I want you to kind of scan through
it with me as we look back at Hebrews 11 and sort of step back
and see what we've seen in this chapter and just get back to
some basic gospel teaching here with a view to the entire chapter.
Before we look at Hebrews 11, let me say this. I was in court Tuesday, yesterday
I guess. It seemed like it was longer
ago than that. I was in court on Tuesday. We had gotten pulled
over and didn't have proof of insurance. We had insurance at
the time, but you've got to have that piece of paper or you're
getting a ticket. And I got a ticket. And, of course, I went there
and showed that I had insurance at the time I was pulled over,
and it was dismissed. But there was another lady there
that was guilty of the same infraction, and she stood before the judge.
Her name was called, and she came up to the little podium
there. The judge asked her, she said, looks like you got a ticket
for not having proof of insurance, for not showing financial responsibility,
that's what they call it. And she said, how do you plead?
And the lady said, not guilty. And the lady said, okay, then
you're saying that you had proof of insurance at the time you
were pulled over? And she said, no, but I had insurance. And
the judge set her straight on what the law said. The law says
you have to have proof of insurance when you're pulled over. If not,
you're guilty. And she said, this is the way
it usually goes. She said, normally when somebody gets a ticket for
not having proof of insurance and they didn't have proof of
insurance when they were pulled over, they plead guilty. And
I dismiss it as long as they can show me that they had insurance
at the time of the ticket. And she said, do you have proof
that you had insurance at the time of the ticket? She said,
yes, ma'am. And she said, how do you want to plead now, guilty
or not guilty? And the lady said, guilty, guilty. But if she had pled not guilty,
she'd have been charged with it. And I thought about several
verses of scripture, but one in particular that came to my
mind is when the Lord accused those, and I forget where the
passage is right now, but you'll know it when I tell it. When
the Lord said, I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I
was thirsty and you gave me no water. I was in prison and you
didn't visit me. And the ones he accused of that
said, wait a minute, we didn't do that, we're not guilty. Are
you sure that's what you want to say? He pardons guilty sinners,
doesn't he? Guilty sinners get off scot-free.
But if you say not guilty, if you say I'm not guilty of that,
then you got a problem with the law, with God's law. And those
who the Lord said, I was hungry, you gave me something to eat.
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. They said, we didn't
do that. When did we do that? We're guilty. We never, we never
did anything for you. And he said, come, you blessed,
you blessed and enter into the joys of that Lord. We stand before
the judgment throne of God in this world. The law condemns
us that while we, he said to those that you're condemned already
because you haven't believed on the son of God, you're already
condemned. We're not waiting for judgment.
Judgment already is upon us. It's already been And there'll
be another judgment, the last judgment it's called, the great
white throne judgment. And when we stand there, we'll
stand not guilty, won't we? But not in ourselves, not in
ourselves. But by grace through faith, God
has saved us. In Hebrews 11 there, kind of
look through it as I talk about these different men that are
mentioned here and women that are mentioned here in this chapter.
And let's remember together what we've seen In verse 32, Paul
said, what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell
of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson and of Jephthah. Those
were the judges that we saw and saw the gospel there in the places
where those men's stories were given in the scriptures and of
David also. We've been talking about David
the last several weeks. And then he mentioned Samuel
and the prophets. But in the beginning, Of the
chapter, he begins to give examples of faith. The chapter is a chapter
talking about the faith that God gives to his people. Faith
is the substance, he gives a definition, of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. But by faith, all these men and
women did certain things. And he says that by faith, Abel
offered a more excellent sacrifice. We see that very early there
in the chapter. In verse four, he offered a more excellent sacrifice. By faith in who? Who is the object
of your faith if you come before God with a slain lamb, with bloodshed? McCain came with the fruit of
his labors. I've planted a garden and I worked
it and tilled it and sweat over it. And look what the great vegetables
I got. But Abel, he came by faith and he offered a more excellent
sacrifice. Enoch, it says, pleased God. He had this testimony. Before
God took him up, he never tasted death on this earth. He never
suffered physical death. One of the couple of men that
I can think of that never had, never did. Even our Lord physically
died. But Enoch never physically died
in this world. The Lord translated him it says.
Why? It says he pleased God. He had that testimony. He pleased
God. How? By faith. By faith. He just got
through saying without faith it's impossible to please God.
But Enoch by faith did please God. And then he begins to talk
about Noah. What did faith cause Noah to
do? He moved with fear when God spoke to him. What's the beginning
of wisdom? The fear of the Lord. When God
speaks, do you move with fear? Or do you just say, I agree with
that and get on with your life? I already know that, you know.
By faith, Noah moved with fear and did what God told him to
do, prepared an ark to the saving of his house. Abraham, when he
was called, what did he do? He obeyed. He did what God said. How? By faith. By faith. Without
God-given faith, you're not going to obey God. You can't obey God,
nor do you have any desire to. But Abraham, when he was called,
obeyed. He did it by faith. He went out
not knowing where he went, because he looked for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. That's why, by
faith, he saw that city. By faith, he believed God's word
concerning that promise. Through faith, also Sarah herself
received strength To conceive seed. Well that's not Sarah doing
anything. That's God doing something. That's
what faith is. It's God doing something. By
faith she received strength. Me too. Faith is not something,
it's not a product of my wicked heart. It's the grace of God.
It's the gift of God, not of works. lest any man should boast,
and by faith Sarah received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered
of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful. Without faith would she have
judged him faithful? Of course not. The natural man
is enmity against God. We judge him unfaithful, we judge
him useless to us, just a nuisance to us. The gospel is what? Foolishness by nature. But by
faith, God told her something was going to happen that couldn't
happen. And she said, I believe God's faithful. If he says it's
going to happen, it's going to happen. She judged him faithful
who had promised. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come. Now we saw how that Isaac
blessed them both, but God blessed Jacob, not Esau. But by faith,
Isaac did that. By faith, Jacob, when he was
a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped. By faith, Jacob worshipped. Could he have worshipped without
faith? No. God seeks such sinners to
worship him. Which ones? The ones that do
it by faith. The ones that He has given faith
to worship Him. You can't worship God without
faith. You see what a blessed, desirable,
wonderful gift faith is. By faith He worshipped, leaning
upon the top of His staff. By faith Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel. He
had heard the promise of God concerning that and he preached
it. And he gave commandment concerning his bones. Moses, by faith, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. The son of Pharaoh's
daughter would have everything the flesh could possibly desire.
But by faith, Moses said, no, I got no use for that. He said
what Paul did. I counted it all but done that
I might win Christ and be found in him. He refused to be called
Pharaoh's grandson, but he esteemed the approach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt. I guarantee you that's
what will make you look away from this world when you see
a greater treasure, the Lord Jesus Christ. When you find that
pearl of great price, you'll sell every other treasure you
have to obtain that pearl. That's what Moses did. That's
just what a sinner does when he sees the Lord Jesus Christ.
All God has to do is reveal Him, and it's the most natural thing
in the world to sell everything you have and follow Him. But
not until God does something In my faith, Rahab the harlot
received the spies with peace. She trusted God in the face of
sheer destruction. Do you know what they would have
done to her if they'd have found out what she did? Her own countrymen? But she trusted that God would
protect her, the God of Israel would keep her safe. And she
took sides with God. by faith. And then the judges
are mentioned, Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah. By faith
they were used of God's as champions for the people of God. And you
remember those stories, the great, what great stories of courage
in the Lord and faithfulness, trusting God to do the impossible
against impossible odds. How can little David, you know,
how can Gideon with just 300, God, that's what, it's not our
battle, it's His. It's not our victory, it's His.
But these judges were pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the champion of God's people, spiritual Israel. And then King
David, by God's grace, he lived a life of faith. We've seen that
in the case of Mephibosheth, when he said, who's left that
I can show mercy to of the house of Saul? And we saw the grace
of God there. We saw he pictured Christ in
that, in his faith there to God, to show mercy. He didn't live
a sinless life. I didn't say that. He lived a
life of faith. It was a life of heartache at times and bitter,
bitter repentance at times and many falls, but nevertheless,
a life of continual faith toward the God who took him from the
sheep coat and put him on the throne. And then Samuel and the
prophets are mentioned. Samuel, of course, is one of
the prophets. And he's likely mentioned by
name here in connection with David because he was the contemporary
of David. And David was just mentioned
in the chapter. So that's probably why. But consider tonight with
me for a little while the general significance of the message of
Hebrews 11. God saves sinners. How? Well, you probably all thought
of the same word, didn't you? Starts with a G. How does God
save sinners? By grace, by grace. Now everybody's
talking about grace. What passes for grace in the
religion of this world is God giving sinners a second chance,
you know. Adam chose poorly. He came unto his own and his
own received him. Now they chose poorly, you know. He looked down upon the children
of men to see if any did follow after him, but they had all gone
astray. Everybody else chose poorly, but Lord give me a shot
at it and I'll do the right thing. Are you kidding me? That's grace?
No, no, no, no. No, and this is why we qualify
the word grace in our generation. We really have to, don't we?
God's people know what grace is, but there are a few words
that we use in connection with grace to show how it's different
from what passes for grace in the little g gospel of this world.
God saved sinners by his free grace. He said, I will love them
freely. You know what that word free
means in the scripture? It means without a cause. That's the kind
of grace I'm talking about. The grace of religion says that
God looked down to see what you would do and had grace based
upon what you would do. Free grace, which is scriptural
grace, God said, I will love him without a cause. In other
words, there was nothing in us that attracted his love, that
caused his love. And the cause of our salvation,
the cause of God's love is in Himself, not in the creature.
Grace is free. That's what that means. Without
a cause. There's no reason in you why God would love you and
not somebody else. The reason is in Himself. Alright,
free. Alright, we use another word
in connection with grace, don't we? What? Sovereign. Sovereign
grace. Sovereign just means that in
the bestowing of grace, God does as he pleases, that which is
his prerogative to do. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will. He said, cannot I do what I will
with mine own? Who's going to argue with that?
And then we use another word in connection with grace. It's
free, it's sovereign, it's electing grace. What does electing mean? It just means God chose you,
that's all. He did it sovereignly, He did
it freely, but He chose, God made a decision, not you. You'll
decide something, sure enough. Everybody's going to decide tonight
something concerning God. But God's going to have to decide
for you before you'll ever decide for Him. That's what election
is. He chose me because He loved
me. And then we use another word,
and you've heard me say it many times, by God's free, sovereign,
electing, distinguishing. You knew what I was going to
say then. Distinguishing grace. What does that mean? Well, God
chooses one over another. He distinguishes between sinners. There's no difference in us.
The difference is God. Two thieves, both just as wretched
as one another, both casting in his teeth, and mocking him,
and scorning him, and hating the Son of God in their hearts.
But by his grace, he had mercy on one of them, and he turned
the light on in his heart. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, shined in that old wretched thief's
heart. to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. And that thief said, Lord, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. Oh, that's different, isn't it?
From mocking and scorning him. You're the king of glory and
you're going to go sit on your throne. Don't forget me when
you go there. That's grace right there. That's distinguishing grace.
He passed one by and chose another. That's his prerogative. One lump,
two different kinds of vessels. That's what the word distinguishing
means. Have you been to the potter's
house? I guarantee it's just a doctrine to you until you go
to the potter's house. Listen to what Jeremiah said
in chapter 18 verse one, the word which came to Jeremiah from
the Lord said this, Jeremiah said, arise and go down to the
potter's house and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
Oh, You'll hear his words when you go there, won't you? When
you experience his grace. It's just a cold thing on a piece
of paper, isn't it? Until God takes you there. Then
Jeremiah said, I went down to the potter's house and behold,
he wrought a work on the wheels. God was making something on that
wheel where the clay was spinning. And Paul expounds upon that work
wrought on the wheels. Turn to Romans chapter nine.
What did God do on the wheels? When he went down to the potter's
house, what did Jeremiah see? Well, Paul uses that passage
of scripture to teach the gospel. And so let's see there, it's
in a little more detail there, so we'll look there. Romans chapter 9 and verse 13. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. distinguishing before either
one of them had done any good or evil. It wasn't based on something
they did. He didn't look down into the
future to see who would believe on him and then choose based
on that. The Scriptures directly refute that. That's what's taught
in many places. He said, I love Jacob and I hate
Esau. What shall we say then, verse 14, is there unrighteousness
with God? God forbid, for he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. He's just doing what
he said he was going to do. You see that? He said that's
what he was going to do. That's what he did in the case
of Jacob and Esau. And in your case too, one way
or the other. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then, there's only one conclusion
we can draw based on that. Salvation's not of him that willeth.
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." We
have to conclude what Jonah did. Salvations of the Lord. Is that
where you came to when you saw that? For the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee. God's not trying to save
everybody. He wasn't trying to save Pharaoh.
He raised him up so he could put him in hell. That's what
he just said, that I might show my power in thee, and that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, why
doth he yet find fault, for who hath resisted his will? Nay,
but, O man, who are you to reply against God? Shall the thing
form, say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?
Ah, here we are at the potter's house now. Let's find out what
Jeremiah saw there. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump? There's no difference. Freely,
right? Freely, without a cause. There's not two lumps, there's
one. without a cause, but it's not just free, it's distinguishing.
He made one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. What
Jeremiah saw there, and if we went back there, if you want
to read the rest of that passage later, what God said was, cannot
I do with you, O Israel, like this potter does with this clay?
He makes it the way He wants to make it. He does with it as
He pleases. And that's what Paul preached
from that passage in Jeremiah. God will do with you what He
will. Oh, that'll either cause you
to bow your neck or it'll cause you to bow one of the two. I
recommend bowing. I highly recommend bowing, don't you? Free, sovereign,
electing, distinguishing grace. That's what we're talking about.
Ephesians 2.8, very familiar. Listen to it. For by grace are
you saved through faith. Oh, here we go. Hebrews 11. Hebrews
11. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves. God
doesn't look down to see you having faith and choose you based
on that. Oh no. Grace is free. Grace is sovereign. Grace is electing. Grace is distinguishing. But he does it through faith,
doesn't he? By grace are you saved? By means of faith. Through
faith. Salvation's cause is the grace
of God. That faith is the gift of God. David said, although my house
be not so with God. Now you listen to this. I know
you've heard me quote this a million times. Don't just ignore it because
of that. It's God's word. It's not just
something that I quote. And I say that for myself because
it's easy, isn't it? When something becomes familiar
to you, it's easy to just let it go in one ear and out the
other. You listen to that. Although at my house, be not so with God. This is not true of my family,
he said. My brothers and sisters, whatever,
his family, his children, certainly. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation. Well, wait
a minute, David. What about your part in it? This
is all my salvation. God did something for me. He
made a covenant with me. Do you see that? That's salvation
now. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. Do you need anything else? But
to know that God in covenant mercy looked upon you in love
and put you in his son, chose you in Christ Jesus from the
foundation of the world. Do you desire anything more than
that? You want to earn some trinkets in glory by your good works?
Oh, grace, grace, grace. The means whereby God causes
us to experience His saving grace is faith. Faith. God chooses
us and causes us to approach unto Him. You're familiar with
that scripture in Psalm 65, 4. Now think about this with me.
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach
unto thee. that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. His choosing
is election. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. But God does something else for
us. He chose us. That's all my salvation and all
my desire. He loved me from eternity now
and distinguished me from everybody that he didn't love. His choosing
is election. But He does something else for
us. He causes us to approach unto Him. How does He do that?
He gives us faith. That's how. By faith we come.
By faith we lay hold. By faith we bow and worship. Do you see that? He causes us
to approach unto Him. And we do approach. His calling
is an irresistible call. Because it's the power of His
grace that grabs hold of our hearts and brings us in. No man
can come, as a matter of fact, unless the Father draw you. And
He does that by grace, through faith. It's faith that causes
you to approach unto Him. And David said in that psalm
there, we'll be satisfied with the goodness of His house. Are
you? Or are you looking for something else? If you're satisfied with
the goodness of His house, you know how that happens? He chose us by grace, or you
say, through faith. We'll be satisfied with the goodness
of His house because we're born again and given a heart that
believes on Him, loves Him, serves Him, worships Him. God is glorified. Now listen to me carefully. God
is glorified not only in His love for us, and surely this
is His greatest glory, if you could say that. I've heard men
say that, that His greatest glory is revealed in Him shedding abroad
His love upon us in Christ Jesus, in that He died for us, in that
He lived for us and died. This is the greater love can
no man have than that He lay down His life for His friends.
And God Almighty died for you and me now. You talk about glory,
but he's glorified in his love for us, but he's glorified also
in our love for him. Did you know that? So he gives
faith causing us to fall in love with him. What did he say to
the disciples? If you love me, keep my commandments. And then what did he say right
after that? Herein is my father glorified that you bear much
fruit. Well, did I make it up or is
that the word of God? He's glorified in what we do
for him as well as in what he did for us. Because what we do
for him, is because of what He did for us. We're going to see
that now right from God's Word. Both His love for us and our
love for Him are attributable to Him. And He alone is glorified. God is glorified not only in
His choosing of us, but in our choosing of Him. So He gives
us faith and causes us to choose. Well, Chris, you made that one
up, no? Moses chose rather to suffer the reproach of Christ
than to enjoy all the pleasures of Egypt. You think that doesn't
glorify God? That's the grace of God in the
heart of a sinner now, and that's attributable only to Him, to
His power, to His grace, to His mercy. Oh yes, of course we choose
Him. Of course we do. Not naturally.
The natural man doesn't. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Unless you're born again, you
can't even see the Kingdom of God, much less enter into it.
We know that's impossible. Not unless He draws us. But He
does draw us. And we do choose Him. And God
is glorified in it. Not us. Both His choosing and
ours are of Him. And He gets the glory. We just
read that in Psalm 65, didn't we? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to choose you. I paraphrased that a little
bit, but I didn't read it wrong. I didn't do an injustice to it.
He causes us to approach unto Him. And when we approach unto
Him, we're saying, Lord, we're saying what Paul did. I'm leaving
everything else behind that I may win you. I count everything else
but dung that I might lay hold of you and be found in you. He
chooses us and causes us to choose Him. And He's glorified in both,
isn't He? He doesn't do anything but what
He's glorified in it. And He does both. He elects us
and He causes us to choose Him. Another way to put this is this.
Election is God's loving us in eternity, choosing us, setting
us apart from all others. He sanctified us. That means
to set apart from all others for himself. He said, you're
mine. You're mine. These are not mine. These are
mine. That's election, redemption, atonement, righteousness. All of these are the work that
Christ did for us. He came down here and lived for
us. He came down here and died for
us. He redeemed us. The atonement
is performed by Him alone, by Himself. He purged our sins,
the Scripture said. Without your help, you can't
add anything to or take anything away from His finished work for
us. Regeneration, faith, repentance,
love, worship, and service are the work that God does in us. It's just as much God's work
as choosing us. It's just as much His work as
what He did for us. But this work He did in us. You
see that? Now let's look at that in the
scripture. It's all his work. Salvation
from beginning to end is of the Lord. Spurgeon said, if God takes
me all the way to the gates of glory and leaves me there, I
won't make it in. He's got to take me all the way
in, doesn't he? I cannot take a step in this thing. Salvation
is of the Lord from start to finish. Didn't He say, I'm the
Alpha and the Omega? Didn't He say, I'm the Author
and the Finisher of your election? No. He is, of course. Regeneration? Of course He is. You didn't add
anything to His finished work. But what He said was, I'm the
Author and Finisher of your faith. I'm the One who originates and
completes the work that's done in you, as well as all the other
work of salvation. First of all, God chose us. Can
we make good on that in the scripture? I know people hate it. Well,
I don't believe in election. What Bible are you looking at?
God chose us. 2 Thessalonians 2. We're bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren. We're not
going to brag on you because you saved. We're going to give
thanks to God. Why? Because He chose you from
the beginning. You're beloved of the Lord. And
from the beginning, He has chosen you to salvation. People talk
about, well, election just means that God chooses you to certain
things. He chose you to salvation is what He did. Romans 9.11,
for the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. You don't believe in what? Not
of works, but of Him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Before they were born or had
done anything or even thought about doing anything, God said,
I love Jacob and I hate Esau. Again, you can bow your neck,
but God said he that being often reproved and hardeneth his neck
shall be destroyed utterly, and that without remedy. Or you can
bow to the sovereign God that has mercy on sinners and say,
Lord, have mercy on this one. In blessing, bless me. Don't
pass me by. That's a good song, isn't it?
Let's sing that from our hearts. While on others thou art calling,
don't pass me by. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. God chose us. Christ redeemed
us. God the Father chose us. God
the Son redeemed us. Romans 3.24. Let's turn there
together because I'm almost through. I want you to see these things
and then we'll be done. Romans 3.24, being justified
freely. There's that word. He said, in
Hosea, I believe it is, I will love them freely. Here, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in His blood. Do you see both
there? Regeneration. He justified us, rendered us
not guilty before Him. How? By His grace. Because He
chose us, because He loved us, because He wanted to. But how
can God be just and justify us? Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. That's how. There's got to be
bloodshed. That's why Abel's offering was
more excellent than Cain's. Because it was by faith in this
Christ. who shed his blood for sinners
to redeem them. God hath set him forth to be
a propitiation. There's a word. I can't remember
if we've talked about that on Sunday morning or not. It just
means sin offering. Sin offering. That's what a propitiation
is. Through faith in his blood. You're
going to experience this salvation in that God's going to give you
faith in that one who shed his blood. to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he
might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Christ shed His blood. The redemption that is in Christ
Jesus through faith in His blood, He set forth to be a sin offering
so that God can still be God. Because if He forgives you arbitrarily,
if He just overlooks your sin, sweeps it under the rug, He can't
be God. The judge of all the earth must
do right. He's got to punish sin. But the
way He can stay God and justify you is because of Christ's blood. That's how. Because He lived
for us and died for us. And he did that so that God could
see us in him, our representative, and say, not guilty, justified,
and not only not guilty, but positively well-pleasing in my
sight. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, God's going to look at us on that day when
we see him face to face. Here's what he said he would
say, well done. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. He must be talking to Christ
when he says that, don't you reckon? And me in him, and me
in him. Everybody he represented. Everybody
that he died for. Thou good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joys of thy Lord. Boy, that'll be the sweetest
thing we've ever heard. Thirdly, God chose us. God the
Father chose us. God the Son redeemed us by his
precious blood. Unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins. In his precious blood, John said.
Unto him be glory, both now and forever. And then thirdly, the
Holy Spirit, God the Spirit, works salvation in us. He does the work in us. Everybody
that Christ finished the work for, the Holy Spirit brings that
work home to the heart of the sinner. He does the work in us.
What is that work? Regeneration. He said the wind
blows where it will. You got to be born again. You
got to be born from above. You got to have spiritual life.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit. We have fleshly life, but by
nature we're dead spiritually. If you're going to be born spiritually,
have life spiritually, how does that happen? The wind blows where
it will. You can hear the sound thereof, but you don't know where
he came from or where he'll go. That's how it is with everyone
that's born of the Spirit. That's what Christ said to Nicodemus.
The Spirit of God blows upon whom he will. And you can hear
the sound, you can see the effects of it, but you can't tell him
where to go. You can't control that. Just like the Father, he's
the same person who has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He
blows where he listeth, where he pleases. The Holy Spirit works
salvation in us. Philippians 2.13, that'd be a
good verse to commit to memory. For it is God which worketh in
you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. The desire
to do what God commands and the actual performance of it is attributed
to God working in you. Oh, my. Well, what's our part
in salvation? We just need it. That's our part.
We need it. That's my part in the salvation
of my soul. What is His good pleasure? It's
God working in you to want to do His good pleasure and to actually
do it. What is His good pleasure? What
is it that He commands? Believe. This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's the command of
God. How are you going to do that? It is God that worketh
in you. No man can come except the Father
which hath sent me. Draw him. By grace are you saved
through faith, and that's not of yourself. It's the gift of
God. It's God working in you to cause
you to want to come to Christ and to cause you to actually
do it. Could anything be clearer than that in the Scripture? Does
God command men everywhere to repent? That's what the Scripture
says. He commands men everywhere to repent. How are you going
to do that? What was John the Baptist's message? Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. How are you going to do that?
Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.25. In meekness, Timothy, instruct
those that oppose themselves. If God, peradventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, the only way they're
going to know the truth is if God gives them They've got to
change their mind about God. They've got to change their mind
about themselves. They've got to change their mind about how
God saves a sinner. They've got to change their mind
about the Lord Jesus Christ and God's gospel. And that happens
one way. God gives them repentance. Maybe he'll do it, Paul said.
Maybe he'll do it if you teach him. Peradventure, God will give
them something that they've got to have, repentance. Christ said,
I am the vine, and you're the branches. Isn't that a simple,
clear, beautiful illustration of what we're talking about?
I'm the vine. He said, without me, you can do nothing. Except
you abide in the vine, you'll wither and die. You're dead.
You're not worth anything but gathering up and burning. But
if you abide in me, you have life. If we love, it's because
he first loved us. That love comes through the vine
into the branches. It says, he shed the love of
God abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto
us. He shed that love abroad. If we serve him, it's because
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Is that clear? We are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good work. If you do anything that can be
by any stretch of the imagination called a good work or service
to God in some way, it's because He created you in Christ Jesus
and ordained that you would do it. It's His work just as much
as election is. It's His work just as much as
redemption is. Redemption is His work for us
and faith is His work in us. If you and I are looking for
a way to get some glory in salvation. Let me save you the time. We're
not getting it. All glory goes into our gracious,
great God and Savior who loved us, chose us, predestinated us,
called us, redeemed us, justified us, and keeps us from falling.
Salvation is of the Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's the
work of God from start to finish. And the scriptures could not
be clearer on anything else. And what In what Hebrews 11 is
teaching us, generally speaking, in this chapter of faith, describing
the faith that God gives, it's teaching us, among other things,
that the experience of salvation has always been by faith. God
has never saved a sinner any other way but by grace through
faith in His Son. Is it shocking to you that it
says that Moses chose the reproach of Christ over the treasures
of Egypt? Well Moses didn't know anything
about Christ. Oh yes he did. Yes he did. Christ hadn't come yet but the
gospel was promised in Genesis chapter 3. The Redeemer was promised
from the beginning. God has never had but one message
for sinners and it's Christ and Him only. Christ in him crucified. Christ the Lamb of God. How do
you think Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain?
Do you think it was a coincidence? That it was just luck that he
brought a slain lamb? He chose Christ just like Moses
did. And by God's grace, we do too. We choose him. By God's grace,
we offer that sacrifice. The only sacrifice that God will
accept. By faith, we walk like Enoch
did. We walk with God. And by faith
in Christ, we please God. If you don't please God, you
won't be with him. And there's only one way to please him, and
that's in Christ. By faith, we obey like Noah did. Don't we? It's the same faith. If it caused
Noah to obey, it'll cause us to obey and move with fear. By faith, we worship like old,
was it Jacob, that leaned on his staff and worshiped, worshiped
God. Because God has given us faith.
What a gift, what a blessing from God. Let's bow in prayer.