Chapter 11 of Hebrews, verse
13. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful
of that country from whence they came out, they might have had
opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better
country, that is in heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and
he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten
son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called,
accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the
dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. By faith, Isaac
blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith, Jacob,
when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and
worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph,
when he died, made mention of the departing of the children
of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith,
Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents,
because when they saw he was a proper child, and they were
not afraid. of the king's commandment. By
faith, Moses, when he would come to years, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover
in sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea as by the dry land, which the Egyptians, asain to
do, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho
fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the
harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when
she had received the spies with peace. But what shall I more
say? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah, of
David, also in Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant
in fight, turned to flight the armies of aliens. Women received
their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. of whom the world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and
caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, receive not the promise, God
having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect or complete. Wherefore, seeing we
also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. Now we begin this chapter as
the chapter begins with the definition of what faith is. Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Faith is not a nebulous concept. It's not something that men work
up within themselves and they just get it. It's not something
that men can have. There's only a certain measure
in which you can exhort a man to have faith. And that is if
he has a basis upon which to have faith. You can tell a man
when the floodwaters are rising around him and he has no life
preserver or no means of deliverance at hand, you can tell him to
have faith, but that may be empty words. because at night he might
drown in that situation. But that's not the faith that
we're talking about. The faith that we're talking
about, or that the scripture speaks about, is a faith that
has a basis. It has a foundation. It is built
upon something. When Abraham left out of Ur of
Chaldees and he came into the land which the Lord called him
out into, The scripture says, by faith,
Abraham believed God. Now, a lot of people think that,
well, you just need to believe. Just believe. Well, what good
is belief if it has no basis? I mean, a lot of people believe
that they're going to heaven when they die. I'd say it's a
pretty common thought. I mean, if you ask most people, What happens to people when they
die? Well, they go to heaven. People even think dogs go to
heaven. I mean, it's just kind of a,
it's just a mindset that people have. But dear brethren, apart
from a basis upon which one would believe something, there is no
such thing as faith. And so the faith of God's people
is not just some activity that's rolling around in their mind
or some thought process that they have, but it is the firm
conviction that they have that Jesus Christ has purchased their
redemption. And it is upon that that all
of their hope rests. And so, as the apostle says here,
now faith is the substance of things hoped for. Hope is a thing. You know, people, a lot of times,
they use that word hope like they hope something will happen.
Well, I hope I'm gonna get rich. Well, you know, if you don't
do something to bring about getting rich, then you're probably not
gonna be rich. That's an empty hope. Hope in
the scripture, again, is something that's based upon reality. It's
based upon something that is true. Our hope is Jesus Christ. We're not hoping that Jesus Christ
can save us. We know that he can save us,
and therefore, there is our hope. Our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. So he is our faith. So when men speak about how much
faith they have, they have no idea about what faith is. Faith has one quantity. And that
quantity is Jesus Christ. True faith is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And whether a man is a stalwart
believer who has walked with the Lord for 50 years, or whether
he is new in faith, the Lord has shown him the way of life. Their faith is the same. There's
no difference. Now, the Lord gives to every
man a measure of faith. And he does work in us, both
willing to do of his good pleasure, and he gives various gifts to
men. And he uses those things for the benefit of God's people
to build us up in the most holy faith. But the most holy faith
is always Christ. See, the more we learn about
Christ, the more blessed that we are. Now, some people think
that, well, if you just learn the gospel one time, I mean,
that's good enough. And for most people, it is. Most
people, all they're interested in is the facts, you know, just
tell me what it was, and that's good, and they go on about their
life. And they're not compelled in their mind and heart to call
upon the Lord, to trust Him. See, faith is an activity, but
it's an activity that's prompted by the Spirit of God. It's a
work that God works, it's a gift of faith, not of words, lest
any man should boast. You can't tell a man all you
gotta do is believe. Well, there's an element of truth
in that, but if you think that you can tell a man to believe
and he can do it, then you don't have the right understanding
about what faith is. We do tell men, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's an absolute
fact. But what is it that they're believing?
They're believing Christ. See, a lot of people have faith
in their faith. And you see that often as men
stand up and they give testimony and they say, oh, I remember
when I was just a young boy about 15 years old and I walked down
the church aisle and I had faith. And that's my testimony. Well,
brother, I'm telling you, if that's your testimony, it's war
out. If that's the only testimony
you have, then you don't have faith. Because faith is a very
present work of the Spirit of God in the people of God. It
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. It's that which we hold on to,
which we desire. And it is, as we read these examples
of faith, these all died in faith, not having received the promises.
They didn't get the thing that they anticipated. That didn't cause them not to
hold on to it, did it? Job said this, he said, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. Because he was given the
gift of faith. See, his faith was in the one
who he could trust. And dear brethren, that's where
our faith is today, if we are true believers. It's in Jesus
Christ, it's not in ourself. I don't have any confidence whatsoever
in my own ability to believe. Because I know tomorrow, because
you see, if you can cause yourself to believe, then you can cause
yourself not to believe. If somebody else teaches you
to believe, then somebody else can come along and teach you
not to believe. But when the Spirit of God gives
a man faith, all of the powers of hell can't take it away. Because
it's the work of God, it's the gift of God. And it is built
on Christ. And just like these men here
that it speaks of, he said they pressed on, they died in the
faith not having received the promises. Now if a person dies
in the faith, it is true that they had to have lived in the
faith. See you can't die in the faith
if you don't live in the faith. Those two things don't go hand
in hand. I mean a lot of people think
that somehow in the moment of death that there's going to be
some transformation that's going to take place and they're thinking
no. The man that trusts Christ when he's taking breath will
be the man who trusts Christ when he takes his last breath.
But the man who has no faith in Christ, apart from a miraculous
intervention of Almighty God to grant him faith at the moment
of his death, he won't have it. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but what'd they do? They saw
them afar off. See, how often it is that we
look at ourselves, which we ought not to do very often, we ought
to spend more time looking to Christ, but a lot of times we
look at ourselves when we get there. And the scripture does
tell us to examine ourselves, see if we be in faith. See, it
doesn't say examine yourself to see if you have faith. It
says to see if you what? Be in the faith. Because there
is but one faith. And if you're not in it, then
you're out of it. So we ought to examine ourselves
to be that we're in the faith. What is to be in the faith? It's
to have the same confession that the apostle Peter had. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe
and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Now, you see, that's a confession
of faith. And that's the same confession
of faith tomorrow as it was yesterday and down the road. And when a
man's taking his last breath, that's what his confession is.
Oh, that the Lord might give us such a thing. These all died
in the faith, but were persuaded of them. Persuaded of what? Their
faith? Were they persuaded, oh, I'm
glad I'm believing? No. As old John Newton, I've shared
this with you many times, and I believe this is the essence
of what the gospel is on his dying bed. Now, John Newton,
you'd have to know who he was. I mean, he was a great and mighty
preacher of his day. He wrote to him Amazing Grace
and hundreds of others as well, but he's best known for that. But one of his friends was there
at his deathbed, and he said, dear brother, what can you remember
in this time? He says, I can't remember but
two things. You say, what a great sinner
I am. But what a great Savior Christ
is. Now brethren, I'm telling you,
that is what true faith is. Because the Lord, when the Lord
works in a man, he doesn't give him any hope in himself. I'm
not hoping that I believed when I was 12 years old or whenever. I'm not looking back. I'm looking,
what does it say here? What he said as he started, and
I read that on purpose, the first two verses of the next chapter,
because he says, you know, here's what faith is, and he says, now
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When something's finished, you
don't need to do anything else to it. It's done. It's finished, it's complete.
Therein is our hope that Christ has done all that's necessary.
See, I can't add anything to it. And thank God nobody can
take anything from it because Christ has accomplished the redemption
of his people. And it says, they that say such
things declare that they seek a country. See, we confess. This world's not our home, dear
brethren. Now the world, in general, is
happy with this world. In fact, as we talked about people
wanting to go to heaven, most people want to go to heaven because
they think it's gonna be a place where they're gonna get to do
whatever they wanted to do in this world. You hear it all the
time. Well, if a guy likes to fish, he's gonna be fishing day
and night, and just catching the biggest ones there ever was,
and all that kind of foolishness. Heaven's not a carnal place.
Heaven's a spiritual place, and heaven is a place where Christ
is. And the thing that makes heaven
a delight for the sons of God is that Christ is there. He said,
if I go, I will come again. And he says, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. And what a glorious hope that
is for the sons of God. Now the average person in this
world, they wouldn't be happy for a minute in heaven. Because
if a man doesn't love to worship Christ and exalt Him in this
world, how are they gonna love to exalt and worship Him in the
world to come? It's not gonna happen. If they had been mindful of that
country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity
to have return. You know, if a man keeps looking
at where he's been, remember what happened to Lot's wife.
What happened to her? The Lord said, don't look back.
She did. She turned to a pillar of salt.
The Lord said, a man's not fit for the kingdom of God who have
him put his hand to the plow and looking back. See, we're
not looking back. We're not seeing what's behind
us, we're seeing what's before us because Christ is ever before
us. He's ever done that which we
stand in need of and our eyes are focused on Him. And we confess
that. We confess that we look for a
city whose builder and maker is God. I remember years ago,
receiving some correspondence from the dear old fellow. He's
dead now. But he would always sign his letters. This was back
in the day when people actually wrote letters. And he would sign
his paper a, let's see, let me think exactly how he said it. An unworthy sinner in search
of that better country through the merits of Christ alone. Now
that was his confession, dear brethren, that he wasn't looking
at this world, he was looking at that world which is to come.
Now the Lord put us here, and he put us here for a while, and
he's working all things in this world every day. But I'm telling you, all of the
things that he's accomplishing and doing in this world are done
for one reason, and that is to bring glory to Jesus Christ. That's what he created the world
for. That Christ might be exalted. And that's the world to which
we're going. Now, you know, a lot of people
think that the Lord created Adam and put him in the Garden of
Eden so he could live in the Garden of Eden. No, if he'd have
put him in there to live in the Garden of Eden, he'd have lived
in the Garden of Eden. He put him there to set the stage
for the unfolding of things so that he might manifest the glory
of his grace and the redemption of his people through the blood
of Jesus Christ. You know, I mean, what would joy be to
a man to just walk around in a garden all day? I mean, it'd
be nice. You know, it'd be comfortable.
But see, that wouldn't satisfy the longings of God's people.
The thing that satisfies the longings of God's people is Christ.
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. See, we look at this right here.
Now this is not the body and the blood of Christ, but it is
typical of it, it's showing it to us, and we are reminded of
it. And we look at these things and this is the substance of
what we hope for. The blood and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. That is our hope. The shed blood
and the broken body of Christ. Upon that all of our hopes are
built. And we look not to anything else.
We're not interested in anything else. But now they desire a better
country, that is a heavenly, where, listen to this, wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared
for them a city. Now is he not ashamed to call
them their people because of something they did? No, he prepared
for them a city, and he's not ashamed because he said these
words, you shall be my people. He said, I know my sheep. He
says, I call them by name. He said, thine they were unto
the Lord. He said, and thou hast given
them to me. They belong to me. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they follow me. See, that's the work of God.
Calling his people unto himself and they desire a better country.
And God is not ashamed to be called their God. There's a passage
in Jeremiah, I just read it this morning, in fact, and he
said that this is in essence, I can't remember the exact words,
but it says, my thoughts are unto thee. The Lord's thoughts
are unto us. Now we think, you know, men in
this day and age, that men emphasize what it is that men are doing
for God. I mean, all these people out
here doing so much for God, and they're not even thinking about
what they really need is not to be doing something for God.
They need for God to do something for them. They think he's gonna be impressed
by something they do for him. He doesn't need anything that
you've got. That's a sad thing for some folks,
because they just thought, sure, he needed me for something. No,
he doesn't need you. But he loves his people. And
if you belong to him, if you love him, it's because he first
loved you. is because he called you out
of darkness. You see, if you see Christ high and lifted up
as the Savior of sinners, there's only one way that that can be
true, and that is that God, who's rich in mercy, has given you
that gift. You'd have never come to it by
yourself. Never would. People hear the gospel every
day. I mean, there's so much that's preached out of the Bible,
has been for years, that, you know, if it could be that men
could be converted by the words of men, everybody that's ever
heard these words would have already been converted, but it's
not that way. You got two people that sit and
listen to the same thing, and one day one of them says, you
know, I believe that's the truth. And the Spirit of God works in
his heart. And he says, I desire to know
Jesus Christ. I desire to walk with him. I want my sins forgiven. And the only way that my sins
can be forgiven is through the blood and righteousness of Christ.
And I desire that. And I confess that. By faith, Abraham, when he was
tried, he offered up Isaac. Now this is an amazing thing.
The Lord promised Isaac, I mean Abraham, that he was gonna have
children that would be as many as the stars of heaven, but he
gave him one son. And he's sitting there and he's
thinking, how can this be? that the Lord has given me this
son and I'm going to have children as the sand of the sea. But yet, the Lord's told me to offer him
up. How did he go through? How did he do that? Because he
believed God. And when Isaac asked him where
is the sacrifice, he said, my son, God will provide himself. a lamb for the sacrifice. And
that's really the faith of God's people down through all ages,
that God will provide a lamb for the sacrifice. And he has. Oh, what a glorious thing it
is. And so, he offered up, or he was offered up Isaac. Now,
he didn't actually kill him, but he offered him up, did he
not? I mean, he put him on the, he bound him hand and foot and
put him on the isle and raised the knife. He offered his son, but the Lord was that ram called
in the thicket. He had no intention. See, Isaac's
life was never in danger. Some people might say, well,
what would have happened if Abraham went ahead and killed him? Well,
he couldn't. He couldn't kill him. Why? Because God ordained that through
Isaac. His seed would be called. Oh,
dear brethren, I mean all these things are in the hands of the
Lord. There's no such thing as chance. A fellow asked me the
other day, he said, well, well, doesn't God give everybody a
chance to be saved? I said, just remember there's
salvation not by chance. There's no such thing as chance
in this world. See, all things are ordered by
the hand of God. Men don't have a chance to be
saved. I don't give folks a chance to be saved. Preachers often,
they'll say this, a lot of times they'll get through with one
of these hell, fire, and damnation sermons and they'll get to the
end and say, now you're gonna have a chance to be saved. Well,
dear brother, if you're waiting for a man to give you a chance
to be saved, you're gonna be lost. God saved men. He called them. in such a time
as they're not looking for Him. Such time as they have no idea. He said, I will bring the blind
in a way that they knew not. He calls men by His grace and
He gives them this ingredient that we're talking about here
is faith. How can it be that two thieves can hang on a cross
and both of them, the scripture says, cast into His teeth the
curses and mockings? But all of a sudden, something
happened to one of them. What was it? It was the mercy
of God. It was the discriminating grace
of Almighty God who set his love upon this man before he was ever
put on that cross. Now the man didn't know it, did
he? I mean, he lived his whole life as a criminal. I mean, he
was a murderer. I don't know what all. He'd done
some terrible things, no doubt. But yet God, who's rich in mercy,
had mercy on that man that day. And he said, Lord, remember me
when thou comest into thy kingdom. See, he had no reason to think
he was going to die. He said, my hope's in you, Lord. Oh, Lord, remember me. because it's you, and if you
don't remember me, I'm not gonna be remembered, just like that
song we sang there a moment ago. But I love that last verse, but
if I should die with mercy sought when I, the king, have tried,
this were to die a delightful thought, as sinner never died. No man ever perished calling
on the name of the Lord. No man has ever sought the Lord that the Lord was not seeking
him first. See, the Lord's the instigator
of faith. He's the giver of faith. He's the worker of faith. What
a glorious God he is. He was accounting that God was
able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence he also
received him in a figure. This is an inexhaustible subject,
dear brother. the faith of Christ. Paul said in Ephesians 2 20 he
says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of Now in
some of these later translations, they change that word of and
put in in there, but I'm telling you they made a mistake. King
James is correct. It's the faith of Christ. See,
that's where our faith is. It comes from him. And it is
his faith. It's the faith of Christ given
to us. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Oh, what a glorious testimony. May the Lord give us such a testimony
as that.