March 21 Sermon: Something Better

As we take a look at Hebrews 11:17-40, consider these question:

1. How does Pastor Mark argue that the Bible is not just a collection of disconnected stories, but rather an unfolding story of redemption with an overarching theme?

2. In what ways did Abraham demonstrate his faith, particularly in the context of the test involving his son Isaac? How did this foreshadow the sacrifice of Jesus?

3. What does it mean to "live by faith" according to the author, and how does this concept relate to trusting in God's promises and seeking something better in Christ?

Transcript:

The stories that I find the most satisfying are the ones that have you wondering how all the separate plots and details have to do with each other. And then, at the end it all comes together and you find out why characters that seemed to be irrelevant suddenly have a crucial role to the underlying working of the plot. When we come to the Bible it can often seem like the stories are just thrown together. What does the crossing of the Red Sea have to do with David killing Goliath? How does the story of the walls of Jericho falling down connect to the story of three men stepping into a fiery furnace and not being burned? They might seem like a collection of stories as opposed to one big story with a unifying theme. Chances are most of us either had a book of old stories or our grandparents or another family had one. They were divided up into chapters but there was nothing to unite them except that maybe they were fables that taught us a moral point or something. The stories were great and they even likely taught us some good lessons on how to properly behave but they were detached stories that had nothing tying them all together.

‌I believe that most people, and perhaps many Christians included, look at the Bible in this way. It is there to give us some random stories to tell us how to live and to motivate us but there isn’t an important, overarching story that helps us to know God and how he saves us.

‌Well, we have seen as we have been journeying through the book of Genesis and now the book of Hebrews that this not an accurate way to view holy scripture. The Bible is the unfolding story of redemption and it tells us where we came from, why the world is broken, what God has done to fix that brokenness, and it also lets us know where we are going. In our passage that closes out Hebrews 11 for us this morning we see this overarching theme on display and it also shows us that the people of God have always come to him in the same way: by faith. It is by grace through faith that we trust in God and we hope for something better.

‌We have quite a few verses that we are looking at this morning so we’re breaking the passage down into three points to help us better interpret and understand the passage.

‌Our first point this morning is that God tested his people. The stories that we start out with in Hebrews 11 this morning show us important tests of faith that some of the most well-known heroes of the Old Testament went through. As we have seen so many times in our time in scripture together these tests point us to trusting God to truly rescue us. So many of the stories in scripture show us that only God can save and that he alone is the one who rescues his people.

‌And that is our second point. God rescues his people. We know so many of the stories of the Bible bring the people of God to the point where they are rescued or they win victory in a way that only God can accomplish. These stories point us to the truth that we will not save ourselves. It isn’t just the people in these stories that needed divine rescue. Every last one of us, in our sin and unbelief, needs divine intervention to be saved.

‌And our final point today is that they were looking to the same thing we are looking to. Saving faith has always been about looking to the promise of God that was far off. All these heroes of the faith aren’t saved because they did better good works than others. They are saved by faith and because by that faith they were looking for something better.

‌‌And so we land here in the middle of Hebrews 11 and we are transported back to a hero of the faith that we spent a considerable time looking at recently as we worked through Genesis. In many ways Abraham is THE model of faith in the Old Testament and we know why that is. He left his family and country. He abandoned the idolatry of his father’s house to follow the one true God. God blessed he and his barren wife with a child in their very old age. And the author of Hebrews has already mentioned this story in the part of Hebrews 11 we looked at last week. And we shouldn’t be surprised that we are coming back to Abraham because of what I’ve already mentioned. Abraham is the chief example of faith. And as we are seeing that God tested these people of faith we are reminded of the ultimate test of faith. After waiting for decades for the child of the Promise to arrive God tells Abraham to offer his son Isaac up as a sacrifice. Now, we looked at this not that long ago so I won’t go into too many details again because we are wanting to look at the big picture here. God never intended to receive Isaac as a human sacrifice. It was a test to see if Abraham fully trusted God. Remember the bumps in the road along the way with Abraham and his faith. He grew impatient and had a child with his wife’s handmaiden. He was worried for his safety and so he lied about who his wife was and let her be taken into the house of other rulers. The test was to know whether or not Abraham fully trusted God and this test also ends up pointing us to the sacrifice that God the Father did make in offering up Jesus for our sins.

‌And as we look at the details we see in our passage for today we learn some important things about the faith of Abraham. We read about what Abraham was hoping for. He received the instructions from God to sacrice Isaac but he knew that Isaac was the child of the promise and so his faith was just more than listening to God. He believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead if he went through with it. The point is that he trusted God beyond the moment. He trusted for something better and a great promise than what was in front of him.

‌And we read that figuratively speaking Abraham did receive him back. He was willing to give him up and so when he was not taken from him it was as though he had received him back because he had been willing to go all the way. When you are willing to give something up and then you find out you don’t have to it is a very good feeling because you’ve already gone through one of the most difficult parts of the process allowing yourself to let go. That is the idea being expressed here. Abraham was given Isaac back because God himself provided the sacrifice.

‌And as the story continues we have a few few well known characters. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The author of Hebrews doesn’t bring out the tests of faith that they endured but the big point is that they were looking to something that was distant. They didn’t receive the promise itself but instead looked to the future and we can see this in what we have here in verses 21 and 22.

‌Isaac invoked future blessings on his sons. He didn’t think that the blessing had already arrived. Jacob did the same thing and trusted that God was doing something greater than just giving them material blessings in Egypt. And Joseph he looked to a promise that was far off too. Remember when we read about the Cave in Macpelah that Abraham bought and we talked about how Abraham was buying a piece of the promised land and owning it legally because he believed God’s promises. Joseph did the same thing when he asked to have his bones returned to the cave in Macpelah when he died. He was looking beyond the moment and to the better promise.

‌And as we come down to verses 23-28 we see the continued testing that Moses received.

‌We see the other big person in the Old Testament as we read about Moses. The testing began as Moses was born. He was supposed to be killed when he was born but his parents decided not to fear men but instead fear the Lord and kept him hidden. And we read that Moses was tempted to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He could have had the posh and luxurious life. The temptation to just bask in being adopted royalty had to have been huge but instead we read that Moses allowed himself to be mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoying the pleasures of sin in the moment.

‌And we see here an amazing statement that helps us to understand the depth of what the author of Hebrews is driving home here. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. Now naturally we read that and think what is the author of Hebrews talking about. Has he got his testaments mixed up? What is up with his timeline of Biblical events? Moses was in Exodus and we don’t have Jesus until Matthew.

‌The point here is that the faith of the heroes of the Old Testament was always looking to Christ. They didn’t understand fully who Jesus would be and what he would do but the hope that they were ultimately looking for was not the next child of the promise to be born and their great reward was not going to be a plot of land in the middle east. Their great hope was the messiah that they were looking to. They were hoping for the one who would crush the head of the serpent and they believed that promise was better than anything else. It was something that was so much better. And we read here that Moses would rather have been scorned for the messiah he trusted would come than have all the wealth of being in the royal family of Egypt. You can see why this is a test for Moses. How easy would it have been to just sit back in luxury and not cared. Instead, he chose the path God put before him to call Pharaoh to let God’s people go.

‌And I think that this is a test that you and I can truly relate to. God’s call on our life isn’t going to have us going to a ruler and saying “let my people go”. Instead, God’s call on our lives is discipleship and holiness and it is far easier to sit back and enjoy our modern, relatively easy life. We are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus and not the ways of the world. But the allure is strong and we must daily step forward in faith towards Christ instead of the temptations of the world.

‌And we can look to the example of faith by Moses to help us do this. By faith he left Egypt and did what Gdo called him to do instead of fearing the powers of Egypt. And we also see that by faith he kept the Passover. God commanded them to place blood above the doorposts and not only did Moses keep the command but the Hebrew people did. They were tested. They were asked to follow instructions that might not make much sense to them but they believed God and did it.

‌And so we’ve seen examples of people living by faith and seen the tests that they endured by faith. In this next section we see the same type of faith but we see our second point that God rescues his people, very clearly.

And right off here in verse 29 we see a great example of God’s rescue and once again, it is so important that we see that this is something only God can do. He brought the Hebrews into an area where they cannot escape but he provides the rescue. Egyptians behind, mountains beside them, and the Red Sea in front of them. God provided them dry land but it wasn’t dry for the Egyptians. God rescues his people and when it happens they know that he is the one who rescued them.

‌And the author of Hebrews also reminds us of the story of the walls of Jericho. What a story of following God by faith. If you and I were to devise a plan to take down the walls of a city that was a fortress we would not come up with the idea of walking around the city for a few days and then on the final day marching around it seven times and then giving a loud shout. It just isn’t sound military tactics but God was the one in control and we see that this was not just a conquest it was a rescue that only God could accomplish. Rahab was living in Jericho but she didn’t perish when the walls came tumbling down. She was rescued because she had provided safety for the spies. And so, we not only remember that she didn’t die but we also remember that she became a member of the covenant people of God and her name is in the genealogies that lead to Jesus. She was not only rescued from dying at Jericho but her faith brought her into the people of God.

‌‌And as we move on to verse 32 we see that the author of Hebrews could keep this whole discussion going for a very long time if he wanted to go through the details here. And as we look at these names we recall many of their stories from Sunday School classes. Just the ones we probably know best like Gideon, Samson, and David really prove the point. Gideon had to live by faith to whittle his army down the way God commanded him to do. Samson lived by his own power but by faith, at the end of his life, he trusted God for his strength and judged the Philistines, and David. How does a young boy have the courage to face a giant while the rest of the army cowers in fear? He has faith that God will protect him and what did David do? He won victory for the people of God and ultimately pointed to the victory his descendant, the Lord Jesus Christ, would have over sin, death, and hell.

‌And as the chapter continues you have to love the way the author of Hebrews knits the drama redemption together to make his point. Here are just some of the greater statements. By faith the people conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, and women received back their dead. All things done by God. He game them the strength and ordained the circumstances of their rescues. Daniel isn’t rescued from the lions den by his own strenghth. God stopped the mouths of the lions. He rescues. The three men in the fiery furnace clearly didn’t rescue themselves. God rescues them.

‌And we see here that even when God chose not to rescue some in this life he ultimately rescued them. Look at what it says here. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Even in the face of torture these people lived by faith. Why was this? What was it that these people who were persecuted were looking to? Were they hoping that maybe their children after them might have a better life? Were they thinking maybe it would cause a political revolution and they would be known as a war hero or martyr? No, they were trusting God by faith and looking to the ultimate promise of the Messiah who would come and crush the head of the serpent and they were ultimately looking forward to the hope of the resurrection.

‌And as we close out with this point we move see this on dispclay in the last two verses that we are looking at today. They were looking for something better.

‌‌All of these people who are memorialized here in this passage ultimately did not receive what they were truly longing for. The ultimate promise was far off. Yes, Abraham received Isaac as the child of the promise but he was truly longing for the final Child of the Promise in the messiah. Abraham bought a small plot of land in the promised land but he was hoping for his people to enter the promised land but we know that wasn’t even the full promise he was lookign to. Abraham was living in hope that there would be a final promise land where the people of God would find ultimate rest. Moses is another example of this truth. He lead his people to the promised land but because of his sin he never entered it. He died looking at the promised land from afar. This shows us that the land the people were about to enter wasn’t the final promise there was a promise that was coming that was better and still far off.

‌And we read here why all this was ordained by God to happen in this way. Yes, we look at them at commend them for their faith and certainly people in their own day would have commended them also but they didn’t fully receive and see the promise for a reason. It was to show us that God was providing something better and as we read it taht apart from us they should not be made perfect.

‌Let me boil that down for you. The author of Hebrews is saying that this isn’t just about the heroes of the faith and them receiving the big reward for what they have done. They are not made perfect apart from us. We are all a part of the people of God and each and every last one of us is saved the same way. We look to the promise of Christ rescuing us from our sins, by faith. Every person who will be in heaven will be there because they trusted God to save. Before the coming of Jesus they were looking to the promise of the messiah who would rescue his people. We trust in the finished work of Jesus because we live on the other side of the cross but it is the same faith, in the same God. The God who rescues his people by grace, through faith. It isn’t just the big time heroes of the faith who are perfected and receive the reward. You and I are perfected and receive the reward by faith in the work of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.

‌And so as we finish up this chapter what two points of application can we take away from it as we step out into God’s world this week?

‌Our first point of application is pretty obvious. Live by the faith. I think it is so important that we stop and define what we mean by that. You might hear the phrase live by faith quite often but what do we mean when we say that. Were the heroes of the faith that we’ve looked at just wandering about and having faith that something good would happen to them. No, they were seeking God and following his commands while trusting in his promise. That is what it means to live by faith. It isn’t a blind trust that everything will be ok in the end. Instead it is knowing who God is and trusting in his promise, even in the face of hardship, difficulties, and persecution. It is about trusting that because I can’t reach God on my own I am trusting that Jesus has done it for me. Living by faith is about trusting that the life Jesus lived for me, the death he endured in my place, and the resurrection that proved he was victorious over death is enough. That is how we live by faith and it was the promise that heroes of old looked too also.

‌Secondly, look for the something that is better. And of course, I don’t mean that we live by faith and we look for a better car or a bigger house. That’s not something better. It is more of the same. It will all one day be meaningless. It will fade or we will be gone. It will ultimately all burn in the end. I was struck pretty deeply by what the author of Hebrews had to say about Moses. By our standards Moses had the world at his fingertips. He could have had the easy life. Servants and all the money and possessions he could imagine but he understood that there was something better than all that stuff.

‌In our age of affluence our something better is distorted. We want whatever the next big thing is and we want better and nicer even though what we already have is pretty nice. Our struggle then is to shed those desires and thougths and instead pray that the Holy Spirit, through the power of the Word would shape us to have better desires and better hopes. Let us look for the promise as the heroes of the faith did. May we look for the promise of heaven and the final fulfilment of what God has promised.

‌And so may we step out from here and desire the something better that God has for us in Christ and may we faithfully proclaim that truth and live by faith for we know that what we have in Christ is better and greater than anything this world offers us.