Faith is the telescope that brings the future promises of God into present focus. It is important to define or give substance to such an abstract noun as faith. Theres more here than believing there is a God. You can be godly in a very ungodly world. Ten generations are recorded. Adam lived to see his great, great, great, great, great, great, grandchildren. From Abel to Enoch to Noah - what joins these men together? Such people as Enosh, Mahalalel, and Jared are respectable plodding quiet men who said goodnight to one another regularly, remarked briefly upon the weather and died.. Although I am not an example of great faith, I can share a personal example. "Through Faith" As we read on the context is the same.Vs35b-38. 2. All the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died (Gen 5:8). So faith is the means of realizing spiritual reality and of gaining Gods approval. The author mentions Moses (11:24-26), who refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God. He considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; . Imagine what those in the Egyptian court must have said about Moses: He walked away from the wealth and prestige of being the son of Pharaohs daughter to lead a ragtag bunch of common slaves out into the Judean wilderness! The difference is, the first man is looking with his unaided eye, whereas the second man is looking through a telescope. Adam died after 930 years. Understanding these principlestrust is essential for close personal relationships; truth is the basis for trust; and, truth must be expressed in love, which means, seeking the highest good of the other personshows why faith (trust) is at the heart of a relationship with God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Heb 11:6). Pleasures are found at Gods right hand, and those who walk with God taste these pleasures before they ever arrive in heaven. Christ said he would return, but it has been 2,000 years! Even though he was a devout Catholic (a fact he never tried to hide), Russert as moderator couldn't take sides so he wanted Meacham to take up the cause. That parable serves as a useful backdrop to our text last week (10:32-29), where the author urges his readers on to enduring faith. And for all of us, men and women alike, take heart from Noah's example. God picked him up and carried him across it (A.W. Faith, you see, is confident in the power of God's words. The Creator of heaven and earth; the sovereign Lord of the universe is your heavenly Father, and He is so intensely interested in you, so intimately involved in your life, that He would choose to walk with you! Why is it important to affirm that faith is not a work that gains Gods merit? Walking with God is not just for Enoch. Behind every support specialist, Bible study editor, graphic designer, and accountant is a Sunday School teacher, kids volunteer, or small group leader. The seed sown on the rocky ground sprang up quickly, but it also quickly withered and died when trials hit. " It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom ." Why did one choose to be a farmer and the other a shepherd? All of the patristic and medieval scholars understood the words in the objective sense, but Melanchthon advised Luther to render it, sure confidence. Luthers interpretation has influenced most scholarship since the Reformation (Koster, ibid.). Hebrews 11:8 Sermons: By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. If you add the ages at which each of these patriarchs became a father, you will find that from Adam to the birth of Enoch was 622 years (130 + 105 + 90 + 70 + 65 + 162 = 662 years). As we saw last week, there is a type of faith that does not endure trials and temptations. Today we look at the 11th chapter of Hebrews which is often known as the faith chapter. In it are many examples of people who remained faithful to the LORD under the most difficult and impossible of situations. Your Bible study. Comments >>. The lifespans of these generations are about ten times as long as our lives today. It is a willingness to trust in, to rely on, and to cling to. that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Enoch's journey led him to God, and when he found God, he walked with him. Abel knew that a life must be laid down because God had revealed it, back in the garden of Eden when He made garments of skins to clothe Adam and Eve. Enter your email address and we will send you a link to reset your password. Your family. Good works flow from saving faith as their source and give proof of genuine faith (Eph. No wonder we jump from one job to another and from one relationship to another. God gave his one and only Son as the sacrifice for our sins. In November of 1994, Scott and Janet Willis, along with their six children, were traveling in their minivan from their home on the south side of Chicago to Milwaukee on Interstate 94. And all our striving after career goals, worldly success, financial independence, and even our jumping from one relationship to another, those things are but symptoms of our deeper need to find our place in the universe. As it is difficult to directly translate into English because it has many meanings, we must look at the context here. We live in a world that is far from God and all of us are going to die. The order is crucial: first the man, then the offering. Neither type of faith brought forth fruit to maturity. Our calling is to seek Him. The writer of Hebrews is expanding what he previously taught in verse 6: The truth is that God is not responsible for many of those things, fallen man is. They knew what death was because they had seen it in the animals, but when the first man died, all of the others knew this is what will happen to me! The roll call of the saints of the Old Testament would have been well known to the congregation. As they burned him at the stake, he died singing! So a life of faith means a life in which we base our whole hopes on Him and on His promises. Having trouble logging into your account? 2. This is confirmed by a prophecy given by Enoch, that is quoted and preserved for us in the New Testament. Faith does allow us to overcome the struggles we face in life. This is the power of a godly example. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. How did they know to bring an offering to God? Hebrews 11 demonstrates that the life of faith is not a rarity. the word for substance is the Greek word hypostasis which is hard for us to directly define. Habakkuk lived in difficult times before the Babylonians came to take away Judah into captivity. In ancient times the Jews considered Abraham to be almost worthy of their worship. Enoch knew that the judgment of God was coming soon. Our Savior broke the power of death when He rose from the grave. In 1860 the motto "In God We Trust" was added to our currency. God is the great peace-maker: when we make peace we are walking with Him. (Hebrews 11:1-3) God spoke the universe into existence. Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. This is also the case here as it says the evidence of things not seen. So faith has the idea of what would normally be considered impossible, possible. For them it was all about the faith. I often wonder if I would be a Christian if I hadn't been born in a Christina home, reared by Christian parents, lived next to a Christian church, surrounded by Christian people. Robert Rayburn expresses this very directly: Think of what must be believed in order to become a Christian. these people were heroes. Today we come to the story of Enoch, where we learn that faith walks with God. 2335 Presidential Drive, Suite 114 . It is reflected in their giving, their truth-telling, their church attendance, their integrity. 3 Tests Of Plagiarism: Do Your Sermons Pass Them. THE FEEDING OF FAITH: You are not born with faith as you need to have it. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened (Matt 7:7-8). By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. Being unconditionally certain that it's true requires faith. ( Hebrews 11:1) A definition of faith. This runs through the whole chapter with one exception. Other Scriptures Referenced: Acts 17, John 20. . It refers to the repeated phrase, then God said (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). Some of you who are younger are trying to figure out if you will follow Jesus. On the other hand, to deceive someone under the guise of love is to deny truth. What is faith? ii. This was Gods provision for multiplying the human population in its earliest generations. If we are going to follow Jesus, we must do the same. And it is Gods approval that counts, since He is the judge of the living and the dead! For the believer in Jesus, death is a transition from this life to the next. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has put eternity inside every human heart. Hebrews, Chapter 11, and Verse 1. We think it's easy to believe and easy to keep believing, but it's not - not for most of us. And I will let you in on the secret of when it will happen: When your son dies, the judgment will come., Pink asks this question: What effect would such a revelation have on you? By faith Moses gained Gods approval, even though he received the worlds scorn. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah (Gen 5:21 22). (2) Faith enabled people in the past to overcome. The French philosopher Pascal said that there is a "God-shaped vacuum" inside every human heart. Greear. But God is full of grace and mercy and soon after the death of Adam, God gave a wonderful sign that deaths power would be broken. Ha! And Hebrews here makes this abundantly clear. So it is. Two seemingly paradoxical things are true of faith: On the one hand, it is our responsibility to believe the gospel, because God commands us to believe (Mark 1:15). It will sustain you in the trials that you face right now! It is also the power of a godly husband and father. He is one of only two people in the Bible who did not die - the other being Elijah. That's the power of a godly leader. 4 By faith Abel offered to God. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him (Jude 14-15). And only God can give me what I need. Faith proves or gives evidence for the things that we cannot see, thus giving us a conviction that these unseen things are true. On the other hand, sinners are unable to believe because of spiritual blindness (2 Cor. Perhaps that's what happened to Enoch. Joseph Parker says, The fifth chapter of Genesis is the beginning of that long series of characters in human history which are extremely uninteresting. It seems that the responsibility of being a father caused Enoch to feel that he needed God in a way that he had not felt before. The flood came in the 600th year of Noahs life and if you compare that with the long years of Methuselahs life, you will see that God sent the flood in the year that Methuselah died. You will always be on guard. It punctured the van's gas tank and set off an explosion that ripped a hole through the backseat floor. He wants them to become imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (6:12). All have to cross the river. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. Follow Us Online. But over time Adam became weaker. You are at peace in the presence of God, because you have nothing to hide from Him. Either way, it is Christ who will take us up, and we will be at home with Him. 4:4). The eternal God brought physical matter and time into being by His powerful word alone! Moses asked the Lord, What is your name? And God said, I am that I am (Ex 3:14). 3:14) as subjective, hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. But the respected Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (ibid., VII:587) argues that it does not refer there to subjective assurance, which rests within us, but to the objective reality of the faith. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God (Hebrews 6:1) When we learn to depend on God's work in us, we learn to be perfectly peaceful, calm, undisturbed by . 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