"Examples of Faith: Abraham's Anticipating Faith" Hebrews 11:10
- Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on October 8, 2023.
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Audio Transcript
Did you hear how quiet they were? They knew they were supposed to go, but they were all sitting really still. That’s impressive. Got some good parenting skills going on out there. All right, once again, we’re in Hebrews 11.
I’ll read verses 8 through 10. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith, he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Look at the fact that first by faith, Abraham obeyed, and then Abraham by faith stayed. And today we’re going to be looking at Abraham looking forward. Let’s have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, as we look at your word today, we thank you that being the almighty Creator, the sovereign Lord, we thank you that you have chosen us to give us the certainty and the hope of eternal life, Father, that we might dwell forever in your presence with your Son. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Hebrews 11:10. He was looking forward. Looking forward carries God’s children through fears, concerns, doubts, difficulties, trials and tribulation. We’re just going to be looking through the passage today in this story about Abraham to see that he’s the father of our faith.
He is the example of how we’re supposed to be. And you would think that, wow, his life might be perfect after that. He’s given up so much already to be obedient to the Lord. But Abraham, like us, even though we have faith, there are still fears in our life. There are still concerns, there are doubts, there are difficulties, there are trials, and there are actually tribulations.
And what we want to see in all this is it doesn’t tell us in the Old Testament what brought him through these things, but we have this verse in the New Testament that lets us know through all of these, he was looking forward. And that’s what enabled him to. To move forward. He was looking forward.
Think about faith this way. Faith looks at the present in the light of the certainty of the future. Whatever your present is, whether it’s wonderful today, whether it’s bad, whether you’re expecting something that’s not good, whether you’re sick, whether you have cancer, whatever is going on, faith looks at your present situation. But it doesn’t just dwell on that, because it sees it in the light of a much bigger picture. And by knowing the certainty of our future.
We’re able to make it through this life as Abraham did. Let’s go back now to Genesis 15, 1 21. Just as you’re counting, keeping this in mind through the whole thing about looking forward. It says, after these events, what is it talking about here? In the previous chapter, his nephew Lot was taken off by an army.
All of Sodom and several other cities were taken away. And Abram goes off with all of his men that are able to fight. And he retrieves all the captives and he returns them to their cities. And the king of Sodom comes out and says, let me pay you for this great thing that you’ve done. And Abram says, no, I don’t want anybody to say that you gave me something.
I depend on the Lord to provide for me. And during this time also Melchizedek, which we didn’t talk about before, but he appeared and he blessed Abram. And Abram set the example for us by giving a tithe, a tenth of everything he had to the Lord. So it’s after these events, after he’s been successful in this war effort, after he’s been given the adulation of the kings around him. The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.
And the first thing God says is, do not be afraid, Abram. Now, scripture doesn’t tell what it is that he’s fearful of here, but what it shows to us in our life. Even if we have the greatest faith in this world, there are going to be fears that we have. God doesn’t say, this is how you take care of your fear. He doesn’t say, read this book.
This is how you deal with your fear. He didn’t give Abram some type of equipment to deal with his fear. God gave him this promise. He said, I am your answer to fear. Because I. I am your shield.
Not only am I your shield, but he promises him that his reward is going to be very great. Because Abram told the king of Sodom, don’t give me anything. I’m depending on the Lord. God blessed that faithfulness in him to saying that he will take care of him. God promises Abram a great reward that will be better, far better than anything that he turned down from the king of Sodom.
And Abram had no reason to fear. He had beat the enemies. But still there was fear in his life. Even when God has given us the victory in any other area of our life, we are also still capable of having fears in our life, just like Abram had. But Abram was able to go through these fears because of God’s word.
And he was looking forward. And that looking forward gave him strength during his time of fear. You know, God promises us the same thing, that we don’t have a reason to be afraid because he will be our shield. And we know for certain that he will keep his promises to us. But not only did Abram have fears, but he also had concerns.
Let’s look at verse two. But Abram said, lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram continued, look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir. He’s saying, what’s the value of all these riches that you’re promising me? What’s the value of your provision if I don’t have anyone to pass it down to?
And when I die, I will be forgotten. Abram openly shared his concerns with the Lord. You know, sometimes when we have concerns, we tell all our friends, I’m worried about this, I’m concerned about this and that. But we don’t go and talk to God about it because we might feel like God doesn’t want to hear our concerns. Or maybe we think, I can hide my concerns from him.
I tell you, God already knows what your concerns are. And just like a father, just like a mother, like a spouse, like a friend, he is opening, having his ears there to listen about your concerns. And so he was fine with Abraham sharing these concerns with him. But in all of this, it doesn’t tell us in this text, but it tells us over in Hebrews, he was doing what he was looking forward, and that helped him through his concerns. Verse 4 says, now the word of the Lord came to him.
This one will not be your heir. Instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir. And he took him outside and he look at, said look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And then he said to him, your offspring will be that numerous. Abram asked for a child, and God is promising him far more than that.
Abraham, therefore, was looking forward to what God promised him. And therefore it helped him through his concerns.
Abram believed the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. This is the verse that we go back to that says, it wasn’t because of anything Abram had done. It wasn’t because of his works, it wasn’t even because of his obedience that he left Ur and came. It wasn’t because of his success in war. What was credited to him as righteousness is that Abram simply believed the Lord.
And our New Testament word for that is he had faith in the Lord. There was no circumcision at this time. There was not the law of Moses. He didn’t have it all written down. There wasn’t anything to obey that he could earn his salvation.
He simply believed the Lord. And this was faith. And in spite of what good he might have done in the past, in spite of obeying God and leaving and staying, it’s only after he demonstrates his faith that God says that he isn’t righteous, but this righteousness is credited to him. When you get your VISA statement, you make a payment to wipe out your debt. That’s not what happened here.
Abram was not making a payment to wipe out his debt. It would be opening up your credit card statement. And it says there’s a $50,000 credit here right before Christmas. Where did that come from if it was just given to you? That’s what God does for us.
He credits the righteousness of himself to us. Then in verse seven, Abram goes on God’s sharing with him how he’s going to bless him. But Abram is still having doubts. God also said to him, I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees to give you this land to possess. But he said, again, here’s the doubt, Lord God, how can I know that I will possess it?
First you want to know how am I going to have a child? He’s old and God had not given him one. And God answers him, he goes one step further. But how can I know that I’m going to get the land that you’ve promised me? In the same way we have doubts in our life and we’re just following the example of Abram, that this is natural and it’s what happens to believers.
So God gives him this answer. He says to him, bring me a three year old cow, a three year old female goat, a three year old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. So he brought all of these to him, cut them in half, laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut the birds in half. So what we have right now is basically what we would call writing a contract. Now, we would probably involve an attorney here, but this contract is between God Almighty and Abram.
And the way that they settled contracts back then, the way that they signed on the dotted line, they would cut an animal in half and they’d put one side here and one side here and the next animal they cut the animals in half. And then in order to ratify that contract, to sign it, both parties were would walk between the animals that were cut in half. And basically they were cutting a deal. And they were saying, if I don’t fulfill what I’m supposed to, let me be like these animals, then I will be split. Abraham prepares everything.
And the birds of the prey came down on the carcasses and Abram drove them away. And as sun was setting, instead of staying awake and being excited about the best day deal that’s ever been offered to anyone, what does he do? He falls asleep. I mean, this would be like you’re about to get married, you know, and the groom is dressing, and all of a sudden he just decides to take a nap. And everybody says, where is the groom?
He should have been, what, excited about coming up to it. But here we have Abram falling asleep. And it’s more than likely because God let that deep sleep come over him. And while he was asleep, suddenly he had this great terror and darkness descended on him. So what’s going here?
God is coming down in his presence. God is coming to the table to sign the contract.
God stops and tells him, now, before we go through with this contract, you need to know a few things. In verse 13, know this for certain. Your offspring will be resident aliens for 400 years in a land that does not belong to them and will be ens enslaved and oppressed. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions. But you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
And in the fourth generation they will return here. For the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. God said, we’re going to have a deal here. I’m going to sign a contract. It’s the best deal you’ll ever have.
But it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have difficulties in your life. It doesn’t mean that your descendants are not going to have difficulties in salvation. Jesus offers the same thing to us, that we become new creatures, that our sin is cleansed by his death on the cross. And he’s promised us a life in eternity forever in his presence. But he says, if you go through with it, there are going to be difficulties in your life.
Sin will always affect the world as long as it is here. Sin, therefore, always affects the children of God. Sin even particularly attacks the children of God because sin is angry anti God. Sin is anti everything that God loves. And all those that are precious to him.
So we can expect in this life. And God has warned us that we’re going to have difficulties. Sin eventually tries to destroy the creation. It tries to destroy its inhabitants. And it tries to, unable as it is to destroy believers because it can only hurt them.
Tells us in verse 17, when the sun had set and it was dark, God appeared as a smoking firepot and a flaming torch. And God, God alone appeared and passed between the divided animals. Abram did not walk between the animals. Abram did not sign the contract. Because there wasn’t anything here that God said, I will do this.
If you do these things, God only says, you, I’m going to do this. You don’t have to do anything. It’d be like you go into the bank and you want to open a CD for, I don’t know, 10,000, 50,000, $100,000. And the banker says, I’d be happy to open a CD for you, but you don’t have to give me any money. I’m going to put my personal money in that account for you, and I’m also going to pay you interest on the money that I give to you.
And I’m going to continue to renew that CD for you as long as it’s in existence. And I’m always going to give you the very best rate. And then the banker says, just show up tomorrow and I’ll hand you the paperwork. Now you have a choice. That next day, if you have faith in that banker, you’re going to do what?
You’re going to show up to get that contract, to get that piece of paper. You’re going to accept everything that he’s giving to you. But you might say, wow, that’s too good of a deal. He would never do that. I’m not even going to go into the bank.
That’s absolutely ridiculous. That’s what God did here for Abraham. This is what Jesus does for us. He offers us the best deal in the world. But he says, you have to show up and all you have to do is receive it.
And many people say, that’s foolishness. I don’t want a part of it. And other people for other reasons don’t accept it. Another example would be that you go to a auto place. You’re looking for a new automobile, and the car salesman says, you know what?
Going to give you a car today, and I’m going to provide all the service in the future. And when it does need service, I’m going to pick it up and give you a loaner car. And I’ll bring it back. And if you hit a raccoon, I’ll even repair the front end at no cost to you. So that’s what happened to Hunter.
So I had to kind of pick on him a little bit or the raccoon hit him. That’s the way you stay it to insurance. But the car salesman says, tomorrow, show up and I’ll have the key for you. If you have faith in that car salesman, you’re going to do what? You’re going to show up for the best deal ever and get those keys.
But if you don’t have faith, you’re not going to show up. That’s what God does for us. It’s what God did for Abraham. It’s what Jesus does for us. Best deal ever.
You just have to accept it. Let’s look at a different person now. Let’s go look at king David in First Chronicles chapter 29. And we have King David here, and he has everything that Abraham did not have. He has children, he has heirs.
He is living in the land that now belongs to him as king. He. He has a royal palace.
He’s not living in a tent. He’s not moving around. But this is what we read in 1st Chronicles 29, where the people have just brought an abundance of gifts in to build the temple.
David humbly says, but who am I? You’re the king, of course. But Abraham humbled himself in the sight of the Lord, and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? And the answer was, everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your own hand. All the blessings that they had that they were supposedly giving back to the Lord.
David recognized we’re giving it to you, but it all belonged to you to start with. And then he says this. For we are aliens and temporary residents in your presence, as were all our ancestors. If anybody was not an alien, if anybody was not a temporary resident, it was the king in the palace who was no longer at war with anyone because he had defeated all of his enemies. But David was looking forward to something more than what he had there.
And he recognized that what looks like permanence to me, I am just an alien, and I am a temporary resident. He goes on to say that David says, our days on Earth are like a shadow without hope. What does that mean, that our days on Earth are like a shadow? Well, shadow is something that you can’t eat. You might see a shadow of a banana, but it’s not going to fill Your stomach.
What did David mean, this? Life is something that we really can’t grasp. We really can’t hold onto it. And that’s kind of depressing that he says it was just a shadow. It doesn’t give us any hope for the future.
But if we look at another aspect of shadow, a shadow is. Lets us know that there is something else out there. It would be like a plane flying over us and the shadow goes over us. We don’t grab that plane. We’re not able to ride in the plane.
We’re not able to experience it. But somewhere up in the sky, there’s a real plane that real people are on that has a real engine that I could be riding in if I were in it today. And that’s what our life is like here. It’s something that we can’t grasp. But everything that we enjoy, everything wonderful in life, every great relationship that we have, it’s just this shadow of what we’re going to have when we’re going to be in eternity with the Lord.
And David was having all the riches and the wealth and all the blessings, but he did not depend on it because he was looking for forward. In verse 16, he says, Lord our God, all this wealth that we’ve provided for your, building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand. Everything belongs to you.
Abraham back in Hebrews, he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Because faith looks at the present in the light of the certainty of the future. Abraham did that. David was doing that. Let’s go to Hebrews chapter 12.
Now we’re going to end just by reading Scripture about this certain future that we have. And our certain future is the new creation. Everything that’s wrong with this world is going to be corrected. Everything that is wrong with us is going to be corrected. Everything that’s wrong with our friends and our family is all going to be made new.
And this is the promise. It’s what we look forward to. It is a certain future. Let’s read what the writers of Hebrews says instead. You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, not the present one, but the one that’s in the future that’s coming.
To myriads of angels, a festive gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven. To a judge who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator. A new covenant doesn’t go into a lot of Detail. But this is the family coming together for a family reunion with a festive gathering and all of these wonderful things. That’s what we have to look forward to in the new creation.
Then we read yet once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This expression yet once more indicates the removal of what can be shaken, that is created things, so that what is not shaken might remain. We’ve just had another earthquake in Afghanistan between services. So far over 2,000 people are dead. Do we hear about earthquakes a lot?
It’s part of sin in the creation, that it is yearning to be made new. But what the writer of Hebrews tells us that there’s only going to be finally a final shaking. And after that, because of nature being restored in all of the earth that God promises, there isn’t going to be any shaking anymore. And what that means, that the only thing that’s going to remain are those things that are firm and those things that are certain. If a building is built properly, hopefully an earthquake won’t knock it down, that everything else that was not built properly would be taken away.
And so that is in the new creation, that it will be perfection that remains. Therefore, in verse 28, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. We’re looking forward and we’re thankful. Thanking God for it now. For by it we may serve God acceptably with reverence and awe.
For our God is a consuming fire. Let’s go to the end of the story now, the last chapters of Revelation. At the end, God is telling us in somewhat detail about this certain future that we have and what the new creation will look like. And John was seeing it from a distance, and he’s trying to describe something that he’s never seen before in the best words that he’s had. And it’s very limited.
He doesn’t tell us what’s necessarily going on in the city. He doesn’t tell us what people are doing for work or what they’re doing with their time. But he’s just describing this city. And it would be as if you’re approaching a great palace somewhere and you’re about to go into it. You just have these expectations from looking at the outside of that palace.
It must be absolutely wonderful inside. Imagine what kind of food there is. Imagine what kind of entertainment there is or what type of music just by seeing the outside. So that’s what John is doing. He’s just showing us the outside so that we’ll have a greater expectation of what is going to be there on the inside.
He said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. There’s probably nothing more beautiful in the world than to see a bride and her wedding dress coming down the aisle. Would we all agree with that? That’s the picture that we have here.
And then John said, I heard a loud voice from the throne. Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity. Not a shadow of it, but the real thing. And he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
And it is the presence of God that is the best thing about all of this. It tells us that he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. Grief, crying and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, look, I am making everything new, God’s promise that gives us hope, a certain future.
And he also said, right, because these words are faithful and true. He didn’t want John just to have this, but he wanted John to write it down that we might have the same hope of a certain future. Let’s go to Revelation 21:9, 22 as we continue to see what John saw. Then one of the seven angels who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me. Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
He then carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God’s glory. And her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal. The city had a massive high wall with 12 gates. 12 angels were at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates. So here we have the representation that Israel, Abraham’s children that are physically his and spiritually his would be present there.
There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city wall had 12 foundations and the 12 names of the 12 apostles. Here we have the picture of the church of Christ, the spiritual descendants of Abraham, the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations. And then the one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates and its Walls. The city was laid out in a square.
Its length and width are the same. And he measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. I didn’t look up how much that is, but I’m sure it’s a long distance. Its length, width and height are all equal. And then he measured its walls.
They were 144 cubits. According to human measurement. That would be 144 measurements from here to here of whoever the ruler was at the time. Imagine this huge city that’s coming down, and it tells us now what the city is made of. The building material of its wall was Jasper.
And the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first foundation is Jasper. The second sapphire, the third, chalcedony, the fourth, emerald. The fifth, Sardonyx, the 6th carnelian, the 7th chrysolite, the 8th beryl, the 9th topaz, the 10th chrysophrase and the 11th jacinth and the 12th amethyst.
That is a mouthful of jewels, is it not?
And it says that the 12 gates are 12 pearls. Not a bunch of pearls making the gates, but each individual gate was made of a single pearl. Imagine how big the mollusk must be to make a pearl that big. And if that isn’t enough, the main streets of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass. Go home and figure out the size of this city and then figure out how many pounds or tons of gold and precious stones it’s going to take to put this thing together.
And you’ll realize how much effort God is putting in building a city. But it’s like. Like that palace that I mentioned. It’s only there to give us an expectation of what is inside. You may have the nicest house in Lodi or Deforest, or the nicest house in the world, but it’s only what’s inside that house.
It’s the people inside of there. It’s what you do inside of there that gives its value. So not only do we look forward to the city and all its beauty, but we’re looking forward to forward to what God is going to provide on the inside. Verse 22 says, I did not see a temple in it because the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine in it because the glory of God illuminates it.
And its lamp is the Lamb. And it’s going to emit so much light that the nations will walk by its light. And the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never close by day, because it will never be night there. They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s Book of life. Then in chapter 22, verse 1, he showed me the river of the water of Life. Clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Down the middle of the city’s main street, the Tree of Life was on each side of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse.
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more. People will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light and they will reign forever and ever. We just have a few words here that describe this hope.
It’s just a glimpse of what we’re going to have. And it was this idea, understanding of something better that is coming, that both Abraham and David knew that they were aliens in a foreign land. We’re the same way. We are aliens here. This is not the way things are going to be forever.
Hebrews 11:8. By faith, Abram, when he was called, he obeyed and set out for a place. And by faith he stepped, stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, coheirs of the same promise. He faced the same difficulties and trials, the uncertainties, the diseases, the fears that we have. But he was looking forward.
Because we go back to what I said at the beginning. Faith, no matter what our circumstances are, it always looks looks at those circumstances. It looks at the present in the light of the certainty of the future. And it’s that certainty that helps us to get through this life. It’s like a woman who’s pregnant.
My wife, she had four children. She was sick almost every single day of her pregnancies. She would sit up at the piano and chew on crackers because she didn’t want people to know she was pregnant yet. And she was sick. Sick all the way up until a week before she delivered.
What made her be willing to go through that illness four times? It was because she was looking forward to the joy of having a child. We have a couple that’s engaged here. It’s not easy to prepare for a wedding, is it not everything goes right, costs a lot of money. Everybody doesn’t agree on things.
Sometimes things don’t work out. But you go through all that preparation because you’re what you’re. You’re looking forward. And all of that seems small. So it is with our life.
We’re looking forward to what God has promised for us. May we pray? Heavenly Father, we thank youk for this confidence that we have. Father, our confidence is in youn, the Almighty, Sovereign Lord and Creator of everything.
Thank you for caring enough for us that you would give to us the best deal ever. Let us all, in faith, Father, accept that. That we just receive it, understanding that we can in no way ever pay you back. So we should never even try. Father, bless us in our difficult times that we may be having in our life now.
For those that are hurting, for those that are facing cancer, family problems, job problems, whatever it is, let all of them look to the future, Father, with certainty about your promise to them. In Jesus name, amen.