", The next point proved is the indisputable superiority of the Melchisedec priesthood to that of Aaron, of which the Jews naturally boasted. Accordingly we have a remarkable line of blessing pursued for our instruction here. When he was still a child, Thermouthis took him to Pharaoh and told him how she had found him. (1.) Jephthah was an illegitimate son; he was driven into a kind of exile and into the life of an outlaw; but when the Ammonites were putting Israel into fear, the forgotten outlaw was called back and won a tremendous victory, although his vow to God cost him the life of his daughter. In other words, the example speaks to us today of Abel, who offered his sacrifice to God through faith. I may, of course, see what is before my eyes, and. I. God will keep His word. This proves that the city of the heavenly Jerusalem does not mean the church, because here they are certainly distinguished from each other, which therefore completely settles all the argument that is often founded on Abraham's looking for a heavenly city. 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. Attention is drawn to the permanence of His position at the right hand of God. For, [1.] Was Isaac his only son? He saw his error at last, and put his seal on God's original appointment of the matter. He did refuse. Thus the only time when he comes into notice he is acting in the double capacity here spoken of: King of righteousness as to his name, King of Salem as to his place, blessing Abraham on his return from the victory over the kings of the Gentiles in the name of the Most High God, and blessing the Most High God the possessor of heaven earth in the name of Abraham. In the isolation of his splendid strength again and again he faced the most amazing odds and emerged triumphant. If it was rejected, it was because sin lies at your door." By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." The exercise of Abraham's faith: he yielded an implicit regard to the call of God. The foundation is sacrifice; the Power is of the Holy Ghost. I build my faith on that.". Observe. True faith will show itself in good works, especially towards the people of God. We have another instance of the faith of Moses, namely, in forsaking Egypt: and all its power and pleasures, and undertook the conduct of Israel out of it. Isaac, trusting God to fulfill His promises to Abraham and his descendants, pronounced blessings on his own two sons Jacob and Esau regarding their future. (3.) Hebrews 10:19-22. In this place we are told that he obtained by his faith some special advantages; as, (1.) (iv) There came the day when Moses had to make all the arrangements for the first Passover. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." The method prescribed seemed very improbable to answer such an end, and would doubtless expose them to the daily contempt of their enemies; the ark of God would seem to be in danger. Moses knew well that God does not summon his servants to a great task and leave it at that; he goes with them every step of the way. Legend had it that down in Egypt Jeremiah was stoned to death by his fellow-countrymen. They had begun and it never struck them to turn back. So he died, declaring: "I am dying by fiery torments for the law's sake.". He, like Abraham, Isaac, and his father, Jacob, was also a man of great faith. Cain tilled the ground and brought to God an offering of the fruits of the ground; Abel was a flock-master and brought to God an offering from his flocks. Maybe I don't want to do what He's got in mind when we get down the road. Christianity. The first is the story of Eleazar, the aged priest ( 4Ma_5:1-38 ; 4Ma_6:1-35 ; 4Ma_7:1-23 ). 4. It was by faith that he carried out the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroying angel might not touch the children of his people. Genesis 28:1-4; Genesis 47:29-31; Genesis 49:1; Genesis 50:24-25). She answered: "Your father, Terah." By faith we may see this invisible God. God, give us that kind of wisdom that in our choices we will take eternity into view. At that moment Moses might have gone on but his people were not ready. Though they had not received the promises, yet. When it was that the faith of Joseph acted after this manner; namely, as in the case of Jacob, when he was dying. No doubt that is true; but, if we want to see this story at its greatest and as the writer to the Hebrews saw it, we must take it at its face value. 4. (4.) He emptied that part of hell. We see by faith what cannot be seen by our eyes; we grasp by faith what cannot be grasped with our hands. And then, in the centre of all, we have God Himself. Many legends gathered around his name. There is a story of two children who had been given a toy Noah's Ark as a present. Who was this One? 3. That though he had lived and died in Egypt, yet he did not live and die an Egyptian, but an Israelite. He contrived the model; he accordingly made it, and he has laid open a new and living way into it, and prepared it for his people; he puts them into possession of it, prefers them in it, and is himself the substance and felicity of it. Christianity is stamped by this, that, in virtue of the blood of Christ, once for all for every believer the way is made manifest into the holiest of all. He must believe that God is, and that he is what he is, what he has revealed himself to be in the scripture, a Being of infinite perfections, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. One day Abel was asleep upon a mountain; and Cain came upon him and took a stone and crushed his head. See on 1 Timothy 6:14. The account is in Exodus 12:12-48. It was Cain who introduced murder into the world. When a man leaves this world, he leaves something in it. But this shows the main object of the Spirit of God in directing us for the type that applies to the believer now to an unsettled pilgrim-condition, not to Israel established in the land of promise. Moffatt finely comments: "Death is never the last word in the life of a righteous man." "Take now thy son, thine only son," God said. is one of several phrases in N.T. Scripture Hebrews 11 Sort Bible Verse Sermon The Danger of Dull Hearing Apr 10, 1988 Scripture: Hebrews John Piper Sermon What Faith Knows and Hopes For Jun 1, 1997 Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3 John Piper Sermon Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please God Jun 8, 1997 Scripture: Hebrews 11:4-6 John Piper Conference Message ; for they were whipped with rods and their bodies were torn to pieces; they were crucified while they were still alive and breathed; they also strangled those women and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had appointed, hanging their sons about their necks as if they were upon their crosses. Faith has a clear and a strong eye, and can see promised mercies at a great distance. The great artist or composer is driven by the thought of the performance he has never yet given and the wonder he has never yet produced. (ii) Abraham's faith was the faith which had patience. As it was God's will and the work of Christ, so the Holy Ghost is He who witnesses to the perfectness of it. God doesn't always deliver those who believe and trust in Him. When we come to it straight from God's presence, no task can ever defeat us. Observe, [1.] the apostle having given us a classis of many eminent believers, whose names are mentioned and the particular trials and actings of their faith recorded, now concludes his narrative with a more summary account of another set of believers, where the particular acts are not ascribed to particular persons by name, but left to be applied by those who The next instance is the faith of Rahab, Hebrews 11:31. As the proof of this, God has prepared for them a city, a happiness suitable to the relation into which he has taken them. I'm looking for my dwelling with God in His eternal kingdom. He knew that they weren't going to be in Egypt forever. One day Abraham was left in charge of the shop. Consequently, when He comes again to them that look for Him, it is simply to bring them into all the eternal results of that great salvation. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about for seven days ( Hebrews 11:30 ). They are imprisoned, thrown to the lions, crucified, burned." FAITH AND ITS SECRET ( Hebrews 11:23-29 ). We do see by faith. 2. The product of his faith: He forsook Egypt, and all its power and pleasures, and undertook the conduct of Israel out of it. (ii) Abraham is the pattern of the man who accepts what he cannot understand. And their relation to their leaders he puts forward in various forms. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said that if a man comes to the altar and realizes that his brother has ought against him, he ought to first go to his brother and reconcile their differences and then come and offer your gift unto the Lord ( Matthew 5:23-24 ). THE FAITH WHICH DEFEATS DEATH ( Hebrews 11:20-22 ). When our fighting instincts say: "Go on," it takes a big and a brave man to wait. Here, too, he begins to introduce what a. priest does, that is, the exercise of his functions. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. "Now of the things that are being spoken of this is a summary: We have such an high priest, who is set down on [the] right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the holies, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." It is true, He does not always call at once into the place of reproach and suffering. It is not the hope which looks forward with wistful longing; it is the hope which looks forward with utter conviction. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. There remains, therefore, a sabbath-keeping for the people of God. He sacked the Temple. They had time enough to return. You may give yourself over to indulgence. Man never did nor could settle it without the word of God. Hereby himself and his house were saved, when a whole world of sinners were perishing about them. It is our duty to be reasoning down our doubts and fears, by the consideration of the almighty power of God. Arranged all beforehand, neither Isaac's partiality nor Jacob's deceit was able to divert the channel. Share Embed Download Donate . The actings of his faith: He blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. For, before this change came to him it was testified that he pleased God. (1. Joseph's coffin, the Jews say h, was put into the river Nile; and so says Patricides i, an Arabic writer: others say it was in the buryingplace of the kings, until it was taken up and removed by Moses. They were to leave the dead to bury their dead; and they did so. This inheritance is not immediately possessed by them; they must wait some time for it: but the promise is sure, and shall have its seasonable accomplishment. That is why, at least in one sense, it is dangerous to be a Christian. "The officers, impatient at the man's boldness, dislocated his hands and feet with racking engines and wrenching them from their sockets, pulled his limbs asunder. If you say," For where a covenant is, there must also of necessity be the death of the covenanter" the person. (3.) Through faith he kept the passover ( Hebrews 11:28 ). He lived in tents. As the result of enduring the cross, having despised the shame, the word for sitting down here has a remarkably beautiful shade of meaning different from what is given in all the other occurrences. This is not so much a definition of faith as it is the declaration of what faith does. Hence throughout this epistle the utmost stress is laid on His being exalted in heaven Yet there was no excuse for a difficulty on this score. Force and violence had not yet been used. Have enough faith and you can drive any kind of car you want or live in any kind of home you want if you just have enough faith." Now the tone becomes bolder with them, and shows clearly that the Jew had but an empty form, a foreshadow of value once, but now superseded by the true antitype in the heavens. She was delivered of a child, a man-child, a child of the promise, and comfort of his parents' advanced years, and the hope of future ages. He only removes obstructions, and maintains our communion with Himself; surely this ought to settle every question for the believer. The writer to the Hebrews is here seeking to inspire new courage and a new sense of responsibility by making his hearers remember their past. The eternal reward of living for Him so far outweighs any temporal advantage that I might have in living after the flesh. The consideration of this should inflame the affections, enlarge the desires, and excite the diligent endeavours, of the people of God after this city that he has prepared for them. (ii) The second story the writer to the Hebrews takes is that of Rahab. In this faith of Moses's parents there was a mixture of unbelief, but God was pleased to overlook it. [2.] The word is used of the Jews when they were captives in Babylon and in Egypt. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest." [2.] But when the light broke he ran out crying, "Now I know! He had to wander in it, a stranger and a tent-dweller, as the people were some day to wander in the wilderness. 2. One of the finest men who ever lived in Athens was Aristides, who was called "the just." By faith, then, Jacob himself blessed his sons and the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. Thus the power of what Christ had wrought was now brought in for future ends; it was not merely retrospective, but above all in present efficacy while the Jews refuse Christ. The reason for the success of his salvation - his ability to deal with both our outward sins and our inward condition - is that he lives forever with power to save. The legends tell how Abraham was the son of Terah, commander of the armies of Nimrod. it was: "God give you of the dew of heaven. Hebrews 10:32-39 . "Nimrod," said his mother. This his right of inheritance was through faith in Christ, as a member of Christ, a child of God, and, if a child, then an heir. It is not only that we believe it, but we understand it thereby. It is quite evident, on the contrary, that this is not only not the truth which all recognize when stated, but altogether inconsistent with the Bible, with all books, and with all experience. Some must hazard their own lives to preserve their children, and they were resolved to do it; they knew the king's commandment was evil in itself, contrary to the laws of God and nature, and therefore of no authority nor obligation. If people have faith, it means they believe that things hoped for according to God's promises will be achieved and that unseen powers of God are real. The sting is gone. 2. "So he was going on sheer faith in the word of God, "Through Isaac shall thy seed be called." Though believers are chiefly concerned for their souls, yet they cannot wholly neglect their bodies, as being members of Christ and parts of themselves, which shall at length be raised up, and be the happy companions of their glorified souls to all eternity. A woman's weakness had become strength to save her country. In the beginning ofHebrews 11:1-40; Hebrews 11:1-40 we are told what faith is. ", But now, returning from this striking instance of Paul's habit of going off at a word ( ), let us resume the regular course of the apostle's argument. The taking of Jericho was the result of an act of faith. God meant to have His will done, and thereby a people for Himself capable of enjoying His presence and His nature, where no question of sin or fall could ever enter. Thus it will prove a land-mark to direct their course, a load-stone to draw their hearts, a sword to conquer their enemies, a spur to quicken them to duty, and a cordial to refresh them under all the difficulties of doing and suffering work. Observe, [1.] He had to pay an alien tax. She had gone out of the way of her duty through unbelief, in putting Abraham upon taking Hagar to his bed, that he might have a posterity. (iii) The Christian hope is belief in the future against the present. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." God usually warns sinners before he strikes; and, where his warnings are slighted, the blow will fall the heavier. Observe the due regard that Abraham had to this heavenly city: he looked for it; he believed there was such a state; he waited for it, and in the mean time he conversed in it by faith; he had exalted and rejoicing hopes, that in God's time and way he should be brought safely to it. (Compare Acts 15:22.) The hill of Zion up to this time had been the constant menace of the enemy against the people of the Lord; but in due time, when David reigned, it was wrested out of the hands of the Jebusites, and became the stronghold of Jerusalem, the city of the king. The call of Abraham is told with dramatic simplicity in Genesis 12:1. Above all, let them take care that they be not a shame and reproach to their God, and so provoke him to be ashamed of them; but let them act so as to be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. For I know that as long as I am living in this body, I am absent from the Lord; but I would choose rather to be absent from this body, and to be present with the Lord. It is not seniority of birth, but grace, that makes men truly honourable. God's summons meant that he had to leave home and family and business; yet he went. Thus, before he enters on the subject of the sacrifices at length, he takes notice of the covenants, and thence he draws a conclusion from the well-known prophecy in Jeremiah, where God declares that the days were coming when He would make a new covenant. To Abraham God's promise never came fully true; and yet he never abandoned his faith. Yet Rahab believed and staked her whole future on the belief--that God would make the impossible possible. But he withstood their tortures and died faithful. Hence, in Hebrews 8:1-13, the apostle draws his conclusion. But he did not mean what so many people think he meant. I know He is able.May the Lord be with you and strengthen you and bless you and keep you in all your ways as you walk in fellowship with Him. Second, to see the abode of the wicked so that he might know what the punishment of the evil was like. [4.] NL. and so; in consequence of his remembering the prophecy of the exodus. The expression used for stopping the mouths of lions is that used of Daniel in Daniel 6:18; Daniel 6:23. 11:8-10 It was by faith that Abraham, when he was caned, showed his obedience by going out to a place which he was going to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was to go. Isaiah 53 , "numbered with the transgressors in His death." As to the pathway through the wilderness, it had been disposed of inHebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 4:1-16. This was a final call; and how gracious! The millennial day will see this. The Jews themselves acknowledge that Psalms 110:1-7 must be fulfilled in Christ, in His quality of Messiah. To some extent this story has fallen into disrepute. It was a testimony of his righteousness. The favourite thought is "development;" and so they hold a development or genesis of matter, not a creation: matter continually progressing, in various forms, until at last it has progressed into these wise men of our day. 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