Faith of Abraham

There’s a lot of talk about faith in the Bible. Abraham is used as a model of having faith. God asked Abraham to leave his home in Haran in modern day Iraq. God promised to make Abraham a father of many nations if Abraham would go where God sent him. Are we willing to go where God sends us, today?

Genesis 12:1-4 (NRSV) tells us: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curse you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
It is hard to leave your home and your family. It is harder still to go to a new place where we don’t even know the name of the town or the country. God didn’t give Abraham any details except the fact that he would become father of a great nation. It was hard to believe because Abraham was close to hundred years old. They were an old couple who had never been able to have children.

In Romans 4:13-17 (NIV) the scripture says “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”

“16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”

These verses tell us that Abraham believed in God. He also knew that God if life. He knows that God gives life even to the dead. Life to the dead is called resurrection. We are preparing to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Calling things that are not as though they were is essential part of having faith. It is seeing with the eyes of God instead of seeing with human eyes.

I’ve been preaching about thanking God in advance before God answers our prayers. Abraham and Sarah prayed to God for children. There’s power in believing that God can answer our prayers. There’s even more power in having total faith in God. Total faith in God is liberating. Total faith in God frees us from our fear and doubt. Fear and doubt are the enemy of faith.

Let’s continue with Romans 4:18-21 (NIV) “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

One of the best thoughts is in verse Romans 4:18 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.” We have faith when we believe the impossible is likely. What does “Against all hope” mean? To hope is to wish for something. “Against all hope” is not being able to wish that something will happen. There’s just no hope that something will happen when it’s against all hope. The scripture says that Abraham still believed. We must be willing to still believe even when everyone around us says that it is not possible.

There are so many logical reasons why things can’t happen. For Abraham, he belonged in a nursing home for old couples. Abraham and Sarah were not newlyweds expecting their first child. They were very old. God told them that they would have children. It was against all hope that after over eighty years of trying to have children that the old couple could have kids now. They wished for kids, but any medical doctor would’ve told them that it was impossible.

All of Sarah’s friends who had children and grandchildren would’ve told her that she was unable to bear children. Sarah’s friends meant well, but they did not have any hope for Sarah. The promise comes by faith and faith comes by grace. Grace comes by the gift of Jesus Christ into our lives. Grace is God’s favor in our lives. Favor allows us to do things that logically should not happen.

What is favor as defined by Wal-Mart? Favor in Wal-Mart is a cashier seeing you waiting in a long line and she opens up a new line just so you can enter it. As she is scanning the items, she notices that one item doesn’t ring up the sale price and automatically credits you for the sale price.

We found favor on my return trip from Ghana last November. We did early check-in the day before, but we arrived at the airport when the officials said that the airplane was full. A man came up to us and told us that he was looking for us. He told us to come with him. He checked our bags and rushed us through security. There was no logical reason for us to make the flight back home, but somehow we were welcomed onto the plane.

Another example of grace would be getting caught for speeding through the Franklin Heights neighborhood. The police officer asks for your driver’s license and registration. The police officer asks “Did you know that you were going 56 miles per hour in the 35 mile per hour zone?” You realize that you’ve been caught going a little too fast one time too many. Thoughts of a big speeding ticket and perhaps driving school start to float through your head.

The police officer says that your ticket has already been paid in full. He also tells you that the speeding ticket will not go on your record. You ask the police officer who paid your speeding ticket. He tells you that Jesus Christ paid in full over two thousand years ago so that your speeding ticket today would be paid in full. It is at that moment that you realize that you deserved that speeding ticket and to be honest several others going through the speed trap in Boones Mill. At that moment, when your own driving record is wiped clean, you’ve realized that you’ve just experienced the definition of grace. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Grace is the power of God in our lives. Grace is represented in the scripture: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.”

Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV) says: 8By 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. 9By 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. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

This world should be treated like a foreign land. Our real home should in heaven. We should live “in tents” on this earth as well. We will receive our inheritance if we obey God and go where we don’t know where we are going.

Hebrews 11:11-16 continues “11By 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. 12And 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.”

“13All 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. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, 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.”

Hebrews 11:10 is describing that God is promising a Promised Land and city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. That city is in Heaven. Abraham was never quite comfortable in the Promised Land because he was waiting the promise of Heaven. The heirs of the same promise allude to the ultimate gift of eternal life.

There are a lot of definitions of being faithful. One is calling things that are not as though they were. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Abraham was hopeful for a new home and children. He couldn’t see pictures of the land that God promised him and he couldn’t see his future children. Abraham was certain that if he followed the path that God laid out for him that he would reach his future home and even his wife, Sarah, would have children, even though Sarah was very old.

Abraham did not live long enough to see his descendents become as plentiful as the stars in the sky. Abraham did not see all of the ways that God would bless his descendants. Abraham still had faith even though he did not see all of the promises. In addition, God will not reveal to us every answer to our prayers. Just because we do not see God working in our lives we can’t lose faith.

God has already answered our prayers. We just have to have the faith to see the unseen before it is seen. Let’s start out today on a path to a place we do not know. If someone asks us where we are going, tell them that God is our God and we are God’s people. God will lead us on our journey. We have the faith to believe that God will be with us on our faith journey that starts the moment that we walk out the church doors today. Amen!