By Faith, Part 1

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What we are going to be looking at over the next two weeks are examples from the Old Testament of people who demonstrated their faith in God, even though they would never see what God promised them. We have talked so much about the New Covenant, we can’t forget there were people who had faith, and by their faith they were approved by God. I think we will even be surprised by some of the people we will see mentioned in these scriptures over the next two weeks.
Hebrews 11:1–2 ESV
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation.
If we consider faith to be one of our senses, it is the most powerful of all the senses we have. It provides with the power to see things and to hold on to things which are only hoped for. We may not see them with our true eyes, but our “faith” eyes will be able to distinguish them.
It’s by faith the people under the old Covenant were approved. These who were approved believed their God and believed everything revealed to them in His Word.
Hebrews 11:3 ESV
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
We believe in faith that God created the universe. We have heard this from a very long time ago. We believe by faith in the Word the Lord has given us He created everything around us in six days. We also believe He simply spoke and they came into being. We believe that everything we see in creation was something that was made out of nothing. It simply was when God spoke.
Let’s take a look at verse four. Of course Abel is the first person mentioned. Abel was the first martyr in the Bible. We know God found the sacrifice he offered to Him to be more pleasing than what his brother was offering.
Hebrews 11:4 ESV
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Abel

The sacrifice Abel was offering which was better than his brother’s was a blood offering, which we have been looking at as we have been going through this book.
Even through his death, Abel was still speaking. Abel, the first to die in our world, would be the first to enter heaven. Through his faith, he offered sacrifices to God which God accepted.
Enoch is the next person we will look at.
Hebrews 11:5 ESV
5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

Enoch

Enoch was a person who communed with God continually. He had faith in who God was and stayed in constant contact with him. He will be the first person to go heaven who didn’t have to die. He simply was taken. The scripture simply says, he walked with God.
Genesis 5:23–24 ESV
23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Because his faithfulness to God, He simply took him.
Also in Hebrews, it says he wasn’t found. This means people were looking for him. He didn’t just simply disappear from the earth and life went on. People missed him.
Hebrews 11:6 ESV
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Enoch lived for over three hundred years, and in those three hundred years, he puts his faith and hope in God. He did everything he could do to please God. He stayed in touch with God his entire life.
We were created to please our Lord. Actually, all of creation was made to please our Lord.
Revelation 4:11 ESV
11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
I think one of the things we need to do in this section as well is to stop and remember that our faith isn’t based on our works. We must be accepted by God first before He can see anything we are doing. We must be seeking Him and be a believer in Christ and the gift which was offered through His Son. The people of the Old Testament needed to draw near to God and believe He existed. Many of them put the works of the sacrifices of church before their belief in Him. If I do these things, if I do these steps, I will be able to enter into heaven. God is more interested in your personal time with Him than He is the sacrifices you are going to make in life. He prefers you to believe who He is without anything we might add to our belief in who He is.
If we try to add or take out some of the things the Bible says about God and His nature, we have made an idol. You see, anything we take away or add are our own wishes. They have nothing to do with Him and who He is and what He should be to us. We need to simply believe He exists and is according to what scripture says and leave it.
He is and should be the thing we seek. When we break it down to that, He will reward us.
Hebrews Exposition

A minister was one day going to preach. His attention was arrested by a woman standing at her door, who, upon seeing him, came up to him with the greatest anxiety, and said, “Oh sir, have you any keys about you? I have broken the key of my drawers, and there are some things that I must get.” He said, “I have no keys.” She was disappointed, expecting that everyone would have some keys. “But suppose,” he said, “I had some keys. They might not fit your lock, and therefore you could not get the articles you want. But,” said he, wishing to improve the occasion, “have you ever heard of the key of heaven?”

“Yes,” she said, “I have lived long enough, and I have gone to church long enough, to know that if we work hard and get our bread by the sweat of our brow, and act well toward our neighbors, and behave, as the catechism says, lowly and reverently to all our betters, and if we do our duty in that station of life in which it has pleased God to place us, and say our prayers regularly, we shall be saved.”

He said, “My good woman, that is a broken key, for you have broken the commandments, and you have not fulfilled all your duties. It is a good key, but you have broken it.” “But sir,” she said, believing that he understood the matter, and looking frightened, “What have I left out?” “Why,” said he, “the all-important thing, the blood of Jesus Christ. Don’t you know it is said, the key of heaven is at His belt; He opens and no man shuts; He shuts and no man opens?” And explaining it more fully to her, he said, “It is Christ, and Christ alone, that can open heaven to you, and not your good works.”

Hebrews 11:7 ESV
7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Noah

Noah begins building a boat on dry land. There was no water near where he started to build this thing. Why? Because the Lord instructed him too.
Noah loved God. He followed God when the rest of the world had turned their backs on Him. They were busy enjoying life at their own pace and leisure.
God told Noah He was going to send a flood which would kill all of humanity. Even while he was building the ark and taking quite a beating, Noah was still trying to convince those who were around him of what was going to happen. They didn’t listen, and were condemned because of their unbelief.
Noah, on his part, was rewarded for his belief in God and his faith in Him.
Hebrews 11:8–10 ESV
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Abraham

Abraham one day is told by God He wants him to pack up and move all of his belongings and move to another land. He has no other directions other than God will lead him there. He goes off. There seemed to be absolutely no hesitation in this move either. He was told to go. He didn’t question. We need to realize when God tells us it is time to move on something, we need to move. When we don’t, we are being disobedient. We need to listen closely to what our Father is telling us.
People ask him where he is going. Can you imagine?
They lived in tents for the most part while they were travelling. When they went into towns, they seemed to get into trouble. God wanted them to stay separated from the people in the land where God was sending them. Because of the years Abraham lived, Isaac and Jacob were there with him while they were moving around in this promised land. They would continue to live in tents until there return to the promised land.
Abraham had his eyes set on the city God was telling him about. He didn’t need an earthly home. He was waiting for the home God was preparing for him.
Hebrews 11:11–12 ESV
11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

Abraham & Sarah

Abraham and Sarah were promised by God, they would have descendants so numerous they would be as many as the sands on the beaches and the stars in the sky. They were given this promise after they were both well beyond their years of having children.
Even though Sarah tried to “help God out with His plan,” God saw the faith Sarah had and blessed her for it. The same was true with Abraham. They both had incredible faith to do what God had asked them to do.
Now, here is the kicker in all of these verses we’ve been looking at today.
Hebrews 11:13–16 ESV
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, & Jacob

Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob were promised great things. However, they never lived to see them. They had faith God said it, and He would carry it through, but they never realized it. They would end up living as strangers in a foreign land which was never meant to be their home until returning to after years of slavery in Egypt.

Can you see the parallels in our lives today?

We are strangers in a land far from home. As Christians, we should consider this life we live as temporary. We should live the time we have pleasing God and doing the things He has called us to do. We should spend this time reaching out to a world in need. We should be spreading the message of Christ wherever we are.

Where do you put your faith?

How do you demonstrate your faith?

What has God called you to do, and you are using excuses not to follow through?

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