Finding The Faith Of Our Heroes - Part 6: What Faith In God Can Do For You Series

Finding the Faith of Our Heroes

Part 6: What Faith in God Can Do for You

(Isaac, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph)

Hebrews 11:20-22; Genesis 25:21-23; Genesis 27:1-20;

Genesis 32:9-12; Genesis 48:15-16; Genesis 50:24-26

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared September 26, 2023)

BACKGROUND:

*Today in Hebrews 11, we will study more of the Old Testament heroes of our faith. In just 3 verses, God's Word covers four generations. The stories of Isaac, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph are over 3,500 years old, but they show us some of the great things that godly faith can do today. Let's get started by reading Hebrews 11:20-22. (1)

MESSAGE:

*One time after a hospital visit, I went through the cross walk with a nurse. She was carrying a canvass bag with a Scripture verse stitched on the side. From Mark 10:27 it said, "With God all things are possible.''

*I smiled and asked her, "Do you really believe that?" She said: "I KNOW it." That was a great answer, and a good witness. That young lady had begun to find the blessings that we can only find by faith.

*Everybody needs faith in God, because Hebrews 11:6 tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please Him. . ." Everybody needs faith in God, and everybody needs more faith in God. Today's Scripture helps us see what faith can do.

1. FIRST OF ALL, FAITH LETS US LOOK INTO THE FUTURE.

*People want to know about the future: "Is she going to love me?" "Will I get the job?" "Will we win the game?" "Will I ever get grandchildren?"

*People want to know about the future. I suppose that's why every paper has a horoscope, and of course that's just a bunch of garbage. But faith lets us look into the future. We see this truth in vs. 20, where "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come." Then in vs. 22, "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones."

*By faith we can look into the future. But that doesn't mean we will always like what we see. "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel." But that was not going to happen before brutal slavery and persecution in Egypt. Stephen the deacon summed up their hardship in Acts 7:17-19, where he said, "But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another king arose who did not know Joseph. This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live."

*The future we see by faith is not always a rosy picture in the short run. We know that many more terrible, tragic thing are coming on the world before God brings the final victory over Satan, sin, and death. But by faith, Christians can look ahead to the back of the book! And in Revelation 21:1-5, the Apostle John said:

1. . . I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

2. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

4. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.''

5. Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new.'' And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful.''

2. FAITH LETS US LOOK INTO THE FUTURE. IT CAN ALSO MAKE US A BLESSING TO OUR FAMILIES.

*In vs. 20, "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come." In Genesis 27, we read how Jacob actually stole his older brother's blessing. But in Genesis 25, the twins were already struggling with each other in their mother Rebekah's womb. In Genesis 25:23 the LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.''

*And the blessing Isaac was deceived into giving his younger son Jacob may have concerned material things. But mostly, it was a special blessing for a special time, as the world waited for the promised Messiah. Mostly, it concerned whose descendent the coming Savior would be. Would Christ come through the line of Jacob as promised, or would Jesus come through the line of the older son Esau as their father Isaac wanted?