Faith's Conquests, Costs, and Compensations, Part 3

Today is October 16th, 2022 Do you know when we began Hebrews 11? October 10th, 2021 Today is the 35th sermon in Hebrews chapter 11. 35 It's taken us a year to get here There's been some breaks in between, of course, and did some special things, and, of course, that was gone in the month of August But 35 sermons later, if you don't understand faith, I have no answer for you. I can't help you

After 35 sermons in Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith, if you don't understand faith, then I don't know what else to tell you. I can't explain it any more than we already have explained it all throughout these 35 sermons looking at what faith truly is We began in Hebrews 11, verse number one, what is faith? That's a good question to ask and answer And then we began to show you how people in the Old Testament lived out their faith, how they trusted and obeyed That's the two-word definition of faith, trusting obedience There's a four-word definition

It is believing absolutely and behaving accordingly to all that God says So you have a two-word definition You have a four-word definition Hopefully, you're able to understand those things and live them out and understand exactly what God wants you to do because the just shall live by faith We don't walk by sight We simply walk by faith The people in Hebrews 11 walked this way They walked trusting and obeying They walked believing in what God said Absolutely Absolutely

And then they behaved accordingly because how do you know you believe something? You live it out, right? And that's exactly what they did Were they perfect people? No Many faults, many failures, many flaws But yet God wants to accentuate their faith that they believed in Him and they followed Him So when you come to the very end of the chapter of Hebrews, Hebrews 11, you have faith's conquest, cost, and compensation In the last two weeks, we looked at faith's conquest because faith conquers Who is he that overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God

And that person, according to 1 John 5, verse number 4, is a victorious warrior They are a conqueror They live in victory because what is the victory that overcomes the world? Our faith And so Hebrews 11 gives you all these people who overcame the world by walking in faith That's what they did And so we looked at them So we looked at faith's conquest Today, as we conclude Hebrews 11, we're going to look at faith's cost and compensation because faith always costs

We don't like to talk about this part, but it's very important to the whole story of faith. I'm glad that the writer of Hebrews would end this way because as he's talking to this Hebrew nation, these Jewish people, this Zerati, he's not talking to Gentiles He's talking to Jews That's why it's called the book of Hebrews, right? He's writing to Jewish people He's trying to help them to understand, look, you're going to give your life to the Lord God of Israel, to the Messiah, to your Redeemer, right? He is the all-sufficient God of the universe He is the supreme God of the universe

That's why you give your life to Him But once you give your life to Him, there's going to be a price to pay So he warns them in advance He tells them, before he ever gets to Hebrews chapter 12, he's warning them in Hebrews 11, and all throughout the book of Hebrews He gives five warnings, right? Five warnings about what it means to give your life to Christ and to make sure you understand what that means But as he closes out Hebrews 11, he wants to tell them the cost of faith It's going to cost you greatly in ways you can't even begin to imagine But this is not new

This is recorded all throughout the New Testament, all throughout the Pauline epistles, all throughout the Gospels, right? It's all about the cost of faith When Christ came, his whole sermon was based on cost That's why I said, if any man come after me, lend an eye himself, take up his cross, and follow me That was the Gospel Everything was follow me, follow me, follow me And so at the end of his life, he concludes that by showing what it means to follow me This is so amazing All throughout his ministry, come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men

Come, follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me All throughout his ministry, it's all about following Christ, following Christ, following Christ So at the end of his ministry, you have this scenario in Luke's Gospel, the 23rd chapter, in verse number 26, when Christ, having been beaten beyond recognition, unable to carry the cross himself because he is so beaten, he can hardly walk with the cross, for the cross beat him When they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus

That one verse, sums up the ministry of Christ Simon was compelled, seized, to come out and carry the cross Do you know that when you're saved, you're compelled to come? Peter talks about when you receive a faith, you receive it from the Lord Faith is a gift, right? Faith is not something you muster up and have a lot of energy to gain Faith is a gift given to you by God That's why Peter says, those who have received the same kind of faith that we have received, it's a gift For by grace you have been saved through faith in all yourselves It's a gift of God Grace is a gift and faith is a gift

They're both gifts Everything about salvation is a gift So, faith, according to Hebrews 11, is a gift given by God, which allows people to believe in what God says and then behave accordingly to all that God says You just don't do that on your own It's a gift that God gives you Simon was seized, compelled to come out to carry the crossbeam of the Lord, to follow the Lord to Calvary Why? Because Christ said all these words for three years and now he wants to show them his words by Simon carrying the cross behind him This is what it means to follow me

You still want to follow? Just a beautiful illustration It's no wonder very few people follow Christ Oh, they loved his miracles His miracles are great Couldn't see? Now you can Couldn't walk? Now you can Right? You're free from all of your disease, from all of those things that hindered you from doing what you wanted to do because Christ healed you They loved his miracles They just didn't love his message Even though they said in Matthew 7, there is never a man who has spoken like this man Because when he speaks, he speaks with authority and clarity

He doesn't speak like the other rabbis speak He speaks in a unique way Why? He's the Son of God He speaks the words of God, right? So never a man spoke like this man spoke And yet Christ was always concerned about people following superficially He was always concerned about those who would jump on a Jesus bandwagon We're not too concerned about that today We are quick to get people to receive, quick to get people to pray, quick to get people to walk an aisle, quick for people to say, yes, I am a follower of Christ But we don't want to explain to them the cost of following Christ

But Christ always did Like that last week with the rich young ruler He had everything the world had to offer, but he was an idolater And at the heart of everything, we are idolaters That's why you have to deny yourself Why? Because you love yourself Everybody loves himself So the Bible says, no man ever hated his own flesh Book of Ephesians, 5th chapter We love ourselves But to be saved, you got to deny yourself, right? And you have to be willing to take up your cross daily and follow the Lord That's why I like in Revelation chapter 14, you have those 144,000 Jewish evangelists

They're all marked by God. 12,000 from every tribe The Bible says, and they followed the Lord, excuse me, they followed the Lamb wherever He went It doesn't say they followed the Lord wherever He went They followed the Lamb wherever He went Why? Because to follow the Lamb means to understand true sacrifice And that's what they did That's why their testimony was so potent, excuse me, will be so potent during the tribulation Because they followed the Lamb wherever He goes But Christ always talked about the cost

That's why in Luke's gospel, 14th chapter, it says, large crowds were going along with Him And He turned and said to them, what would you say if large crowds were following you? So many times when large crowds come to our churches, we begin to dilute the message Because we want to make sure we keep everybody coming Right? We want to make sure they like what they hear They're very comfortable when they come So we begin to dilute the message So more and more people will come, but not Jesus He ramps up the cost of the message. I just love the way Jesus ministers

He's like, you know, I'm glad you're here, but I got to tell you something You have to understand what it is you're getting yourself into. I know you love the miracles, but you got to believe the message Because if you miss the message, the miracles mean nothing So He says, if anyone comes to me, does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yea, and even his own life, he cannot Not that he may, he just can't be my disciple Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple You cannot be a follower of me

Everything is about follow me, follow me, follow me But if you want to follow me, if you love your life, you can't follow me If you love your mother, father, brother, sister more than me, you can't follow me Because that means you have an affirmation and affection and adoration for someone other than me And you can't be a follower of me and esteem someone else greater than me You can't do that. I'm either everything or I'm nothing And He is everything That's what the book of Hebrews is all about, right? The sufficiency and supremacy of the Messiah That's why He emphasizes it all throughout

That's why He can give the cost at the end and say, look, this is the great cost, but it's worth it because of who He is So Christ doesn't give conditions for people to be saved He gives the characteristics of those who are already saved See that? Luke 14 are not conditions by which you get saved because there are no conditions except repent and believe the gospel, right? But you only repent if God grants you to get the repentance So what He says are the characteristics of those who follow Him To let them know that if you're going to follow me, this is how you're going to live your life

Do you want to live this way or not? Because if you don't, goodbye If you do, just keep following Keep following So what does He do? He gives them the cost and then He wants them to understand how to calculate that cost That's why He gives two parables One about a building and one about a battle With the building, you got to calculate whether or not you can finish it or not And with the battle, you got to consider whether or not you can fight it or not

You know, when you make a major decision, don't you have to calculate what it is you're doing? If you're going to buy a house, you shouldn't go out and buy a house You got to calculate whether or not you can afford to buy a house, right? Can I make the payments on the house? Can I do all that is required to live in that house? Same with buying a car Hey, when you get married, you don't pick someone off the street, right? You got to calculate and consider whether or not this person is the one you want to spend the rest of your life with Well, those are all temporary earthly things

Shouldn't you at least consider your eternal destiny and calculate the cost of what it means to follow Christ? That's how we present the gospel Are you ready to follow Christ? Because if you are, let me help you calculate what it will cost you to follow Him Because after I give you the cost and you still say, yes, I want to do that You're in, let's do it But if when you hear the cost, that doesn't interest you, then evidently you have not been called You will not repent and you will not believe

So Christ says these words, which one of you when he wants to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it Can you finish it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, this man began to build and was not able to finish What a fool What a fool He sets out to build the house, but he didn't calculate it properly and he can't finish it, so it sits there unfinished What a fool See, because people in God's kingdom always finish That's what Hebrews 11 is about Hebrews 12

They finish They don't just begin Jump on the Jesus bandwagon and then fall off the bandwagon No, they go all the way to the end They finish So he wants to make sure you finish because if not, people will ridicule and say, what a fool You couldn't even calculate what it would cost you to build a house Or what king when he sets out to meet another king in battle will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with 10,000 men to account of the one coming against him with 20,000 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace

So then, none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions He wants you to consider He wants you to calculate Can you finish the building? Can you fight in the battle? A parable he gives because you must consider what it costs you to follow Christ And are you willing to pay the price to do that? There's a great battle in following Christ You battle the world, the sin, its sin You battle your own flesh, right? Constant battle Are you willing to face the battle? Day in and day out

Matthew 11, verse number 12, it says, The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force What a statement The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force In other words, when you come to Christ, all hell is against you from giving your life to Christ There's a violent battle that takes place when you sit down and begin to calculate whether or not I want to give my life to Christ And that battle is a fierce battle That's why the kingdom of heaven suffers such violence, but only violent men can take it by force

That's what Jesus says about coming to his kingdom He also says this, Luke 16 He says, The gospel of the kingdom is preached and everyone is forcing his way into it When is the last time you ever said that? The gospel of the kingdom is being preached If you preach the gospel of the kingdom, right? If you preach the true gospel and don't dilute the gospel, if you help people understand the cost of following Christ, then the Lord says, people will be forcing their way into it What do you mean forcing my way into the kingdom? I thought I just had to believe in Jesus

Yeah, but that belief requires faith That faith requires repentance All gifts given to you by God But at the same time, all hell is against you entering that kingdom Why? Because you see, you're a part of the kingdom of the devil You're part of the sons of disobedience And salvation requires a transfer from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son Well, you're a part of the kingdom of darkness The kingdom of darkness doesn't want to lose you So they're scratching, they're crawling, they're holding on to you as you hear the gospel Realize the cost of the gospel

Consider and calculate what it costs to follow Christ And the kingdom of darkness is holding on to you But when God saves you, he transfers you from that kingdom into his kingdom That's why you take it by force Christ also said these words through the pen of the apostle Peter, 1 Peter 4, 18 It is with difficulty that the righteous are being saved It is with difficulty that the righteous are being delivered, being saved See that? Now if that's new to you, you've never heard that before, you've probably been in the wrong church for many years

If that's new to you and you've never heard it before, someone gave you probably a diluted gospel If this is all new to you, okay, it's evident that you haven't heard the words of Christ to understand what it costs to follow Christ And that's too bad It doesn't mean you're not saved No, I'm not saying that But it does mean that once you hear this, you say, yes, I do understand Why? What is faith? Believing absolutely in what God says, right? And behaving accordingly to all that God says So I believe absolutely this is what God says

That's why Christ was asked, what question? Are there many being saved? Why? Because there wasn't There wasn't Are there many being saved? Christ says, strive to enter by the narrow way For many will seek to enter, but not be able to But you've got to agonize You've got to fight hard to get in Why? Because everything is against you The world's against you, your family's against you, Satan is against you Everything in the world is against you from going into the kingdom And you've got to strive to enter Why? It's a narrow gate It's not a wide gate It's a narrow gate

Christ said in Matthew chapter 7, the very first sermon recorded, broad is the way that leads to destruction, and narrow is the way that leads to life But the broad road says heaven It doesn't say hell It says heaven Believe any way you like It's one of the broad roads But the narrow road is different The narrow road is costly Costly That's why the song says, Jesus, I, my cross, have taken all to leave and follow Thee Desitute, despised, forsaken, thus from henceforth my all must be Perish every fond ambition, all I've sought and heard and known, yet how rich is my condition

God and heaven are still That's the song of the redeemed So what Christ says, same thing that the Apostle Paul said, he was crucified with Christ, he died to self No longer it is I who live, but Christ lives in me It's the life of Christ in me Paul understood persecution, hardship, difficulty, separation, all those things And he encouraged all those who to follow him to do the exact same thing. I love what he says to the Thessalonians

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, he says this, We sent Timothy, our brother, and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this You need to know that the afflictions we suffer are part of our destiny Christ said, if they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you All those who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution It is inevitable So the writer of Hebrews says, the cost is inevitable The conquest is great

Because you're a victorious warrior But nobody was victorious without a severe battle that they would face And so he begins to list all the costs that people have faced over the years He doesn't name those who faced this cost He just names the cost because he knows that this Hebrew audience is going to have to face similar causes Similar costs And so, let's finish Hebrews 11 by looking at faith's cost and faith's compensation. I tell you this because this is nothing new The believers in the New Testament understood the cost

Those who follow Christ understand there's a cost to pay. A price to pay And so he says this, verse number 35, halfway down, he says, and others, heteros Not alos, but heteros Others of a different kind These are others The ones before faced the conquest The ones before were victorious And it's not that these weren't victorious, but these are the ones who really paid the price for following Christ For following their Messiah For believing that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel This is what happened to them These are others of a different kind Same as having people of faith

But the results for them were not as glorious as the ones before them So he says, others were tortured Tortured Tortured What do you conjure up in your mind when you hear about torture? Well, the word is used, and the word that's used in Hebrews 11 is the word that's used of a wheel Where you would strap someone down And then you would begin to separate the wheel As you separate it, all the joints would become separated You'd pull the arms out You'd pull the legs out You would torture that person Who wants to live that way? Right? But that's what it means to follow Christ

Some of you might even be tortured Now, in America, we have not faced that People in China have faced all kinds of torture People in Korea, all kinds of torture It's not in America It will come to America It's just not here yet Right? But it says, others were tortured Not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection In other words, you couldn't bribe them They were on the wheel They were on the board They were on that which would separate them But you know what? They could not be tempted

So as I say, will you deny Christ? Will you turn your back on Christ? And they said, no We desire a better resurrection They're willing to die Paul would talk about that in in 2 Timothy chapter 2. A verse of scripture that is so easily mistaken or not interpreted correctly when it says, this is a trustworthy statement verse number 11 of 2 Timothy 2 If we died with him, we will also live with him We understand that Right? Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ But if you die with him, you live with him If we endure, we will also reign with him

Why? Because endurance and perseverance is is what Christianity is We'll learn about that in Hebrews 12, the next chapter If we deny him, he also will deny us Where's that from? Well, that's from the book of Matthew Matthew chapter 10 In Matthew chapter 10, Christ said these words He says, Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will confess him before my father who is in heaven But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my father who is in heaven Those who follow me confess me They say the same thing about me that the Bible says about me They confess my name

But those who deny me, I will deny before my father who is in heaven So when you come to 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse number 12, if we deny him, he also will deny us Verse 13, if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself And people say, well, if I'm faithless, he's going to be faithful to me No, no, no That's not what it says If you're faithless, he is faithful to do what he said he was going to do So if you deny him and you are faithless, he is faithful to say, I will deny you before my father who is in heaven

If you don't confess me before other men, I will not confess you before my father who is in heaven This was a trustworthy statement It's axiomatic Everybody in the early church knew this Everybody in the early church understood this If we confess Christ, he confesses us If we deny Christ, he denies us Why? Because he's faithful to do what he said he was going to do And that is, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my father who is in heaven because I am a faithful God. I'm true to my word

So these people who were tortured, Hebrews 11, it says very clearly that these others who were tortured, not accepting their release, that they might obtain a better resurrection They didn't want to be released Why? They were going to die for their Lord They knew what it meant to take up the cross daily and follow him They lived that life How could they do that? Because they were granted faith to believe And they believed, trusting and obeying They believed what God said in his word Absolutely, you're never going to behave accordingly to all that God says Read on

It says in verse number 36, others experienced mockings and scourgings Mockings because of their faith in Christ Scourging Thirty-nine times in the back, one time with the front Paul faced scourging Christ was scourged The whip that they would use would have fragments of bone and metal and nails in it so that when they hit you they would totally rip open your skin This was a laceration that was unbelievable They faced mockings and scourgings Yes, also chains and imprisonment

You can go back to Jeremiah and look at his imprisonment and you can go back to other Old Testament prophets and realize that they were thrown into prison because of their faith They believed in the Lord Paul was put in chains Paul and Silas both were imprisoned They were stoned Stoned That means they were stoned by their own people because people always ask me, who killed Jesus? You can't say the Jews killed him because the Jews don't crucify The Jews stoned, right? God set that up in the book of Leviticus So if you say the Jews killed Jesus, well, you'd be wrong

If you said the Romans killed Jesus, you'd be right because the Romans, they crucify The Jews don't, they stone God set it up that way So these people who were suffering were suffering at the hand of Jewish people So if you're in the Hebrew audience, the book of Hebrews, you're listening to this, you understand that if you come after me, you must hate your father, mother, brother, sister You say, what do you mean hate? What does that mean? Christ never hated his own mother No, not at all But your love for the Lord is so great

Your love for everyone else looks like hate because you're so committed to your God See? And that's the way it was with the Lord God of Israel He was so committed to his Father in heaven and obeying his will, the love he had for his mother looked like hate But it really wasn't Even at the cross, he took care of his mother When he gave her into the care of John, he loved his mother But the love that we have for our Lord is so great Everything else around us pales in comparison to that He talks about their sufferings

They were stoned, they were sawn in two. I don't know about you, that's not what the buzz saw either That'd be quick, right? Not so bad Bad, but not so bad as two guys just going like this, you know what I'm saying? And trying to saw you in two That'd be a little painful, don't you think? But they weren't tempted They were tempted, but they didn't give in to temptation For the text tells us they were sawn in two They were tempted Tempted to do what? They were tempted that they might be set free from their persecution Deny the Christ We won't cut you in half We won't cut you up

But if you follow Christ and you confess to Christ, we're going to cut you up They were tempted, but they didn't give in. I wish it was that way in America today. I really do You'd weed out all the tears You just weed them out Because the wheat would shine up, stand strong, and confess Christ That's what the book of Revelation is so great, right? People in Revelation 20 who were beheaded for the name of Christ In the tribulation, that's how you die, right? Your head's cut off They cut your head off And they do it publicly so all can see it But they're not afraid to die

Why? Because they look at the resurrection, a better resurrection, and life with their God You see, death only leads you into the presence of Christ quicker That's why persecution weeds out the tears from the wheat The wheat recognizes that if I die because of my faith, I just get to heaven. I get to glory faster than if I wasn't persecuted How great is that? It's all about perspective, right? What are you thinking about? Are you thinking about your own life? He goes on to say this They were put to death with the sword They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute and afflicted

Why? Because they had nothing Everything was taken away They had to wear what they could wear They had to buy what they could buy, but they had no money They had nothing It says they were wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground There was no place to call home But then it says this Men of whom the world was not worthy What a statement, which tells you our problem We want to be worthy in the eyes of the world Don't we? We want to be thought of as something in the eyes of the world These people didn't That was irrelevant to them But the world was not worthy of them

The world was not worthy of these kind of people But yet the world needs these kind of people, don't they? Because without these kind of people, the world goes faster to destruction Think about this Listen As soon as a church is removed from the earth during the rapture of the church, there is only seven years left for the world to exist Because once the church is removed, and the Spirit of God that works in and through the people of the church is removed, those worthy ones, those righteous ones are removed

The only reason destruction has not come upon the world is because the worthy ones still exist in the world Think about Solomon Gamora They should have been destroyed long before they were in Genesis chapter 19 But Righteous Lot lived there And because Righteous Lot lived there, he served as a protection for Solomon Gamora So when God comes to Abraham and says, I'm destroying Solomon Gamora, he says that to be 50 righteous, will you spare it? But God says, yes, he whittles it down to 10 If there be 10 righteous, will you save the city? God says, yes Abraham didn't go far enough

Abraham said, if there's one righteous, would you save the city? Because Lot was righteous But the city was destroyed once Righteous Lot was removed from the city Right? Why? Because it was a protection for the people You're married to an unbelieving spouse, right? That unbelieving spouse is protected by you Because the grace of God upon your life and God's protection of your life, that unbelieving spouse is under the umbrella of protection That's why the Lord says, as a believer, you cannot divorce the unbeliever If the unbeliever leaves, let them leave That's a command Let them leave

Don't go after them But if they stay, you as a believer can't divorce them because they're under the realm of protection, God's protection of them Because of you, you are worthy The world's not worthy of any of these people at all What a statement The world was not worthy of them, but the world needs them The world doesn't understand how bad it needs them Because when we're gone, when the church is gone, just read the book of Revelation The deterioration of the world goes by so quickly that in seven years, it will be utterly destroyed And God will destroy it

He'll come back and restore the earth, set up His kingdom, and then at the end of that kingdom, He will incinerate this world and this universe And we'll create a new heaven and a new earth But we are here today Think about it You're preserving your classroom from God's judgment because you're worthy and the world's not worthy of you You are preserving your place of employment because you are worthy, although you're unworthy to the world You're preserving your family because you're worthy in God's eyes And therefore, your family is protected because of you and your commitment to Christ

But the world or your family or your place of employment or your school or your classroom is not worthy of you They don't deserve you But because of God's grace, He gave them you Wow Faith's cost Faith's compensation Verse 39 And all these, all who? All the people you just mentioned All those who faced the cost All those who faced and won the conquest All these, listen, having gained approval through their faith What a statement It is a bracketed statement Hebrews 11 ends with that statement Hebrews 11 begins with that statement Hebrews 11, 2 For by it, men of old gained approval

Why do you live a life of faith? Because men of old gained approval Hebrews 11, verse number 2 Now when you come to verse number 29, same phrase is used They gained approval through their faith Because they obeyed God Because they trusted God Because they followed God Guess what? They received commendation from God What is the greatest compensation you'll ever receive? It's a commendation from the true and living God from whom you gain praise and approval And he says, well done, now good and faithful servant

What more do you need? What more is there? When you enter into his presence, enter into the joy of the Lord Faith's compensation is divine praise from the living God And people say, well, isn't there any more than that? What more do you want? What more do you possibly want? The living God, the creator, the architect of the world, who's omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, says, well done Now good and faithful servant He praises you because you trusted him Because you obeyed him Because you believed him absolutely and you behaved accordingly That's just it That's everything And it says this

Having gained approval through the faith, did not receive what was promised Now think about this They were promised a messiah They didn't see the messiah They were promised a redeemer They never saw his redemptive act They were promised a new covenant They did not have that either They were under the old covenant They were offered a better priest The word better used 13 times in the book of Hebrews Key word They were offered a better priesthood They were offered a better prophet They were offered a better sacrifice

They knew the blood of bulls and goats couldn't save them, couldn't take away their sin They knew that But they knew there was a better sacrifice that was coming, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world But they didn't receive that promise They never got there And here's the remarkable thing They believed anyway They believed even though they didn't receive the promises They were still obedient even though they never were able to grasp the messiah They never knew his name, Jesus They believed Absolutely In what they had

So if they could live that way, why can't we live that way? We have so much more than the Old Testament states So much more than the New Testament states Remember John the Baptist, greatest man ever born of a woman? That's what Jesus said Greatest man ever born of a woman, John the Baptist Right? Last prophet of the Old Testament But the first prophet concerning the coming of the messiah He was the greatest man ever born of a woman But Christ goes on to say, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John Whoa Whoa

If he's the greatest man ever born of a woman, and yet the least of us in the kingdom are greater than John, how great must we possibly be? Not because of anything that we have done Because of all that God has done He saved us from our sin He put us into his kingdom He called us his children And we know so much more than John knows John didn't know about the church He didn't know what that was He never knew about the rapture of the church He never knew about the second coming of the messiah He didn't know hardly anything that we know He just believed what the Old Testament prophet said

And followed it And he was the greatest man born of a woman And yet us today, having 66 books by which we can study, listen, and learn, can follow and obey the true and living God God has provided something better for us What's that? The new covenant It said apart from us, they would not be made perfect They were unable to come to the ultimate glorification, the perfection that comes because they were saved on credit They were saved based on what God was going to do prophetically We are saved based on what God has already done historically And we, we believe and follow

So, we have told you. I'll conclude with this That faith is believing absolutely in all that God says and behaving accordingly to all that God says If you do that, then you will benefit assuredly and be blessed amazingly Why? Because I have not seen nor has ear heard nor has it entered the heart of a man all the things that God has prepared for those who love him You will benefit most assuredly and you will be blessed so amazingly that you will not be able to contain it all because you walk by faith and not by sight Let's pray

Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to study your word What a joy What a blessing Thank you for the chapter of Hebrews Chapter 11 where we study the men and women who live by faith Our prayer is that that would be us That we truly walk by faith and not by sight That Lord, because we have gained approval by you, from you, that great commendation is the ultimate compensation following Christ And so we ask that Lord, as we live each day, we would live according to your will that we might fulfill your purpose for the sake of your kingdom In Jesus name, amen.