The Focus of Faith – Part 2 (Observing God’s Promise)
Hebrews 11:8-22 (11-12)
December 20, 2015

As you know we are currently studying through the book of Hebrews
And are now in the middle of what is called “The Faith Chapter”

Certainly this is an important study
As we have already learned of the extreme importance of faith.

Hebrews 11:6 “And 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 seek Him.”

It really can’t get any more real than that.
If you don’t have faith, God won’t be pleased.

• Our objective then in this life is not to accomplish some great work for God.
• Our objective is not to reach some extreme level of suffering.
• Our objective is not to demonstrate some deep sacrifice.

Our objective is to give God faith.
He wants us to trust Him.

He wants us, as the writer said, to “believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

And to better understand what that means
We are working our way through this 11th chapter of Hebrews.

You can easily break this chapter down into four major points.
• The Reward of Faith
• The Focus of Faith
• The Courage of Faith
• The Endurance of Faith

We already looked at the reward.
We examined Abel, Enoch, and Noah.

Men, who because of their faith, all gained God’s approval
And were granted God’s righteousness.

We must never lose sight of that.
• The reward of faith is not temporary gain.
• The reward of faith is not monetary blessing.
• The reward of faith is and has always been righteousness.

God grants righteousness to those who give Him faith.
And that makes faith ever so worth it.

But now we have moved on to that second main point,
Which is The Focus Of Faith.
And here we are examining the next 5 illustrations of the chapter.
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

These 5 had two very important things in common.
1) They were all promised the land.
2) They never received it.

(13-16) “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

The amazing reality is that despite having never received the land,
These 5 never stopped believing.
They never lost their focus.

To them, a life of following God was more important
Than a life of comfort and temporal reward.

They believed God even when it didn’t immediately pay off.

AND THERE IS SUCH A LESSON IN THIS.

Faith is not for the purpose of manipulating God
To grant your selfish desires.

I see it and hear about it all the time.
Some person declares that they are “believing God” for something…
• “I’m just believing God for a healing…”
• “I’m just believing God for a financial blessing…”
• “I’m just believing God for a promotion…”
• “I’m just believing God for a breakthrough in some area”

It is as though these people are seeking to use faith
As some means of strong arming God into granting their desires.

Now certainly you can ask God for those things,
And it is quite possible that He might grant them.
But we don’t write the check and then use faith to make God cash it.

That type of faith does not resemble the faith of those found in chapter 11.
You won’t find these people manipulating God for anything.

Instead, these people believed even when
The circumstances weren’t favorable, and didn’t change.
That doesn’t mean that these 5 never received anything from God.

Certainly they did.
• Abraham and Sarah did receive the son of promise.
• Isaac saw his barren wife Rebekah conceive twins.
• Jacob left Canaan and saw God faithfully bring him back.
• Joseph saw the fulfillment of the dreams he had as a youth.

These did receive some things from God.
But none of them ever received the main thing, which was the land.
Did they quit? No
Did they turn back? No

Instead they maintained their belief
That God had something better for them.

And with this understanding we are not surprised that
The writer of Hebrews would mention them to the Hebrews.

We already saw that these Hebrews
• Were being imprisoned,
• Were being mocked,
• Were having their property seized,
• Were being cut off from the temple.

They were losing everything in this life
And were not receiving anything here in return.

Jesus had promised an eternal kingdom
Jesus had promised an eternal inheritance
But none of them had yet to receive any of that.

If they were to stick with Jesus, they were going to have to believe what they couldn’t see.

If they were to stick with Jesus, they were going to have to hold out for a heavenly reward while they lost the earthly one.

This chapter was meant to be an encouragement to these Hebrews.

It is also an encouragement to us.

We should all be aware of the realities Jesus talked about.
Matthew 6:19-20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;”

Matthew 10:39 “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Matthew 19:27-29 “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

Over and over Jesus made it clear that if we were to follow Him
Then it might cost us this life and the things of this life.

The question was: Are you willing to trade your earthly riches for eternal ones?

The 5 people we are looking at here all said “Yes”

I told you last week that this section has two main points.
1) The People
2) The Point

We are still looking at #1 which is “The People”

Last week we looked at Abraham and three specific acts of faith.
• Where he settled
• Why he stayed
• What he sacrificed

Abraham went to a land he had never seen
He lived there even without ever owning it,
When God also asked for his son, Abraham was willing to give that too.

Abraham believed that the reward of God
Was better than any temporary gain.

“I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand.
I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause; I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause; I’d rather have Jesus than world-wide fame. I’d rather be true to His holy name.
He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom; He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb; He’s all that my hungering spirit needs. I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead.
Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin’s dread sway. I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.”

That was the song these 5 were singing.

Having looked at Abraham, this morning we move on to Sarah.
And I don’t mind telling you that Sarah is
One of my most favorite people in the Bible.
LET’S TALK ABOUT SARAH FOR A SECOND

You and I know her as Sarah, but that isn’t how she started out.
• Sarah is the name God gave her. (It means “princess”)
• She started out as Sarai which means “argumentative”

That in itself is somewhat humorous to me because
If she was argumentative, we don’t really see it from her in Scripture.

All we ever really see from Sarah is submission.
Genesis 12:5 “Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.”

No complaints or grumblings from Sarai.
• Not when she left
• Not when she moved to Egypt
• Not when she had to live in a tent
• Not when Abraham went to sacrifice her son

Consider this event:
Genesis 12:10-17 “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. “Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.” It came about when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house. Therefore he treated Abram well for her sake; and gave him sheep and oxen and donkeys and male and female servants and female donkeys and camels. But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

And that isn’t even the only time that would happen to her.
Sarah was an amazing woman of submission.

In fact, the New Testament uses her as a model woman.
1 Peter 3:1-6 “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. Your adornment must not be merely external — braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.”

That’s quite a commendation isn’t it?
• Sarah was obviously a woman of “chaste and respectful behavior”
• She had a “gentle and quiet spirit” that is held up as a standard of godliness for all women.

Sarah was a fine woman.

Now that doesn’t mean that Sarah was without fault.
Sarah did have some hiccups in life.

1) HAGGAR

Genesis 16:1-6 “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the LORD judge between you and me.” But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.”

Obviously Sarah had developed a bit of a bitter attitude toward God.
She actually blamed her barrenness on Him saying that
God had “prevented” her from getting pregnant.

She then had the “not-so-brilliant” idea of
Letting Abraham sleep with Hagar to give him a son.

Sarah quickly regretted the decision and grew angry about the situation.
It was a mistake, and a costly one.

The other hiccup in Sarah’s life was:
2) HER INITIAL LACK OF FAITH

When the angelic messengers came to visit Abraham.
Genesis 18:9-15 “Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ “Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Sarah did not INITIALLY believe God could or would do what He said.

But during that conversation Sarah was asked a very important question.
“Is anything too difficult for the LORD?”

I know that Sarah contemplated the answer to that question,
And I know how she answered.
She said, “No”
I know that because Sarah never waivered again.
• In fact even when Abraham was seeking to hold on to Ishmael and Isaac, it was Sarah who saw the promise of God and demanded that Ishmael be sent away.

Genesis 21:8-13 “The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. “And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”

Sarah made a poor decision, and even began with a lack of faith,
But Sarah didn’t stay there.
She grew strong in faith
And became an encouragement even to her husband.

SARAH WAS IMPORTANT

So important, in fact, that even when Abraham asked,
GOD REFUSED to fulfill the promise apart from her.

Genesis 17:15-19 “Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”

Sarah was so important that
Satan even attempted to destroy any chance of Sarah conceiving a son through Abraham. Satan sought to get her pregnant by another man.

After God promised to open her womb, remember what happened?

Genesis 20:1-7 “Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.” Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless? “Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
We don’t have time to address here,
But people almost unanimously miss the point of that passage.

• If I had a dollar for every time someone saw Abimelech as the good guy and
Abraham as the bad guy, I’d be rich.

• Read the chapter, God never says one word of rebuke to Abraham in that
chapter at all. He does however have a strong rebuke for Abimelech.

• Oh, I know Abimelech claims innocence, but what is clear is that it was God
who kept Abimelech from sinning, not Abimelech.

This was a scheme of the enemy to mess up
What God was doing through Abraham and Sarah.

I just want you to understand that Sarah was important to the promise.

AND THAT MEANS IT IS IMPORTANT THAT SARAH BELIEVE.
• What if she refuses to believe the promise?
• What if she refuses to try to get pregnant?
• What if she is content with Hagar?
• What if she doesn’t care if Ishmael hangs around?

Sarah’s faith was vitally important to what God was doing.
And that is why the writer of Hebrews
Obviously includes her as one of his examples.

The main thing the writer wants you to see about Sarah
Was the faith she exhibited after she laughed.

Remember, God asked her the question,
“Is anything too difficult for the LORD?”

Look at how Sarah responded.
(11) “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”

So we see that Sarah offered faith.
She believed.

This is also where Sarah stands as a bit of a CONTRAST in the chapter.
I’ve told you on a couple of occasions that
There are some major themes that run through this chapter.
And one of those themes is the obvious relationship between faith and works.

• You see Noah building a boat
• You see Abraham leaving Ur
• You see Abraham living in Canaan
• You see Abraham sacrificing his son
• And so on…
But you don’t really see any real “action” listed here by Sarah.

All the writer points to is that
She “considered Him faithful who had promised.”

THAT IS INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT.
• What Noah did was crazy
• What Abraham did was crazy
• WHAT CRAZY THING DID SARAH DO?
(nothing really)

Sarah’s faith is not measured by her radical obedience,
But by her CONSISTENT PATIENCE.

You could even call that Sarah’s UNYIELDING FOCUS.

In this life, it is not always about
Doing wild and crazy things in the name of God.
Sometimes faith is just trusting God do to what He said
Even in the midst of discouraging situations.

Let me give you some examples:
Isaiah 40:31 “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

Psalms 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalms 27:13-14 “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”

Psalms 62:5-8 “My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”

Jeremiah watched the fall of Jerusalem (discouraging),
But listen to his faith.
Lamentations 3:22-26 “The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD.”

That is the type of faith Sarah had.
She wasn’t radical, she just believed God would do what He said,
And she continued to believe it,
Even when her circumstances seemed to dictate otherwise.

THIS IS NOT “NAME IT AND CLAIM IT” THEOLOGY.
THIS IS “READ IT AND BELIEVE IT” THEOLOGY.

Simply believe God will do what He says He will do.
Cling to His promises and never let them go.
Wait patiently on Him while He does what He said He will do.
That was the faith of Sarah.

The writer says that “she considered Him faithful who had promised.”

She knew God would do it
So she just went about life as normal until He did.

AND THE RESULT of that was that she “received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life”

Anyone remember how old she was when she got pregnant?
90

Are there any 90 year old women in here who are contemplating having a baby?

It was certainly faith just to believe it was possible.
She did and she conceived.

Now I do want to make sure and keep us all on the RIGHT PATH here.
See, the temptation is to read this verse and then give all the credit to Sarah.

I mean it even kind of reads like that.
“By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”

It almost sounds like the reason Sarah became pregnant
Was because she believed.
That is a misunderstanding.

True, Sarah wouldn’t have gotten pregnant if she hadn’t had faith.
But her faith is not the reason she got pregnant…God is.

Genesis 21:1-3 “Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.”

I tell you that because it is important for you to understand that
FAITH IS NOT THE POWER, GOD IS THE POWER.

Many today miss that point and have put faith in faith.
No, put faith in God, He’s the One who accomplishes the impossible.

Sarah put faith in God and God did what He promised.

And incidentally, that worked out pretty well not only for Israel,
But even for the Hebrews who were reading this letter.

(12) “Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMBERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.”

SARAH’S FAITH PAID OFF.

But can I point out the OBVIOUS to you again?
SARAH NEVER SAW ALL OF THAT.

Yes Sarah saw Isaac,
But she never saw descendants like the stars or like the sand.
Sarah never even met Isaac’s wife (Rebekah)
Let alone Jacob or any of his sons.

None of these mentioned here ever did.
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph

None of them ever owned the land
None of them ever saw descendants like the stars or the sand.

The first time that promise becomes reality is over 400 years later
When Moses is preaching to the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 10:22 “Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.”

SARAH BELIEVED WHAT SHE NEVER RECEIVED.

And that is the writer’s point.
(13-16) “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

SO WHAT DO YOU LEARN FROM HER?
1) GOD’S PROMISES ARE HARD TO BELIEVE.

• Here was Sarah “beyond the proper time of life”
• Here was Abraham “as good as dead”
And yet God was promising a child.
It was so hard to believe that Sarah initially laughed at it
Until God assured her that nothing was beyond His ability.

• Sometimes it is hard to believe what God is promising.
• Sometimes the circumstances just don’t seem to add up.
• Sometimes it doesn’t look possible.
That is where faith comes in.

And that’s the second thing we learn from Sarah.
2) GOD’S PROMISES REQUIRE FAITH

They certainly don’t require effort.
It wasn’t like Sarah could work hard enough
To make God’s promises come about.

(They actually tried that with Hagar and that became a monumental mistake)

When God makes a promise He’s not asking you to make it work.
He’s asking you to believe that He’ll make it work.

Faith is required.

3) GOD’S PROMISES MAY TAKE A WHILE

That was certainly true in this instance wasn’t it?
Sarah did have a son, but it would take over 400 years for that son to become a nation and for that nation to inherit the land.

FAITH CAN’T OPERATE ON A TIMER
The writer of Hebrews is purposely giving you examples of people
Who believed promises that outlasted their physical lives.

And Christianity requires that.
Remember some of the promises in the Bible?

At Christmas time we generally focus on a few:
Isaiah 9:1-7 “But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

• We saw the child who was born to us, but where is all that “reigning on David’s throne” stuff?

• Where is all that peace that was offered?

How many people died waiting for the fulfillment of that promise?
And yet the earth still hasn’t seen it.

It requires faith to follow Christ.
And that is precisely what the writer of Hebrews
Is trying to get through to these suffering believers.

I know it’s hard now…
I know you are struggling…
HAVE FAITH

And have faith that does not waver
Even in the midst of difficult and impossible circumstances.

Hebrews 10:36-39 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”

That was certainly the faith of Abraham and Sarah.
Let it be your faith as well.

Job’s Advice to the Judgmental
Job 19
December 13, 2015

As you know we are smack dab in the middle of
This dialogue between Job and his friends.
And I think it is safe to say that it is getting colder by the minute.

What seemed to start off as Job’s friends trying to correct Job
Has clearly turned in to Job’s friends trying to condemn Job.

It’s no longer about helping Job out, it is all about winning the argument.
Their pride insists that they rise up and refute Job every time he speaks.

Last time we heard from Bildad and it was a cruel message.
Bildad discussed the fate of the wicked.
And as we said; theologically Bildad was correct.

He talked about what the wicked can expect to receive:
• Darkness
• Capture
• Pain
• Judgment
• Destruction
• Horror

And you can go to the preaching of Jesus in the New Testament
And find that Bildad is dead on.
The wicked will in fact receive all of those things.

The problem was that Job was not wicked.
Bildad had accurate theology and terrible discernment.

And honestly this sort of mindset and practice
Has been one of the most quoted reasons
As to why the world has issue with the church.

When I was a kid growing up there was no doubt as to what was the most quoted verse in the Bible.

• You could see it referenced at every football game
(some guy would always be holding it in the end zone)
• Nearly every kid was taught it for memorization.

It was John 3:16.
Hands down the most popular.
Followed probably by the 23rd Psalm.

But not anymore.
The world has definitely adopted a new favorite verse.
I doubt they know where it is found
But most can quote it without flinching.

Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”

Of course the world is a stickler for the King James Version,
“Judge not lest ye be judged”

Over the years we’ve talked a lot about how this verse
Has been high jacked by a world that loves evil.
There is no doubt many think Matthew 7:1 promotes tolerance.

It does not.
Jesus is clear in that passage that
The goal is to in fact remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Obviously that verse is misused in our world.

But TONIGHT I want to take it from a little bit of a different angle
And I want to talk about where the world is dead on for using that verse.

See the emphasis behind that verse is not a call to tolerate sin.
The emphasis is the removal of self-righteousness.

AND ALTHOUGH THE WORLD HAS NO RIGHT
TO CALL FOR THE TOLERANCE OF SIN,
THEY HAVE EVER RIGHT
TO CALL FOR THE REMOVAL OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The problem is not that Jesus wanted specks left in people’s eyes.
It was that He didn’t want blind people performing the procedure.

He said:
Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

The problem was self-righteousness.
And the world is right to call us on it, every time it shows up.

It was a problem that continued to pop up among the PHARISEES.
• Those men who liked to give in public, pray in public, and fast in public
• Those men who liked the chief seats at the best banquets
• Those men who liked honorable greetings on the street

But at the same time they were men who
• Loved money more than God,
• Failed to care for their struggling family members,
• And devoured widow’s houses.
Sure they tithed mint and dill and cumin,
But they neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

Jesus had a very descriptive name for these people.
HUPOCRATES

Your Bible translates it “hypocrites”

The word itself had a very distinct purpose and meaning in Jesus’ day.
It was what you called people who put on costumes and performed on stage.

Today you know them as “actors” and “actresses”
They weren’t real, they were merely playing a role.
They were wicked men who were pretending to be righteous men.

The problem was they had played the role so long that
They had actually begun to believe that is really who they were.

And their discernment was terribly skewed.
• They were NOT those who obtained their righteousness by repenting of their sin and begging God for mercy.

• They were people who thought they had obtained their righteousness because they were in fact righteous.

And because they never understood the value of mercy,
They never offered it.

All they had for people was judgment.
You find Pharisees mentioned time and time again in the New Testament
But you never find one offering mercy.

All they want to do is dish out judgment.
• The woman caught in adultery – “The Law says to stone such a woman”
• The woman with the alabaster vile – “If He knew what sort of woman this is”
• The blind man – “You were born in your sins and do you instruct us?”
• The tax collector – “I thank You that I am not like this tax collector”

And so on and so on
No mercy.

Probably the most telling parable Jesus ever told about them
Was the parable of THE PRODIGAL SON.

Of course they are cast in the role of the older brother
Who had absolutely no mercy on his brother who returned home.

All they had was judgment.
And when a lost and dying world
Feels only judgment and no compassion
They are absolutely right to quote that verse back at us.

I’m not saying we should tolerate their sin,
But when you confront their sin you had better remember
That you are a recovering sinner yourself.

This is one of the obvious problems with Job’s friends.
• We’ve heard a lot of confrontation from them
• We’ve heard a lot of warnings from them
• We’ve heard a lot of condemnation from them
• But we haven’t heard much mercy

Tonight Job is going to basically tell his three friends,
“Judge not, lest ye be judged”

Tonight Job confronts the Pharisees

Now there are two main points to the text.
The chapter is in fact an ultimatum issued by Job.
In effect Job tells them, “Do this or expect this”

And based on the introduction you can probably figure out the ultimatum.
Don’t judge or be judged

So let’s break the chapter down a little and take a better look at Job’s advice.
#1 FIND PITY FOR ME
Job 19:1-22

Now I’ll be honest that we’re going to work through these verses rather quickly
Because quite frankly, you’ve heard it already…a lot.

What we have here again is Job desperately trying to show his friends
Why though ought to pity him.

And Job gives three reasons.
1) I AM WRONGFULLY ABUSED (1-6)

You can really hear Job here just wishing his friends would put a lid on it.

“How long will you torment me and crush me with words? These ten times you have insulted me; you are not ashamed to wrong me.”

“Enough already!”

All Job really wants is for his friends to leave him alone.
He just wishes they’d stop.
He can’t believe how cruel they are.

He goes on to say:
(4) “Even if I have truly erred, my error lodges with me.”

In other words, “Even if I have brought this on myself, it’s not like I’m hurting you.”
• It wasn’t your donkeys that were stolen
• It wasn’t your servants that were murdered
• It wasn’t your children who died

Job is sort of asking, “What are you so mad about?”

(5-6) “If indeed you vaunt yourselves against me And prove my disgrace to me, Know then that God has wronged me And has closed His net around me.”

And this is of course THE POINT
Job has been trying to make to them from the get go.

You are attacking me and trying to find some sort of sin in me,
But I’ve been saying all along,
“I’M SUFFERING FOR NO REASON!!!!!”

Job actually says, “God has wronged me”
Of course we admit this is crossing the line a little
And Job will answer for this to God in a few chapters.

But you do understand Job’s point.
“You guys just don’t get it. I’m suffering for doing nothing wrong. My suffering isn’t hurting you. Yet, you are angry at me and insist upon attacking me and making my condition worse.”

Can’t you see I have been wrongfully abused?

2) I AM WOEFULLY AFFLICTED (7-12)

That is to say, I am suffering like no one has suffered
And there isn’t really a light at the end of the tunnel here.

In these 6 verses Job actually refers to 7 things that he doesn’t have.

NO ANSWER
(7a) “Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;”

NO JUSTICE
(7b) “I shout for help, but there is no justice.”

NO ESCAPE
(8) “He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has put darkness on my paths.”

NO HONOR
(9) “He has stripped my honor from me and removed the crown from my head.”

NO HOPE
(10) “He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree.”

NO RELIEF
(11) “He has also kindled His anger against me and considered me as His enemy.”

NO CHANCE
(12) “His troops come together, and build up their way against me and camp around my tent.”

And sure we could stop and talk about each of those a little bit more,
But I think you get the point.

Job is simply reminding his friends
About how incredibly hard his life is right now.

• Not only is he wrongfully abused, he is woefully afflicted.
• Not only is he suffering for no reason, but his suffering is really, really, bad.

Anyone who suffers that much for no cause
Should certainly receive pity from his friends.

And yet that leads to Job’s third problem.
3) I AM WILLFULLY ABANDONED (13-20)

When we read those verses,
Notice all the people who have turned their back on Job.

HIS ACQUAINTANCES (Israel brothers)
(13) “He has removed my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.”

HIS RELATIVES
(14a) “My relatives have failed,”

HIS FRIENDS
(14b) “And my intimate friends have forgotten me.”

 

HIS EMPLOYEES
(15-16) “Those who live in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight. I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I have to implore with my mouth.”

HIS WIFE
(17a) “My breath is offensive to my wife,”

HIS SIBLINGS
(17b) “And I am loathsome to my own brothers.”

HIS COMMUNITY
(18) “Even young children despise me; I rise up and they speak against me.”

HIS ASSOCIATES
(19a) “All my associates abhor me”

AND ANYONE WHO IS LEFT
(19b) “And those I love have turned against me.”

So Job is walking through a very difficult situation
That he did not deserve,
And everyone has turned their back on him.

To that Job gives a pretty harsh description about his present condition.
(20) “My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.”

Might I remind you this is precisely where Satan intended to take him?

Job 2:5 “However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face.”

Satan said if God would take Job to this point then Job would curse God.

Again, Satan has been proved wrong.

The point here is that Job is an absolutely awful predicament.
• He is wrongfully abused
• He is woefully afflicted
• He is willfully abandoned

Now, if you see someone in that condition,
There is really only 1 proper response. PITY

• Even if they weren’t wrongfully abused (if they deserved it)
• Even if they weren’t woefully afflicted (it could be worse)
• Even if they weren’t willfully abandoned (not everyone forsook them)
Even then they should receive pity,
But someone in Job’s situation certainly should.

And that is what he is trying to get across to his friends.
FIND PITY FOR ME

(21-22) “Pity me, pity me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me. “Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?”

You guys say you are my friends –
Can you not give me some compassion?

Is my suffering so insufficient to you that you feel the need to make it worse?
“Why…are you not satisfied with my flesh?”

How can you look at my life and wish I was suffering more?

Talk about cruelty.
• What kind of a person goes to a funeral where a person is burying their children and says, “They aren’t suffering enough, I’m gonna go kick them in the shins.”?

• What kind of a person visits someone in the hospital and says, “It should be worse, I’m gonna throw away their pain medicine.”?

• What kind of a person hears of someone’s house burning down and says, “That’s not enough” and then rams their car?

That is kind of what Job is talking about.
You guys are unbelievable.
Here I am in such a horrible condition
And all you seem to want to do is make it worse.

FIND PITY FOR ME

Now that is obviously Job’s request.
But as I told you earlier this chapter is an ultimatum.

See, there is an “or else” coming here.

Job says Find pity for me…OR
#2 FIND PUNISHMENT FOR YOURSELF
Job 19:23-29

What we have here is the most famous quotation from the book of Job.
Odds are good if you’ve read Job this passage is probably underlined in your Bible.

Everyone loves when Job says “I know that my Redeemer lives”
As well they should.
But let’s talk about why Job said it.

Job starts out here with a very important point.
(23-24) “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! “That with an iron stylus and lead They were engraved in the rock forever!”

It is another way of saying,
“What I am about to say is important.”

Earlier when he was lamenting and wishing he could die,
He admitted those were pretty loose words.

He told his friends:
Job 6:26 “Do you intend to reprove my words, When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?”

He told his friends early on that you can’t take
All the words of a person who is suffering too seriously.
Sometimes when people suffer they say things they don’t mean.

But Job is not about to speak words like that here.

What he is about to say here is very important.
In fact, Job’s request is that his friends get their iron stylus out
And chisel what he is about to say into a rock
So that they and everyone else can read it forever.

Write my words in a book
Carve them in a rock

One could look at this as Job saying, “Carve this on my tombstone”

I’ve said a lot of things that could be construed as empty words,
But these aren’t like that.

(25-27) “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!”

Now that is not all of Job’s statement.
But it’s important you understand him here.

• After a great period of affliction
• After suffering wrongly
• After being maligned and abandoned by his friends
Job stands up and says, write it down, “I’m going to be ok”

This is Job’s truest theology.
• Yes he has wined a little (who wouldn’t?)
• Yes he has complained a little (who wouldn’t?)

But if you are going to force Job to be honest
And make a statement to release to the press… this is it.
“I’M GOING TO BE OK”

WHY?
“As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,”

And this is really the key to the whole statement.

It is very interesting that Job mentioned his “Redeemer” here.
There are a lot of words he could have used, but this one is so telling.

“Redeemer” translates GO-EL
And “Redeemer” is a good translation for it.

Let me show you some places it was used.
Leviticus 25:47-49 “Now if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger’s family, then he shall have redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him; or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.”

So based on that passage we could also translated the word “Debt Payer”
• A person gets in such financial trouble that his only recourse is to sell himself into slavery to pay off his debts.

• But someone else comes along and pays his debts for him so that he can be released from slavery.

That person is called his redeemer.

But that’s not the only way the word is used.

In Mosaic law there was a strict punishment policy.
Leviticus 25:17-20 “So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God. ‘You shall thus observe My statutes and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land. ‘Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. ‘But if you say, “What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?”

So if someone killed another person, what was the penalty? Death
But what if that person fled?
Then there was a certain person who would go after them.

In the Bible they were called “The Blood Avenger”
(Sounds like a Biblical Super Hero)

Numbers 35:19 “The blood avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him.”

In fact, the Law even commanded that the Israelites set up cities of refuge for a person to flee if they killed someone accidentally where they would be safe from the blood avenger.

The Hebrew word for “blood avenger”?
Same word: GO-EL

So that person can be someone who pays your debt,
Or it can be a person who avenges a wrong done against you.

Proverbs 23:10-11 “Do not move the ancient boundary Or go into the fields of the fatherless, For their Redeemer is strong; He will plead their case against you.”

This is also sort of the idea in Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 50:33-34 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, “The sons of Israel are oppressed, And the sons of Judah as well; And all who took them captive have held them fast, They have refused to let them go. “Their Redeemer is strong, the LORD of hosts is His name; He will vigorously plead their case So that He may bring rest to the earth, But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.”

In other words, you may afflict Israel, but you had better watch out,
Their avenger is strong!

Can I show you another place it was used?

Remember that young Moabite woman who accompanied her mother-in-law back to Israel to care for her?
• That woman had no one to care for her.
• That woman had no one to provide for her.
• That woman had no one to take her in and be her shelter.

That woman was Ruth
Ruth 3:6-13 “So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her. When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain; and she came secretly, and uncovered his feet and lay down. It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.” Then he said, ” May you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich. “Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence. “Now it is true I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. “Remain this night, and when morning comes, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to redeem you, then I will redeem you, as the LORD lives. Lie down until morning.”

Boaz was called “a close relative”
The Hebrew word? GO-EL

There it referred to the one who will take you in and care for you
And provide for you and shelter you.

So are you following Job’s reasoning?

Yes, my life is hard, but I’ll be ok because “my GO-EL lives”
• The One who will pay off my debts…
• The One who will avenge my cause…
• The One who will take me in to His shelter…

I’ll be fine because “I know that my Redeemer lives”

Now obviously if we had more time we could take a whole segment here
And talk about our Redeemer who is none other than Jesus.

He pays our debt…
He intercedes on our behalf and avenges our cause…
He shelters us under His provision…

You get it right?

Well so does Job.
“My Redeemer loves and at the last He will take His stand on the earth.”

And the result for Job?
(26-27) “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!”

Job feels as though he is being treated unjustly now,
But he also knows the day of his redemption is coming.

He knows that because of his avenger, he will be vindicated.
He will stand before God in righteousness.
Even after death, he will rise, and all will be well.

“I’LL BE JUST FINE”

HOWEVER – I can’t say the same for you guys.

Here is the other very important part of Job’s message to his friends.
(28-29) “If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’ And ‘What pretext for a case against him can we find?’ “Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, So that you may know there is judgment.”

Are you catching Job’s point?
My Redeemer will avenge all those who wrongly persecute me…
That means you!
If you don’t start showing me pity in my affliction
You can rest assured that your punishment is coming.

“Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know there is judgment.”

Now if you’re paying attention,
That is the same thing Jesus told the Pharisees.

Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

You had better be very careful dealing out judgment
Because you will also live under that same standard.

Do you understand?
You don’t get to make standards for other people that don’t apply to you.
Jesus said, “by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”

That is what Job is trying to get through to his friends.
You are so quick to deal out judgment
You don’t seem to realize that
No one will escape under the standard you are setting.

Job says, “I’m going to be find because I’m leaning on my Redeemer.” I’m trusting in mercy. But you’re seeking justice, I’d be careful if I was you.”

I find it far better to operate on mercy.
Yes we confront the sin of the world, but we confront it
As those who have been forgiven of the same sin.

“Judge not lest ye be judged”
“Find pity for me or find punishment for yourself”

The Focus of Faith – Part 1 (Observing God’s Promise)
Hebrews 11:8-22 (8-10, 17-19)
December 13, 2015

As you know we are currently studying through
What is commonly called “The Faith Chapter”

It is a rapid fire listing of people who exhibited great faith throughout the Old Testament.

And honestly, just from a historical point it is a fascinating chapter.
The people here represent some of the greatest stories from the Bible.

They represent many of the stories we grew up learning as children
When our parents and teachers sought to give a foundation to our faith.

Certainly we can have a wonderful time of remembering
As we walk through this chapter.

It is however important to realize that
This chapter is not just a sentimental walk down memory lane.

This chapter serves a very important purpose.
• It is a chapter meant to encourage the downhearted.
• It is a chapter meant to inspire the fearful.
• It is a chapter meant to challenge the sluggish.
• It is a chapter meant to enlighten the confused.

That’s really who this letter was written to.
These Hebrews were downhearted, they were afraid,
They were sluggish, they were confused.

They had SUFFERED GREATLY and they SUFFERED CONTINUALLY
And it is just about to do them in.

In order to encourage them the writer wants to remind them of
The great “cloud of witnesses” that have run this race before them.

Not long ago I visited with a young man who told me a couple of days prior he had reached a real low point and had contemplated suicide.

Thankfully he came to his senses and realized what such a decision
Would do to his kids and decided against such a drastic measure.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still confused.
He felt like his life was just way off course…this couldn’t be normal.

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A PERSON LIKE THAT?
I walked him through stories of people that endured hardship just like him.

• I showed him how Daniel was falsely accused
• I showed him how Joseph was sold
• I showed him how David was betrayed
• I showed him how Moses was talked about

• We talked about how Moses, Elijah, Jonah, and Job all asked to die.
• We talked about how even Paul said that he had the sentence of death within him.

And we talked about how in each of this instances God had a purpose.
And how each of these overcame through faith.

The point was, you aren’t alone.
Follow the course of those who have gone before you.

And that is precisely what the writer is doing here.
These Hebrews needed to exercise faith.

The writer had told them:
Hebrews 10:36-39 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”

They needed faith, and so the writer sets out
To show them what that looks like.

As I told you, the chapter easily divides into four main points.
• THE REWARD OF FAITH
• THE FOCUS OF FAITH
• THE COURAGE OF FAITH
• THE ENDURANCE OF FAITH

We have already looked at “The Reward of Faith”
It was the writer’s first three examples.

Abel, Enoch, & Noah
All three of these “gained approval” because of their faith.
All three of these “obtained….righteousness” because of their faith.

The writer wanted us to understand that if we have any notions of ever pleasing God at all, then we must offer God faith.

For “without faith it is impossible to please Him”

But when we offer God faith, He rewards it with righteousness.

This morning we are going to move on to the next major point:
“The Focus of Faith”

The writer told us early on:
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

And throughout the chapter he is going to remind us that
We are not always going to “see” the things we hope for.

If we are to be people of faith
We are going to have to be people who are focused.

We can’t be those who grow easily discouraged
Because things take longer than expected
Or because things get more difficult than expected.

During those dark and difficult moments when things don’t “look” good,
That is when we must focus all the more on the things that can’t be seen.

And that is clearly the point of this next segment.

Here the writer gives us 5 examples to contemplate.
• Abraham & Sarah
• Isaac & Jacob & Joseph

You know them as the patriarchs.
Certainly we’ll learn quite a bit from them about faith,
The writer uses them as his golden example as to what focus looks like.

All of these had 1 thing in common that the writer wishes to highlight.
(13-16) “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

The point is listed right off the bat.
“All these died in faith without receiving the promises…”

That sure seems like a strange way to illustrate the importance of faith.
You would think the writer would only be interested in stories of people
Who DID receive the promises.

• Stories how like Daniel was delivered from the lion’s den
• Stories about how his friends were delivered from the furnace
• Stories about how David conquered Goliath

You know, stories of great victory.
After all, if I can tell you about all these great accomplishments
And then tell you that faith was the reason behind it,
Surely then you’d be more likely to give faith a try.

And that is commonly how faith is marketed today.
People treat faith like a magic potion. (similar to rubbing a genie’s bottle)

God has to do whatever you want if you just believe it enough.
And then story after story of victory after victory is listed.

And certainly there are times where people’s faith
Does result in immediate and positive results.

But that isn’t at all how this writer tells the story.
He picked 5 people out here and the one thing they all have in common is
That NOT ONE OF THEM received what was promised.

Specifically he was talking about “The Promised Land”
• The only portion of the Promised Land Abraham ever owned was the tomb where he buried Sarah
• Isaac never owned any of the land either
• Jacob spent a good deal of his life outside of the land living with his uncle Laban
• Jacob then left the land once again late in life and actually died in Egypt.
• Joseph was deported from the land at age 14 and never returned.

They seem to be the opposite of what you’d want to use as examples.

That would be true IF the purpose of faith
Was to help you achieve what you want.

But that’s not the purpose of faith.
The purpose of faith is to please God.

And all 5 of these people did this extremely well.

Notice how the writer will say, (16b) “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God;”

These people pleased God.
These people did so because they believed without ever seeing.
They were focused.

(15) “And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

FOCUS
And it’s important that you understand faith that focuses on the unseen
It was important that these Hebrews understand the type of faith
That continues to believe
Even when the circumstances don’t seem to get any better.

So that is the point here.

What we are going to do is first look at the 5 people listed, and then come back and examine the point. It’s obviously going to take us a few weeks to do that.

For those of you who were able to walk through our study of Genesis recently,
You already have a leg up. After all, Hebrews 11:1-22 is the book of Genesis.

For those who weren’t able to walk through Genesis with us, I hope to be able to give you the high points and help you see what the focus of faith looks like.

So the first point is simple:
#1 THE PEOPLE
Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-22

And the first person we are going to look at is:
ABRAHAM (8-10, 17-29)

Abraham is clearly the preeminent example of this group
As the writer uses three different instances from his life.

He deals with:
• Where He Settled
• Why He Stayed
• What He Sacrificed

So let’s look at them.
1) WHERE HE SETTLED (8)
“By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Here the writer references really the first act of faith
That Abraham every demonstrated.

The writer speaks of the decision Abraham made
To obey God to go to a new land that God promised to give him.

“when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance”

And the writer throws in a very important piece of information.
“he went out, not knowing where he was going.”

Now I do want to turn and look at the life of Abraham in a minute, but first just consider the simple facts included in what the writer mentioned.
• God called Abraham
• God commanded Abraham to leave saying He would give him the land
• And Abraham didn’t even know where the land was (let alone what it was like)

Today, we’d call it a gamble to say the least.
You’re just going to up and leave what you know
Because you think God is going to give you something.

Imagine the conversation with one of his friends.
Abraham – “Well, guys I’m leaving, I’m going to collect my land.”
Friend – “Really, I didn’t know you had land, where is it?”
Abraham – “I don’t know”
Friend – “What you mean, you need a map to find it?”
Abraham – “Nope, wouldn’t know where to look.”
Friend – “Who is giving it to you?”
Abraham – “God told me He would”

I mean let the conversation play out.
This borders on the crazy doesn’t it?

Right up there with Noah building a boat
Because God told him a flood was coming.

But the writer of Hebrews says, “Abraham…obeyed by going out”

Now, that is one thing.
Many a man heard the cry of “Eureka!” in 1848 and took off for California to pick up all the gold off the ground.

For all we know Abraham might have been a bit of a fortune hunter.
More than one man has chased his dreams into uncharted waters.

You do remember Abraham right?
TURN TO: GENESIS 12

READ: 12:1-5

So Abram is going, but he’s taking his wealth, his nephew,
And even his slaves with him.

This is important because in a few years when a famine hits and things aren’t panning out too well for him, what does Abram do?

He leaves.
(10) “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abraham went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.”

That incident does give us a little insight into Abraham’s faith.
It is obvious that at least at some level
Abraham was initially looking for an immediate payoff.

We talked about this in our study of Genesis.
Abraham had his first crisis of faith, and he failed.

He abandoned the land of promise and in Egypt we read that
He passed Sarai off as his sister and she became the wife of Pharaoh.

So Abraham did exercise faith in God by initially leaving,
But it is evident that at least initially
He was only looking for the immediate payoff.
When that seemed impossible, Abraham was quitting.

But you’ll remember that God intervened.
• He protected Sarai from Pharaoh
• And He sent Abram back to the land of promise.
• In fact (12:10) “Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they escorted him away, with his wife and all that belonged to him.”

So at this point we do see Abraham’s faith,
But we confess that his motive for using it was more about gaining wealth and comfort than it was about pleasing God.

Well, maybe it started that way, but the book of Genesis makes it clear that Abram learned his lesson. And his faith began to grow.

After that hiccup, Abram decided to trust God again.

And that is the second point of the writer. Where He Settled
2) WHY HE STAYED (9-10)
(put your finger in Genesis and turn back to Hebrews 11)
“By faith he lives as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Abraham didn’t initially seem to have much staying power,
But it is obvious he developed it.

Because after that little hiccup with the famine and the trip to Egypt Abraham decided to stick it out in the land of promise.

And this is huge because the writer says that he had to live “as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land”

Do you remember this from our Genesis study?
(flip back to Genesis 13)

Abram came out of Egypt, but he was still a little disobedient.
He had Lot with him.
• God explicitly told him to leave his family, but Abram took his nephew.
(It is clear that Abram viewed Lot as a sort “son”
and definitely thought Lot to be his heir.)
• So the first manner of business is for God to separate Abram from Lot.
• God did that in chapter 13 by making them too rich to dwell together.
• Now, during this separation Lot settled near Sodom
• And ended up getting kidnapped in a raiding party.

I want you to pay special attention to how they broke the news to Abram.
(14:13) “Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew.”

The word “Hebrew” means “one who crosses over”
(as in the river)

He was considered an alien a foreigner a “wet back”

What a title for Abram.
God had promised him this land and yet many years later
All he was considered was a foreigner who crossed the river.

“he lived as an alien”

Not only that the writer of Hebrews reminds us that he was “dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob”

The focus there being on LONGEVITY.
It is one thing to go to this land, it is quite another to stay there.

You have a son, you have a grandson,
And still you are nothing more than an alien in this land.

THE POINT?
Abraham has decided to stay.

WHY? (it’s obviously no longer about that quick payoff)
(10) for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

(Turn back to Genesis)
Abram separated from Lot and God promised Abram again
That this whole land would be his.

(13:14-15) “The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.”

And it is apparent that Abram is starting to believe this for after he rescues Lot,
The king of Sodom offers all the spoil to Abram, but Abram won’t take it.

Abram has decided to let God be his reward.
Abraham chooses to let God be his reward, & God reiterates the promise.
(READ GENESIS 15:1-6)

So there Abraham gets saved, and at this point he is all in.
He is staying in the land.

And it is evident that Abraham NEVER GAVE UP this faith
Even though he raised his son and his grandson as aliens there.

He never received the land, but he never stopped believing.
That is huge.

But if you think that is big, it is really the third incident the writer gives
That really blows our mind.

Where He Settled Why He Stayed
3) WHAT HE SACRIFICED (17-19)
(17-19) “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”

The Bible says that God “tested” Abraham.

You remember the test
Genesis 22:1-2 “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”

This seems absolutely absurd. WHY?
• For one reason Isaac was his “only begotten son”
• For another Isaac was really important since “it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.”

God had made two basic promises to Abraham.
I’ll give you all the land that you can see.
I’ll give you descendants like the stars to fill it up.

Well thus far Abraham owned none of the land,
And now God was asking him to kill the son
That all those descendants were going to come through.

Wow!

But what does Abraham do?
He “offered up Isaac”

And the writer gives you a little insight into
What was going on in Abraham’s mind as he did this.

(19) “He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”

Why would Abraham think that?
Because he was convinced that his descendants
Were coming through Isaac.

(back to Genesis 15)
• You will remember that God had sort of forced Abraham to split ways with Lot.
• This left Abraham confused regarding how he was going to get descendants.
• He was old, Sarah was barren, this just didn’t seem possible.
• In fact Abraham asked God that very thing.

(READ GENESIS 15:3-4)
So God promised that an heir was coming from his own body.

Now, if you remember the Abraham story very well, Abraham figured out a way to make this happen.
• In Genesis 16 Abraham sleeps with Hagar
• Ishmael is born.
• Genesis 16 tells us that Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born.

15 years later in Genesis 17 God tells Abraham
To be circumcised as a sign of the covenant.

And it was then that God told Abraham that Sarah would have a son.
(READ GENESIS 17:15-19)

• God says Sarah will have Isaac and Abraham thinks it’s funny.
• Abraham even asks if God would just be willing to accept Ishmael.
• God says no.

So God is promising Isaac, Abraham is clinging to Ishmael.
(Do you see that?)

In Genesis 18 some angelic messengers arrive at Abraham’s tent
On their way to destroy Sodom.
There they promise again that Sarah will have a son.

In Genesis 21 God keeps His promise.
(READ GENESIS 21:1-3)

So now Abraham has Ishmael and Isaac.

Then something happens.
• Ishmael starts making fun of Isaac.
• Sarah hears about it, and she won’t have it.
But it’s not just motherly jealousy,
Sarah understands the promise even better than Abraham does.
(READ GENESIS 21:8-14)

Now please pay special attention to what just happened.

For the first time Abraham agrees that
His descendants are coming through Isaac.
So much so that Abraham even sends Ishmael away.

It is as though Abraham looked up at God and said, “Oh, now I get it, the promise is coming through Isaac.”

And God says, “Do you believe Me now that I will bless you through Isaac?”
Abraham, “Absolutely God, it’s Isaac all the way.”
God says, “Really? You believe Me?”
Abraham, “Oh, yeah, You will bless me through Isaac.”
And God basically says, “We’ll see”

See, if you read Genesis 22 by itself it really makes God sound strange.
But God has been grooming Abraham for this test for about 20 years.

God was about to put Abraham’s faith on display.

See most of the time when people study Genesis 22
They go through this “what must Abraham have been feeling?” moment.

And people generally say:
“I’m sure he was heartbroken…”
“I’m sure he was distraught…”

NO HE WASN’T
At this point in the game, God had so convinced him
That Isaac was the means of the promise,
That Abraham just figured God would raise him from the dead.

Had Abraham ever seen God raise people from the dead? No
But he’d never seen a 90 year old barren woman get pregnant either.

What is faith again?
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Remember how that word “conviction” means “to prove with a test”?

Abraham had already run that test.
He had become convinced that
God was able to do whatever He promised.

And because of that “conviction” Abraham now walked in “assurance”
That somehow, someway God would make it happen.
Romans 4:18-21 “In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.” Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”

Abraham was not looking at the immediate.
Abraham was looking to the future promise.
Abraham was focused.

Granted it took him a while to get there,
But once God poured faith into him, Abraham never wavered.
• He went to a land he didn’t know
• He lived in a land he didn’t own
• He offered the only son who gave him a chance of obtaining it

Abraham believed God.

And this is the point of the writer.
He believed, even when he didn’t receive.

(13-16) “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

Now let’s make a little application here.
If we are going to be people of faith,
We cannot be people who get discouraged and quit
Just because things aren’t working out like we expected.

These Hebrews the writer is dealing with
• Are also aliens and strangers in the land.
• They are hated and forsaken for following Christ.
• Things aren’t working out like they had hoped.

• They decided to follow a King who isn’t on the throne.
• They are looking for a kingdom that they cannot see.
• They are trusting a Savior who they can’t see.

The writer says – THEN BE LIKE ABRAHAM
Continue to trust even when you don’t see the promise fulfilled.

No, I’m not saying if you will,
Then magically God will come and change your circumstances
For the better.

(He might, and He might not)

What I am saying is that if you will trust even without seeing,
You will be pleasing to God.

Do you remember what God said to Abraham when he was about to sacrifice Isaac?

Genesis 22:10-12 “Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

ABRAHAM’S FAITH PLEASED GOD.

Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

The Fate of the Wicked
Job 18
December 6, 2015

I realize it has been a couple of weeks
Since we last studied the book of Job,
But I feel certain you have a grasp on what has been going on.

After all, the book of Job does maintain a bit of a redundant feel.
This debate/argument between Job and his friends
Seems to just go on and on and on.

AND CERTAINLY WE UNDERSTAND WHY.
Suffering is a difficult concept.

More than one person has set out to try and understand
Why they or someone they love is suffering.

But far more times than not,
Those same people don’t seem to make much headway.

Sure, there are a few cases like that of Joseph where the Lord makes it abundantly clear why the suffering occurred.
But for every Joseph there are at least 1,000 like that of Job.

People who suffer and never seem to be given
A suitable explanation as to what the purpose is.

Suffering can be difficult like that.
• You can ponder it
• You can question it
• You can analyze it
• You can evaluate it
• You can discuss it

And even after a long period of doing those things,
You still might not know the purpose behind it.
That seems to explain why the dialogue of the book of Job seems so long.

Neither Job, nor Bildad, nor Eliphaz, nor Zophar
Has the slightest idea why Job is suffering.

• Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar are convinced it is because Job must have done something wrong.

• Job thinks that in his case God got it wrong.

And they are all taking turns arguing their points to one another.
And quite frankly wading through their argument can be exhausting.

The dialogue of this book can wear you down.
However, studying this book is of tremendous value to us.
• Not only does this book deal a death blow to the prosperity gospel,
• It also helps us see our suffering more accurately,
• And teaches us how to better minister to others when they suffer.

That being the case we need to study everything Job has to say.
In our suffering we can often times identify with his logic and from him we are learning what is and what is not an acceptable response to suffering.

We also need to study everything his friends have to say.
For we have often times found ourselves looking at someone else’s pain and reaching the exact same conclusions they reached. We need to understand why that response is wrong.

So I do understand that this study is long and laboring,
But so is suffering, and that makes this book a perfect study.

We are now on round 2 of the rebukes of Job’s friends.

Job has just responded with a strong rebuke of his friends.
He actually told his friends what he wanted to receive from them, but he never did.
• Proper Comfort
• Positive Encouragement
• Productive Prayer
• Passionate Support
• Practical Hope

But Job’s friends hadn’t supplied any of that.
• Instead of comfort he has received condemnation
• Instead of encouragement he has received a rebuke
• Instead of prayer he has received scoffing
• Instead of a defense he has received insults

And because of that Job told them:
Job 16:1-2 “Then Job answered, “I have heard many such things; Sorry comforters are you all.”

Well now Bildad wants to respond again.
If you happen to remember Bildad’s first response to Job, you may remember that Bildad was very interested in the fate of the wicked.

Job 8:11-22 “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water? “While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant. “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish, Whose confidence is fragile, And whose trust a spider’s web. “He trusts in his house, but it does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it does not endure. “He thrives before the sun, And his shoots spread out over his garden. “His roots wrap around a rock pile, He grasps a house of stones. “If he is removed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ “Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring. “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers. “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter And your lips with shouting. “Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked will be no longer.”
Bildad’s accusation of Job was built on the reality that
The wicked will pay for their sin.

That of course is true.
All those who forget God will indeed perish.

Bildad then took that reality and applied it to Job.

What is obvious to Bildad is that Job didn’t listen.

(1-4) “Then Bildad the Shuhite responded, “How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk. “Why are we regarded as beasts, As stupid in your eyes? “O you who tear yourself in your anger — For your sake is the earth to be abandoned, Or the rock to be moved from its place?”

You can feel Bildad’s frustration with Job in his opening statement.

“How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding and then we can talk.”

In other words, “You’re just not getting what I’m saying. Pay attention, quit talking, just listen. Quit looking at us as though we are stupid and start listening to what we have to say.”

Then he calls Job, “O you who tear yourself in your anger”

That is to say, “Listen to us Mr. Angry! You are bringing this on yourself!”

Bildad was pretty convinced before
That Job was the cause of his own misfortune. Now he is certain of it.

Bildad sees the suffering of the wicked
As a universal and unbreakable law.
And he reminds Job that this is not a law
That will be broken just for him.

(4b) “For your sake is the earth to be abandoned, or the rock to be moved from its place?”

He is asking Job, “Do you really expect that universal truths will be abandoned just for you?”

So you can see that Bildad is frustrated with Job.

Bildad has the answer to Job’s suffering.
• Job is suffering because his is sinful.
• His refusal to listen and repent is only making matters worse.

So Bildad is trying to get through to Job to stop talking and listen.

At this point Bildad would have loved to have James 1:19-21
James 1:19-21 “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”

That is basically the exact rebuke that Bildad has for Job.

Then Bildad returns to the truth that he so desperately wants Job to hear.
It is THE FATE OF THE WICKED

In verses 5-21
Bildad will actually list 6 realities that the wicked will receive.

And I actually want to spend a second and examine them.
Here is why: Bildad is absolutely right. He is 100% dead on.

Every person who seeks to live this life
Apart from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ
Had better pay close attention to what Bildad says
Because he absolutely nails the fate of the wicked.

The problem of course is that Job is not wicked,
And we will address that in a minute.

But, I first want to listen to what Bildad has to say,
Because used in the proper application it is excellent truth.

So let’s look at these 6 realities that the wicked can anticipate.
#1 DARKNESS
Job 18:5-6

Bildad begins by pointing out that “the light of the wicked goes out”
• “light” in Scripture can be righteousness.
• “light” can be understanding.

Here it represents hope.
It is the hope that this wicked man has that his future is ok.

Matthew 4:16 “THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED.”

It’s like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel (i.e. hope)

And that hope will not last for the wicked.
“the flame of his fire has no light. The light in his tent is darkened, and his lamp goes out above him.”
Isaiah spoke of the wicked
Who try to light their own fire (false religion) apart from the Lord.

Isaiah 50:10-11 “Who is among you that fears the LORD, That obeys the voice of His servant, That walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, Who encircle yourselves with firebrands, Walk in the light of your fire And among the brands you have set ablaze. This you will have from My hand: You will lie down in torment.”

That is the promised fate for the wicked.
• Their hope will not be realized.
• Their hope for a good eternity is a false hope.

Those who are not righteous, who do not know the Lord,
Should not expect a pleasant eternity.

They will receive only darkness.
#2 CAPTURE
Job 18:7-10

Notice Bildad begins with the cocky walk of the wicked.
He calls it “His vigorous stride”

It is the idea of a confident man walking through life without fear or worry.
But Bildad says “His vigorous stride is shortened”

That is to say his confidence is taken from him
And he’s soon going to lose that pride.

WHY?
“his own scheme brings him down.”

That is to say his plans don’t work. They fail.

And then Bildad speaks of how this once pompous man
Will actually be snared and caught.

(8-10) “For he is thrown into the net by his own feet, And he steps on the webbing. “A snare seizes him by the heel, And a trap snaps shut on him. “A noose for him is hidden in the ground, And a trap for him on the path.”

In short this wicked man was once confident and full of hope,
But his hope perished and he was trapped.

He was captured.
Matthew 23:33 “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”

The writer of Hebrews asked:
Hebrews 2:3 “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,”
And the answer is – YOU WON’T

There is no chance that one single wicked person will sneak through the judgment. They will all be captured.

Just read the end of Revelation and the truth of the judgment.
No person hides, they all appear.

None will escape.
Isaiah 30:15-17 “For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” Therefore you shall flee! “And we will ride on swift horses,” Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a signal on a hill.”

The wicked can look forward to this.
Darkness and Capture
#3 PAIN
Job 18:11-13

It pictures this once proud man actually caught in a trap
Waiting for the hunter to arrive.

• Maybe his leg is clutched in one of those iron traps,
• Or he’s hanging upside down, his foot having been caught in a noose.
• Or perhaps his hanging in a net.

There he is terrified
(11) “All around terrors frighten him, and harry him at every step.”

There is starving and deprived
(12) “His strength is famished, and calamity is ready at his side.”

He is even starting to develop gangrene on his wounds
(13) “His skin is devoured by disease, the firstborn of death devours his limbs.”

This man is in terror and pain.
He is tormented in every possible way.
Such is the fate of the wicked.

Do you want to hear how Jesus described the fate of the wicked?
Matthew 8:12 “but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:42 “and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 13:50 “and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 22:13 “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Matthew 24:51 “and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 25:30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Picking up on the idea?
The wicked can expect pain.
Darkness, Capture, Pain
#4 JUDGMENT
Job 18:14
So far the wicked has been hanging in the trap
Waiting to see what his fate would be.

Here we find he is hauled to judgment.
“He is torn from the security of his tent, and they march him before the king of terrors.”

That sounds pleasant doesn’t it?

The writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 10:31 “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

And that is it here.
Revelation 20:12-13 “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.”

In short, judgment is coming.
Just because man rejects God here on earth
Does not mean they won’t still have to answer to Him.

God is God and the wicked will face His judgment.

#5 DESTRUCTION
Job 18:15-19

Notice here that the wicked man is completely defeated.
• It’s not just torment.
• It’s not just punishment.
• It is the total removal of his entire lineage and legacy.

“There dwells in his tent nothing of his; brimstone is scattered on his habitation. His roots are dried below, and his branch is cut off above. Memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name abroad.”
In short, he is finished.
He’ll never be heard of again.

If you’ve ever read through Kings in the Old Testament.
You constantly see kings overthrowing one another.

Each time they would do this, they would also kill all the royal offspring.
The idea was so that they would never have to deal with that line again.

Not only where they captured and judged,
The line was completely destroyed.

That will happen to the wicked too.
Those in heaven will have recollection or concern about them ever again.

Revelation 21:5-8 “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

They’ll never again be a problem.
They will be completely destroyed.

Darkness, Capture, Pain, Judgment, Destruction
#6 HORROR
Job 18:20-21

Everyone who honestly contemplates the fate of the wicked
Will be filled with horror at the thought.

Isaiah 28:14-19 “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.” Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place. “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”

The sheer notion of judgment is horrific.

And Bildad says, “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him who does not know God.”

And so you see that Bildad is “dead on”
Concerning the judgment of the wicked.

They will suffer just as he has said.
Every single one of them.

If you are going to try and live this life apart from
Being reconciled to God through the death of Jesus Christ,
I don’t care how good you are, this will be your fate.

The problem with Bildad (as has been consistent throughout this book)
Is that he has correct theology and terrible judgment.

He knows what is true, he just doesn’t have a clue how to apply it.
He is a Pharisee

• He has assumed that these horrific circumstances that the wicked will
receive are precisely what Job is receiving.

• And since Job is receiving the punishment of the wicked then Job must
be wicked.

• Furthermore, since Bildad is not receiving these awful circumstances
then he must be righteous.

BUT BILDAD IS SO FAR OFF HERE.

First of all, what Job was facing was indeed horrible.
• He lost all of his life stock
• He lost all of his merchandise
• He lost all of his children
• He lost his health
• He is losing his reputation

Job’s predicament was horrific BUT Job’s predicament doesn’t hold a candle to the suffering of the wicked in hell.

The only real picture we have of that type of suffering
Was seen when the light came back on the cross.

Remember it?
For 3 hours man did their worst to Jesus.
• They beat Him
• They mocked Him
• They crucified Him

Then darkness came over the land
And for 3 hours God dealt with Christ as though He were wicked.

Remember?
2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

God punished Christ as though He were wicked.

And when the light came back on the cross,
Instantly the centurion knew this was the work of God.

Isaiah 52:13-15 “Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men. Thus He will sprinkle many nations, Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; For what had not been told them they will see, And what they had not heard they will understand.”

Christ was marred beyond human recognition.

There is a tremendous difference between the suffering of the righteous in this life and the suffering of the wicked in the next.

Bildad had no concept of that.
The affliction Job was receiving
Was not like the affliction the wicked will receive.

That is one of his major problems.
The other is that Bildad has no discernment
Regarding who should receive the message of judgment.

Bildad is actually preaching the message of judgment
To the one man on earth who didn’t need to hear it.

Remember what God said about Job?
Job 1:8 “The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”

Listen, there is certainly a time and a place for the preaching of judgment.
• One could easily argue that judgment isn’t preached nearly enough today.
• Jesus preached judgment more than any other preacher who ever lived.

But when judgment is preached to the wrong recipient
It is absolutely horrific.

The message of judgment is not for the righteous.
(not for Job and not for those redeemed by Christ)

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Those who are in Christ no longer have condemnation.
Are you going to throw it on them?

Paul asked:
Romans 8:33-34 “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

In other words, “What type of person would dare to preach condemnation to a person who has been freed from it?”

I can tell you what type of person would do that. – Satan
He is the accuser of the brethren.

The Pharisees would certainly do it.
Matthew 23:4 “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”

• They loved to shower people with guilt and condemnation and fear.
• People like that are easier to control.
• Furthermore, the more you point out other people’s flaws the better you seem to feel about your own.

That is exactly what Bildad is doing.
And because of his legalistic mentality he is actually preaching judgment to a person who doesn’t need it.

I CAN GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE
I’ve actually been exposed to this a little recently and it has been eye opening to me.

I’ve been in conversation with a pastor who is a proponent of what is called “The Hebrew Roots Movement”.

It is basically a belief that Christians are now Israel
And therefore should obey all the commands
Of both the Old and New Testament.

In fact this particular pastor told me
• He actually hates the term Old and New Testament since it is all God’s word
and he actually prefers to be called “Full Bible Believers”

• Also saying “we try to live by the entire word of God”

Hopefully you are picking up on the implications there.
They are “full Bible believers” implying that the rest of us…aren’t.

As I talked with this man about how we are no longer under the Law,
Here is how he responded.

“As far as our relationship with the law: The law is for saved people, not lost.
It’s how we show we love Him.”

The New Testament is clear that the purpose of the Law is to condemn.
The Law is the very epitome of the message of judgement.

And this pastor maintains that this message is for saved people.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 “But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”

Paul said this message of condemnation was not for the righteous.
It was for the wicked.

This pastor (like all who are caught in legalism)
Is applying a right message to the wrong audience.

That is exactly what Bildad is doing.
And it is something you and I must be very careful with.

Do you remember the effect these Pharisees had on their congregations?
Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.”

Those people were beat down.
You would be too if all you ever heard was the preaching of Bildad.

My encouragement to you tonight is that
You not only rightly understand,
But that you rightly apply the truth.

The message of judgment is a true and necessary message.
• Every single person who has failed to place their faith in Jesus Christ must hear this message.

But once a person trusts in Christ,
That is no longer their message.
Their message must be one of encouragement.

Let me give you an example.
Hebrews 6:7-12 “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
He spoke of judgment, but did you hear how he applied it?

We have recently studied Hebrews 10.

There the writer spoke of judgment.
Hebrews 10:29-31 “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Hebrews 10:38 “BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”

But remember how he applied it?
Hebrews 10:39 “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”

That is a great illustration.

What if Bildad had come to Job and said, “Job the wicked will suffer for their sin. God will judge them for all eternity. Everyone who forgets God will pay for it. But Job, I don’t think that’s who you are. I think you love God and are intent on serving Him even though you are caught in a tough patch here. Let me encourage you to maintain your righteousness and rekindle your faith.”

That would have been much better wouldn’t it?

So learn here from Bildad.
• The message of judgment is true and necessary.
• Just make sure you are accurately applying it when you preach it.

The Reward of Faith (part 2) – Obtaining God’s Favor
Hebrews 11:1-7 (5-7)
December 6, 2015

I know it has been a couple of weeks since we last looked into this wonderful book of Hebrews, so let me pull us all back into focus here.

You will remember that our writer is writing to a group of Jews
Who were experiencing a CRISIS OF FAITH.

• They were those who had made a public confession of Christ,
• But who were now facing such extreme opposition
• That they were contemplating defecting from Jesus and returning to Judaism.

Throughout the letter the writer has been expressing
What a grave mistake this would be.

1 reason this was a mistake is the enormous benefit of having Christ.

He is a High Priest like no other
He is a sacrifice like no other

• Only in Christ do we find true atonement and true security.
• Only in Christ is the veil removed.
• Only in Christ is God satisfied.
• Only in Christ do we have an eternal Advocate.

It would obviously be a major mistake to leave Christ.

The other reason it would be a mistake is because of the terrible penalty inflicted upon those who forsake Him.

More than once the writer has warned us about the danger of falling away.

Chapter 6 said people who do that are like ground that is “close to be cursed and ends up being burned.” He said it is impossible to renew people like that to repentance since “they again crucify to themselves the Son of God”.

Chapter 10 said people who “trample under foot the Son of God and regard as unclean the blood of the covenant and insult the Spirit of Grace” will fall into the hands of the living God and that is a “terrifying thing.”

So on one hand we have the benefit of Christ,
On the other we have the punishment for falling away.
Obviously the writer wants these suffering Jews to stick with Jesus.

And in order to do that, these Hebrews will need FAITH

Hebrews 10:36-39 “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”

In short, if you want to be found pleasing to Christ when He comes,
Then you had better be a person of faith, who doesn’t shrink back.

Have faith “to the preserving of the soul.”

And so literally these Hebrews are in a crisis of faith.
• Pressured from hostility on the outside.
• Pressured from conviction on the inside.

• Faced with the threat of persecution from the Jews.
• Faced with the threat of judgment from God.

• Offered temporary comfort if they will forsake Jesus.
• Offered eternal salvation if they will hold fast to Him.

And these Hebrews must decide which path they will choose.

Jesus said:
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

And that is where these Hebrews are.

Might I remind you that every living being
Must also make this decision.

Jesus is the most polarizing figure in the history of the world.
You cannot be neutral with Him.

Matthew 10:34-39 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.”

What was making this decision difficult for the Hebrews
Was the immediate and intense persecution that waited for them
If those chose Christ.

And you should know that we may all face such a decision.
It is happening in our world.
And it is beginning to happen even in our own country.

I’ve scrolled Facebook over the past weeks and like many of you I’ve seen a lot of Posts regarding ISIS and refugees and terrorism and shootings.

Typically the debate turns to guns.
Some want them gone, and some turn to them for their safety.

Both are really looking for the same thing, which is an end to the threat.
One thinks removing guns will stop the threat, one thinks owning guns will do it.

And I really don’t care which side of the issue you are on.

What I would tell you is that guns or no guns,
Persecution is promised for those who follow Christ.

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

The issue of Scripture has never been how to stop persecution. But it has always been the need to remain faithful in the midst of it.

This is a point of confusion for our world.

Maybe you saw the cover of DAILY NEWS this past week.
“14 Dead in California Mass Shooting: GOD ISN’T FIXING THIS”

• It put thousands up in arms immediately.
• It was written to address the common response to ask for prayer
• Apparently the editor of this magazine is fed up with that response, noting that
despite all the praying, God doesn’t seem to be intervening.

Look, saving people from persecution
Has never been God’s objective throughout Scripture.

Saving people from hell has been God’s objective.
And God uses persecution as a means to do that.

Persecution forces people to put their money where their mouth is.
Those who will endure persecution for the sake of Christ receive a tremendous assurance that their faith is genuine and their souls are secure.

1 Peter 1:6-7 “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”

1 Peter 4:1-2 “Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
What is my point?

Simply that as a believer your main concern
Should not be how to stop persecution.
Your main concern should be that
You have the type of faith which will endure it.

That is the call of the writer of Hebrews.
• He wants these people to examine their faith.
• He wants them to have faith and he wants them to exercise it.

And to make sure everyone understands exactly what he means,
He wrote what is commonly called “The Faith Chapter”

This chapter is meant to illustrate for us what saving faith looks like.
Now, I know it’s been two weeks since we looked at it so let me again refresh your memory about this chapter as a whole. (Bear with me as we recap a little here)

There are 4 main points to this chapter.
THE REWARD OF FAITH (1-7)
You see over and over again how men offered faith and thus were granted righteousness.

THE FOCUS OF FAITH (8-22)
Here the focus is on how people continually looked past what they could see and focused on what they could not see. They never took their eyes of the prize.

THE COURAGE OF FAITH (23-31)
See the references to overcoming danger and choosing not to fear

THE ENDURANCE OF FAITH (32-40)
Here we find a rapid fire list of hardships. Some were delivered, some were not, but all endured.

I also told you about some important THEMES
That continually resurface as you study.

FAITH & WORKS
It is easy to measure the faith of every person listed here because we see the verb that describes what they did. Their faith was not void of works, it was validated by their works.

SEEN VS UNSEEN
Continually we are told what these people never saw. In many cases they did not see physical fulfillment of the promises. But these people saw with eyes of faith and looked at the eternal fulfillment. They didn’t always see it here, but through eyes of faith they saw it in eternity.

RECEIVED VS NOT RECEIVED
They didn’t always get what was promised, but they did always receive God’s favor.

Now, last time we met we started looking at that first point:
THE REWARD OF FAITH (obtaining God’s Favor) (1-7)

And in these 7 verses we said there were two main points.
#1 THE NATURE OF FAITH
Hebrews 11:1-5

Here we saw what faith is and what faith does.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

I told you that this verse represented a CAUSE AND EFFECT,
And that they were actually listed in reverse order.

Faith begins as “the conviction of things not seen”

The word “conviction” there comes from a Greek word
That means “to prove with a test”

And so we said that when a promise is made by God,
We have to “test” whether or not we think
God can and God will keep His promise.

This is what the people of faith throughout the Bible did.

Take Abraham for example:
Romans 4:20-21 “yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.”

Abraham had tested God and believed God could and God would
So Abraham chose to believe even what he could not see.

He had a “conviction of things not seen”

This then leads to “the assurance of things hoped for”

When you become convinced that
God can and will do what He has promised,
You then receive assurance
Regarding the thing you presently are hoping for.

• We’ve never seen Jesus
• We don’t see Him now
• We’ve never seen heaven

But because we are convinced God takes care of the unseen,
We have assurance that one day Jesus will return
And take us to heaven to be with Him.
Faith starts as conviction and ends as assurance
And to illustrate that, the writer told us about creation.

(3) “By Faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”

• We didn’t see God create the world.
• But we believe He did.
• Since we believe that without having seen it,
• Certainly we can believe other things that we don’t see.

That is what faith IS.

But the writer also wanted us to know WHAT FAITH DOES
And simply put: faith obtains God’s favor.

(2) “For by it the men of old gained approval.”

There has only ever been one thing that God wanted from man
• It wasn’t sacrifices
• It wasn’t ordinances
• It wasn’t songs or money or even deprivation

God wants faith.
That has never changed.

And to illustrate that the writer gave two examples.

The first was Abel.
(4) “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.”

• Genesis tells us that Abel brought the first of his flock to God.
• Genesis tells us that Cain brought the fruit of the ground.

The writer of Hebrews tells us why God accepted Abel and not Cain.
Abel brought his offering in faith, Cain did not.

If you were to compare the two offerings, there is no doubt that
Cain would have worked much harder to bring his offering than Abel did.
But God didn’t want works. God wanted faith.

And because of that Abel “obtained the testimony that he was righteous”

Now, that act of faith ended up getting Abel killed.
The writer reminding us that “he is dead” because of his faith.

But even in his death “he still speaks”
What do you suppose Abel would tell those struggling today?
He would tell them to exercise their faith! It is so worth it!
So Abel chose faith, and even though it cost him his life on earth,
It earned him God’s favor and eternal life.

Leaving Abel, let’s move on now to the second example: ENOCH.

(5) “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; And he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

There are those two all-important phrases again.
“he obtained the witness”
“he was pleasing to God”

Enoch was a lot like Abel.
He offered God faith and God was pleased with him because of it.

But as I said it is important to understand
The relationship of their faith and their works.

Abel’s faith was that he “offered to God a better sacrifice”
What was Enoch’s faith?

TURN TO: GENESIS 5
I hope you remember this from our study of Genesis,
But chapter 5 is a very important chapter in Moses’ preaching.

Moses is making an unmistakable point.
“The wages of sin is death”

The chapter details 9 generations from Adam
And about 8 of them Moses emphatically says “and he died”

But in glaring contrast Moses introduces Enoch.
Who of the 9 was the only one who did not die.

In fact, instead of death the Bible simply says that (24) “God took him.”
Enoch was raptured.

The obvious question:
WHAT DID ENOCH DO THAT ALLOWED HIM TO ESCAPE DEATH?
No one was escaping death, why Enoch?

(24) “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

The writer of Hebrews described it like this:
“he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

• Enoch lived a life that was devoted to God.
• Enoch lived in a pleasing manner.
Do you have any specifics?
Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Enoch was a preacher of righteousness and judgment.
He was clearly one who spoke against the corruption of his culture
And chose instead to seek God.

• Enoch sought God
• Enoch walked after God
• Enoch trusted God
AND HE DID THIS IN THE MIDST OF A CULTURE THAT DID NOT.

And Scripture says “he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

That is what faith does.
Faith pleases God.

It actually allowed Enoch to skip death.
• Now that doesn’t mean if you will just have faith that you won’t die.
• We just covered Abel who died for his faith and said that it was worth it.

Keep your eye on the proper reward.
• The reward is not ease in this life.
• The reward is not some temporary pay off.
• The reward of faith is that God is pleased and He declares the people of faith to be righteous.

This righteousness allows them to dwell with God forever.

THAT IS THE NATURE OF FAITH.
• What it is – a conviction that leads to assurance.
• What it does – pleases God.

But the nature of faith is not the only thing the writer wants you to understand here.
#2 THE NECESSITY OF FAITH
Hebrews 11:6-7

After making the statement that Enoch, became pleasing to God
The writer wants you to understand what a big deal this was.

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him”

Please let that sink in for a moment.
Think of all the things that you could offer God.
Think of all the things people in pagan religions offered their gods.
• Bring Him an animal sacrifice…
• Bring Him even your firstborn…
• Bring Him your crops…

Or perhaps it’s a specific behavior.
• Maybe you could take a vow of poverty.
• Maybe you could take a vow of chastity.
• Maybe you could treat your body severely with markings and cuts.
• Maybe you could make some sort of difficult voyage in God’s name.
• Maybe you could go on some sort of mission.
• Maybe you could fly an airplane into a building.

• Maybe you could go to church every Sunday.
• Maybe you could read your Bible daily.
• Maybe you could be baptized.

• Maybe you could fight for your country.
• Maybe you could adopt orphans.
• Maybe you could give to charity.
• Maybe you could cure cancer.
• Maybe you could feed the hungry or clothe the naked.

Surely if you did those things God would be pleased with you.

And the answer is “without faith it is impossible to please Him.”
None of those things please God if they are not united in faith.

Listen to what Paul said about Israel.
(hands down the most religious people ever)
Romans 9:30-33 “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”

All God wanted was faith and all they offered was works.
(Go back to the illustration of Cain and Abel)

If you don’t come to God in faith you will not please Him.
Why?

“for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

What the writer lists there is
The most absolute and basic principles of faith that there are.

• To believe that God “is”
• To believe that God “is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

And I do want to speak to that a moment.
Today sometimes faith gets a little misconstrued in our culture.

Our “name it and claim it” friends
Have done a great disservice to what faith actually is.

They seem to think that faith is when you tell God what you want
And you believe He’ll give you what you want until He finally does.

• They see faith as some sort of magic formula that somehow strong-arms God
into giving you what you want.
• They seem to think that God wants you to claim the impossible and put Him to
the test until He does it.

That is not what the writer mentions.
According to Hebrews God simply wants you to believe that “He is”

• Like when the world is clamoring that God is not real.
• Or like when your circumstances feel like God is absent.
• Or like when you’re having difficulty seeing His presence in your pain.

At those moments God is simply asking you to believe “that He is”
You know the “conviction of things not seen”

And then God wants you to believe that in following and seeking Him that there is a reward; “that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

• He’s not asking you to name your reward.
• He’s not asking you to claim your reward.

He’s asking you to trust that the reward He has for you will be worth it.
You know the “assurance of things hoped for.”

The writer here is NOT telling these suffering Hebrews
That they need to rise up and claim a victory
And believe that God will deliver them from peril.

He is telling them that in the middle of their peril,
When it feels like God is absent or silent,
That they still need to believe that He is God
And that trusting Him will be worth it.

That is faith.
That is what God requires.
In fact, if you don’t offer Him that, you won’t be able to please Him at all.

And you will never become and heir of the righteousness you need.
Believe that God is and that God is a rewarder.
And to further emphasize that truth the writer again gives an illustration.

Enter the man we know as NOAH.
(7) “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Noah was also a key figure in Moses account of Genesis.
• Moses used Abel to demonstrate how to avoid God’s displeasure.
• Moses used Enoch to demonstrate how to avoid death.
• Moses uses Noah to demonstrate how to avoid destruction.

And again the answer is “By faith”

In Noah’s day God had finally had enough.
Genesis 6:5-8 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

So the whole world is so corrupt that God has decided to destroy them all,
And yet one man was found to be pleasing to God.

Moses was obviously putting a magnifying glass on Noah.
You are supposed to read that and ask, “Why was Noah so pleasing?”

Genesis 6:9 “These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”

There it is again.
That’s the same thing Enoch did (walked with God)
Apparently Moses is making a point.

• Abel, Enoch, and Noah all lived in a day of sin.
• Abel, Enoch, and Noah all faced scorn from those around them.
• And yet, Abel, Enoch, and Noah still believed that God was real and if they would reject their culture and strive to please God that they would be rewarded for it.

They didn’t know how, they just believed.
And God was pleased with this simple faith.

And if you want to see Noah’s faith, it is really quite remarkable.

The writer says that he was “warned by God about things not yet seen”

In short, Noah had never heard of a global killer.
Noah had never seen rain.

But God said it was going to happen.
Genesis 6:11-14, 17 “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch…”Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.”

God told Noah the earth was wicked and He was going to flood it
And Noah should build a boat.

Genesis 6:22 “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.”

The writer of Hebrews said that Noah “prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world”

And incidentally the word there means that Noah “cautiously prepared that ark”
He was meticulous and careful
In short, he really believed he would need it.

It took Noah 100 years to build that ark.
Do you think he caught a little flak from the corrupt work around him?
• “Hey Noah, how much rain did you get last night? Bahahah”
• “Hey Noah, seen the forecast lately?”

But Noah kept right on building and the decision proved wise
For Noah saved his family from the flood.

But listen to the writer.
The reward of Noah’s faith was NOT that he didn’t drown.

The reward of his faith was that he “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

Sure God saved Noah from the flood,
But even more than that God saved Noah from sin.
God declared Noah righteous.

AND THIS IS THE POINT OF THE WRITER OF HEBREWS.

GOD REQUIRES FAITH.
• He requires you to believe He’s there even when you don’t see Him.
• He requires you to believe serving Him will be worth it even when you don’t see how.

Today we have more revelation and we understand that
The specific faith God wants
Is for you and me to trust in the saving work of His Son Jesus.
John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

And that is what the writer wants these Hebrews to understand.

YOU MUST HAVE FAITH
• Not so that the hardships will stop.
• But so that God will be pleased with you.

I don’t know if your circumstances will change.
Maybe the will, maybe they won’t.
Enoch and Noah were both spared, Abel wasn’t.

Read the chapter.
Some get delivered from peril, some don’t.

That’s NOT the reward of faith.
If you think faith is a tool to create positive circumstances in your life, you’ve listened far too much to the preachers on TV.

God wanted faith that believed regardless of the circumstances.
And the people who brought that kind of faith…
God gave them righteousness.

That is actually how the writer sums up the whole chapter at the end.
Hebrews 11:39 “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,”

They didn’t get what they wanted, but God was pleased,
And they did obtain righteousness.

That is the CRISIS OF FAITH these Hebrews are facing.
It’s the crisis everyone eventually faces.

Will you determine to trust God even when you can’t see?
Will you “believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him”?

If you will, then do like these men
And put your money where your mouth is and seek after God.
That’s what all three of these men did, they sought God in a culture that did not.

And God responded by giving them righteousness.

Hebrews 11:6 “And 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 seek Him.”