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Hall of Fame speeches are usually pretty boring: thanks to people who helped the athlete/entertainer, a few quips about their achievements, and maybe a push-back to those who overlooked or underestimated the individual. But a few speeches stand out with some lines:

• Famous Pittsburgh Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw: “What I wouldn’t give right now to put my hands under Mike Webster’s butt just one more time.” 
• NBA Elite Michael Jordan brought friend Leroy Smith to speech, who he was the person the coach chose to make the Varsity bball team and cut MJ. MJ in speech said his goal in life was to make that coach understand he made a mistake.
• Chicago Bears RB Walter Payton was nicknamed “Sweetness” for his flashy moves. He explained how he learned to run so fast and make quick cuts: “When I was growing up, I was the baby, and when they [Payton’s brother and sister] had to clean the house on Saturdays and do things when Mom went to work and said, ‘I want this house clean when I get back,’ hey, I was the baby, I didn’t have to do that. So these guys beat me up. That’s the reason why I had the moves that I did, because when you have an angry sister and angry brother chasing you with a broom and a wet dish rag, you tend to pick up moves you never had before.”  
• Ray Lewis 33 minute speech “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subs [subjects] and verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. The next 30 days, I want you to think about why you get up in the morning. What’s the most important to you in this life? Are you living every day to make this world better?”
• WWE persona “The Ultimate Warrior”: “Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat; his lungs breathe their final breath…And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit will be immortalized by the storytellers, by the loyalty, by the memory.” Three days after giving this speech, he died suddenly of a heart attack.

Any hall of fame will not be the measure of your success. Our legacy will only endure if we’re in the hall of faith. If our name is written in God’s book of life as one who places their full trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Today’s message is from Hebrews 11 to further understand faith and its applications for our life.

Any hall of fame will not be the measure of your success. Our legacy will only endure if we’re in the hall of faith. If our name is written in God’s book of life as one who places their full trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

EXAMINE           Faith Outside The Comfort Zone (Hebrews 11:1-19)

¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ² For by it the people of old received their commendation.
³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible… ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Faith is vital to life / assurance of hope / reception for grace.

Like Hebrews 11, the Bible speaks about various types of faith.

• Dead faith vs Saving faith. People can have a general agreement about God but that does not guarantee salvation. Many people will enter eternity to stand before Jesus and say, “Lord! Lord!” only to hear the dreadful response: “I never knew you; depart from me” (Mt 7:21-23). Similarly, demons have faith in Jesus as Lord, but not as their Savior, thus their faith is dead and not saving (cf James 2:17, 19). Saving faith is a specific trust in Jesus. Jn 5:24 Jesus says, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has passed from death to life.”
• Spiritual gift of faith. The NT letters describe multiples gifts for Christians to use serve God through their church. One is the gift of faith (Ro 12:6; 1 Cor 12:9), which goes beyond saving faith with an extra degree of trust in God’s power and promises to work in a believer’s life. When this gift is absent you’re more anxious, hesitant, and fearful. Yet, I believe, this is a gift you can grow and cultivate – “having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which God has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of God’s power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places… And God put all things under Christ feet” (Eph 1:18-22)
• Lifestyle faith.[1] The Bible says the righteous shall live by faith (cf Hab 2:4; Ro 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38); walking by faith in Christ not by sight (2 Cor 5:7; Gal 2:20); keeping the fight to finish our race (2Tim 4:7). And this is the essence of Hebrews 11 for those who are pleasing God not just with their confession but their commitment – to believe that obedience to God’s commands are a blessing and not burdensome. Thus, we discern several features of lifestyle faith.

Faith is lived.  

Notice the verbs in this passage for how lifestyle faith took action:

• V.4 Abel offered
• V.5 Enoch pleased God.
• V.7 Noah constructed
• V.8 Abraham obeyed / v.17 offered Isaac.

⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

Abel takes us to the beginning of the Bible, with Adam & Eve having two children: Cain & Abel. Both individuals offered a sacrifice to God. Cain offered from the fruit of the ground, and Abel offered a firstborn of his flock. While God accepted both grain and animal sacrifices (Gen 2:15; Lev 6; Mt 23:23), the difference appears to be that Cain’s offering was from leftovers, but Abel’s offering was essential from the firstborn of flock.

Illus: Christmas is around the corner. Many people give gifts to one another in appreciation of their relationship, but also to reflect God’s generosity to give us something special in salvation. But imagine at Christmas you receive a gift from someone very important in your life. After opening the gift, you notice the item has scratches, rips, and dents. You ask your friend if they still have the receipt to get a new one without the damages but they mention it was used and from their basement. How would you feel? Likewise, our gifts toward God should be special.

Abel believed God was worthy of his best and that God was trustworthy to provide more to his flock and supply his needs. Thus, Abel’s faith still speaks today.

• Cain & Abel offered from their vocation. Does your offering reflect God’s worth & trustworthiness?  
• When Cain’s offering was rejected, he became discouraged and angry. God asked, “Why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” The same question is posed to all to turn from bitterness to obedience.

⁵ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.

Enoch is a next key character after Cain & Abel. Not much is known about him. Gen5 says, “Enoch fathered Methuselah and had other sons and daughters; he lived 365 years; walked with God and he was not, for God took him.” Few things in life will make you rely more on God than marriage and family; amen?!?        Enoch was the 2x great grandfather of Noah, whose days were filled with wickedness and God’s judgment. So, Enoch’s faith relationship with God must have been unique to escape death and be transported to heaven. One person explained it that one day Enoch and God were taking a walk, and God said, “Enoch we’re closer to my place than yours, just come home with me.”

It seems obvious that the culture was overflowing with depravity, yet Enoch was a rare righteous man by faith. You see, dead things follow the stream of culture, but only living things can go against the stream. If you’re not going against the stream of culture, you’re either stuck or not alive.
*Eph 5:14 “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.”

Faith is learned.

⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Noah also went against the ungodly stream of culture. He had never seen rain, nor God’s comprehensive and inescapable judgment upon the earth. Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD, and was warned by God to construct an ark to withstand the flood waters (Ge 6:8, ff.). Noah learned reverent fear and faith, and obeyed God. To avoid drowning in depravity, you must develop your faith and follow God’s blueprints.

To avoid drowning in depravity, you must develop your faith and follow God’s blueprints.

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

We know the veracity of Scripture because of its historic records with Abraham as a key figure in 3 world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham started before there was ever a Jewish person conceived.

God called Abram to be His follower by leaving Haran (Iraq) to travel to an unknown place. Abram was called to walk – literally for over 500 miles over 25 years. Abram leaves his comfort zone because his faith was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Illus: Some athletes have a superstition before/during games. They follow same routine or unwritten rules: basketball players shooting foul shots / baseball not stepping on foul lines OR not referencing a no-hitter when it is / football players pregame meal / tennis ball bounce before serve

But Abram & Sarai’s faith was not superstitious or sensational. Their faith wasn’t founded on subjective feelings but sacred revelation from God: “The LORD said… I will show you… I will bless you…” (Ge 12:1-3)

Undoubtedly they had questions and concerns: Where were they going? How long will it take? When would they know they arrived? How were they going to have offspring at the ripe age of 75+?

But they obeyed outside of their comfort zone because they had a word from God. Likewise, when pressure, problems, and heartache arrive in our life, the only way we go forward is trusting the LORD’s purpose and promises.

Abram and Sarai obeyed outside of their comfort zone because they had a word from God. Likewise, when pressure, problems, and heartache arrive in our life, the only way we go forward is trusting the LORD’s purpose and promises.

¹¹ By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. ¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead [bc of age], were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. ¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Didn’t they receive? Didn’t Abraham walk in the Promised Land? Didn’t Sarah receive Isaac? Yes and Yes, but these were only a foretaste of the greater promise. Abraham & Sarah’s offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or sand grains on the shore. They had only received the down payment of God’s glorious blessing. Abraham’s family were strangers/exiles – – pilgrims and wanderers, because this world was not their home. The faith life means you admit to not knowing everything; it’s one step at a time. We’re pilgrims traveling to heaven, not permanent residents on earth.

One of the keys to the faith journey is not holding tightly the things of this world – AND leaving an old life to embrace the new. It’s obeying God’s commands, believing His control, and trusting God’s timing in all our circumstances – – and all the while waiting for an eternal homeland without the groans and grief of earth.

The faith life means you admit to not knowing everything; it’s one step at a time. We’re pilgrims traveling to heaven, not permanent residents on earth.

¹⁴ For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Don’t you love that last line? God is not ashamed to be identified with us. Remember, Abraham & Sarah were not the flawless example followers of God. They started as an agnostic worshipers before God revealed His calling. Abraham lied multiple times. He was a fearful coward in the face of uncertainty. Abraham committed adultery, albeit was convinced by his wife to do so. Sarah was harsh toward others because she was bitter inside from her circumstances. And much more BUT Hebrews 11 neglects any mention of their shortfalls because God fully forgave their sin in light of their faith. God counted them righteous, and they were justified not by works but bc of their faith (cf Ro 4).

SO, when you’re tempted to give up bc you don’t feel like you measure up, remember Heb11 and refresh that your faith is not in your perfection but the posture of your need for grace with your only hope in Jesus Christ.

Faith is logical.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, ¹⁸ of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ¹⁹ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

God tested Abraham by instructing him to offer his only son, the promised offspring. Many scholars believe that Isaac was at least a teen, if not around 33 years old (hint hint). Undoubtedly, that was a sleepless night for Abraham tossing with tears about offering his son to the LORD. But Gen 22:3 says Abraham rose early and took all the supplies with his son Isaac. Even Isaac asked, “Father, we have the firewood but where’s the sacrificial lamb?” And Abraham responded: “We will worship. We will return. God will provide.” You see, some time during that sleepless night, Abraham had an epiphany. Just as Heb 11:19 says, “Abraham considered that God was able” Considered = λογίζομαι , which means to logically reason. Abraham’s obedience to offer Isaac to God wasn’t unreasonable, but the most logical act based on God’s past faithfulness.

• It didn’t make sense for Abram to pack up all his possessions and walk 500+ miles (and walk 500 more just to be the man who walked 1K miles to fall down at your door).
  *But God was able to guide Abram to a beautiful land and blessed hope.
• It was unreasonable for Abram to give away the best part of inherited land to his unwise nephew Lot.
  *But God was able to redeem the inheritance and restore the promised blessing for his family.
• It was irrational for Abram & Sarah to have offspring at 75, much more 100 years old.
  *But God was able to open the womb and bring joyous laughter with treasured family surrounding them.

Likewise, it seems illogical for Deity to take on humanity to discern our discomforts, feel our hurts, and experience the taste of death. BUT GOD IS ABLE to raise the dead!

Abraham’s faith to offer his son Isaac was logical because it was based on God’s faithful presence and dependable power.

> If you’re living the chaos of uncertainty, the clutter of cruelty, or the tangle of tragedy, follow Abraham’s example to worship while you’re waiting for God to work. Don’t run away from the ashes, walk through them to rekindle the spark of God’s fiery presence and fullness of peace to transform despair to hopeful and confident joy.  

APPLY/TAKEAWAY

As a pastor, one of my job tasks is to write funeral messages to describe a person’s legacy and comfort the family with God’s promises. Sometimes knowing what to say can be difficult, but here is what I know. And the same is true for you when you face difficult situation or dark circumstances.

But here is what we need to remember about God.

God is our…
Constant Savior.
Friend forever.
Sure foundation.
Never failing.
Jesus, you have our heart.
All our hope is in Jesus.

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[1] See verses: https://www.openbible.info/topics/righteous_will_live_by_faith.