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Of all the Faith Heroes found in Hebrews 11, Abraham receives the most coverage.
So much coverage, that it will be necessary for us to take several Sundays to cover he and his wife Sarah adequately.
This morning I want to focus on just three verses, Hebrews 11:8-10:
What we learn from these verses is that Abraham had a Forward Looking Faith.
We have already learned that a God pleasing faith is a faith that looks to things that are unseen and sees them as a living reality.
One of the reasons that the reality we are looking to is “unseen” is because the consummation of that reality will happen in the future.
In other words, we are looking forward through time.
Abraham clearly illustrates this, in these first three verses:
In verse 8, we see that he had a Faith That Heard and Obeyed God’s Kingdom Call
In verse 10, we see that he had a Faith That Saw a Better Future
In verse 9, we see that he had a Faith That Lived a Better Life
That is the type of faith each and every one of us must have.
A Forward Looking Faith: Hears and Obeys God’s Kingdom Call (vs.
8)
From all appearances, Abraham had a good life in Mesopotamia.
His life was not perfect, but it appears he came from a wealthy family.
By the world’s standards, “life was good.”
Then one day, he heard God’s voice calling him to pack up and leave for a new and better land where he would “receive an inheritance.”
The problem was he didn’t know where he was doing.
To get there he was totally dependent on God to lead him and show him the way.
Christ is still calling people to a better life:
As Redemptive History progressed, God’s call to a Better Life came into focus in greater and greater clarity.
By the time of Jesus, the Jews understood that it was not just a “Promised Land” or a “Davidic Kingdom,” but the Kingdom of God!
This is good news!
That is what the world “gospel” means: “Good News!”
We all long for a better life and a better world, because no matter how good our life is, we all see that there is something seriously wrong with this world and this life.
The Bible makes it clear what this is—it is the curse of sin.
We all live in a cursed world and we are all personally under a curse, this is because all of us are sinners.
The world rejects this idea.
They think the problem is external to themselves.
If was can just tweak a few things, we could all live in a perfect world.
The problem is history proves that mankind cannot build a better world.
The more things change, the more things remain the same.
Today people have a higher standard of living than any other time in history, yet people in their despair are taking their own lives at a higher rate than ever before.
The recent suicides of designer Kate Spade and chef Anthony Bourdain illustrate this.
In the midst of the despair of this world, the voice of God is still heard, “the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.”
Just as it was with Abraham, the only way to this Better Life is to heed the call and place your faith the one who calls you.
Just a Abraham had to follow God, so we must follow Christ.
There is no other way:
Transition:
Even though we can’t know the way by ourselves, by faith we can see the land to were we are going.
I want you to look at verse 10 again:
By faith Abraham was able to see beyond the Promised Land and saw the New Jerusalem!
By faith, we too can see that City and the Better Life that is found there.
A Forward Looking Faith Sees a Better Future (vs.
10)
In following God to the Promised Land, Abraham learned very quickly that the Better Future God had promised him was not to be found there.
In Mesopotamia, Abraham lived in a house, now in the Promised Land he lived in a tent!
This is still the way it is when a person decides to follow Jesus:
In case we missed the point, the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to include this story in his gospel just a few verses later:
Following Jesus does not result in “The Best Life Now.”
If you what to live the “Good Life” now, you are better off not being a Christian!
The Christian life often results in the loss of “health, wealth and prosperity”!
In fact, it often results in the lose of your life!
This is why true faith must be Forward Looking Faith.
It learns to see beyond our present reality to a better reality.
This is important not just when life is hard, but even more so when life is going well.
In the United States most of us are not required to give up family, property and our lives to be a Christian.
Often times our lives can be good, very good!
It is when life is good that we are in the most need of Forward Looking Faith.
This is because the good things in this life are seductive.
Their “goodness” blinds us to the reality of even better things.
So many have failed to heed God’s Kingdom Call because they have become intoxicated by the things of this world.
This is a tragedy, because the unseen things are far better.
They are far better because they are eternal.
Everything good in this life will end in loss and tears.
The death and the aging process will take everything and everyone you love from you.
But the Kingdom God is different.
God is calling you to a place were His hand “wipes away every tear.”
Transition:
This Better Future does not mean we place our present life on hold.
I want you to look at verse 9 again:
Abraham and his son Isaac and grandson Jacob did not put their lives on hold until they “possessed” the land, they lived in the land as if the land was already theirs!
As Christians, we are called to do the same.
This brings us to the last characteristic of a Forward Looking Faith:
A Forward Looking Faith Lives a Better Life (vs.
9)
Even though we are waiting for a Kingdom that cannot be built by human hands, this does not mean we are sitting on our hands.
The Kingdom of God has already broken into our hearts, the heavens and the earth may not have been renewed yet, but we have!
The Kingdom of God is a subversive force in this world.
In a famous parable Jesus compares it to a mustard seed.
There is a lot of interest among younger Christians of the millennial generation in “social justice.”
They think of themselves as being progressive, but in reality they are repeating the mistake of their great-great-great grandparents made 120 years ago.
Back then it was not called “social justice,” but rather the “social gospel.”
Their motives were good, but their methods bad.
The “social gospel” attempted to bring about social change by the same method the world uses—changing the externals.
In contrast, the Gospel brings about social change one life at a time—through internal conversion.
Individuals change the world, not the use of political or organizational power.
Going back in time even farther, the people of Mesopotamia also attempted to change the world by the use of political and organizational power—it was called the Tower of Babel.
The story of the Tower of Babel is found in Genesis 11.
However, as always happens, the concentration of power corrupts.
The tower became such a source of concentrated power, that if not stopped, it would have destroyed the world in evil.
To stop this evil, God had to intervene and He scattered and confused the human race.
But what is truly significant is that the story of Abraham begins in the very next chapter, Genesis 12.
This is no accident, God is teaching us something—the way to change the world is by Forward Looking Faith.
Abraham was just one man, but through Abraham and his Forward Looking Faith, the world has been changed!
From Abraham came Israel.
From Israel came David.
From David came Jesus and from Jesus comes the Kingdom of God!
This is how we change the world, by living the Kingdom Life now!
By our good deed and our good words, some of our unbelieving neighbors (even those who persecute us) will come to faith and they too will become mustard seeds!
True Christianity has been the greatest force of good this world has ever known.
From True Christianity has come the protection and honoring of women and children, the end of the slave trade, hospitals, mass education and literacy, economic growth and innovation.
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