Welcome Friends to books of the book. 00:00:20.54\00:00:22.78 This is the program that considers the Bible one book 00:00:22.81\00:00:26.03 at a time, just as the scriptures read. 00:00:26.07\00:00:28.36 I'm Ty Gibson and with me as my co-host James Rafferty. 00:00:28.39\00:00:32.07 And we are presently engaged in the study of the book Hebrews, 00:00:32.10\00:00:35.27 and we have come to chapter 11 now James. 00:00:35.30\00:00:38.02 Let's launch right into our study. 00:00:38.06\00:00:39.92 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the 00:00:39.95\00:00:43.73 evidence of things not seen. 00:00:43.76\00:00:45.94 So, he is beginning here with a working definition of faith. 00:00:45.98\00:00:51.65 And the whole chapter unfolds by giving us living examples of 00:00:51.68\00:00:57.32 what faith looks like when it is in action. 00:00:57.36\00:01:00.26 And so a number of individuals are specifically named as 00:01:00.29\00:01:04.79 examples of what faith looks like. 00:01:04.83\00:01:06.99 You know, it's interesting Ty because as soon as Paul defines 00:01:07.02\00:01:11.61 faith, in verse one, he jumps in verse two to the elders, who 00:01:11.65\00:01:16.21 by faith have obtained a good report. 00:01:16.24\00:01:17.79 An in a sense you are thinking. The elders, hmmm, OK! Who's he 00:01:17.82\00:01:21.39 talking about specifically. 00:01:21.43\00:01:22.71 He could be talking any generation of God's people. 00:01:22.75\00:01:25.27 It seems like maybe he's talking about all of them. 00:01:25.31\00:01:27.76 And then in verse three he goes back to the very beginning. 00:01:27.79\00:01:30.81 It is as if he is saying now wait a minute before I get to 00:01:30.85\00:01:33.83 the elders before I get basic summary of everyone. 00:01:33.87\00:01:37.54 Let me go back to the very beginning and establish 00:01:37.57\00:01:41.20 where faith begins. 00:01:41.24\00:01:42.48 Through faith we understand, verse three, 00:01:42.52\00:01:45.04 that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. 00:01:45.07\00:01:47.72 So that the things which are seen were not made of things 00:01:47.76\00:01:51.55 which do appear. 00:01:51.59\00:01:53.11 And this is one of Paul's themes in the brook of 00:01:53.14\00:01:55.97 Hebrews that we need to understand, 00:01:56.00\00:01:57.77 because over and over again, he is reiterating 00:01:57.81\00:02:00.53 the fact that our dependence is to be on God and His Word. 00:02:00.57\00:02:04.58 His promises, not on ourselves and not our own strength and 00:02:04.61\00:02:08.59 not on our promises to God. 00:02:08.63\00:02:10.36 Now, he continues on with this theme. 00:02:10.39\00:02:12.78 And develops it in relationships. 00:02:12.81\00:02:15.12 He's talking to them in the book of Hebrews 00:02:15.16\00:02:17.86 about a relationship. 00:02:17.89\00:02:18.96 And he goes back now it starts talking about the relationships 00:02:19.00\00:02:22.32 that God's people had in times past. 00:02:22.35\00:02:24.42 The reason why this is so powerful, because it teaches 00:02:24.46\00:02:27.35 us that faith has always been the means through which 00:02:27.39\00:02:30.25 we have been saved by grace. 00:02:30.28\00:02:31.57 By grace through faith. In other words, there was never an Old 00:02:31.61\00:02:34.99 Testament under the law salvation by law, legalistic 00:02:35.02\00:02:38.59 understanding of how we were saved in relationship to the 00:02:38.63\00:02:42.54 everlasting gospel. 00:02:42.57\00:02:43.76 There may have been people that fell into that like we do or 00:02:43.80\00:02:46.57 see in the New Testament. 00:02:46.61\00:02:47.77 But God's people were always saved by grace through faith. 00:02:47.81\00:02:51.78 Abel for example, he offered up a more excellent sacrifice 00:02:51.82\00:02:55.65 than Cain, why? because he trusted in the Lamb that pointed 00:02:55.69\00:02:59.11 to Jesus Christ, rather than the works of his own hands. 00:02:59.15\00:03:03.09 Abel is testifying of salvation by grace through faith. 00:03:03.12\00:03:07.30 Well Abel somehow, through the offering of this sacrifice, 00:03:07.34\00:03:11.30 is comprehending that his dependence is outside of himself 00:03:11.34\00:03:15.12 He's offering his sacrifice back in the book of Genesis. 00:03:15.15\00:03:18.90 He is by faith discerning to some degree 00:03:18.94\00:03:22.60 the coming Messiah. 00:03:22.63\00:03:24.22 So he's reaching outward, and that is one of the 00:03:24.26\00:03:26.45 aspects of faith. 00:03:26.49\00:03:28.25 Faith reaches outward, it is not a mystical internal working 00:03:28.28\00:03:33.28 up of something within human nature. 00:03:33.31\00:03:35.87 Faith looks outwork it doesn't look inward. 00:03:35.91\00:03:39.11 Abel is looking down through history, so to speak, and 00:03:39.14\00:03:43.08 comprehending that God is going to send forth 00:03:43.11\00:03:45.80 a sacrifice for my sins. 00:03:45.83\00:03:48.52 It is nothing that I can achieve in myself. 00:03:48.56\00:03:50.90 I really like this because, Paul is going now he is moving in 00:03:50.93\00:03:54.08 to a more practical understanding of 00:03:54.12\00:03:56.71 Christian experience. 00:03:56.75\00:03:58.61 Talking about faith and how it works. 00:03:58.65\00:03:59.86 And he does this in the context of, I think, versus 24 and 25. 00:03:59.89\00:04:04.47 Of Hebrews 10 where he says that we should consider 00:04:04.51\00:04:07.10 one another to provoke unto love and good works. 00:04:07.13\00:04:09.65 Our going to see a lot of good works here in Chapter 11. 00:04:09.69\00:04:13.07 Then he says in verse 25, not forsaking the assembling of 00:04:13.10\00:04:16.45 ourselves together as the matter of some is. 00:04:16.49\00:04:18.34 You know Ty, when we assemble together, to worship God. 00:04:18.37\00:04:21.45 We assemble to exhort one another. 00:04:21.48\00:04:23.19 And one of the key factors in worshiping God is the 00:04:23.23\00:04:26.48 Word of God. 00:04:26.51\00:04:27.48 And the reason why we become strong in faith is because faith 00:04:27.49\00:04:30.77 comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. 00:04:30.80\00:04:32.96 Romans 10: 17. 00:04:32.99\00:04:34.55 So, what we find here that we ought to be exhorted as we read 00:04:34.58\00:04:39.11 the experience of God's people. 00:04:39.14\00:04:41.04 For example, Abel is testifying, he's exhorting us, 00:04:41.08\00:04:44.73 he's not alive today. 00:04:44.76\00:04:45.87 He's not speaking to us literally, but he speaks 00:04:45.91\00:04:47.99 to us through the Word. 00:04:48.02\00:04:48.99 And do you know what he is saying to us, 00:04:49.03\00:04:50.00 don't trust in your own works like 00:04:50.01\00:04:52.30 my brother Cain did. 00:04:52.33\00:04:53.53 Don't trust and the fruit of your labors like 00:04:53.56\00:04:55.25 my brother Cain did. 00:04:55.28\00:04:56.25 Keep your trust in the lamb. 00:04:56.26\00:04:58.24 Keep your focus on Jesus. 00:04:58.28\00:05:00.41 So Abel is the first example of faith given here in 00:05:00.45\00:05:03.74 Hebrews, chapter 11. 00:05:03.78\00:05:05.10 Then, the Apostle Paul moves on to Enoch, 00:05:05.14\00:05:07.92 as his second example, verse 5. 00:05:07.95\00:05:10.06 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and 00:05:10.10\00:05:14.82 was not found because God had taken him. 00:05:14.85\00:05:18.02 For before he was taken he had this testimony 00:05:18.05\00:05:21.69 that he pleased God. 00:05:21.73\00:05:23.29 This is incredible James. 00:05:23.32\00:05:24.67 This is a amazing to think that here's this individual Enoch, 00:05:24.71\00:05:28.40 and he has an experience with God that is such. 00:05:28.44\00:05:30.80 God looks down upon Enoch, and His relationship with a Enoch 00:05:30.83\00:05:34.01 and He says, you know what I go to take this guy straight to 00:05:34.04\00:05:37.18 heaven a he's not even going to die. 00:05:37.22\00:05:39.07 There's not going to be no resurrection for him. 00:05:39.11\00:05:40.50 I want to fellowship with Enoch right now, 00:05:40.54\00:05:42.69 I'm going to take him into the kingdom. 00:05:42.73\00:05:44.81 Just prematurely, I guess, before I mean the plan 00:05:44.85\00:05:48.69 is scheduled that everybody is supposed to be resurrected 00:05:48.73\00:05:51.50 until the second coming of Jesus. 00:05:51.53\00:05:53.04 But not Enoch, he's going straight into the kingdom 00:05:53.07\00:05:55.44 and the reason is incredible. 00:05:55.48\00:05:57.19 Because he pleased God. 00:05:57.22\00:06:00.48 So Enoch is basically exhorting us, he's encouraging us, telling 00:06:00.52\00:06:03.53 us, you know what it is possible to please God. 00:06:03.57\00:06:06.20 You know, sometimes we can get discouraged, we can get 00:06:06.23\00:06:08.56 overwhelmed, we can doubt that we can please God. 00:06:08.59\00:06:11.21 Here's a man that wants to exhort us, wants to encourage us 00:06:11.24\00:06:14.26 you can please God. 00:06:14.30\00:06:15.95 Isn't it incredible to realize on the one hand, that God is 00:06:15.98\00:06:19.94 the kind of God who can be pleased. 00:06:19.98\00:06:22.03 I think of my relationships with human beings such as my wife. 00:06:22.06\00:06:27.74 My children, friends like you. 00:06:27.78\00:06:29.67 It's possible for us to please one another, to bring 00:06:29.70\00:06:33.28 gratification to a relationship so that the other person is 00:06:33.32\00:06:37.58 just elated and overjoyed to be in this relationship with us. 00:06:37.62\00:06:42.20 But here God is presented to us as a God, who can be pleased 00:06:42.24\00:06:46.75 and in fact is pleased when we have a relationship with Him, 00:06:46.78\00:06:51.25 such as Enoch had. 00:06:51.29\00:06:52.40 But it is through faith, it is through faith. 00:06:52.44\00:06:54.93 And the reason why often we don't feel like we 00:06:54.97\00:06:56.99 can please Him, we doubt we can please him. 00:06:57.03\00:06:59.02 because were not exercising faith. 00:06:59.05\00:07:00.34 We look at ourselves we're looking at our failures we're 00:07:00.38\00:07:03.07 looking at our imperfections we're looking at the lives that 00:07:03.10\00:07:05.58 we live and were thinking there is no way I can please God. 00:07:05.61\00:07:08.05 And that is lack of faith. 00:07:08.08\00:07:09.40 Without faith it is impossible to please God. 00:07:09.43\00:07:11.57 You have to go beyond what you see. 00:07:11.61\00:07:13.60 You had to go beyond the reality of your own experience, and 00:07:13.64\00:07:16.26 you have to step out into that realm of faith and say, you 00:07:16.29\00:07:18.87 know, Enoch pleased God. 00:07:18.91\00:07:20.00 And I believe that I am pleasing God because God has told me 00:07:20.04\00:07:22.85 I'm pleasing him. 00:07:22.88\00:07:23.85 He's pleased with me because I put my faith in Jesus Christ. 00:07:23.86\00:07:27.06 I mean, you think about this James. 00:07:27.10\00:07:28.07 What we are pleasing someone in a relationship, there are 00:07:28.08\00:07:31.86 visible manifestations of the fact that they are pleased 00:07:31.90\00:07:35.71 with the relationship. 00:07:35.75\00:07:36.87 When my wife is pleased, and when I have relationships and 00:07:36.91\00:07:41.01 interactions with my children and they are pleased, 00:07:41.04\00:07:42.84 they smile. 00:07:42.88\00:07:43.87 It's amazing to think that God is not just a lofty distant 00:07:43.91\00:07:48.34 Sovereign Monarch, but God actually takes delight 00:07:48.38\00:07:52.93 in His people. 00:07:52.96\00:07:54.62 I am reminded of the prayer of Jesus and John 17. 00:07:54.66\00:07:57.99 There is so much in John 17, but one of the verses over the 00:07:58.03\00:08:02.00 years that have stood out to me, that I think is just 00:08:02.04\00:08:03.80 incredible is in verse 23. 00:08:03.84\00:08:06.10 It says there, Jesus speaking to the Father, He says Father, you 00:08:06.13\00:08:10.22 have loved them, as you have loved me. 00:08:10.25\00:08:13.87 It is one thing to think of the Father loving Jesus, and I know 00:08:13.91\00:08:19.86 that God loves me. 00:08:19.89\00:08:20.86 I know that God loves you. 00:08:20.87\00:08:21.93 But here, Jesus says, Father You love Ty, You love James, 00:08:21.97\00:08:26.54 You loved them. 00:08:26.58\00:08:27.82 These human beings who have brought such heartache 00:08:27.85\00:08:30.08 and pain to You. 00:08:30.12\00:08:31.57 You love them like you love me. 00:08:31.61\00:08:34.80 That is extremely gratifying to realize that God loves us like 00:08:34.84\00:08:39.82 He loves Jesus. 00:08:39.85\00:08:40.82 And those words come from Jesus Christ. 00:08:40.83\00:08:42.75 Those words are words that are found in the Bible. 00:08:42.78\00:08:44.75 Those words are believed by faith. 00:08:44.78\00:08:46.92 And we want to look to those words and understand 00:08:46.95\00:08:49.22 and believe that God loves us. 00:08:49.25\00:08:51.27 By Faith Noah, he warned of things as not seen of yet, verse 00:08:51.30\00:08:54.37 seven, moved with fear, prepared an ark to save his house by 00:08:54.40\00:08:57.44 which he condemned the world and became an heir of 00:08:57.47\00:09:00.19 righteousness which is by faith 00:09:00.23\00:09:01.33 Now, what does this mean? 00:09:01.37\00:09:02.34 Here we have a man who is building an ark and the 00:09:02.35\00:09:05.06 whole world is against him. 00:09:05.10\00:09:06.69 The whole world is in opposition to him. 00:09:06.72\00:09:09.54 He is stepping out by faith, and he is seeking to not only 00:09:09.58\00:09:14.10 build this ark, to saving his home, 00:09:14.14\00:09:16.18 But he is seeking to warn the 00:09:16.22\00:09:18.10 world of something that is going to come. 00:09:18.14\00:09:19.71 We need to notice here that in this verse it says by faith 00:09:19.74\00:09:24.54 Noah moved with Godly fear. 00:09:24.58\00:09:28.29 So faith produces movement. 00:09:28.32\00:09:31.97 I'm reminded of Galatians 5 and verse six. 00:09:32.00\00:09:35.45 Where the apostle Paul says that faith works by love. 00:09:35.48\00:09:38.92 The word works there or in the King James version it says 00:09:38.95\00:09:42.36 faith worketh by love. 00:09:42.39\00:09:44.77 The word in the Greek is energos for which we get 00:09:44.80\00:09:49.02 the English word energy or to energize. 00:09:49.05\00:09:51.29 So, it literally reads that faith is energized by love. 00:09:51.33\00:09:56.22 Faith is activated, faith is moved by love. 00:09:56.25\00:10:00.83 That's what Noah was experiencing. 00:10:00.86\00:10:03.10 Noah didn't just have an intellectual faith. 00:10:03.13\00:10:06.06 He didn't just believe something as a theory, 00:10:06.09\00:10:08.99 a concept, as an idea. 00:10:09.02\00:10:10.62 Noah, because of what he believed and understood, 00:10:10.65\00:10:15.17 moved with Godly fear, 00:10:15.20\00:10:17.19 he did something about what he believed. 00:10:17.22\00:10:20.59 Faith is active. 00:10:20.63\00:10:22.37 I liked this is what you're talking about here. 00:10:22.41\00:10:24.44 You're talking about love being the energy, 00:10:24.48\00:10:26.48 the source of energy for our faith. 00:10:26.51\00:10:29.01 It's like food, you know, when you eat food you get energy 00:10:29.04\00:10:32.67 from the food. 00:10:32.71\00:10:33.68 And of course, that energy sustains you and 00:10:33.69\00:10:35.23 allows you to be active. 00:10:35.27\00:10:36.25 And as you are active, you begin to get tired or drained. 00:10:36.29\00:10:39.27 You need more energy, it's the same in our 00:10:39.30\00:10:42.23 spiritual experience. 00:10:42.27\00:10:43.74 We need the energy of God's love. 00:10:43.77\00:10:45.94 We need to partake of that energy. 00:10:45.98\00:10:48.11 We need to absorb that energy. 00:10:48.15\00:10:49.57 Take that energy in. 00:10:49.60\00:10:50.66 We need to let God's love be continually to be revealed to us 00:10:50.69\00:10:53.84 to be taken in by us, so that we can be energized to good works. 00:10:53.87\00:10:57.00 We find this concept in many places in the Bible, but I think 00:10:57.03\00:11:00.26 also in relation to what you're saying about drinking it in, 00:11:00.29\00:11:03.49 taken it in being energized by God's love. 00:11:03.52\00:11:05.62 In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul uses a agricultural metaphor, 00:11:05.66\00:11:12.09 and he says that we are to be rooted and grounded 00:11:12.13\00:11:15.42 in God's love. 00:11:15.46\00:11:16.43 A root system of a plant a tree is the means by which the 00:11:16.44\00:11:20.71 plant reaches dawn into the soil to draw up the nutrients 00:11:20.74\00:11:24.90 and the moisture out of that soil into its branches to 00:11:24.93\00:11:28.28 produce the leaves and the fruit and that's exactly 00:11:28.31\00:11:31.62 what we are to do. 00:11:31.66\00:11:32.63 We are to drink in the love of God as in the empowering 00:11:32.64\00:11:37.08 reality of our spiritual experience. 00:11:37.11\00:11:40.39 Absolutely. I believe that Noah was here today friends, he 00:11:40.43\00:11:42.70 would be exhorting us, and this is what he'd say to us. 00:11:42.74\00:11:44.98 The world may be against you. 00:11:45.01\00:11:46.66 The world may oppose you. 00:11:46.70\00:11:48.28 You may have to do something by faith in God that is contrary 00:11:48.31\00:11:52.08 to everything that the world is doing. 00:11:52.12\00:11:54.05 But I want to encourage you Noah would say, I want to 00:11:54.09\00:11:57.29 exhort you, that's what I did and God honored that choice 00:11:57.33\00:12:00.57 I made, you too can stand against the world like I did. 00:12:00.60\00:12:03.62 God will bless you with the faith you are exercising 00:12:03.66\00:12:06.52 in His word. 00:12:06.55\00:12:07.52 The next example here of living faith that we are taken to in 00:12:07.54\00:12:11.73 chapter 11 of Hebrews verse eight. 00:12:11.77\00:12:14.43 That is by faith Abraham obeyed. 00:12:14.46\00:12:17.05 And here again, Noah by faith moved and the previous one Enoch 00:12:17.08\00:12:24.24 was taken because he pleased God by faith. 00:12:24.27\00:12:27.71 Abel offered an offering to God by faith. 00:12:27.75\00:12:31.12 So the faith in every instance is active, it's living, 00:12:31.16\00:12:34.35 it does something. 00:12:34.39\00:12:35.60 Here Abraham obeyed God. 00:12:35.63\00:12:37.35 And when he was called to go out into a place where 00:12:37.38\00:12:42.33 he should afterwards receive an inheritance, 00:12:42.37\00:12:43.85 he obeyed and he went out. 00:12:43.88\00:12:45.31 So he obeyed him, he went out. 00:12:45.35\00:12:46.71 Not even knowing where he was going. 00:12:46.74\00:12:48.19 You know, I like to camp, I do like to camp. 00:12:48.23\00:12:50.16 Abraham went out with a tent, with his family to camp. 00:12:50.19\00:12:54.20 Now when I go camping Ty with my family, we had these air 00:12:54.24\00:12:58.22 mattresses, you know, and this cook stove. 00:12:58.25\00:12:59.87 When we go out for three or four days. 00:12:59.91\00:13:01.46 We always go my wife always insists that we go to a campsite 00:13:01.49\00:13:05.18 that has flushed toilet's and etc.. 00:13:05.22\00:13:06.49 We know where we're going. 00:13:06.52\00:13:08.09 we know how long to get there, 3 or 4 days at the max. 00:13:08.12\00:13:10.49 We know we are going back home to a nice soft cushy 00:13:10.52\00:13:12.85 environment in our home. 00:13:12.88\00:13:14.54 Abraham went out, didn't know where he was going, probably 00:13:14.58\00:13:16.90 didn't have air mattresses or flush toilets back then. 00:13:16.93\00:13:19.22 And he didn't know how long he was going to be 00:13:19.26\00:13:21.49 living in this tent. 00:13:21.53\00:13:22.50 This is incredible. 00:13:22.51\00:13:23.48 Abraham went out, do you feel like God is calling you to go 00:13:23.49\00:13:27.11 out and you don't know where you are going to end up? 00:13:27.15\00:13:29.69 You don't know what the future holds. 00:13:29.72\00:13:30.84 You don't know where you're going. 00:13:30.87\00:13:31.92 You do have to step out by faith, if you do, 00:13:31.95\00:13:34.19 Abraham wants to encourage you. 00:13:34.22\00:13:35.84 I've been there I've done that. 00:13:35.87\00:13:37.45 God will bless you. 00:13:37.49\00:13:38.92 Not only did Abraham go out physically, not only did 00:13:38.95\00:13:43.04 he leave his home, his family, the place that he was raised. 00:13:43.08\00:13:46.80 But Abraham went out of a particular world view, 00:13:46.84\00:13:50.55 he went out of Babylon, out of Ur which was his city. 00:13:50.58\00:13:54.82 And God was actually founding a nation through Abraham, but 00:13:54.86\00:13:59.96 not just a political nation. 00:14:00.00\00:14:01.31 Not just the civil power. 00:14:01.35\00:14:02.59 God was founding a whole new religion that would be based on 00:14:02.63\00:14:07.68 faith, that would be based on a confident looking forward to 00:14:07.71\00:14:12.73 of the Messiah coming into this world as the sacrifice for sin. 00:14:12.77\00:14:18.02 So God got Abraham out of Babylon, and then through a 00:14:18.06\00:14:22.55 process of spiritual experience, as he went out. 00:14:22.58\00:14:25.83 God went through a process of getting Babylon, out of Abraham. 00:14:25.86\00:14:31.34 And you can see this, he dwelt in the land of promise in a 00:14:31.37\00:14:36.82 strange country. 00:14:36.85\00:14:37.82 This was a different country. 00:14:37.83\00:14:38.80 It was a different country because he was going to have a 00:14:38.81\00:14:40.97 different experience. 00:14:41.00\00:14:41.97 He was leaving the old and embracing the new. 00:14:41.98\00:14:43.96 The next example, we see here is in verse 11, closely 00:14:43.99\00:14:47.91 connected of course, with Abraham and that Sarah, 00:14:47.95\00:14:52.27 His wife, by faith Sarah herself received strength. 00:14:52.30\00:14:56.55 This is also very important, because we have all this action 00:14:56.58\00:15:00.21 going on with faith. 00:15:00.24\00:15:02.17 We have obedience going on. 00:15:02.20\00:15:03.51 We have moving going on. 00:15:03.55\00:15:04.79 We have pleasing God going on. 00:15:04.82\00:15:06.81 And then now we realize that faith also doesn't just acts, 00:15:06.84\00:15:11.73 but it received strength from God. 00:15:11.77\00:15:14.32 We're going to continue looking at this James, but we need to 00:15:14.36\00:15:17.26 take a break right now. 00:15:17.30\00:15:18.27 But faith is definitely an exciting living, active 00:15:18.28\00:15:21.88 principle that we want to bring in our own experience. 00:15:21.91\00:15:25.67 Like they did into theirs. 00:15:25.70\00:15:27.30 Don't go away. 00:15:27.34\00:15:28.35 We'll be right back in a moment to continue our study. 00:15:28.38\00:15:30.51