God is Able! | Hebrews 11:17-19

The Apologetic Dog

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My name is Jeremiah Nortier. I serve as a pastor and elder in Jonesboro, Arkansas So that is five hours away from here and I can't tell you how much of a blessing it is for me to come to Potter I love

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Trey Fisher so much He is one of my best friends and that man will tell the truth and he will contend for King Jesus.

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Amen I've also learned don't play quick hands with Trey I don't know if anybody else has been suckered into that but he is a pro

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So yeah, we did that and I learned my lesson pretty good This morning we are going to be talking about what biblical faith is

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So I want to invite you to turn with me and your copy of God's Word to Hebrews chapter 11

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So as you're turning there I want to share with you a few words of what King Jesus said in the most famous Sermon ever preached in the

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Sermon on the Mount There Jesus talks about who the sons and daughters of our

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Heavenly Father are and it is the true Citizens of the kingdom of heaven who look to him in faith in faith alone

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And so in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is contrasting true sons and daughters of the kingdom by faith alone with the people that are religious hypocrites the

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Pharisees those that trusted in their own works and self -righteousness And so if you're familiar with the

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Beatitudes at the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus starts talking about the blessed man and woman of God who are pure in heart for they shall see

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God This is faith faith is a matter of the heart before God and it's the

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Pharisees that had this wrong They sought glory from men with their works while giving lip service to praising praising

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God And so Jesus rebukes the Pharisees in Luke's gospel when he said you are those who justify yourselves before men

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But God knows your hearts And so the one time that Jesus explicitly uses the word faith

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He does this in the Sermon on the Mount when he's instructing believers on how to lay up treasures in heaven and how to seek first the kingdom of God and his

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Righteousness and he will provide for our every need as he sees fit

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And so we have to understand that this is easier said than done We're going through the the hurts and the pains of life.

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We trust in God's sovereignty He is so sovereign over all of his creation and yet we oftentimes worry ourselves about the future

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We come become anxious about many things and then Jesus says this But if God so closed the grass of the field which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven

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Will he not much more clothes you? Oh you of little faith?

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And so that is all of us at times those of us who are in Christ We are like little children being bombarded by the world and our

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Heavenly Father time and time again Extends his grace and his mercy to us.

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I love how Jesus says Oh you of little faith This is reminding us that we are not made right before God and saved by the great and mighty works that we have accomplished

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But it is by faith that little faith is a gift of God that little faith was a work of the

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Holy Spirit who began that good work in you and he is the one that will bring it to completion and By God's grace that little faith that saves will be transformed into a great faith

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That rests in the Savior's finished work on our behalf Then we will begin to feel that love from which we can never be separated

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Okay, so we're talking about faith. What is Biblical faith and so Hebrews chapter 11

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I want us to continue to look more into what biblical faith is Many of you know that this chapter is often referred to as the hall of faith or the heroes of the faith

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That is because this book was written to the Hebrews to show that salvation Was by faith in faith alone.

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This was not a new and innovative way of teaching This has always been the case even for the

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Old Testament Saints but second temple Judaism they begin to twist the

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Old Testament scripture by a means of earning God's favor by keeping the law and keeping the

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Commandments in order to be saved and so the book of Hebrews is written as an apologetic to the

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Jews Imploring them not to neglect such a great salvation in Christ Jesus who is the author and the perfecter of our faith?

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These people were wanting to go back to the old ceremonial laws, which were meant to be types and shadows pointing to Jesus Christ And so the book of Hebrews highlights that the

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Saints have always been justified by faith and they live out their faith in sanctification

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One of the best ways to persuade the Hebrew people of this of the theme of salvation by faith and not by works is going to the person of Abraham in the in a

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Jew's life if you could prove your case with Abraham They would know that it was true for them as well

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So look with me at our passage this morning in verses 17 through 19 In fact, if you don't mind, please let's stand for the reading of God's Holy Word Hebrews 11 starting verse 17 says by faith

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Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and He who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said through Isaac Shall your offspring be named?

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He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking

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He did receive him back. Let's pray this morning Heavenly Father We thank you for your grace and and your mercy and your majesty and how we behold all of creation

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Pointing back to your handiwork Lord. I just pray that you would bless our endeavors to understand your truth this morning

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Please help us to understand what biblical faith is and how we cannot add anything to the already finished work of you

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Jesus Well, we pray that your spirit would open up our hearts and our minds and our ears to understand your truth

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We pray this in your name Jesus. Amen. You may be seated And so we're gonna be talking a lot about Abraham this morning

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He is one of the most important figures in the entire Bible both Old and New Testament he is referred to as a friend of God and he is essentially the father of the faith and that is because Abraham was

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Justified by faith long before the Mosaic law came into the picture

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And so he modeled salvation for all people of all time whether you're Jew or you're a

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Gentile In fact, this is a very important verse that I would love for you to make note of this morning

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Genesis 15 verse 6 which says and Abraham believed the

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Lord Yahweh and he counted it to him as Righteousness, this is a very important verse and it is quoted five times in the

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New Testament to show this that even Abraham was counted Righteous or justified by faith and not by his works

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If you could show a Jew that this was true for Abraham Then it would also be true for them and the reality is that it's also true for all of us

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Gentiles today Abraham was justified by faith and he also lived that faith out

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This means that he demonstrated his faith by his works to other people into the watching world

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And so this is the same truth that Jesus taught on the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your father

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Who is in heaven? The Apostle Paul said it this way in Ephesians chapter 2 that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works

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Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them And so this is the entire context of Hebrews Chapter 11 that we had this great cloud of witnesses many

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Examples of Saints living their lives to the glory of God and I believe chapter 11 here the heroes of the faith all of this

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Flows out of Hebrews chapter 10 verse 38 Please look with me there earlier in the context where we read but my righteous one shall live by faith

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Other good translations here say the just shall live by faith This means that those who are justified by faith.

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My righteous ones will live their faith out And so the writer of Hebrews is quoting from Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 the just shall live by faith

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This is such an important verse. It's which is quoted so many times the New Testament just like Genesis 15 6 and so I believe that these verses together doubly emphasize that our

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Justification has always been by faith and that our sanctification is lived out also by that faith

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And so that's the most common phrase here in chapter 11 by faith by faith

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Abel by faith Enoch by faith Noah by faith Sarah and on and on it goes

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And so I think a very natural question to ask at this point is what is? Faith look with me at Hebrews 11 verse 1 for context here we read that now faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen and so when we see assurance of things hoped for this also could be translated the substance of things hoped for the idea that Assurance is a firm trust, right?

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We are trusting in something that is real something that we know is sure when we read the word hope this isn't talking about Something that may or may not come true.

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No, this is our blessed Hope this comes from the promises of God and guess what? God cannot lie.

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He is the God of truth And so when we read the substance of things hoped for the assurance of things not seen this is talking about firm

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Trust in the promises of God and something real even though we cannot see it with our physical eye

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We see it we feel it with the eye of faith And so we see kind of a parallelism going on He then says the convictions of things not seen that word conviction is similar to the word assurance because it deals

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With the heart but conviction implies a response Conviction is an outward action from an inward assurance.

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That is biblical faith Biblical faith is internal Biblical faith is a person's heart trusting in the

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God who has revealed himself and his promises of salvation Biblical faith brings conviction to live your life to the glory of God.

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Can I get an amen? True faith is so important because without it we cannot please

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God look with me at verse 6 here in Hebrews chapter 11 and without faith

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It is impossible to please him for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek

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Him and so the writer here is telling us that faith is not just merely Intellectual ascent knowing facts, but it is a wholehearted devotion to God's presence and fellowship with him in every part of life and So Abraham had that kind of faith that pleased

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God Abraham's faith was real and persevered through trials But yet because he trusted in the promises of the all -powerful

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God who cannot lie the God of truth So look with me at verse 17 our main passage this morning 17 through 19 by faith

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Abraham when he was tested Offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son of whom it was said

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Through Isaac shall your offspring be named So I want you to notice that Abraham was tested and guess what if Abraham was tested guess what that means for everyone that?

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Professes to be a child of God that means you too will also be tested in your faith

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God does not test a person's faith to prove anything to himself because God knows all things

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But God is rather testing an individual to show them whether they have a mere professed faith that is a dead faith or true saving faith that perseveres to the end and I believe the key is

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Of having an assurance of our salvation is going through trial after trial in this fallen and broken world

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And if you find your hearts Continually looking to Jesus the author and the perfecter of our faith

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Then we can know that we have the real thing Then we'll begin to see the value of going through trials in our life

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Trials will either strengthen your faith or it will drive you away and expose the fact that you never were in Christ to begin with The book of James actually encourages

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Christians in the opening verses 2 through 4 James says my brethren count it as joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces

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Patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing

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Going through trials purifies our faith. It's like putting precious stones into the furnace, right?

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They come out even more valuable because the fire has burned up the impurities, right? It becomes more valuable and so for the child of God going through trials

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This will draw our hearts to spend more time in God's Word and it will increase our faith

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To look to the promises of God we are reminded of his love and his goodness his grace and his mercy and God's absolute sovereignty and all things

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This will alleviate any kind of doubt in your minds because you are looking to the only one that can save We were talking earlier about how do we war against doubt we'll go to the promises of God, right?

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If you interact with a stranger, I'm not gonna trust them with hardly anything in my life like babysitting my kid or something like that But when you get to know somebody you begin to build trust

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Then there's no more doubt in your mind, right? If you're doubting your salvation if you're doubting who

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God is Spend time in his word that will renew your mind that will remind you of who

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God is and take away any kind of doubt And this will give you joy and renew your assurance

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That is exactly what we see in the life of Abraham. His faith was tested with one of the hardest trials

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Imaginable look back with me at verse 17 by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac Does anybody know what it means here when it says that Abraham offered up his son?

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It means that he was willing to sacrifice him. Okay at this point we should say whoa

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What what's what's going on here in the story? What is going on with Abraham? I cannot imagine what this is like But if you're familiar with this story

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God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac by killing him on an altar

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Isaac was Abraham's only son meaning that it was his only unique son that carried the gospel promise this was going to bring the gospel of salvation to all of mankind and now

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Abraham is being told that he must kill his only son. That is unreal.

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I cannot imagine what this was like And so I want to ask the question. How did Abraham Abraham have the faith to persevere through the worst trial?

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Imaginable, I believe the key comes in verse 19. Look with me This is the key

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Abraham Considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead from which figuratively speaking

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He did receive him back. Did you catch that? He believed that God was able

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Of course, God was able he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is almighty.

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He is omnipotent He is all -powerful the scriptures declare hallelujah for the

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Lord our God Almighty Reigns, holy. Holy. Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come of course he is able

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The scriptures declare worthy are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your

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Will they existed and were created? Abraham was convinced that God was able to keep his promises in seemingly impossible circumstances

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Romans chapter 4 speaks of another trial in Abraham's life where we read no unbelief made him waver concerning the promises of God But he grew strong in his faith and he gave glory to God fully convinced that God was able to do what he had

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That is biblical faith that is the kind of faith that is pleasing to God That is the faith that perseveres through trials and please hear me that faith cannot be manufactured by man

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But that comes from above and is given from God as a gracious gift

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So now I'd like to invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 22 I want us to look more in depth of this story of what

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Abraham Was called to by God to demonstrate his faith Here I want us to examine this account more in detail to see what persevering faith looks like in the midst of trials and testing

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So Genesis 22 verse 1 says after these things God tested Abraham and said to him

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Abraham And he said here I am So I just want to briefly pause and I want to emphasize how

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God tested Abraham and I love the good old King King James the

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King Jimmy But it renders this verse I believe Incorrectly, I hope

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I don't offend anybody out there, but the King James says God did tempt Abraham Now I want to make this distinction because this is so important Theologically because the book of James tells us let no one say when he is tempted

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I'm being tempted by God for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself

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Tempts no one Okay, so we have to understand that this is Testing by God to Abraham in fact

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Jesus used these these same categories in the Sermon on the Mount When Jesus prayed to our

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Heavenly Father, he says and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

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Now those are the proper categories that we have to have in mind that God sovereignly test us by ordaining trials

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But he will never dangle temptation in front of us by his loving hand

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However, God will permit the devil the evil one the great tempter to come into the picture

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And so that is why we earnestly pray for God's providence that he would show us favor and grace and that in his providence

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He will deliver us from the wiles of the devil because he is the one that entices our flesh with temptation

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And so the point here is that God did not tempt Abraham in any way, but he was testing him verse 2 says

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God says take your son your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and Offer him there is a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which

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I shall tell you I remember we see this phrase only son again This refers to Abraham's unique son of the gospel promise and it's because Abraham had other sons like Ishmael And so when it says only son this is talking about the one that will bring the the gospel of salvation to all of mankind and I want you to think about This put yourself in Abraham's shoes

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When God told him to sacrifice his son imagine all the thoughts that were flowing through his mind

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God You want me to kill my son that wouldn't that be murder? Wouldn't that be human sacrifice?

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I can't imagine what was rushing through Abraham's mind here now Technically, I do not think this would have been murder in any way shape or form because the word for murder and carries this idea of maliciousness something that Abraham did not have at all

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He was wanting to be obedient to God and so what we have to understand is when God commands something

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He is the author of life and death Right, so he was being obedient God is the one commanding these things and he is not commanding

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Abraham to sin in any way But no matter what thoughts were racing through Abraham's mind.

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He did not question God's goodness Abraham knew that God was able to do what he had promised through Isaac and so verse 3 says

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So Abraham rose early in the morning Saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son

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Isaac And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place for which God had told him

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This is really neat because Abraham got up early in the morning I feel like it would have he would probably would have had a hard time sleeping that night

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Have you is that happened to anybody else that? You can't get any sleep the night before because something big is going to happen the next day

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And so I'd like to believe though that he did get some rest Perhaps he was laying there praying to the Lord what was on his heart

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Trusting in his promises and so Abraham quickly got up the next day got up early to obey

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God And I want you to notice here in the story There's two other people these two young men.

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They were probably Abraham's hired servants These young these young men's presence is so important because of what

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Abraham says next look with me at verse 4 on The third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar

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Then Abraham said to his young men stay here with the donkey I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

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Did you catch that? Abraham was confident that he and Isaac would return alive to the young men

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I believe that Abraham is demonstrating his faith before mankind

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They maybe didn't know everything that was gonna happen in Mount Moriah But Abraham did and he says

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I and the boy will return This is showing real living faith that Abraham had in God, even though he didn't know exactly what was gonna happen

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He knew that God will accomplish his promises Abraham is living his faith out in front of two witnesses and Isaac would have been the third witness and so we have to understand that later in the biblical narrative

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The law would teach in Deuteronomy that the truth of a matter would be established in the witness of two of three witnesses

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Right, and so Christians thousands of years later. We see Abraham's faith being demonstrated to the world

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James chapter 2 verse 22 says faith was active alongside of Abraham's works and faith

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His faith was completed by his works James is also saying that faith without works is dead

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If you just have a mere profess faith and nothing happens as a result that is useless, right?

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But true true genuine faith will work itself out. It will be demonstrated That is what biblical faith looks like Trusting that God is able and that will result in a changed life a life filled with good works to glorify

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God but if someone merely has a profess faith that is a dead faith and there will be no fruit from that and So here in a with Abraham in Genesis 22

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We are seeing that this is being displayed to all of mankind how true saving faith works

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But Abraham was already justified before God earlier in Genesis chapter 15 remember that verse

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I wanted you to write down Genesis 15 verse 6, right? This this has already taken place earlier in Abraham's life

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Abraham believed God right by faith alone and it was counted to him as Righteousness and so what we're learning is that God knows the heart of man, right?

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Works are for mankind, but our faith belongs to God and that is how we are justified in his sight

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God knows the heart of man Abraham had faith He had firm trust in the all -powerful

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God who was able to keep his promises Even to resurrect Isaac from the dead if that was what was necessary and so please make note of this

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Abraham was justified by faith before God and Abraham was justified by his works before men and so from our perspective

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We see Abraham's faith being put on display where he trusted God and that he would ultimately provide look with me at verse 6 and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son or on Isaac his son and he took in his hand

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The fire and the knife and so they both and so both of them went together and Isaac said to his father

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Abraham my father and he said here I am my son and he said behold the fire and the wood

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But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Abraham said God will provide

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God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son and so both of them went together

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I hope you feel what's going on. Isaac is trusting his dad, right?

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And he's just saying where's the lamb? What's gonna happen Abraham says trust God God will provide

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I'm sure that a I'm sure that Abraham was thinking that Isaac was going to be the sacrifice here

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But he knew that God sees exactly what is happening. God knows all and that he will provide perfectly in his timing verse 9 says when they came to the place which

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God had told him Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and Bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood

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Then Abraham reached out his hand and he took the knife to slaughter his son

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But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham Abraham And he said here

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I am And he said do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now

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I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son your only son for me Man I can just I can almost relax and breathe.

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I hope you can feel the tension and I'll just be honest I can't imagine going through this trial, but Abraham he knew that God was able to do it

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He promised and then he did provided but then he did provide Verse 11 we are introduced to a new person in the narrative the angel of the

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Lord Now has anybody read through the Old Testament come across the angel of the Lord and asked who is that? What is what is going on here?

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Well, I'm here to tell you that this is God This is God appearing in a physical form that can be seen and heard by man

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And so the first clue here in the context is how the definite article the word thee is being used

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There are many old and New Testament references to angels of the Lord and an angel of the

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Lord but here we have the angel of the Lord this shows that there is something unique and Separate about the angel of the

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Lord from all other angels And so in other places the angel of the Lord speaks as God identifies himself as God and exercises the responsibility of God and the perfect example to show you that the angel

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Lord is God is when Moses spoke to God in the burning bush. Guess what? That was the angel of the

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Lord the angel Lord explicitly told him that I am I am the everlasting

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Existing eternal one. I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob And so the angel the

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Lord calls out to Abraham here and commands him not to harm Isaac And then he says this puzzling statement hear me

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He says for now, I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son your only son from me

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Now we must step back and say wait a second. Doesn't God know all things Is this a verse saying that God somehow learned something?

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Absolutely, not There's no doubt that God perfectly knew what was going to take place with Abraham In fact scripture is very clear that God knows all things 1st

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John 3 20 says that God knows all things Even when we condemn ourselves even when our heart convicts us, right because a lot of times we engage with sin

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Doubt creeps in but we renew our mind with God's Word and say wait He said that if you're in Christ, there's therefore now no condemnation, right?

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God knows all things so when he declares someone right just by faith Then we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God So, how do we understand this the verse again says for now?

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I know that you fear God seeing that you have not withheld your son your only son from me Well, this is where we applied the analogy of faith.

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We let scripture interpret scripture There are so many other verses that tell us that the Lord searches all hearts and he understands even the intent the intent of the thoughts of man

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Since God knows even the intent of the heart then he would know that the intent of Abraham's heart

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During this three -day journey was to fear God and so God God was well aware if Abraham feared him or not

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So simply put God was speaking to Abraham in terms that he would have been familiar with This is not foreign at all to scripture think back earlier in Genesis chapter 3 with Adam and Eve in the garden

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God asked Adam a question there. He goes. Where are you now? We're not to think that God did not know where Adam was and he was just you know

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Playing this game of hide -and -seek. No, he was asking a question Demanding a response and so God often makes statements designed to reveal to us truth

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That needs to be presented in this certain way One theologian said God is speaking on our level so that we may understand that Abraham passed the test

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That was by John Calvin, by the way. I hope that was okay that I quote that theologian. Sometimes I get in trouble with them

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But understand that when the angel Lord says for now, I know that you fear

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God What we are understanding is that Abraham was the just living by faith

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God was also there to testify to that truth. So look with me in verse 13 and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him was a ram

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Caught in a thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering

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Instead of his son So Abraham called the name of that place the

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Lord will provide as it is said to this day on the mount of the Lord On the mount of the

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Lord it shall be provided So remember that's exactly what Abraham said to Isaac back in verse 8

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Abraham had an unwavering faith that God would provide He was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised

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God was showing Abraham that no matter how impossible the circumstances are he could trust him.

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That is biblical faith Abraham had faith. Yes, but he also learned and grew in his faith

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And that's exactly what we experience when we are unsure how God is going to keep his word

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We too can be certain that he is faithful and that he will grow us through the trials

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Abraham acknowledged that God had provided and named a place Jehovah Jireh, that means that the

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Lord will provide We notice how God provided a ram that was caught in the thicket by his horns and then the text goes on to say and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son

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This ram this would have been a male sheep and and it would have died as a substitute instead of Isaac This is a wonderful picture of something so much more that God was providing on Mount Moriah This is a presentation of the

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Lord's eternal grace continual provision and all -encompassing wisdom Jehovah Jireh does not mean the

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Lord did provide but it means the Lord will provide In other words, this name does not simply memorialize a past event, but it anticipates a future reality this entire account of Genesis 22

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Foreshadows the gospel of Jesus Christ back in verse 2 Isaac is Abraham's only son his unique son of promise

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This is foretelling about Jesus being the only son of God the unique one That is sent by the father to be the

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Savior to mankind in verse 6 Abraham took the wood and laid it on his son

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Isaac to carry to the place that he would be sacrificed. Who does that sound like? That sounds exactly what

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Jesus said this perfectly points to Jesus carrying his own cross as he walked to Calvary Verse 8

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Abraham said to Isaac that God will provide a lamb Jesus Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

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Verse 13 a ram was offered up as a sacrifice instead of Isaac in his place.

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This is substitution Jesus is the perfect substitute for all that the father has given him and he bore our sins on Calvary's cross

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God provided a substitute for us and for all those who look to Jesus who is the author and the perfecter of our faith

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The New Testament says it this way for our sake the father made Jesus to be sin

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Who knew no sin that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This is referred to as the great exchange

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This is how you have your sin forgiven when you look to Jesus Christ by faith faith alone apart from your

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Accomplishments from any works that you can do whether that be your baptism Whether that be you attending church and read after he ascended on high

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And so as I begin to close this morning, I want to challenge all of us with something

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Please ask yourself and examine yourself. Do I have the faith of Abraham now?

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I'm not talking about if you've hiked up some Mount Moriah in your life and accomplished these mighty works

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I'm talking about the faith that is confident that God is able to keep his promises of salvation in Jesus Christ What does your faith look like as you go through trials when something doesn't go your way?

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Are you filled with anxiety? Are you anxious? Are you frustrated or do I even dare say or mad at God?

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Because that will happen from time to time, but what's the pattern of your life, right? Are you warring in your in your soul with what

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God has promised because that's a good thing That's how we get sanctified because when things are happening the way that we want it's okay

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God is able God is able to keep his promises. We can find joy in the trials knowing that God is

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Strengthening our faith. He is molding us in the image of Jesus Christ. Is that going to be perfect?

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Remember what Jesus said? Oh you of little faith a Man in the gospel account cried out to Jesus.

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I believe help my unbelief Jeremiah, how could I possibly have the faith of Abraham?

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He was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac Well, what if you were faced with giving up the thing you care most about here on earth in order to be obedient to the will of God That might be giving up your comfort your job certain friends

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Luxuries some have had to count the cost of no longer being in close relationship with their family all for the sake of following Christ Jesus said these words in Luke chapter 14 if anyone comes to me and does not hate

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His own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters. Yes, and even his own life

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He cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me Cannot be my disciple.

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Jesus says you must count the cost Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple