Go with me if you would back
to Hebrews 11. Many of you have the same Bible
I have. And the heading at the top of page, or Hebrews 10, says
an exhortation to steadfastness in the faith. An exhortation
to steadfastness in the faith. And the heading for Hebrews 11
says the nature of faith, illustrated by examples. Hebrews 10 and Hebrews
11 are all about faith. Hebrews 10 says, let's be warned,
we must have it. Must a sinner have faith? Must
a sinner have faith? Let's be warned, we must have
it. Hebrews 11 says, this is what faith is. Chapter 11 verse
1 says, now faith is The substance, it's the ground or the confidence
of things hoped for. The reason everybody went to
work last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is because you believed
in your heart that they were going to pay you on Friday. That
is the reason you woke up, got up, got dressed, got in your
car, and went. You honestly believed they were
going to pay you. Now, had you truly not believed
they were going to pay you, you wouldn't have gone. Isn't that
right? You went on faith, okay? Faith is the ground or the confidence
in what you're hoping for. You were hoping to get a check,
so you went. You went on faith. Verse 1 says,
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Faith toward God is the evidence
of God's work in a sinner. It is the evidence. Where there
is no faith, there is no work. It's just true. Where there is
no faith, there is no salvation. God's people will believe God. They just will. Verse 6 here
in Hebrews 11 says, Without faith it is impossible to please Him. It's impossible. We must have
it. It's the evidence of salvation and Any time we deal with the
subject of faith, we have to point this out, okay? We'll do
it quickly. Hold your place right here and
go to Ephesians 2, in case someone has never seen it. Ephesians
2, verse 8 says, For by grace are you saved. That means by kindness, by free
gift, not by payment. Not by payment. We're not saved
by payment. By free gift are you saved. God gives salvation for free. I think that's a wowing statement. God freely gives salvation. It's totally free. Okay? Completely free. Verse 8 says,
For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Salvation is the gift of God. Salvation is given to a sinner,
imparted to a sinner, received by a sinner. Conversion, we call
it. All of this happened before the
foundation of the world. Isn't that right? But there comes
a point where conversion takes place. It's as though scales
fall from our eyes. We see the veil is taken away. Conversion. OK. That takes place
through faith. Believing God. Has God chosen
me? Am I one of the elect? Am I counted as one of His people? Well, let me ask us this. Do
we believe God? Yes. Then yes. Okay? Conversion comes. Salvation comes
through faith. Through faith, believing his
word, believing on, trusting in. Honestly, ask yourself this
question. Am I trusting in anything other
than him? No. Then the answer is yes. By grace, are you saved through
faith? Do you know as God revealed that's
not of yourself, that's the gift of God? Yes, he has revealed
that to me. Then that's even more assurance that you believe
God. The Lord Jesus Christ, we must
have it. It's the confidence in what we're
hoping for. It is not naturally, originally
something that we possessed. It must be given to us by God. If we have faith, it means God
chose to give it to us. That's what it means. He picked
us to give this faith to. Now go back to our text, Hebrews
11. Verse 2 says, For by it, by faith,
the elders obtained a good report. It was through believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ that every chosen sinner before us was saved. Every single one, every single
time. All of God's children are given
faith. Every one of them believe God. Every one of them. Verse 3. Through
faith 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." Do we believe God spoke everything into existence
or it evolved? Which one do we believe? If we
say, well I don't know, then that means that we have
not been given faith on that particular subject. Alright,
now if we do believe God's If we do believe that He spoke everything
into existence, that does not mean He has given us saving faith. Saving faith believes on and
is trusting in the blood of Christ alone for salvation. That's saving
faith. But if we do believe what God
said about speaking everything into existence, then God has
caused us to believe that. All right? He has caused us to
trust His Word on that. In verse 4, the apostle here
gives the first illustration of what faith is. And he gives
the necessity of it, and he gives us the danger of not having it.
He tells the story of Cain and Abel. Verse 4, By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which
he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh." He is still
preaching to us even though he's long been taken by the Lord. God made a perfect man and a
perfect woman in a perfect garden. After he made them, he looked
at everything he made and he said it's good. He said it's
very good. All of it. By God's allowance,
sin entered in and sin flat ruined it. Because of sin, God said to the
man, everything that you do is cursed. All right, now that is
a big component in this message. Let's remember that. God said
to the man, because of sin, now every single thing you do is
going to be cursed. Because of sin, God said to the
woman, You are going to conceive. Because of sin. He said, you're
going to conceive, you're going to start having children. Your
sin is going to multiply on you. It's going to multiply, he said
to both of them, your sin has brought utter destruction and
damnation on you. You have separated yourselves
from God. You are going straight back to
the ground that I made you out of. And he is going to permanently,
violently cast you out. But he said you have one hope. One hope. He grabbed hold of
a little, innocent, spotless, harmless lamb. And he held that
lamb up in front of them. And he said, Father, forgive
them. They know not what they've done. He said, forsake this lamb instead
of them. He said, His blood be on them
and their children. And having said thus, he slit
that lamb's throat. And that blood spewed all over
Adam and Eve. And then Christ laid that precious
animal down in love, in respect, in honor, And he took the skin
off of that animal and he cut it in two pieces and he laid
one of them on Adam and he laid one of them on Eve. And he said
to both of them, because of your sin, this now is the only way
God will accept you. This is the only way. Do not
come before Him ever again without the payment of blood and the
covering of innocence. Never again. He said, I am telling
you, you tell your children. Pass this along to your children. If you come to God any other
way, Then with the payment of blood and the covering of innocence,
you will die in your sins. You will die in your sins. If the lamb does not die, you
will die. It's either you or the lamb.
That's what he said. It's either you or the lamb.
Well, it came to pass that Adam and Eve had a child, just like
God said they would. They named him Cain. Not long
after that, they had another child. They named him Abel. As
these two boys grew up from a young age, they noticed that every
single time their parents appeared before God, every single time,
they took stones and piled them up into an altar, and they laid
hold of an innocent, harmless, precious lamb and slit its throat,
and skinned that lamb, and laid him on that altar. And as those
two boys got older, they asked their parents, What mean ye by
this service? Why are you doing this? Why such
a terrible thing? Why does death have to come to
something so innocent and so undeserving? And they said it's because your
mother and I sinned against the living God. That's the reason. And now God said this is the
only way he will accept us. And boys, the sin that your mother
and I committed has been passed along to you. The two of you cannot approach
God without the death of a lamb. You cannot. Boys, we must believe
what God has said. Cain, Abel, listen to me. If we want any hope of living, we must believe Our God, and
we must only approach Him in the way He said to approach Him. Well, Dad, your worship was all
around a lamb last time. Can't it be something else this
time? No. Every single time. Look right here at Hebrews 10
verse 26. This is the same thing. What the apostle wrote right
here is the same thing Adam and Eve told Cain and Abel. This is the same thing he said
to those two boys. And I'm saying the same thing
to us and our children. Children, listen to this. Listen
to this. Hebrews 10.26 says, If we sin
willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Now this
is all about faith and let's keep it in the context that it's
written. This is all about believing God. The reason we must believe God
is because we are going to continue to sin, even though he has opened
our eyes to the truth. We're sinners, that's what we
do, if we sin willfully, that's all this heart can do. But he said every sin committed
against me shall be forgiven in that blood. That's real. He said the only sin that will
not be forgiven is not believing Him. That's the only one. Trying to come before Him another
way. Adam and Eve said, boys, don't
do it. Don't come any other way. Verse
26, ìFor if we sin willfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation
which shall devour the adversaries.î Who are the adversaries? Any
of us who try to come another way and donít believe God. Verse 28, He that despised Moses'
law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy
who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. Boys, if we bring anything else before
God, what we're saying is, there is something better than the
blood. That's what we're saying. Boys,
listen. We're saying there is something
more worthy than the blood. We're trotting underfoot the
Son of God. God's Lamb. We're despising and
insulting God's grace, His kindness to us. Verse 30 says, For we
know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense,
saith the Lord. And again the Lord shall judge
His people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. Listen to me. It's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Believe His
word, boys. Believe His word. Don't come
any other way. Now go with me over to Genesis
4. Genesis 4 verse 1, And Adam knew Eve his wife, and
she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the LORD. And she again bare his brother
Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And in process of time it came
to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground in offering
unto the Lord." How terrible. You know what a great fear, what
do you think Adam and Eve's response was to that? Cain. Didn't we tell you? You know
what a great fear of mine is? It's that our children, after
God has allowed us to say, listen, listen, listen, they will grow
up and trod underfoot the Son of God, count the blood of His
covenant an unholy thing, try to come before Him some other
way. Cain decided in his heart there
was something more worthy than the blood. Cain's pride fooled him into
thinking that God would be more pleased with his works, the works
of his hands, than the blood of that lamb. And he wrought
his good works in the earth. He got down in the earth and
he started working his good works. And that's what men are doing.
And he wrought his good works in the earth and then he decided
to present them before God And God said, damned, damned. Verse 5 says, But unto Cain and
to his offering God had not respect, and Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. Cain got mad at God. He got mad
at God, and because he was mad at God, he killed his brother.
Verse 6, the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why ist thou
countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou
not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain talked with Abel his
brother, and I'm quite positive Abel said,
Cain, we were both told. There's one way. There is one
way. And it came to pass when they
were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and
slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I
my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done?
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
And God said to him in verse 11, Now art thou cursed from
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
blood from thy hand. When thou tellest the ground,
it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive
and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. Your works are
not going to do you any good. That's what he said to him. No
good. They're going to return unto
you void. And from this moment on, Cain,
you're an outcast. You're an outcast. That's what
every single soul is going to hear who decides to sin willfully. Every single one who decides
to not believe God and tries to come into His presence presenting
something other than what God Almighty demanded. But look at
verse 4. It says, And Abel, he also brought
of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof, and the
Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Abel brought
what God required. He brought the blood of a lamb. And God looked at him and he
said, Well done. Well pleased. You are well accepted
for the sacrifice sake. And Abel, like all of God's children,
he was persecuted for righteousness sake. You know why Cain killed
Abel? It's because Abel's sacrifice was accepted and Cain's was not. And the greatest enemy of the
gospel is religion. They hate that message. They
want their own sacrifice. And he was persecuted for it.
But turn over to Matthew 23. Matthew 23 verse 34 says, Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you
shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall you scourge in
your synagogues and persecute them from city to city, that
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from
the blood of righteous Abel. starting with righteous Abel. God called him righteous. I thought he was a sinner. I
thought because of his father that was passed along to him.
I thought he was a sinner. He was. But God said because of that
sacrifice, he pleaded. He said, because of the blood
of that lamb, God said, in that blood your sin is taken away. Taken away. In that blood you're
made clean. And He said, don't you call unclean
what I've made clean. He's righteous. As His sacrifice
is, so is He. Righteous. Now, go back to our
text and we'll close out with this. Hebrews 10 verse 32, the apostle
here says to us, but call to remembrance the former days in
which after you were illuminated, after God opened your eyes, you
endured a great fight of afflictions. Partly whilst you were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while
you became companions of them that were so used." Just like
Abel was persecuted for righteousness sake, all of God's people are. You will be, I will be, all of
God's people. And he said in verse 33, you
were a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and
partly while you became companions of them that were so used, for
you had compassion of me and my bonds, and took joyfully the
spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in
heaven a better and enduring substance." You willingly took
those persecutions and afflictions, knowing, because faith revealed
it to you, that in Christ you have a better and enduring substance. Is there anything that you want
more than that blood? God said, plead that blood. We
plead that blood. And is there anything we desire
more than having that blood? There is a better and enduring
substance. If you plead that blood, if you
take that blood, you're going to have to give up everything
else. All your works, all your pride, all yourself. He said, you gave it up because
you have a better and enduring substance. And he says in verse
35, cast not away therefore your confidence. Don't cast this faith
away, which hath great recompense of reward. For you have need
of patience that after you have done the will of God. What is
the will of God? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe God. Plead his blood. You have need of patience, that
after you have done the will of God, you might receive the
promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come
and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition or destruction,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. This is the
good news right here. We started this by saying faith
is the confidence. That's our confidence, right?
Our confidence is not in ourselves. Our confidence is in him. Our confidence is not in our
faithfulness. Hebrews 10 is an exhortation
to steadfastness in faithfulness. Our confidence is in His faithfulness,
not in our own. The good news is every soul that
God gives true saving faith to will not draw back. Not one. But we'll believe to
the end. And the reason is because the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance. If God ever
gives true saving faith to plead the blood of Christ alone, He'll
never take it back. He'll never take it back. Chapter
11, verse 4 says, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was
righteous, God testifying of his gifts, And by it, He being
dead, is still preaching that blood. He's still preaching the
blood of the Lamb. May the Lord give this faith
to us. May the Lord give this faith to our children. May they
truly hear this message. Plead the blood alone. Plead that blood alone. Cause
us to believe, you Lord. Cause us to believe on the blood
of the Lamb. Stand together with me.