We're in Hebrews chapter 11 again,
if you'd like to turn there. The writer of Hebrews makes it
abundantly clear that all these patriarchs and matriarchs that's
mentioned Everything that they did, everything that they received,
it was all by faith. It was by faith given to them
freely by grace. And we're given clear and crucial
evidence of what God requires, what God is pleased with. I've
titled this message, What Pleases God? What Pleases God? Let's read Hebrews 11, one through
six. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it
the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which
are seen were not made of things which do appear. 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. 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 is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. What pleases the Lord? What pleases
the Lord? Scott Richardson made this statement
one time, dear brother, he's going to be with the Lord now,
but he said, faith puts the crown where it belongs, on the head
of the Savior. Faith puts the crown where it
belongs, on the head of the Savior. Does not glory in the flesh,
It glories in the Lord. Faith clearly declares, not by
works of righteousness, which I have done. In my hand, no price
I bring. Doesn't give any glory to the
flesh. It's not the righteousness that
we do, but it's the righteousness of Christ that saves us. Faith
believes that if God doesn't choose to intervene, to come
to where we are and intervene, we will die in our sins. And
where he is, we cannot come. Thank God for his gospel. Thank
God for his gospel and how he saved his people from their sin. A songwriter wrote, in love he
condescended, eternal now in time, a life without a blemish,
the maker made to die. The law could never save us,
our lawlessness had won, until the pure and spotless lamb had
finally come to undo all the wrong that I had done. If the
Lord didn't choose to interpose His precious love, as that song
was just talking about, we would be lost. We would be lost. But it was God's choice to do
just that for His people. God chose to intervene. God chose to save His people
from their sin. God chose to condescend and become
a man. So what pleases God? The Lord
Jesus Christ pleases God. The Lord Jesus Christ first and
foremost. What pleases God? The blood of the lamb pleases
God. It's sufficient to wash away
every stain. And lastly, what pleases God? His faith bestowed to his people
pleases him. His faith bestowed. Because the
object of it is his son and the blood. That's the object of faith.
Faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. We have some substance to what we believe, did you know
that? We just can't see it yet. We look through a glass darkly,
but soon we'll see him face to face, be made like him. I want
you to notice something here in verse two. For by faith the
elders obtained a good report. These aren't elders just because
of their age, they were old men, some of them were. These are
men of old. That's what he's trying to say.
The elders would be those that lived before us. But it's important
that not a single work is mentioned that they did. Not a single work
that they mentioned. That doesn't say the elders did
this and obtained a good report. That's not what it says. No,
it says by faith. You want a good report? Look
to Christ. That's a good report. That's a good report. Be thou
of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. I have put away your
sin. That's a good report. The only
way to have that is to have faith and look to the Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. These elders, these elders didn't
talk about what they'd done for God. It talks about To the contrary,
and we know why, because every work that they did was seen as
being done in Christ, just as every believer, and that's what's
important here. Everything we do, we live, we
move, we have our being in Christ. So by the faith that he gives
us, we're doing that by faith unto him. We're being seen as
him, as he is, so we are in this world. The Lord is pleased with
his people because he sees his darling son. He put them in Christ
before time ever began, and he is pleased with his darling son. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Faith is the only way that we
can believe God. Do you know God is unbelievable? Unbelievable
to our flesh. Think about it. He's unbelievable. He's everything that we're not.
He's all-wise, all-powerful, all-knowing. He's omnipotent,
omnipresent, meaning he's everywhere all the time. He knows everything
all the time. We're not like that. God doesn't think of a
new thought. Never had a new thought. Explain
that. He knows all. He knows all. God is impossible
to believe. unless faith is given. Now, we'll
make a figment of our imagination and call it God. We're really
good auto factories, aren't we? But to know God, to know the
true God, is impossible without faith, without faith. These elders believed God because
of the faith that was bestowed. They didn't receive faith because
of their works. They didn't receive the good
report because of what they had done. They received the good
report because of faith bestowed. It's so important. Religion takes
faith and turns it into a work. Religion takes everything and
turns it into a work, don't they? It's what the Lord gives is all
that he's pleased with. He must give it. If he's gonna
be, the only way he's gonna be pleased is if he gives it because
he's only pleased with himself. He's only pleased with himself. This faith received is not based
upon us at all. So who maketh us differ from
each other? Who maketh us differ from one
another? He does. He does. It's his choice. It's his right.
It's entirely based upon the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What did he say in Romans chapter nine? I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. And whom I will, I will harden.
I will harden. What makes one hardened? What makes someone hardened?
We told the Pharisees, I said this the first hour, but he said,
you will not come to me that you have life. Why won't they
come to him? Because he didn't give them faith. He didn't give
them faith. That makes someone hard. Did
you know that? It hardens someone. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. It's impossible to come to Christ. So if faith
is not given, all the Lord has to do is leave someone to themselves
and they're hardened. They're hardened to the things
of God. They're hardened to the gospel. They're hardened to the
blood of Christ. They're hardened. You will not come to me that
you may have life. Makes us cry out, Lord, give me this faith.
Cause me to believe. Take out the hard, stony heart
in my flesh and give me a heart of flesh, one that looks to you. All the Lord has to do to harden
someone is leave them to themselves, not give them faith. And he uses
Cain and Abel as an example. It's a perfect example. Look
at verse four. 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. Why was Abel's sacrifice more
excellent? Well, first of all, you would
have to know that their dad would have told them about the garden,
would have told them that they're dying, would have told them the
Lord had to kill an animal in order to cover us. He wasn't
pleased with the fig leaves that we sold together, which is a
picture of works, we know that. The Lord had to kill an animal
to cover them. So Abel knew what God required,
an animal. Cain would've known the same
thing. He would've known the same thing. They had the same
daddy. He would've known the exact same thing, yet he thought,
I'm good enough to bring my own sacrifice, the works of my hands.
And he didn't, he wasn't given the rotten stuff, he gave the
very, very best that he had. And the scripture says, unto
Cain and his sacrifice he had no respect, but unto Abel and
his sacrifice he had respect. Abel gave a much better sacrifice
because it was a picture and a type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God. He was looking to Christ through
the eyes of faith when he made that sacrifice, when he made
that offering. And it says here, because of
that, he obtained witness that he was righteous. He was righteous. What made him righteous? Was
it the sacrifice? No. Was it, Was it his faith
that made him righteous? No. Faith is evidence of being
righteous, but faith is not the cause of salvation. Faith is
what the Lord gives in salvation. Christ is our salvation. Christ
is our righteousness. That's how he was made. That's
how he obtained the witness that he was righteous
is because The Lord gave him faith to believe Christ. Christ was his righteousness.
Christ was his righteousness. God will always reject, my works
and your works. It doesn't matter how good they
are in our eyes. It doesn't matter how hard we work. It doesn't
matter what we do. God will always reject our works
because he's only pleased with the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If we don't take God's best,
which is Christ, We certainly can't offer him our best in return.
We'd be substituting for the blood of the lamb. That's what
that is. How foolish would that be? He said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. We can't please God. And when
men hear this, you know what they do? The same thing Cain
did. He slew his brother. He slew his brother away with
this man. We will not have this man reign over us. Let his blood
be upon us and on our children. That's the way that they treated
our Lord. Now that was all about his divine purpose. Providence,
but we understand it was his will. But at the same time, that's
still how men and women treat the Lord that do not have faith.
They're hardened to it. They're hardened to it. On the day of judgment, many
people will stand before the Lord. And I pray none of us are
those people. And they're going to say, Lord,
Lord. We have done many wonderful works in your name, in your name. We cast out demons. We were faithful
to church. We went and visited. We did this.
We did that. And the Lord's not going to get
a scale out and put their works on the scale to see if they can
balance out their bad. That's not how it works. It's
not how it works. Lord's gonna look at them and
say, depart from me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you.
Because if he doesn't see the blood, he doesn't need a scale. His people were judged on Calvary. The balance was weighed on Calvary. And because of the Lord Jesus
Christ taking our sin unto himself, he was found guilty. And justice
had to be satisfied, judgment had to be satisfied so that when
we stand before him, What are we going to say? Have mercy upon
me, Lord. We won't have faith anymore. Faith will end in sight. Won't
have any need of that. Won't have any need of hope anymore.
But we'll still be pleading the same thing that Abel was here. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what we'll be pleading. Lord, it's the blood alone. It's
not my works. Lord, I've done nothing. Nothing worthy of salvation. I'm begging for your grace, I'm
begging for your mercy. That's only found in the person
of Jesus Christ. It says Abel's, in another place,
Abel's blood cried out. What does Abel's blood cry? Christ
alone pleases God. Christ alone pleases God. But
it also cried out unto God, The judgment had to be executed upon
Cain for killing him. Judgment. Justice had to be satisfied. And God tells Cain, because of
what you've done, you're going to be a nomad. You're going to
be a vagabond. You're going to wander the earth. You're not going to have
a home. And after he got done telling him his judgment, God's
righteous judgment, now understand this isn't mine or your judgment
where we're in a court of law. We're going to make a decision.
This is God who is perfect in judgment. After he got done talking,
Cain said, My punishment's too great for me. I don't, you know
what he said? I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this. That's the mentality, isn't it?
I'm not that bad. This was just a one-time thing.
How can you, that's unfair. That's what Cain was saying.
And that's what men and women believe. When they hear that
Jesus doesn't love everybody and he didn't die for everybody,
but he died for those that he does love and he successfully
redeemed them. People say, no. No, that's unfair. But you don't understand, if
the Lord doesn't love, choose to love some and save some, none
will be saved. None will be saved. He's gotta
do all the saving. Abel didn't like it that way, or Cain didn't
like it that way. Cain wanted to do things his way. Abel did
it God's way and God was pleased with him and gave him the witness
that he was righteous. Gave him faith to believe God. If he didn't successfully redeem
who he died for, knowing that he demands blood, knowing that
he demands blood, if he didn't successfully redeem, if his blood
was not sufficient, and it's still up to me and you, what
does the blood have to do with salvation then? It has everything
to do with salvation, doesn't it? He was satisfied with the
blood. If he loves everybody, but still
some people die and go to hell, what does his love have to do
with salvation? That's not a very good love, is it? They're talking
about the sovereign creator of the universe that can do anything
he wants. I found out six things God can't do. God can't lie,
God can't sin. There's six of them. One of these
days, if the Lord will be willing, I'll preach that message, but
I haven't found a text yet that lines up with it. But God can
do anything he wants outside of changing his character, he's
not gonna change his character, he's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. God still demands the blood, and God loves, then
it's going to be a perfect love, and it's going to accomplish
everything that he purposed for it to do, and that's exactly
what Christ did, and that's exactly what Abel was looking to, and
that's exactly what the Lord's people looked to, by faith, by
faith. God isn't the problem, no, mankind's
the problem. God's not the one waiting on
us to do anything. We are waiting on God to see
if he will have mercy on us, the sinner. We are waiting on
God to see if he'll give us grace that we do not deserve. We're
waiting on him to act. If he doesn't move, if he doesn't
do something, we will die in our sin, and where he is, we
cannot come. Our sin is the problem. We can't
do anything about it. He has to do something about
it. And thanks be to God, he is pleased with his son to do
something about it. He is pleased with the blood
that did do something about it. And he's pleased with the faith
that he gives to his people that looked to his son and the blood
is all their righteousness is all their acceptance before God
is all their justification is all their sanctification is all
their redemption is all their wisdom, all their glorification. Faith looks to Christ as all,
as all. What's amazing about His grace
is He freely bestows this faith upon His people, freely bestows
it. If it wasn't free, we had to
earn it, we couldn't earn it. And if we earned it, we'd brag
about it, wouldn't we? Look at what I've got, look at what I
did. I got me some faith, yeah, I did it. That's what we would
do. No, the Lord said, you're not getting any glory over my
faith, no. If you believe, it's because I'm gonna enable you
to believe, I'm gonna make you believe. Told somebody something
similar to that, and they said, well, you sound like you're just
a puppet. I said, boy, I hope I'm God's puppet. That means
I'm his. That's good enough, isn't it?
I hope. I hope he's controlling everything that I do. I don't
trust myself. I don't trust myself. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Now when he sees us, he sees
the blood and faith is the evidence of those things not seen. Faith
is the evidence. Faith is the evidence we are
his. Faith declares him as Lord and Savior. Faith reveals that
he requires blood for our justification and Christ gave that blood and
we believe it. We believe it. Faith believes
that He fulfilled the law that we could not fulfill, that He
lived the life we could not live. He died the death that would
have done us no good to die. Faith believes that He was resurrected.
He was resurrected the third day. And all who died in Him
were resurrected with Him, never to die again. O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Faith believes that we're going to awaken His likeness. We're
gonna see Him as He is and be made like Him. Be made like Him. Scripture says, by his own will
begat he us, according as he hath chosen us in him, in Christ,
before the foundation of the world. This is what the Lord
has done and this is what we believe by faith. Now let's read
verses five and six. 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. Abel had the witness that he
was righteous. The elders obtained a good report and Enoch pleased
God. How is that all possible? is
they were found in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were found and made
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, because the next verse says,
without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. What does he mean believe that
he is? Well, a lot of people have an idea about who God is,
but they're wrong. God is sovereign in all things.
God is seated as the successful redeemer of his people. God is
holy. God is just, and he will not acquit the guilty. No, we
come to him, we see him as he is, because as we heard the first
hour from John chapter five, he says, live, and the dead come
alive, and they see God, and the Lord gives them repentance.
The Lord gives them faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please him. For it's impossible to believe and come to him, Believe
him as he is without faith. It's impossible. So what is the
evidence of faith then? We believe God. We believe he
accomplished everything he said he accomplished. We believe he
is who he says he is. He done what he said he was going
to do. We live looking to the lamb and the blood is our only
hope for salvation before his throne. This is the testimony
of all God's chosen people. Same testimony. Christ is all.
Christ is all. You wanna know why Enoch pleased
God? And if you look, there's a very, it's very small in Genesis
where Enoch's life is, and it only talks, it says he lived
this long, and he had this many sons, and then it goes on and
it gives that passage right there, just about, and it says he walked
with God, and he was not, for God took him. I looked up that
word walked, and it means worshipped. It means worshipped, he worshipped
God, and he was not for God took him. He worshiped God. That's
what you and I are doing. We're worshiping him, giving
him all the glory, all the praise, giving him all the reverence. And how is that possible? By
faith. By faith. He must send his spirit. God
is a spirit. They that worship must worship
in spirit and in truth. He gives that faith to look to
his son and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believed God over self is what
that's saying. He didn't believe self. He took
sides with God against himself. And only, we heard what a true
believer was the first hour. Only a true believer will do
that. Only a true believer can do that. And they do that by
faith. We say truth, Lord, I am a dog.
But the dogs desire the crumbs that fall from the master's table. So we see that God is pleased
with the blood. God is pleased with his son,
and God is pleased with the faith, his faith bestowed to his people. Last question I have for us is,
in closing, is God pleased with me? Is God pleased with me? The only way God will ever be
pleased with a dead dog sinner is if he's found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only way God will
ever be pleased with me. The only way God will be pleased
with me is if we are looking to Christ as all of our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The only way
I can be pleasing to God is if I'm looking to the Son that he
is pleased with and the blood that he is pleased with by faith. If we are not looking, To Christ,
we're not pleased with what God's pleased with, so we're not pleasing
to him. Meaning that we're adding something to or taking away something
from the finished work or cane. We're adding to or taking away
from it. Even though we're offering our very best, rather than believing
his very best, it's an insult to the Lord. He is not pleased
with me if I do that, but. He has given us hope in his son
faith to believe him. Faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He sees the blood, therefore
he's abundantly satisfied with us. He sees the blood. He says I'll pass over you. He
sees the blood. He is pleased with his people. And he sees his so chosen people. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to tell you this. allegory, and I'll close. You
know it well. It's the story of Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth was in Lodabar. Mykar in Lodabar, it means a
land of no bread. He didn't have any food, but
spiritually speaking, he was away from the king. He was going
to be in line to be the king because he was the grandson of
Saul, the son of Jonathan. David and Jonathan had made a
covenant, and that covenant said that if I'll take care of your
family and you take care of my family, should something happen
to one or the other, and it was a blood covenant. One day, David
remembered his covenant and called Zaba into the room and asked
him, Zaba, is there any left house of Saul that I may show
him kindness for Jonathan's sake? And he says, there is one. He's
lame on both of his feet. He's in Lodabar and Machar. His
name's Mephibosheth. He said, go fetch him. And he
fetched him, and he brought him in. Now, understand this scenario
here. Because he was a threat to the
throne, he would have been scared to death. He would have been
terrified of David killing him. He didn't know that David had
the intent of showing him mercy. I could even see the, he's lame,
so you know he's peering out the window as best he can when
he hears the chariot roll up. He knew what chariot that was.
And he thought, I'm a goner. I'm a goner. He gets to the palace,
and no, you don't dare go against the king's word, and he couldn't
run away. He's lame. So what does he do? He goes into
the throne room. Gotta face the king. And he does
the exact same thing you and I do whenever we face the king.
Those who the Lord have called, we bow down in reverence. We
fall flat on our face. And the most amazing thing happens. David said, fear not. For surely
I will show thee kindness for Jonathan's sake. Whose face do
you think David saw when he looked at Mephibosheth? It was Jonathan's
face. Our children bear our image a
lot of oftentimes. We get told all the time, Bobby
and Lacy looks like it's her mini-me. And so he saw Jonathan. He remembered the covenant made
with Jonathan. He loved Mephibosheth because
of Jonathan. David said, bring a robe, bring
the ring, you're gonna sit at the king's table and eat the
king's bread the rest of your days. I couldn't help but think
that every time they went to eat, every time, he would be
the first one in there. And that tablecloth would be
covering up his infirmity, where you couldn't know, you didn't
know anybody was lame if everybody's sitting down, do you? That's
exactly what the Lord's done for us. What do you think that
color of that cloth would have been? It's red, the blood, it's
covering. It's gonna be the blood, it has
to be. Scripture's not clear on that, but boy, that just makes
way too much sense, don't it? What does the Lord do? We come
into his presence for the first time after being a dead dog sinner
in Lodabar, having no bread, having no hope, no life in us,
unable to work, because we're dead. He comes to where we are,
the Holy Spirit comes to where we are and brings us to his palace
introduces us to the king and we fall on our face and we hear
these words, fear not for surely I will show thee kindness for
Jesus Christ's sake. I made a covenant with my son. I made a covenant with my son,
covenant of grace before time ever began that I would redeem
my chosen people. I would save my people from their
sin and I have done that. You have nothing to fear. Go
sit under the blood at the table and eat the king's food the rest
of your day. We're about to take the Lord's table. And that's
what I guarantee there was bread and wine on that table every
day. That's exactly what the Lord's people feast upon. We
look to Christ by faith. And looking to Christ, when the
Lord sees Christ, he's pleased with Christ. When we look to
Christ, the Lord's pleased with us because we're pleased with
Christ. He's only pleased with his son. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Let's pray. Father,
thank you for having mercy upon us and saving us by your grace. Pray that you would take these
words and bless them for our understanding in your glory.
In Christ's name, amen. Last Mac and Al.