Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Hebrews 11:1-16 - Faith and Obedience Go Together

Transcript

Hebrews 11:1-16 - Faith and Obedience Go Together · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi, and good morning friends and faithful listeners.
0:06
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Bible
0:07
Speaker 1: Explain podcast on this lovely morning. And Hi, my name
0:10
Speaker 1: is Jen. I am the host of today's podcast. We're
0:19
Speaker 1: going to be talking about faith today. What faith is,
0:22
Speaker 1: what faith isn't and who had faith and how can
0:25
Speaker 1: we emulate the faith that these people had. This is
0:29
Speaker 1: called the whull of faith. Actually, so we'll get in
0:32
Speaker 1: today's episode in just one minute right after this quick
0:36
Speaker 1: word from a sponsor. All right, go ahead and grab
0:40
Speaker 1: your Bible. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter eleven. And you
0:43
Speaker 1: know what, I Am not going to be reading from
0:45
Speaker 1: the web today. I am going to be reading from
0:47
Speaker 1: the ESV version. And I don't think I've ever read
0:51
Speaker 1: from the ESV version on the podcast before, but I
0:54
Speaker 1: especially liked how the ESV worded a few things, So
0:58
Speaker 1: that is why I chose the ESV be for today's episode.
1:01
Speaker 1: So grab the version of the Bible that you prefer
1:03
Speaker 1: this morning. Let's read Hebrews eleven one through sixteen from
1:07
Speaker 1: the ESV. Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
1:12
Speaker 1: the conviction of things not seen for by it to
1:15
Speaker 1: the people of old received their commendation. By faith. We
1:19
Speaker 1: understand that the universe was created by the word of God,
1:21
Speaker 1: so that what is seen was not made out of
1:23
Speaker 1: things that are visible. By faith, Able offered to God
1:27
Speaker 1: a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was
1:30
Speaker 1: commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts
1:34
Speaker 1: and through his faith. Though he died, he still speaks
1:37
Speaker 1: by faith. Enoch was taken up so that he should
1:40
Speaker 1: not see death, and he was not found because God
1:43
Speaker 1: had taken him. Now before he was taken, he was
1:45
Speaker 1: commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is
1:48
Speaker 1: impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to
1:51
Speaker 1: God must believe that he exists and that he rewards
1:55
Speaker 1: those who seek him by faith. Noah, being warned by
1:58
Speaker 1: God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear, constructed
2:03
Speaker 1: an ark for the saving of his household. By this
2:06
Speaker 1: he condemned the world and became an heir of the
2:08
Speaker 1: righteousness that comes by faith. By faith, Abraham obeyed when
2:12
Speaker 1: he was called to go out to a place that
2:14
Speaker 1: he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out,
2:17
Speaker 1: not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went
2:20
Speaker 1: to live in the land of promise, as in a
2:22
Speaker 1: foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob errs
2:25
Speaker 1: with him of the same promise, For he was looking
2:28
Speaker 1: forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and
2:31
Speaker 1: builder is God. By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive,
2:36
Speaker 1: even when she was past the age, since she considered
2:38
Speaker 1: him faithful, who had promised. Therefore, from one man and
2:42
Speaker 1: him as good as dead were born descendants, as many
2:45
Speaker 1: as the stars of heaven, and as many as the
2:47
Speaker 1: innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died
2:51
Speaker 1: in faith, not having received the things promised, but having
2:54
Speaker 1: seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged
2:58
Speaker 1: that they were strangers and exiles on lad the earth.
3:01
Speaker 1: For people who speak thus make it clear that they
3:03
Speaker 1: are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of
3:06
Speaker 1: that land from which they had gone out, they would
3:08
Speaker 1: have had the opportunity to return. But as it is,
3:11
Speaker 1: they desired a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore,
3:15
Speaker 1: God is not ashamed to be called their god, for
3:18
Speaker 1: he has prepared for them a city. So this chapter
3:22
Speaker 1: is probably one of the most famous chapters in the
3:24
Speaker 1: entire Bible. It's often lovingly deemed as the Hall of
3:27
Speaker 1: Faith because the author goes through all these lists of
3:31
Speaker 1: people in the Old Testament that had faith in God
3:35
Speaker 1: and why their faith was produced such wonderful results. Now,
3:39
Speaker 1: in the very last sentence of the previous chapter, the
3:42
Speaker 1: author actually commanded the people to have faith. Here's what
3:46
Speaker 1: he says in verse thirty nine of Hebrews ten. But
3:49
Speaker 1: we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,
3:51
Speaker 1: but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
3:55
Speaker 1: And Now, because the author commands the people to have
3:58
Speaker 1: faith and not shrink back, he has to explain what
4:02
Speaker 1: faith actually is, and so he defines it in verses
4:05
Speaker 1: one through three, which says this, Now, faith is the
4:09
Speaker 1: assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
4:14
Speaker 1: So having faith assures us of all the things that
4:17
Speaker 1: we hope for. And what do we hope for. We
4:20
Speaker 1: hope for salvation, we hope for Jesus's return, we hope
4:24
Speaker 1: for the promises God said he'd give us that haven't
4:27
Speaker 1: come to fruition. Yet faith assures us that we are
4:30
Speaker 1: going to get these things that we were promised and
4:33
Speaker 1: that we hope for. On a day to day basis,
4:36
Speaker 1: and faith is also a conviction of things not seen.
4:40
Speaker 1: For example, we can't see the spiritual realm, but we
4:42
Speaker 1: know that it exists. Through our faith, we can have
4:45
Speaker 1: assurance that it exists because we know that God and
4:49
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit live within that spiritual realm that our
4:52
Speaker 1: eyes cannot see. Now, some people claim to see the
4:55
Speaker 1: spiritual realm. They say, oh, yeah, I can see angels,
4:58
Speaker 1: and I can talk to angels and see demons and
5:01
Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff, And I generally don't believe that.
5:03
Speaker 1: Is it possible God could give somebody eyes to see
5:06
Speaker 1: the spiritual realm? Yes, absolutely, he could do that. But
5:10
Speaker 1: Jesus told Thomas, blessed are those who believe without seeing.
5:16
Speaker 1: If God gave us eyes to see the spiritual realm,
5:19
Speaker 1: then that would leave no necessity for faith, because you
5:22
Speaker 1: wouldn't need to have faith because you would see it
5:24
Speaker 1: with your own eyes. I mean, what's that old adage?
5:27
Speaker 1: Seeing is believing? God wants us to have faith. And
5:31
Speaker 1: that's what it says in verse two right here. For
5:33
Speaker 1: by it the people of old received their commendation in
5:37
Speaker 1: other words, by faith. People in the Old Testament received
5:41
Speaker 1: commendation by God so God was pleased with their faith,
5:46
Speaker 1: with their trust in him. Verse three. By faith, we
5:50
Speaker 1: understand that the universe was created by the word of God,
5:54
Speaker 1: so that what is seen was not made out of
5:56
Speaker 1: things that are visible. The first step in believing in
5:59
Speaker 1: God God is believing that he exists and that he
6:03
Speaker 1: is the creator of the universe, and that he created
6:05
Speaker 1: things out of nothing with his own words, is what
6:09
Speaker 1: Paul says, instead of creating things out of things that
6:12
Speaker 1: are actually visible, which apparently it was what the scientists
6:15
Speaker 1: in Paul's day believed. They believed that nothing was created
6:19
Speaker 1: out of nothing. You had to have something in order
6:21
Speaker 1: to create, so the gods used materials that already existed
6:27
Speaker 1: in order to create the world. That was a very
6:29
Speaker 1: common belief in Paul's day, and he's challenging that belief
6:33
Speaker 1: by saying, God, through his words, spoke the universe into existence.
6:39
Speaker 1: When he said let there be light, there was, in
6:42
Speaker 1: fact light. God's words have power. They have created power.
6:47
Speaker 1: I believe there's only one thing God created that he
6:50
Speaker 1: actually formed with his own hands and did not speak
6:53
Speaker 1: into existence, and that was man himself. Everything else he
6:57
Speaker 1: spoke into existence, but he warmed man with his own
7:02
Speaker 1: hands out of the dust of the earth and breathed
7:05
Speaker 1: into the man's nostrils the breath of life. But otherwise,
7:09
Speaker 1: the universe itself, it says right here was created by
7:12
Speaker 1: the word of God, so that what is seen was
7:15
Speaker 1: not made out of things that are visible. And He
7:17
Speaker 1: is the only creator. You know, us people, we call
7:21
Speaker 1: ourselves creators all the time. Oh you know, I'm a
7:23
Speaker 1: creative and I'm sure I've used that language before too,
7:26
Speaker 1: But we're not really creating anything because we're using things
7:29
Speaker 1: that already exist to make something new out of those things.
7:34
Speaker 1: Like I really enjoy painting. I love to paint, but
7:36
Speaker 1: I'm not creating anything when I put paint down on
7:39
Speaker 1: the canvas. I'm just making a picture of something that
7:43
Speaker 1: I've seen before, of another picture that I took of
7:47
Speaker 1: my backyard. I'm not really creating anything when I put
7:50
Speaker 1: that paint down on the canvas. Only God himself is
7:53
Speaker 1: the true creator. So we need to come to that
7:55
Speaker 1: understanding of God in order to really start having faith
7:59
Speaker 1: in who God is. So now that the author has
8:02
Speaker 1: defined what faith is again, it's the assurance and conviction
8:07
Speaker 1: of the promises that we have not received yet. The
8:10
Speaker 1: things that we cannot see. It is what makes us
8:13
Speaker 1: know that God exists. Now that we have that definition,
8:16
Speaker 1: the author goes into some really amazing faith stories that
8:20
Speaker 1: we can find in the Old Testament, and some examples
8:22
Speaker 1: of faith and how we can live out our own
8:25
Speaker 1: faith based upon these examples. And the author goes to
8:28
Speaker 1: the very beginning of the Bible. In verse four, he
8:32
Speaker 1: mentions Able and that his story is talked about in
8:35
Speaker 1: Genesis chapter four, And we'll read that in one moment,
8:37
Speaker 1: But first it says right here by faith, Able offered
8:41
Speaker 1: to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which
8:44
Speaker 1: he was commended as righteous God, commending him by accepting
8:48
Speaker 1: his gifts and through his faith. Though he died, he
8:51
Speaker 1: still speaks. So let's go to Genesis four and read
8:55
Speaker 1: the story of Cain and Abel, starting in verse three.
8:59
Speaker 1: This is from the Webasion. As time passed, Cain brought
9:02
Speaker 1: an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground.
9:05
Speaker 1: Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock
9:08
Speaker 1: and its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, but
9:12
Speaker 1: he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry,
9:16
Speaker 1: and the expression on his face fell Yahweis said to Cain,
9:19
Speaker 1: why are you so angry? Why has the expression of
9:22
Speaker 1: your face fallen? If you do well, won't it be
9:25
Speaker 1: lifted up. If you don't do well, Sin crouches at
9:28
Speaker 1: the door. Its desire is for you, but you are
9:31
Speaker 1: to rule over it. Cain said to Abel his brother,
9:35
Speaker 1: let's go into the field. While they were in the field,
9:38
Speaker 1: Cain rose up against Abel, his brother and killed him.
9:41
Speaker 1: Yahweh said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? He said,
9:45
Speaker 1: I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper. Yahwei said,
9:48
Speaker 1: what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood
9:51
Speaker 1: cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed
9:54
Speaker 1: because of the ground which has opened its mouth to
9:57
Speaker 1: receive your brother's blood from your hand. That's the story
10:01
Speaker 1: of the children of Adam and Eve. Immediate murder right
10:04
Speaker 1: after they eat that fruit didn't take very much time
10:07
Speaker 1: at all. So they have these two children, Cain and Abel.
10:11
Speaker 1: And Cain brings an offering to Yahweh from the fruit
10:14
Speaker 1: of the ground because he was a farmer, so he
10:16
Speaker 1: brings some fruit and veggies to God as an offering.
10:19
Speaker 1: But Abel says, brought some of the firstborn of his
10:21
Speaker 1: flock and of its fat and yahweh respected Abel and
10:25
Speaker 1: his offering, but didn't respect Cain and his offering. Now,
10:28
Speaker 1: why wouldn't God respect Cain's offering? Well, God actually explains
10:32
Speaker 1: why in verse six. He says, if you do well,
10:35
Speaker 1: won't you be lifted up? If you don't do well,
10:38
Speaker 1: Sin crouches at the door. So, for whatever reason, Cain
10:42
Speaker 1: did not do well with his offering. Maybe he brought
10:45
Speaker 1: bad fruit to God. Maybe it was not the best
10:48
Speaker 1: of the best. Maybe he hoarded the best for himself.
10:51
Speaker 1: Maybe he didn't offer a sin offering and should have
10:56
Speaker 1: asked Abel for one of the sheep. Abel probably would
10:58
Speaker 1: have given it to him. Whatever happen, Cain did not
11:01
Speaker 1: do his best. Though Cain knew that he should do
11:04
Speaker 1: his best. So instead of fixing the problem, and God says,
11:08
Speaker 1: right here, make sure you fix the problem, because Sin
11:11
Speaker 1: crouches at the door and its desire is for you,
11:14
Speaker 1: but you are to rule over it. Instead of ruling
11:19
Speaker 1: over Sin, Cain goes and kills his brother Abel out
11:23
Speaker 1: of jealousy over the fact that Abel did better than
11:27
Speaker 1: he did. So God appears to kin He's like, where
11:30
Speaker 1: is Abel your brother? And Cain's like, I don't know.
11:32
Speaker 1: I'm not my brother's keeper. I don't keep tabs on
11:35
Speaker 1: my brother. And God is furious. He says, what have
11:39
Speaker 1: you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to
11:42
Speaker 1: me from the ground. In other words, Abel is still
11:46
Speaker 1: speaking though he is dead, and that is what Hebrews
11:49
Speaker 1: chapter eleven mentions that Abel, through his faith, though he died,
11:54
Speaker 1: still speaks. So Abel had true faith in God. He
11:59
Speaker 1: had true belief, true trust, and true obedience in God.
12:03
Speaker 1: And one thing you're going to notice about all these
12:05
Speaker 1: stories mentioned here in Hebrews eleven, their faith accompanies some
12:09
Speaker 1: kind of obedience or some kind of action that proves
12:13
Speaker 1: that they have faith in God. Abel's obedience was offering
12:17
Speaker 1: to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. And because
12:21
Speaker 1: of his faith, though he died, though he was murdered,
12:25
Speaker 1: he is still speaking to this day. And I don't
12:29
Speaker 1: quite know what that means. But I find it interesting
12:31
Speaker 1: that even God mentions it to Cain that Abel is
12:35
Speaker 1: still speaking from the grave. Now, in verse five, it
12:40
Speaker 1: mentions this man named Enoch. And Enoch is barely mentioned
12:44
Speaker 1: in the Bible, by the way, only a handful of
12:46
Speaker 1: times by faith, Enoch was taken up so that he
12:50
Speaker 1: should not see death. And he was not found because
12:52
Speaker 1: God had taken him. Now, before he was taken, he
12:55
Speaker 1: was commended as having pleased God. And without faith, it
12:59
Speaker 1: is an impossible to please him, for whoever would draw
13:02
Speaker 1: near to God must believe that he exists and that
13:05
Speaker 1: he rewards those who seek him. So Enoch pleased God
13:10
Speaker 1: in some way. And let's go back and read Enoch's story,
13:14
Speaker 1: which is in Genesis chapter five, twenty one through twenty four. Again,
13:18
Speaker 1: this is from the web. Enoch lived sixty five years
13:22
Speaker 1: and then became the father of Methuselah. After Methuselah's birth,
13:25
Speaker 1: Enoch walked with God for three hundred years and became
13:28
Speaker 1: the father of more sons and daughters. All the days
13:31
Speaker 1: of Enoch were three hundred and sixty five years. Enoch
13:35
Speaker 1: walked with God, and he was not found, for God
13:38
Speaker 1: took him. Now, Enoch lived in pre flood era, and
13:42
Speaker 1: the world was becoming more and more corrupt. I believe
13:47
Speaker 1: Enoch was the great grandfather of Noah. If I'm remembering correctly,
13:52
Speaker 1: I think so. Yeah, he was the great grandfather of Noah.
13:55
Speaker 1: And the earth was becoming more and more disturbing. More corrupt,
13:59
Speaker 1: more vile. There was a lot of problems happening, but
14:03
Speaker 1: Enoch was one of the few who actually pleased God.
14:06
Speaker 1: And so because he pleased God and because he was
14:09
Speaker 1: a prophet, which is what Jude fourteen and fifteen mentions,
14:13
Speaker 1: God ended up taking Enoch. He's one of the two
14:16
Speaker 1: people known in scripture that did not die, but was
14:21
Speaker 1: raptured up into heaven. Essentially, Enoch walked with God and
14:25
Speaker 1: was not found, for God took him. So you can
14:27
Speaker 1: see with these two stories of Abel and also of Enoch,
14:31
Speaker 1: through their faith in God, amazing things happened, Amazing things
14:34
Speaker 1: that we don't quite understand. The first one being that
14:36
Speaker 1: Abel is still speaking though he is dead. The second
14:39
Speaker 1: one being that Enoch was raptured up into heaven when
14:42
Speaker 1: everybody else dies. These are two things that, you know,
14:46
Speaker 1: we can't really wrap our minds around exactly because they
14:49
Speaker 1: go against the natural order that we understand. And yet
14:53
Speaker 1: these things happened because of the faith of these two men.
14:57
Speaker 1: And Hebrews eleven mentions right here in verse six that
15:00
Speaker 1: without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever
15:03
Speaker 1: would draw near to God must have believed that he
15:06
Speaker 1: exists and that he rewards those who seek him. So
15:10
Speaker 1: without faith, it is impossible to please God. There is
15:13
Speaker 1: no level of nice things that we can do for
15:16
Speaker 1: other people that is going to make God be pleased
15:19
Speaker 1: with us. There is nothing we can do that will
15:22
Speaker 1: please God if we have no faith in him. And
15:26
Speaker 1: in order to draw near to God, to have a
15:28
Speaker 1: true relationship with him, it says right here that we
15:31
Speaker 1: must believe that He exists, number one, and secondly, that
15:35
Speaker 1: he rewards those who seek him. There's a lot of
15:39
Speaker 1: people who believe that God exists, but they believe that
15:42
Speaker 1: he's a very mean God and does nothing for people
15:45
Speaker 1: and just takes from them. I just saw an interesting
15:48
Speaker 1: little reel on Facebook about this girl who worships Satan,
15:55
Speaker 1: and she said something interesting. She said, the reason I
15:57
Speaker 1: don't worship God is because he demands it I worship him.
16:01
Speaker 1: The reason I worship Satan is because he demands that
16:04
Speaker 1: I worship myself. And I think it was a real
16:07
Speaker 1: thing that this girl was saying, and I found it
16:09
Speaker 1: quite interesting because she understands the truth in a weird way,
16:12
Speaker 1: but she also believes that God exists clearly, but she
16:16
Speaker 1: doesn't believe that God rewards those who seek him. She
16:21
Speaker 1: thinks that she is going to gain more if she
16:24
Speaker 1: worships Satan, if she worships herself. She doesn't have the
16:28
Speaker 1: understanding that God actually does love the people who seek him. Well,
16:33
Speaker 1: he loves everybody, but he is going to reward the
16:36
Speaker 1: people who seek him. I think some people are very
16:40
Speaker 1: turned off by Christianity because it looks like no fun
16:44
Speaker 1: or it looks stifling, like it's like a cramping your style.
16:49
Speaker 1: And I get that to an extent, because sometimes Christians
16:52
Speaker 1: really do ruin things for themselves and for other people,
16:56
Speaker 1: like the Pharisees, for example, in Jesus's day, who are
16:59
Speaker 1: putting so many birds on people's backs through their religiosity,
17:03
Speaker 1: burdens that weren't even necessary, that weren't found in scripture.
17:07
Speaker 1: And unfortunately Christians to this day still do that, and
17:11
Speaker 1: it really does cramp your style. But the core of Christianity,
17:13
Speaker 1: what is found here in the Bible, is not stifling.
17:16
Speaker 1: It's wonderful and God grants so many good things to
17:20
Speaker 1: his people. Maybe not right in this very moment. You know,
17:22
Speaker 1: people have this desire to have immediate satisfaction in life.
17:27
Speaker 1: We can't wait for anything. God tells us to wait.
17:31
Speaker 1: I mean, going back to the first verse, faith is
17:33
Speaker 1: the assurance of things hoped for, things that we haven't
17:36
Speaker 1: received yet. We have to have patience in order to
17:40
Speaker 1: have faith, and a lot of times that's where people struggle.
17:43
Speaker 1: They don't have that patience. They don't want to wait
17:46
Speaker 1: for the good things to come, They want it right now.
17:49
Speaker 1: But demanding that God give us something good right now
17:52
Speaker 1: is not faith because we're not having the assurance of
17:56
Speaker 1: things hoped for the things that are promised to us
17:59
Speaker 1: in the future. And as we continue through these stories,
18:04
Speaker 1: you're going to see that these men that had faith
18:07
Speaker 1: in God didn't actually receive the rewards that God promised
18:12
Speaker 1: them in this lifetime. That'll be talked about later on
18:14
Speaker 1: in this chapter. But moving forward, in verse seven, it
18:18
Speaker 1: says by faith, Noah, being warned by God concerning events
18:22
Speaker 1: as yet unseen in reverent fear, constructed an arc for
18:25
Speaker 1: the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the
18:28
Speaker 1: world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes
18:32
Speaker 1: by faith. So I'm not going to go back and
18:34
Speaker 1: read the story of Noah, because out of all of
18:37
Speaker 1: these that's probably the one most widely known. You know,
18:40
Speaker 1: Noah had a great arc and he built it in
18:43
Speaker 1: order to survive the flood. But it says right here
18:46
Speaker 1: that he was warned by God concerning events as yet unseen,
18:51
Speaker 1: when everybody else in the world thought that Noah was
18:53
Speaker 1: absolutely out of his mind because floods didn't happen back
18:58
Speaker 1: in those days. In fact, it's possible that rain didn't
19:01
Speaker 1: even happen back in those days. It mentions in the
19:04
Speaker 1: Guard of Eden that the earth was watered through these
19:08
Speaker 1: little fountains that would spring up, so it's highly likely
19:11
Speaker 1: that rain never even fell from the sky. And when
19:14
Speaker 1: they hear Noah telling this grandiose story of how water
19:18
Speaker 1: is going to fall from the sky, they're probably like,
19:21
Speaker 1: you are out of your absolute mind. No, we don't
19:24
Speaker 1: trust you, We don't trust your God, we don't trust
19:26
Speaker 1: anything of this. You are an insane person. And yet
19:29
Speaker 1: Noah is the only person in the world at that
19:31
Speaker 1: point who had enough faith to understand that God was
19:37
Speaker 1: telling the truth. And so he built the Arkham by faith,
19:41
Speaker 1: and through building that arc, saved his entire family and
19:44
Speaker 1: all of those animals. The animals that are around to
19:47
Speaker 1: this day is because of Noah, and that was through
19:51
Speaker 1: his faith. It says he condemned the world and became
19:53
Speaker 1: an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Now,
19:57
Speaker 1: moving on to Abraham's story. Faith, Abraham obeyed when he
20:02
Speaker 1: was called to go out to a place that he
20:04
Speaker 1: was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out
20:07
Speaker 1: not knowing where he was going. By faith, he went
20:10
Speaker 1: and lived in the land of Promise as in a
20:12
Speaker 1: foreign land, living intense with Isaac and Jacob airs with
20:16
Speaker 1: him of the same promise. Now, Abraham's story is interesting
20:19
Speaker 1: because he very likely came from a well to do family,
20:23
Speaker 1: and yet God called him out of his comfortable lifestyle
20:26
Speaker 1: to go and wander the Promise's land and be a
20:31
Speaker 1: foreigner in an area where he didn't know the language,
20:34
Speaker 1: where he didn't know the people, where he didn't know
20:36
Speaker 1: the customs. He knew nothing, and he was put in
20:39
Speaker 1: danger on several occasions during his trek through and to
20:43
Speaker 1: the Promised Land. Yet he had faith. He believed that
20:47
Speaker 1: God was truly going to give him that land. So
20:50
Speaker 1: there's another act of obedience right there. Every single one
20:53
Speaker 1: of these people have had an act of obedience. Abraham's
20:55
Speaker 1: act of obedience was going out of his father's comfortable
20:59
Speaker 1: house and roaming around in a wilderness with his family,
21:04
Speaker 1: giving up his comfortable lifestyle. It says in verse ten
21:08
Speaker 1: that he was looking forward to the city that has foundations,
21:11
Speaker 1: whose designer and builder is God. And then also his wife,
21:15
Speaker 1: Sarah had faith in God as well. By faith, Sarah
21:19
Speaker 1: herself received power to conceive even when she was past
21:23
Speaker 1: the age since she considered him faithful who had promised,
21:27
Speaker 1: So that was Sarah's act of obedience. She trusted that
21:31
Speaker 1: God was a promise keeper. She knew he was a
21:35
Speaker 1: promise keeper, even when she didn't go about it the
21:38
Speaker 1: right way. Because you'll know that Abraham and Sarah's story
21:42
Speaker 1: was very tumultuous, right, and she didn't believe that she
21:46
Speaker 1: was able to give birth because she was like ninety
21:48
Speaker 1: years old, well past the age of being able to
21:52
Speaker 1: conceive for a woman. Yet she's still truly believed that Abraham,
21:57
Speaker 1: who was older than she was by ten years, that
21:59
Speaker 1: God God would give her husband a son. She didn't
22:02
Speaker 1: know exactly how, but she truly believed it. And you know,
22:06
Speaker 1: so many people act like Sarah is the bad guy,
22:09
Speaker 1: because if you go back and read Abraham and Sarah's story.
22:12
Speaker 1: You know, they had a weird relationship, and Sarah ended
22:16
Speaker 1: up giving her Egyptian made to Abraham. But is it
22:20
Speaker 1: possible that Sarah was misguidedly trying to obey God's command
22:27
Speaker 1: when she heard that God was going to give Abraham
22:30
Speaker 1: a son, she kind of took it into her own
22:32
Speaker 1: hands and did things the wrong way. But I think
22:35
Speaker 1: it was a misguided act of obedience, knowing that God
22:38
Speaker 1: was faithful to give Abraham a son, and through that faith,
22:43
Speaker 1: God actually caused Sarah herself to be able to conceive
22:47
Speaker 1: that son. Therefore, from one man and him as good
22:50
Speaker 1: as dead, were born descendants, as many as the stars
22:53
Speaker 1: of heaven, and as many as the innumerable grains of
22:56
Speaker 1: sand by the seashore. One man, Abraham produced the Israelite
23:02
Speaker 1: nation because of the faith of him and the faith
23:05
Speaker 1: of his wife, and the obedience of both of them
23:07
Speaker 1: as well. Now, in Verses thirteen through sixteen, it kind
23:10
Speaker 1: of summarizes all of these stories we just talked about.
23:15
Speaker 1: These all died in faith, not having received the things promised,
23:20
Speaker 1: but having seen them and greeted them from Afar, and
23:23
Speaker 1: having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles. On the earth.
23:28
Speaker 1: So all these men and women talked about here not
23:31
Speaker 1: having received the main promise of God, and the main
23:35
Speaker 1: promise of God was obviously the Messiah. God promised that
23:39
Speaker 1: through these people, the savior of the world would come,
23:42
Speaker 1: and they believed in that promise. And in the case
23:45
Speaker 1: of Abraham, he was promised that he'd have so many
23:48
Speaker 1: descendants that you could look down on the grains of
23:52
Speaker 1: sand on the sea shore, and that's how many descendants
23:55
Speaker 1: Abraham would have. Abraham didn't receive that promise in his lifetime.
24:00
Speaker 1: He didn't receive the promised land in his lifetime. He
24:02
Speaker 1: was a foreigner and a stranger on it his entire
24:05
Speaker 1: life until the day he died. Same with his kids.
24:08
Speaker 1: None of them received that promise, and yet they believed
24:11
Speaker 1: in it. They understood that they were going to receive
24:15
Speaker 1: that promise. But they all died in faith, not receiving
24:19
Speaker 1: the things promised, but having seen them through their faith
24:23
Speaker 1: and greeted them from Afar, and having acknowledged that they
24:26
Speaker 1: were strangers and exiles on this earth. And many times
24:30
Speaker 1: probably these faithful men and women mentioned in the Old
24:33
Speaker 1: Testament also wondered what God was doing where he was
24:38
Speaker 1: what he was up to, why they were following him.
24:40
Speaker 1: They probably wondered all these things from time to time,
24:43
Speaker 1: but they kept with it because they had faith. They
24:46
Speaker 1: had assurance of the things hoped for and evidence of
24:50
Speaker 1: the things not seen. And guess what, the promises that
24:55
Speaker 1: God gave them came to fruition. And you might be like, well,
24:58
Speaker 1: so what, these people are dead, they don't have a
25:00
Speaker 1: chance to enjoy it. Well, that's not what Christianity teaches.
25:05
Speaker 1: Christianity teaches that only the body dies. The soul does
25:09
Speaker 1: not die. The spirit does not die. When our body dies,
25:14
Speaker 1: our spirits go somewhere else. Our spirits are alive. So, yes,
25:20
Speaker 1: these people who died being promised these earthly things are
25:25
Speaker 1: in fact enjoying these fulfilled promises in heaven. I have
25:29
Speaker 1: no clue to what capacity, but they are certainly enjoying them.
25:33
Speaker 1: And let me tell you something. You know, the Bible,
25:36
Speaker 1: it's really interesting when it talks about death, because death,
25:39
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways is very final. But at
25:43
Speaker 1: the same time, whenever it's talking about somebody faithful, you'll
25:48
Speaker 1: notice that scripture almost talks about these people as if
25:52
Speaker 1: they are still alive. Because guess what their spirits are
25:55
Speaker 1: actually alive though their bodies are dead. Just like in
25:59
Speaker 1: the case of Abel here where he was murdered, his
26:02
Speaker 1: body died, but somehow he is still speaking to this day.
26:08
Speaker 1: In the case of Enoch, he didn't even die at all.
26:11
Speaker 1: His body didn't die. He's one of the few that
26:13
Speaker 1: just got raptured up into heaven. And here's what it
26:16
Speaker 1: says about Noah. He condemned the world and became an
26:19
Speaker 1: heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. That doesn't
26:22
Speaker 1: sound like language of somebody that is dead and gone.
26:25
Speaker 1: It almost sounds like the author is talking about Noah
26:27
Speaker 1: as if he is still alive. He is an heir,
26:30
Speaker 1: is what it says. He became an heir. And the
26:33
Speaker 1: same with Abraham and Sarah. It says they bore many descendants,
26:37
Speaker 1: as many as the stars of the heavens, and as
26:40
Speaker 1: many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
26:43
Speaker 1: And even verse sixteen. Here the concluding verse for today
26:47
Speaker 1: uses active voice when talking about these people. Here's what
26:52
Speaker 1: it says. But as it is, they desire a better country,
26:57
Speaker 1: that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not a
26:59
Speaker 1: shit to be called their god, for he has prepared
27:03
Speaker 1: for them a city. This makes it very clear, though
27:05
Speaker 1: these people have died, they are not dead. They desire
27:09
Speaker 1: a better country, and God is not ashamed to be
27:12
Speaker 1: called their God, and he has prepared for them a city.
27:17
Speaker 1: So they are still alive somewhere. And that is one
27:20
Speaker 1: of the promises that we receive through our faith in God.
27:25
Speaker 1: That death for us is not final, though it is
27:29
Speaker 1: for people who don't have faith. For us, death is
27:32
Speaker 1: not the end and it is not final. That's why
27:36
Speaker 1: Paul tells us that when somebody dies, we don't have
27:39
Speaker 1: to grieve the way the world grieves, because we understand, yes,
27:43
Speaker 1: their body is dead, but that we are going to
27:46
Speaker 1: see them again if we have faith in Jesus, and
27:48
Speaker 1: if we know that they have faith in Jesus, we're
27:50
Speaker 1: going to see them again. And that is a very
27:53
Speaker 1: exciting and wonderful thing that faith in God produces. You know,
27:59
Speaker 1: this is the reason I can call you guys faithful listeners,
28:01
Speaker 1: not because you are faithful to me, but that you
28:03
Speaker 1: are faithful to God. You are faithfully listening to this scripture.
28:07
Speaker 1: So anyway, faithful listeners. Before I close up today's episode
28:10
Speaker 1: with a couple last words from James Chapter two. Take
28:13
Speaker 1: a listen to this last sponsor. So the Book of
28:17
Speaker 1: James talks a bunch about faith in God. And you
28:21
Speaker 1: might remember what James two nineteen says, because I've chatted
28:25
Speaker 1: about this verse quite a bit. In the Book of Hebrews.
28:27
Speaker 1: It says, you believe that God is one you do well.
28:31
Speaker 1: The demons also believe and shudder. So James is being extremely,
28:38
Speaker 1: extremely snarky. He's like, oh, yeah, you believe in God.
28:41
Speaker 1: Good for you. The demons also believe and they shudder.
28:44
Speaker 1: So what makes you different from the demons? And he
28:47
Speaker 1: goes on to explain what the difference between the demons
28:51
Speaker 1: and somebody who has true faith really is. And I'm
28:54
Speaker 1: not going to read the whole thing here, but basically
28:57
Speaker 1: he describes the faith and obedience of Aber him how
29:01
Speaker 1: faith and obedience always have to go together. You know,
29:05
Speaker 1: the demons they believe in God, but they don't have
29:08
Speaker 1: a true faith because they have no obedience associated with
29:13
Speaker 1: their belief in God. They are constantly sinning, constantly disobeying,
29:17
Speaker 1: constantly lying, doing everything that a Christian should not do. Right,
29:22
Speaker 1: I believe. Later on in James it also says that Satan,
29:25
Speaker 1: who is the father of lies, has been sinning since
29:28
Speaker 1: the very beginning. So faith and obedience go together, just
29:32
Speaker 1: as This is going to be a really corny analogy,
29:35
Speaker 1: but it was the only one I could think of,
29:36
Speaker 1: so I apologize. Okay, you can have a podcast, but
29:42
Speaker 1: if you have no recording equipment to like record your voice,
29:46
Speaker 1: you don't have a flourishing podcast. You can go online,
29:50
Speaker 1: you can create a podcast. You can find a host
29:54
Speaker 1: that's going to host your podcast. You can push it
29:57
Speaker 1: out to Apple Podcasts and Spotify and where wherever else
30:00
Speaker 1: on the internet, and you can pretty it up. You
30:03
Speaker 1: can make a nice picture for it. You can say
30:06
Speaker 1: to people, hey, I have this really cool podcast. You
30:09
Speaker 1: should totally take a look at it. You can make
30:11
Speaker 1: a website for the podcast, and yes, it technically is
30:15
Speaker 1: considered a podcast. But if you never record any episodes
30:18
Speaker 1: to go on that podcast because you refuse to get
30:21
Speaker 1: the audio equipment that you need, then you just have
30:24
Speaker 1: a dead podcast. No matter how much you try to
30:27
Speaker 1: promote it, it's a dead podcast and nobody is going
30:30
Speaker 1: to be interested in it. That's kind of like faith
30:32
Speaker 1: and obedience. Yes, you can have faith in God, just
30:36
Speaker 1: as someone says they have a podcast. You know, you
30:38
Speaker 1: can go to church and do all the things that
30:40
Speaker 1: make you look like a Christian, But if you have
30:43
Speaker 1: no obedience with that faith, it's kind of like having
30:46
Speaker 1: a podcast with no episodes, it's just a dead podcast.
30:50
Speaker 1: Your faith is dead without obedience. Just as every single
30:54
Speaker 1: person you're going to see in Hebrews eleven had some
30:58
Speaker 1: modicum of obedience associated with their faith, we also have
31:02
Speaker 1: to have obedience in order to have a thriving faith.
31:06
Speaker 1: So if you're struggling in your faith life and you're
31:08
Speaker 1: not quite sure why, maybe think about some ways. Maybe
31:11
Speaker 1: sit down and pray and ask, how can I be
31:13
Speaker 1: obedient to you today? God? What's the first thing you
31:17
Speaker 1: want me to do? What is the first act of
31:19
Speaker 1: obedience that I should do? And see where God takes
31:21
Speaker 1: you with that. Well, faithful listeners, I hope you have
31:24
Speaker 1: a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. As you
31:26
Speaker 1: guys know, there is no episode for non members on Fridays,
31:30
Speaker 1: so I will see all of you faithful members tomorrow
31:32
Speaker 1: on the podcast. And for those of you who'd like
31:34
Speaker 1: to become a Faithful member, click the link in the
31:36
Speaker 1: description that says KOFY and when you sign up to
31:38
Speaker 1: be a member, you will get a private link that
31:41
Speaker 1: only you get where you can gain access to the
31:44
Speaker 1: Friday podcast. All right, faithful listeners until Monday, Happy listening,
31:48
Speaker 1: Happy weekend, and God bless. I just want to take
31:56
Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
31:58
Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
32:01
Speaker 1: if you go to lifeudio dot com you'll find dozens
32:04
Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
32:07
Speaker 1: shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.