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?

*We can't bless our children like that, but never take verbal blessings lightly. When, by faith you say "God bless you" to someone, we can expect God to bless them in ways we'll never know until we get to Heaven. And by faith we can live in a way that blesses our family. I am talking about blessings in this world, and blessings that will stretch to all eternity.

*This does not mean we will have problem free families. All families have problems of one kind or another. In Matthew 10:21-22 Jesus gave one of the most painful examples for Christians: "Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved."

*The strongest faith will not prevent all problems in our families. Again, the Hebrews 11:20 blessings of Jacob and Esau came out of a tragic setting of conspiracy, deceit, and murderous hatred. It didn't have to be that way, because before the twin brothers were born in Genesis 25, God had already told their mother Rebekah the older Esau would serve younger Jacob.

*But years later, when Rebekah heard her husband Isaac promise the blessing to Esau, she decided to deceive her husband, even though she didn't have to. God had promised the greatest blessing to Jacob, and God would have made a way for it to happen. But Rebekah decided to take matters into her own hands, and great troubles followed.

*Please listen to part of the story from Genesis 27:1-20.

1. Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, "My son.'' And he answered him, "Here I am.''

2. And he said, "Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death.

3. Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.

4. And make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.''

5. Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it.

6. So Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, "Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,

7. 'Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.'

8. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to what I command you.

9. Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves.

10. Then you shall take it to your father, that he may eat it, and that he may bless you before his death.''

11. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man.

12. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.''

13. But his mother said to him, "Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.''

14. And he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved.

15. Then Rebekah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

16. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

17. Then she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.

18. So he went to his father and said, "My father''; and he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?''

19. And Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done just as you told me; please arise, sit and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.''

20. But Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?'' And he said, "Because the LORD your God brought it to me.''

*Jacob followed his mother's scheme and dressed up in his older brother's clothes. Jacob even put hairy goat skins on the back of his hands to fool his almost blind father. John Phillips noted that Jacob also told five lies in two breaths! And Jacob got the blessing that the LORD always intended for him to have. But things would have been much better, if by faith, they had waited on the Lord.

*We always make a mess when we try to get ahead of God. John Phillips explained their mother's treachery and said, "Here we have the sorry spectacle of a wife deliberately setting out to deceive her husband. Having first persuaded herself that it was right and proper for her to do so.

*Rebekah would pay for it, of course, in the end. God does not permit His people to get away with that kind of thing. Before that day was over her beloved Jacob would be fleeing for his very life to far off Paden Aram. It was only 'for a few days,' she consoled herself. The 'few days' turned into a year, then 7 years, on to 14, then to 20 years. And she never saw her beloved son again (in this world). Rebekah died before Jacob ever came back. Possibly she never heard a word about Jacob again. Truly the way of transgressors is hard." (2)

*What a mess it turned out to be! But God blessed them in spite of the mess, and sent the promised Messiah through the bloodline of Jacob, -- just as the Lord always intended to do. Grace overcame the garbage, and grace can still do that today. But how much better things would have been if Rebekah had only waited on the Lord.

*Please don't miss this! The blessings did not come through Rebekah and Jacob's deceit. Hebrews 11:20 tells us that the blessings came through Isaac's faith. And our families will be blessed by our faith. Yes, we will still have problems in our families. But the best thing we can do for our children is have faith in God! The best thing all of us can do for ourselves, and for our families is have faith in God.

3. FAITH CAN MAKE US A BLESSING TO OUR FAMILIES. AND FAITH GIVES US THE FORGIVENESS WE NEED.

*If anybody ever needed forgiveness, it was Jacob. Back when he was deceiving his old father, Jacob told five lies in two breaths. That was somebody who had a lot of practice lying, and Jacob did. He needed forgiveness from God, and he knew it.

*Twenty years later in Genesis 32, Jacob finally went back home, and he did that because the Lord told Him to. Jacob had met the Lord in the wilderness on the first night he ran away from home. And over the years, he had learned to trust and obey God. But when he was almost home, Jacob found out that Esau was headed his way with 400 men. Of course Jacob was greatly afraid, and he began to cry out to God. But confession was part of his prayer.

*In Genesis 32:9-12:

9. . . Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your family, and I will deal well with you':

10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant; for I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two companies.

11. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children.

12. For You said, 'I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'''

*Jacob knew he needed forgiveness, so he admitted, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant." Jacob needed forgiveness for his sins. So did Rebekah. So do we all because Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

*We all need forgiveness, and we can only find it by faith. Hebrews 11:21 tells us that "by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph." Here's part of what old Jacob said that day from Genesis 48:15-16: "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads.''

*The "Angel" Jacob was talking about there was Angel with a capital "A," and that was the preincarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jacob was telling his son, "The Lord God has redeemed me from all evil." By faith, Jacob had found the forgiveness we all need, and it came from God's redemption.

*Redemption is one of the greatest themes of the Bible. One place to see it is Romans 3:21-24. There Paul said:

21. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

22. even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;

23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

*Why do we need redemption? Because we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Some people are a whole lot better than others, but none of us is perfect. No matter how hard we may try, -- it seems like we just can't get there. And even if we could be sinless from this day on, we would still bear the guilt of all of our past sins. So we all need redemption.

*That word is talking about the payment of a ransom to set us free. And God paid the highest price to set us free from sin and death. 1 Peter 1:18-19 tells Christians: "You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." God paid the highest ransom to set us free from sin and death!

*Sandra Herrmann helped us understand God's ransom with these questions: "If a child is kidnapped, and a ransom demanded, who pays the ransom? Isn't the ransom demanded from the parents? And what price would a loving mother be willing to pay to redeem her baby? Wouldn't she lay down her own life for the child of her own body? What devoted father would not go to the bank and pay every cent he had, if he had to, to redeem his child?" (3)

*That's what God did for us. He paid the highest price to set us free from sin and death. God the Father sent His precious Son Jesus to die on the cross for our ransom. God the Son made Himself a sacrificial offering for our sins. But we have to rely on God's redemption, and Jacob did. By faith, in Genesis 48:16 Jacob said, "the Angel has redeemed me from all evil." (Again, Jacob was not talking about an ordinary angel. He was talking about Jesus Christ before the eternal Son of God humbled Himself to become a mortal human and die on the cross for our sins.) Jesus Christ redeemed Jacob from all of his evil. Can you say that today?

4. FAITH GIVES US THE FORGIVENESS WE ALL NEED. AND FAITH GIVES US SOMETHING FIRM TO LEAN ON.

*Hebrews 11:21 reminds us of this great truth when it says, "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff." About 70 years had now passed, when the story got to Genesis 48. Jacob was now so weak he could barely sit up in bed. And whenever he stood, he had to lean on his staff.

*That staff wasn't much to lean on, and it reminds us that there's not a lot to lean on in this world, especially in the long run. Our money, our health, our friends, our family: None of these good things can hold us up in the end.

*But faith in God grabs hold of something that can never fail! Faith knows that we can lean on the Lord God Almighty today, and every day we are in this world. Faith in God gives us something to lean on, even when it's time for us to die.

5. FAITH GIVES US SOMETHING FIRM TO LEAN ON. AND FAITH MAKES THE PROMISED LAND OUR FINAL HOME.

*With all his heart, Joseph wanted to be buried in the Promised Land of Israel. So Hebrews 11:22 says, "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones." By then, over 50 more years had gone by, and we are in Genesis 50, the last chapter of the book. Estimates vary, but many more years would go by before the children of Israel would get enter the Promised Land. But nothing could stop them, because nothing can stop our God! (4)

*How did Joseph know that the Children of Israel would make it to the Promised Land? -- By faith! God had promised, and He always keeps His Word. Faith got Joseph's bones back to the Promised Land. And faith is the only way for us to get to the Promised Land of Heaven.

*The only way to go to Heaven is by faith in Jesus Christ, because He is the eternal, immortal, only begotten Son of God the Father, and because our perfect Lord is the one who died on the cross for our sins. And three days later, Jesus rose again in everlasting victory over sin and death.

CONCLUSION:

*So have faith in God today. Have faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross for you! Have faith in God, and you will see what faith can do. Call on the Lord to save you now, as we go back to God in prayer.

(2) Sources:

-EXPLORING GENESIS by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Jacob's Suspicious Behavior" - Genesis 27:11-27 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc."

-Adapted from EXPLORING GENESIS by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "The Unsurrendered Wife" - Genesis 27:5-10 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc."

(3) "A Ransom Paid" - Sermon by Sandra Hefter Herrmann - 1 Peter 1:17-23 - Easter 3 - (My source unknown)

(4) Different sources reviewed:

-Exodus 12:40 - Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.

-Genesis 41:46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

-https://www.bibletales.online/joseph-timeline-and-family-tree/

-http://www.thebiblicaltimeline.org/joseph/

-https://www.conazarene.org/hp_wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Bible-Timeline.pdf

-https://www.blueletterbible.org/images/rosepub/imageDisplay/OT_timeline1_b

-https://answersingenesis.org/bible-timeline/

Finding the Faith of Our Heroes - Part 6: What Faith in God Can Do for You