Who are your heroes of the faith? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, one of the apostles? Maybe someone closer to our time in history? William Wilberforce? Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Jim Elliot? Maybe someone closer to home like a parent, grandparent, neighbor or friend who introduced you to Christ?
Today, we’re looking at Hebrews chapter 11. The Hall of Faith. This is a pivotal point in the letter to the
Hebrews. We are moving out of the
doctrinal chapters into the practical application chapters. Today’s practical application chapter is all about
Faith. And I challenge you to look for glimpses of
Christ throughout the passage.
When we walk away from our time together today, I want
you to know Faith is given to those who
believe (in) God and earnestly seek Him.
That is why the subject of the message today is Faith, confidence and assurance in the unseen, pleases God.
Father, in the
magnificent name of Jesus, I ask that You open our eyes and hearts today to see
Christ in Your word. I ask that You enlighten and convict and teach and
transform us during our time with You.
Draw us closer to You. Change
us. Grow our faith. Amen.
We have two divisions:
1. The ancients were commended for faith (Hebrews
11:1-31)
2. The world was not worthy of those commended for faith
(Hebrews 11:32-40)
Let’s begin.
Read Hebrews
11:1-3.
How would you define faith? Belief without evidence? Actually, there is
PLENTY of evidence out there for faith in Christ for salvation. There is a whole branch of study called
apologetics that addresses that evidence.
Check out some of the authors and speakers on this list: https://crossexamined.org/top-20-apologists/.
These very Scriptures define faith as “…confidence
in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Take a look back at this definition when you
need to refresh your memory as we study today.
This is what the ancients were commended for. Now believers are credited with the faith
that God created the universe by command.
This is the most basic building block of faith: God as Creator. I am going to presume that you believe God
created the heavens and the earth, etc. Let’s
build on that, now.
Read Hebrews
11:4-7.
Abel, Enoch, and Noah.
I absolutely love J. Vernon McGee’s commentary! The Holy Spirit used it to bring me to new
depths of understanding as I studied it in conjunction with this passage this
week. Abel’s story in Genesis 4 reveals
the way
of faith. The acceptable sacrifice that
brings fellowship with God and points to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ
is blood! Abel brought God the sacrifice
of faith, of blood. His brother Cain
brought a sacrifice of his own works. We
cannot come to God through our works.
Only Christ’s blood is acceptable.
Enoch’s story in Genesis 5 reveals the walk
of faith. Scripture says Enoch walked
with God after the birth of his son, Methuselah. There is something about becoming a parent
that will bring us to our knees before the throne of God! Isn’t there?
Enoch walked with God and he was no more because God took him. The first rapture. Oh, how I would love to be part of that
experience!
Noah’s story in Genesis 6 reveals the witness
of faith. Noah walked with God. Noah obeyed God to build the ark. His obedience made him look crazy to all the
people around him – except his family!
He witnessed to his family through his raising of them and his actions. Has God blessed you with a family? They are your primary congregation to whom
you “preach.”
Read Hebrews
11:8-12.
Abraham and Sarah.
In Abraham, we see the worship of faith. Worship leads to obedience. And, though Abraham was far from perfect, he
did obey God when God told him to leave Ur of the Chaldeans in Genesis 12. We also see in Abraham’s story that he built
an altar wherever he went! He
acknowledged God in faith, and the action that displayed it was worship.
Sarah represents the strength of faith. And this strength is not our own! It is the Lord’s! The joy of the Lord is the strength of His
people! Sarah was given the strength to
conceive a son in her old age after longing for a child for so long. Talk about a manifestation of joy!!!
Read Hebrews
11:13-16.
Faith is living for the future. A future time, place, people, hope. Do you feel out of place most of the
time? Do you feel that this earth is not
your home? It’s not. This earth is a place of preparation. The home of the people of God is heaven! Actually, the home for ALL people is SUPPOSED
TO BE heaven! Hell was not created for
people! It was created for the devil and
his angels. God wants no one to perish,
but all to come to salvation!
The ancients (Old Testament characters we are discussing
today) did not receive what was promised them.
They may have seen the beginnings of it, but not the fulfillment. The promise to Abraham is still being
fulfilled since people are still coming to faith in Jesus Christ and
representing the offspring as numerous as the sand or the stars.
Celebrate when you feel out of place. It means you are yearning for the kingdom to
come. It means you will cling less to
the world. It means you can live in
anticipation and hope and faith that others will see and it will be a witness
pointing them to Christ!
I think verse 16 is interesting. It seems to say that, because these people of
faith were longing for a better country, God is not ashamed to be called their
God. Huh. I never thought of God being ashamed of
people before. Does that mean He is
ashamed of those who call Him their God, but aren’t looking forward to
heaven? It actually makes sense to me.
Read Hebrews
11:17-22.
Faith is passed on from generation to generation. Here we see Abraham tested with the sacrifice
of Isaac. This is a whole teaching all by
itself, so I will be extremely brief. First
of all, God tests us when we can pass the test!
His desire is not for us to fail!
His character is not such that He wants us to fall on our face to teach
us a lesson! I pray you have experienced
His gentle correction so you know this for yourself! We also see the concept of a substitutionary
sacrifice with the ram appearing in the thicket. You may have also heard that Isaac is a type
of Christ. He is a picture of Christ,
Who willingly gave His life for the sins of the world. This tells me that Isaac, a young man who
could’ve overpowered his elderly father, gave his life willingly on that altar.
This is what Isaac represents: the willingness
of faith.
When Scripture says Abraham received Isaac back from the
dead, I believe it to be true from a mental and spiritual standpoint. Abraham, in complete faith and trust,
released Isaac to God, maybe not physically killing him, but accepting his
death mentally to be able to be obedient to God’s instruction to sacrifice his
son.
Scripture calls attention to Isaac blessing his sons as
his memorable act of faith. He was
willing to bless his sons even though the blessing was given in faith about the
future. We see over the course of his
life that Isaac was a well digger. He
would dig a well, and an enemy would take it.
He would dig another well, and an enemy would take that one. This would’ve meant that Isaac moved around,
so he wouldn’t have had much earthly blessing to promise his children.
Interestingly, the notable act of faith in Jacob’s life
was his death. At his death, Jacob
blessed Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on his staff. Jacob lived a very worldly life. He deceived, played favorites, sinned. He absolutely points to the grace of God, and
it makes me so grateful. I hope it
reveals to you “that God can take any life and straighten it out.” Even if it’s at the very end of that life
that faith shows up!
Joseph’s life was full of illustrations of faith. In fact, one of the most interesting
exercises I’ve ever done when studying Scripture is to create a list of
similarities between Joseph and Jesus Christ.
I challenge you to take some time and do that. The author of Hebrews notes that Joseph’s act
of faith also points to the future, speaking of the coming exodus and giving
instruction concerning his own bones.
Now let’s take a look at the man who would take up those bones out of
Egypt.
Read Hebrews
11:23-31.
Moses represents the sacrifices of faith. He had godly parents who entrusted Moses to a
basket in the Nile, where he was picked up by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised as
her son. When he grew up, he turned his
back on that lavish life and chose to be identified with his true people, the
Jews, who were slaves in Egypt. He
participated in the first Passover, the Jews sacrificing lambs in Egypt and
marking their doors so the angel of death would pass over the Jewish homes and
spare their firstborn, which was the final act that ushered in the exodus of
the Jews from bondage. The Israelites, led
by Moses, passed through the Red Sea on dry ground by faith.
Joshua represents the watch of faith. Joshua believed God and obeyed God and
watched God’s deliverance. Rahab
represents the wonder of faith. Rahab
survived the fall of Jericho because she believed God and protected the Israelite
spies who came to scout out the city.
This leads us to our first principle:
Acts of faith
glorify Christ.
What is God calling you to do in faith that you are
resisting? What needs to change in your
heart to motivate you to obediently act upon the faith He has given you? What step could you take to get yourself on
board with God’s plan?
Let’s look at some other heroes of the faith.
Read Hebrews
11:32-38.
So many more stories to tell that the author declares he
has no time to do right now. The author
names some names. You can read their
stories in the Old Testament Scriptures.
This would be some great quiet time reading if you don’t already have a
Bible reading plan that you’re doing.
The list of names given by the author includes the following judges: Gideon (Judges 6-8), Barak (Judges 4-5),
Samson (Judges 13-16), Jephthah (Judges 11-12), and Samuel (1 and 2 Samuel). The author also mentions David (1 and 2
Samuel), the second king of Israel. Then
the author mentions the prophets (1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2
Chronicles, and books bearing the names of the prophet). The Old Testament contains some wonderful
biographies!
Then the author lists some circumstances and you may have
some guesses regarding the names represented.
You may recognize Daniel in reference to the shut mouths of lions. Or Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego at the
mention of the fury of the flames.
Elijah and Elisha raised the dead.
According to tradition, Jeremiah was stoned to death, and Isaiah was
sawn in two. The world was not worthy of
these heroes of the faith.
Read Hebrews 11:39-40.
What promise were these heroes waiting for that they didn’t
receive in this life? The same thing all
God’s people are waiting for: to be with God forever in our heavenly home for
eternity. Jesus declared to the
disciples He was going to prepare a place for them. He is doing the same for us. If you are familiar with preparation for
Jewish marriage, after the contract is made between the bridegroom and the bride’s
father, the bridegroom goes to his father’s house and builds an addition where
he and his bride will live. When the
place is finished, the bridegroom will return for the bride and take her
home. So, Jesus is preparing that place
for His Bride (the Church). And when
that place is finished, He will return to collect us! Oh Happy Day!!!
And here is our final principle:
Acts of faith are
for the kingdom of God, not the world.
How might your service to God change if you were to care
less about the world’s kudos? Where are
you investing in the world instead of the kingdom? How has the kingdom of God grown as a result
of your acts of faith?
By faith… (Insert
your name.) Write out some ways God has blessed
you. Keep a notebook of such things to
look back on when times are tough or when God seems silent. Record the crazy instructions you’ve received
from God and how you pursued obedience…or tripped. Keep a journal of your walk with God. It will help you to know Him so
intimately. It will help you to see how
He has grown and matured you over your lifetime and see where He has gifted you
with faith. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank
You for this time in Your Word. Thank
you for such exciting true stories to read in Scripture. Thank You for being a gracious God Who uses
imperfect people. Thank you for
revealing their humanity so we can see ourselves in their stories. Grow our faith. Grow Your kingdom. In Christ’s name. Amen.
Comments