April 28, 2025 • 32 mins
In this sermon from NewCity Orlando’s Hebrews: Unshakeable series, Associate Pastor Benjamin Kandt explores Hebrews 11:1–6, focusing on the nature of true faith. He unpacks how faith is not merely wishful thinking but a confident trust in the unseen promises of God, grounded in His character. Drawing on examples from the early chapters of Genesis, Pastor Benjamin highlights that a life pleasing to God is rooted in faith — a trust that shapes how we live, worship, and relate to God daily.
This message challenges listeners to examine the foundation of their faith, encouraging them to move beyond cultural assumptions about belief toward a biblically anchored, enduring trust in God's Word. Pastor Benjamin calls the church to live by faith, holding fast to the unseen realities promised by God, and to draw near to Him with full assurance.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Please stand for the prayer of illumination Eternal
God, the grass withers and theflower fades, but your word will
stand forever.
Holy Spirit, help us to loveand trust your word.
Through Jesus Christ, we prayAmen.
Today's scripture comes fromHebrews 11.
(00:41):
Now, faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen, for by itthe people of old received their
commendation.
By faith, we understand thatthe universe was created by the
word of God, so that what isseen was not made out of things
that are visible by faith.
(01:01):
Abel offered to God a moreacceptable sacrifice than Cain,
through which he was commendedas righteous, God commending him
by accepting his gifts andthrough his faith.
Though he died, he still speaksby faith.
Enoch was taken up so that heshould not see death, and he was
not found because God had takenhim.
(01:22):
Now, before he was taken, hewas commended as having pleased
God, and without faith it isimpossible to please him, for
whoever would draw near to Godmust believe that he exists and
that he rewards those who seekhim by faith.
Noah, being warned by Godconcerning events as yet unseen,
(01:43):
in reverent fear, constructedan ark for the saving of his
household.
By this, he condemned the worldand became an heir of
righteousness that comes byfaith.
This is God's word.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
For most of human history, and even around the
globe, it was difficult not tobelieve in God.
One historian actually put itlike this, in kind of the grand
arc of human history.
It's actually surprising thatwe do not begin the evening news
with prayer.
So, in the context of humanity,we live in this interesting
(02:26):
blip here in the secular modernWest.
Another way to say that is isthat in the modern West we went
from hard not to believe to easynot to believe to hard to
believe.
That's the world we live intoday.
Hard to believe.
It's actually challenging tohold faith in our world, and
(02:48):
it's not because secularism haserased or eliminated belief, but
it changed the conditions forbelief.
God is no longer the frameworkthat holds everything together.
It's almost like stars that arehidden by light pollution.
The unseen reality is stillthere, but we just don't
(03:12):
perceive it as clearly as weused to.
And so we look at the modernWest and actually what we see is
that a hunger for faith stillpersists.
On April 18th 2025, that wasGood Friday, a couple of weeks
ago the New York Times publishedan article with this title
quote Americans haven't found asatisfying alternative to
religion.
Go read it, it's phenomenal,it's a great read and this is a
(03:37):
quote from the article.
Quote people are unhappier thanthey've ever been and the
country is in an epidemic ofloneliness.
Those without religiousaffiliation in particular
country is in an epidemic ofloneliness.
Those without religiousaffiliation, in particular, rank
lower on key metrics ofwell-being.
They feel less connected toothers, less spiritually at
peace and they experience lessawe and gratitude regularly.
(03:58):
It's no surprise, then, thatthe subtitle of this article is
this quote is it any wonder thecountry is revisiting faith?
That's what I wanna do thismorning.
I want us to revisit faith bylooking at Hebrews 11, verses
one through seven.
So if you have a Bible or adevice or you can get the
worship guide out in front ofyou, we're gonna look at this
text together under fourquestions what is faith, what is
(04:22):
its opposite, what is faith'scounterfeit and what is faith's
outcome?
What is faith, what is itsopposite, its counterfeit and
its outcome?
Those are the four questions.
Look at Hebrews 11, verse one,that first verse, together with
me.
What is faith Now?
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
(04:43):
of things not seen.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
I spent way too much time thisweek trying to come up with a
definition of faith and then Ijust conceded that the Holy
Spirit would be better at itthan me.
So that's the definition rightthere Hebrews 11, 1.
I don't have like a cool,edgier way to say it than me.
(05:03):
So that's the definition rightthere Hebrews 11, one.
I don't have like a cool,edgier way to say it than that.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
And this definition one of thereasons why I really like it is
because it works fornon-religious things too.
Don't just think it's areligious definition.
This works for sitting in achair or jumping out of an
airplane, right, see, if you'resitting in a chair, you have to
(05:25):
have things hoped for, like thatthe chair is going to hold you
up or the parachute's going toopen up.
If you are jumping out of anairplane, there's lots of things
not seen, like you don't seethe quality of the workmanship
of the chair and you don't seethe hopefully thousands of jump
hours that your flightinstructor has.
But you still sit and for someof us we still jump.
(05:46):
Why?
Because we have an assurance,we have a conviction about the
things that are hoped for likewe're gonna land safely on the
ground or the things that arenot seen.
And so this definition of faith, it's actually applicable to
all of life, because all of uslive by faith, whether you're
religious or not.
Now, this definition also haskind of two aspects to it.
(06:07):
It's got an objective aspectand a subjective aspect.
The objective part of it is isthat these things that we hope
for, or these things that areunseen, that's the objective,
which is the future and thepresent in a real way.
But then there's thissubjective sense, this felt
assurance, this conviction.
Both aspects of faith arereally important.
(06:29):
But here's the thing when wetalk about faith, we can often
talk about strength of faith orquality of faith, and that
matters.
It just doesn't matter nearlyas much as the object of your
faith.
Let me make that plain doesn'tmatter nearly as much as the
object of your faith.
Let me make that plain (06:47):
Two people sitting on the same
airplane, going the same place Imean you'd hope so if they're
on the same airplane and one ofthem is an anxious mess and the
other one is napping peacefully.
Now they land in the samedestination and they get off the
plane, and the question is wasit the strength of their faith
that got them there?
No, it was the object of theirfaith, it was the competence of
(07:10):
the pilot and the legitimacy ofthe plane and all of those
things.
But listen, the strength oftheir faith made a difference.
One really enjoyed the flight,the other one not so much.
And so, in a similar way, it'simportant to note that
Christians are not those whohave a world-conquering strength
of faith.
We're those who have aworld-conquering object of faith
.
Jesus Christ, the crucified andrisen one, the one because of
(07:35):
his death and his resurrection,is both trustworthy and true
that he is an object of faiththat can bear the weight of a
human soul.
He can be the thing hoped for,he can be the thing unseen and
he can hold up under the weightof our conviction and our
assurance.
This is the way that D.
L.
Moody said it a little faithwill bring your soul to heaven,
(07:56):
but a lot of faith will bringheaven to your soul.
That's the issue.
Objective of your faith mattersmore than anything else.
The strength of your faithmatters.
It's gonna shape yourexperience in this life maybe
bring a little heaven into yoursoul, but it takes a.
Our catechism says it like thisa simple receiving and resting
upon Jesus alone, as he'soffered to us in the gospel.
(08:18):
That's the faith that'srequired of us.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
But what is faith's opposite?
What is faith's opposite?
Look with me at Hebrews 11,verse 3.
Hebrews 11, 3 says this byfaith we understand that the
universe was created by the wordof God, so that what is seen
(08:41):
was not made out of things thatare visible.
This is important.
I almost wanted to preach awhole sermon just on this point,
but it became a sub pointbecause the story of scripture
faith is not opposed to reason,it's opposed to sight.
This is the way the apostlePaul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5.
(09:02):
He says we walk by faith, notby sight.
In fact, not only is theopposite of faith is not
thinking, it's seeing.
That's really important to gethere, because even in verse
three of our text, faithinvolves understanding.
It says by faith, we understand.
And the reason why this mattersis because in our cultural
moment, people think you have tobypass your understanding in
(09:25):
order to be a believing person.
That's not the way the Bibleportrays faith.
In fact, faith and reason worktogether, but faith goes beyond
what reason could ever possiblyconfirm.
Let me illustrate this.
When you hire somebody to workwith you or for you, you are
exercising faith and reason.
You see reasonably what you'regoing to do.
Is you or for you?
You are exercising faith andreason.
(09:46):
You see reasonably what you'regonna do is you're gonna review
resumes, you're gonna checkreferences, you're gonna ask
interview questions, but at somepoint you will never know if
you should hire that personuntil three months after they've
taken the job.
You're exercising faith.
Reason matters, it can get youso far, but faith fills the gap
between what is probable andwhat is actual.
(10:06):
And so some of you this morning, the thing that you actually
need.
You maybe have an intellectualawareness of Jesus Christ, of
the good news, of the gospel, ofthe Christian doctrines, but
you've never actually stepped tocommit yourself to it.
And so you're using your reason.
That's good, but faith isn'topposed to reason.
It just goes beyond reason andit finally commits to the thing
(10:28):
that you're putting your faithin.
And so verse three says likethis by faith, we understand
that the universe was created bythe word of God.
Why does the author of Hebrews,at this point, go back to the
beginning, to Genesis one one?
In the beginning, god createdthe heavens and the earth.
Why go back there?
I think, simply put, because ifyou believe Genesis 1.1, then
(10:52):
the rest of the Bible isreasonable.
If you don't believe Genesis1.1, then you'll pick and choose
based on your personalpreference or your particular
perspective.
And so why does that matter?
Well, because if you're onlybelieving what you want in the
Bible, it's not God that youhave faith in, it's yourself.
And so the invitation here isto believe in the beginning, god
(11:13):
created the heavens and theearth, then everything else is
possible, because that beginseverything.
So then, why is faith opposedto sight?
Why are these seemingly at oddswith each other?
Well, because walking by whatour eyes can see rather than by
what God has said is at the rootof the problem of the human
condition.
(11:33):
After Genesis 1, 1, you getGenesis 2, and then Genesis 3,
where everything goes real bad,real quick.
And this is what Genesis 3 saysin the garden, in chapter three
, verse five, it says this theserpent is speaking to Eve and
he says God knows that when youeat of it, your eyes will be
opened and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.
(11:54):
So when the woman saw that thetree was good for food and that
it was a delight to the eyes andthat the tree was desired to
make one wise, she took of itsfruit and ate.
You see, sin always resultswhen we prefer what we sense
over what God says.
So my question is where rightnow in your life are you
(12:17):
preferring what you sense overwhat God says?
Where you're trusting yourseeing over your believing?
And this is we kind of come byit, honestly, both because we
inherited it from Adam and Eve,but also because our cultural
moment says seeing is believing.
Right, I'm never really goingto believe something really
(12:39):
exists until I've seen it.
But you take most of life basedon the credible witnesses of
other people.
Just let me give you twoexamples from science and
history.
From history, you believeJulius Caesar existed and that
the Black Plague actuallyhappened, yet none of you
witnessed it personally.
Right?
From science, you probablytrust that quarks and black
(13:02):
holes and Antarctica and thecells of your body, that those
things actually exist.
But you take that on experttestimony, not by sight.
Right, you see, this is, thisis how we live life.
It's impossible to live byanything but faith in the
testimony of other people.
This is human, not ChristianChristians.
Just take the testimony ofother people.
This is human, not ChristianChristians.
(13:22):
Just take the testimony of Godseriously in this equation.
And so, while the world saysseeing is believing, some of you
are out there you're like, yeah, but I've seen videos of cells.
Have you seen what ChatGPT cando?
Like, don't believe your eyesanymore.
That's what I'm saying.
Our world says seeing isbelieving, but God says
believing is seeing.
In Psalm 27, verse 13, it saysthis I believe that I shall look
(13:48):
, you see that I believe that Ishall look upon the goodness of
God in the land of the living.
Faith precedes sight.
Now, that's important becausefaith and sight are not
necessarily opposed to eachother.
It's just faith has to precedesight.
One day we will see fully, wewill know fully, even as we are
now fully known, and we won'twalk by faith anymore because we
(14:10):
will walk by sight.
But in the meantime, we trustwhat God has said and we live
according to his words.
And so this is my invitation Iwanna invite you to refuse to
live in the small world of theinvisible I'm sorry of the
visible.
I want you to get out of that.
In other words, living withoutfaith.
It confines us within thenarrow prison of the present and
(14:35):
the seen.
Living by sight is not spaciousenough for the human spirit,
and so another way to say thatis that living without faith is
like living in a windowlesshouse.
Faith is like a window it letslight in, but it also lets you
see out properly.
So when we walk by faith, notby sight, we're actually living
(14:56):
with the grain of the universe,because verse three says what is
seen was not made out of thingsthat are visible.
So what does this look like inpractice?
Well, in this text this morningand in our text next week,
which will be more of Hebrews 11, we actually have three case
studies.
The first one's from Noah thatI want to look at.
Look at verse seven.
It says this by faith, noahbeing warned by God concerning
(15:21):
events as yet unseen.
Pause for a moment.
Where does that faith come from?
Romans 10 says faith comes fromhearing what God says.
So God comes to Noah and warnsNoah, and then Noah responds
with faith, because you can havethe word of God Right now
you're being preached to.
We read the word of God, but ifit's not mixed with faith, it
(15:41):
won't be profitable to you.
The way that Paul puts it inGalatians 3 is he calls it
hearing by faith.
That's what we need hearing byfaith.
Did Noah do this?
Well, look at verse 7.
It says by faith, noah beingwarned by God concerning events
as yet unseen, in reverent fear.
You see, he trusted what Godsaid and it actually created a
meaningful emotional response.
(16:02):
God warned.
He trusted what God said and itactually created a meaningful
emotional response.
God warned him about animpending flood and it created a
reverent fear in Noah.
And so he constructed an arkfor saving, for the saving of
his household.
Noah trusted God's words overhis own sense of sight.
Like imagine being Noah for amoment.
He's looking around it's thedesert.
Imagine being Noah for a moment.
He's looking around it's thedesert, no clouds, no rain, no
(16:23):
Home Depot.
And he spends decades buildinga floating zoo in his backyard.
And he does all of this, notwaiting for evidence.
He does this because hereceived God's word and
responded with faith andobedience.
That's why Noah here iscommended for his faith.
(16:44):
Verse seven it says by this, hecondemned the world and became
an heir of the righteousnessthat comes by faith.
This is so important.
Noah was not saved by hisactions.
Noah was saved by the ark.
And Noah built the ark, ofcourse, and he entered it by
faith, but in Genesis 7, 16, itsays that God himself closed the
door.
(17:04):
That's important.
It's important because Godsealed Noah's family in their
safety from this coming judgment.
In the same way, this is thepattern of the gospel.
Jesus is our ark.
He's our shelter from judgment.
Faith is how we enter.
We trust in his provision andthen God secures our salvation.
(17:24):
Righteousness that comes byfaith, but it will always be in
conflict with the world.
A righteousness that comes byfaith.
The reason why is because theworld wants a righteousness that
can be achieved, not one thathas to be received.
To say that differently, theworld seeks a righteousness
that's visible, performance andappearance.
(17:47):
And I'm gonna do enough, beenough, build enough, I'm gonna
be impressive enough.
And so the world wants toachieve a righteousness rather
than that comes by sight, ratherthan receive a righteousness
that comes by faith.
So Noah was put in conflictwith his world.
In his day, you will be put inconflict with your world in your
day, if you're an heir of therighteousness that comes by
(18:08):
faith.
And so, every day, we who lookto Jesus as our hope, as our
righteousness, as our rescue, asour salvation, in some ways we
have to live by faith that thereis something more true of us
than our failures At any givenmoment.
I mean because, listen, bysight, some of us are looking
(18:29):
kind of janky.
I'm just gonna be honest withyou right now.
That's my job.
I tell the truth, okay, but byfaith you stand before God in
holiness and beauty and splendorand perfect righteousness
because of Jesus Christ.
Do you see that?
So by faith, we actuallyreceive a righteousness that's
not our own and Noah is ourgreat, great, great, great great
(18:51):
grandfather of that thisrighteousness that comes by
faith.
But what is faith If faithopposite is sight?
What is faith counterfeit?
Look at verse two, for by itthe people of old received their
commendation.
(19:11):
What I want you to hear me sayis, throughout this whole
chapter of Hebrews 11, which I'dencourage you to read at some
point this week, all of Hebrews11, what happens is that they,
it says, by faith.
Then they do something prettywild and then God commends them
for it.
And another way to say that isin scripture.
Counterfeit faith does not act.
Counterfeit faith hasintellectual assent.
(19:36):
Counterfeit faith might evenhave feelings, but counterfeit
faith does not act.
You see, because according tothe biblical imagination, there
are two aspects of reality.
There's the seen and the unseen.
Francis Schaeffer, who is agreat apologist and evangelist
in the last century, he saidthat it's like two chairs.
(19:56):
You've got chair number one andpeople who sit in chair number
one, they see the total realityof the universe.
With the seen and the unseencombined, they live in light of
both of those realities.
But chair number two itinterprets life based on only
what you can see.
Now, here's the key thing.
Here you can be a Christianfaith in Jesus, saved by Jesus,
(20:21):
and live most of your life inchair two.
In other words, you can live asif in the second chair, even
while claiming faith in JesusChrist.
He made this distinctionSchaeffer did between unbelief
and unfaith.
I like this.
Unbelief is when people who saythey don't believe act as if
they don't believe.
(20:41):
That's just consistency, right.
Unfaith is when people who saythey don't believe act as if
they don't believe.
That's just consistency, right.
Unfaith is when people who saythey believe, act as if they
don't believe.
That's hypocrisy.
And so the invitation here isto step out of chair two into
chair one and live as if thewhole universe exists the way
that it is, because theseChristians are usually the most
anxious and exhausted andcompetitive.
(21:04):
They're not often very kind orgenerous and that's because they
feel alone in a really hardworld.
I get it.
Living by faith it's not just amental assent that certain
doctrines are true, it'strusting that God is really with
you, moment by moment, throughevery bit of your day.
That's what living by faith inchair one actually looks like.
(21:25):
And so we can say we believe inan unseen world.
But if we live as if God isirrelevant to the realities of
life, we actually are probablyliving in chair two.
I went for a walk this weekwith a friend and I asked him
what his schedule looks likethese days and he said well, you
know, I actually started abusiness a few years ago and so
for the last few years I've beenworking 80 hour weeks.
(21:47):
And this man had some goodfriends and some good community
around him who challenged himlovingly on that.
Like this isn't sustainable,man, you can't keep doing this.
And he said, yeah, I know, andyou know he was understanding of
it, but it wasn't until heheard a sermon about how God
cares, clothes the lilies of thefield and feeds the birds of
(22:07):
the air Matthew 6.
He heard this sermon and whenhe heard that sermon it was the
first time that he got thefreedom to go.
I don't have to live like this.
He actually cut his work hoursin half, from 80 to about 40,
spent more time with his wifeand his kids, and the business
became more productive andprofitable somehow, and he lives
with a level of increasedpersonal health and relational
(22:30):
health and spiritual health andfamily health, like all those
things.
What happened in that momentwas he moved from chair two to
chair one.
He began to live like therereally is a father in heaven who
knows what we need before weask.
Like there really is a fatherin heaven who knows what we need
before we ask.
Like there really is a fatherin heaven who is so generous and
abundance towards us that wecan live carefree in the care of
God.
He began to live as if that wastrue and I want you to hear me.
(22:53):
Right now I'm commending himfor his faith, just like Hebrews
11, commends because of faiththat acts, and so a counterfeit
faith is a kind of faith thatdoesn't act, because if you
don't act as if it's true, youdon't actually believe it's true
.
It's the simplest way to put it.
So let me look at a case studywith Abel.
(23:15):
Look at Hebrews 11, verse four.
It says by faith, abel offeredto God a more acceptable
sacrifice than Cain, throughwhich he was commended as
righteous, god commending him byaccepting his gifts and through
his faith.
Though he died, he still speaks.
There's a conundrum in Genesisfour, this story.
(23:36):
It's not entirely clear what'sgoing on, but there's different
interpretations.
But Cain and Abel both broughtofferings to the Lord.
But Genesis 4 doesn't reallytell us why Abel's was accepted
but Cain's was not Genesis, or,I'm sorry.
Hebrews 11 tells us, thoughit's, that faith made the
difference.
Abel made the offering by faith.
Let me just kind of let you inon the inside.
(23:59):
Here In ministry, every SundayI have the joy and the duty of
standing up in front of you andsaying isn't God good?
And here's an occupationalhazard.
What if I don't believe that?
I know some of you come in herenot believing that, so why
wouldn't I?
I'm human, like you, and it's areal occupational hazard to
stand up here and go.
Hey, I'm just gonna offer up asacrifice of praise in the
(24:21):
spirit of Cain, not the spiritof Abel, not by faith that God
really is who he says he is andthat he really is good.
And so Abel's faith actuallyechoes through time.
It says In the text.
It says and through his faith,though he died, he still speaks.
So, if you'll permit me for amoment, damien, though you're
(24:43):
stepping out of the seniorpastor role, through your faith
you still speak.
Brother, recently I found aletter that I wrote Damien in
gosh this is going to be hard inOctober 24th 2017.
And I told him this story thatI wrote Damien in gosh this is
gonna be hard In October 24th2017, and I told him this story
that I'm about to tell you.
Years ago, while I was trainingto be a counselor and a pastor,
I led a therapy group with fourpastors in it and I entered the
(25:06):
room really intimidated,because these were four people
who'd been in ministry at least10 years.
They were in every way mysuperior and after five days of
bearing their stories stories ofelders at odds with each other
one spouse caught in secretaddiction.
Another spouse, like puttingher husband's feet to the fire
to ask the church for more money.
Another pastor who's justcrushed under the unrealistic
(25:28):
expectations of his congregation.
I came, so I entered the roomintimidated.
I exited the room disillusioned.
I came, so I entered the room,intimidated, I exited the room
disillusioned.
I came home to my wife, alana,in tears and I said is this what
ministry does to people?
Because if this is it, then Ithink I've chosen the wrong
calling, as if you could chooseyour calling.
And so I stood at a real brink.
(25:51):
There was, I mean, this was acrossroads of sorts, and fear
was whispering that I shouldpursue a different path, one
that helped me engage with thechurch, but at a safe distance.
So I came home and I poured outmy heart to Alana, and she
asked me a simple yet poignantquestion.
She said do you know of anypastors who give you hope for
ministry?
And immediately one name cameto mind a pastor who loves Jesus
(26:16):
and refuses to let cynicisminfect his soul.
A pastor who leads well andlays down his life for his wife
and kids.
A pastor who, despite immensepressure, never spoke to me, or
anyone that I know with a sharptongue, a pastor who
sacrificially served the churcheven when it was hard, a pastor
(26:38):
who learned ministry in theschool of Christ.
That pastor was you, damien.
You became an able to me inthat moment.
I needed a model of a pastorallife by faith.
That's what I was looking for,and I got one in Damien.
We all got one in Damien.
What a gift.
And so your life has spoken tous.
(27:00):
It still speaks to us and today, even as you transition out of
this role, I want you to knowthat, through your faith, you
still speak and, brother, youwill always speak, and we love
you and we're so thankful foryou.
I've got to land this plane.
(27:27):
What is faith's outcome?
The last question look at versefive with me.
By faith, enoch was taken up sothat he would not see death,
and he was not found because Godhad taken him.
Now, before he was taken, hewas commended as having pleased
God, and without faith, it isimpossible to please him.
(27:50):
For whoever would draw near toGod must believe that he exists
and that he rewards.
Impossible to please him, forwhoever would draw near to God
must believe that he exists andthat he rewards those who seek
him.
Simply put, faith's outcome isintimacy with God.
It's intimacy with God.
Enoch is our last case studytoday.
In Genesis 3, 8, it says thisand they heard the sound of the
Lord God walking in the gardenin the cool of the day.
(28:11):
It says this and they heard thesound of the Lord God walking
in the garden in the cool of theday.
That's life as God intended it.
But things went bad in Genesis3.
And so ever since then, thisintimate, walking,
conversational relationship withGod has been broken and
forsaken and rejected because wechose to live by sight and not
by faith.
(28:31):
But only a chapter or two later, in Genesis 5, we hear this
Enoch walked with God and he wasnot, for God took him.
And in a moment we get a littlebit of hope that conversational
, intimate fellowship with theircreator is an option again.
And not only is it possible,maybe it could be normal for us.
(28:55):
And so Enoch gives us this hope.
Because he walked with God,there's maybe a hope for
restoration between God andhumanity.
Now the KJV says it like thisEnoch was not found because God
had translated him.
Studying for this text gave mea new life goal.
This is my new life goal.
Like I don't know what levelyou have to get at in Jesus to
(29:18):
be able to say beam me up,scotty, and you're just out, and
you're just out.
And so my hope is that some ofyou at some point are like, hey,
where's Ben?
And some of you respond you sayhe was not found because God
had taken him.
New life goal.
I'm just putting it out there,you can hold me accountable to
it.
I'm after that, I'm after theEnoch ministry right here, this
(29:39):
Enoch anointing.
He had.
Look at verse five with me.
It says this now, before he wastaken, he was commended as
having pleased God.
Now, without faith, it isimpossible to please him.
I don't know how you hear thatlanguage of pleasing God.
Some of you it feels burdensomeand overwhelming because you
(30:01):
had a father that was impossibleto please.
Some of you it feels like thisinvitation, like if I could live
a life that was pleasing to God, that would be the most
important thing I could do.
Listen, this is the way I thinkabout this.
I think that every father ispleased at its baby's first
attempt to walk, but no fatherwould be satisfied with anything
(30:22):
less than a firm, free, joyfulrun as a grownup adult.
And so, in the same way, Ibelieve that God is easy to
please but he's hard to satisfy,that God is easy to please but
he's hard to satisfy.
He is easy to please If youhave the simplest childlike
confidence in your father.
He is so pleased with you, heis so he delights in you, and he
(30:46):
wants more for you, not morefrom you, more for you.
He wants you to learn not justto walk but to run.
He wants you to feel thefreedom and walk but to run.
He wants you to feel thefreedom and the joy of what it
looks like to have an intimateconversational relationship with
your creator.
You see, this is the outcome offaith.
It says this, for whoever woulddraw near to God must believe
one, that God exists, and two,that he restores, that he
(31:09):
rewards those who seek him.
Jesus came to restore the Eden.
Walk with God again.
That's the invitation Jesusgives to all of us.
He's inviting us to walk freelyin the presence of our creator
once again.
And so we draw near, we drawnear to waste time with God in
friendship, and those of you whoknow what I'm talking about
(31:29):
know that that's a reward in andof itself.
You see, god himself is thereward for those who seek him.
And for those who seek him,they would be satisfied with
nothing less.
Let's pray, father.
We pause before you and we hearthe words of Hebrews and we
(31:50):
want to live by faith becauseyou're trustworthy, your voice
is good, jesus.
You tell us in John 10 thatyour sheep hear your voice.
We know your voice.
You call us by name.
We don't listen to the voice ofanother.
As you speak to your peoplethis morning, would you bring
(32:11):
faith?
Faith comes by hearing andhearing through the word of
Christ.
We have confidence in you,jesus.
It's in your name we pray, amen.
Please stand for the prayer of illumination Eternal
God, the grass withers and theflower fades, but your word will
stand forever.
Holy Spirit, help us to loveand trust your word.
Through Jesus Christ, we prayAmen.
Today's scripture comes fromHebrews 11.
(00:41):
Now, faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen, for by itthe people of old received their
commendation.
By faith, we understand thatthe universe was created by the
word of God, so that what isseen was not made out of things
that are visible by faith.
(01:01):
Abel offered to God a moreacceptable sacrifice than Cain,
through which he was commendedas righteous, God commending him
by accepting his gifts andthrough his faith.
Though he died, he still speaksby faith.
Enoch was taken up so that heshould not see death, and he was
not found because God had takenhim.
(01:22):
Now, before he was taken, hewas commended as having pleased
God, and without faith it isimpossible to please him, for
whoever would draw near to Godmust believe that he exists and
that he rewards those who seekhim by faith.
Noah, being warned by Godconcerning events as yet unseen,
(01:43):
in reverent fear, constructedan ark for the saving of his
household.
By this, he condemned the worldand became an heir of
righteousness that comes byfaith.
This is God's word.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
For most of human history, and even around the
globe, it was difficult not tobelieve in God.
One historian actually put itlike this, in kind of the grand
arc of human history.
It's actually surprising thatwe do not begin the evening news
with prayer.
So, in the context of humanity,we live in this interesting
(02:26):
blip here in the secular modernWest.
Another way to say that is isthat in the modern West we went
from hard not to believe to easynot to believe to hard to
believe.
That's the world we live intoday.
Hard to believe.
It's actually challenging tohold faith in our world, and
(02:48):
it's not because secularism haserased or eliminated belief, but
it changed the conditions forbelief.
God is no longer the frameworkthat holds everything together.
It's almost like stars that arehidden by light pollution.
The unseen reality is stillthere, but we just don't
(03:12):
perceive it as clearly as weused to.
And so we look at the modernWest and actually what we see is
that a hunger for faith stillpersists.
On April 18th 2025, that wasGood Friday, a couple of weeks
ago the New York Times publishedan article with this title
quote Americans haven't found asatisfying alternative to
religion.
Go read it, it's phenomenal,it's a great read and this is a
(03:37):
quote from the article.
Quote people are unhappier thanthey've ever been and the
country is in an epidemic ofloneliness.
Those without religiousaffiliation in particular
country is in an epidemic ofloneliness.
Those without religiousaffiliation, in particular, rank
lower on key metrics ofwell-being.
They feel less connected toothers, less spiritually at
peace and they experience lessawe and gratitude regularly.
(03:58):
It's no surprise, then, thatthe subtitle of this article is
this quote is it any wonder thecountry is revisiting faith?
That's what I wanna do thismorning.
I want us to revisit faith bylooking at Hebrews 11, verses
one through seven.
So if you have a Bible or adevice or you can get the
worship guide out in front ofyou, we're gonna look at this
text together under fourquestions what is faith, what is
(04:22):
its opposite, what is faith'scounterfeit and what is faith's
outcome?
What is faith, what is itsopposite, its counterfeit and
its outcome?
Those are the four questions.
Look at Hebrews 11, verse one,that first verse, together with
me.
What is faith Now?
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
(04:43):
of things not seen.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
I spent way too much time thisweek trying to come up with a
definition of faith and then Ijust conceded that the Holy
Spirit would be better at itthan me.
So that's the definition rightthere Hebrews 11, 1.
I don't have like a cool,edgier way to say it than me.
(05:03):
So that's the definition rightthere Hebrews 11, one.
I don't have like a cool,edgier way to say it than that.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
And this definition one of thereasons why I really like it is
because it works fornon-religious things too.
Don't just think it's areligious definition.
This works for sitting in achair or jumping out of an
airplane, right, see, if you'resitting in a chair, you have to
(05:25):
have things hoped for, like thatthe chair is going to hold you
up or the parachute's going toopen up.
If you are jumping out of anairplane, there's lots of things
not seen, like you don't seethe quality of the workmanship
of the chair and you don't seethe hopefully thousands of jump
hours that your flightinstructor has.
But you still sit and for someof us we still jump.
(05:46):
Why?
Because we have an assurance,we have a conviction about the
things that are hoped for likewe're gonna land safely on the
ground or the things that arenot seen.
And so this definition of faith, it's actually applicable to
all of life, because all of uslive by faith, whether you're
religious or not.
Now, this definition also haskind of two aspects to it.
(06:07):
It's got an objective aspectand a subjective aspect.
The objective part of it is isthat these things that we hope
for, or these things that areunseen, that's the objective,
which is the future and thepresent in a real way.
But then there's thissubjective sense, this felt
assurance, this conviction.
Both aspects of faith arereally important.
(06:29):
But here's the thing when wetalk about faith, we can often
talk about strength of faith orquality of faith, and that
matters.
It just doesn't matter nearlyas much as the object of your
faith.
Let me make that plain doesn'tmatter nearly as much as the
object of your faith.
Let me make that plain (06:47):
Two people sitting on the same
airplane, going the same place Imean you'd hope so if they're
on the same airplane and one ofthem is an anxious mess and the
other one is napping peacefully.
Now they land in the samedestination and they get off the
plane, and the question is wasit the strength of their faith
that got them there?
No, it was the object of theirfaith, it was the competence of
(07:10):
the pilot and the legitimacy ofthe plane and all of those
things.
But listen, the strength oftheir faith made a difference.
One really enjoyed the flight,the other one not so much.
And so, in a similar way, it'simportant to note that
Christians are not those whohave a world-conquering strength
of faith.
We're those who have aworld-conquering object of faith
.
Jesus Christ, the crucified andrisen one, the one because of
(07:35):
his death and his resurrection,is both trustworthy and true
that he is an object of faiththat can bear the weight of a
human soul.
He can be the thing hoped for,he can be the thing unseen and
he can hold up under the weightof our conviction and our
assurance.
This is the way that D.
L.
Moody said it a little faithwill bring your soul to heaven,
(07:56):
but a lot of faith will bringheaven to your soul.
That's the issue.
Objective of your faith mattersmore than anything else.
The strength of your faithmatters.
It's gonna shape yourexperience in this life maybe
bring a little heaven into yoursoul, but it takes a.
Our catechism says it like thisa simple receiving and resting
upon Jesus alone, as he'soffered to us in the gospel.
(08:18):
That's the faith that'srequired of us.
Faith is the assurance ofthings hoped for, the conviction
of things not seen.
But what is faith's opposite?
What is faith's opposite?
Look with me at Hebrews 11,verse 3.
Hebrews 11, 3 says this byfaith we understand that the
universe was created by the wordof God, so that what is seen
(08:41):
was not made out of things thatare visible.
This is important.
I almost wanted to preach awhole sermon just on this point,
but it became a sub pointbecause the story of scripture
faith is not opposed to reason,it's opposed to sight.
This is the way the apostlePaul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5.
(09:02):
He says we walk by faith, notby sight.
In fact, not only is theopposite of faith is not
thinking, it's seeing.
That's really important to gethere, because even in verse
three of our text, faithinvolves understanding.
It says by faith, we understand.
And the reason why this mattersis because in our cultural
moment, people think you have tobypass your understanding in
(09:25):
order to be a believing person.
That's not the way the Bibleportrays faith.
In fact, faith and reason worktogether, but faith goes beyond
what reason could ever possiblyconfirm.
Let me illustrate this.
When you hire somebody to workwith you or for you, you are
exercising faith and reason.
You see reasonably what you'regoing to do.
Is you or for you?
You are exercising faith andreason.
(09:46):
You see reasonably what you'regonna do is you're gonna review
resumes, you're gonna checkreferences, you're gonna ask
interview questions, but at somepoint you will never know if
you should hire that personuntil three months after they've
taken the job.
You're exercising faith.
Reason matters, it can get youso far, but faith fills the gap
between what is probable andwhat is actual.
(10:06):
And so some of you this morning, the thing that you actually
need.
You maybe have an intellectualawareness of Jesus Christ, of
the good news, of the gospel, ofthe Christian doctrines, but
you've never actually stepped tocommit yourself to it.
And so you're using your reason.
That's good, but faith isn'topposed to reason.
It just goes beyond reason andit finally commits to the thing
(10:28):
that you're putting your faithin.
And so verse three says likethis by faith, we understand
that the universe was created bythe word of God.
Why does the author of Hebrews,at this point, go back to the
beginning, to Genesis one one?
In the beginning, god createdthe heavens and the earth.
Why go back there?
I think, simply put, because ifyou believe Genesis 1.1, then
(10:52):
the rest of the Bible isreasonable.
If you don't believe Genesis1.1, then you'll pick and choose
based on your personalpreference or your particular
perspective.
And so why does that matter?
Well, because if you're onlybelieving what you want in the
Bible, it's not God that youhave faith in, it's yourself.
And so the invitation here isto believe in the beginning, god
(11:13):
created the heavens and theearth, then everything else is
possible, because that beginseverything.
So then, why is faith opposedto sight?
Why are these seemingly at oddswith each other?
Well, because walking by whatour eyes can see rather than by
what God has said is at the rootof the problem of the human
condition.
(11:33):
After Genesis 1, 1, you getGenesis 2, and then Genesis 3,
where everything goes real bad,real quick.
And this is what Genesis 3 saysin the garden, in chapter three
, verse five, it says this theserpent is speaking to Eve and
he says God knows that when youeat of it, your eyes will be
opened and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.
(11:54):
So when the woman saw that thetree was good for food and that
it was a delight to the eyes andthat the tree was desired to
make one wise, she took of itsfruit and ate.
You see, sin always resultswhen we prefer what we sense
over what God says.
So my question is where rightnow in your life are you
(12:17):
preferring what you sense overwhat God says?
Where you're trusting yourseeing over your believing?
And this is we kind of come byit, honestly, both because we
inherited it from Adam and Eve,but also because our cultural
moment says seeing is believing.
Right, I'm never really goingto believe something really
(12:39):
exists until I've seen it.
But you take most of life basedon the credible witnesses of
other people.
Just let me give you twoexamples from science and
history.
From history, you believeJulius Caesar existed and that
the Black Plague actuallyhappened, yet none of you
witnessed it personally.
Right?
From science, you probablytrust that quarks and black
(13:02):
holes and Antarctica and thecells of your body, that those
things actually exist.
But you take that on experttestimony, not by sight.
Right, you see, this is, thisis how we live life.
It's impossible to live byanything but faith in the
testimony of other people.
This is human, not ChristianChristians.
Just take the testimony ofother people.
This is human, not ChristianChristians.
(13:22):
Just take the testimony of Godseriously in this equation.
And so, while the world saysseeing is believing, some of you
are out there you're like, yeah, but I've seen videos of cells.
Have you seen what ChatGPT cando?
Like, don't believe your eyesanymore.
That's what I'm saying.
Our world says seeing isbelieving, but God says
believing is seeing.
In Psalm 27, verse 13, it saysthis I believe that I shall look
(13:48):
, you see that I believe that Ishall look upon the goodness of
God in the land of the living.
Faith precedes sight.
Now, that's important becausefaith and sight are not
necessarily opposed to eachother.
It's just faith has to precedesight.
One day we will see fully, wewill know fully, even as we are
now fully known, and we won'twalk by faith anymore because we
(14:10):
will walk by sight.
But in the meantime, we trustwhat God has said and we live
according to his words.
And so this is my invitation Iwanna invite you to refuse to
live in the small world of theinvisible I'm sorry of the
visible.
I want you to get out of that.
In other words, living withoutfaith.
It confines us within thenarrow prison of the present and
(14:35):
the seen.
Living by sight is not spaciousenough for the human spirit,
and so another way to say thatis that living without faith is
like living in a windowlesshouse.
Faith is like a window it letslight in, but it also lets you
see out properly.
So when we walk by faith, notby sight, we're actually living
(14:56):
with the grain of the universe,because verse three says what is
seen was not made out of thingsthat are visible.
So what does this look like inpractice?
Well, in this text this morningand in our text next week,
which will be more of Hebrews 11, we actually have three case
studies.
The first one's from Noah thatI want to look at.
Look at verse seven.
It says this by faith, noahbeing warned by God concerning
(15:21):
events as yet unseen.
Pause for a moment.
Where does that faith come from?
Romans 10 says faith comes fromhearing what God says.
So God comes to Noah and warnsNoah, and then Noah responds
with faith, because you can havethe word of God Right now
you're being preached to.
We read the word of God, but ifit's not mixed with faith, it
(15:41):
won't be profitable to you.
The way that Paul puts it inGalatians 3 is he calls it
hearing by faith.
That's what we need hearing byfaith.
Did Noah do this?
Well, look at verse 7.
It says by faith, noah beingwarned by God concerning events
as yet unseen, in reverent fear.
You see, he trusted what Godsaid and it actually created a
meaningful emotional response.
(16:02):
God warned.
He trusted what God said and itactually created a meaningful
emotional response.
God warned him about animpending flood and it created a
reverent fear in Noah.
And so he constructed an arkfor saving, for the saving of
his household.
Noah trusted God's words overhis own sense of sight.
Like imagine being Noah for amoment.
He's looking around it's thedesert.
Imagine being Noah for a moment.
He's looking around it's thedesert, no clouds, no rain, no
(16:23):
Home Depot.
And he spends decades buildinga floating zoo in his backyard.
And he does all of this, notwaiting for evidence.
He does this because hereceived God's word and
responded with faith andobedience.
That's why Noah here iscommended for his faith.
(16:44):
Verse seven it says by this, hecondemned the world and became
an heir of the righteousnessthat comes by faith.
This is so important.
Noah was not saved by hisactions.
Noah was saved by the ark.
And Noah built the ark, ofcourse, and he entered it by
faith, but in Genesis 7, 16, itsays that God himself closed the
door.
(17:04):
That's important.
It's important because Godsealed Noah's family in their
safety from this coming judgment.
In the same way, this is thepattern of the gospel.
Jesus is our ark.
He's our shelter from judgment.
Faith is how we enter.
We trust in his provision andthen God secures our salvation.
(17:24):
Righteousness that comes byfaith, but it will always be in
conflict with the world.
A righteousness that comes byfaith.
The reason why is because theworld wants a righteousness that
can be achieved, not one thathas to be received.
To say that differently, theworld seeks a righteousness
that's visible, performance andappearance.
(17:47):
And I'm gonna do enough, beenough, build enough, I'm gonna
be impressive enough.
And so the world wants toachieve a righteousness rather
than that comes by sight, ratherthan receive a righteousness
that comes by faith.
So Noah was put in conflictwith his world.
In his day, you will be put inconflict with your world in your
day, if you're an heir of therighteousness that comes by
(18:08):
faith.
And so, every day, we who lookto Jesus as our hope, as our
righteousness, as our rescue, asour salvation, in some ways we
have to live by faith that thereis something more true of us
than our failures At any givenmoment.
I mean because, listen, bysight, some of us are looking
(18:29):
kind of janky.
I'm just gonna be honest withyou right now.
That's my job.
I tell the truth, okay, but byfaith you stand before God in
holiness and beauty and splendorand perfect righteousness
because of Jesus Christ.
Do you see that?
So by faith, we actuallyreceive a righteousness that's
not our own and Noah is ourgreat, great, great, great great
(18:51):
grandfather of that thisrighteousness that comes by
faith.
But what is faith If faithopposite is sight?
What is faith counterfeit?
Look at verse two, for by itthe people of old received their
commendation.
(19:11):
What I want you to hear me sayis, throughout this whole
chapter of Hebrews 11, which I'dencourage you to read at some
point this week, all of Hebrews11, what happens is that they,
it says, by faith.
Then they do something prettywild and then God commends them
for it.
And another way to say that isin scripture.
Counterfeit faith does not act.
Counterfeit faith hasintellectual assent.
(19:36):
Counterfeit faith might evenhave feelings, but counterfeit
faith does not act.
You see, because according tothe biblical imagination, there
are two aspects of reality.
There's the seen and the unseen.
Francis Schaeffer, who is agreat apologist and evangelist
in the last century, he saidthat it's like two chairs.
(19:56):
You've got chair number one andpeople who sit in chair number
one, they see the total realityof the universe.
With the seen and the unseencombined, they live in light of
both of those realities.
But chair number two itinterprets life based on only
what you can see.
Now, here's the key thing.
Here you can be a Christianfaith in Jesus, saved by Jesus,
(20:21):
and live most of your life inchair two.
In other words, you can live asif in the second chair, even
while claiming faith in JesusChrist.
He made this distinctionSchaeffer did between unbelief
and unfaith.
I like this.
Unbelief is when people who saythey don't believe act as if
they don't believe.
(20:41):
That's just consistency, right.
Unfaith is when people who saythey don't believe act as if
they don't believe.
That's just consistency, right.
Unfaith is when people who saythey believe, act as if they
don't believe.
That's hypocrisy.
And so the invitation here isto step out of chair two into
chair one and live as if thewhole universe exists the way
that it is, because theseChristians are usually the most
anxious and exhausted andcompetitive.
(21:04):
They're not often very kind orgenerous and that's because they
feel alone in a really hardworld.
I get it.
Living by faith it's not just amental assent that certain
doctrines are true, it'strusting that God is really with
you, moment by moment, throughevery bit of your day.
That's what living by faith inchair one actually looks like.
(21:25):
And so we can say we believe inan unseen world.
But if we live as if God isirrelevant to the realities of
life, we actually are probablyliving in chair two.
I went for a walk this weekwith a friend and I asked him
what his schedule looks likethese days and he said well, you
know, I actually started abusiness a few years ago and so
for the last few years I've beenworking 80 hour weeks.
(21:47):
And this man had some goodfriends and some good community
around him who challenged himlovingly on that.
Like this isn't sustainable,man, you can't keep doing this.
And he said, yeah, I know, andyou know he was understanding of
it, but it wasn't until heheard a sermon about how God
cares, clothes the lilies of thefield and feeds the birds of
(22:07):
the air Matthew 6.
He heard this sermon and whenhe heard that sermon it was the
first time that he got thefreedom to go.
I don't have to live like this.
He actually cut his work hoursin half, from 80 to about 40,
spent more time with his wifeand his kids, and the business
became more productive andprofitable somehow, and he lives
with a level of increasedpersonal health and relational
(22:30):
health and spiritual health andfamily health, like all those
things.
What happened in that momentwas he moved from chair two to
chair one.
He began to live like therereally is a father in heaven who
knows what we need before weask.
Like there really is a fatherin heaven who knows what we need
before we ask.
Like there really is a fatherin heaven who is so generous and
abundance towards us that wecan live carefree in the care of
God.
He began to live as if that wastrue and I want you to hear me.
(22:53):
Right now I'm commending himfor his faith, just like Hebrews
11, commends because of faiththat acts, and so a counterfeit
faith is a kind of faith thatdoesn't act, because if you
don't act as if it's true, youdon't actually believe it's true
.
It's the simplest way to put it.
So let me look at a case studywith Abel.
(23:15):
Look at Hebrews 11, verse four.
It says by faith, abel offeredto God a more acceptable
sacrifice than Cain, throughwhich he was commended as
righteous, god commending him byaccepting his gifts and through
his faith.
Though he died, he still speaks.
There's a conundrum in Genesisfour, this story.
(23:36):
It's not entirely clear what'sgoing on, but there's different
interpretations.
But Cain and Abel both broughtofferings to the Lord.
But Genesis 4 doesn't reallytell us why Abel's was accepted
but Cain's was not Genesis, or,I'm sorry.
Hebrews 11 tells us, thoughit's, that faith made the
difference.
Abel made the offering by faith.
Let me just kind of let you inon the inside.
(23:59):
Here In ministry, every SundayI have the joy and the duty of
standing up in front of you andsaying isn't God good?
And here's an occupationalhazard.
What if I don't believe that?
I know some of you come in herenot believing that, so why
wouldn't I?
I'm human, like you, and it's areal occupational hazard to
stand up here and go.
Hey, I'm just gonna offer up asacrifice of praise in the
(24:21):
spirit of Cain, not the spiritof Abel, not by faith that God
really is who he says he is andthat he really is good.
And so Abel's faith actuallyechoes through time.
It says In the text.
It says and through his faith,though he died, he still speaks.
So, if you'll permit me for amoment, damien, though you're
(24:43):
stepping out of the seniorpastor role, through your faith
you still speak.
Brother, recently I found aletter that I wrote Damien in
gosh this is going to be hard inOctober 24th 2017.
And I told him this story thatI wrote Damien in gosh this is
gonna be hard In October 24th2017, and I told him this story
that I'm about to tell you.
Years ago, while I was trainingto be a counselor and a pastor,
I led a therapy group with fourpastors in it and I entered the
(25:06):
room really intimidated,because these were four people
who'd been in ministry at least10 years.
They were in every way mysuperior and after five days of
bearing their stories stories ofelders at odds with each other
one spouse caught in secretaddiction.
Another spouse, like puttingher husband's feet to the fire
to ask the church for more money.
Another pastor who's justcrushed under the unrealistic
(25:28):
expectations of his congregation.
I came, so I entered the roomintimidated.
I exited the room disillusioned.
I came, so I entered the room,intimidated, I exited the room
disillusioned.
I came home to my wife, alana,in tears and I said is this what
ministry does to people?
Because if this is it, then Ithink I've chosen the wrong
calling, as if you could chooseyour calling.
And so I stood at a real brink.
(25:51):
There was, I mean, this was acrossroads of sorts, and fear
was whispering that I shouldpursue a different path, one
that helped me engage with thechurch, but at a safe distance.
So I came home and I poured outmy heart to Alana, and she
asked me a simple yet poignantquestion.
She said do you know of anypastors who give you hope for
ministry?
And immediately one name cameto mind a pastor who loves Jesus
(26:16):
and refuses to let cynicisminfect his soul.
A pastor who leads well andlays down his life for his wife
and kids.
A pastor who, despite immensepressure, never spoke to me, or
anyone that I know with a sharptongue, a pastor who
sacrificially served the churcheven when it was hard, a pastor
(26:38):
who learned ministry in theschool of Christ.
That pastor was you, damien.
You became an able to me inthat moment.
I needed a model of a pastorallife by faith.
That's what I was looking for,and I got one in Damien.
We all got one in Damien.
What a gift.
And so your life has spoken tous.
(27:00):
It still speaks to us and today, even as you transition out of
this role, I want you to knowthat, through your faith, you
still speak and, brother, youwill always speak, and we love
you and we're so thankful foryou.
I've got to land this plane.
(27:27):
What is faith's outcome?
The last question look at versefive with me.
By faith, enoch was taken up sothat he would not see death,
and he was not found because Godhad taken him.
Now, before he was taken, hewas commended as having pleased
God, and without faith, it isimpossible to please him.
(27:50):
For whoever would draw near toGod must believe that he exists
and that he rewards.
Impossible to please him, forwhoever would draw near to God
must believe that he exists andthat he rewards those who seek
him.
Simply put, faith's outcome isintimacy with God.
It's intimacy with God.
Enoch is our last case studytoday.
In Genesis 3, 8, it says thisand they heard the sound of the
Lord God walking in the gardenin the cool of the day.
(28:11):
It says this and they heard thesound of the Lord God walking
in the garden in the cool of theday.
That's life as God intended it.
But things went bad in Genesis3.
And so ever since then, thisintimate, walking,
conversational relationship withGod has been broken and
forsaken and rejected because wechose to live by sight and not
by faith.
(28:31):
But only a chapter or two later, in Genesis 5, we hear this
Enoch walked with God and he wasnot, for God took him.
And in a moment we get a littlebit of hope that conversational
, intimate fellowship with theircreator is an option again.
And not only is it possible,maybe it could be normal for us.
(28:55):
And so Enoch gives us this hope.
Because he walked with God,there's maybe a hope for
restoration between God andhumanity.
Now the KJV says it like thisEnoch was not found because God
had translated him.
Studying for this text gave mea new life goal.
This is my new life goal.
Like I don't know what levelyou have to get at in Jesus to
(29:18):
be able to say beam me up,scotty, and you're just out, and
you're just out.
And so my hope is that some ofyou at some point are like, hey,
where's Ben?
And some of you respond you sayhe was not found because God
had taken him.
New life goal.
I'm just putting it out there,you can hold me accountable to
it.
I'm after that, I'm after theEnoch ministry right here, this
(29:39):
Enoch anointing.
He had.
Look at verse five with me.
It says this now, before he wastaken, he was commended as
having pleased God.
Now, without faith, it isimpossible to please him.
I don't know how you hear thatlanguage of pleasing God.
Some of you it feels burdensomeand overwhelming because you
(30:01):
had a father that was impossibleto please.
Some of you it feels like thisinvitation, like if I could live
a life that was pleasing to God, that would be the most
important thing I could do.
Listen, this is the way I thinkabout this.
I think that every father ispleased at its baby's first
attempt to walk, but no fatherwould be satisfied with anything
(30:22):
less than a firm, free, joyfulrun as a grownup adult.
And so, in the same way, Ibelieve that God is easy to
please but he's hard to satisfy,that God is easy to please but
he's hard to satisfy.
He is easy to please If youhave the simplest childlike
confidence in your father.
He is so pleased with you, heis so he delights in you, and he
(30:46):
wants more for you, not morefrom you, more for you.
He wants you to learn not justto walk but to run.
He wants you to feel thefreedom and walk but to run.
He wants you to feel thefreedom and the joy of what it
looks like to have an intimateconversational relationship with
your creator.
You see, this is the outcome offaith.
It says this, for whoever woulddraw near to God must believe
one, that God exists, and two,that he restores, that he
(31:09):
rewards those who seek him.
Jesus came to restore the Eden.
Walk with God again.
That's the invitation Jesusgives to all of us.
He's inviting us to walk freelyin the presence of our creator
once again.
And so we draw near, we drawnear to waste time with God in
friendship, and those of you whoknow what I'm talking about
(31:29):
know that that's a reward in andof itself.
You see, god himself is thereward for those who seek him.
And for those who seek him,they would be satisfied with
nothing less.
Let's pray, father.
We pause before you and we hearthe words of Hebrews and we
(31:50):
want to live by faith becauseyou're trustworthy, your voice
is good, jesus.
You tell us in John 10 thatyour sheep hear your voice.
We know your voice.
You call us by name.
We don't listen to the voice ofanother.
As you speak to your peoplethis morning, would you bring
(32:11):
faith?
Faith comes by hearing andhearing through the word of
Christ.
We have confidence in you,jesus.
It's in your name we pray, amen.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com