Alright, if you take your Bibles, please, and turn me to Hebrews 11. The temptation was for me to go back to a Mother's Day sermon. And the problem is, you get things going in a schedule, and it's one thing for me to change, but then when you've got other creatures that are rotating in, if you screw it up for them, then you just make a soup sandwich. And if you say, what is a soup sandwich? You don't know if it's soup, and you don't know if it's sandwich by the time I get done with it. Right? Okay, so Hebrews 11, verses 1 through 3, we're going to look at biblical faith described. And if you have a bulletin, there's an outline on there that shows you where we're going. Three points. Faith believes what it cannot see. Secondly, faith receives what it cannot earn. And then thirdly, faith perceives what it cannot comprehend. That is, God speaking everything into existence by His voice. Now, here's my question as we begin. Have you ever been talking with somebody and then had it dawn on you in the conversation that you were both using the same word, but have a completely different idea of that word? For example, I once interviewed this lady for church secretary at Christ Community Church. And we're talking, and so I just asked simply, do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? And she said, yes. And then, inside, the Spirit of God was prompting me. You say, how does that happen? That's a whole other conversation. And if you ever hear people say, well, the Lord told me. That can be abused, amen? But we have to be careful that the Lord never speaks to us. That's not right either, right? Are you with me? I mean, I could tell you the Lord prompted me and really prompted me. It's only happened a handful of times in my Christian life since, what, 1981. But I sensed this voice inside me saying in my head, not in my ears, my head, saying, ask it a different way. Ask her a different way. So instead of saying, is Jesus the Son of God? I said, do you believe that He is God the Son? And she said, literally, no, He's a man just like you and me. So, she believed, even though we were using the same word or name, Jesus, she believed that He was a created being. Right? And that's not the Jesus of the Bible. Amen? Okay, because He's not a created being. He's the Creator. So, in the quagmire of our postmodern world, there are those who think each person has his or her own truth, regardless of what the Bible says. This is a whole other thing. I don't want to get sidetracked here. But you go back 150, 200 years ago, and everybody agreed there were basic, moral, absolute truths. Right? And people questioned themselves and not these absolute truths. All right? Today, we've come so far the other way, where people question whether there are basic, absolute truths, and nobody ever questions what they believe personally. Are you with me? It's called relativism. Thus, unless we stick to scripture, we'll end up in this subjective cesspool of relativism. In other words, you have your truth, and I have my truth. That's what you believe. That doesn't mean necessarily that I have to believe it. And that is true with some things like, let's shade it off right. You like fish, you know. Maybe I'm allergic to it. Tyler's allergic to it, you know. Well, so Tyler's not going to eat fish. That's fine. You can't have fish. Or certain wheat or whatever. No, you hear about people that have gluten-free diets and stuff. I mean, there's whole gluten-free stores now. You hear about this. New Seasons or whatever. I see the gluten-free store or whatever. And I go, what's that all about? You know, we're having a gluten-free seminar. I'm like, great, you know. So those things are fine. It's like, or even on matters where Scripture is not clear. Amen? Well, I want to eat meat. Well, you don't have to. If your conscience says don't eat it, don't eat it. Amen? But God said all things are clean. And He declared all foods clean. Fork. You know? Pizza. You know, you say, Sean, that stuff, that stuff will cause you to die early. Like what? You know, I'm going to have my pork and eat it too. And maybe I'll go to glory quicker than you. Amen. I'm making poetry and not even knowing it here. Poet don't even know it. All right, so for that reason then, this whole relativism idea, there are certain truths that are true. Like, I like to joke around with people and say, well, if it's true for you, man, it's not true for me. I say, well, let's go up to the 10th floor and you jump off and tell me that gravity's not true. Right? So that's how I try to reason with people. So, occasionally then, for that reason, it's good to occasionally stop and define our terms. If I wouldn't have said to the lady, do you believe he is God the Son, right? We could have kept on going on a conversation with me thinking, oh, she knew Jesus when she really didn't know him at all. Are you with me? This is so important. I challenge you, if you read the biography of Adoniram Judson, he was over there in Burma and he wrote this track. It's incredible how he goes back and he has to unravel all these false ideas that people have about God, their idolatry. just totally unbiblical ideas of God and he unwraps that and unravels their ideas as he proclaims in the tract the one true and living God from the Bible. We cannot assume because we're using the same word God or the same name Jesus that people are filling that word or that name with the same meaning that we are. Are you with me? Let's define our terms. What do you mean by For example, then, what do you mean by, quote, faith, unquote? What do you mean when we say, quote, the author of faith? When we quote that word, the author of Hebrews doesn't give us an abstract definition of it, but rather, as one person put it, a description of it as an active conviction which moves and molds people's lives. Now, if you look back in chapter 10, I want you to look at your Bible. If you don't have one, look on with someone else. If you didn't bring one, I don't know what to do. I'd give you mine, but I've got to read it. I don't have these verses memorized. Almost, but not quite. He mentioned the life of faith back in 1038. My righteous one shall live by faith. And then in 1039, he said this faith is the salvation of the soul. He said, we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the persevering of the soul. Or the preserving of the soul. So what's the big idea? Now then, he shifts in chapter 11. Somebody said this was like the summit, like the height of heights from which you can look down on everything else. He's come to this highest point in his book, right? To prove that we need this patient endurance, the author describes saving faith. He describes it in verse 1, and then he illustrates it by some examples of those who demonstrated their faith. So really what we could say then, in a sense, is faith is active. Faith works. Faith is not a work, but faith does work. And in fact, faith without works is dead, right? So, faith brings things, in a sense, from an invisible world into the visible world. That's what he's going to say. God uses that faith being a gift from Him. Not that we create things by our faith. He's not saying that. But God created everything by what? And when we believe in His Word that did create everything, guess what? We can see Him do great and mighty things in and through our lives to change the world. That's exactly what He's saying in this chapter. Are you with me? This is so key because God could do... I believe God will do great things. And I believe He wants to use this text to transform our lives to do that. So first then we have the nature of faith. Look at verse 1. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The conviction or the evidence, some translations say faith is the substance of things hoped for. The conviction or the evidence of things not seen. Now, the question many people have wrestled with here is whether we're to interpret the words insurance and conviction, are we to interpret these words subjectively or objectively? Molly, this morning, was reading my sermon. She said, Dad, you really need to make that clear, what you mean by subjective and objective. Well, if we take the words subjectively, they refer to our confidence in and our conviction of God's Word. In other words, if faith is like a hand that receives, right? If I say subjective, the faith is my hand reaching down to grab. You with me? Are you ready for that? But objective is the truth that my faith believes in. So, objective is like this water thing. I'm using this as an example. I grab this. This is the objective truth, the water of life, so to speak, the water of the Word. A little bit of lime juice and some tea in there, and you go, yeah, wow, can we have a taste of that? No, you can't. Okay, but you get the gist of it. So, faith is my belief, that's the subjective idea, but the faith in the Bible calls out the faith of the saints, right? Contend for the faith, Jude 3, of the faith handed down to the saints. That, once for all, that is what I believe in. That's the objective truth. Are you with me? So, the author is using faith. The question is, is he using it subjectively, my faith, or is he using it objective, what I believe in, the one who I trust? Alright? So, that's the point. If we take it, again, subjectively, we refer to our confidence in, our conviction of God's Word. Taken subjectively, though, or objectively, he means the reality of what we hope for. In other words, the proof of unseen things. Now, which one is it? Is it subjective or objective? If we open it up for anybody who wants to guess, which one it is? It's neither. You say, trick question, it's not an either or. It's a both and. In this text, there are ways in the Bible where it's defined subjectively. There are verses that talk about it defined objectively. Here though, an illustration might help to understand what the writer is telling us here about the nature of faith. If I ask you, To define the word bicycle, you could reply to me that a bicycle is a machine consisting of a frame, two wheels, pedals, handlebars, and so on. You, then, are probably not a bicyclist, and you have defined the bicycle objectively as an object. Are you with me? But if I ask you, and you're an avid cyclist, right? You're one of these guys or gals that rides to the coast and back, and you're crazy because you get almost hit by a car, and someday maybe you might, right? But you might simply say to me that, hey, a bicycle is something you enjoy riding. In that case, you have defined it subjectively. You've defined it in terms of your experience of the bike. Are you right? Is that right? Yeah? But there's a third possibility, and that's why I say he's not defining or describing faith subjectively, our faith. And he's not just describing it or defining it objectively what, or the person whom I believe in, Jesus Christ. He's defining it functionally. So, you could define a bicycle as a man-powered means of transportation. That would neither be objective nor subjective definition, but a functional definition. And that is how he's defining faith in Hebrews 11. It's a functional definition. He tells us what faith does for us. Faith gives substance, he says, to the things hoped for, and faith provides conviction or evidence concerning things not seen. This is amazing when I think about it. The truth that I believe in, actually the word creates faith, right? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The word I hear creates faith in me, right? That actually believes it, right? Are you with me? That is so powerful. So, in a sense, that's the difference between Protestants and Catholics. The Catholics believe that the Church creates the Word of God. The Protestants believe, rightfully so, that the Word creates the Church. Are you with me? It's the Word. We're regenerated by the Word of God. 1 Peter 1, right? This living Word. This active Word that comes and causes us to have a living hope to be born again. Right? So, the point he's getting at is the way one person put it. He's saying that true biblical faith is not a blind optimism or a manufactured hope-so feeling. There's not an uncertainty. And neither is it merely intellectual assent to a list of doctrines. That is deadly, by the way. We've got all the right doctrines, man. Is doctrine important? The answer is, yeah. Because what we believe then will determine how we behave, right? But the point of it is, I could cross all my doctrinal t's and dot my i's, and sometimes the people that are like that are cold as ice. I just heard this one guy was saying, or was reading, he was saying that some of the most cantankerous Christians that he knows are all those that have their doctrine all down pat. Right? I like what Spurgeon said, he said, doctrine is like a sword, right? He said, but Keep it in the scabbard until you need to use it. Don't go around with like trying to pick a doctor and fight with people, you know, trying to slay people. All right. So faith, then, is a dynamic principle of God's grace. God gives me the grace of faith. He gives me faith by grace. There's so many places we could talk about that. I think about the book of Acts and it says that they believed through grace. Do you remember that? They believed through grace, where is it at? Now I probably, oh here it is, Acts 18.27. It says that when Priscilla and Quilla heard Paul, they took him aside, or they heard Apollos, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when Apollos wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. And when he arrived, and when he arrived in Achaia, He, that is, Apollos, greatly helped those who had believed through grace. Did you hear that? For by grace you are saved through. Ah, so grace brings the faith. And that not of yourself. No, I believe, man. Yeah, you believe because you were given what? Grace. Okay, so grace is the gift of God, that brings faith is a gift of God. So that's the point. So that grace is this dynamic principle, it's this gift from God, right, that regulates a person's life. For example, Paul said, Galatians 2.20, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave or delivered himself up for me. So faith is a God-given assurance, the God-given assurance of unseen realities. Here's how J. Oswald Sanders put it, he said, faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. In other words, what he's saying is, that's why I say faith is both objective and subjective. What do you mean, Sean? Faith is the assurance of subjective hope, but it's anchored in this objective certainty of God's Word. This is where we have to be so careful, because faith does not create its own reality. I don't have faith in my faith. I don't say, well, I want to be a millionaire, so therefore what? I will. We call it name it, claim it, or blab it, grab it, yeah. No, it's not that case. My faith doesn't create reality. It doesn't make its own reality. It's not that I believe something, and therefore it is. Rather, God said it in His Word, therefore I believe it is so. I used the example last week at Household of Faith. I said, For example, if I tell my kids, hey, we're going to Dairy Queen tonight, they will say, Dad, you promised, right? But let's say I didn't promise, right? And they come to me, hey, Dad, we're going to Dairy Queen, right? Where did you get that notion from? From that gray matter in their own imagination. They imagined that I said that, right? But I didn't say it. Well, has our Father promised in His Word? Has He promised? Has He given us promises? That's why, and so Molly's reading my sermons when she goes, Dad, she goes, because they called her in, she had Aunt called today, someone else called in sick, they asked her to come in early. But here's the point, she said, Dad, well, the promises of God are so important, aren't they? I said, yes, they are. I said, we need to read them and plead them to God. We need to live on the promises of God. So, rather than me naming it and claiming it, right? God said in His Word, therefore I believe it so. That's what distinguishes saving faith from this faith of the imagination. As one person put it, only those who put their trust in the promises of God are delivered from embracing a miserable delusion. Have you ever met somebody and they're like really bitter? What do you mean, Sean? Well, they believed that they could be healthy and wealthy. But it didn't work out. It didn't work out. And so now that it not only worked out, but the church that they're part of, the church, blamed them because they didn't have enough what? Oh, wow, wow. Like the one lady that said, you know, she went down straight to the health and wealth church and a month or two later she came back and they said, what happened? Thought you were going to that church down there? She goes, I don't like that church. They said, why not? She goes, they won't let you be sick or poor. Come on now. I say that, this is a sidebar, a side note, I say that because in chapter 11 you see people doing all these great things. Then you get to the end where people were sawn in two. How does that work out with health and wealth? You see? And we're going to see it as we get on in the chapter. It's powerful. Here's how one pastor paraphrased verse 1. I love this. Faith makes real in our experience the promises that God has given about the future. Faith proves to us the fact that the things we presently cannot see, things like God, angels, demons, heaven, hell, that these things are very much true and real. In other words, faith applies the reality of God's promises and the unseen world to our life in the present visible world. This is so important. We're going to get into it in verse 3. People say, I don't see Jesus. I come back to Sharon was her name. I'm working in Jimmy's restaurant in La Mesa, California, right outside San Diego. She goes, All right, Sean, I want to know what's going on. Because you've been watching my life, you know, and I'm sitting there and I'm, I don't know, I'm cleaning bulletins, you know, or not bullets, I'm cleaning menus with bleach cloths, you know, because people get their hands on them and they're nasty, you know, right? And so I'm cleaning them up and I'm just thinking, oh, this job stinks, you know, like bleach, right? But then the verse came to me, count it all joy, brethren, you know, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the trying of your faith So I'm just rejoicing, right? They just can't take it. Unbelievers can't take it. They can't take it when they see... So she comes to me, she goes, what's all this Jewish stuff, Sean? I go, what do you mean? She goes, well, it's not like you're sitting in booth 3, I can see them. You know, at the restaurant, right? It was great, it was glorious, and we get the chance to talk about Jesus. You find out she's come from a Jewish background. Interesting, you know? But the point being is that Fate, then, can see unseen things that an unbeliever cannot see. What do you mean? Think of two men standing on the deck of a ship, and they're looking in the same direction. One sees nothing on the horizon, but the other man sees a ship in the distance on the horizon. Why? The difference is, the first man is looking with an unaided eye, whereas the second man is looking through a telescope. Right? Faith is the telescope. that brings the future promises of God into the present focus. Faith enables us then to see the unseen world that the natural man cannot see. Question, does that make the Christian better than the non-Christian? The answer is, no, no, no, no. What do you have except what you receive? And if you receive it, why are you boasting it? Paul tells the Corinthians, right? The point of it is, then, is that faith is this gift that God gives to His people. They see these unseen realities that unbelievers don't see. Let's illustrate it. What does faith functioning in the lives of God's people look like? Because I think this is important. Because we can say, well, you know, it's the Christian, you know, and the Christian is different from the non-Christian by how he or she dresses. I could say in modesty that's true, right? I come across some people, it's like interesting, they say, well, you know, Christian men, they don't wear beards. I'm going, what? I would grow mine out, but in terms of vanity, it's all gray now, right? Oh, Christians don't wear shorts to church. So we get into all the outward, external stuff. You're like, wait a minute. I thought about wearing them today, I really did. But that's not what makes a Christian the externals. It's the internal that does get reflected into what? externals. Are you with me? What does faith functioning look like in the lives of God's people? I want to give one example. I could give many, by the way. Think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. Remember? The author of Hebrews refers to them. Look at verse 34. In a roundabout way, he says that they quench the power of fire. I believe, can you prove it? No, but it could very well be that he is referring to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's idol, which caused the offended king to threaten to throw them in the fiery furnace. Remember? And he came to them and he gave them another chance. They wouldn't bow. And when he tried to reason with them, they wouldn't bend. And hallelujah, when he threw them in the furnace, they wouldn't burn. That was my sermon when I preached on that, by the way. They wouldn't bow, they wouldn't bend, and they wouldn't burn. I love that. Okay? The response shows that by faith they were making real in their present crisis the future promises of God regarding eternal life. In other words, here's what the author of Hebrews is saying in terms of defining faith. Listen to this now. By faith they saw the unseen God as more real than this enraged king that was standing in front of them. Wow! That is so important. He's threatening to roast them alive, but they know they have eternal life, and where they're going, they know who they believe in, and they won't bow. They won't bend. And their answer in Daniel 3 oozes with this faith in unseen God. For example, this is what they say. This is boldness, by the way. Oh, Nebuchadnezzar. We do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O King." So did they believe that He would save them from the fire? We don't know. Maybe they believed the deliverance would be burned up, right? They would be with God when they're burned up, amen? To be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord, right? He will deliver us, O King. But what's this? They said, even if he does not, even if it doesn't deliver us physically from you and from this furnace, right? Let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. The text says that the king was enraged. And he ordered, his face was, and he ordered that furnace to be heated up seven times hotter. And even the guards that took these three men down, they were burned up. Then why weren't the guys burned up? I wonder why. And then there was a fourth one, like the Son of Man, in the fire with them. Who do you think that was? Pre-incarnate Jesus. Amen. Jesus before He came to earth, right? And so, the point being is that they saw Him who is invisible, just like we're going to see, as Moses is a great example of that, later on in this chapter. Now, you may say to me, when you hear a story like that, Sean, what if God hadn't delivered? And they said, because even if He doesn't deliver us, what if they'd burned up in the fire? I think that's a fair question. What if they were burned to death? The answer is, they would have died in faith, and God would have rewarded them abundantly throughout all eternity in heaven. Because, for example, many martyrs have died at the stake because of their faith. Roman Catholic Church promised John Hus, the brave Czechoslovakian martyr, safe passage to a hearing. But after he arrived, they said, we promised you safe passage here, but not a safe return. They threw him in prison. They condemned him to death because he condemned many of their corrupt practices in the Catholic Church, which were contrary to Scripture. But as they burned him at the stake, he died singing. How can that be? How can he die singing? Here's how. His faith made real in the present what God had promised in the future. Are you with me? That is so important. His faith proved the reality of the unseen God as greater than the reality of the flames that burned him to death. Question. Did he burn to death? And the answer is yes. Athanasius is another one. He has a great story. No, Polycarp. I've been listening to all these things by R.C. Sproul this week as I'm driving along. Polycarp. He tried to burn him. And the people that were watching wrote this down that the flames went around him and formed this kind of room around him and he wouldn't burn. This is a fascinating story, by the way. So the emperor or whatever, who was the commander, ordered one of the guys to go over and stab him with a dagger to death. I don't know how he got through the flames, but he did, and he killed him. So God can protect us, God can take us, but either way then, right? Either way, God is to be trusted. You see it? Trust in Him, though He slay me, Job said, yet will I what? Trust Him. And I think that's what's going on here. These Hebrew believers, if you look back in chapter 10, verse 34, it says, they showed sympathy to the prisoners. And they accepted joyfully the seizure of their property. Why? Knowing they had for themselves a better possession in the last. And he's talking about what in heaven. So if I have hope in God beyond this life, it frees me then to risk my life and my stuff, my property in this world in order to love others. In other words, if I'm focused just on the here and now and me and what I can get and the pleasures that I can get, I am not free to give myself away in service to other people. Are you with me? But if I know my hopes in Jesus Christ, and I'm going to have glory. Guess what? I can risk it all here because of where I'm going. Does that make sense? That's really important. Hope in God. Faith is something to hope for. Hope in God beyond this life frees us then to risk our lives and our property in this world in order to love others, in order to love God and love other people. Secondly, though, that brings us to the approval, God's approval of faith. Look at verse 2. These Hebrew readers were distracted, they were preoccupied by what was visible. In other words, the land and the temple, its services, the earthly city of Jerusalem. And this confidence, this endurance that they lacked could only be recovered by an awareness of the reality of the unseen, a conviction of the unseen's greater glory, the promises of God. Look what it says. For, for, by faith, by it, by faith, the men of old gained approval. All he's saying is simply this. If they returned to Judaism, the old covenant forms, then they forfeited faith in Jesus Christ. They were departing from faith in Christ. And what he's saying in a sense is the heroes of faith, these Old Testament saints that you admire, that you look up to, they have one thing in common. They trusted God's Word and they acted on God's Word no matter what their circumstances were or what the consequences may have been. The way one person put it, circumstances that seemed impossible, consequences that were frightening and unknown, but they obeyed God's Word just the same. They believed Him to do what is right and best. We would say that they stuck to God's promises, they depended on His Word, they remained faithful to God's Son. And the author gives us one very, very, very clear example in Moses in verses 24 through 26. He says that Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God. Moses considered, look at what it says, the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Now, can you imagine what people said about Moses in Pharaoh's court? I mean, I'm sure he was the laughing stock. He walked away from wealth and prestige, being the son of Pharaoh's daughter, to lead a ragtag bunch of common slaves out in the wilderness. And why, people would have said, why would he do that? That's what, people want to know why we do what we do, right? Why do you do what you do as a believer? Well, the answer to that is, they would have said, because he believes that God has called him to do it. And they probably would have laughed and said, ah, what a loony tune, you know. This guy's out of his gourd, out of his brain, that is, right? But look at verse 26. The text tells us why Moses did what he did. Because, it says, he was looking to the reward. Verse 27 says, by faith he endured as seeing him who is unseen or invisible. That's a great illustration of verse 1. The assurance of things hoped for and yet the conviction or evidence of things not what? Seen. So, by faith Moses gained God's approval even though he received the world's scorn. Question, was he earning God's approval by what he did? The answer is no. Exactly. Faith's a gift from who? God. Even the rewards that we receive come through faith in Jesus. It's all by grace. But here's the question. Is it God's approval that counts of us? I heard a message this week on being freed from the bondage of people-pleasing, where we want to please people. It was amazing when I thought about it. He gave like five reasons. The third one just killed me. And that was all I needed, actually. The first one, he said, you can't really, you shouldn't be pleasing people, you know, in bondage to that, because people want different things. True? If you've got different people that want different things, there's no way you can please both of them, right? We all say you can't please everybody all the time, right? Secondly, though, people want bad things. You don't want to do something bad, right? Sometimes people really want you to compromise, do something bad, or they're not going to be pleased, right? The third thing he said, Pleasing people is impossible. And why? Because relationships based on performance never work. Why? Because the more a person gets, the more they what? They want. So our focus needs to be on who? God. Not on the other people. Not even on what we think will please us. But on God. And what He desires. What He wants for us. It was powerful. So, God's approval counts because He's the judge of the living and the dead. This is the way Vance Havner put it. I love it. He said, Moses chose the imperishable, saw the invisible, and did the impossible. I love that. Moses chose the imperishable, saw the invisible, and did the impossible. Here's what's amazing to me. Moses, by nature, was really bold, he said. Well, naturally, he killed an Egyptian, didn't he? And hid him in the sand. But he was so bold that when they found out about it, he ran for his life. Amen? So he wasn't bulled naturally, was he? No, he was hesitant. In fact, 40 years later, he's even a Christian now, he's a believer. 40 years later, God comes to him and says, and by the way, I'm going to use you to lead them all out of Egypt. And Moses said, he gave him all these excuses, and at the end, finally, when God took care of all his pieces, Moses said, could you just send someone else over? And the Lord got angry. So he's withdrawn, he's hesitant. But how do you endure? How do you have that courage to stand before Pharaoh and say, let my people No, that's the Lord. Where did it come from? It came as a reward of His what? Faith. He took God at His word. And God rewarded that. So, the truth of the verse is simply this. God honors faith because faith honors who? God. Because the faith is a gift from who? God. So when I'm believing and when I'm trusting God, right? It proves that God is great, not me. And then God looks down and He smiles and goes, yeah, that's one of mine. He's mine. Or, she's mine. That is powerful. You got kids, you understand that. Usually you see your sins walk around two feet and you go, oh yeah, he's mine, or she's mine. Faith is not simply one way to be approved by God, it's the only way. God has had only one way of salvation since sin entered the world, and that is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now look at verse 2 and notice the beautiful accuracy of Scripture. He says, John, what do you mean? It was not for their faith, and neither could it be without it, because without faith it's impossible to please God. Verse 6, it was not for their faith, but it was by their faith. Notice what it says. It says, for by it, by faith. the men of old gained approval. So faith is, the point of it being, it's a necessary condition, but there's nothing meritorious in it. It's a condition, but it's not meritorious, yet it is a necessary means. So faith is a necessary condition of salvation, but it's not a meritorious cause of salvation. Now, let's get practical, though. See, that's the doctrine of it. Let's apply it. Which of God's children wouldn't want to have God approve of him or her, you see? Isn't that what we long for? We long for approval, sometimes, of parents or people that are the most important to us. Well, if God is the most important to us, we want His approval. Now, you see, that's a trap, in a sense, because we could say, well, then, performance, man. I've got to perform. I've got to get God's approval. I've got to prove something, right? Well, then, if my relationship with God is based on my performance, right, I'm in what? Tell me. I'm in trouble. But if my performance on God is based on Jesus' performance? On the cross He said, it is finished except for what Johnny Martin has to do. He's got a lot to do. Is that what He said? No. He said it is tedalestai for all those that He died for, all that Jesus came to save. He shall save His people from their sins. It is finished. Tedalestai. It's done. It's paid in full. It's done. You can't do anything else. Alan Ross, he's really struggling, my pastor buddy, pray for him even now. We're working with him. He said, I'm so down. I said, look. I said, Alan, what are you doing? I said, God, you can't do anything to make God love you anymore. And by the way, you can't do anything to make him love you any less. He already sent his son. And then all of a sudden, he said, like, the clouds parted and he just was free, you know, from all this stuff that we're trying to carry. We try to carry all this weight. Sometimes we let other people put these bondages and burdens on us. Other times, we put that stuff on ourselves. We have higher expectations for ourselves sometimes than the Bible does. You say, is that true? Is it going to happen? Yeah. Sometimes we have unbiblical expectations, unrealistic expectations. Who out of all God's children wouldn't like to have God speak well of him or her? We all long for approval, especially from those we admire the most. And yet, there's only one way to have God testify in your favor, and that is simply by faith in his Son. If I just accept the fact that God has accepted me and He approves of me because of His Son, this is my Son in whom I am well what? Pleased. I have His approval. Then it's not that I want to say, well, now I can live however I want to. If that's the case, I don't understand God's approval. Amen? I love the story this version tells of these kids. I'm going off my notes, but these kids, they're going, let's go to the orchard and steal some of Mr. Smith's apples, you know, at the farm or whatever. And they're all saying, you know, well, you know, the one son goes, I can't go. My dad catches me, I'm in trouble. Their dad didn't really care what they did, right? They said, oh, your dad loves you so much, he's not going to do anything to you, right? And he said, if you think that because my dad loves me so much, I will spurn and scorn his love and just go do it, then you don't know me or my father. See, if I know that I'm loved by God no matter what, it makes me want to obey, if I really understand that love. Amen? If it's captured my what? Passions of my heart. Then my life will follow. Amen? That's why I think we really don't understand the love of God. Our hearts haven't been broken by the love of God. It needs to be broken by the love of God, the hardness of our hearts. Amen? Then we want to obey Him. And that comes by what? Faith. I think that's what the author is saying. Moses saw Him who is invisible. And he gained God's approval by what? Faith in his son. So, it's the way A.W. Pink put it, I love it. God took care that a record should be kept of all the acts of their faith, though it was partly transcribed in the Scriptures, it is complete in heaven. And not only externally in his word, but in their conscience too. So, Moses knew he was pleasing to God. God gave them his spirit, and it was the Holy Spirit who assured them of his acceptance of them. And then he said this, Oh, that we'd learn to esteem what God does, that we'd value a Christian not for his or her intellect or looks or social position, but for his or her faith, evidenced by an obedient walk in a godly life. Listen to me, that is the most important thing. We put all this emphasis on externals. Well, she's really beautiful. Yeah, well, you know what? She's going to bag, sag, and drag. She's got the bag, drag, and sag syndrome. Start getting the bags under the eyes. You start sagging around the waist. I got that Dunlop disease. A Dunlop over around the middle. You know I'm on the level because the bubble's in the middle, I like to say. And then eventually, you're going to bag, you're going to sag, and you're going to what? You're going to drag. So she may look great now, or even a guy, like, you know, even a guy who's all buff with the biceps, and okay, fine, you know, or it's not the biceps, it's the bucks. He's wealthy. I mean, I don't know how to explain that. You see this real doll, you know, Barbie-looking gal with some guy that's bald-headed and got a big old beer belly or something, you know, what are they doing together? Maybe it's because it was bucks or whatever, right? All that stuff's temporary, or someone's really smart. I don't know, you can think of people that are intellectually, you know, advanced, supposedly, and they're real smart. All these things that we value, God does not esteem them, amen? God esteems faith. God esteems in us what He creates by His grace in us. Lastly then, the understanding of faith, and I have to be brief here. I've already shot my wad, so to speak. Verse 3, notice what he says, "...by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God." What does he mean by that? Why does he mention creation? This is the first of by faith, it's 19 times he says in the chapter. Why does he mention creation before he goes into the Old Testament characters who had this saving faith? He's saying, look, creation beautifully illustrates faith's ability to see the invisible realities. Faith understands that behind everything visible is the invisible command of God. Why? Notice what he says, so that what is seen, notice the last part of verse 3, so that is what is seen in creation was not made out of things which are visible, out of things which are seen. Question, who was present at creation when God created everything? The answer is God, only God. There was no one there as eyewitnesses, right? Which means I have to, you have to, we have a choice. Either we will fully rely on his word or we won't for what happened. So that's the truth. Only faith then can perceive the true origin of the universe. I wonder if you ever thought about this. God purposely made the world in such a way that man can understand its origin only by faith. Why? Why? It's amazing. It's amazing when I think about it. Because see, at that point then, we reflect on creation and we reason from creation to the Creator. Isn't that true? That's what so many people do in, we call it, intelligent design. But the Christian doesn't do that. The Christian says, God's Word says it, and then they look around and they see all creation in the light of the sun. In other words, the sun shines in and I see the light, right? The unbeliever looks on creation and says, oh no, this all just came to being by time plus chance plus matter. They're not looking in the light of the sun. God's Word is like a sun and it shines and we see everything in light of what God's Word says. Faith, then, is what the Christian expresses when he or she faces blatant unbelief. And here's the question. What topic is the unbelieving world so adamant about? Where it all came from. The origin of the universe. True? How did all this get here? The origin of the universe prevents a problem which neither science nor philosophy can solve, but that difficulty vanishes entirely before faith. Why? Faith enables us to perceive things which are high above the reach of human reason. Now, here's the point on this. I have to be very brief, but I'm going to say it. It's not that faith is irrational, because the point being is that faith has to come through my mind before it can get to my heart. True? Faith is based on Fact, we say, right? I mean, I love that little thing, you know, of fact is the engine, right? And faith is the coal car, and feelings are the caboose, right? And when our faith begins to stumble because of our feelings, right? Then what happens is, fact pulls faith back. And when he pulls faith back to the truth, right? Grace, the truth pulling faith back, then feelings come along for the ride too, right? The caboose comes along. Are you with me? That is so important. Why am I saying that? Because what we have then in the Enlightenment, you say that the 1800s, everything came about where people say, well, you have these two stories. I should have had it up on the screen. Two stories. And what you do is, Francis Jacobs talked about this. In the upper story, you have all the things that are feelings. The lower story, all the things that are facts. In fact, the things like math, 2 plus 2 are always 4, you know. It's a thing we say these are true, like these absolutes we say. But on the top you have all things that are feelings like, well, you know, myth, for example. And so faith then, faith and things like prayer and faith and the Bible, they get put in the top realm of feeling. Well, that's your experience or that's your feeling. You follow what I'm saying? At that point, then everything becomes subjective. Everything again becomes relative. And the lie of the devil is everything, everyone, came into being by time plus matter plus chance. So then many people are assuming this godless origin of the universe. But the problem is, when you look around, you see God's autograph, His fingerprints, you see His subscription, so to speak, on everything. Amen? Superscription, I should say. The Bible alone tells us where everything came from, why it exists, and what lies ahead. So the point is, we don't need to listen to these really famous speculations of world-famous thinkers who try to find answers to the big questions of life. We just need to humbly and reverently study the Word of God. And there we're going to find rest for our souls and we're going to find peace for our mind. This is the way one poet so aptly put it. Look not to reason's arguments, if God you seek to find. Look only to His Word, for sin has made us blind. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, the God of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of those who believe not. So here's a non-believer and they're blind to the truth. Does the non-believer know it? No. They think they see what? Clearly. Right? Scripture also says that believers suppress the truth and unrighteousness. That's Romans 1.18. All right? This is so important. So now here's the unbeliever. They're biased against the truth because John 3 says they hate the truth, they love darkness, there won't come to light, lest their deeds be exposed. John 3 is 18 and 19, right? And then you've got what? The devil, 2 Corinthians 4.4, blinding them. So here's a person who's biased against the truth and blinded. Yikes! Right? And they're suppressing, they're pushing down the truth in unrighteousness. How are they going to believe? They're going to look at the same set of facts and say, I don't see that. And you say, well, I do. Because God's given you, if you're a Christian, God's given you what? Faith. John Piper used the illustration of these pictures that you look at, and you stare at them for a while, and then you see an image there. You know what I'm talking about? 3D kind of thing. Have you seen those? You know what I'm talking about? But you first look at it, it looks like chaos. It looks like just a bunch of paint on a page. But as you stare, you go, oh, I see a giraffe now. And another person who doesn't see it goes, I don't see that. That's what faith is like. Faith sees God's glory. Heaven's declaring God's glory. Faith sees the evidence of God's creation, of being His creation. I used the illustration of a watch. If you walked along the beach and found a watch, you wouldn't think it just came into being. all by itself over millions of years. Right? You know somebody had made that. Same thing with creation. All right. What's the point of all this? I need to fly on here. Well, here's the point he's saying, that if we understand the world to repair by the word of a sovereign creator, then we can trust in his power to preserve and govern all things for the final good of his people. You think about it. He made the heavens and the earth. He created them. He spoke them into existence, right? Well, if He can do that, and since He did do that, can't He preserve, can't He provide, can't He protect His people? The answer is, yeah. So He's preparing the Hebrews for this persecution. He's saying, what? Come out and identify fully with Christ. Don't go back to Judaism. You're going to be persecuted? Yes. You may even die? Yes. But God wins in the end, and you win because you're in him. Let me give you an illustration of it, and then we'll wrap up. In a German prison camp in World War II, unbeknownst to the guards, the American prisoners managed to build a makeshift radio. And one day, news came that the German high command had surrendered, ending the war. A fact that, because of the communications breakdown, the German guards did not yet know. As word spread throughout the camp, a loud celebration broke out among the prisoners. For three days, the prisoners were hardly recognizable. They sang. They waved at the guards. They laughed at the German shepherd dogs. They shared jokes over meals. Now watch this. On the fourth day, they awoke to find that all the Germans had fled, leaving the gates unlocked. The time of waiting was over. See, that's the point, isn't it? In the end, Christians win, amen? You say, but that's not what we're experiencing. Oh yes, but that's what we're supposed to be experiencing by faith. We believe that in the end, that's what's going to happen. And we live in light of those promises, what? Now. That's what they did, these Old Testament saints. He's going to say like, we say what? We just need to persist in faith, like the allied prisoners. We can act on the good news that we say we believe. Or as Philip Yancey said, faith is believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse. Are you with me on that? I have to confess, I confess so many things in my life don't make any sense. And my temptation, I'll just say right now, this is the thing, I'm filling up that stinking, I call it stinking, Ice resurfacer. How many times I fill that thing up thinking, oh, none of this really matters. You know? What's it matter? How good I cut the ice and how good a job I do. And then the Lord reminds me, it all matters, Sean. Because I want you to be salt and light. I want you to be a witness to these people. I want to show how great I am through your little life. Oh, you mean that my little story is really about your big story, the gospel? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You see, then it does matter. But I want to say in my despair, in my stinking thinking, in my disillusionment, in my disappointment, in my depression, you say, you get like that? Yeah, I do. I want to say it doesn't matter. Because I want an escape, right? I want an escape from it, right? I want an escape. You say, well, you already did from the arena. Amen! God made a way. Open the door for another job, right? But so many things in my little life don't make sense to me, and no doubt each of you also have questions, okay? You've got very deep questions, maybe personal questions, that defy all human answers. It doesn't matter who you go to, okay? And we want to know why things happen the way they do. We want to know why couldn't they have happened another way. Isn't that true? We do! We do! Now, it would be wrong for me to say that faith provides all the answers, because it doesn't. Not up front. But on the other end of glory will we know? We'll know even as we are known. We'll see Him who is invisible. That's what's said. We'll see Him and we'll be like Him. By faith then we see things that are invisible to others and by faith we believe in advance those things that now, right now, make no sense but one day they'll make perfect sense because we'll view them in reverse. I'll say it again. Yancey's thing, the trick of faith is to believe in advance but we'll only make sense in reverse. Believe it in advance, because it will only make sense in reverse. You say, John, does that mean faith is irrational? No, it is the most rational thing. It's just not based on what we call empirical evidence. You say, what do you mean? Evidence, things we can see. Well, isn't the Word of God something we can see? Yes, but at the end of the day, the existence of God is based on the Word of God. You say, what do you mean, the existence of God? That we know it. Faith in God's existence is based on His Word. True? So that when I believe because of God's grace, I have a faculty that I begin to understand what I cannot see. Are you with me? Him who I cannot see. Or I could say it, Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible. And the same is true for us. The world says, seeing is believing. God says, believing is seeing. Okay. Let's wrap up then. How do we apply all of this? This is powerful. Do you have saving faith? Three questions. Do you have saving faith? According to polls, many people claim to believe. The question is, does that faith influence their life? For example, I profess to believe that sin is the most terrible thing. Do I fear? Do I hate it? Do I shun it? Good question. I believe that before long I will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Does my conduct, does my life show that I'm living in light of that solemn, sober day? I believe the world's an empty bubble, can't satisfy my soul. Do I despise its painted tinsel or do I run after it and try to be conformed to it? I believe that God will supply all my needs. Question, am I fearful and worried about tomorrow? Great question. I believe that prayer is an essential means of growing in grace. Do I spend much time in secret with God? And lastly, I believe that Christ is coming back. Am I diligent in seeking to have my lamp trimmed and burning and waiting for Him? Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Faith is known by its fruit, by its work. It's evident. Ask yourself, do I have the saving faith? If not, this is so simple. Ask God for it. Faith to give to Him, just ask Him to give you the what? The faith, the saving faith. Amen? It's so simple. Secondly, though, if you do have saving faith, what are you doing to mature and strengthen your faith? Someone said that if you feed your faith, your doubts will starve. How do you feed your faith? Romans 10, 17. Faith, count by hearing and hearing by the word of God. By hearing, by reading, studying, memorizing, meditating on scriptures and applying it. I'm simply taking God at His word. And I'm strengthening my faith. And I can pray. I can say, Lord, increase my faith. I can daily plead His promises to Him in expectation and anticipation of what He's going to do. And another way to grow in faith, not just a word in prayer, but I can grow in faith by walking with those who are faithful. It's been said that you become most like those that you spend the most time with. Well, then seek to cultivate close relationships with faith-filled people who will encourage and challenge your faith. I need a Paul, someone who's building into my faith. Amen? Alright? I need a Timothy, someone who I'm building into their faith. Right? But all of us needs a Barnabas, someone who comes along and you're with that person about five minutes and you feel like you could charge hell with a squirt gun. You know how many people, it's like, have you ever been around somebody and it's like, and they're just like, Eeyore, you know, on Winnie the Pooh? I mean, you're around Him, and you're around Him in about two seconds, and you're thinking, I want to kind of get away from this situation. But then you're around somebody else, and you're like, you're filled with faith. I trust the Lord no matter what. He's going to come through. He's going to work it out. How do you know that? His Word says this over here, and you've got a promise over here, I'm just trusting His Word. Really? But your circumstances stink. You know, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Jesus was with them in the fire. Really? You believe that? Yeah, the Lord's with me. He's going to help me. He's going to see me through it. I don't know how, but I'm just trusting His words. The problem is right here. And you're encouraged by that, aren't you? The opposite of that would be like my boss, the owner at the rink. How are you doing? I'm really down, man. Really? Tell me more. So I start pouring out my heart about just circumstances and stuff. He goes, you know, I'm so encouraged when you tell me about your struggles. I'm going, oh, brother. Misery loves company, I guess. The opposite of that would be someone who's really, what, encouraging and they're really building up. I mean, my mother-in-law was like this. She had cancer. She's dying. I call her to encourage her, right? Next thing you know, I'm telling her about my woes and she's encouraging me. Time out. Something's wrong with that, amen? But she was one of those faith-filled people, amen? And they make you want to be around. They're attractive. Not only do we need those people in life, God wants to make us into people, faith-filled people. So we encourage other people's faith. So seek to cultivate close relations with faith-filled people who will encourage and challenge your faith, and seek to be a faith-filled person. And lastly then, not only do you have the saving faith, and what are you doing to strengthen it if you do, what does God want to accomplish through your life because of faith? This whole chapter records works done by faith, that is, deeds done by virtue of faith's power. Faith not some mystical or magical power which operates apart from human activity. Faith is the same as saying through believing. It's that ordinary, amazing, ongoing and repeated counting on God to be as true and as good as His Word. And so the author says, rather than a temporary flimsy faith that shrinks back to destruction, He wants us to have this faith that endures trials to the preserving of the soul. Chapter 10, verse 39. And he says, such faith then takes the future promises of God and makes them real in the present. It proves this reality of the unseen world. Secondly though, faith gains God's approval as we saw, especially with Moses. And faith understands the origins of all that is. So do you think, question, is faith down to earth impractical? And the answer is, the answer is, yeah, it is. It's sustained the people of God through thousands of years and every sort of difficulty. Question, will faith sustain you? And the answer is, hopefully, yeah, it will. Right now, in fact, it will free us from all our fears, the author says. I want you to think about This as we go to communion, though, and I think this is key. Jesus... I said this at Vancouver last weekend. Somebody kind of questioned it. I said that Jesus lived by faith and died by faith. But they were thinking, well, he lived by faith like we live by faith, not knowing. Well, he did know, amen? But when he went out to pray, he was praying in faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. The Son always did what was pleasing to the Father, amen? Okay, so he did believe. But he died by faith, too. How do I know that? On the cross, he said, my God, my God, why have you? This is fascinating. He asked that question, why, like we ask, right? But he still called the Father, my God, didn't he? So even while he was dying, he was trusting. Question, how did Jesus save us? By faith. Interesting. He lived by faith and He died by faith. And by His faith, then, we're saved, amen, by His death. And it takes faith to believe that. Question, were you there when Jesus died? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? The old song sings. Well, spiritually, we were. If we weren't there, then we'll never be saved, amen? We were there. So we need to remember that. We need to remember our Savior's death. And again, if you're not a Christian, You've heard the Gospel preached today. It's time to settle your account. Well, I don't know that you can settle it. But you can receive what He's done for you by simply putting your trust in Jesus. Amen? That's the Gospel. Amen? So let's remember what Jesus did for us. Let's come before Him.