I titled this message, Triumph
of Faith. Years ago, Henry, preaching from
this chapter, gave an outline. He said, Write this outline down and sometime
use it. I was a young preacher then.
I'm not now, but I'm going to use it. I'm going to use this
outline. It's a short, brief, easy to
understand outline, which is the way all of them ought to
be. It's on the triumph of faith. Let me first say this. Let me
touch on verse one again. Something came to my mind as I was looking
at this chapter again. We looked at the first three
verses last week. It says, now faith is the substance,
the ground. Let's read it like this. Believing
God is the substance. Believing God is the ground of the things hoped for. Believing
God is the reason you and I have a hope. It's the very ground
of our hope. We hope to have eternal life.
We hope to be in his presence. We hope to be forgiven, to be
cleansed. Why do we hope for that? Why do we hope for these
things? Believing God is the ground of
things expected. That's no way of reading it.
It's the ground of things expected. Why do you expect to be in glory? Is it because of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Is it because in God's word you've taken God at his
word? He that believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be saved. He gave his word on that. He gave his word on it. He that comes to me, I want to
know why he's cast out, he has given his word on that. Lord,
I come, and I fully expect, when I lay down to die, and I take the last breath to
wake up in his presence, and I fully expect it, because he's
given his word on it. When I was a boy, my dad said,
we're going on vacation. We're going to go to Disney World. We're going to go to the ocean,
to the beach. I had never seen either place.
I'd never seen the ocean. 10, 11, 12, something like that, me and Jane,
my brothers and sisters. But Dad said he gave his word.
He spoke. He said, we are going to Disney
World. We're going to the beach. And
I became so excited. Those places didn't excite me
before that. Disney World didn't excite me. I didn't know anything
about it. You know, we're talking back
in the 60s. They had just built it down in Orlando. And they didn't mean anything
to me. The ocean, I never thought about the ocean. I cannot remember
thinking about the ocean or the beach. But when my dad said,
we're going to the ocean, on vacation to the beach, to Disney
World, I became so excited. And they became so real to me.
For the first time, the ocean became real. For the first time,
Disney World became real. Because my dad said, we're going
to these places. These places are real. I was
so excited. Because I believed my dad. What
if I said to him, you've got to be kidding. We're not going to the ocean. We're not going to Disney World.
I've never seen one of those. Is there such a thing? But they became real because
I believe that. And when God gives faith, you
were never excited about forgiveness before. You were never excited
about being in His presence before. The very thought of God that
Christ never excited you before. But when God worked faith in
your heart, these things became real. Heaven's real to you. God's real. Christ is real. Eternity's real. Forgiveness
is real. Pardon is real. Why? Because
my Father said they are. Our Heavenly Father has given
us His Word on it. And based on that, I fully expect
enjoy it. I fully expect to be in His presence.
I fully expect to stand in His presence spotless. Spotless. And that belongs to faith. Nothing is real to those who
don't believe. If you don't believe God, then none
of these things are real to you. Nothing more than historical
facts or figures. That's all it means to you. It's
not real to you. But when God gives faith, it's real. It is
real. Now it says here, faith is a
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, by the same faith
that you and I have in Christ, by that same faith the elders
obtained a good report. And through faith we understand
By believing God, you know, you can put that in there. Instead
of saying through faith, you can say by believing God. Through
believing God, through believing God, we understand that the world
was framed by the Word of God. You'd never understand that if
you did not believe God. You'd be like the scientists.
You'd still be trying to figure it out. So that things which are seen
were not made, did not evolve of things which do appear. Now
the first triumph of faith that we have here is we have faith's
triumph over works. By faith, able by believing God,
the gospel was revealed to him. I have no doubt Adam spoke it
to his family. You know, God killed the first
animals and took their and covered Adam and Eve. The first bloodshed
was shed by God. The first bloodshed was when
He killed those animals and took their, made coats of skin and
covered, made garments for Adam and Eve. And then no doubt Adam,
understanding the sacrifice, spoke to his children and this
one got it. This one God gave faith to. This
one was given understanding. This one believed God. By believing God, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. And his sacrifice
was more excellent because it represented the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cain offered the fruit of the ground. There's no blood in the
ground. Someone said there's no blood in turnips. You can't
get blood out of a turnip. You can't, but you can get blood
out of sacrifice. And he offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice because he believed God concerning the sacrifice. He believed God, by which he
obtained witness that he was righteous. Who gave that witness? Who witnessed that Abel was righteous?
God. God declared him to be righteous.
He was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, God witnessing
of his gifts, and by it, he being dead, he yet speaketh. We're
speaking about him this morning, right now, Abel speaking. The
gospel is in that verse. It's in that verse. And then
secondly, we have face triumph over death. Verse 5, by faith
Enoch was translated that he should not see death. He did
not die. Believers do not die. Our bodies die. I know you say,
well that's us, that's part of us. This body right here will
never be a part of me again. Not this body. Body just ravaged
by sin. The believer in Christ, when
he falls asleep, that's what the Scripture says, Lazarus is
asleep. When we fall asleep in Christ, we wake up in His presence,
in glory. I mean, it's like a twinkling
of an eye. Scripture says it will be changed.
Those who are still on this earth when our Lord comes will be changed
in a twinkling of an eye. To leave here is to go there.
Do you believe that? That belongs to faith. That's
God-given faith. To really believe it and to be real to you, that
belongs to faith. But then it was translated, God
took him, that he should not see death, and he was not found. It's like he took a walk one
day and he didn't come back. It's like, honey, I'm going to
go out here, I'm going to go out to the field here a little
bit, and he never came back. And they never found him. They
didn't find his body. Put out a missing person report
on him, but you're not going to find any. He's with God. He's in glory. God took him.
He was not found because God had translated him. God had taken
him to glory. But before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. And what does the Scripture
tell us? Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. So when we speak of faith, we
have to speak of Enoch. By faith, Enoch walked with God. He did not walk by law. The law
hadn't even been given. He walked by believing God. That's
what faith is. Enoch walked by believing God.
Enoch pleased God. because he believed God. That is faith's triumph over
death. Then we have in verse 7, faith's triumph over time. Our
faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
he had not seen a flood The water had never even risen
an inch. It was steady. It had not rained on the earth.
He had not seen rain. But he moved with fear. He believed God. God told Noah
he was going to destroy this world. He was going to flood
it. He was going to kill every inhabitant on it. But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And he believed God concerning
things not seen. Do you believe judgment's coming? Do you really believe that? Do
you believe God's going to destroy this earth? Do you believe that? Or your whole life will be moved
with fear. I'm not talking about fear of
God and shaking and trembling, but your whole life will be one
of soberness, seriousness concerning these things. Your whole life
will be around this. You know that Christ is coming.
You know that judgment is coming. You believe that because you
believe God. Noah believed God. Now listen, Noah believed God
for a couple of years. 120 years went by. He didn't
build that ark in a year or two years, 10 years, 20 years. A
hundred and twenty years went by before the flood came. And
at no time, at no time do we read where Noah stopped. Fifty
years into it, he's like, this ain't going to happen. What a
beautiful day. A hundred and twenty years of
beautiful days. Sun always shining. But during
that whole hundred and twenty years, the sun shining and the
days were beautiful. Temperature just right. He believed
God. Judgment's coming. And he kept
working on that ark. Kept working on that ark, which
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know that no one outside
of that ark was saved. Everyone saved in that flood
was inside that ark. And everyone saved, when this
is all over, are those who are in Christ by faith. That's Triumph's faith over time
for 120 years. He didn't quit. He believed God.
By believing God, 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 believing God. Now, in verse 8, we have faced
triumph over home and family. Look in verse 8. By faith, Abraham,
when he was called to go out into a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. By believing God, Abraham, when
he was called to go out into a place which he should after
receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out. Not knowing
whether he went. Vicki and I were talking about
this yesterday. I said, it's a gospel. It's a gospel we're
not here. I said, we're going to pack our
bags and move. She said, what would you do? Where would you
work? I said, I don't know. I hadn't thought about that.
I really didn't think about it. I said, but really, does that
matter? Does it not matter? We packed
our bags up and moved here 30 years ago for the gospel, not
for Ashland. I didn't know anything about
this place. If the gospel was to lead this
place, you lead it. You go where the gospel is. It
doesn't matter if it's down the road or if it's another state
or another country. You sit under the gospel. Abraham went out not knowing
whether he quit his job. He said goodbye to most of his
relatives. His dad still worked with him,
but he said goodbye to friends and family. And he and Sarah
packed their bags and they headed out, not knowing where they were
going. I mean, you have to sit down
and think about that. They had no idea. The man's 75 years old,
wasn't he? I mean, this is not a young man.
You know, I can understand, you know, a man in his 20s or maybe
30s and he packs his family's up and he just goes to the place
and he's going, this is an old man. And they head out. Because God said, Abraham, pack
up and move. And he believed God. He believed
God. He said goodbye to all that he
knew. He said goodbye. God said leave,
and he said, I believe God. Then in verse 11, we have faced
triumph over human sin and weakness. But let me go ahead and read
down through here in verse 9. It says, 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." He expected
to find this city, but it wasn't on this earth. It's not on this
earth. He looked. He expected. A city which has foundations
that's not of this world. Abraham expected it, and he knew it wasn't of this
world. Whose builder-maker is God. Now, verse 11, face triumph
over human sin and weakness through faith, through believing God.
Now, you remember the first time Sarah heard that she was going
to have a child? What'd she do? She laughed. She's an old woman. She's an
old lady. It had departed from her. Having
children had departed from her. When she heard that, she laughed. And God said to Abraham, why
is she laughing? She goes, I didn't laugh. She
didn't only laugh, she lied. We're a mess, aren't we? It says here, through faith,
through believing God, Also, Sarah herself, she believed God.
Sarah believed God, Abraham believed God. Received strength to conceive
seed and was delivered of a child when she was past the age of
bearing children. Because she judged Him faithful
who had promised. She judged God to be faithful.
That's what faith is all about. Faith is judging God to be faithful.
Faith is judging God to be a God of His Word. And when you believe
on the gospel, you are judging God to be a God of His Word to
do just what He said. Taking God at His Word. And here
she is, past the age of childbearing, and she can see seed. A child is conceived. A child of promise is conceived. But if she had never believed,
God hadn't ever happened, because faith can't be separated from
it. It cannot be separated from it. It's a means that God uses.
17, we have faced triumph over human
affection. Now, you think this wasn't hard
for Abraham? Verse 17, by believing God, God
had promised Abraham a seed, and that his seed would be as
the stars of heaven and the sand of the earth. Abraham believed God. Even though
he was an old man, hadn't had a child yet, Sarah was past the
age of bearing, he said, I believe God. This is going to happen. So by faith, Abraham, when he
was tried, God tried him. God proved him. What did he do? He offered up Isaac. Isaac was
his only begotten son, his beloved son, the apple of his eye. This is Sarah's son too. This is the son between Abraham
and Sarah, but this is the son of promise. This is the seed
that God sent through him because he represented Christ. We know
that. And here he is, offering him up. God said to Abraham,
offer up your only son, Isaac. Offer him up on the altar. Take
a knife. Here's what he had to do. He
had to take a knife after putting his son on the
altar and fillet him. Cut him up in parts the way they
did the sacrifice. Kill him. And nowhere do we read where
Abraham staggered. Did you stagger at that? If you
had to do that, if you were called upon to do that, that's hard. I mean, that's unimaginable. But Abraham believed God. He
believed that after he obeyed God, after he offered up his
son on that altar, That God would raise him up. That God would raise him up because
God promised that he was going to give him a seed. So he believed
God. It's like God tells him he's
going to give him a seed. His seed's going to be like the
sand of the earth. You got A and B. And Abraham's like, I don't
know how We're going to get from A to B, but I tell you this,
I'm going to do just what God said, and I believe He'll do
just what He said. He's going to raise him up, because
Scripture says He received him in a like figure, raised up. Faith triumphs over human affection. It is through believing God that
you are able to let these go. And then faith triumphs over riches
and wealth. Look in verse 24. By faith, by believing God, Moses,
when he was come to When he grew up, he refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter. Do you know how prestigious that
was? He refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God, to be identified with the people of God. Those
Israelites, those slaves that were there in Egypt, He chose
to be identified with them instead of the throne of Egypt. He chose to be identified with
the mud pit instead of the throne. Esteeming the reproach of Christ. Greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. He esteemed it. He welcomed it. He welcomed the reproach. You
know, it doesn't say here he esteemed the reproach of those
Egyptians so he could be identified with his people, the Israelites.
Esteeming the reproach of Christ back then. That's 2,000 some
years before Christ was born into this world. Esteeming the
reproach of Christ to be greater riches and 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, because I'll tell
you why, he feared God. If you fear God, you won't fear
the wrath of the king, or any man. By believing God, he forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king, for he endured He endured to the end. He endured the hardships. I'll tell you what, Moses had
some hardships. He had some tough people, stiff-necked
people to deal with. They were murmuring, complaining,
ready to stone him at every turn. But he endured. He endured, as
seen him who is invisible. faith triumphs over riches and
wealth, and then faith triumphs over
fear. Look in verse 27, I read it to
you. For by faith he forsook Egypt,
not fearing. It triumphs over fear, over wealth
and riches and over fear. I want to read you one verse
and then we'll close. Look over in Psalm 56. I've read
this to you several times. I'll close with this. Faith,
as I said, triumphs over fear. Psalm 56, verse 3. Underline
it. What time I am afraid, I will
believe thee. I will trust thee. What time
I am afraid, I will trust in God. It triumphs over fear. So what we have here, we have
faced triumphs over works. We have faced triumphs over death.
We have faced triumphs over time. We have faced triumphs over home
and family. We have faced triumph over human
sin and weakness. We have faced triumph over human
affection. We have faced triumph over riches
and wealth. We have faced triumph over fear.
By believing God, we overcome all these things, and we fully
expect, we fully expect to stand Enjoy His presence forever and
ever. Stand there spotless, forgiven,
accepted because He said so. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. I expect to be saved. I expect
to stand in His presence because my Father said so.