We're in chapter 11, and we've
spent an exhaustive amount of time on verse 11, and a little
bit of time. Last week we spoke a little bit
about verse 12. It's a very difficult verse to
understand. And I want to move on from those verses, if you
would, and move to verse 13. Read with me Hebrews chapter
11. Verse 13, these all died in faith. Now that's speaking of those
that we've read so far. By faith, Abraham. By faith,
Noah. By faith, Enoch. By faith, Abel. These are all ones that the writer
has written of so far. And these all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them far off. Now, I want to stop there for
just a moment. We'll pick that up in a moment. Go back to verse
1 of chapter 11. Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for. That's important. It's important
that we take God's Word in context with what's being written. And
it says here, a very clear description of what faith is. It's the substance,
the assurance. In other words, we have assurance
We know this to be true. Things that are hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. So with that in mind, these all
died in faith, back in our text in verse 13, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off. They had seen
them afar off out into the future. The future of time, it hadn't
happened yet. were persuaded they were assured
through faith they all died in faith they were persuaded of
them and embraced them and confessed them that they were strangers
in the pilgrims and pilgrims on the earth now that's that's
the 13th verse and we want to talk a little bit about that
we're gonna spend the next three Sundays talking about this verse.
The third one will actually include verses 14, 15, and 16. But this
morning, we're going to talk about living by faith. Now, four
times in Holy Scripture, we read that the just shall live by faith. And I want to give you those.
We don't need to turn to those for time's sake this morning.
We're actually... You know what? Let's do that. Let's turn back
to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. 17. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is Chapter 2, verse 4, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. So we see there in
Romans chapter 1, Galatians chapter 3, look at verse 11. But that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident
for the just. shall live by faith. So we see again, there's a third
time, and then of course, back here in Hebrews, this time look
at chapter 10, verse 38. Now the just, and yet let's actually
read verse 37 with it if you would. 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. So we see these four times. Habakkuk,
Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. It's mentioned the just shall
live by faith. Our faith in Christ is as essential
to our salvation as his death is. How are we saved? We're saved by grace. But what
does it say about that? It says we're saved by grace
through something, doesn't it? Through what? Through belief.
When the Lord says that, when he gives the promise to those
who will be in heaven with him forever, throughout eternity,
how does he give it to them? He says, here in John chapter
3 verse 16, not perish, but have everlasting
life." So isn't that the Lord's promise, isn't it? Whosoever
believe it, that's faith. Trusting. Trusting in the Lord
Jesus. Trusting in Him alone for our
salvation. Now trusting in Him doesn't save
us, but we're saved through believing in Him. So that's what I'm talking
about here. Our faith is just as essential as it is for the
death of Christ, for our salvation. It's just as necessary for our
salvation of our souls as God's election unto us in salvation. Our believing by the Spirit is
just as necessary to our everlasting salvation in Christ as our being
born of the Spirit. Faith is not our Savior, Christ
alone is our Savior. But we can no longer be saved
without faith in Christ than we could live without breathing
air. It says the just shall live by faith. Now Bible doctrine
teaches us, and that's what the word doctrine means, it means
teaching. Be sure you understand this doctrine
of the Holy Scripture. Faith in Christ is not the cause
of our justification. It's not the cause of our regeneration. We are justified by the grace
of God through the redemption accomplished by the shedding
of Christ's precious blood. That's what we read over Romans
3.24. Let me read it for you. Jesus the Lord. So faith doesn't
save us. It doesn't justify us. It doesn't
cause us to be regenerated. We are justified by the grace
of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. It was the blood of Jesus
Christ that satisfied the justice of God, not our faith. When Christ
shed his blood on the cross, he said it was finished. So your
faith doesn't have anything to do with your justification. Christ
is our justification. But you've got to believe in
Him before you're justified. It was the blood of Christ that
put away our sins, not our faith. It was the blood of Christ that
redeemed us, not our faith. In a matter of regeneration as
well, the work is altogether the work of God's free and sovereign,
omnipotent, irresistible grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith. Faith is not the cause of the
new birth, but the result of it. We believe by the working
of God's almighty power by the operation of God, yet we must
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. That's what John 3,
36 says. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth in him.
Isn't that the word of the Lord? Faith in Christ is much more,
though, than most people imagine. Most vainly imagine that since
they decided to believe in Jesus, since they believed in him yesterday,
this morning, or 30 years ago, or whenever you think you started
believing, they think that that's when they are saved. My sister
believes that with her children. She believes that because they
were baptized and they confessed that they believe Jesus that
they are saved no matter what they do right now in this world.
The scriptures never use such language. The testimony of Holy
Scriptures is this, the just shall live by faith. Why is that important to you
and I? Because we either live by faith or we're not just. We either live by believing that
Christ is our Savior from beginning to end, including our faith. Well, we're not saved. I want
that to sink in. I want to pause there for a moment
and let all of us realize the grace of God that we believe
anything here. I brought this out in Friday
night's message. Those of you who were able to
join us, bear with me, but Polly hasn't been able to join us,
so I want to bring it out again. Do you recall? Do you recall
a time when your faith was in something else? Well, did your
faith save you then? No. It wasn't until God gave
us. His people, until He comes to
you and I and gives us faith in Him who is true, that we will
believe the truth. And that's the grace of God,
folks. That's what saves us. By His
grace, we are saved. Brother Don Porter wrote this.
He said, faith in Christ is not an act of life. Oh, how true
that is. It's not an act that you and
I do, no, but it's a way of life. It's not something that I do
yesterday or something that I did this morning. It's the way I
walk now. It's the way you walk. We walk
in faith. We believe. We believe God. Don't look at the way I walk,
because I'm going to stumble all over the place. I'm going
to make a mess of all kinds of things. But my Lord doesn't make
a mess of anything. He does all things right. And
that's where our faith is, isn't it? In Him, in what He's done. All who live by faith shall die
in faith. And I want to look at several
verses. We've got a couple of minutes here. Let's look at several
verses. Turn back to Job, and turn to the 17th chapter of Job. We're talking about those who
live by faith, how they shall die in faith as well. In Job
chapter 17, Verse nine, look at these words. The righteous
also shall hold on his way. Now, stop there for a moment.
I want you to remember, who are the righteous? Those who stand
in Christ, those who are in Christ, those who Christ took all their
sins of and put them upon himself, took them upon himself, upon
that tree that he hung on. The righteous also shall hold
on his way shall be stronger and stronger."
So now, that's just a vague picture of what we're talking about here.
The just shall live by faith, those that live by faith shall
die in faith. Now, turn over to the right there,
to the right side there, to the Psalms, and go to Psalm 138.
Go to the right. Psalms 138. So we saw just a
little vagueness there in what Job said, but if you picture,
if you take what Job said as a picture, you can see where
the righteous will continue on in what they went on. Those who
live by faith shall die in faith. Look at Psalm 138 verse 8. The
Lord will perfect which concerneth me, thy mercy,
O Lord, endureth forever, forsake not the works of thine own hands. So when we take this verse and
we apply that to the verse that we just read a moment ago about
the righteous standing strong, we see here that the Lord will
perfect, he will accomplish that which concerneth me. If I live
by faith, if I am living by faith, It's not if I live, it's if I
am living by faith in Him, God-given faith, then I will die in faith
because He's not going to let us go, folks. Who is it that
keeps us? What do we read over there in
1 Peter 1, verse 5? We are kept by the power of God. Isn't that what it says? That's
what it's saying right here, isn't it? The Lord will perfect,
He will accomplish that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord,
endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands. He's going to deliver us, folks.
I know it's hard for us to see that walking in this flesh, saying
to myself, oh, why did I think that? Why do I consider a brother
or sister like that when I know I'm the one who's the one who
does these things? I know we see that in His flesh,
but that's not what we're to look to. We're to look to the
serpent, the brazen serpent, our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.
He's the one who will keep us. He's the one who has promised
to keep us. To die in faith is because it's
a... Let's look at another one. Turn
again to the right. Go over to Isaiah 46. Go over
to Isaiah 46. Again, to the right of where
we were in Psalms. And look at verse 4 with me over
there. All of these folks that the Hebrew writer had written
about, Enoch, Abel, Abraham, Sarah, Noah, all of those died
in faith, it said. Look at this over here in verse
four of Isaiah chapter 46, and even to your old age, I am he,
saith the Lord. I realize I'm the youngest one
standing here in this room today. Folks, I'm telling you, this
applies to me right now, even in my old age. And even in your
old age, I am He. And even to whore hairs will
I carry you, sayeth the Lord. I have made, and I will bear,
even I will carry, and will, what? Deliver you. These are the words that our
dear brothers and sisters, that the Hebrew writer is talking
about, is saying. Those are the promises. God has
made those promises to them, just as he makes those promises
to you and I. What are we to fear? This world? Who cares who's in the White
House? I don't. I wish I didn't. I know I do,
but I wish I didn't. Let's look at one more. Turn
over to Jeremiah 32 and look what it says in verse 40. And
I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not tarry
away from them to do them good. But I will put my fear in their
hearts and they shall not depart from me. Oh, isn't that good
news? Isn't that good news? You know,
right now, this very moment, You and I are all looking into
the future, aren't we? Now, we don't know. The Lord
may take us home today. He may take us home tomorrow.
He may keep some of us around for another hundred years. Kind
of doubt it. It'd be really unusual if he
did, wouldn't it? But we know it's possible, don't
we? It doesn't matter how long he keeps us. He's made a promise
to his people. He says, my sheep shall hear
my voice. Isn't that wonderful? My sheep,
He says, will hear His voice. All who live by faith, all for
whom have received the faith of God, the blessed gift of God
Almighty, shall die in faith. That's what we just read in all
those verses. The house built upon the rock shall not fall. Those to whom Christ gives eternal
life shall never perish. The gifts and the callings of
God are without repentance. The sons of Jacob shall never
die because our God cannot and does not change. The seal of
God's Spirit cannot be broken. The merit of Christ's blood can
never be made of none effect. The power of God's grace can
never be broken. The purpose of God's love can
never be overturned. Amen.