Hebrews 11:8-16
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Intro
Intro
Today we will be in Hebrews 11 talking more about a passage titled the hall of faith.
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
By faith,
Abraham did not initially know God, spoke to him one day and called him out of his home and called him to follow him.
Imagine that one day you are sitting around and God speaks to you and calls you to move away and go live in Ethiopia.
Abraham did not argue with God or say it was going to be too hard he simply obeyed.
Hebrews 11:8 even says he didn’t even know where he was going but he knew that God was calling him
Verse 9 says that he went to live in the land of promise,
The land of promise is actually where modern day Israel is today.
So Abraham BY FAITH went to live in the land of promise.
Why was Abraham doing all this?
Because he had faith?
Not in the promise but in the promise maker.
10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
Notice that verse 10 doesn’t stop at he was looking forward to the city that has foundations.
Keep in mind, Abraham through Jacob they all lived in tents.
Think about right now, we have been “camping” for three days now.
You know how excited I am to go home and sleep in my own bed!
Many of you probably feel the same way!
And we are sleeping in hotel rooms!
Abraham slept in TENTS!
SO yes he was looking forward to the day that he would move out of that tent and into a home
But here in verse 10 it says Abraham was looking forward to the city BECAUSE he knew the one who was it’s designer and builder.
Not because it was a city
Not because it had a comfy bed
But because he knew the one who made him the promise.
So Abraham had faith in the promise maker
Now who was Abraham married to?
Sarah
I’m sure you all know this story but when Abraham was old, REAL OLD
Like great grandpa old
He was told that he and his wife would have a child
They were well into their 80’s!
I don’t know about you but I have never seen a pregnant 80 year old!
Why? because it’s almost impossible!
But notice here in verse 11 how Sarah was able to have a child.
11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
BY FAITH
Faith in what?
Did she have faith in the promise?
No
She had faith in the promise maker.
Notice at the end of verse 11
Since she considered HIM faithful who had promised.
It wasn’t the promise that Abraham and Sarah had faith in, it was God.
Have you ever read something in the Bible that makes you laugh?
Here in verse 12 is one that always makes me laugh.
Hebrews 11:12 says therefore from one man, and him as good as dead!
Like it’s saying from Abraham, who was so old he was pretty much a dead guy!
That’s hilarious to me!
12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
Let me ask you this?
Abraham was promised that he would have descendants as many as the stars in heaven and sand on the seashore.
How many kids did Abraham have with Sarah?
- 1
Did he get to see this promise fulfilled?
- no
But why was Abraham able to have faith in the promise?
- Because he had faith in the one making the promise
The truth is that Abraham never got to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to him.
Abraham never got to see the city of Jerusalem
Abraham never got to see the millions of Israelites that would come from him.
But in verse 13 it tells us that Abraham died in faith
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
I want you to notice two things in these two verses.
They died in faith, not having received the things promised.
So many of us today fall into the Amazon Primeism that Mason talked about night one
We want to immediately receive the things God has promised us.
For instance, we read the bible and hear that one day every tear will be wiped away and we will live in peace and we ask God why we still have to suffer.
But that is placing our faith in the promise, not the promise maker.
No Abraham and Sarah died in faith, not because they got to see their promises fulfilled but because they had faith in God.
Second thing I want you to notice is the end of verse 13
Having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles WHERE?
In the promised land?
In the land of Canaan?
NO! they were strangers and exiles on the Earth!
This place is not your home.
If you are a believer in this room you are a stranger and and exile here.
Do you wonder why the world makes fun of you?
Or why the world doesn’t have the same values as you?
It’s because you are a stranger in this world.
Your identity and your citizenship is in Heaven.
So yes! you should look different from the world!
Why? Because Jesus Christ through His death on the cross has changed you and transformed you to think, live, and act differently than the world.
So instead of looking around and wondering how you can fit into the world, instead look to God and have faith in Him when He promises you that one day you will no longer live in this world but will live with Him.
15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob didn’t just desire to see a physical city built for them. They didn’t believe and obey God because he promised to give them some land.
They believed and obeyed God because they desired to be with Him.
They looked forward to the day that they would be able to dwell with God
This is why verse 16 says they desired a better country, a heavenly one.
One where we will be able to have fellowship with the Holy living God.
Today, as believers we seek the same thing.
We place out faith in Jesus because He is the promise maker.
Because we know that one day He will accomplish what He said he would accomplish.
When he tells us we will have life and life abundantly we know we will, not because as soon as we become Christians our lives get magically better.
But because we know that He will be faithful to accomplish all that he has said.
We place our faith in Jesus because we know that he is the promise maker and one day we will see those promises fulfilled.
Gospel