Abraham's Faith, Part 2

Turn with me in your Bible to Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews chapter 11 looking at the the life of Abraham We began last week by looking to this man's call to faith The Bible says in Hebrews 11 verse number 8 by faith Abraham when he was called Obeyed that's basically what faith is faith is trusting obedience Faith is believing absolutely in all that God said and behaving Accordingly to all that God said that's what true saving faith is and so here was Abraham called by God Obeyed the true and living God and last week we talked to you about the call of faith How the call of faith is a very personal call God came to Abraham The Bible says that the God of glory acts 7 verse number 2 appeared to him and So out of the brilliant splendor of his majesty The Lord would call Abraham.

It was a very personal call We told you last week that you need to understand that the the call of faith always commences with God he calls We obey No, there's a commence with God, but it always comes through the gospel of God How does God call us? Well faith cometh by hearing and hearing about a word concerning the Christ James 1 18 we have been born again through the the truth of God's Holy Word so that which commences with God comes only through the gospel and That which comes to the gospel is conceived by grace Galatians 1 verse number 6 and That which is conceived by grace is always clarified by good works Titus 2 11 to 14 Ephesians 2 verse number 10.

We are his workmanship. We have been created unto Good works. We are saved by grace through faith But those good works clarify the grace that we have received and then that call compels us To be grateful Psalm 103 1 to 4 we can't help but give thanks to the true and living God in that call then Commissions us to go into all the world and preach the gospel That's how you know, you've received the call from God That was evidence in Abraham's life This call to Abraham this call of faith was a very personal call But it was also we told you last week a very predetermined call, right?

It was predetermined in eternity past That God would call Abraham. We told you last week that God didn't just look around the earth and think okay Who can I who can I use to be a father of this great nation that I'm going to create? No Abraham was this sovereign choice from the very beginning of time it was a predetermined choice a Predetermined call like your call in mine. Our names are written in the land's book of life before time ever begins God predetermines that call that's why it's so personal But on top of that we told you it was a purposeful call right?

Abraham's call was very purposeful God didn't call him and say hey, you know hope things work out. Well for you. No, I called you for a purpose You're gonna be a father of a great nation And I'm gonna use you To make sure that my people understand my Messiah So the call for Abraham was a very purposeful call Because God calls us To use this for his glory and for his honor We told you also that it was a very painful call for Abraham There were deserts to cross with all kinds of difficulties and dangers There was so much discomfort in that call to move a thousand miles from Ur of the Chaldees to a place called Canaan very difficult travels but all throughout Abraham's life if you were to be a Student of the book of Genesis if you want to go back and and look at all the series We did on the life of Abraham and Genesis you can he faced all kinds of difficulties all kinds of hardships Always when he got to the land of Canaan, there was a great famine that arose as soon as he arrived You would think that having traveled a thousand miles.

He'd be able to rest on his laurels for a while But no he got there the famine arose in the land and Thus began began that the painful episodes in Abraham's encounter throughout his life The biggest difficulty he faced was having to wait for the promised seed having to wait 25 years before Isaac was born That was his biggest pain. He had to keep waiting and waiting and waiting Such a such a pain that he and Sarah took medicine to their own hands thinking that they could birth the seed But no didn't work that way God's in charge And so the call of Abraham like you're calling mine, right?

It's a very personal call It's a predetermined call It's a purposeful call It's a painful call For all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution but not only that the call of God upon Abraham's life was a very very precious call Think about this having been called by God To work for the kingdom of God It doesn't get any more precious than that There are a lot of things that we can do a lot of places that we can work But to work for the King of Kings as a child of the Living God is the highest calling a man can ever have It's always very precious call But on top of that you must understand it was a permanent call Wasn't for a call for a while.

It was a permanent call. It was a forever call God made a covenant with Abraham an everlasting covenant with Abraham an unconditional covenant with Abraham Just like your call and my call is a very permanent call For Romans 11 29 says that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable But understand this the call of Abraham was a powerful call When God took Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees a pagan idolatrous City and country he transformed the man's life and took him from idol worship to serving the one true God the Living God and so therefore it was a very powerful call because he took him from the kingdom of darkness and Placed him in the kingdom of his dear son the kingdom of light And only God can do that And when God saves the man, that's why the Bible calls us a new creation Not the same as we were before God is a mighty work.

That's the call of faith That's why we left off with by faith when Abraham was called obeyed But I want you to notice this morning with me the course of faith the consequences of faith and then the contemplation of faith Will cover three points today Hebrews 11 verse number 8 by faith Abraham what 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 For he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God This gives us the course of faith Once you've been called by faith Into the kingdom of God.

There is a course that transpires And that course falls into two categories one submission and two Separation one submission by faith Abraham when he was called obeyed verse 9 by faith he lived as an alien one a separation one a submission as An alien he is separate from the country in which he lives and because he obeyed He was submissive to what God had called him to do now think about this Abraham was called by God when the glory of the Lord appeared to him at 7 2 and We know from Psalms 27 that the glory of the Lord thunders and The Lord would call him to go to a place that he had no idea where he was going He went out not knowing where he was going and yet He was submissive To the call of God in his life He could have debated the call He could argue with God about the call He could say Lord.

I'm not gonna take my my family and and and my wife and and make this journey How do I know where I'm going to go? Where will I rest? Where will I sleep at night? What will I eat? Lord, how is all this gonna work itself out? What does this mean? No, he simply obeyed Now think about that He didn't want to debate with God concerning what God had called him to do He simply submitted to the call of God in his life Because submission is the course of faith Everything about faith is about following the Lord God, right?

Think about this way. Remember Peter James and John When the Lord called them to himself, he says come Follow me and I will make you fishers of men And the Bible says they dropped their nets and followed the Lord Jesus Why would anybody do that?

What do you mean? Follow me? I'll make you fishers of men They had to they had to separate themselves from their father from their future from their finances Because fishing was their business But they followed by faith Because faith obeys faith is submissive to the call of God and That's the course of our entire life learning to submit to all that God says in his Word That's why the Lord said if any man came after me then deny himself take up his cross and what follow me Christianity is an invitation to follow Christ That's what we do We follow Christ He is our master.

He is our King He is the one that we depend upon And so we follow Christ I love what it says back in the book of Revelation the 14th chapter about the hundred and forty four thousand Jewish evangelist 12,000 from every tribe who are marked specifically by God to protect them all throughout the tribulation They don't die. They can't die because God protects them It's an amazing story Says in verse number four. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women for they have kept themselves chase They are the ones who follow the lamb Wherever he goes They follow the lamb wherever he goes Doesn't say they follow the Lord Wherever he goes it says they follow the lamb wherever he goes Now the lamb is the apocalyptic name for our Lord in the book of Revelation 28 times he's referred to as the lamb, right?

But it's that reminder of sacrifice He was the lamb that gave his life away. He was the lamb who willingly sacrificed his life for the sheep That's why it says they followed the lamb because her whole wife was a living sacrifice to the honor of God That's the course of faith It's all about Submission it's all about following the true and living God No for the most part. We don't want to follow unless we know the end result We don't want to follow unless we know what's going to happen in between But Abraham He was different He heard the voice of God and followed nothing about Abraham Abraham had to wait for God to show up and speak Before he knew what to do.

He couldn't read the Torah because there wasn't the Torah at the time He couldn't read quote the Bible. There was no Bible at the time, right? He had to wait for God to show up and speak He didn't know what to do and so God says Abraham go so he leaves Abraham wait, so he waits Abraham stay so he stays He doesn't know what what to do next unless God tells him he had to wait for God to speak good news God's already spoken You have to wait for God to speak.

He's already spoken to you through his word Remember that Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 God on these last days Last of what days the last in which the days God was speaking. He has spoken to us through his Son Jesus Christ We have before us the written revealed word of the Living God We don't have to wait for God to show up and speak he's already spoken He has said everything that we need to know. That's why the Bible says Proverbs 3 You know the verse lean trust in the Lord with all your heart Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him.

He'll make your paths Smooth, how do you know that in all your ways you're acknowledging the Lord? He's made your paths smooth not rough He makes the pathway smooth But if you're not trusting in him, but you're leaning on your own understanding you're gonna have a rough patch Stop leaning on what you think is right Trust and what you know is right the Lord God of Israel That was Abraham by faith He obeyed He was submissive to the call of God and the whole course of his life Was learning how to submit to everything that God said Same it is for you and me, right?

We have to learn to submit to God Because there are times that we want to we want to debate with God and argue with God and wonder what God is doing We don't know why this tragedy happens over here or we don't know why I lost my job over there I don't know why I I'm able not able to make this squad or that team I don't know all the answers of those things. God says trust me believe in me.

Wait up on me And watch and see what I do Our God's in charge So we trust him And that's what Abraham did the course of faith is number one submission and number two separation by faith Abraham was an alien.

He was a stranger. He was a pilgrim in a foreign land He had to leave the place Which he was born for the Chaldees He had to leave people friends family behind He had to leave the practices of evil behind He had to leave all those things because you see Christianity is not in addition to your present lifestyle Christianity is a separation from your past lifestyle You separate and live in the God because he makes you holy He separates you Under his purposes for his glory. That's what God does and Abraham Had to learn to live as an alien and a stranger in the foreign land Problem with us is that we just love this land too much We love this world too much He lived out love not the world Neither the things that are in the world the lust of the flesh the lusty eyes are part of life Because they're not of the father They're of the world right and the world's passing away in the lust thereof But he who does the will of God abides forever Abraham lived that verse out before that verse ever existed because that's the way he lived his life Trusting God to do a great and mighty work There was a life of Separation and that's what God has called us to you know, sometimes God calls us to to leave our families We have a hard time with that.

But remember what Christ said in the in the book of Matthew book of Matthew the 10th chapter We said these words Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace But a sword so I say wait timeout. Wait a second.

What is the Christmas story all about peace on earth goodwill toward men? So what I mean now he says he didn't come to bring peace What he defines that for you He says for I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother And a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man's enemies will be the members of his household He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not Worthy of me and he does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me He was found his life will lose it and he was lost his life for my sake We'll find it You know, sometimes God calls us away from our family say wait a minute, what about my testimony What about the opportunity I had to present the gospel to them?

Listen You're not the end-all be-all to the gospel presentation. So don't take too much for granted here Remember if God calls you you move You leave You do what God's called you to do Granted we are testimonies to our families and we should be we should be a living testimony to the members of our household But you know when you live the life of faith Christ says I've come to bring a sword.

I'm gonna divide you from your family not because You're cantankerous and hard to get along with It's simply because you love the Lord and they don't love the Lord You love to follow the Lord and they don't love to follow the Lord You want to do what God says and they don't want to do what God says That's gonna bring a division in your family And sometimes we have to Not sometimes all times we have to side with the Living God And do what he's called us to do the life of faith is a life of separation as well as the life of submission So many times I think that we have forgotten what God has has called us to do Remember what the Bible says in the book of Galatians the first chapter Paul says this Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins So that he might rescue us from this present evil age He has rescued us from this evil age That's why James says in James 4 he who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God That's why James 1 27 James says listen true religion is this that you keep yourself unstained from the things of the world Unspotted from the world Why because it's detrimental to your to your walk of faith Abraham's whole life Was a life marked by submission and separation He had to model that with his family He had to learn how to do that He wasn't perfect at it.

There were times. He failed just like you and me. We're not perfect at it There are times they're going to fail But Abraham always came back and repented of where he was and what he needed to do for the true and living God That's the way we need to be We fail at doing what God's called us to do we we repent we get right with the Lord and We serve him. This is the course of faith the call of faith the course of faith the course of faith is submission and Separation and now comes the consequences of faith.

What are the consequences right? Well think about this We're always asking the question what's in it for me. We always ask that question, right? What is Christianity going to do for me if I give my life to Christ, what do I get in return? Is there any benefit for me? That's the question we always ask Peter Asked that question Remember when he asked the question of our Lord way back in in in Matthew's gospel the 19th chapter Peter said to the Lord behold, we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us?

See Peter asked that question Lord, we've left it all. We've left our family. We've left our fishing. We've left our future We've left our finances. We've left everything for you now What's in it for us? What do we get? so Jesus responds Truly I say to you that you have followed me in that you have followed me in the generation When the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne You will sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel It's what you're gonna get the opportunity to sit on thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel and Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or children or farms for my namesake will receive Many times as much and will inherit eternal life you see What do you get out of Christianity you get the only thing that matters you get Christ That's you get you get Christ and And to understand that it is is enormous Because we're always thinking about what I'm gonna get today or tomorrow But the rewards of Christianity are in the next life not this life That's why Joel Steen's book your best life now is such heresy If this is your best life now, you're in trouble You're in big trouble your best life is in the next life and So God tells Abraham These words he says Genesis chapter 12 Now the Lord said to Abram go forth from your country and from your relatives or from your father's house to the land which I will show you this is faith the life of separation and submission and I will make you a great nation.

I have a plan Here's the plan You are gonna be a great nation Remember when Abraham crossed the river the word Hebrew means to cross when he crossed the great river Euphrates He became for the very first time a Jew Abraham was a Gentile before he was ever a Jew.

All Jews were Gentiles before they were Jews. That's good news Didn't like to hear that but that's true. He was a pagan idolater God Called him. He crossed the river now.

He becomes a Hebrew. He's gonna be the father of a great nation It says and I will bless you. I'm not just gonna make you a great nation. I don't have just to have a plan for you the plan includes a Great blessing and that is I am going to provide for you and make your name great I'm gonna promote you We want to make our names great Let God make your name great if God wants to have you a great name with him do it But don't try to make a name for yourself That's what they did in Genesis 11 in the Tower of Babel.

Remember that they wanted to to make a name for themselves That that's right out of the pit of hell if you want to make a name for yourself. That's right out of Satan's biggest lie Let God make a name for you If he wants to have a name humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will exalt you in due time It'll exalt you in his time because Abraham I'm gonna make your name great he says this and So you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the ones who curse you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed Wow Abraham I got a great plan.

Here it is from you comes a nation And from that nation, you will be blessed and not only will you be blessed everybody who curses your nation I will curse everybody who blesses your nation. I will bless I'm gonna make your name great Abram Who tells him? But all comes Through a seed a son that is yet to be born And so when you come to Genesis chapter 15 Abraham says or God says Abraham after these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying do not fear Abram I am a shield to you.

I am your very great reward. See, what do you get out of Christianity you God? I Am your reward if you were looking for another reward You could be looking for a long long time. I am your reward And then he says this he says Abram Said Oh Lord God, what will you give me since I am childless in the air on my house is Eleazar of Damascus And Abraham said since you have given no offspring to me one born in my house is my heir 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 will be your heir Abraham's thinking you know what? It's been ten years and I have no son maybe Eleazar from Damascus, maybe that will be the air. That's the promise. He got it. No, that's not how it's gonna work Abram Then it says And he took him outside and said now look toward the heavens and count the stars If you were able to count them, and he said to him so shall your descendants be Then he believed in the Lord. He reckoned it to him as righteousness He believed look at the stars here, can you count them?

Of course not that's how your descendants will be And then you come as Genesis chapter 17 son still not born And it says now when the Abraham was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him I am God Almighty walk before me and be blameless I will establish my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him saying as for me Behold my covenant is with you and you will be the father of a multitude of nations No longer shall your name be called Abram exalted father But your name shall be Abraham father of multitudes For I made you the father of a multitude of nations I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings will come forth from you God says way you've been waiting.

We're waiting 75 years Nothing And God says I am your shield I Am your reward walk before me and bleed blameless Continue to submit to me Continue to live a life of separation Continue to hear my word and follow Abraham and watch what I do now note Abraham received Isaac He received the blessing Then it'd be called a sacrifice Isaac Genesis chapter 22 right take now your son your only son the son that you love not Ishmael Take Isaac to a place.

I will show you right again. He had to go by faith didn't know where he was going When you get there, you're gonna sacrifice your son for me Abraham with the life of submission a life of separation There was no city in Canaan that would steal the affections of Abraham So the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11 these words Hebrews 11 it says he was looking for The city Says that a verse number 13 all these died in faith without receiving the promises But having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth for those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own and Indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they had went out They would have had opportunity to return but as it is They desire a better country that is a heavenly one Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God For he has prepared a city for them You know, the unique thing is about the people in the Hall of Faith.

They never received all that God had for them But they believed that one day they would They lived in anticipation of that city They lived in anticipation of that country that they could not see but the physical eye but could only see with the spiritual eye and So therefore God blessed them immensely and this truly is the consequences of faith It's receiving that which God has for you in his time Abraham Didn't see his seed be multiplied as the stars of the sky but they were and they would be He was not able to see all the promises of the of the covenant But one day he will But he kept looking forward to his reward That's because of the contemplation of faith.

That's the last point Says in verse 10 by faith even Sarah herself I'm sorry verse 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God That's the contemplation of faith He kept looking kept anticipating kept meditating On what God said now think about this Remember Abraham had to keep waiting and waiting and waiting for God to show up and speak. We don't have to do that He's already spoken. We can open his word every single day every moment of the day and read what God has for us And trust him for that Believe him for that Abraham didn't have that He just had to keep waiting and hold on to what he heard yesterday or the week before or ten years before But he had to hold on to it that's why he was the father of our faith because he held on to it dearly he listened clearly to what God said And had to hold on to those things and he did Then God would show up and speak again and reassure him of his covenant promise And God would show up again He's 99 years old and God says it's gonna happen It's gonna happen as I have planned it to happen, but his whole Thinking the whole contemplation of faith is to be able to see the things Which are not before you?

But the things that are truly above you That's what Abraham did There's a city whose builder and architect is God Abraham wasn't looking for something made in China or made in the US of A he was looking for something that was particularly made of God a particular city of God Because we can't make what God makes can we? He saw Revelation 22 The beauty of the New Jerusalem the beauty of the city of glory He kept looking toward that Now think about that. So that's all he had to look forward to Was this great city of God That he was going to build that he would one day indwell and live in That was his motivation.

That was his contemplation. That was his enthusiasm. That was his anticipation That's what caused him to live the life of faith. That's why I said earlier today Unless you celebrate correctly Christmas, you will not anticipate Continuously the coming of the Christ child the coming of Christ again You won't We have to live in anticipation of those things Abraham did he didn't have the Word of God before him We've become so enamored with the things of the world so lost in the lure and love and lust Of the world that we have a hard time breaking away from it We have to keep our attention focused above Contemplating the things that are going to come to the arrival of our Messiah Again So here was Abraham Wasn't enamored with the cities around him lot was his nephew He was enamored with Sodom and Gomorrah, wasn't he?

He wanted to live in that city. He did He loved that city so much he could not depart and so God destroyed that city spared lot Spared lot he did because God knows how to rescue the godly from temptation Remember lots soul was troubled the whole time. He lived in Sodom The soul was tormented Peter tells us day And night because he was in a place. You shouldn't be he knew that he loved Sodom his wife loves Sodom Abraham did not There was no city that could draw him away from the city of God There wasn't anything on earth that became more valuable to him Than the Lord God of Israel And this way should be for us The contemplation of faith truly believes in what God has said, even though we don't see it We believe in it What did Jesus say?

Let not your heart be troubled You believe in God believe also in me Then what does he say for in my father's house are many mansions and I go and I prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I Will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also What was the comfort for the troubled heart of the disciples? Wasn't a new car a new chariot a new suit new house. It wasn't even freedom from persecution It was I'm going to prepare a house a Mansion a dwelling place.

I am the master architect. I'm designing it specifically for you And if I go away and I prepare that for you I'm gonna come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also and that Was the highlight of the disciples motivation? That's what they would contemplate day and night as they went through the book of Acts suffering persecution difficulty and hardship That house that was prepared for them in glory Was their motivation? What's your motivation? What do you live for today the men and women of faith and he was 11 Always anticipated the city whose builder and maker was God This Christmas as you begin to think about the coming of the Christ Child I Want you to anticipate his second coming?

When he comes and takes us home to be with him That we would dwell with him forever Let's pray father. We thank you for today And all do you give us? truth of your word is enormous and I pray father that we like Abraham would learn to submit to all that you say and Separate our lives from this world That we will be consumed only with the Christ We love you Lord Thank you for our time together May you be honored in through us this week as you go to work and go to play whatever we do Others will see Christ in us Pray in Jesus name.

Amen