1. Some apparent dilemmas:
• “Look before you leap” vs. “He who hesitates is lost.”
• Proverbs 26.4-5:
4 Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.
• Saved by Grace – Ephesians 2.8-10
• Justified by works – James 2.20-26
20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
• Both are right – On the one hand; and on the other
2. Faith is crucial to our walk with God
• Belief
• Steadiness – Moses raising his hands; making the letter “Shin” -- Shaddai
• Persistent/Consistent
• Obedient
• “Hear” = Obey
3. We have discussed Dead Faith; Demonic Faith; Now Dynamic Faith
4. Focus on two extremes – Abraham and Rahab
I. Mr. Respectable – Abraham (James 2.20-24; Hebrews 11.8-9; Genesis 22.1-19)
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Hebrews 11.8-9
A. Abraham Took Direction from God
1. Prototype of Faith in Action
2. Especially in sacrifice of Isaac
3. “Here I Am” – Genesis 22.1 and 11
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.
The meaning is “I am here, ready, willing, and able to carry out you wishes.”
[I am told that when Marines have special respect for their commanding officers (especially their ship’s Captain), they will acknowledge the officer with coming to attention and a salute; the officer will return the salute and walk by the Marine – that’s what the regulations say to do; HOWEVER, if the Marine respects the officer, he will turn to hear any command that the officer may give as he passes.
B. Abraham Made THE Decision for God
1. The one significant decision we will make is to surrender to God; all others hinge on this one
a. “Surrender” is an interesting concept – depends on which side you are on – Victor or Victim: VJ Day; VE Day; Appomattox Court House
b. Paradox: 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16.24-26
c. We are not losers/victims in our surrender to God – Romans 8.31-39
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. Costly but Rewarded – Hebrews 11.17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did.
A.W. Tozer has written wisely of the struggle in the form of a prayer, “Father, I want to know You, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from You the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that You my enter and dwell there without a rival. Then you will make the place of Your feet glorious. Then my heart will have no need of the sun to shine in it, for You will be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' Name, Amen.” [A.W.Tozer. Pursuit of God p. 31]
C. Abraham Gave a Depiction of God
1. A Picture of Yeshua (Jesus) in the sacrifice of Isaac
• Supernatural birth
• “Only” Son
• Named by God (Laughter/Yeshua)
• Persecuted by Contemporaries/Brothers
But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. Galatians 4.29
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John 1.11
• Offered as a sacrifice – carried wood; same location (2 Chronicles 3.1); voluntary
• 3rd day Abraham received his son back (On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Genesis 22.4); Ram for substitutionary sacrifice, provided by God;
2. A Picture of God in the Sacrifice of Isaac
a. One thing to voluntarily lay down your life; another to give someone else’s
[Sacrifice:
b. Triumphal entry – 2 parts:
• Lamb of God – the sacrifice (Lamb selection Day)
• The one who makes the sacrifice
II. MS. Reprehensible – Rahab
By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. Hebrews 11.31
and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, Matthew 1.5
From Prostitute to Proselyte
A. A Representative of God’s Grace in Action
1. She was the wrong person – Goy; Woman; Prostitute (condemned – Deuteronomy 23.17-18; Leviticus 18 – morals determine success – John Adams – Constitution fit only for moral people)
There are some people you just don’t want to spend any time with. For example: telephone solicitors. How many of you have had at least one phone call from a phone solicitor in past month? Recently I ran across some suggested responses for fed up home owners:
• “I’m sorry, but I’m really busy right now. Give me your home # and I’ll call you back later tonight.”
• During the pitch, begin to use your touch tone phone to play “Mary had a little lamb”: 6546 666 555 666 6545 6666 5565 4444444444
• When someone asks whether a spouse is at home: “Yes, but I never allow her to talk to strangers.”
• To an insurance salesman: “You want to sell me insurance? I’ve been trying to get insurance for years, but nobody will sell me any!”
• To a salesperson hawking a rug-cleaning service whisper: “Really? Tell me… can you get out goat’s blood? How about identifiable fibers and DNA stuff?”
2. Encouraged the Hebrews at Jericho – Joshua 2.8-13
Heard and believed and acted
Hid spies; sent on way; lied about their departure (life trumps all else)
3. Key Person in scripture:
Matthew – 1 of 3 women in Yeshua’s lineage
Hebrews – Example of faith
James – Example of righteousness
B. A Recipient of God’s Grace for All
1. Asked for Mercy (only way to get it – not forced on us) – Joshua 2.12-15
2. Undeserved
3. Publican and Pharisee (Luke 18)
1. Jonathan Edwards preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” – hanging by a thread over hell
2. Rahab’s salvation was by a thread – a scarlet cord – symbol of her willingness to stand for and with God and his people – a display of her faith
3. Our salvation is by the thread of Yeshua through the bible – Genesis to Revelation speaks the story of Yeshua and our salvation
a. Triumphant God
b. Will we stand with him – wholeheartedly?
c. It is seen in our faith!
4. Trying to win their case some lawyers have been known to ask some incredibly unbelievable questions. The Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyer’s Journal gave the following example:
Question: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
Answer: No.
Question: Did you check for blood pressure?
Answer: No.
Question: Did you check for breathing?
Answer: No
Question: Then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
Answer: No
Question: How can you be sure doctor?
Answer: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Question: But couldn’t the patient been alive nevertheless?
Answer: It is possible that the patient could still have been alive and practicing law somewhere.
A body without the brain is dead; likewise faith without is works is dead. Dead faith does nothing.
