Does a life of faith come with a retirement plan? Can you outlive your faithfulness? Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah addresses those questions with examples of three men who remained steadfast and faithful until the end of their earthly lives. with inspiring profiles of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
Here's David to introduce today's encouraging message, faith that death cannot destroy.
Well, thank you for joining us once again. If you are just tuning in for the first time during the last several days, we are studying the book of Hebrews and the 11th chapter. And it's my privilege to introduce these lessons that we are learning from some of the great people of Old Testament Scripture. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is the New Testament A hall of faith, basically the Old Testament Hall of Faith, because all of these people whose lives we are studying are recorded for us and took place in the Old Testament times. Many of the lessons we're learning, however, are very contemporary.
Sometimes we wonder if God has forgotten us. And you study these lives you realize God never forgets us. He shows up at the right time, at the right place, when we need Him, if we trust Him. Today, we are going to talk about some men who came to the end of their lives, yet when their life ended, their influence didn't end. You know, it's a wonderful thing to see this because Sometimes we think life is just bookended by birth and death, but it is not.
Many of us today are blessed by the testimony and vision and influence of people who have long since gone to their grave, but their influence continues. That was true for Jacob, it was true for Isaac. It was true for Joseph, who requested that his bones not be left in Egypt.
So we'll learn some lessons from these guys today. I hope you'll follow along. Hebrews 11. 20 to 22. Just a few words, but some great lessons.
And don't forget, men and women, we have a great resource that has some great words and great lessons, too. It's the book of the month. It's called Where to Go in the Bible. It's 89 topic scripture references to help you find what you're looking for when questions appear. And whose answers can you trust?
If your watch is broken, who is the best person to fix it? The expert who made it, of course. And the same gets into the mix when you talk about human beings. No author knows us, our questions, and our needs better. than our Creator God.
And he is the one who Gives us the Bible to provide God's answers to life's never-ending questions. many times it's difficult to know where to look to find the exact verse for your current circumstance.
So we have this wonderful book called Where to Go in the Bible. As I've been saying throughout the month, this is not a book to read, it's a book to use, and I promise you you'll use it. ask for your copy. When you send your gift in the month of November, to Turning Point, and we'll be happy to send this book to you right away. Here we go with the next lesson from Hebrews chapter 11.
The book of Hebrews moves real quickly until you get to chapter 11. When you get to chapter 11, you just don't feel like you can go very fast because. Throughout this whole chapter, are the names of these Old Testament heroes that are given to us as examples of faith. And so far, we have looked at Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah. And now as we come to verses 20 through 22, the writer of the book links together three men.
And we're going to study those men in just a moment. I heard that there were once three sisters. One was 92. One was 94 and one was 96. And they lived together in the same house.
And one night, the 96-year-old drew a bath, and she put one foot in the bath, and then she paused and she yelled out loud, Am I getting in the tub or am I getting out? And the 94-year-old hollered back, I don't know, I'll come up and see.
So she started up the stairs, but she stopped on the first stair and she shouted, Was I going up or was I coming down? The 92-year-old was sitting in the kitchen having tea and listening to her sisters with a smirk on her face, and she shook her head and said, I sure hope I never get that forgetful. And she knocked on wood for good measure, and then she yelled. I'll come up and help you both as soon as I see who's at the door. It's not funny, is it?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. I want to talk to you about some guys who, this might have been about them, these three guys we're going to talk about. But let me just read these verses to you from Hebrews chapter 11. Verses 20 through 22. 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 worshipped, leaning on 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. And I'm going to preach a little message on those three verses, and you're looking at those verses saying, What in the world is there in those verses? It's an interesting thing what's in those verses, and one of the reasons why I wanted to just devote this time is. To remind us that God does some wonderful things with people when they're in their twilight years.
I think of Caleb, one of my favorite people in the Bible. The Bible says about Caleb that when he was 85 years old, he still had the strength of a 40-year-old. And Caleb did his best work for God when he was 85. When all the rest around him were refusing to take the challenge, to take the land that God had put in front of him. The Bible says Caleb chose the hardest place and he conquered it.
And the Bible says about Caleb that he was a man who had a different spirit in him. Four or five times in the story of Caleb, we're told that he had a different spirit. Whatever that spirit was, that's the spirit we should covet as God's people. And we have just finished the story of God's intervention in the lives of Abraham and Sarah. Who during their twilight years?
God blessed them with a son. Frederick Beetner reminds us again of that wonderful miracle. He writes in one of his books: he says, Take this child born in the geriatric ward for which Medicare picked up the tab. This child named Isaac, which means laughter. Abraham and Sarah laughed at first because they didn't believe.
They laughed at the sheer possibility of it. Then they laughed because they were told that they would have a son when they had reached an age when they didn't even dare to buy green bananas. And after the child was born, they laughed because they did believe. They laughed that when Sarah went to Walmart, she was the only shopper to buy both pampers and the pens. And they laughed that both parents and baby had to eat the same strained vegetables because nobody in the whole family had a single tooth.
That was too good to leave out. I had to put that in there.
Okay. In this household of Abraham and Sarah, where age and amusement mingled, There was a legacy of finishing strong. In the book of Hebrews, our author focuses his attention on the twilight years that Abraham apparently passed on to his son Isaac, to his grandson Jacob, and to his great grandson Joseph. In the case of these three men, they were all at the close of their lives, and yet their hearts were full of expectation. Their faith was truly the substance of things hoped for.
As different as these three men were from one another, they had this one thing in common. All three were men of faith right up to the edge of their lives. They had faith for the future, faith that even death could not destroy. They all died in faith, but before death, they passed their blessing on to their children and their grandchildren, and they looked to the future for the fulfillment of God's blessing. in their legacy.
We read first in the 11th chapter in the 20th verse about the faith of Isaac. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. And my mind begins to spin as soon as I read that because you know the convoluted story of that from the Old Testament. The blessing of Isaac on Jacob and Esau had reference to the realization of the divine promises. And it is particularly striking that this blessing was given at the end of the patriarch's life, so that just as his days on earth were closing, his mind was occupied with things to come.
And he wanted to pass this on to his children. Isaac was very different at this stage of his life. He was no longer the brave son who had willingly been placed on the altar of Mount Moriah. The faith to believe God for a wife and to follow his father Abraham in his walk with God was a matter of distant history. Isaac was in the twilight of his career, and yet, even here in his failing years, he manages to express his faith.
One last time. By blessing Esau and Jacob, Jacob, who had been the one ordained to receive the blessing of his father. And here's what it says in Genesis.
Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted this plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her, and she said, if all is well, why am I like this?
So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. Jacob was the younger. Esau was the older.
And Esau was the one that Isaac loved the most, and Isaac wanted to give the blessing to him. In trying to change the blessing of God, Isaac was at first acting in rebellion because it seemed as if he was going up against the Almighty. Enter Rebecca. If Isaac was failing in his physical health, Rebekah was falling behind in her spiritual health. She was a deceptive woman, and she decided to take things into her own hands.
She knew what Isaac was trying to do, but she also knew that Isaac was old and that he didn't see very well anymore. She knew that he could be deceived if she were clever enough.
So you know the story. She dressed up Jacob to impersonate Esau, and the deception was successful. Then Isaac said to Jacob, Please come near. That I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.
So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy. like Esau's hand, so he blessed him. The sad thing about the conduct of Rebecca, who set this deception up. is the impact that her actions had upon her son Jacob.
He became a deceiver, just like she was. And it took the majority of his life to get back to the place where he should have been from the very beginning. Esau threatened to kill Jacob for stealing his blessing, and Jacob left home in order to preserve his own life. And Rebecca never again saw her favorite son for the rest of her life. God did intervene on behalf of Jacob.
In the process, Rebekah's deceptive methods. ultimately accomplished God's purposes. But God was not pleased with her. Never is right to do wrong in order that good may come. God incorporates our disobedience into His overall plan, but that doesn't mean He approves of it.
God could have accomplished his divine purpose without Rebekah's help. But just like the bad example that was set for her by her mother-in-law, Sarah. Who had used Hagar to try to help God keep his promise? In both cases, the families suffered. dire consequences.
Since Esau was the firstborn, he should have had both the birthright and the blessing. But earlier in Genesis, we read of the lost blessing of Isaac's first son. Genesis 25.
Now Jacob cooked a stew. And Esau came in from the field. And he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary. Therefore, his name was called Edom.
But Jacob said, Sell me your birthright as of this day. And Esau said, look, I'm about to die, so what's a birthright to me? Then Jacob said, Swear to me as of this day.
So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. Then he ate and drank, arose, and he went his way. And Esau despised his birthright. The blessing and the birthright Was not just some ceremonial.
Formality. The blessing was very real. It was not just Isaac's blessing, it was God's blessing. as well. And confused by Jacob's costume and nearly blind because of his old age, Isaac blessed his younger son with these words: Therefore, may God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth.
And plenty of grain and wine, and let the people serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, let your mother's sons bow down to you, cursed be everyone who curses you. And blessed be those who bless you. And no wonder Esau wept when this happened. Have you ever heard anything as pitiful as what you read in Genesis 27, 38?
Have you only one blessing, my Father? Bless me, me also, O my Father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and he wept. Our text from Hebrews reminds us that Isaac blessed Esau as well. Hebrews 11, 20 says, And Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.
And although it fell way short of what he supposedly would have had. Esau also received a blessing from his father. Here's what the book of Genesis tells us. Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth. and of the dew of heaven from above By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother, and it shall come to pass when you become restless.
that you shall break his yoke from your neck. From all of this, Jacob was made rich with blessing and birthright. But if you read his story, Oh. You know that he paid dearly for his deceit. And he was deceived by his own sons in the same way that he had deceived his brother.
Isn't it interesting how these things pass generationally from one generation to the next? He also endured deception at the hands of Laban, his father-in-law.
Sometime go back and read that. It's almost like God was point by point making Jacob experience everything he had caused to happen in his family. God's blessing did not automatically give Jacob an easy life. If you read the story of Jacob, most of his life was a big struggle. The faith of Isaac.
You know, when I read these things, you know, we often think of the people in the Bible, oh, they had this faith and they just lived these perfect, pristine lives, and there were no complications and no issues. Every one of the stories is convoluted. How did they get in the hall of faith? How do any of us get in the Hall of Faith? Aren't you glad that God blesses us in spite of ourselves.
I had a friend years ago who fell into sin. He was a wonderful friend, and when I heard the story, When the phone call came to my office, I was so brokenhearted. I had looked to this man as a great example in He was a pastor and he'd gotten in trouble. I prayed, how do I help him? Hmm.
Several weeks later, I was reading in the Old Testament. I came across this verse, and I didn't bring it with me to the pulpit tonight, but you can find it. It's about David. And this is what it says. That, with the exception of the thing involving Bathsheba, David pleased his God.
with the exception of that one thing. David pleased his God. And you know what? We have a tendency as God's people to judge folks on the exception and not on the rest of their lives. God judged David not on the exception, but on the rest of his life.
Did it make the exception honorable? No. But as you know, David accomplished a great deal after that sin because of the forgiveness that he sought from the Lord. And I've often remembered that story and remembered how, in our own lives as we interact with each other, sometimes we see somebody do something, it's not really who they are, it's the exception to who they are. But we judge them on the exception and we never let them off the hook.
And maybe we should take a clue from the Old Testament and say, With that one exception. They walked with God.
Well, that's what we need to say about Isaac, a really strange story about his blessing. But notice the faith of Jacob in verse 21. Here's the second dude in this three. By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff. Here's another story as strange as the first.
In the same way, Jacob, when he was almost at the point of death, blessed his two grandsons. The sons of Joseph were Ephraim and Manasseh. And Jacob acknowledged the presence of God by his attitude of worship. After much wandering in life, Jacob showed his conviction. Of the reality of the future when he blessed and worshipped, and he who was blessed by Isaac now becomes the one who bestows the blessing on his grandchildren.
And there's an interesting parallel to what happened in the story we've just read. Have you ever read this story? Listen to this. This is in Genesis 48. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim, with his right hand, toward Israel's left hand.
And Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and he brought them near him. Then Israel, or Jacob, stretched out his hand and laid it on Ephraim's head. who was younger. And his left hand he put on Manasseh's head. You know, the right hand was the hand of blessing.
Guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
Now, when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the hand of Ephraim, it displeased him.
So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. But his father refused and said, I know my son, I know, he shall also become a people, and he shall also be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Can you imagine if this old age fighting over who's going to get their hand put on their head? Once again, the younger brother was blessed in priority to the older brother. As I began to look at the Old Testament and especially the book of Genesis, I wrote these words down. Listen carefully. They were born Manasseh and Ephraim.
They were blessed. Ephraim and Manasseh. They were born Cain and Abel. They were blessed. Abel and Cain.
They were born Ishmael and Isaac. They were blessed, Isaac and Ishmael. They were born Esau and Jacob, and they were blessed. Jacob and Esau. Is that not the most intriguing thing you ever read?
Isn't that pattern incredible? And when we come to the New Testament, we read these words in 1 Corinthians 15:45 and 46, and so it is written: the first man, Adam, became a living thing, but the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and after that, the spiritual. That's an interesting concept. John 3, 6 and 7 says, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. Just as in the Old Testament, in our lives today.
There's the first birth and the second birth. Until you meet Jesus, the only thing you know about is the first birth. But how many of you know that you can get by not knowing very much about the first birth, but you can't get by not knowing a lot about the second birth? The Bible says that Jacob worshipped God and blessed his grandsons. What a way to die.
Worship in his heart, blessing on his lips, power in his hands. History is replete. With the result of his blessing. If you ever have a chance, you go through and chase what happened to those who were blessed by God. as opposed to the ones that were wanting to be blessed by man.
The faith of Isaac, and then the faith of Jacob, and here's the last one in our three verses: the faith of Joseph. Notice By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instruction concerning his bones. What in the world could that mean? Of all the Old Testament characters we have learned about in Hebrews 11, there's one guy who stands out among the most decorated of them all, and that's Joseph. Joseph is certainly deserving of being in chapter 11.
Did you know that Joseph? Is one about whom there is no evil report. You can read through the scriptures, it doesn't record any sin. It records only godly behavior. One of the reasons that's true for Joseph is that Joseph is an Old Testament type of Jesus.
There's some wonderful books written on that subject itself. Once again, it's interesting to observe that this man, Joseph, is mentioned in connection with the end of his life. In spite of all that surrounded him in Egypt, he was concerned about the promises of God concerning the return of his people to the land of Canaan. You remember, Joseph was 17 years old when he went to Egypt. And he was 30 years old when he was promoted to the second place of responsibility in the land of Egypt.
So he spent 13 years under the influence of pagan Egyptian culture, and he lived in Egypt until his death at the age of 110. But he never forgot who he was. and where he belonged. Despite the fact that his palaces and his great riches were all in Egypt. And even though his great achievements were in Egypt, The earthly monuments to his wisdom and skill in saving the nation from famine, Joseph knew that his future lay with the promises of God.
And if Joseph could not live there in life, He wanted to go there in death. And he told them, Don't you leave my bones in Egypt. You go get my bones and you carry them up out of here and you take them to the promised land with you when you leave. Can you imagine that Joseph's bones were a testimony to his faith? What a story this is.
We'll have more of it when we get together tomorrow. I hope you'll join us then. We are excited about what God is doing at Turning Point. And recently, I've been trying to remind our friends over the border in Canada how much we care for them and how much we feel privileged to be able to teach the word of God in that great nation. We have a board there and recently had a wonderful meeting and were reminded of some of the struggles with the postal strike and all of that.
But we just want you to know we care about you. And when you give money to Turning Point, it doesn't come here. It goes to Turning Point Canada. And there the bills from Canada are paid and your resources are used to help us reach your nation. Thank you for your gifts and thank you for your investment.
And keep listening because we're going to keep teaching as long as God gives us breath. Thank you so much for listening to Turning Point today. Don't forget to join us tomorrow right here on this good station. I'm David Jeremiah. God bless you.
For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Faith, visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. Or call us at 800-947-1993.
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Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Ordinary People: Extraordinary Faith on Turning Point.
