Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. Now today's message
will be taken from the book of Hebrews chapter 11. The title
of the message, Hebrews chapter 11, is Faith, Confidence, and
Conviction. Faith, Confidence, and Conviction. Now this chapter, Hebrews 11,
I'm going to begin in verse 1. is what is normally called the
Hall of Faith. It's kind of like a Hall of Fame. Because in this, God the Holy
Spirit, through the writer of the book of Hebrews, gives us
a list of Old Testament believers, Old Testament saints, who were
sinners saved by the grace of God, who believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ, all Old Testament saints, look forward by God-given
faith to the promise of the coming Messiah who would come in time,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and save them from their sins by his obedience
unto death as their surety, their substitute, and bring in righteousness
for them, righteousness that God had already imputed to them,
charged to them, evidence by their believing. And so he gives
us a list, and I'm not going to go through the whole chapter,
but I'm just going to start out here, showing you the reality
of this faith. Faith, confidence, and conviction. Faith, confidence, and conviction.
And he says in Hebrews 11.1, now faith is the substance. Now that word substance means
the confidence. There is a confidence in faith
because it's based on a solid ground, the confidence of things
hoped for. Now, the hope there is not a
wishful thought. Many people today, when they
think about hoping for something, it's only wishful thinking. Oh,
I hope it comes about, but there's no solid ground for that. But
hope in the Bible, the gospel hope, is a certain expectation. of that which is desired. For example, I desire salvation
and final glory. Now is that just wishful thinking?
Something, well, I hope, I hope, I hope, as they say. No, there's
a ground or a confidence for that and it's God's word, all
right? And then he says, now faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence. Now the evidence
there means the conviction. That's what that word means.
that I'm convinced of something. That's what that means. I have
a conviction of it. This is not just an opinion that
I have in my view. It's not just something that
I feel, but it's a conviction of things not seen. For example,
I have not seen physically the Lord Jesus Christ, but I have
a conviction that he's real, that he's my savior, that He
died for me, that He was buried, that He arose the third day,
the resurrection of Christ, and that He ascended unto the Father,
and that He lives right now, ever living, to make intercession
for me, pleading the merits of His obedience unto death, His
blood, His righteousness, which has been charged, accounted,
imputed to me. He's my advocate, and I have
a conviction that He's in control of all things. and that He's
coming back again to gather His people unto Himself and defeat
all of His enemies and make the new heavens and the new earth
where we'll live forever with Him. I have that conviction and
it's based on the Word of God. Now here's what I want you to
see. Faith, confidence, conviction. Faith here is not what most people
think it is. Faith is not just believing something. Now, what I mean by that is this.
Now, don't get me wrong and don't misquote me. Do God's people,
are God's people brought by the Holy Spirit to believe in Him? Yes. And we're gonna see that
in just a moment. Of course. Without believing,
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. He that
believeth not shall be damned. Believing is necessary for salvation. Now our believing is not the
cause of our salvation. Our believing is not the ground
or confidence of our salvation. What is? Faith. Now faith is. What is this faith? This faith is the promise of
God in His word The gospel of salvation to save sinners by
His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ and based on His righteousness
alone. That's the faith here. It's the
body of doctrine that God has revealed to His people in the
gospel. The teaching You see, the Bible
says in Romans 1 16 that the gospel, the message, the evangelism,
the evangelia rather, which is the good news, is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. to the Jew first
and the Greek also. Verse 17, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the justified shall live by faith. Romans 1, 16 and
17. See, believing is not the power
of God unto salvation. Believing is the fruit of salvation
by the power of God. The gospel in the power of the
Holy Spirit is the power, the dynamite of God unto salvation. The word faith has the root word
of knowledge. In other words, if I'm in the
faith, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. then that
means I have a knowledge that God has revealed to me and taught
to me. It's not a mere head mental thing
or an intellectual thing. It's the revelation of God of
who he is. He's holy, he's just, he's righteous. Yes, he's merciful and loving
and gracious, but he must be just when he justifies. God,
listen, God forgives sin. but he cannot forgive sin apart
from his justice being satisfied. Somebody's got to pay the penalty.
That's who God is. He's holy. He's righteous. He judges according to truth.
Now, I'm a sinner, and I'm such a sinner that there is no possibility
of salvation for me based upon my best efforts to do right,
to obey God. My most sincere moments of obedience
cannot save me, preserve me, or make me righteous before God.
My tears of repentance, my promises to do better, cannot wash away
my sins. If left to myself, I will be
damned forever. That's what the Bible says. I
fell in Adam. I was ruined by the fall. I was
born dead in trespasses and sins. I don't have righteousness. I
can't work righteousness. And if God left me to myself,
my own will, I don't want righteousness His way. You see, God has to
make me willing in the day of His power. That's how bad this
thing is of sin. And therefore I have no hope
of salvation in myself. There's more to this knowledge.
God has revealed His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He
sent in the world, His Son, the second person of the Trinity,
God in human flesh without sin. Emmanuel, God with us, to do
for me what I cannot and could not do for myself. And as my
substitute in surety, He went to the cross and died for my
sins. He was buried and rose again
the third day because he established righteousness whereby God could
be just and justify me, a sinner. And how do I know that he did
it for me? God, the Holy Spirit, in the miracle of the new birth,
gave me life, gave me a new heart, and brought me to believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the fruit, you see. Now,
when he says this, verse one, Now faith is the substance or
the confidence of things hoped for. What faith? The Christian
faith, the gospel faith, the faith that God gives when he
reveals Christ to a sinner, the Lord our righteousness. And what
does he do when he reveals it? He brings that sinner to be convinced
that this is the way it is. This is the only way it can be.
There is no other way. You know, a person who claims
to be a Christian and who believes that there are other ways of
salvation, they don't believe this faith. They don't believe
the gospel. They're not convinced because
they're halting between several opinions. And I've had people,
they don't go by the Bible now. They use the reasoning of men.
Oh, well, I believe there's saved people in every religion. Well,
You may believe that and people may love you for it and you may
win a lot of friends and influence a lot of people, but you're not
in the faith here. You don't believe the Bible because
that's not what the Bible teaches. There's one way of salvation.
I'm convinced of it. Now look at verse two of Hebrews
11, one. He says, for by it, for by this
faith, by the gospel, by the revelation of God's righteousness
in Christ, the elders obtained a good report. Good reputation. You see, and he's talking about
a sinner's relationship with God, and a sinner's conviction
of the truth, and a sinner's witness before men. And here's
my witness before you. Listen. Now listen to me carefully
here. I want to be the best person
that I can be in every way. I have a wife, I want to be the
best husband to her. I have children, I want to be
the best father. I have grandchildren, I want
to be the best grandfather. I'm the pastor of a church, I
want to be the best pastor I can be. All of those things, I want
to be a citizen, a citizen of this country. I love this country,
I'm a patriot. I don't believe this, I never
have believed this country was a Christian country, but I do
believe there are principles of morality and justice freedom
that we stand for, and I love this country, and I wanna be
the best citizen I can be in my community and all of that,
best helper. But here's what I'm saying. My
reputation, which I want to be good before men, my reputation
as a child of God is not grounded or founded upon my trying to
be the best of anything. My reputation, my good report
before God, and my witness to you is this. It's based upon
the best that God is, who God is, in His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. I want you to know this. I want
to be obedient, but I want you, listen, I have no righteousness
before God, but Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the
dead. That's the good report. And he says in verse three, he
says, through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by
the word of God. In other words, God revealed
himself as creator. You see that? In other words,
I don't know that God is creator just because of my believing
it. It didn't just come to me one day. No, it's because God
said it in beginning, Genesis 1.1, in beginning, God created
the earth. All that is said there. I believe
that God is the God of creation. How? Because God gave me that
knowledge. He convinced me of it. I have
a conviction of it. So that the things which are
seen were not made of things which do appear. You see, that
destroys the theory of evolution right there. The things that
we see were not made of the things which do appear. It's not everything
evolving. No. God created them. God's the
creator. And then he goes in to begin
to, he lists some of these Old Testament saints. He lists Abel
here. You know Abel, verse four. Listen
to this. By faith, by the gospel, by,
listen, by the blood of Jesus Christ, who would come in the
future, according to the promise of God, by his righteousness
imputed, Abel offered unto God, a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. Now what was Abel's sacrifice?
It was the blood of the Lamb. Now there's no salvation in animal
blood. The Bible says that over in the
book of Hebrews here. There's no salvation in what
animals are or what they do. Back over in Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 4, listen to this. He says, for it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Animal sacrifices never took away sins. Animal sacrifices
never made atonement before God eternally now. There was a ceremonial,
temporal atonement made for the nation Israel under the Old Covenant.
But it never saved a sinner eternally, spiritually. But those animal
sacrifices, all typified, pictured, foreshadowed, and looked to the
coming of Christ, who is the Lamb of God, it's by His blood
that sins are taken away. You know what? Abel knew that. How do you know? Verse four,
by faith, Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.
Abel realized that God is holy, and just and must punish sin.
Abel knew and was convinced that he was a sinner who had nothing
to recommend him unto God, that if God were to judge him based
on anything other than the blood, the imputed righteousness of
the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the woman seed,
the God-man, that he would be condemned, Abel realized that
he needed the righteousness of God, the righteousness of another.
And how do you know Abel knew that? Because he brought the
blood of the Lamb, the wages of sin is death, blood equals
death. He was showing in picture and
type as ordained by God and as ordered by God, bringing the
sacrifice that Christ, God's grace in Christ was his hope. You see, Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain. What did Cain bring? What he
worked for. the fruit of the ground. Now
he was a farmer, and he brought the fruit of the ground, the
fruit of the cursed ground, which typifies the sinfulness of man,
the best works of man. Cain brought that, and look at
verse four, it says, by which he obtained witness, Abel, that
is, that he was righteous. God imputed righteousness to
Abel. How do you know that? Because
Abel believed in Christ. That was the evidence. Where
righteousness is imputed, Faith is given to receive Christ, who
is that righteousness. And he said, God testifying of
his gifts. The testimony of God there is
God's gifts, his grace, unearned, undeserved. And by it, he being
dead yet speaketh. Abel's dead, but he's got a good
sermon to preach here. And that sermon is in the blood
of the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God, John
the Baptist said, who bears away the sins of the world. That's
God's people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And then he goes to Enoch, verse five. By faith, Enoch was translated. That is, he departed 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. Enoch pleased God. Now I'm
not going to get into all the things that people say about
Enoch's translation and all that and what happened to him and
what that means for the future. I know this, that Enoch was a
sinner saved by grace. And the point of this passage
is that Enoch walked by faith. Look at verse six. He said he
pleased God, but without faith, it's impossible to please him.
What does that mean? That means without Christ. God
said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, hear
ye him. Without Christ, without God's grace, without truth, without
righteousness, it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh
to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. Now think about what this
says. This is not salvation by works.
This is not mercenary rewards earned by men. Faith is the key. What is that? That's the gospel
of God's grace based on the righteousness of Christ. Grace is something
I don't deserve. It's something I never earn.
And without that, it's impossible to please God. If I'm gonna please
God, I must be found in Christ. My advocate. So anybody who comes
to God, just like Abel, just like Cain, must believe that
he is. Now that doesn't mean that you
must believe that God exists. Yes, we must believe that God
exists, but my friend, the devil believes God exists. What he
means is this, he must believe that God is who he says he is. So when you come to God, now
think about this, go back to Cain and Abel. Cain believed
God existed, but he didn't believe what God said about himself.
God had already told Adam and Eve, He said, look, there's no
hope of salvation, the wages of sin is death. You've missed
the mark, you've sinned against me. Dying you shall die, he said,
and there's only one way for you to be saved. By the grace
of God through the woman's seed, that's Christ, that's a promise
of Christ, Genesis 3.15, and based upon his shed blood and
imputed righteousness, that's Genesis 3.21, when God took away
their fig leaf aprons, which only covered their shame, and
he gave them coats of skin. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness, no righteousness. Now, that's what God said. He
said, I'm holy, I'm just, I cannot forgive sin apart from justice
being satisfied. And the only way justice can
be satisfied is the blood of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's redemption. Now, Cain
brought the fruit of the ground, his works. He didn't believe
that God was who God said he was. Abel believed God is what
he said he is. He brought the blood of the Lamb
and he came by faith. And so he says, verse six, without
faith it's impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is. Now there's believing. You see,
faith is the confidence and conviction of what a sinner saved by grace
believes. He believes in Christ. And that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Now what
is it to diligently seek him? If you're seeking to earn God's
salvation, if you're seeking to earn your rewards in heaven,
you're not seeking God as He reveals Himself. You're seeking
a God of your imagination. All who seek God in Christ, like
Abel, like Enoch, all who come to Him as sinners seeking mercy
in Christ, pleading the blood of Christ, pleading the righteousness
of Christ, God's a rewarder of them. And what is the reward? It's not a debt. It's not something
you earn or deserve. It's the reward of God's grace
earned by Christ. Now, how do you know that? Because
it's faith, and that's what faith teaches. That's what faith reveals.
That's the knowledge. You see, when we talk about faith
being the confidence and faith being the conviction, it can't
be just our believing Because we have moments of doubt. Our
faith is imperfect, but I'm gonna tell you something. The faith
that God gives to his people in the knowledge and revelation
of Christ, that's a perfect faith. Because Christ is perfect. We
believe it if God gives us the faith. The Bible, Ephesians 2,
8 and 9 says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And then he goes on in verse
10 to say, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. You
see, unto good works, not because of, but unto good works which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now what
that shows us is that our, if we're believers now, if God has
revealed that faith to us, that knowledge, made the gospel, the
power of God unto salvation to us, our confidence and conviction
is by the grace of God in Christ. And without that confidence and
conviction in Christ, you can't please God. You don't believe
that He is who He says He is. And you don't receive the reward
of grace, which is salvation unto eternal glory based on the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you understand
that? This is the good report of a
believer, a sinner saved by grace. This is the witness. It's the
witness of Abel. It's the witness of Enoch. And if you go on through Hebrews
chapter 11, you'll see it's the witness of all the saints of
God in the Old Testament. It's the witness of all the saints
of God in the New Testament. And those who claim to be Christian,
who do not have this witness, this confidence, this conviction,
this faith, they're false Christians. They believe salvation, conditioned
in some way, at some stage, to some degree, conditioned on the
sinner. But this faith, of which is the
believer's confidence and conviction, shows that Christ fulfilled all
the conditions of the salvation of His people, that He met them
all, and that's summarized in the phrase, the righteousness
of God, that which is freely imputed to God's people and which
they receive by God-given faith, we believe in Him, and it's the
security of God's people. Back there in Hebrews chapter
10, the writer said that there are many who, those who draw
back unto perdition, they never were saved, but we who believe,
we who have this faith, this confidence, this conviction,
we're not of them who draw back unto perdition. but believe unto
the saving of the soul. That's the power of God's grace,
that's the confidence, that's the conviction that can only
be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, listen to the Apostle Paul's
testimony in 2 Timothy chapter one and verse 12 on that, when
he said, for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. That's the faith, that's the
confidence, That's the conviction that is given by God by His grace
through the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Lord Jesus Christ
that every true believer has as the gift of God. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive. Albany, Georgia, 31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.