Well turn back with me please
to the epistle to the Hebrews and I want to start looking at
chapter 11 this week and we're just going to look at the first
few verses today, but last time we were thinking at the end of
our time together of Hebrews 10 verse 38 which says, 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 to perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. Those who are saved by God, says
the scripture, live by faith. Those who know that they were
chosen by God in eternity for reasons known only to Him in
His grace, who were set apart, were sanctified by God, who were
redeemed in time by the Lord Jesus Christ and look back to
that sacrifice of Christ on the cross, shedding His blood, knowing
that there their justification was accomplished, that The sin
debt was paid, that the righteousness of God was made over to them.
Those who have heard the call of the Holy Spirit to believe
the gospel of grace, those who have been given that new life
of the Spirit of God to hear Him have been quickened. They,
says the scripture, live their lives by faith. They keep going,
believing to the saving of their soul, not drawing back to perdition. But what is faith? What is it? There are all sorts of faith
in the world. The religious world is full of
faith. People say, oh well, I don't
necessarily believe what you believe, but I have my faith.
You know, it's something that, I have my faith. Leave me alone,
I'm quite happy with the way I am. I have my faith. But do
you know, virtually all of it All of it. All that isn't the
true faith of the Bible is about as much use to you in eternity
as a lucky charm. You know how some people foolishly
carry a rabbit's foot or other silly things that they think
are going to bestow good upon them and keep evil things and
bad things from happening to them. And they have a religious
faith which is just like that. It's no more than a lucky charm
that they carry around with them. There's such confusion Prince
Charles, the heir to our throne, says he doesn't want to be called
anymore, and don't worry, I never thought that there's anything
particular in the British monarch saying that they are the defender
of the faith. It's not them that are the defender
of the faith, it's the Lord Jesus Christ that's the defender of
the faith. Who on earth would think that a human monarch of
a nation could actually take that name to themselves? But
never mind, in tradition, it has been that the monarch of
this country is the defender of the faith, meaning, really,
in its political context, it was the defender of the true
faith of the Bible against the popish false faith of that which
they had been under. But the heir to our throne now
says he doesn't want to be called the defender of the faith, as
if there's only one. He wants to be called the defender
of faith. Something airy-fairy that anybody
can have. You know, somebody can have a
green one, and somebody else a yellow one, and it doesn't
really matter. Pick and choose whatever you
want, you know? Like people choose a bag of sweets on the pick and
mix counter, and one person's bag of sweets is not the same
as another person's bag of sweets, and they just have their bits
and pieces of faith that they want. But it's not the saving
faith of the Bible. It's superstitious faith. We're
looking at the saving faith of the Bible, and it's a rare thing.
You say, there's not many of us. No, you're right. There aren't.
It's a rare thing. Jesus himself said, when the
Son of Man comes again, will he find faith in the earth? The
implication being, it's a rare thing. The faith of the gospel
of grace is a rare thing. Don't think the scripture has
said that the vast majority of people on the planet are going
to believe what you believe, and you look around and you say,
well it's not true, because they don't. The scripture has never
said that. It's always given the indication that true faith
is a rare thing. True faith. 2 Thessalonians chapter
3 and verse 2 says all do not have faith, you know, using it
for emphasis. Obviously they don't, no, not
many, not many do. So I want to look at this passage
to find out what is faith, to remind you of some things, what
is faith's object, where does it come from, What is its effect? And who has that faith? That's
the subject for this morning's consideration. What is faith?
Look, we have a definition of it in verse 1 of chapter 11.
Faith is the substance. You see, he's been talking about
faith. So there isn't really a chapter division there. Paul
didn't put full stop chapter 11 and then start again, new
subject. No, he's still talking about
faith. The just shall live by faith. But what is it? Faith
is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not
seen. The substance, let me put it
like this. It's the tangible reality. Tangible, touchable, feelable,
get hold of it. It's the reality of things that
you hope for in the future. You don't actually possess them
in your grasp at the minute, but faith is the tangible reality
of those things that you hope for, the eternal life, the salvation
with God. Faith is the tangible reality
of it. Not yet physically seen, not
yet physically grasped, but it's the tangible reality of them.
It's the evidence of things not seen. It's, you say, well I act
because I see evidence, you know they talk in law and in education
about evidence-based policy making, they look at what's the evidence
for this and that and then they'll make the policies on the basis
of it. Well faith is the evidence to the believer of what we build
our lives on. This is what he's saying, faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. It's confidence in God's word,
because God has spoken, it's confidence in God's word concerning
things that are contrary to fleshly reason. You know, does your flesh
see the sense in what Christ has done for his people, in what
God is doing now? No, probably not. But it's not
based on what your flesh reasons, it's based on what your faith
believes, on the basis of what God has said, even if it's contrary
to fleshly reason. Look at Romans chapter 4 with
me, first of all. Here's a well-known example that
is oft quoted, the example of Abram, becoming Abraham. But Abram, in chapter 4 of Romans
and verse 17, where God says to him, he's the father of us
all, it says in the previous verse, as it is written in verse
17, I have made thee a father of many nations. This is what
God said to Abraham at the time At the time, Abraham wasn't even
a father to his own children. But he says, I've made you a
father of many nations before him who believed, even God, who
quickened the dead, quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
which be not as though they were. The God who is the source of
life. who does everything that he wills
to do. Verse 18, and Abraham, who against
hope, in the face, contrary to the physical evidence, against
hope, believed in hope, the hope that God gave him. What was the
evidence he had? Nothing other than the faith
that God gave him to believe it. There was no other physical
evidence. There was no title to a kingdom. There was no certainty that he
was going to have this vast family. In fact, the very opposite. All
the evidence was completely contrary to it. Against hope, he believed
in hope that he might become the father of many nations. according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead. I
mean, it doesn't mean literally he was dead, but it was for the
purpose of procreating a nation, it was as good as dead. When
he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb, he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but he believed. He was strong in faith, giving
glory to God. And look, verse 21, being fully
persuaded that what he had promised, he was also able to perform.
This is faith. Abraham, although all the evidence
would say no, he's not going to be the father of a great nation,
salvation is not going to come through him, through his offspring,
through that line that would come from him, all the physical
evidence was completely contrary. But God had said, And because
God had said and had given him faith to believe, he was fully
persuaded that what he promised he was able also to perform.
And what he saw about what God had promised was imputed to him
for righteousness, that belief. It's not that his belief was
a work, it's like I've said before, it's not Abraham's believing
that was counted to him for righteousness, but what he believed in. What
God gave him faith in was counted to him for righteousness. Now,
it was not written for his sake alone. that it was imputed to
him, but for us also. All of these things, the scriptures,
are given for our learning. If we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Do you believe that? Then you
have solid evidence. You have solid evidence that
those without faith do not have. There's an account in the Acts
of the Apostles, chapter 27, where on one of Paul's journeys,
his final journey on the way to Rome, the ship was about to
be wrecked. And an angel came and appeared
to Paul and told him that, yes, the ship is going to be wrecked.
But there isn't going to be loss of one soul on the ship. And Paul said to them, he said,
I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me. I believe
God that it shall be even as it was told me. Has God told
you anything? If you're a child of God, he has told you things.
You believe it shall be even as he has said. You don't believe
it shall be as the world says it shall be, because the world
knows nothing. Those who have no faith don't see and don't
know anything of eternal realities. But God has told you, and if
you have faith, you believe God, that it shall be even as it was
told you. Not by what the preacher says,
though it is by means of preaching that he tells his people. It's
not through the lips of a man, but it's by that Holy Spirit
witness. There are many pairs of ears,
listen to good preachers, many pairs of ears, but not all have
that witness of the Holy Spirit speaking to them and telling
them the things of God that they might believe it shall be even
as it was told them. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse
17 we read about our light affliction which is but for a moment works
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Why
does it do that? Why is it something that is solid
for us? You know, this light affliction
It's just for a moment, oh no it's not, it's crushing me now.
No, to the believer, it's a light affliction, but for a moment,
working for us, an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Well, that's contrary to evidence
and common sense, isn't it? Isn't it completely? Yes, you
would say in the flesh it is, but, but, While we look not at
the things which are seen, the physical things, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, of this world, of this universe, of this physical
realm in which we live now. But the things which are not
seen are eternal. They're about eternity. They're
about that which is spiritual, outside of this physical fleshly
realm of sin and of unbelief. What do we see by faith? What
is it that we see by faith? We see the eternal counsels of
God by faith. We see what God has said he's
done. We've been reading it in the book of Isaiah about his
determination to save a people. The counsels of God. We see that
and we believe it. We see his covenant there, because
he's revealed it to his people, that there was a covenant made
between the persons of the Godhead to save a people for his glory.
And we say, yes, he's told me that. I've heard him say that. He's told me, by his spirit,
through his word, he's told me his covenant, his decrees, that
he shall save a people, that he shall not lose any of whom
the father, who were given by the father to the son. He's told
me, I've seen, I've seen, where others don't believe it, I've
seen his intervention in time. God upholds all things by the
word of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ all the time and
always has done and always will till this world is brought to
an end, but when he flooded the earth in judgment, when he saved
those few people with Noah when he and man again started to grow
and started to devise his own religion and his own way of being
of rising up to heaven in the tower of Babel and God confounded
that situation and gave us the situation we see today where
there are multitudes of languages over the face of the earth we
see how God by faith we see that he has done those things and
we believe what the word says that he did it he says it he
did it I don't go to an archaeologist to find out whether he did it.
I go to his word and his spirit tells me he did these things.
About his miracles, about as he took the people down into
Egypt for his own purpose. How he raised up Moses to bring
them out of Egypt. How all of those miracles had
to be worked when God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. All of
these things we see by faith and believe them by faith. That's
why we believe them, by faith. We don't look to archaeology,
we don't look to... You know, there was once a series
of programs where some well-known broadcaster looked at the archaeology
of the Bible, and basically the whole thing was to try to disprove
that the Bible had any foundation in credibility whatsoever. And
one of the episodes was about going down into Egypt, and surely
there'd be archaeological evidence of the Israelites, and you know
there's not a shred of archaeological evidence whatsoever. I don't
care whether there's any or there isn't. The Word of God tells
me, and by faith I believe it. That's what he did. He took his
people there, then he might save them out of there. He did those
miracles. Do I believe the Nile was turned
to blood? The word of God tells me it was turned to blood. I
believe it for that reason. Why? By faith. By that gift that
God gives, to believe his word, to trust him. All of the words
of the prophets, that he raised up the prophets, just as ordinary
common stones of the ground, he raised them up. He raised
them up to be His mouthpiece, to speak. I believe now His Word
says that Christ is on His throne, seated, interceding for His people. I read it. I hear the Holy Spirit
tell me it's true. I believe it's true. That even
now, all things work together for good to those that love God,
who are the called according to his purpose. Why? Because
God has said it, and he's given me faith to believe it. Oh, what
does the evidence say? I don't care what the physical
evidence says. Faith is the evidence I need. It's the substance of
things hoped for. It's the evidence of things not
seen. I see these things by faith, I trust in them by faith. The
future, resurrection, judgment, glory, God's providence in all
things. Just as we saw with Abraham a
few moments ago, seeing the unseen, we act upon the certainty of
it. Abraham ordered his life, God
told him. You know, and we'd say, oh we
can't possibly You know, his family was very wealthy in Ur
of the Chaldees, and he was nicely set up. But God said to him,
come out of there. Why? Because of this. Oh, I see. Salvation. Being right with God. A way that God will save his
people from their sins. That a nation must come from
his loins. That that nation must bring forth
the Savior, who is God, to save his people from their sins. He
showed Abraham. And did anybody else see it?
To Abraham it didn't matter, he saw it and he ordered his
life on the basis of it and he went out. He went out on the
basis of what he saw, solid reality that nobody else could see. It
was certain to him. Now, faith has degrees, of course. We read in the New Testament
of great faith, and of little faith, O ye of little faith.
But if it's real faith, this is the key thing, if it's real
faith, Jesus said, even if it's as tiny as the tiniest of all
seeds, even if it's as tiny as the tiny little mustard seed,
you know, you get Seeds of all sorts of different sizes, but
the mustard seed is just like a little grain of dust It's a
tiny tiny little seed and he said when it grows and sprouts
It multiplies and on it goes and it produces this huge great
big bush He said so it is if it's real if it's real if faith
is real Faith is real. That's the key thing It's capable
of growing to a huge extent. In Mark's Gospel chapter 9 in
verse 24, there was that man who, his child was sick and he
came pleading with Jesus. And Jesus said that he would
heal her. And he said, do you believe?
And he said, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. We must
pray this, we must ask God, because we live in flesh which is so
prone to unbelief. Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief. That's a good prayer. Faith is
the sole sight by which believers live. It's that vision of things
that the natural man does not see. And it comes in degrees,
like I've said, great faith and little faith. Do you remember
there was the case of the man whose sight was restored? And
Jesus said, do you see? And he said, I do, but it's blurred. He said, I see men as trees walking. He said, go and wash again. And
then he came back seeing clearly. And so it is. Child of God, seek
that God will help your unbelief. Seek that he will give you clearer
faith. You see, believers don't live
by works, they don't live by law, they don't live by personal
merit. I've got nothing to plead before
the throne of God on the basis of my personal merit. I've got
nothing to bring, nothing in my hands I bring. simply to thy
cross I cling. There's no religious ceremony
that can give me any recommendation with God. There are no traditions
that I want to lean back on. There's no mysticism, this sort
of airy-fairy thing. If you listen to the Sunday morning
service broadcast, you know, it was from somewhere in Canterbury
with the Archbishop of Canterbury this morning and, you know, it's
got to have such an air of reverence because of the mysticism that
surrounds it. It's all superstition. There's
so little of the Word of God. There's none of the faith of
God. But faith is clear sight of that which has saved you.
That's the thing. Clear sight If we draw back to
physical things, God says he has no pleasure, verse 38 of
the previous chapter, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
If we draw back to that works-based religion, to that experience-based
religion, no. These Hebrews Only know the privileged
position that they're in, and you know what that is, because
we saw it earlier on in chapter 10. Where are they now? As all
believers, they're in the holiest. Why? Because the veil of the
temple has been torn. When Christ died on Calvary,
the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom. the access
into the holiest, which was restricted to the high priest alone, once
a year, on the basis of an acceptable animal sacrifice, which was only
ever a picture. When Christ died, that veil was
torn from top to bottom, and the people have gone. You and
I, if we believe him, have access into the holiest. These Hebrews
had access into the holiest, but how did they know it? How
did they know where they were? How do you know where you are
in Christ? How do I? By faith alone. By faith. That's how we know
we're there. By faith. It's not by the sight
of temple symbols. We don't know we're there by
that. We don't know we're there by the building that we worship
in, or the flowery robes that the man's wearing, or the woman's
wearing, that seems claims to intercede between me and God
for me quite wrongly. No, no, it's on the basis of
faith and faith alone. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It's soul sight that
sees that which the natural man cannot see. It's foolishness
to him, neither can he know it. But faith, secondly, faith has
an object. What is faith's object? You know
like sight must have something to look at. Do you know what
frustrates your eyes more than anything else? You go on your
computer and you do something and the screen just goes blank.
It's very frustrating, isn't it? You know that feeling, you
expect something to happen and it just goes blank. What's going
on? What's happening? I told you
last week about that beautiful view that we had in Switzerland.
It was absolutely magnificent. I don't think there's a better
one anywhere in Switzerland. Absolutely wonderful view. It
was so frustrating because all we could see was white, just
a white mist, a dense white mist. Very frustrating for the eyes.
The eyes need an object to look at. What's the object that the
eye of faith must look at? You know the answer. It's Christ.
Saving faith must look at Christ. We don't look at anything else.
We must look at Christ. We look at him as our substitute
before God. That's how we look at him, our
substitute before God, the one who is everything we need to
be before God. We're the righteousness of God
in him. We look at how he really bore
our sins and paid our sin debt at Calvary. We look at him, we
look at his shed blood and how it blotted out our transgressions
and removed them as far as the east is from the west. We look
at how He is our righteousness, the Lord our righteousness, which
we must have if we would see God, if we would be accepted
with God. For how shall a man be just with
God? He must have the righteousness,
the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He must have
that righteousness. We can only get it there. It's
made over to His people in the Lord Jesus Christ. Timothy, Paul
writes to Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse 12, he's
talking about the reason that he suffers these things. He says,
nevertheless I'm not ashamed. Now, Paul, why? Why? You know,
you could have been so great, he was a Pharisee, he was so
well respected. Why are you in the situation
you're in, suffering these things, nevertheless not ashamed? Why?
He says this, I know whom I have believed. How do you know, Paul?
By faith. He sees by faith. I know whom
I have believed. And because I see these things,
I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. What is it that you've committed
to him against that day, against the day of judgment? You've committed
your soul's eternal good, your soul's eternal safety. You've
committed to him against that day of judgment, that he will
keep you. that He has done all to save
you, that He has done all to answer the justice of God in
your place. Faith has an object, and the
object of the believer's faith is Christ, and Christ alone. For all these scriptures, these
are they which speak of Him. There is nothing else that they
have to say to us. There's all sorts of incidental
stuff, but as Paul, determined to know nothing other amongst
you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, We preach Christ crucified. That's our message. That's all
we have to say is Christ crucified. We have no other message. We
gather together for no other reason. It's the basis of our
worship. Why do we worship God? Because of what he's done for
us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is my heart brought to worship
God? Because of Christ. Because of
what I see of what he's done. I bow before his throne knowing
he's made me accepted in the Beloved. That's why I come. Because
of what he's shown me by faith. But where does faith come from?
Where do you get it? I know some of this is very,
very familiar to you, but in the context of the passage I've
got to repeat it. You know Ephesians chapter 2
and verse 8 says this, how are you saved? By grace. It's by
the grace of God that you're saved. How do you know you're
saved? Through faith. By grace you are
saved. By the sovereign purposes of
God that have got nothing to do with you whatsoever, God has
saved his people. But how do his people know that
that's what he's done? Through faith. Faith is the gift
that God gives, that they might see it. And that, not of yourselves,
that faith is not of yourselves. It didn't come from you. Oh,
tell us, Paul, where did it come from? You know, the scripture
is so clear, isn't it? It's the gift of God. Ah, I see.
So God gives this gift of faith to his people that they might
see that it was by grace that they were saved. In Philippians
1, verse 29, he says to them, again, the same thing, for unto
you it is given. in the behalf of Christ. What's
given? Not only to believe on him, but
also to suffer for his sake. The believing on him, the faith
of the people of God, is the gift of God to his people. And
how is it delivered? God's gift is delivered by preaching. You know what Romans says. Romans
1 verses 16 and 17 talks of the gospel. Paul says, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes. The power of God unto salvation.
But how do you know it? How do the people out there,
how will they ever know it? Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by
hearing. and hearing by the word of God.
How are you gonna hear the word of God? Romans 10, 14. How shall
they call in believing faith? On him in whom they have not
believed. How shall they call on the one
in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Faith comes from God alone as
the means by which the blessings of grace, which are the blessings
of salvation, are apprehended. Sounds a long word, doesn't it?
I know. What I mean is it's grasped. It's the means by which you see
them, by which you sense them, by which you know that they're
true, by which you audit your life. You know, when I go stepping
down a dark footpath on a pitch dark night, I'm really wary of
the fact that I might tread in a muddy puddle, or I might tread
on something unpleasant, or I've no idea what's there. But when
you can see, then you solidly put your foot there rather than
there. Well that's what it is with faith, you see things, you
believe, you act in a certain way, your attitude to things
are different because of the fact that you see things. Faith
comes from God alone. by means of a preacher bringing
a message to you. And it's the message of the blessings
of grace, of salvation. And through faith, you apprehend
it, you experience it, you know it, you see it. It's the gift
of God. The gift of God. Does that mean
you do nothing? No. Ask Him. Ask Him. Ask Him. Plead for it. You know, like,
like, um, When Jesus was walking on the water of the lake, and
he frightened them, the disciples were in the boat in the night,
and they saw this apparition walking on the water. And one
of them said, it is the Lord. And then Peter says, Lord, if
it be thou, bid me come unto thee. Ask him, ask him, give
me this faith. If you want this faith, if you
don't know that you've got this faith, but you want this faith,
that your soul might be right with God, ask him. He says again
and again, seek and you shall find. Ask, knock, and it shall
be given. Jesus said this, no man comes
to me unless my father draws him, but he says this, and him
that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. Whence comes faith? It comes from God, by the gift
of God, by the sovereign grace of God. But if God is working
in your heart, ask him to give you that faith. And then what
is faith's effect? What is the effect of faith?
We've seen here, now 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. By faith we understand. The effect of faith is spiritual
understanding. Now turn to that passage in 1
Corinthians chapter 2 that I quoted part of just before. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 and look at verse 12 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse
12 where Paul says this, now we have received and I'll interject
there, by the gift of God as we've just seen we have received
not the spirit of this world, you know what that is, it's all
around us it's the basic philosophy in everything you'll see on the
television or read in the newspapers or whatever, it's this godless
philosophy that's out there. We have received not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. You see,
it's faith to show us things, which things also we speak, not
in the words which man's wisdom teaches, man's wisdom teaches
things, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. But the natural, you see, it's
a spiritual sensibility, a spiritual ability to look at things, comparing
things, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Not based on
man's wisdom, not the words of man's wisdom, but that which
the Holy Ghost teaches those whom he's made alive. to the
things of the living God. But the natural man, verse 14,
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. They're foolishness
to him. And you know that. When you talk
to somebody that's in blindness, darkness, about the things of
God, the natural man doesn't receive them. They're foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them. If he hasn't got spiritual discernment,
it's impossible that he will ever know what they're talking
about. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things. yet he is
judged of no man. What does that mean? I think
it means this, there's a marginal reference to judgeth, discerneth. He that is spiritual discerneth
all things spiritually. Yet he himself is judged, understood
by, discerned by no man. The world won't understand you
for your views of creation, for your views of salvation, for
your views of God and eternity and justice. The world won't
understand you. He himself is judged, is discerned,
is understood by no one. But he that is spiritual, that
has faith, the gift of God, discerns all things in a spiritual way.
You look through different colored spectacles. You look through
spiritual spectacles at everything you see. And whilst you don't
get on a soapbox pontificating about everything, your spiritual
sight affects everything that you see. all around you is all
affected by it for who has known the mind of the Lord that he
may instruct him but by faith we have the mind of Christ God's
people have the mind of Christ God's people have that in Hebrews
11 verse 3 Through faith we understand,
and an example is given, 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 not appear. He's talking
about creation there, about where we are now, this physical experience
that we have. And he says, how do we understand
it is that God made these things? It's not by science, it's by
faith. It's by faith! And that leads
to the utter futility of appealing. You can have debates till the
cows come home, it won't make a scrap of difference to the
kingdom of God. This is truth. I know a lot of
people don't like to hear this, but it won't make a scrap of
difference to the kingdom of God. You can line up all the
arguments, and I've done it in the past when I was teaching.
Used to have debates and get, you know, set up debates in the
lecture theatre where I would put the case for creation and
an evolutionary biologist would put the case for evolution and
we'd battle it out and we'd see who won the motion that the world
was created or not. And, you know, I used to come
out of it as a young man feeling quite triumphant on occasions,
or quite deflated on other occasions. And, uh, what difference did
it make to the Kingdom of God? Not a scrap. Absolutely zero. Why? Because it's by faith! And
if God doesn't give faith, they'll never understand. And if God
does give faith, it doesn't matter what arguments are brought against
it. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God. that God spoke. How is it all
as it is? God spoke. God said, let there
be light. Where did light come from? He
might have done it by a big bang. I don't know. But God spoke.
That's why. It's by faith I understand that.
It's not by science. It's not by looking at fossil
records that I understand it. You know, everything we hear
and read is all based on the evolution of such and such a
thing. Everything got to how it is by evolution. No, by faith
we understand God made it. That's the truth. This is what
faith does. It's utterly futile. Utterly
futile to appeal to unregenerate fleshly understanding to persuade
people to believe the gospel. Absolutely pointless. It's just
really not worth even starting. What do we do? We preach what
God has said. We preach the gospel that God
has revealed. And we leave it to the Holy Spirit
to give faith. To give that spiritual understanding. To give that sight. Not just
that the worlds were framed. Not just that. but the understanding
and the experience of the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ. That's what faith brings. That's
what you need. Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea, a great high priest whose name
is love. Faith causes you to see that.
Faith causes you to see that you are the righteousness of
God in him. So who has faith, finally? all who are saved by
Christ. Whether it be great or small,
all who are saved. This is the point of verse two.
For by it, faith, the elders obtained a good report. The patriarchs
he's talking about. These were Hebrews he was writing
to. Oh, you see, yeah, you might
be talking about Christian faith and belief now, but the patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, you know, all of these, The patriarchs,
now they had another way of getting right with God. No. It was by
faith that they obtained a good report. It was by faith that
they were justified before God. By faith. That's how. Before Moses, there was Abel,
there was Seth, there was Enoch, there was Noah, there was Abraham,
there was Isaac, there was Jacob, there was Joseph, there were
the parents of Moses. Altogether in this chapter 11,
there are 17 mentioned as examples of faith. They're all there,
they're all mentioned as examples of faith. What was the faith
that they had? All had faith in Christ, as we'll see in coming
messages. All of them knew, by faith, by
the gift of God, by the spiritual understanding of faith, that
God would provide a substitute to make atonement for their sin.
All of them knew. So that Job, who'd asked the
question, how can a man be just with God? I know that my Redeemer
lives. and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth, and though worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God." Confident! Terrible affliction,
but that was his confidence. He knew that. Why? Because of
what he'd been given to see by faith, and he obtained a good
report based on how righteous a man Job was. No, it doesn't
say that. Based on his faith. By faith,
he obtained a good report. They all knew that God would
become man in the person, well they didn't know the name, they
knew a Messiah was coming, they knew the angel of the covenant
was coming, but that God would come to bridge that chasm of
sin that separated God and his people. And that work of Christ
that they saw by faith, that you see by faith now if you believe
him, that work of Christ And the Christ that they trusted
to fulfill all the types and all the requirements and all
the pictures of the Old Testament, that work of Christ justified
them before God, before he actually came in time. Hence, they obtained
a good report. By faith, they saw it and they
obtained a good report. Are you elect? Are you saved? Are you redeemed? You say, oh
gosh, it's very arrogant of me to say whether I am or not. Well,
there's some proof of it. There's some assurance of it.
And do you know what it is? It's just this. It's faith in
Christ. It's belief of the gospel. It's
all that Paul ever points to. as the evidence that people are
the people of God. He says to the Thessalonians,
you know I've quoted this once or twice, we're bound to give
thanks to God for you brethren. Beloved of the Lord, for God
has from the beginning chosen you, very confident, to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit. The Spirit set you apart.
And you believed the truth. You believed it because he gave
you that gift to believe it. True faith works, yes. True faith
does work. James tells us that. True faith
works. But it's not the works that's
the evidence, it's the faith is the evidence to your soul.
It's not your feelings. We have all sorts of feelings.
Don't trust your feelings, trust the Word of God and the revelation
of the Holy Spirit. You have all sorts of experiences
of God. Some good, some not so good.
Some days you feel very much in tune with God, other days
it feels like the heaven is as brass above you and you can't
be heard. You have fellowship times that are good. You have
others that are very frustrating. Don't trust those things. It's
faith is the assurance. By faith, by faith we know these
things. It's the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Have you got
that faith? The faith of the children of
God. Do you want that faith? Ask him. Plead for it. Come to
the throne of grace. He said he won't turn anyone
away.