Living by Faith, Hebrews 11:7-12, Part 3

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Hiram W. Smith says, This is the third part of a study on Hebrews 11, 7-12. It was first preached on November 11, 2012. out of reverence and awe for the one who communicated to him, rendering him, judging him, trustworthy and trustworthy information. Noah had never seen anything like this before, but he took action on the information from God and he saved his own soul and the souls of his household. You see, people living by faith take action.

He built a gigantic boat expecting a lot of water and he entrusted himself to the information based on his understanding and trust of the informer. Folks, that's faith. That's living by faith. Alright, we take to the second example now in verses 8-10. Okay, so did Abraham have information?

Yes. Once again, God spoke to Abraham. God communicated to Abraham because God is person, he is a communicator. So he communicates to Abraham and he says, Abraham, I want you to go out of your land and I want you to go to another land. And so we have that in verse 8.

He was called to go out. Verse 9, there was a promise mentioned. Verse 10, he waited for a city so God gave him information. God says, I have this objective, this people that I am building for myself. That is the information that Abraham had.

That was truth. What were the unknowns? At the very end of verse 8, and he went out not knowing where he was going. You see, he didn't have all the information. But he had enough information that he was able to trust the one who gave him the information.

He went out not knowing where he was going. Look at verse 10 with me for a second. And he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God. What is the essential point of this verse? It is that there is more to this than what I can see here and now. There is more to existence.

There is more to reality than what I can see here and now. This is a problem for empiricists who believe the only things that we can know are the things that we can experience with our senses. Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher and he made this well-known statement. What science cannot tell us, man cannot know.

What science cannot tell us, man cannot know. There is a problem with that statement. It is a fatal problem with a statement. Science didn't teach us that statement. Therefore, if that statement is true, then it is false.

That's a problem. What science cannot teach us, man cannot know. That catapults any possibility of revelation from God.

That is a wrong statement. Abraham knew that. God communicated to Abraham and then what does it say? He obeyed. He obeyed and he went out not knowing where he was going.

He obeyed and he lived in the land. He moved away from home. He didn't know exactly where his destination was but he moved out.

He put one step in front of the other and he said goodbye to home and he moved out. Not only did he just move out but he also, what does the scripture tell us? He lived in tents for a while. So this Abraham, a very wealthy man by the standards of his day, in his obedience to God, he remained wealthy but he was a wealthy tent-dwelling nomad.

That wasn't exactly his career of choice now, was it? But he obeyed God. He entrusted himself to the information that God gave him, to the call that God placed upon his life. We have a third example in Sarah, verses 11 and 12. By faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed and she bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

What is the information that Sarah had? She considered him faithful who had promised. In other words, God had made a promise. God had made a promise, a specific promise. You will have descendants coming from you and Abraham. You will have descendants. It says they will be innumerable as the stars in the sand.

In other words, look at the stars. You want to start counting them? No, that's okay. I'm not going to bother. Okay, go to the seashore.

Look at the sand. You want to start counting that? No. In other words, you're going to have so many it's not going to be worth counting them. You're going to have a lot of descendants and they're going to come directly from you and Abraham. That was a promise. Let me pause here for a moment, okay, because we want to trust God and we ought to trust God. And we ought to trust the information and the promises that God gives us.

Now, listen to this very brief warning, okay, because there are a lot of things you want. Do not accuse God of not keeping promises that he hasn't made. Do not accuse God of not keeping promises that he hasn't made. What are you basing your faith upon? Make sure the object of your faith is God and the information that he has given you.

If he has not given you specific information, then don't base a promise upon that. Many people do that today. It's because what they call faith is not faith at all. It's simply credulity. Oh, I believe God's going to bring you through that.

Really? I believe God's going to keep you alive. I just believe he's going to. Believing something doesn't make it true. There has to be an object of trust and that object of trust has to be information from the one who gives information. Be very, very careful about that. Many Christians have suffered shipwreck because they were simply trusting God for something that he had not promised.

So be very careful about that. Sarah had information. She had a specific promise from God, but also there were unknowns.

What were the unknowns? Well, very simply, describe Sarah for me in one word. She was old. She was well past the age of childbearing. She was an old woman, so she would say, how could this even be possible? Now, how does the scripture describe Abraham?

Not only was he old, he was as good as this man was shriveled up. How's this child thing going to happen? Listen, these were unknowns.

How on earth is this even possible? This was unknown in Sarah's mind, but God had given her the promise that they would have children. So what's number three? They took action.

They took action. Sarah made Abraham a candlelight dinner and the rest is history. I know, I know, at that day all dinners were by candlelight. I understand that, but you get the point anyway, right? Listen, there is a virgin birth recorded in the scriptures.

This isn't it, okay? They took action. They trusted God. They trusted the specific promise that God had given them, and that is faith. People living by faith take action.

They're not simply looking for a comfort zone and saying, okay, I'm just going to live right here. No, what has God said? What has God proclaimed to be true?

Who am I and why am I here? God has given us so much information about that. And instead of just staying in their comfort zones, they stepped out and took action upon the information that God had given them. The Bible has much to say. The Bible gives us so much information about who we are, about why we're here. This is an important quote.

This is a good quote from Chip Ingram here. Every Christian's life is marked by windows of opportunity that demand a radical step of faith in order to follow Christ and fulfill His purposes for their life. Has God informed you about the purpose of your life? Yes, He has, and the information is right before you.

It is open. Know that information and act upon it. Take action upon these truths. Trade what you can control and predict for living by faith.

Step out and take action. People living by faith have the single ambition of pursuing God. That's number one. Number two, and they take action on that. That's living by faith.

That's what it looks like. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, 7 Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's Word the very purpose for which you were designed. 7 Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace weekdays at 10 a.m.