All right, good morning. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. I'm going to be reading verses 1 and 2, but actually I want to read it starting from verse 35 just so that we understand his thought flow that got us to chapter 11, okay?

So I want to read it in context of verse 35 all the way to chapter 11 verse 2. Okay. Again, reading out of the NASB. "Therefore do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the persevering of the soul.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it, the men of old gained approval." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would ordain this time to exalt yourself, your son, Holy Spirit, in your word. Help us, Lord, to open our ears that we may understand, apply, and to be obedient to all that you have given us.

Open our eyes that we may see a greater sight of your glory, that all that we do, Father God, may lead to a greater honor to your name. So we pray for your blessing over this time. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let me ask you, how many of you guys have been following the NBA finals?

Okay, I heard the ratings have been down tremendously, but you know, obviously, if you've been a Lakers fan for a while, we haven't been here in a while. So it's exciting to see what's going on, but you know, I don't know if you've noticed, but one of the things that they've been doing in order to gain an edge and to be motivated, you know, how they've been wearing the Mamba jerseys, the black Mamba jerseys, and then so after they win a game, they would ask, "Do you think, you know, that motivated you, that had any effect?" And they would say, "Yeah, you know, like the spirit of Mamba was with us, and we were, you know, extra motivated, you know, we want to make him proud." And I don't know if you saw this video clip, but there's a video clip going around where, I think it was from the Lakers Nation, where there's a video of LeBron James scoring 81st point at the third quarter, and the time on it is exactly 8.24.

So if you're not a Lakers fan, you may not know what that means. And if you don't watch sports at all, what do these numbers mean? But I think if you guys are avid Lakers fan, like those of you guys who have smiles on your faces know exactly what I'm talking about.

Eighty-one was Kobe Bryant's highest scoring game that he had during his career against the Raptors. And then 8.24 was the number that he wore. Eight was the number he wore when he first came in, and 24 was the number that he wore before he retired. And so they were making a big deal about, you know, the Mamba's presence was with us, and it was 81 points at 8.24.

And they would ask, you know, do you think Mamba had anything? Do you think he's in the building? And the players would, you know, players who are loyal and love Kobe would say, yeah, I believe. You know, I believe his presence was with us. I believe that he's helping us, right?

He's helping us getting to the end of the finals. Obviously, we don't believe that, or we're not Christians, right? But what is faith? Because that term faith is being used, you know, in the culture where it's about winning ball games or, you know, about, you know, having Kobe in the presence and helping us out.

But what is the idea of faith? Because the chapter we're going to be looking at for the next month and a half is, it's all about faith. We're going to be on the subject about faith for about six weeks or possibly even longer than that. Twenty-four separate times, just in one chapter, the word faith is mentioned, 24 times.

In fact, in almost every verse, almost every verse or almost every paragraph starts by saying, by faith. By faith, Noah. By faith, Joseph. By faith, Abraham. By faith, Enoch. And so the whole chapter is about faith. If we say, what is a chapter of love, right? I think most of you would know, right?

First Corinthians chapter 13, we typically say that's a chapter of love. So if you want to know the definition of love, then you go to First Corinthians chapter 13. On the flip side, if you want to know about faith, this is the chapter that you need to go to, right?

Again, it's not comprehensive. Not everything that you need to know about faith is written in this chapter, but this is a go-to chapter if you want to do an exposition of what the meaning of the faith is. Now, having said that, we can't emphasize enough, we can't stress enough how important it is for us to not only understand this faith, but to be practicing this faith.

Obviously, because you wouldn't be saved without faith. We wouldn't be here. There is no Christianity without faith. There is no salvation without faith. You cannot win a spiritual battle without faith. In fact, during Jesus' ministry, he would see different people, and whether they were doing great works, or whether they were anxious, he would always describe it as having great faith, or little faith, or having no faith, and that's how he distinguished people.

He distinguished people by saying, "You have faith, you have no faith, you have little faith, you have great faith." And so that's how God saw people, because that's what connected these people to him. So, what we're going to be endeavoring in chapter 11 is as crucial as any other thing that we've been studying.

But understand, again, the reason why I read the last part of chapter 10 is to give you the context of why chapter 11 is here. The purpose of chapter 11 is not simply to give us the idea, or theology, of faith. The goal of it is, "Oh, this is so important, you need to be able to pass this test." So, if somebody asks you what faith is, that you're able to quote verse 1.

That's not his point. He was saying at the end of chapter 10, that you have need to endure. You need to endure, because the righteous shall live by faith. And so the goal of chapter 11 is the accumulation of all the arguments that he's been making in 10 chapters.

That you are not enduring, you are drifting, you're not paying attention. And if you aren't paying attention, and you think it's no big deal, it's that there's a severe judgment that is waiting to take it seriously. But once you've done that, and you recognize where you are, realize that the only way that you're going to be able to persevere is to have enduring faith.

You need to recognize what faith is, and be connected to God, and persevere by this faith. And so chapter 11 is very practical. So he's going to give us the definition of faith, in what we're looking at today, and then how that was played out in Israel's history. And then based on that, he's going to go to chapter 12, in view of the cloud of witnesses, that were saved by faith, that lived by faith, that died by faith, now let us do the same.

And so that'll take us to chapter 12, and to the rest of the book of Hebrews. So again, I want you to understand what we're doing in the context of where we're at. So today, I want to look at just the first two verses, and there's three things that I want to highlight in this text, before we move on to the other part.

One is, it'll tell us what faith is. That's our first point, what is faith? And it's pretty clear, right? Faith is. The second point of it is, what faith is not. That's not clearly in the text, but we wanted to make sure, in order for us to clearly understand what faith is, we also need to know what faith is not.

And then third, what faith does. And that will take us to the rest of the verses in chapter 11. So what faith is, what faith is not, and what faith does. So let's look at the first part, what faith is. First and foremost, faith is tangible. That was the last question that I asked, if you're on the Facebook, and you look at, and again, hopefully, some of you guys are, more and more of you guys are looking at that before you come to service, because it will help you to be better listeners, intentional listeners of the sermon.

But one of the questions that I asked is, is faith tangible or intangible? So the answer to that, at least according to this text, is that faith is tangible. Let's look at verse 1. "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen." Most of your translations have something to that effect.

It is the assurance of things hoped for. And then it is the conviction of things not seen. Well, I asked you to compare the translation of those words in the King James and New King James versus the NASB. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand to tell me if you did it or not, because I don't want to be discouraged.

Maybe I'll be encouraged, but I don't want to take the chance. The difference between the New King James or King James versus the NASB is that in the NASB, this is how it's translated. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." Do you hear the difference?

Let me read it in NASB, and then I'm going to read it in King James. "Faith is"—this is the NASB—"assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen." That's the NASB. The King James version says, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." Did you catch the difference?

Okay, well, if you didn't, I'm going to explain. If you read it in the NASB, it sounds like a subjective application of what faith does. So faith is—through faith, I have assurance. Through faith, I have conviction. That's how we read it in the NASB. In the King James, it says, "Faith is the substance, and it is the evidence of things not seen." Do you catch the difference?

In the NASB, there is a subjective application of faith. In the King James, it just describes the truth, an objective truth of what it is. Did you get it? Okay, even if you didn't get it, this is what we're going to be talking about today. If you read the NASB, it just reads it very plainly in English.

This is what faith—it's just describing what faith is. In the NASB, it describes what faith does. Right? Okay, let me just leave that right there. Which is the correct translation? Well, the literal translation almost always is the King James version, because the King James version did not make much effort to try to translate into our—the way we speak.

NASB did some. So if something didn't make sense in English, they did the extra work of trying to use words that you and I are familiar with. King James didn't care. King James just kind of took what is in the Greek, and if that's what it says, they just translated it.

So sometimes—you know, a lot of times, King James is hard to read, because that's not the way we speak normally, right? But if you want to know literally, word for word, how it is said in the Greek, King James is—almost always has done that. And though having said that, the word for assurance in Greek is "hupostasis." And it is—the literal understanding of the "hupo" means to be under.

"Stasis," it means to stand. So the literal understanding of this is to "substance." Did you get that? Because under, "sub," and then "stasis," it means to stand. So the literal understanding is "substance." So the King James says, in translation of "hupostasis," "substance." "Substance." Which was basically, "substance" is the stuff that you stand on.

Whatever it is that you're building, it is the foundation in which something is built. So the literal understanding of what faith is, just like we said earlier, faith—everything that you and I know about Christianity stands on the foundation of this faith. That's what he means. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, things that we desire about Christ.

Everything that he promised, we stand on that faith. And then it is the evidence of the things that we don't see. It is the proof of things that we do not see. So why did the NASB translate it that way? Well, the reason why is because the word "hupostasis," used in other parts of the Bible, is used either way depending upon the context.

So in some contexts, this word is used subjectively to refer to assurance, having confidence. And then there are some places where it's strictly just talking about the objective truth of something. It is the evidence. It is the proof of something. So the New Testament context doesn't help. So if that context doesn't help, we have to look at the smaller context.

How does the author use it in the book of Hebrews? Well, we have a problem with that because there's only a couple places where he uses it. And in those places, one uses it subjectively, one uses it objectively. So that doesn't help. So if we look at the immediate context of how he uses it here, and you have to understand, he's taking where we are in the book of Hebrew.

I hope this isn't too early. I hope you're in the student mode. Because what's happening in chapter 11 is he took 11 chapters of doing what? Proving the superiority of Christ, of the objective truth that Christ is superior to everything that you know. So he's been setting the foundation, correct?

He said, this is our faith. You've been drifting away from faith. You've been drifting away from Christ. So he's been talking about objective faith. Now he goes to chapter 11. What is chapter 11 about? The application of that faith, right? So we're right in the middle of taking the objective truth and then applying it to our lives.

And he begins by giving us examples of the men and women who went before us in the Old Testament, how this objective truth was applied subjectively in their lives. And then once he transitions, he gets to chapter 12, and he's going to tell us, what does this faith look like in your life?

You follow? So having said that, which is it? Is it objective? Is it subjective? And the answer to that is both. Because without the objective faith, there is no subjective application. And we happen to be right at that transition. So let me go a little bit further, talking about what this means.

It is the substance of things hoped for. It is the evidence of things not seen. In other words, he's saying, I've been telling you all this stuff about who Jesus is, but faith is tangible. It's not intangible. It's not just something that people say, it's like, you know, I have faith in this and I have faith in that.

He says, no, faith can actually be measured. And that's why Jesus looked at what was happening in the New Testament during his era. He said, you have little faith, you have great faith, you have no faith. So he was measuring faith. And so he says, faith can be observed.

It is the substance. It is the evidence. We've been studying Thessalonians. In Thessalonians, Paul sends Timothy back because he was chased out of that town, and he was worried that they were going to backslide because of all the enemy's work. Timothy comes back with a good report. Remember what he says?

He says that we rejoice because your faith has become the model for all the other Christians, all the other churches. Now, how did he know that? How did they know that they were thriving? How did they know that he was becoming? Did he go there and count? How many of you believe?

And then people raise their hands. 15, 16, last time it was 16, so this time we have 18. So he said, they're thriving. More people raised their hand this time. You know, I had an altar call and more people came. Is that what he's describing? No. He saw the tangible evidence.

He saw the tangible evidence of their faith and how it affected their life. So when he said that they became a model citizen, he wasn't simply talking about a subjective feeling inside, a confession, like somebody confessed them more deeply, more articulately than before. No, he was observing the application of their faith, and he saw that even in the midst of persecution and danger, that their faith radically transformed them, that they were known for their love, that they didn't practice before.

So Paul, Timothy was observing tangibly what this faith looks like, and he said they have great faith despite the persecution. So when he says faith is the substance of things hoped for, that's what he's talking about. It's not just intangible things because, you know, these guys who he's writing to, the author is writing to, were professing right doctrine, but their life was drifting back to their old life.

So the problem that he was addressing is you're professing with your mouth, but with your life you're drifting back to your old life. So what he is saying in chapter 11 is you're professing objective truth, but true objective truth is tangibly seen by how it is applied in the life of a believer.

We do not believe that we are saved by our works, but works is evidence of our faith, whether it's little faith, whether it's sliding faith, or whether it's great faith, or whether there's no faith. That's what he means here when he says faith is tangible. It is a substance of things that we cannot tangibly see.

Now let me give you an illustration of this to better make sense of this. Do you believe in gravity? If you don't, how did you survive all these years, right? So if you believe in gravity, okay, which I'm assuming 100% of you will say you believe in gravity, meaning that it exists and it works.

Prove it to me. How will you prove gravity? This is proof. Your chair, that's proof. This building is proof. The car is proof. Because without gravity, we wouldn't be stuck to the ground, right? It's not certain people who are heavier, you know, where we're stuck to the ground and everybody else is floating around.

He said we see the work of gravity by how everything else works. How important is gravity? You and I can't live without gravity, right? If no one would build a building, no one would spend millions of dollars building a building if they weren't sure if that building was going to fly away into the galaxy.

Because that would be a waste of time. So everything, whether you and I are conscious or not, everything is based on this belief that what we know, even though we can't explain it, even though we cannot see it, exists and it works. So this belief in gravity is the foundation upon which we build everything that we do in life.

So faith is the substance of things that we hope for, and it is the evidence of things not seen. Even though we can't see it, even though I can't clearly define it for you, it says you can see faith because everything that we know about the reality of heaven is based upon this truth of what Jesus has told us, that our sins are forgiven, that because of this, that when we die, we're going to be in eternity with Christ, that this earth is under condemnation, and we're going to be saved and be in heaven for eternity.

And so everything that you and I do as Christians are based upon this set of truths that you and I believe, and faith is what connects us to this truth. Okay, you understand that? That's what he's describing here. And he's saying that this is what faith is. Now having said that, I need to explain what faith is not.

Because the way that the word faith is used, even in the church sometimes, it confuses people. Faith is not faith in faith. Faith is not faith in faith. So when LeBron James or whoever says, "Oh, I just believe," there's no power in that. Faith is not just wishful thinking.

If I just believe, finish this sentence. If I believe I can... You guys are so Asian. If I believe I can achieve, right? You probably heard that before. If I believe I can achieve. And that is the mantra of the word faith movement. That if you believe, you can do whatever.

So let's say if Lakers win, which is the possibility is very high right now, right? If they win, you may hear an athlete who just won the championship and say, "I believed. I believed. Even when nobody believed in me, I believed. Everybody said, you know, that the Clippers were going to win.

That Kawhi was the best player. That we had no chance. They didn't give us the odds, but we never stopped believing. So we believed. And because of their belief, they were able to win the championship. That's if you believe, you can achieve. Not only is that false, it's dangerous.

It can ruin your lives. You ever watch American Idol? You have some people who come up there to compete in a competition that they have no business doing? For whatever the reason, I think as the years went by, they got rid of more and more people who really don't belong there.

But some of you guys who remember, remember the beginning of that show, American Idol? There are some guys like, how did he get up there, right? Remember William Hung? Okay, let me pass. Let me move on. Some of you guys may remember, right? There are some guys, they couldn't even hit a note, you know?

And they would come there and say, yeah, you know, they would say the same thing. I was always told I'm no good and everybody tried to stop me. My parents, they didn't believe in me. But I believed in myself. It's like, go ahead, William. She banged, she banged. And Simon Cowell was like, you suck.

And everybody said, he's so mean. And we were looking at that, and we said, no, he's true. He's like, you know, maybe the way he said it was mean, but that's true. Just because you believe doesn't make your voice better. Just because you believe, you're not going to achieve.

So the best thing that he, somebody should have told him. Somebody should have told him that you're not gifted in that. And in fact, you're really bad at this. You know what I mean? Should have been an engineer, right? I was like, what does that mean? No, it's the truth, right?

So not only is it false, it's dangerous when it is applied in the wrong place. That's not what faith means. In fact, you and I live in a world where the word faith is used by politicians. Oprah, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, LeBron James, Lancy Pelosi. These are all people that I've heard in the last few months saying how faith is so powerful.

They're not talking about Christ. They're not talking about his resurrection. They're talking about faith in faith. In fact, there's a lot of songs out there, secular songs, that have nothing to do with Christ, but they're talking about faith. And you guys remember George Michael? Okay, it's a little outdated.

Okay, so how about his band Wham? Anyway, okay, look it up. He's real. So a guy named George Michael, he had a song called, "You Gotta Have Faith." Anybody who knows George Michael knows he's not a Christian. I'm not going to get into what he got caught doing and all that background stuff, but just trust me, he's not a Christian.

But he has a song called, "You Gotta Have Faith," and let me read you his lyrics. "Well, I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body." He's not talking about the church. "I know that everybody has got a body like you, but I gotta think twice before I give my heart away, and I know all the games you play because I play them too.

Oh, but I need some time off from that emotion, time to pick my heart up off the floor. Oh, when that love comes down without devotion, well, it takes a strong man, baby, but I'm showing you the door 'cause I gotta have faith, gotta have faith, because I gotta have faith, faith, faith, I gotta have faith, faith, faith." He's not talking about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The way that the term "faith" is being used in our culture, it's like, "If you believe, you can achieve." He's not talking about that clearly. It is not faith in faith that gives you power. In fact, if you remember, in Luke 8, 11-15, Jesus gives a parable of the sower and the seed, and out of the four soils, only one soil endures and bears fruit.

The other three, either immediately dies, or after a little bit it dies, or it looks like it's going to bear fruit, and then it gets choked, and it dies, but all three, in the end, it dies. But the distinction between the one that lives and bears fruit— and he's talking about eternal life— versus those who seem to bear fruit and then they die is how they receive what?

The seed. What they did with the seed. Because the seed is the Word of God. And does the seed, when it lands on wherever you are, does it bear fruit? Does it endure? So, that's what he means in Romans 10, 17. It says, "So faith comes from hearing, and the hearing by the Word of Christ." So faith is not faith in faith.

Faith is in what? His Word. Faith comes from hearing of the hearing of the Word of Christ, because faith is what connects us to the unseen. And what is the greatest of the unseen? God himself. So faith is the evidence of what we hope for. It is a substance or evidence or proof of what is unseen, which is God himself.

Some people ask me, "Why is your church so hooked on teaching the Bible, memorizing Scripture, you know, expiatory preaching, and inductive Bible study? You know, what about homeless? What about this? And what about that?" It's not that those things don't matter. But the Bible says that the central thing that connects us to God is faith.

Not your hard work, not organization, not older brothers, not good leaders. He said it's faith. Faith is what connects you and makes things that aren't seen real. So the greatest thing that you and I need to cultivate is faith. And the way that we get faith, the way that the faith grows, is through what?

Hearing of the Word of Christ. And you may sit here and sit all your life, hear the Word of Christ, and not have any effect in your heart. But no matter what you do the rest of your life, you're not standing on the right foundation. That's why the Word of God is central.

Without the Word of Christ, it doesn't matter if you feed the poor. Without the Word of Christ and our faith, it doesn't matter if we are doing social justice and whatever it is that we get involved in. Because faith is what connects us to this living God. John 10.27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." That's what he's been doing.

He's been spending ten chapters establishing Christ as what? The foundation, the chief cornerstone. And chief cornerstone in modern English just means it's foundation. That Jesus is the foundation upon which we build everything else. So if you drift away from Christ, it doesn't matter what you build. It doesn't matter how hard you work.

It doesn't matter how well you educate your kids. If we drift away from the foundation, Christ is a chief cornerstone. In 1 Peter 1.20-25, "For you have been born again, not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and enduring Word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass.

The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the Word which was preached to you." Everything else, every other foundation is going to dry up, is going to rot, is going to die. But only what's built, our salvation, our sanctification, our glorification, that's built on the enduring Word of God will last forever.

So in other words, enduring faith is what's connected to the enduring Word. That's what he means. So what faith is and what faith is not, and then thirdly, what faith does. He says in verse 2, "For by it men of old gained approval." He says in verse 6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." You can have knowledge, you can have passion, but he says without faith it is impossible to please God.

So he said this is what faith is, and here's all these people that I'm going to be mentioning, and it is by faith that they endured, they suffered, and even died. And by doing so, they found approval before God. In other words, when they died, God said to each one of them, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Not simply because of hard work.

Yes, faith caused them to have hard work. Faith caused them to sacrifice. Faith caused them to do crazy things for God. But it was faith that caused them to work, not work. Now, all of this is basically what he was trying to tell them in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 34.

He says, "For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one." And he's reminding them. The reason why they were able to endure the first time when persecution came around, and why now they're tempted to go back to their old life, is because when it first came, they were anchored in Christ.

And they were able to see that there's a better possession coming. Even if all of this gets stripped away, all of this gets stripped away, he says, they saw clearly what was coming because of this faith. Apostle Paul, that's what he means in Philippians when he says, "In comparison to the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ." The Bible says, "Satan blinds the mind of the unbelievers so they do not," what?

"So they do not see." How was our eyes open? Through faith. So when faith caused us to see the eternal things as to be true, they had courage. And that's why Paul says, "In light of what I saw in Christ, everything that I knew here became rubbish in comparison." So faith is what causes us to see that.

Faith is what causes us to be connected to that. And so he's trying to remind them to be re-anchored in Christ. In Galatians 5.5, "For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything." Okay, let me stop right there. How much time has Paul dedicated in the New Testament to describe that circumcision is not necessary?

Is there a right and wrong with circumcision? Again, you guys are so Asian. Yes. You can't be circumcised. Paul, his whole second missionary journey was to go back to the churches and tell them, "You don't need to be circumcised." That's his whole argument. He rebukes Peter and Barnabas because they wouldn't sit with the uncircumcised.

So is there a right and wrong answer with circumcision and uncircumcision? Yes. Then why does he say that? Why does he say it doesn't matter whether circumcision or uncircumcision? Because even your talk of right theology, if it is not coming from faith, is useless. Even if you're theologically correct, if it's not faith, what does he say?

He says, "But faith working through love." If it is not your faith in Christ that is evidenced by how you love, even correct theology is useless. Did you catch that? That's why this faith is so important because it's the foundation upon which we build everything. So right theology has to come from right faith working itself out through love and everything else is built on top of that.

1 Peter 1.7, "So the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable even through tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That even in the midst of suffering, that when you endure it, it is proof that you are connected to the unseen, God himself.

He's laying all of this as a foundation. This is how important faith is. This is how important being connected to Christ is. This is how important not to drift. And then he's going to show us what that looks like in the life of these believers. Let me get practical and personal here for a minute in application.

The beginning of our salvation is faith, obviously. But what is it of faith in? How do you start your relationship with God? If somebody off the street said, "You know, I want to be a Christian. What do I do?" What would you tell them? Go to church? "Oh, I know this guy, this small group.

Join that small group." What would you tell them? I'm talking about the very genesis of someone's connection to God. What would you tell them? "God died for you, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for you to take away your sins. And he was resurrected that you may have a new life.

So if you believe that he died for you and that your sins are forgiven because of what he has done, he says you will be forgiven." That's the genesis. Now that will lead to teach them to observe all that I have commanded you, right? But the first action, first thing that somebody who said, "I want to be a Christian," is you need to confess and believe that Jesus forgave you of your sins.

But that's not the first and only time where that gets questioned. Sometimes we do that. It's like I raise my hand, I confess, and then we move on. And there are many Christians living day to day in the process of sanctification having a hard time believing that Christ forgave you.

There are people, tons of people that I've met, who regurgitate what has happened in the past. Maybe I'm struggling because of my sins. Maybe these things are happening because I did this in the past. How many times could God possibly forgive for the same sins over and over again?

So even though we may profess it outwardly, inwardly, there's a doubt whether he really forgave me. And because there's doubts of his forgiveness, that automatically trickles down to, "Does God really love me then?" And so when we try to live out our sanctification without doubt lingering over us, we have to prove ourselves to make sure that we are worthy of that love, which is an impossible task.

Not a hard task, an impossible task. So the first and foremost thing that every Christian, from the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, that we need to have absolute confidence of, is when Jesus says that if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of all your unrighteousness.

You have to believe that with all your heart. Because that's the only way that we have any connection to the eternal, to the unseen. Your sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And when God says your sins are forgiven, he says it is forgotten. He sees us as righteous because we're covered by the blood of Christ.

Jesus' righteousness was imputed in us, and that's what atonement is. We are covered by his blood. So when he sees us, he doesn't see a failure who's trying to make up for his mistakes. He sees a sinner who could not, that his son had compassion and love and forgave.

That is the beginning point of our salvation. It is like ongoing sanctification, and it is the only way that we can make it to glorification. First and foremost, do you believe that you are forgiven? He who did not spare his own son, how will he not along with him freely give us all things?

If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, how do you struggle with the fact that he would give you anything that you need? So many Christians, you know, accept that superficially and then wrestle the rest of our lives worrying that God's not going to care enough to take care of the things that I need.

You see how completely illogical that is? Not only is it not biblical, it's illogical. It's illogical to believe that God would send his son but not care about your needs. And that's exactly what he is saying. He's saying trust him. Believe him. Whatever trials may be coming, be anchored in Christ.

What caused you to begin your relationship with God, continue to anchor with him so that you may persevere in your faith. Then I want to wrap up with, because there are some of you who feel so weak in your faith, that you're just barely hanging on. Especially with this pandemic, and I was reading the statistics of how many people have fallen out in their faith, they said over a third of people who were attending church at one point before the pandemic have walked away from their faith.

A third! I mean, you tell me, I mean, that's something spiritual. That's not something that any human being could have done. And obviously from our perspective, we can see that as purification of the church, but from another perspective, that's satanic work. Right? There are a lot of people who are barely hanging on.

Jesus said that if you have a faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. Have you ever seen a seed of a mustard seed? It's like a lint. In fact, it's a lint of a lint. That's how tiny it is. You almost have to look at it and say, "What is that?" Because it's that tiny.

So Jesus was pointing to the smallest seed, and he said, "If you have a faith that tiny, you can move mountains." So what he means by that is, that's how powerful that is. That tiny little faith that you have, that connects you to the Almighty God, that tiny little connection is more powerful than anything that you can think of.

And it is not that mustard seed. The power is not in that seed. The seed is the path that connects us to the Almighty. That's what he means by that. He's not saying you can move mountains. He says, "Through faith that connects you to this powerful God, he can move mountains." That's what that means.

Some of us are just hanging on a thread, for whatever the reason. Maybe it was out of neglect. Maybe you failed, and you have a hard time believing that God can possibly forgive you. And you've drifted, and you've drifted, and you've drifted. And it's so small. They say, "Well, mustard seed, I feel like it's even smaller than that." My guess is if Jesus could point to something even smaller than a mustard seed, he would have pointed at that, because that was his point.

There are times when we hold on, even through that small seed. Maybe some of you guys are out there right now. Let me give you a powerful illustration of this, through the life of the disciples. Remember in John chapter 6, he feeds 5,000. The actual number, probably 20,000. Remember, today, if you have a crowd of 100 people, that's a pretty big crowd.

Let's say if you got off the airport, and you're coming through International, and there's 30 people with signs with your name on it. What would we think? "Oh, he's important." What if there was 100 people? "Is this guy a movie star?" What if there was 1,000 people? "Is this the president?" What if there was 10,000 people?

This is at LAX, where there's millions of people that live here. This is in the rural side of Galilee. 20,000 people are following him everywhere he goes. He just fed them. So this is at the peak of Jesus' ministry, in John chapter 6. And people are forgetting to feed their kids.

They're following him wherever he goes. Remember the mindset of the disciples. The disciples were constantly wondering, when the kingdom comes, who's going to be the greatest? They didn't understand what Jesus came to do. Or they didn't fully understand. They knew him, but Jesus would say, "I'm going to go to the cross.

I'm going to die." He said, "Who's going to sit on your left? Who's going to sit on the right?" That's all they could think of. So imagine 20,000 people following their master wherever they go, and they're the right-hand men. My guess is, every time the disciples stepped out, it's like, "Oh, that's Paul.

That's that guy." They were probably celebrities because they were attached to Christ. And so they were at the peak of their success. Like, we're famous. We're famous. We have 20,000 people and more who recognize who we are. And that's exactly what they were thinking. If we follow Jesus, this is going to happen.

And then all of a sudden, Jesus has a conversation with these people saying, "You're following me because you want bread." He said, "Yes, we want bread." He said, "I am the bread." "Okay, then give me some bread." He said, "No, I am the bread." "Okay, okay, then prove it.

What do you want?" "I want some bread." That's the conversation that takes place in John chapter 6. And then at the end of that conversation, Jesus, recognizing that their hearts are hardened, they don't really believe him, and then he says, "If you want to follow me, you have to do what?" "You have to eat my flesh and drink my blood." They're like, "What?" I mean, that's the most sacrilegious thing that anybody can say.

They were told all their lives that if they drank the blood of animals, they can be killed for that. But he's saying, "You've got to drink my blood and eat my flesh." So we know how the multitudes heard that. Because in John 6, 66, they said they turned away.

"This is too hard. He just told us to eat him." What is that? So they left him. So can you imagine? The disciples are on the side. They're like, "Yes, we're the apostles of Jesus Christ." They probably still have the baskets of bread and fish left over that they're carrying around to identify who they were.

All of a sudden, they all disappear. What? We thought we were going to be glorified. That's like having 10 million followers and waking up the next day and having zero. This is for the young crowd. The old people, I'll explain later. It happened overnight. And it's not like the disciples understood.

They were confused too. This is hard. So after they left, Jesus turns to his disciples and he asks them, "Are you going to leave too?" Because he knew that they were confused. But this is their answer, John 6, 68. "Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'" In other words, "I don't understand it either. Why did you do that? Why did you do that? I don't get it. What do you mean by that?" "Okay, are you going to leave too?" "Where are we going to go?" "I don't understand you, but I believe you.

I don't know what you're doing. I don't know why you're causing all these problems and why my life is so hard and why it's so difficult just to make it to the next day. I don't know. I don't know what you're doing. But I believe you." So their faith, that tiny little mustard seed, kept them connected to Christ.

"We believe you." There are times in our lives that our only confession is, "What else? Where else am I going to go? I don't know what's going on. I don't know why he's allowing this to happen. I can't explain. I'm so tired. Where else am I going to go?" That tiny little seed, mustard seed, connects us to the Almighty God.

That's what he means. And that's what enduring faith is. Sometimes it's strong. Sometimes it's weak. Sometimes it's so tiny. But if you have it, that powerful God will move mountains. Amen? So all that is a setup for now, if we believe, this is what is capable of happening. So my encouragement to us, if there's any time in our lives, and I've said this repeatedly, where you need to be anchored in Christ, it's now.

Because persecution is here, and it is coming. Difficult times are here, and it is coming. Turmoil is already here, but greater one is coming. I'm not talking about the political arena. I'm talking about in the church. Spirit of delusion has already entered into the churches. And there is so much confusion, even among Christians, and even among pastors.

So if we're not grounded and connected to the Almighty God through our faith in his word, if there's any time, confusion is going to come into the church, it is now. So I encourage you, and I implore you, to be connected to this Christ. Be in the word. In season and out of season.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your patience with us. Lord, we thank you that there are some in our midst who are thriving in their faith, that even during the pandemic, it would only cause them to long for you and love you more.

But then there are also some of us who are just holding on by a tiny thread. But even in that, we thank you for the promise that though we are weak, you are strong. Help us, Lord God, to persevere, to endure, as we will be implored over and over again through this text.

May Christ and his sacrifice be honored, declared, and worshipped. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.