The Path to Overcome: The Faith of Abraham, Heb. 11:8-19

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Overcoming Apostasy: The Faith of Abraham

Hebrews 11:8-19

Introduction: It is truly a testament to God’s love for us and desire for our salvation that he devoted and entire book of the NT to keep us from falling away. This fact alone tells us of how vulnerable we are, how easy it is to gradually drift. It is my opinion, based on the challenges of my own life and the challenges of all the Christians I’ve known, that most of us live too casually about the possibility of failure. By listening to NT writers, it would seem that first, and most important principle of avoiding a fall into sin would be deeply acknowledging the possibility of it. Paul said, “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).

In this lesson, we note the example of Abraham in teaching us the faith/trust needed to overcome. The preacher says more about Abraham than anyone else in his accounting of the faithful because he is considered the father, and thus primary illustration of all who live by faith. In Romans 4:11-12, Paul states that salvation is found in those who walk in the steps of Abraham’s faith. Genesis devotes 14 of its 50 chapters to Abraham. Our very salvation is based on being the offspring of Abraham. His example illustrates the kind of faith God desires and is pleasing to God.

1. By Faith Abraham Obeyed…
   1. The significance of these beginning words ought to boldly stand out in our minds. The idea of faith without obedience is foreign to everything scripture teaches. No one can claim faith in God and subsequently be disobedient. We all tend to nod our heads in agreement, but obedience is a huge challenge when our flesh doesn’t want to! 
   2. The first illustration of Abraham’s faith is his response to God’s command to leave Ur (his homeland) “not knowing where he was going.” Who does that! Both in this first testing and in the last (vs. 17-18), Abraham follows a similar pattern:
      1. He does not question God
      2. He does not ask for an explanation
      3. He does not doubt
      4. He does not waiver
      5. He does not delay
      6. He does not obey half-heartedly or find a convenient time
      7. He simply obeys. Abraham’s faith exposes our tendency to rationalize & question. “Well yes but do you really think…” (it is that important) or (God really cares)
      8. Please note that this is the first thing the preacher tells us about how Abraham’s faith is illustrated. He obeys. How does he do that? He trusts God who sees what he cannot see. He trusts that God knows more than he knows. He trusts God to reward those who live by faith.
      9. Please also consider the greater challenge of Abraham’s faith. His father and brother did not become believers. Listen to Joshua: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the Father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.’” (Josh. 24:2). Though Abraham’s father and brother followed him to Haran, they did not continue to Canaan, and they did not believe. Abraham did not just leave his homeland, he left his family.
      10. When Israel turns from God, Isaiah gives this rebuke: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you” (Isa. 51:1-2).
   3. There is such a calming effect to a life of faith. None of the ups and downs, lows or highs are going to deeply trouble us. Our trailblazer is leading the way. He has already been down the trail. He knows where it is going and knows that there is victory at the end. 
   4. Does Abraham’s approach to obedience help you understand your need for faith? Here is what is critical: at every stage of life, and especially in the early years in which beginning our search for God, we often go through confusion and doubt in our study of the scriptures. We ask questions about what we were taught growing up. We ask questions about what we read and whether what we have been following is the right way. [Such questions aren’t wrong assuming we desire to please God not find loopholes to escape God’s will]. How do we traverse this unstable time?
      1. First, patience is necessary. Abraham went out not knowing where he was going. It took years before he arrived in Canaan where his understanding became more real even though he would never see all that God had planned. 
      2. Abraham’s actions remind me of Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” The verse implies two important principles: (1) we are always going to have questions, some of which will never have answers in this life [God never answered Job!]. In these times especially, we live by faith. (2) We need to pay careful attention to what has been revealed so that we may do all that God has commanded us. As Deuteronomy states many times, our obedience is to be careful obedience. We are not going to tread in areas of speculation or “maybes.” We will not turn to the right hand or to the left of what he has told us.
      3. What is most obvious in the text is usually the right answer.
         1. Bruce Kitt and a two-hour explanation of no Sunday night communion by Maurice.
         2. When Jesus gave the law of divorce, the disciples didn’t say, “Huh?” 
   5. Consider also that when Abraham arrived in Canaan, he was a nobody. They didn’t all decide to give up their gods. He was living in a “foreign land.” Foreigners do not treat strangers as “one of us.” In fact, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived in tents, indicating that they never owned any part of the land their whole lives. The “promise” was not yet, but they lived knowing one day they would possess it. 
   6. Verse 13 tells us they lived as strangers and exiles. Abraham lived this way for 100 years. Isaac lived this was for 180 years. Jacob for 130 years before going to Egypt.
   7. To make this personal to each of us, it would be a good idea to consider that Abraham was called by God to go on this mission and journey. The fact that he was called reminds us of how we do not relate to these men and women of faith. Somewhat subconsciously we say, “Oh yes, Abraham was called. No wonder he left his homeland and obeyed God.” But that is unfair to the text. Our preacher is illustrating these people so that we will relate to them and do likewise. Further, do you think that you aren’t called in the same way? Has not God called you personally to live out a life mission just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? 1 Peter 2:4-5, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 
2. The Foundation of Abraham’s Faith
   1. 11:10, 13–16 “for he was awaiting a city with foundations…”
   2. Notice the word “for.” The reason these patriarchs lived in tents and didn’t pursue anything more. Living in tents as a nomad, but desiring a city with foundations indicates how difficult it must have been to want just settle down and have a home. But he did not desire it in this life. He was waiting for a permanent city, a permanent dwelling place. They lived with their eyes on the eternal and therefore did not consider that they were missing out on something better in their present condition. 
   3. They were looking forward to a city “whose designer and builder is God.” We should give careful consideration to those words. The attitude of the patriarchs was, who cares that we are living in tents, and who cares that so many around us have built houses, nothing can compare to living in a house and city whose designer and builder is God! It doesn’t matter how wonderful your home is or how small or insignificant your earthly dwelling, we can be content just as these patriarchs because we are looking for a city with foundations. (Example of Hearst Castle)
   4. Verses 13-14 use interesting terminology: “not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar…” By faith, they were able to see the unseen. We are again confronted with the surety of their faith. It is the reason they so easily acknowledge that on this earth, they are strangers and exiles. Verse 14 reminds us that they did not consider their earthly existence their home. Instead, their present condition, their present trials do not materially affect them because this isn’t their home anyway. This is temporary and God is designing and building a permanent home.
   5. Consider also the word “desire” (vs. 16). It calls our attention to what really our desires are. Falling away from the Lord is the result of misplaced desires. “Shrinking back,” as the writer calls it, is a result of wanting something better in our present state instead of being content with whatever God gives now because our desires are so much greater. Do we really think that the dead care about any earthly accomplishments they had in this world? Do they care how big the bank account, the kind of home, the car, the furniture and comforts? There is only one thing you and I will care about when we have breathed our last: was God our desire? Did our lives reflect our desires of a better country?
3. The Testing of Abraham in the Birth & Sacrifice of Isaac
   1. Verses 11-12 do not simply reflect trust in God’s promises, but in the power of God to bring life out of death. Sarah had watched helplessly for 25 years while Hagar and Ishmael mocked and strutted seemingly victorious over her because her womb was dead. But when both her and Abraham were past age, God renewed his promise and she received power to conceive because she considered God faithful. Notice that for both Abraham and Sarah there was a waiting period (Cf. 6:13) before the promises were fulfilled, and during that time, there were numerous reasons not believe the promise would be fulfilled.
      1. The result was not just a child, but descendants as innumerable as the stars and grains of sand. In other words, if you and I need endurance and courage to stand fast, if we need something we can literally see, how else was their ever an Israel nation? And more significantly, how else did God bring the Messiah, through that offspring and then the great spiritual nation built by Christ that supersedes the weak physical nation of Israel? 
      2. Isaac is evidence of life from the dead. And we also are evidence of being children like Isaac. When there was no hope, God gave us life from the dead, which was the very purpose of God in waiting until Abraham and Sarah were dead in regard to having children.
   2. Finally, in verses 17-19, we are given the example and illustration of faith in the testing of Abraham. Our preacher has already given us two examples of how Abraham believed. He left Ur, not knowing where he was going, and he had faith that he and Sarah would have a child even after their bodies were dead. Isn’t that enough of a test? No it isn’t it. And why not? Because the faith God is asking of us goes beyond obedience when we don’t know why, and belief in promises when we can’t figure out how. God’s test of Abraham asks the question of whether Abraham is committed to God above all else, even his only son.
      1. The preacher stresses the greatness of the test by showing us that God’s command was counter to everything Abraham understood and counter to the promises of God. He knew that in Isaac his offspring would be named. Therefore, there would be no other child. This is how the promise will be fulfilled. The sacrifice of his son makes no sense! 
         1. I think of how this should affect us. In the depth of trials, maybe even when our lives and the lives of our children are threatened and on the brink, we can often think that this makes no sense! God surely doesn’t want me to lose my life. God certainly doesn’t want my child to die. But Abraham does not go down that road. He obeys without hesitation. He knows the promise, but he doesn’t assume that he should not obey simply because he can’t figure out the “why.” All he can think of is that God would raise Isaac back from the dead.
      2. Consider: God must bring us to the brink of destruction for the test to have worth. “Now I know…”
      3. As Romans 4:16 states, Abraham gives us the example of how we are live by faith. We can understand leaving Ur and even somewhat understand trusting God’s promise for a child. But killing the child and offering him as a burnt offering? Who among us can pick up the knife? Who among us can be so determined as to travel three days journey to the place God has designated. Who can pick up the knife? That is the faith in God we need and we must have. Death means nothing to God who gives life. We know that God stopped Abraham’s hand and never intended for Isaac to die. But Abraham didn’t know that. But Abraham could still see the unseen in the promises of God.

Conclusion: Imagine the day by day lives of Abraham and Sarah.

Each of them had days and years of difficult testing. But also had long periods of just living life, often confused about the outcome, often making mistakes, but without wavering and continuing to have hope in the goal. For 100 years Abraham lived this way. And when he gave up his last breath he had not yet realized the promise, “since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (11:40).

Therefore, when it seems all hope is lost and when nothing makes sense, God and his promises are always the answer.

Berry Kercheville