What is the final proof then of faith? It is sacrifice. That's the real proof of faith. If any man will come after me, let him do what? Deny himself.
That's it. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Perhaps you've heard many times that Abraham is a model of faith, but how exactly can you apply his example to your life? Do you need to leave your home and family and travel to a strange land? Should you trust God to unexpectedly give you a child? The Bible gives some amazing details about Abraham's life of faith, so what exactly should we take away from them? John MacArthur is going to help answer that today as he continues his series titled, The Power of Faith, an in-depth look at the heroes in Hebrews chapter 11.
With today's lesson, here is John MacArthur. Now Abraham's life was characterized totally by faith. Genesis 15, 6, clear back then, it says, Abraham believed in the Lord and he, the Lord, counted it to him for righteousness. Abraham was declared righteous because of faith from the very beginning. And all through his life, he acted on faith. He is the pattern of faith. Now in this passage, there are five features of faith that show us the complete pattern. The pilgrimage of faith, the patience of faith, the power of faith, the positivism of faith, and the proof of faith. And since Abraham is a spiritual prototype of every man of faith, we're going to consider this narrative in its spiritual sense, and I think that's the sense in which the writer of Hebrews wanted us to consider it. These five features then are the standards for faith. Number one, the pilgrimage of faith. The second thing that Abraham shows is not only the pilgrimage of faith, but the patience of faith. Faith not only gets going in the beginning, but it's very patient as it moves. In 2 Thessalonians 1, 4, and you can expand these thoughts, Apostle Paul says, So that we ourselves glory in you and the churches of God for your patience and faith, in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.
Isn't that great? We are seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with what? Patience. Patience.
The race that is set before us. Patience. What a great virtue.
James had something to say about that. James 1, 3, Knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh what? Patience. If you really believe God, you'll be patient. Let patience have her perfect work. Patience, great thing, refines you. And then James also says, I think it's at the end there, chapter 5 verse 7, Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and he has long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain. Be also patient. Establish your hearts. The coming of the Lord draws nigh.
Isn't that good? Verse 11, he says, Behold, we count them happy who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, full of pity, and tender mercy.
Be patient. This is what made Abraham's life the complete life of faith. His faith is deaf to doubt, dumb to discouragement, and is blind to impossibility, thus it only knows success. You say, well, what was the secret of Abraham's patience?
I mean, how could he possibly be so patient? Verse 10, For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Do you know where he had his eyes?
Not here, but where? There. He wasn't looking down, he was looking up. He was patient because he was aware of the fact that heaven was waiting.
There should be a definite article there. It should say in the Greek, For he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He was looking for heaven.
Abraham was patient because he knew where he was going. That's the patience of faith. You ever just focus on heaven? Oh, it's fun to do that, isn't it? I just sometimes see myself just kind of skipping along the golden streets.
You ever see that? It's fantastic. And just being in the presence of the Lord and living in the Father's house and everything, and going down to drink of the river life and taking some of that fruit that's there, oh, it's terrific. Ezekiel said this, chapter 48, verse 35, Ezekiel says, The name of the city from that day shall be. Want to hear the name of the city? Quote, The Lord is there.
Isn't that good? That's the name of the city. The Lord is there. And you just keep your eyes on the fact that you're going to be there in his presence, in that city, and you can be patient with anything going on here. You see, it's when you set your affections on things below that you live and die with every little thing. That's why the apostle Paul said in Colossians 3, 2, Set your affections on things what? Above and not on things on the earth.
And when you get your affections set on things above, you're going to be patient with what happens on earth. You know, Abraham didn't care. He lived in an old crummy tent, passed it all around.
He didn't care. You know Lot? Lot cared.
The Bible says in Genesis 13, 12, Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, everywhere, just in the land of Canaan. Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward what? Sodom. Lot wanted to get in on the goodies, the world's fair. Lot wanted the earth. Abraham wanted the heavenly. He didn't care anything about the earth. Lot did. You remember what happened to Lot?
Remember what happened to his wife? Oh, they had to leave the city and she longed to go back, turned around, that fast, turned into a pillar of salt. If you look continually at the things of this world, trials, troubles, struggles, money, fame, entertainment, pleasure, then you become absorbed in the impatient desire of the flesh. But if you just keep focusing on heaven, on God, on Jesus Christ, then you don't even care about what goes on here. 2 Timothy 2, great thought. Verse 3, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Endure, why?
Watch. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life. If you're fighting God's battle, you're not going to get messed up in this world. Oh, Moses endured.
Verse 27, look at it in Hebrews 11. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured. You say, how did he endure? How did Moses 40 years in the wilderness just fumble around with a bunch of Jethro sheep, a great leader like that? Forty years, I mean, I can learn faster than that, Lord. But Moses endured.
You say, how did that guy ever endure? Look at verse 27, as seeing Him who is invisible. That's a present tense, watch it. And you want to show you another exciting thing. The word as in the Greek also means while.
Watch it. He endured while he was seeing Him who is invisible. You know why Moses made it for 40 years? Because he never took his eyes off God. And he never got bugged with what was going on around him because he always had his focus in the right place.
He just kept looking at Him who was invisible. Wherever you put your attention is going to determine your life. Look at Hebrews 12, let's go back there again. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. What's the next statement? Verse 2, what does it say?
Looking unto what? Jesus. You run the race looking at Jesus. You know, there's one thing you can't do, and I have not run much track, but I ran some track in high school and college and one thing you learn very fast in running is you can't watch your feet. You ever try running to watch your feet while you run?
You'll trip all over your own feet besides you run into things. You have to look way ahead when you run. You set a point way ahead. If you set a point five feet from the front of you, you're going to be in real trouble.
You set a point. And that's the same thing in running a patient race as a Christian. You set your eyes way on Jesus Christ at the finish line. And you only see your life, watch this, in terms of how close you are to the finish. As long as you're running looking five feet ahead, you never see any farther than five feet ahead. And you never see the finish line, so you never know you're getting there. But if you just keep remembering that every day is only one day closer to Jesus Christ, then the race becomes easy to run with patience. See? In Hebrews 10, 36, it says, for you have need of patience.
Isn't that good? And I say that to you and to myself. You have need of patience. That after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise, hang on. You say, well, I've been serving the Lord a long time. I don't seem to be getting much of the goodies. Be patient.
Be patient. That's part of faith. Do you really believe God? The people who really live by faith are patient people, right? People who get uptight, oh, what's God doing?
Oh, my world's falling apart. See, that is not the patience of faith. Abraham just hung in there and waited until God did all things in His own time. Beautiful, calm, serene, peaceful. There's no reason for Christians to be anxious. Paul says, be anxious for what? Nothing.
Okay, so what do we see? The patience of faith. Let's look at the third thing, the power of faith. Faith is a powerful thing. Faith sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, touches the intangible, and accomplishes the impossible. Faith is a powerful commodity. Unfortunately, most faith is all talk and never really gets to action. But faith that really is true faith has power. Look at verse 11.
Let's look at it. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered a child when she was past age because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Now faith brought about a miracle. It was impossible for that couple to have a baby. The Bible says in the book of Genesis, Sarah was barren.
She had never had a child. She was now 90. Abraham was 99.
That is past the possibility of childbirth without question. Plus the fact that she was barren. God came to them and said, I'm going to raise up seed, a whole nation from you. Therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead.
See, out of that gate was as good as dead in terms of producing anything. But sprang from him as many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable. This guy had children upon children, the whole of the nation of Israel, every Jew that's ever been born up until this time and from now until Jesus comes, every Jew that will ever be born is a seed of Abraham. And that all came because he believed God. Hey, faith is powerful.
Okay. Oh, all the millions of Jews came out of that, the power of faith. Listen, Matthew 19, 26, with men this is impossible but with God, how much is possible? All things are possible. Don't you like that?
You say, well, you don't know my problem. All things are possible. Jesus said, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to them that believe.
Isn't that great? Luke 18, 27, Jesus said, the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. You really believe God for the impossible? What have you prayed for that you didn't think could be done and really believed God?
Matthew jumps into my mind, 17, 19. Then came the disciples of Jesus privately and said, why couldn't we cast that demon out? Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith there's a grain of mustard seed. Now, I don't think that necessarily means little, tiny, insy-binsy faith.
A mustard seed starts small and explodes. I think Jesus is saying, if you have a thriving, increasing, growing faith, you see, you should say to the mountain, move. You know what that mountain is going to do?
Move. The end of verse 20, He says, nothing shall be impossible unto you. Here's one for you. Ephesians 4, 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Do you believe that? Do you believe Ephesians 3, 20, now unto Him is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think according to the power that works in us. Well, what kind of things have you claimed for God?
There's so many needs in your life and in the lives of your friends and loved ones. We're really claiming God to do the things that we just can't see in the human realm, but they look like they'd have to be miracles. Do we really believe God for those things?
The Bible says, is anything too hard for God? Testament see, that's the power of faith when you really believe God. Well, you know something? I think God sort of shames me all the time because I never believe, really. I say I believe and maybe I do to a certain point, but I don't think I really all the way believe what God can do until I see Him do it and then I say, boy, God, you did that. You know? Oh, if we could only extend our faith out, see God work greater things. Well, we can talk more about that.
Let's go quickly. Fourthly, the positivism of faith. We saw the pilgrimage of faith, separation from the world, the patience of faith, waiting for God's time focused on heaven, power of faith, doing the impossible.
Here's the positivism of faith. Now all these guys, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, never did see the Promised Land come into their possession. They never really did know what was happening and verse 13 lays that out.
These all died in faith, never saw a thing, just died, they lived their whole life believing God and never saw anything happen, but never stopped believing Him. Not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and they were persuaded of them, put it this way, they were positive about them and they embraced them and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. They were looking for another place and truly if they had been mindful of the country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to return. And you know, he says they weren't looking back to the country they came from either, they were looking for a different country. Verse 16, but now they desire a better country, that is, and what?
Heavenly. Those guys had a positivism about their faith. They died in faith.
They were happy to be pilgrims because they knew there was a positive end to their faith. The Bible calls them two things. It first of all calls them strangers, zenoi. In the ancient world, the fate of a stranger was really hard.
He was regarded with hatred, suspicion and contempt. In Sparta, for example, zenos, same word, is the equivalent of barbaros which means a stranger was the same as a barbarian. The word also came to mean refugees. So they just were really nomads in the worst sense of the word. Then secondly, they're not only called zenos in strangers, but in the word pilgrims is parapitimos, to get it right, and that means a person who sticks around temporarily. So they knew they were on shifting sand, that their mission was limited in this world.
And they sought for something greater and they were sure about it even though they never saw it. Are you sure about heaven? Are you really sure? I know some Christians who aren't too sure about it, they have doubts.
You know something like that? I'm sure about heaven. That's the positivism of faith. I know it's there.
You say, how do you know? I just have the witness of the Spirit of God within me by faith that it's true. And I just long to be there and my faith is positive enough that I believe that. Psalm 27 4 says this, one thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after, what?
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. The positivism of faith. This is the security of the believer. So many Christians are all torn up. Job went through a mess.
Remember Job? God took away everything He had. Lowed Satan to do it. And he was destitute and he finally stood up and said, though the worms destroy my body, yet in my flesh, what, shall I see God. Though my reigns be consumed within me. Boy, he knew where he was going. Apostle Paul said, it's nice to be around you people.
Like you a lot. It's far better to go and be with Christ. That's the positivism of faith.
That's the security the believer has. They weren't looking to go back to Chaldea, no sir. They were looking for a heavenly country. Verse 16, wherefore, you want to know something?
This is so good. You know the kind of people God likes? God likes people who believe in Him.
You know that? God really likes those people. Verse 16, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He's prepared for them a city. Who is God not ashamed of?
Those who believe, who really live by faith. You live by faith, God's not ashamed of you. Can you imagine God saying, I'm the God of John MacArthur.
Ooh, that is strange, isn't it? I mean, that's not much to brag about. I'm the God of John MacArthur. But in 1 Samuel, chapter 2, verse 30, it says, them that honor Me, I will honor. You see, you mean God is not ashamed to be called the God of John MacArthur?
Boy, that puts a little different light on how I live my life. The patriarchs honored God, so God said, I'm not ashamed to be called their God. And you know what God called Himself?
Listen to this. He said it over and over again, but in Exodus 3, 6, you know what it says? He said this, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. And later on, I became the God of John MacArthur. Boy, I can't think of any greater honor than to live a life of faith and have God want to assign Himself to me.
Isn't that great? That's the positivism of faith and to have life's positive faith. For He really did prepare a city for them and they believed Him. Now a final note on Abraham's faith, the proof of it. What's the real test of faith in the long run? By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.
Wow. And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. I mean, God had given him a child after all this time. And God said to him one day in Genesis 22 verses 1 to 18, it tells the whole story. God said, I want you to take the son I gave you up in the hill and I want you to offer him as a sacrifice.
Can you imagine? Gee, all of this going on, God, this is a little strange. Go offer him up. Get up there on Mount Moriah, take him up there and you offer him. You know what he did? He went up there. He packed up his stuff. God old Isaac all dressed up and said, Isaac, we're going for a camping trip. And you know what he said when he left?
He said, we are going, now watch this one, and we shall come again. I say, wait a minute, Abraham, God says you're supposed to give him as a sacrifice. But Abraham knows that the covenant of God was unconditional. You know what Abraham believed? Abraham believed that he would raise Isaac from the dead.
Look at verse 19, accounting that God was able to what? Raise him up. From what? From the dead. You see, Abraham went up in that mountain and said, goodbye, but I'll be back and Isaac will be with me.
And he went up there. Boy, that must have been a tremendous act of faith. What a monumental faith. Do you have the kind of faith that's sacrificed like that?
And believe in resurrection? Boy, that is faith. God said to me, I want you to take one of your children up and sacrifice him.
Ooh, awfully hard to even conceive of that. All of his dreams were in Isaac. How could he reconcile divine promise with divine command?
It was confused. He loved Isaac. He had so long waited for the first sign of the promise. And then he had sinned with Hagar and he might have thought that God was going to take away the promise because of what he did with Hagar. And God's law forbade a man to kill his son.
And the Bible said that by man's, whosoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. And all this must have been running in his mind, but he really trusted God. And he said, if you want me to kill him, I'll kill him because you'll raise him because you promised me that he'd be the seed. Boy, that's faith, isn't it?
You have that kind of faith to sacrifice your life and say, God, I'll do whatever you said because you promised me this is what you do. So he took him up there, raised the knife. And at the right moment, he heard this noise over in a bush. He looked over there and God had the right animal waiting. The angel of the Lord stopped his arm.
He sacrificed the ram. And Isaac only became just a figure, it says, which also he received him in a figure. This is a picture of the resurrection of Christ, the death and resurrection. He didn't really die and rise, so it's not a legitimate type, but it's kind of a picture of the death and resurrection of Christ. What is the final proof then of faith? It is, watch it, sacrifice. That's the real proof of faith. If any man will come after me, let him do what? Deny himself.
That's it. The pilgrimage of faith separated from the world, patience of faith, waiting for God to work, the power of faith, doing the impossible, the positivism of faith, focusing on God's eternal promise and believing that it's guaranteed guilt hedge, the proof of faith, obedient self-sacrifice. That's the pattern of faith. That's John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. Today's lesson on Grace to You looked at the faith of Abraham and how you can cultivate a trust in God that doesn't waver through any of life's circumstances.
It's part of John's series titled The Power of Faith. John, you touched on the fact that even with his amazing faith, Abraham was a sinner. He was an ordinary person in that regard, and God didn't make him the patriarch of Israel because he was more brilliant or morally better than the rest of us. And that's an important reminder that God doesn't need extraordinary people to accomplish his purposes. Yeah, well, in one sense, none of us is extraordinary because we're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all are marked by corruption and ignorance and impotence to one degree or another.
We are all frail. In fact, even the best of us, the apostle Paul, saw himself as a clay pot, nothing more than something that was ugly and breakable and replaceable. He even referred to himself as the off-scouring like scum on the bottom of a cooking pan or something. So if God couldn't use those kinds of people, he couldn't do his work through people because really that's all he's got. Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God.
You know, the Lord picked him up when he was a blasphemer and injurious and persecuting the church and hating the name of Christ. This is the wonderful miracle of regeneration, and it's the miracle of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit that he takes alien people who were enemies of God, who hated God, redeems them, saves them, gifts them, fills them with his Holy Spirit, and turns them into unlikely heroes. That reminds me to mention the book that I wrote called Twelve Unlikely Heroes. What do I mean by hero? Well, not what comes to mind today. Being a hero nowadays seems to belong to people who are athletes or people who do some act of vengeance.
We're not talking about that. We're talking about a real hero, somebody who makes the world better, somebody who is used by God to bring the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ, somebody who serves the good of people, the best good of all, the gospel, and who lives to the glory of God. Twelve Unlikely Heroes looks at the biblical heroes Enoch, Joseph, Miriam, Gideon, Samson, Jonathan, Esther, Mark, and four more. Two hundred and twenty pages available now from Grace to You, the title Twelve Unlikely Heroes.
Thanks, Jon. And friend, this book looks at how some of the Bible's most compelling heroes modeled biblical character and faithfulness and shows you how to follow their examples. Let their stories challenge you to embrace a life of biblical courage. Order a copy of Twelve Unlikely Heroes when you contact us today. The book costs ten dollars and shipping is free. To purchase your copy, call 855-GRACE or shop online at GTY.org.
The title again, Twelve Unlikely Heroes. This is an encouraging book. It's an ideal resource to study with someone who you might be discipling or with a small group Bible study. Again, to order, call 855-GRACE or visit our website GTY.org. And whether you want to learn more about the lives of Old Testament saints or about your responsibilities in your church or any other biblical topic, let me suggest our flagship resource, the MacArthur Study Bible.
With 25,000 study notes covering virtually every passage of Scripture, the Study Bible can help you better understand Scripture and grow in Christ-likeness. To pick up the MacArthur Study Bible, visit GTY.org or call us at 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for making this broadcast part of your day and be here again tomorrow. If you've ever been tempted to think that God is not trustworthy, John's next lesson will be a great encouragement. So tune in for another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace To You.
