How I long for faith. I long
more. What a day that'll be when faith
gives way to sight. All right, let's look at Hebrews
chapter 11 again. I titled the message this morning,
Now Faith Is. Faith, saving faith is one of
the most important subjects we can study because we cannot be
saved without God-given faith in Christ. Part of our text this
morning says, without faith, it's impossible to please God.
The just shall live how? By faith, not by works, by faith. Our Lord says, he that believeth
has faith. He that believeth on the Son
already hath everlasting life. But he that believeth not the
Son, he who does not have faith in Christ, shall not see life. but the wrath of God abideth
upon him. Now, when I say faith, I want to be clear what we're
talking about here. I don't mean our creed or our version of religion. You know, people ask, what faith
are you? And they mean, what particular
denomination or brand of religion do you like? But that's not what
faith is at all. Faith always has to do with a
person, a person. Hold your place there in Hebrews.
Look over at 2 Timothy chapter 1. Here is a marvelous description
of saving faith. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. Paul says, for the witch cause
I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed
for I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that
day. Now, this is a good definition
of faith, and it all has to do with a person. Faith is in a
person. Paul said, I know not what I
believed. I know whom I believed. Faith has confidence. Faith is
confidence in a person. In Christ, I'm persuaded that
He is able. And faith involves commitment.
Faith is committed to Christ. I'm persuaded He is able to keep
that which I've committed unto Him against that day. And I'll
tell you what faith commits to Christ. Everything. It involves commitment. In all
of God's elect, every saved person has this faith in Christ because
God gives it to them. Faith is the gift of God. Paul calls it the faith of God's
elect. So I want to know, do I have
this faith? Has God given this faith to me?
Well, I want to give you eight marks of the faith of God's elect. Eight marks of saving faith.
Now first, here's faith's definition. Verse 1, Hebrews chapter 11.
Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the
evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained
a good report. This word substance, it means
the ground or the confidence of faith is not just an thing
that's in the air. It's a concrete thing. The substance
of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is the evidence. of things
that we have not seen. Faith is the evidence of what
we hope for. And that word hope is expect.
We expect these things. Faith expects certain things
that we haven't seen yet. Well, what are those things not
seen? There's a lot of them. First, I thought of God's election
of a people. Well, how can I know that I'm
one of God's elect? Just one way. to have faith in
Christ. That's the only evidence you
have of God's election is you have faith in Christ. I would
rather have faith in Christ than to be able to open up the Lamb's
Book of Life and try to find my name in it and find my name.
Honestly, I'd rather have faith in Christ because that's more
sure. More sure than finding my name written in a book. There's
lots of things that we can't see that God's people believe.
I can't see the forgiveness of sin, can you? All I see about
myself is sin. How can I know my faith, my sin
is forgiven? It's faith. How about eternal
life? You can't see eternal life. How
can I know I have it? Faith in Christ. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. How about the new birth? I can't
see a new man. born in me? Can you? I mean,
I could see myself or somebody could see me when I was first
born, but in the flesh, but I can't see the spirit, the man born
of the spirit. How do I know he's there? Faith. Faith in Christ. How can I know
that Christ has been formed in me? Scripture describes salvation
as Christ being formed in you. I can't look in there and see
him. How do I know he's formed in me? Faith. How about righteousness? We can't see, you know, righteousness. And I certainly can't see any
righteousness in myself. I can't see anything righteous
that I've done. How do I know I'm righteous? Faith in Christ. How about heaven? You ever been
there? You ever talked to anybody that
has and not seen it? How do I know it's there? And more importantly,
how do I know there's a place there for me? faith, faith in
Christ. He's there and I'm going to follow
him there. And it's him that makes the place
heaven. Wherever he is, that's heaven.
How about the resurrection? I've seen lots of people die.
I've never seen anybody raised from the dead. How do I know
that there'll be a resurrection? And when I'm raised, how do I
know I'll be raised like Christ? How do I know my resurrection
is Christ? He was raised from the dead.
How do I know I will be? How do I know he was? How do I know
I will be? Just one way. It's faith in Christ. How do
I know that a man named Jesus of Nazareth lived and died on
a cross? How do I know that that really
happened? That's not a fairy tale, but
it really happened. And more importantly, how can
I know that the God-man lived and died? Both lived and everything
he did in his life is he obeyed the law perfectly. He was the
perfect man. And as he died as the perfect
sacrifice, how can I know he did that for me? It's the only way faith in and
believing him. See, faith is the evidence that all these things
that we can't see are real. And this hope, as I told you
a minute ago, is an expectation. Well, is it wrong for me? Is
it wrong for you to expect the salvation of your soul and to
expect ultimate glorification with Christ? Is it wrong for
you to expect that? We have two dear sisters that
apparently the Lord is going to use cancer to take them home
right soon. How can they know as they lay
on their deathbed they can expect glorification of Christ. How
can they expect to close their eyes in this life and open their
eyes and see the face of Jesus Christ? Just one way. Faith. I believe Christ. I believe God. It's not wrong
for me to expect that if I have faith in Christ. It's not wrong
for you to expect that if you believe God. You children, You
can expect this. You can expect your parents to
take care of you. You can expect your parents to
feed you, to clothe you, to love you. You can expect your parents
to teach you and correct you. It's fair for you to expect that. It's fair for you to expect your
parents not to shove you out in the world and never taught
you how to live in it. You can expect your parents to
take care of you. You wake up just real sick at night. You
can expect your mom to get up and be with you with a cool rag
on your head and hold your hair back if you're throwing up or
whatever. You can expect your mom to do that. It's not wrong
to expect her to do that. Now, they're your parents. They love you. Don't you take
advantage of them. You be thankful. You show your
appreciation by obeying by doing what they tell you to do. But
it's not wrong for a child to expect their parents to take
care of them. You know what? It's not wrong for a child of
God to expect our heavenly father to give us everything he promised.
It's not wrong for us to expect our heavenly father to take care
of us. I've never seen him. Have you?
Faith is the evidence of things not seen. That's how we know
He'll take care of us. It's faith. All right, that's
faith's definition. Second, here's faith's foundation.
It's the Word of God. Verse 3. Through faith we understand
that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the
things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Now, why is it that we believe
everything we believe? I mean, you don't have to be
right bright to figure out that this congregation believes something
different than what people believe in all the different church buildings
around this town. Well, why do we believe what we believe? Because
the Word of God says it. I thought this week about the
men and women that I have known over my life, the men and women
who are my teachers, preachers, people that I love and respect
greatly. I don't believe what I believe
because they told me. Honestly, I don't. We believe
what we believe because the Word of God says it. How do we know
that God spoke this world into existence in six days? How do
we know that God didn't take things that were already there
and reshape them into something new, into the earth? How do we
know that God spoke? There was nothing. There was
a vast void. Nothing there at all. And God
spoke and suddenly creation appeared from nowhere. The planets and
the stars and the sun and everything. How do we know that happened?
How do we know that it didn't slowly evolve over millions of
years? How do we know it suddenly appeared
when God spoke it into existence? The only way you can possibly
believe such a thing is the word of God says so. That's how we
know that. How do we know that God chose
a people to say he gave those people to his son? That those
people didn't choose God, God chose them. How do we know that
Christ saves sinners? He didn't save good people. He
saves sinners and their sin is so great, yet the blood of Christ
blots out all their sin. How do we know that? How do we
know that the Holy Spirit comes and gives new life to His people
and a new birth? The only way you can possibly
believe such a thing is the Word of God says so. As far as who
God is, as far as who we are, as far as this thing of salvation
of our souls is concerned, the only thing faith believes is
what's written in the Word of God. It's not even Jewish historians
and all the commentaries about the word of God. Faith believes
the word of God. I believe it, even if it doesn't
make sense to my natural mind. Faith believes it, even though
I cannot understand it. And I'll give you a good example. God says I'm righteous if Christ
died for me. Almighty God says, I am perfect,
righteous and holy. But when I look at myself, I
don't see any righteousness. I don't see any holiness. All
I see is sin. Well, then how can I know I'm
righteous? By faith, the word of God says. That's why it's faith in Christ. And you apply that to everything
that you read in this book. Don't try to figure it out, and
if I can figure it out, then I'll believe it. You just believe
it because God said it. I'll give you another example.
Are you a sinner? You are, but do you know it?
Are you? The Word of God says you're a
sinner. But it doesn't leave you without
hope. You know what else the Word of God says? It's recorded
that the Savior Himself said, Come unto Me, I'll give you rest. You come unto Me, I'll save you,
though your sins be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. Then what are you waiting on?
Come. God gives you faith, He will.
You'll come running to Him. Faith believes the Word of God. We'll get to this in just a moment.
God gives you faith, you'll come. You'll come to Christ. You know
how I know? Because faith obeys God. But we'll get to that in
a minute. The third thing is this. Faith's
sacrifice. Now, faith just trusts one sacrifice
person. It's the sacrifice of Christ.
Verse four. By faith able, offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying to his gifts, and by it, he being
dead yet speaketh. Now, God can only be worshipped
with a blood sacrifice, a sacrifice for sin. There's got to be a
sacrifice. That's been true from the time
Adam left the garden. How did God clothe Adam and Eve?
He didn't leave them to their own devices to try to sew fig
leaves together to cover their nakedness. He slew an animal.
There's got to be a sacrifice. God taught Adam that, Adam taught
his family that. He taught his sons that. Adam
had lots of sons, but this mentions two of Adam's sons. They were
grown men at this time, heads of their own families. They weren't
boys, they were men. Their father taught them God's
to be worshiped. They came one day to worship
God, and they did it by bringing a sacrifice. Evidently, Cain
was a farmer. And he brought a sacrifice of
the best of his crop, the best fruits and vegetables that he
had. I mean, he brought big, colorful, red tomatoes. He brought cantaloupe and watermelon
and ears of corn. You just, oh, my goodness, how
the ground just grew these. And he didn't bring, they didn't
have any bruises on them. They weren't small. They were
wonderful. the very best he had. He didn't
eat it for himself. He brought it to the Lord. And
the Lord did not respect Cain's offering. You know why? Well, number one, it wasn't what
God told him to bring, was it? But those fruits and vegetables
that Cain brought are pictures of us bringing our works to God
and sacrificing them to God. Cain brought the very best that
he had, but it wasn't good enough. It didn't please God. Think where
it came from. It came from the ground God cursed
because Adam sinned. Adam cursed is the ground for
your sake. Just like us, our works were made from that ground,
from that dust. And our good works come from
this cursed flesh. Not good enough. God won't accept
them. But Abel, he brought a more excellent sacrifice. He brought
a lamb like God commanded him to bring. And Abel offered that
sacrifice. He offered that lamb in faith. He was already looking to Christ,
looking to Christ crucified. When Abel sacrificed that lamb,
you know what he was confessing? He was confessing his sin without
the shedding of blood, no remission. Cantaloupe won't do. It's got
to be the blood. It's got to be a lamb. When Abel
sacrificed that lamb, he confessed I need a substitute. I must have
a substitute to die in my place and take the wrath that I deserve.
When he sacrificed that lamb, Abel confessed, God's holy. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Sin must be punished. Well, I want my sin punished
in a substitute. I want my sin punished in a sacrifice. That's what I need. That's the
only way I can come to God. And by sacrificing that lamb,
Abel pointed to Christ. He confessed his faith in Christ. He confessed his soul would be
saved through the sacrifice of the coming Redeemer 6,000 years
before he came. That's what Abel was confessing.
And since that sacrifice pointed to Christ, since he offered it
in faith in Christ, not looking to that lamb, but looking to
Christ, the lamb of God, God had respect to Abel's sacrifice. Because it's not the lamb, it's
not the animal, it's Christ, the lamb of God. That's the sacrifice
we must have. That's the only sacrifice that
faith trusts in. God is holy. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. Well, faith says, I need a substitute. You know what? I did die in the
person of my substitute. When He died, I died in Him. But I had to have a sacrifice.
I had to have a substitute. I had to have Christ come and
die in my place. And I'll tell you what else faith
says. Faith says that the sacrifice of Christ is all I need. I don't have to add anything
to it to make it effectual. I don't have to add my works
to it. I don't have to add my faithfulness to it. I don't have
to add my morality to it. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. They said it's enough that Jesus
died and that he died for me. That's the only sacrifice I need.
And you know what God said about Abel? I mean, it wouldn't really
matter all that much what you may say about him, but you know
what God said about Abel? God said Abel was righteous.
He was made righteous through the sacrifice of Christ. Now
Abel's been dead a long time. He's been dead at least 6,000
years. Yet he's still here, right here
this morning, preaching this gospel of salvation by faith,
by faith in Christ. And nothing's changed from the
day of Abel to today, 2019. God's people know, they believe
the only way I can be made righteous is in the sacrifice of Christ.
And faith says, The sacrifice of Christ is all I want and it's
all I need because it's all God wants and all God needs. I'm accepted in him. All right,
here's the fourth thing. Verse five is faith walk. 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. This was the testimony of meaning.
God said this is his testimony. He pleased God. He walked with
God. Now, the only way a sinner can
walk with God, the only way a sinner can please God is by faith in
Christ. Verse six removes all doubt.
But without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh
to God must believe that God is, that he is who he says he
is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. Now God is only pleased with
His Son. God's only pleased with the sacrifice,
the Savior that He has provided. God's only pleased with the righteousness
that He provided. And God is pleased with everyone
who has faith in Christ without any of their works being added
to it. That's Enoch. Enoch lived a life of faith. Enoch, his walk, pleased God. Now Enoch didn't use the law
as a rule of life to figure out how to walk and how to please
God, did he? The law wasn't to be given for about 2,500 years.
It wasn't the law. And Enoch was not a super-Christian. Enoch was a normal man, just
like you and me. Enoch was a family man. His son
was Methuselah. He was the great-grandfather
of Noah. He had a large family. He begat other sons and daughters,
Scripture says. He's a family man. He wasn't
a hermit. He loved his family. He would
be with his family. He would teach his children.
He must have taught them something. Enoch had to go out in the world
and work. He couldn't be a hermit. Just staying in his little hut,
you know. He had to go out and work. If you've got a family
like this, you better go support them. How are they going to eat?
He's a working man. And even though he was out there
in the world just working and toiling and sweating and with
the rebels of the earth, Enoch walked with God. He still walked
with God. And you know how he did it? By
whatever he was doing, he did it to the best of his ability,
looking to Christ. That's how. Look at Jude, verse
14. As Enoch was out there in the
world, he was looking to Christ and he was telling folks about
it. Verse 14 of Jude. And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with
ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
deeds, which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard
speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Enoch
said that. He preached that. Enoch prophesied
of both the first coming and the second coming of Christ.
And he was just the seventh from Adam. Now, the only way Enoch
could know Christ is coming and that he's coming a second time
is God gave him faith. That's the only way, isn't it?
Enoch walked with God by faith as he lived his life as a family
man, as a working man. He lived a life of faith. He
walked with God. And one day he was out walking,
out working, whatever he was doing. And he walked right into
glory. Nobody could find him. They said,
where's Enoch? And they were looking for him. They couldn't find him. Some animal ate his body. It's
because he translated. He was changed just like Elijah. I just didn't die, I went straight
into glory. And you know, that's not all that great of a mystery.
Paul told us, behold, I show you a mystery. So you're not
confused about this. When Christ comes, believers who are living
on this earth right now, they're going to be changed in a twinkling
of an eye. Everybody's not going to die. Somebody's going to be
changed, instantly taken to glory. That's what happened to Enoch.
Now, I wouldn't put too much stock in being translated. As
far as I know, it just happened to two men. But you and I can
please God with a walk of faith. You and I can walk with God just
like Enoch did. Well, how do we do that? Just
do what Enoch did. Go about all your daily responsibilities. You've got a lot of responsibilities. My goodness, if you've got a
family, you've got a lot of responsibilities. But I'll tell you what, do them
the best you know how. Take care of all your responsibilities
the best you know how. And as you're doing them, as
you're going to school, as you're working, as you're taking care
of your children, as you're raising your families, you're out there
in that factory, work unto the Lord, looking to Christ. Go about your daily activities,
doing what it is God given you to do, always with an eye out,
expecting Him to return. And if you go about your daily
activity, taking care of all your responsibilities with that
eye, just looking for Him, expecting Him to return, you know what
you'll just naturally do? You won't get so caught up trying
to get all the material things of this life that you can get,
thinking those things will make you happy. Because you're just
like Abraham, you're a pilgrim passing through. I'm looking
for Christ. I'm looking for something better.
I'm not going to get caught up trying to gather up as much dung
from this earth as I can get. Because I'm looking for a better
country. A heavenly one. If you do that, just go about
your activities trusting that Christ is what you need. He's
all you need. I know you need things in this
life, but if you're looking to Him, you'll keep those things
in perspective. He's all I need. He's all I need to save me. He's
all I need to keep me. He's all I need to make me happy.
He's all I need to make me secure. Live your life diligently seeking
Christ. Diligently depending upon him. And that's walking with God by
faith. Live your life expecting Christ
to return and take you to your real home. That's how we've had
this walk of faith. Take care of your responsibilities
while you're looking for and looking to Christ. All right. Fifth, here's faith's response.
Verse seven. By faith know us. Be warned of
God of things not seen as yet. There's that thing not seen as
yet again. He 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 to go out into a place
which he should after receive for inheritance, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether
he was going. Now, faith has a response. Faith
works. Faith without works is dead,
isn't it? If faith doesn't act, if faith doesn't cause me to
obey God, then I don't have real faith. Noah had real faith in
God. You know how I know that? Noah
obeyed. Now again, the law wasn't given
yet, so this doesn't have anything to do with the law, does it?
It's obeying the Word of God. To him it was spoken, to you
and me it's written. but he obeyed God. Noah moved
with fear and started building an ark. It took him a long time
to do it. He built that ark. You know why? He believed things he had never
seen. Noah had never seen rain. At that time, the earth was watered
from a mist that would come up from the ground. It never rained.
Noah had never seen a flood. And Noah starts building this
great ark and his neighbor's saying, Noah, You're a crazy
man. What are you doing? Building
this great big boat where there's no sea? What are you doing? And
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He told him what he was doing.
God's going to destroy this place because of sin. He's going to
destroy it with rain and a flood. And I'm building this ark because
God told me to, to hide in this ark. And they said, well, Noah,
what is rain? We've never seen rain. Have you
ever seen a flood, Noah? Nope. Noah said, I never have.
Then why do you think water's going to fall from the sky? Why
do you think there's going to be this flood? Because God said
so. I'm building an ark because he
said so. I'm building an ark because I believe God. He's going
to preserve my life in that ark. I believe God. He's a preacher
of righteousness. He's preaching Christ. That's
saving faith. Faith says this, just like in
the days of Noah. What happened with Noah, there
was a picture. One day God's going to come and He's going
to destroy this world. Not with water, with fire. He's
going to put an end to this thing. And He's going to punish all
sin with death. But God also said this. He didn't
leave me without hope. God said if I hide in Christ,
I'm a sinner. I deserve to die. But if I hide
in Christ, He will bear all the punishment that I deserve. He'll
shield me from, He'll save my soul from damnation. This is
faith's response. That's the message of the gospel.
Faith's response says, I'm hiding in Christ, just like Noah hid
in that ark. And someone will say, well, how
do you know about the judgment? Have you ever seen the judgment
seat of Christ? How do you know God's going to punish them? Have
you ever seen hell? Have you ever seen heaven? Nope.
Haven't seen it. Then how do you know it's real?
Because God said it is. So I'm hiding in Christ. Well,
have you ever seen someone safe in heaven? I mean, how do I know
I'm going to arrive there safely? Have you ever seen those souls
safe in heaven? Nope, I haven't. Then how do
you know it'll happen? Because God said so. I'm hiding
in Christ because God said so. That's faith's response is to
obey God. The response of faith is obedience. Just like Noah, Abraham had real
faith in Christ. How do I know that? Abraham obeyed. God said, Noah or Abraham, get
out of your father's house and go to a place I'll show you.
Go out, walk out into the desert. And Abraham packed up and left. Abraham was made righteous through
faith in Christ. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. That's what the word says. Abraham
obeyed God. And one day God told him, Abraham,
take your son, your only son, Isaac, who you love. Go to a
place I'll show you. An offering there, it's a burnt
offering. Abraham, he slit his throat,
drained the blood out of his body. You cut his body, you draw
in quarter, you quarter it in four pieces, and you burn that
body to ashes. You stand there and watch it.
It's a burnt offering to me. Abraham packed up, started walking.
He didn't know. He said, God said, he didn't
know where he's going. He said, you go to a place I'll show you.
Abraham packed up and started going, didn't he? And God stopped Abraham. He lifted
up that knife to kill his son. And God stopped Abraham. He said,
Abraham, don't do it. Don't put your hand on the son. Now I know
you believe me. Now I know you love me. And God
showed him a ram over there, caught in the thicket by his
horns. And Abraham took that ram. And he offered that ram
up in a stead, in the place of his son Isaac. And our Lord said,
Abraham saw my day and was glad. I know exactly the day he was
talking about. It's that day that by faith Abraham was so
glad. He was glad God spared his son
Isaac. We'll get to this in a week or
so. Abraham knew he was coming down that mountain to fight them. Abraham believed he was going
to kill his son. But he was coming down because
he believed God was going to raise him from the dead. But
he was glad God spared his son. But I'll tell you what made Abraham
glad. He saw this just doesn't have to do with me and Isaac.
This is a picture of Christ. I saw Christ's day. This is my
salvation. Christ is my substitute. He's
going to die in my place. That's what made Abraham glad.
All right. I see Noah's fate, don't you?
I see Abraham's fate. How can I obey God? Tell you how. You obey God by
surrendering to God's terms of salvation. That's exactly how
you obey God. You don't obey God by keeping
the law. You obey God by quit keeping the law. By quit trying
to make God happy with you about whether you keep the law and
trust Christ. You obey God by not being like
Cain and bringing your works. You obey God by trusting Christ. to be all of your righteousness,
to be all of your salvation. When you quit trying to make
God happy with you and you trust Christ that you'll be accepted
in the beloved, that's obeying God. That's the response of faith. All right, here's the sixth thing.
It's faith's trials. At the end of verse 8, it says,
Abraham 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 and tents of Isaac and Jacob. The heirs with him are the same
promise, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God." Now, faith must be tried. It must be tried. So we know
that it's real faith. Faith must be tried so that it's
made more precious. The troughs has got to be burned
off so it's made more precious. Faith must be tried so that it's
made stronger. And you know, all of us want
faith. And if you have faith, you want
more faith. If you have faith, you want your
faith to be stronger. Well, I'll tell you the only
way that is possible is through trials. There are going to be
hard ones, hard trials. Now, the trials of Abraham are
well-documented. For time's sake, we're not going
to go into all of them right now. But I do want to look at what
is it that made these trials hard trials? Two words, not knowing. Not knowing. It was a trial,
I know, for Abraham to leave his father's house. But you know
what made it a hard trial? Not knowing. He didn't know where
he was going. By faith, he had to follow God. Abraham had to trust the Lord. He walked and wandered around
in that desert his entire life without a permanent home. He had to trust God, didn't he?
Not knowing. He was looking for a city. And he was content to
wander around following God because he wasn't looking for a city
here. He was looking for one there. Abraham had to trust God. God said, Abraham, you're going
to have a son. And you know what made that a
hard trial? Is not knowing. Well, when am I going to have
a son? He had to wait a long time, didn't he? That's hard. Abraham had to take that son
and sacrifice him. Three days walking is a long
time. Not knowing. Not knowing how
God's going to bring an end to this thing. And I think this is true. Most
of us, would be happy to endure trials if we knew when they'd
end. I'd be happy to endure trials
if I knew what's God's purpose in this thing. What is it that
God's teaching me in this? What is it that I'm supposed
to learn from this? See, the thing that makes trials
both hard and productive is not knowing. If we don't know when
they're going to end, and we don't know what God's purpose
is in it until He's pleased to reveal it to us, then what are
we left with? I've got to trust Him. I've just
got to trust Him. If I'm not knowing, then I've
got to walk by faith, not by sight. I thought of an example
of this this morning. If I knew this trial I'm in,
it's hard, it's painful. But if I knew it's going to end,
three months, two days, and seven hours. All right. But you know what I'd do if I
knew that pinpoint? I'd be walking by sight, not
by faith. I'd be just like in a basketball game. If the score's
close, you know what I'm doing? I've got kind of one eye on what
the player's doing, but I've got an eye over here on the clock. When's
this thing going to wind down to zero? And I can quit worrying. I'd walk by sight. I'd be watching
the clock tick down. Not looking to Christ. There's
no comfort in watching the clock tick down, but there is looking
to Him. Look to Christ. Hope that is
seen is not hope. Walking by sight is knowing where
we're going. And that's not faith. And God tries the faith that
He gives His children to make it more precious. For us to learn
to depend more upon Christ who is precious. unto you therefore
which believe, he is precious. He is preciousness, that's the
word. He is preciousness personified. And learn that, not know it.
When all, every other thing we can look to, everything we can
hope for, or hope in is taken away, but him. Faith will be
tried. And faith in the end will be
proven to be true faith. and not a man-made shelter for
the time of storm. That brings me to the seventh
thing, faith's victory. Faith in Christ always has the
victory, verse 11. Through faith also, Sarah herself
received 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. Now you remember when Sarah in
Genesis chapter 18, she first heard the Lord promise, you're
going to have a son by your wife, Sarah. And you know what she
did? Scripture says she laughed. She
didn't believe someone old, dried up woman like her can have a
son. She laughed. And the Lord said, why did Sarah laugh? She
said, oh, I didn't laugh. He said, oh yeah, you laughed. But at some
point, Sarah believed God, didn't she? I know that because scripture
says so. And I find it very comforting.
In this New Testament account, it's not recorded that Sarah
laughed. Is it? Is it Sarah believed God? In
the New Testament, Sarah's seen in Christ. She's seen in faith. She believed God. But the point
is this, Sarah didn't receive the victory and bear a son through
whom the Savior would come. because she had such strong faith.
Sarah received the victory and she had a son because God's faithful
that promised. And he gave her a son exactly
when he promised. She received the victory. Well, God has promised salvation
to his people in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, brother,
live your life expecting it. Live your life expecting God's
going to give you the victory. Often it'll look impossible,
but you just remember this, nothing's too hard for God. He will do
what He promised. In the meantime, we're gonna
lose a lot of battles with sin, we're gonna lose a lot of battles
with this world, but you will receive the victory if God promised
it to you. You know, we ought to believe
God and never waver. But thankfully, we're not gonna
receive the victory We're not going to receive this victory
and glory because of the strength of our faith. It's going to be
in spite of the weakness of our faith. We who believe God will
receive the victory because God who's faithful promised it. The
object of our faith is the mighty conqueror. We'll have the victory
in the end. All right, here's the last thing.
Faith's perseverance. 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, 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." Now faith will persevere to the
end. Faith will never quit. If it
quits, it's not God-given faith. And I warn you about this. If
you're fascinated with the preacher, you'll soon be fascinated with
another one and quit. If you're fascinated with the
doctrine, you'll soon become fascinated with a different one
and quit. If you're fascinated with the form of worship, you'll
soon be fascinated with another one and quit. But if you have
faith in Christ, you're fascinated with Him. And if you're fascinated
with Him, you'll never quit. You'll never leave Him. If you're
fascinated with Christ, you're not going to turn from Him to
turn to all these things of the world. You're going to keep following
Him. If you have faith, you'll be
like those disciples. Remember after the multitudes
left the Lord and followed Him no more. And the Lord made it
clear. You twelve, I'm not holding you
against your will. Will you also go away? The door is open. And
faith answers with Peter. No, Lord, we're not going anywhere. To whom shall we go? We believe
and are sure thou art the Christ. You're the Messiah. You have
the words of life. We're not leaving you because
faith is in a person. You can get fascinated with the
doctrine, but I tell you what you love is a person. If you
love Christ, you won't quit. I want to close with 2 Timothy
chapter 4. Faith will say the same thing
that Peter did, it will say what Paul says here, say the same thing Enoch did, Abraham,
the rest of the apostles, the rest of the prophets, because
they weren't super-Christians. You know the only thing about
them? They had faith in Christ. God gave them faith. And if we
have faith in Christ, There's coming a day where I say the
same thing the Apostle said here. Second Timothy four, verse six. For I'm now ready to be offered
and the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. It's fourth. There's a victory
coming. There's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous judge should give me at that day and
not to me only. but unto all them that love his
appearing. That's not just going to be given
to Paul only, it's going to be given to all them. That victory
is going to be given to all them in faith in Christ. God give us faith. All right,
let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. How we thank you for your mercy and your grace to
your people to give freely this gift of faith in Christ. Father,
I pray, I beg of thee, that you give to each heart here this
morning faith to leave here believing, trusting in, resting in Christ
our Savior.