Hebrews 11 | Trusting God’s Promises in Unseen Times

Hebrews 11, often called the "Hall of Faith," inspires us with a sweeping narrative of faithful believers who trusted God's promises even when they couldn't see the results in their lifetime. This chapter highlights individuals from the Old Testament, like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, and Moses, showcasing their steadfast faith as they endured trials and obeyed God's calling. Their lives encourage us to hold tightly to God's promises, reminding us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen.

The chapter emphasizes that these heroes of faith looked beyond their earthly lives, seeking a heavenly homeland and trusting in a better country that God has prepared. For Abraham, this meant leaving his homeland without fully understanding where God was leading. For Moses, it meant forsaking the fleeting pleasures of Egypt for the sake of Christ. The author reminds readers that the culmination of their faith comes through Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of God's promises.

As the chapter progresses, it illustrates the depth of faith through extraordinary stories. Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead; Joseph trusted God's deliverance of his people even as he lay dying; Moses chose to align himself with God's people rather than Pharaoh’s wealth. Each narrative serves as a reminder that faith often requires enduring difficulties, relying on God's promises, and taking bold steps in obedience. 

The chapter also speaks directly to its original Jewish-Christian audience, emphasizing perseverance and endurance in faith. Through vivid imagery, it connects their struggles with those of the Old Testament saints, uniting their shared faith across generations. This message encourages believers today to remain faithful and trust God's sovereignty, even amid challenges.

Finally, Hebrews 11 invites us to participate in this ongoing story. By faith, we too can trust God's promises and align our lives with his will, even when circumstances seem unclear. Just as these heroes of faith trusted God despite not seeing the ultimate fulfillment of his promises, we are called to do the same, pressing forward with hope in Christ’s ultimate return.

#FaithInAction #GodsPromises #ChristianEncouragement #NewTestamentTruth #HallOfFaith #DailyBibleStudy #FaithWalk #Hebrews11 #BibleApplication #FaithHeroes

Transcript

 Hebrews 11

Hebrews 11

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's Plan, Your Part, Year Two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire New Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we're jumping into Hebrews chapter 11. Uh, I think Jenny read this probably a couple of days ago to try to get ready for this episode.

She's been sitting on this and she is excited. Uh, to go running with this chapter, I think. Is that fair? I think it's an easy one to go running with, but I've listened to this several times. I usually like to listen to things before we talk about them, before we even read them. So, the other day I was driving around the car doing all the kinds of stuff with the kids and this was on.

I was like, oh my goodness. And when I got home, I was like, Ryan, you're never going to believe it. This is a great chapter. He's like, Oh yeah, this is the one that's like, what did you call it? It's the, a lot of people, a lot of people call it the hall of faith. Yeah. So it's just, it's a really cool chapter.

Lots of cool examples. It's like a weird. Like threading through the entire old Testament, bringing it back to us. Lots of [00:01:00] application for our own lives. It's just, it's cool. I like it. It's one of these sweeping narratives that kind of starts at the very beginning and brings us up into today. It's very similar.

I would say, I'm looking up really quickly. I think it's Acts chapter seven. Yeah. Acts chapter seven is where Stephen speaks to the crowd. That's about to stone him. And he does the same thing. He gives this sweeping story of the history of Israel. Yeah. And remember, um, that the author of Hebrews is writing to, uh, Christians that have a Jewish background.

And so to help make the case that we are persevering in our faith, looking forward to the fact that God will ultimately provide, he's going to go back to the very beginning, uh, to all the stories that they're very familiar with. These are stories that they've heard for a long time. Um, and he's going to make the case that, Hey, these guys were made perfect in their faith and They did not get to see what God had promised.

I think as I read through this, and this is probably. For most people, this is probably a chapter you're familiar with, or at least have heard, preached on a [00:02:00] few times in your life, maybe. Um, I think one of the things that sticks out to me today is that this author is consistently saying, Hey, they did not actually get to arrive at the promised thing.

And they pressed on in their faith. Anyway, and I think another thing that is like, um, encouraging to me is that we are in the same boat. Like we are continuing these stories of faith. The stories of faith did not end when the Bible closed. Uh, we are continuing to walk these out. We have an opportunity to live faithful in in the same way as these very famous characters.

Um, and we we press on to the fact that Jesus is going to make all things perfect. We're going to rule and reign with him and he will return for us at some point. You Uh, that has already been alluded to earlier in Hebrews and, um, it's something I'm looking forward to. It's something I'm encouraged by today.

It does feel like this is a part of the chapter that's just saying, like, if you are still doubting, here's some more reasons why. So it starts out by talking [00:03:00] all the way at the beginning of the chapter, he starts giving examples of all of these individuals by faith, starts out by calling out, Abel, um, about his gift or his offering to God and how he by faith brought his offering.

Um, and then goes through so many other stories. You have Abraham, there's, um, Moses all the way to, yep, there's all kinds of people flung in here. I would say probably all the way to, um, the walls of Jericho falling down. And I think a funny verse in this is. Verse 32, this is probably what I would have said, too.

What more shall I say, for time would fail me to tell you of Gideon, Beric, Samson, Jephthah. Like, he just goes through the list. Like, I'm not even giving you everybody, basically. And I think what he's doing, actually, because he goes on with that list, I think he actually is purposely bringing them up to stories that they would be familiar with in their modern day.

Because he starts to talk about things that sound like first century Christian persecutions. Um, he talks about being mocked, being flogged, being in [00:04:00] chains, being imprisoned, um, assuming this author is familiar with the ministry of the first century apostles. Many of these things were happening to them.

And so I do think that he's saying, hey, you have an opportunity to continue to live out this story. Remember, part of the purpose of this book is to call people to perseverance. Hey, press on. Don't be discouraged. Don't fall away. And so I think he is purposely, much like I'm trying to do today, is Show you how these stories of faith started back in the very beginning of history, and they continue up into today.

And we have this incredible opportunity to continue to live out the faith that God has called us to. I think one that really caught my attention, I'm sure there's probably one that resonated with you too, but, um, I really liked when he talked about Abraham in verse 17, about when Abraham was tested and offer or had to, or was told to offer up Isaac.

And verse 18 is really crazy because, um, Abraham was told that from Isaac or through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And at [00:05:00] that time, Isaac was still a young boy. He didn't have any children yet. Um, so I'm sure that was probably just like how, at least in my mind, how are you going to pull this off, God, if you're getting rid of my only son?

Like the fact that he even has Isaac is a miracle in and of itself. If he gets rid of Isaac, like what's going to happen? But What's interesting is verse 19, where it says, He considered that God was able to even raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, He did receive him back. Um, but that's just so crazy.

Like, even considering, like, well, no, I trust God so much that this crazy thing that doesn't even seem like it could happen, I'm, I'm going to do what he's going to say because he's promised that thing beforehand. So I really liked that example. I thought that one was pretty, um, I don't know, pretty telling about Abraham's face.

Couple things to point out about Abraham that are really interesting, uh, it's, it's right before those couple of verses. If you look at, um, verse, um, 16, actually, no, let's go 14, uh, for people who speak thus, make it clear that they are [00:06:00] seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land 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. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city. Um, when the author's thinking about Abraham, you would expect that when he's talking about the promised land, he'd be talking about The land of Israel, you, you would assume. And I think the original audience would have assumed that he would be thinking about the promised land that he was called to, because that's the story of Abraham, but the author of Hebrews here is saying, no, his ultimate desire was not the actual, uh, geographical place.

It was actually. The heavenly place. A better country. The ultimate promise to us as believers is a better country that is a heavenly country that is staying with God where he rules and reigns. And, you know, even up until today, this could be scandalous, but it is important to point out that the author of Hebrews in the first century is saying, hey, [00:07:00] Abraham's mind was not on a geographical place.

It was not the actual physical land of Israel, even though traveling to that land was part of God's promise. Ultimately, God's promise was this heavenly place where God reigns, and God has prepared a city there for us. So the author is saying, yeah, like, He was obedient, uh, to God, but he wasn't looking forward to living in Israel.

He was looking forward to ruling and reigning with God in the heavenly city that's been prepared for us, which is the same hope that we have and the same thing that we look forward to. Also, I think something else that could come up. Was that your example of one that like, kind of, I have another one.

It's really interesting when he says about Moses, but I was going to jump to actually Joseph first, because I do have kind of a question about it. So it's like a short little one. I think it can easily get missed within like Abraham and Moses, but verse 22 says by faith. Joseph at the end of his life made mention to the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones Now his bones are significant because of where they're laid Correct, like there's something isn't there something about like what was written about [00:08:00] him or something of that nature?

He commands in Genesis that they take his bones with him when they leave the promise and that's significant well, it's significant because 400 years would pass before they actually Left. And when they left, they did take his bones with them. So it was like a, in a sense of prophecy from Joseph. Right.

That's kind of what I was fulfilled. Yeah. Yeah. That was something that that little piece was like, Hmm, there's something unique about that. But again, like that idea of like faith where you didn't necessarily see what was promised. Joseph didn't. See what was promised and he had eyes on what was coming and he had faith for what was coming so much so that when he was dying, I think you could easily understand that he would have been disappointed or frustrated or meant like, Oh man, like, I don't, I don't know if God really did what he said he was going to do.

Cause here I am in Egypt still, but instead he says, Hey, when you leave and go and do what God has promised, please take me with you. That's incredible. Powerful. Faith. [00:09:00] Um, the thing I want to point out about Moses, if you look, starting in verse 24, by faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Verse 26, he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth. of Egypt for he was looking to the reward that, that, that's like tying Old Testament and New Testament again. I hate those distinctions, but I use them all the time. Um, it, it's saying, Hey, Moses was so forward looking that he wanted to be considered somebody who was.

Faithful to the promised one of God. And he was going to bring on the reproach that is with that. So he's the author of Hebrews is tying up like all these old ideas and fitting him completely together with these new ideas. Christ has come. We know who Christ is. Jesus is the Christ. And because of Jesus being the promised one being here with us, he can confidently say that Moses was taking the reproach of Christ on himself, being [00:10:00] faithful to the ultimate promise that is coming.

And so it's worth. Noting that and reviewing that and seeing that, um, because again, he's speaking to a Jewish. You know, a Christian believing Jewish audience saying, Hey, even Moses was looking forward to this time of Christ. And now we are living in it. And how exciting is that? Well, and I think the cool part that draws us into this whole thing is that I was telling Ryan this earlier, we can all kind of put our own names in that little slot.

By faith, Ryan did this by faith, Jenny did this knowing that there is like Jesus is coming that second time. We might not experience it just like some of these others had not experienced Christ being, like, introduced to the world. Um, so what are, like, I automatically think, like, what are some things that I have done, or things that I have, or will do, or whatever, um, what am I willing to, Say, yeah, by faith, I did that.

I made that decision by faith. Um, I don't know. I just, it's encouraging to see these [00:11:00] because I feel like some of these examples are insane. Well, and like for me, it feels like sometimes my faith decisions seem really petty, but, or like just small, maybe, in comparison to some of these crazy by faith acts.

And I think encourages me to maybe lean into and trust God more with my decision making than Um, just like when it doesn't cost much, the thing that has my intention today is that the author is purposely keeping like the one thing in mind, like by faith, they're trusting God's promises. Even when they don't see them and even when they don't make sense.

And there are a lot of times that I, That one's harder, I think. Yes, it's a little bit of a bigger picture view of what's going on. Like there's a lot of times where I can, can get in this downward spiral of like, well, what, what is God doing and how is God working? And am I where God wants me to be? And what's interesting is that I think what the author is doing here is he's taking these really compelling individual stories.[00:12:00]

But tying them to a much broader, grander story of what God is doing. And so because they knew that God was committing to fulfilling the promises that he gave, they took steps and actions that didn't even make sense in their exact lifetimes and still held to the promises. So back to Joseph, like, Joseph, Died not seeing what God said would happen.

Abraham died, not seeing what God said would happen. There's a lot of drama in his family and his family was pretty small. Um, but again, there's this grander narrative of like, God is moving. God is working. Be faithful to the things that God has asked you to be faithful to and trust that you may not see the fulfillment of his promises in your lifetime.

Um, but continue to make decisions because they are true. And so we've been talking about like, yeah, Christ is, Christ is going to return. Christ is going to rule and reign. You might look out the window tomorrow or you might watch the news tomorrow and think like, oh man, I don't know. It seems like maybe we're [00:13:00] actually kind of in trouble because it seems like the world is not worshiping Jesus, right?

That's pretty fair to assume. But God has promised that every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess regardless of your circumstances, regardless of what you see tomorrow. There is coming a time where everyone will acknowledge the rule and reign of Jesus and worship him together. And so we look forward to that and we make our decisions according to that.

That's kind of what the last couple of sentences are. Um, and all these though, commended through their faith, that is like, God appreciated what they did, um, because of their faith. All of these, though commended, um, through their faith, did not receive what was promised. That is, they didn't see it. Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect.

This is the author saying, hey, We have a part of this story too, and they have a part of this story too. So again, I think back to what you're saying, Jenny, like how do our individual decisions, how do the, the ways that we choose to live our lives, how do they reflect the faith that God has called us to?

And I would say, how do we knit [00:14:00] ourselves together in this broad sweeping story that God's rolling out, uh, to be faithful to his promises. So our encouragement to you today would be to really listen to these examples, appreciate the faith that has gone far before you, um, before all of us, and really consider yourself, I would just say, by faith, put your name in, in the little slot, and really contemplate, contemplate What have you done by faith that maybe didn't make sense or felt uncomfortable, but you know that God's hand was in it And ultimately he was glorified through the decisions you made or possibly something that you want to do in the future Yeah, what will you continue to do?

Yeah that you're contemplating by faith. I'm gonna Um, you know, make this decision that is going to glorify God, regardless of what the world around me tells me is right or wrong or good or bad or whatever, because God's word is ultimately, um, where truth lies also, like, is it bringing glory to God? We want to make sure that's the ultimate goal as [00:15:00] well.

Yeah. God will do what God has said he will do. And so we should, um, honor him. We should worship him with our day to day decisions. So we invite you to do that. We'll be back again tomorrow with Hebrews chapter 12 and just a little bit of a cliffhanger here. Hebrews chapter 12 is going to connect really well to Hebrews chapter 11 and build on the case that's being made here.

So we'll see you tomorrow and we hope you're encouraged by God's word today. Thanks for listening to today's episode. Before we get to the reading, I want to recommend another podcast that I'm a part of called God's Whole Story. This year, we're releasing one episode a week on Monday mornings, overviewing one book of the Bible each week.

So, God's Plan Your Part is a deep dive, chapter by chapter, where God's whole story is taking it one book at a time. If you enjoy this podcast, you'll enjoy that one. Go check it out. Now, here's the reading. Hebrews chapter 11. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

For by it the people of old received [00:16:00] their commendation. Amen. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous.

God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he has not found, because God has taken him. Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith, it is impossible to please him.

For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that [00:17:00] he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations.

Who's designer and builder is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven, and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

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 land from which they had gone out, they would have had the opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a [00:18:00] better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. By faith Abram, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he has grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be [00:19:00] mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

By faith the people crossed the Red Sea and as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of Davon and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, [00:20:00] quenched the power of the fire, escaped the edge of the sword, and were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, Women received back their dead by resurrection.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They were sent about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in the deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all of these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part. Don't forget, you can find us on just about every social media platform [00:21:00] and YouTube.

Let us know what you thought of today's episode. And if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there. You can also reach out to us directly at God's plan. Your part at gmail. com as always, if you don't have a Bible, or if you'd like to use the one that we use, uh, reach out to us via email and we'll be happy to send one to you.

Thanks again for listening. We'll see you again tomorrow.