Sermons
Faith Clings to the Promises
Faith Clings to the Promises
Heb. 11:6
Introduction:
1. Clothes fresh out of the dryer cling to each other. Strands of cooked spaghetti cling to each other. Stretchy clothing like spandex clings to the bodies of those who wear it. A Post-It-Note clings to whatever it is stuck to. And sometimes, people are even referred to as “clingy.”
2. We all know what it means to cling to something. We hang on to it. We resist letting go.
3. Faith clings to the promises of God. This is a theme developed in Hebrews, especially chapters 10, 11, and 12.
4. There are numerous examples of individuals who clung to the promises of God in Heb. 11. They experienced great things as a result. But, on the downside, they went through a lot of difficulty clinging to those promises. They needed reassurance, encouragement, and reminders constantly to keep on clinging to the promises.
Discussion:
I. Noah clung to the promises God made to him (11:7).
A. The author of Hebrews expresses it this way: “being warned by God, about things not yet
seen.”
1. God warned Noah about the coming flood (Gen. 6:13-22).
2. Noah had never experienced a flood before. He did not “walk by sight” but by faith in
what God said.
B. Based on this warning “in reverence he prepared.”
1. He clung to what God said.
2. Some have concluded from Gen. 6:3 that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark. God
said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless
his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
3. In Gen. 6:14 God commanded Noah to build. In Gen. 7:1 God commanded Noah to
enter the ark. How much time passed between these two passages? Did he take the
whole time?
4. He was 500 years old when first mentioned in Gen. 5:32. When he entered the ark he
was 600 years old (Gen. 7:6). Maybe it was 100 years?
5. Perhaps it did not take him the whole time.
6. There are many details we just don’t know. What we do know is that Noah believed
God and acted!
C. In so doing he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness founded on
the faith that clings to what God promised.
II. Abraham and Sarah clung to the promises that God made to them (11:8-12).
A. The Hebrews author is very abbreviated in what he says.
B. The book of Genesis gives much more detail.
1. Gen. 12:1-3 identifies what God said in His promise to Abraham.
2. It is not clear whether these words were spoken in Ur of the Chaldeans or in
Haran (Gen. 11:31-32). Josh. 24:2 indicates that Abraham descended from those who
served false gods in Ur.
C. Based on God’s promise, Terah, Abraham’s father, took Abraham, Lot and Sarah from Ur
and went to Haran to enter the land of Canaan (Gen. 11:31-32).
D. Abraham left Haran when he was 75 years old, along with Sarah and Lot and set out for
Canaan (Gen. 12:4-9).
1. When they arrived God said, “To your descendants I will give this land.”
2. There was a famine in the land and Abraham went down to Egypt (12:10ff).
3. Pharoah sent them away after Abraham told him Sarah was his sister. They went back
to Canaan.
4. Lot was taken captive, but Abraham rescued him. Melchizedek, the king of Salem, met
Abraham and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High” (14:19).
5. God said, “Do not fear Abraham, I am a shield to you, your reward shall be very great”
(15:1).
6. But Abraham was not so sure. God had promised land and descendants, but Abraham
was childless (15:2ff).
7. God said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars, so shall your descendants
be” (15:5-16).
8. The Lord again promised Abraham, “To your descendants I have given this land, from
the River of Egypt to the Euphrates” (15:18).
9. Note how God repeated the promise over and over for Abraham.
E. Abraham had lived in Canaan 10 years when he took Hagar to produce and heir (Gen.
16:3).
1. He was 86 when Ishmael was born (16:15). Ishmael would not be the one through
whom God would fulfill His promise.
2. He was 99 when God reiterated the promise that he would be the father of a
multitude of nations (17:1-8). Sarah was 90 (17:17). Heb. 11:11-12 indicates that
Sarah was beyond the age of childbearing and that Abraham was as good as dead (cf.
Gen. 18:11).
3. At the oaks of Mamre God reiterated the promise (Gen. 18).
4. Do you see how many times God reiterates the promise to Abraham? Do you think
Abraham and Sarah were cautious about accepting the promise? Do you think they
may have had doubts? Do you think they were believing with questions? That they
were believing with uncertainties? Still they were clinging to the promises!
F. Then God called on Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on an altar (Gen. 22). Abraham’s actions
were testimony to his belief in God’s promises.
III. The author of Hebrews introduces something into his narrative that is quite profound. God had promised Abraham the land of Canaan, but the author of Hebrews says, “They all died in faith without receiving the promises.” But didn’t Abraham’s descendants inherit Canaan? Yes, but the author of Hebrews says they were looking for more (11:10, 13-16).
A. They were looking for a city “with foundations” (11:10). Instead of temporary
dwellings (tents) they were looking for something stable and permanent.
B. “They were strangers and exiles on the earth” (11:13).
1. They were looking for a heavenly country.
2. They were looking for a city that God had prepared for them.
IV. Like them, we are promised great things. Indeed, Paul refers to those who “through faith are baptized into Christ as Abraham’s descendants and heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).
A. Hebrews says that we have come to Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem (12:22).
B. But we need to cling to the promise. We need ongoing reassurance, encouragement, and
reminders to cling to the promises (Heb. 10:23-31).
C. There is the need for endurance (10:32-39).
1. We may have our questions.
2. We may have our uncertainties.
3. But we must cling to the promises. He who promised is faithful so let us consider how
to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling
together, but encouraging one another.
4. Turning away results in destruction (Heb. 10:26-31, 39).
Conclusion:
1. If you have questions, concerns, and doubts you are just like all God’s people.
2. If you need reassurance, constant reminders, encouragement you are just like all God’s people.
3. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7; cf. Rom. 8:25).
4. Cling to the promises. Hold fast (10:23). Stimulate one another (10:24). Encourage one another (10:25). “Do not throw away your confidence” (10:35). “Do not grow weary and lose heart” (12:3).
