Tonight's Bible study

My thoughts on Hebrews chapter 11 for Bible study on Tuesday night.

Read the text; all of ch. 11… In the previous chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews, the apostle leads up to this great treatise on faith by pointing out the unequivocal truth that the just shall live by faith and that means our salvation is through faith in the finished work that Jesus accomplished on the cross. Anything more is to bring judgment upon one’s self…anything less is to deny His grace and His mercy. So this whole chapter 11, the so-called “hall of faith chapter” is not about the prosperity doctrines that abound in evangelical circles today, and it is not about blabbing it and grabbing it as was so popular a while back, but it is all about going forward in this faith that was once delivered to the saints. It is all about leaving the law which through its practices could not save anybody and embracing totally the grace and mercy of God, whom Christians call Jesus. It is about Abel and Abraham and Moses looking down through the years to the cross of Jesus and embracing that work through faith for their own salvation. It is about Isaac and Jacob and through their lineage a ruler would come forth out of Zion whose going forth was from everlasting as was prophesied in Micah 5:2 . It’s about being an over comer, so let’s get down to the meat of this chapter and we see right off the top that faith is now! “Now faith is” Faith seems to always be some time in the distant future or sometime in the past. However if faith is to be faith it must be now…present; always. “Now faith is…” Faith is substance and faith is evidence.
I’m beginning to lean a little bit towards the eternal security belief that our Baptist brethren so strongly believe in. Now before you write me off , I must explain that there are some differences in that I am not propagating the so-called “unconditional eternal security” However I wish to point out that you do not “backslide” easily. Faith is substance; something tangible; something that is real, practical , something you can hold on to. And the fact is that even though we are still flesh and still have this strong tendency to sin, we can expect God through faith in His immutable Word to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the exceeding throne of His glory. We cannot fail! Because He cannot fail!
He is God! It is not my place to judge you in your walk with God. One time we judged people by the way that they dressed or cut their hair or something in their actions that did not line up with how we thought they should…you can’t do that, God looks at the heart, and without faith it is impossible to please Him…it has nothing to do with the way you look. We have to leave those things with the Lord. Believe me it isn’t easy, especially for a guy like me.We were in Morocco and met with several “workers” and stayed in some of their homes and ate with them. Beautiful people, wonderful people. One person we met had been a youth leader in his native Chile, had those long dreadlocks and tattoos all over his body, but he loved Jesus with his whole heart and he loved to win souls.
Faith is substance. Faith is evidence. Moses ,Abraham before him, Abel, they all had substance and evidence and they believed and it was accounted unto them for righteousness! Faith; wonderful, marvelous, God given faith. Faith is not just some time in the future, but it is now. By faith verse 2 says that the elders obtained a good report. Or a good testimony and it is by faith that people still obtain a good testimony today. We all know folks who have a good testimony, for example most if not all of you who are here tonight, thank God for each of you.

This chapter 11 that the apostle is giving us is not like when you go into a restaurant for a meal and you order a side dish. It is not a break from what he has been saying. Many times that is how it has been treated. It is part and parcel of this entire truth that the only way to heaven is not by works of righteousness that we have done or can do, but it is faith and faith in the once and for all time sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he gives us some examples from the O.T. of what this faith really is about.
The elders obtained a good report and we will see that as we go along. Then he says in verse 3, “By faith we understand…”Faith is not what the world often refers to as blind. Blind faith they call it. By faith we can understand how that God spoke and it was by that very creative power of His own Word that He formed this universe that we are such a tiny speck in. He said “let there be light” “and there was light” That happened on the first day of creation. It was not until the fourth day that he made the stars and all the other lights. His Word gave us light.
His spoken Word! “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made by the things which are visible. Read John 1:1-3. Then Hebrews 1:1,2. He is the Head of all things, read Col. 1:16-18. And we also can understand that we have redemption through His blood even the forgiveness of sins. Back up to verses 14&15. Imagine if you will that the Creator of all the universe died on a cross in a place outside of Jerusalem called Calvary for wretched sinners like us. Only through faith can we understand this. He is the Head of the church. There could be no church until Jesus died and rose again. This earthly body, the church, is it insignificant in the light of the universe? No and a thousand times no….the great God of heaven died for it, that is He sent His only begotten Son to die…how could it ever be insignificant or not be relevant. The world is marching toward one world government, secular, humanistic and Canada is falling right in line but Jesus said “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” We have this mental picture of the gates of hell marching against us and we are sort of standing there with our hands and arms sort of covering our heads as we receive the blows from satan’s forces but we somehow withstand it; but I believe it means that the reverse is true that the church is supposed to be invading the enemy’s territory and as we do we are knocking down the gates of hell and they cannot prevail against this mighty empowered force of the living breathing church of the living God. This is not our church…it is God’s church and the gates of hell cannot and will not prevail against it!!! You better believe it. You say “how did you get all of that out of verse 3? By faith we understand. Don’t throw away your confidence
Hebrews 10:35, there’s a great reward awaiting. Worried about your family? Don’t be. There is a great reward waiting, claim the promise of the Father…this promise is unto you and your household and as many as the Lord our God shall call, even to them that are afar off. But you must live the life before them. “if I live a holy life, shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will make a way for me”
At the very beginning of time there was faith displayed in the life of a man called Abel and I think we all know the story, how that he offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain…because he understood what the sacrifice meant…he understood through faith. Faith will help you to understand…by faith we understand that the worlds were made by the Word of God, so Abel had that kind of faith that caused him to understand that there was a day coming when a once for all time sacrifice would be made and that sacrifice would require the shedding of blood for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin and Abel understood that. Cain offered the work of his own hands. It was not sufficient and it is still not sufficient. Abel’s faith was witness to the fact that he was righteous.
Verses 1-3 tells us what faith is and as we continue on to verse 4 we see what faith does. It meant that even though he (Abel) is dead his testimony lives on,” he being dead yet speaks.” And then there was Enoch. “ He was taken”, it says. Gen. 5:24 and Jude verse 14. I have always been fascinated, intrigued by this account. People knew what happened and why… the Word says “ he had this testimony…that he pleased God.” I believe that the people of Enoch’s day knew what kind of a man he was and some of them knew that the Lord took him to be with Himself. Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
So herein lies the answer from the example of a man called Enoch who shows us how to please God. Believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We must be diligent…we must be seeking God with all of our heart. We can do no less. And this faith that Enoch lived by, walked in, is in a person, the LORD Jesus Christ. I don’t know just how much detail Enoch had; he was a prophet Jude tells us, but he pleased God. He diligently sought God.
My mind goes back to the early days of Pentecost in this city…people were diligent in their walk with God. That is why we saw folks coming to the LORD; THERE WERE MIRACLES OF HEALING. Church life was our life and God rewarded His people. It was just the way it was.
Salvation is through faith…not works. Eph 2:8 Titus 3:5 Then look at Titus 2:11-15. Salvation is through faith in what Jesus has done for us, but we still need to be diligent in our walk. This walk of faith covers every aspect of life; it is all encompassing. The just shall live …how? By faith. Where does it say it’s all right to worry? Where is there room for doubt? That is what people do when they revert back to legalistic religion, they don’t believe in the fact that Jesus blood and His blood alone will be all you ever need to obtain salvation so they try and help with their works. It is an insult to His grace. It is serious. Heb. 10:29 verse 31 says, “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
So Enoch pleased God because he believed Him and he kept His Word. The Bible tells us in the book of Jude that he was a prophet, he said “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of His saints,” He walked with God. How much more we should be in fellowship with God, we have so many more helps than Enoch did. We have the NewTestament; he didn’t…we have the church; Enoch didn’t. What is our excuse? Jude gives some good advice here…read verses 20,21. We are to keep ourselves in the love of God. We could do a whole study on these few verses. And look at the help He has for us in the benediction, verses 24&25.
The next person that is spoken of in this great hall of faith is Noah. Read verse 7 Hebrews 11. He became an heir; an heir of what? An heir of righteousness which is by faith! He and Enoch as well as Abel and Abraham along with many others lived before the law.
By faith Noah….have you ever thought about Noah much? Have you ever considered that he built a huge boat where there wasn’t even any water yet? They didn’t even know what rain was. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD He was a preacher of righteousness 2 Peter, 3:5 He really had quite a resume; preacher of righteousness, carpenter, boat builder, zoologist, explorer, he was a great man. He had quite the job experience…on the job training and guess who trained him. God was his trainer, after all nobody had ever built a boat before. But the scripture tells us that he was warned of God of things not seen as yet, was moved with fear, are we moved with that kind of Godly fear like Noah was ? He prepared an ark . He was so moved with fear that he prepared n ark for his family’s safety. Remember now that Noah preached righteousness for 120 years. Do you think he was ridiculed maybe? Would he have been made fun of? What’s the big deal about being made fun of by ignorant people anyway? He preached 120 years and only 8 souls saved and they were family. 1 Peter 3:20
Isn’t God longsuffering? Isn’t He merciful? They said where is the sign of His coming? They’re saying that today, in fact they really are past that and don’t say much at all. The North American world don’t even refer to God that much. They, we, are becoming more and more like Europe, a Godless degenerate society.
Humanistic and secular. And we hear precious little preaching concerning being ready…but we certainly cannot say that here in Calvary Temple. Our pastor is a preacher of righteousness , he is warning us and it is high time for this people to get on board. Everyone should feel welcome here but not everyone should feel comfortable. Sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable myself and I have had to repent…do you know what I’m talking about? Let’s not ever get the feeling that we are above that. Repentance is for the Christian when we sin, amen? I’ve sinned, I have failed God many times but what does it say in 1 John 1:9?
If we confess our sins.
Remember that faith is the evidence of things not seen and Noah believed that and he became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Read verse 7 again. Heb 11:7
Noah was a great example of what obedience and faithfulness really means. Turn to Gen. 6:22 Noah had a great heritage, his great grandfather was Enoch , his grandfather was Methusala, and his father was Lamech . You know you might think that God won’t use you because you are too old. There is no mention of Noah as a young preacher, he does not come on the scene until he is 500 years old. God still has a work for you to do, not one here tonight is too old to do what ever God wants you to do, so don’t miss the visitation of the Lord in your own life. There are still areas that God wants you to be involved in. He might want you to be a preacher of righteousness or build an “ark” or just be a comfort to somebody, be a friend in need. And some of you are just like that. By the way, Noah’s Ark was 525 feet long, 87 feet wide and 52 feet high and with all those animals inside, someone has said that it must have smelt awfully bad, but it was still the best thing afloat. And that’s like the church…it may be smelly but it’s still the best thing afloat. Noah was counted righteous because he had a faith in his God like few people in history ever had. Imagine building such a huge vessel and working on it for 100 years. Faith is substance, faith is evidence