Calvary Road Baptist Church
“DECLARE PLAINLY”
Hebrews 11.14
This message will be topical. My goal will be to both encourage and explain to parents, grandparents, and parents to be, how to both consistently and persistently evangelize children, other family members, and loved ones by pointing out something that is so obviously in plain biblical sight that it is a practice and attitude that has gone mostly missing in our day.
I begin by directing your attention to Hebrews 11.14, where the writer of the letter summarized the elders of the Old Testament, explicitly mentioning Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara as examples of living by faith, dying in faith, not having received the promises they clung to, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. What did they confess in so many words? How does the writer to the Hebrews summarize the testimonies of those prominent Old Testament individuals who lived by faith? Verse 14 declares,
“For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.”
This is not a verse that is familiar to most who read the Bible, and certainly not to those who do not read the Bible, so let me offer the briefest of explanations of what characterized the faith walk of those notable Old Testament examples of the life of faith and the pursuit of a place in eternity. From Hebrews 11.13, we observe that those named individuals who walked by faith were promised, had not received what they were promised by the time they died, but were nevertheless persuaded, embraced, and confessed (ὁmologέw, the same word is found in First John 1.9), that based upon those promises they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
In other words, their faith relationship with God included promises made but not yet realized, promises that they believed, embraced, and talked about, which resulted in them being different from everyone else. Unlike everyone else on earth, the general population, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara were among those described as strangers and pilgrims on the earth who were blessed by a faith relationship with God.
This corresponds to First Peter 2.11, where the apostle wrote to those identified as being
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”
What did Peter write to those first-century believers in Christ?
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”
Thus, the relationship with God that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara had is the same relationship you and I have who are Christians. It is a faith relationship, which simultaneously results in us being foreigners in this world and being different from everyone else who is not justified by faith. Not sinless, mind you. But very, very different. Different in lifestyle and different in destiny.
Perhaps the difference between Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara of old and you is that they believed, embraced, and talked about God’s promises and their position with God and with the world. Do you do that? Do you talk about it? They confessed it. Do you? I wonder. Psalm 107.2:
“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.”
Shift gears with me, if you will. Remember that Ishmael was Abraham’s first son, his mother being the Egyptian woman Hagar. Granting that Abraham’s liaison with Hagar was wrong, there is no doubt that Abraham loved his son, Ishmael. The problem, of course, was the conflict between Sarah and Hagar over Ishmael, who was born when Abraham was eighty-six years old.[1] When Abraham was one hundred years old Sarah delivered Isaac.[2] Isaac arrived some fourteen years after Ishmael was born. Ishmael’s dad was eighty-six years old when he was born. Isaac’s dad was one hundred when he was born. Who do you think was dad’s favorite, the teenager he knew and had interacted with for over ten years or the infant? The one born first or the one born second?
The conflict between Sarah and Hagar festered so they could no longer live in the same household. Therefore, God decided Hagar and Ishmael had to go despite Abraham’s love for Ishmael because Isaac was the son of promise.[3] God left Abraham no choice concerning the two sons, with God’s promise concerning Isaac taking precedence over Abraham’s likely preference for his oldest son.[4]
Let us now reflect on Isaac’s relationship with his two sons, Jacob and Esau. Allow me to condense the narrative so that I might point out one particular characteristic of Jacob and Esau’s relationship with their father. Before the twins were born to Rebekah, she entreated the LORD and was told that the second of the twins to be delivered would be granted prominence by God, with the first to be born serving the younger, Genesis 25.23. The problem with that was that Isaac, the father, came to favor the firstborn more than he favored the second of the twins. He preferred Esau to Jacob, despite the word of the LORD that declared God’s determination to favor Jacob over Esau. Both sons were nasty, with Esau being profane and denigrating the importance of his father’s blessing and Jacob being a scheming conniver and liar.
The Bible tells us how God overruled Isaac’s preferential treatment of Esau, with Jacob receiving the blessing, and Isaac ended up living out his old age with Jacob and not Esau.[5] Thus, we have two examples of fathers, both godly men, who did not display good judgment regarding their sons, favoring the ungodly over the godly for understandable but unjustifiable reasons.
Yet another example is King David. Is it not incredible that the sweet psalmist of Israel, such a wonderful servant of God, such a grand warrior for God, such a leader of men, such a king, would prove to be an abysmal failure in life as a husband and father? Yet there is no disputing it. How many wives? Yet he took another man’s wife and took that other man’s life to cover his sin.
How his children must have reacted to such betrayal of God, David’s own family, and his mighty man, Uriah, by taking his wife before taking his life. What credibility David forfeited as a dad, husband, and nation’s leader by such behavior. We could spend weeks detailing David’s parental failures and the consequences, from the rape of his daughter Tamar to the rape by his son Amnon to the revenge murder by Absalom to the rebellion against David’s rule by Absalom.
What folly he exhibited when those loyal to David defeated the rebellion led by his son Absalom when he learned of Absalom’s death. David’s mourning for the end of his son, the traitor, was a betrayal of those who risked their lives to preserve his life. So despicable was David’s outrageous emotional display that his general, who was his nephew, Joab, strongly rebuked King David, at the risk of his own life, for what he had done.
Second Samuel 19.5-6 records part of what Joab said to King David:
5 And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines;
6 In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well.
I have pointed out three examples of fathers who displayed poor judgment by showing favoritism, in these cases, fathers to sons, that bore little relationship to spirituality and the promises of God. Abraham knew Isaac was the child of promise, not Ishmael. Isaac knew Jacob was the child of promise, not Esau. And David knew Solomon was to succeed him as king, certainly not Absalom. Some mothers favor their sons over their daughters, and an endless array of adults whose relationships with their children reflect in no way their children’s relationship with God. I find it astonishing that some Christian moms have a tighter relationship with unsaved daughters than Christian daughters, and Christian dads favor lost sons over believing sons.
Why did Abraham do what he did? Why did Isaac do what he did? Why did David do what he did? Why is an athletic son who is lost favored over a sister who is a believer? Why is a Christian dad wholly invested in his more intelligent and more accomplished lost son while barely tolerating his duller and struggling son, who is a believer? Why do even Christian moms and dads prefer their Gospel-rejecting children and family members over brothers and sisters in Christ who are fellow Church members?
It is an age-old problem if Malachi 3.18 is to be observed because God’s people frequently do not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. Abraham did not. Isaac did not. David did not. Thankfully, God intervened in their lives. He does not always intervene.
I suggest we take a step back. I propose we broaden our perspective. There are some lessons from Hebrews 11.14, from other parts of the Bible, and the example set by Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara. In several cases, the examples they set were implemented only after God intervened, such as with Abraham and Isaac.
Are you ready for your world to be rocked? Three considerations for your improvement as a Christian, as a spouse, as a parent, and perhaps as a grandparent:
First, SOME RELATIONSHIPS ARE ETERNAL, WHILE OTHERS ARE TEMPORARY
Our romantic sentimentality sometimes supposes that married couples who live out their lives and then pass on to eternity live in marital bliss for all eternity. “And so, they lived happily ever after.” However, we who believe the Bible know that is not true, do we not?
On that occasion, the resurrection-denying Sadducees spoke to the Lord about the woman who married seven brothers in turn, each husband dying without siring a child, Luke 20.27-38. The question was whose wife would she be in the resurrection since none of her husbands fathered a child?
The Lord pointed out that marriage establishes an in-this-world-only relationship, a temporary relationship between a husband and wife, Luke 20.34. Just as indeed, no blood relationship that exists in this world, parent to child, or sibling to sibling, will live in the hereafter.
The problem with Abraham before God corrected him, with Isaac before God corrected him, and with David, before God intervened was their error of misconstruing the strength of their feelings for a son with whom they had only a physical and in-this-world relationship while ignoring the significance of the eternal relationships God had established.
What does this mean? It means that when you die, your marriage is over. When your momma passes to eternity, she is not your mother anymore. You might refer to still-living siblings as brothers after you die, as the rich man who died did, Luke 16.28.
But the reality is that any relationship you have with another human being that is not bound up in your relationship with God is temporary and ends when you die or that other person dies. For a while, Abraham treated his relationship with Ishmael as if it was not temporary and would not come to an end. Then God stepped in. Isaac did the same with Esau before God stepped in. The same was true with David and Absalom, so long as he was alive.
Next, TEMPORARY RELATIONSHIPS ARE ESTABLISHED BY PEOPLE, WHILE ETERNAL RELATIONSHIPS ARE ESTABLISHED BY GOD
When two people marry, a temporary relationship is established that will end when one dies, in the best-case scenario. But it is a brief relationship. Sadly, divorce is another way in which the marriage relationship is terminated.
The same is true with two siblings. One sibling comes to be the product of their mother and father’s actions. Another sibling is the product of the same process, with brother-brother, sister-sister, or brother-sister relationships resulting from the parental activity.
However, upon the death of one, the relationship between the siblings ceases to exist. As with marriage, it was a relationship existing only during this life span, and there is no prospect of that relationship in the afterlife. If you die lost, you will lose your brother, sister, mom, and dad. The lost person spends eternity as an orphan, in one sense, and a child of the devil, in another sense.[6]
Not so with a relationship established by God, which is rightly termed the new birth, John 1.12-13. When one is born again and has eternal life, that relationship, established with God through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit and faith in Christ, is forever. You are, thereby, adopted into the family of God. God will forever be your Father, and Christians will forever be your brothers.
That means you are brother and sister with everyone else who has experienced the new birth, who is adopted into the family of God. Unlike every other relationship known to us, this relationship is eternal and never-ending.
Do you want your relationship with your Christian mom or dad never to end? Do you want your relationship with your Christian siblings never to end? The only way that relationship can be permanent is if God brings it into existence. If so, it will last forever.
Finally, YOUR DEALINGS WITH EVERYONE SHOULD REFLECT THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
For a time, Abraham’s dealings with Ishmael did not reflect Ishmael’s relationship with God. For a time, Isaac’s dealings with Esau did not reflect Esau’s relationship with God. God intervened and adjusted those relationships. For a time, David’s dealings with Absalom did not reflect Absalom’s relationship with God. God intervened and ended that relationship, as He sometimes does.
I do not deny that your relationship with your lost child is special and should be filled with love and affection. That child has been loaned to you by God for the duration of your mutual lives. But if that child passes into eternity without Christ, your relationship with that beloved child is over.
Then there are those with whom you will spend all eternity, who, like you, know Christ and share eternal life in Christ with you. Not suggesting you treat anyone poorly. How are you to treat them? Consider what Paul wrote to the Galatian congregations in Galatians 6.10:
“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
You have special duties, obligations, and responsibilities toward family members that you do not have for those not in your temporary, in this world only, family or clan. But what about the family of God, your forever family? Does this verse not show the preference to be shown to fellow believers? It does. Especially is from the word mάlista, meaning most of all, above all, particularly.[7]
There is also what Paul wrote to the Roman Christians in Romans 12.10:
“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another.”
Kindly affectioned refers to “authentically loving, tenderly devoted, full of tenderness.” With honor preferring one another refers to trying “to outdo one another in showing respect.”[8] Would anyone question that these verses are apostolic directives to supply preferential treatment for believers? Yet how many Christians give preferential treatment to flagrantly disobedient sinners because they feel sorry for them?
Here is what we learn about the people of faith identified in Hebrews 11.1-13 concerning their behavior in Hebrews 11.14, which reveals how those believers interacted with others. We are directed to show preferential treatment of believers over nonbelievers. Abraham, Isaac, and David did the opposite until God intervened. In misguided sympathy, we too often bend backward to display preferential treatment toward unsaved people. That is wrong. Some are motivated by feeling sorry for a preferred child. At other times, we embrace carnal preferences because of Abraham-like, Isaac-like, or David-like choices. Methinks Isaac preferred Esau because he was more manly than Jacob, even though Jacob’s personality was more reminiscent of Isaac’s than Esau’s was. And there is some evidence that David might have preferred Absalom because he was so very, very good-looking a lad.
Hebrews 11.14 informs us, however, that those named, including Abraham and Isaac after God corrected them, magnified differences they had previously minimized. Hebrews 11.14 reveals they had the pattern of declaring their destiny, which was not the destiny of their disobedient and profane children. This would be reflected in a modern Christian family having devotions, with dad or mom from time to time reminding the child, “This speaks of heaven for your mother and me. Sadly, son, this does not speak of your soul’s destiny so long as you are lost. I love you and am so sorry you do not know Jesus.”
And for Christian couples with grown children who are lost, this sentiment might be expressed in a remark like, “I was reminded of heaven in my Bible study last night. I was saddened that you and your kids do not know the Lord. Honey, I do not want to go to heaven without you.”
I previously quoted Psalm 107.2: “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so.” One of the distinguishing characteristics of a new Christian’s life, according to the Apostle Paul, is their work of faith. According to First Thessalonians 1.3, this contributes to other Christians knowing your election of God, verse 4.
While the work of faith certainly involves witnessing to others and seeking the salvation of the lost, Hebrews 11.14 suggests a somewhat more nuanced approach than Paul provided to the Thessalonians. While we imagine witnessing as the proclamation of the Gospel and exhorting people to turn to Christ, telling folks what they should do to be saved, what the elders are shown in Hebrews to have done was different.
What Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara did in their proclamations was to “declare plainly that they seek a country.” In other words, Abraham seems not to have told Ishmael what he ought to do but declared to Ishmael what he was doing. Isaac seems not to have told Esau what he ought to do but declared to Esau what he was doing.
And what was the confession of the named elders? “I am going somewhere you cannot go in your present condition. I have a destiny that awaits me that is not the destiny that awaits you. Where I am going, you cannot go in your present condition, with your present relationship with God. I like you. I love you. But I will leave you to go where you cannot follow unless and until you repent and come to faith in Christ.”
I am not aware of many Christian moms and dads having conversations like that with their unsaved adult children. Yet this is what our text suggests, and I commend it to you for consideration, reflection, meditation, and prayer.
“You don’t go to Church because you are offended? Seriously? So, because you have been offended by him and she and they, and I do not deny their wrongdoing, you are determined to burn in Hell for all eternity and set the example your children are likely to follow? I am a child of God and anticipate an eternity of bliss and satisfaction with my Lord in heaven. I sure do hope you, too, will come with me.”
To summarize our text, the elders named in Hebrews 11 repeatedly, the word “say” referring to continually saying, always telling those around them where they were headed. Doing that can either end a lousy conversation or initiate a good conversation.
Do you want to keep the Gospel before your lost loved ones the way Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sara did? Then tell them, and keep telling them, and do not stop telling them where you are headed. Rather than trying to tell those who at heart are rebellious what they ought to do, tell them in conversation what you are doing, remind them from time to time where you are going, and keep before them how you will spend eternity.
This is far better than pretending to yourself that you are doing God a favor and being a blessing to your lost loved one by getting along with them so wonderfully. If that had been the case with Abraham, why did God intervene? If that had been the case with Isaac, why did God intervene? If that had been the case with David, why did God intervene?
Your relationships with others should never be unkind or lacking in love. But neither should those relationships be delusional. The eternal relationships are the best; you should enjoy them as much as God makes possible. The temporary relationships will end when one of you dies, so what you can do before that happens is to keep the Gospel before that lost person, according to the pattern of Hebrews 11.14.
That is my recommendation if you are serious about seeing your lost loved one someday turn to Christ. So you are not burdened with the guilt of neglect for failing to risk your loved one’s goodwill by faithfully representing the Savior. Better God is happy with you forever for witnessing than your lost child comfortable with you for a short season for not witnessing.
__________
[1] Genesis 16.16
[2] Genesis 21.5
[3] Galatians 4.28
[4] Genesis 21.9-18
[5] Genesis 25.33; 27.23-29; Hebrews 12.16
[6] John 8.44
[7] Bauer, Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), page 613.
[8] Rogers, Jr., Cleon L. and Rogers III, Cleon L., The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key To The Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1998), page 339.
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