(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Great singing. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church and the Wednesday evening Bible study. Let's open up and order prayer. Father God, thank you so much for this church, Lord. Thank you for these people who come out here on a Wednesday evening to serve you. I pray that our singing would glorify you, Lord. Pray that you'd bless the service and the preaching to come. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Alright, turn to your song books, page number 37. We're gonna sing and there'll be no dark valley, page number 37. There'll be no dark valley and let's go ahead and sing it out on the verse. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together his loved one's home. Together his loved one's home. Together his loved one's home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together his loved one's home. Page number 37, on the second verse. There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes. There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes. There'll be glorious sorrow when Jesus comes. Together his love wants home. Together his love wants home. Together his love wants home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together his love wants home. There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes. There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes, but a blessed reaping when Jesus comes. Together his love wants home. Together his love wants home. Together his love wants home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together his love wants home. Let's finish it strong on the last verse. There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes. There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes, and a joyful meeting when Jesus comes. Together his love wants home. Together his love wants home. Together his love wants home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. Together his love wants home. Great singing. All right, well welcome to Verity Baptist Church tonight. We're glad that you are with us for the midweek service. Let's go ahead and take our bulletins. We'll look at some announcements real quickly. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you. The verse this week of course is an Easter verse. Romans 14 9, for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. And that's a good verse there. We like that if you open up your bulletin you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m. We do invite you to be with us on Sunday morning on the Lord's day for church Sunday evening service at 6 p.m. And then of course we are glad that you are with us for the midweek service. And if you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and we have additional soul winning times for now Thursday and Friday are postponed but Sunday at 2 p.m. And if you are a first-time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we are so glad that you are with us and we have a special gift I'd like to give you as you walk into the church building tonight. If you go out the main foyer you'll see a little table set up and on that table you'll see our little gift bags. Please make sure you grab one of these on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight. And there are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have. The one I like to highlight is this documentary that our church made. It's called Being Baptist. It's very well made, very interesting. We think you'll like it. Want to give this to you as a gift. So please make sure you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of these gift bags on your way out. And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin. If you need a pen, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen as well. And we would love to have a regular attendance. We actually would like to send you a little gift but we need your information to do that. So please take a moment to fill the card out. When we're done with the announcement, we're going to sing a song. When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering. And as the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate. And if you look at the announcements there, we of course are a family integrated church. Children and infants are always welcomed in the service. And we have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms. If you have a child who's been distracted during the service, we encourage you to use those. If you need to be baptized, you can let us know on your communication card on the back. Let us know that you'd like to speak to somebody about baptism and we'll follow up with you. And we do have a baptism lined up for tonight after the service, after the preaching. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course we had our Easter service on Sunday and a grand opening of the new building. And that was a great success. We do want you to be aware. You should have one of these cards in your bulletin. And on Sunday morning, we're starting a brand new sermon series called Emotional Intelligence. We're going to learn from the Word of God how to raise your EQ in all areas of life. Awareness of self, awareness of others, awareness of context, social skills, conflict resolution. And if you think I don't need this series, you are probably the person that needs it the most. So I want to encourage you to be here for that. And that'll be good. You see what I just said? That was not emotional intelligence. So anyway, we're all learning together. Next generation youth rally. We've got 80 teenagers signed up for the youth rally so far. And it's next week, Tuesday and Wednesday. So just be aware of that. There's other things there for you to look at. Children's choir. They've got, they're starting on Sunday, April 14th at 515 in the playroom. They're going to be practicing for Mother's Day. And then of course we have the ladies' tea and Mother's Day service, May 11th and May 12th. That's several weeks away. We just want you to save the date. Be aware of that. Homeschool group. They're supposed to have PE tomorrow, but that is canceled. All right. So please make a note of that. Homeschool moms. There's like a 90% chance of rain. It's going to be cold, possibly thundering. So we're just going to go ahead and cancel that. Sorry about that. But make sure you make a note of that, that that is canceled. Ladies' weight loss and accountability group. They meet on Wednesdays at 615. If you'd like to be a part of that group, they meet in my wife's office. So you're welcome to be a part of that, of course. And then don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service, that they're not a distraction to anybody. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of March, this week was Valor Roldan's birthday, March 31st. Anna Puris had a birthday, April 1st. Johnny Cervantes III, April 2nd. Brother Anthony Kofni, April 2nd. Brother Joshua Gastelum, Sr., April 2nd as well. And then later this week, Warren and Brittany Lauterman have an anniversary on the 6th, and Brittany Lauterman has a birthday on the 6th. Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at. And I think that's it. I do have several of these baptism certificates, and I'm going to go ahead and read one. We'll give these out. This one says Certificate of Baptism. This certificate is awarded to Edgar Eduardo de Dios II in recognition of his baptism on the 24th day of March of the year 2024, presented by Verdi Baptist Church. With the verse, Romans 6-4, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness of life. And we have some pictures here for Eddie to remember the day of his baptism. And let's go ahead and hand that out and give him a round of applause. And then I've got another certificate here. This one is Certificate to Noah Deakins in recognition of his baptism on the 13th day of March of the year 2024 with the same verse. And we've got pictures here for Noah to remember the day of his baptisms. I think we've got several of these. And then this one is to Madeline Gonzalez on recognition of her baptism on the 17th day of March of the year 2024. And we've got pictures for her to remember her baptism as well. So we're just trying to make Brother George have a workout here. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Praise the Lord for that. And I think that's it for all of the announcements. So we're going to go ahead and take our song books and go to page number 116. And we're going to sing He Leadeth Me as we prepare to receive the offering tonight. 116, He Leadeth Me. Sing it out on the first. He leadeth me, O blessed thought, O words with heavenly comfort brought, What e'er I do, where e'er I be, Still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me, His faithful follower I would be, His hand He leadeth me. 116, sing it out on the second. Sometimes with scenes of deep as gloom, sometimes where Eden's powers bloom, My waters fill o'er troubled sea, Still tis His hand that leadeth me, He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me, His faithful follower I would be, His hand He leadeth me, Lord, I would cause my hand in mine, Nor ever murmur nor refine, Contend whatever what I see, Since tis my God that leadeth me, He leadeth me, He leadeth me, By His own hand He leadeth me, His faithful follower I would be, For by His hand He leadeth me. Good singing out on the last. And when my task on earth is done, When by Thy grace the victory won, In death's cold wind I will not flee, Since God through Jordan leadeth me, He leadeth me, He leadeth me, His faithful follower I would be, By His hand He leadeth me. Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love You. We thank You for allowing us to gather together tonight. Lord, we pray that You'd bless the offering, the gift, and the giver. We ask that You'd meet with us as we take time to pray and, of course, as we study the Bible together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, well, let's go ahead and take our prayer sheets tonight, and we'll have, of course, time for prayer like we normally do on Wednesday night. And if you do not have a prayer sheet, just raise your hand, and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a prayer sheet, just put your hand up, and we will get one for you. And, of course, want to remind you that the way you add a request to the prayer sheet is through your communication card on the back of the card. There's a place for you to write a request. Make sure you mark whether it's private or public. If it's private, only I will see it. If it's public, we'll put it on the prayer sheet. If you don't mark it, we'll do our best to figure it out, but we usually don't add those. When we do add them, they are added, of course, in the order that they are received, and they are removed after a couple of weeks. So if you'd like it to be longer, you'll have to fill out another prayer sheet. And I'm going to go ahead and pray out loud for these prayer requests. And I ask that you would bow your head and pray with me in your mind and your heart, and let's go ahead and pray together. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do come to you tonight asking for these requests from our church family. And, Lord, we begin with these requests regarding health. We pray here. We have a request here, of course, from Ms. Michelle Scott and Brother Graham, praying for Brother Graham's father, Joe, whose cancer has returned, and praying for wisdom and strength as he's got decisions to make and things to decide regarding this cancer. And, Lord, we pray that you would give him wisdom and direction and discernment. We also pray for Roshina Madox, who's praying for her personal health, praying for Ms. Jessica Jones for healing from her migraines, and Ms. Celeste Berzins for healing with stomach issues she's having. And we pray for Heidi Nelson, praying for healing from arthritis and diabetes. Brother Ron, praying for his health and for a potential heart surgery that he might have coming up, and just wisdom and discernment in regards to that. Ms. Christine Ortiz, praying for her health, also for her sister Judy's health as she battles cancer. Brother Salvador, praying for his personal health and also recovery from a leg injury that he had. And Ms. Docma, praying for her pain and relief of pain there. Brother Edgar and Ms. Alina, continue to pray for Uretzi, for her to be healthy and strong. And for missionary Dave Gomantala's wife, Angel, dealing with breast cancer. Lord, we ask for all these individuals. We pray that you would put your healing hand over them. We ask that you'd give wisdom to the doctors, the nurses dealing with them. Lord, we pray that you'd heal them, that you'd help them. We also pray for these ladies in our church that are expecting Ms. Taylor Marin, Ms. Esther Davidson, Ms. Ariel Chaboyan, Ms. Rizelle Lee Wilson, and Ms. Rebecca Lunsford, praying for their pregnancies. Lord, that you'd give them healthy pregnancies with no issues and no complications, that you'd help them to be healthy and strong, help the babies to be healthy and strong. And Lord, I do want to pray specifically for my wife, that you would help her as she recovers from her blood clot in her leg, and just praying for just continued healing, no complications, no issues. And Lord, we pray that you just continue to help her with regards to that. And we pray, Lord, for these that have requests regarding their families. Ms. Rosina praying for her family. Brother Salvador praying for his family as well. And also for these that have requests regarding their walk with the Lord. Ms. Rosina praying for her faith and God's strength and wisdom in her life. And Ms. Christine Ortiz praying for her faith. Brother Salvador, for his walk with you as well. Lord, we ask that you would help them. And we pray for these that have financial requests. Ms. Rosina praying for her finances as well. Ms. Heidi Nelson praying for the financial stability of her children. Brother Brandon praying for future job prospects and promotion application. And Brother Salvador praying for his finances and work as well. Lord, we ask for these individuals. We pray that you'd help them and meet their needs, open the right doors for them, and help them, Lord, in regards to these things. And then, of course, we pray for these that have salvation requests. Ms. Natalie praying for her husband's salvation. Ms. Maria Cudalima praying for the salvation of Roma and Skylar, Pete, and Svetlana. Ms. Christine Ortiz praying for her family's salvation. And Ms. Docma praying for her daughter and her family's salvation. Lord, we ask for these individuals. We pray that you would help them and be with them, Lord. We ask that your Holy Spirit would work in their hearts, Lord, and that you would do whatever needs to be done in their hearts to help them to be ready and willing to hear the gospel. And then, Lord, we pray that a soul winner would communicate the gospel clearly to them that they might be saved. We also pray for these that have unspoken requests. Ms. Andrea McQueen having an unspoken request. Ms. Natalie having an unspoken request. Brother Salvador having an unspoken request. Ms. Docma having an unspoken request. And, Lord, we ask for all these individuals. We pray that you'd answer their prayers and make it apparent and clear once you've answered. And then, Lord, of course, we pray for our church and we pray that you'd continue to help our church and bless our church. We pray for the prison ministry. We pray for the admissions work being done in the Philippines and Manila and Pampangan. Be cool. We pray for this upcoming next generation youth rally, Lord. Just a few days away, we've got 80 teens coming from all over the place. And, Lord, we pray that you would help things to go well, help everybody to have a good time. And, Lord, specifically, I pray that you would work in the hearts of these young people, Lord. Even as they prepare to come, I pray that your Holy Spirit work in their hearts and that they would be ready to not only have a good time, but to receive your word, Lord, and that they might draw close to you as a result of this conference. I pray for the preachers that will be here for those couple of days, speaking to the young people. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would direct them, that you'd give them clarity to know what to preach and what to say. Lord, we ask that your word be done in this. And then, of course, we just pray for our church so that you'd continue to help us as we have still much work to be done here in this building and all the upcoming projects, air conditioning, and all sorts of things that need to happen. Lord, we just pray that you would help us, guide us, be with us. We ask that you meet with us tonight as we open up your word, as we study the Bible together. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Please open your mouths to Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter number 11. If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand, and unless you can read your Bible. Hebrews chapter 11. Just keep your hand up unless you will come by. Hebrews 11. We read the entire chapter as our custom. Hebrews 11, beginning of verse number 1. Now faith is a substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it, he being dead yet speaketh. By faith, Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had translated him. Before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith, he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, and the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was deliberate of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised, and therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, and heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, but an Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshiped leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hit three months of his parents, because he saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith he passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them, that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness remained strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight, and the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea moreover bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were saunasunder, were tempted or slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens and in caves of the earth. And these all having attained a good report through faith, receive not the promise. God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word and for our church. I ask that you please meet with us tonight. I ask that you be their pastor. Please strengthen him and fill him with your spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, we're there in Hebrews chapter number 11. And of course, on Wednesday nights, we have been going through the book of Hebrews, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. And tonight we are continuing our study in the book of Hebrews for our Wednesday night Bible study, of course. And tonight we find ourselves in this very famous chapter of Hebrews chapter number 11. And this chapter obviously is a long chapter. But also there's just a lot of content, a lot of good content in this chapter. So we'll probably spend a couple of weeks, maybe a few weeks in this chapter. And this chapter is a very well-known chapter. Of course, it's known as the Hall of Faith. It's often referred to as the Hall of Faith because it outlines multiple different Bible characters and their great faith. And of course, in the Bible, you sometimes notice that there'll be certain chapters that have certain themes. For example, we were just in 1 Corinthians 15 on Sunday morning for Easter. And 1 Corinthians 15 is a long chapter as well that deals with the theme of the resurrection, very well-known chapter in the Bible that also has a theme as 1 Corinthians 13, deals with the subject of charity. And every verse deals with that subject. Well, Hebrews chapter 11 is a verse that deals with the subject of faith. It's the faith chapter. And like I said, it's got this list of names, these multiple characters. And I feel like it might just be me, I realize that. But I feel like I've just got some echo or something. If you could help me with that, I'd appreciate it. Maybe one of the staff guys, if they're not asleep, could help him hear that as well. I'd appreciate it. When it comes to faith, this chapter is referred to as the Hall of Faith because of the fact that it deals with all these different characters and all the great things that they did regarding faith. And we're going to look at that. We're not going to look at that tonight. We're going to look at that next week. But what you find in this chapter, especially in the first part of the chapter, intermingled with those stories is you just find these general verses dealing with faith. And you've got these verses that deal with the subject of faith, not specifically dealing with these characters, although there's lots of those verses as well. But you've got these chapters dealing with this idea of faith. So what I'd like to do tonight is I'd like to just highlight those verses. And we're going to begin at verse one, but we might skip a little bit. And we're going to just go through the chapter and look at all the verses that deal with faith in general. And then next week we will get into what's known as the Hall of Faith, where we'll start going through each one of those characters and looking at the different things they did and why they are listed here in this, not Hall of Fame, but Hall of Faith. But tonight we're going to focus on the verses that deal with faith in general. And I'm entitled to a sermon tonight, A Theology of Faith, because we're really going to learn about what the Bible teaches about the subject of faith. And I don't know that there's any more important subject for us to study. If we're going to study a subject, if we're going to study a person, the most important person to study is the Lord Jesus Christ. But if we're going to study a subject, I think faith is probably up there as one of the most important subjects for us to study because of the fact that, of course, we know that we are saved by faith, but it's not just that. We also live by faith. The Bible says the just shall live by faith. So I'd like you to notice there in verse number one. And if you're taking notes, and I do encourage you to take notes on the back of your course of the week, there's a place for you to write down some things. I'd like to give you four thoughts from this passage regarding the idea of faith as we look at this theology of faith. And I do encourage you to maybe jot these things down. The first thing I'd like you to notice, we see that there in verse number one, the Bible says this. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And what we see in this very first verse of the faith chapter, the hall of faith, is we see a definition of faith. And if you're taking notes, and then maybe you can jot that down. The first thing we see is point number one here, the definition of faith. And this verse really is giving us a definition or a description of the subject of faith. Notice what it says. It says now faith is the substance of things hoped for. The word substance means the matter of which something consists. And the Bible tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now this is a definition of faith, but I feel like in order for us to understand the biblical definition of faith, we need to understand the biblical definition of some other words that are found here as well. So let's run a couple of verses, and I'd like you to see a couple of things from this passage. You're there in Hebrews chapter 11. Of course, keep your place there. That's our text for tonight. But if you would go with me to the book of Titus, Titus chapter number two. If you go backwards from Hebrews, you're going to go past the very small book of Philemon into the very small book of Titus. You'll go past Hebrews. If you go backwards, you'll go past Philemon into Titus. And let me just give you a couple of definitions while you turn there, just so you understand the biblical definition for the word faith. And this is a definition that I came up with based off what I understand of the subject of faith in the Bible. But the biblical definition of the word faith is this, complete trust or confidence, complete trust or confidence in God based on his word, not physical evidence. And when the Bible uses the word faith and the Bible uses the word faith and the Bible uses the word believe interchangeably, we need to understand that the definition of that is trust or confidence. So when the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved, it's not saying believe like he existed. That's a different type of belief. The Bible says in the book of James that the devils believe that there is a God. The Bible says that the devils believe in God and tremble. But when we're talking about faith, the word believe being used as a synonym for the word faith, the idea is that you're putting your trust or your confidence. When the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's saying to put your trust or confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. So faith is a complete trust or confidence in God based on his word. And I'm giving you a biblical definition. Based on his word, not physical evidence. What we see in this verse, Hebrews 11 one, is that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Again, it might just be me, but I feel like it's messing with me. So if you could help me with that, I really don't see. Can you go over there and help him? I appreciate that, thank you. Titus 2 13, look at these words. Looking for that blessed hope. I want to define the word hope for you first. The word hope in the Bible, see the way that we use the word hope in our modern vernacular is when we say hope, we mean the way that it's commonly used, we use it as a form of the word wish. Somebody says, well, I hope so and so happens or I hope this happens. And what they're really saying is they wish that that'll happen. In the Bible though, when we see the word of hope, the word of hope is used with this word faith because it's a confident expectation. It's a confident expectation of what God has promised. So when the Bible says the word of hope, it doesn't mean like, I hope it happens. It's like, I have an expectation that this is going to happen. And I'm giving you a proof there. Titus 2 13 says this, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ. The Bible here in Titus 2 13 refers to the second coming of Christ or the fact that he's coming back for us. It calls it our blessed hope. But when it says blessed hope, it doesn't mean like we hope he comes. The idea is that we have a confident expectation that he is coming back. We are looking for that blessed hope, that blessed confident expectation and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ. Go to Romans chapter number eight, if you want. Romans chapter number eight. If you start from the beginning of the New Testament, you go past Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Romans chapter number eight. And I want to show you these because you need to understand the definition. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. The word hope is not like we hope so, but things that we are expecting. Faith is an expectation. It is a trust or a confidence in something that we are expecting. But the reason that it requires faith is because it is the evidence of things not seen. See, in order to have faith in something, it must not be seen. If you can see it, if you can hold it, if you can have it in your hand, then you don't need faith for that. And this is a theme taught throughout the Bible regarding faith. Romans eight, look at verse 24. The Bible says this, Romans chapter eight, verse 24. For we are saved, notice the word here, by hope. And again, hope is not like I hope so, but it's a confident expectation, a trust. I expect this to happen for we are saved by hope. Notice what it says, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? He says, if you can see it, then you don't need to have hope for it. You don't have to have faith for it. Look at verse 25. But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it? So I want you to understand that the Bible teaches that faith is this confident expectation, this trust based on God's word and not based off of physical evidence. Now do me a favor, keep your place there in Romans. We're gonna come back to it and go back with me to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter number one. So we see the definition of faith. Faith is a confident expectation. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It's a confident expectation. When it comes to our faith and the things that we believe are going to happen based off the word of God, it's not a hope so. I'm not hoping tonight that I make it to heaven based off what the Bible says. Based off what the Bible says, I can have a confident expectation that my name's written in the Lamb's book of life, that I will spend eternity in heaven. Based off what the Bible says, I can have a confident expectation. I can trust in the word of God and even if I've not yet seen it with my eyes, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So we need to understand what faith is. Faith is the substance of that which causes you to believe and it's on something that you've not yet seen. I notice there, Hebrews 11, look at verse two. For by it, the it there is referring to faith, for by it the elders obtained a good report. And I'm not going to deal with verse two tonight, we're actually going to come back to it probably in a couple of weeks when we are at the end of chapter 11. But look at verse number three, the Bible says here, through faith we understand. Through faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Now in verse three, what the writer of Hebrews does is he brings up a subject that really truly does require a lot of faith and it is a subject of creation. He says through faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. And if you're taking notes or maybe you're writing in the margin of your Bible, next to verse number one, you might have wrote the definition of faith. Next to verse number three, you can write these words, the inception of faith. Because when it comes to faith and faith in the human heart, where does it begin? Where must we begin with faith? And the writer of Hebrews is correct when he begins with this idea of creation because that is where faith begins. Through faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. The things that we see were not made by things that can be seen. How do we understand this? Through faith, the world were framed by the word of God. Now let's just run some verses real quickly and let's develop this idea. First of all, we understand this, that creation must be accepted by faith. Creation must be accepted by faith. Go, you're there in Hebrews 11, flip back to Hebrews chapter one, verse number one, the very beginning of the book of Hebrews deals with the subject. Let's look at it real quickly. Hebrews chapter one in verse number one, Hebrews 1 says this, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past, notice the words here, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things, notice the words, by whom also he. The word whom there is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, remember God who at sundry times in diverse manners spake in time past unto the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. The Lord Jesus Christ is his son. The whom there is referring to his son, whom can be replaced with him, if you remember we learned about that back in Hebrews 1. By whom also he, that's God the father, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners made the world. So the Bible teaches that God the father made the world through his word and through the second member of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I don't have time to develop this, which also happens to be the word of God. So we accept this and we understand this by faith. You're there in Hebrews 1, flip over if you would to 2 Peter chapter number 3. 2 Peter, you're there in Hebrews, you're going to go past the book of James, past the book of 1 Peter into 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter number 3, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 3, look at verse number 5, the Bible says this, for this they, why don't you notice it, for this they willingly are ignorant. And by the way let me just say this, because sometimes when you bring up subjects like this or subjects like creation, people who think they're smart will say, well this is a problem I have with religion. You're telling me that I have to accept the account of creation from the word of God by faith, and they'll act like we're buffoons or we're ignorant or we're uneducated, but let me explain something to you, is that the account of creation that is put out there today by government institutions like evolution or like the big bang theory, those must be accepted by faith as well. You say, well you must be uneducated if you're relying on a book and you're just reading a book and you're accepting that creation account by faith. Well then what are you doing? Aren't you just opening up a textbook and reading it, were you there? Was anybody? And the interesting thing to me is that people say, well no that's science. No, excuse me, science is something that can be observed, science is something that can be tested, science is something that can be repeated, science is something that can be predicted, and evolution, the big bang theory, and every other sort of story that they've made up to try to replace the Bible can neither be observed, can neither be tested, can neither be repeated, it can't be predicted, it's faith. So before you get on some high horse and say, well this is a problem I have with the faith community, that you guys believe that the worlds were created and you have to accept it by faith. Well every sort of belief that has to do with creation is accepted by faith, period. And the fact that they call it science is just them stealing our tax dollars because it's not. Because the science formula, because the way that science works, real science, look Christians aren't against science, but we're against fairy tales that tell children that they came from monkeys, they came from apes. Science can be observed, can be tested, can be predicted, you can formulate a hypothesis and you can test it and then it can be recreated. It can be redone over and over and over again. None of those things apply to the big bang theory, apply to evolution, apply to the creation of the world. 2 Peter 3.5 Notice what it says. For this, they, who's a they? They who say no it's not God. They willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water in the waters and it goes on to talk about the Noahic flood. But I want you to notice that the Bible says hey today people are willingly ignorant of that fact. So how can you say that they're willingly ignorant of that fact? And the reason that we can say that is because of this. Go back to Romans if you kept your place in Romans and I want to take a little bit of time to help you understand this. We talked about in verse 1 the definition of faith. What is it? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is a confident trust in the word of God on things that we've not yet seen but we believe it because it's in the Bible. Then we saw in verse 3 or we're seeing in verse 3 the inception of faith. And I use that word very specifically the inception of faith. Why? Because creation must be accepted by faith. We understand it. Look we're not lying to you. We're transparent. I'm telling you if you're going to believe the genesis of the kind of creation you must accept it by faith. What the evolutionists are doing is they're lying to you when they tell you it's science and it's not. When they tell you that evolution is real they point to micro evolution little changes in a species or in an animal and then they point to that as evidence for macro evolution. Look open up a textbook. Every they like to talk about Darwin and the Galapagos Islands and the finches and the size of the beak and on one island it was this size and other islands it was this size. Okay no problem. Here's the thing though. They're all birds. Dogs come out in different sizes and the cats come out in different colors but they're still cats. Show me where and they can't. You know they want us to think that the dinosaur evolved into a chicken and I think to myself well that doesn't even make sense. I thought evolution was getting better. You know the T-Rex evolved. Children we are evolving. We're getting stronger. We're getting better. Oh really? Yeah the great Tyrannosaurus Rex evolved into a chicken. It doesn't really make sense. I just stick with the Bible. And people say well this is not, it's not reasonable. Well hold a minute. Faith may go beyond reason. No doubt about it. No argument here. But faith never contradicts reason. In fact our faith is a reasonable faith. It's an informed faith because isn't this true? When something is obviously designed isn't it reasonable to assume that there is a designer? And when we look at our bodies and we look at the universe when we look at the solar system when we look at the way that our nature has been set up and the intricacy of it all you can do is realize that somebody had to put this all into motion. So it's a reasonable faith. What I want you to understand is this in Romans chapter one, excuse me not Romans one, Romans chapter 12. We're going to go to Romans one in a second. Go to Romans 12 first. Look at verse three. There's a phrase here that sometimes Baptists get a little squirmy about and you ought never get squirmy about the Bible. But it's because the Calvinists have taken it over and sometimes they don't know how to answer it. Let me show it to you. Romans 12 three. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly. Notice the words. Last part of verse three. According as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith. And here the Bible tells us that there seems to be a verse that indicates that God has given faith to individuals according as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now the Calvinists, they'll take a phrase like this and they'll just run with it. And they'll say see, salvation's not something you decide. You don't choose to be saved which obviously goes against the plain reading of so many texts. I mean the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3 16. For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But they'll say, no, salvation's not something that you control. God gives you the faith. And they'll point at a verse like this and say see, according as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now let me just again, I'm not preaching on Calvinism but since you brought it up, let me just help you understand it. Number one, the Calvinists teach that God gives faith to some people and not to others. This verse says, God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. So you can't take this verse to prove Calvinism because this verse says that God has given it to every man. But then the question is this, then what does this verse mean? What is this talking about? The fact that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. And by the way, whenever the Bible uses the term measure, it's a reference to the fact that he's given a small amount. The Bible talks about God did not give the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ like he gave it to us. He gave it to him without measure. He gives it to us by measure. We get sealed with the Spirit. You can get more of it if you're filled with the Spirit, if you consecrate your life. But every believer gets some of the Holy Spirit. You're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And here he says that he gave to every man the measure of faith. So the question is this, how is it that God has given to every man a measure of faith? How is it that God has given everyone a little bit of faith? And the answer to the question, go to Romans Chapter one, is this, that not only does creation have to be accepted by faith, but creation intuitively generates faith. Let me show it to you. Romans one, verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed. Now, I want you to notice that the Bible here is going to tell us how God is revealed, but please understand this. It's the wrath of God. It's not the grace of God. The message of salvation, the message of the grace of God, the message of the mercy of God cannot be revealed through creation. That must be, it cannot be revealed through general revelation. It must be revealed through specific revelation, which is the word of God, which is why the Bible says that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But I do want you to notice that God though, his specific plan for salvation is not revealed by creation. The Bible does tell us that God himself and his wrath and judgment is revealed by creation. Look at Romans 1 18. For the wrath of God is revealed. The word revealed means to be made known, to disclose, to reveal. The wrath of God is revealed. How is it revealed? Look at it, from heaven. This is a reference to nature against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Notice the words, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Every man has been given a measure of faith because every human being can look at the heavens and can look at creation and there is something in you that tells you that God did this and God has given everyone a measure of faith. They hold the truth in unrighteousness but they are, we saw it in 2 Peter 3 5, willingly ignorant of that truth. They choose to look away. Look at verse 19. Because that which may be known of God is manifest. The word manifest means made known, made apparent. That which may be known of God is manifest. Notice this word, in them. What is that talking about? In them? We'll see it here in a minute it's referring to their conscience. Because there are two things that God did in order to provide a measure of faith for every man, for every human being. One thing is outside of us it's creation. We can look up at the stars and we can look at the universe, we can look at nature, we can look at ourselves and other human beings and realize that somebody created us. But then also inside he gave you a conscience. Your conscience doesn't come from Jiminy Cricket, it comes from God. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has showed it unto them. Look at verse 20. For the invisible things, remember faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For the invisible things of him from the creation, from nature, of the world, notice the words are clearly seen, they're manifest, being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power in Godhead so that they are without excuse. So the things that are made can clearly see, can clearly understand the invisible things of creation. See, God has revealed himself through creation. Not only that, but God has revealed himself through conscience because God is manifest, verse 19, Romans 1.19, in them. Go to Romans chapter 2 real quickly. Look at verse 14. Romans chapter 2 and verse 14. Romans 2.14. For when the Gentiles which have not the law, it's talking about heathen Gentiles in the first century who did not have access to the word of God. They did not have the specific revelation of God. For when the Gentiles which have not the law, notice these words, do by nature the things contained in the law. And look, isn't it true that all of humanity, whether they've had the word of God, whether they've had Christianity or not, in general, all of humanity has pretty much came down on certain truths, certain things, like murder is wrong, like stealing is wrong. I mean, by and large, most cultures have accepted that. Yeah, there are some reprobate cultures out there and cannibalists or whatever, but those are the exception. Those are the exception, not the rule. In fact, the exception proves the rule. The fact that we are all horrified about some island where people eat other people proves that that's not normal. That's not the norm. The exception proves the rule. What's the rule? That by and large, by and large, throughout human history, people have believed in a deity and people have followed a certain moral code in general that tells you, hey, adultery is wrong, murder is wrong, stealing is wrong. Where did that come from? It came from God. Because God revealed himself through creation. I'm not saying that every human tribe has believed in the Jehovah God. No, no, that comes through revealed revelation, specific revelation, but general revelation, creation and conscience tells you there is a God. Here's what I'm saying. Every human being by themselves, on their own, will believe in God. You say, well, how do we find people today like atheists or evolutionists or things of that nature? You have to be taught that. In fact, not only do you have to be taught that, you have to be untaught creation, which is why these college professors make it their life's mission to take some little freshmen and make sure they destroy their faith by the time they graduate college. Why? Because there's something in you that already believes in God. And they have to attack your faith, destroy your faith, unteach your faith, and teach you a non-creation, evolution, know God, you're a primate type of idea. Why? Because there's an inception of faith. And look, this has to give us some confidence in knowing that there's a little bit of faith that God has put in every man. Now, not a reprobate. Obviously, a reprobate has their conscience seared. They're done. But every normal human being out there, there's something in them that God put in them that tells them there's more to this life. I mean, intuitively, every human being knows that I'm not what evolution teaches. Evolution teaches that I am a body. But every human being knows, I'm not a body, I have a body. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? Evolution teaches that consciousness and the awareness of self is just something that we develop to help us to have society, and blah, blah, blah. No, no, that's true. Every human being knows, intuitively, I'm not a body. I'm not a body. I'm a soul. I'm housed in a body. There's something in me that was created by Almighty God. Go to Psalm 19, if you would. Keep your place in Romans. We're going to come back to it. Go to Psalm. If you open up your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely found the book of Psalm. Psalm 19. Look at verse one. Psalm 19, verse one. The Bible says to the chief physician, a psalm of David, or that's the heading. Here's what the Bible says. Psalm 19, one. Look at these words. Psalm 19, one. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. I want you to notice the words here, declare. The heavens declare the glory of God. Firmament is talking about heaven. The heavens, the sky, not just the sky, but the stars, the moon. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech. Every day that the sun comes up and the sun goes down and the moon comes up and the moon goes down. I understand, you know, we're moving and we understand that. But every day that we are able to look up at the sky and see this phenomenon, day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. See, the Bible says that creation is God's divine show and tell. He showeth us. It says that he showeth his handiwork. The firmament showeth his handiwork. The night unto night showeth knowledge. And he shows us and he tells us. It says that the heavens declare the glory of God. Day unto day uttereth speech. Look at verse three, Psalm 19-3. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. The message of creation is heard in every place. So we can't get into the deep parts of the Middle East, where Islam is in control and we can't send missionaries. And that may be true and praise the Lord that now we can access places like that through the Internet and things like that. But the point is this, that the handiwork of God was there. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. What voice? The message being preached by creation. It's heard everywhere. It's seen everywhere. Look at verse four. Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. See the message. I'm not talking about the message of salvation. That has been entrusted to us and we are to take it to the world. But the message of creation, that there is a creator God, that you have a conscience and that you will meet your creator one day. That has been delivered to the entire world through creation and through conscience. This is the measure of faith. There's an inception of faith. And look, faith can be generated. It's generated through these things. Obviously, it can be generated like we talked about already. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Go back to Romans just real quickly. Look at Romans chapter one and verse 20. Romans chapter one and verse 20. Keep your place in Psalms if you would and also keep your place in Romans. We're going to be coming back and forth. Romans chapter one verse 20. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead. So that here's the one and here's what I want to show you. Last part of verse 20. So that they are without excuse. No one will stand up and have an excuse and say, Well, I didn't know. No, the heavens declare the glory of God. God put a consciousness in you. Now they might not know the name of Jesus or understand all those things and understand salvation. We need to bring that to them. We understand that. But as far as not knowing that there is a God or that there there is a measure of faith that has been put into every man. So the inception of faith begins with this idea of creation, which is, by the way, why there is such an attack on the message of creation. The world needs, the devil needs the world to not believe that God created the heavens and the earth. Because if God created you and He probably has a plan for you and He probably has a purpose for you, He probably has a will for you and you should find out what that purpose is. Go back to Hebrews Chapter 11. So we see there in verse number one the definition of faith. And then we see in verse number three the inception of faith. Now I'd like you to notice thirdly tonight in verse number six, remember we're skipping a little bit because we're skipping the specific stories. Next week we're going to come back and look at the whole of faith and we'll start going through that outline of all the different individuals, Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and all and their great faith. But for now we're just looking at the verses, the generic, in general, verses regarding faith. We saw the definition of faith, Hebrews 1-1, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We see the inception of faith there in verse number three that we understand. How can you understand creation? Through faith we understand that the worlds were made, they were formed, they were created through the Word of God. Then in verse number six we see the stipulation of faith. The stipulation of faith. And I use that word specifically as well because the word stipulation or to stipulate something means a condition or requirement that is specified or demanded as part of an agreement. See, there is a stipulation to come to God, Hebrews 11 verse six, notice what it says, but without faith it is impossible. Gotta just underline that phrase. But without faith it is impossible. It is impossible. This is a stipulation. But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For He that cometh to God, look at it, for He that cometh to God must believe that He is. You cannot come to God if you do not believe that God is, that He is what? That He is God. You must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So look, you can't please God, you can't, people sometimes they get, they don't like it. Well why does God have these stipulations? It's how it works. By the way, salvation is the same way. The Bible says if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and if thou shalt believe in thine heart. It doesn't say if thou shalt believe in thine heart but the idea, it says if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart. There's an if there. If thou shalt believe in thine heart that God is raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's the stipulation. The stipulation is you must come to God in faith but without faith it is impossible to please Him. For He that cometh to God must believe that He is. And I'm not going to even give you a cross reference for this because honestly Hebrews 11 and 6 is the best proof text to prove this point. That if you're going to come to God you must come to Him in faith. You say well what if I struggle with faith? Remember the father who brought Jesus, his child for Jesus to heal and Jesus said if thou believeth He said I'll heal them and he said I believe and then he said help thou might not believe. You know you don't need a lot of faith. The Bible says just the faith just the size of the grain of a mustard seed. You can ask God to help you develop your faith. Faith can be developed. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The more you hear the word of God the more you understand the word of God the more it's taught to you and explained the more you read it and understand it it will increase your faith but you need to understand that you must come to God in faith. It's a stipulation. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So here's what we see. Verse 1. The definition of faith. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Verse 3. The inception of faith. Through faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Then verse 6 we see the stipulation of faith. But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For He that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. And then fourthly tonight I'd like you to notice the manifestation of faith. Manifestation of faith and we actually begin this in verse number 13. Remember we're skipping around a little bit but before we look at verse 13 let me just remind you of verse number 1. Let me just say a couple things about the manifestation of faith because manifestation means to see something. The manifestation of faith and first of all let me just be clear faith does not need to be seen. Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. And we do not believe here at Verity Baptist Church that well if somebody really believes then they're going to have works. The Bible doesn't say that. Now they should have works and we want them to have works but people often well there needs to be evidence of their salvation. If they don't produce fruit and they don't even understand what that means because they're talking about the fruit of the Spirit and whatever but they'll say there has to be evidence for salvation. Well let me tell you what the evidence for salvation is. Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. You want to know what the evidence for salvation is? The evidence for salvation is faith and the thing about faith is that you cannot see it only God can see it. So well then how do you determine if somebody is saved? Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. We don't look at their lives to determine whether they're saved we look at what they believe and the only way you and I can determine what somebody believes is what they tell us. So what if they lie to us? Well good thing you're not in charge of the Lamb's Book of Life. You know if they lie to you and give you a fault you're not Saint Peter standing at and neither is Saint Peter by the way but standing at the pearly gates checking you know IDs or whatever. They might lie to us but they're not going to lie to God. God knows their heart. The point is this what saves you is faith and faith does not have to be seen but there's these extremes because we preach that and we teach that faith doesn't have to be seen and I believe that faith is the substance of things hope for the evidence of things not seen. What do you need to be saved? You need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What about works? Hey you don't have to we want you to have good works but you don't have to have works to be saved. Not by works of righteousness which we have done is what the Bible says. The Bible says but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness. So look the Bible clearly says somebody can do no works and have faith. So faith does not need to be seen. With that said though I hope I made that clear let me make this statement faith does not need to be seen faith however that is acted upon can be seen. Let me just give you a couple verses here James chapter 2 you're there in Hebrews just flip over to James we're going to go to James it's just write the next book after Hebrews then we're going to go back to Hebrews and we're going to be done all right James chapter 2 yea a man may say now understand the context James is telling us what people are going to say not what God says yea a man may say because remember the Bible says that man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh upon the heart and we often emphasize it to say well God looks on the heart amen but man looks on the outward appearance so with that understanding that man looketh on the outward appearance and God looketh upon the heart when you understand that all we can see is the outward God is the one that can see the inward with that understanding James says this yea a man may say thou has faith and I have works show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works and again you do not need works for salvation but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justified the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness but if you want to show someone your faith you're going to have to act upon it now you don't have to show anybody your faith because faith is the evidence of things not seen but you know that God wants us to act upon our faith in fact that's what Hebrews 11 is all about this whole chapter 40 verses is just example after example after example of things people did things they did in their lives as they were exercising the invisible faith that could not be seen they performed these great actions that could be seen they showed us their faith through their action and here's what we need to understand faith for salvation is what is needed we are saved by faith right? for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast I don't know how people can read that verse and walk away saying yea but you got to do good things it's not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of works we understand that but however do you also understand that once you're saved God wants you to live a life of good works before we're saved what we say to the unsaved person as for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast that's what we say to the unsaved person but then when they get saved you know what we say to the saved person we say the just shall live by faith God wants you to live a life of faith you don't just need faith for salvation you need faith every day God wants you to exercise faith and live by faith that's what Hebrews 11 is about I want to encourage you to come back next week we're going to begin in this faith this hall of faith and begin to look at these examples these individuals and how they acted upon faith in the great act but just as we finish tonight look at verse 13 we'll look at these four verses 13 through 16 and they are within the context of Abraham and we'll look at that next week but I want you to notice that they're not about Abraham they're about faith people in general Hebrews 11 13 these all died in faith it's not just Abraham actually the context about everyone he talked about leading up to Abraham he talked about Abel and Enoch and Noah and here he says these all died in faith not having received the promise but having seen them afar off you know what's interesting is that there's this play on words that we see throughout Hebrews we're actually going to see it in Hebrews 12 as well and it's this that faith is something that cannot be seen but faith causes you to see what cannot be seen these all died in faith not having received the promise but having look at it seen them afar off and notice here's you said what does a life of faith look like what does faith being acted out look like acted upon look at look like notice what it says and were persuaded of them and embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth is that what does a Christian who's living by faith what does their life look like their life looks like someone who's not getting too comfortable here you understand what I just said they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth the word stranger is the word we would use today would be foreigner pilgrim think about a pilgrim like thanksgiving what's a pilgrim someone that's on a journey someone that's just passing through the idea is this that you say well how does faith and the life of a believer what does it look like it looks like this they're not anchored to this world they're not too connected to this world they're not that worried about this world they are just a pilgrim they are just a stranger they realize that this is just a journey I am just a passing through my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue the angels beckon me from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore that's what the life of a Christian who's exercising faith looks like that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth verse 14 for they that say such things look at it declare plainly that they seek a country and truly this is a problem with most Christians if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned what about all the brethren who go back to their old life what about all the brethren who go back to drugs and alcohol go back to does it mean they weren't saved no it doesn't mean that it means that they were mindful of the country from whence they came out it doesn't look you should never look at an individual say based off how they're living I don't think they're saved now if they become a very zealous Mormon then yeah we might be like yeah I don't know I don't think they were saved if someone goes from independent final Baptist Christianity faith in Jesus Christ and they become a very zealous Muslim then yeah we should question I don't think they were ever saved that has to do with what they believe but just because somebody gets vaccinated and goes back to the world goes back to drugs or alcohol or whatever it doesn't mean they weren't saved but it does mean that they were mindful this is why Jesus said that look he that taketh his hand to the plow he said he said don't look back you're not fit for the kingdom of God you can't look back if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out they might have had opportunities of return look at verse 16 but now they desire remember the theme of Hebrews what's the theme of Hebrews the theme of Hebrews is that Jesus is better remember Jesus is better we've been looking at it then the angels then the prophets then Moses then the tabernacle then the old testament covenant then the priest and here he brings the word up again but now they desire a better country that is in heavenly where for God is not ashamed to be called their God for he had prepared for them a city let me just make this point real quickly and we'll finish up we talk a lot about not being ashamed of God not being ashamed of Christ not being ashamed of the men of God and there's definitely verses that deal with that and that's something that should be dealt with but have you ever thought about this that God might be ashamed of you look at it but now they desire a better country that is in heavenly when a Christian lives the faith life and they're not too attached to this world look I understand we work in this world we live in this world we have to make ourselves we have to be concerned with the things of this world but when everything you do everything you are is all about this world you're not walking by faith but now they desire a better country that is in heavenly where for God is not ashamed to be called their God and here's what I'm telling you is when a Christian lives too anchored to this world too concerned about this world only concerned about the temporal not the eternal the visible not the invisible the carnal not the spiritual it makes God ashamed he says but when they desire a better country that is in heavenly he says where for God is not ashamed to be called their God for he had prepared for them a city yes we're saved by faith but without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he's the rewarder of them that diligently seek him but that's just the start then the bible tells us over and over again the just shall live by faith let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer heavenly father lord we do love you and we thank you for this chapter and this portion of scripture and the things we can learn here help us to understand and have a thorough understanding of the concept of faith lord help us to have a good definition of faith understand that God has given to every man a measure of faith the inception of faith has been given us through conscience and creation the stipulation of faith that we must come to God in faith and the manifestation of faith that though we are not saved by words we should show our faith through our works and we should live out our faith and lord I pray you'd help us to live in such a way we love you in Jesus name we pray amen all right we're gonna have brother Moses come up and lead us in a song as we prepare for baptism tonight please enter your song books page number 102 page number 102 we're gonna sing he hideth my soul page 102 and let's go ahead and sing it out on that first verse a wonderful savior is Jesus my lord a wonderful savior to me he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand and covers me there with his hand page 102 on the second a wonderful savior is Jesus my lord he taketh my burden away he holdeth me up and I shall not be moved he giveth me strength as my day he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand and covers me there with his hand with numberless blessings each moment he crowns and filled with his fullness divine I sing in my rapture oh glory to God for such a redeemer is mine he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand and covers me there with his hand on the last verse when clothed in his darkness transported I rise to meet him in clouds of the sky his perfect salvation his wonderful love I'll shout with the millions on high he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand and covers me there with his hand great singing all right amen today we have miss rachel wheeler coming for baptism and miss rachel's been coming with david for a while and we're excited for her to be baptized tonight and miss rachel have you accepted the lord jesus christ is your personal savior all right by your profession of faith i baptize you my sister in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost buried in the likeness of his death raised to walk in newness of life god bless you and all of god's people said amen all right well thank you very much for being here tonight we appreciate you uh coming out just a couple of uh announcements before we go first of all don't forget if you're part of our homeschool group pe class is canceled no pe tomorrow there's like a 90 chance of rain it's going to be real cold there might be thundering so there's no pe make sure you are aware of that and also i just want to remind you of course that we have our big soul winning rally on saturday morning at 10 a.m we want you to come out slowly with us and we'd love for you to join us of course for soul winning and then on sunday morning we're starting a brand new sermon series on emotional intelligence so make sure you're here bring somebody with you invited guests if there's anything we can do for you please let us know i'm gonna ask brother moses to dismiss us with a word of prayer let's pray father god thank you so much for this church lord thank you for the service i pray that uh we would remember the things that pastor preaches i pray that you'd uh keep us safe until we meet again in jesus name i pray amen so so