Category: sermon-archive

THE PEOPLE WHO RECEIVED

Hebrews 11:32-35a (CSB)

“And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead, raised to life again.”

We have been taking a good look at the heroes of faith that the author of Hebrews mentions in chapter 11 of his epistle. We have discovered that there are lots of people who have lived by faith. We have also discovered that there have been lots of ways of showing that faith.

As he concludes his chapter on faith heroes, the author of Hebrews talks about two different categories of people of faith. Today we are going to look at the first category. These are the people who received. In other words, they found some measure of victory by trusting God. He came through for them.

The people who have experienced victory by faith are diverse (32).

He says that “time is too short” for him to list all the winners he wants to list.

• He had listed Abel, who had only one shot at a life of faith, so he took it.
• He had listed Enoch, who walked with God when everyone else was walking away from him.
• He had listed Noah, who built a boat at God’s command and that boat saved him and his family.
• He had listed Abraham, who learned to trust and obey even the commands that didn’t make sense.
• He had listed Sarah, who learned that her limits are not God’s limits.
• He had listed Isaac, Jacob and Joseph whose faith in God went further than the limits of their own lives. They trusted God to be at work in their future.
• He had listed Moses, who saw the invisible God at work, and that enabled him to receive miracles at his hand, and to lead the Israelites in following his will.
• He had listed Rahab, who risked everything for her new-found faith in the God of the Jews.
• Now he lists Gideon, a coward who at first did not even trust God – he put him to the test. But God proved himself to Gideon, and he became a mighty warrior, and led Israel for 40 years.
• He lists Barak, a commander of armies, who had to put aside his own pride and seek the help of Deborah the prophet. He was both courageous and wise.
• He lists Samson, who failed God many times in his life, but knew that God would not fail him.
• He lists Jephthah, who was chased away from his family and lost his inheritance. But when war came, the elders came for him and he became a deliverer of his people.
• He lists David, of course, the shepherd boy who became the mightiest king of Israel, turning the nation into a superpower.
• He lists Samuel, a mother’s answer to prayer, and just the kind of man the nation needed to transition from the period of judges to that of the kings.
• Finally, he lists the prophets, who spoke the word of God to the people of God, even when they would not listen.

Now, if you are looking for a common denominator in this list, you will find very few. That is the point. Faith manifests itself in a million different ways in a million different people. Faith is a gift of God and he tailor makes each gift for each recipient. We don’t get our faith off the rack.

This tells me that we should not expect one another to be too similar. We have problems with this in today’s church. That is sometimes the cause of great divisiveness. When we want other believers to look like us, talk like us, pray like us, and worship like us.

History tells us that often the most effective and productive in the kingdom of God have been people who did not conform to everybody’s expectations.

Jesus’ disciples had that problem as well. John admitted this to Jesus. He told him that that they had seen someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and they tried to stop him. But Jesus told them not to stop these people because the ones who are not against us are for us (Luke 9:49-50).

Nature shows us that our God has created a world of amazing diversity. He has built diversity in the kingdom of God as well.

The ways of experiencing victory by faith are also diverse (32).

• Patriarchs experienced victory by faith and thus “obtained promises” even when it seemed impossible in the flesh.

• Warriors experienced victory by faith and thus “conquered kingdoms”, “became mighty in battle” and “put foreign armies to flight. This should be no surprise to us. After all, one of God’s titles is Yahveh Tsva’ot – the LORD of Armies.

• God’s people under the oppression of foreign rulers experienced victory by faith and thus “administered justice” and “gained strength in weakness.”

• God’s people being persecuted for their faith experienced victory and so “shut the mouths of lions” and “quenched the raging of fire” and “escaped the edge of the sword.”

• There are even a few examples of those who experienced victory by faith when they “received their dead, raised to life again.”

Yet all of these victories were temporary. Even those who were resurrected eventually died again. Why? The author of Hebrews tells us that even these heroes of faith “all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth” (11:13).

So, even this amazing number of heroes of faith only received a temporary deposit, guaranteeing a greater victory yet to come. The author of Hebrews calls that greater victory “a better resurrection” (11:35b).

The apostle Paul was looking forward to that ultimate victory.

“More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.” (Philippians 3:8-11 CSB).

Today’s text is an encouragement for all of us. We live in defeat so much that we need reminders from God’s word that victory is possible. We need to stay strong in faith and pray strong in faith. Our God is able. He was faithful to many in the past. He is just as faithful today.

THE MAN WHO SAW THE INVISIBLE

Hebrews 11:23-29

“By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward. By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible. By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned.”

We have been mining the verses of Hebrews 11 looking for nuggets of gold about faith. Our study has not disappointed us. In fact, we have been pulling out ore by the cart-loads. We have learned that those ancient saints we read about in the Old Testament lived by faith. They were justified by faith. They were rescued by faith. They were successful because they learned to trust God, and when they had an opportunity to demonstrate their faith, they took their shot.

Each of these heroes of faith lived up to the definition of faith provided in this chapter. We read in verse 1 that faith is “the proof of what is not seen.” A man or woman of faith sees something that the unbeliever does not see. The something is there, it just cannot be seen by the unaided eye.

Science tells us that there are lots of things that really matter in this world which cannot be seen by the unaided eye. Education, medicine, law enforcement and industry have adopted devices that help us see things too small for our eyes to register, or not visible for other reasons. Consequently, we have more justification now than ever in history to believe what the author of Hebrews tells us about creation. He tells us that “what is seen was made from things that are not visible” (11:3). You would think that our generation would have lots more people of faith since we are all taught to trust in things we cannot see. Sadly, the devil has taught us to ignore that fact, but in every generation there are heroes of faith who grasp it.

Today we are going to look at one of those heroes. We will examine the life of a man who saw the invisible. His name was Moses. His story is told in the first five books of the Bible, which are attributed to him as their primary author. Hebrews summarized Moses story in today’s text, and identifies him as “one who sees him who is invisible” (27).

Moses learned from his parents to trust the God who is invisible (23).

Amram and Jochebed were the parents of Moses, and his story of living by faith began with them. Before Moses could make any decisions for himself, they decided by faith to protect him.

Folks, we need to be parents like that. Our children and grandchildren will face dangerous things in this life, and they will be unaware of the danger. So, we need to step in and be brave enough to shield them from the danger that they do not see.

You know the story. You’ve seen the movies, and I hope you’ve read the book. Moses “was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict.” In other words, they were moved to act by two things: their love for their child, and their loyalty to someone higher in rank than the king. They saw two things. They saw a beautiful child who needed to be protected, and they saw an invisible almighty God who they needed to obey.

Jesus told his disciples “do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5). Amram and Jochebed’s fear of God was stronger than their fear of Pharaoh’s sword.

Because they trusted God to protect their son, he enabled them to teach their son about that trust. So, Moses’ first lesson in seeing the invisible came from those two faithful parents.

Moses lived his life trusting the God who is invisible (24-27).

Next, the author of Hebrews summarizes the life of Moses by highlighting six decisions that he made because he trusted the God who is invisible.

First, Moses decided who his real mother was. The text tells us that when Moses had grown up, he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (24). He understood that to identify as an Egyptian would be high treason against his king in the sky.

Secondly, Moses decided to endure temporary hardship instead of giving in to temptation. He “chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin” (25). He could see beyond the temporary to the permanent. He could have lived as an Egyptian and enjoyed a comfortable temporary life. But he saw the God who is invisible and sided with him and his people.

Thirdly, Moses decided where his treasure was. He “considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward” (26).

I should point out that the author of Hebrews is not slipping us a fast one by inserting the name of Christ in his story of Moses. The earlier chapters of Hebrews makes the point that all of biblical history points to the person and work of Christ.

• In chapter 1, Christ is God’s Son who was with God in the beginning creating the world (1:2).

• In chapter 2, Christ is the captain of our salvation, made perfect through sufferings (2:10).

• In chapter 3, Christ is the apostle and high priest of our profession (3:1).

• In chapter 4, Christ is the great high priest who has passed into the heavens (4:14).

• In chapter 6, Christ has entered the holiest place as our forerunner (6:20).

• In chapter 9, Christ the mediator of a new covenant with a promise of an eternal inheritance (9:15).

Moses had been taught by his parents that the Christ was going to come in the future. Moses decided to be loyal to the future Christ rather than the present Pharaoh.

Jesus told a parable about a treasure a man found in a field. He sold all his possessions to gain that field, so he would have that treasure. Moses faced the same decision. So do we.

Fourthly. Moses decided where his reward was coming from. He could have looked all around himself and focused on enjoying life now in the palaces of Egypt. Instead “he was looking ahead to the reward” (26). He saw an invisible God with a greater reward that what he could experience in Egypt.

Fifthly, Moses decided what he did not need. He “left Egypt behind” (27) because he realized that although life in Egypt was tempting, he could not be in two places at once. He could not please the king without angering the invisible God. So, he chose to anger the king by pleasing God. Of all things, he did not need God’s wrath, so he had to exodus.

Finally, Moses decided to stay true to his faith. He “persevered as one who sees him who is invisible” (27). You see, the life of faith is not just a single choice. It is a million choices where we stay true to our faith commitment. Moses is a hero of the faith because he persevered. We come into the safety of God’s house by faith. We lock the doors and stay inside that house by perseverance.

Moses led the Israelites to trust the God who is invisible (28-29).

Next, the author of Hebrews highlights two incidents in the life of Moses where he led the Israelites to deliverance from death.

He says that by faith Moses “instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites” (28). Inside their homes, the Israelites were enjoying the Passover. Outside was the angel of death. He stayed outside their homes because of the sprinkling of the blood on the doorposts. The Egyptians did not trust in this invisible God, so they did not paint their doors. The death angel came and the eldest child of each family died.
The Israelites followed Moses and “crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned” (29). What made the difference that day? It wasn’t the Israelite’s confidence or self-determination. Those soldiers were just as confident and determined when they rode their chariots into the path of the parted sea. It was the invisible God who made the difference that day.

These two incidents highlight the role of leadership as the passing on of faith in the invisible God. Our heavenly Father wants us to not only believe in him, but also to lead others to follow him. Moses is a wonderful example of a man of faith who did that.

So, some questions as we reflect on the life story of this hero of faith:

• Do you see the invisible God?
• Do you make choices in this life based on his existence and authority?
• Are you leading others to walk by faith in the invisible God of the Bible?

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THE MEN WHO COULD SEE THE FUTURE

Hebrews 11:20-22 (CSB)

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.”

We have examined the lives of five heroes of faith so far in our study: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah.

• Abel had a short life, but God enabled him to not allow that limit to keep him from using his one shot at a life of faith.

• Enoch lived in a corrupt generation, but God enabled Enoch to walk in fellowship with him in spite of the failures of his world.

• Noah also lived in a corrupt generation, so corrupt that God had to destroy it. But God preserved Noah and his family from that judgment.

• Abraham came from a pagan people, but God called Abraham to himself and taught him how to put trust him implicitly.

• Sarah learned to look beyond her own limits and focus on God’s ability and his faithfulness.

Today we add three more men to the list. The author of Hebrews lumps these three men together because he is highlighting a particular aspect of their lives. They each expressed their faith by something they did at the end of their lives. These three men are a son, grandson, and great-grandson of Abraham. They are Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

To help us see what these three men had in common, let’s go back to the first two verses of Hebrews 11.

• “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For by it our ancestors won God’s approval.”

Something that is hoped for has not yet happened. Something that is not seen is only ours potentially. It is a future possibility. Faith is trusting in the reality of what you hope for. It is confidence in something you do not yet see.

These three descendants of Abraham manifested the faith of Abraham. The author of Hebrews highlights how each of these men demonstrated faith inspired confidence in their future.. Each story tells us what faith inspired confidence can do in our own lives.

Faith inspired confidence enables us to influence the next generation (20).

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”

Let me remind you of the story behind those words, in case you were sleeping during Sunday School. Isaac was an old man by this time, and he planned on blessing Esau, because he was the oldest. Isaac “was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see” (Genesis 27:1). He was blind to the present but he believed that he could see the future. He had faith inspired confidence that he could influence the next generation.

So, he called Esau and told him to go hunting for some game, and make him a nice meal. He planned to bestow a blessing on Esau that would change his future.

Meanwhile, his wife Rebekah had overheard this conversation. She tells Jacob to go get a couple of goats. She proceeded to cook up a nice stew, and dressed Jacob in Esau’s clothing. She even put some of the goat skin on Jacob’s hands and neck so Isaac would be fooled into thinking he was hairy Esau instead of smooth Jacob.

Consequently, Isaac wound up blessing Jacob instead of Esau with this blessing:

• “May God give to you – from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land – an abundance of grain and new wine. May peoples serve you and nations bow in worship to you. Be master over your relatives; may your mother’s sons bow in worship to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed” (Genesis 27:28-29).

By the time the smoke cleared and he realized that he had been deceived, Isaac had only these words as a blessing for Esau:

• “Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above. You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck” (Genesis 27:39-40).

Now, when we tell this story in Sunday School, we usually focus on how bad it was for Rebekah and Jacob to deceive their poor blind father. But the author of Hebrews finds a different moral in the story. He focuses on the fact that in spite of the circumstances behind the blessing, what Isaac said to Jacob and Esau influenced their lives and determined their destiny.

Faith inspired confidence ensures the impact of our testimony (21).

“By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”

When Jacob was old, he had poor eyesight like his father did. So, when it came time for him to bless his grandsons – the sons of Joseph, he reached out his hands and placed them on the heads of the two boys. It was a blessing but it was also a testimony.

• He said “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all harm – may he bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow to be numerous within the land” (Genesis 48:15-16).

But Jacob had crossed his hands so that the greater blessing went to Ephraim instead of Manasseh. Joseph tried to correct him, but he said to Joseph …

• “I know, my son, I know! He too will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation” (Genesis 48:19).

The author of Hebrews adds that Jacob “worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.” That staff was necessary because Jacob had acquired a limp because of a bad hip from wrestling with a certain someone and was blessed because of it. His defect was a sign of his blessing, and it became part of his testimony. His faith inspired confidence ensured the impact of his testimony on his family.

Faith inspired confidence gives us glimpses of a life after death (22).

“By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.”

Joseph was in Egypt at the time. The Bible records that he “said to his brothers…

• “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”” (Genesis 50:24).

Joseph knew this because God had told Abraham that his…

• “offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions” (Genesis 15:13-14).

Now, Joseph realizes that this exodus was going to happen after his death, so he “gave instructions concerning his bones.” What were the instructions?

• “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here” (Genesis 50:25).

What Joseph did is he took the promises of God concerning the future, and he shared those promises with faith inspired confidence. He knew what life was going to be like for his people after his death.

You and I have much more information from Scripture about our future than Joseph did. We know that Jesus will return, raise the dead in Christ, transform the living into immortal bodies, celebrate with us at the marriage feast, reign with us, reward us, and give us permanent life.

Given all the things that we know, shouldn’t we be sharing faith inspired confidence about the future with the world?

Today we learned about three men who had something in common. They had the opportunity to express their faith inspired confidence about the future, even as they faced their own deaths. These men died. Their confidence was not the ridiculous notion that death is an illusion. No, their confidence was that death is not the end. It is a comma, not a period. They could see the future, and they could remain confident, because God would be there.

THE WOMAN WHO WAS PAST THE AGE

Hebrews 11:11-12 (CSB)

“By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the one who had promised was faithful. Therefore, from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.”

We have been looking at the heroes of faith mentioned in this chapter. So far, we looked at what God did for four men – Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abraham.

• Abel had a short life, but God enabled him to not allow that limit to keep him from using his one shot at a life of faith.

• Enoch lived in a corrupt generation, but God enabled Enoch to walk in fellowship with him in spite of the failures of his world.

• Noah also lived in a corrupt generation, so corrupt that God had to destroy it. But God preserved Noah and his family from that judgment.

• Abraham came from a pagan people, but God called Abraham to himself and taught him how to put trust him implicitly,.

Today we take a break from looking at men of faith, because today’s text draws our attention to a woman of faith. We are going to learn about what God did for Sarah.

God enabled Sarah to look beyond her own limits (11a).

The first thing we need to know about Sarah was that her conceiving and giving birth to Isaac was a miracle. The text says that “she was unable” to conceive. Some women are fertile later in life, but Sarah was not one of them. In fact, Sarah had never conceived.

But even if she had been able to conceive when she was young, our text says that she was unable to do so at that point because “she was past the age”. Her time had passed her by. She missed the window of opportunity.

I think if I were Isaac, I would have had security issues. Nobody seemed to think it was possible for him to be born. When God told his father – Abraham – that Sarah would give birth, the Bible records this response:

• “Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” (Genesis 17:17 NET).

When Sarah herself heard the promise, the Bible records her response:

• “So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?”” (Genesis 18:12).

The fact that both Abraham and Sarah laughed at the idea shows how absurd it was – from the standpoint of the flesh. When the child was born, they named him Isaac, which is Hebrew for laughter.

Friends, the more we know about ourselves, the more absurd the gospel is. That God could establish his eternal kingdom in the hearts of people like us is so unreasonable it is laughable. But the author of Hebrews is showing us that God works in our lives in ways that do not make sense.

God challenges all of us to look beyond our personal limits, because that is exactly where he wants to work. Paul told the Ephesians:

• “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NET).

God starts at the limits of our workmanship, and then he adds his workmanship. When we get to the point where we realize that we can’t, then we are ready to start living by faith and receiving God’s power.

Sarah “received power to conceive offspring.” She may have thought it ridiculous that she herself could have a baby, but God challenged her to go beyond what she could not do, and focus on trusting him.

Maybe our prayers seem so ineffective sometimes because we are too busy limiting what God can do. Sarah wanted a child desperately. What she did not realize is that God wanted her to have a child. His will was not an obstacle. If what we want is not what God wants, then we need to repent of wanting it. But if what we want is what God wants, then we need to stop praying “if it be thy will” as a concession. We need to know God’s will, and pray it confidently.

God enabled Sarah to focus on his faithfulness (11b).

The text says “she considered that the one who had promised was faithful.” Like her husband, she learned to trust in God’s ability. When Abraham thought about what would happen if he slaughtered his son in response to God’s command, it says he “considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking” (verse 19). That old couple had learned to trust in the faithfulness of God.

We listen to promises all the time, in our families, at our jobs, from the politicians. But we learn that some people cannot be trusted because they are not faithful to fulfil their promises. We even learn to filter out some people’s promises because we know they won’t keep them – they won’t even remember them! But when we come across people of integrity who always keep their promises, we look forward to dealing with them, because we know their word stands for something. That is what Sarah knew about God.

God enabled Sarah to participate in his amazing plan (12).

Her husband was “one as good as dead.” The miracle was not going to come from him. But Sarah did not let that stop her. She was going to put her faith in the living God.

God had a plan. God wanted Abraham to produce “offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and as innumerable as the grains of sand along the seashore.” Sarah knew that she could not do what God wanted to do, but she learned that God can do anything he wants, and he could use her to get it done.

Three questions are implied from today’s text:

• First, what does God want to do today?
• Second, do we trust him to do it?
• Third, are we willing to be a part of what he is doing?

We need to baptize our imaginations. For too long we have looked ourselves in the mirror and concluded that God cannot use us. Abraham and Sarah learned that the mirror lies. When God sets his mind on doing a miracle, he looks for people like us. It does not matter if some of us are past our “use by” date. Age doesn’t matter. Gender doesn’t matter. Education doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is our willingness to let God do what he wants to do through us.