I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11. While you are turning to the
text, let me make a few remarks. The Bible says, by grace are
you saved through faith. And that, talking about That
faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. That faith,
not of works, lest any man should boast. It is the free and sovereign
gift of God. That's Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. The Word of God says that God
hath from the beginning chosen us. to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. The Holy Scriptures tell us plainly
that God's people are justified, Romans chapter 3, freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has sent forth. that is in every Old Testament
sacrifice, in the lambs, in the goats and bullets, to be a propitiation,
now listen, through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins. There is no Old Testament basis
for owl walking. The Old Testament lays the foundation
in picture and doubt. There is no foundation in the
Old Testament, no basis given for owl walking. Decision making,
accepting Jesus as your personal Savior, self-righteous expectations
of acceptance, praying to Mary, or shaking some preacher's hand.
And you could go on and on and on. No Old Testament basis for
these things whatsoever. The Bible lays one foundation
for sinners to come to God looking for mercy and forgiveness for
sin. Listen to this, Acts 4, verse
12. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must, M-U-S-T, must be saved." You'll come that
way or you won't come at all. You'll come that way or you'll
come to a false refuge. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 11, For
other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus
Christ. It's futile to trust in anything
else, no matter how good it appears, no matter how long it's been
accepted, and no matter how close they are who tell you the way. The Bible said, Let God be true
in every man alive. Anything else is a false refuge. It's a refuge of lies. It's described
in the scriptures as a cistern, a broken cistern that can hold
no water. It's described in the cistern
as a bed too short to lie on. That is, you can't rest in it.
You lie on a bed. It's too short. Your feet hang
over the end. You scoot up and your pillow
falls off. You can't rest on it. And its cover is too short
to cover you up. Boy, is there anything worse
than that on a cold night? There won't be any resting. There
won't be any resting. Faith sees God in Christ willing
and able to save all who trust Him. My text here in Hebrews chapter
11 is about a man called Enoch. Enoch, according to Jude verse
14, was a preacher. He prophesied. This is before
the days of the Old Testament prophets. Enoch was the seventh
generation from Adam. And this man Enoch, it says,
walked with God. He heard the testimony of Adam
and Abel and Seth and Enos and Cain and Mahaliel and Jared. Six generations. All witnessed
to him what their father Adam told them happened to him in
the garden. He heard the gospel and he prophesied
of the Lord's coming. And he trusted in God as God
revealed Himself in that substitutionary Lamb. He learned to worship God
through the Lamb slain and he lived out his days in faith.
And in the 365th day of his life, He disappeared from there. Genesis chapter 5 verse 24 says,
And Enoch walked with God, and he was not. He was not. One minute he was, and the next
minute he was not. For God took him. He didn't accidentally
die of some rare disease. He didn't stumble and fall off
a cliff by accident. God took it. And that's how all
God's saints end their day. God takes them. He takes them. We like to mourn around and look
around and blame this and blame that. There's nothing to blame.
Blessed is the dead who die in the Lord. That's a blessing,
not a curse. Their death is not an accident
that could have been prevented. It is not the result of some
unforeseen circumstance. It is the hand of God taking
His child home to be with Him. Blessed, blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord. Now listen to this, Hebrews 11,
verse 5. It said, by faith, Enoch was
translated that he should not see death and was not found because
God translated him. For before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, it's
impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God. Now, that's the title. That's
my subject this morning. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. Faith is coming to God as He
is revealed in Christ. Now let me give you three things
this morning that are essential, I believe, to saving faith. He attaches here a must to this
declaration. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is. Not merely that something is, but that God is. Not our personal idea of a God,
not our interpretation of God, not even some religious explanation
of God. But God, as He's revealed in
His Word and in His Son and in His obedience and death on the
cross, one true God over heaven and earth, one true Creator of all things,
one true sovereign ruler and governor of all things, eternal,
unchangeable, all-wise God. This chapter begins. by telling
us this, it is this sort of faith, verse 3, by which 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. No rational
man can look at the machinery of creation and see the intricate
precision by which it's run and the laws which keep it in order
and speak of chance and evolution. A fool might, but a reasonable
man won't. Creation bears testimony of God. That's what it says in Romans
chapter 1. even of His eternal power and
Godhead, so that you're without excuse. Man's conscience bears
witness of God. If there were no God, there'd
be no conscience. What would you have to be shook
up about if there is no God? And there might as well not be
a God if He'll only do what you let Him do. I wouldn't be afraid
of Him. I wouldn't be afraid of Him at
all. That which may be known of God
is manifest in them, it says in Romans 1, for God hath showed
it unto them. And he says also, clearly seen
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power in Godhead. Man's history bears witness of
God. We're made in his image. We're
the highest in the order of creatures. Reasoning, willful, creative,
able to think. God says in Isaiah, He said,
come let us reason together. You can't reason with a cow.
You can't reason with a pig or a chicken. I can't reason with
my dogs. But God says, come let us reason
together. And God's Word bears testimony
of God. If we would but yield to the
testimony of the Word of God, we would improve our knowledge
a hundredfold. We'd quit talking about all this
foolishness if we'd just yield to the Word of God. If we'd just
say, well, let's open this book and see who God says He is. See if men are telling the truth.
See if they're lying on God. Let's just open this book and
see who God is. David said, Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. It said, With Him is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. And yet men talk about God changing
His mind all the time. God doesn't change. He says, I am God Almighty. And yet we talk about defeating
His purposes. We talk about circumstance and
chance and evolution and all sorts of things. He said, I'm the beginning and
the end. Alpha and Omega. He said, I'm
before all things, the reason for all things, the controller
of all things, the preserver of all things. He's all-knowing,
declaring the end from the beginning. He's all-seeing, discerning the
thoughts and intents of the heart. He's absolute sovereign, working
all things after the counsel of His own will. He's immutable.
I am the Lord, I change not. And He is love. He that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. This is the God of the Bible
as He set forth in the Word of God. And then God's Son bears
testimony of God. Will God demand from men a holy
obedience and motive, thought and deed and absolute perfection? Will God do that? A continual,
unbroken obedience in good times and bad? see the Son of God, the Son of
Man, under the heavy trials and fierce persecutions. And he looks
at those scribes and Pharisees and he said, which of you accuseth
me of sin? They couldn't find no sin in
him. Tempted in all points like as
we are yet without sin. There is only one righteous life
recognized from the throne of glory, and that is the righteous
life of Jesus Christ. This is my Son in whom I am well
pleased. Now, you'll be accepted or rejected
by how you stand in Him. But there's only one life recognized
from the throne of glory, and that's His life. Being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, a righteous name, a name of honor and glory, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and
things in earth and things under the earth. and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father, Lord of creation, Lord of providence, Lord of righteousness,
and Lord of salvation. And if you know the redemptive
glory of God, you'll learn it in Christ, not in religious fables
and sentimental stories. John said, we know that the Son
of God hath come and given us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true. And this is the true God and
eternal life. God's Son testifies of God. And
the Gospel of Jesus Christ testifies of the true and living God. In
Romans 1, verse 1, Paul calls his message the Gospel of God. I listened to a man go on this
morning for, I guess he went on for an hour. He never mentioned
God. He never mentioned Christ. He
never mentioned how men are saved. This gospel is the gospel of
God. It's truly His gospel because
it bears witness of it. of His eternal purpose of grace.
Do you know that God's people are referred to as people of
His purpose? Romans 8.28, it said, All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. Ephesians 1.9 said, He made known
unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure
which He purposed in Himself. Of His eternal election, choosing
Jacob over Esau before they were ever born or having done any
good or evil. Listen, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand. We are people according to His
purpose. And we are people of His eternal
redemption. By His own blood, it said in
Hebrews chapter 9, He entered in once into the holy place having
obtained eternal redemption for us. He is the Lamb slain, John
said, before the foundation of the world. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 4. Our God is eternal. Men don't
like that. They don't like that. They like
to talk about coming to this silly, sentimental Jesus of their
imagination, but they don't like talking about the eternal God.
And God was in Christ. God was in Christ. You can't
come to Christ apart from coming to God. You can't come to God
apart from coming to Christ. They're both woman. Our God is eternal, and so it
is with all that He does. In Hebrews 4, verse 3, it said,
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said,
as I have sworn in my wrath, that they shall enter into my
rest. Now watch it. Although the works were finished,
when does that say? From the foundation of the world. Ain't that what that says? We who in time are called of
God and regenerated by His Spirit and taught the truth are to the
praise of His glory, Paul said, who first trusted in Christ. If we had time, I could go on
and on about God's sovereign, eternal purpose of grace. But
I said all of that to say this. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is, not merely that He exists, but that he is as he
testifies himself to be. Well, preacher, how do you know
that's what that means? Because there's no way by merely
believing that God exists that you can discern Him to be a rewarder
of those who diligently seek Him. That's why. The Jewish masters of theology
boasted of their belief in God, to which Christ answered and
said, you do well. The devils believe that. The
devils believe that. For all of our thinking and all
of our foolish notions about God, we say, well, I believe
there's a God in heaven. So do the devils. Now you're
on their plane. To confess a knowledge in the
existence of God is simply to confess the irrefutable witness
of creation and conscience and to put yourself on the plane
with death. When faith brings us to God,
it brings us there with a redemptive knowledge of God in Christ. No
man is going to seek God, can you hear me, until God shows
him what he is. He is not going to come there
with some belief that he has something to help God save himself. He is going to come there when
he finds himself hopeless and helpless. Who came to Christ? Lepers. A woman with an issue
of blood who had spent her life saving and was none the better.
Blind men. Go on and on and on. Debilitating
diseases. All of these things. Tell us
the condition of the sinner. We come to God. Those who come
to God, that's what this Scripture is talking about. Coming to God. Must believe that He is. That
is, that He is who He says He is. And that you are who He says
you are. And you come to Him that way.
And you come to Him in truth. Seeing Him who alone is able
to enable Christ who can enable our God to be propitious to sinners. And then the rest of Hebrews
chapter 11 verse 6 says, Believe that He is and is a rewarder
of them who diligently seek Him. Now brethren, folks who talk
about God's rewarding their good works, rewarding their good works. That
is, one day some of them are going to live in mansions, and
some of them who weren't quite so obedient are going to live
over here in shanties. Talk about rewards. While others
live in huts. This kind of thing is just utter
foolishness. God, as a rewarder, rewards His people on the merits
of their representative, which is Christ. That's the only way God can reward. That's how you must see Him.
If you see Him as a rewarder, it must be upon the merits of
Christ. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. You're not going to get anywhere
that way. You're not going to see God reward her that way.
Well, I just believe God will show mercy. No, you don't. No, you don't. When the Lord said, well done,
thy good and faithful servant, enter into thy inheritance prepared
for you before the foundation of the world. You really think
he was talking about their faithfulness? You really think the Lord looked
at that group of men who were standing there before Him and
thought about their life as they lived it and said, well done,
thy good and faithful servant? All God's people from the highest
to the lowest, from the Apostle Paul to the thief on the cross,
are all saved by grace and all have an equal acceptance with
God, an equal acceptance with God. Their standing and ours
is based on the merits of Christ, not our own. Let me ask you a
question. Would you really want to stand
before God in your righteousness? Would you really want to stand
before the judge of heaven and earth, He who can read the thoughts
and intents of your heart? What good thing have you ever
done that you would lay before Him? Here sits His Son who gave Himself
a ransom. The very glory of God demonstrated
in all that He manifested on this earth. And you going to
talk to Him about that 10% you gave? Huh? In the light of His glories.
You're going to stand and look at Him whose face is the very
redemptive glory of God who gave Himself a ransom and we're going
to sit and talk about our good works? I'll tell you what Paul prayed
over in Philippians 3, verse 9. He said, oh, he said that
I might be found not having my own righteousness. He didn't
want to be found in His. And I guarantee you he walked
a straighter line than any of us. This man wrote half the New Testament,
established churches all over Asia, spent a day and a night
in the deep, was persecuted, beaten everywhere he went. He
said he didn't want to be found in his. When men and women hear the gospel
and the power of God's Spirit, they see the way to God. They see how God can reward them
in Christ. You can't seek God for mercy
on the basis of your integrity. You can't do it. You can't do
it. They see a way for a wretch like
them to come to Him and find hope and help and mercy. They find in Christ some expectation
that God could, if He would, save them from themselves and
from this present evil world. He could, if He would, justify
us, redeem us, call us sons and daughters, give you peace and
rest and the full inheritance of children. that the God of
glory can reward even me by His full, free, and sovereign grace
on the merits of His Son. And let me say this, and I'll
quit. If God is pleased to reward us in Christ, it's never in part. Huh? It's never in part. That poor old thief on the cross. He said, remember me. The Lord said, well, I'll give you
a little portion. That ain't what he told him. He said, this day shalt thou
be with me in paradise. If the Lord gives, He gives all
that He has. or he don't give. If you have the blessing of God,
you have all that God has. All that He has. It's never in
part. If God shows a sinner mercy,
He gives all that He has to that man. Now, revelation comes a
little at a time, but mercy and grace come in fullness. To have
Christ is to have all the fullness of God, Paul said, and we're
complete in Him. I don't need anything else. Now,
the man who finds this and experiences this, he walks with God. And God has translated him that
he should not see death. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. on such the second death hath
no power." Isn't that what that says? No power to deceive, no
power to condemn, no power to destroy. May the Lord be pleased
to cause us this day to see our gracious God in Christ. And come to Him. Come to Him. Seeing Him as He is, a rewarder. of them who diligently seek Him.
Now no man is going to seek Him unless he is drawn by God. Now what Christ said, drawn by
the Father. He said don't murmur. Don't murmur.
No man can. But if he does, if he does, He
is going to bring you to Himself. He is going to show Himself to
you as He is. And you are going to seek Him.
And if you seek Him, you will be rewarded.