Hebrews Chapter 11 (part 3)

Hebrews Chapter 11:17-29

vs. 17-19: STEEP MOUNTAIN

- “It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.”

- We look at this incident in Abraham's life in a couple different ways... I've heard it said that it was a foreshadowing of Christ's coming and sacrifice. I've heard it said that it was a test for Abraham's faith. I've heard it said that it was a lesson in obedience for Isaac (and Abraham).

- I think... it is all of those things... and probably more... but since this chapter focuses on faith, that's the route I want to go with this one.

- Luke 14:26-35 says: “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, “There's the person who started that building and couldn't afford to finish it!” Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can't, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away...”

- To enter into a walk with Christ is not a light decision. When we enter into relationship with God... He is asking us to love Him above all others. To “hate everyone else by comparison.” In other words... He comes first. Always. No matter what. God is first.

- Christ compared this to a building project. My church right now, is in the process of fixing up an old furniture store and warehouse so we can move into it in a month. If we walked into this project without looking at the cost of building materials or anything... then about halfway through getting ready to move in... we'd run out of funds to do anything with. Right now... if we ran out of funds at this stage in the renovation... the space would not be that useable... if at all... there's insulation hanging out of the ceiling... there's no ceiling tiles up... we haven't put the final coat of paint on the walls... there's a hard concrete floor that has all the old glue and stuff sticking to it from the old carpet and leftover tile that was on the floor before the carpet was... The water pipes are leaking... I mean... we could use it... but... it wouldn't be the most welcoming atmosphere... and with the insulation and stuff... probably not the best breathing place either...

- A Christian's life is a life of constant renovation. God is constantly working and changing things. He's fixing things in our lives all the time... but if we don't commit to the renovation... well... we'll be a half-finished life... we won't ever live up to our full potential...

- Christ also compared the walk to a king going to battle... This walk is a battle. Everyday. There's a constant warfare going on for the soul's life.

- If we assume that we can handle the enemy. Or assume that God will handle all our spiritual battles without any input from us... then... we will walk onto the battlefield without our armor.

- This walk is not a social thing. It's not hereditary. It doesn't make life easier. It doesn't bring a constant flow of rainbows and butterflies...

- In Sunday School I think... we were talking about the promise being unconditional. God gives us free gifts. There's no condition in His offering the gift. It is only after we accept the gift of promise that it becomes a conditional relationship.

- It's like... a marriage... once you enter into the marriage state... you have agreed to be faithful for life. To stand by one another through sickness and health, for richer or poorer... thick and thin... you'll stay right beside that person til death do you part... It becomes conditional... because you both have to hold up your end of the deal.

- God will never NOT hold up His end. He is intrinsically faithful. It's His very nature to be that way... So once we enter into the Christian walk with God... it is up to us to maintain the relationship and remain faithful to Him... because He won't leave us unless we walk away from Him and refuse to come back.

- When God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, He was asking him to take a deeper walk with Him. “I have given you this promise... and I promise to uphold my end... but I want all of you...” God doesn't ask us for part of us. He asks for all of us. Our entire allegiance.

- It says that Abraham had faith that God would bring his son back from the dead... and in Genesis, it says that he kept telling Isaac that God would provide the sacrifice...

- I wonder if Abraham believed without doubt... I mean could any father seriously walk up that mountain with full confidence that this was all a test and his son was going to be fine?

- I imagine Abraham walking up the mountain a little slower than usual... wondering if God was really going to make him do this... and wondering if he would be able to go through with it... I think when God said “Abraham! Wait!”... that Abraham broke down and cried in relief...

- And I know we have to take into account that human sacrifice was not uncommon in the pagan religions surrounding Abraham... maybe he started to think that this God was like all the others...

- Did he ever doubt God's promise? God said his descendants would come through Isaac... and then he asked him to kill that same Isaac...

- Sometimes our faith asks a lot of us. Sometimes it seems like so much to bear... But God never asks more of us than we can handle... with Him. I Corinthians 10:13 says that God never allows our temptations to be more than we can handle... and that He will show us a way out so that we can endure...

- but we have to be willing to take that path... and to follow through with whatever God asks of us... no matter how hard...

- Genesis 22:1-19

- James 2:14-26

- Romans 4:13-25

vs. 20-22: WHEN!

- “It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.”

- Isaac hadn't seen the promise fulfilled... they were still living in tents... still foreigners in the land... still were not a nation. But because he had faith.. he passed the promise on to his sons.

- “It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.”

- Jacob... not even being in the promised land at this point... still had faith that eventually God would see the promise through. He didn't say “if you go back to Canaan, then you will inherit...” He said “you WILL inherit.” There was no “if” about it. So even though he too wasn't going to get to see the promise come to fruition... he didn't lose faith in it.

- “It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.”

- Joseph... yet another of the patriarchs that didn't get to see the promise come to be... and yet again... there's that “when”. Not if... WHEN.

- Galatians 3:15-4:7

- II Peter 3:1-16

vs. 23-29: MOSES

- “It was by faith that Moses' parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's command.”

- This doesn't talk about having faith to put the baby in the basket to float him down the Nile... I mean... have you watched the Discovery Channel? Do you know what lives in the Nile!? Good grief! Can you imagine putting a crying baby in a basket to float him down a crocodile infested river? And trust that he was going to be okay? Man...

- But going back to disobeying pharaoh... There's a few places in the New Testament that talk about following the laws of the land... however... this is one of those times, that... I think it was okay to break the law of the land... But can you imagine? If they had been caught at it... they would have probably most definitely been made into an example for the other Israelites... at the very least... they would have been killed outright... if not tortured or beaten severely before being killed. They risked their lives to save their son...

- They were willing to face horrible things... because they knew that God had given them something special. They knew that this boy... this child... was something God-ordained. And so they risked all... having faith that God would indeed do something with their act of faith.

- “It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to share the oppression of god's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. It was by faith that he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.”

- Moses grew up in pharaoh's household. He was raised with everything his heart could desire at his fingertips. But even having all that... Moses knew who he was. He knew his place... Whether the rest of the palace did or not is another story... We know that Moses' mother became his nurse. She must have told him all the old stories. He must have known the whole story...

- He could have chosen to stay in the palace... be in a leadership position in one of the greatest nations of its time...

- But he chose to leave his place of power and prestige... for wandering in the desert as a shepherd... for facing his former family... as the opposition.

- He chose to leave his privileged place and return to his people... as a slave.

- He was looking ahead to the end. He counted the cost...

- He led the people through the first passover... led them out of Egypt... even when they weren't too thrilled about going... But they went... and then they got stuck at the Red Sea.

- The Egyptians are closing in... the Red Sea is before them... where are they to go? There is no hope! They're going to be slaughtered. Can you imagine?

- “It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.”

- Can you imagine the people? I mean... they saw all the plagues... they literally saw God work miracles... faith builder much? And now... God splits the Sea... and lets the people walk across on dry land... if you didn't believe Him before... do you believe Him now? Lol

- My hope is that as we read through these stories about the faith of the patriarchs, that our own faith is strengthened... and that we see pictures of faith that we can model...

- Luke 12:16-21

- I Timothy 6:17-19

- Romans 3:3-4

Hebrews Chapter 11 (part 2)

Hebrews Chapter 11:8-16

vs. 8-10: ABRAHAM

- Abraham's faith was the kind of missionaries... It was a call to go to a foreign, unknown place... to live. Not to visit... but to live. An earthly dwelling that is far from home... and not necessarily the safest of places...

- It was also the kind of faith that we as Christians have to have when we answer the call to be a people separate. Because sometimes that means leaving our families, our home... and walking away from all the things that we know well... in order to follow the call...

- Again... this is not always the safest journey. I mean it's safe with God... but... it's not always a road paved with gold... most of the time... it's a rocky road with many snares and trials along the way...

- As a separation... it means not mingling with the people of the land. We can talk, have friendships... share a meal... but we're not to marry them... and we're not to allow their ways or their gods to become a part of our lives.

- “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.”

- Do we look at our lives as a temporary living arrangement?

- Abraham didn't build a house... or a city... he stayed in his tent... ever ready to move to the next place if God so chose to move him.

- Instant in season and out... ready to do whatever Gods asks of us, whenever He asks it...

- Remember when God asked Abraham to go to the mountain and sacrifice Isaac? Did he hesitate? Did he sit and cry and ask God why? Did he grumble and complain the whole time? Did he completely ignore God's request?

- No! He went and was willing to give up the thing he held most dear... because God asked it of him.

- Wow. Selfless faith. If only we had that same passion and determination to follow after God... To obey God without question... no matter what...

- Abraham never saw the promise come to fruition. He never saw his descendents outnumber the stars... He and Sarah only had one son... (granted he had other children with the second wife... and of course there was Ishmael... but they by no means numbered the promise...) He never even saw the land become his own. He had to buy a plot of land in order to bury Sarah... He was living in the land that was promised to him... but it wasn't his...

- Abraham was looking at the big picture. He wasn't focusing on the present. He wasn't looking at the way the situations looked right then... He was faithfully looking forward to what God had in store WAY down the road... even if he never got to see it during his lifetime...

- Galatians 3

- James 2:14-26

- Romans 4:1-5:11

- II John 1:5-6

vs. 11-12: SARAH

- “It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and too old. She believed that God would keep His promise. And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.”

- Sarah had faith in the impossible. There were a few times that Abraham was told that they would have a son. The first time, it says that Abraham believed. No doubt. Just believed. But it wasn't instantaneous... from the first time that God told Abraham that they would have a son... it was another 15 or 20 years before Isaac was born... Abraham was 75 when they left Ur. When Abraham was 85... Sarah decided to take matters into her own hands... She said that God had prevented her from having children... so here... go have a child with my servant. So Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86. And then they had to wait another 15 years from then before God finally gave them Isaac.

- And Sarah laughed. When God showed up and said that the next year they would have a child... Sarah laughed. She was 89, and Abraham 99. Can you imagine? But although she laughed at the thought at one point... and even offered her servant girl as a substitute mother... (to... “help” God with His promise... lol) She is still listed as having had faith that God would keep His promise... even after all that... lol

- Our faith doesn't have to be perfect... it just has to be consistent... Will there be times we doubt God? Or look at something He asks of us and say “oh man... I don't know if I can handle that or not...” I mean sure... but even if things sound crazy... if we look at them and say “okay God... if You say so... then I'll follow along... but you're going to have to help my unbelief on this one...” God will honor that.

- Jesus said this in Matthew 17:20-21: “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there.' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

- How much faith we have doesn't matter... what matters is that we have it. We don't accomplish anything on our own strength or power or wisdom... It's all God anyway... If we have just enough faith to believe that God will do what He promises... if we believe that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life... if we are willing to follow and obey... Then it won't matter that our faith feels small... It won't matter that we're not sure what we're getting ourselves into... God will be in control... and THAT'S all that matters...

- Psalm 13; 100; 117; 18

vs. 13-16: HOME

- “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

- Paul talked about this same thing in Romans and Corinthians. In Romans 8, he said: “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we as believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)”

- This world is not our home. If we are longing for home... then we're not living in it...

- There's a Caedmon's Call song... “This World”. The chorus says:

“This world has nothing for me and this world has everything
All that I could want and nothing that I need”

- All I want... and nothing I need... There's NOTHING on this earth that we need more than we need Christ. Nothing compares to that...

- Paul talked about creation groaning to be released from the curse of Adam... and we, too... waiting eagerly for that day... we are longing for that better day. A better life...

- In II Corinthians, Paul wrote: “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God Himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God Himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.”

- When I was a little kid, we used to travel and sing all the time. We visited so many churches... I used to just LONG for a weekend to stay home and rest.

- I remember going on vacation somewhere maybe about 10 years ago... I think Myrtle Beach... I HATE the beach... I just can't stand SAND! It gets everywhere! It drives me nuts! Lol It feels like it's constantly in your shoes and clothes and then when you get home... it's in your suitcases and shoes and then you track it all through your house and it's just EVERYWHERE! Ugh... Suffice it to say... I hate sand... 0:)

- But anyway... we spent 3 days or a week or something at the beach... and then started driving home... and I didn't realize how homesick I had gotten in even just those few days... until we started to see the mountains again... I live in West Virginia... and we have gorgeous mountains. They're old mountains... but they are so pretty... And we were driving up through and started to see taller and taller mountains... and I cannot begin to tell you how happy just the sight of a few mountaintops made me... Just to know that we were closer to getting home.

- In my mind... in thinking of heaven... and this earth... earth... is the beach... It's ucky and sticky and messy... (sorry to those of you who like the beach... bear with me... :) The world has this way of getting under your skin. It throws it's filth on you... and it's hard to get it to wash off... it just gets in every part of your life... It grinds its way into any crevice it can find... It burns, it itches, and just plain annoys... Sin just keeps coming...

- Heaven... is the mountains... :) Clear air. Clean grass. Open skies. (did I mention we live in the middle of nowhere? Lol)

- The glimpse or thought of heaven... should make us long to be there. Should make us groan at the thought of staying on this earth longer than necessary.

- When we were at the beach... sure... we had some fun... we made some sandcastles and picked up some seashells and played in the ocean... but most of the time... I just wanted to come home... The novelty of the beach was over in a few hours... a day at most... and it was time to come home...

- Heaven... should not be looked at as a necessity that comes when we die... It's HOME!

- I heard an older person once say “Well, I just wish I didn't have to die to get to heaven... because I just love it here!”

- Well okay... sure... this place can be great... sometimes... but in the long run? I'd MUCH rather be in heaven than plugging away down here...

- However, as we go plugging along... it's important not to get TOO focused on the other side of things... The point is to not get attached to this place... it's just... a bad vacation... it's not permanent...

- But as we live out this life... it is important to stay focused on the task at hand... while keeping heaven in view.

- The people of faith that are listed out in the previous verses of this chapter, died, never seeing the promise come to fruition. They were so far in the beginning of things... they really didn't see much of it at all! I mean... Abel? He was killed before he got to see much of anything really...

- Noah... had to start the world over again! How weird would that have felt? Knowing that your family was the only one's left on the earth? Geesh...

- But through it all... they had faith that God was in control and that there was indeed a plan for the future.

- Do you think Abel complained about dying young? Or did Noah complain about being alone in the world? Or not having someone to talk to other than his sons? Did Enoch, as he was walking with God say, “well God... I'd really like to go with You today... but can I say goodbye to my family? Can I finish the harvest? Can I finish this boat I'm working on?” Did Abraham keep making trips back to Ur because he missed his mommy? Or send messengers back every couple of days to check in and make sure he REALLY wasn't needed? Did he throw in the towel when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac? “No God... I just can't give that up... it's too precious... it's too close to home...”

- A guy in our church used to say that “we have to have a high view of heaven.” Meaning... that heaven... is not just some place to pass off as “oh one day when I die... I'll make it there and have a nice relaxing time...” Heaven is something to be excited about... something to yearn for. Something to desire with all our hearts...

- This world? Needs to be a passing vacation. We're just biding time til we can go home.

- Paul (again...) said in Colossians 1: “He (the Father) has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”

- Our passports have a new citizenship listed... We do not belong to this earth... we belong to God's Kingdom... not this one...

- Psalm 116; 62

- Isaiah 12

- Proverbs 3:5-8

- Ephesians 2:19-22

- Philippians 3:20-21

Hebrews Chapter 11 (part 1)

Hebrews Chapter 11

vs. 1, 3: FAITH IN THE UNSEEN

- Dictionary.com has the definition of faith as:

1. Confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2. Belief that is not based on proof.

3. Belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion.

4. Belief in anything, as a code of ethics standards of merit, etc.

5. A system of religious belief.

- I like the second definition... I think that is an accurate description of the faith that we're going to be talking about in this chapter.

- “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”

- We know what this looks like in a Spiritual context... but thinking about practical, everyday instances... I thought of a few things...

- We have faith in gravity. We have a confidence in walking outside and expecting to stay on the ground and not float away into space somewhere. You can't see gravity. You can see it in action... lol but you can't see it. You can feel it moving... when you trip and fall, or take a wrong step on a set of stairs... You know that it exists... and you know that it's working... but you can't SEE it.

- Wind. You can feel it. You can see it's effects. You can figure out how fast it's going... but you can't SEE it. You can't grab hold and hang on to it... and yet you know that it exists...

- I was thinking about some of the science equations we had to work out in science class when I was in high school. There was an equation for momentum, for gravity, for force... and none of those things can you really pin down... but somebody at some point... came up with an equation to figure out how they worked and why they worked...

- Maybe that's why faith in God is so hard sometimes... there's no equation for proving God. There's no scientist or great preacher who has sat out and reasonably argued God with something in math or science that makes sense to the greater population.

- And yet... there's all this proof. The intricacy of our own bodies screams of a creator. The earth and all the things they keep finding in science that are just amazing feats of creation... scream of a creator... a planner... a mastermind. (If you have the opportunity, there's a series of DVD's titled the Truth Project offered by Focus on the Family ministries that is great!)

- “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”

- The way so many things just work... and there's no really good explanation as to how or why they all happen to work together at the same time... in just the right way.

- There's too much proof for it to just be coincidence... and yet there are so many people who have decided that unless they SEE God... God doesn't exist. They're not going to believe in something they can't see... and yet they already do! They will believe that gravity exists... because they've experienced it in action... but because God doesn't work out their lives the way they think He should... they deny the actions that they see Him taking. They deny His effects...

- So how can we have confident faith in something that we can't see... and we can't prove?

- Personal experience. Personal walk. And personal relationship.

- That doesn't sound like much when you're looking at it from the point of view of explaining the proofs to an unbeliever...

- But I think for someone who is struggling with what to believe, or should they believe, then sometimes I think that our lives speak volumes. When we actively seek God... and when we are open about trusting God... and then God comes through? What better witness to the power and awesomeness of God?

- If someone is really looking for God... seeking to make a decision... God can and will use our lives to show them proof... if we're willing to possibly go through some trials in the process...

- I think one of the greatest ways we show God is in how we live our lives. It's not the ONLY way... but there is something to be said for the watching of a life.

- I've heard a hundred times... “If you wanna know what kind of husband a man will be... watch how he treats his mother and sister.”

- And the same holds true for our Christian walk... If you wanna know how someone's Spiritual life is going... see how they respond to situations. See how they treat those around them... both close friends or family and acquaintances.

- Now granted... everybody has an off day now and again... but do they realize it and go ask for forgiveness when they lose their temper? Or do they insult or put others down without a thought as to the pain caused?

- Our faith can be an open book if someone's watching us. And if they knew us BEFORE Christ walked into our hearts... and then see the change start to happen... Sometimes THAT is a GREAT witness.

- I heard a pastor call in to KLOVE radio the other day and he said that he had been in jail. And when he became a pastor of this church in his hometown, a lot of the people who started coming, came, because they knew what he'd been before and they figured that something in this Jesus thing must be the real deal.

- How does your book of faith read?

- James 2:14-26

- Romans 1:16-17; 3:21-8:39

- Galatians 3:1-14

vs. 2, 6: REPUTATION

- “Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.”

- Not through their good works. Not through their money. Not through the way they treated their families... through their FAITH.

- We have this guy playing football in the USA right now... Tim Tebow. And this poor guy has been getting some flack from a lot of people. He's very open about his faith. Always has been. And so he uses football as a platform. Not like... every time he's on TV he's preaching a sermon or anything... but he always gives God the praise. Any chance he gets, he gives honor, where honor is due.

- And they're trying to make it so that if he does play (more frequently...) for the pro team... that he can't use his standing as a quarterback on the team as a way of expressing his faith... good grief... what happened to freedom of speech? Just saying....

- Mom was talking this morning about it... she said you know... were it not that he was convicting people through the way he speaks and through the way he lives... they wouldn't care. If they could find dirt on him from somewhere that proved he was a hypocrite.... they'd let it go. They wouldn't even worry about it... but because they can't find anything wrong with him... they're trying to shut him up.

- Our faith may not make us popular... but if we live it out... it will definitely make us known in some way, shape, or form. There will be something that stands out to someone... good or bad...

- The people of faith that we're going to talk about in this chapter... sometimes were looked up to... and sometimes... were ridiculed and sometimes WEREN'T perfect. Sometimes were killed... Their faith did not always seem like the most beneficial decision at the moment, for that time... But in the long run... their names were recorded down as faithful people, honored by God as such.

- So when things start looking rough... hang in there... even though life in this world may look desperate... or dim... or just plain rotten... The end reward is greater than a little comfort for a fleeting time... (I know... easier said than done...)

- “It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”

- I Peter 1:3-7

- Mark 4:13-20

- II Timothy 3:10-17

- Revelation 2:9-11

vs. 4: ABEL

- “It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel's offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed His approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.”

- In Genesis 4, we have the story of Cain and Abel.

- Both sons grew up to do different things. Abel grew to be a shepherd and Cain a farmer. When the time came to offer gifts to God, Abel brought a lamb... and Cain brought some of his crops.

- Now I know later in Israel's history, there were sacrifices of grain etc. given at the temple... but it was a tithe... not an offering for sin. Only blood covers sin...

- When Abel and Cain brought their gifts... it was an offering to God. Now, it doesn't say anything about setting up a sacrificial system or even telling them that blood was necessary...

- However... when Cain got upset about his offering not being accepted... God said that he would be accepted if he would do what was right. So apparently... he knew what was right... and chose not to do it.

- Now in my mind... Abel brings a lamb... something that he has raised... something that was his... Cain also... brought something that he had raised... something he'd worked on.

- Cain... brought his works before God. He brought something to show off. “Oh God! Look at me! Look what I did! Are you proud of me? I worked so hard for this!”

- So many times... we as Christians do the same thing... “Oh God! Did you see what I did? I gave an extra $50 this week at church!” or “I went on a mission trip to help those less fortunate than me. Does that give me extra points?”

- Cain came... and God said... no... I want the better thing. Do the right thing... and I'll accept your offering... But if you don't... beware! For Satan is waiting... watching at your door... He is eager to control you... but you must subdue it and be its master!

- Cain let his pride get in the way. It never says that Cain went and found a right offering and brought it before God. It never says that he humbled himself and decided to do right...

- Instead... Cain waited. He let bitterness and anger simmer within. He let jealousy boil up. He let sin have control.

- So one day... he had sat and thought long enough... that he landed upon a solution. Kill Abel. Get the one who had shown him up out of the picture. (You know the type, they like to make someone else look bad so they look good—power of life and death are in your words!)

- Instead of following the directive from God... Cain chose to live in rebellion. All this could have been avoided if Cain had simply turned and got a lamb... whether he had one or had to get one from Abel... and offered it in the place of the vegetables or fruit or whatever.

- But Abel... for that one act of obedience. That one moment of righteousness... is listed as a man of great faith.

- In I Samuel there's a verse that says that “obedience is greater than sacrifice.” Cain may have brought something of himself... may have worked hard for this offering... but it wasn't given in obedience... he didn't do what was “right”. So... Abel's gift was accepted... and Cain... was told to take another try at it.

- So for Abel's obedience... he was accepted by God through his faith.

- I Samuel 15:22-23

- II Corinthians 9:10-15

- Romans 6:15-23

vs. 5: ENOCH

- “It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God.”

- Genesis 5:21-14

- Enoch's story... even though it's only a few verses... is fascinating to me.

- Chapter 5 is basically a genealogy. So and so had so and so who had so and so... and so on and so forth...

- But it pauses at Enoch. There was something important enough about this man, that the historian saw fit to mention it.

- “After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. Enoch lived 356 years, walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him.”

- Enoch had a relationship with God. A close enough relationship... that it made the headlines. :)

- He walked and talked with God... CLOSELY. And then one day... God decided it was time to take their relationship to the next level so to speak... and God took him home.

- I wonder if he was out one day walking and talking with God... by himself... or if he was like... in the middle of a crowd somewhere.

- Elijah was the only other man in the bible to be taken and not die... And he kept trying to get off by himself. The only reason Elisha saw him go up... was because Elisha just wouldn't quit following him. Otherwise... Elijah too would have just disappeared.

- To me... that just sounds like an awesome way to enter the new life... Walking along... talking like always... and then all of a sudden... you're just moving on up to heaven... It's like eloping... LOL

- Enoch was known for his relationship with God. This was a man who spoke about his faith... and LIVED IT OUT. And it made an impact... that lasted for generations.

- This was not a faith that was persecuted. This was not a faith that was tried and accosted. This was a relationship that was founded on love and that grew deeper through knowing and understanding. This was a man who was seeking after God... and who was so in love with God.

- How many of us can say that our lives are reflections of a Love relationship with God that is growing deeper every day? Most of us have a need relationship with God. We walk through life on our own until we desperately need something from God... then we call out for rescue... and then we go back to walking through life on our own.

- Enoch had a daily walk that was intense. I can't imagine what kinds of things this man knew or learned about God. I can't imagine what kind of things they talked about.

- There's an old Wayne Watson song that says “I wanna be the kind of friend that Jesus would call, you know if He had a telephone, at the end of the day, just to talk about nothing...” Would that not be an awesome relationship? That was Enoch's relationship. Just spending time with God almighty... just talking. Hanging out. Best Friend... Wow...

- Verse 5 says that Enoch was known as a man who pleased God... and verse 6 says: It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”

- Enoch... sincerely sought after God... And just a side note... The name Enoch (according to babynames.com) means “Dedicated”. How appropriate is that? :)

- Romans 5:6-11

- Luke 12:16-21

- I John 1:5-10

- Philippians 3:7-11

vs. 7: NOAH

- “It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned Him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.”

- Okay, so in Genesis chapter 6, we see God becoming angry with the actions of the world. The first couple of verses talks about “the sons of God” coming to take the “daughters of men”. And the daughters then bearing giants, called Nephilites.

- So I read through a lot of commentaries on the Nephilites. The word originates in Hebrew and the root word means “to fall”.

- One of the commentaries referred me to Jude 1:6. “And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged.”

- These descendents (possibly of these fallen angels) in some of the old writings (not necessarily Hebrew... some Greek, some Arabian...), were said to be men of evil basically. They were big, mean, men. One mentions a city of men who were “men of vast bodies, and of great strength, inventors of arms and music, were cannibals, and exceedingly debauched.” If that was the general trend of these men... whew! No wonder God was getting angry... I mean yeah... there's some good things in there... inventors... musicians... oh wait... cannibals... well that's not so great...

- Jude 1:6 goes on to say that “God has kept them [the fallen angels] securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.”

- I wonder if that means that they have been chained up after their deaths awaiting the final judgment... or if that would in any way refer back to Romans 1...

- “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship Him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise!”

- I wonder if God... because of their rebellion... just turned them over to evil... Let them do whatever evil things they wished... And hence... evil abounded... because of rebellion...

- Just a thought...

- But whatever the story was... the people of Noah's time... were exceedingly evil. Enough so that “the Lord was sorry He had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke His heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.”

- BUT! “Noah found favor with the Lord.”

- So God told Noah to build the ark. Because a flood was coming. Now it had never flooded. Actually... up until this time... it hadn't really ever rained even.

- In Genesis 2, it talks about the springs coming up from the ground...

- “For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth.... Instead springs came up from the ground and watered all the land.”

- There had never been a flood. There hadn't been a ton of water. There were rivers... and springs... but... not rain and not floods.

- Now... Noah... starts preaching to the people. “God's going to destroy the land with a flood!” What in the world is a flood Noah? “It's water! The earth will be covered with water!” HAHAHAHAHAHA yeah right! Noah's a crazy old fool!

- And then Noah starts building a boat. A big one. Okay seriously Noah? There's no water around... and definitely not any body of water that's big enough for THAT thing...

- Here was a faith tested by ridicule. This was a faith persecuted. And yet Noah just kept plugging along. He preached every chance he got. For YEARS.

- We don't have an exact date on how long Noah had been building the ark or how long he'd been preaching... however... It does specifically mention that Noah was 500 years old when he was the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In Genesis 5:32. Then when God tells Noah to build the ark in chapter 6, it reiterates that he was the father of the three sons.

- In Genesis 11:10, it says that 2 years after the flood, when Shem was 100, he became a father...

- So if Noah was the father of all three of his sons at the time that God told him the flood was coming, then at the very minimum. VERY minimum... if Shem had JUST been born... the people were given 98 years before the flood.

- But regardless... there was definitely time given. Noah preached right up until the day God closed the doors.

- Now mom brought up a good point when we were talking about this. I always wondered about Noah's sons... if they ever wondered if their dad had lost it... If they ever thought he was an embarrassment. If they ever tried to convince him to give it up...

- But you know... if they were little kids when the building of the ark started... it was normal. They hadn't had time to be corrupted by the world. They didn't have friends who were telling them how crazy their dad was. They had probably been helping to build the thing from the time that they could hold a hammer...

- In addition... I wonder what kind of wives they found... if the wives were of the world and thought they'd married into a bunch of crazies... Or if they married young... like... age 12... as was at least normal later... and they just... fell right into the work along with the sons.

- So that's just a side thought... Just wonder what kind of people ended up in the ark... :)

- Anyway... Noah... had faith enough in God that he preached regardless of what kind of response he got. And because of this... he received “the righteousness that comes by faith.” Noah was counted as righteous because of his obedience... just like Enoch. And Abel.

- It wasn't because he sacrificed the right kind of lamb. Or because he wore the right kind of clothes. Or because he said the right kind of things. Or because he built a massively huge boat and saved his family from a flood... It was because he heard the voice of God... and obeyed... without question. Without hesitation. He just did it. And God honored that.

- I Peter 3:13-4:19

- John 15:9-16:15

- Matthew 5:3-12

- Romans 12:14-21

- Psalm 119:153-176