Now we’re going to get right back into where we left off in our last program. We’re in Hebrews chapter 11 and we’re about ready to go into verse 8 - and in fact we touched on it a little bit in the last program. Now as I’ve been going through Hebrews almost at the beginning of every four programs, I remind our listening audience that this letter is written primarily, not exclusively, to Jewish people who were having a hard time making the break with Judaism (with the Temple worship and the sacrifices), and stepping away from it into this Age of Grace by faith in Paul’s Gospel, plus nothing, for salvation.

Now, I’m always emphasizing, that is not easy. We see it in cult people or we see people that are just so totally indoctrinated in a legalistic religion, it is so hard to just break away and say, "You mean, I don’t have to do anything but BELIEVE?" That’s exactly right! And of course a lot of people just can’t accept that. But, if Christ finished the work of the cross, and because it was finished He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, then we have to take His word for it.

Now that doesn’t mean that we just simply say, "Well, I believe" and then continue right on with our same old lifestyle. No, we have to realize that when we become a believer of that finished work, or what we call Paul’s Gospel, that mandates a change in our lifestyle. We’re going to live lives, hopefully, pleasing in His sight. And we’re going to seek His will in every aspect of life. And that’s all a follow-up to our believing. And so I never want to leave folks with the idea, "Well, as long as I believe, I’m all right." Well, don’t take advantage of that because there are responsibilities that follow our believing.

But nevertheless, Hebrews, now as a main theme, is directed to Jews who were having a hard time making a break out of legalism and into this glorious Age of Grace. Consequently, as I’ve said over and over, you don’t find the plan of salvation as we present it, in the book of Hebrews. In other words, if you’re leading someone to the Lord, you don’t go to the book of Hebrews to show them how to be saved, it’s just not in here. But, like the Old Testament, all of these things are for our learning. And for the believer now to come into the book of Hebrews, we get all of this reinforcement of our faith and that’s the whole thrust.

All right now then, let’s continue our study in Chapter 11 - "the faith chapter." And again, it’s just to show us that these Old Testament people walked and lived and were saved by faith even as we are. But, here’s where we have to be careful. They didn’t place their faith in a finished work of the cross; it hadn’t happened yet. So what did they believe? What God said to them! It was God’s Word to them. And we’ve already covered the pre-flood people. And Noah is a good example.

God didn’t tell Noah, "Now believe that I’m going to die on a Roman cross and be raised from the dead." No way. But what did God tell Noah? "There’s going to be a flood. I’m going to destroy the human race. Build an Ark for the saving of yourself and your house." Now believing what God said, what did Noah do? He built the Ark. And so all the way up through the Old Testament it has always been by faith, but not in that finished work of the cross as we experience today (and what God tells us to believe through the Apostle Paul’s writings), but rather in the Old Testament they believed what God told them in that day.

All right, so now then as we come into verse 8, and like I said, I know we touched on it in the last part of our last program, but his great epitome of faith, the man, Abraham, who was steeped in idolatry down there in the lower end of the Euphrates River. Remember Joshua tells us his whole family was idol worshippers. The whole city was given over to idolatry, and yet God goes down, and I think person-to-person, like He did with Abraham more than once, confronted him. And God said, "Abram I want you to leave all this, I want you to get away from this pagan environment. I want you to get out of your pagan family and go to a place that I’ll show you." He didn’t tell him that it would be Canaan. He just said, "Go to a place that I will show you." And what’d Abraham do? He left. Why? Because he believed what God said, plus nothing. He wasn’t circumcised. There was no Law to keep. He just simply obeyed what God said and God counted it to him for what? Righteousness. See? He didn’t repent. He didn’t grovel. He just simply believed God and God reckoned him a righteous man. Now verse 9.

"By faith…" By faith; by just simply believing what God had said, now I can comprehend that it was probably easier for the man to believe something when he had seen God, Who I’m sure came down in human form, as He did in Genesis 18. I think you’re all acquainted with that chapter. When the Lord and two angels came walking up the path and Abram ran to meet them, what did he do? Killed the fatted calf and they had a meal like you wouldn’t believe. And they ate. That was the Lord Himself in what we call a theophany - God in human form. And that happened periodically in the time of the Patriarchs.

Now, many times we have to look at these things logically and ask ourselves, "Why?" And I guess I’d never really answered it myself until the last 24 hours. Because they didn’t have a written Word. Now just think about that. All the way from Adam until we get to Moses, there was no written Word from God. So how did He communicate with them? He appeared to them from time to time and He instructed them, and so maybe it was a little easier to believe what God said since they saw Him say it. But it’s the same God that speaks through this Book. And so now we’re under that same set of responsibilities - that we are to believe what God has said.

In fact, go back to Hebrews chapter 1 and that just sort of confirms what I said. Hebrews chapter 1, right up there at verses 1 and 2 - and this is just exactly what we’re saying. And the very first word is what? "God." Remember God never changes. He’s been the same from eternity past and He will be into eternity future. He never changes. But He certainly changes, what I refer to over and over as, His modus operandi - His means of operating. In other words, He deals with us totally differently than He dealt with Adam and Eve, Abraham and Moses, and all the others. In this Age of Grace, under the writings of the Apostle Paul, He deals with us quite differently than all the others, yet still by faith.

All right, so here’s the whole idea. There was no written Word. There was no organized system of worship. Now that makes a big difference. All right, so now you come into the text:

"God, who at sundry (or various) times and in diverse (different) manners spake in time past unto the fathers (how?) by the prophets." He didn’t come down and speak to the people, face-to-face like he did with Abraham, Adam and Eve or even Jacob. But He spoke through the prophets. Now verse 2, and here God changes things:

"Hath in these last days (that is since His first advent) spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom (the Son) also he made the worlds;"

Now when God speaks to us through the Son, that’s why the Apostle Paul then tells us that all of his revelations came directly from where? The ascended Lord. So when we read Paul’s epistles now we realize that God is speaking to us through God the Son Who in turn is inspiring this Apostle to write what we are to understand and believe for salvation, and it’s that much difference. All right, so these Patriarchs were still believers of what God said and when they responded to it, God in turn responds by calling them righteous. They were in right relationship with Him. Now back to chapter 11.

"By faith (by taking God at His Word) he (Abraham) sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country,…" And indeed it was. It was foreign territory to a Syrian down there in the Euphrates. The Canaanites were dwelling in the land. Now I’m not going to mention it in this program, but I will before the afternoon is over; we’re going to be looking at the difference between the Canaanites and the Arabs. There is a big difference. The Canaanites were not Arabs. And so the Canaanites were in the land of promise and it was amongst the Canaanites that Abram, or later Abraham and Sarah and then later on Isaac and so forth - it was among the Canaanites that they sojourned.

Now I think I pointed out in one of the previous programs, does that give you an inkling? What did Abraham have to do as he moved across the country with his flocks and herds? Well, he would have to ask permission. "Can I run my flocks through your orchard?" And he would probably guarantee that they wouldn’t harm anything that was productive. "But, can we just have the grass?" Because he was a foreigner. He was a sojourner in a foreign land. Even though it was the land that God had promised. So you’ve got to keep all these things in your mind as you read about these.

"…dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:"

All right, so he "sojourned in a strange land" only because he knew he could trust the God who told him to leave Ur. Now, just to show you what patience that took to maintain that kind of faith, I can’t pinpoint it in Scripture so I’ll again just have to simply say, it’s my own personal feeling, that Abram was probably 50 years old when God first spoke to him in Ur of the Chaldees. Now, I think all of you know - how old was he when the promised son was born, Isaac? One hundred! So how many years did that poor man live day in and day out by faith, waiting for the birth of that son? Fifty years.

Now today we’re living in a time of instant gratification. I want it NOW! But Abraham waited fifty years before he finally got that son of promise, Isaac. So this is why he is such an example of faith and patience and integrity, that he was willing to just know that someday God is going to come through. He’s faithful. So, "he sojourned in the land, dwelling in tabernacles." Now what’s the other word for tabernacle? Tents. Well, what was the purpose? Well, he couldn’t build a home of stone and concrete because he was just simply sojourning up and down the land, waiting for something to gel, of course. But until it did, he was living in tents that were temporary abodes that could be taken up and moved.

"And he was dwelling in tents with Isaac, and all the way on up into time of Jacob." Nothing is concrete yet so far as the promises are concerned. But they were all "heirs with him of the same promise." Now we’ve got to go back, don’t we? It’s been a long time since we’ve taught Genesis. And let’s go back briefly to the Abrahamic Covenant itself. I’m not going to go into it in detail, but back in Genesis chapter 12, the Abrahamic Covenant. And I’ve made the statement over and over and over through the years. If you can’t understand the Abrahamic Covenant, then this Book is a dilemma. You can’t figure it out until you understand how all of this promise of a Messiah came about.

All right, Genesis chapter 12. Now ,I always make reference that the very first promise of a coming Messiah was right after Adam and Eve fell in Genesis 3:15 - where we have the promise of the coming of the "seed of the woman." But, for those first 2,000 years it just sort of laid there dormant. There was just nothing transpiring to get that seed growing. It was there, because Abraham comes out of one of the three sons of Noah remember. And God was in control of all that. But beginning with Abraham 2,000 years after Adam, 2,000 years before Christ, things are now going to start moving. Now here is the Abrahamic Covenant.

"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, (in chapter 11) Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will (sometime in the future) shew thee:" See He doesn’t tell him here, for example, I’m going to send you up to the Mediterranean. He doesn’t tell him I’m going to send you up to the land of the Canaanites. No. He just says, "Leave Ur and go to a land that I will show you." Well now, this is all means of testing the man’s faith. Now here come the promises, verse 2.

"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:…" Do you see all those "I will’s." Those are promises from God Himself to the man Abraham. And again as I’ve said so often on this program, all you have to do is become a student of history and you’ll see that this has never fallen short. Every empire, every king, every despot that turned on the Nation of Israel met their own doom. And it’s never changed. You can bring it all the way up; I always like to use Great Britain as probably the best example in modern history. When Great Britain stabbed Israel in the back after World War II, Great Britain went down and they’ve been a no-account nation ever since. And, morally, spiritually, Great Britain is in the gutter, and it was primarily precipitated because of their treatment of the Jew. All right, but then the best promise of all is the last part.

"…and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Not just the nation coming from his loins but every person on earth would one day feel the ramifications of this promise made to Abraham, which of course, was what? The coming of the Christ and His going to the cross. His death, burial and resurrection and all that was brought about because of the promises made to this man. And so, consequently, we can say that through Abraham, then, all the families of the earth were blessed.

Now we’re going to see where God repeats this same covenant, if I may call it that, to the next one on the scene, which is Isaac. And Isaac, too, is going to be given the covenant promises over in chapter 26.

"And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine THAT WAS IN THE DAYS OF Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar, 2. And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, (now here it comes) and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;" He’s telling Isaac the same covenant that I made with your father Abraham, I’m bringing it on to you. All right, now let’s go up to the next generation and chapter 28. Here comes Jacob. Years are going by but God doesn’t change. God never forgets.

"And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father, and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. (now here it comes) 3. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people: 4. And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham."

The world today knows nothing of this. The world today won’t even recognize anymore the authenticity of this Book. And if you try to tell them, well this is what the Scripture says, they’ll probably scornfully rebuke you and say, "Well, that Book doesn’t count." Well, I beg to differ. As I’ve said on this program over and over, this is the only Book on earth that can prove itself as the revealed Word of God. And everything we’re seeing in the Middle East today is fulfilling everything that was started back here in Genesis. How can they miss it? I’ll never know.

But here it is, that all the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with regard to that nation of people inheriting the land of Canaan. And God later would promise that they would be scattered into every nation under Heaven because of their disobedience. But that someday in the future, He would what? Bring them back again. And then when people scoff and shake their heads and say "Ah, well that’s Old Testament," remind them that Paul writes the same thing in Romans 11, that just because God broke them off as the main trunk of the tree, and scattered them into the nations and grafted in the Gentiles by virtue of the Body of Christ. He says, "Now take heed. Don’t you get puffed up because the same God that could break off those original branches and graft in foreign branches can break you off and bring Israel in and what’s the word? "Again." That’s what it says in Romans 11. "And I will graft them (Israel) in again."

And of course, that’s what we’re seeing the beginnings of. Now they’re not totally there, where they’re going to be. They are still there, for the most part, in unbelief - but listen, tell the world. They’re there as a result of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And that’s the whole idea of Hebrews 11. These people were there by virtue of their faith in the promises that God made starting with Abraham, repeated to Isaac, and repeated to Jacob - and then of course, it follows all the way up through Israel’s history as we’re going to see in the succeeding verses. All right, reading on now then in verse 9 before we go on to verse 10.

"By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country; dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same (what?) promise;"

God promised it and they all believed it even though it took so many hindrances - my goodness, just stop and think of the confrontation between Jacob and Esau. Who would ever dream that, out of that, God would fulfill the promises, but He did. And so Jacob has to flee for his life, never seeing his mother again. He goes on up into the area of Syria to her kinfolk and begins to put together the family, then, that brought about the twelve sons, which in turn brought out the twelve tribes of Israel, but it isn’t until they end up down in Egypt in slavery that God says, "they will become for the first time a nation of people!"

"For he…" Abraham - because of that Abrahamic Covenant. And I just put on the board the basics of the Abrahamic Covenant - and those of you who have heard me teach at seminars and so forth, this is almost a staple of my teaching format; that that Abrahamic Covenant in a nutshell, was that out of Abraham would come a nation of people. And one day God would move them into a strip of land that He had promised and deeded to Abraham. And then someday in the future, of course never setting dates, that someday in the future He would provide their government in the Person (Christ as) their King.

And so all of the Old Testament then, from Genesis chapter 12 on up until the New Testament opens up, is looking forward to that coming promised King. As I mentioned in the last program, they became a nation of people when they were in Egypt in slavery. And maybe we should go look at the verse. Come all the way back to Genesis chapter 46, and let’s start with verse 1. And of course, we’re up to the time of Jacob, and his son Joseph is already down in Egypt.

"And Israel (the man Jacob) took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, (which is down in the Negev or South of Jerusalem) and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. 2. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I." 3. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt;…" Now you remember in the last program we read where God told Isaac what? Don’t go to Egypt. Sojourn in the land of promise and I will bless you. So it was a forbidden territory to go down into Egypt. But now you see, God in His Sovereignty, He can do this. Now He tells Jacob:

"…fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there (down in Egypt) make of thee a great nation:" See how plain this is. Now they were down in Egypt then another 215 years. That’s a long time. See I’m afraid, too many times, people do not take time in Scripture in its full impact because we look at the whole period of 6,000 years and consequently we think 200 is just a drop in the bucket. But, 200 years is 200 years. That’s a long time. Look what America has done in the last hundred, let alone two hundred. And so, 215 years from the time that Jacob goes down into Egypt until Moses brings them out, and they are now several million people. I always say from six to seven million. And they were the largest individual nation group in the whole Middle East. And so they were a great nation of people, all because of Abraham’s response of faith. Now back to Hebrews chapter 11, and verse 10.

"For he looked for a city (a city of which this King would be ruling and reigning) which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

Now, of course, the book of Revelation hadn’t been written yet and so that gorgeous city foursquare had not been even mentioned anywhere in Scripture. But I think that has a part in everything that Abraham was looking forward to - that when God would literally rule on the planet and He would be in control, it would be Heaven on earth. And that’s why it’s called then "the Gospel of the Kingdom" because Heaven would come down on earth in the Person of the King. Well, all that was out in the future from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s day, but they looked forward by faith. All right, now verse 11.

"Through faith also Sara (the true wife of Abram) herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child (when?) when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised." It was a miraculous birth. They were way beyond the age of childbearing. But God, in His Sovereignty brought it about and so she was delivered when she was past age because of her faith.

Now you’re going to probably get tired of hearing me hammer faith, but remember, this is what God is looking for. God wants people who will believe what He says. And it’s just a matter of responding to His Sovereignty - to say, "Yes, God I believe you. I believe every word you say and have said." And that’s pleasing to His ears. All right, that’s the whole idea, how that God responds to the faith of human kind. Now verse 12. So because of the faith of Abraham and Sarah:

"Therefore sprang there even of one, (one man) and him as good as dead,…" Because he was a hundred. I hope there’s no hundred-year-old ones in here! (Laughter) I’ve had a few in my classes over the years. In fact, I think the lady might have just passed away. Owen, where are you? When I was teaching some over in your nursing home, we had that lady who was a little over a hundred and she and her husband had actually served the American Government with Chiang Kai-shek, you remember that Owen? That’s a long time ago. Oh, she said, we had many a formal dinner with Chiang Kai-shek and his lovely wife. But she was a hundred years old. And that’s a long time of living. But that’s how old Abraham was when Isaac is born. Even in that period of time it was past the age of normal childbearing. All right, so "him as good as dead." Now finishing the verse.

"…so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable." Now I’m sure that that’s a play on words. It’s just simply to show us that the number of people that came from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were such a multitude. Now again, I’m stressing everywhere I teach, and I haven’t done much of it on the program, but I’ll probably hit a little more in a later half hour today. But, do you realize that the Jewish people who had been scattered into every nation under heaven for the last, you might say, 2,600 years, going back to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity - they have been scattered out amongst all the nations of the world. They should have disappeared. They should have just simply been assimilated into the other nations of people, by intermarriage and what have you.

But because of these promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob there, they are back in the land tonight. And the world can’t comprehend it. But the little Nation of Israel is there because God has kept them under His wing, even though they’re there in unbelief. I wouldn’t doubt but that there are more almost agnostic, if not atheistic Jews in Israel than believers of any sort. But God has kept them in spite of all of their adversity. They have not intermarried to the place that they lose their identity and they’re still God’s covenant nation. And I don’t think people stop to analyze that. That a little nation of only an average of 10 million people should have disappeared. They should have just gone out into the various nations by intermarriage and lost their identity. But they didn’t. And there they are. A Jew is a Jew is a Jew.

I was reading in some magazine the other night. A Jewish community clear up in the boondocks of Siberia. And they had their Synagogue and they had been practicing Judaism for centuries. Just a little pocket of them. Well, that’s the way it’s been all the way around the world. And they have kept their identity. All right, so here it is. Verse 13 now.

"These all died in (what?) faith,…" They never stopped believing that this Abrahamic promise was going to be fulfilled through this nation of people coming from these three men. All right, they didn’t receive the promises. Not on this earth.

"…not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Why? Well, as yet they don’t have a designated homeland. They do not have a designated king or government or constitution. They are just simply held together by God’s invisible power. But nevertheless, they’ve always survived as a nation of people. All right now then, verse 14.

"For they that say such things declare plainly (without any gobbledy-gook to it) that they seek a country." One that would be ruled by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now let’s see, let’s go back to Luke. I don’t think I did this in the last several programs and if I did, it won’t hurt to repeat. Let’s go back to Luke chapter 1 - and this of course is the father of John the Baptist at the time of John the Baptist’s birth. So, we’re approaching the coming of the Messiah but He certainly hasn’t made His appearance as yet. So the father of John the Baptist by virtue of being filled with the Holy Spirit, up there in verse 67:

"And his father (that is the father of John the Baptist) Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, (or spoke forth) saying, 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;…" Now every time I teach this I make the point - there’s no Gentile in here. Not a reference to anybody but Jews. Israel. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." Now we know the Abrahamic Covenant looks way past all this to when this Messiah will become the Savior of the whole world but, remember, He’s going to deal with Israel first. You know I’m always quoting Romans 15 verse 8 - I guess I’ll quote it every chance I get.

"Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:" That’s what Paul writes in Romans, that Jesus Christ came to confirm these promises that Hebrews is also reviewing. And now this is what Zacharias is talking about. The promises that have been made to Israel. All right, verse 69.

"And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us (Israel) in the house of his servant David; (how many Gentiles in the House of David? None. We’re not talking to Gentiles. We’re talking to Israel. Read on.) 70. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, (the Old Testament) which have been since the world (ages) began:" Here it comes in verse 71.

"That we (the Nation of Israel) should be saved from our enemies,…" Now goodness sakes, who were Israel’s enemies at the time of the birth of John the Baptist? Well, the same ones that are there today. Nothing’s changed. The Egyptians hated the Jews. The Syrians hated the Jews. The Arab world hated the Jews. This is nothing new. And so this is what Zacharias is proclaiming. "Oh, when their Messiah comes they’ll be protected from all their enemies."

"…and from the hand of all that hate us; 72. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73. The oath which he sware to our father Abraham," They hadn’t forgotten what God had promised to Abraham. That’s been handed down - and then the prophets started writing as the Spirit moved them and everything is moving toward the time when the promises made to Abraham would become fulfilled. And then, goodness sakes, because of the rejection of the Messiah and crucifying Him, God stretched out another 2,000 years by dispersing them into the nations of the world and turned to us Gentiles with the Gospel of Grace through the Apostle Paul. But listen, everything we’re seeing on the planet today is screaming - now I don’t set dates, it may be another 50 years, you know a year is nothing in God’s sight. But it certainly wouldn’t appear that it could be that long because everything now is getting ready for the final fulfillment of all these promises.

Israel is back in the land for the most part. Oh, they’ve still got a tough row to hoe. They’re not through by any means. In fact come back with me to Matthew chapter 24, and this tells you that Israel’s worst is still ahead of them and I think we all realize that it must be awful to live in constant fear of somebody blowing up your bus or shooting at your car. But, they’ve still got, at least for now, America as a friend. They’ve got a few other areas of the world that still are friends of Israel, but listen, this is what’s coming. And this is from the words of the Lord Himself. And if anybody…anybody shows any doubt about the current scenario in the Middle East, just show them a verse like this. Hey, this is all promised. Israel is just at the beginning; the worst is yet to come.

"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, (that is the powers that be.) and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake." Now, never forget, why are the Jews such a hated people? Because Satan knew, from the day that God told Abraham, that that nation of people would be the nation through whom all the blessings of the world would come. And Satan knew that if he could destroy the Jewish people, then everything that God said falls through the cracks. And so this is why they’ve been under such intense pressure. Satan is doing everything he can to thwart the will of God and if God does not have the Nation of Israel on which He can fulfill His promises, then He’s lost His Sovereignty and Satan knows that. And so this is why we have to pray for the Jewish people - they are under a Satanic attack, because Satan wants to destroy them.

Come back to Luke chapter 1, I didn’t quite finish there. Luke chapter 1 again, and just another verse or two, then we’ll go back to Hebrews. We did verse 73. "The oath which he sware to our father Abraham." Now here comes the promise again. Now remember this Zacharias, a priest of Israel, is under the power of the fullness of the Holy Spirit as he speaks.

"That he would grant unto us, (the Nation of Israel) that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him (their Messiah, their King, their Savior, their Redeemer. How?) without fear, (it’ll be Heaven on earth. See?) 75. In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." Now that’s what Israel is waiting for. When they can live in total peace and in fellowship with their God and they can see fulfilled these covenant promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All right, let’s come back to Hebrews chapter 11 once again and make a little headway this half-hour. And now verse 13.

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, (they never did have that king. They never did have that glorious kingdom on earth. They died looking for it.) but (they) having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, (by faith, remember) and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." They alone were in that place of promised blessings. All right, verse 14.

"For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned." Now that’s kind of a tough verse because it’s a lot of "double" in there. But, had they been mindful of the Ur of Chaldees or maybe even Egypt, then they would have been from the human side, drawn back, and they would have never had the faith to accept the glorious thing that was still future. Because you remember, when they came out of Egypt and they were under all the trials and tribulations of that desert existence, what was their murmuring statement? "Oh, would to God that we’d stayed in Egypt." See? At least we didn’t have to swallow dust every day. But, the whole idea was that out of their adversity would come the blessings.

And I guess the lesson is for us isn’t it? You know I’ve said on this program over and over - God never, through Paul’s writings or anybody else, promises the believer a life of a rose-petaled pathway. A lot of people try to tell us that but it’s not true. God does not promise us a rose-petaled pathway. On the other hand we are promised that we are going to have tribulation. We’re going to suffer. We’re going to have obstacles ahead of us. And in spite of it all our faith keeps looking past all of that.

And so this is a whole concept of Christian living that we don’t have to have all these good things every day of our lives. That’s not what we’re here for. But we are going to suffer adversity as well as enjoy the blessings. Okay, now verse 16. Here we come to that word that we’ve seen all through the book of Hebrews. What is it? Better. B-E-T-T-E-R. Verse 16.

"But now (because of faith) they desire a better country,…" Remember how we’ve been stressing this all through Hebrews that everything in the past was okay, it was good. But this is so much better - even the eternal view. This is so much better, because now they were looking for not just the earthly things, but heavenly things.

"…that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city." I was going to take you back to Revelation this time, but I don’t have to, because you all know what it is. The streets paved with pure gold. The gates made of pure pearl. And all the gemstones that you can imagine are the stones of the foundation. Oh, that city is coming. God hasn’t forgotten. God is never going to go back on His Word. And so this beautiful city that they were looking for by faith, will one day become a reality!

"But now they desire a better country, (and we commented on that in the last half-hour) that is, an heavenly:…" Not just to have the earthly blessings that the patriarchs enjoyed. Now I hope you all realize that when the patriarchs were faithful, God blessed them materially. They were all wealthy, at least in their day and time. But, you see, too many people think that you bring that concept up into the Church Age - and that flies in the face of Scripture, because Paul in his letters to the churches never, never promised earthly blessings in response to our Christian behavior.

All of our promises are heavenly. Now granted, we’re blessed in earthly things, I don’t deny that. But, by and large, our blessings, our rewards, are waiting for us in Glory. And it’s there that we’re going to one day come to cash in, if I can call it that. But for the Old Testament patriarchs, their blessings were earthly. Flocks and herds and children and what have you. But they, too, one day will enter into a heavenly kind of existing, even though it will be Heaven on earth. All right, let’s go on into the next verse now, verse 17.

"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, (or tested) offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son," Now let’s go back and look at it. That’s in Genesis chapter 22, because a lot of these little things I think the average reader or even student, overlook, and they’re pertinent, they’re important. Now we’ve already stressed in the earlier programs this afternoon that Abraham was fifty years waiting for the promised son.

Of course, he and Sarah took things into their own hands, you remember, back when he was about 86 and they had Ishmael by way of the slave girl, Hagar. But see, God never recognized Ishmael as the promised son, because he wasn’t. God had nothing to do with the birth of Ishmael. That was strictly in the flesh between Abraham and Sarah and the girl Hagar. But, the promised son wouldn’t come for another fourteen years, which made a total then, as I said earlier, of about 50 years that Abraham was waiting for the son of promise, Isaac.

All right, but now Isaac is a young lad himself. And now after waiting 50 years for the lad to be born, enjoying his companionship for 17-18 years, now God tells him what? "Give him up to Me, as a sacrifice." That must have been horrendous. But remember, God was doing it for only one purpose. And what was it? To test Abraham’s faith. My, you wouldn’t think God would have had to test Abraham anymore - he’d already been tested for 50-some years. But, nevertheless, God is going to test the faith of this man of faith, Abraham, once again.

"And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt (or test) Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. (now look at verse 2. Watch this carefully.) 2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine (what’s the next word?) only son Isaac whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; (present day Jerusalem) and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Goodness sakes, Ishmael is fourteen years older. But see, God never recognized Ishmael as a son. He was not the promised son, but rather the promised son was Isaac.

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave (or held) the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off." So often in Scripture we have "Three days." It’s just amazing if you make a study of it, and here’s another one. They left Beersheba down in the South and three days later they see Mount Moriah, which is present day Jerusalem, the Temple Mount.

"And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, (now underline the next part of that verse.) and come again to you."

By himself? No. Both of them. Would he be carrying Isaac over his shoulder? A corpse? No. They would both be coming back alive. But hadn’t God told him you’re going to have to give Isaac as a sacrifice? Yes. All right again, by faith, and oh, I can’t emphasize this enough, what did Abraham know? That if he would have to kill Isaac, God would raise him up so he could go back home with him. He knew that. Now that’s faith. All right, let’s read on. Now verse 6.

"And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. (no servants. Just the two of them.) 7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And I think here in verse 8, Abraham said a mouthful that he didn’t realize was going to be fulfilled to the last jot and tittle.

"And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together." But what had God told Abraham? "To sacrifice Isaac." It would be Isaac, but somehow or other, Abraham knew one of two things. If he would have to offer Isaac, God would raise him from the dead. And if he didn’t offer Isaac, God would provide the lamb. And of course, we know that’s what happened.

"And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood." Now that almost seems beyond human comprehension, it seems beyond the God that we know of Scripture. How could God expect a man to lay his own son, when we know that one of the horrors of Israel’s history was child sacrifice and yet here God commanded Abraham to lay Isaac on that altar bound, hand and foot, although there is no indication that Isaac resisted. He was totally obedient to the father as he’s laid on the altar.

Now, I’m not going to make you go back to Romans, but another verse that I always use in Romans 15 is verse 4 and that verse says: "Now all these things were written aforetime (like we’re reading right here) for our learning that we through the Scriptures might have comfort and hope." All right so what are we to glean from this? We’re to learn. This isn’t just some legend. This isn’t just some story to fill the page. But this is even for you and I in this Age of Grace, to look back at and see how the God Whom we serve is telling us something. And what’s He telling us? That God did bring about a Human sacrifice, the greatest one of all. The Lamb that took away the sin of the world was nailed to that Roman Cross. Just as surely as Isaac was laid on that altar on Mount Moriah. There are so many parallels. Number one, as I’ve already pointed out, Isaac was the only begotten son. Isaac fulfilled everything pertaining to Christ’s sacrifice by being totally obedient to be that sacrifice. And all through the eyes of faith. God said it and they could rest on it.

"And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son." And I don’t think Abraham was being a Hollywood actor. He was ready to carry it out, heartbroken as he must have been. But on the other hand knowing that God would bring him back to life. All right verse 11.

"And the angel of the LORD…" And I’ve always stressed, Who’s that? Well, that’s God the Son.

…called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." Now there’s the emphasis - that as Isaac was the only son of Abraham in God’s eyes, so Christ was referred to as the only begotten Son of God. Now here’s the beautiful part that I think that, whether it was by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the mind of Abraham, but here it’s immediately fulfilled when he said, "God would provide the lamb," in the earlier verses.

"And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him for a burnt offering in the stead of his son." In both these instances, was there any opposition? From Isaac or from the ram? No. Scripture would have told us. But Abraham could just simply walk to the thicket, take that ram, probably with Isaac’s help and they put it on the altar without a struggle, without opposition and again it was a beautiful picture of the Lamb that finally did take away the sin of the world. He didn’t fight the cross. He didn’t oppose any of the beatings and the misuse of the Romans. He went meekly as a lamb. And so all this is just a preview of that which would be fulfilled there at the cross. All right, and so now verse 14.

"Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: (which means that Jehovah would provide) as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen." And so what a glorious statement of faith and at the same time a preview of the cross - in fact as you go back to Hebrews, stop at Philippians chapter 2, as we use this quite often. And this is just simply the fulfilling of all that we’ve seen back in Genesis. Let begin with verse 5:

"Let this mind be in you, (now remember, Paul is writing to Gentile believers like you and I) which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, (He was God, totally) thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (because He was God, I can’t emphasize that enough.) 7. But (as God, as the Creator God of the universe) made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, (or a bond slave) and was made in the likeness of men: 8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." So the picture is, in the Old Testament even as Isaac was obedient unto death, Christ was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross for your sins and mine.

Well, that’s another tremendous lesson that we glean from these patriarchs and their walk of faith. All right, come back to Hebrews chapter 11, and let’s read verses 18 and 19 again just to confirm everything that I’ve said as we looked at Genesis 22.

"Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;…" You see that? Scripture tells us that if Abraham would have carried out the killing of Isaac, God would have raised him from the dead - but of course, He did the alternative. He provided the sacrifice.

"…from whence also he received him in a figure." (or a type) So I was scripturally A-OK by taking you back to Genesis 22 and showing how that the offer of Isaac was the beautiful picture of the obedience of the One that was to be put to death, and Christ fulfilled it. All of Scripture, I guess if there’s one compliment that I enjoy from our listening audience, is that right there. That we are taking all of Scripture and making them fit from cover to cover.

And it does, it just thrills me when people are beginning to see that this isn’t a bunch of jumbled up legends and stories and so forth. It’s a composite that fits from cover to cover. And you don’t see it until you study it. The casual reader will never get it. All right, let’s go on to verse 20.

"By faith (again) Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come." Many people don’t realize that. Why do you suppose the Arab world is so high in numbers? Because God promised Ishmael that He would bless him. They’re not there by accident. They’ve been blessed.

You know, I always have to think, not only do they have 50 times more people than Israel (they’ve got almost that much more land area than Israel), but on top of that what’s under all their sand? Most of the world’s oil! They can’t complain, my they’ve got blessings that they don’t even want to admit. And so God hasn’t turned His back on them. And so even Isaac when he blessed the sons, he blessed Esau just as well as he did Jacob. But, Jacob of course, is the man of faith. Now verse 21.

"By faith Jacob, when he was a dying,…" You go back to Genesis and you can pick up all the blessings that he placed upon those sons.

"…blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff." As he was dying, passing off the scene. All right now we jump up into the next generation. In verse 22 - of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob. And you all know the story of Joseph; I don’t have to rehearse that. Joseph ends up down in Egypt. And as the Jews have done from the onset of the nation, even though they’re hated, they’re despised, they’re persecuted - invariably some of them will end up where? At the top. You just stop and think about it. What percentage of the Nobel Prize winners are Jews? If I’m not mistaken, it’s about 50%. Yet the Jews are only less than one percent of the world’s population. They’re blessed.

Look at the talented people in the entertainment industry. What are most of them? Jews. Look at successful writers. What are most of them? I won’t say all, but what are most of them? Jews. Medical science. My goodness. Beginning with the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk, what was he? Jew or Gentile? He was a Jew. All the master scientists of the atomic energy program, what were they? Most of them were Jews. Oh, they’ve been blessed beyond human comprehension in spite of the world’s hating them, in spite of the satanic pressures to get rid of them.

And so never lose sight of that (even Joseph). Here he’s sold as a common slave, taken down into Egypt, becomes nothing more than a house servant but where does he end up? Second man in Egypt and I imagine if he had wanted to usurp Pharaoh’s seat, he could have. Daniel goes out into Babylon, nothing more than a manacled slave. Where does he end up? Second man in Babylon. Almost that far in the next empire, the Medes and the Persians. And so all the way up through human history, you’ve seen that these Jews with their talent, their intelligence, their energy, they just come to the top.

All right, now here’s Joseph. Went through the life of a slave, imprisoned (as far as I can tell) about 10 years. Then he comes out and rises up to the second man in Egypt - but when he dies, they all die remember. And when he died he made mention of the departing out of Egypt of the Children of Israel and gave a command concerning his bones. Well, you all know what that was, don’t you? Joseph told the Children of Israel of his day, "That one day, God is going to take you out of here and you’re going to go back to the land promised to our forefathers. And when you go, you take my bones with you."

Now what prompted him to request that? Well, I think it carries through to the Jew of the present day. If a Jew has got the money and the wherewithal, and he’s got any connection with his Old Testament Scriptures, where would he like to be buried? Anybody know? As close to the Temple as they can get. Most of your guides will tell you that, won’t they? If they had the money, they would be buried right next to the Temple itself. Well, Joseph already had a comprehension of that, that when the Lord came to set up this kingdom, he wanted to be in the land of promise at resurrection day. That’s what he’s looking at. He’s looking at resurrection day. And so, by faith, knowing the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that a Redeemer, Messiah, King is coming. He wanted to have his bones in the Promised Land, when that day comes, so he gave commandment that they were to take his bones with them.

Well, I wish I had time to take you back and show you, because when Joseph said, "take my bones with you," when they got back in the Promised Land, did they just bury him at the first place that they came across? No. He was buried in a particular place and the amazing thing is, there are three pieces of ground in the homeland of Israel that were bought and paid for with current money, of silver. Three of them. And those three same identical places are the points of greatest controversy and bloodshed today.

But see, all of this ties in Ancient Israel, and what’s going on today is tied together. You can’t separate them. And it’ll just thrill your hearts in our next program, when we show you those very plots of ground that were bought and paid for with money, not counting the deed that God made to Abraham, that the whole land belonged to the Nation of Israel, but those three segments were bought and paid for, for a particular reason - and so one of them is where the bones of Joseph are going to go.

And so again, we’ll look at it when we come to the next program, but the next verse, verse 23, we’ll pick that up as well, that it was by faith that all of these men and women moved, relying strictly on what God had promised. Now what’s the lesson for us? Well, we’re the same way. "We walk by faith."

Okay, let’s go back where we left off and for those of you that were watching our last program (for some of you it’s a week ago, for some of you it was the day before), I wanted to mention three crucial areas of the Middle East that were intrinsic to the book of Genesis. And so before we go back and pick up in Hebrews chapter 11, we’re going to look at those three a moment. The first one of course is in Genesis 23, where we have the death of Sarah, Abraham’s beloved wife, the one who was part and parcel of that Abrahamic Covenant and the birth of Isaac. But now she dies and I think starting right here we find that part and parcel of the whole Jewish mental makeup is a reverence for their burial sites. And even today if bulldozers are working in Israel and they turn up human bones, they have to stop. Now in America all it takes is a Snail Darter or some endangered species like that, but in Israel if they turn up human bones, then everything stops because they have such a respect for the human dead. And I think it began right back here with Abraham making such a big deal over a burial place for his beloved wife Sarah.

All right, Genesis chapter 23 and let’s start at verse 3. Now we’re not going to read all these, we’re just going to hit a couple of the highlights. But in Genesis 23, Abraham has been mourning over his wife Sarah.

"And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, (now remember it’s still the land of Canaan) 4. I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. 5. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, 6. Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury the dead. 7. And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth." I’m always making mention of the fact that he must have had his eye on this place for quite a while that if, and when, somebody was going to die, that’s where he wanted them buried, or even himself. Now verse 8.

"And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 9. That he may give me (not a cave, but) the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, (Abraham had his eye on one in particular) which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you." Well now in the intervening verses, they haggle over the price and so on and so forth, but now come on down to verse 16.

"And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham (now watch this, underline it, pass it on to anybody that will listen) and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. 17. And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure. 18. Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city." In other words, they deeded it to him and it was agreed in the presence of those Canaanites that it was a done deal.

All right, now Mamre, the cave of Machpelah is today’s Hebron. It’s in the news constantly because it is a controversial place now between the Palestinians and the Jews. Now when I say Palestinians, that brings another thought. How many people are confused by the term Palestine? Now it’s a Scriptural word, you’ll find it way back in Exodus. But I’m going to make a point. You want to remember that the word Palestine is merely a term of geographical area. Much like we refer to the Mid-West, here in the United States. Now there’s not a person here in this room that doesn’t know what we’re talking about when we talk about the Mid-West. But, does the Mid-West have a definitive border? No. Does the Mid-West have a capital? No. Does the Mid-West have a flag? No. Does the Mid-West have a government? No. It’s merely a geographical area.

Another area is the Sahara. Same thing. Does the Sahara have definitive borders? No. Is the Sahara a nation? No. Does the Sahara have a flag or a constitution? No. Does it have an intrinsic language? No. But again, there isn’t a person in this room that if I speak of the Sahara you know what I’m talking about - that huge area of the northern part of Africa.

I can give you another one. The South Pacific. The South Pacific is a huge geographic area. Everybody knows what you’re talking about. Does it have a government? No. Does it have a flag? No. See? All right, that’s Palestine. Palestine is just a generalized geographical area there in the Middle East from the Mediterranean out east. It has never, never been a definitive area. It has never had a government. It has never had a definitive language. It’s just simply like the Mid-West. The Sahara. The South Pacific. Palestine. It’s an area in which various people have lived.

Now when you go back into Biblical history then, who were the true Palestinians. Well, early on it was the Canaanites. They were living in the area of Palestine. Then it became the deeded land of Israel so the Jew was the true Palestinians. And then the Arabs started coming in for whatever reason. All right, now what it really should boil down to is that we should define the people as the Palestinian Jew, and a Palestinian Arab. But everybody’s got it all wrong. They have gotten to the place now because of the propaganda machine that the Palestinians are the occupiers of the land of Palestine. Well they’re not. They don’t occupy all of Palestine. In fact a good portion of Palestine is the present day Jordan. A good part of Palestine as the term implies is maybe even parts of Syria. Well so, it’s just become a complete mix-mash of definitions but Palestine is not a nation. It is not a definitive government; it’s merely people living in a generalized geographical area. Now maybe that’ll help.

So the Jews then, are inhabitants of Palestine ever since they became a nation, especially under Moses. And it’s been their homeland all right, but go back further than Moses, go to Abraham. He already bought a tract of land and paid silver for it in what is today the city of Hebron.

All right, let’s look at the second one. Jump up ten chapters and go to Genesis chapter 33. Jacob has just come back from his twenty years with his uncle Laban and you all know that account. And as he’s coming back he has just met with his brother Esau in the early part of this chapter but now drop in at verse 18. Now this is what I call Bible study. This just simply compares Scripture with Scripture. What does the Book say?

"And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. (That is of Shechem.) 19. And he bought (now watch this all carefully) a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money. 20. And he erected there an altar, and called it El-el-o-he - Israel." In other words, a recognition of Jehovah. All right now, let’s jump over to the last verses of Joshua chapter 24. Now you can see why I left Hebrews when it spoke of Joseph’s bones because here it is.

"And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old." Now remember the history here. When Israel came into the land of Canaan, Moses had died and Joshua picked up the leadership. And Joshua, I think, ruled the Nation of Israel something like 26 years, if I’m not mistaken. Not a long, long time. But anyhow, at the end of Joshua’s life, then, he dies being 110 years old.

"And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim on the north side of the hill of Gaash. 31. And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel. (now here it comes) 32. And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph."

Now you see why I stopped in Genesis 33. Same piece of ground. It’s still recognized as belonging to the children of Israel and in that piece of ground they buried the bones of Joseph, see? And it became the inheritance, then, of the children of Joseph. And there’s nothing, nothing to abrogate that. It’s still valid. It’s still their deeded property. They bought it, they paid money for it. All right, so that’s the present day city in Israel of Nablus. Watch for Nablus in the News. Every once in a while there’s another bombing. There’s another shooting. Whatever. Because it’s a point of controversy. Now, who is the progenitor of every point of controversy? The Devil. That’s Satan’s work. All right so we’ve got two of them covered. Hebron, Abraham bought it. Nablus, Jacob bought it.

Now for Jerusalem. Let’s now jump all the way up to II Samuel chapter 24, and let’s start at verse 18. Now David is king. And of course, early in David’s reign, Hebron was his capital. And then he moved the capital from Hebron up to Jerusalem and this is the beginning of that.

"And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite." Remember the Jebusites lived in the area of what is now Jerusalem.

"And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. 20. And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. 21. And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people." Now of course, at this time there was a plague on Israel for a rebellious act. Now verse 22.

"And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. 23. All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king, (David). And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. 24. And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25. And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel."

All right, what spot is this threshingfloor? Well, it’s the Temple Mount. It’s where the Temple was built years later under Solomon. So here again, you’ve got a piece of property that was bought and paid for (by David in this case), which today is one of the disputed places in our everyday news – Jerusalem, the Temple Mount. And all these things just simply scream at us that if people would just simply know and believe the Word of God, we wouldn’t have any problems. But the world won’t do it. The Arabs won’t. The UN won’t. Western Europe won’t. And so, it’ll just continue to deteriorate of course, until the King of Kings comes and you know, I’ve instructed over the years, when you pray for the peace of Jerusalem, what are you praying for? For the Lord the come. Jerusalem will know no peace until Christ returns. It’s going to be a point of controversy right up until the Second Coming itself.

Well now, come back to where we left off in the last lesson to Hebrews chapter 11. Now we’ll pick up another one of our faith people in Moses. What a place of instruction again. Now, I’ve got to always remind you. Why do we study these Old Testament things? They’re for our learning. I can’t take you back here in Genesis and show you the plan of salvation, no more than I can do it in Hebrews. But oh, you can sure learn a lot. How that all of the workings of God have been coming down human history bringing us to the time of Christ and His finished work of the cross. The appearance of the Apostle Paul and the revelations that gave us the Gospel of the Grace of God.

You know, that reminds me - I’ve always said, I won’t attack people. I don’t attack names, or groups or anything like that. But once in a while I read things that just curl my hair. And one of them was early this morning - I was reading from a gentleman that is no longer alive, a well-known highly respected Bible scholar and he was pointing out that Jesus and the Twelve preached the same Gospel of salvation that Paul did. And oh, my toes just doubled up in my boots! How can they say something like that when Paul’s Gospel says, "Christ died for you and rose from the dead." Could they preach that before it ever happened? See that’s my question. How could they preach death, burial and resurrection back here in His earthly ministry? Well they can’t, and they didn’t!

Well then, some people like to tell me, well, they must have known. No. They didn’t know. Luke 18 is just as plain as day that they didn’t know. The Lord says in those verses, "We go up to Jerusalem. Everything written by the prophets will be accomplished. He will be scourged. He will be beaten. He’ll be put to death and the third day He will rise again from the dead." So far so good. But what does the next verse say? Most of you know. "And they knew none of these things, because it was hid from them." So the Twelve didn’t know, and if they didn’t know what He was talking about in those verses, how could they have preached it?

See what I’m saying? How could they preach death, burial and resurrection when they had no idea that it was going to happen. And then they tell me that they preached the same salvation message that Paul preached. You see why I get a little up tight? Common sense tells me they couldn’t preach Paul’s Gospel of salvation, because all of Paul’s Gospel was resting on that death, burial and resurrection. How can you preach something that hasn’t happened? Well you can’t. And they didn’t! Now back to Hebrews chapter 11.

"By faith Moses, when he was born,…" The minute the little fellow hit fresh air, what did they know. Hey, he’s something special. He’s not just another little Jew. He’s not just another Israelite. This little fellow is something special.

"By faith Moses, when he was born, (because of their faith) was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper (or a special) child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment." Now I don’t think he was born with a halo around his head. I don’t think he was born with some kind of an intrinsic baby doll face. But there was something about that little infant that those parents knew right away; this isn’t an ordinary child. We can’t throw him into the Nile River.

And so they secretly built that little crib that would float on the river because they had to keep this little child alive. All right, and so he was, "…hid three months because they saw he was proper, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment." Now stop and think a minute. We are now about 350 years after the call of Abraham, and the children of Israel have never had a printed book. Think about it. What held them together? Faith. But oh, how do you pass faith from one generation to the next? By word of mouth. And so the Patriarchs were faithful in passing on their faith.

That’s what’s happened to America. That’s what’s happened to the Western world. Christendom. Parents have been guilty of not passing on their faith. And I blame my generation the most of all. We were raised up in the Depression and we said, "My kids are not going to be deprived of everything like I was. And what have we done? We’ve ruined everything."

And again, we always like to thank our listening audience for your prayers and for your financial support. My, I think this last month was one of the best months we’ve ever had and for most ministries summertime is the doldrums. But you’ve been faithful and we just thank the Lord for each and every one of you.

All right, in our last program we were in Hebrews chapter 11 and we left off with verse 23 with the review of the faith of Moses. And remember that Hebrews chapter 11 is a chapter that just simply reminds of the faith of all the Old Testament Patriarchs. Now over the months that we’ve teaching Hebrews, I’ve been constantly reminding all of us, myself included, that the Book of Hebrews is written to Jewish people who were primarily being plagued with the dilemma of coming out of Judaism and all of its Law-keeping and stepping into Paul’s doctrines of Grace.

And we compare it with cult people today. It is hard for someone who has had these things drummed into them for years and years to finally just make the break and pull away from it and not be drawn back. Well, the Jewish people were under the same kind of a dilemma. Judaism was just pulling them back. Now you want to remember that when Hebrews was written, Jerusalem hasn’t been destroyed, the Temple is still operating with all the sacrifices. See, that’s why he said back in chapter 6, that if they were to go back into Temple worship and sacrifices (which had no validity whatsoever, and even though the Jews were still doing it every day in Jerusalem), they would be canceling out Grace.

But now, as I feel Paul is the writer of the book of Hebrews, Paul is going to appeal to his Jewish readers or listeners - that on the basis of all the Old Testament Patriarchs, it’s always been by faith. Always. Many people will call and ask me, "Well what was the basis of salvation back in the Old Testament?" Well, it’s always been by faith. Not faith plus nothing, like we are today in this Age of Grace, but it was always based on their faith, first and foremost. And so this great chapter 11 is a review of the faith of these Old Testament people by which we learn.

Now I think before we go any further, that we’ll flip back to Romans chapter 15 - and I like to use a verse like this just to show that we cannot come into some of these Old Testament portions, or into a Book like Hebrews for example, and find the plan of salvation and lead someone to the Lord. Looking ahead when we get to the epistles of James, and Peter, and John, they too were all predominately Jewish. You can’t go into one of those letters and find the plan of salvation and lead someone to the Lord - it’s next to impossible because it’s not in there.

And as I’ve said from day one, the plan of salvation isn’t in the Book of Hebrews; it’s not in the Old Testament. You have to go to Paul to find that. But, look what Paul says in Romans chapter 15 verse 4, and this is the whole crux of the idea. This is the heart of why we study all of the Scripture even though we pick up our basic doctrines from Paul. We ‘learn.’

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime (Old Testament, they) were written for our learning,…" Because even though we are saved by faith plus nothing, yet our faith has to rest on all that’s gone before and so in order to have a good understanding of what you believe, you have to go back to the beginning and see how all of this has progressed up through human history and so this is why Paul says, "all these things were written for our learning." So that you’ll know why you believe what you believe. So repeating the verse again:

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Well, that’s the whole purpose then, of studying all these Jewish portions of our Bible. All right, come back to Hebrews chapter 11 and we’ll move on. And now it’s by faith then in verse 24:

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years,…" Now we in the English-speaking world, we immediately think of what age? Twenty-one years old. But it wasn’t 21 in the case of Moses - it was 40. When Moses was 40 years old, after having spent those first 40 years in the house of Pharaoh (as Pharaoh’s daughter, remember, picked him up out of the river Nile). Forty years he had been living as a son of Pharaoh. Now again, we’ve got to go back to Acts chapter 7, that great dissertation by Stephen.

And Stephen picks up with things that were left out in the Old Testament account, and that’s why we have to look at some of these other portions. Acts chapter 7 verse 20. And remember Stephen is rehearsing all this to the Nation of Israel, which of course, they’re going to reject and they’re going to stone him by the time we get to the end of the chapter. But here’s what he says:

"In which time (that is after the Pharaohs and after Joseph had died) Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, (we covered that in a previous verse in our last program) and nourished up in his father’s house three months: (his legitimate parents) 21. And when he was cast out, (that is in the little ark in the river Nile) Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son." Now look at verse 22, as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, living in the palace:

"And Moses was learned (educated) in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds."

Now you’ve heard me say this over and over - in antiquity, Egypt was the United States of that period of time. Egypt was the consumer nation of antiquity. Egypt was the high point of civilization. So Moses isn’t stuck in some antiquated, pagan, uncivilized society - it’s a thriving economy. They’re building, they’ve got tremendous military; and for their day and time, they were the innovators and the scientists - and you see the Scripture tells us that Moses was educated in all of that. He had everything going for him. And on top of being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he got all of the perks that went with it. The lifestyle, the sumptuous living, the banqueting, the beautiful women, just like our pro athlete’s today - you know, there’s nothing withheld from them.

Well, it was no different back here, probably even more so. And so Moses had all of this at his disposal. Non-Scripture information tells us that he was probably even a civil engineer - they think Moses was probably one of the ‘movers and shakers’ of building some of the cities of Egypt. He was a tremendous individual. All right, now come back to Hebrews and I’m doing all this to show what Moses turned his back on. All right, chapter 11 verse 24:

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, (when he was 40 years of age. Having been educated and enjoyed all of the good things of Egypt,) refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25. Choosing.…" Now here we come to what people are confronted with today and what is it? Choices. People will call that they’ve got a loved one, or someone who’s a drug addict, or this or that. Well, how did they get there? Choices. Bad choices. But you see, every human being, every one of us have been faced with choices. We are what we are by virtue of what we have chosen to do. All right, Moses was no different. These people were just as human as we are. They too, had to make choices and so Moses makes a choice now (in spite of all that’s going for him; the sumptuous living, his clout, his power politically, militarily and in business - he had it all). Second man in Egypt. But now he makes a choice. And so "when he came to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter."

"Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, (now I’ll add the word, ‘rather’) than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;" You see why I made reference to our present day athletes? And how all of the pleasures of the immoral world are at their disposal. It was no different. Moses had the same thing and he had all the opportunity for the pleasures of sin. And let’s face it, especially during the youthful years, sin can be pleasurable. Oh, it’s going to take its toll sooner or later, but while they’re in it, they think they’re having a good time. And Moses was no different, but when he was 40 years old, right at the prime of life, what does Moses choose? The other direction. And he turns his back on all the sumptuous living - all of the sinfulness that was at his disposal, and he chose rather to cast his lot with the people of God.

Now even for young people today, that’s not an easy choice, is it? We sometimes wonder why our kids are so reluctant to choose the Christian lifestyle. Well, that’s not where the exciting pleasures lie. Not for the time. But that’s when many times they make wrong choices that will lead them deeper and deeper into these situations from which they can’t withdraw. But always remember, the Scripture is so adamant that we are faced with choices, and Moses here is the perfect example - that he chose of his own volition (by of course God’s leading), to "suffer the affliction of the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin (in Pharaoh’s household) for a season."

Now there again, I suppose I could go 10-15 minutes on just those three words. "For a season." What does that tell you? Sin can be ever so great for a little while. But how do most of them end up? Suicide. Alcoholics. Drug addicts. Sleeping under the bridge. How many of our successful athletes, especially, end up poverty stricken. Why? They enjoyed the pleasure of sin for a little while, but it doesn’t last. And then they pay the wages of it. Well, you see, Moses was in the same place. He could enjoy the pleasures of sin for a little while. Now verse 26:

"Esteeming the reproach of Christ.…" Now you’ve got to remember that the word Christ, we do not have it back in the Old Testament. In other words, when you read about Moses in Exodus, you don’t see the name Jesus Christ. But it’s the same person. Jehovah was the same person, He was in His Old Testament economy, but it was the same person of the Godhead that was dealing with Moses and the Patriarchs as deals with us today.

Today of course, we now have the benefit of that finished work of the Cross, but nevertheless, so far as his operating out of the Godhead, the Person of the Godhead that dealt with Moses was the same one that we deal with today. And so that’s why the terminology is correct.

"Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:.…" Now don’t lose sight of the fact that Egypt was the America of its day. They lived sumptuously. They knew how to live, as we say, ‘high on the hog.’ And they knew how to throw fancy banquets. They knew how to dress with beautiful clothes. They had all that going for them, and yet Moses turns his back on all that and aligns himself with the slaves out there in the brick kilns of Israel in Goshen. Quite a choice, wasn’t it?

And yet, the lesson for us is it’s no different today. And oh, if our young people could realize that Moses knew what he was doing when he "esteemed the riches of Christ as a greater treasure than the sins and the pleasures of Egypt." And why did he make the choice? We find the answer in the last half of verse 26:

"…for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward." He suddenly got, I think, a spiritual understanding of "the recompense of the reward." Now you want to remember that for the pleasures of sin, even if they could enjoy it to the full, up until the end of a normal lifespan, we’ll even go on up into the 80’s and 90’s, what if? What if we could enjoy all those youthful pleasures all the way up until we die? What is it compared to eternity? Nothing! Absolutely Nothing! It’s just a blink of the eye compared to eternity.

Now I made the comment, several months ago I guess on one of the programs, that I had read the back of a T-shirt and that was a T-shirt I wish more people would wear. And it said, "Eternity. Have you thought about it?" Well, someone turned right around and made a lapel button out of that very same thing and we got a few in the mail the other day and would to God that more people would consider eternity. That’s forever. And for the believer it’s going to be enjoying all the rewards of our right choices, not just for a lifetime, but forever!

But on the other hand, for the lost person who has chosen wrong, he’s going to suffer the ramifications of that forever. Eternity is forever. Someone came up with the answer, but it wasn’t me. How long is eternity? As long as God lives! Isn’t that what it was, Joy? As long as God lives! That’s eternity. And He’s from eternity past to eternity future. Now that’s beyond our human comprehension. But this is what Moses considered. Moses considered that these pleasures of Egypt for a little while were nothing compared to the rewards of eternity. And oh, if we could only just get this across to people - stop and think. It’s not just for a few years. Not even for a few hundred years. It’s for forever. Verse 27:

"By faith, he forsook Egypt,.…" Moses didn’t just take off blindly. Moses just didn’t take out into the wilderness wondering what was going to be his lot. Moses knew that God was in control. Now I think I made the comment in our last program, just before we closed, that they didn’t have any written Bible in those days. He didn’t have the written Word to depend on like we do. So how did these people keep the faith generation by generation? By the word of mouth. They passed it on to their kids. And that’s the statement I think that I made in our closing remarks in our last program. That’s where we have failed. We haven’t passed it on to our younger generation and so now we’re living in a society where most kids don’t even know anything of the Scripture.

It’s just mind boggling of how ignorant most of our younger people are of Scripture. They can’t tell a Bible verse from a sentence from a poem. Iris can tell you that. Years back, she went into a card shop and asked the young lady behind the counter to help her find a card with a Bible verse. And what do you suppose she came up with? What was it honey? "God Bless You?" Something like that. It wasn’t a Bible verse. But she thought it was. Now, that’s pitiful. But anyway, Moses left Egypt knowing, by faith, that he was under God’s control.

Now of course, the circumstances were less than perfect because you remember he had killed the Egyptian, and because of that he had to flee. But, nevertheless, by faith he left Egypt:

"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: (who of course, put a price on Moses’ head.) for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." What does that tell you? What kept Moses going was his faith in the invisible God, and he never lost that. Now verse 28:

Now, as the Scripture does so often, we skip 40 years. Because 40 years have gone by from the time that Moses flees from Egypt; goes to the backside of the desert, remember? And he herds sheep for 40 years. And then one day he saw the burning bush. Now that’s all been skipped here in the verses of Hebrews. Well, after he stopped to see the burning bush (it was God speaking), the Lord told him that now it was time to go back into Egypt and to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Now if you know your Old Testament at all, I hope you realize that that in itself was not a shock to Moses, to lead Israel out of Egypt, because that’s what he wanted to do in the first place. That’s why he went out to the Children of Israel when he killed the Egyptian and again, that’s in Acts. Let’s go back there again. Acts chapter 7 just fills in so many of the details that the Old Testament doesn’t give us. Acts 27 verse 23.

"And when he was (this is speaking of Moses now in Egypt) full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24. And seeing one of them (an Israelite) suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote (or killed) the Egyptian:" I don’t think he intended to murder him. He probably just hit him harder than he intended to and he killed him. All right, now verse 25 - this is what I wanted you to see. This is what Moses was thinking when he turned his back on Egypt and went out to the children of Israel. This is what was on his mind.

"For he supposed (he thought) his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not." So what did Moses really have on his mind when he went out to visit the children of Israel? That he was going to start the ball rolling to move the Nation of Israel out of Egypt and back to the Promised Land. Because that was all handed down by faith, you see?

But the whole problem was, it wasn’t in God’s timing. Moses was hoping to do it under his own power, because of his own ability, his own political situation instead of waiting for God. Sound familiar? But forty years later, now, God can call him aside at the burning bush and say, "All right, Moses, now I’m ready to have you lead the children of Israel out of Egypt." So, all of this was still based on the man’s Faith.

All right, so come back to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 28. After skipping those forty years on the back side of the desert, we skip that time of the plagues with the Pharaoh’s there in Egypt and we come down to the last event that Israel experiences in Egypt. And what is it? The night of the Passover. The night of the Passover when the blood was applied to the doorpost and the death angel passed over.

"Through faith (taking God at His Word!) he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood,…" Which we know from Exodus was simply taking a piece of hyssop, dipping it in the basin of blood and applying it to the two side posts and the lentil. And that here it’s just referred to as "the sprinkling." But, it’s the application of the blood of that Passover lamb and it is what caused the death angel then, to pass over the houses of the Israelites, now reading on in verse 28:

"…lest he that destroyed the firstborn (that is of Egypt. All the firstborn of Egypt remember, were stricken) should touch them." The blood of the Passover lamb kept the death angel from touching the children of Israel. Now again, what did it take to take the lamb’s blood and apply it to a doorpost? Faith! They had nothing else to go by. But God had said, if you apply the blood in such and such a way, as the death angel is striking the firstborn all across Egypt, if I see the blood, I’ll pass over you. And so what was the basis for putting the blood on the door? Faith. They had no other way of knowing. They had no way of knowing that that death angel would pass over, they could only take God at His Word.

Now you see, we come right back to that same concept today. Over and over I have to ask people, "Are you trusting nothing but that finished work of the cross for salvation?" Or are you trusting your denomination? Are you trusting your local church? Now there’s nothing wrong with all those things but they will never save anybody. Our faith has to be in what God has said. And what has God said? "That when I see you place your Faith in that finished work of the cross, you’re Mine!" And we take that by faith. We believe it in our heart! But oh, it’s so hard for people to leave it alone after believing in your heart. But human nature says what? But I’ve got to do…something! No we don’t!

Okay, let’s get right into where we left off in Hebrews chapter 11 and we’re still dealing with Moses. And by faith now, he has come through 80 years of his lifetime. And he’s now leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and the first thing they’re going to have to confront is the Red Sea and you know when we teach Exodus we make it a point that here come the children of Israel – mountains impassible on both sides, the Egyptian army behind them and the Red Sea in front of them. And what did God tell them? Did He say, "Well hurry up and build rafts. Do something, so that you can float the Red Sea?" No, that’s not what God said. He said what? Stand still! Don’t do anything.

The lesson for salvation is the same way today. When the sinner realizes he’s lost and he’s hopeless, he doesn’t go out and try to work and work and work to get saved. He does nothing but stand still and believe in that finished work of the cross. And I know I put it on the program maybe several months ago now, time goes so fast. But, I don’t think I slept much all that night for just reviewing it in my own mind - the unbelievable gift of the work of the cross. That it was so perfect. It was so complete that like creation back there in Genesis 1 - you remember, I tied the two together. That’s when God looked at the finished work of creation - He saw in the last verse of chapter 1 that it was what?

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.,…" It was perfect. And so what did He do in chapter 2?

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day,…" He rested. There wasn’t anything more He could do. It was done. Well, the same thing with the work of the cross. After He’d finished it and ascended back to glory, what did He do? He sat down. Why? Because it was perfect. And ever since then what has mankind been trying to do? Smear it, by adding this and adding that to it with one thing or another. But, just like Israel standing on the shores of the Red Sea, God doesn’t say, "Well, hurry up and do something!" He says, "Stand still!" So here’s the verse now in verse 29:

"By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned." By simply taking God at His Word, He opened up the Red Sea, piled up the water on both sides - and listen, do you think those Jews didn’t know that that water was stacked up? And at a moments notice the whole thing could come rushing back in. They were just as human as we are. But how did they know that water wouldn’t come back? God’s Word.

God said, "Go through on dry ground." And so it was by faith that they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, not worrying about that water crashing in. But you know, as soon as the last Jew went up on the other side, then what happened? Here it came and the Egyptians were caught in it. But you see, for the people of faith, they walked in and they walked across on dry ground, because that’s what God said to do.

All right, so "By faith they passed through the Red Sea as dry land." It wasn’t muddy. It wasn’t wet. It was like dry land. And then the Egyptians were drowned because the water came back. But, you see, that’s what it means to take God at His Word. It’s not always easy. It’s not always easy to just simply say, "Well God said it and I can depend on it." But this is what God expects. This is what He’s looking for. He is simply looking for our believing and trusting in what He has said. The problem is, most don’t read far enough in their Bibles to get those instructions from the Apostle Paul. All right, let’s move on into verse 30.

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days." Now that’s probably one of the things in Scripture that is scoffed at as much as anything. The world will not believe that all Israel had to do was walk around it seven times. But, they believed God. Now again, they were just as human as we are. Don’t you suppose a lot of those Israelites, as they were marching around that well-fortressed city, must have had some scoffing ideas within their own mind? I can hear some of them saying, "Well, what in the world is this going to do? How in the world is this going to defeat Jericho?" But they did it. And it happened. Because God said it would.

And you see, we’re up against the same thing today. I suppose if I get more letters of disagreement on any one thing, it’s the Rapture - and I’m addressing it in my next newsletter. Why can’t people accept the concept of the Rapture? Because it takes a lot of faith, and I know that. I can see that the unbelieving world thinks we’re crazy as loons to think that all of a sudden, someday, God’s going to give a shout, a trumpet’s going to sound and we’re going to be gone from this earth. They can’t believe that! Well, I can understand that to a point. It does stretch the imagination. But listen the Lord Himself said, back there in Matthew, that "with God nothing is impossible."

Do you think it’s impossible for Him to suddenly take every believer off the planet? No. It’s not impossible, and He’s going to do it because the Word says He will. But that’s where faith comes in. We take it by faith. I can’t explain it, and you can’t explain it but, oh, we can believe it because it’s what the Word says.

All right, so they marched around Jericho, foolishness in the eyes of men, but God said that’s what it took. Now again, to this very day, archaeologists like to argue, "Did the walls fall down?" Some maintain that they went straight down. But regardless of which way they went – they went! And Jericho was a sitting duck for the Israelites. But it takes faith to believe it. All right, verse 31:

"By faith (by just simply believing what she heard) the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." A woman of ill repute, and yet with what little bit she had heard, what’d she do with it? She believed it. In fact, Rahab is one of my favorite subjects for how little faith it takes for God to grab the person. How much did Rahab know? Very little. The only thing she knew was that she’d heard that this little nation of people coming out of Egypt had come through the Red Sea on dry ground. She had heard how they had defeated some of the more powerful enemies in the then-known world. And on the basis of what she had heard, she what? She believed it. Now she didn’t understand all of Scripture. She didn’t understand the Sovereignty of God. She didn’t understand the grace of God. She didn’t understand all of the ramifications that we sometimes think people have to know. No, she knew precious little, but what little she knew, she believed it with all her heart, because she trusted the God that was behind it. And God did everything else.

Rahab was a perfect example of how God will save a person who doesn’t have an awful lot going for them. And so Rahab, "perished not with those who believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." Well, why did she receive those Jewish spies? Because – let’s go back and look in Joshua chapter 2, and see this is so simple. You know, mankind has made salvation so difficult. My, we think we’ve got to put people through this and through that and then somehow or other, they’ll get there. No, that’s not God’s way. Joshua chapter 2 verse 9. Rahab hasn’t had any Bible School, she’s never been to Sunday School, she’s never been to church. All she has heard are things that had come through the grapevine in Jericho.

"And she said unto the men, (the spies) I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land (that is the land of which Jericho was the major city) faint because of you. (now here it comes in verse 10.) For we have (what?) heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11. And as soon as we had heard these things,…" She didn’t even see the results of it. She wasn’t sitting on some high point watching the Red Sea open up and Israel coming through - that would have been a little different wouldn’t it? But she had merely heard that these things had happened. And what’d she do with it? She believed it, see? All right, and so it says:

"And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt,…." And so, because of what she had heard knowing that behind it all was the God of Israel, God in turn responds to her faith. All right, on your way back to Hebrews, let’s just stop at another portion of Scripture that speaks of hearing. And that is in Romans chapter 10. Even at the pen of the Apostle Paul this is the key word. And it’s all the same concept.

"So then faith (faith, being able to take God at His Word) cometh by (what?) hearing,…" Not seeing! But rather by hearing it. "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Now verse 18.

"But I say, (Paul says) Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. 19. But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. 20. But Esaias (Isaiah, see here we go back to the Old Testament again) is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. 21. But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." And what was their problem? They couldn’t believe. But for those who could believe God does everything that needs to be done. All right, let’s come back again to Hebrews, chapter 11. Now he’s going to make just a quick review of some of the Old Testament characters. Most of which we have heard in our Sunday school classes and Vacation Bible School stories. Now verse 32, and Paul says:

"And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon,…" Now you all know the story of Gideon -when the multitudes of Israelites that came out to be a part of his army, God said, send them home. And you know how He went through the elimination process. And how many did He keep? Three hundred to confront the thousands of the enemy. Seems ridiculous? But God is famous for doing the ridiculous. And it was by their faith that those three hundred men defeated the enemy.

"…and of Barak, and of Samson,…" Now you see Samson is the epitome of both sides of the coin. He was the man of faith who could do the miraculous but his unbelief took him down to the depths of despair. But nevertheless, he is still a good Old Testament example.

"…and of Jephthae, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:" I don’t have to spend any time on David. You all know his escapades and his conquests, as well as his failures. "And Samuel, the prophets." Now verse 33, all of them…all of them:

"Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions." Now of course, we’re jumping up to Daniel in that one aren’t we? But always remember, what was the percentage of even Israel that were men of faith? Precious few. And it’s always been that way. Only the small percentage were people that could believe what God said. But He’s always had the few, and still does, and He will until the end. All right, verse 34:

"Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Well, the Old Testament’s full of those accounts, how that just a small number of Israelites would defeat vast numbers of the enemy. Simply because they did what God told them to do, which may have sounded foolish, but they believed what God said. All right, verse 35 and again, the whole concept, remember, is that by faith…

"Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured,…" Now these are not very pretty verses. You see, we have been living the last several hundred years in Western Civilization without really suffering the torture of martyrdom, haven’t we? We don’t know what it’s like, but other areas of the world still do. In fact, I think you’ve probably read the same thing I have. There have probably been more Christians killed in the last century than almost the previous 18 or 19 before that and we’re not aware of it because we’ve got it so good. But that’s not to say that it can’t happen. And so we’re reminded that all the way up through human history, people of faith were victorious on the one hand, but they suffered martyrdom on the other. All right, verse 36:

"And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, (for their faith) yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented:" Not pretty is it? But that’s too often been the lot of the believers. All you have to do is go back and read a book like Fox’s Book of Martyrs. Man it’s frightening what Christians have gone through for their faith. And then what you have to ask ourselves is, "Could we do it? If all of a sudden we were confronted with torture or recanting, could we stand?" And this is the lesson - that God is able to keep the believer by faith, through whatever his circumstances, be they good or bad. Verse 38.

Hebrews 11:38a

"(Of whom the world was not worthy:)…" So why did they do it? Because, as we saw earlier in the chapter, because of the recompense of the reward in eternity.

"…they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." Now again, if you know anything of history, even of Christendom, my, how many of the true believers were chased from mountain range to mountain range, uprooted and indeed they had to eke out a living in caves and dens. Now verse 39:

"And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:" All God was looking for was their faith. And they still did "not receive the promise." It’s almost enough to make you cry, isn’t it? In spite of all that they went through, now this is again dealing primarily with the Old Testament believers. All of this suffering and yet they didn’t receive the promise. At least not in this life, because what was the promise that they were all looking for? Well, the Kingdom! The Heaven on earth. The Old Testament is full - how that God would rule and reign on the earth and Israel would be the top nation of the nations. That’s what they were looking for. And yet, they never saw it. Was it because they were foolish? No. Because God in His own timing is still going to bring it about. But they went through life, lived it by faith, and yet never saw those promises fulfilled on earth. Now they’re going to see it in the eternal, of course. Verse 40:

"God having provided some (what’s the next word?) better thing for us,…" This world is nothing compared to what God has in store for us. Nothing. Whether it was the Old Testament living back in antiquity, or if it’s us living today, the comparison is the same. The things of this world are nothing compared with the eternal that’s waiting for us. And so God has provided something better.

"…that they without us should not be made perfect." In other words, brought to this place of spiritual completeness. And so history is replete with believers who suffered and died for their faith, never having received that which they thought they were looking for. But, oh it’s still out there. It’s still coming. And we never have to lose sight of that.

All right, now we’ll go on into Hebrews chapter 12 and here we want to take a moment of time to clarify something that even good men have completely muddled the thinking of thousands if not millions of people with. Verse 1 of chapter 12, it’s going to ring a bell as soon as you see it.

"Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,…" In other words, all of these heroes of the faith, are referred to as a "cloud of witnesses." Now I get letter after letter asking, "Does that mean that our loved ones are sitting up there watching us?" No way. I know good men say that’s true, but I tend to disagree. And it’s because of the two different Greek words that we have to compare in looking at this verse.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,…" Now the Greek word for witnesses here is "martyras." And it’s the same Greek word that is referred to in John chapter 1 verse 7. Now I probably won’t have time to finish this completely but we’ll at least get a good start on it. John chapter 1 verse 7, the same Greek word is used. Oh, I’m going to run out of time. Oh well, that’ll just make people tune in tomorrow. (Chuckles)

"The same came for a witness, (John the Baptist, he was a martyras) to bear witness of the Light,…" Now that didn’t mean that John the Baptist was sitting up there in the stands someplace watching Jesus, but what was he? He was proof that Jesus was the Christ. That’s what it meant to be a witness of who he was. All right, we’ll pick up the rest in the next program.