I want tonight, if God will enable
me, to give you one statement, just one plain statement, and
then I'm going to try to reinforce it every way I can. Here's the
statement. Faith is enough. Let her sneak in. Faith is enough. Now, I hope I don't need to remind
any of you, but you won't mind me reminding you that when I
speak about faith, I'm not talking about the idea of believing something
or somebody. I'm not talking about the idea
of faith in faith. I'm not talking about anything
similar to what you will hear the politicians and the media
when they talk about faith, about people of faith, or the doctors.
Doctors will tell you with surveys that people who have faith, they
get along better when they're sick than folks who don't. They
mean folks who have faith in stumps, or folks who have faith
in medicine, or folks who have faith in some kind of a concept
of God, or folks who have faith in faith. That's not what I'm
talking about. When I say faith is enough, I'm
talking about that faith that's described and illustrated in
this book. I'm talking about that faith
which is the gift of God Almighty, faith which believes God, just believes God, faith that
surrenders to Christ the Lord, trusting his blood and his righteousness
alone for acceptance with God, recognizing him to be Lord, and
recognizing that he who loved us and gave himself for us, being
Lord over all, does all things well. I'm talking about faith.
Faith that's a gift of God's grace, yes. But don't ever think
about faith as being some sort of a dormant, idle, passive thing. It is not. Faith seeks to be
passive in the sense that faith seeks to bow to Christ in all
things. But faith is not a passive, idle
thing. Faith is very much an act. just as much as breathing is
an act. It involves decision. It involves will. It involves
choice. We recognize, yes, no man can
believe God by nature. No man will come to Christ by
nature. But you won't believe unless
you choose to. You won't believe unless you want to. You won't
believe unless you are resolved to. Faith is very much an active
thing that God puts in us. It is a part of a new nature
created in us by the gift of God's Spirit. Now, when Paul
describes faith for us, one of the best descriptions of faith
is not a description at all, but rather a constantly repeated
illustration, repeated in the lives of men and women in Hebrews,
the 11th chapter. We come tonight to the very last
paragraph of this chapter, verses 32 through 40. In the previous
31 verses, Paul has given us names and acts by which he demonstrates
faith. And he shows us how that Abel
believed God, how that Abraham believed God, how that Sarah
believed God, how that Enoch and Noah and Moses all believed
God and what they did believe in God. But now we come to some
things that seem to be almost out of joint. Paul comes to bring
this thing to a conclusion, and rather than following any kind
of a systematic order, he lunch together several people who believe
God, but he seems to have selected them randomly. He doesn't follow
any kind of chronological order. doesn't follow any kind of sequential
order in things and he did so deliberately by divine inspiration
because his purpose was not to focus our attention on the individual
acts of faith which these men performed but rather he shows
us a broad picture of faith using these men and the examples that
follow these men in this paragraph to show us how faith works in
our lives in this world for the glory of God. That's beginning
in verse 32. And what shall I say more? What
more can I say to convince you of the necessity of faith in
Christ? What more can I say to convince you of the blessedness
of faith in the Son of God? For the time would fail me if
I had more to say. I read this chapter and I think,
boy, there's a whole lot of chapters you left out. I'd sure like you
to have described some other characters and acts of faith
in a little more detail than what you did here. But Paul said,
time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Baruch and of Samson
and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets,
who through faith subdued kingdoms. wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies
of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised
to life again, and others were tortured not accepting deliverance,
that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had
trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were stoned
asunder. They were tempted. They were
slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted. tormented, of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts, and
in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth. And these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they with us should not be made Now faith in Christ is not what
people think. It is certainly not what the
world thinks. It is not what the religious
world thinks. It is not what is being promoted and has been
promoted the last 30 years in this country by preachers all
over the country. These days people tend to think
that faith in Christ is manifest by some kind of a tangible superiority,
some kind of a visible distinction that we can look at and say,
now there's a man who believes God. Look what his faith has
done for him. We're told everywhere that we
have great faith. We will have great success, great
wealth, great health, great prosperity, and so on. These health, wealth,
prosperity preachers have built religious empires by teaching
their heresy. but it is utter damning heresy. Now listen carefully, I'm not
choosing my words at random. Every word such men have to say
about faith is heretical. Every word they have to say about
faith is contrary to this book. Every word they have to say about
faith is not fit to be heard, much less believed. They make
the God of heaven to be reduced to nothing more than a dispenser
of gifts to gratify the lust of men on this earth. That's
all the religion is. It is the gratification of lust,
and it's promoting the gratification of lust. You believe God, he'll
give you whatever you want. Faith is, it's like a blank check. What is it you want from God?
Just fill in the amount. God will give it to you. You
just have to believe enough. Nothing could be further from
the truth. nothing more contrary to the spirit of the gospel,
nothing more contrary to the word of God. People are led to
believe that faith in Christ is synonymous with prosperity
and therefore that any failure in business, any sickness of
body, any earthly trouble, any earthly woe, those things are
outside the purpose of God and somehow they are beneath the
dignity of true faith. So you must have some problem
with your faith if you experience these things. How many times
have you heard folks in recent days, in light of the things
happening in this country, September the 11th, and following preachers
and others that talk about, oh, you can't say God has anything
to do with this. This is outside God's purpose.
This, this is, this, this, oh no, no, no, no, no, you can't
talk about these things in the purpose of God. Because in their
opinion, in their minds, the God they worship has no power
and no ability except somehow He's just a big treasure chest
and if they can unlock His will, then He'll give them lots of
treasures and that's all that it does. Faith is made to be some sort
of an elusive secret by which you can join an elite club of
Christianity that will promote a Hollywood lifestyle and everything
just a bed of roses. Now, you who know God will verify
what I'm saying. Such teaching just flat contrary
to our experience. That just is not so. But our
experience is no basis for faith. Such teaching is contrary to
every statement in Scripture concerning faith. Holy Scripture,
in fact, teaches us and our experience confirms exactly the opposite. Faith in Christ is just as active. Indeed, it is made manifest only
in the midst of difficulties, trials, circumstances that are
just distasteful, painful to endure. Faith is proved not to
God and not to other people. to ourselves only when it's tested. Only when it's tested. There's
no difficulty to say, well, I believe God when
you've got plenty of money in the bank, kids are all, they're
just nice and pleasant, well married, education's over, grandbabies
are doing fine, everything's just the way you'd want it, just
the way you'd plan it, everything's going fine. That's no trouble believing God.
Difficulty believing is when everything Bobby Estes runs exactly
opposite of what you want. I mean everything. When nothing
seems to go the way you planned. when everything seems to be turned
upside down and that life, that world that you once thought you
so much held in your hand and controlled by your power and
your ingenuity suddenly is just out of kilter. Everything's out
of kilter. Now then, do you believe God
or don't you? You'll soon find out. You'll
soon find out. takes us through rivers of woe. Read the book of Isaiah. It takes
us through the fiery furnace of affliction, over the great
high hills of difficulty, through many stormy seas, through much
adversity. And if we believe God, he will
prove our faith in the furnace of affliction. He said, I've
chosen you in the furnace of affliction. Faith, you see, is
a conscious dependence upon the infinite character, indescribable
goodness, and matchless grace of God Almighty. Faith is conscious dependence,
willful, deliberate, conscious dependence upon the infinite
goodness, infinite power, infinite grace,
and infinite wisdom of our Heavenly Father. Faith understands that
we are depraved men and women, plagued still with sin, full
of personal weaknesses, vulnerabilities, inadequacies, and horrid unbelief. Faith in Christ looking to God, looking out of
ourselves, all together out of ourselves, will carry God's elect
through every imaginable situation on this earth. So, boy, I wish I, I wish I believed
God that strongly. That's not the issue. That's
not the issue. The issue is not how much you
believe, it's who you believe. It's who you believe. The issue
is not how firm your grip is of him, it's whether or not he
holds you. The issue is the object of our
faith. Faith will carry us through every
possible earthly difficulty and bring us at last into heavenly
glory because Christ is the anchor of our souls, both sure and steadfast,
and he's already entered into the veil. and how Lord Jesus
Christ gives us comfort as the object of our faith. We have
been made more than conquerors through him, not in ourselves,
but through him who loved us, redeemed us, intercedes for us,
holds us by the hand of his omnipotence, and rules the universe for us.
The world may look upon us, indeed it does, as pathetic, hopeless
people. People whose lives are marked
by tragedy, whose lives are total losses, utter failures. Man,
look at him. I always did suspect those folks. Look at that. That'll show you
what their faith is. Look at that. Look. Just as exactly
as the whole world did with the Son of God when he hung on the
tree. Exactly the same. But while the world laughs and
derides, while the unbelieving religious
world around us, lost in idolatry, boast of their faith and ridicule
ours, faith, believing God, mounts up on the wings of eagles and
carries us through our darkest hours in the midst of loss, adversity,
and pain. with peace and confidence in
God. Hold your hands here in Hebrews
11. Let me show you one more time what the prophet says in
Isaiah chapter 40. Read the whole chapter. Read
it real often. The Lord God say, why don't you
believe me? Why don't you believe me? Why don't you believe me? And this is what it says in verse
31. They that wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. What? Wait? That's what faith does. Faith doesn't act so much as
wait for God to act. Faith doesn't do so much as wait
for God to do. Faith stands still and waits
for God to perform His salvation. Faith looks to What are you doing,
Don? What are you going to do about
this? What are you going to do? Oh, God, give me grace. I'm going
to wait on Him. I'm going to wait on Him. They
shall renew their strength. How many times, my brother and
my sister, has your life nearly been shattered and your strength
withered like a piece of wet spaghetti just go. And you thought,
I can't go on. And God graciously turns your
eyes out of yourself to himself. Yes, I can go on. Oh, yes, I
can. They'll redo their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. Now look at this. They shall
run and not be weary. They shall walk and nothing. They run in the way of his commandments,
they walk in the way of his providence. They run in the way of his commandments
and never weary themselves of obedience. And they walk in the
way of his providence and do not change. The dark way, the
rough way, the narrow way, the straight way, the constricted
way, they walk in the face of everybody. And
don't turn back, back up, because they're waiting on God. They
believe God. We tend to measure far too much
by mundane earthly things. We measure far too much by the
level of creature comfort we're able to achieve for ourselves
in life. We get a little certain level
of what men call success. And it's amazing how we always
measure our level by somebody else's level. The measurings get pretty low. And when we think we've done
something somebody else hasn't done, got something somebody
else hasn't got, arrived at some place somebody else never been,
then we count ourselves successful. What short-sighted goals we set. men and women who are made to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Think themselves somehow, something. If they're a little bit bigger,
a little bit better, have a little more than somebody else and get
folks to smile at them once in a while. Boy, let me tell you
about next part. Let me tell you where he came
from. Let me tell you what he's done. Man, he's somebody. Look at him. Boy,
I sure would like to be one of his friends. And we just all,
boy, look how they talk about me. You see, worms of the earth always
feel best in a good, warm pile of manure. And that's all we
are. And that's all our carnal lust
all the things we grovel after by nature are. The reality is faith in Christ,
I hope you hear this, faith in Christ Rex has absolutely no
connection with any of those things. I mean no connection. There is no point at which you
can say faith and health, faith and wealth. Faith and fame. Faith and happiness. Faith and
prosperity. Faith and domestic tranquility. Faith and peace. All go together. Can't be done. No connection
at all. A preacher, you saying God's
people don't enjoy those things? Oh, no. No, no, no. Many of the
characters Paul has described in these 40 verses in Hebrews
chapter 11 enjoy great prosperity and great position and great
honor. But faith has no connection with those things. Let me show
you some things that are revealed here about faith. We'll just
sort of glance at these verses tonight, come back to them again,
Lord willing. First, understand this. Faith
is elevating. Faith is elevating. Faith causes
men and women to live above the world. And I'm not talking about
live, you know, above the way the world lives so that if everybody
in the world wears hand suede jackets, you don't dare wear
one, you wear denim. Or if everybody in the world wears denim, you
don't dare wear denim, you wear something else. I'm not talking
about living above the world and since the religious world
talks about it. I'm not talking about that at all. I'm not talking
about making a show of religion. God, I'd get folks to understand the
one thing our Lord commands us not to do, Bob, is show our faith.
He commands us not to show it to anybody. Don't try to. Don't
try to. As soon as you try to show it,
you're just showing them religion. You're just showing them your self-righteousness,
your self-righteousness. You're not showing them faith.
Men see faith by you living by faith. That's all. That's all. Don't try to make
a show of things. What do you mean live above the
world? I mean Lindsey, faith causes us to live beyond the
reach of the cares and difficulties and all those things in this
world that make men tick. Let me show you. Turn to the book of Matthew,
chapter 6. Faith in Christ enabled these
men and women to do great things because faith in Christ caused
them to live above the world. to live above time, to live above
their own mundane interest in this world. True faith causes
us and enables us to set our affection above. Here in Matthew
chapter 6 verse 31, our Lord says, therefore, take no thought,
saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? Now, what on earth is he telling
us? Now don't you think about what you're going to put on in
the morning. No, that's not what he said. Don't think about what
you're going to plan for supper tonight, lady. That's not what
he said. What's he saying? Don't give any anxious care to
any of these things. How come? My Father in heaven
knows what I need to wear. He knows what I need to eat.
He knows what I need to cover and shelter my body in this world.
And He, knowing my need, provides my need. Verse 32, for after
all these things do the Gentiles seek. Your neighbors over there
in Junction City, that's all they live for. Your neighbors
over there next to the Country Club, that's all they live for.
That's all they live for. Your neighbors over there in
Gary, that's all they live for. That's what motivates and governs
them in everything they do. That's what folks whose God is
their bed and their floor. We're not like that, Bobby. Not
if we're His. Not if we're His. Look at this. For your heavenly
Father knoweth that you have need of these things, but seek
ye first. Now, let this govern your heart. Let this motivate your life.
Let this be the goal you seek. Let this be the aspiration of
your soul. The kingdom of God and His righteousness. Teach Christ His glory, the interest
of His kingdom, His righteousness. And all these things be added
to you. I've been young and I've been
old. I've never seen the righteous
forsaken their history and begging for it. Have you? I've had a
lot of folks knock on my door. I've had a lot of folks call
here wanting to hand out and we try to help the poor whenever
we can. In any way we can. But I tell you what I've never
had happen. I've never happened 50 years old. I've never had
this happen. I've never seen it. Never heard tell of it. Never
experienced it. I've never met any man or woman
who believed God walking the streets of the bakery. I've never
met him. Have you? Never met him. No such animal. Oh no, God provides
for his own. Faith will see us through. Faith
will carry us through every stage and demand of life and ultimately
deliver us into the presence of Christ himself in the perfection
of glory. Now, that's exactly what these
early first century believers needed to learn in the midst
of their difficulties. And you know what? Wes Roseboom, that's exactly
what you and Don Fortner need to learn now. Faith's enough. That's enough. You see, faith is the one thing that characterizes
all gods alike. You look at this chapter and
you'll see that true faith, true faith, and much unbelief dwell
in the same people. God's people are by no means
perfect. God's people Don't make any pretense about
that. We're not all the same. We all have our difficulties.
We all have the same faith. We have the same hope. We have
the same righteousness, the same redemption, the same heavenly
inheritance, same father, same savior. But we're different.
Look at verse 32. When I read this verse and started
looking at it pretty closely, I thought to myself, why did
he mention these people? If I had been writing in trying
to encourage folks to believe God, I'd have found somebody
who was a little bit better example of faith than Barak or Gideon
or Samson to use as an example. Wouldn't you? I believe I'd have
talked about Caleb and Joshua and I probably would have talked
a good bit, a good bit about Samuel. I probably would have
talked a good bit about David. He mentions them, but Barak,
Gideon, Why these fellows? Why these fellows? Why on earth?
Okay, what shall I say more? For time would fail me to tell
of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, of David and Samuel
and prophets. He's telling us that true believers
are people of great diversity, great diversity, varying personalities. God deals with us individually
and he deals with us as individuals. And faith in Christ, while the
faith is the same, same object, it's in the heart of a different
man when it's involved with the dust heart than it is when it's
in the unborn. And we must not ever try to compare ourselves
with one another. David and Samuel, they don't
appear until we get to the book of 1 Samuel. But these other
four mentioned in this 32nd verse, are all mentioned in the book
of Judges. Baruch, Gideon, such men as this. Now Gideon said,
well, preacher, he was a man of tremendous faith. He was.
With 300 men, he defeated the Midianites and their huge armies.
But he was sure slow to take action, wasn't he? Wait, wait, Lord, are you
real sure what you're telling me? Are you just quite sure you've
got the right man? But Gideon's given us an example
of faith. And I'm a whole lot like it. Baruch, that fellow
who led the charge against the Canaanites, Hesera, went seeking that man with nine
hundred chariots of iron. Gornik. But he wouldn't do it
until Deborah, a woman, promised she'd go along with it. And Deborah said, because of
this, when the battle's done, God's not going to honor you,
he's going to give it to a woman. And he did. Read it in Judges chapters
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. Samson, oh, what a remarkable
man he was. But his whole life, His whole
life is under a dark cloud because of sin. Jephthah, great faith
in that he was a judge used of God to deliver Israel, great
faith in that he did that which was contrary to his nature once
he had vowed to do it, but horrible, horrible, horrible thing. In
rashness, in rashness he took a vow to God. Lindsay avowed
to God that cost him, his daughter, and his family for all generations
dearly. But these are men of faith. Paul,
why do you use such examples as this? To teach us that it's not the
perfection of our faith that God honors, but the object of
our faith. God honors faith because faith
looks to Christ. If you sometimes imagine that
God only honors flawless faith, read the book again. Brother
Lott was a righteous man with many faults. Our father Abraham
was a man who believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness,
but he was a man with much unbelief. Paul, the servant of God, that
man who wrote so clearly about believers walking in love and
patience and uprightness, that man who wrote so plainly about
believers forgiving and forbearing one another, has such a falling
out with Barnabas that we never read of them ever communicating
again. Paul. who teaches us plainly
the absolute freedom of believers from the law and the horrid,
horrid, horrid acts of men who would go back to the law in any
way, goes to Jerusalem and weary of the battle, he takes a vow,
a Jewish vow, just to please some Jews. What? A preacher? Why show us these things? I want
you to understand, my friend, that we're just exactly like
men spoken of in this book. And God purposely uses the examples
he uses of many women who are honored of him to honor him,
to make us understand that in the midst of our weakness, infirmity,
sin, and unbelief, as we look to him, we honor him and serve
him. Faith, you see, in the midst
of difficulties, looks to and believes a God with whom there's
no such thing as limitation. My friend, Brother Harry Graham,
who's now with the Lord, I remember him telling me on more than one
occasion. He'd be instructing me in the
scriptures and then tears began to run down his cheeks. He said,
I wish I could live half as good as I could preach. which I can be of half as good
as what I say I believe. We worship and serve a God with
whom there is no possibility of limitation. Can you get hold
of that? This is the gist of what Paul
is telling us. Look at verse 33. Who through faith subdued
kingdoms. Joshua and David subdued kingdoms. wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies
of the aliens. Oh, no mercy to them. What's
that got to do with us? Believe in God? All the kingdoms of the Prince
of Darkness Rex have been subdued right here. Believe in God, I
too have wrought righteousness, representatively in my substitute,
but that's not all. The Lord God looks upon that
which we do in his name, weak, corrupt, fickle, whatever
adjective you want to use to demean it, as it is. And that
which is done in the name of his son, for the glory of his
son, he calls righteousness, and accepts it as such. Through
faith, these fellows attained us too. Daniel stopped the mouth
of the lion, so his dog. Quench the violence of fire. The flame shall not kindle upon
you any more than it did on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Escape
the edge of the sword. Though mighty enemies roar against
you and would destroy you, you too should escape the edge of
the sword. out of weakness were made strong. Believers, you see, they are
men and women who know something about their weakness. And the more and the longer we
know our God, the more we know our weakness. Sam, the more we're taught of
God, the more we're taught to know our weakness. And it's a lesson we need to
be taught all the time. But when we're weak, I mean when
we're weaker than water, when God makes us to know that
we can't do nothing, then we're strong. It's what Paul learned. It's what it tells us in 2 Corinthians
12. put on the armor of salvation,
and turn to flight the armies of the aliens. Take some notes
about faith. Faith loses nothing by the greatest
of loss. Faith loses nothing by the greatest
of loss. Verse 35, women receive their
dead raised to life again. I just told you Sunday morning
that when a grouper, she received one of her dead was raised to
life again. And we who have buried others
will receive our dead to life again. I recall when I first
met Brother Mahan in 1969. His boy Robbie had just been
killed in Vietnam. And somebody was introduced to
him, or introduced themselves to him, and they asked him about
his family, said, how many children do you have? He said, I have four. I have
three boys and a girl. He said, I have three live in
Ashland, one in the city four square. That's what he talked
about. and others, and Paul doesn't
name them. He's obviously referring to those
in ancient history who are not named in the scriptures. Others
were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might
obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel
markings and scourging jail, moreover of bonds and imprisonments. They were stolen, they were sewn
asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with a sword. They
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and dens and caves of the earth. Who on earth would
inflict such things on people? Who would do that? Who would
do that? who despises our God if they
get a chance. Anybody. Anybody. Shelby and I were driving with
Bill and Evelyn Clark through Scotland several years ago. We
landed in England, took a ferry across to Scotland, got out and
started driving. And we came to a little inlet. I recognize the name of it then.
I've forgotten now. I just read a book. And I asked
Bill as we approached it, I said, would it be a lot of trouble
to stop here? He said, no, why? I said, well, you're probably
familiar with it, but I'll tell you the story anyway. Right here in this bay,
right here, two women back during the days of Bloody Mary were
staked out on the shore. Older woman down close, younger
woman backed up a few feet away from her. They were staked out
there to drown as the tide came in. And all they had to do, all
they had to do to escape death was say the bread is the body
of Christ, the wine is his blood. That's all they had to do. That was all. And the tormentors
were pretty sure that they wouldn't do it. So they thought maybe
as this younger woman heard the other woman dying and what she
had to go through as she gradually drowned. That persuaded her to
recant, but she didn't do that. That she might have a better
resurrection, called faith, called faith. And these all having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise. What promise? Father, live in
here. to live in here. They never yet
got the promise of everlasting life. We just got a little taste of
it. That they, without us, should not be made perfect. Because
faith unites us all. If we're His, we have the same
hope and we will not get the promise till we drop this flesh
in inner glory. Faith's enough. Faith's enough. God give us faith. Faith in his
darling son, for the honor of his name. What do these fellows
tell us? Through all the centuries, when you can have it all, faith
says Christ is better And when you lose it all, faith
still says Christ is better. Amen.