Hebrews 11:17-12:2
Notes
Transcript
Hebrews 11:17-12:2
Hebrews 11:17-12:2
Good morning church! We are continuing on this morning in Hebrews 11 with a message titled Faith in Action: Part 2. I’ll remind you that in chapter 11 we have a list of witnesses. We likened it last week to them giving testimony in a courtroom. Their message to the Hebrews, and to us, is if we can do it, you can do it. As we mentioned last week, I want you to notice that the faith that is demonstrated in this chapter goes beyond the idea of simple belief. Faith as we see here is belief that results in action. The book of James tells us that anything less than that is a dead faith.
Before we begin this morning, I’d like to pray. Pray for our study, and pray for the Nation of Israel.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
Join me please…Father in Heaven,...
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”
We had considered the faith of Abraham last Sunday when he was called to leave everything that represented security in his life. His home, his family, even his nation. Leave it all to go to a place that I will show you, and he did. But the testing, or stretching and growing of his faith did not end there. God promised a son, and not just a son, but that he would make of him a great nation.
But then we read this, that he was tested and offered up Isaac. Who the Bible calls here his only begotten son, Issac was the son of faith, the promise of God. Ishmael was a work of the flesh, when Abram and Sarah faltered in their faith. Notice God does not even recognize the work of the flesh, He doesn’t differentiate between the two, He only recognizes the one. Isaac.
Now last Sunday when we dismissed and court adjourned, Abraham was still on the witness stand. Still testifying to the Hebrew believers who lived near the time of Jesus, and to us reading these things today. He is speaking as part of a group of witnesses saying, I know you are experiencing hardship. I know that your faith is being tempted and it seems unfair, it is actually hard to keep pressing on, but God is not asking anything of you that hasn’t been asked of all of those that came before you and will come after you and study this in Old Town Maine someday. But, keep going because Jesus is better than what you want to go back to... and Jesus is better than anything else you might wrongfully turn to.
See these Hebrew believers were young in their faith, and limited in their theology. The author of Hebrews just went through 10 chapters saying Jesus is better than the prophets, better than the law, better than the angels, He is a better sacrifice, a better high priest, because there were some among them that questioned these things that they had always been taught. If all of our friends and all of our family think the old way is better, then maybe I’m wrong. There faith was being replaced by fear. Some some needed assurance that Jesus was the way, the He really is the Messiah.
Then there were others that were faltering under the persecution. They were beginning to think that after months, and in some cases years of persecution, it seemed easier to quit than to keep going, and these witnesses testify that its worth is, keep going, have faith, and endure to the end.
So Abraham’s story continues, after he left, after God gave him a son, supernaturally by natural means with his 90 year old wife Sarah. Issac is a young man now and Issac is the son through whom God promised Abraham would become a great nation, so let’s look at the rest of the story. It’s in the book of Genesis chapter 22 that we see it.
1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
I wanted you to see that last piece of verse 5, and WE will come back to you. Think of the faith that Abraham had. You and I read the story today and we think well he must have known that God was going to rescue him at the last second, He’s just testing me after all.
Don’t forget that Abraham didn’t know what we know today as we read this account. Abraham knew, that God made a promise to him. God promised to make a great nation out of him and that had to come through Isaac. Isaac wasn’ yet married, he had not yet had any offspring. Abraham also knew that in addition to the promise, God had also given him a command. To take his son, his only son and to offer him to God as a burnt offering.
Certainly the command of God and the promise of God appeared to be in conflict. How could this possibly be possible? Was God commanding him to do something that would invalidate God’s promise? Abraham knew that if God said it, it would happen and he believed by faith. Let’s look again to the book of Hebrews.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”
19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
In Abraham’s mind it was a done deal, he offered him up to God, verse 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead…now again, consider the faith of Abraham. At the time that he went up on that mountain with both the command of God and the promise of God, resurrection had not occurred. I don’t just mean the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, I mean no one had ever been brought back from the dead, at least we have no biblical record of it before this point in Abraham’s life.
Remember with Noah, God told his to build a boat, because a flood was coming, OK God, what’s a flood? You are going to make it flood with rain, prior to that point in history it had never rained.
God said it, Abraham believed it. God is going to make me the father of many nations, through my promised son Isaac. God told me to sacrifice him, must be God is going to raise him from the dead, because with Abraham, the one option that was truly not possible, was God breaking His promise. That’s faith. And he acted upon that faith. Verse 20
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
One of the things that is most interesting to me in this group of witnesses is the mercy and grace of the New Testament concerning these imperfect people. It is almost as if God honors his promise earlier in this book, when God says He will remember those sins no more.
Anyway Isaac got to a point in his life when he thought he was close to death. So he sends Esau out to kill for him some wild game. So he could enjoy it one last time. So he told Esau to go out and kill it and prepare it and then he would give him his blessing. As it turns out, while he was out hunting, Jacob and his mother Rebekah tricked Isaac into thinking that Jacob was hairy Esau, you can read about in in Genesis chapter 27.
Anyways when Esau comes back, he finds out what had been done. Isaac tells him that another had come and brought him wild game and he already gave the blessing away and the blessing would stand. The bible tells us that Esau, big hairy Esau the man’s man began to cry. A great and bitter cry and demanded that his father Isaac bless him also.
To Issac’s credit, despite incredible pressure from family, he let the blessing stand with Jacob, and the witness to them was to keep going, to have faith, despite the pressure their families were placing on them. Verse 21
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
Another interesting story we miss in Hebrews, but we find in Genesis chapter 48, I won’t go there, but as you know Jacob had 12 sons and of those sons Joseph was his favorite, even gave him a fancy coat. But at the end of Jacob’s life he wanted to bless the sons of Joseph and Joseph brings them in, Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim was the younger and Manasseh was the older.
So Joseph brings them before his frail father leaning on the top of his staff and he positions the younger before Jacob’s left and and the older before his right, so that all he has to do is stretch out his arms and pronoun the blessings, but when he does, he does a switch-up.
Joseph gets frustrated and tries to correct his father.
18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
Jacob says I know, the older shall serve the younger, and he pronounces the blessings. And he is a witness here, giving testimony to the Hebrews because he resisted the pressure and the pleadings of his family member that he loved the most. Joseph saying but come on father, you are going against the traditions of the Fathers, turn back. And that was exactly the pressure the Hebrew believers were hearing from their beloved family members. Come back to the temple, participate once again in the traditions. But in faith Joseph refused not allowing the present difficulty to override the action he was taking for eternal purposes.
22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
As Joseph was dying, his faith remained so great in the promise of God that he, knowing that His people would someday make it to the promised land, wanted his bones to be taken there. He wanted whatever remained of him at that point in history to be with God’s people in the center of God’s will.
24 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
By faith he knew it would happen.
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
When Moses was born the Pharaoh in Egypt had observed how much stronger the Hebrew women were than the Egyptian. They were also way more fertile and delivered more sons, so he issued a decree to deal harshly with them and treated the people more and more harshly. When his abuse and oppression still did not accomplish his mission, he ordered
16 and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
So by faith, at the risk of death for themselves, the parents of Moses refused to kill their son, in defiance of the order of Pharaoh against the chosen people of God. And they were not afraid of the king’s command because their faith was not in themselves, it was in God. So he saying to the Hebrew believers, you have come from a long line of people that have believed God, even at personal risk, even in the face of death, they have had faith in God and have endured so keep going!
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
Moses had been raised in the house of Pharaoh, he had all the riches and security a guy could ever dream of, yet by faith, he chose to publically identify himself with the people of God, rather than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. The Hebrew believers were being tempted to return to the passing pleasures of sin, rather than be identified with the people of God, why would they do this? Why did Moses do this? He gave up everything to follow God, why?
26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
Moses was making his decisions in this life not based upon the present benefits of bummers of those choices, but he was looking ahead and making decisions based upon a heavenly perspective. What I do now, what you do now impacts all of forever. Stay faithful. Verse 27
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
God had told Moses that He was going to passover the land of Egypt and strike all of the firstborn except that they take an unblemished lamb and sacrifice it to the Lord, taking the blood and a branch of hyssop and spreading it on the door posts and lintel of their homes. The houses that showed the blood of the lamb would be saved by the blood of the lamb and the Lord would passover them, but the homes that did not do this act of faith of believing God, would not be spared and it would bring death to the first born. Moses believed that, Moses believed that the blood of the lamb would deliver the children of Israel because God said it. It had never happened before, but Moses believed God. The testimony to the Hebrews is to have faith, they had been told that the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus takes away the sin of the world, and they placed their faith in that. You can read it in Ex chapter 12
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
Another demonstration of the faith of Moses. The people are set free from slavery in Egypt finally, and they start heading toward the promised land. Pharaoh changes his mind, and regrets letting his free labor force go, so they begin to pursue them. They finally pin them in so there is no escape, the army of Egypt is behind them and the Red Sea is before them and God tells Moses to lift of his hand over the sea and the water literally stands up and separates so that they can cross over on dry ground. Moses didn’t say, thanks anyway God, I’m going to head back to what we know in Egypt, by faith they crossed through the waters, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so the sea became it’s normal depth again and the Egyptian army drowned. Ex chapter 14.
30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.
By faith, by faith, by faith. That is my prayer for us gang, is that our lives become that testimony to those that are observing us, or read about us someday. I mentioned to my Growth Group the book Foxes Book of Martyrs. It tells a number of stories of Christians this side of the cross that remained faithful to God, paying the ultimate price. Faith has been required since the beginning of man, and the demand is the same today as it was then. But remember that even faith is a gift of God. We can grow in our faith, through the study of God’s Word.
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So hearing these testimonies from the Word, strengthens our faith!
Jericho, talk about a battle plan. Joshua was a leader, he was a warrior. The city of Jericho was a fortress. The walls were incredible, some historians report that it was even a two tiered system. I don’t know the exact dimensions as I wasn’t there for this battle. The World History Encyclopedia says that just the inner wall was 28 feet high and 30 feet wide at the base.
Joshua was a guy that could come up with a battle plan, scope it out and determine if they should scale it with ladders, if they should go under with tunnels. But God said no, neither of those things. Here is the plan. Joshua I want you to get your men of war, get the priests, now understand I have given you this city. Go up to Jericho and circle around it one time. OK, then what God. The next day, do it again, one time. Do that for 6 days.
Can you imagine camping out waiting for the next day, like sitting ducks? OK, do that for 6 days, and then on the 7th day, march around it 7 times, then have the priests blow 7 rams horns really loud, when the people hear that, I then want you to have them do a great big shout believing what the Lord is going to do, then the walls will come all the way down to the ground.
Can you imagine taking that to the joint chiefs? Or Joshua’s men of war? I think if we went back to the oldest kids in children’s ministry and said, hey, lets go over to the building next door, here’s the plan. I’m guessing there would be more than one, no way Pastor Brian. Check it out, God said it and Joshua did it, and the walls came tumbling down.
31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
Our next witness is Rahab, the verse tells us that she was a harlot, she was a gentile. Kind of a weird place for faithful men to hang out. But Joshua sent in some spies to the city of Jericho. This was before the walls came down, he sent some spies in to check things out. They certainly couldn’t have dawned their yamaka’s, and knocked on the door, and announce they they were part of the team that was going to take the city.
So they go into the home of this woman and she hides them. The king sends men seeking them and she deny’s that they are there. She tells the spies in faith, that she has heard of their God and all of the things that He has done. Whether they know it or not the people have also heard and are fearful of you guys and what you are going to do.
I know you are going to take the city, but when you do, spare me and my family. Scarlet chord. Saved family publically identified with the people of God.
One thing I want you to notice if every single one of these stories, is that they were believing and obeying the action that God gave them to do. Joshua had a plan, Noah had a blueprint. Rahab was told to put out a scarlet chord. Exercising faith is obeying and acting upon what God has said. Faith is not saying I don’t have a clue what God wants, I’ve found no direction in His word, so I’m just going to step out in this way, at this time. That is not faith, that is presumption at best and foolishness at worst. Faith is believing God. Again faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of God.
32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets:
The author makes it clear that he is not running out of witnesses, just running out of daylight. He mentions the faith of Gideon, again, not a perfect man, but certainly a story of faith. Judges chapter 7 tells it. Gideon was one of the Old Testament judges. The Midianites were rising up against them and there was 135,000 of them. Gideon had raise up 32,000 men of Israel to fight them, but God said, well now hold on Gideon. That is way too many men. Not on behalf of your enemy, but the good guys!
If you go up against them with that many men, then the prideful men of Israel will take all the credit. So God tells Gideon to approach the men and say, whoever among you is afraid, you can go home. Whoever doesn’t really feel good about the over 5-1 odds, you can split, and 22, 000 took him up on the offer, now leaving only 10,000 men against 135,000.
God tells him still too many, take them to get a drink of water. Those that drink this way, keep, those that drink another way send home. Suddenly the warriors were reduced to just 300 men. God tells him He is going to give them victory, and in faith Gideon worships God first and then defeats the Midianites.
Hebrew believers don’t worry about the odds, it is not the strength or the size of the opposition that matters, it is the God you place your faith in.
Barak was another one of the judges and Deborah came to him and gave him a prophecy that God would give him victory if he would just enter into the battle against the enemies of the children of Israel. Again, an example of grace here. He basically says, I’ll go if you go, and I won’t if you don’t. So I guess his faith was both in God and Deborah. But the point of the testimony was God has promised to give us victory in our battles, but we have to fight them. Hebrews, you can’t quit.
Sampson, lived most of his life fooling around with God and wasting his potential, but in the end asked God to just one more time, to give him strength
28 Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”
Obedience to God was more important than his life.
Jephthah was an judge and he was an illegitimate child, then son of a harlot. During his time he was shunned by the people, shunned by his family. If you read the story the Ammonites attack the children of Israel and then who do they ask for help? Jephthah. Some of you have experience this in your own walk with Christ. Maybe you used to be the class clown, or the party animal, the life of the party and then you got saved. You started talking about Jesus, and suddenly you were treated like an outcast, like these Hebrew believers.
But then a crisis comes in one of their lives, and at 3 a.m. your phone rings and that old friend asks for help, or asks for prayer.
David, King David, a sinner, but always faithful, his wife was against him, Goliath was against him, Saul was against him. But he remained faithful to God, never bailed on God.
Samuel the last of the Old Testament judges and the first of the prophets. He never, never quit, and neither should they and nether should we.
33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—
38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Set aside the weights, you wouldn’t run a race with weight. Paul says all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable or helpful. Later in 1 Cor he adds to it saying.
23 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Grace and Peace