Hebrews chapter 11. Now in order
to get the full import of this chapter, I want us to read verses
38 and 39 of the preceding chapter. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it
the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which
he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch
was translated that he should not see death and was not found,
because God had translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is
impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of
God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an
ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called, go out into a place which he should after receive, for
an inheritance obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether
he went. By faith, he sojourned in the
land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself
conceived strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a
child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful
who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of
one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. 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, that 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 had
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 they
saw that he was a proper child. And they were not afraid of the
king's commandment. By faith, Moses, when he was
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
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, as saying 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. And what shall I more
say, for time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak,
and of Samson, and Jephthah, and David also, and Samuel, and
of the prophets, whom 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 the weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight,
turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their
dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting
deliverance, but that they might obtain a better resurrection.
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yet
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, received not the promise, God
having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect. Now this chapter, of course,
often called the faith chapter. I've heard it called the hall
of fame of faith. I think that's a particularly
unfortunate designation. This is not a hall of fame about
anything having to do with men, but it is indeed a representative
or a representation of what faith is. And of course he begins this
chapter with the definition of what faith is. Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Now if you ask most people what faith is, it's kind of like make-believe. It's like, well, if you just
believe something strong enough, it'll come to pass. You gotta
have faith. I mean, you hear people say that
all the time. Keep the faith, brother. And
what they mean by that is something much akin to the idea of the
power of positive thinking. Now, I'm here to tell you that
biblical faith has nothing whatsoever to do with the power of positive
thinking. Now there is a power of positive
thinking that operates in the natural world. I would not venture
to say that men are not better off in this world as they go
through this world with an optimistic view. I think that serves man
in a natural manner in many ways. But that's not a biblical principle.
Because the biblical principle of faith is, has one basis. That's what he says here. Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for. Now we often
hear men speak about the faith of Abraham, speaking, when he's
speaking about the justification, that Abraham believed God and
it was accounted to him for Righteousness. And the idea often is given,
well, the Lord looked and he saw Abraham's faith and he said,
man, he said, since old Abraham really has got faith, I'm gonna
justify him. And that's a lot of the way that
people think about justification now. Is that, well, if you'll
just, you know, make a profession of faith, brother, you'll be
justified. I mean, all you gotta do is just do this and God will
do this. But that's getting the cart ahead
of the horse. Because faith is the substance, he says here,
of things hoped for. Now what is the substance? And
what did Abraham believe? See, Abraham didn't just believe.
It doesn't say Abraham just believed. It says Abraham believed God. Now that's, you see, God is the
source of all faith. He is the basis of faith. A man
can have all the faith in the world, and it come to naught. But never has a man been given
faith in the truly living God and ever perished or been moved
or turned to the side. Because you see, having faith
in God is the gift of God. Not of work, lest any man should
boast. Now he goes here, for by the elders obtained a good
report. It's the evidence of things not
seen. Faith is an evidence. Abraham believed God. He didn't
see anything, he couldn't see what the Lord was calling him
to, did he? I mean, he was childless. And he was 90 years old at the
time. And he waited another 10 years
before the promise came to even the least of fulfillment. But you see, Abraham believed
God. He had faith that was given to him by God. Now, where'd Abraham
come from? He came from our of the Chaldees.
There's no indication that, I've read, you know, some people have
the opinion, well, Abraham, he came from a line of people that
worshiped God. I don't see any evidence of that.
The Lord called Abraham out of this pagan darkness. Now, why
did he call Abraham? Because he chose Abraham. He loved Abraham. and he called
Abraham and he gave him faith. Otherwise Abraham would not have
had faith. How would he have ever come up
with any faith? Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. Many times As we read about these people
in the scripture, we understand that they were not led on by
the power of positive thinking or thinking, but I just gotta
have faith in this situation. But they believed in a substantial
truth. They knew that they could rely
upon the one who said these things. That was the faith given to Abraham. He believed God because he believed
God was able to do what he said he was gonna do. That's what
faith is. See, a lot of times we don't
have much faith. I mean, our faith's weak. I mean,
when you examine your faith, if you look at your faith, now,
what I'm talking about, when you look at yourself and you
say, man, I'm a man of faith, and you think that you are strong
in the faith, brother, you are weak. You have no faith because
the faith of God's people is completely outside of themselves. Now, it operates within us by
the grace of God, but the basis and the substance of our faith
is completely outside of ourself. Now, today I believe it would
be true to say that oftentimes men are counseled in making professions
of faith that they have faith in their faith. Well, brother,
you need to look back and see if you ever believed in the Lord.
And if you did, then you can look back and you can say, well,
I had faith. And you can have confidence that
if you had faith, you're doing good. Well, that's a poor substitute
for true faith. Because faith is not in what
we have done. Faith's not in what I have thought. Faith's not in what I have felt.
Faith is in the one who did that which resulted in my salvation. It wasn't me doing something
that gained me an entrance into heaven. It was what Christ did. Remember when Paul made his confession,
he didn't say, I know I have believed. Did he? Now see, a lot of times
we want to know if we've believed. He didn't say, I know I've believed.
You know, sometimes I wonder if I have ever believed. But
that's not what he said. He said, I know whom I have believed. And though my faith may falter
and fall by the wayside, the one who is the author and finisher
of my faith is ever faithful. And he is my faith. See, I'm
looking to him, casting off all care and hope and anything of
me, because see, there's no substance in me. I'm fickle. I'll tell you one thing one day
and one thing the next. Peter's a good example, is he
not? Now I would believe Peter to be a man of faith, would you
not? But yet Peter was unreliable. Lord, I'll never depart from
you. I don't care, all these other
guys, you know, I've all had suspicions of all of them being
weaklings from the beginning, and I'm sure they'll probably
fall by the wayside, but I'll tell you what, Lord, you can
count on me, because I'm faithful. Peter, I tell you that before
the night is out, you will deny me three times, but Peter, Satan has desired
to have you and sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith fail not. Now do you think Peter believed
after he had, do you think when he was, after the Lord had looked
on him and he went out and he wept, and in the midst of his
weeping, do you think that he had any confidence whatsoever
in his faith? in his power to believe? Do you
think that he was telling himself, well brother, you just got to
believe, you got to remember back when the first time you
saw the Lord. No. He knew he had no faith at
all. He knew that he had denied the
very one that he loved. The very one that he had confessed,
saying we believe that thou art the son of the living God. And it wasn't Peter's faith.
His faith, that is, his personal faith that carried him through.
It was the faith of God's elect. It was the gift of faith. It
was that faith which has substance. He believed the one whom he believed. See, even, I believe, in Peter's
darkest hour, he had no doubt that Christ was who he said he
was. He had no doubt that Christ was
able. He couldn't even confess, could
he, that he loved the Lord. Now, you know, a lot of times
you hear people, oh, I love the Lord. I just love the Lord. Well,
I hope you do. I mean, we want to love the Lord
if we've been called by His grace. But sometimes I look at myself
and I have to confess, boy, you ain't expressing much love to
the Lord. You ain't acting much like you love the Lord. Peter, do you love me? Boy, that was hard for Peter.
He couldn't say it, could he? He said, Lord, you know that
I love you. Peter, do you love me? Yeah, Lord. Peter, do you love
me? Now I see it. You see, he came
to the place where he understood that his faith was of no consequence
whatsoever. He had no faith. He was weak
in the faith, but he was strong in Christ. Because you see, that's
the place where true faith rests, is in the substance, is in the
evidence. Now I don't see much evidence
when I look at myself, but when I look at Christ, I see the evidence. Because I see that he is that
one who died for sinners. And if he died for sinners, and
if he obtained their eternal redemption, then I believe that
sinners are going to be saved. What a glorious thing. Now I
notice I didn't say everybody that sinned is gonna be saved. All have sinned and come to the
glory of God, but not everybody's a sinner. Most people think they're doing
all right. Oh, they know they didn't do everything right, but
they think everything's okay. I mean, you know, look, hey,
I'm not as bad as so-and-so. Certainly not as this old publican
over here. I mean, look at him. But the elders obtained a good
report. Why? Because they believed God.
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
word of God, so the things which are seen were not made of things
which do appear. See, when we look around us, you can't help but see the evidence
of God's handiwork. A man who has not been given
the gift of faith, he looks at it and he thinks it all just
happened. But see, when God works in a
man to give him faith, then he looks back and he says, there's
no way on earth that these things could have just happened. I mean,
the stupidest thing to me is to think about the seeds of an
apple just happening. The petals of a flower just happening,
evolving. You know, how could that be?
And the world scoffs and they say, well, you're a fool. And
I say, in your eyes, I am. And that's quite all right. Because
my faith, I'll trust in the evidence. See, I see the evidence. It's
the substance. It's the basis. I mean, we look
and we see it. Now faith's not by sight. We
don't see it and believe it because we see it, but we believe it
because of what we see. What a glorious work the Lord
performs in his people. By faith, it says, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and
by it, he being dead yet speaking. And we talked about that a little
earlier. Why did the Lord have respect unto Abel and not unto
Cain's offering? Now people will give you all
kind of reasons for it, but I'll tell you what the reason was
for God had respect unto Abel. Why did he have respect unto
Abel? Because he loved Abel. And he had respect unto the sacrifice
that Abel brought, because Abel believed God. Why did Abel believe
God? Because God gave him faith. Now Cain, he was a religious
man, evidently, he made an offering, didn't he? I mean, he said, this
will be good enough for the Lord. He didn't really care. He got
mad because the Lord had favor upon Abel. He said, this isn't
right. And I'm telling you, the sons
of Cain persecute the sons of God into this very day. Men hate the doctrine of a sovereign
God. Probably more so than any other
thing. You can just about be sure If you declare the absolute
sovereignty of a predestinating God before men, somebody will
get mad about it. He said, I make peace and create
evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
He says, I'm God and there's none else. I'm God and there's none like
me. I know the end from the beginning. All things belong to Him. See,
that's the basis. He's the basis by what we believe. I mean, if He's not an absolute
sovereign God, dear brethren, we have no hope. We've got nothing
to stand on because things might change tomorrow. How do I know
things won't change? Because he's changeless. He said,
I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. He changes not. Therein is our faith. He was counted as righteous.
Why was he counted as righteous? Because he was seen in Christ. I mean, did Abel have any righteousness
of his own? No, not any more than you do. But he was clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. See, that's
one thing I believe is a true thing. You cannot teach your
children to believe. You can hope that they will,
and you can teach them the truth of God, and I hope that you do.
But you can't make them believe. You can't get inside their head
and give them faith. But one thing that you can do,
and that is that you can make it plain to your children what
you believe. See, they may never believe it,
but when you're dead, they'll say, well, you know, Daddy, he
was a crackpot, but he sure believed that stuff that was in the Bible. I mean, you know, we tried to
talk him out of it, but he just kept on right to his dying day.
He just believed that God was who He said He was. And he had
confidence in Him. And that'll be your testimony
to them, not that they might ever believe. We hope they do. We pray, we pray for our children,
our grandchildren. Oh, Lord, have mercy on them,
because you see, if the Lord doesn't have mercy on them, they
won't be given faith. By faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. and was not found. There's two
men in the Bible that we know of, or two men in the Bible,
that is recorded for us, that were taken from this world without
actually dying in human body. One's Enoch and the other one
is Elijah. Was taken up to heaven in a fiery
chariot. That's a glorious thing. I don't
understand it. I don't comprehend it any more
than I comprehend how Lazarus was raised from the dead.
He'd been dead for four days. He was raised from the dead,
and then he walked around, and I suppose he died again at some
point in time. I mean, I don't have any explanation
for those things. People say to you, well, do you
really believe he raised Lazarus from the dead? I sure do. Why do I believe that? I can't
tell you. But I'll just tell you this, I can't not believe
it. Any more than I can not believe God created the world. Any more
than I can not believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for
sinners. By faith, we believe these things. It has a substance to it. In
our mind, it's not the substance that the world holds on to, but
it's the substance that we cannot escape, dear brethren. By faith Enoch was translated.
Now what, you know what Jude says about Enoch. Let's read
about what Jude said. If I can find it, I think it's
Jude 14. It's over here somewhere. And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam. Now look what the basis. Now,
you know, you look at this and people say, well, you know, Enoch,
he was a holy man. I mean, he was so faithful that
the Lord just was pleased with him and just took him right up
into heaven and he didn't die. Oh, if I could just be like old
Enoch. Well, listen, what does it say about Enoch? Enoch, also
the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these saying, behold, the
Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints. What was Enoch's faith? Was it
that Enoch had faith? Or was it that the faith he had
had substance? He said the Lord's coming back
to receive his people. He's coming. And he believed
it. For he had this testimony that
he pleased God. Why did he please God? Because
God was pleased with him. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
Now men think that, it doesn't say Enoch earned the pleasure
of God, or Enoch did some stuff that made God be pleased with
him. It says he pleased God, just
like Abel pleased God. God was pleased with him. Oh, dear brethren, God was pleased
with him. He gave him faith. See, all those
whom the Lord is pleased with, He'll give faith. He said, my
people shall be willing in the day of my power. He'll give them
faith when it pleases Him. But without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. See, God's not, He's not looking
out here at the deeds and ways of men, is he? He doesn't care
what people are doing. I mean, you know, you got people
that honestly believe if they can do enough stuff out here
in the name of the Lord that the Lord will just be so pleased
with them that he'll pat them on the back. The only reason
that the Lord is gonna receive anybody into the kingdom of heaven
is because of what Jesus Christ has performed. And that's the
basis of our faith. That's the substance of things
hoped for. See, that's the meat, the marrow of it. Not what we're
doing, but what he did. But he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Isn't that the substance of faith? Man must believe that he is.
I believe that he is, don't you? Do you? I believe he's the sovereign
God. I believe that he's the ruler
over all things. I believe he's the one who appeared
to Moses and he said, when Moses said, well, who am I gonna tell
these Israelites that sent me? He said, you go down there and
you tell them I am. Same thing that he said to those
men in the garden. When they came to seek him, said,
we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And you know what happened? They
all fell backwards before him. Now, you know, human reason would
tell you if something like that happened to you, you'd probably
get up and run. I mean, once you got up, you would get out
of there, wouldn't you? I mean, that's human reason.
But you see, here's the sovereignty of God in motion here. Those
same men whom he overwhelmed, they got up and still took him
into custody. Why? Because it was ordained
of God. They couldn't do anything about
it. They couldn't even, just like Pilate. I believe there's
a measure in which Pilate, he was doing everything he could
to turn the Lord loose. He couldn't. He absolutely could
not. He could not turn the Lord loose.
Why? Because it was ordained of God that he be crucified by faith and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. I believe that's true. He
said, that if a man would seek him
with his whole heart, he'd find him. He's not far from us. See, we can tell every sinner
out there, every man knows himself to be lost and in need of a savior,
we can tell him there is a savior. There's a savior of sinners.
And he calls sinners to himself, and he says, come unto me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
Now see, all men out here, a lot of people, they think that's
just an open invitation, but it's not, because not all men
out here are laboring and heavy laden. Most people just going
through life and just satisfied as they can go, but when you
find a man that knows himself to be in trouble, that knows
himself to need a Savior, there is a Savior, and His name is
Jesus Christ. And He's the substance of things
hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. By faith, Noah, being warned
of God, of things not seen as yet. Now again, people say, well,
you know, here was old Noah. He was a good man and he was
out here just trying to live for the Lord and everything and
going along. That's not what the scripture
says, is it? Said the Lord looked down and he saw the evil heart
of men, only evil continually. But there's a but there. But
it says, but, but Noah really did a lot of
stuff and made the Lord happy with him. And he said, you know,
I think I'll do something for old Noah. No, it says Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. What made Noah different? Why
was Noah brought to the ark? To make the ark. Why did the
Lord single out Noah to make the ark? Because it pleased him. He was
pleased with Noah. Oh, what a glorious thing, dear
brethren. By faith, Noah being warned of
things not seen yet, I mean, the most preposterous thing,
it never even rained on earth up to this time. And the Lord said, no, I tell
you what's gonna happen. He says, I'm gonna open up the
windows of heaven and I'm gonna cause the earth to be covered
with water. I'm gonna open up the fountains
of the deep and the windows of heaven and the earth's gonna
be covered with water. Most preposterous thing no one
ever heard in his life. Don't you think? I mean, you
think that he just said, man, this is cool, man. We'll go out
here and build this boat. No, I'm sure he had some sleepless
nights saying, you know what, did I really hear this right?
I mean, is this really going on, but what happened? You see,
God moved in the heart of Noah. He caused faith to operate in
Noah. And Noah said, I believe this
is true. And I know his neighbor said, Noah, you are the biggest
fool that's ever been. But Noah, he being warned of
God of things not seen, is yet moved with fear. Why did he fear
God? Because God caused him to. prepared an ark to the saving
of his house by which he condemned the world and became heir of
the righteousness which is by faith, the gift of God, an heir,
a joint heir with Christ. By faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance, obeyed and went out, not knowing whether
he went. You ever went somewhere when
you didn't know where you was going? I mean, have you ever
got in the car and you didn't have a map, you didn't have a
phone, you didn't have anything, but you just got in there and
you went somewhere? That's what it says. Noah did. I mean, Abraham did. He went not knowing where he
was going. He didn't have no idea where he was going. He didn't
really know why he was going. Except the Lord told him to go. By faith, when he was called
to go out into a place which he should have to receive for
inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing whether he went.
By faith, he sojourned in a land of promise, as in a strange country,
dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise. Why? Because he looked for a city. See, there was a substance. there
was an evidence upon which he could not turn away. He was seeking
that better country through the merits of another. Through faith
also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered
of a child when she was past age. Why? Because she judged him faithful,
who had promised. She didn't even believe it to
start with, did she? But that gives her some credit
here. I mean, did it give her credit, or it just points out
that the Lord's the one that gives me faith? Sarah didn't
believe the Lord. She laughed. She said, how's
this gonna happen? That's the most foolish thing
I've ever heard in my life. Lord said, did you laugh? She
said, oh, no, no, Lord, I didn't laugh. He said, yes, you laughed. But here it says, she judged
him faithful and then promised. Oh, we get credit for believing when
it's really the Lord that caused us to believe. See, he says to
his children, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter
thou into the joy of the Lord. And you know, probably, I mean,
when we get up there, if we, yeah, I don't know, you know,
I say we get up there, when we come into the presence of the
Lord, if he says, if it literally says, well done, thou good and
faithful servant, I mean, we might look around and see who
he might be talking to. Because what do we know what
the Spirit of God teaches us? We're not faithful people. I
wish we were. Oh, I wish I was faithful. But
I know that in myself dwells no good thing. But I know that
in Christ dwells all righteousness. And he's the one who's my substance. He's the one who's my evidence.
He's that one in whom I can't turn away. Through faith she conceived.
Therefore sprang even as one of him as good as dead, as many
as the stars of the sky, and the multitude, and the sand,
which is by the seashore. Abraham, 100 years old, named
the father of many nations, as good as dead. I mean, he was
well past his prime, was he not? And yet the Lord. These all died
in faith. Now think about Abraham for a
minute, and remember what he told Isaac. To show you where
Abraham's faith was, I mean, Isaac said, well, father, we
got here the wood for the fire, But he said, where's the offering? And Abraham looked at his son
in the eye and he says, my son, God will provide himself an offering. And brethren, that's the faith
of God's elect. We have no offering. Oh, But he is that one who died
for sinners. 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 in the earth. This world is not our home. We're looking beyond this world.
Now you've heard people criticize other people. They say, oh, he's
so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good. Well, you know,
I know there's a way in which that probably isn't a good thing
for a person to be, if a person's just religious or whatever. But
I hope it can be said of us that we are indeed heavenly minded.
Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth.
Brethren, these things pass away. There's no substance here. There's
no evidence here. There's nothing for us to rely
on here. Our substance is in heaven. Our
glory is in heaven. And we're not talking about floating
around on a cloud somewhere. When we speak about heaven, we're
speaking about Christ. Because there is no heaven for
the people of God apart from Christ. See, people talk about
going to heaven when they die, but they'd be miserable as all
get out when they got to heaven because they don't have any love
for Christ. They died in the faith not having
received the promises. If the Lord doesn't come back
in our lifetime, the same probably be said of us. We've not fully
and completely receive the promises, we're gonna die in the faith.
But you know one good thing is this. If a man dies in the faith,
it's evidence of the fact that he lived in the faith. See a
man can't die in the faith if he doesn't live in the faith. Because faith's the evidence
of things not seen. The substance. of those things
which are hoped for. It's that which we grasp with
our hands, though it's as sand and it filters through it. We
can't see it, we can't hold on to it, and yet we cling to it. That which can't be seen with
these eyes. The Lord said, blessed is the
man who having not seen, believes. And brethren, you know, we have
doubts and fears that surround us day by day. Everybody, a fellow
come to me the other day, and he said that, you know, he was
surrounded, this wasn't his words particularly, but in essence
he said, I've got all these doubts and fears about myself. I said,
that's a good thing. That's a good thing. When a man's
doubting himself, he's in a good place. Because we have no confidence
in the flesh, dear brethren. Our confidence is in Christ,
what Christ has done. Not what these hands have done
can save my guilty soul, but what Christ has done is that
which endures forever. That's the faith of God's elect.
See, our faith's not something that men look at. Some people
think that baptism, is faith. They think baptism is a substitute
for faith. They think that it's somehow
or other that which can cause a person to be made pleasing
in the sight of God. There's only one thing that can
cause a person to be pleasing in the sight of Almighty God,
and it is the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our great high
priest. that one who has purchased our
eternal redemption. The Lord is pleased with Jesus
Christ. And by his grace and by the gift
of faith, we can confess we are pleased with him. We don't have
any other, there's no enduring substance
apart from him. Oh, that he might give us faith
today, that he might teach us what faith is. It's not some
nebulous thing that goes around and you stir it up in people,
it can't happen. It's the gift of God, not of
words, lest any man should boast. Because if you could somehow
have faith, you'd want people to know it,
wouldn't you? I mean, you'd boast at it. You'd
say, yeah. Yeah, we believe down here. See,
we're not like all them old folks. They don't go to church, and
they don't do this, and they don't do that. They wear their
hair funny, and they get all these marks on their body, and
they do all these different things. Yeah, not us, though. Now, you
wouldn't ever boast in anything, would you, huh? We kind of boast
in our own mind. May the Lord give us a mind to
know we have nothing to boast in. I mean, not even a little
bit. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. His oath, His covenant,
His blood support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul
gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ's solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. Oh, that the Lord might give
us faith today.