Verse 2 of Hebrews chapter 11. For by it, by faith, the elders
obtained a good report. I've entitled this message Faith's
Report Card. I don't have a lot of memories
growing up for some reason, a lot I just don't remember. But there
is an event that made a big impression on me. All my life I have had a fear
of report cards. They would come out every nine
weeks. And I would be very stressed out over report cards and test
grades. I'm not sure if this was something
in my makeup or a fear my parents instilled in me of failure. I
think it was the latter, really. But I hated report cards. And
I have a vivid memory. Second grade. First spelling
test. I got my paper back, and I misspelled
red. R-U-D. It was the only one I
missed, but I was traumatized over that at the time. I remember taking the paper home, thinking that life as I knew
it would be over. A very grim outlook for any future
happiness. That's the way I felt about this
particular misspelled word. And I can remember walking down
Pritchard Street. And that was the way I would get home from
Pope grade school. There would be a road would go
home. And I had that paper in my hand. And you know, they said,
you got to show your parents. And I was very afraid. And I
walked by this abandoned house. And I stopped. I looked at the
paper. I looked at the house. And I
didn't think I could face the consequences of this bad grade,
first one I ever got. So I wadded the paper up, and
I threw it in the cellar of that abandoned house on Pritchard
Street, and thereby missing the trauma that would take place
over something like that. But the point is, I've always
hated report cards. And I hope that doesn't trivialize
what I want to preach on this example I gave, because in some
respect it does trivialize it. I don't want to do that. Faith's
report card. Verse one. Now, faith is the substance. of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Now, I cannot see my justification. I can't see by looking within,
looking at myself, that I have a perfect standing before God. I can't see that in my own experience. What is the evidence that I do? Well, let me tell you what it's
not. Now, I, I want to bear the fruit of God,
the Holy Spirit, and you do too. I want to be filled by God, the
Holy Spirit with love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, meekness, and temperance. And if I'm a believer, I will
bear the fruit of God the Holy Spirit. Every believer, without exception, does so. But I don't
look at my love as the evidence of my justification. I don't
look at my joy as the evidence of my justification. I don't
look at my peace, my subjective feeling of peace, as the evidence
of my justification. I can't look on any of these
things and say, yep, must be justified. Look how long-suffering
I am. Look at my love. Look at my gentleness. Look at my goodness. Look at
my faithfulness. Look at my meekness. Look at my temperance. I must
be justified. No, the Bible actually forbids
that. If I look on anything other than
faith in Christ to conclude that I'm saved, I'm missing the gospel. Faith is the evidence, not an
evidence, not one among many. Faith is the evidence. of things not seen. Now, for by it, by faith, the
elders, that's talking about every Old Testament believers,
by faith, the elders obtained a good report. a good witness, a good testimony. And this was God's testimony
concerning them. It's not a testimony they came
up with themselves. It's what God testified with
regard to them. The obtaining a good report is
in the passive voice. It's not something they said
with regard to themselves, but it was God's testimony concerning
them. God's report concerning them. Don't you want to have from God
a good report? A good testimony that comes from
Him. Not something you just dream
up. Not something you just come up with. But this comes from
God Himself where He gives this good report. This is every Old Testament believer,
and he begins in this chapter with Abel. Now, somebody may
think, were not Adam and Eve saved? I believe they were, but
the Bible doesn't tell us positively whether or not they were. It
seems to me they were. There's good reason to believe
they were, but the Holy Spirit begins with this man, Abel, when
he begins the example of the elders obtaining a good report.
And he actually named 17 individuals. in this Hebrews chapter 11, which
is called the Hall of Faith, and tells us that God testified
concerning these men and women that they had a good report through
faith. And there's countless others
involved. Look in verse 33 of the same
chapter. These people he speaks of who
through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turning to flight the
armies of the alien. 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
a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of
bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned. They were sawn
asunder. They were tempted, were slain
with the sword. They wondered 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." Now notice it
does not say they obtained a good report because of these imminent
deeds that they did, being sawn asunder, standing firm in the
gospel, which I want for me, I want for you. I want us to
be this way. But that's not how they obtained
the good report, because of their conduct, but because of faith. Now, I want us to understand
what that means. By faith, they obtained this
good Now while, like I said, we admire these exploits, only
one reason is given for their good report, and that is faith. Now these people who were sawn
asunder, what a powerful thing to die for the cause of Christ,
to be sawn in half knowing that You're going to stand for the
gospel. I want to be there, don't you? I want to have that kind
of faith. But right before they were sawn
asunder and died, they didn't think, well, I must be saved
because I'm doing this. No, they looked to Christ only. That's the point. Faith is the
evidence of things not seen. Now, some of the accounts given
by the writer to the Hebrews actually appear contradictory
to what the Old Testament writers tell us took place. We'll get to these in a minute,
but this is prominent, really, in the New
Testament. We have two different accounts,
the Old Testament account and the New Testament account. The
one is the account of the law, the others, the account of grace.
Both of them are true. Let me show you this. Turn to
second Peter for just a moment. I think on some levels, this
is the most poignant of all these examples. Second Peter chapter
two, verse four. For if God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into
chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not
the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah unto ashes,
Condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those
that afterward should live ungodly and delivered just lot. And the word just is not just
lot is just this one justified lot. Righteous lot. He delivered righteous lot. Vexed. with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. For that righteous man dwelling
among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from
day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto
the day of judgment to be punished. Now I want us to notice how God
describes Lot. Just Lot. Righteous Lot. With a righteous soul. That righteous
man. That's God's description of him. Now, if we didn't have this New
Testament account, what would we know about Lot without this? Well, we would know that he didn't
show any deference to Abraham. And he chose the well-watered
plains and let Abraham have the leftovers. That was his action. We know that he seemed to be
a very, what we would call a worldly man, certainly not spiritual. He pitched his tent toward Sodom
and ended up living in Sodom and was away from the influence
of Abraham and the believers. And he When God came to destroy
Sodom and Gomorrah, what did Lot do? He lingered. He didn't want to leave is what
that means. He did not want to leave. And it was only the angel taking
him by the hand and yanking him out that caused him to leave. And what did he do after that?
He became drunken and had incestuous relationships with his daughters.
Now, that's not a very good testimony, is it? It's a horrible testimony. It's certainly not. If you didn't
have the New Testament account, would you think Lot is saved? I wouldn't. Just from the information
the Old Testament gives us, I would not think this man was a believer.
But what does the New Testament say? What does God say? This
is God's testimony. Just lot. That righteous man
with a righteous soul, the godly. That is what God called this
man. Now, one is the Old Testament
story. One is the New Testament story. And they are both true. And this is seen clearly in Hebrews 11. Let's
go back to Hebrews 11. For by faith the elders obtained
a good report. Through faith we understand. Now let me stop right there.
Without faith, I have no understanding. I don't understand this world.
I don't understand anything without faith. Through faith, we understand. 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. I'm going to
bring a single message on that later, but the first person he
mentions with regard to the elders is by faith. Abel, by faith,
we read that 20 some times in this chapter. By faith, Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which
he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying of
his gifts. And by it, he being dead, yet
speaketh." Now, when he offered up that offering, you know what
he was saying? I'm sinful in and of myself. That's all I am.
And the only way I can approach God is through this blood sacrifice. Now, what does God testify? We see what Abel testified about
himself, his own sinfulness. What does God testify? God testified
that he was righteous. Two different accounts, both
true. I love God's testimony. You see, he could not be separated
from that sacrifice. That sacrifice that pointed to
the coming sacrifice made Abel righteous altogether. That was
God's testimony concerning him and that's God's testimony concerning
every believer. They're righteous. Righteous
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, not their own righteousness.
But yes, it is their own. His righteousness is my own righteousness. And that's what was testified
with regard to Abel. Look in verse five. By faith
Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was
not found. because God had translated him.
For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased
God, but without faith, it's impossible to please him. Now,
you know the story. You can read about this in Genesis
chapter five. In it, the scripture says, walked
with God. Oh, I wanna walk with God, don't
you? I want that to be my life, walking
with the living God. He walked. with God. He lived 365 years and he went
straight to heaven without dying. Now somebody says, how could
that take place? I'm not sure, but it happened. He never saw
death. He walked straight into heaven
And he had this testimony that he pleased God. God was pleased
with Enoch. As he walked by faith, God was
pleased with him. Now, men are apt to think, well,
Enoch was such a good person, and he was so pleasing to God,
he kept getting better and better and better, walking with God,
and all of a sudden, he just walked into heaven and pleased
God. God was so pleased with him.
But you know, the writer of the Hebrews doesn't allow us to think
that, does he? Let's look at our text. By faith in it was translated
that he should not see death and was not found because God
had translated him. For before his translation, when
he went to heaven without dying, he had this testimony that he
pleased God, but 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. How did Enoch please
God? By faith in Christ. It wasn't
that, now like I said, I love the way he walked with God. Noah
walked with God. I wanna walk with God. But it
doesn't say he just became so pleasing to God, he just walked
right into heaven by faith. By faith, looking to Christ alone. Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for. Verse seven, 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 which he could end the world, and became heir
of the righteousness which is by faith. Now there is the only
righteousness that God will accept, the righteousness which is by
faith, which is of faith. He didn't become the heir of
God because he built that ark. I'm thankful he did, and that
was an evidence of his faith, to us, but he didn't say, well,
I built this ark, I'm good to go. No, the only way he was brought
into heaven was by the righteousness of faith. Now, what is the righteousness
of faith? Listen to the scripture real
quick, carefully. Romans 4, 5, to him that worketh
not. What's that mean? Just what it
says. You understand that if salvation
is dependent upon anything you do, you will not be saved. Do you understand that? To him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. That's what Christ did on Calvary's
tree. He justified the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. That is the righteousness of
faith. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Oh, I'm thankful that Noah built
this ark, but he wasn't saved because he built the ark. Now
physically he was saved because he built the ark. He would have
been drowned without it, but he was saved by the righteousness
of faith. Verse eight, by faith Abraham. when he was called to go out
into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed. And he went out not knowing whether he went. Now, God called
Abraham when he was 70 years old. And he said, you go out
to a place I'll tell you of. Five years later, he hadn't left. We know that from the account
in Acts chapter seven. He waited till his father, Terah,
died. His obedience wasn't as prompt
as it should have been, was it? Is yours ever? But what does the scripture say?
It doesn't point any of that out. That's the New Testament
account. There's the Old Testament account.
There's the New Testament account. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place which he should have to receive
for inheritance, obey. And he went out, not knowing
whether he went." Look down in verse 11. Talk about Sarah. Through faith, also Sarah herself
received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child
when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had
promised. Now let's talk about the Old
Testament account. The Lord tells Abraham. you're
gonna have a child in a year. Sarah's listening. Scripture says she started laughing.
And it was the laugh of incredulous unbelief because she said, can
I have pleasure being 90 years old and my husband being 100
years old and I've already gone through the time of life? This
is not gonna happen. And then the Lord said, why'd
Sarah laugh? She said, I didn't laugh. Lying
to the Lord. And the Lord said, Nay, thou
didst laugh. Now look at the New Testament
account. Look at the difference. Through faith also Sarah herself
received strength and conceived seed and was delivered of a child
when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had
promised. Two completely different accounts,
both of which are perfectly true. New Testament account, Old Testament
account. verse 20. I'm just looking, we're
going to, we're going to get more in depth with Abraham in
the weeks to come, but look at verse 20. By faith, Isaac, by
faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. Isaac was deceived at this time.
You remember how Jacob and Rebekah fooled him? And Jacob comes in,
he thinks he's Esau. And when he's giving this blessing,
he's being deceived while he's doing it. He pronounced the blessing
on Jacob that he thought he was giving it to Esau. But what does
the New Testament account says? So, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come. Verse 21, By faith, Jacob, when
he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped,
leaning upon the top of his staff. Now, this verse gives us something
that the Old Testament doesn't give us. While he was doing this,
he was worshiping. He worshiped, leaning. Oh, that's what worship is, leaning
on the Lord Jesus Christ. But when he was blessing these
boys, he knew it was because Reuben had lost the birthright
and lost the blessing because of his actions. But yet all the
New Testament gives us is by faith. Jacob, when he was dying,
blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshiped, leaning upon the
top of the staff. Verse 22, by faith Joseph. When
he died, made mention of the departing of the children of
Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones. Now, I love it the
way there's no character flaws brought out about Joseph because
he's such an eminent type of Christ. Beautiful, but yet it
was by faith. By faith, he blessed or made
mention of the departing of his bones. Verse 23. By faith, Moses, when he was
born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw
he was a proper child. And they were not afraid of the
king's commandment. Now, what was the king's commandment? Throw
every male baby into the water. Well, evidently, they had a little
bit of a fear of the king's commandment because they made an ark and
hid him in the bulrushes and waited for Pharaoh's daughter
to find him. They didn't know that was going
to happen. Oh, you don't hear of any kind of fear here. It
says they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid
of the King's commandment. Verse 24, by faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, considering rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
By faith, now look at verse 27. This is why I wanna point out
about this. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath
of the king. For he endured at seeing him
who is invisible. Now you read the Old Testament
account. He murdered a man in fear. He hid him in the sand.
And then scripture says he fled from the face of Pharaoh in fear. What does the New Testament account
say? Nothing like that. It says, by faith he forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as
seeing him who is invisible. Both accounts are true. Verse 31, by faith the harlot
Rahab perished not with him that believed not. when she'd received
the spies with peace. By faith, she perished not. Yes,
she received the spies with peace, and that's the works that prove
the reality of her faith to God, but it was only by faith, believing
what God told her, that she received those spies with peace. Verse 32, and what shall I more
say? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon. Now, what about Gideon? You remember
when God appeared to him, when the angel of the Lord appeared
to him and told him what he was going to do? He needed proof. He needed signs. And he asked
for them. And the Lord graciously gave
him these signs. That was an act of grace. But
when he did do what God told him to do, when did he do it?
At night when nobody could see him because he was scared to
death. The Lord promised him victory, but yet you see this
man and he seems very fearful in the Old Testament account.
But what a great man of faith he was. And then he mentions
Barak. Deborah, he would not fear or
he would not believe what Deborah said. He wouldn't do exactly
what Deborah told him to do. And God said, you're not going
to have the honor of this and was given to a woman who put
a nail in somebody's head instead of him. But yet all it talks
about is his faith. And what about Samson talking
about a flawed character? Read his history. Nothing of
that is mentioned. He's in the great hall of faith.
Jephthah, the son of a harlot. David. How many character flaws
did David have? Samuel. He showed such interest
in Saul when God had rejected him and he just couldn't let
him go. He was the first of the prophets that are mentioned.
And what more shall I say for the time would fail me to tell
of Gideon, and of Brock, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of
David also, of Samuel, and of the prophets who through faith. And then he talks about all these
things they did through faith. Verse 39, these all. every Old Testament believer
to ever live. These all having obtained a good
report through faith. You know, this good report that
every believer is given, It's not like, say, you've read biographies
before, and all the flaws are hidden and not really exposed,
and everybody was just these great people. We're not talking
about a good report like that. We're talking about a good report
that's true. This is the truth with regard to every believer
given by God himself. These all obtained a good report
through faith, Receive not the promise, God having provided
some better thing for us, that they without us should not be
made perfect. Wherefore, now here's where I want to close.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great
a cloud of witnesses. Aren't the worthies of faith
in Hebrews chapter 11 a great cloud of witnesses? And that's
not putting them on a pedestal fleshly. We see their errors,
but we also see the power of the gospel that makes these things
so concerning them. Wherefore, seeing that we're
also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every way and the sin which doth so easily
beset us. Now does that mean everybody
has different areas of weaknesses that bother them more than they
do other people and so the thing to do is set them aside. Well, we should. I want to. But that's not what that's talking
about. That's talking about unbelief. That is the sin that doth so
easily beset us and trip us up. Let us lay aside every weight
and the sin that doth so easily beset us and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us. Now, you and I have
a race set before us. And you know, there's all kinds
of things that are gonna take place that are gonna frustrate us,
disappoint us, even anger us. What does he say
to do? Run that race with patience. How am I to do that? Because
everything that happens, God is the first cause for my good
and his glory. And therefore I am to run this
race with patience. God's on the throne. Is there any reason for worry?
God's on the throne. And here is the good report of
faith looking unto Jesus. Looking. Never stop looking. Looking unto Jesus. The author and the finisher of
our faith. If you have faith, He gave it
to you, and He's going to finish and complete it. He's going to
cause you to persevere all the way to the end. Looking unto
Jesus. Now what does that mean, looking
unto Jesus? Well, I know what it means. I'm
to look to Him right now as everything God requires of me. everything. I'm to look to Him as my surety,
the one who took complete responsibility for my salvation before the world
was. I'm to look to Him in becoming
flesh, becoming a man. and keeping God's law perfectly
for me, being my righteousness before God. I'm to look to him
as the complete payment for all my sin so that I have no sin. He put it away. I'm to look to
him as my intercessor. That's the one who's keeping
me right now. Now, when he's interceding for me, he's not
saying, anything other than he's before the Father, he's my representative.
He's not saying, oh, forgive him again, forgive him again,
forgive him for the hundredth time or the fact, no, he stands
before the Father and nothing else needs to be said. And I'm
looking to him in his return. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. I like the way hour is in italics. Let's read it without the hour.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. Who for the joy that was said
before him. The joy of perfectly pleasing
his father. The joy of doing His Father's
will. The joy of Him saving His people
from their sins. Who for the joy that was said
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame. Do you know, when the Lord Jesus Christ was
made sin before the Father, He felt the full shame of that sin. That's how truly it became his. He felt the full shame of that
sin, but he counted it as nothing. And he sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God, my salvation. The object of my faith
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, having
completed my salvation, and he is protecting me, preserving
me, all the way to the end as the author and finisher of our
faith, looking now into him that's able to keep you from falling
and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy. Faith is looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. By faith, the elders. They weren't saved by works back
then, they were saved the same way you are, by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
good report we obtained from you. You giving us the faith to believe
on your son and looking nowhere else but Him only, as all in
our salvation. Lord, give us the grace, give
each person here the grace to look unto Thy Son, the author
and the finisher of our faith. In Christ's name we pray, amen.