Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Hebrews 11:17-29 - Belief and Faith are Not the Same Thing

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Hebrews 11:17-29 - Belief and Faith are Not the Same Thing · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio, how do their faithful listeners, and Welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, explained to podcast on this lovely Tuesday morning,
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  Speaker 1: We're going to be in the Book of Hebrews today
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  Speaker 1: talking more about the Hall of Faith. So I hope
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  Speaker 1: you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. It was
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  Speaker 1: very nice for me. Memorial Day was beautiful. Okay. I
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  Speaker 1: thought it was going to be rainy and cold the
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  Speaker 1: entire time, but it was not. It was kind of
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  Speaker 1: rainy and cold in the morning, but right around three o'clock,
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  Speaker 1: the sky's just opened up and the sun peeked out
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  Speaker 1: and it was just a solid like seventy two degrees.
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  Speaker 1: It was so beautiful, so so perfect, and it was
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  Speaker 1: a very very nice afternoon for me. But contact me
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  Speaker 1: and tell me how your Memorial Day weekend was. I
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  Speaker 1: love to hear from all of you guys. And also,
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  Speaker 1: if you have a prayer request, please don't hesitate to
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  Speaker 1: reach out and I will write you down in my
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  Speaker 1: prayer journal and I will pray for you for the week.
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  Speaker 1: But faithful listeners, before we get started with today's episode,
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  Speaker 1: please listen to this quick ad from a sponsor. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: let's go ahead and read Hebrews chapter eleven, verses seventeen
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  Speaker 1: through twenty nine, and we'll talk about a few more
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  Speaker 1: people and their faith, and we're also going to define
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  Speaker 1: what faith is. How is faith different from belief. They're
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  Speaker 1: often intertwined, they're often connected and used as the same thing,
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  Speaker 1: but actually faith is very, very different from belief. So
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  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about that today as well. Again,
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  Speaker 1: let's read Hebrews eleven seventeen through twenty nine, and as usual,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the web by faith. Abraham being tested,
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  Speaker 1: offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises,
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  Speaker 1: was offering up his only born son, to whom it
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  Speaker 1: was said, your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac
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  Speaker 1: concluding that God is able to raise up even from
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  Speaker 1: the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back
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  Speaker 1: from the dead by faith. Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau,
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  Speaker 1: even concerning things to come by faith. Jacob, when he
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  Speaker 1: was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and
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  Speaker 1: worshiped leaning on the top of his staff by faith. Joseph,
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  Speaker 1: when his end was near, made mention of the departure
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  Speaker 1: of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.
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  Speaker 1: By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for
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  Speaker 1: three months by his parents because they saw that he
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  Speaker 1: was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of
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  Speaker 1: the king's commandment. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up,
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  Speaker 1: refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing
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  Speaker 1: rather to share ill treatment with God's people than to
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  Speaker 1: enjoy pleasures of sin for a time, considering the reproach
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  Speaker 1: of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. For
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  Speaker 1: he looked toward the reward by faith, he left Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured
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  Speaker 1: as seeing him who is invisible. By faith, he kept
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  Speaker 1: the passover and the sprinkling of the blood, that the
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  Speaker 1: destroyer of the first born should not touch them. By faith,
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  Speaker 1: they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land.
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  Speaker 1: When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.
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  Speaker 1: Last week, we talked about the first portion of Hebrews eleven,
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  Speaker 1: which is lovingly referred to as the Hall of Faith,
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  Speaker 1: because the author goes through all of these different faith
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  Speaker 1: stories of people we read about in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: and we also discussed how each person mentioned here had
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  Speaker 1: some sort of obedience attached to their faith, because obedience
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  Speaker 1: and faith go hand in hand, because faith is both
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  Speaker 1: a belief and also an action. If you believe something,
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  Speaker 1: then you are truly going to live it out. And
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  Speaker 1: the first people that were mentioned so far in verses
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  Speaker 1: one through sixteen were able Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah.
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  Speaker 1: And all of these people, through their faith, were able
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  Speaker 1: to do amazing things. God was working through these people
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  Speaker 1: because they had faith in God. So, for example, Noah,
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  Speaker 1: he was able to survive a worldwide flood. Him and
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  Speaker 1: his family were the only ones who survived this, and
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  Speaker 1: that is such a fantastical story. It makes a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people think that the Bible is not truthful, Like,
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  Speaker 1: how could there be a worldwide flood with only eight
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  Speaker 1: people surviving it? How could they build a boat that
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  Speaker 1: would withstand that water and the rain that was coming
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  Speaker 1: out from the sky. How could they actually survive that?
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  Speaker 1: But it was really through Noah's faith that they survived that.
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  Speaker 1: Noah believed the words of God, and it says that
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  Speaker 1: he had godly fear of God as well, so he
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  Speaker 1: truly did believe there is going to be a flood,
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  Speaker 1: and I need to prepare this boat. No matter how
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  Speaker 1: many people laugh at me and make fun of me
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  Speaker 1: or treat me as if I am doing something crazy,
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  Speaker 1: I am going to protect my family. And he and
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  Speaker 1: his family were the only people to actually survive the
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  Speaker 1: worldwide flood, so amazing things were accomplished because of these
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  Speaker 1: people's faith. Same with Abraham and Sarah. They were able
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  Speaker 1: to conceive Isaac in their old age, when Sarah had
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  Speaker 1: never been able to have children before that. She had
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  Speaker 1: a baby at ninety years of age, and I believe
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  Speaker 1: Abraham was close to one hundred, if not one hundred.
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  Speaker 1: And they had Isaac that late in life. And Isaac
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  Speaker 1: was the child of the promise that God had given them,
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  Speaker 1: the promise being that Abraham would birth a nation. But
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  Speaker 1: Abraham was also promised that the Messiah would come through
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  Speaker 1: his bloodline. And that's the main promise that we're going
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  Speaker 1: to see throughout all of this. By the way, so
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  Speaker 1: let's read verse seventeen and talk more about Abraham. It
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  Speaker 1: says by faith, Abraham being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he who had gladly received the promises, was offering up
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  Speaker 1: his only born son to whom it was said, your
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  Speaker 1: offspring will be accounted as from Isaac. So Abraham's faith
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  Speaker 1: went so deep that he was willing to offer Isaac
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  Speaker 1: his son to God. Now I talked in great length
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  Speaker 1: actually about Abraham's story not too long ago on the
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  Speaker 1: Good Friday podcast episode that I did, which I will
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  Speaker 1: link in the description of this episode if you want
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  Speaker 1: to know more about why God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: why Abraham went along with it, and how all of
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  Speaker 1: that actually lines up with God's nature. Though a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people under how God could allow human sacrifice in
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  Speaker 1: that moment when he hates human sacrifice, I'll give you
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  Speaker 1: a spoiler on it. God asked Abraham to offer Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: not to kill Isaac. But at the time, Abraham understood
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  Speaker 1: offerings as being human sacrifices. He lived in a pagan
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  Speaker 1: society and that is what people did. Human sacrifice was
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  Speaker 1: common in the days of Abraham, with all the nations.
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  Speaker 1: So when Abraham heard God say, hey, Abraham, you need
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  Speaker 1: to offer your son to me, Abraham took that to me,
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  Speaker 1: I need to offer him as a human sacrifice. And
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  Speaker 1: that was Abraham's sense of obedience. Because God was never
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  Speaker 1: going to allow Abraham to kill Isaac. God hates human sacrifice,
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  Speaker 1: but Abraham was obedient though he knew that Isaac was
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  Speaker 1: the source of his promise. And it says right here
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  Speaker 1: in verse nineteen that Abraham concluded that God is able
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  Speaker 1: to raise up even from the dead. So Abraham did
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  Speaker 1: weigh the consequence of sacrificing Isaac, and he concluded that
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  Speaker 1: God is so faithful that even if he killed his
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  Speaker 1: son Isaac and offered him as a human sacrifice to God,
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  Speaker 1: that God was able to raise from the dead and
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  Speaker 1: would actually raise Isaac from the dead. Now God didn't
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  Speaker 1: let it go that far because Abraham, in his understanding
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  Speaker 1: of human sacrifice, raises his hand with the knife to
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  Speaker 1: actually kill his child, and an angel from God stops
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  Speaker 1: Abraham in his tracks and says, Abraham, stop, you are
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  Speaker 1: not to sacrifice or kill that child. And that's when
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  Speaker 1: the ram appears, which of course is a picture of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And I talked about all of that, every single bit
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  Speaker 1: of it on my Good Friday episode that I did,
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  Speaker 1: which is called It Will Be Provided. So I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to link that episode in the description of this episode,
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  Speaker 1: so you guys can listen to it. It really is
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  Speaker 1: a fantastic episode, one that I'm very proud of, one
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  Speaker 1: of my favorite ones that I've ever done, actually, so
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  Speaker 1: you should listen to it. But Abraham, in his faith,
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  Speaker 1: believed that God was able to raise from the dead.
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  Speaker 1: So he knew my son Isaac is the heir of
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  Speaker 1: the promise that God gave to me, and God is
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  Speaker 1: not going to take that promise from me, though he's
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  Speaker 1: asking for it right now for some reason. So I
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  Speaker 1: am going to obey God in my understanding of what
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  Speaker 1: God is telling me to do, and I know that
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  Speaker 1: God is either going to stop me or he is
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  Speaker 1: going to raise my son from the dead. And that
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  Speaker 1: was Abraham's faith, and it was also an act of
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  Speaker 1: obedience that distinguishes faith from belief. There truly is a
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  Speaker 1: difference between faith and belief. Belief is understanding that something
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  Speaker 1: is real, right, you know, I believe that my phone
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  Speaker 1: exists because I can see it right here. I believe
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  Speaker 1: the country of China exists. I haven't been there, I've
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  Speaker 1: never seen it, but I've met people from China, and
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  Speaker 1: I hear about China on the news, and so I
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  Speaker 1: believe that China exists. But having faith that is something
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  Speaker 1: far different from belief. So let's read James chapter two
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  Speaker 1: and discuss the difference between belief and faith. Starting in
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  Speaker 1: verse nineteen, it says, you believe that God is one
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  Speaker 1: you do well. The demons also believe and shudder. But
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  Speaker 1: do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart
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  Speaker 1: from works is dead. Wasn't Abraham our father, justified by
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  Speaker 1: works in that he offered up Isaac, his son on
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  Speaker 1: the altar? You see that faith worked with his works,
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  Speaker 1: and by works faith was perfected. So the scripture was fulfilled,
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  Speaker 1: which says Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
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  Speaker 1: him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
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  Speaker 1: And you see then that by works a man is justified,
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  Speaker 1: not only by faith. In the same way, wasn't Raehab
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  Speaker 1: the prostitute, also justified by works when she received the
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  Speaker 1: messengers and sent them out another way, For as the
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  Speaker 1: body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith
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  Speaker 1: apart from works is dead. So that right, there is
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  Speaker 1: a difference between faith and belief. Belief is certainly part
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  Speaker 1: of it, like you have to believe that God exists,
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  Speaker 1: but it goes further than that, because even the demons
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  Speaker 1: believe that God exists. They understand that he is real,
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  Speaker 1: but they don't have obedience associated with it, so they
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  Speaker 1: don't have a true faith. They have belief but not faith.
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  Speaker 1: So faith is both belief and also obedience working side
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  Speaker 1: by side. And it talks about the case of Abraham here.
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  Speaker 1: He believed that God exists, He believed in the promises
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  Speaker 1: of God. He believed that God could do great things.
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  Speaker 1: But he acted on that belief through his obedience. He said,
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  Speaker 1: you know what, because God is a promise keeper. If
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  Speaker 1: I obey what he says and I offer my child
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  Speaker 1: on this altar to God, God is still going to
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  Speaker 1: keep his promise to me, and he's going to raise
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  Speaker 1: my son from the dead, because Isaac is the promise
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  Speaker 1: that God gave me. Abraham acted out his faith. Other
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  Speaker 1: person mentioned here is Rahab the prostitute, which we'll talk
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  Speaker 1: about her later on in Hebrews chapter eleven, because she
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  Speaker 1: is mentioned actually towards the end. So belief and obedience
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  Speaker 1: together is actually what equals faith. So we can't have
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  Speaker 1: just belief because if we have just belief, we are
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  Speaker 1: no greater than the demons. We can't have just obedience
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  Speaker 1: because if we have just obedience and no belief, then
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  Speaker 1: we're just legalistic. We're just like the Pharisees who had
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  Speaker 1: no belief in Jesus. We have to have both believing
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  Speaker 1: and obedience together, and that combination together equals faith. So
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  Speaker 1: faith is not the same thing as believing. Faith goes
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  Speaker 1: far far deeper than believing. And that's why the author
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  Speaker 1: of Hebrews uses the word faith to talk about each
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  Speaker 1: of these individual men and women. Moving on to the
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  Speaker 1: next person, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau even
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  Speaker 1: concerning things to come. Now. That story is Isaac, who
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  Speaker 1: was the son of Abraham. When he was all grown up,
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  Speaker 1: he had two sons. They were twins named Jacob and Esau.
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  Speaker 1: And Isaac was actually fooled by Jacob, who was the
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  Speaker 1: younger of the two twins and not supposed to be
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  Speaker 1: the birthright holder. He went into Isaac when Isaac was
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  Speaker 1: very old and fooled Isaac into making him think that
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  Speaker 1: he was Esaw, his older brother. And Isaac, who was blind,
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  Speaker 1: fell for the deception and blessed Jacob instead of Esau.
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  Speaker 1: And you might be like, well, how is that faith
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  Speaker 1: then on Isaac's part because he was fooled into blessing
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  Speaker 1: Jacob instead of Esau. Well, because later on and I
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  Speaker 1: think it was Genesis twenty eight, Yeah, Genesis twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: one through four. Isaac stuck with that blessing that he
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  Speaker 1: initially gave to Jacob. He didn't undo it. He wasn't like, oh, Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: you deceived me, and so now I'm going to give
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  Speaker 1: the blessing I gave to you to Esau because he
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  Speaker 1: was the one that actually deserved it. No, Isaac had
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  Speaker 1: faith that that blessing was from God, that Jacob was
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  Speaker 1: the one who was meant to have that blessing. He
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  Speaker 1: had faith in that. So he called Jacob to him
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  Speaker 1: in Genesis twenty eight one through four, and it says
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  Speaker 1: he blessed him and commanded him, you shall not take
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  Speaker 1: a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to
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  Speaker 1: Peddan Aram to the house of Bethual, your mother's father,
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  Speaker 1: take away from there of the daughters of Laban of
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  Speaker 1: your mother's brother. And may God Almighty bless you and
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  Speaker 1: make you fruitful and multiply you, and that you may
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  Speaker 1: be a company of people's and give you the blessing
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  Speaker 1: of Abraham to you and your offspring with you, that
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  Speaker 1: you may inherit the land where you travel, which God
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  Speaker 1: gave to Abraham. So though Jacob deceived Isaac into that
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  Speaker 1: blessing initially, after Isaac was made aware of it, he
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  Speaker 1: still followed through with the blessing because he had faith
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  Speaker 1: and understanding that it was actually Jacob meant to receive
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  Speaker 1: that blessing, not Esau. So that was the faith action
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  Speaker 1: of Isaac. Though Isaac was extremely upset at Jacob for
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  Speaker 1: what head did, and though Isaac loved Esau more than Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: he still recognized that God was going to bless Jacob
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  Speaker 1: and not Esau, though he didn't like it. Then, in
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty one, it says by faith, Jacob, the guy
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  Speaker 1: who deceived his father when he was dying, blessed each
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  Speaker 1: of the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning on the
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  Speaker 1: top of his staff. So that story is found in
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  Speaker 1: Genesis forty eight, where Joseph brings his two sons to
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  Speaker 1: his father and has his father blessed them before Jacob
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  Speaker 1: ends up dying. So let's go ahead and read this
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  Speaker 1: story and see what Jacob's faith action was. Starting in
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  Speaker 1: verse nine, Joseph said to his father, These are my
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  Speaker 1: sons whom God has given to me. He said, Please
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  Speaker 1: bring them to me and I will bless them. Now
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  Speaker 1: the eyes of Israel or Jacob were dim for age,
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  Speaker 1: so that he couldn't see well. Joseph brought them near
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  Speaker 1: to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. Israel
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  Speaker 1: said to Joseph, I didn't think I would see your face,
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  Speaker 1: and behold, God has let me see your offspring. Also,
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  Speaker 1: Joseph brought them out from between his knees and bowed
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  Speaker 1: himself with his face to the earth. Joseph took them
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  Speaker 1: both Epriem in his right hand toward Israel's left hand,
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  Speaker 1: and Manassa in his left hand toward Israel's right hand,
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  Speaker 1: and brought them near to him. Israel stretched out his
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  Speaker 1: right hand and laid it on Ephrium's head, who was
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  Speaker 1: the younger, and his left hand on Manassa's head, guiding
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  Speaker 1: his hands knowingly, for Manassa was the first born, and
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  Speaker 1: jumping down a couple verses to verse seventeen. When Joseph
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  Speaker 1: saw that his father laid his right hand on the
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  Speaker 1: head of Ephriam, it displeased him. He held up his
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  Speaker 1: father's hand and removed it from Efriam's head to Manassa's head.
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  Speaker 1: Joseph said to his father, not so, my father, for
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  Speaker 1: this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.
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  Speaker 1: His father refused and said, I know, my son. I
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  Speaker 1: know he also will become a people, and he will
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  Speaker 1: be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he,
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  Speaker 1: and his offspring will become a multitude of nations. So
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  Speaker 1: the faith action of Jacob was that he blessed the
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  Speaker 1: younger child instead of the older child, even though he
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  Speaker 1: knew that this would displease Joseph, his favorite son, and
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  Speaker 1: yet he still did it because he knew that God
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  Speaker 1: was going to bless Ephriom over Manassa. Even if Jacob
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  Speaker 1: himself didn't want to do it that way because that
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  Speaker 1: went against the natural order of the firstborn son inheriting everything.
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  Speaker 1: Still he did it, and he had obedience to what
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  Speaker 1: God told him to do. And this is probably especially
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  Speaker 1: difficult for somebody like Jacob, who constantly showed favoritism throughout
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  Speaker 1: his entire life, both to his wives and to his children.
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  Speaker 1: It caused so much conflict in his families because his
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  Speaker 1: two wives were always so upset with each other and
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  Speaker 1: then on top of that, his children were at each
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  Speaker 1: other's throats because their father was always showing favoritism. I
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  Speaker 1: am sure Jacob felt some difficulty in going against that
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  Speaker 1: sinful nature of his of wanting to show favoritism to
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  Speaker 1: these two boys, and finally following the commands of God,
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  Speaker 1: not showing favoritism, but blessing each child as God had intended.
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  Speaker 1: And now in Hebrews eleven it talks about the faith
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  Speaker 1: of Joseph. It says in verse twenty two, when his
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  Speaker 1: end was near, he made mention of the departure of
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  Speaker 1: the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.
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  Speaker 1: So Joseph, if you guys remember the story, lived in
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  Speaker 1: the land of Egypt. He was very powerful. He was
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  Speaker 1: second in command to the Pharaoh. But he knew that
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  Speaker 1: his family did not belong there, and he knew that
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites would live in Egypt for a very long time,
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  Speaker 1: but eventually that they would go back home. So he
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  Speaker 1: commanded his brothers. He said, when you guys eventually inherit
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  Speaker 1: the promised land, take my bones with you, because I
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  Speaker 1: do not want my body staying here in Egypt, because
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  Speaker 1: I am not Egyptian. I am an Israelite. So Joseph
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  Speaker 1: had faith, knowing that God was going to bring the
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  Speaker 1: people back home, and his obedience was giving instructions concerning
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  Speaker 1: his bones. He did not want to stay in Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: even though he was dead about the faith of Moses's
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  Speaker 1: parents in verse twenty three. By faith, Moses when he
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  Speaker 1: was born was hidden for three months by his parents
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: because they saw that he was a beautiful child and
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: they were not afraid of the king's commandments. So this
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: was about four hundred years after Joseph and Jacob and
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: all of the patriarchs of Israel had died. All the
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: people were still in the land of Egypt because the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, and the Egyptians were notoriously cruel
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: to the Israelites, so much so that they actually at
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: one point commanded that every single male child born to
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: an Israelite person needed to be killed by drowning in
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: the Nile River. Really nasty, nasty stuff. So it was
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: infanticide and genocide by the Egyptian people. But Moses was
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: born during this time and his parents, it says in
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Exodus chapter two, saw that he was a beautiful baby.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: And when they saw how beautiful this baby was, they
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: thought God has to have a plan for this baby.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: He is just uncharacteristically beautiful. And so they did not
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: follow the king's command. And not only did they not
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: follow it, they had no fear of the king if
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: he found out that they kept their baby boy alive.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: So they hit him away for three months. And then,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: of course, you guys know the story. He was put
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: in the Nile River in a basket and floated along
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: until he eventually arrived at Pharaoh's daughter, and Pharaoh's daughter
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: picked him up, had compassion on the little Israelite baby,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: and kept him as her own. But Moses himself had faith,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: it says by faith Moses verse twenty four. When he
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: had grown up, refused to be called the son of
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to share ill treatment with God's
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: So Moses grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Because he was in the Pharaoh's household, he could have
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: been considered the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: refused to go by that title. He refused to live
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: in opulence with the Egyptian courts. Instead, he saw the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: plight of the Israelite people, how they were being treated
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: like dogs, how they were being treated like slaves, and
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: he identified with them instead of with the court of
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: the Pharaoh. And he knew what he was leaving behind
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: if he chose to identify with the Israelite to people,
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: is that he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: That is an amazing verse right here, because this is
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: one of the times where Jesus Christ actually shows up
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. And this is something I should
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: mention to you guys. You know, a lot of people
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: think that Christianity was a created religion that started in
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: about eighty thirty five, right, But Christianity, technically, though the
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: name did not exist, has existed from the beginning of
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: time because Christianity just means followers of Christ. The term
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Christ means Messiah. The people of the Old Testament were
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: looking to the Messiah. They were looking for the Christ.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: They knew the Messiah was going to exist, and that
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: was the promise that God gave to Abraham and to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the other patriarchs that through their bloodline, through the Israelite nation,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the promise of the Christ would come to fruition. That
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: was the ultimate promise that all of these men were receiving.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: So they were looking to the Christ. Moses, it says,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. All of
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: the patriarchs that you read about in the Old Testament
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: were also Christians because they were following and looking to
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: the Messiah. And that is what Moses was doing. He
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: was looking for Christ, and he realized that the reproach
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: of Christ was greater riches than anything he could receive
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: in Pharaoh's household, so he chose to identify with that instead. Now,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: in verse twenty seven, it says by faith he left Egypt,
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: as seeing him who is invisible. Now, there are two
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: times that Moses left Egypt. The first time was when
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: he committed murder and killed an Egyptian man who was
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: abusing one of the Israelites, and he ran away from
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the Pharaoh at that point. The second time was when
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: he left with the Israelite nation after all the plagues
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: and stuff happened. So which one is the author referring to.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: The reason I personally don't think it's the first one
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: is because when Moses left Egypt for the first time,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: it was right after he killed that Egyptian man, and
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: it specifically mentions in Exodus chapter two that he was
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: afraid of the Pharaoh and that's why he left. So
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: let's read Exodus two eleven through fifteen. It says in
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Egyptian striking a Hebrew one of his brothers. He looked
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: this way and that way, and when he saw that
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: there was no one, he killed the egypt and hid
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: him in the sand. He went out the second day
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and behold two men of the Hebrews were fighting with
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: each other. He said to him, who did the wrong?
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Why do you strike your fellow? He said, who made
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: you a prince and judge over us? Do you plan
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to kill me as you killed the Egyptian. Moses was
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: afraid and said, surely this thing is known. Now. When
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and lived in
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: the land of Midian and sat down by a well. Okay,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: so yes, it's very clear that Moses was terrified the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: first time that he left Egypt, which is why I
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: personally think that the author of Hebrews is talking about
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the second time that Moses left Egypt, because it's pretty
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: clear that that time Moses was unafraid of the Pharaoh
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: and what could happen if the Pharaoh actually pursued them.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: It's pretty clear that the Pharaoh hated the Hebrews, hated
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the Israelites, hated Moses, and yet Moses was staunchly unafraid
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: of him. It says that he did not fear the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: who is invisible, and then in verse twenty eight, Moses
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: by faith also kept the passover and the sprinkling of
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: touch them, and that is talking about the last plague
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: that the Egyptians endured. Anybody who didn't celebrate the passover
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and put the lamb of the blood on the doorposts
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: of their home, the destroying angel went out and killed
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: the firstborn child. But Moses told the people, the Egyptians
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: and the Israelites alike, that they needed to have the
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: blood of the Lamb on the doorposts of their home
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: and this angel would pass them by. And a lot
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: of Egyptians likely did follow Moses. Interestingly enough, you know,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Moses was gaining quite a reputation and a following in
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Egypt because of all the plagus and stuff that were happening.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: But by faith, Moses believed that that last plague would happen,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and it did, in fact happen, and that was when
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the Pharaoh and the Egyptians finally let the people go.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: But the Pharaoh was absolutely furious with Moses for all
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: of these plagues that had happened while all the Hebrews
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: were in Israel. And so as the Israelites are leaving,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: the Pharaoh becomes so angry and enraged that he takes
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: an army of Egyptians with all of their chariots and horses,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the entire mighty army of the Egyptians to go and
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: kill the Hebrews. And the people see the Egyptians coming,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: and they are next to the Red Sea, and then
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the Red Sea splits because of God's power. So the Israelites,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: in their faith, it says in verse twenty nine, they
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: So thankfully the people had enough faith to actually go
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: through the Red Sea that was parted. They had to
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: have faith to do it. They believed that God was
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: going to protect them, that God was not going to
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: cause the sea to crash down on them. They had
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: faith in him. But the Egyptians, when they tried to
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: do the exact same thing, the seas came crashing down
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: on them because they did not have faith in Yahweh.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: They saw the Hebrews go through unscathed, and they probably
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: thought they could too. They were like, oh wow, look
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: at this interesting miracle, but they had no faith that
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: God was the one that produced that miracle. They did
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: not believe in Yahweh. In fact, for years they had
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: seen these plagues take place in Egypt, plague after plague
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: after plague, and they did not worship Yahweh. Though these
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: problems were taking place. They didn't care an inkling about God,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: and in their uncaring they thought that they could get
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: away with going through the Red Sea, but they did
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: not have faith, and so the seas came crashing down
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: on them. And so in conclusion, there are two types
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of people that we can be. We can either be
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the Hebrews who walked on dry land because they had faith,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: or we can be like the Egyptians who had no faith,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: who were using what God was doing without trusting in him,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: without any belief in Him whatsoever, and it did not
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: work out in their favor in the end. So faith
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: is both believing and also obedience. And on Thursday, we're
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: going to talk about even more people that experienced this
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: faith and obedience that went hand in hand even though
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: it seemed like nothing was working out in their favor.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: A lot of them didn't see these mighty miracles of God.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about how those people were able
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: to maintain faith in spite of not always seeing how
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: God was working. So we're going to talk about all
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: of that on Thursday. But, faithful listeners, I hope that
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: you all have a better understanding of what faith means
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: and why we need faith, and so, faithful listeners, I'll
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: end with a couple closing notes here, but before I
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: do here's one last quick word from a sponsor. All righty,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners before I end today's episode, I have a
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: call to action for all of you regarding what we
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: talked about today. You might believe in God, and that's
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: very good. That is the first step to faith. You
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: might believe in God, But what is something that you
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: can do today to obey and move toward true faith?
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Obedience is very difficult. I'm not going to say it isn't.
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: It is very very hard to obey somebody that you
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: cannot see. It is very hard to obey in general,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: because that means that we have to humble ourselves and
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: realize that our plans are not the best plans. Obedience
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: is hard because we might not want to do what
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: we're called to do because it's not fun, or it's
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: something that seems difficult or dangerous or hard. But that
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: is what faith requires. If we are going to move
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: into a true and active faith, we must have obedience.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: So is there something that God is calling you to
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: do today that you have not taken the step to
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: do because you are afraid, because you don't want to
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: move into that act of obedience. I encourage you pray
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: about it today and if you feel convicted, actually move
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: into that step of obedience. And that is my call
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to action for all of you guys today. So, faithful listeners,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: if you felt convicted by this episode, please share it
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: on your social media platforms and tell people that the
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Bible Explained Podcasts exists. Make sure to check out the
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: links in the description so that you can find everything
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: that I do as well as listening to that episode
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: that I linked entitled, it will be provided talking about
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the obedience of Abraham in even more depth. All right,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, I will see all of you guys hopefully
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: tomorrow six am or whenever you choose to wake up
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: and listen for an episode from Ezra. Until then, faithful listener,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: happy listening, and God bless. I just want to take
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you'll find dozens
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.