Faith has its reasons. It refers to the repeated phrase, then God said (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). And we must exercise the faith we have or it will begin to wither and die on the vine. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Enoch was the seventh of these 10 generations from Adam to Noah. by Gerhard Friedrich [Eerdmans], VIII:586), the proof of things unseen. The Bauer, Arndt, & Gingrich Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament [University of Chicago Press, 2nd ed.] David says, at your right hand there are pleasures forever more (Psa 16:11). And that's why we've got to take it seriously. As long as there remain certain natural prospects, faith does not get on even as easily (if I may say so), as when all natural prospects fail. Such faith, as we will see in the numerous examples of Hebrews 11, is down to earth and practical. Hebrews: All About Faith. This story points us to the hope we have in Jesus who broke through the power of death and ascended into heaven. And if you live out your faith every day, it's natural and normal to expect your family to follow in your steps. As they burned him at the stake, he died singing! Dont hope in your faith, because faith in your faith cant save you. When you walk, you see things you dont notice from a car. You become a father, or a mother, and you find yourself saying, God has given me this wonderful gift and if I am to raise this child in this ungodly world, I need strength. Enoch knew that the judgment of God was coming soon. But Enoch did not go through it. Those who are alive when Christ comes in glory will be taken across the river, without going through it. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition The Lockman Foundation, Steve served as the pastor of Flagstaff Christian Fellowship from May, 1992 through his retirement in December, 2018. Either way, it is Christ who will take us up, and we will be at home with Him. To go back to Howard Fineman's quote, it's all about pursuing (a great biblical concept) the one true God. There is also the realm of the spirit, the invisible spiritual kingdom of God. Thirdly, God chose the Son who is His express image to purge our sins. All we need is the courage to do what Noah did and to believe what God has said. By exercising this kind of faith the ancients gained the warm commendation of God. Faith is the victory! 4:4). If you add the ages at which each of these patriarchs became a father, you will find that from Adam to the birth of Enoch was 622 years (130 + 105 + 90 + 70 + 65 + 162 = 662 years). And He says to us, I go to prepare a place for you andI will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also (Jn 14:2-3). Scot and Janet escaped the blaze with burns, but they couldn't save their children: Ben, 13, Joe, 11, Sam, 9, Hank, 6, Elizabeth, 3, and Peter, six weeks old. But if you will starve the flesh and feed your faith, it will grow. No one ever comes back from the other world to tell us of how things are there. If you want to get some place fast, get in a car. It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Heb 9:27). Will you live it? The Word feeds your faith, and faith feeds your understanding (v. 3). Every time the boy became sick you would think This is it. Today their grief is wrenching and unremitting, yet they continue on by faith. 1:18-22), sinful men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Good works flow from saving faith as their source and give proof of genuine faith (Eph. And God honored them because of their faith. And without God's help, we would never believe all of that. Pew Forum director Luis Lugo says, "You no longer have an alignment of affiliation, belief and behavior. You can't see any of this. The French philosopher Pascal said that there is a "God-shaped vacuum" inside every human heart. Abel trusted in God and offered the best that he had; Cain lacked faith and apparently just went through the motions. Hebrews 11:17-40. As it is difficult to directly translate into English because it has many meanings, we must look at the context here. ''Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We dont know for sure the ethnic makeup of the church, but those who were Jews would have been taught these stories from their youth. The truth is that God is not responsible for many of those things, fallen man is. The early chapters of Genesis chart the growth of sin in the world and its devastating effects. A. When Noah and Mrs. Noah entered the ark, their boys went with them. Reminder: You are currently impersonating {{userSessionData.email}}. That means more than that heaven is a place of great happiness. So, faith believes what God has revealed and trusts what God has promised. Without faith you will not believe it anyway. Whoever would draw near to God must believe that He is! Death is like a river that separates us from the presence of God in heaven. And for 300 more years he walked with God until "he was no more, because God took him away" (v. 24). C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens. All of us are on a journey going somewhere. Any date. By faith he believed God regarding things he had not yet seen. Think about this: Walking with God! That is the greatest privilege possible. Matt Papa. Something is definitely wrong. You will not share personal information because you are afraid that the person will use it in a way that damages you. The "hoped for" things we are sure of, are things God has promised. A Matter of Faith: My Sermon on Hebrews 11 Faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing. If two people come to a crossroads and they want to take different paths, they cannot walk together. Perhaps that's what happened to Enoch. Our Savior broke the power of death when He rose from the grave. For 120 years he preached the truth and called the society around him to repentance. I need not try to convince you of anything. God gives us the faith required to please Him. He trusted in God. What if they had been burned to death? The answer is, they would have died in faith and God would reward them abundantly throughout eternity in heaven. Their response shows that by faith, they were making real in their present crisis the future promises of God regarding eternal life. Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December 14, 1856, by the REV. Walking isnt easy when the wind is against you. Hebrews, Chapter 11, and Verse 1. You cant walk with someone when you are hiding from them. And that is our calling today. All of the others relate to a parade of characters from the Old Testament who trusted in God. The writer of Hebrews 11 would surely say agree to that. Ha! The most important thing about you what will matter about you forever is not how many people know your name, or not how many people follow you on social media. Because faith allows us to overcome, we need to understand faith. the writer also was confident that the church would be able to stand the test. God had revealed the acceptable sacrifice and faith listens to what God has revealed. In just four brief verses (Genesis 5:21-24), we have his entire life history. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. Being unconditionally certain that it's true requires faith. People who acted in defiance toward God. Without faith it is impossible to please Him (11:6). 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. The Greek word, hypostasis, occurs twice in Paul in the sense of confidence (2 Cor. For George Carlin, the comedian, religion and God weren't high on his list. For 65 years he lived for himself, but when his son Methuselah was born, he began to walk with God. Bible > Hebrews > Chapter 11 > Verse 8 Library Free Downloads eBibles Hebrews 11:8 The Power of Faith will help you strengthen your confidence in God's promises. As Jonathan Edwards said as his final words, Trust in God and you need not fear (Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography, Iain Murray [Banner of Truth], p. 441). Let me remind you that you may believe what you want, think what you want, act like you want, but there is only one way to God and that is through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. Now, what does it mean to live by faith? Any known sin in your life has been confessed and forgiven. Every day Lisa and David Holden asked God for a baby. Enoch got through his early years without too much trouble. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made out of things which do appear. Pastor Colin Smith preached this sermon on the faith of Sarah from Hebrews 11:11-12 as part of the series "Living By Faith." About. Understanding these principlestrust is essential for close personal relationships; truth is the basis for trust; and, truth must be expressed in love, which means, seeking the highest good of the other personshows why faith (trust) is at the heart of a relationship with God. The "unseen things" we are convinced of, are things God has revealed. Instead we find complexity, and diversity not only between religious communities but within it as well." It is important to define or give substance to such an abstract noun as faith. (Amos 3:3). Genesis 5 is a chapter of numbers and as every accountant knows, the numbers tell a story. It understands the origins of all that is. Justification by faith is one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith. Paul says, I press on (Phil 3:12). Offering the lamb was a sign that Abel was trusting in Gods promise. If you feed your flesh and your doubts, they will grow. Abel had been killed, but that was before Seth or any of his descendants were born. The greater the difficulties, the easier for faith. Hebrews 11 demonstrates that the life of faith is not a rarity. The story of Enoch is told back in Genesis 5, where God records the generations from Adam to Noah, whose story we will look at next week. But I often see people violate this principle in their personal relationships, causing much damage. Its no good saying, If God wants me He can make himself known to me. Not one word is ever said about the faith of his wife or the faith of Shem, Ham or Japheth or their wives. The text says it is the substance of things hoped for. God accepted Abel's offering because it was brought in faith. By their choice, sin and the sinful nature entered the human race. It is the relationship you have with Jesus. If you would draw near to God, you must believethat he rewards those who seek Him (vs. 6). Let me apply verse 2 in two ways. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. In fact, Adam was still living when Enochs son Methuselah was born and when Enochs grandson Lamech was born! 2:4). Both faith and works come from God. This indicates that things were going to become even more difficult in the immediate future. Follow Us Online. Ditto for Cain. Abel was commended as righteous because of a sacrifice that God accepted. There is abundant evidence that an incredibly intelligent Designer created everything, especially human life. Impossible Without Faith: Hebrews 11:17-40. It's just not in us to believe those things. By faith he preached when no one would listen. I don't know how much faith they had, but they had enough to follow the head of the family. Suddenly they realize the heavy weight of responsibility that is upon them. He went out, not knowing where he was going. Since Gods promises are given in specific contexts, how can we know which of them apply to us now? Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has put eternity inside every human heart. THE OLD Assembly's Catechism asks, "What is the chief end of man?" and its answer is, "To glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." If you would draw near to God, you must believe that He is who He says He is. The "end" is often the culmination of a lifetime pursuit of intimacy with God. Colin S. Smith. Take that faith away and we have nothing left. Certainly Cain represents all those people in the world who believe they can make up their own religion. It is possible to walk with God, in a world that defies Him. I often wonder if I would be a Christian if I hadn't been born in a Christina home, reared by Christian parents, lived next to a Christian church, surrounded by Christian people. Matter is not eternal. Back then, there were only eight true believers in the whole world. God has made Himself known in the Scriptures, and If you want to walk with Him, you must believe what He says about Himself. I suspect that Adam had explained that God required a sacrifice. Whoever would draw near to God! Faith connects you to God; it is your admission that you are dependent upon Him; that your hope is in Him. We can't see sins forgiven, we have to believe it. Hebrews 11 New International Version Faith in Action 11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. After the author defines faith, they put flesh on it in ways that both the intended readers and Christians today can look to to understand how to live an authentic life of faith. For example, God confronts our unbelief and sin. Featuring Jen Wilkin, Jennifer Rothschild, Kristi McLelland, and more! It proves the reality of the unseen world. "Through Faith" As we read on the context is the same.Vs35b-38. Your Bible study. His faith proved the reality of the unseen God as greater than the reality of the flames that burned him to death. And by the time of Noah we read, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen 6:5). In 1954 the phrase "under God" was added to our pledge of allegiance. Walking is not sitting and walking is not sprinting. Faith proves to us the fact that the things we presently cannot seeGod, angels, demons, heaven, hellare very much true and real. In other words, faith applies the reality of Gods promises and the unseen world to life in the present, visible world.
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