"Living by Faith" Pt 1 - Hebrews 11 - Pastor Ryan - Sunday Morning Service 10:30 AM

Good morning, church family. I'm really glad you're here. Good to see everybody. Glad you can make it out this morning. I want to invite you to stand with us. We'll pray. We'll get started.

Father, we come before you this morning. We thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be in your house this morning. We just ask your blessing upon this time, Lord. Bless the worship. Bless the word as it goes out. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Let's worship the Lord together. I know who, cause I know who, cause of salvation was only the start. Now I am chosen and death's work wasn't made to be.

Tending a grave, I was called by name. Born and raised back to life.

From old, I shame when a fountain of grace is running my feet. From old, cause I know who, cause of salvation. One more time. So why would I make a better... Oh, Lord God, I just thank you for your grace and your mercy, Lord God. I thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us, for the works that you're doing in our lives. We love you, Lord, and we praise you in your name.

Something isn't adding up. This wild exchange you offer us. I gave my worst to gain your blood. Seems hard to believe.

You're telling me you chose the cross. You're telling me I'm worth that much. If that's the measure of your love, how else would I sing? But deep in my heart, I lost you in the midst of my soul. Each phase of my life, I fight.

Less than a sure end. He's a sea master.

Washed in heat. There's more.

I trust in God. My Savior. I saw the Lord this morning. I saw the Lord. And he heard me. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I saw the Lord. And he heard. Saw the Lord.

Answer. That's why I trust him. That's why I trust him. I saw the Lord. And he heard. And he never failed.

Do you guys stay with me for the last one?

And I know a name that can silence roar.

That can isn't and rain anything comes out of the grave. Every time I.

Every time.

Every time. He's a sin and reigning every time I worthy Lord hand this morning father. We come before you. We just thank you for who you are. Thank you for for the power that is in your name as in your mere name. Lord God, thank you for the power that you have. Thank you for the power of your blood, the blood that was shed for sins that was shed out for us willingly and freely because you love us.

Lord God, we thank you and we praise you this morning. And now, as Pastor Ryan comes, I just ask that you would be with him overflowing with your Holy Spirit. Lord, we're build our faith this morning. God in you. We love you, Lord. We praise you in Jesus name. All God's people said Amen. Let's have some fellowship speak with Miss Diane Nichols. I think they're looking to get a head count.

There might be a little bit information to go along with that. So that is all. As far as announcements goes, Ryan's going to come up and lead you in responsive reading.

Good morning for a responsive reading this morning. We're going to be in Psalm 16. Psalm 16. Look at the new American standard for this part. If you need a copy, there should be one in a row around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 16, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Pastor Allen and the even versus Psalm 16, a mission of David preserve me. Oh God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good. Besides, you as for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrow of those who have bartered for another God will be multiplied.

I should not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance in my cup. You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord, who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me because he is at my right hand.

I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad in my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely for you will not abandon my soul to shield, nor will you go. Holy one to undergo decay in reverse 11 with me, you will make known to me the path of life in your presence is fullness. Of joy in your right hand. There are pleasures forever father. We come before you and I thank you that you are the God that we can take refuge in the God who shows us the path of life.

And so father, I pray that as we take this time this morning to look into your word, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would begin to do the work necessary in each heart that's in here this morning. Lord, the work of conviction, Lord, the work of encouragement, Lord, the work of instruction. And so Lord, do what needs to be done in us this morning. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen. You may be seated.

And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 11,

Hebrews chapter 11,

the title of the message this morning is living by faith. It'll take us a couple of weeks to get through chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews, but it's an amazing chapter. And in ultimately Hebrews has kind of been leading up to chapter 11 in this discussion on living by faith. In chapter 10, he sort of culminated the, uh, the theological portion of things and pointing out how much Jesus is better than all of the other things of both the law and the world.

And then he closed with his fourth warning when he said, first of all, remember that you can boldly enter the holy place by the new and living way that is made for Jesus Christ, but also beware of sinning willfully of, of going back to a system of law, back to a system of works instead of resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He said, we have better hope for you because you have, shown in the past your faithfulness. And we think that you will continue to be faithful. And he ends in verse 38 and 39 of chapter 10 like this.

My righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him, but we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. And so with that backdrop of faith, we move into chapter 11, where he will, first of all, describe faith for us. And then, he will tell stories of faith.

And so starting in chapter 11, verse one, it says this now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen for by it. The men of old gained approval by faith. We understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible by faith. Abel offered to God a more better sacrifice than Cain, though, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous.

God testifying about his gifts and through faith, though he is dead, still speaks by faith. Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death and he was not found because God took him up for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God and without faith that is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a, is a rewarder of those who seek him by faith. Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen and seen in reverence prepared an art for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith by faith.

Abraham when he was called obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going. And by faith he lived. As an alien in the land of promise as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob fellow heirs of the same promise for he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God by faith. Even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised therefore there was born even of one man and him as good as dead at that as many.

Many descendants as the stars of the heaven and number and innumerable as the sand which is on the seashore. All these died in faith without receiving the promises but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own and indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out. They would have had opportunity to return.

But as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for the living by faith. Well again the first three verses what he does is he he describes faith for us. He doesn't necessarily define it for us although I will do so but really he describes what faith is. And so starting in verse one he says this he says now now faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

The conviction of things not seen that word faith as it's used in its context here simply means the conviction of the truth of anything. It's simply a belief in other words all of you had faith this morning in something you had faith when you came in here that the chair that you sat down and was going to hold you up. That was a conviction of the truth of anything that a conviction of the truth that that chair was sturdy enough to hold you that's faith. But now he describes this faith for us.

And as he describes this face for us he does it in a handful of ways the first thing he says is it is the assurance of things hoped for the assurance of things hope for the ideas that is the realization it is the confirmation. It is the title deed of the things that have been hoped for the amplified Bible puts it like this it says it puts the things that are hoped for as real as if we already had them. The things that we hoped for as real. as if we already had them.

In other words, I hope one day I get to go to heaven, but I know the reality is so great that I may as well have it for myself now because my faith is so great in the hope that I have in the future. And that's the idea of what faith is. When God makes a promise, we believe it and we are assured of it as much as if we held the thing in our hands because the faith that we have in God is so strong. Does that make sense to everyone?

So the first thing he says is it is the assurance of things that are hoped for. But the second thing that he said is that it is the conviction of the things not seen. That word conviction means evidence or proof of reality. My favorite translation is confidence. It is the confidence of things that are not seen. And that confidence that we have comes from the confidence in the living God

who has always kept all of his promises. Faith is only as good as the thing that you put your faith in. Confidence is only as good as the confidence that you've put your faith in. Put it in. But our confidence can be strong because it is in a God who has never failed to keep his promises. It is in a God who has never failed to do what he says he's going to do.

And so as we look at this faith, it is described, first of all, as an assurance. Second of all, it is a confidence. And he even says this. He says, by it, they, meaning the saints of old, gained a good report. In other words, they gained a good testimony. They... They found their approval in God through their faith. It's interesting. The very first man to be called righteous by his faith was Abraham,

who we'll read about this morning. But it had nothing to do with any of his works or his abilities. It simply had to do with the fact that he believed that God could do what he said he was going to do. And then faith is described in a last way here with creation. Notice what he says in verse 3. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God.

So that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. He says, by faith we understand that the worlds were, and I prefer the translation of the word, framed by the word of God. In other words, the worlds were put together simply by the voice that God spoke to say, let there be light. God said, let there be light, and there was light. God spoke it into existence.

It's interesting. There's two main theories as to how all of this got here. How did the world come about? There is, first of all, the theory of evolution, that over millions and billions of years we found ourselves in a place where enough things evolved to get to the place where man was finally man, and the earth was finally earth. And it takes as much faith to believe that

as it does to believe the other theory of creation, and that is that God spoke the world into existence. You know why it takes faith to believe either one? Because no one was there. The only one that was there was God. And so he's the only one that really can truly tell us what happened. And so by faith we believe, we believe that God framed the world through the word of his mouth.

I've always said that the most important verse in the Bible is Genesis 1, verse 1. Because if you can believe Genesis 1, verse 1, you should have no problem with anything else in all the rest of the Bible. Because in Genesis 1, verse 1, it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The word that's used there for created is the Hebrew word bara, which means to create from nothing.

That's only ever used of God. And so if you can believe that in the beginning, God created from nothing, the heavens and the earth, he actually spoke matter into existence, then why do you struggle to believe anything else that the Bible has to say? If God is able to speak the world into existence, don't you think your problem can be handled by an almighty God? If God can speak the world into existence, don't you think that God is all-knowing?

If he can speak the world into existence, don't you think he's all-powerful? If he can speak the world into existence, don't you think he's all-present? If he can speak the world into existence, don't you think that salvation is no problem for him? That for God to become man and to die on a cross and be raised again three days later is no problem for a God who can speak the world into existence?

Because as we are told, I believe in the book of Romans, he calls those things which are not as though they were. Because that's who God is. And so by faith, we believe that the world was prepared by the word of God, that the world was framed, by the word of God, and that that which is seen was made of things which are not visible. And so after he gives us this description of faith, he now moves into the stories of faith.

And the writer to the Hebrews is going to masterfully walk through an Old Testament history lesson for these Hebrew believers to remind them that living by faith is always the way that God has operated in this world. And so he takes them through, this what we oftentimes call hall of faith. The first one that he's going to talk about is Abel. And in the margin of your Bible, you might write Genesis chapter 4.

I'm going to give you the Genesis references for each of these. Genesis chapter 4, because that's where the story of Abel is told. And so in verse 4 it says, By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

A little bit of background on who this guy Abel is. So God creates Adam and Eve. He puts them in a garden, gives them rules. They break the rules and get kicked out of the garden. God, after he kicks them out of the garden, says, Be fruitful and multiply. Because he wanted to fill the earth with people that he could show all of his love to. The first two sons that we read about that Adam and Eve had

were named Cain and Abel. They were named Cain and Abel. They were named Cain and Abel. They were named Cain and Abel. They were named Cain and Abel. They were named Cain and Abel. We learned that Abel was a keeper of the flock. Cain was a tiller of the ground. One day, they both brought a sacrifice to the Lord. It said that God accepted Abel's sacrifice of the flock,

but he did not accept Cain's sacrifice, which was of the ground. Now, I hope you're asking yourself a question right now. And if not, you should. I'm going to ask it for you. How did they know that God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's? That feels like a plausible question, right? How did they know? Well, almost every commentator agrees that the way that they knew is that

when Abel offered his sacrifice, which was of the flock, which was a blood sacrifice, that God consumed it with fire. You can imagine Cain and Abel standing there, right? Abel builds his altar over here. He puts the sacrifice on it. He says, Lord, I sacrifice this to you. God consumes it with fire. God approved. Well, then Cain comes over here with his sacrifice,

just a bunch of fruits and vegetables, works of the ground, and he puts it up on the altar. And he says, here you go, God.

Nothing happens. And he's like, what the heck? Why did he accept Abel's sacrifice and not mine? And that's the real question. Why did God accept Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's? Two reasons. Number one, because Abel offered a blood sacrifice. Remember what we were told in Hebrews chapter 10? Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There's no forgiveness.

There's no covering for sins. Where did Abel learn about a blood sacrifice? Undoubtedly from Adam and Eve. If we look back at Genesis chapter 3, we find that when Adam and Eve sinned, they realized that they were naked. Their shame was what was covering them. And so they decided we needed to make clothing for ourselves. So they took of the fruit of the ground,

which was the fig leaves, and they made coverings for themselves, man's works, to try to cover their sin. Well, God said, that's a terrible idea. That can't really cover your sin. So God made them coverings of animal skins. How did God get animal skins? He would have had to put animals to death to cover them with the skins, the skins of the animals. So God showed them that a blood sacrifice

was going to be necessary for the covering of sin. They passed that down. Abel caught the lesson. Cain didn't. Cain offered what he wanted to offer instead of what God wanted him to offer. So the first reason why it wasn't accepted is because it wasn't a blood sacrifice. But the second reason that we're told why it wasn't accepted is that it was not a sacrifice of faith.

It's interesting because Abel represents the sacrifice of faith that says, Lord, I'm going to obediently, offer what you want me to offer and believe that that's enough. Cain offers the sacrifice of man's works and says, I'm going to give you what I have and say that it's enough. Interestingly enough, when you look at the word in the Hebrew, it says he offered a sacrifice of the fruit of the ground. That word ground in the Hebrew is the word Adama, which is the root word for where we get Adam.

He offered the fruit of man to hope that God would accept it. How many of us are offered? We're offering our own good works to God and saying, accept this because I'm good enough. That's what he did. And so God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not Cain's. And so Abel has this testimony that he was pleasing to God, that he was righteous before God. And interestingly enough, it says,

though he is dead, he still speaks today. How does he still speak today? Because everybody that finds their righteousness in faith in God is just as righteous. Just like righteous Abel, who offered a sacrifice that was accepted by God. By faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain. The second person that we read about is Enoch. Verse five, it says, by faith, Enoch was taken up

so that he would not see death. And he was not found because God took him up for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. Margin of your Bible, you might write Genesis, chapter five. Genesis, chapter five, because that's where Enoch is referenced. I'm just going to be really, really honest with you. Genesis, chapter five

is one of the most boring chapters in the Bible, okay? I know right now you're like, I'm going to go home and read that now. It's the genealogy, right? Okay, so chapter four, spoiler alert, Cain kills Abel. If you didn't know that. So in chapter four, Abel does not make it out of chapter four, right? He does not make it to series five in the episodes. So Cain kills Abel

because, because he is angry that God accepted his sacrifice and everybody's kind of hopeless. Oh no, we thought Abel was the promised seed through whom God would bring the Redeemer and now Abel's dead. What are we going to do now? Well, at the end of chapter four, you find that they have another son whose name was Seth and Seth would be the line through whom the Redeemer would come.

So chapter five gives you the genealogy of Seth. And as you're reading along, there's these two or three little obscure verses that talk about this guy named Enoch, right? First of all, it says that when Enoch was 65 years old, he begot Methuselah. And after he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God. 300 years, Enoch walks with God. That's a heck of a life, isn't it?

Of course, Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. Then I told first service, I said, Methuselah is what we used to always call the old people. So if any of you called me Methuselah, I'm not pleased with you right now, but we should go back to calling old people Methuselah, just not me. So he has Methuselah and starts walking with God. Here's the question. What happened when Methuselah was born

that made him go, I better start walking with God now. Was it like Methuselah was a tough kid? And he's like, Jesus, he never sleeps. Please, God, let him sleep. And he starts sleeping. He's like, I will follow you all of my days. I don't know. But there is something interesting about Methuselah's name. Methuselah's name kind of carries with it in the Hebrew,

the idea that when he dies, it will come. And the idea behind that is when he dies, judgment is coming. Interestingly enough, Methuselah died shortly before the flood. And so most commentators agree that there was something about the birth of Methuselah that caused Enoch to look deeply into the judgment of God that was going to come upon the earth. And he went, I better get my life right with the Lord.

And so Enoch starts walking with God. And all we read about Enoch is that he walked with God and he was not for God took him. Right? He didn't die. He was raptured, if you will, into heaven. He was taken up into heaven without dying. I have so, so many questions about that. None of them are answered. I want to know what it looked like. I want to know if anyone was around.

I want to know if like his clothes were left behind. I have lots of questions about the Enoch situation. I think we probably all do. Lots of questions about Enoch. When I was a kid, I went to Christian school and my Bible teacher, little kid, my Bible teacher was teaching about this. I've always loved that she said this. She said, I'm going to go to church.

She said, when Enoch was walking with God, one day they were on a walk together. God said, we're closer to my house than we are to yours. Why don't you just come home with me? And I've always thought, man, what a beautiful thing to think that he was so much closer to God's house because of his walk that God was like, we're closer to my house than yours. And so why don't you come home with me?

And it's prompted me to ask a question. Whose house are you closer to? Are you closer to God's house? Are you closer to this earth house? Because if you're closer to God's house, because the closer that we get to God's house, the more we're ready to go home to be with him, the more tightly we hold to the earth's house, the more scared we are of eternity. Whose house are you closer to?

And so Enoch walks with God. He was not because God took him, but this is the testimony of Enoch. He obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. Can I just say, I would hope that if two things were ever said about me in my life, like, like, sidebar. When you do as many funerals as I do, you're always planning your own funeral.

It's just all that there is to it. I can't help it. It's what I do. And so my wife hates it every time I tell her, hey, listen, when you plan my funeral, and she says, I'm not going to. She said, I said, when you plan my funeral, I want you to put these things in and make sure this happens. Well, I always think like, what's going to be said, right? Have you ever written your own eulogy?

Listen, I don't even know why I'm saying this, but you should write your own eulogy sometime. The things that you want people to say about you and then ask yourself, does my life measure up? Does my life measure up to that? So if there were two things that I once said about me when I died, if you get asked to do my eulogy when I die, I want you to say, he walked with God and he was pleasing to God.

And I want my life to reflect those two things. If my life can reflect those two things, I'm the most successful man that's ever lived. I don't care what anybody else has to say. If your life reflects those two statements that people can get up and say about you, he walked with God and he pleased God, you are the most successful human being ever because you're the most successful human being ever.

Because you are living closer to God's house than you are to yours. And it says he was pleasing to God. But I want you to notice the commentary that's given to us about Enoch and him being pleasing to God in verse six. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Listen, we need to understand, this negates any thought

that we can please God with our works. This negates any thought that we can earn any sort of a place in heaven or in God's economy with the works that we do. After all, we are told in the prophetic books that our works, our good works, are like menstrual cloths in the eyes of God. Because without faith, it's impossible to please God. What pleases God is a heart that is fully dependent on him

for salvation and for everything else. He says without faith, it's impossible to please God. And this is what it looks like to please God with our faith. He says, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. That's why faith actually begins shortly before you fully surrender your life to Jesus. Because you start realizing that you are not

and that he is. And pretty soon you find yourself saying, Lord, I don't know too much about you. I just know that I need you in my life. And you surrender yourself to Jesus. And from that point on, you spend the rest of your life doing what it says in the last part. Understanding that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Diligently is the adverb that some people use

and some of the other translations add. And some of them even say those who diligently pursue him. One of my favorite lines comes from A.W. Tozer's book, Pursuit of God. When he talks about his pursuit of God, he said, I realized that I needed to chase after the one who has been chasing me. To chase after the one who's been chasing me. Because what you find when you pursue God

is that he's been pursuing you the whole time. That he's been pursuing after you this entire time. And so we pursue after God. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. That's called faith. I told first service, I said, listen, there's a reason why the third thing that I do when I get up in the morning, it's the third. Listen, because I have a body.

I have to go to the bathroom and have to make coffee. If I don't do the first two, I can't focus on the third one. The third thing that I do every time I wake up in the morning is I get into God's word. Why? Is it because that's going to make me more righteous before God? No, because that's where I meet with Jesus. Because he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

So I get into God's word because I know that's where I'm going to meet. Jesus, that's where we're going to meet together. And I believe it by faith, even though I can't prove it any other way. And every morning I get to meet with him. And some mornings he yells at me in the best way possible. And some mornings he whispers to me and I have to listen really closely.

And some mornings we just sit together because I don't hear a whole lot, but I still know he's there. But I always know that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Just like. With Enoch. Now we come to the third example. Verse seven. By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household,

by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith. Noah, you might write Genesis six through nine. Genesis six through nine. In Genesis chapter six, God gives what he calls, what I call the state of the world address. As he says, this is what was going on in the world. And it's horrific. Interestingly enough,

we're told in the new Testament that as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the coming of the son of man. So if you want to know what it's going to look like, you ought to look at the state of the world address in Genesis chapter six and see how we line up to it. Pretty good. But at the end of Genesis chapter six, it lists one man's name. It says, but Noah found favor in the eyes of,

of the Lord that that word favor can also be translated grace unmerited favorites. The first time that word is used in the entire Bible. And it's about someone who is going to be able to avoid judgment because of God's unmerited favor. And so after we find that Noah was given grace in the eyes of the Lord, God shows up to Noah. And this is what God says. God says,

I want you to build a boat, a really big boat because it's going to rain and it's not going to stop raining for an incredibly long time. And I'm going to flood the entire world with rain. And we have to understand how difficult this would have been for Noah at the time. Two reasons why this would have been really difficult for Noah. Number one, they've never seen rain before.

Okay. That's what we're told in the book of Genesis. In the book of Genesis, we're told that there was no rain. There was a mist that came up every day that watered the earth. Think produce department at Dillon's, right? Like, like there's just like this little thing running through there. And yeah, have you ever been there when that happens? Sidebar, by the way,

you ever been there when that happens, you reach to grab something and the mister turns on, you're like, what did I do? And then your hands all wet. And with me, I mean, that's a serious situation. I need a blow dryer at that point in time. Right? And so it's kind of a scary thing. Anyway, neither here nor there. That's how God watered the earth at that point in time.

It didn't rain. And so when he says, build a boat, cause it's going to rain. Noah's like, it's going to what? And when Noah told everybody else, I'm building a boat because it's going to rain. They were like, it's going to what? Second of all, they didn't understand what a flood was. They'd never seen that before. Right? They didn't understand the warning because they didn't know the danger.

And so when he's telling them, God's going to flood the earth, they're like, I don't know what that means. We understand what it means. I remember when I was a senior in high school, it was the first time I remember there being a 25 year flood. Oddly enough, we've had three of them, I think. But it was the first time that there was a 25 year flood. And they were like,

they came over the loudspeaker and it was about 10 o'clock. In the morning. And they said, school is officially out. Go home and take care of your homes because the dykes broke and every, the whole town was flooding. So we're all putting up things and making sure you can get your home taken care of and all these kinds of things. And we heard the warning. We were like,

we've seen a flood. That feels like the right thing to do. Noah is telling them this thing's coming that they've never seen. And so what he has to do is really bold faith. On top of that, he built a huge boat. We don't always think about how big the ark was, right? Like that, that thing was just, well, when I was a kid, I was sitting in this church and Sunday school class and my Sunday school

teacher, I do not remember who it was. They took us on a walk and we walked down to the mill and they showed us all of the, the, I don't know if you call the silos, which call those that they're there at the mill. And they said, you see all that structure right there. Yep. That's about the size of the ark. And we were like, exactly like that's a big boat. That's a serious undertaking.

And that's what Noah had to do. He had to build this thing by faith. He's never seen rain. He's never seen a flood. He just has a word from God. Judgment's coming, build a boat. It's going to save your whole family. And so Noah goes at it, right? Starts building them a boat. And we're told that for 120 years in the book of first Peter, that he was a preacher of righteousness.

First Peter. Yeah, I think it's first Peter, but he was a preacher of righteousness and nobody believed him 120 years building this boat. This is what it says about Noah by faith. Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen prepared in art for what? For the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world. Let me know. It was running around condemning the world.

You're going to get flooded and you're going to get flooded and you're going to die in a flood. A shark's going to eat you. And no, that's not, that's not what it meant. It meant that they wouldn't listen to him and get in the boat. So they were all condemned. It says, but his family was saying, I'm saved and he became an heir of the righteousness of God, which is according to faith.

Well, we move on to our next example, verse eight by faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. Abraham, you might write Genesis 11 through 25, Abraham occupies a huge portion of the book of Genesis. He's one of the most foundational characters in all of the Bible in reference, multiple places throughout the Bible because of his walk with God through faith.

Abraham was living in a place called Ur of the Chaldeans, which was known for its idolatry. As a matter of fact, most agree that he was probably an idolatrous man himself, that he probably owned idols before God called him. And so, so God calls him. I always, I have questions here again. How did God call him? Like, was it a voice from heaven? Was it just urging on the inside?

Like, how did God call him? Well, one thing I know for sure is that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. I could venture to say that one day he's looking out at the stars in the sky because he was a shepherd by trade, looking at the stars in the sky and probably thinking to himself, there's no way one of my idols could have built this. If I carved them, how did they make this?

How did this all get here? Perhaps God was moving on his heart until finally one day God showed up and said, Abraham, I have a plan. And this is what I need you to do. I need you to pack up all of your stuff. I need you to leave behind the city that you know, and I need you to leave behind all of your family except your wife. And I want you to move to a land that I'm going to show you.

Now, we don't always think about how big of a deal it was for Abraham to move. But Abraham was an incredibly wealthy man. He had 175 armed men as an army and all of his flocks and herds, right? I mean, when he moved, people noticed it. It made me think of like, like, you know, when our Kalala hits in a carnival shows up to town and everybody notices because all of these trucks come rolling in and a bunch of toothless guys that take over the laundromat and this whole nine yards,

right? We all noticed it. It's kind of like that. Only with, with more money, right? And that's just kind of all that there is to it. When he showed up, people noticed. But here's the other thing that I think that's kind of important to take note of. Can you imagine what Sarah was like when Abraham came home? He said, honey, I've had a vision from God. Oh, you've been,

you've been thinking that maybe there's something more to life than these little lines. Yeah. God spoke to me. Okay, well, what did he say? He said to pack everything up. Okay, where are we going? I don't know. How are we getting there? I don't know. When will we stop? I'm not real sure. You know, Sarah was like, maybe go back and get more information, right?

That's what my wife would say. If I was like, sweetheart, we're supposed to move. Okay, where are we going? I do not know yet. How are we going to get there? I'm not real sure. When will we know when to stop? I assume God's going to say, but I don't. A little unclear on the details on that too. I guarantee you, my wife, you'd be like, you better go pray again,

right? Like, you better go find a buddy to talk to, because I don't know what's going on with you right now. And that's what he did. He tells her, well, we're going to go. And so they pack everything up and they move. Now, it's interesting that Abraham's story is a little bit edited here. It says, let me read it to you again. By faith, Abraham, when he was called,

obeyed by going to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. That eventually happens, but that's not how it started. Abraham started obeying partially. He packed everything up. Step one, good. He left behind his city, also good. He took his family. He took his nephew, Lot, who's going to end up causing him some issues. He also took his father, Tara,

who was also very well known for idolatry. And he didn't quite make it to the promised land. He stopped just outside of where God told him to stop. He stops in a city called Haran. And he just hangs out in Haran, which by the way, if you were to look at a map, is kind of like saying, go to Oklahoma and you stop in Ark City. It's like right there. He stayed right on the edge of the promised land.

Why? Because he wasn't quite ready to fully obey just yet. And then after his father died, he said, okay, God spoke to him again and said, leave and go to the promised land. And so he fully obeyed. But in Hebrews chapter 11, it doesn't tell us he didn't obey fully first. What's it say? Abraham obeyed. And it brings up a statement that I like to make. God remembers our faith,

not our failures. God is really good at remembering our faith, not our failures. And that's exactly what it was in the life of Abraham. And it's what we're going to find over and over again in so many of the people in the hall of faith. Do you know that Noah had an issue too? If you were to keep going in Noah's story, he was a righteous man. Noah had a drinking problem.

Do you know that? Like we're told that Noah went and he planted a vineyard and he drank of that vineyard and he got drunk. So drunk that he got himself all naked, right? And somehow one of his sons kind of disrespected him while he was naked and got cursed. And you look at it and you just go, a man of righteousness with a drinking problem? Yeah. But we don't read about that in Hebrews 11, do we?

No, we read that he was a righteous man. Why? Because God remembers our faith, not our failures. That's not an excuse to sin. That is confidence that God is greater than our sin. And I'm going to ask you a question. We were told a few weeks ago in scripture, it said that God remembers our lawless deeds no more. And I'm going to ask you the same question I asked you then.

If God doesn't remember it anymore, why do you keep bringing it up? If God doesn't remember it anymore, why is it still living? Why is it still living in your head? You need to put it where it belongs under the blood of Jesus. Because that's what Hebrews 11 is. Hebrews 11 is the stories of the Old Testament saints with their sins covered by the blood of Jesus.

So don't keep bringing up your past. Start bringing up your forgiveness. Start reminding yourself that if God doesn't hold it against me, I don't have to either. And so it says, Abraham obeyed and he went to a place which he was to receive for. And he went out not knowing where he was going. It goes on in verse 9 to say, And by faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise,

as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God. Do you know Abraham never possessed the promised land? He lived in it, but he didn't own any part of it. He owned one little part. He owned a cave. Right before or right after his wife Sarah died,

he found a burial place for her and he purchased a cave and that was where he buried her. That's all he owned of the promised land. Why? Because the promised land was only a picture of something he was really looking forward to. You see, the promised land was an earthly picture of a heavenly reality. The earthly picture of the promised land is the reality that we're all looking forward to,

which is heaven, which is why it says he lived as a stranger and an alien and as a pilgrim in a foreign land. He dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob because he was looking for a different city, a city that had foundations, a city whose builder and maker is God. That's what he was looking for, which is why I will take us back to the same thought again. Whose house are you closer to?

What are you looking for? What's your promised land? Is your promised land on this side of eternity? If your promised land is on this side of eternity, then you've missed the point. If your promised land is something you're looking for here, then you've missed it. You've missed the goal of why you ever came to know Jesus. It wasn't so that you could keep dwelling on this earth.

It's so that for eternity, you can dwell with your Father. And that's the eternal perspective that we're looking for. That's why the heart of every believer in Jesus Christ should have a certain amount of restlessness in it. Not restless and hoping that one day I'm saved because my rest is in Christ, but restless because this place is not my home. Restless because this is not where I belong.

Last month, we went down to the desert. We went down to Florida on vacation. And man, I wanted to look for a Florida man story so bad while we were there, and I couldn't come up with any. Anyway, we went to Florida on vacation, and it was great. The beach was amazing. Riding bikes was fun. Everything was great. But I always hit a point when I'm on vacation where I'm like, I'm just kind of ready to go home now.

Right? Four or five days in, I'm like, this is great, but I'm a Kansas boy at heart. I just like Kansas. I like being here. And so I get a little bit restless. I kind of get excited to sleep on my own. I get excited to go to bed and to be where I belong. That's what I mean when I say every believer in Jesus Christ should have a certain amount of restlessness in their heart.

A certain amount of going, it's been great, and I want to make an impact while I'm here, and I want to wear myself out for the work of the gospel while I dwell on topside of planet Earth. But at the end of the day, I'm kind of just ready to go home because this isn't it, because I'm looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. He goes on from there to say, verse 11, By faith, even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life since she considered him faithful who had promised. Okay, so Sarah's another great one.

If we were to go back to Genesis chapter 11, when God calls Abram, there's one specific statement that's made that's really, really important to pay attention to because it sets the tone for all the rest of the story of Abraham and Sarah. It says, and it's this one, this one little statement that's made that says, but Sarah was barren. She was unable to have kids. Now, God made a promise to Abraham, I'm going to make of you a great nation.

You know what it takes to make a great nation? People. You got to have the people. And if he can't produce any people, pretty hard to make a nation, right? I mean, I could be like, it's the nation of Ryan and Aaron, but at some point in time, people are like, eh, not really. That's not really a thing. And so he, that's what he, that's the promise that's made.

Well, Sarah has a hard time believing the promise. I love the editing of her story because remember, God gave them a promise. You are going to have a son. And so pretty soon, a couple of years go by, no son. What are we going to do here? And Sarah says, I have a plan. We're going to help God. Why don't you take my handmaid and she can be a surrogate for me.

And when she produces a child, he will be mine. And we'll help God out by producing a son. A son of faith by producing this child. And that's exactly what they do. They have a son and his name is Ishmael. Here's the problem. This was not a work of faith. This was a work of the flesh. Because if you can accomplish it yourself, that's not a work of faith. That's a work of your flesh.

And so that's what she does. And so God has to say, that's not what I meant. What I meant was I'm going to give you a son. And the next time he talks, he says, Abraham, you're going to have a son. And Abraham goes, I know I've got one. His name is Ishmael. And he's like, that's not who I'm talking about. You're going to have a son. It's going to be in a year.

And his name is Isaac. That's what you're going to name him. And so Abraham goes back and he tells his wife, he says, we're going to have a son. We're going to name him Isaac. And it's going to be a year from now. And you know what Sarah did? This woman who considered God faithful, who promised, she laughed. She's like, yeah, right. Like that's going to happen.

Bold faith, brothers and sisters, right there. But that's not what God records about her, is it? Now, what he records about her is that she believed. Because sometimes when we even struggle in our faith, God says, but I see that you still believe. We just have to work on it. And so God makes this really bold promise to Abraham and Sarah. Therefore, verse 12,

there was born even of one man and him as good as dead, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number and innumerable as the sand, which is by the seashore. Because when God makes promises, God delivers in really, really big ways. Too many of us, too many of us as Western culture Christians think that we're living by faith, but we're really living by our checkbook. Too many of us think that we're living by faith, but we're living according to our 401k.

We're living by faith, but we're living by faith according to what? What I can do. It's faith in me. This is what I can make happen. Too many of us are not willing to say, Lord, what really big, bold thing do you want me to do? What really big, bold promise do you want me to believe? Because I'm here to tell you right now, just like for Abraham and Sarah, faith isn't faith until God's your only option.

Faith isn't faith until there's no way you can manipulate it yourself. Only God is the one who can do it. And I'm here to tell you, when you can have a faith that says, only God, only God can do this. And I'm going to believe that only God can do this. That's when you see God move and you go, that had to have been God. That had to have been God.

I was called to teach God's word a long time ago, as much as I tried to fight against it. And there are three times specifically, I'm sure there's more. Three times specifically, I can tell you there's no way that was me talking that had to have been the Lord. The first time is the first time I ever gave a message. 21 years old, too young to know what he was doing.

Old enough to know better, still too young to care. I don't know. No, definitely didn't know what I was doing. Battling anxiety, couldn't even complete thoughts. And I stood up there and spoke for 45 minutes. And apparently it even made sense. And I remember thinking that had to have been God that brought me through that. The second time I can tell you distinctly

that I said, Lord, if you don't do this, it can't happen, was when I did the funeral for my cousin. And I had to stand up in front of people and tell them about the hope of Jesus Christ, even though it was incredibly broken on the inside. And I remember thinking before that funeral, Lord, if you don't do this, it can't happen. And the last time was last summer when I had to do my father's funeral.

He said, if you can't do it, I understand, but I want you to preach my funeral. And I remember that morning going, Lord, if you don't do this, it can't happen. This has to be your work. And I can confidently sit back and say, that was God, because there's no way I could have done it any other way. And when you can do, that when God calls you to something big like that,

and you do it, and you look back and you say, I'm not going to choose that again, but thank you, Lord, for being the one that came through. You start going, nothing's impossible for God. It goes on from there to say, and we'll sort of wrap up this particular section. It said, all these died in faith without having receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance.

Having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things, make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had the opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. Therefore,

God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. He says all of these died in faith. They were all given a promise by God. But they died in faith, not seeing on this earth the promise that God had prepared for them. Why? Because the promise that God ultimately had could not be fulfilled on this side of eternity. The promise that God had for them

was fulfilled on the other side of eternity. That's why he said they were looking for a city that was not here. If they were looking for a country that was here, they could have gone there. But that's not what they were doing. They were seeking after God. They were seeking after something better and they weren't going to give up. They weren't going to give up.

They weren't going to give up. They weren't going to give up until they got it. And so it says, therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God. So here's the question. Why does he choose to tell them all of these stories? I'm going to take you back to the thing I've taken you back to almost every single week we've done this. Because this group of Hebrew believers

was ready to fall away. They were ready to quit. They were ready to either go back to a Judaic system that they were already in. They were ready to go back to a Judaic system that they were always comfortable with or just abandon their faith altogether because it had gotten too hard. Because of the persecution, because of the difficulty, because of everything that they went through,

they were saying, I just don't know if it's worth going on in this faith any longer because I'm not seeing the promise. God, you promised to protect me. I don't feel very protected. God, you promised to give me peace. It feels like there's chaos. God, you promised these things and I'm just not seeing them right now. Instead, what I see is that I'm not seeing them.

Instead, what I see is fear. Instead, what I see is angst. Instead, what I see is persecution coming my way. And the writer to the Hebrews is saying, you're not the only ones that have gone through this. They've all faced difficulties and they all had their eyes focused on a city that is not here. They've all had their eyes focused on an eternity. Therefore, don't give up.

You have to keep going. Keep your eyes focused because you've got something else to do. You've got something else to do. You've got something else to do. You've got something so much better that's waiting for you outside of here. The present day struggles are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to come. The present day difficulties are not worthy

to be compared to what God has prepared for us. Paul said in the book of 1st or 2nd Corinthians, I can't remember which one. He said, I has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has even come into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who are in need. Those who love him. In other words, you can't let the difficulties of life distract you from the glorious future

that God has prepared for you. I'll close with this little story. I've shared it before, but it feels like the right time to share it again. When I was in high school, we were at a tournament and I've always prefaced it with this. Wrestlers are not the smartest people in the world, okay? We literally cut weight in order to compete in our sport. And I look back on it and I'm like,

none of us were really thinking at the time. Anyway, we're at this tournament and the way it works is when you did these tournaments, you had two weigh-ins. You had a weigh-in in the morning of the first day and then the evening of the first day in order to compete the second day, right? And so you go and you weigh in and you eat lots of donuts at Ike's Donut Shop.

And it was Jerry's then, but it's Ike's now. You eat lots of donuts there and you gain an incredible amount of weight and you go and you wrestle and it's at the end of the day and you go, oh shoot, I have to make weight. And so it was Perry Tournament, Perry, Oklahoma and there was like a basement where their wrestling room was and all of these dumb wrestlers are down in there running around with sweats on trying to lose weight. And so I was one of them.

And so we're running around down there trying to lose weight and you've only got so much time to make the weight, right? So you gotta get with the program because you're like two hours or something like that to make the weight. Well, I remember I was running around trying to make weight and this guy was like, he was a little bit smaller than me, was just running like crazy and he was exhausted. And his team was around him and I think they were kind of waiting on him to make weight.

And so as he's running, they're trying to keep him motivated. He just keeps wanting to lay down on the mat because he's just tired. And they just, they kept looking at him and going, come on, man, we get pizza afterwards. Come on, buddy, pizza's waiting for us. Come on, man, pizza's waiting for us. And I was thinking, keep saying it, boys, I need to hear it too, right?

It's like, that's what you got to, you motivate a teenage boy, right? Like if you keep running, you get to eat pizza later. And that's kind of what he's doing here with them. He says, keep going, heaven's waiting for us. Keep going, we have a city that's waiting for us and it has nothing to do with this earth. Let that restless heart be restless, but let yourself keep moving forward

because heaven is waiting. Amen. Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Father, I come before you and Lord, I thank you for these stories of faith. Lord, I thank you that you have given us this ability to believe the truth and have it completely change our outlook on life. And so Lord, I pray that you would be with us today, that you would help us to be men and women who live by faith. Father, I pray for bold, holy ambition for the people that are here.

Lord, I pray that you would give us ambition to believe the promises that sometimes feel like they're impossible for you to keep. Lord, ambition to hold on to the truth of who you are. And Lord, maybe even a holy ambition to get completely outside of ourselves to do something that we could have never imagined to where when we look back, we say only God could have done that. Lord, give us that kind of faith.

And in the meantime, help us to rest in the fact that you remember our faith and not our failures. And so Lord, as we go out from here, give us that vision, give us that passion, give us those goals. And Lord, more than anything, speak truth into our hearts. Lord, may we be those who diligently seek you. Father, we just thank you and we praise you. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Be blessed. Just open my heart. Break me apart. I need you to open my heart. You're saving my life.

Why you... Well, God, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just thank you for your word this morning, Lord. Lord, grow us in our faith in you, Lord. Lord, I know that there's going to be some rough seasons. But Lord, help us to not lose faith in those. Help us to not lose faith in you during those seasons. Lord, we love you. We praise you.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Love you guys. Have a wonderful week.