34) Living by Faith
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Let open our bibles to Hebrews Chapter 11. As we turn there let me pray for us this morning.
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. 4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith. 5 By faith Enoch was taken away, and so he did not experience death. He was not to be found because God took him away. For before he was taken away, he was approved as one who pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
We have been going over each of the examples of faith that God records for us in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Abel’s faith was demonstrated in his offering to God. As he gave what God had requested of him. In contrast Cain demonstrated his lack of faith by giving God what he wanted to give in what was shown to be an act of disobedience.
Enoch’s faith is revealed by walking with God. In a cruel and evil time Enoch was different. He lived in a way that was pleasing to God. Other than him preaching about God nothing else is recorded but his life was characterized as one who walks with God.
Noah’s life was a life that also walked with God. When God looked at all of humanity there was this man who also like his grandfather Enoch walked with God. His life was a great example of obedience. God told him to build an arc. This gigantic ship that would take 120 years of his life to accomplish. All the while preaching about God. 120 years and none turned to God. None were saved when the flood came.
Each life reveals and reinforces what faith is and what faith does. Faith leads to proper worship, faith leads to a proper walk in life, faith leads to steadfast obedience even when it doesn’t make sense. Why is God drawing their minds and our minds back to the old testament people?
The Hebrews that had come to believe in Christ as their savior were struggling and needed to be encouraged and redirected. If we turn back to chapter 10 we see the center point of the book of Hebrews.
36 For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised. 37 For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.
“My righteous will live by faith.” You need endurance like these examples. Men who endured till the end of their time on this earth. One died early, one didn’t die, and one died much later 950 years. But they all did God’s will. They all obeyed God. They were are God’s righteous ones because they lived by faith.
Let us not draw back, let us draw near to God because we are those who have faith and are saved. But one may ask and maybe he knew that there was uncertainty in the answer to the following question.
What is faith? We know that there was many false teachers and people attempting to turn the church and it people away from God in many ways. To answer the question what is faith me gives them the concept of faith in verses 1 and 2.
1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved.
It is a future promise, blessing, or hope that one looks forward to that causes a person to live a certain way today. We do this all of the time. There become such a certainty in the future that you live in the reality of that today. He says let us look to our ancestors and see that this has not changed. It was by faith that they were approved.
Calls Out
Calls Out
So we come to Abraham. The Father of all Jews past, present, and future. The one that God made the promise that was reinforced with an oath.
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself: 14 I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.
This is the man that every Jew would know about and would revere. And he is the example of a man who lives by faith. The author starts with God’s call of him.
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going.
In Genesis 12 we see this call.
1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
We do not see much of anything about Abraham’s life before this encounter. We know he is married and that his wife is barren so that she cannot have children. Joshua reveals a little about his family.
2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.
Abraham’s father and family worshiped other gods. There isn’t any mention of Abraham walking with God before this interaction. But the author of Hebrews says that at this moment, by faith Abraham heard the call and he obeyed. The better translation is while he was being called.
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.
He was called out of his home, his family, and his fathers home to go to a place that he had never been. A place that God would show him. Abraham was willing to leave everything. The place he was familiar with, the family that supported him and the home of his father. The inheritance that would be passed down.
Why did Abraham do this? What motivated him? It was his faith. For no other reason than that God said so. He was called out of his world out of what had made him comfortable out of what he put his confidence in to go into the unknown. Led by God himself.
Here we see in Abraham’s example that faith calls a person out of a known reality towards something that is unseen of unknown. For the believer in Christ, for the one who has faith and put their trust in Jesus as been called from the world toward heaven. Toward the true tabernacle toward the actual presence of God.
A believer has been rescued from the world from the evil age.
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
Jesus gave his live of his own will to be our rescuers. From what from the evil age that is the world. A believer is called out of the prison and into a new world. A prison that that was home and was security in its own way. When the rescuer comes and breaks down the prison wall, reaches down and a says take my hand, how foolish is it for the one who is being rescued to reject the had. To look out at the sky for the first time and say no thanks I am good here.
We are rescued from the evil age but not removed from the world. A believer is not taken at the moment of their salvation from the world. They stand free and are free but they have not been removed from the world that they live in. At the moment of salvation the journey begins. They journey from this world to the next. One that has many perils and trial along the way.
On trial is that the world that we are called out of will be constantly tempting us to conform to the world. Look like us, be like us, talk like us, think like us.
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
To be called out of the world will make a believer an outsider. The world does not like outsiders. I really doubt Noah was a popular guy. The warnings of the bible must be headed for those on this journey.
14 Do not be yoked together with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.
A yoke was piece of wood that would connect two oxen, cows, horses or other animal. Between the two animals there was a ring or another method to attach a cart or a plow or something that the animals were to pull together and to share the load and the work. The image of being yoked with a person that doesn’t believe is that for the team to be effective both have to pull in the same direction. What would happen if on of the oxen sat down? Or to veer to the side.
To be yoked means to be tied with someone in a way that has the ability change or hinder where you go. We see an example of this with Abraham’s own family. Lot. Abraham and Lot were traveling together and there came a time where they split up. Abraham stay to himself and but Lot moved to be in close proximity of the towns in the Jordan Valley one being Sodom.
13 (Now the men of Sodom were evil, sinning immensely against the Lord.)
Over time Lot yoked himself to these towns and the consequences were not good. The journey is long and not easy but believers are to keep themselves from being yoked.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James also said it this way.
4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. 15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;
The man or woman of faith who believes they have been rescued from their own sin by the sacrifice of Jesus begins a grand journey. There will be temptations drawing us away from God but God has given us everything we need to safely journey to the end. The will of God is revealed in the Words of God for us to be obedient to God. For no other reason than because he said so. But the Journey isn’t short or easy and it will require much patients from the rescue to the end.
Is Patient
Is Patient
9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Abraham was given a promise from God that he would be the first of a great nation. He would be given a land, a land of promise. He was 75 years old when he started out on his journey. For 100 years he would God where God lead him. He would even be in the promised land at time but he would never settle there. His generation and also that of his son and grandson would never see the land of promise as their possession. Even after that there would be 400 year in Egypt and then time in the wilderness and then they would have to conquer the land before they would take possession of the promise.
How did Abraham live in tents as a foreigner for 100 years. Where did his patients come from. He fixed his attention not on the world around him. He did not attempt to make a name or a nation beyond what God had promised. He fixed his focus on the things that are unseen. Looking for a city that was build buy God himself. That building does not exist in this temporary world.
In between the promise and the reality of the promise takes much patience and endurance. If we are not careful we can be drawn toward this world and this time. If we do this we will one day open our eyes and find ourselves yoked. Not with the yoke of Jesus that is light but the yoke of this world which is heavy, and harmful.
We are to fix our eyes on the hope that we have in Jesus and remember that we to are foreigners now. Before we were citizens of this world. Led by the spirit of this world and running fast toward eternal punishment but we are no longer citizens of this world. We have become foreigners.
12 At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.
19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,
27 Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel,
20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are foreigners of this world but we are now members of God’s household. Citizens of heaven and we are to live a life worthy of Gospel of Christ of the Good news that this is.
Produces Miracles
Produces Miracles
11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.
Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born. There are some disagreements between theologians on this section due to some unusual language. There is a split on whether the subject of this part is Abraham or Sarah’s faith. There is some language in the Greek here that is typically only used in relation to men. I want you to be aware that different bible will read differently here but to not get overly caught up with that in this case.
This section states that two people Sarah who had been baron her whole life and Abraham that was old and to a point that the promised son came via God’s power and by their faith. The promise had happened 24 years earlier.
1 After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great. 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.” 4 Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Once again faith, promise, and righteousness are liked together. Abram believed and he was accredited with righteousness.
Draws Forward
Draws Forward
13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
The logic of this truth can be difficult for many. These people did not receive what was promised. Not even Moses over 400 years later would see the reality of the promised land. Then hundreds of years after that the promised seed the messiah would come. Generation after generation would pass away in faith. They would not see the reality of what was promised but they lived in faith. IN the reality of what is unseen. Seeking the better place the heavenly one.
4 I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.
Their faith drew them forward towards the better place than turning back to the comfortable places of this world. This would have been a very sharp point for them as the author has been reminding the readers of this book that they were to not turn back to where they came from. Not to turn from the hope in the better heavenly places to the comfort of the sacrifices that had been made obsolete with the death of Jesus.
God is not ashamed to be called their God.
6 Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.
Those who live by faith will be called by God as his own. “My righteous one will live by faith”.
1 Samuel 2:30 (CSB)
...For those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disgraced.
To live in in faith, in honor of God will be honored by God and he will call them his own.
Faith draws us forward and it believes fully.
Believes Fully In The Promise
Believes Fully In The Promise
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.
We come to what I believe is a test of the likes that very few will ever encounter. You have faithfully lived for God. He promises you a son that all of his offspring will be traced to. He is married to a woman that cannot have children. Then he waits over 20 years until he is almost 100 years old and then God gives them the ability to conceive a child. He has one other son that was born out of disobedience but that was not the promised son. So you wait until God’s time to have a son.
Then God says sacrifice this promised son. As Gathered his son, his knife, the wood and the other supplies that he would need to perform the sacrifice. He pondered God. Scripture does not tell us all that he thought of but we see that he still trusted in the promises of God. As far as we know God had never raised a man from death but Abraham had concluded that there was no way that God would brake his promise to him. He began to consider outcomes that would have God keeping his promise without Abraham disobeying God.
Isaac is taken to the alter tied up and as we know at the last moment God stays his hand and provide a substitute a type of the substitute of Christ.
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Abraham becomes a typical a type of what a person of faith lives like.
Faith Calls Out: When a person believes they are called out of citizenship of the world and into a heavenly citizenship. We are to live as foreigners passing though. On our way to a better place. On that journey we are to be weary of the yokes that reach out to turn us away and to focus on this world. This will change much about how you live.
Do we raise our children to be successful in this here by yoking them to the world? Do we rush them to Sodom to see what they can become? Or do we separate, protect, teach and train them up in the ways of the Lord. In the ways of the journey. Do you take them along the roads and show then the safe place to drink water and what types of rocks that may be hiding snakes.
Do you sit and point them to the hope that you have? Teach them of the better place. Speaking of the you savior and Lord.
I must be honest that at times I think we try very hard to go into Sodom and try to make it our heavenly home. We want to have both. We want this world and the next and that is not possible. That is not faith.
I am not talking about this in the physical sense where we create a compound but in the spiritual sense. Where we live in this world as foreigners telling those around us that there is something better. Someone better. You just have to believe and trust in him as your Lord and savior.
Do we wait for the right time to obey, or wait for all of the facts. Or do we simply say yes Lord, Here I am what would you have me do?
Faith Is Patient: This will require the patients that only God can provide.
Faith Produces Miracles:
Faith draws us forward:
Faith believes fully in the promise
Is there any part of your life where you know that God has shown you what you are to do but you are not obeying? Has he revealed the truth to you and you keep responding, Not yet Lord, Not Yet.
You know what that is...
Let me encourage you today to see the example of Abraham and go where ever God tells you to go. Even if you do not know the end result. This is one of the hardest parts of faith. To step out in obedience not knowing what the end looks like. You cannot experience much of a life walking with God without starting somewhere.
Let us pray.