The Patriarchs' Faith, Part 2

Hebrews 11 verses 13 to 16 is our text, looking at the patriarchs, the pattern of faith. How is it they lived their lives to set a pattern for you and me to follow?

The Bible says these words in Hebrews 11, verse number 13: "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, 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 a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them."

A beautiful passage of scripture that sets for us a pattern on how we are to walk by faith and not by sight. That's what the patriarchs of old did. We told you last week it wasn't a perfect faith, but it was a progressive faith. They matured in their walk with the Lord. They honored the Lord as they would serve him. And it's important for us to understand their example, the one they set for us.

Why? Romans 15:4 tells us that it's all about the things from old have been set forth for us, not just for our instruction, but that through the perseverance and encouragement of Scripture, we might have hope. This gives us hope. Why? 1 Timothy 4:12. Paul told Timothy, "Timothy, need to set yourself up as an example, a pattern on how to walk by faith. Not just a pattern in your speech, not just a pattern in your conduct, not just a pattern in your purity and your love, but a pattern in your faith. People need to know what it means to be faithful, what it means to be committed and trustworthy, what it means to walk by faith. Timothy, you need to set a pattern there."

Well, the patriarchs give us a pattern. And as a parent, I want to be able to have a pattern that I can pass down to my children. So, my children will look back one day and say, "My father, my mother, they walked by faith and not by sight. They trusted God more than they trusted anything or anyone else," and give them encouragement as they seek to walk by faith in their journey.

And so the Bible tells us, told you last week, we covered three main points. First of all, their faith was a persistent faith. A persistent faith. The Bible says that these all died in faith. In other words, they finished well. They went all the way to the end. Their faith was not fragile. Their faith was formidable. It was foundational. And therefore, they all died in faith. They died believing everything they understood about their God.

That's why Paul says over in First Corinthians 15, verse number one: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel, which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved. If you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." Paul says, "I preached to you the gospel, the gospel in which you stand, the gospel in which you are saved if, if." What you have believed is true. If what you committed to him, you really did so. Are you walking by faith? Are you living by faith?

Why? It's not what I do to keep me saved. God saves me. God keeps me, right? But what happens is that that's clearly evident in the life that I live. And that's the way it was with the patriarchs. Their faith was persistent. It continued on. It didn't quit. It stayed strong all the way to the end so they could finish well. It was a persistent faith.

And why was it a persistent faith? Because it was, number two, a patient faith. The text says very clearly: "all these died of faith without receiving the promises." They didn't receive the promises. But yet they still bore up under all the pressure, were able to stand strong amidst all the difficulties. They were able to stand strong according to the faith. They were patient in their faith. They didn't receive everything that was promised. It wasn't that they didn't receive anything that was promised. They just didn't receive all the promises.

But let me give you a hint. Remember, way back in Genesis chapter 15, when the Lord God says to Abraham, he says: "After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not fear, Abram. I am a shield to you. Your reward shall be very great.'" In other words, he says, "Abraham, there's no need to be afraid. Why? Because I am your shield, and I am your very great reward."

God makes it very clear for Abraham to understand that, listen, you might not receive in your lifetime the soil or the seed, the Son. But you'll always have me. That was the greatest fulfillment of any promise. He had the Lord. He had the Lord God of Israel. He possessed God. God wanted Abraham to understand: "I am the reward. Yes, I've promised you a land, I promised you a multitude of descendants from your loins, that will dwell in that land. But what's more important than all of that, Abraham, is me. I am your very great reward."

Paul could say, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I live for Christ. I don't live for all the promises that Christ is going to give me because when I die, I'll receive all those promises. I live for Christ. Christ is enough." For the patriarchs, God was enough. That's what they needed to survive from day to day. So, they could have a persistent faith because they had a patient faith. They could wait for the promises because they had the ultimate promise in God Himself.

So their faith was persistent, their faith was patient, and the third thing we showed you is that their faith was perceptive. It was perceptive. The text says very clearly: "all these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them." How do they see them? Well, not with a physical eye, because if they hadn't received them, they couldn't see them, except they could see them with a spiritual eye. They could see them based on what God had told them. They believed absolutely. They behaved accordingly. That's what trusting obedience is. That's what faith is. And they believed, having not seen them, but yet, or not received them, but they saw them from a distance, from afar.

It says, not only did they see them, it says in verse number 14, they are seeking a country of their own. Back up in verse 10, Abraham was looking for a city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God. The reason they could have a patient faith, the reason they could have a persistent faith, is because they had a perceptive faith. They could see what others didn't see.

Sort of like Paul in Acts chapter 21. Remember, he's in Caesarea. He's at Philip's house. And Agabas, a prophet, comes to the house. And it says these words: "And we were staying there for some days. A prophet named Agabas came down from Judea, and coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, 'This is what the Holy Spirit says. In this way, the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go to Jerusalem. Not to go to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, 'What are you doing, weeping, and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.' And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, 'The will of the Lord be done.'"

Paul had a vision. He could see what they could not see. All they could see was pain, turmoil, imprisonment, death. Paul saw Christ, the gospel, people being saved. He also knew that God had declared in Acts 9 that he would bring the gospel before kings. Well, if that's the case, he's got to be before kings. And so he says, "listen, my life's irrelevant. Listen, God has a plan for me. Don't worry about my life. Don't worry about my death. God has called me to do this. Therefore, I'm going."

All they could see was pain, difficulty, death, and disaster. But Paul saw something different. Why? Because he saw with the eyes of faith. This is where we left off last week. And so, I asked you last week: what hinders my sight? What keeps me from seeing the things that Paul saw? Or the two spies, Joshua and Caleb, versus the ten spies, who saw only disaster and defeat by the giants in the promised land. But Joshua and Caleb saw God, not giants. What hinders my sight? What keeps me from seeing the unseen, believing the invisible, as Moses did, and we'll study his life down the road? What hinders my sight?

Well, glad you asked, because Peter answers that question for us. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. And listen to what Peter says, and we're going to show you why it is you can't see what others see. Listen, without perceptive faith, you won't have a patient faith. Without patient faith, you won't have a persistent faith. So you must see what God wants you to see.

Remember Proverbs 29:18? "Without a vision, the people perish." Without a vision, the people are unrestrained. If you don't see what God sees, people will be out of control. But the word for vision in Hebrew is translated revelation. So without a revelation, the people are unrestrained. Therefore, the revelation of God helps us see what needs to be seen. Without God's word, we don't know what to do. We can't walk by faith. We'll walk by sight. Need to walk trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, how do we do that? Well, that means we have a persistent, patient, perceptive faith. But what hinders my sight? Peter, 2 Peter 1. "Simon Peter, a bondservant," verse number 1, "an apostle of Jesus Christ. To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours." In other words, he's writing to people who received faith. Faith is a gift, right? You don't muster up faith. Faith is granted to you by God. That's why faith persists. That's why faith is patient. That's why faith is perceptive. God grants you the ability to walk by faith. It's a gift that He gives you. Grace is a gift, belief is a gift, salvation is a gift, repentance is a gift, faith is a gift.

So, Peter makes it very, very evident that this is a faith that you've received, just like ours, that he says this: "By the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

"Now, for this very reason, also, applying all diligence in your faith." Now, stop right there. Peter says you need to apply all diligence in your faith. The word diligence, spude, which means zeal, urgency, energy, right? Proverbs 12:27, "man's most precious possession is what? His diligence." The most precious possession you have is diligence. It's a disciplined attitude.

And so, therefore, because of that, Peter says, "I need you to apply all diligence in your faith." This is what Paul says in Philippians 2:12 and 13, when he says that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because it's God who is at work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. So God's at work in you, but yet there's a part of us, from the human side, that is disciplined and diligent and pursuing the things that God wants me to pursue because He gives me the energy to do those things.

So Peter is saying, "listen, you need to be diligent in your faith. You need to be zealous. Energized. You need to be on fire." So many times we can't see what God wants us to see because we're just boring, dull people. I'm not so sure that that coincides with Christianity. I don't understand that. I never understand people that are always down and boring and non-exciting. How can you be a Christian and not be excited? I don't understand that. I don't get that.

So, Paul is saying, or Peter's saying, "listen, I need you to add diligence to your faith." So he makes it very clear. "Now, this is the very reason also applying all diligence in your faith, supplying." Explain what? This is what you're going to do. You're going to be diligent in adding or supplying these virtues. What are these virtues? What am I doing? The word supply is the word used of a choir master who would make sure that all the provisions necessary for the choir to perform were there. It's like a coach. He provides all the equipment necessary for the team to play.

And that's what happens. In your faith, you are going to add all the necessary provisions, spiritually speaking, so that your faith flourishes. That your faith is exciting, and you're going to be diligent in doing this. You're going to add to your faith, not that you're going to make it stronger or better, but you are going to make it fruitful. And you are going to make it abundant because you are working out your salvation with fear and trembling, but it's God who's at work in you, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. Both are true.

And so, Peter makes it very clear: "Supply moral excellence. Supply valor." That's the word. Valor. Bravery. Courage. You're a man of faith. Live like it. Be courageous. Not weak. Be strong. Add moral excellence, add bravery, add courage, add valor, add that.

And then he says this: "And to your moral excellence, knowledge," gnosis, the understanding, the practicality of wisdom. Don't just be brave and courageous, but add to that knowledge, the understanding of who God is and what He does and how you are to live and behave in every situation.

And then He says this: "And to your knowledge, self-control." Get a grip on your life. Listen, everybody look this way just for one second. How do you know you know? How do you know you know God? You got self-control. That's how you know. You add to your knowledge self-control. Self-control is a byproduct of knowing God. Get a grip on your own life. Well, you can't get a grip on your life if you don't know God. You must know who He is and what He's done.

The byproduct of really knowing God is not about how much you know intellectually, how much information you can gather about God. Satan has all the information about God much more than all of us have. He's much more intelligent than any of us are about God, but he doesn't know God, see? See, to know God means He rubs off on you in such a way he affects every part of your life. If you have an arena in your life that's out of control, you don't know God as well as you think you do. Because God's not controlling that area of your life because you don't either want Him to or you really don't know Him like you should.

Because once you know God, look at Joseph. He knew God. Daniel, he knew God, right? And it enabled them to stand strong against temptation and difficulties and hardship that came their way. They knew their God. They lived lives of control, self-control. They got a grip on their lives. And Peter is saying, "listen, you need to supply everything necessary for your faith. That is, add to your faith moral excellence. Add your faith, knowledge. To knowledge, self-control. To self-control, perseverance."

Hupo monet, to bear up under. Then add to your perseverance, what? Godliness ten times in the pastoral epistles because it speaks of reverence that we are to have for the living God. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness, affection for others. And in your brotherly kindness, love, agape. The true self-sacrifice of giving yourself away. You can't give yourself away if you're out of control. You can't give yourself away if you don't know God. You can't give yourself away if you don't persevere into pressure. You can't give yourself away if you're not adding to your faith valor and bravery.

And then he says, this: follow carefully. "For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." In other words, you want to live a fruitful life, not a fruitless life. "For he who lacks these qualities," what's the next phrase, "is blind, short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins."

If these things aren't evident in your life, you're going to be blind. You won't have a perceptive faith because you're not in control, because you're not very much up under pressure. Why? Because you're not diligent. You're not high energy when it comes to your faith. And you need to be. If these things aren't being added to your life, not only are you going to be fruitless, you're going to be short-sighted. You're going to be blind. You're not going to see the promises of God. You're not going to see what God has for you. These things need to be evident.

Then he goes on to say this: "For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more what? Diligent." Twice he uses that word. My friend, listen, you need to step it up. We all need to step it up. We are so laxadaisical in our faith. We kind of skate through life and we just kind of some days trust God, don't trust God, live by faith, not live by faith. There is nothing high energy about our walk with God. There needs to be high energy. There needs to be fire about your life. There needs to be strength about your life. Valor, patience, self-control. Why? Because with diligence, with urgency, with zeal, you function. See, and so many times we don't do that. We get so lazy spiritually, and it affects everything around us, my friends.

Peter says, "be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling you." Now you got to really be diligent. Are you sure he called you? Are you sure you're in the faith? Are you sure you know the Lord? If you're not adding these things to your faith, if you're not multiplying these things, if they're not evident in your life, you've got to make sure about your calling. Maybe you weren't called. Maybe you didn't respond to the call. In other words, maybe you really don't know the Lord.

These things, listen, are not conditions for salvation. They are characteristics of those who are saved. Big difference. These don't are not the conditions that save a person, but they do characterize the person who's born again. And so he says this: "Make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. For in this way, the answers into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you."

Wow. Peter's on fire here. Now, we know about Peter, right? And we know about how he denied our Lord, and we know how boastful and arrogant he was, but God humbled him, and God changed his life. But Peter was a man of faith. He was a man of persistent faith. He was a man of patient faith. He was a man of perceptive faith. He didn't want people being blinded and short-sighted. He wanted them to be able to understand and grasp the promises of God.

The patriarchs, they were able to function in a way that most people can't function because they were able to see things from afar and welcome them. So listen, listen carefully. This is so good. A persistent faith is persistent because it's a patient faith. A patient faith is patient because it's a perceptive faith. Ah, but a perceptive faith is perceptive because it is a passionate faith.

Look what it says. Look what it says: "All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance." Okay? "Having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, they were seeking," verse number 14. "They were thinking," verse number fifteen. "They desired a better country." "They were looking," verse number 10, right? They understood something. There was a passion about their lives. They desired something other than this earth. They desire something more than this world.

Listen, so many of us are so enamored by the things of the world that we can't even spell heaven, let alone see heaven. We get so enamored by the things of the world, but not the patriarchs. No, they were looking for a better country. They saw themselves as what? Aliens and strangers in this land. That's how they saw themselves. They were foreigners. This was not their home. We've put our roots down too deep in this world. We've got to be very careful about that.

I was sharing on Wednesday night about that phrase in the book of Revelation about earth dwellers, katoi kuntas, which is a word that speaks of those who dwell upon the earth. It's not a geographical term, it's a moral term. They live on the earth, but there's more than that. They're earth dwellers. It's always used in conjunction with the unbeliever in the book of Revelation over 10 different times. Never once is it ever used to the believer because we're not earth dwellers. We are heavenly dwellers. We are citizens of another country. We are aliens. We are strangers. We're just passing through this life. And we need to stop hanging on to everything that comes down the pike. We live by faith.

People who live by faith are concerned about the sermon at church. Persons who live by the flesh are concerned about the supper after church. People who live by faith truly are concerned about the God of the church. People who live by faith are more concerned about the games after church. Big difference. What are you passionate about? What drives you? People who walk by faith and live by faith want to study what Christ says. Those who live by flesh want to study what the culture says. Big difference. People who walk by faith want to pray. People who walk by the flesh want to party. Big difference.

And we need to understand what it is to walk with the Lord so much so that we are aliens and strangers in a foreign land. Look what Peter says. We'll go back to Peter again. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Peter says these words: "Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers," verse 11, "to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. Send the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation."

"Beloved, I want to urge you, you are aliens and you are strangers." In verse number one of chapter one, he says, "Peter and Apostle of Jesus Christ are those who reside as aliens." My friends, we are foreigners. We don't fit in here. If you fit in, you're not much of a stranger or a foreigner. You shouldn't fit in at work. You shouldn't fit in at school. You shouldn't fit in when you're with the people of the world. Why? Because you are so utterly, distinctly, uniquely different than they are.

Peter says, and over in 1 Peter 4, he says these words: "For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousing, drinking, parties, and abominable idolatries, and all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them in the same excess. Dissipation and they malign you." They're surprised. You don't do this kind of stuff anymore. So, what do they do? They malign you. They're against you. Because you're an alien and you're a stranger in this foreign land. That's the way our lives are to be lived.

And that's why a passionate faith is a perceptive faith. They were so passionate about the things of the living God. This is what Moses would say way back in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 32 when he said these words: "Israel is a nation lacking in counsel. And there is no understanding in them." Well, why? "Would that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would discern their future." They could not see the future. And why couldn't they see the future? He tells them, verse 15, "they forsook God. They scorn the rock of his salvation." Verse 18, "you neglected the rock who begot you and forgot the God who gave you birth."

They kept forgetting about God. There was no passion to know their God, no drive to understand their God, so that when push comes to shove, the Lord says, "These people have no counsel, have no discernment. Because they cannot see their future." And the reason they can't see the future about the coming Messiah is simply because they have forgotten all about me. They neglect me. Need to be passionate about our God, driven to know our God.

Listen to what the psalmist said: Psalm 1:19. Verse number 18, "open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law." Next phrase: "I am a stranger in the earth." Listen, unless you see yourself as a stranger in the earth, you're not going to pray that prayer. You're not going to ask the Lord to "open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things from your law" because you just don't care. You care more about what's happening after church than what's happening in church. You care more about what's happening around you than what's happening on the inside of you.

And here the psalmist says, "I am a stranger. Stranger." And he pleads, "do not hide your commandments from me. My soul is crushed with longing after your ordinances at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed. Who wander from your commandments, take away reproach and contempt from me, for I observe your testimonies, even though princes sit and talk against me. Your servant meditates on your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight. They are my counselors."

He was passionate about the truth. He was passionate about his God. The patriarchs, God was it for them, God was enough for them. Unfortunately, God's not enough for most of us. That's not a good sign. That's a bad sign. That's because we don't see ourselves as aliens and strangers in a foreign land.

So the pattern of faith is a perceptive faith. The pattern of faith is a patient faith. The pattern of faith is a perceptive faith, a passionate faith. And let me just introduce this to you for next week. The faith of the patriarchs was a perspicuous faith. That's a great word. Perspicuous. Know what it means? Clearly seen, lucid, unmistakable. In other words, their faith was clearly seen. That's what it says. Listen to what it says: "For those who say such things, make it what? Clear." Lucid, understandable. There was nobody thinking, "I wonder if Abraham has faith. I wonder if Isaac has faith. Or Jacob or Sarah." Oh, no, no. It was clearly seen.

So let me leave you with this. Five years, ten years down the road, will your children look back on these last two years, and say, "My father, during the days of COVID, clearly lived his faith"? Will they look back ten years from now and say, "my dad was strong in the faith? My dad led his family through the difficult times to help us to understand how to have a perspective on God all during"? Is your faith so clearly seen that nobody ever questions it? Or will your children look back and be disappointed in how you handled COVID? Be disappointed and ashamed on how you handled the last two years.

Let's just be practical here, right? So many times we think his faith is some pie in the sky kind of thing. But let's just drive it down right where we live. What will your children say about you ten years down the road? I know my dad died seven years ago. I know that I responded to COVID the same way my father would have responded to COVID. My sister responded to COVID the same way my father would have responded to COVID. My family, my entire family, responded to COVID the same way I did, and my sister's family responded to COVID the same way she did. Why? Because that strength and power is passed down.

Listen, there was no discrepancy in our family. If there's a discrepancy in your family, where certain children are handling this COVID this way and others are handling it this way, that's a leadership issue. That's a parental issue. That is a father issue. A father stands strong. A father passes it down. A father gathers them together. He leads them in the right way. Why? Because he set an example of his faith. He's leading them down the right path. He's persistent. He's patient. Why? Because he has a perspective that others don't have. He's passionate about what he believes, so much so that it's clearly seen by everybody round about him. There was no doubt that they lived by faith and not by sight. That they truly trusted in the living God more so than anything else. And next week, I'll help you understand that. How their faith was so clearly seen.

Because, my friends, your life will be modeled by your children down the road and how you live today is important. Oh, by the way, is your faith clearly seen in your giving patterns? With inflation, will you decrease your giving or increase your giving? Now, "Pastor, you're meddling." Every good message meddles.

Let me ask you a question. With the high cost of gas prices, food costs, are you going to say, "I got to hold on to a little bit more because I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. And so I'm not going to give as much to the church as I gave last month or last year. Simply because I don't know if I'll be able to buy gas next week"? How much more you hold on to really is indicative of how much you really trust God. That's very important to understand.

I want to challenge you. Increase your giving during inflation. Don't decrease your giving. You want more money during times of inflation? Give more to the Lord and watch what He does. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 speaks very clearly about that. You see, so many times we don't want our flesh to meet the road. We don't want to put our boots down on the ground with our faith. But this is where it is, friends. It's seen in your giving patterns. It's seen in your living patterns. It's seen in your loving patterns. Everybody sees it. It's clearly seen. Or it's clearly not seen.

But the question is: is your faith clearly seen by everybody around you? Because you walk by faith and not by sight? So what I said earlier is true. The two most talked about subjects in the Scripture, faith and the second coming of Christ, are the two most difficult things to accomplish every single day. To walk by faith daily and to wait for God expectantly. We just don't do it. And that's because we love the earth, we love not to be strangers. And to walk by faith requires too much of a cost. And I'd rather see what I'm doing rather than trust God for what needs to be done. How about you?

Pray. Father, thank you for today the opportunity to give us a study of your word. Please go before us, Lord, that we might live for the glory and honor of our King this day forward. Living by faith, not by sight, making it clearly seen for all to understand: Jesus is our Lord, and we are only strangers here. We're just passing through. In Jesus' name, amen.