Shield of Faith

Before we start rolling the tape, my wife asked me to... I thought it was a good idea. She suggested that in regards to the survey, if there's something that you've got that really is thought-provoking, that maybe it's going to take you a little bit longer to put into thought or into words and it's important, feel free to take the extra time to do that. You don't necessarily have to turn that survey in today. You might be able to possibly see us in trumpets or something like that. So, if it's something that you really are moved about, that you think, oh, I'm being rushed, I'd really like to be able to take some extra time, feel free to do that.

Alright, now we can roll the tape. Brother, let's begin by turning to Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6. We've been going through a series about the armor of God. And I guess we got distracted here a bit lately. We've been in the Holy Days season, so there were some of the things that I wanted to talk to you about. But I'd like to go back to Ephesians 6. And we'll pick it up here in verse number 10.

We've been discussing about the fact that we've got a couple of goals here among the church of God, among the people of God, that we want to preach the gospel. We've been given that commission to talk about a coming kingdom of God. And the reality of what is going to take place in the future. We're going to be rehearsing that here in the fall Holy Days season, aren't we? As we do every year. And the second goal was to prepare a people, to prepare the bride of Jesus Christ, who's going to be married to Christ.

It's the church, it makes up, it's a spiritual organism, it's you and its I, hopefully, that make up a part of the body. We're going to be marrying Jesus Christ at His return. And the family of God begins and begins to spread and begins to grow. And so God wants us to be there. They inspired Paul here in Ephesians 6 and verse 10. They inspired Paul to write these verses here. About the fact that right now we're in a present evil age. Right now we are in a battle.

We are in a war. And we're fighting. Sometimes we don't think about that. But that we are soldiers of Jesus Christ. And He is the captain of our salvation, who leads us into the battle against our enemy. Let's pick it up here.

He says, finally, my brethren, so it's a concluding thought, be strong in the Lord. So God right away tells us it's not in your own strength that we're going to do this. It's going to be in God's strength. We need His strength in us. So we're strong in Him. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. So another reminder, brethren, for you and I to be strong in His power and His might and not in our own.

And then He encourages us to put on the whole armor of God. It's God's armor. It's not yours. It's not mine. It's not necessarily what you and I would think to put on. But we put on the armor of God. It's the same armor that He wears. It's the same armor that His Son, Jesus Christ, wears. And it's the armor that a son or daughter of God must wear in the battle. Put on the whole armor that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So we begin to understand who our enemy is.

He's real. He's out there. And He's got a battle plan. He doesn't want to give up this domain that we are upon. The face of the earth is where He walks and where He rules. He doesn't want to give it up. He's going to fight for it. And He wants to destroy us as His enemy. Verse 12, where you don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we're wrestling against principalities and against powers.

Powers that are greater than you and me. And without the armor of God, we have absolutely no hope to be able to stand. It's as simple and as plain as that. And that's why God inspires Paul to write this for you and me.

And for them, when he wrote it originally. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. And He calls a spade a spade. We're wrestling against rulers of darkness that are a part of this age. There's an age that's coming that's going to be different. And there's going to be a restitution of the ways of God on the earth.

But right now, that's not the case. We're wrestling against rulers of darkness. The darkness of this age and against spiritual armies of wickedness is who we wrestle against in heavenly places. Understanding that, verse 13, God says for you and me to take on this whole armor. We've been covering that, haven't we? We go along.

Taking the whole armor, He emphasizes that again. That you may be able to stand. That's what God wants us to do. That we may be able to stand in the evil day. And having done all to stand.

When it's all over, when the dust settles, we will have needed all of the armor in order to stand. Against this enemy. And He says in the evil day. And He was talking to our brothers and sisters in Ephesus back there. You know, are we talking about the evil day at the end of the age when Satan has but a short time?

Or are we just talking about a time when the perfect storm can come in our lives at any time that there's an evil day? I think He's talking about both. Why would He have mentioned this to the Ephesians? He expected them to put on the armor. God expects you and I to put on the armor as well. And then He talks about the armor. We've covered some of these. The belt of truth in verse 14. The breastplate of righteousness. And what all that means? We've covered verse 15.

Having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of a coming kingdom that's going to bring peace. We've talked about that and how important peace is. And now we're going to focus on verse 16. Verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith, which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He begins to emphasize here, okay, you know, I've mentioned all of these other pieces of armor, but you know what?

There's a really important one. Above all, taking a shield and then describing how this armor is, He brings these comparisons, that this shield is compared to faith. That it's an armor, that our faith is an armor, piece of armor. And above all, we need to take that with which we'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. I'd like to read a little bit from Albert Barnes' commentary. He talks about this verse 16. He talks about faith. This is what he writes. I think there's a lot of insight here. He says, faith occupies a very important place in the Christian armor.

A very important place. Possibly a more important place than the other pieces. I mean, I suppose that's why he says, above all, you know, you're beginning to say, you know, they're all important, but you know what? This one's one you don't want to forget. It's maybe more important than the other pieces. He says, it bears, he says, to the whole Christian character, the same relation which the shield does to the other parts of the armor of a soldier. What does he mean? He goes on. It protects all. It is indispensable to the security of all, as in the case of a shield.

He goes on. He says, the shield was an ingenious piece of armor, an ingenious device by which the blows and the arrows could glance off. As he puts it, he puts it there, parried off. And the whole body can be defended. The entire body can be defended. How important is faith? He goes on to talk about this piece of armor and faith. He says, it could be made to protect the head.

The shield could protect the head. It could protect the heart. It could be thrown behind the back to stop the attack that's coming from behind. As long as the soldier had the shield, he felt secure. He felt safe. As long as the Christian has faith, he is secure, or safe.

It comes to his aid in every attack, I'm still quoting. It comes to his aid in every attack that is made on him, no matter from which direction, no matter from which quarter. It is the defense, and it secures the protection which the Christian needs in the spiritual warfare.

Wow! Wow! I think he's on to something, though. I really think he's on to something. I think God is trying to tell us as well. Real faith, it says in verse 16, and we need to understand what that is. The shield of faith. It goes on to say, it talks about fiery darts. It says it will quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked one. What are we talking about when we're talking about fiery darts?

What's God trying to help us to understand? Well, I think he's trying to help us to understand that that's the way our adversary attacks. It's like fiery darts. They come suddenly, like the speed as it's shooting out from the bow, with incredible speed. They can come from unexpected directions, like an ambush. You know, you're not expecting it, and all of a sudden it's upon you.

And it's like a fiery dart. It says right here in the Scripture, they're fiery darts. It's like an arrow that it pierces, it penetrates, it burns, it wounds, it causes problems, it can spread. That's one of the techniques, you know, in warfare, when they would shoot these arrows, they'd have these fiery arrows, and they'd shoot at a ship, or they'd shoot at a building or something, and they would hope that it would ignite the whole thing, and it would be destroyed.

That's not the way our enemy works. It says the shield of faith can quench those fiery darts. How important is the shield of faith? And yet Jesus Christ wondered, he wondered, he asked a question about whether that armor would be worn at the end. How much of that armor would be worn?

It's a most important piece of armor. Let's notice Luke 18, verse 6. Luke 18, verse 6. We have a remarkable question that our elder brother asks here. It's almost like a statement. He's trying to make a point by asking this question. It's a really powerful question that Jesus Christ asks. Let's get to that question, but let's pick up some of the context here in verse 6.

What Jesus is doing here in the context is he's replying to a parable that he gave, to the parable about an unjust judge who didn't fear God, he didn't regard man, and yet there was this widow that kept coming to him. Time after time after time wouldn't leave this judge alone. Until finally the judge said, okay, okay, I'm going to address her petition. I'm going to get justice for her. He didn't want to, but she wearied him. I think the lesson is that if God loves us, how much more should we trust that God is going to take care of our problems?

I think it's one of the lessons here. Even though he seems to be delaying, even though it's not according to our timetable, it seems like God, where are you? I think the lesson here is that God is going to be there. I mean, this woman kept going to him, going in, going to him. Finally he reacted. Well, if a human being, an unjust person would react and finally give justice, how much more gone? Even though it's not according to necessarily our timetable. Notice verse 6 here. Luke 18. It says, And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said, and shall God not avenge his own elect, who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them?

You know, he says the purpose of this parable isn't that the unjust judge is teaching us anything. The purpose of the parable is that if even human beings like this judge can react, how much more God will take care of us, even though it's not in our timetable. It's what he says in verse 8 that I find so stunning. He says in verse 8, He says, I tell you that he will avenge them.

You know, even though he bears long, he will avenge, and when he does, it's going to be speedily. In other words, God's going to take care of them. But I really want to focus on the last part of this verse. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? You know, brethren, I don't think he just asked that question to be asking that question. I think he really thought it's going to be tough.

And will that armor really be there on a lot of his brothers and sisters? Will it be there? You know, Jesus says, when I come back, will I really find anybody that trusts God? Anybody that has faith? You know, that's a remarkable question to ask, isn't it? Christ said, I wonder, when I come back, will I really find any faith in anyone at all?

Why is faith so difficult for us to maintain? Why is that, brethren? You know, it's actually easier for us to obey the commandments than it is to have faith. Now, you may think that's strange for me to state that. You may say, well, don't I have to have faith to keep the commandments?

Not necessarily, brethren. Remember the lesson of ancient Israel, that they were condemned by God because they tried to keep the law without faith? Remember when he said, you're doing this, but you're neglecting the weightier matters? And faith was one of the weightier matters.

Brethren, we really have to know what faith is. I have to know what faith is. We all have to know what faith is. If we're going to put on that piece of armor, we have to know what it is. We have to understand what it is.

Then we have to ask this question, why is it that Jesus Christ said, well, when I come back, will I really find faith on the earth? Now, you may ask the question, well, is his question, will they believe in God? Is that what he's talking about in faith? Well, they believe that God exists. That's not his question. Because faith is more than belief in God. It's more than that.

And as we go through this today, I hope that we can show what it is from the Word of God. You know, there's something else that happened a little bit before this. Here, you're in Luke. Let's go to Luke 17. Little before this, Jesus' disciples had come up to him, and they made a statement. Let's go back to Luke 17, verse 5. Because in this context, he's been teaching them about faith.

He's been giving them teachings, he's been giving them parables, he's been trying to help them to understand how important faith is. And you know what? They started to realize it. They started to get it. They started to realize that they needed more faith. Let's notice. It says in verse 5 of Luke 17, And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith.

They began to understand that they didn't have enough. And they knew they needed more. They basically said, okay, you've been teaching us. You've been saying it over and over in so many different ways, and coming at us from all different directions. We are finally beginning to get it. We're finally beginning to understand it. And they're asking Jesus Christ increase our faith. And then Christ responds. You know, He's response to that. But before we read on His response, I'd like to make a point here.

Remember, these are men that had spent all their lives in Judaism. They were devoted to God. They were men who'd spent all their lives trying to obey the commandments. They were men all their lives who'd been trying to do the right things, and to try to worship the true God. And we can't make light of that. They'd spent their whole lives trying to do that. And then Jesus Christ begins to instruct them on some issues that were missing. Things in their life that were missing, things in their religion that were missing.

And faith was one of those issues. And so they get to the point where we understand, wow, that's been missing. And so they say, increase our faith. And Jesus responds in verse number 6. And so the Lord said, if you have faith as a mustard seed. You know, that's that tiny little seed that grows into this great big tree. He says to them, He says, if you just had this tiny little faith. Faith that little, you could say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up from the roots, and be cast out into the seed, planted of the seed.

And that mulberry tree would obey you. Now that's not necessarily the way that I would have thought that Jesus Christ would have answered the question, increase our faith. But that's how He responded. Jesus says, ah, if you just had a little bit of faith, all the miracles that could be done, all the miracles that would happen in your lives, if you just had a little, increase our faith, they told Him.

They said, we want to put this armor on, we're beginning to understand how important this is, and that there's been something that's been missing. It's a question that they asked. It's a question you and I should ask. It's a statement we should make. You know, I hear questions now and then from members about what is faith? You know, really, what is it? My wife has been on me for quite a long time to preach a sermon about faith.

You know, I was a little afraid to touch it, you know? I mean, you really want to do it right. You really want to bring it out from Scripture of what it is so that we understand what it is, and to know it so that we can have the true understanding of what it is. You know, it's one thing to talk about. Faith is a theological concept. It's another thing of how it breaks down in reality, in real life, when we're faced with the loss of our life. Or we're faced with the loss of a job. Or we're faced with the loss of a loved one.

Or we're faced with a situation that makes no sense to us, and we're overwhelmed by it. Then faith becomes real. How do we increase our faith? What is faith, and how do we increase it?

Well, let's go back to the basics. Rather, let's review the basics from the Word of God. Let's go back and start with a definition of what faith is. Let's go over to Hebrews 11. We're going to take a look at faith. And in the context of a piece of armor, as we talked about in Ephesians 6, it all ties together. God ties it together. We can't really talk about faith and the details of what it is and the definition of what it is, really, without going to Hebrews 11.

Known as the faith chapter. Now, we're not going to go through every verse, but we're going to cover a few verses and a few components of faith, what it is and why it's so important. Hebrews 11. We'll start in a moment. But James said, in the book of James, he said, faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead. So real faith produces something, doesn't it? Produces something. It produces some works. It produces something, but what does it produce in order for it to be real faith? Hebrews 11. It's now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. This verse alone is so profound. Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

You know, in my hand, I've got a water glass, and this is a substance here of something that exists. It's real. This water glass is real. It's a substance. And faith is real. But it's a substance of something that we cannot see. Faith is the substance of something that we can't see. It's the evidence of something that you and I cannot see. It's a reality. Sometimes this word substance in some translations is translated. It's the realization. It's the reality. Faith is the understanding. It's the absolute belief in something. Absolutely believing, absolutely understanding, and seeing as real something that nobody else sees.

And therefore, it becomes the substance. It becomes the confidence. Faith means that. It says, I see a reality. Everybody, you know, and I believe the reality. I believe that it's true. I have confidence in it. And somebody else looks at you and me and they say, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't see what you're seeing. How can you feel that strongly about something? And the reason they don't see it, because faith by its very definition is not seen.

I have faith that my wife and I are going to be able to go over to Elendale this afternoon and have services with our brethren there. It's not a reality yet. It's a hope. It's a hope. But I have faith that that's what's going to happen, that we're going to arrive and we're going to be able to have services.

And I'll give the sermon, the same one that I gave here last time, but I haven't given to them yet. It's a reality. It's still faith at this point. Now, once I get there, it becomes a reality. It's no longer faith. I see it. We're there. It's no longer faith. In a sense, it's a reality. But faith, what we're talking about here, is faith in God. It's faith in God. Not placing faith in our own faith. You know, not by my faith that I'm doing something, but I have faith in God that He can do something.

He is the object of our faith. It's real. But we don't see God, do we? We see the fruits of God, but we don't see God. You know, the scripture in the Old Testament that says, you are the God, you are the Lord that hides yourself. God does this intentionally. He does it intentionally for reasons that sometimes only He knows.

But we see the results of God. But by its very definition that God inspired Paul to write here, is that faith, by its definition, involves something that we do not see. If you have faith that you're going to be healed, and then you're anointed, and then you're healed, you don't have to have faith in that healing anymore, because it's already become a reality. But your faith was that you would look to God for healing. When the man said to Christ, please heal my withered hand, he had faith in a reality that he did not see. And when his hand was made whole, he no longer had the faith in the reality, he saw the reality.

Well, I guess we could say, well, he had faith in God, that's true. But the faith that he would be healed, he didn't eat that faith anymore. Because he saw the reality, he was already healed. When you receive it, you don't have to have faith in it anymore. So, faith in this context of Hebrews is an absolute trust and belief in confidence in something that we do not see. You don't see it. It's before the fact, and you believe it, that it's going to happen, but you haven't yet seen it.

It's before the fact, it's before everyone else sees it. Let's notice the writer of Hebrews, what he says in verse 3. He makes a perfectly logical way of making this point in verse number 3. Let's take a look at it.

He says, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Wow, what is he telling us here in verse number 3? He says, by faith we believe that God is the Creator, that He made the universe, that He made the worlds, that He framed them. As it says, they were framed by the Word of God. So the things which are seen, as we look around, we see a lot of things, don't we?

We see a beautiful sky, we see a beautiful landscape. God made all of those things. He's invisible, but He made the things which are visible. And Paul says, by faith we understand that God created this, an invisible God which we have never seen created this.

And we weren't there to see it, were we? We were not there to see it. But we believe it. We believe it. We have confidence in it. Otherwise, we wouldn't do what we do. You know, if God didn't create this, then it's all meaningless. Why are we even here? God did not frame these things by His Word. Then why are we even here? Let's just eat, drink, and be merry. Because tomorrow we die. That's what Paul said in another place.

You didn't see Him do it. I didn't see Him do it. But we believe it. Don't we? We have faith. And I'm not going to ask for a show of hands, but how many of you believe that there's a city of London? Or believe there's a European continent? And I would imagine some of you have never been there. You've never seen it. Have you? But you believe it. That takes faith. To believe something that you have not seen. You know, the creationists and the evolutionists have this battle going back and forth. But you know, the evolutionists weren't there either.

So they have a faith in evolution. They weren't there to see, to be eyewitnesses. They weren't there. So He says here, I'm talking about faith. You didn't see it, but you know it. And you believe it. Right to the very core of your being. It's who you are. It's a substance. You couldn't tear it out of you or me if you wanted to. So notice verse 6. Very important verse here. Verse 6, Hebrews 11.

But without faith, it is impossible to please God. For He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Brother, this verse is a lot here. But there's at least three components of faith that are here in verse 6.

Three components of faith. And probably this verse is a sermon in itself. He says, you must believe that God is, absolute belief that God is. And you must trust Him. Because you believe if you follow Him, He is a rewarder. You trust Him. You believe Him, you believe what He says, you believe He is a rewarder to those that follow Him. And notice, and to those who diligently seek Him. Wow, there's a lot more to faith than just saying, well, you know, I kind of believe there's a God out there.

And I think my life will go okay if I kind of, you know, just try to be a good person. But I've got faith in God. But that's not what this says. That's not what this says at all. It says you not only have to believe that He is, but you must trust. You must trust. You know, the pre-teen camp, we had Christian living classes and our theme was courage and faith. Courage and faith. And one of the things that we did was we, in one of the classes that I taught, we kind of had a couple of campers volunteer to help us out with demonstrating something.

And one of the things they demonstrated was what they would call a trust lean, where they lean into each other and they've got their forehands and their hands are together, and they start moving their feet backwards, but they don't fall because they're supporting each other with, you know, their hands and their weight, and they're watching you, looking at each other's eyes, and, okay, how many more steps can we go back before we're getting uncomfortable? And then we walk back up straight together. So we demonstrated that a little bit, that's trust, but you can see that.

But then we talked about, a little bit more about faith, and we had the same two, but we blindfolded one of them, and then the person behind them said, you're going to fall, and when you fall, I'm going to catch you. You're going to have to trust me that I'm going to catch you. So we were trying to begin to teach them that this is a little bit how faith works, that you can't necessarily see.

But you believe God in what He says He's going to do, and in the promises that He says, we believe it. And so we trust Him, even when sometimes it doesn't make sense. And that's faith. That's faith. Evidence of things not seen. Afterwards, we asked some of the ones that had the blindfolds on, and they're falling backwards.

How did you feel? Well, a little nervous. A little intrepidation, you know. But that person said, I'm here, and I'm going to catch you when you fall. Are you ready to fall? Yeah, I'm ready to fall. Okay, I'm here, and I'm going to catch you.

And they did. They did. So faith is at least three components. We believe that He is, and we trust Him. We trust Him that we're going to follow Him and believe Him, that He has our best interests at heart, and He's going to reward us, and we have to diligently seek Him.

That's all part of faith. It's just not of, well, I kind of believe in God, and I'll try to be a good person. That's not God's definition of faith. Faith is diligently seeking God. We believe that He is, we trust Him, we'll follow Him, and we diligently seek what He wants.

All those are components of faith. Let's go on to verse number seven. So now the writer begins to give us examples from history to prove his point, to help us to understand. He gives us examples so that we can see what God's definition of faith is and some of the things that people went through. We've already covered that it's impossible to please God without it. That we have to diligently seek Him. We have to believe that He is, that He exists just like you and I exist. And like anything else that we know that exists, exists, He exists. We believe it. It's the substance, something we don't see.

Verse number seven. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen. Sound familiar? He was divinely warned by God of things not yet seen. He moved with godly fear. He prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world. And he became an heir of righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Noah did something. Faith produces something. He built the ark.

He saw something in the future that was not evident yet, but he believed God and he acted upon it. He built the ark. He didn't just say, well, I see God, you're going to bring a flood, and then he didn't do anything.

His faith produces something. I mean, what would have happened if he wouldn't have built the ark?

Verse 8. By faith Abraham obeyed. So we see obedience as a part of faith. We obey God because of our faith in him. We're willing to follow his commandments. You know, Abraham didn't obey God just because he feared him, just because God was bigger than him, and he was afraid that he'd get into trouble. If he didn't, that God is a parent that's angry, and if you don't follow the rules necessarily, he's going to be right on top of you. That's not why he obeyed God. He obeyed God because he knew that God loved him. He knew that God's purpose for him was a good purpose.

He knew that God would reward him for diligently seeking God.

Verse 8. By faith Abraham obeyed. When he was called out to go to the place which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going.

He didn't know where he was going. And yet he trusted God. He believed God that he was a rewarder of someone who was going to diligently seek him. He had no idea where God was going to take him. And I'll bet you and I have had those things happen in our lives too where, God, where are you taking me? This doesn't necessarily make sense to me. Where are you taking me?

And that's when we have to step back and say, I trust you. I trust you. You just show me. I'm going to diligently seek you. I'm going to diligently seek what you want. And I'm going to follow you where you lead me. Verse 9. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country. He dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of that same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised. You know, brethren, I think that's a very important point here. Why did Sarah... why did she have a child? I mean, she was past the age of childbearing. She'd been trying to have one all of her life. And she'd come to the point where it was physically impossible for her to have a child.

It says because she judged him faithful who had promised. She had faith in God that he was going to do what he said he was going to do. He said she's going to have a child. When I come next time, it's going to be in the time of life, and you're going to have a child. She judged him faithful who'd promised. She said he's strong enough, he's powerful enough, he's honest enough, he's not going to lie, he's not going to tell me a promise that he's not going to follow through on to bring this about. And so she had a child. Was it her faith? No, she had faith in God that he was going to be able to do what he promised he'd do. I think this is important. Faith is only as meaningful as what we have faith in. Faith is only as meaningful as we have faith in. If I have faith in my own faith, and I've heard people say that, and maybe you have too, they say, well, you know, if I had enough faith, if I had enough faith, and I know God would do this, or God would do that, if I had enough faith, it would be because of my faith that's the problem here. But then your faith and my faith is our faith. It's not faith in God, it's faith in ourselves and our own faith. Sarah judged God capable of doing what she could not do. Sarah judged God capable. She had faith in God. It wasn't her own faith that was going to bring about a child. It was her faith in God that was going to bring about that child. We're going to cover another Scripture on this a little bit later that faith is only as strong as the object that's believed in.

If our faith is in ourselves, then our faith is only going to be as strong as we are. If our faith is in God, it's going to be as strong as God is.

Let's jump to verse number 17.

By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, he offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed is going to be called. Now, there's a dilemma here, isn't there? What does this mean? It says, In Isaac your seed is going to be called. In Isaac is where your progeny is going to continue, where your descendants are going to come from. And now God is saying to Abraham, This Son, whom I've already promised, is going to be your heir and is going to have descendants. I want you to kill him. You know, Abraham was probably kind of wondering how this is all going to work, maybe, for a while. He promised him that Isaac is going to have children. And now he's telling him to kill his son. It's killing Isaac. Now, if we read through here, we read through other passages, there's only one way that that could have been done. And that is if God would have resurrected Isaac from the dead. It's the only way. That's what Abraham thought. Because Abraham had such faith in God that God would not lie to him. God would not lie, he would not go back on a promise. He said, In Isaac your seed is going to be called. He knew God wouldn't lie to him. He knew that God would resurrect him. So he would do what God wanted him to do, even though it didn't seem to make much sense to him. He would do what God said because he believed God. He knew that God loved him. He knew that God was looking out for his best interest. He felt and believed that even to the point where raising the knife and he was going to slay his son. Can you imagine that? He believed that that boy was going to have children.

Isaac didn't seem to put up much of a fight. You know, it depends on different passages and trying to make sense of how old he was. But we feel he was somewhere between... Isaac was between 17 and 35 years of age. And he would have been able to say, You know what? Dad, I'm not so sure I'm going along with this boy. Abraham was over 100 years old at this time.

Isaac could have put up an argument. He could have put up a fight. He could have said, I don't think so. But you know, Isaac believed God too. He trusted God. They both did. They both had faith in God.

You know, that's faith, isn't it? I've never been tested quite like that. But that's faith. That's real faith when the rubber hits the road and we find ourselves in a situation that doesn't make sense. And we still look to God. We still trust Him. You know, we talk about faith, but living it is a whole lot harder. Let's notice verse number 13. Let's go back to verse number 13.

Notice the writer says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises. What? They lived the lives that they lived. They committed to God. They followed Him. They diligently sought Him. And it says they didn't receive the promises. Noah, Abraham, Abel, righteous Abel, someone who died early in life. He died prematurely. He was a young man. You know, he was righteous, Abel. We still have that story today to guide us that he was willing to obey God in that sacrifice and his brother didn't. His brother was jealous and he came and killed Abel.

Talk about faith of Abel and the example that stays with us today. These all died in faith. Moses, David, Sarah. They all died in faith.

Men and women, they never received all the promises that God had made to them.

In their last breaths, they were still waiting. When they breathed their last, they were still waiting.

Waiting in faith. Waiting for something that they had not yet seen, but believed with all of their being.

A lot of you here don't know Sue Struthers. She was a member of the Southern Minnesota congregation. She died, performed her funeral. It's been a while now. The last few moments of her life, she looked to the resurrection. In fact, it's almost a miracle in itself. She was on life support and her family was coming around. She was at Mayo Clinic or St. Mary's, I guess. The doctors were going to let the family know that she's on life support and we don't think when we take her off that she's going to continue to live. The cancer was, you know, throughout her body. The family was gathered around to try to make a decision whether when they removed the life support, whether they should or not. Well, really, miraculously, Sue Struthers became conscious. She had been unconscious the whole time. And at the very moment when the family is gathering around to try to make this decision, her eyes open. She's awake. She's alert. Everything was explained to her that Sue, this is what we were discussing, but now you're conscious. We're not sure if we remove the life support system, whether you will make it or whether you won't. Do you want us to remove the life support? Or not? And she said, I'm going to trust God. I know that if I go to sleep, then my next waking moment is a resurrection. She looked to the hope of the resurrection, is what she did. And she made that decision right there and right then. She saw something that a lot of her family around the hospital bed did not see.

She saw it, and she believed it. She made her decision accordingly.

That hope was the same hope that's listed by these people of examples of faith that God has given to us here in Hebrews. These people waited for it. He says, not having received the promises, but having seen them a far off. They were assured of them. They had confidence. It was the substance of their life. These promises that God had made were the substance of their life. And notice it says, they embraced them. They just didn't accept them. They embraced. I think you know what an embrace is, particularly those of you that are married.

We're going to hold on and we're going to let go. They embraced them.

Every day, these people were basing their lives on promises that they had not yet seen.

But they embraced them, and they loved them, and they lived for them. And they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things, what things? I'm a stranger here. This isn't my ultimate hope. This isn't my ultimate home. I am a stranger here. I am a pilgrim here. And I believe that. That my home is still ahead of me, and it's still coming. This is how they believed. They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare clearly and plainly that they are seeking something else that God is going to bring. They're seeking a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. We can go back. If we come out of the world, we can go back. We have the opportunity to return. And some had taken that opportunity. But notice verse 16. But now, they desire something better than what we'd ever return to. They desire something better. That is a heavenly country. Wow!

And then, brethren, I want us all to really notice this next sentence. This next verse. Because when we have this kind of faith, God says this about them, and He says this about you. Let's understand this. This is a statement that could be made about you, about me. We have this kind of faith. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. For those who have faith in God, and what He promises to do, He has prepared a city, He's prepared a place, He's prepared a kingdom for them. I haven't seen it. Neither of you. It's not here yet. It's not a reality yet. We have faith that it's going to be. But it's not yet a reality. But we believe it. We embrace it. God says this. He's prepared a kingdom, and He says He is not ashamed. He looks down on a certain people, and He says, I'm not ashamed. That's my kid. That's my child. That's my son. That's my daughter. He's not ashamed about certain people. Now, sometimes I think He's ashamed about me. Maybe you think that way, too. Because we're not living those components of faith. We have taken the armor off. To believe that He is, to follow Him, and to trust Him, that He is a rewarder when we diligently seek Him. It's substance. It's what guides our life. It's what our life is all about, everything that we do. Everything else is kind of attached in an indirect way, but faith is the core substance of who we are.

Verse 32, Hebrews 11. The writer of Hebrews goes on and continues to talk about some of these examples. Towards the end of the chapter, he says, And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, and also of David, and Samuel, and the prophets. He says, do you want more examples? He says, there are a lot of them. Think about the faith that David had when he went against Goliath. And some of the other examples he mentions here. You know, it wasn't David's faith in himself. You can see over and over, when he had that encounter, when he was talking to Saul, King Saul, before he encountered Goliath, he talked about the bear that was delivered into his hand, and the lion that was delivered. And he says, this Philistine is going to be who's defying the armies of the living God. God is going to deliver him into my hand. He didn't say it was my faith. He said, I've got faith in God that God has the power to deliver him into my hand. He had faith in God. What more shall I say? He goes on. He says, you want more examples? A people who lived it, who embraced it, is substance. And in Matthew 33, who through faith subdued kingdoms, and they worked righteousness, and they obtained promises, and they stopped the mouths of lions, and they quenched the violence of fire. You know, I think he's talking about here, stop the mouths of lions. Daniel. You know, there's an example there, Daniel 6. And then again, it wasn't Daniel's faith. He doesn't say, okay, by my faith, you guys, you know, just stay quiet there in the corner. No. He didn't say that. If we read Daniel 6, and we read what happened, he says, God delivered me. That's where his faith was, was in God. It wasn't in his own faith. And when it talks about quenched the violence of fire, quenched the violence of fire, you know, that's referring to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Let's keep our finger here, but let's go back to Daniel 3. We're going to come back to Hebrews. Daniel 3. I sent a reference on this particular scripture, and Hebrews quenched the violence of fire. We're talking about this. It refers us right back to the book of Daniel, chapter 3. Pretty familiar story here. King Nebuchadnezzar made an idol, an image, 90 feet tall, nine stories. I mean, you could see it from a long distance away. It stood out. You couldn't miss it. Now, at the preaching camp, we would talk to the campers a year ago. We talked about the commandments of God, about the Ten Commandments, and how to try to memorize them and live them. We talked about how you could use the fingers of your hand. And so, when I introduced Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as an example of faith, I wanted to cover a couple of commandments first. Well, one of them is that there's only one God. That's the first commandment. And the second one is that you shall not bow down or worship any other God than me. So, these are the two commandments that suddenly Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were faced with. Okay, Nebuchadnezzar here in verse 1 has created this image of gold. And then he goes on and he brings all of his administrators and all the leaders of the kingdom and says, You know what? When there's this music, when there's this symphony, we're going to have all these different types of music, and when they play, you bow down and you worship this idol. So it's verse 4.

Now, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have a dilemma here. On one hand, their king is telling them, commanding them to worship this false God and to bow down before it. On the other hand, their God says, No, you don't do that. You do that with me. You can't do both, can you? You can't do both. So who are they going to have faith in? What was going to be the object of their faith? Well, sure enough, the music blew, and when the people heard, they fell down and they worship the image, as it says, in verse 7. We talked to the kids and said, okay, we want everybody to get down on their knees. They all got down on their knees. Okay, we want three of you to stand up. Three of you to stand up. And you can imagine the scene. You've got all these people that have fallen, they've heard this symphony, they've fallen down, and there's three still standing.

What's going to happen? Well, they stand out, don't they? They stand out. It wasn't long before some of the other administrators that were jealous of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were also administrators of the kingdom, said, you know what, King, they're not giving due regard to you. They're not following your command. So you remember the story? King found out if it was true, brought them here, and he said, hey, is it true that you're not following my commands and my orders?

You remember what they said.

Verse number 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, and they said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. It's not going to take us long to think about this. In other words, if that is the case, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us. We have faith in that God that He has the power to deliver us if that's His purpose. If that's His purpose. We have faith in our God that He is strong enough to deliver us so we won't be thrown into this furnace.

Verse number 18. But if He doesn't, if our God chooses not to deliver us, if our God chooses that we die, be it known to you, O king, that we're not going to obey this command to serve your image, to serve your God. We're not going to fall down. We're not going to worship. Well, how does King Nebuchadnezzar react to that? Verse 19. He's full of fury.

You know, the king wasn't used to people disobeying his wishes. They had a choice to make. Where are they going to put their trust? Who are they going to follow? Who's the reward, the ultimate rewarder of those that diligently seek Him? They made a choice, didn't they? They had all those components, didn't they? Those three components that we read about in Hebrews 11. They decided to have their faith in God. The rest of the story, they were bound up with ropes. The king Nebuchadnezzar, to make a point, heated the furnace seven times harder than it normally would be to take them out seven times. He was going to make a point. He was mad. He was angry. He was upset. The soldiers that bound them up, that took them towards the opening of the furnace, they died. It wasn't the flames that took them, it was the heat from the furnace that took them. And the king Nebuchadnezzar, after they're tossed in, bound up, all of a sudden they're walking. He looks and he sees the images of persons that are in there, walking around in the fire.

God chose to deliver them. He chose to deliver them by His power. They had their faith and their trust in God, not in their own faith. Let's go back to Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11.

Pick it up here in verse number 34. Through faith quenched the violence of fire. Escape the edge of the sword. Out of weakness were made strong. They became valiant in battle. They turned to flight. Armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. These are all things that people had faith in God. God provided miracles. It would be nice to stop right there. Right there. Because that's the kind of things that are going well. The things I'm going to get. There's power that God's going to give me to be able to fight a valiant battle against an enemy.

God's going to deliver me from the fire. God's going to deliver me from the mouth of lions. I'm going to be able to go to places where I normally couldn't go. And God will take care of me. And my life's going to be perfect because I have faith in God.

Well, he goes on. Others were tortured. He doesn't say others were tortured because they didn't have faith. There were others that were tortured that had faith. Because they believed God. Because it was the substance of their lives. It was the core of who they were and you couldn't take it away from them. They didn't accept deliverance. They could have accepted deliverance.

But they didn't.

Why? That they might obtain a better resurrection. They saw something that no one else saw. And they believed it. They saw a kingdom that nobody else saw. They saw a city that nobody else saw. They wanted to be a part of it. They wanted to be a part of it so bad that it didn't matter what it took to get there. This is faith. This is faith. Verse 36, Still others had trial of mockings. Think of Jeremiah. And scourgines. Think of Paul. Yes, out of chains and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. I can't imagine that, brethren. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They were pierced with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins. They were destitute. They were afflicted. And they were tormented.

You know, if I would have known that was Christianity, I don't know if I'd have gotten baptized, you know? Sometimes you don't always know what you're getting into. God works with us slowly and surely and begins to build our faith over time.

Faith is whether you subdue the armies or whether you are subdued by the armies. You believe God. No matter what the outcome. That's what God's trying to tell us. You know, we look at so many different people that have had so many different experiences. You know, we've already talked about Abel, who, you know, he died prematurely. He died as a young man. Selene by his own brother. You know, we see others. We see the Apostle Paul and things that he had to go through. We see John the Baptist, you know, he had to wander in the wilderness sometimes. And he ate locusts. He ate insects. Eventually, because of his belief and faith in God, he lost his head, literally. He lost his head. We see others that lived a long life. Abraham lived a long life, died of old age. We see David, how he ruled gloriously. He had some trials before, but he ruled gloriously for 40 years among the people of God. These people all had different types of experiences. Some saw their loved ones raised from the dead. Others, they saw their loved ones die. All of these people had faith. All of them.

Verse 38, of whom the world was not worthy. These are people that God says the rest of society, according to God, are not even worthy of them. He thinks of them as a very special people, those that have faith in Him, and are willing to go to those lengths to have trust and confidence and absolute belief.

God says the world was not worthy. Does God not love the rest of humanity? Well, of course He does. He does. But what does He ultimately want from the rest of humanity? What does He ultimately want from all of us? His faith. Faith in Him. Trust in Him. Faith and trust and confidence in Him, in order to have eternal life, to be part of His family. He goes on, they wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all of these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.

Oh, they've got a good testimony. God says, you know what? They're going to be there. They're going to get these promises. But He says they have not yet received the promise. They're still waiting. They're still waiting.

Moses still waits. Abraham still waits. Sarah still waits.

David still waits. Abel still waits. Peter. James. Matthew. They wait.

They died in faith. Not seeing what they had faith in.

They died in faith and they still wait. Here's why, verse 40. God, having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. God says, my sons and daughters, for the most part, my first roots are all going to be made perfect at the same time. They're not going to be made perfect apart from us.

God's not done yet with His process of creating sons and daughters to bringing them to glory, perfecting them, honing them, fashioning them, as the potter does the clay. There's still some that God has not done with yet. Hopefully that's part of us. They wait for us. They wait for us. And if Christ doesn't come back for another hundred years, we're going to wait for the next generation.

Won't be perfected apart from us, is what God says. God says there's still a group of people that I'm preparing because they have faith in me.

Faith is so much more than just a simple belief in God. That's part of it. That's more, much, much more than that. It's an absolute confidence. It's a substance of what drives us. It's a trust. A total trust and commitment to God, even when we don't understand what He's doing.

Brother, this is going to be a two-part sermon. It's a pretty important piece of armor, isn't it? Let's go back to Ephesians 6.

This process as we go along, this faith that we talk about, it's total trust. Sometimes we have to begin to ask ourselves some questions that we normally don't ask. We sometimes go through life thinking that life is what we make. And to a degree, that's true. You and I do have certain choices that we have to make. God does give us free will. But faith breaks down into a belief and total assurance and trust in God that we turn our lives over to Him.

And we say to God, you do with me as you see fit. I will be what you want me to be. I will do what you want me to do.

We say, not my will be done, but your will be done.

Increase our faith is what the disciples said. I think everyone here believes that God exists. I think you all believe that. There's a certain amount of faith that leads to obedience. We talk about that. But the faith that we're talking about here is the faith that says, thy will be done.

Ephesians 6, verse 16. It says, above all. Father God is trying to tell us this is an important piece of armor. They're all important. But this one is extremely important. Maybe more important than the others is that they all have their place. Above all, as if to cover areas that we're going to need to cover in the middle of the war, in the spiritual battle.

He says, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts. It doesn't say you may be able to quench the fiery darts. It says with this armor, we will be able to quench the fiery darts.

The fiery darts of the evil one, the wicked one. Brother, I think God's trying to help us to understand that faith is vital. It's vital. It's a vital armor of God. And our enemy knows that. He knows that. And he would like to convince us to discard it. To toss it aside. Throw it away. Brother, there are enemies of faith. Our enemy is trying to undermine our faith. I can tell you that. And there are several ways that he has to do it. And Jesus Christ and God the Father tell us that there are ways that faith can be undermined. If faith is so vital, then what are some of those enemies of faith? It's a good question, isn't it? And God wants us to know what the answer is, and he doesn't leave us in the dark. So that's what we're going to cover next time. The enemies of faith.