point to what? The breaking of the law, which is the evidence of man's lack of faith. The law breaking is what is tangible. It is the evidence of a deep and fatal disease, namely the disease of failing to believe God. Faith always precedes obedience. And if it doesn't precede obedience, it's not acceptable to God. People can do good things in this life, right? They can do good things and not be accepted by God for doing those good things, right? They have the outward sense, it seems, right? But what are they lacking? The inward faith. Their motivations are not to please and glorify God. And so although they're good things, they're not accepted by God because they're not done in faith. Even the Lord Jesus Christ, who kept the law perfectly, in all of its parts, kept the law perfectly, because unlike Adam, Jesus had an immovable, unshakable, pure, and perfect faith in his God and Father, at all times. Jesus' genuine belief provided the justifying actions that have brought us to God. Jesus' genuine faith, his genuine belief provided the justifying actions that have brought us to God. Take note of the method of Satan's temptations in the wilderness, and you will find that they are all means of trying to do what? to shake our Lord's faith. Every action that our Lord would have taken if he'd obeyed the commands of Satan would have been action against faith in his God, faith in his Father. His actions, if they would have been obedient to Satan, would have outwardly manifested a lack of genuine faith in his God. Israel in the wilderness, we can go on and on. What does God do in testing them? To show that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word. Believing every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness? Why were they sinning? Why did they rebel? Because they failed to mix what they saw with faith. They saw all the miracles. They failed to believe God. They didn't have a genuine faith. And how do you know it wasn't genuine? Because they rebelled and broke God's laws. And so the author here, brethren, in Hebrews, assures his readers, and he will prove this throughout the remainder of the chapter, that all of the faithful of old were commended by God, that is, they were proven true regarding the evidence of their regeneration of their sonship by their genuine faith. Again, he will provide the evidence which is seen in the actions because that is the only way we can see faith. It is the visible expression of that which is invisible to the naked eye. The conviction, the assurance of those things that God says are true is then affirmed or not by the actions. Well secondly then, we'll look at verse three here. because he considers here, he begins by showing us how faith leads from the very outset to acknowledging God as the creator of all things, right? Just before getting into his checklist of the faithful of old, the author highlights in a very general and universal sense how faith is what leads us to assure ourselves that our visible creation was created by our invisible and all-powerful God by invisible materials. By faith. Notice verse 3. We understand that the universe was created by the Word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. See, we weren't there when the world was created. None of us were there. There have been many speculations brought forth from the rational minds of fallen men concerning the origin of this world and universe, even to the extent of foolishly accrediting such a profoundly amazing creation to chance and non-living materials. I just saw or I read an article about this worm that they found under the ice. It was frozen in ice. And it actually, they unfroze it and it actually reproduced. First thing it did. But they said that this worm was frozen in ice, I think they said for 40,000 years. I said, okay, well, I guess the worm was there 30,000 years before the earth was even created. Where do they get these things from in this time of understanding when this worm first got there? But that's how people rationalize things about the creation when they ignore the truth of God's word. They don't have faith. By faith, by faith, By the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen, we believe that this entire creation was the product of intelligent and intentional design. More so, a product that was created ex nihilo, out of nothing, out of no original materials. More so, a product created by a spoken word. And even more so, a product created specifically by the word of the only true and living triune God, Yahweh, who has revealed himself to us in and by his holy word. We believe that. by faith, with an absolute assurance. From the standpoint of the world, and every false religion, or most false religions, such a conviction is a conviction of arrogance. But we are absolutely convinced of this. It has been proven within our hearts, attested to by the Holy Spirit of God, who has made God's word living and active in us. Brother Mick has been talking to us about the Word of God this morning in the confession. And ultimately, what brings the conviction of the Word of God and these kinds of truths about God as Creator to us is not based on what we can see with the evidence because nobody was there. But it's based upon what the Spirit has done to us and bringing that conviction and that assurance based upon the Word of God. God has brought that to our hearts. And that's why faith comes by what? Hearing. And hearing by what? Hearing by the Word. of God. By faith we look at every single iota of this material creation and we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that all of it was designed by and for God. Every microscopic single-celled organism, I once listened to a message at a conference by a man who was a scientist, Christian scientist, And he just spent time talking about the microscopic things that are living in a drop of water. And boy, if you want to worship God, that will take you there very quickly. To imagine what we can't even comprehend exists in this creation as living. Every worm, every blade of grass, every bush, flower, and tree, every ant, every turtle, dog, cat, fish, bird, whale. giraffe, reptile, cloud, star, planet, every nation of people, all of it was created and designed by God out of materials that were non-existent. God didn't look and say, you know what? Time is here already. Space is here already. Let me just take what's here, because matter is here already, and let me form this into different things. He created the substance of everything out of nothing. And this being the case, it being the case that we believe that God has created all things by the word of his power. We honor him as God and see it as our creaturely duty to obey the laws that he has set in place for this universe that proceed out of his own good and holy and moral character. In fact, we behold the profound love of God expressed in the life that He has given to each of us so that we can be part of and enjoy this creation. It leads us to respond with worship and love and obedience when we realize that we exist as individual spirits and fleshly bodies, as human beings created in the image of God, and we have life in each of us. And that leads us all to lead us to worship the Creator who has given us, us, so that we are in existence. And so as we prepare to make our way into the list of old covenant men and women of faith who have evidenced their sincere convictions in very tangible ways, we begin here in a general sense by contemplating the faith that we all exhibit as living creatures created by our infinite and living God, who has in fact brought all of creation into existence by the word of his power. And once we begin with God at this foundational level, acknowledging him as the sole universal creator, we are suited to acknowledge him then as the all-sovereign ruler over all providence as well, centered most emphatically on the unfolding of his glorious plan of redemption, where he is ordained and accomplished salvation through the offering and sacrifice of his beloved son. Well, brethren, with that in place, let me just conclude with an application to give to you for this morning. And then next time, Lord willing, we will start to get into this list of the faithful. First, just by way of application, brethren, when we consider the author's definition of a true faith. And when we see this fleshed out next time in the Old Testament examples that he provides, one thing ought to jump out at each and every one of us in this room who is truly in Christ. This looks quite different from the type of shallow, frivolous, empty, spurious faith that is held forth by many evangelicals in our day. It does not look like this kind of thing. This is why it's important that we allow the scriptures to define their own terms rather than force our modern day watered down definitions upon them. A large majority of people today believe that faith is simply a non-life-changing cerebral nod to some given fact. Isn't that how we've distorted faith in our culture? We've made it equal to what we understand belief to be. It's the equivalent of saying that you believe that George Washington was the first president of the United States, or that man made it to the moon, or something like that. That's what people equate with belief in Christ and faith. We have sadly merged our very one-dimensional understanding of belief into the Bible's use of the word faith and belief. We have anachronistically interpreted the Bible through our own cultural lens, which has been distorted. To this end, many people have no more of an understanding of faith than the demons have, according to the scriptures. For in scripture, we're told that even the demons believe in Jesus in the way that we believe, that Washington was the first president or other things throughout history that have happened, we believe. They believe that as well. And in fact, the demons take it a step further. We're told that they even tremble. They tremble at the name of Jesus. The demons have a greater faith than many professing Christians in our day. And in fact, many are recorded in the Gospel of John, who are said to have such a shallow, spurious faith as well, to whom Jesus, you see at the end of John chapter two, we're told Jesus did not commit himself to them, why? Knowing what was in each of them. He knew that their faith was not genuine, that they saw the miracles and they had a sense in which they believed in what He was able to do, but they did not embrace Him as their Savior and cast their hope of salvation into Him and Him alone. Simply acknowledging facts about Jesus does not make you a Christian. Simply acknowledging facts about Jesus does not make you a Christian. Faith is the absolute conviction of all that we're told about Christ, leading us to willfully, wholeheartedly subject ourselves to Him. You cannot separate the actions of a genuine faith from the faith itself. It begins in the heart. Genuine faith is always substantiated by a changed life. It begins in the heart. That's true. It begins in the heart. But it materializes into the thoughts and words and actions. Faith takes on a life. Faith is so radical that it is said in John's Gospel to proceed out of a life that has been born again. and regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Faith is all-encompassing. It's not pick and choose when it comes to desiring to give heed to the commands of God. Faith is a fire that works to burn down all bad habits, striving for the entire lifetime, however long that may be, to meet conformity to the image of Christ. Faith cooperates with the Holy Spirit of God in our sanctification. To be sure, our faith is not perfect. especially from the start. It may even begin as a mustard seed, Jesus says, but it grows and flourishes and leads to periods of fruit bearing, leaving the one who possesses it with a sense of awe as they see how their life has changed because of it. Can you look at your faith? and look at your life from the time that you've had that faith in Christ and can you see a difference, a radical difference in your thinking, in your actions, not perfect, not without flaws, but can you see a radical difference? Are you different than who you were? Can it be described as a new birth or just a continuation of where you left off? That's not faith. Faith is radical. By it, the Holy Spirit continually fulfills the will of God in each and every one of God's children. For faith presses through all trials and tribulations. At times, it grows weary. At times, it can be shaken by doubt. But nevertheless, it always clings to its object, the Lord Jesus Christ, and never walks away. Do you have such a living faith? Do you have a faith that exceeds the type of faith or belief that the demons had, who even trembled? Because they believed that Jesus was a man of God. They believed that Jesus is God. They believed that he's the son of God. They believed that he did miracles. They believed all these things. But they did not entrust themselves to him. They opposed him. They worked against him, showing that their faith was not a genuine faith, nor could they have one, being demons, but at least in that evidence. What does your faith look like? Does it have a heartbeat? Is your life being changed? And are you desirous to pursue the will of God each and every day of your life? If not, if you look at your life and see that it's not, the good thing is that we know that such a faith comes from God and from His Word. It comes from God. God gives that kind of faith. It's a gift of God. You can't even conjure up belief, true belief into Christ. It's something God gives. And if you ask God to give you such a faith even, if you ask God to work in you such that the power of His Word would work in your life, that your life would truly be trusting in Christ his son alone, he will do that to all who call upon him in truth. I go back to those words of the blind man who yelled louder and louder and louder when everyone else tried to snuff him out, tried to embarrass him. Son of David, have mercy on me. Plead with the Lord Jesus to have mercy on you and to save you, to invade your life with the power of the Holy Spirit and the gospel. believe into Christ in truth and you will be saved. May God give us the grace, all of us, to have a true understanding of what a genuine faith looks like because you will be up against a majority of evangelicalism that will give you a cheap, watered down, unsubstantial, half an inch thick, understanding of what faith is, which is not genuine faith in Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for Your Word. We thank You that You don't only call us to faith and to believe, but understanding, Lord, how wicked we naturally are, how crafty the enemy is, that we would even create a term for faith or belief that goes no further than a cerebral response or a nod of agreement and does not penetrate the heart. We thank you that you show us what a genuine faith is, and that while it does not begin with the actions, while our actions are not what justify us in your sight, that our faith in Christ, which is genuine and brings justification, will most certainly produce actions of obedience. Lord, You know the difference. We know the difference. Help us to see where we stand to ensure that we have a genuine faith in Christ and in Christ alone. And we pray that we would see the fruit of that in our lives, each and every one of us. We pray in Christ's name, amen.