Okay, everyone, please take your Bibles now and turn with me to the book of Hebrews. And today we are going to read a few verses from the 11th chapter, the chapter that deals with faith. We are right now moving forward towards the end of the book of Hebrews. And it is so interesting that when we study such a book and such a chapter, We can learn so much from what happened to the first early believers of first century. The lesson that they had to learn as believers in Yeshua the Messiah and the Lord Jesus the Messiah. The verses that I want to read today are very few.

In fact, I might not read even all what I want to share with you today. I'm first of all going to read three verses. Hebrews 11 and the verses 20, 21 and 22. Let's just read those three verses. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith Joseph or Yosef when he died he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and he gave commandment concerning his bones and i'll pause here and i'll stop with the reading at this moment because we might not even cover more than those three verses and if we can will continue from verse 23 to verse 29 talking about the faith of Moses of Moshe now remember that we are in the book of Hebrews and Hebrews is a letter that had been written by the apostle in order to encourage Hebrew believers of first century because of the challenges that they were facing they were going through persecution they were going through perhaps a time of difficult because of the fact that they did not know how to behave.

The temple was existing. Yeshua came and he died for them and they believed on him. But they were inclining to go back into the system that had been finished at the coming of the Messiah. And all kind of things like that. Maybe they have lost lands that they owned because they've been outcast by their own brethren like we have already in the beginning of the book of Acts. So the book of Hebrews were written to those early Hebrew believers to encourage them, but also to warn them. To warn them because of the danger they have had to go back to that which had been fulfilled in the person of the Messiah and to neglect to follow after the Lord Jesus the Messiah.

So the whole book was written with five warnings that they had received. One after another to challenge them to continue following after the Messiah so when we have arrived now to the 11th chapter of Hebrews what we find a complete chapter with 40 verses without to mention one time new testament individual and all the names that are mentioned in Hebrews 11 are either Hebrews or some individuals that became believers in the God of Israel in the past history of the nation and you notice that as we have covered from the beginning from the time that we have read in chapter 11 and the theme is faith what is faith faith is the substance of things hopeful and the evidence of things which are not seen that's what the writer is telling them that's what faith is and through faith and by faith believers throughout the ages continue to follow the Lord continue to follow the God of the Bible the God of Israel and you know you and I are in the same situation we also do not walk by sight.

But we walk by faith we need by the grace of God to continue to follow Yeshua the Messiah not because we see him not because we see things but simply believing the word of God what God says in his word and so we too oftentimes fall into condition that is not pleasing to the Lord we don't trust the Lord in many areas of our life we don't have faith enough in him in many areas of our life we often have no faith with regard to our jobs with regard to our family with regard to various situation health situation we simply find ourselves just like the Hebrews in a need of simply trusting the Lord and having faith in him and so chapter 11 is a total chapter that deal with the theme of faith and we talked about abel we talked about Enoch we talked about noah we talked about Abraham and sarah and now we have arrived finally to the children and the grandchildren and a great grandchildren of the first Hebrew namely Abraham our father and so notice the three.

Verses that I've read in chapter 11 verse 20 21 and 22 there are three men mentioned and interesting enough that the Bible mentioned only one event here in chapter 11 though their history was so rich in the Hebrew Scripture in the old testament in the Tanakh but the writer only pick up one event in their lives you notice it says and i'm reading by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and isa concerning things to come by faith Jacob when he was a dying blessed both of the sons of Joseph and he worshiped leaning upon the top of his staff by faith Joseph when he died made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones you notice that beloved brothers and sisters there is only mention one event in the life of each individual here in these three verses one event in the life of Isaac one event in the life of Jacob and one event in the life of Joseph now i'm going to zero in a little bit about those verses as we.

Move on but i want to point one thing in each and every one of our life and every person's life you know we became children of God at a certain point of our life maybe we were 20 years old or 15 years old or 10 years old or maybe 50 years old or 60 years old we became believers in Yeshua the Messiah from the time that we became believers in the Lord Jesus the Messiah until the time that the Lord is going to take us home God left us here to learn lessons in life to live for him in this world to seek to learn from Yeshua and to testify for Yeshua here in this world but we as we move on in our life as believers going through many changes and many exercises in our lives sometimes we are faithful sometimes we are not sometimes we are living for the Lord and we give our life for the Lord and we trust him for everything we have and everything.

We possess and all our family situation but sometimes because there is a lack of belief there is a fear and maybe disappointments that come into our life we do not simply trust the Lord in those times that we don't give him the glory that he deserved. Well, it's the same thing in the life of our forefathers. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, their parents and grandparents, Abraham and Sarah and so on. They have been people just like us. And they also have gone through trials and difficult times in their lives. You know, there's so much to tell in the Bible about Yitzchak, about Isaac we can read about him in chapter 27 and earlier when he was born and you remember the story of the life of Isaac but God have chosen to teach us a lesson very important lesson about Isaac here in verse 20 and look what he is telling us about Isaac he says by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and issa concerning things to come now listen to this beloved brothers and sisters.

We read here in the Bible that by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and issa concerning the future day concerning things that were going to come in the future day now do you remember the story of Isaac when Isaac's life he was a man of peace actually he was a man that we read about him that he made peace he did not go through a lot of trials and problems in his life he was a man that in comparison to Jacob and to Abraham there was not as much written about him in the Old Testament but he was a man of peace who sought to live for God but we discover at the later part of his life when he was ready to leave this scene when he was ready to die and he was ready to go back to his people as we read it in the old testament we find out something about Isaac that we didn't learn all along i want you to turn to Genesis chapter 27 for a moment i want you to just go back to Genesis.

Chapter 27 i want you to see what we read there about Isaac Genesis chapter 27 we read this about Isaac that we didn't learn or we didn't hear so much or we didn't think about Isaac when we read the story of his life in chapter 27 we read this and it came to pass when Isaac was old verse 1 and his eyes were dim so that he could not see and he called Esau his eldest son and he said unto him my son and he said unto him behold here am I and he said behold now I'm old and I know not the day of my death now therefore take I pray thee thy weapons thy quiver and thy bow and go out to the field and take me some venison and make me savory meat such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat and that my soul may bless thee before I die those are first four verses of Genesis chapter 27 tells us so much about Isaac you see Isaac when he had gotten older as he moved.

On in his life we find out that he built a relationship with his eldest son isa and not as much with his youngest son who was actually the same age because they were twins by the name of Jacob. Esau was very dear to the heart of Isaac, but Jacob was not in the same way as close to his father as Esau. Jacob was actually in far more communication with his mother than Esau, and Esau was so much more connected to his father and not as much to his mother. And when Isaac got to the age and to the time when he was ready to leave this scene he called his oldest son and he says son i want you to take your ammunition and i want you to go to the field and i want you to kill an animal and i want you to make for me such food as i love that i will bless you isa you know that it says in Verse 4, make me savory such as I love.

Bring it to me that I may eat and my soul will bless you before I die. We learn very quickly here, beloved, that Isaac was not really in a proper will of God at that stage of his life. Isaac, who should have known very well from what happened when the two boys were born, that the elder will serve the younger, Isaac still did not have or did not allow God to have his mind and his will in his life. And so what does he do? He called his oldest son Esau and he wanted to give him the blessing of the firstborn son. And in doing that, he violated the will of God.

And so what we find out, that God had to allow some interference to come in. He allows something to happen here in the story of chapter 27. We learn what actually happened. His wife, Rebecca, heard what happened there. And you remember the story, beloved brothers and sisters, what his wife said to him. She said, immediately she called her son, Jacob. And she said, Jacob, Jacob, I heard what your father, he was going to bless your brother. You, Jacob, go. You take, quickly go, and I will make for you food ready so that your father will be eating it and he will bless you rather than he will bless Esau with the firstborn rites of the blessings.

And you notice what happened. The wife did not tell the husband what happened. She sent the son. Neither the brother nor the father knew anything about what's going to happen. She prepared the food. She put upon her son Jacob the hairy skin of the animal. And she told Jacob, here is the food and you go to your father and you tell your father that you are Esau, his son. And what we find out, beloved brothers and sisters, that Jacob ended up lying to his father. And that Rebecca ended up lying to her husband. Esau ended up going out trying to take the birthright that he sold, Which we read about it earlier in the book of Genesis.

And Isaac was not in the will of God at this time at all. And look what the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 20. By faith, Isaac blessed, notice the order, blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. You see what Isaac had to learn at the end of his life? That he had to let go and let God. This is exactly when you and I need to learn in our lives as well as we trust the Lord in our lives. To let go and let God take control of our lives. Isaac was planning to give Esau the firstborn right, blessing, which was actually belonged to Jacob.

How do we know that? When the babies were born, and even before they were born, you remember they were in the belly of their mother, Rebekah, and they were struggling inside. And she went to the Lord, and she asked the Lord about this. We read it in chapter 25, the book of Genesis. And the Lord said to Rebekah, there are two nations in your womb. There are two people in your womb. And they are struggling with each other. And he says, the elder will serve the younger. It is the younger that I've chosen to be a blessing to this world through. It's not the elder. But you see what Isaac did.

Isaac, who have known that. And I'm sure he had known that because his wife had let him know that God had in mind to have Jacob lead. And through him, the blessings we come to this world. And not through Esau, but Isaac at the last days of his life, eventually believed God's word. And as we read here, by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. And you know when he blessed them when he was old and ready to die. It teaches us that though he had experience of life and challenges in life, really what God looked upon, the fact that he finally released, He finally allowed God to have his ways with him.

He had his own plan, and God had another plan. He had his own agenda, and God had his own agenda. And isn't it true, beloved brothers and sisters, with you and I in our own life? God had a plan for you and I, and yet you and I have an agenda, a plan for ourselves. You know what we read in the Scriptures in the New Testament? That God, his own purposes has to work in our own life, not our own purposes, not our own plans. And we learn here, do you remember he's writing to the Hebrew believers? He's saying to them, listen, you need to let God lead you in your life because he has a plan and a purpose for you.

Look what happened to your forefather Isaac. He had his own plan but eventually by faith he blessed Jacob and he blessed Esau in the proper order concerning things to come you remember let me just read you what he said about the things to come that we read here in the book of Genesis chapter 27 look what we read when Isaac after he blessed Jacob look what he says in verse 18 he came to his father this Jacob came to his father and he said my father he said here am I and he said who are you my son and said I'm Esau thy firstborn I have done concerning what you have told me to do and then we're moving forward and we read in verse 26 and Isaac said unto him come near unto me and kiss me my son and he came near and he kissed him and he smelled the smell of his raiment and he blessed him and he said see the smell of my son is the smell of the field which the Lord had blessed therefore God give.

Thee the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and plenty of corn and wine and look what he says in verse 29 let people serve thee nations bow down to thee be Lord over thy brethren and let thy mother's sons bow down before thee cursed be everyone that curses thee and blessed be he that blesses thee look at a blessing that he gave initially he intended to give it to Esau But God allowed the intervening of Rebekah and Jacob and brought about what God had really intended for Jacob and not for Esau. But we find out, beloved brothers and sisters, in Hebrews 11, we don't read it so much in Genesis chapter 27, but in Hebrews 11 we find out that somehow out of this mess that have occurred in Genesis chapter 27, we find out that Isaac, by faith, have blessed Jacob and blessed Esau concerning things to come.

And at the last days of his life, he realized that God must have his way in the life of the people of God. And that God eventually will have his ways for his own people. He will have it in the life of Isaac. He will have it in the life of Jacob, but He will also have it in your life and in mine. Even though we sometimes, sadly so, have our own agendas and plans and desires, yet eventually everything will work according to His purpose. And so ask the Lord, and we need all of us to ask the Lord to help us, That as we live our lives here, that we will already at a younger age, we'll say, Lord, have thine own way in my life.

And don't allow me to have mine own way. Because we are always going to mess it up. And we're only going to go in the wrong direction if we will not have the Lord have his way with us. So the first man, beloved brothers and sisters, here in chapter 11 and verse 20 is Isaac. When he became old by faith he blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come now here's the second man look at the next man now we are talking about Yaakov and look what we read here it says here in verse 21 by faith Yaakov when he was a dying notice again we are talking about the man that at his last days of his life when he was a dying he blessed both the sons of Joseph and he worshiped leaning on the top of his staff now here is another interesting individual by the name of yakov we have a few yakovs here in our midst but yakov was an interesting person and Yaakov is actually a picture of me, a picture of us.

Yaakov of the Tanakh of the Old Testament is a picture of every one of us in this room, whether we have the name Yaakov or whether we don't have the name Yaakov. He had his own plans. He had his own agenda. We know it very well. You remember that? We read about Yaakov. He was a man that all his life, he made his own plans, like you and I, like us. He was trying to work things out in his own way. You remember he started, we read already, by buying the birthright from Esau. You remember when Esau was very hungry and Yaakov exchanged with him a little bowl of soup for the birthright.

What a deal. He's exchanged. He said, you take soup or something to eat and I'm going to get the right, the blessings of the birthright. What a deal. I mean, it's not even an even deal. He was thinking. He was planning. He had a plan. He had a program like you and I. You remember later on, we find out that was, we just read in Genesis chapter 27. He came before his father and his father asked him, who are you? And he says, I'm your son, Esau. He's standing before his father and he's telling his father that he is the other son his father was blind and then later on you remember what happened he had ended up and he had fled away and he lost he never seen his mother anymore and when he got to another country to another land you remember to the land we read about it in the book of Genesis a little bit later on in chapter 28 and so on, you have gotten to his uncle by the name of Laban who was far more trickier than him.

And you remember what Laban did to him. He says, you work and you're going to get this daughter of mine, Rachel. So he works very hard, Jacob, to get Rachel. And guess what happened at the night where he was supposed to receive his wife? He has somebody that tricked him far more than what he did to his father and to his brother he came at night and instead of finding Rachel he found Leah and he tricked him his uncle and later on his uncle made him work another seven years and then he finally got Rachel and then he worked another seven years he had his plan of his own and now we find out he had to leave his family because of his mischiefs and so on he tried to bargain with God on the way you remember when he went on the way in battle he said if you will bless me then i'm going to give you 10 percent and then we move on in the life of Jacob and we see that Jacob had been living a life not.

Necessarily a life that was pleasing to God in every form and shape but when he got to the last days of his life look what we learn about him and brothers and sisters let's not look at Jacob let looks at ourselves and see Jacob there how many times we have our own agenda and plans and so on and God says listen i have a plan for you i have a direction for your life and we have our own agenda and our own plans and God eventually is going to get his own way with his own people and we find out in verse 21 that by faith Jacob when he was dying listen that the last days of his life what does he do he blessed both the sons of Joseph and he worshiped leaning upon the top of his staff you notice what happened you remember what happened when he was blessing the two sons of Joseph you remember Joseph brought the two sons when he was getting old and Joseph assuming you.

Know his father Jacob does not see clearly and we find that Jacob reversed his hands and he blessed the younger and gave him the blessing of the firstborn if i'm in menashe because at the end of his life he submitted to the authority of the Lord at the end of his life eventually he really recognized God's plan and not his own beloved brothers and sisters this is so real in our own life we know it very well that we have our own plans and agenda in our own life and God have his plan for each and every one of us individually and collectively and he must get his way and all the time that we spend wandering around looking for places and looking for peace and looking for direction in our life we find out that unless we let God and let go and let God we eventually going in circles and God will have his purposes done with the people which belong unto him and you remember when he got old he said to Pharaoh you remember the statement we read in.

Genesis chapter 48 and on he says to Pharaoh that his life was not like the life of his forefathers he admitted before Pharaoh when Pharaoh asked him how old are you Jacob and you remember what he answered Pharaoh he says the life that i live did not attain to the life of my forefathers there were few and evil were my life he said and he was referring to his forefathers who walked with the Lord and so on and Jacob himself had to learn this lesson the necessity to recognize God's plan in the life of Jacob and his descendants and so by faith at the end of his life when he was a dying he blessed both the sons of Joseph and he worshiped and he worshiped leaning on the top of his staff it tells us that he was at the end of his life when he gave way to God and he said God whatever gonna happen gonna happen you are the one that have a plan for our.

Lives for our children like you have had a plan for our forefathers you have a plan for our children and so he blessed Joseph's sons his grandchildren and he gave the blessing for the firstborn to Ephraim the eldest one and Manasseh he had given him the blessing as a second born and we see in In these verses, they are so amazing, you know, so profound. How would we find out what's so important here that He blessed them when He was old? Why is it so important? The important here, beloved brothers and sisters, is that they have learned it when they were old and they finally gave way to God.

Not my will, but thine be done, they have really said in these last days of their life. And is it not the same with Joseph? Go down to the next verse we are here in the next verse in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 28 and look what we read here it says by faith Joseph when he died again you notice when he died when they died when they were old it's the last moments of their lives when he died he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and he gave commandment concerning his bones see Joseph was different than Isaac and Jacob in many ways Joseph had a right perspective of life and right perspective of death and resurrection Joseph throughout his life we can see him That he really was a man that had lived for God and depended upon God throughout his life.

Though we know he was a sinner like every other people, but we don't read of any lapse in his life, in the life of Joseph. He trusted God at his youth, in his own home. You remember that? When his father made him the coat of many stripes, because his father loved him. And the other brethren you remember his brethren were very jealous of him but Joseph obeyed his father he lived in a way that was pleasing to God and pleasing to his father we read it in Genesis chapter 37 he also trusted God when he was sold do you remember when his brethren were so upset with him and envious over him they sold him to the ishmaelite to the Midianites and they went and they took him down to Egypt.

What a sad experience of life when your own brothers, your own flesh and blood put you in a pit and take you out of the pit and selling you to Egypt, to the Egyptians and lying to their father and saying that an animal have killed him, taking his garment and showing this to his own father. Joseph trusted God in a difficult situation such as this in his life. And you know, when I think about this, I'm thinking about the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who was also sold, my familiar friend, he says, with whom I have walked into the house of the Lord, have betrayed me.

You remember Judah, Yehudah, who sold the Messiah for 30 pieces of silver. And then went and he hung himself when he realized the mistake that he had made. And he sold him with a kiss. And you remember the Garden of Gethsemane, we read that Jesus saying to Judah, Do you betray me with a kiss, Judah? He kissed him and he marked him for the leaders to come and to take him and to arrest him. Take him to the high priest, to Caiaphas and eventually to Pilate and eventually to be crucified. If there's anybody can understand the selling of one the betrayal of one is the Lord Jesus the Messiah can understand that Joseph was sold by his brethren yet he trusted God in this experience beloved sometimes you and i might feel betrayed by believers disappointed by believers and yet we are exhorted to trust the Lord in every experience in every situation and look what we read about also about him he also trusted God when he was a slave in Egypt do you remember that when potiphar bought him and purchased him from the ishmaelite from the midianite and he became a slave in the home of potiphar he trusted God through this experience everything he touched was a blessing everything he handled was a blessing to the home of potiphar and the whole family the whole people there Joseph was with God and God was with Joseph God led him and encourage him and sustain him you remember what happened to the life of Joseph after when potiphar's wife sought to sleep with Joseph and Joseph says i'm not going to do that and you.

Remember what happened to him when his wife told potiphar that this man sought to do this to me and potiphar took him and put him in prison and you remember how he was in prison he was still a a man of God who trusted God and waited on him and trusted him and he brought blessing to all the prison there and eventually he was the one that revealed dreams and eventually he have lifted up one and the other had been his head had been lifted up the baker and the butler that we read about in the book of Genesis in the life of Joseph what a man he was he trusted God as a slave he trusted God as a prisoner and he trusted God as a ruler of Egypt.

He was still a man of God. But the book of Hebrews doesn't tell us anything about that. Not one word about all this great history of Joseph look what it says in verse 22 by faith Joseph when he died just like his father Jacob when he died just like his grandfather Isaac when he was a dying when he died he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and he gave commandment concerning his bones interesting you would ask yourself the question immediately when you read such a verse he says what in the world the writer of Hebrews is telling us here what does he try to communicate to his Hebrew brethren in first century well beloved look what he's trying to say he's trying to say to us simply this that Joseph had the right perspective of life death and resurrection Joseph looked at everything from God's viewpoint if God allowed me to be sold by my brethren i will trust him if God allowed me to be purchased by another nation and to be slave them Then I will trust Him.

I will believe and I will trust Him. If God allow me to be in prison. I will trust Him. And if God put me at the pinnacle of this nation. And make me second to fail. I will also trust Him. And live for Him. And now when I'm dying. I know that there is a future. I know that one day there is the resurrection i know that one day God is going to establish the messianic kingdom and we restore the nation of Israel we restore his Hebrew people to himself when he was dying he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel out of Egypt you remember he told in Genesis chapter 50 he told his own brethren he says one day will come and you will leave this land and you are going to come to the promised land let me read you these verses in Genesis chapter 50 verse 24 and Joseph said unto his brethren i die but God will surely visit you and he will bring you out of this land unto the land which he swore unto avram Yitzhak and Yaakov Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel and he says God will surely visit you and you shall carry my bones from this place so Joseph died being 110 years old and they embalmed him and he was put into a coffin in the.

Land of Egypt look at the wonderful statements at the end of the life of Joseph you will be taken away you will be brought into the promised land and you will carry my bones because there is a resurrection and i will be resurrected in the promised land the land of Canaan the land that God that promised Abraham Isaac and Jacob his people what a lesson beloved brothers and sisters that we learn here he trusted God's promises for the future of his people Israel he had proper perspective concerning life death and resurrection and that's why we read this in Hebrews chapter 11 about yourself by faith Joseph when he died he mentioned the departing of the children of Israel and he gave commandments concerning his own bones now i'm going to stop with this i'm not going to to move to the next one but i want to just wrap this up with this statement or two every one of us here today who is a believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah we are on a journey.

Like the Hebrews and like the man of faith that we read in Hebrews chapter 11 you and i also make decisions in life you and i also going through exercises in life maybe sickness maybe problem with family, maybe problem with jobs, maybe problem with other areas of our lives, financial problems. Every one of us make decisions in our life here and now. And every time we are exhorted by the Lord to make decisions for Him. The question is, are we doing so? The question is, are we submitting to the Lord's authority in our own life do we trust him do we believe what he said the time i have to admit and you have to admit we don't because the flesh hey its weakness is rising up and yet we are exhorted by the Lord to trust him i think of a verse that i've just read this morning a book of Proverbs that we often don't practice Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6 trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path it was salomon who already said it to Israel many years ago trust in the Lord with all your heart don't lean Unto your own understanding In all thy ways Acknowledge God And he is going to direct you upon What we learn from these three men That we are just the same like them There is a time in our life That we are living for the Lord And trusting the Lord But there are times in our life.

That we don't And we have our own agenda And our own plan But the ultimate answer here Is that eventually God's purposes and plans will come to pass he will bring about everything that he had planned in mind for you and for me and it is far better for us to submit to him today to be more like Joseph to submit to him in our life today so our life will be in tune with the purposes of God in our own life all these three men the mentioning about them in Hebrews chapter 11 was at the last days of their lives where they had eventually to let go and let God and we learned that eventually by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future By faith, Jacob blessed the two sons of Joseph concerning things to come.

By faith, Joseph mentioned what's going to happen to Israel. Because things in the future will come to pass. And the purposes of God will ultimately be the ones that will come to pass. And may the Lord also help us to desire the plan of God to be His plan to be established in our lives and not our own plan. Because our own plans are doomed to fall. Eventually we will not succeed when we don't let God have control of our own life. May the Lord help us, and bless us, and lead us, and teach us, and cause us to be subject to His own will.

Can you say Amen to that? Amen.