By Faith, Abraham

When a traveler in the early days of the west, came to the Mississippi, he discovered there was no bridge. Fortunately it was winter and the great river was sheeted over with ice. But the traveler was afraid to trust himself to it, not knowing how thick it was. Finally with infinite caution, he crept on his hands and knees and managed to get halfway over. And then he heard singing from behind. Cautiously he turned, and there, out of the dusk, came another traveler, driving a four-horse load of coal over the ice, singing as he went!

J. G. Machen said, “The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we will trust him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more childlike will be our faith.” Listen, this evening, you can obey God the same way Abraham did because He always keeps His word. And the longer you walk with God the more you see that to be true, and the greater your confidence will grow. That carriage driver had confidence on that frozen river because he had been there before. He knew that ice was solid. Abraham was confident in God because He’d never backed up on His word before.

During one of the World Wars, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father’s voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, “I can’t see you!” The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, “But I can see you. Jump!” And the boy did. He was able to obey his father confidently because he had learned to trust him.

Let me ask you, how many times has God let you down before? How often has He destroyed your confidence in Him? How many times has He backed up on His word? He never has. So you can obey Him, even when you don’t completely understand His call, because you’ve been there before and you know He stays true to His promises. You can obey Him confidently.

Looking back now, we understand that Abraham’s confidence and faith that led to obedience was well founded. Everything that God promised came to pass. Abraham did become famous. Abraham did father a great nation. That nation did come through Isaac. That nation was blessed. And through Abraham’s descendent, Jesus, all nations were blessed. Abraham had reason, good reason, to be confident, and to obey confidently. You too, though you may not see the future (which, by the way, Abraham didn’t either), you can obey confidently as well, knowing that God will always keep His promises.

This evening, there is a lot we can learn from Abraham. And we’re going to look at some of those other lessons as we continue this series. But one of the greatest lessons we can learn from Abraham is how to be people of faith. And we learn through the life of Abraham that true faith always produces obedience. Without obedience we cannot say that we have faith. With obedience our faith comes alive. And true faith will cause that obedience to be immediate, unquestioning, and confident.