Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 11? I've entitled this message, What
Faith Does. What faith does. Let's begin reading in verse
33 of Hebrews chapter 11. Now, the who is a reference to
everyone he had mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, and he mentioned
quite a number of the Old Testament saints. And he said, 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 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 a trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned They were sawn
asunder, were tempted, 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 the 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 without us should not be made perfect. Now, look at the things that
faith does. That's a remarkable passage of
Scripture, isn't it? I admire these people who by
faith did these things. I want to consider what faith
does from this passage of Scripture. But before we consider what faith
actually does, we first ought to consider what faith is. It won't do me good to know what
it does if I don't know what it is. So what is faith, the
faith spoken of in this passage of scripture, that people would
go through these lengths because of the faith that they possessed? What is faith? I want to make
sure I have the same faith, don't you? I want to have the faith
these people have. What is faith? Well, look in chapter 12, verse
2, looking unto Jesus. The author and finisher of faith. And notice the word hour is in
italics. It wasn't in the original. Whatever
faith is, Christ is the author of it. And Christ is the finisher
of it. He's the source of it, and he
is the completer of it. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, By
grace, you say through faith and that not of yourselves. That
faith, it's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now, you and I do not understand
what faith is unless we see clearly that it's a divine gift. If you believe, you know there
was a time when you didn't believe. And you do now. And you know
the reason you have faith is because He gave it to you. Don't
you just know that? If you have faith, you know the
reason you have it is He gave it to you. You couldn't come
up with it on your own. You tried to believe, but you know you
can't try to believe. You either believe or you don't. As long
as you're trying to believe, you're not believing. Faith is
the gift of God. It's a supernatural gift, and
you can't really understand faith until you see it is a gift. Now, what is it? The first time
faith is mentioned, the first reference to faith in Scripture
is found in Genesis chapter 15, where it says, Abraham believed
the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness. That's
what faith is. It's believing The Lord made
a promise to him. The Lord said, Abraham, you look
at the stars. Can you count them? So shall your seed be. At that
time, Abraham didn't have any children. Sarah's womb had been
closed. But he believed what God said. It's that simple. It's believing
what God has said. He didn't have any evidence.
He couldn't say, well, all he had was the fact that
God said it. He couldn't see anything. He didn't have any
children. And he didn't have the ability to have children.
And Sarah didn't have the ability to have children. Sarah had already
gone through menopause. Her womb was dead. He couldn't
see any evidence that this would take place except for the fact
that God said it. And he believed. He believed. I hate that saying, God said
it, I believe it, that settles it. No, no, no. God said it,
and it is eternally settled. Now, I believe that, but my believing
it doesn't have anything to do with it being settled. God said
it. It's settled. Look in Hebrews
chapter 11, verse one. Now, faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, I have
a hope. A hope is a confident expectation
with regard to the future. I have a hope that when I stand
before God in judgment. He's going to look me over. And
he's not going to see any sin. He's going to see me perfect,
righteous, justified, sanctified, just like Christ. That's my hope. Now, faith is
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. Now, I can't see that I'm justified, you can't see that
I'm justified. You can't see that I'm perfect before God.
All you see is a man, a sinful man, a weak man. You can't look
at me and say, he's perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.
Well, what's the evidence that I am then? Faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Do you believe the gospel? Are
you relying on the Lord Jesus Christ as your righteousness
before God? That's the evidence that you are righteous before
God. Faith is believing the gospel. Faith is believing what God has
said. Now understand, faith is not
something you decide to exercise. You don't decide to believe. I've tried. You don't decide to believe.
The only time you believe is when you have no choice. You believe because it's so. And you really don't have any
other options. That's when you believe. If you're deciding to
believe, you've never believed. Faith is not a choice. It's not
a decision you make. You believe when you can't do
anything but believe. You don't have anywhere else
to go. You don't have anywhere else to look. That is faith in Christ. You look to Him only. Now, faith
is the most powerful thing in the world. It is the saving grace. By grace are you saved through
faith. Simply believing what God said. Believing that Christ is all
you need to make you accepted before God. And you're holding
on to that. By grace are you saved. Believing
that salvation is all of grace. And not of your works. Believing
that by grace, you say, through faith. That not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. And it is the most powerful thing
in the world. It links us to omnipotence. You know, what I'm saying is,
do I believe it when I say it? I hope I do. But you know what
the Lord said? The Lord said all things are
possible to him that believeth. That's the words of the Lord.
All things are possible to Him that believeth. Paul said, I
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Faith
is such a powerful thing, not that the faith itself is powerful.
It's an instrument. That's all it is. It's the power
of God that's powerful. It's not faith, strictly speaking,
that saves me. It's Christ that saves me. Faith
believes that. Faith rests in that. And faith
links me to God Himself. Now, that's how powerful this
thing of faith is. It's the most powerful thing
in the world, and you can't take that too far. Without faith,
it is impossible to please God. The just shall live by faith.
Faith is the evidence that God's done something for you. It's
the evidence that God loves you. It's the evidence that Christ
died for you. As many as were ordained to eternal
life did what? Acts 13, 48, they believed. As
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. What is the evidence
that Jesus Christ has died for you? You believe the gospel.
If you don't believe the gospel, I can't give you any hope. If
you believe, that's evidence that Christ has done something
for you. How do I know that I have the new birth? Faith. Faith. Faith is the evidence that you've
been born of God and were kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. Now, we cannot emphasize enough
the importance and the preciousness of faith. And that's a faith. Believing God. You know, the
greatest thing that can be said of a human being is that they
believe God. That's the highest state you
can come to. You can't come to it unless God
enables you to. I realize that. But oh, to be someone who simply
believes God. Now, this faith works. This faith is very powerful. In Christ Jesus, circumcision
doesn't avail anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Now, what I want us to do is
look at this passage of scripture that I read initially. There
are eleven things That the writer to the Hebrews tells us that
faith actually does. Back in Hebrews chapter 11. Verse
33. Who, through faith. Subdued kingdoms. Now, the first thing faith does
here is it subdues or it conquers or it gets the victory. What kind of victory? Turn to
1 John chapter 5, verse 4. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Now the world he's speaking of.
This is greater than any military victory. Look in 1 John 2. You're
already there in 1 John. Look what he says in verse 15. Faith overcometh the world. What
world is he talking about? He says in verse 15, love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, The desire
of fallen sinful nature, the lust of the eyes, being concerned
about what men see, being controlled by the fear of man and what they
think rather than what God thinks. The pride of life, self-righteousness
is not of the Father, but is of the world. Now, this world,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Believing the gospel, I'm not
overcome by these things. What's that mean? Let me tell
you exactly what it means. I want you to listen real carefully.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was being tempted by the devil, he
first attacked him with the lust of the flesh. He'd gone 40 days
without eating. And the devil said, if you're
the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. And
he said, it's written. Thou shalt not live by bread
alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
He tempted him with the lust of the flesh, and Christ defeated
him. There's my victory. There's my victory. Next, he
tempted him with the lust of the eyes. He brought him up on
that top of that temple. He says, if you're the Son of
God, Prove it. Let us see it. Give us a demonstration.
Prove it to us by jumping off because the scripture says the
angels will catch you. Prove it. Let us see. He wouldn't do it. He said it's
written you should not tempt the Lord God. God said this is
my son. That's all that's needed. I don't
need to prove anything to you. He didn't have to prove anything
to them. He was not defeated by the lust of the eyes trying
to impress people. And then the pride of life, the
devil brought him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world.
And he said, all this is given to me, I'll give it to you if
you'll fall down and worship me. He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't
do it. He defeated the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. And you know who
else defeated when he did that? I did. Every believer did. Here's a great example that when
he said to John the Baptist, right before his baptism, he
comes up to John the Baptist and he came to be baptized. And John the Baptist said, you
come to me to be baptized. I need to be baptized today.
And the Lord said, suffer to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. So when he defeated the devil,
I did too. Faith conquers. Next back to
our text in Hebrews chapter 11. This is the victory that overcomes
the world. Even our faith. Now look what it says next. Verse 33, who through faith subdued
kingdoms. Secondly, faith through faith,
they wrought righteousness. They wrought, they worked out
righteousness through faith, they wrought righteousness. Now,
what's this all about? Well, the Scripture says he that doeth
righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. You have
to be righteous to work righteousness, don't you? Now, look at Hebrews
chapter 11, verse four. By faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. That's what God said of him.
He offered this more excellent sacrifice, and God testified
of this man. He's righteous. Now, it doesn't
simply say that righteousness was imputed to him, although
it was. It says that he in his person was Righteous. Now, how's that? Because I know
the meaning of myself. I'm nothing but sin, and I know
that as sure as I'm talking to you. So what does it mean to
be righteous and to work righteousness? Because it says by faith, they
wrought righteousness, they worked righteousness. What happens?
Well, this is what happens. When God saves somebody, he gives
them a new nature. That's what the new birth is.
A holy nature. What is it that loves God? My
old nature? No! My new nature. What is it that serves God? My
old nature? No! My new nature. Now, here's
an example of this. It would be Lot. Lot. If you look at Lot, Find me one thing about him that seems to be righteous as
far as looking at it in the Old Testament account. Yet the New Testament account
speaks of his righteous soul that was vexed by their unlawful
deeds. He was given a righteous nature. And that righteous nature works
righteousness. Now, the best way I can, I can
understand this. A believer is righteous by imputation
of believers, righteous by impartation. And the best way I can understand
that is by considering what happened in the garden. Adam sin, Adam
fell and his sin was imputed to me so that I became guilty
of what he did. That's what the scripture teaches.
But not only was his sin imputed to me personally, his evil nature
was imparted to me. And that's why I'm born into
this world with a sinful, evil nature. His sin was imputed to
me. The sinful nature was imparted
to me. Now, in the same manner, Christ's
righteousness His perfect obedience is imputed to the believer and
his righteous nature. Scripture says we're partakers
of the divine nature is imparted to the believer in the new birth,
a holy nature. And that is the nature that works
righteousness. And this is only realized through
faith. Through faith, they wrought righteousness. And next it says, back in our
text, in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 34, who through faith subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, the precious
promises of God. Now, I'd love to think of the
promises of God, but the promises of God are, they're the unconditional
promises. What's an unconditional promise?
That means He said it, and it's done. There's nothing I've got
to do to make it fulfilled. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. That's an unconditional promise.
By grace, you're saved. That's an unconditional promise.
Not you'll be saved yet. The unconditional promises of
God are the I wills and thou shalt. Because He wills it, it's
going to take place. And then there are the conditional
promises. What are those? Ask, and you'll
receive. All right, I'm asking. Seek,
and you'll find. All right, I'm seeking. You promised
I'd find if I seek. Knock, and it shall be opened
to you. Okay, I'm knocking. These are
conditional promises, but whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. There's a conditional promise. Whosoever shall call,
Lord, I'm calling. Save me. All of these promises
that faith receives, obtains. I hear these unconditional promises
in the Bible. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. I lay hold of it. I believe it. I believe that all God requires
of me, I have. I believe that because of his
unconditional promises, it can't get any better for me than it
is right now. You believe that? And by faith,
we hear something like, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. You know what we do? We call on his name.
Lord, save me. Save me by your power. Save me
by your holiness. Save me by your justice. Save
me by your grace. All your glorious attributes.
Faith obtains the promises. Oh, the precious promises of
God. I'm so thankful for them. And
then what it says next in verse 34 of our text, or verse 33,
next faith stops the mouth of lions. Stops the mouth of lions. Now that is a reference, you
know, to Daniel being put into the lion's den. And I love thinking
about this. Can you imagine being lowered
into a den of hungry lions? Lowered down into that pit, and
there he is, and they don't touch him. They were roaring and so
on, but they don't touch him. They were kept from touching
him. And he comes back out of that pit the next day. I love
reading that passage of scripture. Darius saying, O Daniel, thy
God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee. He says,
live, O king. And oh, the king was so happy
because he couldn't figure out a way to get him out of the lion's
den because the law couldn't be changed. That's a beautiful
gospel story. But here's the point. Here's the point. Humanly
speaking, what chance did Daniel have to get out of that lion's
den alive? Humanly speaking. Hungry lions.
A helpless, weak man brought in. There was zero chance. Zero
chance. But through faith, that which
would have happened, didn't happen. Faith stops. stops the mouth
of lions and stops a whole lot of other things. Through faith,
that which would have happened, didn't happen. And next he says
in verse 34, faith quenches the violence of fire. And I have
no doubt that's another reference to something that took place
in Daniel. You remember when, when those fellas Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego, the king said, if you don't bow when you hear
the music, you're going to be cast into that a fiery furnace. Now, I'm giving you an opportunity.
And who's the God that's going to deliver you from my hand?"
And I love the way they replied. They said, well, they said, our
God's able to deliver us, but let it be known, we're not going
to bow. We're not going to bow. We'll
go into the fire before we do that. And then they take those
three courageous, faithful men, courageous and faithful by the
grace of God, throw them in the fire. What happens? Nothing. The fire doesn't touch them.
And the king looks in and he sees another. He said, didn't
we throw three in? But I see four. One made like
unto the Son of God. The Son of God was with them
in the flame. It quenched the violence of fire. Faith quenches. Ephesians chapter
6 verse 16 says, Above all things take the shield of faith, whereby
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Now, say no to temptation. Don't give in. Doesn't work, does it? Doesn't work. The only thing
that quenches temptation is looking to Christ. And the temptation
leaves. You never pull yourself up by
your own bootstraps, I'm not going to give in, no. No, the
only thing that quenches temptation, the harder you try to Fight against
it the worse it gets. The only thing that quenches
temptation is looking to the Son of God, looking to Him only. You look to Christ and the temptation
leaves. It's not that you licked it or
beat it or overcame it. You just look to Christ. It's
only faith in Christ that quenches temptation. Next, it says in our text, In
verse 34, they escaped the edge of the sword. Faith escapes. Hold your finger there and turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This is what faith does. I used to dislike this verse
of scripture before I knew what it meant. It troubled me. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, There
hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be attempted
above that which you are able, but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. And
what is that way of escape? Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. Faith escapes. Back to our text. Verse 34, quench the violence
of fire, escape the edge of the sword out of weakness. We're
made strong. You know, Paul said, when I'm
weak, then am I strong. Faith doesn't operate through
human strength. It only operates through human
weakness. Not strength, but weakness. Oh, would to God that you and
I could learn what that means. Out of weakness we're made strong. Turn to Romans 4. Romans 4. Verse 17. This is speaking of Abraham,
as it's written, I've made thee a father of many nations before
him whom he believed, even 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 100 years old,
neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb, that's complete weakness,
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. Out
of weakness, he was made strong. You find me one weak sinner in
this room. I mean, you really believe that
you have no strength, no spiritual strength, completely impotent,
unable. And I'll show you somebody who
the mighty power of God is on. And he's giving you that look
at yourself in order to trust him as your salvation. Oh, when
you're weak, when you have nothing. It's easy to trust Christ as
your Savior. But when you're strong, that's
when all the confusion comes. Out of weakness, they were made
strong. Daniel 10, 32 says, They that
know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Oh, strengthen
me with might in the inner man. Their faith makes strong. Now, let's go on reading back
in Hebrews chapter 11. They wax valiant in fight, turning
to flight the armies of the aliens. Faith makes one courageous. They
wax valiant in fight. Now, how is it that faith makes
one courageous? I can tell you exactly how faith
makes one courageous. If God be for us, who can be
against us? The Lord is my helper. I will
not fear. what man can do unto me. If you
really believe the Lord is for you, you can't be afraid of a
man. Not really. Not really. I know
that we realize that apart from God's grace, we will be controlled
by the fear of man. But by his grace, believing that
he's for us, Not afraid of men. We're courageous
in that sense. We will confess Christ, regardless
of the cost, by His grace. If we believe, He's for us. The Lord is my helper. I will
not fear what man shall do unto me. Turn to Psalm 27. Let me
show you that in the Scriptures. You see, faith is a very powerful
thing, isn't it? All these things that it does.
Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war should rise
against me. In this will I be confident.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. Simply be found
in Christ. all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in
the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the
secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me. He shall set me upon
a rock, and now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies
round about me. Therefore, when I offer in His
tabernacle sacrifices of joy, I will sing, yea, I will sing
praises unto the Lord." Faith makes one courageous. And back
to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 35, women receive their
dead raised to life again. We have several instances of
that in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Women receive
their dead raised to life again. But here's the point I want to
make about this. I like this word reception. Faith is the
receiving grace. is the receiving grace. Now, all we have, we receive. I love that passage of Scripture
in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7, where Paul says, who makes
you different from somebody else? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Now, if you received it, why
do you glory as if you didn't receive it? Faith is the receiving
grace. Faith receives, let's put it
this way, faith is the hand of the beggar that receives charity. That's what it is. All that God
gives you, you receive, and you receive through faith. And this act of reception, false
religion tries to make this as the cause of salvation. You received it, that's why you're
saved. You know, when you see a picture
in the paper, Would you see headlines? Beggar receives charity. Isn't
that wonderful, that beggar? No, not at all. The reception isn't the act of
salvation. There's no salvation apart from
reception. We receive all of his blessings. We take him as
the empty hand that receives what he gives. Faith is the receiving
grace. Believers are receivers, as many
as received him. To them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Faith receives God's blessing. And next it says in verse 35,
And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they
might obtain a better resurrection. Faith won't sell out. It won't do it. And when I say
that, I know, and you know about yourself, that if God removes
his hand from you, you'll be just like Peter. You'll deny
that you even know the Lord. You know that. But that being
said, he gives you the grace. You won't be turned. You'll die for what you believe. These people did. Look what it
says about them. They 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 imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawed
asunder. They were tempted, were slain
with a sword. They wondered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom
the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
mountains and dens and caves of the earth. They wouldn't sell
out. They chose this direction instead
of selling out. They would die for what they
believe. And this is how powerful faith is. Would you die for the
gospel you believe? Now, I realize, I realize that
you know, apart from God's grace, you won't. But do you also say,
by His grace, I will. This is a gospel worth dying
for. Then it says in verse 39, And
these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received
not the promise. Now, they obtained this good
report, not because they were willing
to let their bodies be sawed in half rather than deny the
gospel. Not because they died for what they believed. Not because
they were not willing to sell out in any way. This is not how
they received this good report. They received this good report
through faith. If you read about Sarah, When the Lord came and told Abraham
that she was going to have a child, what did she do? She laughed. She didn't believe. And then
the Lord said, why did she laugh? And she even lied to the Lord
and said, I didn't laugh. Yet when God gives testimony
regarding her in the New Testament, By faith, Sarah received strength
to conceive seed. Moses, he goes out and watches his kids,
or watches his brethren. When he's somebody in Egypt,
and he sees somebody mistreating one of his brethren, and he murders
him. And he's scared to death by doing
that. And he hides the man's dead body
in the sand and flees in fear. And yet when God gives the New
Testament testimony of this, he says, by faith Moses didn't
fear the wrath of the king. You see, the only way you and
I are going to get a good report card is by faith. Now, I hope
by the grace of God, we can exemplify everything in this passage of
scripture. You know, I want to be somebody
who quenches the violence of fire and out of weakness is made
strong and waxes courageous. I want all those things and you
do too. But those things don't have anything to do with me getting
a good report. My good report comes from Christ Jesus, my righteousness
before God. That's the only thing. That's
the only thing. And I love to think of Lot. Lot, if you read the Old Testament
account of him, name me one good thing that you see. As a matter
of fact, if it wasn't for the New Testament, people would say
Lot couldn't have been saved. He couldn't have been the way,
I mean, when he was in Sodom and they were getting ready to
pull him out, he lingered. He didn't want to leave. He stayed
there. And the angel had to yank him out. When he's given that
opportunity to take a well-watered plain or the bad one, you know,
he let Moses have the bad one, I'll take the good one. I mean,
everything about him seems so fleshly. Yet when God speaks
of him in the New Testament, He says, just Lot. And he speaks of his righteous
soul. Now, how could that be said of
a man like Lot? Same way it can be said about
me. Faith. That's the good report. Believing
the gospel. This is all simple faith. Believing Christ is my righteousness
before God. It's the highest attainment.
And I want that faith to cause me to live just like these people,
don't you? Faith works. And a faith without
works is dead. being alone. I want this faith
that works just like this. But these people obtained a good
report through faith. And listen to me. I don't care
how sinful you are in and of yourself. If you believe the
gospel right now, you stand before God without sin. Is that good news? by faith, they obtained this
good report. So what does faith do? It subdues,
it works righteousness, it obtains promises, it stops the mouth
of lions, it quenches fire, it enables to escape, it makes strong
out of weakness, it makes courageous, it receives promises, it doesn't
accept deliverance, it gives a good report. Thank God for
this faith. Oh, that you and I might exemplify
the faith that we read up here. Let's pray.