Never Received The Promises But Died In Faith Series

I. EXORDIUM:

Are you waiting for the rapture in faith?

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show that we learn from the examples of Old Testament people: (1) we wait in faith for the rapture, (2) we treat ourselves as temporary residents of this earth.

IV. TEXT:

Hebrews 11:13 (Amplified Bible)

11:13 These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of [God’s] promises, only having seen it and greeted it from a great distance by faith, and all the while acknowledging and confessing that they were strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth.

V. THESIS:

Praise, worship and thank You very much LORD JESUS, for You have given us Heaven as our Eternal home with You and we are temporary residents of this earth.

VI. TITLE:

Never received the promises but died in faith

Subtitle: Study on the Book of Hebrews

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Date of writing: Before AD. 70

B. Style of writing: Best Greek style

C. Authorship: Not specific, but generally attributed to Apostle Paul. Can be also ascribed to Barnabas, Luke, Apollos

D. Audience: Hebrew Christians

E. Theme: Christ is superior to the prophets; Christ is superior to angels—J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible

F. Purpose: The chief doctrinal purpose of the writer was to show the transcendent glory of the Christian dispensation, as compared with that of the Old Testament.—Thompson Chain - Bible Book Outlines

G. Keyword: better

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. They died in their faith seeing from afar GOD's promises

"These people all died controlled and sustained by their faith, but not having received the tangible fulfillment of [God’s] promises, only having seen it and greeted it from a great distance by faith,"

Isaac:

Genesis 27:2-4 (Amplified Bible)

27:2 He said, See here now; I am old, I do not know when I may die.

27:3 So now, I pray you, take your weapons, your [arrows in a] quiver and your bow, and go out into the open country and hunt game for me,

27:4 And prepare me appetizing meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat of it, [preparatory] to giving you my blessing [as my firstborn] before I die.

Jacob:

Genesis 48:21 (Amplified Bible)

48:21 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I [am about to] die, but God will be with you and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

Genesis 49:33 (Amplified Bible)

49:33 When Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his [departed] people.

Joseph:

Genesis 50:24 (Amplified Bible)

50:24 And Joseph said to his brethren, I am going to die. But God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob [to give you].

Illustration:

As old testament people, they are looking forward in time for the coming Messiah - the LORD JESUS CHRIST. As new testament people, we are looking backward 2000 years ago to the Messiah's crucifixion and we celebrate it during Holy Communion or LORD's Supper. As we are living in the last days, we are looking forward to rapture, it may or may not arrive in our time but still we lived by faith hoping for it will come in our time yet if we die in faith, we kept our salvation. We no longer need faith and hope in heaven, because we can see JESUS CHRIST as who He is, with our eyes, but our love keep on growing.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (Amplified Bible)

13:13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Peter 1:8 (Amplified Bible)

1:8 Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy.

B. They acknowledged they were temporary residents upon the earth

"and all the while acknowledging and confessing that they were strangers and temporary residents and exiles upon the earth."

1 Peter 1:17 (Amplified Bible)

1:17 And if you call upon Him as [your] Father Who judges each one impartially according to what he does, [then] you should conduct yourselves with true reverence throughout the time of your temporary residence [on the earth, whether long or short].

1 Peter 2:11 (Amplified Bible)

2:11 Beloved, I implore you as aliens and strangers and exiles [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges (the evil desires, the passions of the flesh, your lower nature) that wage war against the soul.