 Amen. Alright, so keep your place there in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, of course, great chapter on faith. A great chapter talking a lot about faith and, you know, what comes from faith and the examples of, you know, the fathers in the Old Testament of their faith. And also, Sarah, there's a woman in there as well. Hebrews chapter 11 pretty much destroys, you know, this idea that, you know, if you do the right things in your life and you have faith and you go to church and you give money to this church and all this, that just your life is just gonna go great. You know, I guess this is what a lot of people, a lot of big churches will preach this. You know, they'll preach the prosperity gospel and all you have to do is just come here and do everything I say and just listen to me and God's just gonna make you successful and He's gonna just, you know, you're gonna find your purpose and your business will grow and all this kind of stuff. Hebrews chapter 11 pretty much destroys, you know, the prosperity gospel. You know, it's not untrue that, you know, you'll receive blessings in your life, but what I wanna do tonight is I wanna look at Hebrews chapter 11 and I wanna talk about tonight the blessings that you may not see. The blessings that you may not see. Our verse of the week is Hebrews chapter 11 verse number 13 where the Bible says, these all died in faith not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. So talking about, you know, these men and women in the Old Testament that, you know, they died in faith and they didn't receive those things that they had faith in, that they had, you know, those promises were not necessarily made, they were made to them, but they didn't receive the fulfillment of that promise. Okay, so let's just go through Hebrews chapter 11 and look at some things and see how we can apply that to us tonight and see what that means for us. You say, well, you're gonna give me a sermon tonight on how I'm not gonna be blessed in my life. Yes, that's what I'm gonna do. Okay, and I'm gonna show you though what's better, what's better than things that you can receive in this life because look, God always has something better. Okay, God's not gonna say the prosperity gospel is too simple. It's too simple, it's not, God's better than that. You know, he can give you more than that. Okay, so let's look down at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse number one and hopefully, you know, I can get this across to you tonight and it may sound confusing right now but hopefully we can look into this in depth and you'll see what I'm talking about. Hebrews chapter 11, let's look at faith, first of all. Verse number one, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews chapter 11 verse three is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible and I'm not gonna preach on it tonight but I had to take that whole section out because I just started writing a sermon on that verse and when I was doing that, I love that verse. There's a lot there. I'll preach a sermon on just that verse sometime soon, okay? But look, look at the first part of Hebrews chapter three and where the Bible says, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. God spoke the world into existence. We already know this. We looked at this a couple of weeks ago. Things which are seen were made by the word of God. They were framed. We believe that by faith. We were not there to see it happen, right? Well, you're looking at it, you're like, maybe you were. No, I wasn't. Okay, I was not there to see it happen. But it's not, look, it's not blind faith. Okay, we weren't there to see it happen. It's things not seen, but there is evidence. There is evidence. In verse number three, it says they were framed by the word of God. Don't we have the word of God? Don't we have the word of God? So the world was framed by the word of God which we have in our hands, right? We have the word of God. The Bible's never been proven wrong on anything. From science to physics to medicine, the Bible's never been proven wrong ever. It's as a matter of fact, it's modern technology and man's understanding of things that is constantly trying to catch up to the Bible. And I've gone through many examples of that. But it's faith all the same. We weren't there to see the world created. It's things not seen. Faith is things not seen, something we can hope for. That's faith, okay? Faith is not just your salvation, but it's for our life on this earth as well. Because there's more for us, look, there's more for you than just your blessings on this earth that God will give you. There are blessings that you and me and we may not see and we may not personally realize on this earth. And that's what Hebrews 11 talks a lot about. So let's look at, first let's look at some men in Hebrews chapter 11 and women who had faith in things that they did not receive, okay? The title of the sermon tonight is the blessings that you may not see. The blessings that you may not see. But I'll explain to you tonight on how, even though you won't receive those blessings, there's something better. There's something better for you. Look down at Hebrews 11 in verse number four. Let's start with Abel. The first example, by faith, Abel offered, so we know that faith is things hoped for, things not seen, right? So when it says Abel had faith, these were things that he had hoped for that he didn't see. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts and by it, he being dead, yet speaketh. So what does that mean? That means that Abel brought the right sacrifice. He brought a blood sacrifice, a sacrifice to God that God wanted. And Cain, of course, brought the fruits of his labor and things that were not meat, basically. And Abel received that, and it says, and by it, he being dead, yet speaketh. So what God gave Abel was he received, he wrote his testimony in the Bible is basically what that says. Okay, look at verse number five. We'll see somebody else. So we see that Abel's testimony, because of his faith, God wrote his testimony for us, is what the Bible says here. Look at Enoch. It says by faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death. And was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. So Enoch didn't receive this blessing until the very time of his departure from this earth. Okay, look at verse number seven. By faith, Noah, being warned of God, of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house by which he condemned the world, by which he condemned the world and became heir of righteousness, which is by faith. So Noah's faith, by Noah's faith, God gave him a vision of things to come and then he blessed the generations of his family by saving them as well, but that was not yet realized. And so God's judgment was not yet realized and then the Noah himself didn't realize the blessings on his family. Okay, look at verse number eight. This is a big one. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went. That means he didn't know where he went. By faith, he's so joined in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city with hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. Now that's a big one. This is basically saying that Abraham was promised this land, this promised land and he never realized it. What Abraham did was he wandered in strange lands. I mean, think about it. I mean, we read through the Bible and it's just a few pages and then Abraham's gone and then we're into somebody else and then pretty soon they're in the promised land if you're reading through your Bible. But think about it. Abraham who lived and was given the promise never received that promise. You know, he received some promises but he didn't receive that promise in his lifetime of that promised land that he was going to get. Think about it. Abraham to David, we just studied this in Matthew chapter one, 14 generations. You know, it was like five, 600 years from Abraham to Moses before they stepped into that promised land. So that promise wasn't fulfilled anywhere near Abraham's life or Isaac's life or Jacob's life. Think about it. So he didn't realize it. He did not realize that promise himself but by faith he did it anyway. He went where he was supposed to go anyway. Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse number 11. Here we see Sarah. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised. So she had, the Bible says here it says she had faith that God would deliver this promise. In verse number 12, therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore enumerable. Look, did she receive that promise in her lifetime? Was Isaac as the sand on the seashore himself? Was he like the stars of the sky? No, he wasn't. Those promises were fulfilled generations and generations after Sarah. So the point I'm trying to make here is that there's many blessings that these people, these people in the Old Testament that the Bible is talking to us here in Hebrews chapter 11 that they were promised that they did not receive in their life but they still had faith. By faith they received those things but they personally did not receive them. Okay, so you say what's the application? Well, the application is this. First of all, the prosperity gospel is not true basically because of this chapter in the Bible, all right? And many other places in the Bible but this pretty much blows away this idea that just whatever you do in this life for the Lord is just gonna be paid back to you in this lifetime, to you personally. No, that's not going, if you look, if you're expecting that you're gonna be disappointed. So I'm telling you so you're not disappointed. There's blessings that are gonna come elsewhere and later. Okay, so look, maybe, you know, some, maybe most of the blessings that you, that will come from your faith will not be realized by you. Think of it. Think of the prophets. I mean think of the prophets as you read through the Old Testament. Think of Jeremiah. I mean the guys constantly being rejected. I mean, did anyone listen to him one time? I don't think anyone even listened to Jeremiah even one time. I mean they're constantly just being, he's just being rejected, rejected, they're being killed. Look at verse number 37 of Hebrews 11. They were stoned, they were saunasunder. You know that most people, most historians think that that was Isaiah that was saunasunder and that's who that was talking. I mean, we don't know, it's not in the Bible. But most secular historians believe that when it talks about being saunasunder, it's talking about what happened to the prophet Isaiah. I mean, that's not a great life. I mean, you know the story of most of the apostles and many martyrs throughout history. Look, many of them didn't receive any blessings in their lifetime. Okay, look down at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse number 32. I mean, any of the prophets for that matter, it's very hard to find something good happening to a prophet in the Bible. All right, look at verse number 32. And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon and of Barak and Samson, of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, and stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead race to life again and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And the others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yay, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were saunasunder, they were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and the mountains and dens and caves of the earth, and all these having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise. Look, the Bible says that the world was not worthy to have these men. It says that the world did not deserve these men. And look at all the, look at what they got in their life and they received not the promise. So they didn't get the blessings in their life. It was all future blessings for many from these men. So how do we apply Hebrews chapter 11 to us is the question, what blessings might be received by others when we're gone? Let's just look down at, you know, let's use Abel as an example, his testimony. So your testimony, that's a blessing that people in this world will receive when you're gone. Your testimony will be a powerful force for those who come after you. I mean, your testimony is powerful for the people that are around you now, but your testimony is super valuable to those who will come after you. Turn to 2 Timothy chapter one. Actually, turn to 1 Peter chapter three. I'll just read you 2 Timothy chapter one in verse number eight. The Bible says, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. So your life is a testimony. Your life is a testimony to those now and to those who will come after you, to those that you're raising. Look at 1 Peter chapter three in verse number 15. The Bible says this. It says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Your conversation is a testimony to people. When you speak and you speak of the things of God, that's a testimony to people. So look, you should strive to have a good testimony. As in 1 Peter chapter three, it's a view of your heart to other people, your testimony. It's how people can see your heart for those who come after. And you know what that will turn into? That'll turn into the second application tonight. That will turn into blessings on future generations. And that is Abraham. In Hebrews chapter 11, think of it. Abraham received none of the promises of that land, none of it, not even a little bit. He wandered in strange places. You know, if you ever feel out of place in this world, just think of Abraham. Just think of how he must have felt. As a Bible believing separated Christian, there are going to be times where you feel like a stranger. And that is okay. Look, that's the importance of church and fellowship, especially in times like this. You probably feel more like a stranger now. But in times like this, that's the importance of church and fellowship. You're gonna feel like a stranger to this world, but not to us, right? Not to us. You know, we will strengthen you. We will edify you. In times like this especially, turn back to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 13, just look at your bulletin. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, we know that, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them. They had faith in them, see? Even though they didn't even receive them. They had faith in them and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. Look, they all felt like this. They all felt like you feel. So you feel like, man, I just, I'm so different than everybody else. I'm so different. My beliefs are so different than the way everybody else is doing everything. I don't have the same feelings that everybody else has in certain situations, like this. I don't have anywhere near the same feelings that people out there have today. But they all felt like this. It's not just you. It's not just me. It's everyone. There were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. If you feel this way, you're doing it right. That's what it means. It can be, look, and you can be an incredible blessing on future generations if you so choose. Turn to Luke chapter one. Turn to Luke chapter one. And look at verse number 50. Luke chapter one in verse number 50, the Bible reads, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. Look, that's why, do you see a clause in there? Does it say that his mercy is just on everyone, no matter what? It says, no. His mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. Do you see why Moses and all these men were just crying out constantly to the children of Israel, saying, you have to fear the Lord, even when I'm gone. Even when I'm gone, you have to follow these laws because once you stop fearing the Lord, all bets are off. That's why Moses said it, Joshua said it, they all said it over and over and over. So as you read the Bible, you're like, man, you just said it two pages ago. Why didn't they listen? But we don't listen either. So you see that that is the catch, that to those generations that fear the Lord, that will be a great blessing. That's what you can pass on. We'll talk about that more in tonight's sermon. Number three, your seed, let's look at Sarah. Your seed will bless the world. Literally, the Bible says. Your seed through your testimony, through your life can be a blessing to the entire world. Think of it. Think of it. Sarah's son, Isaac, he wasn't the sand of the seashore, was he? No. He was the first grain of sand. He wasn't the stars of the sky, he was the first star. But when you think about this whole thing, look back at Hebrews 11 verse 12, or I'll just read it for you. They're for spraying there even of one, talking about Sarah. And him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky and multitude, and as the sand, which is by the seashore innumerable. That means you couldn't even count them. Couldn't even count them. So it grew after the first generation, it grew more, and it grew more, and it grew more. It's called an exponential growth, right? We've seen a lot of that lately. But it's called exponential growth. Children have children have children have children have children. I mean, look, that's a force multiplier if it's done properly. You know, you say, what's a force multiplier? Here's the definition of a force multiplier. From the dictionary. A capability that when added to and employed to a combat force, typically, significantly increases the combat potential of that force and thus enhances the probability of success of a successful mission accomplishment. Some examples of force multipliers in military history were like machine guns, right? Where they went from just regular rifles to a single shot rifle to a semi-automatic rifle to a machine gun. Those are force multipliers, right? The airplane, that was a force multiplier. Like if you had a bunch of guys over here and a bunch of the same side guys over here and they all started fighting, but these guys had an airplane, done. It's not even close, right? Helicopter, same thing. Look, that's the thing about church plants, right? That's the thing about church plants. I mean, you can go out soul winning and you can be like, I'm just gonna go soul winning and soul winning and soul winning and we could be a soul winning church and we could grow and grow. But you know what a force multiplier would be for our church? You know, look, church growth is great. Having more people come in here is gonna be great. But you know what a force multiplier is for our church? It's when we start training up men to go out and start other churches. That's when that exponential force multiplication happens. That is the power of this generational blessing. That's the power. Your generations, look, I'm talking about your generations that come after you. Your personal generations can be force multipliers for the world. You say why? Because kids have kids and then those kids have kids. And then you'll have grandkids and great-grandkids and then when you're dead, there'll be more kids and more generations and more generations. So if you can kind of figure out a way to make sure that that fear of the Lord passes to your next generation and the next generation and the next generation, you'll have a force multiplier on your hands from your family for the gospel. And you say, well, how do we do that? Well, the Bible tells you how to do it. I mean, just listen, right? I mean, we're not up here preaching the Bible on how to raise kids and raise godly kids just to waste time. I mean, this is the type of, look, it's a blessing to you to not have bratty kids, to be able to watch your own children serve the Lord in their life. That's a blessing that you will receive on this earth yourself personally. But there's more and there's something better for the world if you do it right. And you teach them to do it right for their children. You see, I mean, that's awesome. If my kids grow up and those few kids that I have, they grow up and serve the Lord, that's great. That's a blessing to me. But if they grow up and they have 1,000 other ancestors that all end up serving the Lord, that's a blessing on the world. That's better than the blessing that I had. You see? That's why those blessings that we might not see are better. And God tells us that they're gonna be better. So look, look, we go out soul winning. I mean, I love it, right? We go out soul winning and the stupidest, craziest situations, we'll find a way to still go soul winning. It's awesome, we love it, right? We all love it. You could spend hours and hours and hours every week soul winning. But don't forget to raise that next generation right. Because that's the force multiplier, right? So you're one man. Don't forget, look, there's plenty of godly men and women that have lost their children and that has just died with them. There's plenty, there's plenty in the Bible if you need biblical examples. There's plenty that I can think of in this world. Godly men of God that were great preachers and great leaders but for some reason not with their family. So don't think it can't be you. So don't be this person that's just, you know, it's just soul winning for me personally. No, there's other, you have to pay attention and focus on your family. Because look, it'll be a blessing for you but it'll be a huge blessing for future generations. If you do it right and the Bible tells us how to do it right. So we have the directions, we have the manual, right? So be well-rounded, be well-rounded folks. There's blessings for the world out there. So ultimately we need to realize that anything in this life folks and you know, a lot of, you know this is kind of becoming clear for a lot of people. I think this might be one of the benefits of this situation but anything in this life really can perish away, right? Especially now. We need to not focus so much on the blessings that we will receive in our lives but on the eternal blessings that God can give to future generations and ultimately folks from, you know, to the world just from us being here. Just from us being here and having that faith to do things according to the Bible. I mean it said by faith these men did these things. By faith these men did this. By faith Noah build the ark. By faith they, you know, by faith Abraham went to sacrifice a promise that he did receive. He's like, I got one. Woo, I mean I got that one. I received that one. Now God's like sacrifice it. He's like, oh, bummer. But he did it. He did it. I mean that's faith. So if we have that faith, those blessings will be better for future generations. That's why there's an unbroken chain of Christians going all the way back to Christ. That's why, that's why it's not broken because those men who were getting land and women who were getting no blessings who were living horrible lives and dying horrible deaths. They just, they just had faith. They just had faith all the way to the end that the blessing just wasn't gonna be for them in their time. That's it. So the blessing is for us as we read about them and they're what? They're testimony, right? Look back at Hebrews chapter 11 verse 39. Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 39. And these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise. Look, they didn't receive the promise. And here it is. I told you that there's something better but it's not enough that I tell you. Look at verse number 40. So they didn't receive the promise. Verse number 40. God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect. That's why. Because no matter what we receive in this life, I don't think, look, I don't think there's, first of all, I don't think there's anyone in this room that could claim the life of the prophets. Even, you know, as messed up as things can get and all this kind of stuff, I don't think there's anybody in this room who can claim that they haven't received blessings in their life. I mean, you have, you know, these people who suffered nothing but some of them, nothing but pain and rejection and suffering their whole life. You know, you have blessings. You know, tonight we'll talk about, you know, the fine line of how to handle those blessings in your life. We'll talk about that tonight. But in times where you think, man, you know, this is rough. You know, this is rough. You know, what's the pay off here? You know, what's the benefit of this, you know, Christian life that I'm living right now? Cause look, I mean, do you have to come to church to be saved? I mean, do you have to live this separated Christian life to be saved? To go to heaven? No, you don't. You didn't remember that the prosperity gospel was not a, it's just fake. I hope and pray a lot that God blesses the lives of all of you. But it is very possible that these blessings that you have in your life, look, things come and go. I'm not that old. I'm kinda old. I'm 42. I've had, I've had good financial times and bad financial times in my life. Sometimes things are just working and sometimes they're not. That's just how it is. You just keep doing what you're supposed to do. By what? By faith. So look, the blessings you receive may not, they may not be realized by you. That's the whole point. I know I keep saying it over and over again, but I want to just drill that in. But what God has for you, what God has for us, what God has for future generations, because of your faith, what God has for the world, because of your faith that you have now is better. Than anything that you could get right now. You say, well, I just want it now. Well, you're selfish. I mean, God, I mean, think about these things. Think about just the blessings that could come from your faithful life. That's Hebrews chapter 11 right there. Your faithful life. And you know what? You eventually will realize those blessings because you'll be watching it from eternal life. Abraham saw it. He saw I'm going to the Promised Land. You know, Abraham knows all the blessings that came from his life. He saw that the Messiah came from him. He saw all these things. You'll see it. It just won't be in this tiny little blip of your physical life right here. It'll be somewhere in the eternity of your life. And guess what? It's going to be much better. That's why Hebrews 11 is such a great chapter. It tells you, you know, it explains faith and then it tells you the benefit of it. It tells you the power of it. It tells you, you know, this faith that you have now, don't just sit there and say, well, I'm having all this faith and I'm doing all these things and where's all the stuff coming to me? You're setting yourself up for failure. You know that, look, look, that sells books. Right, that sells books. You know, your perfect life now or whatever the stupid book is, right? Your wonderful business now or whatever. Read the Bible six times a day and you're, I don't even know. But I mean, it sells. People want to hear it. It tickles the ears. Telling people they'll look. You know, first of all, am I really up here telling you that, look, you need to have faith. You need to have strong faith and your life is going to stink. It's going to be terrible. No, that's not really, it might be. But there's something better coming. There's something better and that's why you can have that faith because God promises you that if you don't receive it now, you'll see it later and it will benefit the world that will be much better than anything you could have gotten personally now. Through your generations and just through, you know, the blessings that you can affect on the world. I mean, look, that's powerful. That's exciting, right? Are you telling me that I, you know, who I am right now can affect the world? Yes, I'm telling that you, your faith can affect the entire world, like the sand of the sea, think about it. But it depends on how you do things now. It depends on your testimony. It depends on your works, right? It depends on your works. Not to get to heaven, but how you'll bless the world, how you'll bless those future generations. So works do matter in this sense. You know, that's why you're, look, that's why also your faith and your works are tied together like that. Because as those two, you know, as your faith gets stronger, you know, through your works, now, you know, that's how your faith is made perfect. That would just project itself out more. But you may not see it personally. You'll see it eventually though, guaranteed. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for Hebrews chapter 11. What a great chapter in the Bible. We thank you for all these wonderful promises, Lord, in the Bible that you've given to us that even though we may not realize these promises now, Lord, we understand that, you know, we just by faith believe these promises, Lord. We believe that what you say is true. And, you know, we have that hope and that faith of the things that we don't need to see, Lord, and we just know that your word is true. And we thank you that we're able to hold it in our hands. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.