Heb. 11:8‑16
Abraham was in many ways an ordinary person like us and his life gives an example of faith. A man willing to believe God. Even though it was difficult for him to explain thoroughly what it was that he believed.
Heb. 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
1. Faith requires that we come to God. This means that you and I need to have an attitude of total dependence on God, which also means availability to God.
2. Faith requires that we believe that God is there. This means that you and I need to have an unswerving confidence in His presence, which we cannot see, and which many times we do not feel. People who lack faith tend to place their confidence in what they can see or feel.
3. Faith requires that we trust Him to keep His word. There was a time when God spoke audibly to men and women. There was a time when God with His finger wrote His truths on tablets of stone.
There was a time when God made His will quite clear through His prophets. But by the end of the first Century things changed because God had made available His will written in the Scriptures.
One of the reasons we have such problems discerning His will and are weak in our faith is simply because we have not taken the time necessary to familiarize ourselves with His Word.
To approach God with confidence and assurance of His presence, as well as develop obedience, it is imperative that we study and understand God’s Word.
Lets’ see how faith was made operational in the lives of Abraham and Sarah. Their lives are an example and help for us today. Abraham’s faith is exemplified by his willingness to be a pilgrim.
Heb 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.
The idea of the word pilgrim conveys a willingness to let go. To release yourself from the ties that hold you back from following and obeying God.
An American tourist visited the 19th century Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim. Astonished to see that the rabbi’s home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench, the tourist asked, “Rabbi, where is your furniture?” “Where is yours?” replied the rabbi. “Mine?” asked the puzzled American. “But I’m a visitor here. I’m only passing through.” “So am I,” said Hofetz Chaim.
When we have genuine faith we’re willing to live not the way the world lives clinging to our possessions so that we can’t let go. But rather making the Lord’s priorities our priorities, and to be most concerned about God’s will for our lives rather than our own.
For Abraham it was a willingness to leave idolatrous Ur. Abraham didn’t know where it was that his journey would lead but he trusted God for the outcome.
Giving up our old life our old way of doing things is the most difficult obstacle in experiencing the abundant life. But when we do we can be certain that God will provide us with that which our heart desires. Psa 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Abraham himself could not experience God’s best until he was willing to fully obey the Lord. Consider his trial when he doubted God by going down to Egypt, the result was it hindered God’s plan for his life.
Avram’s faith lapsed when he left the Promised Land. In v. 10 Abram faced great trial. Avram turned to the world (Egypt) instead of God.
Avram slipped into severe sin (v.11-16) Passing off Sara as his sister and compromising her and lying to save his life.
Abram saw the judgment of God in v.17-20. Judgment on the adulterer Pharaoh (v.17) Judgment on his sin (v.18-20). Public exposure of the adulterous plot (v.18) Public exposure of lying and stealing (v.19a). Public rebuke (v.19b) Public expulsion and eviction (v.19c). Public shame and embarrassment (v.19d). Public return to face the trial of starvation and famine back home.
There is an interesting story surrounding the burial of The Roman emperor Charlemagne. This famous king asked to be entombed sitting upright in his throne. He asked that his crown be placed on his head and his scepter placed in his hand. He asked that the royal cape be draped around his shoulders and an open book placed in his lap.
That was A.D. 814. Nearly two hundred years later, Emperor Othello determined to see if the burial request had been carried out. He allegedly sent a team of men to open the tomb and make a report. They found the body just as Charlemagne had requested. Only now, nearly two centuries later, the scene was gruesome. The crown was tilted, the mantle moth-eaten, the body disfigured. But open on the skeletal thighs was the book Charlemagne had requested – the Bible. One bony finger pointed to Matthew 16:26: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”
Spiritually the failure to follow God is called worldliness. This is primarily an attitude which eventually leads to acts that move us away from God and His will for our lives. It’s being more concerned with the commendation and fear of men than the approval and trust of God.
A second aspect of genuine faith is patience as in Heb 11:9‑10 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Abraham never owned a piece of the land of promise except a place to bury his wife. He lived as a nomad in tents, not even in a settled location for his tent.
He lived as an alien in the land of promise. In fact all of his life he never experienced the answer or the result of the promise. There are some believers today who would suggest that you lack faith if God does not answer your prayers immediately. That is simply not true.
Abraham fixed his eyes on the city whose builder and architect is God. In one sense it is possible to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.
But it is equally true that unless we are heavenly minded, we are no earthly good. Only those with a view of the eternal will continue with patience God’s work.
There is no greater cure for discouragement, fatigue, or self‑pity, than to have a regular view of our God and King. If we continually look on the things of earth below, with its trials, struggles and conflicts on the one hand and the wealth and pleasures on the other we will easily be distracted from the work set before us.
C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
And this is precisely the thing we must realize. We were not made for this world alone. And the things that we most need – true satisfaction are not found in this world. This world cannot bring us fulfillment, because we were not designed just for this world.
A Third aspect of faith is the miraculous Heb 11:11‑12 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised; 12 therefore, also, there was born of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.
Faith was active in the miracle of Isaac’s birth. Humanly speaking it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child. Not only had Sarah been barren all her life Gen. 16:1, but at the age of 90 she was past the proper time for having children.
Genesis really gives us no real sign that Sarah had great faith. In fact, she broke out in laughter when she overheard God’s promise to Abraham.
Sarah even tried to take matters into her own hands by persuading Abraham to have a son by her maid Hagar. She evidently didn’t believe God’s promise to Abraham.
A study of the Hebrew indicates that the sentence would be more aptly translated “Abraham in association with Sarah received the ability to father Isaac.” In other words it was Abraham’s not Sarah’s faith.
Every Jewish person born today is visible evidence of the faith of Abraham. And because the promised Messiah came through Abraham he is also the father of all those who have come to faith in Messiah.
Is this kind of faith expected of us today? Heb 11:13‑16 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 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 a city for them.
Is this kind of faith limited to biblical days? Can we experience the life of faith today with confidence? Without a doubt we can. Here are the ingredients we need to have in our life if we are to walk by faith.
1. Vision ‑ The ability to see beyond that which is apparent or be limited by the present. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance,
2. Courage ‑ to declare by words and actions where our heart and affections really are having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
3. Pursuit ‑ a determination to cultivate our identity and direction toward God. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
4. Abandonment ‑ A willingness to leave behind all earthly ties And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return.
5. Desire ‑ This is a yearning to develop a godly not a religious life‑style. 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 a city for them.
All these cause God to welcome us and in fact to not be ashamed of us as His children.
Why is this kind of life rarely found?
1. Because most people will do anything rather than exercise risk.
2. Because most who walk by faith do nothing to publicize it.
This is the kind of walk that we are called to. This is the life of a true Jew one who follows the call and Word of God. Is this your walk? If not it may be because you have not really left Ur, or perhaps you still are clinging to your old family and old family ways.
When we respond to the call of God we receive first Messiah as our King, we die to this world and then walk in His direction.
