Dec. 29, 2024
“LIVE BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT”
“FOLLOWING THE FAITHFUL”
HEBREWS 11:8-22
What does it take to please God?
Hebrews 11:6 provides the answer for this all important question: “without faith it is impossible to please God…” Faith is a humble and obedient response to God’s Word, whether a statement or historical fact, a promise of provision and protection, a prophecy of the future, or a command to obey. Faith is simply trust, which is always manifested in faithfulness.
- Abraham And Sarah- Hebrews 11:8-12
Abraham’s faith-walk began “when he was called…” vs.8.
The Bible says, “the Lord had spoken to him…”
Genesis 12:4 “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”
And the “Lord appeared to him..”
Genesis 12:7 “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”
This is where true faith rests, on the clear revelation of God.
Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
God’s calling to Abram was audible, objective, and specific. He responded with faithful obedience.
Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”
He was seventy-five years old and he had accumulated half-a-century’s worth of personal possessions:
Genesis 12:5 “Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.”
Hebrews 11:9 “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.”
It faith to live “as an alien” in the Promised Land.
He was depending on God and yearning for a permanent, heavenly city designed and built by God:
Hebrews 11:10 “for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
His focus wasn’t on the hardships of his journey through life, but on the reward at the eternal destination.
But what about Sarah?
Peter commended Sarah as an example to all women of faith because of her submissive spirit and faithful support of God’s call on her husbands life:
1 Peter 3:6 “as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.”
The author of Hebrews also points to her faith-walk as worthy to be followed:
Hebrews 11:11 “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.”
Genesis 13:16 “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.”
Hebrews 11:12 “Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”
2. Heavenly Hope- Hebrews 11:13-16
Hebrews 11:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
Wait, didn’t Abraham make it to the Promised Land? Didn’t Sarah have her promised child, Isaac?
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