The Perfecter of Our Faith
our great high priest • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
It’s been about a month since I have been able to continue this sermon series of the Heavenly priesthood. For those of you who haven’t been here or who are just joining us, we have been walking through the book of Hebrews, and learning of the role of Jesus as our high priest, our mediator, our defense lawyer, and our righteous judge. Today we are going to enter a chapter famously deemed as the Faith chapter. Hebrews 11. Multiple times over repetitively you will see verses opened with, “By faith…..” By faith, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, and Rahab. and several more names with similar examples of heroic faith.
It’s almost as if the author is acknowledging he doesn’t have the time to write down all the names and stories of faith and resilience among God’s people through the generations.
As I was reading in Hebrews 11, known affectionately as the faith chapter, I realized we often fail to recognize the context of these names being shared as example of enduring saints. Each was faithful, not in moments of prosperity, but under the prospect of trials, injustice, and great difficulty. Many of the examples shared, these people were willing to lay down their lived with unwavering faith.
As pastors, Pastor Josue and I have a very unique lens and vantage point in sometimes seeing, in the midst of a given week, the things some of you both young people and not so young people are grappling with as you have come to the sanctuary to come and worship and find Spiritual rest. We often have to internalize our own grief and the internal struggle we have as we witness our brothers and sisters navigating their trials. Its hard, I’m a pretty transparent guy. I often feel helpless because I want to fix everything, and repair every person’s situation of hurt and grief. But its impossible. Impossible as a man. But for God all things are possible. That is context of faith. If you believe God has called you to prosperity gospel and that your rewards for your faith are ultimately seen on Earth, you have been fed lies. God tells His people, they will suffer in His name, will endure. But my friends, in this world that spends billions of dollars a year on super hero themed hollywood films, I want you to know the Bible does talk of a super natural power, and that is faith. Faith in God in face of adversity, injustice, and suffering.
January, for me will mark, 10 years of serving in pastoral ministry. Church family if I were writing a faith chapter, there are names of so many individuals that come to mind from my previous churches and this one, where before I listed their name I would write “By faith” …..by faith this person endured cancer, by faith____ was assaulted but did not lose love. By faith this person endured racism, and injustice, by faith this person walked in integrity while enduring gossip, by faith this person endured divorce, infertility, betrayal, heart attacks, strokes, loss of loved ones. In this last almost 2 years I have served as your pastor I’ve witnessed by faith a church ethnically, generationally, politically diverse continue to stand and worship united in our love of God and desire to live for him hand in hand. This church my friends, we have our problems but time and time again you are a blessing. This is by faith.
Listen to the context of Hebrews 11 and 12 by remembering these verses in chapter 10.
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For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Before we dive in further, lets take a moment to pray.
We’ve established from previous messages, Jesus role is multi-layered. He is the sacrificial lamb, He is the priest, He is the mediator, and He is the judge.
He is watching over us!
As we move into chapter 11 of Hebrews, and please turn there if you have your Bibles. The author first correctly defines faith.
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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
That is a beautiful description and definition. But I don’t think it is as easy to practice as just saying it.
It’s hard enough to have faith in people that we know, even in our friends and loved ones. In this world we see betrayal and backstabbing. If our trust in people we love and care about us can often be betrayed how can we find the capacity to have faith in the physically unseen. How can I really be assured God is out there and that He is working on our behalf. How can I trust God to lead me, if I don’t know where He is taking me?
Ask Abraham that question.
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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. 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. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Abraham was promised something that was not yet seen. Perhaps not even yet fully understood. But his response was to immediately pack up and go. God had chosen Abraham because of his faithfulness to Him, similar to Noah, in a world that had largely lost belief in Him. But there was a promise. Because of that promise Abraham chose to follow something he had never seen before.
As I am watching my little girl grow, she has demonstrated her bravery over and over. She has learned to jump into a pool, all by herself. Mom and Dad are in front of her, but she knows she can jump and won’t get hurt as long as she has Daddy or Mommy there. However that faith in jumping has also led to may attempt to jump off steps, or the couch. That landing is not nice as a pool of water. She has had to learn that her faith isn’t just in her jumping off, but that she might have faith in her parents word as to when it is safe to jump and when it is not. In the water, the first jump, is following the promise, “Baby girl, you’ll be okay, I’m right here, I’ll catch you.”
That first act of faith is a step into the unknown. But how amazing is it when our faith is rewarded. The reality is our faith is not some instantaneous step with immediate fruits. Do you think the journey for Abram and his family was an easy one? Read through Genesis, it is anything but that. His home life was never more than that tent life. But his understanding of what God was leading him towards was more than the physical land he would occupy. The text says he was looking forward to a city that had foundations, whose designer was God.
Much of the promise was not seen in Abraham’s life time. Much of the reward for the names mentioned in the faith chapter.
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And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Abraham’s faith would be tested over and over. And truthfully he did not always pass the test. But isn’t that why we can relate some to the patriarchs. A few weeks ago Pastor Josue gave us a more honest look into the man David and we saw the worst kind of sinner, who did find redemption.
No name that was listed, by the author of Hebrews had the perfect faith. Perhaps not even Enoch.
So if the men and women named in the faith chapter of the Bible didn’t have a faith without blemish. Is there room for grace we can show one another. Is there hope for us still to receive? How many are unwilling to share their testimony because you feel unworthy to share? How many still feel the shame of your past, or maybe even your present.
Let me put it this way. Joshua, was one of 2 spies of the 12 who were faithful and trusting in God that he would give the land of Canaan into the hands of the Israelites. He was the commander of Israel and trusted God that he would deliver Jericho in their hands by just marching around the city. We don’t see his name recorded in the faith chapter. The walls of Jericho being destroyed were, but Joshua’s name is omitted. It wasn’t the author’s intention slight Joshua. Whose name does appear? Rahab, a prostitute. Her faith was mentioned, she was spared. She chose to have faith. Her faith was rewarded.
Faith is not something man kind produces alone. I believe faith is special and powerful something grown and sharpened, and even perfected. But not by human will. It is by God’s faithfulness to us!
Brothers and sisters, the reward system for faith is NOT an Earthly one. We see rewards on Earth. We see God’s faithfulness to His remnant here on Earth, but THE REWARD is not marked by human prosperity, no faith is not so romantic. God’s word is not G-rated.
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Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 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— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Pastor Ross, we don’t live in Bible times.
This doesn’t have to be Bible times. People suffer for their faith, TODAY.
My friends, the Bible tells us of a day when our faith is all we might have left. And you know what, whether you were happy or not with the election results this past week, know that in our present we still have religious liberty in this country. Thats not the case everywhere in this world, and it likely will not always be the case here.
Pastor Ross, I don’t know if my faith is strong enough. I am weak.
I am weak weak to. My best faith is not enough.
Where do we draw our super-natural faith power from? Jesus.
Moving into chapter 12.
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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Our faith well is not natural. Our faith well is not drawn from us but from God. Do not grow weary my friends. Your trials are real. They are hard. I will not minimize what you are going through, but the reality is, faith power is not derived by man but from God. He will give us the capacity for more faith. In fact He will confirm your faith.
So many people like to say “blind faith.” Here is a unique statement,
Faith is not simply blind even if defined as believing without seeing.
Bats may not see with their eyes but their sophisticated use of echolocation allows them to live as though they can.
Because I don’t see the air I breath doesn’t mean I have blind faith that it is there. We know air is there, as we can feel its, taste, sometimes hear it! And obviously when cold enough can see it.
We can have faith in the things unseen, because God has given us the confirmations for us to trust Him. Because we trust Him we have the assurance of Hope.
Pastor Ross, but you don’t know what I’ve been through, what I am going through. Has God abandoned me?
Just slip back a few pages:
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For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Now continue in chapter 12.
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In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
There are few lessons in those verses alone.
You may have suffered but you have not out suffered God. You may have experienced injustice, but not in comparison with Jesus. He died for your sins. He is the high priest whose sacrifice is not attempting to cover his own sins like the high priests of the OT. He is the righteous high priest, who understands and sympathizes with our plight.
Your suffering is likely preparing and training you to withstand something greater. The word, discipline, in verse 7 in the Greek is talking literally about training. Why do we train, why are we being trained? It is for endurance for what is to come. Even reproving for our mistakes is training us to faithfulness in the future. God is teaching us a lesson as his children. For whom God loves, He disciplines. We do not do our children any favors by not disciplining them (in love). They won’t learn any lessons by allowing to never receive consequences, even hard ones.
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For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
My friends what lesson is God teaching you? In this midst of your suffering, or discipline (justly or seemingly unjustly). Can you pause for the moment, and ask God, “Lord is there something you are training me for by allowing me to go through this suffering/disciplined period in my life?”
Ya’ll I wish I could say how long this period will last in your life or that you will eventually get that answer why!
Those of you who joined us for Point Me to Jesus, heard our brother Enrique’s testimony how another man’s nearly fatal accident saved his life. In the precise moment when his own pain almost overtook Him, it seemed by coincidence, he was called by his pastor, Pastor Josue that they needed to go visit the gentlemen Cailton who had been in the accident. That was no coincidence. It was God’s divine intervention. I went and spoke with Cailton who was in the audience listening. He told me Pastor, I have wondering why I had been suffering from my accident, now I know why. God has just showed me the reason.
The truth is not everyone gets that answer for their suffering. The reasons aren’t always so clear. And yet God is calling us to trust Him in the uncertainty. He’s earned the benefit of our doubts.
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Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
Sometimes God calls us to do hard things, to suffer, and to endure.
Part of the suffering I believe is not understanding why.
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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, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
Abraham had been given the son he and Sarah had been promised, and then suddenly had been instructed by God to sacrifice that same son. Abraham was willing to trust God and was willing to do the unimaginable, not knowing why, and not yet understanding the lesson being offered. God obviously intervened and stopped Abraham, but showed Him a lesson in faith, and gave a picture of what the Father Himself endured when offering His son as a sacrifice for humanity.
Centuries later Shadraq, Mishak, and Abednego were willing to be thrown into a fiery furnace in standing for their faith in the face of Babylon the most powerful nation in the world. They were not spared either. They were thrown in that fire, but in that fire was also Jesus, the perfecter of our faith.
My friends God is not going to spare you from every trial by fire and tribulation you face but rest assured the same Jesus who stood with those men and stood with the men and women of faith listed in the old testament stands with you in the midst of your struggle. God will see you through this. He will never abandon you. We may not always understand, but men and women of courage be encouraged, what you are enduring in this lifetime is refining into His image. And there is a reward coming! Maybe not in the present, or even on this world. But It is coming! God is faithful! and He will refine and perfect your faith if you will allow Him!
