We're gonna be in the book of
Hebrews, if you would like to turn there. Hebrews chapter 11. As we have viewed what is called
the hall of the faithful, faithful matriarchs and faithful patriarchs,
we see a pattern, a distinct pattern. Not that these individuals
were sinless in and of themselves, not that they never had unbelief,
but they had faith. The Lord had given them faith
to believe God. That's the pattern. Each one
of these have received faith, which is the gift of God by grace
alone. This is the pattern. We see the
same in them that we see in how the Lord saves today. He saves
sinners by his grace, all by his grace, all by his choosing.
We see a common denominator, that faith is given. Faith is
the gift that's received only by grace, only by grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, in that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. These, in this chapter, they
didn't brag upon their lives, did they? They didn't brag upon
themselves, did they? They bragged upon their Savior.
They bragged upon their Lord. They glorified him, they worshiped
him. That's the pattern, that's what
faith does. Faith looks to Christ alone. Faith honors the Lord
alone, gives no confidence to the flesh, gives no credit to
the flesh, gives no glory to the flesh. This faith that God
gives is faith to believe God over self. You know how hard
it is to believe God over self? Well, it's impossible unless
you have faith. The Lord says that three is one. Well, how am I supposed to believe
that? Because everything I've ever learned from being a child
in school that three is three. No, three is one when it comes
to the Lord. How can you believe that because of faith? He's everywhere
all the time. He's omnipresent and he knows
everything all the time. He's omnipotent, sovereign. How
can he be everywhere all the time and know everything all
the time? Well, I can't explain that, but I believe it. Why?
Faith. Faith causes us to believe God. Without faith, we won't believe
God. We will believe self. We will
believe our thoughts, our ways. But faith is the gift that causes
us to believe God over self, over circumstances, over trials,
over tribulations, over everything. We believe God. We see that God
enables us, his children, his elect, by faith to see Christ
as their only hope for righteousness. We see Christ by faith as our
only hope for justification before God. We see Christ as our only
hope to be sanctified, to be made like him. This is what the
Lord gives when he gives faith, the ability to see Christ the
Savior and Lord both. We, by the grace of God, believe
that Christ is all. And you know what that's called?
The result of faith. That's what I've titled this
message, The Result of Faith. Let's read our text, Hebrews
chapter 11, verse 11 says, 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 promise. Therefore, spring there even
of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky
in the multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore
innumerable. Now he's not, the writer here
is not talking about his physical Israel, physical Jews. He's talking
about spiritual Israel. He's talking about the promise.
And that was what Abraham received of the Lord is the promise of
the Messiah would come through him. The promise of the Messiah.
Understand something, Abraham was a idolater. He was worshiping false gods.
He was in a strange country. He didn't know who God was, but
God came to him and said, get thee up into a country I will
show you. And he believed God. Why? Because
God gave him faith to believe. Scripture says, Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That word
counted means reckoned. And that word counted unto him
for, the word for is because. So he's saying Abraham believed
God because God gave him faith for righteousness sake. That's
what he's saying. It wasn't that Abraham exercised
his faith. We were talking back in the men's
study just a moment ago about exercising faith. By definition,
that's an impossibility. Faith is not exercised. Faith
just believes. Faith just rests. Faith is ever
looking unto Christ as our only hope of salvation. So what is
the result of faith? The result of faith is not salvation. What do I mean by that? We are
not saved because we're given faith. We're given faith because
we've been saved. Do we understand that? The Lord
gives faith to his people to believe him because he's already
done the saving. He's already done the saving.
And then the calling is whenever he enables us to believe him,
he gives the faith at that time. He gives repentance towards God
and faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. So faith is a result
of salvation already being accomplished. It's not the cause of salvation
being accomplished. Salvation was accomplished by
the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. So the Lord
gives us the faith we need to believe him, to believe he saved
his people. Most think that faith is a work,
as we just talked about, exercising your faith, but you know what
faith does? It rests on the Lord's Sabbath. It rests on the Lord's
Sabbath. I worked with somebody for a
long time, and every Saturday, they tried to observe the Sabbath.
He wouldn't go fishing, he wouldn't go hunting, he wouldn't do anything.
He was trying to keep the law, the Sabbath day law. And I asked
him, I said, do you really know what's in that law? And he says,
well, no, not exactly. I just know that we can't do
a whole lot on that. So I looked it up for him, showed him. I'm
like, are you doing any of this? And he's like, well, yeah, I didn't know
you couldn't do that, too. And it's like, if you're going
to keep it, you've got to keep it perfectly. But I said, the
only thing you're doing is condemning yourself by keeping that one
law, because you're not keeping the rest. What does the scripture
say? Clearly, if we try to keep the
law, then we're guilty of the whole law. Isn't that true? We
don't keep the law. Faith doesn't look to a day,
it looks to a person. Faith doesn't rest on a Sunday
or a Saturday on a day. It rests on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what faith does. It rests
on the Sabbath, the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The first result of faith is
it rests in Christ. It rests in His finished work. It rests in Him as our hope for
eternal life. It rests in Him to be pardoned
before God, to be made just before God, to be made right. See, we're
born wrong. We're born sinful. We're born
wretched and vile. The Lord fixes that. Fixed it
on the cross at Calvary by the sacrifice of himself, and faith
rests in his work, not our works. Faith never examines self and
say, am I working enough? Am I doing enough? Am I trying
hard enough? That's not faith. Faith looks
to Christ. Faith looks to Christ, and I guarantee you, according
to what the Lord's written in his word, if you are looking
to Christ, if you are looking to Christ, then your brothers
and sisters will know. There'll be a harmony, won't
there? There'll be a fellowship, a sweet
fellowship between. And that's what we do. We come
here together. We go out in this world. The
Lord said you are the light of the world. I'm the light of the world, but
when I go away, you are the light of the world. What does he mean by that? Well,
the light that's in us is the light that the Lord gave. And
it's that faith that looks to him. He's the light source. So when we come together, is
it not true that we talk about the same thing? We talk about
the light, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're talking about the bread
of life again. We're talking about the blood
again. We're talking about all these things that we don't understand,
but we believe by faith. And it encourages each other.
We love each other and encourage each other, don't we? And it's
all done. by looking to Christ. Faith rests in Christ. His death,
it rests in His death as our hope of eternal life. It rests
in His life as our justification before God. It rests in His blood
as our redemption before the Father. His resurrection as evidence
of our justification. Few have been given this faith,
God sent faith. then you see him as the sovereign,
successful redeemer of his chosen people. You see him as seated.
No more working. There's no more work to be done
by you and I, nor by him. But you see the Lord Jesus Christ
at his right hand as well. What is he doing? He's making
intercession for the Lord's people. He's pleading our case before
the Lord. You know, the blood never expires. It doesn't have an expiration
date. All we have to do is We plead the blood, don't we? That's
all, that's our only hope. It's don't look at my life and
what I'm doing. No, look, give me Christ. Cause me to see him
more and see myself less. We see him as the sovereign creator
who according to the will of God became a man. That's what
faith believed. God became a man. Now that might
not sound too hard or too, but if you really understand, if
we really have a glimpse of the sovereignty, the holiness, the
might, the power, the awesomeness of God, and he became a man,
then it becomes a little bit harder to fathom, doesn't it?
It becomes a little bit more difficult to grasp, but we believe
that. God became a man for the purpose
of redeeming his people. Faith believes this. The glorious
news about this faith is this faith cannot fail because of
its origin. See, if you and I were the ones
that produced it, there's a possibility it could fail. If you and I were
the ones that had to get it, or have to work on it, have to
keep it, do you trust yourself to do that? I don't. I don't
trust myself to do that. And the Lord, so what the Lord
do, he says, I'm gonna give you the faith, my faith, the faith
of Christ, and you're gonna believe me. And that's what he does.
And that's what he does. And it cannot fail because it
comes from him. You know, Peter, I love Peter. Sometimes he would
say some really not very wise things. I can relate. I can relate
to Peter. Sometimes, boy, he had the right
words, didn't he? He had the right words. One time
he had the right words, the Lord asked the disciples, said, who
do men say that I am? And they said, well, some say
you're Elijah, some say you're John the Baptist, another prophet.
And he said, well, who do you say that I am? Now, that's the
question. That's the question. Who do you say that the Lord
Jesus Christ is? Because the only way you can
say what Peter said and believe it is by faith, by faith. Peter said, I believe that thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God. And the Lord said,
blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not
revealed this to you, but my father, which is in heaven. And that's
what he does for his people, is he reveals Christ. He reveals
Christ. Now, a little later on, Peter
didn't have the right words. He told the Lord, he said, well,
I'm gonna go with you all the way even to death. And he said, get behind
me, Satan. For Satan hath desired to sift thee as wheat, Peter.
And he said the most sweetest words that he tells his elect,
but I have prayed for you. The only difference between Judas
and Peter is those words, I prayed for you, Peter. Lord Jesus Christ
didn't pray for Judas, didn't love Judas, he loved Peter. He
prayed for him and his faith fell not. So the result of faith
is that it does not fail to look to Christ. Faith looks to the
Lord Jesus Christ, giving him all the glory. Faith agrees. agrees with, side with, obeys
God in all things, in all things. Faith does not work, it rests
in Christ. Faith believes God over things
seen. What do I mean by that? Well,
you see something, and you can physically make sense of it,
But then the Lord says, well, this is the truth. You have to
believe the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. But you see something
physical, like you want to see some physical evidence or something
like that. And that's not faith. Faith immediately runs to Christ.
Faith immediately cries out, Lord, save me. Faith immediately
is a beggar, begging the Lord for mercy. That's what he creates
in us by giving us faith. We believe him. Faith rests the
entire hope of salvation Not upon the works that we produce,
but upon the finished work that was done at the cross of Calvary
by the Lord Jesus Christ. In how God saved his chosen people,
how he elected them, how he adopted them, how he saved them, how
he called them, how he keeps them according to the good pleasure
of his will. What is the result of this faith? What is the result
of faith? Resting. Number one, resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ as all, as all. Now let's read this verse
again. Verse 11, 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. What is the
result of faith? We believe he is faithful that
promised. We believe he is faithful that
promised. Number one, we rest. Number two,
we believe. We believe he is faithful to
the promise. When the Lord appeared unto Abraham, the Lord appeared
unto Abraham, he told him, he said, you're going to have a
son in your old age. And Abraham literally says he fell down on
his face and he laughed at God for telling him that. Well, that's
me and you, first of all. So don't be too hard on Abraham.
You know we do the same thing. And he said, you're going to
have a childhood in your old age. And he said, I mean, she's
past time and I'm past time. I'm paraphrasing, of course.
He's like, so how is that even possible? I love the Lord telling men whenever
they say things like that. He said, well, with God, all
things are possible. We can't limit God. That's the
point. Everything that he desires is going to come to pass. It's
not too hard for him. So Tom went by and Abraham told
Sarah what was going on. And Sarah said, OK, well, we
need to help God out. That's pretty much how it went.
I have a handmaid here. She can give you a child, because
I can't give you a child. And that's exactly what happened.
Ishmael is his name. He was 13 years old whenever
Isaac finally came. So 13 years later from this time
is when Isaac finally came. They're still over there in the
Middle East fighting over that land because of that. You know that,
right? That's who Ishmael and Israel, that's it. That's all
the people over there that are at war with each other in the
Middle East. That's what it's all about. Anyways,
we see the picture here in Hebrews is not the picture we see in
Genesis. I want us to understand that
because The Lord appears unto Abraham again after the 13 years,
and he says, Abraham, you're going to have a son with Sarah.
And Sarah laughed in her heart. Scripture says she laughed in
her heart at the Lord, and the Lord called her out. He said,
why'd you laugh in your heart? She said, I didn't. He's like,
yes, you did. I know you did. So in the fullness
of time, the Lord calls her to indeed conceive. She had a son,
named him Isaac. You know how that story goes?
But it said she laughed at God, and it said Abraham laughed at
God. But here it says, 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.
Now that doesn't sound like the same Sarah, does it? Is the Lord
rewriting history here? No, he's showing us that he's
not looking at your works. He's not looking at your sin.
He put the sin away. He's looking at his son to satisfy
him. And he's looking at the faith that he gives you to look
to his son. That's what he's looking for.
He's not looking for anything we produce. Abraham believed
God. Why did he believe God? He was
given faith to believe God. Sarah believed God. Why did she
believe God? She was given faith. She had moments of doubt. She
had moments of weakness, just like you and I do. But that faith
cannot fail because it comes from him. Freely given by his
grace to his people. That faith just believes him,
rests your entire salvation upon him. That's exactly why it reads
this way. Exactly why it reads this way.
She judged him faithful who had promised. You ask Peter, whenever
he was denying the Lord. Peter never denied who God was. He never denied who Christ was. He didn't say he's not the Christ.
He never did that. He just denied affiliation because
he was frightened for his life. He just denied affiliation. If
you'd have asked him at that moment about the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you'd have specifically said to him, who is Christ to you? His answer would have been the
same because his faith could fail not. His answer would have
been, he is Christ, the son of the living God. It would have
been the same. We know that because the Lord said, I prayed for you
that your faith fail not. And that's what faith would say.
He's Christ. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so we see that this faith cannot fail because it comes from him
and gives him all the glory. all the glory. And the only reason
Peter didn't fall on his face and begin sinking like he did
when he walked on the water is because the faith that the Lord
gave him could not fail because of where it came from. What is the result of faith?
We believe he is faithful that promised. He said, I'm going
to keep you. We are kept by the power of God.
I believe that. I believe that. I've saved you.
I've redeemed you. You're mine. Called you by your
name. You're mine. I believe that. I believe that.
As a matter of fact, if that's not the case, no one can be saved.
I would never come to him. My flesh is contrary to him in
every way. Our flesh will not, cannot choose
against its nature. And our nature hates God. So
we would not choose him. He has to give us a new nature,
one that pleases him. And that's what he does. By faith,
he gives us that. I love the Lord coming to Abraham
and saying to him, you're going to have a child in your old age.
But this time it says Abraham believed God. That verse that
I've quoted a couple of times, that's when it says that. Abraham
believed God this time. He believed God. And the Lord
said, to Abraham, I will make an everlasting covenant with
you. We've heard of that before, haven't we? It's the covenant
of grace. That's what we hope in, is the
covenant of grace, that God saved his people, that God pleased
God, that God did all the work. I don't want one iota, one iota
left for me or you to do, because we'd mess it up, wouldn't we?
But what did he say on the cross of Calvary? It is finished. Do
we believe that? If we do, it's by faith. It's
by faith. I believe that God saved his
people from their sin. I believe that. I believe he
is God and that beside him there is none other. He's everlasting,
he's eternal, he's glorious. I believe him. This is the result
of faith, believing God. When the Lord sees this faith,
now what does it do? It looks to Christ. Where does
it come from? It comes from Christ. And who gets all the glory for
it? The Lord does. So important, so important. We never get away
from that, because religion likes to take faith and change it.
It's just not true. It's all for Him and for His
glory. But when the Lord sees that faith, we're looking to
the same thing that pleases Him. That's a requirement. You must
be pleased. with the same thing God is pleased
with. And the only way you're gonna be pleased with the Lamb
of God is if He gives you faith to do so. If He gives you the
faith to do so. That's the only way you would
be pleased with Him. Scripture tells us in Isaiah 53, there's
no comeliness to Him. There's no beauty in Him that
can be found. Nothing in Him that we should desire Him. And
that would be true. If He walked into the room, unless
He reveals Himself to us and gives us faith to believe, we
wouldn't know Him from somebody else. These people that were
walking with Him, He was going from city to city. Sometimes
they'd have thrones around him. Sometimes he would just walk
past people. They wouldn't know who he was. It's the gift. It's the gift as the result of
eternal life. The Lord gives you faith. He's
showing you I have saved you. I have bought you. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. This faith is Christ honoring.
He's pleased with his people because they are in Christ looking
to Christ. Very moment we take our eyes
off of him. It's always, that's always a
bad thing, isn't it? It's always trouble. Always trouble.
We begin to sink. Lord, I'm sinking again. Save
me. Save me. And that's what he does. And
that's what he does. were kept by his power, ready
to be revealed the last day. Scripture says even though we
struggle, we have trials, we get discouraged, we get defeated,
that faith cannot fail. It says the outward man perisheth,
but the inward man is renewed day by day. He just drops those
handfuls of purpose, doesn't he? Giving us that fresh manna
for today, allowing us to see his face, allowing us to rest
in his finished work. You know, whenever you hear the
gospel being preached, I don't. I've never sat under a true gospel
preacher and heard the gospel being preached, and I worried
about a bill I had to pay. Not one time. I didn't worry
about a responsibility at the house, a responsibility at work.
I didn't worry about it. Because whenever you're hearing
the gospel, it just stops the flesh. And you're looking unto
the one who successfully saved his people. And you're reminded
that if he sacrificed, he spared not his own son, but freely delivered
him up. How should he not give us all
things by him as well? What's he going to withhold from
you? What's he going to withhold? He gave you his son. He died
in your place. What is he going to withhold
from you that you need? Nothing. Nothing. He's going to give exactly
what you need, and what do you need? Faith. Oh, I need faith. I want to believe. Lord, help
my unbelief. I believe, help my unbelief.
That's what the parent said. The Lord said, if you can believe,
it'll be done unto you. He said, Lord, I believe, but
help my unbelief. That's us, isn't it? I believe,
help my unbelief. Sarah did indeed conceive Isaac,
but it wasn't the physical seed. It wasn't just a physical seed
of promise. It was the promise of the Messiah that she believed
in. And that's why Jacob and Esau is such a, that's why a serious matter as
Jacob and Esau. That's why it's so serious is
because Esau did not care about the birthright, which was literally
the promise for the Messiah. That's why he was not, That's why he was not loved of
the Lord because he didn't, the Lord never gave him faith to
believe, but he gave faith to Jacob. Jacob says, I've got to
have that birthright. I've got to have Christ. That's
what he was saying. That's exactly what the Lord's
people do also. We've got to have Christ. We've
got to have him. This Messiah is the only one
that can redeem us back. Even though she doubted for a
moment, she believed God. was faithful, that's what it
says right here. He is faithful who had promised. Boy, she didn't
sound like she believed that back in Genesis, did she? Genesis
18, I believe it is. She laughed in her heart. Is
that not us? Is that not us? Is there anything
too hard for God, though? Anything too hard for God? No,
he can do anything he chooses to do. Lastly, what is the result of
God-given faith? Second Timothy 1.7 tells us,
for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power
and of love and a sound mind. Spirit of, not the spirit of
fear anymore. Not only is true faith resting
in Christ and believing God, but now we do not fear the judgment
or wrath any longer because we don't have the spirit of fear
anymore of judgment and wrath because he put away our sin.
He endured that wrath and that judgment due us so that we rest
now in that work. We believe that finished work
as our hope of salvation. We believe by his power he did
this. And because of all this, he gives
his people faith to believe and they're given a sound mind. We're
not double-minded anymore, are we? We're not double-minded,
we don't go to the law to try to find righteousness, and we
don't try to work out ourselves. I remember that being a verse
people talk about, work out your own soul's salvation with fear
and trembling, and they really thought, you gotta go to work, you gotta
go knocking on doors and stuff. The Lord says work out, it's
the same thing when he says, try the spirits, all those things.
If you take all of those commands that he's talking about, The
best way that I can tell you what to do with those scriptures
is just look to Christ. Because if you're looking to
Christ, you're working out your salvation with fear and trembling.
You are. Paul said, examine yourself,
see if you be in the faith. No, he's not saying see if you're
living a good life, seeing if you're doing morally good things,
seeing if you're cleaning up your act, if you're getting better
and better. No, look in you to see if there's any righteousness
in yourself other than the righteousness of Christ. Look inside of you
and see if there's anything you're holding onto as either evidence
of your salvation or proof of your salvation that you have
done. Because if it is, you don't have salvation. No, we can't
look to ourself in anything. We look to Christ. That's what
he's saying. Examine yourself. Lord, if there be anything in
me, remove it. Don't let it get in between you
and me. Give me Christ alone. That's what he's saying when
he says examine yourself. That's what faith does. Faith looks to Christ,
believes his power, We see that the promised seed,
now understand this, I don't know if I, I don't wanna get
too far ahead, I can't remember if that's next hour, so you might
have to hear this twice, I don't know. The promised seed to Abraham
was fulfilled of the Lord Jesus Christ. These elders in this
chapter, they never saw the promise fulfilled. Think about that. They never saw the Lord Jesus
Christ, none of them. They didn't see him, but they
believed by faith that the Lord was gonna keep his word, and
he did. Now me and you have the fullness of that promise fulfilled. They were saved looking towards
the cross. We're saved looking back to what
the finished work of Christ, and it's all him. We're looking
to him, what he done. They were looking at what he
was going to do. Christ is called the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world, isn't he? We're looking what he was going
to do. We look back at what he's already done. We have the fullness.
We know exactly how it happened, don't we? We have it right here.
We know how it happened. We know how he saved his people.
You don't have to guess anymore. You don't have to wonder anymore.
The only thing we're waiting on now is his second return. We see this promise seed fulfilled
in the person of Christ. We have no fear. We have no need
for fear of approaching his throne of grace. that we might obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Matter of fact,
we come boldly. What does that mean? That means full assurance
and confidence that what he said he was going to do, he did. That
who he said he was, he was. And what he's gonna do, he's
come back for us, he's gonna do that too. He's going to keep
his word, he cannot lie. He cannot lie, we come boldly.
We believe everything required, he provided. When he was made
an offering for the sins of his people, On the cross of Calvary,
that offering was pleasing unto the Father and thereby saving
His people from their sin. Saving His people from their
sin. God was satisfied. He put all the sin away. Now
you know what the call is? Not do, but the Spirit says come. And the bride says come. And whosoever will, let him come
and take the water of life freely. But you gotta buy it without
price and without money, because it's already been paid for by
the blood of the Lamb. Obeying this commandment, coming
to Christ, it's the result of faith bestowed. That's the only
way we can come. Lord, if you don't give me faith,
I'll never come. But if it gives you faith, you can't help it.
You've got to come to him. You've got to have him. We obey
this commandment because it's the result of faith. Faith is
not the result of my choosing, but his choice. Faith is not
the cause of salvation, but the result of salvation, the result
of salvation. It's the evidence of eternal
life. If I have his faith, I am resting in Christ alone as all
my righteousness, all my wisdom, all my sanctification, all my
redemption. I have this faith, I'm looking to him to please
God, because I cannot please God. That's the result of faith. We no longer fear the judgment. We are now resting. This faith
rests in the finished work of the Lord. It believes he is faithful
that promised. We no longer fear the judgment
of God. We've been given, we're trusting
his power. We've been given a sound mind and love towards him and
love towards one another. This is what, this is what he's
done. We're no longer double-minded. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. This is the result of faith. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for your word. We ask that you would bless it
according to your will, for your glory, to our understanding.
In Christ's name, amen.