This morning we'll be looking
at verses 24 through verse 31. I know this. I will not be able
to make it through all of those verses. I'm going to tell you
up front. So, we'll be continuing this,
obviously, in time to come. Scripture says here, in verse
23, By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months
of his parents because they saw him, he was a proper child. And they were not afraid of the
king's commandments. By faith, Moses, when he was
called to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer the affliction with the people of
God than to endure the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ's greater riches in the treasure of Egypt,
for he had respect under 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. You go down to verse 31. By faith
the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not,
when she had received the spies with peace. The common thread
I want us to see in all three of these instances is this, their
fearlessness. And that's the title of the message,
the Fearless Faith. Fearless Faith. Now, before I get into this text,
I want us again to be reminded as the purpose, what is the purpose
of Hebrews chapter 11. The Apostle is using this to
show us the benefits, the aspects of true faith. And as we were
to go back and go through this, you would be able to see these
things as you read this chapter. Think of Abel's faith. What does
Abel's faith teach us? It teaches us there's one object,
that more excellent sacrifice. Abel offered a more excellent
sacrifice. So what was Abel's faith in? It was in the object,
the sacrifice. Secondly, we saw the benefit
of faith of Enoch in that it gives eternal life and peace
with God. Enoch was translated, so shall
we be translated, and eternal life. Enoch had peace with God,
so is everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ have peace
with God. Third, the movement of true faith.
Noah's faith shows us the movement of faith. Noah was moved to build
and prepare the ark. And so then, believers, we are
by faith moved to come to Christ. We are moved in the mind, the
will, and the affections to come to Christ and be saved. Fourthly, true faith is a divine
calling. Remember, Abraham was called
out of the Ur of the Chaldees. True faith is a divine calling. And true faith is the rule of
a believer's life. We've learned that by that text
that says he sojourned. Abraham sojourned in the land
of promise. So too we who believe, we sojourn
through this land. How? By faith, not by law. True
faith. True faith looks for a city whose
builder and maker is God. We look forward. True faith looks
forward with affection to the things coming, that inheritance
that we have in Christ. True faith endures unto the end. Remember, these all died in faith,
the Scripture says. So true faith endures. You remember
the faith of Abraham in offering Isaac. True faith doesn't look
at the circumstances or the seeming contradictions, but rather trust
God implicitly, forsaking all, for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And we learn by Isaac and Joseph and Jacob, these on their deathbed,
they were looking forward to something. They were blessing
these children in anticipation of something greater coming.
And so true faith, even in death, looks forward. to something greater,
something better, which is to be with Christ. And now in our
text, the three things that these have in common, Moses' parents,
Moses and Rahab. Each one of these show us a different
aspect of faith. In this, true faith is fearless. Moses' parents feared not the
command of the king. Moses feared not the wrath of
Pharaoh, but rather forsook Egypt and all its treasures. Rahab
did not fear her countrymen, but in faith took in the spies,
and did not perish." So true faith is fearless. I hopefully, by the Lord's grace,
show you that this is true of faith. That faith really is the
remedy of fear. Faith is the remedy of fear.
It's not that those who have faith won't be fearful. Now,
as we journey through this world, believer, we are not exempt from
trouble. Am I speaking to anybody but
me? Because maybe I'm the only one that's not exempt from trouble.
No! The Scriptures bear this out. We are not exempt from any
trouble that is common to man, any danger. We're not exempt from hazards
and enemies of this life. Therefore, we are not exempt
from this thing, fear. Is that right? We fear because
of trouble. We fear because of difficult. We fear because of enemies. You remember in John chapter
11, those that family that Jesus loved so dearly, Mary, Martha,
and Lazarus. You remember when Lazarus was
sick, what did they say to our Lord? They said, Lord, he whom
thou lovest is sick. They were fearful of Him dying. They did not want Him to die. And yet our Lord did what? He
tarried still four days. And He died. Our Lord allowed
His friend to die. He allowed His sisters to weep
and lament His death. Believers, our union with Christ
is real. He loves us. He is our redemption, our sanctification,
our wisdom, our righteousness. He is all our salvation. And
yet, our evidence of being in Him is not a smooth life. That is no evidence of our being
in union with Christ. Prosperity is no evidence of
our union with Christ. Neither is it any indication
of... Neither is it this. It's not
an indication of God's displeasure either. Was He displeased with
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus? No. Yet they still suffered.
So it's not any indication. What we are dealing with in the
outside is not any indication as to how God sees us or how
we really are in Christ. That is no indication. That's
how the world views things. If everything is well, then God
must love you. If you're rich, God must love
you. If you're healthy, God must love you. That is not so in Holy
Scripture. In Holy Scripture, it tells us
God's people suffer. Matter of fact, in our text,
Moses forsook the pleasures of Egypt for what? To suffer. To suffer. It says, esteeming
the reproach of Christ's greater riches. You see, faith alone is our evidence. Faith alone in Christ alone is
our evidence that we are in Him, that we are loved of God, chosen
of God. That is the only evidence you
need. And because of this, what is
God's intention for you? Did He not tell us all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose? And you know this, that death
itself is not even our greatest fear, is it? Death is fearful. But death is only a moment. You
get that? Death only comes in an instant
and it's over. So it's not really death, it's
really life we fear. Life that leads up to death,
but life. And all of the troubles and pains
before death is what we fear. Therefore, let us see the benefits
of true faith in a fearless life. These verses tell us that faith
is not afraid. Moses' parents were not afraid
of Pharaoh's commandment. Moses was not afraid of the wrath
of Pharaoh to forsake Egypt. And Rahab was not afraid to take
in the spies. Now, we know that faith is not
without fear. But it does not fear man. That's what we're talking about.
Faith fears God. That's true. Faith fears God,
but faith does not fear man. Go over to Matthew chapter 10. Our Lord speaks about this matter
of fearing God and fearing man. What did He say in verse 26 of
Matthew chapter 10? He said, "...fear them not therefore." For there is nothing covered
that shall not be revealed, and hid that shall not be known.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak you in the light,
and what you hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul. but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing, and one of them shall not fall to the ground without
your father? But the very hairs of your head are numbered, fear
ye not therefore? You are of more value than many
sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess
me before men, I will confess him also before my Father in
heaven." The gospel. The gospel is concealed. Our
Lord said, don't be afraid of them. And what is He talking
about? He's talking about fearing preaching the gospel, fearing
witnessing of what they've heard. He said, this gospel, it's concealed. It's hidden. from men, but it
is revealed to you. In the dark recesses of our heart,
God comes in light and reveals this gospel to us. And what are
we to do? We are to declare it on the housetop.
We are to declare that Christ is Savior, that sinners should
come and believe on Christ and be saved, that He is the righteousness
of God, that He is the redemption for sin, that His resurrection
is for the justification of sinners. and we tell them to come, come
to Christ, and we shout this without fear. Why? Because we fear God. We reverence
God. We know this, that God is able
to kill both the body and the soul. And when we declare this, we
know this, that the world will want to silence you. Isn't that
what they do? Now in this generation, they
may not silence us with violence yet, It may come. But right now
they're not silencing us with violence. What are they doing?
Silencing you with shame. They try to shame you. Try to
make you feel bad. How dare you say that this religion's
wrong or that religion's wrong or this is wrong. How dare you?
I dare because Christ said it was wrong. Because Christ is
God. I dare because I know Christ,
that He is the only Savior. And so we should shout this from
the housetops. How? Boldly without fear. Without fear. Let me ask you,
are you bold believer? Are you bold? And I'm not saying
brazen. I'm not saying mean. I'm saying
confident. Boldness is not an inflection
of voice. People say when I speak loud
that I'm bold. No, that's not boldness. Just
to speak loud. Boldness is confidence. Are you
confident? How can you be confident that
what you believe is the truth? How can you be fearless except
you believe the Gospel? Except you hear the Gospel and
believe the Gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And we take this Word and we
boldly proclaim it, our Lord, said not fearing men. You remember those Jews that
heard Stephen? They heard Stephen when he was preaching the gospel,
and what was their first reaction? Oh, he sounds like an angel.
He sounds just like an angel. When men hear this gospel, they
kind of get their ears tickled a little bit. It's kind of strange.
Election, and predestination, and redemption. It sounds good. But when we get down to this
matter of depravity, Don't sound too good. That's what Stephen's
message was. He said, look, you're the ones.
It was you and your fathers. And they ran on him. They covered
their ears. And they didn't want to hear
it anymore. And they ran on him and stoned him to death. And
friends, this is what the world will do to us. But regardless
of the wrath of men, we must not fear them. We must not fear what they think
of us or how they feel of us. We would rather fear God, reserve
reverence God by preaching and declaring the gospel of Christ.
Fear not. How? Believe. Faith is the remedy
for fear. And fear not the circumstances
of life. but rather seeing the invisible
faith, faith looks to God who controls all things, both circumstances
and men. Who controls men? God does. Who controls circumstances? God
does. Why then should we fear men or
circumstance if God, our God, controls both of them? You see,
then faith calms fear. Trust in God. Remember, our God
is in the heavens, and hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Child of God, are you so fearful? Is your sickness, your pain,
and your sorrow the cause of such anxious thoughts? Do men trouble you, persecute
you? Has all fleshly arms and helps
failed? Good. Good. Because when they fail, it's
then we lean hard upon the infinite strength of the arm of God. It is then by faith we lean on
Christ. Faith is the remedy for all fears. But again, we must be reminded
that faith, true faith, does not look to itself in trouble. Well, what do we begin to do?
When you hear that faith is the remedy, what do you begin to
inspect? Your faith. You begin to examine your own
faith. You begin to look. Is my faith this? Is my faith
strong enough? Can I? No. Faith is not to look
to itself. There is no strength. There is
no fearlessness in looking to your faith. It is rather looking
at the object of your faith, Jesus Christ. We do not look
to our faith Our faith is at best weak and most of the time
so mixed with unbelief and fear. And yet faith only finds its
strength and fearlessness in its object, Christ. Christ. So therefore, in our affliction,
in the storm, in the tempest, Look not at the sea, but at the Savior. Look not at your sickness or
your affliction, but look to the One who controls it, ordains
it, and uses it for His glory and your good. Jesus Christ, thy Redeemer, thy
Savior, and thy Friend, look to Him." And so as we begin to
look at the fearlessness of these, I want us to see this. When we're
looking by faith, what are we looking to Christ by faith for? First of all, fearless faith
looks at the perfect offering of Christ. When you look to Christ,
you must see His perfect offering. It's a perfect offering. The
root cause of all suffering is what? Sin. Sin. What is the root of your
fear? Sin. Unbelief. Sin is the root cause of all
the curse, sickness, sorrow, and death. All the things that
we fear. Sin is the root. But now in these
trials of our faith, believers look and see that Jesus Christ
has by his one offering forever removed sin. Removed it. In Psalm 103, in verse 10, it
says, He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded
us according to our iniquities." Now, is that not good news? Now,
your sins deserve what? They deserve everything you fear. But God says, I've not dealt
with you after your sins. I've not dealt with you after
or rewarded you for your iniquities. For as high as the heavens is
above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear
him. As far as the east is from the
west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
How in trouble, how it is in trouble We consider, we, our
conscience, our conscience is burdened with guilt and shame
and we begin to feel that our trials, our inflictions are the
punishments of God. Have you felt that way? When
you're being tried, when you're being, when you're sick and you're
afflicted, the first thought that comes into the flesh is
this, God is punishing me for my sins. Now I want you to understand
the difference. God may be chastening you. God may chasten us and He
does chasten His children. There's no doubt about that.
But I want you to understand so that you do not fear. God
will never punish you for your sins. God will never punish you for
your sins. Behold by faith and see that
God has removed them from you. He's removed your sins from you. As far as the East is from the
West. He has not and will not deal
with us after our sins, but in infinite mercy." Notice he said
that my mercy is how high? As high as the heavens. In other words, it's infinite.
My mercy is so infinite that I've taken your sins and cast
them so infinitely far from you that they will never, ever come
on you again. Never. Such mercy He may justly
have, because He did not remove them without payment, but rather
He has placed them in His Son upon the tree. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Our Lord tells us this by the
Apostle. He says in verse 19, "...to wit, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
to them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us. We pray you, be you in Christ's
stead reconciled to God. For, this is why you should be
reconciled, for he who hath made him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So believer, why do you fear
the judgment of God? Why are you so troubled? The
trials are not punishment, but rather only meant to cause you
to draw closer to God. What kind of children would we
be without trials? What kind of spoiled children
would we be? What kind of self-sufficient
children would we suppose ourselves to be had God not given us trials? You see, our Lord knows what
we need. And though painful, necessary. Necessary. These things are not punishment,
but rather to draw us close to Him. So faith, then, in this
makes us fearless. Because we are made the righteousness
of God in Him, and He has redeemed us from our sin, God declared
to those who worship false gods, you should fear. You should fear,
but you who worship Christ, He says, remember these, O Jacob,
And Israel, for thou art my servant, I have formed thee, thou art
my servant, O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have
blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgression, as a cloud
thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed
thee. Fear not, he says in Isaiah 54,
fear not, for thou shalt not be ashamed, neither confounded,
for thou shalt not be put to shame. For thou shalt forget
the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of
thy widowhood. Why? In verse 14 of that chapter
he says, because in righteousness thou shalt be established. Thou
shalt be far from oppression, listen, for thou shalt not fear,
and from the terror for it shall not come nigh to thee. So then faith looks to what?
The object. which is the offering of Christ.
Sin being the root of all of our fears, God says, I've taken
your sin, I've nailed it to the cross, I've paid for the sin,
and it will never come upon you again. So what have you to fear? From God, what do you fear? Nothing. Sin is the cause of
fear, and sin has been removed. But not only does faith look
at the offering of Christ, but secondly, fearless faith looks
at the perfect love of God. Not only does this judiciously
as some distant deity, some judge that stands afar off, he does
this as a father loving his children. He does this in love. Believer,
in thy trouble and fear, look not to the trial or the circumstance
for any sign of God's love. Why? Because God's love cannot
be seen in temporal or earthly things. If I'm blessed with earthly riches,
health, and prosperity, and we say, wow, look how God
loves me. What then if God takes those
things from you? Does God cease to love you? He
did that to Job. Remember Job? Now did God's love for Job change
at all? Was God's love based on what
He gave Job in riches, or was His love taken from Him when
He took His riches? No. God's love is eternal as
God is. It does not change. So God's
love for you does not change. It does not change. It does not
change. This is something faith must
see not by looking at the earthly things, but by looking at the
Word of God. God's love for us did not begin
in time, nor will it diminish by the circumstances
of time. You remember the Lord appeared
of old and said, that I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. An everlasting love. Behold,
believer, that God's love for us transcends all time. His love is eternal. And His
love, like His gifts, are immutable and unchangeable. He says, I
am God. I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. But how are we to see and know
the eternal and immutable love of God for us that cannot be
traced with carnal blessings of time? You see, only faith
in Christ, only by looking to Christ will you be ever able
to see the love of God for you. That's the only evidence of the
love of God. Go to 1 John, 1 John chapter
4. 1 John chapter 4. John describing
love here, verse 9. He says, "...in this was manifest the
love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him." Herein is
love. Not that we loved God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Now tell me, are you fearful? Are you fearful that God does
not care for you? Is it not because then you have
looked away from Christ? Herein is love. You want to know
where love is seen? It's not seen in your love for
God. If you want to see the love of God, you won't see it in your
love for Him. You can only see it by the manifestation
of this, that God so loved the world. That He gave His only
begotten Son. That He gave the most precious,
the most glorious, the most majestic, the most valued gift of all eternity
and creation. He gave His Son. Gave His Son
to be the propitiation, the offering for sin. Look and see that God so loved
us, He gave the greatest treasure of His heart, His Son. And He gave Him, not because you
loved Him. I know that's how we view love,
isn't it? We view love by, well, did someone do something for
me? Did I do enough to earn this
person's love? We try to earn people's love.
And if somebody doesn't earn our love, they sure don't get
it. Now we may put on a face, but
being true, we don't give love unless somebody earns it. But that's not true love. God's
love is true. God loved us when you did not
love Him. He loved us. so don't look at
your love but his love the carnal mind is enmity against
God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed
can be with God's love overruled our hatred and in love he sent his son to
be the propitiation to suffer in the stead of the guilty to
die under the hand of holy justice A text I just read to you in
Romans 8 and 28, where we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. The rest of that scripture reads
like this, For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
Him He also called. Whom He called, He also justified.
Whom He justified, He also glorified. What shall we say to these things? How did God save you? Was it
on accident or purpose? Purpose. He predestinated you
to be in the exact image of the one He loved the most, His Son. He called you, He justified you,
and He glorified you in Christ. Now what shall we say to these
things? If God before us Who can be against us? "...He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all." Listen, how shall He
not with Him freely give us all things? If God so loved us, purposed
our salvation, predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of His Son, If he whose will and word cannot
be broken has determined to do these things, who then shall
stop him? Or what circumstance shall hinder
him from doing these things? Who can be against you? Now then, let me ask you this.
Where then can fear live in such faith? You can't. Why do you fear? What is against
you? What thing is against you? And
if you see something, you say, well, this is against me. Then
obviously you're not believing. There's no faith. It's not that your faith is going
to do away with that thing. That thing may continue and even
kill you. But it's the fear of it. Why fear it when God is the
one that's ordained it? God who loved you. God who gave
His Son for you. And He gave you whatever it is
we've got. It's not against you. Whatever
it is, it's not against you. It can't stand against you. It
may oppose you. It may accuse you. But truly,
it can't do anything to you. It's not against you. Can sickness,
sorrow, death, hell, Satan, and all the powers of hell that assault
your soul daily, can they separate you from the love of God that
is in Christ?" Paul said, no. He said, I'm persuaded. Now,
this was not by sight. Paul was in prison. He was ready
to be executed. He didn't see this carnally.
He said, I'm persuaded, not carnally, and not by emotion, not just
by sheer raw emotion was he persuaded, but by faith he was persuaded.
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus. Believer, then, look now at the
love of God in Christ. Behold its immutability, its
height, its depth, its width. Paul prayed for these believers
in Ephesus that Christ should dwell in your hearts by faith,
that you should be rooted and grounded in His love, in love. that you may be able to comprehend
with all saints the breadth, the length, the depth, the height,
to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that you might
be filled with the fullness of God. See then the fearless faith
keeps as its constant and perfect object these two things, the
offering of Christ and the love of God. You see, Moses' parents were
able to defy the command of the king because they believed the
Word of God. You know, the man-children in
this time were highly prized. You know why? Not just because
they were men, but because Christ should come from this line, from
that nation. And so they realized that this
should come, that Christ should come. They desired to keep this
child. And they did not fear the wrath of the mighty Egyptian
empire. They did not fear death. Why? Because God was for us. Who can be against us? They didn't
look at the circumstance, did they? They were in prison. They
were in captivity. They were slaves. They didn't look at the circumstance.
What did they look at? The Word of God. They heard the
Word of God, they knew the Word of God, they believed the Word
of God, and they hid that child, not fearing. Not fearing. Believer, do not look at the
circumstance, but rather Christ. You remember Peter, and I'll
close with this. I didn't even get to any halfway through. That's
alright. It's okay. Remember Peter when
he was called upon the water. Now, we know that he sank, but
the fact that he actually walked some on the water, he stood there
for at least a second or two, should shame us in our faith.
But he came out and he walked upon the water as Christ bid
him to do. What caused him to sink? He looked at the waves and the
wind. and fear. Fear replaced faith. Fear, John says, bringeth torment. Now there is no torment like
fear. But the remedy to fear is faith. Not faith in faith, but faith
in Christ. Believing Christ without any
earthly, carnal, visible sign or evidence. The only evidence we need is
the Word of God. And we believe Christ. And what did John say? Perfect
love casteth out fear. That's not to say that you won't
be afraid. Why? The scriptures are filled
with it. Be not afraid. Don't be afraid. Why? If we weren't
afraid, we wouldn't have those scriptures. Those scriptures
are necessary, aren't they? Be not afraid. It is I. Whatever it is that's happening
to you, it is I, says the Lord. Don't be afraid. And fear should leave at the
very presence of faith in Christ. Therefore, I exhort you who do
believe, continue to believe. Why? Because you continually
fear. Therefore, you need the constant presence of faith in
Christ, don't you? I believe on Christ now. And
now. And now. Why? Because I'm full
of fear. The only thing that drives it
out is faith. May God give us such faith to drive out fear. True faith is fearless. May God bless his two yards.