well turn back yet again to Ephesians
chapter six Ephesians chapter six and we're going to be looking
at verse sixteen this time the shield of faith When I'm studying
I like to get the basic outline of the message in my mind and
then I'll have a look often to see what other men have written
about it and amongst those men John Gill as you know I also
quite like the writings of a certain Don Faulkner but don't tell him
and also Robert Hawker, I very much like Robert Hawker's Poor
Man's Commentary on the Bible, but it's a poor man's commentary
in that it's Abbreviated and Robert Hawker says of these verses
about the armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6 he says they're too
plain to need any comment and they're too obvious to need any
more amplification you just read them and it's obvious what they
mean and when I first looked at it I thought well we probably
have one sermon on the armor of God and here we are week four
because every one of them the more I look at them the more
things I see there and I hope it's not not proving too much
of a burden for you but here we come to week four of looking
at each element of the pieces of armor which God tells us to
take, take unto you the whole armor of God. There's an exhortation
in the epistle to the Ephesians to walk worthy of the gospel's
calling. an exhortation, he's outlined
the gospel of sovereign grace, and then there's an exhortation
to walk worthy of that gospel's calling. But there's sin, and
there's the weakness of the flesh, and it all invites Satan's accusations,
and it causes doubts to well up, and unbelief to come, and
fear of eternal loss, But no, says the Apostle, don't look
to your own flesh and your own weakness and your own failings,
be strong in the Lord. Remember, remember these things
and thereby be strengthened. Remember his promise to keep
his saints. Remember the victory that he's
already accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his life and
in his death and in his resurrection. And use the armor that he has
provided. So be strong in the Lord. Not in your own strength, not
in your own ability. and put on, then he says, of
these elements of armour put on the belt of truth and don't
mingle it with the rotten threads of error because if you do it
will become a useless belt that's worth nothing but go out ready
for action with all those loose flowing robes tucked up into
this belt of truth, have that belt of truth know the truth
of God And then put on the breastplate of righteousness, not of your
own righteousness, but of the righteousness of Christ. Armor,
protecting those vital organs. The breastplate of righteousness,
for he's going to shoot darts at you to make you doubt whether
you're fit for the kingdom of God. You're not good enough,
you've too many sins, too much wrong with you. No, put on the
breastplate of Christ's righteousness. and go out ready for action with
your feet shod with boots. The boots are the preparation
of the gospel of peace, the readiness, the firm knowledge of the gospel
which makes peace between God who is holy and His sinful people. He makes peace, He's the God
of peace and it's the gospel of peace. And go out with your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And now
we come in verse 16 to the shield of faith. But this one's special,
because it says, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked
one. Above all, this is important,
take the shield of faith, because this is the best defence. They're
all good defences, they're all good armour, they're all necessary
for military conflict. in the spiritual realm because
we wrestle not against just flesh and blood but against principalities
and powers and we go out against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places and
so you go out ready for action with that belt on, with that
breastplate on, with the shoes, the right footwear but above
all, above all you need a shield and take this shield of faith
And it's the best defence against the fiery darts of the wicked
one. And what are those fiery darts?
You know, fiery darts, remember, you'd have seen it in films where
if they really want to break into a place. Do you know what
always puzzled me about those films in which they used fiery
darts? why they didn't think about it
straight away there's a place that's going to go up in flames
and they're battling and they're fighting and they're shooting
and they're doing all sorts of things and when all else has
failed they resort to their fiery darts and they always win when
they resort to the fiery darts so it makes you wonder why they
didn't resort to them straight away you know they get an arrow
and they wrap it in some combustible material with some oily substance
on it and they set fire to it and they fire the arrow into
the compound and then fires start and panic breaks out and next
thing you know they've won completely they're very effective weapons
are these fiery darts and Satan brings fiery darts the fiery
darts of the wicked the fiery darts of Satan and his fiery
darts are spiritual fiery darts they're doubts well they come
at you fiery darts they get inside you know over the wall inside
and they set a fire going a little little thing sets a fire going
a fire of doubt a fire of unbelief they're fiery darts from Satan
he sets that wickedness of unbelief an evil heart of unbelief burning
and he tempts to sin temptations to sin. These come as fiery darts
to look away from Christ and temptations to sin. And then
when sin has occurred, and if we say we have no sin we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us, he comes with accusations
of sin for he is the accuser of the brethren. And then in
this world he brings all sorts of persecutions and trials upon
the people of God as we know from Job all within the permission
of God and within the limits that God sets but he's allowed
to bring persecutions persecutions for our belief persecutions which
at various times and in various places are of different types,
but they can be very physical opposition to the truth we believe.
Persecutions which in days gone by have led to martyrdom in this
country of people who stood for the truth of the gospel of grace.
Persecutions, threats of violence, persecutions which are psychological,
In the workplace, at school, where you are. Oh, you're different,
aren't you weird? What do you believe that for?
Why do you follow that? What a load of nonsense. Fiery
darts from Satan. Fiery darts. Trials. Oh, maybe
he'll bring us with Job. Trials of health. Trials of health. Financial trials. How on earth
are we going to make ends meet? Where are we going to get the
next crust from? Where are we going to get the next money from?
Financial trials. Threats of violence. All of these
things are fiery darts that come from Satan. And the best answer
to it, above all, the means by which we will be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked, is the shield of faith. Take
the shield of faith. A hearty faith in Christ is the
best defense against all of these things. Not looking to yourself
and what's good in you, but looking to Him. No confidence in the
flesh, but rejoicing in Christ Jesus. That's where to look.
That's where to look. Don't look, don't look to the
law, don't look to yourself, don't look to your own ability
to do things and what you have done, but look to Christ. Remember,
I keep telling you about him, Happy Jack, I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ. He's my all in all. James tells us, James chapter
four and verse seven, resist the devil, and he will flee from
you how do you resist him? by faith take the shield of faith
resist the devil and he will flee from you so this thing of
faith this shield of faith what is it? why do you need it? where do you get it? and how
does it work? those are the four divisions
in this morning's message what is faith? what is it? where should we look? to find
out what things are to do with spiritual things. I think the
word of God is a good place to begin, don't you? Let's turn
over to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 and the first
verse. Because I've asked the question
what is faith? And very conveniently for us
Hebrews 11 and verse 1 tells us what faith is. Now faith is
the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not
seen. The substance of things hoped
for. The substance, what does he mean? The tangible reality. Do you know what a tangible reality
is? It's something you can get hold
of something you can grasp you know, often people think of faith
and things to do with God as being about as tangible as thin
air it can't get hold of anything whereas you want something solid
to get hold of faith is the substance of things hoped for it's the
tangible reality it's the evidence of things not seen with physical
eyes things that you can't see physically. It's about seeing
things that you can't see physically. Faith is about seeing things
you can't see physically. Something that enables physical
beings like we are, beings of material senses, to apprehend
to get hold of to understand even spiritual things which are
unseen, things unseen people in this world talk about blind
faith their idea of faith is the very opposite of what the
writer to the Hebrews has just said here their idea of faith
is that it's a huge great leap in the dark that you do without
any knowledge whatsoever of where you're going oh I just go step
out in faith, blind, no that the people that we read about
in Hebrews 11 didn't step out in faith absolutely blindly they
saw something and that's why they went and we'll read about
what they saw a little bit later on it's about being able to see
and get hold of spiritual things and it's not blind faith it is
seeing faith it is seeing things that you can't see with physical
eyes But what does faith see? What is it that faith sees? What
is it then that will be this shield of faith that we take
unto us? What does faith see? What does
faith tangibly get hold of, solidly get hold of? It gets hold of
the glory of God. Remember Isaiah chapter 40 verse
5 last week in the Bible class? talking about when God shall
come, and the glory of the Lord. Comfort my people, he says. Comfort
my people. Comfort my chosen ones. Comfort
my elect with this. Warfare is accomplished. Redemption
is accomplished. And the glory of the Lord shall
be revealed. This is what faith sees, the
glory of the Lord. Oh, you say, what's the glory
of the Lord? Shining lights, glittering? No,
no, no, no, no, no. No doubt, no doubt that the sight
that we see in glory is a majestic, glorious sight, but we know what
the glory of the Lord is. Exodus chapter 33 verses 18 and
19, Moses said to God, Show me your glory. I pray that you'll
show me your glory. And basically God said this in
verse 19. This is my glory that I'll show
you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. That he's a God of
sovereign grace, who in absolute pure grace which is motivated
by nothing other than absolutely selfless love has saved a people
who deserve nothing other than condemnation and banishment for
that's the glory of the Lord and that's what faith sees that's
what faith tangibly gets hold of faith sees who God is in this
word faith sees who God is something of his majesty something of his
altogether God is holy because God is different from every imagination
of the heart of man. God is holy and high and lifted
up and dwells in unapproachable light and all of these terms
that try to use weak human language to describe that which is indescribable. the holiness the moral purity
of God that moral purity which is expressed in his law in his
word the justice of God the reality of sin the absolute depravity
of sin and of the human heart the pollution the corruption
of the natural heart the justice of God faith sees all of these
things faith sees these things the justice of God Oh, you know
that hymn that says a sinner is a blessed thing or a holy
thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. You know, it's a glorious thing to see that you're a sinner
because it's a saving thing to see that you're a sinner. God
shows his people what they really are. God reveals to the eye of
faith what they really are by nature. And the justice of God,
and the condemnation of God, and the bringing of a person
to cry, as Job did, how can a man be just with God? and to point
to Christ and to see that there a man can be just with God. In
the Lord Jesus Christ a person can be just with God for he is
the substitute of his people to see that God in grace chose
a people in Christ from the beginning of time that he didn't leave
all to the natural condemnation that was their true dessert.
but he chose some, a multitude that no man can number, and he
chose them for the purpose of Christ coming and standing as
their substitute, and in every respect, born of a woman, born
under the law, born to redeem those who are under the law,
to fulfill the law on their behalf, and to bear their sin, and to
make satisfaction for the justice of God, that there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. and
to bring to belief and trust and faith all those who were
chosen in him alone. And all of it through that which
is revealed in this book, the word of God, the scriptures,
the Bible. That's what faith sees. The glory
of God. That's what faith tangibly gets
hold of. You know people in the world
around you have no concept of these things at all. None whatsoever. They go through life, many of
them, with not the slightest interest or thought for these
things. But these are high things. These are glorious things. These
are eternal reality. These are blessings beyond imagination. These are riches that you cannot
calculate or compute. These are blessings, with every
spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, to know and
to see these things. This is what faith gets hold
of. this is what faith sees the substance of the things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 10 where Paul is talking
about the things of faith and he's talking about revelation,
he's talking about revealing things. And what do you reveal
things to? You reveal them to your sight. Verse 10, but God
hath revealed them, these things, unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him?
You know what you're thinking. I don't know what you're thinking,
but you know what you're thinking. The spirit of man which is in
you knows what you're thinking. even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God knows the things of God and what
he's saying is the spirit of God reveals those things to his
people now verse 12 we have received not the spirit of the world not
not the delusion of false religion and atheism that's all around
us but the spirit which is of God and the we he's talking about
are believers that we might know the things that are freely given
to us of God freely given to us which things also we speak
not in the words which man's wisdom teaches I don't preach
a gospel based on human reasoning or on trying to appeal to the
sense of reason that's in man, because that's utterly futile,
because there is no sense of reason in man for these things
which are spiritual. I don't speak in words which
man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man? You and
me, as we are by nature, we receive not the things of the Spirit
of God. Those things are foolishness to us. Neither can we know them,
because they're spiritually discerned. but he that is spiritual judges
all things yet he himself is judged of no man for who has
known the mind of the Lord that we might instruct him but we
have the mind of Christ you see by this gift of faith we have
the mind of Christ those who have faith they see verse five
that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the
power of God those who have faith see the things that God has revealed
by his spirit and that isn't a natural thing you know I've
told you often and I'll tell you again and again faith is
not a natural faculty that all have in some measure but mostly
have suppressed It isn't. And it's the root of deep and
serious error to think that. To think that in man is basically
an ability to be reasoned with about spiritual realities. It
isn't so. It isn't so. You can't argue
the existence of God with a natural man. it's an utterly futile pointless
exercise you can't argue in the words of human wisdom the gospel
of grace what you do is what God has said and that's to preach
the gospel as he has declared it oh but they won't believe
that we can't we can't preach election to them because we'll
drive them all away I mean that's one of the secret things that
you you need to keep for when people have already believed
you tell them psst psst I don't know if you realize this we don't
want to tell everybody all around but actually Do you know the
only reason you're a believer is because God has an elect,
but don't tell anybody because it'll frighten them all away.
You would honestly think that that's what this word says. The
word says, proclaim what God has said. And God says this,
that only those who are saved are the elect. And we have to
state it plainly. And the heart of the natural
man will hate it, will regard it as foolishness. The religious
people that are all around us in this village today, all going
through their so-called worship services of Christian religion,
you tell them that, they'll regard it as an utter stumbling block. That's terrible. What terrible
doctrine that you believe in election. What an unfair, terrible
doctrine you believe in. no man does not have a natural
ability you know it's not as if everybody does and if you
present the gospel in a reasonable way to them then many of them
will believe it that's fullerism that's error that's not what
this book teaches it really isn't It really isn't. And it's rampant
in our day. It's everywhere. It's Arminianism
dressed up in the cloak of respectable Calvinism. It is not Calvinism
for the 21st century. It's blatant error. It's blatant
Arminian error, which is not what God has taught. It's a salvation
which saves nobody. It's a salvation which makes
an offer that depends on man to make a choice. And that's
not the truth of God. So then, that's what it is, it's
that sight of the soul that Hebrews 11 has told us about, but why
do you need faith? Why do you need faith? Take the
shield of faith whereby you will quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. Why do you need faith? Why do
you need spiritual sight? Why do you need an ability to
see things spiritually? You might just as well ask the
military why they need to be able to see. Do you know in military
research The millions and billions of pounds that are spent on systems
that give the military better sight of what they're dealing
with. I used to work on some of them myself. The radars, the
sonars, the electronic detection systems, the infrared night vision. All of these things, you know,
we see now, we take it for granted now. You wouldn't have believed
it when some of us were young people growing up and you used
to go out into the country on a dark night and there ain't
nothing quite as dark as a dark, moonless, cloudy night out in
the country with no street lights. I'm telling you, it's black,
absolute black. And then we now see and we take
it for granted today on wildlife programs or military pictures
that they put these night vision things on, and because of the
infrared that's all around, wow, they can see it. Not in color,
but they can see it as clear as daylight. And just think of
the power it gives. If you're up against somebody,
and it's a matter of life and death, and you've got night vision,
and he hasn't got night vision, wow, the advantage that you've
got is utterly overwhelming. That's why we need to see. We
need to see things that are spiritual realities. Because without sight
of the battle situation we fight blind and we lose in military
terms. And haven't we already seen that
the language here in these last few verses of Ephesians 6 the
language is the language of spiritual warfare. We wrestle not against
flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. and the rulers of
the darkness of this world. It's the language of the military.
So to see and to know and experience tangibly in a way you can get
hold of the glory of God expressed in his saving grace that is what
we need we need that ability to face the warfare that Satan's
going to come at us with because he's going to try and take that
away from you he's going to try and make you doubt that you have
a part in the kingdom of God he's going to try and point out
to you that you're not qualified for a place in the kingdom of
heaven but you need to see the truth You need to see the saving
grace that is in our Lord Jesus Christ by faith. Look at Ephesians
2 and verse 8. Why do you need faith? You need
faith to see salvation as it really is. Verse 8 of chapter
2, for by grace are ye saved. What saved you? The love, the
grace of God. The grace of God, which for no
other reason than grace and love chose you in Christ before the
beginning of time, gave unto you this gift before the beginning
of time, put you in one who was able to save you before the beginning
of time, counted you in him. And then when he came and lived
under the law, born under the law, he lived perfectly. And
so he was counted righteous. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. And so all who are in him This
is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased because of him.
And that sin, that sin that would drag us down to hell, he bore
it in his own body, on the tree, on the cross of Calvary. He who
knew no sin made sin for his people. We see these things by
faith. By grace are ye saved. By grace
are ye saved. It's the grace of God that saves
you. But how do you know it? How do you experience it? you
experience it through faith. By grace are you saved through
faith. The grace of God put you in Christ
and being in Christ you are saved from the consequences of your
sins but you experience and know it through faith. Do you have
faith? I ask each one of you, those
listening to the message online and those here this morning,
do you have faith? Do you trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ? Are you leaning on Him? Leaning
on the Beloved? I'm not asking if you've done
something that makes you different from everybody else. I'm not
asking have you done something that makes God look upon you
favorably. Oh, you've decided to follow Jesus. No, I'm not
asking that. Because that's not the truth.
I'm not asking that. I'm asking if by grace the truth of God
and the gospel of God has come to you and that you've seen it
by faith because he's given you faith to believe it you know
it's a precious thing it's a rare thing Jesus said when the Son
of Man comes will he find faith in the earth in other words it's
a rare thing saving faith in this world in which we live we
all know it and experience it it's a rare thing Paul said to
the Thessalonians for not all men have faith that's evidently
true And Christ said as an exhortation, have faith in God. Mark 11 verse
22. Do you see clearly the things
of God? Do you see clearly? I'm asking
all of you. Do you see the things of the
gospel of grace clearly? Do you know there was a man who
was blind and he met Jesus. And it's in Mark's gospel, Mark
9, 24 or thereabouts. and Jesus performs a miracle
on him and says, now, what do you see? And he said, well, it's
all a bit blurred, I'm paraphrasing. He said, I can see men, but they
look more like trees walking. They don't look like men. So
Jesus did it again. And you know what? It's to teach
us, it's to teach us that sometimes that sight comes bit by bit.
And then when he did it again, he could see clearly. Can you see? Can you see? He
had blurred vision at first. You know there was another man
who said, He said to him, do you believe? Jesus said to him,
do you believe? He said, yes, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Have you cried that to God? Yes,
I believe. Some of the things you're saying
have really had an impact on me. I can't listen to all of
this week after week and it not have an impact on me. Yes, I
believe, but help thou mine unbelief. Oh, how we need God to help our
unbelief, the blurred vision, for it to be clarified. keep
coming and asking you know Jesus said to blind people what would
you have me to do for you this is it what would you have me
to do for you says Jesus all Lord that I might receive my
sight all that I might see all that I might see clearly the
things of the living God well where do you get faith then where
do you get faith let's stay in Ephesians 2 and verse 8 for by
grace i.e. saved through faith and that
not of yourselves it is the gift of God you get faith because
it's the gift of God it's not of works, verse nine, lest any
man should boast if it was anything to do with you you would boast
about it. You would say something that
you deserve some reward for. It's not of works lest any man
should boast. It's the gift of God. It's not
anything that you do or don't do in any measure. That, you
see, is full as error. The whole world would be saved
if only they would believe the gospel because they'd all be
rewarded for the work they did of believing the gospel. That's
not what this book teaches. Not at all. There are those who
say that the blessings of the gospel come to those who humble
themselves before what it says. It's not what this book says.
It's by grace. By grace. Anything that you do
or don't do, not of works, not in any measure at all, it's a
gift by grace. In the purposes of unconditional
election. Isaiah asks the question, chapter
53, that well-known chapter, the first verse, to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? And the answer comes in Ephesians chapter 3, turn
to Ephesians chapter 3, verse 5. well, verse three, how that by
revelation he made known unto me the mystery, verse five, which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men. To whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? As it is now revealed unto his
holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. And in being revealed
unto them, verse nine, and to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery, meaning all of his people to see, which
from the beginning of the world have been hid in God who created
all things by Jesus Christ. And then verse 18, that we may
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and
length and depth and height. It's the truth of God is revealed
to his holy prophets and apostles by the Spirit that they might
teach others also. You know, how can a person believe
in that which he's not heard of? And how can he hear without
a preacher? And how can they preach unless they're sent? Bless,
you know, how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those
who bring good tidings of great peace and joy. You see, the arm
of the Lord is revealed to his people by the gift of faith. Come, he says, in Isaiah 55,
verses 1 to 3. Come, ho everyone that thirsts. Come and buy something. Come
and buy that which will satisfy your thirst. Honey, milk, wine,
without money and without price. You don't need to bring anything
to contribute to it. Come and buy it. Come and hear,
and your soul shall live, is the promise. Because it's by
the gift of God, by the revelation of faith. Right at the end of
the Scripture, Revelation 22, and verse 17, you know, the spirit
and the bride say, come, let him that is a thirst come, let
him take of the water of life freely. Where do you get faith? It's by the gift of God, but
the word of God says this, let him that is a thirst come. Let
him that sees a bit say, Lord, let me receive my sight clearly
by the gift of faith. Oh, isn't it only for the elect
of God? Haven't I been making the case that this is only for
the elect of God? Yes, of course, I've made that
case. So you might reason, well, I don't know if I'm elect, so
I won't come until I know that I'm amongst the elect. No, absolutely
not. The only way you know your election
is by the fact that you've come in faith to Christ. That's it. That's what Paul says to the
Thessalonians, knowing, beloved brethren, your election of God.
How does he know? Because he knows they believe
the gospel. We're bound to give thanks to God always for you,
brethren, beloved of God, for God hath from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. And where did you get that belief?
By grace are you saved. Through faith. And that, not
of yourselves. It is the gift of God. So briefly,
how does faith work as a shield for you? Turn to Hebrews chapter
11. Turn to Hebrews. I'm going to
run through this at breakneck speed. I'm going to try and do
this in five minutes. Satan's fiery darts come at you.
seeking to prove you have no inheritance in the kingdom of
God trying to turn your focus to your own inadequacy that's
what he does, fiery darts trying to make you conform to the thinking
of everybody else all around you because it's hard being different
isn't it and what this says, what our passage says in Ephesians
6 is put your shields up but you know in the old fashioned
battle with arrows flying around and charging with spears you
know they would stand in ranks and then the command would be
given shields up and it amuses me because in the world of computers
these days there's a piece of software called shields up which
protects your computer against the attacks that come in and
basically what it does is it closes off all of the ports through
which somebody might attack and put a virus onto your computer
shields up And so this is what the scripture is saying. Take
the armor of God, especially, above all, the shield of faith.
Shields up. And Hebrews 11 gives us lots
of examples of how people in the past, the patriarchs, by
faith, by what they saw by what they tangibly got hold of that
the natural man cannot see but by the gift of God through the
grace of God they were able to see and what it enabled them
to do because faith faith causes you to see and you go if you
can see the way through a crowd or a difficult situation That's
where you go. You can see it. You go there.
And they did. Sometimes we're out walking,
either in the hills or on a coastal path or something like that.
And I tend to be able to see quite clearly where the path
goes. No, it's all right. We'll be okay. Oh, no, we're
going to fall off a cliff. No, we're not. Just follow me. We're going
to be absolutely fine. Because I can see where the path
goes. And I can see where it goes up. You see, this is it.
by faith they saw things and they did and they went on the
basis of what they saw it shows us examples and so we we know
why do you believe in a God who's created all things well verse
three it's by faith through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed not by science it's totally compatible with true
science there's nothing in science actually in true science I'm
not talking about quack science of people that use utterly unscientific
arguments to contradict what is blatantly obvious, but true
science in no way contradicts what the Bible says. But it's
by faith that we understand it. By nature we'd naturally drift
along with the nonsense that's spoken, but by faith we understand. By faith we worship God aright. Look at verse 4. What made Abel's
worship acceptable and Cain's unacceptable? Abel by faith saw
the truth of Christ and he followed the pattern of Christ and was
accepted by God. Without faith, look at verse
six, without faith it's impossible to please him. Somebody once
said to me surely you want to please God meaning by doing all
of your works of the law I don't please God by the works
of the law we've not read that in the scripture by the works
of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight but without
faith it is impossible to please him because as the scripture
says in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 the just those who are justified
shall live by his faith I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me." That's faith. That's how I walk. That's how
I please God. I please God because I look to
his Son. That's the only... What must I do to do the works
of God? This is the work of God that
you believe in the one whom he has sent. And it's God's work
that you believe in the one whom he has sent. Verse 7, By faith
Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen, moved with
fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. You see,
what did he see? He saw the reality of judgment.
He saw the reality of salvation in an ark. He did what he saw
by faith, picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. I see by faith
the reality of judgment. It's appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment. But I see in the Lord Jesus Christ,
such a hiding place, such a rock in a wilderness, such a shelter
from the beating of the sun and the tempest of judgment, I see
such an arc from the storm that is coming upon the sin of man,
and I go in. And God shuts his people in. Verse 10, sorry, verse 8, Abraham, you
know, we haven't got time, we haven't got time to go into it.
But why did he come out from all of the wealth, you know,
what on earth are you doing, Abraham? You know, your father's
got a really well-established business and you're going to
inherit all these wonderful things and everything's going to be
so good for you. No, he saw, he saw, he looked for something,
verse 10, he looked for a city, which was, what was the city?
He looked for Zion, the city of our God. not Ur of the Chaldees,
a city of idolaters. He looked for Zion, a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And then there's
all about Isaac being born in the face of impossibility. But
why did they believe it, despite some human frailty and fleshly
frailty? They believed it, and God was
good to his promise. And in old age, in the face of
impossibility, Isaac was born. Why? Because there was to be
a line through which God would bring the seed of Abraham. seed, not seeds as of many, the
seed, Christ, to save his people. And then we could go on, Moses'
parents, verse 23, by faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three
months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child
and they were not afraid of the king's commandment, which was
that babies like Moses should be killed, Hebrew babies should
be killed. Moses' parents had faith. They
had faith. What faith? They saw the saving
purposes of God. The eternal saving purposes of
God. And they saw that this was a
proper child. What does that mean? Well obviously
he was a child, he was a little boy, that was obvious. Does it
mean he was a good looking baby? you know, there's degrees of
cuteness amongst babies. Does it mean he was a particularly
cute baby? No, not at all. I'm sure what
it means is that they saw that in the purposes of God he would
play a key role in the redemptive purposes of God to call his people
out of bondage and to show a pattern of salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Moses himself, verse 24,
when he grew up as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter with
all the privilege of the palace in that situation destined to
fulfill God's purposes. And yet he counted it all, all
of that privilege as not worth anything compared with the reproach
of Christ. The reproach of Christ. The persecution
that comes for the gospel of Christ. And we could go on. I'm
not going to because we've run out of time. But this is it.
Are you Christ's? Above all, take the shield of
faith. For whatsoever, says John, 1 John 5, 4, whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Our faith. Take the shield
of faith. Above all, take the shield of
faith to defend you against Satan's attacks. And what he's saying
is, you'll defeat those attacks.