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Hebrews chapter 11, let's look at verse 1, where the Bible read, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The title of my sermon tonight is, Faith cometh by hearing. And when we think about faith, I think Hebrews chapter 11 is probably one of the most, you know, well-known chapters on faith. It talks about faith through the whole chapter. It even defines faith here in verse 1. It says it's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I think another way to word this would just be executing on a plan with a future goal. So you have a future goal, you have a future idea, you have something that you're hoping for. You have something that you desire to believe, you have some kind of confidence, you have some kind of trust, and something that you're going for, some type of goal. And the faith, it's executing on a plan with a future goal. So you have that, you're exercising your faith when you do that. Look at verse 17, skip down, because we see throughout this chapter people exercising their faith. Now, faith and works are different, but we see how people exercise their faith is by their works. So look at verse 17, 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, That in 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, and a figure. And the point of the sermon tonight that I really want to just drive in is that faith comes by hearing. Hearing. You say, how do I get faith? It's when you hear something and you believe it. When you hear something and you put your trust in it. When you hear something and you're hoping in that, you have confidence in that. It's not a blind faith. The Bible does not teach a blind faith. The faith that's in the Bible is always that coming from God's Word. Putting your trust and your confidence in something that God said. Look at there, verse 18, it says, Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. So was Abraham's faith just on a whim? Did he offer Isaac on the altar just because he thought it was a good idea? Because he thought, well, this sounds like fun, I'm going to offer my kid on the altar. No, it's because God told him to do it. That's how he had the faith is because he just believed, hey, God's telling me to do this, I'm going to do it. I may not completely understand it, I may not know exactly how it's going to work out, but I have complete confidence and trust that God is going to be able to even raise my son from the dead. That's what we see here in verse 19. You say, how could a dad literally put his son on the altar and try to stab him with a knife? You know, I think the unsaved, they really struggled with this story because they think, how could a loving parent want to kill their son? But we have to get our minds, what did Abraham's mind have? He knew that God could even raise him from the dead. Now, if you have complete confidence, complete trust that God was going to preserve your son's life, I mean, why wouldn't you follow God's commandment, right? Because he said what? Of whom it was said that in Isaac, shall thy seed be called. He knew that Isaac was going to be multiplying, that Isaac was going to have his seed continue to be blessed. He knew that if he killed him, somehow God was going to come through and Isaac was still going to be that child of promise, was still going to be the seed of promise, was still going to be the one who Jesus Christ's lineage would come through. He had complete faith in them. Now, we see him doing a lot of works. Why? Because of his faith. But it's important for us to understand how to get the faith first so then we can do the works. Because without the faith, it's impossible to please him, as the Bible said. So if you're trying to do works without any faith, it's not going to profit you anything. Go to Genesis chapter 22, if you will. So another way to word faith would be trust. Another way to word faith, the Bible talks about it being like hope, the substance of hope. Imagine all the hopes that you have for a certain situation, they could all culminate into your faith. You're hoping for multiple things. I'm hoping, you know, a home in heaven. I'm hoping for eternal life. I'm hoping for all these things from the Lord Jesus Christ, permission of sins, and all of them together is my faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a culmination, it's the substance of your things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now when somebody sees your works, that a lot of times will point to what your faith is like. It's not always a perfect indicator, but based on your beliefs and your viewpoints and your faith, that's a lot of times going to determine your actions. It's going to determine how you live your life. So it's important for us to understand the correlation and the differences between these two things. But let's understand faith first. Look at Genesis 22 verse 1. It says, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Behold, here am I. And he said, and he said, who's talking? It's God that's talking, right? God's talking to Abraham. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and give thee the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. So he says, look, you're going to offer Isaac on the altar. And not only that, he's going to give him later instruction. So obviously everything that Abraham's doing in this exercise is all faith, which is what comes by hearing. Hearing by God's commandment, he's just doing exactly what God told him to do. He's not making it up as he goes. He's not trying to figure it out. No, God's giving him perfect instruction on what to do. And by faith, he's just following God's instruction. God's clear commandments. Look, skip down to verse 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a land for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together. Isaac was like, Hey, what's going on here? Are you going to kill me? He's like, God will provide himself a land. Look at verse 9. And they came to the place which God had told him up. So was he making up a place to go? No, God told him earlier, Hey, I'll tell you where to go. And then he's like, Hey, I'm going to go where God's already told me. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, He or mine? And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know thou fear'st God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. Probably one of the greatest pictures of God's love, God sacrificing his son for us. And then, I don't understand how a modalist can read this story. I mean, how in the world can it just be one person when one of the best pictures is God the Father, illustrating through Abraham, sacrificing his son upon the altar. The love that a father has towards his son. Now the modalist God, he's just pretending to be a son and then pretending to kill himself. And then all these weird, stupid things that don't make any sense. I mean, a modalist viewpoint just ruins the entire story of Abraham and Isaac. One of the most highlighted stories throughout the whole Bible. We constantly talk about Abraham in the New Testament being the father of faith. Oh, it's just a lie. God's just this guy going up killing himself. How stupid, how ignorant, how much just turning the Bible upside down. Just taking all the things of the Bible. Now we don't base our doctrine on the pictures of the Bible. We base them on clear scripture. But, when we see all these perfect examples and perfect illustrations and samples that God gave us to illustrate the love of God, the father to the son. I mean, just destroyed was such a wicked false doctrine. Go to Matthew 14 if you would. You see, faith for Abraham was what? Following God's commandment. It's very clear. He heard what God told him to do and he did it. His faith was believing that God was going to come through on his promise. It was that God was going to deliver that situation. That in Isaac the seed would still be called. That it was still going to go through Isaac. Even though he's telling him, hey, go sacrifice the son and the author, I still believe somehow Isaac is going to be the one that's going to be the call. He's going to be the one that the blessing is going to come through. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5-7, For we walk by faith, not by sight. What does that mean? Well, the walking there would resemble your works. It would be how you live your life. How to walk the path that you're on. The choices that you make. Where are your feet taking you today? What path are you on? Now, you can make a decision, hey, am I going to walk based on what God told me? Even though I've never seen it come to pass. Even though I don't know what's going to happen yet. I can't foretell the future. Am I going to walk by the faith of God's commandments? Or am I going to walk by my sight? My understanding. My heart. My vision. What I deem as right and wrong. The Bible says as a Christian that we should walk by faith, not by sight. If it doesn't make sense to us in the flesh, but it's clear in the Bible, we do what the Bible said. Think about it. I mean, does it make any sense to take your son and offer him on the altar? That makes no sense in the flesh. I mean, if you're walking by sight, that would make no sense. Especially when this child's been promised to be the one that's going to have a multitude of nations come out of him. I mean, you're like, there's no way this is going to happen. But what did Abraham do? He walked by faith. His decisions were based on his faith, not based on his sight. Now, as a Christian, this is very important, you choose. You choose if you're going to walk by faith or you're going to walk by sight. God's not going to automatically choose for you to just walk in the faith. You know, I mean, some people have this weird false doctrine that if you're not walking in the faith, you're not saved. Because, oh well, if you're saved, you're automatically going to be doing the works, you're automatically going to be following God's commandments, you're automatically walking by faith. Wrong. No, you have a choice. That's why God says choose life. You know, I've said before, life and death, choose life. We have a choice today. And we need to hear God's commandments so that we can increase our faith. So that we can know what we're supposed to do. Look at Matthew 14, verse 25. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is the Spirit, and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid, and Peter answered 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 unto the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Talk about walking by faith. I mean, think about it. In the natural, in the flesh, in just your vision, does it make any sense to just walk out on the ocean? Walk out on the sea? Makes no sense. Absolutely none. But what did Peter say? He said, If it be thou, bid come unto thee on the water. Now, again, what happened? Jesus Christ gave him the word, and then by faith of what he said, he walked out on the water. Did Peter just decide, Hey, I think it's cool to walk on water and just jump out of the boat? No. He said, Lord, if you command it, I'll go out there on the water with you. It doesn't make any sense in the sight, but it makes sense because you commanded it, because he gave me that option. Because I said, Hey, can I come? He said, Come. He didn't say if he want to. He just said, Come. Right? He said, Come. And Peter just walked on the water. That's a perfect illustration of how the Christian life should be. A lot of times, when you follow God's commandments, it may not make sense. It may not make any sense to the flesh. It may be, you know, a raging sea. It may be a lot of turbulent waters. But you're just walking by faith, not by sight. You say, Hey, I know what God said. I'm going to put my faith and trust in God's commandments, his clear word, and I'm just going to walk by faith. So we're making, we're building a foundation. We're making a lot of sense of what the Bible says. Go to Genesis chapter 27. It's very clear that we understand that faith has nothing to do with a win. It's not something you made up. It's not something that you just dreamed in your heart. Because I think a lot of times today, it's an epidemic that people don't understand what faith means. They think faith is just, they just make up some idea, and they say, Well, I just have faith that the Lord's going to provide. I just have faith that the Lord's going to take care of this situation. I just have faith that he's going to come through. Well, I went out and I matched out all my credit cards to buy this car that I really need. But I just have the faith that God's going to provide. Well, where does that say that in the Bible? Where did you get that conclusion? Now, obviously, there, you know, when it comes to every single day decisions, there may not be an exact verse that directly correlates to your exact situation. But we can take the promises of God and the general principles and apply them to situations and still have faith in God's word. Still have faith in a certain situation. Knowing, Hey, if I go out soul-winding, God didn't say exactly what street to go down. He didn't say what neighborhood to necessarily knock. But he said if God preached to the poor, so if I'm following that commandment, I'm following my faith, okay? But he didn't tell me, you know, I have to buy some specific car or some specific house or pay some specific money or go some, you know. These things that people just dream up and make up in their head and decide, oh, God's telling me to do this. God told me to go to medical school for this reason. Where did God tell you to go to medical school? Where did God tell you to do any of these things that people just dream up, dream out of their heart and just make up and say, well, I have faith. No, you don't. You have blind faith. You're lying. It didn't come from God's word. That's not the faith that God's requiring. God's faith is always tied to his word. Faith coming by hearing. Hearing what? God's word. Not what you dreamed up in your mind. Genesis chapter 27, look at verse 18. And he came unto his father and said, my father, and he said, here am I, who art thou, my son? And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau, thy firstborn. I have done according as thou batest me, arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son, how is it thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, because the Lord thy God brought it to me. And Isaac said unto Jacob, come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father and he felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not because his hands were very hairy as his brother Esau's hands, so he blessed him. And he said, art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. Now this is why I think most people get mixed up on faith. They base their faith on their feelings, on their emotions. They say, well, I think I should go to medical school because I have a piece about it. Because I feel good about it. Because it just feels right. This is the downfall of the blessing being transferred into Jacob and not Esau. Because in the story, Isaac's, you know, he's old, he's going to give a blessing unto his son Esau. And Esau goes out to get the venison that was commanded of his father. But his mother Rebecca, she wants to help supplant, you know, the blessing for her son Jacob because she loves him more. And so she tricks their father Isaac by putting, you know, skins of goats or skins of animal skins on Jacob's hands. And he goes in to try and pretend that he's Esau. But what happens? Well, look there in verse 22. He says, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. Isn't it interesting? He knew it sounded wrong. I mean the voice was given in a way that it was wrong. But what happened? Go back to verse 21. When he felt it, but the hands are the hands of Esau. He felt it. Oh, it feels right. It feels right, but it sounds wrong. Now, this would be a liken to the Bible. When you say it feels right, but the Bible's saying something different. It's wrong. Don't trust your feelings over the Bible. The Bible says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not on thine understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. The Bible says not to trust in princes, not to trust in the son of man, not to trust in the one that lieth in your bosom. It says not even to trust yourself, trust the Bible. Amen. How do you do that? By just believing what he said. Putting your faith in his word. Not in what you made up, not what you dreamed up, not your feelings, not your emotions. Are emotions bad? I don't think that they're bad. And I think in some ways they can provide some level of confidence in the decision. Because obviously, you know, we have the spirit of God dwelling in us. If something's wrong, sometimes our spirit may be troubled. We see people sometimes couldn't sleep because God had, you know, troubled their spirit. Obviously, I'm not saying that you can't take that to raise some flags. If you have a bad feeling in your gut, then I would say when you're making that decision, make sure you're basing on the Bible. But I also think you could have a bad feeling about something, or you could feel a little uneasy about it, or you could be a little uncertain, but you know what the Bible says? Hey, you can still make that decision. I don't think you always have to feel like just the most excited and the most confident just in your like emotions to make decisions. What we should do is we should base them on what the Bible says, on the Bible clearly says. There were some men that came unto Jesus Christ and they wanted to be healed. We see a father asking for his son, and he says, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Except identifying what? The guy didn't necessarily have a ton of confidence, he just had some. He's like, hey, I do believe, help me in my areas of unbelief. Meaning what? You might have some doubt. There could be a little bit of doubt there, but you put all your faith and trust in what the Bible says, you can still make decisions. We can make our decisions based on what? God's clear word. Now, if you have an uneasy feeling, that would just make me want to search the scriptures more. Make sure that I'm really confident what the Bible says if I'm having that type of feeling. Not saying I still wouldn't go through with a decision. Not saying that I still wouldn't go through with whatever I'm dealing with. I'm just saying maybe that's a good way to say, hey, I maybe need to heighten in on the Bible. Maybe I need to really make sure that what I'm saying is what the, you know, what I'm going to do is the Bible's teaching or lining up. Go to Proverbs chapter three. Well, I read that for you. Go to Galatians three or go to Romans 10. I'll just read for you a couple of scriptures. This is why it's so, you know, uh, makes me nervous for you to just trust your heart. The Bible says in Psalms 10 for the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord of worth Jeremiah 17 nine. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Romans seven 23, but I see another law on my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Bible says in first Peter two, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Acts chapter eight verse nine says, but there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria giving out himself that was some great Galatians chapter three verse one. Oh foolish Galatians who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified among you. The Bible says, look, you're with your heart can be wicked. Your heart can lead you astray. You have this constant battle between the flesh and the spirit and we even see people being bewitched, people being tricked, people being, you know, uh, taking advantage of even possibly Christians. So you can't just base all of your situation on your emotions, on your feelings, on what your heart says. You know, a lot of this is what Hollywood and the Disney channel tell you. Follow your heart. Follow your dreams. No, don't follow your heart. Follow the Bible. Follow God's word. Your heart will lead you astray in many cases. Your heart is wicked and is desperately wicked. Who can know it? I mean, it's deceitful above all things with the Bible said, right? That's a scary thought. That's a scary thought. Now the Bible does say that the Christ would give us the desires of our heart, but I think that's the new heart, the new man. When we, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ would become, you know, born again and there's the new man within us and that new man desires those things which please God. He desires to follow the laws of God. He desires to do that, which is right in his sight. And so if we walk in the spirit, God will give us those desires and you'll help us follow them. But there's something warring with us. It's that flesh. It's that old man. It's that old wicked heart where there's no good in it. It just desires that which is wicked and evil and wrong. And as a human, it's a battle to determine, hey, what's going on inside? What are these feelings? Are they feelings from the flesh? Are they feelings of the spirit? We have to discern those things through God's word. As we grow, as we become more mature, as we read God's word, as we follow, you know, daily practice, as we deny self every day, as we sacrifice the flesh every day, as we crucify the flesh every day, it's a battle. So how can you know? How can I know where I'm at? How can I know on the raging sea? How can I know when there's a tough commandment? It's God's word. Faith cometh by hearing. You say, I want to have faith. I want to be a man of faith. I want to be like these men in Hebrews chapter 11. Well, you got to get it from the word of God. And by hearing, then you can have great faith. So we went to Romans chapter 10, look at verse 14. How then shall they call on in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things, but they have not obeyed the gospel for Isaiah saith Lord who hath believed our report. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is where I got my sermon title from. And I have five examples of how we can practically apply this into our life. I think the first one is just salvation. It's just the most obvious teaching of the Bible when it comes to faith, that our faith saves us. How do we get the faith? It comes by hearing God's word. How do you get someone saved? With the Bible. Not of yourself, not of your words, not of your intelligence, not of that little stupid like box that people have and they like open it and it shows up all these different colors. I don't know how to articulate it. You don't have to look it up. It's stupid. People just make up all these other ways to try and get people saved instead of just using God's word, using the Bible. The Bible makes it clear that faith cometh by hearing, hearing what? The word of God, not you, not man's opinion, not some story you made up, not your testimony about how you gave up drugs and alcohol and how you stopped sleeping and fornicating and how you got out of a wicked lifestyle. No! That doesn't save anybody. What saves somebody is them hearing God's word. Why? Because they put their faith in that. Think about it. If you never preach them God's word, okay, where is their faith at? Their faith is in your words. Their faith is in man. Their faith is in princes. Their faith is in some person. It's not in God's word. How do you get someone saved? By preaching them the word of God and they believe that. They believe the word of God. They put their faith on Jesus Christ's promises, what he did for us, his sacrifice, his death, his burial, his resurrection. Now of course when you go out soul winning, I'm not saying that you just have to literally only use these words. Obviously we're going to make it plain unto them. We're going to preach the clear commandments of the Bible and we're going to preach in Jesus Christ and him crucified. We're going to preach the gospel, but we better be using the Bible, we better be using his words. Go to Galatians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 2 says, 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 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. Jesus says walk, for we walk by faith and not by sight. What does he want us to walk in our faith? How do you do that? By, when you realize what God says and you say I believe it, then deciding to actually do it. That's the works. Now to make that crystal clear that that's different, he said very clearly that for by grace are you saved through faith and then what he says, not of works. So that faith has nothing to do with works. Zero works are involved with the faith that saves you. You believe God and then you're saved by your faith. It has nothing to do with you exercising that faith, with you walking in that faith, with you doing. If you just believe on Jesus Christ and you never walk in that faith, you're saved. That's what John 3 16 says, that's what Acts chapter 16 says, that's what John 3 36 says, that's what the whole book of John says over and over and over that we're saved by believing on Jesus Christ. Now obviously we should walk in our faith. You know a lot of times people don't have the faith, why, because they're not hearing God's word. Think of that. If you're not hearing God's word on a continual basis, if you're not reading God's word and hearing God's word, you're not going to have much faith. So it's going to be hard to walk in that faith if you're not even getting it. Look at Galatians 3 verse 1, it says, O foolish Galatians who have bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you. This only would I learn of you, receive you the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit? Are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? If it be yet in vain, he therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith, even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now interesting, we keep seeing Abraham being brought up in faith, why? Because he's one of the greatest examples, but he says, look, how did you get the Spirit? Was it by the works? Was it the walking? Or was it the hearing of the faith? It was the hearing, they heard God's word, they believed it, that's how they got the Spirit. Just like who? Abraham, who believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Here's the definition of faith, believing God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. What? His faith, not his works, because he said, he's contrasting here the works with the faith. And he's saying, hey, did you get the Spirit by the works? Not at all, only by the faith. You can only have the Spirit of God by the faith, not by the works. In Hebrews chapter 4 it says, for unto us, which, for unto us is the gospel preached as well unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith, and then that heard it. So of course there's going to be people that hear the gospel and don't believe it, that's not going to save them. It's not the hearers of the law that are just before God, no, it's those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and their faith saves them. Believing God's work, putting your trust, putting your hope, putting your confidence in God's promises, that's what's going to save you. Not the following them out, not the walking in them. We obviously have to have the faith first before we can walk in it. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. So in Luke chapter 8, it's interesting, it says in verse 21, and he answered and said unto them, my mother and brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it. Now what was happening? Jesus was preaching, they're saying, hey, your mother and your brethren are without, they would desire to speak with you. His mom and brother wanted to talk to him and he's saying, hey, you know who's my mother and my brother? Those that hear the word of God and do it. Who's he talking about? The saved. He's saying, hey, those that hear the word of God and do what? They hear that you have to believe on Jesus Christ to be saved and they do that. There's brethren, there's mother, the Savior, those that hear the word of God and then believe it. What are we talking about? We're talking about how you have faith in God's word. What's the most practical application of being saved? How does one get saved? They hear the word of God and then they believe it. That's how they get saved. That order. You can't believe something that you've never heard. That's what it made very clear in Romans chapter 10. That wouldn't be faith and at best it would be blind faith, okay, just making something up. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 13, for this cause also thankfully God without ceasing because when you receive the word of God, which he heard of us, he received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually were also in you that believe. For ye brethren became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us and they pleased not God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. So in verse 13 he makes it clear, hey, ye received the word of God, which he heard of us. They heard the word of God and that's how they got saved. And they didn't receive it as the word of men, but as the word of God. And then look at verse 16, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. How would they get saved? You preach them the word of God, they hear the word of God, then they can believe it and be saved. If you never preach the word of God, if they never hear the word of God, how are they going to get saved? They can't. They've got to hear the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing. Go to James chapter 2. Now unfortunately there's churches all over this country that will teach that faith is worse. They say, well, I mean, if you have the faith, then you're going to have the works because they're the same. There's this stupid false prophet, his name's like J.D. Greer. I need to preach a whole sermon on that guy. But he wrote this stupid book called Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart and How to Know That You're Saved. And in one part of the book, he says in John chapter 3 verse 36, he uses the modern fake Bible versions where it says, when it's talking about he that believeth in the sun hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of God bideth on him. Most modern Bible versions change that latter half to say those that do not obey the sun. They say obey. He takes that passage and says, I'm so glad that they use this wording because it finally helps us understand what believe means because the reason that you'll read a lot of this book and you'll say, well, we're just saved by believing. We're just saved by faith when he's a false prophet and you say, how do you know that? Because he changes the definition of what it means to believe or to have faith. He changed it to say, well, that means because believe and obey are synonyms. Direct quote from his book. He says believing and work, like doing the works, he's saying obeying is synonymous. It's the same thing. Why? Because he's saying, well, if you're not doing the works, do you really believe? That's the question that I always ask. Well, if you're not really following God's commandments, do you really have the faith? Yeah. Do you really have? Yes. You can believe something's true and not do it. Abraham could have believed that God had raised up Isaac his son from the altar, but unless he actually went to do it, God wasn't going to accept that sacrifice. Okay. There's a difference between your works and your faith and we're going to see that here in James chapter two. Look at verse 17. This is, this is like basically destroying the false doctrine that they teach, but they'll use this to prove their points. And in verse 17 it says, even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Now it's interesting just this verse alone because it's saying, hey, faith and works. If it's dead, it's alone. So it's saying if it was alive, guess what? It wouldn't be alone, meaning there's more than one thing here. We're not talking about one thing. They're not synonymous. They're not one. There's two things here. There's faith and there's works, but if there wasn't works, now one of them's alone, isn't there? The faith. Okay. So we see here, even in this verse, it describes us that faith can exist without works, but it's dead faith. It doesn't profit man anything. Look at verse 18. Yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he hath offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. So let's look at verse 22 for a second. Now think about this for just for the timeline. Abraham believes God. When is this? In circumcision or in uncircumcision? In Romans chapter 4 it makes it clear it was an uncircumcision, okay? Before he ever even had Isaac to begin with, he already believed God, okay? So now he's righteous, right? But it says here in verse 22, see, uh, see this and then look at the end. His faith was made perfect, okay? So what does that mean? How can your faith be made perfect? Well if you have faith, it means you're believing something in the future. You're believing some promise, you have the hope, you're trusting in something. You haven't seen it come to pass, you haven't seen it take fruition. Now what does perfect mean a lot of times in the Bible? It means complete, okay? So when Abraham offered Isaac his son upon the altar, believing that God was going to somehow save him, and then God spirited, okay, his faith became perfect. It was completed in that moment. Now he doesn't have to have any more faith, why? Because he saw God deliver his son, alright? We've already seen the deliverance, his faith has become complete at this point. Once you realize your faith, once your faith becomes realized, it becomes complete. It becomes perfect, right? You don't have the faith anymore because it's already happened, right? I have faith that my wife's going to say yes when I propose to her. After I propose to her, do I have to have faith in that anymore? No, I know that it happened, it already happened. My faith was perfected when she said yes. The same thing is with Abraham here. His faith was perfected when the Lord said, hey, don't stab your son. Lord, here am I, and he says, don't harm the son. His faith is perfected in that moment. That's why God says, now I see that you've not withholding your only son from me, right? His faith is perfected, it's completed in that moment. It's not talking about being saved here though, okay? There's no context of eternal life, and even in 23 it makes it clear how he was saved. Abraham believed God. He was saved before he even offered Isaac on the altar. Him offering Isaac on the altar has nothing to do with his salvation. He was saved in that moment. And it says it was imputed on him for righteousness. But it says that he was also called the friend of God. Now the Bible says, you're my friends indeed if you do so whatever I commanded you. So is everybody just automatically God's friend by being saved? I honestly don't believe that the scriptures teach that. I believe being called the friend of God is one that actually follows his commandments diligently, who is faithful, who is following God with his heart. His heart is right. So how could Abraham be called the friend of God? Well, look at his works. Was he not doing exactly what God said? Now God is justified in calling Abraham his friend because of his works. You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. Meaning what? Your works matter. Your works have some type of, you know, impact in your life. If they didn't, then you wouldn't, that verse wouldn't make any sense. He's saying you see in what way that your works will profit you. And which way you can be called the friend of God by your works. And your faith can be made perfect. Okay? Go if you would to Romans chapter four then. In Romans chapter three, before we get there, I'll read for you. It says, where is boasting then is excluded by what law of works? Made by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. He's saying, look, where could Abraham boast of the fact that he was saved by his faith? No. Could he boast because he was saved by his works? No. He was saved by his faith without the deeds of the law. Meaning what? By doing no works but just by his faith he was saved. That's why it says in Romans four two, for if Abraham were justified by works, he hath where of the glory. But what did it already say in Romans three? Look, there's no boasting. You can't boast in the law. It's only by faith that we're saved. But not before God for what saved the scripture. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. So let's think about this. What is Romans four three saying? It's saying his righteousness was what? Because he believed God. He believed God and that was counted under righteousness. Okay. What does it say in verse twenty eight of Romans three? It says, therefore we conclude man is justified by faith. Meaning what? Faith is believing. Faith is not your works. You can have faith and not have your works. It's dead. It's not profiting anybody anything. But it does exist. You can have it. But if you want that faith to be perfected, you gotta do the works. If you believe God is gonna, you know, if you believe God's gonna call you the friend, well you gotta follow his commandments. Then you'll be justified for him to call you the friend. Once we have the faith, we need to do the works. Let's go to one of the plays. Go to Ephesians chapter one real quick. Because I think this also helps solidify this definition. Ephesians chapter one verse eleven it says, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worked with all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom he also trusted, after that he heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that he believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise. In verse thirteen it makes it clear, in whom he also trusted, after that he heard the word of faith, or the word of truth, right? So we see faith cometh by hearing. What is faith? It's trusting in Christ's word. It's putting your belief in him. Because it says the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise. The Bible makes it clear that faith is synonymous with trusting, it's synonymous with belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's synonymous with putting all of your hope and your confidence in Jesus Christ. It's not your works. It has nothing to do with your works. Go to the second Thessalonians chapter three then. So once we have our faith though, once we know that it's not of works, what do we need to do with that faith? We need to do the works. And what's the practical application of salvation? Once you hear God's word that it's just by faith, what should you do? Put your hope on the name of the Lord, put your faith on Jesus Christ, be saved. That's the obvious, you know, calling of God to believe on Jesus Christ, that's the will of the Father, is that we would believe on Jesus Christ and we'd be saved. But sometimes people would say, well I believe God is going to give me, you know, a great job and provide for my family. And you say, well what's that based on? What are you basing that viewpoint on? Well the Bible says, be therefore likened to them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him. God knows what you need before you even ask him. It says in Psalms 37, 25, I have been young and now I'm old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. The Bible says in Philippians 4, 19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Matthew 6, 31 says, therefore take no thought saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. So the Bible is saying, look, hey, God will provide for you. God will provide your food and your clothing and your raiment. So I can have the faith, what's the faith? Me believing that. Not just making up some whim, okay, but does that mean that my faith is going to be perfected? Is that faith going to come to pass? Not necessarily, not because I just believe it, not because I just have the faith. Look at 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. Having the faith isn't just going to get you there. Now for salvation it is. Let's talk about salvation again. Salvation's not of works. It's not walking in your faith. It's not exercising your faith by following God's commandments. The only thing you have to do is just call upon the name of the Lord. Now obviously if you don't put your faith on Jesus Christ, acknowledging the gospel's true isn't going to get you saved. No, you've got to put all your confidence, you've got to put all your faith and trust on Jesus Christ. When it comes to the other promises of God, when it comes to the ones related to work, what do you have to do? No, no, I have to believe you have to work. You have to go out and do the work. You say, I believe God's going to provide for me. What are you doing to do that providing? Well, I'm laying on the couch just watching the TV, hoping to get that welfare check. God's not promised that to you. God's promised those that would work, those that are the righteous, those that are going to have Father's commandments. Hey, he's going to provide for you. He's going to take care of you. So having your faith and God's promises is great, but we need to walk in that faith. We need to make sure we first get the faith by hearing God's word though. Okay, because some people a lot of times they'll work really hard but without faith. What do you mean by that? Well, it'll work a bad job. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 23 verse 19, thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother, usury of money, usury of vittles, usury of anything that is lent upon usury. Says in Proverbs 28, he that by usury and unjust gain increases the substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. The Bible says there's certain jobs that you shouldn't have. There's certain career paths you shouldn't go down. There's certain things you just shouldn't do. Things that, you know, you're taking money from people, you're stealing money, it's unjust gain is how the Bible will describe it, okay? You could be working really hard towards that, but guess what? God is not going to be the one providing for you at that point. God is not going to be the one seeking your wealth for, seeking your benefit. So we have to pair our faith with our works. We have to say, hey, first I'm going to give the faith by hearing God's word, getting his clear commandments, knowing what he said, and then I'm going to walk in that faith and do it. So we can't get one or the other, we're going to get screwed up. The Bible says that in Hebrews chapter 6 it talks about repentance of dead works. What's a dead work? It's doing works without the faith. So we have dead works and we have dead faith. What are they? Alone. But they're different. So we first have to give the faith by hearing God's word. And I think a lot of times, I think the problem with Christians today, with America today, is not the willingness to work a lot of times, it's the faith. Okay? The church that I was going to back in Texas, we had, there was like 500 people that come on a Sunday morning. There was a lot of people going to this church and they had a visitation day one time where they were just going to go hang door hangers. And they had like over a hundred plus people at our church show up to hang door hangers. But they never had a soul winning time. They never encouraged soul winning. They never had a dedicated, you know, program or anything. I know that if they had one, dozens of people would go out every week and go out and work. But you know what they did have? They had people constantly coming to church, volunteering to do Sunday school and they had choir practice several times a week and they had all kinds of discipleship classes. They had the faith bible institute. They had all these programs, all these things that people are constantly working at and devoting at. And they're at the church, you know, several hours of the day. They probably were at the church building more than a lot of people at Baylor Baptist Church because they got the Sunday school in the morning, then they got the church service, then they have like a luncheon at the church, then they have choir practice for the church, then they have some classes after the evening service. I mean they're spending hours and hours at the church, but guess what? Their work's not mixed with the faith. Faith comes by hearing. We need to make sure that everything we're doing is lining up with what the bible clearly says. We're not making it up, why just have faith that God's gonna bless the Sunday school class. Well where'd you get that? From the bible? Is it in God's clear word? Why just have faith that he's gonna bless all this extra time I'm spending in the church nursery and all these extra resources I'm spending? Where'd you get that? Did you get it from the bible? No! It's not gonna profit. We need to have, first get the faith, then we can go do the works. And what was James doing? He was saying, look, he had a lot of people that had the opposite problem, right? They might have had the faith or claimed they had the faith, and he's like, well where's your works? Show me your faith! If you really have that faith, if you really believe God's promises, hey I believe I go up so many I'll get people saved, well where were you at the so many time? Where were you? You know, when did you go out and knock doors? Show me your faith! But we need to make sure that we have the faith to match with our works. Go to Proverbs 23 if you would. He said, well I believe my children are gonna turn out to be really godly children. So how do you, where do you get that from? Well the bible says, train up a child the way you should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. That's true. That's a true command of the bible. I think that's a promise that parents could hold onto. But guess what? You better make sure you're training that child up according to what the bible says. According to the faith of God's word. It says in Proverbs 13 24, he that spared this rod hated his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. The bible says in Proverbs 19 18, chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Look at Proverbs 23 verse 13. Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt be in with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Do you know what parents need today? To beat their kids. Yes that's what I said, beat their kids with the rod of correction. Why? Because we won't go to hell, so we won't raise a bunch of derelict losers that don't respect any authority, don't have any fear of God, don't have any fear of anything, they're just spoiled rotten brats, and that's what we see today. You say, well how am I going to know that's true? How am I going to know that me, you know, not telling them, oh it's okay Johnny, that's not the best thing for you to do, versus just giving them a beating, how do I know which one's right? Well guess what? When it comes to parenting, you don't. So where are you going to put your faith? Are you going to put your faith in man? Are you going to put your faith in your heart's desires? Or are you going to put it in God's word? Say I know what the Bible says, I have the faith, now I'm going to walk in that faith and I'm actually going to do what it says. Now I'm putting my faith and promises on God's, hey turn up a child the way you should go when he's older and not depart from it. Now I can have that exercise in my life. There's a lot of other areas in parenting. Go to James chapter 5. When we're making any of our decisions, you say how can I walk in faith? You've got to read a lot of Bible, hear a lot of Bible preaching, get the word of God flowing through your mind, meditate on his word day and night. That's how you can increase your faith. That's how you can know what you're doing is right. That's how you can walk by faith if you're not hearing God's word preached, if you're not doing any of his commandments, guess what, you're not going to be walking in his word. That's why we see these negative churches, these liberal churches are filled with people with sin. Why? Because they're never hearing God's word. Think about it. How are they going to walk in God's word when they're just never hearing it? It's just never preached, they're not hearing any of God's commandments, they're so ignorant of the Bible, they don't even know what it says, they're just quoting all these losers and false prophets that just make up their own quotes like Gandhi, hate the sin, love the sinner. It's not even the Bible. Why? How are they going to walk in the faith of God's word when they've never even heard it? Faith cometh by hearing. What does America need? It needs more people to preach the word of God. We need more people to go out and preach God's word so people can hear it and then walk in that faith. But you know what, if it's never going out and getting preached, never going to walk in it. We don't just need soul winning. We need also Bible preaching. We need church. We need people to come into the church and hear God's word and get edified and increase their faith so they can walk in that faith. You know, I heard some person, well I don't believe in structure. Well God believes in structure and I'm going to put my faith in what God said, not my own opinion. I'm not going to lean on my own understanding. I just believe all good things are going to happen to me because the Bible says we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are called according to His purpose. Well you know what, God is going to bless those that follow His commandments, that are living according to His word. It says great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. Hey if you love God's word and you're constantly meditating in it and walking in it, yeah, you're not going to be offended, you're not going to sin, you're not going to walk in wickedness. For we walk by faith not by sight. Look at James 5 verse 16, confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. If you want God to bless you, be righteous. Go to Matthew 5, says he that turneth his ear from hearing the law even his prayer shall be abomination. Things aren't going to be working out well for you when you're not following His word. We need to build our faith by knowing more of God's word so then we can walk in it. The Bible says the Lord is far from the wicked but He heareth the prayer of the righteous. The Bible says for not the hearers of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified. Guess what? You knowing it and believing it isn't going to get you there. You also have to walk in it. If you want God's blessing in this life, you have to do the works. Now when it comes to salvation, it's a free gift, it is just, just believe it. Just put your faith and confidence in Jesus Christ. Call upon the name of the Lord, trusting in Him alone, you're saved. But if you want blessing in this life, you have to follow His word. Matthew 5 verse 11, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all men are evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for greatest reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets with were before you. Go to Hebrews 11, we'll finish there. So as if you're blessed when they persecute you falsely, when they say evil against you falsely, good things are not going to work together for you when you're doing stuff evil and they're speaking evil of that. All you stole from me, all you, you're cursing at me, you smite, you're smiting me, you, you lied to me. You deceived me. You're committing fornication with my daughter. Guess what? That's a way to get killed. I mean, there's a lot of wicked people today, but if you fornicate with their daughter, they might kill you. If you fornicate with your wife, you, you're a dead man. If you walk in my house, I mean, if you come to my site, jealousy is the rage of a man. I can't think of a worse thing. Stay away. But think about it. If you do evil, God's not blessing you by doing your evil. Oh, people are persecuting me because I lied to them. That's not, that's not God's blessing. No, it's what they're persecuting you to do falsely because you're living righteous because you're preaching him the truth because you're walking in his ways and they persecute you because they hate your righteousness. They hate the fact that you're testifying of their wicked deeds by the way you live, by the way you preach. Why believe God's going to reward me in heaven for all the good things I've done in my life? I think this is probably the saddest thing I think about a lot of Christians, especially family members, people that maybe serve Christ for 40, 50, 60 years. They think, oh man, I'm going to have this great mansion. My question is, faith cometh by hearing, where is that faith at? Because you know what, I can feel rest assured that I'll have a lot of rewards in heaven if it lines up with what God said was going to reward me. Hey, I did all those things in the Bible that God said he's going to reward me for for decades. Now I can rest assured that I'm going to have a lot of rewards in heaven. But when I think, well, all the works and the things that I did for these last decades are not in the Bible, that's a scary thought. Bible says in Matthew 6 verse 1, take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. The Bible says very clearly that there's a lot of things people do thinking they're going to get a reward, and it's not. It's vanity. It's vain. You need to follow it according to God's commandments. How many churches today, their biggest ministry is just giving money to the poor? But they brag about it, they tell everybody about it, and that's the, oh, we gave this much money to the poor last week, and we did this for all the poor. Hey, I have a reward, buddy. Don't think you're going to get a mansion because you gave a bunch of money to the church and told everybody about it. That's not going to get you anywhere, and there's so many things that people do today to try and get rewards, and it's not what the Bible says. Well guess what? Your works are in vain. Faith cometh by hearing. If you want to have the faith, get it from God's Word. Bible says in Isaiah 40, 10, behold the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arms shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. Isaiah 62, 11, behold the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation cometh, behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. Look at Hebrews 11, verse 6, but without faith it's impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of him that diligently seek him. Look, if you don't have the faith, you're not going to accidentally stumble upon God's commandments. I didn't read it in the Bible, but I just happen to be soul winning, and just happen to be preaching to God. I've never heard it in the Bible, never heard it be preached. You're not going to stumble upon the things that God's having us to do. You've got to have the faith, and you've got to believe that he is, and he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. If you believe God's going to reward you, hey, then follow his words, build up your faith in what he told you to do, and do that, and then you can know, hey, he's going to reward me, because I have faith and promise in his Word. So how's faith going to profit us? Obviously, your salvation. It's not at works. It has nothing to do with walking your faith to be saved, it's just believing on Jesus Christ. But all other areas of our life, you better walk in that faith if you want the blessings of God. If you want God to follow through on his promises, if you want him to provide for you, to take care of you, to provide that job, you better be willing to work. You better go out and follow his Word. If you have your children and you want them to be godly children, you better follow God's Word, his commandments on how to raise your children, how to love your children, how to discipline your children, how to instruct them in the Bible, and teach them the ways of God. If you say, well, I just want God to bless me in my life, you've got to follow his commandments. And if you say, hey, I want the rewards in heaven, you better make sure they're lining up with what God said. Faith cometh by hearing. Let us increase our faith by hearing God's Word. In Jesus' name we pray. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for this Word. Thank you so much for giving us the ability to hear all of your commandments, giving us the King James Bible so that we can put all our faith and trust in it, so that we can know which way to walk, so that we can not only be blessed in this life, but we can also have reward in heaven. Thank you so much for your free gift and all the blessings and rewards that also come to us. I just pray that every one of us would continue to increase our faith by hearing your Word preached. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I need thee every hour, Psalm 97.