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Hebrews Part 36 - Simply Christ Podcast · Simply Christ Podcast

0:04
All right, so Hebrews 1111 and I'll I'll read that verse or
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verses, I guess probably. So it says there though through
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faith also Sarah herself received strikes to conceive
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seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age
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because she judged him faithful who had prompt therefore
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spraying even therefore spraying there even of 1 and him as good
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as dead. So many as the stars of the sky
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in multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore in new
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broom. Now I know that's two sentences,
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but to me it kind of goes together and you can comment on
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it individually or together as you want.
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But so for those of you that are just tuning in, obviously we're
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in the faith chapter that is known as we've been talking
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about faith and how that is going to affect us.
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And it's been a good study and we're going to keep right on
1:06
going on on in this subject of faith.
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And to springboard us into this, I'll turn it over to you and
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just shortly here. But I think that verse 11
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actually describes the result of faith very well.
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I like how at the end there it says because she judged him
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faithful who had promised. And in my mind that is what
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faith actually is. It is the result of having
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judged somebody or something faithful in what they had said
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or what it is prescribed as in a in a case of a bridge, a bridge
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or something like that. You know, if we judge that it is
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what we believe it to be, we'll have faith in it or walk across.
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If we see cracks in it, we will say, yeah, it says it holds 10
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people, but does it actually? And we will not have faith.
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And so I like how it says that she.
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Judged. Him Faithful.
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I think that's a very good description of Faithful.
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Go ahead. Well, you stole my Thunder.
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That's sorry about that. I was going to say something
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real similar to that about I'm like you.
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I think it's a great it acts. This chapter defines more than
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once what faith is in different ways, and that's one of the good
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definitions that are is found in it is judging him faithful.
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We had promised that is a great definition of faith.
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But but I also was thinking about her today when I was, I
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was listening to this chapter, I was working and I was thinking
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about Sarah and you know, like she did last, like she did laugh
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there when she was, when she was told, when she's actually 90
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years old or whatever it was, she was there that she did laugh
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and God rebuked. Her for that laugh.
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And she did suggest that Abraham go into Hagar.
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But the thing I but that kind of stands out to me is I don't, I
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never see any indication that she doubts the promise that he's
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going to have a great nation and that they're going to inherit
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the lane. You know what I mean?
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Like God kind of rebukes her for the manner in which he's going
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to bring it to pass. In other words, she doubts that
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it's actually going to be by her because she's, you know, she's
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but, but but like Abraham, I think she grows in her faith.
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I think, you know, obviously the Bible's not lying when it says
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that she judged him faithful. She received strength to
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conceive a child when she was past age.
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So I think she grew in her faith as she got old and like I said
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that that's the two things stood out is that I don't think she
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ever doubted the calms that God was going to get in the land and
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he was going to make a great nation.
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You know, like I think she believed the promise.
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Well, I'm in the Bible says she did, but I just I don't know.
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I think it's interesting because we kindly, or at least people
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have a tendency to talk bad about her because she laughed
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and because she suggested he go into Hagar.
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But she's also recommended later on in Peter as how women ought
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to be towards their husbands, right?
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She's she's, she's, you know, like talked well about for
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obeying Abraham. So she actually has some really
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good qualities as well. But then like you said, or like
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you read there in verse 12, therefore that is the 'cause I
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think it's interesting. I think that I'm like you.
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I think 12 goes with third with a verse 11 because because she
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judged him faithful, therefore sprang their evil 1 and him as
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good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky and multitude,
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as the sand and sea shore innumerable.
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So I think both those verses are for her.
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You know what I mean, like because she judged him faithful,
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therefore, even of a you know, like not literally a dead man,
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but dead in his ability. You know, there is able to tem
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all this seed. But but like I said, that's
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that's what I thought about when Red Woods.
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Yeah, that's good. And I, I appreciate what you
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said about, you know, she didn't doubt God.
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She might have doubted her ability or her husband's
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ability, but she knew that it was going to come to pass.
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The method is what she doubted. Oh yeah.
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Yeah, no. Yeah.
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So the key thing in the verse 11 to me is that what you already
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highlighted to some degree is because she judged him faithful.
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He had promised. So if you go back to Genesis 18
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where that account is of Sarah, it says there that Sarah laughed
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within herself and this is what she laughed about and within
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herself who says saying after I am wax old, shall I have
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pleasure and my Lord being old also.
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So in other words, she, I, I agree with you and I, it doesn't
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say that she ever doubted God's promise, but she, what she was
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doing in my mind and she's standing there and she.
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Hears the Lord. Say that to Abraham, right?
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Because it says she's standing behind the 10th floor behind
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Abraham, and she hears the Lord say that your wife, you, Abraham
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and your wife Sarah are going to have a child.
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And she looks down at her body and she's like.
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There. There's no way like how how can
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we have pleasure again? Me and my Lord, you know how is
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this possible? But but it she didn't doubt
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obviously that he's going to be faithful that promise, right?
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I but she does was like, I don't know how to me.
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It's like she's thinking like, how are you going to do this?
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Like how is this going to work right.
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And then it says there in Genesis 18.
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It says there then, and the Lord said unto Abraham, Wherefore did
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Sarah last saying show I dirty buried child which I'm old and
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then the Lord said, is anything too hard for the Lord at the
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time appointed? I will return to thee according
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to the time of life and Sarah shill have a son.
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And so the Lord was like, look, this is how it's going to be
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despite, you know, the circumstances.
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And she obviously believed that because by what it says there in
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verse 11, that she accounted him to be faithful, that promise.
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And yeah, and then verse 12 obviously goes with it too.
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I mean, not just highlights, I guess to me, it's just
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highlighting that Abraham also, you know, he wasn't dead in
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himself. Like he's mentioned Aaron, but
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his reproduction was dead basically.
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And so I think, and another scripture I see in in Romans
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that kind of goes with this in Romans 420 and 21, I think what
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happens when we believe God, when we believe God because he
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is faithful, that promise, when we believe that it gives him
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glory, right? And and that is what it's all
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about. It's not about US, you know,
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having great faith or or I mean, yeah, there is a dynamic to
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that. But the the reality is it gives
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God glory because in Romans 420 and 21, it says staggered, not
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the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in
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faith giving glory to God. And this is actually talking
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about Abraham, because he was strong in the faith and because
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he believed that he that is faithful, that is promised will
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be faithful, it gave glory to God.
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And then it says I'm being fully persuaded that what he had
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promised, he was able to perform.
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So in other words, the reason that Abraham and Sarah believe
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God despite the circumstances was because they believed that
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God was going to be able to be able to perform what he promised
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because God is like we sometimes a lot of times we put God in a
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box and and we just we like hinder God, so to speak.
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And if we would only truly like what we were saying in in way in
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the beginning in in chapter 1, verse 111, one about what faith
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means the substance of faith means that I am fully persuaded.
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I am fully convinced that God is faithful and that he brought
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sent Jesus to die for my sins and when we do that, that gives
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God glory. Yeah.
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Why we believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those
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that diligently see to him. That's right.
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Yeah. You guys covered it well.
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I might just kind of add on what Melbourne was saying a little
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bit if that's where I was going with the fact that she had a
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situation where it was beyond anything she could do.
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It was out of her hands, her wound that's dried out.
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She didn't have a she wasn't ovulating anymore.
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In her experience, it was an impossibility.
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The only thing she could rely on was that the guy that promised
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states it. She wasn't looking at her body
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anymore to judge whether it's going to happen or not.
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The only thing that she was judging her outcome was based on
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the one that she judges at being faithful.
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And that's in here for us. And it's in here for us because
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God says that he lost us. And if you're like me, you have
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to believe that based on his faithfulness.
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I can't look at myself and think, yeah, God, I'm sure God
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loves me. You know it's it's it's not
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there. I mean, but when God not only
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tells us how much loves us, but gave his own only son and the
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history that God has, we know he loves us beyond the shadow of
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the doubt and it we know not because we're so lovely it we're
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in the same situation that Sarah's in.
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In that sense, he we judge him faithful and we have nothing to
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offer to justify him loving us. And that's powerful to me.
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And at the same time, he's telling us he's making us
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blameless and taking our sins away.
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That takes us to trust him faithful and says that because
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it our eternal destiny is based on the fact that it's true that
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he took our sins. It's our Turner.
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The eternal destination hangs on on the idea that Jesus took our
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place. And when he says that we're dead
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and we're free from sin, I have to judge him faithful because I
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don't see it. I don't feel it.
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I'm in Sarah's situation when it comes to that.
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Things still are in my head. Cuss words are right there when
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something bad happens. I mean, everything in my
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emotions is still right there. But God says I'm dead, I'm free.
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And he asks us to believe it. And that is the victory over the
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flesh. It's to believe that we are
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dead. But but he acknowledges at the
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same time that we're not dead because he tells us to not walk
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after the flesh. How can you walk after something
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that is not there? So it's a faith challenge.
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It's a faith challenge of whether you're going to judge
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him faithful that you are free from this body, free from the
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power of sin and the flesh when it's right present, just like
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Sarah birth dead womb like dried up womb is right there.
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It was telling her there's absolutely no way that you're
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having a baby. But she looked at outside of
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herself and looked at what God has promised and she went with
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that and she had hope because of that.
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And we have hope because we judge Him faithful and what He
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has performed for us. So this verse is really
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tremendous for me. It gives me such great comfort
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to know that God is looking for us to believe Him outside of our
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experience. We have nothing to justify our
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faith by or His or our position by.
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Let's sit, let's put it that way.
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We have nothing to justify our righteousness in any way.
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It's something that we believe that He gave to us based on what
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He said, and that is powerful that I don't have to see it.
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I don't have to know, I don't have to perform to make it true.
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It's true because He did it. He did.
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It was done, and I can have great hope.
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This also means a lot to me because I just found out in the
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last week that a friend of mine that we've been trying to
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witness to for the last 18 years sounds like he's dying.
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He's got terminal cancer and he has no friends and family hardly
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because he's he's very much was grew up, you know, looking out
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for himself. And it just had a hard time
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getting along with people because he felt like they're
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they don't have his best interest in mind or they're not
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loyal to him. And it's not that he wanted to
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take advantage of anybody. It's just he always felt others
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are not living up to the to the to the bargain.
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And you just can't know friends, not even family.
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Nobody want none of his family with the scene.
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Long story short, he's putting me as the guy that helped him a
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lot and he considers me his best friend.
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So I'm inheriting everything and it's a really weird situation
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because he has no hope. And just tonight I was on the
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phone with him and he's talking about the property that he was
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going to sell and he's upset because he said I'm just getting
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screwed left and right both ways.
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I I was going to sell that and now I can't go and take that
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money and do what I was going to do.
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I was going to go to Arizona. So his hope, his life, even at
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the end, at the age of 87 or 88 years old, is material things.
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That's what an unbeliever has. And he feels ripped off at the
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end of his life because he wasn't able to get all the deals
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done that he was going to get down here when he was 88 years
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old. His life.
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I've already went. And that's the saddest situation
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I can think of, that you're living after the flesh, you're
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living for yourself, you have no family, no friends, and then you
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feel ripped off when you lose your material things at the end.
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So I'm so glad that we have a hope that is, that is way beyond
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this life that when we die, there is hope.
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So I might be a little bit out of context, but I just, that's
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what I'm dealing with right now. And so I want to read a couple
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of verses about our hope. Paul, First Timothy 11 says
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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our
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Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ Christ, which is our hope verse
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2 in hope of eternal life. No, that's Titus now and Titus
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1-2 says in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie
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promised before the world began. So if we're living in a world
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without hope, God's promise and commandment is that he gave us
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hope through his son. And that's I'm so thankful for
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that. I feel like it's a very much a
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Sarah situation. It's hard to find hope.
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And when you look in this world, in this life, any material
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thing, it's just fall short. But we're we have a hope based
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on a promise that is we seen on. I would like to say one other
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thing about before we move on that I meant to say was this is
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not this is not Jesus being put into the womb of Mary.
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If you notice the wording is through faith.
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Also, Sarah himself received strength to conceive.
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See, OK, she is as Andrew kind of pointed out.
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That's what made me think of it. She she is withered up and like
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she don't have the physical capability, not even like you
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said, turning the eggs loose. But I don't think she's maybe
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even physically capable of carrying a baby because she's
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old. So as they believe what God has
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just said and then to keep it G rated go towards that goal, they
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receive new strength, right? You understand what I'm saying.
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In other words, God as they believe the promise and do what
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they need to do to conceive this seed, God gives them new
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strength to do something they're actually not capable of doing.
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That's right. So, and I think that's really, I
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mean, you know, keep that very G rated.
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That's very relevant to this. She received strength to
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conceive. See, so as they acted upon the
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promise, God literally strengthened their bodies to do
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something that they was not they had not been doing for a while.
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And that's what he does and and that's what he does with us when
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we believe that we're dead. It does bring forth fruit when
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we act on that belief. Yeah, yeah.
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No, it's true. Yeah, absolutely.
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Yeah, Faith, Faith springs forth.
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Yeah, that's, that was good. That was a good 20 minutes right
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there. That's that's good stuff.
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All right. Let's see. 13 These all died in
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faith, not having you received the promises, but having seen
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them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced
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them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
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the earth. For they that say such things
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declare plainly that they seek a country and we'll no, I'll keep
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going on 15. I don't see if they had been
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mindful of that country from whence they came out.
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They might have had opportunity to have returned.
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And I'll stop where it kind of goes on there a little bit.
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But the one thing about about this that I see we've been been
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being taught to hold on to that, that proclamation of thinking
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it. We've talked about that in
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chapter 10 already and prior to that about about holding on.
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And this again is why is this these 4 verses here 131415 and
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16? Why are they here other than to
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encourage us to keep all? It's not the one that starts the
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journey, but the one that finishes the journey that is
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going to inherit these promises. And so if we are unable to walk
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away from our faith after having received it, this is totally
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irrelevant. This is this is bad information.
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It's information we don't need. So just just another argument
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there for the idea that it is. It is that the one that holds on
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to the end that that that it holds.
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Yeah, again, again, you didn't say this exactly, but this is
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another definition like it. They just keep rolling in.
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Here's a definition of faith is being persuaded of something God
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said and embracing what God said.
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Like I underlined those two words in verse 13 in my Bible,
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persuaded and embraced. Now he was, they were persuaded
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of them and embraced then that is, God said something and they
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were convinced that that thing was going to be true and they
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embraced it in the sense that they, like we just gave that
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example of Sarah, they embraced that truth and acted upon it.
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Though their reality said this would be pointless, right?
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This would be pointless, but they embraced that truth and
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acted upon it. But well, I want to say two
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things that may seem contradictory, but one is I
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think he is specifically talking about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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I think it's relevant to see that these all died in faith,
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not having received the promise. I think that is kind in my
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opinion, I think that's kindly specific to them because they
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never got to receive any of that land.
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They walked around in it, they sojourned in it, but they did
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not own it like their descendants would, right?
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So I do think that the that is specific to them, but I think
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it's also very general. And one of the reasons I say
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that is because in Philippians, Philippians chapter 3, Paul says
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in Philippians 3 and verse 11, he says, if by any means I might
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attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
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In other words, he's he just said, I will count all things
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with laws for the exodus of Christ, that I may be found in
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him, you know, not having my own righteousness, but his
23:36
righteousness. But he says that the end goal is
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that I might attain under the resurrection of that, not as
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though I had already attained, right?
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Paul was saying there is a promise of being raised from the
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dead that I have, and I have not yet experienced that promise.
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But I've not attained that promise.
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I have not already attained either.
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We're already perfect, but I'll follow after if that I may
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apprehend for that which I am apprehended of Jesus Christ,
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brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one
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thing I do for getting those things which are behind and
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reaching forth under those things which are before I press
24:21
toward the mark for the prize, the prize, the promise, the
24:27
prize of the high calling job and prosecutors.
24:30
So, you know, like these all died in faith, specifically
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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all died not having received that
24:40
promised loan. But also us, we have a, I mean,
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that's what the latter verses go on to say.
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We are all strangers and pilgrims.
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We are going through this world knowing that this is this is
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just a a short span of time compared to the eternity that
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we're looking forward to, right? We're we're all.
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Just. No there how many songs is it
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about Sojourners or? Or.
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You know, just passing through this world is not my home.
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Like I can think of all kinds of songs that have to do with that.
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So I I do think that was the thing I said that may seem
25:17
contradictory. I think it is specifically
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pointing to those three people, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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But I also think it is true that it is applicable to us because
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we are all are truly strangers and pilgrims in this world and
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are looking for another home, a city that hath foundations.
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And the fact that that's the last thing I'll say about it.
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He says, if that's what you say, verse 14 says.
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For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
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counsel. In other words, if anybody said
25:51
makes the comment this world is not what it's all about or it's
25:55
not all about getting benefit in this world or any kind of
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comment that is in that reference, he said.
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People that say stuff like that, they're just a stranger or a
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Pilgrim here they are declaring in the statement that they're
26:11
seeking something else, right? In other words, that the fact
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that you would acknowledge you are a stranger or Pilgrim, you
26:17
are acknowledging that I'm seeking another council, that
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there's something to go on to, You know, like I just think
26:24
that's interesting way words that so they say such things,
26:27
declare plainly that they seek a country, they're looking for
26:30
something beyond this. Yeah, yeah, and and reality, I
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mean, you can think about it. We all die in faith, not having
26:39
received the promise we received the promise after after our
26:43
life. You know, not not boring that
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that's true for all of. Us.
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And that's something. Yeah, 100% it is, isn't it?
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No one. Go ahead.
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Yeah, I guess that's kind of the angle that I see it.
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I guess, you know, I guess you got to remember that in the
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previous chapters leading up to this, there he was persuading
27:07
the Hebrews that Jesus is the ultimate high priest and, and
27:12
Jesus is the heavenly Tabernacle or the heavenly temple is way
27:20
better than the earthly temple, you know, and the earthly temple
27:22
is gone and, and all that, you know, we're he's so he's telling
27:26
them, look, don't go back to the law.
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You know, it, we're, we're now, it's, this is a new
27:34
dispensation. This is Christ, you know, it's
27:36
through Christ. So I guess that's kind of the
27:39
angle that I see this is, yes, we are talking about faith, but
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they they are kind of describing faith here as you know, these
27:53
people as their great faith in what God had promised, but they
27:58
died because it can't be talking about like we were just talking
28:02
about Sarah and that God promised that she was going to
28:07
have a child now she lived to see that, right?
28:09
So, so it's not that promise that they didn't receive, right,
28:15
Right. So to me it's it's what he's
28:19
talking about is the promise of a better country of not an
28:22
earthly is not. Going to.
28:24
Do with earth right and all all these things here on this earth
28:29
are going to pass away and it's ultimately Jesus and being with
28:35
Jesus and and in a new in the new heaven and the new earth and
28:40
in heaven with him and it's not about here on this earth and in
28:46
this country like we're pilgrims and strangers here because of
28:50
Christ. Why are we Pilgrim and strangers
28:52
here? It's because of Christ right if
28:55
it wouldn't be for the hope in Christ then then like you were
28:59
saying Andrew about your friend of yours.
29:02
If we don't have hope in Christ, then all we have on this earth
29:06
is all that we have like there there is nothing else.
29:09
And when we feel like we're losing that we feel like we lost
29:12
everything but us that have those that put their faith in
29:16
the finished work of Christ have a hope that is not of this earth
29:21
like it is a country that is the palm and that is I guess the
29:24
promise that I see here that these all these in the faith
29:29
chapter obviously died before Christ came.
29:34
And so they were looking for that coming in the future We
29:39
today living after Christ died. So we look back to Christ.
29:44
They were looking for few price. Yeah, that's, that's good stuff.
29:50
That's good stuff, Andrew. Yeah, I was also kind of go on
29:54
the angle of what things believers were going through.
29:58
You know, we do well to remember that they were having a tough
30:01
time. They're being persecuted and on
30:03
top of that, being challenged to go back to something that they
30:07
can touch, feel, and their five senses would justify them.
30:12
And plenty of people pressuring them to do that.
30:16
And this is say, look, if you feel like God is long, far, far
30:21
away because you're not being delivered from your persecutors
30:24
and they're cutting you apart, they're torturing you and God
30:28
doesn't come to your rescue. And it's just nothing seems to
30:33
be true. Hang in there.
30:34
Your forefathers died not seeing the promise, not all the
30:38
promises. It's OK to look like it's
30:42
impossible. Like Sarah, it was impossible
30:45
for her to have a child in the natural, But God strengthened
30:48
them in faith. So he's encouraging them to not
30:51
lose faith, not lose faith in the finished work, to remember
30:55
that Jesus Christ has perfected them forever, perfected forever,
31:00
set them apart and perfected them forever.
31:02
They're perfect in Christ Jesus. They don't need anything else.
31:06
And we're challenged with the same thing today.
31:09
We have many people that come along, churches that have
31:14
nothing more to offer than the Spirit of God, which is
31:16
everything to guide people. And they're like, well, the
31:21
reason you're young people are like this, the reason that
31:24
you're struggling with sin in the youth, that they're not
31:27
serious and they're not communities because you don't
31:29
have some, you don't have a system there or program, or you
31:33
don't have things where they're involved with to keep them on
31:35
the straight and narrow or whatever to kind of help them
31:39
along and make better choices. In reality, what I see when
31:44
people say that is that they're trying to have the church take
31:46
the job with their parents. God says train up a child in the
31:50
way he shall go and he will not depart from it when he's old.
31:53
Never. I haven't found one verse that
31:55
says it's the church's responsibility to keep the young
31:58
people straight. Now it's the parents.
32:01
It's job. So right.
32:02
There's an enticement first time we get away from the finished
32:06
work and trusting and believing in the spirit of God to lead
32:09
people. It's because we see that it's
32:11
going the opposite direction. Sarah could have just thrown up
32:14
her hands. I believe that I'm going to have
32:17
a child for how many years? And now it's dried up and I'm
32:20
there's no way. And she laughed when dot said
32:23
he's just going to have a son. Well, there's people laughing at
32:26
us today because, Oh yeah, I see all the problems in that group.
32:30
Oh, they're relaxed. They're, they're over there.
32:32
They don't, they're not serious about godliness and
32:35
righteousness. And so the, the temptation is in
32:39
the trial of our faith is that we're going to step away from
32:43
the power of Jesus Christ and his Spirit, convict people and
32:48
to guide them and delete them and to draw them to himself.
32:51
And we want to put something in place that you can see.
32:54
We want to eliminate faith. We want to make it easier.
32:58
We want to make faith sight as much as we possibly can.
33:02
And we want to make hope sight. We want to be able to see a
33:05
reaction. We want to see a difference in
33:07
your life. We want to see improvements and
33:11
it's a real challenge because people say, well, the reason
33:13
there's divorces, the reason there's marriage is falling
33:15
apart, the reason they're all these problems and fornications
33:19
in the church. We need to do something.
33:21
We need to fix this. We need to get serious.
33:24
We need to just put stuff in place that we are committed that
33:27
that we can, that we're bringing forth fruit under, you know, to
33:31
justify our claim of having faith.
33:34
And we have to stay true regardless of how many
33:38
Judaizers, how many law minded people come along saying hey,
33:43
you need this in your church to make it your faith more alive or
33:48
whatever. We have to stay true to the fact
33:51
that Jesus Christ is the only priest, the only one that can
33:56
sucker those that are tempted, the only one that we can put our
34:00
faith in that will strengthen the inner man that will change
34:03
us from within. He's the only one that died.
34:06
He's the only one that rose again from the dead and he's the
34:09
only one that took this old vile body and destroyed it through
34:12
death and came back and made us, brought us to victory.
34:17
And for us to leave that and to go back to some kind of man made
34:21
system to try to conquer this flesh is getting away from the
34:25
faith and it's going back to the law and it's not with faith.
34:29
So this is, to me, another exhortation to not get
34:34
distracted based on what we see, thinking that Jesus Christ is
34:38
evidently not enough. It's not enough, it's not doing
34:41
the job. So we got to bring in our
34:43
wisdom, man's wisdom, and I'm telling you, we can't fall for
34:47
it, but it seems like we are everywhere.
34:50
People are falling for it. And I think that this
34:53
exhortation needs to be very much directed right to us, I
34:57
think. Yeah, I was a little bit off
35:02
topic kind of on the same thing there.
35:04
I was talking with a customer of mine today that we're having
35:07
some auctions for, and we were talking about religion stuff.
35:12
And he said that too many Christians will take a plate of
35:17
cookies to their neighbor and tell them that God loves them
35:20
and in there and they feel like they shared the gospel.
35:25
They felt like they did their duty as a Christian.
35:27
And he said that's not the gospel.
35:30
He said that, you know, so some of this falling away are people
35:34
that are just, you know, out there.
35:36
What's our fault? Good Chuck, Let's baby our fault
35:43
anyway, OK. And truly if they had been
35:49
mindful of that country, but when they came out, they might
35:52
have had opportunity to have to turn.
35:55
I think this goes back a little bit to what Melvin was saying
35:58
earlier. You know, I had to think of the
36:01
verse in the Paramore where Jesus is saying Father here.
36:07
Matthew 6. He says, therefore, without
36:11
suicide, alms do not sounded trumpet before thee, as the
36:14
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they
36:17
may have glory of men barely, I say unto you, they have their
36:21
reward. But then he goes on to explain
36:23
the real reward, like they would have had opportunity to have
36:28
returned to that country had they sought that instead of what
36:32
they believed. So it's it's important for us
36:36
again, goes back to having died in faith, you know, keeping our
36:40
our eyes all that, you know, we can all turn away.
36:43
We can all go back to the country we came from.
36:45
That opportunity is as much there as the opportunity to go
36:50
forward. That's right.
36:51
It's it's every bit of of as a legit option.
36:56
It's not as good of an option, but it's just as much of an
36:59
option as it is to go forward. Like I wouldn't get any glory if
37:03
he wouldn't that way. That's right.
37:07
Yeah, sure. Yeah, go ahead.
37:12
I mean, do you care if I go on 16?
37:13
Yeah, sure. Go ahead.
37:15
Yeah, yeah. I would just.
37:17
Get Did I read the word wild word?
37:19
Yeah, you read 15 but but. It's yeah.
37:21
No, it's. But I'm going to put those two
37:25
together, I guess kindly, because I do think that that
37:29
that 16 is building off of 15 and 15 is building off of 1314.
37:36
Because they as I pointed out there in verse 14, they are
37:43
making the profession by mistaken that they are a
37:47
stranger in a Pilgrim. They're making the profession
37:50
that they're looking for something beyond looking for
37:54
another country. OK.
37:55
If the country that they're, it's kind of like another
38:00
example there from Matthew B, where your treasury is there
38:04
will your heart be also if their treasure was in the country they
38:09
were in, they wouldn't have had their hearts set on another
38:12
country, right? So that's, I think that's what
38:15
he's saying in 15. If they had been mindful of that
38:18
country from whence they came out of if that's really what
38:20
their hope was at, they might have returned back to that
38:24
country. But verse 16 says, but now they
38:27
desire a better country that is in heavenly.
38:31
Yes, sorry I dropped you off. But anyway, they desire a better
38:37
country that is in heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed be
38:42
called their God for if prepared for them a city.
38:46
I think that's actually a very interesting comment in that
38:48
verse, because they didn't want to return to what they came out
38:54
of because they look forward to another country.
38:57
Because of that, God is not ashamed to be called their God
39:01
because he actually has prepared them the city, right?
39:04
In other words, I guess the negative side that would be if
39:09
they had said we're never going to get this promise, there's
39:13
really nothing beyond this. There's nothing out there.
39:16
There's nothing for us. God doesn't actually.
39:19
I don't really believe in a country.
39:21
Then God would be ashamed to say this is my people, right?
39:24
But he has no reason to be. The fact that he is.
39:29
Not ashamed is because of the fact that they're looking for
39:33
what he has promised. Think about.
39:34
I mean just think about that verse.
39:36
God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared
39:40
for them. I see like it's like I'll say it
39:46
this way. Romans says it this way.
39:48
He says if I'm paraphrasing, but basically if nobody believed,
39:55
he's still faithful, right? No, it doesn't matter if
40:00
everybody gives up on the promise.
40:02
God still prepared the city, right?
40:04
It is a reality that is prepared it.
40:07
And the fact that they move forward having never seen that
40:11
city and they still continue to move forward, that's what makes
40:15
God not ashamed to call them his children, right?
40:18
Because. You know, like, like I said,
40:21
whether we see it or not, whether we deny it or not, I
40:24
mean, it's like like I said that verse from Romans, he says he
40:26
can't deny himself. In other words, he's true
40:28
whether anybody believes it or not.
40:31
He has prepared this city, whether anybody has faith in it
40:35
or not, he has prepared it. So when somebody believes that
40:39
he's prepared it, that makes him not ashamed to call him his
40:42
children. That's what that that's good
40:45
stuff. Yeah, there's a lot of different
40:49
angles we could go here, I guess.
40:51
But I, I guess it's just interesting to me what I, like I
40:56
said before we got to remember that it's, we're still in the
41:00
book of Hebrews, right? I mean, it's, it's so profound
41:03
to me, I guess in my mind that how this faith chapter is.
41:10
So how would you say it's so broader than what I ever seen it
41:15
before since we're going through this, you know, going all the
41:19
way from Hebrew one into this. It's just, you know, so many
41:23
times, but I always went to this scripture wanting to, you know,
41:31
look into faith or talk about faith or whatever.
41:34
But it's so much broader than that.
41:37
It really is. And I guess what he's trying to
41:41
say here is that look, guys, if all these that believe in a by
41:48
faith that he is faithful at promise and they're looking for
41:51
a better country, why would they go back?
41:54
In other words, why do you want to go back after you have
42:00
received Christ and after you believed in Christ and in the
42:04
face of work price, why do you want to go back?
42:07
I guess that's kind of and maybe that's maybe I'm taken out of
42:10
context and that's not what I see here.
42:13
And and then he says they're in 16.
42:17
I think it's so beautiful. He says, for he hath prepared
42:22
for them a city. So in other words, like you were
42:25
saying, Andrew, God is prepared a city, whether we believe it or
42:31
not it it says he hath prepared. And I looked up this other verse
42:37
that that came to my mind about in John 14 two about it says in
42:43
my father's house are many mansions.
42:45
And I never noticed this before in his scripture, he says in my
42:49
father's house are many mansions.
42:51
He's not saying. He says, if it were not so, I
42:54
would have told you and I go to the Paris place for you often.
42:57
We read that scripture and we say that, Oh yeah, Jesus right
43:01
now is preparing a place. Well, he is preparing a place
43:04
for specifically me and you. But there are mansions there
43:09
already like they are there. And so there is a better country
43:15
waiting and the the door to that country, according to the book
43:20
of John, is Jesus Christ. He is the door, right?
43:24
And so that's what I feel is relevant to us today reading the
43:32
scripture. Yeah, good job all.
43:34
The Gospel of Edward. Yeah, that pretty much sums it
43:38
up from I know what I was thinking too.
43:40
It's just, I don't know, I'm just so glad that there's a
43:45
better country that this is all the suffering, the pain and
43:49
everything that's going on here. And it's nowhere near to what
43:52
I'm sure that these believers were going through, even they
43:56
were having a very hard time. And a lot of Christians in
43:59
America, where we have everything on our fingertips,
44:03
are on antidepressants. We're, we're, we've been so
44:07
conditioned to think that we need things that we don't need
44:11
to the point that we are miserable.
44:13
We're depressed because our neighbors have things that we
44:17
think that we should have. And we've given the peer
44:20
pressure and we just come very miserable.
44:23
And we think this life is just so hard.
44:26
And it's because we don't have as nice of a toilet as the
44:29
neighbor does. I mean, it's like, that's just
44:33
an example of how silly that we're so worried about this life
44:38
and we get all stressed out. Like really you have, do you
44:41
have food and raining? Are you not content?
44:46
Christians would be the most content and happy people.
44:49
And it should not be determined based on physical things,
44:51
material things. And so I think it's an
44:55
embarrassment to the Hebrew Christians that we're on
44:59
antidepressants in America, that believers are on antidepressants
45:03
that we we have a lot of other programs that cope mentally in
45:11
America. Like I think we need to get a
45:15
ticket, a good look at Jesus Christ and realize that it's not
45:19
about this life. And right there already that
45:23
plug should just drain like just drop out of that kit that is
45:28
holding all our toxic Jesus test and just get get us free and
45:34
worshipping him and looking for that better country.
45:37
You know, but and Timothy, I think I was going through what
45:42
it says. Oh no, it wasn't hubris.
45:44
I think I get all these studies. I got so many different studies
45:47
going on at the same time. But there's a verse that talks
45:50
about those that look for his appearing, wait for his
45:54
appearing. We're looking at waiting for
45:55
him. That's our hope.
45:57
We are we are seeking a better country.
45:59
When people say, well, did you see how that people wrong with
46:01
you? You know, we got so offended
46:03
that somebody wronged us as well.
46:06
Doesn't really matter. Has no significance to where I'm
46:08
going. Like what you do.
46:12
Oh, I lost $10,000. Well, yeah, I might be wise and
46:16
not let it happen again as much as I can, but it still doesn't
46:19
determine where I'm going. That's right.
46:21
I got a better country, and I think that's a good expectation
46:25
for the people there in Hebrews. Like, look, it's tough right
46:28
now. I know you're about to give up.
46:31
I don't know. Some of your family members are
46:32
giving up. They're throwing in the towel,
46:34
but I'm telling you, you need to remember that there's a better
46:38
country that we're seeking and I wanted to read it first.
46:41
The last time that I didn't get to read in Romans.
46:45
It talks a lot about this in my opinion in Romans 82425 says for
46:53
we are saved by hope, but hope that he see is not hope for what
46:57
a man seeth. Why does he get hope for it?
47:01
What if we hope for that we see none, then do we?
47:04
Would patience wait for it? Yeah, that sums it up pretty
47:11
good. I like what Aaron said about
47:17
wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.
47:20
That's it. That's what's a good point
47:22
there, I thought, because otherwise he would have been
47:27
ashamed. Yeah, that's right.
47:28
In other words, he would have turned them aside, you know, not
47:33
been with them. And then with what Melvin was
47:36
saying about, you know, going back and kind of what I was
47:39
saying about earlier in 15 there where they they would have had
47:42
an opportunity to return. Made me think of this Scripture
47:47
in second Peter 221 and 22 says for it had been better for them
47:53
not to have known the ways of righteousness.
47:54
Then after they have known from it to turn it from the holy
47:57
commandment delivered unto them, but it is happened to them
48:00
according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to get onto
48:03
his own moment and the sow that was washing that was washed to
48:08
her wallowing in the mire. You know, very, very true and
48:15
kind of relevant to this here. All right, I'm going to read the
48:19
next three verses and we got 10 minutes challenging by faith.
48:25
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that
48:29
had received the promises offered up his only begotten
48:33
Son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called
48:38
accounting, that God was able to raise him up even from the dead,
48:43
from whence also he received him in a figure in Scripture.
48:49
Just another angle of the same subject.
48:53
Oh yeah. Now that, oh, that's one of my
48:55
favorite ones actually, because it gives us an insight, that
48:58
last verse that you read 19, it gives us an insight into what
49:02
Abraham was thinking that Genesis doesn't give us, right.
49:06
Genesis doesn't tell us that he was thinking that God could
49:10
raise this son up from dead. Because actually what it shows
49:13
you is his prom, his confidence, Abraham's confidence within the
49:18
promise. And he knew if the promise was
49:21
going to come to pass and God asked and feel his son, his only
49:25
thought would be, well, God would have to raise him from the
49:28
dead, right? I mean, like if the promise is
49:30
going to come true, this is the one God told me to do, Then it
49:33
gives us some insight into what was in his mind is that God was
49:37
able to do something. And and that's actually a good
49:39
point. He was believing God could do
49:42
something he'd never saw, right. He never saw God raised by
49:46
earth. As far as we know, we've never
49:47
seen anybody raised from the dead.
49:49
And so he was believing in something that he had not ever
49:53
seen God do right. I think that's really
49:56
interesting. But but anyway, the thing the
49:59
one point I was wanting to make in verse 17 was that by faith,
50:03
Abraham, when he was tried offered up Isaac.
50:07
Now, you know, he didn't actually cut his throat, but in
50:13
God's accounting, funny that he uses the word accounting in
50:17
verse 19, in God's reckoning, he did offer him that, right?
50:23
In other words, in God's, the way God looked at it is he
50:26
actually did offer him that though he did not because he did
50:30
not kill it, but in God's reckoning, he did kill.
50:34
I mean, that's what just said here.
50:35
He offered up Isaac. He actually, in God's mind, he
50:39
did offer him that. He accounted it to him.
50:42
He saw the faith that he had. He even saw this very thing
50:46
because he inspired this Hebrew writer to write it.
50:49
He even saw in Abraham's mind that Abraham was thinking, well,
50:53
God will have to raise him from the dead if he's going to
50:55
fulfill his promise. So he accounts it as if he did
51:00
offer him, as if he actually did sew the throat and go through
51:04
it. So I thought that was
51:06
interesting because that is the way it worked.
51:08
He offered their files. So God did account it doing
51:11
that. He did.
51:12
Yeah, one of the most vivid examples of somebody thinking,
51:18
he said he's going to raise up a nation, so there's got to be a
51:22
path forward. I have nothing to worry about.
51:24
I think this is one of the most vivid examples of that.
51:27
To do a fight anything. Yeah.
51:29
Such a incredible truth. Melbourne boy.
51:34
Yeah, I guess you summed it up pretty well there.
51:37
And I guess I just would like to challenge myself and, and
51:41
everybody really that, you know, we have, when we think about it,
51:48
that here, Isaac or not Isaac, Abraham had not, like you
51:56
pointed out, Aaron, Abraham had not seen God raise anyone from
52:00
the dead. And I was thinking about that
52:02
today. I was like, you know, here we
52:04
are. We we get, we put all this talk
52:09
and stock and faith, like we've talked a lot about, you know,
52:13
faith today and how, you know, we walk by faith and we do.
52:18
But think about it. We have the scriptures here in
52:23
front of us. We have the Bible in in its
52:26
fullest degree. That's the total Bible from Old
52:30
Testament Genesis to Revelations.
52:33
All the accounts are in there and everything is written in
52:37
there. That happened with Christ, with
52:42
all you know, and Abraham here at this point, he didn't have
52:46
any of that, right? He, he, he did believe that God
52:51
is faithful. That promise, because God did
52:53
promise in Genesis that Eve through Eve, her seed, it says
53:01
there that how does it say that that her seed is going to bruise
53:06
the head of Satan, right. And so, but my point is just
53:12
simply this is that why do we stagger at faith in Christ and
53:20
faith in God and in Christ alone when we have all we everything
53:25
is laid out here for us in the Scripture.
53:29
I don't know, I guess that just is a challenge to myself and a
53:33
child just want to challenge everyone with that.
53:37
I mean in all reality it it doesn't take a whole lot of
53:42
faith if you read the the Scripture.
53:46
If you read the bottom. But anyway, that's just I guess
53:49
what came my mind. About I like that now when I
53:53
was, I was talking with Ivan, Ivan Turkey, he was preaching on
53:57
Sunday about the greatness of God.
53:59
And he just went through and he talked about how God is a
54:03
different, different things about God, about how great of a
54:07
God is that, you know, even though he gives grace, he never
54:10
breaks his own rules. You know, he spoke into
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existence, the earth, all this, all this, all these truths about
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God. And my faith was inspired by
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that. So maybe it lays on our
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shoulders a little bit to proclaim the greatness of God.
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Maybe it lays on our shoulders to talk about this God that
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delivered these people from bondage and gave them a promise
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and a place to go and a place to be and a name to be called by,
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you know, out of his greatness on his lungs.
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Grace. I mean, that I was like, yeah, I
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was encouraging to do that. So hey, just real quick before
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we go, if anyone's interested, I posted a link to you a really
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good article that that Ted Blats did on faith and and works well.
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If you're interested with just go to his Facebook page.
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You'll see that it's it's a really good video that you get
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there. Anyway, not the coolest off
55:03
subject. Go ahead and.
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Yeah, again, this first also really inspires me is while and
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challenges me to get the concept that God is putting out here.
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And that is while Abraham had to believe for a long time to have
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a son, to have a seed. Finally he gets the seed and now
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he believes God, that it's God, It's not some evil spirit, it's
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not some witch from the Bush keep putting this voice in his
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head that he's supposed to kill this seed.
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You know, us Christians would be like, oh, that's not of God
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because God promised his seed and there's the only way that
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this seed, the Messiah will come and threw the seed.
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So you can't. That's not of God.
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You're not hearing from God. No, he heard from God and he
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believed God and he responded. At this point he was convinced.
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His faith was tried so many times and so many times.
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God was proven to the point where God, Abraham, was so
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persuaded that he tilts the very thing that he believed for
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believing that God's going to raise him up something like he's
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not worried anymore and he's not laughing.
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He he's like, yeah, I know God is going to do it.
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And that's the confidence that I want in God when a pastor falls
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short and divorces his wife. And I want to know that my
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faith, that doesn't change anything with what Jesus did for
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me when my wife leaves me, when my kids all die or whatever,
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anything, the worst case scenario that can happen to me,
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I want to be that persuaded because when, when, when bad
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things happen, people go off the rails and I don't.
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I want to remember this story. There's a lot of people that are
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have unfortunate situations where the worst happens, car
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accident, whatever horrible lose everything and it's really hard
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and I want to be that joke that continues to believe when you
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lose everything. Our blessings are all in
57:03
heavenly places and another country.
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Our spiritual blessings are there, and I'm my reward is not
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here. Can I put one before we leave
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these verses or stop? I wanted to.
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I just saw a tidbit here that I had never really seen before.
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It says in the end of verse 19 that he believed he would raise
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him from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure
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God had actually showed Abraham already.
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That's I think the figure he's talking about is what we just
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talked about how that he brought Abraham and Sarah's life give
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them a little life back in their body.
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So he actually God had already given him a picture of God of
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God being a life giver. So he hadn't actually seen
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somebody raised from the dead, but he had seen new life come
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into his own body and to his wife's, and I think that that in
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hired him to believe it. I mean, that's the way it's
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worded to me. You know, thinking about
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accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead
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from whence also he had received him in a figure, right.
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The figure was he hadn't experienced new life in his body
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and his wife's and he was convinced that God could do that
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with his son. Then actually bringing fun back
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from the LED. That's that's.
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Good there. I like.
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Yeah, I'm glad you said that because I was, I had a question
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mark over that last part. As to what that?
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What that figure was I didn't want to go there because I
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didn't think we had time, but that was a very simple good day.
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Thank you. All righty folks, that was a
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quick hour but here we are eight O 1 already so we'll call off
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for tonight as we conclude today's study.
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Remember Hebrews 11 faith is a substance of things.
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Hope for the evidence of things not see.
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I pray that your faith would be of illegal truths more clearly
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that your physical eyes can perceive the things before.
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Join us next Monday. Thank you for your time.
58:58
Appreciate everything guys, it was a good time.
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See you back again Monday same time, same place.
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God bless you and have a good week.