Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Hebrews chapter 11 as we continue our study through the Word of God and we continue reading through this great chapter of faith. As you remember from our last study, Paul is beginning his last division of this letter, a section we might call the superiority of Jesus over the principle of faith.
Last week we began a section that deals with the examples of faith as Paul is trying to get these Jewish believers who were struggling with their faith to look back on the faith of the Old Testament saints. We saw last time the obedient faith of Abel whose faith speaks to us from the grave. Then Paul spoke of Enoch whose faith was accounted to him for righteousness and he was taken to be with the Lord, he didn’t die. And we got as far as Noah, another man of faith. For 120 years he built an ark to prepare for a flood, something that he never experienced before. It never rained until the floodwaters came, there were no floods at that time and the reason he did what he did was that his faith was real and real faith leads to action, it is not passive!
You see, they are examples of what true faith is all about. Paul said, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1. In other words, faith is the “substance” or the supporting structure of what you hope for. It believes in the promises of God even though you may not see it in the present situation. You have the confidence or the “evidence” to act upon what you believe as these men did. Thus, with that said, let’s begin reading in Hebrews chapter 11, starting in verse 8, and see what the Lord has for us this evening as we look at examples of faith, the hero’s of faith from the Old Testament!
VERSE 8
Abraham was one of the hero’s of the Jewish faith; he was the father of the Jewish people. But please understand that before God called Abraham from the Ur of the Chaldeans, living in the area of Mesopotamia, he was an idol-worshiping gentile! We are told in Joshua 24:2, “And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.”’”
And here is the call to this idol-worshiping gentile by God in Genesis 12:1-5, “Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.”
What a great man of faith. He was called by God, who he never saw, to go to a land he never lived in, he didn’t even own any property there, and by faith he stepped out! Well, not exactly. In fact, this was the second calling of God to Abraham to leave his people, to leave his land and go to Canaan. In Acts 7:2-5 Stephen tells us, “And he said, ‘Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, “Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.” Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.’” In fact, if you go back to Genesis 11:31 that is what we are told, but not as clear as Stephen tells us, “And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.”
Abraham did not completely follow God’s command, but went as far as Haran and remained there until his father Terah died and then he obeyed the Lord. And notice that Stephen tells us that God gave this land to Abraham and his descendants even though he didn’t own any of it, nor did he have any children at that time, in fact he would not have a child for another 25 years, when he was 100 years old! But now, here in Hebrews God does not remember the delayed obedience, only the faith!
Most of you have heard the story of how God called me to Wisconsin from the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. After I was saved the Lord spoke to my heart and told me that one day He would bring me to Wisconsin to be a pastor of a church. I didn’t own any property in Wisconsin nor did I know a single person who lived there, but I knew the call of God and I waited, and waited and waited. All I could do was fall on the promises of God that He made to me. It was some 10 to 12 years after God called that He brought me to Wisconsin and as a family we stepped out in faith, in a land we did not know much about, except that it was Illinois’s biggest state park! Just kidding. Now, 10 years later I look back and I see the faithfulness of God to His promise. What is God calling you to do? I would encourage you to take those steps of faith, trusting in His promises just as Abraham did.
VERSES 9-10
“Lord, give me patience and give it to me now!” I pray. I believe a person who is patient is one who has faith in God and His promises. Look at the example of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They lived in a land that God gave them but they lived in tents, not homes because the only land that Abraham owned was the burial plot for his wife Sarah. In fact, that word “dwelt” in verse 9 is the Greek word PAROIKEO, (par-oy-keh’-o) and it describes a “resident alien” or a person who lives in a place but doesn’t have permanent status there. In other words, they saw this present experience as a pilgrimage, and thus, they “ . . . waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Hebrews 11:10.
Why don’t we as Christians fit in? We don’t fit in because this is not our home. We are aliens and strangers just passing through. 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.” Thus, the way we talk, the way we dress, the things we do, how we work, what we watch is just evidence to show that we are not of this world, we are from above. And because of that, the world comes against us, they try to put out our light, and many times we as Christians compromise our faith so we can fit in, blend in with the world! That is a big mistake. Think of it like this, a boat cannot function outside the water. But when you put a boat in the water it functions beautifully. But if water gets in the boat, it is sunk. We as Christians are to function in this world but if the world gets in us, we too will be sunk! We are in this world but not of this world or as Paul said in II Timothy 2:3-5, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” We must we fight the good fight of faith and not give in!
They did not worry about houses, buildings, the latest four-legged drive camel, the three-legged ones never really caught on, but they looked ahead to a future city built by God, which is eternal! What a lesson for us, not to let the things of this world entangle us. Jesus made that point in Matthew 6:19-24 as He said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Where is your treasure? What kingdom are you building up? Because wherever it is, whatever it is that is where your heart will also be, your passion in life! May it be the Lord.
VERSES 11-12
When I look at the faith of Sarah, I am greatly encouraged. In Genesis chapter 15 God tells Abraham that he will have a son. In Genesis chapter 16 Sarah helps God out by giving her husband, Abraham, her maidservant named Hagar and she conceives and has a son named Ishmael. But the Scriptures tell us that he is not the son of promise but a son of the flesh. (Galatians 4:21-31, Genesis 22:2).
In Genesis chapter 17 God tells Abraham, at the age of 99, that he will have a son by his wife Sarah who was 89 years old and he laughed. Then, in Genesis chapter 18 God speaks again of a son by Sarah and she laughs. Her laugh was in unbelief but by the time she has a son, after Isaac is born to Sarah, we see her laugh in faith, “And Sarah said, ‘God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.’” Genesis 21:6.
There are times I look at situations in the church, with the building, with the radio stations, with this or that, and I do laugh wondering how God is going to do it. Sometimes it is a laugh of unbelief but my prayer is those laughs of unbelief would grow more and more to laughs of belief in what God has promised, for in Him all things are possible. Paul put it this way in Philippians chapter 4, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. . . . And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:13, 19. And in Ephesians 3:20 Paul said, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” So why not laugh in belief knowing that what God has promised He is more than able to bring to pass!
A missionary translator in the New Hebrides, John Paton was frustrated in his work for a long time because the people had no word for faith. One day a man who was working for him came into the house and flopped down into a big chair. The missionary asked him what the word would be for what he had just done. The word the man gave in reply was the one Paton used for faith in his translation of the New Testament. Without hesitation or reservation, the man had totally committed his body to the chair. He had felt his need for rest, he was convinced that the chair provided a place for rest, and he committed himself to the chair for rest. A believer must, in the same way, totally commit his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only then is faith, saving faith. Only then is that truly obedient faith.
Now, that which was totally impossible from a human perspective, Abraham being 99 years old and Sarah 89 years old, well past the age of child bearing, God did bring to pass. They had a son named Isaac and from the descendants of Abraham their numbers became innumerable! Their faith, maybe as big as a mustard seed, impacted millions upon millions of lives. You see, it is not the size of your faith, it is that you have faith and it truly is the object of your faith, if it is not God, it is an empty faith!
VERSES 13-16
I’m sorry I had to share those verses with you because, obviously, they must have lacked faith, they all died! In fact, they not only died but they died without receiving the promises! Folks, notice what it says, “These all died in faith . . .” not “out of faith!” That is important for us to understand, especially in the days we are living in. There are many faith teachers out there that will tell you that sickness, even death is a result of a lack of faith on your part, you need to have faith in your faith. That is not what the Scriptures teach; we are to have faith in God, not our faith! In fact, in these verses God says the exact opposite of what these faith teachers try to teach and I will believe God rather than these men! And think about it, these faith teachers get sick and they do even die and yet they lay some big guilt trip on people for their lack of faith because they are sick!
Why didn’t these Old Testament saints blab it and grab that land? Why didn’t they name and claim those promises? Why didn’t they have the faith to obtain all those promises? They did have faith, they saw them at a distance, believed it by faith, and lived their lives accordingly. Now, since they did not have a place of their own, they could have gone back to their homeland, but they refused. What a lesson for us as Christians. What are we going to go back to? What does the world have to offer us? Absolutely nothing and thus, Peter’s words should be ours when asked by Jesus if he was going to leave, to go back to the world, “But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’” John 6:68-69.
Now think about all that Abraham and Sarah went through. All the difficulties they endured without having received the promise, but believing by faith, looked forward to the coming Messiah. Then we, as Christians, having received the promise of the Messiah, should endure difficulty, discouragement. That was the point that Paul was making to these Jewish believers!
And once again, this is not our home, heaven is! Think about it, our life is not what we can see, or hold, or measure, but in the promise of God that one day we will be with the Lord and that will be eternal! You see, don’t believe the saying that “You’re so heavenly minded you are no earthly good” because the truth of the matter is, you can’t be any earthly good unless you are heavenly minded! David said, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.” Psalm 27:4. And Job, after all he went through, said, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:25-27. Our faith is in the promises of God to us and we rest in that!
VERSES 17-19
After all those years of waiting now God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son. How could God do that? Before we get to that, I thought we should read through this story so we get the full impact of what was going on, what took place.
In Genesis 22:1-19 we are told, “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. 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.’ 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.’ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”
In a test of faith, God called Abraham to take his only son, not the son of the flesh, Ishmael, but the son of the promise, Isaac, and offer him up as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. And notice, no arguing, no complaining, just faithful obedience to what God had said. In fact, the verb tense of “offered up” in Hebrews 11:17 indicates that as far as Abraham was concerned, this was a done deal. Isaac was already offered up the moment God spoke. Thus, for 3 days of traveling to Mount Moriah, in Abraham’s mind, Isaac is dead!
Now here is the thing. Abraham did not know how, but he believed in the promises of God that through his seed the nations of the world would be blessed, that through his seed his descendants would be innumerable. Thus, if God was going to do this He would have to raise Isaac from the dead. At this point in history, God had not done anything like that, Abraham never witnessed anyone being raised from the dead, but he believed it by faith. In fact, Paul tells us in Hebrews 11:19, “concluding that God was able to raise him up” That word “concluding” or “accounting that God was able to raise him up” is the Greek word, LOGIZOMAI, (log-id’-zom-ahee) and it was an arithmetic word expressing “a decisive and carefully reasoned act.” (Guthrie). In other words, Abraham calculated God‘s promise worthy of confidence and by faith he walked.
Now please understand that Isaac was not a little boy, as some were taught in their Sunday School stories. He was a man, I believe around 33 years of age, and he could have overtaken his dad if he wanted, but he freely submitted to do his father’s will!
Why did God allow this? Not only to test the faith of Abraham but to give us a picture of what Father God would do some 2,000 years down the road on that same spot, only this time this 33 year old man named Jesus would die for the sins of the world. This time the sacrifice would be complete. Remember what we were told in Genesis 22:7-8, “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.” God did provide Himself as that sacrifice!
In John 8:56 Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” What was He speaking of? I think He was speaking of the resurrection of the Messiah, of Jesus, as Abraham acted out what would take place on Mount Moriah some 2,000 years later!
Think about this for a minute, all that Abraham did, when he was confronted with a promise and a command from God which seemed to contradict the other promise of God, he did what we should do – he obeyed the command and let God take care of the promise – which God was and is more than able to do! It is as Paul said, “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.” Hebrews 11:6. And in Romans 4:20-21 Paul said of Abraham, “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”
VERSE 20
Now if I was writing this letter, Isaac would not be in my hall of faith, he lived in the flesh for a good portion of his life. Remember when Isaac was going to give the blessing to Esau and when his wife Rebekah found out, she helped her son Jacob fool Isaac into thinking he was Esau. Isaac, at this point in his life, could hardly see and he loved some venison stew and asked his manly son Esau to hunt and prepare it for him and then he would bless him. Well, Rebekah made some for Jacob to take to his dad, and he wore the clothes of Esau, disguised himself even with the smell of the outdoors, and he received the blessing from Isaac. When Esau came in for the blessing after Jacob left, Isaac told him that he already gave away the blessing to Esau he thought, but it was Jacob instead. And we are told in Genesis 27:32-33, “And his father Isaac said to him, ‘Who are you?’ So he said, ‘I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.’ Then Isaac trembled exceedingly, and said, ‘Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came, and I have blessed him — and indeed he shall be blessed.’”
Here is the problem. God said that even though Jacob was not the firstborn, he was to get the blessing of the firstborn. Isaac tried to get around that because he loved Esau more. Then where is the faith in Isaac? When he saw that God had thwarted his plan, even though Jacob was acting in the flesh, not a man of faith here, he trembled and we are told, “I have blessed him — and indeed he shall be blessed.” He saw that God’s plans could not be changed and he submitted to God’s will by faith.
VERSE 21
Jacob’s life was pretty carnal also, not a great man of faith but a schemer, a conniver. He did what he wanted to get what he wanted. In a sense, he didn’t believe in the promise of God, for the most part and when he acted in the flesh, he was Jacob but when he acted in the spirit, he was called Israel or governed by God. In Genesis 48:14-20, as Jacob and his family are down in Egypt with his son Joseph, he is going to bless the sons of Joseph and we are told, “Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. And he blessed Joseph, and said: ‘God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day, The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.’ Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, ‘Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.’ But his father refused and said, ‘I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.’ So he blessed them that day, saying, ‘By you Israel will bless, saying, “May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!”’ And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.” Jacob died a man of faith; he was obedient to the commands of God.
VERSE 22
In Genesis 50:24-26 we are told, “And Joseph said to his brethren, ‘I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’ Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.’ So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” Joseph knew God’s promise would come to pass and even though he wouldn’t see it in his lifetime, he believed it by faith. His instructions to future generations, the ones who would enter the land of Canaan, was that they were to carry his bones into the Promise Land and bury him there and that is exactly what they did! In Joshua 24:32 we see this take place as we are told, “The bones of Joseph , which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph.”
As we close tonight, obviously we will not finish up this chapter tonight but we will continue on next week, look at the faith of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph at the end of their lives. They faced death with full confidence that all that God had promised would come to pass even though they did not see it with their physical eyes, but they did see it through the eyes of faith! And they passed on that faith to future generations. May we do the same, pass on the faith that God has given to us to the next generation that they too may carry on the work of God!