05-04-2025 The God of Our Faith

Text: Hebrews 11:8-19

                   This morning I’d like to talk about Faith.  Paul tells us what faith is in the first verse of Hebrews chapter 11.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.  For example, you flip the light switch because you have faith that the electricity will flow and the light will come on.  We believe the light will come on even though we don’t see how the electricity running through the line makes it happen.  It’s faith that often causes us to take some sort of action.  We’re saved by faith as confirmed in Romans 5:1 and Ephesians 2:8-9.  And the lives of all modern day Christian are lives of faith as told in Hebrews 10:38.  All our blessings come from God through faith.  His kept promises and many blessings are what build the strength of our faith.  And the good news is, our God is bigger and better than our faith. 

                   Our text is found Hebrews 11:8-19 where Paul wrote:  “(8) By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.  (9) 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:  (10) for he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  (11) Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful Who had promised.  (12) Therefore, sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable.  (13) These all died in faith, not having received the Promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.     (14) For they who say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.  (15) And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence, they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.  (16) But now they desire a better country, that is, an Heavenly; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:  for He has prepared for them a city.  (17) By faith, Abraham, when he was tried offered up Isaac:  and he who had received the promise offered up his only begotten son, (18) of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall your seed be called:  (19) accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead.”

                   Verses 8-10 of our text show us that God is bigger than our faith.  When He called Abraham early in Genesis 12:1-3 He promised him a new land, to make from him a great nation, that he would be blessed, his name would become great, and all nations would be blessed through him.  God’s blessings went beyond Abram’s faith.  He didn’t know about the heroes of the faith that would follow him or how we would still honor him thousands of years later.  He didn’t know his name would appear in the Bible or how God blessed his faith beyond his expectations.  Today God blesses us far beyond what we ask or expect.  Abraham and Sara both died before seeing all that God had promised them.  They were only able to see it off in the distance because of faith.  The Disciples of Jesus showed how small their faith was the night they ended up in a storm while Jesus slept.  In Mark 4:35-41 we see that they were so afraid they would die that they woke Jesus from His nap accusing Him of not caring about them.  Then they questioned who He could he be that the wind and the sea will obey Him. 

                   Fortunately for us, our God is better than our faith.  Verse 11 shows us that because of her faith, Sarah was able to give birth to Isaac well past her childbearing years.  Even though, as we learn in Genesis 18:12 how when she was given the promise that this would happen, she laughed and then later, in verse 15, she lied about laughing about it.  Yet God still honored her lack of complete faith and gave her a son.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20 that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.  So, even when we don’t trust our faith or question it, God will always come through for us.

                   God’s promises build the strength of our faith as seen in verses 12-19 of our text.  How could Abraham, after waiting so long to have a son, answer the call to give him up by sacrifice?  Abaham was willing to give up his son when God commanded him do to so.  But God didn’t let him take Isaac’s life, because he had given the command in order to test Abrahm’s faith.  Instead of taking Abraham’s son, God gave him a whole nation of descendants through him. 

                   If you’re afraid to trust God with the possession, dream, or person you treasure most, pay attention to Abraham’s example.  Because he was willing to give up everything for God, he received back more than he could have imagined.  We should understand however, that what we receive from God may not always come immediately or in the form of material possessions.  In fact, materiel things are the least satisfying of the blessings and rewards we receive from God.  And with all He gives us in this life the truth is, our best and greatest rewards are waiting for us in eternity.  

                   Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that our faith will grow as we study our Bible because we learn how faith grew in all those from the past.  Noah built an ark by faith.  Moses opened the Red Sea to allow Israel to escape the Egyptian army by faith.  The walls of Jericho fell down because Joshua had faith when God told him to sound the trumpets.  Young David’s faith allowed him to kill the nine foot tall giant named Goliath with one stone from his slingshot.  These and many more like them that we learn about in the Bible were actually foreigners and strangers in this world.  As Christians, we are as well.  We are sojourners in this life.  This world is not our home.  We’re just passing through on our way to eternal life with Jesus.  This is an awareness that eventually comes to us as our faith grows because of circumstances or difficult times we experience.  We will not live here forever so it’s better for us not to be so attached to worldly desires and possessions that we can’t move away from at God’s command.

                   Many Christians today become frustrated and feel defeated because their needs, wants, expectation, and demands are not immediately met what they accept Jesus as Savior.  Their pain or loneliness may be too great.  They may become impatient and want to quit.  But we should never become discouraged because the relief we need or the achievement of our goal seems far away.  Take courage from the heroes of our faith, who lived and died without seeing the fruit of their faith on earth and yet continued to believe in God and His promises to them. 

                   When we have faith, even if it’s only the size of a tiny mustard seed, and trust our God, we can expect the impossible to happen.  Afterall, He allowed His only Son Jesus to die on the Cross so that we could have our sins removed and be reconciled to Him.  Then He allowed Him to defeat death through the resurrection so we could have eternal life.  We must never forget that God is so much bigger than our faith.  Our earthly minds are incapable of understanding all that God is truly capable of.  We accept by faith that He created this world we live in but because we can’t fully understand how or even why He did it, we rely on our faith and trust that there will come a day those and so many more answers to our questions will one day be revealed to us. 

                    Until we meet again, may God bless and keep you, may He shine His light on you, show you grace, and give you peace in all the days ahead.