Faith Of The Patriarchs

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Once again, the Lord giving direction and strength, we will be studying out of the book of Hebrews, chapter 11.
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The book of Hebrews, chapter 11. And before we once again consider the chapter of faith, let us ask the
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Lord to assist us in our study of his word. Indeed, our
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Heavenly Father, once again, we come before you and we ask once again that you would meet with us by your spirit, that you would lift up our hearts and minds, that you would allow us to contemplate things that are truly far beyond this plane of human existence.
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Lord, we have spent a week so often very focused upon the things of this world.
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Help us in this hour to transcend those things, to shake off the effects of our constant battle with the world.
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May we consider your truth. May we see into the things of eternity itself.
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We know we can only do this with your spirit's help. May he come and be with us now. We pray in Christ's name, amen.
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Now, for those of you who have not been with us, maybe been just now today visiting, we have for a long time, when
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I have opportunity of speaking and preaching, been studying out of the book of Hebrews.
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Unlike Pastor Fry, who does a New Testament study in the morning and an Old Testament study in the evening,
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I'm just too simple for that. And so when I have opportunity to speak, I just stay where I am.
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So you sort of know where you're gonna be going. Once in a while, I'll throw a curve and we'll do something differently than that.
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But we've been in the book of Hebrews and believe it or not, the end draweth nigh.
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And I'm not speaking eschatologically when I say that, though it might have eschatological significance somewhere along the lines.
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Certainly this past week, I had the opportunity of filling in on a nationwide radio program, the
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Janet Mefford Show for three days. I was the host. And the last day I took calls and certainly given some of the calls
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I got, someone might be able to out there find an eschatological reference in our finishing our study of the book of Hebrews because they could find it in almost anything else.
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I certainly discovered as I took those phone calls. So, but seriously,
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I actually think as we read through our text this morning, you will see that the writer of the
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Hebrews himself accelerates toward the end of the chapter. And if he accelerates,
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I think we should accelerate along with him. And so believe it or not, we probably should finish this chapter out during not this morning, obviously, or even this morning and this evening, but during the next two weeks, certainly we should get into the 12th chapter and there's only 13 chapters.
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And so we might well be finishing up the book before long. But if you've been with us, you know that we sort of broke up the flow of the text a little bit.
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So we might stick with the subject of Abraham, see everything that the text said about Abraham. And then the last time we were together, we looked at the concept of being strangers and pilgrims upon the earth.
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And so now we pick up with verse 20. And so I'm going to read from verse 20 to the end of the chapter.
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By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even regarding things to come. By faith,
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Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning on the top of his staff.
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By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.
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By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
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By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
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By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.
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By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.
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By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
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By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith,
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Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
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And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
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Women received back their dead by resurrection and others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection.
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And others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned.
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They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill -treated, men of whom the world was not worthy.
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Wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect.
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Amen. Well, certainly you can see as I commented earlier that there is a quickening of the pace on the part of the author once we finish with Moses especially and start getting into the later history of Israel.
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But we have to get there first. So, we have looked at Abraham. Now you'll notice that Isaac and Jacob are handled a little bit more quickly, a little bit more like Noah was or someone like that.
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Verse 20, By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau even regarding things to come.
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That's all that's said. But even then, we want to try to discern how we can make application of how each of these individuals exercise faith in their own life.
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How is it that it is by faith, the author says, that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau even regarding things to come?
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Now, notice something. When you think back upon the story, and I'm not going to take the time to go back and re -read all of these particular stories.
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We just want to try to make application from them. It certainly would be well worth your time to do so in your own studies.
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But we know that the blessing of Jacob and Esau wasn't a real clear -cut thing.
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There was deception involved. There was difficulties in the family involved.
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I mean, I guess the terminology today would be there was some dysfunctional relationships involved here.
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And yet, the point of the author is that Isaac was exercising some kind of faith.
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The kind of faith that he's seeking to exhort these Hebrew Christians to as well.
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Because remember, all the way through Hebrews, we have to keep the audience in mind these are people who are under pressure to go back to the old ways.
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And so, so many of these examples of faith, they are meant to communicate to us something that those people, those people who are under pressure to turn away, to stop in their forward progression, to go aside to other things, to go back to the old ways.
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Those are the people that we have to keep in mind. And so, what can we learn from Isaac blessing
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Jacob and Esau? Well, the writer says, even regarding things to come. That is, when we look at the blessings that were given to them, there was the purpose of God laid out even in Isaac's blessing.
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You have the blessing of Jacob over Esau. And certainly, Isaac could have been very troubled by the deception that was given to him and by the clear problems within his family.
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But instead, Isaac looks past that and he sees that God is going to have a purpose. Where did he get that idea from?
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Well, maybe from his papa. Maybe from the fact that there had been promises given to Abraham.
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And so, Isaac sees his role and he sees the role of his offspring and he knows that a promise has been given that through Abraham and his offspring, the entire world would be blessed.
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And so, when Isaac gives these blessings, he has to be doing so by faith. He has to have the same kind of faith that Abraham had that justified him, made him a friend of God, made him righteous in God's sight.
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He had accepted, as his father Abraham had, that these promises of God were true.
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Now, I think it's important for us to note that because one of the greatest dangers that people fall into is this idea of genealogical
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Christianity. That well, you know, as long as my daddy's faith is good enough for me.
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Well, if what you mean by that is you honor your parents and you're thankful that they taught you, that's one thing.
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But if what you mean by that is I'm just relying on the fact that my daddy believed and I don't really have to worry about it, that's not a good thing at all.
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In fact, Isaac's faith had to become his own faith. And it is seen in his blessing of Jacob and Esau.
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He believes these promises. Here's the one that was on the altar.
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And it sort of makes you wonder, is this sort of the fulfillment? We wondered a number of times as we thought about what happened with Abraham and Isaac.
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What was Isaac thinking during all of this? Well, one thing seems to be brought out here, and that is,
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Isaac has come to his own faith. He recognizes that God is going to accomplish something.
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And how then would that be relevant to the people of the writer of the Hebrews today, but obviously the fact that they have come to have faith that God has done something in Jesus Christ.
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And that hence to continue in that, to continue in that steadfastness is the example that Isaac is to give to us despite the difficulties that Isaac faced and the difficulties that they themselves were facing.
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And so we move on to Jacob. Notice nothing is said of Esau at that point. We're sort of following the line of promise here.
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By faith, Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning on the top of his staff.
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Now, once again, you have a very similar situation here. That is, the patriarchs are not just simply following a tradition.
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They have developed their own faith. They have accepted the promises of God despite, again, all the difficulties that have come against them.
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You certainly see in Jacob's life and again, talk about dysfunctionality.
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You know, taking coats of many colors and dipping them in animal's blood and everything else.
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The hatred that existed between the brothers and all those things
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Faith, the faith that we are exhorted to does not require perfection of life to exist all around it.
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How many times you heard people say things like, well, I tried that Christianity thing, but man, my family was a mess and I had trouble at work.
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And you've got all these excuses. And the reality is, when you look back, look at anybody.
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Look at Abraham. Look at Isaac. Look at Jacob. Look at Job. Look at anybody who is presented to us as an individual of faith.
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Look at David. Look at David's family. Look at Absalom and all the things that happened in his life.
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And yet, faith continues because faith recognizes we live in a fallen world and that God's promises are not made null and void by the existence of evil and sin in this world.
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I mean, point me to someone other than Jesus Christ who did not have to face the reality of their own failures and the failures of the people around them who recognize that even great men of faith who might be their father or a relative of theirs, that they struggled as well.
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That's the reality of the biblical message. There is no... It's interesting.
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Most of you know that... Well, if you don't like my ties, the way
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I dress and like that, you want to be here in October because I won't be. I'm going to be here one
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Sunday in October. I don't like that happening, but most of you know I've got a pretty major trip coming up.
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Hope you're praying for it, praying toward the Lord using it. I'm going to be going to London, doing a debate there and then flying down to South Africa and doing a number of debates down there.
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I'm preparing. I try to prepare as far ahead as I possibly can. I don't like to be rushed.
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And so I've been listening to the opponents that I'm going to be having down there and to debates that they've done in the past.
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And it was very, very interesting. One of my opponents was contrasting the story of the announcement of the virgin birth as it's found in the
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Bible in comparison to how it's found in the Quran. And one of the things that he said was, well, you can see that the presentation of the
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Quran is much loftier. Atheists couldn't even misunderstand this.
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And he didn't seem to realize that he was giving clear evidence of the secondary nature of the
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Quran by his comments. Because you see, the mindset that he has as a Muslim and the Quran has is you don't say anything evil.
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You don't record the sins of people that God uses. Prophets, some
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Muslims believe the prophets are sinless. Or sometimes they just mean that by no major sins.
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They just have little minor sins. But the holiness of the person is absolutely intrinsic to their role as being used of God in Islamic thinking.
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So, for example, David is mentioned in the Quran. And even Nathan is mentioned in the
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Quran. Just not David's sin that brings Nathan to David in the first place. So Nathan still comes to David.
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You just don't know why. Because David would never do anything like that, you see. So there's a cleaning up of these things.
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Well, that's not the biblical understanding. And I'm thankful it's not the biblical understanding. Because if that was a biblical understanding, you and I would never get to be used by God at all.
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If you know your heart and I know mine, none of us would get to be used by God. And it really does come back to a fundamental difference in the two religions as to the very view of sin, our fallenness in Adam, depravity, the holiness of God.
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All these things come out in that rather interesting contrast. Now, where else do you get illustrations from the
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Quran than here? I mean, seriously, that's probably pretty... I bet you if on Sermon Audio you looked at every sermon on Hebrews chapter 11, that's probably the first time that a contrast with the
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Quran has been used as a sermon illustration. But you are a patient people. I remember when
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I was going to be debating John Dominic Crossan back in 2005. I bet you most of you were so sick of hearing about John Dominic Crossan by the time that debate took place.
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But you're a patient people. Maybe I'm your thorn in the flesh. I'm not sure. But anyway, where was
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I? Yes, we were talking about Jacob and the reality that again, this faith that we are to have does not exist in a vacuum.
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It does not exist in just some super holy place, but the faith in God's promises, it exists in this world even when we realize that we live in that very fallen world and that that faith is going to have to bring us through a lot of disappointments, even disappointments in ourselves, even when we stumble.
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I mean, we think of some of the really foolish things, honestly, that Jacob did, that it's just a part of the reality that we have to deal with.
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Now, I do need to mention something. And once again, it would be so much easier if I didn't do this, but it's just who
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I am. And I hope you appreciate it. But if you went back and looked at this story, you would discover there is a little bit of an issue in this verse.
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What do I mean? Genesis 47 -31 is the background text to the statement that Jacob worshipped, leaning on his staff.
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But let's read Genesis 47 -31. It says, He said, Swear to me. So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.
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At the head of the bed. And yet, the specific word used here in verse 21, hrabdu in Greek means scepter, staff.
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Now, I mention this because of the fact that there are many people out there who study these things and they just pride themselves on being able to trip
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Christians up. And if you've been with us throughout the study of the book of Hebrews, there have been many times where I've stopped and I've said,
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Now, we need to look at what this text says. There is a difference here. Remember back in Hebrews chapter 8? Back in Hebrews chapter 8, we noted the difference between the citation that was found in Hebrews chapter 8, where the writer of the
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Hebrews said he did not care for them over against the
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Hebrew text which says he was a husband to them. And at the time, we realized that there was just one letter difference between the
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Hebrew word for husband or to not care for. And so we looked at that difference and discussed it then.
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Well, this is actually simpler than that one. This is a completely interpretational difference in how you interpret the
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Hebrew language. Once again, the Hebrew language is a Semitic language. And Semitic languages are consonantal languages.
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That is, as they were first developed and put into writing, primarily what you have are words made up of consonants.
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Most Semitic languages, your words have triliteral roots, three letters.
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That's one of the things that made learning Hebrew vocabulary Oh, mind -bending for a seminary student like myself.
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It's one thing to memorize vocabulary. It's another thing to have all the vocabulary words have three letters. And it just makes it a whole lot more difficult to pick up that vocabulary.
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The vowels then are filled in primarily by context. For example, if you went to Israel today and you were to pick up a
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Israeli newspaper that's in Hebrew, there's going to be no vowel pointing. They're able to just read it without the vowel pointing.
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Fill in the vowel pointing via context. The earliest manuscripts that we have found the
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Dead Sea Scrolls. There's no vowel pointing. The vowel pointing was provided by, as you've heard of them called before, the
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Mazarites in the 8th to 10th centuries after Christ. And they had to interpret the text.
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For example, one place where their interpretation comes out very clearly is how they vowel pointed Psalm 110 -1.
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Because in Psalm 110, the most commonly cited text from the Old Testament in the
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New Testament, since they knew that Christians used this, the Lord said to my Lord, sit down with my right hand until I make it, and it means, if I stood with your feet.
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They specifically inserted the vowels to make the Lord, which is referenced to Jesus in the
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New Testament, a mere human. They didn't put the vowels in that would be normal for Adonai, my
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Lord, because they knew that Christians used it. In that way, now, vowel pointing is not inspired.
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Vowel pointing didn't exist in the days of Jesus. It's an editorial addition to the Hebrew Old Testament.
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And in this case, the difference between bed and staff, exact same three letters.
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It's just how you put the vowel points into those words. It's the difference between Matei and Matah.
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That's all it is. And so the only difference you have here is you have the
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Greek Septuagint translation done, let's say, approximately two centuries before the time of Christ.
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When that was translated in the book of Genesis in the
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Greek Septuagint, it was interpreted that he did the blessing while leaning on his staff.
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In other words, he was an older man and he was leaning on the head of his staff. He couldn't stand by himself, but he used the head of his staff.
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Then when the Mazarites interpreted this text about 900 years later, they interpreted it as the word bed.
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And so they put those vowel points in. And that's why if you go back to Genesis 47, 31, and it's translated from the
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Hebrew text, it says bed. And here it says staff. And it's completely a matter of interpretation in translation.
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And that's where the difference comes from. And you say, couldn't you have skipped that? Did we really need to know about that?
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Well, obviously, 95 percent of you will never be challenged on this issue.
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But if you ever are, aren't you glad I took the time to tell you? You know,
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I mean, you never know. We want to be prepared. And it's just one of them that I have heard used by people.
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And it's not that it's really all that difficult an issue. It's just having access to the information.
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And I am a wealth of information that some people think is not necessarily all that relevant, but we'll share it with you.
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Anyways, so Joseph blesses each of the sons of Joseph.
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And the interesting thing is, once again, the idea is he has accepted the promises.
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He's accepted the promises of God. He sees his role in that. But none of them have actually experienced the fulfillment of those things.
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They see that it's yet future. And this is important again to the Hebrew Christians.
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Think about the context that they're in. They're a small, persecuted minority group.
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Nobody likes them. The Romans don't like them. Their Jewish forefathers don't like them.
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They've been put out of the synagogue. There are people without a home. And you notice the constant emphasis in Hebrews chapter 11, pilgrims and strangers.
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And the point is, the author is bringing them into this context and making them realize you're not the first ones to experience this.
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Those men of faith who came before you experienced so many of the elements of the difficulties that you are, and yet they were faithful.
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You be faithful as well. Verse 22, By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the
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Exodus, the sons of Israel, and gave orders concerning his bones. I really like this one. Because there could be so many things.
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I mean, I don't know if I was writing this, I would have talked about Joseph's faithfulness under persecution. And I mean, you know, how many years is he in prison?
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And all the rest of that kind of stuff. And then his eventual exaltation to a position of authority and all the rest of that stuff.
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But that's not what the author focuses upon. He focuses upon the fact that Joseph knew that his children, his offspring would be freed from the slavery that was to come.
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So much so, that he gives instructions concerning his bones. That is, don't leave me here.
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Take me back to the land of promise. Take my bones back to rest with my forefathers.
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This is not my home. Just because I have a palace and just because my name has become great amongst these people means nothing.
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Take me back to where God's promise is going to be fulfilled. And so you see, he's demonstrating the fact that he knows
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God has given this promise. And this is not the land that he's promised to give to my offspring.
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Take me to the land that he has promised to give to my offspring.
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And so it is by faith that it's said then that Joseph, when he's dying, accepts those promises and acts in light of those promises.
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He doesn't just accept them, but he acts in light of them. He gives orders concerning don't leave me here.
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Take my body with. That shows when you act upon what you believe is true, that is really the greatest illustration.
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And isn't that what James is talking about? I mean, if you if you like me have to deal with folks who have been given a false gospel, a false teaching on a regular basis, sometimes it does become tiring.
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I'll be honest, to answer the same question for the 47 ,000th time. Now, if not the same thing, like when you've got a three year old that just keeps saying why, why, why?
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And so you're ready to start gnawing on your fingertips and things like that. That's not quite the same thing. But and only only parents and grandparents are chuckling at that particular one right now.
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But it's not quite like that. But there are situations I cannot tell you how many times
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I've had someone throw James to it. And I just have to pray for patience to be able to once again explain.
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But it really comes right here. James chapter two, faith that works is dead. That does not mean you're not saved by faith alone, but there is something that's about faith that produces works.
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And here's here's where it is. It's what shows real faith. When you act in light of what you say, it'd be one thing for Joseph to say, yes,
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I believe that Yahweh is going to to return us to the promised land and so on and so forth.
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But then he acted on that. He made plans even after his death.
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Based upon that, that's really what shows you. That's why a lot of people will say, well, you know, it's one thing to say that you believe what you're talking about in Christianity.
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But if you, you know, the world looks at us, the world can tell the difference between these mainline denominations that have wandered off the plantation someplace and really don't have any any faith statement anymore that are just willing to go along with whatever the world says.
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They don't fear those folks. The people they fear are the people who actually live in light of their faith.
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Those are the people that scare people in the world. If you actually say, I've died and risen to new life in Christ.
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Wow, if you actually live that way, the world doesn't have really any way of controlling you and forming you into its own image.
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And that's why believing Christians are rather scary to such individuals.
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And so Joseph, by faith, he lives out what it is he says he believes.
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And he makes mention of the Exodus, the sons of Israel. God is going to bring us out of this place, which finally leads us then to someone you'd expect would get a number of verses as he does.
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But it is interesting the specific elements of Moses's life that are brought before us in this text.
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First of all, the first one is his being hidden for three months by his parents. Now, obviously it wasn't by Moses's faith that he was hidden for three months by his parents, but it was by his parents' faith.
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By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
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Now, some of you are sitting there going, well, yeah, they saw he was a beautiful child. Yeah, that's real shocking.
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That's a... I've never met any parents that thought their baby was beautiful. We've certainly met a few parents who thought their baby was beautiful, and we weren't quite so sure about that.
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But, you know, I was once told that all babies look like Winston Churchill without the stogie.
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But that's not true in any way, shape, or form.
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Ever. No, never. But the very fact that that's sort of just a given statement, they saw their child was beautiful.
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Well, duh. What is that supposed to mean? That has caused a lot of interpreters to see something a little bit more in the phraseology that the child was beautiful.
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More in the sense of that this child had a role to fulfill.
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But I don't know. I'm a little uncomfortable going too far there because we're really not given any specific information concerning any kind of revelation to Moses's parents concerning him having some great role.
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I would be more tempted to go toward the direction that they were not afraid of the king's edict because they saw the beauty of life that was in Moses.
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And that therefore life should be saved. And since the king's edict had been to kill any of the young children, the male children, that they respected
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God and they respected life more than they respected Pharaoh's command to take that life.
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And if that's the case, wow, there's some real applications in our day. The wanton fashion in which life is taken and there is no recognition of the beauty of that life.
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The very fact that we live in a day where to me one of the most frightening things is that our technology is advancing rapidly in our ability to manipulate genetic material at the very same time where our culture has lost all moral and ethical foundation.
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That is an amazingly frightening thing. Not frightening in the sense of, oh Lord, I'm frightened. But frightening for this culture and for what the results could be.
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Truly, when you think about what we are contemplating doing and then combine that with the bankruptcy of the secular mindset and the utter lack of an ethical and moral foundation, my,
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I can only see it as yet another example of the judgment of God coming upon Western culture as a whole.
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And so they hid Moses and we know what happens. We know that he is found, he is raised in Pharaoh's household, but by faith,
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Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill -treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
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Now, many have gone, I think back on the story. Moses rashly, it would seem, attacks the
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Egyptian who's beating the Hebrew. And yeah, there's clearly an association there with the suffering people.
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But there's also seemingly, you know, is that really the best way to step into your role as the one who's called to be redeemer of the
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Hebrew people? And how do we even know that Moses had that understanding? And it's interesting, it goes on to say, considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
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And then by faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. Which time that he left
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Egypt is that? Ever thought about that? He left Egypt twice.
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Once he was on the run because Pharaoh was going to have him killed because Pharaoh heard about his having killed the
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Egyptian man. And so that's what then sends him off into the wilderness of Midian and so on and so forth.
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And the second time he leaves Egypt, he does so with the people in tow in the exodus. So which one is it?
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Well, chronologically, since the next thing that's mentioned is verse 28, by faith, he kept the
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Passover. If it's chronologically, then this has to be the first time that he left
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Egypt. And those who would say that it is the first time would say, well, notice it says, as seeing him who is unseen, that's in reference to the burning bush incident.
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And that is in that in -between time. But pretty much ever since the Reformation, at least most reformed commentators from Calvin onward have taken this to be in reference to the exodus because they say, well, this can't be in reference to the first time that he left
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Egypt because he did leave in fear of the king. That's the whole reason he left is he's in fear of his life.
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And so it can't be the first one. Well, it's an interesting question.
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I guess since I've raised it, I'll answer that now and then go back through the starting at verse 24, more of the faith aspect.
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But if it is the first exit from Egypt, in other words, it leads to his wandering in the wilderness and then eventually encounter the burning bush and his commission to go back to Egypt and so on and so forth.
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If it is that first one, then what would it mean not fearing the king?
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Well, most have understood that if they take it in that way, that Moses was already aware in some sense of the special call of God upon his life to redeem the people of Israel.
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And that he left not because he was just scared of his life and things like that, but that he left because if he stayed, he would not be able to fulfill his role as the one that God's called to deliver the people.
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And therefore, yes, he left because the king was going to kill him, but more because he had to find a way to fulfill this calling of God upon his life and staying in Egypt was not going to be the way to do that.
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That's how they've understood it. Those who understand it as in reference to the Exodus would say that the chronological difference isn't all that major because it's different aspects of faith that are being illustrated.
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And really, it sort of ties in with Moses's life to go ahead and make reference to this.
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And then the Passover was Moses and the people together. So, the chronological issue wouldn't be the same.
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I leave it to you. As I said, ever since the time of the Reformation, the predominant interpretation, at least amongst reformed folks, has been to take that exit from Egypt as in reference to the
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Exodus rather than to that first leaving. But what is interesting is by faith
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Moses, what does he do? He refuses to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
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In other words, he is unwilling to have his faith redefined by the privileges that have been granted to him having been raised in a royal palace.
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Even though that would have been a... I mean, a lot of people would have argued, oh, I could just use these riches so greatly for the people of God.
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Well, the problem, of course, was that this was a very pagan people. And obviously, things were not nearly as possible for the
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Jewish people to worship God as they had been back in Joseph's day. There had been a hardening of positions.
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Choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
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Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
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Now, how did Moses experience the reproaches of the
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Messiah? That's an interesting question. Once again, we're somewhat tempted to look at this text and read it in our context.
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Oh, the reproaches of Christ. Look at that. But you've got to realize this is long before the Messiah has come.
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So, how is it that Moses experienced the reproach of Christ and that he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt?
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Well, we certainly know that Moses was aware of the protevangelium in Genesis 3, since he wrote it down for us.
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The promise of the coming of the one who would be bruised but would crush the serpent's head.
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And we know that he would be aware of the promises to Abraham that the world would be blessed through his offspring, through his seed.
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And so, is it just a general statement that by his association with the people of God and that Christ is the very leader of that people, the perfect faithful Israelite, is it just sort of a general statement from having
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Christian eyes that this is what Moses was doing? Or was there something more in the sense of Moses recognizing the role of the people of God and his role with the people of God in bringing the very
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Messiah into the world? I don't know that we can necessarily determine that. But there is certainly...
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We know that the Egyptian people looked down upon the Israelites, even in the days of Joseph, because of their cultural habits and their livestock and things like that.
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They were looked down upon as a lesser people. And so, by joining with them and being identified with them either through what happens with the killing of the
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Egyptian man or later when Moses returns and stands before Pharaoh and he does so with Aaron, he does so as the leader and representative of a slave people.
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The point is that while Moses could have claimed that he could do more with the treasures of Egypt to help
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God's people, he did not do that. He considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
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He was looking forward. He was looking past the current situation. And that is what we are being called to do as well.
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That is what these individuals are being called to do. Even though they now are being reproached for association with this
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Messiah figure. This Messiah figure who was crucified by the Romans.
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You're never going to get anywhere in this world if you continue down that path. You can hear the arguments that are being presented to them and hear the writer saying, look, they claim to be followers of Moses, but Moses didn't even follow the path that they are saying that you must follow.
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There's really an apologetic, I think, in the application made by the writer.
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And so we've looked at verse 27. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.
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So either he endured that period of time in the wilderness as seeing him who is unseen.
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Maybe it is a reference to the burning bush or having seen the burning bush, even in the midst of the trials and tribulations of the exodus.
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And we know that there were many. He continues faithful to what the commission that was given to him was there at the burning bush.
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And he endured as seeing him who is unseen. And then finally, by faith, he kept the
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Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.
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Here's the last reference to Moses. It would be a good one to finish up with. The last reference to Moses.
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And here it sort of transitions from Moses to the entire people because then in verse 29, it could be the whole people passed the
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Red Sea as though they were passing through on dry land. And so there's sort of a transition here where we've got
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Moses. It says by faith he, but he kept it with the people.
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He's the one who gave them the instructions to keep the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.
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Now, there certainly was a tremendous amount of faith illustrated there. There's a tremendous amount of faith on Moses's part that God was going to fulfill the word that he had given to him.
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You might say, didn't take much by then. I mean, look at all the plagues. Oh, I mean, God said I was going to do this.
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God said I was going to do that. He's done all these plagues and last one you'd figure, oh, OK. But there was something special about the
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Passover because while the previous plagues had made a clear distinction, specifically so as to embarrass the gods of Egypt.
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Now the word was said, if you don't sprinkle the blood, if you don't have the sacrifice, if you don't put the blood on the doorposts of the house, then your firstborn will die as well.
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And so there was something new here. We can't even begin to imagine what that night was like.
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Amazing thing. But by faith, he believed
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God's word and the people believed God's word so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.
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And so there was an act of faith here. And I cannot help but think that the author is bringing this specific text in for a rather obvious reason.
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And that is when you think of the Passover, you think of the blood, think of everything
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Hebrews has already said about the shedding of blood and the sacrifices and things like that. Here, clearly these individuals who are under so much pressure to go back to those old sacrifices, even to the
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Passover itself, did not that Passover point to a much greater fulfillment that they themselves, they already knew what that fulfillment was in Jesus Christ.
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They had already experienced, they were already there in the fellowship as the Lord's Supper was celebrated and as all the rich meaning of what had taken place there, the fulfillment was now right before them.
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And so if by faith, Moses accepted that sacrifice at the
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Passover as being the one that will keep the destroyer from destroying them, how much more should we, seeing the fulfillment of those promises in Jesus Christ, keep the true
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Passover and be faithful to the promises that have been given to us in Jesus Christ.
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And so I think that's why he takes that particular direction that he does and brings that Passover incident into our mind to remind us once again that even though there was something new to this,
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I mean, can you imagine how many arguments could have been brought against Moses? But really
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Moses putting blood on the doorpost is somehow going to save my firstborn? Really? And yet there was an acceptance of the
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Word of God. And of course, the destroying angel passes over those who had indeed exercised faith.
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And so all these different applications of what it means to remain steadfast, to remain faithful presented to us here in the 11th chapter of Hebrews.
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We will see next that we move therefore onto the people of God as they pass out of Egypt.
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We will look at those texts this evening. But for now, we just ask the Lord would help us to make application to once again recognize we are called to a life of faithfulness in this coming week.
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May we indeed bring honor and glory to Him. Let's pray together. Indeed, our
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Heavenly Father, we thank you for these examples of faithfulness in the past. We thank you that we are not the first who have followed after you.
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That we have many examples, many that we can look to and draw strength from.
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And you've provided them for us. This is the very reason that you lifted them up so that we might look to them and that we might be encouraged.
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And Lord, as we seek to be faithful people in our generation, may we think upon the fact that there will be those who will come after us.
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And Lord, we want to be faithful. We want to leave an example for them as well. Help us to understand your word.