Hebrews chapter 11 This morning we'll be looking
at verse 11 I Could say verse 12, but I don't
think we'll make it there So verse 11 that we'll read both
of these together, but it's going to be focusing on verse 11 this
morning the title the message is perfect and and personal faith, perfect faith,
and personal faith. The scripture 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." We'll just stop there. Now, as we have seen
in this 11th chapter of Hebrews, the apostle here, after exhorting
believers to continue in the faith, has all true believers
will continue in the faith. Saying faith is a gift of God,
saying faith in Christ is something that God produces in the believer. It is also something God keeps
us in throughout this life. And you'll see this even at the
end of this when he said these all died in faith. Every true
believer will die in faith, will continue in faith. And so he
begins by these prophets and these Old Testament saints to
show us certain aspects of faith, certain things about faith benefits
about faith and we've just been through many of these but uh...
the one previous to sarah was abraham and we saw that abraham
that he was called of god to go into the land of promise and
he obeyed and there we see the aspect of faith is that faith
is uh... there's a calling Everyone who
is believes on Christ has been called of God. Abraham was called
of God. So you who believe, you were
called of God. And as Abraham obeyed God in
faith, even so you who believe obey God by coming to Christ. And we saw that Abraham sojourned,
verse 9. How did he sojourn? By faith.
You see, we sojourn in this life not by law, but by faith. Abraham
did not have the law of Moses to sojourn by sojourn how by
faith even so do we Sojourn through this life by faith, but now the
Holy Spirit Through the Apostle would have us turn our attention
from Abraham now to Sarah Sarah and by Sarah's faith teach us
something about faith teach us something about faith in Christ
and He turns to Sarah's faith, and this is the first thing that
I want us to see about Sarah's faith. According to the apostle
in this book, Sarah's faith was perfect. Sarah's faith was perfect. Now Abraham, he received the
promise of God that in his seed should all the nations of the
earth be blessed. yet we read this that abraham
had no seat abraham had no children yet god promised him something
that he did not have yet a c a promise yet abraham in faith we can read
in the old testament and i i assure you abraham's faith in as you
read it it's strong Sometimes, oh, I pray for the faith of Abraham.
Don't you? Just boldly trust God no matter
what you see. Isn't that what he did when he
left his father's house and his kindred? He was told and immediately
he did it. Abraham received that promise
of God and he went out when he had lot and him and lot got into
that argument It well their their servants did and lot said we
need to separate and Abraham said okay now pick Pick which
way and he looked over here. It's all green. It's all beautiful.
I'm gonna take this way Abraham didn't argue didn't do anything.
He knew this God promised and he took off into the desert now,
that's faith That's trusty. There was no question in Abraham's
faith Abraham's faith was strong faith. Abraham did not even look at
his wife's womb. He did not look at his own body. He trusted God. Remember when
Christ appeared to him? He laughed with joy and anticipation
of the coming of the seed. He laughed with joy, the scripture
says. We read of his strong faith,
but as you read the account of Genesis concerning Sarah, you
will not find strong faith. You will only find unbelief. That's what you'll read when
Sarah... You remember when God told them that told them in their
old age they should conceive and bear a son? What did she
try to do? She turned to Hagar. She said,
we're going to help God out on this. God surely can't do this
on his own. So what I'm going to do is give
you Abraham, give my servant to you, and you can conceive
through her. So we'll just help God out. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
came in that pre-incarnate nature, and he appeared to them and said,
you're going to have a son, she laughed, but not like Abraham. They both laughed, but different,
very different words there. She laughed in unbelief. And the Lord rebuked her about
that. He said, is there anything too hard for God? And you know, when the Lord rebuked
her and told her she didn't believe, you know what she said? I didn't
do that. Right to his face. So when you read her account,
her faith obviously is not perfect. It's obviously not perfect. Is this not true of us? When you look at your faith,
can you not see Sarah in yourself? When God promises you something,
you laugh at Him. as though that's just too much
that's just too hard that's just impossible i'll tell you what
i know how to do this i'm going to help you out and we end up
messing up things more and more trying to help him fulfill his
own promises that's not faith faith is complete trust absolute
trust in the promises of god The blessings of God that we
have in Christ. Let us not laugh in unbelief,
thinking God's arm is too short to save. How many times do we as the church
try to help God out? We're to be about our business.
What is our business here? Preaching the gospel. Declaring
the gospel at every opportunity we declare the gospel But we
are not here to trick men into believing or coming to church We do not offer special bonus
prizes for attendance, I'm not trying to help God out here I'm here to preach the gospel
to you Who come we're here We don't trick men in doing this
Am I here to please man or God? I'm here to worship God. You're
here to worship Christ. You're here to worship God. We're
not here to try to help God out in this matter. Yet we see, in light of this
scripture, look at your text again. Look at how the Apostle,
through the Holy Spirit, mentions Sarah's faith. Through faith,
Sarah also herself received strength to conceive a seed and was delivered
of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful,
who had promised. Now, do you hear any mention
of her unbelief in that? Do you hear any mention of it?
Do you not hear, Sarah through faith, though she messed up so
many times in unbelief, no, you hear of her perfect faith, how
by faith she received strength and was delivered of child, how
through her faith and trust in God who is faithful, you hear
nothing of her unbelief, nothing of her unbelief. You see, through the light of
Scripture, because of the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ
that clothes us, that washes us, I want you to see this. God sees us only as we are in Christ. Now, if that don't warm your
heart, I don't know what will. If you're not thankful for that,
You won't be thankful for anything else. Therefore, rejoice. You who are
in Christ. You see, God is showing us Sarah's
faith is perfect because He sees her not as she is in nature,
but as she is in Christ. Perfect. Perfect. For in Christ,
we are made Perfect. You get that? You didn't make
yourself perfect. You didn't become perfect. You
were made perfect by another. By another. In Christ, we are
holy and without blame before God. Isn't that the purpose of
election? God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world that you should be holy and without
blame before Him. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. Listen, how? By Jesus Christ. This was always God's plan. It
was always God's purpose that you should be made holy. Made
holy. That's God's purpose. You want to know what the will
of God is for your life? How many times have I heard that?
I know what people want. They want a little 8 ball, a
little crystal ball, shake up and see what God's will is for
them today. To eat bacon or not eat bacon. To go down the road
or not go down the road. That's what they think. I want
to tell you what God's purpose is for His people. To make you
holy. He said, I'm going to do it.
Purpose to do it. Christ we are made holy and without
blame before God even as we were chosen in him But in these last days How do
I know such things as eternal election because in these last
days God has sent his son By whom we are purged of our sin
purge means washed completely thoroughly washed from all our
sins The scripture says we are made meet, qualified. We've met the standard. Qualified
for what? To be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. And by grace. by grace and power
of the holy spirit we have been made qualified and partakers
of the inheritance by experience election and redemption mean
nothing to to a man unless god quickens his soul unless god
gives him this nature that he's made for him The Apostle Paul says this, "...if
so be you have heard of Him and been taught of Him." Have you
heard of Christ? Not just with the hearing of
the ear, but have you been taught of God? The Scripture says they
shall all be taught of God. When I preach Christ to you,
I'm not preaching anybody new, am I? This is not new to you
who believe. You know Him. Why? You've been taught of God. And
what is this? What is the result of being taught?
As the truth is in Jesus, you have put off concerning the former
conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful
lust, and been renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that
you put on the new man, which is after God created, created,
in righteousness and true holiness. Though we are constantly plagued
by the old man, you who believe, you are constantly
plagued by that old man. I know that. I'm plagued daily
by him with fears and doubts and unbelief. which we are exhorted
to put off. Are you done with that? Have
you finished putting off the old man? Is he completely put
off yet? You made it. You've arrived. No, you've got to put him off
again today. Put him off. put off the old man of unbelief
and his behavior and put on the new man which is created after
God in true holiness put on the new man in our behavior which is not made holy by our
behavior The new man is made holy because God made him holy.
God created him in you. Therefore, put off the old, the
unbelief, and put on the new faith in Christ. Put on the graces
that God has bestowed upon us. Faith, love, hope, meekness,
temperance. Paul said we are made in Hebrews
chapter 3 and verse 14. Listen. Paul said we are made
partakers of Christ. You are made partakers of Christ. That is, we who are created new
in Him, we are made partakers then of all His merits, His work,
and His death. You are made partakers. I love this, what Brother Don
wrote. He said this, To be a partaker of Christ means that I have a
share in his merits. Sinful though I am, vile, wretched,
and unclean, I come to the fountain filled with blood. I am washed
in it, made white as snow. And the moment I become, that
moment I become a partaker of the eternal Son, a partaker of
Christ and his merits. That which Christ did as my substitute
is actually mine. Everything Christ did in the
behalf of His people is ours. All that righteousness that He
merited by His own faith and faithfulness to God, since I
am a partaker of Christ, being in union with Christ, all of
His righteousness now is mine. Mine. His work upon the cross,
did He bear your sins in His own body on the tree? Did God
punish my sins in my substitute? Then His death is my death. His blood is my redemption. He is my offering to God. Because God is holy and the law
could demand no more as the songwriter wrote payment God cannot twice
demand First at my bleeding sureties hand and then again at mine can't
do it Because I'm a partaker of Christ I'm a partaker of all
his perfections His perfections are mine and
with his spotless garments on we are holy as the holy so very
near to god nearer we cannot be for in the person of his son
we are as near as so then why is shares faith perfect
You listen, because the object of her faith was perfect. And whatever her Savior has done
is accounted to her. You know, it's what Jeremiah
tells us. He calls our Lord Jesus, he says,
He is the Lord our righteousness. That's His name. That's His name.
The Lord our righteousness. But do you know what He calls
His bride? By the same name. By the same name. We are. Not you shall be. You are. The Lord, our righteousness. That's your name. Now how often are you surprised
when God hears you? You cry. You plead. Help me. I don't deserve help. Help me. And then He helps you. And you
wonder why He helped you. He helped you because of His
Son. He helped you because His Son
and you are in union together. He made it so. He made it so. That's why Sarah's faith here
is seen with not in unbelief, but in perfection. So is your
faith. You believe that? That your faith
is perfect? I believe. Help thou my Second thing is this true faith
is very personal Look at your text again Sarah's faith is not
only mentioned as perfect faith by which you conceive this son
And she judged God to be faithful second of all her faith is personal. Look at that through faith also
Sarah herself Herself Now, Abraham, we said, believed
God. He believed God. His faith was
strong. He trusted the promise of God.
He trusted in the seed, which was Christ. And the scripture
tells us, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now, who was it accounted to?
It was accounted to him. Not anyone else. And so it is with you. So it is with you. All the elect of the Father,
the redeemed of the Son, shall be called of the Holy Spirit,
taught of God, and they all themselves shall believe. They all shall believe. Jesus
told us that. He said, no man can come unto
me. except the father which has sent me draw him as it is written
they show who all be taught of god who are taught of god those
that come to him but faith of the believer in christ no matter
how strong No matter how evident it is that you are a believer,
no matter how you are used of God in his service, you cannot
transmit faith to another. Cannot do it. Faith cannot be
transmitted from one person to another, no matter their relationship
or zeal. As many as received him. to them gave he the right to be called
the sons of God, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Now, I know
we spend a lot of time on that verse saying that salvation is
not by free will, not by the will of man. We're not born again
by the will of man. But I tell you this, I'm not
born again by the will of another man either. I cannot will someone to believe,
no matter how much I love them, care for them, or desire that
they believe. I cannot transmit faith to another. I cannot give it to you. I cannot give it to you. I can't
do it. Faith is personal. It's a personal
work of God that He must perform for you personally. This matter of faith in Jesus
Christ is personal. And I'm going to listen. I'm
going to talk to you individually, personally. You must believe on the Son of
God. You must. You must. As Abraham loved Sarah, there
was no way for him to transmit that faith he had to her. With all my soul, I desire my children to believe. All my soul. I cannot ever give them faith. I can present the gospel as plain
and as clear and crystal clear as water, make it ever so appealing,
but I cannot make a man drink. Ever. I desire that they should confess
their sins, know their guilt, and fall down at the feet of
the Lord Jesus Christ and plead for mercy. Why do I desire such
things? Because that alone will save. Christ alone can save. Christ
alone is redemption and righteousness and peace and eternal life. There
is no way except you believe on Him. No way. cannot give faith nor can i believe
for them this is a false doctrine that's been perpetuated what
do you think infant baptism is infant baptism is the parents
believing for the child that's nowhere found in scripture not
one place it is a made-up lie you cannot believe for anybody Faith alone is personal. Sarah
herself must have believed. Must have believed. And I'll tell you, the only exception,
of course, for somebody believing for someone else is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? Our Lord Jesus
Christ, it was by His faith That we obtain righteousness. It was
by His faith that we were redeemed. It was by His faith that we were
justified before God. That's the only transmitted faith
there is, is His faith. Scripture says, from faith to
faith. Well, who's the originator of
faith? Jesus. He is the author and finisher
of who? Our faith. You see, the only
one that transmits faith in is Christ. Do you lack faith? Do you lack faith in Christ? Then go to the one who can give
you faith. Christ. You know what's amazing? If anyone goes to Christ for
faith, they obviously have faith to go to Him already given. I tell you, one of the clearest
definitions of faith is this woman said, I believed before
I knew I believed. That's how faith comes. It comes
by grace. A man seeking faith has already
found faith in Christ because he's coming. Coming to Christ. You come to Christ. Why do you come to Him? You're
not going to come to a person you don't believe. you come to him because he's
already given you faith to come. Isn't that special? Isn't that
amazing? Faith is personal. Christ must
give it. It was Christ who obtained it
by his faith. It says, knowing this, that a
man is not justified by the works of law. Listen to how a man is
justified, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed. Now isn't that something? Even
we. Even we who could not believe have believed. Why? Because we
were justified by His faith. The only transmitted faith is
the faith of Christ. That's why your faith is perfect,
don't you know? Your faith is the faith of Christ. The faith of Christ obtained
our righteousness, our redemption, our justification. But listen,
God also purposed this. that all he chose in all for
whom christ died shall believe this is not happened to you by
chance you have not believed by chance you have believed because
god purpose you to believe i like this scripture in acts chapter
thirteen it says and when the gentiles heard this they were
glad and glorified the word of the lord many as were ordained
to eternal life guess what they did they believed they believed
just as much as Christ was ordained to obtain our salvation even
so we were ordained to believe to receive Christ through the
preaching of his gospel sinner no one will believe for you if
you're waiting for that won't happen won't happen you yourself must believe must believe he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved He that believeth not shall be damned. Sinner, if you will not come
to God by Christ as sure as you hear my words
you will be damned Will be. And if you will not come to Christ
alone, it will be your own fault. You will not blame God for your
unbelief. I do not care how you rest the
Scriptures, your unbelief is the only thing you have personally
that's yours your sin is all you have is personal if you will not come to christ
it will be your fault if you should feel your need
of him if you should come to him and
believe on him just as sure as i'm telling you this you will
be saved and you see if you come to him
for mercy and you find mercy you'll recognize with all of
us that's god's fault as gods shouldn't say fault,
He has no faults, but that's His doing. And we who believe give Him praise,
because He hath made us willing in the day of His power. You see, faith does the impossible. Faith believes the impossible.
What's the impossible? Like Sarah's womb, you are dead. And you cannot give yourself
life. But faith believes the impossible, that God will give
life as He promised. And what would Sarah find? She
received life within herself. And I tell you, that's how life
comes. Through faith. You must believe. You must believe. You must believe. True faith in Christ is the result
of God's election, the result of Christ's redemption, and the
result of the Holy Spirit calling. And listen, true faith like Sarah's
continues until the end. True faith always continues. Sarah believed like all these
others. The scripture is going to tell
us these all died in faith. Sarah died in faith. Scripture
reveals she died in faith. We see that's the end result
of every true believer. We all die in faith. You see, in this life you're
never going to experience the fullness of your righteousness
obtained by Christ. Ever. You want to. You want to. You won't. Why? Because you still have this old
man corpse dragging you down every step of the way. But soon faith then will be no
more necessary because then we'll experience all this that God
has done. Until then, hold fast to your
perfect and personal faith which is of God. and give him the glory. Now none of that belongs, none
of the glory of that belongs to us, does it? No. It belongs
to God. Pray God will bless this to you.