LIVING BY FAITH
HEBREWS 11
13 These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth.

• Neither Abraham, Isaac or Jacob possessed the Promised Land to this day.
• The Jews are now back in the land… but they do not possess the land.
• They trusted God’s promise and knew they would one day have to be resurrected.

14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

• Seeking new Jerusalem.
• Dr. George Morrison, a great Scottish preacher, once said, “The important thing is not what we live in, but what we look for.”[1]

15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

• They were willing to die to wait for the promise of God.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son, 18 the one to whom it had been said, Your offspring will be traced through Isaac., 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead; therefore, he received him back, figuratively speaking.

• The patriarchs believed in resurrection.
• Abraham knew for God’s promise to be fulfilled that God would have to resurrect Isaac if Abraham killed him.
• This should not be surprising from God because it was a foreshadowing of what He did with His Son for us.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

• We not only live victoriously but we can die victoriously.
• Isaac eventually honored the blessing of Jacob over Esau.
• Isaac knew the blessing to Jacob was irrevocable.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

• Jacob gave blessings to Ephraim & Manasseh.
• These blessings were not received until Joshua lead them into the Promised Land so these blessings were made in faith.

22 By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.

• Joseph lived most of his life in Egypt when he was sold into slavery by his brothers.
• He desired for his bones to be buried in Canaan (the Promised Land).
• This desire was made in faith because they were not in Canaan yet.

23 By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict.

• Beautiful because his parents recognized that he was going to be used by God.
• It was this recognition that caused them to risk their own lives.
• King’s Edict: All Jewish boys were to be killed.
• Moses was sovereignly retrieved from the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin.

• Moses clung to his parent’s faith.
• He opted for eternal rewards rather than lavish temporary rewards.
• Remember that the Hebrew author is trying to convince the people to not return to what would seem easier for them.

26 For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward.

• Symbolic to Jesus taking on humanity for the greater reward of saving the chosen in Christ.
• By acting in faith we obtain wisdom.
• Taking the easy road is not walking by faith.
• Walking by faith tells an adventuresome story.

27 By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible.

• Moses stayed the course of pursuing God & His promises even when the people rejected Moses and wanted to return to Egypt.
• 40 years of grumbling.

28 By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. 29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as though they were on dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do this, they were drowned.

• It was faith that caused Moses to start the Passover and cross the Red Sea.
• Interesting that the writer focuses on Moses faith rather than him receiving and obeying the Law.
• Another way the writer was encouraging them not to return to the sacrificial system.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being marched around by the Israelites for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed.

• Jerico was in the Promised Land.
• The writer skips the wilderness history because there was little faith during that period.
• Rahab assisted the Hebrew spies because she had heard about the mighty God of the Jews.
• She mothered Boaz who grandfathered David.
• Rahab, once a harlot, became King David’s great grandmother.

32 And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon (destroyed thousands of Midianites with only 300 men), Barak (destroyed the army of King Jabin including his commander), Samson (defeated the Philistines), Jephthah (delivered his people from the Ammonites), David (the only king mentioned here, was a mighty warrior who defeated many including Goliath), Samuel (a godly man who was the last OT judge, also a prophet who anointed Saul & David), and the prophets (all had character flaws but not mentioned here because there stories were triumphs of faith over the enemy), 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

• If you walk by faith, you will suffer for your faith.
• The more you become intimate with your Father, the more you walk by faith and do things differently from the world.
• You will stand out in the world.
• If we don’t stand out in this fallen world then most likely it is because we never got to know the heart of our God.

35 Women received their dead, raised to life again. Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

• When we receive our heavenly bodies

36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned,, they were sawed in two (tradition says this is how Isaiah died), they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. 38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

• Whether a believer dies by his enemies’ hands or is supernaturally delivered, faith is victorious over death.
• Wake up! Don’t go back to the old system.
• Live the adventure
• Yes! There will be pain & suffering.
• You won’t be the first ones to go through it!
• But we are not in this alone.
• You’ve had a cakewalk compared to the others in the past.
• Walk on… exercise your faith!

39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.[2]

• Pre-cross vs post-cross.
• Give me post-cross any day and every day!

Post-cross… we have been perfected!

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 319). Victor Books.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Heb 11:13–40). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.

• This is a summary of what has already been written.
• Wash, rinse & repeat!

THE PERFECT SACRIFICE
HEBREWS 10
1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.

• Shadow – outlines an object.
• They all knew something better was to come.
• What was to come? Jesus
• Good things to come – Jesus’ life, fulfilling the Law, death and His resurrection.
• Colossians 2:17 - These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ.
• Colossians 2:20-23 - If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self(fleshly)-indulgence.[1]
• No one wants religion.
• They want the real person.
• Perfect – reach an end, finished or complete.
• What keeps us from God now? Our sin.
• Totally perfect in our person to access God.
• We have been made perfect and have access.

2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

• It never happened in the Old Covenant.
• This is where the battle happens today.
• The evil one accuses us and reminds of our sin.
• He even prompts us to work on our sin… the devil.
• Christ said, “It is finished.”
• We are to live our lives consciously free of sin.
• What does repentance look like?

 
3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

• Sins were not forgiven… only atoned… covered.
• Impossible!
• Bull blood for the High Priest (Lev 16:11)
• Goat blood for the people (Lev 16:15)
• Jeremiah 31:33 - “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put my teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their iniquity and never again remember their sin. [2]

5 Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said:

• (Psalm 40:6-8)

You did not desire sacrifice and offering,
but you prepared a body for me.
6 You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings.
7 Then I said, “See-- it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, God.”
8 After he says above, You did not desire or delight in sacrifices and offerings, whole burnt offerings and sin offerings (which are offered according to the law), 9 he then says, See, I have come to do your will.

• Sacrifices and offerings did not accomplish forgiveness.
• Prepared a body – Jesus, God’s son lived in the body.
• Jesus chose through faith to do His Father’s will and died for the sin of man.

He takes away the first to establish the second.

• God did not take away the Law… for the unredeemed.
• But it is taken away from the redeemed.
• The Old Covenant animal sacrifices were done away with when Jesus died for the New Covenant to be ushered in.
• The Old Covenant is now null and void.
• Review the circumstances the Hebrew Christians are under in their choice.
• Persecution or going back to the Old Covenant.
• Legalism or freedom?

10 By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.

• Sanctified – to be made holy, set apart, made a saint.
• Not just declared to someday attain when we die.
• Not positional – we are holy but not holy.
• Sanctified in the Greek is in the perfect tense which communicates past completed action with a resulting state of being.
• We have been made forever holy.
• You can never be more holy than you are right now.
• It is not your behavior that makes you holy.
• It is only Jesus.

11 Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins.

• This was a lot of daily work for the priests.
• Constantly on their feet.

12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

• We are a forgiven people.
• We live in a state of forgiveness.
• All sin forever… all sin for mankind.
• It is through faith & repentance that one receives this forgiveness made available to all.

13 He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.

• Even though they have already been defeated at the cross… the footstool is yet to happen.

14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

• Perfected – past tense, completed action with a resulting state of being. We are perfected.
• Sanctified – present tense… it is happening now. An ongoing process.
• NIV says “who are being made holy.”
• What is being sanctified now? Our behavior.
• What you do is not who you are.
• Who you are has a great impact on what you do.
• Your soul & spirit have been perfected.
• Your behavior is being sanctified.
• Sanctified is in the passive voice meaning that it is God who will sanctify our behavior, not us.
• Believers were made perfect forever.
• It is impossible to lose our righteousness.
• Can you complete the race? Done deal.
• Perseverance… is about intimacy with God.

15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. For after he says:

• The Holy Spirit gets credit for speaking through Jeremiah.

16 This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, the Lord says, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds,
17 and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.[3]

• Forgiveness has occurred.
• Does God have a list of your sins? NO!
• Why would you continue with your sacrifices?
• Why do you keep asking for what you already have?
• This letter greatly impacted these Hebrew Christians.
• Not a single one of them perished in destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Col 2:17–23). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Je 31:33–34). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Heb 10:1–18). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.