And we are still over here in
the book of Hebrews in chapter 11. It says in verse 17, By faith
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received
the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. accounting that
God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence
also he received him in a figure. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob
and Esau concerning things to come. By faith, Jacob, when he
was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning
upon the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he died,
made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and
gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he
was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they
saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's
commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come
to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he
had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as
seeing him who was invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
child should touch them. By faith they passed through
the Red Seas by dry land, which the Egyptians, assaying to do,
were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho
fell down after they had come past about seven days. By faith
the harlot Rahab perished not with them that had believed not,
when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I
say more? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon and Barak of Samson and Jephthah, of David also,
and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword. Out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised
to life again. And others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea,
moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And these
all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the
promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that
they without us should not be made perfect." Now, of course,
you know, keeping with our understanding that the purpose of the writing
of the book of Hebrews is to exhort the Hebrew believers not
to turn back. And all of these examples that
are being set forth here in this chapter about faith are the Old
Testament saints. And the contrast that Paul is
making here in his writing to these Jews is that if these who
hadn't received the prophecies, these who just merely looked
forward not having seen the unfolding of the gospel of Christ, if these
all in faith declared that they were strangers and pilgrims in
the earth and they pressed on in spite of all these afflictions
and different problems and things that are set forth before us,
He said, they understood that without us, Without us they should not be
made perfect. In other words, they understood
that they were not those who were appointed to receive the
blessings. So he says, in essence, how much
more so that we who have received the promises, how can we turn
back? If they who did not know the
prophets, they did not know who Christ was. They did not know
that Christ was going to hang on Calvary's cross and die for
their sins and be buried and rise again from the dead. They
did not know that. But they knew this, that God
was a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him and they knew that His
provision would be made for them and they believed God. They believed
that those things which He said would come to pass. And so they
were not any less men of faith than we, but we who having received
the promise ought to be ashamed of ourselves if we come and see
what Christ has done and then turn back. I mean that's in essence
what this whole chapter is written about. Now I know that usually
this is called by many the Hall of Fame of Faith. Well, God doesn't
have a Hall of Fame because there's only one famous person who inhabits
the Kingdom of God, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
one worthy of all fame. I mean, there's no famous people.
What did Abraham do? He didn't do anything. Now, we
know in the flesh that the Lord enabled Abraham to do the things
that he did. I mean, why did Abraham offer
up Isaac, his only begotten son? Because it was the purpose of
God to cause him to do it. Because in the flesh, in himself,
I mean, any one of us, like men of like passions, that's not
a normal thing for a man to do, is it? And so a man is not to
be patted on the back because he did something that was of
faith, but God is to get glory in it. And this is what I believe
is being set forth here, because the whole issue is that the Lord
has dealt with His people the same in all ages. Now, He hasn't
given men in all ages the same understanding. He hasn't given
them all the same clarity of vision, but He has always loved
His people from the very beginning. And He hasn't begun to love some
more than others, nor has He faltered in His dealings with
His people, but He's brought them all by the way which He
designed and desired them to come. Now, Abraham was called
out of Ur of the Chaldees for a purpose. And it was of benefit
to Abraham. But there was a greater purpose
in God's calling Abraham out of error of the Chaldees than
simply to bless Abraham. Just like we are blessed as the
sons of God in having received the mercy of God shown to us
in Jesus Christ, but there is a greater purpose that God has
in the things that He's done than that. Now, if you listen
to what most preaching today centers on, it centers on men
and what God has done for men. And that is a true thing. God
has done some things for men, but never lose sight of this,
that everything that God has done, he's done for his glory.
That's what he told Moses. He said, look, he says, I'll
do what I'm going to do. He said, it's unto my glory.
He says, why did I raise up Pharaoh? He said, unto my glory. Why did
he raise up Abraham? Unto his glory. that in the ages
to come that he might be praised. For you see, he told the Israelites,
he says, I'm a jealous God. Now, you know, jealousy and desiring
glory, that is a bad trait for a man to have, is it not? But
you see, it's not a bad thing when God says, I'm jealous. It's
not a bad thing when he says, I'm seeking my own glory. Why? Because he's worthy of glory.
You see, he's worthy of glory. But there's none of us worthy
of glory because anything that we have has been given to us
by the grace of God. So we have no place to glory.
And Abraham didn't have any place to glory either, but he gave
glory to God. And so it says here, by faith
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received
the promise offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now by faith,
that faith that God wrote in Abraham, he offered up his only
begotten Son, knowing that his Son was the one through whom
all of his heirs would come. And yet Abraham believed God.
He went forward with that, even knowing that, well, God's commanding
me to do something that's going to put an end to what God said
He was going to do. But you see, he believed God
by the grace of God, accounting that God was able to raise him
up even from the dead, from whence also He received him in a figure. And so Isaac was as one raised
from the dead, was he not? And does that not prefigure Christ? Now we know that Christ, he was
that one who was provided that sacrifice. Now Abraham, insofar
as he knew, was going to offer up Isaac, he didn't know what
God was going to do. You know, it's easy to look at
something after it's happened and say, well, we knew what we
should have done. I mean, everybody knows how to
win the football game the next day, you know, but it's not about
that. And Abraham, you know, looking
back, he probably understood and saw a lot of things, but
at the time, you see, he didn't know. But the Lord moved in him
and caused these things to come to pass. And he was accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. He didn't
know how God was going to do it. But he received Him in a
figure as one from the dead even as we see Christ raised from
the dead. Now, when the Lord told His disciples
He was going to be crucified and raised again, He told them,
I'm going to be raised from the dead. They're going to destroy
this temple in three days. I'm going to raise it up. Did
His disciples believe it? Of course they didn't believe
it. How could they believe it? I mean, people don't rise from
the dead. I mean, when he was in the ground,
they figured that was it. That's why it was such an amazing
thing to them when they ran to the tomb. If they'd have believed
it, they would have been counting down the days, would they not?
And said, well, this is the third day. He's going to rise today.
And they'd have been down there to try to see him when he came
down. They didn't believe it. They didn't believe it, but yet
God, who is rich in mercy, He brought it to pass and they received
Him as one raised from the dead because He was, even as Abraham
received this in a figure. He didn't see it. He didn't know
it. See, he didn't know about what Christ was going to do,
but he did indeed know what God would do. And by faith, Isaac
blessed Jacob and Esau. concerning things to come. I
mean, he knew that he was dying, but he knew that his sons were
going to live on. And so they were blessed by him. And then by faith, Jacob, when
he was dying, he blessed both the sons of Joseph. And you remember
how he did that. Joseph brought them up there,
and he had them placed like he was going to have it to be, because
he wanted the oldest son to have the blessing. which would have
been the right hand, but whenever the hands, when Jacob put his
hands out, he crossed his hands over, and he put his right hand
on the other, and Joseph went to take his hand. Oh no, wait,
wait, you're making a mistake. Do it the other way. He said,
what I've done. He says, I've done, but you see,
by faith, Jacob did that. Now, how did Jacob know that?
How did he know? He couldn't have known that except
the Lord caused it to come to pass. even as it was whenever
Isaac blessed Jacob. When he thought in his mind he
was blessing Esau. And then when Esau came in later
and found out that the Lord had blessed Jacob through Isaac,
the Scripture says he sought repentance. He sold it with tears. He said, wait, you've got to
change your mind. Now keep in mind, this is the
same person that he had no regard to that birthright. He sold it to Jacob for a mess of pottage. But then when it came to pass,
then he wanted it. And so it is, you see, men want
the blessing of God when they see it, but it's only by faith
that God gives to men that are able to see it beforehand. And
so it was that by faith that Joseph, when he died, he made
mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment
concerning his bones. Remember he said, when you all
go out of Egypt." He said, Don't leave me here. He said, I want
you to take me with you. And the last words in the book
of Genesis is, And they buried Joseph in a coffin in Egypt. But he gave commandments concerning
his bones and when they left, They dug him up and they took
him with them because, you see, he believed he looked for a city.
He didn't want to stay in Egypt. That wasn't his home. He didn't
want to be there. And he knew he wouldn't have
the power to change anything about it, but he commanded his
sons to take him out of there when the time came. So by faith
he died, making mention of these things. By faith Moses, when
he was born, was hid three months of his perish. Now what does
Moses have to do with that? Another thing in the world, it
says, by faith. Well, what was the faith? His mother saw him as a goodly
child. She didn't want him to perish. Now why was that? Because God
caused her to love him. And she preserved him. And the
Scripture says it is by faith. When he was born, he was hid
three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child.
And they were not afraid of the King's commandment. And of course,
as you go down through the Old Testament and you see time and
time again those people who defied the commandments They're superiors. Now the Lord says that we're
to be in submission to those who are over us and in authority. And that is a true thing. There's no question about that.
But there are times when those things are in conflict. And one
thing that we must be if we're going to be those who would stand
against the powers that be, we must be willing to suffer the
consequences. of what the powers that be. See,
a lot of people, they want to go against the powers that be,
but then they don't want to pay the piper when the time comes.
But that's not the way that it is to be. And that's not the way they were.
They hid the child, and if they figured, well, if Pharaoh or
whoever comes down and kills us, he just kills us, but we're
going to do the thing that's right. And so they hid him. And then it says, By faith, Moses,
when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. Now, when he came to the place
where he knew and understood who he was, he wanted to be identified
with the children of Israel. Now, why did he do that? I mean, here's a guy that's got
it made, doesn't he? I mean, he's got it made. I mean,
he's right there in the lap of luxury, everything. I mean, all
he's got to do is just go right along with the program and say,
I never knew those people. Now, how much in contrast is
that with Peter? What did Peter do? He said, oh,
I don't know him. But you see, Joseph, or Moses,
Whenever he was there in the court of Pharaoh, he refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter when he found out who
his mother and his father were, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. How temporary are all of the
things of this world. and how much it is. Is it not
the work of faith in men to cause them to see beyond this present
world? Because isn't it just the natural
way of men to kind of make excuses for the things that we do and
say, well, you know, we'll just enjoy these pleasures of sin
for a season because it's just convenient? Isn't it easy to
not say something maybe that will offend somebody? who nonetheless,
because the burden of truth is laid upon us, we must speak it.
And that is a true thing, especially in the society in which we live. Brethren, I can see the storm
clouds building up. I mean, we've got to be the people
that stand for the things that we say we believe in and not
seek to appease people or make them You can't make the gospel
inoffensive. It is impossible for the preaching
of the gospel of Jesus Christ not to offend people. It's going to do it because it's
so narrow. It's so Christ-centered. You
see, men like their religion and they like the gospel as long
as they can get men involved in it. And men can get a pat
on the back. You know, and men can be pointed
out as being doing great things. That's fine. That suits men well. But you see, it's offensive when
you tell men you haven't got a thing in the world to do with
it. You can't bring yourself one step closer to God if He
in His mercy and kindness does not bring you. You can't perform
one good work except God who is rich in mercy stir your heart
to do so. And so it is that he alone has
the glory. And choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he had recompense. He had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. Now what did we read here? In verse 6 it says, But without
faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. Moses, the Scripture says, had
a mind to the recompense of the reward. He knew that God was
not somebody that played games and that what he said he would
do. And that is where he cast his confidence. And he didn't
know what God was going to do, but he believed God would do
that thing which was good and right insofar as his purpose
was concerned in the earth. And he was desirous of being
identified in that way, even as I believe the sons of God
are desirous of being identified with Christ. What really matters to us in
this world if we are not identified with Christ? I mean, what would
it matter if we gained the whole world and lost that which was
the most important thing? It wouldn't be of any value whatsoever. And so even as those who in time
passed with a very limited vision, I mean, think of what, as much
as Moses knew, think how limited his vision of the promises of
God were. I mean, his vision of the promises
of God basically wrapped up in the law, pretty much. And that's
why he was so angry when he saw the children of God disobeying
those laws. But he was powerless to do anything
about it, even as the law is powerless to deliver men from
sin. Can't do it. But there is one
who has delivered his people from sin, and that's the thing
that we come today to remember as we take this bread and this
wine, to remember the Lord's death until He comes again.