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The following program is a production of
Truth For The World.
♪ "Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
oh what words I hear Him say." ♪
We are continuing our study today of Hebrews 11,
also known as "The Faith Chapter."
We've talked about people like Abel and Enoch
We mentioned Noah and how he was faithful and he built an ark,
He did exactly what God told him to do.
We also talked about Sarah and Abraham.
That's where we ended last time.
So we'll begin in Hebrews 11:17.
It says, " By faith Abraham, when he was tried,
"offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises
"offered up his only begotten son."
We looked at that mostly last time,
but let us look at a couple things today.
Now, when we look at the Greek word for "offered"
there in the text, that he offered up his only son,
it is in the imperfect tense,
which shows that he was in the process of offering him.
So God knew, that it was going to happen.
Abraham was going to kill him just as he had told him to.
So he offered the one special son,
the son that was to be the seed.
Hebrews 11:18 says, "Of whom it was said, that in Isaac
shall thy seed be called."
He was the one that was called to bless the world.
Turn back to Genesis 21:12.
Remember, God had promised
that he would have so many sons as the stars and the sand.
And Sara said, well, if you are going to have children
you better use Hagar.
And Ishmael was born.
Then remember after Ishmael was born, later Isaac was born,
and it happened that Ishmael mocked Isaac
and so Sarah told him to get rid of that woman and her son.
Genesis 21:12 reads, "And God said unto Abraham,
"'Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad,
"'and because of thy bondwoman;
"'in all that Sarah hath said unto thee,
"'hearken unto her voice;
"'for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.'"
So she wants him to get rid of them,
and God says, that ís fine Abraham,
because it is Isaac about whom this promise was made.
Now look in Hebrews 11:19. "Accounting that God
"was able to raise him up, even from the dead;"
The word "accounting," means reasoning or thinking.
Now this shows me, that one can have faith
and that faith be supported by reason,
by actually thinking through certain situations.
God said I am going to give you all these children,
but I want you to first take and kill this child.
So in order to please God, he had to do what God said.
He was going to kill Isaac.
I believe this passage shows us the thought process of Abraham:
He said I am going to have plenty of children.
He said it was going to be through Isaac.
Now he says kill Isaac.
Well, if he can work a miracle
for me to have him in the first place,
it is not beyond God to raise him up after I kill him.
So he offered him.
Now look.
"Accounting that God was able to raise him up,
"even from the dead from whence
"also he received him in a figure.
He did receive him back, figuratively, from the dead.
In Abraham's mind he was already dead.
And when he was stopped,
it was as if he had raised the boy from the dead.
Now we need to think about something here too,
God told Abraham what to do and Abraham said fine,
and he knew exactly what he would do, he would obey God.
We need to think about that in our lives.
God tells us certain things, what will we do about it?
Will we do what he says or will we continue to doubt and say,
"Well, God could not have meant that."
Have you ever thought what Isaac must have thought after this?
Now I have often thought about
the reaction of Isaac after this event.
Isaac came down from that mountain,
fully aware of what had taken place.
Fully aware that he was about to be sacrificed, by his father,
at the command of God.
He came down from that place knowing for sure
my dad is going to obey God
no matter what else happens in this life.
My dad loves and fears God enough to know
that whatever God says for him to do, he is going to do it.
And what a compliment to Abraham!
What about us today?
I would love for my children, if I had children,
to grow up knowing that their dad is going to do
what God says do no matter what the cost.
Then at the end of verse 19,
"From whence also he received him in a figure.
"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
"concerning things to come."
Now, turn back to Genesis 27.
Now in the first part of the chapter
we see how the deception had taken place.
Now we need to remember too that Esau was Isaac's favorite son,
that is, despite the fact that when Jacob and Esau were born,
even before they were born, God told Isaac,
the elder would serve the younger.
But it seems like Isaac did not like
that promise of God too well, and so for what ever reason,
Isaac was going to bless Esau.
And then you remember that Jacob's mother heard
what was going on, and she called Jacob in
and told him to pretend to be Esau, and you know he did.
And they tricked their blind father.
So, when Isaac was fooled, he pronounced the blessing
that he had intended to be upon Esau,
instead he placed the blessing upon Jacob.
Now, we need to understand, too,
that just because Isaac was going to bless one,
and then was not able to bless him,
he could not later take it back, and say,
"Well, never mind, about that,
let us do this the way I originally wanted to."
It could not happen like that. Look at: Genesis 27:35.
"And he said, Thy brother came with subtlety,
"and hath taken away thy blessing.
"And he said, 'Is not he rightly named Jacob?
"'For he hath supplanted me these two times:
"'he took away my birthright; and, behold,
"'now he hath taken away my blessing.'
"And he said, 'Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?'
"And Isaac answered and said unto Esau,
"'behold, I have made him thy lord,
"'and all his brethren have I given to him for servants;
"'and with corn and wine have I sustained him:
'"and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?'
"And Esau said unto his father,
"'Hast thou but one blessing, my father?
"'bless me, even me also, O my father.'
"And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
"And Isaac his father answered and said unto him,"
And he starts to bless him.
Isaac knew, remember how it was at the beginning,
that God told Isaac, he said,
the older would serve the younger,
and even though Isaac tried to not make it that way,
he tried to give the blessing to the older.
Look at what he says in verse 37,
"I have made him thy lord,
"and all his brethren have I given to him for servants;"
Isaac knows that what God says, he means.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
God told him how it was going to happen,
and it was exactly how God said it was going to happen.
He was not like the wicked prophet Balaam.
Remember Balaam, they wanted Balaam to place a curse
upon Jacob and his sons, and he said no.
Then they offered him money and riches, and he said,
"Well let me go talk to God and see what he says."
And God says, "Well, okay, but you have to say
whatever I tell you to say.",
And so he goes up to speak to them,
and to pronounce his curse,
and he ends up pronouncing a blessing upon Jacob.
And then he tries it again, but he ought to have known better.
He tried to undo what God had said.
Not Isaac, he knew that when God said something,
that is how it was.
He was not going to try to undo it.
Isaac blessed them about the things that were to come.
Now turn to Romans 9:12-13.
Speaking of this very event, Paul writes,
"It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
"As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
In this verse we need to understand a few things.
First of all, this in context has to do with nations
and not individuals.
God rejected Esau.
Esau apparently did not have the character God needed
to bring Christ into the world.
The words of Romans 9:13 were originally spoken with regard
to Edom and that nations sin against Israel. Malachi 1:3
He would bless the world through Israel, the sons of Jacob,
not through Edom, the sons of Ishmael.
Then also we need to see that this statement
was not expressed during the lifetimes
of either of these two boys; it was written centuries after.
So God did not say,
"Boy I sure hate Ishmael, before he was ever born." No.
In fact the word hate here is not in the sense
that we think about it today, rather he is saying
he preferred one group of people over a different group.
Jesus used the same word, when he said,
"he who would not hate his mother and father."
Well, he just is saying, you have to pick Christ
over everyone in the world.
And so, God picked the children of Jacob
over the children of Ishmael.
And we need to make this point clear too.
This "election" or "rejection" was not
unto salvation nor damnation of the individuals involved.
God was not choosing persons, to go to heaven or hell,
but, rather, he was choosing nations to fulfill His purpose,
to bring Christ into the world.
And so God's Word did not fail because He did end up
with exactly what He wanted: children of promise,
or people who would fulfill
the description of those to receive His promise.
Hebrews 11:20 says, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
"concerning things to come."
So Isaac did do what God wanted, and
then once he had made the blessing, He knew
that was God's intention all along.
Now look.
"By faith Jacob, when he was a dying,
"blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped,
"leaning upon the top of his staff."
Turn to Genesis 48:14.
Jacob had come to the land of Egypt when he was an old man,
I think about 130 years old.
"And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it
"upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger,
"and his left hand upon Manasseh's head,
"guiding his hands wittingly;for Manasseh was the firstborn."
Now these are the sons of Joseph Ephraim and Manasseh.
But Manasseh was the older of them.
And yet when he brought the two before him,
he put his right hand on the younger son.
It was not supposed to be like that.
The right was supposed to go on the older son,
who was to get the double blessing.
But, he knew what he was doing,
because God had told him what to do.
"And he blessed Joseph, and said,
"'God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk,
"'the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
"'The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads;
"'and let my name be named on them,
"'and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
"'and let them grow into a multitude
"'in the midst of the earth.'
"And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand
"upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him:
"and he held up his father's hand,
"to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.
"And Joseph said unto his father, 'Not so, my father:
"'for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.'
"And his father refused, and said, 'I know it, my son,
"'I know it: he also shall become a people,
"'and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother
"'shall be greater than he,
"'and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.'
"And he blessed them that day, saying,
"'In thee shall Israel bless, saying,
"'God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh:'
"and he set Ephraim before Manasseh."
Joseph said dad you have it all wrong and his dad said, no,
no this is what God said to do.
And when their grandfather was true to what God had said,
he showed his faith.
He believed God was going to do
exactly what he said he would do.
Go back to Genesis 47:27.
"And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt,
"in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein,
"and grew, and multiplied exceedingly.
"And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years:
"so whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.
"And the time drew nigh that Israel must die:
"and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him,
"'If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee,
"'thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me;
"'bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
"'But I will lie with my fathers,
"'and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt,
"'and bury me in their burying place.'
"And he said, 'I will do as thou hast said.'"
As he was about to die, he said, "Take me out of this country,
because this is not where God's people are going to be."
He knew that God was going to keep his word.
But, how did he know it?
God told Abraham you will be in Egypt a certain amount of years
and then you will come out of it.
And he believed what God had said.
He said, we are in Egypt now, and soon we will be out,
because God said that we would, and when we leave,
you take me with you.
He had faith in what God had said.
God said he would bring us out of Egypt,
and when we come out, take me too.
What is the point in all this?
The point is these people all believed God.
It was not that they believed in some mental idea about God,
they believed what God said,
and their belief, their faith, caused them
to do exactly what God said to do.
Friend, what God says is the way it is.
Is that not how we should be?
God said to do such and such, and that is the way it is.
Now look.
We have Abraham, his son Isaac, his son Jacob,
and now his son Joseph.
Now, Joseph is not in the Lineage of Jesus.
Jesus did not come through the line of Joseph,
but through the line of Judah.
Of course Jacob had twelve sons
who would later become tribes, or families.
But these Jews knew who Joseph was.
They loved and respected him.
So look what it says about him in. Hebrews 11:22.
"By faith Joseph, when he died,
"made mention of the departing of the children of Israel;
"and gave commandment concerning his bones."
Joseph also knew that bondage
in the land of Egypt would not last forever.
It is interesting to note that when Jacob died,
Joseph saw to it that his embalmed body
was carried back up into the land of Canaan,
and he was buried in the cave of Macpelah
with Abraham and Sara and some others.
When Joseph died he said the same thing.
But when he died, they did not immediately grab his bones
and bring them up there like they did with Jacob.
Jacob died, and they immediately left and went and buried him.
When Joseph died they waited until they were freed from
Egyptian bondage before they took him.
All those forty years of wondering around in the land,
guess who they were carrying with them. Joseph.
He believed that God would be true to his word
and that they would be freed,
and Joseph said when that happens you take me with you.
Turn to Genesis 50:22.
"And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house:
"and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw
"Ephraim's children of the third generation:
"the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh
"were brought up upon Joseph's knees.
"And Joseph said unto his brethren,
"'I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out
"'of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham,
"'to Isaac, and to Jacob.'"
He said I will die, and he said now if you get out.
Is that what the Bible says?
No. He knew God would do what he said.
No he said, "God will bring you out
"and God will surely visit you,
"and bring you out of this land unto the land
which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."
He is going to bring you out of this land, surely.
"And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying,
"'God will surely visit you,
"'and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.'"
So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old:
and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
And they would carry him out.
Folks that takes faith.,
It is going to be exactly like God said it would be.
Remember, in the book of Acts, as Paul and some people
were in the middle of the storm, on their way to Rome,
all the people were afraid that they would die.
Paul said, "God said we are going to lose the ship,
"but that we will be fine."
Paul said it will be even as God said.
Do not worry, yes the ship will be lost, but we will be fine.
How do I know?
Because God said so.
And that is how these people believed as well.
Joseph had spent his life in Egypt,
but wanted to be buried in the land of promise.
We are talking about faith, what true faith is.
Now, we will not get too far into Moses,
but let us start looking at him.
Hebrews 11:23 says, "By faith Moses, when he was born,
"was hid three months of his parents,
"because they saw he was a proper child;
"and they were not afraid of the king's commandment."
He was a proper child.
"Proper" is the same word used in Acts to mean
he was a fair child.
"Proper" literally means, "of the city."
He was what we might call a "city boy."
He had polished manners, he was elegant, and fair.
He was a beautiful child.
But I do not know that Amram and Jochabed
looked down at their newborn baby
and based on how fair he was,
on how beautiful they must have thought he was,
I am not convinced that they looked down at him and said
"He is going to deliver Israel, guess we better save this one."
Remember, they were to throw boy babies into the Nile river.
Look at the verse.
"By faith Moses, when he was born,
"was hid three months of his parents."
This is talking about the faith, of Moses' parents.
Amram and Jochabed, had faith.
Now wait, where does faith come from?
Romans 10:17 says,
"Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God."
These people all had faith
but faith comes from listening to the words of God.
And so we know that God told those parents to save Moses.
In Exodus 2:2 we read of Amram and Jochobed
that they saw he was a goodly child.
Stephen gave a great sermon
on the Old Testament leading to Christ.
Act 7:23-25 says, "And when he was full forty years old,
"it came into his heart
"to visit his brethren the children of Israel."
He knew he was a Jew,
even though he was raised in the palace.
"And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him,
"and avenged him that was oppressed,
"and smote the Egyptian:
"For he supposed his brethren would have understood
"how that God by his hand would deliver them:
"but they understood not."
Moses understood that it was going to be by his own hand
that he would deliver Israel,
and he expected that they would know it too.
How did Moses know it?
Well, someone had to tell him.
By faith Moses, when he was born,
was hid three months of his parents.
So, this is talking about the parents.
They must have been told by God to take the child and hide him.
And it may be that God told them why,
and later they told Moses why.
Or it may be that God told Moses why later.
But his mom would have had plenty of opportunity
to talk to him as she raised him in the palace
as one of the servants of the Pharaoh.
And we will not go into that story today.
But by faith, they hid Moses.
Amram and Jochebed did what God said for them to do.
I believe that he thought he had blown it.
Remember how he killed that Egyptian
and was sent away from Egypt.
And for forty years he had to be a shepherd.
I think he must have thought it was over for him,
that he had blown his opportunity
to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
So, when God came to him in the burning bush,
he said, "Who am I? I cannot even speak very well."
He had lost some of that faith.
Hebrews 11:23 says, "By faith Moses, when he was born,
"was hid three months of his parents,
"because they saw he was a proper child;
"and they were not afraid of the king's commandment."
Friend, that takes a lot of faith.
To know what the king says, and what God says,
and if they oppose each other to still obey what God says.
We are taling about faith.
How much faith do you have in God?
Come back as we continue to study faith.
♪ "Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
oh what words I hear Him say.
Happy place so near, so precious,
may it find me there each day." ♪
If you would like to learn more about God's word with
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then write us at Truth For The World
P.O. Box 5048, Duluth, GA 30096
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Or visit us online at truthfortheworld.org
The preceding program was a production of
Truth For The World, a work of the Duluth Church of Christ