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Part 1b: The Faith of Heroes Proved
Hebrews 11:20-28
by Samuel E. Ward
June 2, 2013
Introduction: You might be a Hero of the Faith If You . . .
A. Offer God what He asks of you instead of only what you are willing to give or part with. (Abel)
B. Live to please God rather self. (Enoch)
C. Take God's warnings about judgment seriously and seek His deliverance His way. (Noah)
D. Leave your comfort zone to places or do things armed only with the promise of God's presence and guidance. (Abraham)
E. Believe that God can do the impossible if necessary in order to keep His promises (Abraham)
F. Do not withhold from God what you treasure most in your heart to with as He pleases. (Abraham)
What we are learning about living by faith is that there are as many different ways to express faith as there are promises and commands of God.
Every time we rely on a promise or obey a command, we are performing act of worship that pleases the very heart of God and becomes an expression of our love for Him.
(1 John 5:3-4 NIV) This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, {4} for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
It takes faith, however, to obey. This passage in 1 John reveals two reasons why we are tempted not to obey. The first is that God's commands sometimes seem too difficult for the circumstance. The second is that we lack faith that God is stronger than the world. We are intimidated into believing that a good outcome is not possible if we obey God in the circumstance.
Hebrews eleven is full of circumstances that challenge our faith in God. It is also replete with examples of positive outcomes that glorified God and increased the faith of those who trusted in Him. Some learned that the greatest prize of all was not even in seeing the promises they believed in fulfilled in their lifetime on earth, but being granted a seat in the arena of heaven as spectators of the greater plan in motion.
We move on to consider other aspects of the heroic expression of faith in Hebrews eleven which become worthy examples of our imitation. The blessings of Isaac toward Jacob and Esau with Jacob's blessings of each of his sons can be discussed together due to their similarity of purpose.
G. Isaac and Jacob: Faith Communicates its Hope in God's Promised Inheritance to Future Generations, Heb 11:20-21.
(Heb 11:20 NIV) By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. {21} By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
1. Isaac's blessing of Jacob reflected a faith that God's promises would continue through his sons concerning a land and the establishment of a great nation.
(Gen 28:3-4 NIV) May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. {4} May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."
2. Jacob's blessings to Joseph's sons reflected a faith that God would indeed make his family a nation and bring them back to the land of promise.
(Gen 48:20-21 NIV) He blessed them that day and said, "In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'" So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. {21} Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers.
3. Paul's blessing to the church in the form of a prayer reflected a faith in God's promise to deliver believers from the rule of Satan's domain into the kingdom of the Son.
(Col 1:10-14 NIV) And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, {11} being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully {12} giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. {13} For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, {14} in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
H. Joseph: Faith Is Living Knowing That This World Is Not Your Home, Heb 11:22.
(Heb 11:22 NIV) By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.
In this passage we see a portion of what must have been Joseph's last will and testament. It reflected Joseph's faith that Egypt was not the permanent home of Israel. God had promised them a land of their own and Joseph wanted to insure that he would be buried there. In this he was testifying before his family as to his faith in God's promises.
Surely there is some way that we as Christians can leave a similar testimony of our faith in God and confidence that this world is not our home. We are going to our own land of promise and eternal inheritance. After doing some research I discovered a law firm in Huntington, New York that offers sample preambles to last wills and testaments designed for Christians. I particularly liked this one from Tully & Winkelman, P.C.
I want all who read this to know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I have no doubt about my being saved by him or my being in heaven. I ask my family and friends, whom I love, never to forget the instructions Christ has given to us, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every nation." Share God's Word with everyone at home and abroad. May God grant you peace, love, and strength as he guides you through this life. Then at the end of time, we will be reunited in heaven as a happy family.[1]
If you would like a worthy devotional exercise, take some time to meditate and write down as many ways as possible you might give testimony by your words and actions that . . .
This world is not my home, I'm just a'passin through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
Author unknown
I. Moses' Parents: Faith Refuses to Do Evil for the Sake of Personal Safety or Convenience's Sake, Heb 11:23.
(Heb 11:23 NIV) By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict [to kill all male infants born to the Hebrews].
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a handful of studies over the years have indicated consistently similar answers from women who identify why they've chosen to have an abortion. The top three reasons these women cite for not being able to continue their pregnancies and give birth are:
negative impact on the mother's life financial instabilityIn our day and nation we do not even have a "king's edict" forcing a mother to kill her child. It is a personal choice that in fact doesn't require a reason for any abortion, only the desire not to give birth.
God has the answer to unwanted pregnancy—abstinence! If you as a unmarried man or woman do not want a child to "impact" your life, don't have sex. If you don't have the financial stability to support a child on your own, don't have sex. If you don't want relationship problems with someone who is not prepared to be a father or mother in a committed marital relationship, don't have sex.
But if you do end up with a pregnancy, then faith in God must be engaged that He is greater than all the perceived problems the pregnancy might produce. "God will make a way where there seems to be no way." But as with every other hero of faith mentioned thus far in Hebrews eleven, you'll never know unless you turn it over to Him.
Thankfully, Moses parents did not kill the infant Moses for he grew up to be God's instrument of deliverance from Israel's slavery. How many of the millions destroyed so far for convenience's sake could have been God's answer to problems man struggles with. Did the world lose its researcher that would have found the cure for cancer. Did our nation forfeit the leader that possessed the spiritual courage to lead our country away from the edge of its self-destruction. We may never know, but God does and will hold accountable those who made the choice to deny life to another for convenience's sake.
It is true that as Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, "It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
J. Moses: Faith Believes that God's Eternal Rewards Are Better than the World's Material Ones, Heb 11:24-26.
(Heb 11:24-26 NIV) By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. {25} He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. {26} He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
In our materialistic society it is hard to find people who value spiritual virtues more than things, power, pleasure. Moses was an exception. Everything this world counts as worthy of our greatest efforts to gain, Moses gave up—status, riches, and fleshly pleasure.
The Apostle Paul was like Moses.
(Phil 3:4b-14 NIV) If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: {5} circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; {6} as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. {7} But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. {8} What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ {9} and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. {10} I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, {11} and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. {12} Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. {13} Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, {14} I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
I think of the lyrics to a song George Beverly Shea made famous,
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I'd rather be led by His nail pierced hand.
Than to be a king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway,
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.
I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than world-wide fame,
I'd rather be true to His holy name.
He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He's sweeter than honey from out of the comb;
He's all that my hungering spirit needs,
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead.
K. Moses: Faith Is Pursuing God's Will Even Though it Incurs the Wrath of the Powers that Be, Heb 11:27.
(Heb 11:27 NIV) By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
There is discussion among scholars about whether the leaving of Egypt by Moses referred to here is when he fled after killing the Egyptian or at the Exodus. There are points favorable to both sides of the argument; but I prefer the Exodus to be the one indicated.
Moses certainly displayed the boldness and courage of one who did not fear Pharaoh. Even if he did, it is certainly obvious that he feared God more and was willing to commit himself and his Hebrew people to believing in the success of God's plan for deliverance.
The day may come, and may be nearer than we care to think, when our devotion and commitment to God may be put to the test by our own government. We are not to be violent rebels but we are to stand our ground by peaceful means without denying God's rule over us as greater than any earthly government. While there is much that we rightfully ought to submit to the authorities within our government, we can never shrink back from obeying God rather than men at whatever cost. The apostles stand as our examples.
(Acts 5:27-29 NIV) Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. {28} "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." {29} Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men!
L. Moses: Faith Is Trusting God with the Ways and Means of Your Deliverance , Heb 11:28.
(Heb 11:28 NIV) By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
The writer speaks of the first Passover as instituted by God and kept by faith as being the means by which the firstborn of Israel would escape death. It would be taken as a lack of faith in God equal to the lack of faith and reverence for God exhibited by Pharaoh not to participate in the meal and the sprinkling of the blood on the doorposts. The price of such lack of reverence would be the death of the firstborn of Egypt and any of the Hebrews who disregarded the Passover.
Without any precedent for any such meal and sprinkling of blood, Moses' faith in God's word was put to the test. Moses' and his people found favor with God and the Exodus became a reality. It became the birth of the nation of Israel.
Our deliverance and salvation is similarly fashioned in that we must take God's word for how it is accomplished. However, we have evidence that God's promise of a resurrected life is available. It is not blind faith.
(1 Cor 15:1-9 NIV) Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. {2} By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. {3} For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. {6} After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. {7} Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, {8} and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. {9} For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
The atoning blood of Christ has been shed for our sins and we are called upon to repent and trust in Christ's death on the cross if we would desire eternal life. There is no other way.
(John 14:6 NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(Acts 4:12 NIV) Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
And this we must do by faith.
(Eph 2:8-9 NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- {9} not by works, so that no one can boast.
