New Salem Baptist Church

Changing our Mind

Nov 10, 2024

Read Hebrews 11:8-16.

The apostle Paul, who the early church affirmed as the author of this letter, is reviewing the evocations of faith – what faith does in us—by showing us what it did for great people of faith in times past. Last week I used the term invocation rather than evocation, which maybe is not as accurate but sounds better!

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.^[1]

God spoke to Abraham. Remember that last week we saw that faith is predicated upon what God has said. It’s not a feeling. First, God called Abraham to leave Ur and only said that God would show him later where he would be going. Abraham didn’t even know where he was going until he got to Haran, a town far from where he started.

Sometimes God calls you to go somewhere or do something and you are not even sure where it is or what exactly to do. But you proceed on faith. For Abraham this would have been more difficult than today. Just to travel to Haran was 600 miles. This would have taken many weeks, if not months. He would have had to bring enough food for he and his family to last that long. But the more supplies he brought along, the slower the travel.

God then told Abraham to go to Canaan. God was only showing him the land that he would inherit. Even though Abraham spent the rest of his life in Canaan he never inherited the land.

⁹ By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.^[2]

When Abraham got to the promised land he lived in tents. Now Abraham was wealthy, did he not perceive, along with his son, the superiority of a house to a tent? Isn’t it better to have a settled place rather than perpetual wandering? A tent is subject to varying temperatures according to the season. A house is warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. A tent is not the best place to live when it’s windy or rainy. A house is safer.

The reason Abraham and his family lived in tents was because they knew that they were not to inherit the land yet. Abraham was looking forward to a city that was not of this earth at that time.

See the two things to which Abraham looked forward: the land as an inheritance and a city built by God. Whether he understood that these promises would come in the same age or whether they would be separate, we do not know. The fact that these things happen in two different ages would not be revealed clearly until the New Testament.

Abraham and the other possessors of faith were content to live as wanderers on the earth, waiting for the resurrection. And so must we. We can possess a house and land, of course, but our hope and expectation is not for these. It is for the kingdom to come and the heavenly city. These are our vision and our hope.

We must see ourselves as strangers and exiles on this earth. We are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth and a heavenly city that will come from heaven to the earth.

The heavenly city is described in Revelation 21. It is radiant and beautiful. And, it is unimaginably big! It is 1,400 miles lengthwise, 1,400 miles widthwise, and 1,400 miles in height. There are no known building materials nor foundation that could support a structure 1,400 miles high. In fact, the height of one half-mile is the tallest structure that we can build. The weight and pressure becomes too great beyond that. This proves that the city must be built by God and not man. Also, without the power of God, a city that large could not even exist on the earth because it would change the orbit of the earth and destabilize it. Thus, it must be not only built by God, but sustained by God.

To believe in such a city requires faith. It is faith because it is believed upon the testimony of God through the apostle John as well as the author of Hebrews.

Abraham died. Isaac died. Jacob died. None received any of the promises. We will die. We will not see these promises fulfilled to us either, until the resurrection. (We have other wonderful promises that we will see in this life.)

¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. ^[3]

Despite their shortcomings and failures, especially Abraham and Jacob, God is not ashamed to be called their God. The city that is certainly coming is proof that God is not ashamed of you! He is not ashamed to be called your God! Maybe you deceived people as Jacob did. Maybe you lied as Abraham did. Maybe you have done worse, as King David did. Even though you played the rebel, even after coming to faith, God is not ashamed to be called your God. Be encouraged!

¹¹ By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. ^[4]

Did Sarah have faith? At first she did not. Remember the story? Abraham had pitched his tent at the oaks of Mamre. Oaks are large trees. They provided shade and made the immediate vicinity cooler in the hot sun. He saw three men appear at his tent, one of whom was the Lord himself. Sarah prepared a meal for them and the men ate.

⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. ¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” ¹³ The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁵ But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” ^[5]

Sarah laughed because she didn’t believe the word of the Lord. She probably didn’t cackle like one of our recent Presidential candidates, but she laughed nevertheless. She thought it impossible to have a baby at her age. This is why the Lord said, “Is anything to hard for Yahweh?”

Then Sarah even lied about it, saying that she did not laugh. So, Sarah did not have faith at first. But the apostle, the author of Hebrews, says that she did. Therefore, Sarah changed her mind. Genesis does not record when or how this change happened. But we know that she began to exercise faith because Paul says it under inspiration.

We can imagine scenarios of how she came to believe in God’s promise. Maybe after the men left Abraham spoke to his wife gently and reminded her of how God had called him out of wicked Ur and brought him to this land, providing for them both all along the way. Maybe he reminded her how God had been with him in rescuing Lot from Kerdoloamer, even though he was outnumbered. Then, she realized how faithful God had been and began to trust him.

Or, maybe after Abraham had spoken to the Lord soon after this incident and persuaded him to rescue Lot from the coming judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sarah had heard that Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt because she didn’t believe the Lord’s word. Hearing that your niece was killed by the Lord might make you rethink your own lack of faith!

Or, maybe after the men left she just reflected on her own how faithful God has been to her and her husband and she resolved to believe God.

However it happened, she changed her mind.

When you think about it, the ability to change our mind is a great blessing from God. What we change our mind to is of great consequence. There have been some who have changed their mind by denying biblical truth. I am reading a historical account of the military conflict between Islam and the Christian faith. The muslims would conquer by force all of Asia minor, the north coast of Africa, Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern France, and would have conquered all of Europe by the 11the century if it had not been for great men that God raised up among the then-Christian nations. When the muslim armies conquered a city they gave the inhabitants a choice: renounce Christ and proclaim the Shahada (“There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”). If they refused they were beheaded. Thus, many hundreds of thousands of Christians were beheaded, while the women were raped and then sold into sex slavery, including nuns. Children were kidnapped and either became sex slaves or the stouter boys were trained to be warriors who would then later fight their own countrymen as the Islamic invasions spread further north. This is all documented by contemporary sources, both Muslim and Christian. In fact, the Muslim sources boast of these wicked deeds.

While most of the conquered chose death, there were also some who changed their mind and became Muslim under the threat of death. One can change their mind for the worse, especially under cruel circumstances.

One can also change their mind for the worse under favorable circumstances. This often happens because of misplaced feelings. When our children were young, 12 years of age and early teens, we read a book together (all except Genevieve who was too young at the time). It was entitled, I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It’s a Christian book that discourages dating and promotes courting, that is, a wholesome relationship where both the boy and the girl know that marriage is the intended goal for both of them. The reason dating is dissuaded is because its purpose, often frivolity, is not in line with the Bible and it leads to fornication and/or inappropriate passion. It was a very good book.

The author was Joshua Harris who was a pastor for 14 years. Joshua Harris not only changed his mind about the contents of his book. He even changed his mind about the sinfulness of homosexuality. He no longer thinks it’s a sin. He even marches in gay pride parades. Although he is not gay, he wants to “show his support.” The reason for his change of mind? He says that he felt so much compassion for those with opposite sex attraction and felt like he wanted to support them instead of refute them. This is another example of letting feelings dictate reason instead of letting reason, grounded in God’s word, to direct our feelings. Joshua Harris is an apostate.

We can change our mind the wrong way, by going from truth to error. We must be on guard against this dangerous vulnerability.

Changing our mind for the truth pleases God. This is what Sarah did. Whenever she finally exercised faith in God’s promise, God was not only pleased, but it actually effectuated her preganancy! Consider verse 11 again:

¹¹ By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. ^[6]

It says that she received the power to conceive because she had faith.

See the mightiness of faith! It brings power to accomplish things. See the greatness of changing your mind in a positive way – realizing that what God says is true and then ordering your life accordingly. It’s simply wonderful! It will overcome all those negative feelings that linger in your life because faith changes our feelings too! Think of how Sarah felt once she became pregnant! She had wanted a child her whole life and changing her mind made it a reality. Her feelings soared!

[Application and Conclusion]

How can we apply what we learned today? Remember the principle that we learned last week and that we saw again today with respect to Abraham: Faith is resting in what God has promised. Therefore, whenever the Bible speaks of faith we ought to consider what God has said prior to the faith that follows.

Therefore, in order to change our mind about a facet of our lives, to dispel doubts (such as Sarah’s), we must find a promise in the Scriptures that applies to our situation. If you are not where you ought to be in your walk with the Lord then, when you find the promise, you must reiterate it. That is, program your mind with the word of God. Proclaim it ten times, twenty times, even thirty times per day. Believe what God has spoken as opposed to your weakness.

This has been a message for those who are already in a right relationship with the Living God through Christ. It is a message to possess the faith that secures the further goodness of God. In order to get right with God we must first have foundational faith, that is, faith in Christ and what he has accomplished, and experiencing repentance, which is forsaking sin and committing ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone has not exercised this kind of faith, you are urged to do so. Eternity hangs in the balance.