The Patriarchs' Faith, Part 1

If you were with us last week, you are a week older than you were then. In fact, we are getting older every day. We don't have any choice in that matter. Every day you wake up, you are older than the day before. And so we have no choice in that.

But I was reminded this past week of what it means to be old. Old folks are worth a fortune. They have silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet, and gas in their stomachs. The person wrote, "I have become a little older since I saw you last, and a few changes have come into my life since then. Frankly, I have become quite frivolous in my old age. I am seeing five gentlemen a day. As soon as I wake up, Will gets me out of bed. Then I go and I see John. Then Charlie Horse comes along, and when he is there, he takes a lot of my time and attention. When he arrives, or when he leaves, excuse me, Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. He doesn't like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint. After such a busy day, I'm really tired and glad to go to bed with Ben Gay. What a life. P.S. The preacher came to call the other day. He said, 'At my age, I should be thinking about the hereafter.' I told him, 'oh, I do that all the time. No matter where I am, in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen, or down in the basement, I ask myself, what am I here after?'"

Every one of us is getting older. But that's really not the issue. The issue truly is: are we becoming more and more mature? Age, we can't help. Maturity is a choice. And we choose to grow in our walk with the Lord.

Today, we embark in a series of verses in Hebrews 11 that talk to us about all these old people. And there was something unique about their lives that teach us how to live our lives. It's almost as if the writer of Hebrews integrated in this section hope for everyone. Especially to the audience in which he is addressing, that somehow we might understand the essence of maturity. Because, like every person, as we get older, we want to finish well. We want to finish on a high note. It's not really how you begin your Christian walk, although that's crucial. It's how you end. And do you finish well? Do you finish strong? Do you finish in a way that those who come behind you will see you faithful and true?

Well, these people in Hebrews lived a long time, a lot longer than you and I live today. And so their faith was with them for a long period of time, their whole life. And they show us something unique about their faith. This morning I'm going to give you seven words, and hopefully I can get through them all. I probably won't. But seven words that will describe for you how it is these patriarchs finished well. These patriarchs give us a pattern on how to live by faith.

Let me read the section to you, and then we'll break it down piece by piece. It says, "All these died in faith without receiving the promises." By the way, this is verse 13 of Hebrews 11. "But having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own and indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is They desire a better country, that is the heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

This set of verses, once I began to study them once again this past week, unfold for us such a terrific pattern on how to live by faith. What is it that made these patriarchs, it says, "all these," all these who? These who came before, Sarah, Abraham, along with Isaac and Jacob, and we'll study more about them as time goes on, but even Abel, Enoch, Noah. All these were unique individuals. There was something about them that set them apart from everybody else. And quite frankly, there are many people in the Old Testament you could put in this category. But the writer of Hebrews doesn't cover everybody, just the ones that through the inspired word from the living God, he puts here. And so we're able to understand some of the greatness of their faith.

As Romans fifteen says, we read it to you last week. It says, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope." I want to give you hope this morning as you look at the word of the Lord. He says these words in verse 5: "Now may the God who gives perseverance. May the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus." That leads us to our first point in Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 13.

First phrase says, "All these died in faith." That tells us that they had a certain kind of faith. They had a persistent faith. A persevering faith. They never quit. Think about it this way. If it was written on your tombstone, "he or she died in faith." What a great testimony, right? Well, that's the testimony of the patriarchs. All these died in faith. To die outside of the faith is to face eternal torment. But to die in faith is to face eternal blessing. The remarkable thing about these individuals is that they all died in faith. They all died believing in the promises of God. They all died believing what God said and behaving accordingly to what God said.

Now, were they perfect? No, they weren't perfect. We saw Sarah last week. We saw Abraham the time before that. If you go back and read about Noah and him becoming drunk, there are so many things you can read about these people that tell you they weren't perfect people, but they were progressing people, right? You should always be progressing in your walk with the Lord because Christianity is not necessarily about perfection as much as it's about progression and direction, that you're moving the right way. And you're moving that way for the glory and honor of God.

And all these people died in faith because they lived a progressive lifestyle. That is, they were maturing in their walk with the Lord as they grew older. Their faith was persistent. And I think the writer of Hebrews puts this in here simply because of how we study the book of Hebrews and realize all the warning passages. In this book, where the writer of Hebrews would tell them that Christ is supreme and Christ is superior, you need to come to faith. Don't apostatize the faith. Don't, having received the knowledge of the truth, now turn away from that. Because you see, these patriarchs didn't do that. They didn't apostatize the faith. They didn't fully and finally fall away from the truth so as to denounce the God they served. All these died in faith because their faith was a persistent faith.

Paul would say to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 that he needed to endure hardship. He needed to do the work of an evangelist. You need to keep preaching and teaching the Word of God. And then he concludes by saying, "I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. And I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." Paul would die in faith. He was one who kept the faith. All the way to the end. Why? We just read in Romans 15: God grants you persistence, He grants you perseverance. That's why you continue on.

Why is it some don't? Do people lose their salvation? Do they lose their faith? No. You can't lose the gift that God has granted to you, the gift that God keeps by his own power. So you ask, then why did people turn away from the faith? Why do they fall away from the faith? It's because they weren't true believers to begin with. And Christ would talk about that. He would talk about that in the book of Matthew when he began to teach in parables. And this was not too early on in his ministry, but fairly early in his ministry, as he began to talk in parables, and the disciples asked him why, and he explained to them why. But the very first parable he gives is the parable about the sower and the soil. Because he needed to know how the word of God would be spread during the kingdom age. How people will receive the word in the kingdom age.

It talks about the hard soil, he talks about the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. To sum up, only one of the soils is really saved because they produce fruit, both some 30 and some 60, some 100 fold, but the other soils they don't produce fruit, but they look like they are of the faith or they are in faith because they receive the word with joy. But the Bible does say this as he interprets it. He says, "The one on whom the seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no firm root in him, but is only temporary. And when affliction and persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away, immediately apostasizes."

Having known the truth, having heard the truth, he jumps on a Jesus bandwagon. But when persecution comes because of the word, when affliction comes because of the word, they don't stay. They're not going to stay in for that. They want to preserve their own life. Then he says this "and the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world, and the deceitfulness of wealth, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."

There are those who fall prey to the deceitfulness of riches, to the distraction of the world, because it does distract you, the worries of the world. It means to be divided. And because of those things, the lure of the world becomes so dear to them, they just can't continue on with Christianity, because the world just pulls them back in, and they love the world so much. They never really truly believe because God grants perseverance, Romans 15:5. And if God grants persistence, then he motivates you and enables you to persist in the faith. It doesn't mean your faith is always going to be perfect. It's always going to be just so. There's going to be times you fail, or sometimes you fail miserably, like Peter failed miserably. But what did Christ say? "But Peter, I've prayed for you. That when you return, you'll be able to strengthen your brethren."

Very important because the Bible tells us. In John 17, 11, when Jesus prayed, he prayed, "Lord, keep them in your name." And when Christ prays, because he is God and all his prayers are righteous prayers, they're always answered with a yes. "Keep them in your name. Protect them. Watch over them." Not just the disciples of his day, but for all of us who come to saving faith.

Remember what it says over in the book of Colossians. Chapter 1, verse number 21. "And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds." This is before you were saved. "Yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through his death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." In other words, you were this way. But because of his death, he reconciled you to himself. He brought you to him that he might present you holy and blameless. But then he says this. "If indeed you continue in faith. If indeed you continue in faith," all these Hebrews 11 died in faith. They continued in faith. Paul says in Colossians 1, Christ has reconciled you to himself, that he might present you holy and blameless before him, beyond reproach, "if or since you continue in the faith."

It says this "Firmly established, steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister." Paul says very clearly, how do you know you're in the faith? You continue in the faith. That's how you know. You don't fall away from the faith. You don't apostatize the faith. You don't turn your back and run away from the faith. And that's what's remarkable about the patriarchs. They don't have nearly what you and I have. Abraham didn't have God's word to read. What did he have? He had God coming to him and speaking to him, calling him, appearing to him in Genesis chapter 18 in the form of a man and speaking to him. He had to wait for God to show up and talk to him. He didn't have the entire Word of God like we have, the inspired truth. And yet he was able to continue in faith. All these died in faith, and they had less of an encouragement than you and I have. So what would prevent us from continuing in the faith unless, unless we heard the word? jumped on the Jesus bandwagon thinking that everything was going to be hunky-dory, but when push comes to shove and I'm persecuted for my faith, I turn my back and run away, or because of the distraction of the world or the deceitfulness of wealth. I love that so much. I fall away. Like Demas in 2 Timothy 4, verse number 10. "Demas has forsaken me because he's loved the present world." He loved this present world.

Way back when we started Hebrews 11, we talked to you about faith and what is faith. We told you that faith always commences with the Christ. He is the initiator of your faith. That faith, once commences with the Christ, is sought after by you and me sincerely. "When you seek me, you'll find me when you search for me with all your heart." And that faith is only received through the revelation of the gospel. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word concerning the Christ."

That faith is characterized by conviction, deep conviction. It's witnessed in works, and then we told you: faith promises to always persevere. Always persevere because it's a faith granted to you by God. It's a gift. It's a gift to believe. It's a gift of salvation. It's a gift of grace. And God grants you the gift to persevere. God granted all these patriarchs that great gift to persevere. And they had to persevere in situations and circumstances that none of us have to face today, and without all the information, without all the inspiration of God's Word to motivate us and to keep us on track. These things were written, Paul says, for our instruction, that through perseverance and encouragement of Scripture we would have hope. This is our hope.

Think about it. All these died in faith. They persisted all the way to the end. They didn't fail because God would preserve them. They finished well. Abraham finished well. Sarah finished well. Enoch, Noah, Abel, Isaac, Jacob. Rahab, Joseph, Daniel, they finished well because they finished in faith. And so here's the point. They provide a pattern for us on how to persist in faith.

Now, the question comes. How did they do that? That's point number two. Not only did they persist in faith, but they were patient in faith. Look what it says. "All these died in faith without receiving the promises." What patience? What patience? That is, there were promises given to them that they did not receive. But they didn't, it doesn't mean they didn't receive any of the promises. I mean, Noah had the promise of the coming judgment, right? And so for 120 years, he built a boat. It began to rain. The judgment came. That was a promise given to God: "I am going to judge the world. I promise you that." Then he gave the rainbow at the end of the flood, saying they would never destroy the world again with the flood. He's going to do it with fire, but not with the flood. And so he makes these promises, but they didn't receive all the promises.

Abraham, he received the promise of the seed, but it was 25 years later. He received the word about the promise at age 75, but it wasn't until he was 100 that Isaac was born. That takes patience. That takes the ability to bear up under pressure. Because there was pressure from his wife. We talked about it several weeks last week. And fellas, you know that when your wife is pressuring you, I mean, you got to bear up under that, right? Because she can pressure you from all different directions. And Abraham had to bear up under that pressure. He had to bear up under the pressure of a promise that was given that had yet not been fulfilled. What do I do? He had to wait for God to show up and talk to him about the promise again. Until 25 years later, the promise was realized. But all those inheritances, he was promised that he'd be a father of a multitude of people. Well, those people weren't born yet. He never saw that fulfillment. He was in the promised land, the land of Canaan. That's the great thing, right? But the king that would sit on the throne in that land, he never received, and the seed that would come from Isaac, the Messiah. But yet, yet they trusted, they believed. Because they had a patient kind of faith. Not only was it persistent faith, it was a patient faith. They had to wait. And they had to wait longer and longer. And all these died without receiving the fullness of their promises.

Now, think about that. We always live in anticipation of something. And they were living in anticipation of the coming king. That's why the Bible says these words. In Hebrews chapter 10, "let us consider, oh, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." So the writer of Hebrews is telling his Hebrew audience, "hold fast, because he who promised is faithful." And then he says in Hebrews 11: "listen, all these patriarchs died in faith. Not having received all the promises, and yet they remained faithful and true to their God." What a powerful statement. Didn't give in. And yet the temptations were great. Aren't they not great for us? Sure, they are. There's always that temptation to give in because patience is a virtue, right? But yet, we are so impatient. So impatient. You know, we hold in our hand cell phones that give us information at the click of a button. We can find out anything in a moment. We don't have to wait for anything. So patience is not a part of our living experience. But faith-like existence is a patient kind of existence. And they had to wait.

So Satan comes and tempts you with saying, "You don't have to wait. You can receive joy right now." Remember when Satan tempted Christ? "Don't go to the cross. Why go through all that pain? I'll give you the kingdoms of the world right now. Just bow down and worship me, and you won't have to go to the cross. You won't have to bear anybody's sin. You can just live for me, and guess what? I'll give you everything. It'll be great." Always that temptation to take the shortcut, to take the easy way out.

But Christ did not succumb to temptation, providing us an example through the quoting of Scripture and the memorization of the Word of God, which, of course, his word was that. So anything he said would be the word of God. But the important thing is that Satan comes after us. We need to be aware of that. Become strong. He doesn't want you to be patient. He doesn't want your faith to be patient. He wants you to compromise your faith. So, you know what he does? I've told you this before. Let me reiterate it for you. He really wants you to care about the things of the world. He wants you to care about what's going on in the world. He wants you to care so much about the world that you become companioned with the world. James warns us of that, James chapter 4, verse number 4, where he says, "He who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God."

But as parents, we want to make sure that our children don't become enraptured with the cares of this world, so much so that they become companioned with the world. Because if you become companioned with the world, you will then become contaminated by the world. And James again would speak to that. In James 1:27, he said, "Pure religion and undefiled before the Father is this: that you visit the widows and orphans in their affliction, and you keep yourself unspotted, uncontaminated by the world." But if you become companioned with the world, you eventually will become contaminated by that world. It happens that way. You can't involve yourself in the stench of the world without stinking like the world. It just happens.

And so when you train your children, parents, you teach them not to become companioned with the world, because you'll become soon contaminated by the world, and if you are contaminated by the world, you then will be conformed to that world, right? You'll be shaped in the image of the world. That's why Paul says in Romans 12: "and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."

It's so easily, or so easy for us to be conformed to the things of the world because we become contaminated by the things of the world. Because we've become companioned to the things of the world. That's why John said, or Christ said through the pen of the Apostle John, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. They're not of the Father, but of the world, and the world is passing away in the lust thereof. But he who does the will of God abides forever."

There's a love God hates, and that's when you love the world. Why? Because if you love the world, you're going to become companioned with the world. You'll become contaminated by that world. You'll become conformed to that world. And if you're conformed to it, guess what? You're then controlled by the world. You become controlled by the things of the world. That was Demas in 2 Timothy 4, verse number 10. He left me because he loved this present world. He was controlled by it. It moved him.

When you look at your children and you raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, you ask yourself, how much do my children care about the things of the world? Or do they care about the things of God? Do they care about the things of the church? Do they care about the things of the gospel? Or do they care about the things of the world? Do they care about the music of the world more than the music of the church? Do they care more about the entertainment of the world than the enlightenment that comes from the church? Because if they do, they'll soon become companioned with the world. And if they get so close in that companionship, they'll be contaminated by the world. If they're contaminated by it, they'll be conformed to it. And if conformed to it, they'll be controlled by it.

That's why Paul says, "1 Corinthians 11, examine yourself. Why? Because if you're controlled by it, you don't want to be condemned along with it. 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says, "Judge yourself, examine yourself, to see if you're in the faith. Because if you judge yourself properly, you won't be condemned along with the world." You've got to examine your life. Where are you in your walk with the Lord? Where are you in your stand for the Lord? Are you true and pure to the Word of God? Because if you're controlled by it, conformed to it, contaminated by it, because you care so much about it, you're probably going to be condemned along with it.

So there needs to be a conversion from it. You need to be converted from the world. That's what conversion, for lack of a better word, therapy is all about. It's conversion theology, it's about transforming a soul that follows God and serves God and honors God. Think about this. These men, these women didn't care so much about the world that they wouldn't die in faith. God had given them strict orders to live a certain way, to eat certain food, to dress a certain way, because "I don't want you to be associated with anything of the world. I don't want you to be controlled by the things of the world. I want you to be distinctly and uniquely separate from the world. This is how you've got to be. If you get too close to it, it's going to corrupt you. Don't do it."

So he gave them all these laws to abide by. They didn't follow them. They just loved the world. The lure of paganism was great. Idol worship was unbelievable, and they gave into it so easily. But these patriarchs, they were different. They were persistent in their faith. They were patient in their faith. The world offers you instant satisfaction. "In a moment, you can have this joy. In a moment, you can have this relationship. In a moment, you could have this experience. Experience it now." And it draws us and it lures us to follow after the temptations of this world. But these patriarchs. They didn't receive the promises. They were given the promises, but they didn't receive them all. But they longed for them. They waited for them. They were patient enough to wait upon them. They had a patient kind of faith. That's the kind of faith that you and I need to have.

How'd they do that? If their faith was persistent, it was persistent because it was patient. If their faith is patient, it was patient because they had a proper perspective. They gave us the perspective on faith. Look what it says. Still, verse number 13. "All these died in faith without receiving the promise, but having seen them," whoa, they saw something, they had a unique perception. They had a unique perspective. They could see what others didn't see. That's why they died in faith. That's why they were patient upon not receiving the promises because they saw the promises from a distance. They saw the promises from afar. It says in Hebrews 11, these words: it says, very clearly, "but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance," wow, they saw them from a far way away.

The Bible says in Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Faith gives you a unique perception, a unique perspective. Faith allows you to see that which is unseen by the natural eye. You see it with a spiritual eye. That's why Paul says, "Set your affections on things above, not on things below. Keep your focus attended above. See what others don't see in the faith."

Over in John's Gospel, in John chapter 14, Christ said these words. He says, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. After a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father. And I will love him. And I will disclose myself to him. I will manifest myself to him. You will see me." Wow. Not only am I going to be in you, not only will my Father be in you, take up our abode in you, but you're going to see what others don't see. You're going to see me because you see God with a spiritual eye, not a natural eye, a physical eye.

All these died in faith because they could see what others didn't see. That's what faith does, it gives you a unique perception. That's why Paul said in Ephesians chapter 1, these words: "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." I want the eyes of your heart to be able to see what I see, the riches of his glory. Because you see, for the believer, everything is an inheritance down the road. It doesn't mean that we don't receive blessings now. We do. God grants us all kinds of blessings on this earth. It begins with grace and forgiveness. It begins with the blessing of honoring him and he honoring you. But the fullness of all those promises are in glory.

And the patriarchs, they understood that. And they had a unique perspective. That is so important. Remember in John 8:56, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day." How does he see Christ's day? Well, if we talk about Abraham and Isaac, if we talk about the sacrifice of Mount Moriah and how Christ would provide a lamb as a substitute. Abraham would rejoice to see the day of Christ's sacrifice on behalf of him and his sins. But he could only see that with a spiritual eye. The natural eye doesn't see that, but Abraham rejoiced to see my day, Christ says.

You see, there's something unique about seeing things from God's perspective. Think about the Israelites in Numbers chapter 13 and Numbers chapter 14. Of the twelve spies that went into the promised land, there were two who saw God, and there were ten who saw giants. But the two who saw God received the promise. The ten who saw the giants did not. How about David and Goliath? Israel again saw Goliath, but David saw God. God was bigger than Goliath, but Israel was afraid of Goliath because that's all they saw. But David had eyes of faith and saw the Lord God of Israel.

When Israel is asked to march around Jericho every day for seven days, and seven times on the seventh day, people couldn't see how they would ever conquer the city. But Joshua knew how they would conquer the city. Because he could see with the eyes of faith. These patriarchs in Hebrews chapter 11, this is how they lived their lives. The question comes, how do I get there? How do I be able to see what they see? What hinders me from seeing those things? What keeps me from having a proper perspective like the patriarchs had? They had a persistent faith. They had a patient faith, and they had a perspectival faith. But how is it they could see without having what we have today? And what hinders us from seeing those things? That's next week.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word, the truth that it is, and our prayer, Lord, is that we would live for the glory and honor of your name. Father, help us to see in these patriarchs their faith, how they continued in the faith, how they were able to see what others didn't see, believe what others didn't believe, and how you've put them in the Scriptures to hold them up as examples, as a pattern for how our faith is to be. And our prayer, Lord, is that you do a mighty work in all of our lives. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.