Sermon Tone Analysis

"THE ACTION OF REAL FAITH"

(A Series on Hebrews)

 

Westgate Chapel 5~/18~/03                                Hebrews 11:2-40

 

PROPOSITION:  The faith that is our response to the revelation and grace of God is never static or passive but aggressively pursues the will of the Father and the purposes of the kingdom of God.

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i. introduction

!! -     THIS is Father’s Day…and when conversation roles around to fathers the subject of heroes is not far behind (my daddy can hit the ball farther than your daddy).

!! -     WEBSTER’S dictionary says that heroes are people admired for noble qualities and brave deeds.

!! -     WE are seriously lacking for heroes in society today….people

whose character, beliefs, and actions can be emulated by those who are following behind.

!! -     NOT perfect people…but heroes.

!! -     NOW, it won’t surprise you when I tell you that God’s purpose in the Christian life is building men and women known for “noble qualities and brave deeds.”

!! -     WHEN the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica.....a small band of brand new Greek Christians who were standing alone for Christ in a thriving port city where every man was his own god.......Paul calls them heroes.

!!! ~*     In I Thessalonians 1:6 he says that in spite of severe suffering in their lives, that they welcomed the message of Jesus with joy.

!!! ~*     In verse 7 Paul tells them that they had become a model to all other believers......that reports of their faith had spread throughout the known world.

!! -     BUT the verse that is the most interesting to me is verse 3, where Paul says concerning them,

!!!       "*We continually remember before our God and Father your* *work produced by faith*......."

!! -     THEIR *work* produced by faith!

!! -     THAT is the primary factor in the life of a true hero or heroin…work produced by faith.

!! -     THAT is exactly what I find in a long list of heroes of the faith, recorded in Hebrews 11 (page 1191).

!! -     THESE men and women are not talkers, they are doers.

!!! ~*     Abel gave God his best lamb as a sacrifice.

!!! ~*     Enoch made it a huge priority in the activities of every day just to be near to God.

!!! ~*     Noah built an ark the size of a football field, and it took him 120 years…and there wasn’t a drop of water in sight.

!!! ~*     Abraham left his home land and traveled to a country he had never seen before, and didn’t know the destination until he got there.

!! -     THESE heroes lived according to a faith in God that translated into action in their visible world…and that was why they are listed in the gallery of faith in Hebrews 11.

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ii.

faith.....the real action of life

!! -     THERE is a faith that moves men and women of God to action.

!! -     IT is a faith that trusts in the goodness, the mercy, and the grace of God and then finds its expression in willing obedience and submission to the daily direction of the Holy Spirit.

!! -     IT is the faith that is busy.

It is building the city of God.

!! -     IN FACT it is only true faith when it translates into action.

Because when it combined with action it has divine energy.

God sees that you and I are serious.

!! -     FAITH that is just a theology doesn't impress God.

!! -     HIS hand only moves on our behalf when He sees faith that moves us into obedient action......like Abraham heading up Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

!! -     THE 39 verses of Hebrews 11, from verse 2 to verse 40, are filled with divine energy, based on the conviction in the hearts of the men and women mentioned there, that what is unseen, but promised by God, is as good as done.

!! -     THESE 39 verses give us a living example of what Hebrews 11:1-2 means when it says,

!!!       “*Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see*.

(2) *This is what the ancients were commended for*.”

!! -     THEN what follows in the rest of chapter 11 is….faith in action.

!! -     FAITH IS ACTION.

!! -     LOOK at verse 4.

!!!       "*By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.

By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings.

And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead*."

!! -     BY FAITH, ABEL made an offering to God of the firstborn and the best of his flocks........because he had faith in his heart that the God of the unseen world was real and meant what He said about the kind of sacrifices that would be acceptable to Him.

!! -     LOOK at verse 5.

!!!       "*By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away.

For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God*."

!! -     BY FAITH, ENOCH had such confidence in God and the unseen world that Enoch invested himself heavily in intimate fellowship with a God he could not see.

!! -     LOOK at verse 7.

!!!       "*By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.

By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith*."

!! -     NOAH was a preacher of righteousness.

He called his generation to repent.

He was tested by his times, living in an evil world.

But, because of God's Word to him he spent 120 years building an ark.....even though he was ridiculed by his peers for doing it.

!! -     LOOK at verses 8, 9, and 10.

!!!       "*By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.*

(9) *By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise*.(10)

*For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God*."

!! -     BY FAITH, ABRAHAM left his own country for a land he didn't see.

He regarded God's Word as more important than houses and lands and family.

He left behind all ties to follow the call of God.

!! -     EVEN when he got to the land that God had promised, he lived there as a stranger in a tent, and did not see the promise completely fulfilled.....fighting severe enemy attacks at times.

!! -     LOOK at verses 11 &12.

!!!       "*By faith Abraham, even though Sarah was past age--and was barren--was enabled to conceive a son because he considered him faithful who had made the promise*.

(12) *And so from this one man, Abraham, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore*."

!! -     LOOK at verses 17-19.

!!!       "*By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.

He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son*, (18) *even though God had said to him, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.'*

(19) *Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death*."

!! -     ABRAHAM took Isaac, his only son, up Mount Moriah to offer him on the altar, in obedience to the Word of God, believing that God could raise him from the dead.

!! -     FAITH is ACTION.

!! -     VERSE 20.

!!!       "*By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future*."

!! -     VERSE 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*."

!! -     VERSE 22.

!!!       "*By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones*."

!! -     VERSE 23.

!!!       "*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*."

!! -     VERSES 24-28.

!!!       "*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.*

(27) *By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.*

(28) *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*."

!! -     VERSES 29-30.

!!!       "*By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned*.(30)

*By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days*."

!! -     VERSE 31.

!!!       "*By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient*."

!! -     FAITH is action.

!! -     READ the rest of the chapter.

!! -     KINGDOMS were conquered.

Justice was administered.

Lions mouths were shut.

The enemy was routed.