back to index2020-10-11 Foundations of Faith
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Alright, if you can turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 11. 00:00:07.000 |
Alright, we're going to be just focused on one verse this week, but I want to read it 00:00:25.240 |
As you guys know, as I mentioned last week, chapter 11 is kind of a transition from the 00:00:30.000 |
foundations of faith in theology to practice. 00:00:34.280 |
And so chapter 11 is, again, giving forth the evidence of how right view of God is what 00:00:46.640 |
And then we are moving to chapter 12 where it challenges us to practice these things. 00:00:50.400 |
So chapter 11 is where we're transitioning into that. 00:00:53.320 |
And then these are the beginning verses of it. 00:00:55.880 |
Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 00:01:02.520 |
By faith we understand that the words were prepared by the word of God so that what is 00:01:06.160 |
seen was not made out of things which are visible. 00:01:10.960 |
Lord, we pray for your blessing over this time. 00:01:16.360 |
I pray that you would soften it, open our eyes, open our ears, that we may understand 00:01:29.760 |
In the previous passage in chapter 10, one of the statements that led us to chapter 11 00:01:39.520 |
So this is a question that we ought to be asking every once in a while, or maybe even 00:01:45.280 |
How much of what you pursued this week was by faith? 00:01:49.600 |
How much does your faith determine what you value, what you buy, where you go, what you 00:01:56.760 |
And how much of it is simply based on I like this, I want this, I want to go here, I want 00:02:02.080 |
How much of our lives are being directed by faith and how much of it is directed by our 00:02:08.480 |
If we're not careful, we can live our lives just kind of going with the flow and every 00:02:15.160 |
once in a while interjecting because we hear a sermon or we hear a Bible study or maybe 00:02:20.480 |
something that we're doing that reminds us, yes, I am a Christian so I should be doing 00:02:29.920 |
The major that you choose, the field that you're going into, does that have anything 00:02:39.120 |
The person that you choose to date and marry, does that have anything to do with your faith? 00:02:44.880 |
The career path, where you live, where you go, decisions that you make, what does that 00:02:52.520 |
The life of a Christian described in chapter 11 is that everything is done by faith. 00:02:58.680 |
Not simply the big picture, I made a decision to follow Christ, I'm going to go to church, 00:03:02.320 |
but everything else that we live by sight but not by faith. 00:03:06.920 |
It's important for us that we live according to what we believe, that all things that we 00:03:12.200 |
do, that that should be the primary question that we ask. 00:03:16.320 |
Is this something that I do because I believe or is this something that I do just because 00:03:21.960 |
Well, again, chapter 11 is a list of heroes in the faith in the Old Testament who lays 00:03:28.520 |
a foundation for us and tangibly shows us that this is what it means and this is what 00:03:35.400 |
Remember last week we looked at the first two verses and he said, "Faith is," remember, 00:03:40.280 |
"the substance of things hoped for and it is the evidence of things not seen." 00:03:44.360 |
And so the first point that we made last week was faith is what? 00:03:48.720 |
It's not just something we feel, you can actually observe faith. 00:03:51.840 |
You can see faith being played out and that's what chapter 11 is about. 00:03:55.940 |
These are people who believe and because of their faith, this is what their life looked 00:04:01.280 |
The second point of last week was what faith is not. 00:04:06.120 |
Just because you have faith doesn't give you power over anything. 00:04:12.920 |
And then the last part of it was faith is powerful. 00:04:16.400 |
That even if we have a faith of a mustard seed, as small as a mustard seed, that connects 00:04:24.400 |
And it is that tiny connection, no matter how small it is, that causes God to act and 00:04:29.280 |
it is His power that causes us to be able to move mountains. 00:04:33.040 |
So the third point was that faith is powerful. 00:04:36.680 |
So the whole chapter 11 is a presentation of the power of God through faith, how it 00:04:42.560 |
was played out in the lives of these believers. 00:04:44.680 |
And then chapter 12 we're going to go to, therefore, this is how we ought to live. 00:04:48.780 |
So to give you a broad picture of what's happening in chapter 11, let me give you the summary 00:04:53.320 |
of what he's going to say before we get into it. 00:04:55.640 |
I'm going to get more into it in a few weeks, but let me just give you the conclusion of 00:05:06.640 |
By faith they conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, 00:05:13.440 |
shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from 00:05:18.800 |
weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women received 00:05:25.280 |
back their dead by the resurrection, and others were tortured, not accepting their release, 00:05:33.840 |
so that they may obtain a better resurrection. 00:05:37.320 |
Now we may look up to that point and say, wow, that's powerful testimony of what God 00:05:44.780 |
That they conquered their enemies, they escaped the edge of the sword, the weak people became 00:05:51.400 |
So when we look at that, we say, wow, that's what we need to do. 00:05:54.120 |
If I just had faith, I could accomplish anything that I desire. 00:06:01.440 |
If you look at the whole of the text in verse 36, and others experienced mockings and scourging. 00:06:10.560 |
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with 00:06:15.400 |
the sword, they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, 00:06:20.280 |
ill-treated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains 00:06:29.200 |
Now who would want to walk by faith if that's what living by faith looks like? 00:06:34.040 |
You know, we typically think that if we're faithful to God, God will be faithful to us, 00:06:40.600 |
That if we started a business, it's going to do well. 00:06:43.640 |
If we're studying hard, we're going to get good grades. 00:06:46.440 |
You get in a relationship, all things are going to get fixed. 00:06:48.960 |
If you're unhealthy, God's going to make you healthy. 00:06:51.920 |
If you have financial issues, God's going to answer you, and your financial is going 00:06:57.940 |
So we typically think, if we're not careful, that if I have enough faith, whatever problems 00:07:02.160 |
that I may have, that God's going to fix it by faith. 00:07:10.600 |
He's writing this letter because that wasn't coming for these people. 00:07:15.240 |
That they waited months, possibly years, and time is going by, and the persecution isn't 00:07:23.920 |
They were initially started joyfully, allowing their enemies to take away their property, 00:07:28.820 |
and they celebrated that they were persecuted in the name of God. 00:07:31.700 |
But now time has passed, and their problem is not getting fixed. 00:07:36.140 |
So some of them are starting to drift back into an easier way. 00:07:41.340 |
They were just taking a part of their world, and taking part of Christianity, and kind 00:07:47.540 |
So they're not going to be rejected by the church, nor are they going to be rejected 00:07:53.320 |
And those are the people that he's writing this letter to. 00:07:55.720 |
So not only is he reminding them that there are people who did great things because of 00:07:59.980 |
this faith, but he tells them that because of this faith, they suffered. 00:08:04.660 |
Some of them had to die because of this faith. 00:08:12.940 |
Here's a man who was on the top of the world, is wealthy, well-educated, already famous, 00:08:18.500 |
has authority and power, and he gets knocked off of a horse. 00:08:22.420 |
And the rest of his life, until the day he dies, he's living on the streets, persecuted, 00:08:30.180 |
His fellow countrymen, people who looked up to him, they're the ones who are mocking him. 00:08:36.100 |
Not only does he do that, he's going to every single city, trying to get other people to 00:08:46.820 |
Remember, you know, the text that we're studying in Thessalonians? 00:08:50.060 |
I think it's the next text, this week's text. 00:08:53.060 |
He said, from the get-go, he says, if you follow Christ, remember, persecution and suffering 00:09:03.100 |
Who would want to follow Jesus if he told them from the get-go? 00:09:07.020 |
You know, our tendency, again, in a modern-day church, is to invite people with chocolate, 00:09:13.300 |
hoping that they'll eventually be able to eat broccoli. 00:09:17.420 |
You know, promise them a community, promise them purpose, promise them joy, and then at 00:09:24.180 |
some point, we're going to sneak in the cross, and hopefully some of them will become genuine 00:09:31.740 |
He said, I warned you, when I preached the gospel about the life in Jesus Christ, he 00:09:36.340 |
warned them from the get-go that suffering and persecution was coming if you follow Christ. 00:09:40.980 |
I mean, if you were an evangelist, you know, if you were a salesman, I mean, the worst 00:09:45.660 |
thing, if you buy this car, it's a piece of junk, bad gas mileage, you know what I mean? 00:09:53.500 |
After two years, you're going to have to take it to the shop. 00:09:58.700 |
And yet, the Thessalonians became model citizens, model citizens in the kingdom, and their faith 00:10:05.580 |
Why would they follow Jesus Christ, if that's what's waiting for them? 00:10:12.300 |
It's because they saw, by faith, a greater kingdom, a greater trade for this temporary 00:10:21.060 |
See, only people who actually have faith will follow Christ biblically. 00:10:31.300 |
You can become a leader, but you will never move beyond cultural Christianity, because 00:10:35.300 |
when you follow Christ of the scriptures, there are times that he will allow you to 00:10:40.140 |
experience blessing, and that blessing will lead to God's glory and spreading of the gospel. 00:10:45.060 |
But there are many times it will lead to much suffering, because God has ordained that your 00:10:49.980 |
suffering is going to bring about the glory of God. 00:10:54.100 |
And the only reason why anybody would follow that Christ of the Bible is if he believes 00:10:59.780 |
that there is life beyond the cross, beyond death. 00:11:03.420 |
And that's the point that he was trying to make. 00:11:07.580 |
The reason why Abraham left his comfort zone, even in the Old Testament, and he walked out 00:11:14.860 |
into the desert, is simply because he believed. 00:11:19.140 |
So every single person that is mentioned in chapter 11 are people who believed. 00:11:23.700 |
It wasn't because they were more noble than anyone else. 00:11:33.940 |
They believed by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. 00:11:38.140 |
In fact, there's almost no line, right, in the whole chapter 11. 00:11:44.780 |
Every single person that is introduced here starts with that phrase, by faith. 00:11:50.260 |
So clearly the point that he's trying to make is that if you do not have faith, you cannot 00:11:57.280 |
But if you do have faith, it is only by faith that you will be able to persevere. 00:12:03.420 |
So this morning, when we look at verse 3, he lays the foundation, before he gets into 00:12:09.420 |
the actual people, he said, we showed you last week, verse 1 and 2, that faith is tangible 00:12:18.120 |
And before he gets to the people, he said, but faith, we understand that the world were 00:12:26.020 |
Why doesn't he just jump in with Abel, and why does he lay first and foremost about creation? 00:12:34.660 |
He's going through all the things that are required by faith. 00:12:37.240 |
But before he even gets to the people, he taps into something that everybody universally 00:12:42.580 |
In other words, it's kind of like saying what I said last week about gravity, right? 00:12:49.100 |
Like I didn't have to convince anybody in this room, it's like, gravity, you believe 00:12:55.220 |
I don't need to say that because I already know that we're all in unison, in agreement 00:13:11.100 |
So what the author is doing is establishing that everybody actually has faith. 00:13:17.460 |
And he says, we're actually standing on this foundation of faith. 00:13:20.260 |
And that's what he's doing by first establishing chronologically that you and I wouldn't be 00:13:27.700 |
We wouldn't be able to exist if we didn't believe, if we didn't have any faith. 00:13:31.620 |
Sproul says this, "Until enlightenment, the most firmly established article of Christian 00:13:37.140 |
faith in the secular world was that of creation. 00:13:40.820 |
It had been established not only by revelation, but also by reason, not only by religion, 00:13:54.940 |
One, foundation of faith begins with creation. 00:13:59.100 |
The second point is that foundation of faith believes that God as creator. 00:14:05.500 |
Now first and second point really is a setup for the third point. 00:14:13.820 |
It seems fundamental and elementary that first two points, that if you actually believe that, 00:14:22.080 |
it'll establish the third and most important point, which is going to get us to the other 00:14:29.400 |
So the second point, why does we have verse three? 00:14:32.880 |
Because foundation of faith believes that God is creator. 00:14:36.520 |
Before we believe that God is our savior, our initial contact with God is as our creator. 00:14:44.380 |
So that's why in Genesis chapter one, how does it start? 00:14:47.820 |
Genesis chapter one, verse one, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." 00:14:52.180 |
So God is introduced to us from the very beginning of the Bible as the creator. 00:14:57.540 |
We come to the New Testament and Jesus is introduced to us. 00:15:00.580 |
Now we know we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:15:05.580 |
Which of the four gospels introduces us to Jesus as God? 00:15:16.260 |
So John is the one who introduces Jesus in his identity from the get-go. 00:15:22.000 |
John chapter one, verses one through three, "In the beginning was the word and the word 00:15:28.000 |
He was in the beginning with God and all things came into being through him. 00:15:32.180 |
And apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being." 00:15:37.140 |
So not only is God introduced to us as the creator, Jesus is introduced to us as the 00:15:44.540 |
So the first relationship, first identity between us and God is God the creator and 00:15:52.300 |
That's the foundational base in which the redemptive history is built. 00:15:57.740 |
If you reject that, everything else that you build on top of that is going to crumble. 00:16:06.740 |
The fundamental sin of mankind is rejecting God as creator. 00:16:12.180 |
The fundamental, the initial, original sin of mankind is rejecting God as his creator. 00:16:19.020 |
There's only two types of people in the world. 00:16:22.340 |
Those who believe that God is our creator or those who believe that mankind ultimately 00:16:38.580 |
In Psalm 14, verse one, it says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" 00:16:45.420 |
If there's anything that we can prove, if there's anything that we observe the universe 00:16:53.820 |
and by logic and by science that it points to a creator, it's this. 00:17:02.220 |
I mean it's kind of like looking at a child, you know, walk into a room and he's got chocolate 00:17:06.740 |
all over his mouth, in his teeth, in his breath, all over him and you walk in and say, "Who 00:17:17.220 |
It's in your mouth and clearly you ate it and then all the evidence points to the fact 00:17:29.140 |
The Bible says that God has left his imprint of who he is on all of creation. 00:17:35.140 |
In Romans chapter one, 18 to 20, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against 00:17:39.340 |
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." 00:17:44.100 |
So he begins by saying the only reason why people do not see God is because they deliberately 00:17:53.460 |
Verse 19, "Because that which is known about God is evident within them." 00:17:59.100 |
God left not only his imprint on creation, he says, because we're part of that creation, 00:18:04.940 |
You know, a lot of times people describe it as there's something, there's a hole missing, 00:18:14.740 |
So if you deny God, automatically there's some emptiness. 00:18:20.780 |
Because God created us for the purpose of his glory, so the moment that we separate 00:18:28.700 |
He said that he left his imprint not only on creation, creation of the physical world, 00:18:34.700 |
He says, continuing on, he says, "For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes 00:18:39.900 |
has eternal power, and his divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through 00:18:45.060 |
what has been made, so that they are without excuse." 00:18:48.300 |
You know, if you've ever been evangelizing, and try to talk to just, you know, different 00:18:55.860 |
people, I have found, this is just my personal experience, I have found that atheists are 00:19:08.020 |
You know, and the reason why is because it's not that hard to explain that there must have 00:19:14.340 |
been a creator, there must have been a designer, there had to be in the beginning. 00:19:18.900 |
Because no matter how intelligent they are, no matter how much they studied science, they 00:19:27.660 |
They study, they dig, they get a PhD, they get multiple PhDs, and at the end, where is 00:19:34.180 |
So the difference between a believer in God as a creator, and an atheist, an atheist basically 00:19:43.980 |
I don't know if he will, but I think science will eventually uncover the truth. 00:19:50.460 |
Either you believe man, and his achievements, eventually is going to answer all the questions 00:19:56.260 |
that you have, or your observation will lead you to say, "There had to have been a beginning." 00:20:06.460 |
The Bible says that mankind chooses to, willfully, reject God as their creator. 00:20:16.660 |
You know, it's not too hard to explain, even to a young child. 00:20:20.060 |
Every one of my kids, when they went to school, they learned evolution, and they learned what 00:20:25.740 |
And when we have to explain, when I have to explain about, well, does it make sense or 00:20:29.820 |
not make sense, because they have teachers who are telling them that you have to be a 00:20:36.820 |
Because what's being taught is, that you came from a mamiba, and enough time went by, we 00:20:41.460 |
became banana eaters, and then eventually the hair fell off, eventually we became intelligent, 00:20:51.100 |
So you know, I forget how old they were, but at one point I had this conversation with 00:20:55.820 |
all of the kids, you know, using different illustrations, but let's say if you woke 00:21:00.980 |
up one day and you saw a big dent on the side of your car, and right in the middle of it 00:21:07.660 |
What's the first question you're going to ask? 00:21:13.160 |
What if they came by and they said, "Well, that's nobody's footprint. 00:21:21.780 |
Well, I mean, there's a wind blew really hard, you know, and it blew so hard that that shoe 00:21:27.260 |
came out of nowhere and it hit it so hard and left a footprint, right? 00:21:33.580 |
It's like, well, that's the only answer we have. 00:21:39.020 |
And we're talking about a simple dent on a car. 00:21:43.060 |
A simple dent on a car with a shoe print, you will not accept that because somebody 00:21:50.920 |
You compare that, a dent on the car versus what you see in the universe, the amount of 00:21:57.480 |
oxygen that you and I need just to get up and survive, the temperature that we need. 00:22:02.740 |
If it goes a little bit higher, we burn to death. 00:22:04.140 |
If it goes a little bit lower, we freeze to death. 00:22:06.420 |
If the earth rotates a little bit faster, we'll die. 00:22:12.260 |
I mean, think about the distance between the sun. 00:22:15.820 |
If we get a little bit too far, we'll freeze to death. 00:22:18.540 |
Think about all the complexities of the universe that needs to be in place and at work all 00:22:23.700 |
the time, 24/7, just so that you and I can wake up in the morning. 00:22:29.180 |
And I'm just talking about, with my limited knowledge, just a speck of how this universe 00:22:36.500 |
Some of you guys are science majors, so you know better than that. 00:22:42.180 |
I know we have eye doctors, and all they do is spend 10 years studying the eyeball. 00:22:47.600 |
And they're amazed about how the eyeball, this is just the eyeball. 00:22:56.900 |
You cannot accept that because that defies logic. 00:23:00.820 |
And yet, the world tells us this is how the universe works. 00:23:05.500 |
According to evolution, we go from chaos, right? 00:23:18.680 |
But everything that we observe, we go from order to chaos. 00:23:23.260 |
You have a brand new car, five years later, is it newer? 00:23:27.460 |
Something as simple as a car, a material, we know that the older it is, it's more delicate 00:23:34.900 |
So according to evolution, don't worry about wars, because it's going to figure itself 00:23:41.780 |
I mean, according to evolution, it should be fixed. 00:23:55.860 |
And that's why the Bible says a fool says in his heart only if he chooses to suppress 00:24:04.140 |
That clearly points to a creator that you can live without God in your life. 00:24:12.020 |
Everything points to the fact that there is a creator. 00:24:16.180 |
There must be a creator or life does not make sense. 00:24:24.620 |
In fact, yesterday I had an opportunity to try to share the gospel with this old man. 00:24:30.280 |
He saw a very thick theology book that I had and he started asking me questions. 00:24:39.820 |
I think he was just bored and he just wanted to make conversation. 00:24:42.820 |
So I said, Great, you know, I don't have to, I'm not pursuing. 00:24:48.420 |
So I started asking him, so what do you believe in? 00:24:53.100 |
So I asked him, Are you an atheist because you chose to be an atheist or are you an atheist 00:24:56.700 |
because you were born in a certain family who influenced that way? 00:24:59.780 |
And then he told me about how his dad hated religion. 00:25:03.120 |
You know, he grew up in Ireland and he came from a poor foreign family and he blamed all 00:25:12.020 |
So I asked him, so do you think, are you influenced by that or did you consciously make a choice 00:25:17.100 |
And he said, to be honest, and again, this is a 90 year old man. 00:25:20.020 |
He said, to be honest, yeah, I was heavily influenced by my upbringing. 00:25:24.260 |
And then, and then, you know, I, you know, okay, that's an entrance. 00:25:27.100 |
So how do I, how am I going to share the gospel with him? 00:25:34.580 |
And I began to share with him that I can't believe that all this is by chance, that our 00:25:39.940 |
death, you know, our birth, our death, that the, how the world works, ecology, our, our, 00:25:45.900 |
And I started, I gave him that illustration about the car dent, you know, and I said, 00:25:49.980 |
I don't know how you can look at that and say, and then I could tell he's starting to 00:25:55.020 |
And he started to kind of pull back and say, you know, the great thing about America is 00:25:58.400 |
we have freedom to believe or freedom not to believe. 00:26:03.060 |
You know, that's why I love America is we live in a free country, right? 00:26:11.900 |
But that's why we're able to have this conversation. 00:26:13.580 |
I can open dialogue so I can learn about you and you can learn about me. 00:26:18.820 |
I wasn't asking him, he was asking me because he just, he was just a friendly man. 00:26:24.900 |
This is what I believe and this is why I believe it. 00:26:27.540 |
And as soon as I began to say that, he started shutting down. 00:26:30.580 |
He said, well, well, well, you know, like that's your opinion. 00:26:33.180 |
And I said, yeah, yeah, it's my opinion, but this is based upon what I observed. 00:26:38.500 |
And I asked him, what do you think is going to happen after you die? 00:26:43.100 |
That after you die, there's nothing, you came randomly, you live randomly, and then you 00:26:48.940 |
He said, you know, the good thing about living in a free country is we can do whatever we 00:26:59.860 |
So I mean, it was a friendly conversation, but I could tell that what I told him made 00:27:11.100 |
He would have been fine because he wanted to engage. 00:27:14.100 |
But the moment I told him why I believed in the Creator, he said he didn't want to hear 00:27:25.460 |
And yet that was one conversation he did not want to have. 00:27:30.900 |
It is not difficult when you look at the imprints that God has left in the universe and even 00:27:41.060 |
When you suppress the truth like the world does, they clearly see things that they can't 00:27:47.740 |
There is order in the universe that they don't understand. 00:27:50.460 |
Even by their own definition of the physics that they teach in the university doesn't 00:27:57.460 |
Because everything is supposed to go from order to chaos and yet the overarching truth 00:28:03.700 |
that they teach is it's going from chaos to order. 00:28:07.180 |
So by their own teaching it contradicts one another. 00:28:10.280 |
So whenever they can't explain anything, what do they call it? 00:28:15.620 |
Now this Mother Nature is powerful because we're here by Mother Nature. 00:28:20.140 |
Mother Nature is extremely powerful because the earth rotates at a perfect speed, at a 00:28:31.660 |
It is creative if you look at all the different things and any field that you go into. 00:28:38.040 |
You can just dive into that the rest of your life. 00:28:46.500 |
All of creation points to the fact that there has to be a creator or it doesn't make sense. 00:28:53.380 |
It says in Romans 1 21-23, "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God 00:28:58.100 |
or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart 00:29:16.740 |
And more and more, we live in a government that if you happen to be a man or woman of 00:29:20.580 |
faith, you're foolish, so you don't belong in the public arena. 00:29:25.660 |
"Proclaiming to be wise," it says, "they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible 00:29:31.460 |
God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed animals 00:29:42.660 |
Either we believe God as the Creator or we believe in man. 00:29:53.340 |
And all he is saying is, it requires much more faith, much more mental gymnastics, much 00:29:58.940 |
more blind leaping to believe that there is no order, there is no power, there is no creativity 00:30:11.460 |
Now having said all of that, I told you all of this is really to get us to the third point. 00:30:16.980 |
The third point is foundational faith believes that God is sovereign. 00:30:23.660 |
That's the point that he's really trying to make. 00:30:25.540 |
All of everything that he says is really only trying to lay the foundation to get to that 00:30:32.820 |
This is where the rubber meets the road that if you believe that God is sovereign, it'll 00:30:41.160 |
You notice here that he, in verse 3, it says, "By faith we understand that the worlds..." 00:30:54.620 |
Well, there's something happening in the Greek there. 00:30:57.980 |
The Bible usually has two different words for world. 00:31:00.180 |
The cosmos is the world that you and I normally think of as the earth, the creation, the physical 00:31:06.060 |
The word that is used here is "ion," which typically is translated "age" or "generation." 00:31:14.700 |
So most of the commentators believe that the word "ion" in the plural form is referring 00:31:23.800 |
Not just the physical world, but even the spiritual world. 00:31:26.320 |
That's why often when the Bible describes God as a creator, he doesn't say he created 00:31:32.780 |
This is what it says in Colossians 1 through 16. 00:31:35.000 |
"For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, 00:31:42.280 |
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. 00:31:46.560 |
All things have been created through him and for him. 00:31:51.000 |
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." 00:31:55.640 |
In other words, he didn't just create the universe. 00:31:58.940 |
It wasn't just the Genesis chapter 1 he's referring to. 00:32:03.920 |
He's talking about the authorities in the world, the kingdoms, both heaven, earth, and 00:32:09.960 |
He created heaven and hell, everything that you and I know that exists. 00:32:18.400 |
Not only is he the originator of all creation, he said he created it out of nothing. 00:32:26.400 |
You know, there's a lot of famous magicians, or they call themselves illusionists, because 00:32:31.760 |
they are tricking us to see things that we don't see. 00:32:35.400 |
So I remember a long time ago, you know, I think it was David Copperfield who did a magic 00:32:40.920 |
show on television, and he made a jet airplane disappear. 00:32:45.760 |
And I remember as, I think I was in high school when I saw that. 00:32:50.920 |
Years later, they said it was a camera trick. 00:32:53.400 |
You know, they basically took the camera and they just did this. 00:33:00.640 |
And I know that, probably you guys know who David Blaine is. 00:33:02.920 |
I remember first time seeing street magic, and he was on the street and he levitated, 00:33:08.120 |
I said, wow, that guy's, you know, maybe he's possessed. 00:33:11.160 |
Later on they found out that one of his foot kind of tipped forward and he lifted his back. 00:33:18.480 |
Every magic trick that we see is just an illusion. 00:33:21.720 |
They take something, a sleight of hand, mirror, or whatever that they're doing, that even 00:33:26.360 |
when they make things appear, it's all to make it look like it came out of nothing. 00:33:33.040 |
Only one being can actually make something out of nothing. 00:33:38.320 |
Where there was nothing, and by His Word, it appears. 00:33:42.680 |
Do you know why it's emphasized that, like, whenever God, the Bible talks about His creation, 00:33:53.760 |
Because you and I, when we say something, I mean, we don't have that kind of authority. 00:33:59.120 |
I wish I had the authority to just open the window and say, "Be gone!" 00:34:11.600 |
Who has that kind of authority to use the Word? 00:34:19.720 |
Because a king walks down and he says, "You know what? 00:34:25.360 |
You know, from now on, you're going to worship this monument, and so that becomes law. 00:34:30.480 |
Only somebody with authority, when they speak, it happens. 00:34:35.720 |
So when it mentions over and over again that by His Word, that simply by His Word, it wasn't 00:34:46.160 |
So the fact that God as a Creator, who creates something out of nothing, simply by His Word, 00:34:55.200 |
all of it is referring to His power that nobody else has. 00:35:05.040 |
How that relates to this doctrine of sovereignty. 00:35:11.720 |
Think about all the problems that we get anxious about. 00:35:17.600 |
When His disciples needed money, He said, "You know what? 00:35:39.040 |
And He fed 5,000 people, just out of nothing. 00:35:44.200 |
And this is the reason why when the disciples were on that boat and the storm came, they 00:35:50.000 |
Jesus is sleeping and the disciples are getting upset that Jesus doesn't care and He wakes 00:36:05.640 |
How many of you would be on that boat and just in perfect peace? 00:36:22.000 |
Because what human being would not have been scared? 00:36:23.880 |
What human being would not have been anxious? 00:36:30.600 |
He was rebuking them because He said, "You do not know Me. 00:36:34.320 |
Do you think you will die if I don't want you to die? 00:36:37.680 |
Do you think you will live if I wanted you to die?" 00:36:41.760 |
And what He was rebuking was their lack of faith in who Jesus was. 00:36:46.360 |
It wasn't because they were scared of the boat. 00:36:51.840 |
And so that's where this doctrine of God as Creator, speaking out of His Word, ex nihilo, 00:36:58.400 |
out of nothing, all of that is to set up that do you believe in this sovereign God? 00:37:06.040 |
That whatever is happening in your life, whatever is happening in our generation, that God has 00:37:12.960 |
The things that we fear, that if we obey God, what if? 00:37:32.320 |
If He created the whole universe, everything that we know, simply by His Word, out of nothing, 00:37:48.000 |
You know, everybody's worried about this climate change and all this. 00:37:57.040 |
If He didn't want the authority to be there, you know, do you think He's trembling? 00:38:00.760 |
He's like, "Oh, I hope these people pick the right person." 00:38:04.560 |
You know, my redemptive history is going to be ruined if we have the wrong person in there. 00:38:10.200 |
You think God is shaking in His boots on His throne? 00:38:18.960 |
And that is why these men and women of faith were able to walk into darkness. 00:38:26.080 |
Because their light wasn't through their eyes. 00:38:36.120 |
Whether we are delivered and blessed, whether we suffer, I trust Him. 00:38:44.800 |
So that's the foundation that He is laying to tell us that this is the faith that they're 00:38:52.680 |
Ephesians 1.10, "Also, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according 00:38:58.120 |
to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will." 00:39:02.560 |
Again, in Romans 8.28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good 00:39:07.360 |
to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." 00:39:11.920 |
Do you know why non-Christians don't follow Christ? 00:39:22.720 |
So they suppress the truth and they continue to pursue their glory. 00:39:29.120 |
But the reason why Christians struggle is because we go back and forth, back and forth 00:39:44.840 |
And so we get caught up in saying, "We need to get here." 00:39:49.320 |
And so we need to work hard and make decisions and do things to get here. 00:39:53.120 |
And then when it looks like we're not going to get here, we get anxious, we fight, we 00:39:56.000 |
struggle and we get into all kinds of problems because we're trying so hard to get here. 00:40:06.800 |
He said to be faithful, "Do not turn from my word to the left or to the right. 00:40:12.240 |
Your success is going to depend on do you trust me?" 00:40:16.320 |
You know, I've shared this so many times before, but that story of Jericho just, it's always 00:40:21.300 |
mind-blowing that why would God switch out the commanding officer Moses with Joshua who 00:40:27.120 |
has no experience, right before they get into this 40 years that they've been waiting to 00:40:31.840 |
battle to get into the land of Canaan, and all of a sudden they got this young, inexperienced 00:40:36.780 |
general to get in there, and the only instruction he gives them is, "Don't turn from my word 00:40:44.800 |
Don't turn from my word to the left or to the right." 00:40:47.040 |
And then right before they go, the only instruction he gives them is, "Take this box and walk 00:40:59.600 |
If the commanding officer tells you to move, you move. 00:41:06.820 |
And that's all they've been doing for 40 years, basic training marching, and all of a sudden 00:41:10.500 |
this young officer, just in case that maybe Moses might take the credit, just in case 00:41:17.100 |
the nation of Israel may look at Moses and say, "Oh, Moses. 00:41:25.140 |
And then so Joshua takes him and he said, "Walks around on the seventh day. 00:41:29.580 |
Today, today I'm going to give you this land." 00:41:33.500 |
Seventh time, you're going to tire out the whole army of Israel before they get into 00:41:39.280 |
a battle with a fortified city that has walls, who have been fighting in their history, trained 00:41:46.760 |
men, and you got these guys walking around with their families and children with a box, 00:41:52.480 |
with an untrained soldier up at the front, and then you're going to walk around seven 00:42:07.860 |
They did exactly what God told them to do and they blew the trumpet, walls fell down, 00:42:12.340 |
and they walked and literally just walked into the city. 00:42:17.460 |
Not by might nor by sight, but by my power, says the Lord, by my spirit. 00:42:24.380 |
That's the same lesson that we are taught over and over and over and over and over again, 00:42:31.640 |
And every single person that's mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 is an evidence of that 00:42:35.860 |
truth by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, not by might, not by might, but 00:42:51.340 |
The pandemic, the racial tensions, the political turmoil, the economic struggles, the educational 00:43:04.100 |
I mean, look at the turmoil that is around us, natural disasters. 00:43:10.660 |
I mean, it's enough to take even the most grounded person to be shaken. 00:43:31.700 |
Heavenly Father, we praise you for who you are. 00:43:44.620 |
Sometimes we struggle, Father God, to keep you at the forefront of our minds. 00:43:52.180 |
We thank you for teaching us, reminding us, Lord God, how desperate we are when we are 00:43:59.720 |
I pray that for the next few weeks, as we wrestle with the examples that you've given 00:44:05.060 |
us, the cloud of witnesses that you've set before us, that we will not simply study it 00:44:14.380 |
And so we pray, Father God, that your grace will be sufficient, that we may walk and live 00:44:18.780 |
lives truly worthy of the gospel that you've given us.