HEBREWS 11: 8-12
ABRAHAM & SARAH’S LIFE OF FAITH [Leaving a Legacy Series]
[Romans 4:20-22; Acts 7:2-5; Gen. 12, 17, 18]
There are only two ways to live. One way, by far the most common, is to live by sight, to base everything on what you can see. This is an empirical or scientific way. The other way, far less common, is to live by faith, to base your life primarily and ultimately on what you cannot see. The Christian way, of course, is the faith way. We have never seen God, or Jesus Christ, or heaven, or hell, or the Holy Spirit. We have never seen any of the people who wrote the Bible or an original manuscript of the Bible. Though we see the results of them, the virtues that God commands or the graces that He gives are not readily seen like banners or metals. Yet we live in the conviction of all these things, by faith. We bank our earthly lives and our eternal destiny on things which we have never seen. That is the way the people of God have always lived. [MacArthur, John. Hebrews. Moody. 1983. pg. 326.]
The life of faith has some specific ingredients, which are pointed out in this text as reflected in the life of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham’s faith produced obedience to the God who gave him promises. Yet, Abraham and Sarah did not quickly inherit the promises. They were called to a pilgrimage of faith that they might learn the patience of faith and the power of faith. And because of their assurance in the faithfulness of the God who called them and conviction of an unseen reality, they based their life upon the future fulfillment of divine promises. They exhibited their faith by living the present life in the hope of the future fulfillment of God’s promises (CIT).
I. THE PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH, 8.
II. THE PATIENCE OF FAITH, 9-10.
III. THE POWER OF FAITH, 11-12.
Verse 8 declares that it was faith in God’s word that enabled Abraham to leave the known and familiar to go wherever God would lead him. “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
The call that came to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-4 consisted of two parts: a command and a promise. Abraham believed that both the command and the promise came from God and therefore obeyed the command and expected the fulfillment of the promise. If Abraham had not believed the call came from God or that God would not keep His promise, he would have stayed in Terah, Mesopotamia, but because he believed, he obeyed. He broke the strong bonds that bound men to their country, family, friends and job, to undertake a journey of unknown length, difficulty, and danger to a country of which he knew nothing but that God had said to him “to a land, which I will show you.” Obedient actions demonstrate the reality of our faith.
Abraham believed the covenant that God made with him and in obedience, followed God. His obedience was the outward evidence of his inward faith. Can obedience be shown in some other way than by action? No (Genesis 26:5). Abraham’s faith was evident in his action of following God’s promises, and so is ours.
Abraham did not know where God’s will would lead him, he simply followed God’s will each day of his earthly pilgrimage as it was revealed to him. He went into the unknown because of a God known only by the evidences of faith. This obedience is a remarkable example of the power of faith enabling a believer to perform a difficult duty. Nothing but faith in God could have enabled Abraham to act as he did.
I wonder just what would happen to us if we took God at His word also and acted on His commandments and promises? Most of us live a cautious life on the principle of safety first, but to live the Christian life there is of necessity a certain reckless willingness to adventure with God. If your faith must see every step of the way it is not really faith. It is sometimes necessary for the Christian to take the way where the voice of God is calling without knowing what the consequences will be. Like Abraham you are to venture out “not knowing where” your obedience will lead.
It is equally necessary now as then. “Nothing but the faith of the Gospel can induce a man to abandon the world and begin a faith pilgrimage towards heaven. Yet wherever there is the faith of the Gospel, there will be such an abandonment and a commencement. If Abraham had continued in Mesopotamia or stopped short of Canaan it would have proved that he did not believe the divine testimony. And whenever men continue to love the world or become foresakers of the Christian pilgrimage whatever may be the profession the evidence is clear that they have not believed the Gospel.” [Brown, John. The Epistle of Hebrews. Banner of Truth. 1961. Edinburgh. pg. 508]
Life is filled with UNCERTAINTY. We don’t know what the next 24 hours will bring. It’s an uncharted course that may include blessing or tragic loss. Because the future is unknown, it fills many people with fear - making each new day and circumstance a struggle.
Fear of the unknown has often kept man from moving forward. In the early Middle Ages, for example, European sailors would not sail very far south. They believed that the middle of the earth was ringed with fire. Because the farther south they traveled the hotter it became. The same kind of fear kept men from exploring the Atlantic Ocean. A chart that was drawn sometime in the Middle Ages has a painting of a ship turning back into the Mediterranean Sea from the Straits of Gibraltar. Above it appears the Latin phrase Ne Plus Ultra, which means “nothing more beyond.” Fear of the unknown kept explorers from crossing the Atlantic until Columbus and Ponce de Leon decided to test the horizon.
Fear of the unknown may keep us from making spiritual progress as well. We are afraid of what our neighbor will say if we witness to him. We don’t know how the students will respond if we teach a class. We’re not sure we can pay the bills if we increase our giving. But we must not be afraid to take the step of faith. Like Abraham, who left his homeland for an unknown destination, we can overcome uncertainty by trusting God. He sees and leads beyond the known.
We yearn to know in advance the outcome of our obedience and where God is taking us, yet we are given only the assurance that He is with us and that He is in charge. And with that, we venture into the unknown with Him. Those who fear the future are likely to fumble the present. Venture into the unknown with faith in a known God.
II. THE PATIENCE OF FAITH, 9-10.
Verse 9 informs us that when Abraham came to the promised land he did not settle there but continued to live the life of a pilgrim. “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;”
Though Abraham’s faith caused him to immediately follow God’s command to give up homeland, friends, his business and his previous religion (Josh 24:2) also had to sustain him through times of patient waiting.
Though the Canaanites’ dwelt in cities, Abraham was content to live as an alien and dwell in tents. Travelers and nomads lived in tents. Permanent residents settled down and lived in more permanently constructed houses. Not only did Abraham continue his life as a pilgrim but his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob lived out their lives in tents (Gen. 12:18; 13:3; 18:1). They sojourned in the land God had promised to them but they never settled down. Though the land was promised to them they never would possess it except by faith.
This land is called the land of the promise because God had promised it to them, but they lived and died as pilgrims without receiving the promise. He left all in obedience expecting to receive the promise, but never received it. It was his because God had promised it to him yet he never owned it [or more than a small plot where Sarah and he were buried]. This required patience. Abraham’s faith required a great deal of patience to live in a land as alien which was promised by God to him (Gen 12:7, 13:15, 17: 8). He did all of this without grumbling about God’s faithfulness. No wonder he is called the father of the faithful (Neh. 9:7-8, Rom. 4:3-5, Gal. 3:6-8).
Abraham waited patiently and never saw this promise of God fulfilled. He, his son, then his grandson just waited, and waited, and waited. Often the hardest times for us as believers are the in-between times, the times of waiting as heirs of the same promise. We are tempted to say, even to God, “Promises! Promises!” Abraham spent a great deal of time waiting. He waited long years for the son of promise, who was finally given. He waited all his life for the land of promise, which was never given. Yet he waited and watched and worked in the patient belief that God is faithful. Faith in God and His promises enabled them to endure patiently their unsettled life, since it assured them of a home far more permanent than any home earth had to offer.
Another example of faithful patience is William Carey. A shoemaker by trade, Carey became a scholar, a linguist, and the father of modern missions. He lived by this motto: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” In old age, he made one thing clear, however: “if, after my removal, anyone should think it worth his while to write my life, I will give you a criterion by which you may judge of its correctness. If he gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much.” Then he added, “I can plod....To this I owe everything.”
William Carey spent thirty-five years in India and saw only a handful of converts. Yet every Christian missionary who has gone to India since that time owes a debt to Carey. He planted so that they could harvest. He translated the Word of God into Indian dialects, so that virtually all missionary effort in India has been based to some extent on His pioneer work. Most of the fruits of his labor he saw only by faith. He had faith’s patience and did not “grow weary in well-doing.” “Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient” (James 5:7-8).
It is discouraging to trust and work and see no results. A mother may pray for 15, 20, 30 years for the salvation of a son and never see him come to Christ. A Sunday School teacher or minister may serve faithfully and see little evidence of spiritual growth. For the 120 years Noah built the ark he saw only his sons and their wives brought into the household of faith. While the world crowns quick success, God crowns long-term faithfulness. Are you patiently fulfilling your God given responsibilities? Don’t give up. God rewards faithful plodders.
The secret to Abraham’s patience, found in verse ten, was his hope in the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of God. “For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
The secret of Abraham’s patience and his steady waiting in spite of disappointment is that Abraham’s faith could look beyond this world. It is characteristic of the best of us that we are in a hurry. To wait on the Lord can be even harder than to adventure for the Lord. At the time of decision to step out for God, there is excitement and thrill of the new challenge and experience. When we achieve there is the glow and glory of satisfaction. In the intervening time though there must be developed the ability to wait and work and keep watch when nothing seems to be happening. It is when we are waiting that we are liable to give up our hopes and lower our ideals and sink into an apathy where dreams die.
A man must have a vision of hope to enable him to face difficulties, disappointments, discouragements, and challenges along the way. Abraham’s vision of the eternal city of God is one that we too must have. Even though he was waiting and wandering his soul was at home with God. We too need to entrust God with our spirit and grasp that inner vision of heaven that will make all the toil and trouble along the way worthwhile.
Abraham’s hopes were fixed not on this transient world but he was focused on a promised destination. Abraham looked for a city in the heavenly land whose eternal [lasting & stable] foundations were planned and built by God Himself. [Builder is te???t?? from te??? -craftsman.] This place, this destination, this eternal home had captured his heart and mind. When he set his gaze steadily upon his eternal home and saw himself as a pilgrim on earth he could hold lightly the temporary for he saw the eternal with the eyes of faith.
[We have heard of people “who were so heavenly minded that they were of no earthy good.” That thought is often thrown out by those who are so earthly minded that they are no heavenly good. In truth it is impossible to be of any eternal good on earth unless we are heavenly minded. Only heavenly minded folk have the patient endurance to continue faithfully in God’s work when it becomes hard, unappreciated and seemingly endless.]
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves,...the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in.’”
If our minds are properly occupied with heaven, we can’t help but do earthly good. Just keep your eyes on Jesus who has gone before us to prepare us a heavenly place of rest.
III. THE POWER OF FAITH, 11-12.
The next example of faith involves the fulfillment of God’s promise of descendants beginning in verse 11. “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.”
By faith they believed the promise of God and obtained the impossible. Faith is that powerful! Faith sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, touches the intangible, and accomplishes the impossible.
Faith was active in the miracle of Isaac’s birth. From the human standpoint it was impossible for Abraham and Sarah to have a child. Not only had Sarah always been barren, but she was 90 years of age far beyond the proper time of life for conception.
Listen to the threefold course of action of Sarah and Abraham to this impossible promise of God. First the promise was good for mocking laughter in Abraham, Genesis 17:17 and then in Sarah, 18:12. On hearing the promises of God our reaction is often not what it should be. This is often true when one hears the gospel. That God should love men enough to die for them seems impossible to believe.
Second it passed into dawning realization. They began to realize who it was that was speaking and that God cannot lie. When we remember that it is the Lord of All the Earth who makes the promise and that nothing is impossible for Him, there should come the realization that however astonishing that promise maybe it must none-the-less be true.
The third culminating reaction to God’s promises is the ability to believe in the impossible. That Abraham and Sarah should have a child humanly speaking was impossible, but by the faith in the grace and power of God and His word the impossible became true.
Men in planning and thinking put limits on the power of God. Faith enables us to lay hold of that grace which is sufficient for all things in such a way that the things which are humanly impossible become divinely possible. With God all things according to His will and timing are possible. The word impossible therefore has little room in the vocabulary of the Christian and of the Christian Church.
Verse 12 explains the results of faith in God’s promises. “Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of Heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”
Both Abraham and Sarah shared the conviction that God was faithful to His promises. Because of their faith in God from these who were as good as dead came a physical nation and spiritual nation teaming with life as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore (Gen. 22:17). Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mk. 9:23), and “with God all things are possible” (Mt.19:26). God’s power and will are on one side and man’s faith is on the other. Whatever we know to be God’s will, faith has the power to accomplish!
In CLOSING
Faith in God’s promises produced obedience, patience, and power in Abraham. He chose not to doubt in the dark what God told him in the light. So often our doubt short circuits God’s power. God’s power is for us to claim and then to obtain His promises. Too often what hinders the fulfillment of His promises is lack of faith (demonstrated by our lack of obedience). Our faith to see God’s promises accomplished on earth is lacking because we are not looking for the eternal, not building our life upon the foundation of God’s eternal promises. Where does your hope and security lie? Remember the words of Jesus who said, “Fear not, only believe” (Lk 8;50) and “be it done to you according to your faith” (Mt. 9:29).
CLOSING PRAYER: You have given us exceedingly great and precious promises that through them we might become partakers of Your divine nature (2 Pet 1:3). Father You promised barren Sarah that she would have a baby. Through this promised child, that Abraham and Sarah waited 25 more years to have, the nation of Israel was born, and through this line, the promised Messiah was born. Thank You for those who place their faith in You and your promises. May Your promises also settle deep into our hearts and minds so that we internalizing them and let them become part of us.
Father because we know that this life is only the beginning we can look beyond this life. Help us to act and continue to act on the promises, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. You promised to give us everything we need for whatever we’re living through. Thank You for the amazing and overwhelming gift of Your love. You are faithful and watch over Your Word to perform it. May we trust in You.
BENEDICTION:
As participates in the eternal covenant and partakers of God’s Abrahamic blessings, may you be an instrument who imparts the blessings of God to others wherever you go.
OPENING PRAYER: El Shaddai, Lord God Almighty, we bow down before You to honor, praise and worship You. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. We thirst for You, oh God, our Redeemer. You are good and Your mercy endures forever. We give you thanks for setting us free from sin & its bondage. May no harm overtake us, & no disaster come near us. We pray that Your angels would guard us in all our ways (Ps 91).
Good Father create in us a heart that trusts Your promises. Grant us an unwavering trust in Your goodness and a willingness to run to the praise that makes You our refuge. Thank You for Your unfailing love, grace, and mercy over our lives.
