Why Jesus? What is Faith?

Introduction:

Trusting the Word of God, no matter how I feel, because God promises a good result.

Do I Have Faith? (Hebrews 11:1-3)

  1. Does faith determine my Conduct ? (Heb 11:3)
  2. Is faith how I seek God's Approval ? (Heb 11:2)

    Romans 3:28 - For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

    Romans 4:5 - And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness...

    Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

  3. Does faith determine how I Understand the world? (Heb 10:28-29)

    "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - CS Lewis

    Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • 00:49-00:51

    All right, open up your Bibles to Hebrews 11.

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    Are you there?

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    While you're turning there, you wanna play a game?

    00:57-01:02

    I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm, but this is the introduction we're going with, so we're sticking with it.

    01:04-01:05

    Would you like to play a game?

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    (congregation cheering)

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    That's the spirit.

    01:09-01:09

    I knew you would.

    01:10-01:14

    All right, have you ever seen people poorly describe their job?

    01:15-01:18

    I was looking at some of those this week, And here's the game.

    01:19-01:24

    We're going to take one of these poorly described jobs, and you're gonna tell me what the person actually does.

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    All right?

    01:25-01:25

    You ready?

    01:26-01:28

    Now this is a shout it out game, all right?

    01:28-01:29

    So if you think you know, shout it out.

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    I submitted these late on the outline.

    01:32-01:34

    Do we have these, do we have these and we can put them on the screen?

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    Okay, I take dead plants and animals and burn them.

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    What's the job?

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    Oh, we're not sure about that one.

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    That's a cook.

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    (audience laughing)

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    All right.

    01:53-01:54

    All right, this next one's a little easier.

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    You ready?

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    I let people borrow dead trees and ink as long as they promise to bring them back.

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    Shout it out.

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    Oh, you got that one.

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    Very good.

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    Very good.

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    All right, how about this one?

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    I love this one.

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    I spend the day asking people which is better, one or two?

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    The eye doctor, yeah.

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    Isn't that great?

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    Oh, here's one.

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    Here's one.

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    I plan a weekly party where we sing songs and talk to someone we can't see.

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    Then we all analyze a book he wrote thousands of years ago.

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    Then we give him some money.

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    Any guesses?

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    Any guesses at all?

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    Shout it out if you think you know.

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    I guess you have faith.

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    Yes.

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    And truth be told, what we are doing here today makes no sense, unless we understand the truth about faith.

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    So what is faith?

    03:02-03:05

    You know, we sure throw that word around a lot here.

    03:07-03:17

    And we've been going through the book of Hebrews and in Hebrews chapters one through 10, He's been calling for faith, come to faith, true faith in Jesus.

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    He's like, don't just be a church attender.

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    Don't think that you can please God by works, by religious ceremony, right?

    03:30-03:33

    He says you have to have real faith in Jesus.

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    And then we get to chapter 11 and that's what this whole chapter is about.

    03:37-03:40

    He explains and illustrates what faith actually is.

    03:41-03:48

    Specifically showing how faith works, or we could say showing how it shows.

    03:51-03:52

    So what is faith?

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    Well, I'm gonna tell you what it's not.

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    First of all, it's not wishful thinking.

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    You know, we use that word though.

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    I just have faith, it's all gonna work out.

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    That's not what biblical faith is, right?

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    Faith isn't check your brains at the door, as some people like to present it.

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    Like, well, you have faith, but I believe in science.

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    Like they're two mutually exclusive things.

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    Well, faith is also not ambiguous spirituality, right?

    04:38-04:45

    You hear people say, "Well, I'm a person of faith." Like, faith in what?

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    You can have faith in the wrong thing, right?

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    So what is faith?

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    I heard this definition years ago and it kind of stuck with me.

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    And I like this definition.

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    It's trusting the word of God, no matter how I feel, because God promises a good result.

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    That's faith.

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    Just unpacking that very quickly.

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    Trusting, trusting, what does it mean to trust?

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    It just simply means to take somebody at their word, right?

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    Like, okay, God, you said this, that's good enough for me, that's trust, right?

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    The second, the word of God.

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    You see, this is our objective source.

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    You know, faith isn't like, I just follow my heart.

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    I just follow my heart, that's where my faith is.

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    Bad idea, right?

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    Because the Bible says your heart's deceitful.

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    You know, or faith isn't just like, it's, you know, just what I think.

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    Have you ever had a wrong thought?

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    See, our objective source is the word of God.

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    Then the next phrase is, no matter how I feel.

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    Faith is not about feelings.

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    Faith is a choice.

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    Faith is a choice.

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    And it just simply boils down to this.

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    You trust what God said or you do not.

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    That's the choice.

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    Then the last part of this definition is because God promises a good result.

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    Just saying, I know that God's ways are best.

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    I just know when I seek to live my life the way God describes in his word, it's going to be a good outcome.

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    Like, well, what about when life is hard?

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    Yeah, guess what?

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    Newsflash, life is hard for everybody.

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    We all got stuff, right?

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    But God promises a good result.

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    That's faith.

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    So there you go.

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    That's the definition of faith, right?

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    Woo-hoo, you could have Googled that.

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    Honestly, you could have Googled that and received like 1.6 billion results in like half a second of all these definitions of faith, but you're not here for just some clinical definition of faith, are you?

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    Here's the bigger question that you should have.

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    You should be asking yourself, do I have faith?

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    I mean, do I have real, true, biblical faith in Jesus Christ?

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    That's the question that you should be asking.

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    So that's what we're going to ask as we get into chapter 11 on your outline, do I have faith?

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    Want you to test yourself with three questions.

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    All right, very easy.

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    Ask yourself, do I really have biblical faith?

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    There's three questions to ask yourself.

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    First of all, ask yourself this, does faith determine my conduct?

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    Does faith determine my conduct?

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    Look at verse one.

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    He says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, Stop there. So what is faith? He says it's assurance. And some translations say substance.

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    It's taking something that's hoped for, but not yet realized, and it's giving it substance.

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    Like, well, what does that mean?

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    Well, like, have you ever ordered something online?

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    I'm not even gonna ask you to raise your hand.

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    We all have, right?

    09:03-09:04

    Like it's 2023, Pastor Jeff.

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    I'm not exactly, you know, getting my hello fresh from the Pony Express.

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    Okay, have you ordered something online?

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    Well, when you do, they give you that confirmation number, right?

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    And I don't know about you, but okay.

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    I, there's still a little part of me that has this little bit of a doubt when I order something online and I'm actually gonna get it, right?

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    Anybody else like that?

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    No, just me, okay, all right.

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    Thank you, John.

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    Thank you, John.

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    This, okay, John.

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    The rest of you, the rest of you occupy yourselves.

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    John.

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    I keep that confirmation number.

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    When they send that, I keep, Okay, he does that, Joanne.

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    Okay, I keep that number and I save it in my inbox and I print it out and it's on my refrigerator.

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    And I print a copy that I wrote, you know, fold up and put under my pillow.

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    Because I wanna have that confirmation number because I have in my mind that something's gonna go wrong and they're gonna be like, you never ordered anything.

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    And I'm like, I have the number.

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    But that number is sort of like what faith is.

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    It's the thing that I'm holding onto until I get the thing that I'm hoping for, right?

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    I want this thing, I know it's coming.

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    They said it's coming, and they get, but until I have the thing that I ordered, this confirmation, I'm holding onto this, because this, this tells me, this tells me it's coming.

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    Right? That's what faith is.

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    That's exactly what faith is.

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    This is what I'm holding onto, because I know, I know it's coming.

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    Right?

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    The future promises are pulled into the present reality.

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    And I'm like, look, I know that heaven is real.

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    And you're like, well, how do you know that?

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    I'm like, because God said so.

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    And I am sure the turning from my sin and receiving Jesus Christ is going to get me to heaven.

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    And you're like, well, how do you know that?

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    Because God said so, that's how.

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    And I am so excited for heaven.

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    And you're like, why?

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    You're like, because of how God describes it, that's why.

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    That's assurance, right?

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    He says it's conviction of things not seen.

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    Conviction of things not seen.

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    Look, I've never seen heaven.

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    I am so excited for heaven, but you know I've never seen it.

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    I've never had somebody go there and send me a postcard.

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    I've never seen a resurrected body.

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    You know, honestly, I've never seen God.

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    But there's a conviction that comes with faith that, you know, sometimes when we use the word hope, what we really mean is wish, right?

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    Like when we say, I hope it doesn't rain, we're like, I'm wishing, I'm preferring that it doesn't rain today.

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    Well, too late for that.

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    But conviction is, I'm convinced this is true.

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    I have this unwavering confidence that the promise of God is going to happen.

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    I know that it's going to happen.

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    But here's the point, church, listen.

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    And here's how you can tell if you have faith.

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    Because the conviction of faith affects how you behave.

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    because you live according to what you really believe.

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    In every area, in every area, right?

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    This is a step away from this for a second, this is diet and exercise, right?

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    You live what you really believe.

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    If you really believe a certain diet or a certain exercise program is going to maximize your health, make you feel better, prolong your life.

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    If you really believe that, you're gonna do it.

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    Right, doctor?

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    You're gonna do it if you really believe it.

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    But if you think it doesn't make a difference what I eat or how I exercise, then you're not gonna do it.

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    But the point is either way, you live by your convictions, what you really believe.

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    And it's the same with biblical faith.

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    I live like I do because I really believe what God said.

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    Conviction.

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    So I have to ask you, as you're examining yourself, does your faith determine how you live?

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    Because listen, you don't really believe in Jesus.

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    You don't really believe in the word of God if he doesn't affect the way you live your life day in and day out.

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    If you have faith, you say, listen, There are things that I do because of Jesus Christ.

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    And you also say, because of my faith, there are things I absolutely would never do because of Jesus Christ.

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    That's conviction, that's life change, that's real faith.

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    Like, well, can you give me some like examples?

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    I could give you a billion examples, but I thought let's just go with, let's just go with three examples that Jesus gave very quickly, Matthew chapter six.

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    Jesus gave three concrete examples.

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    The first one is praying.

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    Do you believe, let me ask you, do you believe that God hears and answers prayer?

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    Do you believe that?

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    I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand because you're in church, and you'll raise your hand even if you don't believe it, but do you really believe that God hears and answers prayer?

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    Then let me ask you, do you pray that way?

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    Do you pray like you really believe that?

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    What about giving?

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    What about money?

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    We just talked about that, Matthew chapter six.

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    And that to me really is the most objective self-examining test, because God says this, if you give to him, he gives more back to you.

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    2 Corinthians 8 and nine, read it.

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    God says, if you give to him, he's going to give even more back to you.

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    So you can give even more to him and he'll give even more to you.

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    Do you believe that?

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    Do you really believe that?

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    Because if you say you do, my question is, well, how much money do you give to God?

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    How much do you give to the church?

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    How much do you give to missions?

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    And if you're like, yeah, I don't really give that much.

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    Well, then you don't really believe it.

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    But money is the most objective indicator of your faith because Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

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    All right, oh, and here's one, fasting.

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    Interestingly, that's Jesus taught that, he lumped that right in there with praying and giving, but somehow we don't talk about fasting very much.

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    Fasting is abstaining from food to focus my appetites on spiritual matters.

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    That's saying, you know what?

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    I'm seeking nothing but Jesus right now.

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    I'm devoting all of my appetite to seeking Christ right now, to just drawing near to God as He has allowed me through Jesus Christ as we've studied in Hebrews.

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    I'm just focusing.

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    Do you believe that if you enter a season of fasting and you seek to really be tuned in to God and His word and what He has for you, do you believe that fasting makes a difference?

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    Do you believe that?

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    Well, when was the last time you fasted?

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    And you read Matthew six, all of these things, praying, giving, fasting, do you know Jesus drove home the same application point in every one of those spiritual disciplines?

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    And that's this, Jesus said, "You do these in secret if you really believe that God sees and rewards, acts of faith.

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    So there's your self-test to see if you really have faith.

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    Does it determine your conduct?

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    Secondly, verse two, do I have faith?

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    Well, the question is here, is faith how I seek God's approval?

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    Look at verse two.

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    It says, "For by it," or by faith, "the people of old," He's talking specifically about Old Testament people.

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    That's gonna be really obvious as we go through the chapter.

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    For by it, the people of old received their commendation.

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    What does that mean?

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    They were approved by God.

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    Salvation is by faith in Jesus alone.

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    Right?

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    And it was always that way.

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    We say that even in the Old Testament, remember last week we were in Habakkuk 2:3-4, previous verse here, Hebrews 10:38, "But my righteous one shall live by faith." Right?

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    And it's all through the New Testament.

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    Right?

    18:47-19:01

    Romans 3:28, "For we hold that one is justified by faith "apart from works of the law." Romans 4:5, "And the one who does not work but believes "in him who justifies the ungodly, "His faith is counted as righteousness." Ephesians 2, 8, 9.

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    "For by grace you have been saved through faith.

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    "And this is not your own doing.

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    "It is the gift of God, not a result of works "so that no one may boast." You see, that's the way it's always been, even for the people in the Old Testament times.

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    But you know, a question I get asked a lot.

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    We do Q&A day around here, and this question has come up a lot, And that's how are people in the Old Testament saved by faith in Jesus if they lived before Jesus was even born, let alone before Jesus died on the cross, right?

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    Like how were they saved by Jesus?

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    Well, as we talk about faith, You know, let's just let this be a timeline here.

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    And we'll put the Old Testament saints here.

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    And then Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, rose from the dead, as we've been talking "about the high priest, the sacrifice for sin." And then there's us, we'll just...

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    Are you okay with being called a New Testament saint?

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    Does that designation work for you?

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    New Testament saint.

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    All right, saints.

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    All right.

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    You're like, "Well, how were they justified by faith "if they lived before Jesus even came?" See, for us, our salvation is based on what Jesus Christ did.

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    We're looking back at an event in history, saying this is what God did through Jesus.

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    Our salvation is based on faith in that.

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    But as we talk about faith, this is critical.

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    Their salvation was based on what?

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    They were looking forward.

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    Their salvation was based on what they believed God was going to do through the coming Messiah.

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    So you see, either way, anybody in heaven, and if you're going there, you can test me on this.

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    Just grab random people in heaven that you run into and say, "Why are you here?" And they're all going to say the same thing, because of Jesus Christ.

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    But you lived long before he died on the cross, but I believed in God's promises of what he was going to do through the Messiah.

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    You see, on both sides of the cross, salvation is about faith in the Messiah.

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    But you know, as human beings, we're always looking for approval, aren't we?

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    We're always looking for approval from our friends, from our parents.

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    Maybe you're crushing on someone.

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    And all you can think about is, what do I need to say to get their approval?

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    How do I need to act?

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    What do we need to look like to get their approval?

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    And then we take that mindset to God.

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    And we say, what do I have to do to make God happy with me?

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    And biblically, the truth is this, there's only one thing that you can do to please God, and that's to believe Him.

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    That's it.

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    It's to believe Him.

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    (pages fluttering)

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    So we can say this, with faith, the substance is the word, right?

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    And it's the conviction that controls your behavior.

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    But this is the motivation.

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    Why faith?

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    Because faith is what pleases God.

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    Faith is what brings blessing.

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    So you have to ask yourself, do I have faith?

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    Well, ask yourself this, how am I seeking God's approval?

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    Because according to God's word, there's only one way to get it.

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    Then finally, number three, does faith determine how I understand the world?

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    Does faith determine how I understand the world?

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    Look at verse three.

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    It says, "By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." Interestingly, the first illustration that he gives us of true faith is believing that God created.

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    Now, he could have. He could have said, "By faith we believe there's a heaven." And he would have been absolutely right to say that.

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    But, he started with where we are.

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    The most fundamental doctrine of Scripture, and actually, the very first doctrine of Scripture.

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    And that is this, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

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    I don't know if you've noticed, but creation has become the most attacked doctrine in scripture, because Genesis one through three is foundational to every single thing that we believe here.

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    Like how did everything get here?

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    Why is man evil?

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    Why do we wear clothes?

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    Why is there marriage?

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    Why is there this like male and female?

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    Why is it set up that way?

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    Because that's how God created and designed.

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    That's how he laid it out.

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    God's word tells us to listen for the enemy to deter people from believing God's word.

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    What he does is he undermines the very foundation.

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    And if you can't see this, I say this lovingly, open your eyes.

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    That's what Satan has done, is undermine the word of God from the first verse.

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    For generations, what have we heard?

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    You know, we say in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and people are like, no, no, no, no.

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    We are a product of evolution.

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    It's millions and billions of years of chance and mutations and things evolving.

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    undermining the word of God.

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    And much more recently in human history, what have we seen?

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    You know, Genesis says God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman.

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    Do you see how Satan has undermined that in our culture?

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    Marriage between a man and a, no, no, no.

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    Marriage can be between two men.

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    Marriage can be between two women.

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    and we will legalize that.

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    It's undermining the word of God.

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    And if that's not absurd enough, it's almost like Satan's like, "What can I get them to believe next?" Because it's just getting crazier and crazier.

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    Because now it's, you know, the Bible says, "God created the male and female." And the world's like, "No, he didn't.

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    "There's 71 genders." Like, what?

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    That's like the first thing a little kid learns.

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    There's boys and there's girls.

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    And I'm like, surely that can't be undermined.

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    And yet here we are.

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    Do you see it?

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    Like, well, why is Satan going after creation so hard?

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    Because it boils down to authority.

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    Because if God created me, that means he's in charge and he tells me what to do.

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    But if I can believe that I'm not created, if I can believe that I'm this product of this evolutionary fairy tale, then I can justify living life by my own terms.

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    Why?

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    Because faith determines conduct.

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    Listen, creation and evolution are both faiths, by the way.

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    Like this is faith and this is science.

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    They're both faiths.

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    You know why?

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    Because there was only one person that was there in the beginning, right?

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    We had one eyewitness and he wrote it down.

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    So whatever you believe about the origins of the earth has to come from a position of faith.

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    But as faith determines conduct, creation and evolution, each one of those will take you on very different paths of conduct.

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    And that's his point here in verse three, that true biblical faith sees the world as God explains it.

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    The lens through which you understand everything.

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    I like how C.S. Lewis put it.

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    Do we have that quote?

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    C.S. Lewis said, "I believe in Christianity "as I believe that the sun has risen, "not only because I see it, "but because by it I see everything else." See, that's what Hebrews 11, three is talking about.

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    Through God's word, we can comprehend truth.

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    We can understand the world.

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    And that is exactly why the only way that you will grow in your faith is through the word of God.

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    That is exactly why Romans 10, 17 says, "So faith comes by hearing, "and hearing through the," what?

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    The word of Christ.

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    Like man, I just wish I had more faith.

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    Get your nose in the book, because that's the only way faith grows.

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    Listen, if you're not looking at life and seeing the world through the lens of God's word, listen to this.

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    You're going to expect things to happen to you that you should never expect.

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    And you don't expect things to happen to you that you should expect.

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    You're like, what in the world are you talking about?

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    You see it all the time.

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    Not looking at life through the lens of God's Word just gives you false expectations, and it wrecks people.

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    For example, looking at the one hand, you expect people to treat you fairly.

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    You expect everything to work out if you try to be a good person, and then that doesn't happen and you're devastated.

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    Why?

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    Because you had unbiblical expectations.

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    You see?

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    If you're walking around going, "Hey, as long as I'm a good person and I'm nice to people, "everything's gonna go my way."

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    (laughs)

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    That doesn't work, pal.

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    You are setting yourself up for a sad disappointment.

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    Or we talk about things you don't expect.

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    Oh, you don't expect to get sick, right?

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    You don't expect to lose a loved one tragically, but then it happens and you're devastated.

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    Why? Because you had unbiblical expectations.

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    And I've known people, even Christians, that just walk through life expecting things that the Bible never promises.

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    Or they don't expect things that the Bible absolutely promises.

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    And then their lives are wrecked.

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    I'm like, have you read the Bible?

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    Because if you have, and you have biblical faith, you can rightly understand the world and everything that happens in it with true expectations.

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    Are you still a little fuzzy on faith?

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    Well, we have a barrage of illustrations that are going to help us understand what faith looks like and how we can live a life of faith.

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    We'll start that next week, all right?

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 11:1-3

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. In your own words, define Biblical faith.

  3. How exactly were people in the Old Testament times saved by faith if Jesus didn’t offer His sacrifice yet (Heb 11:2)?

  4. Why do you think creation is the first illustration of faith (v3)? How do you see God’s truths in Genesis 1-3 undermined today?

Breakout
Pray for one another.