Transcript

Good morning, church. It's good to see all of you here. This morning we're continuing our series through the book of Hebrews. And we'll be picking up at verse 8 of chapter 11 today in a series we've entitled Jesus is Greater. We're going verse by verse through the book of Hebrews.

You'll notice that this is sermon number 20. And you're probably thinking, my goodness, how did we get so far along? Well, we started two years ago and we've been taking a piece of it every fall from like September through Thanksgiving. And we're in the last chapters now. And so we should finish before Thanksgiving this year with the book of Hebrews.

And so welcome, we're glad you're here. And we're going to dig in and move through this book. We've entitled it Jesus is Greater because he is greater. He's greater than anything we face today. And we find the theme for the book, we don't have to read far verse four of chapter one.

Hebrews 1:4 (NLT) “This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.” This book, the book of Hebrews, is to show us that Jesus is superior. He's greater. And today's message is entitled A Greater Promise. And the reason it's a greater promise is because it's made by and the one who causes it to happen is Christ Jesus.

It's greater because in Christ God offers his greatest promise. But what exactly is a promise? You look it up in the dictionary. It's a declaration or an assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will come to pass, will happen. And so that's a promise.

And since we were children, we've all made many promises, haven't we? Who hasn't said to their mom or dad, but you promised, Daddy, you promised. Or we've overheard the child at the store wanting something or at the ice cream shop, but you promised. And so we all make promises and we try to keep them. We promised our son to go, we'll take him fishing.

We promised the bank. We signed a promissory note. And we promise that we'll pay for the car or we'll obtain, you know, we'll pay the mortgage. We promise our spouse till death do us part. We make promises.

And our promises are only as good as our own integrity and ability to keep them.

Everywhere we look today, we're bombarded by promises. This product will change your life. This investment will secure your future. If you follow this plan, you'll be happy. If you get on this diet, you'll lose that belly fat.

Right? There's all these promises. And promises are a good thing if they are kept. But so few of them are kept and so few of them actually come to pass. Has anyone ever broken a promise they made to you?

Maybe they promised to be there when you needed help and they didn't show up. Or maybe it was a bigger promise. And that promise, that broken promise, has left a scar in your life. It causes you to not really trust people who make promises. But that's exactly the way God comes to us.

He comes to us saying, trust me, trust me, I've made promises. And all of my promises are yes in Jesus. Indeed, this is what we read in 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV) “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Jesus.” If you look at the Bible, some have counted them. I haven't had time to do it.

Maybe I will someday. But some estimate that there are 7 to 10,000 promises of God made to believers in the Bible. Now, whether there's ten or a hundred or ten thousand, here's what I want you to hear. They're all yes in Jesus, that every promise that God has made finds its ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus.

So, believers, I would encourage you to dig in and find the promise that you need to believe, that you need to dig in and say, this will help me, and recognize that the yes is found in Jesus. In the Book of Hebrews, the author taught believers that the promises of God in which the patriarchs believed are greater promises, because they are promises in Christ Jesus. And I believe today that as we look at the text, we can understand that God's promises in Christ are greater. Why are they greater? Well, we're going to talk about three reasons today about why the promises that we have in Christ are greater than any other promise.

Let's dig in. We're at verse 8 of chapter 11, and we'll read down through verse 22 today. Hebrews 11:8-22 (ESV) 8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac,

and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

This is God's word. Amen. We're looking for three reasons God's promises in Christ are greater.

1. A Greater Inheritance.

The writer of Hebrews is highlighting, as we begin here, the faith of Abraham. Notice it says in verse 8 “By faith Abraham obeyed…” First of all, I would remind us of what we learned last week about the definition of faith. The writer of the book of Hebrews in verse one of chapter 11 gives us a definition. He says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for…”

In other words, it's the foundation, the certainty, the confidence of things that God has promised but have not yet come to pass. So faith takes hold of those things with confidence, even though they've not seen it yet, but they've heard God promise it. And they base their faith not on the quality of their faith or the quantity of their faith, but they base it on the object of their faith. And that's the promise making, the promise keeping God. And that reaches into the future.

It says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” but then it says, “the conviction of things not seen.” And so that seems to reach into the past and take hold of those things of which we're reading about now, of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and so forth. We weren't there. He writes earlier in chapter 11.

We weren't there at creation. We weren't there when these things happened. We certainly were not there when Jesus was crucified and when he was raised from the grave on the third day. We weren't there. But by faith we have a conviction of things we didn't actually see.

That's how we continue here in this faith hall of fame, this Reader's Digest version of the Old Testament that we call chapter 11 of Hebrews. Hebrews is helping us know how to read the Old Testament. We read it through the lens of Christ. We read it through the lens of the New Testament. And now he's left behind Abel and Enoch and Noah.

He's moved up to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. “By faith, Abraham obeyed…” Notice the order obedience did not precede faith. Some would say, well, I want to obey. I want to try to be good enough.

Here's the understanding. What's being taught here is obedience follows faith. Because if we could obey without Christ, we would have no need of Christ. Our problem is that we are sin sick, that we are sinners and we are unable to obey God's word. Abraham was not able.

Isaac was not able. Jacob was not able. Sarah was not able. But by faith he obeyed. He believed. He moved into this land.

Obedience follows faith. When he was called to go where, well, he was in the land of Ur, which is down there where later Babylon would be located. And he was well to do. He was a wealthy man. He was getting up in years past the age when you're supposed to be going to a place you've never been before.

There must have been something in Abraham that longed for something that he had yet to receive even with his wealth. He was looking for something. And when God spoke to him, he said, I'm going to send you to a place that you've never seen. And there you will find your inheritance. Circle the word inheritance.

You see it there in verse eight, don't you? We're talking about an inheritance. There's a place you're going to inherit, Abraham, and there's a people. I'm going to give you a son even though you don't have one yet. There's going to be a place and a people that I'm going to give you.

You haven't seen it, but you're going to have an inheritance. And it says he went out not knowing where he was going. Now that's crazy faith, isn't it? He just went out. He took his wife and his family with him, all of his belongings.

He moved out by faith. He went to live in the land of promise. You'll see that word promise in this text five times. The land of promise. This promise making, promise keeping God. I came in early this morning and went to my office to have some last minute prayer time and study time. And on my desk was a connection card that I should have seen on Monday. I usually read through these on Monday. It must have been somewhere that got lost for a season, I don't know.

It was on my desk this morning and it affected me emotionally.

It refers to something I said in my sermon last week. In my introduction, I referred to the movement, the modern movement of deconstructing your faith. That is something we have seen among millennials, but mostly Gen Z, but maybe others. And my recollection is I may have said one sentence about it, but it apparently bothered this person enough to write me a very considerate letter or text message here or connection card message. I'll read a little bit of it to you.

Dear PG, Please consider being less disparaging of those who have deconstructed their faith. And there's more here but concludes like this. Please allow space for our intellectual and emotional journey. And you might be sitting in the room right now. You might be watching online, you might be next door in our service

next door. First of all, whatever I said, I wasn't planning on saying much about it. I was using it in my introductory material. And I may have said something that made you feel that I was disparaging you. And for that I apologize because I have a pastor's heart and I don't want someone who's here and you're here and you're trying to work it out and you're on that scale, that spectrum, more on the doubt side than the faith side.

I want you to know there's room for you here and please forgive me for making you feel otherwise.

Sometimes I make a quick sentence that I didn't even think I was going to make. This is the problem when you're up front with many words coming out of your mouth. I'm an imperfect man. I'm a sinner, saved by grace. The only way I can be right with God is through Jesus.

And so I apologize because I want this to be a church, don't you want this to be a place where doubters can come and grow in their faith and where the faithful can come and grow in our faith too, because we're all on the spectrum somewhere. It's not the quality of your faith that saves. It's not the quantity. It's the object of your faith that saves.

It's the person of Jesus. It's not great faith in God, but it's faith in a great God that saves. And he's the object. And it was Abraham who believed God, and so he went to a place he'd never seen before. Now, to those of you that might be on the doubting end of the spectrum, may I say just a couple of words to you because my heart was somewhat broken by this connection card.

First of all, Isaiah 1:18, the Father says to us, “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD.” Engage your mind. Come and reason with the Scriptures. Come and make an appointment to see me or to one of our pastors or one of the members of our church, someone who is farther along, perhaps in their faith, and ask your questions. It's a safe place to do that.

Forgive us for making you feel otherwise. Come, let us reason together. The Father invites. And then this other word came to me this morning. I've written it in red on the corner of my notes here.

They're not in your bulletin because it just happened today. I was thinking about Jesus when he appeared to the disciples in the upper room after his resurrection. And they all saw him and they were all excited, but Thomas wasn't there, the disciple Thomas. And they're saying that we saw the Lord. Maybe his heart was broken because he missed out.

He didn't know if Jesus was going to come and make another appearance. I don't know what. But this is what came out of his mouth, John 20:25 “... But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

And so he gets accused of being doubting Thomas. I'm not sure about that. Sometimes I've been doubting Gary. Depends on what day of the week.

And Jesus appeared again in the upper room. I think he came back that night because he appears many more times in other places. But I think he came back that evening for Thomas. John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”.

Look at the scars in my hands and on my feet. See, touch. Stop doubting and believe. So I say to you, if you're on that part of the spectrum where your doubts outnumber your believing, hear the word of Jesus, not the word of Gary. Hear me very humbly saying to you, stop doubting and believe. If you're in that season of deconstructing your faith, don't stay there.

Come as you are. Let us reason together. Stop doubting and believe. It's our desire for you and for me by faith. Abraham obeyed, went to a place he'd never seen before to live in the land of promise.

Verse 9, “...as in a foreign land…” He didn't live there in a house of brick and mortar. It wasn't a palace. It wasn't a Holiday Inn.

He lived in tents.

This is not working out so well so far, is it? He's a wealthy man from Ur. He's living in tents. How long does he live in tents? Well, his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, they lived in tents too.

They kept living portably, camping out. Reminds me of how this church started. Some of you were there 19 years? Is that what he said? Did he say 19 years?

Yes, he did. He said 19 years. We backed up vans and trailers and unloaded sound equipment and nursery equipment and we built the church. And then when church was over, we said, hey, would you mind grabbing the seat you're sitting in and helping us load it back up somewhere?

We used to be called the roadie church.

Of course, we're the crazy church that bought the movie theater after that, right? God called me to plant a church in Wilson. I did not know what he was talking about. I didn't know what it would cost me. He called me to a place I was not from.

I'm not from here.

I didn't know what I was getting into, but I'm sure glad I said yes. I obeyed by faith. I didn't know what I was getting into. I hadn't seen it. If I'd have quit early on, if I would have stopped in doubt, I wouldn't have seen what I saw this morning as these five candidates were baptized.

As I see your faces as I'm talking to you right now, I wouldn't know you. I wouldn't be able to talk to you about the Lord. I praise the Lord that even though many times on a Monday especially, I would wake up in doubt. I never quit for more than 24 hours. I would always sign back up again by bedtime.

And it wasn't me. He wouldn't let go of me. I think that's how Abraham was feeling it. Lord, I don't know about this. I'm still living in a tent.

But then he started looking for something; once he got to it, it never really seemed to feel the hole that he was filling back in Ur. Like he looked at the brochure back in Ur and now he's here. It doesn't match up. And verse 10 says, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” There was something in Abraham, and he knew there's something missing.

And maybe that's you. That nothing in this world will feel.

That was Abraham way back there. It was Abraham. And the land wouldn't do it. The only piece of land, the only property he ever owned is when he bought a tomb for his wife Sarah. He bought a field for that and a cave.

He was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. He was looking for a better place. He was looking for a greater inheritance than just a place and a people. He's looking for something. There's something more out there.

Reminds me of a hymn I used to hear my mother sing when I was growing up. “I'm bound for that city, God's home that bright city oh, yes I am. I'll never turn back to this world anymore. No matter how rough may be the way, no matter how long I stop to pray. I'm bound for that city on that evergreen shore.” Abraham was looking for a city whose designer and builder is God.

Then by faith, his wife Sarah, she received power to conceive and she had passed the age. By the way, how old was she? 90. She's 90 years old, ladies.

That's past age, isn't it? 90 years old. Past age for a lot of things.

Abraham was 100. You can't tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor. Because the Holy Spirit inspired this book. It was written by the pen of a man writing, but inspired by the Holy Spirit. Because when it speaks of Abraham in verse 12, it says Therefore, from one man in him as good as dead, he was a hundred, she was ninety.

You can't say that this was offered to them. That God came to Abraham because he was special, because he was somehow righteous, because he wasn't. Keep reading the book of Genesis, you'll find out that he goes down to Egypt and tells a lie about his wife. And Pharaoh takes her into his harem. And then finally the truth comes out.

And Pharaoh said, why did you lie to us? Well, Abraham was a sinner just like the rest of us. But God showed him favor because it's by grace you're saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves, is a gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one can boast. Abraham, just like you and I, it's not our obedience, it's not our righteousness, but it's the righteousness of Christ that saves. And by faith we receive it.

And Sarah, it says here, by faith, she received power to conceive. But if you remember the backstory to this, she doubted.

The Lord was there under a tree speaking to Abraham. He was there with two angels. And Abraham said, well, stay around. We'll cook a meal for you. And he said, Sarah, hurry up.

Cook something up. And he's there talking to the Lord. And the Lord says, when I come back around here a year from now, you're going to have a son. And Sarah's in the tent. I won't say she was trying to listen in, but perhaps she was.

She giggled. She thought, that's silly. I'm 90 years old, or I'm 89, I guess, at the time that's silly. And the Lord said that Sarah laughed.

And she said, I did not. He goes, yes, you did.

And so they named their son when he was born the following year, Isaac, which means in Hebrew, “laughter.” how appropriate, right?

So she was a doubter too, but she had a little bit of faith. She wasn't perfect, but she put her faith in the promise that she would have a son. And by the way, she had tried to scheme her way into one. And she tried to convince her husband to lay with their servant girl. And that didn't work out.

In fact, she regretted it immediately. Don't try to help God. By the way, if you're trying to help God, get out of his way and let him work. Don't try to scheme your way into the promise.

Sarah was faithful. I think she had a harder job in some ways, and some ladies know what I'm talking about. She had to follow her crazy husband, who said, we're going to a place I've never seen before. God told me to go. And so we see in

1 Peter 3:5-6 (ESV) 5 “For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” So I think her faithfulness was just like my faithfulness and your faithfulness.

It's a good thing it was in the Lord.

And then we see this reference, Genesis 22:17, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” Okay? That's the promise. Did Abraham see it?

No, he didn't. He didn't see it. He didn't see Israel. He didn't see it. But by faith he believed it.

And so we see that this all points to a better inheritance, to a better seed. Look at Galatians 3:16,29 (NKJV) 16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.. … 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

All of this. See, here we are, we're learning how to read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. The author of Hebrews is helping us. This whole thing, this whole thing about the Seed, so singular, not plural, it wasn't Isaac. Isaac was the present fulfillment, but the ultimate fulfillment was Jesus in the line of Abraham, the line of Isaac, the line of Jacob, the line of David.

Jesus, he's the ultimate fulfillment. He's the true inheritance for us. This is why in 1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV) we read 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Unfaded, undefiled, imperishable, kept for you, not by you.

Statistics show that 70% of families that inherit great wealth lose it by the second generation. Why? Because they didn't earn it and they didn't know the wisdom that built it. So they blow it. I'm glad that Jesus earned it and he keeps it for us.

We have an inheritance of a city, of a place, and of a righteousness that we did not earn, but yet it's been given unto us. Which is why, when it's written in Genesis, chapter 15, verse 6, that Abraham believed these promises, it wasn't his obedience, it wasn't his effort, it wasn't his lifestyle, it was his believing that allowed him to receive it. So that it says this in Genesis 15:6, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

And so we inherit the righteousness of Christ when we believe; this is the reason it's a greater promise, it's because it's a greater inheritance. Which leads us to the second, and we've touched on it by talking about that great city.

2. A Greater Country.

When I say patriarchs, I'm speaking of those listed here in the book of Genesis, where we first hear about them restated here in Hebrews, Abraham and his son Isaac, his grandson Jacob, and then one of his 12 sons, Joseph, we see mentioned here. These are the patriarchs of the faith. They were all promised a land that they never possessed. Yet they believed and they acted in belief. It says in verse 13,

”These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” These all died in faith, so they didn't die in doubt. They died still looking for that city. They died still looking for that country. Gary, why are you talking about a country? Well, let's keep reading.

”These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar…”

They could see it's just over the horizon. There's something calling me that's more than this. There's got to be something more than this.

And they acknowledge that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

Something about this doesn't quite feel like home.

If they'd been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had the opportunity to return. I mean, he could have gone back to Ur, that's where he was from. But he didn't go back. He kept believing there was something more. Verse 16,

”But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” Oh, there it is. There's the word country. What kind of country? A better country, a greater country.

It's a greater promise because it offers a greater country, a better country that is a heavenly one. Verse 16, “...Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. “ Friends, are you here? And you recognize there's something inside you that desires something that's not here, that nothing on this earth can fulfill or satisfy. Then God's not ashamed of you.

He recognizes that you want something. He's prepared for you. They greeted it from afar. In other words, they said, we're coming. We're not there yet, but we're headed there.

A heavenly home prepared for them. Now, have you ever tried to go home?

Some of you young people can go home. Mom and dad are still there, Grandpa and Grandpa are still over at the house. You can go home.

Some of us know that we can't go home. The house might still be there. My grandparents' house is still there. Out in the country. That gravel road leading to their house is still gravel.

The creek that runs in front of the house still flows. The barn fell down. I missed that. I used to play in the hayloft in that barn. The house still stands, although it's leaning a little bit.

It was built in the early part of the 1900s and no one lives there. My cousin built something next door and he keeps the home place. It's more like a museum. Now you know why; Granny and papa aren't there. So it's not home.

I can drive past my mom's home. My mom and dad's home. We sold it to a friend of ours. He got saved in my mom's living room. My mama led him to the Lord.

He lives in the house he got saved in. I've never been in it since she died. He always tells me, you're welcome anytime. It's your house too. You grew up here.

I'll drive by. I have my grandkids in the car. I'll say, that's the house I grew up in. They go, oh, where are we going to eat?

They didn't grow up there. It's not their home. Do you know what I'm talking about? Mama's not there. Daddy's not there.

It's not home. If I want to see them, I have to go home. You know what I'm talking about. I'm looking. I'm dreaming of a place.

It's beyond the hedge. And I believe it's there. It's waiting for me. It's a better country. It's a greater country.

And God's not ashamed of me. He's not ashamed of you if you put your faith in Jesus because Jesus has said, John 14:2 “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also.”

Oh, it's a prepared place. It's a heavenly place.

It's a permanent place. It's a better country. This is why C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

And so we were made to be with God. He made us for himself.

And this leads us to the third reason that it's a greater promise. It's a greater promise because it's a greater inheritance he offers the righteousness of Christ. It's a greater promise because it's a greater country, a place prepared for us by Christ. It's a better country.

As Philippians 3:20 says, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,”

But then finally, it's a greater offering.

3. A Greater Offering.

We're at verses 17 through 22 now. We end here with the big story, the key story in the life of Abraham. God gives him the son, the son of laughter. He's probably 12 or 14 years old now. God taps Abraham on the shoulder and he says, I want you to take your son, your only begotten son, and I want you to take him up to the hill called Moriah, to Mount Moriah, and I want you to offer him.

And it says he got up early the next morning. He didn't delay, he got up early and he got his donkey and he got his son and his servant and he got the wood and he headed up.

We see it here, verse 17, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, See that word offered. “...and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son…” See that word offering his only son.

Now, is this what that was about? No, because he doesn't actually offer him. Because here's what happens. He's headed up there and now his son, he's old enough to have been on some of these trips before, and he goes, father, I see the wood and I see the fire. Where's the lamb?

And here's what. Abraham says to him. You see it in Genesis 22:8 (ESV) Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

Boy. He's saying that by faith. He's saying that by faith. Those are the words that I think the spirit put in his mouth to say to his son. And so his son was obedient.

Even his son is a picture of Christ and his obedience. We see as they go up on the mountain that Isaac does not fight his father, that he willingly lays down and is offered. He lifts up the knife. And here Hebrews reveals to us what was going through Abraham's mind.

We don't know it from the Genesis account, but we know it from the Hebrews account, 17 “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,” It says he was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” Literally offspring is sperma in the Greek. It's through Isaac, shall your seed be named singular, not plural? Because we're not talking about the innumerable grains of sand and the stars of heaven that promise.

We're talking about a singular Son, a singular Seed that is to come here, through Isaac shall your offspring be named. And then we see what he was thinking. Verse 19, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”

He's thinking, well, this is the promised Son through which all the inheritance is to come. I know God promised it. I believe what God said. So he must be going to raise him from the dead. That seems to be what Abraham was thinking.

But that's not what happened. It was a test. And an angel came and stopped his hand. And as he stopped, he saw a ram there with its horns caught in a thicket. And so he offered the ram.

We see that God has provided the lamb. He provided a ram. A ram's not a lamb. But later he does provide the lamb. We see it when John the Baptist says these words in

John 1:29 (NLT) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” This whole story, now we understand, through the lens of the New Testament, looking at the Old Testament, that whole story was given to us to prepare us for the coming Seed, the coming inheritance, the coming Jesus, that he would be the superior sacrifice which we see in Romans 8:32 (NLT) “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” If he'll give us Jesus, if he'll give us the greatest gift of all, then his yes is on the table for every other promise that he offers. We're not finished here.

We have a couple of more verses. Verse 19, “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” And then we see his son Isaac. “By faith, Isaac…” he was brought up by Abraham. He was on the other side of that story.

I'm sure he told that story. He had other stories that Abraham had taught him. Verse 20, “By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.” And then Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, verse 21.

He had 12 sons. Verse 21, “By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.” Joseph, who had become the number two in command in Egypt.

He prayed over them and blessed them. And not only that, he prophesied over them, especially his son named Judah who He prophesied that the scepter would not depart from him, which is an instrument of royalty, pointing to that Jesus would be born to the line of Judah. And then we see finally in verse 22, “By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.

Joseph is the great grandson of Abraham, number two in command in Egypt. At the end of his life, he had not forgotten the promises he made mention to the others that there's going to come a time when you go back to the promised land. And when you do, take my bones with you. And if you go to the book of Exodus, you'll see that they obeyed that and took him so that he was buried in the patriarch's tomb.

They took him home with them by faith. By faith. By faith.

I don't want to make them famous. They're listed here. But I want to make the one who they place their faith in famous. All of these believe the promises of God, which ultimately are made greater because they all point to a greater inheritance, which is the righteousness we receive in Christ by faith to a greater country, which is the place he has prepared for those who believe, and a greater offering because he's the only perfect sacrifice that could have paid for our sins.

For all the promises of God, find their yes in Jesus.

Will you move today from doubting to believing?

Yeah, but I still doubt some things. That's okay. Place your confidence in Jesus. Come and approach Jesus. Come and see.

Come and listen.

He's the Promised One. He's the greatest. Come to Jesus and believe in him, and obey him. And watch, little by little, your doubts slip away.

Let's pray.

Lord, I pray for the one this morning that would say, I believe as an act of the will. Today I give my life to Jesus. I believe that you died on the cross for me, for my sins. I believe you were raised from the grave three days later. I believe that.

That you rose again, that you are at the right hand of the Father, and that you're coming again. I believe that. Lord, would you come and live in me by your Holy Spirit? Would you forgive me of my sins? Make me a child of God.

Lord, I believe. Help me with my unbelief.

Others are here and you're a follower of Jesus. You're a believer, but there's something going on in your life today you've gotten caught up in. It's causing you to have doubts. Lift your eyes back to Jesus right now.

Lord, help me to experience your presence afresh. Help me to get back in your Word. Help me to put away my doubts and belief.

Lord, strengthen my faith.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.