Faith Exemplified - Those Saints Who Lived and Died by Faith

I know I want to pick you back off what Keith was just praying and speaking about, but that phrase, "Speak, O Lord, so that your church may be built." Look folks, we do the work of the church and the Lord builds His church through us as He tells us from the Scripture. It's rather simple. It's me and a man who complicate things. God speaks to us from His Word and if we'll just adjust ourselves to what God's Word says, then He will build His church. He will build His church. I have said this from time to time. We have a mighty expectation about His church around here.

When we sing phrases like that, "Speak, O Lord, so you'll build your church." That should make us get a little excited. It does me. I appreciate. It's one of my favorite songs. If you would, take your Bible and turn back to Hebrews 11. I did say in our Scripture reading, we'll be in verses 13 to 16. I mentioned a few other verses. I'll read a few other verses. You can write those down and go back and study those on your own. Like I said in our Scripture reading, we are back in our study through the book of Hebrews, but specifically here in chapter 11, which is called the Hall of Fame of the Saints of God. We have studied four saints so far.

We've studied Abel. We've studied Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, and we cannot forget his wife, Sarah. She's right there listed with Abraham. Now honestly, a part of me wants to call them great saints, and I think I have done that from time to time, but I believe I need to refrain from calling them great saints because I don't want to give the impression that they were perfect saints. They certainly were not. In the Scriptures, God has shown us that Noah was not perfect. Matt Fowler reminded us of that fact last week. The Scriptures tell us that Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were flawed saints as well.

And notice, God used them in spite of their sin and failure. God used them in spite of their sin and failure. And seeing how God used flawed men and women like this should be a tremendous encouragement for all of us. Some of you feel that God can never use you because of your weakness, because of your past failures, even because of your sin, but that's not the case. As a born-again believer, you need to take your past sins and your weakness and your failures, take all of those things to the Lord, and allow the Spirit of God to sanctify you through those things. And then ultimately, God can and will use those things for His glory.

But there's a warning here as well. We must not use the fact that God used men like Abraham in spite of his great sin and failure, and let that lead us to excuse somehow our sin and our failure. That's a terrible trap. That's a terrible trap. But think back at who we have examined so far. I have already said that I do not like to call them great saints of God, but I do want to call them our great-great-grandparents in the faith. I like that. We're all in the family of God now. We're all living the life of faith. So all of these saints were and are our great-great-grandparents in the faith. We saw how Abel worshipped God by faith.

We saw how Enoch walked with God by faith. We saw that Noah obeyed God by faith, and the greatest of them all, Abraham, along with his wife, Sarah, we saw how Abraham lived the life of faith by faith. Now I want to pause here and show you just how fundamental and important these examples are to us. I use those two words purposely. Fundamental and important. Think about it.

If we, as God's people today, if we worship God rightly like Abel, if we walk with God devotedly like Enoch, if we obey God doggedly like Noah, if we live the life of faith faithfully to the end like Abraham, well, this morning we will see that God will be proud to be called our God. He literally will be proud to be called the God of Tommy and Patty Aldermen, the God of Evan and Devin Ullery, the God of Scott and Angel Young, and so on and so on. I'll explain that a little later on in the message. Now this morning we find ourselves at what I see as an intermission.

Webster defines an intermission as an interval between the parts of an entertainment such as the acts of a play. Many of you know that longer movies have an intermission. Now think about one old classic, Gone with the Wind. It's probably one of the longest of the classics. It has an intermission, an intermission. Well, verses 13 to 16 is not an intermission between the parts of a play or a movie, but verses 13 to 16, those verses are an intermission inserted into this teaching about Abraham and his life of faith. Verses 8 to 12 are all about how Abraham lived the life of faith.

And the author picks back up with Abraham and his life of faith starting in verse 17 down to verse 19. But to me, these verses that are before us, verses 13 to 16 are an intermission. And this intermission is a general explanation of how the Old Testament saints of God lived and died, lived and died by faith. So that leads us right to the title of the message. These verses are all about faith exemplified those saints who lived and died by faith. Those saints who lived and died by faith. Let's read the verses again and then I will explain how we will approach or divide the verses.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that homeland from which they had gone out or come from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. For God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. Now I usually explain how we divide the verses, how we will approach the verses.

This is what we will do. I will explain who the author is referring to here. And then first we will see how they received, yet never received God's promises. Second how they acknowledged that they were strangers and pilgrims in this world. That would be the earthly world. Next, how they longed for a better heavenly land. And then we will see the results or the rewards. I can't decide if these are results or rewards or both. We will see two rewards for their life of faith. God was proud to be called their God, and God has prepared for them a city.

So before we examine how these saints lived and died by faith and all that that life brought with it, we need to see who the author has in mind here. Verse 13 says, "These all died in faith." First of all, the author was clearly referring to those he had mentioned so far. Abraham, or excuse me, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, and his wife Sarah. But we need to see that he has others in mind as well. He certainly had in mind all who are listed throughout Chapter 11. And even all of the Old Testament saints of God who lived and died in faith.

Some commentators use a phrase here, the patriarchs, speaking to all of the Old Testament saints of God. And later on in Chapter 11, evidence has found that the author had all of the saints of God in mind here. Verse 32, the author says, "And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell you of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Japheth, and David, and Samuel, and the prophets." And on down to verse 39, the author says, "And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised." So the point here is this.

The author pauses in his explanation of how Abraham lived the life of faith to describe how all the Old Testament saints lived and died by faith. They lived and died by faith, and especially the saints in Chapter 11. Now for the sake of time and clarity, I will limit my application of these verses to the immediate context. I will primarily connect this with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But let's look at this description that the author gives of their living and dying by faith. The author says, number one, they received, yet never received God's promises. We see that in the middle of verse 13.

The author says or explains how these Old Testament saints received, yet never received God's promises. Now if we pay attention to the verse, we see that the author describes first how the saints died and then how they lived, not the other way around. Now I don't know about you, that kind of struck me out this week. He describes how they died first and then how they lived, and I'll take it in that order. So notice first how they died. The verse says they died in faith, and this phrase "in faith" in the original, this literally means according to faith. This means that they died all while living by faith, all the way to death.

I like what Vincent says in his word studies. He says, and I'm quoting, "They died under the regime of faith." You may not know what that word regime means. It speaks to law and authority. They died under the regime, the law, the authority of faith. And I would add to that by saying they lived by faith up to death, and they died in faith, holding on to faith, still believing by faith, bound to faith and under faith. So it was not that they lived one way and died another. You see? It was not that they lived one way and died another. They died according to and in faith because they lived by faith.

They died under the regime, under the control of faith. But then suck it how they lived. Here the English Standard says, "Not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar." This simply means that these saints heard and received the promises of God, and although they saw and heard them, they never actually possessed them. They saw them off in a distance and they received them, but they never took possession of them. William McDonald says they saw these promises with a telescopic vision, with a telescopic vision. I guess they saw them with a pair of faith binoculars.

One commentator illustrates and explains what is said here by using the example of a sailor. When a sailor on a ship passes a land he will never set foot on, as he sails by, he waves and he cheers to those on shore. Well that is just what these saints of God did here with and in the promises of God. So let's put this in the context of those right before us, Abraham and his descendants. Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob, they all received the promise from God that they would receive the promised land, but they never possessed that land. They lived in the land. They had their families in the land.

They cared for their flocks and their herds on the land, but they never possessed the land. And it was not until almost 500 years after Jacob died that the Israelites first began to take possession of any of the land. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were on God's ship of faith. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were on God's ship of faith. God had promised them the land, but they only sailed by waving and cheering and believing that they would possess the land until the day they died. But they never possessed that land while living on and in the land.

So these saints of God, and I pointed out Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they received the promises of God, but they saw them far off on a distant shore, and they believed God and the promises of God by faith, and they died in those promises holding on to God and on to God's promises in faith until the very day they died. And get this, in their living and dying in faith to them, this was not a sorrowful song, but a song of praise and worship. Let me say that again, because we can tend to think that maybe they died depressed because they never received these things.

In their living and dying in faith to them, this was not some kind of a sorrowful song, but a song of praise and worship. Abraham and these other saints did not die in faith and great sorrow because they never obtained the promises, they died in faith, believing and receiving in great praise and love for their God. And look, church, look, saints of God, we must understand that to die in faith only happens if we truly live by faith. Let that sink in. Think on that now, the only way we die in faith is if we truly live by faith. You die how you live, all the time, every time. You die how you live.

So let's live the life of faith because faith is a way to life, and faith is a way to live. I like something that the Bible scholar Al Mohler says, it really applies to us. He says it's one thing to live in faith, but it's an entirely different thing to be facing your own death and still trust God to fulfill his promises, which is what Abraham and these saints did, and that is what we should do. So the Old Testament saints received, but never received God's promises all the way to death. Number two, the author says they acknowledged that they were strangers and pilgrims in this world. We see this in verse 13 as well.

The author shows us that these Old Testament saints acknowledged that they were strangers and pilgrims in this world. Here we see more of how they lived and died. Simply these saints admitted or confessed that they were strangers on earth and exiles or pilgrims on the earth. Numbers here literally means foreigner or stranger, foreigner, and pilgrim, the English standard, the new American uses the word exile. I like the King James, it uses the word pilgrim. Pilgrim here simply means one who comes from a foreign country into a city or a land to reside there by the side of the natives.

I'm not trying to get into politics, but today one of the hot button issues is immigration, but it's easy for us to see when someone comes from a foreign country into our city, into our land to live side by side with us through the years. I have known individuals who immigrated here from Mexico and Central America. They moved to our community from a foreign country. They spoke a foreign language. They had foreign customs in every way. They were foreign and strange as compared to us and our culture, yet they lived side by side with us. Now I'm going to offer a side lesson here. What should our response be to immigrants as Christians?

Now again, I don't want to get too political. Of course, we should be for law and order, but however and whoever the Lord brings our way, we should love them as Christians love others. We should love all of our neighbors no matter who they are, and we should not let politics and the rhetoric of politics and how so many alienate others affect how we relate as Christians to all people. So what the author is saying here is this. These saints saw and understood themselves to be strange foreigners and pilgrims in and on the earth.

They saw and understood themselves as from a foreign country living in the land side by side with the native peoples of the land. Abraham described himself this way to the Hittites after Sarah's death. In Genesis 23.4 Abraham said to the Hittites now, "I am a sojourner." That would be a traveler, a pilgrim. "A foreigner among you. Give me property among you for a burying place that I may bury my dead out of my sight." Actually that's the only piece of the promised land Abraham ever owned because he bought a burial plot for his wife. Jacob described himself in this way before Pharaoh.

Genesis 47.9 says, "And Jacob said to Pharaoh, 'The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not admitted to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.'" Scholars tell us it was very difficult for these Old Testament saints to live this way. It was very humiliating. In their time there was a great stigma attached to living as a foreigner and a pilgrim in this way. As a matter of fact, many scholars say that it opened them up to ridicule and scorn and even abuse.

So we see that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and these other Hebrews, 11 saints, saw and understood themselves to be foreigners, strangers, wandering pilgrims in the land. And get this, it was not that they saw themselves simply as visitors wandering as foreign pilgrims in the land, but they understood that they were to live in the land and a country that was not their own, but a land that was promised to them by God. Well, a question. How does this relate to us in our day? How does it relate to us in our day? In every way we are to live just as they lived. This is exactly how the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul say that we should live.

In 1 Peter 2, 11 Peter says, "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul." In Philippians 3, 20 Paul says to the Philippian church and those believers, "But our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." And I believe we have to ask, where do we see our citizenship? Do we see that as the saints of God we are foreigners and pilgrims just wandering through this land to a better land? Again, I said at our scripture reading and in our pastoral prayer earlier that I believe we need the Lord to reorient us here.

In many ways, at many times, we should feel like foreigners and pilgrims in a foreign land out of place and out of step with those around us. And if we don't, it could be that we need more of a correction than we realize. So the Old Testament saints acknowledged that they were strangers and pilgrims in this world. And then next, the author says, "These Old Testament saints long for a better heavenly land." The author shows us that these saints long for a better or a heavenly land. Now here we see a continuation of what we've just seen. This is really kind of a part two. Let me explain what I mean by that.

We have seen that Abraham and these Old Testament saints admitted that they were aliens and strangers and foreigners living as pilgrims in the promised land alongside the native peoples. But here we see that the actual land are placed that they long for. So let's look back at those verses starting in verse 13. And having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that homeland from which they had gone out, they would have had an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

Now here the author clearly shows us what homeland these Old Testament saints look for and what homeland they rejected. First he shows us they rejected their old homeland and any other homeland, earthly homeland. As we will see, the author shows that Abraham and those other saints were not looking for a better earthly home and homeland and they certainly were not looking to return to where they had come from. Similarly there was nothing stopping Abraham from returning to his homeland and his own people. There was nothing stopping his descendants from doing the same. But we see that none of them ever attempted to do that.

Simply Abraham and his descendants rejected any other home besides the promised land and they rejected the idea of returning to their old homeland. One interesting thing that several scholars point out that I ran across, some of you know this story, when Abraham was getting a wife for Isaac, he certainly did not want a wife from Isaac from among the pagan people of the land of Canaan. He wanted a wife for Isaac from his own people, from his own clan, from his homeland. But notice Abraham did not go back to get a wife for Isaac and Genesis 24.6 says that he refused to allow Isaac to go back.

He simply sent a servant to find a wife for Isaac from his own people. The Bible scholar Kenneth Wuth explains this saying, "If indeed they had been remembering that country from which they had gone out, in that case they would have had opportunity to bend their way back again." I like that. They had plenty of opportunity to turn back and go back, but they did not. So they rejected their homeland in any earthly homeland. But then second, they longed for a better homeland and that is actually heaven. They longed for a better homeland and let's see that in verse 14 and the beginning of verse 16. I want to skip over verse 15.

Verse 14, "For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland, but as it is they desire a better country that is a heavenly one." Here in verse 16 we see a contrast up against what was said earlier. Simply, "But as it is these saints actually desired a better country, but not an earthly country, a heavenly country." And notice this was a strong desire. The English Standard, the King James used the word desire. The New American, the Legacy Standard say aspire. And in the original this means to stretch out oneself in order to touch, even to grab a hold of something. And notice this was an upward desire.

It is clear that they were strongly desiring even reaching out for a better country, a heavenly country. So this was a strong desire according to the language and a strong aspiration for heaven. I like what Leon Morris says, "This meant for their daily lives." He says in longing for a better heavenly country this refers to their trustful walk with God, their readiness to obey God at all times and that they value their communion with God above all things. They sought God. Therefore they sought a heavenly country with God.

So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as well as the rest of the Old Testament saints because they're included in verse 39, "They did not yearn for an earthly home other than the promised land of God. But they strongly desired and even reached out for a heavenly home because the God that they served and that they loved had promised them," as we will see, that there was a city awaiting them. Now right here, I believe we need the Holy Spirit to ask us a few questions and to reveal who we are to us. What is it that we strongly desire? What are the things that we strongly aspire for and we reach out for? Do we strongly desire to worship God like Abel?

Do we strongly desire to walk with God like Enoch? Do we strongly desire to obey God in all things like Noah? Do we strongly desire to live the life of faith all of the days of our life like Abraham because faith is a way to life and faith is a way to live for a Bible Christian? And look, brothers and sisters, we will never strongly desire a better land, a heavenly land unless we live like our great, great spiritual grandfathers did. You see? We will never desire and strongly reach out for a better heavenly homeland unless we live like our great, great grandparents that we see here. See why I keep saying faith exemplified? Faith exemplified?

Hopefully their faith is exemplified and we catch on. And then last, the author shares the results of their life of faith. There are two of them. The author shows us the results, the rewards of their life of faith. Look back at verse 16, the second part. Because of all of these things here, "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He is prepared for them a city." Here we see the results, the rewards for those who lived and died by faith. First God was proud to be called their God. Now if we know our scriptures, we know that over and over God is spoken of as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.

This is familiar language to us and I'm sure we really never think about it much, but there's quite a lot here that we need to see and that applies to us. I've hit it at it already. But language scholars tell us that this phrase, "to be called their God," is very interesting in the original language. The idea here is that of adding a name to the one that is already named. It's like giving a surname or a last name. Do you know what a surname is? It's a last name. My surname is Shepherd, Chris Shepherd. So what that means here is this. God was not ashamed to be surname their God.

God was not ashamed to be last named to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God was not ashamed to be the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Do you see? Question. Is God proud, not ashamed to be surnamed or last named to us? It's one thing for us to say the God of Abraham. It's another thing for us to say the God of our name. Is God proud, not ashamed to be surnamed or last named with us? As one writer put it, "By implication, God certainly is ashamed to be named with those who do not live and die by faith." You see? How many professing Christians do we know do not live and die by faith? They may profess Christ.

They may affirm Christianity. They may even be members of a church, but they do not live and die by faith. Would God be proud to be surnamed, last named with them, or ashamed to be surnamed or last named with them? Again, can God be proud to be surnamed or last named to us? And Grace Life Church Brookhaven should be full of believers who live the life of faith and die living the life of faith. Therefore, God is proud to be called their God. You see? God is proud to be called their God. And honestly, the whole sermon could be worth it just for that. Second, God prepared for them a heavenly city. We see that right there in verse 16.

We've already read the verse. Here we see that God will prepare them a city. Is that what the verse says? God will prepare for them a city? No. The text says he already has done so. And this is simple. God promised a heavenly city. God built a heavenly city, a heavenly land, a kingdom for those who lived by faith and died by faith all while living the life of faith. And that is because all of these saints of God knew and lived that faith is a way to life and faith is a way to live.

So the two results are rewards of living the life of faith to the end and dying in faith because Abraham and those other Old Testament saints lived and died by faith and they longed for a better heavenly land with God. God rewarded them in two ways. He was proud to be named as their God. God was proud. Every time he saw it written, the God of Abraham, the God of Abraham. And he prepared beforehand a city for Abraham and these Old Testament saints in heaven. So this is simple. Verse 13 to 16 are all about faith exemplified, those saints who lived and died by faith.

And as I close, I want us to step back from our verses and see how all of this fits together. Now usually when I say things like as I close, people start closing their Bibles and putting up their pens and notebooks and automatically they start thinking about lunch. Well, don't do that, I don't want you to be distracted, but I'll be short here.

These Old Testament saints, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the rest of these Hebrews 11 saints and the patriarchs now who lived and died by faith, who believed the promises of God till their very dying day and who longed for a heavenly city and land, they were able to live and die by faith because they worship God like Abel, they walk with God like Enoch, they obey God like Noah and they live the life of faith all of the days of their life like Abraham, all by faith. And faith is in the tangible. It's not out there in the clear blue sky. Their faith was in God personally because they personally knew God.

Their faith was in God's word and God's promises and they knew God's word and they knew God's promises personally because they personally knew the God that gave them those promises and word. So faith exemplified. Grace Life Church Brookhaven lets live just like these Old Testament saints. When I don't say it, God's word says it, He guarantees us these two rewards for us. So let's pray as always and let's commit these things to the Lord asking that the Spirit of God would apply these things according to our need for our good and His glory.