Hebrews 11:13-31
I. The New Covenant Has A Superior Person: Christ (1-6)
A. \\#Heb 1:1-3\\ Christ is superior to the prophets.
B. \\#Heb 1:4-14\\ Christ is superior to the angels.
C. \\#Heb 2:1-18\\ Explanation and Emphasis
D. \\#Heb 3:1-6\\ Christ is superior to Moses.
E. \\#Heb 3:7-4:16\\ Explanation and Emphasis
F. \\#Heb 4:14-5:10\\ Christ is superior to the High Priest
G. \\#Heb 5:11-6:20\\ Explanation and Emphasis
II. The New Covenant Has A Superior Priesthood: Christ over Melchizedek (7-10)
A. \\#Heb 7:1-11\\ Christ’s Priesthood Is of A Superior Origin
B. \\#Heb 7:12-14\\ Christ’s Priesthood Is by A Superior Covenant
C. \\#Heb 7:15-23\\ Christ’s Priesthood Is by A Superior Promise
D. \\#Heb 7:23-28\\ Christ’s Priesthood Has A Superior Nature
E. \\#Heb 8:1-5\\ Christ’s Priesthood Has A Superior Tabernacle
F. \\#Heb 8:6-10:18\\ Christ’s Priesthood Is A Superior Ministry
G. \\#Heb 10:19-39\\ Explanation and Emphasis
III. The New Covenant Has A Superior Principle: Faith (11-13)
A. \\#Heb 11:1-40\\ The examples of faith
1. \\#Heb 11:1,6\\ Two Basic Truths about Faith
2. \\#Heb 11:2-12\\ The Roll Call of Faith (part 1)
3. \\#Heb 11:13-16\\ Explanation and Emphasis
4. \\#Heb 11:17-31\\ The Roll Call of Faith (part 2)
5. \\#Heb 11:32-38\\ The Roll Call of Faith (part 3)
6. \\#Heb 11:39-40\\ But These Were Required to Wait
B. The endurance of faith (12:1-13)
C. Exhortation: A warning against disobeying the Word (12:14-19)
D. The evidences of faith (13)
I. The New Covenant Has A Superior Principle: Faith (11-13)
A. \\#Heb 11:1-40\\ The examples of faith
1. \\#Heb 11:1,6\\ Two Basic Truths about Faith
2. \\#Heb 11:2-12\\ The Roll Call of Faith (part 1)
a. \\#2\\ "by faith the elders obtained a good report"
b. \\#3\\ "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by
the word of God"
c. \\#4\\ "By faith Abel offered… a more excellent sacrifice"
d. \\#5\\ "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see
death… he had this testimony that he pleased God."
e. \\#7\\ "By faith Noah, being warned… of things not seen as yet"
f. \\#8-10\\ "By faith Abraham"
g. \\#11-12\\ "Through faith also Sara"
3. \\#Heb 11:13-16\\ Explanation and Emphasis
a. \\#13-14\\ These did not receive the fulfillment of the promise.
(1)\\#13\\ "These all died in faith, not having received the
promises"-That is, they did not see the end of all that God
had promised them.
aa. Twice in this chapter \\#11:13, 39\\, the writer tells
us that they did not receive the completed fulfillment
of God’s promise.
bb. While most if not all of these Old Testament examples
received some of the things God promised to them, none
of them received all.
cc. What did they not receive? Even to this date, the Jews
have not received their King or their kingdom. These
were the cornerstones of the old covenant.
(2) Yet these promises changed their lives.
aa. "They saw them "afar off"-They saw all of God’s
promises as being completely fulfilled with spiritual
eyes of faith.
bb. "and were persuaded of them"-Even more, they were
convinced in the reality of those promises; that is,
they were sure that God would do what He said He would
do.
cc. They "embraced them"-This is a term to show endearment
and closeness. These saints took God’s promises into
their hearts and clung to them. God’s promises became
their life and soul.
dd. "and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth"-They so claimed these promises that their
very philosophy of life changed. No longer did they view
the earth as their home; but after receiving God’s
promise, they considered this place a temporary layover,
a place that they were quickly passing through.
(3) \\#14\\ "For they that say such things declare plainly that
they seek a country"-All who acknowledge that they are
passing through this world are saying that they have a better
"country" to abide, that country being heaven itself \\#16\\.
b. \\#15-16\\ But even without receiving the end, they did not quit.
(1) \\#15\\ "if they had been mindful of that country from whence
they came out, they might have had opportunity to have
returned"-The writer is saying that if these heroes of the
faith had wanted to do so, they could have abandoned their
faith and returned to the life from which they came.
(2) \\#16\\ "But now they desire a better country; that is, the
heavenly"-I see two thoughts here.
aa. First, the heavenly is BETTER than the earthly. Why do
God’s people walk away from the things of this world?
For earthly, carnal creatures, there is only one answer.
What God has promised is better than what we have. And
it is!
bb. Second, the writer speaks of these saints in the present
tense—"they DESIRE"—not the past. These godly
saints are in heaven still waiting for the final
fulfillment of God’s promise. Some of them (i.e. Abel)
have been waiting since the beginning of time.
c. The writer lists two results of these heroes’ faith.
(1) "wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God"-We
have already been told that faith is required to please God.
Now, we see how pleased the Father is when we exercise our
faith. So much so, that He is glad to be claimed by us.
(2) "he hath prepared for them a city"-God has prepared a city
for them. No doubt that this is a reference to New Jerusalem
\\#Rev 21:2-3, 10-27\\. This is probably the city that
Abraham was seeking \\#Heb 11:10\\, making New Jerusalem the
likely prize of both the Old and New Testament saints.
4. \\#Heb 11:17-31\\ The Roll Call of Faith (part 2)-This second section
of the roll call will feature short but specific examples of those who
demonstrated their confidence in God’s promise. These examples will
show HOW GREAT A FAITH our ancestors have had in God.
a. \\#17-19\\ Abraham offered Isaac
(1) This story is given in Genesis 22.
(2) Abraham was willing to obey God and offer his only son, the
son of God’s promise, believing that God could both take
Isaac by death AND fulfill His promise through him to make
Abraham a great nation.
(3) \\#19\\ "Accounting that God was able to raise him up"-The
writer tells us that Abraham believed that God would raise
Isaac from the dead, if necessary, to fulfill the promises
He had made to Abraham about him.
(4) How great Abraham’s faith was!
(5) We should not doubt that Abraham might believe in a doctrine
that is mostly taught in the New Testament for we have
already seen that Abraham was well informed of new covenant
theology, looking for a city not made with human hands
\\#He 11:10, 16\\.
b. \\#20\\ Isaac blessed his sons
(1) \\#Ge 27:26-29, 39-40\\
(2) Isaac spake words of prophecy to both Esau and Jacob, words
which still have not come to pass in their finality.
c. \\#21\\ Jacob blessed his sons
(1) This is recorded in Genesis 49.
(2) These prophecies are specifically described as being for all
the sons of Jacob in the last days \\#Ge 49:1\\.
(3) Both Isaac and Jacob had such great faith that they were able
to prophecy with confidence about things which were thousands
of years in advance! Time is no barrier to faith.
(4) So these words of prophecy were demonstrations of the great
faith that Jacob had in his God.
d. \\#22\\ Joseph gave commandments for his body.
(1) \\#Ge 50:24-25\\
(2) Joseph believed God’s promise that He would give the land of
Israel to his people that he gave them a command to take his
bones with them when they left Egypt.
(3) He was demonstrating great faith.
e. \\#23\\ Moses parents hid him.
(1) \\#Ex 2:1-2\\
(2) "because they saw he was a proper child" - The writer tells us
that Moses’ parents hid, not because he was their child or
because they loved him, but because they saw that he was a
PROPER CHILD.
(a) The word PROPER means "elegant, of polished manners."
(b) I do not know how you can see elegance in an infant, but
the writer is indicating that Amram and Jochebed hid
Moses because they saw something in him, something that
they sensed God had given to their child.
(c) Saving Moses was not as much an act of love for them as
it was an act of faith.
(3) So Amram and Jochebed risked their lives believing that this
was God’s will for them—God’s work for them to do.
(4) They were exhibiting great faith in their God.
f. \\#24-26\\ Moses identified himself with Israel.
(1) Moses, "when he was come to years," likewise either sensed or
had some word from God that he was to stand with Israel.
(2) Understanding that, he "refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God." \\#He 11:24-25\\
(3) His decision was an act of great faith because he believed God
and trusted Him to honor him accordingly.
g. \\#27\\ Moses (and Israel) abandoned Egypt.
(1) "By faith he forsook Egypt" - FORSOOK means to leave or to
depart from.
(a) The reference here is not to the day Moses left Egypt
but to the day he made a decision to stand with Israel
in such a way that he would ultimately be forced to
leave.
(b) That day would be the day that Moses killed the Egyptian
\\#Ex 2:11-15\\.
(c) On that day, Moses acted in faith, believing that it was
God’s will for him to do whatever was necessary to
deliver Israel from Egypt.
(2) By the time Moses left Egypt, Moses definitely had some word
from God for he was "seeing him who is invisible"; that is,
he was seeking to obey and please God, not himself and not
the king.
(a) That is not to say that God had instructed Moses to kill
the Egyptian.
(b) Most likely, killing the Egyptian was Moses
interpretation of what God wanted him to do.
(3) Nevertheless, Moses acted in great faith, having the
understanding from God that he was to deliver Israel from
Egypt’s grip.
h. \\#28\\ Moses (and Israel) kept the first Passover.
(1) "by faith he kept the passover" - The writer refers to Moses
here but is describing things done in faith by Moses and
Israel.
(2) This account is recorded in Exodus 12.
(3) By slaying the Passover lamb and applying the blood, the Jews
were demonstrating their great faith in God’s promise to send
the death angel.
(a) What God had promised to do had never been done before
and it has never been done again.
(b) To believe that God was going to do something absolutely
unique and personal requires not only faith, but great
faith!
(4) But this was not only a great act of faith because they
trusted in the Lord, but also because it marked the Jews who
resented and rebelled against Egypt.
(a) If the death angel had not come that night, the Jews
who had believed that He would, would have identified
themselves in an undeniable way.
(b) All the Egyptians would have had to do was walk through
the homes of Israel and the blood would have given them
away.
(c) By putting that blood on their door posts, they marked
themselves for retribution by Egypt.
i. \\#29\\ Israel passed through the Red Sea.
(1) \\#Ex 14:15-31\\
(2) "By faith they passed through the Red Sea" - The writer now
plainly refers to Moses, and all of Israel with him, as they
acted in faith to obey God.
(3) This miracle is another unique miracle, having happened only
once on such a grand scale.
(a) What great faith it would have taken for the nation to
have walked into a sea bed while a wall of water hung
suspended by an unseen hand!
(b) The only assurance they had that the water wall would not
fall on them was God’s promise; yet, they obeyed and
were delivered from the hand of the Egyptian army.
j. \\#30\\ Israel marched around Jericho for seven days.
(1) \\#Joshua 6:1-20\\
(2) Faith would have been required to march around the fortified
walls of Jericho for a single day with any expectation that
the Jews would conquer the city.
(3) Even greater faith was required to do the same thing a second
and third day.
(4) But Israel’s great faith is seen in that they marched around
the walls six days; then on the seventh, they shouted a
victory cry, expecting the walls to fall down before them!
k. \\#31\\ Rahab helped the spies.
(1) Rahab’s great faith is evident in that she believed her own
people were doomed and that God would give His people victory
over their city.
(2) There is little doubt that Rahab’s decision an agonizing one
for one does not abandon her own people easily; but her faith
in God so out shined her loyalty to them that she was left
with no other option.
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