This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the Bibleignmenistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

But in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11, once you look there, I want to title this sermon today, works is what makes faith visible. See, the faith is invisible. And yet the Bible says, faith is evidence, evidence. See, here’s God in heaven and he sent his son died on the cross, paid for sin, came back from the dead. If you’ll believe it, you get to go to heaven when you die. So when you believe that, God sees your faith and that’s all the evidence He wants.

That’s the only evidence you have to give to show that you believe what Christ did on the cross for you. God can see faith. Now I have a hard time seeing it, but God sees our faith. And the reason that you don’t have to show works to prove your saved is because works are not required for salvation. So now when we talk about other things, is it possible that we can see something that the world can’t see. So I want you to look there with me in Hebrews in chapter 11.

And verse 1 says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for. In other words, faith is real. It is something. There’s substance there, and it’s an evidence of something. whenever God says to believe on me. Well, if you do that, your faith is something that God sees and that’s evidence that you believe. You trust Him. You trust Him as your Savior. So He says here, the evidence of things and see those two of the words, not seen. The evidence of things not seen.

God can see faith, but it’s the evidence of things that are not seen. So I kind of got to thinking about that not seen. And I kind of made a little list here very quickly in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11. And this is what I saw. Look there in verse 5. In verse 5, by faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found. So notice there’s a few things down through these scriptures that says, not seen, not found.

And in verse 7, by faith Noah, being warned of God of things, not seen, not seen. Down in verse 8, by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing. faith is not seen and not knowing and not found because you can’t see it. It’s like, how do you know it’s real? So, works is what makes faith visible. Without that, there is nothing to see.

So, by our works, faith becomes alive. Faith becomes real. That people can see, and it’s what God wants. So when it comes to salvation, all God wants you to do is believe on Christ. Your believing on Christ is the only evidence God looks for to prove you are a safe person that you’re going to heaven that you believe what He said. It shows you’re trusting what He did. So that’s faith is without works for salvation. But when it comes to service, that’s a whole different story altogether because God says there’s to be some evidence that you believe what He said about other things, so He wants there to be proof of other things.

And I’ll show you what I’m talking about. This whole chapter of 11 is about this. Now notice what he says down here in verse 13, where he says, these all died in faith, not having, not having, not seeing, not knowing. There has to be a theme through all of this. It just can’t be a coincidence that those words are found in these scriptures. He must be trying to prove a point about something. And I believe that he is. You see, by faith, Abel did what he did.

But that was something that he did. Now, we’re not talking about salvation. He offered up a more excellent sacrifice. When we talk about Enoch, well, he had this testimony that he pleased God. It means he had to live in such a way that it pleased the Lord and the Lord took him, and he was not. When God told Noah to build an ark, well the ark is the result of his work. That work, that ark was the proof of his faith.

He believed God and this is what he did. Abel believed God, this is what he did. Noah believed and this is what he did. So you see there’s something that is the result of your faith. Now you may know Christ as your Savior, you’re going to heaven when you die. We’re setting out a side. We’re not talking about that right now. We’re talking about this period of time that God’s given you and I to live in this whole world.

So there’s things that people can’t see, but you can have a vision. I believe every person in here, somewhere along the line, has a vision to do something. We often talk about what is it that motivates somebody? Most people are motivated by different things, just like you can’t make a horse drink water. But you can put salt in his oats, make him thirsty. You create a desire in a person to do certain things. Sometimes you’ve motivated your children to wash the dishes.

I’ll kill you if you don’t. There’s motivation there. So there’s a lot of ways in how God motivates and one is by love and one is by fear. great motivating factors. I know God loves me, but I also know God chases disobedience. So that knowledge helps a little bit. Kind of a strange a person from just letting himself go and doing whatever he wants to do. Today, see, people have no fear of God in their eyes. So they’re not afraid of doing anything, any sin, what?

It doesn’t matter. So they do. But there’s a price to pay. They just don’t know it yet. Now look in verse 35, verse 35 where he also says women receive in their dead, raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance. You see faith is that you’re not doing something but you are doing something else. It means that I’m not doing something but I am doing something else. So what is this else that we’re doing? So God tells us in His Word we’re supposed to live by faith and not by sight.

So I’m supposed to live my life as a blind man. I’m not supposed to be able to see him. I think it goes a little bit deeper than that and we won’t definitely look at that. Now look at Hebrews chapter 12 and notice what it says in verse 1. Wherefore and what’s that next word? Seeing. Seeing. See there’s things God wants you to see. So Oh, he’s telling you about these Old Testament saints mentioned there in chapter 11. Because as we read the stories, there’s something that we can see.

And he’s talking about by faith, by faith, by faith and seeing. You can see that they believe God because Noah believed God and he built something. What did he do? He built something. What did he build? He built an ark. That’s because he believed God. did Moses believe God? Now you can’t see his faith, but he did something to show that he did believe God. Or look what he says there in verse 24. By faith, Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

By faith. In verse 25, by faith, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. A steaming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” Look in verse 27, by faith he first took Egypt, and here’s another not, not fearing. So living by faith is… Seeing that which is invisible, but by works make it visible. And I’ll explain that as we kind of go along here a little bit.

Now look there again in chapter 12 and verse 1. Wherefore seen we also accomplish the Bible with so great a cloud of witness that let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily be set us and let us run with patience, the race that is set before us. In other words, the race that God says is a race, it’s a faith. It’s a course that God has for us to live. But you have to see it.

You have to see something that maybe nobody else can see. You’ve got to have a vision and you’ve got to prepare and you’ve got to build. See when God was talking in the 14th chapter of the book of Luke about being a disciple, He told me, I want you to love me more than you love, mother and father, brother and sister, and anybody else. You gotta love me more. Because if you love somebody more than me, they can keep you from serving me.

So God says, you gotta love me more. And then he talks about how that they were going to build a tower, and you sit down and see whether or not do I have enough to finish the tower. I’ve started it, can I finish it? That’s why the Lord talks about here in verse two, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. It’s one thing to have enough faith to start something, do you have enough faith to finish something?

So he said, you wanna build this tower. You gotta have my faith. Do I have enough faith that I can finish what I’m starting? The other thing is he used another illustration and he was talking about if you see somebody coming against you that has 50,000 army And you only got 10,000 in your army. You may wanna take and have some ambassadors go and see if you can make peace. Now, that makes sense? Otherwise, you’re gonna be wiped out.

So there is a verse that talks about building a tower and the other one’s talking about battling. There’s enemies. Every child of God, every one of you in this room, if you know Christ is your savior, God wants you to build something. But in building you have to battle. It’s not exclusive to the other. You’re always battling the things of the world. You’re battling the devil. You’re battling bad thoughts. You’re battling this negativism. You’ve got to have some positive thoughts about what does God want me to do?

And you want to build something. You want to build your own life or you can be built strong in the Lord. You want to build your family. You want to build the church. You want to build your business. You want to build. You got to build. You’ve got to have something that you’re putting your hands to. It’s the result of your work, which is the result of your faith Otherwise you lived in vain and what do you live for?

Now look what he says here in verse two What’s the first word? Looking but remember we’re talking about faith The evidence of things not seen you can’t see it So as you go through the book, he’s showing you things that they did that you would have never seen possible. It would have never been done if somebody hadn’t believed God. Those are the results. All that is results of people who walk by faith. And if you walk by faith, there’s going to be something that’s different in your life.

Now you may be a Christian and not walk by faith. That doesn’t mean you’re not saved. This means you’re not walking by faith. If you don’t walk in this spirit and you walk in the flesh, it means you’re walking in the flesh. If you walk in the spirit, it means you’re walking in the spirit. So simple. So then He says here in this verse 3, for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself and here’s a word, lest ye be wearied and faint.

That means you’re not focused. If you faint, it means you’re losing vision. Do you mean you can’t see? And a Christian has to see that which is invisible. You have to see God and what he wants you to do and believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek to please him. So he says, lest you become weary and faint in your mind. Faint means you pass off. Faint means you can’t see feet, it means you’re not focused.

Every Christian is to focus upon what does God want me to do with my life. And you’ll be surprised. There will be something that God has for you to do, that people can see whatever that ministry may be. God wants you to build. And if you want to build, you have to battle the things that keeps you from building. Just because you’re doing something right. Does it mean you’ll be excluded from people trying to stop you? Nobody will try to hurt you.

Everybody will be for you. Everybody will love you. GONG. We used to have a gong show up in Colorado. We had a great big old round, big old gong, and you go, yeah, boy. Go throughout the whole building. We did it with our teenagers. So one night was going to have a gong show. And they would come up there and they would start doing whatever they’re going to do. They could be somebody’s sincere. God bless God. If somebody didn’t like something, they were two or three, I’m in charge of it, they’d gone.

I got gone three times and one night and I’m in charge. Some people just don’t appreciate good telling when they hear it. So there’s going to be somebody that’s going to go on. No good, no good and always put you down, but you’re smarter than that. Now, I want you to see there in verse 5 where he says, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despised not by the chastening of the Lord nor loose focus, loose sight, lose vision when thou at rebuke.

Just because God doesn’t let you do what you want, when you want to do it doesn’t mean It can’t be done. If maybe the timing is not right, maybe you’re not right. Maybe you can’t handle it if God gave it to you. God may note you couldn’t handle success. I’ve seen people who are success can go to their head. Next thing you know, they lose everything they’ve got. Sometimes God has so blessed you to keep you so poor you can’t afford to get in debt.

See, that’s me. That’s me. You say, why didn’t God give me a million dollars? Because he probably knows what you’d do if you had a million dollars. I’ve had people say, me, and you pray for me. Pray for me. I said, what for you? I pray that I can win the lottery because if I do, I’ll tie 10% to the church.

Isn’t that good motivation for me? God bless that person. I figured you don’t tie $10.00. I have a hundred. You ain’t gonna tie that if you had a million. The take your Bible and turn to the book of second Corinthians in chapter four. 2 Corinthians and chapter 4. And you’ll notice in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1 says, therefore, and notice the next word, seeing, seeing we have this ministry. Can you see yourself having a ministry? Something God wants you to do.

This is what Paul’s talking about, But seeing we have this ministry, as he says here, and we have received mercy, we faint not. We can’t lose focus. And then I want you to see this verse in verse 16. Verse 16 where he says, for which cause we faint not, we don’t lose our focus. We don’t lose our vision. You see, that’s the spiritual eyesight that you have. Otherwise there’s things that are trying to stop you and you reverse eight down to verse 14 So talking about all the things that goes against you So that you don’t accomplish what you should accomplish Keep your eyes on the Lord.

Look what he says in verse 17 Where he says for our light affliction which is but for a moment work it for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory Because see you’re looking into eternity You know that what you do for the Lord now Now, by faith you’re taking God in his Word, he’s going to reward you when you get to heaven. If you lose sight of that, you lost purpose here. That’s what gives you purpose in your life to know that this is temporary, but there is an eternal weight of glory if you’ll put God first and serve God now.

And that’s why he made the statement there in verse 18. While we look, see that word look, while we look not at the things which are what? Seen, but at the things which are not seen, not seen. See faith is taking God at his word. You can’t see heaven, you’ve never seen heaven. I’ve never seen hell, I don’t have to. I take God at his word. I’ve never been at the judgment seat of Christ, but I know there’s gonna be a judgment seat of Christ.

Why? Because God said so. So therefore, because God said so, I believe it. So I am going to work because of my faith. And when I get to heaven, I’m gonna get those rewards, God promised because of the work that I do. So those rewards one day is gonna be the evidence of things not seen. I didn’t see them here. But I saw them because God said it. Faith in what God’s Word says is what gives man hope. It doesn’t matter what you’re going through.

Everybody’s going to go through things. I mean bad things happening. Trials and tribulation. Those are nothing but opportunities for you to demonstrate your faith in the Lord because God’s going to reward you later. If you lose sight of that, lose hope of that, then you’re going to be one miserable individual because you’ll look at everything. everything is going wrong. Everything’s going wrong. And all those wrong things are nothing more than opportunities for God to bless you. And if you don’t think right, it’ll destroy you.

And instead of building, you’re going to be destroying because you’ve got to build and you’ve got to battle at the same time. Always keep that in mind. So he says here in verse 18, while we look not at the things which are same, but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen or temporal, but the things which are not seen our eternal. So I can’t see the things are eternal except by faith, believe in what God’s Word says.

And therefore because of that we believe that. Now remember when we talk about salvation is not by works. Therefore there’s no works to prove or show to anybody because we’re trusting in the work Christ did, not the work I did or do or will do. Salvation is not by works. not by works of righteousness which we have done. So nobody saves themselves by their works. You’re saved only because you accepted Jesus Christ as your savior and he gives you as a free gift ever lasting life.

Now if service is by works, there are many things to show. There’s many things that we can do. Salvation, nothing you can do except trust the Lord. But as a child of God, there’s many opportunities that God gives to us in life the proof that we love God and that we love one another. So God is gonna give you all kinds of opportunities in life. He’s gonna send by some people that are very lovable and he’s gonna send by some people that are very unlovable.

And he’s gonna give you all trying to trials and tests and so on. Those are opportunities and these things, well either be a stumbling block or a stepping stone based on your attitude, how you see things. And that’s why he says, faint not when thou art rebuked of him. When God tells you no and won’t let you have what you want and do what you want and be what you want, what’s your reaction? You get mad at people, God says you do, you get mad at him.

You’re not mad at somebody, you’re mad at God. And you get bitter toward God. And so you lose your sight and you don’t think the way you are the thing. Now, let me mention this to you. In the book of Hebrews, in chapter 11, where we were just a moment ago, there are several people that I want you to think about. One is a man named Moses, because we need to have a vision like Moses. Now remember, Moses was mine in his own business on the backside of a desert for 40 years, 40 years.

Now he was 80 years old at this time. Now you know he’s and old man, he’s over the hill, he can’t accomplish anything. You know, when you get eighty years old, you can’t do anything. Well, well, I think about that and that’s only six years away. So you have a man like Moses and he’s just watching cheap. And lo and behold, the Lord talks to him from a burning bush and told Moses what wanted him to do. What did God tell Moses to?

I want you to go down into Egypt and tell Pharaoh, let my people go. Now can you see a guy that already didn’t run away from there because Pharaoh that was there was going to kill him, but now he’s undied and would you have the courage if God had not told him to do this? Would you go down here and walk up there to see Pharaoh and says, Let my people go. And he says, who said I do? And what was Moses going to be able to do about it?

Nothing. Because you see, Moses had no power. Who was Moses? But God told him to do it. Now he can go down there with all the authority in the world. God told him to go. So he goes down here and he tells him what to do and he says, I will not. And they went through this ten times. And God used Moses. And how would you like to be the one that stands here? You know like Charleston Heston on the banks of the river?

Stands steel and see the salvation of the Lord. Can’t you see him doing that? A little powerful. I think even God like that. Don’t you think? And stand there? Now, would you do that if you didn’t know that the thing was going to open up? Stand still! Nothing yet. I said, no, but God told him what to do. And because he did what God says to do, the opening up revealed the work of God and the work of God being done in a Christian’s life reveals the faith you have in the Lord.

And the reason some people never see God do anything in their life is because they don’t have any faith to do the work that God wants Can you believe him? You’d be surprised how many of you said in this room probably could have been a preacher, a evangelist, a missionary. You could have done something for God in another area, but you never did, because you were afraid. Afraid the step-by, because you don’t believe God, well, you know, God, you know, he can make go heavens and the earth.

He can send his son into this rolling paper all my sins, but I don’t know if he can supply me with a hamburger from day to day, you know, God’s, you know, he’s kind of poor. You know, God doesn’t have the miracles that he used to have, and God can’t do it, and God can’t work, and that negativism, you have to battle those things, and you battle it by your faith in God. So when you’ve studied the Bible, your faith increases.

Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So if you’ll feed your faith, your doubts will starve to death. But if you feed your doubts, your faith will starve to death. So how are you doing? Well, which one are you feeding? Is your confidence strong in the Lord? Remember, you’ll read through the scriptures, fret not, fear not. You know how those words are in the Bible? That’s a sign of no faith. That’s worry. The reason you fret, the reason you fear, because you don’t trust.

It’s a lack of faith. It means you’re worried about something. Don’t be afraid. Stop worrying. I wonder how many of you are worrying even this morning about something. You’ve got problems and God is so small he can’t solve them. Or maybe God won’t solve them. In my mind, I get problems all the time. I don’t care if God solves them or not. I’m just to be found faithful. And don’t feel that God loves me if he solves the problem.

And he doesn’t love me if he doesn’t. God’s characteristic won’t change. God is love. God loves me. And just because I don’t accurately have the perception and discernment about everything that goes on in life doesn’t mean that God isn’t doing me right. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, faith in works and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones.

This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of The Gospel Driven Man. The mailing address is 4811 George and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be checking out the Bibleline. sound and we will be changed. God up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe it that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.