These all died in faith. That's what I've entitled this
message. These all died in faith. These all died. I find myself thinking more and
more about that. The glories of death. The glories
of not being here anymore. being in the presence of Christ,
no sin, perfect conformity to his image. I find myself thinking
more and more about death. These all died. Benjamin Franklin said that there's
nothing certain but death and taxes. He got that half right. I dare
say there have been a lot of people that have managed to live
off the grid and have never paid a dime in taxes. But he got the
other part right. The only thing that's certain
is death. You and I are going to die. Do what we may. We're going to
die. And we're going to enter eternity. Time is so brief, so brief, and we're going to
die. And we're going to enter eternity. And we will either die in faith
or we'll die without faith. Those who die in faith will be
eternally in heaven, perfectly conformed to Christ's image,
worshiping him. No tears, no troubles, perfect
likeness to Christ. Those who die without faith will
spend eternity in a place called hell. God made hell. And that lets us know how evil
and bad sin is, that a good God made hell because of sin. What does the writer mean by
faith when he says these all died I want to do that, don't
you? I want to die believing the gospel. I want to die in faith. Well, look what he said in verse
39 of chapter 10. 38, rather. Now the just shall live
by faith. There are a people that are called
the just. This represents every believer.
They stand before God justified, righteous. When God looks at
these people, there is no sin. He doesn't overlook the sin.
There is no sin. Christ put it away, and they
stand righteous in Christ, the just. And the just shall live
by faith. Now, you know what that means?
The only way they live is by faith, not by works, by faith. Faith, the gift of God, they're
given grace to trust Christ, they believe on him, and they
continue living by faith. The just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, this thing of believing the gospel,
if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him,
but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. but into
them which believe to the saving of the soul." Now faith is, this
is telling us what this faith is they dive in and I want to
dive in this and this is such a wonderful, simple description
of faith. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen. Now what I'm hoping for is what
I've been talking about, standing before God without guilt. Having never sinned. But you have sinned. When I stand
before God, if Christ justified me, I stand before him as one
who has never sinned. perfect in God's sight, perfectly
righteous in God's sight. Now that's what I'm hoping for.
I'm hoping that on judgment day, I'm gonna hear him say to me,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. Now how can he say that
to me? Because Christ did well, and
Christ is good. And Christ is faithful. And what
he did, I did. He took my sin, put it away,
gave me his righteousness, and it's my personal righteousness. Now faith is the substance of
things hopeful. That's what I'm hoping for. And
I love this word substance. It's translated in two other
places, the person and the confidence. My hope is in a person. And my
confidence is in this person. That's why I have this hope.
Faith is the substance, the confidence, the person of things hoped for,
the evidence. I love this, the evidence of
things not seen. Now, I cannot see myself right
now in my experience as standing before God without guilt. I always
feel guilty about something. I always have a cloud over my
head, really, in some respects, always. There's never a time
when that's not being. What's the evidence that I'm
justified? Faith. That's the evidence. It's not
something I see. It's something I believe. I believe that Jesus
Christ makes me perfect before God. I really do believe that.
And the evidence that I do stand perfect before God is I believe
the gospel. I am right now, while I'm talking
to you, relying on Jesus Christ as my salvation. Faith is the
substance, the person, the confidence of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen for. By it, by faith, the elders obtained
a good report. You know what that means? The
Old Testament saints say the same way me and you are, by faith
in Christ. They look to Christ only, we
look to Christ only. Now this is the faith I wanna
die and the faith that every believer to ever live has been
saved through faith. Verse three, through faith we
understand. Now notice it doesn't say we
understand through faith. Through faith we understand.
There's really no understanding until there's first faith. All
man's intellectual abilities and comprehensions of things,
they don't amount to anything, nothing. By faith. We understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God so that the things which are
seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith, we
understand. By faith, verse four, Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous." Now, notice the language of that. It doesn't say God counted him
as righteous, although God did. But the reason God counted him
as righteous is because he was righteous. That is what Christ
accomplished for everybody by his blood. And he understood
that his righteousness before God was by faith. He didn't look
at that animal sacrifice. He knew who that sacrifice pointed
to. Verse 5, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not
see death. And he was not found. People
were looking for him. Maybe his family was looking
for him. Maybe he didn't show up for work one day. I don't
know what happened, but they were looking for him. But he
was not found. He'd been translated right into
heaven. because God had translated him.
For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased
God. Now, does that mean his life was so glorious and good and righteous
that God said, I'm just going to bring him into heaven? That's
the way most people look at it. What about Enoch, man? He was
so great that he just walked right into heaven. Well, he doesn't
give us a chance to think of that because he tells us what
pleased God. It said that he had this testimony
that he pleased God, but without faith. It's impossible to please
God. Why did Enoch please God? Faith
in Christ. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him by faith. Noah, being warned of God of
things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to
the saving of his house by the which he condemned the world.
and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith." You know,
he understood that that ark represented the gospel. Somebody says, how
do you know that? Because he did what he did by
faith. He understood that the only place of safety was in that
ark, just like the only place of safety and security is in
cross. By faith, Abraham, verse eight. When he was called to go out
into a place which he said after would receive for an inheritance,
obeyed. He went out, not knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned
in the land of promises in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. He lived in this world as a stranger,
looking for another city. Verse 11, through faith also
Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was a deliverer
of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful
who had promised. I love this verse of scripture.
If you read Genesis chapter 18, Sarah laughed when she heard
that she was going to have a child she didn't believe. And God said,
to Abraham, the Lord Jesus Christ said to Abraham, why'd she laugh?
And she said, I didn't laugh, she lied right before the Lord.
And you don't see much faith in her actions, but I love the
way the New Testament gives the gospel side of what took place.
Sarah didn't seem very believing, but look at the glowing terms
the scripture speaks of her in. Through faith also Sarah herself
received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered a child
when she was past age, when she was incapable of bearing child,
because she judged him faithful who had promised, therefore sprang
there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the
stars of the sky and multitude as the sand which is by the seashore
innumerable, these all died in faith. Now faith is the saving
grace. Sirs. What must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. These all died in faith. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah. And I love the way they're simply
designated as these. Not one better than another?
Not one more faithful than another? Not one kind of sketchy? These. These. This is a description
of every believer. These. I love the scripture that says, with regard to every believer,
there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female, but you are all one in Christ
Jesus. These. Don't you want to be in
that group? These. And I like the next word. All. These all. All who are partakers
of the common salvation, All who have the common faith, the
faith of God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness. Here's what they all have in common. They all believe
that Christ is all. That's what we have in common.
We really believe Christ is all to God. We really believe He's
all this book has to speak of. We really believe that He's all
in our salvation, that all God requires of us, He finds in His
Son. We believe that and we have that
in common. And of all, of this all, it's said by Christ,
this is the will of Him that sent me that of all which He
hath given me I should lose nothing." Raise it up again at the last
day. These all, these all died, these
all died. They were not exempt from physical
death but the fact that they died in faith lets us know that
while they lived they had faith. And they continued to believe.
And they continued to believe all the way to the end. They
continued. If you're a believer, right now,
you believe that Jesus Christ is your salvation. You believe
that his righteousness is the only righteousness you have.
You really believe that. You really believe the power of his
precious blood actually made you without sin before God. You
believe that. And you continue to believe that.
You don't go past that. You don't go on to something
better. This is the best. There's no improvement in this.
To look to Christ only, it doesn't get any better than that. You're
not gonna get a higher degree than that. That's the highest
degree. Oh, what a blessed thing to continue in the faith, to
continue to look to Christ, to continue to find in Him your
all in all. These died in faith. And what does that mean? That
means when they died, they entered life. Now, people have questioned,
and I don't know the total right answer to this. Well, do we sleep
until the Lord comes back and then we live? Well, he did say
to the thief, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Well,
how is that if we don't have a body? How can that be? I don't
know. Uh, I believe we'll be in his presence immediately.
Uh, because he did say to the thief today, that should be with
me in paradise. And as far as that goes, Elijah
and, uh, Abraham or Elijah and John and Elijah and Moses. spake with the Lord after they'd
been dead a long time and they were really alive because the
Lord said, when people were denying the resurrection, he said, I'm
the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I'm not the God of
the dead, but the living for all live unto me. Every believer
lives before God and we won't be united to our bodies until
the resurrection and we'll have glorified perfect bodies. But
these people all died in faith. But notice it says, these all
died in faith, not having received the promises. What's that mean?
These all died in faith. They died believing the gospel,
but they never received the promises. Now that doesn't mean they rejected
the promises. They didn't receive the promises
in their experience. Abraham was given the land. But
the whole time he was alive, it never was his. He sojourned
in the land as a stranger. I have been given the promise
of perfect conformity to the image of Christ of being already
glorified. I've not experienced it, but
I know it by faith. I haven't received those promises.
Turn back to Romans chapter four for a moment. This will make
this very clear. Romans chapter 4, verse 16. Therefore it, salvation, is a
faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might
be sure to all the seed, not To that only, which is of the
law, but to that, which also, which is of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all." Now, faith means grace. I love that. You look to Christ
only, that means you believe grace. That's how God saves,
by grace. There is no grace apart from
faith. Now let's go on reading verse 17. As it's written. I have made thee a father of
many nations. Now, when the Lord said that
to him, he didn't have any children at that time. And God did not
say, I will make you a father of many nations. He said, I have
made thee a father of many nations. Before him whom he believed, He believed God, who quickens
the dead and calls those things which be not as though they were. who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations, according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when
he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform. Now, he believed God before he
had a child and this is what is being spoken of back to our
text. Verse 13, these all died in faith
not having received the promises. Abraham didn't have a inch of
ground that was his own, he dwelt as a stranger, but it was still
the land of promise to him. It was his, even though he didn't
have a title deed to it, it was his, God gave it to him. Now
look what it says next. They hadn't received the promises,
but having seen them afar off. Now, when Abel brought that blood
of the Lamb, he didn't think for a second that it was that
blood that was going to make him perfect before God. He knew
it's what that blood pointed to, the blood of the coming Lamb
of God. And he demonstrated an understanding
of the character of God. He wouldn't dare come into God's
presence apart from the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
wouldn't do it. He understood something about
his own character because he wouldn't dare come into the presence
of God Apart from the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw
these things afar off. He looked to Christ and who's
coming, we look to him who's already been, but he was looking
to him who was coming and he knew his only ground of acceptance
was coming like that. He knew the only way he could
be righteous is because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He understood that. Somebody said, did the Old Testament
saints believe that way? Yeah. We know that David understood
when he was writing in Acts chapter 2 from Psalm 16, it says, he
knew he was a prophet and he was speaking of Christ. These
Old Testament saints knew this. Abel knew the only way he could
come is through Christ. Let's go on reading. He saw Christ
afar off. Verse 5, by faith Enoch was translated
that he should not see death. he was not found. I love to think
about people looking for him. What happened to Enoch? He's
not here anymore. What happened? He walked straight
into heaven. You see, he had this testimony
that he pleased God and I know that religious people have said,
you know, his life was so holy and righteous and good and so
on that he walked straight into heaven. He was so pleasing to
God. Enoch was just like men you were. just like Abel was
like me and you are, and all the Old Testament characters. He understood his need of Christ,
and we're not allowed to think that because verse six says,
but without faith, it's impossible to please him. That's where,
and he pleased him, he looked to Christ. And it wasn't the
act of looking to Christ that pleased God, it was Christ who
pleased God, and he believed that, he rested in that. He knew
his only hope was being found in Christ. Without faith, it's
impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. Now, I want that to be the description
of me, and I want that to be the description of you. People
who diligently seek Him. That's my life, to diligently
seek Him. Verse seven, Noah saw these things
afar off to by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen
as yet. God said, I'm going to flood
the world. And the only place of safety is going to be in this
ark. He believed God, and he understood afar off that the
only place of safety was in Christ. Now, how did he know that? Same
way you know it. God revealed to him. He knew that the only
place of safety, the only place of salvation, was in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He prepared that ark for the
saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became
heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. He saw these things
afar off, didn't he? And by faith Abraham, verse 8, by faith Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should have to receive
for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether
he went. Now, when he went out, he didn't
just start marching, thinking, wonder where am I going to end
up? He knew God had promised him a seed. God had promised
him a country. And he went out with the full
knowledge of what God promised him. He didn't know where it
was yet, but he knew it was his because God promised it. By faith,
he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with the heirs of the same promise. He never
had this by his own experience, but it was his because of the
promise of God, and he sojourned in it. Verse 11, through Vesera,
also received strength to conceive seed. Now, she was unable to
produce life, but when she was given faith, she was given the
grace to produce life. You see, life, faith is the evidence
of life. And now she believes, and she's
given strength to conceive seed. and was delivered of a child
when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had
promised." Now, do you see how all of these saw these things
afar off? They didn't have the light you
and I had, but they had light. They had divine light, and they
looked to Christ only. They saw these things afar off.
And notice what it says next. Verse 13. These all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them." Now this word persuaded is in
the passive voice. It always is. When you find the
word persuaded in the scripture, that means somebody persuaded
him. You know the reason I'm persuaded? He persuaded me. And if he persuaded me, I'm persuaded. We've already read about Abraham,
he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what God promised, he was able also to perform. Are you persuaded of that? I'll
tell you why you are. It's because God persuaded you.
God Himself persuaded you. That's why you are fully persuaded
that whatever God promised, He has the power to perform. That's what Paul said in 2 Timothy
1.12, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded. I'm utterly convinced that He
is able. Notice that persuasion doesn't
have a, he didn't say I'm persuaded I'm saved. He said I'm persuaded
in His ability. I'm persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. Paul said, for I'm persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. I'm
persuaded too, Paul. They were persuaded of these
things. persuaded of his ability. Hebrews 1.3 says when he by himself
purged our sins. That means he didn't have any
help. That means he didn't participate in this. That means this had
nothing to do with some work you perform. It had nothing to
do with him seeing something you would do. When he had by
himself purged our sins. I'm persuaded he's able to do
that, are you? Hebrews 10, 14, by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. I'm persuaded
in his ability. I'm not persuaded in my ability.
I'm persuaded in his ability. Now not only Did they see these
things afar off? Not only were they persuaded
of them, but look what it says next in verse 13. These all died
in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them. They welcomed them. They gave
them a hug. They embraced as the best news
they've ever heard. They embrace. That's receiving
the gospel as gospel. That's receiving the gospel as
good news. They welcomed these promises. You know, when I hear the Lord
say from his word, it is finished. I embrace that. I welcome that. When I hear the children not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of Him that calleth, I embrace that. I love it that salvation
doesn't have anything to do with my works. I love it. I embrace that. When I hear that
He made peace by the blood of His cross, By Him, to reconcile
all things to Himself. By Him, I say, whether it be
things on earth or things in heaven and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy. and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. I embrace that. I love that. It's good news to me. In Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete,
complete, lacking nothing. I embrace that. He has made us accepted. in the
beloved, I embrace that. Now the only thing that would
keep somebody from embracing any of this is they feel they
don't have a need of it. I need this. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. You know who needs that? Sinners.
Paul said, of whom I am the chief. This is receiving the gospel
as gospel. Look what it says next. Verse
13, These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, they were persuaded of them,
they embraced them, and they confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims in the earth. And this was something they confessed.
This came from their experience. You know, if you know the Lord,
You're a stranger here. You're passing through. This
really is not your home. And you're supposed to feel that
way. A stranger and a pilgrim in the
earth. Turn with me for a moment to
Exodus chapter 33. When Mitch was singing, teach me thy
way, I thought of this scripture, verse 13. Now, therefore, I pray
thee, if I found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that
I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight and consider
that this nation is thy people. And he said, my presence shall
go with thee, and I'll give thee rest. And he said unto him, if
thy presence go not with me, carest thou not hence? For wherein
shall it be known that I and thy people have found grace in
thy sight? Is it not that thou goest with us? So shall we be
separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are
upon the face of the earth. This separation. God made this
separation. But truly, this world is not
our home. We confess that we're strangers
and pilgrims upon the earth. I love the description in Numbers
23, 9, the people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned
among the nations. Now that is true with regard
to all of God's people because he's redeemed us and revealed
himself to us. And see, we see this world that
we're living in has no love for him. no faith. They see no glory in the person
of Christ. They see no glory in the gospel.
We're not at home with these people. in that sense. Now are
you saying you don't care about these people? Of course I'm not.
I want to preach the gospel to everybody. I want to witness
to everybody. I hope you want to witness to everybody and preach
the gospel to everybody. It's our responsibility to do
that. This is not talking about an indifference toward men. I
want to be a faithful witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
to be a fisher of men. I want to see men brought out
of this world into this world, the world to come. We want to
see that. But all that being said, this world, it's not our home. We're strangers,
we're pilgrims. I love Henry Mahan's illustration. If you go into a hotel room You
don't buy a bunch of furniture and put it in there. No, you're
just there for a little bit. And you realize that you don't
make that your home. My home is somewhere else. We
confess, knowing who Christ is, knowing how the world feels about
him, we confess that we're strangers and pilgrims in the earth. Four, verse 14. They that say such things declare
plainly that they seek a country. People who say, this world's
not my home, they're seeking a better place. They're seeking
a country. And truly, verse 15, if they
had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned. They could have
gone back to it. I love what the Lord said to
his disciples when he watched the 5,000 leave. He said, will
you also go away? Peter's answer, Lord, where? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. We've got
nowhere else to go. We got nowhere where we want
to go. We simply want to be found in
him. I don't want to go anywhere else. Do you? I simply want to
be found in him. Like Paul said, Oh, that I might
win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is the law. I don't have anything to do with
that, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness,
which is of God by faith. Now look what he says in verse
16, but now they desire a better. Now that's one of the key words
to the book of Hebrews. You look it up in concordance
and see, I think it's been there 13 or 14 times. They desire something
better. Why is it they want to leave
the world? They've got something better. They've got something
better. Grace is better than works. Gospel is better than law. Salvation by what He did is better
than salvation by what we do. His righteousness is better than
our righteousness. They desire something better. He's the surety of a better covenant
established upon better promises. That's the words of Scripture.
Now, look what it says in closing. But now they desire a better
that is in heavenly Wherefore, God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for he had prepared for them a city. The Lord commented on that in
his last discourse with his disciples when he said, in my father's
house are many mansions. And that's talking about dwelling
places. It's not talking about the size of your mansion. I've
listened to a sermon by a guy and he was actually saying, let's
have good work so we're building up building materials and sending
them to heaven for our reward and glory. And I just thought,
are you? I won't even tell you what I thought, but dwelling places. Here's the point. I go and prepare a place for
you. He's not talking about going
back into heaven and building buildings and dwelling places. I go to the cross to prepare
a place for you. Now, this is the better country
that he's prepared that we long for. Now, while I'm here, while
I'm here, may the Lord give me the grace to walk by faith to
preach the faith, to live the faith, to fellowship with those
who live in faith. But oh, to die in faith, these
all died in faith. May God cause that to be the
history of each one of us. Live by faith, die by faith. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
grace to believe the gospel. How we thank you for the gift
of faith. We ask that we might be allowed
to die in faith. Lord, we know now we haven't
received the reality of those promises. We know we will. Well, our faith will be turned
aside. Our hope will be turned into
experience. We'll see Christ as he is. We so look forward to that. And Lord, we see it now far off. And Lord, we're persuaded because
you persuaded us. And we embrace as good news,
the gospel of your grace, the gospel of your son. And Lord,
we confess we're strangers and pilgrims waiting for your return. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray.