Obedient Faith

This needs OCR cleanup

OBEDIENT FAITH

by O H Griffith

Text: Hebrews 11 :8-19.

Introduction:

A. Faith i God is unreserved confidence that He will do exa tly as He has promised. It is believing with- out se ing.

B. With s ch faith one experiences no difficulty in obeyin God.

C. Abrah and Sarah had just such faith.

1. The e probably has never been two people whose lives wer so completely directed by God.

2. The experienced trials, but always by faith they per evered and were victorious.

D. Some t ings we may learn from this couple.

1. Obe ient faith responds without asking why.

2. Obe ient faith reaps unbelievably rich rewards.

3. Obedient faith secures a heavenly inheritance.

4. Obedient faith does not limit the power of God.

I. ABRAHAM' CALL,Hebrews 11:8,9;Genesis 12:1-3.

A. To leav his ancestral home and kindred, Genesis 12:1.

B. Abrah responded in faith and did not ask, "Why?"

1. He ent out not knowing where he was going.

2. He b lieved God would do exactly as He had promised.

C. What promised Abraham.

1. To how him a good land, and give it to his desc ndants.

2. Mak of him a great nation.

3. Bles him and make his name great.

4. Mak him a blessing to others.

5. Bless or curse others, depending upon whether they bless d or cursed Abraham.

D. The gre test of all the promises to Abraham would greatly feet every living soul: "In thee shall all the families f the earth be blessed," Genesis 12:3.

1. This to be completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

2. Chris came long after Abraham, but God had not forgo ten.

3. Abr 's faith was such that he never doubted the co of the promised Redeemer.

E. Abraham sfaith caused him to respond immediately to God's c II.

II. OBEDIENT F TH IS REWARDED,Hebrews 11:11.12.

A. Sarah's f lth.

1. She be ieved God's promise to give her a child, though she w nearly ninety years old. She believed God who create the human body could rejuvenate a ninety year-ol body.

2. What j y Isaac must have broughf' to her.

3. She li ed to be 127 years old, Genesis 23:1. She enjoye her son for thirty-seven years.

B. Abraham' descendants, vs 12. Though he was "as good as dad," there came from ~im:

1. So yas the stars in the sky.

2. As imp ssible to COWltas the sands by the seashore.

3. They bean innumerable multitude.

C. Such fait as that of Abraham and Sarah never goes unre arded.

III. ABRAHAM'S NHERITANCE, verses 10, and 14-16.

A. He was 0 Iy a pilgrim (stranger) in the land of Canaan.

1. Dwelli g in tents.

2. The 0 y land he ever owned there was a burial plot.

B. He looked for a city.

1. But he did not look for it in Canaan.

2. He 100 ed for a city built by God.

3. This w one product of his faith.

C. He and is immediate descendants declared, "Plainly t t they seek a country." They knew that earth was ot their final home.

1. They c uld have returned to Ur of the Chaldees.

2. But ha faith that God would give them a "better country "

3. They w re more interested in that heavenly country than an earthly country.

D. Because 0 their obedient faith:

1. God w not ashamed to be called their God.

2. "He hat prepared for them a city."

3. As chil en of God by faith, we too, shall inherit that city wit Abraham.

a. " any shall come from the east and the west, and s sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and J cob, in the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 8:11.

b. t city is described in Revelation 21:9-27.

IV. OBEDIENT AITH DOES NOT UMIT THE POWER OF GOD, verses 7-19.

A. Abraham believed God and left the ancestral home- land.

l. He ne er doubted that God would direct him to his future inheritance.

2. This esponse in faith was counted to him for righte usness, James 2:23.

3. For t ,"He was called the Friend of God," James 2:23.

B. Faith is 0 ten tested.

1. To lea e Ur with no clear indication of where he was to go as no small test.

2. His fai h was tested every time he erected an altar and wo shiped the unseen God in the presence of the heathe .

3. To aw t the promised heir was a very difficult test.

a. So e might conclude that he almost failed it.

b. He and Sarah, unwisely, concocted a scheme to hel God.

c. Th y succeeded only in heaping sorrow upon the elves and others.

d. It as a particularly heartbreaking experience for Ab aham to send Ishmael and his mother away.

4. The su erne test of all, Genesis 22:1-19.

a. Ab was commanded to offer Isaac on an al ,but his faith never wavered.

b. t a test when Isaac asked, "Where is the ofTe ing?"vs 7.

c. Abr 's discreet answer, vs 8.

(1) His faith in God assured him that God could raise him up from the dead, Hebrews 11:19.

(2) In a figure, he did receive him again from the dead, Hebrews 11:19.

d. It would be no more difficult for God to raise

I c .up from the dead than it was for Him to iuvenate Abraham and Sarah's "dead" bodies so

c could be born.

Conclusion:

A. Abraham responded in faith to the call of God.

1. He di not ask where, how, nor why.

2. In fait he claimed every promise God made.

B. Abraham faith procured many precious rewards.

1. The s ,Isaac, born in his old age.

2. Innum rable descendants.

C. Abraham' faith procured for him, and for all with like faith, a heavenly and celestial city.

D. His faith as often tested, and so is that of all the faithful.

1. Abr had such confident faith that he never limited the power of God.

2. Let us grow in grace, so exercising our faith that we, too, no limit God's power.

E. God has repared a heavenly inheritance for all who trust Him.

Index