A Commendable Faith
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
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.
Prayer
Prayer
Father, we come to you now as broken people, people who sin regularly and need your grace continually. We also know that our eternity is secured and our rescue is sure because your Son died to make it so. Would you speak through me tonight oh lord, help me to handle your scripture with care and reverence and would you help those in the room tonight to hear clearly why this text is so important to not only our faith but the assurance of it.
What we know not, teach us
What we are not, make us
What we have not, give us
It is in the name of the one and only son and high priest, Jesus Christ we pray…
AMEN
Intro
Intro
There is a story about this man named George Müller who owned an Orphanage in Bristol in England. He was known for never asking for money but also for having a strong faith that God would provide, and he did.
There was one time in particular where in the morning one of the employee’s of the orphanage came to George and said there is no food in the pantry for the kids. George told them to gather all 300 children into the cafeteria and they did and he came in and prayed for the food that they did not have on their plate and waited and moments later the side door gets a knock. It was a baker, he felt impressed the evening before that the orphanage would need bread so he stayed up through the night baking to that end. Moments later a milkman came knocking. His milk cart had broken down right outside the orphanage full of milk and he asked George if he could use the milk for free otherwise it would spoil.
There were men just like George in the bible, a few in our text today were Abel, Enoch, and Noah. These men like George… trusted in what they did not see in front of them. They trusted in a God who provides, a God who promises, and a God who brings salvation.
Here is my Main idea right out in front:
To have a faith commended by God, you must trust what you can’t see and you will receive a reward that you didn’t earn.
Faith didn’t wait for the pantry to be full to trust in God. George had faith in an invisible God who does unforeseen things more than the circumstances he was in.
this is the kind of faith that God commends in scripture. This is the kind of Faith that pleases God.
There is a reality that we can’t miss today.
Without Faith, we can not please God. By our own ability and strength we CAN NOT please God.
But guess what, spoiler alert, Christ gives us faith and works out that faith in and through us. Through faith we are able to please God and receive the eternal reward that we do not deserve.
So the question I want to answer from our text today is:
What is a faith that is commendable by God? From our text today.
A commendable faith, is:
A Faith that Gives Righteously
A Faith that Trusts Completely
and A Faith that Acts Promptly
Point 1: A Faith that Gives Righteously
Point 1: A Faith that Gives Righteously
I want to give you the main idea of this point right from the beginning and we will break it down further:
A person marked by true faith gives sacrificially, knowing that the promise of Christ is greater than the gift.
That simple
A person marked by true faith gives sacrificially, knowing that the promise of Christ is greater than the gift.
lets look back at our text: Heb11:4
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.
The story of Cain and Abel in the bible and specifically Abel is religated to just a few verses in Genesis. This is because Cain kills Abel when God commends Abel for his sacrifice but not Cain’s.
Our text says that Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. In Genesis it tells us that he gave of of the first born of his flock and of their fat portions. Cain was told to have given an offering of the fruit of the Ground.
This begs the question, why did God accept the offering from Abel and not from Cain since they both provided from their areas of work?
The text today gives us right out the gate clarity on the difference. It says “by faith”. This is a distinction from Cain and his offering. It wasn’t that the contents of the offering were necessarily wrong but that the approach form Abel was of faith yet the approach of Cain was of wrong intent, a lack of faith.
Abel didn’t have a prophet, he didn’t have a local pastor, he didn’t have the law or any of the scripture and he definitely did not know of when the Messiah was going to come who we know as Christ. He had the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
He knew non of these things yet his faith was commended him. His faith caused him to take what he had, the meat and fat from these animals that could provide a good food source for him and his family, he approached God and gave of his first. Not the leftovers, not the seconds, the first, the best, the parts that everyone would want to keep to eat.
Cain may have given an offering, but he lacked the faith necessary for it to be a pleasing gift to the Lord.
It is easy to see this and think so Abel was rewarded for his hard work.
The text specifically doesn’t say that and in last weeks text the Author oepns us up in verse 2 to say that “For by it” talking about faith, “the people of old received their commendation” so it isn’t that Abel did a better job, it was his Faith that God cared about. His faith caused him to live open handed.
When we give righteously, when we give sacrificially, when we give out of Faith we are saying God, I trust you more than I trust these material things before me.
Our hope is not tied to the things here but of what we only see in part today which is the eternal life with Christ.
The verse ends with saying that even though Abel died, his faith still speaks. He does not speak in the literal sense of speaking out from beyond but his faith teaches more and stands out as a contrast against the evil in this world even more now than it did when he was physically here on earth.
Abel knew then that there was hope in God beyond what was in front of him. He didn’t have something that we now have as post new testament believers. We have Christ, we have the risen messiah, we have the finished work of the cross that has already happened on our behalf. We have written down promises from prophets of old and of Christ himself telling us the immeasurable riches and promises in his kingdom.
Yet, we still struggle to trust him with our finances.
We still struggle to give anything up out of our hand because man this is all I have not trusting that these things pass away, but our hope in eternal life doesn’t.
Our kids are in the stage now where patience has no existence and there is one example with my youngest Bowan where he wants more water in his bottle, so much that he screams about it and there is a little in there but really it is almost empty and so he screams for more. I tell him, ok well give me the bottle and I will give you more, then he runs away with it and still cries that there is no water in it. This is how we are in our own sin and reliance on ourself before God. We tell him we want his help, he asks us to give what we have, to be open handed and he will provide as he has promised yet we hold onto it even though we have no ability to figure it out on our own. If we had the faith that Abel had, then there would be no question, I am going to give what I have and God will provide for me. Every time I gave him the little bit of water left in my cup, he always gives it back to me full again. We don’t live like this in order to receive, we live like this because we trust that God is at work and we trust what we do not see.
This faith that was commended by God, was not something Abel mustered up on his own, it was a gift from God. NOTHING we do on our own is pleasing to God.
Phil2:13 Says:
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
God worked through Abel and produced in him a faith not based on his own ability to be faithful but on God’s own faithfulness which is found in Christ.
I am not telling you to be like Abel by trying harder, I am telling you that you have to trust in the one who has perfectly pleased God and that is Christ himself. Our faith is a gift and through that faith he works in us to will and to work for his good pleasure.
That means the answer is not try harder, the answer is trust in the finished work of Christ and will and the work comes by that gift of faith.
Here is the main application:
We must put our faith not in what we have here and now but in the hope that we can’t see yet but is coming because of Christ, which is eternal life with him in the new kingdom.
that means that our faith is not in the money in our bank account, the food in our pantry, or the roof over our head. Our hope is in Christ.
And if we really believe that , we would live open handedly. Giving to those in need in our community. Living with our hands like this (show hands open) where everything that hits them, goes right back out to the Lord trusting him to provide, knowing that he already has before, and the promise that he will continue to do so.
If our faith is marked by righteous giving that thinks not of what I have here and now but the immeasurable riches that I have in Christ, then that is A Faith that Trusts Completely. Which is my second point.
Point 2: A Faith that Trusts Completely
Point 2: A Faith that Trusts Completely
Lets read forward a little:
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.
I want to give you the main idea of this point here which is:
A commendable faith in Christ is one that has full trust in his character and believes in the promise of future reward for Christ’s work in us.
again…
A commendable faith in Christ is one that has full trust in his character and believes in the promise of future reward for Christ’s work in us.
The story of Enoch in scripture is very short. It happens in Genesis 5 where the line of Adam is laid out in genealogies.
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.
Genesis says that Enoch “walked with God” but the septuigent actually used the words Enoch “pleased” God matching what we see in our hebrews passage today. What that points to is the fact that walking with God is pleasing God, they go hand in hand.
We don’t know how he pleased God, we don’t know what kind of actions he did in his life, our text simply tells us that he pleased God but verse 6 expands to give us understanding.
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.
It was again his faith, like Abel, that is the main idea of the 2 verses here. No one can please God without faith and those who draw near (by faith) must believe he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Enoch didn’t work hard enough and earn his way to the point of pleasing God, he was gifted a faith that trusted in what he could’nt see, and the promise that there is more to come.
Enoch was commended for his faith because he trusted God completely.
He believed he exists and knew that by walking with him by seeking him he would be rewarded.
Enoch didn’t have the law, the prophets, or the truth of Christ as messiah, yet he still knew God would reward him for seeking him.
This is faith that trusts completely.
Our reward is not because of OUR work but Christ’s work in us meaning we are reaping the reward that is not owed to us but to Christ we are the beneficiaries of an inheritance that is not of us but of Christ given to us.
I love my children if you can’t tell, I love to share stories about them and watch them grow. One thing that Bowan does sometime, even Isla will do it too and sometimes even August but what they will do is stand on the couch with me on the floor in front of it and put their arms out (Bowan really goes for it) and just falls forward and I catch them and they get up and do it again. I never told Bowan I was going to catch him, I never told him he was going to not bust his head on the ground but he knows that I am his Dad. Before the first time doing it he can recount all the other times dad didn’t let me hurt myself and he trusts completely that I will do the same here. He knows that every time he does it, I will be there to catch him. Our trust should be that complete in the almighty God of the universe who spoke the world into existence by his very breath. Bowan didn’t trust in his own ability to keep himself from hitting the ground, he believed in the promised hope that Dad was going to catch him and hug him and in the end it will be ok. In the end, we have an even greater promise than “it will be ok” but that we are adopted in the family of God and will live in eternity with him all because Christ did the work on our behalf, we just opened our arms and trusted God completely.
Here is what I need you to take with you…
Trust in God in everything.
Trust that when up against temptation that the struggle of that temptation doesn’t compare to the reward we have in Christ.
Christ had a perfect trust and faith in the father and his righteousness is counted onto us.
When your unsure of whether your gonna have another meal this week, trust that feeling in your stomach pales in comparison to the fulfilment found in faith in Christ.
Like Enoch didn’t face physical death on earth, we will not face spiritual death all those who put their faith in Christ in the finished work on the cross and the promised hope of the future.
A faith that trusts completely believes in Christ and believes that we have an eternal reward for seeking him. But, it is not enough to simply believe and move on, we must seek after him we must walk with him and so A commended faith is also A faith that acts promptly. Which is my last point.
Point 3: A Faith that Acts Promptly
Point 3: A Faith that Acts Promptly
lets go back to verse 7:
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.
The story of Noah starts with God’s disappointment in creation, his anger over their sin and has decided he is going to wipe out his creation. But he chooses to save one man and his family, Noah.
Unlike the stories of Abel and Enoch who, we have no record of them being given any kind of specific command. But Noah was told to build an Ark with specific instructions and that God would save his family.
And he went and did as the Lord said. He did not question the Lord. God told Noah the flood was coming, he told him it was going to happen and that he needed to act and noah in FEAR OF THE LORD did as he was asked and his immediate reward? Salvation of his family. Eternal Reward? His faith was counted as righteousness. He received God himself, just like Enoch, just like Abel. When God rewards the work of the believer it is not his own works but Christ’s work in us that we reap the reward of.
The text tells us “by this he condemned the world”. By what? By his faith.
Does this mean he explicitly condemned the world by some power of his own? no
His faith in contrast against the backdrop of evil and destruction, condemned the world.
Just like we have talked about with the Law. The law doesn’t save people and it never intended to, it stood as a mirror to show how sinful we really are.
The faith given to Noah stood as an opposite to what everyone else in the world was doing.
He received the righteousness as an heir not because of his work but because of God’s grace on him.
He didn’t receive righteousness because he was perfect, or that he did everything right. There were things he did not do well that we see at the end of the waters lowering.
But, his righteousness was because of his faith, and faith comes solely as a gift from God. We can not earn faith we can not work for it it is a gift.
“for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13
Here is the point of this point:
Faith doesn’t wait to have all the answers or to know how the future will pan out. The commendable faith acts promptly trusting in God lead the way and trusting his promises.
Many of us go to work each day, put in our hours, do the time we need to do and the workload we need to do, all without any concern as to whether we are going to be paid for that work.
We don’t wait on monday to be told that we need to clock in, we just do it, trusting that everything is being handled behind the scenes to calculate how much money I am supposed to be paid. We act so quickly when asked to do our job without much concern for our paycheck each month yet, we have a God who gave us breath, raised us to new life in his Son, and promised us an eternal inheritance to come and we still ask “but are you sure this will work out”.
What if we had a faith that when we hear like Traie in savannah of the need for a freeway ministry in sanford that they just packed up and go, what if we had that kind of faith.
Or what if we heard of someone in our community who was sick and needed a meal and prayer, we didn’t wait to find out what they had but went because my God has authority over sickness.
In all we do we must not wait for God to tell us if it is worth the risk. We act promptly in faith by stepping into what we can not yet see knowing that he commends those who have a faith with that kind of trust. He works all things out for the good of those who LOVE him.
To bring us to a close…
If we act promptly out of faith like Noah did, it means we trust him completely as Enoch did, and out of that trust we will give righteously as Abel did.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Abel, Enoch, and Noah. They all had faith that was commendable by God, that was accepted as righteousness by God. This was not of their own ability, of power they can muster up, it was wholly and completely by God himself.
George from the orphanage had a faith that was commendable, not because he was special, but because he trusted that God does what he says he will do, provide.
Freeway, God has never failed, we can trust him in that. But our faith is not just in what we have seen him do, it is trusting him in the things that we haven’t seen but because we know his character, we believe in him and know that he rewards those who seek him, we have a confidence that Christ has promised us an eternal hope, and he will bring it to completion.
We can know that no matter what he will work it all out because it is not up to us. If it were up to us we would fail immediately but our faith is a gift of God therefore EVERYTHING we do in the name of the Lord is by pure grace.
To have a faith commended by God, you must trust what you can’t see and you will receive a reward that you didn’t earn.
That is the main idea, that is the truth we need to walk away with.
Christian in the room,
this means that when God tells you to go you go.
The lord has called us to plant a church in Deland. I know that if it was me alone nothing would happen, but God has called me so I know that God will do the work.
It means when you wake up tomorrow you pick up your bible, not because it is the task on your list but because you trust that if you seek the Lord, he will reward that and we reap the promised reward given because of Christ, not because of us.
Unbeliever in the room…
Without faith, you CANNOT please God. without God, there is no promised hope beyond this very moment. But Christ did what was not possible without him, he died for the sin that you should have died for so that you can have faith and a hope for the future. A hope that lasts past tonight. An eternal life with him where there is no sin, where there is no death… So you who have not turned to the Lord, come up here and pray with one of our leaders.
Repent before a holy God and turn from your sin, and you will have part in this hope.
Anyone else that needs prayer, we have leaders up here to pray with you for anything at all, please come.
Let us pray.
