Faith Expansion #2 Hebrews 11:8-19
How do we understand what faith looks like? We can read statements like “without faith it is impossible to please God”, but what does that look like? For that we must see it lived out.
We must see the stories of real people who lived a life of faith.
We need contemporary stories… stories from the lives of people we know who trust God.
We also need historical stories…and that’s what God gives us here.
In Hebrews 11:1 God defines faith as “being certain of what we hope and sure of what we do not see.” Then he teaches us what that means through real life stories.
The biggest story…the guy who gets 11 verses in Hebrews 11 is a guy named Abraham.
The Abraham Stories of Faith
11:8 FAITH IS trading your map for a COMPASS.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
Here’s the deal with Abraham. He lived in Ur, which was over a 1000 miles from Canaan.
God showed up to him and said I want you to go to a new place, a place of ministry, a place of blessing, a place of promise. But here’s the catch, I am not going to tell you where it is. Pack up. Start moving. And I will point you in the direction I want you to go.
Then keep moving and I will tell you when you get there.
In other words, Abraham I am going to be your compass and you are not going to get a map. Can you image the children that were traveling with Abraham’s group. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? And Abraham said…I don’t know!
Finally after a long journey God said, This is it. This is the place. One day I am going to give you all this land as your own. It was the promised land.
How did Abraham get to the promised land? By faith. Faith to obey, Faith to start moving, Faith to believe God would steer him in the right direction.
Have you ever noticed that a car that is sitting still is very difficult to steer?
A car has to be in motion before it becomes easy to steer.
There are Christians who sit around their entire lives saying “God direct my life” and then you ask them why they aren’t doing anything for God…”because I am not sure what God wants me to do…I am not sure the direction he is leading me yet! And I want to tell them you are not going to find it sitting on your spiritual bottom. Before God can lead you, you have to get off your can!
Abraham didn’t know exactly where this journey was going to take him.
And he didn’t have to know before he started to go. He took a risk because he trusted God.
He was propelled forward by faith. Faith is always the way forward. Abe had a compass.
It’s always scary to go someplace that you have never been.
To start a new job, new ministry, new idea, a new friendship, a new apartment…it’s a little scary.
But the best things come to those who risk! Say, RISK
Faith requires RISK-taking.
*Denise Keller had never been camping once in her entire 45 years of life…until she went to Bita Genet Ethiopia. A place so remote that some of them had never seen an anglo. But Denise had faith. She said…”I didn’t know what it would be like but I trusted Larry & if Larry thought I could do it, I was going!” God is calling you to trust His word and go to some new places.
We want a map…tell me exactly where I am going, how far it is, and how to get there.
God hands us a compass and says, I am taking you somewhere great…head north.
11:9, 10 Faith is trading your house for a TENT.
9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Abraham got to the Promised Land and you would have thought that the first thing that he would do is build a big house…that’s what residents do. He had the money to build a big house.
But instead Abe lived in tents. They were probably very nice tents…like some of these RV’s you see…they are a block long with jacuzzi’s inside and the guy driving says, “yeah we are going camping!” Why did Abe live in tents? Vs. 10 tells us. It says “FOR” or because, he was looking forward to a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
To build a foundation you have to dig deep in the earth and sink cement down.
Abe said I am going to live ON the earth but not IN the earth.
I will live in my tents because this world is not my real home and I am only passing through.
I’ve got my eye on another place.
So I am not going to get too deeply attached to this world.
My faith keeps me traveling light through life. LIGHT through LIFE!
I live in tents because I live in the future tense. Do you?
Faith ultimately wants what only God can give.
Most people want too much from this life. They expect heaven on earth…so they work hard to build their own little heaven on earth. Faith is not that important to them because they’ve got what they want here. But people of Faith enjoy this life but keep looking forward.
11:11 Faith is taking ACTION in the face of impossibility because God is able.
11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age - and Sarah herself was barren - was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
When Abe was 75 God made a big promise to him that he would bear a son with his wife Sarah and that from this son a great nation would arise. But nothing happened. No kid came.
When Abe was 99 God shows back up and says, Hey Abe your wife Sarah is going to have a baby boy. Abe could have said, No way!
1) Abe was 99… far past the age to sire children.
2) Sarah was barren…they had tried to have kids for 50+ years and it hadn’t worked!
Abraham could have doubted the promise…and said God you said that 25 years ago.
God look at me. God look at Sarah. Abe could have looked at himself and DONE NOTHING.
Instead he looked at GOD & it says, “he considered him faithful who had made the promise!”
He could have looked at himself and doubted but instead he looked at God and believed.
He could have looked at himself and said, Unable. Instead he looked at God & said, He is able. Abe could have looked at himself and said, Impossible, but instead he looked at God and said, All things are possible!
Then after Abe looked at God, he looked at Sarah and winked and she looked back at her ancient honey and winked back. And he said, Baby what are you doing tonight?
Folks the birth of Isaac was not an immaculate conception. Abraham believed God and at 99 went to bed with his wife. He took action. He didn’t just believe God, he took action. And one year later a baby boy’s cry was heard in his home.
Faith is not PASSIVE but is a cooperative partnership.
Some of you are facing impossible circumstances. Tough stuff that you are not enuf for!
You have to decide whether you are going to focus on who you are OR on who God is.
Then you have to take action…you have to do your part. Cooperate with God.
Someone in here today is being asked to take a step of faith in the face of the impossible.
11:12 Faith is believing BIG things can result from small beginnings.
12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. \
Abraham was one man who believed God…seems like not that big of thing…right?
He believed God and at 100 had a son…Can you imagine this 105 year old guy going to Isaac’s soccer games? But from this one boy Isaac came Jacob and from Jacob came 12 sons who fathered the 12 tribes of Israel…and Abe’s descendents became almost innumerable.
The point is you never know how big of an impact your decision to believe God is going to have. Your small decision of faith, your decision to obey God, to dream and to do, may end up having an impact you could have never imagined.
Faith is believing ONE person CAN make a difference. Do you believe that about YOU?
Faith is believing only ETERNITY will reveal the impact of your faith.
My grandma was fearful of teaching Sunday School but she said God asked her to do it and if God asked her, she knew he would help her…For the next 40 years she taught a handful of boys and girls about Jesus. The stories of her life impact continue. I personally know one man who has led 1000’s to Christ and he found Jesus as 4th grader in Sunday School.
11:13 Faith is HOLDING on when God has you on hold.
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
When it says “all these people”…it is talking Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob. They never saw their descendents grow to a large number, they never got to build a city in the promised land. They believed it but never experienced it. They imagined what it would look like, they saw it by faith, they looked to the horizon and waved hello to the coming reality of it…but they didn’t ever experience it. They wanted it but they were not worried that they didn’t get it, why?
Because their primary self-image was as citizens of heaven. They believed it would happen even if it didn’t happen before they died. And that heaven would be the fulfillment of all the promises of God! They admitted they were aliens on brief earth visit. Made for eternity.
God had them on hold. They had to wait. They had to have patience.
They didn’t know what was going on, but they knew who was in charge.
They didn’t know what was going on, but they knew where they were going.
One of the best word pictures to try and capture this is this: Imagine you are sitting in a beautiful theater, the room is dim as if the show is about to start. The heavy curtain is drawn tightly closed. But in the silence you can hear muffled but beautiful sounds coming from behind the curtain. You can see brightly colored shoes running back and forth behind the curtain. You sit there and wait…and wait…there is activity but the curtain doesn’t open. Some people get frustrated and walk out. But you stay there…waiting. Why? Because you have FAITH that it’s going to open and be the most incredible play you have ever seen.
Has God ever put you on hold? He answers and says…someone will be with you shortly and then you wait and wait…I admit I am not a good “on hold” kind of person.
Faith is what keeps you on the phone with God when the other end is silent.
Does God have you on hold right now? Do you trust him enough to hold on and believe that things are going to change?
Faith builds patience for the future but transforms our quality of life today.
There is an important phrase here because it says “they did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance”.
What’s that mean? It means, because they believed, it impacted them. They weren’t complaining and bitter and accusing God…no they humming a tune today because they saw it coming tomorrow!
11:14-15 …looking UP to God instead of BACK to the world.
14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they
had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
Abraham could have returned to the city of UR…he was a wealthy man who had the good life in the city…he had a real house, with real running water, a big screen TV, a recliner. But his mind was focused on what God had ahead for him, so his mind was looking up instead looking back.
Faith determines our focus and our focus impacts our faith.
We must understand that our thoughts and our faith are tied to together.
If our thoughts are filled with the things of this world it will kill our faith and soon we will find ourselves running away from God, away from church.
Satan is a master at helping us forget all the bad times and hurtful aspects of the old life and helping us remembering only the good times.
YOU WILL BE tempted to go back to the old country and ONLY your faith will keep you!
11:16 – …prioritizing God’s OPINION and believing in God’s reward
16 Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob had a longing for God, for God’s presence, for God’s applause, for a heavenly country. They refused to prioritize this world in the same way that others did.
While all the people around them were falling down to false gods and idols and chasing sex and wealth and possessions…these people of faith were living for God’s opinion…they were trusting in the reward God had for them. And what did God do? He speaks up proudly and says, “I am their God” “That’s My Boy”, “That’s my Daughter”. AND what I am going to do is I going to build them a city.
Did you get that?
Abraham never got to a build a home in Canaan but God built him a whole city in heaven!
Probably 70% of our Light and Life people will never own homes. But if you really live for Jesus by faith, God will build you a city!
Our faith brings the Father’s applause!
11:17-19 …holding LOOSELY whatever God gives you to hold.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
The last Abe story is a familiar one that is quite disturbing. We recently covered this story in another message so I will not spend but a moment on it.
God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his only son…this is the son Abe had received by faith. The one that God had so graciously given him.
Abe’s heart was thrilled to have this boy and to have raised him up. Isaac was the hope of the future. Now God was asking him to sacrifice him.
Can you imagine believing God for something really big…then you get it and you love it and then God says…ok lay it down, give it up. You say, wait a minute. That’s mine now! God says, let go of it. What?
Faith trusts that God can RAISE up whatever you lay down for Him.
By the age of 26, I was preaching frequently in a church of 4000 people and wow did I love it. But four years later God said sacrifice it…he took it away. Through a series of moral failures on the part of the Sr. Pastor our church crashed. I wasn’t preaching at all. I didn’t know if God would ever resurrect my preaching. But He did. Just this week I preached to a small group of national leaders that represented over 1000 churches.
I wanted to end this message with a song written by Jeremy Camp because of the words of the song and because of the story behind the song. Jeremy is one of the top Christian song writers in America today. The way I heard the story is Jeremy married his wife Melissa and at the age of 21 Melissa died of ovarian cancer. On their honeymoon after finding out that Melissa had ovarian cancer, Jeremy Camp wrote this song. I believe this song can minister to you, “I will walk by faith”.
Five months later Jeremy laid his wife in the grave. But God has given him a second wife and two beautiful little girls. God raised up
