Good Saturday morning, hope you have a good weekend. We've got a lot of ground to cover this morning so let's get started. In a way I don't like to try to do this much at one time, but I really could not find a better way of doing it. We are going to cover Hebrews chapter 11 this morning, better known as "The Faith Chapter".
The first thing I want to make clear is, just what is faith? Read vs. 1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Years ago, I heard a missionary tell a story about when he first went into the jungles of Africa, he had been trying to teach the natives about how to have faith in God. After he finished talking one day, the chief of the tribe came to him, and said, I really don't understand the whole idea of this faith, can you explain it better? The missionary thought for a moment, and said, Chief, if you'll come over here and sit down in this chair, I think you will understand. So the chief walked over and sat down, the missionary said, when you sat down you had faith the chair would hold you, you had faith that it would not fall over, faith that you would not fall through, and faith that you would land squarely on it. The chief thought for a moment and said tell me more about your God, I think I can have faith in Him, because I have seen the faith you have in Him.
Starting in vs 4 we see Abel, who obeyed God in the type of sacrifice, Enoch who we saw a few weeks ago was translated because his faith pleased God. Then there was Noah, in the history of the world it had never rained, he did not know what rain was, but God said build an ark, so he did.
Look at vs' 8-19 you see all the ways that Abraham and Sara had faith in God, and were blessed because of it. First they were told to move from their home land into a strange country, they did not even know where they were going, God said He would tell them when they got there. I can't imagine leaving Mississippi, with my family and what few possessions I have, and heading toward Alaska, and just trusting that God would tell me one day to stop traveling. Then of course they were both right at 100 years old, when God told them they would have a child, and they did. But, then one day God told Abraham to take Isaac their only child and place him on an alter and sacrifice him. I don't think I would have the faith Abraham did, because he did as God commanded. Except God stopped him at the last minute.
Then there was Isaac and Jacob, who both showed great faith in God, and all the things they did. Now I am going to skip over Moses and cover him tomorrow, because there is some things I want to bring out that is both going to take a while, and are a little different than today's devotion. So look on down to vs 30, Joshua and Israel in the promised land, Paul mentions the walls of Jericho, but there are so many other times that could have been mentioned. Times when Joshua and nation of Israel showed great faith in God. But, by mentioning Jericho he was able to mention Rahab the harlot, who also believed in God and hid the spies, thereby saving herself and her family. Then there was so many other great examples of faith that Paul just did not have time to cover, but he did mention some of them, but not all of them.
Look at vs' 33-34 "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,out waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens." This was just some of the things that ordinary people did through extraordinary faith. Vs. 39-40 "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Look closely at these verses, all these people showed faith that is just not seen these days, and yet they knew that they were not able to know God in the way that we are able to know Him today. The Messiah had not yet appeared, Christ had not made His sacrifice, they could not know the second birth. They knew this, and yet they still had more faith in God than anyone I know today.
Now I want to go one step farther and look at ch12 vs 1-2, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 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 is set down at the right hand of the throne of God". Paul said, the whole world is watching us, so let's forget about all the problems, and avoid all the sin that can hold us back. And, let us live our life, depending on Jesus, who is the creator and perfecter of our faith in Him. After all, He was happy to go to the cross and suffer the physical pain, and the pain of sin so that we might have eternal life with Him. But, He is not dead, he arose again, and is now sitting at the right hand of God. So if He could die for us, we should be able to live for Him.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the lesson on Moses.
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