The Gospel Of Faith

The Gospel of Faith: Hebrews 11:16-19

Introduction: FF. Bruce, in his commentary of Hebrews wrote, “The earthly Canaan and the earthly Jerusalem were but temporary object-lessons pointing to the saints’ everlasting rest, the well-founded city of God. Those who put their trust in God receive a full reward, and that reward must belong not to this transient world—order but to the enduring order which participates in the life of God (299).” That is what this message is about today. What issues, difficulties, or evil do you deal with today? Do you consider it transient? And if so, how can you take part in the life of God?

Propositional Statement: The Gospel of Faith is outlined in the Hebrews 11:16-19. Faith is the means by which we prove God’s mercy, grace, and faithfulness. To illustrate the Gospel in the following passages; I will be presenting God’s Purpose, Our Problem, God’s Plan, and Our Response.

I. (v.16) God’s Purpose: The Last Phrase says, “He has prepared a city for them.”

A. Not Ashamed to be Called Our God: The Old Testament continually points the Israelites into a relationship with God. Abraham, Sarah, and the others listed in Hebrews as people of faith continually were looking for God’s promise; but they never received it during their lifetimes.

“FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL

AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:

I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS,

AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS.

AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD,

AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. (Quotes from Jer. 31:33)

Come, let us worship and bow down,

Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For He is our God,

And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. (Psalms 95)

After Christ came; the relationship that relationship became a relationship with the church. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways. In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom also he made the world.”

Transition: While they were out walking, a 14-year old daughter asked her dad to walk ahead a little bit. After a few minutes of walking, the truth came out. Some people that the girl knew from school were walking on the other side of the street and the girl did not want them to see her doing something as so uncool as walking down the street with a middle-aged man, much less her father. Of course, there is the other way around too! When our teenagers have embarrassed us with their crazy antics. Half-dressed, drinking Boxes of Mountain-Dew in that gaming environment that used to be your living room. Or having to take a trip to the principal’s office to hear about the untold actions they have taken at school.

That is why it is all the more striking that Hebrews says, “he is not ashamed to be called our God.” He is not ashamed to be associated with us. That is particularly interesting because of what else it says regarding people, which brings us to my second point:

II. Our Problem: (also in verse 16, is mentioned “desire” While the Saints desired a better country in this passage, we sometimes desire something other than what God has for us. We want what God has warned us about. We want to replace our want and pain for something other than Him.

A. While God was not ashamed to offer you the life of His Son; are you ashamed to be His Child? Some of you might be thinking, ‘he threw that question in to make me feel guilty.’ No, I ask the question simply because it falls within the same vein of what we are talking about. We should consider it.

What is particularly interesting about this question though, is that God does not pose the question to you, like I do. While I will ask you to consider if you are ashamed of Him; he will never ask you!

God offers His mercy, grace, and forgiveness without ever having asked you how you feel about it. Even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son……

B.Simply put though….. we have exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for all kinds of images in the form of corruptible things. We have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served creatures, rather than the Creator of the Universe. One of my most favorite songs by a music artist named Carman speaks about the issue of temptation: The lyrics go:

Well, I grabbed my superman beach towel

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