"Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For our ancestors won God’s approval by it.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.
4 By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so he did not experience death, and he was not to be found because God took him away. For prior to his removal he was approved, since he had pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
7 By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the One who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and he was offering his unique son, 18 the one it had been said about, Your seed will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back."
Hebrews 11:1-19
Good morning beloved, I'd like to first say to all of you, thank you for joining us here today. I have many fond memories with so many of you all and I do remember you all in my prayers that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would protect, keep you safe from any and all harm, healthy and strong, guide you, cause you to make wise decisions, and bless you abundantly, so that He, our Father, might be glorified. So, thank you for coming today.
Heavenly Father,
We thank You for Your message today,
we pray that it speak to the hearts who are ready to hear Your truths
we pray that it will soften the hardened hearts, who have not been previously ready to receive Your Word, and speak to those of us
whose faith needs refreshed, encouraged and strengthened.
O Father, do a perfect work in all of the hearts of those who are hearing today's message, we know that some hearts came empty, let them be filled, some came with broken hearts, let them be made whole. Lord, we pray today for those who are desperately for those that they care about who still need to know you, may they come to You today, that we may be ale to rejoice with them, and those in heaven, celebrating their conversion, a life in Christ.
All of these things we ask and pray in Jesus' name
Thank You, in faith believing, it will be done
Amen
Beloved, it is my honor and humble privilege, to be able to share with you, these glorious passages in Scripture. I would therefore, like to invite you to open your Bibles, and to turn to Hebrews chapter 11. As we begin to more closely examine this chapter and verses 1-19 today, I want encourage all of you not to become to terribly caught up in all of the details, but rather, receive the overall message we've been blessed to receive. I believe, its going to be foundational for all of us here today.
Allow me to read to you Matthew 11:1-19
"Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through his faith.
5 By faith Enoch was taken away so he did not experience death, and he was not to be found because God took him away. For prior to his removal he was approved, since he had pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
7 By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11 By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she considered that the One who had promised was faithful. 12 Therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith without having received the promises, but they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. 14 Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. 16 But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and he was offering his unique son, 18 the one it had been said about, Your seed will be traced through Isaac. 19 He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back."
Beloved, there are a great many Christians, both old and new, who need to understand the foundations of our faith, and I'm sure We do all understand that we are saved by faith. We all understand that, right?
There comes a time, a day, a day in which we look back to our past. We think of songs like Precious Memories in which we return to remember the earlier scenes of our life, which frequently seem to be so far removed from our minds, but remain so powerfully in our hearts. I think it is altogether fitting that we from time to time, take time to reflect, back upon those glorious days of old, and those who we hold dear within our hearts.
I am still blessed to have my parents, though in deteriorating health, I'm so grateful for each telephone conversation, each visit, and each precious memory that I have with them. I am equally blessed to have with me in this earthly life, my precious sons and remaining two beautiful grandchildren, Rachel and Ethan.
However, like many of you, I have remembered many fond memories at the grave side of loved ones lost, at the cemetery, though painfully yet still rejoicing their going Home, while joyfully singing their favorite hymns, holding heartfelt conversations, with the confidence, they can somehow hear me.
We can often find comfort in revisiting our past, especially as we become older and begin to face the many challenges of this present day. And, I can only speak for myself here, but, life seemed to be so much simpler then. And just as the old adage says, "Time indeed heals many wounds, but the memories linger on."
I can still smell my dad's apple pie in the kitchen, the aroma of the apples and cinnamon, filled the air as my mother was making deviled eggs and potato salad, recalling all the times we enjoyed together, with my sister present, all precious memories, in the days of our youth. Shakespeare had Marc Anthony say that, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." However, quite the opposite is true.
As we remember and give thanks the many blessings from God in the present, and in our past, we often can't help but to reflect on the trying times, days of struggles and difficulties we have faced, wondering how it was, that we ever endured them. And, the same is true of the great wars we have faced and survived, and some of you know, all too well, the dreaded knock on the door and the sympathetic telegram delivered from the President and the Secretary of War, that a loved one had died defending our country. There are quite a number of them buried in Arlington Cemetery, whom we remember each Memorial Day weekend.
I want to personally thank you all for marking out the graves of our veterans, for those of you who have served in the military, are still serving, or have sacrificed your life and family, so that a member of your family could serve. I am so very grateful to you all. And, as many of you know, this was the original purpose of Memorial Day, and I thank you all for remembering and honoring this tradition this year and in years past.
There are some others here have experienced the awful loss of a child, grandchild, as I have, June has since been a particularly difficult month for me, having lost my two oldest grandsons Gabe and Allan, 5 years ago, last Sunday. Or perhaps, some of you, have faced a great monumental tragedy in your life. Because of this we know, not all memories of the past are good ones. So even after we sing and eat and give our thanks there is still a hole in our hearts that all this celebration cannot fill. We still come to Jordan’s stormy banks and cast a wistful eye as we await the full repair of this hole in our heart.
So how do we come to wholeness of heart? I think the lesson from the Scripture tells us. The original hearers of the Book of Hebrews also lived in times of great difficulty.. Some of them had been expelled from their homes as well as their hometowns due to their confession of faith in Jesus Christ. This must have been traumatic as they had likely spent day after day, wandering from place to place. Hebrews says to show hospitality to these wandering Christians when they came knocking upon the doors of other Christians. To lose one’s citizenship, essentially meant to lose one’s identity. Just think what it would be like to be removed from the records as an American citizen, then cast out of this country, without the prospects of ever returning. Many Christians, yet even today are experiencing persecution, exile and are wandering about looking for someone to receive them.
So how does the apostle Paul address these poor displaced, wandering people? Paul goes to the memories of the past people of God, the cloud of witnesses, we are blessed and privileged to read here in the 11th chapter of the book of Romans. The one he give the most attention to is Abraham, the father of faith. He once lived in one of the most modern cities of his day, the city of Ur which is in the delta of modern day Iraq. Only Egypt could rival it for splendor. The indications are that Abraham by his name "Abram" lived a pretty comfortable life there. But one day the call came to his father, and the family moved from Ur to Haran at the edge of the desert.
Scripture doesn't really give us much in the way of details as to the particular circumstances, other than it originated in the call of God. But in Haran, after the death of Abraham’s father, the call of God came to him. Even this place of refuge was to be left behind. He was to go to the place which God had called him to. Abraham believed and went out, not knowing anything about this land God had promised to him and to his descendants. If we follow the life of Abraham. He spent most of his life in the wilderness as a nomad. He always seemed to be at the very fringe of Canaan land, He could see the land of milk and honey even as Moses did, but death kept him from any possession of God’s promise. He and Sarah’s burial plot was their only possession.
Abraham and Sarah’s lives were filled with conflict, much like many of ours. Perhaps, it was in those times, they too looked for comfort of the past, to more stable times. Perhaps it was during the great famine that Abraham remembered to the good times in Ur. But instead of returning there, he went to the other major advanced civilization he knew about, that of Egypt. But Egypt whose name in Hebrew is related in meaning to the word "graveyard"turned out to be a dead end. Soon the Lord intervened and made it possible to return to the fringes of the desert of Canaan Land to continue his wanderings.
It the drudge of petty wars and the mundane days of finding pasture in the desert for sheep, Abraham may have wondered about when the land would be his. Then the Lord told him that it would not be in his lifetime, but 400 years later, his descendants would occupy it. How this could have dashed Abraham’s faith. The only thing he possessed was the sure promise of God concerning his future. Jesus tells us that Abraham saw even beyond the endless wait for the promised Isaac, he saw the day 2000 years later that another descendant would pave the way for our possession of even a greater Promised Land, a better Canaan, the true Beulah Land. He rejoiced and saw that day and was glad. He saw a city that was not build by human hands, but by God. The cities of Canaan Land of Abraham’s day paled in comparison to the City of God. They even paled in comparison to either the Ur or Egypt of Abraham’s day. But he learned to be content in the promise of God, a promise that death could not annul. Not only this, but death became the means of entering this greater city. This was not the City of the Dead of Egyptian lore, but the City whose foundation was laid and upon it the city built by God himself. This is the city made for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by the God of the living and not of the dead. In his struggle, Abraham’s best memories lay in the future and not in the past.
The true pilgrim is one who has the same faith as Abraham and the others that Hebrews lays out in this roll call of faith. We know that we shall enter this city as well through the gate of death. This is not our death, but rather the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on a cross. We may get there by the road of death or the Lord may return while we are yet alive. But we have the sure hope that this Jesus who died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of the Father as our great High Priest, to comfort and guide us through the wilderness of life. Good things or ill in this earthly life might lie before us. Abraham received many blessings in this life as well as trials. But as his best memories lay in the future, our best memories lie in our future as well. This should serve to give us comfort in this life.
The hole our memories of the past cannot fill shall be filled by the better memories of our glorious memories which are coming if we only believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t know all the details of this glorious city. Like Abraham and Moses and the other faithful saints of old. All we get is a glimpse of it. Ah, but what a glimpse! O the glory of it all! And as that old song says, "the half has never yet been told!" Whatever we see in a glimpse will pale in comparison to the day in which we enter that city. But in the meanwhile, the glimpse is enough to sustain us as we wander about in this life. We can sing the song "Beulah Land," especially the line: "I’m kind of homesick for a country, which I’ve never seen."
As for those whom we remember today by placing flowers on the graves, the flowers will soon fade. But God’s promises can never fade. Next year, if the Lord tarries, we will return here again. The names of more loved ones who have departed this life shall be read. It will be a time of glad remembrance. We will decorate, sing, worship, and pray. And among the fond memories, we shall shed tears. But let them be tears of joy and hope, and not just the tears of sorrow. Let the tears which are shed when you leave this life be the tears shed in hope because you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope these few words which I have spoken here this today be an encouragement to you. We must remember that after mourning comes morning, the morning of the Eternal Day. May the Lord bless you and make it possible for us to meet again in this place. But know if we don’t meet in this beautiful place which has been lovingly decorated this morning, let it be so that we shall meet again in a more beautiful place. God be with you till we meet again. Amen.
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And be gracious to you.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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