August 14 2022
August 14th, 2022
Old Testament: Jeremiah 23:16-29
Psalm: Psalm 119:81-88
Epistle: Hebrews 11:17-31 (32-40) 12:1-3
Gospel: Luke 12:49-53 (54-56)
Sermon Text: Hebrews 11:17-31, 12:1-3
Sermon Title: “Looking to Jesus” or “By Faith Too”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds and not from the mouth of the Lord … (they) prophesy lies in My name”. (Jeremiah 23:16, 25a) Jesus said, “do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division”. (Luke 12:51) “Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”. (Hebrews 12:2a) These are our texts this morning.
Last week, we heard the beginning of a “roll call” of faith from the book of Hebrews; hearing about many of the saints of the Old Testament. That roll call continues in todays reading with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses, who “by faith” alone were saved and did many good works. Like Abraham, “they believed the Lord and it was counted to them as righteousness”. (Genesis 15:6)
The context in this book of Hebrews is that the Jewish Christians were being persecuted because of their faith in Christ and therefore were tempted to abandon their faith and return to Judaism, for physical safety reasons. You see Judaism was a legal religion with some government protections and Christianity was not. There was for them a heavy price to pay in this life for being a Christian; a believer in the one true God. This is true yet today and the temptation is all too real. (Cite recent example of Christians forced to renounce their faith and convert to Hinduism in India) These examples of faith from the Old Testament were given to encourage them and us in the face of the division and very real persecution that Jesus warns us about in the Gospel reading.
Our text begins with what had to be the most difficult event of Abraham’s life. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac … he who had received the promises, was ready to offer up his only son of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your descendants be named”. (Hebrews 11:17-18) Isaac was the only child of the promise and now God said to kill him. But Abraham believed God’s Word, “So shall your offspring be”. (Genesis 15:5b) By faith, he was ready to do this since, “he considered that God was able to raise men from the dead”. (Hebrews 11:19a) He believed that God would keep His word, that Isaac was the child of the promise.
If you recall in the account from Genesis, Abraham told his servants, “I and the boy will go yonder and worship and come again to you”. (Genesis 22:5b) Abraham believed that even if Isaac died, God would raise him from the dead; “so figuratively speaking, he received him back”. (Hebrews 11:19b) God in essence did return Isaac from the dead, when the Angel of the Lord said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy; or do anything to him”. (Genesis 22:12a)
Also, “by faith, (when he was near death) 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 burial”. (Hebrews 11:20-22) All of these events are recorded in the last half of the book of Genesis; showing that God’s hand is in all of these things, working them out in order to bring the promised Christ in the “fulness of time”. (Galatians 4:4)
Next, we hear at some length about the faith of Moses, which is significant since the Hebrews were being tempted to return to Judaism; but here, Moses points them not to himself, but to Christ. The author starts with the faithfulness of his parents in protecting young Moses from the vile edict of Pharaoh that whenever a male child was born “you shall kill it” “every son that is born to the Hebrews shall be cast into the river”. (Exodus 1:16b, 22a) His parents “were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23b) “fearing God rather than man”. (Acts 5:29b)
“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 (since he was raised in a king’s palace, the luxuries of Egypt that would have been his if he had kept his identity a secret) He considered the reproach of Christ, greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward”. (Hebrews 11:24-26)
Are you/we willing to bear the same reproach in our day? Will we confess God’s Word clearly in all the issues/conflicts, in spite of almost universal opposition from the world? Are you/we willing to suffer the wrath of the world in order to speak out against those who stubbornly “despise the Word of the Lord” and “prophesy lies in His name”? (Jeremiah 23:16, 25a) Or will we speak the truth about God’s wrath against sin and the threat of eternal judgment as well as the salvation won for us by Jesus’ death and bodily resurrection; offered freely to those who repent and believe in Christ alone? Brothers and sisters in Christ, “do not be surprised by the fiery trial when it comes upon you”. (1st Peter 4:12)
When Moses left Egypt, he immediately became an enemy/adversary of Pharaoh. This is the division that Jesus said will occur on earth, where “a person’s enemies will be those of his own household”. (Matthew 10:36) As Luther once said, “if you want peace in your church; quit preaching the Word/Gospel”. (The same is true of our homes) But, if you preach the Word/Gospel, some will believe in Jesus and others will reject Him as Simeon prophesied of the child Jesus, “this child is appointed for the rise and fall of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed”. (Luke 2:34b) Christ and His Word bring division.
Like all the saints of old mentioned in Hebrews 11, by faith in the promise of God, Moses is pointing them to Christ. As Jesus said, “Moses wrote of Me”. (John 5:46) He is exhorting them to be faithful and bear the reproach of the world. “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”. (Hebrews 11:27-28) Of course the blood of the lamb, points to Christ, the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. (John 1:29b)
Even though it must have seemed foolish and dangerous; “by faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land, but the Egyptians when they attempted to do the same, were drowned”. (Hebrews 11:29) “Of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained (alive). But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left”. (Exodus 14:28b-29)
Also, “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”. (Hebrews 11:29-31) Rahab then became part of the Messianic line from which the Christ would come. (See Matthew 1:5) All these witnesses did not in their lifetimes “receive what was promised” (Hebrews 11:39b) but by faith trusted that the Lord would keep His Word. God was always at work in the world to bring about the birth of the Messiah, who would suffer, die and rise again for the salvation of the world.
The rest of the chapter (that was left out of the reading) tells of countless other saints whom we could spend many hours discussing. Then chapter 12 begins, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder (author) and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising its shame, and is (now) seated at the right hand of the throne of God”. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Knowing all that the saints of old endured for their faith in Christ, they serve as an example, an encouragement to us, His people, to persevere in difficult circumstances, “to contend for (truth of the Gospel), the faith once delivered to all the saints”; (Jude 3b) to struggle against the sin that is in us and around us; to reject the false teachers who would “fill us with vain hopes and lies” (Jeremiah 23:16, 25) and to “fix our eyes upon Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2a) our only Savior from sin.
For Jesus is not only the object of our faith, He is also the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2b); which we receive and by which we are strengthened, through the means of grace; the Word and Sacrament. Therefore, abide in Him, who (for us and for our salvation) endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you do not grow weary or fainthearted”. (Hebrews 12:3) Amen.
“Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold
Fight as the saints, who nobly fought of old
And win with them, the victor’s crown of gold”
Amen.
The peace of God …