Bible Text: Luke 1:15-25 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Luke |

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March 13, 2022
“God’s Divine Announcement to Zacharias”
Luke 1:15-25

 

Read Luke 1:15… 

15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

Zacharias is told that his son John will be great in the sight of the Lord.

 

John is an important herald

 

(Matthew 11:11a),

“Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!”

 

Think about that for a moment.  Remember when we studied (Hebrews 11) some of the great heroes of the faith?  Jesus is saying that John is the greatest man who has ever lived up to his time, i.e., John would be considered greater than Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Wow!

 

John’s greatness is evaluated by God, “in the sight of the Lord.”  Think about that.  John would be the forerunner crying out to Israel that the Messiah had indeed come, and God was again actively interacting with the Nation of Israel.

 

John was born to a very common family living in the hill country of Judea.  He had no formal education, as far as we know, and it is said that

 

(Luke 1:80)

80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

 

John’s clothing was made out of camel’s hair, held in place with a leather belt; and what did he eat?  Locusts and wild honey.  John wasn’t trying to start a new trend in fashion or food

 

(Luke 3:4),

4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.

 

John was all about directing attention to and revering Jesus Christ, the Messiah, God’s Son

 

(Matthew 3:11),

11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but He [Christ] who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

 

(John 1:30),

30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’

 

Gabriel announces that John will drink no wine [lit., straight from the wine press] or liquor [lit., wine that was fermented, alcoholic].  This is significant, in that it means John will be set apart, like one taking a Nazarite vow

 

(Numbers 6:1-4),

1 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD,

3 he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes.

4 All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

much like Samson

 

 

Both Samson

 

(cf. Judges 16:17)

17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.”

 

 

and Samuel

 

(cf. 1Samuel 1:11),

11 She made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

 

were Nazarites their whole lives.

 

Gabriel’s announcement is that John would be great in the sight of the Lord, i.e, in the sight of God

 

(cf. Luke 1:6).

6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

When a person confesses Christ as Lord, repenting of sin, that person is indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God

 

The truth is, Jesus Christ, as God in human flesh, is declaring approval of John, and no one can be approved by God unless their sins have been forgiven.  So, in a sense, God imputed righteousness to John, as Gabriel declares, “[John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.”

 

When a person confesses Christ as Lord, repenting of sin and trusting Jesus alone for salvation, that person is filled with the Holy Spirit of God, being marked as God’s own possession

 

(Ephesians 1:13-14),

13 In Him [Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him [Christ] with the Holy Spirit of promise,

14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

 

That happened to me on August 1, 1978, when I was 3 weeks shy of being 29 years old, God’s Spirit took up residence in me.  That means for almost 29 years of my life I did not serve the Lord.  Each of you who belong to Christ, experienced the indwelling Spirit of God at the moment you repented, believed, and began to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

 

John was filled with the Spirit of God from the time that he was conceived in his mother’s womb.  John’s whole life would be lived under the guidance, leading, and power of the Hoy Spirit.  Wow!

 

Read Luke 1:16-17… 

16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

 

Gabriel goes on to say that John’s ministry and preaching will be so powerful that it will cause unrepentant sinners to turn back to God.

 

Later in this chapter, at John’s circumcision,. Zacharias prophecies concerning his son John,

 

(Luke 1:76-77) saying,

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;

77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation

By the forgiveness of their sins,

 

John is destined to proclaim the gospel of God’s grace, the good news of forgiveness of sins through the One and Only Savior, Jesus [lit., God’s Salvation] who is the Christ [lit., the Holy One of God], Immanuel [lit., God with us].

 

John would preach repentance

 

(Mark 1:4-5),

4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

5 And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

 

John’s purpose was to expose the sinful hearts of the people, calling them repent and believe in the Lord for salvation.  That is exactly what we are suppose to be doing today.

 

2Corinthians 5:17-21,

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

John would come as the forerunner of the Messiah, “in the spirit and power of Elijah.”  The Jews believed that God would send a messenger before the Day of the Lord’s judgement and the Messiah’s coming to set up His kingdom

 

(Malachi 3:1),

1 “Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.

 

(Malachi 4:5-6),

5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD.

6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

John was not Elijah.

 

John was not Elijah of the OT resurrected, nor was he the final Elijah who would come about 3.5 years before the return of Christ to the earth.

 

See Matthew 16:28-17:13…

16:28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

 

17:1 Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.

3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.

7 And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

10 And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

11 And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;

12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”

13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

 

John appeared about 3.5 years before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, fulfilling part of the prophecies given by Isaiah and Malachi concerning the forerunner of the Messiah.

 

In Matthew 17, Jesus seems to be saying that not only has an Elijah-like Prophet already come (in the form of John) preparing the way for the Lord; but in some prophetic way another Elijah will come again in the future, appearing in the middle of the 7 years of Tribulation and proclaiming the Word of God for the 3.5 years before the Coming of Christ for judgement (cf. Revelation 11, 19).

 

Read Luke 1:18-25… 

18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.”

19 The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

20 And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple.

22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.

23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,

25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

 

Zacharias now responds to the angel, expressing his doubt concerning what he has been told.  Immediately the angel rebukes Zacharias and declares, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God!”

 

Gabriel came from God to bring Zacharias the “good news” that a special son was going to be given to him.  Gabriel isn’t just any angel, he is God’s primary messenger angel; one of only two angels who are actually named in the Scriptures (the other being Michael, the Archangel).

 

Because of Zacharias’s disbelief, Gabriel causes him to be mute, and tells him he will not be able to speak until these things have been fulfilled

 

(see Luke 1:57-64).

57 Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

59 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.

60 But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.”

61 And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.”

62 And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished.

64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.

 

After Zacharias was made mute, he went outside where the people had been waiting for him to give a benediction, which would have been something like

 

(Numbers 6:24-26),

24 The LORD bless you, and keep you;

25 The LORD make His face shine on you,

And be gracious to you;

26 The LORD lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace.’

 

But Zacharias couldn’t speak, instead he was trying to use hand motions to tell the people about Gabriel being near the altar of incense.

 

Luke tells us that after Zacharias had finished his priestly duties, he returned home.  We are not informed as to how he may have told Elizabeth the news that she was going to be pregnant and they would have a son who would be named John [God is gracious].

 

The angel’s good news became a reality, for we are told that soon Elizabeth became pregnant, and she remained in seclusion for five months.  Why was that?  Probably because she was barren and too old for a pregnancy, and most likely people would not have believed her; at least not until it was very obvious that she was indeed pregnant.

 

Notice again Luke 1:25,

25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

 

As I mentioned last week, for a Jewish couple not to be able to have children was considered a curse, as if the sins of either the husband or the wife, or both, had brought God’s judgement upon them; but now through God’s intervention, any disgrace that might have been experienced was completely removed and only the joy of the good news and their gratefulness toward God remained.

 

Zacharias and Elizabeth were just common people of humble means who were faithfully serving the Lord; they were unable to have children, and at that moment God intervened by sending Gabriel with the Good News.

 

The Good News isn’t that an aged couple who had been barren, have become pregnant with a son who is to be named John [lit. God is gracious].

 

The Good News is that John is the one chosen by God to announce the long awaited arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Lord and Savior; and everyone who believes in and receives Him will be saved.

 

 
Pastor Mike
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Bible Text: Luke 1:5-15 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Luke |

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March 6, 2022 – (AM Insert)
”God’s Grace Revealed”
Luke 1:5-15

 

 

Isaiah 40:3,
“A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.’”

This prophecy is recorded in all four Gospel Accounts

(pp. Matthew 3:3;
3 For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!’”

Mark 1:3;
3 THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.’”

Luke 3:4;
4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.

John 1:23).
23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Israel rejected knowing God through faith; they turned to sacrifices, ceremonies, and laws, instead.

Hebrews 11:1-3,
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 For by it the men of old gained approval.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

 

Hebrews 11:6
6 And 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 seek Him.

God called Israel as His nation; but Israel hardened itself toward God; God departed Israel for 400 years.

John’s birth marks God speaking to His people again, for John would be the forerunner of the Messiah.

Read Luke 1:5a…
5a  In the days of Herod, king of Judea

Herod, king of Judea, was merciless, insanely jealous, even murdering his family members.

Read Luke 1:5b-7…
5b   there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

Zacharias was a priest, his wife Elizabeth was also from a priestly family.

Note: The priesthood was made up of 24 divisions for Temple service (cf.

1Chronicles 24:1-19);
1 Now the divisions of the descendants of Aaron were these: the sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

2 But Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no sons. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

3 David, with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their offices for their ministry.

4 Since more chief men were found from the descendants of Eleazar than the descendants of Ithamar, they divided them thus: there were sixteen heads of fathers’ households of the descendants of Eleazar and eight of the descendants of Ithamar, according to their fathers’ households.

5 Thus they were divided by lot, the one as the other; for they were officers of the sanctuary and officers of God, both from the descendants of Eleazar and the descendants of Ithamar.

6 Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel the scribe, from the Levites, recorded them in the presence of the king, the princes, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the priests and of the Levites; one father’s household taken for Eleazar and one taken for Ithamar.

7 Now the first lot came out for Jehoiarib, the second for Jedaiah,

8 the third for Harim, the fourth for Seorim,

9 the fifth for Malchijah, the sixth for Mijamin,

10 the seventh for Hakkoz, the eighth for Abijah,

11 the ninth for Jeshua, the tenth for Shecaniah,

12 the eleventh for Eliashib, the twelfth for Jakim,

13 the thirteenth for Huppah, the fourteenth for Jeshebeab,

14 the fifteenth for Bilgah, the sixteenth for Immer,

15 the seventeenth for Hezir, the eighteenth for Happizzez,

16 the nineteenth for Pethahiah, the twentieth for Jehezkel,

17 the twenty-first for Jachin, the twenty-second for Gamul,

18 the twenty-third for Delaiah, the twenty-fourth for Maaziah.

19 These were their offices for their ministry when they came in to the house of the LORD according to the ordinance given to them through Aaron their father, just as the LORD God of Israel had commanded him.

but after the Babylonian captivity, only 4 divisions returned to Judah

(cf. Ezra 2:36-38).
36 The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973;

37 the sons of Immer, 1,052;

38 the sons of Pashhur, 1,247;

Those 4 divisions were then divided into 24 divisions; within which,  Zacharias was assigned to the division of Abijah for his priestly service.

Zacharias and Elizabeth kept the commandments and were pleasing to God, yet they were barren.

Read Luke 1:8-10…
8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.

Zacharias has the duty to burn incense at the altar, just outside of the Most Holy Place.

Note: The Most Holy Place, was where God met with the High Priest of Israel on the Day of Atonement, in order to seek forgiveness for the sins of the Nation of Israel.

 

 

Read Luke 1:11-14…
11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

An angel appeared to Zacharias,  who was frightened; the angel tells him Elizabeth will give birth to a son, to be named John [lit. God is gracious].

Note: The last time an angel appeared to a priest was to Zechariah, in a vision some 500 years before.

This news from God’s angel was awesome, John would be a living example of God’s Grace returning to Israel.

 

Read Luke 1:15…
15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

God departed from Israel over 400 years before this event.

JOHN WILL BE GREAT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD!  Notice, he is not to drink wine or liquor [strong drink].

 

Leviticus 10:9,
“Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations.”

 

John will be filled with the Holy Spirit before he is born.

This meant God was returning to Israel, not in a pillar of smoke, or a pillar of fire, or as a presence in the Most Holy Place; but in the flesh of Jesus the Messiah. And the one to announce the beginning of the Messiah’s Ministry would be John, this son of Zacharias & Elizabeth, who would declare

(John 1:29),
“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord for the forgiveness of sins will be saved.
If you aren’t sure, ask God right now to forgive your sins and become your Savior.  He turns no one away!
 
Pastor Mike

Bible Text: Luke 1:1-4 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Luke |

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February 27, 2022
“Introduction to Luke”
Luke 1:1-4

Luke was not one of the Twelve Disciples, he was not an apostle, nor was he a prophet; and yet, God gave him the responsibility and propensity to write the most comprehensive Biblical account of the life of Jesus Christ, and to also write the most complete narrative of the birth, growth, and dispersion of the Church of God (from the early 30’s to early 60’s A.D.), mostly following the life and travel of Peter and Paul.

 

The Gospel According to Luke and the Acts of the Apostles were written sometime between A.D. 60-62; they make up more than 25% of the New Testament.  Luke is the undisputed author of both works, yet doesn’t refer to himself by name, in either one.

 

Luke’s name is only recorded three times in the New Testament

 

(Colossians 4:14),

14 Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.

 

(2Timothy 4:11),

11 Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.

 

“Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service,”

 

(Philemon 23-24),

23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,

24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.

 

Read Luke 1:1-4…

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,

2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;

4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

Luke a Gentile, avoids terms unfamiliar to non-Jews.

 

Luke writes to Theophilus [Latin], Theophilos [Greek], Theo means God, philus/philos means friend; so this Friend of God is a Gentile, a non-Jew.

 

You will notice, as we read through Luke’s Gospel Account, he avoids using Aramaic and Hebrew terms that are common to Jews, but he does explain Jewish customs, and some of the geography of Israel.  This book would definitely find its way into the hands, hearts, and minds of Gentiles, those not familiar with Judaism.

 

In Colossians 4:10-11,

10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him);

11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.

lists some believers “who are from the circumcision,” i.e., Jewish Christians;

 

Paul lists some fellow believers “who are from the circumcision,” i.e., Jewish Christians.

 

Then in Colossians 4:12-17,

12 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.

13 For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

14 Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.

15 Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house.

16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.

17 Say to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

 

he lists believers who are not part of the circumcision, i.e., they are Gentile believers,

 

and in Colossians 4:14,

14 Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.

 

as mentioned earlier, we find Luke listed with the non-Jews.

 

In Luke 1:1-2,

1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,

2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,

 

Luke says this is “an account of the things accomplished among us just as they were handed down to us, by those who were eyewitnesses and ministers of the gospel from the very beginning.”

 

On the day of His resurrection Jesus appeared to His disciples

 

(John 20:19-21),

19 So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Before Jesus left His Disciples to go back to the Father

 

(Luke 24:44-53),

44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,

47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

48 You are witnesses of these things.

49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.

51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

52 And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

53 and were continually in the temple praising God.

 

After Jesus had been lifted up into heaven, the Disciples

 

(Acts 1:12-26),  (summary version):

“returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers”

 

Acts 1:12-26

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

15 At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,

16 “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

17 For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.”

18 (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.

19 And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,

‘LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE,

AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT’;

and,

‘LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS OFFICE.’

21 Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us–

22 beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us–one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

23 So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias.

24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen

25 to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

 

(cf. Matthew 13:55).

55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

 

At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said, ‘Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus

 

(cf. Psalm 41:9;

9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

Who ate my bread,

Has lifted up his heel against me.

 

(cf. John 13:18).

18 I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS MY BREAD HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’

 

For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.’ (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

 

For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his homestead be made desolate, And let no one dwell in it’; and, ‘Let another man take his office.’ Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.’ So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias. And they prayed and said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two You have chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.”

 

Luke was not an eyewitness, but he had talked with, investigated, evaluated, and recorded the testimony of many who were eyewitnesses, e.g., Peter, Paul, Matthew, John, Mark, and no doubt, many other not so well known witnesses, whose testimonies have been lost.

 

1John 1:1-3,

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life–

2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us–

3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.

 

Luke 1:3

3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;

 

Luke 1:3 says Luke, “having investigated everything carefully from the beginning,” wrote it out, “in consecutive order.”  With the Holy Spirit moving Luke along, using Luke’s natural attributes and training (as a doctor) to examine the evidence and accurately record his findings, God’s Spirit was making sure every word written by Luke was exactly what God wanted to be revealed to us.

 

 

2Peter 1:20-21,

“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

 

1Corinthians 2:12-13,

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,

13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.

 

2Timothy 3:16,

“All Scripture is inspired by God [God-breathed] and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”

Not only is Luke’s narrative accurate, but it is mostly written chronologically (from start to finish) concerning Jesus’ birth, circumcision, boyhood, baptism, public ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, appearances to His followers, and His ascent back into heaven.

 

There are some narratives in Luke’s Gospel, where he expounds on an event or teaching, but for the most part, this is an orderly account of the life of Christ written down and given to a man named Theophilus.

 

Luke would have assumed that his narrative would be read and shared, so that all who heard it

 

(Luke 1:4),

4 so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

 

“may know the exact truth” about God’s sovereign plan to send His own Son to serve as full payment for our sins.

 

Luke understood that redemption from sin’s curse was for everyone who repents and believes in Jesus Christ for salvation.

 

Acts 10:34-48,

“Opening his mouth, Peter said: ‘I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all)— you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.’ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues [languages that were not there own] and exalting God. Then Peter answered, ‘Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?’ And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

      

God shows no favoritism concerning salvation

 

(Galatians 3:26),

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,”

 

Galatians 3:28,

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

 

So, what do we know about Theophilus?  As already mentioned, he was a Gentile like Luke.  Because Luke addresses him as, “most excellent” Theophilus; he would seem to be a man of importance, e.g., this same title of respect (most excellent) is recorded by Luke

 

(cf. Acts 23:26;
26 “Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings.

(cf. Acts 24:3;
3 we acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness.

(cf. Acts 26:25)
25 But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth.

 

when speaking of Governors Felix and Festus.

 

Evidently, Luke cared deeply for this man, who was perhaps a new convert or maybe an unbeliever who showed interest in the things of God; either way, Luke wanted to make sure that Theophilus [Friend of God], and anyone else reading this narrative, would have an accurate and orderly account of the life and ministry of Christ, so that they might believe, be saved, and become a true “friend” of God.

 

John 15:15,

“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

 

But isn’t it just like our loving God to employ His Spirit to empower Luke, a traveling companion of Paul, to care so deeply for an unknown man named Theophilus, that Luke writes a lengthly historically chronological narrative and theological work, to this one man.

 

And yet, by God’s providence, Luke’s Gospel Account has now reached around the world with the divine message of salvation through Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

 

John 20:30-31,

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

 

May we, each one of us, care enough, like Luke, to share this message with anyone and everyone who will listen: Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior and Lord, was sacrificially put to death as payment for our sins, He was then buried, but on the third day He came out of the grave alive, in order to sovereignly demonstrate that He alone has authority to forgive sins and grant eternal life, and that He is coming back to get all those who believe in Him, to be with Him forever, in heaven.

 
And all God’s people said, Amen!
Pastor Mike
>’(((><
 

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:30-40 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Hebrews 11 |

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February 20, 2022
“Those of Whom This World Is Not Worthy”
Hebrews 11:30-40

 

Previously in Hebrews 11:1-29, we read about people of faith who trusted God to have a plan and purpose for their lives. These people stepped through their fears and stepped out in faith; God blessed them and provided what they needed in this life, while also promising that they would receive eternal life in heaven.

 

These people weren’t all great, but they did have faith in God, and so God sets them apart as examples for us.

 

Read Hebrews 11:30-31…

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

 

God’s people are finally ready to enter and conquer the Promised Land, and the very first city they come up against is Jericho.

 

Joshua sent two men to spy in Jericho; they were hidden by Rahab a prostitute, who feared the Lord

 

(Joshua 2:10-11),

10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

11 When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

 

Rahab helped the spies escape and return to Joshua, where they gave their report.  God instructs Israel (cf. Joshua 6) to march around the city once a day for 6 days (seven priests carrying seven trumpets march in front of the Ark of the Covenant). On the 7th day they march around the city 7 times with the priests blowing their trumpets, after the 7th time around the priests blow long blast on the ram’s horn and the people shout… the walls then fell down and outward, away from the city.

 

Note: Several archeological excavations were done in Jericho in the 19th and 20th centuries in which much has been discovered; most amazing, the walls on the hillsides seem to have fallen out, not in, creating a ramp for the Israelites to easily enter the city.

 

God’s people then went into the city and killed every person in Jericho, except for Rahab and her family

 

(cf. Joshua 6:17,

17 The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

 

(cf. Joshua 6:25),

25 However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

 

for Rahab feared God and helped the Israelites rather than obey her king.

 

Read Hebrews 11:32…

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,

 

Now we are given a list of six faithful believers: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel, and the category of prophets.

 

Gideon was a man of weak faith, when the angel of the Lord came to him with a promise to help him defeat the Midianites  Gideon asked for “signs” 9putting out a fleece) to confirm God’s presence and power, to affirm that God would indeed give him victory

(cf. Judges 6-7).

 

Gideon was very reluctant to go against the armies of Midian, but he finally let go of his fears and trusted God.

 

Gideon started out with over 30,000 fighting men, but God quickly lowered that number, first to 10,000, then down to just 300 men; for the Lord did not want Israel to be able to boast about their victory over the Midianites and the Amalekites. God used Gideon and 300 men with trumpets, pitchers, and torches to drive Israel’s enemies out of Canaan, even though their number was said to be too numerous to be counted.

 

Barak was the commander of Israel’s army when the Canaanites had oppressed Israel for about 20 years.  The Canaanites had 900 iron chariots when Barak was called to fight them.  Deborah was judge over Israel at this time and God was with her, so Barak ask her to go with him.

 

Deborah went with him and God brought a great rainstorm that turned the ground into thick mud, causing the chariots to get bogged down.  Barak and his men attacked, pursuing and killing all their enemy, and this lead to 40 years of peace in Israel

(cf. Judges 4).

 

Samson had godly parents and supernatural strength; but Samson despised these blessings, until God took away his great strength.  He was captured and blinded, but Samson turned back to God who allowed him, in his death, to kill 3,000 of Israel’s enemies

(cf. Judges 13-16). 

    

Jephthah  mother was a prostitute and his own brothers ran him off from home so he wouldn’t get any inheritance; not a great start. Jephthah fell in with and became leader of a group of renegade warriors; but when Israel was threatened by Ammonites, Jephthath was asked to lead Israel’s army against them.

 

Jephthath vowed to consecrate the first thing to come out of his house, when he returned from battle, to God (and it ended up being his daughter).  God had given him victory in battle, so he offered his daughter to perpetually be in God’s service.  Jephthah became Israel’s Judge and he ruled for six years

(cf.Judges 11-12).

 

David was a shepherd boy, the youngest son of Jesse, and as a teenager he defeated Goliath, the enemy of Israel. As a man ee was mighty in battle, trusting God for protection and power.  David became king over Israel, and even though he committed adultery and murder, he was a man with a heart after God; in fact, it will be upon his throne (the throne of David) that the Lord will rule on the earth during the millennium kingdom

(cf. 1Samuel 16-1Kings 2).

 

Samuel was both a prophet and a judge of Israel. He obeyed God, but his sons, who were delegated to follow him as judges, were corrupt and they perverted justice; so the people demanded a king. Samuel listened to God and anointed the first king of Israel, Saul, and in his farewell speech, Samuel warned the people to give up idols and serve the one true God

(cf. 1Samuel 1-3).

 

Hebrews 11:33-35a…

33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,

34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;

 

Although names aren’t mentioned here we know many of whom the author is speaking: Daniel was saved by God from the lions (cf. Daniel 6). Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were saved from the flames of the furnace (cf. Daniel 2-3).  David escaped Saul, who repeatedly tried to kill him (cf. 1Samuel 23-24).

 

Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 41-42) and Jeremiah (cf. Jeremiah 32-33) acknowledged their own weaknesses and cried out to God, and He strengthened them.

 

The widow of Zarephath (cf. 1Kings 17) and the Shunamite woman (cf. 2Kings 4) had sons who were raised from the dead by Elijah and Elisha.

 

God uses people of faith, strengthening us in our weaknesses so that the power of God may work in us.

 

When people step out in faith, trusting God, they are able serve God, doing whatever He calls them to do, these faithful acts sometimes become legends, stories that generations will talk about.

 

Hebrews 11:35b-38…

35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;

36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.

37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated

38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

 

The second part of verse 35 says these people of faith experienced mocking, scourging, and imprisonment; they were tortured, put to death with the sword; and they went about in sheep and goat skins, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering in deserts and mountains. living in caves and holes in the ground.

 

Jeremiah was chained and stoned; tradition tells us Isaiah was brutally sawed in two by the wicked king Manasseh.  Elijah and Elisha wore animal skins and wandered the earth as men who had no earthly home.

 

Looking at the history of God’s people, there is a long list of those who suffered for their faith, not that they enjoyed suffering, but they endured it out of love and devotion toward God.  These people were looking forward to an eternal inheritance in a heavenly home.

    

Hebrews 11:38

38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

 

says the world was not worthy of these people; and that these faithful servants were worthy of something far greater than what they experienced here.

 

We may, at times, feel like we are living under a curse rather than a blessing; evil is all around us, and the enemies of God in this corrupt world seem to be having victory; but we must keep our eyes on Jesus.

 

We are to follow Jesus, by faith, trusting Him to protect and provide, now and forever.

 

Hebrews 11:39-40…

39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,

40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

 

For seven weeks now we’ve studied people of faith, sinful people who struggled, often failed, but as they lived out their faith, seeking to obey God, they pleased Him and He counted them worthy of mention here in the Believer’s Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11.

 

 

These men and women are godly examples, and although, while they lived on this earth, they didn’t receive all God had promised until they died, or were caught up, like Enoch, to be with God, forever.

 

That is what we look forward to, the hope that we have is made possible through the sacrificial death and sovereign resurrection of God’s Son.

 

These OT Believers listed in the Hall of Faith, didn’t have a knowledge of Jesus Christ, they didn’t have the written Word of God, they didn’t have the indwelling of God’s Spirit; and yet they had saving faith

 

(Hebrews 11:1-3),

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 For by it the men of old gained approval.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

 

Hebrews 11:6,

“And without faith it is impossible to please [God], for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

 

The Hall of Faith has been and is continually being filled with faithful believers throughout the ages.

 

If your name was written here in chapter 11, what would be said about you?  What example of faith are you leaving for future generations?

 

Yes, you are flawed, you have failures, we all do; you are a sinner, we all are.  Every person listed in this chapter is a sinner who was saved by God’s grace, a flawed person who often failed God.  But God never failed any of them, and He will never fail you.

 

What you need to consider is this, are you trusting God, really trusting God, to watch over, provide for and protect you each and every day? Are you seeking to know and to do that which pleases God? If so, your name is written in the Book of Life, because you are in Christ.

 

Whatever your situation, whatever you station in life, you have the opportunity, like those recorded in the Hebrews 11, to honor God with your life while setting an example for others to follow.

 

Everyone who belongs to God by faith, has overcome sin, death, and judgement, in and through Jesus Christ.

 

1John 5:1-5,

1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.

2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments.

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.

4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.

5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

 

Psalm 1:1-3,

1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

 

Psalm 37:3-5,

3 Trust in the LORD and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the LORD;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

 

Proverbs 3:5-6,

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will make your paths straight.

 

1Corinthians 15:58,

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

 

1Thessalonians 5:16-18,

16 Rejoice always;

17 pray without ceasing;

18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

 

Colossians 3:17,

17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

 

Colossians 3:23-24,

23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

 

Philippians 4:4-9,

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

 

Philippians 4:12-13,

12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

 

Philippians 4:19-20,

19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

20 Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 
Pastor Mike
>’(((><

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:20-29 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: Hebrews 11 |

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February 13, 2022
“Faithful Men: Isaac to Moses”
Hebrews 11:20-29

 

Read Hebrews 11:20… 

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.

 

See Genesis 25:21-34;

21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

23 The LORD said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb;

And two peoples will be separated from your body;

And one people shall be stronger than the other;

And the older shall serve the younger.”

24 When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25 Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau.

26 Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.

28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished;

30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

31 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”

32 Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”

33 And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

 

Genesis 27:1-40…  

1 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.”

2 Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death.

3 Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me;

4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”

5 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home,

6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying,

7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’

8 Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you.

9 Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves.

10 Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.”

11 Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man.

12 Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.”

13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.”

14 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved.

15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

17 She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.

18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”

19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.”

20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me.”

21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”

22 So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.

24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”

25 So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.

26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”

27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,

“See, the smell of my son

Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed;

28 Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,

And of the fatness of the earth,

And an abundance of grain and new wine;

29 May peoples serve you,

And nations bow down to you;

Be master of your brothers,

And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

Cursed be those who curse you,

And blessed be those who bless you.”

30 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31 Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.”

32 Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”

33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”

34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!”

35 And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”

36 Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”

37 But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”

38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,

“Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,

And away from the dew of heaven from above.

40 “By your sword you shall live,

And your brother you shall serve;

But it shall come about when you become restless,

That you will break his yoke from your neck.”

 

Isaac believed he was blessing Esau his favorite son, when he was really blessing Jacob, the favorite son of Rebekah.  The Lord had said that Esau would serve Jacob, and Jacob, the younger son, would become the son of blessing.   

 

Isaac disobeys what God told him and tries to bless Esau; Rebekah tells Jacob to lie to his father and steal his blessing.  In the end, Esau sells his birthright for a bowl of soup. And yet God uses this dysfunctional family to bring blessing to us!

 

God sovereignly determined to work through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve tribes of Israel as the nation of God’s called out people (but specifically through the tribe of Judah) through whom came Jesus Christ the Lord.

————Jews and Arabs————

 

Malachi 1:2,

“I have loved you,’ says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have You loved us?’ ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet I have loved Jacob,’”

 

(the Twelve Tribes of Israel), the promise was originally made to Abraham

 

(Genesis 17:7),

“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you…”

 

Romans 9:11-15,

“For though the twins [Jacob and Esau] were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’”

 

Rebekah’s pregnancy with twins was rough, there was a wrestling match going on inside her womb, and she asked, “why am I this way?”  The struggle was symbolic of the antagonism that would exist between her two sons.

 

Isaac favored Esau, Rebekah favored Jacob; but God’s sovereign plan to bless Jacob’s descendants over those of Esau, took precedent over Isaac’s love for his firstborn son.  God’s blessing [according to the rights of first born sons] should have gone to Esau, but God divinely favored Jacob over Esau.  God’s sovereign hand directs the affairs of men, fulfilling God’s purposes and plans.

 

Abraham’s firstborn son (through Sarah’s Egyptian maid Hagar) was named Ishmael [lit. God hears]; but it was through his son Isaac [lit. one laughs], that God made His covenant

 

(see Genesis 16:1-2,

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar.

2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

 

Genesis 16:4-12,

4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.

7 Now the angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.

8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

9 Then the angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.”

10 Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.”

11 The angel of the LORD said to her further,

“Behold, you are with child,

And you will bear a son;

And you shall call his name Ishmael,

Because the LORD has given heed to your affliction.

12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man,

His hand will be against everyone,

And everyone’s hand will be against him;

And he will live to the east of all his brothers.”

 

Genesis 16:15-16;

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

 

Genesis 17:21).

21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

 

God’s promise to Israel came through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and even though neither Isaac nor Jacob were firstborn sons, they received the blessing from and covenant with God, according to God’s plan and purpose, His will.

 

The Jews’ covenant relationship with God came through their patriarch Abraham (note: God’s Word calls them Hebrews 18x’s OT, 3x’s NT; Jews 67x’s OT, 161x’s NT; Israelites 6x’s OT, 2x’s NT).

 

All true Christians have a relationship with Abraham through Christ

 

(Galatians 3:29),

“if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”

 

Our eternal relationship with God is based on Christ, not some ancestral bloodline, culture, or religion; but instead, the sovereign work of God

 

(John 1:12-13),

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God,”

 

(John 3:6),

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

 

Jacob’s name means “deceitful” or “heel-catcher” [lit. One Who Takes the Heel].  We know that Jacob’s name was later changed to “Israel”

 

(cf. Genesis 32:28),

28 He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”

 

meaning, “he struggles with God” or “God’s fighter.”  Jacob’s descendants are the son’s of Israel to whom the Land of Canaan (Palestine) was given, by God.

 

Esau [lit. hairy] became the father of the Edomites [lit. red people]

 

(cf. Genesis 36:8-9),

8 So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.

Descendants of Esau

9 These then are the records of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

 

a people “whom the Lord has cursed”

 

(Malachi 1:3-4).

3 but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”

4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.”

 

Saul fought against the Edomites; David actually conquered them, for a time; but there continued a smoldering hatred between the Jews and the Edomites

 

(Genesis 27:41).

41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

 

After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D, the Edomites disappeared from history, bringing an end to the descendants of Esau.

 

*Interesting note: All Arabs, following Mohammed’s example, claim descent from Ishmael the firstborn son of Abraham; and yet the Arabs have fought against the Jews relentlessly for over 4000 years; against their own ancestral brothers who came from the line of Isaac, through Jacob (who was Ishmael’s nephew).

————Jews and Arabs————

 

Read Hebrews 11:20… 

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come.

 

By faith Isaac finally believed the revelation which God made to him concerning the future destinies of Esau and Jacob.  True faith will eventually bow to God’s plan and purpose and act in accordance to God’s will.  Although our faith is not perfect, because we are just sinners saved by grace, the object of our faith (Christ) is perfect.

 

Clearly, it Isaac’s faith wasn’t perfect, but ultimately, he believed God, and accepted Jacob as the one to be blessed with regard to things to come.

Read Hebrews 11:21…

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

 

Jacob trusted God and worshipped Him to the very end.  In this passage we are told about Jacob’s blessing the sons of Joseph

 

(see Genesis 48:8-19).

8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.”

10 Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.”

12 Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.

13 Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.

14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 He blessed Joseph, and said,

“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

16 The angel who has redeemed me from all evil,

Bless the lads;

And may my name live on in them,

And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;

And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”

19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

 

Again we see a younger son being blessed over the first born, birth order and human favoritism cannot thwart God’s plan; God works through whom He choses.

 

At the very end of his life, Jacob continues to anticipate the fulfillment of God’s promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and himself, and even though Jacob never saw their ultimate fulfillment, in the end his dysfunctional and fractured family received and passed on God’s blessing to us.

 

Read Hebrews 11:22… 

22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones.

 

Joseph believes that God is going to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and he wants his bones to be taken out when they go

 

(see Genesis 50:22-26).

22 Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.

23 Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.

24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.”

25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.”

26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

 

More than 350 years later Moses brought Joseph’s bones out of Egypt into the wilderness

 

(cf. Exodus 13:19);

19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.”

 

it would be several more decades before Joseph’s bones would come to rest in the land of Promise, finally to be buried by Joshua in Shechem

 

(cf. Joshua 24:32);

32 Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons.

 

this land having been promised to Abraham’s descendants by God

 

(cf. Genesis 12:6-7).

6 Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land.

7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

 

These witnesses to God’s faithfulness (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) trusted God for what they could not see, even at the very end of their lives, they continued to believe that God would be faithful to His promise; they are role models for us in the way we are to live out our faith.

 

God is faithful to fulfill all His promises, even though we may not see them in our lifetime; but ultimately, when all the people of God are gathered together, it shall be finally realized.

 

Read Hebrews 11:23… 

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

 

Moses’ parents trusted that God would effect a deliverance for their son, that God would save him, even though Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh, and even though it was Pharaoh who ordered the slaughter of all those Hebrew boys.  Moses’ parents fully believed in God and they trusted Him with their son.

 

Read Hebrews 11:24-28…

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

 

After Moses grew up he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, for he determined he would not be identified with Egypt, or with the power of Egypt, but instead he would be identified with the people of Israel, no matter what it cost him.

 

We are told here that he chose to be associated with his people in their suffering; and although he could have had an easy life, he chose to identify with the Hebrew people, with God’s called-out people.

 

Moses could have had a life of pleasure and privilege if he would have been willing to follow after the gods of Egypt, but he refused to live like those who rejected the true God.  Moses would rather be disgraced and suffer, by remaining true to God, then to have the riches and privilege as a son of Pharaoh.

 

Moses had every opportunity to be satisfied with the things that this life provided him, and yet he refused to be captured by the treasures of this world.

 

Hebrews 11 gives us an example to encourage us not to become drawn toward and/or satisfied with the temporary comforts and pleasures of this world, for God is providing us with an eternal and heavenly reward.

 

Notice again Hebrews 11:27,

“By faith [Moses] left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.”  The true strength of Moses’ faith is that he believed in the reward that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a sense, Moses had seen [believed in] “Him who is invisible.”

 

Moses should have been scared to death at the thought of going up against the Pharaoh of Egypt, the most powerful man in his part of the world.  But Moses feared God so much that he had no fear of any man.

 

Notice again Hebrews 11:28,

“by faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.”

 

The destroying angel of God came over Egypt and killed the firstborn males (human and animal) in all the houses that did not smear lamb’s blood on their doorpost.  Moses trusted that God would fulfill His promise not to destroy the firstborn of Israel; Moses obeyed God, instructing the people to smear blood from the Passover lamb on the doorposts of every house.

 

Notice how living faith is displayed not just by believing, but also by responding to God’s word, believing what God says; and, of course, in this case faith involved looking for an eternal reward, one not seen, and revering God, who cannot be seen.

If you don’t fear God more than you fear those in the world, and seek God’s pleasure more than the world’s pleasure, you will become captivated by the world.

 

Jesus commands us to love one another, to love our neighbor, and even to love our enemies; He also commands us not to love the world or to become captivated by the things of this world

 

(cf. 1John 2:15-17).

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

 

God’s blessing is the greatest reward in this life

 

(Philippians 4:12-13,

12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

 

Philippians 4:19-20).

19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

20 Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

Truth be told, if we do not recognize and receive the love of God in this world, we will not see heaven; but we’ll spend eternity apart from the love of God, in hell.

 

Read Hebrews 11:29…    

29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.

 

The people of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land; the Egyptians who were chasing them, were drowned.

 

As we have studied in Hebrews 11, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, all had a personal faith that was expressed through personal obedience and perseverance, they were God’s men, living out their faith on earth while trusting God for their future in heaven.

 

If you belong to God through Christ you will seek to be a person of obedient faith

 

(James 2:17),

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

 

“faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

 

Titus 2:11-14,

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope–the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

 

1Peter 2:9-10,

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

 

 
 Pastor Mike
>’(((><

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:8-19 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale |

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February 6, 2022
“Obedient Faith”
Hebrews 11:8-19

 

See Hebrews 11:1-3…

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 For by it the men of old gained approval.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

 

Hebrews 11:1-3 is an awesome description of faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”

 

God’s people, whether in the days before Christ’s coming, during the days He walked on this earth, or since He ascended back into heaven, have always lived by faith.   Genuine faith in God trusts and believes Him, and is expressed through action.

 

See Hebrews 11:4-7…

4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And 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 seek Him.

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

 

In Hebrews 11:4-7 we are given examples of faith in action: Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God; therefore he was considered righteous; Enoch pleased God and was taken up into heaven; Noah found favor in God’s eyes and it was counted to him as righteousness.

 

 

In Hebrews 11:8-19 we find a lengthy section devoted to the obedient faith of Abraham, of whom

 

Genesis 15:6 says,

“He believed in the Lord; and He [the Lord] reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

 

The writer of Hebrews gives examples of faith meant to encourage all who read this letter, from first century A.D. until the end of time.

 

See Hebrews 11:8…

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going

 

Abraham called out from his family and culture, was told to go to a new land where he would receive a promised inheritance that he could neither see nor comprehend; and yet, he obeyed and went.

 

Chuck Swindoll wrote an article titled, Going, Not Knowing [Where]. How about you?  When God called you out of sin into salvation, did you have any idea where God would lead you or where you would end up?  I sure didn’t!

 

When I came to Christ on 8.01.78, I was in a 28 Detox Program in a VA Hospital in Los Angeles.  In 9/79 I went back to college, where I met Nancy, proposed to her 3/80 and we were married 12/80. Then came children: Hannah 1982, Joshua 1985, Benjamin 1987, Ruth 1994.

 

I have been teaching/preaching since 1981; I was ordained in 1986.  Together, Nancy and I have had several Going, Not Knowing experiences like Abraham, where we left familiar and secure surroundings, trusting God to provide, from: California to Ohio, Oregon, Maine, Idaho, and back to Oregon. God has always been faithful.

 

See Hebrews 11:9-10… 

9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;

10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

 

 

It is very likely that the early Hebrew recipients of this letter, because of their belief in Christ, felt like strangers in their own land, unable to fellowship with their families, rejected by their culture, having become outcasts, in order to follow Jesus.

 

These Jewish believers were meeting together in houses, rather than synagogues, living apart from friends and families and the culture they had been raise in.

 

As Christians, we can understand that somewhat, for we live in a nation that was founded upon the teachings of God’s Word, a nation where, until the 19th century, the majority of its citizens professed to believe that God exists and that the Bible is His Word.  That is not true today; in fact, true Christians are a minority in America.

 

But then, God doesn’t want us to be too comfortable in this world

 

(cf. 1John 2:15),

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

 

for it is not our permanent home; He has something much better for us.  We should be like Abraham, looking beyond the cities and houses of stone and wood

 

(Hebrews 11:10),

“for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

 

See Hebrews 11:11-13… 

11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.

12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.

13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

 

Both Abraham and Sarah were old when the promise of children was given to them by God; they both thought it was funny

 

(see Genesis 15:1,

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying,

“Do not fear, Abram,

I am a shield to you;

Your reward shall be very great.”

 

Genesis 15:5-6;

5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6 Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

 

Genesis 17:1-8,

1 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am God Almighty;

Walk before Me, and be blameless.

2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you,

And I will multiply you exceedingly.”

3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,

And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.

5 “No longer shall your name be called Abram,

But your name shall be Abraham;

For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.

7 I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.

8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

 

Genesis 17:15-17;

15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.

16 I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

 

Genesis 18:10-15).

10 He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.

12 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

13 And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’

14 Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

15 Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

 

But God did just as He had promised to Abraham and Sarah.  God is faithful, and we can trust Him to keep all His promises to us, especially forgiveness and eternal life.

    

Just as God made the universe from what could not be seen, He made the nation of Israel out of one old man and his barren wife, just like He said He would.

    

Hebrews 11:12-13… 

12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.

13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

 

The author of Hebrews, in verses 12-13, interrupts his list of the obedient faithful, in order to summarize some lessons from their lives, for all who read this.

 

Think about it, we will not realize the fulness of God’s blessings in this life.  We are granted eternal life, yet we will most likely die; although some of us may very well not see death

 

(cf. 1Thessalonians 4:16-17).

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Our permanent home is in heaven.

 

Either way, God’s blessings are real and His promises to us will be kept; but we must trust God to bring it about by His own power and authority, in His own timing.

 

Our life on earth is temporary and we don’t really belong here; our permanent home is in heaven and we can only get there through Christ, not by heritage, works,  law-keeping, or religious rituals, but in Christ alone!

 

See Hebrews 11:15-16…

15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went 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 a city for them.

 

We have no reason to believe that Abraham wanted to go back to Mesopotamia, but he could have gone back, if he had wanted to.

 

Have you ever wanted to go back to the life you had before you believed in Christ as Savior and Lord?  Have you ever wanted to go back to a different time or place or situation in your past, to exchange where you are now for what you had before you knew Christ?  I doubt it!

 

It is possible that some the early readers of Hebrews were tempted to return to what they had known all their lives, Judaism; with all its ceremonies, rituals, traditions, and heritage, the called out people of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the Twelve Tribes.

 

God, through this book, told the Hebrews, the same things He is telling us; there is something much better waiting for those who believe and trust in Jesus Christ.

 

We will live in God’s presence in a perfected world, forever; but we must trust God with our here and now, if we expect to trust God with our eternity.

 

See Hebrews 11:17-19…

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son;

18 it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.”

19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

 

So, how much do you really believe in and trust God?  By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac (his long awaited for son) as a sacrifice. Think about it, God said to Abraham

 

(Genesis 21:12),

“Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named.”

 

Abraham believed God, and although Abraham did not know how God was going to make a great nation out of Isaac if he was dead, Abraham trusted that God would keep His promise, even if it were necessary for God to raise Isaac from the dead

 

(Genesis 22:1-18). 

1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

3 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 wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

14 Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”

15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven,

16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.

18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

 

When Abraham took Isaac up the mountain, he told his servants

 

(Genesis 22:5)

“we” (both he and his son) will return; he clearly did not expect Isaac to stay dead, although he had no idea how God was going to fulfill His promise of descendants through Isaac.

 

God provided a substitute sacrifice for Abraham’s son, i.e.,

 

(Hebrews 11:19)

“He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which [figuratively speaking, he did receive him back from death].”

 

In Abraham’s mind, Isaac was as good as dead, the knife was raised to kill him, then God rescued him, never intending for Abraham to harm his one and only son.

 

Perhaps some of you were as good as dead to your parents, your spouse, your children, “figuratively speaking,” before you repented and believed in Christ to save you and grant you eternal life?

 

God has a marvelous plan and purpose for all those who will believe in and seek to obey Him

 

(Ephesians 2:10),

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

 

Hebrews 11:6,

“And 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 seek Him.”

 

Galatians 3:6-9,

“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”

 

Galatians 3:26-29,

“For you are all sons [& daughters] of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ [immersed, placed in, buried with Christ] have clothed yourselves with Christ [put on Christ, i.e., living for Him, following His example]. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one [as children of God] in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants [offspring by faith], heirs according to promise [salvation’s blessing].

 

Saving faith begins and ends with Jesus Christ, God’s One and Only Son, Lord of all, but Savior only to those who believe in and receive Him.

 

Romans 4:16,

“the promise [forgiveness & eternal life] comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s offspring.”

 

Romans 10:13,

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

 

Romans 10:17,

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

 

Listen!  Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all revere Abraham.  Both Islam and Judaism consider Abraham as the patriarch of their race (Arabs & Jews); but only Christianity reveres Abraham as the patriarch, the father, of all who, by faith, believe in God through Jesus Christ, from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

John 3:16,

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

 

Jesus died for us, but He didn’t stay dead!

 

John 11:25-26,

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

 

John 14:6,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

 

1John 5:11-13,

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

 

If you believe that Christ’s death has provided you with forgiveness for you sin, and His resurrection has granted you eternal life, then should proclaim, along with every true believer and follower of Christ, as does Paul in

 

Galatians 2:20,

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

 

 
Pastor Mike
>’(((><
 

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:7 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale |

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January 30, 2022
“Persevering Faith”
Hebrews 11:7

 

Read Hebrews 11:7…

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

 

Noah was a man of obedient faith, fully trusting in and responding to God’s sovereignty, even about “things not yet seen.”

Noah was the last pre-Flood descendant (nine generations later) in the godly line through Seth; Noah’s father was Lamech

 

(see Genesis 5:28-29).

28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and became the father of a son.

29 Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.”

 

During the early centuries in the life of Noah he watched as mankind rebelled against God, sinking into depravity, becoming more corrupt, until God was sorry He had made man

 

(see Genesis 6:5-7,

5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

 

 

Genesis 6:11-13).

11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.

12 God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

 

 

 

Through Noah’s obedient faith he became a recipient of God’s grace

 

(see Genesis 6:8-9),

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.

 

 

Noah responded obediently to God’s command to build an ark, in order to save those humans who would believe, along with animals from every species that crawls or walks on the earth, or flies in the air

 

(see Genesis 6:14-22).

14 Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch.

15 This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.

16 You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

17 Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.

18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark–you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

20 Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive.

21 As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them.”

22 Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

 

 

Noah lived in an arid dry land, where Noah had never seen a flood, and most likely had never seen a boat, but he obeyed the Lord without questioning or complaining.

 

And what a ship it must have been!  Even the most conservative value for a cubit would have been 17.5 inches (from elbow to fingertips), meaning the ark was 438’ L x 73’ W x 44’ H.  Modern naval engineers confirm that the ark’s shape and dimensions would form the most stable design for a sea-going vessel, and is fact that which is used for the large cargo carrying ships of today.

 

Hebrews 11:7

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

 

says God warned Noah about things “not yet seen” and yet, Noah believed God and obeyed, building the ark while also warning the people about the coming flood, when God’s wrath would be poured out on the earth.

 

See 2Peter 2:1-10…

1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

2 Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;

3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;

7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men

8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,

 

 

Clearly no one gets away from God’s judgement, and no one who belongs to God will see judgement.

 

Did you notice in

 

verse 6,

“God did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others.”

 

Wow!  Although Noah was not trained to preach or to build a large ship, Noah did what God commanded him, Noah obeyed and was considered righteous.

 

Remember how Adam’s son, Abel, was considered righteous because he believed and obeyed God, offering

 

(Hebrews 11:4),

4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

 

 

a better sacrifice,” i.e., he did what God required of him, and God accredited to him righteousness.

 

Romans 12:1,

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

 

We don’t sacrifice animals as did Abel, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to please God.

 

Remember Enoch

 

(Hebrews 11:5),

“By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

 

But our priority today is to learn about Noah.  Preachers often say that Noah built the ark over a 120 year period.  Today I want to challenge that time frame and give you a more biblically correct way to think about it.

 

 

God said (Genesis 6:3),

“My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

 

We know that Noah was 480 years old God declared this, because Scripture tells us

 

(Genesis 7:6),

“Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.”

 

We also know

 

(Genesis 5:32),

“Noah was five hundred years old, [when he began having his sons] Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

 

So, Noah didn’t start having sons until at least 20 years after God’s declaration about His coming judgement upon mankind; and even if Noah had a son every two years (for six years), the youngest would have been 16 when Noah was 520 – that is 40 years after God began the 120 year countdown to the flood, i.e., that would only leave about 80 years for Noah to build the ark with the help of his sons; as it is doubtful that the godless generation living at that time would have been willing to help with the construction.

 

As we read earlier

 

(Genesis 6:11-18),

“God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark… you shall enter the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.’”

 

Out of all who were alive on the earth at that time, only Noah’s family (eight people total) believed, got into the ark, and were saved by God who provided for and protected them — from the cutting down of the first tree, through the last application of the last bit of pitch, to the loading aboard of all the supplies and then the animals; and then their yearlong sea voyage that ended on Mt. Ararat (1 year and 10 days from the time they got into the ark), where they climbed out on dry ground and were given an everlasting covenant from God

 

(see Genesis 7:1-5,

1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.

2 You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;

3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

4 For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.”

5 Noah did according to all that the LORD had commanded him.

 

 

Genesis 7:11-13,

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.

12 The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.

13 On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark,

 

 

Genesis 7:17-24;

17 Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth.

18 The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water.

19 The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered.

20 The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered.

21 All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind;

22 of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.

23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

24 The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

 

 

Genesis 8:2-6,

2 Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained;

3 and the water receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of one hundred and fifty days the water decreased.

4 In the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

5 The water decreased steadily until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.

6 Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made;

 

 

Genesis 8:13-14,

13 Now it came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the water was dried up from the earth. Then Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dried up.

14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

 

 

Genesis 8:18-21;

18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him.

19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by their families from the ark.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

 

 

Genesis 9:1,

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.

 

 

Genesis 9:3,

3 Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant.

 

 

Genesis 9:12-15).

12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations;

13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.

14 It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud,

15 and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.

 

 

 

Talk about a tough assignment!  God warned Noah when he was 480 years old, before the birth of his three sons who would help with the building of the ark, while also proclaiming the message that God’s judgement was coming upon all who would not believe and obey God.

 

Noah was not trained to preach or to build a massive ship; and yet, year after year Noah did what God had commanded him; no doubt, in the face of relentless mocking and ridicule from a wicked and rebellious people who wouldn’t heed Noah’s message of impending destruction and death.  But then, the majority of the people, who have or ever will live on this earth, also reject God’s offer of salvation.

 

Only eight people out of all those who were alive at the time of Noah were willing to believe God and to get on the ark and be saved.

 

 

1Peter 3:18-22,

“ For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

 

Romans 6:3-7,

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”

 

Galatians 2:20,

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

 

1John 1:8-10,

“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

 

In the above passages, Peter, Paul and John are all talking about a person’s pledge of faith based on their belief in God and a sincere desire to please Him,

 

as did Abel who

 

(Hebrews 11:4),

“obtained the testimony [from God] that he was righteous”;

 

Enoch who

 

(Hebrews 11:5),

“obtained the witness that… he was pleasing to God”;

 

and Noah who

 

(Hebrews 11:7),

“became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

 

Sins cannot be washed away by water, like dirt from the body; nor can sin’s penalty be removed by religious rituals, pious law-keeping, performing good deeds, or ancestral heritage; only genuine repentance (a response to God’s Spirit convicting you of sin) can cleanse your heart from all unrighteousness.

 

God looks at us through the lens of His Son’s death and resurrection, by which we are made righteous “in Christ”

 

(cf. Romans 3:10-12,

10 as it is written,

“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,

THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;

THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,

THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

 

Romans 3:23-24,

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

 

Romans 6:23;

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Romans 5:8;

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

Romans 8:1;

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

Romans 10:9-10,

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;

10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

 

Romans 10:13).

13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”

 

2Corinthians 5:21,

“He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him..”

 

Only those who have repented of sin and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation are considered righteous by God; and by the way, only the righteous go to heaven.

 

John 11:25-26,

“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

 

John 14:1-3,

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 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.”

 

John 14:6,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

 

How about you?  Are you going to heaven?  How are you going to get there?

 

 

Noah and his family (8 persons in all) were saved from death, because they were in the ark that God instructed Noah to build; they were saved from sin’s penalty because they believed and obeyed God; all of the rest of humanity who were alive at that time drowned and were then condemned to hell.

 

Jesus is the ark of salvation for all who believe in Him; because He alone can forgive our sins and guarantee our safe passage and arrival into heaven. Your eternal security and safety is found in the heavenly ark of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior: crucified, resurrected, and coming again.

 

1John 5:11-13,

“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.  These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

 

 

 
Pastor Mike
>’(((><
 

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:5-6 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale |

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January 23, 2022
“Faith Leading to Eternal Life”
Hebrews 11:5-6

 

Read Hebrews 11:5-6… 

5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And 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 seek Him.

 

There are at least two notable men in the Bible named Enoch; one was born to Adam’s son Cain

 

(cf. Genesis 4:17)

17 Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

 

the other was born five generations later through the ancestors of Adam’s son Seth

 

(cf. Genesis 5:6-18);

6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and became the father of Enosh.

7 Then Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.

8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

9 Enosh lived ninety years, and became the father of Kenan.

10 Then Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he became the father of Kenan, and he had other sons and daughters.

11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.

12 Kenan lived seventy years, and became the father of Mahalalel.

13 Then Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he had other sons and daughters.

14 So all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.

15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Jared.

16 Then Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Jared, and he had other sons and daughters.

17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and became the father of Enoch.

 

this Enoch was the great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam, and it is he whom we are studying about today.

 

Genesis 5:21–24

says, after Enoch was born,  “[He] lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

 

Although we don’t know a lot about Enoch, we do know that he did not see death; the reason being stated in

 

Hebrews 11:5,

“he was pleasing to God.”

 

There weren’t many men before the Flood who were considered faithful or obedient to God; in fact, most men did not please God, but instead they lived according to their own sinful natures, doing what they thought right in their own eyes.

 

Remember how Adam and Eve had actually walked and talked with God in the garden; that is, until they disobeyed God [incurring the curse of sin], at which time they were put out of the garden, no longer acceptable to walk with God.

 

As we studied last week, Adam and Eve’s second son Abel, was considered righteous by God, because he obeyed and did what was right in offering a blood sacrifice to God, whereas Cain offered fruit of the ground and was therefore not acceptable, for he had disobeyed God’s instruction.

 

By the time of Enoch’s birth the world was becoming an evil place.  Enoch lived 365 years, 300 of those years he lived by faith, after becoming the father of Methuselah, who became the father of Lamech, to whom was born Noah.

 

During the time of Noah, about 1000 years after Enoch was born, the world had become so vile and wicked that God determined He was going to destroy all humankind except for 8 people

 

(see Genesis 6:5-7).

5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

7 The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

 

The Bible tells use that Enoch was taken up to be with God, before he experienced death, because Enoch pleased God.  Enoch went from mortality to immortality, from earth to heaven, his body transformed instantly into a heavenly body.

 

We who are alive, when Christ returns in the air to gather His people, will experience this same unimaginable transformation

 

(1Thessalonians 4:16-17),

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

 

The Bible tells us that Enoch “pleased God,” but it doesn’t tell us why God waited 300 years before bringing him up to be where God was.  Enoch was faithful to God living several generations before the flood; and he did not keep silent about the wickedness around him, and God’s judgement that would come upon them.

 

 

Jude 5-13

5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.

6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.

9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;

13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

records God’s coming judgement upon bad angels and evil men.  It was also about these that Enoch prophesied.

 

records God’s future judgement upon disobedient angels and evil men who would come long after Enoch had gone to be with God.

 

Jude 14-15 says,

“It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.’”

 

Enoch was a prophet who foretold the coming of the Lord in righteous judgement, to bring condemnation upon all those who have done evil against God.  Enoch proclaimed that God’s angels will execute judgment upon all the ungodly; giving us a general description of the final judgment upon all the unbelieving

 

(see Matthew 13:41-43,

41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

 

 

Matthew 13:49-50).

49 So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,

50 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

We should seek to follow the example of Enoch’s faith, concerning what God requires, as we read

 

(Micah 6:8),

“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

Enoch is listed in

 

Luke 3:37,

37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

 

as being in the ancestral line of Abraham, David, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Christ Himself.  No-one gets into that genealogy without pleasing God and being acceptable to Him.

 

As we read earlier,

 

(Genesis 5:24),

“Enoch walked with God; he was no more, because God took him away.”

 

God spared Enoch from death.

 

Only one other person in Scripture, besides Enoch, was taken up into heaven and did not experience death.  He was a prophet by the name of Elijah, and God took him up into heaven in a whirlwind, and he was no more.  To get a brief overview of what happened to Elijah you need to

 

read 2Kings 2:1-14.

1 And it came about when the LORD was about to take up Elijah by a whirlwind to heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here please, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

3 Then the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know; be still.”

4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.

5 The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he answered, “Yes, I know; be still.”

6 Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” And he said, “As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.

7 Now fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.

8 Elijah took his mantle and folded it together and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

10 He said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”

11 As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven.

12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

14 He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the waters, they were divided here and there; and Elisha crossed over.

Enoch was a man with believing faith that pleased God.

 

Enoch’s great-grandson was Noah, who was also a man who pleased God, and although he did, at age 950, die on the earth, God spared Noah and his family, of all those on the earth at that time, from the Great Flood that covered the earth.

 

God’s judgement will come again upon all the wicked, all who reject Christ at His return to the earth, after the Tribulation Period, will be executed.  But there is still a final judgement at the Great White Throne, when everyone who has lived and died apart from the forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ alone, will be thrown into the Lake of Fire for eternity.

 

The greatest need of sinful men, women, and children of age is forgiveness for their sins.  God has offered forgiveness to everyone who will repent and believe in Jesus Christ, by faith, for salvation.

 

The story of Enoch is indeed a marvelous one, and although there is not much in the Bible about him, what we have been given is awesome.  Enoch was a man of faith, he had faith that pleased God; faith leading to eternal life with God in heaven.

 

Hebrews 11:6 says,

“without faith it is impossible to please God.”  There is nothing a man can do to please God apart from faith, and that faith “must believe that [God] exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

 

The very first step of faith is to believe that God exists; however, this belief alone cannot bring salvation.  Even the demons believe God exists (cf. James 2:19), but that doesn’t save them.  People of the world today believe in a variety of false “Gods,” all of them are just different aberrations of the devil himself, for there is only one true God who saves, and you must believe that He rewards those who seek Him.

 

(cf. James 2:19),

19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

 

The evidence for God is displayed throughout creation, and much of what is learned through scientific discovery provides evidence of a supreme creator.

 

Psalm 19:1-4a,

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. Their message has gone out to all the earth, …to the ends of the world.”

 

It takes faith to believe that God exists, although God has made it very clear to all people and He holds them accountable to acknowledge Him

 

(Romans 1:18-20),

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

 

Hebrews 3:4 says,

“every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.”

 

Anthropology is the study of man, and the more you study humanity the clearer it becomes that universally man is conscious of God’s existence; it has only been in the last two hundred years that the existence of God has been openly questioned, and the Bible, as His revealed Word, aggressively challenged.

 

Einstein once said, “Certainly there is a God…. but we could never know Him.”  Both Old and New Testaments are full of passages declaring how God wants to be found – He wants us to know Him personally, eternally:

 

(cf. 1Chronicles 28:9;

9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

 

Proverbs 8:17-18;

17 “I love those who love me;

And those who diligently seek me will find me.

18 “Riches and honor are with me,

Enduring wealth and righteousness.

 

Jeremiah 29:11-13;

11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

 

Luke 11:9-10;

9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

10 For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.

 

Luke 19:10;

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

 

1Timothy 2:3-4;

3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 

2Peter 3:9).

9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

Again, Hebrews 11:6,

“he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

 

The reward that God gives to those who express faith in Him is salvation

 

(cf. Matthew 6:33;

33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

 

John 3:16;

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

 

Acts 2:21;

21 ‘AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’

 

Revelation 3:20).

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

 

In Genesis 5:21-24

21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah.

22 Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters.

23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.

24 Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

 

that we looked at earlier, two times it says that Enoch “walked” with God.  In the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) the phrase “walked with God” is translated “pleased God,” and it uses the very same Greek word used in

 

Hebrews 11:5-6,

5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And 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 seek Him.

 

i.e., to walk with God is the same as to please God.

 

When we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior, we begin to walk with Him, to follow Him, trusting God and seeking to obey what He commands us.

 

One of the most revealing uses of the phrase “walk with” is used by Christ in

 

Revelation 3:4,

“They will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.”

 

In heaven we will live with, we will walk with, and we will always please, God.

 

From the moment of our birth we are at odds with God and unable to walk with Him, in fact,

 

in Ephesians 2:3

we are said to be “by nature children of wrath.”

 

Salvation is the cure for our broken relationship with God, through faith we are reconciled to God, like Enoch, and therefore we are able to walk with God and please Him as we serve Him

 

(cf. 2Corinthians 5:17-21).

17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

Walking with God begins with faith that He exists, leading to belief that He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of all, and that He loves us and has a marvelous plan for our lives now and forever, for He has

 

(2Peter 1:3-4),

“granted to us everything we need pertaining to life [mortal, biological life] and godliness [spiritual, eternal life], through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature [the Holy Spirit lives in every true believer],

 

Ephesians 1:13-14],

13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust [there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ,

 

 

Romans 8:1].”

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

Hebrews 11:1,

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

 

Read Hebrews 11:5-6 again.

5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; AND HE WAS NOT FOUND BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM UP; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.

6 And 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 seek Him.

 

Enoch never saw God, but he had faith, believing in God, and he did what was pleasing to God; therefore, he was brought into the presence of God in heaven, where as, we walk with God spiritually, while we are on this earth.

 

God’s greatest reward for those who believe in Him is salvation, but that won’t be fully realized until heaven, where we will live and walk with God forever!

 

Enoch’s story is a picture of how all those who believe in God by faith, and are alive at the time of the Christ’s return in the air [the rapture] will not see death

 

(1Thessalonians 4:16-17),

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

 

Let us seek to be people of faith, believing and obeying all that God has instructed us in His Word, and trusting Him for all that we need, now and forever.

 

Philippians 4:13,

“ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

 

Philippians 4:19-20,

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

 
Pastor Mike
>’(((><

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:4 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale |

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January 16, 2022
“Faith Expressed Through Worship ”
Hebrews 11:4

Read Hebrews 11:4… 

4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.

 

Abel’s sacrifice was “better” than Cain’s, because Abel was obedient in offering to God that which God required and so he was considered righteous.

 

The curse of sin caused by the disobedience of Adam and Eve, could only be removed by God’s forgiveness, the divine price of that forgiveness is the shed blood of an acceptable sacrifice.

 

Before Adam and Eve sinned

 

(Genesis 2:25,

“the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

 

But after Adam and Eve had disobeyed God and had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their innocence was gone, they felt guilt

 

(Genesis 3:7),

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”

 

After Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to cover their nakedness (representing their sin) with the vegetation of a fruit tree; but only a blood sacrifice would do.

 

God’s provisional “covering” for sin was the shed blood of a sacrifice

 

(Genesis 3:21),

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them,”

 

the very first sacrifice for sin was offered by God.  An animal had to die [probably a lamb]- it’s blood was shed in order to provide a suitable covering for man’s nakedness, or should I say man’s awareness of being naked, because somehow that was not okay anymore, the consequence of sin

 

(Genesis 3:22),

“Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil.”

 

 

See Hebrews 9:22

22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

 

See Hebrews 10:1-18

1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

“SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,
BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;
6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE.
7 “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME
(IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME)
TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.’”

8 After saying above, “SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, NOR HAVE YOU TAKEN PLEASURE in them” (which are offered according to the Law),
9 then He said, “BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,
13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.
14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,

16 “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM
AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART,
AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,”

He then says,
17 “AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS
I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”

18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

 

See Hebrews 9:27-28 

27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

 

And so (Hebrews 9:22),

“without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness”;

 

and yet (Hebrews 10:4-5),

“Therefore, when He [God’s Son] comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me,”

 

(Hebrews 10:10),

“By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,”

 

(Hebrews 10:14),

“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified,”

 

“He then says, (Hebrews 10:17),

“And their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more,”

 

(Hebrews 9:27-28),

“Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

 

Wow!  The only acceptable sacrifice for our sins is God’s Son

 

(John 1:29),

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

 

Genesis 4:3-5,

“So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.”

 

The first blood sacrifice for sin was made by God

 

(Genesis 3:21).

 

 

The first blood sacrifice offered in the Scriptures by a human is Abel’s lamb, one lamb for one person’s sins.  In the future, when God rescued the Hebrews from Pharaoh in Egypt, and established them as the nation of Israel, the Feast of Passover was instituted, and one lamb was sacrificed for the sins of one family; later came the Day of Atonement, when one lamb was sacrificed for the sins of one nation; when Jesus Christ died on the cross; His last words were, It is finished!”  At that moment, God’s Lamb, God’s Son, Lord and Savior, the only perfect, acceptable, and divine sacrifice, was offered for the sins of the whole world

 

Why did God look with favor upon Abel’s offering, and not Cain’s?  Cain was banished from God’s blessings because he chose to worship his own way, instead of God’s way

 

(Genesis 4:6-9),

“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.’ Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.’ Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ And he said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.’”

 

Clearly Cain’s heart was wrong, and God warned him to do the “right” thing or his anger would both master and destroy him. He could turn from his sin, and make things right with God, or he could give in to sin.

    

Jude 1-9 speaks of evil men and angels in ages past destined for destruction.

 

Jude 1-9

1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James,
To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.
3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.
6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

 

Jude 10

10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.

 

tells us these men “revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals

 

(cf. Jude 19,

without the Spirit of God), by these things they are destroyed.” 

 

Jude 11

says, “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain.”

 

As we read earlier (Genesis 4:6-7), God cautions Cain to “do well,” i.e., do the right thing; no doubt both Cain and Abel knew what God expected as their sacrifice, in order to worship Him..

 

Perhaps Adam and Eve had told, even reminded, their boys of what had happened in the garden on the day they disobeyed, leading to enmity between them and God, them and one another; sin’s curse affected all living things.

 

When we do not have a right relationship with God, we can pretty much count on not having right relationships with others.  God warned Cain, but Cain gave in to his anger mixed with jealousy leading to a rage that ended in murder.

 

1John 3:11-12,

“For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”

 

[Cain did what he wanted to do rather than what God required him to do. Cain disobeyed God!]

    

Abel is the very first man in the Scriptures to have it said about him that he was righteous.  He was considered righteous because he believed and obeyed God, demonstrated by offering

 

(Hebrews 11:4),

“a better sacrifice,” i.e., an acceptable form of worship.

 

We are all sinners

 

(Romans 3:10-12),

“There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

 

    

There is only one remedy

 

(Romans 3:23-24),

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,”

 

(Romans 6:23),

“ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

Abel had genuine faith, he believed and obeyed God, and he came to worship God by bringing a blood sacrifice; Cain believed God existed but Cain offered what he thought should be acceptable; like most people today who believe God exists, but they live however they want and expect God to accept it.  He won’t!  They will be banished from God’s blessings until the repent and do what is right.

 

Proverbs 14:12,

“There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

 

Romans 10:17,

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

 

John 14:6,

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

 

Acts 2:21,

“And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

Acts 4:12,

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

 

Salvation has always been through Jesus Christ, from the time of Adam to the end of the Millennial Kingdom

 

(Hebrews 10:14),

“For by one offering He (Christ) has perfected for all time [eternity] those who are sanctified [all who trust and obey],”

 

God says

 

(Hebrews 10:17),

“And their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more [eternal forgiveness, eternal life].”

 

The author of Hebrews says

 

(Hebrews 11:4),

God “still speaks” through Abel’s faith, to all generations.  Here we are 6,000 years later hearing about Abel’s faith from God’s Word.  We must, like Abel, come to God in faith obeying what God has revealed to us in His Word

 

(Hebrews 11:6),

“And 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 seek Him.”

 

No matter what the world or anybody around us is doing, we are to serve the Lord in accordance with His revealed Word, as His witnesses in this generation.

 

John 10:27-28,

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish.”

 

1John 5:13,

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

 

Let us seek to be people of faith, trusting God, believing and obeying all that He has revealed to us in His Word, now and forever.

 

Romans 12:1-2,

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

 

2Timothy 3:16-17,

“All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man [woman, and child of age], belonging to God may be [completely] equipped for every good work [i.e., anything that pleases God and is according to His sovereign will].” .

 

We must be doers of the Word, not just hearers of it for only those who obey will be blessed in this life, as well as eternity future.

 

 

(cf. James 1:22-25),

22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

 

 

May we all be able to say, as I’m sure Abel would have said, if he had been a New Testament believer

 

(Galatians 2:20),

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

 

 
Pastor Mike Hale
>’(((><

Bible Text: Hebrews 11:1-3 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale |

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January 9, 2022
“What is Faith?”
Hebrews 11:1-3

The (human) author of this letter is unknown, although some say it was written by Paul, some say Apollos, some say Peter, but no one really knows.  We do know it was someone chosen by God and led by the Holy Spirit

 

(2Peter 1:20-21),

“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

 

This letter was most likely written in the late 60’s A.D., sometime before the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome.  

    

Hebrews 11 has been called “The Hall of Faith” chapter, because it speaks of the preeminence of faith.

 

The intended recipients of this letter were first-century Jews whose religious practice and relationship with God had become works oriented, rituals, ceremonies and law keeping.  Judaism had become a religion based on legalistic requirements and acts of piety that became more important than having faith in God.

 

The religious system of Israel had become corrupt, and was more like a cult than it was a relationship with God based on faith in God.

 

Habakkuk 2:4,

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.”  Works are a by-product of saving faith; saving faith is not a by-product of works.

 

Since the time of Adam God has honored true faith; for the way to God (as far as it depends on us) is by faith, as Hebrews 11 repeatedly reveals through the saints who are listed here — it has always been by faith, and by faith alone.

 

Read Hebrews 11:1… 

 

The writer describes faith as “the assurance of things hoped for,” and “the conviction of things not seen.”

 

The Greek word translated faith here is pistis [pis’-tis], it means God’s divine persuasion leading to genuine belief; this faith is always a gift from God, and therefore distinct from human belief

 

(Ephesians 2:8-9),

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

 

The first characteristic of divine faith is “the assurance of things hoped for.”  The people in Old Testament times lived before God the Son came to earth in the body of Jesus, as foretold in Isaiah 7:14, “the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel,” which translated (Matthew 1:23) means, “God with us.”

 

Old Testament believers were told of a coming Messiah, the Deliverer, who would take away the curse and punishment for sin, and He would sit as king over all of Israel.  These people had a faith that provided them with a present assurance, based on genuine belief in something they would never see.

 

In John 20:29 Jesus appears to His disciples for the second time since His resurrection.  Here He is speaking to Thomas who had not been present at Jesus’ first appearance, the week before, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

 

I used to think this passage only spoke concerning future believers, like you and me, who haven’t seen the risen Lord and yet we believe in Him; but you know, it also speaks concerning Old Testament believers, for they never witnessed His coming, and yet they believed what God had said concerning the coming Savior, Immanuel.  They had true faith, absolute certainty that God would fulfill His promises to those who belong to Him.

 

The Greek word hupostasis [hoop-os’-tas-is], translated in Hebrews 11:1 as assurance, is also used in Hebrews 1:3, where it is translated to mean “exact representation,” speaking of Christ’s likeness to God.  This type of assurance refers to the very essence, the real thing, the genuine content, as opposed to a mere image or reflection, i.e., this faith is the real deal, with assurance that brings conviction and steadfastness concerning a realized hope in God through Christ.

 

The second characteristic of faith is “the conviction of things not seen.”  This expresses a heart and soul response to the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Lord and Savior.  A person with genuine faith from God has faith in God, and even though they cannot see God, they will seek to live in a manner that pleases God.

 

Recipients of God’s unconditional love and eternal forgiveness will desire to please Him, to live out their faith, doing what pleases God, and although good works don’t produce salvation, genuine salvation always produces good works

 

(Ephesians 2:10),

“For we are His [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

 

God provides everything we need

 

(2Peter 1:3),

“His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”

 

How we live is expressive of the genuineness of our faith in Jesus Christ.  A lack of good works in our life may be evidence of dead faith; salvation is not made effectual by good works, but good works give evidence of God in our life

 

(2Corinthians 5:17),

“ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

 

1Corinthians 2:1-5,

“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”

 

James 2:14-17,

“What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that [faith]? Faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

 

Genuine born-again believers will be doers of the Word, not just hearers.

 

James 2:18,

“But someone may well say, ‘You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.’”

 

James 2:26,

“For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.”

 

Read Hebrews 11:2… 

 

By true faith (Hebrews 1:1),

“the assurance of things hoped for,” and “the conviction of things not seen,” men of old were approved, fully accepted by God, because their faith was genuine.

 

Since the beginning of time men, women, and children of age have had faith in God; believing what He has said through the prophets, recognizing His sovereign authority over all He has created, and agreeing with the conscience He has placed in us that we might distinguish good from evil.

 

The saints who lived before Christ’s coming had a substantive assurance based on an internal conviction that what God has said is absolutely true; and so they were saved through faith in God and their lives demonstrated that they were indeed children of God, just as we who believe today are.

 

John 1:11-13,

“He [Jesus] came to His own, and those who were His own [the Jews] did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

 

Read Hebrews 11:3… 

 

Remember that the author of Hebrews is writing to Jews, and even though orthodox Judaism teaches that Jesus is not the Messiah, they do believe that God created the worlds [lit. the universe and everything in it, including the Earth] out of nothing that was physical or visible.

 

Jews believe, as Christians do, that God is, always was, and always will be, the Creator.  He is the great I AM, the Preexistent Eternal One: Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, God over all!

 

Believing that God created everything out of nothing is based solely on faith, the faith we have been talking about today: “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” by which the men of old, and the people of today, gain approval with God.

 

Through faith we understand that everything that has been made has been made through the Word of God.

 

John 1:1-5,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He [God the Son] was in the beginning with God [the Father]. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness [can] not overcome it.”

 

John 1:14,

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

 

John 1:18,

“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

 

Any attempt to explain the origin and creation of the universe, life on earth, salvation and condemnation, heaven and hell, or the nature of God, apart from the revelation of God Himself, is a foolish attempt to describe that which is incomprehensible, without having any true knowledge of it.

    

When Job came before God, God was not impressed,

 

(Job 38:2),

“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

 

Job 38:5,

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements?

 

Job 38:16-18,

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this.

 

Job 38:22-23,

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of war and battle?

 

Job’s response is the correct one, when coming before Almighty God, Creator, Sustainer, Lord, Savior, and Judge over All

 

(Job 42:2),

“I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

 

Job 42:5-6,

“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

 

Through the “eye” of Job’s faith he understood and believed in God, causing him to repent.  We all must enter into a relationship with God by humbly acknowledging and repenting of our sin, at the same time trusting/believing God for salvation.

 

Hebrews 11:6,

“And without faith it is impossible to please [God], for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

 

1Corinthians 2:9-16,

“As it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him’. To us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual [having God’s Spirit] appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

 

Romans 10:9-10,

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

 

Romans 10:13, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord [for the forgiveness of sins] will be saved.”

 

Romans 10:17,

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

 

1John 5:11-13,

“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

 

2Corinthians 13:5,

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

 

Have you repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ to save you?  If you have, you will desire to know and to do that which pleases God.  Do you have saving faith?  If you have any doubt at all, simply ask God to forgive your sins, right now, right here.  Jesus died as full payment for all of your sins; He then rose from the grave to demonstrate that He is the resurrection and the life, so that everyone who believes in Him will live in heaven forever!

Pastor Mike Hale