HEBREWS 11:17-292009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Hebrews 11:17-29

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009.

Here we are in Hebrews chapter 11, continuing our study, and it's been an incredible, incredible chapter thus far. There's been some great encouragement and some examples for us, and I don't know about you, but I've been challenged with the subject of faith, and what faith is, and how it's manifested in our lives. And I want to encourage you to be challenged, and to

Allow God to speak to your heart, to take some of these examples and spend some extra time meditating on them and considering these examples and how you would respond in the same situations. As I've been sharing with you the past couple of weeks,

God does not require of us anything that He has not required of any generation or of every generation before us. The same things that were required of these examples that we're looking at are required of us. Not maybe the same details, but the same faith, the same type of obedience God requires from us just as He required from every generation before us.

Faith, as we've studied before, as I've shared the past few weeks, is obedience to God at His Word. It's obedience to God when He is commanded, whether personally or in the Scriptures generally, the Word of God has been given to us, and faith is obedience to God at His Word. And we see that time and time again here throughout chapter 11.

We saw it in Abraham. We saw it in Adam, in Enoch. We saw it in Noah. We see it again in Moses. And the many examples that are given to us, these are men and women who went forward and did what God told them to do.

At many times it was with the danger of great cost, as we will see today. At many times it was at great expense. Sometimes it was, well, not knowing how it was going to work out and how it was going to be fulfilled, but they were obedient to God at His word. And this is so important for you and I, and this morning I would challenge you.

And ask you, are you obedient to God at His word? Are you being and living out this obedience to God? Faith is incredibly important because in verse 6 of Hebrews 11, the author tells us that without faith, it's impossible to please God. And so if we want to be people that please God, we need to be people of faith.

You've probably heard the expression, putting feet to your faith. You want to put feet to your faith. But we studied at the beginning of Hebrews chapter 11 that faith without works is dead. And so I would suggest to you that faith without feet is not faith at all. Faith without feet is not faith because faith without works is dead. She's having a hard time finding that cell phone. I apologize for that.

Faith without feet is not faith. Faith is to be lived out. There's to be evidence of it. It's to be tangible. It's to be visible in a person's life. Are there things in your life that you can look at and you can say, I do this.

Because of faith. Because I believe God. Because I'm being obedient to God at His word. I do this because of this promise that God has given. I do this because of this thing that God has spoken to me. This activity. This part of my life. This decision. This lifestyle. This workplace. This wherever you might be. This is because...

I believe in God. And this is because God has spoken to me. And this is why my life is the way it is. Well, that's what the author of Hebrews is doing with these examples before us. He's looking at their lives and saying, by faith, this person did that. And by faith, this other person did this other thing. And by faith, this activity was performed.

In the same way, there's to be this demonstration, this manifestation of faith in our lives that's lived out in obedience to God. It's more than just what we say, but it's the way that we live in response to what God has said. And so this morning, as we continue on our study in Hebrews chapter 11, we're going

We'll look at five different things about faith, five different points about faith and these examples that God has given to us. The first thing we see this morning is that faith concludes that God is able. Faith concludes that God is able. Look again at verse 17. It says, "...by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac."

So he starts out...

This morning with the example of Abraham. We've already seen some other examples of Abraham's life of faith in action. But now he moves on to this example. And it refers back to Genesis chapter 22. And there in Genesis chapter 22, God spoke to Abraham. He spoke to Abraham and he said, Abraham, here's what I want you to do. I want you to take your son, your son Isaac, your only son.

And I want you to take him up onto a mountain, the mountain I will show you. And there on top of the mountain, I want you to offer him as a sacrifice. Now you and I are familiar with Romans chapter 12 verse 1, where Paul says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to offer yourselves as living sacrifices. It's our reasonable service.

And when we talk about and we consider that verse, we understand that God's not asking us to, you know, put ourselves to death, but to surrender ourselves to him and to give ourselves to him, to set ourselves apart for him and to live for him completely and wholly. But that is not the idea of what God is asking Abraham to do with his son Isaac.

It's not the understanding of, I want you to take him up there and just surrender him completely and just dedicate him and consecrate him to me. The sacrifice that God is talking about here when he tells Abraham to go up on the mountain and offer his son Isaac is the sacrifice that we would consider or remember when we think of the Passover lamb or any of the other sacrifices that were done at the temple. A sacrifice was something that you would remember

Place it upon the altar while it was living and you would slit its throat. You would put it to death. And in doing so, you would offer that living creature to the Lord. This is what God asked Abraham to do. Now, I would encourage you in all of these examples to consider yourself. Would this be hard for a parent to do? Would this be possible for you to do?

if God spoke to you in this way? This is a different type of baby dedication. We don't practice this kind here. We just pray for them. But would you be willing if God were to speak to you in this way? Now, to my knowledge, God never spoke to anyone else this way. But would you be willing were God to speak to you this way? God was willing to do this with his own son. But would you be willing if God spoke to you with this command?

Sometimes God will ask you to do the hardest thing that you could ever imagine. And this is what he asked of Abraham. Abraham, go up to this mountain, build an altar. And so Abraham does it. In Genesis chapter 22, we read the account. He takes some servants with him. They go up, they journey up. He leaves his servants at the foot of the mountain. Him and his son go up. There's some great imagery here that I'm not going to get into, but he puts his son upon the altar.

Pulls out the knife and he raises the knife ready to finish the act, to complete the task that God had told him. He's about ready to be in full obedience here. He's about ready to put Isaac to death. The knife is raised. He's right there in that situation at that spot that God interrupts. He intervenes and he stops him from offering his son as a sacrifice.

And God tells him there in Genesis 22, 12. He says, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. From the very beginning, it was a test. When God gave him the first instruction, he knew what he was going to do. That is, that God knew what God was going to do. God knew that he was going to intervene. But Abraham didn't know that.

It tells us right here in verse 17 that it was a test. In chapter 22 of Genesis, it tells us that it was a test. God knew God was not going to allow that to take place, but he needed to test Abraham. And God says, now I know that you fear me since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. It was a test of where his priorities and where his loyalties were.

His only son, the thing that was most precious to him perhaps, is what God asked him to offer up. And although God does not require of us maybe exactly the same thing, but He does require of us from time to time to offer to Him, to surrender to Him that thing, those things that are most valuable and most precious to us. He requires the same thing of us, this generation, as He's required of every generation before us. Are you willing?

to be obedient and to offer these things to the Lord. Do you honor God more than your child or your children? Does he have the place of priority? And will you obey him no matter what the cost? The point here is not just that Abraham was willing to offer his son, but there's some more details here that make this even more significant because it goes on in verse 18 to tell us,

of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called. There was a promise that God had given Abraham. The promise was, Abraham, your descendants will come through Isaac. So Abraham had this son named Isaac. God said, Your descendants will come through this son. And now God has said, Offer up this son. Put him to death. Now it's very likely that Isaac at this time was

Not maybe the four or five year old boy that we might picture, but probably in his twenties, based upon the words that are used to describe him in the Genesis account. He's probably a young man, but he had not had children yet. So there's no children of Isaac. The promise is that Abraham's descendants will be through Isaac, and the command is for him to put Isaac to death. And you could picture Abraham, I can picture Abraham at least saying,

trying to work all this out, trying to figure out, here's the promise of God. I'm going to have descendants through Isaac. Here's the command of God. Put Isaac to death. Now, how's this going to work, Lord? You could maybe think, well, okay, maybe on the way, he could get married as we're on the way to the mountain and they could have like a honeymoon baby. And then as we continue on, no, that's not going to work. How's this going to work?

And so Abraham, he's reasoning, he's calculating, he's trying to figure out. And he comes to the conclusion, verse 19, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. So Abraham, in working all this out, trying to figure out how this promise is going to be fulfilled, and if he's obedient to this command, how's that not going to make the promise of God, you know, false or void? How's this going to happen? Well, he concludes, well...

God's able to raise him from the dead. Abraham had complete, absolute trust in the Lord. In his promises, in his power, in his word. He knew God's going to work this out. God is able. He wrestled and reasoned and tried to figure out just like you and I do with the commands of God and the promises of God. But he came to the conclusion God is able to raise him up. And you and I are to follow his example.

He's an example for us of faith, that we would be willing to be obedient to God, even if it's in regards to something that we consider most valuable and most precious. And we're to be obedient to God, even when it seems to contradict a promise that He has given to us.

When it seems that if we are obedient to this command, then that promise that God gave me is not going to be fulfilled. We're to be obedient because faith concludes that God is able. Don't worry about how it's going to work out. You don't have to be concerned and figure out the way that it's all going to be fulfilled. Be obedient to God even when you cannot figure out what is going to happen. Even if it's the hardest thing that you've ever had to do.

Conclude that God is able. Put your trust, your faith in God, completely and wholly. If it's regarding your children, if it's regarding something else that's precious and valuable to you, faith is obedience to God at His word. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. So conclude that God is able. Determine God is able. He's going to work it out. It's in His hands. He's going to accomplish it. And be obedient.

to what God is speaking to you. Well, number two this morning, we find in verses 20 through 22, and that is that faith speaks concerning things to come. Look at verse 20. It says, Verse 21. Verse 21.

By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff. Verse 22. By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave instruction concerning his bones. So here we have the examples of Isaac, of Jacob, and of Joseph.

And all three of these, they spoke of things that were to come. They blessed their sons. They spoke to their sons in regards to those things that were not yet fulfilled, but were going to happen. Those things that God had promised were going to come to pass. And so we find that in Isaac when he blessed Jacob and Esau.

In Genesis chapter 28 verse 4, as Isaac there is blessing Jacob, sending him off as he's going up to his family, his family up there in Haran and going to go get some brides and spend some time up there. But as Jacob is heading out, Isaac blesses him.

And he says, And God give you the blessings of Abraham to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.

Now last week we saw that God had called Abraham out of Ur. He called him into the promised land. God said, go to the land that I will show you. And as Abraham finally got to the land of Canaan, God said, and he told Abraham, he promised him, look to the east, look to the west, look to the north, look to the south, as far as you can see, the whole land of Canaan that is given to you. I'm giving this to you and your descendants as an inheritance.

But God tells Abraham, it's not going to happen yet. There's going to be 400 years and your children, your descendants are going to go down to Egypt and after 400 years they're going to come back and then they're going to go in and inhabit the land. They're going to possess the land. And so Abraham was given this promise. He did not see it fulfilled in his lifetime. Abraham's son Isaac did not see this promise fulfilled either. But he had faith.

And he spoke concerning this thing which was to come. He spoke about this promise which God had given and he passed on this promise to his son Jacob. And he blesses Jacob and he says that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger which God gave to Abraham. Well, we see this also in Jacob. Jacob later on

moves down to Egypt. You remember Joseph was second in command there, and so the whole family moves to Egypt. Jacob is a very old man at that point, and when he comes to his last days there in Egypt, he calls in Joseph and Joseph's two sons, and he blesses them. He blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. And as he blesses them, he speaks to Joseph, and he says,

Behold, I am dying in Genesis chapter 48, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. Again, we see Jacob speaking of these things which are to come. Speaking of this promise of God which is to be fulfilled. Saying that the children of Israel, although they're in Egypt at that point, they're going to be brought out. God is going to bring them into the promised land. He's going to take them into the land of Canaan.

Well, we find this in Joseph as well. And Joseph, when he was dying, it says there in verse 22, he made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave instruction concerning his bones. And we find that in Genesis chapter 50. In Genesis chapter 50, Joseph says to his brothers, Hey guys, I'm dying, but God will visit you and bring you out of this land and bring you into the land of which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.

And then it says in Genesis 50 verse 25, Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from here. And so Joseph does the same thing like Isaac, like Jacob. He speaks of that time when God is going to take the descendants into the promised land and he gives some instruction. He says, when you guys go, I'm dying, but take my bones with you.

He believed the promise of God. He believed that God was going to accomplish what he said he was going to accomplish, even though it was many years before, even though it didn't seem like it was going to happen at that point. All of these men passed on the promises of God to the next generation by speaking concerning things to come. And there's a great example here, a great picture for us. Faith speaks concerning things to come. Faith speaks.

faith declares those promises of God. Faith declares those things that are yet to happen, but God said would happen. It's why we're able to have the Maranatha series and look at the end times and consider these things because, well, God has spoken about the things which have not happened yet. And there's something important that takes place when you and I speak concerning those things.

For one thing, like the example here, it passes on to the next generation this faith, this understanding, this recognition that God is going to be faithful to His Word. But faith, as it speaks forth these things that are yet to come, it grows. There's something important that happens when you and I verbalize, when we proclaim, when it comes forth faith.

From our lungs and through our vocal cords and out of our mouth that there's this thing that happens that our faith grows as we speak about those things that are to come.

There's something that happens where Paul the Apostle is able to say, comfort one another concerning these words when looking about those things that were yet to come. There's some comfort that goes on that takes place in my heart and as I'm sharing with you, it takes place in you. And faith grows as we hear ourselves declaring the promises of God. It's one thing to...

believe and keep it internal, but to express it and to verbalize it, well, there's something important that takes place there. Faith speaks concerning things to come. I get the picture in my head of a kid who goes around and says, hey, my dad said he's going to take me to this place or that place or he's going to do this for me. And we can do the same thing. You know, my dad said as soon as we get through this, as soon as we go through, I mean, he's going to take me to Disneyland.

He's going to take me to heaven. The happiest place on earth. Well, there's something far greater than that. He's going to fulfill this promise and he's going to accomplish this. This is what my dad said he was going to do. We can follow the example of these men and pass on the promises of God by speaking these promises, by talking about and declaring these things that are yet to come, that God has said would take place. Number three, we find in verse 23. Verse 23 says this,

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's command. Here we find that faith does not fear the king's command. Faith does not fear the king's command. And the faith that we're looking at here, the example is not Moses. He was just a newborn baby. But the faith of his parents was,

His parents, by faith, saw that he was a beautiful child and hid him for three months. They were not afraid of the king's command. This refers back to Exodus chapter 2, where the children of Israel are still in Egypt. And they're multiplying, they're growing in number. And there's a new pharaoh, a new king. The new king is not familiar with Joseph. Joseph.

He didn't know about those things that God had done through Joseph. And he considered the nation of Israel to be a threat. There in his land was this other nation that was growing rapidly. And the Pharaoh could look forward in time and see that, well, if this continues, they're going to outnumber us. And so they're going to conquer us. They're going to wipe us out. And so to try to prevent this from happening, the Pharaoh said, all...

The boys that are born from now on are to be thrown in the Nile River. They're to be put to death. He enslaves the people, gives this command to kill all the boys so that, well, they could not continue to grow. Or if they had girls, well, then they could marry Egyptians and they would kind of assimilate into the Egyptian people. And so the threat would be neutralized in the Pharaoh's opinion. But Moses' parents...

Although there is this command, although there's the threat of punishment on disobedience, when Moses is born, they hide him for three months. They disregard the king's command by faith. Faith does not fear the commands of lesser authorities. Faith is obedient to God, first and foremost. Is that the kind of faith that you have? You know, Christians all over the world face this today. I think, Aaron, you could testify of this.

Being there in China, where many of the things that the scriptures tell us to do are illegal. Christians have to face the decision. Am I going to obey the authority over what God has said? Or am I going to obey God over what the authority has said? And you and I, it might be difficult for us to understand having to make that type of decision. And yet, the way the nation is going, the way our nation is going...

we may come to a point where that is a reality, where you and I, or perhaps our children, have to make a decision whether we're going to serve God and be obedient to God, or whether we're going to be obedient to the rulers and authorities that are in place over us. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had to make this choice. You remember in Daniel chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar put up a statue, commands everybody far and wide to worship this statue. Everybody bows down and

sticking out like sore thumbs or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, standing up. We're not going to bow. We're not going to do it. We won't bow down before this statue. Nebuchadnezzar says, well, I'm going to throw you in the furnace if you don't worship. Well, that's okay. You can throw us in the furnace, they say, but we're not going to do it. They stand before Nebuchadnezzar and say, King, understand that we're going to obey God. And if you throw us in the furnace, well, God's able to deliver us. But even if he doesn't, well, that's okay too.

Because we're going to be obedient to God. That's what's most important to us. The disciples had to face this as well. In the book of Acts, Acts chapter 5, Peter and some of the other disciples, they're standing before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, the same Jewish leaders not many days before who had turned Jesus over to Pilate to be crucified. And those same Jewish leaders are threatening the disciples. They're commanding them to not preach in the name of Jesus, to crucify,

Not do what Jesus had told them to do. And Peter responds in Acts chapter 5 verse 29, we ought to obey God rather than men. They had to make a decision. They had to choose. We're going to obey God first. And men and their authority, yes, it's been given to them by God. And yes, we're to be subject to authority. But when it comes to that decision, I'm going to obey God rather than men.

And it's more important for me to be obedient to God than it is for me to be obedient to lesser authorities. Now, lesser authorities, you could carry on down. It doesn't have to be government, but maybe it would be more applicable to you if you considered your authorities in the workplace or other authorities that are in place in your life. We're to be obedient to God first, whether or not

That's what our boss or our supervisor desires of us. We're to be obedient to God first and to obey God rather than men. Faith does not fear the king's command. Faith does not fear the commands of lesser authorities. We're to be obedient to God first and foremost, regardless of the cost. And that's the thing. That's the real issue. See, it's wonderful to say I'm obedient to God first, but the real test is...

when it's going to cost. Just like with Abraham. He could say, I have faith, but when God says, okay, offer me your son Isaac. There's a real cost. And let's see how you do. Because faith, again, it's obedience to God at His word. Faith without feet is not faith at all. Faith is active. It's action. And it's lived out. It's demonstrated by the choices we make on a day-to-day basis. Do you have that kind of faith? Number four, faith.

Faith looks to the reward. Look at verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward.

So now we move on as we continue on down Israel's history. We have now the example of Moses. Moses chose to suffer with the people of God. And he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter when he became of age. We don't know what age that was, but when he became of age, when it was appropriate and when he was able to make a decision for himself, he said...

I refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and I choose instead to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. What an incredible statement here by Moses. What an incredible decision. He has on the one hand the life of a son of Pharaoh's daughter, a life of luxury, a life of abundance, a life of luxury,

Well, every wish granted pretty much. And on the other hand, he has a life of affliction, of persecution, of pain. And he chooses rather to suffer affliction. He chose to be persecuted along with God's people, to identify with God's people rather than identify with Egypt, with Pharaoh's daughter. It's a great picture for us to examine our own hearts.

Because as Moses was there in the land of Egypt, he did not love his life, he did not love his lifestyle so much, but he couldn't let it go. And you and I, as we live in this world, we have to be very careful. In 1 John 2, verse 15, the Apostle John says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. See, you and I have the same type of decision to make.

Although we may not consider ourselves to have the life of luxury that a son of Pharaoh's daughter would have, you and I have the decision to make. Whether we will love the world and the things in the world, or whether we will love God. Because they're opposites of each other. They cannot exist together. He says, again, if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. So we have a choice to make.

Are we going to love the world and this world, or are we going to love God? Moses, it goes on to tell us in verse 26, he esteemed the approach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. So on the one hand, he had the treasures of Egypt. On the other hand, he had the reproach of Christ. And he did an evaluation, and he determined the reproach of Christ is greater riches.

Which is the greater riches, the treasures of Egypt or suffering and persecution and affliction with the people of God? Now, you and I, faced with that question, looking at the situation, I think we would agree. Well, he chose right. The reproach of Christ, it is greater riches. And you could say, well, because I know the word of God, 2 Corinthians 4.17.

Paul says, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So light affliction, it's just for a moment, but it's working for us far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So in measuring these two, the reproach of Christ, yes, that is greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

But again, that's what we would say, what the Lord wants to challenge us is, is that how we live? Is that what we do? That's what we would say, we would agree with that, but is that the life that we live? We can love this world and fit in nicely. As we talked about last week, we have opportunity to return. There's opportunity for us to fit in and to be comfortable in this world, to love this world. Or we can walk by faith.

As a witness, being obedient to God before all else. Yes, we will have affliction. But the reward is worth it. And so it tells us that Moses chose to look to the reward. He chose the permanent reward over the passing pleasures of sin. Quick side note. The Bible indicates here, there is pleasure in sin. But it's passing. It's temporary. It's not going to last. But what's permanent? The reward.

And so you and I have a choice to make. To love this world or to love God. To identify with this world or to identify with Jesus Christ. We have a choice to make between the passing pleasures of sin and the permanent reward. Faith looks to the reward and recognizes that even though life is difficult here, even if that means that I live off rice for the rest of my life, it's worth it.

Even if it means there's great sacrifice or great affliction or great persecution. Even if it means that I don't get all of those things that I've always wanted and dreamed about. Even if it means that I change course, that I change direction. Even if it means that I change careers. Even if it means that I don't get married. Even if it means that this or that. Even if it means at all costs, I'm going to be obedient to God because the reward is far greater than

If I'm obedient to God, then for me to love this world, to chase after the world, to pursue the world, and to be involved in the passing pleasures of sin. Faith looks to the reward. Looks to that permanent reward that God has promised to those that walk by faith. Finally, we get to number five this morning. Number five is that faith is accompanied by action. Look at verses 27 through 29.

Verse 27 says, By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned.

So here we have some more examples by faith. The example of Moses, the example of the nation of Israel, the children of Israel. Moses forsook Egypt. He kept the Passover. The children of Israel passed through the Red Sea. You notice all of these things are actions, they're verbs. By faith, they did this, they accomplished, they did some type of activity. Faith is accompanied by action.

Faith without feet is not faith. Faith without works is dead. Faith is accompanied by action. And their faith in God caused them to act in obedience. It caused Moses to forsake Egypt, to turn his back on Egypt, to refuse to be identified as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. His faith caused him to keep the Passover.

The first Passover there found in Exodus chapter 12. It was the last of the ten plagues. And God said, here's what I want you to do. Take a lamb, hang out with it for a couple of days, then on this particular day put it to death. Then when you put it to death, you and your family are to eat the whole thing that night along with unleavened bread. And you're to take blood from that lamb and you're to strike the doorpost and the top and the two sides.

And with that mark on the door, then the destroying angel will pass over your house. Your family will be protected and preserved. And the firstborn of that household will not be put to death. By faith, they kept the Passover. They did it. Now, I'm sure there was some, there had to be some, just knowing my own self. There had to be some among the nation of Israel who

who are maybe kind of grumbling a little bit to themselves like, what in the world? How on earth? Putting blood on my door that I'm going to have to wash off later. How is that going to do anything? And what is that really going to mean? I mean, you could imagine some internal struggle that would possibly be going on. How does this help? How is this meaningful? What does this really accomplish? But by faith, they kept the Passover.

And the children of Israel, well, they were preserved. But all throughout Egypt, the firstborn was put to death. Of every household, the firstborn was put to death, according to what God had said. By faith, the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea. And we're familiar with this story. We're, in a sense, a little bit comfortable with it. So let's put ourselves in their shoes. Let's all go down to Newport. Let's stand on the beach. Let's wait for God to open up the waters.

And then we could walk across from Newport to Catalina. Now, we're on the beach. We're standing there. The water's open. Are you going to be the first one to start walking there? Are you going to say, Royce, you go first. Let's see what happens. Ladies first, George says. Yeah. Let's see what happens. It says that they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land.

I think these words are very important. As by dry land, as if they were just walking across dry land, as if there was no towers of water waiting to crash upon, they just, they were by faith, they trusted in God, they completely had faith in God, He was going to get them through, He was going to hold up those waters, they didn't stand on the side and say, well, you know, I'm claustrophobic, and what happens if I get in the middle, there's three million people behind me, and three million in front of me, and I'm stuck here in the middle, and the waters come crashing down, and I start having to

a panic attack and freak out and I can't do it, I can't do it and they didn't have to drag them across. No, they walked through as if they were just walking across dry land. Not just that the bottoms of their feet were dry but they weren't torn. They weren't freaking out. They walked by in faith. They walked through the Red Sea. They took action. The Egyptians attempted to do so but they were drowned. Faith is accompanied by action. What actions in your life

are the result of faith. What can you point to? What can you look at? What can you say? This right here in my life, this is because of faith. This is because I believe in God. And He has commanded this. And He has promised this. And so I'm doing this. I've made this decision. I live this way because this is what God has said. Another quick side note here. In verses 27, 28, and 29, I really believe we have a great example of deliverance.

If you're one who is looking for deliverance, look at this example. First of all, by faith he forsook Egypt. Egypt throughout the scriptures is a picture of the world or the flesh. And Moses, first of all, he forsook. He turned his back. He changed direction. He repented. He forsook Egypt.

For deliverance, we must turn from the world. We must turn from sin. We must turn from our flesh. There needs to be a forsaking that takes place and it happens by faith. By faith, seeing Him who is invisible. Seeing God, knowing that there is a God. Knowing what He has said. By faith, turn from sin. Turn from the world. By faith, He kept the Passover. He turned away from sin, but He turned to the Lord. And we have in the Passover the picture of Jesus Christ.

We keep the Passover by turning to Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of the Passover is in Him. By faith, forsake Egypt. Forsake. Turn from sin and turn to. Embrace. Hold fast to Jesus Christ and believe in Jesus Christ. And then the result is, by faith they pass through the Red Sea as by dry land. They were delivered out of Egypt and there was a passing through that had to take place. It was a passing through that had to be accomplished.

But as they turned from Egypt, as they forsook Egypt and turned and kept the Passover, then they were brought forth. They passed through the Red Sea as by dry land. They were delivered. And if you're one who is seeking deliverance, I would encourage you to meditate on these things because it's by faith that deliverance takes place. Jesus said...

He who the Son sets free is free indeed. It's by faith, though, that it must be received. There needs to be a forsaking of the world and the flesh. There needs to be a turning towards Jesus Christ. And then there's the process of being brought through or passing through and being delivered from that into a walk with God. By faith, deliverance is brought. Again, what actions in your life are the result of faith?

We have these examples before us. And they're examples that are not just examples of that's how God dealt with people a long time ago, but they're examples of faith for you and I. Because God requires of us same things that he has required of every generation before us, that we would walk by faith and not by sight, that we would believe in him and be obedient to him.

That we would put Him before all other passions, all other priorities, all other treasures, all those things that are precious, that He would be first and foremost. He requires the same thing of us that He required of Abraham. He requires the same thing of us that He's required of every generation before us, that we would walk by faith. And sometimes that means that God requires of us the most difficult things we could ever imagine.

And other times it means that He requires some simple things from us. Like we'll partake of communion this morning. It's a simple thing. It's not the great expense of offering your child as a sacrificial offering. And yet it was something that Jesus commanded us to do. And so we're going to do that this morning. The ushers are going to come on up and make ready. The worship team is going to get ready. And as they do, I want you to consider. I would ask that you would take some time.

to consider what we're about to do. Sometimes, through our minds, we begin to wonder, what is the purpose? What is the point? What value is there in partaking of communion? What's so important about it? I mean, sometimes I partake and I don't really feel any, you know, rush of wind or there's not a fantastic thing that happens in me. What's the point? Why do we do this? By faith, they kept the Passover.

They ate the meat, they ate the bread without leaven, they put the blood on the doorposts, and I'm sure many of them were saying, "What in the world is this all about? And what is it going to do?" But you know, the point isn't that we understand all of the reasons why. The point isn't that we understand all that this is going to do. The point isn't that we have some emotional experience. The point is that we be people of faith and that we be obedient to God.

Jesus told us, as often as you do this, you do it in remembrance of me. We partake of communion in order to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to remember him. He also said, or Paul said, as often as we do it, we proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. And so they're going to lead us in worship. They're going to pass out the bread and the cup. Hold both portions. We'll partake together at the end. But as we worship the Lord, let's take some time to be obedient, to be people of faith.

It doesn't require a whole lot, but it requires that you simply believe and that you take time to remember the Lord's death. Remember His body that was broken and His blood that was shed. And so let's take this time to consider and remember to call to mind and pay attention to the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's worship the Lord together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.