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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
God can raise the dead |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Heb 11:17-19 |
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God, who created the heaven and earth with His Word, and has been working even to this time, can do everything. When anyone who believes this and keeps His Words, God solves all his problems, for God works by his faith.
The reason our ascendants of faith in the Bible could be recognized by God is that they obeyed God’s Word in any circumstances without counting on their own thoughts. Especially, Abraham, surely believed that God would raise the dead. He proved his faith before God with his action. So he was called to be ’the father of faith’.
1. Abraham who believed in God Almighty
Hebrews 11:19 says, "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead." It shows how much Abraham believed in God Almighty.
What does it mean by that he surely believed in God? He believed in God and depended everything on Him in his life. Namely he believed that life or death and blessing belong to God. So he entirely obeyed God’s Words. We will look at how he could have perfect faith in three steps.
First of all, he obeyed God by the faith without doubt.
When he was 75 years old, God promised, "You will be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse." God commanded him, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you."
Even though he did not know where he could go, he obeyed and left. By this he showed his faith before God(Hebrews 11:8).
If we also believe in God Almighty, we should obey God’s will. We should be able to leave everything we have accomplished with the faith that God can give back much better and greater things to us.
Abraham could obey God’s Words because he surely believed God’s promise that he would be the source of blessing.
Secondly, he believed God who has the control over woe and blessing.
He obeyed God’s Word, left his country and once went to Egypt to get away from famine. There he experienced God’s work that changed woe to blessing. His wife Sarah was so beautiful that she was taken into Pharaoh’s palace(Genesis 12:14-15).
Pharaoh treated him well for her sake and Abraham received sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. But they were not more precious than his beloved wife. God didn’t leave him driven to the wall. God inflicted a disaster on Pharaoh and made him know she was Abraham’s wife.
Abraham did not only get his wife back, but also got much wealth. So he could realize that God had said, "You will be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse."
So he could get a greater faith. He surely knew God could bless or curse. He depended on God all the time.
As Abraham was blessed and his possessions were great, so was his nephew Lot who was staying with him. They couldn’t stay together any more and a quarrel arose between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. So Abraham said to Lot, "Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left."(Genesis 13:8-9) Lot left for the good land at first.
For Abraham believed God Almighty, he could give his nephew a chance to select first.
At that time, Abraham and Lot lived a nomadic life. So water was a very important factor. But Abraham already knew if he always did good and worked faithfully he could get blessing.
How did God blessed Abraham who yielded good land to his nephew?
Genesis 13:14-17 says, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
For he believed God who controls over woes and blessings and carried out good deeds, he could get great blessing.
Thirdly, he had a faith in God who controls over Life and Death.
When he left his country, God said to him, "I will make you into a great nation." God also promised later, ’I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth.’ But he could not get a child for a long time. Why, then, didn’t God give blessing of descendant to him yet? God of course knew Abraham’s faith, but He wanted him to show his faith accompanied by action.
He thought Eliezer to be his heir, but God said to him, "A son coming from your own body will be your heir." He encouraged him saying, ’Your offspring will be countless like stars at the heavens.’ Even God gave new name ’Abraham’(It means a father of many nations) to Abram and ’Sarah’(It means a mother of many nations) to Sarai.
When he was 99 years old, God said he would get a child at the age of 100. The next year, when he was 100, and his wife Sarah was 90, he got his son Issac.
Romans 4:18 says, "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ’So shall your offspring be.’" What we cannot get in reality can be acquired with faith. Romans 4:19-22 say, "Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." So he surely came to know God had the power to give life or take it.
2. Abraham who became a blessing with doing of faith.
But it was not perfect faith for Abraham to show his faith before God. God commanded him that he would sacrifice his son Issac as a burnt offering in Genesis 22:1-2. God promised him that his descendant would be countless as stars at the heavens and the sand on the seashore. His son Issac he got at the age of 100 was more precious than his life. But God commanded him to sacrifice his son to as a burnt offering.
Abraham didn’t complain of it at all, and obeyed His Word. He took Issac to the place God had told him. He built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar of the wood.
Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. At that moment, God sent his angel to him and told him not to touch his son(Genesis 22:11).
The reason why he could obey God’s word was that he surely believed "God would raise the dead" and he believed in God’s Word, "A son coming from your own body will be your heir."
Abraham believed that even if he sacrificed his son Issac God would bring him back to life again to accomplish His promise. Now he could more certainly believe that God is the one who could bring a person completely dead back to life again.
God said to him, "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."(Genesis 22:12) Therefore, he could get a perfect faith before God.
Dear brother and sisters,
Genesis 24:1 says, "Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way." As a result of Abraham’s faithful action, that he counted on God in everything, God blessed him in his everything. James 2:23 says, "And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God’s friend." He could get many other blessings for he surely believed God Almighty.
May God bless you all in the name of Jesus Christ that you also will have a perfect faith before God as Abraham and be successful and prosperous in every way. |
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