Well, it is good to see you again
this evening. It's good to be home. The Lord
gave us good, good meetings in California. My own heart was
refreshed by the preaching of the gospel, fellowship with God's
saints and other men who labor in the gospel. And folks in California,
Brother Gene, his wife, and the other pastors send their greetings
to you. Now the Lord willing next Sunday evening, Brother
Cody Groover and his wife Wynna and their children will be with
us. Cody will preach for us Sunday night and Tuesday night. I'll
preach to you Sunday morning and Sunday night and Tuesday
night I'm gonna kick back and listen to somebody else so you
can look forward to that. Turn with me if you will tonight
to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. The purpose
of this chapter is to not only give us great examples of faith
so that we might properly esteem men and women of faith who have
lived before us, and that we might find both inspiration and
a pattern by which we ought to walk in this world, but by the
examples given, we have plain clear instruction into the character
of true saving faith. Four times in the scriptures,
we read the just shall live by faith. How desperately those
words need to be understood in this day. Our faith in Christ
is as essential to our salvation as his death as our substitute. Our faith in Christ is as necessary
to the everlasting salvation of our souls as God's elected
purpose of grace in divine predestination. It is as necessary that we believe
on the Son of God as it is that we be called and born again by
God the Holy Spirit. Faith is not something that is
optional. Faith is vital to salvation. The scripture says the just shall
live by his faith. Now faith is not our Savior.
Christ alone is our Savior. Faith does not merit salvation. Christ alone merits salvation. Faith does not cause God to save
us. We can't cause God Almighty to
do anything. But faith is the sure, certain,
inevitable result of God's saving operations in us, and upon us,
and with us, and it is absolutely necessary. I love the way the
scripture reads in 2 Corinthians 5, as Bob read it just a little
bit ago, that God has wrought us forward. Now we would read
that or we would write that out and say as God has wrought in
us or God has wrought for us. But the scripture says God has
wrought us. He has worked us to believe. He has caused us to believe. But believing we live by faith. Now be sure you understand this
doctrine. We must believe on the son of
God. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Sometimes people get theological
notions in their head and they get the idea that since God's
sovereign, since God's sovereign predestination secures the salvation
of his people, since election is true and Christ's redemption
has purchased everlasting salvation for us, then God's elect are
going to be saved whether they believe or no. Oh, no. Oh, no. God's election secures our salvation. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall never see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. Faith in Christ, however, is much, much more than people
imagine, especially in this day of such religious frivolity and
nonsense. Most people you talk to about
faith, Regrettably, I have to say, most people I meet, even
in solid gospel churches, when they talk about faith, talk about
an experience yesterday. They talk about something that
happened a long time ago. They talk about the time when
they came to believe. They talk about the time when
they came to trust in Christ, the time when they came to believe
on the Son of God. Whether it was yesterday, this
morning, or this afternoon, it's something in the past. It's a
past event. A good illustration of the way
most people think about saving faith is just this. Ralph Barnard
told a story about a Sunday school teacher in a church he pastored
years ago in Texas. He said a little boy in the Sunday
school class asked his teacher, this is shortly after the Second
World War was over, said, teacher, do you reckon Adolf Hitler might
be in heaven? And the teacher's response was
this. We can only hope. that he was saved when he was
a little boy. Now that's a pretty good description
of how most folks think faith is. We hope that since folks
make a profession of faith, then they're saved, no matter what
the outcome is, no matter what the consequence is. The scripture
does not teach that the just shall come to an experience of
faith. The scriptures teach that those
who have received God's free justification by faith, live
by faith all the days of their lives. The scriptures never say
the just shall live because he made a decision for Jesus when
he was a little boy, but rather the just shall live by faith. Now here in our text this evening,
Hebrews chapter 11 verses 13 through 16, we see that all who
live by faith die in faith. So Preacher, can you be sure
of that? Absolutely, absolutely. We must persevere. And if we're
God's, we shall. Those who are born of God shall
die in faith. Just as surely as we live by
the grace of God, believing him, we will die by the grace of God,
believing him. This is what the scripture says.
The righteous shall hold on his way. He that hath clean hands
shall be stronger and stronger. This is what the book says. The
Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord,
endures forever. Forsake not the work of your
own hands. Listen to this. Even to your
old age, God says, I am he. And even to whore hairs will
I carry you. I have made, I will bear, even
I will carry, and I will deliver you. Turn to, hold your hands
here in Hebrews 11 and turn to Jeremiah 32 for me. Jeremiah
chapter 32. I want you to see this. The matter
of whether or not God's people will persevere is not a matter
of question at all. It is a matter of absolute certainty. And yet we must persevere. Do you understand that? We're
kept by His grace. And all who are born of God continue
in His grace and continue following after Christ, continue believing
Him all the days of their lives. Yes, they fall. They fall seven
times a day. They fall and are raised up again
by His grace. They err in all things. They
continually acknowledge and confess their sin. But the believer is
a man, a woman, who lives in faith and dies in faith. Here in Jeremiah 32, here's the
promise of God's covenant. Verse 40, I will make an everlasting
covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do
them good. Now you can put in there any
extenuating circumstances you may. You can put in there any
experiences you may. God Almighty says concerning
Bobby Estes, I will not turn away from you to do you good,
no matter what. Read on. But I will put my fear
in their hearts, my reverence in their hearts, and they shall
not depart from me. God won't allow it. You see,
the house that is built upon the rock, Christ Jesus, shall
not fall no matter what the storm. Those to whom the Son of God
gives eternal life shall never perish, no matter what may oppose
them. The gifts and callings of God
are without repentance. They will never be taken away.
The sons of Jacob shall never be consumed, because the God
of Jacob changes not. The seal of God's Spirit can
never be broken. The merit of Christ's blood can
never be denied. The power of God's grace can
never be destroyed. And the purpose of God's love
cannot be overturned. Now let's just hold our Bibles
open this evening to this passage in Hebrews 11, and let me look
at the passage with you line by line. There's a message here
that ought to be helpful to each of us. Hebrews 11, we'll read
verse 13 through 16. These all, every last one of
them, died in faith, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them. and embraced
them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they
seek a country. And truly, surely, certainly,
if they had been mindful of that country from which they came
out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they
desire a better country, that is in heavenly. Wherefore God
is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for
them a city. All right, here's the first thing,
a question. Who are these people of whom the apostle says, these
all died in faith? Perhaps it is proper to think
that he is speaking only of those believers who were the children
of Abraham who lived prior to the flood, during the patriarchal
age. Perhaps he's only referring to
Abraham, Sarah, and their immediate descendants. But I think that
places a limitation that is not warranted by the text. The Apostle
is here talking to us about all of those who he has spoken of,
as well as those of whom he shall yet speak, who died in faith. The faith in which all these
believers died is that faith that's defined for us in verses
1, 2, and 3. It is that faith which is the
substance of our hope. That is the revelation of the
gospel. We now have hope and we have it because we believe
the gospel God has revealed in us and to us. It is that faith
which is the evidence of things not seen. The evidence of things
hoped for and the substance of things not seen. That is our
faith in Christ. Believing the testimony of God.
Believing on the Son of God. We who believe now have evidence
that our names are written in heaven. that we were chosen of
God in everlasting love, redeemed by the blood of his darling Son,
and called by his Spirit. Our faith is the fruit of those
things and the evidence of those things. It is that faith which
gives us understanding, an understanding of all things. Hold your hands
here and turn back to Proverbs 28 for a moment. Do you remember
what the wise man tells us back here? We read it earlier this
week. Proverbs 28. Verse five, evil men understand not judgment. Now you can read that, they understand
not righteousness, they understand not justice, they understand
not judgment. They don't understand what God's
doing. I spoke to a lady this week,
very intelligent lady, and she was asking me about things that
bother her. There's so many, so many derelicts,
so many people who experience such great difficulties. How
can you say that God rules everything? Evil men, unbelieving men, understand
not judgment. They don't understand. But they
that seek the Lord, They that believe understand all things. This is exactly what Paul tells
us in 1 Corinthians 2. We have the mind of Christ. We
have been taught by God the Holy Spirit, so that though the natural
man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, Because the
foolishness to him, the spiritual man, judges, he discerns everything. He's given an understanding in
the ways of God. So that by faith, we see that
the world's refrained by the word of God. By faith, we understand
what God reveals, because believing God, we see with clear eyes that
have been given to us by God himself. We're told here about
Abel. These all died in faith. Abel
was one of them, but Abel was murdered. Yeah, but he died in
faith. He died in faith. You see, it
really doesn't matter how I die, when I die, or where I die. It really doesn't matter. I have
some thoughts that I think would be kind of nice, but it really
doesn't matter, and I don't know what's best. The only thing that
matters is that I die in Christ, that I die in faith. For precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Death is
not something for the believer that is to be looked at as a
terrible dread, but rather it is that which is the natural,
no, supernatural, consummation of a life of faith. We will at
last come to the end of our pilgrimage, and when we do, we will lay down
this body which has served us well in this pilgrimage, but
must be put aside, and we will enter then into our heavenly
land of rest, into the blessed Canaan that pictures for us that
heavenly rest that's ours in Christ Jesus. This faith which
Abel had, in which he died, is the faith by which he received
witness that he was righteous. He, believing God, received witness
from God that he was righteous. The very same faith we have.
If we believe God, Bob, we receive witness that we're righteous.
Faith doesn't make us righteous. Faith contributes nothing to
our righteousness, but faith receives witness by God the Holy
Spirit, sprinkling the blood of Christ on our souls, that
we are now just, justified with God, because we believe Christ
who has justified us. We receive witness that we're
righteous before God. Look at the text again in verse
5, Hebrews 11, 5. Talks about Enoch, but surely
Pastor Enoch can't be included among these who died in faith.
Oh, I think you can. I think you can. But Enoch didn't
see death, we're told in verse five. No, he didn't. Neither
shall you if you believe God. Oh, his body didn't see death,
and ours will, unless the Lord comes before we finish our pilgrimage
here. But we shall never taste death.
We shall never see death. We shall never experience death.
Do you remember what our Lord told Martha? When she said, she
said, Lord, I know my brother's gonna rise in the resurrection.
Turn back there, John 11, 25. God's elect will not die. Now often the scripture speaks
about believers dying, but always when you read the scriptures
and it speaks about the death of the believer, if you read
carefully, you'll see plainly that there are things said about
death that cannot strictly be true concerning any believer.
These bodies sleep, but we're not sleeping. These bodies go
to the grave, but we don't go to the grave. These bodies will
decay and rot, but we'll not decay and rot. These bodies will
cease to live, but we will not cease to live. Look at John 11,
25. When Jesus answered her, he said
to her, I am the resurrection. The resurrection is more than
a doctrine. I am the resurrection. I am the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead. Now we were dead. Yet shall he
live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe that? Do you believe? Never die. Never die. So when
the scriptures use the language of death to talk about a believer
leaving this world, it is only using language to accommodate
our feeble understanding of things, talking about what's going to
happen when we quit living down here. It's not talking about
death, not in reality. Enoch walked with God by faith,
and we do too if we're his. Enoch had this testimony that
he pleased God by faith. Not a testimony that other men
looked at and said, now there's a man who pleased God. That would
not do Enoch one smidgen of good. But he had testimony from God
that he pleased God. Now that's good. When God Almighty
smiles on you and you know that God smiles on you, it doesn't
matter if the whole world fails. But without faith, it's impossible
to please him, we read in verse six. For he that comes to God
must believe that he is, and that he's the rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. Like Enoch, if we believe God,
we shall soon be translated to heaven. being absent from the
body, we shall be present with the Lord. Yes, these bodies must
die. These bodies must go to the grave
unless the Lord comes beforehand, but we shall never die. And then
we read about Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob who dwelled
with them by faith in tents as pilgrims. They also died as believers,
expecting the fulfillment of God's promise. These all died
in faith. Because they were born of God,
they believed God. Because they believed God, they
died just like they lived, believing God in faith. Now look at what
the Holy Spirit tells us about all who lived by faith and died
in faith. That which is true of these is
true of all who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What
did these people do of whom the Holy Spirit says these all died
in faith? We don't. First he tells us what
they didn't do. They died in faith not having
received the promises. They hadn't received them. Now
they had heard them, and they had believed them. And in that
sense, they had received them, but they had never yet received
the fulfillment of the promises. They received them as promises
from God, and said to their hearts that God is true, believing God. They believed the revelation
God gave of himself, and believing those promises, they walked with
him. They walked with him as strangers
and pilgrims in this world. They had not yet seen the Lord
Jesus Christ and the accomplishment of redemption by him. And that's
exactly what the promises were all about. Now, there were promises
concerning earthly things. Yes, there were promises that
included the giving of the land of Canaan and all the blessings
of that land and the overthrow of the enemies of that land.
And Joshua tells us in Joshua 23, the Lord fulfilled every
one of those carnal promises to Israel before Joshua left
the sea. But the promises go far beyond
Canaan. The promises go far beyond diving
out the Hittites and the Perizzites and so on. The promises talk
about God's grace and God's salvation flowing to sinners in Christ
Jesus. They had not yet seen him who is the seed of Abraham
in whom, through whom, and by whom all the nations of the world
would be blessed. But they received them. They
had God's word and God's promise just like we do. They didn't
have it in full, no. No, no, they had pieces of it.
They had portions of it. Line upon line, God gave it to
them. He gave it to them by word of mouth for generation after
generation after generation. Father, the Son spoke of the
promises. And we know that the promises
were crystal clear. As I've said to you many times
in Genesis 15, When Abraham worshiped God, when it's declared that
he was justified before God, when faith, the object of his
faith was imputed to him for righteousness, Abraham offered
the very same sacrifices later required in the law. How come? Because he had learned. He had
learned from all the way back to Adam how men approached God
through the blood of Tomb of that substitute who is represented
in these sacrifices. These men died in faith, having
not yet received the promises, but they believed them. They
had the same record we have, and they believed the same way
we believe. We have a fuller record. Would
to God we believe more fully. Without question, faith, this
faith is a gift of God. But we must never ever look upon
faith as a speculative, inactive or dormant thing. It is not.
Faith is a living principle and faith does some things. Do you
hear me now? Faith is a living principle.
It's not a notion in your head. It's not an acknowledgement of
facts, though it involves those things. Faith does some things. James said, you say you have
faith, show me your faith by your works. Abraham believed
God, and because he believed God, he offered up his son. He
left Irv County, and he offered his son as a sacrifice. Rahab
believed God, because she believed God, she hid the spies. Faith,
laying hold of God's promise. Faith, taking God at his word. Faith, setting to its seal that
God is true. Walks before God and does certain
things. Look what we're told here. First,
they saw God's promise, God's promises afar off. They saw some. They saw some. And Rex Bartley,
if you and I believe God, there's things we see, things that nobody
else sees. The hearing eye or the hearing
ear and the seeing eye and the believing heart, these are God's
gifts. And all who are called by grace are given the hearing
ear and the seeing eye and the believing heart. Abraham believed
God and believing God he saw the promises of Pharaoh. Isaac
believed God and believing God he saw the promises of Pharaoh.
These who died in faith saw by divine revelation that the Lord
Jesus Christ, the sinner substitute, the son of God, the seed of woman
would come at God's appointed time and accomplish God's appointed
purpose of grace and redemption, bringing the blessings of grace
and salvation to his people. The Lord God gave them eyes to
see and they saw. Like Abraham, the father of them
that believe, they all saw Christ's day and were made glad when they
did. They were persuaded of them.
Persuaded. They saw what God revealed and
they stood convinced. Has God convinced you of anything?
I mean, really. Has God convinced you of anything?
I hear people talk about things of God and they talk as though
they're not convinced of anything. God's people know some things.
They're persuaded. Paul said, I know whom I had
believed. We know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the
living God. We know and are sure thou art the Christ. We know
whom we had believed. We know that in him is wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We know his voice
because we're his sheep. God's people stand persuaded,
convinced. I am persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And
then seeing God's promises afar off, being persuaded of them,
they embrace them. Oh, what a word. They embrace
them. Faith received. The understanding
was persuaded and the heart embraced, loved the revelation of Christ
in the promises. I really like the way old John
Trapp explained this. Listen, I'll paraphrase him a
little bit. Trapp said, they kissed Christ
in the promises and were kissed by him in the promises. being
drawn together by mutual dear affection. The Lord Jesus kisses
his bride with the promises he makes, and they kiss him in the
promises they embrace. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them. Now look at this,
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth. The blessings promised were the
objects of their confident hope, joyful expectation, and invigorating
affection. Therefore, they confessed they
were strangers and pilgrims. They didn't go around all through
Canaan and all through the wilderness wanderings, all through Egypt,
waving flags and saying, look here, I'm a stranger. They didn't
go around button-holing folks saying, won't you come be a stranger
with me? But they confessed they were strangers. How? How? Not
only in their worship of God and in their acknowledgement
of him, but in their life of faith. When Abraham sent his
servant to fetch a bride for his son Isaac, he said to his
servant, now you come here and you swear to me You swear to
me that you will not bring my son back down to Calvary. You swear to me you won't do
it. He said to those in the land of Canaan, let me purchase a
burying place for my wife and for me. Not an inheritance, just
a place to put our bodies when we leave this world, because
we're strangers here. Jacob, certainly he did go back one
time But God saw to it that he didn't stay. But this confession,
this confession was made by David as well. David said, Hear my
prayer, O Lord. Give ear unto my cry. Hold not
thy peace at my tears, for I am a stranger with you. I'm a sojourner
as all my fathers were. So you see this being a stranger
was not just applicable to those who walked through Canaan. It
goes far beyond the time when Canaan had been given as an inheritance.
David said concerning God's people, we are strangers before thee
and sojourners as were our fathers. Our days on earth are as a shadow
and there is none abiding. We're strangers here because
our home is somewhere else. And the man who's in a strange
land knows he's in a strange land. Nobody has to tell him. His home is somewhere else. We're
pilgrims here because we're just simply passing through. We're
just passing Being strangers and pilgrims
in this land, we recognize that our conversation is in heaven,
from which we look for the Savior, who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. A.W. Pink had some very good observations
on this. Let me give you just a few of
them. He said, in a strange land, a
man is not appreciated for his birth, but rather is avoided
because he's a stranger. Look at that stranger. Who is
that fellow? He sure dresses funny. He's just
a boy. The habits, ways, and language
of the land where he's passing through are all strange to him.
He has no contentment with anything in the foreign land, but rather
he continually inquires after his way. Lord, show me the way. Show me the way. And unless he
conforms to the ways of that foreign country where he's a
stranger, he will be easily identified. Everywhere I go, and I always
think I don't have much of a southern accent. Man, I go to Chicago,
folks think I'm from Alabama. California, I don't have to hardly
say anything more than hello or howdy, and oh, you must be
from the south. How come? Because I haven't managed
to pick up anything that would just utterly destroy the accent
of my homeland. There are things by which I am
easily identified. And this is what he's telling
us. Unless we conform to the ways of the foreign country,
folks everywhere will identify us as strangers. And the man
who's a stranger in a foreign land He's often assailed with
homesickness. Because his body, his heart is
never where his body is. Is your heart where your body
is? Oh no. Oh no. Not if we're strangers
and pilgrims here. Now look at verse 14. Here the
Holy Spirit draws his own conclusion to this confession. For they
that say such things Declare plainly, they seek a country. Now let me give you a definition.
That word country, there's a far, far better translation, a far
more accurate translation. The word is fatherland. They
seek a fatherland. Fatherland, that's where their
father dwells. The fatherland, that's the land
the father possesses, owns, and holds, not for himself, but for
them. The fatherland is the land where
the children want to live, have a right to live, and seek to
live. They declare plain land. They
seek a fatherland. All right now, look at verse
50. Because they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth, they
chose not to go back to Cawdee. I've already told you about Abraham
and Jacob. They could have gone back to Cawdee at any time. He
wasn't very far away. We don't read in the scriptures
of any hindrance or obstacle anywhere that stood in the way
of these believing men going back to Cawdee. The only thing
stood in the way is they didn't want to. They didn't want to. They had no inclination to. They
had no desire to. How come? Because they believe
Christ. Hold your hands here and turn
to John 6. I'll show you a parallel. John 6, 65. You're familiar with
it. After our Lord got done preaching,
we're told in verse 66, from that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. In verse 67, then said
Jesus to the 12, will you also go away? Now listen to Peter's
response. Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Go where? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. We believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, that Christ, the Son of the living God. Oh
no, they didn't go back because they had seen him who's better.
They believed him who's better. They embraced him who's better.
But what do these things tell us about God's people in this
world? Look at verse 16, I'll wrap this
up. But now they desire a better country, that is a heavenly,
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he
hath prepared for them a city. All who know God by faith, live
by faith, Desiring, yearning for, painting after a better
country, a heavenly country. We long for a land where everything
is better than anything we can see here. Everything's better. Very dear friend of mine lost
her husband A while back, I saw her this week out in California,
Nadine Stracker. He's 70 some years old. Don't
know if I can get by with saying that, but they've been married
a long, long time. The last several years of their
lives, most of the time that I knew them, he was invalid,
suffering horribly. And we chatted a little bit this
past week, and she said, oh, I wouldn't have him back like
he was. I wouldn't have him back like
that. How come? He's in a place where everything
is better. Everything. Everything. Everything. Children of God,
we're going to a place where everything's better. Why hold
on to anything here? You understand what I'm talking
about? Wherefore, for this reason, God is not ashamed to be called
their God. for he hath prepared for them
a city. Now here is the inconceivable
greatness and glory of our fatherland. I have to acknowledge plainly
my highest concepts of what heaven might be fall indescribably short
of what it is. But this I know. Heaven's glory is a land prepared
specifically for us, the people of God's peculiar glory. In preparing
this land for us and bringing us home to it, the Lord God,
now listen, in preparing the land for us and bringing us into
it, the Lord God fully answers all the hopes expectations and
desires that are aroused in our hearts and minds by him calling
us his people and himself our God. What can this mean? God says they shall be my people
and I will be their God. Now, when he gets done, He will
answer every expectation, desire, and hope those words arouse in
us. When we are at last brought home
to glory, we will, as we behold that which we now see only afar
off, we will be compelled by the experience of it to say, Now I understand. Now I understand what God meant
back before the world began when he said they shall be my people
and I will be their God. And that's what makes the Father's
land a better land. Amen.