Now, I want to focus on just verse 3, of course it's a great chapter, the faith chapter, but
verse 3 is where I'm going to draw my main thought from this morning and we'll go elsewhere
in the Bible.
Verse 3 says this, through faith we understand, and that's the title of the sermon today.
Through faith we understand.
Here he finishes by saying that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
You see, faith is the only way that anyone is ever going to understand the Bible.
It's impossible for someone who doesn't believe the Bible to understand the Bible, according
to this verse and elsewhere.
Look at what you would have in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I'll show you that a little bit
more clearly.
1 Corinthians chapter 2, about halfway through your New Testament, it says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, in verse number 13, it says, which things also we speak, not in the words which
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things
with spiritual.
The Bible says that our preaching is not based on the words of man's wisdom.
A lot of people have a lot of theological wisdom or human type wisdom and a lot of words
that aren't found in the Bible that they use to teach and preach God's word, but he said,
we ought to use the words that the Holy Ghost teaches.
We ought to use biblical words, biblical teaching.
But he says in verse 14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.
The Bible says here that God's word is spiritually discerned and it is impossible for the natural
man to understand God's word.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them.
He's not able to comprehend God's word because he doesn't believe God's word.
You see, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God
so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Look at Isaiah chapter 43, go back in the Old Testament to the book of Isaiah, toward
the end of the Old Testament you have those three great big books, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.
Isaiah 43, brother Chris and I were out soul winning just a couple of days ago, I think
it was Friday, and as brother Chris and I were out soul winning, we knocked the door
of an elderly man and he was a Latter-day Saint, Mormon, and we knocked on his door
and I began to preach to him the Gospel, I began to show him salvation through the Lord
Jesus Christ, and I went through the verses with him, and I began to show him and expound
him from the Bible that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.
Of course, they don't believe that.
They believe in a multiplicity of gods, they believe that Jesus is not God, they believe
that he's a God and that we can become a God, you know they have a lot of false teaching,
but I sat down with this man and I began to show him that Jesus Christ was God in the
flesh and the important biblical truth that there is only one God, there's only one God.
I tried to show him that salvation was by grace through faith, he said well the devils
believe, believing's not enough, I opened to James 2, I said the devils believe that
there is one God, do you even believe that?
I said, over and over, the Bible says there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all, and I took him to this verse in Isaiah 43, look at verse 10 if you
would, it says in Isaiah 43 verse 10, Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant
whom I have chosen, and watch this, that ye may know and believe me and understand.
Notice the believe comes before the understand because through faith we understand.
He said that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he, before me there was
no God formed, neither shall there be after me, I even I am the Lord and beside me there
is no Savior.
You see how clear that is?
He said there was no God that was ever formed before me, there will never be another God
formed after me, I am he and there is none else, beside me there is no Savior and I showed
him that point blank, I showed him other scriptures, and here's what he said to me, brother Chris
will remember this, he said, well explain to me, explain to me how when Stephen was
being stoned he saw Jesus at the right hand of the Father, explain to me what it is when
Jesus was baptized and he heard a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased and I said to him I will not explain that to you.
I said I'm not going to explain it to you because you wouldn't understand.
So why would I explain it to you?
Because if you don't believe the clear statement of God's word that says there is one God,
here oh Israel, the Lord our Lord is one Lord and thou shall love the Lord, if you don't
understand what it means when he says I'm he, there's none else, there's only one God,
there's one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, I said until
you believe that you will never understand the Trinity, you'll never understand the doctrine
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost because through faith we understand and I
said I could explain to you and explain to you, it's not going to do any good, you just
have to believe the book and then you'll understand, I mean you just have to believe that Jesus
is God, you just have to believe that there is only but one God and then you'll understand.
Same thing with the actual subject of Hebrews 11-3 where we started.
Through faith, I'll quote it for you, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed
by the word of God so the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
You see we understand through faith that the worlds were framed by the word of God when
God said let there be light and there was light, when God said let the dry land appear,
when God said let there be a ferment in the midst of the waters, when God said and spoke
this world and all of the worlds and all of the heavenly bodies into existence, when he
spoke it into existence, hey I understand that because I believe it and you see today
we think that a science book is going to make somebody understand that and it's not.
We think that a science seminar, we think that a brochure, we think that a fossil is
going to make somebody understand that.
Nope, it's faith in God's word.
I don't carry a fossil out saluting with me.
I don't carry a fossil around and say I've got the evidence here, I've got proof right
here that God created this world 6,244 years ago, I've got the proof right here in this
fossil.
No, the evidence is right here my friend.
Are you still in Hebrews 11?
If not, get there.
Get back in Hebrews 11 if you would or you can just listen in but in Hebrews 11 verse
1 he defines what faith is and this is why it's so important to understand that through
faith we understand.
It says in verse 1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for but look at the next phrase,
the evidence of things not seen.
You say Pastor Anderson, give me some evidence that this world was created by God, give me
evidence that God spake the world into existence.
This is the evidence right here.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Faith doesn't come by a fossil.
Faith doesn't come by a science book.
Faith doesn't come by seeing it physically with your eyes because that's not faith because
what a man see it, why did he hope for?
Once you've seen it, it doesn't require faith and God requires faith.
It says in verse 6 if you're still in chapter 11, without faith it is impossible to please
him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.
You must believe that God exists.
You must believe that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world.
You must believe that Jesus Christ died and was buried and three days later rose again
from the dead in order to be saved and without faith you'll never be saved and if you're
waiting for somebody to prove it to you, then you'll never be saved.
You're calling God a liar.
I mean if I were to say to you, I have a red car and you must believe me when I say that
I have a red car.
Well, nope, you've got to show it to me.
I've got to see it or else I won't believe you.
In fact, I think you're a liar, Pastor Anderson.
That's what you're saying to God.
The Bible says he that believeth on the Son has the witness in himself but he that believeth
not the Son hath made him a liar.
He said because he had not believed the record, but he that believeth not God hath made him
a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son and this is the record
that God has given to us eternal life.
You see, faith is the evidence and I think we make a mistake when we're out soul winning
and talking to people and we're not using God's Word because that's where the power
is, my friend.
That's why I'm saved today because I believe God's Word.
God's Word has power and faith cometh by hearing the Word of God and through faith we understand
it is impossible for the unsaved man to understand the Bible.
He can read it all day long, he'll never understand it.
You remember the Ethiopian eunuch that was on his way from Gaza back to Ethiopia and
he was basically traveling in a chariot reading the Bible on the road.
He had the book of Isaiah in front of him and he read it and he read it and he read
it and basically Philip walks up to him, Philip there was a deacon in that early church, he
said, understandest thou what thou readest and he said, how can I except some man should
guide me.
Now look at you would at 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2, very end of the New Testament.
Through faith we understand.
Look at 1 John chapter 2 and we'll see a very important verse that we all should know.
Verse 27 says this, but the anointing which ye have received of him, talking about the
Holy Spirit, abide within you and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath
taught you, ye shall abide in him.
You say, wait a minute Pastor, is that a contradiction here, because Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch,
that eunuch said he definitely needed a man to guide him or else he couldn't understand
the Bible.
But here God's telling us that we don't need any man to teach us the Bible.
The difference is salvation.
The difference is faith, because the difference is that the Ethiopian eunuch was not saved
and that's why he couldn't understand the Bible, until the Gospel of Jesus Christ would
preach to him and then he said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Once he had the faith, then he could understand the Bible.
If you're saved this morning, if you are a child of God, if the Holy Spirit is living
inside of you, and the Bible says if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of
his.
So everyone who believes has the Holy Spirit living inside of them, you can understand
the Bible yourself.
Pick it up, read it.
Read it tomorrow.
Read it on Tuesday.
You can understand it, but the natural man, the unregenerate man, the unsaved man cannot
understand because he doesn't have the faith that's necessary to make him understand the
Bible.
Here it says that we as believers don't need anybody to teach us.
Now you say, well why do we come to church?
You go to church to get teaching, but it's not that there's anything I could teach you
that you could not learn on your own.
It would be possible for you to learn on your own everything that I'm preaching to
you.
Now coming to church is going to speed up that process.
Coming to church is a command of God, so that you can be assembled with the body of believers.
The Bible commands us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
But there's no special revelation or doctrine that only I have that you have to get from
me.
It's all in this book.
I have the same book you have, same Holy Spirit living inside of me as you have inside of
you.
It's the fact that you're saved, that anointing from God that allows you to understand the
Bible.
The unsaved man can't understand it on his own.
That's why he needs us to go and take in the Gospel, just like Philip took the Gospel of
the Ethiopian eunuch and explained it to him and expounded it to him.
Once he was saved, Philip left.
That guy went on his own back to Ethiopia, and you know what, he just kept reading the
Bible on his own and understood it and so forth, and we don't know the rest of the story.
God doesn't tell us.
But if you would, look at John chapter 8, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
John chapter number 8.
John chapter number 8, the Bible says in John 8.43, here's a speech that Jesus asked of
the Pharisees.
Why do you not understand my speech?
So right there he's asking them a good question, you know, why don't you understand the Bible?
And obviously Jesus' words are God's word, just as much as the Bible is God's word.
Why do you not understand my speech?
And he explains why.
Even because you cannot hear my word.
Year of your father the devil, and the works of your, I'm sorry, and the lusts of your
father you will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him.
And he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
And verse 45 says this, and because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not, which of
you convinceth me of sin?
And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?
He that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not
of God.
So if you compare verse 47 with 43, you'll see the problem here, don't you?
They couldn't understand him because they didn't have ears to hear, because they were
not his sheep, because they were not of God, because they believed not.
That's why.
Because it's through faith that we understand.
Therefore the unsaved man, the unregenerate man, cannot understand the Bible.
Now let's apply this a little bit into our lives, okay, because this has basically so
far been geared toward explaining why people who are not saved don't understand, but even
after we're saved, we have the faith to believe that Jesus Christ is our savior, we know we're
on our way to heaven, we have eternal life, but there are other promises in the Bible,
there are other statements in the Bible that we need to have the faith to just believe
them, and it'll help us to understand many of the things in our life.
Look at Romans chapter 8 for example, turn to Romans 8.
While you're turning there, I'll quote you some other verses.
Luke 24, 45 says this of Jesus, then opened he their understanding that they might understand
the scriptures.
So Jesus Christ gave understanding of the Bible in Luke 24.
Proverbs 28, 5 says this, evil men understand not judgment, but they that seek the Lord
understand all things.
The Bible talks about in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 the fact that those who are unsaved, he
said there is none that understand.
There is none that seeketh after God, there's none that doeth good, no, not one.
Talking about the unregenerate man.
But look at Romans 8, 28, let's apply this to ourselves as Christians.
It says in verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Now if we believe that in verse 28, where he says all things work together for good
to them that love God, if we truly believe that, then we might be able to understand
some of the things that happen to us in our life.
Something happens in your life and you don't understand why.
Bad things happen, catastrophes happen, and you say why is this happening?
But if you would believe this, if you would just believe that all things work together
for good to them that love God, you'd understand why some of the things happen in your life.
And in verse 29 he helps you understand.
He said this is why they work together for good.
Because whom he did foreknow, of course God foreknew everything before the world began,
he knew who would be saved and who would not be saved, he could look forward and see that.
Whom he foreknew, those people that he foreknew, he also did predestinate to be conformed to
the image of his son.
He basically looked forward in time at those whom he foreknew would get saved.
He knew who would believe and who would not believe.
And he looked at you and he saw you and he said, okay, I see you and you will believe
on Jesus Christ, you will be saved, and I am going to predestinate you to be conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ.
That is your destiny.
That is the goal of your life.
And he says, whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, then he also called.
And whom he called, then he also justified.
And whom he justified, then he also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things if God be for us, who can be against us?
You see, your life is not just about you quote unquote succeeding or being happy or
being successful and making money and we don't preach a prosperity gospel here because the
goal of your life is to be brought into conformity with Jesus Christ.
And the things that happen to you in your life are helping achieve that goal.
When bad things happen, when trials are attributed, that is why he said, my brethren, count it
all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have a
perfect work that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
He's saying, look, we glory in adversity, Paul said.
We glory in tribulations, in buffeting, in suffering.
Because suffering is the trying of your faith, which is much more precious than that of gold.
And the bad things that happen in your life, God is allowing those things to happen in
order to make you into the person that he wants you to be.
And also because those things are working together with other circumstances for good.
So you just have to ask yourself this question, do you believe that everything that happens
to you when you're serving God and doing the right thing and you're keeping his commandments
and you love God, do you truly believe that all of those things are working together for
good in your life?
Even when people persecute you, even when people try to hurt you, God will basically
work it out for good.
Look at Joseph and his brethren.
Joseph was sold into slavery.
Joseph was beaten and thrown in a pit by his brethren back in the book of Genesis.
And you remember what he said?
Ye meant it for evil, but God meant it for good to save a live bunch of people.
Even people who thought that they were attacking him and hurting him, they didn't realize that
they were actually fulfilling God's will.
God could have done it a different way, I understand that, but what I'm saying is they
were trying to do wrong and they did commit sin, they were wrong.
That wasn't what God would have had them to do.
But God is able to take a bad situation and turn it into something good.
And it'll work together with other things for good.
Let me give you an example.
When I was a teenager, a lot of bad things happened at our church when I was a young
teenager and the church kind of had a big split and a big problem and we ended up not
having a good church to go to.
So we're looking around trying to find a good church and so forth.
And we couldn't really find a good church and so my parents started taking us to just
a really liberal, watered-down church.
Nobody ever got saved.
There was never any hard preaching.
I don't think that the word hell was even in this passage vocabulary.
I don't think he ever said it the whole five years that we listened to him.
Well, we went to two churches over the course of five years.
I don't think I ever heard the word hell.
It was all just a lot of fluff and so forth.
No heaven and hell, no salvation.
Nobody ever got baptized.
It was that type of place.
Now look, I don't believe it was right that we went there.
I think my parents should have done a little more diligence and we could have found a righteous
church to go to that was preaching God's word.
But even though we did wrong by compromising and going to those type of churches that were
dead as a doornail, that were not preaching God's word, it worked out in some ways for
good because it showed me and taught me a lot of things not to do.
So basically I drew from that experience and said, boy, I never want to go down this road.
I never want to be this kind of a Christian because I saw it from the inside.
And you see, it was not God's will for us to be there, but yet he took it and worked
it out for good.
I mean, I don't think it was God's will, some of the things that people have done to me
over the last couple of years.
You know, who was one of the people who was opening the mail for me for a while?
Wasn't that you and Stuckey?
It got to the point where it was getting so bad, I said, you know what, I can't open the
mail anymore.
I said, you guys open the mail.
And they opened the mail to some really disgusting things.
And people will do nasty things and people have done all kinds of stuff.
I hesitate to even say some of the stuff that people have done to try to attack us because
I don't want to give people ideas that might listen to this sermon and say, oh yeah, we're
going to get them, let's do that again.
But I'm telling you, people will attack you and it's not God's will.
Most people are sinful, they're wicked, they have wicked imagination.
But you know what?
God uses those attacks and those persecutions to build us up, to strengthen us in the faith.
He can turn it around and use it to build it up and to use it for His glory.
And so we ought to think about things that happen in our life from a perspective, hey,
God's going to use this.
It's going to work together for good because I love God, because I'm serving God, because
I'm doing the right things.
And it'll help us to understand why some of the things happen.
And I can look back over my life and honestly say over the last 10 years, as the song says,
Jesus led me all the way.
I mean I can look back and see all the things that happened and I didn't understand why
is this happening, God?
I remember I got a job and everything went wrong with it and I wished I would have just
kept my old job and it was the biggest disaster.
But you know, it turned out that at that job that I hated and at that job where I was getting
ripped off, it turned out that's where I got the experience to help me get another job
after that, that turned out to be the best job I ever had.
You know, you don't know what God's doing.
If you have faith though, you can understand your way in life.
You can understand the path that you're on.
You can understand things.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6.
So first of all, people who are unsaved, they're going to need to believe the Gospel before
they ever understand the Gospel.
They're going to need to believe that there's one God before they can understand the Trinity,
before they can understand the deity of Christ.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6.
You see, I'm going to show you a verse that revolutionized my work ethic, honestly.
And I'll say this, earlier in my life, I came to a point in my life where I realized that
I was a lazy person.
And I prayed to God and I confessed it as a sin and I just said, God, I'm a lazy person.
I said, I don't want to be lazy.
I want to work hard.
I want to grow in this area in my life.
I just said, God, please teach me to work hard because I just know that I'm not as hard
of a worker as you'd want me to be.
I grew up, I'm the generation of the video games, the TV, all that kind of stuff.
And so I just did not grow up with the natural inclination to be a hard worker.
And so I confessed this to God and I asked God many times to help me in this area.
This is a verse that revolutionized my work ethic.
And we're living in tough times, aren't we?
A lot of people are out of a job.
A lot of people are looking for a job.
A lot of people have just started a job.
This verse will help you succeed on the job.
Let's read several verses, but especially verse 8, but let's start reading verse 5.
It says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with
fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with eye service
as men pleasers.
So he says, look, when you're serving on that job, that you're master or boss at that job,
you ought not only work hard when he's watching.
That's the eye service, men pleasers.
You know, as soon as the boss is around, all of a sudden you look busy, and then when
he's gone, you know, you take it easy, you relax.
He says, no, you need to be diligent.
He said, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will
of God from the heart, with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men.
But here's the promise that he gives in verse 8 that will revolutionize the way you look
at your job.
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord
whether he be bond or free.
Now if you would get a hold of that promise, he is saying here that any work that you do
in this life, any good work, he's talking about just the work that you do on your job.
Not necessarily a quote unquote spiritual work of maybe winning souls or preaching a
sermon, but rather when you're mowing the lawn, you know, if you're a landscaper.
Or let's say you're a painter when you're painting that house or you're an electrician
when you're bending the conduit, pulling the wire, whatever your job is.
He says when you do it heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men, he says you know that
whatsoever good thing you do, you will receive from the Lord whether you be bond or free.
If you're a Christian and you go to your job and you give it 100%, God will make sure that
you get rewarded and get paid for the work that you're doing.
You ever have a boss stiff you on a little bit of money or maybe say they were going
to give you a certain amount, give you less, maybe you're supposed to get a certain bonus,
just didn't happen, you're supposed to get a raise at this time, didn't happen.
You know, God sees that.
God looks down and he sees that and if he sees you giving it 110%, he will reward you
for that.
You know, let's say you stay an extra hour after work unpaid, it's never unpaid.
There's no such thing as being unpaid because any time you stay an extra hour and work,
I guarantee you God's going to reward that.
God's going to pay you for that time.
It's true.
I've seen it in my life.
So many times I worked and I worked and I said, man, I feel like I'm being short-changed
and then boom, God will give some windfall.
God will cause something to work out to where I get blessed or get paid for the work that
I did.
God will not owe any man anything and let me tell you why.
Salvation is a free gift, my friend.
Salvation is the gift of God and you don't spend your life working to pay God back for
that gift.
You can never pay him back and you won't accept any payment for it.
That's why he will reward you for everything you do, everything, everything.
That's why this doctrine of being rewarded for the good works that you do is so important
because otherwise it's like you're paying God back.
No, that's a gift.
If you work for God, he will pay you.
Do you remember Jacob in the Old Testament?
Jacob worked for a man who was a swindler.
Remember Laban?
Laban changed his wages ten times.
Laban kept saying one thing to him and changing the deal, kept ripping him off, kept docking
his pay when he hadn't done anything wrong and you remember God appeared to Jacob in
a dream and he said, I have seen all the things that Laban has done unto you and he said,
I am going to bless you and if you remember, Jacob ended up walking away with most of Laban's
cattle because he was the one doing the work.
The Bible says if you keep the fig tree, you'll eat the fruit thereof.
And so we have to get off this mentality that says, oh, I'm just going to do the minimum
at my job.
They don't pay much, they're not going to get much.
If they're only going to pay me eight bucks an hour, what's the minimum wage right now
in Arizona?
What is it?
If they're only going to pay me $7.25, then that's all I'm going to give it.
If they're giving you $7.25 an hour, you work like you're getting paid $50 an hour because
you're working for Jesus Christ.
And when Jesus Christ looks down and sees you working hard, he's going to say, hey,
I see your work and I will make sure that whatsoever, it says it right here to peace
and say, whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether
he be bond or free.
He said, you will receive payment for the work that you do.
You go out and work and work and work hard and work hard, he's going to bless you.
But you know what?
God also sees you messing around on the job.
He also sees you clock in and horsing around, not putting in, and you know what, if you're
going to work eight hours and get an eight hour paycheck, you better put in eight hours
of work.
This generation is a lazy generation.
I know because I'm part of it, but thank God.
Be careful when you pray for God to teach you not to be lazy because the way that God
taught me not to be lazy was just giving me so much work that I couldn't even hardly handle
it.
After years of doing that, you learn how to work hard, but you know what, I'd rather
it be that way.
I don't want to be lazy.
I don't want to waste my life, sit around, everything's about leisure and recreation
and laziness.
No, you better go and give it your all on your job because I think God will make sure
that you don't get paid if you're lazy on the job.
Give it a hundred percent, give it your all.
Look at it as this, I'm not just flipping burgers, I'm not just digging ditches, I'm
not just painting houses, no, I'm working for Jesus Christ.
He's the boss, he's the owner, he's looking down on me.
He's going to make sure that I get paid.
He's up there in heaven and he knows if somebody swindles me and he'll make it right.
That's what he said, that's what he promised.
This will revolutionize your work ethic.
And I can tell you, not only do I believe it because it's in the Bible, I've also seen
it in my life.
I've seen this play out, it's amazing how it plays out.
But you know, really, this whole chapter, we could just go back just a couple verses.
What's the title of the sermon?
Through faith we understand.
So you say, well I don't understand why I should give it a hundred percent if they're
not paying me right.
But if you believe Ephesians 6, 8, you will understand why you should give it a hundred
percent even if you're not getting paid right.
Why is it not right to pay somebody $7.25 an hour, that isn't right, for the work that
I'm doing?
Maybe it's not right that you're only getting paid $7.25 an hour, but you know what?
Why don't you just, through faith, believe that God's going to make sure that he takes
care of you if you're working hard?
It's funny, I've never known anybody who worked hard from sunup to sundown who didn't have
the money and the food that they needed.
I'm not saying they were rich, but I'm saying God will make sure that you have food and
clothing.
If you work all day from sunup to sundown, I promise you, I promise you that God will
take care of your needs.
But instead of sitting there, well I've got to be guaranteed, or having this attitude,
well that's not my job.
You know what?
If you're standing around on your job and there's nothing to do, don't stand around,
grab a broom, sweep the floor, clean the toilet.
That's how you're going to succeed on the job.
If you put the Bible into practice, God's going to bless that.
And this kind of preaching is needed today when people are struggling financially and
they're struggling to get a job.
Give it 100% at your job and you can succeed and you can make it.
But you know there's some other things in this passage that require faith too.
It requires faith to give it 100% on a job where you feel like you're getting a raw deal.
You say, if I give it 110%, my boss isn't going to recognize that, he's not going to
give me anything extra.
But that's where the faith comes in to understand, oh here's why I need to do it, because of
Ephesians 6.8.
It says in verse number 1, children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
You know it takes faith sometimes for children to obey their parents, because guess what?
Children think that usually their parents are wrong.
Because children think that they know it all, it turns out they don't know anything.
And children, you know I remember when I was four years old, if you would have asked me
when I was four years old, I would have told you I could drive a car, it's just the pedals
are too far away.
I mean I literally thought that because I could play pole position, that I was able
to drive a car.
You know and if you would have asked me, I thought when I was six years old that I could
probably go to college and pass all the classes, I mean if you would have asked me if I could
run a business, I could have run a business, and I could have passed a church when I was
about twelve.
But do you really think I knew what I was doing at those ages?
No.
But kids think they know more than they really know, because they have a very small view
of the world, don't they?
And it's going to take their faith to understand that I need to obey mom and dad, even when
I don't see it.
I need to obey mom and dad because it's right.
I love that, this is my favorite part of this verse.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord.
Why?
Isn't that what kids always ask?
Because it's right.
For this is right.
Why, you know, why this?
Why should we wait to go to bed until we're married?
Because it's right.
That's why.
I'm not going to explain to you some rationale, everybody wants to explain the rationale,
don't they?
Yeah.
Why?
Why do you believe in creation?
Why don't you believe in evolution?
Why?
Why do we stay pure until we're married?
What's wrong with it?
Explain it to me.
And preachers and teachers and parents will try to get up and explain it and say, well,
let's just think, you know, when you get married, you know, you're going to wish that you had
been with that one person.
No, here's the answer.
It's right.
And it's wrong to do the other way.
And God's going to judge you and punish you.
You just believe that.
That's all there is to it.
Have you ever tried rationalizing with a one-year-old?
Right?
They don't get it.
It's just because I said so.
And that's what God says.
Look, it's right.
Believe it.
It's faith.
Then you'll understand.
Faith first, understand later.
That's what the Bible says.
Now you say, what?
Should we just believe you?
No.
Faith in God.
Faith in God's Word.
Understand later.
Look at the next verse.
He said, honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that
it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the earth.
It's going to take faith to believe that promise, that if I honor my mother and father, God
will bless me for that.
Look at the next verse.
Verse 4.
And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord.
Look at verse 9.
And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening, knowing that your
master also is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him.
So, it takes faith to understand, doesn't it?
It takes faith.
Look at Matthew 14, and I'll close with this chapter.
Look at Matthew 14, verse 27.
Through faith we understand.
You say, well, Pastor Anderson, it seems like just this kind of a blind faith in God's Word.
Just kind of a blind faith, isn't it?
Well, hold on a second.
You say, so you just do all these things and you don't understand any of them?
No, no, no.
I understand a lot of things.
But let me tell you something, I understand because first I believed it first, then I
understood it.
You see what I mean?
Like, I can explain to you all about the Trinity.
I understand it.
I understand salvation.
I understand the way God rewards work on this earth.
I understand the difference between rewards that he gives on earth and the rewards that
he gives in heaven.
I understand that.
Because, because why?
Because I believed it a long time ago.
And that's why I understand it.
You see, I believe that if you obey your parents and honor your parents when you're a child,
that God will bless you.
I believe that.
And I understand it.
But you won't understand it until you believe it.
Because through faith we understand.
You won't understand how all things work together for good to them that love God until you start
loving God, obeying his commandments, and just believe it's going to work out.
And then, years later, you can look back and say, oh, I see now how it worked out.
Now I understand.
But you believe first.
You see, I understand the creation story of Genesis chapter 1.
Because I believe it.
And you'll never understand anything in the Bible unless you believe it first.
You'll only understand the Bible when you approach it from a standpoint that every word
of God is pure.
Then you'll understand the Bible.
Anybody who's constantly doubting and questioning the things that they're reading will never
understand this book because it's a spiritual book that's discerned by faith.
Matthew 14, 27, here's one of my favorite stories, it says, but straightway Jesus spake
unto them.
This is Jesus, by the way, just to bring you up to speed, walking on the water.
They're out in the middle of the night on a ship.
Jesus comes to them at about 3 in the morning, walking on the water.
And they're scared.
They think it's a ghost or something, you know.
They don't know what's going on.
It says in verse 27, but straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, be of good cheer.
It is I.
Be not afraid.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
And he said, come.
And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid.
And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him, O thou
of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased.
Now, Peter here had some great faith.
Just to even suggest to get out of the boat and walk on the water took a lot of faith.
And Jesus said unto him, come.
And Peter stepped out and he literally walked on the water.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, you know, when he looked at all the waves and everything,
he started to doubt the how, the why.
And that's when he began to sink, and that's when Jesus had to reach that up.
Now first of all, this is a great picture of faith.
Because faith is the belief, in many cases living by faith, is when you step out to where,
I like what one preacher said, he said, if God doesn't come through, I'm through.
He said, that's faith.
You know what I mean?
If God doesn't come through, I'm through.
We want to live the safe life, safety net.
It's like, we'll walk on the tightrope as long as there's a net underneath it.
We want to step out on the water as long as we know that it's only 3 or 4 feet deep.
But you see, this is a raging sea here that Peter stepped out on.
And that's what it is to live the life of faith.
You're stepping out into uncharted waters.
You're stepping out into the raging sea, and if Jesus did not come through here, Peter
was going to die, literally.
I mean, do you understand that he would have drowned?
I mean, this is not just some kind of a placid lake, and he would have just said, okay, you
know, tread water a little bit, okay guys, throw me the life vest.
This is a storm.
Before Jesus showed up, they were toiling trying to keep the ship going right.
I mean, this was a bad, bad storm.
When somebody goes overboard, the waves are crashing over their head, they're probably
getting drowned.
I mean, you know, this took faith to step out.
And even though you say, well, you know, but when you fell, Jesus, yeah, because Jesus
was walking on the water, to be able to pick him up.
But think about this.
If God doesn't come through, I'm through.
How many people have that kind of faith?
How many people have the faith of like Abraham, who just basically just went out into a country
that he should after receive for inheritance, and he went out not knowing whether he went?
Just go to a land that I'll show you.
That's what God told him.
God didn't tell him where he was going.
He didn't tell him what he was going to find.
He just said, go to a land that I'll show you, and Abraham stepped out.
That's why he's the biggest example of faith over and over in the Bible.
He just obeyed.
He just said, okay, God.
He went to a land.
He did not even know where he was going, but he stepped out in faith, and he wasn't just
a single guy.
I mean, he had a family.
He had a wife to take care of.
He had his nephew that he was taking care of, you know, not a son, but his nephew that
he was basically raising and taking care of.
You know, so many times in life, we have to step out in faith and sometimes burn our bridges
behind us and burn the ships behind us and not leave a path.
I've heard so many people, they say, well, I'm going to get married, and I've heard ladies
say, but just in case my marriage doesn't work out, I better have a career to fall back
on.
Have you ever heard something like that before?
Put up your hand if you've heard something like that, like, well, you know, you've got
to have a career education to fall back on.
You know what?
You ought to go into marriage and say, till death does do part for better or for worse,
and you know what?
I don't have anything to fall back on because this will work.
It will work.
Not, well, just in case it doesn't work out, you know, I better just have a career to fall
back on.
No, that's just a recipe for failure because that doesn't please God when you don't have
the faith to say, hey, if God has commanded me to stay married, if God has commanded me
that what God had joined together, let not man put asunder, then God is going to bless
me if I just believe that and just stay with it.
I don't need a backup plan.
I'm going to back up plans in case God doesn't come through because God's going to come through.
That's faith.
You know, that's just one example.
Well, just in case it doesn't work out.
You know, I heard other people have done this, you know, people that I know personally.
They heard some preaching.
They got them all fired up about a lot of the music that they were listening to.
It was ungodly music.
It was wicked music.
And you don't need me to tell you that there's a lot of wicked music out there and that the
music of the world does not glorify God.
It attacks everything that's holy and everything on the radio.
It's tearing at the foundation of everything that is Christianity.
But let me tell you something.
I've seen people decide, I'm going to give up this music.
It's hurting me.
It's not bringing me closer to God.
And I've seen them box it up and put it up in the closet instead of just throwing it
away.
Because this is what they say.
And I've literally had somebody say to me, you know what?
Just in case I can't go through with this, I don't want to have to re-buy all that stuff.
You know what I mean?
In case I get backslidden, I don't want to have it.
That stuff's expensive.
I don't want to re-buy it.
But you know what?
They ought to just have the faith that says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens
me.
It was hard for me to give up my music.
If you knew me as a teenager, I was really into music and it was all the wrong music.
It was all the wrong music and I was really big on music and that was one of the hardest
things I ever did in my life, was getting rid of that music, honestly.
It was a lot easier for me to give up a lot of other things that I needed to give up,
a lot of other sins.
That was probably the big one for me.
It was really hard for me to give up that music that I loved.
It was almost like cutting off a part of my body.
I mean, I know it sounds extreme, but honestly, that's how big of a part of my life this was.
You probably know people like that.
And maybe there's something else in your life that was wrong that was like that.
And I remember it was one of the hardest things, but you know what?
And I remember thinking to myself, and I remember how many times I said within my own mind these
two words, I can't.
I wish I could, but I just can't.
You know, I can't give this stuff up.
I can't.
And I finally realized, you know what?
The flesh can't, but the Spirit can.
And I read where he said, walk in the Spirit.
Put on the new man.
Walk in the Spirit, you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And I got that verse, I can do all things through Christ.
And I said to myself, you know what?
In my flesh, I can't.
But if I'll walk in the Spirit, then I'll desire what's right and I won't desire what's
wrong.
You know, it's a daily battle, isn't it?
Paul said I die daily.
He said if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me.
And I came to a point where I said, I can.
On the authority of the Bible, I can do it.
And I remember taking my last batch of music that I needed to get rid of, and I remember
I drove it down to the church parking lot.
It was there, it was just an off night, like a weeknight, nothing was going on.
I just kind of symbolically wanted to just take it down there and just offer it kind
of as a sacrifice to God.
And I had a box of CDs, records taped, and I literally, I drove down there on a Tuesday
night, nothing was going on, nobody was around, just all by myself, I pulled in my car right
next to the dumpster, and I just walked up to it with that box of music and I said, you
know what, God?
I said, God, this music is hindering me from serving you to the fullest, from being filled
with the Spirit, and I just said, God, this stuff is not as important to me as getting
people saved, as winning souls to Christ, as using my life for your glory and to get
people saved and to preach your word, and this is stopping me.
This is not as important, God, and I threw it in the trash in the church parking lot
and I was done with it.
But it takes faith to do that.
It takes faith to take, you know, whatever hundreds of dollars of investment and just
destroy it.
You know what, to God, the money's nothing.
He paved the streets with gold.
You've got to have the faith to step out like Peter did, to step out in faith, to do what
God wants you to do, to take it, you say, I don't know if I could ever live the separated,
sold out, zealous Christian life that I see other people live.
I just don't know if I can do it, I mean, it's great for them, I'm glad that they're
strong in the Lord and the power of the mind, but I just don't know if I could live the
life of being a zealous Christian.
I think I'm just going to be wishy-washy and have one foot in the world.
I just don't know if I could do it, and you just have to say, I believe when God
said, I can do all things through Christ, what's wrong with me.
Just believe when Jesus said, you say, I don't know if I could ever be a soul winner.
He said, if you follow me, I will make you to become masters of man.
Do you believe that?
And if you believe that, then you'll begin to understand the path to get there.
But you're not going to understand everything until you believe it first, because through
faith we understand.
You see, Peter was trying to understand the situation.
Okay, I'm standing on the water, waves are crashing, this is a liquid, not a solid, you
know, that's when he started sinking, trying to figure it out, he should have just believed
what God told him to come.
Jesus wouldn't have told him to come and then just watch him crash, and then laugh
about it.
Oh Lord, if it be thou, be it be come out of the water, sure, come on!
He knew that if God's telling him to do it, it's going to work, right?
Now don't step out in faith and do things that God didn't tell you to do and say, I'm
doing it by faith.
But if God told you to do it, just do it, and he'll come through.
Through faith we understand, it all comes back, you're saved by faith, but you've got
to live the Christian life by faith.
And you know what, when you get somebody saved, it's going to be faith that saves them.
And faith cometh by hearing the word of God.
So use God's word.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much that we have these great examples in the Bible.
Many of the examples that we read in Hebrews 11 of all these great men that you listed
in that chapter, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jephthah, Barak,
even the Harlot, Rahab, Samson, Gideon, all these people that you listed, dear God.
But help us not to just read it as a story, help us to live a life of faith ourselves.
Help us not to sit around in the comfort of being inside the boat when we ought to be
outside the boat walking on the water with Jesus.
Help us not to from the comfort of the boat just try to sit there and understand everything
and try to figure out how it's all going to work on paper, dear God.
Help us to just step out, do the good works that you've called us to do, purge out the
evil from our lives and just by faith believe that you're going to step in and work it out
for us.
That all things will work together for good if we have faith.
Father, bless every single person who's here, dear God, who's made it a priority in the
midst of the busy summer months to be in your house.
Bless us as we go our separate ways and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.