Greater Than (11)
Notes
Transcript
Greater Than
Greater Than
Good morning all. I am so glad to be with all of you this motnning. I missed everyone last week but I am grateful we have some amazing lay pastors to cover while I was out. Just don’t want him to be too good.
We ll summer is over half way done, queue parent cheers, and we have about 3 weeks left in Hebrews not including today. I am very excited about the things God is putting on my heart for this coming year and can’t wait to start sharing in the fall, but we will be doing a quick series in August called Tradition or Truth.
Take a moment and watch this
VIDEO
But today we are continuing our journey through Hebrews.
Please turn to Hebrews 11 in your Bible or apps.
As you are doing that, I want you to think what faith means.
Is it a leap into the unknown? Is it blind faith in whatever you have been told?
THere recently was a huge flood in the Central US. Hour after hour the water kept rising. Thye had a massive evacuation plan and many had to leave their homes. One man decided to ride it out. They drove by with a truck offering to get him out., but he refused. HE said he was a man of faith and believed God would save him. They came again with a boat - I am a man of faith God will save me. They finally came with a helicopter - I am a man of faith God will save me. Unfortunately the man died. When he got to heaven He walked right up to God and asked why he didn’t save him. GOd replied i sent a truck, boat and helicopter.
Our faith makes sense and is not a blind leap. Over the last weeks we have gone through 10 chapters of Hebrews building the truth that there is no one or no thing greater to put our trust in than Jesus.
Over these last few weeks we move to what we do with that and how we move from:
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Please stand with me as we read the only words worth remembering today.
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.
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.
Let’s pray
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
When it comes to faith, true faith is more than a hope so and neither is it an intellectual assent or believing without evidence.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Ten: Faith—The Greatest Power in the World (Hebrews 11)
True Bible faith is confident obedience to God’s Word in spite of circumstances and consequences.
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
THis faith operates simply. God speaks, we hear his word, we trust His word and act on it no matter the circumstances or consequences.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
It may seem impossible or terrifying, but we obey just the same knowing He has shown himself faithful over and over again.
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.
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
This is not a definition of faith, but a description of what faith does and how it works.
IT is assurance, conviction, and understanding
The KJV says it is substance, evidence, and witness
Assurance - foundation of what we stand on, which gives us confidence in God keeping His promises, understanding what God does.
We see what others don’t.
Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing.
To show it has been done and can be done, the author gives us examples
Abel shows faith worshipping.
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.
Abel shows faith worshipping.
True worship brings what God requires.
Abel brought the correct sacrifice to atone.
Abel’s sacrifice pointed to the the ultimate sacrifice of Christ and his atoning work while Cain’s sacrifice showed man’s attempt to save himself through his good works.
Enoch shows faith walking.
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.
Enoch shows faith walking.
We must not only have a desire to please God, but we must be dilligent in seeking and following Him.
Enoch walked faithfully directly before the flood whne the world was so bad God said
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Enoch shows faith walking.
Enoch one day was taken to heaven.
He walked with God during his life, then walked into eternity.
A life of faith outweighs good works every time.
Fatih is the only thing that gives God His proper place and put us in our proper place.
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.
Noah shows faith working.
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.
Noah shows faith working.
Noah’s faith involved his whole person.
His mind was warned by God, his heart was moved with fear, and his will acted on what God told him.
There had never been a flood and probably rain before.
They must of thought he was crazy. - SeeBees at Ft Carson.
Noah’s faith saved himself, his family, and the human race.
His faith also condemned the rest of the world. There was no excuse then and there will not be when Chrsit returns.
The Patriarchs show faith waiting.
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.
The Patriarchs show faith waiting.
Abram was most likely an idol worshipper until God showed up one day and said In want you to go somewhere you don’t know.
This land that was promised was filled with other people and he was a stranger
Lottie Moon once said - “I pray that no missionary will ever be as lonely as I have been.”
Abraham’s focus was not on the land but on a city. He saw the eternal outweighing the the temporal.
He was also promised a son.
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.
The Patriarchs show faith waiting.
They obeyed when they had no idea how things would be accomplished.
Unbelief always asks “How can this be?
Faith asks “How will it be?”
Think about it, they waited 25 years for a son, with promise of being the father of a great nation.
Abraham only saw his son Isaac and his grandsons Jacob and Esau.
None of them saw the the fulfillment of the promise.
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.
The Patriarchs show faith waiting.
As I said Abraham never saw the birth of s nation, The Hebrew Nation never occupied all the land, the OT Saints never saw the Messiah.
But their vision made it so clear they stuck it out.
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.
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Martin Luther once said:
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Great Belief / Greater Faith Pt 1
Faith is at the core of every human being.
Every day we walk out of our house believing we will make it through the day.
Faith mean I do not have to see how or when or why because I know Who.
Faith in anything or anyone else is futile.
Faith begins in worship as we understand He is God and we are not.
Faith is reflected in how we walk and act.
Faith leads us do the some of the craziest things.
Faith waits even when we cannot see the end.
Faith sees what others cannot
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.
The question is do you believe or do you have faith?
Let’s pray
