Hebrews Chapter 11 Verse 13

•What an clarifying statement for our day and age! This is concise biblical refutation of the Word of Faith Movement and the false Prosperity Gospel which both say that if you just have enough faith, you won’t be sick, you’ll be in perfect health and if you just have enough faith you will have that job, that husband, that car, that house, that jet! If you just say it, name it, claim it…if you just confess it you’ll be blessed with it…tell that to Abel, tell that to Abraham, Enoch, Sarah and Noah!

•They all died in faith, not receiving the promise, that is, the promise of the New Covenant, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit where no longer will the Lord look upon the Covenant of the Law, the Ten Commandments as the standard of all mankind but now looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of all faith, God writes His laws and ways and truth upon our minds and our hearts (Hebrews 8).

•These saints of old, renowned for their faith, died in it as well. These false teachers today would say, “impossible.” I would say this is strength. They saw God’s faithfulness and God’s goodness (how? By faith) and having seen they were assured, such that they embraced and confessed. Confessed what? That their prosperity is yet to come. The citizens of heaven realize that what we are looking for and craving is not to be found here…and so here, we’re a bit strange! Here is the proper word of faith…

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 14 – 16

•This is the proper declaration of faith! Name and claim this! A homeland yet to come!

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 17 – 19

•Abraham had received the promises? Yes and no. He was promised the son of promise…Issac but he had also been promised that from Issac would come a multitude of nations…yet when this occurred, Issac had no children. Here’s the proper perspective of faith, you have received all of the promises of God. Already! Well I still ain’t got no money, no man, no job, no fill in the blank…you may not have received tangibly, things may not have yet come to pass, but every beating heart has received the promises of God because we each have here with us today, the Word of God!

•Baffles me that folks don’t have time to read and educate themselves on the promises of God! God can’t lie! They will all come to pass and Abraham, this is so cool, these are details right here that we are not given in the Book of Genesis, Abraham was commanded to offer his son and yet God had already promised that Issac would have lots of little rugrats! So Abraham exercised his senses, and denied them!

•This is huge! He denies his senses because he had received the promises of God and He believed God at His word…and you know what happened…Isaac was spared! Abraham says to himself, “welp, even if I have to sacrifice him, God can raise him up…I’ll trust the miracle over my senses!” BOOM! Why? How? Isaac was a miracle in the first place! That’s what it means by, “from which he already received him in a figurative sense.” Such a huge point. Such a symptom of faith…to truth God at His word over your own carnal, finite, human, limited rationality, logic and senses…and watch the faith spread to generations because of it…

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 20 – 22

•Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph…generations!

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verse 23

•I love this! Key point! I’ve made this before! If God is for me, then who can be against me. By faith…not afraid. Because senses are second and God’s promises harbor the trust of my heart! Psalm 118:6, “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” The Lord is on my side…how? Because I am on His! He shows no partiality towards men…He’s not on my side and not on my enemy’s! God simply is…it is us who decide are we on His side or not…not the other way around…

•And when we choose His side, His promises, His word, His truth, His way then automatically He is on our side! Faith has arrived and fear has no place…because He who promised is faithful! Psalm 56:11, “In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” By faith, they were not afraid, and neither should we be!

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 24 – 26

•What? Did you hear that!? Moses was like WAY Old Testament! How could he, “esteem the reproach of Christ?” Because he (well he had met the I AM), even Moses, understood his need for a savior. That he was an unrighteous sinner. That God is good…and so to be made well, well someone else was gonna have to carry that load…because he couldn’t. How were people in the Old Testament saved? Same way they are saved today…placing their faith in Jesus Christ…and what did that look like? What does that look like today…when it’s put on display?

•Choosing eternal advantage over immediate advantage! That is the mark of faith…the mark of hope…and the earthly result? Strength in love, man!! (remember a few weeks back? Hope, the root of hope is faith and the fruit of hope is love…!?) When your heart is trusting in the homeland yet to come…you are free to move about the matrix man!!!!! Watch this!

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 27

•Forsaking Egypt. Just as the Christian forsakes this world…

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 28 – 34

•Faith is not always going to bring you tremendous triumph over the enemy…but…faith, I’m talking about true faith…will sustain you through any kind of trial that life brings. We all want this tangible triumph kind of faith but I am most certainly also interested in the faith that will see me through hardship and temptation…suffering and even severe testing…

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 35 – 38

•The fallacy of the faith movement today is seen so very clearly in correct doctrine. That physical victory is not the victory that Jesus achieved on the cross. He in fact lost that battle on the cross as He breathed His last…but three days later, His spirit raised Him from the dead! We mustn’t think of God that our faith equals His actions…our faith equals our actions…our faith places us on God’s side…God is simply God…

•John the Baptist was faithful as all get out. Jesus called Him the greatest of all the prophets, and yet he was beheaded by Herod. Stephen’s faith was so potent that it commanded his eyes to see the heavenly realm even as he stood on the surface of the earth, and yet he was stoned to death…true faith, biblical faith is other-worldly powerful but don’t buy the lie that it is always immediate advantage…it is eternal advantage!

Hebrews Chapter 11 Verses 39 – 40

•Two promises. One they hadn’t tangibly received and one we haven’t tangibly received. Theirs - The New Covenant…they all died assured that the Savior was coming, embraced that God was sufficient for them and confessed that with their lives and yet one more coming promise for us all…resurrection. Because He resurrected.

•Consider this as we close…, “Something better for us…” To have seen the Red Sea part would have been amazing. To have watched the walls of Jericho fall would have been outstanding. To have seen the mouths of lions stopped would have been shocking and fascinating…but to see my life result from grace through faith…to see someone walk by faith…even more significant and powerful!

•Don’t give up. Don’t believe the lie that God is not good. God is good! Sometimes when you type there are no letters and I get so frustrated so I just pound the keyboard but then…there they all are…HA! Dumb example but know this…by faith, filled with the grace and love of God, this world is not worthy of you…by sight, senses, emotions, impulses and fleshly needs…you are not even worthy of this world…and its probably defeating you…God would have you soar!