Hebrews chapter 11. I have two messages to preach
today. A subject I have this morning
is my favorite. Saving faith. The faith of God's
elect. I'd rather preach a sermon on
faith, and I'd rather hear a sermon
on faith than on any other subject, I believe. You know, when our
Lord told the Apostle Peter that he would deny him, he says, but
I've prayed for you, that your faith fail not. Your Paul identified himself as a
servant of God and an apostle according to the faith of God's
elect. Now tonight's message, I'm going
to speak tonight on my least favorite subject. And that is,
my text will be Luke 16, if you want to read it this afternoon,
verse 19 through verse 31. The title of the message tonight
is, What the Rich Man Discovered When He Died. I'm going to talk
about death and judgment tonight, and I don't like to speak on
that subject. But I feel impressed of the Spirit
of God to deal with these two extremes today. This morning
on faith, tonight unbelief. This morning on believing God,
and denied on the consequences of not believing God. Our Lord
told his disciples to go and preach the gospel and those who
believe will be saved and those who do not believe will be damned. So here in Hebrews 11 is our
text for the morning. Hebrews 11 is not the hall of
fame, but it is the hall of faith.
a hall of faith. My message is going to be so
simple, so very simple, so that all at least may understand in
our heads this business of saving faith. But really, faith is simple. I know it's mysterious, it's
profound, it's heavenly, but it's simple. I told my class
this morning, there's no reason to try to explain the grace of
God. If you know it, you know it.
If you don't, you don't know it. Or faith, if you have faith,
you have faith. If you don't, you don't. That's
just, it's not something that can be explained. And in these
first thirteen verses, I'm going to show you eight things. That sounds like a lot of points,
but it won't be. long and laborious, I assure
you, it'll be enlightening, I believe, because it is the Word of God.
Like one of our men said recently, when you preach on Hebrews, you
can't strike out. Just read it. That's all you
have to do is read it. So let's look, and I'll give
you these eight things, and you can jot them down if you'd like
to. First, in verse 1, I see faith's
definition. And I want you to underscore
five words. This is faith's definition. Now,
faith is the substance of, underscore this, things hoped for. You might write the word expected.
Hope is expectation. The evidence of things not seen.
There's the five words. Things hoped for, not seen. Things hoped for. expected, but
not seen. Now, I've tried for years to
find a definition of faith that I could give to people and help
them. And I think I have come up with one. You know, faith
is not a creed. We use faith in that way many times our creed, our
faith. Now faith's not a creed. Faith
is a soul experience. Faith is not a doctrine in the
head. It's a person in the heart. Faith's a person, and I will
show you that. And here it says faith is the
substance, and that is the ground or confidence of things hoped
for, things expected. What do we expect? Forgiveness
of sins. What do we expect? Acceptance
with God. What are we hoping for? Deliverance
from judgment. What are we expecting? Life eternal. What are we looking for? A home
in heaven. On what ground? On the ground
of a creed? On the ground of a doctrine?
On the ground of what we call a faith? No sin. Now listen. Here's a young boy
or girl at school, been in school all day. They're going home at
3.15, 3.20. What are they hoping for? What do they expect when they
get home? There's going to be a home there. They expect a home
to be there. They expect their room to be
there. Their clean clothes to be there. They expect some food
to go down in the kitchen, the refrigerator. They're expecting
food to be ready, meal prepared for them. They're expecting all
their comforts, all their possessions, all their things in this home
waiting for them. On what ground? Because they
deserve it? I don't think any of them would
say, I deserve it. Is it because of something they've
done? I don't think any of them would say it's something they've
done. Is it because of some mysterious force, evolution or something
like that? I don't think any of them would
say that. I think when those children leave that school and
start to that home, they expect to find. And that food and clothing
and shelter and comfort and bed and all these things they expect
to find based on one thing. There's a father and mother over
there who loves them, who provides for them, who cares for them. And their expectation is based
not on something they've done or are doing, or are believing,
it's based entirely on the relationship with those people over in that
house. You understand what I'm saying?
And I expect and I'm hoping and looking for forgiveness of sin.
Why? Because I've done something?
I did the sinning. I'm expecting it solely and wholly
and completely on this ground. There's a Father in heaven who
loves me. and gave your son to die for
me." Faith is the ground on things hoped for through the love of
a person. You see that? Look at the next,
some things hoped for, things not seen. Let me illustrate that. And I've experienced this, and
some of you have too. The Father comes in. and says
to the mother and the children, he says, we're moving. We're
moving. We're leaving here. I have an
outstanding job, promised, an outstanding salary, and I have
a beautiful home, you can't believe, in a beautiful valley. The home
has a swimming pool and a playground and a garden It's just a beautiful
home in a beautiful place and you're going to enjoy it so much.
It's infinitely better than what we have here. The children's
mothers have never seen it. They've never seen that home.
But they go to bed excited. They go to bed excited. They're
going to move. They're going to move out of
this place into something much better. They're going to move
out of this dark valley into a most beautiful valley. Their
fathers, on what basis? They haven't seen it. They haven't
even seen a picture of it. But they've got the Word of their
Father. And they know He will not lie. They believe Him. I've never seen heaven. But my
father said it's there. It's beautiful beyond words,
beyond expression. I've never seen the place he'd
gone to prepare. But he said he was going to prepare
for me a place. And he was going to come back
and get me. And I'm moving one of these days. I am moving. And
I'm excited. I'm excited. The preacher, how
can you be excited? You haven't seen it. I've seen
him. And I know if he likes it, I'll
like it. I know if he's happy there, I'll be happy there. I
know He wouldn't have told me if it weren't so. If it were not so, I would have
told you. Isn't that right? You see, this is faith's definition. It's things hoped for, expected
on one basis. My father loves me. My Savior
died for me. And I've not seen any of them.
But he said, they're there. He said, they're there. And I
can go to bed and go to sleep, excited, expectant, waiting till
he comes and takes me there. That's right. Paul said, I know
whom I have to leave. I know whom. And when you get
to whom, then you have all the others. Because He cares for
you. You can cast all your care on
Him. Alright. That's faith's definition. Now
secondly, verse 3, here's faith's foundation, underscore four words. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the Word of God. There's the four
words, the Word of God. So the things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear. The Word of God. That's
the foundation of faith. He said it. He said it. Charles Spurgeon wrote this.
This is his personal testimony, and so many of us love Spurgeon,
appreciate his messages and how God used him. But he said, when
I came to faith in Jesus Christ, when I came in faith to Christ,
we don't come to Christ in faith, we come in faith to Christ. When
I came in faith to Christ, I had no knowledge of any personal
or saving interest in the death of Christ. I had no personal
knowledge of any personal interest in the death of Christ. I knew
this. I knew I was a sinner, and I
knew it was written in God's Word that Jesus Christ came into
the world to save sinners. of whom I'm chief." That's what
God's Word says. That's what His Word says. I
knew He came, and I knew He came to save sinners. And for sinners He died. And
He said in His Word, Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth, for I'm God, and there's none else. And I
took Him at His Word. And I looked, And I believe,
and I trust it. And I said, sink or swim, I cast
myself on Him. The Word of God. God cannot lie. He promised eternal life in Christ,
and He cannot lie. That's the basis of faith. If
you'll turn to Romans 4, you'll see that that's the basis of
Abraham's faith. We talk a lot about the faith
of Abraham. Well, what's the foundation of
his faith? Well, I'll tell you right here in Romans 4, verse
20, it says this, that he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God and
being fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able
also to perform. That's the foundation of faith.
That's why we believe. That's why we rest. That's why
we have a good hope, because God said it. And here in our
text, in Hebrews 11, it says, verse 3, "...through faith we
understand that the worlds were created by the Word of God, so
that things which are seen..." We see all these trees and mountains
and valleys and streams and things that God made. These things were
not made of things which do appear, but made by the Word of God.
So if God can speak and create a world, God can speak and make
a new creation in us. We're a new creation. Alright,
thirdly. Oh, this is so important here.
In verse 4, here is faith's sin offering. Faith has a sin offering. You see, The honest seeker knows
something of the holiness of God. I've tried to preach that
here, the holiness of God. If there's one word that declares the attributes
or character of God, it's the word holy. Holy. God is holy. Holy. Secondly, the honest seeker
knows that he's a sinner. We know that we're sinners. We
know that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And the honest seeker knows the third thing. God being holy,
and us sinners, there's got to be an atonement. There's got
to be a reconciliation. There's got to be a sin offering.
It's like when Isaac and Abraham were walking up the mountain
to worship God, and Isaac said, where's the lamb? Without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission. There must be a lamb.
Well, here in Hebrews 11, verse 4, it talks about that atonement. By faith, able, offered unto
God, and underscore these four words, a more excellent sacrifice. There is faith, sin, and offering.
It is a more excellent sacrifice. 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 or speaks."
Here are two young men, and these boys, Abel and Cain, they were
not just lads. They were not children. They
were family heads. Now, if they had not been heads
of families, they would not have brought this sin offering. Their
father would have brought it. Back in Old Testament days, the
father was the priest of the home. He was the head of the
house. As long as children were in the home, the father offered
the sacrifice. Isaac didn't offer the sacrifice.
Abraham did. Isaac was a teenager. But Abraham
offered the sacrifice. And so these young men, Cain
and Abel, Cain was a farmer. evidently. And he brought of
his farm products. He brought fruits that he built.
Both of them came to worship God. Both of them built an altar.
And Cain came with things he was proud of and he offered them
to God. He put on this altar things that
he had raised and things that were beautiful, probably his
pumpkins and watermelons and tomatoes and all these things
that he thought were just products of his skill as a farmer. But Abel came to the Lord and
offered a lamb, which is typical of Christ, the Lamb of God. He
offered blood, a blood sacrifice, and what Abel is His offering
here, He's bringing a lamb, a substitute, a sin offering, blood. Because God said without the
shedding of blood there's no remission. God declares it the
Lamb of God all the way through the Lamb. The Passover Lamb,
the Lamb all the way through the Scripture, the Lamb atonement
in the tabernacle, even the Lamb in the book of Revelations as
it had been slain as a sacrifice, an atonement. And Abel's offering
was accepted, and he was accepted through his offering, because
it was a more excellent sacrifice. There is the key. Faith, sin,
offering is a more excellent sacrifice. A more excellent sacrifice. And you name anything that people
are trusting for salvation, and it won't do. We say, well, somebody
has been a good mother, a good father, but there's a more excellent
sacrifice. But a man's been a preacher,
but there's a more excellent sacrifice. But a person's been
faithful to the church and sang in the choir and taught Sunday
school and worked with young people and taught school and
done all these things and given his life. Maybe in the armed
forces and preserve the country and been a policeman or a fireman
or a doctor or something, skilled laborer that has done all these
things for people, but there's a more excellent sacrifice. And without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. That's right. And that's faith
sent often. It's essential. A more excellent
sacrifice is only Christ. Now listen, a more excellent
sacrifice. There is none more excellent
than Him. When you have Him, you have THE
more excellent sacrifice. And God won't accept any other.
He won't accept it. Alright, move on. In verse 5,
here's faith's walk. Now, we read verse 5, By faith
Enoch was translated that he should not see death. And he
was not found because God had translated him. For before his
translation, he had this testimony. He pleased God. How did he please God? And you
know, when I read about Enoch, I just mark myself off there,
you know. Enoch was a man who just... There weren't but two men who
went to heaven without dying, Elijah and Enoch. And we read
about Enoch and we think, That's out of my category. This man
was taken to heaven, translated as he walked along one day, just
taken up, he was gone. God took him to heaven. But you
know, I got to look at this very carefully, and it says he pleased
God, and then the next verse tells us how he pleased God.
How he pleased God. He pleased God by faith. That's how you please God. Without
faith, it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God
must believe that He is. Do you? Then you please God. And that He is a merciful, gracious
God, plenteous in redemption. Do you believe that? Then you
please God. I didn't tell you to underscore
anything, did I? Well, turn back to Genesis chapter 5, and I'll
let you underscore something over here. Genesis chapter 5
about Enoch. We're going to read about Enoch
over here. Let's read about Enoch. I'll tell you, a lot of our doubts
are created in our own minds. A lot of our so-called humility
and self abasement is unnecessary. We walk with God. Men walk with God now just like
Enoch did. Walk with God. You people here
who love God, who believe that God is, who believe that He's
the reward of them that diligently seek, you walk with God? Now
let's see about Enoch here. In Genesis 5 verse 21, And Enoch
lived sixty and five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked
with God. After he begat Methuselah three
hundred years and begat, he lived three hundred years and begat
sons and daughters. Walked with God all that time.
And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five
years and Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took
him. Let me tell you something about Enoch. Enoch was a well-known
man. That's right, well-known. A man
of influence and standing and knowledge. A lot of people knew
him. He's recorded in the Scriptures. I know he was well-known. Well-known. Enoch was a family man. He wasn't
a hermit up in the mountains somewhere sitting cross-legged.
He was a family man. He had children. He loved children.
He had children around his house. He was a family man. And I know
this about him, he was a working man. He had to be if he had that
many children. They all got to be fed and clothed
like yours. He was a working man. He didn't
live in the church and sit around saying hymns all day. He worked.
He's a working man. And he lived to be a very old
man. Old people can walk with God. Young people. Young people
with children. Young people working, laboring,
and old people. He walked with God. Now how did
he walk with God? To underscore those words, Enoch
walked with God. Four words there. That's the
walk of faith. It's with God. That's the walk of faith. It's
with God. Not by sight, by faith, with God. He didn't walk by sight,
he walked by faith. And listen, he didn't walk by
the Ten Commandments. They weren't yet given. Enoch didn't have the Ten Commandments.
He walked with God by love. He believed God. He loved God.
He didn't walk by rushing. He walked by resting. He didn't
walk by works. He walked by grace. He believed
God. He didn't walk just for a while. He walked his whole life. Three
hundred years. He never quit. He never quit. Do you see that? Not by sight,
by faith, Enoch walked with God. Not by law, by love. Not by rushing. You don't read any cities that
Enoch built or great things that Enoch accomplished, but you read
the most important thing. He walked with God. Resting.
And not by works, by grace. And not just for a while. For
life. To walk with God. Alright, fifthly,
let's look at faith's response. This is important. You know,
you can't separate faith and conduct. As a man thinketh in
his heart, so is he. You can't separate belief and
obedience. That's what the book of James
is all about. The book of Romans The key to
the Book of Romans, the theme of the Book of Romans is the
justification of our souls by faith, not by words, by faith. My soul is justified by faith. The thief on the cross believed
that he was saved. He never worked. He never witnessed. He was never baptized. He never
belonged to a church. He never gave a dime. He was
saved, he went to glory by faith, was justified by faith. But if
he had lived, if he had lived, he would have been baptized,
he would have given, he would have labored, he would have walked
with God, that's right. Because the book of James comes
along and says this, and a lot of people who want to take refuge
in the fact we're saved by faith without works, and they live
without works. We're not saved by grace to live
in disgrace. We're saved by grace to live
in love. And that's what the book of James
is all about. It says this, the faith that
saves is a work of faith and a labor of love and a patience
of hope. That's what it is. And that's
what it says here in verse 7. How do you know Noah believed
God? Verse 7. By faith, Noah being
warned of God, of things not seen, he yet moved. He moved with fear. What is fear? Respect. Admiration. Worship. When God spoke, Noah believed
Him and he moved. He was filled with fear, a solemn
fear. And he prepared an ark for the
saving of his house by which he condemned the world and became
heir of the righteousness which is of faith. How do you know
Abraham believed God? Well, listen to verse 8. By faith,
Abraham, when he was called of God to go out to a place where
he should have to receive for an inheritance, obeyed. That's
how you know he believed. He obeyed God. Underscore those
words for the response of faith. What is the response of faith?
It moves with fear. Not fear of men. Not fear of
failure. But fear of God. And this fear
of God is not a slavish fear. It's a respect. It's an admiration. It's an awe. The fear of the
Lord. Actually, when the Bible talks
about the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, it's synonymous
with worship. These people worshipped God.
They feared God. Jacob feared the Lord. Abraham
feared the Lord. What? Ran around hiding from
God? No. Abraham talked with God,
and the man talked to a friend. But he admired and respected
and worshiped and held the Lord in awe and moved with fear. That's what I say to this congregation. You move among men. You move in your vocations and
occupations. And you move in raising your
families. And you've got burdens and trials
and cares. And you're not of the world,
but you're in the world. But you move. You walk with God.
You move with a respect and admiration and a glory and an awe of God
and obey Him. How do we know Abraham believed
God? He obeyed Him. He obeyed Him. You can't separate. Everybody who is called of God
obeys. Now here is faith's trials in
verse 8, the last line. I want you to underscore these
words. Not knowing where he went. Not knowing where he went. The Jews, I don't know how many,
but they talk about the trials of Abraham. I don't know whether
they have 10 or 12, but they talk about and teach the trials
of Abraham. They did back many years ago.
They don't pay attention to them now, but they did back yonder. And if you go over the life of
Abraham, you'll find God dealing with him in all of these many
trials, and this is always the case, not knowing where, not
knowing when, not knowing how. He didn't know. He didn't know. He believed. Hope that is seen is not hope. But here God called him to leave
his people and go to a place he would show him, and he left.
He didn't know where. A man's going, and he doesn't know
where he's going. God knows where he's going. And
he blames God. And then, the delay in the birth
of Isaac. Have you ever thought about this?
God told him he'd have a son. And years, after years, after
years, after years, passed by 15, 20 years, the Son never came. Why? That's faith being tried. And then the delay got to Sarah. It didn't get to Abraham, but
it got to Sarah. And she said, it's just not going to happen. You'll just have to go in to
my servant. She's young and she'll have a child." And Abraham listened
to her and a son was born. And that presented a trial. That
tore his home up. Just divided his home. Started
all kinds of conflicts. And then finally, he had to send
the boy away. He had to put a water bottle
on his mother's shoulder and tell him goodbye. God told him,
get that boy out of this house. He didn't know why. And then Isaac came along, and
he loved Isaac, and God told him to take Isaac up on the mountain
and sacrifice him as a burn offering. He didn't know why. That pretty
well describes faith, doesn't it? Not knowing where he went. Not knowing why. Why? Sometimes you think, in the name
of God, why? Not knowing how. How is it going
to be done? I don't know. But it will be. That's faith trials and faith's comfort. Not knowing
why. But here's the answer. Verse
11. Here's faith's victory. Through
faith, finally, Through faith also, Sarah herself received
strength to conceive seed and was deliberate of a child when
she was past age." Underscore this, she judged him faithful
who had promised. Now there's what faith lays hold
of, that he's faithful. He promised and he'll do. He's able to do what he promised
and he will do what he promised. All things work together for
good to them who love God. I promise you that, God said.
To them who are called according to His purpose, it will be for
your good and mine. It will be. I don't know where
and I don't know when. I don't know how. I just know.
He's faithful, who promised. That's it. But that goes back
to the boy who's going to move. He doesn't know where. But that's
the father he trusts. He just knows he's going to find
what his father said he's going to find to the letter. And I
promise you, he's faithful that promise. And the last, number
eight, faith's perseverance. Five words we'll underscore here.
Verse 13. These all died in faith. These. Who are these? These believers. These believers. His children
of God, Abraham and Sarah and Noah and Enoch. Not Enoch, but
Abraham and Noah and all the rest of them. They all, without
exception, faith didn't keep them from dying. They died. They
died just like everybody else. Faith didn't keep them from trials.
Faith didn't keep them from old age. Faith didn't keep them from
suffering. Faith didn't keep them from death. But they died
in faith. Still trusting. Still believing. Still walking with God. I don't
understand, but I do know he does. And Paul came to the end
of his journey, and he said, well, I've fought a good fight. I've finished my course. I've
kept the faith. And therefore, there's laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me in that day. He promised it. And not
to me only, but to all them that love his appearance. And Augustus
Toplady wrote, while I draw this fleeting breath, and when mine
eyes shall close in death, and when I rise to worlds unknown
and behold him on his throne, rock of ages cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Let's sing that song. I think
it's number 126.