Abraham - The Prototype For Living By Faith Series

Title: Abraham – The Prototype for Living by Faith

Prototype - a first, a typical the preliminary model of something, from which other forms are developed or copied.

Prototype- an individual that exhibits the essential features of a later type

Passage: Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. -NKJV

Abraham is the example of what living by faith, and God honoring faith looks like!

Paul makes statements like this about him, in….

Romans 4:16b to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. – NIV

Galatians 3:7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

Isaiah also states:

Isaiah 51 (NKJV) 1“Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. 2a Look to Abraham your father,

Proposition: From this passage, and from the life of this man, an in-depth thorough in depth definition, of what living by faith, in principle, looks like!

I. Living by faith, a life of faith is first of all, a pilgrimage.

Hebrews 11:8a By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.

A) Pilgrimage?

1. He was called to go out!

a) From what?

Joshua 24:2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.

i. He was summoned out of an idolatrous heritage!

Genesis 11: 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

ii. He was called out of an idolatrous place!

iii. The life of faith begins with the understanding that it is a calling out!

a) Church - ?????s?a – ekklesia- called out ones.

1 Corinthians 6 :17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

Romans 1:6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

1Co 1:9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1Jo 3:1a See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Rom 1:7a To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

II. A life of faith, or living by faith, is a pilgrimage, pioneered (initiated) prompted by God,

A) What do I mean by that?

1. It is what is known as an “Irresistible call” or “Effectual Call”?

The Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter X Of Effectual Calling -I. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call,215 by His Word and Spirit,216 out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ;217 enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God,218 taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh;219 renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good,220 and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ:221 yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.222

i. Sometimes called the Irresistible grace of God!

a. Irresistible Grace (or efficacious grace) is a doctrine in Christian theology which teaches that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (the elect), whereby in God's timing, he overcomes their resistance to the call of the gospel and irresistibly brings them to a saving faith in Christ.

B) Where is that found in the bible?

John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me

John 6:37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.