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Hebrews 11 | Hall of Faith · The Salt Company - Denton

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh hey, so glad that you guys are uh with us tonight, joining us uh tonight.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: Um hey, one more time for the black team guys.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations, black team.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Burn the boats, baby.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Burn burn the boats.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Hey, uh, if you guys have your Bibles, Hebrews chapter 11.
0:16
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews chapter 11 is where we're gonna be uh camping and our time together tonight.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Um and I'll start with this, okay?
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Um when I was dating my wife, uh, I made it my ambition to be a great question asker.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I was interested in her uh and I wanted to be interest uh interesting to her.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: And so what I did was I compiled uh all of these questions that I thought would be amazing uh in a note section.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: So boys, find me afterwards.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna help you out with the ladies, okay?
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Um but what I did was I just started asking um my future wife, uh, the girl I was dating at the time, all these questions because I wanted to get to know her heart, know her life, and and woo her over.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: And so I'd ask her questions, uh things like this.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Like this is one of my favorite questions uh was would you trust your parents to set up an arranged marriage?
1:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, you get some strong reactions from that.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I thought is I'm gonna learn a little bit about uh this person.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna learn about their relationship with their parents.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be, I'm gonna learn a little bit about like, hey, no, my parents actually, they're all about this kind of guy.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm more about this kind of guy.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: I get to learn about what my future wife would have liked in that circumstance.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: But I also asked you know some silly questions, like if you had to uh like your life depended on it, get a song right, lyric for lyric, word for word, melody, pitch, everything.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: What song are you choosing?
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And why is it Justin Bieber, One Less Lonely Girl, right here?
1:36
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Um classic, right?
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Um but but you get to see, oh man, like what like that's what type of music they like, that's the genre that they like, all this kind of thing.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: And so I looked at the the list of these questions this past week, and uh one of the questions was this uh is who is on your Mount Rushmore?
1:56
SPEAKER_00: Which in general, what am I asking there?
1:58
SPEAKER_00: I am asking, hey, who do you think, what do you think of as great in your life?
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Like regardless of field, regardless of uh whatever it is, who is on your Mount Rushmore?
2:06
SPEAKER_00: And you get to learn how do they refine, uh, how do they define greatness?
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SPEAKER_00: How uh what do they think through in any field no matter what?
2:13
SPEAKER_00: And so, like, for example, like if if in the entirety of their life, if they are saying Taylor Swift, I have questions, you know, like Taylor Swift should not be on a Mount Rushmore uh of people.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: LeBron, maybe.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Cooper Flag, absolutely, okay?
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Um but but here's the deal, like, even just as I was thinking about uh this Mount Rushmore thing, we we as a people, we as a population, we love thinking of lists, like listing out people who are great.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: We love to be uplifted by people, encouraged by people, find inspiration from the greats.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I start with that because uh in some ways, that's what we're gonna be looking at tonight in Hebrews chapter 11.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Hebrews chapter 11 is a Mount Rushmore of sorts of the Bible, okay?
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 11, it's gonna be the longest chapter uh in the book of Hebrews, and it is commonly referred to as the hall of faith, because taken as a whole, what we're gonna be introduced to is 17 different individuals, kind of like the who's who of the Old Testament, and the phrase by faith is gonna be used 18 different times.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that when the Bible, when the Bible puts forth its own criteria of people worth remembering, people who were great in their own ways, it's gonna be completely different from how we typically think of greatness.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, in fact, just to kind of show you my cards, uh verse six of Hebrews 11 says this it says, Now without faith it is impossible to please God.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: For whoever would uh believe in God must must believe or seek after God must believe that he exists, and believe that seeking him is worth the effort.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, like the thing that moves the heart of God is is faith, faith that he exists, faith that he's going to keep his promises, and faith that seeking him is worth the effort.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Faith, it's it's the thing that moves the heart of God, and it's the conviction of all these people in this passage.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're gonna see it's not gonna be the strongest or the smartest or the wisest or the most influential.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: No, it's people who believed in God and put all their chips in on who God is.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: Like heaven's definition of greatness is gonna be different than the world's.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: And so we're not gonna have time to completely unpack every single one of these different individuals.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: But what I want to do tonight is all I want to do is simply look at what faith is, and then I want to spend a majority of our time talking about what faith does.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, which I think is so significant for this room right now, because coming out coming off of fall retreat, I mean, we saw like at least 16 people say that they place their faith in Jesus.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: There's that word again, faith in Jesus, which is amazing, right?
4:44
SPEAKER_00: But but not just that, but we saw so many people say, Man, I want to take my next step of faith, whether that's going overseas or baptism or whatever it may be, and tonight I simply want to come alongside of you because so many people are having questions of like, okay, man, I place my faith in Jesus, or I want to take my next step of Jesus.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like practically for me today at UNT at T Dub?
5:05
SPEAKER_00: How do I do that on a Thursday night?
5:06
SPEAKER_00: How do I do that throughout my week?
5:08
SPEAKER_00: And so tonight I simply want to look at what faith is very briefly, and then I want to spend a majority of our time looking at what faith does.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: And so Hebrews chapter 11, hopefully you guys found your way there.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start uh with verse one.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: It says this now faith is the reality of what is hoped for and the proof of what is not seen.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that this so verse one, this is not a uh comprehensive definition of faith, but it is a useful definition of faith.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: And the author kind of lays out these two different parts of what faith is.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we have the first part of that faith is the reality of what is hoped for, but then also it is the proof of what is not seen.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that there's two different aspects of what faith is.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: And so what is faith?
5:53
SPEAKER_00: The first part is this is that it's the reality or the assurance of things hoped for.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and we talk about this a lot during like the Advent season, but but Christian hope it is completely different than the world's hope.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Christian hope, it is tied to the promises, the provision, and the character of God who does not fail.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: And this hope is going to be revealed through his son, through his word, and through his spirit.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: And it's a hope tied to the firm foundation of Christ.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I think a good definition of hope is gonna be this it's this confident expectation.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, a confident expectation that our eternities will be better than this earth, that our future and the pleasures and the benefits of eternity is going to be better than anything that this world can actually offer.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and Christian hope, it's not just this fantasy that we're wishing upon, but it's actually this present reality that we can live in today.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: But it's not just the hope, it's also a proof or a conviction of what we can't see.
6:55
SPEAKER_00: Right?
6:56
SPEAKER_00: Which what is that?
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's that we know, we trust and believe in the God who started it all, the one who created it all, the one who stepped into it all, the one who sustains it all, redeems it all, and will one day bring the fulfillment and the consummation of it all.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: You see, you guys gotta see coming after fall retreat that the backdrop of faith, like even your faith, the backdrop of faith, it isn't an assurance or a conviction of you, but it's an assurance and a conviction of a faithful God who does not fail and who will promise to do what, or who will do what he has promised to do.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I'd love to spend more time on just this one verse, but but the author of Hebrews, what he does is he spends uh one verse talking about the definition of faith, but then 39 verses talking and looking at these illustrations of faith.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to spend the majority of our time looking at these illustrations of faith, these heroes of the faith, and see how they can actually motivate faith in our own lives.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: And and so we're not necessarily going to read it all, but I want to read a lot because what I think you're gonna see is that the read the repetition itself is gonna be really powerful for us.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so we're gonna we're gonna read a lot, stretch out your eyeballs, lock in.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: What I wanna do, I want to just point out some things briefly, uh, but then at the end, I want to look at some overall themes for what faith actually does in our lives.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we're gonna skip over some pieces and come back to it, but but jump down to verse 17.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17 says this by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: He received the promises, and yet he was offering his one and only son.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Okay, have we heard this idea of offering up your one and only son before?
8:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay, other translations are gonna say only begotten son.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: We've heard this idea before.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: John 3 16, for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay, keep following because there's gonna be more here.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: He considered, this is Abraham, God, to be able even to raise someone from the dead.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Therefore he received him back figuratively speaking.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Alright, guys, do we know of any only other begotten son that was raised from the dead?
9:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, God is always painting pictures, he's always painting types that's meant to lead us to the feet of Jesus, which is why if you come to Saul Company, if you come to King's Church enough, you're gonna hear that we want to read our Bible Christologically.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we are trying to see the gospel, we're trying to see Jesus on every single page of Scripture.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Guys, let me tell you why verse 22 is so amazing.
9:47
SPEAKER_00: It's because Joseph was alive uh 300 years before, uh, if you remember the famous Exodus scene where they where they get out of Egypt, get away from Pharaoh.
9:56
SPEAKER_00: Joseph was alive 300 years uh before this exodus, and what he's saying is, hey guys, I'm about to die in 300 years, our people are gonna get out of Egypt.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and what I want you to do, I'm about to die here in Egypt, but when you guys get out of here and go to the promised land, I'm gonna need you to pick up my bones, and I'm gonna need you to take them to the other side.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna need you to take them to the promised land.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, talk about some foresight on us, brother.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Right?
10:20
SPEAKER_00: He's like, guys, I don't want you to leave my bones here.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Dig them up, take them with you, because God's gonna make good on his promises, even though it's 300 years later.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this would be like George Washington in the 1700s saying, guys, in the early 2000s, Elon Musk is gonna create this thing called a cyber truck, okay?
10:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh I want one in my family lineage.
10:41
SPEAKER_00: Make it happen for my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great-grandson, right?
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's some foresight on this dude.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: He's like, God's promises are never gonna be delayed so much.
10:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna bank on the promises of God.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: Our people are making it to the other side.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Dig up my bones and bring them with you, okay?
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Faith, trust, and God's promises to always be fulfilled, even if you don't see them.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, verse 23.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months because they saw that the child was beautiful.
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SPEAKER_00: It's probably written by them.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: And they didn't fear the king's edict.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: Some of you should just think about that tonight.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king's anger, for Moses preserved as one who sees him who is invisible.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn't perish with those who disobeyed.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: As Rahab, honestly, arguably one of the best stories in all of Scripture in Joshua 2.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Like you want to see God's heart for the mistreated.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: You want to see God's heart for the overlooked?
12:19
SPEAKER_00: You want to see God's heart for the people who society has completely outcasted.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Rahab here in this moment.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she goes from harlot to hero.
12:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, she goes from prostitute to in the bloodline of Jesus.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: Like our King, our God, he always has eyes for the people who society tends to overlook.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: He's always looking for the outcast and the broken to welcome them into the family.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: Alright, we're gonna save the last nine verses for the last point, but let me, I want to start to point out some things that we see already here in this hall of faith.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: And the first one is this is that God, God welcomes broken people to have famous faith.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, God welcomes broken people to have famous faith.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: And to see it, just go back to verse 2.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2 says this for by this our ancestors were approved.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what's this saying?
13:12
SPEAKER_00: Is that by faith, the these people of old, aka all of these Old Testament believers, they were all commended for their faith or approved of because of their faith.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: That at the end of their life, the stamp of approval for God, as he's looking at these people, is approved of.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Like what which is pretty crazy when you think about it.
13:33
SPEAKER_00: Right?
13:34
SPEAKER_00: Like, think about some of the people on this roll call for the Hall of Faith.
13:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we just saw it.
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SPEAKER_00: Rahab, a former prostitute, is in the hall of faith.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Samson, a guy who, if you read his story, messes up his life over and over and over again.
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SPEAKER_00: He's in the hall of faith.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, David, a murdering adulteress in the hall of faith.
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SPEAKER_00: Abraham, a dude who his life had so succumbed to fear multiple times that he lied about his wife being his sister multiple times.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: Right?
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, and so what I want us to see is that God, he in no way is he ever celebrating like Abraham's lives or David's adultery or Samson's foolishness.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you you read their stories, you're gonna see sin has consequences.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: But by faith, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
14:26
SPEAKER_00: And a past life of sin does not negate the fact that you can still have a future of faithfulness.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Right?
14:34
SPEAKER_00: So, and so we shouldn't read Hebrews 11, this hall of faith is like these spiritual superheroes or these angelic avengers or anything like that.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: No, these were ordinary men and women, right?
14:45
SPEAKER_00: Like they had unbelievable faults and flaws, spiritual warts.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: They honestly did some pretty embarrassing things, but each of them at the end of their life was approved of.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: They were commended because of their faith.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: And so apparently, as I'm reading this, you don't have to be perfect to be in the hall of faith, right?
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Which is good news for us because the only perfect one doesn't even show up until chapter 12.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so it isn't the hall of perfection, it's the hall of faith.
15:11
SPEAKER_00: And God, he isn't looking around at people in this room or on your campuses, he isn't looking around at people who can say I'm perfect.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: He's looking around for people who can say I'm broken, uh, I'm a sinner, and yet I'm trusting in the one who is perfect.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm trusting in the one who who is going to do what he's going to say.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: Right, and so these these 17 individuals in Hebrews chapter 11, they aren't just a history lesson.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, these 17 individuals in Hebrews chapter 11, they are still preaching hope to the church today.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: That God still calls, that he still saves, that he still uses broken individuals for his glory, and that he can turn the banner of your life from broken sinner to faithful saint.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: Like these men and women, they weren't perfect, but they were approved of because of their faith.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: And so tonight, man, if you feel broken, if you feel like you have a past that you cannot shake, if you feel like you have a present sin struggle that you're still wrestling with, if you feel like you already blew it after fall retreat when you promised you wouldn't again, if you feel like you should be farther along in your Christian walk and you feel just frustrated, like, ah man, I I should have been farther along, I shouldn't still be dealing with the sin.
16:23
SPEAKER_00: If you feel anything like that, then congratulations, you would have been a candidate for the hall of faith.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, see Hebrews 11, what we gotta get, Hebrews 11, it isn't a religious resume that we should be impressed by, it is a summary of God's faithfulness to use broken and ordinary individuals to accomplish his purposes.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: God welcomes broken people to have famous faith.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: That's the first thing.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: Another thing I want you guys to see, and it's the simple idea of this, is that faith moves.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: Faith moves.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: Or I love the way that Charles Spurgeon says it, is that faith touches the springs of action.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and we know this, right?
17:02
SPEAKER_00: Like if I have faith in that my legs will carry me, I'm gonna get up and walk.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: If I have faith that I can uh that this chair is gonna hold up, I'm gonna sit in it.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, if you have faith that you have game with the ladies, you're gonna ask her out.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, faith, it tends to move activity.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's the brilliance of God saving us by faith.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Right?
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Because on one hand, it completely protects us from boasting about any credit that we have for our salvation.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Right?
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Because if we're saved by faith, guys, we have to understand, and we say it again every single week, the only thing that you offer to your salvation was the sin that made it necessary.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Outside of that, Jesus did it all, he accomplished everything.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: And so it's the beauty of us being saved by faith.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: And yet, like are are we saved by are we saved by good works?
17:49
SPEAKER_00: No.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: But does faith in Jesus produce good works?
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
17:53
SPEAKER_00: Right?
17:54
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we see in Hebrews 11.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: In fact, every single time that the author brings up a new individual, you can look at it.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: Every time that the author brings up a new individual, it is always accompanied by a verb, by an action.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Noah built, Abraham left, Jacob blessed, Joseph instructed, Moses chose, Joshua fought.
18:16
SPEAKER_00: Why?
18:17
SPEAKER_00: Because faith is synonymous with action.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and if you don't believe me, let me just point out what some famous, brilliant scholars have said.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: Charles Spurgeon again says this is that believing and obeying always run side by side.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay, or J.I.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: Packer, he says, what saves is faith alone, but the type of faith that saves is never alone.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: It's always accompanied by good works.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so faith moves, faith acts, and the faith that we see in Hebrews 11 is a faith that is not static.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: It offers, it sacrifices, it goes to the unknown, it refuses to compromise.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Faith moves, and faith moves us, it fuels us for obedience.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Right?
19:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean, even think about this.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: Think about the story of Noah.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, verse 7 says this.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: By faith, Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: By faith, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
19:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, I'll be honest.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: The story of Noah lost a lot of weight when it became a popular children's story.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I cannot like think for the life of me, I cannot figure out why the most popular children's story in every single children's book, why we decorate nurseries about this story, when the story of Noah and the flood is all about God destroying the world.
19:46
SPEAKER_00: Right?
19:47
SPEAKER_00: And so, like one day when when my sons come up to me and they're like, Daddy, why are the kangaroos going on the boat?
19:53
SPEAKER_00: Well, because God hates sin, buddy.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to pray?
19:57
SPEAKER_00: We probably do, right?
19:58
SPEAKER_00: You know?
19:59
SPEAKER_00: But no, I want you to think about the story of Noah, okay?
20:02
SPEAKER_00: Noah, he starts building a boat because God tells him he starts building a boat 500 miles from the nearest body of water.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is like building an ocean liner in Kansas.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he starts building a boat 500 miles from the nearest body of water.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: It takes him 120 years to build.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: It is a boat 1,000 times the size too big for his family, and at the end of it, he fills it with animals.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Noah, because God told him to, started building a boat 500 miles from the nearest body of water, over the course of 120 years it hadn't rained, and at the end of it, he starts filling it with animals.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: All because God told him to.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: And you read the story, people are mocking him, people are making fun of him, people are degrading him, they're like, who is this fool?
20:59
SPEAKER_00: And yet, Moses, by faith, the faith to follow the absurd in Christ.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: The faith to follow the absurd, even when the watching world has no idea what you're doing.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: Alright, here's what I want you to see is that trusting in Jesus and actually living out this whole faith thing is gonna look crazy to a watching world.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay, which shouldn't surprise us.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: It has been true throughout all of church history because we follow a king with an upside-down kingdom and the world doesn't understand our king.
21:35
SPEAKER_00: And so, guys, here's the reality is that if you say you have faith, if you say that you have faith, but nothing in your life looks different than the rest of the world, you should at least start to question where your faith is actually at.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: You should at least start to question it.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think think about a few of the areas of your life and ask if you're really trusting God in some of these areas.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can you can.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Think about sexual purity.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, like if you are willfully and purposely and unrepentantly just repeating this idea of sexual sin and immorality and pornography, then you at least have to start to question is my faith actually in God?
22:20
unknown: Right?
22:20
SPEAKER_00: Because it's been well said.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: It's really hard to say that you want to follow Jesus and He is your everything while you're actively pursuing the very things that put Him on the cross.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: And so you at least have to see, man, man, am I fighting for obedience?
22:34
SPEAKER_00: Am I seeing a change in my life to want to pursue after holiness, to not be a slave to sin, but actually a slave to righteousness?
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Or you can think about forgiveness.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, oftentimes, like this idea of being hurt and not forgiving other people, it can feel like a bag, a badge of honor in this weird culture that we're in.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Like they hurt me, and I deserve to be the victim.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: And yet, and yet what is the Christian faith?
23:01
SPEAKER_00: The Christian faith is, guys, Romans 5.8, while we were still sinners, while we were enemies of the cross, Christ died for us.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And so it looks like what it looks like to follow Jesus is to say, yes, they hurt me, but I'm gonna forgive them because I've been forgiven of way worse.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: And so I don't need to have this victim mentality.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: I can actually fight for this reconciliation because Jesus forgave me.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: Or you can think about your words.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: Like like how we talk about people, how we talk to them and how we talk about them.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: We can think about Proverbs 18, 21, that death and life are in the power of the tongue.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: And so I mean, guys, you want to stand out in the world right now?
23:41
SPEAKER_00: You want to see me, am I really following Jesus?
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Think about how you talk about people.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: Think about how you talk to people.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: Think about those types of things because as James 3 would say, it is really hard to bless Jesus in a space like this and then to go around and to curse other image bearers of his.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: It's really hard to do that.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: And so faith, it's going to move us.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: It's going to move us.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: And you gotta ask, has faith moved me?
24:08
SPEAKER_00: In all of these different areas, has has faith moved you to deeply confess sin in your life?
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Has it moved you to actually fight for repentance?
24:16
SPEAKER_00: And not and not just like the stereotypical like connection group, yes, I'm struggling.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: But like, no, I actually fight for for repentance and bring things into the light.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Has faith moved you to actually leverage your life for the kingdom to try and experience more of the grace that is available to you in Christ Jesus has it moved you, has it moved you, guys?
24:37
SPEAKER_00: Here's here's the reality.
24:39
SPEAKER_00: It it if all you want to do is just slap the label of Jesus onto a life that you're already living, but but have no desire for the things of God, I'll tell you that is not in the scripture.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: That is something that we made up in this 21st century world that is absolute garbage.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's the path of destruction, not the path of life.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Because faith moves, it moves us towards repentance.
25:05
SPEAKER_00: Faith moves and it brings obedience even when it seems crazy to a watching world.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the next thing that we see is that faith not only does it move, but faith also anticipates.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Faith anticipates.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: And here, and here's what I mean by that is that the Bible, it almost always motivates us by calling us to look forward.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: And if you see, it's been doing this over and over again in this passage.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we can think about Abraham here.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Abraham knew, man, if I follow God, there is a better kingdom ahead for me.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: And because of that faith, it's actually going to move his feet.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, look, look at verse six verse uh thirteen.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: It says this, these all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: But look, listen to this.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: But but they now desire a better place, a heavenly one.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a better city for them.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: Guys, here's what Abraham knew.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: Here is Abraham's story in Genesis is that what we know from his story in Genesis is that he is living in this place called Ur.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: You can think of it like Oklahoma.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: Everyone wants to leave it, okay?
26:31
SPEAKER_00: And God says, he comes to Abraham, Abraham at the time, and he says, Hey, leave it all and follow me.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: All right, and what's crazy is that verse 8 of uh Hebrews 11, it says this, and Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going, not knowing where he was going, but he takes a step, not in blind faith, but trusting in the promises of God.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay, because faith, what faith is, especially for you guys, thinking about your future, faith it isn't taking a step in the dark.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: Faith is taking a step in the promises of God, even when you can't see the end.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, because all Abraham knew at this time was that God came to him and said, leave Ur.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Abraham didn't have a map.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: God didn't give him a map.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: Abraham didn't have Genesis 12 through 24 just right there waiting for him.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, God, I see how everything is going to work out for me.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: No, you think our God, our guy Abraham, didn't have any questions in this moment when God came to him?
27:27
SPEAKER_00: You think he wasn't like, God, why are you sitting?
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Why are you making me leave my hometown?
27:32
SPEAKER_00: God, why are you gonna make me do some difficult things?
27:34
SPEAKER_00: Why am I going north in order to go south?
27:36
SPEAKER_00: God, why are you gonna bring some difficulty into my life even though I've said yes to you?
27:41
SPEAKER_00: And yet by faith Abraham went, and he didn't have the map showing his whole life and how it would work out at the end, but he just continued to take steps of faith and obedience.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: You see, I think oftentimes I remember when I was in college, I wanted the map.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: I wanted the map of my life.
27:57
SPEAKER_00: Like, God, give me my map.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: Right?
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Show me what career I'm gonna have.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: Show me who I'm going to marry, show, show me uh why I'm going through this season, show me where I'm going to live.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: God, give me my map.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: But what I've learned over the years is that God isn't interested in giving you a map.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: He's interested in you saying, God, I trust you, so I'm gonna take the next step.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: See, I think the reality is that, man, if if if God gave us a map and he said, Hey, this is the next three chapters of your life, then I bet God doesn't hear from us from those three chapters.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: All right, we'd become so independent.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: It's like, thank you, God, now I don't really need you.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: And so what I've realized is that God didn't create you for a map, he created you for a relationship with him.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: And he and if he says, I'm not gonna give you a map, but I'm gonna give you the next step, then we can take that next step in faith.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: Right?
28:49
SPEAKER_00: Because faith anticipates.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Faith looks forward, and when faith looks forward, faith moves our feet.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to take the next step of faith with God even when you can't see the end result?
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to be baptized even though you're not sure how your parents are gonna feel?
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to go on that church plane after graduation even when that feels so scary?
29:10
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to say yes to go globally, to go on a global trip, even when it's like, I've never been overseas, I don't even know if I can share my faith at well?
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to say yes even if you don't know the outcome?
29:22
SPEAKER_00: God isn't interested in giving you a map, He's interested in you saying, God, I trust you, so I'm gonna take the next step.
29:28
SPEAKER_00: You see, Abraham had a choice, and we do too so often, it is are you going to structure your life in such a way that you're just gonna rest and trust in the promises of God?
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Because I'll tell you what, guys, there's gonna be opportunities for comfort, and there's gonna be opportunities uh for trusting in the promises of God.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: And those two things, they don't always have to butt heads, but sometimes they will.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to have comfort or if you want to have a calling for Christ, sometimes those things are gonna compete, and whatever you love most is gonna come to the front.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: So are you willing to take the next step of obedience even when you don't know the end result?
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Faith anticipates, and the last thing that I want to see is faith preserves.
30:09
SPEAKER_00: Faith preserves.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: And this is where I want to go from 32 all the way through the end.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we've got we've got an inspiration.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: It's like the author has gotten inspiration from all those who have gone before us.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: And it's almost like uh the author of Hebrews, he's been remembering all of these people, and you can almost tell he's he's like starting to get excited.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: He's like his pen is riding really fast.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: He's he's remembering what happened with Abraham and Sarah and Moses, and he's just like, oh my gosh, I gotta write all this down because look what he says in verse 32.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: He says, What more can I say?
30:38
SPEAKER_00: Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon and Barack and Samson and Jephthah and David, Samuel and the prophets, who by faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouth of lions, quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength and weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: Women received their dead, raised to life again.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to run through a brick wall.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to storm the gates of hell with a water gun right now, you know.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: Like just let me punch Satan in the face after this, you know?
31:09
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm I'm amped just by reading that.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: But then the author takes a surprising turn in the middle of a verse and says that other people were tortured, not accepting release so that they might gain a better resurrection.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's not as cool, but it's admirable.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: I like it.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Verse 36 others experienced mockings and scourgings as well as bonds and imprisonments.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: Alright, things are starting to sound a little bit different.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: Verse 37, they were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: The world was not worthy of them because they wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what was seemingly a motivational speech that could rival Friday night lights is now kind of turning into a bummer.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: But you'll notice almost every single commentary pointed this out.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: The author closes out this Hall of Faith section really with these kind of like these two competing groups almost.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: You have the group of 33 through 35 who face some impossible situations, some unbelievable obstacles, all of these dangerous things, these insurmountable odds, and they asked God to do a miracle and he did it.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: Right?
32:24
SPEAKER_00: God enabled them to do some of these amazing things, sleep unharmed in the den of lions, defeat armies a hundred times their size, literally walk through fire.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: But then there's a second group.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: And the second group also faced these like impossible situations, the just like the first group.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: And the author it didn't say anything different, so we can almost imagine like they had just as much faith.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: They probably prayed just as hard, and yet to this group, God said no.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: And I think if we're being honest for all of us in here, all of us want to be a part of that first group, right?
32:57
SPEAKER_00: Like, I want to be a part of the group that like by faith we conquered things.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be by the part of the group that like by faith we were tortured.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I get on that first list?
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Is there like a varsity level?
33:06
SPEAKER_00: How do I do it?
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Do I got a service all a certain amount of times?
33:08
SPEAKER_00: How do I get on that list?
33:12
SPEAKER_00: All right, but I think, guys, I think at the at different points in our lives, even different points in college, we're gonna be a part of both of these different groups.
33:20
SPEAKER_00: That the that the pendulum of our lives is going to be fluid, where I think you're gonna go through seasons of flourishing and you're gonna go through seasons of hardships.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: And the question on the table is how are we going to respond to whatever assignment God gives us?
33:34
SPEAKER_00: You see, the first group is able to show unbelievable faith in God because they're the ones who can say, Man, God is bigger than any obstacle that I can face.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: Right?
33:42
SPEAKER_00: God has already done the biggest miracle in my life that he awoke my dead heart to respond to the gospel and faith in him.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: And so I can trust him with any other obstacle that I might face.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: God is bigger than anything.
33:53
SPEAKER_00: But the second group is able to show unbelievable faith in God because they're the group that's gonna say, man, no matter, no matter what, no matter what the test results say, no matter what the scans show, no matter what my relationship status is, no matter what my career outlook looks like, no matter what, God is better.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: God is is is better than anything.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: And when I look to him, the things of earth is gonna grow strangely dim.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: See, one of my favorite things that I've I've seen done is this thing called cardboard testimonies.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you guys have ever seen it, but it's basically, uh, if I could paint a picture for you, uh imagine like baptism Sunday, these kind of testimony Sundays, and uh you would have like Tyson up here singing like all angelic, like he always does, and people are just coming out with uh a piece of cardboard on it, and they're walking from the side, and as they're walking towards the middle, the cardboard is going to say uh something in their life that they were dealing with before Christ.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: And so they're walking out towards the middle, and it's gonna say things like uh hopeless, broken, addicted to alcohol, enslaved to pornography, all of these different types of things, and they are walking out here with that sign flipped right here.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: And then they get to the stage, they get to the middle, and they pause for a second, and then what they do is they flip that cardboard sign over, and then it's gonna show what Christ has done in their life, and it's gonna show healed, bought with a price.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: I now have a purpose, I'm no longer lonely.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: And all these different things.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: And one of my favorite cardboard testimonies that I saw was uh it was um this this young mom, this young woman, and this middle-aged man, and they actually uh walked out together, and and the and the mom was holding up a sign, and it just said, diagnosed with MS.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: And the older gentleman that was falling behind, his sign said, doctor that diagnosed her, atheist.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: And then he flipped his sign over and he said, Baptize this Easter.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: And she flipped her sign over, and she said, worth it.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: And guys, she was never healed of her MS disease.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: But what this doctor had had seen through her was that this was a woman who got to experience and went through a season much like the second half of those people in Hebrews chapter 11, where I'm sure she begged, I'm sure she prayed, and in those moments, God may have said no.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: And yet at the same time, she was like, it's worth it.
36:24
SPEAKER_00: It's worth it because somebody came to faith.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Because what this doctor said was is that she was never healed of her disease, and yet what he saw in this woman was an unshakable confidence in the grace and the mercy of God, and he said, I want that.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: I've never been able to see and experience something like that.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: I want whatever she has.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: And so that's why she was able to say, worth it.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I'll be honest.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God is going to deliver you from the storms of your life, and you can praise him in that.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes God's not gonna deliver you from the storm of your life in the way that you want, but sometimes God's grace and mercy is he's just gonna sustain you in the midst of the storm.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm gonna be here because sometimes God is most glorified in that.
37:04
SPEAKER_00: So no matter what season you're going through, whether it's the verses 33 through 35 or whether it's the end, we can give glory to God because faith perseveres.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: In the good days, God is bigger and overcomes my struggles by his power, and in the bad days, God is better.
37:19
SPEAKER_00: No matter the test results, no matter the status, no matter what comes my way, I can look to God who has promised that he's gonna be better in the end.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, one last thing I want to point out.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: It'll be quick.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: We already read it.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Verse 37.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: They were stoned, they were sawed into, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, that's too afflicted and mistreated.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: But look at this.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: The world was not worthy of them.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: That phrase, so easy to miss.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: The world was not worthy of them.
37:49
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I want you to let that sink in for a minute.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: That there is a generation of Christians in Hebrews chapter 11, and God's verdict on their life is that the world was not worthy of them.
38:00
SPEAKER_00: Some of these people were young, some of these people were old, some of them were rich, some of them were poor, some of them were outcasts, some of them were kings, but God's verdict on their life was the world wasn't even worthy of them because of their faith.
38:12
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I hope that God would look upon us as a church, as a salt company one day and say, Denton wasn't worthy of this salt company.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: Denton wasn't worthy of King's Church because by faith they love me so much.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: By faith, they would do anything for me.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: You see, I'll be honest, guys, your little story, my little story, our little stories don't mean too much.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: But man, when we link our little story with the big story of what God is doing in the universe, we have meaning and we have purpose.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: And the greatest thing in the world is, guys, our our names may never be written in Hebrews 11.
38:45
SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna be written in Hebrews 11, but our names can join them and the book of life.
38:50
SPEAKER_00: Our names can be written in the book of life, and that's what your heart most desperately wants to be written there and to experience Jesus, to stand in front of him and say, Jesus, you're better.
38:59
SPEAKER_00: You're bigger and you're better than anything that this world can offer.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: I want to place my faith in you.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I hope, I hope so much that this salt company, that King's Church, at the Salt Network, that almost the banner of us can be the world was not worthy of them.
39:13
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray to that end.
39:20
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I'm so thankful for you.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm grateful for Hebrews 11.
39:28
SPEAKER_00: And I'm and now I'm thinking so much about what it would look like to live life by faith in such a way that my tombstone, that the people in this room, our tombstone, could say the world wasn't worthy of them.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I'm thankful that you could use a life such as tiny and minuscule as mine, as tiny and minuscule as the people in this room.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: But if we link our little stories with yours, with a greater purpose, with a greater redemption story, what you might be able to do in our dorms, in our lives, in our jobs, uh, and our campuses.
40:13
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, would you do it here?
40:15
SPEAKER_00: Would you do it here at UNT, at T Dub, in Denton?
40:22
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, I don't know what needs to happen in this room tonight for some people.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: To live by faith, I'm sure it means confessing some sin to some people around them.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure to live by faith, some people need to go up to somebody and apologize and say, I'm sorry that I have misspoken and have said hurtful words about you and to you.
40:44
SPEAKER_00: Maybe to live by faith means actually applying to go overseas this summer.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it means signing up for baptism regardless of what the parents think.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, we want to put our full weight and trust on you because by faith, even just reading out there in the hallways, that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: But so so often we take that verse out of context, not understanding that it means that we can be brought high and we can be brought low no matter what.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: Anything is possible in you.
41:19
SPEAKER_00: And so I pray that that that moment people could take next steps of obedience.
41:25
SPEAKER_00: Would you allow that to happen?
41:26
SPEAKER_00: And would we sing?
41:28
SPEAKER_00: Would we sing to you in Jesus' name?
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: You guys can stand and sing.