Book of Hebrews - Ch. 11

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Dr. Irwin "Rocky" Freeman

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Faith and This is a familiar passage of scripture but perchance as we go through it we can tie it in with what we have already seen and what we have already picked up and learned and And we can tie this in with where we are
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What he's going to do I think with chapter 11 is he's going to use chapter 11 to illustrate what he has just said in chapter 10 verses 32 to 39 in chapter 10 verses 32 all the way down to 39
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I think he's going to illustrate to us in chapter 11 that it can be done
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That it can be done and you and I can have the confidence that if we walk a life of faith God will do exactly what he says he is going to do and so he's showing us throughout history that men and women have done the impossible humanly speaking through faith
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They have done that if you'd put it to a corporate board if you had brought it before a military council
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If you'd brought it before some committee that said well, there is no way this can get done I mean, you just they're just we don't have the money.
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We don't have the manpower. We don't have the talent We don't have the ability and yet God says if God says do it it can be done
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It can be done and we can make we can make thousands of applications this to our church life to our home life to our work
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I mean that statement those two thoughts there. It just plays all over our mind. You know, there are many ways we can apply that and This is what he's going to say to us and then of course
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It's going to be based upon the fact that the just shall live by faith Look at chapter 10 verse 38 now the just shall live by faith
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The just shall live by faith and what he's going to do is prove in this chapter that faith will conquer any
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Circumstance that comes along now in chapter 11 the first three verses
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We're going to get a description of what faith really is We're going to get a discussion of faith and perhaps
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Verse one is one of the most other than John 3 16 and some of those verses related to salvation
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This is one of the most famous verses in all the Bible It has been preached and taught and everyone knows it now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen
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And anytime somebody talks about faith, they will always bring that up and it's okay It's true that lives but what he's saying is true
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Bible faith is not some emotional. Hope so it's not well I hope it will work out or I hope it will you know, you're going to heaven.
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Well, I hope so You know that God's working in life. Oh, I hope he is you think God's gonna accomplish this in your family?
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Oh, I hope he does and this is not what faith is. This is not what he's saying at all
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It is a real conviction based upon the Word of the Living God and it goes all the way back to Romans chapter 10
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Let me just read you Romans and you can write this down Romans chapter 10 verse 17 You know it well, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
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Word of God It is a conviction that one gets now notice in verse 1 the word substance now faith is the substance
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You could say that word transit you can say faith is the assurance Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence
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It means it is the proof of things not seen it is the assurance of things hoped for and it is the proof of things
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Not seen so when the Holy Spirit through a person studying the Word of God Gives faith through the
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Word of God the very presence of that faith in that human heart or in that life brings
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Assurance and it brings confidence and it gives them all the evidence he needs That's why people who live by faith the world looks upon them as irrational fools
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You are looked upon by this world as an irrational foolish individual If you say you live by faith, you can't live by faith.
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They say this is a world of reality It's a world of the now and what because the scripture says the natural man cannot
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Conceive cannot know cannot perceive other things that are spiritual because they are spiritually discerned
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He doesn't have the Holy Spirit working in his life like you do and like I do dr. J. Oswald Sanders says this quote
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Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as the present and to treat the invisible as seen
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Let me read that again faith enables the believing person to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen so through faith
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People see what other people cannot see true Yeah Through faith the person can see what other people cannot see and so they just continue on and they move right along verse 3
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Look at that through faith Through faith. He says look at verse 7 By faith look at verse 8 by faith.
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He said look at verse 13 They all died in faith He said look at verse 27 by faith faith faith faith by faith the person sees and does things that other people can't do
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So when there's true faith in the heart of a believer God bears witness to that heart by his spirit
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Look at verse 4 by faith able offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain So God testifying of his gifts you see there look at verse 5 by faith
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Enoch was translated because God had translated him before his translation He had this testimony that he pleased
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God God testifies on behalf of an individual who is in that particular person
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Perspective of faith verse 39 and these all everything received witness
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God testifies and witnesses to the faith of a person who walks with him by faith Noah saw coming judgment
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No one else did Abraham saw a future city No one else did Joseph saw the
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Exodus from Egypt and no one else did Moses saw the glory of the Lord like no person had seen the glory of God and on it goes now
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I'm gonna give you a very important statement to me. I've got two stars by By faith, they saw the invisible they chose the imperishable and they did the impossible
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By faith they saw the invisible they chose the imperishable and they did the impossible these people of faith faith accomplishes things why because There is the power in the
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Word of God. We've criticized because we have the Bible we love the Bible But somehow or other the
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Word of God is divinely energized by God's Spirit. There is power in the Word of the
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Lord There's power in the blood there's power in the Word of God and it's illustrated is it not look at verse 3 how he illustrates this
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Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear
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God spoke and it was done in Genesis chapter 1 no less than nine times and God said and it was so God said it
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So God said it was so it just the Word of God did that he hurled it into existence and God still speaks today and if we believe what he says
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Then the Word of God brings power into that life and the power that was in the creation in the old time is the same power
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That works in the new creation the body of Christ the same power that through this universe into existence in Genesis 1 is the same power that works in your life as a
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Christian and Yet I hear on television radio all these people run around talking about getting power You need power you need power you got all you need
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You've got creation power. You've got the power of God in your life You have to go out power doesn't come from out here.
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It comes from within here Why because that's where the Holy Spirit is But you don't get it outside the Word of God now, they'll give you some experience or if you'll send enough money
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They'll send you some little token you put it on dashboard of your car and that'll give you power And you get all these things but faith cometh by hearing and hearing you are the
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Word of God and that's where the power comes It comes through the Word of God and any church that preaches and teaches and honors the
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Word of God the power of God will be In that fellowship. It just will be You don't have to worry about anything else and all other things may be very well important play a part in it
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But it's the Word of God that has preeminence The preaching and the teaching of the precious
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Word of the Lord and so this is what he's saying to us now He just kind of describes what he's talking about in the first three verses and then in verse four
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He's going to demonstrate to us through the lives of other people how it actually works and he's going to go all the way through Verse 40 the last of the chapter verse 4 all the way to 40 by doing that So let's begin in verse 4 and pick a thought or two up as we go
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He's going to talk about Abel now This goes back to Genesis 4 doesn't it Genesis 4 verse 3 and following where we find a story of Abel and by faith
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Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain By which he obtained a witness that he was righteous
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God testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speak so evidently
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Adam and Eve knew something and certainly a Cain and Abel knew something about a blood sacrifice and So he offered a blood sacrifice and why because evidently
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I think without any problem at all that Abel had faith in what God said God said it and this is it and So he did it and in doing so he was accepted by God Cain did not do so and was rejected by God Well, God's a
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God of love. I mean he loves everybody. I mean, you know, everybody's sincere Cain was sincere in what he did
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What God do to him God rejected him Sincerity doesn't have anything to do with it If it isn't done listen, you can be sincere, but if your sincerity doesn't correlate with the
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Word of God, it's worthless It is sincerity in line with the scripture What God says what
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God tells and what the Word of the Lord this is what it's saying here And so by Abel his faith and by God accepting his sacrifice
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He says by that witness Abel is still speaking to mankind you and I learn truths from Abel's life, even though he's dead
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He is still testifying and still witnessing to what God does in verse 5 He moves to another fellow that's very familiar to us enough in Verse 5 and 6 by faith
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Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found couldn't find him because God had translated him
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For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God Must believe that he is
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God and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Now this man
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Enoch, of course, you can go back to Genesis chapter 5 verse 21 to 24 and read about Enoch in a wicked age
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Enoch lived a dedicated committed life and by trusting in the Word of the Lord that come to him
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Eberhard came to him in trusting in the Word of the Lord He believed that God would reward him by it for his faith and God did that by taking him into the heavenly realm and did not
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Let him taste the death hold your place and let's look at the book of Jude Go towards Revelation and it's the book right before Revelation and Jude verse 14 and Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying
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Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment
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Upon all and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds
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Which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him
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And he goes on describes him and that's what he talked about the Lord coming with ten thousands of his saints
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When's he gonna do that? He hasn't done it in the past Evidently, it must be somewhere out in the future. And if it is somewhere out in the future, then that's the return of Christ That's the second coming of Christ And if that is true, then
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Enoch in the book of Genesis preached the second coming of Christ evidently It's an important doctrine in the scripture the return of the
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Lord And so what happened the reward of faith is as important today as it was in the days of Enoch Enoch was faithful and God translated him then we come to verse 7 and he uses
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Noah By faith Noah refers back to Genesis chapter 6 in the following verses being warned of God of things not seen as yet Move with fear not not fear of being afraid but a holy all reverence of the
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Lord Prepared an ark to the saving of his house by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness
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Which is by faith. No one had ever seen judgment by rain
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God says Noah built an ark because I'm gonna send the rain Now, you know seen rain and you know seen judgment by rain and you've never known anything like that be kind of difficult wouldn't it?
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He didn't have a Bible to read. He didn't have 2 ,000 years of Christian history behind him He just had to take
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God's Word for it, but he built an ark and because no built ark you here tonight If it had been knowing his sons you and I wouldn't been here most likely
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Noah faith faith and so faith does what faith leads to works?
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Now it's gonna come out time and time again Any person who says they love the Lord Jesus Christ that they have been born again
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And there aren't good works in that life that person the Bible says their faith is dead and they do not have saving faith
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That's what the whole book of James is written about Faith without works is dead. Any person says
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I love the Lord. I've been born again. I'm saved Yes, I am and you see in that person's life that they don't do anything
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I said this last night and I said the night before and I'll say it tomorrow night if I think about it a person You don't read the Bible doesn't pray doesn't give doesn't share and then do a
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Bible says that first No, if a person really has faith, they will be motivated to do things for the Lord. They will be motivated to serve the
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Lord They will be motivated to find out what the work of the Lord is all about and they will be motivated to exercise Their life and expend their energies and all that they have in the things of God.
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They just will that's why you're here That's why you go to church. That's why you read the Bible That's why your life is what it is because you are motivated that way
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Well by faith you are indicating to a stranger like me that you have faith that you have been born again
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And for some who never come to anything they cannot demonstrate it to me I can't tell them their laws, but they can't demonstrate their faith to me
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The only way you can demonstrate your faith to your people is by works But you don't work to get faith you work because you have faith and You've heard it said you don't work to get saved you work because you are saying and this is exactly what he's talking about here
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Noah's attitudes and his actions condemned an unbelieving generation He didn't condemn them
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And if you and I walk with God Your godly life will condemn the attitudes and the actions of people around you and you won't have to say
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I don't want to hang Around you people. They will not want to hang around you You don't have to run them off they just won't come around you anymore and they'll say well
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They just don't want to hear from you Because your life your attitude and your action in Jesus will condemn their attitudes
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And they just don't want to be around that and if our actions and attitudes does not bring conviction into their lives
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Then evidently our light is out or we got it covered or something. We're hiding it Because we cannot light and darkness are not going to go together
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They just won't and this is what he's indicating All right Then he moves into a long passage verse 8 all the way down to verse 19 why because he's gonna talk about the father of faith
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He's talking about Abraham Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 17 all those passages in there the great father of the faithful the father of the believing
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Who is perhaps if not the at least one of the greatest examples of faith in the entire
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Old Testament passage of Scripture? Abraham believed God when he didn't know where he was going verses 8 through 10
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By faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place Which he should have to receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing where he went
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Oh, that caused him a problem.
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God told him not to Well, do it the way
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God says and so he went didn't know where he was going look at verse 11 and 12 through faith also
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Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful Who had promised he didn't know how things were going to go look at verse go back to verse 9
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Lest we pass one by by faith. He sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign country dwelling in He didn't know
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I was gonna make a living didn't know his income was gonna come about he didn't know where he was going Didn't know how it's gonna come out and then in verse 13 to 16.
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He didn't know when These all died in faith not having received the promises
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But having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them well, how do you embrace something you couldn't see by faith and Confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth for they that say such things declared plainly
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That they seek a country and truly if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out
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They might have had opportunity to return but now they desire a better country That is a heavenly where for God is not ashamed to be called their
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God for he hath prepared for them a city He that had received the promises offered up his only begotten
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Son of whom it was said in Isaac shall thy seed be called Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from which also he received him in a figure
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So he didn't know why God was requiring him to do offer my son Go out there put him on an altar kill him
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Lord I mean, why would you want me to do that Lord? If Lord ever spoke to you and me about something like that and he wouldn't today probably but if he ever did
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We try to figure out man. I got to go together. I got to go to an analyst My mind's playing tricks on me a man could have said that Lord Sure, you wouldn't want me to offer up my only son my only begotten
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Son the Son of promise. I mean, why would I do that? Abraham never questioned that anytime God said
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Abraham. He said here am I Lord you read a time? You can hear my Lord hear my what you want. Well, you owe me do
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He is always tuned in on the Lord and you find that and it was faith in God that made him leave his home
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And it was faith in God that made him live as a pilgrim and he just followed God wherever he went Yes, he had some problems in his life.
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But when you look at his life as a whole, it was a life completely of faith Dedicated to the cause of the
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Lord and faith Gave him and Sarah the ability and the power of having a child when they were beyond the age of childbearing he being a hundred and she being ninety and Yet it was through faith.
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They believed that God would keep his word to them And so even though they were as good as dead and Abram and Abraham and all of his descendants those pilgrims never turned back
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He just kept on moving They kept their eyes on the Lord and they pressed on in the victory verse 13 all the way down to verse 16
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They just pressed on they weren't ashamed of the Lord The Lord wasn't ashamed of them and the Lord says because they've got faith why watch that key phrase
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You've heard this many sermons and send some of our songs that we sing and we understand the last part of verse 13
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They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That is one of our biggest problems as Christians We have never been willing to accept the fact that this earth is not why we are here
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Raising a family as we said and making a living is not your primary purpose of being on this earth
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The primary purpose for every child of God on this earth the priority number one is to glorify
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God Priority number two is to magnify his son the Lord Jesus Christ Priority number three is to live a life of faith and obedience to him
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Raising a family having children or having family around you making a living all those things are necessary Byproducts of being in the world, but they are not the priority.
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We have reversed it We concentrate on making a living and you have to make a living We secondly our second priority is our husband our wife or our children or our parents the third priority is how the community looks at us our friends and our neighbors and the church and the things of God and the things of Christ and the heavenly things of which we have been studying in these last few chapters either have a fourth fifth or no
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Priority at all in the lives of the majority of Christians. I said the majority And if you don't think that's true you compare your attendance tonight to the attendance that you'll have on Easter Sunday morning
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It's just that way and it's that way anywhere you go There are I find very few exceptions that whether I travel this country or the church other countries where Christians are concerned
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You know, there is a place that I find it's different And you know where that is. That's where the natives in the semi civilized areas
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They'll walk 10 to 15 20 miles to get to a worship service and stay all day you can preach from morning to night
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They don't even want to leave at night. You can't even speak your voice is gone. They want more more more
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Give us the word give it what they've walked 14 15 miles to get it You and I drive 15 minutes and we're exhausted with air conditioning
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We come in here and sit inside on comfortable seats with air conditioning and lights and beautiful comfort
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No bugs flies mosquitoes mites pests or anything and after an hour, we're already looking at the watch We just can't hardly stand gotta go gotta go
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Why Because this is our home and we love it down here and it has become such a part of us
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We have gotten our lives out of balance and out of perspective. We're the Lord And so consequently this is what happens but these people they didn't do that They just continually moved on in the things of the
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Lord. They continued to press on just like over in chapter 10 verse 38 Now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him
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But we are not of them who draw back on the perdition But of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
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We ought to keep on going We ought to move on along and this is exactly what they did. Well quickly
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We've got to hurry along look at verse 20 We come to it sack Isaac by faith Isaac blessed
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Jacob and Esau concerning things to come He believed the word that had been passed on him by Abraham and he confirmed the blessing on Jacob and God changed
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Jacob's name to Israel So we come to verse 21 and we got Jacob Isaac. You can read Genesis 27
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Jacob You can read Genesis 48 by faith Jacob Yahweh when he was dying blessed both the sons of Joseph and worship leaning on the top of his staff
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So Jacob in spite of all of his failures he had faith in God's Word and he blessed Ephraim and Manasseh before he died
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Now it is interesting and I have friends and we talked about this an awful lot and I have a lot of people who discuss
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Jacob you can't find one place in the scripture where God condemned Jacob And I hear in every church
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I go to they call him the supplant er You can't even get that out of the Hebrew word for his name. That is concoction of some theologians imagination
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His name means heel or the one who grabs the heel because that's what he did when he came out and it does not mean supplant er
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Esau came in and Esau sold him his birthright because he wanted to he despised his birthright
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He knew exactly what he was doing and Jacob didn't cheat it out of him at all He came in said I'll give you some of this pottage.
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You give me a birthright. He said, okay, I'm starving I'll give it to you. There's no deception in that You say well, wait a minute a little later on he deceived his father
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He did what his mama told him to the Bible says honor your father and mother He's supposed to be obedient to his mom But I find him criticized in sermons, but I can't find anybody give me any scripture to criticize now
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I'm not saying everything he did was right I am saying he's a man of faith and he's in the category of faith and God honored his life and the scripture never condemns him
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He just does And God changed his name to Israel and made him the Prince of God The Prince of the
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Lord and so shall we say life of faith life of faith He's an example in here and would
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God put him in here as an example If he wasn't an example He's an example to do worthy for you and I to learn from him.
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Look at verse 22 He moves along by faith Joseph Genesis chapter 50 verse 24 and following When he died made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones
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No, still they didn't know they're gonna get out of Egypt, but Joseph knew about it He knew that Israel would be delivered from Egypt and that's what
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God had promised Abraham And it's amazing to me that Joseph had any faith at all. You know when you look at what he went through My soul he'd obtained a good position and all that and everything went against him
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All the troubles and trials that he had in his life as a young fella Family deserting his brothers trying to get rid of him dumping me in a pit and selling him
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He goes down and the Pharaoh's wife lies about him get thrown in jail Everything under the Sun, I mean, you know after why you think
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God why me, you know, why me but he stayed with the Lord Didn't he just stayed with the
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Lord? He just trusted God's Word and he becomes a beautiful example of faith And then after living in a pagan country almost all of his life.
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He still had faith So I told you even though we are in the midst of paganism and idolatry We still can live a life of faith no matter what the pressures are
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No matter what the pressures are and I find young people always running around me talking about peer pressure I said you're peer pressure and then great on you than it is anybody else
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You just succumb to it quicker because you're not willing to learn to pay the price They can learn just like you and I learned they can learn like anybody else learned and if a young person live a life of Faith they can stand any pressure to put against them
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Just like a mom or dad or anybody else can if they want to learn now, they gotta learn it Yes, they're young and they haven't had time to learn yet But they can't learn it and I've named you young people who have learned it and who really do walk with the
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Lord and you Well in verse 23 to 29 He gives a few extra verses because here's the next most important character in Judaism after Abraham is
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Moses And he talks a little bit about the parents of Moses by faith Moses when he was born was hidden three months by his parents because they saw that he was a goodly child a beautiful child an
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Attractive child and they were not afraid of the King's Commandments. So they had faith to hide him and To keep him concealed and you and I know the story about that because he was to become a special child and then he goes
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On and talks about his own faith by faith Moses when he came to his years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter
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He chose Israel over all the culture and advantages of Egypt He was willing to throw all that aside and to identify himself with a cursed people
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With a people who were enslaved with a people that did not seem to have a promising future And this is what he saw look at verse 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ Remember the word
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Christ is English from Christos, which means the same as Messiah Esteeming the approach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward somehow or other
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God conveyed to Moses the reward of faith That if he walked in faith and trusted
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God God would reward him in his own time in his own way Ever how that came about as he opposed all the pleasures of sin for a season and faith eventually
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Led to the Passover of the putting the blood on the lintel in the door post of all those home and delivered the children of Israel coming out of Egypt Can you imagine what the
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Egyptians must have said when they saw those Israelites putting blood out there on the door? They remember what you're doing up there.
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So we coming out tonight You coming out why you put some blood upon your door. You think that's gonna do it? You don't know you look at that all those chariots
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Haven't you seen that army we got we've had you down here for over 400 years and you coming out tonight But sprinkling some blood up on here about the time some mom and said you better get in this house boy
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Get in that house and close that door and then it was weeping wailing all over the land Because by God's own word, they did come out.
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They did come out because they say God They believe and they trusted the Lord then we move on down to another great leader.
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Of course Yeshua Yeshua Joshua Joshua chapters 1 through 6 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down and after they were compassed about or after they were there circled around for about seven days
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You know the story will not go into it. God promised Jericho to Joshua Some of you've been to Israel and you've seen
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Jericho. We've been there We've seen Jericho the oldest inhabited city in the world. They had to march around that city seven days
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That must have look awful foolish By standing around saying look at those idiotic Israelites Well, they do it so they march around the city again there they go again
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I've been doing been out here several here. They are marching around marching around marching around now. There's an anthropologist
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Who's quite well known that's found the reason why the walls have fallen down she says She's caused an awful lot of problems by digging places over there that she wasn't supposed to dig and she's messed it up now and and They're having to undo a lot of things that she's done.
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And what she said was that there was a disease but some shellfish Somehow rather some kind of a snail type thing got up in those rocks and it was causing a disease and they found out about And the people in Jericho set fires near those walls and on this is written in books now
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It's taught in schools and she built fire They built fires around the walls so that they could kill the disease and in doing so the rocks got so hot that they melted
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And the foundation began to weaken and the walls came tumbling down and that's how it was done Didn't have anything to do with God now that takes faith to believe that doesn't it?
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But the scripture plainly says that they marched around and their faith was rewarded and then we mentioned the other evening
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We have a strange figure in here in verse 31 Joshua chapter 2 and Joshua chapter 6 verses 22 to 27
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Rahab By faith the harlot the whore
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Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace
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Now here this person her confession of faith you find that in Joshua chapter 2 verse 11
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Joshua 2 11 you'll find it her faith led to works didn't If she'd had faith she'd done the right thing and she did do the right thing.
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So obviously there was faith and She saved the spies though. She was a harlot She was saved by faith and as we mentioned she was even brought into the human ancestry of Jesus Christ She is in the lineage of day of Jesus.
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You look at Matthew chapter 1 verse 5 She is mentioned in the wonderful lineage of your Lord a harlot
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Well now that ought to do several things for us one is it ought to encourage us that God can accept us and Also, there are people in the community that sometimes morally they aren't what the community wants them to be
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But they need to know the love of God just the same They need to know that God can forgive them and love them and God can change their life
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Just like you can anyone yet, but you know, sometimes the church isn't sensitive to that is it? Sometimes we don't want them around us.
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Sometimes we don't want those kind of people coming into our fellowship God forbid that that should be the case in the body of Christ Sometimes it is and hopefully we're straightening those things out.
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And if so, you'll notice also That when you read Joshua chapter 6 23, her faith was contagious now watch this her faith was contagious
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She won her whole house to the Lord. Let me ask you a question Why is it that you and I don't win our families to the
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Lord? Could it be that our faith is not contagious could it be that our faith is more contentious
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Could it be that we're more contentious than contagious Could it be that we cause more resentment than we do a drawing to the
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Lord? We could it be that people use us as an excuse not to even want to be around the Lord Well, if that's kind of Christian y 'all
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I don't even want it that's what we hear in it now That's a weak excuse, but that's what they use You see you and I are under the searchlight of people all the time
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Especially those who love us and know us well, and that's our family They know us better than we know ourselves.
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And so it's a greater responsibility and a heavy burden Is it not to make sure that everything we say and everything we do
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Every attitude and every response around our families around those who are closest to us I blood relatives that it's exactly what the
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Lord wants us to do if not Satan will get into their thinking get into their mind process and he will use that to keep them from listening to the gospel or Responding to the claims of Christ and it happens every single day
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You and I should have a faith that is contagious They ought to see something in our lives and make them want to know what it is
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They ought to be drawn to the Lord by our lives, but I think sometimes our self -righteousness Well, if you do like I told you do
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God bless you Well, if you'd be like I said God to do something in your life
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God's never gonna do anything your life like y 'all Well, you're just like a heathen you like a pagan
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Instead of sitting down with Scripture and giving them a reason for the hope that is within you and Helping them understand why they do what they do because they are only doing that which comes naturally
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And you never win anybody but beating them death with the Word of God you just don't now you can't say some with fear But that's not beating them death with the
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Scripture It just isn't and not trying to force -feed it and so this I think is what he's giving us out of rehab
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She had a contagious faith and then verses 32 to 40. He just throws a bunch of them in there He just he's brings a bunch of other people.
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Some of them are named and some of them are not named he gives some names and some he doesn't but all of these are giants of the faith and It seems like the writer of Hebrews sees the entire
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Old Testament history as a record of victory after victory after victory of faith Excuse me of faith just all that some victors were public and miraculous
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And others were very quiet some not so well seen some of them were deliverance from death while others were private and fairly ordinary and they were sort of out of the weakness of Righteousness look at verse 33 who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness
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Obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions verse 34 right in the middle out of weakness were made strong Some weren't too promising looking individuals but because of their faith they became strong in the things of the
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Lord some were delivered by faith and Some were not delivered. Look at verse 35 women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured
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Not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection and others had trials of cruel markings and scourging
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Yeah, moreover bonds and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn asunder had their limbs torn from their body
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They were tested were slain with a sword. They wandered up. Watch this They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute afflicted and tormented and that Contradicts half of what you hear on the television by these people tell you that God wants you to always be prosperous and God wants you always well
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If that is true, then that scripture lies, excuse me Either they are true or the writer of Hebrews is true one of the two
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As I said early in the week and I'll repeat myself right if occasion ladies and gentlemen If God wants you well all the time and you believe that and I don't believe that God necessarily want you sick all the time
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But sickness is just in this world It's in the world because of sin And I usually tell people if it snows three inches down here and you go out in the cold node you'll catch a cold
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You just will It's in the world And if you believe that God wants you if you believe what they tell you then you ought to go home right now and tear up your hospitalization plan you ought to go up and tear up your insurance policy and stop acting like you believe something when you don't and They all do the same
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Now you'll take care of yourself. He's not him and we supposed to try to stay healthy But there are all kinds of evidences in the scripture where God did allow sickness sometimes sometimes trials and even death
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That came into the lives of some of the most faithful people in all the history of mankind
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And they were for a reason Sometimes we know the reasons and sometimes we don't know the reasons
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But they are there and I just wish that I could encourage Christian people to stop believing everything
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They hear until they've gone to the Word of God and find out what the scripture says not one scripture or two scriptures
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But what the scriptures teach about those things Before they ever run around and become divisive individuals in the cause of Christ and the body of Christ Oh, they say what your devices you look where Christianity was to start with they the ones that's parted.
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This is where it started Is this where it started and that's where we stand on where it started and so the unbelieving world looks upon them
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How refuse cranks? idiots You're not much value in this world.
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But look what God says in verse 38 of whom the world was not worthy Well, when you go to Colossians chapter 3 the first three verses you'll find something similar to that in different words
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The world doesn't look at you in much value either, but the world is not worthy of a Christian Because you're a child of God And this world doesn't deserve have children of God living in it
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But for the purpose that God has already stipulated in the scriptures That we ought to witness and to share the gospel to get other people to come to know him
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Then God keeps Christians in the world God until that appointed time when he will solve all the problems so some of these were delivered by faith others did not escape and some of them by faith had to have the grace to bear great sufferings in their life and the
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Unbelieving world looked upon them as if they were nothing and yet each one of them received the witness of faith as we said in verse 39 and these all
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Having received witness through faith Received not the promise
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God commended them although men rejected them and each of them entered into a blessed reward now
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I want you to notice something with me the word promise in verse 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises notice that's plural
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Obtained the promises if you go back with me over here to verse 39 it says through faith received not the promise that's singular you got promises and you got a promise here
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They did not receive the promise They received promises, but they didn't receive the promise
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But now in Jesus Christ that promise has been fulfilled and in verse 13
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You have something look at it. These all died in faith not having received the promises
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What those promises are related to the time when Jesus himself would become the fulfillment now?
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You and I have the promise before us and so it indicates to me in verse 40 God having provided some better thing for us
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That they without us watch that I love this verse God having provided some better thing for us that they without us
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Should not be made perfect See what he's saying here, this is magnificent to me.
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This is just such a marvelous thing that he's saying here God's plan of the ages includes the
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Old Testament Saints and the New Testament Saints to bring them all Together the Old Testament believers and the
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New Testament believers all together into that better thing Which is the body what of Christ when he comes to rule and reign on earth.
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He will hit it all it'll all be his First Corinthians 15 the last verse says after God has made everything subject to Christ Christ will turn around and give everything back to the father that God will be all in all and Jesus will lead
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I worship in spirit and truth in Perfection for all eternity as we will worship the father who is spirit
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God is spirit the scripture tells us and so I think this is what he's indicating that better thing the better priest
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The better promise the better faith better sacrifice all of these things bring us spiritual blessings
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That are the result of the promises that God has given and that God is indicating to us in his precious word
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Now these promises that he's talking about have been fulfilled Spiritually as far as they were concerned
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Spiritually in Christ Galatians chapter 3, but they will be fulfilled. I believe
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Literally when Christ comes to rule upon this earth I believe they will have a literal fulfillment in the age to come
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So there are about five lessons and our time is already gone and we're 15 minutes past our normal time
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Let me just quickly mention five lessons that we gain out of this chapter That I think it'd be helpful there may be more but at least five first of all
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God works through faith and faith alone ladies and gentlemen God does not work but through faith
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You and I must have faith cometh by hearing hearing word of God if we don't get into the Word of God and stay in The Word of God God is not gonna work in your life
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Satan will work in your life and make you think God's working in your life. You have to be extremely careful He will do it
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He'll make your life pleasant and he'll make your life just run along just a smoothing me if he can keep you away from the
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Things of God it is through faith and faith alone. The only way to please God. What does it say? It is impossible to please him without faith
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The second thing is faith is a gift from God by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
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Word of God as you study the Word Of God as you contemplate the Word of God as you and I meditate upon the
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Word of God the Holy Spirit will build faith And it is not something you conjure up in the services and you can have all the bands and all the music and you have
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All the hand clapping and the foot stomping and you can have all the dignitaries You can have all the great preachers you want you can have all the studies you want
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But if you yourself do not get into the Word of God, you are never going to get faith Faith doesn't come by anything in this world except the
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Word of God as the Holy Spirit illuminates We are always trying to conjure up faith.
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We're always trying to get a program to build faith We're always trying to get some little gimmick to it and it is only one way and it always has been it is the
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Word of God Faith faith cometh by hearing and then if you and I have faith it is always going to be tested
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So when you have a problem don't think that you've seen if you have seen the Holy Spirit let you know you've seen
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If he hasn't let you know of a specific sin in your life Don't worry about it As I said earlier in the week something you already know
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Is that the Holy Spirit doesn't say you've seen and then you got to figure out which one it is He will tell you lying you see he'll say not reading the
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Bible to see not praying the sin Not sharing your faith is sin not giving your offerings to the
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Lord's work is sin He'll just name it for you If he hasn't named one then don't sit around and try to worry out and figure it out if you got one if you got
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One he'll tell you But if you have a crisis, it may very well be that the
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Lord is allowing your faith to be tested You believe in me you trust me. All right, he's gonna let you be tested a little bit
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He let Job really be tested but you study the lives of the Apostles and you'll find that every one of them had a test and you study the lives of the great
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Christian men and women and the Great missionaries and the great Christians that have gone on before us even in modern generations
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You'll find every one of them had tests in their life And if I would ask you individually many of you stand tonight and say brother
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I can name you some tests in my life, too It just is that way because faith has to be tested
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Proven proven and it just makes it stronger when it is and it seems that trusting
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God is foolish sometimes But faith always conquers in the end and a fourth lesson is that unbelief is always judged by God Unbelief will always be judged by God It always will be 40 years of unbelief of Israel is not even mentioned in Hebrews 11
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Doesn't mention anything about Moses hitting that rock Doesn't mention anything about it. It just what it's judged and then the fifth thing is that God's dispensations change
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But the principle of faith is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament times change circumstances change environment change
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But the principle of faith is always the same from Genesis to Revelation It is the faithful that God blesses and uses
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God will bless you even in greater ways and days to come as your faith grows. How does your faith grow by the word?
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by the word Not dying by the letter of the law But as we studied the word understanding that the spirit of the law
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Becomes a reality in our life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit father. I Thank you for the faithfulness again of these friends.
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I thank you for this church. I thank you for its people and father I just pray that as we've gone through this majestic and marvelous book with two chapters to go
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I pray that you will use it in each of our own unique personalities father. We are so different in so many ways
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We're all individual people even though some are family and and are related husband and wife and Grandparents and grandchildren and children and parents, but father we recognize that each one of us has an opportunity and responsibility
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To meet what you say and what you do and father I pray that you'd continue to work in our lives to create in us a hunger for your word a hunger and a thirst after Righteousness and father that you'd give us a loving heart and father in our relationship with you
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That we would love you more than anyone or anything that our desire to please you would transcend any thought that we could ever have and father a
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Craving to have the faith that you want us to have and the desire to be faithful to you
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Lord would supersede and go beyond the feelings or the fears or the Apprehensions or the desire to be praised by people or the fear of any person in the community
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And then father that you would use us to provoke one another to love and father that we would provoke one another in love
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To be encouraged to continue to walk with the Lord father Help us to spend time with each other help us to fellowship with each other
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Help us to know what's going on in each other's lives to a degree that we can intelligently pray and encourage one another
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Father just continue to bless the families of this church Continue to bless pastor and people together for those who are sick and cannot be with us
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But in their heart they would have been here father if they were able Would you just comfort them in an increasing manner this evening and let them know that we have not forgotten them
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That we love them in the Lord we pray for them and Lord We just ask that you would reach down and continue to work in their life father and that you'd raise them as a witness and a
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Testimony to your healing grace and the ministry of the Spirit of God and the Lord Jesus as the great physician of life
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Now father, we just praise you and love you We thank you for what you've laid before us the lives of these great men and women and father
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May we learn from them that which will help us to be more effective Christians until Jesus comes in whose name we pray.