Commended by Faith

Commended by Faith | Hebrews 11:1-40 March 19, 2023 Go ahead and find Hebrews, chapter 11. Hebrews is towards the end of your Bibles, in between James and the Peters. We'll also have the passage on the screen as well. I'm going to do something a little different this morning and begin with the reading of our text. Hebrews 11, beginning at verse one: 1 NOW FAITH IS THE ASSURANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE CONVICTION OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 2 FOR BY IT THE PEOPLE OF OLD RECEIVED THEIR COMMENDATION. 3 BY FAITH WE UNDERSTAND THAT THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED BY THE WORD OF GOD, SO THAT WHAT IS SEEN WAS NOT MADE OUT OF THINGS THAT ARE VISIBLE. 4 BY FAITH ABEL OFFERED TO GOD A MORE ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE THAN CAIN, THROUGH WHICH HE WAS COMMENDED AS RIGHTEOUS, GOD COMMENDING HIM BY ACCEPTING HIS GIFTS. AND THROUGH HIS FAITH, THOUGH HE DIED, HE STILL SPEAKS. 5 BY FAITH ENOCH WAS TAKEN UP SO THAT HE SHOULD NOT SEE DEATH, AND HE WAS NOT FOUND, BECAUSE GOD HAD TAKEN HIM. NOW BEFORE HE WAS TAKEN HE WAS COMMENDED AS HAVING PLEASED GOD. 6 AND WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE HIM, FOR WHOEVER WOULD DRAW NEAR TO GOD MUST BELIEVE THAT HE EXISTS AND THAT HE REWARDS THOSE WHO SEEK HIM. 7 BY FAITH NOAH, BEING WARNED BY GOD CONCERNING EVENTS AS YET UNSEEN, IN REVERENT FEAR CONSTRUCTED AN ARK FOR THE SAVING OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. BY THIS HE CONDEMNED THE WORLD AND BECAME AN HEIR OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT COMES BY FAITH. 8 BY FAITH ABRAHAM OBEYED WHEN HE WAS CALLED TO GO OUT TO A PLACE THAT HE WAS TO RECEIVE AS AN INHERITANCE. AND HE WENT OUT, NOT KNOWING WHERE HE WAS GOING. 9 BY FAITH HE WENT TO LIVE IN THE LAND OF PROMISE, AS IN A FOREIGN LAND, LIVING IN TENTS WITH ISAAC AND JACOB, HEIRS WITH HIM OF THE SAME PROMISE. 10 FOR HE WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO THE CITY THAT HAS FOUNDATIONS, WHOSE DESIGNER AND BUILDER IS GOD. 11 BY FAITH SARAH HERSELF RECEIVED POWER TO CONCEIVE, EVEN WHEN SHE WAS PAST THE AGE, SINCE SHE CONSIDERED HIM FAITHFUL WHO HAD PROMISED. 12 THEREFORE FROM ONE MAN, AND HIM AS GOOD AS DEAD, WERE BORN DESCENDANTS AS MANY AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN AND AS MANY AS THE INNUMERABLE GRAINS OF SAND BY THE SEASHORE. 13 THESE ALL DIED IN FAITH, NOT HAVING RECEIVED THE THINGS PROMISED, BUT HAVING SEEN THEM AND GREETED THEM FROM AFAR, AND HAVING ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THEY WERE STRANGERS AND EXILES ON THE EARTH. 14 FOR PEOPLE WHO SPEAK THUS MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THEY ARE SEEKING A HOMELAND. 15 IF THEY HAD BEEN THINKING OF THAT LAND FROM WHICH THEY HAD GONE OUT, THEY WOULD HAVE HAD OPPORTUNITY TO RETURN. 16 BUT AS IT IS, THEY DESIRE A BETTER COUNTRY, THAT IS, A HEAVENLY ONE. THEREFORE GOD IS NOT ASHAMED TO BE CALLED THEIR GOD, FOR HE HAS PREPARED FOR THEM A CITY. 17 BY FAITH ABRAHAM, WHEN HE WAS TESTED, OFFERED UP ISAAC, AND HE WHO HAD RECEIVED THE PROMISES WAS IN THE ACT OF OFFERING UP HIS ONLY SON, 18 OF WHOM IT WAS SAID, "THROUGH ISAAC SHALL YOUR OFFSPRING BE NAMED." 19 HE CONSIDERED THAT GOD WAS ABLE EVEN TO RAISE HIM FROM THE DEAD, FROM WHICH, FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING, HE DID RECEIVE HIM BACK. 20 BY FAITH ISAAC INVOKED FUTURE BLESSINGS ON JACOB AND ESAU. 21 BY FAITH JACOB, WHEN DYING, BLESSED EACH OF THE SONS OF JOSEPH, BOWING IN WORSHIP OVER THE HEAD OF HIS STAFF. 22 BY FAITH JOSEPH, AT THE END OF HIS LIFE, MADE MENTION OF THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES AND GAVE DIRECTIONS CONCERNING HIS BONES. 23 BY FAITH MOSES, WHEN HE WAS BORN, WAS HIDDEN FOR THREE MONTHS BY HIS PARENTS, BECAUSE THEY SAW THAT THE CHILD WAS BEAUTIFUL, AND THEY WERE NOT AFRAID OF THE KING'S EDICT. 24 BY FAITH MOSES, WHEN HE WAS GROWN UP, REFUSED TO BE CALLED THE SON OF PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER, 25 CHOOSING RATHER TO BE MISTREATED WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD THAN TO ENJOY THE FLEETING PLEASURES OF SIN. 26 HE CONSIDERED THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER WEALTH THAN THE TREASURES OF EGYPT, FOR HE WAS LOOKING TO THE REWARD. 27 BY FAITH HE LEFT EGYPT, NOT BEING AFRAID OF THE ANGER OF THE KING, FOR HE ENDURED AS SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE. 28 BY FAITH HE KEPT THE PASSOVER AND SPRINKLED THE BLOOD, SO THAT THE DESTROYER OF THE FIRSTBORN MIGHT NOT TOUCH THEM. 29 BY FAITH THE PEOPLE CROSSED THE RED SEA AS ON DRY LAND, BUT THE EGYPTIANS, WHEN THEY ATTEMPTED TO DO THE SAME, WERE DROWNED. 30 BY FAITH THE WALLS OF JERICHO FELL DOWN AFTER THEY HAD BEEN ENCIRCLED FOR SEVEN DAYS. 31 BY FAITH RAHAB THE PROSTITUTE DID NOT PERISH WITH THOSE WHO WERE DISOBEDIENT, BECAUSE SHE HAD GIVEN A FRIENDLY WELCOME TO THE SPIES. 32 AND WHAT MORE SHALL I SAY? FOR TIME WOULD FAIL ME TO TELL OF GIDEON, BARAK, SAMSON, JEPHTHAH, OF DAVID AND SAMUEL AND THE PROPHETS- 33 WHO THROUGH FAITH CONQUERED KINGDOMS, ENFORCED JUSTICE, OBTAINED PROMISES, STOPPED THE MOUTHS OF LIONS, 34 QUENCHED THE POWER OF FIRE, ESCAPED THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, WERE MADE STRONG OUT OF WEAKNESS, BECAME MIGHTY IN WAR, PUT FOREIGN ARMIES TO FLIGHT. 35 WOMEN RECEIVED BACK THEIR DEAD BY RESURRECTION. SOME WERE TORTURED, REFUSING TO ACCEPT RELEASE, SO THAT THEY MIGHT RISE AGAIN TO A BETTER LIFE. 36 OTHERS SUFFERED MOCKING AND FLOGGING, AND EVEN CHAINS AND IMPRISONMENT. 37 THEY WERE STONED, THEY WERE SAWN IN TWO, THEY WERE KILLED WITH THE SWORD. THEY WENT ABOUT IN SKINS OF SHEEP AND GOATS, DESTITUTE, AFFLICTED, MISTREATED- 38 OF WHOM THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY-WANDERING ABOUT IN DESERTS AND MOUNTAINS, AND IN DENS AND CAVES OF THE EARTH. 39 AND ALL THESE, THOUGH COMMENDED THROUGH THEIR FAITH, DID NOT RECEIVE WHAT WAS PROMISED, 40 SINCE GOD HAD PROVIDED SOMETHING BETTER FOR US, THAT APART FROM US THEY SHOULD NOT BE MADE PERFECT. A couple of weeks ago, I was heading to Natalie's office to help her with something. She works on River, off Campbell. If you've been down that way recently, there's about 50 construction zones, so you are consistently merging into one lane as the other lanes are being worked on. That specific morning, she warned me that the lane was closed near her office and to take another route. I had been down there a week or so prior, and I knew that there was construction, but instead of listening to my wise wife, I decided not to listen, and went that way anyway. Needless to say, I got stuck in traffic and it took me longer than I wanted to get to her office. Isn't that true of us also? When I was younger, my parents give me instruction, and years and years later, now that I'm a parent, it finally clicks to what they were saying and why. Or - as a churched individual - listening or reading the Word of God every day and every week, yet I still sin and fall short every day. You may be familiar with the words of Paul in Romans 7, where he has this internal battle that I'm sure we can relate to when he says (and I'm paraphrasing), why do I do things I don't want to do, but don't do the things I want to do? Have you ever had that conversation with yourself? Yeah, me too. That is what is so wonderful about this list of Old Testament saints we just read about. These people were fallen, broken people just like you and me. Let me give you a few examples. Noah got pass-out drunk. Moses killed an Egyptian and tried to talk God out of his calling. Abraham was a liar. Sarah laughed at God - not that any of us would have not had the same reaction. What about Samson?! If this was our list, I'm sure he wouldn't have been included. Finally, David. He not only committed adultery, but also had someone killed. These were flawed people. But notice in this text, they were commended for their faith, not condemned for their sin. We haven't been in this book since June of last year, so as a reminder, this letter was written by an unidentified church leader to a group of Jewish Christians. The letter reveals that these Christians were struggling in their faith because of various trials they were facing. They also had a tendency of holding onto their old faith, that of Judaism, and were influenced by their old way of worship. The author of this letter begins by reminding them that Jesus was greater than all that they previously knew. First by reminding them that Jesus was greater than the angels, Moses, Joshua, the high priests, and even the Old Covenant. You see, religion tells you what you need to do to see and know God, the writer here points to Jesus as the only way to see and know God. Then we get to chapter 10, and at the end we see that the writer was warning them to not return to the old way, by introducing them to this concept of faith. In 10:36-39 we read: 36 FOR YOU HAVE NEED OF ENDURANCE, SO THAT WHEN YOU HAVE DONE THE WILL OF GOD YOU MAY RECEIVE WHAT IS PROMISED. 37 FOR, "YET A LITTLE WHILE, THE COMING ONE WILL COME AND WILL NOT DELAY; 38 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH, AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM." 39 BUT WE ARE NOT OF THOSE WHO SHRINK BACK AND ARE DESTROYED, BUT OF THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH AND PRESERVE THEIR SOULS. Now, let's draw our attention back to verses 1-3 (I'll have them on the screen for reference). So, what is faith? I really like how the Amplified Bible translates verse 1, and I think this will help us to understand this better: NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses] Pastor and writer Richard Phillips put it this way: Faith is believing God's Word in order to lay hold of things that are promised and make them real in our lives. Then, when we get to verses 2-3, we see that our faith is further seen through creation and through the commendation, or the stamp of approval, of the Old Testament saints. They are effectively testimonies and witnesses to this faith. So, how is that faith commended? That is answered through our Main Idea: Our faith is commended by God through following His Word. The author reminds the church here that they must live by this faith. What he is doing here is saying, "Listen, you want to go back to the old way instead of living by faith? You don't think the old saints lived by this faith? Let me show you!" In each of these examples, the Old Testament saints had to follow the Word of the Lord. I think it was Tony Evans who noted that the bible teaches that we are to walk by faith, not talk by faith, not think by faith, but to walk by faith. You see, because every one of these saints had to listen to God, then act on that Word. So, I'm going to pull out four primary examples from this text this morning to answer this question: HOW TO FOLLOW HIS WORD BY FAITH As we will see, this is done through our actions. First, * Develop a worshipping faith (11:4) o Here we have the example of Abel. This is a well-known story. We're told in Genesis chapter 4 that both Abel and his brother Cain brought a sacrifice to the Lord, but Abel's was accepted by God. Here, the author states that Abel's sacrifice was made from faith. o The Apostle John states that Abel's sacrifice was righteous, but Cain's was not. o You see, if Abel's sacrifice was an act of worship, we can deduct that Cain's sacrifice was an act of obligation. o Remember Paul's words in Romans 12? That we are to present our lives before God as living sacrifices. o We talked about a lifestyle of worship just last week. This is done through ... * Prayer * Service, and * Obedience o We'll see some of this in the next few examples as well. Next, * Develop a walking faith (11:5) o Enoch is an interesting mention here by the author. Apart from Genesis, Enoch is mentioned only here and in Jude. o The language used to describe Enoch is that he was he not only pleased God, but he also walked with God. o What does walking with God look like? * First, it implies a personal relationship. * Second, it implies trust. * Trust is just another word to describe the Hebrew understanding of faith. * Here is an expanded definition of faith that I touched on last week: "True biblical faith encapsulates three essential elements. The first entails knowledge. The second involves agreement. But it is not until we add the third ingredient, or trust, that we end up with a full-orbed, biblical perspective on faith." (Hank Hanegraaff) * You see, I'm not going to walk with someone who I don't trust. I'm not going to follow the direction of someone I don't trust. Would you? o Next, we must ... * Develop a working faith (11:7) o Here, of course, is the example of Noah. o Noah found favor in God's eyes. Why? Because Noah did not participate in the culture around him that was increasingly wicked. o The author of Hebrews tells us that Noah heard the Word of the Lord about events that were unprecedented and built the ark as a response. o Noah's faith was demonstrated through his actions. Not only did Noah build the ark and do all that he was commanded, he also was called a preacher of righteousness by Peter. o He became a witness through all of history of his faith. Knowing that God will take him through this devastating flood. o Are you facing something challenging in your life right now? Maybe you've been dealing with something for a while. Maybe it is hard to see where the end may be. o The example that we see from all the saints here is that through the struggles, not only is God there, but He also has something better for them in the end. That's eternal life. That's eternity in His presence for those who believe. Everyone of these saints held on to God's promises through His Word. So, hang on Christian. Hang on. o Next, * Develop a waiting faith (11:8-38) o Here, this is seen in three primary examples in this chapter. o First, we see the examples of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph in verses 8-22. o Then through the example of Moses, Joshua and Rahab in verses 23-31. o Finally, in the example of the judges, kings and prophets in verses 32-38. o There are so many people in this last section that even the writer in verse 32 said that he didn't have enough time to speak of them in detail. o Most of us are familiar with those named. Abraham is considered by the Apostle Paul to be the father of all who believe in Romans 4 and Galatians 3. Abraham acted in faith by leaving for the promised land and trusting God at His Word that he would be a father of many and would bless many. o Isaac was the son of the promise who was also the subject of one of the greatest acts of faith from Abraham in Genesis 22. o Jacob, later called Israel, was the subject of the promises to both Abraham and Isaac. o Of course, we see Moses, and Joshua (who was not mentioned by name), then Rahab who hid the spies. o Curiously, however the author omits the wandering period of the Israelites, and goes right into the period of the judges, kings and prophets. * Many believe that the wandering generation was condemned back in chapter 3 for their disbelief, which is why the writer omits them here. o We don't have time to go through the rest of these examples but notice how there are many unnamed in verses 33-38. Notice too that this group is commended for their suffering. o Just a few minutes ago we talked about how God is by our side, and we can be confident in His promises, and I even urged you to hang on. o Yet, this section reminds us that we must be patient in our faith. Things may happen. We may suffer. Some of these saints died and were tortured for their faith. o But they were commended by God for their faith. o Living out our faith requires that we trust the Lord. We trust Him in and through all circumstances. o So, I want to ask you a few questions in relation to how you live out your faith: * Are you living a life that aims to please yourself? * Or living to please others? * Or are you living a life pleasing to God? When we're living a life that is pleasing to God, we can say, as we did earlier: Our faith is commended by God through following His Word. His Word points us to Jesus. His Word points us to His promises. His Word is the light for the path in which He desires for us. This chapter was written to encourage the early Jewish Christians that even the Old Testament heroes lived by faith, not through the old system or the system of the world. Through those witnesses, we too can learn that the path forward is always greater than the path that we previously followed. Don't return to your old life if you are a follower of Jesus. Don't leave here today without speaking to us if you are not yet a follower of Jesus. Instead, live a worshipping faith, a walking faith, a working faith, and a waiting faith. Be commended by your faith. Let's pray. 2