Abraham's Faith Series

We continue our worship of God by hearing from Him through the Letter originally addressed to a Christian Church composed mainly of Hebrews. Today we will learn from Abraham, known as the Father of Faith. Please open your Bibles to Hebrews 11… read along with me first of all verses 1-3, then v8-19….

As we noted last week… we noted…

v1-3: Christians are to live (take action) by FAITH - trust, confidence, and fidelity (loyalty) while waiting for what God has promised even though we do not see it yet! We are to live by faith; and Biblical faith is based on what God said, have done, and promised!

Also last week we noted the examples of faith in action through Abel, Enoch, and Noah (v4-7).

Next, God notes for us the faith of Abraham; again, we already learned from those stories of Abraham when we studied the Book of Genesis; let me know if you would like copies of those messages.

Like the Hebrew Christians 2000 years ago, we are reminded in this letter about Abraham’s faith.

v8….. simply, Abraham heard God and he followed even somewhere unknown! If God spoke today, many people, perhaps some of us, would have all sorts of questions!! God does speak today, through the Bible, are we questioning Him or are we following?

v9-10: again straight forward, Abraham made his home in a strange foreign country but he focused on God’s ability to rebuild the City! Do you think Abraham knew that God would do the work through him and why??

Abraham and his family were the only ones with God in that strange ungodly land!

Now, I find v11 interesting because 1984 NIV version notes Abraham’s faith first…. but the

2011 NIV Heb. 11:11 - And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.

show slide about the changes…….

Which English version should we go with? Besides the NIV let us look at other English translations (remember that the originally writing of the Letter to the Hebrews was in ancient Greek):

ESV - By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.

NASB - By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.

KJV/NKJV (similar) - 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.

NRSV - By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised.

The NRSV is the closest to our 1984 NIV; the other translations does not have Abraham at the beginning of the verse; with my brief study and it is probably noted in your Bible that some Greek copies did not cite Abraham. Did God mess up in allowing these differing translations to happen?

Many who question God will make the statement that the Bible can not be trusted!

It is important for us to be able to defend our faith and God’s word (apologetics)!

Does God make mistakes??

If you believe God makes mistakes, then you really don’t believe in God!

In order for any person to get anything out of the Bible they must believe there is a God and the Bible is His Word! God states the Bible is His Word! If God is God and does not make mistakes then there should be no problem with the Bible!

And so, again, if we study God’s Word in context with a belief in Holy God who speaks to us, we can note what God is saying even with the different English translations.

In context:

a. What is the main topic of verses 8-19?? – Abraham and his faith!

b. in v11, who else had faith?? – Sarah!

And so,

v11: Eventhough Abraham was not mentioned in some translations, simply the verse is about Sarah’s and Abraham’s faith! Both were noted as faithful!

v12: God’s promise became a reality even though it seemed impossible for people!

Again, I believe we can misunderstand “all these people” in v13 if we don’t read it in context. Again also, the main topic is Abraham’s faith; and so..

v13-16: All these people - Abraham’s family and descendants (Isaac and Jacob – v9) knew God and knew they were only on earth for a short time and so be a testimony for God while waiting for eternal home in heaven!

v17-19: God told Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son at that time! Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own’s son’s life even though promises were made through Isaac!