Hebrews chapter 11. I know all of you Melchizedek people are looking forward to this chapter. I know who you are and you know who you are. So it's the same people that were looking forward to the wrestling match in Genesis 32 on Wednesday night. So I don't know if that makes you good people or bad people or what, but you're probably my people. So we're all in this boat together. A couple of warnings before we begin. This is a hard chapter to cut, so we have a cut here. Next week, buckle up. Much to do and less time to do it in next week, but we'll deal with that. Then chapter 11 begins, so, since Jesus is figured in the Old Testament, follow this is important, because the Holy Spirit has given us what we need. Since Hebrews is now calling us to live in a certain way in light of the work of Christ, which has been figured in the Old Testament, should there be a place or places in the Old Testament that demonstrate what that living would look like? if the Holy Spirit has given us what we need. See, I would say yes. Some of you are nodding along, which means that was not nearly as confusing coming out of my mouth as it was going into my head, which is always a win. You would be correct, for those of you that said yes. And that place is Hebrews chapter 11. Well, the place is not Hebrews chapter 11. The collation of that place is Hebrews chapter 11. And that's what this chapter is attempting to do. The proof of faith here and then the justifying of why we understand it like that is what we're gonna try to do next week. So the outline in your bulletin may serve to kind of make sense of the organization of this a little bit more than I will as I talk through this simply because There's, how do I wanna phrase this? Like with Melchizedek, there's probably more to do than we're going to attempt, but in the effort to avoid spending 27 weeks on Hebrews 11, we're not gonna cover in depth every little nook and cranny, but we're going to get the principles of everything as we go through it. Does that make sense? And hopefully we'll make sense of that as we go through. So let's dive in. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Yes, yes it is. Are there any good examples of that in your Old Testament? Let's rewind in your brains, Genesis chapter 15. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great. Abram said, O Lord God, what will you give me since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus? Abram said, Since you have given me no offspring, one born in my house is my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This man will not be your heir, but one who will come forth from your own body. He shall be your heir. So God took him outside and said, Look towards the heavens. count the stars if you are able to count them. And God said to him, so shall your descendants be. Then Abram believed in the Lord, and God reckoned it to him as righteousness." That's what faith looks like. You are Abram, which, by the way, you want to talk about fun. Your name means exalted father, and you have how many children in your 90s? Well, at this point in your 80s? Yeah, a big fat zero. and now you're being told by God, no, no, no, no, no. Your heir will be your child. Look at the stars. That's what your offspring will look like. And your answer is, I believe that. That's what faith looks like. The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Now, why does Abram do that? Because it is God that has promised. This is the call of the entirety of scripture. So then the Bible gives you commentary on this chapter, Genesis 15. Get it in things like Habakkuk 2. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith. Now, notice the comparison there with Habakkuk. The proud one is contrasted with the one who lives by faith. Why? Because pride, by definition, excludes faith. You cannot trust in yourself and then have trust in someone else. You cannot have ultimate belief in who you are and what you will accomplish and then actually rest in the work of God, which, by the way, is why the modern conceptions of self and individuality are so antithetical to scripture. You can't believe that you have all the answers, that humanity is the end-all be-all of the progress of evolution, and then rest in who God is. Which, by the way, just a little note, does it feel like we're progressing? Does it feel like we're getting better? I saw a great joke in this this morning. If you think we're smarter than we were just 50 years ago, realize that owner's manuals of cars 50 years ago told you how to adjust the valves, and owner's manuals today tell you not to drink the contents of the battery. We had this conversation in the house. I forget what one of my kids did. One of my kids did something. You know how you just have that moment where your brain unplugs from the rest of your body and you just do something completely nonsensical? One of my kids did that and I stopped and went, that right there is why we have warning labels not to drink the hairspray. And then Johnny goes, there's a warning label not to drink the hairspray? And she had to run upstairs to this little bottle of hairspray and she's like, oh my goodness. Uh-huh. That's why we need directions on how to microwave pop-tarts. It's complicated, I'm telling you. Now, why? Why? Yeah. There are days I trust the dog more than some people. Yeah, we joke when we leave the house. We leave the house. We tell the dog he's in charge, right? You're in charge of everyone. Now, Why do I point that out? Because it seems silly, but this is humanity, this is where we live, this is what we do day in and day out. That precludes a faith in God. Elevating of us, elevating of humanity, elevating of society eliminates trusting in God. Scripture points out that no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not faith in you, faith in who God is and what God has done, is doing, and will do because all of those things are contained in his promises. You see the same thing when you get to the New Testament. Same commentary on Genesis 15, Romans 4. What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, 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. Now that matters. Your Bible is consistently pointing out that your salvation is by grace through faith. The entirety of your life is supposed to be lived by grace through faith. Now, what does that matter? Verse two. For by it, faith, the men of old gained approval. Yes, realize this. Abraham is not the birth of this concept. So, there's a whole chunk of the Bible that occurs before Abraham. I know you know that, but recognize that there is a continuity to the message in the way that God has been building and is building. So, this is why Hebrews is going to go down the long rabbit hole that chapters 11 is going to go down. So, go all the way back to Genesis chapter 2. The Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may freely eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." Now, there is so much in there that we assume. So, when I say that Adam was called to live by faith, what do I mean? Hey Adam, what's evil? What's death? How do you know that you are going to be able to subdue the earth? How will you be fruitful and multiply? How will you fill the earth? How will you be successful? How will you accomplish any of these things? From the very beginning, Adam's call is what? to trust in God. This is why the twisting of Satan is what it is. Did God really say? And then he lies. Gives you a little half-truth and then a complete outright lie. What's he trying to do? No, no, no. Your wisdom, your thinking, your logic, your ability, not God's, trust in you. And this is why the condemnation is so bad because what's the sin? They look at the fruit and say what? Well, it's pleasing to the eyes, it's good for food, and it will make one wise. Who is that all-serving? Yeah, humanity hasn't changed. This is why pride is opposite of faith. You can't trust in you and trust in God. This is the breakdown. 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." Okay, that sounds confusing. Well, let's go. This is true though. Genesis 1-3, "...then God..." What's the next word? "...said, Let there be light, and..." there was light. That's repeated in verse 6, verse 9, verse 11, verse 14, verse 20, verse 24, verse 26, and verse 29 of Genesis chapter 1. Then God said dot dot dot dot dot and there was. The agent of creation for God is He speaks and stuff happens. Now, why is this the beginning of the rabbit hole for the book of Hebrews? You ready for your fun question of the morning? Who's ready for a headache? How do you know that happened? How do you know that happened? Yeah, but how do you know that's true? Faith. You trust when you read chapter one of Genesis that what you are reading is good and true. Now, why do you trust that? Genesis, John chapter 16. When he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. Christian, why do you read Genesis 1 and go, God created the heavens and the earth, and the rest of the world read Genesis 1 and go, you poor people? What's the difference between you and them? You have faith which is granted to you by who? God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, strengthening you so that you will believe rightly and understand who God is and what He has done. This is why I'm forever telling you what our equation is, that you have to change the heart first, then you change the mind, then you change the action. You can't do it another way because there's just too much of the sinful pride and the insanity of humanity, which, ooh, fun little rhyme, that gets in the way of everything. Not some of the things, everything. By the way, Christian, this is why you doubt. This is why you doubt. Because what happens when you doubt is you find something that you learned from the world, and then you bring it back to scripture, you bring it back to what you've been taught, and you go, mmm, and you start balancing, and then you're like, I'm a bad person because I'm listening to the world, I'm not, mmm. Time out. Answer the questions. Dig in. Study. Don't fear. They've been provided for. But recognize that you are going to have to accept some things by faith. Do those things that you accept by faith have good answers? Yes. Always have, always will. I am your find-answers person. But at the end of the day, you have to recognize that the reason why you rest where you do on the evidence that you do and why the world does not is because they don't have any faith in God. Why? Because they've misdefined faith. Why? Because they've rested upon and trusted in themselves first and foremost. This is the way that all of humanity works. Again, this is Romans 1 in action. Professing to be wise, they become fools and their foolish hearts are darkened. They don't have a way by faith to go because they refuse to allow their mind to be adjusted. Why? Because the hearts are cold and darkened. And this is the difference. Now, how do you adjust that? How do you change that? Proclaim the gospel, trust in the work of the Holy Spirit, and move forward in faith. Again, Christian, your salvation comes from the work of God. Their salvation will come from the work of God. The minute you miss that, you will change the message or try to change the means by which God does this. The minute you do that, guess what you've accomplished? Nothing. you can't change the message and you can't change the means by which hearts and minds are changed. Therefore, you have to rest on the work of God. And I know I'm asking a lot. You all have family members, you all have friends, you have co-workers that you wish would get it, that you have proclaimed the gospel to and they just haven't gotten it and you want them to so badly. Rest in the strength of God. And I say that as someone who has family that hasn't gotten it, and has lost family that didn't get it. And I say that as someone who looks at the world and sees it rightly. Not the way that I wish it was, but the way that it is. And that you have to trust in God to build his kingdom. And you have to rejoice in the work that he is doing and has done. And that's not the easiest place in the world. But Christian, you are called to rest in his wisdom. in His accomplishment and in His strength and not your own, because this is who we are. To forsake that is everything that Hebrews has been warning about in the last few chapters. To be able to forsake, to say, no, no, no, no, God, I trust you in all of this stuff, but I don't trust you in this. Well, congratulations, you just found your sin area. You just found the thing that you need to kill. And if you're unwilling to kill it, then you're going out from us because you are not of us. The little seed of doubt, the little darkness that is springing up is going to continue to grow. It is going to continue to sprout. And this is why you will see people leave the church. Because they have a spouse that's unbelieving, or a child that's unbelieving, or a parent or a grandparent that's unbelieving. Well, no, if God won't... Stop. I know it's hard. I know it's aggravating. I know it grieves you. Run back to the Savior even more. Who is your comforter? Who is your consolation? Who is the one who rules and reigns and redeems? You have to trust in Him, cry out to Him, and lean on Him. Easier said than done, I know, but this is where Scripture is driving us. Verse four. 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." Well, that kind of explains why the rejection was what it was, wasn't it? Doesn't it? Go back to Genesis 4, Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions and the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering. But for Cain and for his offering, he had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. And if you're wondering about that, obtain the testimony and God testifying, Jesus does testify about this, Matthew 23. I am sending you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in the synagogues and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah." Fun little note is that Jesus draws a line of distinction that we would be very uncomfortable drawing. He's talking to the crowds in Jerusalem and the religious leadership and the people that are there and he's pointing out that they're no better than those that have slain the prophets. Who killed the prophets again? When Jeremiah is getting beaten and thrown into wells, is that by the evil pagans outside the city wall? Or is that by the supposed people of God inside the city wall? When Isaiah is being sawn in half, is that on the order of the Babylonians, or on the order of the king of Israel? Yeah, when Elisha is being persecuted, is that because of the pagan whatever's going on, or the pagans that are supposed to be running the kingdom of Israel? You kind of catch my drift. Who kills Abel? the other child of Adam and Eve, the other part of being fruitful and multiplying. By the way, you wanna talk about shaking your faith? Imagine being Adam and Eve, being covered by God and provided for, going out of the garden and now attempting to do the work that God has recalled you to do and being fruitful and multiplying and watching that fruit destroy itself. Watching that multiplication be a multiplication of your sin and your iniquity. It's a miracle that Seth had any idea who God was. Now stop. How does Seth have any idea who God is? Who had to teach him? Adam and Eve. You just watched your oldest. kill his brother and be forsaken of God and cast out of his presence. And you have the strength, you have the faith, you have the trust to sit there and continue to teach who God is, what he has done, so that you can produce a righteous generation in the midst of the iniquity of all of those who will follow after their older brother. That's what faith looks like. That's the blessing of it. It's not because everything is good, but it is that as God is building and as God is strengthening, He is accomplishing righteousness in His kingdom. He is building what He has promised to build, and that's what the trust is supposed to be. Verse 5. By faith, talk about that family line from Seth, Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death. And he was not found because God took him. For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. That's Genesis 5.22. Enoch walked with God 300 years and after he became the father of Methuselah. That's actually a distinction because it's talking about Enoch walking with God. Verse six, 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. This is true of the walk of every single believer. And we're not gonna go crazy on this verse because we have so much more proof coming up. So rather than do it all now, we'll just kind of do it as we get to it. Does that make sense? But recognize that this is kind of your little recap before diving in even more of verse one, is this is the hope of faith. Not that everything is wonderful in the here and now, but that God will accomplish. And realize that about Enoch. Realize that about Seth. Realize that about Adam and Eve. And the proof of that is in the next guy, verse 7. By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things which had not been 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." Now, a couple of things here. One, why is his name Noah? His dad, Lamech, names him Noah because Noah means rest. And what's Lamech's hope? That maybe this is the child that God will give us rest, that God will undo the curse upon the ground. The reminder in everything that you do, though, the work and the toil and the difficulty is a reminder of what? Sin. What's the hope of that family? Coming all the way from Seth, down through the line, some great names, by the way. There are not enough Mahujahels. Awesome name. You can call him Mua. Come on now. I encourage you people with this insanity every week. None of you take me up on it. At least name your dogs. Sorry. Hamsters? Fish? Okay, I'll take what I get. What's the hope of this family? That God is going to be faithful to the promise. This is what that trust and that faith looks like. The sad part about this list and we're gonna get to this in just a few minutes, is that that faith diminishes as time goes on, because humanity, we can't help ourselves. Where do we live? We live in this world. And who do we see the most? Yeah, and who do you talk to the most? Yeah, and who do you listen to the most? Uh-huh, yeah, you're seeing the problem here, aren't you? I spend all my time talking and listening to this sinful nitwit, what could possibly go wrong? Now, that's the first thing. The second part is, notice again, it's not the works that are salvific, but the works that are revelatory. This is something your New Testament builds on, things like James 2. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? This is why I encourage you to lean on God and trust in him for these things. This is why understanding the gospel and how we live in light of the gospel message in the world is so important, because Trying to think of the best way to put this together. Hold on one second because I got a cough. I'm telling you. Now, saying that, well, we need to change the gospel message because, would be the equivalent of saying, well, I need to build the ark differently because. Just try to imagine that God has come down and said, alright, I'm gonna flood the place, everything's gonna die, build the ark or else. And your answer is, I like these plans, but... Anything good coming in the second half of that sentence? No, no. How should the ark be built? The way God... How do you know, or how do we know that you actually trust that God will save you in that ark? because you'll build it the way that he told you to build it. If you try to improve in the design, if you try to change the way that it's constructed, if you try to make a backup, what you're really saying is what? I don't trust what God has given me. What's the great of the old example? Did we give you the parachute and tell you, now you need to jump off the plane and the parachute will save you. And you sit there and go, that's nice. What don't you trust? You don't trust that parachute, because if you did, you'd do what? You jump out of the plane and pull the chute and everything that you find. Pull the chute. The, the... String! That's the word I want. It's a string! Cord, rope, whatever. All I'm picturing is Bugs Bunny cartoons and you pull it and pots and pans come out. That would be my luck. That's why you don't go jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. Anyway. the joys of my brain, right? So how do you know that Noah's faith is actually faith in God? Because God said, build an ark, and Noah went, yes sir. And then he built it. And how did he build it? The way that God told him to. And that's always why I love, like, when you leave, go look at the puzzle that's out there in the foyer. And tell me you'd like to spend a year, like, on the love boat that looks like that. And you want to see volcanoes and tornadoes and hurricanes and, you know, swirling, floating, and you want to crash into mountains and be like, yeah, this boat that I built with my bare hands will withstand all of this. Yeah, I don't want to trust a coffee table that I built, much less a boat that I'm dependent upon for my survival. Which means your faith is in what? God. Your faith is in who? That he will save, that he is accomplishing everything that he has promised. Now, who's ready for this chapter to make a turn? Because it's going to, and it's going to do it very quickly. Verse 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive foreign inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. Now, okay, yes, mostly. Again, Hebrews is being very nice and we're gonna let Hebrews be nice, but you know I'm not gonna let all of that slide because we wanna make sure we see everything rightly. So what is the call to Abraham? Let's rewind to Genesis 12. Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which I will show you. All right, so pause. So what are we leaving behind? Your country, your relatives and your father's house, okay? I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. I'll make your name great. You will be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you and those who curse you. I will curse you and all of you and in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. All right, that's great. So you gotta leave your country and your father's house and all of your relatives. You ready? Here's what Abraham does. Go fast forward two whole verses to 12 five. Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, thus they came to the land of Canaan. Does that sound like leaving everything behind? See, I've often wondered that. Does that sound like obedience and faithfulness to you? Hebrews 11 says yes. Now stop and wrap your brain around this because this is where it's getting hard. We're going to point this out a lot, especially next week, but this is the turn in this chapter. Give Adam and Eve some credit. They didn't abandon completely. they still instructed Seth. That family line still continued. That's a blessing upon them in their name. Give them some kudos for that. Look, we're not gonna overlook the whole eating of the fruit thing, but when you read your Bible, what do we celebrate? How much of the progress? So they didn't forsake everything completely. They trusted in God. Go team. Okay. Noah builds the ark, good job. Okay, yeah, we got off the ark, that went a little sideways. The kids were a little iffy, so we failed there. But, but, but, but, but, but, we haven't given up on everything entirely. Abraham was called to forsake everything, leave the country, leave the relatives, leave the family, and go to Canaan. He brought the family, he brought the stuff, but he left the country. What do we do now? Celebrate, you have to. What is God working with? I mean, are we working with the best of the best? No, why not? Because sin corrupts everything. Are we working in what with what will be the best of the best? Yes. And remember how Hebrews views the Old Testament. It's not a testimony to these people, it's a testimony to Christ. It's a celebration of Him, a promise of who He is and what has He done. Now, this is what a little bit of faith looks like. We'll be building on that next week, but we're not gonna leave it alone a whole lot. Verse nine. 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 problem." Yep, that's what he did, and God reiterates the promise to Abraham again after Genesis 12, and he makes the same promise to Isaac and the same promise to Jacob. Part of the lesson of those guys is that as bad as Abraham is, there's a good possibility that Isaac is worse, and there's the definite reality that Jacob is worse than both of them. And yet, God gives him the promise. Now, the tense matter too, and I love that this is here because this is Hebrews getting it right. Why are the tense so important? Let me put it this way, why don't you live in a yurt? I mean, come on, they're so nice and modern. It's the latest in 17th century building construction and technology. Why don't you live in one? They're right. Well, okay, then don't build the yurt. Why don't you have a nice tent? Think about how much lower the property taxes would be. Tear down the house, put up a really nice tent. Have you seen those straight-line wins that we seem to get every June and July? You don't want to be in a tent when those hit? Why not? You want to build a tent in Florida? Then you'd be singing songs like, I'm sailing away. What could be the problem with this? Why do you want a house? It's sturdy. It's stable. It's secure. These are things that I like. Why didn't Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, living in the land for the better part of a century, build a house? Like, did they not know how to build houses back then? They did, they did. They had stone in the whole nine yards. Why are they still living in tents? They didn't own anything. It wasn't theirs yet. They're sojourners. They're just kind of little meandering nomads here, tither and yawn, never really getting a chance to plant themselves, but so much, which means they don't have the possession, they don't have the fulfillment. Now, why is that important? Because the possession and the fulfillment is not about them, verse 10. For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." So, how does Hebrews see the Old Testament? Everything. Not some of it. All of it is a testimony to Christ. Including the fact that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never owned the land. Because the promise of God was never about the ground. It was about what? is about Christ and His coming kingdom. So, Genesis 5, Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son and he called his name Noah saying, this one will give us rest from our work, from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed. What are we looking for, pilgrim? We're looking for peace. We're looking for security. We're looking for safety. I can build the best walls on the planet. I mean, we did this in humanity. History lesson time, you ready? We don't do this very often, but I'll give you bad history with Michael for a little moment. The Roman Empire doesn't fall in the 5th century AD. Rome falls, but if you like drove yourself across the continent east and planted yourself in what's modern day Greece and stopped off at Constantinople in the 800s or the 900s or the 1000s and said, what are you people? They would have said, we're Romans. They held on for forever. Why? Because Constantinople was the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, and now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople, and it's Istanbul. Sorry. Contractually obligated to sing the song every single time. Makes me happy. Anyway, why do they last for so long? Well, because of where they are, you can't really attack it from the sea because they built these massive walls, and you can't really attack it from the land because they also built multiple massive walls, and because you only had to come in one way, and it was really easy to kill you if you only come in one way. So why does the city begin to fall? Well, the Turks finally take it over in 1453. Why? Because they built a massive cannon. And when I say massive cannon, I mean it fired projectiles weighing in at around a ton. That's a big barrel. It was so big they could only load it like once or twice a day. And they use this puppy to just launch it, and the best part is they barely hit anything with it. But it was so big and so loud and so terrifying that if it did hit anything, people just ran. Could you imagine gunpowder has been a thing for like 50 years, and now they're shooting projectiles the size of a city block at you? It would be a little horrifying. Now what's the moral of the story? Well, once technology advances to a certain point, you can't build walls thick enough. We just shoot massive holes in them, and then we come in and we kill you. Or you do like the Huns did, and you tie flaming sticks to birds, and you release them so they fly back into the city and burn your city down. Or you do like what the Romans and the Parthians did, and they just scaled the walls and climbed over at night, because you're like, oh, this wall is so high that no one will ever be able to conquer it, and then someone climbed over it one night, never mind. You can't build enough, you can't secure yourself enough, and it's part of the lesson of the patriarchs. This isn't about you going to the land and being secure, this is about humanity being secure. And as long as there is sin, As long as there is darkness in the hearts of men, you can't build a strong enough fortress. You can't protect yourself enough. You can't insulate yourself enough. You have to go back to the promise of the serpent and his offspring being crushed. That's the hope of Noah. That's the hope of Abraham. That's the hope of Isaac. That's the hope of Jacob. The land is not some dirt. It's the hope of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. It's the hope of foundations that are dug so deep that no matter what occurs against them, you are not lost, that you are secure, that your house stands. Now, how do you do that? By making sure it's not your house. by making sure that it's not you, by making sure that it is God, who he is and what he is building. In other words, what Eden was supposed to be, but extended out to the very ends of the earth. That's the hope. That's the thing that we're clinging to. Christian, that's what faith is. I've said this before, I'm gonna say it again because the world, this is what the place where the world gives you the did God really say. You're not a Christian who has faith because you believe that God is there. Everybody knows that he's there. The demons believe, and they shudder. You are a Christian because you have faith in what God has promised. In who he is, and what he has done. Everybody knows, even the rabid atheists, I've joked with you before, what are the two things that every atheist knows? That God doesn't exist, and I hate him. because they know in their hearts. Your faith is not that God. Your faith is in God. You know that He's there. Your faith is in what He will accomplish. You're resting in what He will do. That's what your faith means. That's how Hebrews will define it because that's how the entirety of your Bible will define your faith. Verse 11. By faith, even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Huh? Here's what I mean by that. Genesis 18. And God said, I will surely return to you at this time next year. And behold, Sarah, your wife, will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. And Sarah and Abraham were old, advanced in age. And Sarah was past childbearing. And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, after I've become old, shall I have pleasure, my Lord, being old also? And then God goes, why did Sarah laugh? And she goes, I didn't. Don't argue with God. It's a bad plan. Does that sound like the pinnacle of faith? Paragon of believing in God? Gee, what does the bare minimum of, we cleared the hurdle, go team, what might that look like? Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. And again, I love the reminders because Abram is exalted father. Abraham has no children and he's father of many. Isaac means he laughs. Because when Abraham was told he was going to have a kid, he laughed. And when Sarah was told she was going to have a kid, she laughed. So God goes, oh yeah? You think this is funny? Gotta love the reminders. Matthew 17. The disciples came to Jesus privately. Why could we not drive him out? The demon from the child after Jesus comes down the Mount of Transfiguration. And Jesus said to them, because of the littleness of your faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you. Now again, Christian. Why aren't you, we talked about this on Wednesday, didn't we? Or was it Sunday school last week? I can't remember. Why don't you pray for your landscaping? That was Sunday school. Yes, it was Sunday school. Why don't you pray to accomplish yard work? Jesus just said, if you say, if you have enough faith and tell the mountain to move, it will get out of your way. So why can't the DOT get a job done in any reasonable amount of time? More Christians on the highway board. That's what we're missing. All we gotta do is go out there and pray and the highways will be completed, right? Isn't that what this means? No. Christian, what's your faith in? And what he has promised. Has God promised us lovely roads? Not in the sense that we drive on, but where has he promised us lovely roads that lead to his kingdom? Your faith is about your work unto the kingdom. This is part of that allusion to your Old Testament, because what's the promise of the forerunner Messiah? What's the job that John the Baptist is going to have to do? That he will raise up the valleys and tear down the mountains so that the path for the Messiah will be what? Smooth. That's your picture. That's your allusion. Christian, what are you supposed to be doing? What's the hope of a baby dedication this morning? What are we supposed to be doing? Making it easy. When you see the sin, when you see the problem, when you see the failures, you say what? No, that's the wrong way. Why? Because the assumption is you've messed something up. When you see it wrong, you want someone to say what? Hey, that's the wrong understanding. That's the wrong living. Making it easy. This is why you want your kids to learn from your mistakes because you did all these dumb things. What do you want from them? to do different dumb things. I mean, let's be honest, what are we all gonna do? I can tell you not to until Jesus comes back, but what's gonna happen? We're all gonna do some sort of stupidity in this world. The hope is that as we're building disciples and training up the next generation, whether it be your kids or the kids in church or whatever, that at least go make new mistakes because we didn't encounter that one yet. But at least look at what we did wrong and don't do that one again. Be smarter than me, and you should be because you now have the benefit of the wisdom that I'm giving you. That's the hope, that's discipleship, that's the strength. Make new catastrophes. I mean, something's gonna go wrong in sin, might as well be something different, right? At least it'll be interesting. Verse 12. 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 in the seashore." This is true, and it's a fulfillment of what Genesis 15 promised, but it's not in any way that Abraham would have seen coming, and that's the beauty of it. Galatians chapter 3. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants and heirs according to promise." So what does that mean? That means the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 15 is not in the kingdom years during the census. It is not during the time of the Exodus, it is not during the time of the Babylonian captivity, it is not during Zerubbabel's, which is another fun name to say, return from Exodus, it is in Revelation 7. After these things, I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every tribe, and all tribes, and the peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne, and around the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne, and they worshiped God, saying, Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen. That's the fulfillment. The fulfillment is not in an ethnic people. What was John the Baptist's critique to the Pharisees when they came to him? Don't say we're Abraham's descendants. God can raise up descendants from Abraham from these stones. The fulfillment is in the kingdom. Because the point of the Old Testament is not Abraham's people according to the flesh, but Abraham's people according to the grace and mercy of God. Verse 13. All these died in faith, just when you thought we were getting happy. You get the Genesis 5 refrain, which is, what's the most common repeated phrase in Genesis 5? And he died. 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. As praised by Jesus, by the way, John 8, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. Matthew 13, truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it and hear what you hear and did not hear it. By the way, Christian, that last part, that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, that's the call. of living by faith. Because it's a trust in what? What God has promised and what he would do. Colossians 3. If you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ is who is, our life is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory. And again, I'm asking for something that is much easier said than done, and I get that. But Christian, as you live in this world, you have to live with an eye towards the kingdom. And what does that mean? Okay, you have to make a living. I get that. We all have to make a living. How do you make a living unto the glory of God? How do you make disciples testify to his goodness and his mercy where you are? And keep in mind, this is, This is one of those lessons that gets hard learned. I was asked this question once and it caught me because there's one area of life where we really slaughter people for this. Do you know what it is? It's entertainment. If you're a musician and you're a Christian and you don't make an explicitly Christian album, what does every church goer say about you? How dare you make music people might enjoy! Not that all Christian music isn't enjoyable. Some of it more so than others. Sorry. You know me and K-Love. You know we have a love-hate relationship that I love to hate them. Sorry. I'm neither positive nor encouraging. I try. I was joking with the Sunday school class. I mean, this is my sense of humor, is I figured out a new way to annoy my kids since it's Halloween, is I can look at them and go, hug. Hug. It's a warm embrace. Hug. And they look at me and go, no hug. No hug. That's the fun we have. So it is what it is. But why do we do that to musicians? Because we have a category of Christian musicians. Have you ever once called a flooring guy and been like, now, do you lay down Christian flooring? Is that carpet sanctified? Why don't you ask that? Because it's silly. Have you ever asked a plumber if the piping that he put in there was Christian? Like, I don't want any of that Lutheran plumbing. That might be trying to baptize my kids in the bathtub, and that is not gonna happen. Yes, that's where we get it from. It's the Donatus controversy all over again. You can read church history, it'll do you good. You gotta get the right Christian plumber to put the right Christian piping in there so that the water is blessed, so that your children will be saved. See, there you go. Now, what's the problem with that equation other than the fact that it's utterly ridiculous? Why do we do this? Well, because we look at music and we go, oh, but you can make songs that are exactly and explicitly about Jesus. Yes. Could you make songs that aren't about Jesus while still making disciples and still testifying to his goodness and his mercy? Yes, yes you can. Just like you can do that in any line of work. You can be an accountant, you can be a plumber, you can be anything unto the glory of God. By the way, the Puritans that really understood this well, you know what they called it? A theology of vocation. How do you do it well? For starting point, vocation, what you do for a living. For a starting point, whatever it is you do for a living, you do unto the glory of God, which means how good of a job should you be doing? Because it's not for a boss, it's not for a paycheck, it's for God. When the nitwits around you engage in their nitwittery, what do you avoid? Being a nitwit, why? Because you're serving and worshiping God. So you don't steal, you don't cheat, you don't lie, you don't loaf, you do your job, you do it well, and you praise God, and then you tell everybody until they're annoyed of hearing about it. What could possibly go wrong with this plan? Other than everything in this world, which is why, guess what we don't do? Because we're more worried about what? How we're seen, how we're perceived in the world, and what people would think about us. Now, scripture would tell you, find your line. You have to make a living. God will provide. Part of the way that he provides for you is by the job that he has given you. So, glorify God in your vocation, praise him, work everything into the glory of God, live your life into the glory of God, and evaluate who you are. Now, here's the best part. You know whose conscience has to stand before God for your life? Yours! So if you're looking at me and going, yeah, I'm good, then you know who's not going to argue with you? This guy right here, because I'm not your conscience. You have a Holy Spirit that is guiding you. You have a conscience that he is informing. You will stand before him, have fun. And I genuinely mean that, is enjoy your life, live it unto the glory of God, but recognize that at the end of the day, you will stand before God. So live your life in such a way that you stand with peace. Verse 14. 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." Welcome to the test. What you living for? Where you going? What you hoping in? I've mentioned this before. Moses does this when he gets to the end of his life, Deuteronomy 30. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, by holding fast to Him. For this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." By the way, Christians, nothing's changed. What's your hope? Your hope is for a future kingdom. How do you get there? By remaining faithful. Until when? The end. What does faithfulness look like? It looks like making disciples and trusting in God and knowing that He will be faithful, that no matter what happens in this world, that I can rest in Him. And Moses isn't the last one to do this. You know the coffee cup verse. What does Joshua's call at the end of his life? Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the God your forefathers served beyond the river or God who has actually redeemed you and brought you into this land and killed all your enemies. As for me and my house, Yeah, basically his point is, look, you know what you're supposed to do, you know what the other alternative is, go have fun, I know what I'm doing. And by the way, David says the same thing to Solomon in 1 Kings 2, and this is what every New Testament book is saying to every believer everywhere. I mean, this is why Paul is writing. Why is Paul writing to every church that he can think of? Because He wants to make sure that they understand the dilemma. He wants to make sure they understand the choice, and He wants to make sure that they can do so rightly. That they can understand their lives, and their families, and their work, and their very existence as offerings unto God. Why? Because this is who we are, Christian. Living by faith. Faith in what? That God will actually accomplish what He has promised. Which means we can do what? We can live in such a way that we know there's a kingdom coming. Because we live in such a way that we know salvation has been accomplished. Because we live in such a way that knows, that we know that our place in that kingdom is secure. Because of who God is, what he has done, and what he has promised. And that anything that tries to get in the middle of that, congrats, guess what we do now? We kill it how? Go team. Sorry, it's my favorite thing. FIRE! Why? Because it can't be allowed to stand, because that's the thing that's trying to look at you and say, did God really say? And the answer to that question is always, no, he said this, stop arguing with me. Get behind me, Satan. Because that's where our strength lies, in trusting in God. Let's pray.