[0:00] Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is where we will continue to be this morning. We opened up the 11th chapter of Hebrews last week, looking at the first three verses.
[0:14] We're going to pick up this week and look at verses 4 through 7. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 4 through 7, is where we will be in our text this morning.
[0:25] Hebrews chapter 11, starting in verse 4. If you remember, the 11th chapter of Hebrews is seeking to define for us what the 10th chapter concluded giving a declaration of, and that is, but we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
[0:45] What the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews seeks to do is to define that soul-preserving faith, to establish for us what it is this faith looks like. Because faith can be a very fluid thing.
[0:57] We have faith in a lot of things. As a matter of fact, we cannot live our life apart from faith. We exhibit faith being displayed in a number of things each and every day. Simple things and sometimes tremendous things.
[1:10] Sometimes very common things and sometimes extraordinary things. But we exercise faith in a lot of things. But not all faith is what we would refer to as salvific faith.
[1:23] That is, faith that preserves the soul. Because just because I say I have faith in something, it doesn't mean that I am exhibiting what Scripture calls as salvific faith.
[1:34] That faith is defined probably most accurately for us in Hebrews chapter 11. And as we make our way through it, we will understand that that really is a radical lifestyle.
[1:47] It is a radical faith which not only acknowledges belief and proclaims profession, but it gives a life of display and surrender towards that.
[1:58] I always say that salvific faith is the faith that is so trusting, so surrendered to, that if the thing or the person we are trusting in fails to do exactly what has been promised, then all hope is lost.
[2:12] What Hebrews has done for us up to this point has shown us the superiority of Jesus Christ. It has shown us that Jesus is greater than anything that man could trust him, even greater than the greatest standard of living ever exhibited in the world.
[2:28] And that is, in essential, the law, the Old Testament. If you could find a society that could live accurately, 100%, it can't be done, I'll go ahead and say that.
[2:39] But if you could find a society that was able to live 100% accurate, everything that is defined in the law, the first five books of the Bible, if they were living it perfectly, the author of Hebrews says Jesus is better than that.
[2:54] It is better than the greatest of man's efforts. It is better than the greatest of man's works. And the call there in the 10th chapter is to, since this is true, then make a decision as to what you are going to trust him.
[3:07] And his call is either be all in for Christ or be all away from Christ. Don't walk the line as some are doing here in the audience of Hebrews.
[3:18] He is calling for a decision. And he defines that. I'll go ahead and say, As he gets into the 11th chapter here, he says, If you're going all in with Christ, this is what it's going to look like.
[3:33] These are the standards. This is the call. This is what history has shown us. Salvific faith looks like in demonstration. So this is the call to the individual.
[3:45] If you're physically able and desire to do so, and I will go ahead and apologize, it is that time of the year for me. This beautiful time of the year where the trees start to drip, that stuff that they drip, and it gets on your windshield, and you love that film, but it does wonderful things to my allergies.
[3:59] And it is that time of the year. So if I get to coughing, I will stop, okay? But I do apologize. We are going to stand and read together the word of God found in Hebrews chapter 11. Let's go ahead and go back to verse 1, and we will read down to verse 7, but our text will be verses 4 through 7.
[4:15] It says, Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, for by it the men of old gained approval.
[4:26] 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. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
[4:46] By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found because God took him up, for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God.
[4:57] And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness, which is according to faith.
[5:22] Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you for this glorious opportunity of gathering together. Lord, we thank you for the testimony of baptism which we have already seen.
[5:33] Lord, we thank you for the opportunity which we have had to worship you in song. Lord, we rejoice in the divine privilege it is to open up your word. And Lord, as we have opened up your word, we pray that your word would now speak to our hearts, and it would speak to our minds.
[5:48] Lord, that it would grip us to the very core of our being. And Lord, that in all things and all ways you would be glorified and magnified. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.
[5:59] We are going to look this morning from Hebrews chapter 11, verses 4 through 7, at the qualities of a righteous faith. The qualities of a righteous faith.
[6:11] Because he is showing us here what salvific or soul-preserving faith looks like. And the first thing he says is that this faith is righteous. Now, righteousness is a word that simply means to be in right standing with God.
[6:27] To one that has been made right with God. Who is right in his eyes and right in his presence. So we are having defined for us. Some will break Hebrews chapter 11 down.
[6:40] And I am so sorry, guys. And I've told you this before. This is one of the things that agitates me more than anything when I preach. And that is when my allergies get acting up. And then I get hot. And when we do baptisms, the humidity in this room rises.
[6:53] And I'm just in a complete side note right here. But that humidity doesn't do wonders for someone who has sinus issues. So I'm just letting you know. The Lord is gracious and kind. But he's also humbling, right? And that is one of those thorns in my flesh I've asked him to remove from me.
[7:08] And really, if you know me when I was a kid, I'm in a complete side note here. He has really done an amazing thing to remove it from me just a little bit. But it flares up a couple times a year just to remind me that, hey, I still need to rely upon him.
[7:20] So we move forward. We push on. The Bible here tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 the examples of what salvific faith looks like.
[7:30] Many scholars break this up into the primeval age or the age of man's creation. And then it will get to the Abrahamic age or the age of Abraham. And then it gets to the Davidic age or the age of David and the people who walked with him.
[7:44] And it brings it all the way up to the current age. It is examples given from each of these. But what we see the author doing is going all the way back to the Genesis account.
[7:55] If you were with me on Sunday night, you know that we're making our way through Scripture. You know that we are now in the book of Numbers. And we are just making our way through the Old Testament. About five and a half years ago, we started in Genesis 1.1.
[8:08] And we started there. And we made this declaration. And it is worth noting that every major theme in Scripture is defined in the first 11 chapters of Genesis.
[8:20] And after the 11th chapter of Genesis, God begins to work out every major theme which was defined. So the very first place to go to see the issues that are brought before us in Scripture is to always go to the beginning.
[8:34] And the author does this here is he goes back and he pulls three examples from the very first pages of Scripture and shows us what a righteous faith looks like on display.
[8:46] And he goes as far as he can, really, all the way back to Abel. And we'll look at this. We'll see three qualities of a righteous faith. And we'll see it exhibited in these three men.
[8:56] We'll see it in Abel. We'll see it in Enoch. And then we'll see it in Noah. The first thing we see is that a righteous faith is a testimonial worship. A righteous faith is a faith of testimonial worship.
[9:12] He says, by faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. Now, you may remember the Scripture. You may remember the...
[9:22] Man, I'm just so agitated. I'll get there. And you guys being silent really makes it...
[9:32] You know, preaching is a really weird thing because I'm a very transparent guy. And when I'm weak, I'm weak. And when I'm strong, I'm strong. I'm a guy who wears everything kind of on my shoulders.
[9:44] And then I can't really help that. So it's just one of those things that when it gets me, it gets me. But it agitates me. But I want you to see the text. Come on. Here we go. A testimonial worship.
[9:55] He says, by faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. You know what's amazing here? The author is going to the very first display of worship offered through faith alone.
[10:14] Think about this. Adam and Eve did not worship by faith because Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the day with the Lord their God. They worshiped by sight.
[10:25] Even after they were put out of the Garden of Eden, they had the recollection or the remembrance of fellowshipping with God in the cool of the day.
[10:35] But their children, their descendants, Cain and Abel, they came through faith in the truth that God had declared to their father, right?
[10:49] To Adam. And they were going by faith that this is acceptable to the Lord God. Now, we don't understand everything about what is going on here in Genesis 3.
[11:00] We don't understand, actually, as we move forward, Genesis 4. We have the fall of man in Genesis 3. We have the worship of man in Genesis 4. And you have an angry man right here.
[11:11] But that's okay. I'm hot. I'm sorry. If I keep my long-sleeved shirt on, we'll do good, right? But the hotter I get, my wife always tells me, why did you keep your coat on?
[11:21] And you know you're just going to start sweating, and you know you're going to get the coughing when you start sweating. But it's okay. We will get through this, and we will get through it together. You're a very patient group of people, and I appreciate that. And I'm beginning to be a very agitated pastor because I think the Lord has a great message he wants us to hear, and I think I have a great enemy who is opposing me from saying it.
[11:39] So with that being said, I will just continue to push on, and I appreciate your patience. This will probably, this is a very unique thing for me.
[11:50] My wife is watching, so she will get on to me. But I've got a double-edged sword going at me right now. This is the first time in 16 years of ministry that I have preached where my wife's not in the building.
[12:01] So that's a very difficult thing for me, okay? So as a humbling individual, I've always told her on Sunday mornings, I want you in the room. She is not feeling well this morning, so it's a precautionary matter.
[12:13] She decided not to be here. But this is the first time since I started preaching that I have not, that I'm preaching with her at least in the building somewhere. So that's just me being transparent with you, okay?
[12:25] I'm a full believer that the Bible says the two become one. And when half of my body is somewhere else, it messes with me. In my mind, and it messes with me. You know, I don't just leave one of my arms laying around somewhere.
[12:37] I don't leave one of my legs laying around somewhere. So that's just me as a pastor being transparent and letting you know where my weaknesses are. I've always said I'm one of those guys who would just say it and get over it, and that's just me, okay?
[12:49] That's me saying it. But I want you not to focus on that. I want you to focus on the glories of a righteous faith. The first thing we see, it is a faith of testimonial worship.
[13:00] Abel came in faith. We don't know how he knew that God wanted him to worship, other than the fact that Adam and Eve probably declared this to their children. We don't know how he knew to bring an animal sacrifice, other than the fact that Adam probably testified to him that when we sinned, when we fell, God slew an animal because he gave us.
[13:20] He clothed us with the skin of an animal. What we know is that by faith, Abel brought of the flock and offered a blood sacrifice. By works, Cain brought of the ground things that he had produced, things that he had labored for, things that he had worked for.
[13:38] He brought his efforts. I believe it was Warren Wearsby who said, Cain gives us the great picture of a works-based salvation. He put forth his work, he put forth his effort, and he brought the best that he could do.
[13:49] And the best that he could do was not acceptable because the reality is it was not Abel's lamb that he brought. It was the blood that was on the altar from the lamb that is declared here.
[14:00] We see here that it says that by faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous. He obtained the testimony that he was righteous or that he was in right standing with God.
[14:14] And I don't want you to focus so much on the fact that he had this testimony, but rather upon who gave him this testimony. Because look at what it says, God testifying about his gifts.
[14:26] Here's what faith does. Faith comes in such a sincere worship that it is not relying upon the testimony of men. It is not relying upon the declaration of others. Rather, it is relying upon that which God will testify about.
[14:38] It is relying upon the fact that that which they have presented has been acceptable to God, and God gives a greater testimony than any man. God gives a greater testimony than any other individual. One thing that I have found out is that you can be pleasing to men and be very displeasing to God.
[14:54] You can offend men, you can upset men, and you can be belittled and even weakened in the sight of men, and still be big in the sight of God. What Abel did is he came by faith and offered a sacrifice which God would accept.
[15:05] And in offering that sacrifice which God would accept, he received not the testimony of man, but the testimony of God. And God said, I accept that worship.
[15:16] See, the problem is today, is we base so much of our worship based on what other people think of us, rather than what it is that God has declared about us. We base so much of our attitude towards God based on what it would perceive, or what it looks like towards other individuals.
[15:30] We're afraid to be transparent. We're afraid to be weak. We're afraid to be broken, because we're afraid that others may say things about us. Friend, listen to me. A righteous faith, a faith that is in right standing with God, really is not concerned about what others would say about them, but rather what God testifies of them.
[15:45] I would rather offer a worship to which God says, I'll take that, rather than a worship to which makes other people feel better, or a worship that makes other people comfortable. What we see is that by faith, Abel says, this is what I'm going to give.
[15:58] I'm going to give a sacrifice which doesn't seem to be pleasing. It may not even be beautiful, because there is nothing beautiful about the shedding of blood. But I'm going to give a sacrifice which I trust that by faith, God will accept, because I know that the best that I can present will never be good enough.
[16:13] I know that the best that I could do in the works of my hands will never be pleasant. I mean, think about this just for a moment. Cain tilled the land, worked the land, brought forth the seed from the land. Abel just raised the lamb.
[16:26] God caused the lamb to grow. God caused the lamb to be there. Sure, he had to be the shepherd of that lamb, but in the end, it was nothing really of his works, because God is the creator of that lamb. All he did was offer to God back to him what he had created.
[16:39] He says, God, this is yours. And it says, and by faith, he received this testimony that God was pleasing with him. God testified about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.
[16:51] Think about that. The offering that Abel offered, though he died, though he is dead, he is still speaking. It has resonated throughout history. It resonates for us here in Hebrews chapter 11. One thing that we find in history is that the true, sincere worship of the faithful people, the faithful men and women of God, resonates throughout history.
[17:12] Death does not silence the voice of the faithful. Death does not silence the voice of worship. The greatest historical example of that is probably David Brainerd.
[17:24] David Brainerd was an individual who came to America, and he was a missionary to the Native Americans. He spent his life, a very brief life, being a missionary to the Native American tribes, and he died, I think, at the age of 30.
[17:38] It was around the age of 30 he died. He did not live very long. He actually was married to Jonathan Edwards' daughter. So Jonathan Edwards was his father-in-law. And shortly after their marriage, he ended up dying.
[17:50] But David Brainerd had written a journal of his faith and of his life and of his surrender of his life. Brainerd's journal was read or is published by Jonathan Edwards, who spoke of it as being one of the most moving pieces of work that he had ever read.
[18:09] That was also read by William Carey. William Carey was a missionary to India. And did great works removing human sacrifices and things like that in India.
[18:23] And William Carey referenced the writings of David Brainerd as being one of the greatest motivational factors of his life. It was also written by Jim Elliott. Jim Elliott was speared to death by the Uka Indians as he was going into the Amazon jungle.
[18:35] And he says that David Brainerd's journal was one of the most moving things that he had ever read. Over and over and over again, what we see is this life that was very short-lived, this life that seems to have had very little impact even among the Native Americans, resonated throughout history and moved man and woman, man and woman, and man and woman to faithful, complete, obedient surrender to God.
[18:56] Because one thing we find is a faith of testimonial worship is not a faith that is limited to this lifetime. It is a faith that resonates throughout history because God's declaration is, I accept that.
[19:13] I accept that. And that is true worship. The ambition and the lead of God's people ought to be, I want to worship Him and adore Him in such a way that the days of my life will not be the limit of my reach, but that God would testify through me of His goodness and of His righteousness and of His willingness.
[19:34] That God would use my life, as Jim Elliott said, God set me on fire for all the world to see. That God would set us on fire. Again, think of Jim Elliott. In the world's eyes, it was a waste of talent.
[19:47] In the world's eyes, it was a waste of life. He completely surrendered himself, and he was speared through trying to reach the people, never had the opportunity to declare the gospel to them. Yet, that life of faithful worship resonated and moved some of the greatest missions movements that this world has ever known.
[20:10] See, what we find is that the righteous faith is a faith of testimonial worship that testifies to the generations that come after it.
[20:21] May we be those who have a worship such as that. Secondly, we see a righteous faith is a faith of trusting walk. It is a faith of trusting walk.
[20:34] And that brings us to Enoch. Now, we know little of Enoch. But it says, By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death. And he was not because God took him up.
[20:46] For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. It's amazing when you go back to the book of Genesis, and you start reading the descendants of God's people.
[20:57] You come to this great line that Enoch became the father of Methuselah. Now, Methuselah, we know Methuselah, right? He's the oldest man to ever live. But it says, Then, after he became the father to Methuselah, he walked with God.
[21:16] It's almost like there was a point in time. I don't know if it was because all of a sudden he was a parent, because all of a sudden he had responsibilities, because all of a sudden he knew someone was looking at him. But it says, Then, after he became the father of Methuselah, he walked with God.
[21:35] Something changed. Something resonated within his life. He said, Now, I'm going to walk with God. And then it says after that, And he was not because God took him.
[21:47] Now, that is an amazing testimony, right? Enoch walked with God, and he was not. But look at what it says, because Hebrews gives us, really, the commentary on that.
[21:59] How did that happen? It says that he was taken because he was pleasing to God. God was pleased with his walk. Well, how do you have a walk that is pleasing to God?
[22:11] He defines it for us here. In verse 6, he says, Here is what a trusting walk looks like.
[22:27] It is a trusting walk that is exhibited in the life of Enoch. It is a trusting walk that is exhibited in the life of all those who walk in faithful obedience to his calling. It says that Enoch made a decision one day where it says, Then he began to walk with God.
[22:44] Then, after becoming the father of Methuselah, what we see here is Enoch made this decision by faith. He said, First of all, there is a God. Because without faith, it is impossible to please God, because first, you must believe that he is.
[23:02] You must believe that he is. Enoch said, I believe there is a God. With all of my being, I believe there is a God. Now, that is only part of the equation, right?
[23:15] Because here is the reality. A multitude of people believe in God. A multitude. A multitude of people will acknowledge the fact that there is a God because they cannot define anything around them in any other way.
[23:30] They say, Well, if I look around at the order of creation, if I look around at the order of the universe, if I look at the complexity of the human body, it almost requires more faith to believe in things happening by random chance than it does to ascribe it to a divine creator.
[23:48] So, people will acknowledge at least the existence of what they would call a higher being. Because at least some very minuscule level of knowledge reveals to us that something must come from something.
[24:03] That we cannot get something from nothing, and therefore there has to be something that is greater than us. They will acknowledge that. That's the first step of faith, because it says by faith, you must believe that he is.
[24:14] But here's the second part of that. How do we have a walk that trusts him completely? And it says that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
[24:27] Here's what Enoch did. Enoch said, I believe there is a God. I believe that there is a supreme Lord God almighty. And I believe that if I seek him, he will accept me and reward me.
[24:45] Now, that's faith. Because the reason why so many people can at least acknowledge the existence of God, yet not want to seek after that God, is because within them there is this testimony that they cannot be right with a holy God.
[25:00] And they understand the gap between man's sin and God's perfection. But Enoch says, I think that if I follow him, he'll reward me. I'll trust him.
[25:10] And that comes to this beautiful place of surrender. That there's not just some big God in the sky who created everything and left it to being. But rather, there's a God who longs to be known.
[25:23] There's a God who longs to be sought after. There's a God who wants to fellowship with me. So Enoch just pursued him and pursued him and pursued him and pursued him until one day God says, Okay, let's go.
[25:35] You walk with me long enough in this life. Now step with me into the next. Friend, listen to me. I have this acknowledgement. By faith, I believe there is a God. By faith, I believe that that God has sent his son so that I could walk with him.
[25:47] By faith, I believe that God will reward me through Jesus Christ. By faith, I trust in every promise he's given. Enoch had to trust in a little bit of promises.
[25:58] I have so many other promises. The reality is you must acknowledge that he is, and you must acknowledge that he is a rewarder of those who seek after him. And that is the question we ask. Do I really believe that God rewards those who seek him in the manner in which he has set forth?
[26:14] And in today's time, that is through Jesus Christ, his son. Now we get to the third and probably the greatest of them at all. A righteous faith is not only a testimonial worship. It's not only a trusting walk.
[26:25] It is a testifying witness. A righteous faith is a testifying witness. It says, By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen. By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen.
[26:39] In reverence, that word there means fear. In reverence, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household. By which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
[26:50] Here we see a testifying witness. By faith, Noah, being warned by God. I hear those sweet drops of rain out there that so many of you don't want to walk out in.
[27:01] And we rejoice in that, but think about this just for a moment. And Bible scholars go one way or another. But more than likely, Noah would have never seen that. Noah would have never experienced that.
[27:14] Noah would have never known what it was like to have a thunderstorm or a rain cloud come over him. Things not yet seen. And God says, Noah, I'm going to cause water to fall out of the heavens.
[27:25] And it probably would have blown his mind. We would have said, well, that's amazing. We need it, Lord, because the ground is dry. Noah would have said, well, I've never seen such things. And I'm going to cause the depths of the earth to spew forth water.
[27:35] And Noah would have said, I've never seen such things. But listen to what we see. God says, this is what I'm going to do. And Noah says, okay, what do I need to do? He says, build an ark. Noah began to build a boat before anybody knew anything about a flood.
[27:49] Noah began to build a boat before the world had ever seen the need for such a boat. What we see is that God told Noah some things difficult to understand. And Noah took action upon those by faith.
[28:02] Because, see, a testifying witness is this. It takes the word of God literally. When God said, Noah, I'm going to flood the earth. Noah said, well, I better build a big boat. Because if this is what you're saying, then I'm going to believe you.
[28:14] Friend, listen to me. And when you open up Scripture, and I'm trying to stay as calm as I can because I know as soon as I get excited, I'll start coughing. And I'm trying to be calm as I can. But when you open up Scripture, you open up Scripture, you'll see things that you do not understand.
[28:28] And you'll see things that seem impossible to you. You'll see things that make you scratch your head. And you'll see things that you say, well, God, I don't see how that could be. Look beyond the things which we cannot understand and look to the one who is saying it.
[28:40] By faith, Noah saw that God was saying it. And he believed it. And that settled it. By faith, he said, if God declares it, then it must be, and I will do something. Faith takes action upon the clearly revealed will of God.
[28:53] If God says, do this, then we do that. If God says, if you trust Jesus Christ with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, all your strength, though it seems impossible to so many, people say, well, how can I get to heaven?
[29:07] And I said, you put all your faith and hope and love and trust in Jesus Christ. He is the one for you. They said, it seems impossible. Well, with man, it is impossible. With God, all things are possible. The question is not whether we think things can be.
[29:18] The question is whether or not God has declared such things to be. And faith takes the word of God literally and takes action upon the word of God. Faith takes action because Noah began to build the boat.
[29:30] And it says, for 120 years, Noah built the boat. For 120 years, he was testifying to the people around him. See, when we see this, we say, God is so mean. Look how mean God is.
[29:40] God destroyed all of mankind except for Noah and his descendants. Look how mean God is. But we forget that for 120 years, man had a witness that they could not deny.
[29:51] Here's a man cutting down trees, building a boat with his sons. For 120 years, God declared through the man Noah, judgment is coming.
[30:03] For 120 years, Noah, the Bible says, was a preacher of righteousness. For 120 years, God declared through his person the testimony that judgment was coming.
[30:15] And then we forget this fact that after Noah completed the boat, it said the animals came to him. Right? Remember that? Two by two. Except for the clean, they came in groups of seven.
[30:28] The unclean came in groups of two. Now, I want you to put yourself in the shoes. And you tell me if you think God was unjust in this. For 120 years, this crazy man's been telling you that a flood is coming. For 120 years, this man's been telling you God's going to bring all the animals and we're going to get on this boat and God's going to destroy it.
[30:44] For 120 years, he's been saying these things. For 120 years, you've been mocking him. Then one day, you look up and there's this parade of animals coming in and they're marching into that ark. And they go inside of that ark and they all take their place.
[30:56] Now, I know it may seem fascinating to you, it may even seem foolish to you, but it sounds biblical to me. Because what is so good about the gracious God is that after he did that, Noah went into the ark and God left the door open for seven more days.
[31:10] And then it says, Then God shut the door. For 120 years, Noah declared the judgment coming and God was patient.
[31:22] Seven more days after giving such a sign of a completed ark and a parade of animals, God waited. No one came, so he shut the door. Noah had the faith to walk in.
[31:32] Because, see, testimonial faith that testifies to the word of God takes it literally and believes it completely.
[31:47] And look at what it does. And I want you to see this. That he secured an ark or he prepared an ark for the salvation of his household by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
[31:59] Husbands and fathers, I want you to listen to me for just a moment. There's this great theme throughout Scripture. Now, I'm not meaning to be any disrespect to you ladies, but I just want you to stay with me just for a moment.
[32:13] There's this great theme throughout Scripture that whenever the husband and the father take seriously the things of God, the blessings of God fall upon his household. Over and over.
[32:26] It doesn't mean that the struggles won't be there. But we see this. Listen. Noah prepared it for his household. We can read it throughout Scripture. David made some troubles in his household.
[32:37] Guess what? Troubles flow through his household, right? We see it over and over and over and over and over again. The Philippian jailer. He hears the declaration, Accept Christ you and all your household will come to Christ.
[32:49] Right? Because he is leading the way. He's taking things seriously, the things of God. He is walking for it in a testifying faith, in a testimonial faith. It is a faith of righteousness.
[33:01] Because throughout Scripture, when you get the man right, you get the world right. And when the man begins to take things seriously, and he begins to look at the Word of God and says, You know what, sons?
[33:16] I don't know why, but God says we've got to build a boat. Now, you know, listen. I've got three boys, too. I'm sure my three boys would be about as happy as Noah's three boys were whenever they started building the boat.
[33:30] Dad, what in the world are we doing? God said build a boat. But listen. It is a testifying witness.
[33:41] Because it testifies to the world. What this world needs, it needs to see true, salvific faith put on display. It needs to see the people of God taking the Word of God literally and seriously and putting it into practice each and every day.
[33:59] Though the world may mock it and people may ridicule it. Friend, listen to me. I've read Scripture. And I'm so glad God hadn't called me to be mocked for 120 years.
[34:09] And I'm glad that when I opened up the Old Testament prophets, God didn't call me to lay on a dung hill and eat my meal off of it either. But God has always put his people on display for the world to see what true faith looks like.
[34:21] And I want to be that guy who says, Lord, I come to you based upon my worship, my walk, and my witness. And, Lord, may my faith be pleasing in your sight.
[34:34] Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for this day. God, I realize that this message has been delivered in weakness. Lord, I realize that it has been limited by my ability.
[34:46] Lord, we know that you are limitless. So, Lord, I pray that you would take the truth of Scripture and you would penetrate our hearts and minds. Lord, that you would help us to have those examples before us who are not just as motivation, Lord, that we could walk hand in hand and shoulder by shoulder by beside the saints of old.
[35:09] Lord, help us to live with a righteous faith, a faith that preserves the soul for the glory of God. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
[35:33]