Hebrews 11 — Genesis 50
6 passages in this message
Bruce Henning preaches from Genesis 50, drawing out the importance of living by faith. He discusses Noah's ark, highlighting that it was for the salvation of Noah's house and served as condemnation for the world. The sermon emphasizes not being worried about death due to belief in resurrection and the reward for those who diligently seek God.
Outline and transcript
0:00 Living by faith is important
Living by faith is important because it gets us a good testimony in God's eyes. Sometimes we're miraculously preserved from difficulty and sometimes we're not. He then comes to this person of Noah. Noah is fascinating. It's important that we're careful with Noah.
I grew up thinking that Noah built the ark big enough to invite everybody on. And that he was inviting people come be saved because the flood is coming. Maybe he did that. Maybe. But the Bible doesn't say that.
It says that he prepared an ark for the saving of his house. But this verse says that the ark was an instrument of the world's what? Condemnation. Not salvation. Really thought about that for a while.
I think like when the angels came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah and they said, you've got to get out of here because we can't lift a finger against this city until you're gone. Right? Remember that story? And in the same way, it's like god could not send the rain. Until Noah was in that ark.
And when Noah was in that ark and god shut the door, that was what signaled the world's destruction. Because now the world could be destroyed. Not only does faith sometimes preserve us from death, faith's testimony always outlives death, but sometimes faith conquers death. And Noah is a fitting picture of that. Noah's Ark not only destroys the ungodly but it also brings Noah and his family safely into a new world, the new age that the writer is talking about.
This is important. You were mentioning earlier that there are a lot of people who have gone home to be with the Lord. Death is something that we all have to seriously consider. I was thinking of this, this hymn, To him who overcomes the foe, white raiment shall be given. Before the angels, he shall know his name confessed in heaven.
Then onward from the hill of light, our hearts with love aflame will vanquish all the hosts of night in Jesus conquering name. Faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. Oh, glorious victory that overcomes the world. Well, the next section talks about how living by faith will provide us victory over this link of death but living by faith also means that we will not be devoted to this world and that's really the idea of these verses about Abraham.
Now, Abraham is a fascinating illustration to bring up. The writer goes to great lengths to say Abraham was not a worldly man. Now, was Abraham wealthy? Yes. In fact, you think about when he wanted to buy a place to bury Sarah.
The people of the land said, my Lord, you are a prince among us. You've got to have a lot of money for somebody to say something like that. You were a prince among us. What's 400 pieces of silver between people like us? I don't have 400 pieces of silver.
He was a wealthy man, but he was not a worldly man. Living by faith means that we are not worldly as in we do not think of this world as our home. Abraham was willing to live in a tent. He had a lot of money, but he did not think of this place, this planet as his home. Sort of.
Now, I mean, I one of the things where I said it and then you think about it, but what does the Bible say here? It says that he traveled in the place that he would later receive for an inheritance. So did Abraham think of this world as his home? Yes, he did. Just not now.
Does that make sense? He would later receive this place for an inheritance. Wasn't willing to settle down right now because he was waiting. He was looking for a city to come to this earth whose builder and maker is God. As believers in Jesus Christ, our final home is earth.
God will come and live with us forever. And God wants us to inherit this earth. I think that's a wild concept. Abraham walked around as a stranger in the place that he believed would later be his. I wonder if you ever took the time to walk around Cleveland or wherever it is that you come from.
You don't own the city of Cleveland. But do you ever, the thought ever come into your mind, maybe when the Lord Jesus returns, well, I know that when the Lord Jesus returns, he's going to redo all of this. And he's going to fix, won't it be wonderful when he redos planet earth and he rules here? And maybe, just maybe, you'll get Cleveland as your inheritance. But it'll be the very same place, the very same hills, the very same rivers that we're seeing right now.
It's not a different place. It's this place. It's just it's a different time not now. And because they weren't willing to settle down now, God is not ashamed to be called their God all throughout the Bible. We read of Yahweh, the true God who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He is not ashamed. He is proud to bear that name because they believed his word. Our heart should ache that God would be happy to call himself the God of Bruce Enning because I believe in him. Or you could put your name in there. Well, we'll move on here to this last section.
6:35 Not worried about death, believe in resurrection
But the idea, the emphasis here is that Abraham believes in resurrection. Right? The author here opens up Abram's mind and says, this is what Abraham was thinking. He knew that Isaac would live because he had to have a lot of kids. But yet Abraham was fully committed to killing his son.
Well, the conclusion is obvious in Abraham's mind. I'm going to have to kill him and then God's going to raise him back to life. Now, the reason that he brings up this incident is because it shows that Abraham's faith was in the time of resurrection. And you think about all these other guys, right? Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
Have you ever taught Sunday school? There's a lot of great stories about Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph but the author doesn't talk about any of them. Because those don't fit his purposes. His purpose instead was to show, you see how these guys were looking forward? Let's for the sake of time, let's just talk about Joseph.
Okay, talk about Joseph and then we'll be done. I love this this verse about Joseph. What an incredible man of faith Joseph was. To go through all of that, to be able to see God's hand of providence, to forgive his brothers and say, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. What is the thing that the writer applauds Joseph for?
He gave commandment concerning his bones. All let's unpack this a little bit. Think about the incredible adventure that Joseph went on. If anyone could kick off their shoes, sit back and take it easy and say, I've earned this place. It would be Joseph.
I mean, nobody, I know there are some successful people here in this room, but nobody will ever, none of us will ever achieve the worldly success that Joseph achieved. Arguably, was called Zaphnath Panea, right? The savior of the world. He actually has this true business deal to where he buys every person and every piece of land and every animal in the land of Egypt. The wealthiest man alive.
He looked like an Egyptian. He dressed like an Egyptian. He talked like an Egyptian. He was a successful prominent Egyptian. But you know what?
It's like the author says, you know what's so cool about Joseph? Is that when he dies, he says, you take these bones out of fear. Don't build me a pyramid. Egypt is not my home. You take me to Israel.
Because my real wealth, my real home country is still coming. And I'm waiting for the time of the resurrection. That's what living by faith means. It doesn't necessarily mean you can't have nice things or new cars or a new house. Maybe you can, maybe you can't.
Maybe God has that for you, maybe he doesn't. But it means that we are like Joseph and that our heart aches for the age to come. How about you? Do you live by faith? Do you believe that a new age is coming and Jesus will return and He will reward His believers for whatever it is they have done for Him.
11:04 Reward those who diligently sought him
Do you live by faith? Alright, let's close in a word of prayer. Our father, we are so eternally indebted to your word We are so thankful for the promises and we want to be people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, are who not willing to call this world our home. But to see the promises of God afar off and to grab ahold of them and to say, am a stranger and a foreigner here. And I am not living for now.
12:25 Living for the reward of Jesus
Old Testament, New Testament, the just shall live by faith. Help us Lord to turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. We commit ourselves to you now in his name. Amen.
Transcribed by machine from the recording, so it has the odd mistake in it. Any timestamp plays from that point.
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