THE POWER OF FAITH Part 3 (Hebrews February 5, 2006)

Transcription

1 THE POWER OF FAITH Part 3 (Hebrews February 5, 2006) This week, Dave and Dudley and I were talking about Hebrews 11. We talked about how a Rabbi in a synagogue would teach on Abraham and Joseph and Moses compared to the how the author of Hebrews talks about them. In essence the difference is Christ. When Jesus spoke to the leaders of the Jews, He said Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad. In today s passage we read that Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt. Not one Old Testament saint saw Jesus in the flesh or had the New Testament teaching on Jesus but by faith every one of them trusted Jesus would come. He was the object of their faith because God promised He would come. And this God given faith in the glory of Christ sustained them and turned them into examples of men and women of faith. And it is that same faith which is given to us to save us, sustain us and fill us with the joy of Jesus. In our study of Hebrews 11 we have seen examples of: Those who by faith saw past the wickedness of this world unto the glory of Christ Abel, Enoch and Noah. Those who by faith turned from the pleasures of this world unto the glory of Christ Abraham. Those who by faith trusted the word of God unto the glory of Christ Abraham. Now we move on to see: Those who by faith saw beyond death unto the glory of Christ Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. This week I was talking to an elderly lady. She and her husband are both well into their eighties. She likes to think she will go to heaven and that God should answer her prayers but she doesn t see a need to go to church or read her Bible or live for God. 1

2 Recently, her husband s health had deteriorated and she was not pleased that God had let that happen. She summed up her thoughts like this: Craig, I am losing faith in God. I have asked Him for help and He has not answered me. We spent some time talking and what struck me as we chatted was that she knew that her husband would die soon and she knew that she didn t have that many years left herself but still her whole focus was on this life. That was what was important. Her greatest hope was for them both to have a few more years in this world. There was no hope of heaven and no thought of the glory of being with Jesus forever. Death held nothing but fear. How different to Paul who cried To live is Christ Yes! But to die is gain Oh Yes! For us, death means eternity with Jesus, the One who loves us and died for us. This is our hope. One day each and every one of us will come face to face with our own mortality. It is then that the substance of our faith is really seen. Do I know my Saviour lives so I will live too? Do I long to be with Him more than I long for more years in this world? Do my actions, my words, my life proclaim to a watching world I know that I go to be with my blessed Jesus! Death shows the substance of our faith. When the end approaches the true nature of our faith is put on display. In the great Chronicle of faith found in Hebrews 11, we have made our way to verse 20. In verses we come to the Patriarchs Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Those who by faith saw beyond death unto the glory of Christ. There are many events from their life that could have illustrated their faith. The author of Hebrews could have shown us Isaac on Mount Moriah who willingly lay on the altar trusting in God who told Abraham to sacrifice his son. That takes enormous faith to trust that God knows what he is doing when He asks your father to take your life. He could have shown us Jacob returning to the Promised Land and wrestling with God his hip wrenched but refusing to let go because he knew to live in this world he had to have God s blessing. That takes faith. 2

3 He could have shown us Joseph in prison yet trusting God or Joseph forgiving his brothers and declaring that God meant their evil actions for good. To see the hand of God behind the brother s sin takes great faith. But these are not the episodes the author of Hebrews looks at. Look with me at Hebrews 11:20-22: By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones. Genesis gives us a rich history of these men and their walk with God. Given that, these would not have been the events I would have focussed on to illustrate the faith of these Patriarchs. But then I realised the depth of the faith these events did show. These are the last acts of these men. In each instance they are at the end of their lives death is upon them. And in what they said and did as death approached showed the depth of their faith. They trusted their eternal destinies to the promises of God especially His promise of a coming Saviour. Think of Isaac as he reached the end of his days. If he looked at his life through the eyes of the world, what would he see? There was no great nation. His family did not possess the Promised Land. And he had two sons Jacob the schemer and Esau who was willing to sell his birthright for a plate of stew. Given that as your life s work you would be forgiven for having shaky faith in the promises of God. But not Isaac! He knew God works to His own timetable and if God promised they would have the land, become a nation and ultimately send the Saviour Christ it would happen and it would lead to the blessing of the world. Though he never lived to see the promise fulfilled Isaac believed it. When he passed the blessing on to his son he said this: May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Genesis 27:29 Isaac didn t have faith in Jacob he didn t even intend the blessing to go to him. His faith was in God. But Isaac knew there would be a great nation not through his son s strength but through the power of God. It was in God that Isaac trusted. When he blessed his sons his faith was strong. God would fulfil His promises including sending a Redeemer Jesus. 3

4 The situation was no better when Jacob came to the end of his days in fact things were worse. There were more sons and wives and grandsons but a famine had forced the family out of Palestine down to Egypt. The Promised Land seemed even more distant. The Redeemer seemed further away. But Jacob was a man of faith. As his time to die drew near, he summoned Joseph and he blessed the two sons of Joseph Ephraim and Manasseh his grandsons. Just listen to the words Jacob used. Genesis 48:5-6: 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 mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. Don t think that Jacob met Ephraim and Manasseh for the first time and saw greatness in them. No he simply trusted the promises of God. My descendants will inherit the land and the promise of God will pass down to them. He blessed his grandsons as an act of faith in the promise of God to make the descendants of Abraham a great nation through whom the Messiah would come. Despite the situation banished to Egypt he trusted the promise of God. The promise would pass to his sons, his grandsons, to his great-grandsons until God made them a nation returned them to the land and raised up the Messiah the One who would save His people. He trusted God. And so did Joseph. Listen to the death of Joseph. Genesis 50:22-25: Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father s family. He lived a hundred and ten years and saw the third generation of Ephraim s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph s knees. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am 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 said, God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place. Joseph lived to a very ripe old age. He saw the birth of his great-grandsons. But still the nation was in Egypt. The Promised Land and the Messiah would have seemed to some like a fading dream. But not to Joseph! God said they would possess the land and so they would. God said Messiah would come He would. God is faithful. And to demonstrate his faith in the promises of God Joseph made his sons promise not to bury him but to keep his bones so they could be buried in the Promised Land. 4

5 That is faith. When these men were facing death their thoughts were on the faithfulness of God. They had not lived to see all of God s promises come to pass but they knew they would. They knew God would bring the nation to the Promised Land and there He would raise up a Redeemer, a Messiah. That is why they could face death. Without the Messiah to come their death was the end. But they knew Messiah would come and the faithful dead would rise on the final day. What about us? What do we think of when we face death? Are our thoughts on what we will lose family, possessions, life or what we will gain Jesus. We are further down the line of redemptive history. We don t look forward in faith to Jesus coming we look back and know that God brought Israel into the land. And in the fullness of time He sent the Messiah His own blessed Son. And He did not spare His Son but sacrificed Him to wash our sins. But we still need faith. The end of history has not come. The dead are still dead. But we believe the words of Jesus. I go to prepare a place of you. I will come for you. You will see me again. We will fellowship again in the New Jerusalem. Whether we die old and full of years in our own beds or die in a prison cell suffering for Christ we know that death merely opens the door to eternity. We will see Jesus. He will embrace us with the cry well done good and faithful servant. It is the faith that God gives faith in the finished work of Jesus that will sustain us to the end. Death is one of the times our faith is clearly on display but it is also evident in the decisions we make in our life. The next example the author of Hebrews gives embodies: Verse 23: Those who by faith obeyed God not man unto the glory of Christ Moses parents. By faith Moses parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king s edict. 5

6 You know the basics of this story. In Egypt Israel grew to become a nation. In fact they prospered to the point that Pharaoh was worried that Israel was becoming too powerful and might pose a threat. So he enslaved the nation and commanded the Hebrew midwives that every male child born to a Hebrew woman be killed. But these brave women disobeyed Pharaoh. Why did they disobey Pharaoh? Not only did they know that murder was a sin but to kill the male children would be to cut off the seed line the line of promise through which the Messiah would come. No Messiah no salvation death would be the end. They resisted and God blessed them. So Pharaoh changed his tack. He issued a command that every boy baby must be thrown into the Nile. Soon after this order Amram and Jochebed the parents of Moses faced a dilemma. Jochebed gave birth to a health boy. Pharaoh said that he must die. But as they looked at Moses they saw that he was a beautiful child or as the NIV puts it he was special not an ordinary child. What does this mean? It seems that somehow God allowed Moses parents to grasp that this child would have a crucial role in the promises of God. The fact they called him Moses backs up this idea. Moses means one who draws out. Moses was the one who drew his people out of Egypt. Moses would be used to preserve the people of God and preserve the line that would lead to the Messiah. They made the only choice they could they defied Pharaoh. It might cost them their life but so be it. Even if he was not special how could they kill their boy? But even more, how could they kill the one who would protect the promised seed line of God? Their own hope was to see the Messiah come. No Moses no Messiah. No Messiah no salvation. Death is the end. In one sense saving their child would save them. But this required faith faith in the promises of God. His parents did place their faith in God. By setting him in the Nile in a sense they obeyed the edict of Pharaoh but in reality they obeyed the word of God. 6

7 Men and women of God often have to decide who will I obey God or men? For the parents of Moses this was no mere academic question it was a life or death issue. Saving the life of their son may cost them their lives. But losing their son would cost them eternally. In reality the choice was easy they trusted God and knew that even if they died their faith would open the door to heaven. And they trusted that in Moses God would deliver the nation and keep His promise of a Saviour. Chances are that you and I won t have to make a choice like Amram and Jochebed. In Australia it is rare for our faith to cost us our lives. It is unlikely we will face a decision that can affect the plan of God for the nations. But know that if it should happen God will give us the faith to persevere to the end. Yet this doesn t mean we don t face choices. Like the parents of Moses we do have to make a stand obeying God or obeying men. There are times we just have to say by faith I choose to stand with the word of God. Just this week I wrote to the AMA. I was unhappy with their stance on the RU 486 debate the abortion pill debate. I have no doubt that legalising this medication will increase the murder of unborn children. I am ashamed of this nation killing its weakest and most vulnerable citizens. I have been a member of the AMA for many years but I was appalled that they supported the use of this drug and to state that they see it entirely as a medical issue and not an ethical one. Legalising that drug will only add to the blood debt our nation already owes and drive the glory of Christ further from our land. I wrote to the AMA to express my feelings. Look it s a small gesture. It won t cost me my life, my job, not even my reputation. I doubt I will receive a response. Really it costs me nothing. But I was reminded that there are times you have to say the word of God is clear and I want to make my voice heard. We have to make stands at work, with the neighbours, against poor decisions of our leaders. To declare by faith I stand with God. And when we do so then the glory of Christ is ours His joy will be made full in us. 7

8 This brings us to Moses himself. Moses was an example of: Those who by faith put disgrace before acclaim unto the glory of Christ. Look at verses 24-27: 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. 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. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. I find it incredible that by faith these saints of old saw Jesus. When Jesus was addressing the Jewish leaders He said: Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad. And here we see that Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ of great value fourteen hundred years before Jesus was born! Moses could have had it all. When he was placed in the Nile it was Pharaoh s daughter herself who rescued him. He was raised in the palace as royalty. I don t need to tell you the splendour of Egypt. The gold and glory and might of Egypt is on display in museums throughout the world. Moses could have had it all. When weighing up whether to keep it or forsake it he might have thought about Joseph. Joseph also found himself in power in Egypt and Joseph didn t give it up. So why did Moses choose to give it up? Because in the plan of God Israel needed protection in Egypt during the days of Joseph. But now in the plan of God Israel needed to leave the slavery of Egypt to return and take the Promised Land. Moses looked and saw the people of God suffering. The nation through whom Messiah would come were slaves enduring the cruellest of treatment and unable to leave Egypt. And he looked at his own life luxury and the pleasures of the palace. He had to choose. 8

9 He chose slavery and mistreatment. Why? Because 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. Moses knew that the true pleasures of life was not to bathe in the milk of a yak in a tub of gold it was to know Christ. And that meant suffering for Christ. To know Jesus is worth more than this world can offer. As Jesus said: I tell you the truth no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come, eternal life. Moses had to choose and the defining moment in his life came when he killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a Hebrew slave. He had to decide throw himself on Pharaoh s mercy or raise up a slave revolt or trust the God. He chose to leave Egypt for Midian and persevere there trusting Him who is invisible God Himself. Moses never doubted his choice. He became the friend of God. He saw Christ through faith. He was sustained by faith. And He knew Messiah would come and heaven would come. He made the right choice. Jesus Himself made it clear what it cost to follow Him. He had no place to lay His head. He had no wealth or earthly glory. To be His disciple we have to take up our cross forsake the things of this world and follow Him. But, in giving up all to know Him we gain everything. Paul put it this way in Philippians 3:7-11: But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings. George Beverly Shea put it like this: I d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I d rather be His than have riches untold; I d rather have Jesus than houses or land; I d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand: 9

10 Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin s dread sway! I d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today. We all face the decision of Moses the fleeting pleasures of this world or the soul satisfying pleasures of Jesus. Our flesh cries out go for the world. Our faith cries out go for Jesus. Moses had it all and gave it up for Christ because he knew Christ satisfies now and eternally. Look at your life. If you are struggling if there is dissatisfaction, a lack of joy, life just isn t fulfilling then perhaps you are looking in the wrong place. Only Jesus can satisfy. When Paul was in Athens, he addressed the learned assembly on Mars Hill. He said this: God made all men that they would seek Him for in Him we live and love and exist. God made us such that we only live when we are in Him. We can only be satisfied in Him. We can only find peace in Him. Blaise Pascal put it this way Within each one of us there is a God-shaped vacuum that God and only God can fill. Jesus said the same thing. He told us that to have fruit we have to be connected to the vine we have to abide in Him. Without His life we can t bear fruit we won t have joy. If you are not finding the joy and delight and fruit that is yours as a Christian ask Am I abiding in Him? Have I chosen Christ over this world? Brothers and sisters Jesus delights to fill us with His Spirit and empower us and bear fruit through us. The lifeline of power is always open. We need to make sure that we do the things that allow that power to flow into our lives. Now we come to an interesting grouping Moses, the nation of Israel and Rahab. They are examples of: Those who by faith chose the salvation of God unto the glory of Christ. Verses 28-31: By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed 10

11 through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. Here we have four examples in which the men and women of old faced death. And the divine path of escape was to trust God under extraordinary circumstances. Humanly speaking each of these paths to salvation made no sense but in fact there was no other way of escape. The first example happened in Egypt. Pharaoh was steadfastly refusing to let the people of God leave Egypt. The divine plagues were growing ever more severe. Finally, God said he would send a tenth and final plague. The angel of death would pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn both men and animals. But, in any household of faith those who placed the blood of a sacrificial lamb on the doorposts the angel would pass over that house and spare the first born. It must have seemed a strange rite daubing blood on the doors to escape death. But in faith Moses obeyed and Israel obeyed and the firstborn of the nation survived. But their survival seemed short lived. Soon after leaving Israel Pharaoh set out with his army to destroy the people of God. They were trapped the Red Sea on one side Pharaoh s army on the other side. And the people were sure Moses had led them to their deaths. But that man of faith cried out: 11

12 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. Have faith. God will deliver you. And he reached out his hand and the sea rolled back a huge wall of water on the left, a huge wall of water on the right and dry land down the middle. I tried to imagine what it must have been like to see the sea part. And then looking at these enormous cliffs of water to then trust God that He would keep that whole mass of water at bay while the nation crossed. It would take enormous faith to step out between the walls of water and to follow the path to salvation. If that water came down and gravity says it should come down a horrible death would follow. They faced a test of faith. I found a few pictures that try to capture this moment. Personally, none of them really seem to convey the awe of the moment the trust needed. But they might give you a glimpse of what the people faced. 12

13 It took faith to step between the walls of water. But they stepped out in faith they saw the deliverance of God and they saw the Sea close over the Egyptian army. After this the faith of the nation waned. They spent 40 years in the wilderness until they once again entered the Promised Land. But entering the Promised Land was a daunting task. Remember that 40 years earlier the Jews had sent spies into the land. Here was their report: The people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We can t attack those people; they are stronger than we are. All the people we saw there are of great size. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. We can t defeat them we are like grasshoppers before them. Now forty years later the nation crosses the Jordan and enters Palestine. Before them is Jericho the chief city of the Canaanites. It is fortified and immovable. But how does God tell His people to take this city? The Lord says: March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in. It takes faith to believe that this is the way to take a fortified city. Going up against a city like this was dangerous. The nation might be massacred. But, by faith, day after day they marched around the city and God delivered the city into their hands. They did what seemed ludicrous and saw the power of God. And everyone in the city was killed except Rahab the prostitute and her family. You know the story Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to assess the situation. The king of Jericho got word that there were spies in the city and word came to him that they had entered the house of Rahab the prostitute. The soldiers arrive and demanded she hand over the spies. Now put yourself in Rahab s shoes. She had a choice to make trust the might of Jericho or throw herself on the mercy of the God of Israel. Jericho was a mighty city humanly speaking this rabble of escaped slaves who had been cowering in the wilderness for forty years posed little threat. 13

14 And why would Israel accept her? She is a pagan, a woman and a prostitute to boot. It would seem folly to seek salvation in the God of Israel. She had nothing to offer. But, she by faith she knew the power of the one true God. She threw herself on the mercy of the Lord. She protected the spies and when Jericho fell she and her family were spared. The salvation of God is wrought in amazing ways. It requires faith in God and in His Christ. These four examples show the type of faith that is needed putting blood on doorposts to escape stepping out through the Red Sea marching around a powerful city turning to God. And in one sense these examples all point to Jesus. The blood of lambs on the doorposts pointed to the blood of Christ that washes away our sins and allows God to pass over us on the Day of Judgment. The Red Sea opened before the Jews and showed the one way of escape. They had to trust God in faith to live. The cross of Christ is the one way the only way we may escape and live. The walls of Jericho fell at the sound of the trumpet. The walls fell by the power of God not by any human power. So too our faith in Christ sees every stronghold overcome sin, Satan, the world all fall before the power of God. And Rahab shows us that all may throw themselves on the mercy of Christ and find salvation. God works in mysterious ways. The world doesn t believe blood saved Israel. It doesn t believe the Red Sea opened before them. Nor does it give credence to the way Jericho fell. And it scoffs at a prostitute finding her way into the line that finally led to Jesus. And the same world scoffs when we say to them the one way of escape this day is by faith in the death of Jesus to atone for our sins. To trust our eternal destiny to the fate of a crucified Galilean carpenter seems as ludicrous as trusting in trumpets to bring down walls of stone. But just as God gave these saints of old faith that shapes destinies He gave us that same faith. We know Jesus. We know His power. We know He will come again. 14

15 The saints of old saw beyond death to the Saviour to come. They saw beyond the laws of nature and sense to the Saviour to come. And this same faith is in us. We live and will live eternally because of that faith. It is a divine gift. And just as God opened our eyes He will open the eyes of some we tell the gospel of the bloody, crucified Son of God. God will give them faith faith that makes no sense humanly and they will live. If some here this morning are struggling with faith in Jesus how can the death of a man 2,000 years ago save me from death? Then know this there is no other way of salvation but through faith in the Son of God. Ask God and He gives that faith. And you too will see the glory of Christ now and eternally. There is no other way of salvation no other avenue of escape. This is faith. We trust in Jesus and we see every stronghold fall before us. We know Jesus and live and move in Him. And on the final day we will see the last enemy death vanquished and by faith we will rise again. To God be the glory Great things He has done. 15