1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,260 11 is where we find ourselves this morning. 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,920 Hebrews chapter number 11. 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,120 If you've been in church for any amount of time 4 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:15,760 and any significant amount of time, 5 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:17,680 you've probably heard a sermon 6 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:19,280 from Hebrews chapter number 11. 7 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:23,040 It's called the Hall of Faith. 8 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:24,320 You guys are on it. 9 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:26,440 If you're new here, don't worry that you didn't know that. 10 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:27,360 That's fine. 11 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:32,360 This is a sermon that comes from the beginning of Hebrews 11 12 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,200 and it's about faith. 13 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:36,040 That's the subject. 14 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,200 If you study the Bible at all, 15 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:40,560 you can figure that out in terms of Hebrews 11 16 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:44,720 because the word faith is used in these verses 24 times 17 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:45,640 throughout the chapter. 18 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:47,280 24 times. 19 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:51,520 Some form of pistis or pistuo is used. 20 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,160 That's the Greek word for faith. 21 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,040 And when many people think of the word faith, 22 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:58,760 in fact, I was thinking about it last night. 23 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,160 I said, I wonder what, if I Google faith, 24 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,200 what's the definition of the word faith 25 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:05,160 that Google would give me? 26 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,040 Because Google's so smart, right, amen? 27 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:11,960 And when you Google that word, 28 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:14,000 it has two definitions that were right at the top. 29 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:15,440 At least that's where it was at my house. 30 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:16,280 That's the thing about Google. 31 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,200 It doesn't give everybody always the same results, 32 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,000 but that's a whole nother thing. 33 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:23,960 It says as a top result, it said this, 34 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:26,680 complete trust or confidence in something. 35 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:28,200 So that's one definition of faith. 36 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,640 Another one was this, strong belief in God 37 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,120 or the doctrines of a religion based on spiritual 38 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:35,660 apprehension rather than proof. 39 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,360 Which is kind of interesting, as if there's no proof, right? 40 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,120 It's the second definition in the speaking of proof 41 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,280 that seems to me to confuse people. 42 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:50,760 So many people believe that you have faith 43 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,960 and you have proof and to have faith in God 44 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,880 means to put blinders onto evidence. 45 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:57,660 That either you have to have faith 46 00:01:57,660 --> 00:02:01,760 or you have to have evidence, but you can't have both, 47 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:02,680 if that makes sense. 48 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,360 That you either are just blindly believing in God, 49 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,200 blindly believing in something because there's no evidence 50 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:10,520 or you believe in science. 51 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:12,760 Like that's another way of thinking about it. 52 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:15,640 And nothing can be further from the truth. 53 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:18,760 In fact, the preacher writing of this passage 54 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,920 in Hebrews chapter 11 is making a case. 55 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:26,300 He's making a case for faith. 56 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,000 He has been making the case for some 10 chapters 57 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,840 that Jesus Christ is greater. 58 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,000 It's on the sign, guys. 59 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,640 Jesus is greater in every conceivable way. 60 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:44,360 It's everything that went on in the Old Testament. 61 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,720 In fact, he's been making the case that the Old Testament, 62 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:51,240 the laws and the prophets and all they said 63 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:53,960 in the Old Testament, so many of those things were shadows 64 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,840 of the real thing in Jesus and what Jesus was going to do. 65 00:02:57,840 --> 00:02:59,160 And don't you think that the author 66 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:00,920 has made a pretty good case? 67 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:04,200 He's been teaching us how that Jesus is greater 68 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:06,600 in every conceivable way. 69 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,560 Jesus is the fulfillment of all that God was revealing 70 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:12,440 in the Old Testament. 71 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,920 Those things were shadows of the real Jesus Christ 72 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,280 who has come and died and prays to the Lord, 73 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,400 he rose again. 74 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:22,240 And at the end of chapter 10, 75 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:24,520 leading us up to this particular passage, 76 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,800 he tells the Hebrews, that's the name of the book 77 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:30,760 because he's writing to people who were Hebrews, 78 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:33,040 some of them were saved, some of them who were not, 79 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,000 many of them who were convinced of Jesus and who he was, 80 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:37,840 but maybe had not believed in him. 81 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:39,880 And of course, many who had believed in him, 82 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,440 he says this to them right at the end of chapter 10 83 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:44,320 as you get into verse 38, he says, 84 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:49,320 Now the just, those who have been justified by God, 85 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,920 declared righteous given the Holy Spirit, 86 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:59,920 the just who are justified by faith shall also live by, 87 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:03,520 what, faith? 88 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,200 The just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, 89 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:08,640 my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 90 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,760 And of course he's quoting the Old Testament 91 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:12,160 when he says, verse 39, 92 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:16,040 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, 93 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,000 but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 94 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,920 He's saying, we Jewish people, we Hebrew people 95 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,080 are people who come from a long line of people 96 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,320 who had faith in God and were granted righteousness 97 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:33,000 because of that faith. 98 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,160 And who proved that God had declared them righteous 99 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,400 and given them righteousness because they lived on to the end, 100 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:43,080 they never drew back towards perdition, 101 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,280 not that they never sinned, but they never denied God, 102 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:49,240 they followed all the way to the end. 103 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:50,360 Isn't that awesome? 104 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,680 And he's saying, hey, we're not of them that draw back, 105 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,480 we're of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 106 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:58,800 And that's when he gets into this chapter 11 107 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:00,320 and begins to talk about faith. 108 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:01,320 And over the next few weeks, 109 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,240 you're gonna see many and many, many examples 110 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:09,240 of Old Testament believers who were people of faith. 111 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:10,400 You guys are on it. 112 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,200 I don't even know if I need a preach. 113 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:13,280 We should just have an invitation, 114 00:05:13,280 --> 00:05:15,080 you guys come forward, that'd be great. 115 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:17,880 We can make a case for faith. 116 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,960 That's what I wanna do today, to make a case for faith. 117 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,840 And not just faith in any old thing, 118 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:28,280 faith in the triune God of the Bible, 119 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:31,720 faith in God the Father, God the Son, 120 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:33,840 and God the Holy Spirit, 121 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:36,720 by using these three aspects of faith 122 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,440 that we'll see them in this particular passage. 123 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,720 This should be a very fun sermon. 124 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,200 Verse, the first aspect of faith that we see here 125 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,760 in this particular passage is a description of faith. 126 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,320 He gives a description of faith, verse one. 127 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:54,440 It's not a definition as much as it's a description. 128 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:55,480 Here's what he says. 129 00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,480 Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, 130 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:05,680 the evidence of things not seen. 131 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,560 Now, we see several interesting words in this description. 132 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,520 The first word that I find interesting, 133 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,000 of course, beyond faith, as we'll talk about it, 134 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,840 is this word substance. 135 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,280 Now, substance is not nothing. 136 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:21,920 The word substance here means literally a setting, 137 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,620 a sunder, a setting below, or a foundation. 138 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,200 The idea is that faith becomes a foundation 139 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:32,440 of what we're looking forward to, 140 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:34,360 as he says here in the future. 141 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:36,240 In the New Testament day, that word substance 142 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,280 was sometimes used to describe a business transaction 143 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:42,240 or a title deed to a piece of property. 144 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,600 If you bought a piece of property or a house, 145 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:46,040 then they gave you the title deed. 146 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,840 That was your substance of what you hoped for. 147 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:52,720 So faith is the evidence of things in the future, 148 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,680 the substance of things hoped for, things in the future. 149 00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:59,400 What do we believers hope for? 150 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:01,960 What do we hope for? 151 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,480 Well, we hope for a few things. 152 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:06,520 Faith is what gives me the title deed 153 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,520 to experiencing the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 154 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:14,880 Jesus is coming back. 155 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:19,800 Titus 2.13 says that we look toward what we are to live. 156 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,240 This is what he tells us to do, live to look for 157 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:24,440 that blessed hope in the glorious appearing 158 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,720 of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 159 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:28,760 He's coming back. 160 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:30,080 That's a great hope. 161 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,000 Who's ready for him to do it today? 162 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,600 I want him to come back, even so come Lord Jesus. 163 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:37,640 That's a great hope. 164 00:07:37,640 --> 00:07:39,240 I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward 165 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,640 to that substance of the thing I'm looking to. 166 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,960 It's also something we're looking forward to. 167 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:46,800 What's another thing we're looking to? 168 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,120 Our own resurrection. 169 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:55,240 If we die in Christ, then we're gonna have a resurrection. 170 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:57,760 If he comes back and we're raptured, 171 00:07:57,760 --> 00:07:59,400 we won't prevent those who are asleep. 172 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,040 They'll go first, then we'll go. 173 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:01,880 Who's excited? 174 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:04,680 It's awesome. 175 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:06,920 And so we're gonna be resurrected. 176 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:08,320 Our loved ones will be resurrected. 177 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:09,440 I hope I'm not. 178 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:10,600 I hope I get to go rapture. 179 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:11,440 I don't wanna go down. 180 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:13,600 I wanna just go up first. 181 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:15,800 That's gonna be great. 182 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,000 First Peter 1.3 says he has begotten us again 183 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,480 to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 184 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:22,320 from the dead. 185 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:24,040 So Christ is coming back. 186 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:25,120 We'll be resurrected. 187 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:26,840 We'll come back with him or we'll be raptured 188 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:28,320 and then we'll come back with him. 189 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:30,600 And then that's when we see our future glorification. 190 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:35,120 1 John 3.2 says, beloved, now are we the sons of God 191 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,800 and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, 192 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:39,960 but we know that when he shall appear, 193 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:44,840 we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 194 00:08:44,840 --> 00:08:48,720 And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself 195 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,440 even as he is pure. 196 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,360 If I know Jesus is coming back, man, 197 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:54,200 he could be today. 198 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:55,040 He could be right now. 199 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:56,920 I don't live like he's coming back today. 200 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:58,600 Like he's coming back right now. 201 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,080 It's by faith that we reach out to that hope 202 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:04,560 and of our glorification becoming like Jesus. 203 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,600 Faith brings the future into our present experience. 204 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:12,320 As we live by faith, we reach out to things in the future. 205 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:16,880 So he says, faith is the substance of things hoped for. 206 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:18,480 We have a lot to hope for. 207 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:23,480 It's evidence, it says, of things, what? 208 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:28,480 Not seen, even though something is not seen 209 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,480 doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. 210 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:35,840 Life is full of joyous, full and joyous 211 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,840 by all kinds of things that are unseen. 212 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:42,680 Everyone lives by faith in something just about every day. 213 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:44,360 We put our trust in all kinds of things. 214 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:48,880 In fact, it's impossible to live without faith at all. 215 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:53,560 All of you exhibited faith by turning on that car today 216 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:56,520 and believing that it wouldn't blow up. 217 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:03,080 You exhibited faith by driving with people 218 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:04,840 that drove by you much closer 219 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,000 than you probably should be driving, right? 220 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,520 And you sat down and see it's believing 221 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:11,360 they would hold you up. 222 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,680 We all exhibit faith. 223 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:17,320 Every person that's ever lived has based their behavior 224 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:18,520 on a set of beliefs. 225 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:22,000 We live our lives based on what we've been taught, 226 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,520 what we observe and what we assume will happen. 227 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:29,400 If I were to ask you of all that there is to know, 228 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,520 if you knew 10%, would that make you smarter than you are now? 229 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:34,920 If you knew 10% of all there was to know, 230 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,100 who thinks I'm getting a lot smarter? 231 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:39,840 You're like, you never thought of that? 232 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:40,680 Think about it. 233 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:46,800 How much sand is on the beach by grain 234 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,720 at St. Pete Beach, Florida in 1994? 235 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:54,160 Is that something you could know? 236 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,080 You can't know it, but guess who does? 237 00:10:57,080 --> 00:10:58,480 Are you with me? 238 00:10:58,480 --> 00:10:59,840 Okay, let me ask the question again. 239 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,240 If you knew 10% of all there was to know, 240 00:11:03,100 --> 00:11:05,280 would that be an increase in your intelligence? 241 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,000 Okay, you get my point. 242 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,480 Is it possible that there's something in the 90% 243 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:17,280 that you don't know that could be God, right? 244 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,720 For us to know God, he had to reveal himself to us. 245 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,680 He had to prove himself to us. 246 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:28,080 But there's nobody that knows everything by definition. 247 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,120 There's not very many people that know. 248 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,440 I would think, is there anybody that's ever gotten 249 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,040 to 1%, half a percent? 250 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:36,520 There's a lot to know. 251 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:39,120 Have you ever seen the universe? 252 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:40,480 They've ever looked at the stars? 253 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:42,560 There's a lot to know. 254 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:46,320 The materialists believe that because they have never, 255 00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:48,840 that they have never seen anything supernatural, 256 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,180 that the supernatural cannot exist. 257 00:11:51,180 --> 00:11:52,920 They live their life on the assumption 258 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:54,480 that everything that exists is the end 259 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:56,800 of a material process. 260 00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,360 The problem with that thinking is that if it is true, 261 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:01,900 your brain is the end of a material process. 262 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,520 Your brain then is just chemicals in motion. 263 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,360 How could it be trusted if all your brain is 264 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:10,320 the end of a material process? 265 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,240 The hedonists, those who live for pleasure, 266 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,520 they believe that life is just about getting all the pleasure 267 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:20,640 you can and just get all the pleasure you can out of it. 268 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:23,720 There's an assumption that there are no consequences to that 269 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,840 or that this kind of living will not catch up with you. 270 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,960 It assumes there is no judgment in this afterlife. 271 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,880 There is a trust in the idea that one can live this way 272 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:36,320 and the consequences can be managed. 273 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,280 It assumes that there's no judgment. 274 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,220 That's the faith they put in how they live. 275 00:12:43,220 --> 00:12:47,080 The authoritarian believes that because they can, 276 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:48,200 then they should. 277 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:52,080 They assume that might makes right. 278 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,080 They assume that those who live by the sword 279 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,920 and have therefore died by the sword in the past 280 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:58,760 are dealing with things that they will never 281 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:00,360 have happen to them. 282 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,600 They assume that they are the highest authority 283 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:04,700 and that they will answer to no one. 284 00:13:04,700 --> 00:13:08,140 The everyday American, I believe, is a deist. 285 00:13:08,140 --> 00:13:10,540 Maybe there's a God, but he's a far off. 286 00:13:10,540 --> 00:13:12,700 You may assume that because you're a good person 287 00:13:12,700 --> 00:13:15,420 that a good God should let you into a good place 288 00:13:15,420 --> 00:13:18,180 if there's something, anything after this life. 289 00:13:18,180 --> 00:13:20,140 If you think about it at all, the assumption is that 290 00:13:20,140 --> 00:13:21,540 you'll be okay after you die 291 00:13:21,540 --> 00:13:23,940 because you're basically a good person. 292 00:13:23,940 --> 00:13:26,980 The belief is that your sin isn't that big of a deal. 293 00:13:27,980 --> 00:13:30,540 The religious person may assume that because they did 294 00:13:30,540 --> 00:13:32,660 some kind of religious ceremony or participate 295 00:13:32,660 --> 00:13:35,740 in disciplines of religious piety, that they kind of, 296 00:13:35,740 --> 00:13:38,940 that these kind of good works will make them good with God, 297 00:13:38,940 --> 00:13:41,700 the gods, the universe, or whatever scale is used 298 00:13:41,700 --> 00:13:43,780 in the afterlife if there even is one. 299 00:13:45,220 --> 00:13:46,980 Do you see the point I'm trying to make? 300 00:13:47,980 --> 00:13:51,420 Everyone has faith in something. 301 00:13:52,420 --> 00:13:53,940 Are you convinced? 302 00:13:53,940 --> 00:13:56,660 We're all living with some kind of assumption in mind. 303 00:13:56,660 --> 00:14:00,100 We're all believing something and living out of that belief. 304 00:14:00,100 --> 00:14:03,740 They are making a foundation on which they are living 305 00:14:03,740 --> 00:14:04,820 their lives. 306 00:14:04,820 --> 00:14:07,780 So when the author of Hebrews says that the just shall live 307 00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:10,580 by faith, he's saying that those who have been made right 308 00:14:10,580 --> 00:14:14,220 with God can trust that they have been made right with God 309 00:14:14,220 --> 00:14:18,300 by believing what God has said and then acting upon it. 310 00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:21,180 They live with the applied assumptions that whatever God 311 00:14:21,180 --> 00:14:23,220 has revealed is true. 312 00:14:23,220 --> 00:14:25,740 It's the foundation by which they do everything. 313 00:14:25,740 --> 00:14:28,460 But he's not saying that the faith is the only evidence 314 00:14:28,460 --> 00:14:30,260 of things not seen. 315 00:14:30,260 --> 00:14:33,420 He's not saying it's all the evidence. 316 00:14:33,420 --> 00:14:35,900 He's saying that when people live out that faith, 317 00:14:35,900 --> 00:14:38,020 like the people he's about to describe, 318 00:14:38,020 --> 00:14:40,620 and they experience a meaningful and rewarded life, 319 00:14:40,620 --> 00:14:43,180 it's evidence to the faith that they say they have 320 00:14:43,180 --> 00:14:45,740 and evidence that God can be trusted. 321 00:14:47,540 --> 00:14:49,220 Am I making sense to anybody? 322 00:14:50,460 --> 00:14:53,220 I believe the Bible is God's word. 323 00:14:53,220 --> 00:14:56,620 It's not my believing that makes it so. 324 00:14:57,620 --> 00:15:01,620 I believe it because it's based on evidence. 325 00:15:01,620 --> 00:15:03,980 I have faith in something that has evidence. 326 00:15:03,980 --> 00:15:07,060 I do not believe that that out of a mere blind faith. 327 00:15:07,060 --> 00:15:08,740 One preacher said it this way and I love this. 328 00:15:08,740 --> 00:15:11,420 I'm gonna memorize this because I think it's so good. 329 00:15:11,420 --> 00:15:15,620 The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents 330 00:15:15,620 --> 00:15:17,740 written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime 331 00:15:17,740 --> 00:15:19,260 of other eyewitnesses. 332 00:15:19,260 --> 00:15:21,500 They report super-sense, 333 00:15:21,500 --> 00:15:24,140 eyewitnesses, they report supernatural events 334 00:15:24,140 --> 00:15:26,900 that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies 335 00:15:26,900 --> 00:15:28,900 and claim that their writings are divine 336 00:15:28,900 --> 00:15:31,180 rather than human in origin. 337 00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:33,100 Is that a good statement? 338 00:15:33,100 --> 00:15:34,580 Let me say that again. 339 00:15:34,580 --> 00:15:38,340 The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents 340 00:15:38,340 --> 00:15:40,460 written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime 341 00:15:40,460 --> 00:15:41,860 of other eyewitnesses. 342 00:15:41,860 --> 00:15:44,260 They report supernatural events that took place 343 00:15:44,260 --> 00:15:46,780 in fulfillment of specific prophecies 344 00:15:46,780 --> 00:15:48,460 and claim that their writings are divine 345 00:15:48,460 --> 00:15:49,940 rather than human in origin. 346 00:15:49,940 --> 00:15:53,360 The Bible is a book of fulfilled prophecies, 347 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:54,880 some yet to be fulfilled. 348 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:59,880 It is supernatural in its ability to tell the future. 349 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:04,200 It is reliable in its description of mankind and who he is. 350 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,960 It's reliable in what it says has happened in the past 351 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:09,160 and I want to make it very clear to you 352 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:10,840 that it is an air and an infallible. 353 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:12,560 It is the word of God. 354 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,400 And I'm not just saying it because I'm Baptist. 355 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,840 I'm a Baptist because I believe it. 356 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:20,000 Because I believe it. 357 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,800 I'm a Christian because I believe it. 358 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:24,560 Does that make sense? 359 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,480 We have incredible evidence that the Jesus of history 360 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:30,520 and the Jesus of the scripture are one and the same. 361 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:32,680 The Bible has proven itself to be reliable 362 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:34,000 and air and infallible. 363 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,000 You can trust it. 364 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,360 You can use it as the basis to which you live your life. 365 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:41,520 What do beleaders look forward to in the future? 366 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:43,460 We look forward to the end of sin, 367 00:16:43,460 --> 00:16:46,840 the resurrection of our bodies of ourselves and our loved ones. 368 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,240 We look forward to a new heaven and a new earth. 369 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,560 What is unseen that believers trust in? 370 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:53,480 What's unseen that believers trust in? 371 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:54,960 God himself. 372 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,240 That does not mean there's no evidence to believe. 373 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,600 Faith is the evidence but that does not mean 374 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:02,360 that there is no evidence to help us 375 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:05,360 to be affirmed in putting our faith in God. 376 00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:07,800 The description of faith in this verse, 377 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:09,760 in verse one points to how faith works 378 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:11,680 for those who place their faith in God. 379 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:14,480 So not only do we have a description of faith, 380 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,680 we also have in this passage a commendation of faith. 381 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:20,640 Look at verse number two, a commendation of faith. 382 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,080 Verse two, for by it, what's the it? 383 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:28,640 What's the it? 384 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:34,200 Faith, it's by faith, the elders, 385 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:36,040 those who went before the patriarchs, 386 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:37,680 all the ones he's gonna describe, 387 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:41,600 obtained a good report. 388 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,360 A couple questions. 389 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:46,640 Who are the elders? 390 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:47,920 Well, this is the book of Hebrews. 391 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:49,720 It's written to Jewish people. 392 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:51,320 They would have described those people of God 393 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:53,360 in the Old Testament who had believed God by faith 394 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:56,080 and been saved by the righteousness of Jesus. 395 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:58,480 He's about to give us examples of these elders 396 00:17:58,480 --> 00:17:59,640 who are people of faith. 397 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:01,280 What was their report? 398 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:02,760 Well, over the rest of the chapter, 399 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:07,280 the preacher names 10 elders and how 10 of these people 400 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,800 from the Old Testament and how they lived out their faith 401 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,400 and live by faith. 402 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,200 He also refers to six more named and many unnamed people 403 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,640 in verses 32 to 38. 404 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:19,160 None of these people were notable 405 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:20,680 because they did good on their own. 406 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,960 In fact, interestingly enough, 407 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:25,960 if you go look at these people, he commends their faith. 408 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,220 He doesn't always commend their works. 409 00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:32,200 Did Moses ever mess up? 410 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:37,440 Yeah, did Abel, did, I mean, these people were not sinless, 411 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:42,440 but they believed God and what was commendable about them, 412 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,720 Abraham and Moses and no, these are people that had faith. 413 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:48,880 They believed God. 414 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:50,600 They lived by faith. 415 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:55,040 The just shall live by faith. 416 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:56,480 As God revealed himself to them, 417 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,400 they believed what he revealed and they acted upon it. 418 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,980 Acted upon it, they lived by faith. 419 00:19:01,980 --> 00:19:03,920 And as they did, they received a good report. 420 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:05,920 Who is a good report directed to? 421 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:08,240 What is this good report? 422 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,080 Well, the good report of their life was not just to us, 423 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:12,520 to readers today. 424 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:14,680 We're gonna read this passage over the next couple of weeks 425 00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:16,720 and we're gonna get a good report of what they did. 426 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:17,920 Does that make sense? 427 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,720 So it's a good report for the reader, but what else? 428 00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:23,520 The report was also to God. 429 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:25,800 This was the ultimate, the ultimate audience, 430 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,560 as we shall see in verse six. 431 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:28,480 Go down to verse six. 432 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,400 I'm gonna get to it a little ahead of schedule. 433 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:31,720 Here's what he says. 434 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:36,720 But without faith, it is impossible to what? 435 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:39,280 Please God, to please him. 436 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:41,920 For he that comes to God must believe that he is 437 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,240 and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 438 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,040 Their report was to God. 439 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,560 He was the audience as we shall see in verse six. 440 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:51,840 Faith pleases God. 441 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:56,440 In fact, it's impossible to please God without faith. 442 00:19:57,600 --> 00:19:59,800 As we study the lives of these Old Testament believers, 443 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:04,340 that will teach us how to live our lives by faith also. 444 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,920 Have you ever had someone else's faith 445 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:10,520 be an encouragement to your own? 446 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:13,800 You ever seen somebody go through something 447 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,360 and they are just faithful, they do the right thing 448 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,440 in a difficult time and that helps you to be obedient? 449 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:22,520 That's the point of this particular passage. 450 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:24,160 We're gonna see their faith 451 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,240 and it's gonna encourage us to be faithful. 452 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,880 To please God by being faithful. 453 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:33,120 Paul wrote in Romans 15 that the things 454 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:35,480 which were written back in the Old Testament, 455 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:36,880 days were written for our encouragement, 456 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:38,600 or our notification, it says this, 457 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:41,160 that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures 458 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,120 might have hope. 459 00:20:44,580 --> 00:20:46,120 The faith of these Old Testament elders 460 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:50,440 is an illustration to us of how to live our lives by faith. 461 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:52,840 And that's how we get to number three. 462 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:54,800 Here we see the first illustration. 463 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,280 We've had a description of faith, 464 00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,320 we've had a commendation of faith. 465 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,400 Number three, we have an illustration of faith. 466 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:04,400 Here's what it says. 467 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,800 Through faith, verse three, we understand 468 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:14,320 that the worlds were framed by the word of God. 469 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:17,880 So the things which are seen 470 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,640 were not made of the things which do appear. 471 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:24,200 The word for worlds here is the word Ion. 472 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:29,200 It's a word that encompasses time, space, and matter. 473 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,720 We find the same word in Matthew 28, 20, 474 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,800 where Jesus says that he will be with us, 475 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,800 with his disciples, even to the end of the world, 476 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,920 that word for world there is Ion, 477 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,280 or age, or world. 478 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,320 He's talking about the creation here 479 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,720 through faith we understand that the worlds were framed. 480 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:56,720 Here he's talking about the creation of the universe, 481 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,600 the origin of the universe. 482 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:01,120 The scientific word for the study of the origins 483 00:22:01,120 --> 00:22:05,520 of the universe is cosmology, not cosmetology. 484 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:11,520 By the way, the reason it's so easy for us 485 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,920 to make that mistake is because the Greek word is cosmos, 486 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:20,160 the word cosmos for world, the word cosmos means 487 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:22,320 to arrange and to put into order, 488 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:28,600 cosmetology, to arrange and put into order, right? 489 00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,880 Every experience that you and I have ever had 490 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:40,000 has been in time, space, and matter. 491 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:42,440 You're like, well, have you, 492 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:43,280 Pastor Ben, are you saying 493 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:44,920 that you've never experienced something spiritual? 494 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,600 Yeah, I have, but I've experienced that spiritual thing 495 00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,480 in a body at a point in time. 496 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:54,200 Are you with me? 497 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:56,760 We are bound to our bodies. 498 00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:58,920 One day I'm getting a resurrected body. 499 00:22:58,920 --> 00:22:59,920 It's gonna be awesome. 500 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:04,200 But everything that we've ever experienced 501 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,480 has happened in time, space, and matter. 502 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:08,640 And the only one that was there when the world began 503 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:13,160 was God, in the beginning, God created the heaven 504 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:14,000 and the earth. 505 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,920 And it's my faith that we know that 506 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:17,760 because no one was there to see it. 507 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,800 Everything we've ever experienced has been in that way. 508 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:25,440 Time has three parts, past, present, and future. 509 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,080 Space has three parts, length, depth, height. 510 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,040 Matter has three states, liquid, solid, and gas. 511 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,080 It's difficult to deny. 512 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,120 There are worlds. 513 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:40,680 In the past few years, there's been the development 514 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,600 and launch of the James Webb Telescope. 515 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,160 How many of you guys have ever heard of that? 516 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:46,280 You've not heard of it? 517 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:47,640 You should look it up. 518 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:48,640 It's incredible. 519 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,200 They spent a bunch of your money on it, I could tell you that. 520 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,000 It launched on Christmas Day in 2021, 521 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,800 and it's a space telescope specifically designed 522 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,680 to conduct infrared astronomy. 523 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,720 The Hubble Telescope is a satellite 524 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:10,920 that's been up for a few decades, 525 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,040 and it orbits our earth. 526 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:18,040 This is a telescope that has gone way, way beyond 527 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:21,800 anything the Hubble could get. 528 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,600 It goes into space, deep into space. 529 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,520 Its high resolution and high sensitive instruments 530 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:30,800 allow it to view objects that are too distant 531 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:32,800 or faint for the Hubble Telescope. 532 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:34,520 The pictures that we have been given back 533 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:37,040 from this telescope that's orbiting, get this, 534 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:40,720 940,000 miles beyond the Earth's orbit, 535 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,640 not the Earth's circumference, the Earth's orbit, 536 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,200 around the sun, here's what it shows. 537 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,480 It shows that the universe is expanding. 538 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,080 We are finding that every patch of sky in the night sky 539 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:01,580 contains not only stars, but galaxies of stars. 540 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,840 Most of the points of light they're saying 541 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:08,760 that you see when you look in the sky are not just stars, 542 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,920 they're galaxies, sometimes groups of galaxies. 543 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,420 We have a huge God, don't we? 544 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:18,960 And expanding universe points to a time 545 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:21,600 where it all came from one source. 546 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,640 Materialist scientists do not like this 547 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:25,680 because it points to the idea that everything 548 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,480 came from something uncreated. 549 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:33,480 There is an uncaused first cause, and that's God himself. 550 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,200 The universe bears the marks of design 551 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:40,040 because of exactly, and this verse points to it, 552 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,600 it says literally, what does he say? 553 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:44,520 Back to Hebrews chapter 11, three, 554 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,800 through faith we understand that the worlds were framed 555 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,960 by the word of God. 556 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:57,320 The word frame means literally fit together, put together. 557 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,000 It's a word for design. 558 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,360 It's a word for Bill Van Hoos engineering. 559 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,760 It's a word for God's smart. 560 00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:12,640 This is the second time today that's come up. 561 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,680 Jesus was smart and God's smart, 562 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:16,760 but it's not enough to say that they're smart. 563 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,400 He's all knowing. 564 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,000 He is perfectly powerful and intelligent in what he does. 565 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,960 And as this verse put it, the things which are seen 566 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,080 were not made of things which do appear. 567 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:35,200 Times, space, and matter must have had a beginning. 568 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:38,760 It also must have been created at the same time 569 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:40,360 because you cannot have one of those things 570 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:41,560 without the other. 571 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,240 You can't have time without space and space without. 572 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:45,080 Are you with me? 573 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,200 Whatever creates something cannot consist 574 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,120 of whatever it creates. 575 00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:53,920 Whatever made wood couldn't be itself made of wood. 576 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:55,880 Are you with me? 577 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:57,720 I'm gonna blow your mind. 578 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:58,560 This is amazing. 579 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,800 Therefore, whoever or whatever, 580 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,960 and I believe it was God, don't miss me on that. 581 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:08,680 Whoever created, let's see, 582 00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:10,960 whatever creates something cannot consist 583 00:27:10,960 --> 00:27:11,800 of what it creates. 584 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:15,040 Therefore, whoever or whatever began time, space, 585 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,280 and matter must be timeless, 586 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,480 spaceless, and immaterial. 587 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,480 Whoever created our world must also be personal 588 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:28,360 to decide to create, whoever created our world 589 00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:32,200 must be powerful, this person must be intelligent. 590 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,600 So when I describe a timeless, spaceless, 591 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:37,440 immaterial, personal, powerful, intelligent 592 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,080 cause of the universe, that's exactly in keeping 593 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,960 with the God of the Bible who revealed himself in history. 594 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:44,280 Who is that but God? 595 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:51,160 In the beginning time, God created the heavens, 596 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:54,140 space, and the earth matter. 597 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,160 The scientists are just now catching up to Genesis 1-1. 598 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:06,960 Now some may criticize us for looking even at evidence. 599 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,320 Other may criticize us for valuing faith. 600 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:11,800 The truth is on this issue, 601 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,200 everyone is putting their faith in something. 602 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,160 We believe the word of God and trust him. 603 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:19,920 We do not do this blindly. 604 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,640 The evidence points in the direction of the Bible. 605 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:24,840 Romans 1-20 says it this way. 606 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,840 For the invisible things of him 607 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,760 from the creation of the world are clearly seen 608 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,480 being understood by the things that are made 609 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,560 even as eternal power and Godhead 610 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:38,460 so that they are without excuse. 611 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:41,720 I've pointed to the stars to make a case 612 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,740 for the evidence of God. 613 00:28:43,740 --> 00:28:46,440 The Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God 614 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:48,840 in the firmament show with his handiwork. 615 00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:50,160 Now I wanna point to, 616 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:52,560 I've talked about the vastness of the universe. 617 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,900 Now I wanna talk about the smallness of a cell. 618 00:28:57,380 --> 00:29:00,320 The cell, you know your body's made up of cells 619 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,480 and in those cells there's DNA and genes. 620 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,200 Stephen C. Myers, a scientist, 621 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,480 he pointed out the following in a recent video he published 622 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,000 so I don't claim to get all this on my own. 623 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:12,200 Here's what he says. 624 00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,760 In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick 625 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,640 mapped out the structure of the DNA molecule. 626 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:21,760 Along the interior of the famed double helix 627 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,120 they discovered a four character code at work. 628 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:27,920 They soon realized that sequences 629 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,600 of precisely arranged chemicals called nucleotide bases 630 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,400 store and transmit the assembly instructions, 631 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:39,400 the information for building the crucial protein molecules 632 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,440 that cells need to survive. 633 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,320 Let me put that in terms that I can understand 634 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,800 so that maybe you can understand them too. 635 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:49,680 Basically they're saying they discovered 636 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,560 that there's a blueprint for in every cell of our bodies 637 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:53,400 for us. 638 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:56,840 There's information in every cell of our bodies 639 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:00,240 that guides and directs how we're made up. 640 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:01,400 It's information. 641 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,000 Note they soon realized that these precisely arranged 642 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,480 chemicals called like I said, nucleotide bases 643 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:10,120 are the assembly instructions for building 644 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:14,280 the crucial protein molecules that cells need to survive. 645 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,280 No protein molecules, if there's scientifically speaking, 646 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,800 if there's no protein molecules, there's no life. 647 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,720 Crick later proposed that the four characters 648 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:27,160 of the DNA function like letters in a written language 649 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:29,680 or digital symbols in a computer code. 650 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,080 Just like a well functioning computer code 651 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,480 relies on precise sequencing of zeros and ones, 652 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,760 so does the DNA molecule depend on the specific arrangement 653 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,240 of the chemical bases along the spine 654 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:44,640 of that double helix in the cell? 655 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,040 So the question is this, where does this information 656 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:48,880 come from? 657 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,600 Life depends on building proteins. 658 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,640 Proteins depend on genetic information or code. 659 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,640 No theory of, and here's what evolution proclaims, 660 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,680 that the way that we got life was through undirected 661 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:07,920 random processes and mutation, natural selection. 662 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,040 That it's undirected, it's bottom up. 663 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:12,360 That this just happened by chance. 664 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,920 If you roll the dice enough times, 665 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,120 that eventually you'll get the right code. 666 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:19,960 The question is, who's rolling the dice first of all? 667 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:21,360 Where did the dice come from? 668 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:24,920 I know not specifically dice, but how did you get 669 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,520 to that place where there's even chemicals in the first place? 670 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:29,520 But that's a whole nother conversation. 671 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,240 Where does the information come from? 672 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,840 No theory of undirected chemical evolution 673 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,760 can explain the origin of the digital information 674 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,400 needed to build the first living cell 675 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,720 from simpler non-living chemicals. 676 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:45,640 There's too much information in the cell 677 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,880 to be explained through chance alone. 678 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,400 The probability, and here's the point, 679 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:54,480 to have life you have to have proteins, 680 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:58,400 at least one, have a functional protein. 681 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,320 The probability of generating a section of DNA code 682 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,240 capable of building just one functional protein 683 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,240 by chance is vanishingly small. 684 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,640 It's one in 10 to the 77th power. 685 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,040 That's one with 77 zeros behind it. 686 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:20,040 So one shot in 10 to the 77th, that's a lot of zeros. 687 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:22,280 Who wants to check with that many zeros on it? 688 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:24,400 That could be cash, right, it's a lot. 689 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,160 One in a million would be incredible chances 690 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,180 compared to one in 10 to the 77th power. 691 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,400 The problem is that even the simplest living cells, 692 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:39,840 and that's just for one DNA molecule, 693 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,400 sorry, one protein in a DNA molecule, 694 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,040 the problem is even the simplest living cells 695 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,760 require hundreds of proteins. 696 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:50,600 So you have to do the math, 697 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,360 hundreds times one in 10 to the 77th power, do you get it? 698 00:32:57,320 --> 00:32:59,760 Code of the day, that's a lot. 699 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:02,560 That's what he said. 700 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:04,680 We find hundreds of proteins in living cells 701 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,640 with precise information, code, sequence, 702 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:11,320 that provides exactly what's needed for life of all kinds 703 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:12,960 to survive and replicate. 704 00:33:15,940 --> 00:33:20,160 If you came up to the church 705 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,200 and you saw a book on the front row, 706 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:26,760 you came in, you came to the front row, 707 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:28,080 you're getting ready for the service, 708 00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,360 and on the front row it said, 709 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:34,040 a biography of Gene Millioni. 710 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:37,120 That's the former pastor of our church, 711 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,000 and it's 200 pages long. 712 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:43,800 You would not think, by the way, 713 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,000 that 200 page long document shows signs of intelligence, 714 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,200 you agree, you would not think, 715 00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:53,800 look at how time and chance produced this book. 716 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:59,260 Look at how something must have exploded and made a book. 717 00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:03,880 You wouldn't say that, you wouldn't say, 718 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:05,280 man, Rhonda really needs to clean, 719 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,160 the dust is forming books in here. 720 00:34:10,160 --> 00:34:11,240 Would you say that? 721 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,360 Of course you wouldn't, why? 722 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,500 Because information always has at its source a mind. 723 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:22,340 Books have authors. 724 00:34:23,820 --> 00:34:28,440 Paintings don't happen because there's paint falling 725 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:30,860 from the sky and making landscapes. 726 00:34:30,860 --> 00:34:35,020 Paintings need what? 727 00:34:35,020 --> 00:34:37,260 Artists, painters. 728 00:34:37,260 --> 00:34:41,360 Inventions have inventors. 729 00:34:42,260 --> 00:34:46,660 You say, well, man, you're saying that this world 730 00:34:47,740 --> 00:34:50,700 was invented, was designed, was, yes. 731 00:34:52,180 --> 00:34:54,200 That's what I'm saying, if you can't believe it about a book, 732 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,700 why would you believe it about everything else? 733 00:34:56,700 --> 00:34:59,020 The heavens declare the glory of God. 734 00:34:59,020 --> 00:35:00,900 The firmament shows this handy work. 735 00:35:00,900 --> 00:35:03,500 The invisible things of him are from the creation 736 00:35:03,500 --> 00:35:06,820 of the world are clearly seen being shown 737 00:35:06,820 --> 00:35:08,820 by the things that are made, even his eternal power 738 00:35:08,820 --> 00:35:10,320 and Godhead. 739 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,300 Everybody knows it, that's why everybody worships something. 740 00:35:14,580 --> 00:35:16,740 Every creature in the world worships, 741 00:35:16,740 --> 00:35:20,060 every person in the world, every culture in the world 742 00:35:20,060 --> 00:35:20,900 worships something. 743 00:35:20,900 --> 00:35:22,500 You don't think our culture, 744 00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:24,420 even though they're not worshiping God like the other, 745 00:35:24,420 --> 00:35:25,940 is not worshiping something. 746 00:35:25,940 --> 00:35:30,140 They're worshiping a lot. 747 00:35:30,140 --> 00:35:31,540 We have idols all over the place, 748 00:35:31,540 --> 00:35:33,540 we just don't see them as idols. 749 00:35:33,540 --> 00:35:34,580 We're all worshiping something, 750 00:35:34,580 --> 00:35:36,460 because we all realize that we didn't cause ourselves 751 00:35:36,460 --> 00:35:37,300 to be here. 752 00:35:40,860 --> 00:35:45,060 Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed, 753 00:35:45,060 --> 00:35:48,180 were fitted by the word of God, 754 00:35:48,180 --> 00:35:50,580 so that the things which are seen 755 00:35:50,580 --> 00:35:53,860 were not made of things which do appear. 756 00:35:53,860 --> 00:35:57,180 You and I are made up of three parts, 757 00:35:57,180 --> 00:35:58,500 body, soul, and spirit. 758 00:35:59,940 --> 00:36:01,140 While our bodies may die, 759 00:36:01,140 --> 00:36:03,700 our soul and spirit are eternal. 760 00:36:03,700 --> 00:36:05,780 When I acknowledge the fact by faith 761 00:36:05,780 --> 00:36:07,380 that God made the worlds, 762 00:36:07,380 --> 00:36:10,340 that he designed them and that he sustains them, 763 00:36:10,340 --> 00:36:13,820 it helps me to remember who he is compared to who I am. 764 00:36:15,180 --> 00:36:19,060 He's got the whole world, the whole universe in his hands, 765 00:36:19,980 --> 00:36:22,300 and he's big enough to handle Ben Jennings, 766 00:36:22,300 --> 00:36:27,180 Trinity Baptist Church, the Jennings family. 767 00:36:27,180 --> 00:36:30,580 He's bigger enough to handle your life and your problems. 768 00:36:30,580 --> 00:36:31,420 Colossians says, 769 00:36:31,420 --> 00:36:33,260 by him worth all things made, 770 00:36:33,260 --> 00:36:34,940 and by him all things consist, 771 00:36:34,940 --> 00:36:36,420 that means are held together. 772 00:36:40,660 --> 00:36:43,820 If I'm playing a pickup game of basketball in the gym 773 00:36:44,860 --> 00:36:46,660 with Michael Jordan and his prime, 774 00:36:46,660 --> 00:36:49,060 I didn't say LeBron, I said Michael. 775 00:36:51,060 --> 00:36:54,020 My success is dependent on me trusting MJ enough 776 00:36:54,020 --> 00:36:55,100 to get him the ball. 777 00:36:56,460 --> 00:36:57,860 It's a silly illustration, 778 00:36:57,860 --> 00:37:00,140 but if God can handle the cosmos, 779 00:37:01,140 --> 00:37:03,260 why not trust him with the details of my life? 780 00:37:04,260 --> 00:37:08,260 Why not trust him with my finances, family, and future? 781 00:37:08,260 --> 00:37:10,260 But here's the most important thing. 782 00:37:10,260 --> 00:37:11,700 Why not believe him and trust him 783 00:37:11,700 --> 00:37:13,500 about what he says is true? 784 00:37:13,500 --> 00:37:17,180 The most important thing, why not believe him and trust him 785 00:37:17,180 --> 00:37:19,180 about what he says about eternity? 786 00:37:22,180 --> 00:37:23,020 How do you do that? 787 00:37:23,020 --> 00:37:26,780 Through faith that leads to obedience. 788 00:37:28,060 --> 00:37:30,500 This God who breathed out the stars 789 00:37:30,500 --> 00:37:33,500 and formed you in your mother's womb, 790 00:37:33,500 --> 00:37:36,660 also sent his son to die for you. 791 00:37:37,940 --> 00:37:39,860 He became flesh and dwelt among us, 792 00:37:39,860 --> 00:37:41,900 and we beheld his glory even as the only begotten 793 00:37:41,900 --> 00:37:43,700 grace and truth. 794 00:37:45,820 --> 00:37:50,820 You know, God, when we say that God is good 795 00:37:51,540 --> 00:37:54,540 or that God is love, we're not saying, 796 00:37:54,540 --> 00:37:56,580 and this is not what the Bible teaches, 797 00:37:56,580 --> 00:37:59,740 that God conforms to some external standard 798 00:37:59,740 --> 00:38:01,340 called love and goodness. 799 00:38:03,460 --> 00:38:06,300 God doesn't have some external standard called morality 800 00:38:06,300 --> 00:38:08,780 that he submits himself to. 801 00:38:08,780 --> 00:38:10,980 Morality is moral, ethics are ethical, 802 00:38:10,980 --> 00:38:14,940 love is love, good is good because it describes who God is. 803 00:38:14,940 --> 00:38:16,780 God is those things. 804 00:38:16,780 --> 00:38:17,620 Are you with me? 805 00:38:18,540 --> 00:38:19,620 I know this is heavy. 806 00:38:21,060 --> 00:38:24,220 That's why the Bible says that all have sinned 807 00:38:24,220 --> 00:38:26,740 and fallen short of the glory of God. 808 00:38:28,060 --> 00:38:30,020 It is saying something about our immorality. 809 00:38:30,020 --> 00:38:32,940 It is saying something about the fact that we're sinful. 810 00:38:32,940 --> 00:38:35,060 And what makes it sinful is that we don't measure up 811 00:38:35,060 --> 00:38:38,100 to the person and work of who God is morally. 812 00:38:38,100 --> 00:38:42,820 Does that make sense? God is the standard 813 00:38:42,820 --> 00:38:45,220 and we all fall short of that standard. 814 00:38:46,820 --> 00:38:49,180 And he knowing that we fall short of that standard 815 00:38:49,180 --> 00:38:53,740 sent his son who became flesh and lived a perfect life 816 00:38:53,740 --> 00:38:57,940 and died on the cross, keeping all of that law, 817 00:38:57,940 --> 00:39:00,860 being exactly who he ought to have been 818 00:39:00,860 --> 00:39:04,100 and dying on the cross for you and for me. 819 00:39:04,100 --> 00:39:05,860 And God poured out his wrath for your sin 820 00:39:05,860 --> 00:39:07,540 and my sin on his son 821 00:39:07,540 --> 00:39:11,180 so that he can legally dismiss our case, declare us righteous. 822 00:39:11,180 --> 00:39:13,900 How does that happen? It happens by faith. 823 00:39:14,980 --> 00:39:16,540 The Bible says this way in Ephesians 2, 8, 824 00:39:16,540 --> 00:39:19,540 for by grace are you saved through faith 825 00:39:19,540 --> 00:39:21,620 and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, 826 00:39:21,620 --> 00:39:24,700 not of works, lest any man should boast. 827 00:39:24,700 --> 00:39:27,260 God wants to offer you eternal life 828 00:39:27,260 --> 00:39:32,260 and he responds to us when we put our faith and trust in him. 829 00:39:32,980 --> 00:39:34,500 That's what happens on salvation. 830 00:39:34,500 --> 00:39:36,580 It's also how we ought to live our life, 831 00:39:36,580 --> 00:39:40,420 the just shall live by faith. 832 00:39:40,420 --> 00:39:43,540 God says I ought to do this with my finances. 833 00:39:43,540 --> 00:39:45,500 I don't know if I want to do that with my fans, 834 00:39:45,500 --> 00:39:47,660 but you know what? He's a good God, he loves me, 835 00:39:47,660 --> 00:39:49,180 I'm going to depend on him. 836 00:39:49,180 --> 00:39:51,820 God tells me how to do this with my sexuality. 837 00:39:51,820 --> 00:39:54,220 I don't know that I want to do that with my sexuality, 838 00:39:54,220 --> 00:39:56,380 but God tells me that's what I ought to do, 839 00:39:56,380 --> 00:39:58,900 so I'm going to do what he tells me I ought to do. 840 00:39:58,900 --> 00:40:02,420 Are you with me? That's how we live, we live by faith. 841 00:40:02,420 --> 00:40:05,140 And when we do that, God brings incredible blessing 842 00:40:05,140 --> 00:40:06,980 to our lives. 843 00:40:06,980 --> 00:40:10,060 And we have a hope that we can look forward to, 844 00:40:10,060 --> 00:40:13,580 being with God forever, changed bodies, 845 00:40:15,020 --> 00:40:16,660 with him for all eternity. 846 00:40:16,660 --> 00:40:18,180 Are you glad for that? 847 00:40:18,180 --> 00:40:22,200 So if you're today, faith is the number one issue, 848 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,140 but it's not just faith and faith, 849 00:40:25,060 --> 00:40:27,860 it's faith in the identity of Jesus Christ 850 00:40:27,860 --> 00:40:31,220 and who he is and who he said he was. 851 00:40:31,220 --> 00:40:33,380 He died on the cross for your sin. 852 00:40:33,380 --> 00:40:36,220 And today it's so important for you 853 00:40:36,220 --> 00:40:39,140 to put your faith and trust in him. 854 00:40:39,140 --> 00:40:39,980 Would you bow your head?