Grace For The Journey

Yesterday we were encouraged by the writer to look to Jesus as One who is able to give us the needed power to endure and finish the race that God has set before us.  Today we are exhorted to look to Christ in yet another way.  How many of you have ever been discouraged and tired as a Christian?  How many of you have ever felt beaten down by the world and even wondered if you had the stamina to continue?  The original readers of this letter to the Hebrews were weary and tired in their souls.  They were about ready to quit. For them, the cause of their weariness came because of hostility from sinners.  In Hebrews 10:32-34, the writer had reminded them, “But recall the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with suffering: partly while you were made a spectacle both y reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chins, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a getter and enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.”  They seemingly did well at first as they underwent persecution.  These early believers suffered well for the glory of Christ.  As time went on, they grew weary and tired in their souls.

The apostle reminds these saints

Of one huge invaluable point. 

This truth, understood correctly,

Would give them the spark

They needed to endure. 

This one truth would

Change everything.

The hostility from sinners

That the Apostle speaks of

Was really God working. 

We often do not think that God uses ungodly people to accomplish His purposes.  The universe is at God’s command.  He determines the numbers of stars in the sky and the number of grains of sand along the ocean.  He is sovereign over all people … those who are His and those who are not His.  He can raise up evil armies to render judgment on His own people to promote repentance.  He can give success to evil people in business so they will accomplish His purposes.  In this case, God used evil people to challenge and stretch those whom He loved in order that they would be better equipped to bring Him glory.

The writer here continues his analogy of a runner in a distance race.  Any runner worth anything knows that he will only get better as he endures the pain of training and practice.  It is the same thing spiritually.  Like it or not we grow the most as we suffer through various trials that come our way.  God knows exactly what trial to use to cause us to grow.  We often do not think about God sending us hard times.  For some reason we only think God sends us “the sprinkles on top of our ice cream sort of stuff.”

This text is very clear – The writer shows us that the hard stuff believers endure comes from God in the form of loving discipline.  When we think of discipline, we most often if not always have in mind punishment.  We think of committing a sin and then God punishing us like an earthly father punishes a child who breaks curfew or something like that.  Discipline in the Bible refers to “instructing or educating; to inform the mind; to prepare by instructing in correct principles and habits; as to discipline youth for a profession; or for future usefulness.”  This word comes from “disciple.”  It literally means “to strengthen or to train in righteousness;” much like a runner is strengthened as he trains in endurance.

Before we really get started in the text, we should clearly spell out the truth we are speaking of today … that mankind is in need of instruction and training in righteousness (discipline) and God uses whatever means He chooses to accomplish this end (God’s providence).  The verses we are looking at today shows us how this happens . . .

1) Consider How Christ Endured Hostility.

Verses 3 and 4 state, “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.  In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”  The first stop the author makes is to have his readers go straight to the source.  More astounding and amazing than God’s providence in the lives of Moses, Joseph and Jonah was the providence that worked to crucify Christ.

I remember when the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” came out and there arose a controversy from it.  It involved the question, “Who crucified Jesus?” 

• Some said it was the Romans because they actually drove the nails into his wrists and feet. 
• Some said it was the Jews because they plotted to see it carried out. 

It is true that both the Romans and Jews had their parts to play but . . .

• Ultimately it was God who crucified Christ. 

It was Jesus’ mission to come to earth and die for the sins of His people.  God the Father, God the Son, Pilate, Herod, the Romans, and the Jews all worked to carry out the plan of Providence.  God orchestrated the event from all angles.  He was in control of everything.

The point here is that if . . .

The most terrible deed

In all of history

Was orchestrated by God,

Namely the crucifixion of Christ,

Then it should be easier

To see that all events,

Even those we experience,

Are also orchestrated by God.

Acts 2:22-23 is an example of how God brought all things together to accomplish His purpose, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands have crucified, and put to death.”  These verses teach that . . .

On the one hand,

God determined and

Planned it to happen

And on the other hand,

Evil men carried it out. 

God in no way performed

Any of the evil in which it

Took to bring this event about. 

Evil men who are

Held responsible

Carried out God’s decree.

That is a huge truth to wrap our small brains around!

Jesus was also working toward the same end.  Jesus was faithful.  He accomplished God’s plan for Him.  He did not quit.  This is the point the writer is making.  We must stand firm to the end.  We may be tempted at times to quit, especially in a time of persecution.  But the author is reminding his readers that we are to stand firm just like Jesus did in the midst of His persecutors.

2) Discipline Trains Us In Godliness.

Verses 5-11 declare, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son who He receives.’  If you endure chastening, god deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partaker, then you are illegitimate and not sons.  Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.  Shall we not much readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?  For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.  Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

The first point to remember is that the God is a loving Father who disciplines every child that belongs to Him.  He teaches us through life experiences and trains us in righteousness.  Sometimes His disciples us and sometimes He punishes us but at every step He has in mind our good and His glory.

This is a lot like the teach our Lord gave us in John 15:1-6, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

Why does the Father prune us?  Is it to discourage and bring us down?  No, it is to make us better.  As we endure the necessary pruning and as we remain in Christ, we will bear much fruit.  Both aspects must be there.  We must abide in Christ and endure God’s pruning.

What does discipline tell us?  When we are disciplined we should praise the Lord because it is a reminder that we are sons and daughters and God is our Father.  Verses 6 and 7 reminds us of this, “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”  If we are never disciplined then we should be concerned that perhaps we are not really His children.

Verse 8 states, “If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”  Mankind is in need of instruction and training in righteousness (discipline) and God uses whatever means He chooses to accomplish this end (God’s providence).

The writer moves to the example of an earthly father and the discipline he gives.  We should stop here and mention that it is very important that parents discipline our children.  You discipline them as you teach them right from wrong.  As you set parameters that are acceptable and ones that are not.  Parents also discipline them when those parameters are broken.  As parents discipline their children, we are loving them as sons and daughters.  When you discipline be loving and firm and consistent.  The purpose of discipline is our desire for our children to bear much fruit that brings honor and glory to God in their lives.

Verse 11 says, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  The writer brings up a universal truth.  No one likes discipline, especially the one being disciplined.  I did not like it when it happened to me and my kids did not like it when it happened to them.  That is not the issue here.  The issue is not whether it is pleasant or not.  When parents do not discipline their kids, many times it is because they are selfish and do not want to engage in an unpleasant task that nobody likes to produce over time a productive child.  Parents take the initiative and discipline your kids.  We live in an ungodly age that tells us spanking is wrong.  We live in an age that tells us that all discipline is wrong.  Discipline should happen at home.  School is not the place for discipline.

Notice what discipline is . . . It is training.  Our writer goes back to the example of the endurance race and specifically says that God children are trained by discipline.  Just like the athlete who really does not like the pain of daily training, nobody likes the pain of discipline.  Through his hard training and through godly discipline we grow up yielding fruit.  When God prunes His children, they grow in righteousness yielding fruit.

I pray that we understand a little more fully today that we have a part to play in our training and God has a part to play.  Both must be working together.  Are you engaged in daily training?  Are you striving toward the finish line?

Praise God that He controls all events in order to bring about His ends.  Praise the Lord that He also disciplines His children for our good and His glory!

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  We are making our way verse-by-verse through the Book of Hebrews and we will pick up today in Chapter 12.  The chapter begins with the word “Therefore” and that points us back to previous material.  I always tell our folks that when they see a “therefore” in the Bible they need to ask, “What is it there for?”  It is there because it represents the culmination of a previous thought or discussion.  In this context, the entire preceding chapter.  In Chapter 11 we read about the great “Roll Call of Faith” – all the wonderful Old Testament believers who lived by faith.

The writer of this letter seeks to encourage his readers to keep living by faith even in the midst of persecution and struggle.  Even before Chapter 11 he said in Chapter 10 and verse 32, “But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings …”  Then he provides examples from the Old Testament where others had struggled, yet they remained faithful.  This is his point . . . You do as they!  Keep moving forward in your faith.  In our passage before us this morning, he refers to all these Old Testament believers as “a great cloud of witnesses” for us. 

There is a sign on a highway leading into Atlanta meant incoming traffic onto a main road that says, “Keep moving.”  The transportation authorities do not want the traffic to get tied up at this busy interchange so they encourage drivers entering it to keep a safe speed that will keep the flow of traffic moving.  The Christian life is about moving forward, looking ahead, keeping on in spite of the many hardships, difficulties, temptations, and trials of life. 

God gives us faith to move forward.

If we can learn anything from the believers of old, it is how to move forward by faith, how to keep moving.  I want us to look at the topic of these two verses, “Running the Race Set Before us.”  

The Christian life is a race.  From these two verses are largely two main ideas that call for action . . . 

Run With Encouragement – Verse 1a.

Verse 1 says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses …”  The writer refers to all these Old Testament believers about whom he has been writing in Chapter 11 as “a great cloud of witnesses.”  The Greek scholar AT Robertson says that “the metaphor refers to the great amphitheater with the arena for the runners and the tiers upon tiers of seats rising up like a cloud.”

Athletics was a big deal in the days this letter was written; the reader would be familiar with the Greek games – the Olympian Games at Mount Olympus, the Pythian Games at Delphi, and the Isthmian Games at Corinth.  The games provided athletes with an opportunity to gain fame and respect.  In those days you were either born into fame and royalty, or you were at the lower rung of the social ladder.  There was no middle class.  If you wanted everyone to know your name, you achieved greatness through military service or by participating in the games.  And if you won, you were given a laurel crown, a crown of leaves, which does not sound like much, but it allowed you to rub shoulders with the great and mighty.  Runners who ran the race were even allowed to sit in the Colosseum with royalty. 

For this reason, the New Testament sometimes contains that athletic imagery.  You will recall the Apostle Paul compared the Christian life to a race in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”  And in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Some have read verse 1 without taking note of the context.  They come to the “therefore” and do not ask what the “therefore” was there for.  They read about this great cloud of witnesses and assume the writer is talking about multitude of believers in heaven above us and they are looking down upon us, and all the Christians up there in heaven are watching us.

I do not think that is what the writer has in mind here.  I do think it is possible for our departed loved who are in the Lord to look down upon us, but it would hardly be heaven for them to look down upon us!  I mean it could not really be heaven for them to look down upon us and see all the terrible effects of sin and the struggles we have in this sinful world!  They are free from all the sin, strife, and silliness that goes on in this sin-cursed world.  Why would they want to look down upon us?!  It would be like being forced to watch a bad movie over and over again.

No, the writer means to encourage his readers.  He is saying to us: “Look back at Chapter 11.  See all these great men and women of faith.  They kept going.  They lived by faith.  They are like so many people sitting in the arena of your race.  They surround you in the coliseum to encourage you – not as mere spectators – but as witnesses, witnesses to the faithfulness of God, God’s faithfulness to give you grace for the journey, grace to keep moving as they moved, grace to keep living as they lived, come what may, you can do it, you can keep running the Christian race until you cross the line!  Run with encouragement!”

It is what the Apostle James teaches in James 1:12, “Blessed is the man that endures trials: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”  

Now, watch this in verse 1 . . . Right after this phrase about being “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,” the writer provides a couple action steps for us . . . 

1) Let Go Of Stuff.

He says, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, (first action now) let us lay aside every weight.”  A runner runs as lightly as possible.  The lightest clothing … The lightest shoes.  Any excess weight, whether material stuff, or body weight, will ultimately slow the runner down.  I heard about a man who had back trouble.  He went to the doctor and said, “I’ve got back trouble” and the doctor said, “No, you don’t have back trouble, you have front trouble!  You’ve got some excess weight here.  Lose some of that weight and it will help you’re back.”

The writer’s point is that any excess baggage slows down the runner.  Applied to our Christian race, our Christian lives, we have got to “lay aside every weight” that slows us down.  Remember: the writer is using this running imagery as a metaphor.  In a moment he will talk about laying aside sin, so we know that is not what he has in mind here. There is something else.  These “weights” are what we often call the “stuff” of the world.  We must “let go of stuff,” the things that keep us from faithful living for Jesus Christ.  Many things are not bad in and of themselves, but they become bad when they keep us from running well.  Many good things become bad things when they keep us from Jesus.  

Someone has said, “Good things become bad things when they keep you from the best things.”  What are some good things that become bad things that keep us from the best things?  Our money is a good thing, but when it consumes our head and heart, it has become a bad thing.  When all we think about is how much money we earn or want to earn or have earned, it is become a bad thing.  God is the owner of our stuff.  We need to let go of it.  That does not mean give it all away.  It means do not clutch to stuff while we run.  Be ready to give as the Lord prompts us to give.  It is His anyway.  Do not fill your head and heart with worry for money and stuff. 

Our family is a good thing that can become a bad thing when it keeps you from the best thing – Jesus Christ, His church, His mission!  Let go.  That does not mean we do not take care of our family, or we do not pray for our family.  It means do not clutch to stuff while we run.  Our family is given you by God.  Do not fill your head and heart with worry for your family.  Remember Abraham with Isaac?  Trust God to do what is right.

Letting go of stuff also includes our health, our house, our job, and our view of success.  These can be like so much excess baggage and stuff to slow us down.  Do not be distracted.  Good things become bad things when they keep you from the best things.

I have noticed around the house in certain places near our trees some strands of spider webs.  They are singular strands, just like one line that comes across the walk.  I was curious about this so I googled it and discovered what they are is these strands spun out by baby spiders who are actually taking flight through the air.  It is called “ballooning” or “kiting.”  The spider waits for a slight breeze and then they spin out a line of silk – and it can be as long as six feet – and the breeze picks them up and takes them on their way.  And they will do this ballooning or kiting for protection or looking for food.  Fascinating, really.  But these singular strands keep appearing as I walk by.  It seems like they are always at the height what comes right across your eyes or your nose or your mouth, just enough to annoy you!  You break them as you go by and pretty some your find a few more when you come back.  They are an annoyance and a distraction.  One moment you are focused on walking by, enjoying the day and suddenly you come across one of those webs and you are “hit in the face” and your focus has been turned to getting it off of you!  

There are so many things in this world that get in the way of our walk with the Lord – our running the Christian race, living the Christian life – there are things that just come right across your face to distract you, to discourage you, to ensnare you, and entangle you like so many strands of spider webs, causing you to lose focus and joy.  The writer of Hebrews is saying, do not let them slow you down!!  Keep running! 

Run with encouragement, let go of stuff.  Secondly the writer says . . . Run with encouragement . . .

2) Let Go Of Sin.

The writer continues in verse 1 to say, “… and the sin which so easily ensnares us.”  The writer does not specify whether he has one particular sin in mind or sin in general.  Because the phrase includes the definite article “the sin,” many believe the writer is talking about one sin in particular, namely the sin of unbelief or unfaithfulness.  That would make sense since the writer has talked about unbelief more than once.  Recall Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please God.”  This is a recurring them in Hebrews.  Keep on believing.  Keep on surrendering.  Do not be discouraged when things do not go the way you would like, keep on moving forward by faith, like so many Old Testament believers.

The writer may also be talking about sin in general.  Lay aside every weight that ensnares you and lay aside the sin which ensnares you – whatever sin that may be.  Some of us battle recurring sins, frequent sins, and private sins that are like an untied shoelace to a runner.  Recurring sins like greed, gossip, lust, pornography, addiction, bitterness, and unforgiveness.  You cannot run the Christian race with this stuff clinging to you.  They will “trip you up.”  Confess that sin, repent from that sin, and get back in the race.  Let go of that sin.  Lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares you.

Here is the second main heading:

Run With Endurance – Verses 1b-2.

The writer ends verse 1 by saying, “… and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  To “endure” is to “persevere, to keep going regardless of what comes your way.”  He says, let us run with endurance “the race that is set before us.”  Here is a reminder that we do not choose our own race, our own path.  We would likely choose an easy course, an easier path.  Our race is “set before us” by God.  He determines the course.  And it is not always easy.  The word for race is the Greek word άγών from which we get our English “agony.”  Often the Christian life is agonizing.  Sometimes God delivers us from these situations and sometimes He delivers us through these situations.  He brings us through it and on up to glory.  He knows best and always does what is right.

So . . . How do we run with endurance?  I am glad you asked . . . the writer tells us . . .

We Do It By Looking To The Savior.

Verse 2 says, “Looking unto Jesus …” We are encouraged by the Old Testament saints, but we are not to worship them.  The writer does not tell us to be captivated by them, but to be captivated by Christ.  Our gaze is to be fixed upon Jesus: Remember that the central theme of the Book of Hebrews is this notion of “better” or “greater.”  The words “better,” “more,” and “greater” occur a combined total of 25 times in this Book.  Jesus is better than anyone or anything!  Look unto Jesus!  That phrase: “Looking unto Jesus” literally means: “Look away to Jesus” – that is, “Turning your gaze from other things.”  It is an intentional movement of our focus.  Martin Luther translated it: “Off-looking,” looking off or away from other things and looking not “at” Jesus, but “unto” Jesus, fixed upon Him, captivated by Him.  You cannot fix your gaze on more than one thing at a time.

Rather than allowing other things to captivate you, be captivated by Christ!  He is “the author and finisher of our faith.” 

• He is the One who originated our faith and the One who determines the outcome of our faith. 
• He is the One Who both saves us and sustains us. 
• He is the One who takes us from A to Z. 
• He is the author and finisher, or completer, of our faith. 
• He will perfect us to the end because He is the One who is perfect for us.

“Author and finisher” echoes the earlier teaching of Chapter 2 and verse 10, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect though sufferings.”

Christ’s perfection leads to the Christian’s perfection.

His atoning work makes possible

Our salvation in the beginning

And completion in the last day. 

Perfection, as we looked at last time in the last verse of Chapter 11, verse 40, “God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”  Christ’s perfection leads to the Christian’s perfection.  His atoning work makes possible our completion on the last day.

And the writer tells us here about Jesus’ atoning work on the cross.  See it there in verse 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.”  Jesus endured the cross for us!  He was crucified, He was beaten, and He was crucified for our sins.  He endured the cross, despising the shame and ignominy of the cross, the public humiliation of it all.

Jesus endured the cross.  The Father did not deliver Him “from” persecution, but delivered Him “through” persecution.  Jesus was not given a victor’s crown in this life.  He ran His race and was given a crown of thorns.  But He suffered, died, and rose again!  And “has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus is the ultimate example here!  Look unto Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.”  Don’t overlook that phrase, “for the joy …”  It was . . .

• The promise of joy that sustained Jesus as He suffered.
• The joy of pleasing His heavenly Father strengthened Jesus as He suffered.
• The joy of making possible our salvation by suffering in our place for our sin enable Him to endure it all. 

That is what strengthened Jesus and enabled Him to “move forward” by faith

Verse 3 wraps this truth up when it says, “For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lets you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” The word “consider” literally means “think deeply about Him.”  We are to look to Jesus, think about Jesus, and see what He endured for us – That will encourage you to keep running, to keep moving forward by faith.

Do not look at your circumstances.  If you focus only upon your circumstances this week, you will be like Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus looking at the waves.  He started sinking because he took his eyes off Christ.  Do not do that!  Look to Jesus.

Looking unto Jesus and all the promises that are “yes” in Him!  Look to the future reward.  Look to the joy beyond your circumstances.  Jesus did this.  Even on the cross!  Remember when the thief on the cross turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when you enter into glory” and Jesus said, “Today, you will be with me in Paradise!”

He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him.  The writer’s point is: “You do the same.”  Consider Him who endured such hostility … lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.  Look to the future reward.  Look to the joy beyond your circumstances.

That is the Apostle Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

If you look merely at “the things which are seen” or “the things which are temporary” and all you see is the struggle of your circumstances, children who have broken your heart, job loss, health challenges, and sickness.  But focus on the things which are not seen, the things which are eternal.  Look the future reward.  Look to the joy beyond your circumstances.  Look to Jesus!

Look to the One who said in John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”  Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus!

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

Today we are going to pick up in verse 36 of Chapter 11.  We read last time about great victories in the faith.  We talked about how so many Old Testament believers were by faith delivered through many trials, Daniel was delivered from the lions’ den, David was delivered from Goliath.  I was reading Adrian Rogers last week.  He said about Daniel being thrown in the lions’ den, “God gave the lions lockjaw.”  And he added this pun, he said, “Old Daniel just got his Bible and used a lion for a pillow and started to ‘read between the lions!’”  Then, when talking about Goliath, Adrian said, “You know, old Goliath was amazed.  And you know why he was so amazed?  It was the first time anything like that ever entered his head!”  

Well, you could divide verses 30 and following largely into two groups . . .

1) People who by faith saw great victories; people who received grace to escape suffering; and people who by faith were protected.

2) People who by faith suffered great tragedies; people of who received grace to endure suffering; and people who by faith were persecuted.

The writer seeks to encourage Christians undergoing persecution and suffering.  Just prior to Chapter 11, this great chapter on faith, the writer said back in Chapter 10, verses 32-34, “But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.”  Then the writer goes on to provide a number of examples of people from the Old Testament who lived by faith, people who also “accepted the plundering of their goods,” people who knew “they had a better and an enduring possession for themselves in heaven.”

The title of today’s blog is, “Through Many Dangers, Toils, And Snares.”  Many of you will recognize that phrase as a line from the popular hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come, ’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”  The verses of our passage today take us through many dangers, toils, and snares and show how God gives grace and faith to persevere, faith to go on believing, faith to go on enduring, and God’s gift of grace and faith will “lead us home.”

Yesterday we saw that verse 35 stated, “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.”  Some scholars believe this phrase may refer to the intense suffering that occurred between the Testaments, a time referred to as the “intertestamental period,” the period in-between the Old and New Testaments.  There was a span of roughly 400 years from the end of the Old Testament to the beginning of the New Testament, from the last prophet Malachi to the appearance of John the Baptist.  Many believers were persecuted during that time and, while not recorded in the inspired Word of God, their persecution is recorded elsewhere.  The word in verse 35, the word “tortured” used in verse 35 is a verb, derived from the Greek word, “tympanum,” a word from which we get our English, tympani, as in the tympani, the drum.  This word torture means “to beat as one beats a drum.” 

Verse 36 declares, “Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.”  Jeremiah was beaten and imprisoned (Jeremiah 20:2; 37:4; 15-21).  Micaiah (1 Kings 22:26-27) was imprisoned.  Hanani the prophet was imprisoned by King Asa (2 Chronicles 16:7-10).  These “others” are included here in the great roll call of faith.  They had faith even in the midst of persecution.   They did not suffer persecution because they did not have enough faith!  They had enough faith.  They had faith in the Lord yet, for reasons known only to God, they endured hostility, suffering, and persecution.

This is an important reminder given popular Christian culture’s frequent emphasis on “celebrity Christianity.”  We are grateful for all who come to Christ, but not everyone is going to be a celebrity.  Most will live in obscurity.  There are some Christians who are serving in missional contexts all over the world.  They are not Christians celebrities.  They are Christians of obscurity, unknown to most.  They do not have Facebook accounts with thousands of friends nor Twitter accounts with swelling numbers of followers who “retweet” their every utterance.  They are men and women of faith who love God more than anything.  They live by faith.  They look to the reward.

The folks mentioned in verse 36 had faith.   Yet, they were mocked, beaten, scourged, and imprisoned.  Many of our Christian brothers throughout the world are suffering for their faith in Christ.  They are our real heroes, those who often face persecution and suffering, but, continue on.

Most of us are very patriotic citizens, as well we should be.  God has “shed His grace” on America and we recognize our country’s exceptionalism is one of the reasons so many immigrants thrive here and flourish here.  We also believe that national security and a shrewd immigration policy is part and parcel of preserving the greatness of our nation.  At the same time, we must always remember that we are first citizens of heaven.  And our greater calling, indeed our greatest calling, is to get the Gospel into the heads and hearts of every single person of every tribe, tongue, and nation.  What a joy is our great commission!

While we recognize that the leadership of many Muslim countries is largely corrupt and evil, the people of each nation are not to be equated with their leaders.  We do not like people equating us with all of our political leaders, do we?  There are thousands of Christians in Middle Eastern countries like Iran and God is drawing still more image-bearers to Himself through the efforts of those who risk their lives to tell them about Christ.  There are people working to get the Good News of the Gospel into the lives of others. 

Verse 37 says, “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.”  Jewish and Christian literature from outside the Bible records the death of Isaiah.  The early church fathers of the second and third centuries, Justin and Origen for example, record the tradition of Isaiah’s being sawn in half.  Other prophets were persecuted as mentioned here in verse 37.  Zechariah, for example, was put to death by stoning (2 Chronicles 24:21).  Some were “slain with the sword.”  This is a contrast here with verse 34.  Some through faith “escaped the edge of the sword” (verse 34) and some did not escape, but, “were slain with the sword (verse 37).”  

The phrase, “They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins” speaks of the clothing of the prophets.  2 Kings 1:8 describes Elijah as wearing “a garment of hair, with a leather belt around his waist.”  And John the Baptist, you will recall, came preaching in the spirit of Elijah.  And John the Baptist dressed like Elijah.  The Bible says in Matthew 3:4, “Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.”  R. G. Lee used to say, “He ate honey, but he didn’t preach it!”  Jesus warns in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

Speaking of false prophets, the word “destitute” in verse 37 is inconsistent with the teachings of the so-called prophets of the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel.  These preachers and teachers wrongly teach that if you have enough faith you can fill your sinful self with all the money in the world, all the cars, boats, houses, and lands.  Their mantra is, “Just name it and claim it.  Name what you want, and you can claim if you only have faith to believe.”  Well, the Apostle James disagrees.  He says in James 4:3, “You don’t receive what you ask for because you ask for the wrong reasons, that you may consume it upon your lusts, or feed your selfish pleasures” (my paraphrase).”  No, it is not always God’s will that people prosper financially.

These folks in verse 37 had faith.  That is why they are listed here in the faith chapter.   They are in this chapter because they had faith.  Yet they are described as “destitute,” poor, penniless.  

Verse 38 states, “Of whom the world was not worthy.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.”  The Old Testament records 100 prophets hiding in a cave in 1 Kings 18:4 and Elijah hid in a cave in 1Kings 19:9.  Like Noah, whose faithful actions “condemned the world” (verse 7).  To be approved by God is worth being despised by the world.

Then, these last two verses, verses 39 and 40, “And all these(all these Old Testament believers), having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.”  These Old Testament believers mentioned in Chapter 11 “did not receive the promise.”  What is that?  Before we talk about that, let’s acknowledge that these Old Testament believers did receive a number of other promises and blessings from God: the promise of His presence, the promise of His guidance, the promise of His power, and so on.  But the writer here is telling us that these Old Testament believers merely caught a glimpse of the future blessings of God.  They lived by faith in what they knew would come to pass in the future.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  It is seen through the eye of faith, the substance of things for which the heart yearns and knows will come to pass.

Abraham knew God would give him a son and that through Isaac all the nations should be blessed.  But Abraham did not live to see that day.  Nor did he live to see the fulness of the Promised Land, not just the land of Canaan, but the land beyond.  As the writer says in verse 10: “for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  Or verse 16, he “desired a better, that is, a heavenly country.”

The Old Testament believers lived for a better hope to come, a future, greater hope. But they “did not receive the promise.”  They did not get to see the fulness of the promises fulfilled.  Not only did they not get to see the fulness of the promises concerning the heavenly country, but they also did not get to see the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies concerning Jesus Christ.  They did not get to experience the joys and wonders of the new covenant, a far more simpler way of worship than the old covenantal sacrificial system of priests, and bulls, and goats.  They did not receive that promise – nor do we even enjoy the fullest measure of that promise. 

Verse 40 declares, “God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”  God was planning something far greater for the Old Testament believers, far greater for all who believe, namely the giving of His superior Son Jesus Christ!  And Christ comes for all who believe in Him.  God has provided something better for us – Jesus Christ and all the promises of God that are fulfilled in Him.  God has provided something better for us, for us all, believers of the Old and New Testaments, Jesus Christ and all that is ours through faith in Him.

So they – the believers of the Old Testament – “should not be made perfect apart from us.”  That is, the believers of the Old Testament, along with all of us believers of this age, will together be made perfect.  To “be made perfect” is to receive the future and final blessings of the glorified state.  Once Christ returns, we receive perfect, complete, glorified bodies, and live forever in the sinless, perfect, glorified state of future heaven.

And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight!

Three Faith Principles…

1) Persecution Is Part Of Christian Living.

Passages like this one in Hebrews are clear and straightforward reminders that persecution is the norm for those who follow Jesus.  It Is the normal Christian experience.  The Apostle Paul is especially clear on this principle.  If I were to ask how many of you were interested in living godly lives in the Lord Jesus, I suppose the majority of us would respond that we would.  The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:12, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Our Lord Jesus Himself on numerous occasions reminds His followers that persecution and suffering are part of Christian living.  Near the end of His Sermon on the Mount He says in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

Strait is the gate.  “Strait” is a good word but it is often heard incorrectly because some assume it is straight, s-t-r-a-i-g-h-t.  But it is not.  It is the word strait, s-t-r-a-i-t, a phrase that means “great difficulty, danger, and fear-inducing trouble and turmoil.”  Strait as in “the Straits of Magellan,” the dangerously narrow passage for sailors near the Southernmost tip of South America, a very difficult route to navigate because of the narrowness and because of unpredictable winds and currents.  

Jesus taught that the Christian life is like that.  To follow Jesus means going through difficult times full of unpredictable winds and currents of persecution and suffering.  It is not always a comfortable route.  But it “leads unto life” for the few who go that way.  In contrast to the strait and narrow gate, Jesus says, “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.”   That is the default position, the wide gate, the broad way.  There is a lot of room for people going that way, the way that continues on to hell.  Thank God He rescues us from the wide gate and the broad path!  

Persecution is part of Christian living.  God’s will often includes suffering.  We may expect it.  People often reject Christ so we should expect them at times to reject us.  But God is with us.  And while He may not always deliver Christians from suffering, He will absolutely deliver Christians through suffering. 

In other words, He will be with us through the experience even if it leads to death when He simply delivers us through suffering and ushers into HIs very presence.

The pain of persecution and suffering is worth it because of what lies ahead.  Just as a mother endures the pain of childbirth, knowing that at the end of her suffering, she will see the beauty and blessing of a newborn baby.  It is the goal that lies ahead that makes her suffering worth it all.  She can endure in suffering for the joy that is set before her.  This takes us to the second faith principle.  First, persecution is part of Christian living.  Secondly:

 2) You Can Endure Suffering When Captured And Captivated By Christ.

Jesus comforts His followers in Matthew 10:22 when He says, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”  However bad the suffering, the payoff is great.  He who endures to the end is saved, saved in every sense and measure of the word.  For the Christian . . .

However great the tragedy,

It ends in triumph.

Remember that this is the writer’s greater point here.  He provides all these examples of the elders who obtained a good testimony, all these Old Testament witnesses who persevered in faith and endured the many challenges of faith.  He says then in the next chapter, Chapter 12, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (these Old Testament examples)…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (verse 2 now) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross (what did He endure?  The cross), despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (verse 3 now) For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”

You can endure suffering when captured and captivated by Christ, when your eyes are fixed on Jesus, looking unto Jesus.  He endured hostility.  How?  Verse 2, “… for the joy that was set before Him.”  Jesus knew that His suffering was worth it.  However bad the suffering, the payoff was great.  The reward of His suffering was the accomplishing of the Father’s will to make possible the salvation of all who place their faith in Him.  And the writer says, “You can endure suffering when captured and captivated by Christ,” looking unto Jesus, remembering that just as He persevered so you too can persevere.  

In essence that’s precisely what Jesus teaches later in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  In other words, what is the worse-case scenario for Christians who suffer persecution?  Being killed.  That sounds bad, but Jesus says it is just the killing of a body.  A body that is breaking down anyway.  That is all they can do.  They cannot touch your soul.  So, fear Him who has control over both your body and your soul.  Fear God!  

But if you are a child of God by faith in Christ, you are His precious child and therefore have no reason to fear your persecutors.  You are God’s child, and He will be with you and remain with you.  And in the worse-case scenario of death to the body, He will usher you into the greatness of your eternal reward.

This was the faith of Justin Martyr, one of the early martyrs for Christ of the second century.  Justin Martyr was a philosopher in Ephesus who came to know Jesus one day when an elderly Christian shared the Gospel with him.  Justin then began to teach others the way and was instrumental in discipling a great number of Christians.  In his “First Apology,” his first “defense,” he writes these words to the Roman authorities who sought to persecute him and his students, “If you respond to these words with hostility, you can do no more than to kill us, which will do no harm to us …”  The reason he could say that is because they did not have authority over both body and soul.  

We can endure suffering when captured and captivated by Christ.  Keep our eyes on Jesus, knowing where we are ultimately headed as we run the race set before us. We can do this because we know that one day we will “be made perfect” when we receive the ultimate promise of the joy of heaven and the joy of salvation in its fullest measure.

Persecution is part of Christian living.  You can endure suffering when captured and captivated by Christ.  Finally, number three . . .

3) Delight In Christ More Than Your Life.

Since the payoff of knowing Christ and living forever in a perfect place free from sin and temptation is worth more than anything this present world offers, since the payoff is better than anything – including the preservation of your frail human body – we should delight in Christ more than your life.  Remember that you are headed towards “a better resurrection.”  Remember that from verse 35?  “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance (they loved Christ and delighted in Christ more than their lives; how?), that they might obtain a better resurrection.”  Better than what?  Better than the temporary resurrections that did not last forever.  Women received their dead raised to life again.  The widow’s son was raised to life again through the prayers of Elijah.  Raised to life again, but then dying again.  Believers in Christ have a better resurrection to look forward to!  It is better because it means not remaining in this fallen world!

Delight in Christ more than your life because God delights in you.  Christ endured the cross for you.  He loves you.  That is important to remember when we wonder why God often allows such persecution and suffering.  God’s ways are often mysterious.  We do not always understand why He delivers some from suffering and others through suffering, but God always does what is right.  And whatever your suffering, God loves you.  He accepts you and values you because of who you are in Christ Jesus, His son.

If I were to hold up a hundred dollar bill and said, “Who wants this?”  Everyone would want it.  If I crumpled the hundred dollar bill into a ball and said, “Now who wants this?”  Everyone would still want it.  And if I threw it on the ground and stepped on it and stomped it and said, “Do you still want it?”  Every one of us would still want it.  Why? Because we know that whatever happens to that hundred dollar bill, it is still worth a hundred dollars!  It does not lose its value and worth even if it is been crumpled up, stepped on, and stomped upon. And you Christian, even when you undergo immense suffering and persecution, and the world crumples you up, and you are stepped on and stomped upon, you are still worth everything to your Father.  You hold your value because you are in Christ, the perfect righteousness of Christ means you are always loved and accepted and approved of by your heavenly Father.  So . . .

Have faith in God when your pathway is lonely.
He sees and knows all the way you have trod;
Never alone are the least of His children;
Have faith in God, have faith in God.

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  We have been spending some time in chapter 11 learning all we can about faith.  What is faith?  The writer opens the chapter in verse 1 with a definition.  He says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  From definition he moves to illustration.  In the second verse he says, “For by (faith) the elders obtained a good testimony” or, put another way, “by faith many of the Old Testament saints are good examples, good illustrations for us to show us how to live by faith.”   We have learned from the examples of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Moses, and so on all the way through chapter 11 and right up to where we left off yesterday at verse 31 with the example of Rahab.

We pick up today at verse 32 where our study.  I love the way the writer begins verse 32!  He says, “And what more shall I say?  For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, and also of David and Samuel“ – and picking up the pace significantly, he reminds me of the way I would conclude those essay tests I took in school!  In the beginning you are taking your time writing at length about one particular topic or person and elaborating and embellishing and all is well – then the teacher interrupts and says, “10 minutes!”  Suddenly you realize you have so much more to fit into the essay in order to answer the question!  Like a madman you are writing away as fast as you can, stringing everything together in a hasty attempt to include everything before time’s up.  

The writer here is like, “What more shall I say?!  I am out of time!  I cannot really go into detail to tell you about Gideon and Barak and Samson” and so on.  It is good that the Holy Spirit does give us enough to learn about these folks and others as we learn to have “Faith Against All Odds” in verses 32-35.

This passage is about a people who had faith against all odds.  However difficult the path before them, they lived by faith and God honored their faith and gives us their faith as examples for us that we too may live by faith this this day, this upcoming week, and throughout our lives.  As we go through these verses we will see what God has for us.

Verse 32 says, “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.”  It strikes me that the writer mentions these six persons with the assumption that we will know who they are.  He takes for granted that he can mention them in passing with no additional comment.  In other words, the writer assumes that his readers are familiar with the Old Testament.  He assumes that we know our Bibles.

Do we?  Could the writer assume that we all know our Bibles as well as he thought the first century readers knew theirs?  If not, why not?  Are we reading it daily?  Are we reading whole chapters, books, and getting familiar with the overall content?  I thought of this poem this week.  It is an adaptation of Amos R. Wells’ poem, I Supposed I Knew My Bible

Reading piecemeal, hit and miss,

Now a bit of John or Matthew,

Now a snatch of Genesis,

Certain chapters of Isaiah

Certain Psalms (the twenty-third!);

Twelfth of Romans, First of Proverbs –

Yes, I thought I knew the Word!

But I found that thorough reading

Was a better thing to do,

And the way to became familiar,

When I read the Bible through.

These six folks that the writer mentions in this passage cover a time span from the Judges to the early Kings; the first four are from the Book of Judges and the last two, David and Samuel, are covered biographically in the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles.  Then, the writer appends the phase: “and the prophets,” people like Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah taking us up through the end of the biblical history of the Old Testament.  He certainly is covering a lot of ground!

These first four persons – Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah are listed not in chronological order, but in order of importance in the Book of Judges.  And the “judges” of the Book of Judges were not judges in the sense of popular usage today.  They did not sit in a courtroom and “hold court.”  They were “deliverers” that God raised up to deliver His people from the enemies around them.  Deliverers, or “saviors.”  Like everything else – and everyone else – in the Old Testament, these judges, deliverers, or saviors pointed forward to a greater deliverer, a better savior, a Savior with a capital ’S,’ our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have noted nearly every day while making our way, verse-by-verse through chapter 11, these individuals are by no means perfect!  Especially these judges.  Reading about their lives involves reading about all kinds of bizarre behavior, deception, depravity, and head-scratching history.  Every single one of those judges, or deliverers was a sinner.   But, when they exercised true faith, they were a spot-on example for us – same as Samuel, David, and the prophets.  The writer is not saying, “imitate these people in chapter 11 in every way!”  Rather, “Here are some good examples of faith.  As these folks had faith, you have faith.”  That is the idea.  And what did they do through faith? 

Verse 33 and 34 tell us.  What follows in verses 33 and 34 are the things they did “subdued (or conquered)kingdoms,” “worked righteousness”(or justice), “obtained promises” (Gideon was promised victory, Barak was promised victory, and David obtained promises as well, some fulfilled earlier, some to be fulfilled later) “stopped the mouths of lions (reminds us of Samson and Davis who fought lions and of Daniel’s mighty deliverance from the lion’s den).”

Verse 34 goes on to say, “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.  “Quenching the violence of fire” probably refers to the three Jewish young men – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  You can read about them later in the Book of Daniel, read about how God delivered them from the fiery furnace. They had faith and won the victory.  Others “escaped the edge of the sword” like David running from Saul or Elijah the prophet running from Jezebel. 

Speaking of Elijah, verse 35 says, “Women received their dead raised to life again.  Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.”  Women like the widow of Zarephath whose son had died and the Prophet Elijah had faith that God would raise him from the dead (1 Kings 17).  And God did!  Or the prophet Elisha, who in 2 Kings 4 the Bible tells us about how Elisha raised the Shunammite woman’s son from the dead.  Elisha had faith and won the victory.

But these were merely temporary resurrections.  Those who were “raised to life again” died again.  That is why verse 35 refers to “a better resurrection.”  The writer says, “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection,” that is, better than these resurrections in the Old Testament, a resurrection that means life forever, never to die again.  We will deal with that phrase, “others were tortured, not accepting deliverance” tomorrow, Lord willing, as it goes best with the remainder of the chapter. 

What can we learn from these four verses?  Here is what I have learned and I want to pass this on to you.  I can have faith with regard to three things . . .

1) Whatever I Face.

This is the greatest takeaway of the chapter; arguably the main point of the entire book.  Remember the historical context of the Book of Hebrews is a group of Christians who had come out of first century Judaism, believers under the old covenant, believers who had heard the Gospel and said, “Yes” to Jesus Christ.   

Shortly after their confession of faith in Jesus Christ they began to undergo persecution for their faith.  Families and friends who did not share their faith in Christ and remained under the old covenant worship system rejected them.  They were expelled from the temple, cut off from their former friendships and support system.  They were persecuted.  Because of their persecution they were considering going back to their old ways of living and worshiping, back to the old covenant.

The writer of Hebrews has been telling them throughout this letter, “Don’t do that!”  Nothing is better than Jesus!  Nothing!  Jesus is better than the old covenant, better than the angels, better than the prophets, better than Aaron, and better than Moses.  Jesus is better than animal sacrifices – because each animal sacrifice pointed forward to Him, Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The writer’s point here in chapter 11 is, “Look at all these folks who lived by faith!”  They are examples for you and me.  They lived by faith no matter what!  No matter what they faced, they trusted God and move forward by faith.  They endured challenges, faced obstacles, walked through “unknowns,” stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, and so on. 

If they could have faith whatever they faced, so you and I can have faith whatever we face.  There are many “unknowns” for each of us this coming week.  Each of us will step out in faith this week as we leave our place of refuges and enter into our everyday workaday lives. 

You can have faith whatever you face. 

The God who was with Daniel

In the lion’s den,

With Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

In the fiery furnace,

With David facing Goliath –

The same God is with you in your trials.

You can have faith whatever you face.  I can have faith whatever I face. 

2) No Matter My Flaws.

Every single one of these persons mentioned in our passage was flawed.  Gideon was flawed – uncertain at times about God’s leadership.  David was flawed – he committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for the death of her husband Uriah.  Samson was sexually promiscuous and often acted in ways that make you shake your head in wonder.  These folks were flawed people with a past – and still growing in their understanding of what it meant to serve the one true and living God.  As the writer puts it: “out of weakness they were made strong.”  God can work the same way in your life.  You can have faith no matter your flaws.  Out of your weakness He will make you strong.

That does not mean that we just live in our sin.  As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 6:2, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”  When we have sinned, we confess that sin.  Always and throughout each day we go to the Lord and say, “God forgive me for what I just did, what I just said, what I just thought.  I confess that sin and ask forgiveness.”  The Bible teaches in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins God are faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Thank God for always forgiving me because He always see me in His Son, safely clothed in the righteousness of Christ!  You can have faith no matter your flaws.  Be encouraged by the truth that these believers in the Old Testament were not perfect – just like you!  Imperfect beings trusting in a perfect God.

Remember that the grace of the Gospel does apply to you if you believe.  So many Christians feel as though the grace of God’s forgiveness applies to everyone except them.  Like God poured out His grace upon David when he sinned, Samson when he sinned, and others when they sinned, but somehow it cannot be true for them.  I am telling you it is true!  God loves you no matter your flaws.  He wants to work in your life whatever mistakes you have made, whatever failures, whatever shame, and whatever guilt you feel have separated you from the love of God.  Confess that sin, turn to Christ, and live in the victory and freedom of forgiveness.  God delights in using people who know they are broken. 

You can have faith whatever you face.  You can have faith no matter your flaws.  Let God work in your life as you look to the future. 

3) Look to the Future. 

This is the main takeaway for persevering this week, for endurance, for getting through the hard times whatever you face, whatever your flaws – look to the future.  Look to the future and live with an eye to the future.  Every one of these Old Testament believers lived by a faith that looked to the future.  They believed the promises of God and looked forward by faith to the fulfillment of those promises – that everything pointed to the Lord Jesus and that every promise was fulfilled in Him.

That is why verse 35 ends as it does, mentioning believers who were tortured, not accepting deliverance – How?! – By looking forward by faith to the future, when they would “obtain a better resurrection.”  They knew that, worse case scenario, they would be killed and leave this sinful, fallen world behind.  Their bodies tortured, beaten, killed, and buried.  But that is not the end!  They knew they would obtain a better resurrection.  They knew God would bring their souls safely to Him in heaven and that one day He would even raise their mortal beaten bodies and change them into a glorious body at the final resurrection.

A faith that looks to the future will live for what matters. 

A faith that looks to the future will love what matters. 

A faith that looks to the future will love God more than life.

Do you love God more than your own life?  Do you love Him more than your family?  More than your savings?  More than your money?  Love Him more than your treasures and toys?  Love the eternal city more than this present world?  Look to the future as you live in the present.

I have been nearsighted since I was in high school.  Nearsightedness means you can see near better than you can see far.  Things far away are harder to see, blurry.  I have worn glasses and contact lenses for years helping me see things far away more clearly.  When I hit my mid-40s I have developed something common to folks as they age.  I started to develop “presbyopia,” a word that just means it is harder for our eyes to focus on things up close.  I had to go with a multifocal glasses and contact lens at first.  These lenses have a mixture of both near and far.  Then I got multi-vision lenses – these lenses not only help me see more clearly both near and far, but they have also been used by God to remind me how to live as a follower of Jesus.  Through my spiritual eyes that God has given me, I can see where I am going.  I can look to the future and see with clear spiritual eyesight the future resurrection and all the promises that are yes in Jesus Christ.  I am getting there.  It is up ahead.  Out there in the future.  It is a reality that is certain.  And I can see it through the same “spiritual lens” that allows me to see up close. 

I can allow what I see far away

To inform how I live up close.

As we noted a few days ago: “Let the hereafter shape what you’re after here.”  I can have faith by looking to the future as I live in the present.  That is what it means to follow Jesus.

We follow Him in this world.  Through death into life everlasting He passed and through faith we follow Him there.  Faith leads us to love Jesus, live for Jesus, and look to Jesus!

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

  Grace For The Journey

We are studying our way through the Book of Hebrews, verse-by-verse and we have spent a several days in Chapter 11, the great “roll call of faith” as it is often called.  Like a coach inspiring a room of athletes by making them watch videos of great football plays over and over again, or a baseball pitcher, or a boxer, or a golfer watching the video and learning what to emulate, and how to mirror or copy all the right moves – so the writer of Hebrews points to all of these Old Testament believers and says, “Look at their faith!  See how they believed!  See how they obeyed!  Now, get out there and do the same!”  That is how we are to read chapter 11.  It is not that these people are perfect or even that they are great moral leaders.  They had their faults and we have talked about a number of them in past blogs.  But what the writer of Hebrews is doing is pointing out what they did right.  And where their faith was worth pointing out, the writer points it out!  And he says, “Have faith like that.  Obey like that.”

We have learned from the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and others.  And we left off yesterday with Moses as Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt.  There is a shift from verse 28 to verse 29, a shift from individual faith to corporate faith.  There is a shift from the faith of Moses as an individual person, to the faith of the Israelites a collective people.  We note that in the pronoun “they” in verse 29.  We will study verses 29-31 today.  In saying that, let me go on to say that there is a lot here and we have been slowing our pace a bit so that we can learn from these Old Testament believers.  We should take care not to become so familiar with the Old Testament stories that we become jaded and dull overly familiar with these stories as though there were nothing new to learn from them.  My prayer is that these examples will move us to greater heights and living that will bring greater glory to God.  

We ought to read the Word of God and listen to the Word of God every time as though we had never read it or heard it before!  When we do that, God just opens it up to our heart.  It has often been said that “love is not just something you have but it is something you live.”  Love is not just a noun, love is a verb.  Love is something you do.  In the same way, faith is not just something you have but it is something you live. Faith is not just a noun, faith is a verb.  Faith is something you do.  Faith is both belief and obedience.

The Apostle James notes this truth in his letter, especially in Chapter 2, verse 14 where he asks, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?”  The implication is that it does not profit at all.  A faith that does not result in obedience is a useless faith.”

The writer of Hebrews is showing us that God is a promise-keeping God. He promises His people great things and He intends to keep His promises.  All He requires of His people is that they both believe and obey.  Faith is both having trust and obeying.  As the hymn-writer puts it: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to (both) trust and obey.”

What does obedient faith look like?  How does obedient faith work?  Let me share three things in answering those questions . . .

Obedient Faith Is . . .

1) Faith no Matter the Peril – Verse 29.

Faith no matter how dangerous, how daunting, or how disturbing is the path before us.  Faith no matter the peril.  One of my life verses is Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust the Lord with all of your heart.  Do not lean upon your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”  I have them posted in my office and frequently point them out as I am doing pastoral counseling.    Nowhere is His directing the paths of His people more evident than in the verse before us.

God directed the path of His people as they crossed the Red Sea, an actual historical event that occurred some 1,400 years before Christ.  The background of the narrative is found in Exodus 14.  This chapter records how God miraculously delivered His people from bondage in Egypt, forced slavery, and mistreatment in Egypt.  After the 10 plagues, in a demonstration of His glory, God uses Moses to stand up to Pharaoh and God works through the events to lead His people out of Egyptian bondage.  We noted yesterday that Moses’ name means “to draw out” because Pharaoh’s daughter drew him out of the water when he was a baby. 

You can go later and review the history of how God’s people escaped the Egyptian task masters and fled from the Egyptian army as they went out of Egypt.  They do not get too far down the road before the Egyptians came after them with horses and chariots.  As God’s people approach the vast, Red Sea, it appears as if it is all over, and their deliverance may well be a short-lived deliverance!  They will never get to the Promised Land now!  How will they cross this huge sea to keep ahead of the Egyptians in their run for freedom?  The theological answer is that they will cross by faith.  Verse 29 captures the theology explanation for how they crossed, “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.”  All the details of that crossing are found in Exodus 14. There we read how Moses stood before the people there at the sea.  The waves crashing this way and that and their way forward blocked.  Initially, the people are frightened.  They cry out to their leader, to Moses, and say, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us out here to the wilderness to die?”  That is a sarcastic question.  They are really implying that it is all over.  The Bible says that Moses said to the people in Exodus 14:13, “Do not be afraid.  Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.  For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.”  Then Moses raises the staff that God had given him, holds it up high above the waters, and God works a mighty miracle.  The sea divides in two.  A wall of water on their right and on their left as they passed through the Red Sea on dry land.  That took faith, didn’t it?  I mean at any moment it would seem, miraculous as it was to have a wall of water at their right and left that they could come back together at any moment.  But God held the waters as God’s people passed through the perilous sea.   And after all the people had passed through safely, what happened next?  The Egyptian army comes running from behind.  All of Pharaoh’s men with their chariots in hot pursuit.  They attempt also to pass through on dry land, but what happened?  Verse 29 gives the terse summation, “The Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.”  God brings the waters back together over the Egyptians, the horsemen, the chariots, and every single Egyptian dies.  The great movie classic “The 10 Commandments,” by Cecil B. Demille captures the scene graphically – with special effects that cause modern viewers to smile, at times, but pretty impressive for 1956.  Charlton Heston is a pretty convincing Moses.

The whole biblical narrative is concluded in the last verse of Exodus 14:31, “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.”  And that is what the writer of Hebrews emphasizes, that the people believed the Lord as He spoke through His servant Moses.  He does not here bring up again how they lapsed later on into unbelief and disobedience.  He has addressed that in earlier chapters, namely Hebrews 3 and 4.  Again, his point in Chapter 11 is to call attention to when God’s people acted in a way worthy of imitating.  When they crossed the Red Sea, they had faith, faith no matter the peril.  

As they ran across that recently dried-up sea floor they had faith that God would hold back the waters.  It would seem at any moment that the wall of water on their right and left could come back crashing down upon them.  But God holds the water back in keeping with HIs promise to His people.  And when the unbelieving Egyptians try to pass through, God unleashes His wrath upon them, bringing the waters of judgment crashing down upon them.

Water in the Bible is often used as a judgment upon unbelievers. 

• Recall the earliest act of God’s judgement in flooding the entire earth.  The waters sweeping away all unbelieving and unrighteous people, with only Noah and his family escaping that judgment in an ark. 
• Then you have the waters of judgment here in the story of God’s people escaping judgment through the Red Sea and that sea engulfing the unbelievers. 
• There is also Jonah.  Thrown into the sea, and sinking down into the waters of judgment before God rescues him from the waters by way of a big fish of all things.  
• Christian baptism pictures union with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is a sign of beginning the Christian faith.  Death to the old us.  Raised to walk in a new way of life.  That is pictured in baptism.  The baptismal waters serve as a picture of salvation from judgment.  We are drawn up out of the waters as a picture of our being drawn up and out of death.  Praise God!
• It is the truth of the old Gospel hymn: “I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more, but the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry, from the waters lifted me, now safe am I.”

Have you been lifted from the waters of sin?  The Red Sea crossing is a beautiful foretaste of redemption through Jesus Christ.  Jesus lifts us up and saves us from the penalty of sin.  And how does this gift come to us?  By faith.  Remember verse 6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”  Believe in Him and go on believing in Him.  Faith no matter the peril.  Faith no matter how scary the path appears before you this week.  Remember God is with you. 

If you go back and read Exodus 14 you will read about how God manifested His presence with the people in a pillar of cloud and the Angel of the Lord, reminders that He was always right there with them.  This is the same God who promises to be right there with you, Christian.  He will never leave you nor forsake you.  He is with you always.  Whatever you face this week, however daunting, however scary, God is with you.  Have faith, no matter the peril.  Number two:

2) Faith No Matter The Plan – Verse 30.

One of the most delightful things about how God works is that His ways are not our ways.  This is clearly stated in Isaiah 55:8-9, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.  ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”  The way God carries out His will is often mysterious and curious to us.  He acts this way in a demonstration of His glory, power, and sovereignty.  Verse 30 records a significant battle God’s people fought not long after Joshua leads them into the Promised Land.  We simply read the conclusion of the event in verse 30, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.”  If we knew nothing about this event from the Book of Joshua we would just assume it was a typical battle.  But it was not typical at all!  You know the song, right?!    Catchy tune!  But how did the walls come tumbling down.  The writer says, “By faith.”  By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

Joshua 6 gives the story.  It was an interesting battle plan to say the least!  God tells the people to walk around the city seven times.  Each morning the people got up, the priests went before them with the rams horns and the ark of the covenant ahead of them, and the army behind.  But they do not fight or speak.  They just march around the city.  And after going around the entire city and then they went back to their tents.   They did that every day for a week.  Then on the seventh day, they were to go around the city seven times.  After the seventh time, the priests were to blow the trumpets and the people were to shout the battle cry and then the walls came tumbling down.  

Interesting way to fight, isn’t it?  But imagine the Canaanites living inside the city of Jericho watching this go on for seven days.  They have got to be thinking, “What in the world is happening with these folks?!”  Maybe they laughed the first day or so.  After all, the city of Jericho was heavily fortified.  But I will bet as the days went by, they became more fearful of the way this was all looking.  Some of them had heard about the One True and Living God.  Some had heard about how He brought His people safely across the Red Sea.  I am sure the people living in Jericho became fearful as they watched God’s people marching around the city.

Jericho was heavily fortified.  Like most big cities in the ancient near east there was a double wall, both an outer and an inner wall.  And when the walls came tumbling down, Jericho 6:20 tells us that the walls “fell down flat,” a Hebrew phrase indicating that the wall “fell beneath itself.”  Archaeological evidence suggests that is exactly what happened.  The two walls and the outer wall there was supported by a stone retaining wall.  Excavation reveals that, as the mud-brick wall fell, it fell down flat, depositing bricks down at the base of the stone retaining wall.  Archaeologist Bryant Wood (Associates for Biblical Research) explains the significance, “Excavations have shown that the bricks from the collapsed walls formed a ramp against the retaining wall so that the Israelites could merely climb up over the top.”

The Bible is very precise in its description of how the Israelites entered the city: “the people went up into the city, every man straight before him [i.e., straight up and over],” (Joshua 6:20). The Israelites had to go up, and that is what archaeology has revealed. They had to go from ground level at the base of the wall to the top of the rampart in order to enter the city.  That is unbelievable!  The impenetrable, unassailable fortress could be surmounted after all.  How?  By faith.  God’s people believed that He would do just as He said.  He would keep His promise to deliver the city to them.

Why do you suppose God used this seemingly ridiculous battle plan?  He told them how everything was going to happen.  Circle the city each day for a week.  Just march around it.  I am sure it did not seem to make much sense to the people at first.  God’s ways are not our ways.  I am sure there was some snickering from inside the city wall.  You remember that this week, when unbelievers snicker at you, too.  

This mighty destruction of the city

Is such that only God can get

The glory for its demise.

Clearly God did this and He did it through the faith of His people.  

3) Faith No Matter The Person – Verse 31.

This brief narrative tells us about one occupant of the city of Jericho, an interesting person, a lady named Rahab.  But she was no lady, if you know what I mean.  She was a shady lady, at best.  She is described as a harlot, that as an archaic word for prostitute.  She had a past.  But look as we look at the next verse – What a surprise! 

Verse 31 states, “By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe (or obey), when she had received the spies with peace.”  This prostitute is listed among the great “roll call of faith!”  Faith works no matter the person.  No matter who you are, what you have done, the moment you exercise faith, God works.  Without faith it is impossible to please Him, but with faith, all things are possible to him who believes.

Joshua 2 tells us that Rahab became a believer in the One True and Living God.  She had heard about God’s mighty works, namely His delivering the Israelites through the Red Sea.  Word had reached Rahab there in Jericho and she believed.  The Israelites sent out two men to spy out the land, especially the city of Jericho.  Someone sees them and tells the king.  Providentially, God leads the two spies to Rahab who hides them in her house, literally hiding them in the stalks of flax that formed the roof of her house.  When the authorities come knocking at her door, she tells them that yes, they had come by, but were no longer here.  She tells them that they had left at evening when it was dark.  Then she goes back to the men and says, “We have heard all about you all, about your God, about how he has delivered you through the Red Sea.  Many of us here in Jericho are shaking in our boots for fear.”  Rahab makes this strong profession of faith in Joshua 2:11, “The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”  Rahab believes.  And God begins a work of grace in her heart, changing her as the days go by.

She sends the spies off to safety, letting them down the wall by a rope through her window because her house was one of those that was built on the city wall.  And she tells them to flee to the mountain nearby for a couple days until it is safe to return to the Israelite camp.  But first she asks that when they come back to destroy the city, that she and her family be spared, be saved from the destruction.  The spies agree and they tell her to tie a scarlet cord in the window through which she had let them down.  This way when the Israelite army returns to take the city, they will know which house Rahab lives in and will avoid that one, seeing the red cord hanging from the window.

Let me quote again from Archaeologist Bryant Wood, “The German excavation of 1907–1909 found that on the north a short stretch of the lower city wall did not fall as everywhere else.  A portion of that mud-brick wall was still standing to a height of over two meters (eight feet).  What is more, there were houses built against the wall!  It is quite possible that this is where Rahab’s house was. Since the city wall formed the back wall of the houses, the spies could have readily escaped.  From this location on the north side of the city it was only a short distance to the hills of the Judean wilderness where the spies hid for three days (Joshua 2:16, 22).  Real estate values must have been low here, since the houses were positioned on the embankment between the upper and lower city walls.  Not the best place to live in time of war!  This area was no doubt the overflow from the upper city and the poor part of town, perhaps even a slum district.”

I just love the way archaeology confirms what we already know to be true when we read God’s Word.

Faith no matter the person.  Even a prostitute can believe and be changed.  You may feel unworthy of God’s grace.  You have sinned and you feel dirty and guilty.  If God can work through the harlot Rahab, he can work in and through you.  Just turn to God.  Believe in Jesus.  Accept Christ and begin walking by faith.  God will change you, grow you, and do mighty things through you.  Faith no matter the person.

We have talked about faith today.  Faith no matter the peril, no matter the plan, no matter the person.  Some of you are saying, “I need faith to live this week.  I have got things coming up and things I fear and things I do not know how they are going to work out.  I need faith.”  Right now, you can say in your spirit, “Dear God, help me live by faith right now.  I surrender.  I trust you.  I believe you will do the right thing in me and through me.”

Others of you have been trusting in the wrong things, living for the wrong things.   You need to repent.  Let go of sin and turn to Jesus.  Trust Jesus Christ who saves you from the judgment to come, who “draws you out” of the judgment upon your sin, just as God drew His people out of the judgment of waters of the Red Sea.  Trust Him as your Lord and Savior.

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

We are studying through Hebrews and are in chapter 11, this great “roll call of faith.”  The writer is telling us about the faith of so many Old Testament saints, people he describes at the beginning of chapter 11 as “elders,” who had “obtained a good testimony,” a good testimony because they lived by faith.  They lived by faith, they were saved by faith, so they died in faith.

Imagine if you were one of the Hebrew Christians hearing this letter read for the first time.  In all the previous chapters, chapters 1-10, you have been heard how the new covenant supersedes the old covenant, how the new covenant is better, and how all the sacrifices of the old covenant and all the accoutrements of the old covenant point forward to the new.  And you have heard that Jesus Christ is better, better than the angels, better than the prophets, better than anyone and anything.  Yet, the believers of the Old Testament lived in a time before the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.  

Naturally, you may wonder then about the salvation of these Old Testament believers.  If they lived prior to the coming of Messiah, how were they saved?  What of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and so on.  How were they made right with God if salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone?

The writer of Hebrews does just as Paul does in Romans 4.  He teaches that believers like Abraham and Moses were saved the same way as we are today.  Old Testament believers exercised faith looking forward to the promised Messiah.  By faith they looked forward to a Christ who would come.  We believers today, living on this side of the cross, by faith look back to a Christ who has come.  The believers under the old covenant hoped in things not yet seen, things yet to come.  

Just as the old covenant pointed forward to the new covenant, just as the sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed forward to the supreme once-for-all sacrifice of the Son of God in the New Testament, so the believers of the Old Testament looked forward by faith to the fulfillment of the promises to come in and through the Messiah revealed in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What the writer does in chapter 11 is to set all these old covenant believers in historical and chronological context.  He begins at creation at the beginning of the chapter, and goes from Adam and Eve’s son Abel, to Enoch, to Noah, to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph – and all the while showing that each of these Old Testament believers looked forward by faith, living by faith as they looked forward to the promises of God, embracing the redemptive purposes of God ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the One the writer calls in chapter 12, “the author and finisher of our faith.”  

Yesterday we left off at verse 22 where the writer mentions Joseph.  Joseph was a great leader in Egypt, providentially an Israelite, yet second-in-command to Pharaoh the king.  But, to paraphrase the opening chapter of Exodus: “that was then and this is now.”  When Joseph dies, a new Pharaoh comes along that does not know Joseph.  The new Pharaoh did not care about the history, nor about how God worked through Joseph.  Times have changed in Egypt.  The new Pharaoh forces the Israelites into slavery.  Fearing they had become too numerous to control, the new king even commanded the death of all babies who were born male.  If Israelite babies were born who turned out to be male babies, Pharaoh commanded that they be drowned in the Nile River.  Pharaoh believed that by killing the male babies, there was no way then that the Israelites could become too powerful for him.

This goes on for 40 years, for 40 years God’s people have been living in bondage.  In the secret counsel of God’s redemptive purposes and plans, He raises up a new leader, a leader named Moses.  Moses is a pretty prominent name in the Bible.  We mentioned last time about Abraham and how he gets the most coverage in chapter 11, the most press.  Abraham was and is the father of many nations.  If we are saved, we are in that family line.  We are children of God because we are sons of Abraham.  But Moses is a pretty big guy, too.  Moses authored the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy.  Moses is mentioned over 800 times in the entire Bible.  Of those over 800 times Moses is mentioned in nearly half of the 66 books of the Bible, 31 of the 66 books from Genesis to Revelation.  

What does Moses’ name mean?  Moses’ name means “to draw out” because Pharaoh’s daughter drew him out of the Nile River.  One day God would use Moses to “draw out” His people from bondage in Egypt.  One of the key phrases in this passage is found in that last few words of verse 26 where the writer describes Moses as one who “looked to the reward.”  He looked to the reward.  

A dog lover once told about his dog Jake.  He is a three-legged dog because he thinks standing in the middle of the road is a good idea, even when cars approach.  But his family loves Jake.  He shares that they love to give their dog treats, little rewards.  They will hold one of the treats up and the dog fastens his gaze upon it, his eyes are fixed on that treat.  He says they can move their hand up and down and the dog will move his head up and down like a yo-you.  They can act like they are throwing the treat into the living room and the dog will look forward by faith into the living room!  He knows by experience that before long, the thing he hopes for will come to pass.  Eventually the family member will throw it into the living room and Jake, looking to the reward, runs into the room, and takes the treat.

There is something for us to learn in the way Jake fixes his eyes upon the reward.  His gaze cannot be broken.  He looks to the reward the way we should look to Jesus.  Captured and captivated by Christ, our eyes fixed upon the Author and Finisher of our faith.

I want us to talk about looking to the reward in today’s blog.  We will make our way briefly through these few verses and then I will give you three to four takeaways. 

Verse 23 says, “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.”  Most of us know Moses’ name, but I will bet few of us know the names of Moses’ parents.  They are Amram and Jochebed.  I do not know any guys named Amram nor any ladies named Jochebed.  But that was their names.  The writer says that they saw Moses was a “beautiful child” and no doubt he was – every parent feels that way about his or her child, right?! – yet this may also mean that they knew there was something “special” about this child.  Rather than obey the king’s command to have this little boy thrown into the Nile to be drowned by the Egyptians, they managed first to hide Jochebed, hide her giving birth to the baby, and then kept him hidden for three months until he could be kept hidden no longer.    

Exodus 2 teaches that when Jochebed could no longer hide him, she took a little basket made from a papyrus plant, daubed it with asphalt and pitch – so as to waterproof it – and she put baby Moses into it and laid it among the reeds by the riverbank.  You can read more about this later from Exodus 2.  If you do, you will read how Pharaoh’s daughter providentially discovered the little wicker basket and the little baby inside the basket and that she raised the child as her own.  It is actually kind of cool that Moses’ sister Miriam was nearby and watched everything happen and volunteered to find a nursing mother for the baby and goes and gets Moses’ mother Jochebed!  But the point of the writer here in Hebrews 11 is that Moses’ parents acted in faith. 

Verse 24, says, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”  He could have remained in Egypt all his life, living in the comforts of Egypt and under the protection of the Egyptian rulers.  He is raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  Nothing bad could happen to him.  But he did not want to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  Moses knew that he was an Israelite and, at some point as he was growing up in Egypt, he made the decision not to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  He was one of the people who served the one true and living God.  And he knew that he was to be their leader. 

That is why verse 25 says, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing(temporary) pleasures of sin.”  He chose to live among his oppressed people rather than enjoy the passing, or temporary, pleasures of sin, namely all the pleasures and treasures of Egypt.  

You can go back and read Exodus 2 for the background but there is an account given there when Moses sees a fellow Israelite being beaten by one of the Egyptians.  Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian.  And when Pharaoh found out about it, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled to a place called Midian where he remained for 40 years.  He was 40 when he left Egypt and spent 40 years away.  He was not ready for leadership when he was 40 and required 40 more years before God would use him to “draw out” His people from Egyptian bondage.

Secular business leaders say you should never make a lateral move.  Do not leave one position for another position of equal status and value.  If you are going to leave one company be sure it is a move up in pay or power.  Well, Moses was not a secular leader.  He made a move that was not even lateral that, in the world’s eyes, was a downward move! 

The point the author is making is that Moses could have remained comfortable in Egypt.  He could have not sought to identify with his own people, the Israelites.  Even though he was raised the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he did not leverage his royal position to get out of trouble.  He could have appealed to Pharaoh’s daughter and sought an interview with her father the king and explained the situation about the Egyptian beating up on the Israelite and probably would have been forgiven.  But he did not chose that route.

Rather, he chose to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin-sin being namely the pleasures and treasures of secular Egypt as the next verse indicates.  Verse 26 states, “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” The word “esteeming” means “regarded, thought of, calculated.”  The term is a bookkeeping kind of term, and indicate that he calculated that the reproach of Christ was more valuable than the treasures of Egypt.  He would rather suffer the reproach of Christ. 

The writer here is reminding us that Moses looked forward by faith to the Christ who would come. 

Hebrews is a very Christocentric epistle,

A very Christ-centered letter.  

The writer has been showing us

From the beginning how all things

Find their fulfillment in Christ,

All things point to Jesus.

Moses himself would later write the prophetic words about the coming of a new kind of prophet, the anticipated Messiah in Deuteronomy 18:15, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.”  And the Bible teaches that this prophet is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the one in whom all the promises of God are fulfilled (2 Corinthians 1:20).

The last part of verse 26 tells us, “for he looked to the reward.”  What was “the reward?”  It was not the Promised Land.  We might think so at first, since Moses was the leader of God’s people to lead them into the Land of Promise.  But remember that Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land.  It was the land beyond the Promised Land that held his gaze.  It was the eternal city that has foundations whose builder and maker is God; the city where Jesus Christ sits upon the throne and all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Him. 

Verse 27 says, “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”  He forsook Egypt when he fled to Midian and he forsook Egypt again 40 years later when he led the Israelites out of Egypt.  Exodus 10:28 tells us, “Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me!  Take heed to yourself and see my face no more!  For in the day you see my face you shall die!”  By faith Moses forsook Egypt.  He left, “not fearing the wrath of the king.”  How?  “For he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”  This is what Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen” and Colossians 1:15, “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” are telling us.  As Moses saw the unseen God, living by faith, so he saw the fulfillment of all the promises of God.  Because of this faith, Moses “did not fear the wrath of the king.”  He did not fear the king’s wrath when he left Midian and he did not fear the king’s wrath when he left 40 years later when he prepared to lead the Israelites out of Egypt during the Exodus. 

There is a reference to this in verse 28, “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.”  The background for this is found in Exodus 12.  God sends the Angel of Death, the Destroyer, throughout Egypt as judgment upon the unbelieving Egyptians.  And God preserves the lives of the firstborn of the Israelites through the institution of the Passover.  God commanded His people to take the blood of the Passover lamb, the lamb sacrificed for the Passover meal, and sprinkle it over each Israelite’s door posts and lintel, the beam across the top of the door posts.  And when the Destroyer, the Angel of Death, moves throughout Egypt, he will “pass over” the people who are “under” that blood.  God’s people were spared from, and saved from, the judgment of God because they were under the blood of the Passover Lamb.

In closing I want us to look at what these verses teach us about:

What Faith Values . . .

There are four things that faith values greatly.  Four things that faith values as better than and more superior to the value of opposing things by contrast:

1) Faith Values The Word Of God Over The Word Of Men – Verse 23.

In verse 23 the Bible says that Moses’ parents “were not afraid of the king’s command.”  Mature faith, strong faith, tested faith, does not fear the king’s command.  Mature faith values the Word of God over the Word of Men.  This is what the Bible says in Psalm 118:6, a verse quoted by the writer of Hebrews later in the last chapter, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.  What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6).

Mature faith does not fear.  Mature faith values the Word of God over the word of men. Whatever God says in His Word, if we will do it, He will honor your obedience. 

Moses’ parents put their faith

Not in the king’s command,

But in their King’s commands.

Do what God says and He will honor your faith.  Every . . . Single . . . Time!

2. Faith Values The Pains of Suffering Over The Pleasures Of Sin – Verses 24-25.

Mature faith understands that suffering is part of the Christian experience.  Suffering is part and parcel of Christian living.  When you look closely at verses 24 and 25 you see a connection there: refuse and choose.  Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, which included his refusing to enjoy the comforts and protections of Egypt because – verse 25 – he had made a choice; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.  In other words, he was able to refuse sin because he had made a deliberate decision to align himself with God and His people.

You have got to make a choice.  Do you want to do the right thing or enjoy the passing, temporary, pleasures of sin? 

Faith and sin are mutually exclusive. 

They do not go together. 

You will either walk by faith

Or you will walk in sin.

Note that there is a kind of pleasure involved in sin.  See that as a warning!  It will not last forever and when it is over all you feel is regret and shame.  The passing pleasure of sin is fleeting, temporary, and fugacious.  Like a drug that provides a kind of euphoria but robs you of lasting joy.

Faith values the pain of suffering to the pleasures of sin.  This point and the next are closely connected.  Faith values the pains of suffering over the pleasures of sin and . . .

3. Faith Values The Reproaches Of Christ Over The Riches Of Comfort – Verse 26.

To suffer at all is to suffer in some way share in the sufferings of Christ (Philippians 3:10; 1 Peter 4:13).  Hebrews 13:13 says, “Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.”  Donald Guthrie speaks of this truth when he says, “Those who identify with God’s people at once become the targets of God’s enemies.”  Remember this when you are insulted or made fun of because of your love for Jesus Christ.  It is not a popular position to follow Jesus.  Your faith may cost you a friend, or a position, or a relationship.  Remember to value the reproaches of Christ over the riches of comfort.

How?  Last part of verse 26 tells us, “for he looked to the reward.”  Like Paul in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” 

This takes us to the final thing faith values.  We have said the faith values the Word of God over the word of men, faith values the pains of suffering over the pleasures of sin, faith values the reproaches of Christ over the riches of comfort.  Finally . . .

4. Faith Values The Ultimate Reward Over The Immediate Reward – Verses26-27.

God’s Word tells us, by faith Moses “looked to the reward.”  Remember this is not the reward of the Promised Land, but the reward beyond the Promised Land, the eternal city where all of God’s promises are fulfilled in the final state of a glorious new heaven with Jesus Christ on the throne.  Moses “looked to the reward.”  The verb means to “look away” which implies a deliberate change of gaze, an intentional moving the eyes away to something far greater.  He looked away, and therefore endured “as seeing Him who is invisible” (verse 27).  Faith takes the long view.  It looks steadily and longingly at Him who is invisible, looking beyond the immediate, seeing by faith the ultimate.  The Message paraphrase puts it this way: Moses was “looking ahead, anticipating the payoff.”  

Do you live for the reward?  Do you anticipate the payoff?  Do you love Jesus more than anyone or anything?  Remember that is the main teaching of this letter.  Be captured and captivated by Christ.  Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.  Look to Him.  Love Him.  Keep your eyes on the prize!

Tim Keller said something with which I agree.  He said, “You’re only as durable as the thing you love most.” 

• If you love your job most, what will you do when you’re fired, laid off, or out-performed?  You come apart because you were wrapped up in your job.  You are only as durable as the thing you love most. 
• If you love your family most, what will come of you when your family lets you down, deserts you, or disappoints you?  You are only as durable as the thing you love most. 
• If you substitute anything or anyone for Jesus and true riches in Him, then you will come apart because everything else is weak by comparison to Christ.

The Bible says in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” 

Do you know Him?  Are you saved by faith in Him?  Are you “in Christ” and is He “in you?”    You know when those Israelites years ago observed the Passover.  They ate the lamb that had been sacrificed.  The partook of the sacrificial lamb.  The lamb was in them.  As the Israelites applied the blood to the door posts and lintel all who were in that house were protected by the blood, literally under the blood of the lamb, protected from the Angel of death.

Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb.  Isaiah prophesied of Jesus in Isaiah 53, referring to Jesus as one “led as a lamb to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7).  John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.”  Jesus shed His blood so that all who are under His blood may be saved from the penalty of sin, saved from death into life everlasting.  Are you under His blood and are you right now living for Him?  

The Bible tells us that Moses “forsook Egypt.”  What do you need to forsake?  What do you need to let go, repent of?  Say to God right now, “I forsake my sin and I forsake my stuff and I turn to you.”  Some of you have questions about salvation.  Turn to Jesus Christ and be saved today.  God lived for you and died for you in Christ.  Be saved today by admitting you need and turning to Jesus and taking Him as your Lord and Savior.  For those of us who have received Jesus as our Savior and Lord, is our faith causing us to look unto Jesus and the great reality of our future life in heaven? 

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey   

We are studying through the Book of Hebrews and finding our place today in Chapter 11 and picking up at verse 17.  This chapter is all about faith – Trusting God . . .  Taking God at His Word . . . Acting like God is telling the truth.  We have already seen in chapter 11 a number of people who lived that way.  Today we look again at Abraham in verses 17 through 19 and his immediate descendants, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  We are going to find out what we can learn about faith in verses 17 to 22? 

This morning we are going to study about when faith is tested.  We will learn that . . .

Our Christian faith grows stronger

When God tests it and tries it. 

It is through God’s testing

Of our faith that we really

Grow to maturity.

Warren Wiersbe says, “Faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.”  Faith grows and gets stronger as it is tested.  I heard Adrian Rogers tell about a man who was having surgery and the doctor said, “You seem a bit nervous.”  And the patient said, “Yes, this is my first surgery.”  The doctor said, “I know how you feel.  It’s mine also!”  We want people who have been tested.  We know they have something of experience and are mature and tried and true.  Faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.  God tests our faith to strengthen us. 

We read first in verses 17 and following about Abraham, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.”  The background of this narrative, this true historical account, is found in Genesis 22:1-18, “1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!  And he said, ‘Here I am.’  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.’  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.  Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.  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.’  So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.  But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!  And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’  Then he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’  And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together.  Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.  10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham!’  So he said, ‘Here I am.’  And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’  Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.  So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.  And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’  15 Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: ‘By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

In Hebrews 11 and verse 17 the writer says, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son.”  Isaac was not Abraham’s “only begotten son” in the sense of his being the only one born to Isaac.  Isaac had another son named Ishmael.  Ishmael was 13 years older than Isaac.  Strictly speaking Ishmael was Isaac’s half-brother.  And Abraham had other children as well (Genesis 25:1-2).  Isaac, however, was Abraham’s “only begotten son” in the sense of his being unique, and one-of-a-kind, the one through whom God’s promises would come.  Verse 18 says Isaac was the one, “of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called’”(Genesis 21:12).  Isaac was the sole heir of the promise.  Abraham was willing to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice because, we are told in verse 19, “Concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”

Remember when we read Genesis 22 you cannot help but notice Abraham’s confidence that he and Isaac would go up together to Mount Moriah and both would return together, that somehow God would intervene so that Isaac would not be sacrificed.  And even if God did not prevent him from sacrificing his son, Abraham trusted in the miraculous power of God to raise his son Isaac from the dead.

Abraham had been told three days earlier to sacrifice his son and for three days he knew his son was as good as dead and when he finally got to Mount Moriah and prepared to sacrifice him there, he was at the very point of death- but God! – God stepped in and rescued him, raising him up – in a manner of speaking – raising him up from the dead and preserving his life.

Now if we do not think too deeply about this we may just commend Abraham for believing somehow God was just going to rescue his son so he would not have to sacrifice him.  But . . .

Abraham is commended because

Of his faith in God’s Word,

God’s promises that many children

Would be born through this son of his. 

Abraham believed God and it

Was credited to him as righteous. 

He knew God was going

To do what he said.

It was not so much that he feared for Isaac – though I am sure he did – this exercise on Mount Moriah is more about Abraham’s trust in God’s Word, His promises.  Whatever may happen to Isaac, Abraham knows God will keep His Word.  The Bible tells us in Romans 4:21, “And being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” 

Before we go any further, I want us to think about this – there are so many parallels here with the Gospel here!  This whole worship experience with Abraham and Isaac anticipates the Gospel story of redemption. 

• Isaac is divinely named by God.  Jesus is divinely named by God. 
• Isaac is born supernaturally.  Jesus is born supernaturally.  
• Father Abraham dearly loves his only begotten son Isaac.  The heavenly Father dearly loves His only begotten son Jesus. 
• Abraham travels 3 days before his son Isaac is “raised up” from death.  Jesus was raised up on the third day. 
• Mount Moriah, where Isaac was to be sacrificed is the same general area where God’s son was sacrificed. 
• Just as God provided a substitute – a ram in the thicket to die in the place where Isaac was to die – so God provides the substitute of the Lamb of God to die in our place.

There is a sense in which Jesus’ words about Abraham in John 8 have Gospel implications.   Jesus said in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad.”  While not the main point of the writer of Hebrews here, it is hard not to notice the beautiful Gospel message, paralleled and pictured, there on Mount Moriah.

In verses 20, 21, and 22, the writer mentions three people at the time they reached the very end of their lives, and all three – Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph – died in faith.  They kept their trust in God to the very end, the point at which each one spoke blessings upon their children and grandchildren.  

Verse 20 says, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”  Isaac had hope for the future!  This is the truth spoken by God through the Prophet Jeremiah 29:11: “’I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord; ‘plans to help you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.’”  Like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac “died in faith” (verse 13).  Isaac died knowing of the blessings that would come to Jacob and Esau.

Verse 21 states, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”  Like Isaac, Jacob also was able to die in faith, praying a blessing upon each of the sons of Joseph as he “leaned on the top of his staff.”  The picture is that of an older man propping himself up by virtue of his staff and speaking of God’s future blessings upon Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh. 

Verse 22 says, “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.”  Joseph also died in faith and “when he was dying” gave instructions concerning his bones.  The instructions were, in essence, “Have my funeral here in Egypt, but don’t leave my bones here!  When that future day comes when God brings our descendants out of Egypt and into the Promised Land (the exodus; literally the word that is translated “departure” there), make sure someone takes my bones along so I can finally be buried in the Land of Promise.”  Not only did Joseph die in faith, he had faith to look far into the future, seeing the day when he himself would enter into the Promised Land, his bones carried by many sons of Abraham crossing the Jordan and entering into a land flowing with milk and honey.

In closing, I want us to consider Three Marks Of True Faith that we learn from out study today . . .

1) Obeys God Without Wavering (cf Hebrews 10:23; Romans 4:20).

When Abraham was called upon by God to sacrifice his son Isaac he immediately obeyed.  He did not waver.  Hebrews 10:23 tells us, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”  And Romans 4:20 states, “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.”  True faith obeys God without wavering.  True saving faith knows that God will keep His Word.

2) Trusts In The Miraculous Power Of God.

Abraham had already witnessed the miraculous power of God.  Remember from a couple days ago when we studied Abraham’s call.  God called Abraham out of his homeland when he was 75 years old and said, “I want you to go to a place I will show you and I’m going to give you a son and from him will come as many descendants as stars in the sky and sand on the shores.” 25 years later when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old, God gave them a son named Isaac.  And one of the points we drew from that study was that “Faith is the means by which God does the impossible.”  

Abraham had already witnessed the miraculous power of God so little wonder he obeys God without wavering.  God told Abraham to offer up his son Isaac and he immediately obeyed, “concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead.”  He knew God was able to do anything.  He trusted in the miraculous power of God.  It is not the size of our faith that matters, it is the size of the One in Whom our faith rests.  Jesus said you can have faith the size of a mustard seed, a tiny little seed, and yet if your faith is resting upon the One True and Living God, then you can move mountains in that power.  Abraham had that kind of faith.  He trusted in the miraculous power of God.

What is your miracle?  What are you believing God for?  What is your burden?  Are you burdened for a child’s soul?  Are you burdened for a loved one’s life?  Are you wondering about the future, how your situation’s going to turn out, that job, that relationship, that position, that test, or that court case?  When you pray, do you trust in the miraculous power of God?  Like Abraham, who reasoned, who “concluded that God was able to raise up Isaac even from the dead” is able to “raise up” your situation?  Able to do the miraculous?

Remember Jesus who said, “Have faith in God.”  And in Mark 11:24, “Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you shall receive them and you shall have them.”  You do not need to remain in darkness, despair, and doubt.  You need not remain in affliction and addiction.  Look to the miraculous power of God to do great things in your life and in the life of those for whom you pray.  True faith, saving faith obeys God without wavering.  True faith looks to the miraculous power of God. 

3) Does Not Withhold Its Most Cherished Possessions From God.

It is hard not to reason that Isaac had to be Abraham’s most cherished possession.  Here was his son and God was testing Abraham’s faith as if to ask: “Abraham, do you really love Me?”  When the Angel of the Lord called out to Abraham and stopped Abraham from offering up Isaac God said, “now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12).  Abraham did not withhold his most cherished possession from God.

When we talk about repentance and how repentance is necessary for salvation – and it is – Repentance involves turning to the Lord by faith and repent from sin.  Two sides of the same coin. 

Salvation involves conversion is faith and repentance. 

Repentance leads us to turn away from sin.

Faith leads us to turn to the Savior.

Most of us readily understand that we cannot follow Christ and hold onto sin at the same time.  We understand that following Christ and loving Christ means getting rid of the bad things that keep us from Jesus.  But what about the good things?  What about other things or people – possessions – things that are not bad in and of themselves, but we have been allowing them to occupy the throne of our hearts.

Is your heart bound up or wrapped up in your possessions, even good things like a house, or a boyfriend or girlfriend or, in the case of Abraham, maybe a son or a daughter?  And your happiness is dependent upon what happens to your house, your stuff, your money, your son, your daughter?  What did Jesus mean when He said, “No one can have two masters?”  Following Christ does not mean you cannot enjoy the blessings of life.  It just means that God is always and forever first place in our lives.  He occupies the throne of our hearts.  What occupies the greater balance of our time, our thinking, our worries, our hopes, or our fears?  Is our heart bound up with something or someone other than Jesus Christ?

If God were to test your faith right now what would happen?  Can you take your stuff, your money, your son, your daughter, your grandchildren, your health, a boyfriend or girlfriend; can you take it up to Mount Moriah and say, “God I never want to love the gift more than the giver and You’re the One who gives all things, so if you want to take back these things, take them back.  So, ‘Here is my heart, Lord.  Take and seal it.  Seal it for Thy courts above.’”   

You can trust God with the things you give Him.  You can trust Him with your daughter; your son; your health; your stuff.  You were made to love Him, to know Him, to cherish Him first and foremost.  You can sing: “When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.”  And, “Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, except in the death of Christ my God!  And all the vain things that charm me most, I (LISTEN!) I sacrifice them to His blood.”  I offer them up because, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Jesus said, “If you love your life, you lose it. If you lose it for my sake and the gospel’s, you’ll find it.”  Do you love your life more than you love Jesus?  Do you live for the things of the world rather than the things of the Lord?  What do you need to offer up, get rid of, or sacrifice?  What is keeping you from being captured and captivated by Christ? Whatever stands between you and your Savior, give that up and give it to the Lord right now.  Say, “Lord, I don’t want anything or anyone to come between us.  I forsake my sin and I forsake my stuff and I turn to you.  I never want to love the gift more than the giver.”

Some of you have never really settled the matter of salvation.  You need to turn to Jesus Christ and be saved today.  God lived for you and died for you in Christ.  Be saved today by trusting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. 

We know that your love so amazing, love so divine, demands our soul, our life, and our all.  Let’s respond to that truth right now not only in our hearts but also in our actions.

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

Last Friday we learned five faith facts . . .

Faith works through imperfect people.

Faith means not having to know all the answers.

Faith is acting like God is telling the truth.

Faith is the means by which God does the impossible.

Faith helps us live in this fallen world, sojourning on as pilgrims living in temporary housing.

We learned those things largely from the lives of Abraham and Sarah.  Abraham being the man referenced in the verse where we left off, verse 12: “Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude – innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”  God worked through this imperfect person, Abraham, an especially imperfect husband to his wife Sarah. 

Abraham was a great man of faith, but he was an imperfect husband.  You will remember he lied about his wife Sarah’s being married to him.  However difficult some of the husbands in our church may be to their wives, I do not know a wife yet who has said, “My husband twice lied about our relationship to another!”  God works through imperfect people.  The writer here highlights Abraham’s faith in spite of his failures.  Today we will look at verses 13 through 16.  These verses alert us to the possibility that we could live in such a way that we would be ashamed to be called followers of God.  I pray today that we will learn how to live in such a way that we will not be ashamed to be called faith followers of God.  May God help us to that end for our good and for His glory through the Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Digital 3D art was all the rage when it first came out in the 90s.  The way it worked was you look at all a mass of colorful dots and if you looked long enough, and in the right way, you can see a picture in the frame.  What looks like a mass of dotted confusion is actually a picture.  You have got to get your eyes right to see it.  When you do, it is like the light goes on and you smile and say, “Wow, I see it!”  If you have “eyes to see,” you can see a picture.  Not everyone can see it.  You have to see it by looking at it a certain way.

I thought of this when I read this text, because all of these people in Chapter 11 are people who look at things a certain way, living with eyes to see more than the world before them.  They have “eyes of faith,” seeing promises, as verse 13 says, “not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off they were assured of them.”

We will go through these four verses, my favorite passage in the whole chapter, and learn our way through them and then I will give three takeaways after we have studied them.

Verse 13 says, “These all(namely these in the previous verses 8-12, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob)died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”  What does it mean that they “died in faith, not having received the promises?”  Abraham and Sarah were promised a beautiful land as an inheritance and innumerable descendants and yet all they had was Isaac when Sarah reached the time of their death.  They died in faith, not having received the promises, but they believed God’s promises, living as sojourners, travelers, and nomads moving from place to place through the land, never getting to see the Promised Land as a permanent home.  Yet, they embraced the promises, remaining faithful even to their death.

Here, then, is an example of living by faith.  Recall the definition of faith in verse 1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Abraham and the others looked forward in faith.  So real was what they saw that you could say it was “substantial” and “evident.”  Faith is the substance of things hoped for or longed, the evidence of things not seen.  Though the eyes of faith, it is seen; seen with crystal clarity.  They could see the fulfillment of the promises and acted on them, acting as if God was indeed telling the truth.

And by their actions they lived out their certain faith, though they had not yet received the promises, they believed the promises, their lives thanking God for granting the substance of the promises to them. 

Remember that if gratitude is thanking God after He does it, then faith is thanking God before He does it.  To thank God before He does it means that we take God at His Word.  We believe His Word.  Remember the nobleman who had a son that needed healing and he took him to Jesus?  John 4:46-50 records what happened, “So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.’  The nobleman said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies!’  Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your son lives.’  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.” Take God at His Word.  Believe Him.  If you can do that, then you can thank God before He does it.

Abraham and Sarah took God at His Word.  As the writer says in verse 13 not only did they see the promises afar off, but “embraced them.”  The idea the writer is trying to get across with this phrase is, “having seen them and greeted them from afar,” as though Abraham could see all of his future descendants and could greet and welcome the promises as much as if he were greeting and welcoming each of his descendants by name!  He saw them.

They lived by faith,

Their very lives were

A “thank you note” to

God for His promises.

Verse 14 states “For those who say such things(confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth)declare plainly that they seek a homeland (their eyes are fixed upon their true homeland).  And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.”  Abraham could have gone back to Haran if he wanted.  If all he was interested in was an earthly homeland, he could have re-traced his steps and gone back to Haran, back to his birthplace in Ur of the Chaldees in Greater Mesopotamia.

In fact history indicates that Abraham’s hometown was an advanced city in many ways, having much more to offer than miles of sand, dust, and dirt, and tents, Abraham’s temporary housing.  The writer seems to be encouraging the Hebrew Christians here that, no matter how difficult it may be on their journey in Christ, it will lead to a far better place than the life from which they left.  In fact, he says in verse 16, “But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

By implication it seems that God is ashamed of some people, people who do not desire a better, heavenly country.  As we saw last Friday from verse 10: Abraham “waited for (or looked forward to) the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

I want to build on these truths by sharing . . .

How To Live In The World As A Temporary Resident

Three ways . . .

1) Let The “Hereafter” Shape What You Are “After Here.”

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then the Gospel assures you that you are headed to that “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).

However many years you live here will be a short time when compared to eternity.  The Bible teaches that Christians either receive rewards or lose rewards based upon how they live as followers of Jesus.  This is not earning our salvation.  No one can earn his way to the kingdom.  We enter into the kingdom of God as those who receive freely the water of life from Christ Jesus.  We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.  But once we are saved, we live our lives for Jesus.  And we will receive or lose rewards in heaven based upon our faithfulness.  2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Let the “hereafter” shape what you

Are “after here” in this fallen world.

Do not fall in love with this world.

Here is evidence of God’s grace at work within our hearts . . .

That we are not too comfortable in this world.

As long as we are alive we live as temporary residents living in temporary housing.  Do not play the fool’s game of living for “the here.”  Do not live for your job, your career, nor even your family.  These are important things – it is not like we are supposed to be hermits in this world. 

The point is not to love these things

More than Christ and not to clutch

To them as though our identity

Is wrapped up in this world.

We are sojourners, pilgrims, and temporary residents living in temporary housing.  As Paul said in Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Do not fall in love with this world.  Remember the warning of Jesus when, in speaking of the judgment to come said, “Remember Lot’s wife!”  It was Lot’s wife in the Book of Genesis who looked back longingly to the land of Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).  Do not fall in love with the world.  Let the “hereafter” shape what you are “after here.”  Spend time in God’s Word each day, read Hebrews 11 each day this week.  Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.  There is light in the Word of God, light to shine in the darkness of this world.

I am afraid some of us may prefer the light of our TV or cell phones to the light of Christ.  We bask in the light of phones and screens instead of living in the true light of Jesus.  Let the “here after” shape what you’re “after here.” 

Secondly . . .

2) See Beyond Your Present Circumstances.

Remember that however bad it is here it will all be better there.  No matter the trials and battles you have here, they will all be forgotten there.  God is working through all of our present circumstances – good and bad – to make us more like Jesus Christ.  This is the point of Romans 8:28-29.  In His children, in Christians, God works all things together for the good of conforming us to Christlikeness.

This is largely where the writer is headed after he mentions all these folks in chapter 11 who lived by faith.  He will say in chapter 12, “Therefore we also, since we are surround by so great a cloud of witnesses … let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross …”  Then in verses 3 and 4 he concludes, “For consider Him (Jesus) who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you also become weary and discouraged in your souls.  You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.”  In other words, it has not killed you yet, has it?!  Your battles and struggles in this world, like your struggle against sin?  See beyond your present circumstances.  Look to the joy set before you.  Remember that however bad it becomes here, it will all be better there. 

Finally . . .

3) Keep Your Eyes On Jesus . . . Be Captivated By Christ

Abraham looked forward by faith, keeping His eye on the city which has foundations.  He knew, as verse 16 concludes, that God “had prepared a city” for him.  Jesus commends Abraham in a way that is even more praiseworthy.  Jesus said that Abraham could even see the coming of the Messiah, the coming of Christ.    Remember when the unbelieving Jews were arguing with Jesus in John 8?  They spoke of their father Abraham and his greatness.  And Jesus said in John 8:56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”  Even Abraham had spiritual eyesight to look beyond his present circumstances and could see by faith the fulfillment of the promises of a coming Savior. 

You are either living with your eyes on Jesus or your eyes somewhere else.  Some of you have got your eyes on the passing pleasures of sin, on pornography, on recreational drug use or alcohol, on bad relationships, on your money, on your investments, and on your stuff. 

Get your eyes off of sin and self and follow Jesus.

God created you to joy in Christ, to joy in Jesus, the Savior, the way, the truth, and the life!  You can have life abundant and eternal in Jesus Christ. 

Never forget you are a temporary resident here.  This world is fading away.  One day it will be completely remade.  One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth.  One day there will be, as Revelation 21 teaches, a new city, an eternal city where Christians will live forever and ever.  We sojourn on until we reach that city.

All week-end long I have had this song playing in my head, “Sweet Beulah Land,” do you know that hymn?  It was written by Squire Parsons.  The Gaither Vocal Band sings it often.  It is a song about sojourning on or traveling on through this temporary world, looking for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God.  Beulah Land is mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah as the place God’s people will go to once they are freed from Babylonian exile (Isaiah 62:4).  They once were “forsaken” but now they are “married (Beulah).”

In John Bunyan’s, Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan describes Beulah Land as a beautiful and peaceful place where sojourning pilgrims await entrance into the Celestial city.

The song goes:

I’m kind of homesick for a country

To which I’ve never been before.

No sad goodbyes will there be spoken

For time won’t matter anymore.

Beulah Land, I’m longing for you

And some day on thee I’ll stand

There my home shall be eternal

Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land

I’m looking now, just across the river

To where my faith, shall end in sight 

There’s just a few more days to labor.

Then I will take my heavenly flight.

We sojourn on until we reach that city, letting the “hereafter” shape what we are “after here,” seeing beyond our present circumstances, keeping our eyes on Jesus; being captivated by Christ.

You know how you are able to see the image in this digital 3D art?  Rather than looking at it, try to look through it, like looking through a window.  Looking beyond the mass of dots one is was able to see the image out there, ahead, and able to see depth and dimension.  It is seen by looking beyond the confusion.  Look beyond your present circumstances, like through a window, see the City up ahead.   See the fulfillment of all of God’s promises in Christ.  See beyond the confusion and see Christ.

Every single one of us is either following Jesus or we are following something or someone else.  We are either living for the Lord or living for the world.  Take your eyes off sin, take your eyes off your circumstances, and look to Christ.  

Some of you need to be saved today.  Turn from sin in repentance and take hold of Jesus.  Maybe you are wondering, “How exactly do I do that? “  The Bible teaches that we simply have to be aware and admit that we are sinner and that we cannot save ourselves.  It is not our self-worth or self-efforts that make us acceptable to God.  It is His grace that gives us the gift of redemption and eternal life.  Then, accept what Jesus has done for you, in your place, and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.  Or maybe you  have more questions about spiritual things.  Do not get hung up on the “whys” and “wherefores.”  It is not answers that you need, it atonement for your sins.   One we settle that issue, the Holy Spirit will lead us to the truth that will help us through everything we cannot understand or figure out and help us keep our focus on Jesus and Him alone.

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

Many people speak of faith as something merely subjective, a blind faith, a leap-in-the-dark faith against all evidence to the contrary. 

• People say things like, “It doesn’t really matter what you believe so long as you have faith.” 

That is just faith in faith, faith in nothing but itself.  That leads to dangerous ways of living. 

• Someone says, “Just be sincere you know, it doesn’t matter what you believe so long as you’re sincere.” 

A doctor may reach into a medicine cabinet, sincerely believing he has grabbed the right medicine, not knowing he has actually grabbed a bottle of poison and – though sincerely believing he is doing the right thing by taking hold of the wrong thing – he would unwittingly poison a person with what he sincerely believed he was helping.  It does matter what we believe.  What we believe is objective, substantive.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for.  It is substantial . . . It is the evidence of things not seen.  We do not see with our physical eyes, but . . .

God’s Word points us to

Jesus Christ and we believe,

Not in some evanescent fleeting

Dream, but in a real person.

The writer says in verse 6 that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is …”  You come believing that He exists, that He is real, that His Word is telling the truth.  It begins there.  People demand God work on their own terms: “I will believe in God if this or if that!”  Christian faith does not work that way.  You believe first that He is, that He exists, and then He grants an ability to see so much that we see through the spiritual eyes of faith.  He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

We looked yesterday at three individuals who diligently sought Him.  We read of the faith of Abel, and Enoch, and Noah.  Now the writer turns in verse 8 to Abraham.  Of all the Old Testament saints mentioned in Chapter 11 it is Abraham who gets the most press, the most coverage.  And I think for good reason, too.  Remember the historical context of the Letter to the Hebrews.  The writer seeks to encourage Hebrew Christians who were facing persecution for their newfound faith in Christ.  They had been cut off from their families who remained under the Old Covenant.   They were excommunicated from the temple and everything with which they previously identified.  And who is Abraham if not someone who likewise left the familiarity of family, home, and culture to go to a new place, a place the Lord would show him?

Facing persecution for their faith and the temptation to go back to the old ways of Old Covenant, the writer presents Abraham, the “main man” of Judaism, as an example of what it means to live by faith, to move forward by faith in the promises of God fulfilled through Jesus Christ.  It is as if he is saying to those Hebrews tempted to forsake Christ: “You may think that by rejecting Christ and embracing Abraham that you are doing well, but I say that to reject the Lord is to reject Abraham’s Lord, also.” 

Frequently I find myself praying the first line of a hymn we sing from time to time.  In a paraphrase I pray: “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, lead me through this barren land.”  It is a plea for God’s help to guide through uncertain terrain, where we are headed today, where we are headed this week.  Guide me O though great Jehovah, led me through this barren land.  So much of life is about how to move forward, how to keep going, how to get through the trials and challenges each day presents.  All the people in this great chapter, chapter 11, help us see how to move forward, how to keep going, how to follow the leadership of our great Jehovah God who brings us to faith in His Son Jesus Christ.  All of the people in this chapter help us move forward in faith, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.  

I want to go through these five verses with you, studying them together, and then at the conclusion of our exposition, provide five faith facts to help us move forward this week.  Verse 8 states, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  Abraham is quite a contrast with Noah before him!  Noah, the last person we studied, was given so much information from God.  So much detail.  And Noah obeyed.  Abraham is given very little information.  You can go back to Genesis 12 and read about God’s calling him out of the City of Ur in Mesopotamia, calling him out at age 75.  And God tells him to go “to a land” that He “would show” him. 

Unlike Noah, to whom God had given great detail about what he was to do, Abraham was simply told to “Go out” in Genesis 12.  That is it.  God promises to make Abraham a great nation and that He will bless him and make his name great and that through Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed.  That is pretty much all God tells Abraham in Genesis 12.  He will renew His covenant promises later in Genesis 15, but for now that is all God gives him. 

Faith leads to obedience. 

Abraham acts as if

God is telling the truth.

Abraham accepts his inheritance on trust.  Does not know where it will be or even very much about exactly what it will be.  He just knows God says he would receive an inheritance.  He accepts it sight unseen . . . “He went out, not knowing where he was going.”

I picture him going to his wife Sarah one morning and saying, “Sarah, we need to pack up our stuff.”  Sarah responds, “Really?  Where are we going.”  And Abraham replies,  “I don’t know.”  “God will show us.”  Abraham trusts.  He trusts and obeys.  Faith leads to obedience.  That is why we sing the song: “Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”

Little wonder Abraham is called by the Apostle Paul in Romans 4:16 the father of the faithful.

Verse 9 declares, “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.”

Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan, the land of promise, “as in a foreign country,” or as in a place where he was not exactly “at home.”  And “dwelling in tents,” he lived in temporary housing, tents.  You read through those chapters in Genesis from Genesis 12 through Genesis 25, reading about the life of Abraham and you read the life of a nomad, a traveler, a pilgrim, and sojourner dwelling as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents.  And he dwelt “with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.”

His faith was not just a momentary singular act in the past, back when he left the City of Ur in Mesopotamia.  It was a continual faith, an ongoing faith, a faith that moved him into the future, ongoing believing that he instilled into the lives of Isaac and Jacob, decades of believing and living by faith.  True faith, saving faith, is a faith that goes on believing.  

Verse 10 states, “For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  I love verse 10!  Abraham lived in tents, but “he waited for the city which has foundations…”  I do not camp as much as I used to.  Frankly, I do not find it as enjoyable as I used to.  I mean I love the outdoors, walks in the woods, and the beauty of nature, but I am not too crazy about dwelling in a tent.  At least the “old school” tents with the old tent pegs you had to drive into the ground.  Using a tool to hammer the spike into the ground and watching it bounce off the ground as though it were concrete, the tent peg bending or breaking.  Some fun!  It is not like dwelling in house which has foundations, stability, solid floors, walls, and ceiling.

Abraham was able to dwell in tents

As a foreigner in a strange land

Because he knew he was

Just passing through.

The writer will say later in Chapter 13 and verse 14, “For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.“  Abraham looked beyond the present world and saw the world to come.  He was able to dwell in the present by looking to the future.  He did not focus on tenuous tent pegs, the frail, insubstantial stuff of the transient material world.  He looked forward by faith to a city not built with tent pegs, but a city with foundations, 12 of them to be exact as the Bible teaches in Revelation 21.  The great point being that this is a city whose builder and maker is God!

When we look out at the horizon, we see seemingly endless land and sky joined together.  When Abraham looked out at the horizon, he saw something else.  He looked beyond a temporary city to see an eternal city.

Verse 11 says, “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.”  Remember back in Genesis that God came to Abraham and Sarah and told them they would have a son.  Abraham was nearly 100 years old and Sarah was 90. Initially both of them laughed.  Abraham’s laugh was more a laughing to himself as in nervous wonder that he would be so blessed.  Sarah’s laugh was a laugh of disbelief.   But the Bible says, “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive and bear a child…”  She gave birth 9 months later to Isaac, whose name means “laughter.”

I like the song by Michael Card . . . 

They called him laughter [because] he came after

The Father had made an impossible promise come true

The birth of a baby to a hopeless old lady

So they called him laughter cause no other name would do

The writer says that Sarah “received strength to conceive.” Literally it reads, “power to conceive.”  This is a reminder that it is God who empowers women to conceive.  He is the one behind every birth, which means there are no accidental births.  There is no such thing as a baby being conceived accidentally.  God is working through the mystery of man’s actions, bringing into the world a new image bearer, a new little person created in God’s image.  This drives home the truth that every life is sacred and every stage of life is a result of God’s grace and mercy.

Verse 12 states, “Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead(this is a reference to Abraham!), were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude – innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”  You will remember from Genesis 15 that God told Abraham to look up into the night sky and try to count the stars.  And God said, “That is how many descendants will be born through your offspring.”  Many sons of father Abraham, many more sons like we who believe are sons of the father of the faithful.

Note the first word, “Therefore.”  There is a direct and purposeful link between the subject of verse 11 to the actions of verse 12.  What the writer is emphasizing is, “In light of Sarah’s faithful obedience, her faith being necessary to carry out the promise made to her husband Abraham – therefore from one man … were born as many as the stars of the sky and sand by the sea.”  In other words, without Sarah’s faith, God’s promise to Abraham would not come true.  Both Abraham and Sarah believed, in spite of their weak faith and inability to fully understand.

What a wonderful thing when both husband and wife believe, grow together, and live and love together!  What a wonderful thing when husband and wife are what Peter describes in 1 Peter 3:7 as “heirs together of the grace of life.” 

Five Faith Facts From This Passage . . .

1) Faith Works In Spite Of Imperfect People.

Abraham was not perfect.  Remember he had lied about his wife?  He lied and made his wife lie, too!  And Sarah, not only lied, but in disbelief initially at God’s promise that she would conceive and give birth to a son at the ripe old age of 90.  She even lied about her laughing.    Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”  Even though Sarah wavered a bit, her name is listed on the great roll call of faith.  

That is encouraging to me.  Faith works through imperfect people, people like Abraham and Sarah.  The Gospel is for imperfect people, for sinners.  God accepts us not on the basis of our religious performance.  God does not accept us based upon our religious acts and behavior.  Thank God!  He accepts us in His Son Jesus Christ, the One who is perfect for imperfect people.  Faith works through imperfect people.

2) Faith Means Not Having To Know All The Answers.

When God called Abraham and said, “Get out,” Abraham did not ask a bunch of questions.  He just obeyed by faith.   In fact, when God initially called Abraham back in Genesis 12 Abraham was 75 years old.  And God goes on to talk about how He is going to bless him by making him a great nation and so on.  But 25 years pass before Isaac is born.  25 years!  Do you think Abraham may have questioned God?  Do you think he may have wondered why God was taking so long?  25 years is quite a delay, isn’t it?  Why the delay?  

God always has a reason for His delays, that is for certain.  Remember Joseph abandoned in that well and then abandoned to prison.  Yet God was with Him.  God is in control.  He may be slow as far as we are concerned, but He is always on time.  Faith means not having to know all the answers.

3) Faith Is Accepting That God Is Telling The Truth.

Faith leads to obedience.  God says, “Get out,” and Abraham gets out.  God says, “I’m going to give you an inheritance” and Abraham believes, he accepts that.  He takes God at His word and accepts that God is telling the truth.  Remember . . .

If gratitude is thanking God after He does it,

Then faith is thanking God before He does it.

Faith is the ability to so apprehend, so believe, so receive, that it is as though we see it now.  We live as though God has already done it.  Faith is acting like God is telling the truth.

4) Faith Is The Means By Which God Does The Impossible.

100-year-old Abraham is mentioned in verse 12 as a man “as good as dead!”  He is 100 and his wife is 90.  God gives them a child.  It is impossible.  Yes . . . But faith is the means by which God does the impossible.

What seems impossible to you?   Remember the lesson of the fig tree in Mark 11:22 where Jesus says, “Have faith in God?”  He goes on to say in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”  Do you trust God when you pray, believing you will receive what you ask for?  Do you trust God to take care of your health?  Do you trust Him to take care of your wayward child?  Do you trust Him to know what’s going on in that workplace of yours and that He is actually working something great and wonderful through your job? Faith is the means by which God does the impossible. 

5) Faith Helps Us Live In This Fallen World.

Like Abraham, our home is not here.  We live here “as in a foreign country.”  Like Abraham’s tents, we all live in temporary housing. 

It was not the material things Abraham was after,

Like so many things so many are after here,

But it was the “here after” he was after!

It was the city beyond the city.  That truth should help us live in this fallen world!  It is a great comfort to know where we are headed, to know about our final destination!

Rome was once referred to as the eternal city.  Today you can go and see the ruins of ancient Rome.  Whereas so many robbers and thieves have stripped ancient Rome of its many treasures, by contrast the city God is building in heaven is an eternal city.  The “new Jerusalem” of Revelation 21, that new city is unassailable, inviolable.  It has foundations because its architect and builder is God.

To focus on the eternal joys is the way to live in the present.  Truly focusing on the joy to come gets us through so much.  Our joy here is shaped by the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  The joy of Christ is something we actually enjoy right now.  We live in that joy now.  That joy will be complete in heaven.

Do not place your confidence in the temporary tent pegs of money, houses, land, and stuff.  Do not look for joy in so many castles built with sand as though the tide will never rise to wash them all away.  It will rise.  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, says Jesus.  Lay up for yourselves treasures in the eternal city.

Abraham did not place his confidence or look for his joy in his present circumstances or the things of this world.  His foundation was not the passing foundations of wealth, land, houses, or even family!  To quote an old puritan: “Abraham went out, not knowing whither he went; but he went out knowing with whom he went.”  He went out with the always-present, all-powerful, Eternal Traveling Companion, the Lord God! 

Faith will help you move forward in this fallen world this week.  God, the Supreme Traveling Companion, is with you through Christ Jesus, with you at school, with you at work, with you in the waiting room at the hospital, and with you at the graveside.   We see Him now by faith.  Our hearts cry out, “And, Lord, haste the day when our faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soul.”

Are you living by faith?  Are you on your way to the city that has foundations?  Some of you are on your way, some are not.  I want to invite you to come go with us to the eternal city.  There is a sense in which every one of us is like Abraham – “as good as dead,” – dead in trespasses and sin.  But God can give us life today, God can do the impossible.  We need only admit our sin, turn from our sin, and turn to Him by faith, and we will be saved.  Let go of your sin and turn to Christ.  Live not for this world but for the One who has given you an eternal home.

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

Yesterday we looked at the opening verses of chapter 11, verses 1 through 3, and spent some time looking at the definition of faith, given in verse 1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for (not uncertain hope as the word is often used today, but certainty of that for which we yearn), the evidence of things not seen.” We talked about . . .

The Christian faith being an objective faith,

Not a nebulous “leap in the dark” faith,

But a faith in a real object,

The Lord Jesus Christ

As revealed in

God’s Word, the Bible.

It is by faith the writer says in verse 3 that leads us to, “. . . understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”  God called all things into existence, creating all things, ex nihilo, out of nothing.  The author says “by faith” we understand this.

The Christian world view, like all other world views, is accepted by faith.  Science is based on empirical evidence, evidence including things observed.  No one was there to observe the origin of creation.  All world views are accepted by faith.  The Christian faith also maintains, however, that God was there.  God was there and He is not silent.  By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.

The writer then provides a great catalogue of people from the Old Testament who lived by faith.  He provides them as examples of those who lived by faith.  We are not to moralize them, suggesting that they are ideal examples of virtue.  This is the problem with sermons like, “Be like Abraham, or “Be like Noah.”  They were not ideal examples of morality.  As I have noted before . . .

Even the best of men is a man at best,

And

All men and women are sinners.

They are provided here as examples of those who lived by faith, looking forward by faith to the coming of One who would redeem them from their moral failures.  In other words . . .

They lived by faith in the Gospel.

In fact, it seems the writer has intentionally placed them here in chronological order such that their looking forward by faith builds in anticipation from one person to the next, historically. and sequentially through the verses of chapter 11, reaching the culmination of redemption in chapter 12 verse 2, “let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

If the believers in verses 4-38 are meant to inspire the Hebrews to look forward and to live by faith, then these same men and women in verses 4-38 will inspire us, too.  We begin with the earliest examples of faith, before even the formation of the nation of Israel: Abel, Enoch, and Noah, from creation to flood in verses 4-7.  We will walk back through this passage and see what it teaches us about having “faith in things not yet seen.” 

Verse 4 says, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.”  The writer recalls the life of Abel from Genesis 4.  in that passage we read about both Abel and his brother Cain’s bringing an offering to God.  Abel brought an offering from his flock, an animal sacrifice, and Cain brings an offering from the field, a harvest offering.  God looks with favor upon Abel, but does not look with favor upon Cain.  Why?

Was Abel’s offering better because it foreshadowed the sacrificial system?  Perhaps.  After all, the writer of Hebrews has written much about the symbolic importance of animal sacrifice as the means by which it points forward to the greater sacrifice of Christ.  But is this the real reason God looked with favor upon Abel’s sacrifice and not Cain’s?  Was Cain’s offering from the harvest an inferior offering?  This hardly seems so.  The Scripture actually says elsewhere that God is pleased to receive the first fruits of the harvest and demands the first fruits of the harvest as an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord.  That cannot be it then.

Given the theological point of chapter 11 and the recurring phrase “by faith” used repetitively by the writer to underscore faith’s importance, we may reason why Abel’s sacrifice is regarded as “a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,” not so much because of the offering itself, but because of the attitude and spirit of the one bringing the offering.  It was brought “by faith” and true faith offers our very best (cf Matthew 23:35 and 1John 3:12).

Cain also worshiped and brought an offering before God but is not referred to in this verse as his brother Abel, obtaining witness that he was “righteous.”  We need not be surprised by this as there are many in the average church today who may feel as though they are doing God a favor bringing offerings to Him but are themselves not righteous, not living by faith, true faith offering our very best to the Lord.

Verse 5 says, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him;’ for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”  The background of this reference is found in Genesis 5:22 and 24 and you will note that both contain the phrase that Enoch “walked with God,” a way to describe Enoch’s faith as a believer who loved and enjoyed fellowship with His Creator.  Enoch never really died.  He was just taken.  I love the way the writer puts it in Genesis 5:24, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not …”  It could be that his obituary read: “Enoch, the man who was not.”  Enoch needed no tombstone.  No grave.  He was just taken.  He was not. 

He walked with God here

And

Continued walking with God there.

Charles Spurgeon has said, “One might desire a change of company if he walked with anyone else, but to walk with God for three centuries was so sweet that the patriarch kept on with his walk until he walked beyond time and space, and walked into paradise, where he is still marching on in the same divine company.”

Verse 6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  To be saved we must believe that “He is,” that He exists, an echo of verse 3: “by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God …”  We also believe “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  We must believe that He will do as He says, that He will grant eternal life and reward our faithfulness.  He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

While no man naturally seeks God, we may be assured that if we are seeking Him, seeking Him as a result of His granting to us the grace of His spiritual empowerment, then our search for God will be successful if we look to Him by faith.  He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Verse 7 says. “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  The background for Noah begins in Genesis 6.  Because of sin in the world, God planned to destroy the world by flood.  He commissioned Noah to build an ark for the saving of his household.  The Bible says that Noah is “moved with godly fear” and builds the ark.  He had faith in things not yet seen.  There was not as yet a sea upon which to sail, not a cloud in the sky.  There had not even any been rain.  What did happen is that Noah is ridiculed by his neighbors at Noah’s faith in the unseen. 

The writer says it was Noah’s faith “by which he condemned the world.”  We too “condemn the world” when our holiness causes others to feel uncomfortable.  I recall a statement I heard some years ago; I do not recall the source, but it is: “When we enter the room there ought to be a hush that falls upon certain kinds of conversations.”  Our influence matters.  Not in a judgmental, sanctimonious way, but in a holy way.  

Because of Noah’s faith he “became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  From the very dawn of history, we see that man is saved by grace through faith.  Man receives righteousness by way of faith, belief, and trust in God’s promises.  All of God’s people, all throughout time, are all saved the same way: by grace through faith.  Believers of the Old Testament looked forward by faith to a Savior who would come, believers in the New Testament – along with us – look backward by faith to a Savior who has come.

Building again upon our living by faith and not by sight, how Christians live above “see” level, I want us to consider four questions by way of application of our passage this morning.  

What Do I Need to Change in My Life?

1) Do I Live For Temporary (Seen) Or Eternal (Unseen) Rewards?  10:34-35; 11:6.

What a contrast between Cain and Abel.  Cain had a short-sighted, worldly view of life and what God desired.  How blind and deficient in understanding to live for this world only!  Cain only had a worldly perspective – what he wanted and what pleased him!  Abel, on the other hand, had faith in things not yet seen!  He looked ahead by faith to a place where he would live not just for 20 years, 30 years, but for eternity. 

Do you believe that “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him?”  Faith is the ability to so apprehend, so believe, and so receive, that it is as though we see it now.  We live as though God has already done it.  

If gratitude is thanking God after He does it,

Then faith is thanking God before He does it.

2) How will I be remembered when I am gone?  11:4.

Verse 4 says. “… he being dead still speaks.” (11:4)  This is what the writer says about Abel!  We need to hear him!  What about you?  When you are dead how will you “still speak?”  At your funeral when the so-called “eulogy” is given, what will be said?  The word eulogy means “good and beneficial words.”  Will good words be shared at your funeral?  If not, what needs to change?  Of what do you need to repent?  Let go of that sin and turn to Christ.

3) Does My Testimony Please God?  11:5.

The Bible says Enoch “waked with God” (Genesis 5:22, 24) and therefore had a testimony that pleased God.  What about you?  Does your testimony – the way you live – only please yourself or only please others?  Remember: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.  

If you do not please God,

It really does not matter

Who else you please.

Repent of sin and turn to Christ.

4) Am I “Moved With Godly Fear?”  11:7.

Verse 7 says Noah was “divinely warned of things not yet seen.”  God has also “divinely warned” us “of things not yet seen.”  Noah could see not just reward, but also judgment.  He believed the prophetic Word of God.  Are you “moved with godly fear?”  The writer will say in Hebrews 12:29, that “our God is a consuming fire.”  There is a judgment to come, a judgment upon our sin.  Noah’s faith meant he was saved from the judgment.  He was an “heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  

Here is the wondrous doctrine

Of justification by faith!  The

Imputed righteousness of Christ.

All God’s people are all saved the same way: by grace trough faith in Christ alone.  Old Testament saints looked forward by faith in a Christ who would come, we look back by faith in a Christ who has come.  But all are saved in Christ alone.

The Bible says in Philippians 3:9, “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

It is this imputed righteousness of Christ alone. 

We stand in the imputed righteousness of Christ

Oh, how we need to remember the work of Christ, His body crucified on the cross, and His blood shed for forgiveness of our sin.  We remember that Jesus lived a life of righteousness, died a substitutionary death in payment for our sins, and conquered death by rising from the grave. We need to remember these things and we proclaim these things every day as we live by the Good News of the Gospel.

We that God for Jesus Christ, the One who died for us.  The One who is coming back to us.  We thank God that because of Jesus we can be forgiven of our sin and live in a way that draws people closer to You.  We thank God for the forgiveness of our sins.  We love Him and thank Him for the hope we have in Christ alone.

“In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied;

For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine—

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the pow’r of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.

No guilt in life . . . no fear in death!

This is God’s Word …

This is Grace for your Journey …

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”