Sermon Tone Analysis

*Hebrews 11:8-9…* By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance.

He went out, not knowing where he was going.

9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as a foreigner, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.

*Commentary*

The nation of Israel began with God’s call to Abraham to leave his country and go where God led him.

God promised him that a nation would stem from his loins even though his wife was old and barren.

But 25 years later they had a son, Isaac, born miraculously to Abraham when he was 99 and his wife 90.

Isaac later became the father of Jacob, and Jacob birthed the nation of Israel with his 12 sons.

His eleventh son, Joseph, saved the nation by moving them to Egypt, and 400 years later Moses delivered them out of Egypt.

But it all began with Abraham’s faith.

Abraham first heard God’s call in the city of Ur (in modern Iraq), and he left that thriving city to follow God’s call, going northward into Haran (Gen.

12:1-4) with his father, wife, and nephew.

“When he was called” is a present participle indicating immediate action by Abraham.

He followed God without questioning Him because God’s calling was so sure.

And even though God did not specify the location where Abraham was to travel, he got up anyway and “obeyed.”

Obedience to God’s call is always and without fail the evidence of God’s true calling.

God’s calling to Abraham was His word, and God’s word is a light that guides the way (Ps.

119:105).

In the context of faith (Heb.

11), Abraham’s example of faith is seen in his willingness to go out from his comforts and from his family and friends in order to follow God’s leading.

This leap of faith cannot be minimized, for Abraham left all that he knew: his family, his home, friends, and all else.

He truly believed and obeyed God because he truly heard from God.

It is noteworthy that when God first called Abraham He did not promise him the land He would lead him to.

It was only after he arrived that God promised the land to him (Gen.

12:7).

The promise of the land was the reward for his faith, but he first had to leave everything behind and travel hundreds of miles by faith to receive it.

Clearly, Abraham believed God’s calling.

Now when he got to Canaan, the Promised Land, he did not inherit it.

It was his by the promise of God, but it was already inhabited by powerful nations living and dwelling in the land.

So he lived there in tents as a nomad, and so did his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob – all the while believing in God’s promise that the land was actually theirs.

Therefore, Abraham had to believe God once again that the future held great reward for him, not the present per se.

The writer of Hebrews introduces this story of Abraham as an example of faith.

If “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” then Abraham is the perfect example of faith.

He simply believed God’s word, and he followed God’s leading.

* *

*Food for Thought*

How can you know God is leading you?

The answer is through reading the Bible where God’s words speak loud and clear.

You won’t find any passages on what your occupation should be or who you should marry, but you’ll find God’s commission (Matt.

28:19-20).

John Calvin said: “It is a rare trial of faith to leave what is in one’s hand to go seeking what is far off and unknown to us.”

But those who read God’s words and believe God can and will do just that.

And in so doing they prove themselves faithful believers, which is really the only kind of true believer there is! Abraham was profoundly moved because he was genuinely called by God.

Many think they’re called, but their message is anything but biblical.

True believers are like Abraham: they hear, they follow, and they obey – jumping at the opportunity to serve.

God guides, we follow.

*Hebrews 11:9-11…* By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as a foreigner, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, though barren, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.

* *

*Commentary*

Before God called Abraham he lived in Ur of Chaldea which was a populous and advanced city in his day.

He was a pagan who worshipped other gods (Josh.

24:2).

God may have brought him to the point of disgust in that metropolis so that the promise of moving to another city, in and of itself, would have had no luster for him.

This is why Abraham, once he arrived in the land of promise, was content to live as an alien.

He had been there and done that, as it were, living in a large city with sinful practices.

Though the physical land of Canaan was his by promise, he was actually looking forward to the eternal city whose builder was God, not men.

Man-made cities were ephemeral and temporary; however, Abraham “was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (v.

10).

This is what faith is, for it looks forward to what cannot be seen (Heb.

11:1) and believes.

Even in the midst of confusing circumstances, true faith looks ahead like Abraham who had God’s eternal city in mind while he lived in the land God promised to give his descendants.

The thought of the heavenly city occurs elsewhere in Hebrews (11:16; 12:22; 13:14) and also in Phil.

3:20; Rev. 3:12; 21:10.

Now because God’s heavenly city is spiritual the “foundations” could not be literal but more likely signify a city that is well-based, a “city with permanent foundations” (TEV).

Abraham knew that the physical earth he lived on, along with all the man-made problems associated with this cursed earth (Gen.

3), was temporary.

Therefore he looked forward, by faith, to what was permanent – God’s eternal dwelling.

That’s what it looks like to live by faith.

Verse 11 presents a difficulty in translation.

Though the English text ascribes faith to Sarah (Abraham’s wife), the Greek text makes this impossible because it ascribes to Sarah an activity that is only possible for males.

Some English Bibles say Sarah “received ability to conceive.”

The Greek text, however, literally says, “power for depositing semen” which clearly requires a male subject.

An appropriate translation (supported by NIV, NRSV, TEV) would be: “By faith, though Sarah herself was sterile, Abraham received power to beget children, even though he was too old.”

The entirety of the next section is about Abraham’s faith, so it makes perfect sense.

It would also agree with “from this one man” in v. 12 and with the fact that God’s promise was made to Abraham, not Sarah.

So Abraham then had faith in connection with the birth of Isaac, in the face of overwhelming odds, and Sarah is linked with him.

Abraham, in association with Sarah, received power make a child in the midst of impossible circumstances.

Sarah’s faith is in question.

She laughed at God’s promise of a son in her old age (Gen.

17:17; 18:12), and at one point she even took matters into her own hands by giving Abraham her maidservant as a wife to have children (Gen.

16).

That union produced Ishmael, the progenitor of the Arabs – a people who have plagued Abraham’s promised offspring to the present day.

*Food for Thought*

As Abraham was a chosen child of God who lived as an alien in the land God gave him, so too are Christians strangers and pilgrims on this earth (1 Pet.

1:1; 2:11).

Abraham lived in the future, by faith, and he didn’t mind being inconvenienced on earth living in tents because his focus was on eternity.

So if you’re concerned today about your carpet, your car, or your job remember to live by faith.

Live for the unseen that God has promised.

And believe by faith.

*Hebrews 11:12-16…* Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead, /as many descendants /“as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.”

13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that /country /from which they went 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 a city for them.

*Commentary*

The “therefore” in v. 12 concludes the previous context where God worked through Abraham’s faith to give him a child when he was “as good as dead.”

He 100 years old, but God gave him a son through his 90 year old wife Sarah.

He had other children through another wife (Keturah) after Sarah died, but it’s Isaac who is so special, for his birth was the genesis of every Israelite and Jew who ever lived.

And because God blessed Abraham prior to his circumcision, and because Abraham believed God prior to circumcision, everyone – Jew or Gentile – who believes in Christ for salvation is part of the spiritual offspring of Abraham (Rom.

4; Gal. 3).

These are the great many descendants of Abraham – countless as the stars in the heavens and the sand by the seashore.

All God’s promises come to those with faith through His Son Jesus Christ.

In v. 13 “all these” are said to have not received the promises of God but only having welcomed them from a distance.

This is a reference to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob solely, for they all died after living in the land but not actually possessing it.

Abraham bought a burial plot for Sarah (Gen.

23:19-20), Isaac planted some crops (Gen.

26:12), and Jacob at one time built a place for himself (Gen.