Faith Lessons from the Big Guns
A Midrash Extravaganza
(Hebrews 11:4-7)
1. This is a wonderful time to live when it comes to new technologies and inventions. Elon Musk, who oversees Tesla, SpaceX, and The Boring Company is sort of a cross between Thomas Edison and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
2. But much if not most progress comes from little guys and in small steps.
3. “Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A Chinese inventor shared video of his homemade flying machine, which he dubbed the world's first "flying scooter."
“Zhao Deli recorded a test flight in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, to show off the capabilities of his "flying scooter," which seats one person and resembles a giant quadcopter drone.
“The inventor said his aircraft can currently carry a load of up to 220 pounds at a maximum speed of about 45 mph.
“Zhao said he is hoping to take his flying scooter, which can currently sustain flight for about 36 minutes at a time, for a demonstration flight over the Yellow River.”
4. These inventors and tycoons often have great faith in themselves. But even the best of us are mortal. Faith is best directed toward God, for only He is capable of doing whatever He purposes to do. And only His character is impeccable.
5. And that is what this section of Hebrews is about: faith in God and champions.
6. Apollos or whoever the author of Hebrews is, is using a device highlighted by Aristotle and other orators, that of preaching to the choir and reinforcing beliefs already present by the use of examples. As Ben Witherington III puts it, “the audience is persuaded to continue to embrace core values already affirmed.”
Main Idea: Even before the Flood, God’s people related to Him on the basis of faith. The writer extracts some important Christian beliefs from their examples.
I. Abel Enjoys ETERNAL LIFE Through Faith (4)
(confer with Genesis 4:1-11)
This is one midrash after another; midrashim; this means that the writer of Hebrews is going to reach back to the Old Testament texts or examples, and bring out truths that are immediately apparent.
Some will include: salvation by faith, the Person and work of Christ, the judgment that is coming upon those who reject Jesus, the New Jerusalem, the Christian’s lot of being persecuted, our need to separate form the world, resurrection, etc.
A. WORSHIP that pleases God and is accepted.
1. Biblical faith is trust coupled w/ commitment based upon a high view of God.
2. Cain, on the other hand, valued his own opinion above God’s, rationalist.
3. Cain was out to impress God with who he was, Abel was impressed with God.
4. Both probably received previous instruction, but Cain would have had to humble himself to trade crops for one of his brother’s sheep.
5. Cain gave God what Cain valued, Abel what God valued (blood).
B. He was ALIVE and speaking after he died.
Revelation 6:9-11, When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
1. Abel’s faith cost him his life; in a sense, the first martyr.
2. Millions have followed in his train.
3. But the text implies that Cain was still alive; his blood cried out.
4. Hebrews adds that idea that it wasn’t just his blood that spoke out, but the text says, “though he died, he still speaks.” Midrash, finding the resurrection.
II. Enoch Was RAPTURED Through Faith (5-6)
(confer with Genesis 5:21-24)
A. Whether remaining mortal or not, he was TRANSLATED to heaven.
1. A distinctly Christian teaching is that living believers at Jesus’ return will be transformed without seeing death.
2. Enoch was not the only man who had faith in God, but He had a special relationship with God that was unique, at least in his day.
3. But, ultimately, God had a purpose in all this, and Apollos (or?) suggests that it was to demonstrate the benefits of faith in God.
B. FAITH is the one thing all God-pleasers have in common.
1. All these great men and women were great people of faith.
2. No exceptions allowed: without faith, it is impossible to please Him.
3. The works of those who know Christ please Him, if done in faith; those same works, done by others without faith, do not please God in the same way.
4. This is the error of humane-driven Christianity.
I cannot tell you how many times people have made this comment to me about our different churches and different religious views, “We are all trying to do the same thing — make this world a better place.”
I was talking to a respected elected state official, and he made the comment, “We are all trying to the do the same thing, make it to heaven.”
III. Noah REFUTED the World and Was JUSTIFIED by Faith (7)
(confer with Genesis 6-8)
A. Noah CONDEMNED the world: his faith exposed their unbelief and rebellion.
1. One of the ways we know we are saved is that society (the culture, the world) is not comfortable with us.
2. Although we need to adjust to our culture, within limits, we heir if we try to minimize the difference between God’s way and the world’s way.
3. One thing to adjust to the neutral aspects of a culture, another to get on the slippery slope of compromise and appeasement.
John 15:19, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
I John 3:11-14, “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. “
4. We are still at but leaving the time when Christians thought we could win the world by accommodating the world. As a result, many churches have become indexed to the world (culture). It still works, but things are postured for collapse — because the world has moved so far away from where it was.
Gay marriage, cohabitation, transgender issues — wedges either/or.
5. If the choice is to between being faithful to Jesus and being an outcast from society, or being accepted by society but compromising God’s Word, which will you choose?
B. Noah became an heir of the RIGHTEOUSNESS that comes by faith.
