Last week, we focused on the first 17 verses of this chapter and we talked about how the people in the Old Testament were proven by their faith in God. We spent time looking at Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham.

Today we are going to return to Abraham and look at Moses, as well as some other people in the Bible who proved their belief in God through the faith they demonstrated through their lives.

Let’s read the scripture passage, pray, and then continue with worship.

Hebrews 11:17–40 ESV

17 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, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. 29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. 32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 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— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

By Faith, Part 2

So, at the end of last week’s sermon, we saw how God asked Abraham to pack up everything and move. No explanation, just go. A obeyed the calling of God. He and Sarah were also promised they would see their decedents grow so large they couldn’t even be numbered. The main point of last week’s sermon was how these people lived by faith in God, while not perfect, demonstrated it so people knew with whom they put their trust and how they demonstrated that faith.

Today we pick back up with Abraham. God wasn’t quite finished seeing how A would demonstrate his faith in Him.

Hebrews 11:17–19 ESV

17 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, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Like to read a book before going to a movie. I like to get into their heads and see what was going on in them while the scene is going down.

Abraham & the Sacrifice of Isaac

If we had time to go back and read Gen 22 we would see that Abraham gets up the next morning, gets the supplies ready for sacrifice and heads off with his servants and Isaac. He told his servants to stay behind while He and the boy would go and worship God. He took the wood arranged. He even had already bound Isaac before God provided a lamb for A to sacrifice.

I want to put my humanism in A’s head while still thinking I had the faith to do what A did.

Play it out.

Had A put too much love into I so that I had become more important than God. Was God just wanting to show others in A’s tribe how much A loved Him?

The importance in this passage is that A had the faith to know if God wanted him to sacrifice I, He would provide a way to fulfill his promise to him. What a testimony from the OT for us

In the next verses, we see Jacob bless both Jacob and Esau. We also see Jacob bless all of his sons. Joseph is the one who asks that his bones be brought back to the Promised Land to be buried. I misspoke last week saying it was Abraham. Joseph didn’t want to be buried in the foreign land of Egypt. He wanted to be brought back to the land which was promised the is ancestors.

Hebrews 11:20–22 ESV

20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

Moses

So M is next. We are going to read a synopsis here of his life and some of the God-things which happened in order to bring him into a place where he needed to be in order to be the leader the Israelite people needed him to be.

Hebrews 11:23–28 ESV

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

Moses

There is so much more to this story, but what we are focusing on are the faith elements where M moved.

First his parents.

We then see him giving up the opportunity to be recognized as part of Pharaoh’s family and being treated as royalty and be treated like a slave like the rest of his people. Once again, Moses didn’t have his eyes on what the things He could be offered here, temporarily on earth, he had them on the promises he had been taught of.

M left Egypt and stayed gone. God needed him to be away to prepare Him for the task which was ahead. He had his eyes set on the One who would teach him what he would need to know. God was shaping him, molding him.

Have you ever thought the experiences you go through in life as God preparing you for a task? The good, the bad, the pretty, the ugly. God can use it all for His glory if we allow him.

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Moses

M continued to follow God through His instructions on how to protect the first born of the Israelite people when the Angel of Death passed over the nation of Egypt.

Once again, imagine what is going through the people’s heads.

I figure once the people thought about all the miracles they had seen take place which had affected the nation of Egypt to get Pharaoh to let them leave, they believed and did what Moses instructed.

Hebrews 11:29–31 ESV

29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

The Israelite People & Rahab

Here we have more examples of people putting their faith in God where extraordinary things were going to happen.

The Read Sea

The walls of Jericho - how does marching around a wall for 7 days and blowing trumpets and screaming make those walls fall?

Rahab, how would we look at Rahab if she would come through the doors of our church? That’s a whole other sermon. She had faith in the God of the spies who came to her for protection, she believed what they told her and provided protection for her family while the rest of the city was slaughtered. She is in the lineage of Jesus. What a step up in her situation. A thing she of course would never see, but because of her faith, she is part of the lineage of the person who would provide the sacrifice for the New Covenant.

So many examples of those who put their faith in God throughout the Old Testament

In these next set of verses, we are given a list of some and examples from leaps of faith of those in the Old Testament. Some of them who we wouldn’t consider to be prime examples, yet when put to the test, their faith shined.

Hebrews 11:32–38 ESV

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 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— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

When we go into this next section, we are actually go into the first two verses of chapter 12. They will still provide a springboard into what Mark will be preaching on in a couple weeks, but it also makes sense to include them in what we are hearing today as well.

Hebrews 11:39–12:2 ESV

39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. 1 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, 2 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.

Remembering that Hebrews was written to a church mainly made up of people who were part of the Jewish faith, they would have looked to all the people we have read about in this chapter as heroes. They were people who lived a life of faith, once again, not perfect, but would come back to the God they loved. They were held with great esteem. However, they never got to see the promise of the Messiah they were promised. They never got to see what was promised. However that didn’t keep them from living with a faith which would be spoken about for ages to come.

We even have more people to look to as heroes of the faith. We have all of the New Testament examples. We even have those who we ourselves have either read about or even personally know who set examples for us who lay down their lives for the furtherance of the Kingdom work put out for us to be about.

Hebrews 12:1b–2 (ESV)

1 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,

2 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.

Our race isn’t finished either. We haven’t seen everything which has been promised either. We are waiting for the return of Christ.

Will we see Christ’s return in our time?

Who knows? The Bible tells us Jesus doesn’t even know.

Matthew 24:36 ESV

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

There are many who will tell you times indicate the return is close. But what is close in God’s time?

Using our reference for time, one of these days, Jesus is going to wake up, and just like Abraham, God is going to say go. However, this time it will be the fulfillment of what has been promised since the fall of man. We will be reunited with our heavenly Father.

So what do we do in the mean time?

We live lives which will demonstrate our faith in our Lord. We live lives which will show our dependance on Him. We live lives, even though not perfect, point the people to a Savior. We need to be about our Father’s business.

2 Corinthians 5:6–7 ESV

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.

Things not seen, but promised by the One who has never broken a promise to His children.

What’s holding you back?

Don’t put your faith in earthly things or people.

Is it the failings of others within the church which is holding you back? If so, you are going to stay in a point where you never do anything.

Put your eyes on heavenly matters. Put your eyes on Christ and our Father and what He is asking you to do.

Is it failings in your own life? What would Paul have done if he kept his eyes on the life he lived as Saul? How would David have lead after his sin with Bathsheba? How would Moses have lead after he didn’t follow the Lord’s instructions on how to bring water from the rock or his lack of faith when he encountered God through the burning bush? Even Abraham and Sarah had their own failings we can read about.

When we put our eyes on our failures or others, that is Satan trying to defeat us. It isn’t an excuse to be able to act however we want, but we need to realize as Christians our faith is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND!!!!!

What is your foundation built on?