Heb 11:8-19 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age — and Sarah herself was barren — was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
In the hall of fame, Abraham surely must have the central display. Abraham occupies the central eleven verses of this chapter. He is the greatest example of faith in the Old Testament.
Because of this long discussion of Abraham’s faith, we have an opportunity to see that faith comes in several flavors. It is not just one thing, but at least three. All of these three aspects are found in in Abraham’s life.
Faith has three aspects—Boldness, Patience, and Hope.
Boldness is the kind of faith it takes to take extraordinary risks, based upon the promises of God. Boldness is not being foolhardy, neither is it recklessness, but it is being willing to stand upon God’s promises and God’s promises alone. Boldness is miracle-producing faith. It is the kind of faith seen in Abraham, Elijah, Peter, Joseph, Paul, and (naturally) Jesus.
Most people are rabbits, not lions. They would rather hide in their houses than have adventures. The thought of actually following God outside heri comfort zone, appalls them.
The kingdom cannot be advanced by rabbits. It requires people who are willing to trust God’s promises on the battlefields of life. Abraham was such a lion.
Abraham showed the boldness of his faith in two great actions. First, he left his home and his family and went into a land he did not know, at the age of eighty-seven.
There are few things more adventurous than starting a new life when you are old. The old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is sadly too often true. But when we begin anew in advanced years, then the world gapes in awe at us.
Moses led his people beginning at the age of eighty. Grandma Moses took up painting in her seventies. We still talk about those people because they are true heroes of faith.
Tennyson expressed his admiration for such boldness in his poem Ulysses,
“Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The second example of this in Abraham’s life is when he took his son Isaac to he mountain, to sacrifice him according to God’s command. Abraham had a radical faith that was willing to follow God wherever He led, even if it did not make sense. Sacrificing Isaac was against everything that God had ever told him. The rejection of human sacrifice was ont of the things that made Abraham’s God better than the gods around him. Abraham thought he knew this. He believed in a God of love and justice. Besides, it appeared that God was asking him to surrender everything he had wanted in his life—a son. But he did it anyway, because he trusted God more than he trusted his own wisdom, his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own conscience.
Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. Sometimes we have to put on the line the happiness we have enjoyed for so long. “He who saves his life will lose it,” Jesus said. “But he who give his life will gain it. “He who surrenders houses and family and lands for the Kingdom of God will gain houses and family for Him” This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness is the hallmark of a trusting relationship with God. Peter exhibited this when he stood before the men who had crucified Jesus and shouted “You crucified the Lord of Glory.” John had it when the the said to a lame man “in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.” Missionaries show boldness when they leave their homes. Martin Luther showed boldness when asked to deny the truth and embrace the Catholic church. He shouted “here I stand. I can do no other.” St Francis had it when he stood before the Muslim caliph and preached Christ, even when Muslims and Christians were slaughtering each other. None of these men thought of themselves as bold. They just thought of themselves as being faithful.
Patience is the second aspect of Abraham’s faith. This is the kind of faith that is necessary to achieve long-term goals. Abraham was willing to wait forever, if necessary fo the reward that was promised to him. He was willing to work for days, months, or even years before he ever saw any results because he knew that the rewards would be worth it.
Noah was willing to work on the ark, day after day, year after year while the rest of the world though him crazy, because he knew it would save his family. Moses waited in he desert for forty years, to see his people save through the promised land. Solomon worked for forty years on the temple. No great thing is ever accomplished unless we have the patience to see it through.
Abraham refused to settle down, even though he had the means, because he wanted his family to have the land God’s way. He waited for God to bring a son out of he and his wife’s nonagenarian bodies, even though in the entire history of the world, it had never happened. He had to tell his children to wait for he proms, wait for he ime when he promised would be.
Patience is not just having faith. It is leaning on the faithful one. We all get tired. We all think we need a rest. But there is no glory or profit in rest. We have to be willing to go beyond the ordinary if we are ever to see extraordinary results.
An Asian woman recently wrote a book about the Chinese style of parenting, and how it differed from ours. One thing she pointed out was that Chinese parents often insist that their children play an musical instrument. In America, we think we are doing good when we have them practice a half hour a day. But in China, they make them practice two or even three hours a day. Their theory is this. That the fruit of the practice does not begin until after the first hour. At first learning an instrument is just scales and repetition. It is boring. But it is not until we master the boring things that we can really begin to enjoy what we are doing.
Patient faith brings no fruit until we have endured for a long time. When it does, it brings great fruit and great joy. Without patience, we can accomplish nothing.
Hope is the third aspect of faith. Abraham could not have acted boldly or waited patiently unless he also possessed the ability to see into the future with excitement, believing in a reward that was before him. The second time Abraham showed this boldness was when he took his son Isaac up the mountain to kill him, as a sacrifice to God. Kierkegaard wrote a book about this story. He pointed out that Abraham’s boldness in following God was such that he was willing to stand against his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own perceived conscience. Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness and perseverance are active things. We start upon a bold course and day by day see it though. But hope on the other hand is passive. We do not pursue hope, we have it. It isdoes not come from what we do or say, but from God’s assurance to our heart. Hope is what helps us endure hardships and setbacks, ridicule and shame. We know that one day we will be vindicated.
Hope is not just about what we want to happen. It is about what God says will happen A hope is not a wish. We may wish for a million dollars but we do not hope for it. But we all may hope for heaven, because God says we can have it. If we trust in God, and beliee His promises, then we have hope.
I remember the first time as a boy that I ever saved to buy anything. It was a wooden portable chess set, and it cost seven whole dollars. Every week I saved my fifty-cent allowance until I had enough to buy it. Never in my life had anything looked so beautiful as that chess set when I bought.
There was only one way I could have saved for that chess set. I had to have hope that it would be there for me when I had the money to buy it. We must have a certainty that what we want will be there, if we continue to live on less than they can by. Then one day, greater rewards than we can ever imagine will be ours. Hope is what keeps us denying ourselves when we know we could be indulging. We hope for something better down the road.
Where do we get hope? Hope comes from God. It comes from realizing that there are things larger and more important than what we see with our eyes and ears
Jesus came that we might have hope, not just for this life, but for the next. That hope was the reason people went to crosses and stakes for His sake.
Boldness, patience, and hope. If we are going to follow God, and be used by Him, we must have all three.
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age — and Sarah herself was barren — was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.
People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
In the hall of fame, Abraham surely must have the central display. Abraham occupies the central eleven verses of this chapter. He is the greatest example of faith in the Old Testament.
Because of this long discussion of Abraham’s faith, we have an opportunity to see that faith comes in several flavors. It is not just one thing, but at least three. All of these three aspects are found in in Abraham’s life.
Faith has three aspects—Boldness, Patience, and Hope.
Boldness is the kind of faith it takes to take extraordinary risks, based upon the promises of God. Boldness is not being foolhardy, neither is it recklessness, but it is being willing to stand upon God’s promises and God’s promises alone. Boldness is miracle-producing faith. It is the kind of faith seen in Abraham, Elijah, Peter, Joseph, Paul, and (naturally) Jesus.
Most people are rabbits, not lions. They would rather hide in their houses than have adventures. The thought of actually following God outside heri comfort zone, appalls them.
The kingdom cannot be advanced by rabbits. It requires people who are willing to trust God’s promises on the battlefields of life. Abraham was such a lion.
Abraham showed the boldness of his faith in two great actions. First, he left his home and his family and went into a land he did not know, at the age of eighty-seven.
There are few things more adventurous than starting a new life when you are old. The old adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is sadly too often true. But when we begin anew in advanced years, then the world gapes in awe at us.
Moses led his people beginning at the age of eighty. Grandma Moses took up painting in her seventies. We still talk about those people because they are true heroes of faith.
Tennyson expressed his admiration for such boldness in his poem Ulysses,
“Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
The second example of this in Abraham’s life is when he took his son Isaac to he mountain, to sacrifice him according to God’s command. Abraham had a radical faith that was willing to follow God wherever He led, even if it did not make sense. Sacrificing Isaac was against everything that God had ever told him. The rejection of human sacrifice was ont of the things that made Abraham’s God better than the gods around him. Abraham thought he knew this. He believed in a God of love and justice. Besides, it appeared that God was asking him to surrender everything he had wanted in his life—a son. But he did it anyway, because he trusted God more than he trusted his own wisdom, his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own conscience.
Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. Sometimes we have to put on the line the happiness we have enjoyed for so long. “He who saves his life will lose it,” Jesus said. “But he who give his life will gain it. “He who surrenders houses and family and lands for the Kingdom of God will gain houses and family for Him” This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness is the hallmark of a trusting relationship with God. Peter exhibited this when he stood before the men who had crucified Jesus and shouted “You crucified the Lord of Glory.” John had it when the the said to a lame man “in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.” Missionaries show boldness when they leave their homes. Martin Luther showed boldness when asked to deny the truth and embrace the Catholic church. He shouted “here I stand. I can do no other.” St Francis had it when he stood before the Muslim caliph and preached Christ, even when Muslims and Christians were slaughtering each other. None of these men thought of themselves as bold. They just thought of themselves as being faithful.
Patience is the second aspect of Abraham’s faith. This is the kind of faith that is necessary to achieve long-term goals. Abraham was willing to wait forever, if necessary fo the reward that was promised to him. He was willing to work for days, months, or even years before he ever saw any results because he knew that the rewards would be worth it.
Noah was willing to work on the ark, day after day, year after year while the rest of the world though him crazy, because he knew it would save his family. Moses waited in he desert for forty years, to see his people save through the promised land. Solomon worked for forty years on the temple. No great thing is ever accomplished unless we have the patience to see it through.
Abraham refused to settle down, even though he had the means, because he wanted his family to have the land God’s way. He waited for God to bring a son out of he and his wife’s nonagenarian bodies, even though in the entire history of the world, it had never happened. He had to tell his children to wait for he proms, wait for he ime when he promised would be.
Patience is not just having faith. It is leaning on the faithful one. We all get tired. We all think we need a rest. But there is no glory or profit in rest. We have to be willing to go beyond the ordinary if we are ever to see extraordinary results.
An Asian woman recently wrote a book about the Chinese style of parenting, and how it differed from ours. One thing she pointed out was that Chinese parents often insist that their children play an musical instrument. In America, we think we are doing good when we have them practice a half hour a day. But in China, they make them practice two or even three hours a day. Their theory is this. That the fruit of the practice does not begin until after the first hour. At first learning an instrument is just scales and repetition. It is boring. But it is not until we master the boring things that we can really begin to enjoy what we are doing.
Patient faith brings no fruit until we have endured for a long time. When it does, it brings great fruit and great joy. Without patience, we can accomplish nothing.
Hope is the third aspect of faith. Abraham could not have acted boldly or waited patiently unless he also possessed the ability to see into the future with excitement, believing in a reward that was before him. The second time Abraham showed this boldness was when he took his son Isaac up the mountain to kill him, as a sacrifice to God. Kierkegaard wrote a book about this story. He pointed out that Abraham’s boldness in following God was such that he was willing to stand against his own preconceived ideas, his upbringing, and even his own perceived conscience. Sometimes we must think differently than or parents or family. Sometimes e must admit that our old notions are wrong. This takes bold faith. There is no substitute for it.
Boldness and perseverance are active things. We start upon a bold course and day by day see it though. But hope on the other hand is passive. We do not pursue hope, we have it. It isdoes not come from what we do or say, but from God’s assurance to our heart. Hope is what helps us endure hardships and setbacks, ridicule and shame. We know that one day we will be vindicated.
Hope is not just about what we want to happen. It is about what God says will happen A hope is not a wish. We may wish for a million dollars but we do not hope for it. But we all may hope for heaven, because God says we can have it. If we trust in God, and beliee His promises, then we have hope.
I remember the first time as a boy that I ever saved to buy anything. It was a wooden portable chess set, and it cost seven whole dollars. Every week I saved my fifty-cent allowance until I had enough to buy it. Never in my life had anything looked so beautiful as that chess set when I bought.
There was only one way I could have saved for that chess set. I had to have hope that it would be there for me when I had the money to buy it. We must have a certainty that what we want will be there, if we continue to live on less than they can by. Then one day, greater rewards than we can ever imagine will be ours. Hope is what keeps us denying ourselves when we know we could be indulging. We hope for something better down the road.
Where do we get hope? Hope comes from God. It comes from realizing that there are things larger and more important than what we see with our eyes and ears
Jesus came that we might have hope, not just for this life, but for the next. That hope was the reason people went to crosses and stakes for His sake.
Boldness, patience, and hope. If we are going to follow God, and be used by Him, we must have all three.
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