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[0:00] Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 26.!

[0:30] Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

[0:44] How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot? Who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him?

[0:58] And who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, It is mine to avenge, I will repay.

[1:08] And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering?

[1:24] Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution. At other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

[1:45] So do not throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

[1:57] For in just a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.

[2:11] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

[2:25] This is what the ancients were commended for. Hebrews chapter 11 has been called many things. The faith chapter.

[2:38] Faith's hall of fame. Heroes of the faith and many other names. And indeed this chapter is all about faith. Some 27 times the word faith is mentioned in just 40 verses.

[2:53] And it's chock full of real people, people of the past, who exercise faith in their everyday lives. They did so for their own good and for the glory of God.

[3:07] Now this chapter will show us that faith is one of the most powerful principles on earth because it enables believers to do difficult duties. To obey hard commands.

[3:18] To reject powerful temptations. To endure severe trials. To accomplish amazing feats far beyond their own abilities.

[3:31] And to obtain blessings from God in this life and the next. Faith. One of the most powerful things on earth. Now why was this chapter written?

[3:44] We're going to be studying this chapter for the next several months. And we come to it with this question. Why is it here in our Bibles? Well, it was to inspire believers.

[3:55] It's here to inspire Christians to persevere in the faith. To go on believing in Christ all the way to the end.

[4:06] To go on taking God at his word. There is much in this life to discourage us from believing. There is much in this life to turn us away from a life of faith in God's word.

[4:21] There are sometimes circumstances that can seem to make it futile. Why should I go on believing the promise when this is happening? And then there's the world's persecution and allurements.

[4:35] They can tempt us to abandon the faith. If this is what it gives me. I'm not going to go on believing in Christ. There's the prosperity of the wicked that can mock our faith.

[4:52] You mean I try so hard to serve God and I have nothing but troubles. And that guy hates God and look how he prospers. I'm ready to give up my faith. And join him.

[5:03] Indeed it is hard to live by faith in a world where others around us are living by sight. And so for all these reasons we can grow slack in our faith.

[5:15] Weak in our faith. And this chapter even speaks of some who had some beginnings turning back and abandoning the faith. This whole letter has that element of apostasy written behind it.

[5:32] And it keeps coming to the surface throughout the letter. The first century Christian, Hebrew Christians who would have received this letter, the first recipients of this letter, were being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ.

[5:46] To believe on Jesus actually increased their problems rather than diminish them. There are some things that will happen to you that aren't pleasant simply because you're a Christian.

[5:58] Persecution was happening to these early Christians. Their conversion to Christ made life more troublesome. And under that persecution there were signs that some were wavering.

[6:12] Even considering going back. And so there's the warning to not grow hard and let their hearts go on and turn to an unbelieving heart. That they would have in themselves an unbelieving heart.

[6:24] They're warned against such. They're warned against going back to a Christless Judaism. And so the Holy Spirit sends this letter. It's part of his way of encouraging faith.

[6:37] To strengthen their faith. And he alternates back and forth between warnings and encouragements. Did you see that in the scripture passage that was read? Severe warnings. Warnings.

[6:48] If you turn back there's nothing back there but the expectation of judgment. Warnings. Don't turn back. But then there's sweet encouragements. To cause us to go on and to persevere to the end.

[7:02] And so this goes back and forth throughout the book. To spur the reader on. To not shrink back in faith. But to go on believing to the very end.

[7:13] Salvation of their souls. So believers this chapter is meant to strengthen your faith. That's why it's here. It's to make you appreciate the importance of faith.

[7:24] To show us what faith and action looks like in real life situations. And to thrill us with its possibilities. And with its worth. Do you ever feel like that man in the gospel that stood before the word of Jesus.

[7:38] Jesus. And said Lord. I believe. But help my unbelief. Well bring your unbelief to this chapter.

[7:49] And have it withered. Bring your faith. Even weak faith. To this chapter. To have it revived. God himself intends to meet us in his word. To strengthen.

[8:01] To feed. Our faith. Now we want to start this morning with a working definition of faith. It's not a comprehensive. It's not an all exhaustive definition.

[8:12] But it's meant to serve the purpose of the author. In showing how faith operates in the real world. And verse 1 is that working definition. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for.

[8:26] And certain of what we do not see. It's a parallel phrase. Two parallel phrases. The second one echoes the first one. Being sure of what we hope for.

[8:39] Being certain of what we do not see. So let's look at these statements one by one. And then we're going to see two illustrations. That might help us understand how faith works.

[8:51] First of all faith is being sure of what we hope for. There are promises of God that have not yet been fulfilled. So we must hope for them.

[9:03] Romans 8.28 Is a promise. And I'm sure that some things in your life. You would say that has been fulfilled in my life. I have seen God work those things together for my good.

[9:17] But there are other things in your life. You haven't yet seen how that is ever going to be worked for good. You're waiting for that. You're hoping in that. And faith is being sure that that promise will come true in your life.

[9:32] In your trials. There's the promise in the Bible of life after death. I know you haven't received that one yet. You're here this morning. There's the promise that to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ.

[9:46] There's the promise that Christ is going to return one day. He's going to raise the bodies of the dead from the graves. He's going to glorify his people.

[9:57] There's a final judgment that is coming. And we believers will be accepted in that day because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, his own son.

[10:08] There are unending joys of heaven coming. There's a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. You see, we have not yet received those promises. So we are hoping for them.

[10:21] Confident expectation of future good. And faith is being sure of those things that we hope for. We're more sure of them than we are that we will be here alive tomorrow.

[10:37] We've made plans for Memorial Day. We cannot be sure what will be on tomorrow. But we can be sure that every promise that God has spoken will come true.

[10:50] Faith is what makes it absolutely sure in our hearts and minds that it will happen just as he said it would. So faith is being sure of what we hope for, the promises that are yet unfulfilled.

[11:03] And the parallel phrase is that faith is being certain of what we do not see. There are other things that we cannot see yet besides unfulfilled promises like the living God.

[11:20] Have you seen God? Some people saw the Son of God. Have you seen Jesus? No. We have not seen God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

[11:32] But faith is being certain that he exists. This one God in three persons is real. Faith makes us certain about that fact.

[11:45] He does exist. That though we have not seen him, Jesus Christ, Peter says, You love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

[11:59] Because faith is being certain of what we do not see. Are you certain Jesus lives? Yes. Faith is that certainty.

[12:12] It says in Hebrews 11 and verse 27 of Moses that by faith he saw him who is invisible. Now somebody said, I saw him who is invisible.

[12:22] You'd wonder about him, wouldn't you? Indeed, Calvin comments on this passage and says, At first this seems like a paradox. How can you see him who is invisible?

[12:35] But he says it makes perfect sense when you understand it to be speaking of faith. By faith Moses saw him who is invisible.

[12:47] Faith is to the soul what sight is to the body. With my physical eyes I can see this pulpit and know that it's real.

[12:58] I can even touch it, another one of my senses, and know it's real. What eyesight is to the body, so faith is to God.

[13:10] I cannot see God like I can see this pulpit. But faith sees him. Faith sees him.

[13:21] In quotes, faith is certain that he's there, even though he is invisible. So faith does for my soul what physical sight does for my body.

[13:32] It's like a sixth sense perceiving realities that the other five senses cannot perceive. So faith reads the Bible and is absolutely certain of those unseen realities of which it speaks.

[13:51] Now not only God is unseen, but what else are we certain about? What other unseen things are we certain about? Well, there's angels. Myriads of them.

[14:02] There's demons. Fallen angels. There's one especially. Satan. And though we don't see him, we're certain that he and they exist.

[14:13] There's heaven. There's hell. Real places. How do you know they're real? Faith is certain of things we do not see.

[14:29] Faith is the conviction that they're real. Two illustrations then. First, we're going to go to the army and we're going to look at some night vision glasses that they'll issue us with infrared and thermal imaging capacities.

[14:45] And so we go outside with our glasses on. Or let's take them off first. And we go outside and there's no moon in the sky and the stars are not shining. It's cloudy. And so there's no light.

[14:57] And we can't even see our hand in front of our faces. It's that dark out. And we're called to be the sentry and be on guard and protect our troops. And we can't see anything.

[15:10] And then we put on our night vision glasses. Whoa. There's enemies out there. They're moving around. The glasses did not make them real.

[15:24] No, they're real all on their own. They exist. But the glasses showed you what you couldn't see with your naked eye. Now, faith works like those night vision glasses.

[15:35] There are unseen things in this universe. Unseen persons. Namely, God. I mean, the most important of which is God. And faith doesn't create them and make them real.

[15:49] It just makes them real to me. Faith shows me that they do exist. Those things are as real as this thing. I just couldn't see them. What made them real?

[16:00] What caused you to see them? Faith. It's the conviction of things not seen. That's how Moses could see him who is invisible.

[16:12] By faith. He believed and saw that he was there. That's how we can fix our eyes on what is not seen. As Paul says at the end of 2 Corinthians 4.

[16:28] So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. How do you fix your eyes on unseen things? By faith. Because faith makes them certain realities to us.

[16:42] Another illustration is Elisha's servant back in 2 Kings 6. The king of Syria was warring against the Israelites. But every time he made his plans to attack Israel, God revealed his battle plan to Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who then went and told the king of Israel so they were ready every time for the attack and frustrated the king of Syria to no end.

[17:11] That happened several times and he was enraged. He thought for sure he had a traitor in the midst of his officers telling the enemy his plans, his battle plans.

[17:23] So he called the officers together. He says, okay, which one of you is the snitch? Who is it among you that is on the side of Israel? And one of the officers answered, none of us, my lord, the king.

[17:36] But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words that you speak in your bedroom. Where is he?

[17:47] Well, he's down in Dothan. Go get him. And he sends this large force, including horses and chariots, to go get Elisha. They surrounded the city at night so that in the morning when the servant of the man of God, the servant of Elisha, got up early and went out, there was an army with horses and chariots that had surrounded the city.

[18:09] He comes to Elisha and shakes him and says, oh, my lord, what shall we do? And Elisha says, do not be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

[18:24] At that point, the servant must have wondered about Elisha's eyesight or his mathematic skills. More with us, you and me, than with them, completely surrounded with chariots and horsemen and military men.

[18:43] And Elisha prayed, oh, Lord, open his eyes that he may see. Now, that's what faith does. It opens the eyes to see the unseen realities.

[18:56] And the Lord opened his eyes. And he looked and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

[19:08] They were there all the time. He just didn't see them. What made them real to the servant? The Lord opened his eyes, physical eyes, so that he actually saw them.

[19:19] But that's what faith does. Faith gives us to know the reality of the unseen world. It doesn't tell us that Elisha saw them, and that's why he was not afraid. I believe that Elisha believed the word of God.

[19:32] Passages such as Psalm 34, 7, that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fears him, and he delivers them. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.

[19:45] Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. I believe Elisha saw by faith what his servant was given to see by sight. But at any rate, that's what faith does.

[19:57] It takes the promises of the word of God, and it sees those realities. It perceives them. So that they are not shadowy things. Oh, I'm not sure whether there are really any angels or not.

[20:10] No, it believes and knows that they're certain. And so he so believes it that he's not worried. Elisha's not worried. Why should he be? Flesh is no match for spirit.

[20:31] What match are men for angels? Faith is being certain of what we do not see. So that's the working definition of faith. Being sure of what we hope for, unfulfilled promises. Being certain of what we do not see, the invisible realities.

[20:46] Now the second point, and very briefly, is the foundation of our faith. What's the foundation? What does it rest on? What informs our faith? How do we know for sure about those unseen things and those unfulfilled promises?

[21:01] It's not some inkling that comes from within us. It's not just a strong hunch that I feel like this is going to happen. No, rather God has told us about things unseen and about unfulfilled promises in his word.

[21:17] God's own word is the foundation of our faith. Because faith comes by hearing the message. And the message is heard through the word of Christ. This, the book of God, the book of Christ, that's the foundation for faith.

[21:33] That's how we know about those unseen things. That's how we know about the things that have been promised to happen in the future. So we can know for sure that they're true.

[21:45] They really exist. Faith rests upon God's word. Now, if all we had to trust in was a liar, we wouldn't really be able to say, I'm sure that this is going to happen.

[21:58] I'm sure there's this unseen thing out there. We wouldn't know if he's lying to us. But our faith rests in a God who cannot lie. And he's told us about these things in his word.

[22:11] They come from him who is himself the truth. And whose word is flawless and forever settled in heaven. That has never come back to him empty without fulfilling the thing for which he sent it.

[22:23] That's the God who promises and who speaks here. And so faith is sure. Because God's word is sure.

[22:37] Faith draws its certainty from the very character of the God who has spoken in his word. And so we'll see throughout chapter 11 that men received a word from God.

[22:49] Men had a promise from God and they acted on it. And they found it always happened exactly like he said it would. Faith rests upon what God says. Faith takes God at his word.

[23:03] Faith accepts all that God's word says as defining reality. Things unseen and things seen. This is the definition of reality. And faith is the heart's amen to all that the Bible says.

[23:18] It is so, we say to the Bible. Well, that's the foundation of faith. The word of God. Now we come to verse 2 and we have the examples of faith.

[23:31] Having defined faith, we're told in verse 2, this is what the ancients were commended for. The ancients, those old people, those of old, way back at the beginning, those believers of old were commended by God for living by faith in the unfulfilled promises and in unseen things.

[23:52] They took God at his word. And God showed his approval, indeed his pleasure, that they would actually do that.

[24:02] He was pleased and so he commends them. He praises them. For what? For their faith. That they really did take as certain everything that he said.

[24:14] He praises them. Indeed, the Bible says without faith it's impossible to please God. But they, by their faith, did please God and he commends them for it.

[24:30] It was their faith that got them into faith's hall of fame. These people were far from perfect that we'll meet in this chapter, yet they honored God by their faith and so God honors them for their faith.

[24:42] We ought to learn from that how pleasing it is to God when we take him at his naked word. When our circumstances are this, and yet he says this, and we stand with his word.

[24:57] That pleases him. He commends it. He rewards it. He praises it. Not only in the Old Testament scriptures, but even here in chapter 11. So the author of this chapter on faith wants to do more than define it for us.

[25:11] He wants us to see faith in action. We say a picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe you're trying to learn a new exercise, and you type into the computer, and you want to learn how to curl a barbell.

[25:28] And let's just say it's all in words, and it tells you, well, you've got to grip the barbell in a certain way, and you make sure that you turn your wrist out a certain way, and you're reading all these words, whether to pull and to push and your posture here and there.

[25:43] And if you just had one picture of it, you'd say, oh, I can see it. I see it then. Or even a video clip of somebody else doing it. And then, oh, I can imitate that.

[25:53] A picture is worth a thousand words. It clarifies things. And the author here wants to not only tell us about faith, but he wants to show us what it looks like in real life, in real people.

[26:07] And so if he would encourage us, he gives us examples. When God wants to strengthen our faith, he gives us examples of faith in action.

[26:20] Now, this very thing has come under the criticism by proponents of a certain kind of preaching today. They say it's wrong to go to the stories of the Old Testament and to draw out examples of how to live from those stories.

[26:34] They call it moralizing. To go to the story of David and Goliath and to draw out an example from that of how to face your great opposition with faith in God. Oh, that's mere moralizing.

[26:46] To go to the story of Daniel and issue the challenge to dare to be a Daniel and stand alone. That sort of thing is belittled as moralizing the scriptures. Rather, you must show how that passage fits into the overall history of redemption.

[27:02] That's why it's there. Well, is it really? I would just like to say that the writer to the Hebrews did not have that view of preaching.

[27:14] Not at all. He freely reaches into the Old Testament and draws out examples for us of people who had faith in God and who took him at his word. And he does not feel that he has to to show how this fits into the overarching history and panorama of redemption.

[27:32] He just uses the example and would encourage faith in us. And does not feel like he's misusing the Old Testament or merely moralizing.

[27:43] Now, there's plenty of Christ in this letter of Hebrews. But here, the examples of faith serve his purposes. So he uses them. Paul does the same in 1 Corinthians 10 when he draws out examples from Israel's histories.

[27:56] These things happen to them as examples. They were written down as warnings for us. Everything written in the past was written to teach us. And they just pull right out of the Old Testament an example and say, now, learn from this.

[28:09] That's what we have in Hebrews chapter 11. The writer clearly believes that these examples of faith and action can help revive and sustain our faith in God.

[28:22] In fact, the writer will say in chapter 13 and verse 7, consider those. Remember those who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

[28:38] There you have it. Imitate their faith. What you see here of faith and action, you imitate their faith. Now that's, this then, chapter 11, are the great cloud of witnesses who examples to us on the pages of the Old Testament shout to us, go on believing, dear brother.

[29:01] Go on believing, dear sister. Don't shrink back and be destroyed. There's only one thing waiting for you if you turn back now on his judgment. We took God at his word and we found everything happened just as he said it would.

[29:14] He's faithful and true. Go on trusting. Go on obeying. Go on following. No one who trusts in him will ever be put to shame. And so we see that the ancients were commended for faith.

[29:27] It shows us there's nothing new under the sun. They needed faith to live then. We need faith to live now. Now a word about these heroes of the faith.

[29:37] They were ordinary people who did extraordinary things by faith. By faith. You know, you can visit the Basketball Hall of Fame out in Springfield, Massachusetts and there's all kinds of Hall of Famers names and displays like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the most minutes played, the most points scored.

[30:01] There should be a sign beside some of these displays that says to be admired but not to imitate because all their feats are not capable to some of us who are on the shorter side of things.

[30:16] We can't do what they did so we just go to the Hall of Fame and we admire and we say, wow, did he really score that many points? But when we come to faith's Hall of Fame in chapter 11 of Hebrews, we meet ordinary Joes.

[30:37] They were not giants of faith when God found them. They were sinners like us that he saved and taught to take him at his word. One lesson at a time.

[30:49] Sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding. So these heroes of the faith are not just for us to admire but to actually imitate. Brothers and sisters imitate their faith as we go through them one by one.

[31:05] Your faith lays hold of the exact same God that theirs did and that's what opens up all the possibilities of the world. Their faith took hold of the same God your faith is resting upon.

[31:21] You have all the resources available to your faith that they had and even more I would say now in the new covenant since Christ has come and poured out his spirit in greater measure. It remains to be seen what can be done by you through faith.

[31:37] Ordinary people doing extraordinary things by faith in an extraordinary God. Let me speak a moment about the motivating power of faith. We've seen the examples of faith and we'll be going through them in this series now the motivating power of faith.

[31:55] Faith is not a dead thing. Faith is not something that just sits there and does nothing. It's a powerfully activating principle that produces all kinds of effects in people's lives.

[32:07] It causes people to do it causes us to do things that we otherwise would never do. Faith does. Faith does that. It has that kind of power. You mean you'd never do this?

[32:18] No. But you do it? Yeah. Why? Because of faith. Faith moves me to do some of those things that I otherwise would never do. It's a spring of action.

[32:30] Now it used to be kids that within watches, the old kind with hands and things like that, there was a spring inside and it would be wound up and that spring was just that.

[32:43] It was the spring. It was the cause of all the movable parts in the watch including all the gears inside and the hands outside. The spring of action.

[32:55] Faith is like that coiled spring in the watch. It's what gives action and causes people to do things and to be moved to do things that they otherwise never would.

[33:09] It influences our conduct, our attitudes. We actually live differently in the light of unseen realities.

[33:21] Elisha does not fear in the light of the unseen realities surrounding him. Now this can be vividly seen in chapter 11 and all the examples.

[33:33] We'll notice them as we go through them but it was faith that moved them to do these many things. To obey difficult commands like build an ark or leave your house, your home, your homeland.

[33:45] sacrifice your son. Well see, faith has power to cause people to do those things. It has power to enable people to patiently endure great hardships and trials like homelessness, like barrenness, like persecution.

[34:02] It has power to enable people to persevere in the way of holiness even when they're swimming against the current of the world around them. It has power to move them to accomplish amazing things like walk right through this sea on dry land or bring down those walls of Jericho with a shout.

[34:22] So certain of unseen things were these men and women of faith that they were willing to venture all upon a word of God. I wonder what there is about your life that can only be explained by faith in the unseen realities.

[34:40] Why does she do that? Why does she not do that? Why does he do this? How much is there about you that can only make sense because of what faith sees that's unseen?

[34:54] We'll see that. The power of faith. We'll see these examples in chapter 11 but let me give you the one in chapter 10 that introduces this chapter. It's talking about these people who were being persecuted because they stood with Christ and they believed in the Savior and it exposed them to insults and to persecution and theft and jail time and yet they had persevered through it all.

[35:22] What enabled them to bear up under such severe trials? See if you can find it in verse 34 of chapter 10. You sympathize with those in prison and you joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.

[35:40] Possessions. Things. We like our things, don't we? We can get attached to our things. We don't like others taking our things.

[35:55] Then what made them joyfully accept the confiscation of their things? Well, it's knowing that they had better and lasting possessions.

[36:05] What's he talking about? Well, he's talking about heaven, isn't he? Better and lasting things in heaven than these things that just got stolen.

[36:16] one. So, young person, you go on a class trip to Chicago and you pack your lunch and somebody on the trip steals your apple. But you smile, you go on unmoved.

[36:29] Why? Because you've got an apple tree at home with hundreds more just like it, only more sweet. So, no big deal. They took my apple. I've got a lot more at home. It helps you bear with someone taking your apple.

[36:45] But it was more than apples that were being taken from these Christians. It was their possessions, their house. Hold off to jail. Somebody else lives in their house and takes possession of their things.

[36:58] And yet, they did so with joy. They endured it with joy, joyfully accepted the confiscation of their property. What caused that? Because they knew they had better and lasting possessions in heaven.

[37:13] I've got more at home. But I ask you, how did they know they had more in home? How did they know they had better and lasting possessions?

[37:23] You can't see them. They're yet future. Faith is being sure of what we hope for. Faith is being certain of what we do not see.

[37:36] I know I've got them. So, I can sit loose to my possessions here. Great is your reward in heaven, Jesus says in Matthew 5.

[37:50] And so, with the glasses of faith, they saw them. They realized their truthfulness, their existence, and it enabled them to not get bent out of shape when their things were taken.

[38:03] Believers, the greater part of our happiness is future. faith in the certainty of the promise keeps us willing to wait and to rejoice in hope.

[38:13] That's a powerful principle that can cause people to joyfully accept the confiscation of their things. Lastly, the importance of faith.

[38:25] Nowhere is faith's importance made more clear than chapter 10, the end of the passage. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you'll receive what he's promised.

[38:37] For in just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.

[38:47] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. He quotes a passage from Habakkuk, chapter 2.

[39:01] It's also quoted in Galatians and Romans. It's my righteous one will live by faith. You're familiar with that terminology. How important is faith? Well, there's no life without it. It's one of those two things that we all must do in order to be saved.

[39:16] Faith, we must believe. In the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.

[39:31] Paul quotes that. In Romans 1, the writer to the Hebrews quotes it here. Eternal life comes by faith, by believing on Jesus Christ.

[39:43] If you try to stand before God in the day of judgment, trusting in your own righteousness, you'll be damned because a perfect righteousness is required by God. And so a right standing before God doesn't come by our own works, but by faith in Christ's works.

[39:59] And when we trust in Christ, we give him our sins and he gives us his righteousness. You see, the righteous will live by faith. Faith is the way to become righteous before God.

[40:14] But faith then is also the way the righteous live for the righteous will live by faith. Faith is the way to life, but faith is also the way to live.

[40:25] Faith becomes the very principle by which we live day by day. We get in trouble, saints, when we live by sight. When, like the world, we live as if there is no further reality than what I can see, taste, touch, handle, the five senses can perceive.

[40:43] That's like playing with less than a whole deck. No, we want all the reality on the table, all the cards on the table. I want to know everything that exists. If there's a hell, I want to know about it.

[40:53] If there's a heaven, I want to know about it. If there's a way to get there, I want to know about it. I want all that God has told us about reality. And faith looks to the word and sees that, and faith enables us to live in this world with all the realities that are there.

[41:15] So he quotes Habakkuk 2. What was going on in Habakkuk? Well, God was about to bring judgment upon Judah because of her idolatry. He's going to bring the Babylonians, a ruthless people that would do things just the hearing of which cause men to get weak at the knees.

[41:31] Bad times, hard times are coming. And it's in that context that God says, but my righteous one will live by faith.

[41:44] in that midst of problems and trouble and judgments that are coming. My righteous ones will live by faith. He will put his faith in the promises of God.

[41:55] He will cling to his word even when all is death and darkness around him. Matthew Henry comments on how the righteous can live by faith and so persevere in the greatest of afflictions. He says they can live upon the assured persuasion they have of the truth of God's promises.

[42:11] Faith puts life and vigor into them. They can trust God and live upon him and wait his time as their faith maintains their spiritual life now. It shall be crowned with eternal life hereafter.

[42:27] Faith enables us to live right now in the midst of our afflictions. With faith we persevere. Without it we shrink back and are destroyed. How important is faith?

[42:37] You cannot persevere in the Christian life without it. The first step of the Christian life is a step of faith. The next step is faith. The last step will be faith.

[42:48] You can't persevere. You'll turn back. You'll become an apostate. Apostasy is just the failure of faith. And so we're seeing the importance of faith.

[43:00] We walk by faith. Faith is to the Christian life what fuel is to your car. Without it there's no going anywhere in the Christian life. The whole of the Christian life is a walk of faith at every step.

[43:15] Taking God at his word. Believing his promise. Leaning upon him for help and strength. Being certain of those unseen things. We need faith every day of our life.

[43:28] The life I live, Paul says in Galatians 2.20. The life I live, I live by faith in the son of God. It takes Christ to live the Christian life. And so faith lays hold of Christ.

[43:42] Faith brings God into the picture of things small and great in our lives. Our everyday lives. Faith is constantly looking to him. Seeing him who is invisible. Clinging to his word.

[43:56] You know that you needed faith this week every time you prayed. Why so? Because you needed to believe that he exists, didn't you? Every time you read his word, you needed faith to believe that there is a God who actually sent this book to us, that actually inspired it.

[44:14] I can't see him, but you believed it. You needed faith every day you went to work and worked with all your heart is working for the Lord and not for men. Because you can't see the Lord.

[44:27] You needed faith. All those hours at work. You needed faith as you instructed and disciplined your children and were trusting God to give the blessing upon the means.

[44:43] You needed it as you got the test back from the doctor and as you faced some new trial in your life or persevered in an old long trial. faith. Have you noticed that we never get beyond the need for faith?

[44:58] It's intentional on God's part. He keeps bringing things in our lives that force us even as it were to take our eyes off of things seen and to look to him.

[45:10] It's his plan to teach us to grow up in faith because faith pleases him. Faith glorifies him. Faith is good for us and he would have us grow in it.

[45:22] You need faith this morning as you sit here and worship a God you cannot see. You need it as you handled your paycheck and what you did with it and if you gave any to God you needed faith because you can't see God.

[45:36] If you gave it as unto the Lord you had to have faith to trust him to provide for you. There's nothing that you do in life that does not need faith if it's to be pleasing to God because without faith it's impossible to please him.

[45:54] So what have we seen? Well we're saved by faith. We live by faith. How important is it? Of the utmost. Of the utmost. And let's remember how pleasing our faith is to God.

[46:05] How it glorifies him. And yet we struggle to believe. And you know God knows that. That's why Hebrews and other books are in the Bible.

[46:17] That's why chapter 11 of Hebrews is in the Bible. He knows. He knows what we're made of and he sees our struggles of faith and he's committed to keeping our faith alive. Do you know Jesus prays that our faith will not fail?

[46:31] You see that in his prayer for Peter. He designs our trials to further develop our faith. faith. The Holy Spirit empowers our faith within.

[46:44] The Lord Jesus reveals himself as the solid object of faith. A trustworthy rock. So what should we do? We should bring our weak and wavering faith to the Lord Jesus and say Lord I believe but will you help my unbelief?

[46:59] Will you teach me in this series from Hebrews 11 to trust you more? To just take you at your word? You know my heart has slowly trusted what my eyes have never seen.

[47:12] Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Teach me on thine arm to lean. If you've never trusted in Christ you need to know that your unbelief displeases God.

[47:28] You know what it says to God? You can't be trusted with my life God. You're not trustworthy. You need to repent of your unbelief now. And cast your trust upon this Savior.

[47:42] And he will save you. And he will walk with you. And you will find it to be trustworthy every step of the way of this life. And that step into the next life.

[47:56] O rock of Israel. God of your people. We come and thank you for your faithfulness and your trustworthiness. We do confess our faith is weak.

[48:07] Forgive us for that. It's all our problem Lord. It's nothing about you. You have proven trustworthy to us every time we've leaned on you.

[48:18] O come and teach us. Come and help us. Be teaching us every day all day long to be leaning on your arm. Holding fast to your promise.

[48:31] Believing those things that are unseen and yet unfulfilled. Help us to live more on the promises and less on our feelings and less by sight. Make yourself known to us Lord Jesus.

[48:44] The very object of our faith. That faith knowing you. Might be strengthened. Bring others to trust in you. Who are still trusting in themselves for eternal life.

[48:58]  Get glory to yourself. This day. As we put our faith. In you. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.