Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Faith, Heaven, and Your Future, Part 3 of 20
TEXT: "By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones" (Hebrews 11:20-22).
IDEA: Faith and God's future are intimately linked together.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand how faith in God's Word affects the way we look at things to come.
Have you ever thought about why the biblical writers wrote what they did?
An important way to study the Scriptures is to ask yourself why the biblical writers included what they did in their books and letters.
I. One way to look at a book or a letter is to ask yourself, if you were writing one of these books or letters, what would YOU include? What would you exclude?
An example would be the records that we have about the birth of Jesus in Matthew and Luke.
Why don't the other Gospel writers (Mark and John) tell us in some detail about how Jesus was born?
Why did Matthew tell us about King Herod and the worship of Jesus by the magi, and why did Luke tell us about the shepherds and the stable?
II. When you read Hebrews 11, there is no strong relationship between how much is revealed to us in the book of Genesis and what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews draws from their lives.
Hebrews 11:20-22 gives us a record of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. If you were drawing lessons from their lives, what lessons occur to you?
A good beginning does not necessarily guarantee a strong ending. You see that in Isaac.
When a person wrestles with God, he ends up weak but has learned that God is strong. This is Jacob.
Even out of the worst of circumstances God brings good (Joseph).
Are these lessons legitimate?
In Hebrews 11, are these the lessons that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews draws out or ignores?
Why do you think he doesn't see what we see? Or does he?
