Scripture Text:
Hebrews 11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. 21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.-NKJV
Intro: King Solomon by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote the following words in…
Ecclesiastes 7:2 It is better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies— so the living should take this to heart.
The bible tells us that the fear of death enslaves us:
Hebrews 2: 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way…
And although the bible calls it an enemy…
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For the Christian it is a friend!
Philippians 1: 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Why? Billy Graham states it this way…
Billy Graham-“What is death? For the Christian, death is a friend rather than an enemy. It is another step on the pathway to heaven rather than a leap into some dark unknown.”
Yet we rarely see it that way do we? He also stated that…
Billy Graham-“We are not prepared to live, until we are prepared to die.”
Because as another commentator put it…
“Life is not comprehended truly or lived fully unless the idea of death is grappled with honestly.”
AND SO I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE US TO THIS THOUGHT THROUGH THIS MESSAGE I’VE ENTITLED
Dying in Faith!
.
My proposition from this scripture passage is: That a character study of those who died in faith as they are recorded in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, will reveal to us what dying in faith looks like!
Let’s consider first of all..
I. THE PERSON that depict this ideal in our passage:
A) Isaac
1. Whose name means laughter!
Genesis 21:5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”
II. Some PARTICULARS of this man’s life?
A) Miraculous birth!
1. Dad was 100, mom 90!
Genesis 21: 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
2. Child of promise – of the Abrahamic Covenant!
Genesis 17: 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” 19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
B) Mundane life?
1. It has been said of Isaac:
“Isaac is the unspectacular son, of a spectacular father, and the unspectacular father of a spectacular son.”
2. Basically a benefactor of his father’s faithfulness!
Genesis 25: 5 Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac.
Genesis 26: 2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”
III. HIS PROMINENCE?
What made his life noteworthy and acceptable for the hall of faith?
A) The way he died!
1. It is not so much how you start but how you finish the race of life!
1 Timothy 1: 15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
2 Timothy 4: 6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2. Though God had said to his wife Rebecca:
Genesis 25:23 The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
a) He preferred Esau and was ready to give the birthright to him.
Genesis 27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. 2 Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. 3 Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me. 4 Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.”
b) Preference based on?
Genesis 25:28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
i. His taste buds!
Genesis 27:5 Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: 9 Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. 10 Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.”
c) PLOTTED AGAINST HER HUSBAND – TO DECEIVE!
i. Dysfunctional family!
Genesis 27:11 Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. 12 What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”13 His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.”
Genesis 27:14 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. 16 She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. 17 Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. 18 He went to his father and said, “My father.” “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”
a. Deception - Lie #1
Genesis 27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 20 Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
b. Deception - Lie #2
Genesis 27:20b “The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.
i. Violation of the 3rd commandment
Exodus 20:77 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Genesis 27:21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.”
Genesis 27:22 Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. 24 “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked. “I am,” he replied.
c. Deception - Lie #3
i. Violation of the 9th commandment
Exodus 20: 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Genesis 27:25 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”
d. Jacob could have stopped the charade there but he didn’t!
Genesis 27:25b Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” 27 So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,
“Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give you heaven’s dew
and earth’s richness—
an abundance of grain and new wine.
Now he gives the Abrahamic blessing
Genesis 27:29 May nations serve you
and peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
and those who bless you be blessed.”
Genesis 27:30 After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. 31 He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.” 32 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?” “I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”
33A Isaac trembled violently….. NLT- Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges - Isaac’s agitation is expressed in the original with an emphasis which our version can hardly reproduce
IN OTHER WORDS THE MAN WAS ANGRIER THAN HE HAD EVER BEEN!
IV. THE POINT OF THE STORY?
A) PROOF THAT HE BELONGS IN THE HALL OF FAITH!
Genesis 27: 33A Isaac trembled violently….. and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—
1. I could REVOKE IT – I COULD REVERSE IT! I COULD RENEG ON IT!
Genesis 27:34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”
Genesis 27: 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.” But indeed he will be blessed!” - indeed he will be blessed!”
2. BUT – I’M NOT GOING TO DO IT!
3.” HE WILL REMAIN BLESSED –he will be blessed!” -
Genesis 27:36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”
Genesis 27:37 Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine.
4. ESAU ALTHOUGH YOU ARE MY SON OF PREFERENCE I AM NOT GOING TO REMOVE OR REVERSE OR RENIG ON IT!
WHY?
B) PROVIDENCE!
1. In the face of his OWN personal preference - He bowed down to God’s sovereignty!
2. He acknowledged that though he had a personal preference – he could not command his children’s destiny– 3.HE FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGED that is in the power of the ALMIGHTY ALONE!
Romans 9: 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
4. Everyone has an ordination!
a) But it is determined by God!
Psalm 139: 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139: 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
C) Point?
1. GOD HAD SPOKEN IT, MADE IT KNOWN THRU REBECCA, AND HE FINALLY ACCEPTED IT!
a) Even though it came about deceitfully!
b) GOD CAN DRAW A STRAIGHT LINE WITH A CROOKED STICK!
2. GOD HAD PURPOSED IT AND I CANNOT BE THWARTED!
Psalm 76:10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise you; the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.
Benson Commentary- The furious attempts and blasphemous speeches of thine enemies shall serve thy glory, and cause thy people and others to praise and magnify thee for that admirable wisdom, power, faithfulness, and goodness which thou didst discover on that occasion.
D) PARTNERSHIP
1. He partnered with God afterward:
Genesis 28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him.
Closing thought: As you journey through life, perhaps your plans and preferences have never been realized, but faith submits to the higher ways and plans and purposes of God!
Isaiah 55 (NIV)
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevail
THAT IS THE ONLY WAY TO LIVE AND TO DIE!
