Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
I like you take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 11 I figure after last week that was kind of the introduction to Faith today I want to look at more of what it is in its Essence so while you’re turning to your Hebrew Hebrews chapter 11 let me have a word of prayer let’s pray this morning Father as we meet together in this New Year I pray PR Lord that we would make uh decisions this year that we didn’t make last year decisions that are based on your truth the word of God I pray Lord we would lay aside the sins that so easily beset us and encumber us and entangle us and I pray Lord we lay them aside so we can run the race that you laid before us this race of faith and I pray Lord that we would do it with greater endurance with greater faithfulness with greater love and obedience for you than ever before we don’t know what’s before us this year Lord but we know what your word says and Lord I pray whatever happens that you would we would remain faithful and we would continue to move move forward in maturity and christlikeness giving the gospel out to those who don’t know it yet or never heard it and just continuing to use our gifts that you’ve given us to build up the body so that we remain strong and so the light of the Gospel continues to go from this place and from our lives and I pray this in Christ’s name amen Hebrews this great book really has been addressing those who already had an experience of justification by faith and they continue to show their growth and Holiness within the sphere of Salvation And once one becomes a Believer the need for faithfulness and holding on to the gospel becomes ever vital so for the present we all have this great essential need so what need is that well if you look at Hebrews chapter 10 in verse number 36 it says this you have the need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised so that’s the need that we all have endurance to persevere absolutely and emphatically even under misfortunes and trials and to hold fast our faith in Christ in fact Faith really shines and shows you where you’re at During trials trials Force us to depend on God trials are for our spiritual good trials cause us to long for heaven trials develop in a Believer a proven character so all these things that befall us and you and me lead re really lead us to a goal and that goal is the goal of Glory they are preparing us to run the Christian race following uh the Lord Jesus Christ and the followers of Christ are to run this race in order to reach the gold to finish the race and then to receive the reward I think the greatest uh illustration of the Christian Life is a a long race right it doesn’t matter how fast or slow you’re going but it matters that you’re running the race and you’re putting one foot in front of the other and you’re doing the next thing that’s what the Christian life is about but when we’re running the race we’re going to feel the pain of running we’re going to we’re going to be going down the valleys we’re going to be going up steep mountains we’re going to be experience the rain and the Sun and the Heat and all the things that go with running a race feeling the pain in your muscles thinking in your mind I can’t go another step but you do it anyway see that’s what the Christian Life really is one commentator said it like this the master of the work is faithful who will pay you the reward of your work for the reward of the righteous is for a time to come it’s not for now it’s for a time to come and the bottom line is and the key to successful endurance is Faith last week I looked at Clear Vision Faith reflected toward God which is functional it’s better than sight and it is operational so you see the Christian uh being a Christian really means that we have been given a new way of looking at life and it is the end of life that makes this present Christian progress toward the goal all important in other words in other words you always have your eyes on the Finish Line you’re not there yet but you have your eyes on the finish line and you don’t take them off the finish line so that is what our text is really telling us that it is only those who endure to the end who will be saved they are not saved by their own effort to endure but by faith in the promises of God and the father’s power to keep all those who were given to Christ those who come to Christ come in faith and those who continue in Christ remain faithful so those who came in faith will continue in faithfulness the Bible tells us that Jes Jesus is returning soon it tells us that he’s returning and he is returning with reward the righteous shall live by faith and if you look back again to chapter 10 and verse number 38 it says there but my righteousness one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back my soul has no pleasure in him in other words somebody who lives by faith pleases God someone who doesn’t live by faith does not please God they shrink back why the race is too tough the trials are too long the test of our faith is hard and so they give up you can be confident if there is evidence of the genuine work of Grace that has taken place in your heart and there’s an Ever growing evidence of a lifestyle of faith well then you can Shout with our Hebrew audience in chapter 10:39 but we are not those who shrink back to destruction but who have faith to the persevering of the Soul so now now we come to this great chapter 11 the chapter 11 is about faith and in our time on this Lord’s Day will’ll Endeavor to wrestle down the essence of biblical Faith we’ll see examples of what it means to have faith to live by faith and even in some cases to die by faith and in the end to obtain life now I will tell you one thing for sure that this kind of faith is necessary to endure you cannot have any other kind of faith in what is described here and there are some ingredients of this kind of faith that have gone before in Hebrews that I would share with you now it is opposite of swelling pride and self-trust it is humility before God a Readiness to conform to the will of God it is a conviction that he cannot lie and he cannot fail and it is a Reliance on him in spite of outward circumstances according to Webster’s Dictionary Webster was known to be a Christian faith is defined as the ascent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another resting on his authority and veracity without other evidence and of course the point being that that person is God himself that we can trust him in his character so the Christian then for the Christian as they understand faith is believing that the promises of in the promises of God are simply true because he says they’re true and that’s what faith is all about believing when we don’t have all the answers when we don’t have all our questions s answered when we don’t even know what’s next we know who God is and we have trust in him and what he says that’s really the essence of biblical Faith so sometimes we want too much information before we even do anything and that often times will hinder our race because the whole point of racing is to dve drop off all the weights right that’s what it says in chapter 12 drop off all everything that’s going to hinder you in the race drop it off because it’s not going to be productive for you running a race well and so let me this morning look at three things to consider to capture the essence of biblical faith and here’s the first one is this that biblical Faith accepts God’s word notice what it says in verse one of chapter 11 it says now Faith is the Assurance of things hoped for the conviction of Things Not Seen and this term Assurance is rich in his ethology and when we dig out an understanding of this term which is very important to understand the essence of biblical faith we find that this term number one is not a substant faith in fact our faith has a substructure it has a firm foundation it is a faith which has actual existence it has substance it has real being to it actually the King James Bible I believe translates the passage better it says now Faith is the substance of things hope for the evidence of Things Not Seen so viewed from this perspective faith is something objective that it has a here to it and a now to it it gives things hoped for substantial reality which of course a reality that will unfold in only God’s timing it also has a substantial quality to it it has substantial substantial quality in this way the nature of it especially the nature of God’s person the Lord Jesus Christ if we just think back to Hebrews chapter 1 where it says he is the radiance of his glory the exact representation of his nature and upholds Things by the word of his power that is who Jesus is it has this he this faith we have in him is substantial because it has a foundation to it it has a substructure to it in which we stand upon so that means we can have confidence we can have firm trust we can have as it says in our passage Assurance in the one who gives the promise in the one who proclaims to us the word of God now very quickly I want to just throw out to you a passage from Psalm 39: 6-9 if you would like to turn there that would be good because In this passage of scripture the one writing it really has a firm faith and trust in God to the point where in the end of it he has nothing to say except one thing and look what it says in Psalm 39:6 it says surely every man walks about as a phantom surely they make an uproar for nothing he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them look at verse 7even and now Lord for what do I wait My Hope Is In You Verse 8 deliver me from all my transgressions make me not the reproach of the foolish and then it says this I have become mute I do not open my mouth and why doesn’t he because it is you who have done it you know that passage of scripture really drips of firm faith and trust in God and just rest in his hope which is in God himself that if God did that I’m resting in it I have no questions for God that if he’s done it he’s done it for the right according to his character and I have no right to even question what he’s done so now here is something important for adjusting our understanding of biblical faith that biblical faith is a faith that has absolute certainty what it believes is true from the word of God and what it expects or hopes for will come to pass so that means it is not a h so faith our passage includes this all important word now Faith is the Assurance of things hoped for When Hope is used as a verb Hope and Faith are virtually synon synonymous as a noun hope refers directly to the promises of God so these are the things that we hope for in Hebrews chapter 2 the world to come in Hebrews chapter 9 the promises of Eternal inheritance in Hebrews chapter 10 the second coming of Christ in Hebrews chapter 4 the promise of Eternal salvation and in Hebrews chap 12 the unshakable kingdom all things that we don’t have yet but we hold to by faith because God said these will happen see that’s what faith is I’m Trust trus in in what God says so the verb hope speaks of our response to God’s promises in other words he offers us hope noun form we can have hope that’s the verb form in him and his guarantees we can’t believe them with confidence because they are established on a firm foundation which is his very character so the Hope here is not a hope so hope I hope it happens is a Wishful longing that’s not what we’re talking about a Biblical hope looks forward with utter conviction and expectancy it is not a hope mingled with uncertainty and doubt those who live in doubt is the opposite of faith and they are essentially denying that the hope God gives is actually true so doubt is really a destructive thing for the Christian do we doubt from times we sure do we bounce in from doubt the faith but there’s a time where the doubt has to be laid aside and we have to trust God completely on what he says it was Charles Spurgeon who says I would recommend you either believe God up to the Hilt or else not believe it at all believe this book of God every letter of it or else rejected there is no longer there’s no logical standing Place between the two be satisfied with nothing less than a fate that swims in the depths of divine revelation a fate that paddles about the edges of the water is poor Faith at best it is little better than a dry land faith and is not good for much end quote Charles Spurgeon he knows how to say it tell you that also another thing about this word it is not a faith focused on what it what is seen in verse number one it says conviction of Things Not Seen I spent some time on this last week but this is uh it’s a thing especially the thing that needs to be proved or tested the invisible things are proved and we are convinced of the reality of them so others take this word of conviction to mean the inner result of proving in other words I know in my heart this is true and why do I know that for one reason it’s based on God’s character and what God says in the word of God so does not focus on the seen things of the world but rather it looks to the Unseen Promises of God Our Hope and then it lives life accordingly hope is a result of faith we have the conviction in regard to the Unseen that’s faith in its Essence that they exist in spite of us not seeing them and we are certain of the Unseen things as if we saw them our Resurrection is not yet seen but it will happen final judgment has not yet happened but it will take place there’ll be a new Heaven and new earth we have not seen that we don’t even really have evidence that’s going to ever take place but because God says it there will be a new Heaven and new Earth where righteousness dwells we know it’s true see again that’s faith that that is what the Bible’s talking about and sincerely I mean and certainly it’s not always easy to trust God doubt despair fear continually work their way into our lives and sometimes through our own personal trials even Jesus was continually saying to his rebuking his disciples for what too little faith why didn’t they have faith because they kept looking with their eyes around what was happening and not on God who held the promise see we do the same thing our circumstances come Trials come and what are we doing we’re looking at all the stuff that’s going on around us we’re looking at the people involved and the arguments involved and the things involved and we get so wrapped up into that our eyes are completely off wait a minute what is God doing in this what is God teaching me in this how is this going to benefit me running the Christian race how is this going to bolster my faith and do I even have faith here if something comes my way so instead of giving into doubt we can stand on God’s promises instead of succumbing to depression and worry we can trust him instead of being disheveled by what we see around us we can be grounded in what we can’t see but what we know is true that is the essence of biblical faith and it was the missionary Hudson Taylor who in poverty said we have 25 cents and all the promises of God and every I don’t if you ever read anything about of this man but I tell you what he was a man of faith and he lived it and he he documents one story after another on how they just trusted God when they had nothing they had no resources they just prayed and God met the need and came in there maybe we also can express the same level of Hope filled Faith so then Faith lays hold of what is promised and therefore hoped for as something real and solid though yet unseen it’s like the firm and solid response that Shadrach meach and abedo gave to King Nebuchadnezzar when they refused to bow down to his gods and worshiped the golden image they refused to do that Shadrach and meach and abedo repi repli replied to King Nebuchadnezzar and says we uh we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter if it be so our God whom we serve is able to Deliver Us from the furnace of blazing fire and he will deliver us out of the hand of the king but even if he does not let it be known To You O King that we are not going to serve your go Gods or worship the golden image that you have set up and what happens what the amazing that that happens that the fire had no effect upon their bodies that these men didn’t even have their hair singed they didn’t even have their their their clothes did not even smell like smoke and Nebuchadnezzar had to step back and say this blessed be the god of Shadrach mesach and ab bendo who sent his Angel to deliver his servants this is what he says who put their trust in him is that not Faith that’s exactly what faith is that’s exactly what faith is and then he finally had to say to them there is no other God who’s able to deler in that way so these are the the examples in scripture of people who actually had faith I also like what was said of the missionary George Mueller who understood God’s promise and what it meant to live by faith where he says the life lived by faith is a walk with God just outside the gates of heaven so the essence of biblical faith it is a faith that rests solely on the word of God and what does the Bible say about the word of God the word of the Lord endures forever forever the second thing that to consider this morning to capture the essence of biblical faith is secondly a Biblical Faith gains God’s approval now I would say this this is the goal of biblical Faith to gain God’s approval that’s that means the way you live the way you and I live our life why do we live our life what’s the motive for living our life here’s the motive the motive is I want God’s approval I want to know every day I wake up that I’m living my life before God in a way that he approves of because he sees everything that’s going on whether you’re in public or private and notice what it says in verse number two of Hebrews 11 for by it the men of old gained approval the fa this phrase gain approval spoke of the public witness to a person’s character and in this case it is God who testifies to their faith it is God who says I see this person’s life I see your life and I’m going to say that either I disapprove of what your how you’re living or I approve of how you’re living and the only way to gain God’s approve approval is to live by faith because it says this is the kind of Faith the Ancients had that enabled them to endure through all kinds of difficulties all kinds of tough situations right to the end and I want you to notice in Hebrews 11 look at verse number four it says by faith Abel offered to God a better SA sacrificed in Cain through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous he obtained something and then also in verse number five it says in verse number four it says by faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous and then Enoch obtained the witness before he was being taken out by God so these men they obtained something they gained something and they gained it for this very reason that the the whole group mentioned in this whole chapter of the hall uh the Hall of faith not the Hall of Fame the Hall of faith is to gain approval another way of saying gain approval is without faith in verse number five it’s impossible to please God now if you notice in Hebrews 11 verse number 39 when he’s concluding his chapter on on faith notice what he says and all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised see they gained approval from God and so what we see here is to live in this manner assumes that one is living with the knowledge that they know how to to gain approval from God whom they serve this is no shot in the dark hoping to hit the target that’s Whimsical Faith No here are people who knew whom they were worshiping they knew how to please God to whom they worshiped and what satisfaction is there to know that God is please with you I think that’s the greatest satisfaction that is in your circumstances you are not living to gain human approval so often times that’s why we want approval but that you are Discerning the activity of the invisible God in your present situation whether in adversity or prosperity and you desire to do God’s Will and to do it to receive Divine approval so that’s what we see in our passage for he obtained the witness that before he was taken up that was Enoch he was pleasing to God he was pleasing to God you know when Paul was talking about uh true faith in Christ in Galatians chapter 5 he kind of kind of linked love to Christ would be implanted in someone’s heart and along with love to Christ there will be obedience to God as it says in scripture he who has my commandment and keeps them is he who loves me he who does not love me does not keep my words so we are saved by trusting Christ not by loving and OB obeying Christ but a trust that does not produce love and obedience is not true saving Faith so true Faith Works by love so we know the people that are recorded here in Hebrews chapter 11 are people who were obedient to God because they loved God so true Faith Works by love and that which love works is not the ability to sit out on a beautiful Starlit Night and write poetry about how exciting it is to be a Christian true Faith Works by causing you to go back into your home and to O for a child to obey their father and mother or for a husband to love his wife and children as the Bible tells us to do to go back to your school or to your job and take a stand for truth and righteousness against all the pressures that are against anyone in this world and say I stand for this because it says it in the word of God true Faith makes you willing to be counted as a fool and even crazy because you read your Bible and you go to church and you have uh convictions about what is right and wrong willing to to be considered outdated because you believe that there are Eternal unchangeable moral and ethical standards that you are willing to believe in Chastity and the sanctity of human life and to take your stand against premarital sex and the murdering of babies in mother’s woms Jesus said whoever is ashamed of me in my word in this adulterous and sinful generation of him the son of man will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his father with his holy angels and it was Alan Martin who says in his little track that I give out all the time what is a Biblical Christian it’s not merely one who says oh yes I know I’m a sinner with a bad record and a bad heart I know that God’s Provisions for Sinners is in Christ and in his cross and that it is adequately and freely offered to all who want to believe I know it comes to all who repent and believe but he says that’s not enough he said asked the question do you repent and believe and if you profess to repent and believe can you make your profession stick see that’s what faith does you know what faith does faith makes your profession stick because you really believe it and nobody can convince you otherwise now it’s not a life of perfection but a life of purposeful obedience to Jesus Christ so Faith always has love to God and obedience connected to it always you cannot have faith and not love God you cannot have faith and not be obedient you cannot do that so you see that biblical faith is not a blind leap in the dark it is immersed in the nature and the character of God and rooted in objective truth and historical reality that the people of God actually live and died by faith and did not shrink back to destruction but they knew they were getting in into a long line of those who finished the race before them and gone to heaven ahead of them it’s our turn it’s our turn to live on this Earth today and to endure living here by faith to believe the Unseen to trust God’s promises and to wait and hope expectantly that our great God and savior will bring all he has promised to an ultimate fulfillment if you look over to chapter 12 look at verse number one here is his conclusion the chapter division is not good here it should have went into chapter 12 1 through and three it says therefore since we have a so great a cloud of witness surrounding us let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us let me just stop there we have a whole bunch of people that gone before us that ran the race and they finished were they perfect no were they super intellectual probably not they had did they have all the accolades of the world and they were full completely rich rich now they probably had none of those things you probably didn’t even know their name but they finished they finished and you know what they have obtained the promise and that’s the same with us that’s the encouragement for us here today it’s our turn to live on this Earth by faith it’s our turn to believe God because the essence of biblical faith is a faith that rests entirely on the character of God and then third thing to consider this morning to capture the essence of biblical faith is this a Biblical Faith recognizes God’s power if you notice in Hebrews 11:3 by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible that biblical faith has a spiritual perception that the Universe can be seen but its Origins cannot be seen that the believer knows the origin of the universe is God himself and even if they said say that in the science class or in a class on astrophysics they’re going to be laughed at yet when God was talking to job he said to Job Were You There When I laid the foundations of the earth were you there he wasn’t there no no one was there except the angels and The Trinity was there creating everything so for you and I what is this invisible source that this passage is talking about is it the uh is it that the visible has come into being where nothing existed before creation out of nothing I don’t think that is the emphasis of our context on faith even though that is true is it that Faith reaches beyond the world a phenomena to the Unseen ground of true being I don’t think that is the emphasis of our conext in of Faith either it seems best the best way to to understand this passage is is to take what cannot be seen as parallel to the word of God in other words God’s powerful word putting it all together the sense of The Passage would claim that God’s word is an invisible power that produces results God speaks and things come into existence so I tell people of course all the time that um I do believe the Big Big Bang Theory I wait for a puzzled look and then I say God spoke and bang the universal it came into being and produce visible results of which I can see today and so can you so when we think of those things we we we really understand that Faith because it is based on the character of God the Living God the invisible God The God Who Cannot Lie the scriptures speak of the formation of the universe at God’s command so in other words what was formed came into being what came into being the universe came into being which well which now can be seen but it came into being by the word of God which we cannot see so the essence of biblical faith is a faith that recognizes the power of God to bring to pass all that is promised that the word of God is an invisible power that produces visible results that the believer knows the origin of the universe is God himself and how do they know that by faith we don’t need to have evidence we don’t need to have all the math that goes with that all that we know is that God said he did that and it’s so right and it rings with truth and when truth rings in our mind and heart it’s very hard to argue with but sometimes very difficult to explain but for a real believer they accept God’s word they gain approval from God and they recognize that God’s power to bring to pass all that he had promised is true now in considering that I want to look at something in in this chapter before I close uh at some of the the great company of witnesses that actually lived and died by faith and they did not shrink back to destruction but they were getting in line a long line of those who had finished the race and gone to heaven before them and and please don’t get the impression that when you’re reading a chapter like chapter 11 of Hebrews that these people on the honor role of Faith are perfect they’re not they are saved by grace Sinners and that’s what you are and I am we’re saved by grace sinners who are being Sanctified day by day and as we struggle and strive as sojourners on this Earth and we realize that we are Christian pilgrims who desire to be more Christlike and we long for heaven the more we live in this world the more we long for heaven but remember it is never the Perfection of your life but is the direction of your life it is the dire direction of your life to please God it is the direction of your life to love the Lord God and obey his word it is the direction of your life it should be to strive to walk by faith and so when the eye of faith is fixed on the goal then the faith of that person becomes visible in what they do and how they live their lives that’s what we see in the lives of those who are recorded in this chapter on the honoral of faith and the examples of what they what it means to actually have faith and to live by faith each one mentioned not everyone is mentioned in all the Bible but each one mention has their own particular corner on how they showed faith in God and how they persisted to the end if you look back at chapter 11 verse number four this is Abel Abel look what it says by faith Abel offered to God the better sacrifice than Cain through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous God testifying Ying about his gifts and through faith though he is dead he still Speaks now what about Abel he lived by Faith by worshiping God in an acceptable manner that’s how his faith was seen he did what God wanted him to do the way God wanted him to do it and then also Enoch in verse number five by faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death and he was not found because God took him up and obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God so for Enoch living by faith was walking with God every day in a pleasing manner he knew what it was to please God and then in verse number seven Noah by faith being warned by God about the things yet not not yet seen in reverence prepared an ark for the Salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and he became the heir of the righteousness which is in according which is according to Faith so here’s Noah and how did he live by faith by obeying God’s word in an unquestionable manner see that’s where his faith becames real he didn’t question god build an ark okay what’s an ark okay uh build it because it’s going to rain what’s rain you know all those things it didn’t stop him from doing it 120 years preached a preacher of righteousness he just did what God Said in an unquestioning Manner and that’s where his faith comes shining through and what makes any person well pleasing to God is Faith because without it it is there is no possibility of pleasing God Abraham is another one he’s no different for his examples highlight many parts of the meaning and the essence of Faith Abraham living by faith in verse 8- 11 I’m not going to read that whole section but his faith comes through by just obeying God in a patient manner Abraham’s patient Abraham you’re going to be the father of many nations okay God I have no kids how’s that going to happen and got too old to even biologically to have kids him and his wife but God brought forth the promise and he had a child and we are part of his offspring Spring today matter of fact the Bible says as the stars are in the heavens that’s going to be your Offspring as the sand are on the sea try to count the sands on the seashore can you do it no can’t do it he says that’s your descendants so did Abraham see that not with his eyes but he saw it by faith and he um now he knows he’s there see by patient trust that carefully listened to God by patient trust that carefully persevered in what God Said and through difficult situations and long periods of time with an inward longing for home verse number 10 it says for he was looking for a city which has foundations whose architect and Builder is God he was longing for home he patiently trusted God and carefully trusted God and rested in the faithfulness of God see it says by faith Abraham in verse 11 even though he was past age and Sarah herself was Barren was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise that’s who Abraham was so that means faith is believing what you do not see and the reward of faith is to see what you believe that’s the reward of Faith so if we just look again in our text we will find the results of a life lived by faith and if you notice in verse number 12 of Hebrews 11 it says therefore there was born even of one man and him as good as dead as as many descendants as the stars of Heaven in number innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore and of course speaking about Abraham but what does it mean there that without any ability that he had by faith what happened the unfathomable had happened therefore it says there was born even by of one man The Impossible happened he was good as dead and God brought it to pass also an innumerable thing happened that he is going to bless him Way Beyond the ability to even number how many people will come to Faith because of Abraham and God’s plan and also without receiving the promises in verse number 13 look what fate understood all these died in faith without receiving the promise but what did Faith understand it says in verse number 13 Faith saw it says having seen them and Faith welcomed having welcomed them from a distance they received the promise and expected to receive all of it and then in verse 13 Faith confessed and having confessed that they were strangers and Exiles on the earth and here they responded to the promise and agreed with God that his way to bring about the promise is the best way no other way and then without receiving a country it says in verse number 14 it says for those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own not their old old country verse 15 and indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out they would have had opportunity to return here meaning that there’s a better one there’s a Heavenly country in verse 16 but as it is they desired a better country that is a Heavenly one so here is the great distinguishing factor of biblical faith that it has the ability to distinguish between good and evil Eternal and temporal permanent and perishable and see and choose God’s way that’s the incredible thing about faith I know what pleases God I know how to come before him in a manner that he approves of that’s where faith will bring all of us and I think here’s the best of all in Hebrews 11:1 16 without receiving shame it says and this is what faith they what faith believing in God does receive it says in verse number 16 it says but as it is they desire a better country that is a Heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them now why is God not ashamed to call them his children and him their God one reason Faith they trusted in God because their faith pleased him and they gained approval by faith they waited for something better in God’s timing and believe me once we’re gone from this world we will know what the better is but we have the better by faith right now so God started it and God will finish it because it already said in Hebrews chapter 5 and having been made perfect he became to all those who obey him the source of Eternal salvation see that’s what God will do he will finish it so what is our job our job is to be faithful in the race to put put one foot in front of the other to get up every day to have in your mind soon as you get up today I want to live in an approving manner before God today I want to know the things that please God and don’t please God today not tomorrow not yesterday today and I hope from yesterday I learned today so I can be pleasing to the Lord and in what do we all need endurance to run this race but the key to endur endurance is faith in God Amen amen let’s pray Lord this morning even Lord in light of this New Year I pray that this year would be a year of growing in our faith of becoming stronger in faith than ever before of seeing Beyond what’s happening around us and trusting in the plan and the purposes and the promises of God that we all know are going to come true just the way he said it because the things he said in the past historically that were to come true did come true so the things that have not yet come true will come true because of who you are Lord in your character and so I pray that you would bolster our faith in your word and what you’re doing in our life and I pray Lord we would be conscious every day day in our very thoughts in our actions in our deeds and our words whether any of those things because we know that they don’t help in running this Christian race and I pray that we would gain approval because we pleased You by faith and I pray this in Christ’s name amen