Amen. Would you stand, please, for the reading of the Word of God? Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We return here this morning, beloved, continuing what will prove to be, I think, about four weeks looking at the life of Abraham. Hebrews chapter 11 will really devote our attention to verses 11 and 12, but I'll begin in verse 8. Hebrews chapter 11. 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 unable 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. A God Ed is blessing to the reading and preaching of his Word. You may be seated. Nothing strengthens us so much as isolation and transplantation. Let a young man emigrate or be put into a responsible position. Let him be thrown on his own resources and he will develop powers of which there would have been no trace if he had always lived at home, dependent on others. Under the wholesome demand his soul will put forth all her native vigor. But what is true of the natural qualities of the soul is preeminently true of faith. So long as we are quietly at rest amid favorable and undisturbed surroundings, faith sleeps as an undeveloped sinew within us. But when we are pushed out from all these surroundings with nothing but God to look to, then faith grows suddenly into a cable, a monarch oak, a master principal of the lie. As long as the bird lingers by the nest, it will not know the luxury of flight. As long as the trembling boy holds onto the bank or toes the bottom, he will not learn the ecstasy of battling with the ocean wave. Abram could have never become Abraham, the father of the faithful, the mighty exemplar of faith if he had always lived in error. No, he had to journey forth into the untried and unknown so that faith could rise up to all its glorious proportions in his soul. It may not be necessary for us to withdraw from home and friends, but we shall have to withdraw our hearts deepest dependence from all earthly props and supports if we are ever to learn what it is to trust simply and absolutely on the eternal God. I think F.B. Meyer is exactly right. It seems beloved in the lives of most Christians that there comes occasions when God benevolently takes away everything that seems precious to us so that we might more clearly recognize that what we have in him is most precious of all. He may take away a business. He may take away possessions. He may take away a friend. He may take away your influence. He may take away your spouse. He may take away your parent. He may take away your child. He may take away your hell. There are occasions beloved in the lives of most Christians I know and it seems that God takes away everything precious so that we might more clearly recognize that what we have in him is most precious of all. You see, that was certainly the case in the life of this man Abraham. At 75 years of age he had really grown accustomed to a life of comfort and ease enjoying life to be sure with all of the beautiful people of his day. He had done well in that ancient city of earth. His business had prospered and success had come. But suddenly something occurred in his life that forever changed all of that. He met the living God. Now, to be sure Abraham had been around religion all of his life that was a part of growing up in his father's home. There were idols all around on the mental and every home in her there were gods. But you see, that is what religion had always been to Abraham. You see, just another aspect of a well put together culturally tuned in lifestyle. That is until the word of the living God came to him in power one day. And suddenly you see from that moment forward everything changed in Abraham's life. And suddenly all of those things that had made such a difference to him now seem to be comparatively insignificant. All that mattered to Abraham was this God, knowing him, following him, obeying him. And what did God do to this man Abraham? He made him into a man of faith by employing the curriculum that he most often employs. That is where the producing of faith is concerned. He took away, in the words of Bethany Meyer, all earthly props and supports so that Abraham might learn to trust completely in God alone. God removed him from his extended family. God removed him from his longtime friends. His money-making ventures were taken away. His sphere of influence was removed. The sophisticated culture of earth with all of the great food and all of the music and all of the things that go along with sophisticated cultural contexts. The comfortability of all his familiar surroundings were taken away as he began to pack up his life and move. Now, to be sure, God did send along with Abraham a couple of traveling companions, didn't He? His wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, but the fact of the matter is beloved neither Lot nor Sarah proved to be true spiritual companions in so far as the Bible tells the story. Lot had a perpetual vulnerability toward worldliness and compromise to say it quite matter-of-factly he was a materialist. And Sarah, to be honest, was a bitter woman who would often result in manipulation and deceit in order to accomplish her own agenda. Now, I realize that 1 Peter 3 characterizes Sarah in a positive hue in one area of her life. But I simply commend to you the simple reading of Genesis 12 to 23, and you will clearly discover beloved that neither Lot nor Sarah made any positive contribution to the faith of Abraham nor are they ever pictured in such a way as to be expressing authentic faith themselves. I'm not saying that they never had any. I'm saying that the Bible certainly does not record it. Playing in simple dear friends, it was Abraham and God. It reminded me this week of a piece of verse that is anonymous. I found it many years ago in a book by Oswald Sanders entitled Spiritual Leadership, and this is what he says. When God wants to drill a man, and thrill a man, and skill a man, when God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part, when he yearns with all his heart to create so great and bold a man that all the world should stand amazed, watch his methods, watch his ways, how he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elex, how he hammers him and hurts him, and with his mighty blows converts him into trial shapes of clay which only God understands. While his tortured heart is crying and he lifts besieging hands, how he bends but never breaks when his good he undertakes, how he uses whom he chooses and with every purpose fuses him, by every act induces him to try his splendor out. God knows what he's about. Yes beloved, God knows what he's about. Abraham, pack up your things and go. Abraham, I'm going to teach you what it means to believe in me. Abraham, I'm going to use you as a living example for all of the people of God for all of time to show people what it is to live the life of faith. And beloved that effectual word of God that came to Abraham and Genesis, chapter 12, birthed faith in his heart and so turning his back on all conventional wisdom, Abraham, when it was an act of beloved of God's benevolence don't take it any other way. It was for the purpose of breeding within this man a perspective that says if all I have left is God and his promise that that will be enough for me. It was the grace of God that produced such faith in Abraham and beloved where this becomes altogether contemporary for us is that is the very same kind of faith that God produces today in the lives of sinners who are changed by God's grace. This is exactly what the faith of an authentic Christian looks like. It is a faith that by grace will evidence itself in a display of certain qualities, attributes, characteristics. This faith evidences its integrity. How do I know if I have authentic faith? Well Abraham helps us to look at ourselves. Donald Blesch says it exactly right when he says the root and the sap of the Christian life are hidden. But the fruits of this life must be manifest before the world. It's an interesting thing about authentic Christian faith. No one ever stands around scratching their heads saying I wonder if this person is really a Christian or not. What does faith look like when it is the product of grace? Well as we discovered two weeks ago it is a faith that obeys. It is a faith that obeys. It is an obedient faith with the word of God still ringing in his ears. Still sounding in his mind were told in verse 8 Abraham obeyed and went. In fact he obeyed and went though he did not know where he was going. Oh this man beloved was so surrendered to the authority of God's word. That word you see that had so utterly transformed his own heart that he didn't pause to make sure that this move would make perfect sense to his way of thinking. He didn't pause to think well is this going to really ensure the best financial future for my family. Will all of the pieces perfectly fit together according to my own powers of reasoning. No the word of God came his obedience was immediate. It was instinctive. It was without qualification. And this beloved quite frankly is always the litmus test where Christian faith is concerned. When a sinner is transformed by the grace of God when a person is forgiven of his sins and given the gift of eternal life it now becomes the new disposition of his heart to display uncompromising obedience, allegiance, devotion to Jesus Christ. What's that hymn of Wesley that we love to sing so enthusiastically. Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night. Vine I defused a quickening ray I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off my heart was free. I rose went forth and followed thee. When faith is the product of grace it is a faith that obeys. Secondly we also learned that it is a faith that endures. It is a faith that endures. It doesn't obey just for a while a week, two weeks, six weeks, six months, a year. It is a faith that endures perpetually. Now in obedience to the word of God Abraham sets out for the land of promise, but friends when he finally arrives in that land did his days of living like a nomad come to an end. Not hardly. For the rest of his days verse 9 tells us Abraham lived like a pilgrim on the very land that God had promised would one day be his. We're told that he lived like a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents. Everything about his life until the day he got laid into the ground that Abraham revealed that he was a pilgrim that this life was not where his ultimate affections were focused upon. What was the promise that God gave to Abraham filled within the lifetime of his son Jacob? No. What's it fulfilled in the lifetime of his grandson Isaac? No. What about the lifetime of his great grandson Joseph? No, things got worse. Everybody went down to Egypt. The fact of the matter is that strip of land would not become his for another 500 years. So why didn't Abraham ever come to the point that often we come to wash his hands of the entire affair recognize that this encounter he had with God was somehow a figment of his own imagination. Pack up and go back to where he knew things would go well once again. The reason why he didn't do that beloved was because of what this land was. Literally the Greek text reads by faith he made his home in the land of the promise. The land of the promise God had given his promise. God had given his word and so by grace this faith endures. Thirdly it is a faith that anticipates. It is a faith that anticipates as we talked about last time Abraham understood that there was infinitely more attached to the promise of God than that little land of Palestine friends and we're going to we're going to talk about this much more clearly I hope next Lord's day, but it was this very thing you see that enabled Abraham to endure for so long to continue to be faithful. You see at the end of the day the affections of Abraham were not tied to that little strip of geography in the Middle East he understood that geography to be pointing to something far greater. His focus then was not on this life and all of the benefits that will ultimately be mine in this life were told in verse 10 he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. His focus was not on Palestine his focus beloved quite simply was on heaven his focus was on heaven. Now beloved let me tell you something in the most practical of terms this is the secret to a long obedience. What is it? What is it that breeds joyful obedience over the span of an entire lifetime not five years not 10 years but 25 35 40 50 years what is it that breeds long term joyful glad submission to Jesus Christ. A willingness to embrace all that may come down upon us in this life good bad or otherwise what is it that breeds that kind of thing beloved I'll tell you it is the realization that this life is not the sphere in which I will experience the ultimate reward of God. If I think that this is where all of it is to reach its consummate benefit that I'm going to always go through this life bitter frustrated angry Luther says faith is the wedding ring with which we have pledged ourselves to Christ and beloved an engagement ring anticipate something doesn't it what is an engagement ring anticipate that the best is still yet to come. That the consummation has not yet occurred and so you see according to Luther faith is forward looking faith is not the experience of reality when reality has come there is no need for faith faith is the anticipation of what's yet to come. And it is for the Christian the anticipation of that consummation in ultimate union with Jesus Christ that constrains us to be faithful now. To be obedient now to endure now it's the very thing beloved that persuades the Christian that there is no sacrifice in this life to great to make in comparison to the eternal weight of glory yet to come faith that is produced by grace obeys indoors anticipates. And now for the rest of our time this morning we will see that it is a faith that relies I know that word rely demands an object I'm going to tell you what it is in just a minute but for the sake of ease of remembering it is a faith that obeys indoors anticipates it is a faith that relies that is to say it is a faith that steaks its confidence. On the character of God I love this verse 11 by faith Abraham even though he was past age and Sarah herself was barren was unable to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. Now beloved admittedly and I don't want to spend a lot of time here there is a bit of controversy surrounding this verse how it should be translated some translation speak of the faith in verse 11 as the faith of Abraham Abraham even though he was past age was unable to become a father. Other translations take this and refer to the faith as the faith of Sarah the new American standard I think reads by faith Sarah herself received ability to conceive. Now I don't want to embroil you in all the technicalities of the discussion here you can speak to me after the service I be glad to talk with you about this but after looking at it with a measure of care what the writer is clearly emphasizing here is the faith of Abraham not the faith of Sarah. That is everything to do with what precedes it everything to do with what follows it I think the NIV has done it right here we are talking about the faith of Abraham. Now if you go back to the account of this story in the book of Genesis you will discover that Abraham was 75 years old when God first promised that he would be the father of a great nation. 75, 11 years later when Abraham is 86 years old he fathers the son with his wife's handmaiden that's a story unto itself. His name is Ishmael and yet God tells Abraham Ishmael is not the son of promise Abraham the son of promise will come from the womb of your wife Sarah. 13 years later God comes to Abraham again when he's 99 years old it has been 24 years since the promise had first been given beloved and God now says one year from now Sarah will bear you the son of promise. Now beloved this is the scene to which the writer of Hebrews is now drawing our attention look at what he says Abraham acting on the basis of faith Abraham even though he was past age and if you would allow me to say this delicately it is a phrase that is saying even though Abraham had long since lost his pro creative powers. He was 99 years old were told that he was unable to become a father and that phrase is even more delicate in the original literally literally it means he was given the power to deposit seed. A distinctly male function and of course the impotence of Abraham was not the only impediment here needed to be overcome Sarah his wife as the text alludes to right here had always been barren more over she herself was now 90 years old men a pause had come it had gone. In fact I love this verse in Genesis 18 when Sarah herself gets word that she will bear a child she says after I am worn out and my master is old well I now have this pleasure I'm worn out my master is old my master is old she is to be commended for saying that isn't she that's the Bible man that's first Peter three. Well the writer here is saying to us acting on the basis of faith Abraham defied human limitations and was unable to become a father you put it all together 11 what we have is this God makes Abraham a promise Abraham believes the promise God then rewarded his faith by fulfilling the promise but even then at this point we need to be a bit more exact. We're talking about 24 years believe it we're talking about getting the promise when you're 75 you're amused by that call 24 years what sustained his faith as he watched each year clip by 5 10 15 20 21 with each passing year the virility of his own body was dissipating with every one of those 24 years he was reminded of the fact that Sarah had never been anything other than barren and that her own potential years of fertility were a thing of the past what sustained that faith beloved not just the promise but faith in the God who had made the promise look at it. Abraham was enabled to become a father because it's one of those words he considered he reckoned him faithful who had made the promise oh my friends I want to tell you something Abraham was a man he was a human being just like we're human beings proud to doubt. Proven to question and I don't hesitate for a moment to suggest that when Abraham paused to consider the thing that had been promised to him that it must have seemed incredible it must have seemed impossible but my friends when Abraham then turned to fix his thoughts on the one who had promised all difficulties vanquished again Martin Luther says if you would trust God you must. Let's learn to crucify the question how if God makes his promise that no longer is the room for the question how how will he do it how will it get done how will it all come together no there is no room for the question how when God has made his promise only to question of whom this is what faith is confidence in the character of God Contrary to what a lot of people think faith is some kind of mindless empty headed expression. Chucks when doll tells the story. Of a couple of nuns who worked as nurses in a hospital and one morning while driving to work they ran out of gas a service station was nearby but had no container in which to put the needed gasoline. One of the women remembered that she had a bed pan in the trunk of her car and so the gas was put into the bed pan and they carried it very carefully back to where they had parked. And as the nuns were pouring the gasoline from the bed pan into the gas tank two men were driving by. They stared in absolute disbelief and finally one said to the other now Fred that's what I call faith. Is that what faith is? Is that what faith is is that what we're calling you to an exercise devoid of reason. Somehow by the sheer power of my faith I can take what usually goes into a bed pan and motor my automobile. Is that what faith is an expression beloved that can only occur after we have first checked out all of our rational faculties my friends I want to tell you this morning that despite what other people may tell you Christianity is not a call to blind faith what has been technically referred to as feedaism faith without reason that's not what's going on here. How did Abraham believe for so long not by checking out his brain beloved to the contrary believe it or not he did a little theology he did a little theology. His faith was the result of a careful consideration of the character of God amazing theology and doctrine intersecting with life. What a novel concept someone ought to tell you that sometime. What did he do beloved it's this simple he weighed the human impossibility of becoming a father against the divine impossibility of God being able to break his word. And at that point you see despite all odds there was no contest in fact to give up believing in the promise would have been to ascribe unfaithfulness to the being of God. Therefore implying that there was some kind of moral defect in his character listen to how Paul explains it same story. Romans four without weakening in his faith he that is Abraham face 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 yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. What strengthened Abraham in his faith being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. You see beloved the writer of Romans the Apostle Paul says this is why Abraham endured this is why he was faithful to the promise he was absolutely convinced in the power of God. Hebrew says this is how Abraham was faithful to the promise this house is how he stayed devoted for those twenty four years he had absolute confidence in the faithfulness of God entry. The point being this what sustains Abraham beloved through all of those years is his absolute confidence in the character of the God who had made his promise. And you see beloved what happens so beautifully in this passage suddenly Abraham is no longer at the center of attention is he suddenly we're no longer saying Abraham Abraham let's be like Abraham what we're saying is. Another reason why we continue in faith is because the object of our faith is worthy of that faith. We applaud for the living God who never goes against his own word this is the God beloved who will reverse the order of nature if need be in order to keep his promise this is the God I would remind you who brought forth water from a rock. This is the God who caused an iron axe head to float on top of water. This is the God who fed two million people in the Baroness of a wilderness this is the God who by his sheer word caused the walls of cities to fall down that parted sees that fed his prophet through the means of wild ravens. We don't ask how when this God makes his promise and thus this would be the God who would open up the womb of a woman who had always been Baron a woman who had long since passed her days of potential fertility. This is the God my friends who would give fresh procreative powers to a man who had long since been able to father children and I would just say as a little PS I would remind you that following the birth of Isaac Abraham fathered six more children why would God do this. Because standing behind his promise is his own unalterable and eternal character that will never prove to be anything less than all together reliable. Friends Christianity does not call you to an unreasonable leap of faith when we stand here and exhort you to turn from your sin and to trust in Jesus Christ alone for eternal salvation. We're not exhorting you to surrender your thinking capabilities. We're calling you to trust intelligently into the altogether trust worthy God who has given his word. And so we say to you weekend and week out repent of your sins trust in Jesus Christ believe in him and you will be saved. We say to you without hesitation you can be forgiven of the ocean of guilt that separates you and this living God as a result of trusting in the accomplishments of his son Jesus Christ his death on the cross for sinners and his resurrection from the grave. I want to tell you something beloved for whatever you might happen to think of me this morning for all of my weaknesses and frailty I can tell you I don't stand here at this place and call people to Jesus Christ because I have given up my rational faculties. I plead with you to state your eternal destiny upon Jesus Christ alone because I come to know the God of the Bible to be the ever faithful and unchangeable God who always stands behind his promise. This is not blind faith. This is not fetism. This is not a faith devoid of intellectual substance. What do we find in the book of Deuteronomy? We know therefore that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations. David says oh Lord God Almighty who is like you you are mighty oh Lord and your faithfulness surrounds you. The Apostle Paul says here is a trustworthy saying if we died with him we will also live with him if we endure we will also reign with him if we disown him he will also disown us if we are faithless he will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself. The prior chapter in Hebrew says let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful. This is what faith is. The confident casting of oneself upon the promise of God not in mindless empty headed abandon nor might I add in reckless frenzied emotionalism but with clear headed intelligence drawn out by reflection upon the character of God which serves to guarantee the promise of God. We call you to the promise because standing behind the promise is a God for whom it is impossible to lie now this is the kind of faith that's generated by the grace of God. A faith that obeys endures anticipates a faith that relies upon the character of God and to emphasize this beloved in an even more graphic way notice now the powerful comparison the author makes between one solitary man and in innumerable host of descendants first well. 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 if you've read the Old Testament you know that these words stars and sand are often used in proverbial ways to refer to numbers too great to count. Now friends this past week to my surprise I counted ten places in the Old Testament where God's promise to Abraham that he would be the father of a vast host of descendants was recorded as being literally and physically fulfilled. For example the opening of Deuteronomy says the Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky. We read the Old Testament and we discovered that God's fulfillment of the promise to Abraham was realized physically and literally during the Old Testament economy. Moreover what is also true every time you shake hands with the person of Jewish descent you have to keep in mind that his or her very existence as a result of the faithfulness of God and keeping his promise with Abraham. However we do not read the Old Testament as though it stands alone. We read the Old Testament scriptures through the lenses of the new. The New Testament teaching us how to rightly interpret the Old and what do we discover in the New Testament scriptures that God's promise to Abraham to father a vast posterity has far greater fulfillment than that which is merely physical. In other words the ultimate fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham beloved would be realized in an innumerable spiritual heritage. Listen to the inspired interpretation of that promise to Abraham now on the lips of the Apostle Paul Galatians 3. Consider Abraham. He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Understand then that those who believe are children of Abraham. The scripture for Saul that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham all nations will be blessed through you. That little promise all nations will be blessed through you Paul says that was the gospel. So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith. If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise. Oh my dear friends I don't know if you have ever understood this but if you haven't please understand it now. If you are a Christian this morning. If you are a person who by the grace of God has come to believe in Jesus Christ then you are in part. The fulfillment of God's promise that he made to Abraham way back in Genesis chapter 12. You're the fulfillment of that promise. Your confession of faith in Christ is God's fulfillment of His Word and moreover friends. This is the thing at least I hope that helps explain to you a bit of who we are and why we do what we do. Beloved. This is why we go out with the gospel. This is why we unashamedly pray, plan for hope, dream, anticipate that God might be pleased to use us in a wildly significant way in Solano County. It is because on the one hand we take God's promise to Abraham seriously. That there will be brought to faith in Jesus Christ descendants as numerous as the sand on the sea shore and as limitless as the stars in the sky. This is why we dream for more. It's because we take God's promise to Abraham seriously. And on the other hand what reinforces that sense of enthusiasm beloved is the fact that the book of Revelation reminds us that one day in heaven that promise will be realized. The book of Revelation says this. After this I looked in there before me was a great multitude that no one could count. There it is. From every nation tried people in language. There it is. Standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb they were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands and they cried out in a loud voice. Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. What is that glimpse that the Apostle John gives to us? The inspired fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. From this one man and he is good as dead came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the sea shore. My friends it all began with the promise. You will have a son. It was an amazing thing made to two people who had no power to procreate. Such a conception required the supernatural intervention of the God who had made a promise. But like every other miraculous conception in the Old Testament you see its purpose in part was to foreshadow. Its purpose in part was to prepare the people of God for a miraculous conception of infinitely greater proportions. A conception of which only God himself could be the author, the supernatural conception of the Son of God in the womb of a virgin. And why did God do this? Because we would need a savior? Yes. Because we needed a savior who had flesh and blood like ours. Yes. But most of all because he had made a promise. He promised that there would come a day when he would once again intervene supernaturally in the procreative process. 750 years earlier this is what God said. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel which means God with us. God made a promise. Is yours a faith today that rests fully upon the promise and character of God? Believe in Jesus Christ today? Take him to be your savior? He is the only one who can save you my friends because he is the only one who was able to perfectly keep his promise. Would you bow your heads with me please? Our Father we thank you for the promises that you have given to us. We are thankful for the promise that was given in the Garden of Eden that there would come a seed from the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. We are thankful for the promises that we discover all through the scriptures and we see their realization in Jesus Christ. And Father the amazing thing is that we realize sitting here today in this place no one knows us, no one knows this church. We are so comparatively and relatively unimportant and here we are sitting here today in part the fulfillment of the promise you made to Abraham. We thank you for that and we praise you for that. And I pray O Lord and God for those who are here this morning who do not know you. O Lord and God I pray that they would be so confident in the character of this God who has made his promise that it would be this very day that they would trust in Jesus Christ alone. O Father we gladly admit that you must give grace that a person could believe like this. We pray that you would do that. That you would grace men and women, that you would grace boys and girls and that today that today would be the day that the promise you made to Abraham would be fulfilled further. But someone today would come to exercise faith in the great Savior you have supplied. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and your faithfulness which brought him to us in his name we pray. Amen.