Hall of Faith (Part 3)

Introduction

How many of you have seen with your own two eyes or through a computer, tv, or phone screen, Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park? Several years ago there was a Christian author who was visiting Yellowstone and he and his wife were eating in a dining room that overlooked the geyser and there was a digital clock that had a countdown which said 24 minutes until the next eruption was predicted to happen. He and his wife ordered their food and began to eat but whenever the timer reached 1 minute remaining, everyone in the dining room went toward the window in hopes of seeing the eruption. As soon as the room began to clear out toward the window, the man looked back to see waiters going around to the tables and topping off drinks, taking empty plates away, and getting things in order. He thought that this was strange and turned his attention to the geyser and sure enough, as if on cue, Old Faithful went off and the the crowd was fascinated by its power. Whenever the show was over, he and his wife returned to their seats and it dawned on him that the only people in the restaurant who didn’t go watch the geyser were the restaurant staff. He inquired about this and walked away with a sad spiritual takeaway, the staff had grown accustom to the eruption because they had seen it so many times that it no longer impressed them. They took for granted the power and awe of the geyser.

So many times in our lives, as Christians, we see God’s power and we’re reminded of His faithfulness in our lives and the lives of people that we know and love… but if you’ve been a Christian for any number of years, there is a temptation to be like the waiters in the restaurant in Yellowstone and to get so desensitized to God’s action that we take it for granted. We miss what God is doing. We lose the awe of His power because we’re too busy doing other things. As we look into Scripture, we see example after example of God’s faithfulness to His people and these examples must fill our hearts with joy and expectancy as we reflect on this timeless truth that our God always comes through on His promises. As we go through this life, and as we’ve seen the last few Sunday’s in Hebrews 11, we must keep our eyes on the prize and not lose sight of God’s power and our eternal hope of eternity with Him. This morning we’ll see several additional examples of people who have faith in the Lord and demonstrate that faith through action. As we prepare our hearts for God’s Word, let’s do so by considering this simple question: What is my focus on this morning? Moving forward in this life, or turning around? Being comfortable or glorifying Christ? Walking towards Him or wavering along the road to do what looks like fun? Let’s read from God’s Word and grow in our faith together!

Hebrews 11:20–31 CSB

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. 26 For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible. 28 By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. 29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.

Biblical Faith Continues Forward, not Backward (20-22)

Maybe you are here for the first time or you’ve been here for a few times and you’re trying to figure this faith thing out. everyone talks about faith in our world but things that we place our faith in don’t always come to reality… Earthly faith fails us more often than not as our hope can be misplaced. What then does Biblical faith do? If hope and faith in earthly things runs out and leaves us wanting more, what do we need? We need something stronger and more reliable that actually does the job it says it will do. We need something to be certain of. This is what Hebrews 11 has been telling us for the last 2 weeks. If you remember, we defined Biblical faith as this: “Biblical faith is confidence in the promises of God that leads ordinary people to action and results in various earthly outcomes but always results in the applause of our Father in heaven.”

This means that faith is more than what I feel. It’s more than what I experience today. It’s grounded in the promises of a God who never fails and never changes! That’s great news. The problem that we face as Christians is we sometimes forget what our God has done because we get distracted. Maybe we don’t live in the rearview mirror but we look to our left or right, or like many in our world behind the wheel, we look down at our phones… Did you know that Missouri just passed a law saying that it is now illegal to hold any electronic devices while driving? Do you know why this law was passed? Because when you fail to look forward, you get into trouble while driving. In fact, studies show that texting and driving is 6x more dangerous than driving while under the influence of alcohol. Maybe you think that a distraction isn’t that big of a deal and that you can send a text back in 1 second, for arguments sake… Say you’re driving on I44 and you’re actually going the speed limit (70mph) - not 55mph like some folks or 85 like others. Do you know how many feet you travel in 1 second going 70mph? 102 feet! Taking your gaze off of what is ahead of you and looking down, up, to the side, or backwards can lead to disastrous results in the car, and the same is true in our life whenever we take our eyes off of our God and His plan for our lives.

What we see over and over in Scripture is that we are to keep our eyes forward on what God has in store, and this is what faith does. Faith looks forward and trusts in God, even when things don’t necessarily make sense. Think of Abraham, he goes from his homeland to the place God called him to go and he doesn’t fit in… that doesn’t make sense. Would you be tempted to back up your bags and go back home? Absolutely! But by faith, he stayed and obeyed. He continued onward and forward. Now we see his son Isaac does the same thing. God promised that through Isaac would come numerous offspring and that Abraham’s descendants would be mighty and powerful. Yet, Isaac only has 2 sons, Jacob and Esau. They didn’t get along all too well, either! At the end of his life, Isaac doesn’t look back with anger toward God that he didn’t get to see more of his plan unfold… Instead, he looks forward to God’s promise and he blesses his sons. We see Jacob do the same with his grandsons on his death bed - looking forward with faith and confidence in the promises of God rather than looking back or getting distracted by the things around him. Joseph continues this theme of looking forward as he knew that Egypt was not the land God has promised his people. Even though things were going well and it would have been easy to get comfortable where he was at, Joseph looked forward because he knew God had something better awaiting the Israelites.

In these opening 3 verses we see this theme carry on as God’s people were confident in God’s promises even though they didn’t experience the fulness of them in their lifetime. There’s a song and I trust we’ll all learn it one day called Christ Our Hope in Life and Death and it speaks of this truth… in life, our hope is in the Lord… and in death, our hope is still in the Lord. This is what these people embody, unshakeable hope and confidence in the Lord. They didn’t lose hope - they kept on walking when things got hard, not because they were better than everyone else or smarter than everyone else, but because they simply had faith that God was faithful to His Word.

Raymond Brown once said it like this concerning these examples in Hebrews 11, “God’s blessings are given not because we deserve them, but because we need them. Wouldn’t it be dreadful if we only received God’s blessings on the basis of our deserving? How much blessing would there be in your life? There wouldn’t be much in mine. But God blesses on the basis of our need, not on the basis of our deserving.” Biblical faith marches onward knowing that God gives us exactly what we need, when we need it, not because we deserve it, but because He provides for our every need in order to glorify Him. Those with faith trust in God and march onward, even on their death bed, knowing that God is faithful.

Biblical Faith Chooses Christ, not Comfort (23-28)

The next example given of Biblical faith is Moses. We know that the Israelites were in slavery for several generations and they began to grow quickly and the Pharoah felt threatened by their number and made a decree that every Israelite boy must be put to death at birth. Specifically, they were to be thrown into the Nile River. This puts parents in an awful situation. If you obey the order, your son dies… but if you disobey the order and you get caught, your whole family dies. What an awful choice to have to make!

See, sometimes we’re in situations in life where there is an obvious right choice and an obvious wrong choice. Whenever you have the choice to get a hamburger instead of a hot dog, there’s an obvious right choice and an obvious wrong choice! Honestly, there are some right choices that don’t cost us a thing. When you’re walking into CountryMart and there’s a mom who is struggling to juggle her child, groceries, and shopping cart, and you ask if you can take her shopping cart for her so that you can do your shopping, that costs you nothing at all and it’s the right choice to make!

There are other times where it costs you to do what is right… Whenever you have the ability to help someone in need - think of the story of the Good Samaritan - there’s an obvious right choice (helping out) and an obvious wrong choice (doing nothing). But helping someone out will cost you - it will cost you your time and your money and your energy. It would be easier to do nothing and keep going with your day, but that’s the wrong choice. It’s not always easy to do what is right, but right is always right and wrong is always wrong, just because something is easier it doesn’t mean that it is what we should do. It’s not the right choice. We saw this with the example of Abraham last Sunday. He grew up with his family in a prosperous region. He was comfortable. He had possessions and livestock and was in an area that was growing… he was comfortable! But Abraham chose to trust in God’s plan because He had faith… This is what Moses’ parents do as well - and its not because they just thought their child was beautiful and cuter than every other kid out there… They believed that God had a special plan for their son and they chose to trust in God’s plan in faith, not because it was easy. This is what every Christian must choose to do today as well because this is what faith does in our lives!

Faith understands that there is an eternal reward awaiting us as Christians - look at what 1 Peter 1:8-9 tells us about the goal of our faith

1 Peter 1:8–9 CSB

Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Moses had it all - he had status, power, wealth, education, pleasure… That sounds really good, in fact, that sounds a whole lot like the American Dream, if we’re being honest! But, he got to a point where he chose to give it all away… not because it was easy or made sense, it likely didn’t… he did so by faith because you can’t play both sides of the coin. You can’t claim to be an Israelite and go to sleep in the palace of the Pharoah who is keeping your brothers and sisters enslaved. You can’t have it both ways, you’re either for them or against them. You can either choose comfort, or you can choose your countrymen, not both. Think about this principle, there are situations that we face where we cannot play both sides. We can’t claim Jesus when it helps us and then distance ourselves from Him the moment that we are faced with a difficult situation at work or school. It doesn’t work that way! What Moses models in this passage is that you cannot play with sin and claim Christ in the same breath. It doesn’t work this way. So many in our world, and so many of us are tempted, to pursue things that look really nice on the outside but underneath that shine and appeal lies something that will disappoint us. Think about the things that we chase in this life… vacations, concerts, ballgames, trophies, meals, the list goes on and we get to the thing that we’ve been waiting for… We go on the vacation, we have a great time… but you know what happens a few days later? We have to go home. We go to the concert and have fun, but it ends… The pleasure and satisfaction of this world doesn’t last - this is why Moses considers reproach for the cause of Christ to be even greater than the treasure and wealth of Egypt. Moses, some thousand years before Jesus Christ, chose to identify with the people of God and suffer the consequences for that action because he believed that the treasure of heaven is greater than the treasures of Egypt. Do we believe that as well? Do we believe that living for Jesus and choosing Christ is greater than living for self and choosing comforts? This is what the early followers of Jesus believed

Acts 5:29 CSB

29 Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.

Acts 5:41 CSB

41 Then they went out from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name.

So often in our world we will do whatever it takes to avoid suffering and to stay comfortable. This isn’t what we see commanded of us in Scripture, though. We see a command to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. We see a promise that as we do this there will be trouble. Things will not always go our way. You will be looked at differently because you choose to get up early on a Sunday morning and come to church. You will stand out at school whenever you choose to pray before you eat your lunch. But the discomfort we experience whenever we follow Jesus in this life is worth it, church.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 CSB

16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Moses understood that it would be better to suffer for doing what was right and being obedient to God than to stay comfortable in his lane and suffer for all eternity. Our momentary light affliction is producing something incomparable! Paul wrote this verse under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Maybe you’re thinking, well I can’t choose Christ because my suffering is so bad - it’s not momentary light affliction, it’s chronic pain or its terminal cancer, how can that qualify as light affliction? What could possibly help produce that type of faith inside of us in our suffering and discomfort? Try 60 seconds in heaven. 15 seconds to see a glorified loved one, 15 seconds to see the heavenly architecture and streets of gold, 15 seconds to hear that heavenly choir, and 15 seconds to see the face of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ! Y’all, in 60 seconds all of the pain, suffering, backstabbing, naysaying, bickering, gossiping, and discomforting things of this world would evaporate. We would not care about them because our faith is made sight and we receive our promised reward - here’s the problem, though. God isn’t going to give us those 60 seconds until it’s our time in which case we get a whole eternity to gaze upon our Jesus and thank Him for the cross!

But do you know what God has given us today to help in our momentary light affliction and suffering and persecution? His inerrant, inspired, infallible Word called the Bible. As we look at His Word, we can know Him more and we can ask Him to help us believe the words of a beloved hymn, “I’d Rather Have Jesus.”

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause; I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause; I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame. I'd rather be true to His holy name

Than to be the king of a vast domain Or be held in sin's dread sway. I'd rather have Jesus than anything This world affords today.

We look to God’s Word, we remind ourselves of Heaven’s promise, and we choose Jesus Christ over temporary comforts that will pass away.

Biblical Faith Commits to Walk, not Waver (29-31)

The preacher of Hebrews continues to walk through the Old Testament with examples of people who demonstrated their faith through action. In verses 29-31 we see 3 more examples of people living out their faith even when their life was on the line. In the Exodus from Egypt, we know that after the angel of the Lord came on the passover, the Pharoah relented and told Moses to take the Israelites back home. The Israelites were spared from this not because they were special or sinless, but because God commanded them to sprinkle blood over their doorpost and this would cause the angel of the Lord to passover their home - hence, passover got its name. God delivered the people and their walking home, we might expect everything to go swimmingly, right? After all, they have lots of faith and our world says if you just believe hard enough and have more faith then everything will be great! But that’s not what happens here. The Egyptians chase after the Israelites… but God continues to provide. God guides them with a pillar of fire at night and a cloud of smoke in the daytime. He provides them with manna from heaven each day to give them food. All this happens but they eventually get to a place where they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, literally. On one side of them is a marching army of Egyptians that want to bring them back as slaves… and on the other side is the Red Sea.

What do you think the Israelites were saying at this point in time? Do you think they were happy with Moses at this point? Do you think his presidential approval rating was super high here? Not so much… we see this in Exodus 14:11-12

Exodus 14:11–12 CSB

11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

The people are wavering because they’re looking at what is visible - an enemy army on one side and an uncrossable body of water on the other… but Moses knew something different was going to happen because if you look back up to verse 4 we find that God promised that He was going to receive glory and that the Egyptians will know that He is the one true God… Moses has faith, the people do not. What is the solution? When push comes to shove in this life and things don’t look too good, do we walk by faith or does our faith waver? Listen to the words of Moses

Exodus 14:13–14 CSB

13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

Moses’ faith in the Lord encouraged his brothers and sisters and their faith was strengthened. Moses lifted up his staff and the waters parted and the Israelites walked across on dry land before swallowing up the Egyptian army. One person with faith in God can changes numerous others simply by walking in faith. John Wesley once shared, “Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they are clergy or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven upon earth.” 100 people who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God - just 100 - and the world would never be the same. Why is this the case? Because our culture is so hostile towards the Word of God and the God of the Word. If you say that you have a Biblical worldview and you genuinely live that life and walk in faith, you will be laughed at, ridiculed, picked on, and called every disrespectful name in the book by people who think that faith is for the weak. But authentic faith in Jesus and walking that faith out can completely change a community, a church, and a family. The people that the book of Hebrews was addressed to were coming out of Judaism and were relatively new converts to Christianity or they were just curious about Christianity - as many people who come to church today are. Throughout this book we’ve been warned and reminded to come to Jesus, to believe in Him alone, to cut the chord to your past, and be made new, to trust in Him fully for salvation. Some didn’t do that, and that’s why you have warnings in places like Hebrews 6 for those who hear the good news, those who come to church, but those who never truly repent and believe and place their faith in Christ as Lord. The temptation exists today as well to hear the stories, see God at work, but to waver and not place faith in Christ as Savior as He commands of each one of us. We fight against that sinful desire and we walk by faith as we stand firm in God’s Word and upon His salvation as Moses did thousands of years ago - this means that we don’t turn back and go to our past just like the Israelites couldn’t go back and go towards Egypt. By faith, Jesus brings us to the other side… there is no turning back. We press on and walk by faith.

The Israelites cross the Red Sea, but then they waver and they wander the wilderness for a long time because they failed to trust in the God who brought them out of Egypt and up to this point… eventually they enter the Promised Land, but as they do they encounter a pretty big problem… a walled city called Jericho in their way. God had given them victory after victory and the news of those victories had made its way to Jericho as we see in Joshua 2

Joshua 2:9 CSB

9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you.

The people of Jericho knew that the land was promised to the Israelites, but they disobeyed God’s command. They didn’t believe what God said and they were punished and destroyed as a result and their walls came tumbling down after the Israelites marched around the city 7 days and 7 times on the last day. Before the walls fell, though, spies went into Jericho and encountered a woman named Rahab who actually helped the spies as we see in verse 31. Why did Rahab obey, though? She doesn’t have much going for her that we’d look at her background and say that she’s a likely candidate to find her way into the Hall of Faith… her profession isn’t exactly the best or most family friendly to write home about. She’s also not a Jew, she’s a Canaanite. To be specific, she’s an Amorite which is a race that God promised to destroy because of their wickedness. Yet, here she is in Hebrews 11 alongside the pillars of the faith like Abraham, Moses, and others. How does this work? This is how God’s grace has always worked! God lavishes His mercy not on those who deserve it but on those who receive it and God’s race has always included the nations, not just one nation or group of people. What Biblical faith does is it stands on God’s Word even when that stands out in a godless world.

There was no way militarily speaking that the Israelites would have conquered Jericho on their own. But they walked around like God instructed them to do and they trusted in God. On the inside, Rahab had no business helping people who were not her own countrymen… but she believed in the promise of God that the land belonged to the Israelites and she walked by faith and didn’t waver and give into fear. We know that God honors those who walk by faith. We know that God honored Rahab after this situation

Matthew 1:5–6 CSB

5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, 6 and Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife,

We know that from David will come King Jesus. Through one person’s obedience and walking by faith and not by sight, we see that lives are changed generations after her obedience in Jericho. As we consider if it is worth it to trust in God and walk by faith, let us remember that God has a plan that might not always make sense to us, but it is always for our good and He calls on us to simply walk by faith and not waver in the moment.

Application Questions

Which Way Am I Walking?

Moses had several times in his life where he could have chosen to stay where it was safe and comfortable. He could have walked by sight in what was in front of him rather than by faith in what God had in store for him. The same is true for each one of us. Which way are we walking today? By faith or by sight? Are we doing what makes sense in our brains or what God has called us to do, even when it might be difficult to do? For the person who is a new Christian and you find yourself facing temptation to go back to old habits and run to wells that used to offer you happiness… don’t go back to them. Don’t go back to Egypt whenever God has called you to walk across the Red Sea. Keep walking towards what God has in store by faith.

In What Do I Find My Joy?

The preacher of Hebrews tells us that Moses considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be better wealth that the treasure of Egypt. We could say that Moses found a greater joy in God than he did in temporary earthly things. What we have to ask of ourselves is simply what do we find our joy in. We all have passions and interests and loves and hobbies… Football fans, you know what this weekend is! But what is your joy found in? What satisfies your heart? Vacations end. Cars break down. Homes come and go. People change. We’re trying to satisfy that hunger but so often people try to satisfy that craving with junk food. Sure, it tastes good and fills your stomach for a while… but it doesn’t give you the nutrients you need! If you’re here searching for something to satisfy your soul, look no further than Jesus Christ. He alone satisfies our souls. He is the one Joy that lasts forever - in good days and bad days. May we never lose the wonder of His power or forget what He has done for us.

Is My Faith Courageous or Convenient?

If you’re here and you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, we have to ask ourselves if our faith in Jesus is courageous or just convenient. It’s convenient to say we have faith on Sundays at 10:15am because we look around and by God’s grace we’re surrounded by hundreds of brothers and sisters. It’s convenient to have faith on Sunday morning… You know when it’s not so convenient? When you’re surrounded by people who disagree with you and standing on God’s Word will cost you. That’s courage. We all know fair-weathered fans and fair-weathered believers… but in the face of disaster, suffering, and adversity, courageous faith says, “I will trust in the Lord, regardless of the cost… because my reward is heaven and of that I’m assured.”

Do you have that hope today? Do you have that faith in Jesus? If not, today Jesus welcomes you home. Repent of your sins, trust in the King of Kings, and watch Him save you and change you. Let’s pray