Two Journeys

As we come to Hebrews 11:28-29, we come to two of the most spectacular moments in Old Testament history, probably the two most significant moments in the history of the nation of Israel. Two separate nights, amazing that they were both nights, the night of the Passover and the night of the Red Sea crossing. And these events shaped the history of Israel, they shaped the identity of the nation. And as we're in Hebrews 11, we're in the middle of the faith chapter, and we're looking at all of these heroes, these great men and women of the faith, and we're seeing in their lives the actions, the activities, the results, the fruit of faith. And the author means to work in us, by this historical survey, the same kind of faith that these heroes of the faith displayed in their lives.

And so we're not just looking at the night of the Passover just as a historical event, but we're looking at it specifically that we, as believers in Christ, after the coming of Christ, after His death, His resurrection, looking back on what happened the night of the Passover, may be strengthened in our faith and love Christ more and feel more powerfully the value and the worth of the blood shed for us, and that we might be strengthened by that and see the deliverance that Jesus wrought for us in Christ.

And the same thing, dear friends, with the Red Sea crossing, that we would look back not just at a spectacular miracle, what I would have to say is the most visually spectacular miracle in all of the Bible, not the most significant, but just the most spectacular, an awesome display of the power of God. But then we will not just stop there at the spectacle of it and just the drama of the Red Sea crossing, but that we would look at it through the porthole that the author wants us to do through Moses's faith and the faith of the people as they cross the Red Sea and the dry land, that our own faith may be strengthened and that we may see the deliverance wrought for us by Jesus Christ, and see, just as we do in the Passover lamb, we see also in the Red Sea crossing, we see Jesus Christ. I think that's what the author means for us to do.

And so right in the middle of a section which we're contemplating Moses. By faith Moses, by faith Moses, etcetera. We saw in verse 24 that, by faith Moses, turned his back on a life of comfort and ease, a life of pleasure and power as a son of Pharaoh's daughter. He turned his back on that by faith, and he chose by faith instead to be mistreated with the people of God, to embrace a life of suffering, not a life of sinful pleasure. He understood that the sinful pleasures of Egypt were temporary and fleeting, but the treasures of Christ were eternal, are eternal.

And so as we saw last week, in Verse 26 that by faith we saw Moses looking ahead to Christ. Faith essentially always looking forward, looking ahead. And so are we. We are more than merely optimistic. We are forward-looking by faith. The future is unspeakably bright. And we are going to a glorious place, the new heavens and the new earth, and we're looking forward to Christ. When we won't need faith anymore, when we will see Him in His glory seated on His glorious throne, when we will see Him in the clouds and He will come back, and all the nations will be gathered before Him and He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory, we, like Moses, by faith, looking ahead to Christ. Moses did it then, we do it now.

Verse 26, "He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt." And so he's looking ahead, at that point looking ahead to Christ. We made the point that all of these Hebrews, all of these heroes of the Old Testament were justified by faith in Christ. Abel was justified by faith in Christ, and so was Enoch, and so was Noah, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all of these great figures that were tracing out their history, all of them justified by faith in Christ, the Christ who was promised, the Christ who hadn't come yet, they were looking forward to Christ. So, it's not an accident or it's a mere throwaway this word "Christ" in Verse 26. Moses, by faith, looking ahead to Christ.

And we saw also in Verse 26 that, by faith Moses "was looking forward to his reward." He was looking ahead to his reward. And we saw the issue of rewards coming again, how we, by faith, must yearn for those rewards. "Without faith, it's impossible to please Him," Verse 6, "because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him." And so he was looking ahead to his reward.

And then in verse 27, we saw that, by faith Moses feared the invisible God, more than visible Pharaoh. "By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger." He persevered... Moses "persevered because he saw Him who is invisible." We discussed that Moses left Egypt twice, but these words, I think, referred to the Exodus, the time of the second leaving, not the first.

He fled for his life after he murdered the Egyptian slave driver. He was afraid at that point. Clearly the text in Exodus 2 tells us he was afraid of arrest, he was afraid of Pharaoh, and he ran. But when he comes back, filled with the Spirit of God, he confronts Pharaoh very boldly and directly in an ever-escalating contest of wills, a battle of wills. And it's not between Pharaoh and Moses, no, not at all. It's between Pharaoh and God, and no one has a stronger will than God. Moses, the mediator, he was the intermediary, he was the messenger, the prophet, speaking God's words. And you can see the kind of faith it would take to go out day after day, and confront this wicked man, this tyrant, the most powerful man on earth, and not fear his anger because instead you fear God more, and you love God more, and you want to please God more. And he persevered because he saw Him who's invisible.

Realize always, the author is thinking about the audience he's writing to, these first century Jews, who are persecuted, they're being oppressed, they're losing their property, their possessions, their freedoms. They hadn't resisted to the point of shedding blood, we'll talk about that in the next chapter, but they were under a hard time. And so he's throwing them some extra phrases in here to help them. And they weren't afraid of... Moses wasn't afraid of the king's anger. He didn't fear human anger or reprisals. Why? Because he could see the invisible God by faith, as if he could see Him. And so he deals with them in an ever-escalating way, to the point where Pharaoh cannot bear to look on Moses any longer. "Get out of my sight," he says. "The day you see my face you will die." Moses said, "Just as you say, I will never appear before you again." And that was right before that final judgment on Egypt, at that point, the plague on the firstborn. Moses's final act of courage directly facing Pharaoh's rage is in the Red Sea crossing, we'll get to that presently.

But next verse, verse 28, "By faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel." Now, before Moses even confronted Pharaoh, before he even began this whole thing, God told Moses what he would do. And He told him to tell Pharaoh what he would do. This is back in Exodus 4:22-23, "Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son,  and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.'"  Tell that to Pharaoh. This is before any of the plagues had even started. God willed all 10 of the plagues, He hardened Pharaoh's heart to be sure he got all 10 plagues. It was God's will. And so we come to the 10th plague, the deadly and the dreadful plague on the firstborn, and what a terrifying night that was. What a terrifying night.

And through Moses, God made plain what it was He was going to do. Exodus 11, "This is what the Lord says, 'About midnight, I will go throughout Egypt, and every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well, there will be loud wailing throughout Egypt, worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites, not a dog will bark at any man or animal. Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.'" This is the sovereign electing love of God. Do not imagine for a moment that the Egyptians were any worse sinners than the Jews were. Jesus made this very plain.

When Pilate killed some Galileans while they were offering a sacrifice, and everyone assumed it's because they were worse sinners than the ones that survived, he said that was not so. And when a tower fell and some people died, Jesus said, them to not assume that the survivors were any more righteous than those that died. And he said,  "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Frankly, the plague on the firstborn was a mercy to Egypt, because the wages of sin is death and all of them deserved to die. But it wasn't just the Egyptians that all deserved to die, it was the Jews as well. They all deserved to die. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We are all under the judgment of God, all of us under the death penalty.

The Shedding and Application of Blood

And the only remedy, therefore, for Israel would be the shedding and the application of the blood of the lamb. That was the only way they could be delivered from this plague. And so in Exodus 12, "Tell the whole community of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males, without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the 14th day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and apply it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs." This is the clear command given to Israel through Moses.

Now, what the author to Hebrews is telling us, it was only by faith that they kept the Passover. It's only by faith that they killed the lamb and applied the blood. By faith Moses killed the lamb, trusting in God that it would be effective. It was by faith that Moses applied the blood on the door post, trusting in God that it would be effective. Even before that happened, it was by faith that Moses feared the coming wrath, which was invisible. It was just threatened, just words. "On the same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down very firstborn, both men and animals, and I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord." It's just words, right? It's just words. No. No. Who spoke those words? This was Almighty God. This is God who created heaven and earth by the word of His power. He doesn't speak in idle word. These are not idle words for you. These words are your life, and by these words, you will live. And so, by faith, Moses feared the coming wrath. He took it seriously, the wrath to come.

Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for," but it's also "the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:7, "By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family." Same thing happened the night of the Passover. Moses was filled with a holy fear, and so were the people. And it was by faith that they feared the coming wrath. What about you? Do you think there's a wrath to come? The secular world that we live in denies it. There's no evidence of it. 2 Peter says, that, in the final days, scoffers will come, scoffing and saying, "Where is this coming He promised?" Everything, as it always has been, always will be, goes on since the days of our fathers. It's always been the same, and I don't see any evidence of any seals or trumpets or bulls or any kind of judgments coming. There is no wrath coming on us. It's just life.

Is that what you think? Do you fear the coming wrath? Are you fleeing the wrath to come? John the Baptist said to the enemies of God, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" By faith, Moses fled the coming wrath. It was by faith. Without that faith, he wouldn't have slaughtered the Passover lamb. Without that faith, he wouldn't have applied the blood. And so the point is that it's only by faith you see the danger.

And secondly, it's only by faith you see the remedy. How could the shedding of the blood of the lamb protect us from the coming wrath? By faith, the same faith that enabled Moses to fear the coming wrath, enabled him to trust in the promise of God, that if they kill that lamb and apply the blood, they would be delivered. That the blood would be effective. And so it was by faith that he kept the Passover and the shedding of the blood of the lamb. That was the only reason he did it.

And so it says in Exodus 12, in Verse 13, "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And no destructive play will touch you when I strike Egypt." And Exodus 12:23, "When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and the sides of the door frame, and will pass over that doorway, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and to strike you down."

Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites Obeyed by Faith, and Were Saved

So, God said very plainly it is the blood that would deliver them. He was very plain about this. By faith then, Moses and Israel obeyed these instructions and they were saved, they were delivered that very night.

Exodus 12:28, "The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron." They obeyed by faith. "And at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt. From the first born of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh, and all his officials and all the Egyptians, got up during the night, and there was a loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead."

It happened just as God said it would. Just as God said it would, it happened. It was by faith that Moses knew that the shed and applied blood provided the only safe haven of refuge from the wrath of God. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood of the lamb and the basin, and put some of the blood on the top and both sides of the door frame. And not one of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. That's good advice, brothers and sisters. Stay inside the house. The implication is this is the place of refuge, this is the safe place. Just like the ark, this is the only safe place. Stay inside here under the blood. Here, you will be delivered. If you go out in the streets, you will die and your judgement will be on your own head.

Ultimately, by faith, we would have to say, in the same language that we've just learned to use, it was by faith that Moses obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen? Do you not see it? It's so plain. The Scripture makes it plain. We know what to think. John the Baptist came as the precursor of Jesus. The first day he sees Jesus beginning his public ministry, he points to him so all Israel will know who He is, he points to Him and says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."

Dear friends, I was raised in the Roman Catholic church. I was an altar boy. I heard those words every single week, they meant nothing to me. I didn't know what the words meant, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." I needed an education. And I got an education in life, and through Scripture, and by an evangelist, who taught me who the lamb was, who taught me what it means, "Behold the lamb of God."

How can we behold Him who is invisible? The answer is clear. Only by faith. Only by faith in Jesus can you obey what John the Baptist tells you to do, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." And only by faith in Jesus will your sins be removed from you, because a far greater judgment is coming than they felt that night, far greater. You could think, how could it be greater? I've never heard of anything like that. Every single house in the whole nation someone dead? That's never happened since then. Not even in the days of the Black Death did that happen every, single house had a dead person. Oh, far greater than that.

And far greater than physical death we're talking, we're talking about the second death, we're talking about eternal torments in hell, we're talking about a deliverance from that. Does that mean nothing to you? Do you not fear the wrath to come? Far greater than any physical death, those Egyptians, they just dropped dead, they stopped living physically. Oh, but there's a far greater judgment, and that's a judgment of hell. And Jesus came to shed His blood to deliver you and me from the wrath of God and from hell. And so it says in Romans 3, "All have sinned, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood." There is the word "blood" again. You can't avoid the word. It is by the blood of Jesus that propitiation happens.

Now, we're told in preaching classes, "Don't preach propitiation. No one knows what propitiation is." Well, that's why we should preach it, because no one knows what it is. I wasn't born knowing propitiation. What is propitiation? It's a fancy word for the removal of the wrath of God by the giving of a sacrifice. That's what it means. And by the giving of a sacrifice, dead, the blood shed out, the wrath of God is removed. There is none, and you are free at last from the wrath of God. That's what happened when Jesus shed his blood. And by faith in the blood, the wrath of God will be removed from you as well. Oh, how sweet is that good news? Is that not the best news you've ever heard? And sinner or saint, I don't care if you heard it 74 years ago, it's still the best news you've ever heard. Amen? The best news you've ever heard. Blood propitiation, the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus died under the wrath of God to take it away from you. But I say to you, you will only see it by faith. That's the whole point here. I'm just giving you words. But the words are true, because they're God's Words, this is the Gospel, and it is so good. Good news that sinners like us can be delivered from the wrath to come.

By faith also, the Scripture tells us, the people passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. This is the final act of the drama with Pharaoh. The 10th plague, it had its deadly effect. Pharaoh drove the people out. Indeed, the Egyptians were glad to see them go. And the Jews plundered the Egyptians and took precious articles from them, nowhere near enough compensation for the hundreds of years of slave labor they'd given. But they plundered the nation that held them in bondage, as God said they would do. And they went out boldly and openly that very night, and they were guided by God to the Red Sea. For specific reasons that God goes into, He doesn't want them to see war too soon, unless they turn in their hearts and flee back to Egypt.

But he brings them to the Red Sea. Exodus 14, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.' Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.' So the Israelites did this. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, 'What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!'"

Isn't that astonishing? Isn't that one of the most amazing verses you ever read in your life? How could they forget the 10 plagues? What have we done? We didn't do the right thing. We should have kept the Jews here for getting God as they always do. "So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.  He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly." Boy, that rankled Pharaoh. He's angry about it and God hardened his heart.

And so, at this particular moment, the Jews look up and they see the most terrifying sight they've ever seen in their lives. They see all of Pharaoh's army, all of his chariots, out there clearly bent on one thing, slaughtering them all. And at this point, we see the benefits of someone else's faith. Someone else's faith. "By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry ground, but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned." Now, when the people saw Pharaoh's army, they were terrified. They were not faith-filled, they were fear-filled. Fear and faith are opposites. They were filled with fear. They were terrified, and they cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, "Was it because there were not enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to the desert to die? What have you done in bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we say to you in Egypt let us alone. It's better to serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert."

Faithless. No one saw Jesus, who puts His hand to the plow and looks back as fit for the kingdom of heaven. He also said in another place to remember Lot's wife. Don't look back to what you were delivered from, with longing eyes, "If only we could go back to Egypt and be slaves there again, and enjoy all the delicious food we had and that comfortable life we had as slaves in the Egypt." They would repeat this refrain again and again in the desert. The people were faithless.

Pharaoh, he thought God was a bad general, at least that's what Yul Brynner said in The Ten Commandments. I don't know if that's true. But Yul Brynner, in The Ten Commandments, said, "Boy, God is a bad general. He's left them no way of escape. They're trapped up against the Red Sea, there's nowhere for them to turn." Dear friends, God is not bad at anything He does, and He's not a bad general. He knows exactly what He's doing. And He hemmed Israel in so there was nowhere to turn but God, that's what He was doing. And He hardened Pharaoh's heart by it, so that Pharaoh had, in his mind, no choice but to go and wipe them out. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Standing and Waiting for God’s Salvation

These people didn't believe God. These people weren't trusting in God. Their faithlessness would be revealed again and again after the Red Sea crossing, murmuring against God concerning thirst in the desert, murmuring against God concerning what they would eat in the desert, making a golden calf and falling down and worshipping it, after hearing the voice of Almighty God telling them that they would not make any idol or bow down or worship it. They heard the voice of God himself and they denied it, they disobeyed it within days.

When they heard the report of the 10 spies about the Promised Land, they turned back in their hearts to Egypt and talked of stoning Moses. These were faithless people. But Moses was not. Moses was a man of faith. Moses stood there and saw the circumstances differently than they did. And he answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm, and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still." You've heard that expression, "Don't just stand there, do something." Sometimes faith tells you, "Don't just do something, stand there." With courage and boldness, just stand there and trust in God.

Sometimes life hems you in, could be health issue of a loved one or yourself, could be a financial issue, it could be a sin problem too big for you to conquer. You're hemmed in, the Red Sea on one side and a pursuing arm in the other, you have nowhere to turn. Paul was in that situation. 2 Corinthians Chapter 1, "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the afflictions we had in the province of Asia. We were under great hardship, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death, but this happened so that we might no longer rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." That is the lesson of sanctification. Amen? God, teach me no longer to rely on myself but on God who raises the dead. God, deliver me from self-reliance. And so the Red Sea and Pharaoh's encroaching army, that pressed the people to rely only on God.

Now, here we see that one person's faith can make the whole difference for another person or even a whole community. It was Moses's faith at that point. I'm not saying there were not other believers. There were. There were certainly other believers, Joshua and Caleb, and others were there. But the focus here is on Moses. Moses led them from fear to faith, he persuaded them to trust in God, and it was by his faith also that they had the faith to make the Red Sea crossing. And so Israel trusted in God, and God fought for them. All night long, God protected Israel from the enraged Pharaoh and his awesome army.

In Exodus 14:19-20, it says, "Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night, the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side, so neither went near the other all night long." Now, if I'm an Egyptian soldier at this point, I'm running home. How could you possibly fight such a supernatural power? But they were stuck there by the will of God, there was no way they could turn. They're not running, their hearts are hardened. He put the pillar of fire between them, so that Pharaoh could not kill them. The Red Sea crossing, the whole thing, all of it happened at night.

Where did the light come from by which they saw it across? From the pillar of fire. From the pillar of fire which represents Christ. And it's by the light of Christ you understand the lessons of these Old Testament stories. It's only in the light of Christ you even see the Red Sea crossing for what it is, a supernatural miracle of deliverance similar to what Christ worked for us on the cross, a way out when there was no way out, a way of deliverance from death right across into the promised land of eternal life. Christ is our Red Sea crossing, and only by the light of Christ can you see this.

And so, by faith, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land, the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That's why I say it's the most spectacular miracle in the Bible, an awesome display of power. Imagine the scene, the waters walling up on the left and the right. I don't know how deep the Red Sea was at that point, but it sure wasn't a little salt marsh, friends. I don't know where they come up with this stuff, the salt marsh. It says in the song of Moses that the enemy sank to the depths like a stone. How do you sink to the depths of a puddle like a stone? Why do they try to minimize the power of God?

Jesus said to the Sadducees, "You're in error because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God." Can God do this? Is our God powerful enough to do this? This is nothing compared to Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." That's awesome. This is little compared to that. And so they moved through. Now, this is a strange wind, if you think about it, this east wind that blew all night. Any wind strong enough to make the water of a sea wall up on the left and the right would be like a wind tunnel, and you can't stand. And yet two million or more people quietly, peacefully made their way across, as on dry ground, means peacefully and in good order.

And so it's like the wind perhaps of the day of Pentecost, a mysterious special, unusual kind of wind. A terrifying sound but no actual movement of air that was on the day of Pentecost. Here, there is some movement of air but only in a very narrow place, kind of like what it was that was around Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, protecting them from the heat, some kind of bubble of non-thermo... Forget it. But at any rate, just... And I'm thinking, from an engineering point of view, can you indulge me for a minute?

Do you realize how much strength it takes to wall up water to any kind of depth? The Hoover Dam at the bottom is 660 feet thick, that's more than two football fields thick at the bottom, 75 feet thick at the top. I assume an 11-mile crossing, a depth of 150 feet, could have been more, could have been less, the amount of force needed for the two walls is equal to the amount of force to lift 1200 aircraft carriers, 1200 aircraft carriers. That's what God can do. Physical strength of God in moving that water and holding it there as the people went through on dry ground. That's what God can do.

And what are your problems compared to that power? There is nothing. And if you're suffering and you've asked God to remove the thorn in the flesh, or you pleaded with them and you continue to suffer, then it's by God's will just learn the lessons, humble yourself, kiss the rod, learn what He wants you to learn by the pain that he's bringing in your life, and know that some day it'll all be over and He'll bring you to Heaven. That's all. But God's power is never lacking, neither is His love. Only God could do this and only by faith in God could they make this Red Sea crossing.

But when the Egyptians tried to do so, the water crashed down on them and destroyed them all, not a single Egyptian soldier survived, not one. God fought against them and they were destroyed. They start to enter in when the pillar went away. What were they thinking? God saying, "Go right ahead, right in between the water." What were they thinking? But their hearts are hard. And then they go and suddenly their chariot wheels get glommed up and they can't drive anymore, and suddenly it occurs to them. "Wait, God is fighting for the Israelites against us," and they clamor to get out, but it's too late. And they didn't enter by faith, they were just destroyed, they were just destroyed and the water crashed down and they died. I remember the whole point of Hebrews 11, "My righteous one will live by faith. But if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed." Where are those who believe and they're saved?

Now, I want to make one final point. Paul makes it very clear that not everyone who made it through the Red Sea crossing was saved. Not everyone. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, he says this, "I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses [very interesting expression] in the cloud, in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and they drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, their bodies were scattered in the desert." Friends, that desert was on the other side of the Red Sea crossing.

Paul puts the Red Sea crossing in church language, baptism, Lord's supper-type language, to say, "Just because you have the outer trappings of Christianity doesn't mean you're saved." You are saved by faith alone, not by outer trappings, not by outer displays. You are saved by a genuine heart of faith toward Christ. Where you see yourself as a sinner, lost, no hope, but Christ died in your place and through Him you'll live forever. That's the genuine faith. Just passing through the Red Sea is not enough. And so, therefore, Paul gives us that to support the point he had just made in 1 Corinthians 9, that there is a race to run with endurance. Don't you know that, in a race, all the runners run but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. They do it to get a crown that will not last. We do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I don't fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave, lest after I preach to others, I myself may be disqualified from the prize. For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, on what happened to the Israelites. Do you see the link there? Run to the end.

And that's the very point the author of Hebrews makes in the very next chapter, in Hebrews 12, " Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ." What are those sins? It's idolatry, pagan revelry, sexual immorality. He says in 1 Corinthians 10:6-14, "Now, these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were, and it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry. And we should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day 23,000 of them died. And we should not test the Lord, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.So, if you think that you're standing firm, take heed, lest you fall. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. But God is faithful." And with the temptation, He's going to make a way of escape for you, your own Red Sea crossing to get out of temptation so that you can stand up under it. It's kind of an odd image. I put it together this way, you stand up by running for your life. "Lead us not into temptation [God] deliver us from evil." God is called on us to be pure, to be holy, and to finish this race. It's not enough, friends, to just start. It's not enough to make it halfway across the Red Sea, or even to go to the other side but to be an idolater and a faithless individual.

So, we've seen the faith of Moses, we've seen how God worked in him, how he turned in his heart away from the pleasures of sin for a short time and embrace suffering with the people of God. We've seen how his faith enabled other people to believe as well. I think that's true of leaders, heads of households, husbands and fathers, elders, people who stand by faith, and our leaders, others can grow in their faith because of their boldness and their strength. That's what God has called on us to do. But for me, the central lesson today is flee to Christ. Amen? Both in the Passover and the Red Sea crossing, it's Christ. Please don't leave here Christ-less, don't leave here graceless. It's really not that hard. All you have to do is humble yourself now under Almighty God's hand. Humble yourself, repent of your sins, look to Christ with eyes of faith, and say, "He died for me. Oh, God, save me," and He will. Close with me in prayer.

When Jesus was with his disciples in Caesarea of Philippi, he was on somewhat of a retreat with them and spending some time in the midst of his busy controversial and difficult ministry, he went on retreat with them up to the northern cooler regions and he was up in the mountains there, and he was sitting with them and having a discussion with them. And he asked them, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" Son of Man was Jesus' name for himself. "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you," he asked, "Who do you say that I am?" I always imagine a dramatic pause at that point as I read the account. And Simon Peter speaking for us all said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And then Jesus said something very important when it comes to understanding salvation. He said, "Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man but by my Father in heaven." No one is saved from their sins apart from that supernatural revelation of Christ. A divine and supernatural light, revealed directly to the heart of the individual center is the essence of everything apart from that none of us will be saved.

And God has been doing that from the beginning of human history, he has been revealing Christ to sinners, he has been opening up inside their hearts the light, an eternal light of His own glory radiating in Christ, and opening up that beautiful eyesight of faith inside their souls to receive that light of Christ, and see it for its beauty and its majesty, and glory. And in seeing Christ there by faith we are justified. We see the glory of God, our sins are forgiven and God's been doing that all along. It's always been the same in every generation. And now as we come to Hebrews 11, and as we're unfolding this chapter, and we're understanding faith, we're understanding justification by faith, how it is that sinners like us who have violated God's laws, who have done things we ought not to have done, who have left undone things that we were commanded to do, how can sinners like us be made right in the eyes of such a Holy God? And it is by this divine and supernatural light of Christ revealed directly to your heart. If you've been sitting on that mountain side with Peter and the others, seeing Jesus' physical body, maybe his feet covered with dust, him looking like an ordinary man, you would not have been saved by that sight, it would not have saved you.

Many people saw Jesus physically and were not saved. But if God the Father would reveal Jesus directly to your hearts and you will see in him, Almighty God in the flesh, and more than that, that He shed His blood for you, that He died in your place and you see that a transfer can happen, that your guilt can be put on Jesus and His righteousness given to you, then you will be saved, and that's all. And that's what he's been doing all along, and he did it in the life of Moses.

Now, when we come to Moses, we come to a key issue here for the author to the Hebrews and his first century audience. He's writing to Jewish people who had heard the Gospel, had made some kind of outward profession of faith in Christ. But now they're under pressure, they're being persecuted probably by Jewish religious authorities and neighbors and relatives and friends to forsake Christ, to turn back from Christ and go back to the Law of Moses. And so, in their minds, it's Moses versus Jesus, that's the way they saw it. And they were being tempted strongly pressed by persecution, other troubles to turn their backs on Jesus and go back to Moses, in effect, to the law of Moses, the Old Covenant sacrificial system, all of those things.

John Chapter 9, when Jesus heals the man that was born blind, and then he's hauled up in front of the Jewish religious authorities and they have some sharp words back and forth. At one point, this man says, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?" And they answered, "We are disciples of Moses. As for this fellow, we don't know where he comes from." And the blind man answers so beautifully. "Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

Never in history has anyone heard of the eyes of a blind man, man born blind being open and you don't know where he's from? Isn't it obvious? But there is the dichotomy. We are disciples of Moses, as for this man, we don't know who he is. And so, these Jewish first century professors of faith in Christ, were being tempted to forsake Jesus and go back to Moses. Now, the author's already opened up this topic for us in Hebrews 3. He's shown us that Moses was a faithful man, he was a servant in God's house, but Jesus is no mere servant in God's house, but is a son over God's house.

But now, here in Hebrews 11, he's going to get even more pointed, he's going to say, in effect, that Moses was justified by faith in Jesus Christ even in his day, and that God mystically, mysteriously, spiritually revealed Christ to him at that point. And so, by faith Moses looked ahead to Christ. Look at Verse 26, "He, [Moses] regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ, as of greater value than all the treasures of Egypt. Because he was looking ahead to his reward." So here we have this incredible statement, disgrace for the sake of Christ. Now, this was 1500 or 2000 years or 1500 years before Christ was even born, the Exodus, something like 15 centuries before Jesus. And yet, he was seeing Christ by faith. That's what the author is asserting. Jesus asserted as much concerning Moses, didn't he? In John 5:46, Jesus said, "If you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me." Moses wrote about me. And then after his resurrection, Jesus in Luke 24:27, speaking to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus said, "'Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter into his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.'"

 And then later that same day to the disciples in the upper room, he does the same thing, beginning with Moses, he shows everything that Moses had written about him. Now, Moses, who we began looking at last week, who was rescued out of the Nile by Pharaoh's daughter, and who was raised in royalty, raised in wealth and honor and privilege, as in some ways an adopted a son of Pharaoh, turned his back on all of that, he forsook all of it, he rejected it, he would not be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but embraced suffering for Christ, embraced it. God revealed Christ to Moses, and Moses was willing to choose suffering for the sake of Christ, rather than the luxuries and pleasures of Egypt. Verse 26 explains why he regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ, as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt.

Because he was looking ahead to his reward. In due time, Moses would write the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. He would record all the stories that have been the backdrop of what we've been looking at in Hebrews 11, up to this point. Moses would be the one that wrote down from the very beginning how God predicted a serpent slayer that would come. How he told even in Genesis 3:15, that the seed of woman would come and he would crush the serpent's head. It was Moses that would write those words. It was Moses who wrote about Abel's sacrifice and Enoch walking with God and Noah's flood, and Abraham being called out of err the Chaldeans and turning his back on that and the promise made to Abraham that through his offspring, all peoples on earth will be blessed. It was Moses that wrote all of these things, it was Moses that wrote the account of Abraham almost killing his son Isaac on Mount Moriah and how the Angel of the Lord stopped him and said... The angel said, "Now, I know that you fear God, because you've not withheld from me the Angel of the Lord your son, your only son."

And then the angel said, "I swear by myself… because you've done this… I will surely bless you." Who is the angel of the Lord? Moses wrote those words. It was Moses who wrote these things, it was Moses that wrote about Jacob's dream and the ladder and the angels ascending and descending, and the Lord at the top looking down. And about the wrestling, Jacob is wrestling with the angel. And the predictive blessings that Jacob made to the 12 patriarchal leaders and to Judah in particular saying, "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his." It was Moses that wrote those words. And so, God had in some amazing way, revealed Jesus to Moses and he trusted in Christ.

Moses and the Prophets Were Serving the Coming Generations

Now, I don't think that Moses fully understood everything that he was writing. No Old Testament prophet really did. 1 Peter 1:10-12 says that the prophets who wrote the predictive messages about Christ in the Old Testament did not fully understand. They were trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories it would follow.

And they were told that they weren't serving themselves, but that later generation that would come. And so, we have the benefit of greater clarity. The New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the actual accounts of the works of Jesus, what he actually did, and how the Gospel spread through the Book of Acts, and the Epistles explaining the theology of the Gospel. We have it all so very clearly. But Moses understood who Christ was. And so, the key issue then for these Hebrew-Christians and for us is that Moses was justified by faith long before he gave them the law. Moses' simple trusting in Christ predates the law. And so, by faith Moses looked ahead to Christ. And frankly, there's not much difference between looking ahead to Christ by faith or looking back to Christ by faith. It's the same thing. Neither one of us sees him with our own eyes, we have the Word of God we have the accounts of who he is, we believe them or we don't, it's really that simply.

And Moses looked ahead based on the words of God and saw Christ and trusted Him. And we look back based on the words of God and we trust Him or we don't, and if we trust Him, we have forgiveness of sins.

Secondly, we see that by faith Moses, also looked ahead to his reward. Look at Verse 26, He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. There are so many key elements in this verse. First of all, the essential aspect of faith is that it's forward looking, we're looking forward, we're looking ahead. The assurance of things hoped for. Romans 8:24 says, "who hoped for what he already has?" So right away from the beginning in verse 1, we are told that faith is forward looking, it looks ahead, it has to do with things we hope for, things we have not yet received. We're also told in Verse 6 that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him. In Verse 10, we're told that Abraham was looking forward to a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Verse 13, we're told, all these patriarchal people, the people in that era were still living by faith when they died, they did not receive the things promised, but they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

Looking forward, looking ahead is part of faith. People who say such things, verse 14 show that they're looking for a country of their own, something that they can possess forever and ever, they're looking ahead. Verse 16, they're longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Verse 16 again, God has prepared a city for them. All of this forward looking. Verses 20-22, the patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob, and Joseph, they're all looking ahead, looking ahead, even to their death beds. And so, that's a fundamental issue, the issue of looking forward. And we do the same by faith in Jesus, amen, that's the nature of the race that we're running, Philippians 3, forgetting what's behind and straining or pressing on toward what's ahead. The upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We're looking ahead, we're looking forward, we press on toward the goal.

Oh, do you not see how delightful this is? Do you not see what an advantage we believers have over worldlings. They dread the future. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Why? He's got everything he wants, right? He's the king. Yeah, but he might not be king tomorrow. There might be an assassination plot, someone might be poisoning his food, somebody has to sample his dinner. Somebody might shove a dagger between his ribs before he goes to bed that night. Or maybe some other king is going to come with a more powerful army, and he's going to take away everything he has, because he's not strong enough. And so he goes to bed anxious and concerned, he's afraid. The same thing for ordinary people, we're worried about the future, what it's going to bring, will we lose everything dear to us? O Christians, brothers and sisters, you will not lose everything dear to you. Your best things are stored up in Heaven for you and moth and rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal. Your treasure can't be stolen from you. What are you afraid of? We are rich in Christ, and we're looking forward to coming into our inheritance, amen. We're looking forward to getting it. Right now, we're living on stipend checks and they're pretty good. They really are. The deposit of the Spirit and we're feeding on that, and the spirit's testifying that we're children of God, and all of that, but won't you be glad to give up the stipend check for the actual inheritance? Amen.

Well, praise God. We are wealthy and no one can take our wealth from us, and so we look forward. They're afraid of death, they might not have admit it, but they're in bondage, they're in slavery to the one who holds the power of death over them, because they're sinners and they can't get free. All of their lives are held in slavery by their fear of death. Only Jesus, the death conqueror can deliver you from that. He holds the keys of death and Hades. Amen. We have no fear of death. Our best things are all in the future. I don't care what incredibly good life you've had up to this point, richly blessed by God, amen. All of them are as tiny insignificant blessings compared to what you have yet to come. And so therefore, in Colossians 3, we set our hearts on things above and things to come, not on earthly things. Oh, what an advantage our faith is, looking forward, looking forward to Christ, looking forward to his return, looking forward to our inheritance.

Look Forward to the Day and Hasten its Coming

And we're told in 2 Peter 3 with this whole same kind of language that we're looking forward, looking forward, he says it three times, looking forward. And it says, "Since everything that you see is going to be destroyed in this way, everything, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and Godly lives as you look forward, there it is, as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming." Do you realize how vital that is it? Alright, those are the two infinite journeys there, because everything's going away, everything is going to burn, it's all going to disappear. You are given in those Verses 2 Peter 3, the two infinite journeys, you ought to live a holy and Godly life, you ought to purify yourself from un-Godliness, that's an internal journey and you ought to look ahead to the day of God and speed it's coming. You do that by evangelism and missions, there's no other way. And so, by sharing the Gospel, by bringing the elect Christ, Jesus isn't coming back to till all the elective heard the Gospel and responded by faith, then he's coming back, amen.

So we've got work to do friends, we've got internal journey and external journey, work to do. But he says it three time in 2 Peter 3, we look forward to the day of God, God we look forward to the second coming, we look forward to the new heavens and the new Earth, we're looking forward to it all. And how glorious is that? Now, in this text, it says that Moses isn't just looking forward to Christ, but he's looking forward to his reward. He turned down a life of luxury and in effect, he's standing before Almighty God and saying, "Okay God, I'm turning down silk pillows, I'm turning down plates of grapes and beautiful slave girls dropping the grapes right into my open mouth, I'm not going to live like that. They're not going to find me with their big fans anymore, I'm not living that life, I'm going to go wander in the desert with a bunch of fractious people who do not appreciate me, and who actually would like to stone me.

Actually, he didn't know all that was coming, but it's coming. And he embraced a life of disgrace. Do you see that word, disgrace. The people who were his friends, the Egyptians who were his friends in the court there, maybe his half-brothers and half-sisters, his adoptive mother, all of those Egyptian powerful people who were beating on his biological people, but they were his friends, and they like... He turned his back on all of that, and He embraced disgrace for them. The author to Hebrews are going to call us all to that in Hebrews 13. Jesus suffered outside the gate. We need to go outside the gate and bear the disgrace he bore. He is disgraced by the world. You want to be pleasing to God, then you stand next to him and get disgrace to. So Moses was willing to bear disgrace for the name of Christ. What about you? What about me? Are you only to be disgraced, societally rejected, looked on poorly, slandered, reviled because you follow Christ? Well, Moses was willing to do it, it says because he was looking forward to his reward.

That Nature of the Reward

And what is the nature of this reward? What is this reward? When we come to rewards again, we already covered it in verse six so I don't need to go into any great detail. Rewards are tokens of God's pleasure connected with your actions and motives. God gives you some emblems of how pleased he was that you did that. The fundamental reward of the Christian life is God himself. God himself is our very great reward, and we get him. All lesser rewards, and there are lesser rewards, are all in some way connected to our relationship with Him. They are relational moments.

It's God saying, "Well done, good and faithful servant. I am pleased with you. Enter into the joy of your master, I want you to step into the joy I had when you went into the room and close the door and pray to your Father who's unseen, or when you gave to the needy and your right hand, didn't know what your left hand was doing." Your reward is great for this.

Rewards are different than wages. They're not earned or merited as though we deserve them. The rewards of the Christian life are just lavish grace, amen. We know that God would even have us in heaven, but that he would actually find things in our lives worthy of praise. He rewards us, and so Moses was looking ahead to his reward. Now, rewards are not all equal. There are some great rewards and lesser rewards. Causes something to be greatly reward-able versus something that's worthy of a smaller reward? I think it has to do with how much faith and how much sacrifice it took to do it in this world. The harder it is, the more faith that you need, the more it costs you in this world, then the more worthy of praise and a reward it will be in the next. Does that make sense?

So, if you do anything by faith, anything at all today by faith, you make a phone call by faith, you speak a word of encouragement by faith, you get down on your knees and pray for someone by faith, any of it can be rewarded, will be. God is not unjust. He won't forget anything you've done. Store up lots of them. But the really big ones, the big rewards, the great rewards are for those who suffer in this world to serve Christ. Does that makes sense? It costs you something and by faith, you do it anyway. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

So great is your award if you suffer greatly. Does that make sense? And we'll meet them later in the same chapter, in Hebrews 11, people who wandered around in deserts and caves and were sawn into and stoned and suffered greatly for Jesus and so if you want great rewards then do great things. Understand that you don't deserve, even for doing great things, anything from God, but he's promised that he will reward and great will be your reward. And so Moses had a great reward because he made a great sacrifice. He turned away by faith from a comfortable life of ease and embraced suffering and disgrace for the sake of Christ.

Moses Weighed the Reward

And he did it because he weighed it. He considered it of greater value, that's what the text says. He weighed it and looked at it and it was better for him. It was a better deal. A few months ago I went with my daughter, Carol, and we went up to pick up my mom and drive her back. She lives seasonally across the street from us, and so we had some time and we went up to Rockport, Massachusetts, and we went into a number of the painting stores they have up there. It's a real art center, and I don't know that much about art appraisal. I probably couldn't tell the difference between a masterpiece and something that just generally looked good, but I noticed that there was a wide range of prices, everything from $75 up to 10, 15, 20 $25000 for a painting. Decided not to buy one of those. Alright, but I thought, "What's the difference?" This one's bigger than that, so it's not just size, has to do with quality, different things, but there were just different prices, and it has to do with appraising. And so somebody who's really skilled at this, who owns these stores, they look and they can tell something that's really high quality because the thing itself.

You're on a desert island and it's between an incredible painting and sufficient food to last year, you know what you'd pick. Even if it were a bunch of barley roles, you choose the barley roles. So the thing doesn't have any intrinsic value, but it just has to do with what the market will bear, and the quality of it. And the value that comes at appraising. And so, a faith-filled person does some praising here, and you've got the life in an Egyptian court, a comfortable life of ease and power and pleasure. You're looking at the value of that and then you're looking at what you get if you choose a life of suffering and disgrace for Christ. He looked at and this infinitely outweigh that. It was worth it to Moses to do it. He wasn't the fool to do it.

He's enjoying that reward now, and he'll enjoy it forever and ever. It would have been a fool not to do it that way. So it has to do with a reckoning process, a thinking process, seeing the world rightly. It is temporary, friends, that's all going to burn. We have a short time and while we have this window of opportunity, give it up. That's what the Lord's calling on us to do.

It also says in Verse 27, by faith Moses feared the invisible God more than visible Pharaoh. By faith he left Egypt, it says, not fearing the king's anger. He persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

And we touched on this last time with Moses' parents. Sometimes Satan presents himself as an angel of light, and he offers you the world or a portion of it. 2 Corinthians 11:14, "Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light," but sometimes he takes the form of a dockyard bully, and if you don't do what he wants, he'll punch you in the mouth or cut off your head. Revelation 12:17, "Then the dragon, [that's Satan] was enraged at the woman, that's the people of God, and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus." that's Satan like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

And so he especially uses wicked kings, intimidating kings, and here it's Pharaoh. Kings have the power to make your life miserable. Proverbs 20:2 says, "A king's wrath is like the roar of a lion. He who angers him, forfeits his life." You cross the king, you die. So it's intimidating, it's scary. And so we have many biblical examples of this. We have Nebuchadnezzar, prime example. What a temper problem he had. I trust Nebuchadnezzar in heaven now. I think he is, but God had to deal with that temper.

And humble him and his arrogance, his pride. And when his counselors in Daniel 2 couldn't tell him what his dream was and interpret it for him, he became filled with rage and gave an edict that all of his counselors in Babylon be put to death, all of them. Same thing happens in chapter 3 when he erected a golden statue and ordered that everyone bowed down to it, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow down to it, and again, he's filled with rage. I find that interesting. He has everything he wants. The most powerful man on Earth, can eat anything he wants, drink anything he wants, do anything he wants. He is the man, and he's fill with rage that easily, just like the devil.

And when they will not bow down to him, he becomes even angrier, and his face becomes twisted with rage and he orders the furnace heated seven times hotter. Many, many leaders like this, Pontius Pilate, knowing that Jesus is innocent, goes back and forth. And at that point Jesus is done talking to Pilate, doesn't say anything to him, you remember. Silent, he said a few things to Pilate, but at that point, it's done. He's not saying anything. And Pilate says ridiculously, "Do you refuse to speak to me? Don't you realize I have the power to crucify you and the power to set you free?"

It's intimidation. Happens in our day and age. Probably no one did this more intensely than Adolf Hitler. A terrible intimidate. Demon possessed, I think. He was called carpet chewer by some of his counselors and generals that were around him because he would throw himself on the ground, foam at the mouth and chew the carpet, which would bother me if I saw someone doing that. It's terrifying. Hermann Goering who was a World War I fighter ACE, courageous man, corrupt but courageous, was terrified to bring Hitler bad news. No one wanted to bring him bad news, ever. They were terrified of him.

When he met in March of 1938 with the President of Czechoslovakia, Edvard Benes, he threw himself into such a purple rage in front of this man that the man went in almost had cardiac arrest. He almost died right in front of Hitler because of the terror and fear. Did the same thing a year later with the representatives of the British government after he had swallowed up Czechoslovakia, they come in and try to avert World War I, I and he does the same thing rolling on the carpet and screaming.

The guy walks out to go back to report to Neville Chamberlain, Hitler jumps up slaps himself in the thigh and starts laughing. He says, "Chamberlain's government will topple by this evening." Which it didn't, but that's the kind of rage. And he used it. The same thing with the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, famously pounding on the table with his shoe out of rage. It's very intimidating. Moses by faith faced the king's anger and did what God want him to do anyway.

He faced it, and he was not afraid of the king's anger, and he persevered. He left Egypt by faith. Now, Moses left Egypt twice. You understand that. He left Egypt, the first time, after he murdered the Egyptian overseer, the slave driver, he murdered him. Looking this way and that, he murder him, and hid his body in the sand. And it says right in Exodus 2:14 Moses was afraid the next day because he came upon two Jews who are arguing. He said, "You guys are brothers. You should get along." And he said, "Well, you want to kill us, like you killed that Egyptian yesterday." And then it says then Moses was afraid and said, "What I did must have become known." And then Pharaoh found out about it and wanted to kill him, so he ran for his life. Fugitive alright. I don't think the text is referring to that because he was afraid.

Moses Confronts Pharaoh

No, it's referring to the second time he left Egypt after the plagues when he brought with him millions of Jews. And so he comes back after 40 years of wandering in the desert, 40 years of caring for his father's sheep, father-in-law sheep, and God appears to him in the flames of the burning bush. Calls on him to go back and to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go." He goes back, he says, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says, 'Let my people go.'" And Pharaoh says, "I don't know the Lord, and I will not let the people go." And thus begins a back and forth that is ever escalates Pharaoh's rage. Every step makes Pharaoh angrier and angrier. Plague after plague, the plague on the fresh water turning it to blood, than the plague on the frogs, crawling all over Egypt. Plague of gnats and flies swarming all over Pharaoh's body and in his household. Plague on the livestock, the boils the hail, the locus, the darkness, one plague after another and you have to imagine each one of these directly attacking Pharaoh's rule, and attacking his pride and making him angrier in anger. How would you like to be Moses having to go negotiate with this guy day after day after day?

: Finally, the most dreadful plague of all. Plague on the first born, at that point Pharaoh is trying to bargain with Moses. It's alright, you can go, but you can't go very far, you can go, you can't bring your livestock with you. No, there's no bargaining. You're not in a strong position, Pharaoh, in case you hadn't noticed. You're going to do exactly what God wants you to do. Finally, Pharaoh was so enraged that he says, "Get out of my sight. Make sure you do not appear before me again, the day you see my face, you will die." "Just as you say,' Moses said, 'You will never see my face again.'" Well, through all of that, Moses persevered through all of the anger and rage of Pharaoh he persevered as if seeing it says the invisible God because he could see God, because he could see him by faith, let's be honest, he feared God more than he feared Pharaoh.

This is a very powerful, a powerful lesson. One time I was afraid to lead an outreach, it was a Halloween outreach in Salem, Massachusetts, and I was afraid because the year before, I'd almost been arrested for doing this outward. Didn't do anything wrong. But Laurie Cabot, the official witch of Massachusetts, back then Massachusetts had an official witch according to Governor Dukakis. And that was her and I met her daughter, delightful girl. At any rate, she came out, 25-year-old woman, she was filled with rage at me, and we had a very interesting debate in front of her house. I'll never forget that. Well, a year later we're doing another outreach.

It was the night of what became known as the perfect storm. There was a movie made about it, and there was a hurricane that struck off the coast of Massachusetts, and it was an unbelievable time, and I was middle of the week, and I was just... Satan was working on me all day long, is the longest work day of my life. I was just an engineer at that point, and just I thought it by now it's got to be 3 or 4 in the afternoon a be like 9:30 in the morning, which is the long day because just the fear, r satanic fear of witnessing, satanic fear of persecution. And at that point, I was doing scripture memorization, in Isaiah, Isaiah 51. It says there, "I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor? The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread. For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar-- the Lord Almighty is his name. I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand-- I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.'"

That's what I was memorizing that day. I'll never forget that.

I said, "Alright Lord, I get the message." Do not fear man more than you fear me. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but I give you an even higher motive than that. How about delight in the Lord? I just want to please him, I want him to be pleased with me. I want to see his smiling face. I want him to be glorified and so the fear of the Lord enabled Moses not to fear the king, and delight in him, as well.

And so Stephen at the end of his trial, as he has already accused them of being stiff-neck people of uncircumcised hearts and ears, and they didn't like that very much. They were very angry. And then suddenly Stephen, as they were furious with him, gnashing their teeth at him, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up and he saw heaven open, and he saw Jesus standing at the right side of God. He said, "Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Delight, beauty, attractiveness drives away all fear. He was already gone. They had to kill his body, but he was already in heaven at that point.

Just the delight and the joy, and by faith, as if seeing the invisible Christ, he was bold and courageous.

Now, I still have two more points, but I see that it's 12:20. So let's do it next week. Let's talk about the Passover and the Red Sea crossing, next week, amen. Can't do that in one minute. You know I can't do that. I cannot do the Passover in the Red Sea crossing in one minute, so we'll do it next week.

The application for this is plain, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Son of Man, he is the savior. Has he been revealed to you as such? Has God the Father revealed Christ to you? And if he has, venture on him. Venture holy let no other trust intrude. Trust in Christ entirely, your own righteousness cannot save you. Maybe you had not been a Christian before you came in here maybe a friend invited you, maybe we met one on the outreach yesterday. And that's why you're in church today and you know you're not a Christian, you know that you're not saved. All you need to know, you've heard today.

That Jesus the Son of God died on the cross, shed his blood for sinners like you. If you trust in him, you will be forgiven. And so I say, also to you as believers, venture on Christ. Don't fear man. Be willing to turn your back on a life of ease and comfort and embrace a life of suffering and disgrace. Don't fear disgrace. Don't seek it out say, "I want to be disgraced." But go after Christ and faithfulness, and share the gospel and disgrace will find you. But let's be bold and courageous close with me in prayer.

So we come to a bit of a turning point in Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, that great hall of faith, the faith chapter. And we come to Act 3 in this chapter. Act 1 was the faith displayed before the flood, with Abel and Enoch and Noah. And Act 2 the faith of the patriarchal era of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. We come here to Act 3, and that's the faith of Moses and the people of God during the time of the Exodus and beyond. The author's point through all of this has meant to show the unity of the work of God throughout all eras of redemptive history. That his people have always been saved the same way, in every era, in every generation, from the very beginning of history, from Abel onward, the people of God have been justified by faith alone, and it's the same faith.

Now, as we come to the story of Moses' parents and of Moses himself, in Egypt. As I was preparing this message as I was thinking about it, I realized that I had done what it's so easy to do, and that is somewhat to miss the point. So that's bad, I shouldn't tell you that, right. I mean when you're on a 747, you don't want to hear the pilot say that he kind of missed something in his preparations taking off, that's not a good feeling. But it's not a major thing, but I just want to tell you some of the dangers of Hebrews 11, there are two great dangers of this chapter. And one of the dangers is as we look at the faith of godly men and women, and celebrate their faith, we will forget Christ. And you get this moralistic imperative that we need to believe like they did, and become great hearers of faith, like they were. And forget that Christ is the greatest hero of faith that has ever lived, and to forget the focus on Christ as we celebrate Moses' parents and Moses himself. And that's a danger, and I don't want that to happen. I want you to focus your mind and your heart on Christ today. Christ is the lover of your soul. It's Christ that shed His blood for you, It's Christ that's going to take you to heaven. Not Moses.

And we already learned that in Hebrews chapter 3. Frankly one of the points here in these verses is the author is showing us that just as Moses was simply a servant in all God's house, so also Moses displayed justifying faith. And so Moses and Christ aren't in competition. That's one of the great dangers, that celebrating the faith of the heroes we'll forget to focus on Christ, the focus of our faith is Christ. The second danger is that, as we celebrate the faith of the heroes we'll forget that faith itself is a gift of God. And that you don't have to go and kind of scrape together some faith, some more faith, like you're at the store and you need $5.13 worth of faith, and all you have is $3.25, so you better go take the pillows off the couch and search the pockets of old jeans to try to find enough faith. As though it's somehow your thing, your work, you have to scrape it together. Friends, faith is a gift of the sovereign God. He gave it to each one of these heroes of faith and He'll give it to you too. And He gives you the faith needed for the circumstances you're facing in your life. And you will not face circumstances like Moses' parents faced, you won't. But the same God that gave them faith will give you faith to face whatever you're facing.

And you won't need to have the faith of Moses at the time of the Exodus, you won't face those same kinds of challenges but you'll face your own. And the same God that gave Moses the faith to believe Him, through all of that will give you that faith as well. Now, as we come to this Act 3, we come also to some new enemies of the faith. We come for the first time face-to-face with the issue of persecution, the issue of human persecutors of the faithful. And it's going to get more extreme as the chapter goes on. We come to the bitterness of anti-Christian government, and of tyrants who use their power to crush the people of God, so that they cannot obey the commands of God, to force them to pay for their with martyrs' blood. We also come to probably one of the key issues and decisions we ever make in our lives. Moses was at a fork in the road, and down one path he had worldly prosperity and comfort and ease and pleasure, and down the other road he had suffering and difficulty and trouble.

And by faith, he made the correct choice. And we are placed at the same fork in the road every single day. And as I was meditating on these various themes thinking about them, I realized that as we face our culture, we face our gluttonous age on perhaps the single most gluttonous day of the year. No comments, just moving right on. I don't know what you're planning on eating later today, that's between you and God. But as we face the allurements and the temptations of the world, and we have so often failed to make the correct choice. Haven't we? Let's be honest, time and time again, we have preferred the flesh over faith. And we cry out against ourselves and we wonder who can deliver us, who can rescue us from this body of death, as we day after day after day stand at the same fork in the road. And we've got pleasure and comfort and easy on one side and you've got what God wants you to do on the other. And it's so hard to make that choice, the flesh is screaming against what God wants you to do. And it's so very difficult to make that choice. Isn't it?

Moses made it rightly, but I've already said how it was he made it rightly. God enabled him to make that choice rightly. But again, I say to you, our savior is not Moses and how he chose to leave Pharaoh's palace and choose suffering with the people of God. We are being called on to make similar sacrifices for Jesus.

Now, the real hero is Jesus Himself, because it says in the next chapter, after all of this, in Hebrews 12, we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning at shame and sat down at the right hand of God. His choice, not Moses', saves your soul. And frankly His choice and not yours, saves your soul. And Jesus having chosen in Gethsemane and beyond to die for you, frees you from all of your guilts and condemnation. And then He sends you of His Spirit so you can make the same choice too. And you can say as he did in Gethsemane, "not my will but yours be done." And He will strengthen you because you are His child.

You are being conformed to the image of Christ. There, that's the whole Sermon in a nutshell. You may wonder why I don't just stop here, but I want to talk about Moses' parents, and I want to talk about Moses. Because at a lesser level, we do need these heroes. We do need examples, we do need role models, and so we have given us these role models.

And so we have the faith of Moses' parents. "By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw that He was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict." We have a long gap in Hebrews 11, from verse 22 to verse 23. A gap of hundreds of years in which the author doesn't pick up anything. Now you should not think that because of that gap that there were no faith-filled believers in Egypt during that time. Remember how Elijah thought he was the only one and God spoke to him, and said, "Not so. I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal." And so, in every generation, there is a remnant chosen by grace.

But during that period of time, we know what happened, it says "they were not afraid of the king's edict." Things had turned after the death of Joseph. And Exodus 1 tells us another king came up who knew nothing about Joseph. Didn't give the Jews any preferential treatment. And if anything, the Egyptians, in general, became increasingly afraid of the, I think, supernatural multiplication of the Jews in Egypt. They were astonishingly fruitful. And the Egyptians became alarmed, they were afraid of the population growth, they were afraid that they might join their enemies. And they didn't know anything about Joseph, and they began to enact a very bitter policy against the Jews. They wanted to eradicate them to some degree. And so the first strategy was to make their lives bitter with hard labor, making bricks, using the bricks to make cities.

The Bitter Slavery and the Promise of "In the Fourth Generation…"

And so a life of slavery, they were enslaved, the Jews were enslaved in Egypt, enslaved the ambitions of Pharaoh but also the bitter policy to try to keep the population under control. But it didn't work. The more they oppressed the Jews, the more they multiplied. And so they had to go to level two. And so, Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew midwives, that they should kill the boy babies as soon as they're born. This is a wicked, evil, tyrannical policy of murder. Nothing short of murder. But the Hebrew midwives feared God. And they would not do it. Gave an excuse to Pharaoh and they would not kill these boy baby. So they went to level three, and the command went out to all of the nation, the Egyptians, that if they saw any Israelite boy baby, they should throw him in the Nile River. And it was into this context that Moses was born.

Now, before we move on from the intervening period, the hundreds of years, keep in mind that that remnant chosen by grace were sinners too. And they had a bitter difficult life of slavery. Their father was a slave, their son would be a slave they would live their whole life, one of those middle generations, their whole lives in slavery in Egypt, with no exodus, whole life. How then, could they die as slaves and go to heaven despite their sin? The same way as you and I. Justification by faith and faith comes from hearing the promises of God, the Word of God. And so the word was passed down from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the patriarchal leaders, of the promises that God had made to Abraham, specifically this one in particular, Genesis 15, in which God had said these words. "Know for certain, your descendants will be strangers in a country, not their own, where they will be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years, but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward they'll come out with great possessions. You however, will go to your fathers in an old age." And so those intervening years there were Jews that all they had, as their lives were made bitter with brick, all they had were those words, and the remnant believed them. And they lived their whole lives in slavery and they died in slavery and they went to heaven, because they believed the promise of God.

But along with that came a sense of God raising up a deliverer, that God would raise up someone to lead them out of bondage. And into that Moses was born. Who were Moses' parents? Well, we have names given in Exodus 6, a mini genealogy. Levi was one of the 12 patriarchal leaders of Israel. Levi had a son named Kohath. Kohath a son named Amram. Amram was Moses' father. Thus you have fulfilled the words, "in the fourth generation your descendants will come back here." God spoke those words to Abraham. "In the fourth generation." And so it was fulfilled in Moses' genealogy. Amram married his father's sister, Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses, and we also know Miriam as well. Amram lived 137 years, Exodus 6:20. So they were living a life of slavery in Egypt.

Defying the King in Faith

Now, Aaron was three years older than Moses, Miriam older too. But focusing on Aaron, apparently there was no threat to Aaron's life, nothing's ever mentioned. He didn't have to be hidden for three months. So it seems that this edict from the king, this wicked tyrannical edict, was new in between when Aaron was born and Moses was born. And so Moses was born under the time of this edict, all the boy babies to be thrown in the Nile. And so by faith Moses' parents hid Moses for three months after he was born. By faith they defied the king. Now, scripture does not uphold anarchy, not at all. Scripture upholds God-ordained authority. And we are told in many places that we must submit ourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority, institute among men. We know that. There is no authority that exists except that which is established by God, Romans 13.

So we must submit. And people who defy that authority are defying God. Well, we know that that's true generally. However, there are clear examples, again and again in scripture, when godly people must defy a lawfully ordained authority, because the command itself is wicked and contrary to God's will. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not bow down and worship Nebuchadnezzar's statue, and they were right to defy. In general, they were obedient, but they had to disobey that. We have obviously the example of the apostles with the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin commanded the apostles "not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus." Yes, but Jesus earlier had said, " Therefore go and make disciples of all nations." And so they said very plainly and very rightly, "We must obey God rather than men."

And so Moses' parents defied the edict of the king, and they hid their baby for three months. Now, think of how difficult that must have been. How do you hide a pregnancy? You do you hide the time has come? Whatever happened to the baby, Jochebed? I mean, what did they do, what did they say, how did they hide the baby, how did they hide that it was a boy? How did they hide it from the neighbors who would have acted in sinful self-interest? Well, the scripture says right here, they did it by faith. They did it by faith, and by faith they took means to hide him. We must understand that faith is not contrary to taking means. There's certain things we do to fulfill God's plans.

Plain example of this, of course, is Joseph and Mary with the birth of Jesus. And the edict went out, the wicked edict, to kill all the boy babies in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the wicked command of the king. And Joseph took Mary and the baby Jesus in the middle of the night and ran for their lives. Now, if there's any baby that's ever going to be protected by the sovereign power of God, it's Jesus. But faith and means work together. And God used Joseph and the dream that he warned him with and him getting up in the middle of the night and running for their lives. He used that to protect Jesus. And so also He uses these means that Moses' parents used to hide him. And notice also that their faith conquered their carnal fear, they were not afraid of the king's edict. They were not thinking what might happen to them.

Their desire to serve God concerning this boy baby, concerning this little baby, was greater than their fear. And so they conquered their fear. I think, as I was reading this story and meditating it, thinking about Corrie ten Boom and her family in the great story hiding place during World War II, and occupied Holland as they hid Jews in a secret place in their house, and you've probably seen the movie. And the amount of terror that would go through their minds as the secret police, the German secret police, were searching house-to-house. By faith, they did what God called them to do. It was by faith, by trusting in God that they were not afraid of the king's edict. Isn't it beautiful how faith can overcome our fear, how God can command you to do something, even very difficult and you're afraid and fear rises inside you, and by faith, you can conquer it and do what God wills you to do.

Stories abound in church history of this, I think of Raymond Lull, a 13th century missionary to the Muslims, during the time of the crusades. When most of Christendom just wanted to kill the Muslims, this man wanted to reach them for Christ. And so he got all of his possessions and went down to Genoa, Italy. All of his family and friends there to wave him goodbye as he was sailing to Tunis to go die for Jesus at the hands of the Muslims. And as he was on that ship he became overcome with fear, and disembarked, and got all his stuff and got off. One of the low moments of church history. I love how church history tells the truth. Isn't it great? These heroes, heroes of the faith. And so we move on from Raymond Lull. No, no, no, that would be terrible. Is that the end of Raymond Lull's story? No. He was on the next ship to Tunis. He got all of his stuff. By faith, he overcame his fear. He went on the ship and he sailed down there and he didn't die, not for many, many years, but he witnessed again and again and again. A trailblazer, true trailblazer in ministry to the Muslims.

I think about brother Andrew, who was part of the Dutch resistance, and then after World War II ended, a man of tremendous faith, whose ministry was to smuggle Bibles behind the Iron Curtain. One of the first times he did it, he was in line in a checkpoint in a car, to go into Romania. And his car was filled with Bibles. And every car ahead of him, they were stopping in for 45-50 minutes, they were taking hubcaps off, they were taking seats out of the car. And he's looking, and his fear is rising. "The car is filled with Bibles, what am I going to do?" Five cars ahead, four cars ahead, three cars ahead, two cars ahead, every one of them searched, scoured for contraband. Finally, he had covered over the Bibles with a coat, he was like, "What is the point?" So he took the coat off, stacked them up next to him in the car, and he prayed. There's no hiding these Bibles, not by carnal means will this happen, but he trusted God. And so he's about to get out as all the other passengers and drivers have been commanded to get out, and the guard wouldn't let him get out. Without looking at him he said, "Go on your way." He's like, "Yes sir." And he just starts to accelerate slowly, expecting at any minute to be commanded to stop, looks in the rearview mirror, and they're just working on the next car. And they're taking the seats out of the next car, they're taking the hubcaps off the next car, but not his. It's an awesome story, and by faith, he overcame his fear and did what God called him to do. What's God calling you to do? Our church is deficient in evangelism, friends. I'm not trying to say it to hurt you, we just need to be bolder, we need to be courageous, we need to take steps of faith, do something bold this week, trust God to do what He commanded you to do, share the Gospel with someone this week, invite them to church, be courageous, write your own brother Andrew or Raymond Lull’s story, or Moses' parents story. They conquered their fear.

"No Ordinary Child"

And one more thing the text says, "Because they saw that he was no ordinary child." Now, this is a bit mysterious. Now, you could say, "Well, of course they did, everyone loves their own little baby." isn't he sweet? Isn't he beautiful? Don't you think he's the most beautiful baby you've ever seen in your life? Now, I don't know about you, I don't know how you are, if we could get all of the infant pictures that have been in our church in the last 10 years and spread them out, how many of you would be able to identify which one is which?

I bet you, some of the ladies could though. I bet you, that's so and so, that's so and so. I couldn't do it, but that's not what's going on here. It's a matter of fact, the language is somewhat unusual. There was a sense of nobility, is the Greek word, or a sense of something that has marked Moses apart as a unique baby. There's a mark that strengthens their faith, or in some way, connects with their faith, where I think perhaps, in Calvin, and other commentators think, that perhaps there was some visible sign that he was to be the deliverer who would lead the people out of Egypt. Like Stephen's face in Acts 6:15, "They saw that his face was like the face of an angel." What does that mean? I don't know. Later in Moses' life, his face was radiant when he was in the presence of God, I don't know. All of it just conjecture, but they saw something unusual in this baby, and they risked their lives for him. And by faith then, Moses was allowed to grow up, and then lead the people through the Red Sea into the promised land, and the story eventually ends at the cross and the empty tomb, and our salvation. And so by faith, that's what happened.

By faith also, Moses refused Egypt's alluring sins. By faith, Moses when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.

So here we focus on Moses' faith. When he had grown up, we know the story, that after he was hidden, his parents couldn't hide Moses any longer, he was put in a basket covered with pitch, and was set free in the reeds, and he was discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, and she wanted to raise him, she knew he was one of the Hebrew children. Miriam following at a distance, connects the baby back through her own mother, "Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?" "Yes, go." And so she gets her boy back. Meanwhile, Pharaoh's daughter sets her affection on him, and Moses in that way, gets I think a double education, Jochebed and Amram, perhaps, training Moses up in the promises of God, in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his heritage. And meanwhile, as Stephen tells us, "Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action." That's what Moses was according to Stephen. He was trained and brought up, and he had all of these privileges and all of these advantages, as in effect, an adopted son of Pharaoh. But at the right time, when the time came, God forced him to make a choice.

Exodus 2:11 and 12, tells the story, "One day when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people, and looked on their burdens and saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people." You see how twice in that account, he calls them his people. I think that's pointing back to Moses, his own mind, Moses wrote those words. And his solidarity with his own people was already established by then, I think that's why he went out to look on their sufferings. And so he had already made his choice, and his choice was a conscious one, there is a willfulness to this, he refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated. It's a conscious choice.

Now, what is at the root of the will? What makes us choose? Is it not the embracing of pleasure and the turning away from pain, isn't that what it? Isn't that what the will is designed to do? To choose what pleases you, and to turn away from what displeases you. Is that not what God is calling on each one of us to do? And that's what the will is. And yet, here he did exactly the opposite of what we would think. Here's a life of pleasure, a life of ease, a life of comfort in Pharaoh's household, and he turns his back on it and chooses instead, a life of suffering and pain. How do you do that? Well, the Scripture says, "By faith," what does that mean? Well, by faith, God shows you something greater, an infinitely greater pleasure and an infinitely greater pain. And based on the eternity that's in front of you, you make a choice to turn away from earthly pleasure and embrace earthly pain, because they're just temporary.

And so it says, "He chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting or temporary pleasures of sin." Do you struggle with that? Is that not where you are? Is that not where you live? The fleeting pleasures of sin, the world with its enticements, all the time, alluring us toward our carnal appetites. And this text is telling you how to defeat it. This text is telling you, by faith, God give me a vision of the world to come, give me a vision and the glory of the heavenly world to come, help me yearn for Jesus at that key moment of temptation. Oh, God, help me yearn to please him, and to see beyond it, and to make choices that are difficult for me to make, so I can glorify you in the end. Oh, this world is so temporary, it's so brief.

And what are the fleeting pleasures of sin that he faced? What was it? I don't know. Lounging on cushions and eating grapes, I guess. Less more than that. When you're willing to compromise and enslave people so you can be at ease, when you're willing to do that, you're willing to do anything. And so the morality gets corrupt, and you get bored with a few grapes, so you start looking to other sensual pleasures and it starts to get more and more corrupt, and more and more wicked and gross. And Moses said, "Probably, already seen that." And he could not go out and look on his own people getting beaten, and go back and lay on a velvet cushion and eat some more grapes. They would have been like poison in his mouth. Why? Because God showed him what was really going on. Those grapes were spiritual poison, he couldn't eat them anymore. He couldn't go for a life of ease and comfort and luxury in Egypt, he had to turn his back on it.

Now, carnal wisdom comes in here, the voice of carnal wisdom, "Oh, you want to help your people, don't leave, don't turn your back on it. Stay a son of Pharaoh, and just like Joseph, remember how he used his position to rescue the people from the famine, just stay as of one of Pharaoh's counselors. Live the life, but speak as an advocate for your people." That's what carnal wisdom would say, how smooth is that speech? How alluring, how enticing? God said, "No. From the outside you will come, and you will point a finger at Pharaoh and you will say as an outsider, Let my people go." Not as one of his adopted sons who's really been complicit in all of the tyranny, all those many years, you will become corrupted by it. There's a vast difference between what was going on in Joseph's day with the famine and what was going on in Moses' day with the tyranny and the persecution, he would have been defiled by it, there'd be no way, he had to turn his back.

And so he turned his back on carnal reason, he made a choice because of the infinite greater pleasure and fear of the infinite greater pain. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.

Two Satanic Traps: Allurements and Persecution

And do you not see the satanic two-step here? The allurements of the pleasures, and if you won't do that, then they will crush you. That's what the world does. If it can't entice you away from Christ it will try to persecute you away from Christ. It's what happened to Jesus, isn't it? Jesus was led by the devil, out in the desert, led by the devil up to a very high mountain and Satan showed Him in an instant, all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, all their glory, "All of this I will give you," he said, "If you'll just bow down and worship me." Three years later, one of those empires, the Roman Empire put Jesus to death, crucified Him. So you can have Rome as a little play thing, and enjoy its pleasures or Rome will kill you. And so it was actually after Pentecost, in an early church history, Rome frequently try to entice Christian Roman noble men and women with higher positions of power, higher influences, etcetera, if they would just forsake Christ, but they wouldn't do it, and so then it would kill them.

And so the world is trying to entice us away from Christ, or crush us away from Christ. And Moses would have neither, and neither would his parents. Next week, we're going to talk about, by faith Moses looking ahead to Christ, and by faith Moses looking ahead to his reward.

What application can we take from these verses? First, I already gave it to you at the beginning, look to Christ, don't look to yourself, don't look to Moses or his parents, don't even look to faith, look to Christ, and as you do it, by faith you're doing that. See Him, see Him on the cross, having shed his blood for you. See Him say, "It is finished." He died for you, for your sins. See Him raise from the dead on the third day, in a glorious resurrection body. Hear His promise, that, "Because I live, you also will live." Find in that finished work of Jesus, everything you need.

And then say, "God give me an ever expanding faith. I want to see all those things, and heaven and hell, and Judgement Day, and all of the realities as you see them. Give me a clearer and clearer vision of it. God when I'm brought to the fork in the road, and I have to decide whether to go with sinful pleasure or faith-filled suffering, God give me grace, give me faith to make the correct choice. The sinful luster waging war against my soul. Help me to stand firm in this time, O Lord." Ask for the faith of Moses' parents, ask for the faith of Moses. Turn your back on Egypt at that moment.

After the service is over, we're going to have a luncheon. Those of you that are RSVP we'll have to have you. If you couldn't make it to the luncheon, still be praying about our adoption ministry. I think one of the key verses on adoption is in James Chapter 1, the religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, "to look after orphans and widows in their distress…" That's not all the verse says. It's not all the verse says. "And to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." In order to obey that command, you must have the faith of Moses who turned his back on Egypt. And it's not "or," it's like, "Do the orphans or do the freedom from solution." No, it's not enough, though we take in a hundred orphans if we are corrupted by sinful lust, it's not religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless. And neither is it enough to just fight the battle of sanctification and care nothing for those that are poor and needy in the world. It's an "and" brothers and sisters. But that's a key moment, isn't it? When your flesh is being assaulted by temptation, say "God increase my faith, give me the eyesight of faith, that I may stand firm in this day of testing for your glory." Close with me in prayer.

Two weeks ago we we're talking about that mysterious time of the blessing of Isaac, of his two sons, Jacob and Esau. And, we probed the depths, some of the depths of that passage. But you know that after Jacob swindled his brother Esau, and fooled their father, lied to him to get the patriarchal blessing, Esau was angry enough with Jacob to kill him and so Isaac and Rebecca sent Jacob on his way back to where Abraham had come from so that he could find a wife for himself and get away from his angry brother Esau and so he left. And as he was traveling, he came to a certain place called Los and because the sun had set, he lay down in that place, and he took a rock and used it as a pillow which I always thought was just amazing about this man.

What kind of a hard-headed individual is it, that can sleep with a rock as his pillow? But that's the way it was with Jacob. In many ways a stubborn, hard-hearted individual, but still a man of faith. And God filled his mind, with light and glory that night, as he lay on that stone, as he slept in that place. He had a vision of a staircase or a ladder reaching from Earth, all the way to Heaven, or really from Heaven to Earth and angels ascending and descending on it, and the Lord above it and the Lord spoke Abraham's promise to him again. "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. O am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." An awesome dream of Almighty God, speaking directly to him.

When he awakened, he said something I want you to consider, Genesis 28:16, he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place. And I was not aware of it." And that one verse, Genesis 28:16 has been pressing on my mind ever since I thought about it recently, actually, two or more weeks ago.

"Surely the Lord is in this place. And I was not aware of it." Faith is the eyesight of the soul by which we are aware of it, aware that God is in this place, and we have a superior understanding even to what Jacob had at that moment. Jacob became afraid and said "How awesome is this place! This is non other than the house of God this is the gate of heaven." and he set up a pillar and he poured out oil on the pillar and he called the place Bethel, the house of God.

But we have learned through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that God is everywhere as He said to the Samaritan woman, "Believe Me, woman, a tune us coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…God is Spirit. And those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth." Every place is holy ground. When we see God at work by faith, He is everywhere, God is in this place.

And you may not have been aware of it but He is here. "Where can I go from His spirit and where can I flee from His presence? If I ascend up to the Heavens, you are there. If I go down to the depths, you are there." God is here.

What an awesome experience that was for Jacob to have a vision of God and by faith, he believed it but it's amazing how our author in Hebrews 11, when coming to Jacob doesn't choose that experience. By faith, Jacob saw the significance of his dream and realized that God was making the same promise to him as He had made to Abraham and Isaac. He doesn't talk about that. He doesn't say “by faith, Jacob wrestled with the angel, and overcome the angel and receive the blessings of life and protection." He doesn't talk about that. He doesn't talk about any of the triumphs of Jacob's faith. How by faith, he left the Promised Land under direct command from God saying, "I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes." It was by faith he believed that and left the Promised Land and went to Egypt, he did all of those things and many others by faith. But instead, the author takes us right to the end of Jacob's life, to his death bed, to the blessing of Joseph's sons, by faith into his worship of Almighty God by faith to the very end.

And then in the next verse, when he brings us to the case of Joseph, there are so many things that the author could have chosen concerning Joseph's life of faith is faith-filled prosperity as manager of Potiphar's house after his brothers had sold him as a slave.

He responded by trusting God and God blessed him in everything he did as manager of Potiphar's house, and his faith-filled commitment to sexual purity. When Potiphar's wife assaulted him day after day and said, "Come to bed with me," and he refused saying, "How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" It was by faith he refused her, and by faith, he maintained a positive demeanor when he was unjustly imprisoned for that, and by faith he interpreted the butler and the baker's dreams accurately and by faith he maintained again, a positive disposition when the butler forgot him, for two more years, and left him in that prison. His faith-filled patience rewarded when finally the butler remembered, and when Pharaoh had the twin dreams of seven and seven foretelling the coming prosperity: Seven years of prosperity and seven years of famine that would come on Egypt and God called on Joseph to come and stand before Pharaoh and interpret the dreams and by faith, he did so giving all the glory and credit to God, interpretations belong to God.

He didn't take any credit for himself and he got it right, he understood that the two dreams were the same thing and that the doubling of the dream meant that this thing was certain and fixed and eminent and there would be seven years of prosperity and there would be seven years of famine.

And by faith, he made the recommendation of pharaoh, of a wise and a discerning man, who could manage the harvest during the seven years of prosperity and I think it was by faith he was then made second-in-charge, and needs of just under Pharaoh. By faith these awesome things happen in Joseph's life, faith-filled wisdom and dealing with the years of plenty. And faith-filled, and dealing with the years of famine, and then when his brothers came dealing with them and in a very astute and wise way, and to me the pinnacle of all of it is, after Jacob had died and Joseph's brothers came to him, trembling with fear and sure that now that their father was dead, he was going to get his revenge on them for selling him into slavery, really wanting to kill him.

And making one of the greatest utterances in the Old Testament. Genesis 50:20, "You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good," and seeing the providence of God, in the midst of tremendous suffering and rejection and hurt, pain on his part to see God's hand in all of it, and say, "God is at work in this, and I praise Him for it." The sweetness of his demeanor, the author passed over all of that, he didn't choose any of those things. You might say, "You shouldn't have chosen them either," let's trust the author to Hebrews, but I just think it's a great life, an incredible life of faith-filled achievements that Joseph lived. But now, instead we go in verse 22, "By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. And gave instructions about his bones."

And in this way we have repeated this theme that I've already highlighted for you that the author to Hebrews, in Hebrews 11 is bringing us to the end of our own lives. He's bringing you there. He's taking you in your own mind's eye, in your own imagination to go ahead to the time when He will take you out of this world. So that you are ready.

Abraham faced his son Isaac's death on Mount Moriah, and figuratively speaking, he received Isaac back from the dead. Isaac thinking his end was near, blessed his two sons, spoke about their future. We are brought to the end of Jacob's life, to his death bed, we're brought to the end of Joseph's life, to his death bed. We are being made to face death and we've already been told why in verse 13 and following, the author told us all of these people were still living by faith when they died, they did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on Earth. And so are we. So are we.

And the things of this life are temporary both the successes and the failures, the pains and the pleasures are temporary, our life is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. All flesh is like grass and all of our glory is like the flower of the field, the grass withers, and the flowers fall when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are like grass, the grass withers, and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever and this is the Word that was preached to us. These are the promises that we have and we have the same promises in front of us. That through faith in Jesus, our sins will be forgiven, through faith in Jesus, our bodies will be resurrected up out of the grave, by faith in Jesus, we will inherit the new Heavens and the new Earth, it's the same promise and we will be brought to the end of our lives not having received those promises in full.

We will see them and welcome them from a distance. We have the foretaste now, through the Spirit, but we will get the inheritance when we are taken from this life and the author wants us to live accordingly. He wants us to live as aliens and strangers in this world and be willing to surrender our possessions and goods if they're confiscated, joyfully knowing we have treasure in Heaven. To be willing to live that kind of a life, for His glory, to be ready to die well, so that we can live well for His glory. That's what the author is doing.

And so, we are brought to Jacob's death bed in verse 21, "By faith, Jacob when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff." Jacob is a fascinating study very much like Peter, interesting individuals that God wrestled with and worked with through years and years, shaping them and training them. When God brought Jacob into Egypt, to be reunited with his supposedly dead son Joseph, who wasn't dead at all. But on the plans of God. He then was reunited and then Joseph brought Jacob into Pharaoh's presence.

In Genesis 47:9, Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are 130. My years have been few and difficult and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers." Years are few. 130 years are few. Think about that. What is your life? It's a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Ecclesiastes said, "He has set eternity in the hearts of men," we were made for eternity, we were made to live with God forever, and through Jesus, we shall but he says, "My years have been few and difficult." I've had a difficult pilgrimage.

Jacob’s Faith: A Firm Rock, or a Smoldering Wick?

Well, what is the nature of Jacob's faith? It was like a smoldering wick. Richard Sibbes had a great sermon on the bruised reed and the smoldering wax. And saying, "God has the power to deal with frail, weak sinful people, and not snuff out their spark of faith," because he gave that spark to Jacob, and He nourished it as it sputtered and as it flickered and it never went out."

AW Pink said, "A life of faith is not like the shining of the sun on a calm, clear day, it's rays meeting with no resistance from the atmosphere, rather it is more like the sun rising on a foggy morning. It's rays struggling to peer through and dispel the opposing mists." Well, what caused those mists in Jacob's life, and mine it's primarily caused by the flesh, so you have always this rhythm by faith by flesh, by faith by flesh, it's over and over. This is the rhythm of my life and yours.

So look at Jacob, by faith, valuing the birthright and by flesh swindling it from Esau for the bowl of stew. By faith, valuing the patriarchal promise of his father Isaac, and by flesh lying to Isaac, and swindling Esau again. By faith, valuing that awesome dream at Bethel and then, remarkably, the next day, getting up and making a camel trader like bargain with God. You just need to read about it in Genesis 28, "Alright God, this is how it's going to be, if you'll do this and if you'll do that, and if you'll do the other then you can be My God."

We're going over this in staff meeting. I said if you look at the promises that God made him at the top of that stairway with the angels ascending and descending, they're pretty much comprehensive. Cover everything. It's all there. And still in the flesh, Jacob thought he had to bargain with God, that's what he was like. That's the kind of man he was, a manipulator, a con artist, a trader, and so he's trading with God. "If, God, You'll do this, then You can be My God." How could he forget who he was talking with? God doesn't make those kinds of bargains.

By faith, trusting in God to return to the Promised Land, from Padan-Aram, after he had been enriched with wives, children, camels and sheep and goats and all kinds of things and the time came to go back, and by flesh escaping from Laban like he was stealing from him, going in the middle of the night. Now, Laban was another guy, a whole other story, he was a con artist, and a swindler too. By faith and by flesh you see that rhythm. By his flesh terrified of his brother Esau coming with 400 of his closest friends to welcome him back. I think I would have been afraid too. Why do you need 400 men to welcome me back? I think it was pretty obvious, but then by faith wrestling with the angel, and overcoming and receiving from him a blessing.

He who struggled with God, Israel. By faith, living in a tent in the Promised Land, but, by flesh always seeking to improve his earthly lot and to manipulate and to swindle, and to try to make things better for him on Earth.

Jacob’s Faith Triumphed Most at the End

But at the end of his life, do you not see how Jacob's faith triumphed. His best displays of faith happened at the end of his life, in that meeting with Pharaoh, if you just read it and just look at it. His faith and his stance as a patriarch of God, filled with the years of his pilgrimage and all that makes Pharaoh the most powerful man on earth seem to shrink into insignificance. Jacob a great man of God, filled with faith and blessing Pharaoh.

And without a doubt, the lesser is blessed by the greater. And so just what an incredible man he was at that point. And then this account, that the author brings us to, the account of the blessing of Joseph's sons. Now, biblically, in that time, the position of the first-born son was a position of pre-eminence. We have in Colossians, Jesus is the first-born from the dead and so he has in everything, the pre-eminence. So the idea of being a first-born son was the pre-eminent role in the family. Now, if you look at it to some degree I think Jacob believed that belonged to Joseph. He believed that the rights of the first-born should have been Joseph's because Laban swindled him on his wedding night.

You remember how he loved Rachel, served seven years for Rachel? The time of the seven years was done, they seemed like nothing to him, because it was love for Rachel. The time came he wanted to get married, consummate his marriage and all that, and the next morning, behold it was Leah, and in his mind I don't think he ever really recovered in that regard. The first-born son of Rachel was Joseph and it's pretty clear that he favored Joseph and gave him the coat of many colors and all that because he was intending that he would be first-born of his family and give him the rights of first-born, and then one of Joseph's own sons would take the next role, first-born. So the time came for him to deal with his sons, Joseph's sons and so, in Genesis 48:5, Jacob said this to Joseph, "Now then your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine, Ephraim and Manasseh will be reckoned as mine just as Reuben and Simeon are mine."

So now the time has come for the patriarchal blessing, and he wants to give the blessing to Manasseh and Ephraim. And so Joseph brings his sons Manasseh and Ephraim to Jacob's bed and brings them close and Jacob looks at them and crosses his hands so that he can put his right hand on Ephraim's head and his left hand on Manasseh's head reversing the birth order because Manasseh was the older, the first-born son biologically.

And Ephraim second, but he put his right hand, the position of privilege, on the head of Ephraim. At that moment Jacob's faith was keen and strong. There's nothing feeble about him, he knew what he was doing, he wasn't deceived in any way. He speaks with words of gratitude, and Faith concerning God and the way he had been dealing with him all his life. The God who has been my shepherd, all my life to this day, the angel who has delivered me from all harm, he's speaking of God, His faith is strong. And so he reverses the order and Joseph becomes very displeased with his father at this moment, and he grabs hold of Jacob's hands and tries to reverse the position, so he puts his right hand on Manasseh's head and his left hand on Ephraim's head. He says, "No my father, this one, this one is the firstborn." This is a moment of test for Jacob's faith.

I find it fascinating how both Isaac and Jacob had to overcome the objections of their dearly beloved sons in order to give the patriarchal, blessing, the way God intended. Isaac loved Esau. And Esau pleaded and begged with him to reverse and give him the patriarchal blessing, but he would not. And so, he frustrated and angered his firstborn son, the son that he loved. And so also, Jacob does the same thing with Joseph, and that took a lot of guts when you think about who Joseph was, Joseph was the second most powerful man on the face of the earth, A man I think by that time, accustomed to getting his way. Without His word, not a hand was lifted in Egypt, he couldn't lift those hands. And those hands, the hands of his fathers were placed exactly where Jacob wanted them, and so he became angry. "When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to him, 'No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.' 19 But his father refused and said, 'I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.' 20 He blessed them that day and said, 'In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'' So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh."

This is the blessing that He gave to them. May the God of Abraham, the God who has been my shepherd, the angel who has guided me all the days of my life. May He bless these boys, but may He bless Ephraim first. It was by faith that all of this happened. What are the odds that these two princes of Egypt were going to be fulfilling the prophecies concerning the promised land and all of the spiritual blessings that God intended for them? What are the odds that they would each become a separate tribe? What are the odds that the younger would far outstrip the older in blessings? But all of it happened just as Jacob had foretold.

Jacob Spoke of the Promised Land

And at that point also Joseph, Jacob spoke plainly about the promised land, then Israel said to Joseph. "I'm about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to the land of your fathers, and to you as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow, my bow." And so he is giving to Joseph as the firstborn a part of the promised land as a symbol of his faith in the promises of God. All of these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, but they saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

The Final Acts of Jacob’s Faith: Demand About Burial and Worship

Now the final acts of Jacob's faith demand about burial and worship in Genesis 49:29 and following, he says, I'm about to be gathered to my people bury me with my father's in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite along with the field. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried. There Isaac and his wife Rebecca were buried and there I buried Leah, the field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.

So he's thinking ahead, he's thinking about his own burial he's thinking about the Promised Land to connect himself with the promises as yet, unfilled that were made to Abraham and to Isaac to show off that Canaan was a type and a symbol of the better country the heavenly one that's yet to come. And so, he gave instructions and at that point, he summoned up his strength one more time and got into a physical position of worship and he worshipped it says as he leaned on top of his staff, and so there he is one last time worshipping. Now, I find this beautiful. Hebrews 11:21 is the final mention of Jacob in the Bible, he's never mentioned again after this, he's mentioned 363 times in the Bible. The final one is this Jacob worshipped. Isn't that awesome. Through all of the twists and turns by flesh by faith, by flesh by faith, in the end, God made him an eternal worshipper, and that's where he is now in the presence of almighty God, worshipping Him.

And so from the example of Jacob in Hebrews 11:21, we learned that faith can overcome a lifetime of struggles and shine most radiantly at the end. And so it is also with Joseph. "By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones." Now, here we see in Joseph's heart shining the blessings of the promise. He had everything a man could want. He was the most powerful man in the world, other than Pharaoh himself He had unlimited power, he had unlimited wealth, he probably had a life of ease and luxury and comfort and yet these things meant almost nothing to him. He wanted to bring Manasseh and Ephraim to Jacob so that he would be blessed, they would be blessed and receive the spiritual blessings and promises. He cared about spiritual wealth, spiritual prosperity, spiritual protection.

Now, material wealth becomes as God wills. It's consistently spoken of as both a blessing and a danger. In the parable of the seed in the soils, it says, concerning one of the seeds, the seed fell on... In thorny soil. It's those that hear the word but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things, come in and choke the Word making it unfruitful. And so there is a definite danger to wealth and power as Joseph experienced and as Joseph received in Egypt. Again, 1 Timothy 6: 9-10 says, "People who want to get rich fall into a temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. And some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith, and pierced themselves with many griefs." and so, there's definite warning about power and possessions in scripture.

There's also advice given to Rich believers. Psalm 62:10, says, "Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them." And then again in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth which is so uncertain but to put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds. To be generous and willing to share, and in this way, they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." So the life of material prosperity and power is not really life, the life that is truly life is a life of spiritual blessings.

So Joseph's mind, I think, at this point is on the future, the distant future, based on a promise given, in the distant past, What am I referring to? It's an astonishing promise given to Abraham in Genesis 15. In Genesis 15, God tells Abraham. I will give you this land, and he said, "How can I know that I will inherit it?" And so he then goes through this, an awesome covenant cutting ceremony, when there are these animals that are cut and a path made in a smoking fire pot appears and Abraham has a deep sleep put upon Him and then God speaks out of the darkness And says, "Know for certain your descendants will be strangers in a country, not their own where they will be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years, but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward they'll come out with great possessions. You, however, [speaking to Abraham] will go to your father's in peace, and you will be buried in a good old age. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."

Now, Joseph is on his death bed. You move ahead, about 200 years in redemptive history, from when those words were spoken. Abraham was Joseph great-grandfather. And yet, those words, I believe had been passed on by word of mouth, from generation to generation, to generation, Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, Jacob to Joseph. Mysterious words, will be strangers in a country not our own, could that country be Egypt. Enslaved and mistreated for 400 years. Could it be after I die, that that will begin? And God will come to your aid he said, and he saw by faith, the truth of what God was doing and He looked ahead by faith. Not just to the enslavement but to the Exodus and the fact that God would bring them out of Egypt. And he said... And when God comes to your aid, and when he brings you out of Egypt, take my bones with you and bury me in the Promised Land.

Joseph’s faith encompassed an unlikely future and he believed it. Again, look at the odds against fulfillment. At that point, the Jews were well liked, well thought of. Joseph, well esteemed. The future looked bright in Egypt. Let's just stay in Egypt. Things are going well. Joseph, saw through all that, as the facade it was. And he spoke very, very powerfully about the future to his brothers. Joseph said to his brothers, I'm about to die, But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land, to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and say, "God will surely come to your aid, and you must carry my bones up from this place." Note the confidence, God will surely come to your aid. He will keep his promise and He will bring you out of this place.

And so, therefore, his faith is in the future dwelling place of God, and in the bodily resurrection. You may ask why the bones, why do we care about where the bones are? It was a symbol, I believe, of his faith in the resurrection of the body, that God would raise him from the dead, and that he would live forever in the Promised Land. All you have to do is just look at the words, I will give this land to you and to your descendants forever. He said it to Abraham, he said it to Isaac. The only way it could be fulfilled is if God raises them from the dead. So please bring my bones there, just so it's not so long a walk. I don't know.

It's not some strange taboo thing or some kind of mystical superstitious thing, it's just a testimony, a symbolic testimony to belief in the resurrection from the dead, that's all it was. And they obeyed Exodus 13:19. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath and God had said God will surely come to your aid, and then, you must carry my bones up with you from this place and they did. And so from Joseph's faith while dying is recorded in Hebrews 11:22, we can see how far into the future the eyes of faith, can see and how triumphant faith can be over the imminent circumstances, the immediate circumstances to what God is actually doing in the world.

What applications first and foremost, come to Christ trust in Him, that is the promise. All other promises are lesser promises. You have no hope in death, if you haven't trusted in Christ, you should fear death, infinitely more than you do if you're not in Christ today.

Do you know how to be saved? Do you know what you need to do? God sent his son, his only son, born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life, He died in our place, on the cross. We have sung multiple songs about it today. All you have to do is look to Jesus by faith and your sins will be forgiven and you will receive the promise of eternal life and of resurrection from the dead. Set your hope fully on that promise, in the glory to be given you when Jesus returns. If you are a believer. Can I urge you to look ahead and think often about your own death? Think about it, be ready for it. Sometimes it just comes right in the middle of life; it won't be a death bed. Just death. Live with no regrets. Whatever God's leading you to do, do it now.

And if I can just say with Joseph Look ahead to what's yet to come in redemptive history and act accordingly. We are not Jews living in Egypt looking ahead to the Exodus and to the entrance to the promised land, we're not there. We're further ahead now. So, what is yet to come on the time table from here to the end of the world? Well, this Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come. That's still yet to come. That's going on now. Are you involved in that? Are you and your children involved in that? Are you getting yourself ready for that? That's what God's doing from here to, on. That's the work he's doing And what's coming beyond that, I believe a time of terrible tribulation and testing under the reign of the Antichrist. I preached three sermons on the abomination of desolation. I think that the man of sin is going to come and set himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be god, and we the elect know it's coming, and we will not worship Him and we will not bow the knee or receive the mark on the forehead or on the hand we will not do it, we will resist even if it costs us our lives. Are you preparing your children and grandchildren for that? It might be their lives, that it comes. Read them 2nd Thessalonians, read them. Daniel Chapter 11... Daniel Chapter 9, read them Matthew 24, get them ready for what's really coming.

Terrible times in the last days, people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, get them ready for those days. Second coming of Christ, when He comes with the armies of heaven, and we are caught up and meet the Lord in the air. And the Lord returns and reigns forever, and ever, and judgment day is coming when the secrets of every heart will be exposed and laid bare. And the outcome will be heaven and hell, that's what's yet to come. Get them ready. Get yourself ready. Be like Joseph trust in God for what He's promised is going to happen and prepare yourself and train yourself based on that.

We come now to time and the celebration of the Lord's supper. I want to go back to the very beginning of my sermon. Genesis 28:16, "Surely God is in this place, and I was not aware of it." If God is in the center of the Lord's Supper, by your faith in the Word of God, it will be powerfully meaningful For you. If you're not aware of it, it will be like a dry ritual. So as we prepare for the Lord's supper, I urge you to pray, let the Lord search your heart. If you're not in Christ, if you have never testified to faith in Christ, by water baptism, if you know that you're not a Christian, don't partake. Instead hear the Gospel that was preached you and repent and believe it now.

If you are a believer, but the Holy Spirit is convicting you concerning sin in your life, then examine yourself and repent and confess? And partake. This is for sinners, the symbol of Jesus' blood shed for sinners like you and me, partake. Please join with me in prayer.

There has been a change of plans. God changed my plan this morning. There is no way I can preach on three patriarchs in one sermon. It can't be done. And so there I am humbled in front of you to have planned to do so and I will not do so. I'm doing that, just telling you that for your own good, so you don't freak out at noon when I'm still just halfway through Isaac, and you wonder, how long are we going to be here today? We haven't even touched on Jacob, yet, and then there's Joseph to come after that. So we're only going to focus on one verse, verse 20, and we're going to find in that one verse all the challenge we need, frankly. It's amazing how quickly we can read scripture and just go right over a verse like Hebrews 11:20 and not see anything in it. We're just in the middle of the faith chapter, we're in this rhythm of by faith, by faith, by faith. And we're expecting more good stories of faith, and the heroes of the men and women of old and all the great things that they did. And so, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future, just kind of flies right by and it's like, "Oh, isn't that wonderful?" But God arrested me with this verse, slowed me down, stopped me and said, "There's more here than you think there is." And the more that you look at it, the more mystery and the more challenge and the more trouble comes out of it.

So frankly, in order to get the full benefit you really should look at Genesis 27. You can keep your finger in Hebrews 11, but I'm not going to be doing a lot of Exegesis from Hebrews 11:20, but most of the ideas from Genesis 27. And what we have in Hebrews, 11:20, 21 and 22 is we have, in effect, I get the picture in my mind of a painting done by Norman Rockwell of three boys dressed up in baseball garb. And they're looking through a peephole in an oak fence at a baseball game. And they're just looking through the knot hole. They haven't paid their ticket price, but they don't need to, because they're looking through this peephole at the game. And that's what Hebrews 11:20, 21 and 22 has us do. We're looking through three peepholes at three patriarchs, and specifically at their deathbed experiences, and so their deathbed is also a peephole through which we're looking at their whole lives. And with Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, you're really looking at effectively half of the book of Genesis. And it's not my purpose here to give a careful exegesis of all of that. What I want to try to do is understand what the author to Hebrews was intending in giving us these three peepholes, these three trips, really as I said, to the deathbeds of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Why did he choose to bring us there? And this is going to be, I think, a little more poignant next week.

But God, I think... Or next time that I preach, God I think is bringing us to the deathbed as He was bringing the Hebrew Christians to the deathbed, because he's wanting to clarify, to make very intense for them and for us that this world is not our home, that we are merely aliens and strangers here, that we need to prepare to die. We need to be ready to just move through this world and on into the next world, because Hebrews has told us, it is appointed to each one of us to die once and after that to face judgment. Some people think it's faithless or somehow weak to prepare to die. We should be at the hospital trusting God for a miracle. God can do anything. Jesus can do anything. He stopped in the little town of Nain, he stopped a funeral procession where a widow was burying her only son and the weeping there was great and Jesus stopped the procession, touching the coffin, He said to this woman, "Don't cry." And He raised her son from the dead. I mean, I can't even imagine what that must have been like. And Jesus can do anything, but His ordinary way is to take us out of this world by means of these diseases and other things.

And we must prepare for death. And so the author to Hebrews brings the Hebrew Christians and us right to the deathbeds of these patriarchs to bring clarity to us, so that we may also see our own deathbeds. Last night, I was putting Calvin to bed and asked me, he said, "Dad, what should my final words be?"  So we had a very interesting discussion. I didn't expect that, and I hadn't thought about it. I said, "Well what do you think your final words are going to be?" He asked me, I said, "I don't know. How about 'Father into your hands I commit my spirit.'" He said, "Has that ever been used before?" I said, "Yes, at least once."

But I praise God for the thoughts that were on his mind, and I think they should be on our mind. He wants to bring us to that clarity. We're not going to be here forever. This world is not all there is. And so we have these three deathbed trips, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And this morning we're going to just look at Isaac.

AW Pink said, "A Christian ought not to be passive in death and die like a beast. No, this is the last time he can do anything for God on Earth, and therefore he's to take a fresh, firm hold on God by faith at that time." I want to prepare you for that, because my theory is that if you are really ready to die, well then you are ready to live well too. The two go hand in hand.

And so we have in Hebrews 11:20, this one verse, "By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future." Now, what is the trouble with that verse? You might think there's no trouble with that verse. It's a delightful verse, celebrating Isaac's faith, Isaac the man of faith. Yeah, that's true until you remember what we're actually talking about in the verse, and you go back to Genesis 27, and you're brought to Isaac's deathbed, and you remember the actual circumstances that were going on. And then you go back to Verse 20 of Chapter 11 and you say, "I don't see the faith. Where is the faith?"

As a matter of fact, when Isaac was blessing Jacob he thought he was blessing Esau. He was intending to bless Esau. He was at cross purposes with Almighty God. He was out of step with what God was doing. He was being deceived by both his wife and his son. Esau is off happily hunting and about to prepare a meal. The whole thing is screwed up. And so, how can we find faith there? What was the author to Hebrews thinking? Did he forget to read Genesis 27? Is that what goes on? No, not at all. He's looking a lot deeper. And so as I look deeper, I saw more and more and more here that I thought would benefit us. And so we're looking just this morning at Isaac and this one statement.

Now, when we come to Isaac, we come in my opinion, to a spiritual disappointment at one level. I know that Isaac's right there in the middle between Abraham and Jacob, so you have the god of Abraham, and the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob. But Isaac lived the longest of the four major patriarchs focused on in the Book of Genesis. He lived 180 years. But less is known about Isaac's life, by far, than about Abraham, Jacob or Joseph. Some 12 chapters are devoted to Abraham's life, about the same length of treatment for Jacob and Joseph. We basically get, other than some brief mentions in other chapters, we basically get two chapters in Genesis on Isaac, Genesis 26 and 27, and one of them is the focus of our study this morning.

With Isaac then you get less of Abraham's triumphs of faith, and less of Jacob's failures. But the feeling is one of spiritual mediocrity, of to some degree, it seems like an under-achiever, like there was less than there should have been. Isaac began his life as a miracle baby, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a barren, elderly woman. He is the one, of course, that made that incredible trip up Mount Moriah that we talked about last week. And he was there. He was the one that said, "Here's wood and fire, but where is the sacrifice?" He was the one instructed by the quintessential father of the Bible, Abraham, the father and faith, the father of many nations. And so, he was trained by a godly father, but the life that began so brightly by faith, like so many others after him, fizzled as it went on. And so, I bring you to the complex circumstances that 11:20 is talking about, the blessing of Jacob and Esau, and the story of Genesis 27. It is a very spiritually complex and entangled account the more you look at it, frankly.

John Owen said this, "There is no other story in the scripture, filled with more intricacies and difficulties as unto a right judgement of the things related, though the matters of fact, what actually happen be clearly and distinctly set down. The whole represents unto us divine sovereignty, wisdom and faithfulness, working effectually through the frailties, infirmities and sins of all the persons concerned in the matter."

In other words, what we have is the sovereign plan of God being achieved through four sinners, and none of the four look really, very good in the story. Isaac doesn't look good. Rebecca doesn't look good. Neither do Jacob or Esau. None of them do. There are problems with all four of them.

The Fleshly Dimness of Isaac’s Faith

But let's start with Isaac, because he's the focus; by faith Isaac. And Genesis 27:1, if you're there you can look, if not just listen. It should be taken, I think, more than merely literally. Genesis 27:1 it says, "When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see." Just stop there. Isaac's physical blindness is essential to this story, but his spiritual dimness of vision is every bit as essential to the story.

 Now, we have been saying that faith is the eyesight of the soul, by which the soul can receive information, insight, light from invisible spiritual realms. It is by faith that we see the invisible. Faith is the eyesight of the soul. And I think when we are told here in Genesis 27:1 that Isaac was so old and his eyes were so weak he could no longer see, there's a symbolic aspect as well. It's similar to when Judas took the piece of bread from Jesus and he went out, it says in John 13:30, "and it was night." I mean, you must know in John's writings, that light and darkness are symbolic and not merely to physical. He wasn't just telling you the time of day when Judas went out. It was the hour of Satan. It was the hour of darkness when Satan's forces were unleashed. And so, I think the same thing's going on here. Dimness of sight in this case is seen to be somewhat of a moral and spiritual issue as well as physical. By contrast, you have Deuteronomy 34, in verse 7, "Moses was 120-years-old when he died." Listen, "yet his eyes were not weak nor was his strength gone."

Do you see the contrast here? Why are we told at the end of Moses' life that his eyes were not weak? Again, I think there's a symbolic contrast here. He was still spiritually vigorous, Moses was. He just was not allowed to go into the Promised Land because God had forbidden him. But with Isaac, I think we have a deeper spiritual problem. Now, what was it? Putting it simply, I think that Isaac had a fleshly love for life that was inordinate and that damaged him spiritually. He loved the things of this world too much, and as a result, his spiritual vision grew dim. In every generation believers are called upon to discipline their fleshly appetites, so that they are not ruled by them. We are not worldlings, whose God is our stomach, like Paul talks about in Philippians. A. W. Pink put it this way. "If we live to eat instead of eating to live, then our spiritual vision is bound to be defective. Discernment is a by-product, the fruit and result of denying of self and following of Christ.”

Spiritual discernment is what we're talking about here, and Isaac compromised his by his love for fleshly indulgence. By contrast, Moses left Egypt, as we'll talk about later in this same chapter, left Egypt by putting to death his love for fleshly comforts and pleasures, the so-called fleshpots of Egypt. He turned his back on it so that he could suffer with God's people and go through the desert with them, and all that. And so at the end of his life his vision was sharp and he knew exactly what God wanted him to do.

Isaac Loved a Good Meal

But as for Isaac, he just simply loved a good meal, and what's wrong with that? What am I talking about? Well, if you look back in Genesis 25:28, a key verse in this whole analysis, Genesis 25:28 says this, "Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebecca loved Jacob."

So, in other words, in Genesis 25:28, Isaac's affinity for, his love for Esau, was connected to their, I think, mutual love for food, their mutual love for game, for hunting and for a good stew. They shared it in common, father and son. It was the link in their relationship. It really was their relationship, and as a result, Isaac had his affection set on the wrong son. Esau provided Isaac with the meat that he craved. Multiple times in Genesis 27, Isaac's love for that food is mentioned directly. "I will provide... " Or Rebecca says, "I'm going to make food for your father such as he loves." This love that he has, it's highly emphasized actually in the account. So Isaac loved Esau far more than Jacob, and sadly in this regard, there's an awful lot of similarity between Isaac and Esau.

It was Esau, after all, who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. You remember the story, how he comes in from the field, I guess he hadn't done very well hunting and there's Jacob cooking, and he's making some stew, and Esau is famished, and he says, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew!" And Jacob…who he was, is who he was, he said, "First sell me your birthright?" We'll get to all that, but, "Sell me your birthright?" I mean, what a conniver. I mean, just give the man a bowl of stew. There's no connection between the stew and the birthright. Yeah, until he linked it. And Esau in effect said, "Look, the birthright means nothing to me. I don't care about the birthright. Give me the bowl of stew. Fine. Have the birthright." And the account says, "And so, Esau despised his birthright." In the scripture, it's huge what he did, it's huge.

And so, here we have in this regard at least, like father, like son, a man who just loves a good bowl of stew. And he knows that Esau can get it for him and he sends him off. And so he says in Genesis 27:1 through 4, "When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau, his older son, and said to him, 'My son.' 'Here I am.' He answered. Isaac said, 'I am now an old man and I don't know the day of my death. Now then, get your weapons, your quiver and bow and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Prepare me the kind of tasty food that I like and bring it to me, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.'"

And so off he goes; off goes Esau. Clearly he intended to give the prophetic patriarchal blessing to Esau and not to Jacob, because he loved Esau and not Jacob, and in this way he was out of step with Almighty God in His purposes. Rebecca knew her husband. She knew the way to His will was through his stomach. She studied him. She knew him. Women study their husbands. They know their tendencies. They know what they like and what they don't like. Isaac's love for stew was uppermost in her strategy to steal the blessing for Jacob, her favorite. And in Verses 5 through 10, Genesis 27.

"Now, Rebecca was listening is Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebecca said to her son Jacob, 'Look I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, "Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die." Now, my son listen carefully and do what I tell you. Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you His blessing before he dies.'"

Now, this love for the stew, this love for game, was certainly I think in the end, a symbol of a whole life lived pursuing simple earthy pleasures, fleshly taste rather than the things of God. The resulting spiritual dimness was so pathetic that Isaac couldn't tell who was standing right in front of him, until he caught the whiff of his garments. He was like some animal at that regard. "Who is this that's in front of me? The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." To deceive Isaac of course, Rebecca, had Jacob dress in Esau's clothes and put some goat hair on his arms and the back of his neck. And just, do you see how slimy that whole thing is?

"Hey, let's deceive your father and get from him swindled from him, the prophetic patriarchal blessing." So they dress up and they goes in, and says, "Here's the food you're looking for." "Who is it? "I am Esau your first born." Said Jacob. That's a lie. Later, "Are you really my son Esau?" "I am." Another lie. Just lying lying to their father.

The Purpose of God Revealed to Rebekah

Rebecca wanting him to lie to her husband. Why? What's going on with Rebecca, what's happening with her? Well, you have to go back to the very beginning of Jacob and Esau to understand her, she was barren Isaac prayed concerning his barren wife, God heard and blessed with twins and the twins were inside her womb and they were fighting each other, pushing and shoving. And she wanted to know what's going on and so she inquired of the Lord and God said, to her in Genesis 25:23, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated one will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger." So this is a prophetic word. "Before these twins were born," it says, in Romans 9:11-13, Paul takes this statement and lifts it up to the issue of eternal unconditional election, by the sovereign God before the foundation of the world, of two kinds of people, Jacobs and Esaus, and that the election is done before the foundation of the world. "Before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by Him who calls she was told the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written. 'Jacob, I loved and Esau I hated.'" Now listen, you may struggle with Romans 9:11-13, trying to understand what it means, God doesn't struggle, God knows exactly what He means. And I'm telling you, that Isaac and God were out of step with one another, they were at cross purposes. God had chosen Jacob. It was not going to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Esau, it was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God had made that choice. And He told Rebecca, He told it very plainly, to her.

Now, Rebecca loved Jacob. I think probably for this reason. Even though Jacob was not the first born, but the second of the twins to be born. But she knew very well that her husband Isaac loved Esau, she knew. And that's inconceivable to me. I know this is reading in the white space, but inconceivable to me that Rebecca didn't tell Isaac what God had said to her. Inconceivable. There's just zero possibility of that. Certainly Rebecca told Isaac what God had said, "The older will serve the younger." But Isaac didn't listen, he didn't believe it, he didn't live according to it. And so, as this thing developed, there's like a cancerous tumor spiritually growing in this family, and it has to do with Isaac's unbelief and Rebecca's quandary, if I could put it that way, "What do I do about this?"

Isaac should have kept his taste under control and he should have inquired of the Lord what His purposes were for the twins, and He would have been told the same thing of that Rebecca was told, but instead they were out of step with one another. Rebecca's spiritual discernment was better, but she had her problems, too. So we go to Genesis 27, to find out what her problems are. And the problems have to do with the statement that we frequently make, the ends don't justify the means. She wants the chosen one, Jacob, to get the patriarchal blessing. Fine, that's good. But what does she do to get it? Lying, deceiving, conniving, manipulating, twisted means. She should have seen the disaster coming. She probably did.

And what should she do about it? Now that's interesting, it's a question that a wife asks, "What should I do if my husband doesn't believe the Word? Well, 1 Peter 3:1-2 tells you what to do if your husband doesn't believe the Word. It says in 1 Peter 3:1-2. "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your husbands so that if any of them do not believe the Word, they may be won over without talk by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of your lives." And it gives Sarah as an example of that. So it's not like this is unheard of in that era. She should have seen it coming, but by the time that Isaac is talking to Esau and she's overhearing it's too late at one level, at that point. And she did not have faith enough to trust God for the means not just the end. Pragmatism comes over, the only thing she could come up with was subterfuge. But God ordains, dear friends, both the ends and the means, He ordains where we're going to go and the best way to get there. And God never uses unholy means to get the holy ends. Never.

Now modern readers of the count may in sympathy record say, "What else could she have done? When she overhears that, what could she have done?" I can think of some things. I'll tell you what, let's try the honest approach. Let's try the forthright honest approach. "Okay, we're in trouble, please come with me Jacob. We've got to go talk to your father. He can't give that blessing to Esau, Plead with Him, pray with him, pray for him, whatever." Whatever it takes. Now I think it's already kind of not too late, but definitely very late in the game at that point, it should have been done long before that. Where are you heading in your family, where are your children heading, where are they going, what is the direction we're heading? Husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. Where are you going? Do you want to go where you're going, if not act while you have time. Now, I still think it's never too late in reference to using God ordained means. And so, I would suggest direct persuasion, pleading and prayer, not subterfuge and manipulation and twisted means.

The One Bright Spot: How Isaac’s Faith Triumphed in the End

But there is a bright spot in all of this. It did make it in the Hall of Faith didn't it? Are you wondering now why it ever made it? By faith Isaac blessed Jacob.  "Who are you my son?" " I'm Esau." "Okay, here's my blessing." That's by faith, what's happening there? Well, I think you have to keep going in the count to find the faith. No, he didn't know what was happening, Isaac failed to discern that Jacob was lying to him, he ate the stew he craved so much, drank the wine that he brought him. Gave to Jacob, the blessing thinking all the while it was Esau. This is the blessing, "May God give you of heavens due and of the earth richness and abundance of grain and new wine, may nation serve you and people's bowed down to you, be Lord over your brothers and may the sons of your mother about down to you, may those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you, be blessed." That's Abraham's blessing, do you see he's passing it right on to his son. But he thinks it's Esau, he's giving Esau, Abraham's blessing. That's what's going on right there. But as soon as the blessing is done, Jacob leaves, he's received the blessing. Wonder if he felt relief, felt good about it? What does he feel at that moment? But he's been blessed by his blind father.

And a moment later, Esau comes in with another bowl of stew. You know what happens, he says, "Father, sit up and eat some of my game." "Who are you?" "I am your son… your firstborn, Esau." And he begins to tremble, Isaac begins to tremble violently, "Who was it then that came a moment ago and deceitfully stole your blessing?" Listen to this, "And indeed he will be blessed." There's the faith. There's the faith, right there, "Indeed he will be blessed." You know what happened at that moment, the scales came off his eyes and he said, "What have I been doing?" I've been at cross purposes with Almighty God and the blessing that I just gave to Esau was meant for Jacob and God in some inscrutable way, gave it to the one He intended. "Forgive me, God. Forgive me for being so spiritually dense, and so dim that I didn't know what you were doing, I didn't see it clearly, and I didn't act by faith, but now I want to act by faith. So it is Jacob, Jacob is your choice, he is your chosen one not Esau I have been wrong." Esau then of course pleads with Isaac, begging and pleading him with tears. "Bless me too, me too, my father." I mean it's just really a painful scene.

In the next chapter in Hebrews, Hebrews 12: 16 and 17 talks about it, there says, "See [Christian church] that no one is sexually immoral or godless like Esau." I mean, do you hear those words? A godless man was in the tent that day. Godless like Esau, "who for a single meal sold his inheritance right as the oldest son, and afterwards as you know, when he wanted to inherit the blessing he was rejected, he could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears." Now, some people struggle with that repentance aspect and it's difficult to know whether it's his own repentance or Isaac's repentance or God's change of mind that has in mind, I tend to think he's focused on his father there. He's trying to change his father's mind so that in some way, his father will still love him, he's not thinking about God. Cause he's godless. So believe me, the one who wrote Hebrews 11:20, one chapter later, told us exactly who he Esau was.

And so he blessed him in regard to his future too. This time, he knew it was Esau. And he said, "Your dwelling will be away from the earth richness, away from the dew of heaven above, you will live by the sword and you will serve your brother, but when you grow restless, you will throw off his yoke from your neck." And so as a prophet, by the power of God he was able to foresee the future. Now clearly with Jacob and Esau he knew both of their futures as according to the will of God. And so it was going to be Jacob and not Esau, who would be next in the patriarchal line, he would inherit Abraham's blessing. And through Jacob, and not Esau would come the Savior of the world, it would be as a descendant of Jacob, that Jesus would be born.

And so it says in Galatians 3:9, "So then those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." And you know what's incredible? In Genesis 28, the next chapter, Isaac knew it by now, by this point, he is completely on board. And so as he and Rebecca are sending Jacob away to save his life from what Rebecca's subterfuge has brought on, rage on the part of Esau, murderous rage. And so she says, "Well, lest I lose both of you, in a single day, I've got to send you away." And so Jacob get sent away, but right before you get sent away, Isaac blesses him, Isaac blesses Jacob, knowing it's Jacob, and this is what he says, "May He give you and your descendants, the blessing given to Abraham." It's powerful, by faith, Isaac bless Jacob in regard to his future.

And what is that blessing given to Abraham? It's salvation from sins like this. Doesn't this whole account make you crave for a savior? It's so messy, so much unbelief, so much sin, so much idolatry, and ooh it just makes me crave for Jesus. Amen. Jesus is the blessing given to Abraham, it is through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that Jesus was born, His human ancestry traced through this Jewish nation, salvation is from the Jews, and by Jesus comes the blessing to the Gentiles of full forgiveness of sins. That's why God brought you here today, to hear about Jesus, not so much about Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Esau, to hear about Jesus. Because it is through Jesus that forgiveness of sins, just like this is available, His blood was shed on the cross, He is the Son of God. In the end as I prayed, on judgment day all you will have is Jesus, have Him now by faith. Call on the name of the Lord and He will save you. You can't read this account and say, "Well I thank God that I'm better than Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Esau."

That's not what you do with this account, you say. "Oh God, the shame of our hearts, that we can be this way, so come to Christ, trust in Him, and then if I can speak about God's sovereignty, praise God that His sovereign plan cannot be forded by our spiritual dimness or by godless people like Esau, or conniving manipulators like Rebecca or Jacob, who is the same. God's plan can't be derailed, God in some amazing way, in ways that goes so far beyond what we can even conceive, uses this kind of messiness to achieve His sovereign purposes, isn't that incredible. And He is in no way defied by it, ever. So do not command this kind of lying and subterfuge, God's sovereignty over human frailty, His purposes will stand. God will achieve all His purposes and we cannot, no human can derail it.

Can I urge you to maintain your healthy spiritual discernment, to yearn for healthy spiritual discernment, to know by faith, what God is calling on you to do. Philippians 1:9 and 10, "And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ." Say, "God give me spiritual eye sight, sharpen my faith, get me in the word God, help me to know what you're doing in the world, help me to know what your purposes are, I want to be on board with what you're doing, please train me, wash me by the word of God, change me and transform me. Renew my mind. So I can discern what you want me to do." Pray for discernment, for yourself, ask others to pray for discernment, for you. So that you're not like Isaac, just blind it seems to what God is doing, in His own family.

We also need discernment for what Satan is doing too, don't we? Paul says in Corinthians, we're not unaware of his schemes. It says in Ephesians 6, "Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." His twisted plans. We need discernment to see what the Devil's doing, right? What God is doing and what the devil is doing. Discernment. And friends, we need self-control and lawful pleasures. Amen. There's nothing wrong with a good bowl of stew. God designed food to be delicious, and the more delicious it is, the more dangerous it is to your body. Amen. You know what I'm talking about. First couple of weeks of January, how are you doing with those resolutions? Have you lost the 63 pounds you were hoping to lose in the first two weeks?

The more delicious it is, the more dangerous, the more alluring and enticing. God made it delicious. We are not called onto a life of weird asceticism, where we're not able to eat and drink with thankfulness, the good things that God's given. And as a matter of fact, in the Book of Proverbs, were told in the metaphor of honey, Proverbs 24:13, "Honey is sweet. If you find honey on the comb, eat it my son." What is that? That's God telling you enjoy the good things of life. But you know that's not all that Proverbs says about honey. Proverbs also says in Proverbs 25:16. "If you find honey, my son eat just a little or you'll vomit." The good gifts of life can cause you to a vomit spiritually, if you glut yourself on them, they will damage you spiritually. You we become dim in your sight spiritually, you will lose your way.

1 Peter 4:7, says very plainly, "The end of all things is near, therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray." The end is coming, be sharp in you're thinking, don't eat too much, don't watch too much, don't have too much fun, don't have too much pleasure, you know what I mean? I'm not saying eating and drinking and fun and pleasure are wrong, that's satanic and wrong. But so is the gluttonous indulgence of them, so that our spiritual discernment is gone. We've got to control ourselves, we've got to fast. "All things are lawful for me," Pauls says in 1 Corinthians 6, "but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything." Has anything mastered you? Is anything in charge of you? Your love of sports, has it mastered you? Your love of shopping your love of a hobby your love of vacations your love of food has anything mastered you? If you're wondering, then I would just urge give it up for a while, and see, just see.

And can I speak a word to husbands? Your family needs you to be sharp spiritually, your family needs you to be discerning, to be on board with what God is doing. God may use your godly wife to help you with that, you should listen to her, she's your best counselor in the world as she speaks God's Word and follows you. Proverbs 31, "A wife of noble character, who can find, her worth is more precious than rubies." And so you should listen to her, but ultimately listen to the scripture and through the Spirit, and be discerning. Don't be the last to know, when it comes to spiritual things. You need to be the head and priest of your family. So guard your appetites, your fleshly appetites, so that you can fulfill that role. For yourself, for your wife, for your children.

And can I speak a word to wives? Can we abandon the methodology that Rebecca used here in Genesis 27. The subterfuge and the trickery and the manipulation and the misdirection and all that. It is not godly. 1 Peter 3, tells you what to do if your husband isn't believing the word, follow it, trust it, pray for him, instruct and encourage him, point it out in Scripture, but let him make the decision. Don't do what Rebecca did, did you see the damage that she caused her family by bringing her son in it, that's not what Jacob needed, he was already good at that stuff. He needed to be weaned of, and God did by the way, by meeting Laban, and Laban that's a whole other story.  God trained him out of that kind of con artist thing. But women, trust God enough to use biblically ordained means to an end.

And larger, aside from husbands and wives, men and women, pragmatism, the ends don't justify the means, as a pastor, I'm not going to do anything and everything I can do to get this church bigger or more prosperous, that is not true. I'm going to trust the preaching of the Word, I'm going to trust prayer, I'm going to trust the Godly elders that we have, I'm going to trust the ministries of the spirit working here to do what He wants in this church. We're not going with pragmatism. The ends don't justify the means. Okay. So now on to Jacob, what shall we do with Jacob? No, we're not doing that. We'll do that next time. But may God take His blessing and press it to our hearts from this one verse of scripture, Hebrews 11:20, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob, and Esau in regard of their future. Close with me in prayer.

Mid-way through the 17th century, some of the greatest theologians that ever lived assembled to put together a statement of faith, the Westminster Confession of Faith. In my mind, one of the greatest doctrinal writings ever. Section on God I can scarcely read without being moved to my heart. I want to begin by reading some of it to you.

There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; ... most just, and terrible in His judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

God has all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, not deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them: He is the sole fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and has most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever He Himself pleases. In His sight all things are open and manifest; His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands. To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.

Now, that last line is why I read the whole thing. I struggle believing that, but I know in my heart it's true. That God is worthy of anything that He requires of me. Even if it would be my own child. Sometime 4000 years ago, God did in fact command one of His choice servants Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. And this God that we have discussed, that we have worshipped this morning is worthy of whatever worship He may require of you. And my only desire in preaching this sermon is to free you up from any restrictions, so that you can obey Him more fully than you have ever obeyed Him before by faith alone. That you may imitate the faith of Abraham. He will not command you to do what He commanded Abraham to do, but he will command you to do difficult things. And my only desire is to build up your faith so that you may obey Him and do those difficult things He commands you to do.

Now, we're right in the middle of Hebrews chapter 11, this great faith chapter. The whole pressure, the whole press of the chapter is to build in the hearers, the readers a growing faith, to strengthen our faith that we may realize that we are not only justified by faith, but we are to live by faith, moment by moment. And the same faith that justifies is the faith that we must live out day by day. And so the author has given us these marvelous examples, and this is one of the pinnacle examples in all redemptive history, what I call today, the second greatest act of faith in history. And what is the test? What was Abraham asked to do? What was he commanded to do? In verse 17, "By faith Abraham, when God tested him offered Isaac as a sacrifice." The command comes very plainly in the Genesis account, you know it well I know. Genesis 22:1-2, there it says, "Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' 'Here I am, he replied.' Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Isaac whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.'"

Now, who is this man who is so severely tested, this is Abraham who is called our father in faith, this is the one that God commanded to leave all of the Chaldees and go to the land He would show him. In Genesis 12, saying that through his offspring all peoples on earth would be blessed. This is the one who in Genesis 12, built an altar and called on the name of the Lord. This is the one who, in Genesis 13, God spoke to him after Lot left Him and said, "To your descendants I give this land." This is the one who blessed... Who was blessed by Melchizedek, and who Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. He who is priest of God most high, after the defeat of the kings in Genesis 14. This is the one to whom God had appeared in a vision in Genesis 15. And said, "Do not be afraid Abram, I am your shield, I am your very great reward." And then God took him out under the starlet sky and said, "Look up at the stars, count them if you can... So shall your offspring be"

This is the one with whom God had made a very serious and solemn covenant in that same chapter, Genesis 15, and God represented by a smoking fire pod appeared when a dreadful darkness had come over Abraham, and he moved through the pieces of the sacrifice as if to say, "If I don't keep this promise, this covenant of mine, may I cease to exist, may I be exploded as this... The bodies of these sacrifices have been laid aside. May I be also destroyed if I don't keep this promise, this covenant." This is the one to whom God had given the covenant of circumcision in Genesis 17. The one who had said, "I am God almighty, walk before me and be blameless." The one to whom God appeared in Genesis 18, in the heat of the day and with two other angels, and the one who had made a promise "About this time next year, I will return, and Sarah will have a a son."

This is the one who said within himself, "Shall I hide from Abraham. What I'm about to do?" (to Sodom and Gomorrah). And who opened up His counsel to Abraham and drew him in and the two of them had a discussion over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. And therefore in two places in scripture, Abraham was called God's friend. Both in Isaiah and in James. This is the one whom God severely tested.

And so, I just want to stop right here at this point and say, just make this observation. It is not at all a sign of God's disfavor when he lays on someone a severe test or trial. Not at all a sign of His disfavor. The one he loved the most was His only begotten son, and He laid on him the greatest trial of all. And so what's going to happen when God tests your faith, and when God crushes you under some trial and some affliction, Satan is going to whisper to you that this is plain evidence that God doesn't love you. Don't listen to it. Those whom He loves the most He tests most severely. And so He tested Abraham his friend. And at what stage of life did God tests Abraham? When was this? Well, this was toward the end of Abraham's life. After many trials, after many step. Step by step. God building Abraham in his faith. It was not the raw recruit that God threw into the front line of test. But it was a seasoned veteran.

This is graduate school. This is his doctoral dissertation of faith. This is at the end of his life, not at the beginning, like a skillful potter, God had been shaping and molding Abraham's faith all along. So this was not a beginning trial. This was more of a consummating trial.

At What Stage of His Life Did He Test Him?

And so after a long time at the end of his life after he'd been built up step-by-step, God tested him. And also notice it was in the middle of a very peaceful placid good time in his life. If you look at Genesis 22:1, it says, "And it came to pass after these things." After what things? Well, after the... At least the events of Genesis 21. Well, what happened in Genesis 21? Well, finally the miracle baby was born, the son of laughter, Sarah marveling over it saying, "Am I really going to nurse a child at this age?" And just the joy that Isaac the son of laughter brought into their lives. It was a happy time. And then despite Ishmael mocking and then he was cast out, and there were some family turmoil, but that was over now, God had made it plain that the bond woman and her son must be cast out. And so there was nothing but peace and harmony at that point in Abraham's family life.

Furthermore, he was in a comfortable position with the people around him, he had made a covenant with Abimelech at Beersheba. A covenant of peace. And he planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord the eternal God. And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. So it was a time of peace, of prosperity, of comfort and ease. And like a bolt from the blue comes this command. When all was right with his world. "Take your son, your only son, Isaac whom you love." And you may ask why did God test him? Why? "Sometime later, God tested Abraham."

Why Did God “Test” Him? Why Does He “Test” Us?

Why does He do it? Well, first of all, God never tempts anyone. I want to make a distinction between temptation and testing? From James Chapter 1. "When tempted no one should say, God is tempting me, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." So there must be a distinction in scripture between what James says God never does, and what Genesis 22, Moses says that God did do. So there's a distinction then between temptation and a trial.

A temptation, the image in James is being seized and dragged away to do evil. And God never does that. He never puts a magnetic force on your soul, dragging you to do wickedness, that would never be God, God hates evil, everything He's doing in our lives and sanctification is to get us to hate evil as much as He does. But God never tempts anyway. But he does test us. So it's like an assayer office, a testing or a proving the worth of... So the assayer is going to find out whether this chunk really is gold or silver, or something valuable or something that's not. So why does He then test us?

First, He does it for His own glory, because God is the one who gave you the faith he then wants to show you how powerful is His gift. And so he gives you the faith and then he puts testing circumstances around you to show that His faith will not fail. The faith that He gave you. And so for his own glory to the glory of God. So you realized it was God that gave you the faith, it is Jesus at the right hand of God, interceding for you concerning your faith, it's Gods work in you from beginning to end, and to God be the glory. And none of that can be proven if you never have any difficult times. If you never have any testing, no trials. No none of that can ever be proven, God cannot be glorified in that way.

Secondly, he tests us for our own good for greater assurance. We must imagine that Abraham had a far greater assurance of God's sovereign love for him after this experience, than he did before. And so God test us, and tries us to bring us to full maturity and to greater assurance. The assurance language, I get from Romans 5:3-4. It says, "Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope." Now hope equals assurance to me. They're the same thing. And so we have assurance, a greater hope, a greater sense of servitude about the future after those trials are over. And so God does it because he loves us.

I want to add another one right here. And that is to purify our faith, not just to test us and show it, but also to purify our faith. This is the one that was added to me as I was sitting in the pew. The fact of the matter is, we are still in danger of idolatry. Is it possible for Abraham and Sarah to idolize Isaac? Certainly, it's possible. God is a jealous God, and He will not have Abraham love Isaac more than he loves Him. And so He strengthens our faith by purifying it of all of his good gifts, so sometimes he's going to take away a good gift to show that the real blessing in it was the giver who's still here. God is still here, He still loves me just as much. Even though the gift has now been taken away. And so we must have our faith purified because we're still in danger. And realized Faith is temporary, anyway you won't need it in heaven. And so it makes sense that it's not a perfect thing, it needs to be purified, it needs to be strengthened all of those things.

And then fourthly, God tests, our faith for the good of others. For the on-looking world, for the on-looking audience so that others may be blessed by the way that you are strengthened through your trial in your test.

So we know that this is how it works in a local church. When you see someone else suffer well through a trial, you are strengthened. We are all sitting in the school of Abraham today, we're sitting at his feet and learning from him our father in faith, how to trust God. And so we are on the outside looking in, and we are strengthened by the testing that happened to another person. Those are four reasons why God does it.

How Could Abraham Morally Obey Such a Command?

Now as you read this you may be troubled, you may wonder about this, "Take your son, your only son… and sacrifice him..." How can Abraham morally obey such a repugnant command, it seems repugnant to us. I mean, we already knew from Genesis 9:6, Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed. Story of Cain and Abel confirms that God is against murder. So clearly, again, we must make a distinction between murder and what God's commanding Abraham to do here. Just as we made a distinction between temptations and trials. How can he morally obey this command, is it immoral for him to do this? And the key answer, and this must be God's absolute sovereignty, that God as the king of the universe, is alone, the standard of righteousness. Whatever God commands is righteous and whatever he forbids is wickedness. He is the standard in the universe.

He has an absolute right to do whatever He wants with what He's made. That is the very lesson that we struggle with our whole lives, our rebellious self-struggle with that. Does God really have the right to do that. Yes, he does. God has infinite rights as the creator, the sovereign, the king. He is allowed to command Abraham to do this. It is not immoral, for him to do it, it would have been immoral for him not to do it. So we just have to get our minds around that. Whatever God commands is right? Just like the angel in Revelation 16, when He's pouring out wrath on the rivers, all the fresh water.

And the angels celebrating it and worship. The angel in charge of the water is saying, "You are just in these judgments you who are and who were the holy one, because you have so judged." It's really just that simple to the angel. "You told me to do it, it must be right".  And so the angel has that attitude, and we should pray in the Lord's prayer, that God's will will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven. With the same kind of trust in the King. So no, it is not immoral for him. Now, let's weight, if we can the greatness of this test.

This was a great test. What was actually commanded? Well, we've said it, but look at it carefully. "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Maria, sacrifice him there as a burnt offering." I just ponder those words. Who was it that Abraham was commanded to sacrifice? It wasn't one of his beasts, it wasn't all of his beasts, wasn't one of his slaves, it wasn't even Ishmael, son whom he definitely loved, the son of the slave woman, it was the son of the promise, it was the one that he and his barren wife had waited for it for a hundred and 90 years respectively. They had waited for this miracle baby, and now the miracle baby is there, the one who is crafted in the womb in Sarah's barren womb by the supernatural power of Almighty God. This is the one through whom all peoples on earth will be blessed. This is the promised baby, this is the seed of Abraham. In Isaac, your seed will be reckoned. This is the seed of Abraham through which the whole world is going to be blessed. Look what it says about him, this heightens in Verse 17 and 18, Hebrews 11:17-18, "He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, of whom God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." This is the one that he loved, the son that he loved, the son of his affection.

It's amazing how children can wrap parents around their fingers, they just do it from the time they come home from the hospital. And oh, how we dote on them, and we should, we should cherish them, and we should love them. It's a great picture of God, the Father's love for us, when you have a godly father who loves you that same way. And so there's nothing wrong with it. And He said, "Take your son whom you love, the one you cherish." Matthew Henry put it this way, "And being called to offer up his Isaac, he seemed to be called to destroy and cut off his own family, to cancel the promises of God, to prevent the coming of Christ, to destroy the whole world. To sacrifice his own soul, and his own hopes of salvation, to cut off the church of God at one blow. It was a most terrible trial." Another commentator said, "When God commanded Abraham to leave Ur, the Chaldeans, He was commanding him to turn his back on his past. With this command, He was commanding him to turn his back it seemed on his future." A severe trial.

Now, what was it in Abraham's nature that made this such a test? Well, look at Abraham just as a man, what kind of man was he? Was he a cruel man who delighted in cruelty? Did he liked being vicious? Not at all. Look at his reaction to the whole problem with Ishmael, he wanted to find some way that they could all get along, he didn't want to send his son Ishmael away. Had to be told directly by God to do it. So he's tender-hearted, Genesis 21:11 concerning Ishmael, "The matter distressed Abraham greatly, because it concerned his son." And that's speaking of Ishmael. That's a tender-hearted man. Now, what was it in God's dealings with Abraham that made this such a test? Well, it seemed to run contrary to everything God was doing. Talk about connecting the dots, "Now, what's God been doing in my life?" You connect, connect, connect, connect, and then suddenly, this command comes, it doesn't make any sense at all. It seems to be contrary to the very nature of God, this tender-hearted and loving God, the God who is merciful and compassionate, slowed to anger and abounding in love and kindness. It doesn't seem to make any sense, the kind of thing you would think would have come from a demiurge, a demon, Satan himself, not God.

Let's be honest, if you had a friend who told you they had heard from God that he was commanded to do this, wouldn't you worry at least? You might go so far as to turn him in to the authorities. This is a strange command, it doesn't seem to line up. It seems difficult to accept that God would command him to do this. And so we are led into the inner workings of Abraham's faith and the nature of his relationship, God's relationship with Abraham. There was no doubt at all, no doubt at all in Abraham's mind, that it was God who was commanding him to do this. God by his pattern of communication, in various ways... And I was tracing over it this morning, as I was looking over it again, God came to Abraham at many times and in various ways as well, sometimes a vision, sometimes just speaking, it says God took him out of the tent to look at the stars. I don't know how that works, how God the Father did that, but there's this walking in it, walking with God there is a sense of incredible relationship between God and Abraham. There was such a closeness, an intimacy, sometimes, like I said, a vision. I don't know what that looked like. However God spoke to Abraham concerning Isaac, he knew it was God, there was no doubt in his mind.

And I find it amazing that Scripture gives us... I would say, no glimpse whatsoever, into Abraham's inner turmoil, or his psychology concerning this command and the three-day journey and all that, none, there's not a word anywhere. Many artists who let's say, painted or who write poems about it, or Michael Card who'll write a song, beautiful song. Three days journey to the sacred place. Boy and a man with a sorrowful face stop probably, but there's nothing in Scripture about it. Tortured, yet faithful to God's command. Stop. Probably, but again, nothing in Scripture about it. John Owen delves into this, he says,

"What now must be the workings of his heart towards Isaac, a son whom he’d so long waited for; the only child of his dear wife who was the companion of all his wanderings; this boy who was now growing up, as is most probable, unto the age of sixteen or seventeen years, and had engaged his affections by all ways possible; the security of his old age, the life of his family—his only hope and comfort in this world? And how was he to deal with him? Not to send him out of his family with some provision and a guide, as he sent Ishmael; not to part with him for a time in a foreign country; but to take him himself, bind him, slay him with a knife, and then to burn him to ashes. Who can conceive what convulsions of nature must have happened at that time? Who can put himself into these circumstances without trembling and horror?"

Well, that's John Owen, one of the greatest theologians of the Puritan era, he is delving into the psychology of Abraham. I think it's only natural to do it, I just find it fascinating. The Scripture doesn't do it at all. It seems in the end, to have been irrelevant and a material if there were these kinds of torture, and wrangling and all that sort of stuff, what mattered is that he did it, that's what mattered. In the end, he obeyed, that's what mattered, not the wrangling, and all of the torture, and the facial expression. I'm thinking he probably had to control his facial expression during that three-day journey, don't you think? He's got to get the boy there. And so I don't know that you could have seen much on his face, that's just me surmising, I really don't know.

Martin Luther, in a family devotion, went into great detail over this, Genesis 22, lots of detail about the sacrifice, Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. He went into a such great detail that finally, his wife Katie couldn't bear it anymore, and she blurted out, "I do not believe it, God would not have treated His own son like that." "But Katie," said Luther, "He did." It's an amazing thing, and yet, for all of that, for all of the wrangling that Owen said, went on, that Luther said went on, that Michael Card said went on, there's nothing at all. I find that significant, because what really matters in the end is faith and obedience, faith and obedience. I think he probably did with this, the same that he'd done earlier concerning Isaac's conception to begin with.

"He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully convinced that He who had promised had power to do what he had promised." That's what I think was going on. And so in compliance set along with the command of God, he shut his eyes as it were, against all difficulties and consequence, resolving to venture Isaac, posterity truth of promises, to venture everything out on the authority of God. In the end, it was for God and not Abraham, to reconcile this command with the promises. Wasn't Abraham's business to work it all out. Life really is ultimately simple for bond-slaves, amen, just do what you're told. Now you may say, "That's not that easy," believe me, I know what you mean when you say it's not that easy, believe me I know. But in the end it really is that easy, you obey or you disobey. And so the inner wrangling, and the psychology, even all that is just noise really, in the background. Do you have faith and will you obey?

Abraham Reasoned by Faith

Now, Hebrews 11:19 tells us a little more, it tells us that Abraham reasoned by faith. It actually gives us a glimpse into the workings of his mind on the rational side, not so much the emotional side, not at all actually, but on the rational side, Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. Now, this is really astonishing because at least in the record of Scripture, it's never happened before, this would be the first time ever that a dead person had been resurrected. Do you not see what a great thing faith is? Because our God is a great God, God can do anything, faith connects with that, and therefore, God can raise the dead. It's really astonishing, but there'd been no precedent at all. Genesis 22:5 gives us proof that he was expecting this. He said to the servants that were with them, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." What a big difference between we and I? Alright, "We will worship and I will come back to you," that's a whole different sentence, amen. "We will worship and then we will come back to you." So, as I figure it out, not only did Abraham fully expect a bodily resurrection of Isaac, he expected it immediately, not a year later, five years later, but right there, he'd get him back. God can do anything, God can do anything except break His promise, that He cannot do.

Titus 1:2 speaks of "the hope of eternal life which God who does not lie promised before the beginning of time." And so I believe Abraham for that three-day journey, his total focus was on God, not on difficulties, but on the goodness of God, the omnipotence of God, the faithfulness of God, completely on God, and this is the key to everything. The promise of God in Genesis 21:12. Genesis 21:12, remember how... Going back and forth over Ishmael, he doesn't want to send Ishmael out. And God makes something very, very clear to him, which is the key to everything in the next chapter. Genesis 21:12, "But God said to him, Do not be so distressed about the boy, [Ishmael] and your maid servant, [that's Hagar] Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." That is the key to everything, do you not see it? Isaac was with that word, indispensable to the plans of God. It had to be Isaac and no one else. Suppose God had said, "It is through one of Sarah's sons that you're offspring will be reckoned," now that's different, isn't it? Maybe Isaac will die and another son will be raised up. Very, very tough at that point.

Now here, I hope gently, take a little thought with the NIV, second time in this chapter. But I just am bewildered by it actually, I don't understand it, it doesn't make much sense to me.

What the NIV says is, "He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son even though God had said to him, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." So it's like, despite the fact of the promise, he went through with it, does that make any sense to you? Please look puzzled and shake your head. It make no sense to me, I have... "Despite the promise, he still went ahead and sacrificed his son." That's what, "even though" means, despite. And the Greek doesn't require at all, none of the other translations have it, it's just "of whom it was said, in Isaac, your offspring will be reckoned." That's all. Friends, it's hard to translate Scripture, and I'm not trying to find faults with those that had labored hard on it. I'm just saying, we're not bound by any of these translations. We have to do our best to understand, and that's why it's helpful to know the original language Psalm. The bottom line is, there's no concussive here at all. It's precisely because God had made this promise that he was able to do it.

The Combination of Faith and Reason

This is the ground of the reasoning that he's doing it, do you not see it? He's reasoning it out, how does he reason? Well, fact number one, God has promised me that through my offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed. So I have to have some offspring.

Fact number two, God has promised me specifically, it's through Isaac that my offspring will be reckoned.

Okay, fact number three, Isaac needs to have a body in order to have a child for that whole thing to keep going. He didn't have a son yet, and so he is indispensable at least until he gives birth to a son or conceives a son.

Fact number four, God has commanded me to burn his body to ashes. Well then, God's going to raise his body from the dead. I think that's how he reasoned. I don't see any other way. And so right from that, he reasons.

So it's amazing how much faith and reason actually do go together. All that happens with faith as faith just accept facts that the pure rationalist doesn't accept, we accept revealed facts and then we reason from them. And so he reasons, and so he obeys. He doesn't merely obey the command, I don't want to go beyond this, I want to add a different verb that we don't usually use with commands, he believed the command.

Usually, we think obey the command, believe the promise. And that's fine, that's the usual way we speak. But here it seems like he goes beyond, he just embraces the command, he steps into it, he swims in the ocean of the command, he loves the command, it becomes him because God gave it. And so there is one verse that teaches this connection, Psalm 119 and Verse 66 says, "Teach me knowledge and good judgement for I believe in your commands." That's a wonderful verse, isn't it? "I believe in your commands. I trust them, they're not burdensome. I love them, whatever you command to do is right, I embrace it." So he loved that command. So what was the outcome of Abraham's faith? Well, early the next morning, he got up and saddled his donkey.

There is no evidence he told Sarah anything. Can you imagine what that conversation would have looked like? I think that Abraham did in fact, imagine what that conversation would have looked like. "We're not going there, it's not her trial, this is my trial. I'm not going to lay that burden." And am I feeling the same thing with any friends or a circle of people that hold him accountable and pray for him, all of those things are beneficial, but he would have thought, "I think this is not helpful at all. All they're going to try to do is what? Talk me out of it, or they're going to confirm what I've already resolved to do by faith, so there's no point." And so he just gets up immediately the next morning, he saddles a donkey, he gets ready and makes that three-day journey. And for three days, he trusted God. And they get there, and Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "'Father.' 'Yes, my son,' Abraham replied. 'The fire and the water are here,' Isaac said, 'But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' Abraham answered, 'God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son.' And the two of them went on together." They have that conversation, then they go up the mountain, just the two of them as I already said, "Stay here…while I and the boy go over there. We will go up and worship, we will come back to you."

And then "they reached the place that God had told him about. Abraham built an altar there, arranged the wood on it. He bound his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood, and then he reached out his hand and he took the knife to slay the son." Abraham's will was entirely given over to the deed. His affections were entirely committed to the deed, it was done. Luther in his devotional said, "If God had slept but a moment, Isaac would have been killed." God waited to the last possible moment. And that's just instructive for me, God isn't going to take you out of the oven until you're done. And some of these trials are going to go on a lot longer than you'll want them to go. So God goes the whole way with Abraham, and only at the last possible moment. He could have stopped him there for one day, said, "I noticed that you saddled your donkey, and you've traveled one day, won't you just turn around?" He didn't do that. Or two days, or three days or half way up the mountain, no, he goes right to the end and then He stops. The deed was done.

Abraham’s Commendation by God

And he obeyed and in effect, sacrificed his son, though God stopped him. And you know how God stopped him, what a marvelous moment that is in redemptive history. The angel of the Lord called out to him from Heaven, "'Abraham! Abraham!' 'Here I am,' He replied, 'Do not lay a hand on the boy,' he said, 'Do not do anything to him. Now, I know that you fear God.'" Oh the mystery of that statement, this infinite God, saying, "Now I know." You know what it means to me? He wants to see it lived out in life, then He'll say the same thing. "Now, I know that you trust me. Now I know that you fear me. Now I know that you love me. Now I know that you obey me, because you've done this." "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me, your son, your only son." And then comes this marvelous commendation. "The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, 'I swear by myself, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and sand on the sea shore.'"

Incredible commendation, commended by faith. Without faith it's impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. He is commended here for his faith, as a righteous man. And the text says he received Isaac back from the dead. You got him back. You can imagine what kind of hugging and trembling went on at that moment. Got him back. And it says, he did so figuratively and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. I think it's just, at one level, just simply, he didn't actually kill him. And so, in some figure of sense, it goes deeper than that. I think it's pretty clear that this is a type or a symbol of Christ, His sacrifice, and His resurrection for us. "Because I live, you also live," and the whole issue here in Hebrews 11 is to get us to stop fearing death. So that we're not afraid of death anymore. We've already been told in Hebrews 2, that Christ has destroyed forever him who holds the power of death, and freed us from it.

We don't need to be afraid of death. And so much of Hebrews 11 is to liberate the readers from fear of death to know you're going to reach the end of your life, and not receive the things promised, but you're going to die in faith, and be gathered to your people and then you're going to go into your inheritance, and you're going to live forever with me. Don't fear death. And so, we're taken from one death bed to the next. In the next few weeks we'll talk about that. To Isaac's death bed, Jacob's death bed, Joseph's death bed, one after the other, so that we can embrace a life totally free from fear of death. As it says in the Book of Revelation, "They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." You're going to live a certain kind of life if you don't fear death. You're going to die every day, like Paul says, "Brothers, I die, daily, I die all the time. I'm a kernel of wheat falling to the ground and dies. It's what I do, I die, and I die, and I die some more, so that God can work life in me."

What is the significance for us today? Well, the name of the sermon I entitled it "The Second Greatest Act of Faith in History." You may want to debate with me, you may know some missionary that did some great thing, you may know some other Biblical figure. I've been through the whole Bible in my head quickly. I just can't think of any other greater example of faith ever done, except one. Now, you know what I have in mind. The question you may have is, was Jesus' obedience to his father, was His death on the cross, an act of faith? And I think it was, because in Hebrews 2:13 it says, "I will put my trust in Him," and that's Jesus speaking to the Father. Here, am "I and the children God has given me," I will put my trust in Him. And we see that kind of entrusting language. 1 Peter 2 says that, "He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly." He said, "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit." He said that on the cross. He entrusted His death to the father though there was almost no evidence that anything had come of, looks like, three years of miraculous ministry and a group of women and one Apostle at the base of the cross, and that's it.

It's like, "Alright, Father, would you do something with this? If I die, will you make it great? Yes, I will. You sit at my right hand and I will make it great." So by faith, He entrusted himself to his father in His humanness, was the greatest act of faith in history and from that, like Michael Card says, "What Abraham was asked to do, God the Father has done." He's offered his only son and through the blood of Jesus Christ, sinners like you and me can be forgiven. If you trust in Him, if you just look to Him, and look away from your good deeds, look away from your own convictions, and what a good person, you are, and you look away from all that, and you look to this one act in history, you look back 2000 years as Abraham looked ahead 2000 years, you look back to Jesus, and you realize God has provided the Lamb. He is the Lamb of God whose death takes away the sins of the world. All you need to do, as you're sitting and listen to me, is just in your heart, trust in Him. Look to Him by faith. And your sins will be forgiven. Turn away from wickedness, turn away from sin, and simply by faith, you will be forgiven of all of your sins.

And secondly, if you've already done that, did it years ago, you have a faith that cannot perish, God opened it up in your soul, He has sustained it all these many years and He wants to test it, and He will test it. He's going to test your faith day after day, year after year, to show you that it's not from yourself but from Him. He's going to put you in trying and testing circumstances and by them you're going to grow, so simply expect to be tested. Don't act like it's a strange thing when you're going through a trial of faith.

And thirdly, be willing to offer up your own Isaacs, whatever they are. Thomas Mann preached, a Puritan that preach a great sermon on this offering up your Isaac. What does it mean to give up your Isaac? Well, it means, don't murmur against God, when He takes a loved one out of your life. Don't murmur against God, when He takes a beloved husband or beloved wife or a beloved mom or dad or a beloved child even. Don't murmur against God, at that time. I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but I want to read what Sarah Edwards said when she found out that Jonathan, her husband, had died of a smallpox inoculation very surprisingly, wrote of it in a letter to their daughter Esther, who herself would be dead in a short amount of time. And so frankly, with Sarah, all of them, all three of them. But this is what Sarah wrote to Esther.

"Oh, my very dear child. What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. Oh, that we may all kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths. The Lord has done it. He has made me adore His goodness that we had Him so long, but my God lives and He has my heart. My heart didn't die when Jonathan Edwards died, God has my heart. Oh, what a legacy my husband and your Father has left us. We are all given to God, and there I am, and there I love to be."

May I commend that kind of faith to you next time you go through a serious trial. Kiss the rod. Say, "Praise God that the hand that holds the rod loves you and is only doing it to train you and prepare you." What else does it mean to give up your Isaac? Well, deny yourself. Self-denial for the cause of Christ. You give up your Isaac when you're willing to turn your backs on earthly comforts and advantages for the sake of the Gospel. In a small way, when you risk ridicule at work, or at school, or in your neighborhood, to share Christ, you're giving up your Isaac. What are you giving up? Well, you're giving up a reputation is a good guy, or a fun person, or how it is they look on you. I've talked about Workplace Evangelism, as the trading in of an inconsequential temporary assessment for one good opportunity to share the Gospel. Trade it in. It's not worth much anyway. They won't sacrifice much for you, I'm telling you they won't. If they even think about you, they have their odd thoughts anyways. Trade it in, trade it in, trade it in with love by prayer, look for an opportunity, and share Christ. Trade it in.

How much more, if you were willing to go overseas on a short-term mission trip, or to go to the South Durham Church Plant. Say, you know, I love First Baptist Church. I love being here, but I think God's calling on me to do something challenging, and to leave a church I love, and to go work with a new church. I think God's calling me to do that, by faith. You're also giving up your Isaac when you mortify the members of the body that are leading to lust. When Jesus said, "If your right eye cause you to sin, then gouge it out and throw it away," that's like giving up your Isaac. It's something precious, that could lead you to sin, just like Isaac could have been an idol for Abraham. It's a precious thing. Your right hand caused you to sin, then cut it off and throw it away. It's something valuable, something precious, something God gave you, but it's just leading you to sin. Give it up. Learn to reason by faith, learn to think through what you believe. Get to know the Bible better. Root everything you think on specific commands and promise in Texas scripture, and then reason from it. Let a city of truth, a whole metropolis of truth grow up inside your heart by Jesus, and by the biblical interpretation, and by reasoning, so that the world view of the Bible, just grows within you. Reason by faith.

They are not enemies, they're not separate domains, not at all. That's what Stephen J Gould and other unbelievers will tell you, they're just separate domains. They have nothing to do with each other. That's not my world view. Put them together. Faith and reason, reason by faith as Abraham did, and learn the pattern of un-questioning obedience to God. God is telling you to do something, then do it. Do it. You may have some wrangling, you may have a tortured-looking face, but in the end, all that matters is, did you obey God or not? And finally, put all of your hope in your future bodily resurrection. We are decaying, we're in a decaying orbit physically, "All men are like grass and all their glories like the flower the field." Your body is wearing out. But someday you're going to have a resurrection body. Don't fear death. Look ahead to it. Look forward to it. Look forward to the resurrected body, in the resurrected world. Live for that. And don't cling the things. I'm not saying, don't do what you need to do to stay healthy and be ready to serve God do that, stay in good shape. If you need surgery, get it, if you need chemo, get it, if it will heal you.

But the fact that matter is these bodies are wearing out. Use the time you have to serve Christ, and look ahead to the glorious resurrection. It's coming sooner and sooner, Amen. Close with me in prayer.

In New York harbor at the base of the Statue of Liberty there is a poem written in 1883 by a woman named Emma Lazarus. She wrote a sonnet that was going to be sold to raise money for the purchase of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, and it was erected in 1886, and the poem put there about 20 years later. And the words are very famous. I'm going to read just part of it. The poem says this.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

We know in those days, people were coming by the tens of thousands on ships sailing the Atlantic Ocean from the complexities and the political uncertainties, the economic uncertainties of Europe, and they were coming with their hearts filled with hope that in America they would find a new life, a better life. The American dream was beckoning. Maybe some relatives have gone before them and gotten a toehold, maybe in New York City or Brooklyn or some other city in the US, and they had hopes that things would be better, that freedom would come, and with that freedom would come greater economic opportunities for prosperity.

They were hoping for a homeland. And many of the people that came did find, in fact, through the freedoms and just the economic opportunities, a better economic life. If you would have asked them 20, 30 years later, "Was it good for you to come?" They would say, "Definitely, it was the greatest move of my life." But I say to you, not one of those people found a permanent dwelling place here. And we who are native born Americans, we have not yet found our homeland, not truly. Because the text tells us that we are aliens and strangers, and we are passing through and frankly, the real light that's lifted up, the light of freedom, the light promising a permanent dwelling place, is not the light of the Statue of Liberty, it's the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's not just for one political nation, but it's for people all over the world, and that light has been spreading for 2000 years. It's a beacon saying to us who dwell in this sin-cursed world, "This world is not all there is." There is a permanent dwelling place through faith in Jesus Christ and it's beckoning to you. Will you not receive it now by faith?

That is the homeland I'm preaching today. And I want to speak to you today about the eternal rewards of living as an alien and a stranger in this world.

Now, the context of Hebrews 11, as we've noted many times before, the author is writing to Jewish people who had made a profession of faith in Christ, an outward profession of faith in Christ, but who were being assaulted by the world because of their profession of faith. And I think specifically in their context, by the Jewish world, by Jewish friends and family and political leaders and religious leaders putting pressure on them to forsake their profession of faith in Jesus Christ and turn their backs on Jesus, and go back to the comfort and the safety of Old Covenant Judaism. I believe if you read between the lines, you look at a few key phrases in the Book of Hebrews, there's a clear indication in those phrases that the temple was still standing at that time, and that animal sacrificial system was still going on, and the priests were still offering animals, and so it was plausible for them to go back to the temple sacrifices, go back to Old Covenant Judaism.

It wouldn't be until AD 70 that the Romans leveled the place and in Providence and time, ended animal sacrifice, giving, I think, clear indication to the acceptability of Jesus Christ, His blood shed on the cross, putting an end forever to animal sacrifice. But that hadn't come yet. And so these Jews were being assaulted with the temptation of forsaking Christ and going backward, of going back to something that they knew and something that was comfortable. That's what was assaulting them. But I say to you that we 21st century Christians, we're not any different, because we have left the world, we have come out of Babylon by faith, we have left Satan's kingdom. We have turned our back on sin and the lust of this age, we have forsaken them, we have made promises in our baptismal vows that by faith in Jesus Christ we will walk in newness of life, and we will put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, and we will live a new life, but constantly beckoning... Constantly alluring and enticing us back to that country that we left, is the world with all of its temptations.

And so we are being pressed as they were, to turn our backs on Jesus and go back to where we came from. And so this text today, one of the great texts of Hebrews, verses 13-16, speaks of a homeland that is yet waiting for us and that is beckoning to us to come to it, that we should set our hearts and our hopes totally on that heavenly reward, and live as aliens and strangers in this world.

Look at Verse 13. Begins by talking about the people that we have been studying. "All these people were still living by faith when they died." Living by faith when dying, these were those that had not yet received the promises. Who are all these people of verse 13? Well, immediately, the immediate context are the patriarchs, the Jewish patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These were the ones who lived in tents, and who are making their home in the Promised Land in tents moving from place to place. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They had not received the promises, they were still living by faith when they died.

But I don't think we would just stop there. I think we can see the same thing in Abel. Abel found in this world no permanent dwelling place. Enoch walked with God and God took him out of this place. Enoch was yearning for holiness, he was yearning for the Lord to send his angels and to clear out all the ungodliness that he was seeing and that grieved his heart in the days leading up to the flood, and God took him out of this world because here he had no permanent dwelling place. And Noah certainly knew that he had no permanent dwelling place because he saw with his own eyes how God destroyed the world that then was. There's no permanent dwelling place for any person living by faith. And we're going to go from here, going on to start looking at the lives of Moses and others. And none of them found a permanent dwelling place either. But all of these people, they were still living by faith. And it says when they died, and so we're zeroing in on the issue of death.

The Deathbed Perspective

Dying grace, the grace to die well. If you look at verses 23-22, we are taken from one death bed to the next, death bed to death bed to death bed, and we'll talk about it, God willing, in the upcoming weeks. But we go to Isaac's death bed, and by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. He's on his death bed when he's doing that. Verse 21, we have the same thing by faith, "Jacob when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshipped as he leaned on top of his staff..." Verse 22, "by faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites to Egypt and gave instructions about his bones." By faith we must prepare for our own death. By faith We must prepare for our own death. I think in some evangelical circles, there's so much of an emphasis on the rapture and the second coming, with the Left Behind series and all that, and so people think they're going to skip death, and they actually think it's somewhat faithless to think that you're going to die.

But you know that the vast majority of God's people that have ever lived will have died when all was said and done. It is appointed to each one of us to die, and after that, to face judgment. I know that there's a mysterious final generation that will be walking the Earth when Jesus returns. And they will not sleep, but they will be changed. I know that, and we accept that by faith and it may happen in our lifetime. But I don't think that the Lord would take it amiss for us by faith to prepare for our own death, amen. Because if you're ready by faith to die, then you're ready by faith for the rapture. The two and the end are one and the same, preparation is the same. Living by faith in the promises of God, putting sin to death by the power of the Spirit, living holy and upright and godly lives in this corrupt generation. That's how you get ready for both death and the rapture. And it is not faithless to get ready for your own death, quite the opposite. And so we must prepare to die well, and the way we do that is living now by faith.

So the trial here for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as it will be for all of us, is to not receive the promised goods. We have not received the things promised. They haven't come to us yet. They did not receive, look at Verse 13, the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. They live strange other-worldly lives, these aliens and strangers, they move through the world as though this world were not their home, because it wasn't. And so it is for us today, even in the 21st century as we move through the world by faith, there's just an other-worldly aspect to our lives that just doesn't make any sense. And if you had lost relatives coming around your death bed and you lived a life vigorously for Jesus, courageously stepping out in faith on His promises, I guarantee an aspect or portion of your life will seem very bizarre to the non-Christian relative that comes to your death bed. And they'll wonder why you gave up all that pleasure and fun and ease for your faith.

They are living out even as we speak, this philosophy in 1 Corinthians 15:32. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" and we won't have the chance to eat and drink. And you got to grab it now while there's time, that's the way the pagan mentality. And frankly, if there are no promises yet to come when we die, if for this life alone we have hope in Christ, we are above all people to be pitied, said the Apostle Paul. Well, he could say that because he lived aggressively and courageously by faith in the promises of God, and it cost him much in this world to serve Christ. He went from one beating to another imprisonment to a ship wreck, one after the other, and all that for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For me personally, my goal is to live more and more so that it would be true of me that if for this life alone I had hope in Christ, I would be worthy of pity because it doesn't make sense to have an aspect of my life that makes no sense from an earthly point of view, because my heritage, my inheritance, is yet to come.

And to live by faith for that. When an unbeliever dies, all of their hopes, all of their dreams, all of their aspirations, all of their achievements, all of their loves die with them. It's over. But not for us. When we die, we step into our hopes and dreams and loves and aspirations forever.

How to Die by Faith: See and Welcome the Promises from a Distance

So, how then shall we die by faith? Well, the text says that these did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. I get the picture here of Moses. You remember the story of Moses, how he lost his temper at one point, and the nation, the Jews, he said, "Must I carry this people like a squalling infant all the way to the promised land? I didn't give them birth. Why did you entrust them to me to be their babysitter?" He had his moments. That anger flashed out and he was supposed to just speak to the rock, it had already been struck once, but he was supposed to speak to it and water would come out, but he struck it again. And God said, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, I will not you will not bring this community into the land I give them."

And he begged and pleaded with God to change his mind, but God would not change his mind. But at the end of his life, God said that he will not let Moses enter the promised land, but he would commission Joshua to lead the people, and would allow Moses to see it. And so he had in Deuteronomy 34, in verse 1, "Then Moses climbed up Mount Nebo from the Plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. And there the Lord showed him the whole land from Gilead to Dan." I think a miraculous kind of vision of the promised land, that he just saw it and it was just beautiful and ravishing to his eyes. And so what he was able to see there, we can see now by faith. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob can see that home and native land, that country that we're going to, that city of God. We see it, but we only see it by faith. You can't see it with the eye. The only saw it and welcomed it from a distance. So you see it. In "Pilgrim's Progress," Christian hopeful are taken to the top of the Delectable Mountains. And they're given a special kind of telescope by which they can see the celestial city, and they are greatly encouraged by that vision.

That telescope is faith, dear friends, it's faith. You read the text, you read the scripture, you find out what heaven is like, and you believe it, and you see it from a distance. You're not there yet, you must see it from a distance, but you can see it by faith because faith is the eyesight of the soul. And so you see it and you take it in, and it says they only saw it and welcomed it from a distance, so they didn't just see, they knew that there's a heaven. They know what it's like, they know what the verses say, it's not that. They welcome it into their heart, it becomes a part of them. And they're yearning for it. And so they saw these things and welcomed them from a distance.

The Importance of Dying Well by Faith

And so this text is calling and beckoning to us to die well. To die well by faith, and what will you need at that point to die well? Well, I would suggest four things. First, you need to believe firmly in life after death. You must believe that this world is not all there is, that death is a portal to another world.

Secondly, you will need to entrust your departing soul into the hands of your faithful Savior, as Jesus did, He said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." And you entrust your soul to Him who has been the lover of your soul.

Third, you must have a firm belief in your own future blessedness and rest, that you have a portion at the table by faith in Jesus. You know that God has reserved a place for you with your name on it, and that portion is yours by faith in Jesus.

And fourthly, that this body that you're leaving behind in the ICU or wherever you'll be, that it will be raised up out of the grave, glorious and holy, just like Jesus' resurrection body and you will be reunited with your body and you will dwell in that body forever and ever. Those four things will stand you well on your death bed. In the meantime, you prepare for that by trusting in them now, and stepping out by faith now.

And you may ask, "Why is it important that I die well? Why is it important that I live by faith so I can die by faith? Why is that important?" Well first, it gives glory to God, does it not? It says in our own text, God is not ashamed to be called their God, people who live like this and die like this, so it brings glory to God.

Secondly, it's a great encouragement to loved ones that stand around your death bed, those that are shedding tears and weeping and will miss you, and some of that weeping is completely appropriate. It's the way it should be, but not too much. As it says in 1 Thessalonians four, "We don't grieve like those who have no hope." And so we seek to strengthen the hope of our loved ones so they don't weep too much. Know that I'm going to my Father and I'm delighted to see Him, and He will welcome me. Not because of any good works I've done, but because of my faith in Jesus.

And so thirdly, you will strengthen the faith of existing Christians, whether loved ones or family members. As they stand around your bed, their own faith will be strengthened by your comments and by your demeanor. And you will be a witness, fourthly, to lost people who are standing around your bed, who don't have your kind of confidence, who are themselves secretly in fear of death. They're actually in that bondage that Jesus came to deliver us from. In slaves all their lives to fear of death, and Jesus is the deliverer. And look at your testimony, the smile, the joy on your face, the demeanor that you're carrying. And so there are nurses bustling in and out trying to keep your dying body alive. At some point you want to say, "Stop. I am going to my Father, and this body you're working so hard on, in an instant God will heal it and make it glorious." So, obviously appropriate medical effort should be made. We understand that, life is precious. We should do that. But there comes a point in which by faith you can say to the nurse and the doctor, "I have a resurrection body coming. Do you? Are you ready? Are you ready to be raised in glory through faith in Jesus?" You can give a testimony.

And so, to get ready for that you have to live now as aliens and strangers on earth. Right now I seek to loosen your affection for this world now. I want to just pour acid on the bands that are connecting you in this world and I want to free you and liberate you to live by faith as aliens and strangers in this world. It says in Verse 13, "They admitted or they confessed that they were aliens and strangers on earth." This is a strong assertion by faith. They are confessing this. Basically this is how it works. God speaks to the soul, the soul speaks the same thing back, that's what confession is. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, He speaks to us and says, You have sinned. And when you confess your saying it with Him, Yes, Lord, I have sinned.

I said the way it is with all confessions and so now God is speaking to you and telling you you are an alien and a stranger on earth. And so these confessed it back to God. And they spoke the words. Think about when Abraham was dickering with the Hittites over a cave where he could bury his dead wife, Sarah. And so, in Genesis 23, and verse 4, he said to them, "I am an alien and a stranger among you, sell me some property for burial site here so I can bury my dead." So, he confessed that he is an alien and a stranger on earth. So also, Jacob said to Pharaoh, in Genesis 47 and verse 9, "The years of my pilgrimage are 130, my years have been few and difficult and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers."

So the idea of a pilgrimage is just moving through or going from place to place to place, have no permanent resting place here. Now, you may think that once the Jews enter the promised land of this alien and stranger language finished, they had now received their promises, right? Well, that's actually not true at all. 500 years later, David, King David in Jerusalem in the Promised Land, confessed that he was an alien and a stranger.

In Psalm 39:12. "Hear my prayer O Lord, listen to my cry for help, do not be deaf to my weeping, for I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were." We already learned from the book of Hebrews chapter 4, that Joshua didn't give them rest. It wasn't any permanent dwelling place he was given, it was symbolic. They had not entered their rest. 1 Chronicles 29:15, David again, we are aliens and strangers in your sight as were all our forefathers, our days on earth are like a shadow without hope.

Psalm 119:19, "I am a stranger on earth. Do not hide your commands from me." So these even after entering the Promised Land confessed they were aliens and strangers. And then in the New Testament, the same language is used of Christians. In 1 Peter 2:11. "Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful lusts which wage war against your soul." What a powerful text that is and more on that later. And so, we are aliens and strangers. What that means is, we have no permanent dwelling place in this world, we are just moving through... We have no final citizenship here. We're very much like some that I've had the opportunity to minister to in Romania, the gypsies called the Roma, who go from place to place, from country to country, generally despised and rejected.

And praise God for missionaries that are now seeing great inroads reaching them with the gospel. I don't think it's hard to convince them that their aliens and strangers, they've lived like that for centuries. And so we're like that we're just moving through, we don't have a permanent dwelling place here. So, how then do we do this? How do we live as aliens and strangers on earth, how do we renounce earth and embrace heaven? I think it starts in the mind, it starts in the way you think. Romans 12:2, it says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern in this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." You have to have a transformed mine, you have to look at things differently than the world does.

You have to confess like Philippians 3:20 says, "Our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Our citizenship is not here, it's in heaven. And we are to renounce, 1 John 2, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life. These things are what Peter tells us are waging war against our soul, fighting against us for everything in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life, comes not from the Father but from the world. So do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. This is very difficult. How do you obey, 1 John 2, and not be legalistic, that's a question, but I'd like you to step up and engage the text.

And not say, "Well I don't want to be legalistic so I'm going to throw the text out." The world is a threat to your soul and you need to fight or it's going to have its way with you. Religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless as this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and then comes a powerful little word "and," you see that word and, just meditate on that word "and." I can't believe that the pastor of First Baptist Church, he meditated on the word "and" in the pulpit. Okay, so if you look after orphans and widows in their distress, but you don't keep yourself from being polluted by the world that's not religion that our God and Father accepts as pure and faultless. Neither is it enough to just be pure and not look after orphans and widows, but there's an "and" in there and we must be pure from this world and we have to fight to do it.

If you just relax, if you let go and let God, you'll be swept downstream. You must stand firm and fight. The New Testament tells you to fight, to put on your full armor and fight, not relax. So we have to fight and we have to think about the way we think about the world, we have to consider what is my mindset toward the world? Can I say what the apostle Paul says in Galatians 6 and verse 14, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has become crucified to me and I to the world." The world and I both agree, we are each, sees the other as dead. That person's dead. They are not interested in any of the stuff we're interested in, and we say, Yeah, the world is dead to me, there's nothing here that's attracting me, and drawing me.

And so as I quoted before in 1 Corinthians 7: 29-31, "what I mean brothers is that the time is short.” Do you hear those words? The time is short. We don't have much longer. "From now on then, those who have wives should live as if they had none, and those who mourn as if they did not, and those who are happy as though they were not. And those who buy something as though it were not theirs to keep. Those who use the things of this world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." That's how you live as an alien and a stranger, to realize there's nothing you interact with, not a spouse, not a child or a sibling or parent, not a friend, not a church as you presently understand it. Not a possession or a position or a privilege that is permanent. Hold on to it loosely because it's passing away. So, are you living as an alien and a stranger here or are you too much at home in this world?

Are You Living as an Alien and Stranger Here?

And I would just urge you to go back to 1 Peter 2:11, and just say, "Am I fighting the worldly loss that are assaulting my soul, am I fighting the materialism, am I fighting the sexual immorality, am I fighting the carnality, that is assaulting my soul that's how we live as an alien and a stranger?"

And so we see right in this text, faiths progression moving from one step to the next to the next, seeing, then seeking, then yearning, then confessing and then finally receiving, amen.

So first, we'll see it. We will see it and welcome it from a distance, we'll see what God is holding out for us, the new heaven and new earth, home of righteousness, see it, immerse your mind in scripture, and see what God is giving you by faith. So see it. And then seek it. Look at verse 14. "People who say such things, show that they're looking for a country of their own." They're looking for it or seeking it, they're yearning for that country of their own, they want to have an inheritance they want it, and so they're seeking it. Hungering and thirsting for it. We should be ambitious, amen. We should have strong desires, not weak ones. We should be yearning every day, burning with desire, but for what God is intending to give us in the next world, yearning for it.

And so therefore yearning for heaven, homesick desirous to be there, look at Verse 16. "Instead they were longing for a better country.” Do you see that? Longing for it. The heavenly one. And this leads to as a result, a clear confession to this world that this world is not my home. You're confessing with your mouth, you're confessing with your lifestyle, with how you spend your money, how you spend your time. Are you spending like an alien. Clear confession that this world is not your home, but Heaven is and if you live like that then you will receive heaven as your portion. As I've been saying, Hebrews 11 is not extra credit Christianity. This is not for the super-duper Christians, this is what faith is. This is what justification by faith, this is the faith that justifies it, lives like this. Now, all of us can grow and develop, but this is what the faith that justifies is.

And so we have to constantly as the patriarchs did, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we have to constantly resist returning back to the place we left. Verse 15, "If they'd been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return."

It's a constant pull to shrink back. Remember the very end of chapter 10. You can look there on the text if you want or just hear it, but the very end of chapter 10, which leads into Hebrews 11, this is why the author's writing Hebrews 11, the threat is shrinking back from Jesus. And so he says in 10:38, "my righteous one will live by faith…" Justified by faith. "My righteous one will live by faith and if He shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him, but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed [that's hell] but of those who believe and are saved." We can't shrink back, we must go on. And so, you must live as an alien and a stranger constantly resisting the country you left.

Now you remember how Abraham, when he wanted to get a wife for his son, Isaac, got his servant ready and gave him some instructions concerning Isaac's potential wife. And so they're going back and forth, and at one point the servant asks a reasonable question. Servant is a bright guy, he really is and he says... Okay, so what we're trying to do is we're trying to convince a young woman to leave her father's household, and her home and come here and meet some man that she's never met and marry him and live with him forever.

Okay, what if she doesn't want to come? I mean suppose I meet someone nice and everything's fine, everything's in place, but she doesn't want to come or she liked at least meet Isaac first. And that's reasonable, isn't it? Can I come back and get Isaac and bring him back there? And you almost see elderly Abraham getting up out of his chair, no, no, don't bring him back there.

The God who has been my portion, my Shepherd, he will help you and he will enable that woman to come, He'll give her the faith to come but even if he does not, do not bring my son back there. And what's going on there? This is what the text is talking about. They had opportunity to return, but they didn't go back. You would not go, why is this important? Well, in every generation, there are apostates that turn away from Jesus and go back to the life of sin they originally left.

Peter talks about them in 2 Peter 2, he says, "A dog returns to its vomit, and a sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." I don't want to go back to vomit and mud, amen. That is wicked sinfulness, it's evil. I don't want to turn back to it but do you not feel the pull on your soul, because Satan's very good at making vomit and mud look very appealing. But I am not a dog and I'm not a pig, and I am not going to go back to my vomit and my mud, and neither will you, but you must fight so that you don't go back to the country that you left. Jesus said in Luke 9:62, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Don't begin plowing with me and then change your mind.

And he said even more pointedly with three unforgettable words, Luke 17:32, "Remember Lot's wife." Wow, you know Lot's wife, don't you remember what happened to her? The angel came and rescued Lot and his wife and two daughters, and he warned them do not look back at Sodom and Gomorrah. Don't look back. Well, she didn't want to leave. He didn't want to leave either, it was all they could do to get that family out of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's amazing how Sodom can wrap its tentacles around the heart of a godly man and he was godly. But Peter says he was a godly man, and he was grieved by the godless things he saw day after day. But still, it was hard to leave. And it was very hard for his wife. And as they're fleeing, at one point, just out of yearning and idolatry, she turned and looked back and instantly was turned into a pillar of salt. Jesus picks up on that and warns Christians don't do that, don't look back, don't look back at what you left. There's nothing there but destruction, don't yearn for the food you ate when you were a slave in Egypt.

Don't yearn to go back. And you have to be strong-minded to do this. Not only do you have to fight wicked lust, which you know are wicked and are assaulting your soul, but you have to be careful about lawful pleasures as well. Lawful affections, if they get in the way of serving Jesus. John Owen, put it this way,

"It is in the nature of faith to modify not only corrupt in sinfulness but our natural affections though in themselves innocent if they are not in any way, if there are in any way un-compliant with the duties of obedience to the commands of God, if they ever get in the way of what God's calling you to do. Our lives, parents, wives, children, houses, possessions, our country are the principal proper lawful objects of our natural affection.  But when they stand in the way of God's commands, if there are hindrances to the doing or suffering of anything according to His will, faith mortifies and weakens them even to the point of comparatively hating them."

That's right. So we have to watch over the affections of our hearts, not only for wicked and evil things, but for those good things that God gives which may occasionally get in the way of serving God more fully. Alright, so that's the life of faith, that's how it is to live as an alien and a stranger. What do you get for that kind of life? It's a fight every step of the way.

What rewards will come to you? Well, there are three in the text. I want to mention briefly first, esteem from God. Esteem from God. That God would esteem you, that God would honor you, that God would praise you. Now let's put in the negative in Verse 16. It says "God is not ashamed to be called their God." Do you realize the weight of those words? It's put negatively, but it's making a positive assertion. In effect, it's saying here, God is pleased to be called their God and it's so amazing when God actually identifies himself that way. Think what he said in the flames of the burning bush. Who shall I say is sending. "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." How could the eternal infinite God, the God who is spirit, the God who dwells in unapproachable light, identify himself with flesh and blood and dust, sinful human beings, but he's not ashamed to do so. He is not ashamed to identify himself, I am Abraham's God, I am Isaac's God and I am Jacob's God.

Jesus said it in opposite sort of way in Mark 8:38, "If anyone is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in His Father's glory with his angels." I don't want Jesus ashamed of me. So I must not be ashamed of Him in this sinful generation. Amen? Let's speak His name. Let's speak Jesus's name, let's be bold in evangelism, let's reach out and not be ashamed to own the name, because He will not be ashamed to call you His. As a matter of fact, it says in Isaiah 49:16 that he has engraved your name in the palm of his hand. Isn't that incredible. And then in Revelation 22, in verse 4, it says, "His name will be on their foreheads." So there is the incredible unity of the soul with Almighty God. Our name engraved on his hand, His name written on our foreheads, and we are together.

Faith reward number two. How about a heavenly city. Amen? Amen. Look at verse 16, "Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." Now the city was already described earlier in verse 10, a city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. God has laid the blueprints for it. God is building it. It says in verse 16, He has prepared a city for them. It is described beautifully in Revelation 21 and 22, this new Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven as a bride beautifully prepared and dressed for her husband. Now for myself, I don't love cities. I'd rather see nature than urban. There are others of you that may disagree. I remember having a debate with somebody. I was on a mission trip in the Czech Republic, and they went on and on about how beautiful Prague was.

Well, I have to be honest, I'm not meaning to offend any American cities, but Prague is the most beautiful city I've ever seen with my eyes. At night time especially. There's this one bridge that goes across to this castle, and it's glowing and it just looks incredible, it's beautiful, really. And so I could never deny that human beings can make beautiful things. I just always felt that nature was more beautiful. But still in the scripture, cities have generally a negative connotation. The first city that was ever built, was built by Cain, the murderer, as he lived east of Eden and he built the city there and named it Enoch in honor of his son. Something creepy about that whole thing there. That's how cities started. After the flood there is Nimrod, this mighty hunter, who built Babel. And so the city of Babylon becomes a symbol of human wickedness and sin throughout all of scripture. But the city that God prepares is not so. It is a beautiful, holy, majestic place that defies language and description. We cannot describe it, it's so beautiful. And it says that God has prepared a city for us, and He has prepared a place for us at the table. In Jesus's Father's house there are many rooms, he's gone there to prepare a place for us.

And so, He's preparing the city and preparing a place, and the wedding banquet has been prepared. The oxen are fat and cattle had been butchered and everything is all prepared. And so, He is preparing a specific place for you. Remember how James and John wanted to sit at Jesus' right and his left. Remember that? And he said, "You don't know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup I'm going to drink?" "We can," they answered. "Well, you don't know that either but let me tell you, you will drink from my cup. But to sit at my right and my left is not for me to grant. Those places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father." You see, God is preparing everything, and he's preparing it, I believe by the advance of the Gospel, by good works that we do, which God prepares, there's that word again, in advance for us to do. So God gets these good works ready for us to do and gets us ready to do the good works and as we do them, He is preparing this majestic city and the good works are flowing in and the city is rising to become a dwelling in which God lives by His spirit. How beautiful is that?

And God is preparing this glorious city, and meanwhile the bride, the city, the new Jerusalem, is preparing herself. In Revelation 19:7, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory, for the wedding of the lamb has come and the bride has prepared herself." How beautiful is that?

The third reward, the esteem of God is the first. A heavenly city is the second. And the third is a heavenly country. Look at verses 14 to 16. "People who say such things, show that they're looking for a country of their own. If they've been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one." Three times the word country is used. The word literally means home land. When you think of your home land don't you think of its beautiful sites and sounds and smells? Of the contour of the coast line and of the mountains and all that? Isn't it beautiful?

One of the great central themes of classic literature is a return home, like Homer's Odyssey, or Lord of the Rings. They just want to get back to the Shire. They're just trying to protect it from the evil that's encroaching. Or how about Apollo 13 the movie? And they're in a broken spaceship halfway between the Earth and the moon, and all they want to do is go home. And we're told from this text, we don't have a permanent home here. That doesn't mean we shouldn't want to go home. And so we have a home land waiting for us, we have a country that will be our very own. And now I bring you finally to a mystery. Maybe you haven't even noticed it, but I want to bring you to this mystery. All these people were still living by faith when they died, they did not receive the things promised. I want you to zero in on Abraham for a minute. Do you remember how in Genesis 13, God took Abraham through the land after Lot left him to go down to Sodom. He said, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. " Fast forward decades, decade, decade, decades, now he's on his deathbed. What happened to that promise? And this text tells us he died not getting it. Did God break his promise? What's going on with that? Oh no, he got something better. He got the ethereal heaven, the disembodied experience of being in the presence of God, absent from the body, present with the Lord. Stop. God made him a promise concerning the land. What happened to that promise? In Acts 7:5 Steven says, "He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground." That's how clear Stephen was on this. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. He died without a foot of that promised land. What happened?

Well, can I say to you, the promise is still outstanding and will be fulfilled. Let me tell you something about being a parent, if you ever promise your child something, you better do it. I had a chance to go ice skating with Jenny this week. What was that, six years ago I promised to take you ice skating? Six years. For six years she did not forget that promise. What is it with kids that remember promises and forget commands, how is that? I don't understand. That seems unfair to me as a parent. But they remember those promises, don't they? Has God broken his promise to Abraham? No, he just doesn't have it yet. Is he going to get the land? There's the mystery, the answer is absolutely.

He's going to get the land, the same land. But the mystery comes when you read about it in 2 Peter we're told that everything is going to melt in the heat, and all the elements are going to just be destroyed and everything will be laid bare. So, I believe for this very reason, for the text we're studying this morning, I believe in a resurrected earth similar to a resurrected body. I link the two together. The Earth will be resurrected and the body will be resurrected so it is that body that's resurrected. It is that Earth that is resurrected and Abraham will get his inheritance. And we, the children of Abraham who come under that promise, we'll get it too. And frankly, it's been expanded. He will get that land and the whole world besides, because in Romans chapter 4, it calls him the heir of the world.

So God can be even more generous than he was at that moment in Genesis 13. He'll give him that, and the rest of it too. And so the meek will inherit what? What will we get? The earth. So can I just urge you to kind of let it go now guys, just let it go. You're going to get it and it's going to be improved when you get it back. It's going to go through the fire and it's going to be resurrected and it's going to be perfect like your resurrection body, so let you go. Live like an alien and a stranger on earth. Trust in Jesus, the one who shed His blood on the cross for you. I don't know if you have been saved, I don't know if you're a guest here, a visitor, I don't know if you've ever trusted in Christ. I'm asking you to trust in Him right now. He shed His blood for sinners like you and me. If you trust in Him, He'll give you an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

And if you've already by faith received the promise of that inheritance, live like it. Spend your money like an alien and a stranger. Amen? Spend your time like an alien and a stranger. This world is not your home. Don't grieve over the things that come and go in life. They're going to come and go. Be happy in the promises of God and above all, please fight to be holy. Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers on earth to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul, and reach out with the Gospel to those who are lost, who are living like this world is all there is. Share with them so that they may come into that inheritance too. Close with me in prayer.

This morning, I'm wanting to see the Christmas story from a heavenly perspective, as I just prayed a moment ago. I would like the eyes of all of our hearts to be open to see into an invisible spiritual realm, that which we cannot see unless God grants us faith. I believe that the true story of heaven is that of a heavenly invasion, from Heaven to Earth. That God sent a powerful weapon in the midst of warfare that would win the battle in the end, and so I want us, by faith, to see that heavenly warfare - warfare that proceeds even to this very moment - to understand Satan's activity in that warfare, and to see the final victory, not only of Christ, but of Christ's people, of the saints of God, who overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of his testimony. So those two aspects, that's what I want you to see today, spiritual warfare in the heavenly realms, Christ coming from Heaven to Earth as an invasion, a military strike against Satan's dark kingdom, and the victory in the end that all of us will enjoy by faith in Jesus, that's what I want to see.

And so we go back to that familiar story. Luke chapter 2 I think records it for us so beautifully; the glory of a single angel and his glorious heavenly light ripping aside the darkness of that night, and ushering in a new age and the world has never been the same since that moment, the moment that that light shone in the darkness. Shepherds were there guarding their flocks at night, guarding them from predators, perhaps wild animals that would come and drag away their precious sheep and tear them limb from limb, or perhaps human predators, thieves that would come in and steal their sheep.  And so they were guarding them, but they were actually, themselves, the sheep, and they were actually themselves being harassed by spiritual forces in the heavenly realms that would seek to tear them limb from limb. We have a glimpse of this in another text, in Matthew 9 verse 36, it speaks of our Lord. When He looked on the crowds, it says that He had compassion on them because they were "…harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd." And so it was that all of us were in that condition, the shepherds that night, as human beings were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. The word harassed means literally flayed or skinned, like skinned alive. They were being played, they were being harassed, they were being beaten and bruised day after day by spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, that they could not see, but they were harassed, and they were helpless. They could do nothing to change it, they could not win a victory in the spiritual realm against the predators that sought their very souls. They were helpless. They needed a savior, they needed a savior, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

And so we see, we'll see in this text in Revelation 12, the vicious, the cold-hearted, two-prong satanic attack against our souls, that of temptation, allurements to sin, day after day, minute after minute, the temptations of the evil one. He is the one who leads the whole world astray by his temptations, and then he turns around and accuses us day and night before the throne of God, uses the law of God to accuse us of those very sins that he had just allured us toward and tempted us to do. And in that way, all of us were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd, and suddenly in the middle of that night, as the shepherds were out there watching their sheep, guarding them from physical predators, but themselves harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd, suddenly, a single angel comes.

In Luke 2: 9-12, it says, "An Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone all around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today, in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you, you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger.'" I wonder what that glorious heavenly light looked like, how shocking, how stunning it was. It shows us that glory can be visible, heavenly light can be seen with the eye, and so it will be the new Jerusalem, radiant with the glory of God through Jesus Christ. And we ourselves will shine like the sun forever and ever, but that one angel came, and he was shining, and the shepherds were terrified, and he brought them good news of a great joy of the birth of Jesus the savior, born for them. Immediately after that, an entire army of heavenly beings, an army of angels came to join with that single angel. Luke 2:13 and 14, "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rest." It's an awesome statement. An awesome occurrence. There is a sense of an in-breaking, like I said, an invasion. Suddenly it says, and with that single angel comes this mighty army of angels, and that's literally what it means. An army - a great company of the heavenly host - the word translated host in Luke 2 is really. These were soldiers, these were heavenly soldiers armed for battle. It was a great company, an innumerable invasion, maybe the greatest number of angels that had ever been seen with the human eye on Earth that night. A heavenly invasion, not to fight at that moment, but to worship, to praise God for His good news, the birth of the savior, of Jesus Christ, in the city of David, in fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus born a savior for them and for us.

Now, if we had been there that night before the angel came, it would have been just another night, an ordinary night. We would not have been aware of the spiritual realities around us, we wouldn't have been able to see it because we're so used to operating in the five-sense realm, the physical realm with our eyes, and our ears, and our noses, our mouths. This is what we're used to, this is how we get information. And I say that now, as much as ever, we need to see Christ and his birth with heavenly eyes.

Christmas just saturates our senses, doesn't it? That's not a bad thing, it's a good thing; it's God that gave us the five senses, but there are so many sights of Christmas, aren't there? I mean, it's just a beautiful time. A season of lights, the decorations in this room are just absolutely beautiful, and they do just do a great job year after year. I love looking at the lights. I like driving around, I drive in a neighborhood sometimes I don't usually drive in to see what the houses look like. I love the lights and the colors, and I know many do as well. It's a season of sights. And for many, of the greatest sights of all. Lots of presents under the Christmas tree. Can't wait to see what it's going to be, what's going to be in those packages. Isn't there... You know they're colorful, they're in gold foil or a different colored wrapping paper. It's just a sensory input, a sensory feast. So also the sounds. We love the music. It's so beautiful, and we, we're so blessed at this church by the music ministry. Eric, we're so blessed by what you do week after week, and all of your co-laborers, we're just blessed. Other churches have simpler musical gifts and they're blessed too, but we are just richly blessed by the spiritual gifts that are operating here, and at this time of year, there are just so many rich traditional Christmas songs, and we love to listen to them. I like the Christmas songs more than the seasonal songs. Amen. I'd rather hear someone singing openly about Christ, than about Chestnut's roasting on an open fire. There's nothing wrong with Chestnut's roasting, but I want Christ. Amen. But it's a seasonal time of rich saturation of the senses, and we can be just swept away by that, and we can forget that the reality, the real issues here are spiritual.

We are surrounded by people who are dead in their transgressions and sins, and if we are believers in Christ at one time, that was us. We have been resurrected from the dead spiritually. We are alive now because Jesus has come. We must see this season spiritually with spiritual eyes, and the only way we can do that, I think, is by a saturation of the mind and the word of God. We would not know of the invisible spiritual realms around us, except that God's Word told us, that God's Word told us that there is this spiritual world around us, and that by faith, we can perceive it. Revelation 12, gives us, I think, a very unusual glimpse into the reality of Christmas, what we call Christmas, the birth of Jesus into the world.

So we'll see an unusual glimpse into the heavenly realms, connected with the warfare birth of Jesus, how he's born into a war, and how the devil was ready, at that moment, to kill him. And we're going to see also back in time - I believe, that Revelation 12:7-9 goes back to the beginning, even before Eden - to show how Satan lost his place in heaven and was hurled to the Earth. We're going to talk about his defeat, and we're going to look finally, thirdly, to the future, how because of the birth of Jesus, how His blood shed on the cross enables sinners like you and me to overcome the devil, to conquer him and to avoid His condemnation, being thrown into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels, how because of the blood of this boy baby that was born, we can be delivered, and we will spend eternity praising God. That's the three-part outline of Revelation 12.

So let's look at the first part, a heavenly sign, the war time birth of our Savior, verses 1 through 6. Verse 1 and 2 says this, "A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out in pain as she was about to give birth." Now we have just been helicoptered and dropped by your pastor right into the middle of the Book of Revelation. There's no context for this at all. We're just dropped right into the apocalypse, and so with that, you're dropped into apocalyptic language, symbolic language, which is sometimes very, very difficult to interpret. The apocalypse, literally, that is just the transliteration of the Greek word, which means the unveiling, it's the unveiling of things hidden, the things that needed to be revealed. Ultimately, Revelation is an unveiling of Jesus Christ. So through the Book of Revelation, we can see Jesus Christ. The veil is pulled back, and we can see Christ in a way we couldn't see any other way, but there are other hidden things that the Book of Revelation unveils, the spiritual realms, the circles of thrones around the central throne of God.  We can see all kinds of things through this marvelous book, but in order to do it, we have to read through symbolic, what we call apocalyptic language, symbolic language, and so things aren't always exactly what they appear to be.

So we see immediately a great and wondrous sign, and that's what it is. It's a marvelous and miraculous sign appearing in heaven, and it is a woman - a pregnant woman - and she is pregnant, she's crying out, about to give birth, and she's glorious. She's an amazing woman, she's "clothed with the sun," it says, "with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head." Since we know, and we'll get to this in a moment, that the baby that she gives birth to must be Jesus, it's very easy immediately to see this woman as Mary. And I think clearly Mary is in view here, but I don't think it's enough to just see Mary in this woman. I actually think the woman represents the people of God in all eras of redemptive history. Israel in the Old Testament, the church in the new, all of the people of God are represented here. It's because later in Revelation 12, this woman is persecuted, and she's fleeing, and she's still on the Earth, and she's harassed by the devil, and she needs protection from God, and she's there for 1260 days. We'll talk about all that briefly, but this is, I think, representing the people of God, and Mary then is one of the people of God, and she is the one that literally, physically gives birth to Jesus. That's the way that I interpret it. It's the glorified vision of the church or the people of God, all of God's elect, radiant with glory.

Not so much Mary. I think sometimes Catholic artists might take images here from Revelation 12 and picture Mary as the queen of Heaven, and that's a mistake. Mary was an ordinary woman in this regard, she was a sinner saved by grace, just like you and me. Godly woman, chosen for a special role as many other men and women are in the Bible, but she's no Queen of Heaven, and so it'd be wrong to take the images of Revelation 12 and describe them just a Mary. I want to expand them to, ascribe them to all of the people of God. And that's amazing too when you think about it, how do the people of God in that sense give birth to Jesus? Well, we know that from, according to Romans 9, "From the Jews, is traced the human ancestry of Jesus, who is God over all, forever praised." And so from the Jewish nation, with Mary as the culmination, a Jewish girl, Jewish young woman, Jesus got His body, He was incarnate, He took on a human body. And so in that sense, the people of God ultimately give birth to Jesus, but isn't it amazing and deep and rich to contemplate that the one to whom she gives birth physically is the same one who gives her birth spiritually?

For it is Jesus who said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again," and if we are not born again, we cannot see heaven, but we will be condemned with the devil and his angels. And so this physical birth comes, and we give birth to Jesus physically because we needed a savior, it's because of our sins. To some degree, it's our own shame that we had to have this kind of savior, this kind of salvation. We needed Jesus to come and take on a mortal body, and so we gave him a mortal body so that he could die. He then gives us a resurrection body so that we can live. And how sweet and marvelous is that, and so this woman is crying out in pain, she's laboring, she's in agony, she's glorified ultimately, waiting for the birth of Jesus.

The second sign comes in verses three and four, a terrifying vicious enemy, "Then another sign appeared in heaven, an enormous red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns, and seven crowns on his heads, his tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that he might devour her child the moment it was born." So here's this terrifying spiritual enemy, another sign, which appears in heaven, this is in the heavenly realms. This is not something you can see except by faith, and this terrifying enemy is described as enormous; he's immense, he is a red dragon. Dragon, a figure that's come down to us in mythology, come down to us in the history of many nations, probably a literal creature at one point was named this name dragon, but this is clearly a spiritualized vision of a terrifying beast, a horrifying beast, ready to assault the woman and her male child. It speaks also of his great power, seven heads, 10 horns and seven crowns on those seven heads, this all accumulates to the great power of Satan. And since the image is very similar to Daniel's images in Daniel 7 and 8, which inevitably there in that book refer to political kingdoms, empires, I think behind this, to some degree, and you see this more in Revelation 13, is Satan's use of human kingdoms and kings, tyrants, wicked governments to assault the people of God. So he's got seven heads and a crown on each head, and there's just all of this power, this might and this vicious-ness.

Now, John leaves us no doubt as to who this is. Later in Verse 9, it says, "The great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." That is a comprehensive identification, isn't it, in verse 9? We'll talk more about it. We know who this dragon is, This is the devil, and notice that it says that "His tail swept," in Verse 4, "a third of the stars from the heavens and flung them to the Earth." I believe that this is referring to fallen angels, what we commonly know in the New Testament as demons. And so a third of the angels joined Satan in his rebellion against Almighty God, and they were flung to the earth, as we'll see later in this text, they lost their place in heaven, and they are on the Earth, tormenting those on the earth. The devil is not alone, and he has a very organized malicious empire, a kingdom, designed to destroy our souls. And so a third of the star is thrown down to the Earth, and he is standing there in a posture that's very threatening and very intimidating, terrifying even. He is waiting over this pregnant woman as she's in labor, waiting to grab her child the moment he's born and kill him, there's no doubt about it, to devour that child the moment that he is born.

Now, I think this implies very plainly that Satan knew who Jesus was, he knew that Mary had never been with a man - he knows all of our histories - that she had never been sexually with a man, she was a virgin, and yet here she was pregnant. She also knows what the angel Gabriel had said to her, and what the angel had revealed to Joseph, what the two of them had discussed together, how the whole thing was unfolding, and we know that the demons said to Jesus when he began his ministry, "We know who you are, the holy one of God." So the devil is very well aware of the significance of this birth and who this baby is. We also know, as Jesus said from John 8:44, "The devil was a murderer from the beginning," he intended murder toward this little baby that was being born.

But thanks be to God, the angelic army was there to stop him. Amen. I think they weren't just there to praise God, but they were there ready for a fight, and the sovereign power of God was there to protect this little baby Jesus as well, but to what a terrifying vision. And it's an amazing thing when we think about it. The scenes that we have, and I've gotten some beautiful - we've gotten - some beautiful Christmas cards, and you get this idyllic scene of the little town of Bethlehem, don't you. And it's a beautiful night, and all the hymns talk about:

“O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.”

No mention there of the stars that were flung to the earth by the dragon's tail. No, these are the physical stars, and it's a peaceful night, or this one:

“O holy night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Saviors birth.”

Or, this one most of all:

“Silent night, holy night,

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin mother and child.

Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.”

Well, that's fine, but there was more there than met the eye that night, that's all I'm saying. There is a terrifying dragon wanting to kill that baby, and there's an army from heaven wanting to protect that baby, and none of it perceptible by the naked eye. And therefore, dear friend, you must see with spiritual eyes this Christmas season. You can't see it only with the physical eye. You have to see what's really going on. And what's really going on is that Jesus's birth is a warfare birth, it's a weapon that came from Heaven to Earth, the ultimate weapon.

Now, behind all of this, of course, is the Genesis 3 prediction. You remember how Satan hijacks a snake in some mysterious way and spoke to Eve through the serpent and communicated with her. We're never told in Genesis 3 that the serpent is the devil, we just always kind of knew it, didn't we? Thanks be to God for Revelation 12 verse 9, that tells us that the ancient serpent is the devil. So we know who that ancient serpent was, but he spoke as he does, masquerading, always masquerading, standing behind, not quite sure who you're dealing with. But God saw through all of that and through the guise, the disguise, through the serpent, he spoke to Satan, didn't he? In Genesis 3:15, he said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers, he will crush your head and you will strike his heel." Well, from the moment that prophecy came, there has been a history of satanic assaults on the woman. And by that, again, I mean within Revelation 12, the people of God, as in every generation, there was a threat that the serpent slayer would be born.

And so at key moments in redemptive history, you can see the demonic or the satanic attack on the seed of the woman. You definitely see it, I think in Exodus chapter 1, when Pharaoh gave the order that all the boy babies of the Jews be slaughtered, thrown into the river. I think that is a satanic assault on the seed of woman. His desire was to stop the serpent slayer before the serpent slayer could come and crush him. Or, again in 2 Kings 11 in the flow of the history of Judah and Israel, the people of God, they had one king after another. David, the House of David, had already been set aside, and from his lineage, would be born the Messiah. The serpent slayer would be a son of David. And at one point, a wicked woman, Athaliah, sought to sever that line, to kill all of the sons of David, to destroy the lineage of David. And it came down to one godly woman, Jehosheba, who put little baby Joash, the only remaining descendant of David alive at that time, to hide him, so that he would not be murdered with all of his brothers. And it's just an amazing thing for me to meditate, thinking about it this morning, how slender the Davidic line hung by a thread, but that thread was unbreakable, it could not be broken. And so the devil would have sought to snuff out the line of David, but God said, no, and by the sovereign power of God, that baby was indestructible until, at last, he gave birth to the next in the lineage.

And then how much more in the account, and Eric already referred to it, after Jesus was born, how Herod the Great, that jealous and petty and wicked ruler who sought to maintain his own pathetic clinging to power. He yearned for it so much, he killed his own two sons, prompting Caesar Augustus say, “I would rather be Herod's pig than his son.” He won't kill his pigs, but he'll kill his sons. What an evil and wicked, grasping man. When he gave one of the most vicious edicts in the Bible, when the Magi came to Jerusalem and told him of the birth of the boy baby, birth of Jesus, "he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity, who were two years old and under, in accordance with the word he had gotten from the Magi." Do you see that the viciousness, the vicinity, and anybody two and under, he doesn't care who gets killed, just as long as Jesus is among them. But you have to see behind what Herod was doing to the devil's attack on the seed of woman. It was the devil, the dragon, standing there with claws and fiery breath, ready at that moment to kill that baby. And again, God said, "No." By the sovereign hand of God.

And so in verse 4, "The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that he might devour her child the moment it was born," but in verse 5, "she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter." And so Satan completely failed in his attempt; he could not crush him. Satan was thwarted, the baby was born, and he will reign forever and ever. This is the one who it says, will rule all the nations. All authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to him. He rules over everything, and he'll rule them, it says, "with an iron scepter." This is a direct fulfillment of Psalm 2, 8 and 9, in which God the Father speaks to God the Son, and he says, "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance. I will give you the ends of the Earth as your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. You will dash them to pieces like pottery." And so this is the little baby, the little boy baby that's born. He is the one who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.

Now, this iron scepter, in my opinion, represents Christ's unbreakable rule. His reign cannot be thwarted, he cannot be stopped. And it specifically, I think, talks about his power to crush all opposition. He will destroy all of his enemies with a fiery wrath. And so this iron scepter comes back in in Revelation 19 at the second coming of Christ, when Jesus returns, when the heavens are open and the invasion happens for the final time, and Jesus comes back, leading an army from heaven. This is what Revelation 19, 15 and 16 says of Jesus, "Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords." That's the second coming of Christ, that's when the rod of iron smashes the enemies of Christ on the Earth.

 Now, we might think that this image of a rod of iron is a picture of absolute tyranny, an iron boot or an iron yoke or an iron rod, something like that. And we get the picture of wickedness, really, of tyranny. But nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is actually another Psalm quoted in Hebrews 1 also speaks of Christ scepter. In Hebrews 1, God the Father, again, speaking to the Son, says this, "Your throne, oh God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness." That rod of iron is a rod of righteousness. He will smash no one unjustly. He will smash no one unrighteously, but it is a rod of justice and righteousness. I think the real question for us is, how can wicked sinners like us be seen to be righteous by the one who wields that iron rod – amen - that we might actually be accounted righteous by Jesus. And there is a way, that's the whole point of all of this, because Jesus came into the world because He took our place on the cross because He shed his blood. We may see, be seen to be righteous on that great final day, and He will not smash us. He will welcome us, He will embrace us as righteous sons and daughters, righteous not in and of ourselves, but righteous as a gift, a free gift of grace by faith. But this is the rod of iron, it's a rod of righteousness and of power and unbreakable reign. What child is this who laid to rest on Mary's lap is sleeping? This is the King of Kings. This is the Lord of Lords, this is the one who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And so Satan sought to devour this little boy baby, but he couldn't do it.

And we're told that "…her child was snatched up to God and to His throne." Satan wanted to snatch him, but Jesus caught him up to heaven, and we know that this is referring to after Jesus's sinless life, and after his atoning death, and after his mighty resurrection, bodily resurrection on the third day. He ascended to Heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty, and from that place, He will come to judge the living and the dead. As Psalm 1:10 says, God the Father speaking to God the son, "Sit at my right hand until I make all your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you'll rule in the midst of your enemies." So there's the scepter again. God's going to extend Christ's scepter, and he is to sit at God's right hand, and God the Father is making Christ enemies a footstool for his feet. Just as it said in Hebrews 10:12-14, "But when this priest had offered for all time, one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time, he waits for his enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever, those who are being made holy." That's the Gospel. Jesus now is at the right hand of God. And if you're a child of God, and if you've been made holy by simple faith in the blood of Jesus, he is at the right hand of God and is interceding for you right now. You know why? Because you're in trouble, and so am I. We'll get to that in a moment, but we are down here on the Earth and there's been a woe pronounced over us. "Woe to the Earth…" and the people who are still on it.

We are in trouble here, but Satan won't win. Amen, he will not win. We are going to have the final victory in the end, that's the joy of this. The woman is protected, she's still on the Earth, and she needs to be protected. Look at verse 6, "The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God where she might be taken care of for 1260 days." And so again, this is why I do not think this is only talking about Mary, but this is the people of God, even after the birth of Christ, she needs to be protected. She is Christ bride; now we've changed the image of it, and she must be protected from the assaults of the evil one. And she flees to the desert. So she is fleeing because the one pursuing her is more powerful than she is, but she goes to the desert, which is that ancient place of protection by God and provisioned by God, where the Jews wandered through the desert, and only God can feed His people in the desert by manna and by hidden springs of water. And so we are in a desert land, and we are being provided for by God, and we're being chased by the devil and assaulted by the devil, but we will be cared for 1260 days.

Lots to say about that. What can we say about the 1260 days? A time times and half a time. 42 months, 1260 days, three different ways that that time is identified, and we'll say nothing more about it, what do you say? I believe it may be the very last stretch of time of human history, the final phase of the persecution of the devil against God's people. But also here, at least, it represents a finite amount of time where the devil gets to beat us up, and then it will be done, because this text tells us the devil knows his time is short. And our time of suffering and our time of persecution is finite. It's fixed, the days have been weighed out and will not go a single day beyond what the elect can bear. And so she is protected, that's the first phase.

Second phase, heavenly warfare, the first defeat of Satan, in verses 7-9, "There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray, he was hurled down to the Earth and his angels with him."

Not every interpreter agrees with me on this, but I think that this is referring to even further back in time, back before the Garden of Eden, back before Adam and Eve fell.  This is referring to the fall, the original fall of Satan, other texts in the Old Testament, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 refer to the fall of Satan, I believe, in prophetic guise. God created everything good. All of the angels, including Satan, were created good and beautiful and upright and righteous. But at some point, the devil got into his mind to try to take over Heaven, and so he led a rebellion against Almighty God, he tried to ascend to the throne of God and topple God from His throne, but he could not do it. And so we're going back in time, and the archangel Michael initiates the attack here. Satan has been limited in what he could do, he could only recruit one-third of the angels to join with him in rebellion. And Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but the dragon was not strong enough and they lost their place. Not just the dragon, but everyone that followed him, they were hurled down to the earth, they lost their place in heaven.

So there's no doubt about who this is. Verse 9, five identifiers: he is a dragon, he is the ancient serpent, he is the devil, he is Satan, he is the one who leads the whole world astray. 2 Corinthians 4:4, calls him "The god of this age who has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." He is the one running the show in the world so that people can't see Jesus, they can't understand His glory.  He's blinding their eyes, he is the god of this age. And he's leading the whole world astray. Simply put, he's leading the whole world through sin, through temptation and sin, leading them away from God and away from Christ. That's what he's doing. Leading the whole world astray. He is the reason why we needed a savior, he's the reason why we needed a redeemer. He's a liar and a killer.

And what lessons can we take from verse 7-9, first, Satan is awesomely powerful, but he still couldn't win. He may be the most - I can't make this assertion definite from the Scripture - but he may be the most powerful single created being, but he still wasn't strong enough. He is vastly more powerful than you and I, vastly more powerful. I think it's also fascinating how the Almighty God, the one who rules all things, who controls all things, all power is His, let Michael and Satan and the angels more or less fight it out on more or less equal terms. Isn't that interesting? God is the billion-pound weight that when he weighs on one scale or the other, it's over that side wins. It's that simple. If he had stepped in and snuffed Satan out, it would have been over. But it was not God's will to do that, and so he let them fight it out and Michael won, and his angels won. And you may puzzle over that, say, "God, show up with your omnipotence," God is showing up every moment with His omnipotence. He actually allows David's line to go down to a slender thread and then just says, "You can't break it." He allows Michael and his angels to fight it out, and Michael wins by the sovereign hand of God. Satan was cast down to the Earth to begin his earthly reign. He became the strong man with armor and weapons, who then someone more powerful came and overtook him and stripped him of his weapons and plundered his house.

And friends, the plundering of Satan's house has been going on for 2000 years. Amen. And you're part of the booty, you're part of the plunder. You've been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought over into the kingdom of the beloved Son. Satan took over the world and he boasted to Jesus, the world has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. Well, who is it that gave him the world? I don't think it was God the Father, I think it was Adam. He just handed it to him, and Jesus came to get it back, because the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And Satan is a liar, and everything he tries to give is a temporary gift, because that's all he can offer, his time is short. How can he give Christ the kingdoms of the world and their splendor forever and ever; he doesn't control them. His time is short, and so Jesus rightly said, "Away from me, Satan. For it is written, 'Worship the Lord, your God and serve Him only.'" So I want you to estimate Satan and his demons rightly. They are powerful. They are here now, right now. They are assaulting you with temptations right now. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness, grim, we tremble not for him. His rage, we can endure for lo his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him. That word is Jesus.

And so we have terrible consequences for the Earth. Satan both leads people astray and then he accuses them before the Father night and day. He has crafted a wise, darkly wise, wicked world system that comes at us in clever devious, tricky ways. We have our own flesh, which he is well acquainted with, he knows our weaknesses and our tendencies, and he then marries together the allurements of the world specifically to your weaknesses in a scheme system, which is very effective. I've often wondered what it would be like to fight the world and the flesh without the devil there. We would be vastly more successful. And so Revelation 12:12 says, "Woe to the Earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you. He is filled with rage because he knows that his time is short." Isn't that a marvelous thing? The devil knows his time is short. How does he know that? Because he believes God's word. Isn't that something? James 4 talks about demonic faith, and so Satan actually believes that his time is short, he's seen evidence of it, he could not stop Jesus, and he has been defeated now for 2000 years. And you know the whole thing just makes him angry, he's just enraged. And God sits on His throne serenely smiling, perfectly at peace. Our God is in heaven, He does whatever makes him happy, and he is a happy being, so I would suggest you go with the happy God rather than the enraged god. Amen. The happy God will live forever and ever and ever, and nothing can get him off his throne. The god of this world has a temporary reign, and he's filled with rage, he's not happy with anything that he has. And so don't you see how the world-lings go after the things of this world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life, but they don't make them happy, they're angry too, they're imitating their father, the devil. Let's not be like them. The devil is filled with rage because he knows his time is short.

Thirdly, a heavenly victory, the conquering joy of the saints. "Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven say, now have come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our Brothers, who accuses them before our God, day and night has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. And therefore, rejoice you heavens, and you who dwell in them, but woe to the Earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you. He is filled with fury because he knows his time is short." Friends, this is the victor's cry, rejoice. Now, at last, the Kingdom of God has come. A loud voice in heaven proclaims this victory of Christ over Satan, because Jesus has been born, because he lived a sinless life, because He taught all those perfect doctrines, because He did those mighty miracles, because He went to the cross for you and me as our substitute, because He died and shed his blood, because He was raised from the dead on the third day, because He ascends to Heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty. Because of all of that, the salvation of our God has come.

Look at the spoils of victory: the salvation of our God, the power of our God, the kingdom of His Christ, the authority of Christ. All of these things rushing in one after the other, because of the victory of Jesus. If you know Handel's Messiah, you know this is the hallelujah chorus. The second part, where would the hallelujah chorus be without the Book of Revelation? Amen. Got to have the words that we're singing and celebrating about. The kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. That is the celebration, the spoils.

And all of this comes from one source, the death of Jesus on the cross. So we have kind of a two-part existence right now. We've got an existence here on Earth, our feet firmly rooted to the ground and a woe has been pronounced over us in one sense. We are still in trouble, we are in danger, the devil is working on us every moment, crafting temptations, assaulting us, accusing us, telling us how wicked and how sinful we are, underestimating the blood of Jesus, and so we are in trouble and we're having difficulty.

But then we've got this heavenly vision of the saints who have made it through, they're done, they have fought the good fight, they have finished the race, they've kept the faith, they are up in Heaven, and they're finished with all the strife and conflict, and they're just - therefore, rejoice you heavens. A time of strife is over.  And how did they get there? Look at Verse 11, "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Revelation 5 and Verse 6, "Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain standing in the center of the throne." Revelation 5:9-10, "And they sang a new song to Jesus, You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood, you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to serve our God, and they will reign on the Earth." So we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

We overcome. Do you have a testimony? Are you able to say, by your word, Jesus is Lord, and I know in my heart that God raised Him from the dead, and I have called in the name of the Lord for my salvation, and I have trusted in Him. And I know that all of my sins are forgiven, and I know that all of his assaults on me are temporary. And though some of his accusations are true, yet they are every one of them covered by the blood of Jesus, and I am able to have a clean conscience and a pure standing with God because of the blood of the lamb. Do you have such a testimony?

 I don't assume that you do, just because you're here in church on Sunday. It could be that God brought you here because you don't have a testimony yet, and you need one. You need to trust in Jesus. You need to say, I believe that what the pastor was talking about today is true for me, Jesus is my Savior, and He alone can deliver me from the devil and the world and the flesh, and note what it says of them, "They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." That must characterize you if you're going to go to heaven. I do not say to you that you will most certainly be persecuted by the government of this country, or be arrested, or beaten for your faith, and press through to martyrdom. I don't necessarily think that may happen, but you must not love your life in this world so much that you don't obey Jesus. You have to be willing to turn your back on your Earthly life, to deny yourself every day and take up your cross and follow Jesus. That is the life that leads to heaven.

Verse 11 says, "They didn't love their lives in this world so much as to shrink from death." So you may be called on to be a martyr. I don't know what the future of America holds. I don't know if the American government will persecute Christians to death in my lifetime. I don't know, maybe, maybe not. Stranger things have happened in redemptive history than that - a government assaulting Christians and killing them. It goes on all the time, even now. It may not happen in our country or it may. But this verse goes beyond mere blood martyrdom. I think we are called on every single day to die to ourselves and serve Jesus. When the moment of temptation comes, when that flaming arrow comes from the evil one, you must die to yourself by putting it to death. That's just what it is, feels like dying, feels like dying. "But unless a kernel of wheat falls in the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." You're called on to die, to die to sin, to die to the world, to die to ambitions and live only for Jesus.

So what applications? Well, come to Christ. Come to Christ now, come to Christ every moment. See through Christmas to Jesus. Amen. See through it all. Enjoy Christmas, have a good time, eat the eats and smell the smells, and open the gifts. Do all of that. That's wonderful. They're all gifts from God. But can I just ask, see through all of it, to Jesus on the other side, come to Christ.

Secondly, celebrate God's total victory over Satan. Do you know that Revelation 12 portrays Satan as a five-time loser? It's fun. I stopped at Verse 12, but if you keep going, he loses five times. He just keep losing, and losing, and losing, losing. God delights to make Satan loose for a long time, thousands of years of losing. And so five times in this text, we'll start historically with verse 7, Satan fought against the Archangel Michael in heaven, but he lost and He's cast down to earth. Start there. He loses. And then he's the dragon who attempts to devour the male child and put him to death, but he loses. And then he pursues the woman, but God protects her in the desert for 1260 days, then he tries to swallow the woman up in a river, but the earth swallows the river instead. And then he tries to wage war on the woman's children, those who keep on obeying God's commands and holding on to Jesus testimony, but he's thwarted there too. Five time loser, amen. Five times, Christ is the victor. Christ is the triumphant King.

Thirdly, understand Christ rod of iron. Christ rod of iron, understand it. It crushes his enemies. It trains his children. So when you have an adverse providence, as Sarah Edwards said, when she found out that Jonathan, her husband, had died, she said to her daughter, let us kiss the rod, kiss the rod. And what it means is trust in the strokes of your father. When he is training you, when he is disciplining you, submit to it gladly. You know what it means? It means you're a child of God. We'll read about it when we get to it in Hebrews 12, that God disciplines His children. And then concerning the enemies of the church, just know this, if they are truly genuine enemies and are assaulting, assaulting, assaulting, they cannot win. They will be crushed, Christ will crush them.

And then fourth, rejoice that if you're a Christian, your time is not short, amen. You have forever ahead of you, your best days are yet to come. All of them. The devil's time is short, he's heading for the lake of fire. But if you're a child of God, you have eternal life ahead of you.

And then finally embrace every moment, the principle that you should not love your life so much as it's shrink from death. It's hard, isn't it? How do you really enjoy Christmas but don't love it too much? How do you enjoy the blessings of this world, but still not love your life so much as to shrink from death? It's hard. And it is the challenge of the American Evangelical church. How do we get surrounded by all of this prosperity and ease and comfort and still not love our lives so much as to shrink from death? But I urge that you take that text and bring it back to God and say, God teach me to die, teach me to die as you want me to die, teach me to die to myself today, to worldly ease and comfort. Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for this text, for all that it teaches us of Jesus. Thank you for everything that he has done for us, and coming to Earth from Heaven, dying on the cross. Father, I pray that you would reach out now to any who is lost and save them from their sins. And Father, reach out now also to the rest of us who are already your children. Reassure us, comfort us and strengthen us for the fight, because we're still in a battle now, but help us to look forward to the day when we can rejoice with the Saints who went ahead of us, who overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. In Jesus name. Amen.

Well this morning, we have the great privilege, the great joy of celebrating the faith of a single woman who lived many years ago, 4000 years ago, as a matter of fact. And the effects of that faith, the faith of Sarah are still felt today 4000 years later. And not only are we celebrating her and her faith, we're also celebrating her union, spiritual union with her husband, Abraham, and how the two of them walked by faith in the promises of God, they walked under the promises of God. They organized their whole lives under those promises and so they become for us a paradigm example of a godly couple who lives by faith, in the promises of God, and makes the promises of God the center of their marriage, the center of their relationship. That's what we get to celebrate today and we really need this, we need godly examples. Women need godly examples of a faithful woman, a faithful wife And a faithful mother who was blessed richly through her offices of a wife and a mother and the effects are still felt today. Women need that example, that role model and we men also need the role model of this godly marriage of Abraham as he interacted with his wife Sarah.

We need role models, and I think that's exactly why Hebrews 11 was given so that we can read the examples of men and women who walked by faith, So many years ago, we live in an age in which womanhood godly vision of woman, excellent womanhood and genuine marriage as God intended is under bitter attack from the world, the flesh, and the devil. And the only remedy is the grace of God as revealed in the pages of scripture, and so for us to celebrate the faith of Sarah is appropriate and beneficial and I hope it'll be a blessing. I really want to speak to you, women first and foremost to encourage you in your roles, those of you that are wives and mothers to encourage you. And the validity of those roles, the blessedness of them that you may feel the strength Of the Holy Spirit through the promise of God in those roles, and for those women among you that are not wives or mothers and for the rest of you, namely, the men, you can still benefit as well from the example of Sarah's faith just as James uses Rahab, as an example of faith, resulting in works and so we can learn from that as well. So we can be challenged and encouraged as well even as men.

And so we see the timelessness and beauty of the roles of godly womanhood celebrated here. And I think women need this too because we have in our culture a perverted and strange sense of feminine beauty. Literally billions of dollars are spent in our country, in the West in general on artificial feminine beauty whether in cosmetics or botox, surgical adjustments all of it, trying to stem the ravages of time. And I think it's ironic that the paradigm example of feminine beauty in the Bible came with a woman who was 90 years old. And who said, "I'm old, I'm worn out and can I really have this pleasure at this point in my life?" And she is chosen as an example of beauty, by Peter. And we'll talk about that in 1 Peter Chapter 3. But we have before us the example of a truly beautiful woman and one worthy of celebration. So look at the words with me. You've already heard them read, "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age since she considered him faithful, who had promised and therefore from one man and him as good as dead, were born descendants many as the stars of the heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."

So we begin by looking at Abraham and Sarah and their marriage right in the middle of a flow here, a flow of thought in Hebrews 11, we're looking generally at role models or examples of faith. The reason for that at the very end of chapter 10, we are told "The righteous will live by faith." It is only the life of genuine faith that leads to heaven. Be not deceived. As I've said many times before, the examples of faith in Hebrews 11, are not for the extra special or super Christians, This is what faith genuine faith really looks like. And so the examples that we have one after the other... That we've already seen of Abel, and Enoch, Noah and Abraham and now Sarah and then Abraham, some more after this Are giving us snapshots of what faith looks like. Now, your situations will certainly be different than These peoples were but the faith will be the same, And this is the faith that justifies this is the faith that saves. So right in the middle of Hebrews, and we're looking at examples of faith and we come to Abraham. The section of Hebrews 11 from verse 8-19, essentially is following Abraham somewhat mentioning Isaac and Jacob, but mostly it's Abraham right on through. Through the sacrifice of Isaac And right here in the middle of that, we have this focus on Sarah and so we have Abraham and Sarah who are together, I think co-heirs of the gracious promise of life And paradigm examples of, I think what God intended when He created marriage, to begin with.

The Blessed Gift of Marriage in the Creation Order

Genesis, chapter 1, God created them male and female, created them in the image of God, and he blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the Earth and subdue it." Genesis Chapter 2, we are told these words that led to the first married couple being formed the first woman being formed, "It is not good for the man to be alone," which as I've mentioned before, I think it's better to be understood. It is not good for the man to remain alone. It was good for him to be alone for a while to establish male headship in marriage, but it was impossible for Adam to remain alone and be fruitful and multiply, and fill the world with the image of God with human beings who would celebrate the glory of God in creation. And so, it was right and part of God's plan to create in the order of time, Eve Who would come and join him. And so we have the first couple.

We know that she was created to be a helper suitable for him Lined up to his needs, lined up to what he was called on by God to do, and so she became a helper suitable for him. And I think we see this pattern laid out for us in Genesis 1 and 2 in a beautiful way fulfilled in Abraham and Sarah's marriage With this godly couple, an example of a godly marriage. And God's desire I think, in giving us Sarah, is to give us a sense of her faith in the promise of God and the fact that both Abraham and Sarah believed in the promises of God And lived under those promises of God.

In this way. Therefore, I think in a similar way to Abraham being the father of the faithful, Sarah in a similar way as a mother to the faithful. We know that in Romans chapter 4, it says "Abraham is the father of us all." He is our father in the sight of God, it says, in Romans 4:17, but then Peter says in 1 Peter 3, and verse 6, Speaking to godly women to Christian women, he talks about Sarah, "who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters, if you do what is right and do not give way to fear." So there, Sarah is a paradigm example of a godly woman to other godly women. If you want to be a godly woman be like Sarah, she is your mother. But then even more mystically and more powerfully the Apostle Paul in Galatians Chapter 4 talks about two women Hagar and the free woman, she's never named there, Sarah, but it's clearly Sarah And saying that we as children, as Christians, as children of the promise, having believed the promise of life in Jesus Christ, we are sons and daughters of the free woman who is above.

So it says in Galatians 4:31 that we are children not of the slave woman, but of the free woman. We are in that way by faith in Jesus, children of Abraham, and children of Sarah as well. So what an incredible example she is and also Isaiah 51: Verse 1 and 2, The prophet there, says, "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord." I hope that's you, I hope you are pursuing righteousness and seeking the Lord. Okay, well this is for you, then listen to me, "Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn. Look to Abraham, your father and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one and I blessed him and made him many.

So here we have Abraham, The father of faith and Sarah in a beautiful way, The mother of faith, We also see in Sarah a woman who is indispensable to the promises the specific promises that God had made to Abraham. God called Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, and he said, "Leave your country and your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you l I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." And then God also promised that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless as the sand in the seashore and he was told that he would be a father of nations. Well, all of these things would come through Sarah. God intended to elevate and to glorify marriage and specifically Sarah that she would be the one through whom all of these promises could come true.

Sarah Indispensable to God’s Promise to Abraham

Now, we know that Abraham had children through other women. We'll talk about that, we'll talk about Hagar. It wasn't a biological necessity that it be Sarah, it wasn't required that it be Sarah biologically. He had children, also through Keturah after Sarah had died, But I believe that God had chosen Sarah as Abraham's wife And elevated that pattern that he established from the very beginning. One man one woman for life, and he chose her and she would be his chosen vehicle, his chosen instrument, By which God would fulfill his promise to Abraham.

And so we're going to see a study today of a woman of faith who was indispensable to God's plan and 1 Corinthians 11:11, it says "In the Lord, however,  woman is not independent of man nor man independent of woman." And so both Abraham and Sarah, indispensable to the promises of God that He made through Abraham. And so we see this couple who are called beautifully co-heirs of gracious promise of life, 1 Peter 3:7, it says "Likewise, husbands live with your wives in an understanding way showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the gracious gift of life so that your prayers may not be hindered." And so Abraham and Sarah both went through the trials, the difficulties they shared those experiences together the trials of faith and also they receive their rewards of faith.

Question: Does this Passage Refer to Sarah?

Now, I've already gone on and on this morning about Sarah the question you have to ask is, "does this passage even talk about Sarah?" And you may say, "What are you talking about? Have you gone astray, here? Well, if you were to do what Larry said, and that's to take the Pew Bible and open up to the NIV, you will not see the first three words that we saw in our reading today which was ESV. In the NIV, you're going to see these three words "By faith Abraham, A bit troubling. ESV by faith Sarah, I find a difference between there Don't you. By faith Abraham versus by faith, Sarah? Now, which is it? Why did the NIV translators decide to go with by faith Abraham? Is it right for me to be preaching today on Hebrews 11:11 on the faith of Sarah. Is it really talking about Sarah's faith?

Well, my best answer to you is, I think so, But I wanted to preach about Sarah anyway, so here I am... Alright, I think it's wonderful to have Sarah as an example, the fact that, Galatians 4, and 1 Peter 3, celebrates her as a godly woman in a paradigm example, sets me free to go ahead and celebrate it here. But there are some reasons why the NIV editors went with "By faith Abraham, even though Sarah was barren, etcetera." And so, it's a viable Greek translation, and probably the number one reason they went with "By faith, Abraham" has to do with these words, it says, "By faith, Abraham, even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren was enabled to become a father." That's what the NIV gives us.

The Greek is katabolē spermatos which really focuses I think grammatically, on the male role of procreation. Katabolē means to establish or lay a foundation of seed, and that seems to be something a man does, But the word spermatos can also refer to air or sea generally descendants and I think that's why all the other translations, KJV ESV NAS all of them went with, by faith Sarah. And so I think it's right. Also, there's an indication we're just generally talking about Abraham here Abrahams, there in 8, 9 and 10, and then we've got Sarah, and then 12 seems to be talking about Abraham and then back some more to Abraham. And so, it seems odd to just stop and talk about Sarah, But when you look at what God is actually discussing here in the text Namely the birth of the miracle baby Isaac, it seems completely appropriate to talk about Sarah as well.

And she was a faith-filled woman, she wasn't faithless as she was carrying Isaac, but trusting God in the midst of all that, seeing God's hand in it celebrating it rejoicing in it, considering God faithful in the midst of it. And so this morning, we're going to celebrate her faith and we're going to see the development of Sarah's faith. We're going to go back and look a little bit as we've done with the other people in Genesis 11 To what the actual record is of what happened with Sara and try to understand this. And as we look at Sarah's life, we're going to see a faith developing... We're going to see it overcoming obstacles. It's not fully formed immediately, but through the twists and turns of events, She ends up with a stronger and stronger faith. That's what we're going to look at.

And so Sarah's faith I think is on display initially as she went with her husband leaving their home, Ur of the Chaldees in Iran and settling in the promised land, not knowing where they were going. I don't mean to say anything off-color here, but I just think men are more kind of that way and women are like Where are we going, where are we staying tonight, where is it going to be... How's it going to go? I need to know and again I don't want to generalize, but that seems to be kind of generally true where are we going to pitch the tent? I need to know, "Is it going to be near water, that kind of thing? And so I think she may have displayed even more faith to live in a tent than Abraham did. To trust God for all of that, but it's not mentioned and... As we've said many of these heroes, Abel, and Enoch and Noah, their faith isn't specifically mentioned, but if you know what to look for, you can see it.

And so also The promise that had been made, to Abraham that he would be a father of many nations, their initial reaction would have been that has to do with me. He didn't have anyone else And so they had to deal with the challenge.

Sarah’s Barrenness an Ongoing Test

The trial of Sarah's ongoing barrenness, the fact that she was unable to conceive a child, it was a very difficult test. Genesis 17:17, Abraham asked, will Sarah bear a child at the age of 90. And it just continues to be a trial for them. They have these incredible promises, they have stepped out in faith on them. But he was 75 years old, Abraham, when he received that. And then just as the years wear on even the decades wear on, I'm sure the fact that she was barren became a bigger and bigger issue in their marriage and in their faith, it was a struggle for them.

Genesis 15:2, Abraham says, "O sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless? The one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus." So it's a burden. It was a challenge, I remain childless. We don't have any children in case you haven't noticed, we don't have a son. And so, it was a trial and then at the beginning of Chapter 16 that faithful chapter Genesis 16. It starts the exact same way. Now, Sarah, Abraham's wife had borne him no children. And so it was an ongoing trial and there in Genesis 16, they take what I consider to be a faithless misstep. They stepped away from God's plan and God's purpose and this is very instructive for us. I think it's very significant. There are other ways to look at all this, but I think in Genesis 16, it's pretty plain that what happened was that Sarah first, and then, Abraham Took matters in their own hands according to their own wisdom and tried to fulfill God's good ends by their own fleshly means.

You know the story, what happened was, she was not again, not giving birth and the time of her being able to even do that, probably was coming to an end. And what are we going to do, how is this promise going to be fulfilled? And here's Hagar, her maidservant, says, "Well Tell you what, I will give you my maidservant, and you can have children by her, you can have a son by her. And so Abraham listened to the voice of his wife, and he lay with Hagar, and she conceived and gave birth to a son named Ishmael. And it was nothing but a grief and a burden and in the providence of God, ultimately there will be descendants of Ishmael in heaven praise God, you can find it in Isaiah. Ask me afterwards what I'm talking about, but still, it was off message. And so instructive for us.

How many times are you tempted to take hold of something? You see what God's... You think where God's going, what we're to do, but you take hold of the matter with your own fleshly wisdom and understanding and try to make it happen. It's a great temptation for pastors. We want a church to be successful as the Bible defines it, to go into pragmatism or to study the science of church growth and by fleshly means to try to do it rather than just trusting in the word of God is a great mistake. And so all of us, as believers, we are tempted to do this as Paul says in Galatians, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now completed by the flesh?" Is this how it happens? And I think that's what happened. I think they saw where they were going, but they didn't think they could get there. And so, they go with Hagar. And you have to realize there's indications that God was intending Sarah all along. You remember earlier, when Abraham had lied about her and said, "She is my sister" and Pharaoh was getting ready to take her as his wife. You remember that whole story?

And God afflicted Pharaoh's household with diseases and warned him in a dream, and all of that, and all of this stuff happened around that. Since Abraham failed to protect his wife, God had to step in and protect her. But specifically it was her procreation, it was Abraham and Sarah's marriage and their child, their bearing of a child that God was putting a wall around the thing. She is set apart for my purposes. Now, they should have learned then, God was going to do great things through Sarah, just wait, just wait. Wait on me and trust me. And boy, it's hard for us to wait isn't it? You know, why was God making them wait? I think it's similar to what God was doing with Gideon when he told Gideon, "You have too many men here for me to win the battle, send them home." That makes no sense at all, it just makes no sense. Well, it makes perfect sense if you see it through faith. God wants all the credit and all the glory for doing something astounding and amazing, and so, in order to achieve that he's going to wait for Sarah to get to be 90 years old and then he's going to move out.

He could have done it at 80, at 70, anytime, but he does it in such a spectacular way that Galatians 4 can come in and say that Isaac was a miracle baby, he was born by the power of the Spirit of God, and no other way. And so, they just needed to wait on God's best, to wait on his plans and his purposes, and not take matters in their own hands and do it in the fleshly way. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. God's wisdom has worked out the best ends and the best means to the ends. And so, that's what happened with Hagar. So in due time, God clearly identifies Sarah as the mother of the miracle baby in Genesis 17, God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai, your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai, her name will be Sarah, and I will bless her and I will surely give you a son by her and I will bless her so that she will be the mother of Nations, kings of peoples will come from her."

Key Moment in Redemptive History

This is a key moment in redemptive history. In Genesis 17:19, then God said, "Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." Mark that moment well. That word is what enabled Abraham to almost kill Isaac later on. We'll talk about that in due time, I don't want to steal the thunder, but it's because of that specific word, it's because of Sarah's son, Isaac. In him, your offspring will be named, it is through him the covenant is going to happen, therefore, he is indestructible until he bears a son also. And so, God made this promise, he was very clear, it's going to be Sarah, now wait some more.  And so, they had to wait some more, but now they knew by faith, trusting in God that it was going to be Sarah. And as the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Sarah, one day Abraham sitting in the entrance of his tent, looks up and sees three men. And the men come and he greets them, and energetically he and Sarah prepare to show hospitality to them.

In my opinion, I think this is exactly what the author of Hebrews means in Chapter 13, when he says, "Show hospitality to strangers for by so doing, some have entertained angels unawares." They didn't know who these three were per se, but in due time, I think Abraham probably figured it out. And the account is interesting. You have three men eating a meal, and the Lord speaking to Abraham and Abraham answering. And so, I think it doesn't ever say the Angel of the Lord, but this is probably the pre-incarnate Christ, the Angel of the Lord there with two other angels who are going to subsequently be sent down to Sodom and Gomorrah and see if the outcry there is so terrible. And so, here is the Angel, the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ. Sarah was in the tent, maybe cleaning the dishes after the meal has been served, but she's listening through the walls of the tent. A little bit of sanctified eavesdropping. And so, this exalted individual says, "'Where is your wife Sarah?' 'There in the tent,' he said. Then the Lord said, 'I will surely return to you about this time next year. And Sarah, your wife, will have a son.'"

Now, what could be clearer? Now, we know not only the woman but the time, this time next year, I will come and you're going to have a son by her. Now, Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old, well advanced in years and Sarah was past the age of child-bearing, literally the way of women had ceased with her, you know what I mean. And so, she just... It just was a biological impossibility at that point. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, after I'm worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure? So she has a rational appraisal of herself and her husband.  She's been able to look in the mirror, she knows what she looks like and she knows what he's like, and she's wondering how is this going to happen? And so she just laughs. Now, there are a lot of different laughs in the Bible. A lot of different laughs. I mean, you can get the different kinds of laughs even in Jesus' statement in Luke, "Woe to you who laugh now, for later on you will weep. But blessed are you who weep now, for later on you will laugh."

So there is a laugh of grief and sorrow, and under the wrath of God, that is a laugh of unbelief laughing... For example, when Jesus goes to raise Jairus' daughter, and all the mourners were there and Jesus says, the little girl is not dead, merely sleeping and they laughed at him. It's a laugh of unbelief, but then there's the laugh of true joy that comes, Isaac means laughter. And so, what kind of laugh was this? Well, we wouldn't know accept how the Lord responded to it. "Lord said to Abraham, 'why did Sarah laugh? And say, "Will I really have a child now that I'm old?" Is anything too hard for the Lord. I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.'" So, this passage, Hebrews 11 will float away from us, if we don't realize how much we are like the people in it, how imperfect they were and how imperfect we are. These are not perfect people of faith, not everyone whose faith is celebrated in Hebrews 11 did everything by faith. Do you understand that?

Faith Must Grow

But they still had faith. Faith must grow, faith must develop. 2 Thessalonians 1:3. "We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more." Our faith must grow. How many times did Jesus call his disciples "O, you of little faith." He wanted them to grow, and they did have to grow and so throughout Hebrews 11, we have examples of flawed men and women who made huge mistakes and frankly it's hard sometimes to see how they exhibited faith. We'll get to it in due time, but I don't want to talk anymore about the details, but just by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau. You know that story. We'll get to that in due time, but it's hard to see how faith was operating there as the blind Isaac's putting his hands on the wrong son.

It's hard to see faith in Moses' murder of the Egyptian, looking left and right and hiding him in the sand. That doesn't sound like a faith-filled action to me, frankly similar to what we have in our text here, a man trying to take matters in his own hands and deliver the people himself, and he couldn't do it. Or Gideon's... Let's go to Gideon's Second Fleece. The First Fleece, maybe I get but the second one, I mean... And God, so patient, goes ahead and does the opposite thing with the due and the fleece, and all that. These are not super stars of faith, these are just ordinary men and women just like you and me. Sampson's love for odd women. I mean, a moral failure of his, an Achilles heel, his love for prostitutes, and of course David and Bathsheba, not everything that these examples of faith, did was by faith. And I think that's precisely why Hebrews 11 is written, it's because our faith isn't complete, our faith needs to grow. That's why Hebrews 11 was written. It's because ordinary believers like us need to grow in faith, and get stronger in our faith so that these examples are given.

And so, God corrected Sarah. "Why did Sarah laugh? And say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I'm old?' Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son." Now, I think that second statement of the promise is key. We don't hear the promises of God just once, and that's all. We need to hear them again and again and again. And the more important the promise is, the more you need to hear it. You need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ again and again, that if you repent of your sins and trust in Jesus, His blood shed on the cross, all of your sins will be forgiven and that because he rose from the dead, you will live forever. You just need to hear that again and again. And so, the promise is restated, along with this correction, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Do you remember what happened in Genesis 18:15? Sarah at that point was afraid and lied, said, "I didn't laugh." I did not laugh. But he said, "Yes, you did laugh." Period, next paragraph. I love that part, alright? I mean, I'll tell you what, it's amazing trying to smoke out a lie with someone and back and forth, and it's like, what can you do? You don't need to worry about God on judgment, he will say the final word, whatever it is you say. There's no point in lying to God on Judgment Day, because he gets the final word and when he says, "Yes you did laugh," that's the end of it. Before him, everything lies uncovered and laid bare. He is the one to whom we will give an account. And so, he settles the matter. But I think he's not angry at her, he's not enraged at her, he's just telling her the truth, and frankly, he's working surgically on her faith.

And so, the overall lesson to me here is that faith must develop even heroes and heroines of the faith, their faith must still develop and grow. And don't you also see beautifully here, in this simple account in Hebrews 11:11, by faith Sarah, God's willingness to graciously overlook all of that and just keep it simple and say "By faith, Sarah had a son." Praise God for that. God's willingness to make the final word on you, be a gracious word. Think about what he says about David, for example. David says of himself in Psalm 40. My sins are more numerous than the hairs of my head. And if you know how many different ways there are to sin, sins of omission, sins of co-mission, words of irritability, selfishness and all that, I think he's absolutely right, and probably understated the case. He probably had more sins than the hairs of His head. But yet, for all of that, in 1 Kings 15:5 it says, "For David had done what was right in the eyes of the Lord and had not failed to keep any of the Lord's commands all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite."

There, it's just a sweeping statement of righteousness, except in the matter of this one case, Uriah the Hittite. And then after that in 2 Chronicles 29:2, it says, "Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of Lord just as his father David had done." How sweet is that? We are righteous, perfectly righteous in Jesus and after Judgment Day, when all of our wood, hay, and stubble works have burned up and gone forever God will celebrate the gold and silver and costly stones of our faith-filled actions, then purified by his refining fire and that's all he will talk about when he talks about you. Isn't it awesome? And Hebrews 11's indication of that. These people who surprise you that they made it, they're there by faith, because of God's grace, and so will you be. And so, God's words, I believe is anything too hard for the Lord became the focal point of her faith.

And so, the immediate outcomes of Sarah's faith were a consideration and strength. I reversed the order that we have in Verse 11.

First, she considered and then God gave her strength to conceive the child, alright? So the consideration happened right there. She starts thinking about these words. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Who are we talking about, the God who created heaven and earth in six days, by the word of His power? The God who said "Let there be light," and there was light? This is the God who created the Garden of Eden, the God who put the first man, created out of the dust of the earth there, and then created the woman out of the part of the man. This God can do anything, this is the same God who destroyed the whole world by a flood, but rescued Noah and then repopulated the earth through that one family. Is there anything too difficult for the Lord. Nothing is too difficult. And so, she started to consider him. And it's beautiful how like Abraham, who it says in Romans Chapter 4, he did not weaken through unbelief when he considered the promises of God, because he looked at his own body weak as it was, his body was as good as dead, he looked at Sarah's womb and Sarah's womb was also dead.

"But he did not waver through unbelief concerning the promises of God, but with strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." So much of it is a battle for the mind, by faith he's thinking, by faith, she is reasoning out. Can God keep this promise? Could God actually give me at age 90, a baby? Could he? Yeah, I think he could. Nothing is too difficult for the Lord. And then he said, again at the appointed time, I will return this time next year and Sarah will have a son. There was something in the way he said it, something in the word, something powerful had just moved in my heart, Sarah would say. And her faith just started moving she said, "I think it's going to happen." Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. I want it to happen and I think it will happen. As a matter of fact, I know it will happen, Just a matter of time now. God can do this, God can do anything. And so, she considered Him faithful, and we sang earlier, "Great is thy faithfulness," God keeps all of his promises.

Holding Onto God’s Promises

It says in 2 Timothy, "If we are faithless, He will remain faithful for He cannot deny himself," it would be a denial of himself to break this promise, and He will not do that. So she considered him faithful, the one who had made the promise, and notice the focus wasn't even on the promise, it wasn't baby, baby, baby, it was God, God can do this. And because of God then I'm going to have a baby. And so, that's the process. And so we also as believers in Christ, we need to go through that same kind of mental process. Look at the promises of God, and at the end of the message in a moment or two, I'm going to lay out some of the promises, and I want you in every case to consider God, faithful who had made that promise. And so secondly, she received strength to conceive children. She received strength. It's very much like in Luke Chapter 1 when Mary, the virgin had never been with a man. Gabriel says "You're going to have a son," and she says, "How can this be…Since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So, the Holy One to be born in you will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age and she who has said to be barren is in her six-month for nothing is impossible with God." Does that sound familiar? It's the very same thing that it was said in Genesis 18. Is anything too hard for the Lord? So we have these three women and their sons. We have the elderly, Sarah, age 90, giving birth to the miracle baby, Isaac. We have the elderly, Elizabeth, barren all her life, beyond again the age of bearing children, giving birth to the miracle baby, John the Baptist, and then the greatest miracle of them all, Mary the Virgin had never been with a man and the Holy Spirit overshadowed her body. We should not underestimate the word strength that God gave her strength to do this. That it's a capability, it's a biological function that she did not have.

We should not underestimate the connection of faith and the body, the impact of faith on your physical body. Colossians 1:29, the Apostle Paul, speaking of his ministry, says this, "To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me." It's a physical energy that enables you to get up out of a pile of rocks in Paul's case, stoned to death but he wasn't dead and just to enable him to stand up, beaten and bruised and continue his ministry. Where did that strength come from? The weariness that can come over you in life, the physical fatigue even as you spend yourself for the Lord, where does the strength and the energy come from? It comes from the Lord, by faith.

I think about one of my heroes in church history, George Whitfield the last sermon he ever preached to a huge assembly, he was dying worn out with years of service to the Lord. No microphone like this, standing up in front of thousands of people one more time goes up the stairs, standing there and he's just barely able to stand, and he said Please wait, just wait, I'm waiting on God to strengthen me. And he just stood there and God's strengthen him. And he preached for two hours from the diaphragm to thousands of people, two hours pouring Himself out and then he went home and died.

We should not underestimate the connection of faith in this Holy Spirit with our physical bodies. And how capability is given to do what you thought you could never do by faith. And so she was able to do this. Also, I want you to notice one of the overarching themes of Hebrews 11. God's ability to raise dead things to life. It's a big theme, it's all about from death to life, The author of the Hebrews wants you to consider that God is able to raise the dead to life and so it talks about Sarah's womb was also dead, and his body was as good as dead Romans 4 and then verse 12, "And so from this one man and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky…" Rhis death theme is huge verse 5 by faith Enoch was taken from this life, so, he did not experience death.

Faith in the Face of Death

Noah was delivered from death by his faith, delivered from death and the flood verse 13, "All these people were still living by faith when they died." Verse 19, "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, And figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death." Verses 20, 21, and 22. All of them are end-of-life scenes, Isaac at the end of his life, Jacob at the end of his life, Joseph at the end of his life. There are many other things that could have been chosen, but the author of the Hebrews brings you right to the end of life to see what faith looks like right at the end of life. Verse 35, "Women received back their dead raised to life again, others were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection."

Verse 37. "They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were put to death with the sword." It's death, death, death, and more than that, it is God's ability to raise people from the dead, and give them life. Friends, that is the promise that the author wants us to believe. We're not going to have a baby at age 90, That's not what's going to happen, but God is going to raise your body out of the grave And if you can believe that, that great miracle of the Gospel that through faith in Jesus, you will live forever. "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Then he asks Martha, "Do you believe this?" Oh, that question searches You do have faith to trust that God can raise your dead body out of the grave. And if he can do that, he can do anything less than that in your life now. That's what the author is giving.

Now what is the ultimate outcome of Sarah and Abraham's faith? Well, a descendants. She considered and she was given strength and from that came Isaac. The miracle baby. And from Isaac verse 12, descendants as numerous as stars of the heaven as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. Because of Sarah's and Abraham's faith, God's promise came true. Long-term okay.

75 People entered or lived in Egypt at the time of Jacob. When Jacob entered to be reunited with Joseph there were 75 people at that point. When they left Egypt, four generations later, there were 600,000 men plus women and children, added up, they were a prolific read about it in 1 Chronicle. I'm thinking between what, two to four million people, That's A lot of people in four generations. That's certainly more stars than Abram could have counted in that starry sky. God kept his promise, physically, but what about the spiritual promise. What about the fact that through Abraham through His offspring, all peoples on earth will be blessed, the real blessing of Sarah's faith is Jesus, it's Jesus through that miracle baby Isaac Ultimately, Jesus entered the world.

As God had said to the serpent, "I'll put enmity between you and the woman, and between your Seed your offspring, and hers, and he will crush your head you will bruise his heel." Jesus is the ultimate outcome of Sarah's faith we have through this faith and Abraham's faith, we have a savior. The one who came who is born whose birth we celebrate this time of year, who died on the cross for sins and as a result of that all peoples on Earth are blessed.

As John writes: "After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne in front of the Lamb. The were wearing white robes and they were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to the Lamb who sits on the throne and to the lamb.'" And they will be happy forever, and ever, because of faith because of Jesus being born, the eternal impact of a single act of faith never underestimates.

So application, come to Christ, trust in Him, believe in him, embrace him again. You may have been justified by faith 25 years ago, trust in Jesus still today, amen? Embrace him by faith, love Him by faith though you don't see him hear the words of the Scripture and believe in Jesus today, and repent of your sins and walk with him, and maybe you have never done that. You walked in here, dead in your transgressions and sins under the wrath of God, there's only one deliverance and that simple faith in Jesus. Christ crucified and resurrected.

Secondly, understand the development, the growth of faith. Pray that you have a stronger faith a year from now, than you do right now, pray that your faith will develop and grow. Sarah's faith had to develop and grow. And do what she did. Hear the promise, again, go read it again, it took a second hearing for her listen to it again and again, let your faith grow and develop. Wives and mothers, Embrace by faith the role that God has given you as a vital blessed God-honoring, role. By faith, Do it. Realize, do you realize what kind of faith it took to give birth to a baby at age 90? Do you know that Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin dangerous and even more dangerous for a 90-year-old woman, and so instead of giving way to fear, being afraid and all that, she trusted God through all those nine months and through the delivery and then for many years after that, she died at 127, So trusted God to raise Isaac. And so by faith Do your office of wife, by faith do your office as mother. Do those things by faith, you can do them not by faith or do them by faith I urge you to do them by faith to the glory of God.

And husbands and wives, live your married lives together under the promises of God. Study the promises of God. Look at them. Don't worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For God is able to give you all those things, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all those things will be added to you as well. There's a promise of God, do you consider God faithful who made that promise? Matthew 21:22. "If you believe, you'll receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Do you consider Him faithful, who made that promise? Can we see it in your prayer life as a husband and wife together? He has promised you never will I leave you never will I forsake you. Do you consider him faithful? Who made that promise? James says "if anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and, it will be given to Him." There's a promise. Do you consider him faithful, who made that promise? Because if you don't, James says, Don't bother asking because God will not give to a double-minded man any kind of wisdom. So when you go ask God for wisdom expect Him to give it to you.

He has promised to protect you, to filter your temptation so that no temptation will come upon you except what is common to man, but God is faithful, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear but with the temptation he'll make a way of escape so you can stand up under it. Do you consider him faithful, who had made that promise? He has promised Jesus has promised all that the Father has given me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away and this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose None of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. Do you consider him faithful? Who made that promise that none of God's elect who have come to faith in Christ, will be lost? All of them raised at the last day. Do you consider Him faithful, who promised a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness, Study the promises of God husbands and wives make the promises, of God the center of your marriage together and develop each other's faith.

Husbands, if your wife is weak in faith, build her up by the word. Wash her with the word, strength her faith, so she's more believing a year from now than she is now, that's your role as a husband, as a shepherd of her soul. And wives, you're told directly in 1 Peter, 3? If your husbands do not believe the word, don't just read that in terms of non-Christian husband there are times I don't believe the word Like I should... What should my wife do when I'm not believing the word like I should 1 Peter 3, tells what I should do. If your husband's aren't believing the Word, they may be won over without talk by the behavior of their wives when they see the purity and reverence of your life. Be like Sarah who had a gentle and quiet spirit and who prayed and trusted, and you'll win over your husband.

And then finally be willing to overcome obstacles as you serve and wait on God. God is going to give you faith, and then he's going to test it, test it, test it, test it, test it, test it. Why? To get stronger, be willing to overcome obstacles. Just as Abraham and Sarah did. Close with me if you would in prayer.

In a variety of places that we, as Christians, are aliens and strangers in a foreign country, probably in my life, I have never felt that as acutely as the two years that my wife and I and our two children at that time were living in Japan. It began, I think, for me when we sold our possessions, and gave away most of the stuff that we owned, we got it down to some Action Packers just a handful of them, and they were en route. And I remember patting my pants to be sure that I had my wallet and my keys, and the wallet was there but the keys were nowhere to be found; I remember that distinctly. I was like, what happened to my keys, where are my keys? And then I realized I didn't have any keys. Our car was gone, the house was gone, the office was gone, and so were the keys, and I had literally no keys at that point. It's no longer the case that I have no keys. My keys have been the butt of many jokes actually now. I have many keys now. But on that afternoon, I remember distinctly just pausing and feeling acutely that I was just passing through in this world and that my possessions were temporary. All of them temporary. And that feeling actually only grew, and built, and became more acute over the next two years as we lived in Japan, as we made our home in a foreign country.

And we learned a new language, Japanese, and we tried to learn a new culture, and we made some wonderful friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, who were Japanese, who had come to faith, and who are just some of the most incredible friends, brothers, and sisters that I'd ever met, but never feeling at home there. And I remember walking down the street in Tokushima, and a group of elementary age kids just stopping frozen in their tracks as I walked by on the other side of the road, and then they all just pointed, all of them at the same time, and said, "Gaijin da!" which is, "There's a foreigner!" Is that what I am? I'm a foreigner. Yes, that's what I am, that's what I was, I was a foreigner. And Tokushima is a small city by Japanese standards, and so therefore they weren't used to seeing somebody that looked like me, and they were unrestrained in their amazement and shock, and that's how it was. Many, many such moments for me, concerning the food, concerning the aromas, concerning the language, concerning the feeling that I was never really at home.

See the thing is, though, I should still feel that way now here in Durham, North Carolina. By faith, I should understand that this place is no more my home than that place was. By faith, I should feel myself to be an alien and a stranger in a foreign country here. And that is why I'm preaching this message today, I am preaching so that we might, by faith, grow a little less attached to the things of our lives, and a little more, perhaps even a lot more attached to the things of that country to which we are headed. That by faith, we will understand that we are like Abraham, strangers in a foreign country, even here in the land of our birth.

So what we're going to do is we're going to study for the first time for a number of weeks the faith of Abraham, and we're going to look at this faith, and this section here of Scripture that we're looking at today, Verses 8-10, zeros in on the beginnings of Abraham's faith, the origins of his faith, and how things began. But we're going to be looking at Abraham all the way through, more or less, to verse 19 of this chapter, so we'll be with Abraham for a little while.

But I want to start with the origin of Abraham's faith, and I'm going to put it right here at the sovereign call of God. It was by the sovereign call of God, that Abraham believed and trusted. His faith came as a gift of God's sovereign call. Now, we're looking at this man, Abraham, and he's a very significant man in redemptive history. We're told in the New Testament in Galatians 3:7 that all of us who are believers in Christ Jesus are children of Abraham; Abraham, is our Father in faith.

Romans chapter 4 establishes this man as the pattern of those who are justified by faith. "What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather discovered in this matter? If in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does the scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited him as righteousness.'" So in Romans 4, Abraham is given as the paradigm example of the man who was justified by faith alone, apart from works, that's who this man is. And so we've already seen how Abel offered his offering by faith, and he was justified by faith, not by works. We've seen how Enoch was pleasing to God by faith, he also justified by faith in Jesus Christ, not by works. And Noah also by faith obeyed and built the ark to save his family, and he also, justified by faith, he became an heir of the righteousness that comes only by faith in Jesus Christ. Well, these were individuals who lived before the flood. But now as we come to Abraham, we come to a significant moment in redemptive history.

The call of Abraham is a key moment, a turning point, as it were, in the history of the human race. For Abraham is the father of the Jewish nation, and as Jesus said very plainly to the Samaritan woman at the well, "Salvation is of the Jews." Salvation comes from the Jews, and Romans 11 says that we Gentile believers in Jesus are like wild olive shoots who have been grafted into a cultivated (Jewish) olive tree. And so with the call of Abraham we have the beginning of the history of redemption through the Jewish nation. And he's going to be very significant to all Hebrew Christians, these are Jewish believers in Jesus Christ. And so the author, by spending so much time in Hebrews 11 looking at the faith of Abraham, is seeking to challenge and encourage the Jewish professors of faith in Christ to be steadfast and immovable in their walk with Jesus Christ, that they would give a good testimony in the midst of persecution and not give up. And so Abraham is going to be their example.

And so Abraham's faith had its origins in the sovereign call of God. Genesis chapter 12, verse 1-3: "The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.'" So that's the call of Abram, a man who later became known as Abraham, that's how we know him, and refer to him still.

There are difficulties with the timing of this call; it's hard to completely put it together. In Genesis 12, it says... It seems to be that it came after he had settled in Haran with his father, Terah, because at the end of Genesis 11, that's where they are. And so they're there in Haran, and Terah is still alive, etcetera. But then Stephen and his marvelous sermon in Acts chapter 7, said this: "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. 'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.' So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And after the death of his father God sent him to this land where you are now living." I think the best way to harmonize is that the original call had come in Ur of the Chaldees, but Abram had deferred obedience. He was waiting, it seems, for the death of his father. I'm not saying there was any wrongdoing in waiting; there may have been some disobedience in his part, or maybe not, we don't know. But the way you put it together is it seems that after his father died, then he obeyed this call to leave and to go into the Promised Land.

The Component Parts: A Command and a Promise

And the call comes in the form of a command and a variety of promises. The command is, "Leave your country, your people, your father's household, and go into the land that I will show you." So that's the command, and with it a variety of beautiful promises. Majestic promises. "I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So a combination of a command and promises.

Now, I believe that Stephen adds for us something that's not clear in the text, but is significant as a moment for Abraham's faith. He adds a divine appearing, perhaps somewhat of a theophany, the appearance of God in some amazing way. Stephen said, "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham," and I'm going to talk more about that in a moment. But I think this could be the beginning of his truly... His justifying faith. And by the way, this is the bit of a challenge with Abraham. In Genesis 15, we're told he said, how do I know, I don't have any children, and all that. God says, look at the stars. You remember that whole thing? Genesis 15 says, "Look at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them." And then He made him this promise. "So shall your offspring be." And it said there that "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Yeah, but here it says, by faith he left and settled originally. So he had faith then. So I think what happens in Genesis 15 is just more continuation of the same faith that justified him.

So I think from the very beginning that he heard, and believed, and obeyed, he was justified through Jesus Christ. And I think there is no one, there is no sinner, who's ever made right with the sovereign God, who's ever made right with the Holy God apart from the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross. And so Jesus said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day, he saw it and was glad." And so he trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of all of his sins.

Well, that was the call, those are the promises. But immediately with this call came difficulties. For example, Abram came from a pagan heritage, and he was surrounded by a comfortable, seemingly advanced culture in which he was at ease and had all of his pleasures met. And so there are a tremendous difficulties. It's amazing how God in his sovereign call creates faith. And I think that's where it comes, it's by the call of God that faith is created. And then God then challenges faith with obstacles that have to be overcome. And so there are a tremendous obstacles.

So first and foremost is his own status. He was a pagan, and a Gentile, and an unbeliever. And what do I mean by that? Well, it says in Joshua 24:2-3, Joshua, in his closing comments to Israel, Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates. Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river, and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. And I gave him Isaac." So with Joshua's saying there under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is that before the call, Terah, Abraham, and Nahor served other gods; they were pagans. Perhaps moon worshippers or something there in Babylon.

And he was uncircumcised at the time of his call. Romans 4 makes this very, very plain that his faith came and his justification came long before he was circumcised. It did not come after he was circumcised, but before. And Paul is very clear about this. So you have in Abraham the quintessential Gentile pagan. And in the midst of that, God sovereignly calls him in this amazing way, and he says, leave everything you know, everything of comfort, everything of ease, everything that is familiar to you, leave your country, your people, your family, leave the language you're used to, leave all of these things behind, and go to the land I will show you. Nothing is certain about the future, there's nothing visible. I don't even know if he knew where he was going. I'm sure once he began to go, he must have had a direction. God must have at least said, "Go west." But beyond that, we just don't know. And so the obstacles are incredible.

And so God called him, and I think at the very beginning, the origin of faith, we see the jealousy of God. Our God is a jealous God, and he will have no rivals in our hearts. He will not allow any idols to remain in the heart of a believer, he's going to attack idolatry, he's going to severe with idols. Exodus 20, "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods before me." A couple verses later, he says, "For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God." Later in that same book, in Exodus, he says, "God whose name is jealous," etcetera. God is a jealous God, and he will not brook any rivals.

And so it is with our calling as Christians. Jesus comes and calls us to leave, in effect, everything behind, all of our allegiances, that our heart would be married or connected ultimately to nothing but him. And so he says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever loves his life in this world will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it for all eternity." And so Jesus will have no rivals, not your father and mother, not your husband or wife, not your children, not your possessions, not your houses or lands or anything at all. And so from the very beginning of the call of Abram we have here God severing ties to everything familiar and comfortable. What God does is he shows himself from the very beginning of faith to be greater than any idol could ever be.

So now I want you to meditate with me on what Stephen said. I've already told you about it, but this is the kind of explosive new idea that came in my heart as I was preparing this particular message. And it's what Stephen said, "The God of glory appeared to our father, Abraham." There was some kind of glorious appearance of God to Abraham. So he's not venturing forth into nothingness because of some dim voice inside his head, but I believe that God showed himself to be infinitely greater than anything he could leave behind; infinitely greater. More glorious, more satisfying, more of a treasure and a pleasure than anything he could ever leave behind. He gave him a foretaste of glory there, and it changed everything for Abram. It changed everything. From then on, all he wanted was God: I want God, I want to please him, I want to know him, I want to seek him. He's what I want, and I will leave anything behind in order that I may have that.

Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy sold everything he had and bought that field." God doesn't ask you to sell everything you have to buy a possible or a potential treasure in a field. So in the parable, we imagine that the guy was digging a hole, a well, trying to... And then he finds a portion of the treasure, the box, he opens it up. He doesn't need to count everything inside, he knows it's a vast treasure, far greater than anything he presently possesses. And so it's worth it to him to sell all of his earthly stuff to get that field so he can have the treasure. And so in some mysterious way, I can't go beyond what Stephen says, but God appeared to Abraham in glory. The God of glory.

Has God revealed himself to you to be glorious? Has he shown Himself to you in Jesus Christ to be worth everything you could ever give up to have him? Is Jesus worth more than any possession, any earthly pleasure? Do you want Jesus like Paul in Philippians 3, more than anything else, that you forget what lies behind you, you count it as dung and refuse compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus. That's the faith that's in front of us here, that's the beginning of his faith. And so God's sovereign call created what it commanded. He created light in Abraham's heart, and then the receptor of faith within his heart, so he could see it as what it is, glorious and beautiful. And for the rest of his life, he was yearning to see more and more of it.

The Sovereign Call of God: Creating What It Commands

And so God's sovereign call creates what it commands, and so it is with the Church. God says, let there be a Church, and there's Church, God says Let there be an individual Christian, and that man or woman, boy or girl, is brought into faith in Christ. God's call creates what it commands. And so again and again, Paul in his epistles talks about we who are called, we're the ones that are called, called to be saints, and set apart for the gospel of God. Called in Romans, called in 1 Corinthians, called in many places. Romans Chapter 8, we were "predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those He predestined He also called and those he called he justified, and those he justified, he also glorified." So we are the called, and so God's call creates the faith. Friends, our faith doesn't create God's call. I hope you know that. God isn't searching around for people with faith. There's one, there's one, there's one and then the call comes. That puts everything backwards. No, God, the sovereign one, creates something that didn't exist before. And he created an Abraham. This is the genesis, the origins of Abraham's faith, and yours too if you have any. If you have faith in Jesus, it was God who created it in your heart, and it's God who's been nurturing it and sustaining it all along.

God is the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. And at one point you were not a believer and now you are a believer, and the sovereign God made it so in your life. So that's the origin of the genesis of his faith. God is better than anything you could possibly leave behind. Amen? He is the treasure worth everything that you would sell to get it. He is the pearl of great price worth anything you could sell to get it. Jesus is worth more than any of it. And so, from the very beginning, God severs ties to idols and sets them free.

Secondly, we see the effects of Abraham's faith. The effects are surprising, costly, lasting obedience, that's the effect of faith. Out of true genuine faith comes obedience. Look at verse 8 of the text. Hebrews 11:8, "By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went." He did it. Dear friends, genuine faith always produces obedience, genuine faith always produces obedience, a pattern of consistent obedience. The essence of our sin problem is that we were rebels against the command of the sovereign God, our King. We were rebels against His laws. We were violating his commandments and we were sinning. And Jesus comes to us with the gospel and he invites us, He holds out His hands to us and says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." But then he says this. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

As I've said a number of other times, that yoke must be the kingly yoke of Jesus. The Kingdom of Heaven has come into your life, and He is the king and he's saying, "Now you take that formerly stiff neck of yours, which is now made soft by grace, and you put it under my yoke and you will not regret it, and you follow me the rest of your life. You obey me, and you yield to me and let me be your king, and you will not regret it. For you will find rest for your souls." And so I say to you that true, genuine faith always produces a consistent pattern of obedience to God's commands. Has this happened in your life? Have you turned away from a life of rebellion? Have you turned away from the wickedness of sin? And have turned to Jesus as your redeemer, the one who shed His blood for your rebellions, who took on Himself the wrath and the curse that you and I deserve for our rebellion.

Have you trusted in Him for the forgiveness of your sins? And now, by His spirit, are you set free from sin to follow Him in a lifestyle of obedience? If so, then heaven is your future, your home. If not, I plead with you while there's still time, repent and believe in Jesus. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the era, this is the time of faith when you can hear a message like this and be transferred or rescued from Satan's dark kingdom and brought into the kingdom of faith and light and forgiveness. And so true faith produces obedience, always produces obedience. This is what it says in Romans 1, in verse 5, "Through Him and for His name's sake, we receive grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith."

That's how Romans begins. Romans ends the exact same way. Romans 16:26, "So that all nations might believe and obey Him." Believe, obey. Believe, obey. James says without deeds faith is dead, deeds equals obedience, so without the works of obedience you have no faith, it's dead. And so the effects of his faith is obedience, initial obedience, you obey it. It was surprising obedience. What must his neighbors have thought as he had his yard sale and sold most of his stuff, anything he couldn't take on camelback and set out, surprising obedience. What are you doing? Well, I'm going away.  Really, where are you going? I don't know. So far I know it's west.  You're crazy, crazy. It's just radical obedience, surprising obedience. I just want to ask you, what is there in your life that your faith is doing that just makes no sense to unbelievers. There just needs to be something in our lives that makes no sense to unbelievers.

So for Abraham, I think that yard sale and leaving did it. It's costly obedience, the rest of his life there's going to be a pattern of sacrifice, of laying things aside, laying them behind. It's going to culminate as we'll see later in Hebrews 11 in the command to sacrifice his son, his only son, Isaac, to offer him up as a burnt offering. It's going to be costly obedience, it's not going to be easy to obey God. And it's going to be lasting obedience. It was something for the rest of his life. It wasn't a whim or a fancy, wasn't something that came on him. But for the rest of his life he was going to be hearing the voice of God and obeying it. God was going to lead him step by step.

And he was going to move place to place, even within the promised land and not know where the next place was going to be. And he was going to, for the rest of his life, follow by faith and obey by faith. Jesus said, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." And as he said very clearly in another place, "Remember Lot's wife." Don't look back. He didn't look back, he never returned. He never returned. More on that later and he was alone but he never returned, never went back. Lifetime of surprising, costly obedience.

We see next, the challenge of Abraham's faith, and I've already mentioned this, obstacles. God creates faith within our hearts and then challenges the faith with obstacles. He creates mountains that have to be moved. He creates things you have to get through and he makes it difficult, and so the faith is strengthened by the obstacles. God is glorified greatly by these obstacles.

First Obstacle: “I Don’t Know Where I Am Going!”

And the first obstacle as I've mentioned, is that he didn't know where he was going. I don't know where I'm going. Now, I want you to look in your text there in verse 8.

And I want to compare it to verse 13. There are two things. I'm not preaching on verse 13 today, but I just want to bring out something that just jumped off the page to me, and it's just very significant. And it's the word "not". Look at verse 8. "By faith, Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went." Listen, "Even though he did not know where he was going." See that? He did not know. He did not know. Okay, now in verse 13, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised." Do you see the word "not" in both of those? Now, I don't know if every translation may have it, they maybe rephrase. But the idea of negation is there in both verses. He did not know, and he did not receive. That's where faith operates friends. It's when you don't know where you're going, and you haven't yet received the promises. That's where faith works.

Are you in a situation like that in your life now where you don't know where you're going? Are you in a situation where you're still waiting on God for some promises that are earthly, connected to this life, but waiting? And clearly, as we'll get to in verses 13 through 16, haven't received the big promise yet of eternity in heaven with God. This is where faith operates. And so, this obstacle is, I don't know where I'm going. And I think that that continued. In a moment we'll talk about how he lived in tents. He didn't have the GPS with the whole purple line that goes all the way to the destination, with all the way stations along the way. You can kind of zoom out. Oh, there it is. I know exactly how we're going to get there. That's exactly what he did not have. He didn't know where the next place would be that he would pitch his tent. God would later do the same thing with Israel and the Exodus.

I'll let you know when we're going to move. When the cloud got up, "Okay we're moving." When it settled back down, they stayed there. And so step by step by step God leads His people, and you just don't know where the next step's going to be. So that's the first obstacle.

Second Obstacle: “The Promised Land is Already Owned by Others!”

The second obstacle is that when he arrived in the Promised Land, he found that it was cheerfully occupied by other people. Canaanites and Perizzites and Hivites and Jebusites and Amorites and all these -ites, Amalekites. And they liked the land. It's good land, it's a land flowing with milk and honey. It's really rich, good land. And they plan on staying. And you're just you and your wife and your nephew. And God is saying, "I'm going to give all of this to you." Really? What about all these -ites? What about all these people that are here?

But he received that promise and it was by faith he received it. In Romans 4:13, "By faith," it says, "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world but through the righteousness that comes by faith." I love that verse. That's one of those verses that kind of lay like a ticking time bomb and suddenly jumped up on me. It doesn't say that he would be heir of the promised land there, does it. It said it was by faith that he received the promise that he would be heir of the world, not just that little stretch of it. And all of us who have come into faith in Christ are sons and daughters of Abraham. We also are heirs of the world with Abraham. Amen? And so Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek for they will" what? What will they do? "They will inherit the earth." And so by faith he looked at these other peoples that were settling there, that were there, and he accepted that they were there and he lived in a certain pattern that way and he knew that it was theirs for now, but God is sovereign over everything.

The earth is the Lord's. And if some unbelievers are squatting for a time on your promised land, what's that to you? And so by faith he understood that at some point he would come into that inheritance.

Third Obstacle: “My Body is as Good as Dead, and So is Sarah’s Womb!”

The third obstacle was my body is as good as dead, and Sarah's womb is too. Now, we're going to talk more about Sarah next week, and I don't want to steal the thunder of next week. But Abraham was told through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed. But Abraham and Sarah had not been successful in having children for 75 years, and then the decades would continue after that. No children, no children. She was barren, they could have no children. And so it says, we'll study this next time. Verse 12, "And so, from this one man and he is good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as sand on the sea shore."

So what did he do as he looked at his body and said, "I don't see how it can happen." And he looked at Sarah's womb and said, "I don't see how it can happen." But Romans 4 says, "Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead," since he was about 100 years old, and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God had power to do what He had promised." And so Abraham's faith was challenged with obstacles and God strengthened his faith to overcome those obstacles.

Next, we see the display of his faith and that is living like an alien, living in tents. Look at verses 9 and 10. "By faith he made his home in the Promised Land. Like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, who are heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God." And so every day, Abraham's faith was put on display by the simple fact that he was living in a tent, he was living like an alien and a stranger. The same expression is used in verse 13, and used in other places, 1 Peter 2:11, "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul." And so Abraham was the pattern of a walk of faith in which you look around and say, "Some day this will all be mine. But not yet. And so I'm an alien and a stranger here now. And my living in tents is evidence of that." A tent is movable, it goes from place to place. They don't have solid foundations.

And so, he didn't build a walled city like Sodom and Gomorrah probably were, or Jericho with vast gates and walls to protect you from desert raiders that are going to sweep through. He just lived in a tent, he was vulnerable, and he was movable. And so did Isaac and Jacob, and they were heirs with him of the same promise. They were living in tents as they moved from place to place. And so there's a disposition or a demeanor that Christians should have toward the world saying, "I am an alien and a stranger here. This is a strange place." It's almost like the one thing that us and non-Christians agree about. We both think that the other is crazy.  I really do. I think unbelievers are just crazy. I don't know why they would live for this stuff and then die and go to hell When Jesus could forgive them of their sins. If they'll just trust in Him, they could have a permanent inheritance. It doesn't make any sense to me. And I think my life must make no sense to them either.

And so Paul says in Galatians 6, in verse 14, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Listen to this. "Through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." There's just a severing that's happened between Paul and the world because of the cross, the cross has severed it now, and he is an alien and a stranger. The world is dead to him, and he is dead to the world. And so, lived in tents, and he knew it was his but just not yet. The image that's in my mind here is, let's say you're going to a vast, formal banquet and it's in a very, very expensive hotel in a major city, and you've got exquisite clothes on and you and the other people that are invited to this banquet are walking through a hallway en route to the ballroom or the feasting room, wherever that is, you're walking through the hallway and it's a great hallway. The carpet's cushy, and there's just artwork on the walls and all that. And it's like this is probably the most incredible hallway I've ever been in my life. I think I'll just stay here. I think I'll just look at the pictures on the wall. It's like the banquet's in here. This is just a hallway friends. And it may have evidences of God's grace and mercy for tastes of heaven, little gifts that he gives you to keep you on your way. But it's just a hallway, that's it.

And so the display of Abraham's faith was that he lived in tents and he had to dicker with the Hittites for a cave to bury his dead wife. In Genesis 23, there's a whole chapter devoted to it. Why would Moses give a whole chapter to the dickering? It all had to do with the promised land, and he didn't have it yet, and so he had to dicker back and forth like a camel trader. Oh, it could be this. Well, but what's that among friends? And back and forth they go. And they're dickering over the number of silver coins he's going to pay to the Hittite guy so he can have a piece of the promised land to bury his wife. Genesis 23, the purpose of that chapter is to say, he didn't have it yet, he was an alien and a stranger, he hadn't come into his inheritance yet. That's why it's there.

Finally, we see the outlook of Abraham's faith. How was he enabled to do this? Verses 9-10, "By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who are heirs with him of the same promise. For He was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God." So the logic of the verse goes like this, Abraham you're living in a tent, why? Well, because I'm looking ahead to a city with foundations. That's the logic of it. Why are you living in a tent like a stranger in a foreign country? Because I'm looking ahead to another place, that's why. The logic's very much the same as that which we already saw at the end of Hebrews 10 go back and look, they may even be on the same page or you have to turn back one page but Hebrews 10:34 as you already saw speaking to the Hebrew Christians saying, "You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the plundering of your property because, because you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and a lasting one." It's the exact same logic here, because you're looking forward. So I say to you faith is essentially constantly looking forward.

Now, you know around this time, little kids say they're looking forward to Christmas and looking forward to this looking forward... You can spend your whole life looking forward and then it's gone, and it's just amazing. It's like live in the now, we need to live in the now, and we need to smell the roses that kind of thing, can't be looking forward. Well, this chapter tells you you should spend your whole life looking forward just not to anything in this world. And I'm not talking about mere optimism, have a positive outlook. You should have a positive outlook, don't you think? We should be optimistic people, away with that. That's two weak. No, no we have an inheritance that's coming and nothing is going to stop it, we just don't have it yet. And so I am looking forward all my hopes are set on it. I'm looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. And so that's the focus of what they were looking forward to a city.

What's interesting is our inheritance is cast in verse 10 and in verses 13-16, as both a city and a country, isn't that interesting? You have a city here in verse 10 and you have multiple mentions of a country and then a city in verses 13-16. So we have the city, and then verse 14, "People who say such things show that they're looking for a country of their own. They were longing for a better country, a heavenly one, and so God is not ashamed to be called their God because he's prepared a city for them." And so for me the country is the new Heavens and the new Earth. I kind of put those words together; they're all together for me, new Heavens and new Earth, that's what it's called. And to me it's just rich and full in my imagination.

I think of it like the new world when Columbus landed then after that you have all these explorers, think about the Explorer era and just whoever it was, Ponce de Leon in Florida, and the Conquistadors, Hernan Cortes, and all these guys that went across the South West, Spanish-speaking people that went up there and then French explorers go up the Mississippi and John Cabot up there and then New Finland and all those areas, all these explorers, Henry Hudson, all these guys. I used to read about this, you guys remember, did you go to school? Are you still there? Are you awake? Alright, there you go. So, Explorers, I think the new world will be something to explore. And it's going to be majestic and no longer cursed, it's not going to be subjected to the decay or futility of frustration, it's going to be a perfect world. That's the country where we are heading. I will say no more, because I'm going to preach on 13-16 in a few weeks, but a majestic new country. But it also mentions here prominently in verse 10, a city, a city with foundations. It's unshakable, it's immovable.

For me as a kid that grew up in suburban Massachusetts in Framingham near a big city of Boston, I knew what the city looked like. I didn't love the city. I love national parks, I love the Acadia up in Maine, I loved Yosemite when I got a chance to see how beautiful that was and I just love the nature and the beauty of the place. And so a city I tend to think of it as dirty, crime-ridden, overcrowded those kind of things. And the Bible does have that take on human cities that's why God destroyed the tower of Babel and all that. There's aspects where that's actually a right way to look at the human city, but this isn't a human city now, this is the city of God, this is the city that God builds, the city at which God is the architect and the builder. He is the one who made the blueprints, who laid out the City Square or whatever it's going to look like, and then each building or structure in it he is the architect of the city of God and he is the builder.

And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, living in tents, looking ahead to that city, couldn't wait to see that city. And the book of Revelation calls it the New Jerusalem, and it says it's going to come down like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband and in that city there'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. It's going to be irradiated with the glory of Jesus, there's no need for the light of a lamp, the light of the sun or the moon. It's going to be just irradiated with the glory of God. The streets will be of some mysterious stuff called transparent gold, don't know what that is but it's just going to be radiating with the glory of Christ, and it has walls and foundations of the walls are of different precious gems of varieties of colors. And there are gates and the gates are made each of them of a single pearl and it says they always stand open, they're never closed so that the wealth of the nations may be brought into the city and the city is immense, vast. 1400 miles on a side and figure this one out, 1400 miles up. Cuboid. And you're like, "Well maybe that's just figurative language." Fine, let it be figurative the reality will be even better.

I'm just saying it's an immense, vast place. The view from 1400 miles up, whatever floor number that is, will be amazing. The city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. God Almighty drew up the plans and now God is building the city. Jesus is building the city. Didn't he say in John 14, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you I'll come back." He's building the city. Jesus is building the city, the Holy Spirit is building the city out of living stones that are quarried. Matt and Christine are quarrying living stones out of that people group that they're working by the grace of God, living stones being brought to be a spiritual structure in which Ephesians 2, God is going to dwell by His spirit. So the Holy Spirit is building the city. Father, Son and Spirit building this city of God.

So what? How do we live in the 21st century in light of these truths? How many of you (don't raise your hands) live in tents?  Do any of you live in tents? I'm actually not aware of anyone connected with this church or ever has been that lives in a tent. You know what that means, since you don't physically live in a tent like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it's harder for you to be faithful to the truths in this text but you still need to be faithful to them. You need to realize that this Earth, this world is not your home and that you are just passing through and nothing in it should captivate your heart. You should be living for the city and the country that is to come later that Jesus is building.

You should focus your heart entirely on Jesus' words, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my father's house are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you for I'm going there to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you I will return and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going…'We don't know where you're going so how can we know the way?' I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through me." Set your heart on that, that's your home. And as Peter puts it, "Dear friends as aliens and strangers in the world abstain from sinful lusts which wage war against your soul." don't be polluted by this world as you make it through the hallway, don't get polluted by it. Fight the fight of holiness as an alien and a stranger in this world, fight for holiness, put sin to death by the power of the Spirit.

And then finally, I want to give you an odd piece of advice that Paul gives, please don't take me out of context here. In 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Paul says this, "What I mean brothers is the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none, those who mourn as if they did not. Those who are happy as if they were not, those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep, those who use the things of the world as if not engrossed in them for the world in its present form is passing away." So hold on to your spouse lightly, love him or her, fulfill your role biblically, be faithful in that relationship but act in some senses as if you're not married. Paul says that and if you own a possession hold it lightly as if it didn't own you and you can give it up whenever God calls in you to do it. And if you use the things of the world, don't do it as one engrossed in those things but live as an alien and a stranger in this world. Close with me in prayer.