By Faith (Hebrews 11:1-7, Hebrews 11:39-40, Habakkuk 2:1-5)
Rev. William L. Barron, January 30, 2022Part of the Morning Worship at North Greenville Church series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Hope in the Bible is what God has declared but has not yet happened. We trust that these declarations will happen. We accept by faith that God was the agent of creation. God spoke, and it was. There is only one truth, and that is the Word of God. God answered Job's challenge by asking Job where he was when God spoke creation into being. Creation proclaims God's glory, and we need to proclaim His glory also. Concerning Abel and Cain, the difference between blessing and condemnation was not the sacrifice; it was the difference in the heart of the man who made the sacrifice. Enoch walked with God from earthly life directly into heaven. He was a real person; he lived for 365 years and was a father. By his walk with God, the scriptures indicate that he avoided death. The lesson is that our walk is very important. We must spend time together walking with God. All of the ancient cultures referenced Noah and his family as the survivors of the flood and the father of the nations. His relationship with God is the key to Noah's role in history. Noah trusted that God would provide for him, even in what was thought to be an absurd prophecy by society--rain, let alone a flood that would cover the earth. Noah was a herald of righteousness in the face of judgment upon wickedness. The ark was a picture of salvation, connected with trust. It is a foreshadowing of something better--the substitutionary atonement purchased for us by Jesus Christ. We have a message for a watching world; bearing witness to the truth of salvation. Our light must shine before the world. Mere vain self-improvement is not the way of the cross.
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « Deception And Aquittal | None | Obedience Is Faith's Daughter » |
Hebrews 11:1–7 (Listen)
11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 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. 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
(ESV)
Hebrews 11:39–40 (Listen)
39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
(ESV)
Habakkuk 2:1–5 (Listen)
2:1 I will take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
2 And the LORD answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
5 “Moreover, wine is a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.”
(ESV)