Faith

Okay, so my name is Seth Powers. We are preaching. Well, I think we actually have covered a couple of these topics.

! We have three words that we focus on as a church every year. One of them is faith. I think somebody else may have done a round on faith.

Did Josh do, did you do like a three, all three at the same time? Okay, well, anyway, I'm going to do one on specifically the word faith today.

Before I start, I want to read a verse from Psalms. Psalm 119, verse 89. Your word, O Lord, is eternal. It stands firm in the heavens.

Psalms 119:89

So, God's word is outside of us. God's word is never going to pass away. Jesus says heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

And that is what our faith is based on. That's basically the summary of my whole sermon. Okay? A little preview.

Our faith is not based on what we see or our feelings or what we experience. It's based on a thing that's outside of all of that, that proceeded from God and will never go away. Okay?

It'll never go away. So, Hebrews 11, verse 1. I would, I'm not going to ask people to turn to most of the passages I'm going to read, but I do ask you to turn to this one.

Hebrews 11:1

This is the key passage here. Hebrews 11, verse 1.

Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11, verse 1 says in the ESV,

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

The Young Living Translation says,

And faith is of things hoped for, a confidence, of matters not seen, a conviction.

And the NIV, the 1984 NIV says,

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.

So, faith is confidence.

It's assurance.

It is trust.

It's being convinced.

It's conviction.

Now there's a lot of synonyms here we can use for this.

It's being convinced that something that we have not seen is true.

Okay?

It's being totally convinced that a thing that you've never seen or experienced or anything is true.

Okay?

That's what faith is.

That's what that's saying right here.

And it says the assurance of things hoped for.

Okay?

So, hope and faith are different things.

Hope is also virtue.

You know, faith, hope, and love.

1 Corinthians 13.

These are good things.

But hope is a different thing than faith is.

Hope is an expectation of good.

Okay?

You can go like an optimistic person.

They're a hopeful person.

They think things are generally going to go good.

A pessimistic person is things are generally going to go bad.

Okay?

So, hope is you have an expectation that things are going to turn out good.

Things are going to be good.

It's the opposite of an expectation of fear.

An anxious person has, they're hopeless.

They have an expectation of bad, of failure.

Right?

So, hope is good, but hope is not faith.

A lot of times people will say, I have faith for something, when really I think what they mean is I have hope for something.

Okay?

I, I, God's good.

So, man, I'm just going to believe God for this thing that I hope will happen.

Well, that's a different thing than faith.

Okay?

Faith is, faith has more concreteness to it.

Romans 10.17 says,

So, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

And KJV puts it, the word of God.

You get a little extra flavor there.

We, the foundation of our faith isn't just, I want a thing to happen and I believe it's going to.

The foundation of our faith is God said it.

Okay?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

Okay?

So, faith is different from hope in that I can hope in a thing and want it to happen, but I don't know that it's going to happen.

I just got to trust God's good.

Okay?

Things are going to work out good.

Faith is different.

God said something.

And I hopefully expect with total confidence, it is true and it will happen.

That's faith.

Okay?

Based on what God said.

It's based on actual promise.

It's concrete.

Okay.

Anyway, this is basically the difference between faith and hope.

Hope is, last half full, trust in the goodness of God.

Things are going to go well.

Faith is a hopeful confidence in what God said is true.

Even if I've never seen it yet, that's okay.

God said it.

I read it.

There's a Bible that has what God said in it.

And because he said it, I believe it.

Okay.

So, an example of what this looks like is Abraham.

We're going to open up and read a little bit about the man who's called the father of faith.

Romans 4, 3, it says,

What does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

God said a thing to Abraham.

He said, you know, multiple things.

One of the things he said is, hey, I'm going to give you a son.

I'm going to make you, I'm going to make your offspring, you know, like the stars in the sky.

And he believed it.

At that moment, God says, you are righteous because you believed this thing that I said that you have no experience of.

You didn't have an expectation of it.

And as we'll read a little bit here, you're already past the time when that could happen naturally.

Okay.

Okay.

And so, Abraham's believing said something about how he viewed God.

He said, if God said it, it has to be true.

It has to be true.

He believed God.

Because God said it, I believe it.

And God credited it to him as righteousness.

I want to read a little bit more about this story in Romans 4, starting in verse 16.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith.

This is speaking of salvation here.

Okay.

This is speaking of the promise of the free gift of righteousness through faith in Jesus.

And it's using Abraham as an example, but it's a little of the context.

Therefore, the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring,

not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.

He is the father of us all.

As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations.

He is our father in the sight of God in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead

and calls things that are and calls things that are not as though they were.

Awesome little turn of phrase there.

It's a God who brings life from the dead and says something that is not as if it is.

God can do that.

He's God.

Okay.

No one else can do that, but God can do that.

Continuing.

Continuing.

Against all hope, Abraham and hope believed and so became the father of many nations.

Just as it had been said to him, so shall your offspring be.

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old

and that Sarah's womb is also dead.

Now pause here.

Sometimes we can think of faith as sort of just ignoring reality.

Okay.

That's not what it is.

He faced it.

It's like my body's good as dead.

I can't have a kid.

And my wife's womb's dead.

She can't have a kid.

These are just the facts.

There's nothing that we can do to help this thing along.

God said we're going to have a kid, but we have no agency to fulfill that promise.

There's no work in front of us to do to move like a little bit towards it.

Nothing.

I got to face the facts.

There's nothing I can do about this at all.

That's what you do.

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God,

but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.

He was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised.

He was persuaded of two things.

I can't do it.

God can do it.

And it will happen.

That's faith.

That's faith.

I want to continue here.

What does this have to do for us?

What does this have to do with us?

It has a lot to do with us.

Verse 23.

The words it was credited to him were written not for him alone, but also for us.

To whom God will credit righteousness.

For us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

He was delivered over to death for our sins.

And was raised to life for our justification.

This is how God can say a sinful person can be righteous.

It's by faith.

God said,

When Jesus died,

you died.

And he poured out his blood for your sins.

And God put our sin on him.

Okay?

And forever believes in Jesus.

God puts our sin on him and his righteousness on us.

He calls the things that are not as though they were.

He brings forth life from the dead.

On what basis?

Because God said it.

It has this much to do with our experience up until that point.

Okay?

You might have had zero experience of what it means to be free from the burden of sin and the guilt that weighs on you.

Zero.

No power to say no to sin.

Okay?

Well, the best thing to do is just face the facts.

I've tried everything already and it ain't working out.

Okay?

My body's as good as dead.

You know, Sarah's woman's dead.

That's facing the facts.

And it's good to face the facts.

It's good to face the facts that you are a sinner.

And that there's nothing you can do to make yourself right with God.

But he didn't stop there.

There's another man who is righteous.

And for all who believe, God will take that righteousness and count it to you.

He will call the thing that's not as if it were.

And it's amazing.

Okay?

That's righteousness by faith.

This is why Abraham is the father of our faith.

Anyway.

I'm going to move on here.

Why is faith essential?

I think we're already hitting on it here.

Salvation.

Okay?

Faith is essential for salvation.

Hebrews 11 verse 6 says,

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God,

because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists,

and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Without faith it's impossible to please God.

People try to please God naturally by their own efforts.

God says,

Live righteous and you will do well with me.

And so they try.

And they try to live righteously.

And the more they try to live righteously,

the more they find that they can't.

And so they try harder.

It's because it's not according to faith.

It's impossible to please God except by faith.

Through this other way that God has made to please him,

which is through his son.

We just talked about this here.

Without faith it's impossible to please God.

Hebrews 4 verse 2 says,

Hebrews 4:2

We also have had the gospel preached to us just as they did,

but the message they heard was of no value to them,

because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

So faith is essential.

We can hear the gospel.

We can know the right answers.

These are like the know the right answer person.

They can say the words.

They can articulate to you what it means to be saved.

They can articulate maybe even what the gospel is.

But they're not combining that message with faith,

like actual trust.

Not putting my trust in that to make me right with God.

I'm putting trust in what I can do to make myself right with God.

It's impossible to please God that way.

And it makes the gospel of no value to us.

Okay?

Romans 3 verse 21 through 25 says,

Romans 3:21–25

That's everybody.

Everybody has fallen short of the glory of God.

There's not a single person who isn't in this category other than one man.

His name is Jesus Christ.

All have fallen short of the glory of God.

And are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

whom God put forth as a propitiation,

or in other words,

a payment by his blood to be received by faith.

It's a free gift,

but it's not an automatic gift.

We have to receive it by faith.

This is key.

The gospel, it says,

The gospel is preached to this other group of people,

but it didn't help them.

It didn't profit them.

Why?

Because they did not combine it with faith.

You have to actually believe it for it to do it.

So faith receives the promises of God,

and it starts with the promise of salvation through Jesus.

Without faith, all these promises in the Bible,

they have no value to us.

Okay?

Because you can't work towards a promise.

A promise is not some,

it's not wages.

Wages are what you get when you do a job.

You know,

I go to work,

I work my job,

and I get a paycheck.

Okay?

Even Stephen.

I did a thing,

and I got paid for it.

Promises aren't like that.

Promises are,

they're free.

And you don't merit them.

God gives them to you.

But you have to receive it by faith.

You can't say,

well,

I worked for a half of that.

You know?

I mean,

I didn't do it for perfect,

but I worked for part of it.

I did as much as I could

to try to fulfill the requirements of that promise.

Surely you're going to give it to me.

No.

No.

No.

That's not how you get a promise.

All the promises are through faith.

God is glorified to give gifts.

Who's glorified when they get what's due them?

We are.

Okay?

God is jealous for his glory.

That's why all the promises of God

are according to faith,

beginning of salvation.

So what's the opposite of faith?

2 Corinthians 5, verse 7 says,

2 Corinthians 5:7

For we walk by faith,

not by sight.

I think this is a really helpful

way of phrasing

or kind of give a different perspective

on what unbelief is.

So the opposite of faith,

opposite of belief,

is unbelief.

But Paul says,

we walk by faith,

not by sight.

Okay?

So unbelief is basically,

it's walking by sight.

It's not just the absence of faith.

Like, I don't believe in anything.

You know, I'm just a nihilist.

It's not like that.

You actually believe in things.

You actually believe in a lot of things.

But you believe in things that you can see.

You believe in things that you can do.

You believe in things that you've experienced.

Things that seem reasonable.

Okay?

You walk by sight.

The Bible also calls this confidence in the flesh.

Okay?

And it's,

it is the true biblical opposite

of what this saving faith is.

You're putting your faith in a lot of stuff.

But it's not in what God has said.

And that is,

like the phrase,

believe in yourself.

Okay?

Really popular phrase.

Believe in yourself.

I mean,

you might as well just say unbelief.

Okay?

Believing in yourself

is confidence in the flesh.

Yeah.

And if there's anything

that God calls me to do

that I can't do,

well, it's just like,

well, sure,

you didn't mean that.

You know?

So maybe I'll try to adjust

what the Bible has said

about that thing

to make it something

that's a little bit more achievable.

Because I'm looking at myself

and I say,

well, I can't do that.

You know,

Jesus says,

if you look at a woman

to lust after her,

you've already committed adultery

in your heart.

I've heard so many guys

just start immediately

trying to do gymnastics with that.

It's just like,

you know what?

Just, you know,

that's impossible.

You know?

What is he saying?

Like, no.

Like, who could?

Well, it's because

you can't.

Just because you can't

doesn't mean that

God can't say it.

Why?

Because it's by grace.

It's God doing something.

He's not setting the requirement

that's according to something

you can do.

He set a requirement

that's according to something

he can do.

Okay?

So, I mean,

that's just an example,

but it's essentially

believing in yourself.

You know,

we say this thing

a lot of different ways.

You know,

trusting in yourself,

trusting in your own effort.

You know,

it's all the same thing.

It's just unbelief.

Your confidence isn't a thing

because otherwise,

you know,

you wouldn't be able

to function as a human being.

You have to have faith

in something.

That's just not faith

in the one thing that matters.

Okay, Romans 9,

Romans 9:30

verse 30,

through 32,

and then the first part

of chapter 10

talks about this.

It says,

What then shall we say

that the Gentiles

who did not pursue righteousness

have obtained it,

a righteousness

that is by faith?

So interesting.

They weren't even trying.

They weren't even pursuing righteousness.

And they got it.

Wow, that's crazy.

By faith.

But Israel,

who pursued a law of righteousness,

has not obtained it.

Why not?

Because they pursued it

not by faith,

but as if it were by works.

For being ignorant

of the righteousness of God

and seeking to establish their own,

they did not submit

to God's righteousness.

For Christ is the end

of the law for righteousness

to everyone who believes.

So unbelief,

it manifests.

It manifests.

It's got to tell.

Okay?

How do you know

someone's in unbelief?

You don't know my heart.

How can you tell?

Well, there actually is a tell.

Unbelief manifests

as pursuing righteousness

by your own efforts.

You'll never arrive.

Okay?

We were talking about this

a little bit last night

about like the image

of like a carrot

dangling in front of a horse.

You know, the horse

is pulling a carriage

and you can, you know,

dangle the carrot

in front of them

and they're always trying

to chase the carrot

and they never get there.

It's like that.

Okay?

Unbelief manifests

as pursuing righteousness

by your own efforts.

God commands

a certain standard

in his word

and you're going after it

as hard as you can

with everything in you

and it's actually a sign

that you don't believe in God.

It just seems,

it seems counterintuitive.

But remember

what we just talked about here.

There are two groups of people.

One attained to righteousness

and they weren't even pursuing it.

And another missed it

and they were.

Why?

Because they were pursuing it

as if it were by their own works

and not according to faith.

They felt they could do it.

It just kind of shows

the arrogance,

you know,

the inflated confidence

they had in their own ability

to do what God

is calling them to do.

So,

unbelief,

believe in yourself,

walking by sight,

trying to attain

your righteousness

by your own effort.

These are all

the opposite of faith.

Okay?

You know,

you get the two extremes.

Faith is on one end.

It's trusting what God has said.

It's not just

blind faith

where you just are sort of

hoping things are going to turn out.

Like,

that's not what it is.

It's God has said something,

therefore I believe it.

On the other end,

it's God has said something,

so I'm going to try as hard

as I can to do it

by my own effort.

And those are,

they're opposite of each other.

So,

faith comes by hearing,

hearing by the word of Christ.

Faith is the assurance

of things hoped for,

the conviction

of things not seen.

It's being convinced

that God said it is true.

Okay?

And I want to read,

I want to read

some promises.

22.

22 promises to believe.

I want to encourage all of us

just to believe these things.

Number one,

all the promises of God

are yes

in Jesus Christ.

I love that you sing that song

this morning.

This is very timely.

2 Corinthians 1,

20 says,

for no matter how many promises

God has made,

they are yes

in Christ.

You want to get

the promises of God?

They come through

a person.

One person.

If you try to get

those promises

outside of that person,

you can't get it.

How does God

give us his promises?

Through one man,

Jesus Christ.

He's the mediator.

A mediator is someone

who goes between us

and God.

As many as the promises

that God has made,

they are yes

in Christ.

Okay?

And if we have Jesus

by faith,

we have access

to all the promises

of God.

Number two,

salvation.

This is the number one promise.

We've got to get straight

on this one first.

Number two,

salvation is through

faith in Jesus Christ,

not by works.

Back to the Abraham passage.

How did he finish

that whole thing up?

What was the point

of this illustration

of Abraham believing God

and facing the facts

about how dead his body was

and it's not able

to actually produce

any of the promises

that God's saying,

but he still believed God

and he grew strong

in faith.

And because of that,

God fulfilled it.

What was the point?

That is why his faith

was counted to him

as righteousness,

but the words

that was counted to him

were not written

for his sake alone,

but for ours also.

It will be counted to us

who believe in him

to raise from the dead

Jesus our Lord,

who was delivered up

for our trespasses

and raised for our justification.

The point is,

we can have salvation

through faith,

not by works.

And God did it for Abraham.

He'll do it for us.

Number two,

sin will not be

pastoral view.

This comes from Romans 6.14.

It says,

for sin will have

no dominion over you

since you are not

under law,

but under grace.

Not only does he

save us from the penalty

of sin,

the blood of Jesus

washes us clean,

he also gives us grace

to say no to sin.

And there's a promise.

Remember,

this is not a command.

He didn't say,

make sure sin doesn't

reign over you,

which there are

other commands,

but you start with a promise.

It's not going to happen.

It's an amazing promise.

It won't be master over you.

That's how I approach

saying no to sin

is not do better,

try harder,

but God said something.

And even if I haven't

really experienced it yet,

he said it.

I've never experienced

saying no to sin,

but he said it.

I'm going to believe it.

You know,

I couldn't do anything

to pay for any of my sins.

When that debt

stood between me and God,

there wasn't a single thing

I could do

to take that debt away.

So God had to do it

through Jesus.

Well,

why do you think

it's any different

for the powers

in your life?

You think there's

a single thing

you can do

to break the power

of sin in your life?

No.

It's a promise.

God said it.

In Christ,

sin will have no

dominion over you

any longer.

You're not under the law

anymore,

you're under grace.

Number four,

there is now

no condemnation

for those who are in Christ.

That comes from

Romans 8,

Romans 8:1

verse 1,

which says,

there is therefore

now no condemnation

for those who are

in Christ Jesus.

Okay?

Very straightforward.

You're not condemned

anymore.

You have the same

relationship with God

that Jesus has.

If you're in Christ,

do you think Jesus

is insecure about

his relationship

with God the Father?

He has no reason

to be.

He's perfect.

He's God.

Guess what?

Through Jesus,

you get the same

relationship.

Therefore,

there's no condemnation.

You have the same

relationship with God

that Jesus has.

It's amazing.

Number five,

Christ freed us

from the law

that condemns us

and motivates

self-righteousness.

It says this in,

you get this from

Romans 7,

Romans 7:4

verse 4 and 6.

It says,

likewise,

my brothers,

you have also died

to the law

through the body

of Christ

so that you may

belong to another,

to him who has been

raised from the dead

in order that we

may bear fruit

for God.

But now we are

released from the law

having died to that

which held us captive

so that we serve

in the new way

of the Spirit,

not in the old way

but the written code.

There could be

a whole sermon on that.

But suffice it to say,

we're not married

to the law anymore.

We're married to Jesus.

And he's a totally

different husband.

The law has very

high demands

and doesn't help you

with any of it.

Jesus came to fulfill it.

He's the one who does it

in us.

It's by the Spirit.

Number six,

Christ does a better job

living the Christian life

than we do.

This comes from

Galatians 2.20.

It says,

This is Paul speaking,

I am crucified

with Christ.

Nevertheless,

I live.

Yet not I,

but Christ liveth in me.

And the life which I now

live in the flesh,

I live by the faith

of the Son of God

who loved me

and gave himself for me.

There's another

part in Galatians here

where Paul talks about

his conversion

is the revelation

that Christ was in him.

It pleased God

to reveal his Son

inside of him.

That was his conversion.

He discovered something.

Jesus came to live

inside of his heart.

And that is really

the secret of the Christian life

is we're trusting Jesus

to be himself.

Okay?

I can cease

from trying to

do this on my own

because Jesus Christ

came into my heart

and he lives inside me

and I can trust

that he's going

to be himself.

And he's a lot better job.

He does a lot better job

being himself

than we do

trying to imitate him.

Okay?

Number seven,

in a similar way,

Christ removes

our religious masks.

This comes from

2 Corinthians 3

2 Corinthians 3:12–13

verses 12 through 13

and 16 to 18.

And I'm going to paraphrase this

because it's probably

a little bit too long

of a passage,

but it talks about

this veil

that Moses wore

over his face

when he came down

from the mountain

with the Ten Commandments.

His face is all glowing.

And he would wear this veil

so that people

wouldn't see

that the glow

started to go away

over time.

He liked to keep

that first impression.

Okay?

But Paul says

for those who

are in Christ,

he says the veil

is actually done away

in Christ.

It says when one

turns to the Lord,

this veil is removed.

And where the Spirit

of the Lord is,

there's freedom.

And we all

with unveiled face

beholding in a glass

the glory of the Lord

are being transformed

into his image.

This is the secret

of being vulnerable.

This is the secret

of not putting up

like a religious show

to other people

about how good you are.

You know,

how are you doing?

Great, brother?

And you've had a horrible week.

You know,

you're struggling

with some serious sin.

But you can't say that

because then the glory

will come down.

They'll think less of you.

We all struggle

with this stuff.

But in Christ,

he takes away.

It's amazing.

And you can actually know

if someone's turning

to the Lord

by whether or not

they're still

wearing their mask.

And it's very liberating.

When the mask comes off,

it's super liberating.

One of the most loving

things you can do

to somebody

is just stand

on this promise

and just be open

with people about your sin.

Okay.

I'm going to read

these faster.

We're only

seven in.

Okay.

Number eight.

Christ will preserve

his sheep.

This comes from

John 10, 27-28.

He says that

they will never perish

and no one will ever

snatch them out of his hand.

This is a promise.

Again,

those are promises.

Number nine.

Christ will be with us

in making disciples.

The Great Commission,

the end of Matthew 28,

Matthew 28:19–20

verse 19-20,

says,

Go therefore

make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing in the name

of the Father and Son

and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe

all that I have commanded you.

And behold,

I am with you

always

to the end of the age.

One of the biggest holdups

in people

getting the courage

to share the gospel

is because they feel

that they're doing it alone.

You're not.

Jesus Christ is right there.

Do you feel insecure

sharing the gospel

if you got to do it

with the Lord Jesus Christ

bodily,

there in presence?

I mean,

talk about like

a confidence booster.

I mean,

that's the way he's saying it.

That's the point.

He's with you.

Number ten.

His power is made perfect

in your weakness.

Second Corinthians 12,

9 says this.

He said to me,

this is after Paul's praying

that God's going to take away

this thorn in his flesh,

this whatever it was.

I don't know.

He didn't like it.

Whatever it was.

He felt like it was

holding him up

from doing what God

had called him to do.

He said to me,

my grace is sufficient

for you,

for my power

is made perfect

in weakness.

Therefore,

I will boast

all the more gladly

of my weaknesses

so that the power

of Christ

may rest upon me.

It's a lie

that the weaknesses

in your life

are preventing you

from doing

what God has called you

to do.

It's actually good.

You can trust in God

and his power

made perfect

in your weakness.

So these promises

are awesome

just to shut down

the lies of the devil,

by the way.

Number 11,

the Holy Spirit

will give us power

to be Christ's witnesses.

This comes from Acts 1.8.

He says,

you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit

has come upon you

and you will be

my witnesses.

We can get baptized

by the Holy Spirit

and God will give us

power to be his witnesses,

both in life

and in words.

And we need it.

You know,

that deep sense

of insecurity

and just like,

you know,

maybe like,

maybe some of you

struggle with this,

maybe some don't

as much,

but the thought

of going and being

a witness to somebody,

sharing the gospel

like a stranger

is just like,

ugh!

You need to be

filled with the Holy Spirit.

The disciples went

from being these

super insecure,

fearful guys

to just being

filled with boldness

after the day

of Pentecost

because they got

baptized in the Holy Spirit.

You will receive

power.

We need to be

baptized in the Holy Spirit

and he'll do it.

Number 12,

the Holy Spirit

leads us into all

the truth.

John 16,

John 16:13

verse 13 says,

when the Spirit

of truth comes,

he will guide you

into all the truth.

You're worried

about not understanding

the full counsel of God,

not understanding

like everything

the Bible teaches,

everything I need to know.

There's a promise here.

The Holy Spirit

will lead you

into all the truth.

Be entrusted.

Do you believe it?

Number 13,

Christ will build

his church.

This comes from

Matthew 16,

18.

Number 14,

Christ gives the gifts

to build his church.

So he's going to do it.

He says,

the gates of hell

will not prevail against it.

I'm going to do it,

not people.

I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it

through people,

but it's me.

I'm the boss.

I'm the one

actually doing it.

And to do that,

it says,

he will give gifts.

That comes from

Ephesians 4,

Ephesians 4:7–8

verse 7 through 8.

But grace was given

to each one of us

according to the measure

of Christ's gift.

Therefore,

it says,

when he ascended on high,

he led a host of captives

and he gave gifts to men.

He's going to build

his church

and then he's going to

set each member

in the body

as he sees fit

with the diversity

that gets the manifold

grace of God

in order to do it.

He's going to do it.

He promised it.

Verse 15,

or number 15,

Christ gives leaders

for the church.

So much of the gifts

continuing in Ephesians 4,

starting in verse 11 and 12,

it says,

he gave the apostles,

the prophets,

the evangelists,

the shepherds and teachers

to equip the saints

for the work of ministry

for building up

the body of Christ.

He promised he's going

to do it.

And he's going to give

the right ones.

He's going to give

the right kinds of ones,

not all the same.

Evangelists,

pastors,

teachers,

apostles,

the whole deal.

He's going to do it.

Number 16,

the Father will discipline

us for our good.

This comes from Hebrews 12,

Hebrews 12:6

verse 6.

It says,

for the Lord disciplines

the one he loves

and chastises every son

whom he receives.

Jesus says in another place

in Revelation,

he says,

those whom I love,

I rebuke.

How do you know

you're a child of God?

He gets bankers.

Okay,

they look a lot different

when you're an adult,

but still,

he keeps you

in his love,

he disciplines you,

he will not let you

get away

with your own

selfish stuff.

That's awesome.

You know what that is?

I love you.

You're my kid.

If you weren't my kid,

you can do whatever you want.

It's a lot different

when we're God's kid.

When we're God's kid,

no.

I love you.

I'm going to discipline you

for your good.

Number 17.

Discipline produces

peaceful fruit.

This comes from

Hebrews 12, verse 11.

Hebrews 12:11

This is a related note here.

For the moment,

all discipline seems painful

rather than pleasant,

but later it yields

the peaceable fruit

of righteousness

to those who have been

trained by it.

That's good for us.

It's also good

for parents with kids.

Okay?

It's not fun for anybody.

The Bible commands us

to spank our children.

Okay?

To discipline them.

Kids don't like it.

Parents don't like it.

It's not pleasant.

It's painful.

But what happens afterwards?

It yields peaceful

fruit of righteousness

to those who have been

trained by it.

And we just got to trust

this is God's word.

These are his promises.

This is the same for us, too.

No one likes getting disciplined

by the Lord

when they're going through it.

It's painful.

But you know what?

On the other side,

there's peace.

There's peace.

Just kind of as an aside,

you see kids

who have been raised

in kind of like

a gentle parenting

kind of mindset.

No peace.

I mean,

they're just on hints

because they've never been,

this has never happened to them.

And when we,

that's a picture

of when God just leaves us

to our own devices,

you know,

interest-led parenting.

You just do whatever you want.

There's no consequences.

There's no peace

on the inside.

That anxiety

just builds

and builds

and builds

because God

has baked something

into our heart code

that says,

if you love me,

you won't let me get away

with doing wicked things.

And every time

you let your kid

get away with something wicked,

you know what?

You're telling them,

I don't love you.

And it brings tremendous peace

when the Father

comes into our life,

he washes us clean from sin,

and he leads us

to repentance

by the Holy Spirit,

and he starts disciplining us.

Security.

Peace.

I don't enjoy discipline,

but man,

I have peace with God.

This is amazing.

The same is true

with our kids.

Okay.

Wrap it up here

just a few more.

19,

he puts the lonely

in families.

This is a promise.

This comes from

Psalm 68, verse 6.

Psalms 68:6

God sets the lonely

in families.

He leads out

the prisoners

with singing,

but the rebellious

live in a sun-scorched land.

So if you're lonely,

come to the Lord Jesus.

You know,

get right with him.

But no,

this is true.

God puts the lonely

in families.

And if you have

pervasive,

consistent loneliness,

and

like,

just consider.

Just consider something.

There's a reverse

side of this coin.

The rebellious live

in a sun-scorched land.

Like,

some of the most

lonely people

I've met,

I've been surrounded

by people

just trying to reach out

to them,

trying to help them,

trying to hang out.

But wherever they go,

they still just feel lonely.

Misunderstood.

Well,

it's actually saying

something about

what's going on

in their vertical

relationship

more than something

about what's going on

in the horizontal

relationship.

And God won't let

them feel lonely

until that gets right.

Okay?

So,

you know,

I kind of say that

as an aside.

If that's your experience,

I just encourage you,

come to the Lord.

Okay?

Come to the Lord.

Get a restored

relationship with him.

And trust him.

This promise is true.

He's going to put you,

he's going to remove

that loneliness,

he's going to put you

around other believers

in a familial environment

where you feel

that closeness.

Okay?

Number 20,

he works all things

together for good

for believers.

This comes from

Romans 8, 28.

It says,

and we know

that for those

who love God,

all things work

together for good.

How many things?

All of them.

Bad things?

Yes.

Good things?

Yes.

Things that you

expected were going

to happen?

Yes.

Things you did not

expect were going

to happen?

Yes.

All of them.

For those who are

called according

to his purpose.

So there is a

clarifier here.

This is not just

God works everything

together for good

for everybody.

This is God works

everything together

for good for those

who love God

and are called

according to his purpose.

Remember,

his purpose comes

a little bit earlier

in this chapter

that we would be

conformed to the image

of his son Jesus.

Is that your purpose?

Or you got another

kind of purpose?

Your purpose is the same

as God's purpose.

Guess what?

It's impossible

for anything

in your life

to not work

together for good.

Nothing.

It all has to work

together for good

because you're called

according to God's purpose.

It's an amazing promise.

21,

faith results in rest

from our own efforts

to please God.

We've already talked

about this,

but I want to share

a specific promise

in Hebrews 4

that speaks to this.

It says,

for we who have believed

enter that rest.

For whoever has

entered God's rest

has also rested

from his works

that God did

from his.

It's a real thing.

Christians work

really hard

by the grace of God,

but the true,

a believer

who has entered

God's rest,

they're free.

Okay?

I don't have to do

anything to please God

anymore,

so I'm not going to try it.

That sounds really scandalous,

but it's true

because I've realized

something through God's work

that there's only one man

who pleases God.

His name is Jesus.

There's only one man

whose works

were sufficiently righteous

to please God.

Jesus.

When I believe that truth

and I enter into

his rest

and his righteousness,

there's a result.

I stop my attempts

to try to please God.

And it's very free.

It's a very liberating life.

We obey

not because we want

to be saved,

but because we have

been saved.

It's just a different motive.

Last one,

it's good to consider

with all these things,

that faith

is the gift of God.

This comes from

Ephesians 2,

Ephesians 2:8

verse 8.

It says,

for as by grace

you've been saved

through faith,

and this is not

from yourselves,

it is the gift of God.

So,

God gives it.

So I just want

to encourage you,

if you're lacking faith,

if you want more faith,

or you don't even know

if you have it at all,

there's a promise

in Matthew 7

that says,

ask and it will be

given to you,

seek and you will find,

knock and it will be

opened to you.

Ask God.

Okay?

Just give it up to the Lord.

Say, you know what,

I resonate a lot more

with walking by sight

and trusting in what

I can do

and what seems reasonable

to me

and believe in yourself

type of thing

than I do with the whole

God said it

and I'm absolutely convinced

and it's going to happen.

So,

if you're in that

first category,

just repent

and ask the Lord.

Say,

Lord,

I want this real deal.

I want the real thing.

And if you have

the real thing

and you've been walking

in more of that

category of walking

by sight,

we can repent.

The Holy Spirit

leads us to repentance

and we can remember

the promises of God.

There's another promise

in Colossians,

or it's a command

that says in Colossians,

as you receive

Jesus Christ the Lord,

so walk in Him.

The same way

you came to Jesus

on day one,

walk in Him

like that today.

How'd you do it?

By faith.