Faith Over Death - Killing The Fear of Death
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INTRODUCTION: Fear statistics.
arachnophobia - fear of spiders
Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes.
Coulrophobia - fear of clowns.
All those fears lead to death, but for those in Christ, we have nothing to fear.
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.
By faith - key theme here. It was by faith.
righteous - because he had faith and because the sacrifice was accepted.
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
haha - I have gotten a man. - funny line because it was a mystery.
2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.
HAHA - sibling rivalry - story of boys praying.
It never says why Abel was accepted, but Cains wasn’t. - But Hebrews says, it was by faith.
Which is funny since next verses.
6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
He was talking to God and still didn’t do it by faith, meaning that faith is more than just simply believing.
Doing good things, but not in faith will lead to sin.
8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.
Shows that the main problem with Cain, was not the fruits, but the heart.
Have faith…You might be murdered!
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.
through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. - Your faith will outlive you. It speaks even after you gone. Look at you.
speaks - present tense. testimony of someone who died.
What we do in faith will outlive us.
What we do in faith will outlive us.
story of doctor - good news and bad. 24 hours.
We don’t know when we will die, so make it count.
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.
Genesis 5:21-24 “21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.”
Grandma - walked 5 miles a day and now we have no clue where she is at.
Why? Why was he taken? Because of his faith!
We all want to go this way. - He was original pre-trib rapture. haha.
Go quitly in our sleep like grandpa, not screaming like the passengers in his car.
That is what is going to happen.
Walking in faith overcomes death.
Walking in faith overcomes death.
No one dies early. Walk with God and one day he will call you home.
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.
without faith - the way we please God is doing good works? nope. by having faith.
If you don’t believe that he exists. Literally that he is - who he says he is.
rewards those who seek him - Not materially, but spiritually. which is far better.
BOX ILLUSTRATION - BUT DO NOT OPEN IT. - you will have to wait and see.
It should motivate us, parents who throw empty boxes in the fire.
Faith fears the Lord not death.
Faith fears the Lord not death.
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.
yet unseen - never even seen rain. 120 years before.
BOX ILLUSTRATION - key. Boys didn’t understand it. But faith is a key that unlocks everything else.
fear - first time that it says fear. Not fear of death, but fear of the Lord.
Noah stood firm knowing the whole world was about to die.
Not a kids story. - world was about to die haha
CONCLUSION:
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.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
We have been following Adam for a long time.
He didn’t just pass along physical traits, He passed on son as well.
That is story, but there were glimers of hope.
Pictures of a Messiah and and they would hope. Have hope.
But then they died.
Then Jesus came - he spoke to the deaf, opened the blinds eyes.
But then we murdered him.
SO IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE.
we don’t defeat death, by living forever, we defreat death, by dying and coming back to life!
so Jesus came out!
ADAM VS JESUS - in the garden and we kicked out. He went in to the garden.
Sin caused death, vs his death caused life.
They were both tempted, but Jesus overcame it all.
