Join us as we journey through the hallowed halls of Hebrews 11 with Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s Sunday sermon titled, ‘This is the House that Faith Built.’ Discover the way of faith, the walk of faith, and the witness of faith through the lives of Cain, Enoch, and Noah, as we explore what it truly means to construct a life rooted in faith. This inspiring study takes us from the Garden of Eden to the Ark and concludes at Calvary, unraveling the profound truths of biblical faith.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
the way of faith, the walk of faith, and the witness of faith. These are the three pillars that we’re going to explore today as we journey through the hallowed halls of Hebrews 11. And we’ll delve into the lives of Cain, Enoch, and Noah, uncovering what it means to build a life of faith. I’m Steve Schwetz, welcoming you to Through the Bible for Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s Sunday sermon titled, This is the House that Faith Built. It’s really a remarkable study that begins in the Garden of Eden and then travels to the Ark and then culminates at the cross of Jesus at Calvary. Are you ready to embark on this incredible adventure? Well, grab your copy of God’s Word and find a comfortable seat if you can. anywhere on the Bible bus will do. And as you do that, through the Bible’s president, Greg Harris and I want to share about another exciting journey, a recent trip by one of our teammates to Hong Kong to further our mission of getting God’s word to China.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right, Steve. One of our team members named James is a great young man, and he’s learning about how we do international ministry. He’s already been—I was with him in Kazakhstan. He’s been in Africa. He’s been to different places. And he wrote an article in our newsletter. We want to encourage you. Our newsletter is great. Yeah, it’s awesome. It is a great resource. We never ask people for money, so don’t worry. This is not some bait and switch. We just want to give you Dr. McGee’s teaching, global articles, why study different books of the Bible, and always lots of encouragement about what God’s doing.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, and I like talking about China. One, we haven’t talked about it in a long time. No, it’s been a while. But the other thing is Mandarin was a program that we first translated through the Bible in back in 1977. So we’ve been in Mandarin for almost 50 years.
SPEAKER 02 :
And Dr. McGee was still alive.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. On earth. Yeah. And to put it in perspective, we began Spanish in 73. So this is one of our early ads and commitments. And, you know, God has been faithful. As you know, China is not exactly the freest place in the world for Christians.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it may be going in the wrong direction.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, exactly. And yet through the Bible has faithfully been there for so long. And we’re also we were in Cantonese. We were a little late later to the party there. Nineteen eighty eight.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, because a much smaller subset of people speak Cantonese. It’s spoken largely in Hong Kong and Southeast China, whereas Mandarin is spoken by over a billion people. And we’re committed to the country of China, and we want to let you know that we carefully choose our partners, and the translations and the production are done by an in-country team of theology graduates with FEBC, where I served for 10 years. Yeah. I don’t know everybody still, but I know a lot of the people that are involved in this project.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, and that’s a good point. I think a lot of people have a picture of Through the Bible with maybe an ocean of cubes with little flags sticking up out of them and people translating in each one, and they all work for Through the Bible. And that’s not really an effective way to do it. It would be very difficult to scale. And instead, we work with like-minded ministry partners, and that has really been one of the foundations of this ministry is to work with these partners.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, and it’s a key to our stewardship because at this point in time, we have about 12 full-time paid staff that run the global ministry through the Bible in over 250 languages and well over 1,000 stations in North America. And that’s not to brag. That’s to let you know we care. When you send your hard-earned money and offer it as a gift to the Lord, we want to treat it with care, and we want as much money to go into the ministry as possible.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Now, just a fun fact, you know, we’ve talked about the theme song in all these different languages, and they’re not singing How Firm a Foundation in Mandarin and Cantonese. They actually did an original composition, and I think we’ve got a clip of it. So if you want to listen to hear what our Chinese Through the Bible listeners listen to at intro, here it is.
SPEAKER 1 :
穿越孤寂 祝爱已鲜明
SPEAKER 03 :
Yonghang Anyue Jiu Shu Pu Ji Wan Mi
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, and I’m sure you don’t recognize the song. No. I think it was custom written for this ministry, and a lot of our partners like the Arabic TV, you know Hani, our friend there who wrote the song, and it’s been adapted into five other languages. So this is part of, we want the teaching of Dr. McGee, but we don’t want it to sound like it’s a program that came from the West.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, as we turn our attention now to talk about those that are listening and receiving the teaching of Through the Bible, you can be praying for the Christians that are in China. There are Christians and the church has been growing a lot more than what the media or certainly the Chinese government wants to talk about. But the Lord grows his church oftentimes in an area of persecution. and that’s been the experience of Chinese listeners. So you could be praying for that, and there are state-approved churches there, and there’s a whole challenge. I think it’s the Three Self Movement.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it’s called the Three Self Church, and then there’s a whole movement called the Underground Churches, and I’ve had the privilege of being in mainland China a couple of times, and I’ve visited both, and I’ve asked a lot of questions, and there’s an old saying that everything you’ve heard about China is true, and what that means is depends where you are, depends who you’re talking to, All we know is that it’s a highly complex, highly sensitive situation, but we are able to bless people with the teaching of TTB no matter where they are.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, and there are risks for people that attend house churches and the pastors that lead those flocks. So you could be praying for that because they face fines and even potential prison if they’re caught.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now, Steve, I think we have just a minute or two to share some responses.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, here’s one from a Mandarin listener. This is an email. Peace in the Lord. I keep listening to this program. It’s so good, especially for a newly baptized believer like me. It is thorough but easily understood, and I’ve learned a lot. Now I have a question to ask. It has been said, God’s love is unconditional and without principle. Really? Unconditional and without principle? Please pardon me, a new Christian, for my ignorance and foolishness Kindly give me an answer. Hallelujah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Love that. Great question. Now, here’s a text from another Mandarin listener. Are you getting the picture and email a text? There’s a lot of digital users in China. I became a believer in December 2017 and was baptized in 2018, receiving God’s special grace. My sisters recommended that I listen to your program. In listening to you, my spiritual life grew quickly. Since the book of Genesis, I’ve been listening to Through the Bible consistently. By his grace, I now am serving as a group leader. Thank you and thank the Lord.
SPEAKER 01 :
Praise the Lord for that. Greg, I think we got time for one more. This is an email, this one from a Cantonese passenger on the Bible bus. In this past year, I needed to work overtime and attend classes or other business. So I could not get home in time to listen to TTB. Basically, I always hurried home on my motorbike right after work to make the program. Sometimes I would listen online to make up those I missed. Since I began listening to TTB, I’ve been blessed and am thrilled about it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Fantastic. And this is just us flinging the seed in every way possible, radio, digital, and we’re seeing a lot of great fruit.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Greg, let me pray for us and for our Chinese, Cantonese, Mandarin programs as well. Heavenly Father, we’re thankful for just your faithfulness to us in allowing us to be in China, a very difficult place in the world to be a believer and express faith, and to have a small role in strengthening believers and calling people to you. We pray, Lord, that you would continue to bless the ministry. Bless this message now as it goes out. In Jesus’ name. Here’s the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 05 :
The 11th chapter of Hebrews has been called the Westminster Abbey of Faith. And certainly that is true. It’s not so much man of faith, but we see what faith has done in the entire history of man from the very beginning down to the present, in all ages, under all circumstances, with men from all walks of life. This is the only Bible definition that we have of faith in this chapter here. Faith, we are told, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. First, there is the scientific definition given of it. Faith is the substance. And that word there is the opposite of the word hypothesis. It’s that which actually is in the bottom of a test tube after a base and an acid have been put together. It’s what is there that is a substance, that which is the thing that can be seen then. That’s the scientific definition. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and it’s the evidence. And that’s the legal definition. It is the evidence of things not seen. At a murder scene, the detectives come in, And they see something you and I would never have noticed. There is a fingerprint. We didn’t see it. And then there’s a little hair there that has been left in the scuffle. And then there is a button that is there. We didn’t see any of that. And that is brought in as evidence. And faith is the evidence of things not seen. That which is brought into court to prove the case. Now, faith, therefore, is that which looks to the future, it rests upon the past, and it’s that by which we live today. Faith is the foundation of the house of faith, and faith is that by which we live and move and have our being in the house of faith. And then faith is the roof, it’s the towers, that which reaches on into the future. So we have here the house that faith built. This morning I’d like for us to look at just three of those that are mentioned in this chapter. I’d like to take the first three. These three have one thing in common. They all lived the other side of the flood. They all were men of faith. We have Abel, and Abel’s faith reveals the way of faith. This is the house that faith built, and this is the way to the house that faith built. Then in Enoch we have the walk of faith. and this is the walk that leads to the house that faith built. Then we have in Noah the witness of faith, and this is the witness to the house that faith built. And this morning, will you look very briefly at those three with me? We are told here by faith Abel, offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. And it takes us back to the very beginning. We are in the shadow of the Garden of Eden. There are not actually at this time too many people on the earth. But God is at the very beginning running down a line of demarcation. He’s making a bifurcation that from here on out, man might know that there is a way that leads to God and that there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. God at the very beginning put down these foundational facts. And so we see it in Cain and Abel. Now, Cain and Abel were the offspring of Adam and Eve. I do not believe that there were ever two men on the face of this earth that were as near alike as Cain and Abel. It was the opinion of the late Dr. Harry Rimmer that they were twins. I do not know that that’s true, but I would like to add this. I believe that Cain and Abel were more alike than any twins could possibly be today. Now there’s a reason for that. You see, today two boys are in a family, sometimes even twins. One boy is a fine boy. He turns out well. Well, you see, he inherits from his mother’s side. He goes back to a very godly aunt that he has. And actually, they tell us today by the Mendelian theory that that’s really where he got those qualities was from that aunt. Now the other boy, although a twin, he’s no good. He’s a ne’er-do-well. He’s a drunkard. He’s absolutely worthless. And it’s obvious that he takes after his father’s side because his father has a brother that’s just like that. And this boy is inheriting from that side. Now, they tell us today that that explains the difference in two brothers that are even twins. But would you like to tell me the name of the aunt that Abel inherited from? Would you like to tell me the name of the uncle that Cain inherited from? The thing about these two boys was they’re different than most of us. They never had any aunts and uncles. It had just started with Papa and Mama. And there was nobody back of that that they could draw from. Therefore, as far as heredity is concerned, it was the same. It couldn’t have been different. There are those that today say environment’s very important. Well, the environment of these two boys was the same, brought up in the same family, same situation, same conditions. I challenge today any psychologist to reveal the difference in these two boys. And yet, may I say there is an eternity’s difference in the two boys. First of all, These two boys had inherited a nature from their father Adam, and that was a fallen nature. And in that nature, each one of them could have said, I know that within me dwelleth no good thing. Cain could have said that. Abel could have said that. I’m confident that both of these boys could have said, to will is present with me, but how to perform it I find not. Cain did not recognize that. Fact of the matter is, he ignored his true condition. He ignored that he’d inherited a fallen nature, and so he brings to God a sacrifice that was the work of his hands. And God has said that it’s not to him that willeth and it’s not to him that runneth, but it’s to God that showeth mercy. And this man had no regard for the mercy of God. He had regard for his own works. He’s trusting himself. He’s not recognizing he’s a sinner. He pays no attention to that. And he brought it the fruit of the ground. It was lovely fruit. Now, don’t say that he would not have won the blue ribbon at the fair. He would have. He had lovely fruit there. Beautiful, tasty. It would have been delicious to have eaten. You see, the thing is that he’s ignoring the fact that he’s a sinner. He’s ignoring the fact that if he’s to be saved, it’s by the mercy of God. So he comes presumptuously and in his own strength and his own ability. And at heart, he’s a murderer, as every man is. All the way from Cain to Dr. Fink. the human race are murderers. And the reason that you and I didn’t murder this week is because we didn’t have the opportunity. It’s in our hearts. Oh, the bitterness that’s in the human heart. Oh, the perversion that’s in the human heart. It’s not acceptable to God. God says it’s desperately wicked. You can’t know it. I can’t know it. The doctor can’t know it. No one can know it. Only God has a remedy for the human heart. And so Cain ignored it. Abel came into God’s presence and brought a sacrifice of a little lamb. He came by faith. You say to me, how do you know that this boy Abel And Cain had instructions to come this way. Why wasn’t this sacrifice just as acceptable as Abel’s sacrifice? We have no record that God had told them. Yes, we do. This is the verse that tells us, by faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. You see, faith is the response to a revelation from God. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And both of these boys had heard something. Cain said he didn’t need to come that way. After all, why kill an animal? It’s not aesthetic to begin with. If you offer the fruit, you can come back and get it the next day and put it on the market. But if you’ve slain an animal and it’s consumed in a sacrifice, you’ve lost it. Therefore, if you’re a smart businessman, money-minded, sharp trader, you’ll bring fruit. And you’ll find that the heathen have been pretty smart. The Egyptians did that. They’d bring the offering, rich offering, one day, come back and get it the next day. Because after all, their argument was that the person who had died was a spirit. The spirit had gotten the spirit part of the offering. And they are the only ones that were real and they could take the real offering. So they took it back. It’s very cogent reasoning, by the way. And men do that today. Men still come in their own strength, with their own ability, with that which they have done in attempt to offer that to God. And it’s not acceptable to him. But this man Abel brought the little bloody sacrifice. God had told him to come. He came by faith. And yonder on the other side of the cross, he brought that which was to point to the cross. And he, by faith, brought the little lamb that pointed to the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, and since he came that way, he’s acceptable. Now, today you and I are not to bring a lamb. If we did, Paul said to the Hebrews here, he said that when you and I go back into this worship of offering sacrifices, we crucify afresh the Son of God. because we’re acting as if he didn’t come, because everything that was offered before he came pointed to his coming. Now that he’s come, those things were shadows, and we look back now by faith. We don’t need the shadow. The shadow is a picture, for that’s all that a picture is. It’s a shadow made on a sensitive film. And those things in the Old Testament were shadows. They were pictures of Christ. But when you’ve got the real article, you don’t want the picture. We have the real article today, and we go by faith today to the living Christ. And so that is put down at the very beginning, the way to God. It’s to be a way from here on out, regardless of the age, regardless of the day, regardless of the people, that the way to God. is in recognition of the fact that we are a sinner, we need a sacrifice, that which points to the Lord Jesus Christ. Before he came and since he came, it must be a faith in him. So that today, the weight of God is not a church, as important as it is, and I believe in the church, and it’s not a ceremony, and I believe in a ceremony. I think it’s important. It’s not in service, although service certainly has its place. But it’s in a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. And that’s what God had been saying to Cain and Abel. Cain says, as many here are saying even this morning, I come to God as I am. God says you don’t. come to me. No man cometh to the Father but by Jesus Christ.” And you come as a sinner. You come trusting him as a Savior. This is the house that faith built, and this is the way to the house that faith built. Will you notice this next one? For here we have the walk of faith. By faith Enoch was translated. We’re acquainted with translation. Those of you that follow on broadcast know that we’re doing some translating there in an ignominious sort of fashion of the epistle to the Romans. We take out of one language and put it in another language. That’s been one of the most delightful things I’ve been doing for the past few weeks is working in Romans, taking it out of the Greek and putting it in English. That’s translation. Now, Enoch was translated. That is, he was in the language of this earth, and he got translated into a heavenly language. He was removed from this earth to another place. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. He didn’t die. All of us, when we leave this earth at the Lord Tarig, we go out through the doorway of death. This man didn’t. He didn’t go that route. He didn’t die. He was translated. And he wasn’t found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. How did he please God? Somebody says, well, he was a very fine, upstanding man. I think that’s true, but I honestly want to say this morning that that’s not what pleased God. You know what it was that pleased God? Without faith, it’s impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he’s a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Enoch was one who pleased God, By his walk, but that was a walk of faith. And we need that today as believers down here. We need a walk of faith. A day by day, moment by moment. In fact, we’re told a walk in the Spirit. And a walk is a step-by-step proposition. There are so many people, especially in our area, that are seeking some sort of an experience. Maybe being caught up. like a balloon ascension and having a great experience. Somebody was telling me the other day about having a wonderful vision, and they actually told me they were caught up to heaven. May I say to you, friends, that’s not the Christian life. The Christian life is a walk, and this man Enoch walked by faith. You want to know the day in which he lived? He lived in the day of Noah. He lived in a day when the world was departing from God. But this man walked with God, and he walked by faith with God, walking in the Spirit. And one day God took him. Now let me tell this again to the little girl. I know no other way of explaining it. What does it mean that God translated him and took him out of this world? The little girl’s explanation has never been improved on. She came home from Sunday school and her mother asked her what they had been studying, and she said, We’ve been studying about Enoch. Her mother said, Well, what about Enoch? Well, she said that Enoch lived a long time ago before Noah, before the flood, and he was a particular friend of God. And every day God would come by and say to Enoch, would you like to take a walk? And Enoch would say, yes, I’d like to take a walk. So Enoch and God walked every day together. And one day they were out walking and they got so interested that they just kept walking and walking and they got so far from Enoch’s home that finally Enoch says, my, it’s getting late and I’m a long ways from home. And God says, Enoch, you’re closer to my home than you are to your home. You come go home with me. And Enoch went home with God. I do not know that it could be told any better than that. That’s the little girl’s explanation. That’s what it means to walk with God. It’s not just an isolated thing down here. It’s a walk that begins down here by faith in Christ as a Savior, and it continues all through this life until one day we stop walking down here and start walking up yonder. And it’s by faith. You can’t come to God on any other basis except by faith. You see, faith means you believe him. You honor him when you say you will do what he wants you to do. When he says to you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you do that because he said it and you believe him and you honor him when you do that. There may be some things you don’t understand. There are many things we will not understand in this life. By faith we understand that this earth was created out of nothing. I challenge you this morning to give me a better explanation of it. After thousands of years, men have not come up with an explanation of the origin of matter. They can tell you what happened after it got here. but they don’t know how it got here, and there’s no explanation for origins. None. When you say today that at one time that this was just a great mass of something, my brother, you started with a mass. What is on the other side here? How did it get here? You are up face to face with the same thing that the Christians up against. How did it begin? And my friend, the best explanation up to this morning is by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. We go by faith. And you can’t please God unless you go by faith. Let’s come briefly to the last one, Noah. This is the house that faith built. This is the walk that leads to the house that faith built. And this is the witness to the house that faith built. By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith, Noah. This man, and I’ve attempted to put myself in his position, preached 120 years and never made a convert. How long would you have stayed at it? I’ll be perfectly frank with you this morning. I would have handed in my resignation to the Lord before the 120 years was up. And I would have said, Lord, look, I’m not doing any good. All I am doing is preaching and nothing happens, nothing. In fact, the matter is they don’t want to hear the message. During that 120 years, I think his own boys left him, Ham, Shem, and Japheth. Then one day, I think probably it was Japheth I think he became a professor in a university. One of the professors who had been away on a trip returned, and he made the statement that he’d seen some very unusual things. They asked him what was the most unusual thing. He said, I’ve been up here in the hill country, up the Tigris River, looking at some old fossils, and they really got an old fossil up there. It’s a fellow that’s building a boat on dry land. And he’s saying the world is going to be destroyed by a flood. Most preposterous thing in the world. People listen to him and laugh. It’s really good entertainment. I think Japheth turned white. He said to him, did you get the name of the man? He said, yes, his name is Noah. You mean it’s Noah that’s up yonder off the Tigris River at this certain place? Yes. I think Japheth got up and says, that’s my father. I’m turning in my resignation. I’m going up to join him. Now, I do not know what’s going to happen. And my books here teach me that nothing’s going to happen. I accept our scientific explanations today. But I lived in that home and I found out that when my dad said anything, you could believe him. And if he said God’s appeared to him and a flood’s coming, I suggest you boys get hip boots. It’s coming. And he went up to join his father. I think maybe Ham got away from home, got with the wrong crowd, drunk. One of their number came in. and told the same story. And one of them says, Boy, were you drunk to see a fellow like that. That’s bad as pink elephants is to see a man building a great ship on dry land. But Ham was sober enough to ask the name of the man when he found out who it was. I think he stood up in that drunken crowd and he said, Look here. I can’t trust you. I’ve been with you a long time and you’re a bunch of liars. But my dad, back up yonder, who’s building that boat, can be trusted. If he says a flood’s coming, you better start learning to swim. It’s coming. And Ham left the crowd and went back to join his father. because that was the witness of faith. It’s true that Noah never had a convert on the outside, but he saved his family. When he went in and told his family that God had appeared to him and a flood was coming, they believed him. He had a witness of faith. These are difficult days to raise young people I, over a period of a quarter of a century, have seen many raised in the church go out and leave the church. There are many that have gone out from this place. Out in the world today, some in liberal churches, some far from God. My friend, today you won’t lose them if you had a witness in the home. But I want to say to you, if you didn’t have a witness in the home, you’ll lose them. By faith he built an ark to the saving of his house, and by it he condemned the world. This is the house that faith built, and this is the witness to the house that faith built. I’m going to stop this morning at this particular juncture. How many of you today actually have looked in faith to Christ? How many of you today are walking by faith? How many of you have a witness by faith? Do you want to begin the walk of faith? Do you want to enter the house that faith built? The first step is faith in the Son of God. is a living faith in him. That’s the first step. The first step leads to a walk, a life of faith. And my friend, that’s a witness today to the world. I’m wondering if you are present today, you’ve never begun that walk, or you’re not sure today about it, but this morning by just simple faith in the Son of God, just as simple as Abel who obeyed God, believed God, just believed him, and brought the little lamb. And God says today, He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath not life. Will you believe God? Will you trust him? He says, no man cometh to the Father but by me. Have you begun that way? Have you come that way?
SPEAKER 01 :
As Dr. McGee said, it all begins by believing and trusting in Jesus. To learn more, click on How to Know God in our app or online at ttb.org. And there you’ll also find some of Dr. McGee’s most loved sermons and booklets on this topic. They’re available to you for free, so listen, download, or share them anytime. And you can also call 1-865-BIBLE and we’ll put some of them in the mail to you. Now, this week on The Bible Bus, we’re going to dive deeper into Hebrews chapter 11, learning about the heroes of the faith, including folks like Abraham and Sarah, Joshua, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and even Rahab. To catch a ride as it comes by your corner, download our app, visit ttb.org, or call 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find a local Christian radio station that carries the program. Now, another great way to study Hebrews with us is with our free Bible companions. These are really cool. You’ll find them in our app or at ttb.org. It gives you a great synopsis of Dr. McGee’s teaching, as well as prompts both to listen to Dr. McGee’s message and read the scripture for yourself, as well as some great questions for reflection, or better yet, a group Bible study. Oh, and there’s good news. For those of you who have been asking for a printed edition of our Bible Companions, well, they’re here. Dr. McGee’s New Testament Bible Companions are now available in softcover. You can order your copy at ttb.org or by calling 1-800-65-BIBLE. That’s ttb.org or 1-800-65-BIBLE. And once you have yours, why don’t you let us know how you’re using them, especially for small group studies. They’re perfect for that. Now, we got something special to share with you. And as you know, Dr. McGee loved hearing from our listeners, and he loved their stories. He loved their poems and questions as well. And we still love getting them today. So as we close, here’s Dr. McGee answering a question about the meaning of Hebrews 11, verse 6. something he just touched on briefly in our sermon today, but now we’ll hear him go into more detail. First, let’s hear verse 6, which says, But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Now here’s Dr. McGee.
SPEAKER 05 :
May I say to you that the early church had a great conviction concerning God, conviction that is apparently absent in most of our churches today, even our so-called conservative churches. I have a feeling that we are not as sure as the early church was. You remember when Peter was arrested and threatened and he returned to the church. And when he did, while they were in prayer, in prayer for him, You talk about the early church being perfect. It wasn’t perfect by any means. They believed that God would hear and answer their prayer and deliver Simon Peter. But when he appeared at the gate and wanted to get in, a little serving girl came and told him they didn’t believe their prayer had been answered. But it had been answered, you see. Now, they went to prayer then for the church and the future of the church. And they began and said, O Lord, thou who art God. What a conviction they had, that the one that they were praying to, the one that they were worshiping was God. I get the feeling today, actually in some groups, conservative, with all of their rules and regulations, with all the ritual that they have going on, all of the programs that they have, I have a very strange feeling that this is a tremendous organization that they believe in God, but not too much. We’ve got to bend every effort here and must keep these organizations going and in order to keep the cause of Christ going. Somehow or another, there is not a conviction that, oh Lord, Thou art God, you see. And so when the writer to the Hebrews said that for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And that means, friends, that actually, if you’re not convinced that God is out there, you’re not convinced that you’re talking to Him, your prayer is nothing in the world but foolish gibberish. that has no meaning whatsoever. And all that you do amounts to nothing at all. And the important thing, the writer to the Hebrews says, when you come to God, you must believe that he is and that he’s a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. This is a great statement. May I say to you, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is. that He exists, that He’s out there, and that He is not only Lord and God, but He will reward those that diligently seek Him. And all the time, everywhere we go and whatever we do, we ought to take Him and look to Him constantly as we go along. That’s such a tremendous statement there. I’ve just barely touched the fringe of it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for joining us today for the Sunday Sermon. If you’d like to listen again or share it with a friend, get our app or find us at ttb.org. I’m Steve Schwetz. For all of us at Through the Bible, we’re asking that the Lord would fill you with His peace as you walk with Him today.
SPEAKER 04 :
Jesus came in all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow.
SPEAKER 01 :
Join us each weekday for our five-year daily study through the whole Word of God. Check for times on this station or look for Through the Bible in your favorite podcast store
