George Whitefield, a man greatly
used of God in our own nation and in England many, many years
ago. He was an itinerant preacher,
horseback traveling evangelist, and God used him tremendously. Everywhere he went, he endeavored
to do good for those around him, to minister to them, so God would
give him an opportunity to minister of the gospel in some way to
those he came in contact with. And on one occasion, it's a true
story, there was a servant girl who worked in the house where
he was lodging. He'd been staying there for several days and hadn't
had opportunity much to speak with this girl, but God opened
the door just before he left. He spoke to her a little bit
and she expressed some concern about her soul. And she got these
words from Mr. Whitfield just before he left.
He said, I urge you, young lady, ask God to show you yourself. And with that, he left, went
about his business, went preaching somewhere else. Some months later,
came back to the same house and was lodged there again. Noticed
immediately the young lady was no longer employed and he asked
his host Where she was what had become of her His host said to
him shortly after you left here. She was so distraught So terribly
distraught. She simply couldn't function
anymore We don't have any idea what's happened to her Whitfield
said would you bring her here? And he talked with her a little
more, and he said, I told you when last we met, you were concerned
for your soul and concerned to know the Lord, and I told you
to ask God to show you yourself. Apparently, he has. Now, I urge
you, ask God to show you himself in his son. And to make a long
story short, she did, and he did. and God saved her by his
free grace. I keep praying that God will
show me myself as I really am. And I keep trying to preach in
such a way that he'll show you yourself as you really are. If ever we are made to see who
and what we are, And as we are continually made to see who and
what we are, if the Lord God will be pleased to show us his
son, we will run to him in faith. I've been looking in the mirror,
this book a good bit today, and I've seen a lot of myself. And
I want to show you something about yourself. And I've seen
a great deal about our glorious Redeemer, and that gives me confidence
in the teeth of all that I am. Hebrews 11 begins with a definition
of faith. I think I can safely say with
confidence this definition of faith is both the shortest and
the best that was ever written. I've read pretty good-sized volumes
typically to explain faith. And sometimes I think many words
just multiply confusion. Here the Holy Spirit gives us
this definition of faith. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. laid hold of God's promises,
though he hadn't yet received one. He had the substance of
it. He had the substance of it. We,
by faith, believe in God, as we believe him, have the substance
of all the fullness of eternal life. It is the evidence of things
not seen. The evidence That is, as we believe
God, this is the evidence that we are his. I cannot read my
name in the Lamb's book of life. I don't know where it is. I cannot
read God's book of election. I don't have eyes with which
to see it. I cannot determine what God's eternal predestination
is. I don't know. I'm not privy to
that information. I cannot read whose names are
written on the breastplate of our high priest. It is not revealed,
except as I believe him. And because I believe him, I
have good evidence that God chose me, Christ redeemed me, the Spirit
has called me, and he's given me faith. And the important issue
is not how well I believe him, though that concerns me. The
important issue is not the quality or the quantity of my faith,
though that grieves me greatly. The issue, Larry, is the object
of my faith. I believe Christ. That's it. What's your hope of eternal life?
That's all. That's all. And after giving
us this definition of faith, the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen, The Apostle Paul, being
inspired by God the Holy Spirit, proceeds to prove the truthfulness
of his definition. And he does so by illustration
after illustration after illustration, example after example after example. The whole chapter, going from
verse 1 right on through the end of the chapter, is designed
to prove that statement. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. the evidence of things not seen.
We often call this, and I've called it many times myself,
a hall of fame. But we tend to, in making such
statements, we tend to put too much emphasis on the men and
women who exercise faith, rather than on the faith which is the
gift of God. Paul's purpose here is not to
lift up the names of these men, but rather to lift up and extol
the grace of God and his great grace in giving us faith in Jesus
Christ. Now, when Paul gets to this last
section of chapter 11, beginning at verse 32, he groups together
examples of faith. And he begins this 32nd verse
by telling us that nothing more needs to be said. There's nothing
else needs to be said to prove the definition that I've given
you of faith. By all that we have seen, it's evident that
faith is indeed the substance of things hoped for. It is indeed
the evidence of things not seen. And that's why he opens verse
32 this way. What shall I say more? What need is there for me to
say any more? Anything that I add to what I've already said would
just be superlative. It would just be redundant. It
would be something that would not contribute anything at all
to the proof of the fact that faith is indeed the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What he's
doing is using a hyperbole. That is, he's overstating what
he wants us to see because he wants us to see it. And after
doing that, he rattles off more examples of faith. He just, he
says in verse 32, what shall I say more? For the time would
fail me to tell you of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David,
Samuel, and the prophets. And he just rattles off these
six more examples of faith. And he's not even done yet. These
examples are all taken from the period of the judges. And these
six examples that are given here clearly teach us at least these
seven things. And I'm going to Just give you
seven statements, seven lessons I hope God will inscribe on our
hearts. They're not new by any means.
They are lessons repeated throughout the scriptures, but lessons we
need to lay to heart. Here's the first one. God Almighty
does not see things as we see them. So that's simple. It's
so simple most folks miss it. and we constantly do. God does
not see things as we see them. He does not judge by the same
light we judge by. He does not consider things as
we consider them. We only judge by what we see
outwardly, because that's all we can see. Consequently, now
listen to me, please hear me. Consequently, our judgment is
always wrong. I don't mean occasionally, I
don't mean once in a while, it's always wrong. I can't tell you
how many times I hear people, I hear preachers who ought to
know better, and I'm guilty of thinking the same. I about learned
to bite my tongue off rather than say some things I think,
but I, well, I know what he's like. Oh, no, I don't. I just don't. All I can see is
what he does and hear what he says. I don't know what he's
like. God does. That's the reason our
Lord warns us over and over and over again. With regard to dealing
with men and women, don't try in the kingdom of God to pull
up the tares and leave the wheat. You'll pull up the wheat and
leave the tares every time. Don't try to separate the sheep
from the goats. You'll keep the goats, hug them
up, groom them, and kick the sheep out every time. Every time. We cannot judge rightly because
all we can judge by is what we see and what we hear. Don't presume
that you know a man's heart or a woman's heart. Don't presume
that you do, you don't. Had any of us been writing this
chapter, I think this is not overstating it at all. Had any
of us been writing this chapter, indeed, had any human being been
writing this chapter from his own knowledge, from his own perspective,
trying to give an example of faith, a real example to give
this definition proof and validity. I want to show you now that faith
is the substance of things hoped for, that faith is the evidence
of things not seen. I'll guarantee you I would not
have written Gideon's name, or Barrett's name, or Samson's or
Jephthah's name in the list. Nor would you. We wouldn't have
done it. We wouldn't have done it. We
would have omitted those folks and we would have picked Deborah,
Caleb, Hannah, and Aesop. In fact, there is far more written,
far more said, far more sermons available to be read and to be
heard on Deborah, Caleb, Hannah, and Aesop than any of these others
that are named here. And yet these are the folks who
are named. That's because all we look upon and judge things
by is outward appearance. The Lord looks on the heart.
I'm going to identify some of the weaknesses of these very
people here this evening. And yet in identifying their
weaknesses for you, I'm telling you that God looks on the heart.
All right, here's the second lesson. It is not our faith. It is not our faith that gives
us acceptance, worth, worthiness, and approval before God, but
rather it is Christ who is the object of our faith. I can't
state this enough. I can't state it often enough.
When the scripture speaks of us being justified by faith,
when our Lord spoke to that woman and said, thy faith has saved
thee, and we use the term saving faith and justifying faith, we
We misstate things somewhat because we misunderstand the implications
or fail to see clearly the implications of how those terms are used in
the scriptures. You see, it is not that woman's
faith that saved her. Her faith brought her the experience
of it. It was Christ who saved her.
It is not our faith that justifies us. It is Christ who is the object
of our faith who justified us. My faith did not die for me.
My faith did not put away my sin. My faith did not accomplish
forgiveness. My faith did not satisfy the
justice of God. My faith did not appease the
holy law of God. Christ did. It is my faith that
brings me into the blessed experience of those things and into the
realization of those things, but Christ alone gives us acceptance
with God. It is the weakness of these men.
the weakness of their faith, particularly Gideon, Barak, Samson,
and Jephthah that gets our attention when we read about them in the
scriptures. And yet, these men are honored of God. They're put
right down here with Abraham, and Abel, and Enoch, and Moses,
and Noah. Gideon is. Barak is. Jephthah is. Samson is. Right there and there
with Abraham. How can that be? Because they
both believed God. They trusted Christ. They stood before God accepted
on the ground of Christ's imputed righteousness and His blood atonement. Now this is what that means,
Bob Ponson. That means that you and Don Fortner stand before
God exactly alike. That means that Don Fortner and
David, the man after God's own heart, stand before God exactly
alike. That means that David Burge and
Jesus Christ, the God-man mediator, stand before God exactly alike. Now get hold of that. It is the
object of our faith that gives us worth before God. We often
hear people speak, and I don't doubt their sincerity, but they
speak far more humbly than they actually think. And I'm not worthy
to do this. I'm not worthy to do that. I
don't feel worthy to serve here. I don't feel worthy to take the
Lord's table. I don't feel, I'm feeling worthy. has got nothing to do with anything.
I'm not worthy to stand here and talk to you in God's name. I'm not worthy to stand here
and talk to you in my name. I'm not worthy to call on God's name
in prayer. I'm not worthy to take the bread and wine of the
Lord's table. I'm not worthy to be a member of this congregation.
Hold up. In fact, just as soon as you
think you're worthy, you ain't. You need to mark it down. Our
worthiness is Christ. We are worthy of God's approval,
worthy to enter into God's presence because of Christ, only because
of Christ. All right, here's the third thing. God's choice of enemy, God's
election, God's purpose of grace. Whether we're talking about choosing
a man's everlasting life, are choosing a man to lead his nation,
are choosing a man to serve the interest of his kingdom. God's
choice of any, God's election, God's purpose of grace has absolutely
nothing to do with what he sees in us. I received a letter, two letters,
yesterday. People asking questions about
election predestination. Now I could understand that if
you're talking about God foreknowing who he's going to save and who's
not going to be saved. In other words, if you're talking
about God looking down through the ages of time and seeing that
eventually old Rex Bartley get tired of running the road and
get tired of doing the things he did all the time as a boy
growing up and get tired of his rebellion and he would just decide
to believe in Jesus without you seeing it. Now I understand that.
That's what foreknowledge election is. But that's not what the book
teaches. That's not what the book teaches.
That's a denial of election. God's election doesn't have anything
to do with what he saw in you. It doesn't have anything to do
with what he saw might possibly be done to you. Oh no. Oh no. You see, Gideon was a poor man
from a poor family. But God chose him to be judge
in Israel. Baruch? Barak was a wimp. He just was. He was a wimp. He was a weak,
timid, cowardly fellow who would not make a decision on his own
and would not act on his own without the leadership of a woman.
Now, he'd fit right into this generation, but not in any generation
where men act like men. Not Barak, but Barak was chosen
of God to deliver Israel. Jephthah. Jephthah, that poor man, the
book calls him a bastard, and there's a reason for that. I
know our society shuns away from that because we don't want to.
We say we don't want to embarrass children. What we want to do
is make people comfortable with their ungodliness. Jephthah was
a man who lived all his life bearing the reproach of his mother's
debauchery, all his life. all his life, couldn't be shaken. He was specifically named as
such as being banned from any position of leadership in the
nation of Israel. The law of God would not allow
it. The law of God said, no, this man can't do it. He had
no father, not this man. Jephthah spent his life in vanity
with vain companions until the day that God called him by his
grace. And God made him ruler in Israel. Samson. Read about old Samson. He was
a rotten, spoiled brat. And he lived like a rotten, spoiled
brat all his days until he finally did something noble. All his
days, he lived as a rotten, spoiled brat. All the way through his
adulthood, he never grew up. He just never grew up. As far as man's vision of things
are concerned, I told you God sees things differently. God
looks on the heart. But David, he was the weakest,
most insignificant of all Jesse's sons, but he was chosen of God
to be king. Of the six who are named in this
32nd verse, only Samuel, only Samuel seems to have been a man
of obvious usefulness. and a commendable character that
such a man that you'd look at him and you'd say, well now there's
a boy he's going to amount to something. That boy I sure would
like to know what he's going to be like in 30 years. He'll
amount to something. I know he will. I've seen fellows
like him before. He's the only one in the bunch
any man would have looked at and said he'll amount to something.
Because God Almighty calls not many wise, not many noble, not
been invited you won't mind looking one more time in first corinthians
one will you turn over there first corinthians chapter one i don't know there's a day goes
by when this passage of scripture doesn't echo in my heart many
times through the day verse 26 you see your calling brethren
that is you see your election That's what the word calling
here refers to. But here you are, chosen of God.
You see your election, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many fellows that men would look at and say, he's
smart, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God has
chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. I'm glad he didn't use the word
confused, he said confound. Just dumbfounded. And God has
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty and base things of the world. And things which
are despised, just the off-scouring, just the scum, just the filth. hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, just nothings and nobodies, to bring to naught
things that are. Why on this earth would God use
a ragtag band of people like this for sitting here for anything?
Why would God use us for anything? Who could ever expect Why? That no flesh should glory in
his presence. If God ever does anything with
anybody, he's going to do it in such a way that you won't
get credit for it. Now you can bank on it. You can bank on it. You can just
bank on it. God's not going to allow flesh
to glory in his presence. If he uses somebody who's smart,
he'll demonstrate clearly what his smartness was used. If he
uses somebody who's got lots of talents, he'll use them in
some way where they don't have any talent at all. If he uses
somebody who's got lots of strength, who stands out among men, he'll
use them in such a way that everybody who looks at him will understand
that that's not what he used. That's not what he used. Fourth
thing, and this is not a lesson many folks have gotten hold of,
and it's especially difficult for us to grasp in our day and
age. Faith in Christ does not prohibit
anyone from honest employment in any field of service to God
and me. Now, be sure you understand what
I said. Faith in Christ does not prohibit
anyone from honest employment in any field of service to God
and me. I stress the way I said that,
because these men were used, at least five of them were used,
in the political realm. How many times have you heard folks
say, I don't believe men can be a Christian, be a politician?
I don't believe men can be a Christian and be in the White House. I
don't believe men can be a Christian and be in the Senate. I don't believe
men can be a Christian and be in government. I don't believe
it could be. I beg your pardon. No, I don't beg your pardon.
You beg my pardon. This book says otherwise. It says otherwise. I have a friend, a very good
friend, out in California. A young black man I met several
years ago. God saved him. And I got chatting
with him and asked him what he was doing. He said, well, I've
been going to schools. I've been in law school. I've
been going to law school. They said, I think I'm going
to quit. I said, why? He said, well, everybody I've
talked to tells me you can't be a lawyer and serve God. I
said, you've been talking to wrong people. I asked him, I
said, now, do you have the ability to do what you're wanting to
do? And he looked a little embarrassed. If he'd been a white fellow,
he'd been turned red, you know, kind of sheepish like. And I said,
that's not That's not a bad question. I don't know how to deal with
your pride, but you know whether you've got the ability to do what you
want to do or not. And do you have it? And he said, well, yeah,
I think I do. I said, let me put you in contact
with some lawyers I know who serve God. The business you've
got to do in your field of endeavor, whatever it is God puts in your
hand to do, do it with all your might and see to it that you
serve God in it. And use what God gives you by
it for his glory and interest of his kingdom. And he contacted
my buddy, they talked, and he's still pursuing that. These men
were seated in positions of government authority. Wouldn't you like
to have such in positions of government authority around here?
Oh, blessed are those people who have governors, presidents,
kings, princes, and rulers who fear God. who believe God, who
have something to give them some footing, something to give them
some backbone, something to give them some stability, so that
when they're faced with difficulties, they have wisdom from on high
to direct them. So you can't confuse religion
and politics. Believers can't get rid of their
religion, neither can anybody else, neither can anybody else.
Those who are gifted of God with faith, are gifted of God to serve
the glory of God and the interest of men and the interest of men's
souls and the interest of nations better than anyone. Better than
anyone. Well, enough of that. That's
my political speech for today. Number five. That which distinguishes God's
elect from all other people is God's distinguishing grace. That's
all. We don't view these men rightly
until we see them in the light of what's revealed here in Hebrews
11. The book of Judges gives us the historic narrative of
their lives. The book of Judges gives us the
historical narrative of their deeds. Hebrews 11 gives us the
light with which to see them as they are apart from others
and to see that which sets them apart from others. Our text speaks of vanquishing
lions, putting armies to flight, subduing kingdoms. Lots of people
have done that. Lots of people have. Other people
have vanquished lions. Other people have put armies
to flight. Other people have subdued kingdoms. Napoleon did
a good bit of that. But their deeds, these other
folks, were deeds motivated and performed by base sensual, carnal,
self-serving interest, no matter how noble that may be written
up in history books. The exploits of Gideon, Balak,
Samson, and David were things performed by faith. They did
what they did because they believed God. They were deeds performed
for the glory of God. Oh, God give me grace, so to
me. It's one thing to be a good husband,
it's another thing to be a husband who believes God and serves his
family for the glory of God. It's one thing to be a good neighbor,
it's another thing to be a neighbor who believes God and serves the
souls of men for the glory of God. These men did what they
did for the benefit of people around them. That which is honored
here, It's not their names. Oh, no. But God, who gave them
faith. How did he do that? God was with
him. How did Barak that same week
do what he did? God was with him. He believed
God. Him? Yeah, God gives faith to whom
he will. And when God gives faith, men believe him. How on earth
did Jephthah accomplish what he did? He believed God. God
gave him faith. Their faith was the gift of God.
Their righteousness was the righteousness of another. Their strength was
the strength of Christ. Strength that is made perfect
in our weakness. And sixth, this lesson we know too well
and ignore too much. God's people in this world are still sinners and we constantly need, we constantly
need His mercy, His grace, and His forgiveness. The one common trait of Holy
Scripture which sets this book apart from all the writings of
men is that God the Holy Spirit faithfully pointedly, accurately
displays for all to see the weaknesses, the sins, the failures, the most
displeasing acts of the most highly honored and respected
men of faith. I recall reading some years ago
someone wanted to paint Cromwell's poetry, and they started to paint
it, and he turned, and he had a bad disfigurement, and he said,
paint me warts and all. That's how God the Holy Spirit
paints his people, and it doesn't offer any extenuating circumstances. He doesn't offer any excuses.
He doesn't pretend these things didn't happen. He just gives
us plain, flat out, honest, factual statement. Just in case you fellas
want to worship Moses, let me tell you about Moses. You want
to worship Abraham, let me tell you about Abraham. You want to
worship Peter, let me tell you about Peter. You want to worship
a man, let me tell you about this man. Because this book would
teach us constantly that our only righteousness is Christ's
righteousness. Our only standing before God
is by his blood. Our only hope of salvation is
his grace. We are all just sinners in need
of mercy. Oh, we ought to deal with one
another that way. These men believed God, but their
faith was far from perfect. They believed God, but they had
a great deal of instability, each of them. They were men who
trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. But they were terribly unbelieving
at times. They were godly men. They were godly men. They were
men who walked with God. They were men who sought his
glory. They were men who served the
interest of his kingdom. But they were sinners. And they all knew it. They all
acknowledged it. Their faith, like ours, was mixed
with fear. A constant war with unbelief.
Weakened by lust and carnal reasoning. You see, there were men of like
passion with us. And men like us accepted into
the line. Men to whom God would not include
sin. Men against whom no charge could
be laid. Men free from the fear of condemnation. Men held in the hands of the
Savior. Let me show you one more thing. One more thing. And this just might be the best
of the seven. always shines brightest in the
greatest darkness. Each of these men lived in days
described in the book of Judges as days of terrible apostasy. When Moses and Joshua had died,
Israel departed from God and worshiped the gods of the heathen
while pretending to worship Jehovah. And the scripture describes those
days as days in which every man did that which was right in his
own eyes. Now I know preachers and theologians
and commentators and Bible teachers all the time talk about every
man does that which is right in his own eyes and compares it
with the immorality of our day. That's not the principle there.
Every man did that which was right in his own eyes Approached
God the way he wanted to, worshiped how he wanted to, where he wanted
to, who he wanted to, and called it worshiping God and said he
was one of God's children. Days of utter darkness. The whole
nation was sunk in darkness and depravity. The whole nation was
covered with gross darkness and ignorance. But God raised up
these men. And you know what? Go back and
read the book of Judges. Go back and read and read the
context around each of these fellows. Gideon was just the man to meet
those Midianites. Kind of looks to me like that day was made just for Gideon
and Gideon was the man made for that day. Boy, I wouldn't want
to live in those days, I would if I was Gideon. Baruch looks to me like Caesara
was raised up just to show us something good about Baruch.
Just to show us what God would do with such a man as Baruch
if God Almighty stretches out his arm. And Baruch was just
the man to put Caesara to flight. Just the man. Just the man. That one thing going to happen
when a fella has got to live like Jephthah did growing up,
one thing going to happen, kind of like naming a boy Sue, he's
going to be tough to deal with. He's just like going to be tough
to deal with. And oh my, Jephthah was just
the man, I mean just the man, to meet God's enemies in his
day. Just the man. just the man to go out against
Goliath. Samuel, just the prophet needed
in that day, just exactly what was needed. You see, when God has a work to do, at
the time he is pleased to perform his work, he has a man ready
and waiting, though he may not know it. prepared to do this
work. And God never leaves himself
without a witness. Never, never. In the darkest
days, all those dark days, those men stood out like bright shining
lights saying, this is the way! Come, follow our God. He alone
is God. Now I stress this. Because we
sometimes get looking around ourselves and we think, well,
what's the use? This day of paganism and idolatry
and superstition and religious nonsense. Oh, what a horrible
day this is to live. Oh, no. I've read a little history, studied
a little history. I'm aware of things, what goes
on. God Almighty didn't make 1902
or 1802 for me. He made 2002 for me. And he made
me for 2002. This is the day God's given us.
The day in which we're to serve him. The day in which we're to
glorify him. And the Lord God Almighty is
not in any way limited in the things that he can do by the
circumstances around us. In fact, I got done preparing this and
I thought, you know what? As far as I can tell, there's
never been a time in history Riper forgot to work. Never been a time in history
Riper for God to stretch out His mighty arm. Never been a
time riper for God to show forth His glory in the exercise of
His grace. In this dark, dark, dark day,
O Lord God, arise and show Yourself great for the glory of Your Son
and the