Lives to Remember

Text: Hebrews 11:8-19

Theme: The victory of faith does not come without a fight.

by faith Alban Pinet

by faith Blanche Helmig

by faith Kate Placial

by faith Opal Hassler

by faith Vivian Hunke

by faith Henry Hunke

by faith Ray Thompson

by faith Grace Huckstep

by faith Tillie Miller

by faith Lewis Wolfe

by faith Clete Branson

by faith Sophie Monroe

by faith Leo Pearon

by faith Mary Pearon

by faith Claborn Smith

by faith Wayne Patterson

by faith Armanda Herndon

by faith Betty Staley

by faith Marvin Staley

by faith Alvina Wolfe

by faith Ed Walker

by faith Effie Walker

by faith Nellie Rice Wills

by faith Bill Clough

by faith Pat Waggoner

by faith Nancy Frank

by faith Arlene Thomas

by faith Alice Fredrich

by faith Rainey Robertson

by faith Adelaide Gove

by faith Annie Geising

by faith Lem Basnett

by faith Brenda Branson

by faith Lucille Owens

by faith Goldie Towe

by faith Authur Jeagers

by faith Dale Leimkiller

by faith George Wagner

by faith Ruby Wissman

by faith Madge Backues

by faith Bill Warren

by faith Hazel Warren

by faith Bill McGloham

by faith Bill Coleman

by faith Maxine Buckner

by faith Betty Howard

by faith Bill Quinn

by faith Jack Crecelius St.

by faith Sheri Koenigsfeld

These are members from this congregation who have gone home to our Lord’s Kingdom over the last twenty years. Like the believers of Hebrews eleven, they were men and women who had professed their faith in the salvific offer of the living God, and were, to one degree or another, living out their faith when they died. Tomorrow, many of them will have memorials laid on their graves.

The Christian life is a journey of faith. Like our spiritual forefathers of an earlier day, the Christian must long for a new country and a new city whose builder is God.

In Hebrews 11:16 we’re told that this is what all believers long for: Instead, they were longing for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

The faith that drove the men and women listed above, is the same kind of faith that needs to drive us on in our spiritual journey. In chapter 11, the Apostle Paul refers to some sixteen Old Testament saints by name and a number of others by inference. They were men and women with the same faults and weaknesses common to us. They stumbled and fell, but did not remain down. They repented and began again until finally they conquered. The one common experience of all of them, however, was this; their victory did not come the easy way, but in every case involved a sacrifice of self.

The life of Abraham is a good example of the requirements for victorious living.

I. GOD CALLS BELIEVERS TO MAKE A CLEAN BREAK WITH THEIR PAST AND TO MAKE A NEW BEGINNING WITH HIM

Heb 11:8 "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his

inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

1. for Abraham this meant leaving the security of ...

a. homeland

b. his family

c. his friends

d. his job

2. faith in Christ that is not willing to give up everything — including one’s right to self —

is not true faith

a. faith does not always mean giving up family and friends and community and

personal agenda

b. but true faith must be willing to give up those things if it means following God with

all your heart

Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to me but loves his father, mother, wife, children,

brothers, or sisters—or even life—more than me, he cannot be my follower.27 Whoever is not willing to carry the cross and follow me cannot be my follower.” NCV

c. you don’t get much blunter than that

ILLUS. It was G. K. Chesterton, English author, journalist, and defender of the Christian faith who said: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”

A. GENUINE FAITH ALWAYS INVOLVES RISK

1. verse 8 reveals Abraham's obedient response to God's call

a. he heard

b. he obeyed

c. he went

ILLUS. B.F. Westcott, in his commentary on Hebrews, wrote that, "He [Abraham]

obeyed the call while it was still sounding in his ears."

d. it was an immediate obedience

1) he didn’t spend a few days mulling it over

2) he didn’t consult with friends

3) he didn’t attempt to discern how God’s call fit into his plans – God’s call became

his plan

2. Abraham went at God's command "even though he did not know where he was

going."

a. I don't know about you, but when I am going somewhere I like to know where I am

going!

b. God's call seldom reveals many details about the future

c. if it did it would no longer be faith that we live by

3. faith, therefore, involves relying on God's strength and God’s guidance

a. and from the world’s point of view, that’s risky

b. but from heaven’s point of view, it’s the most secure thing we can do

4. for most of you, faith may not involve leaving family and home or friends, but it will

involve a regular examination of your priorities and an assessment of your loyalties

5. God Calls Believers to Make a Clean Break with Their past and to Make a New

Beginning with Him

II. GOD HAS NOT PROMISED THE LIFE OF FAITH WILL BE AN EASY LIFE

1. in a sense, Abraham faced a greater test and more severe trials after arriving in the

promised land than while he lived in Ur

a. often it is easier to live by faith as we journey toward an unseen goal or promise

then to do so once we receive it

1) our journey toward faith in Christ is often easier than living out our faith once we

are in Christ

2. it is after Abraham arrives in Canaan that we see his faith severely tested, and at

times it is even a faltering faith

ILLUS. Two turtles were crossing a busy freeway. The first turtle stayed his course,

believing that despite all the obstacles he had to overcome, despite not knowing what was coming next, he would make it to the other side. The second turtle became frightened halfway across the road and retreated into his shell, saying, "I knew all along I wouldn't make it. The risk is too great, and the journey too hard. I never should have started along this path." And his prophecy was self-fulfilling.

a. sadly, too many professing Christians wind up as “spiritual road-kill” because they

do not persevere in the faith

1) like the turtle of our story they say to themselves, "I knew all along I wouldn't

make it. The risk is too great, and the journey too hard. I never should have started along this path."

"But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking

back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62,NASB95)

3. God calls on us to stay the course, to keep the faith even when times are difficult

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; "in the

future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8,NASB95)

4. what does Abraham’s faith teach us?

A. THE LIFE OF FAITH EXPOSED ABRAHAM TO GREATER HARDSHIPS, TRIALS AND

SACRIFICES THAN THOSE ABOUT HIM WHO HAD NO FAITH

ILLUS. George Muller, himself a great man of faith, once said, "God delights to

increase the faith of His children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God's hand as a means. I say and say it deliberately trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith."

1. Abraham's ultimate test came when God asked him to sacrifice his only son – the one

whom God himself had promised and the one Abraham had waited so long for – as an offering

Heb. 11:17-19 "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He

who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, 'It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death."

a. what a struggle must have raged in Abraham's soul

b. here was a situation that would test to the limits Abraham's faith in God

c. the victory of faith won out and Abraham obeyed knowing the great personal cost

to himself

d. but he also knew the power of God

3. the Christian life is also like this

a. Jesus says that only those who take up the cross and follow him can be his

disciples

Luke 14:27 "For whosoever does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my

disciple."

4. doesn't the Christian life seem hard – even unfair – at times?

a. don't the sacrifices God asks us to make seem unreasonable at times?

b. we serve God and what does it get us?

1) our neighbors, who aren't Christians, and who often lie, cheat, and worm their

way up the ladder of success seem to have better jobs, bigger homes, nicer cars

c. but as Christians we have something the lost do not – a heavenly home and a

heavenly father, and a clear conscience

"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 a city for them." (Hebrews 11:16,NASB95)

B. THE LIFE OF FAITH EXPOSES US TO A HEAVENLY CHEERING CROWD

1. the life of faith is not an easy race

2. but when we get tired, when we get frustrated there is a heavenly grandstand — full

of saints — that cheers us onward

ILLUS. In his book The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics, David Wallechinsky tells

the dramatic story of the Finnish Cross County Ski Team.

Paris was the site of the Winter Olympics in 1924. Finland was in the lead of the team cross-country race. Two skiers from the four-man team had already completed the course and needed only one more man to cross the finish line to take the Gold Medal. The third racer in their team was headed for the finish line, but the wear of the long, hard trek in this grueling race had taken its toll on him. He came within thirty meters of the tape and stopped.

Disoriented and exhausted, he turned and started back away from the finish line. The crowd began to scream as they saw him staggering in the wrong direction. He stopped again. Regaining his sense of direction, he turned and finished the race in victory. The encouragement of the crowd revived him and spurred him on.

Hebrews 12:1 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us."

3. God has not promised the life of faith will be an easy life, but it will be a victorious life

C. THE LIFE OF FAITH MAKES US MORE THAN CONQUERORS

1. our churches today are full of Christians adrift upon a sea of negativity

a. "That won't work in our Church."

b. "We can't do that, it costs too much."

c. "Our people don't like programs."

d. "We've never done it that way before."

2. where are the saints today who will stand up in church or at a business meeting and

say . . .

a. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?”

b. “God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think?”

c. “I am fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

3. it's amazing to me – we trust God to save our souls, but we won't trust Him to do

anything else

ILLUS. Too many Christians have a Bryl-Cream faith – a little dab will do ya!” (Yes, I

know that’s dating a few of us.)

4. where is he conquering faith that the early church had?

Mat 16:18 "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and

the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

a. the word overcome in the original language of the Bible is prevail and means to

stand up against

b. Jesus is telling his disciples that the gates of hell shall not stand up against the

onslaught of the church

c. walls and gates are not offensive weapons, but defensive weapons

ILLUS. Calvin Miller once wrote that the mentality of many churches in our society is

reminiscent of the old Hollywood westerns. The Indians attack and you hear the wagon master shout, “Circle the wagons!” In a lost and thoroughly secular culture it is tempting for the church to have a circle the wagons kind of mentality. We have to protect ourselves from the arrows and javelins of our secular society and so we fortify ourselves behind the defensive wall of the church. But this is just the opposite of how it should be. Folks, let me tell you something, every Sunday after church, it ought to be the devil and our society shouting, “Circle the wagons, the Christians are on the loose again!”

5. God Has Not Promised the Life of Faith Will Be an Easy Life

III. THE REWARDS OF FAITH ARE WELL WORTH THE COST

1. because of Abraham's faith commitment to God, future generations called him the

friend of God

a. it is a title given to no other person in the Bible

2. because of his obedience, a nation was born who gave us God's Messiah and the

savior of our souls

A. THE REWARD OF FAITH MEANS SETTING OUR SIGHTS ON A CITY WHOSE

ARCHITECT AND BUILDER IS GOD

1. Abraham recognized that he was but a pilgrim in a strange land

a. the word stranger in verse 19 means one who is a resident alien

a. it refers to one who lives in the land, but who is not a citizen of it and has no claim

to it

2. Christians according to this passage, are resident aliens and pilgrims in this world

a. we live in this world, but we are not a citizen of it and we have no claim to it

b. our true home is somewhere else

ILLUS. The most notable group of pilgrims in American history were the Pilgrims who

settled in Plymouth early in the 17th century. These people of faith had been forced out of England by persecution. First they fled to Holland. After several years, they decided to venture forth to the New World. William Bradford described their feelings as they left Holland: "And so they left that good and pleasant city, which had been their resting place ner twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and . . . lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits."

3. just before His arrest, Jesus told His disciples about their true home . . .

John 14:1-4 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my

Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

ILLUS. C.S. Lewis wrote: “Scripture and tradition habitually put the joys of Heaven into

the scale against the sufferings of earth, and no solution of the problem of pain which does not do so can be called a Christian one. We are very shy nowadays of even mentioning Heaven. We are afraid of the jeer about "pie in the sky," and of being told that we are trying to "escape" from the duty of making a happy world here and now into dreams of a happy world elsewhere. But either there is "pie in the sky" or there is not. If there is not, then Christianity is false, for this doctrine is woven into its whole fabric.”

4. the greatest reward of our faith means a home in Heaven with Jesus

5. The Rewards of Faith Are Well Worth the Cost

God has always accomplished His works in history through ordinary men and women who were possessed of an extraordinary faith. The victory of their faith did not come easy, but only with a fight--the fight to remain loyal and obedient to God in the face of great trials and sometimes uncertain circumstances. This morning, God asks you to be loyal to him and to fight the good fight of faith. What does that mean?

1) It may mean making a clean break with your old life and starting a new life that centers on God.

2) It may mean struggling though difficult times. It may mean asking questions for which God does not immediately give you the answer. It may mean letting go of that which is most precious to you — your children — so that God can move and work in their lives.

3) The rewards of faith are always worth the cost.