That's what we're going to look
at. Hebrews 11, Hebrews chapter 11,
and like I said early on, I don't save the best messages
for eleven o'clock, one at ten o'clock. It was wonderful, and
I thought so much of the three ladies that we're not here for.
Somebody kept the nursery and those who taught the classes,
and I thought, oh, I wish they could hear this. Well, I think
they're going to. I'm going to say the same thing. This is why I got so confused
this morning, because I looked down at my notes, and I had a
turn in the Romans 8. And here again, we're going to
turn to the wrong page. Hebrews 11. And a couple of times, Brother
Henry, I thought, I've got the wrong notes here. I've got little
tabs in my notebook that say Bible study and then AM worship,
PM worship. Put my notes in it. And a couple
of times I thought, am I looking for the wrong notes? Nope. Same. Right notes, just the same
thing. They messaged us, and you ladies
are going to get to hear what we heard at ten o'clock. Now,
turn to Romans 8. Romans 8. Turn there first. Well,
I'm quoting to you a verse from Isaiah. The title of this message is, Mindful
of Better Things. Mindful of Better Things. Now
listen to this, in Isaiah 62, it says this, in verse 6, Isaiah
62, 6, God says, I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,
which shall never hold their peace, day or night. That means they keep saying something. And now here's what he says.
to these watchmen, ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not
silent." In other words, keep making mention of the Lord. You hear that? If you're alive, wiggle
your little finger, okay? And the margin says this about
that. It says, it calls them that make
mention of the Lord, it calls them the Lord's remembrances. Well, that is those who continually
are reminded, people, of who the Lord is and what He's done.
All right? And that's what I say, always
remind. He said, don't be silent. Keep on reminding them. The same
thing, and that's what I want to do this morning, is remind
you and me of some things. Really only one thing. I want
to remind you of this, all right? You know, I can remind you, listen
to me, I can remind you and me of these things that only God
can make your mind for. All right, in Romans chapter
8, Romans chapter 8, it says this, in Romans 8, I've
got to turn there, I didn't turn yet. All right, Romans 8, verses
5 and 6 say this, They that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh. So that is, they that are in
the flesh, they that desire the flesh. do mind or think on, dwell
on, the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit,
or that is, in the Spirit, those that are desirous of the Spirit,
they are mindful or think about the things of the Spirit. Verse
6, every eye, young and old. For to be carnally minded is
death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. To be carnally minded. Now, that
means those who only think of things of this world constantly. Those that are only mindful of
and think about the things of this world constantly, and only
mindful of this life, are dead. It's so prevalent in our age. It's so obvious in our youth
today. And many older people. But anyone who all they think
about is what other people think. Well, peers, what's going on?
Anyone who only thinks about things, whether it be music,
clothes, cars, school, things going on. That's all someone
thinks about all the time. It takes up all their thoughts.
Dead. D-E-A-D. Dead. Oh, God. Paul says on Colossians 3, now
examine yourself, young and old alike. What I've just said, if
that's what's on your mind all the time, It behooves you to
listen to what I'm saying. If you want this faith, without
which it's impossible to leave God, without which you'll never
see God. All you think about is this world
and the things of it. You're kidding. Hold it, people. It's all that takes up your thoughts. The Colossians 3, verse 1, says,
if you be mission with Christ, if you've been quickened by his
grace, set your mind, the Martin says, on things of God where
Christ sits at the right hand of God. Think on things above,
not on things behind. Don't be mindful. Don't always
be thinking about things on earth, but on things above earth. Now,
not just young people. We all need this. Believers,
every believer in here needs this to be mindful. I remind
myself while I'm saying this. Paul said that, didn't he? If
you be risen, if you are alive, set your mind. It's not on them. To be currently married
is not on them. All right. Now, Peter said, I stir up your
pure mind by way of remembrance that you might be mindful. What I'm trying to do is that
you might be mindful. All right. Hebrews 11, now. Hebrews
11 is where we are. Hebrews 11. Look at two verses again with
me in Hebrews 11. I won't take long. Hebrews 11, verses 15 and 16
says, "...truly," and it's talking about Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Sarah, these all died in faith. These were believers. These were
believers. God said so. Now, "...truly,
if they had been," verse 15, "...if they had been mindful,"
of that country or that land or that place from which they
came out, the world they lived in, if they'd been mindful and
always thinking about, looking for, pursuing after that place
they'd come out of, if that's what was on their mind, they'd
have had opportunity to have returned. When God said, Abraham,
get out, and he took off, if all he'd had on his mind was
where he came from, the world and all that in it, He'd have
turned right around and gone back. That's what he'd say to
me. He'd have had opportunity to
have returned. It had been on his mind all the
time. That's what he'd have done. He'd
have quit. He'd have gone back. Look at
verse sixteen, but it says, But now, but now, but now, but now
they desire a better country. A better country. They're mindful
of better things. Better places. Built on better
property. Better riches. Better joy. Better happiness. Better. They're mindful. Their mind is
full of thinking about better things. Had their mindset set on something
better, then this world would have gone. Huh? But they lived
a long time, people. They lived a long time, longer
than any of us will ever live. But they accumulated things,
didn't they? Abraham, whom we're going to
look at, in Genesis says he was rich in land. You live 175 years,
you're going to have some stuff. We live 40, 50, 60, 70 years
and we just got stuff running out of our ears. We live 365
years like Enos with children and the support. Now you're going
to have some stuff. You're going to have to be responsible
for that stuff. Here at the Word, you're going
to have all this. But it wasn't what was on his mind, he said.
You know what I mean? You know what he
meant? It wasn't what was on his mind, all right? They had
the mindset on something better. By God's grace, that is, they
were looking for something better. Why? Why? All right, look at verse
thirteen. It says this, in verse thirteen
of Hebrews eleven, it says, These all died in faith, not having
received the promises. You know what they were looking
forward to? What they were living on, thinking
about all the time? A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise. A promise.
A promise. Genesis 12, turn over there,
Genesis chapter 12. You see why I'm so confused? I turned over there at ten o'clock,
you know, Genesis 12, and I thought, where am I? What time is it? Genesis 12 speaks of Abraham,
the calling out of Abraham, and he's called the father of the
faithful. The Lord uses him as an example of all believers,
Romans and Galatians. Abraham is spoken of very often. as the example of God's saving,
calling, electing grace and faith. All right? In Genesis 12, look
at verses 1 through 3. Genesis 12, Now the Lord had
said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will
show thee. will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee, and make thy name great. And thou shalt
be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse
them that curse thee. And in thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed." Now, who's that talking about? Abraham? Huh? But Abraham sees, well,
you're getting close. But it ain't Isaac. You see,
therefore, praying thereof of one and him as good as dead. A whole multitude of people. Who? Isaac? Well, no. But see, we're talking about
Christ here. This is speaking about Christ
here. These first three verses are Jesus Christ. Look at it
again now. Here it is. He says, Get out
of thy country from thy kindred, from thy father's house, unto
a land that I will show thee. Isn't that the Lord Jesus Christ
who left his father's house? Left heaven, this country, heaven. Come to this land, the God that
shone in this land. Look, it says, Verse 2, "'And
I will make of thee a great name.'" Who? The Jews say, "'We be Abraham's
seed.'" Hey, I'm looking for somebody better. I want to be
in a better family, don't you? That bunch of Jews, children
of Abraham, they're a bunch of rebels. They don't even believe
in Jesus Christ. There's a better family I want
to be with along the way. I want to be of the seed of the
seed. The woman's seed, and I don't
mean Sarah. Read on. I'll make of thee a great nation.
I'll bless thee and make thy name great. Oh, there's a name
much better than that, isn't there? There's a name I love
to hear. I love to sing its worth, the
song says. Who? Abraham? Oh, it's better
than that. It's the name which is above
every name, the only name given among men, under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved, the Lord Jesus Christ. Read on. I'll make thy name great,
and thou shalt be a blessing. You're going to be the blessing. Abraham said, He can't bless
me. Christ liveth. He said, I live. He's blessed. I'll bless them
that bless thee. Here's the promises, people,
here's the promises that I'm standing on. He said, I'll bless
them to bless thee. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. All the Father giveth to me,
cometh to me, and him that cometh to me, Christ, I will in know
why. Here's the promise, Brother John,
I will in know why. I don't care what it is, when
it is, what anybody says. No one can stand it on the cross. I'll bless them that bless me,
and I'll curse them that curse me. He that loveth not the Lord
Jesus Christ, Paul said, let him be anathema, go to heaven
when the Lord comes. And in thee shall all the families
of the earth be blessed. In who? Abraham? Christ. Christ. Oh, Christ is the blessing. And the promise is unto Abraham
and his seed, I'll bless all who bless the seed. That's right.
All right? Peter said at Pentecost, he said
this, the promise is unto us and unto our children. This promise
is unto us and our children. Turn over to Romans 4, Romans
4, okay? Now, like I said earlier, I can
remind you of these things, but I can't make you mindful. Right
now, I wish, I wish, oh, how I wish that I could make somebody
mindful, that I could grab ahold of somebody, particularly a young
person. Several young people I got in my mind right now. I
wish I could grab ahold of them and say, would you listen to
this? But I can't do it. You can't make your mind. God
alone can make a person's mind. I sat and listened and listened.
I had ears to hear, but I did not hear. Until God blessed me
with holy manna. And mercy and grace made me mind. Carnally minded. I'm thinking
about it. That's all I do is think about these things. Even
sitting in the worship service, listening to this glorious message
and just wasn't mindful of my mind was on other things. God make them mine. Make me mine. Well, here Romans
4, okay, same old, same old, but look at this. And this, this
is the whole, this is true for everybody. I mean, people have
been sitting listening to the gospel for a long time. Thank you, God. It's kind of
a stupid thing. Even listening to this and hearing
this, This preacher has been hearing this Romans 4 for years.
Lord, make their minds on it. Impress this to my mind and heart. Look at it, Romans 4, the promises,
verses 3 through 5. Romans 4, verses 3 through 5
says, what says the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Anybody need righteousness? Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, how you
get it, not by the law. Him that believeth is counted
unto him for righteousness, holiness, acceptance with God forevermore. Blessed promise of God. Anybody
who needs a promise, here's a promise. You've got it in Christ. Yeah, I'll stand on that. Now,
verse 4, now to him that worketh not, no, it's of grace. It's
of grace. him that worketh not," verse
5, but, "...believeth on him that justifieth the unjust." Who is he that condemns? It's
God that justifies. Who shall lay anything to charge
if God is elect? Huh? God justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ. him that believeth on him that
justifies him godly." I'm ungodly. Yeah, I am by nature. Sinner. Oh, I need justification. Well,
his faith is powerful. His faith? Whose faith? His faith. That's how it reads in his faith. His faith. David, verse 6. Now, people These verses I'm about to read
to you, Brother Todd and I, when he was laying on his deathbed,
I mean, the man's brain was swelling, and they said they didn't think
he was going to live. Now, buddy, when you hit that
point, you're going to need some promising. And he said these two verses
here that are taken from Psalm 32, he said, This is what his whole joy and
hope and comfort and peace and assurance and everything was
based on. Look at it. Even as David also
described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed
righteousness would I bless. That God reckons to me a perfect
holiness that I didn't have anything to do with. How do you know you
got that, preacher? He promised it. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are covered. It is sinners in here,
huh? I mean Romans 7 sinners. Blacks,
like the woman of the Shulamite maiden said, I'm black. David
of Psalm 38 sinners. My sins are over my head. He
said, Blessed! Here's a blessed promise. The only reason this is not precious
to most people is because they think they got rid of their own
sin. Yeah, people think, I quit that, I quit this, I accept the
dead. There's a little part of salvation there. You accept Jesus. And that's kind of like an insurance
policy there, you know. You got that, that's the ace
in the hole, you know. But then you live right and quit this
and quit your sinning and all that business. Hey, you sin,
you got your sinner? No, they're gone. They're gone. Why? Because I quit. Oh, my, that's the sinner. Whew. He'll say that to her.
Under the blood. Under the blood. Verse 8 says,
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not him be sin. Not one. Do you remember my dad
telling that story about when he had that car wrecked as a
young man? Remember that? I told him before, I said, Dad,
would you please write down all your illustrations for me? Get
a cassette tape out if you don't feel like writing them down and
copy them, record them so I can have them. Well, he told this story, it's
crucial. It happened to him. A young man, in his early 20s,
and he's driving a great big Packard, like a 38 Packard or
something, you know, other things, 112 feet long, you know, weighs
4 million pounds, see? And he said he was driving down
the road, and much of them were in the car with him, And he was
talking all that and didn't pay attention and ran through a stop
sign and piled into a car and brought it down. Totally democracy, that car. Well, he's a person. Man, that's
it. He was guilty. I mean, running
a stop sign, reckless driving, endangerment of lives, this was
it. To the bitter end. Every time. And he was subpoenaed to go to
court, answer to the charges. And a few weeks went by, and
oh, you know, you can imagine what he was, oh, he was so nervous
and upset, and his dad, my grandfather, went with him to the court. And he said, they sat there.
They sat there while the court was going on. It said, case after
case was being tried. Asepticate, there's a bunch of
them in front of him and being tied. The judge, he said, sitting
up there in his black robe. He said, the longer I sat there,
the more I saw that judge, I was just shaking in my seat. I'm guilty. I hope I get to it. But he said
the judge was just guilty 30 days, 60 days. Just laying the law down. And he said, now, every one of them
was tried but him. And he said, when that court
was empty, except him and his dad sitting there. And this is true. He and his
dad was sitting there, and the court was empty. It was just
them. The judge was looking down at the paper and looked up and
said, And what can I do for you? And he stood up and said, beg
your pardon, your honor, but where was I supposed to appear
here? What's your name, Sid? He said,
I can't find you. There's nothing on the residue that says you're supposed to
do this. Bliss is the man to whom
the Lord will keep us not to make pretensions. I'm going to
stand there someday, guilt-taken, as charged, and he's going to
say, there's nothing. Oh, my, you said, blessed, promises. Well, how do you know, preacher?
He promised. The judge said so. Because God hath appointed a
day in which He, Christ, will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom He hath ordained. Oh, boy, well, I'm running out
of time. Back to Hebrews 11. You see,
this is more than doctrine, and I can't make anybody love and
desire these things. My, my, my, my, these promises. I'm going to tell you about them.
Only God can make me want them and say, Oh, I need that work. I don't need new this, new that.
I need new hearts. Only God can do that. Well, look
here at Hebrews 11. Here's faith's reaction, all
right? Those are some of the promises.
Man, that's just, that's just, all right? And here's the reaction
of faith. Hebrews 11, verse 13, these all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them. Haven't seen them. We've seen
them. All the promises of God in Christ. The glory of God in
the face of Christ. Haven't seen them. And it says,
and they were persuaded of them. I can tell you about them. I
can't persuade you that you need them. I can tell you the blessing
of them. I can't persuade you that they're
a blessing of God. I can preach the gospel. Somebody
else can preach the gospel. Young people, your teachers can
teach you the gospel, but they can't persuade you. Well, God persuaded Abraham.
He persuaded a few people in here. What's this persuasion? Faith persuasion. What is it? Oh, it says over in another place,
he persuaded that what God had promised in Galatians. That's
what God had promised. He's able to perform. Oh, my. Up there, and I didn't get to
it this morning, verse eleven, through faith also Sarah herself
received strength to conceive soon and was delivered of a child. Like I was saying this morning,
if you'd asked Abraham, Abraham, what's your hope? Is your hope
that you called on God? Abraham would have said, I didn't
call on God. I didn't call on Him. I was an
idolater 75 years ago. And God called me. That's my
hope. God called me. And he did a good
work. There's my hope. He promised
me one thing. Yeah, but Abraham lived a faithful
life now. Oh, no. Oh, no, Abraham would have said,
I absolutely deny the Lord. Huh? Time and again, acted like
an unbeliever, although God promised him. Well, you've been through,
don't you? Oh, no, no, no. Unfaithful to
my God, unfaithful to my wife. What do you believe? I believe
he's able. Well, now that you're a Christian, Abraham, now that
you're leaving the victorious life, now surely, oh no, that's
not my faith. He's able. Oh, my faith says
this. He's able. That what he promised,
he's able. I'm not able. Sarah, what about
you? You had a baby, didn't you? He said, I had a baby. She laughed. You remember when
Sarah laughed? She wasn't laughing at God. She
was laughing at the thought of a 90-year-old woman having a
baby. What if I said, Violet, you're
going to be pregnant? Look, she's laughing now. He's
laughing now. Sarah laughed, didn't you? Aren't you able to have a baby,
Sarah? Senator, aren't you able to save yourself? With man, it's impossible. With
me, it's impossible. But with God, the impossible. Could a teenager be interested
in Jesus Christ? Teenager? Are you kidding? No, I'm not. But he persuaded. Persuaded of the certainty of
the things God said. You read the Titanic? All the
warnings, boats going down. Well, he said all God said, I
believe. Yep, everything's written. I
believe. I'm persuaded. Look at the next
thing. It says he embraced that. Here's
faith's persuasion, here's faith's embrace. He said he embraced
them, verse thirteen. He persuaded of these things
God said and the promises and all. He embraced them. It's one
thing to acknowledge the truth. It's one thing to be a Calvinist.
It's one thing to know God's sovereign. It's one thing to
know Christ as the Savior. It's a whole, it's salvation. That's what embrace means, doesn't
it? Maurice didn't coin that phrase,
but God did. Embrace means adieu. Adieu. Paul said some people hold the
truth, but in unrighteousness, at arm's length. Some people hold the truth, but
I don't say that. I'm going to touch that with a 10-foot pole. Embraced it. Embraced it by God's grace. Hug up. Kiss the truth. What's
the truth? Kiss the Son. Let's do that. And you perish from the way when
His wrath is kindled. Just a little. We think we've
seen God's power. Hurricane, whatever its name
is, we've seen nothing. Here's another thing for faith's
reaction. It says they confessed. Oh, man. Confessed. I was going to have
you turn to this, but don't turn. Over in 1 Peter 4, it says, that
your old buddies that you used to run with, think it strange that you run not to the same
excess of riot that they did. I think it's strange, in fact.
And you'll have to confess. Do you? Do you confess now? Can
you tell your old ponies, I got something to confess? I'm just
not interested in what I used to be interested in. Something better has come down. That's the day, my friend. Strangers, strangers, confessor
strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Old politics and social
issues and all that. Listen, when I'm mindful of those
things, when I'm mindful, of the trouble, you know, stock
market. Aren't you worried? And as I said, the boom's gonna
fall. Well, I've known that for a long
time. Aren't you worried, though? Now, if you'd be mindful of those
things, you know, you'd get lucky. You know, it's God's design. You got to hold on to that. My
granddad lived through the Depression. He had a house and lost it all.
He ended up being a tenant farmer, working for some mighty job in
the mud when he lost his clothes. Not Jehovah God. I'm persuaded
Jehovah God. You can persuade Jehovah God.
Huh? Him. Jehovah God. Jehovah God. Strangers. Pilgrims. Pilgrims. What's a pilgrim? Do you remember
the pilgrims, young people? What were the pilgrims? Well,
they left old England and were looking for a new world. Pilgrims. Pilgrims are those who travel
a long way looking for something. Well, I confess, they were looking
for something back there. I really am, huh? How about you?
And look at the text here, verse fourteen. They that say such
things declare flaming. How about you, people? Do you say such things? It is the heart that must say
it. Or all the time, the only thing
you are thinking about is what you are talking about. Let tomorrow's
run here, do there, and won't do there, and won't do there."
Now, what do you think about what people say? What do you
say of these things? They that say such things declare
plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful
of that country they came out of, they'd have had opportunity
to return. Opportunity to return. And they
can go back. Some people leave this gun. Some
people leave the gun. Yes, they do. Let me ask you the question as
far as to ask you to stop. Will you also go back? You know that, you know, we preach
sovereign grace, don't we? We preach sovereign grace kept
by the power of God. Do you know that sovereign grace
gives persons a choice? Don't be shocked now. Sovereign grace gives persons
a choice, but only one. They have no other choice. Huh? Peter said, God had called
him. God had saved him. God had been
working on him. Huh? Pretty mindful of these
things. But Peter said, I want you to
be mindful of it. Peter, will you also go away?
What? To whom? Shall we go? I've got no other
choice. Sovereign grace gives persons
a choice. Only one. We have no other choice. Well, they say, those of faith
say, they desire a better country. A better country. I desire better. I desire better. Don't you? We're
religious folks, aren't we? We're religious. We are. We are
religious. But I tell you, I desire a better God. I need a God who's
God. How about you? That's what I can say. My God. I need a Christ who's Christ.
I need a Jesus whose name means just that. Huh? I need a rock
that's better than their rock. Huh? A hiding place where I anchor
a hole. I need a gospel that's a whole
lot better than the one they're preaching today. I need one that's
saved. How about you? Huh? I need a Redeemer that redeems.
I need blood that actually covers my sin. Better. I need better. Don't you? I need better. I need a better
Bible. I need a Bible that says all the promises of God in him
are yes! Amen! Exclamation point. That's the Bible I need. Not
one that says, well, yes, no, maybe, he said this, but he didn't
mean that. I need one that says that heaven and earth are going
to pass away, but not a word of mine shall pass away. Better. I need a better Bible.
I need a better hope. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ's blood and
life. I need better riches. Eternal. They're in the heaven,
huh? And it says, God, wherefore?
Those that say such things. God's not ashamed of all of this.
Now you think of that, Mr. Mack, see if that doesn't, my
dad say, flip your switch. God's not ashamed. Why? I'm absolutely shameful. I'm a shameful creature. God's
not ashamed, told me. He calls my God. I've been ashamed
of Him at times. See, here's faith. He's able. He's faithful. He abides faithful. That's all my hope. Isn't it
you? All my hope is this promise. Believe Him. And you'll receive it. All right, so Joe, what's 268? That's how firm a foundation
is. He thinks the Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent
way.