There are two types of people
in this world. Those that live and those that
are dead. Only two. Those that are alive,
those who live, and those who are dead. And I'm not speaking
simply of those who live physically, in contrast to those who are
buried in the graves. But I am speaking of the distinction
between those who are alive spiritually and those who are dead spiritually. No matter that they may be seen
walking around in their bodies, Their death is but a moment away. They're already dead spiritually. And our spiritual death is but
a precursor to our physical death. But there are those who are brought
to life spiritually, who even when they are laid in the grave,
will still live. You either live or you die. You're either alive or you're
dead. By nature, we are told that all
men, having fallen in Adam, having disobeyed Almighty God, are dead
in trespasses and sins. Our disobedience unto God, our
rebellion against God, has caused us to sin and by sinning to die. We may walk around in this world,
but we are dead before Almighty God. Our hearts think, see, do,
breathe sinful, rebellious thoughts each and every day. We are but
walking dead. And the hours of time tick away,
hour by hour, day by day, year by year, until the spiritually
dead stand before Almighty God to be cast into a second death,
into a lake of fire forever, if they have no answer to their
rebellion, their sin, and the death which remains in their
hearts. That's our state by nature. But
there are those of whom we read in the book of Hebrews who've
been delivered from such a death, delivered from such a state,
delivered from their sin, delivered from their rebellion, delivered
from their blindness, delivered from their blindness to those
realities which are hidden from the natural man. By nature we
cannot see eternity and we cannot see Almighty God and by nature
not seeing we don't believe. So we're blind to the realities
which lie behind what we can see with the physical eye. We
see the world around us, we see the people we meet every day,
but we don't see the Creator. We see his handiwork and the
evidence of his existence, but we don't see him. Every day we
see the life which beats physically in the hearts of men. We see
the motions of life. We see people going here and
going there and saying this and saying that, but we don't see
the spiritual hand that keeps their hearts beating. We don't
see the mighty force that keeps this world spinning. We don't see the mighty force
that keeps the sun rising up every day and the heat coming
forth and the weather coming forth and the food growing. We
don't see he who is life, who sustains all living things physically
in this world. We see the effects of his handiwork. We see how people go about their
daily business, but we don't see him. and not seeing him,
our natural hearts are blind to the reality that lies behind
the things we see. And our natural hearts are prone
to mock and to reject and to say, well, where is God? Where
is he? If there be a God, show me him. If I can't see him, how can I
believe him? Like Thomas, when he was told
that Christ had risen from the dead, he said, how can I believe,
how shall I believe, unless I see the wounds in his hands and touch
them with my fingers, unless I see the wound in his side and
thrust in my hand, unless I see him, unless he's there before
me, how can I believe? So is our response. despite all
the evidence in the creation around us and in our own conscience,
because he created us and gave us a conscience and an awareness
of his existence, despite all that is within and without, we
still say in the darkness of a sinful mind, there is no God. The fool, I've said in his heart,
there is no God. And we all, like fools, say in
our hearts, there is no God. Whatever we may profess with
our lips, we may before other men profess one thing or another. We may be religious. We may go to worship. We may read the Bible. We may
say, oh, yes, I believe there's a God. But in reality, In our
hearts, if we've not known him, if we don't see him spiritually,
if we've not heard his voice, in reality, those are just words
and professions. Our heart lives and acts like
there is no God. Whereas false. And we can't help
ourselves. There we are in the darkness. And it's all dark. And we're
blind. And we hear nothing. And we go
through our life in this world day by day, year by year, pursuing
all that we can grasp hold of. And it all disappears from our
hands like sand pouring through them. We can't hold on to anything.
It's an instinctive reality in all people. They're born. As a child, they grow and they
learn about the world around them. As they grow into adolescence
and adulthood, they aspire to be this and to be that and to
have this and have that. They have their ambitions. They
have their goals in life. They seek to do this and to do
that. They seek to have a career. They
seek to have a family. They seek to travel here and
travel there and do this and do that and experience this and
experience that. But they can't cheat the passing
of time. And soon the child is an adult. And soon the adult is an old
person. And soon that old person is a
dead corpse in the grave. Don't be fooled, time passes
faster than you will ever imagine. Young person, soon you will be
old and soon you will look back on your life and wonder where
the time went. And soon you will realize that
all that you try to grasp hold of in this world, even if you
had it for a moment, time takes it away. So there are those They
make great names for themselves. Those who rise to great power
in the world. Those who rise to great fame
and fortune. Those who own multiple homes
and have huge bank accounts and have this thing and that thing
and have people applauding them. And soon they're old men and
they're in the graves and they're gone. They're yesterday's heroes. The film stars of old are all
gone. The kings and queens and emperors
of old are all in the grave. And the richest and the mightiest
in our generation will soon be but a name in a history book,
a memory. None can cheat the passing of
time or the realities of life. That life is brief and fleeting. And if all you have is all you
strive to achieve and gain naturally, then you are but the walking
dead. And soon you will be dead and
gone and buried and in eternity in another place where the dead
remain forever. You either live or you die. Naturally speaking, we're born
dead. We're born blind to the realities. of eternity and of God and of
the gospel. We cannot comprehend. We will
not comprehend. We cannot hear. We will not hear. We cannot see. We will not see. We close our eyes. We close our
ears. We close our hearts. And like
little lemons, we go running around trying to grab hold of
what we can in this world, trying to make a great name for ourselves.
And soon we're gone. The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. Because the fool loses his life
in a moment. Once he's there, the next he's
gone. And then he stands in eternity
before his maker and sees all that is true and all that is
real and cannot escape it, the once he buried his head in the
sand. But there are those of whom we read who are delivered
from the folly of their natural state, delivered from their blindness,
delivered from the death of sin by nature. Those who are given
faith by which they live, by which they see things hidden
to the natural man, In Hebrews 10 verse 38 we read now, the
just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. What makes a man live? Faith does. And from whence does
faith come? From God, which is the gift of
God. As we read in Ephesians, if God
gives you faith, then he will open your eyes, open your ears,
open your understanding, and pour life and righteousness in
the soul. You will see things you never
saw. You will believe things you never
comprehended. You will understand that which
is hidden to the natural man. You will live. The just shall
live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. We are not of them who draw
back under perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. Without faith, perdition, hell,
eternal judgment is our end. But with faith, we believe to
the saving of the soul. Chapter 11 tells us that faith
is the 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. How can we believe in a God we
cannot see? How can we believe and hope for
an eternal inheritance in a kingdom to come which we cannot yet see? We can believe by faith because
faith is the evidence, the proof of things not seen. How can you
be so sure there's a God? Someone may ask. Because he's
given me faith and I see him and I know him and I hear him. That's the evidence. I don't
need any other evidence. I don't need to have Christ come
back in this generation like he appeared in a former generation
and see the things that that people saw. There were people
who lived when Christ walked upon this earth, who saw him
perform miracles, who saw him touch the eyes of the blind and
the blind did see, who saw him touch the lame and the lame did
walk, who saw him call out to Lazarus in the grave, Lazarus
come forth and that dead man, Lazarus came forth from the grave. They saw the miracles. They saw
the resurrection. They saw the power of God. They saw the fullness of God
in the person of Jesus Christ. God incarnate stood before them. And multitudes that saw Jesus
Christ rejected him and put him to death. And if he came and
stood here this day, and stood before us, then without faith
we would reject him and put him to death. But with faith, we'd
fall down upon our knees and praise and worship the Savior
as Peter and the other disciples did. The difference between those
who received Christ when he was on this earth and those who cried
out, away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him. The difference between the two
wasn't the evidence of their own eyes or the evidence of their
own ears. The difference was faith. Faith was the evidence of who
Christ To the natural man, Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, was but the son of Mary and Joseph the carpenter. To those of faith, he was the
Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. 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. How do you know
that God created the heavens and the earth? We believe it,
we know it. And the fools of men who reject
that truth grasp around looking for evidence in the soil and
the rocks and the world around them and reaching ridiculous
and foolish conclusions because they say there can't be a God,
I can't see a God, so how have I got here and how are these
things? And they reach their foolish, ridiculous ideas. of
millions of years and gradual change of men being created being
evolved from monkeys and from slime in the waters what fools
they are and if you believe that what a fool you are well that's a bit blunt sir yes
it is because you're a fool you're a fool and you're a fool because
you're blind and dead in your sin And the only thing that will
deliver you from your folly and your foolish acceptance of the
lies and the folly of other men that you take without really
examining, oh, well, this great man says this, and that great
man says that, and this scientist says this, and that scientist
says that, they must be right. The only thing that will deliver
you from your own foolishness as one who is blind, who follows
the blind, is if God gives you faith as evidence of things unseen. When he opens your eyes, you
will see and you will know. And these things will be so clear. The rest of chapter 11 in Hebrews
tells us of those, those patriarchs, those people that God gave faith
to, who believed and knew the gospel even before the coming
of Christ. I've just said, if you were around
when Christ was on this earth, You would no more have believed
and received him than many of those who rejected him, except
God gave you faith. And if you believe in Jesus Christ
and his gospel today, it will be because God has given you
faith. in the same way that many who
lived thousands of years before the coming of Christ, who only
knew of him through the prophecies and the revelation of God, that
one day a Saviour would come, one day Messiah would come, one
day the promises of God would be fulfilled. There were those
who lived thousands of years before his coming and they believed
by faith. They believed the same way that
the apostles and disciples who lived in Christ's day and age
believed, and the same way that believers, Christians, believe
today. They looked through time unto
Christ. We look back through time unto
Christ. And faith lays hold of Christ
in his gospel. What we read is a remarkable
account of those who believed in Christ thousands of years
before his coming. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Abel, the son of Adam,
The first naturally born children, Abel and Cain, the two sons of
Adam and Eve. Right at the beginning of time,
Abel was shown the gospel. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. and by it he being
dead, yet speaketh." Abel did not live in the days of Jesus
Christ. Abel did not have the scriptures
that we have and the accounts that we have of the death, the
burial and the resurrection of Christ. Abel did not have the
Gospels. Abel did not have the epistles
that Paul wrote. revealing the doctrine of justification
by faith and the righteousness of God, but Abel, through the
sacrifice that God gave him to give, and the revelation of God
by faith, believed that God would provide a sacrifice in the future
in the fullness of time, which would wash Abel's sins away. Abel offered a sacrifice, a lamb,
and shed the blood of the lamb and offered it to God. And in
so doing, Abel believed that God would have a sacrifice, whose
blood would be shed, and that blood would wash away Abel's
sins. Abel knew he was a sinner. He
knew that mankind had sinned. He knew from his father, Adam,
what had happened in the garden and why they were in the state
they were in. He could see sin and death all
around him. He could see the consequences
of the fall around him and in his own heart. And he believed
God would wash him clean of his sins through the blood of a sacrifice. Right back at the beginning,
he believed. And the consequence of his faith,
of his belief in God, was that those who did not share his belief. Those who had not faith hated
him for his testimony, hated him for his faith, hated him
because of the God he loved and believed in, and his own brother
Cain rose up in jealousy and hatred and slew him. Faith brings
a tremendous reward Abel believed God and inherited everlasting
salvation, but his life in this world was brutally taken from
him by his own brother. If you walk by faith, if you
live by faith, you have that which other men don't have, eternal
everlasting God through the blood of Jesus
Christ, an everlasting inheritance to come, peace and righteousness,
and acceptance with an almighty God. But you will know the hatred
and rejection of man. Because man rejects all that
is of God, all that is everlasting, all that is righteous, He despises
it. He hates it. And he hates every
reminder of it. He hates Christ. He hates the
gospel. He hates the message of the gospel.
He hates the messengers of the gospel. He hates those that believe
the gospel. He hates those that speak of
the gospel. The world will be happy with
you if you keep your mouth shut. Go away and believe what you
want to believe. If you want to believe those
things, that's all right for you. I don't mind. You can believe what you want
to believe. I'll believe what I want to believe.
Just don't talk to me about what you believe. That's your opinion,
not my opinion. You go away and believe your
Christianity, if you will. You live your life of faith,
if you will. Just don't talk to me about it.
So we have this world around us today that pretends to be
accepting of whatever you want to do as long as you keep quiet. But it hates to hear about it.
And when the apostles and disciples following the death and resurrection
of Christ went about preaching the gospel and declaring who
Christ was and what he had done, why he came, what he did upon
the cross, why he shed his blood, when they declared the good news
of the gospel, God's salvation of dead sinners, life by faith
in Jesus Christ, when they the world around them raged and said,
keep quiet else we'll put you to death. And the apostle says,
shall we obey God or shall we obey man? How can we not but
speak and testify of the things which we have seen and heard?
We can't keep quiet. Faith in our hearts, the life
in our hearts will speak. It will declare what we know.
We will testify of Christ, even if it means that others put us
to death. Yes, Abel died for his faith. By faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found because God
had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony
that he pleased God. Why did Enoch please God? Because he walked by faith. For without faith it is impossible
to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him." Don't think you can please God if you have
no faith. All your religion, all your works,
all your outward obedience, all your profession, all your claims
are of no worth without faith. The Jews that put Christ to death
were very zealous for the law of God. They were very zealous
for the temple. They were very zealous for the
sacrifices. They thought they were serving
God. But when God's Son stood before
them, they rejected Him because they had no faith in the revelation
of God and His Son. And they put him to death. Without
faith, we cannot please God. By faith, Noah being warned of
God of things not seen as yet. When God promised he'd send a
flood, such a thing had never happened. There had never been
rain in the world before then. He believed what God told him,
even though all around him jeered and sneered at him. What are
you doing, Noah? I'm building an ark. Why are
you building this to escape the flood that's coming? What are
you talking about, Noah? But Noah believed. Warned of
God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, he prepared
an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the
world. and became heir of the righteousness,
which is by faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after he see
for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing
whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. God said, leave Ur of the Chaldees,
come out and come to a promised land. And Abraham obeyed God. But the land that Abraham went
to when he was led into Canaan was not the land, it was a picture. Abraham believed by faith in
an eternal and everlasting, a heavenly country. Through faith also Sarah
herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered
of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful
who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of
one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. Abraham was promised. that of
Sarah, in old age, they would have a son. And through that
son, his offspring would be as the sand on the seashore innumerable. It was unbelievable. He was dead,
physically speaking. Sarah was dead, physically speaking. They could not have children.
Yet this came to pass and they believed and it happened. These all died in faith not having
received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded
of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country And truly, if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire
a better country that is unheavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."
Yes, Abraham, by faith, sought this heavenly country. And the
world rejected him. But he believed, and in the end,
he will receive. The chapter goes on to talk of
others, of Abraham offering up Isaac, a picture of the offering
of Christ. He that had received the promises
offered up his only begotten Son, as God the Father offered
up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said that in Isaac
shall thy seed be caught. This promised Son that God sent though they were old, God then
said, offer him up. And naturally speaking, Abraham
might have felt, but this is the son you promised by whom
I will have a great inheritance. How can I possibly slay him? But he believed and he was willing
to offer him up. And because he was willing, God
stopped him and brought about the promise. But God showed him
through this what God would do in offering up his son. How could
God save a multitude if he offered up his own son? How could God's
promise to Abraham be brought about if Abraham offered up the
son of promise? because God was able to bring
the dead back to life again. As we read, Abraham, by faith,
accounted that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead,
from whence also he received him in a figure. Abraham was
willing to offer up Isaac because he knew that God could still
bring his promises to pass, because God could bring him alive again. And he believed in the resurrection
of the Son. And through the picture of Isaac,
he looks down through history to the coming of Christ and the
offering of God's Son and the death of God's Son. and the resurrection
of God's Son, Jesus Christ. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob,
and he saw concerning things occur. By faith, Jacob, when
he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped,
leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and
gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith, Moses, when
he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw
he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's
commandment. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to yours, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Moses had the world
at his feet, adopted as Pharaoh's son by his daughter. He could have all the riches
of the Egyptian empire. But Moses believed God and was
willing to give it all up to go into the desert place and
follow his God. because he believed in greater
things. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches and
the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. Moses, by faith, kept the Passover. God showed him the gospel. God said, I will come upon the
people of this world, and I will judge them, and I will destroy
them because of their sins. But where I find blood over the
door of the house, where I find blood upon a person's heart,
I will spare and deliver. And Moses was taught the need
for a lamb to be sacrificed and for blood to be sprinkled in
order to be saved from our sins. He was shown the gospel. He believed
the gospel. God came on the night of the
Passover and slew all the firstborn in Egypt. But all those Israelites
who had blood sprinkled upon the door, he spared and he delivered
and he led that people 400,000 out of Egypt, out of the grip
of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, he led them forth, as it were,
to salvation. By faith, they passed through
the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to were
drowned. They went through the Red Sea.
The Egyptians tried to do the same thing. God delivered his
people. and he destroyed the Egyptians. What difference was there? One
had faith and the other did not. By faith, the walls of Jericho
fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith, the
harlot Rahab perished, not with them that believe not. When she
had received the spies with peace, What separated a harlot, a wicked
woman, Rahab from those in Jericho? Why did the others perish and
she didn't? Was she any better than they?
No. She was wicked. But she believed
in the blood of Jesus Christ. And what shall I more say? For
the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Baruch, and
of Samson and Jephthah, of David also and Samuel, and of the prophets,
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, wax valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of
the aliens. Women received their dead raised
to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance
that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had
trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they, without us, should not be made perfect." So the writer,
concludes this chapter he's spoken of individuals who by faith we
see believe the gospel looking forward in time to the coming
of Christ and then he speaks of these multitudes of others
who followed who wrought great deeds by faith and who knew great
opposition by faith and he says of them all that of whom the
world was not worthy. The world was not worthy of Abel,
that man of faith. This wicked evil world who put
Abel to death by the hand of Cain was not worthy of him. The world was not worthy of Enoch. The world was not worthy of righteous
Noah who found grace in the eyes of God. The world was not worthy
of Abraham who sought an everlasting heavenly kingdom. The world was
not worthy of Isaac or of Jacob or of Joseph or of Moses. The world was not worthy of Rahab
The world was not worthy of Gideon and Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah,
of David, and of Samuel, and of all the prophets. The world
didn't deserve them. This wicked, evil world of death
and sin doesn't deserve such a people in its midst. Yet God
put them there. them faith to stand for the truth
and to believe the truth and to accept the opposition and
hatred of all men because of the truth. By faith they looked
through the ages, hundreds of years, thousands of years into
the distance, and saw their salvation in Jesus Christ. They saw the
lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. They saw the blood
that washed them clean, and though they couldn't see it with their
eyes, Though they never saw Christ born in Bethlehem. Though they
never saw Christ preaching and teaching the gospel as many did. Though they never saw Christ
hung upon the cross as a multitude did. Though they never saw him
laid in the grave. Though they never saw him raised
from the dead. Though they never saw the full
revelation of God in the scriptures like we do today. Though they
lacked all the advantages of the generations to come, nevertheless,
they had faith, and they lived, and they believed, and the world
was not worthy of them. What did they, what was wrought
by their faith? They subdued kingdoms by faith. Joshua went into the promised
land, and Jericho's walls fell down
flat, not by his great might or the people's great might,
but by faith. They believed their God. They
did what God said, and kingdoms were subdued. They wrought righteousness. Abel believed in the blood of
the sacrifice. Abraham offered up Isaac in a
figure and believed in the righteousness of God by faith. They wrought righteousness. They
obtained promises. Isaac was born unto Abraham as
God said he would be. They stopped the mouths of lions. Daniel, cast into a pit of lions
by those who rejected him and his gospel and his God, survived
because his faith stopped the mouths of lions. These men quenched the violence
of fire. They escaped the edge of the
sword. Out of weakness they were made strong. They waxed valiant
in fight and turned in flight the armies of the aliens. Women
received their dead, raised their life again. Mary and Martha saw
Lazarus walk forth and others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. What was
wrought by faith, but what a response there is. Wherever you see faith,
wherever the gospel is preached, wherever a testimony is raised
unto Jesus Christ, the world will rage in hatred. The world
was not worthy of these, these people of faith. Those who looked
outside of time, outside of this world for a saviour, for salvation,
for their God. The world was not worthy of them.
They walked by faith, not by sight. They walked by grace. They looked for a sacrifice to
come. They looked unto the land slain
from the foundation of the world, and the world looked upon them
and put them to death. Others had trial of cruel mockings
and scourgings, yet moreover of bonds and imprisonments. They
were stoned. They were sawn asunder. slain with a sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitutes, afflicted, tormented. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. They suffered
for their faith, even to the loss of their lives. And they
were willing to, because they loved their God. They loved that
which is outside of time, outside of this world, that which is
everlasting. Their faith could do nothing
else. They lived by faith and their
willingness to die and the rejection they received was no more than
that which was exacted upon their Master, their Lord and their
Saviour, Jesus Christ. The world wasn't worthy of these
people of faith. And it isn't worthy of those
of faith. It's not worthy of us today.
And any who testify of Christ, this world doesn't deserve God's
mercy. It doesn't deserve God's salvation. And yet he sent it. He sent his
son, Jesus Christ, into this dark and evil world in order
to save his people from their sins. The world wasn't worthy
of these people of faith. It wasn't worthy of Christ, the
author and finisher of faith. That's why the world hates them
because the world hates him. The world rejected them because
it rejected Christ. The world rejects us who believe
because it rejects Christ and his gospel. The world rejects
the author and finisher of faith. And it rejects all those who
look under him by faith. We follow him, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted
under blood, striving against him, consider
him, he stood and they put him to death. And many who have followed
may have suffered the same, but they do so because of their great
saviour. He despised the shame of the
cross because of the joy that was set before him. He came to
save sinners from their sins, to save his people from their
sins, to save everyone who would follow him by faith from their
sins. He saved them. He did that which
he promised to do. And everyone who believes and
receives him through the gospel, will follow and receive all the
joy that he brought in for them. He came for his people, a people
chosen of God, chosen before the foundation of this earth,
chosen before Adam fell in the garden, chosen before Abel offered
his sacrifice, chosen before Cain slew Abel, chosen before
God sent the judgment upon The world in the day of Noah, chosen
before the coming of Christ. God chose a people and everyone
whom he chose, Christ came and took them to the cross. He bore
their sins. He suffered the judgment. He
delivered them and he brings them unto faith. Every single
one chosen by God the Father, whose names are on the heart
of Jesus Christ, whose sins were blotted out by the Son of God
upon the cross. Every single one will be brought
to hear this gospel and this message and this truth, though
they live in darkness. Though they bury their heads
in the sand. Though they be the most blind
and foolish. Though they say, where's the
evidence I cannot see? God will come in the gospel by
his spirit and open their eyes that they should see and open
their ears that they should hear and take the foolishness away
and shine the light into the darkness of their hearts and
they will see and they will believe and you my friend may be there
in the darkness running afar off grasping at all that you
can gain in this world but if you are God's If you're one for
whom Christ came, you cannot outrun him. You cannot outrun
his love. You cannot outrun his mercy. You cannot escape his grace. He will come and find you wherever
you be. Your sins will not outweigh his
grace. There's nothing you can do which
is too bad, too wicked, too great that his blood cannot wash it
away, that his love cannot redeem you, that his grace cannot wash
over. This world, the world, those
in the world, you and I by nature, love darkness, sin, death, rather
than life. We won't come to the light. We have no faith. But if God
comes to us in the gospel and brings us faith, then we, like
these, will believe unto the saving of our souls. Oh may God open doors to send
forth this gospel even today and open the hearts that sinners
might believe. Sinners who have faith, of whom
the world was not worthy.