Biblical Faith is Long Lasting – Hebrews 11:22

In this verse, we see Joseph at the end of his life, similar to his father in the previous verse. Last week, we learned that faith finishes well. Through Joseph, we learn that true biblical faith is long lasting. From a young age, Joseph had received dreams from God and gone through numerous situations and was ultimately used by God to save his family and the world from famine. Throughout his whole life, Joseph faith was always active, present and lasting.

Many people understand faith as a means to overcome hardships. From a biblical and larger perspective, faith is actually a means to overcome sin. Only by faith can we see how large and dangerous sin is and also see that only God is able to overcome sin. By faith, we see that Satan is behind sin, but we also see God is sovereign and in control of all things, even Satan.

How to have long lasting faith?
Joseph ‘made mention’ which means, he remembered God’s promises. Joseph remembered God’s word to his father’s. A long lasting faith will always remember God’s word. The unfaithful and the worldly forget God’s word and seek after the new. We see the Bible emphasizing the importance of remembering what God has said (Joshua 4:5-6, Luke 15:17, Luke 17:32, Luke 22:19). In the Bible, those who remembered were saved, such as Rahab and Peter (Mt 26:75), while others forgot and were doomed, like Hiel (1 Ki 16:34) and Judas (Mt 27:7).

Do you remember God’s promises? In your daily life, do you remember the words you read from His word? What about the words you heard from last week’s sermon? For your faith to be active and lasting, we must know and remember God’s words (1 Jn 3:14-15) Joseph remembered God’s promise to Abraham, that his children would return to the land of Canaan. It was a promise made hundreds of years ago and promise which would not be fulfilled in hundreds more. The Israelites were flourishing in Egypt. Why would they leave? Yet, Joseph asked to be buried with his fathers, knowing that it was God’s word which had accomplished everything up to now, and God’s promise would also be fulfilled in the future.

Do we practice our faith in the same manner as Joseph? What hinders our remembering of God’s word? It is a love of the world and the things in it. We are slow, fearful and compromising because we love the world more than we love Jesus Christ. Even though the world crucified Jesus; we love that world. We don’t love Christ so we don’t remember Him. We are in need of a recalibration in our love. We didn’t start out this way.  Our beginning at conversion was full of passion. The gospel was fresh in our hearts. What have we forgotten?

Devotion to God’s Word
To remember God’s promises, we must devote ourselves to them (Acts 2: 42) Our days must be filled with deep meditations (Ps 1:1-2). When gathering with the church, our fellowship must be filled with the talk of Jesus Christ. Also, our prayers must be through the Scriptures we read.

Hope actualizes faith
Joseph gave orders concerning his bones. This order was based on the hope he held in God’s word. Hope is not wish thinking or a positive mindset. It’s not just delayed disappointment. Hope is the fuel for faith (Heb 11:1-2). Hope is given through faith because God fulfills His promises; and we see that Joseph is buried according to his hope (Joshua 24:32). Even the hopeless, who hear the word of God and believe have hope (Ez 27:15, 10)

The backbone of our hope is the resurrection of Jesus (Rev 20:5). There is hope in this life for eternal life and glory through Jesus (Phil 1:21, 1 Cor 15:57-78). Faith in Jesus comes together with hope. John Calvin says ‘Faith believes that eternal life has already been given to us. Hope waits for the day when it will be revealed Faith is the foundation on which hope is built. Hope feeds faith and keeps it alive.’  By remembering the past, our faith is present, leading to our future hope.