way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope with unwavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For, if we go on sinning deliberately, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no longer a sacrifice for sin, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But recall the former days, after you were enlightened. You endured hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated, for you had compassion on those in prison. And you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward, for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for. the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Let us pray. Father in heaven, please grant that your truth may be rightly spoken and willingly received, and that it may bring good to your people and praise to your name. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Congregation, this book of Hebrews was written in a time very much like our own. It was written to Jews in the Roman Empire in the first century who were among the remnant. Because most of the Jews of that time had departed from the historic faith, just like a lot of Americans have in the day in which we live. And yet they and they alone of all nations had been so wonderfully blessed of God. No other nation had truth revealed from heaven through inspired prophets but the nation of Israel. And incredible though it is, when that God who spoke through the prophets in times past actually came to them in the person of his Son, they received him not. Well, most of them. But there was a remnant. There are the people we know so well, John and Paul and Matthew and others. The Christian Church was originally Jewish. And that meant that when Paul went throughout the Roman Empire, there was a remnant even in the synagogues who would listen. There was even one synagogue that listened. the Berean synagogue. They were more noble than others. And they stopped to really consider carefully what God's Word says. And so this inspired writer is writing this letter to the remnant believers, urging them not to back away from the faith. No, he says, we're not those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith. Ah, but what is faith? Do you have it? That's why he immediately went on in verses 1, 2, and 3 of chapter 11 to give us first a definition of saving faith, and then a confirmation of it. And I hope you'll keep your Bibles open to Hebrews 11, verses 1, 2, and 3. Because not everything that is called faith is faith, as God defines it. One of the presidential candidates once sat under the teaching and preaching of Norman Vincent Peale. He was a famous liberal minister who believed in what he called the power of positive thinking. You might keep that in mind as you evaluate that candidate. There's also those who believe that strong emotional feeling is really what amounts to being true faith. And you all know the old traditional Arminian view that you have the power latent within you to decide to believe that it's a volitional decision that you make and then you are a believer. The common ingredient of so many false views of faith is that faith is something that comes out of you. But it doesn't. The Bible says it's something that comes into you from Almighty God Himself. That's why it's called a gift. Faith comes by hearing, says Paul, and hearing by the Word of God. And he says, therefore, it is not of him who wills or of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. And that's why he says to the Ephesians, by grace you are saved through faith. And that, not of yourself, but of God. It is the gift of God so that no one can boast. And I think we have a kind of a helpful illustration in the life of Jacob. We've recently been blessed by some wonderful evening Bible reading from the book of Genesis. Do you remember the story of Jacob's sons? And how Joseph was a favorite and his brothers hated him? So they sold him into slavery and told their father he had been killed by a wild animal. And then, you know the story of how he went down to the land of Egypt and God Almighty had plans for him and he became the second most powerful man in the world of that time, Joseph. And then God sent a famine. And the brothers had to go down there to get food to survive. And there they were, face to face with Joseph. At first, he didn't make himself known to them, but finally he did. And they were reconciled. And he said to them, go back home. Get Jacob. Tell him, Joseph is still alive. This is from Genesis 45. And he's governor over all the land of Egypt. So they did. They went back and they told him that, and the Bible says Jacob's heart stood still because he did not believe them. No wonder he didn't believe them after keeping their father deceived by a great lie for many, many years. But then it says, When they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. And then he said, It is enough. My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him. before I die." He changed from unbelief to faith by evidence, by words that came from Joseph. I don't know what those words were, but it was probably something known only to Joseph and Jacob. And those words and the evidence of what he had sent brought him from unbelief to faith. And dear friends, that is exactly the way it is with us. Because the words of this Bible are God's words. There is no other place on earth that you will find God's words as you do in the Bible. And when they are sent by God and accompanied by the Holy Spirit, the result is saving faith. Saving faith isn't something we project out of ourselves, it is something that God creates in us by His Spirit and Word in a supernatural miracle called the new birth. And when that happens, There is a dimension to faith that never exists without it. And what is that dimension? It is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. What are some of the things you hope for as a Christian believer? Some of you young people probably wouldn't even worry about this. But when you're 91 like me, you think about it. Is it really true that I am going to be buried six foot under soon, but only for a time? Only for a time. Is that true or is it not true? What do you think? And what about what the Bible says about the first resurrection? It says, blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, because on him the second death has no power. Is that true? Or isn't it? What is the second death? It's the lake of fire. Well, I can tell you this folks, it's a tremendous thing to me to know that I have had the first resurrection. I even remember when, 1946. And what about the other things that God tells us in His Holy Word that He's going to do. He's going to come again. He's going to have an assembly of the whole human race before Him at the throne of judgment. Is that going to happen really? Will you be there? When you have the faith that saves, you have assurance and conviction that you will be there. Because it is going to happen. Well, what are some of the things that are unseen? Well, I've never seen the new birth, nor have you. I cannot look at all you people here and tell infallibly that every last one of you has passed from death unto life. I hope it's the case, but that's an invisible. It cannot be seen by our physical eyes. And that's why at the second verse you see how this wonderful inspired writer gives us confirmation of the importance of these two things. And what does he say in verse 2 of that statement? He says, it was by this that the people of old received their commendation. And then he gives us some examples. Example One that I've chosen out of that long list is Noah. What's so wonderful about Noah? He said, I believe in God. But he also showed that he really did believe in God. God came to him and said, Noah, I'm going to send a worldwide flood. Laughed at today. Look it up on your internet, you'll see. How they make jokes about that. But God said there's going to be a worldwide flood, Noah. And if you want to survive when the whole human race of your day is wiped out, you better get busy and build an ark. If you do, then you'll be saved. You and your family will be saved. Well, you know, this isn't the first time in history when there are a lot of smart people. There were smart people there too. They invented things. You can read about it in Genesis. Clever people. But they laughed at Noah. There was no precedent for this wild idea that Noah had. There was no precedent for it. Why should you believe a thing like that? But you see, He had the kind of faith that saves. So what did he do? He got to work, and it took him over a hundred years to build an ark. And the Bible says he built an ark to the saving of his family. And then one day, nobody expected it, they were marrying and giving in marriage all over the world, And suddenly the dam broke and the water was there. They were wrong and Noah was right. Or take another example, Abraham and Sarah. God said to them, and they were old people like Doris and I, you're going to have another child. Ridiculous. That couldn't happen. It's never happened and it never will happen. It was so ridiculous that even Sarah at first laughed. And then when God read her mind and let her know that he was reading her mind, she thought better of it because it says in verse 11, she received power to conceive since She considered him faithful who promised. And so, lo and behold, the day came. The baby was born. And faith was again confirmed. And what was it about these people that delighted God so much? Noah and Abraham and Sarah. The answer is They thought big of God. They trusted Him to do wondrous things. They had assurance and conviction that He was really the great God He claimed to be. And that's what's wrong today. That's been lost. Or think of the congregation in the time when they came into the land of promise. Sometimes we think the younger generation is hopeless. Well, that was a better generation than the one in the wilderness. God kept them in the wilderness for 40 years because of the unbelieving attitude of the older people. But the younger people under Joshua came into the land of promise. And God said, I want you to march around the city of Jericho. without opening your mouth, without firing a shot, as it were. And I want you then to wait, and the next day do the same thing, and do the same thing seven days, and for good measure on the last day, go around seven times, and then blow the trumpet. And the walls of Jericho will, will come tumbling down. Now that's an amazing thing. But the Bible says they believed God and did what he said. Because he's that great. This has led, I think, to some misunderstanding because of what is written in Matthew 21. One day Jesus saw a barren fig tree and he cursed it. And the next day, as they came by, he and his disciples, they saw that the fig tree had withered. And so Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and don't doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. Jesus didn't mean that you can think up any crazy old thing you want to and then get it by this method. And that's why we have examples like this. In every one of these examples he gives us in the rest of this chapter, it was God who set the agenda, not man. It was God who said, there will be a flood. And Noah was asked to believe it. And it was God who said, you're going to have a child in your old age. And they were asked to believe it. And it was God who said the walls will come tumbling down. Not one time were crazy ideas honored as if they were faith. The point is that if we hear great and wonderful things of God, we are to believe them with assurance and conviction. Oh, there's so many things I haven't seen. When I was a kid, I used to wish I had. Jesus walking on water, feeding 5,000 people miraculously, raising Lazarus from the dead. Oh man, love to have been there to see that. And there was a time when I used to say, why don't those things happen where I am? But what about the things unseen? The inspired writer then goes on, and it amazes me in a way that he does, he goes right on to talk about one of the craziest things under debate today, even in Reformed circles. Creation. He says, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. I have a great-granddaughter, just went off to a Christian college, and she was attacked, belittled. for believing in six-day creation. That's the context we're living in today. You go there and you get evolution. But God says, I'm the only one who was there. Man wasn't even created yet. I was the only one there when the world was created. Now let me tell you all about it. I did it in six days. And the whole thing was finished in six days. In the beginning. No wonder Paul in Romans says the true God is the God who, and I'm quoting his words, calls into existence the things that do not exist. It's what the theologians used to call creation ex nihilo, creation of everything out of nothing. The Reformed fathers believed what God says in the creation story. But today we are living under the tyranny of experts who say, oh, now, you can't take that literally. That's too simple. That's for children, but we have to teach them better. Well, children, if you're listening, when you read In the Bible, that Jesus walked on the water, he requires you to believe that Jesus walked on water. And when the Bible says, he walked into the cemetery and said, Lazarus, get up, come out. Lazarus got up and came out. We need a new day in which the old people believe with something of the simplicity of the children. Because the Bible says, without faith, this is in verse 6 of this chapter 11, without faith it's impossible to please Him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. You see, the problem today is that practical science has done such spectacular things, and I'm impressed too. I was tremendously impressed when I flew from Africa to Minneapolis on a 747. It's amazing what man has been able to do. But no scientist was there when God created the world. They didn't see it, and they will never be able to tell us in any other way than you and I can be told by what God says, for He was there. Isn't that wonderful? It's a level playing field. Never listen to anyone who says, I can tell you better than God does what happened at creation. No. He's the only one who was there. He's the only one who has the right to tell us what happened, how long it took, and whether or not it was at the very beginning of everything in the history of the world. One of these days before long, I will be six foot under. But thank God, despite my experience of many trying to persuade me otherwise, I do believe that Jesus will return and sovereignly command a universal bodily resurrection. Every human being Let me read it for you, because John had a vision of it. Here's what's going to happen. from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and hell gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged. each one of them according to what they had done. Then death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. For as Jesus himself said in his great sermon in Matthew 25, when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him Then he will sit on his glorious throne. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. But to you and me, if we're believers, he will say, Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you." This is going to happen. And I pray with all my heart. That's why I wanted to preach on this subject today. I pray with all my heart that every one of you, from the oldest to the youngest, will have what God calls saving faith. And I'm pretty sure I'm not very far from the mark because of your catechism that I've come to love. For what does it say? Question and answer 21. What is true faith? True faith is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything God reveals in his word is true. It's also a deep-rooted assurance created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel that out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ not only others, but I too have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted eternal salvation. Dear brothers and sisters whom I love, make sure that you have this faith. Amen. Father in heaven, faith is something that you alone can give us. Help us not to look to ourself in any way, but Lord to look to you, and become again like the great believers of old, who had assurance of things hoped for. conviction of things unseen please do this Lord for I ask it in Jesus name amen please turn with me to selection number 304