All right, back to Hebrews 11
now. As announced this morning, we
will look at five examples of faith from this chapter and this
evening, finish up with five others that are mentioned. Do you remember last, I think
it was last Sunday, yes, last Sunday, verse 38 of chapter 10. Chapter 10, verse 38, I believe
was our text last Sunday. It says, now, the just shall
live by faith. The just shall live by faith. Now look down at Chapter 11,
verse 13. These all died in faith. The just shall live by faith,
live in this world, and they'll go to their deathbed
believing. by faith. What is faith? We just
sung about it. What is faith? Give me this faith
that will not shrink and so forth. Well, verse 1 tells us, chapter
11, verse 1. Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for. If you have a reference there
in your center margin, The word substance is ground or confidence. Let's read it that way. Now,
faith is the ground, is the confidence of things hoped for. Or that
is our hope of eternal life. What makes you confident or the
ground or what you stand on that you're going to have eternal
life. What makes you confident that you're going to be with
God after you die? That which you stand on is faith. Now, faith is a person. Faith is an object. I'm not trying
to sound intellectual here when I say this, but I know of no
other way to say this. Faith is not subjective, or that
is, it doesn't look to, faith doesn't look to yourself. Let's
see if I can illustrate. Faith is not looking to see whether
or not you have enough faith. Some people do that. They think,
well, if I just believe strongly enough, then that'll be my confidence
that I'm going to go and be with God. No, it's not subjective. Faith doesn't look to yourself
to find any cause for confidence that God's going to have you.
There's no cause in you. There's nothing in you. We sing
the song quite often. in my hands no price I bring."
Romans 7 says, "...in my flesh dwelleth no good thing." There's
nothing in you, not now, nor ever will be, that will give
you any confidence that God's going to accept you
when you die. Nothing. You'll be like Jacob when you
get ready to die and you look back over your life and think,
Oh, what a worm I've been. But here's faith. It's not subjective.
Are you with me? Why are you frowning? You're
smarter than that. You know what I'm saying. Subjective. It doesn't look to yourself. But it's objective. It's looking to Christ. That's what faith is. When he
says here, faith is the ground, the confidence, it's not you
believing. Faith is believing Christ is
faithful. Am I getting through? Good. All right, so that's the
ground, that's the confidence of things hoped for. Why do I,
what's my hope of eternal life? Ask me. What's my hope of eternal
life? It's not that I'm a preacher. Man, oh man. It's the most dangerous
place to be. There's more preachers in hell
right now than anybody else, any other occupation. That's
not my hope. It's not the fact that I've lived
a moral life. I haven't. I mean, outwardly,
yeah. As good as anybody. But inwardly, I've broken every
commandment. It's not that I believe and remain
faithful and I've prayed through and I'm going to keep on keeping
on. That's not it. You ask me what
my hope of eternal life is, I say it's a man, a person seated at
the right hand of God Almighty right now who ever lives to intercede
for sinners like me. And because he promised it, because
he lived, died, rose again, and ever lives to make intercession
for sinners, and it's a faithful saying, and it's worthy of acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, because
he's right now, and he says he'll never leave any sinner that comes
to him, I'm going to be with him someday. That's my hope.
That's my hope. My hope's a person. My hope is
built. on nothing less, nothing more,
than Jesus Christ's blood and righteousness. I dare not trust
the sweetest frame or the best thing I do, filthy rag, but wholly
lean on His great name, on Christ
the solid rock. My ground is rock. I'm standing on rock, not shifting
sand of my works or my feelings. I will not be moved. I do believe. Do you? Well, do you? The very fact that I believe
someone who lived 2,000 years ago, whom Peter said whom have
you not seen, you love. I've never seen him. But I love him. Oh, I don't love
him like I want to, love him like I ought to, but I do love
him. The fact that I do, that's evidence that he is. You follow that? To take an old
hell-raiser, like the old song used to say, I was the only hell
my mama ever raised. Is that you? That was me. Take
an old hell-raiser like me and make him a heaven-lover. A Christ
lover, that's evidence of things not seen, that he is. You ask
me how I know he lives? Because I'm standing right now
in front of you, doing what I once despised, loving what I once
hated. It's evident. You see what I'm
saying? In fact, you're sitting there
right now, listening to me, whom you once scoffed at. as evidence
that Christ is more powerful than you are. All right, let's go on. Stan,
I'm sorry, I'm not into the first person. Yeah, I am. Yes, I am. If I don't get to another person,
I got to the only one that matters, didn't I? He's the first person. I always want to speak in the
first person. Chapter 11, verse 4. By faith Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which, or that is, by
this sacrifice he offered, he obtained witness, or that That
is, it was witnessed by all that he was righteous. God testifying
of his gifts, his sacrifice, and by it, by his sacrifice,
he being dead yet speaketh, is yet spoken of. Right now, several,
several thousand years later, six thousand years later, we're
talking about him. Why is that? Why is he first? Why is he first? Well, turn back
to Genesis 4 real quickly with me, real quickly. Genesis chapter
4. See, Abel represents all believers,
all true believers. Abel represents all true believers. What Abel believed, or rather
And how he showed who he believed is how all believers believe.
It's how all believers worship. You see, there are only two religions
in the Word. Two religions in the Word. What
are they? Do you know? There are two men here in this
story. All religions come from these
two fellows. The religion of Cain. one of these brothers,
and Abel. Later on, Joey goes over in Romans
9, there's two more religions in it, same thing. Chosen? Not chosen. Jacob and Esau. Cain and Abel,
two religions. All religions come from these
two fellows. All right, let's look at it. Two religions. Look
at Genesis 4, verse 1. Adam knew Eve, his wife, and
she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten the man
from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep. Where did he get the sheep? Did he plant some seeds and then
sheep grew? Where did he get sheep? Who created
all the things? Where did sheep come from? That's a stupid question. This
is about the extent of man's wisdom. Which comes first, the
chicken or the egg? The chicken. God created whole chickens, and
God created whole sheep. They didn't evolve from an egg. These eggheads did, but sheep
didn't. God created sheep. He created
the whole world. Where did Abel get the sheep?
God gave them to him. Abel had some lambs that were
provided for him by God. In the process of time, the cane
was a tiller of the ground. He was a farmer. Verse 3, In
the process of time it came to pass, the cane brought her the
fruit of the ground, an offering unto the Lord. That's significant
in the earth, an offering unto the Lord, something that grew
out of the earth, and something he helped. Read on, "'Abel also
brought to the firstling of his flock sheep, the fat thereof.'"
That means he killed it. "'He brought a lamb to the firstling
of the flock, the firstborn of sheep, without spot or Guaranteed
it was the best one. And he killed it, the fat thereof. It means he killed it. It shed
its blood. And it said, look at verse 4,
The Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. Abel and his
offering. But unto Cain and his offering
he had not respect. And Cain got mad about it. Here's two religions. Salvation
by What man does works by what we do for God, like Cain. Or
salvation by grace, what God gives us, what God provides,
and that being a lamb slain, blood. Salvation by works, salvation
by grace. Acceptance with God by what I
do. by what I am, by what I bring
to God, or acceptance by what Christ did, what Christ is, what
Christ brought to God. Salvation by works, salvation
by blood. There's the difference. Two religions. And every religion falls under
one of those Every religion falls under one of those two categories.
Cain brought his works. Abel brought what God provided.
Do you see what faith is? Faith is in what God provides.
Faith is in the salvation of the Lord, not what we do. Faith is in the salvation that
Christ did for me, lived a life for me. for righteousness, shed
his blood for me to put away my sin, not me living a life
for him and putting away my own sin by turning over a new leaf.
That's worse. Salvation is not great. Is that
simple enough? Sure it is. God rejected Cain. Thumbs down. I'm sure Cain, you
know, did the best he could. I'm sure his altar looked real
pretty and he was sincere. But God rejected him. It didn't
matter how sincere he was or how good his offering looked. Abel brought blood. It didn't
look too good, did it? A lamb with his throat slit,
blood all over the place. That didn't look good to man. It's the only thing God accepted. It's the only thing that would
put away Abel's sin. Only that. And though it didn't
look pretty, it was a sweet-smelling savor to God. And this world
is trying to get to God, you know, bringing all its offerings,
all its pretty this and pretty that, and man is doing all this
for God and for Jesus and all that, and God is rejecting it
thumbs down across the board. But those few who come to God
by faith in Christ and Christ alone, faith in the blood, which
the world scoffs at and says, that's old-fashioned, that's
bloody religion, that's ugly. Is that all you do? Yes. Because that's all God will
accept. Got that? Able. Able. My thing. All right? Look at
the next one, verse 5 in Hebrews 11. Now, keep your place there
in Genesis, OK? We're going to turn back there.
Keep your place. We'll run back and forth. Hebrews
11, look at verse 5. By faith, Enoch was translated. That means he went from this
world to the next. He was translated that he should
not see death. It was not found. He's gone.
Because God had translated him. God had taken him. By faith,
Enoch. Now turn back to Genesis 5 there,
quickly. Genesis 5. I say quickly to myself
as much as you. Now, there's not much written about
Enoch in the scriptures. Not much written about him, but
enough written for our learning. There's enough written that needs
to be written, or God would have written more. Right, Joe? Well, look at chapter 5, verse
18, and you've got to listen carefully, all right? Genesis
5, verse 18. 62 years and begat Enoch. A man
named Jared had a son named Enoch. All right? And Jared lived after
he begat Enoch 800 years and begat sons and daughters, and
all the days of Jared were 960 and two years, and he died. Now,
Enoch lived 65 years and begat Methuselah. Keep reading. And Enoch walked with God after
he begat Methuselah. 300 years and begat sons and
daughters. All the days of Enoch were 365
years, and Enoch walked with God. And one day he was just
not there. He was not. He was not there,
and God took him. All right? What do we know about
Enoch? Well, I know this much, and if you'll—you just have to
trust me on this. counted the years here. Enoch
knew Adam. Adam lived 408 years after Enoch
was born. Adam was 500 and some years old.
He lived another 420, 408 years exactly after Enoch was born.
Enoch knew his great-great-great-grandfather Adam, and he talked to him. He
knew Enoch heard from Adam. Yeah, he did. You live seventy
years and hear about everything there is to hear, won't you?
I believe they lived close to one another, and he heard from
Adam. He heard about creation. He heard
that God created everything. He heard that from Adam. He heard
that there was a garden, and God put Adam in that garden,
and he heard that man fell, that Adam rebelled. He heard about
the fall. He heard about the curse, God said. Curse on the
ground. He heard about death because
of sin. He heard that. Yeah, he did. 408 years. He heard about God's
command of a blood sacrifice. The woman's sea, he heard about
that. And he heard about the blood sacrifice. Where do you
think Abel heard it? Heard it from Adam. Heard it from God. He heard about Abel's death,
and he heard about Cain's curse. He heard about all this. And
he believed. He believed man's dead in sin.
Joe, he believed man's dead in sin. God said so. You'll die. Die and you'll die. He believed
that. Under the curse, he believed that. Only way God can be worshipped
is blood. He believed that. The woman's
seed is coming. God's Christ is coming to shed
his own blood. He believed that. He believed that. Enoch knew
Adam. Enoch knew a man named Lamech. How did he know him? He was his
grandson. Look down here. Look at verse Methuselah, 26, Methuselah lived, verse 25, 180
and seven years and begat Lamech. Who's Lamech? Well, Lamech was
Noah's dad. He knew Noah's daddy. That was
his grandson. He knew Adam. They were all living
at the same time. OK? Adam, Enoch, Lamech. And the world, here's the point,
the world that Enoch lived in was wicked. God, real soon, going
to wipe it out. As he said, this place, the thought
of man's heart and imagination is evil continually. I'm going
to wipe it out, this earth. It was wicked, just as bad as
it is now. Very soon to be destroyed. Enoch
lived in this world a long time. Some of us think we've lived
here a while, don't we? We live 60 or 70 years, and we
think, boy, I've caught up with a lot. I'm ready to go. Here
Adam's 930 years old, and he said, I've had enough. Enoch's 365 years old, and he
says, I've had about all I can take of this place. Hmm? Who was he? What was he? He was a father. Says he begets sons and daughters.
He's a working man. He had a bunch of them, Rick.
You don't have two, you don't have one, unless you got a job
or there's some money coming in, let alone three or four,
let alone three or four hundred. That's about how many Adam had,
or more. And Enoch doesn't say how many
he had. That's a whole bunch. How are you going to feed them,
Stan? You better be out working. Tell you that. He was a working
man. He was a father. He was a husband. See what I'm
getting at? Lived in a wicked world. But
look at the next line here. Look back at the text now. Hebrews Hebrews 11, and back there in
Genesis 5, it says he walked with God. He walked with God, and here
in verse 5, he got it, by faith, he walked by faith. Enoch was
translated, taken, but he should not see death and was not found
because God translated him. Before this translation, he had
this testimony, he pleased God. He walked with God. How? How did he please God? How do
you walk with God? Look at verse six. Still with
me? Verse six. Without faith, it's
impossible to please God. He that cometh to God, you're
going to walk with God. You've got to believe he is. He is what? God. You're going to walk with God,
you're going to believe He's God. You're going to believe,
to save your soul, you're going to believe God's God. Hmm? There's no faith apart from
that. That's where it starts. Huh? You tell me somebody out there
believes God, but doesn't believe that, believe God can't do anything
without, unless men let Him? They don't believe God's God.
A man walk with God. Amos chapter
3 verse 3 says this, Can two walk together? Can you finish
it? Except they be agreed. Can two
walk together except they be agreed? In other words, who agrees
with who? According to these religions,
Sherry, you know, us and God agree on, if we agree on, together,
you know. Someone was over at our house
last night and they were talking about their boss being a slave
driver, an unbending, hard-ruling man. And she said that, you just
don't cross him. She said, whatever he says goes. Whether you like it or not, she
said, you better do what he says, because he's boss. Well, agreeing
with God is just that. It's believing that whatever
he says is right, because he's God. We agree with God, she said. We agree with God. We agree with
God, what he says about himself. We agree with God, what he says
about us. Am I right? We agree with God
when he says about his son, he says, I won't have anything to
do with you except through Christ. We say, OK, I agree. I believe that's the way I'll
come. Without that, it's impossible to please God. Impossible. You must believe that Christ
is the only way to God. You must believe that Christ
is the truth. He is salvation. He is your faith and the life. That's what Enoch believed. That's
how he walked with God. And God took him. One day he
was walking along or out in the field plowing or whatever, working. He was at work and all of a sudden
gone. He didn't come home. Enoch's
wife said, Where's Enoch? Where's your dad? Said that to Methuselah. Methuselah,
where's dad? Mama don't know. He's gone. Adam, you seen him? He's gone. I didn't see him. And he didn't come back. He went
to be with God. You know the same thing might
happen to me? Oh, yes, ma'am. I believe the Lord's coming.
Right, son? I believe he's coming in my generation. Whether he does or not, I'm going
to be translated into the kingdom of his dear son. I'm going to
be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Whether
he comes while I'm still on this earth or whether I die and you
lay me in the casket, I'm going to be changed and I'm going to
be within it looking at Christ. Look at the next one, Hebrews
11, verse 7. Look at it. By faith Noah, being
warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, and
prepared an ark to the saving of his house. By the witch, by
preparing the ark, he condemned the world, and he became an heir
of the righteousness which is of faith. Now, people remember this. None of these people just decided
to believe God. Because faith is a gift. Why did Abel believe and Cain
didn't? It's the grace of God. God gave him faith. He wasn't
Abel. He was God. Why did Enoch walk
with God and not his contemporaries? Why? By grace. God caused him
to walk with God. And here's a man named Noah who
prepared an ark to the saving of his house. It said, now what
do we know about Noah? And you don't have to turn back
there. But it says, but Noah was 500 years old when he started
this ark. I think you've worked as well.
You'd be about ready to retire at 500, wouldn't you, Henry? 65 now. 500? He had to work another 120 years.
He was 500 years old. I keep bringing that up because
we all think we've got it tough, don't we? Huh? No way. Huh? Come on, fess up, Jews. murmuring, complaining, going
through the wilderness all these forty years. If Noah was here, he'd say, you
bunch of crybabies. Five hundred years old, and he
had another hundred and twenty to go to build this ark. Well,
he was a working man again. He was a father. He had a name,
well, Shem, Ham, Japheth. Father, working man, living in
a wicked world. Was it bad? You say it can't
get any worse than it is now. Ask Noah. Bad. Think what this world would
be like without gospel preaching, without a Bible. Will it be about
like it is in San Francisco or New York City? God leaving men to themselves
to do all manner of wickedness unseemly. He says he was warned
of God. Why did Noah build an ark? Why
did Noah all of a sudden one day say, build this ark, we've
got to get in it, being warned of God? The Word of God came
to him. He moved with fear. He believed
God. The Word came, he believed. He
acted. Faith without works is dead.
He was a doer of the Word, not a hearer only. It says he prepared
an ark. He prepared an ark. He built
an ark, just like God told him to do. Barbara, he didn't say,
no, let's see here, what kind of ark am I going to build? Well,
I think a good one would be if I had Got a little of this kind
of wood, a little bit of that kind of wood, and boy, this would
look good on there. Oh, no, no, no. He did this just exactly
like God. God had the blueprint, and God
said, You build it just like I say. Not one more nail, not
one less. Not one kind of wood, and one
every jot, tittle, and cubit. John, that's a picture of the
gospel, isn't it? Huh? That's a picture of a person
believing Christ, that he's all, and in all, and that he's complete
in Christ. And he dare not add one blow
of his hammer to it, to the work. Huh? Or take away one iota from
it. A complete Christ. You build
up yourselves on this most holy faith, the ark of Christ. You
enter into Christ. Now, look at this. This is important,
fathers and mothers. Look at it. He says he prepared
an ark to the saving of his house. Who was Noah concerned about? His house, his wife, those three
boys, their wives. He was concerned about them. So
what did he do? He had them in on the ark. He had them where the ark was
being built. And when the time come, he said, boys, I'm getting
the ark. Kim, what are you doing? Dad,
can I go into town? No. I'm getting the ark. Ham, where are you? Dad, can
I have the keys to the chariot? I'm heading to the boys. Ham,
you're not going anywhere unless you want to perish. Get in the
ark. Japheth, you here? I'm here. Get in the ark, boy. Get your
wives. Get them in the ark. Rain's coming. How much do you believe that Christ is coming? If you do, you'll have your children
here, as much as life within you. Oh, Dad, oh, what? You better
get to Christ. You need to hear the gospel,
son, daughter. You need to hear the gospel.
I've heard it before. Don't you know, Jim? 120 years. He continued
for 120 years what he started. Think about it, John. What was
he doing? He started one day building an
ark. A hundred years later, what was
he doing? Building an ark. Steadfast building
an ark. One of the boys one day, or somebody,
one of the neighbors came by. What are you going to do today,
Noah? What are you going to do? I'm going to work on the ark. Again? You're going to keep on doing
that? Yes, sir. I'm going to do it until it's
over, until it's finished. And then I'm going to get in
it, and I ain't coming out. What are you going to preach
on today, preacher? What did your preacher preach today? Christ. Again? Again? Yeah, that's all there is. He's all there is. He's all and
in all. Noah, 120 years. 120 years. Look at the next one.
Verse 8. By faith Abraham. By faith Abraham
when he was called. When did Abraham go out? It says
he went out into a place which he should have to receive. When
did Abraham leave? When he was called. Why did Abraham
believe? Over in chapter 12 is a story,
if you're taking notes, and it says one day that God said to
Abraham, Get out of your country, of your kinsmen,
and of your house. Get out. He says, and I will
bless thee, and you shall be blessed. Get out. This is salvation, when God says,
I will, and you shall. When God comes calling through
the gospel and says, get out, out of religion, away from your
family, away from the world, untoward world, get out and go
to a land, and I'll show you. Abraham didn't see where he was
going, did he? He didn't know where he was going. He did not
know where he was going. Do you know where you're going,
Rebecca? Not really, you've never been
there. But you trust one who has, don't you? You trust the
one who has and came back to tell us, I've gone to prepare
a place for you. Christ said that. Abraham rejoiced
to see my day, Christ said. He saw it and was glad, and he
obeyed, went out, and went out, not knowing where he would go.
And it's said to read on, By faith he sojourned, verse 9,
he sojourned in a land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling
in tents with his children. See that again,
Joe? It keeps bringing them up, doesn't
it? with his children. He had his
Isaac and Jacob there. Dad, where are we going? Well, son, I've never been there,
but that's where we're going anyway. How do you know, dad? Because God said so. And by his grace, son, I want
you to go to Isaac and Jacob Grandson Jacob, you're coming
too. Everybody on the sound of old
Abraham heard. They heard. Well and intense. Look at the last one here, verse
11. Verse 10, He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. Verse 11, Through faith also
Sarah herself received strength. strength to conceive seed. And
was delivered of a child when she was past age. Past age, going, getting upwards
of a hundred years old, ninety years old. Sarah received strength. Notice that? Received strength. Through faith, Sarah, though
past age, received And I told you this last week, that who
I thought of immediately when I read this, or when one of the
brethren was reading it last Sunday. Immediately, Virgie Jones
came to my mind when this was reading. Past age. Virgie was
nearly 70 years old when the Lord revealed the gospel to her.
She kept telling me that. Later on, she says, I don't know
much. She says, I saw when the Lord
revealed the gospel to me. And I don't know much. But she
knew Christ. She's past age, you see. She
received strength. The Lord became her strength. And she renounced. How do I know? Because Virgie, Virgie renounced her past religion. Now, buddy, it'll take saving
grace to make a 65 or 70-year-old woman who's been to church all
her life to say, that was all wrong. I was lost, but now I'm found. Why? Because I'm hearing the
gospel. And she loved this gospel, and
this church, and her preacher. Why? Because she received strength.
God chose her. God called her. God gave her
faith. And right here it says, and Sarah
was delivered of a child. Well, Virgie was delivered as
a child. She didn't have any more children,
or did she? Maybe she did, after she's passed away. Any
of you young ladies influenced by Virgie? Maybe she did have some children
after all. None of her children, and a big tear started rolling
down her eyes, face, every time she mentioned her children, I
wish they'd hear the gospel. Maybe she did have some daughters
after she's past age. Huh? Maybe. By faith. By faith. Looking to
cry. All righty. Brother Joe.