I often ask myself or think that
this is some kind of futile. I sit there and think, I'm going
to do this same thing again. I'm going to say the same thing.
over and over again, same thing. And this, we have looked together,
since I've been here, we've looked at Hebrews 11 37 times. I didn't say that to impress you
how many times I've preached from it, but to show you just
how Often we look at this thing called faith. Why? And I am rebuked when I say this
is futile because God said, and this is my hope, that the Word does not return
void ever. It's accomplishing something.
God's using it some way. His Word does not fail. is using it somehow, some way,
we just read it. But this thing of faith, you
know, the scriptures, God says a great deal about faith. I should have looked it up in
the concordance how many times, but it is, God says a lot about faith. Faith, simply put, Very simple. It's belief. Trust. Believing. Saving faith is believing
God. Believing Christ. Trusting God. Trusting Christ. That's it. Now, here in chapter 10, he said
in verse 38, now this is said four times in Scripture. Go back
to Romans, Galatians, and here in Hebrews. Four times. Must be important. The same line
says the just shall live. The just. Shall live. By faith. The just. God's word puts people into two
categories. There are only two persons, two
sides with God. The just. The unjust are God's
elect. I do not grow tired of saying
that, nor do I apologize for it. In fact, if you listen to the
radio, I am determined Nearly to say that
every time I come here. Why? Because nobody else is saying
it. And people hate it. I'm not trying to provoke people.
But somebody, Hannah, has got to tell the truth who God is. Somebody. Jesus Christ called
God's people the elect. But if that's what He calls them,
that's what I'm going to call them. God's elect. They're just. Why? Because He said so. You
like that, John? What he said in Romans 8, didn't
he? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies it. I say this one's just. I
say this one's not. You can't do it. I did. I like that. I love that. I love God's right to be God,
don't you? I love the fact that his people are justified because
he said so. I see the utter impossibility
of me justifying myself before such a holy God by anything. And I'm so happy that I am just
because he said so. Michael lot don't you know a
lot is just real bad. That God said he was just. He
didn't feel much better than the Sodomite. But God says he
will. God made the difference. The only ones that argue that
are the unjust. The just are those whom he had
foreknown, predestinated, called It's justified and glorified. The unjust are none of those things. None
of those things. And we're just—God's people are
just before God, that is, unblameable, unreprovable, accepted because
God said so, because Christ died. Their sins are payable. There's
nothing on their record against them. They're holy. Because Christ
gave them His holiness. Because Christ took all of their
sins. Because the Holy Spirit comes calling them and regenerates
them, quickens them, makes them alive. The just. That's not even
my text. But the just shall live by faith. Now all of chapter 11 is the
story of some of these just ones who lived by faith. And down in verse 13 it says
they died that way. They all died just like they
lived. They lived by faith and then
they died that way. How do you know they were just?
They died like they lived. They died believing what they
lived believing. And Hebrews 12 starts out by
saying, well, there's a great cloud of witnesses, and we'd
do well to take heed and run this race and look to the same
object of faith that they did. Believe the same one. Well. These things are written
for us and to examine ourselves whether we be in the fact everybody
says well most people say they believe most people say they
believe Jesus believe people that don't even ever worship
God at all say they believe in God. Well each one of us. include me needs to examine ourselves
ask ourselves do I have this fight do I have this fight. Do
I live by that do I live by that. I have two things I want to look
at from one birth to that. What faith is. What faith is
the substance. What faith is and secondly what
faith, why faith is. Why faith is. All right, look
at chapter eleven, verse one. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. The substance of things hoped
for. Believers, those who call themselves
believers, those who profess, have this profession of faith.
Those who say they believe God, believe Christ, believe the truth,
love the truth. The things they hope for, what
we hope for is eternal life. Eternal life and all that that
means, and there's not enough time to declare it. But eternal
life is not just the duration of it, we'll live forever, but
it's the quality of it. It's spiritual life. It's life
with God. Live with God someday. Without. That's the things are hopeful
faith is the confidence that. You're going to have those. Hope hope means a desire for
the expected. Faith hope now by the faith hope. If you don't have this faith, examine yourself, will you be
of this faith? OK. Faith means to believe or trust. What? What do we believe? It's not what. There's a lot
of people who believe what. I don't know who. And one of these examples are
people who believe Who. Who. Faith is believing that I chose
my words carefully faith is believing in God. Faith is believing God. That's a different. And faith is believing and trusting
Christ God son. All right. Verse six, look at
it, it says, without faith it's impossible to please God. But
he that cometh to God, pro God, gonna live with God someday or
whatever, come to God for salvation, for grace, for eternal life.
He that cometh to God must believe that he is. Must believe that
he is. Not that there is a God. That's
not what that's saying. Not that, everybody's thinking,
everybody believes that. that there is a God, and they
make up all sorts of examples of what they believe about God. You must believe, now this is
talking about the God of the Bible, the one we were declaring
a while ago. The God of the Bible is the God
of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jehovah, the God, this God, the only God. Here oh Israel here God here
people oh Christian the Lord our God is God there is no other
God there's one God one true God our God not the Muslims God
not the Hindu God. Not the Buddhist God no they're
not God our God is God. He that cometh to God must believe
he is God. God alone. What do you mean. All that he is holy. You know these things, Dan, don't
you? You've heard these things many times, but the world doesn't
hear this. They don't believe this. They
don't care. We do. God's people do, don't
they? God is holy. Angels sure do. They know God as God. What's
God's chief attribute, chief characteristic? What describes
God more than anything else? What are all his attributes contained
under this one thing? Holy. That's what the angels
cry before him night and day. Right now, as we speak, the angels
are saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God above. What does that
mean? Go find out. Read the book. It means he hates unrighteousness.
He loves unrighteousness. He will by no means clear the
guilty and so on and so forth. Consuming fire. holy. Can't leave that out to him again.
That's God's essential person. People that don't know him as
such, don't believe he's such, don't know God. It's the way
we approach God, in fear. Why do we approach him in fear?
He's a consuming fire. When God first revealed himself
to Moses, who didn't know God, how did he reveal himself? How
did God reveal himself to Moses, who didn't know God from any
other God? He came up on that mountain and he saw fire, a bush that burned. And it scared
him to death. He hid his face. God is holy. God is sovereign. What does that
mean? It means he does what he will.
He does as he pleases. He does what he will. Nobody
can say anything about it. Nobody can do anything about
it. Man doesn't do what he will. Man does what God will. That's
God. I just said this 30 minutes ago.
I don't get tired of saying it. This is our God. He told the
preacher, if you're going to preach, get up. and cry aloud
and spare not and say, Behold, your God. This is salvation. Every person in here knows a
true and living God who left their idols, this man-made God.
This is what you heard. This is what God used to open
your blind eyes to see. You know He is God, isn't He?
I thought God was like me. I thought God was like Preacher
Jones said He was. But no, God is like He says He
is. I thought God only did what I
allowed Him to do, but now I know I do what He allows me to do. The God in whose hands my breath
is. This is what Nebuchadnezzar found
out. The God in whose hands my breath is. If I take another
breath, He willed it. He decreed it. If I die, he killed
me. If I have anything, he gave it.
If I live, I die, I raise up, cast down, whatever. It's God. I need to know Him. This is God. This is the God who is God. What
do you say to this? God's people say amen. God-haters, idolaters, No, that's
not my God. No, it's not your God. Small
g. But it's the God who is God.
Now, he that cometh to God must believe that he is. He is. I see on the look of some
of your faces you believe he is. Now, flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you. And a lot of people, you're smiling.
Some of you are smiling. The world doesn't smile at you. They gritted their teeth at Jesus
Christ when He said this thing, and they said, We're going to
kill you. You're just a man. You say, You're God. We're going
to kill you. Go ahead. And they did what He determined
for them to do. And then later on, he sat on
a throne and they're sitting before him and he says, I'm going
to kill you. It's infinite mercy, if God reveals
himself to a God hater. He must believe he is. And he's
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. What does that mean? It means what it says. Oh, I believe in God, but I live
all my life for me. I'll give him a little few hours
on Easter and at Christmas and just every now and then, you
know, my mom likes for me to come. Now, seek me with all your heart,
you'll find me. He's got one Lord, and so there's
one thing. Right, Brother Henry? Scripture
says there's one Lord. I mean, he is Lord. He's got
one God. He really is God. And so that's
our one faith. We believe God. We believe in
God. God is God. And faith, I said, believes God. Now listen, stay tuned. Faith believes God. You don't
want to believe God is God, but you believe God. That is, we
believe His Word. We believe what God wrote. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is
settled in heaven. I believe it. We believe who
God is, and we believe what we believe because God wrote it
down. God said so. That's why we believe. Thus saith
the Lord. And all God's people say, Amen. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. That's why we believe. We believe
the Word of God. You know, God is clearly seen
by the things that are made. That should be plain. They're all without excuse. All
men and women and young people are without excuse to believe
that God is who He is. The things that are clearly made
Clearly reveal his eternal power and God, you know, God keeps
that article in the book. By Horatius Bonar, read it, everybody
read it, take it home, read it. Talks about all that God sends
proof of his wrath, his judgment and so forth and the consequences
of sin and. The men are just they just don't
acknowledge that. They refuse to believe. Things
that are made, God is clearly revealed by these things. Only
a blind fool says there is no God. I mean this guy, only a
blind fool, that's what they are. Verse 3 says, we understand,
believers, we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God, don't you? You know, we don't go around
arguing people about creation and evolution. Let the posture
strive for the function. What kind of fool would argue
that anyway? Who would spend all their time
arguing? Evolution is an insult to any
intelligence whatsoever. It's an utter insult to anybody's
good sense. Why argue that? It's laughable. And darn it,
all this so-called evidence I drummed up is just that. I drummed it
up. Absolutely. Made it up. Find a tooth somewhere
and make a whole skull out of it. Honestly. And people believe
it. Oh, you see. Suffer fools gladly. That's what
Paul said. You suffer fools gladly. Well, we believe, God, that the
worlds were created because God said so. We believe, in the beginning,
God said, let there be light. You know why? God's people, and
I'm getting ahead of myself, but why we believe it? Because
he did the same thing in our hearts. God, who caused the light
to shine out of darkness, said, let there be light. That's shined
in our hearts one day. Let there be light. And that
old boy's dark car. He doesn't even know I'm gone.
He's in my hands. He's breathing my air, eating
my food, living. His heart's just beating. This
little pump in his chest just beats for 70, 80 years. No electrical
impulse. Nothing to make it pump but me. There's no oil pump on earth
that will keep going for 75 years without a battery or something.
But this little thing, the most amazing thing, just keep up he doesn't even
know he doesn't even believe that I'm creating him. I'm going
to show him. I'm going to tell him he's a
blind fool. I'm going to wake him. I'm going to wake him. God has shined
in our hearts to give the lights, the knowledge of the glory of
God, his creative glory, his redemptive glory. And the next
thing I said was that we believe Christ. Now let me say this before
we We're going to that because. Through faith, we understand,
we believe because we understand because we believe. God says,
believe and I'll show you. Not the other way around. Believe. I'll show you. We believe God, what God has
written. Now, the spirit speaketh expressly, Paul wrote. That in
the latter times, many shall depart from faith. Believing. There aren't many
that believe the God that I just declared to you. And there are
even fewer believe. Well, they're not many that believe
that this book is actually God's word. Now, this is going to shock
you when I'm going to read to you. But this is so. This was sent to me 10 years
ago. It's worse now. This is worse,
it's worse, much worse now. Because evil men wax worse and
worse. Ten years ago, a sociologist
named Jeffrey Hadden, and I'll give this to you if you want
it. Might put it in next week's bulletin. This sociologist named
Jeffrey Hadden did a poll of 10,000 clergymen, preachers. 10,000. Seven thousand four hundred and
forty one of them replied. They answered the Pope. They
asked these clergymen, seven thousand seven hundred and forty
one. Do you believe the scriptures are the inspired, inerrant word
of God Almighty? This is going to shock you. Eighty
seven percent of Methodists the Methodist preachers said no.
Ninety-five percent of Episcopalians said no. Eighty-two percent of
Presbyterians said no. Sixty-seven percent of Baptists
said no. They asked, do you believe that
in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, sixty percent of Methodist
preachers said no. Forty-four percent of Episcopalians
said no. Forty-nine percent of Presbyterians
said no. Thirty-four percent, one out
of three Baptists, said no. They asked, do you believe in
the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ, that he actually
arose from the grave? Fifty-one percent of Methodist
preachers said no. Thirty-five percent of Presbyterians
said no. Thirty percent of Episcopalians
said no, and one out of three Baptists, good old Baptists,
said no, we don't believe. You know it's worse than that
now. That's ten years ago. God's people say with Paul, after
the way they call Harrison, so worship I, the God of my fathers. Yeah, the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. There is no other. So worship
I, believing all things that are written in the law and in
the prophets. I believe it all. I believe it's
God's Word. Do you? Faith believes God. Whatever you say, let God be
true in every man's life. You say amen to that same old
part? That same old deal. Faith believes in God. Faith
believes God. Faith believes Christ. Faith believes that Christ is
God. Not just Jesus. No equal with
God. Faith believes that this child
that was born is none other than the eternal Son that was given,
and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty
God. Faith says with promise, Thou
art my Lord and my God. Thou art the great I Am, God. That man? Absolutely. very god
the old writers use I love the way they write very god of very
god. God faith believes he is the
way. Christ is the way there is no
other way. No man comes to God but by him
he's the way. That's what faith is. There is
no other way. Faith believes he is the truth.
The whole truth. And nothing but the truth. Do you believe that? In Him,
Scripture says, all treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all
things start and end with Him, all things point to Him, all
He is, was, died, did and said and does is the whole truth and
nothing else but the truth. And everything in the world that
has any truth in it points to Him. That's why the whole thing
is created. By Him, for Him, to Him, through
Him, unto Him, He is the truth. Got a question? He's the answer
to it. He's true. Anything or anyone points to
anybody or anything else is a lie. It's true. So I like to stay
right there. He is the life. True life. He that hath the Son hath life.
That is, he that's in Him. He that knows Him. He's known
by Him. He's in Him. He that hath the Son hath life.
Anybody says he's a part of my life does not have life. But
he that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the Son is a part
of His life. You understand the difference?
He's not a part of our life, but his life is a part of his. In him we live and move and have
our being. There is no life outside of Christ.
He that's in Christ, that baby that's in those mothers' wombs,
she's not a part of their life. Come on! My mother's a big part
of my life. You wouldn't even have life but
for her. And she exists. by her. You're in her. You dwell in her.
You're supported by her. You live and have your move and
have your being because of her. And because the Father put you
in her. Now, isn't that a good picture
of Christ? The life. The life. Do you believe this? You don't understand it fully,
do you? But that's the way He is. Faith believes Christ is the
only mediator. He's the only one that God hears,
so I'm going to go to him. How about you? I'm going to pray
to him. The only mediator. He's the only mediator. That's
what the Scripture says. There is no other person that
can pray to God for you but Jesus Christ. Then we better pray to
him. The only mediator. He's the only
sin offering. There's no way to do away with
one single sin in your life. No way for one single sin to
be forgiven but by Jesus Christ. Only if his blood is shed for
the remission of your sin, his blood is at that will, will your
sins be forgiven. There's nothing you can do. Martin
Luther found that out, didn't he? He was a little monk, a little
Catholic monk, doing all he could, you know. Rashing himself on
the back, trying to get rid of this terrible thing called sin
in him, you know. Crawling up steps on his hands
and knees, kissing spots on the steps that were supposed to be
the blood of Christ. And God Almighty brought that
blessed passage to his mind, like he spoke it out loud. The
just shall live by faith. And Martin Luther tells us, Put it outside in the sunlight. Add a bondage in the marble. Christ is mine. Now, sin offering. Messiah, the
only righteousness. Anybody thinks they got any,
they don't have any. No. He's the only one. Surety. The only surety. The only one
to make sure you're saved is Him. Mm-hmm. Mercy seat. Only mercy seat.
All the love of God is in Christ. Uh-huh. That's what Romans 8,
39 says. Yes, it does. The love of God is in Jesus Christ.
Outside of Christ is a consuming fire. Everybody in the ark with
Noah was loved by God. There was a big bumper sticker
on the inside of the ark. On the inside of the art wasn't
on the outside, but on the inside of the ark, he says, God has
loved you with an everlasting love and therefore with loving
kindness have drawn you into the ark and you're safe on the
outside. It says God is angry with you.
God is angry by no means clearly guilty. That's Bible. I didn't
like I'm not making up any of this. Come on. The love of God is in Christ,
the grace of God, the gifts of God. And he that, you know, if
God gives his son as a surety for his people, whoever they
be, boy, how shall he not with him give it, freely give us all
a thing. The God of all grace. You need grace if you're in Christ,
you've got to ask for it. What do you need? What do you
need? He delights to give. Give more grace. Well, but I threw
that, I didn't handle the grace you gave me. That's what I'm
here for, son. You need some more of this. I'll freely give it to you. Mercy,
you need that? Keep giving. It's all in Christ.
Faith believes with all the heart that Christ is all. That's it. See, with the heart,
man believes. Not just the head. For years, I believed these things
in my head. I did. One can believe these
things in the head. and not really believe in their
heart and what we'll find what will tell is trial. That's what it is. That faith
believes with all the heart. To affection has to do with affection.
There are few that believe these facts of God's Word and Christ's
birth and resurrection. I just read that to you. Even
fewer believe what I just said about Jesus Christ. Even few.
What I just repeated. about Jesus Christ, even to you. Everything I said that I got
from God's Word, I paraphrased, but truly His Word. About Him
mediator and substitute and surety. Wasn't it? You who know something
of God's Word, am I telling the truth according to God's Word?
Jenny, you've heard it for years. Is this what this book says?
Absolutely. Absolutely. If you believe that, if you believe
that, many people the world over right now pray unto a woman, who if she was alive today would
tell you that she prayed to a man. Jesus Christ. She'd tell you. Peter would tell
you. Peter would tell you, I'm not
the Pope. Peter would tell you, there's one potentate. One King
of Kings, Lord of Lords. Pray to Him. That's what Paul
and all of them did, didn't they? They tried to treat them like
God. Oh, we're men like you. Jesus Christ. Why is this? Why does anyone
have this faith? It's said in our text here, faith
is evidence of things not seen. And I'm going to take this, I'm
going to finish this on Wednesday night. I'm not going to, I'm
tired of preaching too long. Why does anybody believe this?
Because God gave it to us. And we're going to
look Wednesday night, Lord willing, unless it changes. We'll look
at How to just live by the evidence that they live by how do you
know that person lives by what how do you know it gives these
examples. We'll see why. Why they have
this faith each one of why they have it. And. How how they live
by how do you know. You come back. All right what
what number. That's a good one. My faith looks
up to that. 359. Let's sing the first and last
verses. Thank you. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou
Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Thou hear me when I pray, take
all my sin away. Oh, let me from this day be holy,
divine. When end's life's stranded dream,
When death's cold, sullen stream Shall o'er me roll, Let, Savior,
then in love fear and distrust remove, O bear me safe above
the ransom stone. you