You know why it's so bright and
beautiful out there? Because of His faithfulness. All that the Father giveth Him,
He says, shall come to Him, right? And the reason that sign came
up this morning and is shining so pretty out here is because
of our Lord's faithfulness that there's still one of His children
who have not heard the Word of God preached yet. one of his
children who have not been called from darkness. Oh, how I pray
that that is one of my family members who showed up to celebrate
New Year's Day with Mama and I. Oh, how I pray that that is
one of my loved ones who may go to one of those churches that
are full of goats. Oh, how I pray that it may be one of my loved
ones who, just like their father,
shake their fist and say, I'll not have this one. Rule over
me. Our devotional this morning is
an article that you'll find in our bulletin if you'd like to
read along with me. It's on the inside middle page, the right-hand
side, and it's titled The Revelation of Faith. written by Pastor Garvin
Pruitt, a man who has blessed me many a times through his recordings. I just love the simplicity that
our God has given this man in preaching the gospel. He takes
his thoughts from 1 Corinthians 2 verses 9 and 10 where we read,
But as it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither
hath entered into the heart of a man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God." Now Darwin takes his
thoughts from those very words that we just read and he writes,
by the sanctification of the Spirit, the setting apart, In
the belief of the truth, the believer is given spiritual eyes. Spiritual eyes are eyes that
see what others cannot and will not see. The Apostle Paul describes
this vision in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 18 where we read, We
look not at things which are seen, but at things which are
not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Darwin goes on to say, the faith of God's elect is the gift of
God that enables the believer to see through the eyes of God.
John said of Christ, what he hath seen and heard, that he
testifies, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received
his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. Darwin goes on to say, the eyes
of faith see through God's eyes. They see God as He is, man as
He is, and Christ reconciling the two. They see the eternal,
immutable purpose of God in redemption. They see the everlasting covenant
of grace and the one mediator between God and men accomplishing
the will of God concerning these things. The eyes of faith see
a bleeding substitute satisfying the justice of God concerning
their sins and His righteousness, obedience as their own righteousness,
making them holy, unblamable, and reprovable in His sight.
And then he closes with this. Seeing through His eyes, we see
the perfection of God in all He has done, and we find, as
God did when He looked upon His work, that it is good and complete
and sufficient to cease from our labors and enter into His
rest. Amen. Our text this morning will begin
in the book of Luke. Luke chapter 7, I was talking with my dear pastor,
as I normally do. I wonder how it's going to be
with me not working anymore. See, right now I'm used to spending
that hour commute on the freeway every morning talking with him
back there, because it's a little bit later back in Indiana. I told him, I said, well brother,
I'm not going to get up early tomorrow morning. I normally
get up at 4. I don't know what time, I called
him 4.15 instead. Slept in 15 minutes. I hear it
gets worse in retirement. We'll find out. Our text this morning will begin
in Luke chapter 7, and while you're turning in your Bibles,
allow me to open with these verses that are found in the book of
John. In John chapter 10, some very familiar words I refer to
often. Then came the Jews around about
Him, around about our Savior, and said unto Him, How long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. I just love this answer. In verse
25, Jesus answers and He says, I told you. Our Lord wasn't secretive,
folks. He told him who he was. And he
told him what he must do. I must go to Jerusalem and be
crucified. I told you, he says, and ye believed
not. Then he goes on to explain this
to him. He says, the works that I do in my Father's name, they
bear witness of me. The Lord of glory. The very one
who created you and I in our mother's womb. The same one who
created all of it that we see, everything that exists. He went about performing miracle
after miracle after miracle after miracle, and he didn't do it
in hiding. There were thousands of people
chasing him around just because he had filled their bellies.
That's what he said, he said, you come follow me because I
filled your bellies. Thousands of people ate on that
mountain that day, on that hill. They all saw the miracle of how
the basket, could you imagine that? Here they are, Christ is
on the top of a hill and There's thousands of people sitting around.
Everybody can see them from where they're sitting. They can all
see the Lord Jesus Christ. They can all see the disciples.
Can you imagine what the one guy down at the bottom felt?
Oh my goodness. There's only seven. They're going
to feed all of us with that? There's never going to be enough
when it gets to me. Could you imagine what that guy thought
when the basket came down to him and it was full still? Tell me that's not witnessing
a miracle. They all saw miracles just like that. So many miracles,
the Lord says in His Word, that the books of the world could
not hold them all. Yet men, religious men, self-righteous men, Look how
good I am. See how I don't act like that
anymore. See how I don't drink anymore. See how I don't do this.
Self-righteous men looked at our Lord and said, how long do
you make me to doubt? They witnessed these miracles,
yet they still continue to ask for proof. Give us some proof
of who you are and who you claim to be. Are you? Are you asking that? Are you saying, Lord, I don't
know that I can believe all this stuff you have here. Can you
have something more? Many, many people today, this
very day, are in buildings such as this. And they're saying,
give us more. And then some guy comes out and
starts dancing across the podium stage or whatever, pretending
that he's talking in some kind of foreign language. Or some
other guy who thinks he's a prophet of some kind says, come here,
let me put my hand on your head. You'll be healed if you give
me five bucks. Are you still asking for proof?
Let me share something with you. When God, in His grace and mercy,
comes to a dead soul, spiritually dead, one who is as black as any blackness
can be. So dark they don't even know
what light is. So dead that they have no power
spiritually to do anything. When God comes to one of His
loved ones and gives life, the new soul can see the darkness
that once dominated their lives. The bondage of our true nature. and how it had a hold of us.
The awful pit that we once were in when all we could see was
ourselves and our lives, the way we wanted to live, how it
was all about us. And how it was full of sin and
how it ruled over our lives. But now the light is on. It's
like, we've heard Pastor Gene say this before, you walk into
this building at night, Even with the little red lights
on, you can't hardly see anything in here at times. I've come in
here, and I'm like, first thing I do is run into that back podium,
that back pew back there, and oh, kick my toe. Then I reach over, and I turn
the light on, and look at there. Everything's there. I know it was dark just
a moment ago, because I just kicked my toe and hurt myself. We know. when the love of God is shed
abroad in the heart of one of His children, the Lord of glory,
the Lord of grace, the Lord of mercy, when He comes to us in
our spiritually dead situation and gives life, we see the darkness
that once dominated us. We see the bondage of what we
were once in, how the fullness of sin ruled over our lives. We see the mercy and the grace
in who this One called Jesus is. We marvel at His grace in
giving us life as He reveals His truths to us
through His Word. I can see this. There is no good
thing in my flesh, plain and simple. I was talking about this
with a good friend of mine yesterday. What drove him from the church
was the judgment of self-righteous religionists. I don't know about
you folks, but I've had a little bit of experience with religion
in my life. I grew up with a A father who preached on Sunday and did terrible
things the rest of the days of his life. And then when God did bring a
man of God into my life, I rebelled against him in ways that I can't
even explain, and I wouldn't do so because it's shameful. But even now, when the Lord has
come and resided Himself in my heart, I see myself as no better. as
the day I rebelled against my stepfather, the man I called
dad, Calvin Samuel Ellis. The children of God, the true
children of the true and living God know that we have no confidence
in this flesh. We are consistently brought to
our knees by what we do in our flesh that we might see the grace
and the love that our Savior has for us, in giving Himself
for us, in laying down His life for us, in taking all the sins
that you and I have committed and will commit upon Himself,
the very One who knew no sin being made sin for you and I,
so that we would have a righteousness, a righteousness perfect enough
to put us in the presence of God Almighty, the very Holy One
that we sang about. We know that there is no good
thing in our flesh, yet He loved me in spite of me. Here in Luke chapter 7, we are
given the details of one of these miracles that I spoke about.
And it's given for our learning, given for our building up, given
to encourage us. I don't know about you, but I
could sure use a little bit of encouragement after 2020. Look
at verse 1 of chapter 7, if you would. Luke
chapter 7, verse 1. When He, when our Lord and Savior,
when the Creator of all things, when my Lord had ended all His
sayings in the audience of the people, He entered into Capernaum. Now I want to share with you
some words from Brother Don Fortner. Those of you who don't know this
man, he was a preacher Danville, Kentucky. He was one of the ministers
who came to every conference we had for the last, how many
years now? 38? 37 years, something like
that, yeah. And he gives an introduction
to our text here in chapter 7, and he gives it this way. When
Luke tells us the Lord had ended His sayings, he is referring
to the sermon that our Lord just finished preaching back in chapter
6, verse 20 through 49. And in that sermon, our Master's
message had four main points. He taught us three great truths
in which we would be very wise to learn and to remember. In verses 20-26 of Luke chapter
6, our Lord teaches us that those who are privileged to suffer
for the gospel's sake, those who suffer in this world for
Christ's sake, are blessed. Secondly, he teaches in verses
27-38, faith in Christ causes men and women to walk in love.
Love that is kind, generous, and forgiving. And then in verses
39-49, he teaches us that nothing in all the world is so dangerous
to our souls as false religion. And he closes that part with
this, he says, if we follow blind men in spiritual matters, we
will perish with them. And then lastly, he writes, the
primary concern in all things spiritual is the heart. If the
tree is corrupt, the fruit is corrupt also. No matter how good
it may look to men, if the tree is good, the fruit is good. No
matter how corrupt it may appear to men, our souls must be upon
the foundation which God Himself has laid, and that foundation
is the Lord Jesus Christ, or our house is sure to fall. Now with those points in mind,
remembering, that those who suffer for Christ's sake, those who
walk the path of God, walk in love and forgiveness, as you
think of those points that were just made, let's look at verse
2. And a certain centurion servant, who was dear unto him, was sick
and ready to die. Here we have a man who is the
ruler over a hundred of the guard, a hundred of the military men
of that day. Notice that it called him a certain. Don't you love it when the Lord
uses that word certain? There was a day when God said
that certain man, John Reeves, is going to hear my gospel. There
was a day when that certain woman passed by the well and met the
Lord of Glory, isn't it? Oh, what it is to be a certain
one in God's eyes. This centurion had a servant
who was dear unto him and was sick and ready to die. What a
picture. What a picture of our state before
God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All deserve His wrath, for He
is the Holy One. And for anyone to be in His presence,
they must be as holy as He. This account given in Matthew,
this very same account that we're looking at here in Luke, is given
again over in Matthew. And the word of the centurion
was, his servant is sick with palsy. You know what palsy is? It's a disease. It's where we get the word paralyze.
It's a paralyzing disease. It stiffens you up. It makes
you where you can't move. Eventually you get to a point
where all you can do is sit there in this body that's all bound
up and can't do anything. What a terrible position for
a mind to be in, in a body that can't move, and there's nothing
anybody can do about it. It's a paralyzing disease of
the body, controlling the body and the mind. It's a picture
of sin. I'm telling you this morning,
the natural man is led by the very disease called sin. They
are controlled, they are bound by their nature, fulfilling the
lust of their hearts, walking in darkness because they are
blind to the truth. You couldn't see the disease,
yet the results were plain. You couldn't see what was inside
of that man causing that disease, causing the effects of it, but
you could see the effects of it. I don't know what they've got for
cures in that area today, but in those days they did not have
cures for it. And people just withered up and eventually died. They would eventually kill you. The truth of our nature is hard for the natural man to
accept. How dare you tell me I'm dead? How dare you tell me my grandmother
was full of sin? How dare you tell me my mother
is full of sin? I'm not telling you that. God's Word's telling you that. Our Lord says we are dead in
trespasses and sin. There are none that seeketh after
Him. We have all gone astray. There are none that do good. It's like having a disease. We're born with it. And we learn
to live with it. And we learn to love it. We get to the point where we
say, there's a little good in me, isn't there? Folks, there may be good in some
as man judges what is good. But God's ways are not our ways. You see, our Lord is perfect
in judgment. He's holy in judgment. And just
the slightest thought outside of who the Lord Jesus
Christ is makes you as sinful as a man who killed someone else. There's no degrees. Well, actually,
you know what, I'm going to have to take that back. There are degrees in hell. There
are no degrees in heaven. We all receive the same treasure
in heaven, and that's our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I've
had that argument with some who say, well, you know, there are
some who get things better in heaven, and I told them this
plain and plain. You know what? I got Jesus. I
don't care whatever you get. You can have everything else
you want. As long as I have the Lord, that's all I need. He told
me that He is everything. But the Bible does talk about
some degrees of hell. Those men who get up and stand
up before people and purposely lie, who look into the Word of
God, they see the truth of God, and they will purposely turn
that truth into a lie, and that's what free willism is. That's
what it is to say, you know, you can save yourself if you
just do this, or if you just do that. There is some degrees of hell
for men like that. But God's judgment against sin
is all the same. It's all banishment and destruction
forever in hell. And you and I deserve every ounce
of that. But thank God that he loved the
people for himself. Thank God that He loved the people
so much from before the world ever was created that He decided,
you know what, I'm going to send my Son to be a man, to become
flesh. And my Son is going to walk perfectly
for them. He's going to establish a righteousness
for them. He's going to take care of every
need that they need to be with me for eternity. And that Son
did exactly that. He did exactly that. Perfectly. I know it's hard for you to see
that. If you're a child of God, though, it's His word, and I
believe His word. I don't see it in my flesh as
being anything perfect. I can see all the sin that I
commit before me every day. My sins are ever before me. But
my Lord says I'm as perfect as He is because He laid down His
life and shed His blood for me. And that means every single one
for whom He died is seen in the exact same way right now, this
very minute, not tomorrow, now. God looks upon us as white as
His Son. The truths of our nature are
hard to accept. Our Lord is holy. Perfectly holy. There is no wrong in Him. He
is so holy that He cannot even look upon sin. He cannot even
look upon imperfection. And for us to be cured, for us
to be healed of our affliction, our palsy, we must be healed
by the Great Physician. The One who came to save sinners. His name shall be called Jesus,
for He shall save His people." We must look to the perfect man,
who is God in the flesh. Perfectly God, yet perfectly
man. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in
the flesh. He became flesh to establish
a righteousness for those for whom He is loved, with an everlasting
love. That's what Scripture says. I
have loved you with an everlasting love. When God talks about everlasting,
He's not talking about from this minute on. He's talking about
as far that way as you can go to as far that way as you can
go. It never stops. There is no time with God. Everlasting
is everlasting. He established a righteousness
for those whom the Father gave Him before a star ever twinkled
in the sky, before the foundation of the world, and He calls them
My sheep. In Leviticus 26.12 it's spoken
of this way, I will walk among you, says the Lord, and will
be your God, and ye shall be My people. Ain't that cool? We shall be his people. This certain centurion had heard
of this one with authority, this one who has all power, this one
who rules over the very principalities that we call nature. Did you
realize, have you ever stopped to think about an apple that
falls? I mean, I remember when a kid, they were trying to teach
us in school how it's the, God, school was a long time ago. What
was that again? Principles of falling to the ground. Gravity!
I'm telling you, school was a long time ago, okay? I can hardly
remember names, let alone what I learned back in school. When an apple falls out of a
tree, it does so because it pleases the Lord. That's a pretty neat thought,
isn't it? I was sitting here thinking about that. Picture
in my mind an apple that all of a sudden just falls out of
the tree. Well, that's because it pleases the Lord for it to
fall out of the tree. The sun. The sun comes up in
the horizon because the Lord is pleased to let it. the very virus that plagues our world right
now is allowed because it pleases
the Lord. I shared this in Bible study.
I shared this in Bible study, but
I want to share it again. My sister Anne wrote something And
again, I forgot to print it out, so I'll just have to remember
it. But it had to do with this, that she had been praying throughout
this year that God would take us back to the way things were
a few years back. If we could just make things
go back to normal, just the masks, staying home, people watching
people suffering, going out of business. all the terrible things
that is a result of the power trip that our rulers are on,
and all that stuff. She just can't go back to normal,
God. And then she realized, wait a minute. Wait just a minute
here. I don't want everything to go
back to normal. She's been on her knees more
in this last year crying unto the Lord, Lord, help me with
this, Lord, help me with that, than she has been in the last
five years all put together. She saw the good, the good in
what this virus has done to God's children, God's true children,
God's people. We're on our knees to our Lord.
That's what these things in our life bring us to. They remind
us of the weaknesses of our flesh and the power of God to get us
through these things. Thank you, Lord, for the virus.
Thank you, Lord, for the father I grew up with. Thank you, Lord,
for John being a worthless piece of nothing for most of his life. And I can look back now asking my wife for forgiveness
for the husband she had, asking my children for forgiveness,
things that I would have never done if the Lord hadn't have
done a work in my heart for being the father that they had. This very virus that we enjoy
this day is allowed because it pleases our Lord to let it. I
was asked during our little family gathering the other day, what
kind of religion is taught here? What do you teach here at Rescue,
a Catholic lady? And I said, well, we preach sovereign
grace. She said, oh, I thought I saw
a Baptist. Yeah, we believe in baptism.
God says, get baptized. I'm telling you right now, if
you belong to the Lord, get yourself baptized. The Lord says, come
to the table. If you belong to the Lord, come
to the table. The only reason I come to the
table is because my sovereign God rules over everything. And
that table represents Him. The only reason I got baptized
was so that the people around me would know that I believe
in Him. Baptism doesn't do anybody anything.
Coming to the table doesn't do anything to anybody. But who
knows, maybe God will use it. Use it to refresh our memories
as He's using this virus today that I am God and you are my
people. What religion do we preach here?
We preach sovereign grace. It is by the sovereign grace
of God that anyone is saved. It is by the sovereign grace
of God that Jesus Christ became flesh, walked this earth, gave
himself for his people, and is now sitting on the right hand
of the Father, ruling over everything as it pleases him. We preach
Christ, the God-man, and Him crucified for His people. He
died and was buried, putting away all the iniquity of His
sheep. Our Lord was made sin. He was made our sin, for He had
no sin of His own. He took every sin that I have
ever committed, every sin that I commit this day, every sin
that I will commit from here on, and He took it into the grave,
never to be seen again. And He's done that for each and
every one of His children. If you belong to God, you are
seen perfectly. My Lord has washed me clean in
His blood. His perfect righteousness is
imputed to me and to every soul that was given to Him by the
Father, for we are seen as holy as God Himself is. This Gentile
that we are reading about, this centurion, this Roman guard,
is this one who was chosen from the foundation of the world.
He had heard of Jesus. He had heard of the Jesus with
power. He had heard of the Jesus, not
a weak Jesus who's waiting for somebody else to do something,
but the Jesus who said, come! And people come. And he said, beseech the Lord
for me. And he sent ones to call upon
the name of the Lord. Look at verse 3. And when he
had heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of
the Jews beseeching, begging him that he would come and heal
his servant. Again, familiar words, you don't
need to turn there and reread in Romans 10 verse 12 through
14, for there is no difference between Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then, how then
shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe on Him in whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? How are you going to call upon
the all-powerful, the great Creator, the true and living God, if all
you have ever heard of is that figment of man's imagination,
a God of their own making, a powerless God, a God who can be ruled by
the will of man? If that's all you've ever heard,
how are you going to call upon the One who rules over man's will?
You've got to hear about Him. You've got to hear about the
true and living God to know who He is. You must hear the truth. Our
Lord and Savior is truth. He does not save under the preaching
of lies. If He did, then it would be completely
contrary to what He says, wouldn't it? But even hearing the truth from
men such as myself, sinners saved by grace, you must have received
His Word by the power of God to believe His truth. John Reeves didn't just get smart
one day and say, you know what, I think I'll start believing.
No, God came to me in His power. He said, believe upon Me, and
you shall have everlasting life. In Matthew 17, we read it this
way, Jesus entered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona. When Peter was asked, who do
you say that I am? Peter said, why thou art the
Son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus Himself said,
blessed art thou. Blessed are you. Blessed are
God's people when they hear the Word of God and believe the truth. I see that as a blessing to me. Because I remember a day when
I didn't believe. And I see in the world how many
really don't believe the true and living God today. And I say,
Lord, thank You. Thank You for Your mercy and
grace in coming to me and giving me belief. Giving me the gift
of belief. Giving me the gift of faith.
Not because of anything in me, but because of my Savior. Because
of Your Son. I haven't done anything to deserve
it, but He's done everything! Oh! Blessed are you, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. That's the Word of God. In Luke 10.21 it reads this way,
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed
good in thy sight. Now read verses 4-9 if you would, of this chapter 7 in Luke. And when they came to Jesus,
these ones who were sent beseeching him, and when they came to Jesus,
they besought him instantly, saying that he, speaking of the
centurion, was worthy for whom he should do this. For he loveth
our nation and hath built us a synagogue. And then Jesus went
with them. And when he was now not far from
the house of the centurion, From the house the centurion sent
friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, Lord,
trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy, I am not worthy that
thou shouldst enter under my roof." He sees his condition
before God. How does he see that God has
given him sight to see the truth? I'm not worthy of You, Lord.
I'm unholy. There's nothing in me that You
would see as good. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come unto Thee. I'm not even worthy to come knocking
at You and asking You of anything. I've sent others to ask for me. But say in a word, I know you can do this. You've
proved it all around the land. You've proved what you can do
through your miracles. But say in a word, and my servant
shall be healed, for I also am a man set under authority, having
under me soldiers. And I say unto thee, go. And
he goeth. And unto another, come. And he
cometh. And to my servant do this, and he doeth it. And when
Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him. And he turned
him about and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto
you, I have not found so great a faith not in all Israel. You know, the Lord says that
about each and every one of his people. I have not seen a faith so great
in all of Israel. Turn now, if you would, to the
book of Hebrews, and I'll make this as quick as I possibly can.
Chapter 11. My title this morning is Great
Faith. What shall I preach? What message
shall I bring to God's people to encourage them to give them comfort as they
face the new year. Lord help me. Give me words through your word
to give to your children that they may be comforted. Our
Lord declares this man's faith to be great. That word great
According to the Strong's Dictionary means vast as this, or in other
words, in quantity, in full amount, or number, or space, as large,
so great, long, many, much. Look with me, if you will, in
a cursory fashion at this letter to the Hebrews beginning at verse
38 of chapter 10. That's just a couple of verses
back from the first one of 11. 38, now, the just shall live
by faith, but if any man draw back my souls, shall have no
pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. Verse 1 of chapter 11, now, faith
is a substance of things hoped for, for the evidence of things
not seen. For by it the elders obtained
a good report, Through faith we understand the
worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Verse 5,
By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death,
and was not found because God had translated him before his
translation. He had his testimony that he
pleased God. Verse 6, But without faith it is impossible to please
Him, our Lord. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Verse 7, By faith Noah, being
warned of God of the 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 faith. By faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out into the place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether
he went. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promise as in a strange country. Verse 11, Through faith,
also Sarah herself, Abraham's wife, received strength to conceive
seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because
she judged him faithful who had promise. Verse 13, these all died in faith,
not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. Verse
17, by Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that
had received the promise offered up his son, his only begotten
son, of whom he said, This, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called,
accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the
dead, from whence he also received him in a figure, and by faith
Isaac blessed Jacob, and Esau, concerning the things to come,
By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons
of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. And
by faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing
of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his
bones. By faith, Moses, when he was
born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw
he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's
Commandment. And then by faith, Moses when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh.
Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer the affliction
of the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. Verse 27, by faith he forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as
seeing him who is invisible. And through faith, verse 28,
he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, lest
he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they
passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians
a saying to do were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho
fell down after they were compassed about seven days, and by faith
the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not in
which she had received the spies with peace." Boy, I read a lot, didn't I?
Are you getting the picture? Folks, we believe God because
God was gracious to us in our time of darkness and shined His
light of truth in our hearts. We believed what it says here
in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. Wherefore, seeing we are encompassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight and the sin which doth so easily, easily, easily beset
us. and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, doing what? Looking unto the
one we believe in, the one who's promised that he shall never
leave us nor forsake us. The very one who said, you shall
be my people and I shall be your God. Looking unto Jesus. Now here's
what I want you to see. I want you to take this with
you into the next year. No doubt, there will be trials
coming each and every one of our ways. Some worse, some less. And when you go into that closet, closing the door behind you so
that no one can see, and you cry out to the Lord,
I need help. Look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. Look unto our Lord and Savior,
who for the joy, the joy of going to the cross, He saw His travail, He saw the
pains that He would have to go through, And it pleased Him. Did you know that it pleased
the Father to bruise His Son? That's God's Word. The joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. My sister was absolutely right. I want nothing of what was in
the past. The past is past, and it was
bad enough. I want exactly what the Lord
has given me over this last year, the ability to get down on my
knees and thank Him for everything that He has given us. Everything
that He has given me now, the place that we live, Over the
last week, Kathy and I have had lots of family with us. They're from down in the valley,
most of them, and we were there for a long time ourselves, thirty-some
years, living in a place called North Highlands, not one of the
better parts of town to live in. Do you know how gorgeous,
absolutely gorgeous, it is to live here? That's a blessing
I can't even express in words. We are so happy that God has
placed us right now, even if it's a trial, because it brings
us to our knees thanking Him for being our God, rather than
leaving us, as He has most of the world, to have a God of their
own imagination. Will you stand with me?