Monday, 10 November 2008

• “The Great Adventure”

  Hebrews 11:1-39

   

  A man fell off a cliff but managed to grab a small branch sticking out from the side of the cliff. He shouts, “Is anyone up there?” “I am here, I am the Lord. Do you believe in me?” came the reply. “Yes, Lord I believe. I really believe, but I can’t hold on much longer.” “Don’t worry, I will save you, just let go of the branch.” A pause, then the man shouts, “Is their anyone else up there?”
  
  Hebrews chapter 11 is one of the classic passages of the New Testament.  The reason is not so much that its poetic language is equal to that of 1 Corinthians 13 or its impact as powerful as Romans 8, rather its sheer weight of witness and its dynamic and unforgettable definition of faith penetrate the very core of the Christians’ heart.

   

  This chapter cannot be separated from the chapter before it; our faith is based upon the perfect and sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  It is that sacrifice, completed once for all time and for all people, “Jesus died for all of humanity, from the first to the last”,  which opens for us a way into the very presence of God in whose presence we can come with Holy Ghost boldness, free from all fear of our mortal condition for the blood covers all and our sins are cast as far as the East is from the West, we come utterly confident of the forgiveness of God to meet with our God in the Holy of Holies.  The same God of love who has made the sacrifice for us also disciplines and brings us into perfect maturity in Christ by His own design and grace.

   

  As this great chapter closes, however, our author is talking about persecution as one of the outcomes of a life of faith.   Not all the examples he uses in the Great Hall of Faith (not fame, but Faith, Faith, Faith) are of victory and spiritual success.  True, some of those mentioned conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, quenched raging fires, stopped the mouths of lions, escaped the edge of the sword, and become valiant in battle.   Others had trails of mocking and scourging, chains and imprisonment, they were stoned, sawed in two, slain with the sword.  They were destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered over deserts and lived in caves and dens of earth.  Yet, because of their faith, they shine as those who have fought the good fight, finished the course and have kept the faith....  How did they do it?  BY FAITH, BY FAITH, BY FAITH.   

   

  We here this echo throughout the halls of history as might men and women of faith have carried the torch of Faith and have driven their stakes into the promises that their God gave to them as their inheritance.   

   

  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” verse 1-2

   

  estin de pistiV elpizomenwn upostasiV, pragmatwn elegcoV ou blepomenwn. en tauth gar emarturhqhsan oi presbuteroi

   

  The Greek word here gives the sense of something foundational, basic, a concrete reality upon which others things are built.  The root of the word Faith means the place, setting, a standing pillar, that upon which other stones are placed.   The prefix found here means “under” or “below.” Together the result signifies something solidly foundational, concrete in reality, something assured.   Thus faith is defined by our author is not an imaginary product of the mind fabricated out of its own philosophical needs or rationalistic dreams, but that which if firm, solid, of real existence.   Faith is the solid certainty of that for which we hope, based upon reality and solid existence.  --- “Consequently, Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

   

  This is illustrated in the life of the missionary Hudson Taylor. “When Hudson Taylor, the famous missionary, first went to China, it was in a sailing vessel. Very close to the shore of cannibal islands the ship was caught in a calm., and it was slowly drifting toward the shore …and the savages were eagerly anticipating a feast. The captain came to Mr. Taylor and sought him to pray for the help of God. ‘I will,’ said Taylor, ‘provided you set your sails to catch the breeze.’ The Captain declined to make himself a laughing stock by unfurling the sails in a dead calm. Taylor said, ‘I will not undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails.’ And it was done. While engaged in prayer, there was a knock at the door of his stateroom. “Who is there?” The captains voice responded, ‘Are your still praying for wind?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well,’ said the captain ‘you better stop praying for we have more wind than we can manage.’”

   

  The Greek phrase pragmatos elegchos is translated as: “evidence, conviction, assurance, confidence.”  What these two Greek words do here as they are combined is make a statement that Faith is based upon that which is tested and is crucial.  And what is it that is unseen but is yet tested and important, is it not the power of God working through His people in all the events of History, which from time to time experiences His mighty Acts...  This power may be unseen for awhile, perhaps, but we come to know it as ultimate and crucial, dependable, solid, foundational.  Our faith does not create reality but is based upon the Reality of God’s word and His personage.  It is by this faith, seen in history in the lives of the faithful prophets and believers that God has brought the miracles to bear upon nations and their history -- Let us look at those whose names are found in the Great Hall of Faith....  Let us look to those who planted their stakes and claimed the promises of God.

   

  Another story of a captain of a ship illustrates this point. “The story is told by the captain of a ship on which George Mueller of Bristol was traveling. (Mueller was a man who had several children’s homes and depended on God alone to provide for them.) During his lifetime he received more than 1,000,000 pounds from the Lord without advertising – every penny came as an answer to prayer. We had George Mueller of Bristol aboard, said the captain. ‘I had been on the bridge for twenty-four hours and never left it and George Mueller came to me and said, ‘Captain, I have come to tell you that you must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.’ ‘It is impossible.’ I said. ‘Then very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.’ ‘I looked at that man of God and thought to myself. What lunatic asylum can that man have come from, for I never heard of such a thing as this?’ ‘Mr. Mueller,’ I said, ‘do you know how dense this fog is?’ No he replied, ‘my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.’ He knelt down and he prayed one of the simplest prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ‘As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.’ ‘I looked at him and George Mueller said, ‘Captain, I have known the Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door and you will find the fog has gone.’ ‘I got up and the fog indeed was gone and on that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement.”
  
  

  Abel and Enoch - Faith Caused Abel to Worship God (v. 4) and Faith Caused Enoch to Walk with God (vv. 5-6) Abel and Enoch, pleased God by their Faithful relationship to their God.  Abel pleased God due to his faithfulness; it was the quality of the Heart that pants after his God.  Enoch - His “walk with God” must have been one of sensitivity to the mind of God.  As I have thought this I wondered if this comes have happen:  Enoch walked God one day and as the day came to an end and Enoch said, “My God I must go home for it going to be dark.”  And God responded, “Enoch come to my house and stay, for it is always daytime and I desire to fellowship with you.”  So Enoch went to the Lord’s house and continues to this day, for darkness never falls in the presence of our God.

   

  Noah, Abraham and Sarah - three examples of obedience that rise out of faith.  Here again he shows the inseparability of faith and obedience.  In this he concurs with the other New Testament writers:  There is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.    Noah, Abraham and Sarah all exhibited obedience as a result of their faith.  Moreover all were characterized by an obedience that went beyond common sense. 

   

  Noah - Faith Caused Noah to Work for God (v. 7) in faith, received a divine revelation, heeded it, and built an ark, against all common sense and normal reason.  A large field behind your home, building an Ship that could not be transported to water due to its size.  When you did this, all your friends and neighbors begin to ridicule you, “Hey, what are you doing -- building a boat?  How are you going to get it in the water? -- But when the water came...

   

  Abraham, too in faith, obeyed.  His motivation was simple, he believed God when He said, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”  Abraham went, yet he did not have the slightest idea where he was going.  It was against all common sense to leave the place of familiarity, the land and people that he had known for all his life and go to a place that was unknown.  When he reached his destination, he lived as a wanderer, not an owner or possessor, in tents of temporary nature.  By faith he looked into the future toward a city whose building had foundations of stones, a symbol of the promise of God, in comparison to tents.  He foresaw the builder and maker of that city would be God.  He believed --- and so was counted as righteous.

   

  Sarah -- received the message that she would going to have a child.  At first she laughed, “Imagine, I who am called barren,  I am going to have a baby!  I guess the messenger doesn’t know my female condition or doesn’t understand about having babies.  Oh, these men!”  However, the messengers persisted in their promises with and intensity and honesty that put aside all flippancy or doubt.  She yielded and a wave of belief swept over her whole being.  “I am going to have a baby!”  By that faith she received the power to conceive and she bore the promised child.  At her age, to have a child was against all common sense.  The promise came through obedient faith.

   

  “Do not harden your hearts as your fathers disobeyed by lack of belief.”

   

  Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and his parents, the followers of Joshua and Rehab, was all faithful to the promise.

   

  All those who I just mentioned were people who were faithful even though they never saw the promise completed in their lifetimes; they placed their stake into the promise of God and kept on running... In each case they died without having received what had been promised to them, they saw it afar off, they died running and believing...  The Greek verb here carries the notion of not having the promise in one’s possession or pocket, as it were.  As people of faith, however, they could see this promise afar off and were assured of it, embracing the vision of faith to their hearts, realizing they were merely pilgrims and strangers in the here and now.    They were the heritage of the Church; they were the examples for the Church to see. 

   

  Each of these mentioned looked into the future with eyes of faith and had some glimpse of the promise God had for them and for their children.  They were unwilling to satisfy themselves with the short-term advantages that would have denied the long-term fulfillment’s (sin).  They did not jeopardize a future generation’s promises by craving immediate satisfaction of their desires.  They left the promise intact for those who came after - they were a people of integrity and honor before their God.  They realized what would happen if they broke their integrity as so many others have... Remember Samson, Saul, David and Solomon.

   

  Rehab - believed that God would spare her, became a part of the bloodline of Jesus.  “I know that the Lord has given you the land..... The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath” -- Joshua 2:9, 11

   

  WHAT MORE SHALL I SAY.....  Gideon, Barak, Samson, David, Samuel, Daniel, Elijah, Elisha, Peter, John, Paul, Marten Luther, John Calvin, John Wycliff, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, Charles Finney, Charles Sprugon, Billy Sunday, Dwight Moody, Lillian Trasher, Adonian Judson, Hudson Taylor, and the many more who live a  life of Faith.   

                

  What about the early church who endured nine Imperial Persecutions.  These latter Christians died without having possessed the promise.  In spite of their empty-handiness, they persevered in faith, knowing that their reward was in heaven.  They are our heritage.

   

  “The three year old felt secure in his father’s arms as dad stood in the middle of the pool. But dad, for fun, began walking slowly toward the deep end, gently chanting, ‘Deeper and deeper and deeper,’ as the water rose higher and higher on the child. The lad’s face registered increasing degrees of panic and held all the more tightly to his father, who of course, easily touched the bottom. Had the little boy been able to analyze his situation, he’d have realized there was no reason for increased anxiety. The water’s depth in any part of the pool was over his head. Even in the shallowest part, had he not been held up, he would have drowned. His safety anywhere in the pool depended on Dad.
  
  

  At various points in our lives, all of us feel we are getting out of our depth – problems abound, a job lost, someone dies. Our temptation is to panic, for we fell – we’ve lost control. Yet, as with the child in the pool, the truth is we’ve never been in control over the most valuable things of life. We’ve always been held up by the grace of God, our Father, that does not change. God is never out of His depth and therefore we’re as safe when we’re ‘going deeper’ as we have ever been.”

  
  Perhaps God wants to move you ‘deeper’ than ever before. It is faith that will give you confidence and conviction to worshiped God faithfully as Abel had, walked with God faithfully as Enoch and to work for God faithfully as Noah did.

   

  Steven Curtis Chapman has a song called, “The Great Adventure”. The first line goes, “Saddle up your horses, we’ve got a trail to blaze; through the wild blue yonder of God’s amazing grace.”
  

   

  LOVE you so MUCH!

   

  pastor 

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