And in Hebrews 11, there's a bunch of different Bible characters that we are slowly in this series going to look at over the next couple of months. We're going to take one a week and we're going to just look at the different lessons we can learn about faith. And I've said this every week of the series because I really want you to understand this and I want you to get this.
Sometimes it's easy for us to come to a chapter like this and we immediately think like, whoa, I want the faith like so and so. And I understand the rationale behind that. I understand the heart behind that, and I'm sure that it's pure. But Hebrews 11 is not about how great these individual characters were. It is about how great the God they trusted in is.
And if you come away from this series with anything in your heart, I want you to come away more infatuated with the God that you trust in than the character in the story. because the characters in the story, they're no different than you and I. They're sinners. They doubt. They're human beings.
They struggle. They make mistakes. They doubt God and things like that. And so, but God used them because they took a step of faith and God did some incredible things. But the stories and the characters, it's not about how great these people were.
It is about how great the God they trusted in is. And so today we are going to look at a very familiar one. Most of them, I mean, so far in our series are very familiar. And we are going to look at Abraham. We're going to look at Abraham here today.
And I do have to ask this, like how many of you, if you've grown up in church, you're going to fully understand this or whatever. How many of you, when you were in Sunday school or junior church or whatever, remember singing the song, Father Abraham? How many of you remember that? All right. And so we used to sing this song and I thought about like having everybody stand and us doing a few kind of stanzas of this song here today.
But I don't know how many people we have on our medical staff today on our medical school team.
So I decided not to do that. But if you remember the song, it goes, Father Abraham, you sing it with me, had many sons, right? Had many sons, had Father Abraham. I am, I am, I'm going too fast. I am one of them, and so are you.
So let's just praise the Lord. Right arm, left arm, all this kind of stuff. I mean, we turned around and everything. It was wild. And so I'm like, that's how the church was teaching us how you should exercise, you know?
This is before you counted your steps. The church had Father Abraham, and so it's pretty incredible. But we used to do this song all of the time, and it's such a catchy song, and it's such a good song because there is a lot of truth in that song, and we are all, we can kind of trace some things back to Abraham, but we're going to look at his life here today and some things about him that you and I can learn about faith.
Now his story is pretty wild. In fact, in Hebrews 11, he has more verses to his story than any other character in Hebrews 11. And so there's a whole lot that we can learn about this. I mean, from his call, from God telling him to offer his son, and everything in between. And so in Hebrews 11, let's go ahead and read it.
It says in verse 8 of Hebrews 11, it says, verse 8, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should after receive for an inheritance, he obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whether he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. We're going to drop down to verse 17, because next week we're going to look at Sarah and some things we can learn from her, even though their story of faith kind of goes hand in hand.
But in verse 17, it says again, By faith Abraham, when he was tried, he offered up Isaac. And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. Let's pray together and we'll dive right into it. Father, we love you. And God, as the songs today just kind of beautifully got our hearts turned in your direction, we're reminded today that you are in control.
Father, you are sovereign. And by you, all things consist. In fact, today we declare that you are over everything. You're over our bodies. You're over our life.
You're over what's happening in our world. You're over all things and we trust in you today. And God, I don't know every story that is in this place, but my prayer is that when we leave here in just a few moments, that every single person in this place would take a step towards a deeper trust in you and in who you are. Recognizing that you are in control. Recognizing that you have a plan.
Help grow our faith. Help grow our trust. Convict us where we need to be convicted. And speak to us in ways that only you can. God, hide me behind the cross this morning.
For it's in your name we pray. And all God's people said, amen and amen.
So before we kind of dive into some of the content here of his story, I want to give you just a little bit of a background about his life because I recognize that each and every week I know most of you have have been a part of church For most of your life like me, but I also recognize that we have some people that have only been in church for a short season And so I want to give you some background So you know exactly who we're talking about in case abraham is a little bit unfamiliar to you the name abram Uh means exalted father His name would later be changed to Abraham, which would actually mean father of many. He was born in a place called Ur, literally U-R, Ur of the Chaldees, which is actually around ancient Mesopotamia. It's right there around modern-day Iraq. His father was a man by the name of Terah. Abraham had two brothers Nahor and Haran and his wife's name was Sarah.
One thing that we don't mention a whole lot but you learn this in Joshua 24 verse 2 Abram came from a family that worshipped other gods. They were not a family that were sold out to the one true God and so they worshipped other gods and you learn that in Joshua and that's the family that he came from. It's a good reminder to know that God can even snatch somebody out of a dysfunctional family in a dysfunctional situation and use them for his honor and for his glory. And you learn that from him. His story started in Genesis 12.
In Genesis 12, God shows up to Abram and he tells him, I'm going to make of you a great nation. And he tells him, I'm going to make your name great. And he tells him to leave his homeland. and to go into a land that he would eventually reveal to him. And so just a little bit of a picture for you so that you can kind of understand his journey.
You'll see this up on the screen. This is Abraham's journey, if you would.
So if you follow kind of the arrows here if you see where he started he was in Ur And God in Genesis 12 he tells him I want you to leave your family I want you to leave your heritage I want you to leave what familiar I want you to leave your upbringing your childhood relationships, I want you to leave your comfort, I want you to leave all of this, and I am going to show you where you should go. But here's what's interesting about the story. God didn't reveal everything to him in that moment. He was required to take a step.
So what he did, he was there in Ur, and so he followed, if you can kind of follow this, right in between the Tigris and Euphrates River, he followed kind of what was known in that day as one of the major trade routes, because he didn't know where he was going to go, and so he didn't have the idea just to go to Canaan, because God had not revealed that that was the place for him just yet, and so for him, he just started walking. He just started taking a step, and so he goes, and we know through his story that he lands in a place called Haran. He stays there for 25 years. While he's figuring out that, you know, he took a step of faith, he's obeying God, he's waiting on this promise that God has promised him that he's going to make of him a great nation, and he's going to give him a land. And so he's like hanging out in Haran, wondering like, hey God, have you forgotten me?
And we know his story. He tries to get in front of God just like you and I don't hate on Abraham because we do this all the time in different ways. We try to get ahead of God and we try to control what God has told us he has control of. And so Abram lives there in Haran until finally God shows him and he eventually makes his way to Canaan.
Now, if you follow that journey, so from Ur up to Haran is about 800 miles. And then from Haran down to Canaan is about another 600 miles.
So you're talking, there's about a 1,400-mile journey that Abram went on just to follow what God had for him and what God told him was in his future. This was a big deal. a big deal. In fact, when he was 75 years old, that's when God told him to go. Isn't that wild?
Most times, 75-year-olds, they're looking to plant.
Okay? They're looking to remain stable. Hey, I'm going to be in the place where I am most secure. And I understand in that day, they lived a lot longer than people do now. But for them, this was still old.
At 75 years old, it was still considered old. And God told him, hey, you're going to leave. You're going to move 1400 by year and tell him that, but that's what we see here. And you're going to go away from everything that is familiar.
So we see this is his story. And he's mentioned here in Hebrews 11 as a man of faith. He's listed in the hall of faith.
So like we're doing with each one of these characters, what do we learn about his story? What do we learn about faith from his story? A couple of things. Number one, faith steps out. Faith steps out.
Can we say that together? Faith steps out. When we learn about Abraham and we see his story, what you see here is that he went. He didn't know where. He didn't know how.
He didn't really have a whole lot of information at all. But when God said, I want you to go, he took a step out. You see that in verse 8. He was called to go out. Right?
And then later in verse 17, he was tried. And God, he put this test in front of him. And he told him to go up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice your son. and what did Abram do? He started climbing the mountain.
He didn't have the way that God was going to provide for him. He didn't have all the details in front of him. He didn't have anything. All he said was he was listening to God's voice, and when God said go, or when God says climb, Abram went. He went.
Let me tell you this. Faith moves. It's really a correlation, what you see in every one of these stories in Hebrews 11, it's a correlation of what the Bible teaches us in the book of James. What does James say? James says faith without works is what?
Dead. And what you see here in chapter 11 is that every one of these characters that we're looking at, they had faith, and here's what we learned from all of them. Faith moves. Faith acts, right? Faith works.
it goes faith takes steps faith moves and so i want you to know you can say all you want on sunday man i have faith we can declare by song hey i trust in god my savior the god who never fails we can say that every single week and if you come in and you say that and you audibly declare that every single week, but you leave here and those words never lead to action, and those words never lead to you taking a step or a move in your life towards Christ, then it's just words. Because what we learn from his story is that faith moves. Faith is bold. It takes steps. What we learn directly from his story is this.
Faith steps out from what is familiar. From what is familiar, God told Abraham to leave his country at 75 years old. He was told to relocate. Leaving behind family. Leaving behind his childhood.
Leaving behind what was familiar. Leaving behind stability. Leaving behind security. It's a big ask. and this was no don't think he was some super christian and god said i want you to go at 75 years old you know in in my experience um you know one of the greatest and there's a lot more people experienced than i am i want to be very clear but in my short experience in ministry, one of the greatest obstacles to people taking a step out on faith is leaving behind what is familiar.
We don't like to leave behind what is familiar. We like to stay and say, God, I trust you as long as I am comfortable. God, I have faith in you as long as I can stay, you know, right here where my family is next to me and right here where, you know, I'm comfortable and right here where I am stable and right here where I am secure and things like that. And what we learn here is that Abram had to leave everything behind, leaving what is familiar, leaving his comfort zone. We're all comfortable, right?
In our comfort zone where our family and, you know, what's familiar. and here's what I will tell you, faith often begins where our comfort zone ends. What God wants from you is sometimes he has to remove you out of your comfort zone so that he can teach you something about faith and about following him. Don't let what is familiar and comfortable keep you from what God has for you. Take a step.
Faith steps out from what is familiar but also from Abraham's story is this, fate steps out even when it doesn't have all of the details. Like what you see here in Hebrews 11 is the phrase in verse 8 not knowing whither he went In other words he left without a clear direction or without a clear plan Like the only thing Abram knew is who was calling him, but he didn't know where that would lead him. He was just taking a step because of who called him. That's all that he knew. And he started moving before he knew the destination.
So put yourself in his story. Here's what is true of most of us. We reverse that order. What you see from Abraham's faith is this. Abraham stepped and moved without knowing the destination.
But here's what most of us like. We want to know the destination before we're ever willing to move. And I'm preaching to myself too, because I'm the same way. I'm a detailed guy. I'm OCD about details.
I can drive people crazy about details. And I love details. And I love knowing where I'm going. I love, did somebody say amen right there? And so I'm just going to whatever.
I've never invoked church discipline, but today could be the day. We'll see. And so, but here's what I want you to know is this. I am, I'm a detailed guy. I like to know the answers.
I like to know where we're going, and I like to know all of that kind of stuff. And what Abram did was, it's almost like God said, hey, go. And he's like, okay, let me plug it into the GPS. No, he didn't do that. He just went.
It's like you get in your car, and you don't have a clue where you're going. You're just going to drive and end up at your destination. He's like, none of us. We would all say, that's crazy. That's stupid.
That's exactly the kind of fate that Abraham had. He went without knowing the clear direction and the clear place that God wants.
So faith, what we learn from him is it steps out. But number two, from his story, faith does stay steady too. Or you could say faith stays faithful. What's amazing to me about this, and it doesn't mean he's perfect. We know a lot of dark moments in his story.
Ishmael and Hagar and the whole deal. We get it. And so if you've studied his life, I do not want you to think, man, he's perfect. He's a super Christian and that kind of thing. he made a lot of really messed up mistakes.
I mean, there was so much dysfunction that it makes any of our families that we think were dysfunctional, just read Abraham's story and you're going to feel really good about your family heritage. And so he made some really big mistakes, but he also did remain faithful. He stayed in Haran for 25 years. What we learn is this.
Sometimes faith is found and best demonstrated by staying faithful where he has you. And so maybe you're waiting for the promise, just like Abraham was. The promise can be certain, but the fulfillment was not immediate. Here's what I've learned about my life. I love trusting God when he's moving fast.
I struggle trusting God when he decides to move really slow. and here's what we learned. Think about it. I love to be early wherever I go. Like, I love that, and so in my house, I love to get everywhere I'm going early.
I mean, and in my house, I do not have people that live in my house that feel the same way. I'm just going to say it that way. whether you know you can determine who that is whether it be my wife whether it be my kids or whatever and here's what usually happens in our household I'm the type of person that I will say if we need to leave the house by 3 30 or whatever I'll say 3 30 and this is a fault I get it but if I'm ready at three let's just leave at three like and that really frustrates my family and so what happens most of the time is when we are told to go, because I'm the driver, I know where we're going and stuff, and so I'll normally get to the point where I'm completely ready to walk out the door. I have everything that I need, and I'm standing somewhere really in close proximity to the front door, and I'm ready to leave. I got the garage, you know, up so we can jump in the car and head out really fast, and inevitably, when it's right at the time to leave, here's usually what happens.
Oh no, I forgot. I can't find my phone. Can you call me real quick? You know, we can't find my phone or we can't find whatever, my shoes and all this kind of stuff. And it just drives me bananas.
And so a lot of times I'm there and what I've learned through the years is this, is that while I'm standing at the door waiting on my kids or waiting on my wife, most of the time it's because they're a little bit late. And so for me, I'm standing there and I'm just like, man, we're late. I know where I'm going. I know how I'm going to get there. I know everything.
And we're waiting because somebody you're waiting for is late. And maybe that's true in your life. Here's the only difference between that story and waiting on God like Abraham waited in Haran for 25 years, is that when you wait on your family and you're kind of standing there like, guys, we got to go. The event's starting. We're waiting because somebody's late, but here's the difference when you're waiting on God in your spiritual journey is when you're standing at the door and you have the keys and you have, you're like, man, it's time to go.
I've been waiting. I have a promise that God promised me that this is going to happen. And you feel like the dad at the front door waiting on everything. Here's the only difference. When you wait on God, he is perfectly on time.
So when you're waiting for your family, it could be because they're late, But when you're waiting on God like Abraham had to do for 25 years there in Haran, it's not because God has forgotten you. It's not because God is delayed. It is not because God has forsaken you and just left you to fend for yourself. It's not because he's late. It's because God is perfectly on time.
And here's what I will tell you. His faithfulness, it is not measured. By how quickly he fulfills promises to us. Let me say that again. God's faithfulness, whether or not he's faithful, it is not measured by how quickly he fulfills his promise to you.
Because Abraham waited for 25 years there in Haran for God's next step. And every day he wakes up wondering when he's going to make a great nation and wondering when God is going to give him the land that he promised him. and you know what he had to think, just like you and I, this is taking forever. Has God forsaken me? And what we learn from his story, sometimes faith is shown in the way that you stay faithful where you are.
Number three, faith stands on God's Word. You know, if you fast forward in his story about the promise, you know, of a son, this was like a human impossibility. Made no sense. Abraham would be 100 years old Sarah would be 90 they're beyond childbearing years and it was almost like one of those too good to be true type of promises going to make of you a great nation really Lord have you seen how old we are there's no way I don't want to embarrass you but if you are 75 years of age and older could you imagine God saying you're going to have a baby. You responded the same way Abraham and Sarah did.
You see, it's crazy. It makes no sense. It is a too good to be true type of promise. But in Genesis 18 14 the question is raised by our Lord is anything too hard for God What we learn through his story and through his act of faith was what was impossible through human ability was made possible through God divine power So what is impossible through human ability, it was made possible through his divine power. And so I want you to know that Abram took a step, and here's why.
You say, how could he take a step with something so crazy Like, that he's going to have a bunch of kids at that age of his life. How in the world could he do this? It's because he stood on what God said. And who said it meant more than the calling of his life. He trusted in, hey, if God said it, God is powerful enough to go through with it.
If God promised it, I believe it. and for some of us I question if we really trust in who has promised things to us because if you really got a glimpse of who God was and you got a real glimpse that our God cannot lie and our God cannot fail if you really believe that some of us would take steps of faith in our life when you really get a glimpse of who he is don't let the impossibility of your circumstances and the impossibility of what he is calling you to do or asking of you diminish the ability of himself. He can do all things. And so faith is taking a step out.
Sometimes faith, what we learn from a story, it's staying faithful where you are.
Sometimes faith is taking a stand on God's word, what God said, and trusting that he will provide. And then number four, faith surrenders everything. Surrenders everything. You know, in Genesis 22, we don't have time to turn there, but you would know this story more than likely. God reveals himself to Abraham again, and he tells him, I want you to go up to Mount Moriah, and I want you to sacrifice your son.
If you're a father in here for just a moment, put yourself in that position. god has led you this far he's made these incredible promises and here's what's interesting at this point in the story god had actually given them a son asking him to sacrifice his son is wild in and of itself but here's what makes it even louder asking him to sacrifice the promised son the one that he's waited for the one that he waited for all these years to to come into their life the one that that god had promised he's going to make of him a great nation if i sacrifice isaac that promise must be dead and and he has to be asking questions how could this be a part of god's plan and here's what i will tell you and here's what i learned from this i wrote this down on sometimes faith don't miss this sometimes faith means trusting god enough to receive something from him but sometimes in your life and what we learn from abraham's life sometimes faith means trusting god enough to surrender what you love most that was isaac in his life isaac was the promised son. And what we learn here is what God was trying to do, and God did this throughout his life. He was always trying to come into Abraham's life and teach him, hey, Abraham, you're going to love comfort more than me? Are you going to love what's familiar more than me?
You're going to love your upbringing and staying where things are stable and secure more than me? Hey, Abraham, you're going to trust in my word, or are you going to trust in how quick I respond? And now it's like, okay, Abraham, are you going to trust in me and value me and my word over the promised son in your life? It's crazy. And so sometimes faith is demonstrated in what you're willing to surrender to him.
Some of you lack faith to surrender what is familiar.
Some of you lack faith to surrender your children.
some of you lack faith to surrender your grandchildren and offer them up to the lord to do whatever god wants them to do i'm grateful my parents said this and i mean i'm not too terribly far just a few hours from my parents and seven and a half from my wife's parents and uh and so i'm glad we're as close as we are to them or whatever but here's what my dad said when i was growing up he always said this he said son when i got old enough to think about what God wanted me to do with my life because when I was a kid, all I wanted to do was be a professional basketball player. And when he realized, that ain't happening, son. And so he kind of kept telling me this as a teenager. He said, son, I want you to know whatever God wants you to do, I want you to be in the center of his will. Even if that is a million miles away from me, I'd rather you be in the center of his will, a million miles away than next door out of his will.
And that's what he told me. And God's blessed and I'm grateful that I'm as close as I am. And I don't want you to feel bad if like you have kind of a different thing where your family's all here. That doesn't, I don't want you to feel guilty about that. But here's what I want you to know.
If God is calling you to something and God is asking you to take a step of faith and God is saying, hey, go and go here and I'll figure it out there. Listen, do not let what is familiar stop you from taking a step of faith.
Sometimes it's found in surrender. But the ultimate lesson that we learn from his life is that his story of faith gives us a clear gospel picture. You see it throughout Abraham's story. You see the story of Jesus right here through Abraham's story. Look at the parallels.
I mean, Abraham was called to offer his promised son. God the Father gave us his beloved son. Isaac carried the wood for the burnt offering. Jesus carried his own cross. God provided a substitute for Isaac.
You remember the story? Just as Abraham was willing to go forward all the way, a voice from heaven called out and basically told him to stop. And there was a substitute there in the thicket, a ram. God provided a substitute for Isaac. but listen, when Jesus died on the cross, there wasn't a voice from heaven saying, stop.
No. There was silence. In fact, heaven forsook our Lord and Savior because Jesus became our substitute there on the cross. You see, there wasn't a voice from heaven saying, stop. There was a voice from heaven saying, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased.
Isaac was spared, and yet Jesus willingly laid down his life for us. You see, what we learn, the ultimate picture, and I want you, as you leave here, I want you to pray about stepping out. I want you to pray about remaining faithful. I want you to pray about surrendering some things and taking a stand on the promises of the Word of God and letting that lead your life. But more importantly than anything else is this, I want you to know that on Mount Moriah, in Abraham's story, God provided a sacrifice for Abraham on Mount Moriah.
But on Mount Calvary, God provided himself as the sacrifice for us.
So what you see is this incredible gospel picture here of the faith of Abraham. It leads us to recognize that Jesus has become our forever sacrifice. You see, the faith of Abraham, it teaches us what it looks like to trust God. But on the cross, Jesus shows us why we can trust Him.
