posting what I spoke on during the services.
Faith is an important word in the Bible. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that “We are saved by faith in Christ …” And Romans 5:1 says “We are justified by faith in Christ …” Hebrews chapter 11 says this about faith. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
Throughout the Bible we see
that God is faithful and will deliver on His promises. As Christians
we believe this so much so that like Abram it moves us to an action
of some kind. Faith is the Christ follower's favorable response to
God’s revelation.
In Hebrews 11:1
we see the result of faith provides
believers assurance of the reality of things they could only hope
for. It provided a certainty of the existence of the invisible order.
But before the writer of Hebrews wrote of faith, Abraham was putting
his faith into action (Genesis 12:1-4). Trusting in God alone Abraham
set out for a promise land, and he was willing to offer up Isaac, his
promised child (Genesis 22).
1.
What Is Faith?
As
we read earlier Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen.” The
Greek word used here means assurance or credence or moral
conviction of the truthfulness of God.
Simply
put faith is trusting God enough to do what He says He will do. Abram, who would later have his name changed to Abraham did exactly that. Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3).
As
we see in Nehemiah 9:7-8, God was faithful to keep His promise to
Abraham. "You
are the LORD God, Who chose Abram And brought him out from Ur
of the Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham. You found his
heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To
give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the
Amorite, Of the Perizzite (per-iz-zee') the Jebusite
(yeb-oo-see') and the Girgashite (ghir-gaw-shee') -- To give
it to his descendants. And You have fulfilled Your promise,
For You are righteous.” (Nehemiah
9:7-8).
And
in the New Testament the writer of Hebrews included Abraham in the
role call of the faithful.
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. 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;
(Heb 11:8-9).
So how did
Abraham make the writer of Hebrews role call of the faith?
2. Abraham An
Example of Faith
Four
hundred and twenty-two years or so after the last recorded
communication with Noah, the Lord again opened His mouth, this time
to Abraham.
(Genesis
12:1). Everything in
Abraham's
life and walk cried faith. Abraham
in faith, obeyed.
His
motivation was simple; he believed God when He said,
“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s
house to the land that I will show you.”
Abraham
went, even though he did not have the slightest idea where he
was going. It
was against all common sense to leave the place of familiarity,
the land and people that he had known and loved all those
years, and go to a place that was unknown.
When Abraham reached his destination, he lived as a nomad, not an owner or possessor, in tents of temporary nature. By faith he looked into the future toward a city whose buildings had foundation stones, a symbol of permanence of the promise of God, in comparison to movable and unstable tents. Abram (Abraham) believed—and so was counted as righteous.
Picking up and going to a place he didn't know, or even how to get there took faith. But God would but Abraham's faith to the test again. Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children, let alone a son to carry on their name in this new land. Then the Lord spoke to Abram about this. Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir." And He took him outside and said, "Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." And He said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
(Genesis 15:4-6).
God did not fulfill His promise overnight, but He did keep His word and when Abraham and Sarah were past child bearing age God did a miracle.Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"... But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him... Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. (Gen 17:17, 19; 21:1-3)
“ Abram you must have faith that I will give you a new homeland.” “Okay”
“Abram you must have faith that even though you and Sarai are passed child bearing age I will give you a son.” “That's a little hard to believe, but okay.”
“Abraham, how you enjoying that son of yours?” “Oh! He is the apple of mine and his mother's eye.” “Glad to hear it, now go and sacrifice him.” “Yea, okay... wait what!” Once more Abraham was asked by God to step out on faith. And as a dad I can tell you this would have been the hardest for me. But listen to the exchange between God and Abraham. Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."... Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"... Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son...Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." (Gen 22:1-2, 7, 9-10, 15-18)
How many more times was Abraham's faith tested, we do not know. But just the three mentioned here were pretty big leaps of faith. And yet all through them Abraham kept trusting God and God kept proving His faithfulness. "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it?” (Numbers 23:19); His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
So now you
have an example of what faith is lets look at the results of faith
3. The
Results of Faith (vs. 1-3)
Natural Eyesight produces a
belief about objects in the physical world. “Seeing is
believing!” Faith produces a belief in God
with out seeing. Now
the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And
from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land
which I will show you;
And
I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make
your name great; And
so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the
families of the earth will be blessed." (Genesis
12:1-3).
Jacob
was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was
born, who is called the Messiah. So all the generations from
Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the
deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the
deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
Matthew 1:16-17
Three
ties were going to be severed in Abram complying with the
command, “Go forth...”
First
is the tie to Abram's country, in the widest range of his
affections.
Next
and the second tie is to be broken is that of Abram's place of
birth and extended family. This one comes a little closer to
his heart
Last
and probably the hardest tie to brake is the one to his father's
house. This is the closest to his heart.
All three
ties would to be broken; not, however, without reason. The reason
may not be entirely obvious to the mind of Abram. But he
had complete faith in the reasonableness of what God proposes. So
with reason and faith he was willing to step out and go to the
unknown land. It was
enough that God would show him the land to which he was now
sent. Faith shows itself by producing assurances that what we hope for will
happen. Faith develops assurance
about things that do not exist, yet. A person who will
place their faith in Christ Jesus will find that He will
provide all that you need for your daily life. Faith enables
Christians to live for Christ Jesus now in spite of what may
come. What is it that you
have the assurance of? You have the assurance that if you know
Christ Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, the blessings and
rewards from will God infinetly out weigh anything you can gain
by not placing your faith in Him. You have a hope of
an eternal reward – eternity spent with the triune God. That
is if you have asked Christ Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour.
Will
there be times of doubt and times when you mess-up, yes. Just look
at the life of Abram. He got into trouble a time or two because of
doubt. But
like Abram learned to ask God to
forgive him and then continue on responding in faith to God's
Word. Faith points you to
the unseen power who made the worlds both seen and unseen.
Through the prompting of the Holy Spirit it points you to
Christ Jesus who made all things. (John 1:3). God began the ages
with creation and He will end the ages with judgement. Are you
going to place your faith in this world or be like Abraham and
place your faith in the one who made it?
CONCLUSION:
When we believe God, we place our faith
in Him, take Him at His word, and walk with Him through whatever He
places before us. With faith in God we can face what ever comes at
us. With faith in God we can glorify our Him in our daily living.
With faith in God we can find and follow His will for our lives. With
faith in God face the final judgment with out fear. The question is
have you place your faith in God or your hopes on the things this
world?
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