Today we are going to begin a series that explores what type of faith we should strive to attain. Throughout this series we will be looking at different people who are mentioned in the great faith chapter of the Bible, Hebrews 11. Each of these individuals displayed what we would term an unbelievable faith. We will read what the writer of Hebrews says about them and then explore their lives. The first person we are going to encounter is a man by the name of Abraham. Hebrews 11 devotes more space to discussing Abraham than anyone else. This seems to be quite proper since other Biblical writers hold Abraham up before Christians as the main model of faith. Many of us might think that Abraham should be the president of the Optimist club. God made a unbelievable promise to Abraham: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.” So…what’s so unbelievable about that promise? Well Abraham’s wife, Sarah had never had a child and she was sixty-five years old. At the time Abraham received the promise he was seventy-five years old. The odds are not exactly in favor of this coming to pass. To make matters more interesting it would take twenty-five more years before the promise would be fulfilled. Why does Abraham have a faith that we all wish we had? Because he placed his faith in God to deliver on a promise, that went against all human logic. Let’s examine Abraham’s life and his faith and see what we can learn from his example. You can follow Abraham’s story beginning in verse one of Genesis 12.
I. Abraham trusted that God would provide when he was called to pack up his belongings and move.
A. God’s call for Abraham to move was challenging for several reasons.
1. Abraham was a very wealthy man and he had a lot of livestock and possessions.
2. Abraham was seventy-five years old; can you imagine how difficult it would be to uproot everything after being in one place for so long?
3. Abraham was leaving an area that was extremely advanced culturally.
4. Abraham decided to move his extended family and all their possessions with him as well.
5. Perhaps the most difficult part of the move was the fact that Abraham had no clue where he was going.
B. Abraham’s faith was shown through his obedience to God.
1. Abraham’s obedience was immediate. This is shown in the Greek by the use of the present participle which reflects this idea of immediacy, “While he was being called,” not “After he was called,” as the aorist participle would have suggested.
2. Genesis gives the same impression of immediate obedience. The very next words after God’s call and promise are, “So Abram left, as the Lord had told him” (Genesis 12:4).
3. At this point he did not know the country, the distance he would travel or the direction of his destination.
4. He simply trusted God. He would not know what God had in mind for him until he reached Canaan.
5. Waiting for God to provide them with an earthly inheritance, the patriarchs came to realize that this life is not an end in itself but a pilgrimage towards a future that God alone can construct for his people.
II. Abraham believed in God’s power when he was asked to make an unbelievable sacrifice.
A. Abraham’s faith was truly tested when God asked him to sacrifice his only son.
1. God had promised Abraham that his many descendants would come through Isaac.
2. Questions probably swirled in Abraham’s mind.
a. If Isaac was dead how could God deliver on His promise?
b. Had Abraham done something that caused God to change His mind?
3. To make matters worse, Abraham loved Isaac with all his heart.
4. In our mind this type of request would cross the line, it is completely unreasonable. How could a good and loving God ask such a thing out of me?
B. Abraham’s faith was shown through unconditional obedience.
1. The NIV translates the action in Hebrews 11:17 as “was about to sacrifice.” In the Greek this is in the imperfect tense which would show that Abraham was in the engaged in the act of sacrificing Isaac.
2. So with that shared, we can assume that Abraham had already begun the process of sacrificing of Isaac when God stopped him.
3. The obedience displayed on Abraham’s part escapes our comprehension. How could he do something like this?
4. Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead. He expected to return from the place of sacrifice with Isaac (Genesis 22:5) because he knew that the fulfillment of God’s purposes depended on Isaac’s survival.
5. Abraham obviously believed whole heartedly that God would provide a solution to this dilemma.
C. In response to Abraham’s faith God provided something very unexpectedly.
1. Abraham passed the test and God would go on to provide a solution, a substitute sacrifice.
2. This would be the first time that a substitute sacrifice was required, symbolizing what would take place hundreds of years later.
3. As a ram died in Isaac’s place, so Jesus would someday die in our place.
4. Abraham and Isaac probably were both filled with joy as they came down off the mountain, they discovered once again that God is full of grace and truth and He can be taken at His word.
5. Since Abraham reasoned that Isaac would die and God would raise him back to life, in his mind he did receive Isaac back from death.
6. The Hebrew writer says this can be called “figuratively speaking” he received him back from death.
III. Abraham’s example shows that we can have faith because God always keeps His word.
A. How do we develop a faith like Abraham displayed?
1. Someone once said, “Faith is going to the end of all the light you have and then taking one more step.”
2. God does not usually speak directly to us like He did to Abraham.
a. He partially reveals Himself in creation where we see His awesome power.
b. He partially reveals Himself in our conscience, where we are convicted of our sin and encouraged to obey.
c. God speaks most directly through the person of Jesus.
3. Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17—NIV)
4. We can increase our faith dramatically by staying in the Word of God on a daily basis because it is through Scripture that we see God’s will revealed.
5. The more you study Scripture the more you become aware of the fact that God keeps seemingly impossible promises.
B. A person of faith trusts that God will keep His promise even though it may seem impossible at the time.
1. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9—NIV)
2. God has a great track record, He has never failed to deliver on a promise that He has made.
3. That should prove to be a great faith builder.
C. Consider for a moment if you would some of the promises that God has made to us.
1. God promises that He will meet our needs, which seems impossible when we inventory the unmet needs we see in our lives but faith trusts that He will supply all our needs in His time. (Philippians 4:19)
2. God will enable us to overcome temptation. You may endure trials you think are impossible to endure, but faith believes God keeps His word and acts accordingly. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
3. The peace of God will guard your heart. The person of faith who trusts in God will receive the peace of God. (Philippians 4:6,7)
4. God will reward tithing. You may be down to your last dollar and may not see any way that your resources could increase, faith believes that God keeps His word and He will do what we consider to be impossible. (Malachi 3:10)
5. God promises that the earth will endure until Christ returns. Doomsday scientists claim that global warming and the hole in the ozone layer will destroy the world. Faith takes God at His word and finds comfort in that. (Genesis 8:22)
6. God promises the believer will be resurrected. Faith holds on to that hope. (John 6:40)
Several years back, the evening news reported on a videographer who jumped from
a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the groups as they fell and
opened their parachutes. On the film shown on the telecast, as the final skydiver opened his chute, the picture went berserk. The announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without his parachute. It wasn’t until he reached for the absent ripcord that he realized he was free-falling without a parachute. Until that point, the jump probably seemed exciting and fun. But tragically, he had acted with thoughtless haste and deadly foolishness. Nothing could save him because his faith was in a parachute he never buckled on. Faith in anything but an all-sufficient God can be just as tragic spiritually. Only with faith in Jesus Christ do we dare step into the dangerous excitement of life and death.
