Remember those who
rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering
the outcome of their conduct. - Hebrews 13:7
God has a definite plan for
His church. He has since He started planting church throughout the middle East,
Asia Minor, and Europe in the first century.
I’ve also see pastors who don’t take any type of leadership I have churches
flounder.
Let your conduct
be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He
Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly
say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” - Hebrews 13:5-6
The Lord is my helper. What
an astounding notion – that God Himself is my helper!
There are a lot of times
when we feel pretty helpless. The last few months have felt like we are totally
hopeless and helpless in how to deal with this current situation. But we are
never, ever helpless because Jesus said I will never, ever leave you or forsake
you.
What a Helper to have. No
one can help like He can help. He loves me, He cares for me, I am His, and He
is my helper in every situation. Nothing is too much to handle – because I don’t
have to handle it. Nothing in too hard – because nothing is too hard for Jesus.
There is no impossible situation because nothing is impossible with God.
The Lord in MY helper. It is
not a vague concept but a very profound truth. Even when we feel at our weakest
and most vulnerable, we need not be afraid, because Jesus is right there by our
sides.
The problem is that we too
often don’t recognise that and we try to get along on our own. When that happens we
are going to fail.
We must lean on Him and let
Him help in those times of trouble. He is always there waiting to help.
Live your lives without
coveting. Be content with what God allows you to have, because you always have
Jesus and He will never leave you or forsake you.
Now, let’s look at the word contentment.
It doesn’t mean that we sit back with a devil may care attitude and do nothing
about our circumstances. We need to work and do all we can do to improve our
circumstances.
But there comes a time when
we need to stop wanting what others have and learn to be content with what we
have. That means we need to trust that God knows best about what we need. It means I
really don’t know what is best for me – God does. It is far too easy to see
what others have and wonder why we can’t have the same thing.
The truth is though that we
really already have all we will ever need. We have Jesus – and that is really
enough. Not only that but Jesus has said ‘I will never, ever, ever leave you and I
will never ever, ever forsake you no matter what happens in this world.’
That’s means I need not
covet anything else – I have Jesus and He knows exactly what I need. That’s a
great comfort. There is PLENTY that I think I need, but He knows WHAT I NEED
and He is always there with me.
So there’s no need to compare
or complain to lack contentment. I just Jesus that I have all that I need.
Marriage is
honourable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God
will judge. – Hebrews 13.4
One of the greatest of all
gifts is the gift of marriage. It was the very first gift that God evee gave men
when He saw that Adam was alone and needed a partner.
Marriage as an institution
is to be held in honour by all. I am bothered by even ‘good natured’ comments
that call a marriage being trapped or stuck or anything of the like. It is an
honoured and honourable gift.
Part of that gift is the ‘marriage bed’ which refers to sexual relations
between a married couple. God says here that this an undefiled thing. It is
designed to produce offspring and for physical and emotional pleasure – and
that is good and right.
Outside of marriage though it is a whole nother kettle of fish. Sex is a
perfect part of God’s plan, when it is used according to His plan.
So be thankful for God’s great gift – in His setting.
Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also. – Hebrews 13.3
On Sunday the 15th
we as a church remembered the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted
church. The featured country this year was Nigeria so on Sunday night as part of
our Zoom Bible study we paused and prayed for Nigerian believers.
We who live in relative
comfort and freedom really have no idea of what it is like to be ‘chained’ for
our faith. At worst our worship may be made difficult or we may be limited by
regulations, but for the most part none of us will be arrested and jailed just
because of our faith.
But all over the world, in
numbers greater than any other time in the church, believers suffer for their
faith. They are beaten and arrested and assaulted and thrown in prison and
tortured and even killed just because they name the name of Christ.
Are these folks a major part of our prayers? Do we pray for them with the same intensity and we would if we were in chains with them or if someone we know and love were imprisoned for their faith?
Do not forget to
entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. - Hebrews 13:2
We don’t think of the virtue
of hospitality as being something ‘spiritual’ very often. Yet, here it is listed
in the Life of Faith chapter and it is also listed as one of the gifts of the
spirit.
When you think about
hospitality though you can see why this is such an important virtue. It is not
easy to open your home up for all the world to see. It requires a sacrifice of
privacy and a sharing of our homes and goods and possessions. We always risk
the chance that something might happen to our stuff. We may feel like we have
to change our behaviour. We may not feel like we can really relax when someone
is in our home.
I’m not going to make it sound like it is a little thing. It is a lot to consider before we open our doors and our hearts and our lives
But hear we read that we
need to be careful that we do entertain even strangers. This is even a greater
challenge, and of course must be done with discretion and wisdom. God says that
we need to look for chances to be hospitable to all, because we may just have
the chance to entertain angels unawares.
Does that mean that somehow
there are angels in our midst? It sure sounds like it, doesn’t it?
I don’t know about all of
that, but I do know that God expects us to open our hearts and our home to
other, for who know who they might be?
Let brotherly love
continue. - Hebrews 13:1
Now we start the chapter we
might title the Life of Faith. At the top of the list, as you might expect, is
a reminder for brotherly love to continue.
This is not the agape love
we often we often ready about. This is the familial love that gives us and
family and friends. It the love that binds us together in friendship.
There are very few things as
precious as real friends. I have many friends who have been my friends now for many
decades. Their friendship is this filial love that the writer of Hebrews speaks
of here. It is the love that ties physical and spiritual family together. True
phileo love will carry on and on and one.
I think continuing is the true test of brotherly love. If we have it we endure
through hard times and choose to overlook the weaknesses and quirks of our
friends. It doesn’t mean we overlook sin, but it does endure even the times
when they do not do what we like.
In fact, that is when continuing is really put to the test. What happens if a friend is failing and won’t listen? Do we give up on them and forget them?
No. that is when continuing love just keeps loving and praying. The words of ‘Prayer
for a Friend’ say it so well.
Lord, I lift my
friend to You, I've done all that I know to do
I lift my friend to You
Complicated circumstances have clouded his view
Lord, I lift my friend up to You
I fear that I won't
have the words that he needs to hear
I pray for Your wisdom, oh God, and a heart that's sincere
Lord, I lift my friend up to You
Lord, I lift my
friend to You
My best friend in the world, I know he means much more to You
I want so much to help him, but this is something he has to do
And Lord, I lift my friend up to You
'Cause there's a
way that seems so right to him
But You know where that leads
He's becoming a puppet of the world, too blind to see the strings
Lord, I lift my friend up to You
My friend up to You
Lord, I lift my
friend to You, I've done all that I know to do
I lift my friend to You
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/castingcrowns/prayerforafriend.html
This verse came to me at a
very needed time last week. I was fed up. I had had enough. I had enough of
Covid and missing church and the responses to Covid and politics here and in
the States and frustration and a lot of other things. I told Mary that I simply
has enough and I felt like doing nothing – I even didn’t feel like doing
anything spiritual.
All I could do about it
though was to seek an answer in God’s word. And here. Surely directed by the
Holy Spirit came just the verse I needed.
Therefore, we are receiving
a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Everything else may be shaken and falling to
pieces but our kingdom is unshakable.
Along with an unshakable
kingdom we have the joy and God’s unending grace. The amazing grace that saves
us also allows us to serve. It is by His grace alone that we have this
unshakable kingdom. Now we have the right focus. Now we can stay in the race.
Now we can serve His with an awe of His power and walking in the fear of the
Lord. God is a consuming fire. One day He patience will yield to His holiness
and His judgement. While we enter the unshakable kingdom, the world enters into
judgement.
What more motivation could
we have than to know that what we are doing is of eternal import while
everything else is failing?
But you have come
to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the
firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits
of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel - Hebrews 12:22-24
Earlier we read about the
need for the church to meet together here on earth. I think that it is a
forerunner and maybe important because it is a picture of what the whole church
will do one day in heaven.
At the end of the race we
are going to have a great celebration. The church, the general assembly of the
firstborn, in the presence of the angels, registered in heaven, to meet with
God and with Jesus His Son.
I can’t even begin to imagine the joy of that day. We all get to meet all the
church that has gone on before. It’s a wonderful thing to go to church now, but
can you imagine this church meeting!
Here we have the angels, the
saints, God the Father, and God the Father meeting the presence of the Holy
Spirit. What a day that will be! The race is over, the battle is won, and we
can celebrate the victory together.
Our missing church today makes
me long for that day even more!
Therefore
strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that
what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. - Hebrews
12:12-13
Sometimes the race can get
really wearying. Times like 2020 are beating us down. Our shoulders can be
slumped, we are getting weak in the days and we may be tempted to just lie down
and quit.
I’ve been reading and listening to a podcast about Earnest Shackleton, the
Irishman and Kildare man who led a couple of Antarctic expeditions with the
ultimate goal of being the first man to the South Pole. He didn’t make it but
his tales of his journeys, especially his trip on the Endurance have
inspired generations.
They knew at one stage that
there were not going to make it. The ship was stuck in an ice floe and was
eventually crushed in the ice. Temperatures were far below freezing and they
had near hurricane force winds. They were forced to camp in tents that
eventually were torn apart and the used the lifeboats to build a sort of hut.
Months went by.
But all during that time
Shackleton knew that if he let his men get down they would die. He and the
others found ways to encourage the men. They kept schedules. The planned meals
together. The planned celebration times together. He insisted that one man keep
his banjo so they would have music. The story is replete with examples of lifting
each other up.
That’s kind of what we need
to seek to do for each other. We are all going to get down. This has been a
trying year in so many ways. We are not in persecution. We are not in real
danger for the most part. Our problem this year is frustration and weariness
over how life has changed because of the virus. Most of us have been basically out
of church for months. We can’t get together. We can’t fellowship. We are forced
to wait it out.
We need each other now more
than ever. We need to pick ourselves up and then pick each other up. We need to
stay on track as time goes by. We need to all become encouragers now more than
ever.
Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. - Hebrews 12:12-13
Sometimes the race can get
really wearying. Times like 2020 are beating us down. Our shoulders can be
slumped, we are getting weak in the days and we may be tempted to just lie down
and quit.
I’ve been reading and listening to a podcast about Earnest Shackleton, the
Irishman and Kildare man who led a couple of Antarctic expeditions with the
ultimate goal of being the first man to the South Pole. He didn’t make it but
his tales of his journeys, especially his trip on the Endurance have
inspired generations.
They knew at one stage that
there were not going to make it. The ship was stuck in an ice floe and was
eventually crushed in the ice. Temperatures were far below freezing and they
had near hurricane force winds. They were forced to camp in tents that
eventually were torn apart and the used the lifeboats to build a sort of hut.
Months went by.
But all during that time
Shackleton knew that if he let his men get down they would die. He and the
others found ways to encourage the men. They kept schedules. The planned meals
together. The planned celebration times together. He insisted that one man keep
his banjo so they would have music. The story is replete with examples of lifting
each other up.
That’s kind of what we need
to seek to do for each other. We are all going to get down. This has been a
trying year in so many ways. We are not in persecution. We are not in real
danger for the most part. Our problem this year is frustration and weariness
over how life has changed because of the virus. Most of us have been basically
out of church for months. We can’t get together. We can’t fellowship. We are
forced to wait it out.
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what
son is there whom a father does not chasten?
But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers,
then you are illegitimate and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid
them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of
spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to
them, but He for our profit, that we may
be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the
present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of
righteousness to those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12.7-11
Chastening has a goal. Human
chastening, as we saw yesterday can fail be cause we are men.
God chastens us for our
profit – always and forever. It’s not fun, it can even be painful. But if we
are faithful and yield to it God will produce the peaceable fruits of
righteousness.
These peaceable fruits of
righteousness ought to be our desire. We have so many goals and notions, but
how many of us could say ‘my desire is to bear the fruits of righteousness?’
God’s chastening is always
for our good. It is also done in love, and it should bear fruit by allowing His
righteousness to be seen in my life. It proves that I am His son and that He
cares enough to do something about it.
I can let it get me down and defeat me or I can let God bear fruit in my life.
In large measure it is up to me.
May my chastening produce God’s fruit in my life.
And you have
forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not
despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by
Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He
receives.” If you endure chastening,
God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not
chasten? But if you are without
chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and
not sons. Furthermore, we have had human
fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more
readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for
a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, –
Hebrews 12.4-9
Nobody likes the notion of
chastening or discipline. I think it is because we have been on the receiving
or even the giving end of chastening which was not discipline but just pure
punishment.
Punishment sometimes has to
be meted out. It is a sad, but a true, fact.
But we really mess up if we confuse it with chastening or discipling.
Punishment is to exact a penalty. It may or may not teach anything.
But discipline, as seen by the very nature of the word, is intended to teach.
Discipline is done in love. Sometimes it is going to be painful, but it is
always done in love.
As we can see in the next
few verses our fathers disciplined us and we disciplined our children. We did
what seemed ‘best to us’ and I know, for one, I really blew it on more than one
occasion.
But God always acts in love.
He always chastens perfectly.
We can’t despise God’s
discipline – He always does it in love and He always does it right and it is
always for our benefit.
We’ll come back here
tomorrow.
For consider Him
who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary
and discouraged in your souls –
Hebrews 12.3
Don’t be weary in well doing
for in due season you will reap if you faint not.
How do we do that?
Here we see one way –
consider what Jesus has been though.
Okay – got me there. Nothing
I’ve been through can compare to what He has been through for me. Sure, I feel
worn out. Sure I get tired and defeated and discouraged and angry and
frustrated and bothered and sometimes I feel like I have just had it.
When that happens I am
driven my one thing – self-centredness and a focus on me.
That happens because I don’t
consider Jesus who endured the greatest hostility against. He was constantly
opposed and rejected. He was betrayed, arrested, and abandoned. They He was
stripped and mocked and beaten and scourged and spat on and falsely accused and
falsely convicted and nailed to a cross and raised and shame and had His Father
turn His back on Him.
No, what if I do consider
that? If I do, how can I honestly compare by weariness. How can I not carry on?
Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. – Hebrews 12.1-2
We have looked at the need
for getting rid of the baggage. We have looked at the need for patience and
endurance. Now we can look at our goal and our power and our motivation.
In any race we have to keep
our goal in mind. There has the be something at the finish line for us.
And there is. Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith
is standing there calling to us and encouraging us with His arms open wide to
welcome us home.
And look at what He has already
done – He did it with joy, He endured the cross, despised the shame, and He is
sitting on the right hand of God.
Don’t let that fancy baubles
of this world get us off track. Don’t be distracted by the affairs of this world
– let’s just keep our eyes on Him
Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God. – Hebrews 12.1-2
Run your race with patience.
It would be great if this race was just a 100 metre dash where we could sprint
to the end, cross the finish line, and then relax and take it easy.
But we learn pretty quickly
that this race is an Iron man triathlon. We can’t run with a series of little
short bursts. If we run the race like that we will struggle the whole way.
The long haul means there
are some things we need. We need patience. We need endurance. We need
sticktoitiveness. We need something to keep us on track. We need to realize
that this world is not our home. We keep going because that’s what we need to
do.
We did not sign on for the
short haul. We signed on for life. Just keep plugging away. Don’t expect
immediate miracles. Wait on the Lord for the final victory.
What
do runners do when they get ready for a race as they approach the starting
line? As they walk to the line you’ll see them getting rid of every gram of
weight the can get rid of. The strip down to the bare essentials. When this was
written the bare essentials meant truly bare.
It
makes no sense to run encumbered by weight. I recently saw where someone ran a
marathon in a deep-sea diver’s suit. It made for a good stunt, but he sure
didn’t win the race.
Anyway,
back to the race at hand.
When
we our running the race God has set out for us we need to get rid of the
baggage. We need get rid of the sin load. We need lay aside anything, anything,
that will slow us down. Its no wonder people get weary and drop out of the
race.
A lot of it is up to us. We
have a choice to run in the deep sea river’s suit or stripped down to the bare
necessities.
Deal with the distractions.
Get rid of the sins. Get in the race. Run.
And what more
shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson
and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued
kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness
were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the
aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.
Others were
tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better
resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of
chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted,
were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins,
being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They
wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
And all these,
having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made
perfect apart from us. - Hebrews
11:32-40
There is not time in an all
the world to tell the stories of people Gideon and Barak and Samson and
Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets. We are regaled by their tales
and actions and faith in the Old Testament. We are amazed what they did as the
world up to lions and subdued kingdoms and defeated great enemies and saw dead
raised to life. We see that they faced great opposition and some were mocked
and scourged and jailed a torn apart by beasts and sawn in two and things like that.
Many died. It’s the ‘why’ of
the story that makes it interesting.
The world was not worthy of
these folks – simple enough. They did all they could, they gave it all, and all
they got was opposition. They were, indeed, too good for this world.
I’m grateful that this world
is not my home. I am glad that we have a greater reward ahead. These folks
proved themselves above the world and they didn’t even have the hope we have.
Things may get tough – it important
that we remember our greater reward.
By faith the walls
of Jericho
By faith the walls
of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the
harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had
received the spies with peace. - Hebrews
11:30-31
The walls came tumbling
down. What an amazing illustration of the power of faith. God’s battle plan for
Jericho. March around Jericho for a week and give a shout and the walls will
fall.
Wait, by faith the HARLOT Rahab?
That’s right – the harlot Rahab. Not only does she appear here, but James speaks of her as an example of how works evidence true faith.
Why Rahab of all people? I’ve often wondered that. Here she was a woman of ill repute who hid the spies in Jericho from the crowds looking for them and then said she hadn’t seen them. She hardly seems in our judgmental fleshly eyes that she would qualify for the Hall of Faith.
I don’t know how this all worked
out, but I do know that God said her works proved and her faith got her a
mention here.
I guess its just a matter of God showing us that in His grace and mercy and
infinite wisdom He can use anyone, even the weak and frail and imperfect.
That’s a good thing because that means God can use Roger the self-centred man
or Roger the proud man or Roger the guy with the evil thoughts or Roger the unloving.
Thank God for this little
reminder that no one is beyond the power of faith.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command.
By faith Moses,
when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than
the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
By faith he
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him
who is invisible.
By faith he kept
the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn
should touch them.
By faith they
passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to
do so, were drowned. –
Hebrews 11.23-29
Wow. Moses had plenty of ‘by
faiths.’ A couple of these really stick
out. He chose to give up one of the most potentially powerful positions in the
world to suffer with his people. What an amazing faith choice. He knew his
reward would be far greater. I could spend a while thinking about that.
But for today I want to
focus on the notion that he torsion Egypt, choosing to trust the One who is
invisible.
Trusting the invisible is
never easy, and yet we are called on to do it all the time. Moses could not see
the result of his choice but by faith he did right.
We are challenged the same
way. In the midst of our troubles we told to not look at the things we can see
but on the things we can’t see. The things we can see are temporary and will
one day be gone. It is the invisible things that are for eternity.
It takes great faith. The
visible things are just so visible! We can’t avoid them. They are right there
before our eyes and yet we are called on to not focus on them.
Don’t get caught up in the visible, choose, like Moses, to see the invisible,
By faith Abraham,
when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises
offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed
shall be called,” concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the
dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
By faith Isaac
blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
By faith Jacob,
when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning
on the top of his staff.
By faith Joseph,
when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and
gave instructions concerning his bones. - Hebrews
11:17-22
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
Joseph were all picture of faith.
Abraham offered up his son
Isaac
Isaac passed his blessing on
the Jacob and Esau
Jacob passed the blessings
on to the sons of Joseph and he worshipped God
Joseph stayed left
instructions to the people following him
Four generations of men were
faithful in passing truth on to the next generation. Of all the things we could
have read about these guys the things God wanted us to see is their
faithfulness to the next generation.
This is the key way that we
pass on our faith. Deuteronomy speaks of teaching our children and the New
Testament tells fathers to bring their children up in the future and admonition
of the Lord.
Of all the tasks we have one
of the keys is to consider the heritage we leave behind. The day is going to
come when all we leave here is our reputation. Let’s be sure that we leave a
reputation that includes the words ‘by faith.’
These all died in
faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were
assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they
seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which
they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they
desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to
be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. –
Hebrews 11.13-16
All of these examples of
faith had something in common. They were pilgrims and strangers. They knew this
world was not their home. They all sought a better country.
Their faith boggles my mind.
They hoped for a heavenly country and they didn’t even know what we do about
salvation and heaven. We know and yet
how often our faith fails.
We are strangers and pilgrim
in this land. This world is not our home. We too seek a better country to
follow. We are citizens of another kingdom We are never going to really fit in.
But the day is coming when
we will find that better country, just like these saints did. Instead of
getting down and discouraged by this one, let’s keep our eyes on that better
country.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith he dwelt
in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac
and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city
which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
By faith Sarah
herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she
was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born
as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is
by the seashore.- Hebrews
11.8-12
Abraham and Sarah are two of
my favourite faith people in the whole Bible. I love them because they faith
was real, but it was flawed, but it was enduring.
At the very start Abram was
minding his own business when God appears to him and says ‘its time to back up
and move. Don’t worry about where to – I’ll show you when you get there.’
Abram was a wealthy
landowner with crops and herds and livestock and God just said ‘go.’ And Abram
went.
By faith they lived in a
foreign land and there they were faithful.
One day God made Abraham and
great promise. He promised that Abraham would be the faither of a great nation
and that the number of his descendants would be greater than the stars in the
sky and the sand on the oceans’ shore.
But there was a problem –
all that had to start with one son. The couple waited year after year and decade
after decade and still no son. Their faith was imperfect – the messed up a few
times and tried to take things in their own hands but all their attempts.
It was flawed faith – but it
was faithful faith.
Finally, way past
child-bearing years they were told that a son was coming! It was too good to be
true, but next year they had their long-promised son.
Finally, barren Sarah bore a
son.
Therefore, from one man, and
him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude — innumerable
as the sand which is by the seashore.
They were faithful – and God met His promise.
By faith Noah,
being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared
an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and
became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith – Hebrews 1.7
By faith Noah…moved with
godly fear, built an ark.
What an amazing statement.
Though he had never seen rain and though the whole world opposed him, Noah
built an ark because he feared God more than he feared man.
For about 75 years Noah and
his sons laboured to build this great rescue boat to preserve mankind. All the
while he was preaching repentance yet no one believed except his own family.
No one.
But that didn’t stop them. By
faith they acted and by faith humanity was preserved. By faith he did his bit,
but the world was preserved because of his righteousness.
I have to ask myself if my
faith drives me to work and to preach. If my faith were real I would know that
folks needed the gospel in order to avoid destruction.
Give me a little bit of Noah’s
faith at work.
By faith Enoch was
taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had
taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
But 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 diligently seek Him. - Hebrews 11:5-6
Enoch is an amazing
character. Right in the middle of a list of Adam’s descendants we come across
Enoch and there is a pause. Enoch ‘was not’ because he walked with God.
Enoch is one of those
characters who only gets a couple of quick mentions in Scripture. We read about
him in the book of Jude because He prophesied about the coming of Christ with
His saints in judgement and to sort out set up His kingdom.
But we do learn a lot about
Enoch. He listed in the Hall of Faith I think partly because without faith it
is impossible to please God and Enoch’s faith pleased God to the point where
God just took him on to heaven. Those who desire to come to God must believe
that God is Who He says He is and that He will reward those who seek Him.
Oh to be an Enooch and to be
known as the man who walked with God.
