It's just called Help and Trials.
We know that there's a lot of folks in the congregation here,
a lot of God's people going through various things, whether they
be things health-wise or heartache or various trials and situations. And if you're not going through
a situation right now, you will soon. Because the believer is
either in trouble, or in a trial, or coming out of a trial, or in the midst of it. We're
either going into one, or in the midst of one, or coming out
of one. It's just part of this life,
beloved. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. or read verses 19-39. Hebrews 10, verses 19-39. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which He hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful,
that promised. And let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works. not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another, even so much the more as you see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully after that which we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no sacrifice for sins.
But a certain fearful looking for of the judgment and fiery
indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sore punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified as an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For
we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense,
saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. But call to remembrance the former
days in which after ye were illuminated, that means you were born again,
you endured a great fight of afflictions. Partly whilst you
were made a gazing-stock, both by reproaches and afflictions,
and partly whilst you ye became companions of them that were
so used. For ye had compassion of me in
my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and more endearing
substance. The next five verses is what
we'll be looking at tonight. Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye
have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of
God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come,
and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul hath no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back into perdition. but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. Now people put a lot of confidence
in different things. Some people put confidence in
their strength. Some people put confidence in
their intellect. Some people put confidence in
their health. But I want us to think tonight,
each one of us who is here and whoever will hear this message,
What is your confidence for your eternal soul? What or who is your confidence
for your eternal soul? Are you trusting in yourself?
And the things that you do to get the heaven? Or are you trusting
in Christ and Christ alone for all your salvation? And we will see that the people
of God trust in Christ alone. In Christ alone for our salvation. And this faith that's being given
to us, and through it we have a full assurance of faith. And
it's in Christ. Only do we have a full assurance
of faith because our faith has one object. And that's Christ,
in Christ alone. And remember that this faith
that we have in Christ is a gift from God. God gave it to you.
You didn't earn it. You never could. You didn't ask
for it. It's a gift. It's a gift. Now we cried out
to the Lord when he made us willing, didn't we? But the gift of faith
and repentance comes from God. Comes from God. And the same God who gives us
this faith is the same God who we looked at in our Sunday school
study this morning. He is the infinite one. The infinite God. He has all
power. He has all authority. And again,
He is bound to absolutely no one. He's obligated to no one. And the fact that He saves us,
beloved, and let us never forget this, the fact that He saves
us is an act of His mercy and grace. A sovereign act of His
mercy and grace. So let's look at, with that in
mind, let's look at verse 35. Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Now Paul
here, in encouraging the Hebrew believer to preserve in Christ,
he's telling them to keep looking to Christ, to put all your confidence
in Him. I'll tell you, if you put your confidence in a man
or in yourself, it'll be your ruin. Put all your confidence,
all your trust in Christ, in Christ alone. And he brings forth the fact,
we will see, he brings forth the fact, look at verse 32 to
34. Paul brings forth the fact that the believer will go through
trials and tribulations. No one's going to get through
scot-free, as a believer. We all go through them. Look
at this in Hebrews 10.32. I was telling Roy a story that
Joe Terrell and I were talking about this week. I don't know
if it was this way for you all, but after the Lord saved me, And I started going around telling
people and my family members that I was saved now. They thought
I was crazy. They wondered what in the world
happened to Wayne. What happened to this guy? And
it happens that way. People think, they wonder what
happened. Joe and I were talking and Joe
brought up an excellent point and said it's a great illustration. Imagine a world full of people
living in the dark. All they know is the dark. They
don't know anything else other than darkness. And imagine one
man being given the ability to see a light all of a sudden.
And he starts telling all those people, I see a light. And they're
all, everyone else is, what are you talking about? You're crazy,
man. We're all born into this world,
beloved, dead in trespasses and sin, with no light. With no light. And when God reveals Himself
to us, when He reveals Christ to us, we see, we go, the scripture,
this is scriptural, we go from darkness to light. And what do
those in the darkness think of us? What? You're crazy. What happened to you? I'm seeing light that I didn't
see before. I'm seeing Christ now. Is it so with you? Oh, it's
so, isn't it? It's so. And so, note here, you
endured a great fight of afflictions. That's trials. That's being tried
for what we believe. Look it, partly while you were
made a gazing stock, both by reproaches, by reproaches for
what we believe, and I'll tell you what, you start talking to
religious folks about what we believe, and it doesn't take
long for them to start throwing reproaches at you. Doesn't take
long at all. When you start talking about
salvation through grace alone, through faith alone in Christ
alone, it does not take long for free will religionists to
start throwing stuff at you real quick. And afflictions it says here,
you are made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions
and partly whilst you became companions of them that were
so used. Well, we became companions with
our brethren. For ye had compassion of me in
my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance. The things of this world do not
have the hold on the believer that they once had. They do not. Everything in this
world is going to perish. But our salvation is sure in
Christ. Sure, beloved. It's absolutely
sure. So Paul is having them remember.
He's taking them back. And you've heard me say this
many times. Look back and see what the Lord has done for you.
See how He's carried you through. And He will continue to carry
you all the way to the end until He takes you home. Paul is having
them remember the early days of faith. When they endured mocking. When they were ridiculed for
their faith. When they had great affliction. when they left the world to walk
with Christ. Now we're still in the world,
aren't we? But we left the world in that sense, didn't we? Oh
yeah. And we know, we know it says
here, cast not therefore your confidence, which hath great
recompense of reward. Well, we know who our reward
is, don't we? It's Christ. It's Christ. And Christ alone, He's our Lord. And I'll tell
you what, absolutely nothing in this world compares to Him.
Nothing. You could pile all the gold,
you know, and people can get happy with having money, right?
And you can pile all the silver, and all the precious diamonds
in this world, and they are absolutely nothing in comparison to our
great God. Now they may make a person happy
temporarily, won't they? But they do absolutely no eternal
good for that soul. Nothing. But oh, the one who
has Christ, as I've said many times, he is richer than the
he or she is richer than the richest man in the world. Because they have Christ. Which
far surpasses all the wealth in this world. which will perish
with this world, but Christ is eternal, and so is our salvation,
beloved. We have eternal life in and through
Christ alone. Let us always remember that.
Let us always remember, as Brother Henry Mahan says, the comforts,
pleasure, and fame of this world are soap bubbles compared to
the glory of heaven. Soap bubble, remember a soap
bubble, you get a soap bubble, it just, boom, just, it goes up for a minute,
and then it just evaporates, it just blows up. That's what
the treasure of this world, that's what the pleasures of this world
is like, compared to eternal things that we have in Christ.
They're just soap bubbles. Just soap bubbles. Look at it
again. Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. So I ask you tonight, who is
your confidence for eternal life? Who is your confidence for eternal
life? If at any point you say self, even a drop of it, then
you have a false confidence. You have a refuge of lies. Because
the believer's only confidence is Christ. If we have received
the gift of God's faith, then our confidence is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. And it's only in Christ. As I've
said many times, He is the only acceptance that the believer
has with God. The only way for a sinner to
be accepted by God is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Outside of Christ, there is absolutely no acceptance with God. And it's
black and white like that. There's no in-between. None at
all. None at all. And our Lord Jesus Christ, for
the believer, oh, He's our reward. He's our exceeding reward, beloved. And those who endure to the end,
and we know those who endure to the end are the ones who are
kept by God. And we have a full inheritance,
beloved. We have a full inheritance in
Christ. And in Christ alone. Reserved
in heaven for us. And it's reserved in a place
where you and I can't mess it up. We can get an inheritance
in this earth, we can spend it all. But this inheritance can
never be spoiled by us. Never. Oh my, do you see how
it's worth far more than anything in this world? Nothing compares
to it. Absolutely nothing compares to
it. Let's look at verse 36. For ye have need of patience,
that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise. Now God's children go through many difficult and painful
trials during this short pilgrimage on our way to eternal glory. And these trials are real, they're
real. As I said earlier this morning,
don't ever downplace something somebody's going through because
it's real. It may seem easy for you what
someone's going through, but that trial for them may be very,
very difficult. See, where you're strong, they
may be weak, and where they're strong, you may be weak. And we know that all of us are
weak in our own doings. We all need grace and strength,
don't we? Every one of us. Every one of us. So don't ever
downplay what someone's going through, because trials are real,
and they're hard, and they're painful. They're painful. Have you ever considered that
no child of God is exempt from trials? Sometimes when we're
in a trial, we think we're all alone. We think, Lord, I'm the
only one who's ever gone through this. No. No. No. We're not the only ones who
have ever went through these things. Trials can come in the
form of health trials. They can be trials of the mind.
There can be trials of the heart. There can be trials in all aspects
of our life, beloved. But have you ever considered
what these trials that we go through, what they do? Have you ever considered what
they do? Here's a couple points. Trials
we go through test our faith. The trials we go through in this
world after the Lord has saved us, they try our faith. If you profess to believe God,
that faith will be tried. It will be. It will be tried. It'll be tried to see if it's
God-given faith, if it's genuine. And life's trouble tend to bring
out the authenticity of our faith or else they uncover a false
faith. That's what trials do. I can't tell you how many people
I've seen who profess Christ and a trial come and they are
just gone. Gone. When trials sweep upon us, it
is as if, as one commentator says, it is as if the master
says, will ye go? Will you also go away? But by his grace, what do we
answer? Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Where would we go? We have no
other refuge, do we? We have no other refuge. The
second point is trials drive a believer to seek the Lord's
face. I remember talking to Sister Marge before she died, and she
told me, she said, Brother Wayne, I thank God for my cancer, because
it's drawn me closer to Christ. It's drawn me closer to Him.
Only the grace given by God can have a saint say that. My, but
it does. Trials draw us closer to God. And we know that by experience,
don't we? We know that. They draw us closer
to God. It is in times of trials that
we often seek shelter in His arms. We spend more time with
Him often when we go through trials. We spend more time with
Him who has loved us and gave Himself for us. The next thing
to consider is trials lead believers to consider that eternal day,
that eternal day when there will be no more trouble. when there
will be no more, when there'll be no more tears, no more tears,
when we will see our Savior face to face. Trials make us think
about those things. Think of that. In glory, we will
have nothing to occupy our hearts or our minds except the majesty
and glory of our great God forever. That's something to think about
when we're going through a trial, when we're going through a situation.
We will see he who has put away our sins. And we will gaze upon
him. We satisfied divine justice in
our place. Another thing that trials do.
That we go through in this life trials that we go through in
life, prepare us for those those trials which shall come tomorrow.
We don't know what tomorrow holds. God knows, but the trials that
we went through prepare us for tomorrow's trials, or the next
day, or the next day. Think of this, if we read the
life of Abraham, we will see that after he left the Ur of
Chaldees, he experienced one trial after another, didn't he?
You find that if you read the life of Abraham, he experienced
one trial after another. And each of those trials prepared
him for what most commentators consider to be the greatest trial
of them all. Take now thy son. Take now thy
son, Isaac, thy only son, whom thou lovest, and get thee into
the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee So all those
trials Abraham went through prepared him. He trusted God, didn't he?
He trusted God. And our trials teach us to trust
the providential care of our great God, beloved. We learn through trials that
our God is truly sovereign. We see his hand. We see his hand
at work over all the trials and tribulations of this life. And
as a result of that, the believer learns to trust him more and
more. Because we grow in our faith, don't we? And we trust
him more. We can look back and say, Lord,
you took me, that was a mountain that I faced. And when I saw
that, I trembled in fear. And yet you took me right through
it. Time and time and time again. And here's the next point, and
I want us to turn to Isaiah 43 for this one. Isaiah chapter
43. Our trials that we go through,
you know what it does? Our trials are times when God
proves His faithfulness. When God proves His faithfulness
to His people. Look at this in Isaiah, and think
of this in light of this text we'll look at. Our trials are
times when God proves His faithfulness. Look at what the Scriptures say
here in Isaiah 43, and we'll read verses 1 to 3. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, what precious words right there, for I have redeemed thee. Christ himself purchased us with
his own precious blood. God incarnated in the flesh.
I have called thee by thy name. We're called with an effectual
calling, aren't we, beloved? Thou art mine. What a tremendous scripture right
there. God says to his people, you're
mine. I bought you, I've called you,
and you're mine. And we know we're His by creation,
but we're His by purchase, too. Because Christ has purchased
us with His own precious blood. And look at this. What a comforting
verse for us, too. And think of this in light of
all the trials. When thou passest through the waters, I will be
with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. How many times in the storms
of life have we thought we're just going to drown? Look at this. When thou walkest
through the fire, thou shall not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God. That's who our Savior
is. Look at this again, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Savior. And every believer can look at
this and go, this is my God. The Infinite One is my Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
and Ethiopia and Sebia for thee. So God proves His faithfulness
to His elect, to His people, time and time again when we go
through trials. He proves His faithfulness to
us. All through this life, God's
faithfulness becomes evident to His chosen people. And think of this, the trials
we experience allow us to comfort others going through that same
trial later. I know we've all experienced
this before. There'd be some trials that you
feel are unique to yourself and then later on you find out that
you're able to comfort someone else going through the same trial.
It's absolutely incredible. It's absolutely incredible. Now when we're going through
a trial, we don't ever think, because no one likes, as I mentioned
earlier today, no one likes going through trials. I don't know
anyone who likes going through trials. When we're going through a trial
though, we don't ever think of these things. But again, a trial that we've
experienced enables us to be a benefit to others. To say to
our brothers and sisters in Christ, God was faithful to me. He will
be to you too. He took me through all that.
He took me through all that. And you can be a comfort to those
who are called to endure a similar trial. And it is only after God has
graciously seen us through a particular affliction or a particular trial
that we can encourage others. Again, speaking of His faithfulness,
speaking of His support while we were going through that, and
speaking of how He sustains us. See, the Lord Jesus Christ, He
died on Calvary's cross for us, didn't He? He suffered the wrath
of God in our place for us. He did that, he redeemed us as
we saw in the scripture there. He purchased us with his own
precious blood, but beloved, he also keeps us. And one day
he will present us faultless before his throne. And see, all
through this life, we have testimonies of the faithfulness of God. And
as I said, when you go through something and you're not thinking,
well, it could be a blessing to someone later on, but oh my,
it happens a lot. It happens a lot. And how honoring it is to our
Lord when His afflicted children, by patient endurance, give evidence
of the reality of the sufficiency of His grace. Because at the
end of the trial, who gets all the glory? God. We give Him all
the glory. We give Him all the praise. Oh
my. And the sufficiency of His grace
becomes a reality for us. It's manifested for us. It's useless to talk about God's
sovereignty and authority and providential care if when trials
come, we complain and like the men of the world, we just go
to pieces. No, God gives us grace, doesn't he? He gives us grace
to endure the trials and tribulations that come our way. Now, we may
get rattled, and we often do. We often do. But have you ever
noticed that God gives you grace to make it through that trial
or that situation? Oh, He keeps us. He keeps us. He gives us grace to help in
time of need, just as the Scripture declares. Just as the Scripture
declares. Oh, may God give us grace to
believe and to trust and to rest in the Lord, who maintains our
cause no matter what we're going through. Who governs all things,
and we know He's working everything together for His own glory. for
his own glory and for the good of his chosen people. We cry
out with Peter, don't we? Lord, help my unbelief. Help
my unbelief, Lord. So let us never forget that every
step we take is according to God's sovereign will. It's not by chance that we are
all gathered together here. When we were born, none of us
knew each other, did we? We didn't know each other from
Adam. You all were down here in the States. I was up in Canada.
We had no idea that God would bring us together by his sovereign
will and by his sovereign decree to be here tonight together.
Ain't that incredible? But it's true. It's true. He works all things together
for his own glory and for the good of his chosen people. And by His sovereign will, our
God chose us in Christ. By God's sovereign will, we are
redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
by God's sovereign will, we are bought into a union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. All by God's sovereign will.
He gave us the gift of faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. All by His sovereign will. All by His sovereign will. Look at verse 37. For yet a little
while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. This speaks of the fact That
the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. He's coming again. He's
coming again and He's coming at His appointed time. And He shall come and He will
not tarry. Now He can't come before His appointed time. Because
there's a time appointed for Him to come. But beloved, He
will not be one second later than the appointed time of His
return. None of us know when it is, but
He knows. And so think of this, knowing
that all our sufferings will soon be over. Because our life
is but a vapor. And by the gift of God's faith,
we patiently wait for this promised return of the Lord Jesus Christ,
don't we? And here is a promise by which
the Holy Spirit inspires our perseverance. For we know that
when the Lord Jesus Christ come, he will put an end to all the
suffering and death and all sorrow. Turn, if you would, to Revelation
21. Revelation 21. And then we'll go back to Hebrews
10, so keep your fingers in there. Look at this, Revelation 21,
verses 4 and 5. What a glorious day this will
be. Now think, this world is a veil of tears, isn't it? Suffering. Things we go through. Things
our loved ones go through. Look at this, though. and God
shall wipe away, verse four and five, and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, no sorrow at all in glory, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, no pain at all, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. And they come from
the one who is true and faithful. My. Can we even imagine a world
or a place where there's no sorrow? Where there's no death? Where
there's no crying? Where there's no pain? The older
I get, I wake up in the morning, the sorer I am. Is it so for
you? No pain. The former things are
passed away. My. Let's go back to our text
in Hebrews 38 or Hebrews 10, we're looking at verses 38 and
39. We'll read these two together. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but
of them that believe to the saving of the soul." So let's consider
verse 39 first. I'd like us to look at verse
39 before we look at verse 38. Now those spoken of in verse
39 who draw back to perdition, they're not God's elect. They
were never given the gift of faith. They professed faith in
Christ. The same one spoken of in Matthew
chapter 7. Who said, Lord, Lord, have we
not done all these wonderful things in your name? And the
Lord said, I never knew you. We know in our study, turn if
you would to 1 John. We know and we'll see this soon
in our study in 1 John. We're closing in on this scripture
within the next few weeks. And look at this in 1 John chapter
2 verses 18 to 20. These would be those who are
spoken of even in our text in Hebrews 10.39. And remember anything that's
against Christ is Antichrist. Anything that's against Christ
is Antichrist. So salvation by man's work is
Antichrist. Anything against Christ is Antichrist. Anything that adds to Christ
is Antichrist. Look at this in 1 John 2 verses 18 to 20. Little children, this is the
last time, and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even
now are there many Antichrists, whereby we know that this is
the last time. They went out from us, but they
were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us.
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. Now let's go back to our text
in Hebrews and we'll see the correlation. Hebrews chapter
10, I'll read verses 38 and 39 again. Now the just shall live
by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul hath no pleasure
in him. But we are not of them who draw back into perdition.
We're not of them who leave the preaching of the gospel, but
of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Why? Because we have an unction from
the Holy One. We have an unction from the Holy One. So we see
in the latter part in verse 39 there, that those who are truly
born again by the Holy Spirit, those who have true saving faith
in Christ, are not of them who draw back into perdition, because
the scripture ends here, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. The believer keeps trusting.
The believer keeps resting in Christ. The believer loves the
gospel. He loves the Word of God. He or she. They love God's
people. We just keep on keeping on only
because the Lord keeps us going. He keeps us. He holds us. He
keeps us. We don't draw back. Now let's consider verse 38.
It says, Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. So verse 38 here tells
us that just live by what? Faith. What then is true saving faith? Turn to Hebrews chapter 11, right,
just right there either on your page or right over, let's read
the first three verses. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. If you can
see something, you don't hope for it. Because you see it. We can't see Christ, but he's
our hope. Now faith is a substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders
obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11.1 gives us the definition
of faith. Now faith is a substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11.3 helps
us to understand verse one. Through 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 do appear. Creation reveals God's handiwork. It reveals God's handiwork. That's
the substance of creation. It will never reveal Christ,
but it reveals that there's a creator. And we know who the creator is,
don't we? It's the word of God. It's the word of God. It's the
one who was made flesh. You know, if I had a knuckle
for every time I heard someone say that they don't need to go
to the church, that they can just, and I used to hear this
all the time out in Oregon, oh my, I can just worship God in
nature. They say, I can go out under
the stars and worship God. Or I can go up in the mountains
and worship God. Or I can go by a flowing stream
and sit there and worship God. I'd be a rich man if I got a
nickel from every time someone said that. You know that unsaved man, we
know unsaved men don't worship God. We don't worship God. And we know that God will not
accept worship from an unregenerate man or woman. We know that. What's our acceptance with God?
Christ. Christ and him alone. And all
our worship, all our praise comes to God through Christ. We're
regenerated, we're born again of the Holy Spirit of God. He's
the head, we're the body. Unregenerate men and women do
not bow down to Christ. They don't confess Christ as
Lord of all, but God's people do. But beloved always remember this
under the preaching of the gospel God the Holy Spirit gives his
chosen blood-bought children faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ Scripture declares this in the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God The same
was in the beginning with God All things were made by him And
without Him was not anything made that was made. And then
a little further down in John chapter 1 it says, And the Word,
the One who created all things, the One who spoke everything
into existence, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us. We beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Wonder of wonders, that same
little baby that was born of a virgin is God our Creator. God our Creator. And let me tell
you, you will not learn that truth out in the woods, or in
the mountains, or by a stream, or looking at the stars. It must be revealed to you. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 11. Let's go back to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter
11. Look at verse 1. Faith is a substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What is it that the true followers
of Christ hope for? When a believer receives the
gift of God's faith, what are some of the things that fills
our believing heart? Beloved, if God, the Holy Spirit
has given us true saving faith, then he has convicted us of sin, of our sin, of our false
righteousness, and of the judgment that's to come. And the believer's hope is in
Christ alone. Nowhere else. And in Christ we
have received a full pardon from God of all our sins. And the
believer's hope is in Christ alone. We have received the righteousness
that makes us acceptable in God's sight. And again, that righteousness
is the righteousness of Christ. And the believer's hope today
And at the great white judgment throne is Christ and Christ alone. We will hear from our great God
on that great day. Well done thou good and faithful
servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.
Every one of God's blood bought people will hear those words.
And we know the only reason we will hear those words is because
of Christ. And because of what He's done
for us. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 4. The believer's hope is eternal
salvation, a longing for heaven. Are you homesick? Every believer
is homesick for heaven, aren't we? Oh my. We have a desire to
see Christ in all His glory. We have a desire to enjoy His
presence forever. As I said, this world doesn't
have the grip it had on us at one time. And Christ is not just our hope
right now, He's our hope every day. He's our hope every day, isn't
He? Every single day. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What is our evidence?
What is the proof of these things that we hope for? God Himself.
God Himself. The promises of those things
we hope for come from God who cannot lie. And he reveals these
truths to his elect, to his elect. How? Under the preaching of the
gospel. See, that's what I said. Christ
won't be revealed to you out in nature, but he will if you're
one of God's people and he chooses to reveal Christ to you, he'll
be revealed to you through the preaching of the gospel, through
the preaching of the word of God. Through the preaching of salvation
in Christ and Christ alone. You can gaze at the stars every
night. You can visit mountains. You can sit down by an ocean. You can sit down by a river,
hour after hour, and never hear the gospel. Never receive the faith of God's
elect. And you perish in your sins.
Why? Because of your unbelief. Because
we're sinners. With that in mind, let's look
at Romans 4, verses 19-25. And we know that Abraham was
a man of faith. And he believed God. He believed
that God was able to perform that which He had promised to
do. Look what the Scripture says about him in Romans 4, verses
19-25. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body, now dead, when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb,
He staggered not the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded that
what he had promised, he was able also to perform. He had
seen God's faithfulness in his life. He had seen God's faithfulness
through all those trials he went through. And he knew that God
was able to perform what he promised. He knew. He knew that. Look at this, and therefore it
was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it is. It was not written
for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for for us
also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him. Do you
believe on Christ? That raised up Jesus. Our Lord
from the dead who was delivered for our offenses and what it
was raised again for our justification. Beloved all works religionists,
including those who are trusting in their so-called free will.
You know what they do? They frustrate the grace of God.
They do not believe that Christ was delivered for their offenses.
They do not believe that Christ was raised for their justification.
No, they are trusting in a refuge of lies. They are trusting in
their own self-righteousness, which will lead to their doom.
If God leaves them there, Those of us who came out of religion,
we just praise God. He didn't leave us there, right?
Oh my, I wouldn't have known no different. Even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins, we praise God. He didn't leave
us there, but we wouldn't know no different. And we'd have perished
in our sins, but we've obtained mercy. We've been, we've been
given grace. We God's grace has been bestowed
upon us. We'd be given faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at our scripture again
in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 38. Now the just shall live by
faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. You know, believers are called the just in this verse.
That's amazing. We who are saved sinners are
called just. Just. And we know That God justified
His people when our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. We
saw in Romans chapter 4 that He was raised for our justification. Beloved, we are the justified
ones. God's law and justice has been satisfied. For us, with Christ dying in
our place. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down
His life for us. Christ cried, it is finished. He cried, it is finished because
He had by Himself purged all our sins. He cried, it is finished because
He had obtained eternal redemption for us. He cried, It is finished because
He had purchased our eternal souls with His own precious blood. The work of redemption was finished. And God is satisfied. Oh, the glorious truths of the
Gospel. They are evidence of things not
seen, aren't they? The glorious truths of the gospel
are evidence of things not seen. This is the faith of God's elect.
We believe Jesus Christ, our Sovereign Creator, the true and
living God, our Sovereign Creator, became bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh, so that He, as a man, could redeem us. How?
With His own precious blood. So the question comes before
us, do you believe these truths that have been brought before
you tonight? Has God, the Holy Spirit, enlightened
your mind? Has he given you the gift of
faith to believe the one true gospel of his amazing grace? Are you born again of the Holy
Spirit of God? This gospel, beloved, points
us to the very reason God has mercy on hell-deserving sinners.
This gospel brings great joy to the hearts of God's born-again
people, because this gospel points us to the perfect, redeeming
work of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior on Calvary's cross. Acts 13.48 says this, and when
the Gentiles heard this, meaning the gospel, meaning salvation
in Christ alone and through Christ alone, they were glad. This gospel turns the sinners
sorrow to gladness. They were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. We give them all the glory, don't
we? And as many as were ordained to eternal life, what did they
do? They believed. They were granted faith and they
believed. They looked to Christ. They looked
to Christ. And we who are the born-again,
blood-washed saints of God, we have much to rejoice in when
we consider all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us.
When we consider that we are justified and that we are absolutely
accepted by God in and through Christ alone, we have much to
rejoice in. May God be glorified through
the preaching of His word. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
again for allowing us to gather together here tonight. Oh, what
a wondrous salvation this is, oh Lord. Oh, what a wondrous
salvation this is that we have, that your people have in you.
We just look to thee, oh Lord. We look away from ourselves and
we look to thee. You are the only savior of sinners. And we are but saved sinners.
And we rejoice just like the Gentiles did. We are Gentiles
ourselves, oh Lord, but we rejoice. We who have believed upon thee.
It makes our hearts glad, fills our hearts with gladness. Oh
Lord, if there be any who hear this message that do not know
thee, oh Lord, May it be one of your lost sheep. May it be
the day that you draw them to thee, O Lord. We love you and
we praise you. We thank you for your goodness
and mercy and grace. In Jesus' name, amen.