Hebrews Chapters 11 – 13. Part 6

Hebrews 11:23-29 By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

Moses was incredible! I spent an entire year studying him in Bible Study Fellowship. What can I say in a couple paragraphs to sum him up?

Earlier in the book of Hebrews the author pointed out the superiority of Jesus to Moses and that the Jews could not imagine anyone closer to God. He led his people out of slavery to the Promised Land, he was the receiver of the laws; the most important thing to them and he talked to God “like a friend.” Moses had faith because he knew God the way he did. He spent time with God before he did anything else. He came straight from the presence of God before any task. Our failure and fear is often due to the fact we try to do things alone. The secret of victorious living is to face God before we face man.

Hebrews 11:30-31 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Joshua and Rahab were both after Israel entered the Promised Land. Jericho was a strong city; barred and fortified. How did God command Joshua to take over the city?

Joshua 6:1-20 1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.

2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in."

6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." 7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."

8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" 11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there.

12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury."
20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.

The taking of Jericho was the result of an act of faith. The people were acting not on what they thought they could do, but on what God could do for them.

The story of Rehab is also in Joshua.

Joshua 2:1-21 1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

2 The king of Jericho was told, "Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land." 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land."

4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them." 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.] 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."

14 "Our lives for your lives!" the men assured her. "If you don't tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the LORD gives us the land."
15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 Now she had said to them, "Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way."

17 The men said to her, "This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If anyone goes outside your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head; we will not be responsible. As for anyone who is in the house with you, his blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on him. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear."

21 "Agreed," she replied. "Let it be as you say." So she sent them away and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

It’s amazing that Rahab is even listed in the Bible – she was a prostitute and a Gentile. But because of her great act of faith, James in chapter 2 verse 25, quotes her as a great example of the good works which demonstrate faith. The Rabbis who could do so were proud to trace their descent to her, and her name is one in the genealogy of Jesus Himself.

When Rahab made her great faith statement, “I know that the Lord hath given you the land…for the Lord your God, He is the God in Heaven above and in the earth below” there didn’t seem a chance in a million that Israel would capture Jericho. But, she believed in God against the evidence of the facts. And that’s what Christians are to do.

Hebrews Chapters 11 – 13. Part 5

Hebrews 11:11-16 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

None of the people mentioned saw the fulfillment of God’s promises in their lifetime. They saw some – Noah did experience the flood – Sarah did have a baby. But not all. The point is: what we need to learn from them is: they never lost faith and the earth is not our forever home. We need to keep our eyes on eternity.

Foreigners are often looked down on. Look at the letters to the editor in the daily newspaper about illegal aliens! Abraham didn’t have a land of his own for the rest of his life. And the author is saying Christians are not really in their own land. Our home is heaven and we are foreigners on earth. We can expect to feel and experience all the things related to living in a foreign land. But, we are on a journey for God and because of that “God is not ashamed to be called our God.” He has prepared a city for us in Heaven.

Hebrews 11:17-19 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

God had told Abraham he would be the father of a great nation, and yet now He tells him to sacrifice the very son this nation was supposed to come from! But, Abraham was willing to do it! Maybe he believed that if God took Isaac he would also raise him from the dead. The point is, he was ready to give up what was dearest to him – for God – and because of that he was blessed even more.

Hebrews 11:20-22 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

Remember Isaac had twins: Jacob and Esau, and it was Jacob’s 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel. And one of those sons – Joseph – was sold into slavery by his brothers. But through that incident God was able to move His people, Joseph’s family, to Egypt where He wanted them until it was time to set out for the Promised Land. Joseph remembered God’s promise to Abraham about the Promised Land and when he died he requested that his bones be taken and buried there. He never doubted it would happen.

And 400 years later his bones were with the Israelites when they left Egypt.

But, again, all 3 of these men died without seeing the promises fulfilled. We may die before we see something happen, but we are a link in that fulfillment. We must live in a way to move things along according to God’s will. Christians have the task of helping God make His promises come true.

Hebrews Chapters 11 – 13. Part 4

Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

Abraham, or Abram, as he was originally called, was of course a descendant of Noah and just one man among the tens of thousands of people who had repopulated the earth.

He lived in Ur of the Chaldees, the most civilized, progressive, magnificent city of his day. Ur was a seaport located on the Persian Gulf. It was an exciting place to live; highly sophisticated. There were universities there offering the best education in the world, international banking and shipping…and religious worship of a moon god and a moon goddess! The people had again turned from God.

Abram’s well-to-do family was idolatrous. But, increasingly his spirit became restless and uneasy. And while he was searching for the meaning of life, God leaned down and spoke to him.

Genesis 12:1-3 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

God promised to bless Abram, but he wouldn’t receive that blessing unless he left everything: family, home, friends, comfort – and set out in faith. Abram didn’t know where God would lead him – just that he was to follow. But, God’s command was clear. He was to put God first in his life if he was to receive God’s blessing.

God told him that He would make Abram, who had no children and whose wife was well past child-bearing age, the father of a great nation. Abram’s family became the chosen nation of Israel that provided the audiovisual aid of sacrifices and ceremonies that pictured for the world God’s terms for a right relationship with Him. It was also Abram’s descendants who recorded the revelation of God through the written prophecy, history, biography and poetry that we call the Bible. And it was Abram’s descendants who provided the human lineage for Jesus Christ.

God told him He would make his name great; and he’s in the honor role of faith in Hebrews 11. He told him that all the people on earth would be blessed through him. Jesus, born from Jews, was the ultimate blessing God was promising Abram. Jesus was the seed promised to Adam and Eve who would be the one to reconcile God and man, bridging the gap that sin and rebellion had created. Because of Abram the entire world would have a chance to get back in a right relationship with God.

If Abram accepted God’s call, his entire life would be changed. Even his name would change from Abram to Abraham.

And he did accept God’s call.

Genesis 12:4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

He left his comfortable, convenient yet wasted life, in Ur and set out on a journey of faith. And it changed the world.

Hebrews Chapters 11 – 13. Part 3

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

The earth had become so wicked that God decided to destroy all, but Noah’s family. Jesus pinpointed the root of wickedness in Noah’s day as an indifference to God. Matthew 24:38-39 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Nothing was really wrong with any of the activities Jesus described, except God was left out of all of them. Many things in our world today aren’t criminal – as much as godless.

We need to ask ourselves: are we leaving God out of our decisions? Our activities? Our business? Our home? Our marriage? God needs to not only be present in our life – He needs to have first place in it.

Genesis 6:5 says “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become.” And Genesis 6:12 says, “God saw how corrupt the earth had become.”

Anne Graham Lotz wrote about this passage: God saw people gossiping. He saw the shady business deals going on, the preoccupation with perverted pleasure, the abuse of innocent children, the glory given to the obnoxious; the lies. God saw it all. And it broke His heart.

Genesis 6:6 says, “The Lord grieved that He had made man on the earth.” Grieve is a love word. You don’t grieve over someone unless you love them. The God who created the heavens and earth as an environment for man, the crowning glory of His creation, the God who created Adam and Eve because He wanted them to know Him and have fellowship with Him, was hurt by the indifference of Noah’s world.

I think He’s hurt by the indifference in our world too. What do you think He thought when we took prayer out of school? When we take the commandments off the walls of public buildings? His name out of the Pledge of Allegiance?

God is watching the world with patience. The Bible says Christ hasn’t come back yet, final judgment hasn’t come, because He doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But, don’t mistake His patience for tolerance. There is a limit to His patience and we have been warned – just like the people in Noah’s day were warned through Noah.

God’s warning comes to us in the Bible, by our conscience or in the advice or rebuke from a Christian friend. It may be a challenge to us in a sermon or a Sunday school lesson or a Christian radio program. His warnings are there. He gave the people in Noah’s day 120 years. That’s how long it took Noah to build the ark. Noah’s neighbors thought he was nuts! Building a huge boat in the middle of dry land, talking about a big flood, when no one had even heard of rain before! Until the flood it had never rained on earth!

But, Noah listened to God. He believed Him and he was obedient. And his name is in the honor role of faith in Hebrews 11 because of it. In an age when men forgot and disregarded God – God, for Noah, was the supreme reality in the world. Noah was the one lonely man who stood for God in a day when all men were abandoning Him.

We all have the same choice that Noah did. We can live as if the message of God is of no importance – or we can live as if it’s the most important thing in the world!

Hebrews Chapters 11 – 13. Part 2

Hebrews 11:5 – 6 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Enoch’s story is in Genesis 5: 18-24. It seems that Enoch started his walk with God after his first son was born. Many times becoming parents brings people to church. All of a sudden we are given this awesome responsibility for someone else’s life and our priorities begin to straighten out.

If you walk with someone you have to go in the same direction, don’t you? If I were taking a walk with my husband and he went one way and I the other, we wouldn’t be walking together. Or if we started off together and I turned off and he kept going, we wouldn’t be walking together. Or if I walked really fast and he walked really slow.

We need to go in God’s direction and accept His timing. Not insist on our own. We need to ask ourselves what adjustments must we make to our schedules, to our attitudes, to our ambitions, our personal habits – so that we can truly walk with God. If we don’t know His pace or direction we can’t do it. We find this out (His pace and direction) through prayer and reading the Bible and spending time with Him.

God really wants us to spend time walking and talking with Him. He had that with Adam and Eve in the garden. He created us for fellowship. Enoch walked with God for 300 years and became increasingly aware of His presence and love. The Bible doesn’t say it was a drudgery or he got tired of it. What is keeping you from walking with God?

The second part of this (verse 6) is where we are told it is impossible to please God without faith. He says we need to believe in God and believe He is interested in us. Even the demons know He exists! We are called to have a relationship with Him. Where it says in that verse, “He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” my application Bible answers a question we ask all the time – using this sentence – “Sometimes we wonder about the fate of those who haven’t heard of Christ and have not even had a Bible to read. God assures us that those who honestly seek Him, who act in faith on the knowledge of God that they possess, will be rewarded. Those who hear the gospel are responsible for what they have heard.”

Less and less people today have not heard of Christ. His disciples have done a good job taking His message to all nations. What this says to me is, we don’t need to worry about babies that die or the mentally disabled, but anyone who has heard and is capable of understanding – either accepts or rejects Him.

A Study of Hebrews Chapters 11 – 13. Part 1

Hebrews Chapter 11 is called the faith chapter. It is to faith what 1 Corinthians 13 is to love.

Hebrews 11:1-3 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

My application Bible likens this to an approaching birthday. Especially for kids. They look forward to it. They know they’ll get presents, but that there will be some surprises. Birthdays combine assurance and anticipation. And so does faith.

Faith is the conviction based on past experience that God’s new and fresh surprises will be ours. Faith is sure and certain. And when we believe God will fulfill His promises even though we don’t see those promises materialize yet, we demonstrate true faith. The word hope in the Bible is a certainty for Christians.

The Christian hope dictates our actions and dominates our attitudes. The whole Christian attitude is that in terms of eternity a man cannot lose by being true to God. We believe God’s promises are true and we act on that belief.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

This next part I’ve heard called the honor role of faith and it begins with Abel. Remember back to Genesis 4. Cain was a farmer and Abel a shepherd. They both offered a sacrifice to God. Cain’s from what he grew and Abel’s; an animal. God preferred Abel’s and didn’t accept Cain’s. Cain was jealous and murdered Abel.

The Bible doesn’t say why God preferred Abel’s. It could have been their attitudes when presenting the sacrifices. It could have been that Abel picked a perfect animal with a lot of thought and care and Cain gathered up an armload of grain at the last minute.

Or it could have been that God had already showed them what He expected in a sacrifice and Abel did it and Cain didn’t. Some people say the first sacrifice was after Adam and Eve sinned and God killed an animal to use its skins to make clothes for them. This was the first time blood was shed in the Bible. We do know from the story, that Abel pleased God – that means he was obedient to God - and he was remembered forever for his faith.

Did Cain give God leftovers? Do we give God leftovers? Is what we sacrifice for God pleasing to Him? Is our service pleasing to Him? Or not?

If you weren’t too tired before you went to bed last night, or if you even thought of it, you might have prayed. If you weren’t too busy last week, you might have read your Bible. If the weather isn’t good enough for golf or the lake, you might go to church.

God refuses to be second place in our lives.

God rejected Cain’s apparently apathetic sacrifice. Cain could have had another chance. God told him in Genesis 4:6-7 “Why are you angry? Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?” If Cain just misunderstood what God wanted from him, he could have tried again.

But, he didn’t. The Bible says he got angry and he was jealous of Abel and killed him. His heart was wrong all along and God knows our hearts.

Do you ever feel like God is too hard to please? Do you ever wonder why He doesn’t lower His standards to yours? Do you ever get angry that a prayer of yours goes unanswered?

We’ll see in verse 6 that actually, God is impossible to please – if we don’t have faith – and if we don’t do things His way!

What Can One Woman Do?

I went to a women’s seminar Saturday morning at First Baptist Church in Hickory. The 2 speakers were Haven Parrott www.womenofhimfluence.com/ and Rudy Fulbright executive director and treasurer of WMU NC

The basic message is that as one woman faithfully following Christ you can make a difference.

Rudy gave practical tips of how Christian women should act and what they could be doing. We should have a spiritual kinship with each other. A servant attitude (more about service than the title.) We can use our money to help others, we can serve on boards of non-profits, go on mission trips, volunteer. A leader in church. A strong woman with a mothering spirit.

We can give all people dignity, love, respect and grace. And should willingly and gladly accept God’s call on our life.