By Faith, We Understand

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray preached the second Sunday of Advent from Hebrews 11, working through the first three specific examples the writer gives: Abel, Enoch, and Noah. The sermon traced a single thread through those three lives and tied it to a pair of general statements the writer places around them. The central question left with the congregation was this: are you currently seeking God by faith? Hebrews 11...

Read together

1. Hebrews 11:1 defining faith as the assurance/substance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen
2. Hebrews 11:2 by faith the ancients gained approval
3. Hebrews 11:3 by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, what is seen not made from visible things
4. Hebrews 11:4 by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain and obtained testimony that he was righteous
5. Hebrews 11:5 by faith Enoch was taken up so he would not see death, he was pleasing to God
6. Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please God; he who comes must believe that He is and that He rewards those who seek Him
7. Hebrews 11:7 by faith Noah being warned about things not yet seen prepared an ark, condemned the world, became heir of righteousness
8. Genesis 4:3-5 Cain brought fruit of the ground, Abel brought firstlings of his flock, God had regard for Abel and his offering but not for Cain
9. Genesis 4:6-8 God pleading with Cain asking why he was angry, warning that sin was crouching at the door, then Cain killing Abel
10. Genesis 5:21-23 Enoch lived sixty-five years, became father of Methuselah, walked with God three hundred years, all his days were three hundred sixty-five years
11. Genesis 5:24 Enoch walked with God and was not, for God took him
12. Genesis 6:5-8 man was exceedingly evil, earth filled with violence, God regretted making them, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord
13. Genesis 6:9 Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time, Noah walked with God
14. Genesis 6:13-14 God warning Noah that the end of all flesh had come, commanding him to make an ark of gopher wood
15. Genesis 6:22 thus Noah did according to all that God had commanded him
16. Luke 3 genealogy of Jesus listed through Joseph, including son of Methuselah, son of Enoch
17. Jude 1:14 Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied
18. James 2 faith without works is dead; if you have faith it will work itself out in action
19. Matthew 12:41-42 men of Nineveh will condemn this generation because they repented at Jonah's preaching; queen of the South will condemn because she came to hear Solomon's wisdom
20. Luke 11:31-32 same account as Matthew 12 of queen of the South and men of Nineveh condemning the generation, order reversed
21. 1 John 3:11-12 the message from the beginning to love one another, not as Cain who was of the evil one and slew his brother because his deeds were evil

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray pointed out that Abel's offering was made by faith, and that Cain's was not, even though both brothers came and brought something. What do you think the difference looks like in practice between doing a religious act by faith and doing the same act without it?
2. The sermon describes God pleading directly with Cain, warning him that sin was crouching at the door, and yet Cain still went and killed his brother. What does that exchange tell you about how God deals with people who are on the edge of a serious sin?
3. Pastor Ray said that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that God is a rewarder of those who seek him, not a cosmic killjoy waiting to slap us down. How has your own picture of God lined up with or pushed against that description?
4. The sermon raised the tension that Abel acted in faith, was counted righteous, and was still murdered, while Enoch walked with God and was taken up without dying. How do you hold onto faith in God as a rewarder when your present circumstances seem to contradict that?
5. Pastor Ray said that Noah's righteous act of building the ark, while it saved his household, also condemned everyone who rejected God's warning over those hundred years. How do you personally sit with the idea that a believer's faithfulness can itself be a form of witness that holds others accountable?