The Faith Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11) | Evidence of Faith Part 2

For me. Casey, how's the mix?

OK. Why isn't it installing?

It just was up two minutes ago. Are they almost done out there for now? Are they almost done?

I don't have a minute. Tessa got it for you. Is that all we need, Josh? Yesterday, they were lined up, cleared through into Sagal, almost to the gas station yesterday in the morning.

Oh, great God. Because I think I could make that. Oh, we can all sing it. Is it like a big circle?

Oh, great God. Or a slant. Yes. Only piano till blinded.

Boy, howdy. I can make that one. I have a smaller one like it. But it doesn't look as cute as that. This is from a long time ago.

I think this is how we generally do it. And this doesn't go down far enough on it.

It just. Oh, great

God of highest heav 'n. Occupy my lowly free.

Conquer every rebel power. Let the vice lord soon remain that resists your holy war.

You have loved and purchased me. Make me yours forevermore.

I was blinded by my sin. Had no ears to hear your voice.

Did not know your love within. Had no taste for heaven's joys.

Then your spirit gave me life. Opened up your word to me.

Through the gospel of your son. Gave me endless hope and peace.

Help me now to live a life that's depended on your grace.

Keep my heart and guard my soul from the evils that I face.

You are worthy to be praised with my every thought and need.

Oh, great God of highest heav 'n, glorify your name through me.

You are worthy to be praised with my every thought and need.

Oh, great God of highest heav 'n, glorify your name through me.

Are we on?

OK. Good morning, everyone. If you take your seats, we'll get cracking this morning. How's everybody doing today?

Good morning. It's a beautiful weekend we're having. Calm before the storm.

We're in the book of 1 John. And I want our scripture reading this morning is going to be chapter 1.

We're going to read from verse 5 to chapter 2, verse 6. So if you grab your copy of God's word, we'll read that and pray, and we'll get going.

1 John 1, verse 5. This is the message we have heard from him and announced to you, that God is light.

And in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus' son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father,

Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

By this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says they have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.

By this we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.

That's our passage for this morning. Let's go to the Lord with a word of prayer.

Father, we just praise your name this morning. We thank you that we can look all around at the mountains and the beauty of your creation and just be in awe of who you are and the fact that you are an amazing

God and that you actually love us and care about us and are involved in the day -to -day of our lives.

What a privilege it is to be called a child of the king and we just pray,

Lord, as you go before us this morning that you'll help us to understand what it is to look into your word, to rightly divide it, to be accurate in that our hearts would be impacted for obedience to you, that we wanna serve you, that our desire would be to be about your business at all times, that we would be willing to share our faith with any that would listen to us, and that,

Lord, we would consider that you would get all the glory and all the praise. In this we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

All right, so we're in the book of 1 John. It's just definitely been a very encouraging book to me.

I don't know about you, but it has for me. I guess it's encouraging unless you're an unbeliever because then not so much, then it might not be so uplifting.

This book was written to believers in Asia Minor. The purpose, John tells us, that your joy may be full.

He says that in chapter one, verse four. He says also that you may not sin.

That's a good purpose, that we may not sin. I like that. And also that you may know that you have eternal life.

That's beautiful. We write these things so that you may know that you have eternal life.

That's good to know ahead of time. Also, he says that you may continue to believe.

That's chapter, it's 5 .13b. May continue to believe.

Keep moving on in your faith, continuing to believe. He says also in chapter two, verse 26, it's to address the false teaching that was entering into the church, the

Gnostic teaching. He says in chapter two, verse 26, these things

I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. Remember last week, we were talking a little bit about that, the contrasting of Asia Minor and how it isn't really that much different than it is today because of the false temples and false gods that are scattered all throughout

America, the same as they were in Asia Minor back then. It's not a lot of different. Their motive is to lead the people astray.

It's really what it comes down to. They wanna lead the people astray. Jesus said this in Matthew, chapter seven, verses 13 and on.

Enter through the narrow gate. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

We have to enter through the narrow gate, he says, because the way to destruction is paved by the false prophets in these temples that lead their followers down a different path to Christ.

You know, what is an easy way to tell a false religion from the true one? What's an easy way that we can tell?

Any ideas? Think about it for a second. How do we tell the false religion from the true religion?

What is usually one focal point that we can highlight? Be a

Berean and check the scriptures, absolutely. We wanna look into the word of God and contrast it with whatever they're teaching.

That's very helpful. What else? They all teach a works -based righteousness to salvation, don't they?

It's all about what you do instead of what your belief is.

What else? There was another hand up here somewhere, not sure. They question or deny the deity of Christ.

To me, that's one of the heart of the matter right there. Yes, emphasis about the church and not

God, so they place a different focus upon what they're teaching and it should be on Christ and what he's all about.

I mean, that's really it for me, is their focus is not on Christ.

How their view of Christ really dictates how it goes. Either it's false or it's true because everything hinges on him and if you look at all the false religions that we have in our society and how they view

Christ, it is so much different. It's not that he's God, it's just that he might be a good person, he might even be a great prophet, but he certainly isn't the

God of creation. That's not what they teach. When you read the

Gospel of John, you know, and 1st and 3rd

John and Revelation, it's pretty clear that he teaches that Jesus is God. I don't think there's any kind of a question there if you really look at it.

He is the light that shines in the darkness. He is the word that became flesh.

He is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and he is the bread of life.

I mean, Christ is everything. He's the focal point of everything. Deceivers inside and outside the church wanna draw you away from Christ.

They wanna draw you away from Christ. What is so striking in the book of 1st

John to me is the clarity that he brings in helping us to understand the differences between true and false converts.

We looked a little bit at this along the way where John says, if we say that we have fellowship and yet walk in darkness, he says, we lie and do not follow after the truth.

That's one way to tell. If you only say, but then you don't do, he says, you're a liar.

If we say that we have no sin, he says, we're deceiving ourselves into thinking that we are a believer.

And I think the reason why he needed to do that is because of the Gnostic teaching that was happening.

The biggest issue there is that the Gnostics were pretending to be the real and one true church.

They were spreading their lies that they were also the true Christians. So you can imagine that when you have that mixture within a congregation, there might be some confusion as to, well, who really is a believer and then who really isn't, right?

That confusion could enter in. And it's up to us to look at the scriptures to understand who an authentic believer is from an imposter.

And I think this is what John does really well as he's going through this. He's contrasting this idea of a true believer from a false believer.

In 2 Timothy, Paul tells us this, but evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

And he's talking about the end times there. Paul described these evil men perfectly in 2

Timothy 3, 5. He said, they were holding to a form of godliness. What is a form of godliness?

How can someone have a form of godliness but then not have the true God? All talk and no walk.

I love that. You gotta walk the walk, right? A form of godliness might be really just going to church, might be going to a

Sunday school. It might be listening to a podcast. You can do a lot of things that have a form of godliness, but it says they denied its power.

What is the power in our godliness? What is it?

What is it that gives us the power? See, they didn't have that. They had a form of godliness, but that's not godliness.

A form of godliness is not godliness. It's an appearance of godliness, isn't it? It's like we're doing all the right things.

We're trying to live this certain way. It's religion without the power of Christ.

Christ is what provides the power for us to live a godly life. It's him in us that drives that out.

We don't pretend. We don't have a form of godliness. No, we actually are godly because of him in us.

That's the difference. But this is how imposters work. They have that outward appearance of Christianity, but yet they lack the indwelling spirit to bring it to life.

Christ provides the juice, if you will, for authentic faith. He provides the spirit within us, the capability for us to do that.

I love that. It's the spirit within. But Paul said we are to avoid these kinds of people at all costs.

We're not supposed to be around the deceivers. We avoid them. John writes that if we are really in him, then we should produce godly characteristics.

They are evident in others around us. And then we've talked about this.

If we walk in the light, he says, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another.

That's a godly characteristic. If we confess our sins, as verse 1 .9

says, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Wolves care very little about their sin. But we agonize over it, don't we?

We agonize over it. I hate it. I wanna try to kill it at every turn. Every time

I have a thought, I wanna drive that stake right through the heart of it. But a wolf doesn't have that same perspective.

Their perspective is only to devour, and they care nothing about their sin. But we are supposed to keep his commandments.

In chapter 2, verse 3, it says that. That's what we're striving for, is to follow after him, to keep his commandments.

We keep his word, it says in chapter 2, verse 5, our desire is for him, that godly desire and passion, to keep his word.

We read it, we study it, we do everything we can to be involved in it. What sets us apart from the world system is that God is the

God who lives in us. Asia Minor, America, they're very similar.

Because of that, the actions that we take towards others show that we're different. We're not the same as everyone else.

Right? We demonstrate God's love in a lot of different ways.

I mean, when we visit the sick, when we preach the gospel to someone, when we help them to confront truth with error, we are showing these godly characteristics in our lives that we are of the king, we're a child of the king.

It's when we shovel someone's driveway, or when Earl cuts 50 cords of wood in one day and gives it to people that need it.

It's a way that we can demonstrate our faith to other people. And I think that's an important characteristic.

And John brings these out through the first John and definitely through his gospel of John.

And you see that in there. And so the focus of our teaching today is gonna be on chapter two, verse six.

So let's read that. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.

I don't know if you remember back when Jim was teaching in John, but he spent four or five

Sundays on the vine and the vine dresser and what it means to abide. And I would encourage you to go back and listen to those messages because it's some amazing teaching on what the word abide means.

I probably won't get as deep into it today on that, but that would be good for you to go back and listen to that because in John, you know, the gospel of John and first John, I mean, that theme just runs through it so deeply that we are to abide in Christ.

Does anybody remember Jim's teaching on what it means to abide? Any thoughts on that?

I know it's been a long time. You may not remember all of it, but to abide, anybody have any ideas?

Good job, Earl. He said it's to remain in him. And I think that hits the nail on the head.

I mean, it really does. I mean, it's to dwell, to remain with, to stay put, to abide.

You know, I think about, like when I used to go over to my dad's house, you know, I'd go over there and I'd abide with him.

I remained with him. It was comfortable. It was a good place to be. And I think about the same with my

Savior, you know, to remain with him, to abide with him, to dwell with him.

It's my desire to be about his business and to do that. Jim said in one of his sermons that abide is meno.

That's the Greek word meno. And he said that there's 118 times in the New Testament that that word is used.

That's a lot, 118 times. And just even in 1 John, there's 23 times, you know, that he uses the word abide, you know, in chapters two, three, and four.

So it's an important theme that you can understand and get.

When we truly abide in Christ, we remain in him. It's our desire. You know, that's what it is.

So he says in John 15, four, I'm gonna read this.

It says, abide in me and I in you. As the father cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you abide in me.

So we abide in him, but he also abides in us, right? I mean, the abiding is mutual.

You know, if we say he abides in me, then

I abide in him. I abide in him, he abides in me. It's a mutually beneficial relationship,

I think. When we abide in him, we bear a lot of fruit. We have seen some of that in 1

John. He says this in 1 John 2, five, but this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments.

But whoever keeps his word in him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

I love that. The opposite is true for those that don't abide, though, in him.

I mean, how can they bear fruit if they're not grafted into the vine?

If they're not truly remaining and being involved in Christ, you know, they cannot bear fruit.

It's not possible for them to do that because they're not connected to the God who is love.

This is salvation, you know, unbelievers between believers and true converts and false converts.

We can see the difference. Jesus said this to the unbelieving Pharisees in John 5 .38. You do not have his word abiding in you for you do not believe in him who sent me.

You don't have that abiding word in you because you don't even believe him. There's a contrast between those that abide and those that don't.

That's what we see in John. He says if you keep his word and keep his commandments, the love of God is in you.

That's one of the ways we can see. But if you don't even believe in Christ, it isn't possible for you to abide and remain in him.

Look over at chapter four, verse 13 in 1 John. Chapter four, verse 13, kind of drive this point home here.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit.

Spirit. Question, how do we know we abide with him?

How do we know? I just gave you the answer.

I just gave you the answer. How do we know that we abide with him? Any thoughts?

Because, yes, because of that spirit that lives within us. This is how we know that we abide with him.

There was never a question about salvation for me when I got saved.

It was just a 180 degree turn. And I think that's probably been the case for all of you as well that claim him.

The spirit of God that he's given us helps us and allows us to remain in him.

It's simple. That if you don't abide in Christ, then the spirit of God doesn't dwell in you. If you don't abide with him, you don't dwell with him.

You can't know him or abide with him without the spirit of God. You have to have that component.

Romans 8, 9 says this. But if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

You get that? Wow. If anybody does not have the spirit of God, he says he does not belong to him.

This is not something that the world really wants to hear. They wanna hear inclusion.

They wanna hear that everybody wins. They don't wanna hear that one goes and the other does not.

They don't wanna hear that side of it. But isn't this what John has been trying to convey to us in chapter one?

If we say that we have fellowship with him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Wow. They do not practice the truth because the spirit of God isn't in them. That's the difference.

We have to have him within us, the true vine. We talked about John, or I wanna talk about that just for a second.

To practice the truth, you need to be connected with the true vine, right? You have to be connected.

John 15, four and five says this. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine.

So neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Question, there is something we have to do to bear fruit.

What is that? Abide where?

In him? What else? We have to abide in him, in the vine, right?

We have to be connected, grafted in to Christ in the vine. How do we become part of the vine?

How do we do that? Can we do it by ourselves, under our own power, under our own capacity?

Good point, it's repentance, it's the gift of grace, it's in following Christ, it's being about his work.

It's to receive his spirit, isn't it? We're grafted in through the spirit of God, and that's how we can abide in the vine.

Once we are in there, we remain there, don't we? One of the things

I liked about Jim's teaching there is that he talked about the vine and abiding and the fact that we can never,

I mean, if we're in there, we cannot stop abiding. We're going to remain in him.

I'm sure he said it way more eloquently than I just did, but anyway, the idea is that we're going to remain with him.

John 12, 46 says, I have come as light into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness.

That's the idea. Spirit of God, get grafted in, and because of that, we have different characteristics, and that's what

John's talking about a lot. And I think it's a vital truth that Christ is to be proclaimed.

He talks about that in 1 John. I mean, this Christ who I have felt and heard and been involved with, this

Christ is who I announced to you, and he said he proclaimed it, and we're supposed to understand the differences between true and false believers as a result of that.

That is, those that abide in Christ and those that don't. There are those that are truly connected to the vine and others are not.

We need to know the difference between true and false converts, and we need to be able to identify those.

This passage in Matthew describes the good and the bad fruit beautifully. If I'm gonna read it here, it's just a couple of verses, but it's

Matthew 7, 15 to 23. He says this,

Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.

Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so then you will know them by their fruits.

Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my

Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day,

Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.

He is the vine and we are the branches. It says when we abide in him, it means that we have been grafted into the vine.

But even in normal, you know, I guess horticultural terms,

I mean, all trees can't be grafted into each other. They are not compatible.

What makes us compatible with the vine? Christ in us, salvation makes us compatible with the vine.

I love that ability to be able to be connected to Christ in this way. If you are in the vine, you have to grow the fruit of the vine.

If you're really in Christ, I mean, the fruit that we bear has to have the same characteristics of Christ, doesn't it?

It can't be my fruit. Nobody that stays in the vine produces bad fruit.

We're not supposed to produce bad fruit because we're of him. So the second part of this thing that we wanna talk about is, the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as Jesus walked.

Chapter two, verse six says this, very same thing. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.

What does that word ought mean? Any thoughts about that? It's not a very common word, right?

I don't use that word. We ought, it says, he abides in him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked.

What does that word mean? Say it. Should do it?

We ought to do it, we should do it, right? That's a good way to put it. If we abide in him, we ought to walk as he did.

We should definitely walk as he did. The Greek word is ophalo, and it means to owe, to owe, to be in debt for, to be under an obligation, bound by duty or necessity to do something, used to indicate a duty or correctness.

I mean, we're motivated by that obligation, because why? He saved us in him, and now we ought to walk as he did.

We want to do that for him. So when we say that we ought to walk in the same manner as what he walked, what that means is we have an obligation, doesn't it?

To walk as he did. My life should reflect his character.

I'm not walking exactly as he did, because I'm not God, right? We're not talking about doing everything exactly as Christ did, but I'm following the pattern of how he walked, following the pattern of how he walked.

It's like a father and son's normal relationship. I mean, my father,

I was born into his family. I've taken on some of his characteristics. Some of them

I like, but, you ever had somebody say, you're just like your father.

And sometimes I'm happy about that, and other times I don't really like that. But we're supposed to follow the pattern of Christ in becoming more like him every day.

I mean, more like him every day. And it says we're supposed to walk as he walked. So, a question, how did

Jesus walk? And how can we emulate that?

How did he walk? And how can we emulate that? Yeah, yes.

Christ knew his father's will. He abided by it. He was gracious. He was compassionate.

What else? He was perfect. I wish I could be that perfect, right?

But I don't think that's gonna happen. I'd love to be there, but no.

Yes, we will one day be perfect in him and in heaven, won't we? One of the things to think about is

Christ walked in obedience, didn't he? John chapter five, verse 19 says, therefore,

Jesus answered and was saying to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the father doing.

For whatever the father does, these things the son also does in like manner.

Christ did everything that the father wanted him to do. He was obedient to him. And our model, right, is look at the scriptures, look at Christ, look and see what he did, and we are to do the same thing, same actions.

Here's kind of a list of things that you can find in Luke and probably other passages, but he talked about faith.

When he walked, and you think about walking, right, it's when you walk, it's,

I think about a daily, you know, how I carry myself on a daily basis, how people really see me.

I'm not different at work and then come home and completely another person.

It's a continual walk. Christ was baptized. You know, that's a mandate, right?

We're believed, we're saved, we get baptized. I know people that don't think that's very important.

They got saved, they saved, but then they're like, yeah, baptism's not that important. It was very important for me.

I mean, it really signified that public declaration of who Christ was in my life through death, burial, and resurrection.

He read the scriptures, separates us from unbelievers. He preached to the poor, set the captives free, didn't he?

It's a beautiful thing. He called disciples to follow him. Do we do that? Do we ask other people to follow him?

He prayed all night. He taught about how to love. He sent his disciples on a journey to do the same thing.

I mean, we're making disciples, we're bringing those in. When you abide in Christ, you walk as he walked.

That's the beauty of it. And I think, I always use this analogy with my kids. It's like being under God's umbrella.

You know, there's a degree of safety there. Keeps us from harm, keeps us from trouble, because his ways are always the best and right ways.

So I would say examine your faith, examine your faith to see whether you are in him or not.

Should you be listening online or here in person, I would say something to each of you that you should examine your faith.

The reason being is that some of you think that you are saved and that you're not.

You examine your heart. And some that are here are saved and maybe have lost the passion that they have for the

Lord. And they need to be reminded that they actually are in the vine and that they are to bear good fruit.

2 Corinthians 13 .5 says this, test yourselves. Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith.

Examine yourselves or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test.

Some pretty powerful words. Examine your hearts to see whether you're in the faith.

Look inside yourself and ask the honest questions. Do I abide in Christ or am

I an imposter? Do I really have that true faith that really motivates me or am

I an imposter? Is my desire to bear fruit or am I just playing the game so others will think that I'm part of the vine?

See a lot of people out there doing that, don't we? People think they're saved, but the real test comes when you examine your heart against the scriptures and it proves out just as 1

John here is talking about. If we say that we are in him but don't follow after him, we're lying and the truth is not in us.

I would say today to examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith.

The reason why I bring this up a lot of times is because I think in America we see a weak gospel being presented.

So weak gospel presentations, so you lead to false conversions, don't they? And I've fallen into some of this trap when

I was really young. I didn't know how to present my faith the way that I needed to. Have you noticed that some of the presentations these days,

I mean, have you seen them? Just pray this prayer. Have you heard that?

Just pray this prayer. I always heard this one. Now with every eye closed, if you've accepted

Jesus, slip up your hand real quick. Oh yes, I see you over there. I see you. I mean, all these things

I think it's easy believism and it's not based on a true gospel presentation.

And this example I'm gonna present could be a lot of different places, but this one was on Jimmy Swigert's website.

I know he's definitely not the example for all things, but I think this typifies a gospel presentation that a lot of people actually emulate.

It goes like this. He has this right on his website. Dear Lord Jesus, I realize that I am a sinner and have broken your laws.

I understand that my sin has separated me from you. I am sorry and I ask you to forgive me.

I accept the fact that your son Jesus Christ died for me, was resurrected and is alive today and hears my prayers.

I now open my heart's door and invite Jesus in to become my Lord and my Savior. I give him control and ask that he would rule and reign in my heart so that his perfect will would be accomplished in my life.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. And then there's this little thing. Congratulations, if you prayed this prayer in all sincerity, you are now a child of God.

That's a terrible presentation of the gospel. That's easy believism.

That's a false assurance of salvation. And that approach really has led so many down a path of false conversion.

And that's really what we're trying to avoid is that false conversion. We're trying to give them the true gospel.

First John talks about that. The one who says unbelievers don't give a false assurance of salvation to those kinds of people.

And the one who does, the true believers. There's a contrast, isn't there, between the ones who actually do the will of God and out of a passion and a desire and a love for him and the ones that just say that they are in him.

Yeah, well, what

Peter was saying is what are some of the issues with the presentation there of this kind of a gospel presentation and what should we be highlighting here?

I mean, some of the issues I think is just you're praying a prayer without really asking for a heart change.

There's not a true grieving over your sin. I mean, there's definitely a worldly sin that says, hey,

I'm sorry about my sin. I'm sorry I got caught. But then there's that godly sorrow that drops you to your knees and you really view yourself before the

Lord as a broken individual that needs his grace and salvation. Repentance is truly a changing,

I mean, it's obviously your life character should be changing, there should be that.

I mean, there's a cost to following him. I mean, that's not being presented. If you're gonna follow Christ, I mean, there's definitely a cost and people need to know and be aware of that.

But didn't really highlight sin all that heavily, that we are sinners, we can't save ourselves.

We need a savior to do that. I mean, there's a lot that's wrong with this presentation. And I think as you read the scriptures, you start to see that clearer and clearer every day, that it is all

Christ. I don't just make a decision for him. He draws people to himself.

That's the beauty of it. We don't have anything in this. That's the nice part about it is that he draws us, he saves us, he grafts those into the vine that he wills and wants to.

And we are in humble adoration to him.

So that's, I hope that answers that question. I don't know. You're in his wrath.

Right. He is.

It's a good point. Set up for being available. Yeah, there's bad theology in that presentation of the gospel for Jimmy Swaggart.

There's no doubt about it. Exactly. Yeah, there's only one way to the father that's through the narrow gate.

Not all these other religions, is there? But the life that we live in Christ is not possible without abiding and walking in him.

That's the point of it. When times of need come, we draw our strength and we draw our direction from him and we don't rely on ourselves.

There are two kinds of people in the world. Those that are wholly devoted to Christ and those that are wholly devoted to themselves.

There's not much of a difference. The Bible doesn't tell us that we need to abide, but it doesn't just tell us that we need to abide, but also how to do that.

It's an instruction book. It gives us examples. It gives us insight on how to do that. Believers sin, of course, and we fall into all kinds of struggles, but we know that if we confess he is faithful and just, and it's not a pattern in our life to do this, to continue in sin, because even if we fall away, we can't fall away forever.

We will come back to him because we are in the vine. We remain in it.

Our role is to watch the fruit of the people around us. That's what John's saying. There's a difference of those who say and those who do.

We are watching for the fruit that is in their lives that bear out that they actually are a true believer.

I'm gonna read this Psalm real quick. Psalm 15 is very short. Oh Lord, who may abide in your tent?

Who may dwell in your holy hill? Who may be in your tabernacles? What he's saying. Who can be with God?

It only says he who walks with integrity and works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart.

He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend in whose eyes are reprobated, despised, but who honors those who fear the

Lord. He swears to his own hurt and does not change. He does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things will never be shaken. To abide with Christ, it's a beautiful thing.

We remain in him, but we actually show characteristics of who he is to the world and anybody that's watching.

Is there any questions? We're done now. I went over by a minute or two. Is there any thoughts that you wanna talk about?

We're good? All right, let's pray. Father, we praise your name. We thank you that you love us, that you care about us.

We just pray for your glory to be manifested in this. We give you the glory, I should say, for this service and being able to come to a place of worship, to sing songs of praise to you, to hear a sermon, to be able to think about the scriptures, to just read it, to digest it, to be all around it.

We just thank you that you love us. We thank you for the scriptures, the cross that has given us a way to salvation and a way to live our lives.

We just pray that we could glorify you with what we say and do in our lives every day. Lord, we just give you the praise now in Jesus' name.

Amen. ♪ Big seeds of praise ♪ ♪

The sunlight fills the skies ♪ ♪ Your goodness fills my life ♪ ♪

For all your precious gifts ♪ ♪ Receive my greatness ♪ ♪

Lord, drink the seas ♪ ♪ And fathom all your love ♪ ♪

Like a never ceasing stream ♪ ♪ Our mercy's through your son ♪ ♪

The death of Christ alone ♪ ♪ Deserves eternal song ♪ ♪

For such a love as his ♪ ♪ Receive my gratefulness ♪ ♪

No praise is high enough ♪ ♪ No thanks is deep enough ♪ ♪

No life is long enough to tell of all you've done ♪ ♪

No shout is loud enough ♪ ♪ No words are strong enough ♪ ♪

No song is sweet enough to sing your love ♪ ♪

I could sooner turn back time ♪ ♪

Than turn your heart away ♪ ♪ Though the years go fleeting by ♪ ♪

Your mercy's never changed ♪ ♪ Before you made the sign ♪ ♪

Your love was set on us ♪ ♪ For all your faithfulness ♪ ♪

Receive my gratefulness ♪ ♪ No praise is high enough ♪ ♪

No thanks is deep enough ♪ ♪ No life, no shout is loud enough ♪ ♪

Strong enough, no song is sweet enough to sing your love ♪ ♪

We've seen your faithfulness ♪ ♪

You brought us from the wilderness ♪ ♪

But now our faith is frail and weak ♪ ♪

Oh God of mercy, hear our plea ♪ ♪

Until the promised land ♪ ♪

I entomb you from deepest need ♪ ♪

Mercy, hear our plea ♪ ♪

Redeemer and strength until glory we see ♪ ♪

Our creation's longing grows ♪ ♪

To take your ransomed children home ♪ ♪

The God of mercy, hear our plea ♪ ♪

The God of mercy, hear our plea ♪ ♪

Until glory stands still ♪ ♪

To God be the things he has done ♪ ♪

So loves he the world that he gave us his son ♪ ♪

Who yielded his life on its own meant for sin ♪ ♪

And opened the life gate that chose us and made us ♪ ♪

The heirs of his name ♪ ♪ He justified freely his daughters and sons ♪ ♪

And gave us his spirit, the seal of his love ♪ ♪

Praise God for whom all blessings flow ♪ ♪ Through our savior

Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ He has raised us up to rejoice in great things ♪ ♪

He has given his life and sit with us now ♪ ♪

On his heavenly throne ♪ ♪ Through our savior

Jesus Christ ♪ ♪ He has raised his sons and he has done ♪ ♪

He has brought you in our savior's precious name ♪ ♪

We your children here assemble now ♪ ♪ Your promise, blessing claim ♪ ♪

From our sins his blood has washed us ♪ ♪ Now we can draw nigh of your spirit,

Abba Father ♪ ♪ Now we cry once as proud and cause we wonder ♪ ♪

What was all our need and what was all our need ♪ ♪ But your grace on sin abounding rescued us from misery ♪ ♪

You the prodigals have pardoned, kissed us with your love ♪ ♪

Spread the feast and now you've caught us ♪ ♪ Here to dwell with you,

Abba, here to dwell with you, Abba ♪ ♪

It is right grace and love, a soul in fasting glow ♪ ♪

Living word, us may be, loved us when we fell ♪ ♪

A mercy on our souls, and promised grace will come to save ♪ ♪

To loose this iron hold, you are our song from age to age ♪ ♪

Tonight to recount your praise again and again ♪ ♪

Father unto death, for us of sin and shame ♪ ♪

In joy and in sweet now bear your name ♪ ♪

And worship at your feet, to raise our steps ♪ ♪

Through tempests and through trials, our shepherd king ♪

The day is best, the tears now they're like Your steadfast love, our perfect hope

Our eyes are fixed on grace Us whole, tonight

This story has a faith ever strained to see

We'll one day feel our size We'll hold the saints, we'll wave your steed

And sing as all the heavenly trees out there sing

Good morning, and welcome to Kootenay Church on this beautiful fall

Sunday morning. Would you please stand as we sing this morning, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place.

My faith has found a resting place Not in device nor creed

I trust the ever -living One His wounds for me shall plead

I need no other argument I need no other plea

It is enough that Jesus died And that He died for me

Enough for me that Jesus saves This ends my fear and doubt

A sinful soul, I come to Him He'll never cast me out

I need no other argument I need no other plea

It is enough that Jesus died And that He died for me

My heart is leaning on the Word The written

Word of God Salvation by my Savior's name

Salvation through His blood I need no other argument

I need no other plea It is enough that Jesus died

And that He died for me My great possession heals the sick

The lost He came to save For me His precious blood

He shed For me His life He gave I need no other argument

I need no other plea It is enough that Jesus died

And that He died for me We're going to learn a new song this morning called

Christ Our Glory. It has Hebrews 11. So, Christ Our Glory.

Our rest is in heaven Our rest is not here

Then why should we tremble When trials draw near Be still and remember

The worst that can come But shortens our journey

And hastens us home Christ Our Glory Christ Our Hope Christ Our King Forevermore Be still and remember

The worst that can come But shortens our journey

And hastens us home No hour should be wasted

On seeking our joy And placing our hope

In what will be destroyed We look for a city

That hands have not raised We long for a country

That sin has not stained Christ Our Glory Christ Our Hope Christ Our King Forevermore We look for a city

That hands have not raised We long for a country

That sin has not stained Though trouble and anguish

Increase all the more They cannot compare

To the glory in store Come joy or come sorrow

Whatever befalls The light of the

Savior Will outshine them all

Christ Our Glory Christ Our Hope Christ Our King Forevermore Christ Our Glory Christ Our Hope Christ Our King Forevermore Christ Our Glory Christ Our Hope Christ Our King Forevermore Come joy or come sorrow

Whatever befalls The light of the

Savior Will outshine them all

In recent weeks, when Jim is preached, you've heard him quote the psalmist David. When he talks about his sin, and he says in Psalm 130, 3 and 4,

If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you

That you may be feared. We're going to end this first set this morning on a song we learned a few months ago called,

Have Mercy on Me. I am a sinner

No blame this Lord My sins against you

Can't be ignored They will be punished

I know they must Your law demanded

For you are judged If you could count

Everything that I've done wrong

Who could stand? But there's forgiveness with you,

God Have mercy on me Have mercy on me

A broken and a cut right heart You won't turn away

Have mercy on me Have mercy on me

Because of your steadfast love

Father of mercy You gave your son

To make atonement For wrongs

I have done What you require

Jesus will fill I don't deserve it

And I never will If you would count

Everything that I've done wrong Who could stand?

But there's forgiveness with you, God Have mercy on me

Have mercy on me A broken and a cut right heart

You won't turn away Have mercy on me

Have mercy on me Because of your steadfast love

Have mercy on me Have mercy on me

A broken and a cut right heart You won't turn away

Have mercy on me Have mercy on me

Because of your steadfast love

Because of your steadfast love

And it shouldn't be that way this coming Saturday, but so if you missed it, and you think, well that was my one chance to impress

Jim by being at the membership class, you have another chance this next weekend on Saturday. So you can still come to that class even if you were scheduled to come yesterday.

And that's this next Saturday starting at 10 a .m. And then there's announcements regarding the Harvest Dinner and Reformation Night celebration in your bulletin, so I'd just turn your attention to that.

Romans chapter 4 is our Scripture reading. I'm going to read together this entire chapter, this describes justification by faith and argues that Abraham was justified on the basis of faith and faith alone, not by works, because his justification, his being declared righteous, happened before he was ever circumcised, and therefore justification or faith is not connected to human works, it is apart from human works.

That is what Paul is going to say here in Romans 4. Romans chapter 4, and we'll read together the entire passage. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has nothing to boast about, but not before God.

He has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed

God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom

God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered.

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account. Is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised also?

For we say faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it credited?

While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised, and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father

Abraham, which he had while uncircumcised. For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is nullified. For the law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there is also no violation.

For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, a father of many nations

I have made you, in the presence of him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.

In hope, against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which has been spoken.

So shall your descendants be. Without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb, yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what

God had promised, he was able also to perform. Therefore, it was also credited to him as righteousness.

Now, not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited as those who believe in him who raised

Jesus our Lord from the dead. He who was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification.

Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.

Our Father, apart from your grace, we are hopeless and helpless sinners, lost in our sin and our unrighteousness.

We are wicked and depraved without any hope, without God in this world. Apart from your grace, we have no ability to repent of our sin, to believe the gospel, to change our natures, to do anything that is pleasing to you, for the law only condemns us, and it calls for our execution and for judgment upon us because we have violated every tenant and every command of your holy word.

And so, we would stand before you apart from Christ, guilty, undone, hopeless, helpless, and condemned and deserving of all of your wrath.

But as your people, we thank you and praise you that by your grace, you have not counted our sins against us, but instead, by grace and through faith, you have declared us, as believers in Jesus Christ, as righteous.

And you have taken away our sin and given us an imperishable and incorruptible righteousness that is not ours and is not according to our works.

It is credited to us on the basis of faith. And we thank you that we are among those who are the faithful descendants of Abraham, that you have given us the faith to believe, that you have done the work in our hearts to bring us to salvation in Jesus Christ.

We give you glory and thanks for so great a salvation that the weight of our sin has been lifted, that we have been not only forgiven, but also made righteous through your

Son. And we pray for any who are here who have never trusted Christ, that they may see you and come to faith in Jesus Christ, see their need as guilty sinners before a just and holy law and come in repentant faith to the

Savior who is able to save all who come to Him through faith. We praise you and ask your blessing upon our time of fellowship and worship, our reflection upon these great truths and many more this morning.

May you be honored through us as your people, your church, be glorified, we pray in Christ's name.

O great God of highest heaven, Occupy my lowly heart,

Own it all and reign supreme, Conquer every rebel power,

Let no vice or sin remain That resists your holy war.

You have loved and purchased me, Make me yours forevermore.

I was blinded by my sin, Had no ears to hear your voice,

Did not know your love within, Had no taste for heaven's joys.

Then your Spirit gave me life, Opened up your word to me.

Through the gospel of your Son, Gave me endless hope and peace.

Help me now to live a life That's dependent on your grace.

Keep my heart and guard my soul From the evils that I face.

You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and need.

O great God of highest heaven, Glorify your name through me.

You are worthy to be praised With my every thought and need.

O great God of highest heaven, Glorify your name through me.

But the righteous will live by faith. We will trust

God's word alone Where his perfect will is known

Our traditions shift like sand While his truth forever stands

We will live by faith alone Loved and married, not our own

All we claim is Jesus Christ And his finished sacrifice

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Through the church that he redeemed And made his own

He has freed us, he will keep us Till we're safely home

Glory be, glory be to God alone

We are saved by grace alone Undeserved yet freely shown

No accomplishment on earth Can achieve the second birth

We will stand on Christ alone The unyielding cornerstone

Nations rage and devils roar Still he reigns forevermore

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Through the church that he redeemed And made his own

He has freed us, he will keep us Till we're safely home

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Glory be, glory be to God alone

Through the church that he redeemed

And made his own He has freed us, he will keep us

Till we're safely home Glory be, glory be to God alone

You may be seated. And now will you please turn to Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews chapter 11. It's not going to take you but a moment to find that since it will fall open to Hebrews chapter 10 and you can just look across the page.

So let's bow our heads. Father, we would ask your blessing upon our study this morning and that you would open our eyes and our hearts, that they may be eyes and hearts of faith.

That you would teach us this morning what faith is and how we are to walk in faith and to live in faith.

Teach us the benefits of faith and we pray that our time here in this chapter might serve to honor and glorify you and that you would sanctify this time for your own purposes and glory and that you would bless it with and by your grace.

We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. I want to begin by saying I'm very grateful to Dave and Gordy for preaching for me while I was out of the pulpit the last couple of weeks.

We are blessed to have men who are able to handle the word of God with faithfulness and truth and doing what they do in filling in is more difficult than the type of preaching that I do because they just step in and do one sermon and it's more difficult when you're not doing it every week to just go back into a passage that you were in four or five months ago and to try and pick up where you were at and carry that theme along.

That is more difficult. So I'm grateful for the extra work that they did in doing that. And Dave managed to preach without stepping all over my sermons and repeating what

I've said. So kudos to him for that. And kudos to him for mentoring Gordy to do his dirty work for him.

I didn't see that coming. So Gordy ended up stepping all over instead which is, I guess that's just the way it is.

Gordy did a great job of sort of bridging the transition between Hebrews 10 and Hebrews 11 which we're starting this morning.

Hebrews 11 is one of the better known chapters in the book of Hebrews because it is sometimes referred to as the faith hall of fame.

And it is remarkable and singularly unique for a number of reasons many of which we're going to get to this morning and many of which we will get to in the weeks that are ahead.

It is referred to as the faith chapter and it is similar to what 1 Corinthians does with the subject of love.

So what 1 Corinthians 13 is to the subject of love Hebrews 11 is to the subject of faith.

Hebrews 13 or sorry, 1 Corinthians 13 is referred to as the love chapter. You kind of have a definition of love, illustrations of love, examples of love, an explanation of what love is.

We have the same thing here in Hebrews 11 with the subject of faith. We have a definition of faith and then an explanation of what faith is and what faith looks like.

And then there are these numerous examples of faith in action and in life through all of the

Old Testament illustrations that are given there. And we're going to see in the weeks ahead that the biblical definition of faith is vastly different than what the world considers faith to be.

And it is vastly different than what our culture regards faith to be. Our culture and our world, unbelievers have a certain idea of what faith is and it is entirely wrong what they think faith is.

They use the term faith, but as Gordy mentioned last week, they pour into that term an entirely different meaning than Scripture does when it speaks of faith.

So Hebrews 11 is also going to show us that unfortunately many well -meaning but misguided

Christians also have an inadequate view of faith. I think that if you were to poll

Christians writ large across the country, not necessarily in this church, but just people who claim to be Christians in churches all across America, you would get a definition of faith that is more in keeping with what the world thinks faith is than what the

Bible describes faith actually to be. And our study over the next few weeks is going to contrast biblical faith with the world's definition, the culture's idea, and even sometimes

Christian misconceptions of what faith is. Hebrews chapter 11 has been called the heroes of faith, the honor roll of the

Old Testament, saints. How many of you were ever on the honor roll in school? I didn't raise my hand for a reason.

My wife is up here quietly raising her hand. That's why she did the schooling and I did not for the kids.

The honor roll of Old Testament saints, it has been called the Westminster Abbey of Scripture. Hebrews 11 has been called the

Saints Hall of Fame or even the Faith Hall of Fame. You take a stroll through Hebrews chapter 11, we are getting a chronological and historical journey through the

Old Testament, stopping as it were at many of the main characters and significant people and places and times of Old Testament history to see faith on display.

I like to call it the Faith Hall of Fame and you've heard me refer to it as that way a couple of times in recent weeks. A little bit of an aside, back at the end of March to the beginning of April, I made a trip,

Deidre and I did, with some friends out to Cincinnati, Ohio and then Cleveland, Ohio and I was asked to come out and participate in a project and do some work on something out there so we took a couple of extra days and went to Cincinnati and saw the

Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter and then we drove up to Cleveland where I was supposed to do this work and we had an afternoon and we were within an hour of Canton, Ohio which is the

Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It has been a dream of mine as long as I've been following football which is since I was 10 years old to be able to go to the

Pro Football Hall of Fame. I've watched the induction ceremonies and I've read up on stuff and visit the website to actually be able to go out and to walk through the

Hall of Fame was itself quite a treat. We did that one afternoon, it was kind of later in the afternoon and we got to go there.

I was giddy about being able to walk through the nostalgia of it and see the paraphernalia and be reminded of things that I've forgotten about and be reminded of things that nobody could ever forget about.

I was really looking forward to it. And we got there after we paid our entrance fee to get into the Hall of Fame. We were getting ready to walk into the exhibit hall and there was an older gentleman there who was approaching retirement age or he was maybe past retirement age.

He obviously worked for the Hall of Fame. His job was to welcome everybody that came there and answer any questions that you might have and direct you to where you should go, how to enter the exhibit hall.

He walked up and he greeted us and he said, greetings, welcome to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Where are you folks from?

I said, we're from Sandpoint, Idaho up in the Pacific Northwest. He said, oh, do you all have a favorite football team that you cheer for?

I said, I actually do. I cheer for the San Francisco 49ers. It's been my favorite football team since I was 10 years old.

I have watched football and it is something of a novelty for me and I'm excited to be here since half of the people in the

Hall of Fame have played for my team, which is something of an overstatement. And he kind of chuckled and he said, yeah, there are a lot of 49ers in here.

And then without really thinking about it, I said, so what's your favorite team? And as soon as I asked that question,

I had pop into my mind this sort of Rolodex of football insults that I could pull out depending on what team he said that he would cheer for.

I just had them kind of all at the same time pop into my mind. And I didn't suppress the urge at all to say something and he said, well, for instance

I'll give you some examples of what popped into my head. If he had said I'm a

New England Patriots fan, I would have said, oh, are there Patriots players in the Hall of Fame who got in without cheating?

That's what I was prepared to say. No, it gets better. If he had said

I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan, then I was prepared to say the Cowboys who were inducted into the

Hall of Fame, did they get out of prison on work release long enough to make it to the induction ceremony? Or if he had said

I am a Seattle Seahawks fan, you know I was going there, right? If he had said I was a

Seattle Seahawks fan, then I would have said to him, oh, I didn't realize that the bandwagon came out this far east.

But instead, and I should have expected this, he said, I'm a Cleveland Browns fan. And I said, of course. We're an hour outside of Cleveland.

Who else would work at the Pro Football Hall of Fame except for a Cleveland Browns fan? So I said, I guess I should have expected that.

And then, before I had a chance to second guess the wisdom of my next sentence, my brain flipped through the

Rolodex of insults, the type of insults that you just banter back and forth with friends like I've just been doing, and it pulled out the

Cleveland Browns card, and I said to him, so tell me, what is it like working in the Football Hall of Fame when nobody from your team is in it?

Now, as soon as I heard those words come off of my lips, I had the exact same reaction that you just had.

Oh, and I thought to myself, Jim, he doesn't know you. You have never had a conversation with the guy.

He is a complete stranger. He has done nothing to deserve this, except welcome you to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and you treat him as if he is

Mel Jensen and you're joking about his team and trying to get in digs back and forth. This is the type of stuff that we say amongst our family, but I could tell from the look on his face that two things were true.

Number one, that was a bridge way too far. I had crossed it and burned it behind me.

And number two, this guy was never going to forget me. His countenance changed instantly.

Now, fortunately, he led us into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and I understand that was a long walk for a short drink of water, but here's the drink of water.

When he got into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, since football is 100 years old, the Hall of Fame is laid out according to decades.

So you take this walking tour through this series of exhibits and it's quite long as you go decade by decade one after another from the beginning of football all the way to the end.

You see a lot of the paraphernalia and media stories and you see trivia and you just walk through history.

100 years of football history. It was neat to get up into the time that I was more familiar with, the 1980s and 90s, and to enjoy some of that.

And then when you get done with the walking tour through history, you walk into the room where you've seen all of the copper busts that they make of the players when they induct them into the

Hall of Fame. There's a room that is bigger than this room here, and it's a big semicircular wall like this, and it has all of the busts lined up,

I think in the order that they were inducted into the Hall of Fame, on one wall that would encircle at least four of the walls in this room, and then there's a whole other wall that they've started heading their way down to.

And as you're walking past all of those busts, I got to be reminded of players that I had forgotten, players that you could never forget, players that are very familiar to me, other players that I had heard a little bit about, and as I got to see each one of them and when they were inducted and who they played for, it just reminded me of all of these significant figures.

Now, here's the parallel. In Hebrews chapter 11, we have the exact same thing. Both a chronological tour of the

Old Testament, as well as a series of busts that the author brings out for us, some of whom we're very familiar with, others like Barak and Jephthah and Samson, unless you went through Ms.

Diane's Sunday School class, you're probably less familiar with some of those players. But we get a chronological grouping of the

Old Testament saints in order, and he brings up various saints and various heroes of the faith, this

Hall of Fame, these characters who lived according to faith, obeyed God in faith, and are notable for that reason.

That is what we have in Hebrews chapter 11. So now that we are there, we're going to, I'm going to give you a couple of, well,

I'm going to give you a warning right now. We are going to get through the whole chapter, but it's not going to be the only time we're going to go through the whole chapter.

We're going to go through the whole chapter today at 30 ,000 feet, as it were, to see the broad strokes of this, and I want you to be able to sort of get an idea of the entire context of this chapter.

We're going to see some of the main players, some of the main ideas, some of the main themes, and what we can learn from the chapter in general.

We're going to do that this morning, and then next week, we're going to get out of the plane at 30 ,000 feet and go down, and we're going to walk through beginning again at verse 1 and look at some of these saints in much more detail.

But before we go through the passage, let me give you two very general observations. First, we're going to read the word faith a lot in Hebrews chapter 11.

A lot. In fact, it occurs 26 times in this chapter alone. This is not even to mention chapter 10, the end of chapter 10, which also describes faith, but just in Hebrews chapter 11, the word faith occurs 26 times.

19 of those we read the words by faith. Three times, we read in faith or through faith. Three times, we just read of faith.

And then once, there is a reference to faithfulness. And in that occasion, it is actually referring to God, who is faithful to do what

He has promised. The word faith and faithful are related in Greek, just like they are related in English. So, the author is using various constructions to describe faith, by faith, through faith, in faith, just faith, faithfulness.

That is the emphasis in the main theme of chapter 11. Second, I don't want you to forget that we are right on the heels of the warning chapter that is at the end of chapter 10.

Remember, that warning chapter ends with a discussion of faith. A quotation from Hebrews chapter 2, verse 4, that the just shall live by faith.

Then that reference in verse 39, we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

So, that is how chapter 10 ends, and I don't want you to let the chapter division, sort of, the chapter denotation there, make a division in your own mind in this material.

He has just described for us the role that faith has in preserving those who believe that it is an enduring faith, it is a gift of faith, it is something that those true believers have, it is the mark of genuine

Christianity. Those who shrink back to destruction, shrink back to destruction because they do not have true and genuine faith.

But the faith that saves, preserves us to the end, all the way through the preservation of our soul. That is the idea.

So, we are not, when we get into chapter 11, we are going to see themes that we have seen in chapter 10.

This is not the first time we read about faith or the effects of faith. There are other themes that we also have in chapter 11 like reproach and reward and faithfulness in the midst of hostility and enduring to the end, living and dying in faith, obedience and perseverance.

These themes are all woven through chapter 11 because they were part of the warning passage at the end of chapter 10. So, he has implored for us to have faith, he has encouraged us to have faith and described it a little bit at the end of chapter 10 and now in chapter 11, he is really going to drill down on what this faith looks like and how this faith preserves us and keeps us in the midst of a hostile and hateful world that opposes us at every turn.

And that is really going to be one of the main lessons as we work our way through. So, let's get an overview now of Hebrews chapter 11.

We are going to read the chapter, not in one stop but in a few verses and we will comment and we will just note some things as we work our way through this entire chapter.

Beginning in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

For by it, that is by faith, the men of old gained approval. We have in verse 1 a definition of faith.

It is one of the most memorable and oft quoted verses in all of the book of Hebrews. Certainly one of the most memorable and oft quoted in Hebrews chapter 11.

It is the biblical definition of faith. It is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction or the confidence of things that are not yet seen.

In verse 2, we have a commendation of faith and a reminder that the men of old through faith gained approval and this indicates to us that the author is now going to go back and begin to discuss some of the men of old who gained approval through their faith.

He is going to take us back in history into the Old Testament times and he is going to give us a chronological tour of the men and sometimes women who gained approval with God through the faith that he has been describing.

Hebrews chapter 11, 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.

Now there he is not describing somebody who had faith in the Old Testament and don't be confused and think that by faith

God created the world. God didn't create the world by faith. That's not an action that God did. God doesn't need faith.

God doesn't possess faith. So God didn't create by faith but he is saying that we going all the way back to creation we believe at the very beginning of the book of Genesis that God made the entire world and everything that is out of things that were not yet and things that were not even seen.

So that's a reference to creation. So he is taking us in verse 3 all the way back to creation. So it's as if we were beginning back in Genesis 1, verse 1 right at the beginning of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame. You're right in the foyer and there is a car there. This represents the birth of professional football since people sat around in a car lot on this car and birthed the idea of football.

So now we are going back to Genesis 1, 1. The creation of all things and now we are going to start a chronological tour through Old Testament history.

The first character Abel in verse 4. 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. 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.

Notice the reference there to pleasing with God being gaining God's approval. That was in verse 2, remember? Verse 6 and without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

That is another one of the most oft quoted and familiar verses in Hebrews chapter 11. Without faith it is impossible to please

God. It describes there the necessity of faith, the centrality of faith in the life of those who are pleasing to God.

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.

In those first 7 verses we have gone through Genesis 1 chapters 1 -9 and we have hit the highlights of faithful men a lineage of faith.

Abel, Enoch, Noah coming to verse 6 he tells us of the centrality of faith, the necessity of faith in pleasing

God. Notice the reference to Enoch pleasing God that is the same idea that we read in verse 2 about those who gained

God's approval through their faith. And very quickly then in this chapter we come to Abraham and he camps on Abraham for a bit beginning in verse 8.

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.

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 descendants as the stars of heaven in number and innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore.

All these died in faith without receiving the promises but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and 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 them. By faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.

It was he to whom it was said in Isaac your descendants shall be called. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead from which he also received him back as a type.

That is a long paragraph that describes the faith of Abraham and you can probably see from that some of the references in that song that we sang with Josh this morning.

The references to a city whose maker and builder is God a city, a nation, a land, the promises dying without receiving those promises.

It is interesting that this is the longest single example that the author provides in Hebrews chapter 11.

All of the other patriarchs other than Moses are brief references to either what they did or how they lived or what

God did through them but this is the longest example that he provides. He races through Abel and Enoch and Noah and then he comes to Abraham and he hits the brakes and he camps on Abraham and I think that there is a significant reason for that.

One of them being that there is a lot that is connected to Abraham. You have the Abrahamic covenant an unconditional covenant that God made with his people and with Abraham the details of which have yet to be fulfilled in this world and that unconditional covenant being connected to Abraham obviously affects not just the

Jewish nation but also the nations of the entire world. So when you get to Abraham suddenly you have the expanding of the scope of God's intention in his redemption and in his covenant plans and you get glimpses of Abraham being a father to many nations and his descendants being as numerous as the seashore.

We get into Romans chapter 4 and Paul says that those of us who are not just under the law but those of us who are by faith are also children of Abraham.

So we consider Abraham our father as a faith father. So we have Abraham now standing as a father in the way of the law with the

Jews and physically to the Jewish nation but also as a faith father to all who follow in the steps of Abraham and believe

God as Abraham did. So he comes to a screeching halt at Abraham in order to camp on that and show us all the various lessons from the life of Abraham.

Abraham believed God and left his land. He believed God and left the comforts and conveniences of his own land, went out and lived in a tent not even knowing where he was going being promised a land that he had never seen occupied by people that he could not conquer or kick out of the land.

He was promised descendants that he had never seen and Abraham died without ever seeing the fulfillment of the promises that God made to him.

He trusted God for a land. He trusted God for his offspring and he trusted God even though God told him sacrifice your only son

Isaac. That's an interesting account and we're going to spend some time camping on that and the significance of it the typology of it when we get to that.

The other patriarchs are also mentioned that are attached to Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Isaac. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 20,

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau even regarding things to come. By faith Jacob as he was dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning on the top of his staff.

By faith Joseph when he was dying made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.

So we have Isaac and Jacob and Esau and Joseph all of which did things in faith, all of which had things happen to them and were blessed in faith by their patriarchs.

So we get to the end of verse 22 and we've reached the end of the book of Genesis in our tour. We're halfway through this chapter and we've only gone through the book of Genesis.

Notice the references in verses 20 and 22 to dying. Abraham died never receiving the promise.

Jacob died never receiving the promise. Joseph died in Egypt never receiving the promise. All of these men died, lived and then died in faith.

And then next up is Moses beginning of verse 23. By faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that he was a beautiful child.

That's the faith of Moses' parents, not Moses' faith. He was a baby. It wasn't his faith that was operative but his parents' faith.

And they were not afraid of the king's edict. Verse 24 By faith Moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. For he was looking to the reward.

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. For he endured as seeing him who was unseen. By faith he kept the

Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land and the Egyptians when they attempted it were drowned.

Now Moses is the second longest example from the Old Testament. Abraham and Moses. He scurries through the other

Old Testament saints he gets to Abraham and he stops there, parks on Abraham, describes Abraham's faith and life and all the incidences from the life and faithfulness of Abraham that are worth emulating.

And then he skips over Jacob and Isaac and Joseph and there's certainly a lot of things that they did in faith.

He kind of bounces past those and then he comes to Moses and slows down, hits the brakes as it were again stops and camps on Moses.

Why Abraham and Moses? What do those two men have in common?

Covenants. Abraham an unconditional covenant regarding a land, a people and a promised

Messiah. Moses a conditional covenant that dealt with the people in the land and for preparation for a

Messiah. Those two men to whom God gave covenants and who were in a sense mediators of those covenants and involved in those covenants.

The author is camping on those two significant historical figures. Why? Abraham being the father, the patriarch of the entire nation of Israel.

The one to whom every Jew would go back in his lineage and to whom as believing Gentiles we point back to as the example of a faith that is imputed to us as righteousness.

We point to Abraham as well. But then he stops on Moses who was the mediator of the old covenant.

The old covenant that the author of Hebrews has spent the last ten chapters arguing has passed away and is no more.

So he stops with that covenant to deal with Moses to show that even in terms of Moses' life with that transitory and temporary covenant the old covenant that has passed away faith was operative in his life and faith was operative in the life of Abraham as well.

So those two men have the most real estate devoted to their lives of faith in Hebrews chapter 11 in contrast to all of the others.

Moses' parents are mentioned here. Notice Moses' acts of faith. He turned his back on Egypt which meant its wealth, its reputation its status, its position.

His acceptance with all of the hoi polloi of society. Moses turned his back on that. He left

Egypt and he was associated with the people of God saying as the author of Hebrews does that he considered the reproach of Christ as greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.

Moses understood something about Christ in his expression of faith when he walked away from Egypt.

He obeyed the Passover, he obeyed and kept the law, mediated the law, he went through the Red Sea. Now we come to the end of verse 29 and we've only gotten through the

Pentateuch. Now we're at the book of Joshua which is where verse 30 begins.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

So now we're into the book of Joshua. We're getting towards the end of this chapter and you think man you need to speed it up a bit. You say this in my preaching all the time, you need to speed it up a bit.

This is what we say to the author of Hebrews. You've got a lot of folks to go through. We've only made it through the first six books of the

Old Testament and you have already filled us with examples of faith. Joshua is the one who is though not mentioned is obviously in view in verse 30 when he references the walls of Jericho falling down and then there is

Rahab in verse 31 Rahab the harlot. Now she is something of an anomaly in this chapter so far isn't she?

Why is that? It's not because she's a woman. She's not the first woman mentioned. Remember Sarah was already mentioned earlier in connection with Abraham.

It's not the fact that she is a woman that makes her unique in this chapter. What makes Rahab unique is a number of things.

First of all, the author mentions it. She is a harlot. Don't let that escape your notice.

She sits kind of outside the stream of the faithful, obedient, righteous, godly men that we've been examining so far.

Doesn't she? Abel and Enoch and Noah and then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua.

Oh and a harlot. You kind of stop and it should strike you. If you weren't familiar with it it would kind of strike you.

A harlot. And not just a harlot but here's a woman who is outside of the lineage of Abraham who was a member of a idol -worshipping nation that was dwelling in the land whom

God was going to command the children of Israel to go in and to wipe out and cleanse the land of all of them and destroy them.

She did something by faith. She stands out amongst all of the people in the land of Canaan as a singular example of someone outside of the lineage of Abraham and outside of the godly lineage that we read of in the first five books of the

Old Testament. She stands out as somebody who is outside of all of that and yet has faith. And she is a

Gentile. So if any Jew were reading this and he thought, yeah of course this is my godly lineage. I trace it all the way back to Abel through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.

That's my lineage. Those are my guys. Those are my peeps. Rahab, the harlot.

See this kind of faith that we're talking about in Hebrews chapter 11 is not just for Jews and it's not just for the outwardly righteous.

If Rahab, a harlot, can have faith and be made acceptable to God and please

God, then every person in this room can be made acceptable to God and be pleasing to God on the basis of faith as well.

Because I promise you Rahab did nothing deserving of God's favor or His pleasure.

Nothing. But here she stands. Then, like a typical preacher, beginning in verse 32, what more shall

I say? For time will fail me. I'm out of time. I wish I could go through the rest of Joshua and the book of Judges and 1

Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles and give you the list of all the prophets and name each one individually in this long godly lineage filling the nation of Israel with men and women of remarkable and unique faith.

But I'm running out of time. I've got to get to some other stuff. So he says, time will fail me if I tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah of David and Samuel and the prophets.

He's just rattling off names. He starts by rattling off names and then he's just rattling off a group of people. You can tell that he's trying to speed up towards the end, but he's beginning to call to our mind judges from Israel's past as well as prophets.

Judges would include Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David was a king,

Samuel also being a judge, and then all of the prophets. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Obadiah, Jonah, Joel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, Haggai, Habakkuk, all of those

Old Testament prophets that are at the end of your Bible. What about Elijah and Elisha as well? They fit way back in the biblical chronology back at the times of the kings and they didn't write a book.

They're included in the lineage as well. It's just this whole group of people. Time fails and notice that some of these people are well known to us.

David, Samuel, Gideon probably a little bit more well known. Anybody here other than somebody who's gone through Ms.

Diane's class feel comfortable telling me all about Barak and Jephthah? Less well known to you?

Do you have any idea why they're included in the Faith Hall of Fame? Walking through the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I read names that I didn't even recognize.

I thought, I have no idea why this guy's in here. A couple of Seahawks players, I said, I have no idea why this guy's in here.

Might have recognized the name but the achievement's less than stellar. Verse 33,

These men who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, so now he's moved from describing individual people in rapid fire and moved from just describing a group of people, the prophets, now he's just describing the acts or the works or the events that surrounded these kinds of people.

They by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. That's glorious, truthful, beautiful, right? What an encouragement.

And others were tortured. What? Not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection.

And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they went about in sheep skins, in goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, ill -treated, and one of my favorite phrases in all of Hebrews chapter 11, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Men of whom the world is not worthy. What is the world's perspective on the list of names and events that we just went through?

What's the world's perspective on that? The world's perspective is that those men are not worthy to appear in any hall of fame.

That is the off -scourgings of society. Those are the rejects. Those are the fools who wasted their lives standing for and believing something foolish.

Those men are not worthy to be compared to us. That's what the world would say. And here's God's assessment.

The men that we have just read about and the women that we have just read about, they are people of whom the world is not worthy.

You take all of the people in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, the Baseball Hall of Fame, the

Hockey Hall of Fame, the Cornhole Hall of Fame, every other hall of fame on the planet, you group them all together, lump in all of the people who have served in the highest offices of our land, in Congress, in the

Supreme Court, and all of the presidents, and then you throw onto that all of the mayors and governors who have ever lived, and then every last celebrity who has appeared in a movie or a television commercial or a

TV series that you have loved and adored growing up. Put all of them in all of that one mix.

All of them together. Group all of them together. And that whole mass of humanity, as much as they are loved by the world, is not worthy to be compared with even one person who is on this list who ended their life in faith.

That is God's assessment. These are men of whom the world is not worthy.

Roaming about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, ill -treated, suffering, hated by the world.

These are men who are more glorious than anything that the world has to offer. Hebrews 11, verse 39, and all these, we get to the end of this list, all of these, the men who did this, the groups of men and women who did this, all of these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised.

Because God has provided something better for us, so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect. Notice the reference again in verse 39, to them gaining approval through faith.

Remember verse 2? For by it the men of old gained approval. So that idea of gaining

God's approval at the beginning of the chapter and at the end of the chapter are like brackets. See, these people are notable because their faith gained them

God's approval. God approved of them, and it is through faith that they did these things. They were pleasing to God because they had the faith that God demands.

That's the point of the chapter. That functions as brackets around the entire list.

Verse 40 tells us that this list is incomplete. And look again at verse 40, because God has provided, they died in faith, right?

And having never received the promises, they did not receive the promise because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect.

This list is not complete. And these men are not complete. Why is that?

There's something else to be added to this list. Not just everybody else who has ever lived and died in faith, having never received the promises, but who else belongs on this list?

You do. That apart from us, they would not be made perfect. Because you see, the faith that he is describing in Hebrews chapter 11 is the same faith that he is commending to us to have in God as well.

And it is faith in the same God. It is faith in the same reward. It is faith that has the same end, that is the preserving of our soul.

It is the faith that does the same thing, which is enduring all the way to the end. And we are trusting and waiting for the fulfillment of the same promises that Abraham was waiting for, many of them.

These Old Testament saints are still waiting in heaven for the fulfillment of some of these promises. And we are being added to this list.

When we live our lives and die in faith and in faithfulness, we are going to be made perfect with them.

Let me tell you something. When God fulfills every last promise he has made to Abraham and to David, when

God fulfills every last promise that he has made to them, we are going to be included in that. We receive all of those blessings as well.

That is what it means to be incorporated into all the blessings of the new covenant. Apart from us, the fulfillment is not going to come.

He is waiting, God is waiting, and by faith we are included into these promises so that we enjoy the fulfillment of them as well.

Apart from us, they are not made perfect. Now let me give you a few observations here from Hebrews chapter 11.

First, when we read through Hebrews chapter 11, we are going to notice this as we work our way through. One thing we learn is that we can read the

Old Testament with an eye to faith. And when I say that, I don't mean that we read the Old Testament in light of the new in such a way that we reinterpret the

Old Testament in a way that nobody who had ever read the Old Testament prior to the coming of Christ would have ever understood. That is not what

I am suggesting. I am not saying that we take a New Testament lens and reinterpret and refigure the Old Testament according to that.

That is not what I am suggesting. What I am saying is that when we read the Old Testament, we ought to understand that these men and women who lived and died in faith, faith was the operative principle all the way back then.

We read of their accomplishments. We read of these great men and women. We need to understand that these men and women did what they did and lived as they lived in faith.

The faith was the operative principle back then as well, and it always has been. Men are always credited with righteousness.

Men are always saved on the basis of faith, not on the basis of works. So it is wrong to look at the Old Testament and say those people, those men and women gained approval by God by obeying the law or keeping

His demands or doing something that merited His favor or His pleasure. No, that has never been the case because the

Old Testament saints were no more able to keep the law or merit God's favor on their own behalf than you and I are.

We cannot merit God's favor. We must operate on the basis of faith. We must be made acceptable to God on the basis of faith and faith alone and never on the basis of works.

It is the same thing in the Old Testament. So as we read through the Old Testament, we ought to be looking at these men and women and realizing these men and women are men and women who believed

God and it was credited to them as righteousness, just like Abraham. They simply trusted God. These are not men and women who are greater than we are.

They weren't made acceptable to God on the basis of obedience to the law. Second, appearing in this list does not mean that these men and women are without fault.

Need I remind you that there is a harlot on this list. Sometimes it's easy when we are thinking of our heroes and referring to our heroes to minimize and even ignore all the bad things that they did and then overemphasize all the good things that they did.

To forget all the stuff that should cloud our memory of them and make us have a reality check and then to overemphasize all the good stuff that we can remember that they did.

That's how we treat our heroes typically. This list should remind us that these men and women on this list are broken people desperately in need of grace, just like you and I are broken people desperately in need of grace.

These are not men and women cut from a different cloth than you and I are. They're no less fallen. They're no less sinners.

They're no less wicked and depraved. They were no less in bondage to their sin than you and I have been in bondage to our sin before we were delivered by the grace of Christ.

Don't forget the brackets around this, that these men and women gained approval with God through faith. And that is what God calls us to.

And third, the point of Hebrews chapter 11 is actually not even stated in Hebrews chapter 11.

It's actually in the first few verses of the next chapter. Look at chapter 12. Beginning of verse 1. That's the conclusion, right?

He's made an argument. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, who is the crowd of witnesses? All the people we've just read about.

Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with, now watch the repetition of this idea, endurance.

The race that is set before us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

What is the point of Hebrews chapter 11? You and I are to look at this list of the Hebrews in the

Hall of Faith, Hall of Fame, and we are to gain from that a certain level of courage and endurance.

We are to look to Jesus who did the same thing. He endured the reproach of hostile and evil sinners. And for the joy set was before Him, He endured all of that.

Endured the cross, despising His shame, has received the reward of sitting down at the Father's right hand. You and I likewise will be called to endure the hostility of sinners, to someday receive the reward, and join

Him at the Father's right hand. So He becomes the example of this. Now that means that the point of Hebrews chapter 11 is not to be found in all of the many wrong interpretations that people typically give to this chapter.

And I'll give you an example of a few that I'll highlight in the weeks to come, but I want to make you aware of them at this point.

Here's the way that Hebrews chapter 11 might be typically handled by preachers today.

They would say that the point of Hebrews chapter 11 is that with faith you can be a hero too. With faith you can be a hero too.

Yeah, I mean you look at Abraham and Noah and Moses, Gideon, Samson was strong.

Took down the pillars. Do you want to be a hero to your wife? Do you want to be a hero to your kids? Do you want to be a hero in your community?

Do you want to be a hero in your church? You just need to have faith. And if you have faith, you can be a hero too. It's a sermon that Joel Osteen would preach.

I would do it with his accent, but after I did that a few weeks ago, Justin Peters called me up and he said, your Joel Osteen impression needs a lot of work.

Don't do that again. Second, a wrong interpretation is that with faith you can do miracles too.

Moses walked through the Red Sea. Joshua made the walls of Jericho fall down. Gideon defeated an army. Conquered a kingdom.

These were miraculous works. And all that is necessary for you to do miraculous works is for you to have faith like those men had faith.

And if you just had the right amount of faith, if you just had the right quality of faith, if you just had faith long enough and strong enough and hard enough, you could do miracles too.

That is a wrong interpretation of Hebrews chapter 11. A third one is that with faith you can leave your mark on this world.

If you have enough faith, you can make this list too. These men and women left their mark on history. What's necessary to leave your mark on history?

Become well -known, fabulous, and famous men of repute. You want the annals of church history to record your name in glowing terms?

You just need to have the same kind of faith that these men and women had. And you can leave your mark on history too. I mean, all of these really are a

Joel Osteen sermon, but that one's as well. You can leave your mark on history. That is not the point of Hebrews chapter 11.

There are thousands, millions of people who have the same faith that Abraham had, who will never be known in the annals of church history.

If they update Philip Schaff's three -volume history of the Christian church 200 years from now, unless something drastic happens that changes the course of history after today, nobody in this room, including myself, is going to be mentioned in the fourth volume of Philip Schaff's history of the

Christian church. This is not a recipe for being a hero. It's not a recipe for being remembered for all time.

This is not how you become remembered 4 ,000 years from now. That's not the point of Hebrews chapter 11. Neither is it the right interpretation that with faith you can be successful in life.

These men did great things. I mean, David was a great king. Samuel was a great judge. Noah was a great shipbuilder. Abraham was a great businessman.

He was wealthy. He was successful. He was healthy. He was happy. He was glorious. He had four wives.

If you have faith, you could have four wives, too. That's not the point of Hebrews chapter 11. We need to make sure that we draw the right analogies and come to the right conclusions from this chapter.

So what then is the point of Hebrews chapter 11? Faith is commended not because it will make us heroes or miracle workers or successes or history changers or get us into the fourth volume of Philip Schaff's History of the

Christian Church. Faith is commendable because it endures to the end.

It endures to the end. We have faith to the preserving of the soul all the way to the end.

It does not abandon the truth. It does not shrink back to destruction. The same faith that saves you and makes you righteous is the faith that sanctifies you in this life.

It is the faith that motivates you to serve the Lord in this life and trust Him for the outcome. It is the same faith that secures you all the way through to this life and it is the same faith that will result in the glorification of all of those whom have been justified by that faith.

This faith endures all the way to the very end. It does not fail. It preserves and keeps us and it governs all of life.

Faith's value is not that it makes us notable people in the history of the Christian Church. Faith's value is not that it makes us significant in the lives of our family or friends or our co -workers or in history at all.

Faith's value lies in the fact that it preserves the soul. We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

That's the whole point. Therefore, since you have that faith that Noah had and Abel had and Enoch had and Moses had and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Gideon, the prophets, all of those other people who did those things, the point is not that in having faith you will do those things.

The point is that in having faith, they lived in faith, trusted the promises of God, died in faith, and will receive the reward of the reproach of faith.

Remember what we talked about weeks ago? Those who endure the reproach of faith receive the reward of faith. Every one of these men and women endured the reproach of faith.

Moses considered the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, because he looked forward to the reward, seeing what is yet unseen.

That is faith. Faith's value is in that it preserves us all the way to the end. Those who live in faith, those who die in faith, receive the reward of faith.

They have the power, the strength, the ability, the God -given capacity to endure hostility from sinners.

You and I can do the same thing, because we are just like the men and women of old. We're cut from the same cloth. We're sinners, made righteous on the basis of faith, sanctified on the basis of faith.

We serve on the basis of faith. We are secured and preserved on the basis of faith, and we are in all likelihood, most of us, if not all of us, are going to die having never received or seen the promises that have been given to us, unless the

Lord returns. I would prefer to not die, not seeing the promises, but if history continues, we're all going to die, just like these men and women from Hebrews chapter 11.

That's the point of faith. Starting next week, we're going to review some of these lessons, and we'll go back to the beginning of verse 1, and walk through this definition of faith.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the evidence of the conviction, the certainty of things that are not yet seen.

Let's powerheads. Father, we thank you for such a great and godly lineage of men and women.

We thank you that we are encouraged in your word, and by your word, to trust you in the same way as the saints of old.

These are examples to us, not because we seek to be notable or famous or reputable, but they are examples to us in that we seek to be faithful as they were, and to trust you for the outcome, and to trust you for the reward.

We pray that you would strengthen us and encourage us in our faith that we may live godly and god -honoring and Christ -exalting lives in the midst of this hostile world.

Encourage us together in the weeks ahead as we look to you in faith to teach us about what it means to be faithful in this world.

We pray in Christ's name. Please stand, and let's sing the last song this morning to dismiss.

It is well. He's like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll.

Whatever thy lot, thou hath taught me to stay.

In his well, in his well with my soul, in his well with my soul, with my soul, in his well, in his well with my soul.

Though statements should not fail, though trials should come, let this bless assurance control that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed

His own blood for my soul.

It is well, with my soul, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

My sin, O the bliss of His glorious blood, my sin not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul.

It is well, with my soul, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

Let's sing this last verse a cappella. And Lord, it is well, with my soul, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

To those who are the called, beloved in God, and the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

You are dismissed. This Christ, when fortunes fail, and loss surrounds, my soul is weak, but Christ is strong, and so to Him I leave it all.

For He who holds all things can bear each care

I bring, so I lay it all on Him.

When questions thin, when fears come fast, and truth grows dim, the wonders say, how trust is won, and trust is made, can bear each care

I gain, so I lay it all on Jesus, on Jesus.