Fact-Check Your Faith - Part B

When you live a life of faith, not everybody is going to give you their approval. They're not going to cheer you on, necessarily. They're not going to be clapping for you or encouraging you.

But you'll have God's approval. Here's the question you have to ask yourself, is that enough for you? Where do we begin today? A brand-new way to connect with Pastor Skip and this ministry is here. It's text messaging, and we have a welcome video from Pastor Skip ready to send to your mobile device when you join this new group. Just text the word Connect to 74759. It's that simple.

Text Connect to 74759 to join for on-the-go content. Here's a resource that will help you understand and articulate the path to real, lasting freedom in Jesus. Freedom is precious, and in human history, not common in governance. America was built on the cornerstone that man is endowed by his creator with rights that cannot be taken away. Our government was formed to secure existing rights, not provide them. But there is a higher, permanent liberty, the freedom from sin.

The truth. If you want to fix a broken political system, you need to infuse it with truth and expose ourselves to the truth of the Word of God. True freedom is ours, but we need to understand the terms. That's what you'll find in our freedom package of resources by Skip Heitzig. The package features Skip's 10 full-length message set of your path to freedom messages, including Securing the Foundations and Jesus in the Age of Confusion. The freedom package is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig.

So request your freedom package today when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer, or call 800-922-1888. Now, we're in Hebrews 11 as we join Skip for the conclusion of his message. So the Syrian army camps around where he is, where Elijah and his servant Gehazi are. And the next morning, the servant of Elijah Gehazi looks around and sees armies on the hellsides all around him, and he freaks out. He says, what are we going to do, master? We're surrounded. And the Bible says that Elijah said to his servant, do not fear, for those that are with us are more than those that are with them. Now, I'm sure the servant of Elijah didn't understand the meaning of that. What do you mean there's more with us than with them?

There's a whole lot of them. I just see two of us. Then he said, Lord, I pray, open his eyes. Open his eyes. And it says that the Lord opened his spiritual eyes to perceive that the angels of God were encamped around the Syrian army, more in number than the Syrian army itself. So before, the servant of Elijah was looking out saying, poor us. Now he's looking out and saying, poor them. They're surrounded.

They're dead meat. So both of them were able to see into the spiritual realm, and because they did that, things changed. Faith is the organ by which we are enabled to see into the invisible order. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, those three Hebrew children. That was their Babylonian names. Nebuchadnezzar gave an order. They defied the order. The king said, well, you defy my order.

I'm going to throw you into this burning fiery furnace. So what did these three guys do? Do they obey the king that they can see, Nebuchadnezzar? Or do they trust in the king they can't see? They can't see, but they know he's there. They decided to put their faith in the one they cannot see, but knew was there, and it changed everything for them. That's how substantive faith is.

J. Oswald Sanders put it this way, faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as the present and the invisible as seen. So it's not to be marginalized. It's not unsubstantive.

It's not backwards. It's not just illogical. It's substantive. So the fact check we need to bring into every situation is I serve a God who is bigger and more powerful than this virus or anything else. So that's the essence of faith. Second is the effect of faith. That's verse two. The effect of faith is this, for by it, that is by faith, the elders obtained a good testimony.

Now pause for a moment. What does that mean? For by it, by faith, the elders obtained a good testimony. Well, it could mean a couple of things. Number one, as is translated here in the New King James, it could mean that these people listed in Hebrews 11, these Old Testament examples of faith left a good witness. In other words, they were a good example.

They were a wonderful pattern to follow. Or it could mean that they were a good testimony before God, that God is approving of their witness. And probably that's what it means. The New Living Translation translates verse two, God gave his approval to the people in the days of old because of their faith.

NIV is very similar. This is what the ancients were commended for. So the idea is that God approved of their life.

And that is fully supported. If you go down to verse five, it brings up Enoch as an example. By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death and was not found because God had taken him. For before he was taken, he had this testimony or this witness that he pleased God. But without faith, it is impossible, verse six, to please God for he who comes to God must believe that he is that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

So the experience of the people of faith is they leave a good witness to the world and God gives them his stamp of approval. They're pleasing to God, which, by the way, should be our motivation in life, by the way. Our motivation in life, the New Testament calls it glorifying God. Jesus called the cross his way of glorifying the Father. Father, glorify yourself. The time has now come for you to be glorified. So the idea is I'm going to live my life to please God.

And they had that. This is the effect of faith. When you live a life of faith, God is pleased. Second Corinthians, Chapter five, Paul writes, We make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to God.

That's our goal and aim in life. Jesus said, I always do those things that are pleasing to him. Don't you wish you could say that? I wish I could say I always do those things that are pleasing to God. I can't say that. I'm working on it. I'd like to.

I want to get better at it. But Jesus could say and live that way. I always do those things that are pleasing to him. But that's the effect of faith.

When you live a life of faith, you leave a good witness and you get God's stamp of approval. Another one of my favorite stories is a story about a group of entertainers. You're gonna like this, Ryan, because you grew up in this industry. They were a group of actors, minstrel singers, and they formed a little group and they would travel through European towns playing at taverns and places where people could pay a modest amount for a ticket and get good entertainment over a meal. But it was turning from fall to winter. It was getting colder.

An economic downturn in the economy, like now, was happening. Less people were coming out. And the group was getting discouraged.

So one of them said before a performance, they looked out and saw just a couple of people sitting in the chairs, and one of them said to the whole group, I think we should just not go out tonight. I think we should just quit. Look, nobody's coming.

It's starting to snow outside. Fewer and fewer are coming to hear us. It's really not worth the effort anymore. So let's just call it quits. The oldest and more experienced man who had been in this group a long time said to the younger man who was saying this, he said, No, I think we owe it to those people who are here to give our best performance ever. This may be the last time we do it. After the night, we can reevaluate, but let's just give it our best shot.

And then, after the night, we'll discuss it. They went out, gave the best performance they ever had to just a few people. It was dark so they couldn't see who's there, but afterwards, the old man was handed a note, he opened it up, he then shared it with the whole group that said, Thanks for a beautiful performance, and it was signed, Your King. The king of that realm happened to be coming through, happened to hear about it, go inside. They didn't know their king was there. They got to perform for their king, and they won their king's approval. Boy, that changes a person's motivation when you know, I'm doing this for my king.

And my king might say, I love that, or how come you didn't put your heart into it? So, that's the effect of faith, for by it, the elders obtained God's vote of approval, you might say. When you live a life of faith, not everybody's going to give you their approval. They're not going to cheer you on, necessarily. They're not going to be clapping for you or encouraging you, but you'll have God's approval. Here's the question you have to ask yourself, is that enough for you? Really should be, because if you know that you're pleasing God, if you know you're pleasing God, I can almost guarantee you. No, I can guarantee you, it's going to be enough.

You're not going to care who likes it or who doesn't like it. The biggest payoff to the life of faith is knowing that God is pleased with your life, and then there's another payoff. There's heaven afterwards. There's home afterwards. You're not home yet. You're not done yet.

You still have a welcoming committee yet ahead. So, that's the essence of faith and the effect of faith. I want to give you a third component, and that is the example of faith that the author gives us. That's in verse 3. Now, he gives several personal examples later, but he begins with a grand example.

Here's the example. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Now, there's a lot in that verse.

I want to unpack it for you. Again, before giving any personal private examples, the author gives this colossal public example of faith, and that is creation. Creation. He's assuming that the audience believes in the creation narrative, the creation story. By faith, we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God. Notice it doesn't say, we understand the world singular was framed by the word of God, but notice it's put in the plural, worlds.

It's the Greek word ionios, worlds plural. So, the idea here is the universe. That'd be a better translation. By faith, we understand that the universe was created, the physical universe was created by God. Here's what the author is saying. You Hebrews, he's writing to the Hebrews, you Jewish people already have a certain kind of faith.

That's his example. You already believe that God created the universe. You believe this even though you weren't there when it happened. The only way you're certain of it, you rely on it, is because it was revealed to you. The word of God tells you that.

That's what he's saying. It was revealed to you, you weren't there when it happened. How do we know the world was made? How do we know the universe was created? By scientific observation? No, because no one was there to observe it that I've met. Have you met anybody who could say, I was there when God created the heavens and the earth?

No. Nobody was there to see it, only God was there. Do we understand it by laboratory experiment?

No, because we can't replicate the original set of circumstances to observe it over and over and over again to come up with fact. We believe it by faith. We believe it because it was revealed by God. Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God created out of nothing. Ex nihilo creation. Out of nothing, God created everything.

Now I realize, I've been around long enough, I have a little bit of a science background. Unbelievers automatically dismiss God and a life of faith whenever we talk like this. Whenever we talk about a creation, they see this as simplistic, they see this as crude, they see this as naive.

When in fact, Genesis chapter 1 verse 1, there was one short verse, is incredibly precise and neatly sums up the truth. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Back in 1903, a scientist by the name of Herbert Spencer said that everything in existence can be put into one of five categories. One of five categories. Time, force, action, space, matter.

Everything in existence can be put in one of those five categories. Time, force, action, space, and matter. That happens to be Genesis chapter 1 verse 1.

In the beginning, that's time. God created, that's force. The heavens, that's space. And the earth, that's matter.

All five categories placed in one verse. We believe that. That's something we apprehend and know by faith. It's faith that informs us that the first uncaused cause is not an impersonal process known as evolution or theistic evolution even, but it's the result of a personal God.

He is the first uncaused cause. God created the heavens and the earth. Instead of saying billions of years ago there was an explosion and rubber was bubbling forth and metal was bubbling forth and a car oozed up eventually out of the pavement.

Go out in the parking lot and you'll see it. Whenever we see something that looks like it's been designed, we infer there is a designer behind it. If I look at this set, I could say it's amazing how this just happened over a long period of time. We came here one day and the rugs were here, the couch was here, the surfboard was miraculously here, and the guitar... No, you say that and say you're an idiot if you believe that. This design set speaks of a designer and there are very capable designers, some of who are watching online, one who is present or a couple who are present in the other side of the campus who can attest to the fact that yep, they designed it. So when you see design, you think there is a designer.

It's a very powerful argument, the argument by design. It comes from an axiom. Whenever there is a thing, there must have been a preceding thought. Whenever there is a thought, there must have been a thinker. Somebody had to think that up and then put that into reality. So if that's true with a car or this set that we're coming to you with, it's much truer of the human body that God created. You could think this is just the product of fortuitous occurrences of accidental circumstance or you could say, boy, it sure seems like this human body has been designed.

I love to look at these things and I love to research these things and read about them. The human body has 30 trillion cells. Tamara, did you wake up this morning thinking, I have 30 trillion cells.

Wow, not your first thought. So in each human body are about, give or take a few billion, 30 trillion cells. In each cell is the nucleus, right?

You learned about that in school. And inside the nucleus are millions of components. In every nucleus, there's 23 pairs of chromosomes, right?

You know about that, right? Mom and Dad put those there or you get it from there. So your chromosomes, the DNA inside every nucleus of every cell, it's like scrunched up material, scrunched up coded information written into that DNA. If you took the densely recorded information recorded in the DNA of one nucleus of one cell of your body and you translated it into words, okay, readable language, you took the information of one cell of your body, it would produce 40 these, 40 volumes, 40 books. So if you took one of your cells, decoded it, put it in written language, you would have a stack of 40 books. If you were to do that to all of the 30 trillion cells in the human body, it would fill the Grand Canyon 30 times with books.

That's how much information which tells each cell how to act from conception to expiration, to death. So verse 1 through 3 then that gives us this life of faith, it tells us that faith is the lens that we as believers, as Christians, believers use to live our life. We look at life, we look at everything through the lens of biblical faith, not the lens of fear, not the lens of a feeling, not even the lens of facts, factual information, because facts can change depending on who's giving and using the facts. So we need to fact check our facts, we need to fact check our fear, we need to fact check our feelings with the life of faith. So to sum it all up, this is the essence of faith, faith is a solid confidence that moves you into action. It's a solid confidence that when you jump, your dad's gonna catch you. That's the essence of it.

The effect is you get God's stamp of approval on your life, you are pleasing God, you are glorifying God, you are leaving a good testimony and a good witness for others. And the prime example, before giving personal examples, is the creation that we believe was given to us by God. It's God's design. So what the author of the book of Hebrews would be saying is now it's your move.

Now it's your move. You have a rudimentary faith that God created everything. Your faith is substantive enough to give you a solid foundation. It's winsome and wonderful enough to leave a good testimony and it'll please God. So what are you doing with it?

I'll tell you what you're doing with it. You are exercising it right now, right now, in this difficult time. You're going to the gym with your muscle of faith.

You're getting a workout and you're getting stronger because of it. The last few months, and I've talked about this enough and I don't need to belabor it, but I do want to say that I've been under the care primarily of two physicians, one for my back and one for my brain. Interestingly, I let both of these physicians take scalpels and cut into my body. I got to tell you, they explained to me what they were doing. I kind of did a lot of this. I didn't have a whole lot of questions. I had a few, but I didn't understand everything. You know, I hoped that they knew how to connect the dots and sew the right parts together and put the right screws in and make the right holes in the right places, but I let them do that.

I had to at some point disengage how I felt with their capability and the result has been so far so good. I mean, some people will disagree. That whole brain thing kind of left you a little wonky. But I want to ask you a question. Are you needing to fact check your life of faith? Because right now, for some of you, it's being challenged by immense fear. You wake up in the morning or in the middle of the night fearful. And again, as I said, faith is a muscle that needs to be exercised. It's exercised so that it grows stronger. That's what exercises faith. Struggles, hardships, uncertainty, hard times. Most of you know I like motorcycles.

I always have. I grew up in a family. My dad had motorcycles. My brother had them.

Brothers had them. The only one that didn't ride was my mom, but we all rode. And whenever I put a passenger on the back, here's what I noticed. Passengers on the back of the motorcycle, as long as we're going smoothly and not too fast, they're just sort of balancing. You know, they're maybe holding onto the seat if it has a strap or a handle.

But I notice something if we take a turn or go over a bump. They grip. They grip tighter. They might grab a hold of me. Or if they're grabbing a hold of me and they get a bump, they'll grab tighter.

Now is time for you to grab tighter, firmer, hold on closer. Jesus knows what he's doing. He's having fun, taking you on all these wild turns and curves and bumps.

He's not worried in the least. He's got you. He's got this.

Grab tighter. That's Skip Hyting with a message from his series, Fact Check. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, here's Skip and Lenya to share some exciting news about a trip to the Holy Land. Well, if you've ever dreamed about visiting Israel, let's make that happen. Lenya and I are leading a tour group to Israel next summer in 2024. We'll start up north visiting Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in Jerusalem, see the Temple Mount, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room, and more. Now visiting the places where the Scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived out his earthly ministry, it never gets old.

That's why I keep going back. Join Skip and I and our friend Jeremy Camp next summer in Israel. See the itinerary and book this Israel tour with Skip Hyting and Jeremy Camp today at inspirationcruises.com slash cabq.

That's inspirationcruises.com slash cabq. Be with us tomorrow as Skip begins a message all about fact checking your worship. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Hyting is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.