Let's read a scripture from the
book of Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. It says, beginning with verse
1, Now faith is the ground, substance, confidence of things hoped for. It's the evidence of proof 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
is spoken of and yet speaketh. And by faith, Enoch was translated
that he should not see death and was not found because God
translated him. For before his translation he
had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it's impossible
to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that God is, and that God 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 of faith.
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 where he went or where he was going.
By faith he sojourned in a land of promise as in a strange country,
dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him
of the same promise. For Abraham looked for a city
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through
faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and
was delivered of a child when she was past the age of bearing
children, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead,
Abraham a hundred years old, so many as the stars of the sky
in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. These all, Abel, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Sarah, these all died in faith, not having received
the fulfillment of the promises. but having seen them afar off,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they
that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country."
Now this is the title of my message, These All Died in Faith. And
that's my text, verse 13, These All Died in Faith. In days gone by, not so much
today as it was then, it was a custom to write some words
on a person's tombstone. They don't do that very much
nowadays, but it was very popular back years ago. And if you go
through cemeteries where people were buried a long time ago,
you can read various things on the tombstone. And usually these
words have some reference to how this person died, or when
he died, or how he lived, or what he believed. That's what
you'll usually find. You'll find how he died, some
reference to in the service, or so forth. or how he lived,
something about old age and faithfulness and what
he believed. I think Job had that in mind
when he wrote over in Job 19, he said this, he said, Oh, that
my words were written in a book. Oh, that they were engraved in
the stone, in the rock, with a lead pen forever, I know that
my Redeemer liveth, and that on this earth he shall stand.
And though after my flesh worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh I'll see the Lord." He seemed to be saying, write that
on my tombstone. I visited Spurgeon's grave in
London, and they've written on his on his tombstone these words,
the words of the hymn, There's a Fountain Filled with Blood.
And they picked this verse to write on Spurgeon's tomb. Ever
since by faith I saw the stream, by flowing wounds supply, redeeming
love has been my thing and will be till I die. That's what he
preached and what he believed and those words are on his tombstone. I read one time that, and this
was the custom. I wish it was still the custom.
I like it. I like to walk through cemeteries
and read these things, but there's a little grave down in a southern
town and a tombstone. It marks the grave of a child,
an unknown child. It seems that during a flood,
Many, many years ago, the body of a small boy was found and
never identified. And people buried him and they
erected a tombstone and two words on the tombstone, God knows,
God knows. Well, it seems like in this scripture
that I've just read, the Lord has presided over the death of
these people. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah,
and all the others he names, like he presides over the death
of all of his people. He said, I kill and I make alive.
The number of man's days are with the Lord. He appoints our
bounds and we cannot pass. Not a sparrow falls to the ground
without your Father, let alone a believer falls to the ground. He watches over the death of
his children, he presides over the death of his children, he
watches over the burial of their bodies. And our God seems to
erect a giant sepulchre here containing the bodies of all
of his people, where they'll sleep until the great resurrection.
And these words for that great mausoleum or sepulchre
are very appropriate. These all. died in faith. These all died in faith. Wouldn't you say that would be
appropriate for all believers of all ages? These all died in
faith. We shall sleep, the hymn writer
wrote. We shall sleep, but not forever.
There will be a glorious dawn, and one day we'll meet to part.
No, never. on that resurrection morning.
Yea, from the deepest caves of oceans, from the deserts and
the plain, from the valleys and the mountains, all his sheep
shall rise again. We shall sleep, but not forever,
in a lonely and silent grave. Blessed be the Lord who taketh,
blessed be the Lord who giveth. But in that bright eternal city
Death will never, never come. And in his own good time, he'll
call us from this place to that eternal home. This text that
I've selected, These All Died in Faith, I want to ask three
questions, three very simple questions. All of these believers he's talking
about here and through the ages, these all died in faith. Here
are my three questions. How did they die? says in faith. The second question will be,
what is this faith in which they died? And thirdly, how did this faith
appear before they died? They died in faith, but how did
it appear and how did it reveal itself before they died? So that
we might know they did die in faith. All right, let's take
them one at a time. First of all, how did these people
die? It says they all died in faith. And you know, I almost
want to take this word by word. In verse 13, Hebrews 11 says,
These all died. These. Who are these? Some of
the greatest names ever named. Abel. Abel died. Abel offered a more excellent
sacrifice than Cain, but Abel died. Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. And Noah lived hundreds of years,
and Noah built an ark, and everybody knows about Noah, but Noah died. Enoch. Enoch walked with God.
Enoch didn't die, but Enoch was taken away from the earth. Abraham. Abraham, the man of
God. He died. These men all knew God,
and God knew them, but every one of them died. Every one of
them. And I'll tell you what's written
about them is written about us. We'll die. It's appointed unto
men once to die. And let me show you another thing about these
all died in faith. Even though they had faith, they
died. Faith's not going to keep you from death. It's not going
to keep me from death. And it's not going to keep us from sometimes
a difficult death. I've watched children of God
die, I've watched them die peacefully, I've watched them die traumatically. You have too. We've watched believers
die, we've watched them die quickly, we've watched it take a long
time. But these all died. Actually, the apostles, all of
the apostles but one died martyr's death, beheaded, crucified. Only John was exiled to the Isle
of Patmos, but the rest of them died. And some of God's people
have died some excruciatingly painful deaths. They all died. Faith's not going to keep you
from death. Faith's not going to keep you from trouble and
trial and suffering. And faith's not going to keep
you from the grave. Moses died as well as Pharaoh. David died as well as the Philistines. Jacob died as well as Esau. Peter
died and so did Judas. Saints died and so did unbelievers.
These all died. That day is coming. I read some time ago in one of Brother
Barnard's printed messages, he told about There's a pastor in
Memphis, Tennessee. I don't remember his name, but
he went to visit one of his members who was dying. The man wasn't
very old. He was in his fifties. And the
pastor went to visit him, and in the course of the conversation,
the man began to weep. And he said, Pastor, he said,
I don't want to be harsh. and unkind, but he said, I want
you to know something. You hadn't prepared me for this
hour. He said, I've heard you preach time and time and time
again. But he said, this thing has come
upon me suddenly and unawares and unexpected, and you hadn't
prepared me to meet this hour. But I hope that I've prepared
you, because I'm saying again to myself and to you, we're going
to die. It's appointed under me and wants to die. And you
young people, there's some short graves out there as well as long
ones. And you young people in high school here in Ashland,
you know what happened last week. How old was that young man, 18?
But he's just as dead as if he had been 25 or 75 or 95. He's
dead. And we're going to die. These
all died. They died. But now, thank God, they died
in faith, and this is the most important thing. They believed
God while they lived, and they continued to believe God until
they died. They died in faith. Learn three
things. The great foundation of faith
is the Word of God. The great object of faith is
the blood of Christ. Christ's blood and His righteousness.
That's the object of faith. Foundation of faith. He said
it. I believe it. I believe it because
He said it. And the object of my faith is
Christ. But the great mark of faith is perseverance. These
men continued to believe. They continued to believe. The
just shall live by faith. Paul said, the time of my departure
is at hand. I've fought a good fight. I've
finished my course. I've kept the faith. Don't quit. Continue in the faith. Continue
in the faith. Continue in the faith. They began
in faith. They lived in faith. They died
in faith. And I'll tell you this. Now watch
this. These all died in faith. Abraham believed God. Noah believed
God. They never got beyond faith.
Never got beyond it. I'm suspicious of people who
talk about visions and signs and revelations and things that
take the place of faith. These men never got beyond faith. Abel, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac,
Sabaoth, all of these people lived by faith in the promises
of God. And they died in faith, believing
the promises of God. And they never got beyond trusting
God or looking to God by faith. Someday I'll see Him face to
face, but now I see through a glass dimly, just like you. Someday
I shall know even as I have known, but right now I know in part,
just like everybody else. Brother man, you've been a believer
a long time. Yes, since 1950, when I heard the gospel in 1950.
I heard the gospel of God's grace. I believed that I was a sinner.
I believe the same thing now, 43 years later. I believe that
God's almighty. I believed it then. That's what
I believe now. I believed then that salvation is of the Lord.
That's what I believe now. I believe that the righteousness
of Christ, His perfect righteousness, gave to me acceptance with God,
gave to me holiness and righteousness. That's what I believed then 43
years ago. That's what I believe right now.
I believe that Jesus Christ bled, cleanseth us from all sin. He
died on that cross to redeem my soul. I looked to Him then. I look to Him right now. I don't
believe any more now than I did then. And I'll die. I'm almost 70 years
old, and God said three score and ten. If you go beyond that,
it's the blessings of God, the mercy of God. But I'll tell you
this, when I lie down to die, I'm going to die believing the
same thing I believed 43 years ago. Is that right, Cecil? No
more, no less. Back then, I sang, my hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. My hope
today is built on that very same thing. I may preach 10,000 sermons and
been to 10,000 places to preach 10,000 sermons, but it doesn't
add one thing to the redemption of my soul. It's in Christ. In
Christ. If it has been anywhere but in
Christ, it is not now, it won't be then. And the newest believer and the
oldest believer believe the same thing and have the same confidence,
the same assurance, the same love, the same grace, the same
reward, the same Redeemer. I wish I could emphasize that.
I wish I could. These all died in faith. That's
what it said. They died in faith. Someday the
silver cord will break, and I know mores now shall sing. But oh,
the joy when I wake in the palace of the King, and I'm going to
see Him face to face. And I'm going to tell the story,
what? Saved by grace. Grace alone. Works has never entered in, it
didn't then, it has never has, it will never. That's so. These all died in
faith. They died. They died even though
they had faith. They continued in faith. And
that's the way they died, in faith. Died believing God. Died believing Christ. Died believing
the blood making the atonement for the soul. That's it. I believe there's a maturity
and a growth in grace, in love, in faith, in patience, in humility,
in experience, in understanding, in all these. Faith is faith. Faith is believing Christ. Faith
is trusting Him, resting in Him. That's it. And He's the Redeemer. All right, here's the second
question. What was this faith in which they died? What was
this faith? I'll tell you what it was. These
all died in faith. Now look at verse 13. Not having
received the promises, that is, not having received the fulfillment
of the promises, they received the promises. God promised Adam
and Eve to see the woman. But they never saw Him. They
never saw Him. God promised Abraham a country. But he never dwelt in it. He
lived in tents. He never did possess the land
that God promised him. Did he? Never did. He never owned
a square foot. He never built a mansion or plantation. He sojourned through it. Jacob talked about Shiloh. He
never saw him. He said, Judah, he told his son
Judah, he blessed his son Judah. He said, Judah, Judah wasn't
a king either. And there were no kings in Judah's
household either. But he said, Judah, the scepter
shall not depart from you till Shiloh comes. He never saw Shiloh. But God gave him the promise.
Moses never saw that prophet. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy, he
said, God's going to raise up from the midst of you that prophet,
that prophet, and him you shall hear. He'll tell us all things
that God would have us know. Never saw him. Never saw him. But he received the promise.
Isaiah never saw the man of sorrows acquainted with grief. Isaiah
never saw the tender plant, the root out of dry ground. He wrote
about him. He never saw the one who was
wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was laid upon him. Never found. These all died in faith. Look
at verse 13. Not having received the fulfillment
of the promises, but having seen them. Far off. This is faith. This, my friend, is faith. Somebody
say, well, seeing and believing. No. Believing and seeing. Look
at verse 1. Faith is the substance, it's
the ground, it's the confidence of things hoped for, the proof
of things not seen, whom having not seen you love. I tell you, these men, they believe
the Word of God. And I tell you, we have seen
the fulfillment of the seed of woman. He has come. That happened. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. We've seen that. We've seen this fulfillment.
The man of Saul was acquainted with grief. We hear it as it
were our faces from him. He was in the world. The world
knew him not. The world crucified him. He came to his own. His
own received him not. We've seen the fulfillment of
the perfect life. This man had done nothing amiss.
Even his enemies said that. This man had done nothing. We've
seen the serpent lifted up on the pole. Moses lifted it up,
but he never saw the fulfillment. We've seen it, Ronnie. We've
seen the serpent lifted on the pole, bruised for sin. We have seen the scapegoat laid
in the tomb. These men wrote about it, but
never saw the fulfillment. We've seen Him rise from the
grave, the firstborn of every creature. The disciples stood and watched
Him go to heaven. But there's a lot we haven't
seen. We haven't seen Him come back,
and He's coming. I've never met anyone or shaken hands with anyone
who was buried and rose from the grave. Have you? Never have. Never have. The new heaven and new earth
I haven't seen, but I'll tell you this, with the same faith
that Abel brought that sacrifice to a Redeemer he had never seen
but whom he believed, I bring my sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
to Him who died for my sin. You want to see my sacrifice?
Look at Calvary. There's my Lamb and my sacrifice. I believe God, I believe the
promises of God. My high priest, all these people back here, they
went to the tabernacle and put their blood on the mercy seat.
I have an altar, it's Christ. I have a mercy seat, it's Christ.
I have a high priest, it's Christ. And just with the same faith
that these men here, the same faith they had, that's what I
believe. Not having seen all of these
things fulfilled, But I've received them in promise. And look, how
does faith affect their lives? This will be the last point.
Look, how did it affect their lives? Verse 13, they died in
faith, not having received the fulfillment of all the promises.
But they've seen them. How did they see them? By faith.
That's how they saw them. They saw them by faith. And how
did it affect them? Number one, they were persuaded
of it. I preached the funeral of John
Horan's sister the day before yesterday in Huntington. And
the Lord blessed us. The Lord gave us a good service. He blessed me to preach, as much
liberty as I've had in a long time, to preach his wonderful
gospel. And the mortician put the body
of John's sister, Loris, the hearse, and we made that
long drive to the cemetery. We drove up, parked in front
of this building, this mausoleum, this big chapel. And I always lead the procession. The body and pallbearers come
behind me. And I walked in that place, and I told the people this. When
I walked in, there was a dampness. and a deadness and a coldness. Those old cold marble floors
and all of these drawers with bodies in them. The whole place
full of bodies and a dim light. I felt cold. I felt damp. I felt depressed. I felt, oh, is this the end? Is this the last chapter of the
book? If you look around you, you'll
have to say that. But I stood up there and opened
this book, and the light, the light shone. The light shone. Here's my home. And I asked them,
what's yours? Is that place for you, is that
your final resting place, that dark, damp, cold, eerie, lifeless,
dead place? Not mine. I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded that I'm coming
out of the grave by His grace. These men were persuaded of it.
They died in faith, persuaded that death wasn't the end. And what did they do? Not only
persuaded, but they embraced it. They were persuaded of God's
promise. They embraced God's promise.
And what else? They confessed it. As for me and my house, we're
going this way. As for me and my house, we're
going to walk with God. As for me and my house, we're
going to worship God. As for me and my house, we're
going to enthrone and exalt Jesus Christ. I'm speaking now for
the whole mayhem, kit and caboodle. We're going to worship God. We're
going to look to Christ. That's me and my house. How about
you? I'm persuaded of the promise. I've embraced the promise, I've
publicly confessed the promise, Christ. Now look, and they confess
that this world was not their home, they're strangers here
and pilgrims on this earth. I'm not putting my roots too
deep here. I don't intend to stay. Passing through, passing
through. They plainly say, they declare
plainly, they're looking for a country. I'm not ashamed to
say that he's gone to prepare a place for us, and I'm looking
for a country. And look at this. They could
have turned back, but they wouldn't. Listen. And truly, if they had
been mindful of that country from which they came out, if
that's where their hearts really were, if they really liked You
know, Lot's wife is an example. She really never left Sodom.
She really never left. God said, this place is marked
for destruction. This place is marked for destruction.
Leave and don't look back. And she left along with Lot and
the daughters, but she got up on the hill. And her eyes went
back to where her heart was. And God destroyed her. If their hearts had been still
in that idolatrous country, in that old works religion, they
could have gone back. But boy, when they saw Christ,
it never entered their mind to look back. See, looking back,
it's not just looking out of curiosity. It's not just looking
back. It's looking back with a yearning.
That's what killed Latoya. It wasn't the look. It was why
she looked. And I tell you, when a person sees Christ as the fulfillment
of every promise, of every prophecy, of every pattern, of every day,
of everything, he doesn't ever look back with longing to where
he came from. Isn't that right, Cecil? He may
look out of curiosity to see what they're doing, see what
they're saying, but he never looks with desire because he's
found, my beloved is mine and I'm his. And if they had been
mindful of that country, or yearned for that country, or desired
to be back in that country, they could have had opportunity to
go back. That's what our Lord said to
His disciples. He said, will you go away also? They said, we don't have any
place to go. We believe and assure that thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They were persuaded of them.
They embraced them. They confessed them. And they
never turned back. Never turned back. And they died
in faith. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn. One of these old timers that
I like so well, number 510.