Reading: Hebrews chapter 11 verses 8-19.
• Abraham is revered by all Jews, Christians, and Moslems;
• He serves as a common link between the world’s three great religions.
• He is the patriarch of the Jewish nation,
• A spiritual father to Christians,
• And Moslems regard him as a mighty prophet.
• In the Bible Abraham is called the “servant of God” (Genesis chapter 26 verse 24),
• The “father of Israel” (Exodus chapter 3 verse 15).
• And my favourite description God’s “friend” (Isaiah chapter 41 verse 8),
• There is more said in this chapter about the faith Abraham demonstrated;
• Than any of the other of the Old Testament characters mentioned in the chapter.
• He is a great example for us to study and then to emulate.
• This chapter makers it very clear Abraham was a man who lived by faith!
Ill:
• Faith is part of everyday living:
• e.g. When you are ill.
You go to a doctor whose name you can’t pronounce.
He gives you a prescription you cannot read.
You take it to a pharmacist you have never seen.
He gives you medication you do not understand --- and yet, you take it."
Now, that is living by Faith!
The fact is, we can’t get through a single day without living by Faith.
• ill: When you turn on a light switch you put faith in the electrical wiring.
• ill: When you turn the car key in your ignition, you trust the motor.
• ill: When you post a letter you have faith in the Mail Service.
• ill: When you turn on a tap you have faith in the water board.
• ill: When you plant a seed you have faith in nature!
• ill: When you sit on a chair you have faith it will hold you!
• Sometimes…..of course……our faith might be misplaced.
• Because faith is only as valuable as the OBJECT of that faith.
• For Abraham his faith was focussed on the right source;
• It was rooted in a God who had spoken to him.
Abraham was called of God to walk by faith – in other words to obey his leading;
• At the time of his calling - all Abraham had was questions and no answers!
• But that is where faith comes into operation.
• The challenge for us this morning is;
• Are we willing to walk by faith or are we just going to sing, read or talk about it!
(1). Faith when he did not know WHERE (vs 8-10):
“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.
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.”
• We are told in verse 8 that God told Abraham;
• ‘To leave his home and family and to go to an unknown place’.
• God said; ‘go’ and Abraham did not do a Jonah and say; “No!”
• Instead he replied ‘Okay, but where?’
• And God said; ‘I will tell you when we get there’.
• ill: A-B, B-C, C-D etc.
Quote:
He does not lead me year by year,
Nor even day by day;
But step by step my path unfolds,
My Lord directs my way.
Tomorrow’s plans I do not know;
I only know this minute.
But he will say, “This is the way,
By faith now walk ye in it.”
And I am glad that it is so,
Today’s enough to bear;
And when tomorrow comes, his grace
Shall far exceed its care.
What need to worry then, or fret'
The God who gave his Son
Holds all my moments in his hand
And gives them one by one.
Ill:
• Most of the time we travel roads that are familiar.
• Most of the time we take the same route to work, to school, to the shops etc.
• For Abraham familiar roads were to be a thing of the past.
• ill: Imagine waking up every day and travelling on a road you know nothing about!
• ill: Making a journey that you had no idea how long it would take;
• It could a week, a month, a year, a decade, a century!
Question: How many of us like Abraham would be prepared to leave:
• Our home;
• Especially if we have ‘at long last’ got it the way we want it!
• Abraham left his home and he never again owned a home;
• In fact on the day of his death;
• All he owned in terms of land was the tomb in which his wife Sarah was buried.
• Even though the entire land was promised to him - he was always a pilgrim, a wanderer.
• Our country;
• The place you were born & raised, and are so proud (remember Abraham only knew Ur).
• He had deep, deep routes in Mesopotamia (Genesis chapter 11 shows his ancestral roots).
• Ur was where he was born, where he grew up and where he expected to one day die.
• Ill: Most of you won’t even move seats in Church!
• Abraham cut his ties and perhaps discovered that home is where the heart is;
• Our culture;
• Would you be prepared to be foreigner?
• To have to learn a new language – to eat strange new foods!
• To embrace new customs;
• Our people;
• Leaving relatives and friends maybe that is biggest break of all.
• Ill: Ask Jurn!
Abraham did it!
• And when he left behind his home, his country, his culture, his people;
• Remember that he was in his 70's, his wife in her 60's, (ill: hardest age to change).
• He turned his back on the security and familiarity he was used to;
• He was his dad’s firstborn;
• Which meant that he would one day inherit dad’s business and properties.
• He had no apparent reason to move.
• Except for the fact God asked him too!
• Ill: Parents say to their kids; “Because I say so!”
• God was not angry and exasperated with Abraham;
• In fact the very opposite he was pleased with him;
• One day he told him to “Go”
• And Abraham replied in faith; “Which way?”
Application:
Ill:
• Although Albert Einstein was a genius when it came to science;
• He often struggled with the common tasks of everyday.
• One day he found himself on a train.
• The conductor called for tickets, but Albert Einstein couldn’t find his ticket;
• He searched his pockets and fumbled through his wallet without success.
• The conductor was sympathetic. “Don’t worry, Mr. Einstein,” he said.
• “British Railway will be happy to trust you”.
• But the conductor’s kindness did not put Einstein at ease.
• Albert Einstein said to the conductor,
• “My problem is not ‘Where is my ticket?’ but rather ‘Where am I going?’
There are too many Churches and too many Christians;
• Who like Einstein; don’t know where they are going!
• They limp through life instead of walking or running through life;
• The problem often is that they have no clear direction or picture of God’s leading.
• They lack vision (Quote: Television).
Quote: Franklin Field:
“Poor eyes limit your sight; poor vision limits your deeds”.
Quote: Listen to what D.L Moody 18th Century American Evangelist) said about faith:
“I prayed for faith and thought that some day it would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith didn’t seem to come.
One day I read in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
I had, up to this time, closed my Bible and prayed for faith. Now I opened my Bible and began to study ---and faith has been growing ever since.”
Note:
• I would suggest we will not know God’s guidance for our lives;
• If we are not having regular ‘systematic’ times in his word!
(2). Faith when he did not know How (vs 11-12):
“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.
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”.
• In verses 11-12, we come to the second stage of Abraham’s life of faith.
• These verses depict God’s promise to Abraham of a descendent, a son.
If you know the story of Abraham in Chapter 12 it goes like this:
(a).
• In Genesis chapter 12, as a 75-year old man,
• God makes his promise to Abraham.
• Trouble is God is never in a hurry to fulfil his promise;
• He not only works his way but he works according to his timescale!
Ill: Ill:
DVD – patience Ivor’s sign.
(b).
• In Genesis chapter 16;
• Eleven years after God’s initial promise Abraham, apparently impatient,
• He tries to give God a helping hand to get his will done;
• He sleeps with his handmaiden Hagar. And she bears him a son (Ishmael)
• Abraham assumes he has manipulated God’s will;
• Job done – a son and heir is born.
(c).
• Then in Genesis chapter 18,
• Another thirteen years later;
• And twenty-four years since that original promise,
• God reminds Abraham that He got it wrong with Hagar;
• And that he is going to give him a son through Sarah (God has not changed his plan).
Note:
• However there is a slight problem;
• Abraham is 99 years old, and his wife Sarah is 90 years old.
• Ill: IVF is still waiting to be invented;
• And at their age they would not qualify anyway!
• Notice in verse 12, the phrase "as good as dead"
• It is a medical term referring to the ability to reproduce an offspring.
• In other words, medically, scientifically and physically speaking,
• Abraham and Sarah were "as good as dead" when it came to the matter of child-bearing.
And it gets even better:
• Did you see that? God not only promised Abraham a son,
• But that the offspring of his son would be as
• “Many as the stars of the sky and the sand by the sea shore."
• Although it was unnatural, unreasonable, and unbelievable;
• Yet Abraham believed God and he did it!
• ill: Every time you see a Jewish person or hear Israel mentioned on the news;
• They or it is a reminder that God keeps his word!
Application:
• A promise from God is a statement we can depend on with absolute confidence.
• They are facts!
Ill:
• Here are 12 promises for the Christian to claim.
• (Published in Our Daily Bread).
• God’s presence:
• “I will never leave you” (Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5)
• God’s protection:
• “I am your shield” (Genesis chapter 15 verse 1)
• God’s power;
• “I will strengthen you” (Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10)
• God’s provision:
• “I will help you” (Isaiah chapter 41 verse 10)
• God’s leading:
• “He goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him” (John chapter 10 verse 4)
• God’s purposes:
• “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil” (Jeremiah chapter 20 verse 11)
• God’s rest:
• “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew chapter 11 verse 28)
• God’s cleansing:
• “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John chapter 1 verse 9)
• God’s goodness:
• “No good thing will He withhold from them that work uprightly” (Psalm 84 verse 11)
• God’s faithfulness:
• “The Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake” (1 Samuel chapter 12 verse 22)
• God’s guidance:
• “The meek will He guide” (Psalm 25 verse 9)
• God’s wise plan;
• “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans chapter 8 verse 28)
(3). Faith when he did not know Why? (vs 17-19):
“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.
• In this example from the life of Abraham;
• We find ourselves atop of a place called Mount Moriah.
• It is at this place that we find Abraham going through the greatest trial of his life.
• It is on this mountain that Abraham’s faith is going through the ultimate test.
Ill: DVD
Abraham is about to climb to the top of a place called Mount Moriah.
Ill:
Compared to the first journey that God had put Abraham on, this trip was nothing.
• The journey from Ur to Canaan was some 2000km and probably took several months.
• The journey from Beersheba to Mt. Moriah was about 80km and took 3 days.
• But which of the two journeys do you think was longer for Abraham?
• On that 3 day journey that seemed to be an eternity,
• Abraham must have been tempted to give into his feelings.
• His feelings told him, “Take your boy, and go home!”
• Remember this is the son Abraham waited 24 long years to hold.
• Isaac was in every sense the most precious thing in Abraham’s life.
• As Abraham lays the wood on the altar;
• And ties his son to the altar built with the wood.
• He must be thinking in his mind;
• God this makes no sense - you gave him to me and now you want him back.
Ill:
• Abraham had already experienced what it felt like to lose a son. Ishmael,
• Abraham’s firstborn son by Hagar,
• Had been kicked out of Abraham’s house by Sarah only one chapter earlier.
• True, Ishmael had been a trouble-maker, but he was Abraham’s firstborn.
• And yes, as much as 13 years and perhaps more had passed;
• Since the day that Abraham lost Ishmael.
• But it still hurt deeply.
• Was Abraham thinking “God, I can’t go through that pain again.”
Maybe not because his faith turned this situation around from negative to positive (vs 19):
19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death”.
• Abraham Trusted God;
• He believed that after he killed him, God had the power to raise him back to life.
• In Genesis chapter 22 verses 5-8): Abraham said: "We will return to you"
• He never told his servants “I will return”.
ABRAHAM HAD A THREE-FOLD REWARD (GENESIS CHAPTER 22):
(1). God became more real (Genesis chapter 22 verse 11).
• God becomes more real, more personal than he ever was before the test.
• Twice he calls to him by name: "Abraham! Abraham!"
• God becomes more real, more personal than he ever was before the test.
Quote: Hudson Taylor:
"It does not matter how great the pressure is, what really matters is where the pressure lies,
Whether it comes between you and God, or whether it presses you nearer his heart.
(2). When we obey, God affirms our faith (Genesis chapter 22 verse 12): "Now I know".
• Twice before in the life of Abraham when he was tested, he blew it.
• Genesis chapter 12 & chapter 20.
• He blew it because both times he did not believe God's promise:
• e.g. Both times he said: "They will kill me".
• But on this occasion he was prepared to slaughter his son "WHOM HE LOVES"
• Abraham’s faith has grown and God affirms that to him
(3). When we obey God provides (Genesis chapter 22 verse 13): "Jehovah Jirah".
• God provided in a way Abraham did not expect;
• Ill: A ram caught in a thicket.
• Abraham had his sacrifice;
• But to discover it he had to trust God, he had to exercise faith.
Ill:
• Missionary statesman Hudson Taylor had complete trust in God’s faithfulness.
• In his journal he wrote:
• “Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One.
• He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning.
• He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years.
• We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China;
• But if He did,
• He would have ample means to sustain them all,
• Depend on it,
• God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply”.
(4). When we obey, God multiplies his blessings and confirms his promises
(Genesis chapter 22 verses 15-18):
• Two times the angel of the Lord highlights Abraham's obedience:
• "Because you have done this and not withheld your son".
• "Because you have obeyed my voice".
• He then mentions once again to Abraham the great promises. (vs 17 -18)
• Quote: Arthur W. Pink
• “The permanence of God's character guarantees the fulfilment of his promises”.
