Let's go back to the book of
Hebrews this morning, Hebrews chapter 11. And I'm also going
to be going back to this tonight. This morning our subject is the
life of faith. This evening we'll be talking
about the faith of Noah. But our subject for this morning
is the life of faith. We read in the scriptures of
the faith of God's elect. We read that there is one Lord,
one faith, one baptism. Here in the portion of scripture
before us, we have a chapter that's best known as being the
heroes of faith. This is indeed the faith chapter. What is the faith of God's elect? If one were to ask you to give
a definition of faith, how would you answer? In fact,
you might even answer in your own mind right now, what is faith? Well, of course, one writer many
years ago said that, using each of the letters of the word, said
it is forsaking all. I trust him. I trust him. That is, I trust
Christ Jesus. I forsake all hopes of salvation
and works, duties, law obedience, I forsake all of that. I forsake
all the things that I think that I've done that are good. I have
no hopes of any deliverance from sin and those things, I forsake
them. I'm done with them. Actually,
I turn my back on everything that I have done that I would
think would recommend me to God. I forsake them. I've got to do
that. Faith involves that. And forsaking all of these things,
I trust the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust Him. He's the only one
in whom I have any confidence. I rejoice in him. You know, as
you get in the book of Philippians, the third chapter, here's what
the Apostle Paul says. We are the circumcision. Literally, we are the people
of God. We're those who are beloved of
God. Well, who are you talking about,
Paul? Can you set forth a description
of these people? Number one, he said we rejoice.
or we worship God, he said, in spirit. We worship in spirit. It's not a fleshly thing, it's
a heart thing. We come to God from our hearts. We're not making all kinds of
outward motions or movements or that sort of thing. We come
to God through Christ Jesus in our innermost being. Worship
is a spiritual thing. So we worship God in spirit,
that is, by the enablement of the Spirit of God. And then he
says we rejoice in Christ Jesus. We rejoice in who He is. We rejoice
in His deity. We rejoice in His humanity. We rejoice that He has finished
the work of reconciliation. He has redeemed His people. He's redeemed us from the very
curse of the law by being made a curse for us. He redeemed us
by His bloody sacrifice. He has established for us a righteousness
that is approved by God. A righteousness that puts us
in good standing with God. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We
rejoice as a result of His substitutionary work. We have the full forgiveness
of all of our sins. All of our past sins. All of
our present sins. All of our future sins. Because
actually when the Lord Jesus died, all of our sins were in
the future. And they were all paid for by
His bloody death. all the debt that we owed, all
the divine justice demanded of us, our Lord Jesus, who stood
in our stead, who was crucified in our place, He, by His substitutionary
death, He paid the fullness of our redemption. We are debt free. We owe nothing to the justice
of God. There is no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. We stand perfect in His obedience
and in His righteousness washed in the blood of the Lamb. And
thirdly, we are the circumcision, we are the true people of God
who worship God in spirit, we rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have no confidence in the flesh. Because we have forsaken
that. We have forsaken that. Listen,
we forsook that in salvation, in the experience of salvation,
in true faith. We turned our back on our own
selves, on all of our works, on all of our obedience. And
we understand that God has showed us grace only in the Lord Jesus
Christ and that before He ever made the world. and that God's
dealings with us have always been through the Savior. And
therefore, His dealings with us are always on the basis of
grace. Not merit, not works, but grace. And we don't have any confidence
in the flesh. We've forsaken all. We trust
Him. just as you trust those pews
that you're seated in to hold you up. You're not depending upon anything
else. You sit down and you just have
a confidence it's going to uphold your weight. Even so, we cast the very weight
of our souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't reserve any
wait for ourselves. We don't kind of lean a little
bit on ourselves. As you sit there, you could lift
up your feet off the floor. Some of you are real short. Your
feet are not going to reach the floor anyhow. But you have absolute
confidence that the pew is going to hold you up. And we're not
seeking to add assistance to the Lord Jesus. We know He must
save and He must save Himself. The dilemma in which we find
ourselves in is a dilemma of utter helplessness and inability
and spiritual impotence. And if we are to be saved, it
must be by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And by the grace of
God, we trust Him. We trust Him for all things.
all that a holy God demands, we look to the Lord Jesus Christ
who has made more than ample, more than ample satisfaction
to the justice of God for us. He did not barely save His people
by His death upon the cross of Calvary. He has abundantly washed
our sins away. A great flood of blood flowed
from the Lord Jesus. That's His sacrifice. That's
His death. And it has totally satisfied
a holy God. Who can understand? Who can fathom
the depths of the demands of a thrice holy God? You don't
know, nor do I know, all the fullness of that which God demands. But I'll tell you who does know.
The Lord Jesus Christ. He knew exactly what God demanded. And He has rendered to the Father
everything that His children need to make them safe, to make
them righteous, To forgive them everything God demands, everything
justice insists upon, our Lord Jesus Christ has rendered to
the Father. And we're brought by grace to
trust Him only. Is that definition of faith,
does that fit you? Forsaking all. Forsaking all. Preacher, doesn't my church attendance
count for anything? Well, church attendance is important
because I do believe the most vital thing about a believer's
life is their public worship. But wait, we're not talking about
now for acceptance with God. Oh, it is good to be here. And
we're thankful that we have been brought by divine providence
into the place of worship. But never imagine that you being
here would make God or cause God to look upon you with favor
and say, you know, they came to church, so I'll let them into
my holy heaven someday. No, that'd be salvation by works. Never imagine that your baptism
has made you acceptable with God. Is baptism a biblical ordinance? Indeed it is. Those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ give evidence of that belief, of that faith, of
having had a work of grace done in their hearts by confessing
the Lord Jesus in believer's baptism. But it has nothing to
do with your acceptance before God. If you imagine that your baptism,
or your joining the church, or your observance of the Lord's
Supper, or your Bible readings, or your prayers, if you imagine
that any of those things are significant so as to make you
approved before God, my friend, you've got a salvation based
on works. You've got a salvation based
on religious needs. We do give, we are baptized,
we join the assembly of the saints of God, we do these things, we
read, we pray, we give, we do all of these things, but not
for acceptance with God. Forbid the thought. You see,
to rely on anything you have done, are doing, or will ever
do is to put you in competition with Jesus Christ and His sacrifice
upon the cross of Calvary. That will not do. God will not
stand for that. Salvation is by grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so, here's a pretty good
definition of faith in forsaking all, I trust Him. What is faith? It is a very firm
persuasion and an expectation based upon the Word of God that
the Lord will do everything He has promised to us through our
Lord Jesus Christ. What does faith do? It receives. Faith is a receiver. It's a receiver. Faith is the needy hand that
reaches out. Lord, save me. Faith is that exercise of a regenerated
heart, of a new heart that reaches out to God and says, Oh God,
spare me. Oh God, save me. Oh God, look
upon me in mercy. Oh God, see my desperate condition
and rescue me. I need to be rescued by omnipotent
grace. Faith believes the Word of God. Faith embraces the record God
has given to us. John says this in the book of
1 John, this is the record that God has given to us His Son,
and life is in His Son. That's the record. And we believe
the record that He's given of His Son. Do you believe the record?
See, true faith does that. Faith is fully persuaded of the
the accuracy, the validity, the truthfulness of the Word of God,
that God saves, that God makes us righteous, that God forgives
us, that God preserves forever every sinner who looks by faith
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith receives The biblical evidence
that everyone who casts themselves upon the Savior, God saves. Everyone. Not those who work, but those
who believe. Those who believe. Now we know
faith is a gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith. and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Faith is a gift of grace. God
gives us the gift, and we believe. Now I ask you this question,
which comes first? Faith or grace? Well, the answer is grace. Grace always comes first. Grace
precedes everything in this matter of salvation. We've been studying
about Noah. We read in Genesis chapter six,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Therefore, we read here in chapter
11 in verse 7, by faith Noah. The reason he was a man of faith,
the reason he was a man who believed God, was because he was a man
to whom God gave grace. and that grace was given to him
as I read at the very beginning of the service in II Timothy
chapter 1 and verse 9. God gave him grace before the
world began. All who are the recipients of
God's grace Though we only come to know about the grace of God
in time by the revelation of the Spirit of God, yet all who
have been given grace were given grace before the world was ever
made. Grace started it all. Grace began
it all. And we read in Zechariah that
grace will end it all. Grace will have the glory. In
the end, there will be shoutings of grace! Grace! By the saints
of God. No wonder then that in Ephesians
chapter 1 we read that the Lord did all of these things for us
to the praise of the glory of His what? Grace! Grace started it all. Grace continues
it all. Grace will finish it all. Grace
from beginning to end. Therefore, all along the way
of salvation, there's nothing in which we can
boast. There's no part of salvation,
no facet of salvation where we can say, now there, that was
me. The only thing that is of you
and the only thing that is of me is our sinfulness. Regarding
salvation, it is all of God. We believe the doctrine of Jonah. Salvation is of the Lord. We
believe the doctrine of the psalmist who said, but the salvation of
the righteous is of the Lord. It's all of grace. And those
of us who believe the gospel, who embrace the Lord Jesus Christ,
who've reached out with empty hands, and our hands and our
arms and our hearts, our minds have been filled with the grace
of God, we have indeed believed Him. But that reaching out to
the Lord is an evidence of His grace, the presence of His grace. In Acts chapter 13, I'll not
ask you to turn there, But we find the Apostle Paul preaching
in Antioch. He's preaching to the Jews. He
spoke of God's promise to Israel to raise up a savior, Jesus. He told them the sufferings of
the Lord Jesus, of his death and of his resurrection and of
his ascension. And he said to them, Be it known
unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which he could not be justified
by the law of Moses. And then the Jews left. The Gentiles
said, Would you preach that same message to us? We'd like to hear
the same message." And so, Paul preached to them. The Jews weren't
happy about the Gentiles gathering after them. And they were envious
because many Gentiles came to hear Paul preach. And they verbally
spoke against the Apostle Paul and Barnabas. And they contradicted
the Gospel that they preached. And Paul and Barnabas were bold. The next Sabbath day, when the
Jews vented their anger and that they were envious, they were
envious because of the multitudes that were going to Paul and Barnabas
and listening to them, they threatened the preachers. And Paul and Barnabas
were bold and said, well, we'll preach to the Gentiles. And when
the Gentiles heard that, they were glad. They were glad and
they glorified the Word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Do you know who will believe
this Gospel? As many as were ordained to eternal
life, that's who will believe this Gospel. because grace was given to them
from the foundation of the world. But preacher, I don't know that
grace was given to me before the foundation of the world.
You're talking about before God ever made the world, right? Yeah, that's what I'm talking
about. Well, how am I to know if God gave me grace? in Christ
Jesus before the world began. How am I to know that He put
me in that remnant according to the election of grace? How
can I know? You know it in this way. You're
brought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To forsake all
and just to trust Him. And you see, it is this faith
that enables the children of God to bless the Lord for all
that He has done, for all that He is doing and all that He will
do. Well, how important is faith? Well, it says in verse 6 of chapter
11 here that without faith, it's impossible to please God. That's
not important faith. Don't tell me faith isn't important.
Well, I don't think it matters whether I believe or not because
the purpose of God is going to come to pass. Well, you can be
sure of that. The purpose of God is going to
come to pass. It's going to come to pass whether
you believe or don't believe. Your faith or your lack of faith
will have no effect upon the purpose of God. Nothing affects
the purpose of God. You understand that? Nothing
can change the purpose of God. Nothing can hinder, nothing can
frustrate that which God has purposed. And having said that, I'll repeat
what I said before. The only way that you'll know
grace is given to you before the world began is if you're
brought to believe Christ Jesus. You believe Him. You see, faith... Let me tell
you some things faith does. Here's the life of faith. As we read the Word of God, as
faith reads the Word of God, and that's you and me who've
been given the gift of faith. As we read the Word of God and
we read about the covenant of grace, we read about the purpose
of God, here's what faith does. It rejoices in the God of purpose. The God we worship, faith rejoices
in this God because He's the God of everything. As one of the prophets said,
He's the God of the hills and the valleys. He's the God of
the big things and the little things. He's the God of everlasting salvation
and He's the God who provides for the fowls of the air. That's
our God. He's the God of salvation. And
faith looks to the eternity that is past. Into the eternal counsel
of God. Faith reads of the covenant of
God. Faith reads of the purpose of
God. And faith reads that there was
a remnant according to the election of grace even before God made
the world. And faith rejoices in that election
because faith sees this. If God had not set His love upon
me, if He had not given me grace in Christ Jesus before the world
ever began, I wouldn't be a believer. Faith sees that. Faith rejoices
in that. You see, faith receives the record
of God. Faith doesn't deny the record
of God. Faith never stands in opposition
to what the Word of God says. Now faith may confess, I can't
understand this. I can't comprehend this. But
faith, that faith which is of God, always bows to the authority
of the Word of God. And faith looks back into the
past eternity. and says, I thank God He adopted
me into His family. I thank God He chose me to be
one of His people. Because knowing a little bit
of my depravity, Knowing a little bit of my inward rottenness and
corruption, I would never, never, never have chosen to be a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, nor to cast all other hopes aside,
forsaking everything else and cling to Him alone. If it wasn't
for sovereign, saving, eternal grace, I'd have been a goner. Faith receives the record of
what God did in the past. Faith has no argument with God. Faith doesn't rise up and say,
well, that's not fair. Faith doesn't talk like that.
Faith bows in submission. And faith says, thank you, Lord,
for putting me among your people. That's what faith says. Faith sees and rejoices in that
election of grace. Faith sees and rejoices that
God blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. Faith is not ashamed of the purpose
of God in election. Faith is not ashamed to say,
God chose me. God ordained me to eternal life.
Oh, I'll bless His name forever. That's what faith says. Faith
says, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for choosing
me. I can only ascribe my salvation to the eternal purpose of God
and say, Lord, this is something you did. And you left others
alone. And you could have passed me
by, but you didn't. Thank you. That's the attitude
of faith. And then faith looks at the things
that are done in time. Faith looks back at the incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ and does so with amazement and yet
bows to the authority of the Word of God. Faith says, yes,
I believe. He who inhabited eternity He
joined Himself to our flesh and He became that God-man. He stepped into time. Faith sees the life of obedience
that Christ lived. Faith sees and believes the record
that He did always those things that pleased God. Faith sees His purpose for coming
and rejoices. Faith hears His name, Jesus. Why is His name Jesus? For He
shall save His people from their sins. And faith gets excited. Faith rejoices. That's why He
came. Oh, He's the perfect example,
but He didn't come just to be an example. He didn't come to
start a new religion. He didn't come to be a martyr.
He came to save. He came to save His people from
their sin. And He did it by His own death.
And He did it voluntarily. He did it willingly. He said,
no man takes my life from me. I have the power to lay it down.
I have the power to take it again. This commandment have I received
from my Father. and after he had labored upon
the cross of Calvary with all of the enemies of the souls of
his people, after he had borne the wrath of God, after he had
dealt a fatal blow to the evil one, after he had redeemed us
from the curse of the law, after he had satisfied divine justice,
he said, it's finished, and he bowed his head, and then he gave
up the ghost. He gave it up because He had
finished the work. And I know He finished the work
to the Father's satisfaction because He raised Him from the
dead. And then our Lord Jesus ascended
back to heaven. And the Father said, sit here
at my right hand until I make you foes your footstool. He reigns. You see, faith not only looks
back to eternity and says, I believe the record that God gave of all
that happened before the world began. I believe that covenant
of grace. I believe God gave me to Christ
Jesus for safekeeping. I believe he assumed full responsibility
for me. And faith looks at the things
that happen in time, Christ coming, Christ's obedience, Christ's
sufferings, Christ's death, Christ's resurrection, and faith says,
that's my Savior right there. That's the one who redeemed me.
That's what faith says. Faith beholds Him now in heaven
as the mediator of His people. The Savior of His people. Faith
sees Him alive forevermore. Faith sees Him seated and governing
all things for the good of His people and to fulfill the Father's
purpose. Yes, faith perceives the things
that are being done right now. Faith bows to the inspiration
of the Scriptures. Faith receives this book as being
the very Word of God, the Word of Truth. Faith sees that salvation
is of the Lord. Faith never takes credit for
salvation. You see, faith always recognizes
this fact. I'm a gift to you from God. That's what faith is. Faith is
a gift to you from God. Do you believe? Do you bow to
the record of God's Word? Oh, preacher, I do. Christ is
your all. He's your only hope, yes. Faith
is God's gift to you. Isn't it wonderful of Him to
give you the gift of faith? To not leave you in unbelief,
but to give you a confidence in Christ Jesus? Faith sees the work of the Holy
Spirit in regenerating, guiding, teaching. You see, faith rejoices
that the Lord crossed our paths with the gospel. Faith expresses thanksgiving
for that preacher, for that Sunday school teacher, for that one
who exposed you to the good news of Christ and Him crucified. Faith rejoices in the goodness
of God through Christ. Faith sees the Lord orchestrating
all things for the good of His people. And faith will even,
in times of difficulty, times of trial, times of testing, faith
will say, this is from the hand of my Father. So it's good for
me. Like David said in the Psalms,
it is good for me that I have been afflicted. Good for me?
That's what he said. It's good for me that I might
be afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes, that I might learn
thy word, that I might come to be more dependable upon my God,
that I might go to Him in my time of need. He's a ready, present,
helping time of need. Are you ever without a time of
need? Is there ever a time in your
life when you don't need Him? Faith says, I need Thee every
hour, most gracious, precious Lord. Faith perceives providence always
at work, bringing to pass that which God has predestinated.
And I'll tell you something else faith sees. The things that have not yet
happened that are recorded in the Word of God are going to
happen exactly as God said. Faith sees the everlasting safety
of the people of God. Faith sees that even death can't
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Faith sees and rejoices in this,
the Lord is my shepherd. That's what faith says. The Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not want, I shall not lack any good thing. That's the voice of faith. I shall not lack anything I need
in life, and most certainly I shall not lack for anything that God
demands throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Faith sees
the soul someday caught up to be with Christ Jesus in death.
This is what faith does. Can I tell you what faith does?
It always focuses on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what faith
does. Faith keeps our eye upon Him. As faith looks through the
Word of God, it's always looking for the Savior. As faith perceives
the events and the happenings of life, faith always sees the
hand of God in everything. In everything. Faith sees what the psalmist
said in Psalm 37, that the righteous shall inherit the land. We shall
inherit the land. Faith believes Psalm 75, 10,
while the wicked shall be cut off, the righteous shall be exalted. That's what faith believes. Proverbs 10, 24, the fear of
the wicked, it shall come upon them, but the desire of the righteous
shall be granted. Faith embraces that. The desire
of the righteous, it shall be granted. What is your desire? Well, I'll tell you what my desire
is, and I'm one of the righteous. I'll tell you what my desire
is. I want to be free from sin, the very presence of sin, and
I want to be with Christ forever. Did not David say, I shall be
satisfied when I awake in thy likeness? That's what faith wants. Faith always has a keen eye toward
the Lord Jesus. And even when the eye of faith
seems to grow dim, though I may not see Him very
clearly, He always has His eye of grace on me. So it really isn't the strength
of my faith that holds me or gives me joy. It's the mightiness
of my Savior and the certainty of His grace. Because you see, faith sees the
happy state, the happy everlasting state of the people of God. And as we look through, you can
read through today, if you have an opportunity, Hebrews chapter
11, all these people who believe God. I'll tell you something
about them. They're just ordinary folks.
It's just ordinary folk. There was nothing special about
them. They were just brought by omnipotent
grace to believe God. And if you believe God, the same
grace that was effectual in their hearts is effectual in your heart
to just believe Him. And we say, as did that one in
the New Testament, Lord, I believe. Help. thou mine unbelief. O God, help me to believe you
more fully. And may God grant faith to the
faithless because he has to give it.