Even Though We Die, We Will Continue to Speak

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Don Parmely

New Life Family Church

Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago • Presented 3 years ago • 52:27

Hebrews 11:4

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Text: Hebrews 11:1-4, 6

The Dead Still Speak

Verse 1 defines faith:

Hebrews 11:1 (ETRV) Faith is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see.

The Complete Biblical Library says:

Hebrews–Jude Chapter 11

Its best meaning seems to be that faith is that which underlies the inheritance which believers expect to receive. Secondly, the writer declares that faith is the evidence which gives proof of the existence of the unseen world.

According to verse 6, possessing faith, as defined by verse 1 pleases God.

We want to please God.

Verse 4 tells us that Abel pleased God.

He pleased God by offering Him a sacrifice by faith.

A sacrifice that God accepted.

This sacrifice, offered by faith, put Abel in good-standing with God.

Abel’s sacrifice, offered in faith, leading to righteousness with God still speaks to us today.

So, at least one of the lessons we are taught in verse 4,

And Abel is first example of faith given in the 11th Chapter of Hebrews:

A chapter often called the Hall of Faith or Faith’s Hall of Fame.

The lesson that the second child of Adam and Eve leaves us ...

… is that our legacy of faith or the lack thereof will continue to speak even after we are gone.

There are other lessons we can learn, but, Lord willing, I will look at them in another sermon at a later time.

Today, on this 20th anniversary of 9/11, I want us to think about legacy.

What our lives say to others after we are gone.

And may the Holy Spirit help us learn the value of our legacy.

Our text reminds us that ...

New Living Translation Chapter 11

Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.

Thank God for powerful examples of faith and faithful living for God.

Abel gave us both.

A legacy that still speaks to us across 6,000 years of time.

But there are many other legacies that speak to us across the years.

Even just across a couple of days.

2 days ago, due to the plague of covid, we lost yet another dear Brother in Christ, Dale Shaffer.

Dale leaves behind a great legacy of faith in Jesus.

A legacy that I believe will speak to his family and friends for many years to come.

We are going to miss him terribly!

One of the things we will miss is what he used to say when anyone would ask, “Dale, how are you!”

He would say (with great gusto!): “Oh! I am blessed and highly favored!”

Even when he WASN’T feeling quite well or if he were in pain — even still, that is what he would declare.

And what he would say to us, just in simple greeting, echoes and will continue to echo from the grave — though he is dead, we can still hear Dale’s voice speaking to us, reminding us:

That, yes, we ARE a blessed people, a people highly favored by God because we repented of our sins.

Because we asked Jesus to be Lord of our life.

That even when we are going through trials we are a blessed and favored people — at the very least because God is walking with us THROUGH the trials every step of the way.

And now Dale is experiencing the greatest blessings of being highly favored by God.

He is in the presence of His Savior and Lord, Jesus, where there is no more pain, no more breathing difficulties, no more weakness, no more being confined to a hospital bed.

He is with Jesus!

As the Apostle Paul said in:

2 Corinthians 5:6–10 (NASB 2020) Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—8 but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.

Dale is with Jesus; in His Presence.

NOT because all people who die automatically go to heaven, but because Dale made preparations.

He bought his ticket to ride on that Good Old Gospel Ship we sang about.

He understood the words of:

Hebrews 9:27 (AV) And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Like the 5 wise wise virgins of Matthew 25, Dale had made sure he was ready to be with Jesus. He had made preparations.

He didn’t know exactly WHEN his ship would sail for that home beyond the sky.

But he made sure he was ready for whenever it might leave.

You see, Dale had responded to the invitation of the Holy Spirit

Jesus said in:

John 16:8–11 (NASB 2020)

And He [the Holy Spirit], when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: 9 regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and regarding righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me; 11 and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Dale listened when the Holy Spirit told him many years ago:

You are a sinner

You need to surrender to a Savior who will make you righteous

Because judgment is coming and you are not ready.

In response to the Holy Spirit

Dale turned from a life of sin

By faith he received the righteousness that ONLY Jesus can give.

The righteousness that allows for entrance into God’s presence.

Dale surrendered control of his life to Jesus.

So Dale has left us a wonderful legacy of salvation, faith and living for Jesus.

And today is a day to think about OUR legacy.

Let’s Think About Our Legacy

20 years ago 19 terrorists, an unknown number of airline passengers and 412 emergency workers died.

They all left behind a legacy.

We should always think about our destiny — making sure we make wise choices — because our choices determine our future.

But God also wants us to think about our legacy.

What will survive our short lives here on earth?

Will we leave any ripple at all on the surface of life’s pond — or will it be like we were never here?

The Apostle Paul apparently thought about his legacy.

We are not told that he had any physical children, but when he left this earth, dying a martyr’s death for his Jesus, he left behind a legacy that has survived almost 2000 years — and continues still.

He told the Corinthian believers:

2 Corinthians 3:2–3 (NASB95) You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Paul said:

You are my legacy. What I poured into you is what God gave me to give to you.

I didn’t hoard what God gave me.

I wasn’t afraid and so kept what God gave me to myself.

I went to the ends of the earth to tell YOU about salvation through Jesus Christ.

So, have you thought about your legacy?

What kind of legacy are WE leaving behind?

A Legacy of Evil

20 years ago 19 Islamic terrorists commandeered 4 passenger airliners.

They leave behind a legacy of evil.

They killed 2,977 people.

They caused the injury of more than 6,000 others.

Evil is a powerful force.

If it is ignored it can cause great heartbreak, injury and death.

I think most of us were pretty ignorant of the evil that lived among us 20 years ago.

Blissfully ignorant.

But that blissful ignorance was shattered when 2 passenger airliners rammed the World Trade Center.

When another airliner hit the Pentagon.

When a fourth airliner crashed in a field because its passengers would not sit by and let evil triumph.

I think it burned in them the misattributed quote of Edmund Burke, that:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”

Several passengers, we don’t know exactly how many, didn’t care about who may have spoken such a thing, they just knew they couldn’t just sit by and let evil have its way.

In researching the quote I came across President John F. Kennedy talking about what has been apparently falsely attributed to a fellow Irishman. But Kennedy said:

“Burke was sometimes exorbitant, but he was never silly; and the thing that strikes you about this saying, on a moment’s reflection, is how little sense it makes: the silence of good men isn’t the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil. The persons advancing the evil, whether in command or the rank-and-file, must be strong and determined; and the lukewarm must be either cowed into submission or willing to go along because the evil seems to prosper,”

20 years ago evil was strong and determined.

It leaves behind a legacy of death and pain.

I would like to believe that a legacy of evil begat a legacy of sober vigilance.

But I don’t believe it has to the degree that is needed.

Thank God for a relative few professionals who keep a vigilant eye on evil.

But they seem like so few in the face of the MANY evil men and women who want to destroy this country.

A Legacy of Courage

But I don’t really want to focus on legacies of evil.

I tend to think that you would not be here or you would not be listening online if leaving a legacy of evil were your goal.

No. I think that like Abel of 6000 years ago you want to leave a legacy of faith in Jesus — courage in the face of evil.

I’ve already mentioned the many courageous passengers on United Flight 93 who stormed the terrorists to take back control of the flight.

Probably one of the better known passengers was 32 year-old Todd Beemer.

A strong Christian, Beemer courageously led other passengers in an attempt to retake the plan from the terrorist hijackers.

They were not able to save themselves, but they were able to save the people who were the target of the attack.

And then we also remember those 412 emergency workers in New York City:

Firefighters

Paramedics

Law enforcement

While everyone else ran AWAY from the attacks, they ran into the flames, into the chaos, into mortal danger.

That takes a lot of courage!

20 years later I think the legacy of these emergency personnel’s courage outshines the legacy of the evil that the terrorists did.

I hope their legacy inspires US as followers of Jesus Christ.

What Kind of Example Am I Leaving?

Because today, 20 years later, we have many opportunities, as we walk by faith and not by sight, to leave a legacy of courage.

Even though others may criticize us, make fun of us, or even persecute us, may we have the courage to stand for Jesus.

On 9/11/2001 courageous people ran forward into personal danger in the hopes they could save a life, hopefully many lives.

Many lives WERE saved while sadly, many firefighters, law enforcement, paramedics and others lost their lives.

Those first-responders and others ran forward into danger top save PHYSICAL lives.

God is calling on US, 20 years later to listen to their legacy — to be courageous in the face of personal danger.

And like the first-responders of 20 years ago may we:

Run forward to stand for Jesus — even in the face of persecution.

Be willing to risk our physical lives so that eternal souls will be won to Jesus.

This morning the Lord is asking you: “What kind of legacy are you leaving?

What will your life say after you are gone?

Will it tell of faith in and faithfulness to Jesus Christ?

Have you made a courageous, faith-filled decision to be a disciple of Jesus?

If not, I want to call you to make that decision right now.

Turn away from your sins in sorrow and disgust.

Turn towards the One who loved you and gave His life for you — Jesus.

Surrender to Him.

Come forward.

Or, maybe you have made a decision to follow Jesus, but you have not been following Jesus in faith.

You hear the 6,000 year-old legacy of Abel and you say: “I want that kind of legacy when I’m gone.”

Not a legacy of selfishness.

Not a legacy of fearfully following Jesus.

Not a legacy that when the challenges of the day called me, I ran the other way to save my life.

That says: I looked the other way, I ran the other way, when people needed me to stand and courageously proclaim salvation through Jesus.

I think ALL of us should be concerned about our legacy.

What will our lives say to our children?

Our grandchildren?

Would you come foreward and let’s pray together for our legacy.

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