 What is real faith and do you have it? I was asked today what is real faith that kind of give a description of what real faith is and how does that look? The kind of faith that saves us. You know anyone can believe, say they believe, with their mouth, even have a head knowledge and understanding that Jesus did die on the cross. We can believe that. But clearly that sort of faith, that basic faith, that generic faith, that's not the kind of faith that we're told is the one that saves us. Sometimes though people need to have it maybe drawn out, having a vivid picture painted before them, an illustration to see exactly what it means to have that sort of saving faith. Now before I go to that, before I give an illustration, I think there's going to kind of make the point. Let's go and look at what the Bible says about faith. Let's go to of all places, none other than Hebrews chapter 11. It says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. This word here, this elekos, which is the Greek word that means conviction. There's this proof. You are you, no matter what, you have this conviction about you that what you believe in is true. So it says faith is the assurance of things hoped for. Not just a basic hope. I hope it would rain tomorrow. I hope it's sunny tomorrow. I hope my team wins. No, this is an assurance. I'm fully confident. I'm fully persuaded. That's what this assurance says. It says the conviction of the things I've not seen. So I don't see it, but I'm fully convinced of it. Look what it says for, buy it, the people of old receive their commendation. And so it goes through who received this commendation, the people who had faith, people of old. We're not going to look at all of them, but just to kind of get an understanding and you'll see if maybe perhaps there's something in them that you can see in yourself or you can kind of get a good understanding or idea of what it means to have actual faith. The word that we're speaking of faith, trust, belief, same word. So let's go ahead and look into it. It says verse three, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. This is not saying that God needed faith. That's not the point. The point that's being made here is that we have faith. After all, we weren't there. So we have faith. By faith we are assured, we know for a fact that the universe was created by the word of God. Let's keep going. Verse four, by faith able offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain through which he was commended as righteous. Let's stop there for a second. So by faith, God tells them to do something. We know God tells them to do something because there is a right way and a wrong way. Able, according to this passage and according to Genesis, he obeyed correctly. By faith he did. So in other words, he was told to do something to gain God's favor or gain God's delight. And he did so. Able, I'm sorry, Cain did not. Why? Well, apparently Cain just didn't have the same level of faith, but able did. Able believed that if you do this, then it would be pleasing to the Lord. And I want to please the Lord. So let me do that. Let's continue. He says that this God commending him by accepting his gifts and through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. In other words, Able's faith is still commended. Even though he died, all we know about Able is two things. One, he died, but he died as a result of his faithfulness being carried out. His brother was jealous, but two things we know. He was faithful and he died. But even now, what's in the annals of history, according to the scripture, is his faithfulness. That speaks volumes. Let's continue. He said, and through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. Verse five, by faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not taste death. In other words, Enoch trusted God. Remember, guys, we're speaking to people who don't even have a cross to look to, but they trusted God. And because of that, God said that he was a person who, he was a noble person. He was a faithful person. He honored Enoch and so that Enoch never tasted death. He took him. He took Enoch. Look what he says, because God had taken him now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. So God found favor, delight in Enoch. Look what he says. And here it is. And without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists, that he is God, and that he rewards those who seek him. I was getting ready to say it in kind of the way that I understood it, the way that I've memorized it, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And I think that's an appropriate translation as well. But he says that without faith, without trusting him, it is impossible to please him. In other words, if you have no faith in God, and how do I determine if I have faith in God or not? Well, faith is borne out by what we do. If I've got faith that the weatherman is telling the truth and that is going to rain tomorrow and I'm leaving the house, what will my faith in the weatherman's word do for me? Cause me to take my umbrella. If I've got faith that it's going to be 110 degrees, then my faith in that is going to cause me not to wear a sweater, not to wear a big wool coat, but I'm going to dress appropriately. We do that all the time. The problem is though we have faith in other things more so than we have faith in God, because if we know that God means what he says, if we trust it, then we will obey, we will walk accordingly. Now let me give you an example. And some of you have heard me give this example in the past, but let's say I have faith in this chair and I'm weary, my legs are tired, my feet hurt, I need rest and I see this chair. The chair looks like it can hold me. I believe I have faith, I trust that this chair can hold me. How do I demonstrate faith in this chair? I sit down. But more than just sitting down. I don't just sit down and what I don't do is I don't brace my feet on the ground just in case the chair can't hold me. I don't brace my feet on the ground. I don't grab a hold of the desk just in case the chair falls. So if it falls, I'm ready with my feet and my hands can hold me up. I don't add an extra brace. I don't hang wires or chains from the ceiling attached to the chair just in case the legs get out, get out. No, I have complete confidence in this chair. And so what I do, I rest in it. I let it bear my entire weight and I'm at ease. I give no thought to the chair being able to sustain me. I just trust in it. And so I can work confidently. I can work comfortably doing my work knowing that this chair is holding my way. It's the same thing with God because I believe that God will sustain me because I believe what He has done for me on the cross. I trust in that. I trust in Him implicitly. And so I abide in Him. I relax in Him. I'm just comfortable in Him. And so when He leads me to do this or to say that, then guess what? I do that. When He says something in His Word, I trust that His Word is true. When He says, just keep holding on to me, I keep holding on to Him. Here's my test one. You all have heard it. At my very worst, at my very worst in prison, even when things got bad, my mother passed away while I was in prison. They took me out of the general population and put me in what we call the shoe, the hole. Some places may call it solitary confinement. Hadn't done anything, just some kind of way I got mixed up in somebody's computer system and they thought that I needed to be taken off the compound. That was rectified, but I spent several months back in the shoe by myself. My mother just passed away. I'm in the shoe. Hadn't done anything wrong. I had been serving God faithfully. I asked her one thing. Can I at least get my Bible out of my property? They let me get my Bible. Had my Bible. And then I received a letter from the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals telling me that my legal course of action was now defeated. I had no way even out of the course to leave this prison. I at least held some sort of hope that through the laws, through the courts, that they'll see my explanation in this charge and realize that I'm not guilty of the charge. What have you? I won't go into that, but I thought I had a good chance of winning. You know what happened? The letter came back and said your appeal has been denied. And so all of these things are happening all at once. At the worst possible moment, I'm as alone because in the shoe, you don't get to make phone calls. Now you get one phone call per month for 15 minutes. That's all you get. And because of that, you would have thought that all of these things happening that I would have just lost it. But no, my faith carried me through. You know what I did? I smiled. At the worst possible moment that looked like when things were happening, I smiled because I knew, you know what? It doesn't matter, God. I've got you. I've got you. I've got your word. That's good enough. No, things aren't working the way that I want them to. Things aren't going the way that I would like them to, but I've got you. That's what faith looks like, ladies and gentlemen, that if throughout, in spite of the odds, I've got faith that God is going to see me through. Not necessarily to where I want him to take me to, but faith to know that wherever I'm going, he's with me. And so I smile. I take comfort in him being with me. And the same thing with these men. He says that he is, if you approach him, whoever draws near to God, look what he says, whoever draws near to God, that he must believe that person drawing near must believe that he is God. Very important. Not only that he is God, but that he is a rewarder. I'm using the version that I'm used to and I've memorized, but he says that he rewards those who seek him, a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, constantly seek him, even though things are not going right. Lord, that doesn't matter. I'm still coming to you. I'm not seeking. As we say, I'm not seeking his hand. I'm seeking his face just to be with you, just to be in your presence. That's the kind of faith that I have in you. Not in the things that you can give me. You can give me what you want or not give me anything. But as long as I've got the first thing from you, which is your blood sacrifice and now your presence, I'm good. Ladies and gentlemen, that's how our faith ought to be. One, that it doesn't matter what the circumstances are. As a matter of fact, our faith looks past the circumstances into what he says. That is saving faith, not an intellectual faith, but a saving faith. Amen.