HEBREWS: “A Greater Faith, pt.1 (Hebrews 11:1-16)" | 11/19/23
Hebrews 11:1-16 | 11/19/23 | Will DuVal
Since before I can remember, I have LOVED basketball. But it all really changed one day while I was outside shooting, my dad called me inside; he said, “You gotta come see this.”
I said, “See what?” He said, “This basketball player.”
Now, I was a very active kid, so I said, “Nah, I’d rather stay out here and PLAY than watch.” He said, “Trust me.”
So I came in, and what I witnessed would change my life - my basketball life anyway - forever. Sportscenter was replaying over and over and over again this clip from the NBA Finals the night before. And I watched a guy jump to DUNK the ball, but as the defender jumped to try and block the shot, this man DEFIED GRAVITY, and switched the ball all the way to the OTHER side of the rim, for an uncontested layup.
I asked my dad: “Who IS that?” He said, “That’s Michael Jordan, son.”
And I stood there, jaw on the floor, and I watched the replay another 6, 8, 10 times. And then I picked my ball up, I RAN back outside, and I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to REPLICATE what I had just seen on the TV, tongue hanging out and everything. Because I wanted to be LIKE MIKE!
Watching someone else EXCEL at something you are ALSO passionate about has a way of INSPIRING you, doesn’t it? That is what the author of Hebrews wanted to do for the FAITH of his 1st c. church, and what he wants to do for our faith this morning: he is beckoning us inside, to watch a HIGHLIGHT reel of FAITH with him, that he hopes will INSPIRE us to pick up our balls, and RUN back outside, with a newfound desire to EXCEL at the “game”, the LIFE… of FAITH.
Richard Phillips, whose wonderful commentary I’m gonna draw on quite a bit this morning, points out (390): “The eleventh chapter of Hebrews… is to faith what the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is to love, which is why it is so treasured by God’s people and so frequently studied.”
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Perhaps you’ve heard this eleventh chapter of Hebrews nicknamed the “Hall of Faith”. Personally, I don’t LOVE the moniker, because to me, it evokes images of a MUSEUM, with dry, dusty photos and trophies kept behind glass casing. But the author’s primary purpose here is not to inspire us merely to COMMEMORATE or even to CELEBRATE others’ faith, but rather to IMITATE and thereby to CULTIVATE our OWN faith.
That is the context of Hebrews 11; remember where we left off last week in ch10: with his exhortation that “[the] righteous one shall live by faith… And we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (10:38-39). And if we look AHEAD, to his application point for us at the beginning of ch12, he’s gonna challenge us: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also… run with endurance the race that is set before us” (12:1). Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham… all WATCHING us run, cheering us on - he says, “That ought to ENCOURAGE you, and FILL you with inspiration and ENDURANCE.”
That’s really what ALL of Hebrews has been about; it’s about REFUELING our tanks for the race of faith. The first 10 chapters did it with sound, PRO-found DOCTRINE, the great TRUTHS of the faith, specifically, the great truths of who JESUS is: he’s greater than the PROPHETS, than the ANGELS; he’s our greater SAVIOR (greater than Moses), our greater PRIEST (greater than Aaron), our greater SACRIFICE - and NOW, Jesus is the One both empowering us for the race, and he’s also our REWARD at the finish line. So let’s keep running!
But now, for even MORE motivation, he’s gonna show us the “Faithcenter, Top Ten” highlights. Actually, he’s gonna list SIXTEEN OT exemplars of faith by name here (plus a few others who are UN-named); we’ll cover the first 4 or 5 this morning. And God willing, we’ll finish ch11 next Sunday.
But first, let’s read it together… I invite you to stand… the word of God:
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”
[This is the word of God… SEATED…]
Before we get to the EXAMPLES of faith, first, and helpfully, the author gives us #1 - The DEFINITION of faith, in v1:
“faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Now, two important words there in the English translation - the ESV we read - that I want to unpack, and perhaps REVISE: “assurance” and “conviction”.
The word for “assurance”, in the Greek, is hypostasis. It may sound familiar to you theology nerds, who know about the hypostatic union - the technical term for the “mysterious joining of both divine and human natures in the one person of JESUS”. So hypostasis has to do with a thing’s NATURE, it's BEING. It’s the same word the author of Hebrews used back in ch1 when he declared that, “[Christ] is… the exact imprint of [God’s]” hypostasis, His NATURE. So I prefer the old King James translation of v1: “faith is the substance of things hoped for”. Richard Phillips agrees (392): “The point is… that ‘faith lays hold of what is promised and therefore hoped for, as something real and solid, though as yet unseen.’
When the Brentwood Chick-fil-A opened up 8 years ago, we camped out in the parking lot overnight to get free chicken sandwiches for a YEAR. Fortunately, they did not send us home that day with 52 chicken sandwiches. What they GAVE us was a special GIFT CARD, that could be used once per week, for a year. It wasn’t the sandwiches; but it was the SUBSTANCE of the PROMISE of the sandwiches. That’s what FAITH is.
It is “the conviction of things not seen”. The Greek word there is elechos. It was the word used in the legal world to refer to EVIDENCE or PROOF. If someone said to me, “You’re not really the rightful owner of 52 free chicken sandwiches”, I could pull that gift card right out of my wallet and PROVE it to them. Of course, they could reply, “How do I know what the “First 100” Club means; I don’t know what’s on that gift card…” It might not be “proof” for them. But it is for ME.
And that brings us to vv2 & 3, and point #2: The OBJECT of faith (2-3).
By “object”, I mean BOTH “1. the thing or person to which thought or action is directed; AND 2. the end toward which effort or action is directed; the goal”. Both faith’s FOCUS and faith’s PURPOSE.
Who is the FOCUS of our faith? The person our faith is DIRECTED at?
GOD - v3: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of…”?? GOD!
God is the one we can’t SEE (hence the need for FAITH) but who nevertheless EXISTS, and the entire UNIVERSE is the gift card that PROVES it. Some will claim, “There’s no PROOF that God exists.” But by FAITH, you and I know there is an entire UNIVERSE’S worth of proof! And despite ALL the attempts of the last few hundred years now of scientists and philosophers - materialists, who believe that matter is ALL there is; “what you see is what you get”; “if I can’t see, touch, taste, smell or feel it, it isn’t REAL”; therefore the whole spiritual realm is BOGUS and your “God” is just imaginary” - despite their best attempts to DISPROVE the existence of God, or at least to come up with a credible alternative, they STILL haven’t found one. Because “what is seen” not only “WAS not made” - it CAN NOT be made “out of things that are visible”, without violating the law of conservation of mass; if the universe “Big Bang”-ed, then someone had to pull the TRIGGER.
But if we can get even more PERSONAL and PRACTICAL for just a moment, I think one of the implications we’re meant to glean from v3 here is the reminder that “If God created the entire UNIVERSE by the power of His word - just one word, in Hebrew: “yeHI” - God said, “Let there BE…” and there WAS - can we really believe that ANY of our problems could simply be above His pay grade? No, friends: you can BELIEVE in that kind of God!
So HE is the FOCUS of our faith; and what is the PURPOSE, the end, the GOAL of faith? V2: “by [faith] the people of old received their commendation.”
Jesus said only the RIGHTEOUS get into heaven (Matt 5:20). Yet the Bible says, “NO ONE is righteous”; we’re all sinners. But here’s what the Bible says about Abraham, one of the exemplars of faith we’ll get to in a bit; it says: “[Abraham] believed the Lord, [he had FAITH] and [God] counted it - CREDITED it… COMMENDED it… to him AS righteousness.”
In other words, NONE of us has the spiritual CASH, to pay for the chicken sandwich out of our OWN pockets, but we have been given a GIFT CARD. (I’m just gonna keep rolling with that metaphor til it breaks down…) Heaven is a CFA chicken sandwich. And we only GET it, by FAITH.
So the OBJECT of our faith is both GOD (that’s WHO our faith points us to) as well as HEAVEN (that’s WHERE our faith leads us to - “It is by GRACE we are SAVED through…?? FAITH!).
NOW we’re ready for #3 - The EVIDENCE of faith (4-38) -
If v1 answered “What IS faith?”,
And vv2 & 3 answered “FOR what is faith?”
Vv4-38 now are gonna answer the question: “What does faith LOOK LIKE, in ACTION?”
Or to put it another way: “If faith is truly the means of our salvation - “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosoever….? BELIEVES in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life” - if faith is THAT important, then how do you know you’ve GOT it??” What is the EVIDENCE that you possess a genuine, SAVING faith?
And he’s gonna offer us TEN answers to that question now - 5 this morning, and then another 5 next week in the second half of the chapter.
3A- The first evidence of faith, as demonstrated by ABEL, is that By faith we are attested or shown to be RIGHTEOUS. (4)
V4 says: “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous”
You may recall the story of Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam & Eve, from Genesis ch4:
“Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought off the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted?[b] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.
Now, scholars love to THEORIZE about WHY God accepted Abel’s offering but not Cain’s.
Some think God must have already instituted his system of animal sacrifices, which Abel obeyed, while Cain disobeyed, trusting in the fruit of his OWN labors, instead of God’s appointed substitute in his place.
Others point out that Abel brought the “fat portions” of HIS offering, only the BEST, and they speculate that Cain must have withheld his best crops, and brought God his worst.
But we don’t even have to read particularly carefully to discern what the difference was between Cain and Abel’s offerings here. God plainly told Cain, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” Abel’s offering was accepted because he “did well”, because he was RIGHTEOUS.
Whenever Abel is remembered in Scripture, it is for his righteousness:
Jesus warned the wicked Pharisees that “on you [will] come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah” (Matt 23:35).
1 John 3:12 warns US that “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. [That’s how the story ENDS, by the way.] And why did he murder him? [John answers:] Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's [ABEL’S] were righteous.”
And Abel’s righteousness PROVED his faith. Jesus said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” (Matt 12:34) the hands ACT. In other words, our ACTIONS, our deeds - whether they’re righteous or not - they proceed FROM and they point TO - they PROVE! - what is truly down there in our HEARTS.
Jesus said, “You’ll know a tree by its… WHAT?” FRUIT. Fig trees grow…? FIGS! The presence of figs on the branches PROVES that the tree in question is in fact a FIG tree.
And the same is true of the relationship between our FAITH and our ACTIONS, friends. Faith may be the roots, but our actions are the FRUITS. This is what JAMES was getting at in his letter, when he wrote: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has “faith” but does not have works? …Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” [“We’ve all got our strengths and weaknesses; some Christians, some churches, they’re really good at helping people out who are hurting; ME PERSONALLY… OUR CHURCH here… we’re stronger on the DOCTRINE side of the faith; others might have the HANDS of faith; we’ve got more of a HEAD of faith.” And to that person, that argument, James replies: “Go ahead…] Show me your “faith” APART from your works, and I will show you my faith BY my works.” (2:14-18)
See, what matters ultimately isn’t what’s in your head OR your hands, but what’s in your HEART. However, both our head AND our hands invariably PROVE what’s truly in our HEART.
We may THINK we love Jesus. But how do we PROVE it? “If you truly love me,” he said, “you will keep my commandments.” (Jn 14:15)
We may FEEL LIKE we love our fellow believers. But how do we KNOW, if it’s TRUE? James answers, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and you say to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body” (2:15-16), then guess what - you don’t really LOVE them!
We may BELIEVE that we love our unsaved friends and family. But if we haven’t shared the GOSPEL with them, if we aren’t regularly, fervently praying for them, knowing that if they died today, they’d spend ETERNITY in HELL, separated from God FOREVER, if that belief doesn’t COMPEL us into ACTION, then how sincerely do we really believe it? How genuinely do we truly LOVE them?
“By faith Abel offered to God an acceptable sacrifice… through which he was ATTESTED as righteous” - that’s the better translation of v4. The word here - martureó - is another one borrowed from the legal world; it means to “bear witness” or “testify”, as in court. So the Bible says that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body - our ACTIONS - whether good or evil” (2 Cor 5:10). And when ABEL’s day in the courtroom came, his faith-filled OFFERING was called on to take the stand and TESTIFY on his behalf, that he was in fact RIGHTEOUS.
Our actions “BEAR WITNESS” to our faith. “I will show you my faith BY my works.”
So the first question we need to ask ourselves this morning is: “If every one of my thoughts, my actions, my IN-actions, was to take the witness stand and TESTIFY either for or against me, my FAITH, what would the RESULT be, of the cumulative case that was BUILT?
NOW are you starting to see why it’s so important what he said back in ch7 about having a “full-time DEFENSE attorney in Christ Jesus”, a full-time PRIEST, who “always lives to make intercession for [us]”?! (7:25)
But friends: we cannot be too quick to press the “JESUS” button and simply ignore the ACTUAL story that is told by our DEEDS, by our LIVES: No, “none is PERFECTLY righteous,” and thank GOD for His grace in providing a sacrifice, JESUS, to cover our sins. But at the same time, Abel really was attested as, shown to be, PROVEN… RIGHTEOUS by his actions, his offering, that issued from a heart of FAITH.
And don’t miss the LAST part of the verse: “And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.” I love how Richard Phillips exposits that; he says (410): “Faith bore testimony to Abel, that he was accounted righteous, and now Abel bears testimony about FAITH - about its value, its worth, and its power to justify those who trust in Christ.”
3b) Second evidence of faith: ENOCH shows us that By faith we are PLEASING to God. (5-6)
V5: “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death… he was commended [same word: ATTESTED… he was EVIDENCED…] as having pleased God.”
You may recall the story of Enoch, from Genesis ch5 now: “When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters… Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (5:21-24) Again, I appreciate Phillips’ commentary (415): “Considering all the information we do NOT know about this man, this doesn’t seem to be much of a biography. But the Bible [DOES] tell us one vital fact that speaks VOLUMES. Twice in these verses we are told, “Enoch walked with God.” This wouldn’t make a bad inscription on a gravestone [not that Enoch NEEDED one!]. It tells us much about the character and the pattern of this man’s life. Far more important than the job titles he held or his attainments in life was his walk with God. [And then Phillips explains for us:] What does it MEAN to walk with God? …This speaks of a living RELATIONSHIP… it implies personal knowledge, an ever-increasing understanding… agreement of mind and heart. The prophet Amos rightly asked, “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?” (Amos 3:3). There is an intimacy, a fellowship, and a joy of company [shared] between two who walk together.”
What a beautiful picture: walking with God. That’s what ADAM AND EVE used to do, every day in the Garden, in the “cool of the day”; they would WALK with God. Until the day they ate of the fruit. And BROKE that intimacy, that fellowship. And we’ve been trying to RESTORE it ever since, haven’t we. But it’s ONLY possible, friends, by FAITH.
And our faith is PLEASING to God. That’s the point he’s making in v6, when he says, “without faith it is impossible to please [God]”. Because the converse is ALSO true: that WITH faith, it is POSSIBLE to please God. And then he unpacks that a little for us: “for whoever would draw near to God [whoever would WALK with God, enjoy a relationship of INTIMACY and FELLOWSHIP with God… which is SYNONYMOUS with PLEASING GOD, by the way; please don’t MISS that: God is PLEASED to WALK with us; He LONGS for close relationship with us; “See what kind of love the Father has for us: that we should be called children of God; and so we are!” (1 Jn 3:1) I LOVE my kids. It PLEASES me to “draw near” to them. All week, I LONG for Saturday morning, when I get a half day off to spend with my family. Brothers and sisters: that’s how our heavenly FATHER views relationship with US: it PLEASES him when we “WALK with him”, draw NEAR to him. But whoever would DO so…] must [have FAITH; specifically, we must…] 1) believe that [God] exists and 2) [believe] that he rewards those who seek him.”
First, we must believe He exists. Phillips explains (418): “At first glance it may seem that he is asking people only… to hold some abstract assent to the idea of God… [But based on] a literal translation of the Greek… the original Hebrew readers would have understood this as a way of saying, “Anyone who comes to God needs to have straight [exactly] who God is.” …Faith must identify the God of the Bible… as the one true God. Faith must be in HIM if it is to be saving faith.”
The emphasis in v6 isn’t on the word “exists”, but on the word “HE”; we must believe that HE exists - the God who has revealed himself to us through His word; the only God who DOES in fact exist - HE’S the one we need to KNOW.
And secondly, we need to believe “he rewards those who seek him.” Phillips clarifies (419): “We must believe not only that He is the true God, but also that we have to DEAL with him… The alternative is to IGNORE him, to think that it doesn’t MATTER what God thinks of us… This is what unbelief is all about. Few people deny the existence of God, but many deny the RELEVANCE of God, [deny] their need to seek him for salvation… The vast majority of people agree that God must exist, yet they are not seeking him.”
He goes on (421-2): “God is a rewarder of those who seek him. What, then, does it mean to seek God? …Seeking God… involves a relationship with him. It means making him the God of your life… It means, as Enoch shows us, to walk with God and to offer your life for his pleasure. It means seeking that which is the chief end for our lives, the purpose for which we were made, namely, the glory of God and the enjoyment of him… What, then, will [we] find if we DO seek after him? Enoch gives the answer: [We] will find LIFE. Eternal life… a life that goes beyond the grave, a life in HEAVEN… God spared Enoch death because by faith he was pleasing to God. For us it means a similar triumph over death… Death will mean the perfection of what here [on earth] is only imperfectly attained: to walk with God… and to know his pleasure, which is faith’s greatest reward.”
#3c - Thirdly, NOAH’S example demonstrates that By faith we are HARD-WORKING. (7) Since we already discussed the importance of a WORKING faith with ABEL, I’ll try and be quick on this point.
V7: “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark”
Phillips points out that (426): “God spoke… to Noah 120 years before the flood. [And presumably it TOOK him that long - over a CENTURY - to COMPLETE the job! And don’t forget:] There had never been a [flood before; Heck: it had never even RAINED! Before the flood, water used to come up from the ground; can you imagine the kind of MOCKING Noah must have had to endure, for those 120 long years, just for suggesting that water was gonna start FALLING, from the SKY - “What a NUT job!”. Nor had there ever existed] such a vessel [like this one Noah was called to build. I haven’t seen the life-sized “Ark Encounter” in Kentucky in person, but I know it’s over 500 feet long; 1.88 MILLION cubic feet; you could fit more than 450 semi truck trailers in it!] and [Phillips adds:] we can guess that Noah was to build it on dry ground, far from any ocean or sea. Now that is faith in things unseen!”
But once again, it wasn’t a PASSIVE faith. “By faith… Noah BUILT”, day after day, for 120 years. Such that by the END of it, he had something to SHOW for all his work: an ark that “saved his household”, and a picture of saving FAITH. An ark isn’t just an IDEA, an empty BELIEF; it is “SUBSTANCE” - hypostasis. And it was the EVIDENCE, the PROOF of Noah’s faith. Here’s Phillips again (429): “Unless [Noah] believed, it would have been LUNACY to [build] something like this… But what if Noah had NOT built the ark? What would we say about his faith? Imagine Noah insisting that he believed what God had said [about the flood] if he were not busy working on the ark! A faith like that [as] James [said] …is USELESS and DEAD unless accompanied by WORKS.”
Real faith is RIGHTEOUS. It is PLEASING to God. And it WORKS.
What do we make of the author’s point here that “By [his ark] Noah condemned the world”? Phillips speculates (430): “Surely Noah would have explained his actions, why he was building the ark, to those who inquired and went on to laugh at him. He would have warned the world of a judgment to come and offered the way of safety in the ark. Likewise, we are to teach and explain the life WE lead, the truth WE believe, and the salvation WE seek. And in its rejection of OUR message, the world is condemned for its unbelief.”
#3d - Fourthly, ABRAHAM shows us that By faith we are TRUSTING. (8-12) That’s what faith IS; it is a steady, confident TRUST in the Lord.
And we’re gonna RETURN to Abraham’s example again next Sunday in vv17-19, so I’ll be briefer here too. But we can’t short-change Abraham TOO much, because as Phillips notes (435-6): “Abraham’s significance can hardly be overstated… Paul gives him the important designation ‘the father of all who believe’ (Rom 4:11). Thus we are saved as the spiritual offspring promised by God to Abraham, and his faith provides a model we are bound to follow… In the OT, he is the first person to be specifically commended for his faith [in] Genesis 15:6, “[Abram] believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.’ … Given all this, we are not surprised that the writer of Hebrews pays so much attention to him… In chapter 11, the account of Abraham runs from verse 8 to verse 19, with four different statements that begin ‘by faith Abraham’.”
And the cumulative EFFECT they have is to impress upon us Abraham’s utter DEPENDENCE on the Lord. Consider his life:
First, v8: “By faith Abraham obeyed” when God called him to leave EVERYTHING he knew and loved, and go to a place he would only LATER “receive as an inheritance”. “And [so] he went, not [even] knowing where he was going”!
Second, v9: Once he ARRIVED in this Promised Land, he found it already OCCUPIED, and had to camp out in TENTS the rest of his life. 100 years! He left a comfortable house, in a nice land, cuz God said, “Trust me; I’ve got something BETTER for you,” only to get there and realize this “land of promise” would never in his lifetime be the “land of promise FULFILLED”. Abraham only ever lived there as a “FOREIGNER”.
Third, v10: “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” In other words, this wasn’t even the land Abraham was truly HOPING for! He longed for HEAVEN! And if Abraham had to trust God for this earthly Promised Land, how much MORE did he have to trust God to bring him safely to his HEAVENLY one.
Fourth, v11: “By faith Sarah” now, as an extension of Abraham’s faith, she “herself received power to conceive, [a child] even when she was past the age, [of childbearing; remember she was NINETY years old, and she’d never even been able to get pregnant in her teens and twenties and thirties! But why did God finally open her womb?] since she considered him faithful who had promised.”
Ahh, now we come to something very interesting and very IMPORTANT here towards the END; what is more decisive: our faithfulness to GOD, or HIS faithfulness to US?
Did Sarah receive the miraculous power to conceive because of her unwavering faith in GOD, or because of HIS unfailing devotion to HER?
Go back and read the story in Genesis 18; how did SARAH react when God GAVE her this promise, of a child? She LAUGHED in his FACE!
And while we’re at it, ABRAHAM, the great pillar of faith, the FATHER of faith - do you remember how HE reacted when things got TOUGH in Canaan? He doubted God and fled to EGYPT! And then LIED there about being married to Sarah - almost got her RAPED - to save his own skin. Then he did the exact same thing AGAIN a few years LATER - fled and lied. Remember what Sarah AND Abraham did after a few years went by and God STILL hadn’t made good on his promise? They took matters into their own hands, their own LOINS - actually, someone ELSE’S loins: HAGAR’S - Abraham impregnated Sarah’s SERVANT instead, who gave birth to Ishmael.
Time and time again, Abraham and Sarah proved that even more important than OUR faith in GOD, is HIS faithfulness to US. And time and time again, DESPITE their faith-LESSNESS, GOD proved his faithfulness to them.
And the same is true for us today, friends: Our FAITH is not in our FAITH. Our confidence, our assurance - it’s not in our BELIEF; otherwise we turn faith into just another WORK! Where most people are trying to be GOOD enough, NICE enough, help enough old ladies across the street to make it into heaven; and WE’RE trying to BELIEVE hard enough to make the cut. DOUBT infrequently enough that God will let us in.
NO, friends! “It is by GRACE we are saved through faith; not by works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph 2:8-9) If it were YOUR outstanding TRUST in God that ultimately saved you, YOU’D get the credit. But our FAITH isn’t in our FAITH; our FAITH is in THE LORD. And according to the Bible, even the faith to TRUST Him must come FROM Him! That same passage I just quoted - “not by works” - goes ON to clear it up unambiguously: “this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” - YOUR faith was HIS gift. Such that God ALONE deserves ALL the glory and praise, for saving sinners like us.
Fifthly, and lastly for this morning: The PATRIARCHS (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - v13 says, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised”. But…) By faith we are HOPEFUL. (13-16)
Phillips interprets (459): “This verse might seem to express a TRAGEDY. Abraham and those with him spent their whole lives longing for things they were promised… yet they died without having received them… If this is what OUR faith is about, dying with only unfulfilled hopes, then surely we are, as Paul said, “of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:19). One thing this tells us, however, is that Christianity is not a religion focused on… this present life… Paul says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things here on earth” (Col 3:2). Jesus taught, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth… but lay up treasures in HEAVEN” (Matt 6:19-20)... Our blessings are SPIRITUAL rather than material (Ephesians 1:3 “[God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”). To be a Christian means living as an alien and a pilgrim; it means not being able to fit in with others who are slaves to sin; it means denying yourself and picking up your cross; it means a life of struggle and fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. The Chrsitian life means peace with God, but war with the flesh, the world, and the devil. The primary blessings Christianity offers do not lie in this life AT ALL, but in the life to come.”
And brothers and sisters, we ought to live THESE lives in such a way, with such hopeful anticipation of THAT life to come, that if we’re WRONG - we bet the HOUSE on it, on the hope of ETERNAL LIFE with Christ in HEAVEN - and if NONE of it’s true, then our entire lives are absolutely pitiable, piti-FUL, a WASTE; our lives ought to make NO SENSE AT ALL, if this world is really all there is. Cuz we’re not living for it.
“people who speak [like this, who LIVE like this…] make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.” That we are “strangers and exiles [here] on THIS earth”. That we “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. ”
And friends, when we LIVE like this, when by FAITH we live all of THIS life in light of the life TO COME, then “God [will] not [be] ashamed to be called [our] God”, and we can be SURE that “[God] has prepared for [US] a city” as well. ””