Turn with me back to Hebrews
11. Hebrews 11. When I got to my study this week
and sat down to start looking for a message for tonight, I
had something on my mind and that something was how hard life
is. I had that on my mind. I woke
up with it on my mind and sometimes I do that. I come in
and sit down and I need to get work done and I can't because
I'm thinking about something and you know how it is. And I
was just sitting there thinking about how hard life is. And if
anybody says, I don't think life's too hard, all that means is they
haven't lived long enough. Just give it a little more time. But I was sitting there with
that on my mind, and I was thinking about myself, and I was thinking
about you, and I was thinking about a lot of the different things
that many of you are going through, Thinking about some of the physical
things that we have to suffer, but equally so, and maybe more
so, the emotional things and the mental things that we all
have to go through. It makes life hard. It makes
life hard. It's not just an outline, this
is a reality. Life is hard. It is so hard. This life is hard for all people. It's hard for God's people, but
it's hard for all people. It's hard for everybody. It's hard for everybody. This
life is hard. We have insecurities, we have
struggles, we have fears, we have difficulties within our
own selves, not to mention the difficulty of dealing with our
own sin. That's something that God's people
have to deal with that the rest of the world doesn't have to
deal with. I believe there are some things that the rest of
the world has to deal with that God's people don't have to deal
with. Our Lord is good to his people and he provides for his
people and he protects his people from certain things. And I believe
there are some things they have to deal with that we don't have
to deal with. But that inner struggle over sin is something
we have to deal with that they don't have to deal with. This
two nature struggle that goes on inside a child of God where
you just hate yourself because of your sin. Life with that inner struggle
is hard. It's hard. We have difficulties within ourselves. We have difficulties within our
homes. We have difficulties within our
families. We have difficulties within our
work, our jobs. Usually we feel like we are at
least one step behind where we need to be, don't we? This life is hard. Life is hard. There may be a few people in
this world who think they, you know, they're on top of their
game, finance and status and fame. And, you know, they may
see, there may be a few people out there that see life as being
easy street, but I believe you'd be hard pressed to find one believer
who believes this life is easy. I believe you'd be very hard
pressed. But this is what I was thinking
about as I sat down there at my desk. I was opening my Bible
to see where the Lord would lead me. And this thought came into
my mind. Every child of God who has stood
on this earth before us has been through the same thing. That
comforted me just a little bit. Misery loves company. And it comforted me just a little
bit. Every child of God who has stood on this same earth before
us has been through the exact same thing. The accounts, just
think about how many accounts of difficulties there are recorded
in this word of believers who were here before us. Think about
the family struggles, the wars and rumors of wars and just
the difficulties of life that believers have had to endure
before us. And some of them had to walk
this earth a long time. For the first 1500 years, people
lived 900 of those years. You know, the first 1500 years,
it only took about two people to equal the time of 1500 years.
And then for the next 1500 years, people lived 120 of those years. The Lord cut it down to 120. Now the Lord says 70. But no matter how long a person
is on this earth, Job said it's few days and full of trouble.
This life is so hard. But what brought peace and encouragement
to my heart, and I mean this, I was sitting there thinking
about this and what brought so much peace and so much encouragement
to me was this thought right here. God's people get Christ. Life is hard for everybody on
this earth. Life is hard for everybody on
this earth, but God's people get Christ. God's people get to go through
this life with Christ. With the thought of Christ, with
the encouragement of Christ, they get to go through this hard
life looking to Christ. Hoping in Christ, trusting in
Christ. We get to go through this life
waiting for Christ. Some people go through this life
and I think, I think this in my mind, what is your purpose? Like I have, if I didn't know
Christ, I'd have to wonder, what am I doing here? What's my goal? What am I trying? Am I trying
to just get all I can get before I die? Am I trying, what am I
doing? God's people know what they're
doing. They're waiting for Christ. They're looking for Christ. And for the rest of this God
forsaken world who do not have Christ, this hard life is as
good as it's ever going to be for them. I see these poor people
walking up and down the street. And I think this is as good as
it's ever going to get for you unless God has mercy and reveals
Christ and gives the unsearchable riches of Christ to you. But God's people get to leave
all of this. This is what was going through
my mind. Here we are. You know, day by day with each
passing moment. We're going to get to leave all
this and go to Christ. No matter how hard this life
is, God's people have the blessing of Christ. And as I was sitting
there thinking that, this verse of scripture popped into my mind
and I thought, thank God, thank God. Hebrews 11 verse 13, it
says, these all died in faith. not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and
embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. These all died in faith. Another way of saying that is
these all died in Christ. They all died in Christ. This
heartbreaking, difficult life that every soul on this earth
lives, ultimately leads every one of us to death. That's what
this life does for us. That's what this life leads us
to, death. But God's people get to die in
Christ. In the faith of Jesus Christ.
The beginning of that verse right there proves to us that God's
people are no different than any other people on this earth.
It says, these all died. They all died. Abel, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah, they all died. Just like everybody else. You
know what that means? That means they were all sinners,
just like everybody else. Sinners just like everybody else.
They all had a judgment to face for the sin they committed, just
like everybody else. But unlike everybody else, in
the loving election of God Almighty, I wrote that down. And when I
wrote that, I thought I'm going to try to write that every time
I say the word election. In the loving election. In that
kind, gracious, loving election of God Almighty, God put his
people in a place of safety. They were all put in a place
of mercy. They were all put in a place of redemption. The redeeming
blood of Jesus Christ. And that salvation in Christ brought faith in Christ. And
it brings faith in Christ. The gift of salvation brought
the gift of faith. The work of salvation brought
the work of faith. The one who salvation is of. That's the one who faith is of.
The one who salvation is in, that's the one who faith is in.
The one who salvation is unto, that's the one who faith is unto. Faith is of Christ. And that means it's his faith.
He gives it. Faith is in Christ and it's on
Christ, meaning it's His work that He performs. And faith is
unto Christ, meaning He is the sole object of it and He gets
all the glory for it. So much so, The easiest way to
understand faith is to just say the word Christ in its place.
That's the easiest way to understand faith. Just say the word Christ.
Now, you know, I've read it like this many times. I love reading
Hebrews 11 like this. I'm gonna read it to you again.
We're gonna substitute the name Christ every time we see the
word faith. And first look at chapter 10,
verse 38, Hebrews 10, verse 38. It says, now the just, the justified, God's people, those he shed the
blood for. Now the just shall live by Christ. And that's so, isn't it? In him we live and move and have
our being. He is our way, our truth, our
life. God's people live by Christ. All right, now let's read chapter
11 in this way. Verse one says, now Christ is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. For by Christ, the elders obtained
a good report. Through Christ, we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By
Christ, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. And isn't that the truth? It's
how any child of God offers an excellent sacrifice to him, by
Christ. He goes on to say, by which he
obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Verse five
says, by Christ, Enoch was translated that he should not see death.
and was not found because God had translated him. For before
his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God.
Verse six says, but without Christ, it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. By Christ, Noah being warned
of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is by Christ. How true that is. Our righteousness is by Christ.
Verse 8 says, By Christ Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should have to receive for an inheritance,
obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether he went. By Christ
he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of
the same promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through Christ
also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered
of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful
who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of
one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in Christ." Yes, they were all sinners, and
they had to die because of that. But God in grace and mercy allowed
them to die in Christ. It is appointed unto men once
to die and that's where all of God's people were appointed to
die in Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
this is what I want to say to apply this to where we are right
now in this world. If we have been given faith in
Christ, if we have been given faith in Christ, that is our
ground and assurance of our hope that will get us through this
life to glory. If God has given us the ability
to look to Christ and to trust Christ, to trust that man, That's what will get us through
this life to glory. Life on this earth is not going
to get any easier. All through my 20s and early
30s, I used to ask my dad to tell me that life was going to
get easier. And not once did he ever do that.
And I finally quit asking. This life is not going to get
any easier. But we can always look to Christ. That's what we
have. We can always cast our all on
Christ. Don't you thank God for those
moments when he allows you to cast your all on Christ? Don't
you thank God for those moments? Looking to Christ will bring
comfort. It will. Looking to Christ will
bring peace. It will. The trial may be heavy, but when
we know that Christ is carrying the load, the burden becomes infinitely lighter, doesn't it? Verse 13 says, These all died
in faith, in faith, not having received the promises. They received
the promises, but they had not received the fulfillment of the
promises. What were the promises? Total
redemption from sin in Christ. A life without all of this. A life where there's no more
sorrow, no more pain, no more tears, no more any of that stuff. That's what we have in Christ.
The promise in Christ says it's gone. It's all gone. Isn't that
the promise? It is gone. In Christ, every promise of God
stands sure. There's no buts about it. Everything
is yay and amen. If He says it's gone, it's gone.
But, we just haven't received, we
have not laid hold of the fulfillment of that promise. And we won't
until we die in faith. We have to lay this body down
and leave this sinful world. in the hope and glory of the
Christ who saved us. We have been given faith. And
we believe that, don't we? By faith, we say the same thing
every other child of God has said before us. Verse 13 says,
These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off. We see them afar off. This daily, immediate life that
we're living right now is so sinfully dark and difficult,
but we see something far off, afar off. Verse 13, these all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them. And by God given faith, we are
too. We embrace the promises of God
in Christ, as it says they did there. They embraced them. And
like they did, we confess that we are strangers and pilgrims
on this earth. That's what I am. A stranger and a pilgrim on this
earth. Verse 14, for they that say such things declare plainly
that they seek a country. We seek a country. Don't dig roots too deep here. Don't dig roots too deep. We seek a country and this is
not it. I am so thankful for the United States of America.
I understand it's a mess. But I'm so thankful to the Lord
for this country. But this country is not my eternal
home. I'm a pilgrim and a stranger
passing through. That's what faith has caused
me to believe and to be convinced of. I'm convinced of that. That's what faith causes all
of God's people to be convinced of. Verse 13, these all died
in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off. and were persuaded of them and
embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country." Abraham was looking
for and waiting for a city that had foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. And so are we. Every time we
hear of a dear brother or sister that the Lord calls home, It
becomes more real to me that that's our goal. That's the goal
of everyone here. We sorrow with those who sorrow. We do. The loss is painful, but faith is looking to the beautiful
city of God. That's what faith does. Our faith
looks up to thee, thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. That's
what faith does. Verse 14, for they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if
they had been mindful of that country from whence they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now, but
God. If God left us to ourselves,
our sinful nature would turn right back to this sinful world
that Christ has called us out of and redeemed us out of. But
God, He will not let it happen. He which hath begun a good work
in us, He'll perform it, He'll finish it. He will keep us in
the faith. He will keep us in the faith.
He is faithful. That's one of my favorite verses.
That's one of the 2100 favorite verses that I have. It is. He
is faithful. He is faithful and he will keep
us in the faith that he put us in, the faith he gave to us,
the faith that he wrought in us. He will keep us in that faith
until the day that we leave this world in death to go be with
him. Verse 15 says, Truly if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned, but now they desire
a better country that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city. He said in John 14, I go to prepare
a place for you. He said in Isaiah 64, I hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
Faith says, I believe that. I believe him. No matter how
difficult this life is, I believe him. If God will strengthen our
faith, increase our faith, If He will give us Christ who is
our faith, we will say, I believe that. When this life is overwhelming
to us and it's dragging us down and we don't think we're going
to make it. If God will give faith, we will say, you know
what? I believe Him. No matter how weak and how wicked
and how unstable I am, I believe Him. I believe He'll get me there. I believe in Him. I believe on
Him. I believe the word and the work
of Jesus Christ. That's what God's people have
to hold on to every step, every day, the rest of our way. We get Christ. That's what we
get to hold on to. We get Christ. Yes, it is so
hard. It is still going to be so hard.
You're going to have a hard evening and a hard day tomorrow. I hate
to tell you that. But joy is coming in the morning. And we get to hold on to that.
We get to live even though it's tough. It's tough. We're still
living in Christ. We get to live in Christ. We
get to live in the faith of Christ. We get to die in Christ. Isn't that so wonderful? Doesn't
that sound so nice? I want to die in Christ. I want
to die in the faith of Christ. Thank God we get Christ. I just
want to tell everybody here, when I wrote this in my notes,
I was thinking of the young people, but I want to say this to the
old people too, and everybody in the middle. There is only
one thing needful in this life. I'm telling you, life will prove
it to be so. You'll go down this path and
it'll just turn to nothing. You'll go down that path, and
it'll disappoint you like you cannot imagine. And there is
only one thing needful in this life, and that is Jesus Christ. That's the faith of Christ, faith
in Christ, faith on Christ. I pray God will give Him to us. I do. I pray God will give Him
to us. Give us Christ, Lord. Give us
Christ. And let us die in Christ. Let
us die in the faith of Christ. Ask and you'll receive. Amen.