Now, towards the end here of
chapter 10, as we've been studying it, Paul has talked about faith
several times. He mentioned it in verse 21 of
chapter 10. He says, and having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. He says
in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith.
without wavering, for he's faithful that promised. And then at the
end of our last week's lesson, verse 38, he says, 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 into perdition, but of them that believe, have faith
to the saving of the soul. I'm very interested in this faith. I'm very interested in knowing,
do I have this faith? I'm very interested in knowing,
has God given me this faith that will let me draw near to him? I'm very interested in knowing,
do I have this faith that will cause a man to be able to live
on the Lord Jesus Christ? Do I have this kind of faith?
What is it? And like anything that we need
to know is plainly revealed in Scripture. Here at the beginning
of chapter 11, Paul gives us a clear definition and description
of God-given faith. What is the nature of God-given
faith? Then he gives us examples throughout
the Old Testament of God-given faith, what we call the Hall
of Faith. So in verse 1, he gives us, here's
faith's definition. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now faith
is. Faith is, first of all, to believe
God. That's what faith is. To believe
God. To believe is what Paul has been
talking about here. To believe Christ is the only
sacrifice for sin. To believe Christ is the only
high priest that we have to represent us before God. To believe that
Christ is the only mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus. That's what faith is, to believe
God. And he says faith is the substance
of things hoped for. What are the things that we hope
for? What is the thing that a believer hopes for and expects to have?
Well, we hope for eternal life, don't we? We hope for forgiveness
of sins. Well, we hope for that. A sinner
hopes for the forgiveness of sins. My sins be put away. A believer will hope to persevere
to the end. That's not presumption. We hope
that we'll have grace to persevere to the end. That we won't draw
back as we read about in chapter 10. We hope to have mercy from
God. Don't we hope in the mercy of
our God? We hope one day for the resurrection
of these bodies. We hope to one day awake in Christ's
light. And if David said, that's when
I'll be satisfied, that's what I'm hoping for. I expect that. We hope to one day experience
what it is to have perfect holiness and perfect righteousness, to
be without sin. We hope for those things. And
you notice how faith and hope go together? Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. Faith and hope always go together. And faith is the substance of
everything that we hope for. I just named that list. You can
go on. There's lots of things we hope for. Faith is the substance
of all those things that we hope for. That word substance is foundation. It's the ground. Do you believe
that God saved you? Do you believe that? Well, why
do you believe that? I know you do. Why do you believe
that? On what grounds can a sinner
like you and me believe that God has saved us from our sin? You know, if it wasn't for what
we read in God's Word, That'd be mighty high presumption, isn't
it? I believe God saved me. I believe that God has given
His people eternal life. I believe that God has forgiven
the sins of His people. I believe that I have fellowship
with God. I believe that I can rest in
and trust in God's mercy. His mercy will not fail. I believe
that. I believe that God will give
grace for every hour. He'll give grace to persevere
to the end. I believe that as awful as what
you're looking at is, I believe one day I'll be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that because
God said it. That's why we believe that. I believe God. God said it and
it's so. I believe God. If the reason
that we believe these things, have all these things we hope
for, is we believe God's Word. That's why we can hope for these
things, expect these things. This word hope is not just, well,
I hope, maybe I'll get it, maybe I won't. It's expect. I expect
to have those things because I believe God's Word. He said
so in His Word. And every one of those things
we hope for is unseen. Yet faith makes them real to
us, doesn't it? Faith gives those things substance.
It gives us a foretaste of all those things that we cannot see
with the human eye. In the Old Testament, those Old
Testament believers had the same faith that we do. Faith was a substance of the
things they hoped for, even though they never saw them with the
natural eye. All the Old Testament believers, What was the number
one thing they hoped for, they expected, they looked for? The
coming Messiah. They looked for the Lord Jesus
Christ. They never saw Him in the flesh,
did they? But our Lord said, what did He say about Abraham?
Abraham saw my day and was glad. Well, how did he see his day?
Through faith. David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel,
they all wrote of Christ. Because they saw him by faith.
That was the substance of everything they hoped for. They were sure
he was coming as much as if they actually saw him. Coming back
for him to manger. Look over Romans chapter 4. Abraham
believed God. In Romans chapter 4 verse 17. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations, before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
which be not as though they were, who against hope, against all
reason for human hope, believed in hope that he might become
the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so
shall thy seed be." He believed what God said, so shall thy seed
be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead. when he was about a hundred years
old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore it
was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him. They raised up Jesus,
our Lord, from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. That's what faith is, the substance
of things hoped for, even though we've never seen them with the
natural eye. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, there are a lot of things
we've never seen. I've never seen with the natural
eye God's covenant of grace. I never saw in eternity past
God electing a people. unto salvation, putting them
in his Son. I never saw that. I've never
looked into, thumb through the pages, the Lamb's Book of Life. Never seen it. I've never seen
the glory of heaven where God dwells. I've never seen that.
But I believe in that more than if I'd seen it with my eyes.
My eyes can trick me. They can play tricks on me. Sometimes
I might think I saw something I didn't see. Maybe I saw it.
Maybe I didn't. I don't know. I believe those things, even
though I never saw them. I've never seen the Lord Jesus
walk this earth as a man. I didn't see him taken by the
Roman soldiers and nailed to a tree and crucified. I never
saw his lifeless body taken down from that tree and put in a tomb.
And I never saw him resurrect and walk out of it either. I
didn't see him ascend back to the Father. If I believe that
more, that is as real to me as if I'm looking at you right now
because of faith. Because I believe God. I've never
seen Christ at the Father's right hand interceding for me. That's
all my hope, but I've never seen it. I've never seen the Holy
Spirit move and give life to a sinner. But I believe those
things. Those things are as real to me
As if I had actually seen it. I've never seen Christ. Nobody
has come back to earth to send from the clouds that he sent
it back up into. I've never seen the dead in Christ
rise. Every single person I've ever
seen in a casket put in a ground state there. I've never seen
one of them come out. And you haven't either. But I
know they will one day. That's as real to me as if I've
seen it a hundred times. I know they will. I've never
seen those that remain be changed from mortality to immortality
in a twinkling of an eye, in a moment. But I believe that. It's as real to me because of
faith. I've never seen the new man.
All I see is flesh. That's all you can see is flesh.
That's all I see. But I believe that new man is
in every believer just as much as if I could see it and lay
my hand on it. Why? Because God said it. Because I believe God. I've never
seen a person, a human being, who's without sin. All I can
see is sin. You too. But I believe God's
elect will be one day. That's so real to me. That is
so real. How can I believe those things? Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. This word evidence is proof.
It's like the evidence that someone might present in court that either
convicts someone, the evidence says, yes, they're guilty, or
the evidence says, no, they're not guilty. You got to let them
go because the evidence is indisputable. It's like those Duke lacrosse
players in all this hot water. When they got to look at the
evidence, they said, they're innocent. Gotta let them go,
because that's what the evidence says. Well, faith is the evidence. The proof of things not seen.
I believe those things because I believe God. Because God's
given faith. And God's Word is all the evidence
faith needs. I don't need any more evidence.
I don't need somebody to logically convince me God's Word said it,
and I believe it. It's as simple as that. Salvation
really and truly is as simple as that. Do I believe God? Do
I trust and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do I believe Him?
Look over 2 Timothy chapter 1. In verse 12, this is the faith
that I'm talking about. For the witch cause, Paul says,
I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
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. Look back at John chapter 6. John 6, verse 67. Then said Jesus
unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the son of the living God. I believe God. That's what that's
this faith that he's talking about. In verse two, back in
our text here, Hebrews 11, he says, for by it, by this faith,
the elders obtained a good report. Now, the elders he's talking
about here, the Old Testament believers, and we'll see as we
go through this chapter in the next couple of weeks, examples
of their faith, the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham. And all these, they're given
to us as examples, but also to show us faith in Christ is no
new thing. Faith in Christ is not just something
the New Testament believers have, you know, up to our day. The
elders, the ancient elders, had this exact same faith. Their
faith was in the Lord Jesus Christ. These men didn't obtain a good
report because they were better than everybody else. It's easy
to think somebody that lived 4,000 years ago, you know, we
read about, well, they're better than me. It's easy for me to
believe somebody is more holy than me. Somebody is better than
me. It's easy for me to believe that. They didn't have a good
report because they were better than somebody else or somehow
they conjured up enough your will to do something so impressive,
they obtained a good report because they believed God. They had God-given
faith. They were justified by faith,
not by works, not by works of the law, not because they kept
the law, they did a better job of that, better than anybody
else in their day. They believed God. It was by faith through
grace. And if we're going to be justified, if we're going
to obtain a good report, It's going to be through the same
kind of faith. Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse 3. Through faith we understand that
the world were framed by the word of God. So the things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. Faith sees things
that are unseen. And faith sees things that are
seen and understands them too. Faith looks forward to the things
we hope for. Faith also looks backwards with
understanding. We can understand a whole lot
more about the foundation and creation of this world through
faith than you ever can in science class. Now, it's good to understand
science, how things work and so forth. That's good. I'm all
for it. But just remember, those things
work the way they work because that's what God did. That's the
way God made it. When my children were little,
This is, all children do this. You know, they ask you a question,
you answer them, and they say, well, why? And it just becomes
a strain. No matter what answer you give,
it's why. Why, why, why, why, why? My little nephew was visiting
with us last week, and when I got off work, he wanted to go play
basketball. So we did. Well, the next day, he wanted
to go play basketball again, but it was pouring the rain. I said,
well, we can't go out and play because it's raining. He said,
well, why? I said, well, the plants need
water to grow. The grass and the trees need
water to grow. Well, why? Something else, you
know. Well, why? I said, because that's
the way God made it. He said, well, why does it have
to rain today? I said, because that's what God said. That it
would rain today. He said, no. That's the way God
made it. Because God said. That's His
purpose. His will. And if we ever wonder why, it's
because it pleased Him. That's why. In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth, and mountains are where
they're at, and valleys are where they're at, and the oceans are
where they're at, and the deserts are where they're at, because
God put them there. Because God and I can look at those things,
and people can come up with all kinds of wild explanations about
why, and you know, partially they may be right. I don't know.
But isn't it a whole lot simpler to say God put it there? God
made it. That's a sense and faith. Understands
that that's so simple. I don't need another explanation.
Simple faith. And they were these things were
created by the Word of God, and you know who that Word of God
is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke. And this world was
created. John said without him was not
anything made that was made. And he created this world out
of nothing. He didn't take particles floating
around in space and put them together. There was nothing.
There was blank air. And God said, let the worlds
be formed. And they were. There's a globe
appeared in space. There's a sun appeared in space
with planets going around in their orbits. God said, appeared
out of nothing. You know, we build something.
We got to take materials and put them together and build something.
God spoke it into existence. And God said, let us create man
in our image. And He made that dust and created
a man. That didn't come from an amoeba
that eventually mutated into a man. God made it. He made a man. And He made him
out of nothing. And just dust. And that's what
we'll return to. Dust. Faith looks back at those
things with understanding. and looks forward with the same
kind of understanding. Sees the things that are unseen
and seen. Now verse 4. Now we get into
these examples of faith. 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. Now Abel offered the blood of
a lamb. Because he believed God for no
other reason that he believed God had God given faith. Look
over in Genesis Chapter 4. Let's see this. What happened
here? Genesis 4 verse 3. Verse 2 Eve she bear again his
brother Kings brother Abel and Abel is a keeper of the sheep.
But Cain was a tiller of the ground. In the process of time
it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto the Lord. And Abel he also brought of the
first things of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord
had respect unto Abel unto his offering, but unto Cain and his
offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain,
Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou
doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not
well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him. Now Abel wasn't any better than
Cain by nature. Those two brothers were exactly
the same. Cain from the same parents. They
had exactly the same nature. They were the same in every way.
Abel was not better. than Cain. He wasn't smarter
than Cain. He wasn't better than Cain. But Abel's offering was
better than Cain's offering. Because Abel's offering was a
picture of Christ. It was blood that was offered
by faith. Now, I'm just confident that
Adam taught his children about what happened in the garden.
He taught them about this seed of woman they were looking for.
Eve, from the very beginning, when Cain was born, was looking
for the Messiah. They were looking for Him. He
taught them about the sacrifices. He taught them how God killed
that lamb to clothe them. And He taught them that God must
be worshipped to His sacrifice. God told Cain, He said, you know
this, if you do well, you'll be accepted. If you bring the
blood of the lamb, you'll be accepted. You know that. And
the offering of the blood, When when these Old Testament believers
would offer the blood of blood sacrifice. That was showing we're
sinners. Now, we deserve to die. We deserve
for God to kill us in his wrath. Why aren't we dying? Because
it substitutes dying for me because his blood is being shed instead
of mine. And that blood is pointing to
the redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood will take
away my sin. And Abel's lamb pictured the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was the firstling of the flock. Christ is the firstborn of every
creature. That lamb was a choice lamb.
We read there where Abel offered of the fat thereof. A lot of
the writers say it's one of the fattest lambs he had. One of
the very best. Christ is God's only Son. The best that there is. And he
was taken as a man and offered in the prime of life, the best
that God has. And that blood of the Lamb was
offered as a sacrifice for sin before God. Abel offered that
sacrifice unto God. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
shed His blood, He didn't shed that to you and me. That wasn't
an offering to you and me to try to make us accept Him. That
blood was shed before the Father. He took that blood before the
Father as a payment for our sins, who our sins are against. Now
Cain brought an offering, didn't he? but it wasn't an offering
of faith. These two brothers picture the
same two worshippers that still exist today. Grace and works. Carnal and spiritual. That's
the two kinds of worshippers. Carnal and spiritual. And Cain's
offering was carnal. It wasn't really a thank offering.
It was more of like a partnership offering. Cain brought these
fruits and vegetables And he's bringing it, saying, Lord, thank
You for blessing the works of my hands. It's like, look what
we did in this partnership. Now I'm offering it to You. Salvation
is not a partnership. It's God moving in grace and
mercy. Abel acted under the power of
faith. Cain operated under the power of human wisdom. You know,
human wisdom thinks, well, that's pretty good. He brought the best
fruits and vegetables that he had. You know, it's the best
that he had. Faith understands this. God will
not accept the best we can produce. God will only accept perfection.
God will only accept the best He can produce, His Son. And that's what we offer by faith.
That's what Abel's land pictured, the Lord Jesus Christ. And God
said, Abel was righteous. He was justified. He was sanctified. He was accepted. in the Lord
Jesus Christ, the same way you and me are. And Abel's gift is
still well spoken of. What was Abel's gift? His sacrifice. That lamb is still well spoken
of because it pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son. And his faith, his example of
faith is still well spoken of long after he was murdered because
his faith was in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 5, back in
Hebrews 11, 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. Look back in Genesis chapter
5. Enoch was translated from earth to heaven, just like Elijah
was. He didn't die. He was just caught
up into heaven, changed from mortality to immortality without
dying. In Genesis 5 verse And Enoch
lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked
with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat
sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were
three hundred, sixty, and five years. And Enoch walked with
God, and he was not, for God took him. Now Enoch was the same
as you and me in every way. He was born a sinner. He got
a sin nature from his father, Jared. I know Jared was a sinner
because he died. He got a sin nature from his
father. He had the same passions you and me have. He had a job. He went out to work to support
his family just like we did. He was a husband. He was a father
of many children. He had neighbors. He was a man
known in the community. He had responsibilities he had
to take care of. He had the same troubles we have.
Same fears. Same difficulties. Same desires. The difference between you and
me and him is he didn't die. He was just out. We don't even
know what he did. In the community, he's working
on a job, out taking a walk one day. Wherever he was, he was
walking with God. We know that from Scripture.
He may have been out taking a walk through his field one day and
just kept right on walking into the presence of God and never
came back. Isn't that amazing? Translated
into glory. Why? He walked with God by faith. How did Enoch please God? The
same way any of us can please God in Christ by believing God. He simply believed God. We don't
read anything in Scripture about Enoch being a theologian. I don't
read about him preaching about the deep mysteries of God and
different things. I know He hadn't beaten sin.
He hadn't beaten down self-righteousness and somehow become holy. He just
believed God. That's the walk of faith, however
it is in your daily life. You don't have to be a theologian
and be all these things. Believe God. That's how He walked
with God. The foundation of our faith is
God's Word. We believe what God said in His
Word. Our sacrifice is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that will always
produce the walk of faith. To walk with God. And there must
be a whole lot closer relationship between this life and the next
life than what I probably realize. Enoch was changed. He walked
into the presence of God. There wasn't a big veil. There
wasn't a long tongue. He just was translated. Just like believers
who are still living when Christ returns are going to be changed
in a moment. from mortality to immortality.
Most of us can be changed through death. But some, just by standing
there, the Lord's going to change them. Enoch went to glory, body
and soul. They never did find his body.
He went to glory, body and soul. His body was changed. There's
no such thing as soul sleep. You know, people will tell you,
well, those Old Testament believers, now, they were just asleep in
the grave. And, you know, one day when they're raised, the
glory. No, sir. He went to glory. Elijah went to glory. The thief
on the cross. Our Lord said today you'll be
with me in paradise. There's no ghost floating around
up there. He went to glory, body and soul. And one day we will. I know that
because of faith, because God said so. Now, verse six, but
without faith, it's 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." Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Because to be without faith is
to be without Christ. So you can't please God apart
from the Son. The Father is pleased with His
Son, and He's pleased with us in Him. But if we're going to
come to God, we've got to come to Him through Christ by faith. We've got to believe that God
is. Now that's a whole lot more than
just believing that God exists. Satan knows God exists, doesn't
he? And he's damned. Doesn't do him any good. This
is to believe that God is. Who he says he is in his Word. I'm glad he's told us who he
is in his Word. He's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet one God. I can't understand
that by believing. That's who God is. It's to believe
that God is holy. That He's eternal. That He's
omniscient. And because He's omniscient,
He knows everything. He knows we're sinners. He knows
we have need of a Savior. And God is love. He's gracious. God's merciful. That's why He
sent a Savior. He knows we need one because
He's omniscient. He sent a Savior because He's
merciful. And God's omnipotent. He's got all power. He's got
the power to save me. I believe that's who He is. And
God's immutable. He's unchangeable. God's truth. He is truth. He'll never go back
on His Word. He'll never lie. That's why He
says, leave me. We believe that God is. And this
faith that pleases God believes God. Believes his promise. Believes he'll keep every promise. Look over quickly in Acts chapter
27. Paul here is a prisoner on a
ship. Horrible storms come up. And
these experienced sailors know they're going down. Storms are
horrible. Acts 27 verse 18. And we being
exceedingly tossed with the tempest, the next day they lighted the
ship. They threw over all the cargo. And the third day we cast
out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when neither
sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us,
all hope that we should be saved was Taken away, there is absolutely
no reason for these people on this boat to think they should
be. They're going to be saved. They know they're going to die.
They have no reason to expect they're going to see another
day alive. Verse 21, But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth
in the midst of them and said, Sir, you should have hearkened
unto me and not loosed from Crete and to have gained this harm
and loss. And now I exhort you to be of
good cheer. Paul, what on earth are you talking
about? We haven't seen the sun or stars for days. The waves
are coming over the ship. The thing's going down. What
are you talking about? We be of good cheer. This is
horrible. Be of good cheer. For there shall
be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship. I'm
sure those sailors thought this guy lost his mind. Why did he
believe that? Verse 23. For there stood by
me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not. Paul, thou must be brought before
Caesar, and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with
thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer. For I believe God, I believe
God, that it shall be even as he told me. And I'm telling you,
no matter the circumstances of this life. And I'm telling you,
it stinks because the sin, it just stinks. The waves and the
tempest and the wind and the darkness. You believe God. He will save his people from
their sin. He'll be merciful. He'll be gracious. And this faith that pleases God,
believes that God will, not just physical promises now, He will
fulfill His eternal purpose of redemption. God's purpose shall
never fail. If I really believe that I'm
a sinner, if I really believe that God is a Savior of sinners,
that He'll accept me in His Son, then I'll seek Him. I mean I'll
seek Him with my whole heart. I won't let anything stand in
the way of begging Him for mercy. I'll not let anything stop me
from going to Him with my whole heart. And I'll seek Him where
He's found. I'll seek Him in His Word. I'll
seek Him and His Son. And what I'll find out, the same
thing everybody finds out, who with a whole heart, with a heart
of need, seeks Him. He's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. What's He reward us with? Everything. Everything. His own Son. Faith. That's what faith clings
to. Who faith clings to. The Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our exceeding great reward.
Alright, I hope God bless you.