Moses' Parents

Is “a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?”
You have all heard that expression. But what it doesn’t say is this—those who go for the two in the bush may wind up with one more bird than those who settle for the one in hand.
Going for the two in the bush requires boldness and willingness to risk. You must believe in your ability to catch birds. If you fail to catch the two, you might catch one. If you fail altogether, at least you’ve learned an important lesson in catching birds which may help you later.
A bird in hand is fine for those who don’t know how to catch them. But for those who know how to catch birds, it is no enough. The only thing that makes that lonely bird better than the other two is if you are not convinced that you can catch the other two.
That’s what faith is—going for the two in the bush.
Sometimes we take risks because we have no other choice. Usually, though there is a choice. We can choose to be cautious or to act boldly. If we are cautious, we risk little. We may survive today. But the more cautious we are, the more likely we are to achieve nothing in the end. We cannot keep our lives, our property, our relatives, our friends, or our fortunes. Eventually, we lose them all. If we never take risks, we may keep what we have in the end, but in the end, we will lose everything else.
Faith is trusting God enough to take risk. If we really trust in God—I mean really—there is nothing we cannot do. If we really trust in God—I mean really—we can move mountains, defeat armies, stop storms, walk on water, and win the prize.
But if we don’t trust God enough to try, we will achieve nothing.
As believers, we have put our trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior. That is called Saving Faith—the faith the Jesus has forgiven or sins and that we will go to heaven when we die. Saving faith is vital to every Christian.
But Saving Faith is not the only kind of faith we need from God. We need living faith. too, to use in our daily walk with Him on earth. Saving faith is for the future. Living faith is for today.
Living faith is trusting God enough to take bold and decisive action. Living faith is not being satisfied with surviving, but is interested in thriving. Living faith is the willingness to take God at his Word that He created us for greater things than the ordinary.
We may be believers, but that doesn’t mean we have a living faith. We know we have a living faith when we are ready and willing to sacrifice our present comfort for future blessings. Living faith is when we give our money sacrificially to God’s work, instead of holding onto it ourselves, because we believe that God is capable of providing for all our needs. Living faith ins being willing to try a new thing for God, instead of fretting that we don’t have the time, or don’t have the training, or because we’ve “never done it before.” Living faith is crossing social, ethnic, or class barriers, without fretting that we might have our hand slapped when we do. We trust God that we can handle how others respond, and we trust God to bring results from our sacrifices.
Living faith is not being satisfied with just a bird in the hand. It’s going for the two in the bush as well.
The next exhibit in the Hall of Fame of Faith is a splendid example of living faith. Their real names were Amram and Jochebeb. They are better known as Moses’ parents.
Without their faith, there would have been no Moses, no Exodus, and not Jewish people. In fact, if it were not for four people and three bold acts of faith, Israel would be no more than a memory.
The first act of faith happened before Moses was born. Look at Exodus 1:6-22.
Moses was born four hundred years after Joseph, when God’s people had become slaves in Egypt. They had been slaves for almost ten generations—or the same length of time between us and the Pilgrims.
What happens to people after they’ve been prisoners for a long time? The longer we are in bondage, the harder it is to imagine ever being free. Multigenerational slaves lose all hope for rescue. Their captors appear all-powerful. They not only believe it, but they also teach it to their children. Their hopelessness travels from one generation to the next.
But no matter how docile a group of people become, there are always limits in what they will tolerate. Pharaoh went one step too far when he ordered the death of all male Israelite babies. Pharaoh was smart enough to know that if he sent his troops into the slave villages demanding their little boys, not even his might could protect him. So he hit upon a much more subtle and devious kind of genocide.
Pharaoh called the Hebrew midwives together, probably in secret. He told them that it was their responsibility to kill the male children. “Do it quietly” Pharaoh would have told them. That way, there would be no riots, just a lot of grieving parents. In a generation, the Hebrew women would marry outside their tribe, and the Israelites would simply disappear.
But there were two midwives who resisted. Their names were Shiphrah and Puah. These two could not have been all the midwives there were—after all, there were over a million Hebrews! They were just the two who resisted.
There must have been other midwives, too. The reason we don’t hear about them is probably because they went along with Pharaoh. These other women had a choice to make, and they chose the other way. They must have had their rationalizations for doing it. But there would only be one real reason—they were afraid for themselves. Proverbs 16:2 says “All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD.” In other words—we can rationalize anything.
But Shiphrah and Puah stood their ground They refused to kill children. If it weren’t for these two women, there would be no Israel.
But two greater acts of faith would follow it.
Hebrews 11: 23 By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
One of the children they saved was Moses. After his birth, Moses’ parents kept him hidden for three months, I violation of Pharaoh’s orders.
How do you keep a baby quiet for three months? They did not live in a palace. They lived in a slave village, with no glass on the windows, where every house was up against every other house. They had little or no privacy. How many times did his mother have to get up in the night to shush a baby that was not supposed to be there? How many narrow escapes must they have had when some overseer came down the crowded streets just before feeding time? If they were discovered, then the whole family would have been put to death for the sake of the children.
Moses’ parent risked their whole family for the sake of one boy. They did this because they believed that God had a special destiny for him, and that He would take care of the family.
But the greatest faith was yet to come.
After three months, Moses’ parents realized they could not keep the boy hidden. At the same time, they came to believe that this boy was the promised deliverer. We do not know how they came to that conclusion, but they did. If this boy was called by God, then he must be saved.
Mrs. Moses wove a basket. Mr. Moses covered it with pitch. Mrs. Moses got her finest blanket out of her chest. She wrapped her little baby Moses in that basket. Then they both kissed him goodbye, and set that basket in the Nile River.
The Nile river! Along its shallow banks live crocodiles, hippos, rats, and wild animals. The cities upstream from them dumped their sewage in that water. Yet somehow, these two people had such faith in God that they took their precious baby and let him loose in the wild waters of the Nile. Could there be in our wildest imaginations a greater act of faith than that?
The suffering of that woman and man must have been horrible. She cried because she believed she would never hold her baby again. He wept to think his son-his future—just floated off down the river. There was earthly reason to believe that anything would happen to that little reed basket except sink in the Nile. Even if by some miracle he survived, they would never see him again. They had just released their baby boy. All they to cling to was a feeling that God was in charge.
Some parents today make similar sacrifices. When a man or woman sees their child go to war, they do not know if they will ever return. When mother or father waves goodbye to their child going off in a mission trip, they put them in God’s hands. They may have saving faith, and know their child is saved. But they need more—they need a living faith to sustain them for the moment. They must believe that God is in charge, and that He is a rewarder of those who believe in Him.
God has other calls and other sacrifices that require the same living faith—when we move to a new home, when we leave a for a new job, when we decide to take a woman’s hand in marriage. We have no guarantees. But God is in control, and that He will honor our willingness to step out on faith.
Moses parents and the midwives all had choices. What if his parents or those midwives had acted differently? Suppose they decided to go along with authority, or to try to keep that baby boy all to themselves? What would have happened? Perhaps nothing. But there would never have been a Moses. There would never have been a deliverer. The Hebrew people would have been just a memory, and their God a distant but fading light.
Faith is required for living. Nothing is required for dying. Faith is required to find success. Failure may be achieved without it.
The problem with us is that we follow the path of least resistance, fight only the battles we are sure we win. If we encounter opposition, we shrink away, because we do not have faith. When we take the safe path is that we are content to exist rather than live.
In the next chapter of Hebrews, the writer says “Therefore, being surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us run the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, he author and finisher of our faith.” Moses’ parents are two of those witnesses. Moses is another. And all those other people mentioned in Hebrews 11 are on the sidelines, too, cheering us on. “Fight, run, persevere!“ They shout at us. We are the latest of their generations. We have been passed the baton. It is our time to run out race. One day, we will receive a crown of life, but only if we run with bold and fearless faith.

Isaac and Jacob

Heb 11:20-21 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
Hebrews only wants to show us examples of faith, choosing to highlight what seems to us to be a seemingly insignificant detail of Isaac and Jacob’s stories--the blessing of their sons. Isaac blessed his two sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob blessed his twelve sons before he died.
These blessings were not fatherly affection. Some were not affectionate at all. Look at the blessing Isaac gave his sons: To Jacob he said.
Gen 27:27 May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. .Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed."
But to Esau he said. Gen 27:39-40 "Your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. 40 You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck."
An underwhelming blessing, t o be sure.
Jacob's blessing to his children in Genesis 48, this is even more blunt. He predicts the future of each tribe. Some get bad news, like Simeon and Levi
Gen 49:5-7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
Some got good news, like Judah in Gen 49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
Imagine if we talked to our children that way. They would probably have to answer to the Department of Social Services! Not only would it be cruel, it would also be presumptuous!.
Yet Isaac and Jacob blessed their children, and everything they said came true. How did they know?
They knew by faith. Faith is "The substance of what is hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is looking beyond what appears to be with our eyes, and predict seeing with God’s eyes. Faith is not about how things look today, but how they will look tomorrow. Faith is believing that God is in charge, and that He hears and listens to the words we say. Then he grants us a future according to our faith.
Isaac and Jacob knew his voice. They heard His sayings. Therefore, they knew That God’s will would be one. The world would proceed according to the rule He sets. Nothing is up to chance. It is all in the hands of God.
We do not know what tomorrow hold, but we know who holds the future. This is true in the future of the world, the future of our children and family and our own future.
Right now, the future of the world is uncertain to us. Secularists are prophesying that in a hundred years or so, religion would cease to exist.
Recently a writer in Russia predicted that within a year, the United States would break apart. Twenty years ago climatologists warned us that we were approaching an era of global cooling, a new ice age. Now they say we are experiencing global warming. Either way, they are covered.
Yet Isaac and Jacob blessed their children, and everything they said came true. How did they know?
God will not let us down. Religion will not pass away. Evil will not triumph. Heaven and earth will pass away before God’s word passes away. We may not understand Revelation, but w know its central message--we win in the end. Our faith is based in the fact of God’s eternal Word.
We do not know what will happen to those we love, either. We have no guarantee that they will survive us, or that we will survive them..
It is appointed that a man die once and after that the judgment. But the time or our death and the length of our lives are unknown. Stephen, the first martyr, died young. Methuselah died very, very old. Good people die young and sometimes bad people hand on forever.
We may not be able to predict the length of a life, but we can see the things that will lengthen it or shorten it. They blessings of Isaac and Jacob may have been based on divine knowledge, but they also rest on God-given knowledge about where sin will lead. If we see a man who is filled with violence, the man will never see one hundred. If we see a man who lives according to God’s word, then he has every reason to believe he will have a long and fruitful life. If he does not, then something better awaits him in the next life. This man will probably live longer than the man who doesn't. The results of righteousness are all around him.
You cannot control what happens to your children, but God can. Trust God for them. Worry is a failure of faith. We trust God for them while we go on and live.
Faith is the confidence of our children’s welfare, the evidence of their unseen survival. No matter how things may seem, they are still in His hands, and He will never let them go.
Faith for the future is not just about our loved ones.. It is also about ourselves.
One of my fathers in the ministry was Dr. Robert Marshburn. When he was the age I am now, he had his first heart attack and almost died. He told me later how he did not know if he would ever come home. Then God laid a verse on his heart--Jeremiah 29:13. 'For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. 'Plans for God and not for evil, to give you an end and a purpose.'" he remembered this verse and knew that God had something else for him. God was not finished with him yet.
Ten years later, he died of a second heart attack at the age of 67. But during those last ten years of life he accomplished wonderful things. He finished raising seven children, the youngest of when went on to fly on the space shuttle. He mentored and several young men in the ministry, including two pastors of this church. Along with them, his ministry produced church planters, missionaries, youth workers and even a professor at Erskine Seminary. He helped start our first Korean church and went on to serve as moderator of Synod. The prediction the Holy Spirit gave to him was true. God was not finished with him yet.
God has a two-fold promise for your life. The big promise is this--you will go to heaven if you trust in Jesus. But the other one is almost as wonderful--that as long as you live, there will always be a future and a hope. We will always have purpose as long as you are willing to find it.

Joseph

Heb 11:22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.


Joseph— Of all the characters in the Old Testament, none is more deserving to be called a hero. Strong, handsome, brilliant, and morally pure, Joseph kept the faith under the most difficult circumstances. No matter what struggles he had, Joseph was an example of a good and godly man.
The word that best describes Joseph is resilient. It is the ability to return after setbacks, to adjust to new realities, and to believe in an optimistic outcome. It is the product of true faith in God.
A resilient person resembles the punching clowns we had when we were children. No matter how hard you punched them or kicked them they always came back up with a smile on its face, ready for the next blow. That was Joseph. He sure knew how to take a punch!
Consider Joseph’s story. When he was a boy he had a dream that he was going to rule over his family some day. Then he had a second dream, which told him the same thing. Joseph believed these dreams were the key to his destiny. Even though he was the eleventh of twelve boys, he began preparing himself for that inevitable moment when he would lead his family. His father saw a great potential of leadership in that boy. He even gave him a special coat as a sign of his pleasure in him.
His brothers resented him. Who can blame them? If your dad trusted your little brother more than you, you’d probably resent it, too! But Joseph’s brothers took sibling rivalry to the nth degree!
They were out in the field one day when Joseph was sent home for something. When he returned, they had all moved. When Joseph found them, they tied him up, stole his coat, threw him in a pit, and sold him to a caravan of Egyptian slavers. Then they put blood on his coat and told Dad that he was dead! This was the worst case of picking on a little brother ever!
But Joseph never felt sorry for himself. He knew God had a better plan.
The slavers sold him to rich Egyptian—Potiphar. Potiphar recognized immediately his leadership abilities. He made Joseph the steward of his house—the major domo of a mighty family. Potiphar trusted Joseph with everything he owned. But Potiphar’s wife wanted more from him. The wanted to have an affair with him. When he refused, she claimed that Joseph tried to rape her. Potiphar was furious and had him thrown in jail.
But Joseph did not despair. He never felt sorry for himself. He knew God had a better plan.
Joseph did well in prison—as well as any prisoner can do. The jailor made the head trustee, and gave him the run of the prison. When Pharaoh’s butler and the baker arrested and thrown in with him, Joseph interpreted their dreams for them, and their dreams came true. With the boldness that only comes from an intimate knowledge of God, he told them the truth. The baker would be executed, but the butler would be restored. It happened just as he said. The baker was executed, but the butler was released. The butler promised to remember Joseph when he was back to Pharaoh’s court.
But the butler forgot him. He left Joseph to rot in jail.
Joseph did not despair, though. He never felt sorry for himself. He knew that had a better plan.
Then one night Pharaoh had a dream. He asked his wise men to interpret it, but no one could. Then the butler remembered what Joseph did in jail, and told Pharaoh. Pharaoh took Joseph came out of prison and brought him to the palace. Not did Joseph give him the correct interpretation, but he also gave him a plan to save the country. Pharaoh immediately saw Joseph’s poise and his confidence, and he made him second in command of everything in Egypt.
Then one day, Joseph’s brothers came to town, begging for food. What a perfect opportunity for revenge! For the first time, Joseph had an opportunity to avenge himself on the many people who had abused him—his brothers, the slavers, Potiphar and his wife. He could have them all killed if he wanted to. Or he could make them suffer. But Joseph chose the way of forgiveness instead of revenge, and saved his family, just as his dream told him long ago.
Joseph could have avenged himself. But he didn’t. He knew God had a better plan.
After that, Joseph, his eleven brothers, and his father lived in luxury in Egypt. But Joseph knew it would not last. One day, the imprisonment that happened to him twice before would fall on all his descendants. They would be enslaved in Egypt. So Joseph, when he was an old man, left word to have his bones carried back to the Promised Land, as a sign to them that God always has a plan. There he was, a living symbol, carried on a cart in the heart of that Exodus mob. He was a living symbol of what they had become—one who rises from pison again and again. Even after death, Joseph rose and pointed the way to freedom.
Now that’s resilience!
Joseph’s confidence was not fake. It was real. That is why wherever he went, people made him a leader. There was something about this man that gave other people confidence, too. He exuded faith, and gave confidence to everyone he met. Because Joseph was resilient, then the other people around Joseph could be resilient, too.
Where did Joseph’s resilience come from? It came from his faith—faith in God, himself, and in others.
First, Joseph had an optimistic faith in God. Joseph always knew God was with him, and that he would not forsake him.
I picture Joseph as a little boy, sitting around the fire with his family. His father is telling them stories of the Lord, and how He saved him, his grandfather and his great-grandfather Abraham. Could you imagine what it must have been like to hear these stories from someone who was there?
But just because we tell things to our children does not mean they hear them. Jacob tried to explain to them that they did not have to be afraid or ashamed. God had chosen their family for greatness. As he talked, the older brothers slept or stared out the window. They had heard it all before.
But Joseph listened and believed. Joseph was certain that the same God who rescued his great grandfather, his grandfather, and his father would be with him when he needed it. And God did.
Most of you grew up in church. You went to Sunday School. You’ve logged hours in church listening to sermons. But that doesn’t mean that anything said in Sunday School or church sinks in. We still worry, we still doubt, and we still think that it is only by our efforts we get through in life. In other words, we just don’t get it.
But every so often a Joseph comes along who hears the Word and believes it. That boy is destined for great things, because he will go through life on the shoulders of God.
Joseph also had an optimistic faith in himself. You cannot separate faith in God from faith in yourself. They have to go together. If we have one, we can have the other, if we do not have one, the chances are that we will not have the other.
Last week we heard one of the great promises of the Scriptures--Jeremiah 29; 13. “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you an end and a purpose.” This verse tells us that God has a plan for our success and happiness. God has such a plan for you, then you must have value to Him. That is the link between our own success and God’s success.
We do not always define success the way God does. It may not be in gaining money or fame. Such things are unimportant to God. Real success is about finding happiness and purpose in life. If we are happy, we might be a pauper, but we we better off than a king. We are fulfilling God’s plan and purpose, and enjoying His favor.
But what if we are not happy? What if we doubt ourselves? Then we will eventually come to doubt God Himself. If God made us, and we think we are no good, then either we have to deny that God made us, or God is guilty of shoddy workmanship. If God made you, and God is good, then you are good as well. You have been given the special gift of life.
Because Joseph had confidence in God and confidence in himself, Joseph had faith that he could do the best he could do, and his efforts would be rewarded. Joseph did not work for Potiphar, he did not even work for Pharaoh. Joseph worked for the glory of God. Joseph believed he was capable of great and wonderful things.
Third, because Joseph had confidence in God, he also had confidence in others. One interesting thing about Joseph is that he was likable. Potiphar like him, the jailer liked him, even Pharaoh liked him. You cannot achieve that level of likability without liking others back.
Keep in mind that Joseph had no reason for liking others. Why should he like a man who enslaves him or one who keep him prisoner? Why should he expect that they will treat him fairly?
Joseph could like others because they were made in God’s image. No one can expunge completely the image of God out of their hearts. People no matter how evil they may be, have some vestige of the image of a loving God within them.
Mostly, though Joseph expected the best out of others because he trusted God. Peopl may not have our best interest at heart, but God does. He can turn the human heart for us r against s. God often works through unbelievers to bless His people.
The Bible is full of such people. Joseph’s Pharaoh, Cyrus the Persian, and Publius Paulus in the book of Acts and many others. They were God’s instruments to protect His people. Joseph had people like this around him, too.
Christians today sometimes think that you can love the world without liking it. But if you don’t recognize God’s beauty in the people you are trying to help, they will soon turn on you. God prefers to help us though other people whenever possible. That is why it is so important to be civil and kind to your neighbors, and to work diligently for your employers. Be at peace with everyone, as much as it is possible to do so. This is not out of trust of people, but as an act of faith in a loving God who holds the hearts of all men.
Finally, Joseph was resilient because he knew his sins were forgiven. We spend far too much time being ashamed of our past. But Jesus came to erase the shame in our hearts, an grant us grace to begin anew the blood of Jesus on the Cross paid the price for al our sin, and gave us the gift of forgiveness.
How resilient are you? You can be very resilient if you have faith in God, and through Him faith in yourself and in others, just like Joseph did.

abrraham

Heb 11:8-19 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age — and Sarah herself was barren — was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
In the hall of fame, Abraham surely must have the central display. Abraham occupies the central eleven verses of this chapter. He is the greatest example of faith in the Old Testament.
Because of this long discussion of Abraham’s faith, we have an opportunity to see that faith comes in several flavors. It is not just one thing, but at least three. All of these three aspects are found in in Abraham’s life.
Faith has three aspects—Boldness, Patience, and Hope.
Boldness is the kind of faith it takes to take extraordinary risks, based upon the promises of God. Boldness is not being foolhardy, neither is it recklessness, but it is being willing to stand upon God’s promises and God’s promises alone. Boldness is miracle-producing faith. It is the kind of faith seen in Abraham, Elijah, Peter, Joseph, Paul, and (naturally) Jesus.
Most people are rabbits, not lions. They would rather hide in their houses than have adventures. The thought of actually following God outside heri comfort zone, appalls them.
The kingdom cannot be advanced by rabbits. It requires people who are willing to trust God’s promises on the battlefields of life. Abraham was such a lion.
Abraham showed the boldness of his faith in two great actions. First, he left his home and his family and went into a land he did not know, at the age of eighty-seven.
There are few things more adventurous than starting a new life when you are old. The old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is sadly too often true. But when we begin anew in advanced years, then the world gapes in awe at us.
Moses led his people beginning at the age of eighty. Grandma Moses took up painting in her seventies. We still talk about those people because they are true heroes of faith.
Tennyson expressed his admiration for such boldness in his poem Ulysses,
“Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The second example of this in Abraham’s life is when he took his son Isaac to he mountain, to sacrifice him according to God’s command. Abraham had a radical faith that was willing to follow God wherever He led, even if it did not make sense. Sacrificing Isaac was against everything that God had ever told him. The rejection of human sacrifice was ont of the things that made Abraham’s God better than the gods around him. Abraham thought he knew this. He believed in a God of love and justice. Besides, it appeared that God was asking him to surrender everything he had wanted in his life—a son. But he did it anyway, because he trusted God more than he trusted his own wisdom, his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own conscience.
Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. Sometimes we have to put on the line the happiness we have enjoyed for so long. “He who saves his life will lose it,” Jesus said. “But he who give his life will gain it. “He who surrenders houses and family and lands for the Kingdom of God will gain houses and family for Him” This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness is the hallmark of a trusting relationship with God. Peter exhibited this when he stood before the men who had crucified Jesus and shouted “You crucified the Lord of Glory.” John had it when the the said to a lame man “in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.” Missionaries show boldness when they leave their homes. Martin Luther showed boldness when asked to deny the truth and embrace the Catholic church. He shouted “here I stand. I can do no other.” St Francis had it when he stood before the Muslim caliph and preached Christ, even when Muslims and Christians were slaughtering each other. None of these men thought of themselves as bold. They just thought of themselves as being faithful.
Patience is the second aspect of Abraham’s faith. This is the kind of faith that is necessary to achieve long-term goals. Abraham was willing to wait forever, if necessary fo the reward that was promised to him. He was willing to work for days, months, or even years before he ever saw any results because he knew that the rewards would be worth it.
Noah was willing to work on the ark, day after day, year after year while the rest of the world though him crazy, because he knew it would save his family. Moses waited in he desert for forty years, to see his people save through the promised land. Solomon worked for forty years on the temple. No great thing is ever accomplished unless we have the patience to see it through.
Abraham refused to settle down, even though he had the means, because he wanted his family to have the land God’s way. He waited for God to bring a son out of he and his wife’s nonagenarian bodies, even though in the entire history of the world, it had never happened. He had to tell his children to wait for he proms, wait for he ime when he promised would be.
Patience is not just having faith. It is leaning on the faithful one. We all get tired. We all think we need a rest. But there is no glory or profit in rest. We have to be willing to go beyond the ordinary if we are ever to see extraordinary results.
An Asian woman recently wrote a book about the Chinese style of parenting, and how it differed from ours. One thing she pointed out was that Chinese parents often insist that their children play an musical instrument. In America, we think we are doing good when we have them practice a half hour a day. But in China, they make them practice two or even three hours a day. Their theory is this. That the fruit of the practice does not begin until after the first hour. At first learning an instrument is just scales and repetition. It is boring. But it is not until we master the boring things that we can really begin to enjoy what we are doing.
Patient faith brings no fruit until we have endured for a long time. When it does, it brings great fruit and great joy. Without patience, we can accomplish nothing.
Hope is the third aspect of faith. Abraham could not have acted boldly or waited patiently unless he also possessed the ability to see into the future with excitement, believing in a reward that was before him. The second time Abraham showed this boldness was when he took his son Isaac up the mountain to kill him, as a sacrifice to God. Kierkegaard wrote a book about this story. He pointed out that Abraham’s boldness in following God was such that he was willing to stand against his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own perceived conscience. Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness and perseverance are active things. We start upon a bold course and day by day see it though. But hope on the other hand is passive. We do not pursue hope, we have it. It isdoes not come from what we do or say, but from God’s assurance to our heart. Hope is what helps us endure hardships and setbacks, ridicule and shame. We know that one day we will be vindicated.
Hope is not just about what we want to happen. It is about what God says will happen A hope is not a wish. We may wish for a million dollars but we do not hope for it. But we all may hope for heaven, because God says we can have it. If we trust in God, and beliee His promises, then we have hope.
I remember the first time as a boy that I ever saved to buy anything. It was a wooden portable chess set, and it cost seven whole dollars. Every week I saved my fifty-cent allowance until I had enough to buy it. Never in my life had anything looked so beautiful as that chess set when I bought.
There was only one way I could have saved for that chess set. I had to have hope that it would be there for me when I had the money to buy it. We must have a certainty that what we want will be there, if we continue to live on less than they can by. Then one day, greater rewards than we can ever imagine will be ours. Hope is what keeps us denying ourselves when we know we could be indulging. We hope for something better down the road.
Where do we get hope? Hope comes from God. It comes from realizing that there are things larger and more important than what we see with our eyes and ears
Jesus came that we might have hope, not just for this life, but for the next. That hope was the reason people went to crosses and stakes for His sake.
Boldness, patience, and hope. If we are going to follow God, and be used by Him, we must have all three.

Noah

"Nothing is ever simple," I disagree. Some things are very simple. A man proposes "Will you marry me?" An employee says "I quit." A doctor says "if you don't have this operation, you will die." There may be confusion and uncertainty before we get there, but it all comes down to a simple choice.
We either choose to obey God or to disobey. There is no third option. Either we do what God says or we don't. If we obey there is forgiveness, comfort, assurance, and eternal life. If we don't, there is confusion, death, and destruction.
But simple things don’t stay simple. A woman accepts his proposal, and then there is a lifetime of making marriage work. A man quits his job and it may take a year to find another. We have that operation, and spend months at home recuperating. What begins with a simple choice continues as a long, difficult path.
When Noah chose to listen to God, it was the beginning of a long process. He had to remake that choice day after day, every day of his life, until the ark was built.
We read his story in Genesis 6 through 9.
Gen 6:5-8 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth — men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air — for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.
Why did Noah find favor? Perhaps the next verses will help us see.
Gen 6:9-14 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
The words describing Noah are translated "just and blameless." But that's not what they actually mean. The word "just" or "righteous" is a legal term meaning "fair," or "even." A righteous judge respects the law. He judges by the law alone.
Biblically, a righteous man cares that way about God’s law. If he has some habit, of which God disapproves, he will stop it. If God says to help the poor and the needy, he will do it. If God says avoid hanging around with sinners, he does that, too. Sometimes, he fails to live up to his own standards. Other times, he misinterprets God’s will. But his heart is right. He will return to the Lord when he comes to his senses.
“Blameless." would better be translated as "real" or "authentic." He doesn't pretend to be a better man that he actually is. He says what he is, even to his own disadvantage. He is real.
Honesty is not the same as perfection, but it is a necessary step towards it. An honest, righteous will always correct himself. A dishonest person is building a house of lies.
Noah was a builder before he ever started on the ark. His life as a work in process. Using God's Word as ca blueprint, he was constantly remaking himself. He was a project that was never finished. This is the person who finds grace in the eyes of the Lord.
The Bible describes Noah’s contemporaries with two words, too--"corruption" and "violence." While Moses was getting better through his life, the others were falling apart. The word "violence" doesn't just mean physical violence, but unfairness and dishonesty. The truth was setting Noah free while lies were destroying everyone else. God could do something with Noah. He could do nothing with a bunch of deceitful liars.
13-22 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark — you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them."
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
It took only a little faith to get into the ark. If took no faith to stay in the ark. But faith was absolutely necessary to build the ark. Every day Noah and his sons worked on that ark, they showed faith. The ark had no useful purpose unless God was real.
A common misconception about the ark was that it was a ship. The ark was not a ship. An ark means a box. A ship had sails or oars. It has a wheel and rudder. It has a bow and a stern. It has a keel to keep it from slipping sideways in the water. The ark had none of that. It was only designed to stay afloat. It was completely at the mercy of God, under His command.
For two or three hundred years, Noah and his sons built a big waterproof box.
The path to success often seems impossible. School means years of sacrifice. Going on the mission field means fundraising and language instruction. Diets are—well, they are tough. But if we want to be real about following God, we will stay with it.
Faith is a long obedience in the right direction. It is not getting saved in a revival. It is getting up every morning and having devotions. It is not saying yes to a call to tdhe ministry, it’s paying seminary tuition, learning Greek or studying for Presbytery exams. And fool can start. It takes faith to finish.
For years, Noah got up and worked on a box, with no earthly idea what he was doing, enduring the laughter and scorn of others. Yet he kept on, because God told him to.
Now, that’s faith!
Gen 7:6-12 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month — on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
In the hall of fame of faith were a real hall, with portraits on the wall, the portrait of Noah would not show standing on the ark or under the rainbow with the animals. It would be him in those long days before flood, swinging a hammer and chopping wood, while the rest of the world called him crazy. It would be Noah believing that the world was going to end, because a voice inside his head said so. That is the true picture of faith we need to emulate.
In Israel, there is a mountain outside Jerusalem called Herodium. It was the location of one of King Herod's many fortresses. The top of the hill is flat. There is a story that when Jesus said in Matthew 21:21 "if you have faith, you can say to this mountain be cast into the sea, and it will be done" He was looking at that mountain. That is literally what happened to that mountain. The top of it had been removed and cast into the Dead Sea.
But it did not happen at once. Soldiers and slaves took the top off, one shovelful at a time. It was taken by carts down the road, where it was used as fill in some of Herod's other projects towards the Dead Sea.
If that story is right, it gives us a very different picture of how faith works. We can move mountains, but not all at once. Most mountains don't fly. Instead, we take them way by God's command, one shovel full at a time. We accomplish God's will because we have enough faith to believe that what God says we can do, we can do.
Most people never accomplish the goals they set before them. There are two reasons for this. The first is that most never begin. They look at the mountain and say it cannot be moved. Noah could have looked at the blueprint for the ark and said. "I'm six hundred years old, and you expect me to build this?" But he believed that God would accomplish what he needed to accomplish. He sincerely and authentically believed that this was God's purpose for him.
The other reason people fail is because we lose faith along the way. We don't expect the obstacles or the setbacks or the distractions or the moments of discouragement. We take these setbacks as signs thact God really didn’t want us to begin, or that we cannot do it.
In Hebrews 11:7, there is a single, sobering statement.
By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
How did Noah’s faith condemn? Here's how. When we see what God wants for us to do and which we fail, we make all kinds of excuses. We say it's tough luck, or it was impossible. Then we see Noah--a man who finished and impossible task--and we know ourselves to be lying. If Noah can build a giant box, fill it with animals, and live with them in it for a year on the open sea at the age of six hundred, what right do we have to say there’s something we can’t do for God?
Faith is not the best way to salvation. Faith is the only way. It is only when we persevere by faith that we can find eternal life.

Enoch

The second exhibit in the hall of fame of faith is Enoch.
No other person in this list is as obscure as he. This is the sum total of what the Old Testament says of him.
Gen 5:18-24 When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.
That’s it. The only thing anyone knows about Enoch is that he walked with God, and that God took him. The Hebrew is the same phrase that described Elijah disappearing in a fiery chariot. This had led most readers to believe Enoch did not die, but went directly into heaven.
Enoch was one of two people who did not die. We are not told why he did not die, or what deeds he did. He simply did not die.
To us it’s an interesting footnote, no more. But to the Jews of Jesus’ day, Enoch translation into heaven was considered one of the great mysteries. He became the subject of at least three books which claimed to be written by or about him. None of these books were the truth, since any records of Enoch's life would have been lost in the flood. Even so, two references to these books show up in the Bible. These references are used to illustrate points, not to propound doctrine. They were illustrations based on popular literature of the time, not on history. Like we might quote Shakespeare, they quote from the books of Enoch.
Can we blame those ancient Jews for about being so curious about Enoch? Aren't you curious? What did he do that was so great that he alone escaped death? Wouldn't you like to know his secret of escaping death? What did Enoch do that was so right.
The writer of Hebrews believes that he knows Enoch’s secret. He tells us in Heb. 11:5-6
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Here's Enoch’s secret--he had faith. The writer of Hebrews did not discover this by divine revelation but by logical deduction. Enoch pleased God. Faith is the only way to please God. So Enoch must have been a man of great faith.
Most people don’t believe that. They think that if we get anything special from God, it must be because we are an exceptionally good person. It is based on what we do, not what we believe. But the Bible teaches it is faith, not good deeds, by which we please God.
Let’s assume that Enoch was a good man. How good do we had to been to escape death? What could he have done that was so good? Was he kind to his neighbors? Did he give everything to the poor? Did he dedicate his life to preaching? I have known people who did all those things and more, and yet they had one thing in common. They are all ded. What could Enoch have done that was beyond the goodness of St Francis, Martin Luther, or Mother Theresa?
Then there’s another problem. There was another man who also escaped death— the prophet Elijah. We must assume that Elijah knew the same secret, since he got the same reward. We know more about Elijah than we do about Enoch--too much, in fact. He was a great prophet to be sure. but he was also at times suicidally depressed. He was quick to fuss at God, and think God had forsaken him. I know men today who are better than Elijah, at least in that respect. They don’t doubt God, and they don’t give into pessimism. Yet none of them rode to heaven on a fiery chariot. They died in bed and were buried like most men do. If they were superior to Elijah in their outlook on life, why weren't they translated into heaven like him?
We all die, but we would rather not. We'd rather just skip all that. I think that is why books like Left Behind are so popular. We all hope to be in that generation that gets to skip dying. But so far, only Enoch and Elijah are the only ones who did.
No one pleases God by what he or she does. Our actions are not what makes God happy. It is ourselves who make God happy. The people who receive great things from God are not the extremely good, but those how have faith in a God who is better than we are. It's not up to us, but up to Him. Blessings come to us, because we believe in Him.
So the writer of Hebrews deduces that Enoch must have had faith because he pleased God. And no one pleases God except by having faith in Him. It is God’s goodness that saves us, not our own.
When God wanted to turn the world from sin and back to Him, He did it in a most peculiar fashion. He had given us commandments, but we didn't keep them. He had given us blessings but we did not recognize them as coming from Him. He had given us guidance, but we ignored it. But finally, his own sacrifice to us. He did not require we sacrifice from us, but that we receive the sacrifice He made for us. He sacrificed Himself on the cross. He set Himself to please us. All he asks is that we believe have faith.
Faith is more than belief. Enoch did not escape death simply by belief. Enoch had faith. That is why the writer of Hebrews adds a footnote to the Enoch story, in verse 6.
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Here the writer of Hebrews tells us three things that were from the story of Enoch.
First, trusting God pleases God.
It is impossible to respect someone we do not trust. When someone puts their trust in me, they are saying that I am worthy to offer them help. They are saying I am strong, and that I recognize how much they love me.
God more than anything wishes to be trusted. When we trust Jesus, we trust the Father. When we think we must earn our own salvation, we are not pleasing God, because we are not recognizing the love He has for us.
Second, Believing God pleases God.
We must believe that God exists.
Atheism is a growing threat in the world, especially in this country. Atheists are organizing against faith. If we think that Christians are evangelistic, in this world we don't hold a candle to the atheists.
We aren't atheists, of course—at least, not outwardly. But there is far more doubt of God's existence in the church that we like to admit. We know this, because of worry. If we really believe God existed, what could worry us? If we really believed God existed? Then why do we fear leaving this world? If we really believed in God's existence, then how could we call anything impossible? To believe in God is to believe in miracles. To believe in God is to believe in God is to believe that death itself has a master, and that it cannot take us away.
Third, believing His existence is not enough. We must also believe he rewards us.
William Barclay paraphrases this statement this way "We must believe that God exists, and that He is pleased with us." That second statement is harder to believe than the first.
God is pleased with you. He is pleased with you, because you are His child, and Christ had died for you. He is pleased with you because He chooses to be.
This is terribly hard for us to imagine. We have trouble believing this because it is not the way we are. We expect something out of those we are pleased with. We expect proper behavior, and respect. The thought that God might be pleased with us simply because he chooses to doesn't seem right.
We cannot believe it because we know ourselves too well. We know the stuff that no one else knows. We can make a list of things we have done wrong that would shock everyone else in church. Yet God sees all that and does not care. He is still pleased with you.
We cannot believe it because the Devil is screaming in our ear that it is not true. People always think of Satan as the great tempter, who wants to tempt us to sin. He is that, but it is not is main line of attack. He is called in the Bible the "Accuser of the brethren" His main attack is by suggesting to us that God will not reward us, if we diligently seek Him. Satan brings up everything we have ever done wrong--all the evil thoughts, all the evil deeds done in the shadows--and he builds a case against us. Then he argues that case in the court of our own conscience. He suggests to us that God is not pleased with us, so there is no point in having faith. Others may have faith, but it will do us no good, since are not so righteous.
Few Christians will admit to doubts about God. But many Christians walk like orphans before him, because they do not think themselves worthy of His reward.
What did Enoch do right? One thing for sure, Enoch was not a perfect saint! He sinned just like the rest of us. But the difference between us and Enoch is that Enoch did not dwell on his sins. Instead he forgot his sins, as God did. Instead, he concentrated on the goodness of God, and God's ultimate reward. Enoch so rested in God's arms that God gently lifted him oup and took him out of the world.
In all probability, we won't escape death. But that doesn't mater. Whether we die or not, we can rest in Jesus' arms. We can know His love nd forgiveness, because God has given it to us. For those who seek him, that forgiveness is there. All we have to do is to reach out fo Him in faith.

Abel

The first exhibit in the "hall of fame of faith" is Abel. Hebrews 11 4

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

Why is Abel here? Other than his death, the only thing we know about Abel is that his sacrifice was more acceptable than his brothers. But the Bible is not clear as to why it would be.
Scholars have all kinds of theories about this. Adam Clarke, for example, says that Abel, being a keeper of sheep, offered a blood sacrifice, while Cain offered grain. But nowhere are we told that God required animal sacrifices from them. It was not until Abraham where there is any specific command for animal sacrifices is given.
Other commentators, such as Barnes, suggest that Abel pleased God not by the content of the sacrifice, but by his attitude. Abel was humble before God, while Cain was proud But again, the Biblical evidence is spotty for this. We do know with certainty that this was the reason.
Maybe Abel’s inclusion in the hall of fame of faith has nothing to do with what he did, but the unique place he occupied in history. Maybe we remember Abel not for being the best or most faithful, but simply the first. He was the first man in heaven. He was the first to receive eternal life by faith.
Abel gave us no great inventions, made no great journeys, wrote no books, built no kingdom, endured no hardships, of brought forth no great generations. He was an ordinary man who died before his time, leaving nothing behind. But he was a fortunate man, because he trusted God. His trust gave him the first home in heaven.
Or maybe there was some other reason. Let’s look at the story closer and see if we can see what Abel had to do with faith.. Gen 4:1-12
Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man."
Whenever we look at the Bible it is important to remember the context from which hit came. Genesis 4 follows Genesis 3, which contains the story of the first sin, and our first parents’ banishment form Eden. Before they left paradise, God punished them for their sins. But along with that punishment, God gave them a promise. The promise came in Genesis 3:15, , when God said to the serpent.
"And I will put emnity between you and the woman, and between your seed and the woman' seed, and he will crush your head, while you will bruise his heel."
Today we take these words to refer to Jesus, the Messiah. The seed of the woman is one who was to come, who would be born of a woman but not of a man--a virgin-born man. This is Jesus, the messiah who would put to death the power of the serpent--Satan.
But Adam and Eve did not have the luxury of seeing it through the lenses of history. They thought of it as something that would happen to them in their own lifetimes. So when their first son was born, they saw him as the fulfillment of this prophecy. So when she became pregnant, and brought forth a son, they named him Cain, which meant "received from God." –in Hebrew "quaanyity."
But “Cain” may not actually actually mean “received from God.” The Hebrew may come from "quayin," which literally means "pierce through," or "lance." Thus name seems to refer to the warfare that would exist between the woman and the serpent. He was God's spear to crush the Devil. This first born son was to be the promised one that would win eventual victory over Satan. Or so they thought.
Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.
The Bible doesn’t bother to say what Abel means, but we know. It means "emptiness or transitory, unsatisfactory." In other words, they did not know what to make of Abel. He wasn’t the chosen one, so he must be second best. Imagine your parents naming you “the other kid!”
Abel didn't measure up to Cain in his parents’ eyes.. He was the other one, the weaker one. Cain was the promised child. Abel was just an extra, or so they thought. That was why they gave him the least important job. He was to tend the flocks, which producd wool, while Cain tilled the ground, which produced food.
In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.
We don’t know what the “course of time” means. Some suggest that it might be the anniversary of creation. Others suggest that it was the Sabbath day. But whatever it was, it was a time of worship, where each member of the family expressed their love for creator and sutainer, God. Worship was part of our existence from the earliest days of earth. Sacrifice just seemed to be a natural part of worship.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Why was Abel favored? Maybe the key is sacrifice. Cain offeed the fruit of the ground, knowing that the next year there would always be more fruit. Abel offered the sheep themselves, not the wool. Abel offered something that was substantive, and hurt him to offer. Cain just offered what was left over after the harvest.
Cain out of his pride, offered a small sacrifice. Abel, out of his humility, offered a bigger one. Therefore, God was pleased with one and not the other.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."
This was not about the size of the sacrifice, but the attitude of the heart behind the sacrifice. God may not have favored Cain’s offering, but he did not regard it as sin. It was just indicative of a heart not fully surrendered to Him. As long as he continued to worship and obey, he would eventually come to understand what a proper sacrifice was. But Cain had never been bested by his brother before. He was filled with jealousy. He could not stand it.
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Here we have two boys---one loved and one hated, one a hero and one an extra. Cain was the leader. Abel was the follower. Cain was the strong one. Abel was the weak one.
Now most of us would think that it should be Abel who resented Cain not the other way around. But Abel did not. He accepted his place in God's plan without complaint. Abel knew that the position we have on earth has nothing to do with our Father’s love in heaven. What a man owned, or how others looked at him did not make a difference to God. All that matters is what God thinks of us.
Cain’s sin was one which was basic to all of us. He was proud. He saw himself as God’s chosen instrument, and the thought of God choosing someone else was a thought he could not stand.
What is real faith? There are two faith stories. There is a secular, worldly faith and there is Biblical, Godly faith. j world is pushing a secular faith story, which in most cases obscures the Biblical view.
The secular faith story goes like this. We are strong. We are capable of doing great things. All we have to do is to believe in ourselves. We just need a little positive thinking. Whatever we set our minds to do, that is what we are.
Cain did not lack self confidence. From the earliest days he was told he was special, and his brother was not.
Abel represents Biblical faith. He had no illusions of competency. But his weakness turned out to be his strength. Instead of looking to himself. Abel looked to God. He knew he was unworthy. So he made a larger and deeper sacrifice. He offered a sheep, trusting God to give him another. Abel could have given a sacrifice similar to Cain's. He could have set aside some of the wool at sheep-shearing time, and burnt it before God. He had plenty. Besides he could be certain that the wool on his sheep would grow back.
The self confident express gratitude to God for what they have. But the God confident express their need for God to meet what they don’t have. They are willing to surrender to God everything, if it means gaining God’s favor and love.
We have a confidence that Abel did not have. We know that our redeemer lives. We know that if we give our live to him, he has already given His life for us. God accepted Abel's sacrifice, because it truly was a sacrfiioe. Cain's was only a light inconvenience..
Abel reminds us that it isn't what we do in life, it is who we do it for. If we do what we do for God, then God will reward us. But if we are rewarde dwy the whole world, and we do not have God's favor, then nothing matters anyway.
What was Abel's reward? First of all, he was rewarded by being the first man in heaven, and the forgiveness of his sins. His name was ascribed in the Bible, in the hall of fame of faith.
Cain's did not understand his own sinful nature. He denied that sin was a problem in his life, until he murdered his brother. His name became a curse upon him and his family forever. Instead of being the chosen child, Cain became a hunted man.
Faith is not for exceptional people. It is for ordinary people. Anyone who puts their faith in God, and takes hold of the sacrifice of Christ, can receive eternal life in the end. If we have confidence in ourselves, we fail. But if we have confidence in God, we succeed.

Faith

Hebrews 11:1-6 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

There has never ever been a better time to have faith than today.
Some people might dispute this. This is the age of skepticism. People are leaving churches in alarming numbers. In its place, they follow no religion--only a worldly materialism. Many of those who remain are troubled by doubt and wonder if it isn’t true that one religion is as good as another.
But all of this doesn’t make it a bad day for having faith. In fact, that is why it is a good day for faith. Sometimes it is all we have to count on.
In the next several weeks, we are going to be looking at what it means to ha ve faith. Our guide on this will be Hebrews 11, the "hall of fame of faith.”
Hebrews 11 begins Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Faith differs from belief. Any fool can believe in God. Belief is common, but faith is rare. Chances are good that as you read this, you believe. Very few people read religious articles or listen to a sermon will not at least believe something about God and Jesus. But that does not mean we act upon our belief. We may believe, but still worry about dying. We may believe God will provide, and still worry about our finances. We may believe God wants us to spread the Good News and we not act upon it. There is a huge gap between what we believe and what we have faith in. We believe, but God help us our unbelief.
Even so, it is a good day for faith.
What it always this way? Probably not. Never in history has this gap been so wide.
There are, I believe several reasons for this:
First, are our miraculous scientific advancements. Today all the miracles we see are scientific ones The scientific method has replaced faith. The result of this has been the advancement of human knowledge to the point that e have been able to produce secular miracles. The machines we have in our pocket and we take for granted would have been considered magic by our ancestors.
Second, is competition of world religions.. Thanks to the shrinking of the world through communication, we have knowledge of other religions. It is easy for us to think that our religion is no different. But if all faiths are the same, then no faith has any merit.
Third, is rampant materialism. Many proponents of the “health and wealth” gospel insist that if we just turn to Jesus, we’ll be rich and prosperous. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is not the case. In fact, many godless people are more prosperous than we are. When our faith fails, we look to things. We expect them to give us what God will not.
Fourth, are hidden sins. We live in a very private society, where no one outside of our homes know what we are doing or what we are watching. This was not always the case.Now there are dozens of hidden addictions which are sapping our faith--pornography, video games, television, shopping, to name a few. These addictions stand between us and God. They are a form of spiritual adultery. They replace God in our soul.
Fifth, is the frantic pace of life. There is no time to ghik about anything longer than the day. We must race on impulse, not on thoughtfulness. So we have no time to think about anything unseen. We are too busy reacting to what is right before us.
Remember, faith is acting on what we do not see. The more difficult faith becomes, the more pure it becomes.
Today many are losing their faith. But the faith they are losing is not true faith. It is a half-faith, based partially on belief in God and partially in believing in an old way of life that is disappearing. When that old way of life disappears, for many people so does their faith in God. But for those who continue on in faith, who trust in God in spite of their circumstances, they experience a deeper kind of faith than they have ever known.
Before coming to this church, I left a church with a large manse and a good salary, because I believed God wanted me to. It was frightening to say the least. Both of us had to find new jobs, and new ways to live. Like Abraham, we started off into the wilderness. We did not know what would be out there for us.
The very first day we arrived in our apartment in Pineville, I received a call from a pastor I did not know. He had heard about me, and wanted to check to see if I was all right. I had acquired a new friend. I went to the bookstore and got a job there. God provided in little pieces for us. In the story of Elijah, there is was a time when Elijah was out in the wilderness, and God fed him by ravens, dropping off their tiny loads of food. I felt like Elijah. We were walking not by sight but by faith. It was a most uncomfortable experience, but it was real.
In order to have true faith, we must lose our half faiths. We must put aside those props which keep us secure, so we can completely follow Him.
What are those props?
One is the Christian community. If we surrounded by those who have faith, then how will we even know when we don't? Our faith must be more than the faith of our fathers. It must be our own.
Another prop is our own strength. This shows up in our own expressions. "God helps those, who help themelves." If we are able to help ourselves, how do we know that God is helping? Trust in God, but keep your powder dry." Sure, God will defend us, but just in case God doesn't, we'd better be armed and ready. What we are doing is to imagine the world as an equal partnership between us and God, where he works only if we do, and he works only to the amount we do. There is no real room for faith in such a view. Faith that risks nothing, that costs nothing, that dares nothing is not faith. It is complacency.
A third prop is caution. We play it safe. We never take risks. Then we thank God that we haven’t had to risk anything.
Paul had no such timidity. He dove into his work with a reckless caution, trusting God would protect him,and he did. Jesus had no such caution. He mixed with the criminal element, yet never feared for his own safety. Peter had no such caution. He stayed with the Roman authorities—the same group that would later kill him. Yet he did it by faith, and God kept him safe until his work was done.
Toda is a great time for faith. Real faith begins when all reason for faith ends. It is standing on belief when there is nothing else to stand on. It is a leap, not a casual walk.
You don't have faith when you stand in the middle of the church to testify. But when you are stand on a street corner, and people all around you are shouting for you to sit down, yet you keep on testifying, then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you are wealthy and testify of God's blessings. But when you are poor, and you've been out of work for a year, and the bank is going to repossess your car, and you still thank God for His blessings, then you hfave faith.
You don't have faith when you love your friends. But when you love your enemies, as Christ loves them. then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you give God what you can afford. But when you give what you cannot afford, then you have faith.
You don't have faith when you praise God on Christmas Eve. But when the church is filled with strife, when Christians around you are judging you and acting like hypocrites, yet you still thank God for Him being there, then you have faith.
Faith is not reacting to what you can see. It is reacting to what you can't see.
One of my favorite testimonies of faith comes in the sixth chapter of John. Jesus had just said some difficult words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The people in the audience didn't know what he was talking about. They thought he was a nut and walked away. Even his own disciples didn't understand.
Then Jesus asked them if they will go too. They answer "Where else will we go? You only have the words which lead to eternal life."
That's faith. Nothing is going right, but they believe anyway.
Sometimes, faith is a desperate holding to what you believe to be true, even when everyone else says it is false. For generations, we have been denied the privilege of learning what faith truly is. We have not been comforted by faith, because we have no need no be comforted. We have not been strengthened by faith, because we have so many to strengthen us. It is only when there is no one, and no place else to go that we have to rely upon the evidence unseen and can enter the hall of fame of faith.