Pentecost 11 By Trust
But By Trust
Heb. 11:1-16 Gen 15:1-6 Luke 12:22-40
8/12
Hebrews 11:1-16
By Faith
11 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. 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.
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. 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.
Key Words
Faith – pistis – What is worthy to be trusted
Assurance – that which is settled – remains
Hoped for – expected to be delivered
Conviction – faitful to reality
Not seen – not blepo’d
Received Commendation – God witnessed
Understand - noumenn
Universe – time – not just place..
Created – restored – put in place – according to perfect
What is seen – consider -
Made – came to existence
Visible – glorified – light revealed
Offered - to present
Acceptable sacrifice – greater – offering for meal
Commended righteous – martyr’d as righteous
Commended accepting gifts – God martyr’d this by letting gift given
Died – still speaks – thanatized – lalew (reference to his blood crying out or…)
Taken up – placed differently
See death – id’d death – disease?
Not found – heuristics -
Taken him – passive -
Commended – martyr’d
Pleased God – well-pleasing -
Impossible to please – adunamis -
Would draw near – proserchomai – deponent -
Must believe –must trust
Exists – “He is!”
rewards – pay hirelings?
seek him – deliberate, full effort seek
warned – called from above
concerning events unseen – not as yet blepo’d
saving - soteria
condemned the world - katakrinei
heir of righteousness –recieeved allotment (credit) of Righteousness
obeyed - open’d the door
called - kalew
receive inheritance - kleronoma
going,went – couldn’t describe where he was going!
land of promise – declared to happen
heirs of same promise – same words
looking forward - expecting
city, foundations - right support and basis -
designed and builder – technician/artisan - uilder= demiurge – builder of universe
received power to conceive – was given dunamis – even while sterile – stiff and unmoving
considered faithful – guided faithful
promised – same as above
as good as dead – nekron – passively – it happened to him
innumerable- anathrimathos -
died in faith - apethenon
not received things promised – labontes eggangles
seen them – id’d them
greeted them from afar – greeted – exactly…
acknowledged – said the same
strangers and exiles – xenos and parapedimos -
seeking a homeland – father’s land
desire a better country
heavenly
ashamed - disgraced by them… he is not
called their God -
Prepareda city -
Context
Parallel Passages
10 And the Lord said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.
Genesis 4:10 (ESV)
Hebrews 10:23
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Doctrinal Topics
Law and Gospel
Libronix & Commentary Notes
26 Augustine2 also reminds us that we would understand the word “faith” in the Scriptures to mean confidence in God, assurance that God is gracious to us, and not merely such a knowledge of historical events as the devil also possesses.[1]
202 By faith Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice (Heb. 11:4). Because he was righteous by faith, the sacrifice he made was acceptable to God — not to merit the forgiveness of sins and grace through this work, but to exercise his faith and display it to others, inviting them to believe.[2]
Faith may not fully comprehend the mystery of God’s speaking to us. Faith cannot always explain everything about God’s attitude and action in our behalf. For faith is the assurance of things for which we hope; it is the conviction of that which we do not see (Heb. 11:1). Fundamentally, faith is the relationship with the God who cannot be fully comprehended by his creatures, particularly when their minds are still suffering the damage of the fall into sin.[3]
Faith. … That firm belief of God’s testimony, and of the truth of the gospel, which influences the will, and leads to an entire reliance on Christ for salvation.[4]
Whither he went, he knew not; it was enough for him to know that he went with God. He leaned not so much upon the promises as upon the Promiser. He looked not on the difficulties of his lot, but on the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, who had deigned to appoint his course, and would certainly vindicate Himself. O glorious faith! This is thy work, these are thy possibilities: contentment to sail with sealed orders, because of unwavering confidence in the love and wisdom of the Lord High Admiral: willinghood to rise up, leave all, and follow Christ, because of the glad assurance that earth’s best cannot bear comparison with Heaven’s least.[5]
Illustrations
Think tents - to home…
Luke 12:20
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
Luke 12:22-40
Do Not Be Anxious
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
You Must Be Ready
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Genesis 15:1-6
God’s Covenant with Abram
15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Hebrews 11:1 (Phillips NT)
1 Now faith means putting our full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see. It was this kind of faith that won their reputation for the saints of old. And it is after all only by faith that our minds accept as fact that the whole scheme of time and space was created by God's command - that the world which we can see has come into being through principles which are invisible.
Hebrews 12:22-24 (ESV)
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
But By Trust
Heb. 11:1-16 Gen 15:1-6 Luke 12:22-40
8/12
† In the name of the Messiah, Jesus †
How far will you trust?
Getting in a car? Moving across the USA?
Augstine
Universe Created or all ages ordered? (Phillips)
By trusting in God they
Recevied Commendation
God witnessed their faith!
Abel’s sacrifice
Enoch – taken away
Noah saved his family!
Abe travelled
Sarah conceived while stiff
By trusting in God
We can approach Him
They knew something unseen existed for them
The City founded, designed, created by God
How? Better than Abel’s blood…
That is our faith, that which convinces us, finally of His love.
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2 Homilies on the Epistle of John to the Parthians, X,2.
[1]Tappert, Theodore G.: The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia : Fortress Press, 2000, c1959, S. 45
[2]Tappert, Theodore G.: The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia : Fortress Press, 2000, c1959, S. 134
[3]Kolb, Robert: The Christian Faith : A Lutheran Exposition. electronic ed. St. Louis, MO : Concordia Publishing House, 2000, c1993, S. 163
[4]Federer, William J.: Great Quotations : A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Quotations Influencing Early and Modern World History Referenced According to Their Sources in Literature, Memoirs, Letters, Governmental Documents, Speeches, Charters, Court Decisions and Constitutions. St. Louis, MO : AmeriSearch, 2001
[5]Hardman, Samuel G. ; Moody, Dwight Lyman: Thoughts for the Quiet Hour. Willow Grove, PA : Woodlawn Electronic Publishing, 1998, c1997, c1994, c1990, S. February 20