God is Faithful

Introduction: As is most certainly obvious by this point, the writer of Hebrews has been urging Jews to completely abandon the Old Covenant and fully embrace Christ in the New Covenant. He is calling Jews to leave all forms and rituals and ceremonies of the Old Covenant. However, he is not calling Jews to leave the essence of the Old Covenant - faith. Even in the Old Covenant, the forms and rituals and ceremonies were never the most important part. The most important part of Judaism and the most important part of Christianity is faith in Christ. Faith has always been of importance.

And so the writer turns to Abraham as the example of faith. Abraham is the most outstanding example of faith in the Old Testament. He is saying, “Not only can you look to true believers as an example of faith, but you also have a rich heritage of faith in God - not faith in rituals and ceremonies but faith in God.”

The Jews considered Abraham to be their father and he was, but Abraham is also the father of all who believe.

Romans 4:11 NKJV

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,

Galatians 4:11 NKJV

I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

Abraham was the perfect illustration of a man who went all the way with God by totally trusting Him for everything. He even went so far as to raise the knife to sacrifice His own beloved son because God had told him to.

Paul used Abraham as the great example of faith as well. The whole point of is that Abraham was justified - not by rite or ritual - but by faith.

Explain

Explain the faith of Abraham

God’s integrity and faithfulness is really the theme of and Abraham just serves as an example of what faith in God looks like. The writer is answering questions that might be going through the minds of those who hadn’t yet turned to Christ. Questions like, “Can I trust God with my life? Can I believe what He says? Can He keep me from falling? Will He finish the work He has begun in me? Will he hold on to me? Will He ever lose interest in me? Is there really security in salvation with God?” Abraham believed there was and this passage gives us four reasons why we can too.

I Can Trust God Because of Who He Is

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No one and nothing in the universe is greater than God. God is the source of all truth and so He cannot lie. He is also all powerful and so He has all the ability to keep His promises. So the promises of God are secure because of who He is.

These Jews were afraid of leaving Judaism and casting all of their faith on the Jesus. They were afraid that Jesus alone would not be enough to save them. However, God has promised that all who come to Him through His Messiah will be saved, and just as faithfully as God kept His promise to Abraham He will keep His promise to those who trust in His Son.

So, the basic question then is: has God kept His promise to Abraham? Well, the basic promise to Abraham was:

Genesis 22:17 NKJV

blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Genesis 23:17 NKJV

So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded

Today, there are 14 million physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac. On top of that, millions more are Abraham’s spiritual descendants. Despite all of the odds God kept His promises to Abraham.

I Can Trust God Because of His Good Purpose

Abraham was also secure because of God’s purpose. God did not take Abraham from his homeland just because he wanted to see if he would do it. God’s dealing with Abraham was not some kind of divine dare or prank. God had a purpose for Abraham and that purpose was to bring salvation to the world through the seed of Abraham.

God’s promise to bless him and bless the world through Him was unconditional. God did not tell Abraham that He had to do something or meet certain requirements in order to be blessed. God told Abraham to do many things but the promise of God was not dependent on these things. When it came to Abraham’s role in fulfilling God’s promises Abraham had the privileged position of being able to watch the plan of God unfold for His life. God had determined to bless Abraham and bless the world through Him and so that is exactly what God was going to do.

Explain that we have the same privilege based on the promise of .

Take a look at the covenant God made with Abraham in

This is why Israel has always been under attack. Satan knows he cannot attack God directly but if he could eliminate the Jews from the face of the earth then God’s promise would become invalid. But we know that that will never happen because God has all power in order to keep His promises.

Because of God’s purpose to redeem the lost world, we can rest secure in the promise of God to keep our salvation secure. As believers we have been chosen to be conformed into the image of His Son and God cannot fail in keeping that promise. If you follow God by faith in Jesus you will one day look as much like Jesus as a human can and that’s a promise. God kept His promises to Abraham and God will also keep His promises to all those who follow Him in faith through the Messiah.

I Can Trust God Because of His Pledge

The third security we have is that God had made a pledge. In the New Testament times if a person made an oath on something greater than Himself the argument would be over. It was assumed that no one would ever make an oath on something greater than Himself unless he was determined to keep it.

Since God is the source of all truth He does not need to make a pledge. His word is just as good with one a pledge.

Matthew 5:33–37 NKJV

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

But God made a pledge in order to help the weak faith of men. Not only did God say it, but He also pledged it and bound Himself to it.

In the New Covenant we have the Holy Spirit as the pledge that God will keep His promise towards us.

2 Corinthians 1:22 NKJV

who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

Same idea as an engagement ring.

And so God has sealed His promises to us by both His word as well as His pledge. Both of these things are immutable. Do you know what immutable means? It means unchangeable, and being confident in these two unchangeable things we can flee to God as our refuge and forsake any other hope but God’s hope.

I Can Trust God Because of His High Priest

As our High Priest, Jesus is the anchor of our souls and the one who will forever keep us from drifting away from God. Jesus has made the sacrifice for us and gone into the presence of God where He now rules at the right hand of God. Our ultimate hope is anchored there in the Presence behind the veil. In the Old Covenant the sacrifice of atonement was made once a year but in the New Covenant the sacrifice was made once for all. For those who trust in Jesus, it is as if their soul is already behind the veil and in the presence of God. When Christ is the foundation of your faith you are as good as in heaven because God will faithfully keep that promise to you. It is guaranteed. In the Old Covenant the high priest would offer the blood and then have to leave the holy of holies, but Jesus remains there forever. This is absolute security and Jesus himself stands as the Guardian of our souls. We can trust God and His Savior.

Conclusion: God kept all of His promises to Abraham and He will keep all of His promises to us.