I've entitled today's sermon,
The Things Most Surely Believed Among Us. That's a quote from
Luke chapter 1, verse 1. We read it last week, so this
is a continuation of that. Hebrews chapter 11. I want to
read through the first 19 verses. Before I do, I want to remind
you of what we covered last week. the first verse really, faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. If you remember, we emphasized,
what God emphasizes, that faith is based not on what we perceive
with our physical senses. not by what men say, and not
by anything really, not by history, not by science. None of those
things establishes the basis for truth. Not our logic, but
God's word alone. There's a very simple phrase,
if you remember this, it will guide you in your life. The Bible
alone is the word of God. And God's Word is the complete
basis of our faith. And so, last week we looked at
that, how faith rests upon God's Word. And that faith that we have is
a gift of God. The strength of our faith, our
own subjective faith, our trust in God, our understanding, our
persuasion, our life of faith, the strength of that is not in
us. It's in God. So our faith will
be upheld if it's God-given. And we will have it because God
has given it to us. And we looked at those things
last week. But in the same verse, there's another point we want
to emphasize. And it's this single word, things. And I want to look at that after
we pray. So let's look to the Lord in prayer. Dear Father,
we thank you for the clarity and the certainty of scripture.
The openness of it, like transparent glass, we can look into it freely.
We don't have to look at the veil that was on Moses' face. To the dark shadows and the dark
clouds, of an unfulfilled law, a broken law, and images of things
that were to come, but we can look at the substance of them
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself the personification
of all of our salvation in his person, in his offices, and in
his work. We pray, Lord, you'd bless our
children and bless the parents here and the fathers and give
them grace to see him who is invisible and so live our lives
by the precious gift of your grace, this faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it
the elders obtained a good report. 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. 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 speaking. By faith
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. But without faith
it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. By faith 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 faith.
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and
he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith 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. We read that, realize that Abraham
lived to be 175 years old, had his son Isaac at the age of 100,
and Isaac lived to be 185. So Abraham and Isaac were both
alive during a 75-year period. Jacob was born to Isaac when
Isaac was 60, which would have made him have a 15-year overlap
with Abraham's life. So they were all there together
at some time, dwelling together in tents, but they all dwelt
in tents together. Verse 10, speaking of Abraham,
he said, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. 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. 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 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. 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 they desire
a better country, that is, and heavenly. Wherefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them
a city. By faith Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that
God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence
also he received him in a figure. pointing to something else. I
want to go back to verse 1. And I want you to also turn,
if you would, back to Genesis chapter 4. Now, in Hebrews chapter
11, in that one verse there, it says that faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. God has made
promises. Those promises have yet to be
fulfilled for his people. We don't have the reality of
those promises in our experience. What has God given us? He's given
us faith to hold those promises as in reality by this gift of
God's grace, this precious faith. And furthermore, God has said
things that are true and certain and sure. and we can't see them,
they're unseen things. And yet God has persuaded us
of those things as surely as if we could see them, more surely
in fact, so that if we lose our sight, and our taste, and our
hearing, and our touch, our senses, our body, we're still convinced
that the things God said are true. Psalm 119, somewhere around
verse 93, it says, I will never forget thy precepts, for with
them thou hast quickened me. God implants his word into our
heart, and he implants faith in our heart, in the application
of the gospel to us by the Holy Spirit. And this faith causes
us to see things that can't be seen, and to hold to things we
do not yet have. And that faith is a precious
gift because it enables us to endure trials. It enables us
to obey. It enables us to go for grace
at all times to God and encourages us in the times of greatest doubt
in our own selves to look away from ourselves to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, in this verse, in Hebrews
chapter 11 and verse 1, it says that faith is a substance of
things hoped for. That little word, things, is
important, and I often pass over those little words, but when
I'm studying, especially for a sermon or the Bible study,
I look at them more carefully, the word things. Remember Luke
1, verse 1, it says that Luke, the beloved physician, was about
to write the Gospel of Luke, and he says, I want to write
to you concerning the things most surely believed amongst
us, or among us. So in our faith, in what we exercise
by God's grace, that persuasion that comes to us from God, we
don't just believe. You'll hear, you'll watch the,
stupidity really, I'm looking for a better word, but stupidity
is the best one that comes to mind, of what comes across on
television. They'll say, just believe. They
leave it at that. Believe what? It doesn't matter
how much you believe. It doesn't matter if you believe
that the bridge will hold you up, or that when you burn your
body, you're going to live again, if what you believe is false. No matter how strong your faith
is, if the object of your faith, what you believe is false, your
faith will do you no good. And so faith is two-part. It's our own subjective trust
in God because he's convinced us, that conviction he's given
us, that persuasion of the truth. But it's the things we believe
that's especially important. And so the word things in this
verse, if you look it up in the dictionary, the Bible dictionary,
what it really means is that which has been done, a deed,
an accomplished fact. And it's also used in this way.
What is done or being accomplished, a matter, such as a matter at
law, and that which exists, a thing. So it can be something that has
been done as an accomplished fact, something that's being
done, something that is a matter at law, or something that exists. That's things. Those are the
things we hope for, what God has said he's doing, what God
is in our lives, in the world today. what God has said about
facts that he has accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
promises he's made, his eternal will, and about the promises
God has made concerning things to come. what exists, the world
around us, and things that shall be. Those are all contained in
that little word, things. And so the word things is telling
us in this verse what we believe. It's what we believe that's important.
The strength of our faith comes and goes. It ebbs and flows.
Sometimes we're strong in faith, and sometimes we're weak in faith.
In the same person, even in the same day, haven't you experienced
it? You feel as if you could walk
on water. You're so strong. You believe
with certainty that all of your hope rests in Jesus Christ, and
because God has accepted Him, you're accepted by God in Him.
And you stand upon that, and you believe you can go to God
at all times, and you pour out your heart. And it seems as if
you have liberty to transparently express your own heart's concerns,
your own sin and confession, and your own hopes of what God
has said, that shall be always looking to Christ. And at other
times, you forget. I don't remember. What was God's
promise? What basis do I have to think
that I'm a Christian? All these things come and go.
That's our own gift of faith. And it has to be matured, it
has to be strengthened, it has to grow. But what we believe
never changes. What we believe is certain and
true and unfailing and eternal. And so the things that we most
surely believe are the things that are spoken of in Hebrews
chapter 11, throughout the whole book of Hebrews, throughout the
whole Bible. The things we believe are the things God has said.
But in chapter 11 of Hebrews, he talks about both aspects of
faith. He talks about the things we
believe, and he talks about our believing them. He talks about
those things in terms of the doctrine, the faith once delivered
to the saints. That's the doctrine, the gospel.
That can't change. That's revealed truth. It's fixed,
and it's what we look upon. And it's embodied in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our faith. He is our hope. But our own believing those things
is also a grace given to us by God. And both are spoken of in
the very first verse of the book of Hebrews. And they're both
spoken of throughout the chapter here in these people's lives.
But I want to look at the things in particular today that are
spoken of in Hebrews 11. The doctrine God has revealed
through the lives of these men throughout the history God inspired
and in his providence brought out and recorded in his word.
When God says something, it's true. It's not like you and I. When we talk, we're always questioning
what you said may or may not be so. But everything God says
is so. Even when he speaks about history,
the statements of his mouth are always true. And we can look
at them and analyze them. And we can draw conclusions from
them because God has said it. And it's absolutely rock solid.
It's more solid than rocks. So I want to look at this first
part here. Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, with a view
to the things that God has said here. It says, for by it, by
faith, the elders obtained a good report. So the elders believed. But what did they believe? The
good report. And they obtained a good report
from God a confirmation that the object
of their faith was true and that they had the very things they
believed. And the word report here is used
in Romans chapter 10 where it says, Who has believed our report? Like it says in Isaiah 53, the
opening verse of Isaiah 53. And what is Isaiah 53 all about? It's about the atoning work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In his life and in his death,
what he did was an appointed role by God given to him to save
his people from their sins by putting himself in their place,
suffering instead of them, bearing their sins before God, removing
those sins. That's the report. what Christ
has done, who Christ is. He's the Lord's servant. He's
the one who's got the Jehovah's fellow. He's the son of God.
And he's the son of man who saves us by his own substitutionary
work on the cross. That's the thing. That's the
report. So the elders obtained a good
report from God. God confirmed that the object
of their faith, which was Christ and him crucified, brought to
them a righteousness before Him, and God confirmed it by pointing
them to Christ and giving them that assurance in looking to
Him that all that Christ is for His people was theirs in Him.
And so they obtained this good report, but the report itself
It's the thing, it's the object of our faith, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ himself. Look at the next verse. There's
several things in that verse to point out. First of all, and
perhaps the most important, as we look at Hebrews 11 as the
things we believe, is that God's word accomplishes God's will. It's powerful. The Word of the
Lord is powerful, it says in Hebrews 4.12. It divides asunder
soul and spirit, and what can do that but the Word of God?
It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, the motives
of man, opens him up and lays him bare. And God, by His Word,
accomplishes His will in creation. He spoke and it stood fast. He
upholds all things by the power of His Word. What does this teach
you? It teaches you that the Word of God is almighty, as God
is. So if God's Word is the foundation
for existence itself, for bringing into existence the will of God
and accomplishing that will, Then he puts this as the anchor
in Hebrews 11, right after explaining to us how faith is our gift from
God to lay hold on these things in our own individual lives and
experiences. So here at the outset he establishes
that God's word is fundamental. God's Word accomplishes His will,
and God's Word is the basis of our faith. The things we most
surely believe are the things God has spoken, the things God
has accomplished, the things God has promised. And all that
God says is occurring in time is, according to His Word, working
out that will. And He's upholding it to bring
it to that end. And so, in this one verse, we
see that God framed the worlds by His Word. And if He framed
the worlds by His Word, what can He not do? What is there
that God cannot do by His Word? Nothing. And then in verse 4,
he goes on to bring in another layer. Here, God's laying a foundation
of doctrine. Of doctrine concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the first layer is His Word,
the Scriptures. Remember in 1 Corinthians 15,
verses 1-4, Christ died for our sins, but
it doesn't stop there, according to the Scriptures. You see how
God uses how firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid
for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say than
to you He has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
So the Word of God has to be sure, because how do we know
these things, most surely believed amongst us? By God's Word. The Bible alone is the Word of
God, and the Bible speaks the Gospel of Christ. It says in
1 Peter 1, verse 25, and this is the Word which by the Gospel
is preached to you. And so the Word of God is fundamental
and is laid down first, but the next layer he lays on, in the
things we believe, the doctrine, What we look to by faith is this
thing that Abel believed. 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. What is this talking about? This
is talking about a righteousness God sees concerning Abel on the
basis of an offering in blood. Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by the which offering God, looking
upon the offering, God accepting the offering accepted Abel, looked
upon Abel as a righteous man because of the offering. And
what is that doctrine? We know that's the doctrine of
justification by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans
chapter 5 and verse 9, this is the second layer. You see how
God has laid history out and recorded it in scripture, selecting
those points he wants to use to build this building, this
truth that he reveals to us, the things most surely believed
amongst us, by laying it out in these layers in Hebrews 11.
He says in Romans 5 verse 9, much more than, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Wrath
is upon us because of our sin. Wrath comes upon us because of
God's justice for our sins, isn't it? And that wrath is against
us as long as we're sinners. But by the blood of Jesus Christ
we are not condemned. We have no reason for condemnation
because in that payment of blood God received full satisfaction
for all the sins of all his people and has blotted out their sins
and will remember them no more. He was propitiated, he was appeased,
pacified in his justice against his people because of their sins,
and that propitiation, that appeasement, was made in the very blood of
his own son. And by that blood, according
to this verse, we are justified in the sight of God. Justified. God has examined the evidence
He has looked at the crimes and the accusations of his own law
against us. And he is considered the substitute
and the offering, the sacrifice of himself that the Lord Jesus
made, how he bore the sins of his people. He was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
For the transgressions of my people was he stricken. And it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. Having bruised him, having made
satisfaction to himself in the blood of his son for the sins
of his people, He says, given that evidence, given that payment,
there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If
God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, and
who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, who was risen again, who is also at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. You see, the condemnation
has been removed because of the blood of the Lamb. This is the
foundation on which our faith is based. From the Word of God,
it's declared to us. We could never have imagined
it, and we can't even believe it. The news is so good and wonderful
that an ungodly sinner, that God justifies the ungodly, and
that He has, when we were sinners and without strength, Christ
died for us, and His blood justifies us, and God's wrath against us
is removed. Because all that God required
has been met in His Son. in the substitutionary death
of his son for his people. That's what Abel is teaching
us here. And I want to look at Abel a little bit more, but let
me give you the next layer here. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
11. So God counted Abel as righteous,
having received from Abel this offering that God had appointed. God received the offering and
counted Abel righteous. And then verse 5, by faith 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. How can we possibly please
God? Well, Abel teaches us. He was counted righteous because
of the blood of the Lamb. He looked to the Lamb, offered
and sacrificed, because that's the only acceptable offering
God received from sinners. Abel teaches us a number of things.
The first thing he teaches us is that God accepts a Lamb, an
offering. An offering without sin for the
one who has no righteousness. An offering made sin for the
one who has no righteousness that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. That's what Abel teaches us.
Justification by the Lord Jesus Christ. And Enoch pleased God. What did he do? Because he believed
God. It says he was translated, for
before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased
God. But back in Genesis chapter 5, it says that, I'll read this
to you in Genesis chapter 5, he says, In verse 21 of Genesis
5, and Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methuselah, and Enoch walked
with God. How do we walk with God? Do we
walk with our feet? How is this happened? I mean,
what was it like for Enoch to walk with God? As a child, I
used to wonder what that was like. Was he out in the woods? smelling flowers. What was he
doing? Was he in some kind of a mystic
trance? No. The physical circumstances of
his life were just the context in his walk. The walking is a
walk, a spiritual walking. In Amos 3, verse 8, it says,
can two walk together except they be agreed? Enoch agreed
with God about himself. He was a sinner. He agreed with
God about the Lord Jesus Christ, that only his offering made him
acceptable to God. And he agreed with God about
the wonder and the justice and the grace and the wisdom that
God would arrange for such a salvation for such an unworthy sinner.
Enoch walked with God, looking to Christ. the just shall live
by faith." That means we look to the Lord Jesus Christ and
we come to God like Abel did, by him alone. And we don't just
come once, but in our life we're constantly looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ as all of our salvation, all of our righteousness, all
of our acceptance before God, all of our reward from God, everything,
all blessings, heavenly and spiritual and even into the physical, are
ours because of what God thinks Not of us, but of His Son. That's
what faith confesses. That's what faith holds to. It's
what God has said in His Word. In Galatians 2 verse 20, the
Apostle Paul says, I, through the law, am dead to the law,
that I might live to God. I am crucified with Christ. That's
what Abel looked to. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I. But Christ liveth
in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh I live out
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. It's the constant focus of our
life. And this faith by which we walk
with God views life and views everything, even our weaknesses
and our falls and God's blessings and eternity itself. Future promises
everything through this one lens of faith in Christ. And so we
walk. And the warfare and the battle
that we face in our daily lives because of our own sin and weaknesses
and our own falls and even our doubts and fears, that warfare
is simply this. It's clinging as someone who
has no other hope. than the Lord Jesus Christ, and
clinging to what God has said we are in Him." Isn't that what
it says? In Colossians 2, verse 9 and
10, the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you are complete in Him. And faith says, Amen.
Amen to that. I'm completing Christ. And even
though in my own experience I doubt these things, I look to God's
Word and say, there are the things most surely believed among us.
And I'm standing on it. I walk with God based on that.
And I come to God and I pour out my heart in supplications
and prayers and even intercessions for the dear saints of God and
for the will of God to be done. And I trust that He's going to
do His will. I trust God. I'm walking with Him. Look at
Isaiah chapter 26 in verse 1. I want to read these words to
you. In Isaiah 26 verse 1, In that day shall this song be sung
in the land of Judah. The land of Judah is just another
spiritual reference to the church, the elect people of God, the
believer. He says, this is the song that
shall be sung in that day. We have a strong city. Salvation
will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Not the walls and bulwarks
are our salvation, but salvation is our walls and salvation is
our bulwark. Open ye the gates that the righteous
nation, that's the people of Judah, which keepeth truth may
enter in. How do we keep truth? We simply
believe what God has said, isn't it? We hold fast. God is glorified. He said later in Hebrews 11,
where we just read, He says, He was not ashamed to be called
their God. Because they look for a city.
Anyway, he says, open ye the gates that the righteous nation
which keepeth the truth may enter. There's Abraham, there's Isaac,
there's Jacob, and Sarah, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abel, all
entering these gates. And every believer in Christ
who looked for those things that were promised and yet not realized
in our experience, and laid hold on the things that were not seen
by faith. And he said, open the gates and
let them in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind
is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. That's what
walking with God is. It's trusting in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we see this second foundation
laid. The believer rests his faith entirely on the Word of
God. God's Word establishes it. It
is the truth. And then we're justified on the
basis of what Christ has done as declared to us from scripture.
We're justified by the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we walk with
God. We walk with Him. And guess what
happened with Enoch as he walked with God? He was translated. And what is this teaching us
in this doctrine that God is laying down layer upon layer?
That the believer in Christ has eternal life. He was taken from
this physical world, this doomed creation. the cursed creation,
and he was translated into another realm, another kingdom, an eternal
kingdom. He was taken, even though he
himself was a sinner, outside the realm of that sin, because
he stood in Christ and he was brought to be and seated with
Christ in heavenly places. That's what happened to Enoch.
It actually happened. One moment he was in this world,
another moment he was in the presence of Christ. And that's
what's going to happen to every believer. And this is a promise
by God, laying it down, layer upon layer. Whoever believes
in the Son of God has already eternal life. And Jesus said
this, I want to turn to this in John chapter 11 because this
is the certainty of it. He says in John chapter 11 when
he was speaking to Martha about her brother Lazarus who had died
and was now four days in the tomb. He says in verse 25, I
mean, yeah, I'm looking at the wrong chapter. Jesus said to
her, I am the resurrection and the life and he that believeth
in me Though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever
liveth and believeth," that's Enoch, he lives and he believes
in me, shall never die. Enoch didn't die. And there we
have God's promise. The Lord Jesus Christ, his own
word, which cannot fail, which establishes everything in creation,
and speaks to us of eternal spiritual truth. He tells us, the believer
in me shall never die. And so Enoch was translated.
I remember at Don Fortner's funeral, he was the preacher. One of the
people who spoke said this, that Don said this. He said, I will
not die. I will not die." Because he was
looking at this verse. The Lord Jesus said that. Against
all evidence to the contrary, we believe God's word and God
translated Enoch The believer is justified by the blood of
Christ. He walks with God on the basis
of what God has said concerning Christ and comes to Him by the
Lord Jesus Christ throughout his life. He lives by faith in
the Son of God and trusts Him and experiences the peace that
passes all understanding in the midst of every trial of this
life. And in opposition to all those who, like the thief on
the cross, stood at the base of the cross and cried out against
Jesus, and he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Enoch walked, just like every believer, with the Lord Jesus
Christ, looking to his accomplishments, and God took him. God translated
him. Because that's what's going to
happen to every believer. That's this layer that we see
next. And then it says in Hebrews 11 and verse 7, By faith Noah,
being warned of God of things not seen as yet, which was the
flood, 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. What do you remember about Noah?
Well, look at Genesis chapter 6. He was a preacher of righteousness. In Genesis chapter 6 it says
this in verse 5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. You see that? Hebrews 6 verse
5. Ah, Genesis 6 verse 5. And notice, And then a little bit further
down, it says, let's see. Yes, that's the one I'm looking
for. Where is it? Verse 8, sorry. Verse 8, but
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. You see this layer?
How are we saved? Well, we know it was by the blood
of Christ, and we live our lives believing that, and according
to His promise, we're going to be translated, we shall not die. For me to live as Christ, to
die is gain. Whether by life or by death,
I know that Christ shall be glorified in my body, from Philippians
1, 19 and 20. But here, he's saying, Noah,
in all the world of these men, where every thought of their
heart was only evil continually, Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. What is he speaking about? He's
speaking about God's grace. How is it that Noah found grace?
Was it possible that he wasn't one of these who was wicked?
Was he not a sinner? We know that can't be true because
the grace of God only makes sense for the sinner. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners. It's not the healthy who need
a doctor. It's the sick. It's the sinner.
And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Paul
himself said, I'm the chief of sinners. And so, it's for sinners
Jesus came. He came to save sinners. And
we find grace. For by grace you are saved. There it is. Ephesians 2 verse
8 and 9. So, God is laying this foundation
that Noah, of all the people on the earth in his day, found
grace. And what is that also saying?
It's saying that God chose He himself sovereignly would have
mercy upon Noah. In other words, he's telling
us about his doctrine of electing grace. He says in Romans chapter
9 that the purpose of God according to election might stand, he said,
the elder shall serve the younger. Esau, Jacob have I loved, Esau
have I hated. Even so, at this present time
also, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. So that God saved Noah speaks
of God's electing grace. And so he goes on in Genesis
chapter 6 where he says, In verse 9, Noah was a just man
and perfect in his generations. And Noah walked with God, like
Enoch did. And, let's see, where was it?
It says... Well, here it is in chapter 7,
verse 1. For thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation. So God chose Noah. He showed
grace to Noah. And he said, I've seen you as
righteous in this entire generation. And of course we know that there's
only one righteousness. Psalm 71, 16 says, I will make
mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. Even so shall
one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength, from Isaiah 45,
24, and 25. So here God is teaching us electing
grace, righteousness imputed, and this electing grace, and
this righteousness imputed. What else does it say here about
Noah? That he learned that the judgment of God for man's sin
was coming on the whole world. But there was refuge in the ark. And the ark would be the salvation
of Noah and his family. And God told Noah, take your
wife and your sons and their wives into the ark. And he told
him how to build it, how big to make it, and to bring animals,
and to pitch it. And that word pitch means atonement.
So they were in the ark. It was pitched within and without
because it was the atoning blood of Christ that saved them from
the condemnation that would come upon the whole world. So Noah
learned in this next layer that judgment is coming. But there's
one way of escape. It's refuge in Christ. The flood
of judgment came. It destroyed all outside of the
ark, but all in the ark were saved. And so we know that all
in Christ are saved. They're counted righteous by
God because of His grace, by His electing love, and they're
preserved in Christ. through the judgment. Even though
judgment comes upon us, there's no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus." And so we see this again, another layer
in the things most surely believed amongst us. And each one of these
men, whether it was Abel, Enoch, or Noah in this case, they looked
to what God said concerning these things. God taught them. He revealed
these things to them and to us in these words of scripture.
And he persuaded them of it. Alright, let's just look at a
couple more here. It says in verse 8 of Hebrews
11, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out to a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And
he went out not knowing whither he went. Now, Abraham, according
to Joshua 24, was taken out of a land of idolaters. His father, Terah, was an idolater,
it says in Joshua 24. And in Acts 7, it says he was
taken from that land. God brought him out of that land.
When his father was dead, took him even further into the land
of Canaan. So Abraham was called by God. And he heard the call
and he obeyed that call and he left the land and the people
of idolatry to sojourn in the land of promise. What is the
land of promise? All the promises of God are sure
and amen in Christ Jesus. And we know that God has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ.
And we have all things, the world, life, death, And everything, because we're
Christ, from 1 Corinthians 3, 21-23. So everything God has
given to us, He's given to us in Christ by promise. And God
made promises to Abraham, and He called him to come out of
idolatry into this land of promise. And so Abraham left his father.
He left the idolatry of that place. And he believed that God
justified the ungodly. Look at Romans chapter 4. In
Romans 4 and verse 4, I'll read verse 1 through 4. He says, what
shall we say then that Abraham, our father, is pertaining to
the flesh, is found? For if Abraham were justified
by works, he has whereof to glory, but not before God. For what
saith the scripture, Abraham believed God. That's what faith
is. He believed God. And it was counted
to him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, I will not work for my salvation. All that I
do would be sin in working for my salvation, besides the fact
that I can't accomplish it. But to him that worketh not,
But believeth he rests on Christ, on him that justifieth the ungodly,
which was Abraham, his faith is counted for righteousness.
The very one he believes, God, who justifies the ungodly through
Christ. That faith is what God gives
and the one he believes was counted to him as his righteousness. You see how God called Abraham? And so we see here that God's
people are called. And we know that call is an effectual
call because he eventually did come out of that idolatrous land.
And idolatry is the works of men's hands. And we're called
to forsake our works. Abraham learned this through
his life, that the promises and the blessings of God didn't come
to him because of his works, but because of him who justifies
the ungodly. And so here's another layer.
And God amplified those layers as he goes on in Abraham's life,
which we won't have time to do today. But you can see, to Abraham,
God gave promises. And those promises were made
to him in Christ. And he made a covenant with Abraham,
and that covenant was made with Abraham in Christ. And then he
gave him his son of promise, and that son of promise was the
one pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he gave him the words
that God shall provide himself a lamb, and that lamb would be
his own son, and that God would raise his son from the dead after
he killed his son in sacrifice, and that through that son would
be given, by promise of God, an innumerable seed through that
promised Son, and that would be the Church of the Living God.
And so God, through Abraham, is teaching us the difference
between works and grace, between law and the righteousness of
Christ, between works and faith, between man's religion and God's
religion. the idolatry of man's will and
man's works and the salvation that's in Christ, the true religion.
And so all these things are in Abraham's life. And we also see
in Abraham that even though God had made these amazing promises
by His grace, he lived his whole life and he never received the
physical promises because he had them By faith, he had those
things that he hoped for. He looked for them. And he lived
his life looking to Christ and looking for Christ in expectation. And so we see these foundations
laid and we see the gift of God giving to us to live our lives
also like these men did. There's no difference. The things
most surely believed among us, all who believe Christ, hold
these same things precious. The things most surely believed
amongst us. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you
for your mercy to us. You've given us your word. At
the close of the book of Hebrews, You've capped everything you've
said by cataloging from before the law until the fulfillment
of the law in Christ, and now our expectation for glory because
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how you laid the foundations
of the things most surely believed amongst us, that we would live
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgive us our sins, which are
so many. We are thankful, Lord, that if
You marked iniquities, though none of us should stand, yet
there is forgiveness with Thee, that we may walk with You in
fear, in trust, as children, looking to our Father, knowing
that You will lead us and bring us to Christ, and accept us for
none other but for Him. And we pray, Lord, that as you
put these things in Scripture, and they are immovable and unchangeable
and shall be fulfilled, they would at this time in our lives,
by faith, be unmovable and unshakable, because the kingdom you've brought
us to is unmovable and unshakable, because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the King. He's the foundation of that city.
And it is a great city. We pray, Lord, open the gates
wide that we who are in the Lord Jesus Christ, by God's grace,
is electing love through this mercy of faith, bringing us to
Yourself. You would bring us to that city,
bring us to Yourself, the walls of which are salvation in Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.