Last week, we began looking at faith. We started with the centurion – how he
understood who Jesus was even more than the Jews of that day…probably even more
than the disciples. Because of his faith, his servant was healed. Today, I want to look at what we call the "faith
chapter." It lists many of the
heroes of the faith…those who stuck it out in faith.
Hebrews 11:8-12 (focus on Abraham)
Abraham is one of the people listed in this chapter because
he stands as a figure of faith for us all
Let's first look at some of the things that Abraham did
to show his faith:
Abraham left where he was and went to a new territory, not
knowing where God was leading, but willing to leave everything for the promise
of God. Abraham was told that he would be the father of many nations,
but at a very old age, past Sarah's childbearing years, had no children. Because of his faith in God's promises,
Abraham was given Isaac. God told Abraham to do the ultimate…He told Abraham to take
one of his greatest possessions, his son Isaac, and sacrifice him on the altar. Abraham faithfully agreed and was willing – knowing the
promise of God would come through Isaac – EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN'T SEE ALL THE PROMISE!
Abraham did a lot right...faithfully following God and doing
as He instructed. What makes Abraham
even more of a hero of the faith for me is to see that he was human…he was not
sinless
Let's look at a few of the things he did wrong:
When there was a drought in the land, Abraham had to go into
Egypt. He asked Sarah to pretend to be
his sister so they wouldn't kill him since she was so pretty…where was his
faith? God had to fix the situation for Abraham because Pharaoh
wanted Sarah for his own wife. When he grew old and didn't have any children, he had a
child with Hagar named Ishmael…Sarah thought this was a good idea and he did
it…Ishmael caused problems in the lineage and descendents
because that wasn't what God's plan was.
What can we take away today?
First, God asks us to have faith in His promises, even when we
may not see the ultimate outcome.
He sent Jesus who provided an atoning sacrifice on our behalf and allows
us to live forevermore. If He can take
care of us in death, how much more can he do in life
Second, having faith doesn't mean we always get it right,
but it means we always hold fast to the promises and continue to come back to
God…not
giving up b/c we messed up
