Speaking to yourselves, teaching
one another, admonishing one another in songs, hymns and spiritual
songs. Somebody fearful and worried
and doubtful, just sing that song to them. The more secure
is no one ever. God's people. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11. As most of you know, we've looked
at this chapter more than any other in all of God's Word. We've done a message on every
single person listed here many times. There's a reason for that. And I was just reading this for
myself. I love this, I love this. These
are stories of people just like us and people in the world just
like us and all that they went through and they lived by faith. These are believers whom God
has given this gift of faith. See, by grace you say, the sovereign
electing grace of our God. God chooses whom he will, and
reveals Christ to them and in them. They're his elect. And he comes through the preaching
of the gospel, reveals the true God, what they are, sinners,
and Christ, the sinner's substitute, the sacrifice. And they believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives them repentance, faith,
salvation of the Lord, every part of it. He's elected by grace,
you say, through faith. He says, he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved. Well, faith doesn't save us. Christ saves us. But everyone
whom Christ died for, the Spirit of God gives this faith in Christ. Belief, trust, confidence. And we live by faith. Not only
have life, eternal life, the gift of God's eternal life, His
Son in us. But our life from then on, when
we're born again, we live on this earth by faith, not sight. We look to our Lord. We look
to His Word. We believe Him. We trust Him. We have confidence in Him. And
we are taught by Him, led by Him. The world doesn't see Him.
The world doesn't believe Him. We live by faith. And these people did that. And
actually, like James wrote a whole book, faith without works is
dead. Faith is not just saying you believe God, believe Jesus.
Everybody says that. And James says, show me. And
so faith is the gift of God. The scripture says it's the working
of His mighty power. the operation of God, to make
a human being do what they cannot and would not do except by the
power of God. And these illustrations, these
examples of all these people, they had faith, God-given faith. It's just another word, listen
to it. Faith is just another word for life, eternal life. This is what the life of God,
The grace of God will do through His people. These examples, okay? Because God gets all the glory.
These people are born of God, they believe God, and God gets
all the glory for everything they did. Right? Or if God hadn't worked in them
the will and the do of His, they wouldn't have done it. You with
me? I don't want to repeat that again.
But it might. See, I'm not bragging on faith. I'm not bragging on these people
at all. We're boasting in the Lord who
gives this faith. Verse 1, faith is the substance
of things hoped for. What do we hope for? Eternal
life. It's the ground, it's the confidence. What makes us think
we're going to have eternal life? God promised it to them that
believe Christ. So, is that good enough? Is that
good enough? I believe. Well, he said, well,
you have eternal life. It's evidence of things not seen.
There was a time I did not believe. There was a time when I did not
care for these things, right? The love of God was not in my
heart. I loved the things of this world more than anything.
I didn't want any part of it. Well, this power of God, the
gospel, came and worked in me, the working of His mighty power.
Like Saul of Tarsus, you now believe, don't you? I do. You
love this, don't you? I sure do. A new heart, written
on the heart, he said in chapter 10. Verse 2, by faith, elders
obtained a good report. I started to name this, a good
report. The elders obtained a good report. Look at verse 39. They all obtained
a good report. You remember the spies going
into Promised Land? They came back with a good report.
It's good. It's all good. Joshua and Caleb, they had this
faith. They believed. Their faith was a good report. Our Lord said of Caleb, he's
followed me fully. He's going in. He believes me. Good report. All these people,
they brought back a good report. And they all went in. I went
in. I want that to be said of me.
A good report. Look at verse 3. By faith we
understand the world is refrained by the Word of God. So the things
which are seen are not made of things which do appear. That's
the Creator. It begins with the Creator. begins
with God. The whole Bible begins that way.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. We
believe that, don't we? Clearly. The world doesn't believe
that. And I was saying Wednesday, why
would you believe, why would you listen to people that say
there's no God? Why would we put any credence
to anything they say when they say there's no God? I'm not going
to listen to those people. I'm going to listen to my Creator.
Who's the Creator? John 1 says Jesus Christ is. That's how the Bible begins,
that's how Matthew begins, the generation of Jesus Christ, He
who made life, how John 1 begins, Romans begins, the Gospel of
God, the Son of His Son. He is God. This whole book of
Hebrews begins this way. God, sundry time, the divers
matter. And it quickly says, Jesus Christ is God. And then
the whole book is about what Jesus Christ came to do. Not
try to do, but what He did. John, I thought if I get off
on any of these other chapters, I'll stick there. Now once and
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. It's a false gospel that says Jesus Christ died for every
single human being, and your faith makes the blood effectual. That's heresy. That's a false
gospel. Nobody's ever been saved by that. This whole book speaks of Jesus
Christ, who He is, why He came, what He did, who He did it for,
where He is now, and what's going to happen. What? I read, I'm
stuck, that's fine with me. I read where it says, He's sitting
at the right hand of the majesty on high, expecting His enemies
to be made His footstool. He ain't outside anybody's heart's
door. He's seated, expecting. He's enemies. I've got to holler
this. I'm going to open all the windows
and doors, stop every passerby you don't understand. You're
shaking your fists in the face of God, and you're not going
to win. But if God had been for us, Who's God for? Those that are
for His Son. Those that bow to His Son. That needs to be said every time
we stand up to Him. Christ came, put away sin. He did it. Put away sin of His
people. And this is every believer believes. You're not a believer if you
believe in evolution. You're just not a believer. You
don't know God. You don't know the truth. You're
not a believer if you believe in some kind of creationary evolution. No. And to believe that God is
a creator means He made us. That means He can do with His
own what He will and He does. Don't you? If you make something,
God's the potter, we're the clay. Every believer knows that. We're
clay in His hands to do with as He will. And nobody can say
anything about it. Anybody who believes anything
less than that doesn't know God. It begins this way. Doesn't it
begin this way? We believe He's created. And
if He created us, He owns us. If He owns us, we're answerable
to Him. He's our judge. He's our owner. We're in His hands to do with
as He pleases. What does that create? What does
that put in every person that believes this God? Fear. That's where it begins. The fear
of the Lord. That's where faith begins. He's God. Whether you
believe in one of His children or not, you believe He's God.
It's the first thing you understand. He's God. And He can save you
or damage you. Alright? Now, look at the first
illustration. Abel. What did Abel bring? Blood. Verse 3, 4. Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness he was righteous. God testified of his gifts, and
by it he being dead yet speaketh. We're still talking about Abel's
sacrifice. Why did Abel bring a dead animal,
the blood thereof? Because God's holy. Because he
realized that his father and mother and man sinned in the
garden and fell and cast out of the presence of God. And God's
holding you. You can't come into the presence of God. But by substituting,
he heard this from his parents, Adam and Eve, didn't he? Like
Cain did. They said without God, we saw the God. We saw Christ
take an innocent lamb without spot and without blemish and
cut its throat. shed its blood, it died that
we wouldn't have to die. God said, the day you eat, you'll
die. Well, we didn't that day. God
killed a substitute in our place. That's what Adam and Eve told
both these sons. A substitute in our place. God is holy. We
rebelled against it and he's holy and he showed us. Now you
can't come into my presence without blood, without faith in a substitute,
a sacrifice, an atonement for your sins. And He covered us
in that skin of that lamb. And that's Christ. That's the
Christ that's coming. That's the Messiah that's coming.
That's the substitutes that's coming. That's the sin offering.
That's the burnt offering that's coming. Christ to put away sin. Abel, Cain, Boaz. God's holy, you can't come to
this God with your works. No, it's blood. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. Well, Abel, God convicted him
of his sin. There's only one way you'll come
to God by Christ, and that's the conviction of sin. I'm a
sinner. I deserve to die. And he came
before God and said, this lamb, this sacrifice, It's what I deserve. This is
what I'm pleading. A substitute to die for me. Christ to come. I'm a sinner.
I need a substitute. Here's the blood. Accept the
blood for me, would you please? Cover me in his righteousness.
God said, accept it. Isn't that our sign? Accept it
in the blood. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the believer."
That's what every single believer, that's how they come to God. No exception. They know God's
holy, creator, and do with us as we will, and he ought to cast
us out, like he did Adam and Eve. But God, rich in mercy,
sent Christ to substitute a blood offering, and we come like Abel. There's no exception. They come
with the blood, the blood of Christ. And God accepts it. I have an outline here, faith's
understanding. I didn't give you that. We understand
creation. But the first thing is faith's
sacrifice. See, God doesn't accept anything
we do, but He accepts everything Christ did on our behalf. That's
faith sacrifice. Here's faith's walk. Look at
verse 5. Enoch, by faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. He was not found because God
had translated him, transferred to a different place. Transformed. Before his translation,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Verse 6, that without
faith it's impossible to please Him. That he that cometh to God
must believe He is. You see that? Must believe God
is. The Creator, our Sovereign, our
Holy, just God. And that Christ is God, our substitute. And He's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Seek me, you'll find me. In chapter 5 of Genesis is where
the story is found. You don't have to turn. It's
the story of Enoch and it says that Enoch walked with God. Enoch walked with God. Now the Scripture says, how can
two walk together except they be what? Agreed. Alright, now here's the thing. Here's faith. Enoch walked with
God, not the world. You can't walk with God and walk
with the world. The world is headed a different
direction. There is a way that seemeth right
to man, the end is destruction. And when God turns His people,
what does He do? He turns us from that way to
Himself, to walk with Him, by faith in Him. Enoch walked with
God, not with the world. He lived in the world. He wasn't
of the world. He didn't walk according to the
course of this world. He did it one time. I believe, according
to Genesis 5, that Enoch was 65 years old when the Lord saved
him. Is that what you give? He was 65 years old? And it says,
then he walked with God and he bore sons and daughters. He was
married. He had a family. One time we
looked at Enoch, and he walked with God. He was a believer in
a world like us. He lived 365 years. How many
children did he have? If he'd been like my niece, Luke's wife, he'd have had 400. You know the trouble, the responsibilities
you have. the troubles he had, the debts he had, how hard he
had to work, how many jobs did he have to support all these
men. At any given time, he might have
had 20 teenagers living under the same roof. Woo! But he walked
with God. He still believed God. He worshiped
God. You walk with God, you worship
God. You come where God is, with God's people. Right? That's where God said. Where
are you going to be, Lord? Where two or three are gathered.
That's where I'll be. With God. With God's people. Worshipping
the Lord. It's my life. This is the life of faith. You
see? It's like marriage. It's not like one day you say,
am I going to go home or not? You married, you loved life. He walked with God, talked with
God, communed with God, had a relationship with God. They were in union
together. He had the mind of God. Can two
walk together except to be agreed? He agreed with God on everything,
which means he pretty much disagreed with everything the world says. Right? Let God be true. This is what Enoch said. Let
God be true and every man learn. We soon found out, did we? The
flood is the next chapter. The flood. We found out who's
true. The whole world destroyed. Enoch said, I'm walking with
God. I believe God. Now man's not going to go against
the world of his own will. Boy, when the word of God and
the gospel of God and the power of God comes, he will. Everyone
will. This is what faith does. Faith
says, I believe God. I believe Christ. And if anybody
walks with me or not, fine. If not, I'm going to walk with
God. Elijah thought, I'm the only
one. Didn't he? I'm the only one. No, Elijah,
there are more, but most of God's people feel alone in the workforce. By the way, that first man, Abel,
was the first separation in family. When the truth came and one believed
and the other didn't, there were only two brothers on earth and
they were separated by the truth. What does that tell you? Two
religions on earth. Grace and works. And that divides
this whole planet. And everybody believes there's
going to be that division. There's going to be that division
in the family. Faith sacrifice, faith's walk, look at faith's
fear. Don't you love this? Verse 7, by faith Noah being
warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear. He was warned of God. Of what? God didn't tell him he loved
everybody. Did he? You won't find that word in that
chapter. He said, the whole earth, he
said, it repented me that I've made man. I won't destroy him.
God hasn't changed, and man hasn't changed. And our Lord said, as
in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man
be. Didn't he? Noah heard the warning. Chosen by God again. Loved by
God. Had the truth revealed to him
by God. And God warned him. And Noah moved with fear. What
did he do? What did he do? Prepared an ark. God said, Noah, I'm going to
destroy this whole planet and everybody in it. But there's
one place of safety. There's one refuge. There's one
salvation. for all these guilty sinners,
whoever, whosoever. And it's an ark. And Noah's name
means rest. That's Christ, isn't it? He's
our Noah. And he said, but I'm going to save the people through
you, Noah. And you're going to build this ark. You're going
to build this ark. The story sounds like Noah built that whole
ark by himself, doesn't it? Why is that? Because Jesus Christ
did do the work by himself. He said, Noah, with you have
I seen righteous in this generation. With you have I had my covenant.
Noah, with you, you're going to save mankind as a species. You're going to save everybody
that I bring to you and put in the ark with you. Noah, you're
the savior in this ark. Build this ark. Build this refuge. Build this place of safety, Noah,
and bring them in. That's Christ, isn't it? That's
Christ crucified. That ark bore the wrath of God.
But every single animal that was in that ark was saved. But fear. Noah moved with fear. Does it
not say that our Lord feared? He was heard in that And he's the one that did this
work of salvation to the saving of his house. And everyone that
believes, though, every single person like Noah that believes
is going to tell his family, is going to tell his wife, Noah
said to his wife, honey, we've got to be in that ark. You're
coming with me. We're going in that ark. Shem, Ham, Japheth,
I don't want to go there. Get up, boys. If you're not in
that ark, you're going to perish with the rest of the world. Get
up. Get up and come with me." Noah
said, for me and my house, if I have anything to say about
it, I'm going to be in that ark. He believed. Did he believe?
The saving of his house. Faith's fear for war. Look at
faith's journey. It says Abraham, when he was
called to go out to a place, verse 8, he should have to receive
for an inheritance. He obeyed, went out, not knowing
where he was going. But by faith he sojourned in
the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. He looked
for a city which hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God.
This is faith's journey. And it starts by leaving home. Abraham, when he was called,
and he was 75 years old, he went out. He was an idolater, people. He lived at Ur of the Chaldees.
That was Muslim. Islam. It's that old, isn't it,
brother? Islam. That's what he was. But
when God called him, he left idols to serve the living and
true God. He left his father's religion.
to follow the true God, the true Christ. He left. That's where
this journey starts. Come out from among them. He
brings us out of our idols, out of our Father's house, out of
this world. And he sojourned, verse 9, in
a strange country, dwelling in a tabernacle, tents. He knew
he didn't have a permanent dwelling place. He lived in tents with
Isaac. And even Jacob, didn't he? All
his life. We know that, don't we? That
we dwell in a tabernacle, a temporary dwelling. We know that. And we're strangers and pilgrims
in this land, looking for a city, journeying through this city
like Bunyan's Christian pilgrim. He's leaving the city of destruction. He's got his eyes set on the
celestial city. We're going to look at that in
a minute. You saw it far off. Look at faith's strength. It
says in verse 11, Sarah herself received strength to conceive
seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age. She judged
him faithful who had promised. Sarah was 90 years old, wasn't
she? And God said, you're going to
have a son. And she laughed. And God didn't laugh. I said,
why does Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Here's the picture.
Sarah was a 90-year-old woman, like Abraham was an old man,
and God appeared to him. Can you convince a 90-year-old
woman of anything? Let me ask mother, she's the
only one in here. Can you convince a 70-year-old?
There's a few of those in here. 60? 50? Can you? You're pretty much set in your
ways, aren't you? I'll tell you who must and who will. Our Lord. We'll convict, we'll
convince, we'll overcome, we'll create faith. She received strength to receive
seed. She had a child born. It's impossible. You see the picture? A man can
receive nothing now except to be given from above. And as many
as received Him, as many as received the truth, they have the right,
the privilege, they're sons of God. But how did they receive
it? Where did they get this faith?
How was this son born in them? How was this faith born in them?
God. The power of God. She received
strength. That is, working of His mighty
power in her. He said, you have strength. You
have life now. That's a picture of faith. My
wife's grandmother was 70. Was she 70? Somewhere around
70 years old. Well, she's a pretty hard-headed
woman. An independent woman. And a very
knowledgeable woman. A very talented woman. capable
woman in many things. Just very, very almost, what
do you call it, feminist. Well, she came to hear her son,
Eddie, brought her to hear my pastor one time and she sat there
and she just, she just shook her head like this. I don't like
that. She was First Christian Church
or somewhere. Methodist, Methodist, same thing.
She'd shake her head like that. And she'd say to Eddie on the
way home, he contradicts himself. She didn't know a thing about
the Bible, but she was picking it apart, trying. She just sat
there like this. Well, after a little while, her
head stopped shaking. A little while later. A little while later, a 70-year-old
woman getting in that baptistry. I believe. She received strength. See, faith is not an act of the
human will, it's an act of God. It's a power of God. See, and
I've heard people say that. I'll never believe that. You
will if God operates on you. And from then on, you won't believe
nothing else. No way. Can't do it. Faith strength. Faith confession.
Look at this. I'm in 28 minutes. I've got a
timer right here. 28 minutes. Stay with me. It's faith confession. Look at
this. It says in verse 13, these all
died in faith. lived in faith, and they died
believing the same thing, the same one, that is. They didn't
vary. They didn't change. Their theology
didn't change, ever. God's holy. We need a substitute
Christ. He's our only hope. God's to
be feared. They never quit fearing God. They believed God. They rejected
the world. Never changed. Not with the enlightened
age, or modern society. We've learned more. Oh, man. It's never been further from
the truth than it is right now. Never. Well, faith's confession. Here it is, verse 13. These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but saw them afar
off by faith, were persuaded of them. Faith's persuasion. Are you persuaded? Of what? Him! It's not just doctrine. With the heart man believes.
The sign of righteousness comes into your heart. If you believe Him, you're persuaded
like Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded of
Him. Persuaded, embraced. Embrace
them. That means lay hold of and hug. There's some people in here that
hug you. You can't hardly get away from
them. They just hug you and hug you. Well, that's fine. They must
love you. Right? You don't hug people you
don't love. Embrace is to hug. It's to lay hold of and hug and
say, I don't want to lose you. Jacob said, I will not let you
go until you bless me. Embrace. This is faith embrace. Boy, you love this truth. I'm not going to let hold. I've
laid hold of my comfort and by God's grace, I'm going to hold
on this to the end. Everybody's going after this
and going after that. Here's something new. I don't
need something new. I want the old paths in a good
way. I've got rest for my soul. Like
every single believer before me, rested in Christ alone. Now you can have all that. I've
laid hold of Christ by faith. How about you? Faith is confession. It says
they confessed, verse 13, strangers and pilgrims on the earth. This
is not my home. This world is not my people. They confessed. And here's faith's
desire and faith's hope. It says in verse 14, they that
say such things declare plainly. They seek a country and truly
if they've been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they'd have thought about that place, they'd have gone
back, they'd have had opportunity to return. But now, but now,
by the grace of God, the power of God, the work of God in them,
they desire, their desire is a better country, heavenly. So
God's not ashamed to be called their God. They're not ashamed
of the gospel. He's not ashamed of them. He's
prepared for them A city. A city. And that's their desires. Like David said in Psalm 27, he said,
one thing have I desired of the Lord. And that's what I'm going
after. Lord willing, Wednesday night
we're going to look at Psalm 92 where it says, they that be
planted in the house of the Lord. Planted. I want to be like that. Planted. And my desire, by God's
grace, is to be here. That's how you know the Lord
has done a work of faith in you. That's how you know the Lord
has really done a work in you. You really desire to be here.
You're not here because you have to be. You're not here because
you're supposed to be. You're not here because it's
your duty. You're here because you desire. It's your love. Right? And if that's not there, it won't
last. If your desire is not to Christ and His people and His
kingdom, it won't last. Eventually, something or someone
will tear you away. But here's faith's desire. Let
me just read this to you in closing, okay? Naomi said to Ruth... Now, the Lord had done a work
in Ruth, a pagan girl. She said, go back. Your sister-in-law
has gone back to her people, her gods. You go with her. Go
on. Go back now. There's a door. I'm going back to where God's
people are. Bethlehem. She said, please, entreat me
not to leave you. This is what God's people say
to Christ. Please, I don't want to go back. To whom shall we
go? Oh, let me follow you. I just want to follow you. Where
you go, I want to go. Where you lodge, where you dwell,
that's where I want to lodge. Your people, they're my people.
This God is my God. Where you die, oh Lord Jesus
Christ crucified, I will be crucified with you, buried in baptism. There I'll be buried. I'll be
buried in baptism. You told me to confess you, I
will. I have, I will. One of the ladies said the other
day when talking about baptism, she said, every time somebody's
baptized, I want to get back up in there again. What's that? Confessing Christ? I want to
tell everybody. He's my hope. There I'll be buried, may the
Lord do to me and more also if anything but death. Is that your
confession? No, by the grace of God, I don't
want to go anywhere. I want to go with God. I want
to walk with God. I want to walk with Christ. I
want to be with His people. They're my family. And my great
desire and my hope is to be with them forever in glory, beholding
Christ's glory, singing His praises. How about you? Is that you? It is every single believer.
All of these things. Every believer. Every believer.
May God make it so. Alright. Brother John, you come.
Number 333. May the mind of Christ my Savior.
333.