1. Abraham faced a dilemma. Just like we do from time to time.
ABRAHAM HAD A PROMISE FROM GOD & SOME TIME PASSED.
• IT didn’t come to pass immediately.
• Flip over to Genesis 17:1-8 (Promised reaffirmed)
• Did you hear that 99 years old! His wife not too far behind!
• It was a few years earlier when they took things into their own hands with Hagar and Ishmael appeared on the scene.
• But he did not fulfill the PROMISE, he was a not God’s gift.
• I am going to make you a father of many nations Abraham.
• And it LOOKS IMPOSSIBLE! Really, it didn’t just look impossible but it WAS completely IMPOSSIBLE!
SO here it is… the crossroads between the PROMISE OF GOD and the DEPTH OF OUR FAITH IN GOD, THE PROMISE GIVER.
APP: I have to say that my faith doesn’t always measure up to the glorious promises my Jesus has given to me.
• I’m prone at times to doubt, to waver, to wonder!
• It’s so common for us to be there!
• But Abraham, faced with this IMPOSSIBILITY becomes a wonderful picture for us of faith that we all want!
• I mean, I want v20 to be me, my life, my ministry!
So what can we learn from Abraham & his faith?
NOTE: Well, We’ve already seen that his life is a practical example of what it looks like for a person to be saved by faith.
• He was saved apart from any works.
• He was saved apart from the Law.
• He was saved before circumcision was given.
• Simply put, “He believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
AND NOW Abraham becomes a wonderful example of what faith looks like as it’s lived out in a real life.
• We’ll see at least 7 things that we can tuck away in our hearts as we grow in God’s wonderful grace and love!
I. (4:17-22) FAITH IN REAL LIFE
#1 – (v17) HE BELIEVED IN THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE!
• He didn’t have faith in the rampant paganism around him.
• In fact, it was from that paganism that Abraham was delivered.
• Abraham was a friend of God and knew of His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, infinite love, grace, & mercy.
• Notice Paul describes him in v17, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did!
• He had faith in a all powerful, all loving God who is in control of the universe and knows everything in advance!
SO The question becomes “HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?”
• We can either have a BIG God and little problems, or BIG problems with a little god.
• Abraham’s faith was in the GOD of the UNIVERSE.
#2 – (18) HE BELIEVED GOD’S WORD.
• All Abraham had to go on was God’s Word, His promise.
• God spoke to Abraham. He listened. He believed!
• So, he lived his life based on the promises of God.
• He believed that God keeps His word.
NOTE: Here’s what happens with us: We read or hear or receive God’s Word and we’re excited about it.
• God is giving us direction, providing confirmation. THEN…
• You hit a few road bumps along the way.
• A trial here. A question there. Some time passes. Faith fades.
Abraham it says lived CONTRARY TO HOPE.
• You know what his big bump was? AGE.
• Can you imagine how hard it must have been for this 75 year old man to wait 25 years for a son… and still come up empty?!
• It was CONTRARY TO HOPE!
• But He was still hoping in God and still believing His Word!
APP: That’s our lives. We believe God’s Word.
• Now, for us, it’s not verbal, but in writing.
• We can go back to it and read the promises of God over & over.
• They are unchanging, unmovable, unending!
• Let’s turn over to Isaiah 55:10.
• It’s awesome. God says my word goes out and it’s not coming back empty. It will work. It will happen!
• You don’t have to make the Word of God happen, it’s there, alive, powerful, and trustworthy.
Romans 1:16 (NKJV) 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
NOTE: THE Bible, in the Holy Spirit’s hands, is a powerful thing.
• That’s why at the end of a bible study we have 100’s of people walking out of this room hearing different things.
• Oh they heard the same word, it had the same effect, but God is calling out a DIFFERENT response. Why?
• Because He knows you!
#3 – (18) ABRAHAM DIDN’T QUIT OR GIVE UP ON GOD.
• Apart from unbelievers resisting God, this is perhaps one of the most grieving things for me as a pastor.
• It breaks my heart when I see people just give up because things didn’t happen the way they wanted or planned.
• There is this lack of endurance & perseverance that’s sweeping the church today.
• That’s one reason by the church at large is weak today.
• Pastors quit. Believers quit. Churches quit.
• But to the one who perseveres… glorious mature fruit!
• Notice v18, So that he became the father of many nations!
#4 – (19) HE IGNORED HIS PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS!
• He did not consider his own body or his wife’s!
• As far as what he could see, feel, & touch, their bodies were dead in being able to make a child.
• The child fathering & mothering days were OVER.
• There was NO HUMAN WAY that he could ever possibly father a child. It was over. Forget about it. Done deal.
SO WHAT DID ABRAHAM DO? Did he name it and claim it? NO.
• He declare to God that his body would produce?! NO.
• Did he ask for loving offerings and get our faith in agreement together with the lady on TV? NO.
• I’m serious here guys… Please hear me out!
• Abraham is our model, not the modern day health & wealth teachers who are leading folks down the wrong path.
• What did he do? He trusted God to do it and to change this impossible situation.
• Not becoming weak in faith…
OK, maybe the doctor said there is no cure, no hope.
It’s a medical fact.
• Abraham is the father of the faithful and I’m sure he thought about his situation, medically it was an impossibility.
• But he didn’t let his faith grow weak!
• You can trust the Promises of God even when everything around you yells out that it’s NOT POSSIBLE.
• Let’s flip over to Mark 10:23-27
#1 – (v17) HE BELIEVED IN THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE!
#2 – (18) HE BELIEVED GOD’S WORD.
#3 – (18) ABRAHAM DIDN’T QUIT OR GIVE UP ON GOD.
#4 – (19) HE IGNORED HIS PHYISCIAL LIMITATIONS!
#5 – (20) ABRAHAM DID NOT WAVER AT THE PROMISE OF GOD.
• Ok, this is a key turning point for all of us that are faced with things that try to undermine our trust in our heavenly father.
• James 1:2-8 gives us insight on how to avoid wavering.
• Stay connected to God… Because it’s not just situations that are coming against your faith but people too.
• Consider this university professor arrogant attitude:
A UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR once boasted, “One of my callings in life is to shatter the faith of naive fundamentalists as they come to my class. Just give me a room of young, naive evangelicals and let me at ’em. You can just watch them drop like flies hit with Raid when I challenge their faith in a deliberate, consistent manner.”
#6 – (20b) HE WAS STRENGTHENED IN FAITH GIVING GOD GLORY.
• Abraham, leaned on God’s Promise & everlasting covenant.
• He stepped out in faith, trusting God at every turn.
• I think there are at least 2 ways you and I can do this.
FIRST, ACT OUT ON WHAT YOU HEAR.
• When in Bible study, or radio, or that book you’re reading calls you to action, act!
• Step out on what you know, not demanding to have the whole picture painted for you before you move.
REMEMBER THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL… when they first began their walk with the Lord, he led them to a dead end of destruction!
• Red Sea before them. Hills beside them. Egyptian army behind!
• What? Talk about a reason to waver and be weak!
• But God parted the Red Sea for them and they all walked through on DRY GROUND!
• 40 years later, when they come to the Jordan River, we learn it was at flood stage, overflowing it’s banks.
• They expected God to work the same way. Part it God!
• But instead, God tells Joshua to have the priests wade out into the water and get their feet wet!
APP: There are some of you right now that God is calling to you to get your feet wet in the scary, rushing rivers of His promise!
• You don’t have a choice.
• To grow, you gotta get wet & trust Him!
• You don’t know what’s going to happen but we do know no matter what happens, God is in it.
#7 – (20c) HE GAVE GLORY TO GOD.
• Through it all, Abraham was a worshipful man.
• All glory. All honor. All awe & respect stayed with Him!
• And, I believe this wasn’t just at the end, but through it all.
• He was counting it all joy, waiting upon the Lord!
• Fully convinced, v21, that God was able to perform.
#1 – (v17) HE BELIEVED IN THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE!
#2 – (18) HE BELIEVED GOD’S WORD.
#3 – (18) ABRAHAM DIDN’T QUIT OR GIVE UP ON GOD.
#4 – (19) HE IGNORED HIS PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS!
#5 – (20) ABRAHAM DID NOT WAVER AT THE PROMISE OF GOD.
#6 – (20b) ABRAHAM WAS STRENGTHENED IN FAITH GIVING GOD GLORY.
#7 – (20c) HE GAVE GLORY TO GOD.
II. (4:22-25) FRUIT OF FAITH
• That’s the gospel message right there.
• Faith will be imputed to us too, because we believed.
NOTE: Jesus was delivered up for our transgressions.
• He died because of you sin and my sin.
• He was raised to prove that the victory is in Him, alone!
SO guys… build yourself up in the Word of God and don’t just wait for a horrible crisis to get serious about the things of God.
• In the middle of a heavy trial is not the time to cram the Word of God for the answers… the time is now.
• You need to be in the Word of God, feeding on His Word, growing in the Word, breaking the book out and knowing it for yourself so that you can use it wisely.
• Let’s close over in Hebrews 5.12-14
